Drums Of Liberation

[ Huge thanks to my editor/ buddy whose username is Envious_ by the way on this website since he wrote this chapter as well as the previous chapter. So please if you would check out profile out as he is gonna post a naruto fanfiction soon. ]

[ 3/16/1482 - Same Day

[ Word Count 3146 ]

" Hello" - Speech

' Hello' - Thoughts

* Boom* - Sound

<<<<<<>>>>>>>

(Marco's POV)

I had just gotten off the ship as I gave Achilles and Bullet a quick goodbye, not willing to spend more time in front of them due to the possibility that I would cry.

However short our time was together it was something I would cherish, I guess the saying was true; "You only know what you have, once you have lost it." 

The Island that they dropped me off at's name was Clew Bay, it was quite a large island with a light festival going on right now. The colors looked beautiful in the evening darkness. They managed to provide me with a bit of much-needed cheer.

[ Festival Color Scheme ]

I started exploring the island and the festival. There were stands set up, there were fireworks going off, all in all, it was a beautiful event; too bad, I didn't have anyone to enjoy it with. I had to actively shake such depressing thoughts out of my head, it wouldn't do to be sad at such a beautiful festival. 

As I continued walking down the beautifully lit streets I bumped into someone due to my absent-mindedness.

" Hey, watch where you're going." A tall burly man yelled out.

" Oh, my bad man."

" It's all good my man. I didn't realize you were a kid, my bad." As he spoke I failed to notice an unusual glint appear in his eyes, something I would come to regret.

" Oh, uh, don't worry about it, I'll be on my way then." As I stepped forward I felt a chop to the back of my neck.

As the contact was made, I felt myself lose consciousness. 

<<<<<<>>>>>>

(Achilles' POV)

Bullet and I were making our way through a crowd to get to a stand that was selling a bunch of ingredients, though it was hard with the number of people there who were crowding around it.

I couldn't blame them though, this festival was truly beautiful; I could definitely see why so many people would attend it.

" Excuse me, would you mind telling us what this festival is for?" I asked an old lady that I found, curious as to why so many people came out to witness a light show.

" Oh, you haven't heard about it? This festival is to celebrate the Sun-God, who saved our island from its invaders." 

As she said that, I found myself freeze in surprise. She had just casually name-dropped the Sun freaking God Nika.

" Oh, that-that's great. The festival really does him justice." I told her my true thoughts on the festival because I truly did believe what I just said. This festival was insanely beautiful to look at and it felt incredible to be a part of it.

" It's great you think that way. More kids need to be like you, appreciative of the beauty around them. Well then, you two enjoy yourselves." She spoke with a kind smile only a grandmother could give before she left to do some shopping.

" Well let's go get the rest of the stuff we need," Bullet told me, and I agreed.

As we were walking we saw two shady-looking men enter an alleyway. Now usually I really wouldn't care about them, but there was something in my gut that told me I should follow them.

" Hey Bullet," I called out to the taller man.

" Ya?" 

" Wait here for a moment, I'm going to go see what those two are up to."

" Alright, just hand me the bags you're carrying so you don't lose them."

" Aight, thanks."

As soon as I finished handing over the bags to him I used shave to make my way to a roof-top where I listened to the conversation the two were having.

" Ha, can you believe our luck?"

" No way, it's too good hahaha!"

" This festival truly is a joke."

" Ya, the Sun-God who frees slaves don't make me laugh. More like the Sun-God who gifted us his phoenix and other slaves."

" Hahahaha! You're right my friend. I still can't believe we got that Marco brat. We had just come to this island to make fun of the festival and force people into slavery when they were too busy celebrating some imaginary figure who freed slaves."

" So much for their faith hahaha!"

" Hehe."

As I heard what they were talking about I felt myself growing more and more enraged at the shit-talking slavers. One they were slavers, a group of people who practiced something I hated to my core, and two they had taken Marco and were laughing about it. 

I didn't really get a chance to build a proper friendship with him, but he was still someone I found somewhat amusing, and thinking of him as a slave once more brought unbridled anger.

" Hey bastards, where are you keeping the phoenix brat you're so proud of?" I called out to them from the roof. Luckily no one heard me as the sound of people speaking and the music of the festival completely outdid my shout.

As they looked up to see who called them out, they immediately paled, most likely because they realized who I was.

" A-Achilles. What're you doing here?" 

" Don't worry about it, all you have to do is point me in the direction of the slaves."

" No way, I'm not telling you, you stupid bastard." One of the goons yelled out. I had to commend him, it took a lot of bravery to deny someone who could kill you with a mere flick of their finger.

" They're down by the port! There is the fifth ship which looks like a yacht!" His friend immediately started singing, with no care about who he snitched upon. As he did his friend looked at him in rage.

