Disclaimer: I don't own one piece
Great sea: North blue Location: Tomari Island Outskirts
"KHOFF, KHACK, KHACK…..KAFF, KAFF, KAFF."
"HAHA, come now was it really that bad."
"You, KAFF… nearly KAFF, KAFF… drowned me."
" You call swimming nearly drowning. Please if anything it's your own fault for not holding your breath."
"Only because you grabbed me and darted straight into the ocean." My partner in crime complained.
"How about this? I'll take ten percent of the blame for not giving you a warning while you take ninety percent for being a dummy and not holding your breath agreed. "I graciously offered.
Little Morris looked at me with indignant eyes, like I robbed him of everything fair in this world.
"Come now, don't look at me like that."
"Just apologize and we'll call it even." If he could see my face it probably would have been the most expressive, I've ever been in years. Instead, because of my mask it looked like I just tilted my head.
"Wow, just wow haha, I don't even know what to say to that other than just, no. I'm not apologizing over something I'm not sorry for. Let it be known that the pirate Atlas is no liar.
"Fine whatever. I'm not going to hound you on it, but why did you wait until afternoon to come on this island. We could have been here hours ago." Morris looked around curiously as he wrung his shirt dry.
"Haha, remember this is a fishing village. It's common knowledge of any fishermen that the fish generally prefer the early morning and the late evening sun rather than the harsh midday rays. The surface temperature is usually hotter at this time of day forcing the fish to go deeper underwater. That's why we have no fishermen here on the coast right now and was what I was aiming for. I wanted to arrive on this island without drawing much attention. After all, look at me, it's hard to be sneaky when you're this size." My body is soaking wet, but the afternoon sun will take care of that.
"Ok that makes sense, but umm, this has been bothering me for a bit. Why did you pick that outfit?" Morris looked at me partially confused and partially embarrassed as he pointed at my attire. I don't see what the problem is.
"What's wrong with my outfit?" Looking at my outfit I'm wearing regular dark fitted jeans with multiple pockets for numerous uses, black steel typed combat boots, a grey long sleeved high neck hooded shirt along with grey and black tactile gloves, as always, my trusty comedy mask is adorned tightly on my face and I have my hood over my head. I'm completely covered from head to toe to lessen the chance that someone could figure out my race. My flame isn't ignited, and my wings are tucked in and still visible, but I can always say that they're just props.
"Nothing is wrong with your outfit other than the fact that it's incredibly hot right now and you're not even burning up, but why does your shirt say that?
Looking at my shirt I look to see what he means.
'An apple a day can keep anyone away if you throw it hard enough.'
"Haha, you have to remember that it's kind of hard to find clothes for me so I have mine personally made. Most of my clothes are fire resistant and were handcrafted by my friend Ririka. She's very talented. As for the pun, she insisted, and I couldn't turn her down." Almost all my hoodies have some wackiness on them. Although, I have to say, why would anyone want to squander good apples just to keep people away? It's wasteful if you ask me.
"Oh well um… OK if you're fine with it. It's just a little embarrassing." Looking at him closely I see he has a slight tinge to his freckled face. Is it really that embarrassing? I mean I was unsure about them at first, but I really like them.
"Come on, let's go." Waving my hand in a forward motion I beckoned Morris to follow me, which he did in haste.
"So, I have a question."
"Shoot, what's on your mind little Morris?" Hmm, seems he hates me calling him little judging by his furrowed brows, but it's not like I care if the name has already stuck.
" What's your actual plan here? I mean how do you intend to beat an entire station of navy soldiers." His voice is tinged with worry. It's to be expected, not just anybody can pull that off. Lucky for me I'm not just anybody.
"Your worries have already been noted Morris all you have to do is just follow my lead, and everything will go smoothly for us. However, if you can't bring yourself to listen there will be consequences not just from the enemy, but from me as well. Please keep that in mind."
I didn't bother to see his expression in response to my morbid statement, but I must give incentive for him not to derail from my instruction. Thanks to her, I'm pretty good at telling people's character from just their mannerisms. Little Morris is the hungry type, willing to go against everyone and everything if it's all within his best interest. If something goes even slightly wrong, he will betray me without hesitation.
