Handsomeness vs. Beauty

After a month of necessary therapy that I needed as I came to realize that I was slowly having an existential crisis of identity that I was able to pull myself back together.

No matter who or what I am I'm still me…

… Right?

But since the month was up it was time for me to keep my end of the bargain with Judge and start work on Flevance, so with that I set out with Noel and Theo to Flevance.

A few days later we arrived at the shores of a now scorched Flevance, no longer is it an island known for its pure white lands now it's only known for its scorched earth.

As we got close we put on gas masks while Noel had an air tester that would tell whether it is safe to breath the air or not.

"The air is clear." Noel says after checking as we proceed to take off our gas masks.

"Next what we need to do is have fire totems go all across flevance to dig up all the Amber Lead deposits until there is none left." I say as we reach the shore and with a snap of my fingers I summon 15 flame totems as Noel takes out a small chunk of Amber lead from a secure container and handing a piece to each one of them.

They then 'ate' it to analyze it, "Your objectives, find all of the Amber Lead deposits across this land and store the ore inside yourselves, when you are finished you are to send a signal back to my island telling your mission is complete, we will then take all of the ore you have gathered and bring you all back home, understood?"

"Affirmative, objective recieved, proceeding to begin task." They all say in robotic unison before heading deeper into Flevance to dig up all of the Amber Lead across the land which is projected to take 2.5 to 3 years to complete.

With that we headed home as they went and did there mission, when we got back I sent word to Morgan's about the next meeting which will take place in Alabasta.

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A few days later, Alabasta, Alubarna base of operations.

"Mmm, I'm just glad we can spend some alone time together for once, even if it's a little bit." Zala says as she wraps her arms around my shoulders from behind.

"I'm sorry Zala, I've just been so busy recently that we haven't spend and quality time with you in quite some time, after this business with meeting any of the crews that actually show up to join the fleet, and well the personal meeting with king cobra then will go spend some private time together." I say as I pull her in my arms to let her snuggle up with me.

"Mmm I would love that." She says happily before getting off my lap before kissing me of course since she senses Simone coming.

"Looks like we have a visitor….. and someone I wasn't expecting we would meet…." I say as my eyebrow begins to twitch before the door gently opens right before me.

A red carpet rolls in as a squad of heavily armed guards walk on in and guard each side of the red carpet as rose petals come in through the door as a beautiful man? No it's a man alright walks in elegantly and stands before me.

"I the great and beautiful Cavendish has decided to grace this place with my presence so be grateful." He says in a very haughty way, but then he get irritated when both me and Zala ignore him and even Zala leaves into another room while I 'chat' with him.

"Why are you not acknowledging my presence? You know this is a disgrace against my honor?" He says before unsheathing his rapier and pointing it at me.

I just take my finger and point his blade away from my face, "First of all I am a Warlord probably one of the strongest warlords, while you are only what? An up incoming super rookie, and you want my respect and attention? All I see is a petty man who doesn't like me because I'm one of the most popular and sought out men out of all the Warlords, I know your the captain of the Beautiful Pirates and call yourselves as such because that's what you believe you are."

"Petty? Me? Even if that blatant lie of yours is somehow true I know that women flock to me because I am beautiful and am the only man in this entire world that deserves to call the most beautiful bachelor in the world over, me hearing that someone else in the world has the womens attention besides me pisses me off! That's one reason I'm here the other reason is to take your place as the first ship in the monster fleet just to show you up!" He says with absolute confidence.

"Well neither of those are gonna happen, one thing I know that even if you did fight me you would lose, and another thing I've known the monster since we were kids there's no way in hell that he would let someone else take the first position in his fleet away from me."

"Well why don't you place your position at stake, because even if you call yourself one of the strongest Warlords I don't believe it I know you assholes have gotten lazy with your position I bet you haven't been training this entire time."

"Oh you want to challenge me to a duel Prince? Well I guess I'll just have to show you your place."

"Oh and we're not doing this in private! No we're doing this for all to see as I kick your ass so they know that the title of Warlord of the sea means nothing!"

"Well if you want to have your pride hurt so badly that fine by me, I was gonna have a meeting with King Cobra after this but I can talk to him now and let him use the arena here in the capital as the venue." I say as I get up and walk past him, shoulder checking him out of my way as I make my way out of my HQ here in Alabasta.

This greatly irritates Cavendish as he's being ignored once again that even his other personality is even getting pissed as well.

"…. You'll pay for looking down on me…" he says before he turns and leaves with his entourage in tow.

Later at the royal palace of Alabasta.

"So your requesting to use the royal arena as a battleground between you and the leader of the Beautiful Pirates, Cavendish?" (Cobra)

"Correct, he thinks I'm stealing the spot light that rightfully belongs to him, he says that my good looks are taking away the attention he so rightfully deserves, and a few other things, so he challenged me to a duel."

"PFFT! That man is probably the most vain and narcissistic man I have ever seen, he may be pretty but all he has is his good looks and some skill with a sword besides that he doesn't really have anything." Vivi (15) says as she walks into the throne room.

