"Welcome, my name is Adam. I'm sure you know why you're all here." A man spoke, his hands on a table surrounded by seven people.
"Um no, I was just called in randomly. I've been doing quite well on my island, there's been no crime there in years." Another man responded.
"Sorry Jason, this doesn't apply to you and Eve, we brought you two in because your islands don't need you anymore." Adam told him. "As for the rest of you, care to take a guess why you're here?"
A frog hand was raised. "I'm guessing it has something to do with my base being destroyed."
Adam nodded. "All of you were taken out by the same crew, Half, your origins were thanks to them as well. Our group wouldn't have been made if the higher ups didn't see these pirates as a threat." He pointed to a map. "There's a pirate meetup in Oykot, our goal is to infiltrate the island and take out the Buggy Pirates during the battle. They're amassing power too quickly and the higher ups don't want to deal with another possible emperor. They want us to deal with this now and blame it on random pirates under the name of Shield."
"The Shield Pirates?" A girl smiled. "Decent name, but was it really necessary for all of us to be here?"
"Quiet Zabela." Caleb croaked. "You wanted a chance, this is it, you and Ari both could be recognized during this mission."
"I'm personally looking forward to a rematch with Darius." Another man joined in, his pupils strangely shaped like an x. "He promised he wouldn't lose the next time we met, I'm curious to see if he got stronger."
"Do we have to fight them?" A woman asked, wearing earrings of a crescent moon. "I've always been more of a healer."
"Yes you have to fight Eve." Adam told her. "You have to take out one of their deadliest members, Poison Blade Silas, if his poison hits any of us were out of the game. You're the only one who can take him on."
Eve sighed. "Fine, but I don't like this."
"I'll take on their captain." Adam told them. "X you can have your rematch with Darius. As for the rest of you, you can mark a target to take on."
"First thing I'm doing is killing that damn Chicken." Ari promised.
"Not much help when it comes back to life." Zabela reminded her.
"Wait, that immortal flower was real?!" X asked, surprised.
"Apparently… Darius fed it to a chicken, god knows why." Zabela answered.
"Sounds like something he'd do." X mused.
Adam slammed his hands onto the table. "We're getting off track! The fight is tomorrow, I need you all to grab what you need, a pirate vessel is being prepared as we speak. We set sail at night."
"Yes sir!" The rest of the room said in unison.
'I haven't fought someone in a long time.' Jason thought worriedly. 'Let's hope I haven't lost my touch.'
"So you're Eve." Zabela said catching up to the woman. "I've heard so much about you, they say you have a strong fruit."
Eve smiled. "That's true but I'm not a fan of fighting so I'm not as strong as I could be. I don't know if I can handle it."
"You'll do fine." Ari promised.
.
As the sun rose in the sky, Phoenix woke up. Today was the day he'd be able to fight as much as he wanted. He flew up to the figurehead where the unfeathered beast slept. Looking out over the water, he was able to see an island up ahead and ships on all sides. Hundreds of pirate crews gather for the chance of more power. He stepped forward unleashing a mighty roar, no one would beat him today.
I blinked open my eyes, my ears ringing from the loud wake up call Phoenix provided. "Are we here?" I asked, rubbing sleep from my eyes as I stood up.
"Yeah, we're here!" Coconut shouted from the crow's nest.
"There's hundreds of us today, so many people, are we sure we can win?" Silas asked, worriedly.
"As long as none of them came from the grandline we'll be fine." Mohji told him. "Buggy was top 3 here for years, Krieg was beaten yesterday and Arlong is too busy torturing citizens. With neither of them here we should be the strongest group."
"Mohji is right." Buggy said, opening up the door to the Cabin while putting on his hat. "Even if there is a hidden freak here I'll slice them up before they even know I'm there."
"Wouldn't hurt to be careful regardless, if all the teams come after us recognizing the flag we might have some trouble." Alvida warned him.
"Let them come, I could use the extra levels."
"Seriously Darius, thinking like that will just get us all killed!" Silas yelled.
"If we die to some weak ass pirates then we weren't worth much in the first place." I told him.
"If we fight more we can get more experience and become stronger." Coconut argued.
