The staff officer of the Strawhat Pirates

"Hey!!! Zoro, hurry up and get me out of that cage!!!"

A black-haired, young man wearing a strawhat, a red and sleeveless shirt, a light blue short and a pair of straw slippers, shouted at a green-haired young man that was standing in front of the cage beside an orange-haired young woman. The caged young man sat down inside of the cage.

"Luffy!!! I can't cut down the bars of the cage with my katana... We need to find the key of the cage, in order to free you..."

The green-haired young man said to the caged young man before he turned to the large group of armed men surrounding them with a ferocious and intimidating look. The green-haired young man wore a white t-shirt, a green haramaki with three katana attached to its right side, a long black pant and a pair of black boot. He also wore three golden earings on his left ear. The green-haired young man was a former bounty hunter and currently a member of the Strawhat Pirates, the Pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro.

"I advised you to give me the key immediately, you maggots... After all I'm mood to fight you, so just give it us."

Zoro said to the group of pirates before turning back to caged young man who was his Captain Monkey D. Luffy.

"Hahahahahahahaha...."

"hihihihihihihihihihihi...."

The pirates laughed loud like madmen while ignoring the threat of the Pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro.

"Are those guys crazy? You just killed their captain as if he was an insect and they are laughing... "

The curvaceous orange-haired young woman said as she stared at Zoro while she held a pole in her hands.

"Behind you!!!!"

The young woman shouted as she saw the silhouette of an individual, suddenly appearing behind Zoro who was still staring at Luffy. As soon as he heard her words, Zoro unsheathed two of his three katana in hands who had black hilts and scabbards, and turned to face the individual.

"You let down your guard, Zoro..."

The individual that was now face-to-face to Zoro said as he smiled at the latter.

" So, you finally make it here, Freed... Since you are here, I assume thar you have finished you preparations."

Zoro said in a calm voice as he shealthed his two katana and stared at the young man in front of him. The young man had black, waist-length and untied hair, and light brown eyes. He wore a black, long-sleeved shirt, a black pant and a pair of black boot. He also had a wooden barrel hanging on his right shoulder with the help of a rope that he held with his righ hand. In his left hand, he was holding a severed hand that was wearing a white glove .

"Yeah! I'm ready now, I will leave Captain Monkey D. Luffy and this young miss in your care!!! First mate Roronoa Zoro."

Freed said as he slammed the barrel that he was holding on the ground and removed its lid. He then put the severed hand in his left hand into the barrel and covered it again with its lid. A dagger could be seen stabbed on the side of the barrel and water could be seen leaking from the barrel at that place.

Freed then turned his back to Luffy, Zoro and the young woman, and then stared at Captain Buggy, the clown and his pirate crew. Captain Buggy, the clown that was supposed to be dead after being cut down by Zoro was standing in front of Freed and his companions without any wound, except for his missing right hand. His face had a furious expression plastered on it.

"What did you do to my right hand, you bastard!!!!"

"Hahahahahahahaha... So, you noticed it... You are not a complete fool, Buggy the clown... But there is no need for you to know what I did, you only need to know one thing.... I, Edward Freed, the staff officer of the Strawhat Pirates under the leadership of Captain Monkey D. Luffy, the future Pirate King and First mate Roronoa Zoro, the future strongest swordsman, will be taking you and your third-class pirate crew down!!!."

Freed shouted at Captain Buggy the clown and his pirate crew while staring at tjem with a calm but serious expression.

Then, he dashed forward at full speed rapidly covering the distance of five meters separating him and Captain Buggy. He landed a powerful right punch directly on the red and round nose of Captain Buggy, leading the latter to stubble a few steps backwards. Without losing his momentum and giving his opponent any time to recover, Freed closed the gap between him and Captain Buggy, and immediately after landed a powerful left punch to the stomach. As the latter bent forward due to the left punch, Freed landed the finishing blow, a powerful uppercut, under Captain Buggy's chin. Thus sending him flying backward in the air as Freed paused and observed the remaining pirates.

'As expected from the information given by Oda Eiichiro-sensei, any type of water as long as it's not moving can be used to either killed or weakened devil fruit users... With his severed hand in the barrel of freshwater, Buggy was greatly weakened and he was no different from a common pirate... Now, I just have to look out for his first mate Mohji, the beast trainer and his lion, Richie, and the staff officer Kabaji, the acrobat..... Hihihihi... Those three are not here, good.... I will just have to take out the remaining pirates until they show up.'

"Soru(shave)..."

Freed stopped thinking and muttered that single word in a low voice before suddenly disappearing from the eyes of everyone.

[Bammm]

The sound of something violently being slammed against the floor of the roof of the building where everyone were standing could be heard. Then, all what could be seen was a man lying on the ground unconscious at the source of the sound, and Freed punching another man in the belly. The pirates from Captain Buggy's crew were shocked and fear started to take control of them as they looked at Freed. As every time, he kept on taking down one of their friends with each passing second and he did so with only single blow, each time.

