The Strongest Man in the World

by Vesperia

6. Breezy Town Arc - A Meal and a Show

Occasionally I have been getting the strangest feeling of being watched. Not all the time mind you, the feeling sort of just pops up every now and then. Every time I try and spot the supposed watcher I don't see anything, sometimes I see a small shadow duck behind a wall and when I see it, I sprint to its location. But nothing is there when I reach the alley or wall or whatever.

I'm beginning to think I've gone mad.

I snorted, annoyed at many things right now. It's been a few hours since I last saw my potential first mate and the being watched feeling sprang up. My stomach growled as I walked down a random street. I put a hand over it and complained, "Gah... I'm hungry. Where's a restaurant when you need one?"

I gave a sigh now and began my new search of a place to eat, finding my new crew mate had to be put on pause right now. I walked about a block and took a left. And what do I find? A large tavern, and those were a great place to get some food and drink. Grinning, I jogged across the street and just barely managed to squeeze myself through the double doors.

Every individual in the tavern went quiet when I entered the building. Even though I had to practically squat to fit in here I shuffled myself to the bar. The people already seated there scrambled to get out of my way, shrugging I grabbed two stools and seated myself on them. I placed my bisento up against the counter and turned my head to stare at the people that were still staring at me.

I finally broke the silence after a few seconds of silence I grunted out, "Well? What do you want? Stop staring and get back to eating and drinking."

Everyone turned back to their drinks and friends and the silence slowly ebbed way to what would be the usual levels of chattering in a tavern. I turned away from them and looked at the nervous barkeep.

"Give me five of whatever your special is. And a barrel of... what kind of alcohol do you have?"

The barkeep, seeming to get his nerves together, said, "We have cider here, usually my stock would be more varied but pirates raided the last shipment." He went silent as he thought about something, "A... barrel you say?"

I nodded, "Yes, a barrel. And cider is fine, never had it before. Now hurry, I'm starved."

The man looked bewildered but complied with my demands. I heard him mutter, "Never had cider? How...". I didn't pay much attention to it though, cider was probably the most commonly drunk alcohol in this new world for all I knew. I tapped a finger on the bar as I waited for the food and barrel to arrive. I felt that tingling sensation of being watched, I tensed and slightly turned my head right.

I saw out of my peripheral someone seated alone at a table. It wasn't my mystery dragon, the person looked far too thin and much smaller for that. From the build I'd wager that the person was female and likely whatever passed as a young teen here, but I couldn't get any details with that long cloak and hood in the way. I mentally noted where she was and turned my head forward again. I must have been observing the mysterious stalker for longer than I thought, the food was ready.

The barkeep put down a huge bowl and when I raised an eyebrow he shrugged and said, "Five special soups here, didn't feel like wasting five bowls for one guy."

Fair enough. I watched as he struggled a bit as he heaved a barrel onto the counter. Once the barrel was secure he huffed in exertion and nodded at me before going back to servicing some of the other patrons. I took the spoon resting on the inside of the bowl and took a gulp of the soup. It was pretty good for tavern food. I turned my head again to see if the mystery person was still there, she was.

I ate the bowl of soup for a minute before deciding I needed a drink.

"Well, here's hoping I get Whitebeard's alcohol tolerance." I thought to myself.

I easily lifted the barrel with one hand, the tavern got quieter for some reason. I unsealed the top of the barrel and looked at the cider inside. "Bottom's up." I thought and drunk straight from the barrel. I heard gasps of astonishment from the other patrons as I drained the barrel. I reached a third of the way through before stopping and putting it on the counter, like one would a simple glass.

I went back to eating, completely ignoring everything around me while feeling like a badass.

"I guess I do get his alcohol tolerance, I don't even feel the slightest bit buzzed."

I looked to my right again, the stranger was gone.

"Looking for me?" A girlish voice to my left asked.

I admit... I did not expect that and jumped just a tad. I turned and looked down at the voice, annoyed, and said, "Yeah, you've been following me all day haven't you? Why?" I took another few mouthfuls of soup as I stared down at her.

She was silent for a moment before saying, "I know you want to take Spike away from here." She looked down at her hands, they were dirty which prompted another look at the new girl before me. "And... please don't take him back to the marines sir."

The girl bowed her head and silently wept, I put my spoon down when I finished my food and looked at her.

"Why do you think I'm a marine? I don't have anything to do with them." I chugged the last of my cider as I examined her.

The hooded girl looked at me in astonishment. "What? You... you aren't a Marine? Then why do you-" The girl was cut off when the doors to the tavern burst open. One fell to the floor, its hinges bent and broken.