Probably something cliche like scream his lungs out that he's a hostage to the marines.
If I was in my old world, I probably would have viewed him with something close to contempt. To betray someone so easily would have been just unthinkable, but I can't blame him.
Such is the life of an inhabitant in the world of one piece. His story is nothing new. A person with two brain cells could figure it out. Bad home, bad upbringing, bad company. He raised himself and gathered up the pieces of his shattered life to make something of it.
Honestly, we both know that he did some terrible things while growing up, but who am I to judge. I'm not God nor am I Satan. One doesn't have the right to judge someone for their choices no matter how bad they are until they live through the same experiences that caused them to make those choices in the first place, but that's just my opinion. I'm pretty sure that if someone else were to see him for what he is they would judge him hard.
Ahem, marines. Self-righteous jerks.
But just because I don't judge him doesn't mean I'm not aware of his motives. I'm not a fool and even though he is weak. Even a child can kill an adult if they drop their guard.
Good golly this is not a huge beach. Why has it already been 5 minutes, yet we still haven't made any progress? The beach is shaped not unlike a steep incline, so we must walk slightly up if we want to make it to our destination. Looking at Morris he seems lost in thought, so I snap my fingers to get his attention.
Wide green eyes looked up at me in shock.
"Hey Morris, have you noticed we aren't getting anywhere."
"Hmm what do you mean?" He turned his head from left to right as if searching for an answer.
"Never mind." Shaking my head, I stopped walking and looked around for anything that could inhibit our movement. Yet for the life of me I could see anything. I don't believe in coincidences. Looking closely at the ground I start moving once more only to see the sand start to shift and push me back.
Got you.
Grabbing Morris by the hem of his shirt. I make one giant leap in the air ranging around 20 meters so that I can overcome this seemingly shifting terrain…. Only to be shot at by a stream of what appeared to be pressurized sand from below.
And it was Fast, throwing my head back to dodge what was obviously a headshot. I effectively dodge the first shot of streaming sand.
Only to have three more blasts of skinny column shaped sand coming at me with frightening speed. Easily reaching my height in the air
The flame on my back isn't ignited so I would be damaged if I was hit with something like that, nothing life threatening, just annoying, and I can't forget the piece of malleable meat I'm holding, this would most definitely kill him.
Unfurling tragedy, I used him to deflect all three blasts and while I managed to divert all of them with relative ease, they did manage the feat of pushing me back, making me land right back near the shore where I started.
I waited, and waited, yet no more streams of sand are directed at me again and the shifting movements of the sand have stopped as well.
So, it only happens within a certain distance then.
"Oh my God, I thought I was going to die." Gasping for air Morris was clutching his body seemingly searching for any sign of injury.
How insulting as if I would let him be hurt after I clearly stated he had nothing to fear. Feeling a little petty I dropped him on the sand without remorse.
"Ow! Was that necessary? What even was that anyway?" Morris rubbed his aching side while I assessed our situation.
"Either this island has some pretty advanced security or there's something living on this beach. Well, more like a group of them, and they're all living up at the top of the incline of this beach.
"Then why aren't they attacking now?"
"Because we're at a far enough distance where they can consider us to no longer be a threat." I easily explained
"The question is why are they here little Morris? The pirate I talked to said that this island was frequently attacked. If they had this type of natural defense, I'm betting it would deter a lot of people away. Could it be some type of breeding season? Or were they introduced here from an outside source? I have so many questions."
"Why don't we figure out what they are first."
"Oh, I already know what they are, come take a look." Seemingly out of nowhere I pull out what looks like a sloppy monster love child between a crab and a scorpion. Its carapace is around 5 inches long and a little over 6 inches wide. It has prominent spines on its back and a wicked stinger that's about twice as long as its entire body, but the thing is this stinger isn't really Pointed but more oval-shaped with an eye-sized hole in it. Finally, this little crustacean was all purple. Talk about cool.
It fights restlessly in my palms but to no avail, it can't escape. Figuring out it's futile it stops resisting and seemingly accepts its fate. Wow, how dark.
"Wow, that thing is huge! I have never seen anything like it. Wait a minute, how did you get that thing in the first place" Morris pointed accusingly at me.
