Chapter 30 An Unforeseen Conflict

"Truly a fitting name.... Wouldn't you agree? Corazon?" I asked curiously as I looked above our battleground toward a shaking tree. 'Jeez….. The man with the potential to become the strongest assassin can't control their emotions' I finished the thought with a sigh as I observed the blur that landed beside the fallen boy.

"Captain! That wasn't…. Was it?" Cora asked, obviously shaken as he laid a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Even a novice like you could see it, that was most certainly the color of the Kings, HUhahahaha" I explained as I burst out into an almost hysterical laugh. 'I knew it, depression was the cause that held him back, he merely needed a significant push'

'Though a clash of kings was more than I expected, who knew he would be the one to help me unlock mine' I finished the thought as my smirk grew more pronounced, turning my head about the clearing. I take a multitude of satisfaction at the fact that dozens of birds lay strewn about, unable to continue their flight after our awakening.

"So you're happy your test worked…." Cora said condescendingly, I could almost feel the scowl he sent me without even looking towards him.

"Oh-ho, and would you also like to talk of your insubordination? I ordered you back to the ship fifteen minutes ago" I said with a smirk as I idly began cleaning the rainwater from 'Yang'.

"I didn't know we were soldiers, I was under the impression we were 'family', and I was never too good at listening to my father's wishes," Cora said with a content sigh as he hoisted the boy over his shoulder.

"Huahaha, well you got me there, there are only absolutes during battle" I said as I finally turned to give him a smile. Soon followed by the crunches of boots meeting the wet mud.

"I'd love to stay and talk more about this my Captain but it would seem you have more pressing concerns...." He said before heading off towards the Ebony Hawk, agreeing with him I slowly turned around to greet this new 'problem'.

What met me would have usually been an odd sight… If I didn't see something like this every day. A warrior Panda standing before me with a seven-foot axe unsheathed for battle, floating above him was a dinosaur almost equally as bloodthirsty, a slight smirk on his beak as he looked down at me from above.

"So…. what can I help you boys with today?" I asked seemingly unconcerned about their blatant blood lust.

"Nothing major Captain….. We were just wondering what you found for the competition." Mori asked with a gleam in his eyes. 'Ohhhhh, so that's their goal. Very observant….. I'm almost proud'

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO A 10,000 COIN LEGENDARY DRAW Y/N

DRAWING...….

And like Magic a yellow colored orb fell into my hand, soon I raised it and showed it to both of my closest friends. Even I couldn't mask my surprise at exactly what I 'found', a golden orb that practically screamed power, my first Legendary Grade skill-orb.

"And that is what exactly," The floating bird asked curiously as he eyed the orb carefully.

"I guess you could call it an Orb of power with the ability to grant skills to the user, or skill orb for short. Probably rarer than devil fruits, this one especially, it is after all the second best one you could find" I said as I idly threw the orb up and down in my palm.

"That is the level of bullshit I expected you to put into this competition," Drake said with a sigh.

"So you've realized your loss?" I asked with curiosity as they both broke out into matching smirks.

"Oh ho, have you guys finally grown too big for your britches?" I asked with a chuckle as I watched them both tense for battle.

"Oh whatever will I do, two against one, now that's not fair... if only I had a beautiful companion to help me in my time of need." I said out loud as I heard a scoff from above me. Both of my potential opponents began to sweat as they turned their heads upwards to find Monet sitting on one of the highest branches, an inconspicuous bag of popcorn in her grasp as she watched the proceedings as if they were a movie.

"Hmmm, I would, however, I seem to remember a comment. Something along the lines of 'The most beautiful Snow Princess could 'Take Notes' in terms of naming her techniques" she hummed cutely with a finger pointed onto her chin in thought.

"That is not what I said….." I said with a deadpan as I eyed her mirth-filled eyes.

"....And my legs hurt" She said much more honestly, giving me a wink in the process as she threw a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

"Totally understandable….. Worry not my Lady, I shall defend your honor!" I said getting back into my theatrics.

"Can… Can we just fight?" Mori asked with exasperation.

"Whatever do you mean? It's already begun" I said as I was already in front of him slashing downwards, only to be met with a talon in response, sparks of metal rained as we clashed for dominance. 'Yep of course he's still faster than me, an ancient Zoan user after all'

"Haaaa!" Seemingly angry at being caught off guard the ax man slammed his weapon down at full power causing a small fissure in the ground.

"Almost" I said with a laugh as I appeared under him not a second later I slammed the sole of my boot in his chin sending him into the air. 'YOUTH!' I screamed in my mind as I did a well-timed geppo to catch up with him.

{BEHIND-EXPLOSION}

With the warning, I spammed both Soru and Geppo heading straight for the ground as an inferno separated me from Mori's airborne form.

