Chapter 31: The Rise of a new Emperor?

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In the middle of Loguetown's dock, dozens of people left a giant ship that had the logo of a small boat in it while carrying a lot of luggage on their hands. On the other side of the ship a lot of other people who seemed to be accustomed to their job moved heavy boxes and barrels full of food and supplies so that they could start another trip at the sea soon. 

One of these men moved between many rooms that seemed to have inside travelers that joined them on their travels in exchange for money, and started waking up everyone that had Loguetown as their main destination.

Suddenly, the man stopped right in front of a room with the number #6 at the top of the door.

"Sir, we have already arrived to Loguetown and we are currently disembarking"

"Oh, is that so...? Thank you for telling me, I'll leave in a minute"

After the man left, soon an enormous man wearing a very suspicious outfit came out from the room while carrying a small briefcase on his hand. With a large green coat that hid all his body and a hood that covered almost his face, this man walked out from the ship and started walking among the crowd of people doing business at the dock of Loguetown without anyone actually caring in the slightest about the very suspicious and ominous appearance the man had for some reason.

"I think I was told to come here..."

The mysterious man stood in front of a door while checking a small paper on his hand from time to time. After making sure this was indeed the correct address, he called out to the door.

*Knock*

*Knock*

*Knock*

*Click*

"Leader, You have arrived!"

A man with an average appearance opened the door and greeted the mysterious man with a smile on his face, before gesturing him to enter into the house with a very respectful attitude.

"Hm, has everything been running correctly here for the last month?" The mysterious man asked with a neutral tone while he looked at the swirling fire of the candles that illuminated the house.

"Oh yes, our spies have managed to infiltrate properly into the marine ranks since the last month, and so far so long there hasn't been any problems on our side. Though unfortunately the last week has been quite dangerous for us as to move, as a very powerful prodigy marine has arrived at Loguetown since a few days ago, which made it more difficult for us to move without being noticed"

"Prodigy?"

"Yes, Swords D Nael, or also known as Nael the sword of light, has come back from MarineFord a few days ago along with all his incredible companions. We think it's because they wanted to visit their family after the many years of training they have gone through"

The mysterious man took a seat and started pondering in silence for a few minutes.

"Hmm... Personally, what do you think of him? I've heard quite a lot of rumors about his noble and heroic behavior, but I want to ask your opinion on this, since you have investigated him."

"As far as the information about him says, he is a man that values the lives of other people a lot more than his own, to the point that he has been injures several times just to protect innocent people from pirates. Though I can say that this indeed a favorable characteristic, I also think that at some point his own sense of justice blinds him from the real gruesome world that hides between the shadows that the public doesn't see, however, with proper guidance he can become a great asset for our Revolutionary army"

As the man finished talking, the mysterious man took off his hood and smiled deeply while seemingly pondering about something.

A long spiky hair that went down all the way to his neck, a strange tattoo on his left eye, and a recently shaven short beard on his chin, the mysterious man stood up and walked silently while still pondering about something.

Indeed, this man was the famous commander of the Revolutionary Army, who was also known as the World's Worst Criminal, Monkey D Dragon.

"I think trying to recruit him might be worth a shot" Dragon muttered with a satisfied smile on his face as he looked into the empty air.

"I think so as well, however, I think first we need to make him see the horrors of the organization he is currently serving. Until then, it might be a little bit dangerous for us to present ourselves to him"

"Indeed, either way it won't be long before he visits Sabaody Archipelago and knows the rules that all marines are bound to. In the worst case he will discard such rules and try to help the slaves of the Tenryuubito after seeing the horrible treatment they receive, or even worse, one of his friends will be forced to become a slave and he will try to kill the tenryuubito, which will also mean that is the perfect moment to strike and try to recruit him"

The man besides Dragon gulped unintentionally while imagining such a situation, and started pondering silently before he decided to speak once again.

"And what if he doesn't do anything about it?"

...

Dragon gaze turned cold, and his body exuded a terrifying aura that made the man besides him tremble in fear.

"Then that means he is just another loyal dog of the World Government"

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A few hours later...

...

