8 Chapter 8

Doing what Hakai told her to do, Makino threw a punch at his head.

"Too slow," he said, reacting to the punch and moving his head to the side.

"Think of me as a real opponent and don't hesitate to attack. Make sure you use your whole body when attacking to get more power too."

Makino nodded and tried her best to do what Hakai said and threw another punch, this time without hesitation, putting more strength into the punch.

"Good, that's better."

Hakai and Makino continued training for the next few hours, stopping only so Makino could check if they were still going in the right direction, which thankfully, they were.

"You'll have to get a better navigator in the future, especially if we're planning to go to the Grand Line," she said, adjusting the wheel of the ship.

Hakai nodded as he rubbed his chin. "Hmm, someone will turn up eventually, I hope, but if not then I can always carry the ship if we get in trouble."

Considering his dragon form was 100 meters tall, he could definitely carry their ship.

Makino rolled her eyes, scoffing. "Hakai, I know you're strong, but I have a hard time believing you'd be able to carry the ship..."

"It's true. Remember what the name of our pirate crew is?"

"Mmhm, The Dragon Pirates," she replied.

"Well, it's named after me. I'm a dragon. Watch," he said as he took off his clothes and threw them on the ground.

Hakai's skin darkened, changing from tan to a shiny black as his smooth skin turned into hard scales. His face elongated as it turned into the head of a dragon, his horns curving up like the jolly roger of the ship.

Opening his eyes, it changed from its golden color to a deep purple, as it was slit like a dragon's eyes.

A long, reptilian tail sprouted out from his rear, and a pair of wings appeared on his back.

Hakai's size also grew, but instead of his true form which was 100 meters tall, he only doubled in size as he wasn't fully in his dragon form. He called this form his hybrid form which was similar to the hybrid forms that zoan devil fruits had.

(AN: His hybrid form is 20 feet tall or about 6 meters tall and is similar to X-Drake's hybrid form only with wings and more dragon-looking.)

Makino was startled, seeing Hakai in his semi-dragon form. "Y-you have a devil fruit?"

Hakai shook his head. "Nope, that's where you're wrong. I'm a dragon through and through and not like those World Nobles that say they're dragons."

Seeing that he got his point across, Hakai reverted back to his human form and put his clothes back on.

"That's only my hybrid form. My true form is much, much bigger."

"So that's why you called our crew The Dragon Pirates," Makino said, realizing the reason for the name of their crew.

"I'm the only dragon for now, but someday, more and more people will join our crew and I'll make them all dragons. You'll be the first, of course."

Makino smiled. "Well then I'll be waiting."

As she looked into the horizon, she spotted the figure of a ship.

"Hakai, look!" she said, pointing at the ship in the distance. "It's a ship and from the looks of it, it's heading straight for us."

Hakai looked at the ship in the distance and seeing its distinct blue color. Being a dragon, his eyesight was so far better than that of Makino's and he could see a large M on the ship's sails.

"It's a marine ship. It's most likely coming to arrest us, but don't worry. Remember what I taught you and call for me if you need help. Just keep going straight ahead. We shouldn't be scared of marines if we call ourselves pirates."

Makino nodded and kept the ship on its course. Their ship and the marine ship would most likely come in contact with each other in a few minutes.

As the ships neared each other, Hakai grabbed his katana firmly in his hand.

The marines made their first move as they fired a cannonball towards their ship. The cannonball sailed through the air, flying directly towards the main mast of their ship.

"Shit." Hakai jumped towards the cannonball, aiming to cut it with his katana. He could certainly do it with his skill and strength, but he reacted a bit too slow since he didn't expect the marines to make a move so quickly.

He could try sending a compressed wave of air to cut the cannonball, but it was unfortunately out of his range and if he pushed his katana more than its limit, it would break.

'Fuck, is our ship going to get damaged this early on our journey? No, I won't let that happen.'

As he concentrated at the cannonball, Hakai felt a weird energy that was being emitted from his chest. Time also seemed to slow down as he unconsciously used said energy.

'Wha- is this Haki? No... I've never felt Haki, but this is definitely different.'

[You've sensed your Draconic Energy, allowing you to create, shape, and manipulate it at will.]

[New skill:] Draconic Energy Manipulation

[Best element compatibility: Darkness]

[New skill:] Draconic Darkness Manipulation

'Darkness? Draconic Energy? Whatever, I just need to stop that cannonball.'

Hakai swung his sword as a last desperation, but the distance was just too far and out of his current 10 meter range, or so he thought.

The katana turned pitch black as it was coated in darkness, its blade elongating to reach the cannonball and cut it in half, causing it to miss their ship's mast.

"Whoah."