Quickly a blur grabbed the Panda from the air and they landed together twenty meters across from me.

"You guys are going to make this annoying huh?" I said with a sigh as I blasted forward quickly followed by Drake who held his wrist and began charging towards me. 'There's no way he already figured it out....' I thought in exasperation as I gave up my charge at Mori to focus my full attention on the spinning dark red ball my scaly opponent had prepared for me.

"ASHENGA…!" He yelled before my sword flashed cutting a perfect line through his technique

"What…. Ahhhhhhh!" he screamed in agony as his own technique hit him and he was engulfed in fire.

"Phew, that was a close one, what do you think, Mori?" I asked curiously from behind me as I raised my sword to block his downward slash.

"No, but this one will be" He said with a smirk as he raised his great ax above his head, in the moments I could see every muscle of his tighten to an insane degree. 'Ain't no way, he really mastered Tekai before me!'

"Berserker style-EARTH RENDING" He yelled with power and slammed his ax down on my guard, quickly I realized I underestimated him as I was sent flying. Not a moment after I was sent flying I noticed an insanely fast blur appearing behind me.

{BEHIND-EXPLOSION}

Sadly my Haki warned me all too late.

"ASHENGAN!" Drake yelled in anger as he slammed the ball of compressed fire in the small of my back, it exploded with a force I wasn't expecting, sending me back towards Mori like a rag doll. Looking over through the pain I couldn't help but notice him setting up like a major league pitcher ready to blast me back the way I came.

"Yeah… no" I said in annoyance as I took control of my flight, fighting through the pain I raised my sword above my head, and not half a second later I was only a few feet from Mori who had already begun his 'homerun' movement.

Positioning myself as close to level as possible. I focused on geppo turning my body level to the ground. I then utilized Soru to turn myself into a spinning blade of death. "Single Sword Style- Atseun Senko" I whispered as sword met ax in a battle of dominance.

Too bad for Mori that my momentum more than made up for our strength difference, proving true a second after our weapons met and he was set straight to the ground creating a 20-meter-wide crater in the process. His ax being the only thing keeping him in 'one piece'.

{BEHIND-STAB}

Sadly I didn't get more than half a second to appreciate my attack as I had to quickly turn around to parry an onslaught of insanely fast clawed swipes and jabs, courtesy of our resident dinosaur of course.

Dropping back to hopefully gain some space I flashed backward, surprise, surprise Drake quickly followed and we then again continued into another flurry of parries.

Growing annoyed with this turn of events I decide to forgo parrying in favor of kicking him straight into the head sending him flying into the almost-standing Panda. He crashed as they both began flailing their limbs

After finally getting a reprieve from a full 10 minutes of high-speed combat I finally get a chance to compare the damage. Looking down I notice that my cloak which I've been meticulously repairing now has a two-foot wide hole in the back, though it seemed the burns were only minor.

'Son of bitch' I thought with anger as I grabbed the cloak from one shoulder and gently pulled it, the cloak along with my shirt split into pieces and fell to the ground leaving me shirtless and about twice as angry as before.

Soon after they both finally got their bearings and rose back into their combat stances, Mori looking the worst out of all of us with patches missing from his fur as well as his right arm that was bent at an awkward angle. Admittedly Drake himself seemed to take the least amount of damage, a few burn marks and a large bruise on his forehead being the only tell that he took any damage at all. 'Yeah….. I'm starting to understand the staggering difference between regular Zoans and their obviously superior counterparts'

"Ok boys I'm going to be honest with ya, that jacket was super important to me." I said aloud with blatant blood lust, and soon they both realized why it was so important. It was after all the first thing that ever had the crew's symbol on it, not to mention the thing I've used the most since coming to this world.

"So if you two idiots want to continue this….. 'Fight', I'm going to be taking the kid gloves off" I said as my annoyance finally boiled over, turning towards them both it seemed they got the message.

'And threw it away like junk mail' I thought in annoyance as they both readied their weapons in response to my challenge.

"Fuck it….. I warned y'all" I said with a shrug as my eyes lit with silver lighting, it seemed Mori took special attention to this as he began to turn and run. 'Yeah…. No' I finished the thought as I focused my power into a burst around me. For the first time with my own eyes, I got to see how beautiful my will of kings really was. The purest of Silver, the closest thing I could compare it to would have to be the light from a full moon.

Not a second after my proclamation a wave of power released from me, it hit Drake first and took away his flight, he soon crashed to the ground and struggled to a knee. Next, it hit the 'fleeing' Mori who barely made it a foot in the opposite direction before gravity multiplied and he was sent face-first into the ground.

