(1 week later)
It had been one week since I returned to Baltigo with the devil fruit. Currently we were sailing towards Gleam Island on the main ship. Aside from Karasu who was dealing with Germa's recent campaign to take territories, most of the Revolutionary Army was here such as Dragon, Ivankov, Kuma, Betty, Morley and Linbergh.
In my opinion it was slightly overkill, but there was strength in numbers and it would do good to display the people of Gleam kingdom our near full fighting strength to show that we can protect them from the enemy. Like Dragon said before, it also helped build trust and support among the members of the army. Although solo missions were helpful, missions like these were the most important, the power and influence of a kingdom is not to be underestimated.
"You nervous?" I turned to Sabo who was relaxing on the top bunk.
"Nope" He replied, sitting up and looking towards me, "Hey! Wanna play some chess?"
"Chess?" I scoffed, "Since when have you been into chess? You can't even sit still for 10 minutes, nevermind an hour."
"An HOUR!?" Sabo screamed, putting his hands on his head, "Dammit!"
"Chess games usually last 30 to 60 minutes if you actually think about what you're doing and not just move the pieces around randomly." I explained to him, smiling slightly as the shock grew more apparent on his face.
He resigned by burying his head into his pillow, "Dragon, you bastard!" He shouted into the pillow, slamming his fists.
"Dragon?" I raised my eyebrows.
"Yeah, he recommended to me to play chess to improve my thinking, decision making and patience. He told me it would help both on and off the battlefield. It sounded alright…"
"Pfft" I chuckled, "You're just proving Dragon's point. If you don't have the patience to even last an hour then you really need it."
Sabo sighed, running his hands through his head. He looked like he was about to say something, but resigned to silence, probably because he knew I was right. Unless it was something Sabo was interested in like fighting or Koala, Sabo would almost immediately lose interest.
It was understandable given his past, where his parents forced him to do noble stuff which he despised with a passion. Even with his memories gone he still held his personality and an unconscious bias to things he disliked.
"Come down, we're gonna play a game of chess. I need to teach you the basics first." I said, getting up from my seated position and grabbing the chessboard on the desk.
"No! I don't wanna." Sabo whined, sticking out his tongue like a little kid.
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Ye–"
*RINGGGGGGG*
"Saved by the bell!" Sabo exclaimed, shooting off the bed. He patted me on the shoulder, "Maybe next time, let's go kick some king's butt."
Sabo made it out of the room with a triumphant smile on his face, but it soon morphed into one of horror with my next sentence.
"You seem to be forgetting we have a trip back."
===========
The army was split into 5 divisions. The first division would be led by Bello Betty and she would travel around the Kingdom, empowering those who wished to fight back against the corrupt King. The second division would be led by Kuma who would free the slaves and use his devil fruit to repel any pain, hunger etc. Morley led the 3rd division, and would assist Betty using his fruit to create unfavourable terrain for our enemies scattered around the city while helping our allies. The fourth division called the flying division would be led by Linburgh, who would attack from the air and prevent any enemies from escaping using his high ground. The fifth and final division would be led by Dragon, co-lead by Ivankov and would storm the palace directly and kill the king and his special guards.
Me and Sabo were entrusted to the 5th division under the command of Dragon, something we were both pleased about.
"Our spies have secretly escorted as many of the innocent people out of there, so casualties will be kept to a minimum. Most of the guards are located in the throne room or in the entrance to the throne room." Dragon pointed to 2 different places on the blueprint, "However, that doesn't mean that guards won't be around the castle. Got it?"
Everyone nodded their heads, understanding the seriousness of the situation.
Dragon then started giving out orders, telling everyone which places to go. The people in his division were people who's strength he trusted, so he had no reservations about leaving people alone to fight the guards.
Me and Sabo were assigned together to hallway C100 and tasked with defeating all the guards occupying the hallway and the room it connected to which was the kitchen. I wasn't sure if the king was paranoid of playing it safe, but he had guards virtually everywhere, even leading to the kitchen as he most likely feared his food could be poisoned.
A couple minutes later we finally arrived at Gleam Kingdom. On the outside Gleam kingdom didn't look like it was going through a tough time, but we knew it was the opposite. We were flying shortly below the clouds using Dragon's wind powers, slowly getting closer to our objective.
"So that's the target?" I pointed towards the large castle with an equally sized roof that had a gold like sheen on it. What a prick this king was.
"Yeah, I can't wait to see what the King looks like, bet he looks like a right dickhead." Sabo said, eliciting a chuckle from me.
"Bet his hairs greasier than a World Nobles cunt." I japed, as me and Sabo grew into a full blown laugh, only to be stopped as Dragon began his descent down towards the castle. I put on my game face, looking towards Sabo who had lost his laid back look and grown serious as well.
"Death Wink!" As soon as we touched the ground floor, a massive shockwave erupted from Ivankov's eyelids which completely destroyed the palace entrance and created our path inside.
We took care of all the guards outside and made our way into the castle as each of our little groups separated down different hallways and stairs. Me and Sabo eventually separated from the smaller group, going by ourselves towards the kitchens.
We arrived at our destination as me and Sabo looked at the massive 30 foot wide hallway which seemingly stretched on forever. 20 guards, I counted, 10 on either side.
"First to 10 wins?" I challenged Sabo, who took the challenge with open arms and immediately rushed towards one of the guards.
I followed suit, running behind him just to see his dragon claw break the guards mask before I engaged with the first guard, who raised his rifle up and shot point blank. The bullet shot past my ear as I slightly tilted my head and the guard fumbled with his gun in shock. I delivered a punch to his stomach, immediately killing him.
This all happened in the span of 3 seconds, so by my estimates it would be done in under a minute. Most of these guards were just fodder, and according to Dragon the truly skilled fighters who don't have to rely on rifles were up top.
We were heading to the kitchen, and I was pretty hungry, so I wanted to end this fast.
I appeared behind one of them, immediately snapping his neck. The next one had an enhanced punch delivered to his throat, and the one after that had a kick that instantly shattered his ribs. 20 seconds later, and I was finished.
'If you are protecting a King from desperate and poor citizens, I wonder what else you have done?' Were my thoughts as I killed each and every one of them. I had no mercy for these types of people, as they all choose a profession where they could abuse their power.
I looked towards Sabo who had finished as well, only a couple of seconds behind me.
He pouted, "Your fruit is such a cheat."
"No excuses." I said, looking towards Sabo with a grin. "Your forfeit is that you have to play chess with me."
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sabo dramatically fell to the floor, slamming his fists into the floor.
"Stop complaining. We still have work to do." I pointed towards the door leading to the kitchen, "I'm thirsty, so let's finish this quickly."