"So what's the pl-"
"Welcome to the battle of Oycot!!!!!" A voice rang out over the sea, interrupting our conversation. "I am your host, a mercenary from New World, feel free to hire me for assassination, scouting, or even a nice little tea session! The name is Voice!!"
"Who?" I said, confused.
"I'm here hired by the owner of this little event, he has hired me to make sure everything plays out fairly! Even he himself is not exempt from the rules! If anyone breaks them, welll… I'll kill you!" Voice laughed. "Now I know what you're thinking, you're the strongest, no one can defeat you! I got news for you! I'm the God of Sound, no noise escapes my ears, I can project my voice over the entire island and it wouldn't be hard to shout loud enough to make you bleed from your ears! Not a person in the east blue is taking me out!"
"God of Sound?!" Buggy's eyes hardened. "I heard of him, an assassin who controls sound, you won't notice him until it's too late. He's strong enough to kill Vice Admirals in direct battle. He should be well into his fifties by now, didn't think he'd still be active. He's not a match for any of the main members of my old crew but he's flashy, we shouldn't anger him."
As he said that a loud sound filled the air as a nearby ship was torn to pieces. "I heard that!" Voice growled, probably talking about the ship he destroyed. "Now I'll explain the rules! Upon landing on the island you'll be given a couple hours of peace! Find a place to hide if you must! When noon hits the battle will begin, in the center of the kingdom on top of the plateau is the chest that holds the devil fruit, whichever crew is on that plateau at midnight will be gifted the fruit and will be safely guided from the island by yours truly! If anyone tries to fight before the battle begins, they'll be killed! Other than that, there are no rules, are there any questions?!"
"So what's the plan?" I asked Buggy as a bird landed nearby. In the background Voice answered random questions that I couldn't hear.
"If we're fighting for twelve hours it might be beneficial to wait until the herd has been thinned out." Mohji spoke.
"If we head for the plateau immediately we're at a disadvantage." Silas agreed.
"But if we head for the plateau we could fight more people." Coconut cut in, Phoenix nodding his approval slowly learning to understand the human language even if he couldn't speak it.
"This isn't a game, doing that could get us killed." Cabaji argued.
"I for one don't want to be fighting for twelve hours." Alvida added. "Sweating that much just doesn't look good on me."
"My hypnosis works better in smaller fights, when there's a crowd, few people look my way." Jango told us.
Ghin tapped his tonfas. "I don't mind fighting, I'm good with whatever the Don decides."
"It wouldn't be right to hide the entire time, but there's no reason to fight endlessly either." Buggy said. "When we land I'll fly up and find the highest vantage point of the kingdom, we'll stay there to watch over the competition. Oykot is massive but if there's hundreds of ships surrounding us on this one shore then there's likely to be thousands of pirate groups participating. No matter where we go, we'll have to fight but fighting fifty teams is better than a thousand."
"Fair enough. Next problem is Voice never said destroying another crew's ship is against the rules so we'll have to leave someone behind to protect ours." My eyes fell on Silas. "You don't want to fight directly, do you think you could handle protecting the ship?"
Silas nodded. "I can do that."
"Good, prepare to land." Buggy ordered as the bird flew off.
.
"So?" A girl asked. "Were you able to find them?"
The blonde haired man nodded. "Yes, their flag was pretty easy to spot but they're on the other side of the kingdom. It'll take a couple hours to get to where they are."
"So what's their plan?" A man with black hair and glasses questioned him.
"Let Adam finish Jason, no need to be impatient."
"I'm not being impatient, I just want to get this over with so I can return home. My son is getting impatient, he wants to hurry up and become a marine but he's only 16 and his training isn't done yet." Jason told the frog.
"16? At that age he can set out on his own." Zabela cut in. "How long did you want to keep him there?"
"At least until 19, if i can finish his training he'll make a better marine than me, I just don't want him going out too early and being killed."
"At that age he needs to go out and fight, that's how men grow." Eve argued.
Adam stomped shadows snaking out from his feet grabbing hold of the others and covering their mouths, Jason being the only one to avoid it. "We're getting off subject again, pay attention!"
"Please don't use my shadows like that." Jason told the man. "It hurts my eyes."
