With the battle against, whatever his name was, having come to an end, I grabbed the man by his ankle and picked up his golden axe as I started walking the way I originally came from. A few minutes passed by while I ate the occasional fruit or meat, and I happened to hear Trenza, Grand, Scar, and Heracles talking amongst themselves as they slowly approached me.
“You think Captain is okay? I know he’s very strong, but I could feel the blazing heat all the way from over here.” Remarked Trenza in slight worry as she held her pistols while glancing at Scar and Grand, seeking their input.
“Don’t know, Trenza, you must have faith in Captain; when have you ever seen him lose?” Said Grand with a slight smile as he looked down at Trenza, causing her and Scar to give him a blank look.
“Did he not just lose against that Mink back at Centaurea? Actually, we had lost so badly we were forced to flee, and half of us couldn’t even flee by ourselves.” Stated Scar with a slight frown while eyeing Grand, who awkwardly rubbed his head and looked away.
“Hehe, forget about that.” Muttered Grand, causing Scar to shake his head and Trenza to sigh while Heracles just calmly listened.
“Anyways, the temperature seems to be dropping, which means the battle has most likely concluded with a victor, and I’m willing to beat it was Captain as I find it hard to believe he would be beaten so quickly. Even when up against Lindbergh, he lasted an entire hour; this battle lasted only about ten minutes.” Said Scar with a scrutinizing expression as he looked ahead, only to suddenly grab his dagger when he saw a golden blur coming from the distance before it embedded itself into the ground in front of them.
“An axe?” Muttered Scar with a frown while intently observing the golden axe while warily eyeing where the axe came from.
“I-I know that axe; it’s the same axe that man had.” Said Heracles with an ugly expression as he quickly backed away while holding his spear, his words shocking the three.
“W-What!? T-Then does that mean, C-Captain’s been…” Remarked Trenza with a scowl as she gritted her teeth and glared into the distance where the axe emerged from while aiming her pistols.
“If Captain was truly defeated that quickly, we’ve got no hopes of winning.” Said Grand with a frown as he also prepared for a fight, though before anything happened, a brown blur collided with the golden axe.
Landing on the golden axe I had thrown, I was about to say something cool to commemorate my victory, though before I could even open my mouth, I was pelted with a volley of bullets; it had taken me by such surprise that I wasn’t even able to use tekkai until after a few of them had already embedded themselves into my body, causing me to grunt in pain.
“F-Fucking hell! What was that for Trenza!?” Yelled Diddy angrily as he used tekkai to stop the remaining bullets while glaring at Trenza, who stopped firing when she heard that familiar voice.
“Eh? C-Captain, that’s you!?” Exclaimed Trenza in surprise, her livid expression vanishing as she eyed Diddy’s furless body in disbelief.
“Who fucking else would it be, Trenza!?” Said Diddy in rage as he glared daggers at Trenza, his chest violently heaved up and down while he squeezed his tail around the man's ankle, causing his expression to contort in pain.
“I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know it was you, Captain; you look much different without all your golden brown fur, not to mention the appearance of the golden axe through us off; we had thought you lost.” Replied Trenza with an apologetic smile, her voice quieting down in fear as she hid her pistols behind her body while looking at Diddy, who seemed eager to kill someone.
“Hehehe, you’re real lucky you’re the ship's chef, Trenza, though I’d advise you not to continue pushing your luck.” Remarked Diddy with a crazy chuckle while eyeing Trenza, who squealed in fear and hid partially behind Grand.
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“I-I understand; s-sorry for shooting you, Captain.” Said Trenza meekly with rapid nods as she peeked just her eyes from behind Grand, who opted to stay motionless lest Diddy shift his focus to him.
Growling in anger, I flexed my muscles and pushed out the bullets that were lodged in my body; although I was rather livid with Trenza, she didn’t really cause me much harm; her bullets hit me in muscle-dense areas. So even though I was too surprised to use tekkai in time, the bullets were still stopped by my muscles; at the end of the day, the bleeding wounds looked much worse than they actually were, as they were merely flesh wounds.
Grumbling to myself, I leaped off the axe’s handle and started walking back towards the ship, passing the four while glaring at Trenza, prompting her to curl fearfully into a ball.
