A Forced Retreat (part 2)

(Starrk's POV)

"Yea nah." I told the Yonko, "You and your Totalitarian regime can go fuck yourself."

Kaido scowled, "What did you say?" He asked, "You fool. Do you really think you're in any position to say those kinds of things?"

I pointed my blade at him, "There's a time and place for everything, Kaido!" I said, "Today is not the time for this bullshit! Go home to Wano, you fuck!"

"Oi Starrk, why you gotta say all that?!" one of Starrk's men exclaimed in fear, "You're going to provoke him!!!"

Kaido gave me a serious glare, "You fool..." He growled, "What makes you think you're safe to run your mouth?"

I lowered my blade and shrugged, "I don't know." I said, "But I know for a fact that I will never join your crew. Not in a million years."

"Worororo!!!" Kaido laughed, "Mark my words, Starrk. You will join my crew someday. I need your so-called ability to see into the far future...Willingly or not, You will join my crew."

"Uhuh." I told him, "So are we free to go or not?"

"Well, I suppose that to honor the agreement we made a year ago..." He said, "This marks one free escape."

I nodded, "Thanks." I said sheathing my sword and turning to my men, "Let's move out before he changes his mind. Now."

My men started scrambling around and I looked back at Kaido.

"I hope you understand that I meant what I said." Kaido said as he began to fly away, "Right now I won't try to fight you because I know that Old Man Whitebeard will retaliate. And I don't want the hassle of dealing with him."

I saw as he flew towards his ship. I then looked around to see that The Dragon Knight's ship had completely disappeared. I am sure that the fog is the cause of a devil fruit's ability. Quite the handy power to have at your disposal.

I sighed and turned around, "Thankfully that bastard gave us a free chance to escape." I said aloud, "We would've had to use our weapon against him in an attempt to leave."

"Are you fucking crazy, Starrk!!" one of my guys said, "That would only piss him off! Kaido is at the same level as Pops! Our weapon won't do shit against him!!"

"I know, but still," I said

I felt as the ship started to sail away. I turned back to glance behind us and watched as the Beat Pirates vessel began to turn around. I bet Kaido's men were quite disappointed in not fighting at all. But what can you do? Garp did the right thing in retreating. He watched one of his warships get annihilated in one attack with ease. And I have a feeling that dealing with Kaido would not be in their schedule today.

"Oi Starrk!" one of my men called out

"What?" I said

"How in the hell did you get Kaido to let us go?" He asked

I felt all eyes on me as he asked me this question. I was expecting this conversation to come up sooner or later. Didn't expect it to come at a time like this, though.

"Yea, well the thing is..." I started, "Kaido has his reputation as a fierce and deadly fucker, but he can still be reasoned with if you do business with him."

"Business??" they asked

"Yea, let's say that I traded something for a free chance to escape his wrath. One chance per item." I said

"And what the hell did you trade?" one of them asked

"Well, I traded two things with him." I said, "I used one chance the moment I traded with him. That gave me the chance to get the hell out of dodge. Definitely did not have any chance of having a good time dealing with him and the All-Stars. And now I used up the last freebie. Next time, there will be no chances."

"What kind of items would it take to have Kaido of all people give you a chance to escape him and his crew?" they asked

"What would you expect?" I said,

"I gave him two Devil Fruits."