It was my new first mate, his head swiveled around as he took in everything and everyone. His eyes locked onto me, or more specifically the girl beside me. He sprinted towards us and positioned himself in between, slamming his clawed hand on the counter hard enough to leave gouges. He was lacking his hood now, I finally got a clear look at his face. Everything scaly except his jaw was purple, he had green slitted eyes, and a green fin thing that looked like a mohawk. He also had some weird light green things on the sides of his head as well.

He interrupted my inner thoughts when he pointed a claw at me and said, "Stay away from her bub. I already said I won't be taken by a Marine and-!"

"I'm not a Marine! I'm a pirate!" I shouted and slammed the side of my fist on the counter, cracking it. "How do I in any way give off a Marine vibe?!" The tavern goers screamed and scrambled to get out of the tavern as quickly as possible in order to get away from the large man that just announced he was a pirate. Unfinished meals and drinks littered the tables, even the barkeep wasn't around right now.

The dragon looked taken aback, "Wait... if you weren't a Marine then why did you chase me?"

"To get you to join my pirate crew of course!"

Spike blinked, then shook his head. "No way! I don't want to be a pirate!"

I huffed and crossed my arms, "Well too bad! You're my first mate now!"

"No! I have things to do here! I can't just up and leave whenever!"

"Too bad." I turned my head in the other direction, as if dismissing his reasons.

Spike sighed and pinched the bridge of his snout. He took and deep breath and slowly released it, a small flame shot out from between his sharp teeth, nearly searing my leg. He must've notice because he snapped his mouth closed and mumbled an apology, as if expecting me to be fearful. I however practically had stars in my eyes.

"Dude, that was awesome! That's why I love dragons! They are so neat!"

My little exclamation must have surprised him. "What? But most are afraid of dragons. You know? Sharp teeth, fire that kills..." Spike trailed off.

"Pfft, please. I'm obviously not most."

"Um..." A small voice spoke out.

Spike and I turned to the hooded girl. She seemed nervous for some reason. The girl pointed to a window and we all turned to look out of it. From what I could see there was a large squad of Marines outside of the tavern. I squinted, trying to look out the rather dirty glass, and noted that they had guns and swords alike. Reminded me of the One Piece Marines.

"Hmm... I wonder what they want." I simply said.

"PIRATES!!" A loud shout came from outside. "WE THE MARINES DEMAND YOU COME OUT AND TURN YOURSELVES IN! IF COMPLIANCE IS MET, THEN YOU WILL BE TREATED WITH UPMOST RESPECT. IF YOU FIGHT THEN LETHAL FORCE MAY BE AUTHORIZED!"

The loudmouth went silent and we the group of three were left to stew. I turned to Spike, "Well buddy it turns out you are a pirate now! Can't wait to bring you aboard!"

He turned to me with an annoyed and angered expression, "Gah! I told you I'm not gonna be a pirate!" He inhaled and exhaled in an attempt to calm down. Once calm he looked at me and said, "Look, I don't really trust you. But at least you aren't a Marine. I don't want to become a pirate. But I do want to protect her." Spike pointed at the hooded girl, who shuffled on her feet nervously.

I looked at her, "What's so special about her?"

He shook his head, "Not now. Maybe later." He looked outside at the Marines stationed there. "We need to get out of here, there is a backdoor I can sneak myself and... her out. But you wouldn't fit..."

I laughed, "Don't worry about me. I can take care of a few grunts." I grabbed my bisento, turned to Spike and said, "Now where should we meet up?"

He looked at me like I was crazy but thought better of trying to persuade me different. "East of town, there should be a river and along that river you'll find a house in a clearing near it's banks. Once you escape head there... if you survive." I shrugged at Spike and watched him leave out the backdoor.

I turned to face the front door and said, "Well, best not to keep the poor men waiting."

I twirled the weapon around in my hand before flinging it p into the air. It crashed through the roof and left a rather big hole, I'd apologize to whoever owned this but he probably left a while ago. I heard shouts of alarm as my weapon slammed blade first in the street just outside the tavern.

I tensed my legs and leaped out of the tavern and through the new hole I made in the roof. I crossed my arms in front of myself and channeled my devil fruit power, I was thankful that I practiced during my voyage here. I could make the vibrations explode on contact with something instead of it just carrying forward until it didn't have any energy left.

And explode it did when I landed in front of my bisento and slammed my fists to the sides. Two cracks appeared in the air in front of my fists and the shockwaves shot out. When they each hit a soldier the shockwaves exploded and the Marines flew in every direction, screaming in surprise and pain when they collided with an object or each other. Only a few were left and those were the ones directly in front of me, they were shaking in fear and one even gulped.

