( Author: Sorry for the delay. I had some circumstances which prevented me from posting any new chapters in these last few days )

 

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East Blue - Unknown location on the sea.

 

A pirate ship covered wholly in golden plates with a lion as a figurehead was sailing through the sea, following from a distance what seemed to be a big black ship.

On the golden Ship's deck stood a dark-skinned, red-haired man resembling a cat or lion. He wore shoulder pad armor made of gold with a white shirt underneath and had hard and sharp golden nails over his normal ones.

 

The red-haired man glanced at the other dark-skinned man standing beside him and said to him.

" I bet there's gonna be a lot of gold on that ship, don't you think so, Golass?"

" Certainly, Eldoraggo-sama. " The dark-skinned man, or rather Golass, nodded his head in agreement. Golass's appearance strongly resembles that of the native Americans. He was a large, well-built man wielding a huge sword.

" But, strangely, I don't recognize their flag. Who are they?!" Eldoraggo pondered for a moment before deciding to drop the thinking and just rush to action as he said, " Well, it doesn't matter."

 

" EVERYONE, GET READY! WE ARE RAIDING THAT SHIP!" Eldoraggo looked at his crew and shouted loudly while pointing at the Big black Ship in the distance.

" YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH! " His crew, consisting of only 12 men, responded with a loud battle cry before scattering on the Ship's deck, speeding up their golden Ship, and heading toward the big black Ship with the unknown pirate flag.

 

.....

Back at 'Black Star', Austin was standing on the Ship's terrace, enjoying the sea's view while thinking - It's already a day since we left Gecko islands. So I can't wait to taste Sanji's food at Baratie restaurant! - Austin's thinking was interrupted by Sebas's voice from the speakers, calling for an emergency meeting.

He quickly went toward the meeting room and found that everyone was already present, waiting for him.

" What's wrong ?!" Austin asked Sebas, who called for the meeting.

" There was a ship following us for some time now. And it appears they decided to attack us, my Lord! " Sebas answered.

" Huh?!" Austin was surprised - What kind of idiots would attack a battleship on the East Blue ?! - Austin was confused, so he left the room to see who these idiots were.

 

It didn't talk long before Austin arrived at the Ship's deck with a telescope in his hand, looking at the approaching golden Ship from a distance. But when he saw who the two men standing on the golden Ship's deck were, he was speechless.

What the f**k are these idiots doing here? Aren't those two Eldoraggo and Golass? The ones who appeared in the first One Piece movie! - Austin scratched his head - I wasn't even looking for this idiot, yet he just had to offer himself and all his gold and treasures to me!

Austin grinned evilly - Well, I will be the idiot instead if I say no to such a free lunch - He shook his head and stored his telescope afterward.

 

" Do you know them, my lord ?!" Zero asked, apparently very excited by the coming battle.

" It's just some random weaklings, so I will leave them to you guys," Austin replied while shaking his head in disappointment.

" My Lord, please let me take care of them. I will definitely bring you their heads!'' Zero hurriedly stated, clearly eager to fight. 

" Alright!" Austin agreed easily, but he warned Zero, " That guy with the red hair is a Devil fruit user, so don't kill him and bring him alive." 

" Yes, my Lord, " Zero replied seriously before smiling mischievously as he asked for a favor. " My lord, can I merge with that one later on?!" 

Zero stated his true motive while peeking cautiously at Brain from the corner of his eyes. The latter brows frowned because he finally understood that he had fallen into Zero's trap.

 

Brain has bosted this last day about him being the strongest person in the group after their Lord, Austin. His claim was tested with a little spar between him and Zero, which ended up in a draw. But Zero wasn't happy with the outcome because he clearly felt that Brain was a notch stronger than him. And since Zero felt that the gap between him and Brain wasn't that big, he decided to eliminate their next enemies by himself and ask his Lord to strengthen him with all their bodies afterward, or at least the best of them, since he was the one who hunted them down.

 

Back to the present, Zero has decided to employ his plan now, which surprised Austin, especially since Zero has never asked such a strange request before, but before he could reply, Brain leaped forward, stating.

" My Lord, I will take care of all the enemies myself. I'm alone, is enough!" Brain said.

" There is no need for you to take action. I will take care of these weaklings myself, so just rest and take it easy, Brain!" Zero interjected with a wide grin.

" It's okay, I haven't stretched my muscles for a while, and I want to warm up a little, so why not let these prey to me this time, Zero!" Brain added, smiling slightly. 

