Chapter 9

His fifteenth year was spent learning better navigation skills and swearing at his Log Pose with occasional breaks for training.

A week before he turned sixteen, he was in a foul mood as he made port on a small island with a weird name (Tziza-something), and his mood only got worse when he caught sight of the only other ship anchored at the docks. Specifically, when he caught sight of the ship's flag. A black sail painted with the image of a rat's head in front of a sun. His hands slowly tightened into fists, shaking with rage.

The Sun Rat Pirates. Those filthy bastards who destroyed his home-!

Taking deep breaths to try and keep calm, he secured his boat to the dock furthest away from the pirate ship and jumped down onto the pier. His Observation haki was turned up as high as it could go as he made a beeline for the nearest bar, because where else would a pirate crew who had just made port go? He was proven right when he entered the the building and walked straight into a cacophony of shouts for drinks, angry yells, laughter and the sound of mugs being slammed on tables.

He'd found the right crew, he could see and sense Rat Man (actual name was Mousekatrel 'Rodent' Rattan; guy had a bounty that he'd made a point of remembering) sitting at a table in the middle of all the ruckus, still just as orange and rat-like as a few years ago. He had the same level of power as back then too, and Marshall, Marshall didn't. Drawing his knife, he didn't say a word as he grabbed the closest Sun Rat and drove the blade right through his gut. The room fell into a shocked silence as he pulled the knife out and the man slid to the ground, clutching the wound with a stunned look on his face.

He'd been thinking about what he'd do if he ran into these particular pirates again, and now he put thought into action, grabbing another pirate and slitting his throat with no fanfare while the rest of them were still too shocked to move.

The element of surprise didn't last long; the rest of the bar erupted into roars of fury, dozens of pirates charging forward to avenge their comrades. His own anger over his helplessness to stop the attack on his home island had been simmering for years, and now he let it all out on the ones responsible. He fought with the savagery of a wild beast, not bothering to restrain his strength as he lashed out. Soon he was up to his knees in blood and bodies, the first ones who'd charged him laying dead at his feet and the rest of the crew now much less eager to approach him.

"What are you all waiting for?! Kill him or I'll kill you!" Rat Man shouted in the ensuing silence. All the barstaff had fled at the first sign of blood, so it was just him and the pirates in the building. Just the way he wanted it.

Rat Man's words galvanized the crew into action, renewed war-cries ringing in the air as they dove forward, jumping over the bodies of their fallen crewmates to get at him. Rat Man stayed where he was, but he was okay with that. It was always good to save the best for last.

Finally, when there was no one else in the bar still living but him and Rat Man, he spoke up. "That was for my island, but this? This is for me."

Rat Man was standing by now, one hand clenched on the back of a chair, his expression grave. He chuckled lightly, asking rhetorically, "Revenge for your island, is it? Suppose you've been watching us for years, just waiting for your chance?" He stepped away from the chair, revealing the handprint embedded in the piece of furniture as he spread his hands in mock-welcome.

"Not really." He said bluntly, the burgeoning smile on Rat Man's face freezing as he informed the pirate, "I happened to see your ship here by chance and figured that now was as good a time as any to settle a score."

Rat Man didn't like that. A vein in his forehead throbbed, smile turning into a snarl in seconds as he howled, "Settle a score? Settle a score? You slaughter my crew and call it settling a score?!" He was practically frothing at the mouth by the end.

Body contorting and swelling in size, gray fur covered his body and his head changed shape, turning into a long snout as a pink-skinned, whip-like tail lashed behind him as he revealed the reason he had a decent bounty despite being a low-level pirate (basically the Buggy of the New World, if he could use the comparison).

Mousekatrel 'Rodent' Rattan aka Rat Man had eaten the Rat-Rat Fruit. He was a Zoan, and as Marshall knew, Zoans were tough assholes...but not so tough if the one they were facing had haki. As he proved when he hit Rat Man with a haki-enhanced uppercut hard enough to knock the rat's two front teeth loose.

Grinning darkly as he loomed over the dazed rat, his voice rang out like a death knell, "I'm going to enjoy this, rat."

Throwing his head back, he laughed, the sound nearly lost beneath the terrified screams that followed his proclamation.

"Zehahahahaha!"

When he finally left the ruined bar, the town around was completely deserted. Obviously the townsfolk had heard about the slaughter in the bar and decided to make themselves scarce. A wise decision.

By the time he'd finished with Rat Man, his formerly white shirt had been dyed a muddy red, and his pants were drenched in blood up to the knees. His knife would require a good cleaning, but he was in a much mood than he'd been when he first sailed into port. He'd also looted the bodies, because it wasn't like they'd need it any more. He pocketed about five million Beri and double that in jewels and weaponry. He was carrying a sack filled with loot over his shoulder, a staff that a female Sun Rat had tried to attack him with in hand. She'd actually had some skill with the thing, but he thought that Rouge would make better use of it. It, and the flawlessly sharp dagger he'd liberated from another Rat's corpse.

He felt lighter than he had since that day when he was eleven, a bounce in his step as he hummed a tune under his breath on the way back to his boat. He'd drop off his spoils, then go hunting for supplies. He left Rat Man back in the bar, his way of paying for the damage.

The townsfolk could do what they wanted with the late pirate crew's ship, he decided. He likely couldn't fit all the treasure on it into his boat, anyway.

A few weeks after he turned sixteen, he ran into Rouge again, this time in the open sea. He was rather surprised to see that in the few months since he last saw her she'd managed to get herself a boat and the beginnings of a crew. She only had the bare bones; cook, navigator, doctor, but they all seemed loyal enough to their energetic and carefree Captain.

He only had enough time to hand Rouge her presents, laugh at the excited squeals that followed, and get midway through the introductions before there was a loud rumbling beneath the boats and his instincts roared.

That was the first time he experienced a Knock-Up Stream. As both his and Rouge's boats were launched into the air, he idly thought that it was a good think he'd tied the boats together. Holding onto the railing of Rouge's vessel for dear life, both he and Rouge whooped in excitement as her crew of three screamed in panic.

'Oh gods, there's two of them!'