I just looked at him and slowly whirled my arms. "Magic." That was my simple response.
Grumbling to himself Morris looks at the creature with curious fascination only for it to try and snap at him with one of its claws straight on his nose. It succeeded.
"Owwww, ow, ow, owww!"
"HAHAHAHA, oh my that is quite an unfortunate handshake huh." All he did was glare at me as he rubbed his aching nose.
"If these things live here, it makes you wonder how the villagers get past them." Morris said as he rubbed his throbbing nose.
"From what I've observed these things are very cautious and will shoot down anything they deem a threat. Perhaps since the people are natives to this island, they don't view them as a threat and since we're not from here we are."
"Doesn't that imply that they're trained to some extent though? To not attack any of the residents, but to attack any newcomers. Maybe the villagers just have a secret way they get past them." Hmm, Morris does raise a good point if these…. Crabions(hah, I'm so calling them that) are indeed trained wild and willing to attack anyone, maybe the villagers have found a way past them, but I still can't rule out the theory that they're not trained by these marines. They do love their unorthodox tactics.
"They're quite different from crabs and unlike scorpions as well. I'm guessing this supposed stinger is what they use to shoot that pressurized sand at us. As for that shifting terrain maneuver, when I first caught this guy he wouldn't stop shaking or the more appropriate term would be vibrating, nothing that can cause harm obviously, but enough that it would be easy for a whole group of these things to constantly make the sand slowly descend on an incline like this.
Seemingly done with my analysis I ignite my palm that's holding the little terror in flames causing it to shriek in utter agony before eventually being silenced. Once it was dead, I dropped it to the ground unceremoniously, uncaring of its charred corpse.
Clapping my hands, I decided to stop debating over it." Welp, whatever they are doesn't matter. We just have to get past them."
"And how do we do tha-." That was all he could say before I grabbed him by the hem of his shirt once more and made a dash in a straight line up the incline. The shifting sand didn't impede my movement in the least and the Crabions didn't even have a chance to fire before I made it to the top of the incline."
"Once again I dropped Morris on the ground bracing myself for an attack, but it seems like they didn't care so long as we didn't bother them it seems that they were content to hold their fire. Cool.
"Holy, we were just at the bottom, how did we get here so fast."
"Magic." I simply said once again.
"I'm getting really tired of that repetitive excuse."
"And I'm getting tired of your repetitive questions. How do I do this? How'd that happen? How could you do this? Come on, anyone wouldn't be annoyed if they're constantly bombarded by the same boring unimaginative inquiries. If you really want to know so bad, then use those wide green peepers of yours and observe."
"Observe what, mister."
"Why observe my movements of course. How I react to danger, how I respond to situations, how I-" Wait a minute that voice was way too high pitched to be Morris not only that, but it's the adorable squeaky version you would usually hear from a child, a child, a child!
"Morris, please tell me there's anything but a child behind me."
"Umm, there's an adolescent behind you." He offered awkwardly.
"That's the same, you know what, whatever."
"Looking down even lower than I usually do, I see a wide-eyed black-haired girl tied into a little ponytail with a summer dress on. She has her finger in her mouth as she peers up at me with curiosity you would only see in youth."
"WOW, I've never seen anyone as big as you mister, I think you might be only a little smaller than our house." Why couldn't she have said nearly as big. Wait, I could use this.
Looking over at Morris, I tilt my head at him, making him look at me with perplexed eyes.
"Why thank you, I think, how are you doing today little miss."
The girl crosses her arms and closes her eyes seemingly in thought "I want to answer that, but my parents said I shouldn't talk to strangers." 'Then why did you approach us in the first place I thought, only slightly annoyed.
"Welp, you're right about that. A little lady like you shouldn't be talking to strangers, at least not until you can protect yourself, but let me ask you this, do you have any friends?" At this, she gives me a wide gap tooth smile.
"Yup I have lots of friends." She exclaimed with a wide expanse of her arms." We play a lot of games, and we sleep over at each other's houses, and we'll be friends forever and ever." Oh my God, she's so innocent, like, truly pure. I.. I'm not good with her type. At all, but for the sake of the plan I'll try,
"Well, that's honestly pretty cool, but let me ask you this. How did you meet all those people?"
