Meeting The Roger Pirates

Kozuki Oden immediately coated his twin blades with Advanced Armament haki as he lunged at me from above.

I wasted no time unstrapping Labrys from my back and coating it with Advanced Armament haki as well.

"Tougen Shirataki!!"

"Fulgur Perditionis!!!!!"

Our attacks collided, immediately causing a shockwave that immediately flattened the forest. Oden had gotten stronger ever since he left, and it was rather shocking, but, he wasn't strong enough to push me back. My lightning crackled as I immediately used my axe as I pushed him away, Oden did a backflip as he landed a little distance away from me.

"Still as strong as ever, Pipsqueck!" Oden remarked.

"When are you ever going to drop that damn name?" 

I immediately kicked the ground and appeared in front of him as I swung my axe downwards. Oden wasted no time raising the twin blades to defend himself. Another shockwave followed as a crater formed under Oden's feet. Oden smiled as he channeled more ryuo to his arms, and I was slowly beginning to feel quite a bit of resistance from my arms.

I immediately leaped back, but Oden wasn't about to let me off that easily, Oden immediately sent a bunch of sword slashes my way. They were numerous as they were destructive, but I used moonwalk to dodge the majority of the slashes, and I deflected the ones that I couldn't deflect. 

I landed a bit of a distance away from him and rested my axe's blade on my shoulder. I was beginning to sense multiple presences closing in on our location. To my side, Stussy and Ken remained calm, but I couldn't say the same for Pato.

"What the hell! Who's that guy?!" 

Pato immediately hid behind Stussy's legs as he peaked at him anxiously. 

I ignored him as I finally laid eyes on the rest of the Roger Pirates. All the big wigs were there except for their captain. They were all smiles as they slowly emerged from the thickets of the forest, and they all had their weapons drawn as well.

"What the hell, Oden? I thought that you had found a good opponent?" One of the crewmembers, Taro, commented.

"Well, you moron, this one is a good opponent. Matter of fact, he is too strong for us to fight him together, isn't that right; Gaban?" Crocus immediately commented.

A man with sunglasses and a ponytail slowly walked up with a handsome man with blonde hair. It was plain that these two were none other than Scoppers Gaban and Silvers Rayleigh.

"It's been a while, young man," Rayleigh greeted.

"It's good to see you again, Rayleigh, how've you been?" 

"Great, the Marines are still on us, but it could be worse," Rayleigh replied.

"Oi, the hell are you doing here? Did Whitebeard send you over here?" Gaban growled.

"We're not here for you guys," Stussy replied firmly,"we just came to look for something so that we can build our new ship."

Gaban scoffed and immediately walked back into the thickets of the forest, and the rest of the crew snickered as they watched him walk off. Rayleigh sighed and looked at our group apologetically.

"Sorry, he's been really grumpy ever since Oden came into our crew," Rayleigh explained.

"I share his sentiments."

"Are you guys really here to get materials for a new ship?" 

"Yeah, we're looking for something called Devil's Wood."

"OI!!!! How could you forget about me?!" Oden roared as he lunged towards me.

I immediately sidestepped as Oden tried to stab me with both of his blades. He immediately flew past me and went through a couple of trees as a result. I ignored him and continued my conversation with Rayleigh after.

"Devil's Wood? I think I've heard about it around the village we're in," Rayleigh responded, as he looked on thoughtfully with his hand on his chin.

"If so, could you take us there?" 

"Sure," Rayleigh responded as we followed him.

Some of the crew remained in the forest because they wanted to check on Oden, either way, we were led into a small village that was just a few hours away from where we had docked the ship.

The villagers all had small wings on their backs as they performed their daily duties. However, they all stopped and stared as we walked past them. 

"I want to take you to Captain first, I bet he'll be happy to see you," Rayleigh commented.

I nodded and quietly followed, but the rest of the group that I was with were the opposite. 

"Why do these people have wings on their backs? And why are they so small?" Pato remarked as he looked at the villagers intrestingly. 

"Pato! That's rude to ask you know?" Stussy chided him as she picked him up.

"However, you have to admit, the anatomy of these villagers is rather intriguing. I would hope to have a conversation with one of their people so we can learn more about them," Ken commented.

I didn't say anything, but I was listening to them as we kept walking. Eventually, we reached a hut that happened to be in the middle of the village. Rayleigh opened the door and walked in, the group and I promptly followed him in to find an old man with small white wings on his back, drinking with the Captain of the Roger Pirates: Gol D. Roger.

He downed the sake that was on his cup before turning to me while smiling. He looked strong, like stupendously strong, I would argue that his strength could easily push back the admirals of the Marines. However, the more I looked, the more I was slowly realising that his power was akin to a star shining brightly before it dies out. It would be a while before it dies out, but the corruption that was eminating from him was still there, and it was slowly getting bigger the more time passed.

"Oh? Boris is here!! It's been a while, what brings you here?" Roger asked curiously.

"Just to collect some things from here, and we'll be out in no time."

"Oh? Are you talking about Devil's Wood?" Roger responded.

"How'd you know?"

"Just a guess, but I think that he can help you with that," Roger remarked as he looked at the old man.

"If you're going to take the Devil's Wood. We're going to need your help with something first," the old man said.

It was a simple give and take situation. It wasn't something that I could be mad about either, after all, if they had the ability to make the collection of Devil Wood easier. There was no reason to make things harder for myself.

"What's the favor?"

Roger immediately slammed his Sake cup on the floor before looking up. His cheeks were flushed, but his eyes told me that he was still sober.

"It's the same problem that we've been dealing with ever since we got here," Roger replied.

"Which is..?"

Roger poured himself another drink and downed it almost immediately, it would be the first time I would see him with a mildly annoyed expression. Rayleigh sighed quietly as he looked at his Captains expression, and I could also tell that the man was slightly frustrated as well. However, it was his Captain who maintained composure as he explained in a brief sentence.

"We need to find a lost city of Gold."