Setting Sail

"We should kill him and the rest of them." Mihawk coldly stated as they continued to drag Rino.

Nyx simply smiled and responded.

"Mihawk I thought we've already been over this, even though the marines killed your parents, you can't blame all the marines. You've already told me your parents sent you a warning with the snail about the so-called five elders in the marines before they were suddenly killed. Killing these foot soldiers would serve no purpose to us. Don't worry, we'll get your revenge, and as you know, I also have some business with the marines."

Mihawk simply nodded in understanding.

"Even though he was talking big, I'm sure you could tell but he was still holding back against us, if we didn't surprise him with our overwhelming strength, we might have lost. But to think we're only strong enough to barely defeat a mere Rear Admiral." Mihawk stated with a frown.

"Don't worry, I got your back." Nyx lightly tapped Mihawk's shoulder as they eventually saw the large hole with over a dozen marines surrounding it, who seemed to still be helping the ones trapped inside.

"Look!" One of the soldiers pointed toward Mihawk and Nyx who were dragging Rino from each side across the sandy ground, with the water being only 100 feet away from them.

"Rear Admiral Rino!"

"Are they pirates!?"

"They defeated Rear Admiral Rino!?"

The marines quickly became on guard but once noticing Rino's tattered clothes and unconscious state, they started to become gloomy, wondering if they could beat the foes who beat their leader.

"Don't worry, we won't kill anyone as long as you don't test us you'll be fine, but trust me when I say, I don't like to repeat myself." Nyx nonchalantly spoke as he amicably smiled at the soldiers

The soldiers gulped once seeing Nyx's weird friendliness.

Mihawk noticed Rino stirring awake, so he quickly let go of his body and disappeared from his spot.

Once he reappeared he had sea stone handcuffs in his hands, he immediately put them on Rino's arms, neck, and legs, then Nyx just dropped him on his face.

"*Cough!* *Cough!*" Rino coughed roughily as he stood, looking around and at the chains on his body, he quickly understood his situation.

"Quite unfortunate, it seems I lost." Rino bitterly smiled.

"Haha, it happens. Now tell your soldiers to behave or I'll have to deal with them." Nyx was smiling but his eye was coldly gleaming down onto Rino.

"Stand down! You guys stand no chance! Just focus on getting the men out there!" Rino quickly ordered his marines, once understanding that maybe the two teens could be reasoned with.

The marines hesitantly went back to helping and decided to trust their leader.

"So I suppose your after the ship?" Rino questioned as he sat comfortably with his back against a coconut tree.

"Correct!" Nyx nodded in approval.

"I see." Rino slightly relaxed, he hasn't married or had kids yet and he would very much like to do so.

He was happy that he and his soldiers didn't have to die but he was also ashamed for allowing such a situation to happen.

"What happens now?" Rino questioned as he stared at Mihawk who was looking at him with quite a chilly gaze.

"Well for now-" Nyx stopped talking as he noticed Mihawk gazing at something behind him.

"Hmm? It seems we have some survivors. Mihawk watch this Rear Admiral and the others, I'll deal with this." Nyx stated as he noticed multiple surviving marines coming onto the sandy shore from the sea.

Mihawk nodded.

Nyx walked up to the shore and crouched down, once noticing that all the marines were trying to catch their breath while laying on their backs.

Around a dozen survived.

"Now what should I do with you guys?" Nyx questioned as the soldiers looked at him with fear, once noticing the Rear Admiral was captured behind him.

"Wait-"

"Just kidding, go and help the others and you'll be allowed to live." Nyx chuckled as he pointed toward the increasing number of marines surrounding the large hole.

The marines ignored their out-of-breath state and frantically ran toward the marines to help.

Nyx promptly got up and nodded in satisfaction until suddenly hearing a war cry.

"AHHHH! I"M NOT WILLING TO DIE HERE!!" A marine exclaimed as he ran his fastest toward Nyx's back.

"Stop!" Rino tried to order the marine to stop but he didn't listen.

The marine immediately swung down his sword at the back of Nyx's neck.

Nyx himself slowly turned around and simply smirked.

Suddenly....

Swish!

Swish!

In a span of a second, the marines body disappeared and a red misty smoke took its place.

"What happened!?"

"Where did he go!?"

The marines who were out of the hole, stared confusedly at Nyx once noticing the marine completely disappeared.

"Oh.. This happened to him." Nyx shrugged as he pulled out a head with a marine cap on it and displayed it for others to see.

"I-is t-that?"

"He k-killed him that fast?"

"I d-didn't e-even see it!"

Some marine's face turned into disbelief, others confused and some fear struck.

"I already told yall, I'm not one to show mercy. I am only letting you live because there is no reason to kill you but just like this marine in my hand, I don't condone shit from anyone." Nyx remarked coolly as he threw the head toward the marines who fearfully stepped back.