" How could I let our Lord's 'Right hand' work himself up! They are just a dozen or so pirates, so I'm alone is more than enough, " Zero said mockingly.

" Zero, you had your fun against the black cat pirates, so don't be selfish and let me have my fun too," Brain narrowed his eyes slightly.

 

Standing on the side, Austin was speechless by their little 'argument'. Even though they were trying to talk 'politely' to each other in front of him, he could clearly feel the aggressiveness and competition between them. So he couldn't help but sigh as he shook his head.

Austin turned to look at Sebas, who was standing beside him, asking the latter because he was curious why Sebas didn't participate in this little competition.

" Don't you want to defeat the upcoming pirates as well and ask me to strengthen you with their corpses afterward?!" 

"I will pass on that, my Lord. I'm more than happy just to stand by your side! " Sebas replied while smiling gently. Clearly, he didn't want to be caught in Brain and Zero's rivalry.

 

Austin decided to stop this ongoing 'friendly' quarrel between Zero and Brain as he coughed loudly to interrupt them. The duo stopped talking and looked back at Austin, waiting for his final decision.

" Alright! both of you will attack the Ship together. And whenever you take someone down, you will be able to keep their corpses to be merged with later on" Austin found a solution to satisfy and motivate them both.

And as expected, both Brain and Zero's eyes sparkled as they answered in unison. " Yes, My lord!" 

" But as I said before, bring that red hair guy alive. I want to test something on him! " Austin smiled evilly, thinking of a certain theory he wanted to verify.

Both Zero and Brain departed toward the approaching golden Ship using 'Geppo', while Austin and Sebas stayed on 'Black Star', watching the upcoming battle from there while also protecting the Ship in case something unexpected happened.

 

.....

Moments later, Brain and Zero both arrived at the same time at  Eldoraggo's golden Ship and landed on its deck.

" A hahaha A hahaha! Did you come to surrender in exchange for sparing your life ?!"  Eldoraggo greeted the duo with his mocking remarks and loud laugh.

Instead of answering this blatant fool, both Zero and Brain decide to start their 'competition' immediately and strike down quickly, afraid of losing time or letting their prey be taken by the other one.

 

Zero was the first to make a move. He used 'Soru' to appear before Eldoraggo, trying to knock him down with one strong punch.

Meanwhile, Brain rushed to attack Golass. The latter tried to fight back, but alas, the poor man didn't know that what he was caught in wasn't just a simple clash between two pirate crews but something much worse. It was a bloody hunting competition between two powerful and merciless hunters, two monsters called Brain and Zero!

Brain didn't even take Golass seriously as he slashed at the latter with his sword while already setting his eyes on other targets. The poor Golass was cut alongside his sword when he tried to defend himself against Brain's attack and dropped dead immediately. 

As soon as Brain finished with Golass, he dashed at the remaining targets and started slaughtering the rest 12 pirates easily, and it didn't take him even 3 seconds to finish everyone else on board.

On the other hand, Zero had just finished knocking out Eldoraggo and was going to move to another target when he noticed that everyone was already down. In the three seconds he took to take down his opponent, Brain had shockingly already finished the rest.

 

Brain glanced at Zero with mockery as he scoffed. 

" Naive! The Lord has already told us to not kill that one but only knock him down," Brain paused, looked at the now unconscious Eldoraggo, and grinned evilly, adding, " Why do you think I let you take him down?!"

" The time needed to kill a weakling or knock him down without killing him is a completely different matter." Brain put his 'Cocyutus' ( sword ) back into his sheath while continuing with his explanation. " By the time you finish your more 'tricky' task, which is 'knocking out' that guy, I will have already finished my 'simple' task, which is 'killing' everyone else." 

Brain folded his hands on his chest, looked down at Zero, and stated in an arrogant and overbearing tone, " You are 100 years too soon to compete with me, Zero!"

 

Zero had an ashen expression on his face as he inspected all the dead pirates around him while listening to Brain's remarks. By the end of the latter explanation, Zero's forehead was filled with veins, which started popping out as Brain proceeded with his explanation.

In the end, Zero could only clench his fists hard and grit his teeth in frustration as he looked at Brain and retorted back. 

" Don't be happy yet. This is far from over!" Zero grit his teeth adding, " Mark my words. I will definitely bring you down from that high horse of yours!"

" Humph! You are welcome to try anytime you want!" Brain just sneered in response.

 

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