A Bond Born of Fear

**Date Started:** March 2nd, 2020.
**Date Completed:** March 8th, 2020.
**Previous Role-Play**: A Storm Brewing
**Next Role-Play**: The Brawling Dreamer
**Users Involved:** User:CoolBlackZ, User:PuddingCups
**Setting:** Canalavia
**Characters Involved**:
* **Main**: Charlotte Sira, Gale D. Joseph, Koga
* **Spider Claw Pirates**: Jack Douglas, Wilhelmina, Panther

## The Next Destination

The beautiful morning sky was shining over the vast seas of the steady sea’s as a ship was spotted cruising through the waters at a steady pace. Sitting at the head of the ship with his arms folded behind his back and laying on the plywood was none other than Gale D. Joseph, the rookie captain that had started his journey several weeks prior.

After the events of Doro Island where Joey had met and secured his first crew mate, “Bloody Saw” Koga, the two of the them had hijacked a marine ship using a marine captain, who they had defeated, as a hostage and managed to make a clean getaway. Of course, this was after tossing the poor lad off the ship and back into the hands of the marines who could only watch on helplessly as they had had been utterly defeated. It had been several days since that incident and both Joey and Koga were now relaxing while also plotting what their next move would be.

Koga, who had been on lookout duty, jumped down from the tall mast and approached the lying Joey as he leaned against the side rail and stared at the vast ocean before him.

“So captain, what’s our next move?” He asked curiously, wanting to know what the next step in Joey’s plan to becoming Pirate King was. “We haven’t been attacked by the marines yet but we can’t expect that to continue for much longer. And with just the two of us against potentially a marine fleet, we’d be massacred”

“You’re right” Joey agreed without a moment’s hesitation. “No matter how strong the two of us are, a naval battle is something we’re not ready for” His torso stood up from lying down and he crossed his legs while resting his chin on his hand. “We’re still far too short on members”

“That much is obvious” Koga chuckled. “A crew of two freaks with crazy powers isn’t going to cut it in the Grand Line. With the stories I’ve heard of that place from my master, it’d be suicide to head in there with just the two of us. Although…” Koga’s body twitched as he opened and closed his bandaged fist “...I can’t say that I’m not excited at giving it a try”

“*Yeah that settles it, he’s a battle junkie*” Joey thought bemusedly before something that Koga had said caught his attention and he turned to him. “You mentioned your master before and I’m curious about him. What was he like? Was he strong? How was your training under him?”

Koga visibly shook at the question as sweat began to fall from his face and his body shivered. “Please don’t ask. I don’t want to remember that living hell…”

“*...For him to have someone like Koga scared, what kind of monster was this guy?*” Joey would have to wait a bit longer before he could ask more about him and shrugged his shoulders, changing the subject. “In any case, your right that we need more crew mates. Especially a navigator, neither of us can navigate for shit”

Koga snorted. “Speak for yourself. I’ve travelled the sea’s plenty of times, I know my way around these parts like the back of my hand”

In response, a sneer came from Joey. “Oh is that right? By all means Mr. Expert, please educate me on where we are now. You should know that much right?”

“Uh…” Koga hesitated, eyes darting from one end of the ship to the other as there were no landmarks or islands in sight and he began to stutter.

“W-Well, you know I’m not feeling well so I uh-” He began twiddling his fingers as he pursed his lips.

“You're the worst liar I’ve ever seen” Joey deadpanned.

“Oh shut up!” Koga’s face was flushed red as he crossed his arms. “So I hitched a ride as a stowaway cargo every time I needed to travel. Are you happy now?” He admitted with a heavy pout.

“See? Was that so hard?” Joey teased as he laughed at the middle finger being directed at him from the agitated Koga before settling into a small smile as he looked back into the horizon.

“Don’t worry. I have a feeling we’ll be coming up on an island soon. When we get there, let’s see if we can find any unique people on that island to bring with us”

Koga nodded, having calmed down. “Good, at least we’ve got a solid plan now”

## Arrival on Canalavia

After another uneventful day had passed, an island appeared on the horizon that Koga caught during his shift on the lookout and he called out to Joey who had just woken up and was walking on the deck.

“Island ahead!”

Joey briefly glanced up at Koga and then looked back forward, smiling a bit.

“Heh, my intuition is never wrong”

It didn’t take long before they had reached the island’s docking port, causing several onlookers to react rather amusedly at seeing a Marine ship docking with only two passengers.

“What the?”

“What’s going on?”

“That ship looks empty, where are all the marines?”

Whispers and murmurs spread all around as Joey and Koga ignored them and docked the ship, tying it to a large poll before they jumped off the island and took in the sights.

“Wow” Joey whistled. “I wonder what kind of island this is. There seems to be quite a lot of attractions nearby”

“It’s probably a resort island or something. Let’s ask one of the tourists nearby” Koga proposed as he shifted the rather large bag he was carrying on his back to get more comfortable. Naturally, Joey felt obligated to question him on this.

“Okay I’ll bite” He pointed to the sack “Whatcha got in the bag?”

“Huh? My treasure’s obviously. You really think I’d leave them on the ship unguarded? What if actual marines show up and confiscated my stuff while we were gone. Nope, that’s not happening on my watch” He declared with a primal look in his eyes.

“....I guess that makes sense. But jeez, did you have to bring all of it? You look like a robber, a poorly dressed one at that”

“Bite me. I don’t want my sense of fashion critiqued by someone as tasteless as you” Koga rebuttled as he began walking forward and Joey following soon after.

“Aw, did I hurt your feelings? Don’t be so sensitive, I was just joking. But seriously though, we should pick up some clothes on this island. We can’t be wearing the same thing all the time”

“Fine, but your paying for your own stuff”

“Come on, you know I’m good for it. Why don’t we sell some of that treasure you’ve got and-woah!” Joey stopped talking when a saw blade was now pointed straight at his throat as Koga gave him a murderous glare.

“Don’t even think about it. I’d rather die than let someone else have them, let alone sell them for my own profit” The serious look in his eye told Joey that he wasn’t kidding and the blonde haired captain raised his hands in defeat.

“Alright, I got it. Now could you please put the saw thingy away? Your scaring everyone”

Koga’s eyes drifted around to what Joey was referring too as he saw several bystanders watch the two of them with frightful expressions on their faces.

“Tch, whatever” Koga retracted his blade and kept walking as Joey sighed in relief, scratching his head with a bemused expression.

“That guy’s really gotta learn how to relax” He said, thinking back to how serious Koga had looked when he had threatened him. “His love for his sister might be a problem later down the road” He whispered as he chased after his crew mate, intent on exploring the island.

“So this island is called Canalavia huh?” Joey uttered as he was sitting at a table chewing on a freshly cooked shish kabob as the juicy meat texture melted in his mouth causing him to squirm in delight. “We’ll I’ll tell you, they’ve got the best shish kabobs I’ve ever tasted!”

Koga agreed with a muffled noise of approval as he  chewed on his own while laying back in his chair. “You’ve got that damn right”

Over the last hour, the two of them had spoken to various people on the island and had gotten a general layout of where they were and what kind of island they were on. It was called Canalavia, a festive island that appealed to travelers of all kinds for their exquisite delicacies and various attractions. It was actually one of the most popular islands in the South Blue to visit for wandering pirates as Joey noted several of them sitting at other tables enjoying their food.

“Seems we’re not the only pirates around huh?” He smirked, a bit excited at seeing others who shared his profession. Who knows, one of them might even be willing to join his crew, after being tested by him of course.

“Figures” Koga licked his fingers and studied every pirate he saw. “Too bad none of them look like they’re worth a second glance”

Joey was inclined to agree as he sighed and lost interest. “Sucks but you're right. Looks like our only hope of getting a strong crew mate would be this” He pointed to a flyer currently on the table that had the words “Slave Auction Today!” imprinted in bright bold letters.

“A slave auction….” Koga repeated with a dark look in his eyes, the memories of when he had been a slave himself fresh in his mind. His fists tightened as he growled under his breath but calmed down and took a deep breath.

“You alright?” Joey asked with a concerned look.

“...Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just… not fond of those kinds of places…” Koga admitted and Joey understood what he meant immediately, feeling a bit guilty for not noticing right away. .

“My bad.. Forget I mentioned it, we don’t have to-

“No, it’s fine” Koga cut him off as Joey blinked in surprise. “You said we need crew mates and a slave auction might be the best place to get one. I’m not a child, I can handle it” He assured.

Joey nodded, glad that his friend wasn’t still clinging to the past.

“Then it’s settled. Although…” He frowned as he twirled the stick in his hand. “How are we going to afford to buy someone that catches our eye? We don’t have much money…”

“We’re pirates, Joey. Whoever said we had to buy them?” Koga suggested with subtle undertones that Joey caught immediately as he sighed at him.

“As tempting as that is, and trust me it’s very tempting, let’s handle this fair and square. We’d only be drawing attention to ourselves if we ended up stealing a slave from the biggest attraction this island has to offer. Worst case scenario? The Marines are on our assess again” He explained.

Koga realized there was a lot of truth in his captain’s words and relented with a nod. “Guess your right”

Joey smiled. “Good, now let’s go and see what this auction has to offer”

## Little Miss Muffet

The Slave Auction House was located at the far end of the island and took up a rather large amount of space as the building towered over every other attraction by far. There were countless people lined up outside and waiting for the doors to open as some of them had been waiting weeks to buy themselves some slaves from the biggest slave auction in the South Blue.

Inside the building on the highest floor was a rather obese man smoking a cigarette as he looked outside his window at the line of people that had gathered. A greedy smile formed on his lips as he imagined the amount of money he’d make today after selling off all the slaves he had acquired for today’s auction.

“If everything goes according to plan, this’ll net me the biggest profit since we opened this place” He spoke as he blew smoke out of his mouth.

Suddenly, a knock at the door was heard.

“Excuse me, Mr. Wayne” The door opened as an attractive blonde haired woman wearing a business suit and  glasses entered with a clipboard in her hand. “The slaves being sold today are ready and waiting to be inspected”

The man known as Mr. Wayne nodded as he approached her.

“Very well, Martha. Lead me to them” He said, motioning for her to go first and lead him as she nodded and escorted him down to the lower levels.

A look of both disgust and annoyance appeared on the woman called Martha’s face as she could practically feel the lustful gaze of her boss all over her rear. It was a common occurrence and she believed she had gotten used to it by now but it still made her skin crawl as she tried to speed up and hoped they’d arrive soon.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for them to reach the slave floor as Martha led Mr. Wayne through a large corridor filled with muscular bodyguards and slaves that were lined up with slave collars around their necks.

“Yes, this is quite an excellent selection we have here” Mr. Wayne approved as he slowly walked from one slave to another as Martha followed behind him. The slaves gathered here had been caught and obtained from various seas and so the variety was quite apparent. There were old men, young women, young men and older women displayed and each one was in good physical condition.

Mr. Wayne licked his lips, causing several female slaves to shudder in disgust at the act.

“I’m quite impressed with the haul we’ve got here” His eyes drifted to one slave who was standing a bit off from the others as Mr. Wayne raised his eyebrows at her. Her looks and figure caught his attention immediately as he walked over and stared at her, snapping his fingers at Martha.

“I’ve never seen this one before. Is she new?”

“Yes, we brought her in not that long ago. Of all the slaves here, we’ve determined that she’d be the most valuable one” Martha explained.

Mr. Wayne looked her up and down, especially in between, and nodded.

“I can definitely see that. She’s just my type, in more ways than one” He sleazily said as he chuckled at his own tasteless joke and addressed the woman standing before him.

“What’s your name little girl?”

Charlotte Sira had never tasted freedom. Not once in her entire life had she been free, always shackles and chains, belonging to someone else. She was property, and since birth, her various owners, including those in Devil's Playground, made that very clear. Truth be told, this had happened one too many times over the years, her being traded from ship to ship, person to person, like nothing more than cargo, and yet, though the transaction was always the same, the experience was equally frightening.

Sira shook as he approached, practically undressing her with his eyes and asking her the question... they question they always asked. What was her name? What did it matter. What good did that knowledge do them when she was going to be given a number and shuffled away, but Sira was not one to fight the way of things. Like a fish in a river, it can be very difficult to swim against the tide and so, she never bothered trying. "S-sira. Charlotte Sira." her words were as shaky as she was, clearly nervous and scared, she resembled a lost little lamb and the man before her? The wolf.