Noticing Drake beginning to fight through it and come to a standing position I realized I spent too long nerding out about my Haki. Deciding to abide by my earlier proclamation I sheathed Yang in a flurry and crouched down into a runner's stance hand still held tightly on both the scabbard and the hilt of my sword.

Looking up I can see Drake's eyes widen in worry before the words even left my throat.

"Single Sword Style:Shunji Kaku!" I yelled as I disappeared in a flash of Soru, Drake's surprise seemed short-lived however, as I passed the halfway mark I could see his look of worry transform into a smirk. Not a millisecond after I made the observation his hand that was hidden behind him appeared followed by a ball of dark flaming energy. 'Cunning bastard... you got me' I thought with a sigh as my sword met fire.

At least it would have if my sword didn't become intangible, with a quick flick my blade was positioned just under his throat while my offhand held his outstretched palm, flaming energy still spinning unperturbed. 'Vampiric Phase…..' I finished with a sigh, probably the first time in a long while I've been pushed this far.

"I assume you realize you've lost your head and your companion fled?" I asked curiously as I looked over the still-shaken Mori. Slightly turning my head I noticed the defeated look pass through his eyes, soon followed by his technique dissipating and his Zoan transformation failing him as he fell to his knees.

Sighing a long hard sigh I sheath my sword, looking down at my defeated Vice-Captain I come to realize I might have taken this too seriously, however, I can't stop myself from asking the question that's been bugging me this whole time.

"Why?" I asked from above my downed Vice-Captain. Getting a sigh in return he looked up at me with those still-defeated eyes.

"Why what Kal?" He said with a deadpan causing a tick-mark to appear above my brow.

"Don't give me that, we both know it wasn't because of this dumb ass competition. What the hell did you two hope to prove!" I practically yelled.

"That we were progressing instead of stagnating," He said like it was obvious, causing me to look down at him like he was stupid.

"Drake….. What would happen if you fought yourself 4 months ago? 5 Seconds, maybe ten if you decided to scoff first?" I asked insinuating how long the fight would last.

"Yeah and four months ago I was at least your equal, it's the same with Mori. When we first met we were all around the same strength. Now even with Mori's help I still got crushed" He finished with a defeated sigh as he punched a rock into pieces. 'Well fuck..... Should I just tell him I have literal cheat codes in my brain and for him to not take it to heart' I thought in exasperation at this new situation I've found myself in.

"Well to be honest with you Drake, pushing all the Bravado aside" I said as I collapsed next to him. "You two idiots really did a number on me, I've got nothing left... the bag is empty as they would say. You two pushed me to my limit" I said as I fully let myself collapse onto my back. Drake seemed genuinely shocked as he realized I in fact had nothing left. 'Though I could probably send one more burst of Conquerors out, followed by my Seastone dagger to the neck of my staggered opponent. Willpower is my highest statistic afterall' I finished the thought with a chuckle at how half-baked that plan was.

"Yeah, I don't think you're getting that it was still two-on-one," Drake said with a sigh as he too fully collapsed next to me, a small smile replacing his defeated eyes.

"And I don't think you understand that I am the Captain, I have seven people that I have to protect no matter what comes our way, A warlord? A seasoned New Worlder? One of the fucking Admirals themselves, I'll always be the deterrent. I physically can't allow you guys to get stronger than me." I said with a sigh as I twirled the golden orb in my hand. "Though I can help you close the gap" I said as I smirked to him and threw him the orb.

He caught it like a lifeline before looking over at me with a curious gaze.

"Why, if this is as rare as you say it is, why give it to me and not use it yourself?"

"Because that is where most people make the biggest mistake, we can't all be the undisputed top dog. Somebody has to be the best, even with my gifts I find myself hard-pressed to believe that could be me one day. That's just realism. But if I had a group that was around my level or at least close? I'd bet on us against the world's strongest any day, huahaha" I said with a laugh as I took his hand and crushed the orb for him.

"Not to mention that you have a position to defend, we don't want Law to become the Vice-Captain too early now do we?" I said with the same mirth-filled voice causing Drake to do a spit-take in response. Continuing my laugh I struggled to my feet, looking down at the still-shocked Drake, I sent my hilt down to give him a good wack to knock him out of it.

Until his eyes turned a dark red and he almost subconsciously moved his head away.

'Hmmmm, well isn't that something….."

(A/N. Phewwwww....... what a ride so far, with only one more chapter left in Volume 1 I figured I'd ask you guys what was your favorite chapter of this Arc. To me it's got be a tie between Ch.20 A dragons struggle where Law and Corazon's recruitment was finalized and Ch.5 X Drake where we first met Drake and the Kals first real life or death battle began. But as always thanks for reading ;)