18 Making Enemies

The four combatants had slowly moved further and further from the town, with Rex and Corazon not wanting to risk the lives of the civilians. Now, they were on a distant cliff overlooking the ocean not far from the port, battling fiercely.

Rex growled in tiger form, not letting his fatigue prevent him from facing Trebol. He had numerous wounds on his body and was probably in the worst shape he had been in yet for any fight. Still, it was worth it.

Currently, Rex, Rosinante and Gem were forming a 'Y' shaped formation around Trebol, which they used to attack him. Rex would charge at Trebol head on, using his strength to occupy the mucus man's strength while Gem and Rosinante, both covered in Rosinante's silence fields, would flank around Trebol shooting him.

This formation proved extremely effective, as with his beginner observation Haki, Trebol was entirely incapable of keeping up with these attacks. Trebol had started to fall to a disadvantage immediately and his defeat only accelerated when Gem gave Rosinante an explosive gun of his own.

Now, Trebol was barely keeping himself conscious, his true body battered with bruises and burns. He cursed Rosinante in his mind, feeling that without Rosinante's silence fields, he would have been able to dodge Gem's attacks with ease.

Still, all the what-ifs in the world couldn't help him now. Trebol now had to resort to pulling out all the stops to…

No. Trebol freezes up as four more figures appear in the distance running towards the fight. Rex uses this momentary slip up to land a scratch on Trebol's face, creating three large wounds across it.

Trebol gathered himself quickly, barely dodging the two bullets from behind. In his mind, he curses a thousand curses. If Rex's companions were returning, it meant that Giolla and Marseille had been defeated.

Trebol knew that once those three joined the frey, it would be over. Kid could locate the pistols on his body and use them to pin him in place while Rosinante and Gem fired on him.

"No (sniff), I need to capture one!" Trebol roars, sending out a blast of mucus in all directions, launching all three opponents back. He then looks around like a feral dog, his eyes narrowing on Rosinante. "Yes, Corazon will do!"

Trebol leaps towards him, knowing Corazon was not good at close quarters fighting.

"Oh no you don't." Rex roars, barreling at Trebol. "I would never let a nasty fellow like you, who perverts the good name of fashion by wearing mucus clothing, ever survive!"

Trebol ignores him, knowing that Rex's attack would do nothing to his mucus protected body. He had to get Corazon.

Rex grins, before activating his ultimate Tiger Print move.

This move had been something Rex had been researching since the Davy Back Fight and had only now perfected. Ever since the navy had wrongly assumed Rex had an ancient or mythic Zoan devil fruit, Rex had been wondering how he could pull off a good act of such a fruit. Then, his mind fell to stunt actors.

The furs of Rex's body start vibrating under Hasshoken's influence. They slowly heat up, under the vibration with Rex nearing Trebol. Then, as Rex is right upon Trebol, it happens.

"STUNT MASTER TIGER-PRINT!" Rex roars, his entire body blazing into flames. "NOW SAY IT WITH ME GEM!"

Trebol's eyes widen, not having expected Rex, who had previously been the least dangerous opponent to him, to suddenly burst into flame.

"Art…"

With nowhere to go Trebol launches himself out of his mucus body and off the cliff as a last ditch effort, hoping to grab onto the cliff to break his fall.

"is…"

Before he makes it fully out, Rex's flaming claw finally falls igniting the mucus like it was gasoline.

"AN EXPLOSION!!!"

BOOM!

Trebol is launched off the cliff, his entire mucus body ignited. As he plummets to his death, Rex can see that his body is covered with burns and bruises.

However, Trebol suddenly opens his eyes at the last moment, sending a long line of snot at the cliff. The line barely breaks Trebol's fall, still causing an echoing thud as he falls to the ground. His body twitches briefly before he falls into a deep unconscious state.

The flames on Rex's body quickly die down as he pants fiercely. It worked.

"You see Gem, that's how badass it is! I one-shotted a top pirate just with those words!"

"If you hadn't said those words, you might have killed him a second faster."

Rex just sighs. Gem was extremely resistant to the Dao of Deidara, but Rex was convinced he could wear him down. Still, this was a perfect test of Stunt Master Tiger-Print.

The concept behind Stunt Master Tiger-Print was simple. Rex had modified the fur coat he used in Tiger Print to act like a stuntman's coat. The outermost layer was covered with a flammable gel, but the coat had been treated to be flame resistant on the inside.

Since Rex assimilated the qualities of his fur coat when he went into Tiger Print mode, he could then ignite the coat and turn into a flaming tiger. That was definitely mythic Zoan worthy in his opinion.

Of course there were several downsides to this ability when compared to a true mythic Zoan. For one, Rex didn't get any more strength than regular Tiger-Print mode making the flames the only add on. What's more was the fire took several seconds to start with Rex having to heat up the fur with Hasshoken and it only burned for a short time, around five seconds at the most.

As such, Stunt Master Tiger-Print was more of an ultimate move when compared to mythic Zoans which could fully use their additional power.

