A calm afternoon breeze rustled the foliage of Shells Town, the buzzing of cicadas hiding within the forest nearby was a calming ambience that harmonised into Krasher’s ears. His marine cap displaced his black hair as it came down around his head. His tan skin was a testimony to his hard work, and the enjoyment that he found himself in as he delighted the warmth of the sun’s rays. He had drifted off on his break, not realizing his time off was well over spent. His ears twitched as a loud rustling sound of footsteps through the sand were audible.

“Recruit Krasher, what in the hell are you doing!?” A loud voice startled Krasher as he jolted up and crashed back down to the sand, trying to clasp his brain back to reality. He glanced up and saw the stoic figure before him. It was none other than Petty Officer Risaguchi, standing at eight feet with wide muscles. His black mustache greeted his rough beard, which traveled up to the hilly meadows of his sideburns and eventually to his afro. He had several arm tattoos, none of which were appealing in the slightest to Krasher.

“Uhh--Sir, I was on my break, Sir!” He saluted, blushing red with fear of what was to come for him. A gust of wind blew his cap off as he struggled to catch it. His eyes then traveled back to Risaguchi’s with a hesitant smile.

Risaguchi sighed, “Under normal circumstances I would punish you severely about now, but I came to tell you that you’ve been transferred to another squadron. Something about you needing to see some action in the East Blue after all of this time stationed here.” He shrugged, and then turned to walk away. “Your now in Squadron Seven, room eighteen. Don’t forget, because I won’t be coming back to tell you again.” He grumbled.

Krasher sighed, placing his hand on his katana out of sheer instinct. His eyes popped open as he realized what he was doing. He unsheathed the sword and did a few practice swings before heading off back to the main living quarters. Krasher wasn’t too interested in the journey on the way, though there were many shops and assorted stands. He’d heard stories about how Monkey D. Luffy met his first mate here, and how that lead to the popularity of the town growing. Since then, Shells Town has nearly doubled in size and is a major district for shopping and naval travel.

A few merchants were trying to persuade Krasher into buying some foreign goods he didn’t recognize, but all of these things were a blur to him in the grand scheme of things. “I have to follow orders, the chain of command! To a perfect degree and become an Admiral of the Sea!” He jogged forward, taking in everything. The vivid complexion of the townspeople and the happiness that the marines granted them by protecting them from the scum of the world: pirates.

It was then that his eyes were distracted by a gleam of white in front of him, and he slammed right into that distraction. In a bit of a knot, Krasher brought himself to a stand as he blinked his eyes. “A-Are you okay?!” He asked, begrudgingly. Things were not going well for Krasher today. Not in the slightest.

The man at his feet had appealing red eyes that contrasted heavily with his white hair. In what universe did someone receive genetics like that? Krasher thought to himself.

It was then that Krasher noticed the disturbing stash of swords gathered at this man’s waist side, suited alongside his stoic reaction to all of this, he could only foresee the worst scenario. “What’s your name?” He suddenly asked, bringing himself up to stand at his height.

Krasher was thrown off guard, “Krasher, and you are?” He asked.

“I’m Kuro, and remember that name well. I’d rather you get moving along before I marble you into a fine steak for the butchery.” He said, pushing up his sword with the tip of his thumb. His glare was one of serious intent to kill, which only made Krasher more frantic to leave. His day was getting even worse! He wasn’t about to challenge this unknown warrior, this was not apart of his orders. Besides, if he attacked here he could be held responsible for the injury of civilians.

Krasher gulped, “Right, I’ll be on my way then.” He pulled his cap down and walked away with no intentions of looking back, even though he was tempted. Soon enough, he pulled into the living quarters of the Shells Town base and found his dorm room.

He was nervous, but his new dorm mates would be better than his last surely. Anything is better than a pimple popper and a snitch. He sighed, smiling widely as he opened the door. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was a towering eight foot figure above him, with green spiky hair and an intimidating longsword to add for the cherry on top. His menacing frown glared at Krasher’s scalp. “Hmm?” He groaned.

It was then that Krasher turned pale, shutting the door slowly and beginning to walk away. “Must have been the wrong dorm. That guy was probably a vice admiral or something…” He muttered. Krasher watched as a woman was jogging down the hallway, her actions were a testament to change her chubby figure. “Ahh, excuse me but I was transferred. I was wondering if you knew where I was transferred to?” He asked the lady.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

She stopped, catching her breathe with sweat trickling down her face and arms. “What’s your name?” She asked.

“I’m Krasher.”

“Oh! Krasher, you’re with me and Tero. Just follow me and I’ll take you to our dorm.” She smiled, giving him a wink. He didn’t want to lie to himself, it sent chills down his spine and not in the good way. Though he bit his tongue and remained expressionless.

“Thank you! I appreciate it.” He said.