" At least one of you has some sort of sense." I snorted as I immediately appeared behind them and killed them both with a basic finger-pistol to the heart.

' Now time to head down to the port.' I thought as I used shave at max speed to find Bullet.

In around two minutes I found the man of the hour.

" Bullet!"

" Ya, what do you need Achilles?"

" Some slavers caught Marco."

" Again?" He questioned.

" Sadly," I replied.

" I feel bad for the kid, he's got even worse luck than me."

" Too true, too true my friend. But anyway they're holding him at a ship by the port, along with a bunch of other slaves."

" Well then, what are we waiting for?"

" I was waiting for you Bullet."

" Oh, well then let's get going."

[5 Minutes Later]

As Bullet and I made our way to the port we went to the fifth ship, it was a huge ship with a top part and a bottom part.

[ Image of the Yacht ]

" So how are we going to do this?" Bullet asked me.

" Honestly I have no clue."

" That's not very helpful."

" You know what, we're just going to take them by storm. Get in knock them all out, and free all the slaves."

" You want to leave them alive?" He questioned me.

" Leave some of them alive, they'll tell tales of us. This way we might be able to reduce the number of slavers, even if it's only by a little bit. We're pirates, not monsters."

" Gotchu."

" Ready?" I asked Bullet.

" Ready." He nodded in affirmation.

" Good, you check the top, I'll check the bottom."

" Aight I got it."

" Good, 3,2,1, go!" I shouted as we both stormed into the place.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

(3rd Person POV)

As Bullet and Achilles were about to start their purge of the vile slavers, suddenly all the music that was going on in the festival cut out. It stayed like that for around a minute, until people started banging on their drums with full force. 

As the slavers were being massacred, the Drums of Liberation rang.

[A/N: If you want the full feeling of what is to come, listen to this while you are reading the next little bit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpIhbDN58mA ]

<<<<<<>>>>>>

(Achilles POV) 

" Ah, what the hell's happening?!" Someone yelled but was immediately killed by Bullet.

No one in the yacht had time to even understand what was going on as they were all either immediately killed, or knocked out. Courtesy of Bullet and I. 

Everything was going well until I encountered a regal looking-man.

" Who the hell are you?! And why are you doing this to us?!" He bellowed out to me.

" Who I am doesn't really matter. But I'm doing this to ensure other people don't face needless cruelty that vermin like you enforce onto other people."

After around 30 seconds of silence between the both of us, his face lit up in recognition.

" So, the great pirate upstart Achilles is some kind-hearted idiot eh?" The man mocked me as he asked.

So he managed to learn of my identity without me having to tell him, not exactly impressive considering the amount of time it took him to realize but whatever.

" Nah, I wouldn't call myself kind, but at the very least I'm not a man devoid of all emotions."

" Hah, if you think we're devoid of all emotions then you truly know nothing. You, a pirate of all things, should know this better than anyone else. Piracy is tyranny, just by going out you influence hundreds of people to go out to follow in your footsteps.

"And then you come and tell us about lacking morals? You aren't much better than us, don't try to act like you're some sort of saint!" 

" Are you done? If people decide to become pirates that isn't my fault, that's their own choice."

" Huh, how typical, pretending like nothing is your fault while blaming everyone else."

The man's condescending tone had really begun to grate my nerves.

" I'm done with this," I told the man.

As soon as I said that I appeared behind him due to a quick shave, I then used a finger-pistol to go for the quick kill. As my finger was about to make contact with his body something unexpected happened, he ducked and shot his leg out in a kick. 

I dodged the kick quite easily, but the man still surprised me. There were not many people on these seas who could dodge the attack I had just pulled off, and he did it with ease.

" Hah! Thought you could kill me in a single hit like you did the others huh? Well, it won't be that easy." The man mocked while wagging his pointer finger from side to side.

" Who the hell are you?" 

" Me? Well if you must know I'm a representative of the Hutt Slave trade. It is the biggest slave-trading organization North Blue."

"..."

" Do you understand now boy? There are some things that you should stay away from, especially when it comes to the underworld. Continuing to mess with us is certain doom, once you get dragged in, there is no escape."

" Would you mind shutting up?"

" What an arrogant little shit. It seems like the only way you can understand anything I'm saying is through a good beating."

" Give it your best shot, old man." As I said that a vein suddenly popped on his forehead, and he shot out towards me.

As he came near me he threw his fist forward in a punch. Too bad it was too slow to actually make contact with me, so in the time it took to reach my body I had already ducked underneath, and threw my fist forward at full power; I added Iron-body to increase the potency of the attack at the very last second so I would be hitting him with as much momentum as I could.