“Sira? What an adorable name…” Mr. Wayne traced his large fingers across the outlines of Sira’s cheeks, cupping her chaw as he examined her. Ignoring her timid and meek nature, he was impressed with her physique and condition, clearly having some good family genes in her blood.

He ignored the fact that her surname was Charlotte as the possibility of her actually being related to the infamous Charlotte Family was slim to none. Charlotte was a pretty common family name so it couldn't have been a coincedence, at least in his mind.

He noticed her body tremble as he touched her and he smirked deviously in response to that.

“Are you afraid, hmm? Scared of being sold off to someone who could do whatever they want with you?” He chuckled and grabbed one of her hands, circling his tongue over it.

“Maybe I should keep you for myself then? Would you like that?” He asked as the other slaves and Martha looked disgusted by his actions and prayed that the girl would refuse immediately.

Sira's eyes watered as the man caressed her cheek, *"Please.. please..."* She begged, but not aloud. She wasn't strong enough to make out the words and instead did what she had found best in these situations, let her tears talk for her, nodding her head no in hopes that it wouldn't offend him but something told her that this was not the type of man who would simply accept being denied.

“Oho? You’ve got some nerve to turn me down woman. You think you’ve got a choice in the matter!?” Mr Wayne raised his hand, aiming to strike the woman but stopped when Martha’s voice caught his attention.

“Sir, that would be most unwise. We’re planning on selling her and we need her in the best condition possible” Her response came swift and just in the nick of time as Mr. Wayne lowered his hand and cursed under his breath, grabbing Sira by her hair roughly.

“Your lucky your valuable” He let go of her and marched off with a huff as he snapped his fingers, causing several bodyguards to follow him out as Martha sighed in relief and approached the crying Sira.

“I apologize. That man is disgusting beyond words” She reached into her pocket and brought out a white handkerchief, gently wiping the tears from the woman’s face and gave her a sympathetic smile. “Please remain strong. I’ll do my best to try and get you as decent an owner as possible” Her voice was gentle and motherly.

Sira cowered in fear as the man raised his hand, preparing for the worst, her eyes closed as if it could lessen the blow, only to open when a comforting motherly voice of sympathy stopped the man. Though her words talked about selling her, they had also saved her. As her hair was grabbed she yelped in pain, only for it to be released. No doubt a part of his temper tantrum.

As the woman came forward, Sira no longer shook. It wasn't often she met people this kind. "T-thank you... Miss... Martha? Was it? I'm very grateful." Sira bowed, her eyes still red and her hair torn into a mess by the slave traders greedy hands. Her nose sniffled as she took the woman's advice, standing a little straighter. She had to be strong.

Martha waved off her thanks. “I’m unworthy of your thanks. I’m no better than that rotten pig of a man because I’m helping him for my own safety. But I promise you, I will help slaves you like as best I can until I have enough power to put an end to this business once and for all” She spoke as she gave the woman a strong hug and clapped her shoulders.

“Until then, be strong” She then turned to the rest of the slaves “All of you”

They all gave her varying looks, ranging from suspicion to gratefulness and Martha said nothing more before she adjusted her uniform and headed for the exit. She took one last glance at the group of lined up slaves and gave them a meaningful look.

“You’ll all be free someday. I promise"

## Eyes of a Spider

It was almost time for the Slave Auction to begin as hundreds of people began filing into the building, excitement and greed flowing through the air. All of them had different reasons for buying slaves but one thing was true among all of them; they wanted the best slave money could buy. There were pirates, merchants, and even some middle class nobility present at the site as onlookers stared and gazed at them from far away.

“Hey hey, get the fuck out of the way! Can’t ya see the most badass crew is making an entrance!?” A loud and abrasive voice shouted from behind the crowd as all sets of eyes were drawn to the source. The crowd parted as a group of a few dozen or so pirates strutted through them, led by an incredibly tall and muscular purple haired man and a beautiful and well endowed black haired woman.

“W-Who are they?” Someone in the crowd whispered to those next to him.

“You don’t know? Those are the Spider Claw Pirates!” Another voice responded, causing several gasps to erupt all around when they heard that name.

“N-No way! You mean that rising rookie pirate crew that’s been causing all sorts of problems in the South Blue?”

“Yup. That’s the one. Don’t even make eye contact with them, I heard they’re a wild bunch that’ll kill you on sight if you look at them the wrong way” The man explained as everyone shuddered and backed away, allowing them passage.

“Heh, just as I thought. Nothing but a bunch of pussies” A man with spiky hair and tattoos all over his body spat on the floor and walked with both hands in his pockets.

“It’s to be expected, Panther. We are quite famous after all” The beautiful woman standing near the supposed captain addressed her crew mate as she flicked her hair and smiled. The attention they were receiving was like ecstasy to her as her body squirmed a bit and she clung onto the arm of the muscular purple haired man. “Don’t you think so as well, captain?”

“Heh” The man known as Jack Douglas, the captain of the Spider Claw Pirates, huffed as he smirked arrogantly. “We didn’t come here to draw the attention of weaklings. We’re here to buy anyone whose worth having in our crew” He stated as he led his followers inside the venue as everyone allowed him passage immediately.

“That’s him, Spider Claw Douglas. A pirate captain with a bounty of  30,000,000 on his head. Next to him is his first mate, Lady Tarantula with a bounty of  22,000,000 and near her is their third star, Panther who has a bounty of  15,000,000” A man who was clearly well informed spoke out loud as he carried the wanted posters of those three.

“Wow, that means they’re total bounty as a crew is  67,000,000! That’s impressive for a rookie crew”

“I’m scared to go in now. Even if you manage to buy a nice slave, what if they attack you and take it by force?” A cowardly man expressed.

“Yeah, you’d have to be crazy to mess with them-hey!” One of the gossiping men yelled in frustration as he was bumped from behind and he turned around to yell at the person resonsible. “Watch where you're going bud!”

“My bad” Was the only response the man received from the mysterious crimson haired youth carrying a large bag on his back as the man who got bumped angrily chased after him, unsatisfied with that answer.

“Hey buddy, I’m not done talking to-gaghh!” He screamed in terror when the crimson haired man sent him a bone chilling glare over his shoulder that caused the gossiping man to fall to the ground clumsily and shudder in fright.

“I said my bad, or are you hard of hearing?” The man expressed threateningly and before the situation could escalate, he was lightly shoved in his rib cage by a blonde haired man.

“Chill out man. We don’t need you scaring grown men into pissing themselves”

“He started it” The man argued as the blonde haired youth shook his head at the childish behavior and sent an apologetic face at the frightened man on the floor.

“Hey, sorry about that. He’s got a temper” He then walked forward and looked over his shoulder at his friend “Let’s go, you man child”

“I don’t want to hear that from you!” The frightening crimson haired man yelled as he chased after his blonde companion, leaving the rest of the onlookers utterly baffled on what had just happened.

“W-Who was that?” Someone in the crowd said.

“I don’t know, but that guy’s dangerous…” The man on the floor spoke as he got up.

“Yeah, that red haired guy gave off an extremely dangerous feeling”

“No, not him. I mean, he’s obviously dangerous but…”

“But what?”

“That other one, the blonde haired guy. To me, he seemed like the more dangerous of the two with the way he was able to command the other one”

“You don’t say? Well, whatever the case may be. This year’s auction is going to be wild, that’s for sure”

## The Auction Begins

The stage was finally set for the Auction to begin as the entire Auction House was filled completely with various patrons who had taken their seats in front of a large platform with curtains. Murmurs and whispers spread around the room, trying to guess what the main event would be.

“Look at all these pigs, just disgusting” Koga snarked as he leaned against a wall with his arms crossed. He didn’t even like being in the same room as these kinds of people, let alone hearing them speak, who only saw slaves as tools to be used.

“It’s human nature” Joey chided in with a comment that drew Koga’s attention. “They don’t understand what it’s like to be a slave and that’s why they’re so apathetic to the idea of slavery. We’re ignorant of things that we don’t understand”

“That still doesn’t make it right” Koga countered as Joey chuckled at his response.

“Of course. But we don’t make the rules nor do we have the power to change them” Before Koga could respond at that remark, Joey smirked in a devious manner. “But that doesn’t mean we have to follow them obidently. Like you said, we’re pirates remember?” Joey finished by winking at him.

Koga’s eyes widened at that remark before he settled into a small smile, realizing that he hadn’t made a mistake in following this man. It was those kinds of comments that made Koga understand how different Joey was from others.

“Right” Was all he said as they both noticed the curtains to the platform now opening as a flashy dressed man in a vibrant colored suit appeared with a microphone in his hand.

“Ladiessssss and gentlemannnnnn! I hope your ready for our grandiose Slave Auction todayyyyyy!?” He shouted as cheers erupted from the seated crowd, shaking the entire building itself.

“Now that’s what I like to heaaaar! Now then, let’s skip all the formalities and start things off with our first bidding!” The man exclaimed as he pointed to the slave being led unto the center stage by the bodyguards. “To kick things off, we have a powerful warrior from a clan of strong fighters! His name is Garo and if you are looking for man power, he’s your guy! Let’s start the bidding at 100,000 berries!”

“Ooh! I want him! 125,000!” A patron raised his number.

“Back off! 150,000!” Another man exclaimed.

“250,000!” A woman wearing noble clothes shouted as she surprised everyone by her sudden jump.

“Oh my! It seems the lovely lady is rather fond of this young strong man! Do we have any more takers? Going once! Going twice!” The announcer looked around and saw frustrated and disappointed expressions all around but no more takers and he nodded. “Sold! To the lovely noble woman!”

The woman laughed as she fanned herself, a perverted glint in her eye that sent shivers down the spin of the slave known as Garo. Whatever ideas she had in mind for him, no one in the audience wanted to know.

Garo was led once more backstage as the next slave appeared, this time a rather attractive orange haired woman that caused far more response than the one before as the bidding once more took place. In the end, she was sold for 300,000 berries to a wealthy merchant who didn’t bother to hide his plans to use the woman as a service slave to the various business contacts he had acquired, causing a mortified look to form on the slave’s face as she was led backstage as well.

The cycle continued and more and more slaves were sold by the minute as Koga, who had been watching the entire show, growled underneath his breath as he looked ready to murder someone. Even if none of these people had nothing to do with him, just seeing the crushed looks on their faces at having their freedom taken away from them made the memories of when he was a slave resurface.

“Koga” Joey said that snapped Koga out of his anger as he took a deep breath, calming himself down from doing something stupid and or rash.

“Thanks. Sorry, I know I told you I could handle it but I might have been wrong” Koga lowered his head.

“You don’t have to apologize. I won’t pretend like I understand how you feel but I want you to know that this isn’t easy for me too” Joey’s own fists were balling as a rare look of anger surfaced on his face. “Seeing someone’s freedom be stripped away isn’t a pleasant sight at all”

Koga nodded, before asking the obvious. “So, has anyone caught your eye yet?”

Joey shook his head. “None. That first guy interested me somewhat but that look of defeat in his eyes when he was bought made me rethink it” Joey explained “It didn’t look like he had any fight or desire at all left in him”

Koga scratched his head, a bit sympathetic towards the captured warrior. “I sort of understand how he feels. I wouldn’t want to be under that disgusting woman’s control either”

Joey agreed by making a cross with his fingers. “May god have mercy on that poor soul"

Time seemed to fly by as slaves were being sold left and right, with those who snagged a good slave in peppy spirits while those unable to secure one were left disappointed and hopeful the next one would fall into their lap. There was only one slave remaining, the main event and everyone was excited at seeing who or what it was but would have to hold it in as they were currently taking a short intermission before the last auction.

The captain of the notorious Spider Claw crew, Jack Douglas, was seen on the lower floors sitting with most of his crew as they had reserved an entire section for themselves. He was bored out of his wits and very disappointed with the auction as no one had caught his eye. If someone was strong or even possessed a devil fruit power, he’d spare no expense at buying them as he felt they had more than enough money after they had ransacked the previous island.

“You don’t look like you're having fun” That seductive tone came from his first mate, the beautiful Wilhelmina who was sitting by his side.

Douglas grunted in response.

“I’m not. So far all of these slaves have been either weak or useless” He snided, resting his face onto his chin that was held up by the armchair. “It’s hard for me to believe this is supposed to be the best slave auction in the entire South Blue”

“That’s because your standards are too high” She giggled, not even phased by the annoyed glare coming from him. “You have to relax. Perhaps this last slave will be worth our time?”

“I doubt it” He grumbled but remained hopeful nonetheless as he continued watching.

