Chapter 53: Preparations

[One year later]

In the middle of the dark forest sat a rough-looking man near the fire, this person had long gloomy black hair tied in a ponytail, and his face was sculpted with manly beauty, His brown eyes were very deep and full of darkness, pain, sadness and the rest of the emotions were reflected in his gloomy eyes.

After a long while sitting and meditating by the fire Arthur heard the sound of footsteps coming towards him quietly, turned his head and looked towards his right to find a man dressed as a samurai walking towards him carrying a tray full of food.

After a few seconds the man arrived and put the tray next to Arthur and said:

"Here you go, Mr. commander."

Arthur nodded and carried the food tray, the food was some rice balls, grilled fish as well as some grilled meat and an Apple as a dessert.

" Is there anything else you'd like to say, " Arthur picked up one of the rice balls and asked calmly.

The man who remained standing near Arthur with hesitating expressions filling his face, was a little surprised and hesitantly said:

"Sir commander, most of the men are wondering if the task we are going to do is really worth it, they don't want to anger Kaido."

Arthur took a small bite and chewed it carefully, his actions were slow and provocative, but the other man said nothing and waited calmly.

After some time Arthur said without any expressions of interest.

You can withdraw if you want, but Commander Ashura won't like it, you know that the Kaido Pirates are getting a very important shipment, and Commander Ashura wants to seize it all, Because of the value of this shipment, it will be subject to strict protection, especially during its transportation to the capital, so we will not be able to steal it."

Arthur took a sip of water, raised his head and looked at the face of the man standing next to him and asked" in this case in your eyes, how are we going to be able to get this shipment? "

After some careful thought, the man spoke, " we are attacking the warehouse where the shipment will arrive because they will not expect it, and their security will be a little low at that stage."

"Yes, that's right, so in your view, what would happen if we withdrew and did not go to support them?" Arthur asked:

"The number of Ashura's men will decrease and his plan will be ruined, in the worst case they will be killed or captured," the man spoke with guilt, he realized that their hesitation could lead to the death of their comrades.

" Thank you, commander, for making me understand, I'll explain to the rest of the members " with hurried steps the man left.

The voices of the two men disappeared and the forest returned to calm, the sounds of crickets singing and the sound of burning wood made Arthur feel some peace, he looked at the flames and sighed.

Being a leader is annoying, why isn't everyone like Odrick listens to orders blindly and doesn't ask a lot of questions? '

" I hope everything goes well "

Arthur spent a whole year with the bandits, during this time he won their trust and built close relationships with several of them, But the important thing from all this is that he has significantly increased his strength, he has mastered the Ryu Haki and has a simple mastery of the Observation Haki.

Currently he has the rank of captain and has a small squad of 7 men under his command, His current task is to lead these men and head towards the port of Habu, which they will raid, because the port is so far away that it is separated by two provinces from Mount Atama Yama, Ashura Doge decided to send his followers sporadically so as not to be detected and captured.

The task was simple: after 3 days, all the teams had to gather near the rocky peaks in hakomai province, and then they would attack the port and plunder the cargo that would arrive during that day.

Arthur didn't know what kind of shipment Ashura wanted to plunder so desperately, but he didn't care much because he would eventually find out.

…

[ three days later ]

The waves crashed into the rocky peaks, making a very loud sound. Near the rocks dozens of men gathered and set up a simple camp, waiting for the arrival of the rest of their comrades. Arthur sat on one of the rocks and watched the Blue Sea in front of him.

His eyes were filled with complex and confusing emotions at the same time, Arthur had become like this before too long that his emotions became mixed and he became annoyed by something, but he couldn't figure out the reason for this feeling.

He looked at his slightly trembling hand and sighed.

' it all started on that island, that feeling of disconnection from reality, as if everything that happens around me is not related to me, I began to see myself as a walking object, there is some problem with me but I can't figure it out, a deep desire inside me pushes me to surrender.'

'I have to act quickly and address the root of the problem. If I don't, I think what happens next will be something I don't want to happen.'

With a small sigh Arthur lowered his hand and continued to contemplate the ocean, he had an initial idea of the cause of his problems and had made some arrangements to try to fix things, About half a year ago Arthur got the devil's fruit guide and after reading it carefully he was able to find 3 three fruits that could help him.

Then he wrote an urgent letter and ordered Odrick to use all possible manpower and resources to find one of these fruits as soon as possible.

Even after half a year, none of the fruits had been found, there was some good news, like they had some clues about their whereabouts, but Arthur had nothing to do but wait.

" Come on, Get ready, we'll do the job in half an hour. "

A rough and strong sound made Arthur wake up from daydreaming, he examined the ocean in front of him then he saw a huge sailing ship sailing towards the port of Habu.

Arthur stood holding his sword and covered his face with a black scarf, which was not in harmony with the White hakama costume he was wearing.

Because of his entry into an area full of Pirates, Arthur decided to hide his face for fear of being recognized by any of them, although the contours of his face have changed due to his old age, it is necessary to take some precautions.

' If Kaido knew I was here, I think he would turn this island upside down in search of me, although the value of my reward is something that he will not be tempted by, but someone of his stature will have several questions about why I got a very big reward at a young age. '

With quiet steps Arthur caught up with Ashura and the other men heading towards the harbor.

…..

With light steps that did not make any sound, Arthur quietly crept towards the port, after arriving at the warehouse area, he hid behind some boxes, through a small crack he watched the doors of the store as he patiently waited for the arrival of the shipment they wanted to steal.

After waiting for a few minutes a huge man appeared, putting an iron plate around his mouth. Arthur recognized this person immediately. He had seen him several times and was aware of how strong he was, this person was Jack the drought.

Behind Jack walked a few men carrying some metal reinforced boxes, the boxes were very heavy because each box was carried by 4 men.

Arthur watched the store calmly as he counted the number of people who appeared and counted the number of boxes. Although he wanted to know The Shape of the store from the inside, he did not do anything stupid because he did not want to be exposed.