"Ahh Vivi, it's good to see you, sorry that I couldn't come to your birthday party, I was busy with business but it's good to see you."

"And it's good to see you to Vargas." She says with a slight blush on her face.

Her father seeing this remembers what he wanted to discuss with me tonight, "Just remember to come back here after the duel of yours Vargas, we have something's to discuss, but yes your free to use the arena as you see fit, and will be for all to see just as Mr. Cavendish wants." (Cobra)

"Thank you Cobra, Vivi, I will see you both later tonight then." I say as I nod to them both and head for the arena not noticing the look of longing in Vivi's eyes.

Her father can clearly see this and just grabs his face and shakes his head, *No matter what I have done over the years to convince her otherwise she's dead set on marrying him, a man who already has multiple wives and possibly multiple lovers as well, sure men of status and power can do that but I don't know if she'll be truly happy with this marriage…. I'll see how it goes but if I see she's not happy with this arrangement then I'll do what I can to end it if need be*

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At the royal arena of Alubarna.

Both me and Cavendish were standing face to face against each other as the crowd, especially the women, were cheering for us.

"I CANT BELIEVE IT FOLKS! This here is gonna be one of the most viewed battles set here in the Royal Arena in the last 20 years! We have The Protector of Alabasta, and Warlord of the Sea! FIREBRAND VARGAS!!!!!" The announcer shouts to the crowd.

"VARGAS VARGAS VARGAS!!!!" The crowd says as they chant my name.

I just grin in response as I ignite myself briefly revealing my bare upper half of my body to the crowd causing the women to squeal in glee before reforming my clothes into my flaming captains overcoat before putting my hands in my pockets waiting for him to show off.

"And on this side of the arena, we have one of the up incoming Super Rookies, The (self proclaimed) Most Beautiful Man in the World, The Pirate Prince himself! CAVENDISH!!!!"

He just grins before putting a rose between his lips and kissing towards the crowd as rose petals circle around him.

This causes women to scream and shout and even some fainting as well.

"PRINCE PRINCE PRINCE!!!!" The Women of the crowd shout while most of the men look at him more than me in hate.

"Looks like I am clearly the most beautiful here after all, look at the crowd they love me!" Cavendish says as he try's to look down at me as he feels like he has reclaimed his spot light.

I just stroke my chin as I think the best way to win the crowd that is clearly against him in my favor as well the women who clearly know class and didn't even acknowledge him, I then point at him, "SHOUT MY NAME IF YOU WANT TO SEE ME KICK HIS ASS!!!"

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHH VARGAS VARGAS VARGAS VARGAS VARGAS VARGAS!!!!!" The people both men and a good portion of the women cheer and shout my name.

"Well looks like they want to see your ass kicked into the dirt, so I will do just that." I say with a smirk as I tilt my head up slightly so I'm looking down at him from where I'm standing.

He just grinds his teeth in anger as he pulls out his blade from his sheath before pointing it at me in a rapier stance style, "Seems I'll just have to prove them wrong and that I'm clearly your better here, now draw your blade so we may battle!"

But I don't summon my Dandelga as I just shake my head, "Cavendish getting your blood on my blade we make me have to wash hit for a week just to make sure there's not an ounce of your filthy blood on it, so no I won't use my blade against you, besides if I did this match would be over to soon, so I want to see if your bark is just as bad as your bite." I say as I put my hands into my pockets while activating my observation haki so I'll know his moves before he even attacks me with them.

This infuriates him to know end, "You have no shame and have disrespected my honor as well, normally I wouldn't attack an unarmed man, but I'll make an exception!" He says as he pulls his arm back and takes on a sword thrust stance.

"Biken: Blue Bird!!!" He shouts as he unleashes a straight sword stab from across the arena but this move also makes him move extremely fast, but also predictably in a straight line which I easily side step before using the momentum of the sidestep to spin myself around and use my armament haki infused hand to backhand the back of his head sending him tumbling forward a bit before he regains his footing and puts up a defensive stance while grabbing the back of his head.

"To predictable, maybe I wouldn't have been able to dodge if you were closer but your confidence will get you killed, had I used my blade I would have cut off your head already." I say while taking on I rather relaxed posture as I look at Cavendish.

This gets him even more mad as he closes the distance before he does a front flip over my head, "Biken: Swan Lake!!!" He says while he attacks me from above.

But I can also clearly see that and just grab the tip of his sword mid-slash with my haki covered hands before sending the blade into the ground in front of me, making him fall to face me.

I grin at him mid fall and send a strong haki infused punch to his gut causing him to cough up blood before sending him tumbling away while he grabs his stomach in pain.

I then look down at his embedded blade before pulling it out and getting a better look at it, "This is a fine blade, I believe it's a Meito isn't it? It's a bit sad some one as weak as you is wielding it, though it is unfortunately a rapier so I'll let you keep it since my blade is clearly better." I say as I toss him back his sword.

This pisses him off so much that he actually loses consciousness from his anger, but in doing so woke up his other half, Hakuba.