“Sorry to keep you all waiting!” The announcer had returned, still smiling that outrageous smile of his as he flailed his arms around in a theatrical manner before yelling into his microphone. “Are you allllll readyyyyyyy!?”

The crowd erupted into varying cheers that all meant the same thing; they were dying to get the last sale started.

“Okaaaay! Then without further ado, let’s bring out our main event!” He snapped his fingers and the curtains opened slowly as the ground underneath opened up as a woman with a slave collar began to float up until she was now in plain sight and shackled by chains on her neck and arms.

“Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Charlotte Sira!” The announcer shouted.

“Oooooh!” The crowd was mesmerized as they all examined the black haired beauty from top to bottom, wondering what made her so special among all of the slaves. Based on looks alone, she was certainly the most attractive of all the female slaves and her body and physical condition was excellent as well. As such, the crowd began to quiet down in order to hear what else the announcer had to say.

“Now, I’m sure you're all curious as to the reason why she’s considered our most prized possession? Hmmm? The reason is because this lovely young lady has consumed a devil fruit!” The announcer revealed, causing Joey's and Douglas’ eyes to widen greatly at those words and sit up in their seats.

“A devil fruit user? Seriously!?”  A man sitting in the back shouted excitedly.

“Those rare magical fruits that grant some sort of special power?” Another responded.

“A beauty with special powers? Sign me up!”

The announcer smiled as he saw the positive response the crowd was generating and looked to the side where he saw both Mr. Wayne, his employer, and the assistant Martha next to him. He traded nods between Mr. Wayne and was ready to begin selling off Sira to reap a hefty profit.

Meanwhile, Douglas had stood up from his seat and eyed the mysterious slave woman with supposed devil fruit powers. This was it! This was what he had come here for! Finding a devil fruit user was extremely rare in the South Blue and so he believed his luck at discovering her was fate.

“See?” Wilhelmina spoke with a smug expression. “I told you”

“Hmph, lucky guess. Anyway, we’ll be grabbing that woman no matter what it costs” He declared.

“You got it boss. If anyone tries to make a higher bid than you, we’ll make sure they’ll drop out” Panther assured as he licked the sharp sickle in his hands and grinned.

On the higher floors where Koga and Joey they both looked at the woman with a fascinated gaze as they felt it was incredible to meet another devil fruit user in this part of the seas. Especially Joey who seemed far more interested in her than any other slave that had appeared today and not just because she was a pretty face.

The host could see how excited everyone was and put the microphone near his mouth to continue.

“I’m sure learning this woman has devil fruit powers has made you all very eager to purchase her! Which power does she possess? That’s a mystery and a secret you’ll have to be willing to learn after you buy her! Just know that she’s got a very special one. Even if that’s not what you want, there’s no denying this black haired beauty can be used in many different ways. Whatever floats your boat” He expressed as Martha, who was standing by the side, frowned in disgust.

“Why don’t we start the bidding at 250,000 berries!”

The audience didn’t waste any time and began throwing numbers out.

“285,000!”

“320,000!”

“350,000!”

It was a frenzy as they all raced to buy the frightened woman as Mr. Wayne greedily rubbed his hands together at the money being thrown at him. He was going to be filthy rich after this!

“Let’s keep this going!” Even the announcer was getting into it as he raised his hand, surveying the crowd. “The current bid is 450,000 berries! Do we have-

“900,000!”

Immediately, the entire room grew silent.

All sets of eyes turned to the lower floor section where the Spider Claw crew was and were shocked as they saw the captain himself standing with a raised hand proclaiming his intent on buying the slave. He had doubled the current auction price without a moment’s hesitation and it had left the other patrons speechless.

Joey narrowed his eyes at Douglas, ascertaining quickly that like himself, this Douglas person was also specifically looking for individuals with special powers to join his crew.

“Ooh! We’ve got a surprise offer from our special guests the Spider Claw Pirates! What a shocking development!” The announcer was the only one who didn’t look stunned or tongue tied as he played his role perfectly. “Am I hearing any other offers?”

While most of the ordinary patrons were unable to match that price, a few noblemen were still interested and were prepared to bid even higher until something drastic occurred. Douglas’ entire upper body began to transform and he grew several long red eyes, razor sharp teeth, and pincers for a mouth as he took the shape of a half human half spider hybrid.

“Aaaaaaah!” A woman shrieked as not just her, everyone who was close to him immediately ran away in terror at his sudden transformation.

Joey and Koga’s eyes widened at the sight, surprised that another devil fruit user was present in this building as Joey whistled.

“That’s gotta be a Zoan class fruit, right?” Koga asked as Joey nodded.

“Yeah, my dad told me about those ones. Looks like he’s got a spider type, how original” He chuckled as he continued to watch the show in amusement but stopped immediately when he looked at the woman on stage whose entire demeanor had changed when she saw the transformation.

“Hmm?” Joey couldn’t understand. What was this all about?

“The woman is ours! Anyone who tries to bid higher than me will regret it!” The spider man shouted and everyone followed his words to the letter, not even daring to still harbor thoughts of bidding against him. Smiling in satisfaction, Douglas traded eye contact with the terrified slave and began to laugh, his more primal personality showcasing as he made a gesture to her with his fingers.

“You're going to be mine”

The events unfolded so quickly. One by one they were shown off to the crowd, paraded around like prized ponies, yet they were treated more like cattle. The crowd was hungry, starving to get their hands on whatever or more accurately, whoever they wanted and as a result, they sold quickly! Well, despite a few interruptions in the crowd that slowed the process down, none of which Sira could see until she was poked and pronged onto the stage, the shackles placed on her ankles becoming increasingly uncomfortable as she walked across the stage.

Everything spun by, as if she was in a dizzy spell, she kept her head down as the prices were called 200, 300, 400, 500- 900!? Who had offered so much for her, Sira was surprised, hoping that somehow some way it was a kind, considerate man, someone who would treat her right, like a human being, but, Sira had wished the same thing one hundred times before and in the end that is all wishes were. Wishes. Not reality. A lesson she would relearn when she looked up, only to see her greatest fear.

Her pupils danced with fear, shaking just as she was, the man he... he had transformed into a spider and in turn triggered very traumatic memories for Sira, enough to bring her to her knees, weeping, it seemed the woman's advice before, about being strong, had not been taken. In the rush of emotions, Sira's fruit, the Nagu Nagu no Mi, a fruit based on the power of emotions, acted of it's own volition. A heart bracelet tattoo appearing on the wrist of each and every member of the crowd, only possible thanks to the influx of emotion, glowing pink, everyone would feel exactly what Sira felt; fear.

“W-What is this!?”

“Stay back! Stay back!”

“Monster!”

For some reason, the audience all began to freak out and express even more fear and reverence of the Spider Claw captain than before, if that was even possible. Even members of his own crew began showing fear of him as Douglas looked stunned at what was happening until he felt it himself.

“H-How am I… scared of myself?” He couldn’t even begin to fathom why his body felt fear and hopelessness as his eyes scrambled around to look for the cause. Eventually, they settled on the glowing heart tattoo on his wrist and he looked back at Sira who also had one on her wrist.

“You…!” He finally understood. This must have been her devil fruit power! Something that involved allowing her emotions to be transmitted towards someone else! It was a power he had never heard of and he’d by lying if he said it wasn’t a power he was interested in. He glanced around the room and saw the fear in everyone’s eyes, even by some veteran pirates and smirked. This was actually working in his favor; there’d be no one who’d oppose him now!

Unfortunately for Douglas, there were two people who would have something to say about that.

“Koga” Joey said suddenly as he stood up from his seat, his deep cerulean eyes staring right at the weeping Sira as the heart tattoo appeared on his wrist.

“You don’t have to say it. I know” Koga also had the tattoo and he had felt the emotions of that slave girl transmitted into his own body. It was one thing to feel general sympathy for another person’s unfortunate circumstances; it was a completely different story to actually have those emotions transferred into you and experience them for yourself. He stared at the bag of treasure next to him on the floor, remembering the words he had told his captain earlier.

“*I’d rather die than let someone else have them, let alone for my own profit*”

“So not for my own profit but for someone else’ sake huh? I really am just a big old softie” He smiled in a way that showed he had no regrets on his decision and he gave his captain a nod.

“Thank you” Joey gave Koga a genuine smile for his actions as he turned back to the center stage to the host who, despite nearly pissing himself, was able to recover enough to try and finish the auction.

“S-S-So, u-uhm, I’m going to assume that uh, no one else has a higher bid than Mr. Douglas?”

It was a unanimous response of silence.

“T-T-Then, I declare that the slave Charlotte Sira now belongs too-

“1,000,000 berries!”

Jack Douglas felt his heart stop at that moment when he heard those words from the higher floors and not just him, every single person in the room turned their eyes to the source A blonde haired youth was standing from his seat and was holding a finger up to indicate he was the one who had raised the bid.

“I-Is he mad!?”

“He’ll be killed!”

“He’s insane!”

Joey ignored all of the protests and negativity and was only staring at one thing; Sira, as he managed to catch her attention after announcing his insane bid. Despite the fear he had felt when she had used her powers to transmit her emotions to everyone, Joey held steadfast in his decision. Why? Because there was another emotion he could feel deep within that fear, yelling and screaming out to him. No one else had bothered to notice it but Joey could never forget it.

It was the desire for someone, ***anyone*** to help this woman.

And help was what he was going to give her as he gave her a nod and expressed with his eyes his intention of helping her.

Looking up, her eyes were still watery, everything was blurry but her hearing was just fine. 1,000,000 berries? Rubbing her eyes, she could finally see clearly, her wish had come true! Someone, anyone, had come to the rescue! The bracelets on the crowd faded on a majority of their wrists, leaving no trace on their body that it was ever there. Unable to communicate with them, the pairs bracelets were all that remained and a new emotion came to light, hope.

Sira, still on her knees, held her hands to her chest. Feeling every beat of her heart, giving them a look that said what she could not, "thank you."

A sheepish smile appeared on Joey’s face when he both felt and saw the fear turn into hope in both her heart and on her face. He rubbed his nose lightly, indicating that he was feeling a bit light headed.

“Guess you're not the only softie here” Joey said as Koga responded by laughing behind him and nudging his captain on his shoulder.

“You show off. You didn’t need to raise it to a million like that, a smaller increase would have been fine” Koga sounded less mad and more curious about his captain’s action with that stunt and raised his eyebrows when Joey shook his head.

“No, I had to do that”

“The reason being?”

Joey’s eyes now fell upon the Spider Claw captain who had remained silent since the moment Joey had announced himself and gave the man a friendly middle finger, complete with a smile as the spider man looked ready to murder someone.

“To send a message”

## Chaos in the Auction House

“Oooh! Ladies and gentleman, we have a surprising development! This young man has bid even higher than the Spider Claw captain! Will we have a bidding war on our hands!?” The announcer didn’t miss a beat and spurred the auction on as the rest of the audience had calmed down after Sira’s power had stopped affecting them.

Douglas on the other hand was staring daggers at Joey with a murderous gaze in his transformed state, unable to accept that someone had defied his orders of bidding higher than himself. At this point, even his crew had stood up and directed their own fierce glares towards the still smiling Joey and were ready to rip him to shreds on their captain’s command.

“You fucking brat, do you have a death wish?” Douglas spat venomously

Joey stopped smiling and shrugged. “Look, I know you probably can’t afford to pay more than a million berries but you shouldn’t take your anger out on me. It’s not my fault I have more money than you” He taunted, earning surprised gasps and shocked expressions all around.

“He’s doing this on purpose, no doubt in my mind” Koga thought as he sighed. His captain’s penchant for pissing people off never failed as Koga had experienced first hand how astonishingly good the man was at trash talking.

The host was beginning to sense the tension in the air and tried to immediately end the auction before a fight would break out.

“I don’t see anyone else placing a bid so the winner of the auction is the young blonde haired man!” He announced but no one clapped or even acknowledged it as they were too scared of what Douglas might do.

“E-Excuse me everyone, the auction has already fini-

“Just shut the fuck up!” Douglas shouted towards the host who shrieked in response and decided it would be wise to keep his mouth shut. Douglas then turned his sights back to the blonde haired youth with narrowed pupils as he didn’t recognize this brat anywhere. Someone with the balls to stand up to him, in the South Blue? They were either a famous and powerful figure or a reckless and stupid fool.

“Who the hell are you?” He decided to end his curiosity and identify this stranger.

