One Piece: The Legendary Pirate

"Who threw this axe?!"

With a stoic face, Loris shouted as he looked around at the people who circled the frozen statues of pirates.

"If this was meant to be a joke of some sort, well, it sure as hell wasn't funny!!"

Yet, no response. Everyone seemed genuine too. Everyone in the village—except Darvy—knew each other far too well that they knew they won't do something like this.

"Curses..."

Loris grumbled with a deep conflict in his eyes.

"...Based on my experiences, I can only deduce that this is the doing of a devil fruit."

Darvy muttered as he slowly pulled out the axe from the frozen skull. Some people who witnessed Darvy's action seemed to be close to throwing up, but Darvy, having exposed to corpses and rotten flesh beforehand, found himself dull to this gruesome scene in front of him.

The ice pieces around the lodged area of the axe crumbled down as Darvy managed to pull it out. Ignoring said phenomenon, Darvy crouched down and inspected the free axe carefully as he slowly placed it down on the ground.

"It sure is a fine axe. Look as all these inscriptions and designs. It's excessive; must belong to someone wealthy."

Darvy's thought process ran over numerous possibilities as he said so.

"Strangely though, the blade is jagged and inefficient for chopping. It means that this axe wasn't made to chop, but to draw as much pain as possible."

Gathering his thoughts, Darvy stood straight and spoke.

"This is just a story that I could think of,"

1. These frozen pirates came across stronger enemies and fought.

2. These frozen pirates lost and began to ran away, not knowing that they were being chased via an unknown method.

3. These frozen pirates ended up on this island and died by the hands of that doctor. However, even after death, they were being chased by their pursuers.

"How likely do you think this scenario is?"

"...Fuck."

Loris growled as he clenched his huge hands.

People understood Darvy's words. They knew far well what will happen afterward if Darvy's story was indeed true.

Angrily, Loris fixed his eyes on the axe below. Then, as if having found something, his eyes widened. He completely froze.

Darvy noticed this behavior of Loris. Finding it strange, he asked as he felt the heart rapidly beating in him,

"What's wrong?"

"T-The mark. That symbol."

"Symbol?"

Darvy gazed at the axe once more.

"You mean the inscription I spoke of."

"Hoof of the Soaring Dragon...!!"

"Hoof of the Soaring Dragon?"

Darvy was confused, not knowing what this symbol meant. Looking around, he saw that people were just as shocked as Loris was.

"To whom does this symbol belong to?"

No one answered Darvy's question. It was as if they were in a trance.

"What is this symbol about? Can someone explain?"

Loris's face was completely pale. Slowly raising his head and looking at the people, Loris's eyes widened once more in panic and he cried,

"HURRY!! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF—"

Then, he paused. In despair, he whispered,

"...But to where?"

The ocean was visible from afar. The waves churned violently, and the dark clouds right above the sea sent down the rays of lightning.

This island that they found was akin to an oasis in the middle of the desert. Furthermore, they didn't have a ship reliable enough to survive such a harsh condition.

Loris felt silent. Similar to him, other people too, stayed silent.

"Exactly. There is nowhere to run away to."

And finally, a cold voice intervened the scene. As everyone turned their heads, they saw Tatara.

Though her face was stoic, she, unlike others, seemed to have made up her mind.

"There is no safe haven for us if we were to run. This place is our safe haven."

"T-THEY WILL ENSLAVE US!!!"

One woman then shrieked, filled with fear from head to toe.

"WE WILL—"

"Negotiation won't work against those folks. We will fight."

Tatara, ignoring the woman's shriek, spoke firmly.

"And come out victorious. We will protect this island. We will protect ourselves."

At this moment, this young girl seemed like the leader of this village.

Darvy thought of the event that occurred a few moments ago, where the pirates were dealt with with a single wave of Tatara's hand. Then, he thought of Xebec—whose devil fruit power wiped out the pirates whom they lived with for years.

'This is doable,'

Thought Darvy.

'Power to harness ice isn't a joke. One responsible for throwing axe probably has a devil fruit as well, but that devil fruit's ability is likely to focus on the concept of 'chasing'. In a full-front combat, ice should be superior by many folds.'

