One Piece: The Legendary Pirate

How, Darvy asked in his mind.

He vividly saw before that when the bullets were shot by the Celestial Dragon, they went through Tatara without harming her, because she was able to morph her body into ice. Since ice was an element with the ability to reform, most physical blows shouldn't have been effective for her.

Yet, the axe connected, severing her real arm instead of the ice that was supposed to manifest. The crimson blood drawn from the aftermath was the indication that Tatara had taken a severe blow. Judging by her expression, she wasn't acting either.

Now, it wasn't a question of victory or defeat. Tatara, fallen to the ground, had her entire body convulsing from the shock of pain. With her mouth foaming, it was clear that she wasn't used to getting injured.

From this single blow, the fight has been concluded.

"HONHONHON!!"

The Celestial Dragon laughed out of sheer amusement, losing control of himself. His back, rolling against the slave whom he sat on top of, caused said slave to use all his might—to an extent where his scrawny arms and legs shook violently—to prevent himself from falling.

The soldiers standing behind the Celestial Dragon too revealed snorts of mockery. Clearly, the battle was already over.

The villagers' eyes revealed the color of despair.

The muscular man, with his right hand holding onto the handle of his bloodstained axe, used his other hand to grab Tatara by the hair and lift her from the ground.

"Look at you, Ms. I'm-so-invincible, pitiful and helpless."

He grinned.

"Do you still think you have the strength to 'demand' from us?"

Then, the muscular man leaned backward just in time to avoid an incoming stab of a garden fork, held by Loris.

With his teeth gritted, Loris shouted,

"LET HER GO!!"

"Finally decided to step out of the kid's back, eh?"

The muscular man laughed. Avoiding Loris's numerous attempts to stab with ease, the muscular man then flipped Tatara in front of Loris's garden fork such that the latter was hurriedly forced to pull the fork back.

Then, surprisingly, the muscular man threw Tatara at Loris, causing him to catch her with his right arm as his left arm didn't lose the grip on the fork.

For a second, Loris expressed genuine confusion in the midst of his fearful demeanor.

"Why did you—"

"In case you haven't realized from what I showcased before,"

Loris threw his axe in the air, spinning rapidly as it flew toward the sky,

"I too am a devil fruit user."

The axe, after briefly disappearing from the eyesight, began to drop back to the ground with a rapid spin still intact.

Then, its trajectory path began to bend in a bizarre manner that broke the law of physics. Specifically, it seemed to be flying at Tatara, to which Loris widened his eyes.

In a panic, Loris dropped the garden fork and holding Tatara with both arms, ran frantically.

Standing casually, the muscular man laughed out loud, entertained.

Loris, huffing rapidly, turned back in the midst of his run and saw that the axe didn't cease to chase after him and Tatara. Defying gravity, the axe travelled above the surface in a parallel trajectory path.

"Heh... that's right!!"

The muscular man exclaimed, holding his arms out wide,

"That girl was 'marked' by me, and that axe won't stop until it reaches its target!"

Such words meant a sure death from the villagers' perspective.

And even as the villagers' motivation to fight was dying down, Loris continued running at his utmost speed, although it seemed that he was running low on energy, and the distance between them and the axe was getting shorter at an alarming rate.

"Huff... huff..."

Loris's face was gloomy, and he found no way out of this.

"LORIS!!"

And this is when a shout was heard from the above.

Loris looked up upon the call of his name and saw the thin red-haired boy, Darvy.

Loris's eyes widened.

"What are you—"

Darvy, standing atop the rooftop of his house, was currently holding onto a hammer. Loris had no idea how he could reach the roof and find the tool, but that wasn't the point at this time.

"Get in the house and close the door!!"

Darvy shouted, and Loris saw what Darvy was trying to do. Turning his direction, Loris ran straight at the house, and entering, quickly shut the door.

'If "marking" a target was enough to make the weapon start chasing after it, there was no reason for that man to throw the object. Throwing the weapon indicates that momentum is also required. In other words... that devil fruit power of his only defies the "direction" of a vector, not a "magnitude!"'

Simultaneously, Darvy dropped from the rooftop, slamming the hammer on the spinning axe with surprising accuracy.

With a clang, the hammer was knocked off, and losing the grip over it, Darvy was flown, falling face-first and rolling on the ground.

The axe didn't completely stop from the blow, but its speed did slow down—enough such that it wasn't able to break through the closed door. The wooden door boomed upon the strike of the axe but persisted.

After, Loris opened the door and paled upon the sight of the huge axe right in front of him. Slowly, he moved around the axe before running out of the house with Tatara still on his back.

Meanwhile, huffing in exhaustion, Darvy let out a small groan as he brought his shaking body up. Succeeding at doing so, he gazed at his trembling hand,

'...It didn't break—'

A shadow loomed over his form. Gritting teeth, Darvy quickly rolled to the left, just in time to avoid a vicious stomp of a foot that struck the ground he occupied just a second ago.

"Huff... huff..."

Darvy, managing to stand back up, saw the muscular man stroking his chin as he gazed at Darvy.

"Brave, aren't you."

The man strong enough to defeat Tatara, the user of Logia-type devil fruit, was now looking at him. Darvy's heart beat rapidly out of control. His senses told him that he was in danger and that he had to seek safety. It was a situation tense enough for any normal person to scream and run in fear.

Instead, Darvy's head ran through numerous thoughts in this tense situation, trying to figure out the best possible action he could take in this situation.

The muscular man too, noticed this, and he found this interesting.