"Well, I talked to them of course, mama says you have to be brave if you want to have friends." She exclaimed with a nod of her head
"Ok, so tell me if you are not allowed to talk to strangers how did you make those friends in the first place."
The girl looked at me perplexed for a moment before my hidden meaning quickly dawned on her. "I… I talked to strangers to make friends." The expression she showed made it seem like I said her father's a woman, and her mother's a man.
"Exactly, so if you want to have any meaningful connection in your life then you need to talk to strangers in order to build wonderful bonds." I explained cheerfully.
"Take this guy for example." I pointed at little Zenny. "We started off as complete strangers, while we haven't known each other for long I think we're on our way to being great friends. Isn't that Right Morris."
Said friend looked at me awkwardly before turning to the little girl "aha, ah yeah right we are on our way to being great friends." His freckled nose twisted as he said that. Huh, what do you know, he has a 'tell' when he lies. I'll make sure to use that against him.
"See so, while I'm not saying you can trust us, in order to build trust, you must always take a chance and communicate continuously with a person, that'll make them go from stranger, to acquaintance, to friend, to best friend. Right now, we're strangers, but I'm sure if we continue to talk, we will-
"Umm, excuse me I think you lost her." What? Looking at the little girl Morris was indeed correct. I did lose her; I could practically see the question marks forming around her head."
"Why would you drop such a long-complicated explanation on her." Morris complained.
"Complicated, there was nothing complicated about that. In fact, I brought it down to what I thought a child might understand." And I really did, I'm not stupid. There's no use going into the finer details of social connections, but it seemed that my answer didn't satisfy him.
"It's obvious she can't be more than 7, yet you were basically talking to her like you're a well-learned child predator."
"Hey, that was uncalled for, and not even remotely true. Where I grew up everyone had to grow up fast or else, we could kiss our worthless lives goodbye. It was just that type of environment." Oops! I didn't mean to say that. Sigh can't believe I let that slip, I can already feel the depressing silence weighing down on my shoulders. Seems like Morris has nothing else to say and the little girl is still lost in her thoughts.
"Ahem! Well anyways tell me little miss, do you know anything about those purple creatures that live on the shore of this island." I say as a gesture a thumb behind me.
The little girl squinted her chocolate-colored eyes at me seemingly in confusion before her face shifted to one of realization. "Oooooh, I know that one, yeah, those guys are called Karkinotos and they have been here forever. Like before I was even born, I didn't really get it when the teacher was explaining it, but he said something about evolution and how they grew stronger because of it and stuff."
"A completely childish answer, but it's to be expected."
"So, since you asked me a question, then I could ask you a question right mister." Huh, I forgot children were the curious sort. At her question I shook my head.
"I know you don't live here because I know everybody. So why are you here, mister?"
"Oh why does it matter?" Strange of all the questions, why ask me that? Why not ask me, something like why I'm so tall or why I have wings. There's literally over a hundred other questions she could ask, but I'm not going to be tripped up by a child."
"Because I've never seen you before, and I want to learn more since you said we could be friends." The girl pouted at Mr. If I was a weaker man, I would have totally been swayed
"Well first of all I never said that, but since you want to know I'll tell you. Today is my birthday and-"
"Wooooh, today's your birthday. I love birthdays. How old are you mister? What's your favorite type of cake? Where are you going to have your party? Tell me, tell me, tell me pretty please."
Oh my gosh, talk about excitement. Who's ever this excited about a stranger's birthday? "Well little miss today marks my 23rd year in this world and I plan to celebrate on this island because I heard how interesting it could be."
The girl bit down on her thumb seemingly mulling over my answer before she nodded her head seemingly satisfied. "That's amazing mister, 23 years is a lot, you're pretty old haha." Uh, kids can be so unintentionally rude.
"Hey mister can you pull out your hand please? I want to see something." My hand? Jeez, why are kids so random? Crouching to my knees, I extend my arm slightly to give her a better look. She peers at it with fascination seemingly in awe that a single body part can be bigger than her entire body.
She looks at me and gives a gap-toothed smile before she tries to high-five me.
