34 End of conflict

Calvin and Ian were standing in the port, carefully observing the marine ship approaching.

"Hey kid don't get in the way if you think you can't handle it" Calvin said to Ian who looked excited.

"Hahaha…keep dreaming!" he said while cracking his knuckles and getting ready to fight.

"Suit yourself…"

When the ship finally arrived at the port and docked, a figure immediately jumped from the ship, followed by dozens of marine soldiers. He was a man with an abnormally long head, and he was wearing a very long bearskin version of the standard Marine uniform cap.

[Rear Admiral Strawberry]

When Calvin saw him, he took a few steps forward before he spoke.

"*Puff*…I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you're not going anywhere" he said before he threw his cigarette on the ground and stepped on it.

"I see…"

"Rear Admiral Strawberry, he is Calvin Helios the vice-captain of Ashen Pirates" an officer informed him.

Strawberry proceeded unsheathe his two identical swords. They have elongated hand-guards decorated by red gems.

"You saved me the trouble looking for you" He calmly said while pointing his twin swords at Calvin's direction, and the rest of the marines proceeded to encircle them.

"FIRE!" When Strawberry gave his order, the marines started to shoot them immediately.

Calvin quickly grabbed Ian and used Soru with Geppo to get away.

"The fuck are you doing?!" Ian shouted at him. Calvin dropped him away after that and proceeded to threw two wind slashes using Rankyaku towards the marine soldiers, but Strawberry quickly intersected the attacks and blocked them using his swords.

After that Strawberry launched himself at Calvin, he was also using the Rokushiki techniques. When he closed the distance between them, he proceeded to strike Calvin down which the latter responded to by using Tekkai.

Calvin managed to block the attack with his forearms but still got cut and started bleeding.

"You…Those are the marine secrete techniques…" Strawberry eyed Calvin with a menacing look before he dashed at him using Soru, Calvin tried to keep his distance and sent projectile attacks using Tobu Shigan and Rankyaku.

Strawberry seemed to dodge them with ease and quickly closed the distance between them again and launched series of thrust attacks without a stop.

Calvin relaxed his muscles and avoided them using Kami-e but he still got stabbed a few times, luckily it wasn't serious.

Until now the fight between the two took place in the air as both were using Geppo.

On the ground Ian was fighting the rest of marines. At first, he knocked down a few of them before he got shot in the left shoulder, he then picked up a pistole and used one of the unconscious marines as a human shield before he proceeded to shoot the others.

*GUN-SHOT*-*GUN-SHOT*

"Bastard! He's using our comrades as shields!"

"We have to attack, there is no other choice!" The marines were furious at his actions but proceeded to charge at him at once.

"Hahaha, you don't seem care about him anymore…Then let me just take him out-*GUN-SHOT*" Ian proceeded to throw him at the incoming marines before he started shooting them threw him.

After that he jumped high in the air, and the moment he came down he kick them while releasing shockwaves from his heel, which caused the ground to crack and the one who was hit to get knocked out.

Immediately after that Ian was taken by surprise and got slashed in his back, leaving a wide deep cut.

"Aaghh!!...Bastard! Who did that?!" Ian quickly turned back and grabbed the who slashed him from his collar and punched him in the face while emitting a shockwave from his knuckles. The man lost his teeth and got his nose and jaw broken before he also fell unconscious.

"WRAAAA!!...Come at me all together, I'll break your bones before I send you to hell!" Ian Screamed declaring and went charging at them with a wide grin on his face.

"This mad man, let's attack him together!" They also rushed at him at once.

"WRAAAA!!-*BAAM*"

…

A few minutes later you could see a young man standing in the middle of a pile of bodies lying on the ground with twisted body parts and broken bones.

Ian was panting heavily while covered in blood and full of injuries.

"Huff…Huff…Haha, Calvin you bastard. You kept the fun for yourself while you let fight these fodders...I won't forgive you!" His bulging forehead veins became more visible before he changed his gaze to Calvin's fight.

The battle between him and Strawberry was far from over. While fighting, Calvin got to find out that Strawberry was also able to use Observation Haki, but on a higher level so he easily predicted his moves and dodged them.

When both of them landed on the ground again, Strawberry calmly watched the scene of his beaten men.

"I should've brought someone useful with me" He quickly changed his gaze to Ian "You'll regret doing this young man" he said to him with a menacing tone of voice.

"I would like to see you try dickhead!" Ian replied in provocative way.

