Yami

"So, what's the situation?" asked the man puffing smoke out of his pipe. A big man with a physique of a body builder but with a face which bore features of a wild monkey. He sat in his chair sternly looking at the papers on the desk.

The papers included the statistics, graphs and spreadsheets concerning the financial state of the town.

He looked at his partner, who sat beside him, going through the documents again and asked "The transport from Alabasta hasn't arrived the last three months. Is something happening there?"

His partner answered "Seems like it. I don't have much input about the Grand Line."

Hearing him say, the first person chuckled, "Don't try to fool me. You are a captain. There is no way information hasn't reached you."

"No, this time even I don't have any idea. But I can say one thing for sure, it must have something to do with Crocodile."

"Crocodile. As in Shichibukai Crocodile?" the first person asked.

"Yes, I have heard he had been living there for quite some time now. But I don't know what he is planning?"

The first person asked again "Does it have nothing to do with Marines?"

"I haven't heard anything like that."

After the answer, the first person slammed his desk in anger, "Stupid pirates. They are our dogs and should just do what we order them. This is why I have always been against that Shichibukai plan."

"No use fretting over it" his partner consoled "Not like our words have any affect."

"But it is affecting the town. 15% of my economy depends on Alabasta."

The marine captain remained silent for a while before saying "I am sure it will only be temporary. Things will smooth out after a few days."

The first person looked back at the documents. Although he had said that, the town wasn't affected in the least, it was only him. Since he had taken the throne of the town, the life of the common folk has only been miserable.

It was not like the town's bussiness was deteriorating, just that all the money that flowed into the town was monopolized by the leader.

"So Babon, what about the rebels, those who defected your governance?" the marine captain asked.

"Those rats are hard to catch. But there has been a progress. I have caught a bunch having a secret meeting and are currently imprisoned. Tomorrow they will be executed" he continued, "You should stay till then. Watch the execution and go."

The marine captain laughed "Great. That would be nice. You have that pirate too, don't you?"

Babon looked at his partner amusingly, "Yes. He will also be executed tomorrow."

-:- Scene Change -:-

"Tomorrow" Seth uttered as he walked down the road. On both sides were fields of pitaya cactus. The plants were blessed with ripe red pitayas hanging at the end of the succulent branches. A good harvest.

But to Seth all that was on his mind was what was about to happen the next day.

If he fails, his friend will lose his life. Maybe he himself may get trapped.

Even the mightiest may be defeated by the weak. There is a chance.

So, what if it is the same with Seth.

(No. No)

He slapped himself to break his line of thought, "Think positive. I can do it. No, I will do it."

He needed more people on his crew. As of now, entering Grand Line will be akin to commiting suicide. They will be defeated at the start of their journey.

He was strong. He knew he could even defeat Don Krieg and his pirates all by himself. But what if he is challenged by someone really strong like a Shichibukai.

And then, there was his partner, who was nowhere near him in strength. Rayleigh was the first mate of Pirate King, Zoro was the first mate of Luffy. And then, there was his stupid partner.

(If we succeed tomorrow, I will make sure to increase the difficulty of his training. On top of that, I need to recruit more crewmates. If I don't obtain satisfactory crewmates, I may have to scrap the idea of making my crew like Straw Hats and strengthen ourselves with numbers)

In his heart, he didn't want that, but what if his carelessness brings them new troubles? And he will have to eventually enter Grand Line.

(Luffy)

He was reminded of his friend who may be now somewhere on the vast sea.

(Just how did you make your crew so strong?)

Basked by the rays of the evening sun, he simply walked down the path thinking about the future.

This was outskirts of Pitaya Village.

An area more suited to the name than the town. It was quite far from the busy life and only had farms and fields with only few houses here and there.

Belus lived far away from the town because he didn't want to mingle with the humans who judged him based on looks. It was better this way. He didn't have to suffer the discrimination. The only drawback was he had to live all alone. This may be a tribulation in its own form.

Loneliness.

For Belus, the only friends he had were animals he would meet on a daily basis. It seems he had another friend, a human, in the past but Belus hadn't said much about it.

But still living so many years without a human to speak with, Seth could go crazy just thinking what kind of life that would be.

Thud!!!!!

A girl, a little ahead him tripped and fell on the ground, scattering the fruits in her basket everywhere.

A beautiful girl with short black hair and a black dress like the one worn in a funeral.