5 Escape

His hands and feet were covered in blood and ash, the rest of him was smeared in blood and he sat down, taking out the books he got from the Captain.

He started reading the Captain's Log as the time passed, then it was the Bounty binder, then finally the training routine.

Sacrafrillas was a small island, barely even enough space for a town, let alone a jungle to hunt… There was only a small forest with some animals in it, but who knows if they were still alive… The pirates took all the food and supplies with them so Galan had to go out and get food himself eventually…

But for now, he rationed the scraps as he studied the books and trained according to the Captain's training book. There weren't any fancy moves, just pure strength training. The Captain was a Rear Admiral at any rate, maybe a Rear Admiral that retired a long time ago but he should still know how to train.

Galan did find specific techniques, something called Haki and mentions of 6 Powers that he was too stupid to learn. There were little excerpts on how to train them but nothing substantial, all the Captain could remember.

For Haki it was simple; Armament Haki- Imagine you have invisible armor on your fist and punch real hard. Observation Haki- find someone to beat you with a stick when you're blindfolded until you dodge.

As for 6 Powers…

Kick hard, Kick fast, Clench your Muscles.

That's it, that's all.

Galan didn't know what the 6 Powers one meant, so he ignored it and focused on the rest, practicing with the shotgun in his down time.

Time passed by

Days turned to weeks and Galan had to hunt in the forest for food when his rations were out.

The first week he didn't catch anything, forcing him to eat tree roots and drink from the rain.

The second week, he caught a squirrel and rationed it out to stretch over a week…

The weeks slowly turned to months and Galan had read every book on the island, wasn't difficult, there were only a dozen or so. Half of them were stories, some were diaries, the rest were trades.

Unluckily for him, nothing on boats or navigation. However there was one book about guns and another on basic anatomy. Although, these were of no use to him now, if he got off this island, they might be.

During the months Galan was on the island alone, he searched the whole thing, finding a few fruit trees, some edible plants, and more animals to hunt. How did he know the plants were edible? He tested them himself.

He was poisoned three times and nearly died before finding out which ones he could eat.

Luckily for him, the poison wasn't enough to kill him.

Eventually, a year passed quietly.

Galan packed up his things and stepped on a raft he made, sailing out into the sea for the fifth time. The last 4 times he got capsized by the waves and swam back to the island with the current.

He was nearly devoured by a shark once but he managed to send it away by smashing the butt of his shotgun on its nose.

Today was expected to be no different.

Galan sat on the raft and started reading his books for the hundredth time, it was to keep his mind sharp, constantly thinking, he would even do voice exercises to make sure he never forgot how to talk.

Every book he read, he would try to put his mind in the place of the person writing. What were they thinking? Why did they think that way? How did they come to this conclusion? What was life like for them?

After looking at everything from so many angles, he developed a skill for it.

There was one book that he was particularly fond of. It was a book on war that one of the townsfolk must've picked up from outside. There were infinite possibilities as to what the author was thinking and why he made the decisions he had made after displaying all the options clearly in the book.

It was the only thing keeping Galan sane, the constant brain training.

Just as he crossed the threshold he hadn't before, he expected a wave to send him back, but there was nothing. The sea was calm, too calm…

Just as he thought, a giant serpentine looking thing rose from the sea, staring down at Galan.

He looked up at the purple snake with white lines and a bright lure on its head, wondering if it was all going to end today. Then he frowned and refused.

No, he wasn't going to die like this, not by some snake monster who wasn't as hungry as he was!

Galan glared at the snake, refusing to die. The snake looked at him and froze before drilling into the sea and disappearing. Galan blinked and looked at the rippling water in confusion, did he really send the sea snake packing just with a look?

Well, maybe his luck was starting to turn around. He raised his head and before he could get any further, he saw a huge ship. Galan grabbed his sack and tied it to his back before lighting a fire on his raft and jumping into the sea, holding his shotgun.

Thing about this shotgun was it protected the gunpowder from getting wet no matter what, so even if he dove into the water, it would still work.

The huge ship turned to the burning raft to check it out and Galan swam underwater towards the ship, looking at the hull. He surfaced and looked up, staying close to the ship itself, so that nobody could see him.

He held the shotgun in his mouth as he dug his fingers into the ship, slowly scaling the hull, coming to the deck and hearing "Nothing here, Commodore! Just a burning raft." Galan held the edge of the ship, just under the railing.

He grabbed his shotgun and let out a breath, flipping over the railing and leaning on the deck.

The Marines were stunned and Galan kicked one of them, before grabbing another and choking him while pointing the Shotgun at the rest as the guy he was holding was gasping for breath.

This was all before the Marines even had time to react!

Everyone froze and Galan looked around, frowning as the guy he sent flying smashed into a barrel, waking everyone up.

The Marines scrambled to get their rifles and pointed at Galan, shouting "Let him go!" Galan frowned and pulled on the Marine he was holding, his arm turning pitch black. The Marine he was holding pulled a pistol and fired it at Galan's face but Galan leaned his head back before he even fired, dodging the bullet by a millimeter.

He grabbed the pistol and kneed the Marine in the back, stepping on his neck and pointing the pistol at the back of his head as he continued staring at the Marines, not even looking away for a second.

The Marines were scared silly, what kind of monster was this?

Galan was not joking and cocked the pistol, saying "Where is your leader?" The marines looked around before pointing at a very large man, who had his arms crossed. Galan looked at him and tossed the pistol to the side. He put the shotgun on his back and took out the Marine Recruitment poster, holding his hands up in an 'I surrender' gesture.