"Are we really going to talk about this or do you want to hear their plan?" Jason fell silent. "Thank you! They plan to land and find a high vantage point to watch the competition." Adam told the group. "Silas will be staying behind to guard the ship, Eve you're the fastest here, you should be able to make it there before the battle begins, take him out quickly."
Eve sighed. "I'm really not looking forward to this, Doctors should stick together. You know?"
Ari rubbed her shoulder. "He's a pirate, not a real doctor, he's an enemy who kills innocents with poison. If anything he should be the kind of person you dislike the most."
Eve nodded. "That makes it a little easier, still don't want to do it though."
"Moving on, our job is to meet them at their point and find a way to separate them, together they're stronger than us since we're just a random team, we don't have the time to synergize." Adam explained.
"But just yesterday you were sure we could take them out." Half said, confused.
"Yeah there's a new development, my information was old, they succeeded in recruiting Alvida, the woman who defeated your counterpart." Adam told Half. "Not only her but also the hypnotist, Jango, and the man demon, Ghin. In just a few days they managed to recruit some of the most infamous names in the East, we're now at a disadvantage."
"It's all his fault, the Ringmaster." Caleb croaked. "They were leisurely sitting in orange town until he showed up. I had a conversation with him when he was in my custody. He didn't approve of what Buggy's been doing for the last few years. It's clear he's the one responsible for their rapid growth."
X chuckled. "Alvida, Jango, and Ghin. Seems like you're really going to have to step up this time Jason. No one else will be able to take on the Man Demon."
"Shouldn't you fight him?" Jason returned. "You guys have similar weapons."
"Tonfa pistols and tonfas are two different things." X argued.
"No, he's got a point, his shadows are a better matchup for Darius and his lightning. Besides you lost to him once already, Jason will fight him." Adam decided.
X sighed. "Well if it's an order."
"This is all assuming that we'd get our desired matchups, plans hardly ever work out." Caleb said. "I don't suppose you have the ability to communicate with us across the island."
Adam shook his head. "Nope, things usually work out for me so we should be able to fight who we want."
Caleb sighed. "Well based on what I've heard your luck has always been good, I'll just rely on that."
"Good? My luck is terrible, if it wasn't for the Buggy Pirates being on the rise I'd still be stuck watching over the most peaceful island in east blue. Haven't had a single pirate attack in my whole career, this will be my first real battle." Adam complained.
"Which leads me to ask, why did they choose you as the leader for this?" X questioned him. "Surely someone like Smoker would be better, he's the strongest marine in the east blue, except when Garp visits."
"I asked that too." Adam told them. "He declined saying that they'd have to stop by loguetown on the way to the grandline and he'd just capture them there."
Ari agreed. "Knowing him, he'll probably pull it off should we fail."
"I wish I could give the guy a handshake at least once." Adam breathed out.
"Do you ever think for a moment that you might be a bit greedy?" X asked him. "If you keep taking in all these skills you'll end up lacking in other areas."
Adam shrugged. "Maybe, or I'll end up nearly unbeatable with a massive arsenal. As long as they let me out of the east blue one of these days I may even be able to work towards becoming fleet admiral."
Eve laughed. "The day you become fleet admiral is the day I become a pirate."
"You don't think I could do it?" Adam asked, a little offended.
"I don't believe you even think you could do it." Jason told him. "You wouldn't be able to accept one order from the celestial dragons, you only respect strength, you'd be the last person they choose for fleet admiral."
"It's not my fault they're so weak, who can respect people who have never trained a day in their lives? They've never fought or suffered." Adam complained. "As far as I'm concerned they're no better than children."
"Yeah just be sure you keep those thoughts to yourself." Caleb warned him as their ship finally reached the island.
.
Once our feet touched land Buggy flew into the air as high as he was able to go carrying Coconut to scout out the area. Pirates surrounded us on all sides, none daring to make a move having seen the power of Voice.
A couple moments later, Buggy returned.
"There's a run down castle a ways ahead." Coconut informed us before Buggy continued.
"It'd be pretty easy to defend so we can stay there until nightfall before heading towards the plateau."
"How long until we make it there?" I asked the young pirate.
