5 days was it took for Cliff and Cassy to have explored the islands jungles and collected enough supplies for their journeys plus a little (read as a lot) extra. Though the latter was done by the end of the 2nd day, and the only excuse they could have of not returning to the dock where they docked their dinghy was one the captain refused to accept.

"I'm telling you we're lost!" Cassy yelled out not for the first time.

"We're not lost!" Cliff yelled back.

"You are." A polite voice came. It was familiar too.

Looking over to their front, "How would you know, 'tiger'?" Cliff said now being agitated at the 'See!' that came from Cassy at that remark.

"I've lived in these woods my whole life; I know them inside and out. you were heading towards the village which is the opposite of where you need to go if you want to return to your boat." Hidetake continued with the same voice turning around to walk in the direction he indicated.

"Oh yeah! I bet that tiger nose and those whiskers of yours help a bunch too!" Cliff ground out not thinking what he said in his frustration. At this, Hidetake paused for a mere moment, but that was enough for Cliff to catch it.

"Yeah, I figured it out! you've got the Cat Cat Fruit: Model Tiger, don't you? Plus, your parents must have known about the fruit and knew you would eat it so they named you 'tiger tiger', right? I'm right, aren't I?" Cliff continued venting his frustration.

Within seconds a kanabo (Kaidou's weapon, spikes and all) was on its route for Cliff's head and just as swiftly blocked by Cliff's cutlass. Both combatants paused for a moment sizing the other up, before both simultaneously moved.

Kanabo and cutlass clashed, sparks left their weapons as metal grinded on metal. Horizontal, vertical, diagonal (or any other angle you can think of) strikes each moving in for a kill shot. Each strike blocked by the other.

2 minutes in both jumped back, no worse for wear.

Hidetake looked at Cliff with annoyance as he yelled, "My name has another meaning!"

Cliff meanwhile just smirked signifying he just didn't care.

That infuriated Hidetake something fierce, "I'll pound it into your head that I am not named 'tiger tiger'."

"Somebody's sensitive about their name?!" Cliff said in a teasing/taunting voice

Then, Hidetake snarled as white fur grew on and covered his body with stripes of black fur in uneven intervals, feet turned to paws, eyes turned even more cat like, claws grew on his hands before they retracted, a tail grew out his back swishing in the air.

Now, Hidetake stood in front of them as a Tiger-man hybrid, snarling at Cliff and lunged, his kanabo swinging horizontally from his right as Cliff shot forward, his cutlass swinging down vertically.

CLANG!

For a few moments, both were equally matched, but then the strength of a Zoan shined as Cliff was pushed back. Cliff grit his teeth trying to match the tiger-man in strength, but failed to stop the others advance.

The tiger-man pushed until Cliff lost his footing having hit a tree root that halted the lower bodies momentum while his upper body continued being pushed. The sudden change meant Cliff could do nothing as he fell and saw his opponent grin as he raised his kanabo up high and brought it down.

Cliff had neither the time nor the reflexes to dodge that and could only watch as the weapon fell. Both were too much into the fight to remember their surroundings, and hence were understandably surprised when Cassy appeared above Cliff, blocking the kanabo with her sword. Cliff stared at her in surprise.

She let loose a grunt having to support her sword with her other hand, she looked at Cliff, "What the hell are you doing looking at me? Get up and fight!"

Cliff snapped back to attention and stood back up. Cassy with extreme effort managed to push the tiger-man away from her. Panting she stood next to her Captain.

"What do we do now?" she questioned a little out of breath.

"We charge. As one." Cliff said looking towards her from the corner of his eye, not letting his opponent out of sight. Seeing her confused, he continued, "The same way we both fought Aunt Sara. We charge as one. It'll be a 2 on 1."

Cassy nodded, eyes lighting up in realization and moved into stance, having recovered in the small reprieve they had gotten, as Cliff did the same on her right.

Seeing this, Hidetake too got into a stance, bending his knees a little, feet at right angles and spread open at shoulder length, kanabo held in right hand ready to swing.

