-.-.-Chapter 3-.-.-

It was a good half an hour later that half the village was outside of the small pub where all the events had started that lead to the defeat of the tyrant captain Axe-hand Morgan. Two of the three heroes of the tale were currently sitting at a table eating away to their hearts' contents.

After finishing his seventh dish Zoro finally leaned back in his seat patting his gut, “Wooo, I'm stuffed. No food for three weeks, I was ready to gnaw through my boot straps.” he said with relief.

That got a chuckle out of the little girl, her mother and Coby as they were sitting at the bar.

Luffy, who was still eating snorted, “I can’t believe you’re finished.” Luffy comments as he continues, making good headway on his twelfth dish.

Zoro looks at with a blank gaze as he watches Luffy finish his twelfth dish before starting on his thirteenth, which makes Zoro sweat dropped, “How the hell can you have a bigger appetite than a guy who hasn’t eaten in three weeks?”

“Because the food here is so great.” Luffy cheered.

“That,” Draxsis said as he walked in through the back door, his two swords now back on his hip, “and every meal we had from the ages of seven and up we had to brawl for, we were given a bowl of rice and a glass of water as our daily intake, anything more we hunted for or had to get ourselves” he said as he walked over to the table and sat down, “when you grow up in that kind of environment, you learn to eat as much as you can whenever you can.”

Zoro nods in understanding before his eyes fall to Draxsis’s swords, “you a swordsman?” He asked.

Draxsis nodded in response, “I am, and I’d be more than willing to accept a challenge, just wait until we’re leaving and we can find somewhere we won’t cause trouble for the locals.”

Zoro nodded with a glint of approval in his eye, “fair enough, speaking of which. How many others have you two gathered for your crew, and where’s our ship docked?” Zoro asked.

Draxsis leans back in the chair, “It’s just the three of us for now, everyone’s got to start somewhere and we’re only recruiting the best we can find. Our ship is just a small sailing boat down by the port but we'll find something larger when we get to another island. We don’t need a bigger ship while it’s just the three of us.”

Zoro nods at Draxsis’s reasoning, a full ship would be too much for three guys, and if they were only recruiting the best then they’d be picky on who joined, which brought a smirk to his face when he realized that included him, “Fair enough.”

Luffy grins as he puts down his knife and fork after finishing his latest dish before he declares, “I want to head to the grand line as soon as possible.”

*BONK*

The next second Luffy's head met the table, courtesy of Draxsis’s fist, “How many times do I have to tell you Luffy. Going to the grand line, before we are ready is suicide. You only have one new crew member at this point. You will need at least another three to four and a decent ship before we head out”, Draxsis scolded while inwardly thinking, ‘well it would be suicide for these two at least. There’s just no way I'm returning in a Dingy, I came back to the east blue in one and that was a nightmare.’

Luffy lifts his head up, “That hurt!” he yelled, rubbing the swelling lump.

“Good thing you’re here Draxsis otherwise he’d be heading to that sea to die. You know what they call that place, the pirate graveyard, where all pirates go to die.” Coby chuckled nervously.

“Precisely, and that’s why there’s no way in hell the three of us are going in a dingy.” Draxsis says as Luffy rubs his head.

At that point, a group of marines entered the bar rather stiffly, which catches Draxsis attention as his gaze narrows on them as he feels the man’s tension.

“Hey you there. We heard you three are actually pirates is this rumour true?” the front marine asked as he fixed his cap.

“It is, but what’s it matter. You all were basically criminals under that corrupt captain of yours until we showed up. So, you're hardly one to talk about us being criminals.” Draxsis said seeing where this scene was going.

“Be that as it may.” The marine replied stiffly at the comment, “We appreciate everything that you three have done for us, but now that we know that your pirates, as marines we cannot idly sit by and watch you go about your business.” he said as he fixed his cap, again “However as thanks we will not report you to marine HQ.”

The rest of the townspeople were getting angry at the marines for their actions, but then all went silent, when Draxsis turned his glare on the marines leaking a little bit of killing intent out making all the marines shiver, “If you boys think you can run us out be our guest, but something tells me you won’t.” Draxsis said before he stood up, resting his hand on his sword, “will you?” he said with narrowed eyes, “you and your men all know full well you weren't a match for us back at your base, and that was when I was unarmed. Do you really want to test your luck now that I am?” he said as he walked by him towards the door.

The commander stood there with his head down and his fists shaking in his frustration. He knew he was right, what could they do against someone who was capable of what he was, he had read the reports his men had filed, catching bullets, that was just insane, if he was that fast there was nothing any of them could do against him.

“Oi, Zoro,” Draxsis said from the door, “I’m heading down to the beach, when you are ready, come down and meet me and we’ll test your metal” he said before he walked out.

Zoro grinned, “I’ll be there” he called as he watched the vice-captain walk out.

