Chapter 317: The two Captains
Dialogue "sample"
Thoughts 'sample'
Author notes -sample-
Disclaimer: One Piece and all of its characters belong to Eiichiro Oda.
Chapter 317: The two Captains
Hyogoro glanced over all the former prisoners. Everyone imprisoned in the mine had once been a warrior loyal to the former Shogun, Kozuki Oden.
"In the past, we all fought and lost… however, this old man never gave up!. If given the opportunity, I will fight again. But it would not be right to ask the same of you all. If you want to enjoy your newly found freedom…this old man understands."
"You can count on my sword, Master Hyogoro. I owe too much to the Kozuki clan…" Kawamatsu proclaimed with pride.
"Me too!"
"I'll fight, of course!"
"for the Kozuki clan!"
"That's right!, our loyalty will always be to Lord Oden!"
The old man smiled at hearing those words.
"Who is this Lord Oden again?" Luffy asked.
"He sounds familiar."
"Did you forget?. That is supposed to be Momonosuke's dad. The one who was killed by Kaidou. He was the lord of this country, remember?" Usopp told him.
"Ah…yes. I think I remember.." Luffy made a complicated expression.
"Sorry to interrupt this emotional moment, but…we have company," Vivi told the group.
A large number of figures appeared on the horizon and approached at great speed. They were all pointing at the venomous lizards they had encountered before. Making it obvious that these men belong to Kaious's crew.
"Is too late to run now, well have to fight them," Zoro said.
"That's fine by me!" Luffy clenched his fists.
The former prisoners held tightly the weapons they had stolen from the guards. They were worried but their eyes were filled with determination.
They waited for the group to approach. At the front were two men, who seemed to be the ones in charge.
One was a tall, lean, and muscular man who wears what appears to be a combination of a white-plumed cocked hat with his crew's Jolly Roger on the side and a domino mask over his eyes. Underneath this headgear, his hair appears to be reddish brown, with brush-like sideburns. He also had a massive scar on his chest in the form of an X.
The other man was also tall, with black triangle symbols on his eyebrows, red eyes, and golden hair that reached down to his hips. He also has a black cross patty tattooed at the base of his throat.
"I recognize the two at the front." Said Robin.
"Who are they?" Asked Zoro.
"Remember two years ago in the Sabaody archipelago? They mentioned several notorious pirates with high bounties like us. The two at the front are part of that group." Vivi told them.
"Right, they are X Drake and Basil Hawkins. I don't know how high their bounties are now." Robin said.
"They are working together now? I wonder what happened to them." Luffy said.
"I think is obvious, Captain. They must have been defeated by Kaidou and were given the chance to either join his crew or die. Most will choose to join….Big Mom also had members of many former crews serving her " Vivi explained
"Yes, that's how most Emperors seem to form their massive fleets," Robin said.
"Well, I'm not going to do that!" Luffy exclaimed.
"You don't have to. I mean, look at Whitebeard. He didn't threaten anyone to join him. And he treated his crew like a family. Redhead Shanks doesn't even have a fleet but remained with a small crew of loyal friends." Vivi added
"That's right!, Shanks is awesome." Luffy grinned.
"Is probably better that way. I cannot image those men being very loyal if they joined under death threats." Zoro commented.
Drake and Hawkings stopped in front then and dismounted the lizards.
"You didn't even try to escape. Quite confident, aren't we?" Drake told them.
"You came here by yourself....quite confident, aren't you?" Vivi retorted.
Hawkins said nothing. His eyes moved between Vivi and Luffy for a few times before pulling out a deck of cards.
"Should be scared of you?" Zoro taunted.
"So, you two are working for Kaidou now?" Luffy asked them.
"Indeed, we are. And you would do well and surrender now. You have no chance of winning against him…trust me." Drake glanced at the prisoners.
"And grouping together with these losers will not help you either."
"What did you say?!" Old man Hyo frowned
The men gripped their weapons with force. They were ready for battle.
Drake gave Vivi a hateful glare before going back to Luffy.
"This is your last chance, Strawhat. If one of the All-stars has to come for you, you can be sure that there will be deaths."
"I'm not gonna surrender to that guy! I'm going to beat Kaidou and will become the King of the Pirates!" Luffy shouted.
"I figure you would say that…let me test that resolution of yours." He looked back at his men.
"Give me some space…."
Drake then roared loudly and transformed into a massive dinosaur…an allosaurus.
"Whoa!" Luffy stared up.in awe.
"He can transform into a giant alligator!"
"He is a dinosaur!" His men shouted back, looking very offended at the comment
"I'm fighting the lizard!, you guys can take the other guy when he stops playing cards." their Captain told them.
Luffy transformed into his gear 4 and jumped at Drake.
While the two of them exchanged blows, the rest stared at Hawkins. It didn't seem like the rest of their crews wanted to join in so they just left the two captains.
Hawkins was not looking at them. Instead, he keeps shuffling the cards and placing them down before turning them over.
"Is he doing a tarot reading?" Asked Uspp.
"This doesn't seem like the best time for that "
"Captain?, are we going to fight?" Hawkins's subordinates were starting to get uneasy.
Their captain liked to calculate the odds of victory before fighting but it had never taken him this long.
Hawkins stored the cards back into his jacket.
"I have made my decision…"
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