“Gale D. Joseph, but just call me Joey. And I’m going to be the Pirate King so you can understand why I wouldn’t cower in front of someone who will be a stepping stone on my rise to the top”

“Pirate King? Bwahahaha” The purple haired captain laughed merrily as did the rest of his crew at Joseph’s words, the idea being laughable to them. “A little squirt like you being the Pirate King? Yeah, that’ll happen” He laughed even louder but stopped when he heard Joey’s piercing words next.

“I guess I’d laugh too if I was some loser captain with no shot at being anything more than average”

“You son of a….!”

Douglas’ eyes gleamed dangerously and his body began to shake uncontrollably from the rage he felt at hearing such words as he pointed right at Joey.

“Get the fuck down here right now! I’m gonna skewer you!” His voice shook the entire building itself as everyone closed their ears. It was obvious he was well past the point of reasonable conversation and was out for blood, just as Joey had wanted as he sneered at the easily angered fool.

“Seems I touched a nerve” Joey snickered. It was far too easy sometimes.

“It never fails to amaze me at how good you are at pissing people off” Koga walked beside him, picking up the bag of treasure on the floor. ‘You think you can take him?”

“Hmm, good question. Maybe? Guess we’ll find out” He said vaguely with a chuckle and with one leap, jumped off the railing followed by Koga as they both landed on the ground floor not that far away from the stage where Sira and the announcer were standing on.

“Bring him to me, NOW!” Douglas demanded of his crew and they all rushed towards Joey from their section, more than happy to carry out his orders. None of the patrons wanted to get in their way as they began running in the opposite direction, fearful of what those pirates would do.

“So, what’s the plan now? Take the girl and run? Or do we fight em off? I’d prefer the latter to be honest” Koga was ready and itching for a brawl as his crimson eyes shined just like Douglas.

Joey saw this and smirked.

“You really are a battle junkie. Relax, I’ve got an even better idea” He smiled deviously as Koga shuddered at his face, unable to predict what his captain was about to do. True to his fears, Joey suddenly picked up the bag full of treasure and threw it in the air, in plain sight of every audience member as the Spider Claw Pirates that had been charging at him stopped immediately.

“W-What the?”

“What is that?”

“HEY, THERE’S OVER 5 MILLION BERRIES WORTH OF TREASURE IN THAT BAG. IT'S ALL YOURS IF YOU CAN GRAB IT!” Joey shouted spontaneously as Koga’s mouth dropped to the floor and there was dead silence in the previously noisy audience room.

It didn’t even take a full ten seconds before the entire auction house erupted into full blown pandemonium.

“The treasure’s mine!”

“Back off, it belongs to me!”

“I’ll kill anyone who touches it!”

Pirates, merchants, and even noblemen began to stampede towards the treasure as the Spider Claw Pirates looked all around and froze at the sight. They could handle a dozen or so people rushing at them no problem but there were hundreds! And some of them were pirates and bandits themselves! They looked at Joey who was currently smiling at them and opened his mouth to say one last thing.

“Have fun”

That son of a bitch!

They didn’t have time to worry about him as an all out brawl broke out in the auction house and Joey smiled at his handiwork, before clutching his head in pain when Koga bumped him on the head.

“Ow, what was that for?” He pouted as Koga looked unamused. “You said it was okay”

“I thought we were going to use it to buy that girl’s freedom, not cause a royal rumble!” Koga shouted, still unable to process that the treasure he had acquired for so many years was just thrown away like that.

“It’s better this way. Those guys weren’t going to let us use it to buy the girl’s freedom anyway” Joey countered and Koga growled but understood what he was saying. It still didn’t make him feel any better.

Joey placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. “Didn’t you say you were going to ride with me and acquire the world’s treasure’s? Let’s just call this your starting point from now on”

Koga remained silent before he formed a tired smile on his face. “Your a real piece of work, you know that? You’re the captain so I won’t complain but damn it, at least give me a heads up before you do something like that”

Joey smiled brightly. “Noted”

Meanwhile, Mr. Wayne was utterly devastated at seeing what Joey had caused and began pulling his hair out. His auction was ruined! And the worst part? All of the patrons had either run away or were now caught up in the chaos, meaning he hadn't made any money today!

“This is all that damn brat’s fault!” He cursed Joseph with every fiber in his being and swore on his title as a black merchant he’d make him pay. In any case, the priority right now was securing his investments and trying to re-establish the auction after everyone had cooled off and the fighting stopped.

“Secure the slaves! We’re heading to a safer location!” He ordered.

“Yes sir!” His bodyguards moved on the double and began rounding up all the slaves that were backstage and escorting the dozens of them through an exit in the back.

“Let's go” One bodyguard spoke as he grabbed Sira by her arm forcefully and began dragging her away and followed after Mr. Wayne who led them down a corridor that would take them to his safe house. Martha was prepared to follow after him but stopped and looked back at the two mysterious young men that had caused such a commotion, wondering who they were and hoped in her heart they’d be able to help the slaves she was unable to do anything for.

Joey immediately sensed that something was wrong and turned to where Sira was, noticing she had been taken away and narrowed his eyes.

“Shit, they were a step faster than me. Koga, I need you to-

“YOU BASTARD!”

That voice came from none other than Douglas who had jumped past the commotion and landed not far from where Joey and Koga stood, eyeing them down in his hybrid form. Wilhelmina and Panther, his right and left hand subordinates, soon followed as the trio stared them down.

“You think your real clever huh? Guess again! You're not going anywhere!” Douglas shrieked, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

“Do we have to kill them though?” Wilhelmina complained, pursing her lips into a pout “It’d be a waste to have to kill such handsome young men” She was eyeing the two of them with a lustful gaze. They were just her type and she truly believed it’d be a crime to kill them when they could be her playthings.

“Get your mind out of the gutter!” Panther shouted at his horny associate and readied his chain and sickle with a dangerous smile.

Joey glared at all of them and marched forward, stepping in front of Koga and spoke without looking at him.

“Go and get that girl. I’ll handle things here”

“That’s not fair, why do you get to hog all the action and leave me on rescue duty?” Koga frowned, itching to throw down.

“Because I said so. Besides, I guarantee your trip won’t be as boring as you think” He worded vaguely as Koga raised his eyebrows at that. Just what did he mean by that? In any case, Koga had no choice but to accept his captain’s commands and turned around, preparing to head out after them.

“You better not lose” Koga’s body vanished as he gave chase.

Douglas noticed this immediately and gave Wilhelmina and Panther a look as they both nodded and vanished as well, leaving the two captains to face off in the auction room as chaos ensued around them.

Joey smiled, having expected Douglas’ cronies to go after Koga.

"*Same to you*"

He sent those thoughts to his first mate before he directed his full attention onto Douglas who seemed to have calmed down a bit but still looked ready to rip him to shreds.

“So gorgeous” Joey taunted as he readied a stance. “You ready to throw down?”

“Go ahead and make your jokes, let’s see if you’ll be laughing after I dissect you down to your bones and eat your flesh!” Douglas wasted no more time and rushed in with his hulking body and spider like face as Joey did the same and the two of them clashed their fists together, causing a shockwave to erupt throughout the entire auction house as the battle between the two captains had began.

## Rescue

The exit that Mr. Wayne and his bodyguards had taken led both them and the slaves through a long corridor until they eventually reached a lobby with exquisite furniture and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

“Group them all up in that corner” The irritated slave merchant demanded as his employees rushed to complete his order as he then pointed to Martha “Get in touch with the Marines now! I’m not going to let that damn brat ruin my business!”

Martha hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether or not that would be a wise choice for saving the slaves but a fierce glare from her boss caused her spirit to waver as she nodded solemnly.

“...Understood” Martha walked off to the side in order to notify the authorities of what had transpired here.

“Damn woman, just do what your damn told” Mr. Wayne grumbled before he reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette, intent on smoking the stress away until a voice was heard from above him that sent shivers down his spine.

“Found ya”

“Bah!” He yelped in freight as he looked up and saw none other than that crimson haired youth who had been accompanying the blonde haired teen from earlier staring at him from on top of the ceiling as he jumped down and landed near Mr. Wayne. Immediately, he was surrounded by bodyguards with spears as the obese merchant struggled to his feet and began to laugh nervously.

“You were with that brat! What the hell are you doing here? If you don’t give me a good reason I’ll order my men to attack!” He threatened as sweat fell from his face.

Koga sneered. “Relax fatty, I’m not here for you” He turned his sights over to the group of gathered slaves and searched for the one he was looking for, finding her in the back behind a few people. “I'm here for one of them”

“Are you insane!?” Mr. Wayne’s face grew red with anger “Do you really think I’d allow even one of my precious merchandise to be taken by some nobody like you?”

“I figured you’d say that. You slave merchants are all the same. So caught up with your own greed and selfishness that you completely ignore the feelings of other people and treat them as if they’re inferior to you. People like you make me sick to my stomach” Koga spat on the floor and glared fiercely at Mr. Wayne who backed away, terrified of the murderous look in the youth’s eyes.

“W-What are you waiting for men!? Get him now!” He ordered as the bodyguards surrounding Koga all rushed at him at once.

Koga got to work immediately and formed saw blades on his arms and utilizing his foot work and vastly superior speed, maneuvered all throughout the lobby and sliced his way through every opponent as he stopped right in front Mr. Wayne and retracted his blade.

“Child’s play”

The bodyguards in response dropped to the floor in an instant, knocked out but not dead as Koga had spared them on a whim.

“N-No…. H-How…. W-Why... ” The overweight slave merchant stuttered as he fell to the floor and tried to make sense of the situation. He had sold hundreds of slaves before today without any problems, why had everything gone so terribly wrong now!?

“Hey fatso”

Mr. Wayne flinched when his name was called.

“Y-Yes?”

“Give me the keys or I’ll trim your weight down by cutting the fat right off you” Koga demanded, causing Mr. Wayne to sweat bullets as he actually didn’t possess the keys with him.

“M-My assistant Martha has them! Please, spare me!!” He begged pathetically for his life as tears streamed down his face before Koga grew annoyed by the act and grabbed him by his collar.

“And how many slaves did you spare when you doomed them by selling them off!?” He shouted as the merchant cowered and closed his eyes, praying for a miracle. Koga looked on with a frustrated glare and wanted to kill this piece of human garbage but stopped. A few days ago,he’d have killed this fatso without a moment’s hesitation but something about Joey had caused him to rethink his way of doing things. He wanted him to suffer and death was a penalty far too merciful for scum like him as he pushed him aside and looked around.

He noticed the group of slaves in the corner, either cowering in fear or just standing there emotionless and Koga sought out the one he was looking for.

“Hey, Sira!” He called out. “Are you in there?” It was hard for him to see where she was in such a large group of people.

Sira watched the display of heroism, peaking from the cracks in the crowd her mind secretly cheered for the ginger and the blonde, attacking Mr. Wayne was a bold move, she honestly questioned just who they were! For them to crash into an event like this so recklessly, some might have believed they were stupid, but Sira knew better. They were brave!

From the back, she could hear a faint call, the noise that had erupted when Mr. Wayne was threatened caused a bit of chaos and panic, but Sira could have sworn.. they were calling her name? Struggling to get through the crowd, she tried to get through. "Excuse me! Excuse me!" She called out but no one budged, with no other choice, she got down on the ground and crawled under their legs! Getting up, slowly but surely, she wiped the dirt off of her clothes, which were very nice for a slave.

"Y-yes? Can I help you?" Sira asked, tilting her head in confusion.

Koga noticed in the crowd a sweet but timid voice responding to his call as he turned to her, his eyes befalling the woman that had been the reason his captain had done all of this for as he stepped closer to her, a relieved expression on his face.

“You don’t have to worry anymore. We’re getting you out of here” He assured her before giving her a quizzical stare.

“Do you know where someone called Martha is? She supposedly has your keys” He asked but found that it was unnecessary as the woman called Martha appeared from a hiding spot and slowly approached both him and Sira.

“I’m Martha,” She announced, holding several pairs of keys with her. “And if you're looking for the keys, I have them right here”

Koga wasn’t sure if he could trust her since she worked for Mr. Wayne and he turned his eye towards Sira, believing the sweet looking slave would be truthful.

“Can I trust her?” It sounded like both a question and a threat as Martha gulped nervously, believing that if Sira didn't vouch for her, she wouldn't get off easy.

Sira's face practically grew, they were... helping her? Kindness was a rare delicacy in such a cruel world, it as almost hard to believe. She didn't speak, but anyone could tell from the look on her face that she was happy. Then they asked for that woman, Martha! The one who had promised to help her. "Oh uhm.." Sira looked towards Martha, a woman who had claimed she was no better than the slaver who had put her in the chains, but Sira knew that wasn't true.

