Dragon stood at the edge of the ship, his tall figure watching the slaves enter the ship. He noticed how they had their heads down, refusing to look up, probably in fear of being beaten and killed. What treatment did the slaves go through to act like this? Some of them hadnt even yet realised they were not slaves anymore, and were free, it was like their bodies worked on muscle memory alone while their brain was in a vegetetive state. He hoped a warm bed and a meal would make them climb out of this pit they were in now that he had given them a ladder.

"Do you have a report?" Dragon asked, looking over to his subordinate Joe standing behind him.

"Yes! All of the guards have been confirmed dead. None of the members died, which is to be expected as most of the members here were overqualified and only here to get proper experience." He reported with a stern voice, pausing for a moment before continuing.

"As for the slaves..." He began in a grave tone, "2 of them died due to gun wounds, most likely from the guards, while an additional 4 slaves died in the chaos following our arrival due to a mixture of reasons. Keep in mind that we aren't counting the slave that sadly died before our arrival"

Dragon listened to the report intently, frowning in thought hearing the casualties among the slaves. If he did it all by himself, a quick burst of Haki would do the trick, and all the slaves would be unconscious, but ultimately safe. But as much as he would hate to admit it, he valued the lives of his members more, and having them gain actual live combat experience was much more valuable if it prevented them from dying later on. He wanted to save slaves, as many of them as he could, but keeping the lives of his Army alive is much more important, they were the future to knocking down the corrupt world government.

"Hahhh..." Dragon sighed, "If only we arrived earlier, we could have saved that slave. And while that smoke helped our members with your fruit abilities it certainly didn't help the slaves and only increased their panic. Next time, I need to balance the lives of the people we save and the lives of our members, but not tipping the scale enough to allow even one of our members to die, but how do I do that?"

He took a moment's silence, then gestured towards his subordinate again.

"Anything else?"

"Ah...Well...Um" Joe stammered, "There was one thing..."

"Hm? Go ahead" Dragon nodded toward him.

"Well, Hack reported that in the commotion of fighting, a kid saved him by shooting a guard in the head with a gun. He initially believed he was a member of the army who snuck on board, but the kid himself disputed it by saying he was a slave. He tried to ask more questions, but the kid refused and ran off into the smoke. The kid is still alive if your wondering"

Dragon piqued his eyebrows in interest. He wouldn't put it behind the world government to use children as slaves, but to hear one actually fighting the guards was a surprise to him. How strong was this kid's mental fortitude to survive here when the others succumbed to it, what was he fighting for, what kept him going? He was curious, He needed to know.

"What is the kid's name?" He asked.

"August. Hollow D August"

His eyes widened in shock the moment he heard his name. The shock slowly took form on his face, then it slowly turned into laughter.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHA, I should've expected he would be a D. Being able to survive in this environment, he must be something special..." Dragon trailed off into his own thoughts, looking at the horizon.

"Ummm...Dragon-san?" Joe tilted his head in confusion, was his leader going crazy?

"Joe, I don't sense the kid out here, so he must be in his room right?" He asked.

"Uhhh...Correct, he was quite adamant about finally being able to have a shower I heard."

"What's his room number? I'd like to see the kid myself."

Joe scrambled through the pages, rapidly turning pages until it stopped. His finger then scowered through the page intently, eventually resting when he found what he was looking for.

"Found it, his room is G022" Joe finally replied after a second.

"Thank you Joe...You can go now"

"Ah, are you sure?"

"Yes, handle the arrival of the rest of the slaves, I don't want Ivankov scaring them to death" Dragon said with finality.

"Did you just make a joke, Dragon?"

"Get to work Joe..." Dragon said, walking off without a sound, while Joe was left standing there confused, first Dragon just started laughing for no reason, then he made a joke. What has the world come to?

---------------------------------------------------

(1st person pov)

A pleasurable sigh left my mouth as the boiling hot water hit my skin. It felt good, finally having a shower after having not experienced one for over a year.

I continuously rubbed my skin, cleansing it of all the dry dirt and blood that accumulated during my time as a slave. I did the same with my long black hair, scrubbing it until all the mess was finally out of it.

I stayed in the hot steamy shower for another 20 minutes, my body thanking me as the muscles that had been overworking themselves for over a year finally got some time to relax.

While in the shower I finally had time to think on some questions that arose. I was saved by the Revolutionary army, and although my escape was possible, it was still going to be another 4 to 5 years before I finally managed to escape. I owed them a big debt, their rescue granting me an extra 4 years of freedom and the start of a proper life(well, as proper a life in one piece can be)

The million dollar question I found myself asking was, should I join them? Join the revolutionary army? I owed them a debt, a huge debt actually, and our goals also aligned in the same direction. I didn't have a dream to become the pirate king or the strongest person on earth, my goal was simple: destroy the world government and kill the world nobles. Because of our similar, if not identical goals, me and other members would likely share similar views, and it wouldn't be too hard to fit in. Another benefit would be the training they provided, which was in a safe environment you didn't have to sleep with 1 eye open with(and no I didn't actually sleep with 1 eye open, no one actually does that.)

All the positives far outweighed the negatives which were few and thin, so I probably made the biggest decision I ever will, and I decided to join the Revolutionary Army.

I turned off the shower cap and stepped out of the shower with a towel on my waist.

'I wasted lots of water, let's hope they don't charge me'

I quickly dried myself and grabbed the clothes on the radiator. They saw fit to give me some clean clothes, which was much appreciated compared to the rags of cloth I previously wore.

