Chapter 15 A Protector

30 MINUTES BEFORE THE END OF MORI'S BATTLE

After kicking away Bizaro after our first clash I headed straight for him now that our fight wouldn't be interrupted. Showing grace all swordsmen should have, he turned his momentum into a flip landing in a slide a few meters away from me. 'Good reactions! This will be fun, finally, a fight where I won't get trashed' I thought with excitement, giving Tengoku a twirl while I waited for Bizaro to get his bearings.

"You have to be the rudest swordsman I've ever met," The surprisingly mild-mannered pirate berated me. Deciding to get a lock on him I give him a once over, about 182 centimeters tall wearing a black cloak hiding his severed arm, black hair, and a face littered with scars.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I hate being third-partied" I said with a smirk causing him to raise a brow in confusion.

"I wanted a duel…" I said pointing at the guy's still sheathed katana.

"Oh I see, guess you aren't too rude then 'hunter'?" He asked curiously, unsheathing a golden-hilted katana with a beautiful black flame edge pattern. 'Kind of looks like Sandai Kitetsu'

"Yeah, here for your bounty nothing more, well something else but we'll get to that later. That a skillful grade?'' I asked my own question to the 50 million Berrie pirate.

"Yep just like yours, 'Enjo Kogero'" He answered before blitzing towards me and going for a stab near my right eye. Tilting my head to the left I tried to slam my sword's pommel into his sword hand, he tilted his hand to the side forcing me to flash backward to dodge his retaliatory slash.

Deciding to really test his reaction speed I head right into his guard after two flashes of soru, coming out of it I sent an upwards slash aiming for his chin. Luckily for me, he misjudged the length of my sword, tilting his head back he failed to guard his chest as my slash cut right into him. Being a mere flesh wound he brushed it off quickly, slamming his blade downward which I quickly parried with a sideward slash. What followed next was an endless barrage of parries into strikes, small cuts appearing on both of us but no clear blow from the ten-minute exchange. Deciding to change the momentum I turned on my Haki and focused it directly on him.

{Overhead slash}

With my Haki predicting his next attack, I side-stepped his strike without even looking. At the same moment, I'm in his guard slamming my sword pommel upwards through his chin sending him flying into a few flips till he lands in a crouch, rubbing his busted chin in pain.

"Well that was interesting, how the hell did you do that I wonder…." Bizaro said in confusion before standing and rushing towards me. This time his strikes were vicious. Each one came from the other giving me no room to easily enter his guard. 'Looks like he's getting serious'

{Horizontal slash} {Sword jab X3}

Jumping back from the slash, I twist and turn around the stabs before sending a quick stab of my own, tearing into his cheek which caused him to jump back in fear of losing an ear. Deciding to put on some pressure I appeared behind in a flash of soru, already mid-slash as I swiped at his back causing him to barely turn in time to parry my strike.

SKILL LEVEL UP

(INTERMEDIATE) SWORDSMANSHIP 10-(11)

"God dammit! How am I losing to a kid!" Bizaro yelled in rage before he tried charging in for another attack, well he would've if a giant Panda didn't come flying between us and smashed into the wall. 'Come on Mori….' I thought with a sigh before turning towards him.

"Come on Mori, what's the problem? He's only worth 25 million?" I was surprised our physically strongest member was sent flying this far,

"Fuck you Cap, bastards Devil fruit is broken," Mori said with a scowl smoke still coming off his fur, multiple daggers were stabbed into his body as well causing my eyes to widen.

"Don't blame your partner, crazy Jeff hasn't got his bounty changed since I gave him that fruit. Hell, the fucker might be worth more than me." Bizaro informed us before running towards me sending an overhead slash I easily parried, sending a stab at his chest I jumped backward to get some room.

"Info now!" I yelled to Mori.

"He said it was the Hito-Hito no mi Model: Zombie, his body repairs from all damage, and his limbs can explode separate from his body!" Mori yelled. 'What? That is way too broken for a regular Zoan and it's definitely not an Ancient Zoan, So it has to be….'