As the night arrived, Dragon decided to take a rest for the time being as he was already too exhausted after not sleeping for a few days due to the vast amount of work load being the Commander of the Revolutionary army gave him.

Just before going to bed, he opened the window and looked at the beautiful moon in the middle of the sky while taking a deep breath of fresh air in order to release a bit of the stress his position as a commander gave him.

Although he felt tired, his conviction was not something that could be extinguished by mere exhaustion. He carried the hopes of hundreds of people on his arms, and the future of millions of people on his back. Something like exhaustion was not going to stop him from continuing pursuing the goal he has dreamed about for years, and something like exhaustion was not gonna make him forget the suffering and sadness he has seen through the many years as a commander.

*Fuooosh...*

The wind suddenly blew strongly and made him flinch slightly after daydreaming a bit while watching the moon.

However, as he was about to close the window, a mysterious and dark figure appeared behind him.

"Who-?!"

"Greetings" A deep and grave voice that seemed to be distorted by some kind of artifact spoke calmly.

Dragon distanced himself from the mysterious man, and readied himself for a possible fight while still being shocked by the fact that he was completely unable to sense this man appear behind him. Even while using his observation Haki at all moments, this man somehow managed to appear next to him while avoiding all his natural defenses... it was as if he was a ghost.

It didn't take long before he managed to recognize the man in front of him as he remembered the news released a few days ago about the robbery of a vast amount of sea stone from the marine headquarters at MarineFord under the command of an unknown pirate.

With a completely dark coat that covered most of his body, and a mechanical mask with the shape of a skull that had red glowing eyes inside its sockets. This was the apparent leader of the mysterious group that managed to steal sea stone from the marines, something that even he considered incredibly hard to do without suffering any consequences.

"Who are you? And what do you want from me, Shadow Raven?" Dragon asked cautiously as he tried to measure the strength of his opponent by observing each minute action he took.

"Please, don't call me by that utterly horrendous name ideated by a bunch of fools. Instead, you might call me Thanatos"

"Thanatos... Then what do you want from me, and what are you doing in this place?"

"Oh, I just have come here in order to gather some information that might come in handy later"

*Sheeeeath*

The man called Thanatos Unsheathed a very long and sharp Katana from the scabbard at his waist, and pointed it directly at the face of Dragon.

"!!!"

Dragon flinched, but didn't move in the slightest.

Just as his fist were starting to get ready to punch the guy in front of him, Thanatos withdrew his Katana and sheathed it once again.

"Hmm... Interesting, though I could have loved to gather some more information about you, The fact that a fight between us could probably destroy a great part of this town is something I prefer to avoid for the time being. There will be time to fight you later after all"

With that, an enormous amount of black gas started coming out from Thanatos mouth, and soon blocked the vision of Dragon.

It wasn't long before Thanatos was gone without him even noticing.

Dragon, as soon as he noticed that Thanatos had already left, fell on his knees and started sweating profusely with a pale face and a grim expression.

It wasn't that he was scared from that man. But he was incredibly shocked by the small exchange of movements they had.

Even though he processed dozens of ways in how to attack him, the moment his hand moved in order to prepare himself to attack, all the instincts he has nourished through dozens of battles awoke and warned him that no matter what movement he took, he was going to get injured severely either way.

The fact that a swordsman could make him feel like that astonished him. Even Dracule Mihawk, the so-called Best swordsman in the world, was unable to do that when they clashed once in the past. Yet, this strange man called Thanatos was so powerful that through minor movements with his sword he could make his body react like that made him reconsider his plans for the future.

"I'm not even sure I could be able to win even when using "That" thing..." Dragon took a seat on his bed and sighed softly in order to calm himself. 

He looked at his palm with a serious and worried expression on his face, before turning it into a fist.

"To think that an anomaly could appear on my plan... the appearance of such a mysterious and powerful foe was completely out of my predictions... The next movements we are going to take need to be re-planned."

Dragon looked at the moon once again, this time with a vicious smile on his face as he imagined the dozens of possiblities this man called Thanatos could bring upon the world and his plan.

"Maybe a new emperor has been born, and no one has even noticed it?"

...

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