Only to hit nothing, but air as I immediately pulled my arm away before she could make contact.
Blinking once then twice she looked at me in confusion before I heard a Littles sniffle. Then immediately tears started to stream as she let loose a cry that only a child could produce.
"What the hell was that?" Morris pointed a finger at me indignantly as he yelled at me.
"Well, obviously she tried to give me a high five before I immediately moved my arm away, as a result of my apparent denial she started crying."
"Well, that's obvious. My question is why did you move your arm?" Come on don't tell me you're scared of high fives.
"I'm not scared of high fives." Morris gave me a challenging look.
"Oh yeah then prove it." Looking at the little girl who was still crying with her hands covering her face I decided to…. Completely ignore Morris, no way I'm letting her touch me.
"Oh my gosh, you're scared. I can't believe it. After a few hours of knowing you, I immediately find out you're scared of a little girl."
Turning my head to him I squint my eyes through my mask." You sure have gotten comfortable around me, you know that. Just a few hours ago you were a completely different person." At this, he shakes his head.
"Oh no, don't try to change the subject, why won't you just give the girl a high five? It's not that hard."
At his question, I only shake my head. " I refuse." Crossing my arms, I turn my back to the little girl; this only makes her cry harder.
"WRAAAA!"
"Geez, this makes me wonder who the real child is." I ignore the jab. Whatever he says I'm not touching that girl's hand.
Shaking his head Morris approaches the girl seemingly attempting to stop her infernal screaming. " Hey there, it's okay, don't pay any attention to him, he's just a big old sour puss."
"Totally unnecessary."
"How about this if I give you a high five will you stop crying." At this the girl let loose a couple shakier sobs before slowly nodding her head.
Lightly chuckling Morris held his hand and the little girl let out a little adorable chuckle before giving him a high five.
"Yay thank you mister your way nicer than the mean old man over there." Soon she stuck her tongue out at me and blew a raspberry.
The nerve.
"So, mind telling me your name, you can call me Zenny by the way."At this the girl whirled her hands excitedly.
"Amazing, you can Call me Lastonia. Nice to meet you." Soon she set her eyes on me. "It's not nice to meet you." And puffed her cheeks like a fish.
See, I'm not good with kids.
"Nice to meet you, Lastonia. So, tell me, do you like giving high fives?"
As the girl was about to answer she opened her eyes wide, seemingly in shock. "Oh no, the sun's already in that position, I'm sorry Mr. Zenny you seem really nice, but I got to go otherwise mama is going to yell at me."
"Oh, I understand well, I wouldn't want you to be late now." Morris beckoned her off.
"Thanks, you're really the best. I wish it was your birthday instead." With her piece said she ran off to the village.
Welp at least I tried.
"Hey, you're pretty good with kids, little Morris."
"Oh, thanks, I guess. It's not a big deal, but seriously why didn't you just give her a high five."
At that my thoughts Darken.
"Give me your hand. For all who accept never have to think again. That's what you want right, for the pain to go away."
"Sigh, let's not talk about it." Even though my mood was somewhat depressed my voice was still as chipper as always
"Oh, well umm ok. If you're sure." Looking closer I see that Morris is rubbing his hand.
"Are you okay? Don't tell me you can't handle a high five from a little girl." I decided to tease
"Ha, very funny, but no it's just that girl hands feel weird. Like instead of getting a high five it felt like I was poked instead."
"Interesting, that is strange. Maybe she was still a bit angry"
"Well, it doesn't matter. Do you want to just head to the village now?" Morris said as he started to walk off.
I don't know why, but something seems off, and my senses have never failed me to keep my guard up for anything suspicious.
"Yeah, that would be a good plan. Let's get going."
(-)
30 minutes later
CRASH!
"Come on men that can't be all you got. How do you defend this place when you're jostled by a little punch? Come at me again!"
"Yes sir!"
Soon a group of over 15 men came at the captain all at once only to be immediately tossed aside as the captain easily handled them. Groaning in pain it felt like their bodies were in shambles and their minds broken and fractured yet they still got up.
And at that, the captain smiled. Getting into a loose combat stance Cebra prepared himself for another round.
"Captain Cebra, I'm here to report."