"Well holy shit, a Mythical here? The North Blue is crazy." I said basically to myself. 'I have to have that fruit which means that bastard can't die here, there are way too many fruits on this island for it to spawn on my ship' I finished the thought annoyed before completely focusing all of my Haki on Bizaro, parrying his slash upwards I jump into a spin slamming a flying kick directly into his stomach sending him flying while giving me some breathing room.

"Alright, there's two ways you can probably win. One, destroy his head. Two, try to knock him out then tie him up. If you can do the second, I'll even give you a 50 million bonus for this hunt. Good luck buddy!" I said before giving him a salute and flashing toward the charging Bizaro. Meeting him blade to blade and face to face.

"You're a smart Captain 'Killian', not many would give their crew a power-up before themselves" I said with respect while we were locked blade to blade.

"You're one to talk, haha. Giving an ancient Zoan to your crewmate '' He said nodding towards Drake who was tying up the last stray member of the 'Bizaro Pirates'.

"Eh, what can I say, great minds think alike. Too bad you're unlucky, your crew just lost to mine" I said pointing towards 'The Cannibal' flying through the air, drilling into a wall head first.

"Not necessarily, if I can beat you I only have to get past the boy with the chin scar" Bizaro said with a smirk before holding his sword in front of him and beginning to spin it in his palm. 'Ohhhh, a special technique, good thing I finally made my own'

We both took off in a full-speed run at each other, rolling my sword in my hand. I get ready to activate soru, and finally meeting in the middle we both launched our strongest sword attacks.

"SINGLE SWORD STYLE: BOSHI KAZE!" Killian Bizaro yelled, increasing the speed of his spinning blade, finally using the momentum to send the blade into a powerful horizontal slash that cut the wind in its wake.

"SINGLE SWORD STYLE: ATSUEN SENKO!" I yelled, forcing my body parallel to the ground while simultaneously using soru to send myself into a powerful spin, easily jumping over Killains last attack. I turned my blade onto its flat right when I slammed it into his shoulder.

The sound of his shattered collarbone was the only thing heard in the cavern after our last clash, he walked forward for a few steps before collapsing with whiteout eyes marking the ending of our battle

"Phew, that was awesome, I'm surprised that it worked. Never tried it in actual combat before, huahahha" I yelled with a laugh as I landed from my spinning attack.

"I don't know about that Cap, that shit looked unblockable to me….." Mori said with sweat falling from his brow at my sword technique.

"Yeah you kind of looked like a spinning ball of death, I couldn't even tell where your sword was…." Drake said with an equally shaken expression.

"Come now guys, you'll be able to do something way more deadly in a few months. No need to be all surprised. And Mori, good job, really. This is probably the best catch we've ever had" I said while picking up 'The cannibal' from one of the rope straps holding him. "Phew, this dude reeks, like pork left in the sun for a year. Gotta remember to mark that down as a downside to it" I said, dropping him back to the dirt.

"So what's the plan now Cap? We dragging all these bastards to the ship?" Mori asked.

"Hell no, the only two we're only taking with us are the Captain and the Vice, everyone else can figure it out. But let me go see if I can talk this bastard into making a deal." I said before walking off back towards the falling Captain holding his shoulder in pain. 'Holy hell people in this world are built differently, I'm sure I broke at least five different bones with that attack'

"W..wh..why.. did you change your slash at the last second?" Bizaro asked with mild anger, assuming I took pity on him if I had to guess.

"It wasn't pity if that's what you think, I actually wanted to offer you a deal. If you look closely everyone on your crew is merely captured, not dead." I told him to which his eyes widened as he looked around frantically to confirm my words.

"Sigh…..what is it?" He relented, showing me a respectful gaze.

"Well before we get into that I'll be honest with you, in no deal will your Vice-Captain be spared. I can be cool with a lot of things but eating people is fucked beyond belief" I said to which his eyes took on an angry look before sighing and nodding to my condition. 'Hah! Like I give a fuck what he does, I just need the weird bastards' fruit'

"Alright for the lives of your crew and their continued freedom, I only want you to do one thing."

"Hah! Let me guess it's something absolutely crazy, like killing a celestial dragon,huhahaha"

"Oh no this is something that will come extremely easy for a man like you, I just need you to lie to the bounty desk and anyone else that asks you about this lie" I said with a devious smirk.

"Really? That's it" he asked in disbelief.