"You have a sharp tongue, maybe I should cut it!" Strawberry seemed angry a little bit.

"*smirk*…maaan your head is so tall, I must have mistaken it to an erect penis!" Ian tried to provoke him, to shift his attention from Calvin, which he seemed to fall for it for a moment. Before he realized his mistake Calvin was already near him, ready to deal an attack.

"Where are you looking!" Calvin quickly grabbed Strawberry and kneecapped him then proceeded to aim both his index finger at him and used Shigan.

"Hahaha…I can believe he fell for that. He is a dumbass even with that big head"

*PUFF* Strawberry dodged one but got hit with the other one on his left shoulder. Calvin didn't give him any time after that, and quickly closed the distance between them again and started raining him down with punches.

Strawberry dodged most of his attacks effectively using his observation and countered by thrusting his two swords at Calvin, which resulted in two deep stabs in his lower right abdomen.

Calvin quickly retreated after that, closed his eyes and clamed himself down.

"Did you finally give up?" Strawberry watched his weird behavior before he lunged at him again.

Calvin tried to sense his killing intent to predict his movements, which he succeeded at.

The past year and half Calvin trained to control his Observation Haki better with the help of Ashen.

Calvin and Strawberry kept exchanging blows for a few more minutes before Strawberry was able to deal a fatal attack to Calvin with his sword, he managed to stab him in the stomach.

"Got you!" The moment he was going to strike him with his other sword, Ian showed up out of nowhere. He interrupted the fight and dealt a strong blow to Strawberry which sent him back a few meters.

"I can't believe your taking shit from this guy" Ian mocked Calvin, but the latter didn't pay any attention and went charging at Strawberry again.

Calvin proceeded to throw consecutive wind slashes using Rankyaku which Strawberry deflected, then took the chance and approached him with Soru and kicked his right hand causing him to lose one of his swords.

Strawberry was taken by surprise from that and lost concentration for a second. So, Calvin took that chance and sent a barrage of punches at him while hardening his fist using Tekkai, then he proceeded to grab him by his collar and his other arm, lifted him in the air and smashed him down on the ground.

After that he grab his free arm and squeezed it as hard as he can while pulling it towards him until he managed to break it.

"AAARRRRGHHHT!!!" Strawberry screamed in pain before he proceeded to thrust his sword at Calvin.

Calvin predicted his move with Haki and dodged it easily, then proceeded to back away.

"Here!" Calvin threw Strawberry's second sword to him, but the latter looked at it with an angry expression "I guess you can't use it anymore"

"You bastards keep mocking me!!" Strawberry dashed towards him immediately.

"Not bad!" Ian was amused.

A few hours later,

The fight between the two was fierce and both of them suffered serious injuries. But in the end Calvin managed to overpower him and dealt the final blow.

"I was going to interfere if that went any further" Ian said as he approached Calvin.

"Good that you didn't" Calvin reached his pocket and brought a pack of cigarette.

"You should get rid of that, I heard It's bad for the lungs" Ian tried to advise him.

"Worry about yourself…" Calvin proceeded to light a cigarette "*Puuff*…Tell me, would you be interested to join the crew?"

"You mean your crew?"

"Yes, the captain is looking for talented people to recruit, I see potential in you." He said then added "I could convince him for you"

"No way, I'll sail by myself"

"I hate to break it up for you kid, but you won't survive a day with your skills" Ian frowned at that sentence and was about to get angry.

"The hell did you say?"

"There is far more to sailing than just fighting skills, can you even read a map?" Ian couldn't answer him "I thought so… Listen if it is strong people that you want to fight, then I guarantee you with Ashen, that won't be a problem"

"I don't know man"

"It's not every day that you get an offer to join someone as strong as him… Try to think about it carefully on our way back"

…

(First Person POV),

After a few hours of fight, the town finally calmed down 'It seems that the battle has finished'.

I was resting in my place for a while before everyone came back. The first ones were Kai and Ayden.

"It seems that everything went well"

"Thanks to you Ashen" Kai said.

"I suppose we are now officially allies, since I fulfilled my conditions?" I asked him.

"Of course, and I'm forever grateful, without you our family would have been annihilated"

"Don't be like that we are allies now. Anyway, once you take over the Isami family properties and settle things down, I want you to start recruiting people"

"Recruiting people?"

"Yes, it's still too soon to tell you my plans, but just know that we need a lot of men power. And also start preparing a fleet."