"Of course." Sira nodded. Even if she hadn't exactly raised the flag of liberty before, that didn't matter. What mattered was that now she was doing what as right while she had the power to do it and for Sira that made up for anything she did under the tyrannical owners rule. "Sh-she helped me when I- when he- when Mr. Wayne was- when I needed it." The sentence was clearly a challenge, but eventually she conquered it, flashing a rare smile.

Koga watched her stutter and mumble a bit, ascertaining the possibility that she might be lying to save the woman but the smile on her face was too pure and sweet for that to be true and Koga nodded at her, smiling a bit.

“Looks like you owe her one” Koga said to Martha who sighed in relief and gave Sira a grateful smile of her own and bowed to her.

“Thank you” She didn’t waste any more time and rushed over to Koga’s side, handing him the keys. “We don’t have much time. My boss ordered me to alert the Marines and they’ll be arriving soon”

“What!?” Koga’s eyes widened and he growled underneath his breath, shooting the cowering slave merchant in the corner one last glare before he focused. “Damn, then let’s get a move on!” He reached out to grab the keys but the moment he did, his senses went off immediately due to the blood lust directed towards him.

“Move!” He grabbed both Sira and Martha by their waists and jumped out of the way as a large chain and sickle came crashing through one of the doors and barely missed them. It crashed right into a wall, leaving a large crater as Koga landed a distance away and gently let go of the two women in his hands as he glared at the unwelcome guests.

“Oho, this kid’s got good reflexes. Your right Wilhelmina, it might actually be a waste to kill em”

“Don’t patronize me Panther, your probably just jealous he’s far better looking than you”

The smoke cleared and in its place, two familiar faces had entered the room as both Panther and Wilhelmina strutted in as if they owned the place and stared at Koga.

“*I guess this is what he meant by not being bored*” Koga thought back and now understood his captain’s words earlier, smiling as he never stopped being amazed by how amazing his foresight was. He crouched over to the coughing Martha and whispered to her.

“Get Sira to a safe place, I’ll handle them”

Martha was quick on the uptake and nodded, finding the strength to stand as she grabbed Sira’s hand and tried to lead her away from the battle as Koga finally stood on his feet and faced his two opponents with a murderous smile.

“This is actually perfect, I’ve been meaning to blow off some steam and you two will be the perfect punching bags” He proclaimed as he readied a stance.

Panther smiled, licking the sickle in his hands as he chuckled. “You’ve got more brawn than brain kid if you think you can beat the Spider Claw’s. But I guess you inherited that from your dumbass of a captain, right Mina?” He asked his gothic looking associate.

Sira was led away from the battle, she wanted to help! She really did, but for now anyway, she was just dead weight in a battle like that. Just something for the enemy to hold against them if she were to be caught, still... a part of her wanted to do something, anything, she was tired of being useless, defenseless, but that couldn't all change in a day. That would take time. Before she left, Sira did the only thing she could! Turning around briefly only to say "Good luck!" before vanishing from the battlefield with Martha.

The spideress traced her lips with a long black fingernail, dragging the claw across her neck as ecstasy escaped her lips, now softened by her lounge tongue as she stared at the flies caught in her web, a dangerous, lustful, hungry gaze. "My my, you've got quite the spunk..." Mina walked forward, her walk was almost entrancing, slow but steady, with a beautiful flow from side to side, almost an optical illusion, with the perfect hourglass figure, it almost seemed impossible.

"But I will let you in on a little secret, fly." The spinneret machines on her arm began to whir, firing thick sticky threads at the boys feet. "You're in my web now." The ivory woman than blew a kiss, "And Lady Tarantula bites the heads off her mates. Tararararara."

Koga was unable to dodge the threads aimed at his feet as he frowned and tried to move his legs, growling underneath his breath when he was met with far more resistance than he had expected. Perhaps if he hadn’t been distracted for a brief moment by the woman’s…. charms, he would have been able to avoid them.

“What the hell is this stuff made out of?” It felt like trying to move in quick sand as he struggled but was unable to move an inch. He was prepared to generate a saw blade to cut if off but noticed movement in front of him as he saw Panther move in.

“It’s useless buddy, Mina’s webs aren’t something a weakling like you can escape from!” He laughed as he reached for another sickle tied on his back and moved with incredible speed as he slashed Koga’s chest and blood poured out of the wounds.

“Damn!” Koga cursed, flinching at the burning pain but held it together as he glanced back at Panther who was licking his sickle covered in blood.

“That’s a good look for you, why don’t I even you out?” He rushed in again and slashed at Koga’s arms, legs, neck, and thighs as the onslaught continued. Koga could only protect himself by using his arms as a shield and endured the pain and damage accumulating on his body.

“How do you like our favorite Web Slash combo?” Panther landed beside Wilhelmina, joyfully laughing at the now wound covered Koga as he twirled the sickle in his hands. “You should have picked your opponents better kid. Now beg for mercy and I might be willing to kill your quicker” He laughed even louder.

Koga, who now had blood dripping from all over his body, put down his arms as a trail of blood slowly fell over his crimson eyes as a menacing smile surfaced on his lips.

“Sorry pal, but begging ain't something I’m known for. And if that’s seriously the best you can do, then you might wanna start begging yourself” He boasted, though his body’s condition didn’t inspire confidence.

Panther spat on the floor, a bit annoyed that this punk hadn’t screamed or begged for his life yet.

“I see you’ve still got quite a wordy little mouth on ya. How about I rip it off!” Panther dashed in, intent on using his weapon to slice off the youth’s mouth as he raised his sickle into the air.

“*Now!*” Koga’s eyes widened at the opening and he spat a mouthful of blood at Panther’s face as the man couldn’t dodge it and had his vision impaired due to the blood in his eyes.

“Son of a bitch!” He shrieked, unable to see anything as he wobbled in the air and headed straight for Koga who generated a saw blade with his legs and mustered all his strength for his next attack.

“Razor Kick!” He shouted as his leg sliced through the webs covering his feet and he landed a powerful diagonal slash across Panther’s chest that created a large wound on his torso.

“GAH!” The Spider Claw pirate yelled in agony as he fell to the ground and began spewing curse words while trying to endure the severe pain.

Koga wasted no time and freed his other leg with another saw blade before raising his leg high into the air, preparing to finish the injured Panther off by slicing at his neck. His attention was completely focused on him and he didn’t or rather failed to notice the spideress at the side and that this wasn’t a one on one fight.

Mina didn't like Panthers approach, really he was annoying and just as stupid as the boy, so naturally she did what anyone else would have done in her position, watched as he failed miserably, her heel tapping on the concrete with anticipation as she watched, observing the boys abilities before finding her moment to strike, and when she was ready, she hit hard.

With Panther screaming and yelling like a child on the floor, Mina posed, staring at the boy, giving only a "Hmph." As her partner whined. "I'm sorry Panther, but this requires a delicate feminine approach." Webs shot from her wrists, wrapping panther in some type of cocoon, protecting him from the boys attack she then slung him around like a human mace! Using her strength she swung her cocooned partner at the boy in an attempt to bludgeon. Of course, this didn't kill Panther, but he was a hell of a lot more useful this way. "Now be a good boy, little fly, the more you struggle the harder it becomes... and do you really want to resist?" Her voice was seductive, like a sirens song, the power of feminine charm.

Koga frowned heavily when his saw blade was stopped by the cocoon of webs shot out by Wilhemina and he cursed himself for forgetting about her. His annoyance then turned into confusion when he saw the cocoon being lifted by the woman and used as some sort of bludgeoning tool that was aimed right at him.

“Woah!” He narrowly avoided being smashed into paste as he flipped backwards and landed on a sofa in the lobby. He gave a pitied look towards the cocooned Panther as he shook his head at the woman. Despite her physical attractiveness , her words and actions made him realize this was a woman he wanted to avoid associating with at all costs.

“Damn, that’s cold” He couldn’t believe she was using her own teammate as a weapon like that but didn’t have time to reflect on it as she twirled her partner around like a human yo-yo and attacked him once more. With his legs freed, Koga was able to dodge the cocoon as he moved all over the room, dodging and flipping out of the way to avoid taking a hit as he tried to think of a game plan.

“DAMN YOU WOMAN” Panther yelled from inside the cocoon as he was clearly unamused by these turn of events. “IM GONNA KILL YOU WHEN I GET OUT OF-BLURGH!” He couldn’t finish before the sound of puke was heard within the web cocoon, no doubt from the dizziness of being swung around so violently. “OH GOD LET ME OUT! IT’S EVERYWHERE!”

Koga ignored the man’s pleas as he clung on the ceiling of the room thanks to the saw blades underneath his feet. He stared at Wilhelmina, trying to gauge a weakness or something to catch her off guard. His best option would be to get in close and try to take her down in close combat as he nodded at his plan and dropped from the ceiling, landing on the ground. He rushed in, generating two large saw blades from both his elbows as he swiftly approached the cocoon wielding spideress.

“Razor Edge!” He shouted and he threw both his arms to the side, causing the elbow saw blades to fly out from his elbows at an astonishing speed. They spun and curved through the air like a boomerang before they reconvened and were both heading straight for Wilhemina’s left and right sides, forming a pincer attack.

Mina smiled as the boy danced around her attacks, it wasn't often she was able to fight like this. Some people just weren't that big of a threat, but this kid.. this boy.. he was interesting and she was excited to taste him like she had done all of her previous enemies. Seeing him incorporate his saws, no doubt a devil fruit, into his style was interesting and equally enticing. "Saws, hm? A devil fruit... well, I think that when I kill you I will take it for myself." Bringing her thread-wrapped panther wrecking ball forward, the blades that had charged at her became stuck in the cocoon, one of them even puncturing her ally, causing him to howl in pain. "Hush." She commanded.

Standing over the cocoon, a web snatched the bloodless saw, bringing it to her lips as she held it in her hands like a disc, licking the flat part as not to cut her tongue. "I will enjoy your power, it's... delicious." Mina practically moaned the words, abandoning her allies body she instead used the saw blade! Her web attached, she shot it around like some sort of chakram and with a free spinner she fired even more webs, though these weren't quite making the mark. They were intended to miss. She was planning something.

Meanwhile, while the fight waged on, Sira and Martha had managed to find a safe-room of sorts. More like a vault in the establishment, they had closed themselves in to hide from the fight, but as it continued and time passed, Sira grew worried. "Miss Martha...?" Sira asked politely, the woman was walking in circles, twiddling her thumbs in nervousness. She turned towards the girl, clearly in a state of disarray, "Yes Sira?"

"I need to help them! Like they helped me... I know you were told to keep me safe ma'am but... but what if we need to keep them safe!" Sira stood up as she spoke, perhaps summoning the only ounce of bravery in her tiny little body. Martha stuttered, "Are you kidding me! It's way too dangerous! I can't let you go out there! Those Spider Claw Pirates are the real deal, big bad pirates Sira, PIRATES!" Martha shrieked.

Sira's brow furrowed, maybe Martha was right? Maybe they were just too weak, no! Wait! Martha wasn't right! How could she just sit by and watch it all unfold, she had done that her entire life, if anything now was a test... a test to how her future would be, if she was going to gain freedom, she was going to use it.

"I'm sorry Miss Martha, but... but it isn't up to you! I'm not a slave anymore. Thank you for being so nice to me before but they need my help, just like I needed theirs!" Sira bowed, turning around and running from the room before Martha could even say a word, all she could hear was the frantic cries of "Their gonna kill me!" In the distance, Martha freaking out over the entire situation.

Making her way to the lobby, she saw that woman, the stunningly beautiful- s-s-s-spider lady? Sira's legs shook with fear, why did it have to be spiders. Crawling on the floor, she hid behind a wall of furniture that had been moved and destroyed during the fight, mumbling to herself little phrases like "It's just a spider Sira, you can do it!" in order to pep herself up before she had to act.

“Everyone’s got a gimmick” Koga complained, changing his game plan from offensive to defensive as he saw one of his own weapons being used by the spider woman. She really was fond of using other people or their belongings, wasn’t she? Didn’t matter, now was the time to focus as he dodged the chakram saw blade being wielded by his opponent.

When she shot out more webs that missed him, his eyebrows raised as he believed her aim was better than that. He shrugged, not paying it more attention before he generated a large saw blade from his hand and jumped into the air, preparing to land a overhead strike against her. He believed he’d be able to maneuver through her defense and finish the fight, unaware that he was being led into a trap.