A few moments passed and no one moved a muscle. Seemingly waiting for a signal.

Slowly, in the middle of the impromptu battlefield, a leaf floated down. 3 pairs of eyes tracked its descent and when it touched earth, 3 cries rang out before metal met metal.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH…" (Cliff)

"HAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH…" (Cassy)

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH…" (Hidetake)

CLANG!

For a moment both sides stopped, the kanabo held by the tiger-man stopped in its vertical descent by a sword and a cutlass. Then as the moment passed, all combatants moved.

Hidetake was having considerably more trouble now having to fight both the pirates. They were coordinated. If one went high, then the other went low. They were getting inside his guard and cutting into his skin. Blood covered his fur in many places and wounds were piling up.

But he was not alone in this regard. He too managed to injure his opponents. If his kanabo missed, his claws would scratch them. Hi kicks had claws protruding that when coming in contact with the opponent, left bleeding wounds. His kanabo was always dodged but it managed to tear through their clothing.

…

…

…

It took 20 mins before, all 3 were panting with exhaustion.

Then as one they jumped back into battle, striking and dodging attacks, when suddenly both Cliff and Cassy, dodged. This was strange as one would usually block the strike from Hidetake and the other would react. Having grown used to this, Hidetake was surprised at this change and overstreched. Hence, he couldn't react when both Cliff and Cassy slashed diagonally on his sides. Their blades dug deep in his skin and cut into muscles. The cut went from below the bottom of his ribcage rising diagonally to end just before his armpits.

Both Cliff and Cassy had passed him by as they slowed after their slash bleeding their momentum by digging their heels into the ground.

Blood erupted out of the wounds on Hidetake as he stood there for a second. Before turning around and facing his opponents who had both turned to face him as well.

A dramatic silence built u-

"A bit of an over-reaction on being made fun of due to your name, isn't it?"

…that was swiftly broken by a grinning Cliff.

Hidetake looked at him with an eyebrow raised, before sighing. "I've had too many people doing it in the past. It gets me angry."

Cassy though looked at him curiously, "Done to you in the past?"

"I used to play with the village children in the forest. Always made fun of me about this. Every time I got angry. Tried to get them to stop. They didn't stop-"

"So, you just warn them once, and if they forget, their dead?" Cassy asked in an uncertain voice.

"Yuuuupppp! Anyway, are you gonna kill me?" Hidetake asked.

"Kill you? Why?" Cassy asked.

"Because I'm bleeding out over here! If I'm to bleed out how about just ending it for me and saving me the agony?" Hidetake roared out.

Cassy jumped as she was started and started looking for their supplies for medical equipment (even if it was limited to bandages).

Cliff though… he just laughed, "Rahahahahahahahahahaha…"

…

…

…

TIME SKIP 4 HOURS~

All 3 now occupied Hidetake's house eating some roasted meat and vegetables courtesy of Cassy since she was the least injured and the most mobile at the moment since the other 2 were covered in bandages while she was only really injured on her arms. Cliff and Hidetake had bandages covering their chest, arms and neck. Cliff even had one leg bandaged.

"You're pirates, right?" Hidetake asked uncertain.

"Yeah, why?" Cassy answered.

"Where's the booze?" he asked back.

That set off Cliff in a fit of laughter, "Rahahahahahaha… I told you we needed booze… Rahahahahaha…"

Cassy just sighed, "Fine, we can get some from the village… now that he has someone supporting him, he just won't let us go without the booze" she grumbled the last part to herself. Though she was pretty sure, Hidetake heard her by the way he looked at them with surprise.

"No need," he intervened, "There's plenty of barrels here full of the stuff that you can take."

Cliff just nodded biting into the meat.

With food done, they moved to sit outside the house watching the ocean. With Hidetake's direction, Cassy brought a barrel of booze and 3 wooden mugs.

She poured out each a mug before sitting and relaxing.