"You know ships costs a lot?" Kai said while scratching his head.

"I know I'm not telling you to do that immediately, we'll need it in a few years. After taking over you will have the biggest influence in Nishi Land so you should be okay" I informed him.

"I suppose we will trust you on that"

After I finished talking with Kai. Calvin, Diana, Ken all showed up simultaneously.

"Captain!" Diana greeted me. She was standing with a kid beside her, when I looked at his face, I couldn't recognize him.

"Who's that?" I asked her.

"He is the kid Kai talked about, he's pretty strong"

"Pretty strong…hah?" I was interested to see how strong he was since he looked very young "Show me then!" I Attacked him immediately without a notice, he looked confused at first, but he quickly regained his composure and started fighting back.

After exchanging blows for little bit, I had an idea about his power. The first thing is, he has a paramecia devil fruit that allows him to control the size of the last thing he touches, but it seems that it drains a lot of his stamina. His physical power is also monstrous for a kid his size, he is also able to swing that big club with ease.

"Alright let's stop right here!" I said, he looked at me for a moment before he put weapon away, I gave him a few minutes to catch his breath before we talk.

"How old are you kid?" I asked him.

"I'm 13" he casually replied.

"Tell me…What do you think about pirates?" I asked him, I was going to let him join us if he has some potential.

"I don't know, aren't they just bad people?"

"You're somewhat right, but there is more to being a pirate than just killing and pillaging villages" He looked interested when I said that.

"Like what?"

"*Smile*…Don't you know about the One Piece?" I asked him with a smile 'He is just a kid after all, I can easily guess what might interest him'

"You mean the legendary treasure that the pirate king left in the Grand Line?!!" his eye pupil grew larger as he shouted in excitement.

"Huh?...I thought pirates only kill and rape?" I said sarcastically.

"W-Well…" He looked hesitant.

"Don't you want to know about it?... The One Piece?" I was also getting excited while talking about it 'Damn! I'm getting fired up, now I just want to go and find the four road Poneglyphes and go to Laughtale!!' I screamed in my head.

"YES!!-Ahem-I mean I would like to know about it" he tried to change his attitude mid-sentence to seem more mature, but it just made him look more childish.

"Then join me, I'll be the next Pirate King!! I'll conquer the grand line and find the last island!!" I declared loudly, everyone looked at dumbfounded in silence "Let's find the One piece together!!"

The kid looked at me in awe, but his look quickly changed to admiration "Soo cool!!-I mean since you said it that way then I don't have a choice, I'll join you"

"Good, welcome on board!" we shook hands.

..

When I turned to Calvin, I saw his injured body "Your stroll wasn't fruitless after all?"

"Yeah, we took care of it" he stated before he approached "Since you're at it, I have someone who would like to join in" he said pointing at Ian behind him who also look in a bad state.

"Ian? Did he hit his head during the battle or something?"

"I was the one who suggested, since you were looking for good people to join." he stopped for a second before he continued "Honestly, the kid has potential if we exclude his nasty personality"

'I though he was quite good when I watched his fight with Diana, he can also use Hasshoken a very good martial art…Well, since Calvin acknowledged him, he must have shown more than that during the fight' I kept thinking before I stepped in front of Ian "Tell me, what is your goal?"

"I want to sail to fight strong people" he said it in a way like it was an obvious thing.

"No, I mean why do you want to fight strong people?"

"What dude? Isn't it fucking exciting to beat up strong people! I just want to get stronger and reach the pinnacle of martial arts!" He declared while clenching his fist "I heard what you said before. You want to become the Pirate King…Then I'm sure you'll be fighting strong people along the way, so let me join you!".

"I like your spirit. I assure you, you will be fighting people way stronger than you could imagine" I approached him and reached for handshake "Welcome on board too!"

"I guess it's okay for your son to become a pirate?" I asked Kai who looked calm about it.

"If it's you then I don't mind. Also, whenever that hotheaded sets his mind to something, nobody can convince him otherwise"

"Alright we're done here" I said, then I was about to leave before I remembered something "Ah Kai! There is a favor I want to ask before we leave"

"A favor? Sure, I'll do my best to help"

"Actually two, I would like you to take Jason's head and retrieve the bounty for me"

"Ah… then there is no problem, what's the other one?" he asked.

"I want an Eternal Pose to Jaya"

"Jaya?"

"Yeap...there is a treasure I need to get my hands on"