Chapter 22.

Hexius, you know this mark?" One of the members asked sternly.

"Yes. This is jolly rogers of Donquixote Pirates." Hexius replied.

"Donquixote Pirates? Isn't the captain of Donquixote Pirates Warlord?" One added.

"It doesn't matter whether the logo belongs to Donquixote Pirates or not. We have to report it to the leader." One of the older looking members stated.

"Johnny is right. We will set off immediately with these weapons." Hexius made a decision. "Prepare."

"Okay." Others replied.

***

A few days passed and the Revolutionary Army members were nearing the secret base of the Revolutionary Army.

"That's our secret base." Hexius pointed at the building in front.

In response, Valentine nodded after taking a good look at the secret base of the world's 'worst' organisation.

Soon after the entered the building. Upon entering Hexius told he had to report the information to their boss, Dragon and told Valentine to tour around the building in the meantime.

Valentine listened to Hexius words, silently toured around the building.

***

Soon after Hexius came finding Valentine, telling Valentine his boss wanted to meet him, leading the way. In response, Valentine followed Hexius without letting out a single word.

After around 5 minutes, Hexius and Valentine were standing in front of a normal-looking door.

Knock Knock

"Come in." As Hexius knocked on the door, a voice echoed inside from the room. With the approval, Hexius instructed Valentine to the room which Valentine did so with a single nod.

When Valentine entered the room, he was greeted by a simple room with little to no decoration. Inside the room, there was a man with spiky black hair sitting at the desk. The most notable characteristic of the man was his odd tattoo on the left side of his face.

"I heard you wanted to meet me." Dragon asked.

***

Many days passed since Valentine's visit to Baltigo. As Valentine's objective to make connections with the Revolutionary Army was completed, he now focused his attention on the more crucial thing. The thing was power. Valentine realized he was still weak compared to the upper echelons of the powerhouses of the world after his fight against Kizaru one of the 3 Admirals of the Headquarters of the Marine who undoubtedly was considered one of the strongest people. Hence, Valentine decided to hunt down pirates, human traffickers and marines as well as agents of the World Government. Also to become strong Valentine needed to level up his mastery over Haki which was proven to be quite overwhelming if mastered and used perfectly. And there was another thing which was his Zanpakuto. Valentine couldn't even master the Shikai form as the Zanpakuto Spirit insisted not to tell the name. Because of this Valentine asked Benihime whether the wielder needed to prove himself in order to achieve the Shikai form and learn the name of the Zanpakuto and the answer was 'No'. Upon Benihime's explanation, Valentine understood the Zanpakuto Spirit should be telling its name constantly to the wielder. However, the wielder may not be able to hear it at first but will eventually hear it as he progressed. So Valentine's Zanpakuto Spirit was behaving quite strange. Due to these reasons, Valentine left Baltigo and set sail on the ocean once again.

During the past week, Valentine hunted down any pirate crew he met as well as marines. Also, he met more marines than pirates which were quite surprising for him. However, it was understandable as Valentime killed not only one but 3 Celestial Dragon and because of this Valentine was a priority to hunt down for both marines and assassins from the World Government.

And Valentine was currently fighting a marine platoon led by one of the Vice-Admirals from the Headquarters. The Vice-Admiral was a man with blonds hair with same coloured beard wearing the traditional outfit of the marine Vice-Admiral with the only difference being coloured green except for his coat. The Vice-Admiral had a Devil Fruit ability which allowed him to turn into a half-dog with a white body and black spots on it. After the transformation he was not only strong and fast he also could combine it with Rukoshiki further enhancing their capabilities. However, matter how much he enhances his powers it still was no match for Valentine as Valentine was faster than his enhanced Soru with Shunpo, had a stronger defence with Hierro not to mention Armament Haki, had a stronger attack than his enhanced Shigan with his Zanpakuto not to mention Cero. Therefore it was relatively easy for Valentine to wipe out the entire platoon except for the Vice-Admiral who was still struggling to fight.

Valentine wondered why the Vice-Admiral was trying so hard to protect that so-called 'Justice' which was an utter lie in truth. But Valentine didn't let the confusion cloud his objective and went for the kill as he slashes his Zanpakuto, killing the Vice-Admiral.

***

Many days passed and Valentine was spending days as usual till encounter an unknown enemy. The enemy seemed to be a pirate crew as their ship had a Jolly Roger of three skulls looking in different directions and behind them, there were three bones crossed.

Soon a tall man with a pale man wearing a top hat came finding Valentine.

"Hello." The man stated as he looked at Valentine. In response, Valentine kept silent.

"My captain wants you to join our crew." The man stated.

"Not interested." Valentine replied instantly.

"Seems like you misunderstood something. It wasn't a proposal but an order." As the man said a menacing aura emitted from him which could easily suffocate a normal person. However, Valentine wasn't a normal person, at least.

"My answer stays still." Valentine coldly answered.

"Too bad. Now we gotta do it in a rough way." The man stated and clicked his tongue. Then the man tapped his staff on the ground. After that, a buff man walked towards Valentine.

The newly arrived man attacked Valentine without further notice, delivering a powerful punch. In response, Valentine used Shunpo instinctively and summoned the modified Emperor, firing countless Cero at the man. The buff man tried and blocked the Cero, however, he was slashed on his back. Right after slashing the back of the man, he pointed his finger at the man, firing far powerful and big Cero which engulfed the man whole. After the Cero ended, the man was revealed to be burnt in every inch of his body though he was still breathing.

"Razor, Benihime." So Valentine used another attack to finish off the man. Suddenly, Valentine's body was pulled in a certain direction. Thus, Valentine shifted his gaze towards the direction, seeing a brown-skinned man with a black beard smiling creepily.

The black-bearded man tried to punch Valentine when he came into his range and he did. But the first of the man met a cold, rough thing rather than human flesh. That's when the man noticed a strange-looking armor protecting Valentine. The temperature dropped drastically which was enough to frostbite the man in a span of a few seconds, prompting the man to retreat.

"Zeee Hahahahahh. Yours is truly a wonderful Devil Fruit. It should be under me. Zee Hahahaah." The black bearded man began to laugh from the bottom of his lung.

While the man was busy laughing Valentine used Shunpo and tried to slash the man. But his Zanpakuto collided with a sword of a person with a cigar in his mouth.

"You have to defeat the underlings before fighting the boss." The man stated and slashed back, prompting Valentine to retreat.

"I don't want to kill you because you are pretty good with your Devil Fruit. So join my team." The man asked after stopping his laughter.

"I refuse." As Valentine states many men surrounded him.

"Too bad then." The man stated and clicked his fingers. After the man clicks his fingers Valentine clenched his fist readying himself for the upcoming battle.