36 Chapter 33: Captain Harlock & First Bounties
(3rd Person: POV)
Stepping through the entrance of the 69th Marine Branch was a man with an angry expression on his face.
This man has dark-brown shoulder length hair and matching dark-brown eyes. He stands at 1.94 meters (6ft.4in.) in height and is dressed in a marine uniform. The markings on his marine coat signifying his rank as that of a captain.
This marines name is Phantom F. Harlock III.
The commander of the 69th Marine Branch.
Who right now is extremely pissed off.
This morning on his way back to the base aboard his personal flagship he received an emergency distress signal from the base.
As soon as this happened he ordered his ship to rush back to the base, and now here Harlock is.
Having just received a cursory report from the marines who were stationed on base that it had been robbed by a band of pirates last night.
As Harlock slowly walked across the grounds of the 69th Marine Branch he saw the soldiers under him carrying body bags out of the bases main building.
The bags containing the bodies of dead marines who the pirates killed last night during their assault on the base.
Seeing them the flames of rage inside of Harlock only burned hotter and brighter.
"Dammit!" Harlock spat. "If only I had been here. If only I had been present. Then maybe my men wouldn't be dead." The marine captain mused.
Thinking about what if scenarios.
But unfortunately nothing could change reality.
Harlock had not been present at the 69th Branch last night.
As to why it was because Harlock was personally escorting a noble family back to their homeland from vacation.
A task Harlock would normally never undertake. Since he loathed most nobles with a passion.
But he had no choice in the matter. Because he had received a direct order from a rear-admiral to escort this particular noble family home. A rear-admiral who was the younger brother of the head of the noble family Harlock was tasked to escort.
Honestly Harlock wanted to tell that rear-admiral where to shove his direct order.
But he held himself back from doing so and just decided to complete the task assigned to them.
That way Harlock could get back to doing what truly mattered in his eyes.
Protecting civilians and the innocent.
For Harlock believed that ultimately that was the true purpose of the marines. It was the creed he lived by. Instilled in him by his grandfather and father. The two people he inherited his name from, and two men who were also marines just like him.
As a third generation marine Harlock felt he had a duty and responsibility to live up to.
But over the years since he became a marine Harlock had become disillusioned with the organization and their overseers the World Government. The amount of nepotism and corruption he saw from both organizations over his years of service made him want to vomit.
To think the organizations his family had proudly served for three generations had such rot within them.
Harlock certainly didn't. He didn't hear about such things from his father and grandfather. But then one day everything changed.
The Phantom family member saw the true face of the Marines and World Government. They were hypocrites of the highest order, most of them self-serving bastards who only cared about their own desires or psychopaths who didn't mind sacrificing civilian lives so long as they achieved their objective.
To say Harlock disagreed with the marines who followed "absolute justice" would be an understatement.
It's actually the reason he is in the West Blue in the first place.
Originally Harlock was stationed in Paradise.
But after disobeying a superior officer who ordered him to fire on civilians and then striking him Harlock was sent here to West Blue.
Which was honestly better for the young captain.
For in this Blue Sea Harlock found less corruption. Instead he found men and women who truly just wanted to serve and joined the marines to protect their loved ones and other innocents.
Seeing this made Harlock think there was hope for the marines yet.
Because honestly if he hadn't ended up in West Blue Harlock was considering resigning from the marines all together. Since for him striking out on his own and possibly being branded a criminal would've been better than continuing to serve such an overly biased system.
That did not take place however.
Instead Harlock worked with the marines under his command and decided to work to make West Blue the safest of the four Blue Seas.
Now with this robbery a group of pirates was threatening that and basically unknowingly spitting on all of Harlock hard work.
That he could not allow.
"Get ready you pirates. I'm coming for you." Harlock spoke. A burning determination in his eyes as he did so.
The Thanatos Pirates having no idea they had just gained adversary
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(Roberts: POV)
On the deck of the Black Pearl sweat dripped down my face.
As I worked hard to complete 1,000 finger-pushups with my left hand. Having already finished my finger push-ups with my right hand for the day.
All of this is in preparation for learning Shigan. Since to perform it without permanently destroying your fingers you need immense finger strength. That's why I'm building mine up.