"Gather your weapons. Arm yourselves. Just focus on protecting yourselves as..."

When Darvy looked at Tatara once more, he saw—a hint of arrogance in her eyes. He thought that she did deserve to be arrogant though, with that strength in her.

"...I deal with them."

Darvy turned to look at Loris. Loris seemed to be calmer, and he whispered to himself,

"That's right. She's strong. She will save us..."

Weak and reliant. Loris felt different from the one he was exposed to before. 

Everyone seemed to be reacting the same. They looked at Tatara as if she was their sole hope, and they may be right. She's the strongest one in this village, after all.

Still, Darvy didn't feel right about this.

'It's as if...'

Darvy felt an urge to frown. A bad memory resurfaced.

In the past, he too was reliant. Xebec was a hope that was brought to him in the middle of a shit hole. He relied on Xebec for virtually everything—enough to trust Xebec, to believe that his actions were right without much reasoning.

Control, yes. It was the matter of control.

Darvy remembered when he left his home island. He felt free. Feeling free meant being able to make decisions for yourself without being controlled by anyone.

Be it good or bad, Darvy learned freedom tasted like. He also learned that in this world, there was no one to trust but himself in the end.

The villagers weren't accounting for the possibility of Tatara losing. There was no back-up plan. Just because she always won, they believed that she will win again. They weren't taking the matter into their own hands, not even Loris who appeared to be strong in Darvy's eyes.

Nonetheless, he decided not to voice this opinion of his.

"Is the situation settled?"

As everyone seemed to have calmed down and plan set, Darvy instead asked, gathering attention.

"Then can someone explain to me what this symbol is about?"

"That..."

Loris opened his mouth, letting out a shaky voice. However, he couldn't continue.

"Hold on!! Guys!! Look!!"

One villager shouted as he pointed his finger.

As Darvy turned to the directed area afar, his eyes caught a ship—huge and luxurious at that.

"That is..."

Many villagers began to tremble. Some quickly stormed out to grab whatever weapon was available.

Tatara quickly shouted as if ordering,

"Hide children!!!"

Everyone snapped awake from their trance. Quickly, they moved, making as many preparations as possible.

At the same time, Darvy found himself being yanked by the back of his shirt.

"Loris?!"

With Darvy on one hand and Lyon on another, Loris hurriedly ran back into the house with a quickened breath. Then, they were thrown into a closet, and Loris spoke while sweating profusely,

"Don't make any sound. Wait here until the situation is resolved. If ones like you are held as hostages, things will become even more complicated."

Lyon nodded frantically as he held his body in an attempt to stop shaking.

Darvy, with a grimace, looked at Loris questioningly. Averting eyes, Loris then closed the closet, leaving them in the darkness.

"Lyon."

Breaking Loris's order after a second, Darvy said,

"Stay here. I'm going out."

Darvy found his thin arm then being yanked by Lyon's stronger ones. Darvy attempted to resist, but found Lyon's arms not budging. Turning his head, Darvy saw the silhouette of Lyon's head, shaking negatively.

Huffing in exhaustion Darvy's body slacked down. Thinking that Darvy has given up, Lyon loosened his hold.

Seizing this chance, Darvy shot out of the closet. Lyon let out a silent scream, but Darvy immediately shut the closet afterward and sneaked out of the house, onto a nearby bush.

And there, he saw the mass number of people—the enemies—marching from afar to the line of defense that the villagers managed to form in a short period of time.

Those people marched in an orderly manner. Most of them wore luxurious-looking garments, ones that the soldiers wore. In the middle, there was an obese man with a fish bowl-like glass dome surrounding his head. He wasn't walking, but was riding another... filthy-looking man's back, one who was moving with both hands and feet on the ground.

Finally, they stopped some distance away from the villagers.

Raising his eyebrow, the obese man wearing the glass dome on his head questioned,

"What is this?"

One man standing next to him shouted,

"BOW DOWN AND EXPRESS YOUR RESPECT TO SAINT BRYSUS!!!"

The tension was rising.