"Tch, just when I was getting fired up." Looking at the man that called him he decided that was enough for one day. What did he just call me a Zebra? No, I'm just hearing things
"All right men pull yourselves together and get hydrated. We'll meet back here in an hour."
"Yes sir, thank you for the lesson captain Cebra."
"Stop calling me a zebra you damn jerks! Seems like you want another training session right now. "
At this, the marines ran off before they could feel another one of the captain's painful blows."
"Jeez, what's wrong with you guys? So, tell me what's there to report."
"Oh, nothing concerning the captain. I'm just here to tell you that vice admiral Lace requested your presence in his office."
At this, the captain grew shocked. "Wait, you actually saw him."
"Uh, no sir. He contacted me via a transponder snail." The soldier nervously chuckled.
"Oh, right. Of course, he did. Thank you for the update. You may head back now.
The soldier saluted before heading off to attend to his duties.
Sigh what a mess.
Picking up his captain's coat. Cebra adorned it over his back and walked in the direction of the vice admiral's office.
View admiral Lace wanted to see him. Cebra hoped it was something important and not something demeaning like forcing him to do paperwork that the old man was too lazy to do.
Captain Cebra would be the first to admit that while he respects the old man to the highest degree, he can be a real drag to deal with most of the time.
He is always trying to skip out on his work and trying to go around having meaningless hookups with young girls, drinking booze, and gambling all the time. His excuse.
"I'm merely enjoying my retirement, what's wrong with that?"
Every time he hears that it makes a vein throb. The old man isn't even retired. He's just relocated. The man still is a fully operational marine that can be called in by headquarters anytime. When asked why he didn't just retire outright and instead only ask for relocation he said
"Well how else I'm I going to support my gambling? Being paid the salary of a vice admiral is just too good."
Yup vice admiral lace is practically a child in a man's body.
Arriving at the doors to his office. Cebra takes a deep breath. Bracing himself he wonders how he will see the vice admiral today.
Knocking twice he waits for a response.
"Come in." The voice that one would expect to hear when knocking on the Door of a vice admiral would probably be some gruff, deep-throaty sound, but that wasn't what greeted him. The voice was small, high, and not to mention cute.
Opening the door, I entered the room and as expected there was a stack of paperwork about 3 ft high that obviously has been neglected. The office is somewhat bare almost like he barely occupies it. A couch on the left corner of the room, a fish tank with various supplies on the other side, and in the center is his work desk. The only notable thing about this office is that the word justice is imprinted boldly on the entire floor.
"You requested for me, vice admiral."
"Ah yes, please take a seat." Soon I see a little hand comically try to move the paper out of the way so that we could see each other's faces. Once settled I see that the person who is sitting in front of me was a wide-eyed black-haired girl tied into a little ponytail with a summer dress on.
Sigh, him, and his devil fruit. Always changing his form.
"Sir must, you always be in one of your forms while we talk."
"Haha, yes I must after all it's so much fun to talk to you like this."
Good grief talking to him always gives me a headache. Sitting down, Cebra decided to get to business.
"So, what did you call me here for vice admiral."
What a comical appearance they were putting on. A grown man talking seriously to a little girl. It's almost like they were playing pretend, and it made Cebra feel ridiculous.
At his question, the girl's adorable sunny smile didn't change a bit. "It seems that pirates were able to invade our little island."
At this, he stood up.
"What are you serious? Not that I'm doubting you, but if they're here then I'm assuming they're already dealt with.
"No, they're probably wandering the town right about now, forming their plan."
"Then what are we waiting for sir, we should dispatch them at once before they can cause any trouble."
"Sit down captain you are being too hasty. Don't you think there's a reason why I didn't engage them immediately when I encountered them?"
"Right, I apologize sir. It's just that the thought of having pirates here on this Island roaming freely puts me on edge."
"I as well captain, but we need to be smart here so first let me tell you what I discovered."
"At this, Cebra paid extra attention. Although the vice admiral goofs around most of the time with his ability, when he is serious, he can become a person so frightening that he would never want to make an enemy out of him."