Coconut thought about it for a moment. "We should make it there before the competition begins if we move fast."
I nodded. "Good, now." I looked up to the ship. "Halftail you're gonna have to fight this time!" I shouted. "If you don't, I'm banning you from fishing!!!"
Slow pawsteps could be heard from the ship as Halftail glared at me over the railing.
"Be mad all you want but you have to fight." I told him.
A low growl escaped his throat as he jumped down, the surrounding pirates took a step back as the massive panther's eyes swept through the crowd.
Mohji approached the beast, trying to calm it down but was rejected with a paw to the chest, sending him flying through the air.
I shook my head. "What are we going to do with you? Phoenix, keep him in check."
The chicken puffed out his chest proudly placing his wing upon himself as if to say 'leave it to me.'
Buggy stared as Silas.
"Did you want something, Captain?" The doctor asked.
"Yes." Buggy answered. "If my ship is destroyed, you'll be given a flashy execution "
Silas dipped his head. "Of course, Captain, I'll protect it with my life."
Buggy turned away, splitting from his feet and putting them on top of Halftail who didn't dare shake them off. "Alright freaks, let's go!" Buggy ordered as began flying off in the direction of the Castle, Halftail following behind him.
Alvida took off her sandals, taking Mohji's whip and wrapping it around the panther, using it to slide behind them. Cabaji got on his unicycle and Mohji rode Richie, leaving the rest of us behind as they soon disappeared from view.
"We could run but that's going to waste a lot of energy, you guys cool with walking?" I asked. "We should still get pretty close before the battle begins."
Coconut breathed out in relief. "I was worried I wouldn't have the strength to fight if I had to run the whole way there."
Jango spun around fixing his glasses, moonwalking in front of us. "A nice walk on a new island, fine by me."
Ghin shrugged. "I don't mind, I'll follow your lead."
I waved the man off. "No need, you and I have the same rank on this crew but I appreciate the support."
"Bye Doc." I waved.
Silas waved back, grabbing his transponder snail as it rang. "Hey Kaya, what'd you need help with? Oh I forgot to tell you, I saw your friend yesterday and he seemed healthy." As the two fell into unheard conversation we began our trek towards the castle.
.
The moment the marine group landed on shore Eve dissipated in a flash of warm light vanishing from sight in the next moment.
"So do you know where they're headed?" Caleb asked.
Adam nodded. "There's a castle near the center of the island, based on what I saw they should be heading there." He pointed. "It's a straight shot that way, Darius, Ghin and a few others are at the back of the group, walking. Buggy and his old members are rushing towards the castle, Alvida is with them."
Jason cracked his knuckles. "Caleb, X, and I will go ahead, we'll find Darius and cut them off before they make it there."
"Good, then the rest of us will meet Buggy in battle, once they're dealt with we'll leave the island, there's no point in trying to win this pointless competition." Adam told them.
The two groups split as hours passed and Adam and his group made it to the castle. "You guys ready, this won't be easy, just remember to stay on your guard."
"Our first flashy guest and the battle hasn't even started yet." A voice spoke as a man stepped out from inside the building. "What is that idiot Darius doing? Dragging his feet?"
Adam took hold of the shadows around him. "You must be Buggy, I was sent here to take you out, you could come along peacefully or we could force you to and hope you don't die."
Buggy grinned. "You think this small group is enough to handle us Split?" Buggy asked, looking at a man in the group. "Surprised to see you kept your sanity."
The man scowled. "That's not my name, I go by Half, I'm no longer part of that man that fried his brain."
A man chuckled, walking out from behind the Clown, his dog-like hair shining in the light of day. "So you're that clone that ran away, a coward, not even a real person. Would it count as murder if I kill you, would it count as cannibalism if I eat you?" He asked. "To think you joined the marines."
Half raised his fist, covered in iron gauntlets provided by Zabela. "I wanted to help people, if I take your group down I can save hundreds of lives in the process, a good mission to start my career as a marine."
"Oh what can you do, I beat hundreds of you, one more won't be hard." Alvida taunted him, a sly smile on her face.
"No, your opponent is me. We know about your abilities, no man can touch you, at least that what I heard, luckily for me I'm a woman." Zabela's fist lit aflame, a whip forming burning brightly.