"You're losing your touch, captain. Me and Killer beat our opponents way faster than you did." Kid laughed.

"My opponent's bounty is equal to that of both of your opponents' put together." Rex pants out exhaustedly.

Rosinante looks at the group like their crazy. "You guys do realize you just made enemies of the Donquixote pirates, the most dangerous pirate in the North Blue, right?"

"Yup." The crew all say in unison.

"Now, we need to get out of here." Rex says, limping over to Bonney and transforming back in a flash of pink light. "Until we meet again."

Rex then returns to his ship, talking to Killer and Kid about their fights.

Kid had captured Giolla, much to Rex's delight as her devil fruit was one of few that ignored all durability and one-shot anything. Of course, until Rex had a method of persuading her to join him, or a means to extract her devil fruit, all that was meaningless.

Killer then explains his own fight. He talks about a weird sensation his swordsmanship instructor had told him about and how he had almost felt it with Marseille.

Rex realizes that it was the breath of all things and explains the ability as best he can. He hoped that Killer could master the ability in the coming few months so that he would be able to be strong even in paradise.

As for Trebol, Rex felt that killing him would be excessive. Right now, Rex was more of a side project for Doflamingo. If he killed Trebol, Rex would immediately become public enemy number 1.

No, it was good to just show that he wasn't afraid of fighting back and hope that Doflamingo wasn't too unreasonable.

(Several Hours Later)

"Agh!"

Trebol jolts awake, feeling a sharp pain all over his body. What had happened?

"Mr. Trebol! Thank god you're alive! My son found you and we took you here together, to treat your wounds."

Trebol recognizes the man's son as the kid from earlier who had called Trebol here and met him at the docks.

"Good…" Trebol says with a weak voice. "Doflamingo… will… (sniff)… reward… you. Just… give… me… a… (sniff)… phone."

Trebol then calls Doflamingo informing him of what happened.

"So, you were defeated, and you lost Giolla and Marseille. Tsk tsk tsk… Trebol, I'm going to have to punish you for this."

"Yes, Doffy, (sniff) I understand."

"Good… now tell me more about this mythic Zoan ability. It's not every day you come across one, Fuffuffufu."

Meanwhile, Rex smiles at his gains from this battle. He had made friends with a young Law, robbed a Donquixote Pirate ship and even captured a powerful devil fruit user.

Giolla was now in his brig, her hands bound in sea stone cuffs preventing her from using her Devil Fruit. She looked at Rex with a hateful glare as he stood over her.

"What are you going to do now? Kill me? Are you going to humiliate me and exhibit my perfect, beautiful body for all to see!? Then tie me to the helm and defile me in the most…"

"Stop! Just, stop!" Rex says, closing his eyes as he felt his own mind was getting dirtier by just being in proximity with Giolla's. "I'm not going to do any of that. For now, I'm going to interrogate you. Maybe one day, I will make you into a crew member."

"I'll never betray young master!"

"That's okay, I'll ask again every once in a while. In a few weeks I won't need your permission."

With that, Rex smiles as he leaves the cell.

Giolla's refusal was within expectations and couldn't dampen his mood.

From robbing Trebol's ship, Rex had truly become rich. There were tons of guns, millions of Berries and countless priceless maps onboard the ship. Coupling that with the cannons and the parts he salvaged, Rex had made well over a hundred million Berries in profit from this one robbery.

But that much made sense. After all, Trebol was one of Doflamingo's top commanders and handled the most serious business. If the spoils were any less, Rex would have been disappointed.

Coming back to the deck, Rex sees that the entire crew is reading the news excitedly.

"Hey, didn't I say we were boycotting the news!!!" Rex roared, snatching a paper.

"No, Captain it's good news, just read!"

Rex frowns, but decides to parse through the paper.

"Vesta 'Flaming Devil' Rex, defeats top Donquixote officer Trebol, proving his worthiness to challenge Doflamingo for North Blue supremacy. Marines have revealed that Rex's devil fruit is a mythic Zoan, believed to be a Neko Neko no Mi with the ability to control fire. More information can be foun…"

Rex grins brightly at this. "My calls to Sengoku worked! I need to not that down, whenever I want something changed, call Sengoku ten thousand times!"

Other than Rex's new name, the whole crew has also received new bounties. 'Mecha Fist' Kid got his bounty upped to 60 million, Killer 'the Ruthless' got his bounty upped to 55 million, 'Big Fist' Bonney got upped to 50 million and 'Blast-shot' Gem shot all the way from standard crew member to 40 million cadre.

Rex smiled, it had been around four and a half months since he, Kid and Killer had left their small village and now they were

As expected, there was no mention of Corazon or Law in the paper, likely suppressed by Sengoku.

"Where are we headed?" Kid asked eagerly, excited to fight some more.

"Rubeck Island."

"Why?"

"I need to find someone."

(Three Days Later)

<i>Rubeck Island, North Blue</i>

Rubeck Island, also known as the jewel of the underworld, was the biggest underworld hub in the four blues.