"I didn't manage to make contact with whom I perceived as the main threat, but I did manage to gain Insight on his acquaintance. The acquaintance is nothing special, just some brat who turned to a life of crime after his village got raided by pirates. Although it's unfortunate it doesn't excuse the fact that he turned to a life of crime. He will be dealt with accordingly." Cebra nodded while tragic its nothing new for a person to turn to a life of crime because of certain events he just hopes he'll be dealt with fairly.
"His partner or perhaps the more appropriate term would be overseer' is the real issue. I don't know much because apparently they just met, but from what I gained from the boys memories is that the man is strong enough to destroy a Navy galleon with nothing more than a single attack."
"What! A single attack sir are you serious? I mean I know you're serious, but still, it's a little hard to believe."
"Haha, I understand it's a little overwhelming, but make no mistake, what I saw was real. That man is powerful and apathetic to killing as well because as soon as he destroyed the galleon he went to sleep."
At this Cebra couldn't help but clench his fist. Those brave men and women were mercilessly killed without remorse. He will make sure that this person pays.
Sensing his frustration, the vice admiral decided to calm him down " I understand your frustration and let it be known that we will let the demon see justice, but we have to approach this rationally." Cebra nodded in understanding. Realizing he can't let his feelings cloud his judgment."
"Now the boy never really saw him fight other than the one-sided beatdown he delivered, but he does know his intentions. They plan to raid our base of all its treasures silently, if possible but are prepared for a fight. The man is confident that he could take both of us on and from what I've seen it's not unfounded.
"What do you mean by that sir."
"It seems he possesses a devil fruit as well. I would say it's the flame flame fruit, but we know that it belongs to that upcoming rookie fire fist Ace. However, we are aware that there are multiple devil fruits with similar natures so he probably just ate one of those fruits. The problem is he knows how to use it and he's good at it."
"Tch, a devil fruit user is nothing new in this sea, even if he knows how to use it he is still a rookie since we never heard of him."
"I wonder about that."
"I'm sorry, what was that sir."
"I said he believes he can make his debut by attacking this marine base and taking down a vice admiral, but we're going to show him. We need to make up a plan, luckily, he seems to believe attacking civilians is below him, so the people are safe so long as we don't antagonize him. We just need to capture him. Can I count on you?"
"Don't worry sir, I and my men will have this guy and his lackey down in no time, I promise sir."
"Haha, I'm glad to hear that but please be cautious, although it's not too hard he was able to get past the Karkinotos, be careful."
"Understood sir."
Getting up from his seat captain Cebra excused himself once outside of the room he closed the door and let out a shuddering exhale.
While he understands that he didn't mean to, he just can't help, but be freaked out by what the vice admiral can do. To be able to control such a concept is terrifying, thank the gods that he's on the side of justice. He can't even begin to figure out a way to fight something like that.
Yes, the sight sight fruit is truly terrifying. Or maybe it's old Lace that's the scary one. Maybe both. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. The prime ability of the old man is to actively manipulate what a person sees creating the illusion of whatever he wants for the target. Naturally, he can only change what you see and not what you hear, but thanks to a device he got from the famous scientist Vega Punk, that problem was immediately fixed.
Not only that, but the old man has other abilities that make him even more frightening. Shaking his head Cebra decided to focus. He needs to figure out a way to capture the pirates quickly otherwise he might as well throw away his coat. From the way the old man was talking he sounded wary of this flame-manipulating fellow. If someone as strong as him is wary, then that means he has to be extra cautious.
Not like he plans to lose, but even if he does nobody in this sea can beat the old man.
(-)
"Achoo!"
"Bless you, are you ok." Morris questioned
"Yeah, I'm fine. Either someone was talking about me, or they just challenged me. Maybe both."
"Wouldn't they have to talk about you in order to challenge you?."
"Haha, not necessarily."
(-)
Well, chapter 4 is here. Sorry, I took so long, but I got to say writing plot is hard. I don't want this to be some OC Mashup of the straw hats. I want things to seem original and from a different perspective and an entirely different and bit scarier journey. Well, that requires actual brain power and after writing, deleting, and writing I finally got something I'm happy with.
I already planned out what I'm calling the Birthday arc. As well as the next three arcs as well so the chapters should be coming out faster (hopefully) and I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. See you next time.