"So cute." Alvida licked her lips. "I'll love getting a taste of you."
"So I'm guessing that leaves me with you, Acrobat?" Ari asked, looking at the green haired man.
Cabaji pulled a sword from his mouth. "You think you can handle a true pirate, little girls like you should be at home, not playing at becoming a marine. Give yourself a few more years, it would be a shame for you to die so young."
The group stood glaring at each other and sizing their opponent up, waiting patiently for the announcement.
.
"So you're the first person here." A man spoke. "You sure you want to fight both of us, alone? The battle will start shortly."
Another man roared with laughter, most of his face covered by a burn scar. "So you are the ones running this little game, a devil fruit is just what I need for revenge. Once this game begins I'll clean you two up and destroy everyone who comes after."
"You hear him, Ixta, he thinks he can handle us." The first man chuckled. "I'm Keigen, The God of Death, I'll enjoy ripping you apart from the inside."
The woman at his side giggled. "Ixta, The Goddess of Suicide, let's hope when you die it's not with your own blade at your throat."
The man palmed his blade. "Bluejam, they call me The Avowed Noble, not the name I would've chosen but I'm the king of the east and the only god to fear. After destroying you two, I'll find that strawhat kid and that red nosed bastard and take them out. I just need a little more power and what better for that than a devil fruit."
"Revenge, I admire that." Keigen grinned. "But using a devil fruit to get it? Aren't you worried that the one I have may be useless?"
"No such thing as a useless fruit, just a misused one." Bluejam told him.
Keigen nodded. "That's true, I myself have a pretty weak fruit in most people's eyes, that is until their body is ripped to pieces."
Bluejam continued. "Why did you decide to hold this competition? You could've just sold the fruit or used it for yourself, why give others the chance to take it?"
Ixta spoke up. "How does it feel when your blade reaches an enemy's heart? Some hate that feeling, but me, I love it."
"We love it." Keigen smiled warmly at the woman. "We love nothing more than the feeling of warm blood on our skin, we bathe in it given the chance, calling in pirates from all over gives us the chance to kill all we want without the marines cracking down on us. Once they're all dead we'll collect the blood and enjoy ourselves, it'll keep us going for years."
"I only kill to further my goal, whatever gets me closer to ruling this world, I get the feeling killing you two could help me get there." Bluejam drew his blade. "The moment it hits noon, you two are dead."
Keigen smirked, taking out a pouch from his pocket, he opened it, pouring a strange silver dust into his right hand. "I think you'll find the outcome of that battle to be quite a bit different."
Ixta closed her eyes, upon opening them they turned a crimson red, rocks floating up from the ground as a red energy took hold of it. "I'll love drinking the blood from your corpse." She grinned wildly.
.
"Well fuck." I sighed heavily, surrounding us on all sides was an army of pirates. Clearly they circled our group because of the threat we were when left alone. If they took us out the game everyone's chances of winning were a bit higher.
"A reminder, once they're dead our alliance is over." One man said to another.
The second man nodded. "Of course, we'll even offer a ten minute truce after it's over."
If I had to count I'd say there was anywhere between a hundred to a thousand people surrounding us. Their levels varied as I observed them, the highest of which was 20, a man named Veran, possessing the Hard Hard fruit. Which meant either Bear King died or he didn't exist in this world.
"There's so many." Coconut observed. "Are you as excited as I am?" The boy asks Phoenix.
The chicken vigorously nodded its head, he would get to fight as much as he wanted to today.
"Strange way to look at possible death, it'll be hard to take on this many pirates." Ghin said.
"We're just choosing fun over fear, once you're in that crowd fighting, everything else drains away, the feeling of my fist moving so fluidly, something I could have never imagined so long ago. It's exciting to fight, if we should die, it'll be with our pride intact, going down fighting." I explained.
At the edge of the clearing unnoticed by the others, three people joined the horde of pirates. 'Caleb, and X?' I thought, reading their stats, what are they doing here. 'And who is this Jason guy?'
[Jason, Marine, Lv. 35]
Age: 34
Devil fruit(Shade Shade fruit: Allows the user to control shadows and turn into shadows at will. Making them a shadow human.)