He just silently gets up and grins at me in a very evil way as he opens his eyes for me only to see the whites of his eyes.

With my observation haki active I can see he's gonna come at me insanely quickly and much more viscously than normal making me instantly summon Dandelga but he leaves me no time to charge it as I'm forced to defend his extremely fast attacks.

And yes I could have just tanked the attacks, but I saw if I let him get even one attack in on my I wouldn't be given anytime to defend his next attack let alone counter so I needed Dandelga for blocking.

Though it was more me getting his rhythm down before I could see the most optimal opening I could use, though if I really got serious I would end up killing him, and since he technically will be my ally after this I don't want to do that, even if he is very annoying after all.

So when my moment came I struck hitting his sword out of his grasp and during the split second of both him being confused and flustered I sent the side of my giant claymore crashing into him sending him flying and tumbling before slamming into a wall and fully losing consciousness for both sides of him.

"I DONT BELIEVE IT FOLKS! The fight was both fast and intense that I could hardly keep up! But with one decisive attack we have our winner! FIREBRAND VARGAS!!!!" The announcer shouts to the rest of the crowd as they all scream and cheer in excitement.

Soon after some of Cavendish's crew come to take there Captain away, "Prince Cavendish said on the chance he lost that he will except his defeat gracefully and will join the Monster Fleet, but he will avenge this disgrace another day and take the first spot that belongs to him!" One of his crew members says before they haul the unconscious Prince away.

"Tch, he can try but he will ultimately will fail no matter what." I say before I turn and wave to the crowd as I make my exit on the other side of the arena.

"Now then, back to the palace to have that dinner with Cobra and Vivi."

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Not long after I got back from the arena I arrived at the place before being invited inside to have a private dinner with both Cobra and Vivi, it was a nice dinner with some rather lavish cuisine as well.

*Hmmm…. This reminds me maybe I should go find Sanji and taste his cooking for once before he ends up joining the strawhats.* I think to myself as I finish this rather excellent meal.

"Ahh, now that dinner is finished there is something I must discuss with you once again, you said this many years ago that if Vivi still had feelings for you that you would marry her, so now as a father I must ask…. Will you marry my daughter?"

*Cough Cough* I nearly choke down my wine after hearing that, I had honestly forgotten about that promise I made roughly 6 years ago back when she was 9, "Vivi are you sure? You do know that I have multiple wives already and that I even have children now right?"

Hearing that I already have kids shocks both of them, but she just shakes it off, "Even still for the longest time as I grew up I always thought of this day being with the man who saved not only this kingdom but both me and my father as well from the sinister plot of the Evil Crocodile, if you will have me I would be more than happy to be your wife."

"…. Well if that is your choice I will accept, but at most for now you will be my fiancée, before you can marry me you need to both get to know my wives and get there approval as it was decided long ago that only those that my wives have a rather friendly relationship with will be allowed to marry me, is that fine with you?"

She just smiles brightly after hearing me say yes, "Of course! I'll do what I must to get your other wives approval before we can be wed."

I nod before I look at her father who is clearly distraught about this all, he even looks a bit older from this so I desire to offer him two things as I go and stand before him, one a cup with some water from the Chalice of Eternity in it, and another an emblem of a fire on it.

"It might be to early to say this but, …. Father in law I offer you these two gifts as thanks for allowing me to wed your daughter, a drink that will restore some of your youth and vitality and an emblem of mine that should you let cover in your blood will tell me that you need my help and I will come with my finest to the aid of you and the country of Alabasta, and I promise to be this country's protector no matter what happens." I say as I hand them off to him.

He looks up to me a bit skeptically about the drink that give him his youth back as he looks at it for a second before drinking it, and not long later he starts to feel much better as he stands up and cracks his back as he can feel himself getting looser.

"Father! Your hair!" Vivi says in shock as he grabs a mirror and sees his hair has gone from a rather darkish grey to a more midnight black tone, even his wrinkles had faded, he doesn't look like a man in his 40's now, now he looks like he's in his late 20's early 30's now.

"I feel much younger now!" He says as he looks at himself before looking back at me and bowing his head, "Thank you Vargas, this is a wonderful gift to have recieved."

"It's the least I could have done, and tomorrow I will have to bring your daughter back with me to Amazon Lily to get acquainted with my wives, and when they have accepted her, we will return to hold the wedding ceremony."

"Of course that's understandable, though why don't you sleep here in the guest room tonight if that is alright with you."

"That's fine, let me go back to my base to tell my men of what's going on before I come back." I say as I get up and shake cobras hand.

"Of course, we will see you soon then." He says as they both see me off.

Not long later I arrived back at my base and told them what's going on, well really only Zala since she was the only one who came with, after promising her that after we get back to the aisle of man that she will have me to herself for a day I was able to convince her to go home and give my wives the heads up as to what's happening before I head back to the palace and spend the night there.

And soon after the next day the king and many people saw us off as they all waved us goodbye and wished us safe travels as we both left Alabasta back for Amazon Lily to get acquainted with them all.