Chapter 20 Clive
As the sun rose once again, the Black Root pirates finally felt stuffed after starving for so long. 'Man I hope's there's more of that food again tonight.' Red Bandana thought to himself as he woke up. Currently he was within the shack with the rest of the crew.
It was truly too cramped to the point where he was sleeping on the floor with Yellow Shirt's feet right in his face. 'When will this end.' Red Bandana sighed before exiting the shack to get a breather. In reality the crew was mostly confined to the shack as Black Root wanted to be as safe as possible, but Red Bandana's respect for the man was becoming less and less as the day went by.
"While he gets to stay in his nice basement, we have to all squash together on the ground floor. What a fuckwit." Red Bandana muttered walking around the shack. "GROWL!" Red Bandana's stomach churned.
'....Why is my stomach acting so weird..... its probably because I haven't eaten that much in so long. Ah, I am hoping for some more food too buddy.' Red Bandana patted his belly before completing more laps around the shack. He then walked towards the shack, he needed to get back before the others woke up, otherwise he'd be in trouble.
Just as Red Bandana was approaching the shack, he smelt a smell, a very good smell at that. 'Is there more food.....I should go check just in case, who knows it could be an intruder.' Red Bandana convinced himself before following the smell.
He soon found himself in front of yet another barrel filled with, you guessed it, more food. "I must be the luckiest man alive." Red Bandana said before grabbing some food and taking a bite. "So good!" The man simply couldn't help himself. And then he felt something cold on his neck.
"Gulp, w-who are you?" Red Bandana asked in fear as he felt the cold dagger pressed against his neck. It wasn't slicing him just yet, but it was close to doing so. "Hmm, I've been paying attention to you, you're quite smart." Rak complimented him.
"I guess I haven't answered your question just yet. My name is Edward Teach I am a pirate from the Grand Line who recently arrived in the South Blue. That place is truly vicious, I lost the entirety of my crew on my journey and because of that I decided to flee, pirates there are many times stronger than the trash around this island." Rak explained, obviously this was all lies.
"....So S-Sir Edward, what might I do for you." Red Bandana replied wearily. The story was interesting but at the same time Red Bandana was scared shitless. In his youth he had dreamed of sailing the Grand Line but now such a dream was pointless, he merely wanted to live to see another day.
"Information, I need information on Black Root. I've already killed Gold Tooth and Grip, and now he's my next target. If you help me out I'll take you into my crew and we can rule all of Polink side by side!" Rak declared the dagger almost drawing blood from Red Bandana's neck.
"Yes, yes! Please Sir just move your knife away, I'll help you out so please just let me go. My name is Clive and I am willing to join your crew. Captain Black Root treats us like shit anyway and he has no ambition to reach for a higher position, I've already wanted to leave his crew." Clive introduced himself.
"I am flattered, Clive you shall be my First Mate. Now as my First Mate your first job is to feed Black Root this food here." Rak commanded before pointing to the barrel Clive had eaten out of. "Don't worry about it, its indeed poisoned but I'll cure you once you complete my mission." Rak continued calming Clive down.
"Understood, it will be hard but I'll manage somehow." Clive responded, now that he found out Rak had poisoned him he knew he had no choice in the matter. Either way he didn't exactly mind joining this Edward Teach, at least he had some ambition as a Captain.
"Great, you have until this evening, don't test my patience." Rak whispered directly into his ear, before walking away. Clive didn't dare turn around and simply fell to his knees in front of the barrel. 'I better get this done, or else I should have just stayed in that damn shack.' Clive wanted to cry but he had no tears.
He wasn't a particularly evil man, of course he was a pirate so he couldn't be called an upstanding citizen, but he at least wasn't on the level of Gold Tooth. Clive had limits, and usually said limits were robbing or assault.
On the other hand Rak was smiling from ear to ear as he made his way into the city. 'Too easy, now if Black Root eats the food, he'll have severe food poisoning and be unable to fight properly. Not to mention his entire crew will be in such a state along with him. I feel bad for that Clive fellow though, I'll help him a bit if possible.' Rak pondered before entering an alleyway.
As one could tell, Rak wasn't above incorporating tactics to win. From Grip, to Gold Tooth, and now Black Root, he moved in what he considered the most effective plan he could muster. Naturally was Rak a genius, far from it, but he wasn't stupid either. Any of these pirate Captains if given the chance could end his life, not to mention if they fought him along with their crews, it would simply be an impossible victory.
'Maybe one day I'd have the luxury of simply fist fighting foes like Garp, but right now I need to grind as hard as I can.' Rak thought while making his way through the city. 'After I finish up this mission I need to think of a new skill to purchase.'