Chapter 9

A twelve year old was facing against a middle aged man and though they were almost of the same height the man appeared to be taller and seemed to look down at the boy. What further distinguished the two was that the boy had had an overly muscular build as compared to the man and the lion's tattoo on his back further enhanced his majestic appearance. Silvers Rayleigh was a man who had his fair share of battle and had dealt with many different types of opponents. The simplest of opponents were those who had obvious weaknesses and in the case of the child now man before him he had sensed to be his pride. He resolved to not be too hard on the boy but that was a decision he would regret after a few minutes into the fight.

Rayleigh made the first move and quickly swung wis sword straight at the boy's abdomen. Ra was surprisingly agile despite his build and managed to block by lowering the axe and stopping it using the handle. He coated his hand with haki and swiped the sword back to Rayleigh then swung his axe toward Rayleigh's head. Rayleigh lowered himself with his knees bent and back facing the ground to avoid the attack but the axe head abruptly changed its direction of attack and the blade of the axe promptly descended towards him. He quickly adjusted his position, avoided the attack and applying a bit more strength swung his sword at Ra. Ra using the previously gained momentum shifted the axe's direction back upwards, spun and swung it meeting the incoming attack head on and both blades collided. The two opponents were both pushed back though Ra obviously moved further back as compared to Rayleigh. And thus ended the first bout between the two warriors. Rayleigh made a rough judgement after the clash that though the boy was much weaker than him, he was growing stronger as time went on but how strong he could become remained unknown. The most surprised were the audience which was composed entirely of the Roger pirates.

Ra realised that his opponent this time was stronger than his initial estimation and he was able to fool his senses making himself appear weaker before the fight started. He smiled at finding a stronger opponent but the only question was whether his axe which had visible dents and chips caused by the collision would hold up long enough for their battle to reach a conclusion. He could always use his fists but at the moment he was excited to finally be putting his axe skills into proper practice against an opponent wielding a different weapon. He tried his newest technique, imbued armament haki on the axe head and struck first. He maintained a distance within the axe's reach and swung it sideways at Rayleigh. He expected to strike against the sword but just hit the air and Immediately after, a cut appeared on his chest and though he had coated it with the minimal amount of haki he could muster at the unexpected attack he was still cut and surprisingly the sword had no haki imbued into it. He just growled and instead of retreating he set the axe on fire and putting in all his strength, he swung the attack at Rayleigh who was still in front of him unleashing a torrent of flames in the inteded direction. Rayleigh made some distance and created his own sword slash which cut through the flames and proceeded towards Ra who tilted his head avoiding the attack but the hill behind him was not so lucky and was sliced in half. He had intended to evade the slash entirely but the cut that appeared on his cheek showed a different story.

He licked the flowing blood and made the weirdest comment of the day saying," As expected my blood has a strong taste." No one seemed to understand how he came to that conclusion but he didn't seem to share their thoughts and just looked at his now charred and crumbling axe as he wasn't sure how to proceed from there due to the danger his opponent possesed. He realised that the man was very good with the sword and at the moment with no proper weapon of his own held no chance against him. But he wasn't one to despair at the unfavorable odds and clenched his fists covered them in haki and raised the battlefield's temperature. He gave in to his power which visibly spiked as shown by the now melting rocks and the visible heat forming in the air. He realised that something wasn't entirely right as he was growing stronger than ever before. He grew bigger and busted into flames but he himself did not seem to be aware as he was fully focused on Rayleigh. The battlefield become silent and the only sound made was of melting surroundings and evaporating water. Even Roger himself halted his fight and both he and Ferlga looked at the now burning man who had dwarfed everyone present standing across Rayleigh.

Rayleigh was indeed a veteran fighter but the situation before him was indeed bullshit. How could anyone become that strong in only a matter of seconds. He tried forcing the giant before him down with conquerors haki but it seemed to have no effect whatsoever. He then saw Ra forming a solid flaming ball of fire in his hand which was growing bigger and bigger. He made an on the spot decision and yelled for everyone to retreat which his captain supported by carrying the slowest members away from the battlefield. Ra had never felt so fulfilled before and formed an energy ball uttered," Supreme cruel sun!" then threw it at Rayleigh. After launching the attack he blacked out and crashed to the ground without witnessing the effects of his attack. Rayleigh observed the incoming attack and knew that it was instant death if struck him and jumped away as the attack hit the ground. It burned down and disintegrated everything it touched but the only reason their ship was still intact was due to how far it was from them. The resulting shockwaves blew away most of the soil,trees and rocks that were lucky not to be burnt out of existence. The ship also visibly swayed but otherwise was still okay. The temperature remained intense and when it would cool down was unknown to everybody present. Coating his body with armament Ferlga wasted no time and rushed to his son, picked up his naked body and rushed back home to find his wife. And thus the first contact between the Roger pirates and a young boy known as Zentar D Ra came to an end with a hole on Valcino island which ran deep into the island being proof of Ra's might.