Chapter 9: Pirate Crew Hunt (Part 2)
'Which is more valuable—11 million now or 17 million ten years later? That's an economics question,' Eric pondered philosophically. Back when Zoro was buying a sword in his past life, the shop that tried to scam him out of Wado Ichimonji had said it was worth over ten million, but how much over? Twenty million is also over ten million. So is a hundred million. With his own past yearly income being just in the five digits, Eric figured, "I could've called myself a guy earning under one hundred million a year too."
Anyway—off-topic. At sea, once the novelty wore off, it quickly became dull. Eric found himself doing nothing but daydreaming and practicing swordsmanship… again and again. The endless daily routine of 1,000 downward swings was driving him mad.
Their small single-mast sailboat glided smoothly across the sea under warm sunlight—the kind of weather that just made you want to nap.
Then, in the distance, they spotted several large ships exchanging cannon fire. Smoke and explosions filled the air.
"Pirates attacking merchant ships? Let's get closer and check it out. If we can help any civilians along the way, even better." Eric , who had a strong sense of justice, couldn't stand evil pirates.
Without answering, Akame was already steering the ship toward the commotion.
...
As they got closer, Eric recognized the pirate flags. "Aren't those the Krieg Pirates and the Wild Horse Pirates!" he said after carefully inspecting the emblems.
[Ding… You have a new message]
[Temporary Mission: Defeat Krieg, the overlord of East Blue.
Reward: 5,000,000 Berries / 1 Achievement Point]
Krieg, who aimed to become the overlord of East Blue and later charge into the Grand Line, had already mapped out his path to greatness. He planned to absorb all the well-known East Blue pirate crews into his own, form a fifty-ship grand fleet, conquer the Grand Line, find the legendary treasure, and become the next Pirate King.
The Wild Horse Pirates were currently the second-most wanted crew in East Blue. In the pirate world, there's no peaceful growth—no rules against betrayal. Whoever had the bigger fists and more men could plunder as they pleased.
Krieg had divided his twenty ships into four squadrons of five and sent them into Wild Horse territory. As fate would have it, the squad he led ran straight into the Wild Horse Pirates on the high seas.
Initially, Krieg planned to negotiate and offer them a spot in his crew. But Wild Horse Give had a temper and thought Krieg's higher bounty was only due to having more ships and men. He believed Krieg wasn't stronger than him and couldn't accept playing second fiddle. "Screw that!" he shouted, flipped the proverbial table, and a brawl erupted between their men.
Click. Krieg's heavy shields unfolded. Cannons popped out of his shoulders, waist, and arms. He didn't care one bit about sneak attacks—he opened fire with a barrage of explosions. Smoke engulfed the area where Give had stood.
"Hmph. No one resists me. Anyone who does… dies!"
"Heh heh~ So cold-blooded, Krieg. You'd even ambush someone without blinking," Give's voice rang out from within the smoke.
As the smoke cleared, Give emerged in hybrid human-beast form. Though his clothes were tattered and his body was scratched, none of the wounds were deep.
"Your attacks are weak. Not nearly enough," Give mocked, then charged using his enhanced Zoan body. "Take this—Wild Horse Stomp!" He smashed his hoof-shaped hand toward Krieg.
"Spiked Cape!" Krieg shouted, having baited him into close range. His cloak, covered in iron spikes, countered the blow.
"Ahhh!" Give couldn't pull back in time. His hoof slammed into the spikes, and three bloody holes opened up on his arm.
"Heh, impulsive fool. You want to rule the seas? You need brains, idiot!" Krieg sneered, belittling the brute-force approach. "Think you're invincible just because you ate a Devil Fruit? You dumb sea cow!" He pulled out a massive spear weighing over a ton. "Submit or die!" He slammed it down toward Give.
"Wild Horse Leap!" Give narrowly avoided it as the massive spear crashed into the deck, smashing it apart.
Give bounded across the ship, dragging the battlefield along with him. The war hammer's explosions and smoke blanketed the deck. Give aimed to jump back to his own ship, but with Krieg's men outnumbering his 5-to-1, his ship was nearly sunk. He had to think of another plan.
Krieg spotted an opening and hurled his massive spear.
Boom! It struck Give midair and sent him crashing to the ground.
"Well? Join me now?" Krieg asked again.
"Heh… go to hell, Krieg!" Growling, Give's Zoan instincts kicked in. He fully transformed into beast form. "Wild Horse Charge!" With all his strength focused in his legs, he accelerated and charged Krieg, who wasn't wearing his spiked cape at the time.
BOOM! Another huge explosion. Krieg flew backward through the smoke, carving deep grooves into the deck with his heels. Shattered wood sprayed everywhere.
"Useless! My unbeatable defense and my strength together make me the strongest in the world! I'm the greatest, damn it!" Krieg shouted triumphantly, completely unscathed.
As the smoke cleared, Give's towering horse form emerged. "So you wanna fight a drawn-out battle, huh?" Since eating the Horse-Horse Fruit, Give had never lost a stamina battle.
Krieg noticed Give's earlier wounds had stopped bleeding—and were even beginning to heal. 'Damn Zoan recovery ability. A long fight won't favor me.'
"Time to show you my secret weapon!"
"He's using poison gas! Get the masks!" Krieg's crewmates, knowing what was coming, quickly donned gas masks and warned the others.
"Deadly Gas Bomb—MH5!" A purple canister launched from a cannon, landing near Give.
Boom! Purple gas covered the entire ship. It drifted upward, and even a seagull that flew through it plummeted dead.
...
"Whoa, that's intense!" Eric and Akame, who had just gotten close, quickly steered their ship away.
Two of Krieg's ships had already spotted them but didn't bother to act. Their priority was sinking the Wild Horse Pirates. As for Eric and Akame—just two people? What could they possibly do?
...
Ten minutes later, the purple gas finally dispersed. All of Give's crewmates who had boarded Krieg's ship lay on the deck foaming at the mouth. Give himself stood shakily on bent hind legs, trying to stay upright. His brown fur had turned a sickly gray. He looked like he was a breath away from death.
"Hmph. So you ate a Zoan fruit and turned your brain into animal mush too? Don't know how to use weapons?" Krieg sneered as he removed his gas mask. "Toss them into the sea. Devil Fruit users are sitting ducks in water."
Lazily turning to return to his captain's quarters—half-collapsed from the battle—Krieg gave no further thought to the bodies.
"Wait! Let me handle this cleanup." From a blind spot no one had noticed, a single-mast sailboat had crept up beside the pirate ship. Eric and Akame leapt aboard.
"Talk about luck! This saves us a ton of effort, Akame!" Eric grinned. It's always a good day when two tigers fight and the fisherman wins.
(END CHAPTER)
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