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--Scene break--

Draxsis stood looking out at the sea as he stood on the beach, just taking in slow breaths, his hands clenched by his sides as he reflected on the way he had spoken to the marine commander back in the pub.

He had allowed his old emotions to come to the surface again, he had let them influence his actions, and he was frustrated with himself for his slip.

But, so what if he had? They were hypocrites, every last one of them. They all committed crimes under Morgan. They were afraid for their lives but that was no excuse, not in the slightest. A man only has his morals in life. If he forsakes them just because he is afraid of losing his life, then what is the point of living in the first place. Cowardice is not an excuse.

Draxsis came out of his thoughts when he felt a group approaching his position, his brother, and Zoro among them. He sighed as he turned to see the same marines from before along with Luffy and Zoro coming onto the beach.

“What’s going on Lu?” Draxsis asked, wondering why the marines were following his brother and Zoro.

“They just came to watch,” Luffy told him, “We made a deal, we’ll leave once you two are done with your spar, and they don’t report us to HQ” he explained, “I figured we’d be done here anyway, so there’s no harm in it.”

Hearing the terms that Luffy had set, Draxsis sighed, “alright then, no point in arguing with it, seeing as you’ve already agreed.” he shook his head before looking at Zoro, “You ready?”

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Zoro grinned as he took his bandana from his shoulders and began to tie it around his forehead, “of course, I hope you’re ready to lose.”

Draxsis only smirked at his comment before nodding his head once, “if you say so,” he said as he placed his hand on his white katana and pulled it free of its sheath, the pristine silver blade glinted in the evening sun as he moved it through the air before slashing it across the ground, drawing a line in the sand.

Zoro arched an eyebrow as he drew his own blades, “what was that for?” he asked as he lifted his sword and put it into his mouth.

“A statement,” Draxsis said, “I will beat you, using only this sword, and I will not cross this line, nor will I let you cross it while we are sparring,” he explained.

Zoro glared at him, “you’re looking down on me?” he stated in anger as he gripped his swords tightly.

Draxsis shook his head, “I’m testing you. I have no doubt you are strong for these waters, but the east blue is considered by many outside of it, to be the weakest of the four blues, and all fear the waters our crew is destined for, I want to see what you are made of. I don’t expect you to pass this test, but I’d be pleasantly surprised if you do.”

Zoro gritted his teeth around his sword handle hard as he heard him, “I’m going to make you eat those words.”

Draxsis grinned as he held his blade, pointed down, “you can come and try.”

And he did, as soon as the last word was spoken Zoro rushed at Draxsis his blades ready, while the marines and Luffy stood off to the side, having gotten clear while the two were talking, and were all watching with rapid anticipation, well the marines anyway, Luffy was just grinning like a loon like always.

“Oni Giri” Zoro cried as he charged at Draxsis, his blades moving in perfect sync to slash Draxsis at the same time.

Draxsis watched closely as he approached before raising his blade and held it in position, only for Zoro’s blades to come to a dead halt when Draxsis thrust his own forward to catch all three of Zoro's at the very end of his sword to bring him to a dead stop.

“W-what!” Zoro said as his eyes bulged, never having expected his signature attack to be stopped so easily.

“You're moving too slowly,” Draxsis said plainly, “you have good timing, but it was obvious how you would attack, all I had to do was time my strike, at the speed you were going it was child's play” he explained.

Zoro gritted his teeth as he heard him criticize his skills, as he tried to push against his blade to try and push past it, but no matter how much he did, his sword wouldn’t budge, “T-This can’t be…” he struggled to get out as he kept trying to push, but it was like he was trying to push against a mountain.

Draxsis of course felt his strain as he tried, fruitlessly, to push past his sword, “Like I told you before Zoro, you may be strong for the east blue, where we will be going, swordsmen of your calibur are a dozen for a berri,” he said before letting out a sigh, “let me give you a taste of real swordsmanship” he said before moving one of his feet back as he turned his sword in his hand, still pointing forward and holding Zoro’s three at bay as he spoke his attack.

“Ittoryu: Seinaru Ransu” before he pushed forward with his sword.

The second he did, the veins on Zoro’s forehead bulged from the sudden pressure that was suddenly pushing onto his blades, he could only bare it for a second before he felt it overwhelm him as he was bodily lifted off his feet and thrown back two dozen feet only to crash into the sand.

Zoro’s eyes were wide as he landed, never having experienced anything like that before, a simple thrust of a sword, with no room for build up at all. Yet despite that, it held so much power behind it, it was insane.

Zoro wasn’t the only one with wide eyes, each of the marines who had come to watch were all equally as flabbergasted as well. They had all heard of Zoro’s skill as a bounty hunter, and a demon, yet they were witnessing Draxsis, someone none of them had ever heard of, handle him as if he was a child playing an adult game.

