Chapter 23 Deal With The Devil

After the incident between Black Root and Rak, he begun learning the various recipes from the pirate Captain. Sure Black Root was now crippled, but he could still tell Rak what ingredients needed to be mixed with what and etcetera.

Naturally there was the possibility of Black Root lying, but Rak wasn't all that bothered. At the end of the day he wasn't going to main poisons, he just thought they may be useful for taking down Black Root. 'Like I can run around as a marine poisoning people, that's not only a bad look for me but for the organisation as a whole.'

Obviously there were some hiccups as well. Such as when Black Root couldn't hold it in anymore, or when the crew came back to the shack. Luckily this was all solved somewhat easily. Firstly, Rak told Black Root to command them to move out of the shack, and also told him to make Clive his Vice-Captain.

Black Root was the only Captain out of the 5 to not have a Vice-Captain, Rak suspected this was because of his trust issues, so it was quite easy to make Clive the new Vice-Captain.

The next day Rak had written down all the information that Black Root had to offer. "Seems you're useless now....." Rak sighed, as he gazed towards Black Root. He was still stinking after his "accident" the day before.

"P-Please don't kill me! I already gave you my poisons what more could you want? If I can do it or have it just say the word!" Black Root pleaded, he desperately wanted to survive.

Hearing this Rak had a few ideas. In reality killing a defenseless Black Root left a bad taste in his mouth, not only that, but actually Black Root still had value. It wasn't Black Root himself, rather his crew.

'Mobilizing 80 pirates is not exactly small. Considering the fact that the pirates on this island are of about similar strength if I use these guys correctly it may tip things in a nice direction for me.' Rak pondered his gaze never leaving the crippled pirate.

In Rak's view he had 3 options. Number 1, kill Black Root and move on to Po or Ink. Number 2, mobilize the Black Root pirates and have them attack the Ink Pirates. Lastly Number 3, have the Black Root pirates attack the Po Pirates.

'Actually..... there's a 4th option.' With that thought Rak approached Black Root, a devious look on his face. Black Root feared the worst was approaching, but rather than kill him Rak merely patted him on the shoulder.

"Call Clive, tell him that I am now part of your crew and that you want the Black Root pirates to make contact with the Gold Tooth Pirates." He declared, stretching out his hand for a handshake.

"If you do this for me I promise I won't kill you." Rak continued trying to convince Black Root to the best of his abilities. In fact Rak thought he was being rather amiable.

The pirate Captain on the other hand had a different viewpoint. To him, Rak looked like a devil, and even Black Root knew that a deal with the devil was ill advised. Alas it was either he agreed or he died, so naturally despite his better judgement he consented to the deal with a nod of his head.

"Oh ya I forgot you can't move your arms." Rak chuckled taking his arm back. He then disrobed and took a red cloth out of his pocket before tying it around his head in such a way that it covered his nose and mouth.

After doing this, Rak moved towards a desk and grabbed a Den Den Mushi. He then dialed a number according to what Black Root told him before handing it to the pirate Captain.

"Clive, are you there? This is a matter of utmost importance." Black Root spoke, his voice immediately travelling through the Den Den Mushi. How these snails worked was honestly a wonder to Rak.

"Ah yes sir! What is it?" Clive responded nervously, he had no idea how he was made Vice-Captain so he wanted to do as well as he could.

"Hmm, its nothing much. There's someone new joining the crew by the name of..."

"Edward Teach"

"Ya, Edward Teach. He'll be joining you guys, then I need you to make contact with the Gold Tooth pirates. You're to listen to Edward as if he were myself." Black Root ended off his order before quickly hanging up the Den Den Mushi.

"Good, you're free to go." Rak declared before taking the Den Den Mushi. He then left the basement before shutting the hatch behind him. Obviously he had already taken all the poison Black Root had in storage so there was nothing else of value in there for him.

"WAIT DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" Black Root screamed just as the hatch closed. With his body's current condition he couldn't get out of the basement, not to mention that Rak had even taken his Den Den Mushi meaning he had no way of communicating outside the shack.

'That bastard he's leaving me to starve to death!' Black Root wanted to cry but he had no tears. If his fate truly was to starve to death then Black Root would have rather been swiftly killed by Rak. It was truly a deal with the devil, one where he simply couldn't win.