[From Zoro, Luffy and the young woman's perspectives]

"Luffy! Your staff officer is a monster... He's taking out Baggy's men one after another, after having dealt with Baggy himself with only three punches..."

The young woman said to Luffy with a voice filled with astonishment and joy.

"Hihihihihihihihihihihi... That the least he should be able to do, Nami... After all he's the staff officer of the future Pirate King's crew... Those small fries are nothing to us."

Luffy replied to the orange-haired young woman with a large toothy smile. The young woman was called Nami. On the other hand, Zoro stared at Freed's fight with a stoic expression while being lost in his thoughts.

'He's completely different from when I first met him one year ago... At that time, I only thought of him as a decent fighter that will not live long in the line of work of a bounty hunter.... But nevertheless, he sticked to me like glue while always giving his best and training his body everyday... He also always changes me to at least a thousands of strange duels in which he blindfolded his eyes and never won....

But it seems that all what he did was not useless, he is growing at an astonishing rate. Currently if we fought, I'm 100% sure to win but I will have to go all out... I will have to trai-'

"EH!!!! Zoro!! Luffy said that you are the one among the two of you that know Freed for the longest among of time. Can you tell me more about him?"

Zoro's train of thought was interrupted by Nami shouting his name and asking him a question. Zoro stared at Nami for a second before opening his mouth to speak.

" To speak frankly, I don't know about him, except what he told me... He told me that he had live most of his life in a poverty with surrounded by many people that were completely different from him but accepted him, nevertheless. He was the only kid with white-coloured skin in his locality and he was heavily involved in gang activities, when he entered adolescent.

He told me that he was often involved in gunshots and that at the age of sixteen, he had already killed two men... He also said that him and two of his friends were trying to escape from Law enforcers, when their mean of transportation ended up in the sea. He saw his friends drown in front of his eyes one after another and he come back to his sense, only when I found him on a beach last year... Even the location of the country, he refused to tell me about it after being with him for one whole year... I only know that the land that he is from, was called United States of America."

Zoro finished talking without taking his eyes away from the fight for a second.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter at where he came from... What I know about him is enough for me as I can feel his sincerity, when he said that he will help us achieved our dreams the day I met two of you... I believe in Freed and I don't need anything else."

Luffy said as he stared at Freed that had finished taking care of the pirates and who stood proudly on the battlefield. At Luffy's words, Zoro simply nodded his head in approval under the gaze of Nami that could understand the trust that those guys had in someone, they didn't know much about.

[Back to Freed]

"So, you three are finally showing yourselves ...."

Freed said as he stared at the two men and the lion that walked onto the roof.

"You bastard, we will kill you!!! How dare you harm my fellow pirates and Captain Buggy... Richie and I will tear you to pieces."

A man with muscular torso and thick lips that wore a white fur vest that covers the area of his chest and green pants, said in a furious tone. The man was also riding on a large lion with golden fur and pink mane.

"Rrraaarrr!!!!"

The lion roared ferocious at Freed who remained calm and stared right back at it.

"Well said Richie!!!! We will definitely ripped him to pieces!!!"

The man on its back said in a loud voice.

"Hahahahahahahaha.... Mohji... It seemed that you and Richie have already decided to take the head of this man... I, Kabaji the acrobat, will leave this fight to you two..."

A tall slender man that stood on a unicycle and with a unique hairstyle that covers half of his face, said as he stared at Mobji and Richie with a gaze full of confidence, which slowly turned to despise as he stared at Freed. He wore a large blue and white checkered scarf, a sleeveless brown coat reaching down to his knees, and white pants.

"Let's go, Richie!!!!"

Mohji shouted at his pet and the lion sprinted towards Freed at full speed with its jaws wide opened. Freed remained immobile and calmly stared at the lion and the man mounted on it. When Ritchie was only about two meters away from Freed, it jumped at the latter ready to tear his head apart from his body with its pointed canines. But before contact Freed's body suddenly disappeared in thin air and a huge sound could be heard.

"Hmmmmmm.... Kabaji!!!!"

Mohji shouted immediately after he turned his head towards the source of the sound. The view in front of him made him more furious. What he saw, was Kabaji on the ground with his head under Freed's left palm. Kabaji's head was covered with blood and his eyes were devoid of any trace of consciousness on the crack floor.

"What did you said before.... Let me think a little bit for a second."

Freed said he got up and stared Mohji before disappearing again in front of Mohji's bloodshot eyes.

"Yeah!! You wanted to tear me apart."

Freed's voice resounded in his ears and a huge pain could be felt simultaneously on his left cheek. It was because Freed was beside him and landed a powerful right punch at his left cheek. This caused Mohji to fly off Richie's back and landed a few meters away from his mount. Without wasting the momentum of his attack, Freed sent a powerful right kick at Richie's head. The feline's the upper body moved backward and flipped on his back.

" Idiots... None of you, third-class pirates can stop me the staff officer of the Strawhat Pirates and protector of their dreams..."

Freed said as he fell down on his butt and sweat flowed like the river of Nile on his face.