"You..."

Darvy's eyes, as crimson as his hair, depicted helplessness of his own. However, one trait was distinguishable from others; his eyes held no fear.

"Do you not fear death?"

The man took a step forward, and correspondingly, Darvy took a step back.

As Darvy took a step back, the man seemed surprised, as if he didn't expect Darvy to react in such a way. Raising an eyebrow, the man looked at Darvy again.

This time around, he saw the body of a weak teenager, speaking of nothing but incompetence.

"...Hah, what am I saying."

Grinning, the man instantly dashed at Darvy—at a speed that others couldn't catch.

"DARVY!!!"

Loris shouted in panic, as the man's huge fist was now right in front of Darvy's chest, about to make an impact.

Time seemed to be slowing down, and the man clearly saw—Darvy's eyes moving to where his fist was.

'What?!'

The man's eyes widened.

Then, the fist connected Darvy's fragile body and sent forth the full impact.

The cracking noises were heard in the man's ears. Then, Darvy was sent flying helplessly from the impact of the punch.

The shout filled with fear and helplessness from Loris, as well as the gazes of despair from villagers, knowing that what Darvy's undergoing may also be their future—everything happened the way it should, but the man stood in his place, filled with disbelief.

'He was looking straight at my blow.'

The muscular man watched as Darvy flew, then slammed to the ground and rolled across it, leaving a trail of blood.

'He was able to react. It's just that his body wasn't strong enough to follow up...!'

On Loris's back, the sunken-eyed Tatara, while shivering in cold and groaning from a pain that wasn't ending, saw the bloody state that Darvy was reduced to.

'Why did you stand up... you idiot...'

The Celestial Dragon, seemingly entertained by the scene, continued to laugh and spectate without intervention.

The numerous soldiers and their seeming leader, the man in white armor—all of them were yet to move. It was just the muscular man whom the villagers were facing, and even so, they were helpless.

The muscular man glanced at the fallen form of Darvy. Eventually, he, having come to the thought that whether Darvy reacted or not didn't matter because Darvy was dead anyway, snorted before turning around.

"...What?"

And upon looking at the villagers, the muscular man raised an eyebrow. Their eyes, fixated on the area behind him, seemed to be in shock.

Looking back, the muscular man saw.

Though trembling, though broken and critically injured, somehow, Darvy was alive. Coughing and shaking, the bony teenager was getting back on his feet, with his teeth gritted and his bloodshot eyes unwilling to give up.

And Tatara saw at this moment, Darvy' looking at her for a brief moment.

He seemed to be saying,

'Don't miss this time around.'

Tatara's eyes narrowed amidst their dull gleam.

"Damn it..."

Loris seemed to be trying to move, but his body didn't budge. Having witnessed the man's strength, his entire body was trembling. His natural instinct was to do everything that he could to keep himself away from the man.

It was no different for other villagers. Some seemed to have fallen on their knees. There were even those who were knocked out from the shock of witnessing how Darvy was assaulted. None of them moved. Maybe it was that none of them could dare to move.

"If you were alive, you should've stayed down, kid."

The muscular man slowly walked toward Darvy.

"No, no no no... damn it...!!"

Loris's face paled, but there was nothing that he could do but whisper.

Now, the muscular man was in front of Darvy once again.

"That would've kept you alive a few minutes more."

"..."

Honestly speaking, Darvy couldn't even see properly at the current moment. His vision was blurry and the sounds were muffled.

He doubted that miraculously managing to defeat this man was going to change much. If this man alone was this strong, then at least that other man wearing the white armor probably was just as strong if not more.

And Darvy didn't know what they were going to do with him and villagers, but he did know that their intention wasn't good. If their defeat was inevitable and escape was impossible, then really, fighting until death and taking as many as he could was the best that he could do.

That's why he rapidly thought in a short span of time given to him. He realized, that soon or later, he would be reduced into a miserable state like how he currently is. Furthermore, he knew that he had essentially zero combat capability. 

Then what? The best role that suited him in this situation was for him to act as a distraction. Though the enemies were numerous, they were arrogant enough to send only one man to deal with them. Their arrogance was well-deserved, but arrogance was a vice for a reason.

Tatara. Though Darvy can't kill the man, she can. Her ice-made projectiles managed to penetrate the man's skin and inflict damage.

He supposed that that's why he stood back up. By standing back up, he was a great distraction to the man in front of him.

"What's your name?"

The man asked out of curiosity.

Darvy was being acknowledged. The man definitely heard Loris screaming out Darvy's name previously, and yet, he was asking Darvy his name.

A sense of accomplishment entered Darvy. He felt proud. Once again, his theory was proved—that something worthwhile can only be attained through blood, sweat, and tears.

He found himself grinning, with his bloodstained hair shadowing his eyes.

"Darvy."

Darvy stated,

"The man who will become the greatest pirate to have ever existed."

"Hahaha! Bold, aren't you?"

A punch then slammed onto Darvy on the same spot on the chest. It was as if lightning had struck him, and Darvy felt a sharp pain unlike any other that he'd ever faced. He lost his balance, and upon seeing the sky, he then realized that he was falling.

His vision was fading. He couldn't hear anymore, and the world was silent around him. Perhaps this was the end of all.

However, he did see at the last moment before he lost consciousness, at the corner of his vision—

—that a sharp and lethal-looking needle of ice pierced right into the neck of the man and drew blood.

Darvy's grin widened as he fell, unconscious.

After all, this was his victory.