Chapter 76: Let's Change The Truth

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Chapter 76: Let's Change The Truth

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-Max POV-

After that complete loss, yes, that was an absolute loss on my part. But there was no need to dwell on it too long. People should just blame themselves once and then move on to improve themselves so they don't make the same mistake again.

Sure, I was a little mad. But looking at the situation from another point of view, there was no way I could win against that person without at least some preparations. Even the poison weapons I had on hand wouldn't be enough as he had future sight.

Raynare's heavy breathing brought me out of my thoughts and as I looked at her giant figure. It was surprising that her Awakening hadn't taken over her mind. I still don't believe in the power of love, but this time it might have done something as her love for me was real.

Though it was needless, as that guy wouldn't have killed me anyway. But Raynare didn't know that.

***

-Normal POV-

Max's thoughts went through many scenarios, and he couldn't help but think about what the repercussions of this would be. Also, it seemed like the World Government was after Zephyr for some reason, they wanted to kill the man no matter what. 

That cloaked man, Max could guess who it was, and he definitely wouldn't kill people for some nonsense reason. Especially since his mercy and soft heart was quite apparent as no one other than Zed had died, and keeping people alive while slicing ships apart was quite hard. Max could attest to that, it was the reason why he didn't bother to hold back when attacking.  In his eyes it was better to kill everyone than let people alive and have them come back to take revenge.

Still, many problems had risen and a leader who lost wasn't a good one, nor did he inspire confidence. But for Max that wasn't something he would be too worried about.

"*Grrrrrrr*" Raynare's breaths turned into growls and he noticed that the grip around his body started getting tighter. Like a child with a toy in their hands, even if they tugged too hard a kid wouldn't notice. 

Max had a calm look on his face, even though his injuries were critical. There was a good chance that Raynare in her current form would be able to beat him. But there wasn't a trace of fear in his eyes as he stared at her crow-like face and her purple eyes met his brown ones.

"We are really caught in a bad romance," he joked. "I still don't understand what you see in me? You know what I am and how this will end up. In this enraged form, you will show your true face. So what is it? Do you really love me?"

Max knew that while Awakened, unlike him, she didn't have the same control he had over the Beast inside the Devil Fruit. "I know, I know, these tests of your loyalty will continue through our life. I will know everything about you and while at the same time be hypocritical and keep many secrets. Was this what you wanted? You can't be in denial about it by now?"

It was true, everything he said was the truth… Max would always check and make sure to see what the goals of those around him were. After all, even if they were loyal at one time, people always changed. Even with Negan, who he considered the man who he trusted the most and the mad had sailed half the world to come back. Yet, during that loss of memories, it was a perfect moment to control him. 

So Max's trust in people wasn't very long-lasting, that was due to how he was. He would always act as the perfect version others like him liked to see, he knew what they wanted to see from him even more than they knew themselves.

His greatest fear in this world was meeting someone who was like himself. Someone with the patience to act like his best friend and play everything to the role of someone loyal perfectly, in the end though, when the time came they would stab Max in the back.

Slowly Raynare's giant body got smaller in size and it took on her normal form with giant wings coming out of her shoulder blades. "Will you shut the fuck up," she said in a tired voice. "This isn't the time for one of your tests. You already know my answer, and if I was gonna betray you, then I wouldn't be saying anything and just smash your head in."

Max looked at her surprised, and suddenly his body shook.

*Pffft* He couldn't hold in his chuckles. "Xahahahaha!!" That developed into crazy full-on laughter. "Damn, I think I like this irritated you more. No class, no filter to your words. You stand naked before me with nothing to hide, no secrets."

"Can't we have this conversation another time?" She inquired, her hands shaking to the after-effects of the Rumble Ball. 

"No, no, no," Max shook his head and insisted. "This is the best time to talk like this. Both of us are distressed just enough so we can't hide anything from each other. You can ask me whatever you want and I doubt I will be able to lie to you good enough for you to not notice."

Raynare stopped to think about that. His words, like always, were like a whisper to the back of her mind. She wondered if his will was to have her ask him these questions? Max was good at making people do what he wanted and made them feel like it was their idea. 

She had learned a lot from him from the time they spent together. Max even explained and taught her what he was doing sometimes. Yet, even now she couldn't understand whether this was her will. Did she want to ask him questions right now or was it Max's will? Did he manipulate this dire situation to turn it into an opportunity? 

She had many questions for him, like, where was Max's family? Did he predict this situation? What was his end goal? Did he have feelings for the other girls? Hell, she could ask all those questions right now.

But something inside felt off, like the situation wasn't what it seemed. "No," she refuted. "I won't ask anything you don't want to tell me. Also since when did you become such a bad liar to be unable to lie in a dire situation? I would say that's when you are the best at lying."

"Xahahahaha!!" Max's loud laugh rang through the sky as they floated away from Risky Red, where even their attacker couldn't reach them. "You know, sometimes things work in mysterious ways. No matter how hard one tried to predict things, there will always be something that they haven't thought of."

Both of them smiled, neither said anything, one had many secrets, while the other had none. An unfair situation created that would ruin any normal relationship, though no one would consider their relationship normal.

***

A couple of hours later and everything went back to normal. Max was atop a platform addressing the crowd of people below him, both Marines and Neo Marines. Negan and Raynare stood to his sides. 

He made a speech that told a very different sequence of events, creating a false truth. In this event, Max was able to chase away the attacker, though he got heavily injured, at this time, the attacker had been after Zephyr all along. 

He expressed his regret at being unable to predict this and put forward another 'fault' to blindsight others from his real weakness. Unlike Luffy who ruled his small crew with simple-mindedness, due to their small numbers he could manage. But Max had thousands of subordinates under him now and he had to act like the boss. Also even in such a small group, Luffy got left in the dirt and betrayed by his crew multiple times. Usopp in Water 7, Robin, Nami, Sanji, etc. They don't respect him as a captain, so they all leave the crew and having that in the scale of thousands doing so would destroy the crew. Luffy's crew survived only due to pure luck and nothing else. 

That was how Max saw the situation, as a Manga it was fun. But in reality, the crew had gone by a hair's width to being broken up multiple times. 

Though now it remained to be seen how things would play out as Max was here and he had changed quite a lot of things. 

'Oh yeah, Enies Lobby Arc should play out soon.' He contemplated, in his mind many ideas passed by on how to use this opportunity to his advantage.

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A/N: In a Manga it adds drama when Usopp left Luffy's crew in Water 7 due to Going Merry. Also when  Sanji left top… the same when Robin… but in reality it shows that Luffy's crew was always hanging by a thread. Being naive and a leader doesn't work well. 

If 30% of Max's crew acted like that. He would be fu*ked.