Now that I was done with my shower, I needed to move onto more important matters, mainly concerning…

*GROWLLL*

Food.

Before shit hit the fan and the Island got raided, I was still in the queue waiting for food, so my stomach was completely empty. I was looking forward to a meal that actually had flavour and would fill my stomach, and it looks like my body was too given its rumbling.

My mouth slightly watered thinking of having a nice juicy steak. I began to drool before I snapped out of it.

I got ready to leave the room, double checking in the mirror if I looked presentable enough. I had no idea where to go, but maybe there was a dining hall or something. I also made a mental note to apologise to Hack, after all first impressions are important, and I'm pretty sure I fucked mine up(totally not by being rude to him and giving him the impression I was a psychopath). Who knows, maybe I was overthinking it? But I still wanted a good relationship with my future colleagues.

I made my way to the door, the noise of my footsteps completely dampened by the extremely soft carpet.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* *KNOCK*

I stopped for a moment hearing a knock on the door, tensing up and getting ready for a fight, but quickly calmed myself knowing I was in no danger on this ship, and it was most likely one of the members checking up on me or gifting me something.

I opened the door, and my eyes widened as I looked up at the leader of the revolutionary army, Dragon.

"Can I come in?" He asked, to which I robotically nodded, still in shock.

I managed to snap out of it on the way over to the couch, putting on my game face as I plopped onto the cushion. Dragon pulled up a chair, lining it up opposite me and sitting down on it. He leaned forward, staring intently at me, almost as if he was staring at my soul.

"Hollow D August. Do you know what the D in your name stands for?" He finally started off.

'So that's why he is interested in me?' I thought. I already guessed Dragon would be interested in the D name, considering he has it too.

"Yes" I nodded, "It means I am an enemy of these so called 'gods'" I said, emphasizing the final word. These Gods were nothing more than spoiled babies.

Dragon's eyes flashed for a moment with some form of interest and leaned forward. "And you know who these 'gods' are?" He questioned, seemingly more immersed in the conversation now.

I stared straight into his eyes, showing him I was serious. "The World Nobles"

The words left a sour taste on my mouth, feeling both equally disgusted and angry at them as I was reminded of my experiences, both from the memories and the anime.

"Correct, how did you know this?"

"My father, I got my name from him" I vaguely explained.

"And your...father, is he dead?" He asked with a tone of reluctance. It seems he knew families could be problematic and a sore spot for some.

"I'm not sure, let's just say he is the reason I was a slave, he lost his way and succumbed to his animalistic desires" I said clenching my fists as I relived the memories in my mind.

Dragon nodded, noticing my anger, deciding not to push more on the touchy subject. Deciding to stay silent, he allowed a brief pause in our conversation before I picked it up again.

"So, why did you come here?"

"I'm not one for empty words, so I'll ask you now, do you want to join us?" He suddenly put forward.

'Straight to the point, short but effective. Good trait for a leader' I thought.

"You mean your Organisation?" I asked.

"Yes, It's called the Revolutionary Army, we are a group of people dedicated towards overthrowing the world nobles...for obvious reasons known to you. Right now we aren't strong enough, so we are helping countries that are in poverty or covered in corruption, or we help free slaves, such as the case here.We are limited to small things, but we are slowly growing. So let me ask, do you want to join us? You'd be a valuable asset in the future, that much I can tell. But I'd understand If you wouldn't want to join, every D has a destiny of sorts, and i--"

"I'll join" I cut him off. "Given all that I've experienced I know that the world nobles must be stopped, and I know I can't properly do that if im chasing a stupid goal for myself. So I'll join, and dedicate my life for the foreseeable future to stopping the world nobles and their disgusting ways. I will help you destroy a dynasty that has lasted 900 years strong."

Dragon smiled. "Very strong words, do you have the strength to back it up?"

I grinned back at him, "How about I just show you"

I shot off the couch, toppling it over as I closed the distance in a dash of speed. I reared my fist back and in a split second pushed it forward, aiming towards his face.

*SLAP*

My fist didn't connect with his face, but instead with the palm of his hand, which was rough and full of calluses, similar to mine. Of course, I didn't expect to actually hit him. It was Dragon for hecks sake, but I wanted to show him a bit of what I got.

"So, how was I?"

The silence that descended in the room made me believe he wouldn't answer, but after a short while he finally spoke.

"Adequate" He replied.

Cheeky fucker, but 2 can play at that game.

"I obtained 'adequate' with one year of training while I was a Slave. What would you think I could achieve if I had a training scheme with proper resources and trainers to help me grow?" I stated, and if I wasn't mistaken I saw his mouth lift up slightly.

"Our conversation was...Enlightening. I'll order some food for you, then you can get some proper rest." Dragon said, before walking outside the room and closing the door.

*SLAM*

"Fwahhhhhh..." I let out a deep breath I didn't know I'd been holding, that man was a lot more intimidating than the guards. He wasn't even trying to be intimidating, but even his presence gives off a feeling of fear. He must be strong, really strong. I knew that already from the anime, but seeing it with my own eyes was another thing. A man worthy of his title of the 'World's most dangerous criminal'

I finally managed to relax as I slumped back onto the couch. Now I was officially a member of the Revolutionary Army, there was no going back now(not like I planned too anyway :P who the fuck would go back to being a slave?). I didn't know what future awaited me, but I knew it was gonna be interesting.