Chapter 20: Fighting Captain Morgan
At the top of the marine tower, Captain Morgan's figure stood tall as he examined the newly-built statue of himself. The statue to him was an authentication of his rank and power that he was obsessed so much with.
I pitied Morgan somewhat… He was hypnotized by Jango into believing that he had captured Kuro, gaining him immediate fame and possibly setting him on the path to his current obsession over rank and power.
Judging Morgan from a far, I exhaled and started gathering thunderstorms storms above the base. For some reason, I had a very strong urge inside me to preach something before I could use my abilities.
"Ahhh… I can't resist anymore… I, Cross, judge Marine Captain Morgan's sins as unforgivable. I condemn his ambitions to eternal damnation."
Thunder rumbled right above the marine tower.
EL THOR!!
Then, a huge powerful lightning bolt crashed down from the sky, frying and melting the entire statue into goo.
Although I had warned Zoro and Nami that I'd be creating a distraction, they'd never have thought I'd be doing something like this. Their eyes went wide, and their minds blanked out for a good minute. If not for the marines being frozen from fear, part of our plan would have gone awry.
I had insisted back on holding my devil fruit powers to avoid unwanted trouble; however, I couldn't risk holding back any longer if I was going to find the One Piece. Additionally, who doesn't want to start out his pirate career with a bang.
"Kill the person responsible for this!" Morgan yelled.
The marines finally came to their senses when the Captain yelled at them. They searched the area, and their eyes quickly landed at Zoro and me at the courtyard. In an orderly fashion, they rushed towards the courtyard to surround us.
"KILL THEM!"
Bang… Bang… the strict orders from Morgan forced the marines to fire their rifles at me.
Unfortunately for them, Zoro was able to dodge the bullets with ease while I didn't even bother moving. The marines stepped back when they saw the bullets pass through my body.
"I-Impossible, I saw the bullets hit him."
"He must have eaten the treasure of the seas!"
"Well if bullets don't work, maybe swords will."
OHHHHHHHHH!..... The marines charged at me with their swords.
By the time they came into range, Nami had arrived at the scene. She had a sly smile on her face as she carried Zoro's katanas on her shoulders. During the distraction I'd created, Nami and Noelle had gone inside the marine base and robbed it clean. She threw the katanas at Zoro, who caught them and immediately unsheathed them with a Shiiing.
"One step closer and you die," Zoro exclaimed.
Zoro's aura become like a demon, scaring the marines around him.
"WAAA….! There's no way I'm getting near him!"
None of the marines dared step closer any longer.
"Cross… while I've agreed to travel with you, I have my own goals. I made a promise to someone that I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman… and I'll even cut you if you stop me." Zoro said, his eyes beaming with determination.
'You wouldn't be my childhood hero otherwise Zoro-senpai,' was what I would have said if it wasn't too embarrassing.
"HAHAHAHA… I'm going hold you to that Roronoa Zoro," I said.
Meanwhile, Captain Morgan stamped his foot at the sight of the cowardly marines. Just when he was about to execute a few of them for cowardice, Helmeppo walked in on the scene.
Helmeppo's nostrils flared when he laid eyes on Zoro. He said, "Dad, you have to kill Zoro! He killed my pet wolf…!"
I smirked at the duo and said, "Axe-Hand Morgan… If you don't have the guts to fight me, just stop wasting our time and we'll be on our way."
Woosh… Morgan finally charged at me.
"People like you, without status… have no right to oppose me! I am the Marine Captain Axe-Hand Morgan and my status is the highest here!!" Morgan yelled.
With a Shuuuu, an axe strike targeted towards my face.
"My name's Cross, nice to meet you too."
'Hmph… After training my Mantra, this doesn't even count as a warm-up… I wonder how that man Zeff's doing though,' I faced Morgan's strike with a relaxed posture, moving my trident to parry.
Tunk… the axe struck the trident, but the latter remained unmoved.
"I-Impossible… With my Axe-Hand, I've risen to the ranks of Captain!" Morgan yelled.
"Smirk.... What Axe-Hand are you talking about?"
"W-What my A-"
AHHHHH… Morgan screamed when he felt the burn in his axe-arm. During my parry earlier, I had conducted severely high voltage current through my trident to Morgan's axe. The axe was visibly melting, burning Morgan along with it.
I grinned maliciously and zeroed in on Morgan. Bwak… I kicked him on the stomach and sent him flying across the Marine base.