"Cat Cat Fruit: Model White Tiger, right?" Cliff broke the silence.

Hidetake shook his head, "Cat Cat Fruit: Model Byakko. It's a Mythical Zoan."

"Mythical Zoan… how long have you had it?" Cassy asked

Hidetake looked to her in confusion wondering what purpose that question held.

"You're skilled. You went into Hybrid at a moment's notice… that kind of skill takes time." She clarified.

"4 years. But that's not why I'm so skilled with it. Time and practice do help but that's not it. This fruit has been in my family for 3 generations. My father had it before me and my grandfather had it before him. I have 2 generations worth of notes on using this fruit. They helped me sort out my tiger instincts and work on my skill."

Cassy let out a satisfied hum.

"Your grandfather" Cliff said, seeing a confused expression on Hidetake clarified further, "Where'd he come from? You said he was a pirate, no? where'd he set sail from?"

Hidetake was silent for a few seconds before he said, "Wano-kuni (Land of Wano). He comes from Wano. It's deep into the Grand-Line. More than halfway through it from the reverse mountain."

They stayed quiet for a few moments, before Hidetake broke the silence once more, "Why'd you set sail?"

"Hmmm…" Cliff looked him in the eyes for a few moments before answering, "I was there that day. The day the King of Pirates was executed. I heard his words. I woke something up in me. My grandfather wanted me to join the Marines like he himself did. But his words, woke something up in me. That something didn't want to follow rules. It wanted to do anything it wanted to do. It wanted to be free. The freest out there.

I warred with it for a month, before I let it out. I let it take over me. So, I decided to become the King of Pirates!"

Cliff's voice rose as he spoke and he finished with a shout.

Then his attention was brought back to his drinking buddy, both on their 5th mug by now.

"King of Pirates? Really? Do you really think you can do it?" he asked with doubt filling his voice.

Cliff then looked into the eyes of his companion. Amber Brown met Sky Blue. Determination met Doubt. A sudden unseen unheard war erupted between the two.

Cliff then stood up slamming his mug on the barrel and answered with a voice laced with determination, "Make no mistake Hidetake, I Will Become the King Of Pirates Or Die Trying."

That single statement decided it. Determination won the war with Doubt as the latter was completely eradicated from the very being of Hidetake as believed with all his heart that the statement will come true.

Belief spread to every part of his body that the boy standing in front of him would one day become the King of Pirates, and that the world will be shaken and turned upside down along the way.

He didn't have much time to process it before another mug joined it along side an equally determined voice, "And I'll have the greatest adventure ever!"

Seeing both of them, his body moved before he could do anything to stop it, not that he wanted to. He walked to the barrel, slammed his mug into it and roared, "And I'll return my family back to Wano-kuni where it belongs!"

And then the 3 started to laugh,

"Rahahahahahahahahaha…"

"Hehehehehehehehehehe…"

"Trarararararararararararar…"

…

…

…

A few minutes later, Cliff turned to look towards Hidetake and asked, "So, Hidetake, wanna join my crew?"

Cassy suddenly face faulted before she yelled, "I thought he was already a part of the crew?!"

"But I thought the Captain had to ask the person to join to make it official?" Cliff asked innocently.

Cassy developed a sweat drop as she grumbled, "You idiot!"

Chuckling, Hidetake said, "Taiga. Call me Taiga. That's my first name. And sure, I'll join your crew, Captain!"

"Rahahahahahaha… a new crew member, this calls for a party! You hear that Cassy? It's a party! Let's get drunk!"

"Now you're talking! Hey! Wanna see who gets shitfaced drunk first?" Taiga roared out joyfully.

"Alright! Hey Cassy! Bring us some more rum, would you?!"

"Hey! Get it yourself! I'm not your servant!"

"Just do it…"

"Yeah… Just do it, will you?"

"You… Fine!"

"YAY! Let's get drunk!"

"Count me in on that!"

"Honestly…"

…

…

…

And so the party continued for 2 days celebrating a new crew member…