Mina smiled as she watched the boy dodge his own blade, how embarrassing it must have been for your own weapon to be turned against you. "Tarararara." Mina laughed, it seemed he hadn't quite caught on to what was happening, his mistake. As he formed a giant blade and rode it forward, spinning through the air Mina brought her hand up, waving a pale boney finger as if to tell him no.

"Someones not so bright, you see, those webs of mine didn't miss... in fact, each and every one made their mark." Tugging her arm back, suddenly a massive web sprung to life, splitting the lobby in half! Apparently nearly invisible threads had connected all of the attacks and with a single pull they wove together in an intricate octagonal pattern, combining in every way shape and form, becoming much thicker and stronger, hard as steel and sticky as slime it stopped the boy in his tracks, and though the razor did manage to make a dent, it wasn't quite enough to cut him free.

"How do you like my **Wicked Weaved Web** little fly? Tarararara, it's all over." Putting her wrists together, threads spun violently, forming some sort of attack when...

Sira climbed the mountain of furniture, having seen the giant web she closed her eyes, so that the spider lady couldn't trigger her arachnophobia. "Koga!" She called out, "Physical link!" She shouted, the same heart bracelet appearing on the wrist of Koga, but this time Sira didn't have one herself, instead one was placed in Wilhelmina who found herself in a bit of a sticky situation, for some reason, she was frozen? Her attack stopped and she tried to move but, but she couldn't.

Eyeing her wrists, Mina was dazed. "What is this!" She shouted angrily, desperately trying to escape the unknown invisible force holding her back.

Shy, Sira had to build up the courage to speak, and she took the question quite literally, making sure to cover her eyes so she wouldn't peak and be even more frightened. "It's- It's a link. You and- and Koga are bonded now, you'll both feel and experience what one another is and.. you trapped him so that is what you're feeling! You're own web!" Sira had gained some confidence toward the end, maybe just now realizing that she wasn't useless as she thought and maybe, just maybe, she could help.

“*I can’t believe I fell for this shit!*” Koga cursed at himself for his inability to predict that trap as he was caught like a fly in the webbed trap that had his movements restricted. The material used to make these webs made it virtually impossible for him to break free of his normal saw’s as he squirmed helplessly.

“Sorry Joey, I messed up” He admitted, ashamed that he had let his captain down as he closed his eyes and prepared for the worst from the woman's big attack, but opened them when he heard a familiar voice call out to him.

It was none other than Sira!

## Free at Last

“S-Sira? What are you doing here!?” He shouted at her, unable to grasp why she had come back. When she spoke of a physical link, confusion arose on his face until he saw the heart tattoo on his arm and remembered what her devil fruit was capable of back in the auction room. One look at the seemingly paralyzed and clearly frustrated Wilhelmina was all Koga needed for him to understand the huge advantage Sira’s devil fruit possessed as he turned back to her, an idea forming in his head.

“Sira!” He called “Can you change one of the targets of your power immediately? If you can, replace me with that guy in that cocoon over there! It’s the only way to win and you're the only one who can do it! I'm counting on you!” He pleaded for the first time in his life as he found that while fighting on his own was nice, there was something oddly fulfilling about trusting another person to help you overcome an obstacle. He blamed his damn captain who had started to make him feel this way.

He put his utmost faith in her as took a deep breath and began to concentrate, requiring a few seconds longer than usual to summon forth his more advanced and powerful techniques.

Sira was confused at the question, that would set the spider lady free! That wasn't what they needed! But who was she to question him. The only problem with that plan was that she actually had to look, she hadn't seen the so-called cocoon guy which made it harder for her powers. Her fingers created a small crack, a peep hole that she scouted the field with, jumping a bit when it passed the spider lady finally she spotted the cocoon, cut open a confused man was crawling out and suddenly the bracelet once on Koga appeared on him.

"I did it!" She shouted, leaping up with her fist in the air out of excitement, only to realize when she opened her eyes that she could see everything... quickly she covered them again, whimpering slightly. This experience had helped her fear a little, but it was still there! You can't just get rid of years of trauma with a snap of your fingers.

Finally free, Mina stood tall and proud, though she did feel a bit of the pain Panther had received from his wounds so far. "Why you little..." She barked, attempting to conjure even more threads to fire their way, but they fell short, she was running out.

Those few seconds of concentration bought by the excited Sira’s devil fruit powers was all Koga needed as his eyes flashed open and he yelled the name of his never before seen attack.

“Buzzsaw Overload!” Koga roared, morphing himself into a giant buzzsaw with four edges that began to spin violently against the friction of the constricting spider webs. The friction eventually caused heat to erupt from the spinning buzzsaw and with one last push, all the webs constricting Koga had snapped like a twig.

Now free and ready to pay them back, the transformed Koga launched forward in his spinning buzzsaw form with the added heat generated from the friction giving it the appearance of a flaming buzzsaw of death headed straight towards the still dizzy Wilhelmina and Panther.

Panther had finally recovered a bit, shaking his head as he tried to figure out what was happening. For some reason, it was getting hotter as he looked around.

“Hey, why does it feel so hot in-OH MY GAWD!” He shrieked when he saw the flaming saw of death heading straight towards him and he grabbed onto Wilhelmina’s torso, wrapping his legs around her as comical tears fell from his face

“FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SAVE ME! He cried in a girlish voice as he prevented her from going anywhere while being head first into her cleavage, not realizing that his cowardly actions had doomed them both.

The room had been spinning! Spinning, spinning, and spinning... then the saw was spinning? It seemed to happen so fast, so quick, and what could she do? When she finally recovered enough to know what was going on Panther was wrapped around her, head digging into her lady bags. "You idiot, look at what you've done..." The woman grit her teeth as she spoke, steam coming from her ears, the price of surrounding yourself with idiots. When the razor finally came, she attempted to use Panther as a shield, but the link made her feel all the pain. Despite having none of the cuts on her own body, she had all the same symptoms. The man rolled off of her, and she too fell back, her hands the only thing keeping her up, breathes heavy.

"My-my web..." She called out before falling back completely, defeated.

After delivering the finishing blow, Koga’s body transformed back into human shape as he fell onto one knee, breathing heavily with sweat and blood falling down his face as he was able to muster a smile, one full of both satisfaction and confidence.

“Heh, told ya you’d be the ones begging” He snarked, having felt he deserved that last remark before he forced himself back onto his feet and walked over towards the figure of Sira.

“I can’t believe you actually came back here! What would you have done if she attacked you! You're so reckless!” He lectured, raising his hand as it seemed he was going to hit her but instead, he gently placed his hand upon her head and rubbed it affectionately, showcasing a toothy grin for the first time.

“But it’s a good thing you did otherwise I have no idea what would have happened. You're amazing, you know? Charging in like that just to help someone you barely know. That takes real courage and you’ve got that. Thanks a lot Sira, I really owe you one” He complimented, still rubbing her head as his opinion of Sira had drastically changed from that stunt she pulled. Originally believing she was a burden, he had been proven dead wrong and he wondered if this is what his captain saw in her at that time.

At first, Sira was scared. He talked so harshly! It was just so familiar, and when he raised his hand she expected the worst, maybe kindness didn't pay off after all? But instead of the slap or the punch she expected, she got a pat, it really confused her and then he talked her up! It really boosted her confidence and brought life to her eyes! "Well... you did the same to me! I was always taught to treat people the way they deserve to be treated and, well, you saved me so of course I would save you as well!" She titled her head, smiling.

Suddenly, Martha came running into the room, her hair a total mess, looks like she was a stress puller. "AH! You're alive! I was worried sick.." Martha looked around, seeing the webs and the defeated pirates, her jaw dropped. "Ba-ba-ba" She clucked like a hen. "You two defeated THEM? The Spider Claws?" It was a surprise, she had heard so much about the crew and then these... these amateurs come in and just blow them away! "Well, either way, thanks."

Koga blinked before he waved off her thanks. “Don’t sweat it. Beating those chumps was a piece of cake” He claimed, trying and failing to hide his fatigue as he stumbled a bit and caught himself and coughed to clear away his embarrassment.

“Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration” He blushed, grumbling at the laugh coming from Martha and giggles from Sira. The mood was fun and light between the three of them before the sound of a gun being loaded rang out from a section in the room.

“N-N-Nobody move!” Mr.Wayne declared as throughout all the confusion, no one had noticed that he had snuck off somewhere and came back with a fully loaded pistol in his hands.

“Ugh” Koga’s face fell when he saw the obsese man again. “You just never learn do you?”

“Shut up! You better do as I say or else….or else I’ll kill everyone of those slaves right now!” His hands were shaking and Koga could only sigh ptifully at him before he raised a finger and shot forth a miniature saw blade from his fingertips that sliced the pistol in Mr.Wayne’s hands in half.

“N-Nooo!” He despaired as the remains of the gun fell to the ground, his last hope vanishing like a candle in the night. He was about to flee once more but froze when he heard the sounds of knuckles cracking as he slowly raised his head and saw a smiling Koga walking towards him, the smile on the boy’s face sending shivers down his spine.

“Guess I need to teach you a more painful lesson”

"Stay back! Stay back!"

What followed was an ass beating of rather comical detail as not even a minute later, Mr.Wayne was on the floor apologizing with his head bowed as his face was swollen and bloated thanks to Koga who addressed Martha and Sira.

“Seems our friend here wishes to let you both express your anger out on him. Feel free to do whatever you want”

Martha nodded as she stepped in front of the man who had caused her so much pain and sadness over several years and felt satisfied seeing him in such a pitiful state. However, her body moved on its own and she slapped the swollen face of Mr.Wayne so hard he fell over on his side with a large thud.

“That was for all the sexual harassment I had to endure, you disgusting animal” She hmphed, truly satisfied this time before stepping aside and allowing Sira to get her chance.

“Take it away”  Martha knew Sira well, she was a pure soul with no malicious intentions towards anyone despite all she had gone through. She probably wouldn’t punish the fat bastard too severely, though Martha hoped she’d be able to get her own closure.

Holding her arms to her chest, Sira squatted so that she could see the man's face. It was sad to see really, even though he had been so bad to her. Someone else might have wanted to kill him, to beat him merciless, to string him up or watch him burn, but none of that interested Sira, so she simply stood up and tried to bring to life these emotions, through words. "I wouldn't wish my past on the worst person in the world! You were really mean to me... and- and I should be able to hit you! To make you pay for everything that you did, that you've done, but I can't and I won't! So... you're just gonna have to apologize!" Sira pointed dramatically at the man, like a queen would send someone to the guillotine, it was the worst possible punishment she could come up with and the only one she could live with carrying out.

Both Koga and Martha blinked as they looked at each other, then back at Sira before they erupted into a harmonized chuckle at her “punishment”. Seriously, how sweet could one girl be?

“Well, you heard her” Koga walked over to the swollen Mr.Wayne and squatted next to him, generating a saw blade as he glared at him. “You better make the best apology of your life, otherwise….” The gears in his blade began to turn and Mr.Wayne immediately prostrated before Sira, tears streaming down in his face as he apologized as profusely as he could.

“And not just to her” Martha announced, causing Koga’s eyes to turn to her. “Apologize to all the slaves you’ve tormented!” She pointed to the far corner where all the remaining slaves were cowering in fear after witnessing that intense battle.

Mr. Wayne was in no position to complain as he did as he was told and apologized as well he could with a broken face. Martha was still holding in a lot of resentment but was content with that as she brought out a pair of keys and handed one over to Koga.

“I’ll be setting all those slaves free and will help them escape. Here are the keys for Sira’s collar” She handed it to him and rushed off to unlock their collars.

Koga nodded, not wasting any time as he moved to Sira and began unlocking her collar. It didn’t even take a minute before the large chains binding her neck and feet fell to the floor and Sira was now free.

“So, how does it feel to be free again?” Koga asked her.

Sira blinked as the collar came off, revealing a dark mark around her neck where it used to be. Clearly it had been on for quite some time. "A-again?" Sira shook her head from side to side. "This, this is my taste of freedom! This day! I-" She became overwhelmed with emotion, tears of joy running down her eyes as she wrapped her arms around Koga, a friendly hug. "Thank you." Pulling away she wiped the tears from her eyes. She had done enough crying.

"So, what now?" She asked happily, sniffling a bit between words.

Koga was a bit embarrassed at being hugged by a girl but seeing her tears brought a warmness to his face as he patted her back. The girl truly had needed this and far be it from him to deny her.

