“Meeting”

The next day Yamamoto woke up and met Hocha who happily prepared breakfast and asked him many questions about the trip to the Kingdom of Ilisia. How the capital of the kingdom was, how he escaped from the numerous ships of the marine, and many more things.

Then she went to the library excited, as they had brought much more material to read and research.

Yamamoto before meeting Dragon, Ivankov, and Kuma, distributed the 3 points she earned yesterday. He decided to increase the 3 points to the strength statistic. Going from 25 points to 28, it was by far his highest statistic.

His progress increased to 15.4%, *I must train the other stats so that they are not left behind* thought Yamamoto while he looked at his fist and closed it feeling his new physical strength that was very close to the level of a newly initiated vice-admiral.

As he left his house, he noticed a few meters away 5 people in an orderly line with their backs straight, "Sir Fire Demon we have been waiting for you!" exclaimed Ramses in a respectful tone. The other 4 men nodded fervently.

...

*What do these people want...?* thought Yamamoto.

"Stop calling me that. Just call me, Yamamoto."

"O-okay Mr. Yamamoto" said the 5 men in unison.

Yamamoto took a closer look at these 5 men, he only knew the name Ramses, "What are your names?" asked Yamamoto as he looked at the 4 men.

Although he was not interested in their names, now that he had the task of leading people, he had to continue to earn their respect and it cost him nothing to ask what their names were.

"My name is Bob, sir!" a middle-aged, blond-haired man answered first.

"My name is Dom, sir!" replied a short, muscular man.

"My name is Ed, sir!" replied a lanky, long-haired man.

"My name is Gus, sir!" replied a fat, balding man.

"Well, what do you need from me?" asked Yamamoto patiently.

Ramses stepped forward and with a respectful tone replied, "Mr. Yamamoto, you gave us freedom and gave us a home. We want to return that kindness, so we are at your command"

*Well, I guess that's normal. They want to earn a place here, so they don't want to loaf around* thought Yamamoto as he thought about what these people could be useful for.

Looking at them he noticed that they were all middle-aged men like Lego. They were all muscular, so putting them on more domestic duties wouldn't do any good. 

"Your task will be to protect the people here, they already saw them yesterday they are weak archaeologists who only care about studying. However, they are still too weak to be able to protect them from the World Government and the Marine" Yamamoto started saying.

Hearing them being called weak they put on helpless expressions, but all 5 of them knew it was true.

"In the northwest direction on the island you will meet Saul a former Marine Vice Admiral. Tell him I sent you and have them trained. That will be your task now, to become stronger" finished Yamamoto as he waved his hand for them to depart.

"Yes sir!" exclaimed the five in unison as they started marching northwest.

*Are they military?* thought Yamamoto with a blank expression.

As Yamamoto walked through the village, one of the houses opened its doors, and out came Tesoro and Stella. What surprised Yamamoto was that they were coming out of Olvia's house.

Olvia saw Yamamoto and greeted him with a smile. Yamamoto waved back and watched as Tesoro and Stella walked towards him.

"Hello, Demon the- I mean Yamamoto" greeted Tesoro who received a nudge from Stella to call his name.

"Hello Professor Yamamoto, did you have a good morning?" asked Stella with a beautiful smile.

"Hello to both of you, yes I slept well" replied Yamamoto, although he was lying, as he slept little and nothing.

"Have you met Olvia?" asked Yamamoto curiously.

"Yes and her daughter Robin, she's very smart!" replied Stella surprised by Robin's ability.

"Also... she told us everything they lived through. And how you saved them. Again I apologize, I was swayed by the news and rumors about you" Stella added in an apologetic tone.

"It's okay. The World Government is an expert in changing the facts in their favor" said Yamamoto without giving it much importance.

Before Yamamoto could ask Tesoro and Stella about what they would do in the future, Tesoro spoke first, "Yamamoto please let us stay here!" he had a determined tone and Stella at his side nodded in agreement, they had talked about it before.

*That's what I wanted to hear...* thought Yamamoto as he scratched his beard so they would think he was thinking about their request.

Yamamoto's goal in saving Tesoro was always for Tesoro to join them. Since, unlike former marines and slaves, Tesoro has a much higher potential. And under his tutelage, his level of strength can reach a very high level.

"Staying with us will turn them into criminals wanted all over the world. Even more than pirates, since I assassinated a World Noble and with the archaeologists, we studied something the World Government wants to hide. Knowing all that do they still want to join us?" asked Yamamoto in a serious tone.

"Besides, I don't plan to stay hidden on a secluded island. I'll give the World Government a fight, I won't let them chase me every time I go on a trip or something" added Yamamoto, showing a bit of his future intentions.

Tesoro and Stella looked at each other and with determination answered in unison, "Yes".

They knew how dangerous it was to follow Yamamoto and the other archaeologists, yet they both hated the dictatorship of the World Nobles. And how radical the World Government was, so they were willing to follow Yamamoto and the others.

"Good, that's good" nodded Yamamoto satisfied.

Quickly Yamamoto opened the status sale and noticed that the category of people under your protection went up from 25 to 27.

*Well, now I will have more merit points every month* thought Yamamoto satisfied.

"Now I'm heading to an important meeting, do you want to come to Tesoro?" asked Yamamoto looking at the green-haired young man.

"What?" asked Tesoro not expecting that he could attend such a meeting, although he didn't know what it was about he had an idea. He knew Yamamoto would discuss something important with Dragon, Kuma, and Ivankov.

"Go" said Stella with a warm smile.

"Fine, I'll go!" said Tesoro as he started to follow Yamamoto and said goodbye to Stella.

Arriving at the entrance of the house where Dragon and the others Yamamoto were staying knocked gently twice on the door.

Knock, knock.

In a second, the door opened quickly and Yamamoto noticed a very tall and big-headed person, it was Ivankov.

"Hello Fire Demon, we've been waiting for you, come in" said Ivankov in an enthusiastic tone as always.

"Thank you" nodded Yamamoto as he walked into the home.

"Oh you brought a very strong young man, I could tell he is strong" said Ivankov as he noticed Tesoro.

Tesoro looked at him with sweat on his forehead, yesterday he had noticed this strange person, but seeing him so close was completely different.

"H-hi..." said Tesoro as he quickly followed Yamamoto.

As they reached the dining room Yamamoto noticed Dragon and Kuma sitting there chatting quietly with their old friend Clover.

"You're finally here old man" said Clover looking up at Yamamoto.

"Yes, hello everyone, sorry for the delay. Tesoro will also be attending this meeting" said Yamamoto. Dragon, Kuma, and Clover nodded and greeted Tesoro who for some reason was very nervous.

Yamamoto and Tesoro sat down on two free chairs. When Ivankov arrived and sat down, Dragon said in a serious tone, "We are all here, we can start."

Hearing this Tesoro swallowed saliva. He was very nervous, he was surrounded by very important people.

On the one hand, Clover, a professor of archeology with great authority in academia, and now wanted by the entire World Government for researching the Void Century.

Yamamoto, better known as The Demon of Fire, like Clover is a highly respected archaeologist, but no one knew he was hiding a great power and when the marine attacked them he defeated them without much trouble.

Then there were Ivankov and Kuma who when Tesoro saw them he knew instantly that they were very strong people, although they were not known. He doubted that with his strength he could give them a fight.

And lastly Dragon, this person he got to know a little better since he traveled on the same ship. Although he didn't know him, Dragon gave off a very powerful and suffocating aura. 

Even being near him felt like the atmosphere was heavier, demonstrating his great strength.

And then there was him, a very normal person compared to these people or so he thought.

He knew that the meeting that was about to begin would be something historic.