The commander of the marines gulped as he saw Draxsis skill, and this only confirmed to him his earlier thoughts, had they gone up against this crew, as small as it was, this one would have beat them all single handedly.

Draxsis watched zoro lay on the sand trying to get back his breath, bringing his sword low once more before he shook his head, “is this really the extent of your passion Zoro, of your drive, one attack.”

“S-Shut up,” Zoro snapped as he got onto his feet as he looked at Draxsis in a new light, “I will not lose.” he said as he moved into a new stance, both of his swords behind the sword he held in his mouth as he held them vertically before charging as he cried out, “Tora Gari”

Seeing the new attack Drax shook his head, “you have a long way to go to reach the top Zoro,” he said as Zoro approached him, before he turned his blade, back facing forward before he spoke, “Ittoryu: Jōshō” and brought his sword up in an upward slash at Zoro.

It was over in a split second. Zoro’s blades went wide of his and the back of Draxsis’s blade met Zoro’s chest, and the green haired swordsmen was taken off his feet for the second time in under a minute, before he was send flying back with much more force than before as he skidded across the sand for several feet before he came to a stop, his mouth coming open at the end as he gasped deeply for new breath after the last of his had been knocked out of him by the initial blow, he had only managed to hold onto his sword until them by gritting his teeth as hard as he could.

Everyone was speechless, well Luffy wasn’t, he was just picking his nose now. But the marines were as they openly gaped at the sight of Zoro struggling to get to his feet once more after being knocked down a second time.

Draxsis watched him try to rise again but shook his head, “that is enough,” he said before returning his blade to his sheath, “this spar is over.”

“The hell it is,” Zoro said as he finally got up, “I can still fight.”

Drax nodded, “you can, but that’s only because I struck that last attack with the back of my blade, had I not, you would not be standing at all or ever again” he said plainly, “you have determination, you have drive, that is all I wanted to see, all that you need to do now is to keep going as you are and you will become stronger, of that I have no doubt.” he stated before smiling, “If you’d like I can assist you in your training to do so” he offered.

Zoro stood there on the beach looking at Draxsis for a full minute, his chest heaving and aching as he tried to catch his breath again, before finally reaching up to take his blade from his mouth before he spoke, “this won’t be the last time we spar.” he said as if it was a foregone conclusion.

Draxsis grinned when he heard that, “oh count on it.”

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--Scene break--

It was twenty minutes after the end of their spar that Zoro, Draxsis and Luffy were all boarding their ship once more. Draxsis taking up his usual spot at the front of the small ship to lay down comfortably.

Zoro had taken up a spot just left of the mast to lay back while Luffy was undoing the rope that tethered their ship to the pier.

Drax glanced back up at the main dock to see Coby standing with the marines now, alongside the little girl, Rika, and her mother, Ririka. He smirked when he saw them. ‘Looks like Coby will be joining the marines after all, I’ll have to ask how that happened later,’ he mused to himself before an idea came to his mind, ‘hmm, perhaps that old dog could use a new bone to gnaw on while we’re gone, I’ll have to give him a call some time to let him know’ he thought to himself as an amused grin came to his face.

“Right we’re off,” Luffy said as he jumped into the ship as the wind caught the sail and they began to be pulled away from the docks.

As they were pulling away Coby called out to them from the docks, “Luffy! Draxsis!”

The brothers looked back to see Coby standing at attention saluting them, “Thank you! I can never thank you two enough, you’ve both done more for me than anyone ever has.”

Draxsis just smiled and nodded in return, while Luffy grinned, chuckling to himself, before the commander of the Marines called out, “ALL HANDS SALUTE!!”

They looked back this time to see the entire group of marines saluting them in thanks.

Draxsis couldn’t help but openly laugh at the sight, “Well that’s a sight you don’t see every day, marines saluting pirates, things are always interesting aren’t they. Hahahahaha the only thing that could make this better was id...” he said before suddenly stopping, “ah crap”

Luffy looked at him in confusion, “what is it bro?” he asked

Draxsis grumbled as he let his head fall back to the front of the ship, “with those marines arriving when they did, I forgot to get back my sake from behind the bar, it was four star west blue sake too”

Zoro whistled with a knowing smirk, “Damn, that’s expensive stuff, and hard to get”

Drax groaned, “don’t remind me, it’s going to be ages before I can get a drink like that a…” he began to complain before Luffy spoke.

“Oh you mean this?” Luffy said as he took out a familiar crystal bottle from under the seat.

Draxsis sat up and looked at the bottle blinking a couple of times, “How…” he asked in confusion.

Luffy grinned, “the nice lady said that you had already paid for it, back when you left before us, so we brought it here before we came to you for you and Zoro to spar.”

Draxsis grinned as he took the bottle and sighed, “well, now everything is perfect,” before he uncorked the bottle and took a drink, a grin on his face as they sailed out into the open ocean ahead of them.