"You guy's are taking far too long, let me take them out." Nyx helplessly shook his head and approached the fear-stricken marines like they were his buddies.

Rino himself was looking at the scene somberly.

'What a fool. There was no reason to provoke someone who you stand no chance against but it's a pity. I believe that marine was only 18.'

'But that move... Others may not have noticed but it seemed he ejected multiple sharp blades of some sort of air or haki power out of his body once the marine was close enough. I could barely see it but he shot so many small/invisible blades that the marines body was literally cut into non-existent pieces. Wait.. Does that mean he has more then one devil fruit? Or was that power something haki related?' Rino furrowed his brows as he tried to think of the situation.

Slight confusion can be seen in Mihawk's eye as he stared at Nyx who blatantly showed his powers.

Quite quickly, Nyx raised everyone who was in the hole with his powers and threw them roughly onto the ground.

"Okay! Chop Chop! Everyone, put on a seastone chain!" Nyx exclaimed as he pointed his hand toward the tropical forest and suddenly chains started to fly out of it and land in front of each marine.

Rino's eyes widened, once he confirmed his conclusion about Nyx having two devil fruits but he chose to stay silent for now.

Each marine begrudgingly put on the chains and simply sat down, as they had no other choice in this situation.

"Okay! Mihawk, I'll get everything we need from our house quickly, make sure to watch the prisoners!" Nyx winked at Mihawk before disappearing into a gust of wind.

Mihawk grunted in displeasure but just listened since Nyx was the faster between the two of them.

Eventually, Nyx would continuously appear with new materials, plates, forks, barrels of food/alcohol, and clothes and place them into the ship before disappearing and bringing in more new things.

...

"Done!" Nyx exclaimed after 1 hour of bringing many things from the castle estate to the ship.

Nyx now stood in front of Mihawk on the sand, whose eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"You practically brought the whole estate? Wait a minute.. Is that Bob 711?" Mihawk questioned once noticing a chicken on the hull of the ship.

"Surprisingly after I freed all our livestock, the only one who remained was Bob 711. I couldn't just leave him now could I." Nyx lightly laughed at the end of the sentence.

"But won't that affect the ship-"

"Trust me, don't worry." Nyx genuinely smiled toward Mihawk before looking toward the bunched-up marines with a condescending smile.

"Well sucks for you guys. You'll probably get reinforcements soon or maybe die of starvation? I don't know how the marines work, so ciao." Nyx waved before quickly appearing on the ship's hull and preparing for sail.

The marines pleadingly looked at Mihawk for help since he seemed like a chill guy, and was the last one on the ground that could help them.

Mihawk simply ignored their gazes and jumped high, before landing on the ship's hull, he noticed Nyx was below deck, probably setting things up.

Mihawk looked toward his castle estate in the distance and felt a sense of longing.

'It seems I'm leaving my home, the last reminder of my parents. Mother and father, I won't fail you, I'll make sure to avenge your lives.' Mihawk unconsciously clenched his fists as firmly gazed at the castle estate, as if he wanted to engrain every single detail of it.

This was the place he and his parents lived happily, he never wanted to forget.

"Haha. What an interesting expression." Mihawk glanced to his right and noticed Nyx leaning back on the ship as the wind current, roughly shook his brown hair, he had a carefree smile on his face as he continued to speak.

"Remember this Mihawk, while certain things may seem bleak, try to think of it from a different perspective."

Mihawk raised his brow, indicating he didn't fully understand.

"Simply think of it like this, we don't have to live, we get to live, we're not simply free, we get to be free, we're not weak, we're talented. Trust me when I say in this world, there are kids suffering more than us, kids who have no freedom or talent, kids who don't have anyone and simply die a meaningless life. With this mindset, you will become stronger not only mentally but physically as a fighter."

"And don't just base your life on revenge, base it off something consistently stable. One's willpower is connected to their goals, if you're focusing on revenge, what will you do after you achieve it? When we first met, your goal was to become the greatest swordsman but currently, all I see is someone who is blinded by revenge. While I agree with the notion to get revenge, don't let it control you. And don't worry, I will always watch over you."

Mihawk just stared at Nyx with widened eye's.

"Haha, did I talk too much? Regardless, think about what I said, I'm gonna start moving the ship with my powers now." Nyx scuffled Mihawk's hair before walking to the center of the hull of the ship.

"You always act like your the big brother, when we're the same age." Mihawk quickly got out of his stupor and fixed his hair with an annoyed expression as Nyx walked away with a smirk.

"Older by a week." Nyx playfully replied, before starting to concentrate to get the ship going.

"Tsk." Mihawk clicked his tongue before noticing Nyx was ignoring him.

But Mihawk's expression soon turned thoughtful as he could feel the ship slowly getting pushed off the sandy shore.

"Different perspective huh?" Mihawk muttered as he watched the island get farther and farther slowly.

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