"Yep you just have to say this girl was on your crew and I sent her to drown at sea, with nothing left of her but this," I said, pulling out a poster and severed arm I've had stored in my inventory from one of the girls from the 'Black-cat pirates'.

"Deal, I'll even swear on my swordsman's honor that even under torture they won't ever get the truth from me….. But you have to let my crew set sail at least a few hours before you turn me in"

"Yeah that's cool with me, Boys wake 'em up!" I yelled to the guys as they began smacking around the crew till they all woke up.

2 HOURS LATER WESTERN DOCK

After watching for an entire hour as his ship left the island under the leadership of his left-hand, Bizaro finally sighed giving me a nod before I dropped him off at the bounty office and walked away with 50 million berries and a poster with an 'X' marked out. 'Well all of that went well, hopefully, it stays like that. He's definitely going to get questioned thoroughly, but I gave him enough dummy info to make even Sengoku himself believe it.'

'Well, I guess this long-ass mission is almost over. Now I just need a little luck' I thought as I hopped on the ship, nodding to both my crew mates guarding the door to the 'Fruit freezer' where I told them to throw Jeffery.

"Alright Drake, here's your cut, 5 million," I said while his eyes turned to berries at the stack of bills I handed to him.

"And the MVP Mori, here's your cut as well as your bonus. Should be 55 million" I said, handing him a big purple case packed full of berries, his eyes widened like crazy at the amount of cash I handed him.

"Thanks, Cap" Mori cried actual tears of joy, hopping into a skip and swinging his large briefcase around.

"Just get out of here you degenerates, go blow your money or something," I said with a sigh as they both disappeared like they ate the light Logia. 'And I said I didn't want to run a motley crew, well at least they're good fighters' I finished the thought with a sigh before heading down into the freezer area.

Seconds later I come to see a zombie rolling on the floor trying his best to get out of his bindings.

"You son of a bitch, I'm immortal you'll never outlast me!" Jeffery yelled as we locked eyes.

"Huhaha, already developed a god complex from eating a powerful fruit huh? Well sorry to burst your bubble but devil fruit powers are not unbeatable." I replied to him with a laugh while unlocking the door to the fruit freezer. Turning towards him I smirked at his foolishness.

"You know what this is don't you?" I asked to which his eyes widened in horror.

"I guess so, what happens if this is stabbed into your brain? Will you die?" I asked curiously while throwing the seastone dagger into his forehead.

A few seconds later he fell to his side with no light in his eyes. 'Well his fruit isn't completely broken I see, still, it's got to be higher than epic rank for sure' I thought while turning my focus towards the fruit freezer. 'Come on baby, one of these fruits has got to be compatible' it thought looking over the 100 different types of fruits laying in the freezer. Exactly two hundred and ninety-nine fruits total after the cheetah Zoan took one.

And just like magic, the tomato began changing, growing odd veins in a weird wave pattern, expanding while gaining a few black swirls. 'Haha! It's a fucking brain, how gross' I thought with a morbid chuckle as I grabbed the fruit in interest.

LEGENDARY-GRADE MYTHICAL ZOAN FRUIT ACQUIRED

HITO HITO NO MI MODEL:ZOMBIE

EFFECT: BECOME AN UNDEAD HUMAN AND GAIN THE POWERS OF A ZOMBIE. PERMANENT BOOST OF +500 ENDURANCE AND +500 DEXTERITY. 7X BOOST TO ALL STATS WHEN TRANSFORMED.

'Hmm, so compared to Drake's fruit this one has the same transformation multiplier but with way higher stat boosts, I'd still say this is one of the weaker Mythical Zoans, but if somebody on Vista's level ate this I'd bet he could beat one of the main Admirals one on one. This fruit's power lies in its extreme regen ability after all' I finished the thought before definitely deciding I'm not eating this fruit.

'It's definitely the second-best fruit in my possession right now, and it's great for melee combat but I'd like to have a beautiful wife at some point and a family. It's going to be impossible if I smell like ten-day-old dog shit for the rest of my life, not to mention if I'll even be able to have kids after I'm a zombie. So that's a hard pass on this one, huhaha' I finished the debate with a hearty chuckle before heading towards my cabin to sleep for hopefully ten-plus hours.