She opened the door where Krasher had previously entered. His face once again going pale as the intimidating figure was now sitting in the corner on the top bunk bed. His eyes drifted over to the two, “What is justice?” He pointed at Krasher.

“Eehhhh?” Krasher could only fathom.

Krasher felt as if this man was confused, or either wrong in the head. Though he enjoyed the abnormality in this man’s personality. “Haha, I think there are many forms of justice. We follow the justice that protects lives.” Krasher explained, suddenly ushering out his charismatic charm that he so often finds in the most dire moments.

“I am Sekai Tero, and there is only one justice. We must protect that justice. You should understand this. What is your name?” A shadow crept over his face, while Krasher could feel his intent to kill only feet away.

“I’m Krasher, it’s nice to meet you two. You would be?” He turned to the woman who had guided him earlier. She stepped into the dorm and sat down, wiping her face with a towel while Krasher shut the door behind himself. The open window let light into the room as small increments of dust beset the room.

“I’m Velvee Blackbottom, you can just call me Velvee though.” She smiled warmly at him. Krasher nodded and glanced back toward the justice junkie. It seemed he had gone quiet for the time being.

“Hopefully this is the start of a great day, so far I’ve had it kind of rough!” He sighed, finally discovering rest at his bottom bunk. He opened his eyes and turned over to the pair. “Wait, do we have a fourth man?” He asked them.

Sekai spoke, “Not yet.”

Velvee nodded in agreement, picking up one of her weights to curl it in her downtime. She was really getting that afternoon workout in. She smiled as Krasher got caught watching her. “Hey, Krasher I need your help. Could you come with me?” She asked.

“Uhhm, sure!” He said, cringing at the worst possibilities that this could develop into. He followed her out of the base and back into the busy streets, which was nearby the place he’d met that strange intimidating white-haired man. They were practically in the middle of the shopping district.

“Get your cabbages! Sixty percent off for the person who buys more than ten!” A man exclaimed. Not a bad deal, Krasher thought silently to himself. He returned back to the task at hand, what had been asked of him.

“So what did you need Velvee?” He asked.

“There’s a thief that always comes around this market at the same time of the day. I need your help catching him for once and all. He happens to be a fishman as well! They call him the Fishman Shoplifter.” She clenched her fists. “Any second now, and we should get the word of his attack!”

Krasher couldn’t believe what he was hearing. In what world was the marine branch incompetent enough to not take care of this if this was a daily occurence like she said? Perhaps the base didn’t care since it was such a small illegality amongst the many crimes in the East Blue.

As if clockwork, “Help! It’s him! The Fishman Shoplifter!!” A woman screamed as a short and stout fishman darted down the street with a box of valuables. He was grinning as he passed the two recruits that stood grid lock.

“Damn! He’s fast!” Krasher’s jaw went agape as Velvee dashed after the culprit at hand.

“Come on! No time to spare!” She said, as the chase ensued, turning into a real mission without any chain of command to intervene. This was volunteer work by the marines without truly being on the job. Velvee wasn’t even in full uniform!

It wasn’t long before Krasher took the lead ahead of Velvee due to his healthier physique, though he still couldn’t catch the fast legs of the fishman. Well--of course that was until he tripped on a rock and ate dirt. Velvee literally dived on top of the fishman, “I got you! You’re under arrest thief!”

Everyone cheered Velvee on as the fishman struggled, “I’m Kamino, I’ll become a greater ruler than you’ll ever be! Now let me go before I sock one through your nose girl!” His anger rose as he threw Velvee off of her and shot his fishman strengthened fist at her nose. “Take this!”

Velvee flinched, closing her eyes until she realized nothing happened.Instead Krasher had taken the blow to the nose, red liquid poured from the orifices of his hands as he held his nose tightly to his face. “You broke my nose bastard!” He said, pushing his katana up and out, slashing Kamino’s shirt and giving him a paper cut as he narrowly dodged the blade.

Kamino smacked his lips in frustration, holding his stomach. “You--I’ll be sure to remember you and take you down once I have my crew!” He jumped out of the way of the second strike and kicked Krasher in his gut, sending him flying away. Kamino was gone and out of sight as Velvee knelt at Krasher’s side. “Are you okay!?” She asked.

“Yeah, take me to a nurse.” He said, his nose gushing blood. What a damn bad day.

Meanwhile, Kamino wiped the blood from his small wound on his stomach. He found himself in a dark alleyway. “That guy was pretty strong for a human. Too bad he was a marine.” He said to himself. That was when those red eyes appeared in the darkness.

“I see we have a mutual foe, I take it you’d be interested in a temporary alliance against this new foe?” He smiled, throwing his white messy hair over the side and appearing from the darkness with an insipid smile.

“Nice to make your acquaintance.”