Endless Troubles

The pirates remained trembling as I started to shrink back into my human form.

I wasn't about to go on a rampage when I had just found two perfect ships that we could use to go to Water 7.

"Y-You! What the hell are you doing here?!" One of the Pirates asked panickingly, "You aren't supposed to be here!"

I didn't say anything, I only started walking towards Stussy and Ken. The rest of the crew didn't seem to be doing to well, and some of them looked like they were going to die. Stussy and Ken, on the other hand, seemed to be more exhausted than they were injured. It was time for them to let their Commander handle the rest, and I was determined to make it so.

After making sure that the two of them made themselves comfortable, I turned to face the two attacking pirate groups, or is it one?

"Who are you people?" I asked curiously.

"We are the Branding Pirates, you better remember our names because we're affiliated with the Golden Lion Pirates!" One of them declared proudly.

"W-we as well are affiliated with the Golden Lion Pirates, We are known as the Rondo Pirates," another one declared as well.

"Golden Lion.....How's that bastard Shiki doing?" I asked casually. 

The last time I had heard from him was during the Edd war that I had found myself involved in. He hadn't liked us before then, but he most definitely hates us now after the war. Not that it mattered, of course, but if he was roaming around in Paradise. It would've been a pain in the ass, because knowing him, he wouldn't have wasted time chasing us down and trying to kill us.

"The moment you lay a finger on us, the wrath of the Golden Lion will descend upon you all!" A member of the second group, probably their captain, declared anxiously. 

They had all drawn out their weapons, and aimed it right at me. Treating me as if I was some kind of unnatural disaster, but I didn't care much at all for it. 

"That's not what I asked," I responded, "I said 'How's that bastard Shiki doing?'"

It was then one of the members of the first group of Pirates laughed nervously at me. 

"What's it to you? Storm Dragon! We won't tell you his plan even if you kill us!! You, no, the whole World will find out what he plans to do very soon. Just shut up, and fuck off!"

My eyebrows slightly raised at the man's comment, it had been a while since someone talked this boldly in front of me. 

"Well, since you're not willing to talk.....I'll just kill you all and take your ships," I murmered, "Shiki will come and find me if he needs to..."

I still couldn't seem to find my axe, I missed swinging it around. 

I immidiately kicked the ground, and lunged at the two groups of pirates. The battle didn't even seem to take too long. With every swing of my limb that I had made, I was easily taking the life of one or two members of the group. It was quick, but it was messy, I had blood covering me with every swing that I made. 

By the end of the battle, every part of me was soaked in blood, and other internal organs or body parts. Ironically, I spared a couple of the pirates, I had remembered the fact that I needed a crew to help me sail towards the closest town so that I could get my crew the medical care that they needed.

The group looked at me in despair. It was evident that the prior battle had left them severely traumatized. I looked down on the small group of people with an indifferent expression.

"Get one of these ships ready for sailing, we're heading towards a nearby town; and you're taking us there," I ordered coldly.

They remained still in a daze for a while, I couldn't tell whether or not they understood my words. However, I immediately released a little bit of my killing intent towards them, shocking them back into reality as they started scrambling for one of the ships. 

Just like that, in a few hours, we were already closing in towards an island that seemed to be bustling with activity. I immediately located the hospital and informed them of my injured crewmates. They seemed horrified of me when they first looked at me. It was only then that a slightly less exhausted Stussy took the oppurtunity to remind me of my current appearance.

"You're covered in dried blood, Boris. You can't be walking around like that."

"It doesn't matter at the moment. What I need them to do is to help out the rest of the crew, I can already sense some of them beginning to succumb to their injuries," I responded back indifferently.

"L-look, we'll help you treat the injured people. However, you have to make sure that they don't hurt anyone while in this town. We'll refuse you service if this rule is broken," one of the doctors said threatingly.

"It looks like this isn't your first time dealing with pirates, fine. Just make sure that they are in a functional condition, I'll even make it worth your while," I promised.

"That's fine, Just bring them over here so we can give them immediate treatment," the doctor affirmed. 

I immeidately leaped back into the ship, grabbing the most severly injured crewmembers, which were six in total, before leaping back to the hospital. I was also using moonwalk to quicken the pace, and the doctors held true to their end of the bargain and promptly began to treat the crewmembers immediately. 

I kept bringing more and more crewmembers to the hospital until the entire ship was empty save for the pirates that I had used to sail the ship to the island. They all looked at me terrified as they looked at my approaching figure. 

"Now....About Shiki, what is he doing in Paradise?" I asked menacingly.

I couldn't help but keep that man on my mind. He was notorious for starting up huge conflicts in the anime, and I had just caught the man's ire. If anything, I had to make sure that he wasn't doing anything crazy for the duration that I was in Paradise, it wasn't like I actually wanted to kill the man.

"The Golden Lion has been gathering f-forces for the past year. He said something about starting a war with Whitebeard or something," The crewmember who was in charge of navigation said.

My eyes narrowed at the mention of Whitebeard. I was mostly expecting him to pick a fight with me because I actively got involved first within the War before Whitebeard ever could. 

"What about Roger? did he already give up on him?" I inquired.

"I don't know, but rumor has it that he was waiting for Roger to get back into the New World so that he could set another trap for him. However, he needs territory in order for that to happen," The navigator replied nervously, "I heard that he even went as far as to strike a deal with Kaido and Big Mom for this to happen."

At this point, my murderous intent almost was about to burst out of my body.

"That doesn't add up, why is Big Mom and Kaido getting involved in this?" Ken asked curiously.

"Well, I shouldn't be too surprised about Big Mom, considering that we had conflict with her in the past," Stussy replied, "I'm still puzzled over Kaido, why does he want to join in the battle?"

"It doesn't matter at the moment, we need to start mobilizing forces for the incoming battle if this is true," I muttered coldly, "to do that, I'm gonna have to call Whitebeard and let him know."

"How long has this been going on?" I asked the navigator.

"I don't know! We just got recruited the other month, and we've been getting information about the Golden Lion via rumors!" The navigator flinched as he responded.

"When is this so called 'war' going to happen?" Stussy asked the Navigator.

"I heard from a surbordinate that was on Shiki's ship that he had gotten into a conflict with Big Mom during negotiations!" The navigator exclaimed, "The conflict was resolved, but it did set the timing of the battle back by a few months, mostly because that they needed to divvy up the territory that they had wanted from Whitebeard."

It was just trouble after trouble, in these turbulent seas.