They seemed to remember that they were Marines and were suppose to fight pirates like myself. So they gathered up their courage and pointed their weapons at me. Faster than they could blink I reached back and grabbed my bisento, they shot and I swept the blade in front of myself. The blade's side bounced the bullets away, and any that got past the blade were directed off course by the wind pressure and away from my body.

Not letting them get over the shock of that move I swung the bisento again and cut through them. Blood splattered on the floor and judging from their new cut I doubted it was deep enough to kill. I cracked my neck and rested the bisento on my shoulder. I still needed a bit of work on my fighting skills and I couldn't improve if I kept fighting fodder.

I turned to what I thought was the east and was about to jump forward. However, I got a flash of something in my mind of a bullet going through my heart from behind. I dodged to the left and a gun shot filled the air. The bullet whizzed through my previous location. I looked in the direction it came from and saw a prone Marine, he was barely holding the pistol in his hands.

"D-Do you have eyes in the back of your head?" The Marine stuttered out.

"No." I simply said as I glared down at him and kicked him in the side. He was flung into a nearby wall and passed out. With that taken care of I jumped onto a roof and ran across the rooftops to my new destination.

Author's Note:

Well, here you go!

Tell me what ya think!

Comments

[Chibalt]

Haki, yay.

If there isn't haki in this universe then he has a massive advantage.

[Tonto the Trotter]

Must...Have...More =) Great chapter, I really liked it, can't wait to read even more ^w^

[Cobalt Hope]

6549287
What scary is that in cannon White Beard never really used Haki all that much except conquerors and some Kenbunshoku Haki. Maybe becuase he was too old and sick, or just didn't need it.

[Schroedingers_Katze]

Sweet. Can´t wait for the next chapter and see if my guess-timate who the mystery Girl is right.^^

[mrkillwolf666]

10/10

[Chibalt]

6549392 Pretty much, there was almost no visible useage of haki during his fight, that and consider this: The Whitebeard from One Piece was aging, had numerous health problems and he STILL almost outright killed one of the marine admirals who could barely even put up a fight.

How out of their league is he when Whitebeard is at the prime of his power as is implied here?

[Vesperia]

6549287 I'm most certainly including Haki in this universe

[Regreme]

Nice chapter. Though, seemed a bit sudden for him to attack them. If I were him, I would have just went: "And what's the crime? So, I'm a pirate. Have I hurt anyone? Do you have proof? ...No? Then, leave me the fuck alone." *walk past while ignoring them with a cocky smirk*

[Ink Sword]

let me guess, Twilight is the little girl? Why do I get the feeling that she will be joining Whitebeard's crew?

[shinigamisparda]

Really want to know what Spike's deal is, and also who the pony girl is.

[Closet-Bronie-333]

this is great more please ^.^

[SilentMech]

Observational haki already? Limited to around him it seems for now. Practice and training will expand it, and potentially let him get armament haki for his weapon. He might wind up with conqueror haki down the line as well. For now though, he has to mainly practice his tremor control.

[Hoppa_21]

6549915

Probably Twilight. I would guess that they escaped the marines for some unknown reason. Maybe Twilight was a marine too and helped Spike escape? Maybe Twilight is the new Robin? Possibilities are endless! But I'm really thrilled to see what happens next!

[buster_Bro]

Poor marines. Spike and fluttershy are his new crewmates...neat.

[Lord_Kalbario]

Girl's probably twilight, except she's the younger one

[Texus]

Well in one way I would hope if it aren´t just the normal mlp Characters, I mean not everyone that is a more important character, but then again it could be nice too.

I forgot if Luna, or Celestia exist in this universe, and they don´t need to be that strong, but I´m actually curious if you would even take characters like Chrysalis, Luna, Trixie, Starlight Glimmer or some other weird characters in your crew? I just said Chrysalis, and Trixie because they are two of my Top....5 favourite Characters, yes I think they are at least under the Top 5.

If you are going to use mostly characters from the show, I would like it, if you could even use one of the Villains too, I mean it doesn´t have to work like in the show, or he could just do the same like Ruffy did with Robin, she was somehow mean too, at least for a while.

Nice story, I really start to like it, and after last time I enjoy the idea of this Spike in his crew too.

[Jarimor]

well, this will be interesting.

[DarkLord of Fire]

6550660 nice pic i love it

[buster_Bro]

6554230 Thanks my brother loved it and I thought it was funny.

[nightmaster0]

Great chapter.

[Vesperia]

6557953 Thanks

[RealityDowngrade]

Attacking what amounts to cops who are doing their job is kinda weird dude.

[Anna Lynn]

6632014 Pirate. It's par for the course.

[Dismay]

6632014 . . . . . . He's a Pirate bro who doesnt give a shit.