*Boom*

As my fist made contact with him it sent him flying into a wall.

I had to give the man some credit, even after taking my attack he still managed to stand up, albeit very unsteadily as he was wobbling back and forth.

Before he spoke he spat some blood out.

" That's pretty impressive brat."

*Cough*

" But you should know even if you kill me, there will still be tons of other people alive to run the organization. In all honesty, I'm not even that high up on the authority echelon."

" It doesn't matter, this way the others will know they aren't invincible and that if they get in my way they will inevitably fall."

" Do your worst!" As he barked out his last sentence he shot at me with significantly more speed than last time, too bad it was still too slow, as before he could even make it halfway I had already sent three Soryu style: disorders at him.

[ Soryu style: Disorder > Image Here ]

He managed to dodge the first one, got clipped by the second, and got hit square in the stomach by the third. The force of the attack crippled his movement, and due to it, he was now lying on the floor.

As he laid on the ground he found the strength to speak up once more.

" Fuck you, you damn bastard." He spat out at me with pure hatred coloring his voice.

" You should take solace in the fact that you've just brought the downfall of your own organization. It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but I promise you one day the Hutts will fall."

I didn't give him time to reply to my last sentence as I immediately shot a finger-pistol at his heart, killing him. 

" Finally, the damn bastard is dead," I spoke to no one in specific, annoyed at how much time it took me to kill the annoying shit.

I then proceeded to wander the halls of the bottom floor.

While doing so I found many cells of slaves, I freed every single slave I came across, and thankfully it seemed as if the people who were captured had not been slaves for that long, as they didn't have any of the signs.

They didn't have many injuries and didn't look malnourished. Also, they didn't seem to have a broken will, because as soon as their cell was opened they bolted toward safety.

After wandering the bottom floor of the ship for around five minutes, and freeing a bunch of slaves I finally found the man, or rather the boy I had been searching for. 

" Fancy meeting you here, eh Marco?" I asked in a sly tone, amused as he snapped his head up in shock.

" Eh Achilles? What the hell are you doing here?" He asked in astonishment.

" Gee, I don't know man. I came here to give myself up as a slave. I'm here to free you, you dim-wit." I couldn't resist the urge to tease the smaller blonde.

" Oh." 

" Ya." I told him as I entered his cell and used the key I had found earlier to undo his sea stone cuffs.

The people who captured him obviously knew who he was, otherwise they wouldn't waste sea stone just to cuff a little boy. That meant the people who captured him truly had connections in tons of places.

" You know, I'm really sorry for the way I treated you," I whispered to him, it hurt to admit that I was wrong, but the little man did deserve an apology from me.

" What?" His head shot up once more, and there was disbelief written all over his face.

" I said I was sorry. I realized I was being insensitive by forcing you to join my crew, and then acting like it was ok, and that nothing had happened prior to you joining my crew. I should have spent more time making sure you were all right."

" I- I don't know what to say. Except sorry." 

" The hell are you apologizing for?" I asked the boy in confusion.

" You were nothing like the previous slavers. You were much kinder and allowed me to do whatever I wanted as long as I didn't do anything that would harm the crew. So I'm sorry for the way I snapped at you, and the way I treated you and Bullet during my short time on your crew."

" Hah, it's no problem Marco. You became my responsibility when you joined the crew." 

<<<<<<>>>>>>

(Marco's POV)

" Hah, it's no problem Marco. You became my responsibility when you joined the crew."

He spoke so genuinely that it reminded me of the last words, my grandpa said to me before he died.

" Hah, just you wait, Marco. Don't blame yourself for the vile actions of others. Someday you'll find someone who'll care for you, just as I did. Live your life to your fullest, don't let anyone hinder you. A bird is meant to fly freely and unhinged, and you're the greatest of all birds."

Those were the exact words my grandpa said to me before he died, and now I found a person in Achilles who was actually willing to take care of me. At the end of the day no matter the previous events, he was a good person in my eyes. So damn the consequences to come, but I would live my life just like my grandpa did, to its very fullest.

I wasn't going to let a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity go for the second time.

" Achilles, I know this may seem kind of contradictory, and I don't know if you'll allow it, but would you please accept me into your crew!" I dropped into a bow as I asked.

Due to the bow, I didn't see his expression, but if I was looking up I would see disbelief and then pure happiness.

He waited a moment before speaking, something that scared me, but what came out of his mouth I would always remember as the moment my life went from a totally shitty existence to something worth living and dying for.

" You've always been a part of the crew with the amount of trouble you've been giving me." He said as he let out a laugh, and ruffled my hair.

Even with his roundabout way of agreeing, his response still left me elated so much so that I hugged him out of happiness.

<<<<<<>>>>>>

And that's the end of the chapter folks

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