"Captain, he…"
"Ahhh… only the devil can beat our Captain like that!"
Beads of sweats rolled down the marines faces as they observed our fight. Helmeppo tried to take advantage of the situation and capture Nami as a hostage; however, Noelle easily shot the gun out of Helmeppo's hand.
Grinning like a Cheshire cat, Noelle said, "Overestimating your abilities aren't you."
In the meantime, I leisurely strode towards Morgan.
"Chhh… j-just kill me," Morgan muttered. He seemed to be hanging to his consciousness by a thread.
"Don't worry… I am feeling excessively generous today." I said.
Electrical Discharge!! ZAAAAAAAAAAAP
Instead of killing the man, I fried certain nerves in his body that carried electrical signals to his muscles. As a result of years of my cruel experimentation on bandits and pirates, I'd found out the perfect way of crippling humans to less than average strength.
I deemed this a fitting end to a man so obsessed with power and his axe-hand.
A few moments later…
LONG LIVE MARINES…!!
WE'RE FREE!!
YES….!
The marines cheered and danced at their liberation, not even bothering to stop us from walking out from the marine base.
**
Nearby the marine base, Nami, Zoro, Koby, and me were invited by Rika's mom to have food to celebrate the new-found freedom of this town.
"Aahhhh… I'm full! I almost starved to death back there…"
Zoro slapped his stomach in satisfaction
"Weren't you trying to survive for the full month!?' Nami asked.
"I would have managed even then… Anyway Cross… you may be taller than me, but how the hell are you eating more food than me?!"
"Chew… Chew… Oh, I think that has something to do with how handsome I am… or maybe my devil fruit powers." I answered.
My attention was completely focused on getting the maximum calories I could before our trip started again. I wasn't completely sure what exactly was responsible for my gluttony, but I felt like I could finally relate to Luffy on one thing.
"That reminds me… you surely weren't human when you turned into lightning. Are all these devil fruit powers invincible?"
"Like I said before, I ate the Rumble-Rumble fruit which literally allows me to turn my body into lightning at will. While it's true that Logia-type fruit users may seem to be invincible like me, they all have their own weakness… Well, what's important for you to know is that if you're unable to even cut my body with your swords… you're far from reaching the title of the world's best swordsman."
"Then I'll a develop a sword technique to cut even devils like you."
Different from normal people's reactions, Zoro's eyes flashed with excitement from being exposed to a new world.
"Oh yea, what're the two of your plans next?" Zoro asked
"We're going to head to the Grand Line!" Noelle answered
.
Koby jumped up from his seat when he heard this. He said, "What?! That's crazy. How can only the three of you go there. It's impossible."
"Hmph… how else I'm going to draw the map of this world if I don't go to the Grand Line?" Nami's eyes sparkled as she imagined exploring the big world out there.
"I see… it won't hurt to go in that direction than. What about you though Cross."
"If there's one thing I want to do is…see what's the mystery at the end of Grand Line. This includes finding the One Piece of course.
WHAAAAAT!!!!! Koby from his chair when he heard me mention the One Piece so casually.
Zoro on the other seemed pleasantly surprised, and he said, "Ha Ha Ha… I wouldn't expect anything less from you Captain…"
"Ah... I absolutely hate pirates but here I am… with a captain who wants to become the king of the pirates." Nami shrugged her shoulders and smiled.
"Stop, Just call me Cross and not Captain everyone… except Nami… I wouldn't mind her calling me Captain in bed when w-"
BUMP… Nami delivered a swift blow at the top of my head. "Keep your fetishes to yourself!" Nami yelled.
"I'm going to out and resupplying for a bit Cross." Zoro said
"I also need to go shopping with Noelle for a bit." Nami, Noelle, and Zoro left soon after thanking Rika's mom for the food again.
"You guys are all so great that you're following your dreams and going to Grand Line… I think I will finally follow my dream and become a marine too." Koby said.
I knitted my brows and thought, 'this Chunibyo kid… good for him though!"
THUK… Right then, a few marine officers barged into Rika's house.
'We're here to arrest you if you don't leave this town right now."
"Though we're thankful for what you did, we're are going to report you all to our superiors"
BUZZ…
I traveled at lightning speed towards my crew members, quickly escaping back to our ship with them. Owing to recent events, everyone in the village saluted us as we sailed away from the island.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone