37. Brothers Part 2; Opposite Sides

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard © Me

So, Ken and I have been walking through the woods for about a couple of hours now, and it turns out that he's a commanding officer of the Marine K9 unit, which I pretty much figured out when I saw him wearing the collar.

The Marine K9 unit had been established 8 years ago. The Marines figured that they needed dogs to help them track down criminals, so they started breeding and adopting dogs and started to train them to hunt down criminals at sea, mainly pirates.

It turns out that Ken also has Intel about the rest of our siblings.

Kai has been taken to Chestnut Island and was raised to be a boar-hunting dog. So far, he holds the records for the most successful hunts and no one's been able to break it, yet.

Rob is being used as a guide dog for a blind girl.

Bill was adopted by a fisherman who needed a guard dog to keep the cats from stealing all his fish. So far, he's only managed to keep one away because that same cat keeps coming back.

Halo's being a used as a therapy dog for a children's hospital down at Juniper Island. Her favorite patient is this little boy named Kenji who has some kind of liver cancer.

Poor kid.

Angel's now a member of the Harpy Pirates. If I know Angel, she's probably giving her crew a hard time. I don't know why my Mother gave her that name, because she's anything but an angel.

Bliss and Rose are now celebrities. They're two canine models taking photos for the latest line of Doskoi Panda pet wear. Ken says that out of the 4,368 autographs that they've given out, he has one from each of them.

As for Moon, he says he doesn't where she really is, but he hears a rumor from other Fishman on the surface that she's living down on Fishman Island with a Moray Eel Fishman and his sister, a mermaid.

I actually found that pretty interesting. To think, one of my little sisters might be on Fishman Island. When we get there, I hope I get to see her.

"So what about you, Blizzard?" Ken asks me. "What have you been up to lately…aside from fraternizing with the Straw Hat Pirates?"

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"Well, yeah, actually. You do realize that you're tangling with a bunch of criminals, right?"

I snorted.

"They're not as bad as you're making them out to be, Ken."

"Oh, no? 'Straw Hat' Luffy, wanted for 300,000,000 Berries on a count of infiltrating Enies Lobby and defeating Rob Lucci of CP9."

Okay, I think Ken's starting to irritate me, now.

"Ken, I think-"

"'Pirate Hunter' Zoro, wanted for 120,000,000 Berries on a count of infiltrating Enies Lobby with 'Straw Hat' Luffy."

"Ken, if I can just get a word in-"

"'Demon Child' Nico Robin, wanted for 80,000,000 Berries on a count of being a member of the Ohara clan!"

"Why are you bringing Robin into this?" I ask him, trying hard to suppress my temper.

"And you…'White Wolf' Blizzard, also known as 'Hellhound' Blizzard and 'Demon Dog' Blizzard. Currently wanted for 250,000 Berries on a count of your involvement with the defeat of Gecko Moria and fighting with Bartholomew Kuma!"

I growled. Now he was going from Luffy and the others to me? I don't think so!

And to be clear, I wasn't fighting Kuma, I was guarding Luffy from him until Zoro went and decided to try and give up his life to the guy!

"Ken," I said. "You're starting to sound like all those other Marines, out there. Luffy, the others, and I did what we did because to help our friends!"

"Not the way the World Government sees it," Ken says.

"Ken-"

"Blizzard, I'm really surprised at you, though," he says. "You killed people!"

"I didn't know what I was doing, back then!" I snapped. "It was the first time I did what I was trained to do! It won't happen again!"

"I'll say!" Ken says. "Blizzard, I'm sorry, but I have been given orders to bring in any criminals I see, and seeing as how you and the Straw Hat Pirates are on this island, I have no choice but to arrest you."

I felt my blood boil. Ken? My little brother? Threatening to arrest me and my friends?

Now I was certain that he was just like all the other Marines out there.

"I can't believe this, Ken," I said. "I'm your brother. You're going to take me in?"

"Those are my orders," Ken says. "You may be my brother, Blizzard, but my duty comes first."

I froze. This is just what I feared. Ken, my little brother, had been corrupted by the Marines' ways. I couldn't believe that we were now on opposite sides.

I should've seen this coming.

"If that's the way that things have to be," I said, "then we'll settle this once and for all. Ken, I challenge you to a duel!"

Ken looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"A duel, eh?" he says.

"Yeah. At sunset, we'll meet at the southern shore of the island. If I win, you leave me, Luffy, and the others alone."

"And if I win?"

I heaved a sigh.

"If you win…you can take me, but no one else! Just me! Leave Luffy and the others alone!"

Ken nodded in agreement.

"It's a deal," he says.

To think…he and I would actually end up being enemies…even though we never wanted to be enemies to begin.

As we turned to leave, I decided right then and there…that Ken and I weren't brothers anymore. I couldn't help but feel that Ken was a bit upset about this. I heard a sniffle from behind me, so I guess I was right.

I just didn't realize that I was crying, myself.

Yikes! This doesn't look good.

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