“Trenza, you’re carrying that axe all the way to the ship.” Ordered Diddy, and while Trenza would usually complain under her breath, she rapidly nodded and swiftly approached the axe embedded into the ground.
“Grr, I-I can’t move it; it’s too heavy, Captain; c-can someone assist me.” Asked Trenza as she tried removing the axe lodged into the earth, though she couldn’t so much as budge it.
“Y-Yeah, I’ll help you.” Said Grand as he approached Trenza, causing her to sigh in relief, though just when he was about to touch the axe, he suddenly froze at Diddy’s voice.
“If anyone other than Trenza so much as touches that axe, I’m ripping off one of your limbs.” Declared Diddy loudly as he looked behind him, eyeing Grand’s hand, which was merely a few inches away from touching the axe’s handle.
“S-Sorry Trenza; Captain said rip, that’s much more painful than a limb being cut off.” Replied Grand with a wry smile as he quickly took several steps back while his back was full of cold swat, and even though neither Scar nor Heracles were close, they also backed away.
“Y-You’ve got to be kidding me? H-How will I bring the axe back to the ship if I can’t even budge it?” Questioned Trenza in disbelief while looking at the axe before looking at Diddy, who grinned in response.
“Hehe, that’s your problem to figure out, not mine.” Replied Diddy with a slight chuckle as he glanced at Trenza before leaping into the air and kicking the air, propelling him far into the distance.
“I wasn’t the only one who noticed it, but he was naked, right?” Asked Heracles curiously while glancing between the three, who all nodded.
“Yeap and Captain was packing serious heat; it was even bigger than your Scar.” Stated Grand loudly with a smile, his words causing Scar and Heracles to give him weird looks while Trenza was too busy trying to remove the axe from the ground.
“Grand, do me a favor, and please never, ever compare men's junk.” Said Scar seriously as he eyed Grand, who merely patted his back while laughing, ignoring his words.
‘It’s not just the Captain and Vice-captain who are weirdos.’ Thought Heracles as he distanced himself from Grand and Scar.
___
___
Flying over the edge of the island, I let gravity do its thing as I fell to the ocean, or more specifically, my ship; once we were seemingly about to crash, we were suddenly enveloped by an invisible force, bringing the two of us to an immediate halt before it retreated itself.
Softly landing on the ship's deck, I spotted Sebas still sitting at the helm while reading a newspaper from yesterday, and although I didn’t see Freyja, I could tell she was here; her scent was tough to miss.
“Hehe, Freyja, Sebas, come here; you’ve got yourselves a third mate.” Said Diddy with a chuckle as he released the man he was holding, his words causing Sebas to put away his newspaper while Freyja opened the door to the captain's quarters.
“Hoho, oh my; look at you, Captain, it must’ve been one hell of a battle.” Remarked Sebas with a light chuckle as he walked down the steps while observing Diddy’s wounds, which mainly consisted of the occasional burnt skin and three bullet holes.
“For the record, Sebas, these holes are from Trenza; she thought it would be smart to shoot me. Everything else is from fighting him.” Replied Diddy with a frown before shaking his head and observing his furless body, only now realizing he was nude.
“Tch, why don’t you go and put some clothes on, you perverted Captain.” Stated Freyja with a frown as she glanced at Diddy’s body, her eyes focusing on his family jewels.
“You’re the pervert, you pedophile; you think I can’t feel your eyes gazing at my junk.” Said Diddy with a smirk as he glanced at Freyja, who clicked her tongue and approached Diddy, curious about a new crewmember.
“So, who is he? Also, what’s up with his wings?” Questioned Freyja curiously while she and Sebas observed the unconscious man lying on the deck.
“Don’t know who he is, and don’t know why his wings are like that. All I know is he’s eaten the Sun Sun devil fruit, his weapon is a golden axe, and he was previously a slave.” Remarked Diddy lightly as he used his feet and flipped the man, showcasing his slave tattoo.
“A slave? I wonder if he was one of the ones who managed to escape all those years ago.” Muttered Sebas with a thoughtful expression as he gazed at the man, his words interesting Diddy.