Marines Delight

[Word count: 1416]

In the middle of a forest, a child who looked to be around the age seven could be seen desperately running. This child was Jishin, who was desperately trying to get away from the fire that had taken his village, his home, and his family from him.

Whilst Jishin was running he suddenly came to a stop.

"You might want to get out of my way. I'm hungry and mad right now." Jishin seemingly spoke to a tree. Until a 4 feet creature that seemed to resemble a monkey jumped out of that very same tree.

The monkey look-alike charged at Jishin, who was currently tremembly uncontrollably, and from the monkey's point of view, it seemed like Jishin was shaking out of fear if only he knew.

As the monkey's fist was about to land on Jishin's face, he tilted his head to the side whilst grabbing the monkey's wrist and bringing him down to the ground.

From this position, Jishin showed no mercy and ruthlessly stomped on the monkey's head, constantly killing it. Only in death did the monkey realize Jishin was shaking not out of fear but anger, merely from the fact that he dared to challenge Jishin.

"Great, now I'm pissed and starving isn't that just wonderful." Jishin sarcastically remarked aloud.

'I'm going to have to find something to eat, I'm way too hungry to make it to the marine base without starving to death, and that stupid monkey will take time to cook, looks like I will have to find some berries or other edible fruits to eat.' Were the thoughts Jishin was currently having.

'Eh, what the hell is that?' Jishin wondered as he saw a strange-looking fruit hanging from the tree. The fruit seemed to resemble a golden cherry surrounded by a leaf-like covering.

[Fruit image]

'Looks weird, but good maybe it's one of those exotic fruits the old man is… was always going on about.' At that thought, he seemed to have once again remembered the memory of looking at the old man's burning corpse.

"I need to hurry up, and tell the marines." At that Jishin threw the fruit down his mouth and instantly regretted it.

"Ehh! What is this horrendous taste? Give me milk now!" Jishin screamed as that was easily the worst thing he ever ate, which is a pretty big deal, considering he had once accidentally swallowed his own vomit when he was a toddler.

Jishin would have run to the river and drank the water if he had the time, unfortunately, he did not. So he continued running towards the marine base with renewed energy due to that horrendous fruit.

As Jishin was running he felt something inside of him wanting to burst out.

Jishin ignored this feeling at first believing it just to be his stomach's way of conveying its anger at being fed that crap, but the more he ran the greater this feeling became.

"Agh!". In a sudden shout, Jishin released this feeling and it worked as suddenly a decent-sized rock shot out of his hand while his hand was turned into jagged rocks. That was all Jishin got to see before he passed out from exhaustion and sheer fright, from going so long without food to eating such a bad-tasting cherry, and releasing this mysterious power.

[Hand turning into rock image]

[Marine Captain POV]

I was running to the other side of our island after hearing a sudden noise and seeing smoke rise from Zuki village, the most peaceful village on our Island as well as home to some of the kindest people I have ever met.

As I was running I suddenly heard a shout. As I looked over I got one of the biggest shocks of my life, for a boy who looked no older than 7 shot a rock out of his hand while his hand had turned into what seems to be a dull golden colored piece of earth, though right after doing so the boy fainted.

[Color scheme of the hand]

I was still flabbergasted, I am a marine captain, just because I was stationed at the very beginning of the grand line doesn't mean I do not know what devil fruits are. The boy right there had not only used the power of one but one of the rarest and most powerful kinds of devil fruits, a logia class.

At that thought it hit me, this kid was my ticket to a comfortable life without any hassle, if I can get a logia user into the marines I get lots of merit points enough to have an early retirement.

Seems like the village can wait, because I need to make a call to headquarters.

[Jishin's POV]

'Ugh, where am I, and why does my head hurt so much?' I thought as I got up groggily, swaying left and right from the dizziness I'm experiencing.

"Seems like you have finally decided to wake up." A deep and gruff voice called out to me.

As I looked over to where the voice came from I saw a well-built man dressed in marine clothing, the man had a scar on his left cheek and a twirly mustache.

"How did I end up here?" I asked the man as I was genuinely confused. The last thing I remember was eating that terrible fruit and passing out.

"I saw you passed out in the forest on my way to Zuki village. I brought you here so if the fire did spread out, before we could put it out, you would be safe." The twirly mustache man spoke.

'Shit, my village. I need to ask him what happened and if he knows what could have started the fire.'

"Thank you for saving my life, Mr. Marine." I bowed to him to express my gratitude.

"Ah, no problem kid, by the way, my name is Captain Krueger." The mustache man named Krueger replied.

"Captain Krueger if you don't mind me asking what has become of Zuki Village?"

"We have done our best to get rid of the fire, and while we were able to get rid of the fire, it was too late to be able to save any of the villagers."

What he said hurt. Even though I already knew and had seen their bodies myself, I thought maybe someone would have been able to escape.

"Captain. Krueger, do you know how this fire started?"

"What makes you think it was not natural, kid," Krueger answered my question with one of his eyebrows raised.

"My name is Jishin not kid, and if the fire was natural it would have been stopped before it became so big," I replied to him blushing a bit out of embarrassment due to the fact I forgot to tell him my name.

*Sigh*

"Unfortunately you're right, the fire was not natural. The cause of this fire was cannon fire."

"And who would have fired these cannons," I asked the man with a cold voice.

"The scum of the earth, the people who are the cause of most of the world's problems... pirates" Krueger spoke with disgust which was surprising because that is the most amount of emotion he has shown so far.

"Also before you ask, the name of the crew is the Red Raiders, a relatively new group of pirates that raids villages and kills civilians. The only reason they have been able to do as they please is because of that damned pirate king." He told me with disdain whilst talking about the king of the pirates.

"What did the Pirate King do that would make pirates attack Villages?" I asked as I was genuinely confused.

"The Pirate King told the world that some treasure called the One Piece exists, he was probably lying but all of the pirates seem to believe it and because of that the seas are all chaotic."

"So you're saying that my village being raided was technically done because of the pirate king?"

"Yes, you're exactly right, many villages have met the same tragic fate as yours. Though I have a way where you can get back at these pirates." He told me in a somewhat mysterious voice.

His tone made an eerie atmosphere, but my curiosity took over and I asked.

"What would that be?" I asked him in an impatient tone simply because I wanted to get the Red Raiders back for what they had taken away from me.

"You can join the marines!" Kreuger exclaimed.