"Why do you do it?" Coby asked as they were sailing, his voice timid and weak.
"Do what?", I glanced over to him, enjoying the sunlight, which hit my face. I was lucky that I didn't inherit the vampire's weaknesses, only their abilities. He couldn't live without the sun!
"You drain your victim of their blood. It leaves quite the impression but… why?", he swept away a lock of blue hair as he stared at me, fear shining behind those big, bright eyes.
"To get stronger"
"Stronger? How does that make you stronger?" Coby, despite being terrified, still asked. A bit of the determination resting within his heart shone through.
"I am… special, not quite human"
"Did you eat a devil fruit too?" Luffy asked whilst devouring another fish.
"No, nothing like that. I'm just special in another way. I still can swim", I smile, baring my fangs, "I have these"
"O- oh- okay…" Coby shuddered, turning away. The reaper of the sea was notorious. He had killed over two dozen civilians. At first, they were just designated as random casualties but when more and more were found, drained of blood and with my mark on their body's, the legend of the reaper was born. At first it was two million berry, then three million and then, most recently five million.
"I can see shells town over that way. There is a marine base there, you can enlist there, Coby and Luffy, I heard that Roronoa Zoro is in shells town, he is a talented swordsman. He is known as the pirate hunter", I glanced over to the town in the distance.
"Y- you would actually let me become a marine? But that would make us enemies!" Coby looked at me in surprise.
"I would never stand in the way of your dream. Grow stronger and maybe one day you can battle us. But listen to me. After we land on the island, you cannot stay with us. They will think you are a pirate too if they see you with us. Just make your way to the marine base and enlist there", I was dead serious.
As we docked our ship, Coby ran off but not before thanking Luffy for freeing him from Alvida.
"I'm hungry!" Luffy moaned and we walked into the town. The town looked idyllic, each of the houses were carved out of White stone, like in those photos of Greece. The roofs were painted, some brown, others red or blue. We walked into a small restaurant and took our seats.
"Ah- welcome!" A young woman of twenty years greeted us, her hair tied back into a ponytail, "what can I get for you?"
"Meat please!" Luffy smiled brightly, his stomach rumbling with anticipation.
"I'll take the steak, medium rare" I tapped my fingers on the desk as we waited for the food. Soon after we sat down, the unmistakable figure of Helmeppo came in, flanked by two marine soldiers, "that dumb pirate hunter actually thinks I will let him go!" He mocked, "little does he know, we will be executing him tomorrow, hehehe"
"Pirate hunter? As in Roronoa Zoro?" Luffy asked, "you can't execute him! I want him in my nakama"
"And who are you? A lowly pirate without a bounty? My daddy is ax hand Morgan! A captain of the marines, so what I say goes around here!", Helmeppo laughed.
"I don't care who your daddy is", I smiled sinisterly, "have you heard of the reaper of the sea?"
Some patrons cringed upon that name.
"Rumors", Helmeppo scoffed, "if that thing truly existed, my daddy and the marines would've already caught him"
"Oh really?" I pulled up my shirt and showed him my tattoo of the fanged mouth. He stared at it for a few seconds before realising what it was. His face grew pale and he staggered a few steps back, "y-y- you!"
"Yes me" I grinned, showing off my fangs. The boy ran as if a lion were chasing him and so did the marine soldiers. None of the three were brave enough to test whether he was truly who he said he was.
"Suge! They ran away as soon as they knew who you were! That was so awesome!"
"Get a bounty and maybe you'll command that kind of respect too" I smiled. This fanboying young man would one day be an emperor of the sea, he would command much more respect and fear than I did now.
"Really? I can't wait to have my own bounty!" Luffy beamed, "but now we have to free Zoro before he can be executed so that he can join our nakama!"
"Lead the way captain" I stuffed my steak into my mouth and followed my captain out, throwing a bundle of berry at the young woman who had brought us our food. She looked terrified. Her shaking hands grabbed the money as she stared at me. Clearly, she had heard of the reaper of the sea. This was the duality of infamy. Sure, your enemies respected you but the common folk also feared you. I didn't care though, just following my captain, leaving behind the mortified woman.
We walked past the townspeople. They avoided us. The news of my presence was spreading as we walked. As we got closer to the marine base, marine grunts started appearing. Their bullets bounced off of Luffy's body and I knocked them out. I didn't even have to activate blood buff for it, that was how weak they were.
As we got to the courtyard, a row of marines was positioned facing us, with ax hand Morgan at the front, "you dare to come into this island?! I will show you respect and pain will be your teacher… men, fire!"
The bullets hit Luffy, who jumped in front of me and bounced right back, "that won't work, for I ate the gum gum fruit, making me a rubber person!"
"A devil fruit? Find, if we can't shoot you, maybe my ax will hurt you. Everyone, pick up your swords and charge!!!"