Even though it's only been a week since we raided the 69th Marine Branch and obtained the Rokushki manual along with all other those other goodies I have decided not to wait on learning the super human martial arts.
That's the entire reason my crew and I raided the marine base in the first place.
To obtain the manual and learn the techniques inside in the proper manner so we could get stronger.
I am not the only one training to learn and master Rokushiki, the others on my crew are as well.
"997, 998, 999, 1,000." I said. Finishing my set of finger push-ups with my left hand for the day.
Which I will repeat tomorrow. Since the grind never stops.
Once I finished I stood up to my feet. I then grabbed a towel and wiped all the sweat off me. Including my chest.
Since I am working out shirtless.
I'm vain or anything but when start developing a six pack of abs you want to admire your handiwork a little bit. I'm not ashamed to admit this.
Plus working out shirtless has another effect.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Alfia eyeing me like a piece of prime meat. A hungry gaze in her eyes.
Well I wouldn't mind if she eats me.
Curiously I also notice Reiju is staring at me. Well it's fine if she looks, but if she ever wants more...
I'll leave that for future Roberts to deal with.
Putting a smirk on my face I turned to Alfia. "See something you like?"
"Yeah. I sure do." Alfia replied. Licking her lips after she did so.
"Well if that's the case then come over here and get a piece of what you want." I replied.
"A piece. Please. I want the entire thing." Alfia said.
Just after she did so a news coo landed on deck.
"Oh thank the heavens." Weisz said.
Since currently he's steering the Black Pearl.
Ignoring my friends comment I went to retrieve some belli and paid the news coo for today's edition of the paper.
As it flew off I opened it up. A smile coming across my face a few moments after I started reading it.
"Hey everyone, come and take a look at this!" I shouted.
A few moments after I did so all my crew were on deck. The moment they were I showed them what I found in the paper that had me grinning.
Wanted posters.
-----------------------------------
Wanted
Dead or Alive
Soren D. Roberts
69,000,000 million
Wanted
Dead or Alive
Weisz
28,000,000 million
Wanted
Dead or Alive
Alfia
30,000,000 million
Wanted
Only Alive
Vinsmoke Reiju
22,000,000 million
--------------------------
My crew finally has wanted posters.
Granted Law and Bepo don't, but still with this we are now officially pirates in my eyes.
I also didn't fail to note the "Only Alive" on Reiju's wanted poster.
Which means that bastard Judge know she's alive and knows she is a part of our crew. Meaning I need to make plans to deal with Germa sooner rather than later.
Seeing our bounty posters all of the crew had smiles on their faces.
Except for Bepo.
Seeing this I went over and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry Bepo. You'll get a bounty one day." I told him.
When I did so he instantly cheered up.
I put a wry smile on my face at this.
'Is Bepo bipolar or something?' I thought. Since that might explain his crazy mood swings.
"Hey, why is Roberts bounty so much higher than the rest of ours?" Weisz asked.
"Simple. Because I am the captain." I spoke.
The captain will always have the highest bounty on the crew. That's like an unspoken law in the One Piece world.
"Ok fine." Weisz grumbled. "But then why does Reiju's poster say "Only Alive" on it." Weisz spoke.
"Ah, it has to do with my family. The Vinsmoke." Reiju admitted. "It seems they want me back."
"Do you want to go back?" I asked her.
"No. Never." Reiju spoke without any hesitation. "I would rather die than return to that place." She siad.
From her gaze right now I can tell she's serious.
"Ok then. Well since that's what you want and you're a member of my crew I'll make it happen." I told Reiju.
"Thank you captain, truly." Reiju spoke.
"Don't mention it." I replied. "I would do the same for any of the others on my crew. I would wade through hell, take on a kingdom, or even go against the entire world for any of you guys." I told them.
Sending a look Robin's way when I said the last part.
When I did so I saw a brief expression on her face, but it only lasted for an instance before she put back on a mask of indifference.
Still, that's progress and I'll take any I can get.
"Alright, since our crew have bounties now let's have a part to celebrate!" I cried.
Everyone cheered in agreement.
We then partied for the rest of the day and well into the night.
Smiles on our faces as we did so.
But the following day those smiles morphed into serious expressions.
Since we found ourselves with three navy warships chasing us.
Looks like they're pissed off we robbed them. Well too bad, my crew doesn't do refunds or returns.