After she pulled away and asked what the plan was, he looked back at Martha who had freed all the slaves and was leading them to where Koga and Sira were.

“The first thing we should do is get out of here, the Marines will be here and they’re the last people I want to see” He decided, giving one last glare to Mr. Wayne who had collapsed on the floor from the pain of the beating Koga gave him. He felt he owed the man another beatdown for causing this but held it in as he led the group through the door, aiming to return to the auction slave house. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t worried about Joey as those Spider Claw pirates were no joke, and as the person who was leading them, he imagined their captain would be far worse to deal with.

“*I hope you know what your doing, Joey*”

## Spider Crushing

Chaos flowed throughout the auction house as pirates and bandits were fighting against members of the remaining Spider Claw Pirates. Thanks to Joey’s stunt earlier, they were being pushed back slowly by the overwhelming numbers of the greedy patrons that wanted the treasure in the bag that was still within the center of the mess.

On the subject of Joey, a body was seen flying through the air that crashed into a nearby wall and the person that had been sent flying emerged from the rubble, shaking his head as he smiled nervously.

“Okay, note to self. Never underestimate the strength of a dude who can turn into a living spider” Joey picked himself up, his clothes being torn in several places and his body having gained several cuts and bruises all over during this fight. It had been far more troublesome than he could have prepared for as the man known as Jack Douglas was just as strong as the rumors made him out to be. Joey had learned that the hard way as he narrowed his eyes at the approaching Spider captain who flew towards him, cackling in laughter at his supposed advantage.

“What’s wrong brat! I thought you were better than this!” Douglas shrieked as he jumped high into the air, falling down like a meteor in his attempt to crush the blonde teenager.

Joey dodged by jumping out of the way as Douglas landed a kick on the floor that shook the entire building. Joey recovered by back flipping and now stood on a nearby chair as he swirled the air within the room onto his arm, creating his signature tornado fist.

“Tempest Blast!” Instead of usually charging in and punching with his tornado fist, Joey simply fired his arm forward as the tornado exploded out from his arm and aimed to blow the startled Douglas away. In response, Douglas sprouted four spider legs on his back and used them as a shield to block the spiral of air pressure but couldn’t prevent himself from being pushed back as he skid against the floor.

“You think this weak shit can stop me!?” He shouted as his legs buried into the ground and stopped himself before spreading his muscular arms wide, breaking the technique that bounced off him and dispersed in the air.

“Tch” Joey clicked his tongue, annoyed that his move had been countered. Clearly, trying to best this guy with his normal repertoire of attacks wasn't going to cut it. He needed to get creative and do it fast as time was running out, believing that the commotion would inevitably draw the eyes of the Marines stationed on this island.

“Hehe” Douglas chuckled, his angry mood from earlier being replaced with unyielding confidence “You were talking big earlier but now look at you. You’ve realized it, haven’t you? That you fucked with someone you shouldn’t have” His spider like face became even uglier as he looked like he was trying to smile.

Joey smirked at that. “Careful with your words there, my arachna friend. You might come to regret them later if you're not careful” It was a boast that Douglas cared nothing for as the Spider Claw captain narrowed his spider like eyes.

“Such unearned arrogance. Alright kid, you asked for it” Douglas began chewing something in his mouth and not a moment later, he shot out a thick white spider web right at Joey who widened his eyes and dodged at the last second. Dougla didn’t stop there as he shot out continuous webs that Joey dodged by the skin of his teeth each time.

“Your gonna have to aim better than that!” Joey taunted, believing that he was too fast to be caught by the webs. However, the smirk he saw on Douglas’ face worried him greatly and before he could figure out why, his body stopped moving as he was caught by a spider web that had appeared on his right side.

“What the!?” He didn’t understand. Hadn’t he dodged all the webs? So how was he caught?

“Confused?” Douglas snorted, pointing to the webs surrounding him “Look around you kid”

Though annoyed at being called a kid for the millionth time, Joey followed Douglas' finger, frowning when he noticed the webs that were spun all around the auction house that created one giant fly trap. He cursed at himself for not noticing this and growled at the satisfied Douglas.

“Caught like a fly huh? The look suits you. By the way, I taught this technique to one of my subordinates but unlike her, my webs are woven far more intricately. Once you're caught, you’ll never escape” He boasted, marching towards him with slow steps.

Joey struggled a bit but quickly gave up that idea when he felt the immense strength the webs had. The amount of physical force needed to cut them was simply out of his ability, at least when it came to his natural physical strength.

Before he could use his devil fruit powers to try and escape however, he was punched straight in the jaw by Douglas as blood flew out of his mouth and dripped onto the floor.

“There, that’s a much better look for you” Douglas sneered and cracked his knuckles before he began to go to town on Joey’s body, pounding him with repeated strikes to his face, stomach, and chest as Joey coughed blood but didn’t scream or yell.

The beating continued on for a while until Douglas stopped and looked at the bloodied young boy with a pitiful gaze as he roughly grabbed his hair and brought him close.

“You shouldn’t have gotten in my way, you little punk” He spat on his cheek “That woman has no business belonging to some weak shit like you. Trust me, I’ll put those powers of hers to good use” He licked his spider like tongue “And don’t even get me started on that body of hers. I’ll take my time breaking her in before I let my crew have a turn. That’s just how it goes”

His words were causing an insurmountable amount of rage to boil within Joey’s eyes who met the Spider Claw captain’s gaze with one of his own. Douglas momentarily flinched when he saw the intimidating look Joey gave him and growled.

“The fuck’s that look for!” He smacked Joey in the face with one of his long spider legs and decided to end this fight now as he let go of his hair. “I thought I’d have my fun with you but screw it, your dead! Pirate King? Don't make me laugh!” Douglas roared before his body began to increase and his shape changed.

Everyone who was fighting nearby stopped what they were doing as they saw the transformation and watched on as a now ten foot spider was towering over them within the auction house.

“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” Everyone completely forgot about the treasure and made a b-line straight for the exit as even the Spider Claw pirates knew their captain would spare no one when he transformed and ran along with everyone else.

Joey raised his head, shaking off the blood in his eyes as the purple colored spider spoke to him in a deep and unfamiliar voice.

“I wonder how your body will look when your crushed by something of my weight! Let’s find out, shall we!?” The fully transformed Spider Douglas jumped off the ground, destroying the ceiling of the auction house as he rose into the air and caused all the onlookers from outside to scream at his dominating figure. He ignored them of course as he gathered all of his spider legs and aimed them downwards at one single point; Joey’s captured figure as he fell back down with increasing speed, intent on crushing Joey into paste.

“*...Heh, he really is a dumbass*…” Joey couldn’t believe the man had fallen for the bait and hinged everything on the belief that the Spider captain would try to end the fight with some big move after being annoyed by Joey’s defiant actions.

If one were to look at Joey’s mouth, they would spot a medium sized tornado being formed at his mouth that was swirling at an insane speed. Joey had used his powers to swirl a concentrated mass of air pressure around his mouth the moment that Douglas had transformed and he had been building it up by the second, waiting for a chance to unleash it.

“NOW FALL AND DIE!” The large spider was mere moments away from squashing Joey’s body and time seemed to freeze as Joey lowered his head and aimed right at the floor beneath him.

“*Rising Gale!*” He shouted in his mind as he opened his mouth and let loose all of the accumulated swirling air pressure as it collided with the floor, causing a giant burst of wind to erupt from the ground that sent Joey’s web caught body flying upward, freeing him of his binding.

“WHAT!?” Douglas couldn’t believe his eyes as Joey had escaped and headed straight toward him like a rocket.

Throwing his hands to the side, Joey swirled a tremendous amount of air currents through his hands and with the added momentum of his body rising through the air, it didn't’ take long for him to gather a substantial amount. He placed his hands above his head, colliding head on with the spider legs as he broke through Douglas’ attack with the swirling wind that had gathered in his hand and smashed right into the stomach of the spider that sent them both flying high into the air.

“T-This can’t be!” Douglas was speechless as his spider body that must have weighed hundreds of pounds was uprooted so easily and he felt Joey attach himself to his body, confusion and terror filling his mind. “What are you doing!? Let go of me!” He had somehow forgotten that he could cancel his transformation but was too preoccupied with shaking off Joey to remember.

“You said you wanted to see me fall huh? Then why don't’ we fall together!” Joey screamed and began to use the remaining wind current in his hand to spin both himself and the spider body in a circle as they began to fall back down.

“Falling Hurricane!”

He kept on rotating as Joey had created a spinning hurricane while heading downwards with the large spider body as Douglas screamed curses as his vision became distorted from all the spinning. The hurricane sped downwards with Joey holding on for dear life as he used every fiber of his strength to tilt the spider’s body so that its head was now facing downwards. The result? Douglas's head smashed straight into the ground as the hurricane landed, destroying the ground floor as chairs and windows were broken and blown away by the impact.

The entire building shook violently and dust and debris appeared all over the deserted place as Joey’s figure was seen stumbling forward, panting heavily as blood dripped from his face and he glanced over at the damage his attack had caused. A giant crater was seen in the middle of the auction room as the large hulking spider had transformed back into the normal human shaped Douglas. His body was laying on the ground, covered in blood as his mouth hung wide open and his eyes were rolled all the way back, indicating that he was knocked out and wasn’t planning on getting up anytime soon.

“Phew…” Joey sighed in relief, stretching his body as he clutched his stomach that was torn and damaged, chuckling at the state he was in.

“Let’s try and beat the bad guy up next time without taking all those hits” He told himself before he fell backwards and sat himself down on some rubble, enduring the pain all over his body. Being caught like that and pounded certainly wasn't a pleasent experience and Joey made sure he'd win his next fight without having to resort to taking such a brutal beating.

"*Weird, just like before I only became motivated to crush that guy with everything I had only after he mentioned endangering someone I knew...*"

He remembered the strength he had gained when he heard what Douglas was planning to do to Sira and Joey realized at that moment that this was the second time he had fought for the sake of someone else. He loved fighting and the satisfying feeling it gave him but this was different; there was a different sense of pride he felt after knowing his actions were for the safety of someone else.

And he couldn’t lie; it wasn’t a bad feeling at all.

## A New Path

]Koga led the group of now freed slaves alongside Sira and Martha as they rushed through the corridor, aiming to return to the sight of where the auction had taken place. As they ran, they stopped when they felt the entire auction house tremble, as if an earthquake had taken place.

“W-What’s going on? Is it an earthquake?” Martha held onto Sira for support as she asked Koga standing at the head.

Koga knew better as he shook his head.

“No. There’s a battle taking place up ahead and by the feel of these tremors, it sounds like it's over” Koga frowned as he clenched his fists and worried for the safety of his captain. “*Please be alright…*” He’d never say it to his face but Koga was rather worried about him, fearing that the Spider captain may have been too much for him. If the worst did happen, Koga didn’t care what shape his body was in; he was going to jump in and save him.

“Let’s go” He wasted no more time and led the group forward, passing through corner after corner until he finally saw a door. He rushed forward, breaking through it as the group marched in and gasped in shock at the now destroyed auction house. It was a complete disaster and there wasn’t a single person in sight as Koga slowly walked in and tried to imagine how the place had come to end up like this.

“Joey, where are you!” He shouted, worry still etched into his mind as he searched all around and spotted a body lying in a large crater in the center of the room. He feared for the worst and ran towards that figure, stopping himself short when he finally got a look at it.

It was none other than the unconscious body of Jack Douglas.

“...He really did it,” Koga mouthed, feeling a mix of emotions as the group behind him caught up and also couldn’t believe their eyes.

“Isn’t that the Spider Claw captain?”

“He was defeated? Seriously?”

“What kind of person could take down that monster?”

Martha herself was stunned beyond belief. First Lady Tarantula and now Spider Claw Douglas? Those weren’t just some amateur pirates; they were feared terrorists plaguing the South Blue that boasted one of the strongest crews throughout this part of the sea. To think they’d be defeated by these young boys, it was a shock to the system.

“It’s about time you guys showed up”

All eyes turned to the approaching Joey who was waving at them while still being covered in injuries from head to toe. The relief on Koga’s face was almost heartwarming before he attempted to hide it by nudging Joey with his elbow while grinning.

“Heh, so you actually won? I was starting to think I might have to take over your spot as captain if you were too weak” Koga lied, his act fooling no one.

Joey rolled his eyes. “Uh huh. You should be grateful towards me. There’s no way you would have beaten him if you look like that after beating his lackies” He jeered with a smirk before Koga’s eyes twitched in annoyance.