[Stats]
Vit: 30
Str: 33
End: 40
Agi: 37
Def: 35
[Skills]
Shadow lurk(Allows the user to hide in shadows able to attack from them at any time.)
Shadow manipulation Lv. 50(The user can create and control an infinite amount of shadows)
Shadow mimicry Lv. 20(The user can turn into shadows)
"What are they gathered around for?" Caleb asks X.
X shrugs. "Hell if I know, but I think it'd be smart to take them out, when the battle begins we can pick them off before continuing to find Darius."
"Our orders were to go directly to him, take him out the moment this started and return to the ship." Jason reminded him.
"We can't leave these pirates alone, if we take them out now the east blue will be more peaceful for it." X told him.
"They'll take each other out in the fight for the devil fruit." Jason tried convincing him, their voices barely a whisper to avoid being heard by the pirates surrounding them.
"And how many will escape when too strong an enemy shows up, it's better we deal with them now rather than later after they amassed more power. If they're grouped up it's clearly some sort of alliance, let's attack and throw them into chaos. They won't know who's friend or foe and they'll start fighting each other. We can wait on the edge of the clearing and clean up anyone who tries to run." X offered.
Meanwhile near the shore of the island, Silas ended his conversation with Kaya, having taught her about the poisons he knew and the cure for them. He taught her about what was safe to eat in the wild and what wasn't, he looked deeper into that since the day he accidentally poisoned Coconut so that he could make sure he never made that mistake again.
He noticed the sun was nearly at its peak and stood up, going to the edge of the ship, his daggers prepared to protect the ship.
A ways away unbeknownst to him a woman reformed from dim light, seeing the man on the ship as she prepared to attack. She watched him patiently waiting for the announcement, she didn't want to do this, everything in her body advised her against it but as a voice filled the air she had no choice.
"Let the battle!!!!" Voice roared. "Begin!!!"
Eve immediately rocketed forward, her leg being caught by a wall of flowers. Silas stared into her eyes, a little sad. "Seems I'll have to fight sooner than I thought." The man threw her off landing on the beach in front of her.
In the center of the island Bluejam rushed head on at his enemies, Keigen blowing out the silver dust in his hand which Bluejam had the foresight to dodge. Ixta pelted the man with sharp stones as Bluejam swung only for his blade to suddenly be stopped by Keigen's own, seemingly appearing out of nowhere as the silver dust in the air increased in size revealing blades that rained down from above.
Adam pushed his shadows forward, cutting the red nosed pirate's head clean off. The head immediately reattached as Buggy sent his fist rocketing forward just for Adam to grab it with a smirk.
Bone covered my arms as I jumped into the crowd of pirates around me, X and the others wouldn't attack immediately, leaving me with time to level up thanks to the abundance of enemies.
Voice watched over the competition through his ears, a smile on his face. "All of this excitement makes me want to join in, if only I were younger."
...
Current stats and skills
Ringmaster Darius, Vice Captain, Lv. 38
Age: 20
Money: 20,009,000
Bounty: 20,000,000
[Stats]
Vit: 26
Str: 55
End: 28
Agi: 41
Def: 40
.
Stats possessed: 0
Points till the next level: 376
...
Responding to comments
merendinomeliano: Thank you, thank you
Guest: Cant imagine you got this far but usually fights have a lot of talking in anime.
TrumpasaurusRex: Not a flower any of the characters would want, immortality makes things boring.
Spiderfan: I dont like Wapols charater too much and i dont plan on going towards the strawhats route so i cant get Goldenweek.
MDM11: I have no plans for crossovers, kuroobi and chew hate humans too much. Crossovers arent my thing, in the future if i do write another fanfic i might have crossovers between the two fanfics off to the side but itll never be a major part of the story.
billsazguard: Just writing as a hobby atm
ZoyeZest: Thanks for reading but just writing as a hobby atm
...
Final thoughts
Sometimes when i bold something it ends up undone when i post the chapter so i had to stop doing it. I think it may be a problem with my phone. Anyway the fights start next chapter and we can truly get this arc started, should be two to three chapters. If you like the story feel free to follow or favorite, and if you have questions feel free to leave a comment.