The only reason that Diez Barrels accepted to make a trade with the World Government was contingent on it happening on Rubeck. After all, Rubeck was controlled by the Emperors of the Underworld, and if the world government attacked it, the emperors would strike back at their interests across the world, supplying guns to the revolutionaries, assassinating nobles, the works.

Of course, it also very well suited Rex's purposes as he wanted to set up an open bounty on the five crew members he was looking for in the North Blue.

"So you're looking for a Basil Hawkins, someone named Sugar, someone named Monet, someone named… Caribou?" The black market attendant asked with a frown.

The information Rex could give on the four was rather limited so the attendant couldn't do much with it in a short time. All he could really give was hair color, eye color, age and first name.

"Oh yes, and I would like the movements of Germa 66 in the past few weeks." Rex says, making it sound like an afterthought.

"Well, I'll tell you what. That I can basically give you for free, then you front me say… 40 million, I'll look for the other four and I'll get back to you."

Rex smiles, finding that dealing with a smart man was much easier than the buffoons he was used to dealing with.

"Ok, I'm giving this to you for free, because every underground personality knows this. Germa 66 just did a job in the East Blue, taking out Cozia, a small, unaffiliated island. Sometime in the next few days, they're going to stop by Deul Kingdom to pick up the rest of their cash for the job."

Rex nods, noting it down. "Anything else you can give me on them?"

The broker raises three fingers. Rex pulls out another three million Berries.

"While I don't know why you're crazy enough to go after them, here's what I know. The mercs left with about 5000 troops to siege Cozia, Cozia's a pretty small and weak Island so I'd wager at most a couple hundred died. Their tech is top of the line, and they move on weird snail ships. The head merc's flagship moves around a lot, but it always has gold plating around its hull. Then there's the…"

The broker continues to give Rex detailed information about Germa's defenses, basically dissecting them for him.

Rex nods, thanking the man for the information then leaving.

Moments later, the man picks up a Den Den Mushi.

"He came to me…"

The broker says, revealing everything Rex had asked.

"Oh, so he decided to go for the best, fuffuffufu. He should have known that I already own half this island!"

"What should I do?"

"Send a few mercs at him before he gets to his ship, lets test how he fights on his own, as for those names, I don't see anything wrong with any of them. That fool is probably looking for a navigator for the grand line. None of them are on my radar so you can just give them to him, try to become his exclusive dealer. Then, I can set a trap for him, if he survives Germa that is."

"You plan on telling Judge that King pirates might attack him?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, of course I'm going to tell him. Piracy is illegal, you know. Fuffuffufu!"

Meanwhile, the moment Rex walks out, he shakes his head. That dealer was working for Doflamingo.

While Rex couldn't tell at first, it was the dealer's friendliness that really revealed it. No underground dealer would give up information for free, not even if the customer was a big shot like Rex.

What's more, Rex noticed that he never even implied attacking Germa, but the broker kept pushing him towards it, offering 'weaknesses' in Germa's defenses. The broker was likely trying to use Germa to wipe out his King pirates.

With that, Rex waited outside the broker's booth, hearing his conversation with him.

Still, Rex was sure that the Vinsmoke's location was true at the very least. With that information, he could plan his next steps. Now he needed to leave before the broker started causing…

Rex ducks immediately, hearing a whistling noise coming from his left. A massive scimitar swings just over his head, cutting a few blue hairs off as he barely dodges it.

Without even bothering to look at his opponent Rex drives his shoulder into what should be his opponent's stomach, sending out ripples that cause the man to vomit.

Then Rex immediately scans his surroundings noting that there were at least five other mercenaries eying him hungrily.

"Well, are you going to attack first, or do I have to start killing people?"

With those words, the battle begins. Bonney was still on the ship, so Rex couldn't use his 'Zoan' form, and any other form would reveal his devil fruit.

Falling back to some good old-fashioned Jacket-E, Rex avoids several bullets aimed at him.

"He's got some weird kind of martial art! We've got to…" One man starts, but he choke on his words as Rex charges at him, punching him in the throat.

Rex then reaches into a pocket, grabbing a Gem grenade and throwing it at high speed towards three other mercs coming at him from the right. The mercs catch it, laughing at the ineffective projectile, only for it to blow up in their hands.

Rex then looks menacingly at the remaining few mercenaries.

"Well, who's next? I can do this all day!"

The mercenaries grimace, but looking at the exploded remains of the others, they sigh and leave. No amount of money could pay for a suicide mission.

Doflamingo chuckles, having received a play-by-play of the fight.

"Fuffuffufu. Even without his fruit and with a sneak attack he's still pretty good. I also see what Trebol meant about his explosive technology. This just keeps getting more and more interesting! Put a 100 million on his head. Two if they can get him and Kid delivered to me alive. Other than that, don't make any moves. I want to see how this plays out."

Meanwhile, Rex has returned to his ship, calling a meeting of his senior officers.

"It's time for Jacket D. Hoodie to return."