“The hell was that!” Koga amusedly placed him into a headlock as the two bickered and argued, causing giggles and laughter to spread from the slaves and even Martha herself, who never stopped being amused by the actions of these pirates.

Joey continued to bicker with Koga until he spotted Sira staring at them, turning back to Koga with a grateful expression. “I knew I could count on you, Koga”

Koga blushed a bit at the sudden praise as he let him go and crossed his arms. “It was a captain’s order so I didn’t really have much of a choice. Besides, I wanted to save her for my own reasons as well, not just cuz you told me too” He hmphed.

“Okay Mr. Tough guy” Joey laughed at his friend’s haughty attitude before he stepped closer to Sira, finally meeting her face to face for the first time.

“Your name’s Sira, right? I’m Gale D. Joseph, but you can just call me Joey. It's nice to finally meet you, though it feels a bit weird saying that after everything that's happened so far" He laughed a bit, extending his hand forward with the intent of a handshake.

"Sorry about the blood, I'm sure you'd rather shake my hand when its clean" He apologized as he knew his appearance wasn't exactly the most presentable.

It was odd, that after all they had been through this is how they were formally introduced, but then again, what was a normal introduction? Sira extended her hand, shaking his own while nodding her head. "W-well, hi Joey! Nice to meet you, yeah that- that's right! I'm Sira. Charlotte Sira." She exclaimed happily, a bit taken away by the coolness of the man.

Joey chuckled at her enthusiastic response, finding her positivity to be quite endearing.

“How cute. It’s like she’s meeting a superhero” Martha chimed in as she adjusted her glasses with a smile curving onto her lips as Koga nodded at that. She wasn’t off her mark as both Joey and Koga were practically heroes to not just her, but also the slaves behind Martha who had been staring at the two of them like they were advents sent from god.

“Thank you” Martha bowed to Joey, who she had figured out was the leader of their group. “It’s only because you decided to stop Douglas from purchasing Sira and causing such an uproar during the auction that I was able to save all of these slaves. Words cannot express my gratitude towards you”

The rest of the slaves also bowed, showing their sincerity as Joey looked a bit embarrassed at the praise but accepted it nonetheless. Even though he hadn’t intended on it, he was glad that this was what his actions had led too and he’d rather not dampen the mood by explaining otherwise.

Everything seemed light and cheerful until a loud voice was heard just outside the broken walls.

“This is the Marines! If there are any remaining pirates still in the building, surrender now! We've already captured most of the Spider Claw pirates and you'll be next as we'll soon have this place surrounded!"

Koga frowned heavily when he heard that voice. “Damn, they’re already here” He turned to Joey “C'mon, let's go. We don't have any time to waste”

Joey nodded, turning to Martha. “What do you guys plan on doing?”

“I plan on helping all of these men and women get back to their homes as I’m sure wherever they were kidnapped from, they must be sorely missed” Martha explained. “I’m going to work hard and make sure that not another slave will be sold on this island” She announced with a determined look.

Joey and Koga nodded at her conviction, proud that she had such an ambitious dream before they turned to Sira.

“And what about you? The auction was cancelled so technically I’m not your owner or your master. You are a free woman and can choose for yourself what path you want to follow” He stated, ignoring the surprised look from Koga who clearly seemed bothered by his implication that he might allow her to leave after fighting so hard for her.

“You can either go with them...” He held out his hand, a gentle and welcoming look on his face as he and Sira’s eyes met clearly “...or you can come with us. Oh, and just so you know” He grinned toothily “We’d be more than happy to have you”

Sira was shocked, surprised even, that he had planned to free everyone!? The stories she heard, all that she was told about pirates had always been bad... like those... those spiders, but they seemed different, nice even.

And then he offered for her to join them? For her? Charlotte Sira? The slave, to become a pirate? It seemed so unreal until she realized that was no longer her title, feeling her wrists and her neck, she didn't feel chains, and it came to her. "I'd love to join you guys... I-I don't know a whole lot about being a pirate though.." Sira said, her feet playing with each other in nervousness. "But I'm gonna try my best!" She brought her fists in the air, smiling, she was determined!

Koga smiled and Joey laughed out loud, his excitement uncontainable at acquiring another crew mate. She was even a devil fruit user! And all it took was fighting one of the most dangerous pirates in the South Blue who could also turn into a ten foot spider. No biggie.

“Then welcome to our crew. Now, our first order of business…” He quickly grabbed her hand and began running in the opposite direction. “...is to get the hell out of here!”

“At least try not to freak the girl out” Koga said bemusedly as he followed after them.

Martha, who had been left remaining with the slaves, smiled warmly at the sight of the three of them leaving and believed in her heart that they would go on to accomplish great things. The smile on Sira's face was the happiest she had ever seen the girl and a tear fell out of her left eye, causing her to remove her glasses as she wiped her face.

“I suppose there are pirates like that who are able to inspire others. Who knew?” She said, wishing them all the best and hoping to meet them again in the future someday.

Joey, Koga, and their newest crew mate Sira had made it out of the auction house’s back exit and ran until they reached the shipping docks but found a slight problem as they noticed a few marines checking the ship, that they had stolen from marine captain Raigo, out.

“Damn” Koga cursed, looking over to Joey who only nodded back to him in return, confusing Koga.

“Relax, let me handle this” He assured him with a wink as he instructed both him and Sira to hide behind a nearby barrel as he strolled up to the ship, catching the Marines attention. He waved at them with a friendly smile. “Top the morning gentleman! May I ask what brings you fine marine soldiers to these parts?”

Some of the marines raised their eyebrows at that question, wondering why a supposed tourist or resident would even ask that. Koga face palmed as he stood behind the barrel with Sira.

“Ugh, this’ll never work. Sira, prepare yourself as we might have to fight it out” Koga explained, forming a saw blade in his hand just in case.

Sira was nervous, as always. Fighting wasn't exactly her field of expertise and she looked around at the marines, at her newfound friends and realized that eventually, she would have to fight so why not start now? Lacking a weapon, she held up her fists, it wasn't a good stance by any means, it resembled more of a scared lamb trying it's best to fight off a pack of wolves than anything else but, it was still something. "A-alright!"

Koga found the act of Sira trying to be brave by holding up her fists like a boxer rather cute and patted her shoulder, giving her a small smile.

“I appreciate the sentiment but close combat isn’t your specialty, not right now at least. Just back me up, that power of yours will definitely help me out” He explained, turning back to Joey who was still acting. “*But hopefully, it won’t have to com'**e'** to that*”

Back with the Marines, the one who seemed to be the squad leader stepped up from the docks and decided to explain the situation to the unknown blonde.

“Well, we found this marine vessel docked here and have been wondering who it belongs too as there was no one on board. We plan on sending a report and asking for an identification number” He tried his best to explain it in simple terms to someone not part of the marines.

“Oh I see…” Joey nodded in understanding, having already figured out that much. He glanced around, counting the number of marines at the port. No more than a dozen or so of them were here, most likely due to the fact that the rest of them were at the auction house trying to clean up the mess.

The marine squad leader sighed. “Though if you ask me, I’d much rather be over at the auction house rounding up those outlaws. It’s just not fair” His rather personal comment caused a gleam to sparkle in Joey’s eyes.

“*I can use this…*” He smiled deviously, stepping closer as he prepared to put on a show.

“You can’t be serious!” Joey shouted suddenly, alerting everyone’s attention all of a sudden.

“W-What?” The squad leader blinked in confusion. What was the problem?

“Are you telling me it’s fine that while the rest of your comrades are fighting to capture those criminals, you guys are just standing on your asses doing nothing!?” He played up the theatrics and yelled with passion in his voice.

“H-Hey, we’re not exactly lying around doing nothing…” The squad leader tried to argue back, his voice a bit shaky as he knew deep down the boy was right.

“But you are! You're doing nothing! That means that whoever sent you guys here clearly believes you all don’t have what it takes to be on the battlefield!” He pointed to the other marines behind the squad leader, causing nervous and frustrated looks to appear on their faces.

The squad leader himself looked the most troubled as he clenched his fists and shot Joey a pleading look. “B-But what are we supposed to do? We’re under orders”

Joey walked up to the man, placed a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a reassuring thumbs up, adding in a charming smile to play up the act.

“Sometimes, you have to break the law to serve the law. If you truly are a marine and want to enforce justice, you already know what you have to do. You're a man, aren’t you?”

Those words sent a resounding shock among the nearby marines who all looked at each other and then back at their squad leader.

“He’s right squad leader!”

“We have to go! What the hell are we even doing here!?”

“We’re marines too! We want to fight!”

The squad leader heard their cries and nodded, raising his arm into the air. “Then let’s go men! To the auction house! We’re going to stop those damn pirates no matter what!”

“YEAH!” They shouted in unison as they all began running out of the shipping dock. The squad leader followed after them, but not before he turned back to Joey with an admirable gaze.

“Just who are you?”

Joey smirked, rubbing his chin as he looked over his shoulder all dramatic like, as if he were a movie protagonist.  “I’m called many things, but you my friend, can just call me an ally of justice”

“..*.What a badass*…” The marines eyes sparkled with excitement as he gave Joey the most resolute salute towards him and then took off after his men, leaving Joey by himself as he looked over to Koga and Sira with a smug look.

“Child’s play” He shot them a wink as Koga and Sira’s mouths hung wide open at what they just witnessed.

“...Did  you just see what I did?” Koga asked his female companion

Sira was dumbfounded, they really feell for that? "Uhhhh-uhhh." She said, practically having to force her jaw shut! Being a pirate was going to be a lot easier than she imagined.

“Don’t be jealous of my acting skills” Joey joked as he motioned for them to follow him. “Well c’mon! We’re burning daylight!” He ran towards the ship as Koga and Sira got over their shock and eventually chased after him. Joey didn’t know how long his act would work for so he needed to book it now.

Koga released the rope holding the ship and picked up Sira before jumping onto the deck as it began to sail away. The island grew smaller and smaller with each passing second until it was almost completely out of sight, causing a sigh of relief to wash over all of their faces as they sat down on the ground.

“Now that was one hell of a trip” Joey exclaimed.

“I still can’t believe they bought that” Koga expressed his disbelief as he shook his head. “Thank god those guys were idiots and didn’t know what we looked like”

Joey smiled, having anticipated that much. “That’s because they’re not on a man hunt for us. Remember what I said before? If we had taken that Raigo guy hostage, then they most certainly would have alerted every marine station in the South Blue to track us down. But because we only stole a ship, they’re mad but not desperate”

Koga was stunned. “You seriously thought this far ahead?” He almost didn’t believe it.

Joey pointed to his head, a nostalgic memory surfacing in his mind. “My old man always told me that the one who can predict what others will do is the one that is the most dangerous” He explained as he stood up and walked to the head of the ship.

“In any case, we managed to get away. That’s all that matters” He smiled at his two crew mates before a sad look appeared on his face when he looked at Koga. “Sorry about your treasure Koga, I know it meant alot to you”

Koga blinked before he waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. Like you said, I can start a new collection from now on as a pirate. Besides…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out an expensive looking pearl necklace, surprising both Sira and Joey. “Thanks to that spider girl, I’ve already got my first one”

Joey whistled with an impressed look. “I’d expect nothing less from my first mate” He then looked over towards Sira. “Hm, I wonder what position you should fill? We’ve been looking for a navigator but…” He crossed his arms and thought deeply, wondering if there were any other positions that might suit her, not realizing he had just named one.

Sira giggled at their interactions, it was a fun group! Then Joey approached her, asking about positions, mentioning something about needing a navigator. Sira brought a finger to her cheek as if to think about it. "Well, uhm.. I can read maps! And make them! It's something I picked up when.. when I belonged to a noble once." Sira didn't want to talk about the details, but the skill was useful and hopefully it could help them.

Joey blinked, his mouth dropping a bit as he turned to the also stunned Koga before his gaze settled on Sira once more. Seriously? Just when they needed a navigator, one shows up in their lap in the form of a former slave they had just saved. If this wasn’t fate, he didn't know what was.

“Say no more” Joey knew talking about her past was the last thing she wanted and only focused on the positive as he gave her high five. “Then that’s settled. You're our navigator! We’ll be counting on you from now on”

“Welcome to this crazy group of pirates” Koga welcomed her, a rare smile seen on his face. He had fought together with Sira and so he knew more than anyone how great it was that she was joining.

“Now then” Joey looked forward onto the vast oceans ahead with his two crew mates behind him, curling his hand into his hair before a grin spread across his face.

“Our next adventure awaits”