Casper looked at his greedy captain and then towards the numerous bodies littering the deck of the ship.
His face turned aghast as he looked at his former captain, "Why did you do this, Raizo?! For that Devil Fruit? The crew wouldn't have refused you taking it, they would gladly give it up! We could've risen together!"
Casper yelled out at his former commander.
A smirk appeared on his face as he looked at Casper, "That's true, I could've done that. But I wanted a clean slate, this crew was bothersome and weak.
"I wanted to start over and these…. creatures were troublesome." He added with a pause.
Casper's eyes were downcast as he looked at the blood pooling in his feet.
"I guess this is it, one shall rise and one shall fall."
Casper added ominously, his fingers wandered to his side as he drew his tachi.
Raizo grinned and drew a pistol from his coat, they stared at each other for a few moments before Casper lunged at him.
Casper's steps were soft as he glided over the deck, his eyes had a glint of hatred and determination as he made his way towards Raizo.
Seeing that Casper made his move, Raizo unleashed four shots in each of his directions, Casper clicked his tongue and danced around them one by one.
But a lonesome bullet penetrated his left arm, sending a spray of blood into the air.
Casper grunted and endured the pain.
His steps suddenly turned strong as he pushed himself toward his bastard of a captain.
Raizo's face twisted into a scowl as he used the ramrod of his flintlock to deflect Casper's attack.
He faltered slightly as his face showed a little amount of surprise, "You call me a traitor Casper but it seems you were hiding your strength, so who is the real traitor now."
Casper scoffed, "You cannot talk, my traitorous captain."
Their fight continued for several minutes, both of them holding their own.
They tried their damndest to land blows but were miserably failing.
Casper soon extended his hand and grasped Raizo's neck, his sword lunged forward to his chest as he tried to land a fatal blow.
But Raizo, who had earned his mettle over numerous dangerous battles, had anticipated his attack.
He twisted his body and used Casper's chest to spring himself away.
But he didn't stop there.
He aimed his gun at Casper and fired a shot to his chest.
Casper, who had lost his footing, could do nothing except watch the bullet fly.
His foot lost its grip as he fell down hard onto the deck, a rain of blood spurted from his shoulder as he groaned in pain.
But Casper didn't let himself stop there, he picked up his bearings and rolled to his right, avoiding a few more shots.
'Six shots over, he's done.' Casper added in his mind.
He dashed towards the black haired guy and held his sword high.
With an enormous amount of force, he bought it down on the freckled devil and slashed his shoulder apart.
Before he could even offer any resistance, Casper continued his bloody assault.
Raizo endured the pain as he broke away from the fight, though blood trickled down his shoulders, he continued to reload his flintlock.
His breath was raspy as he understood that time was slipping from his grasp with each round he put in the chamber.
Casper on the other hand struggled to maintain consciousness, the shots from before were taking a toll on his body.
The movements he performed were not as easy as they seemed, as he pushed his body to its limits.
But the power he had once held, had gradually faded from the years of inactivity.
His thoughts were interrupted as a shot echoed throughout the blood stained deck.
Casper was barely able to block the attack by raising his sword.
The bullet struck the blade with a harsh clang that vibrated through his arm, denting the sword and sending a jolt through his body.
The jolt caused him to stumble as his breathing grew haggard.
The two circled each other, as the realisation that this was going to be the deciding move dawned upon them.
Casper's once smooth movement had gone weak, but his will burned brightly.
In a fierce and sudden lunge, Casper fainted left then right.
As Raizo's attack missed his body, his blade flashed through the musky air and caught Raizo across his chest with a sickening rip.
Raizo staggered, he painted the deck with his blood, as he collapsed to one knee.
His face was pale as his grip on his pistol slipped.
His body collapsed onto the deck beside his trusty weapon, his captain's hat fluttered along with the wind, symbolising the loss of his position.
Casper's ragged breaths were the only thing echoing throughout the ocean.
He made his way to Raizo's quarters, which was just opposite to their deadly battle, and retrieved a brown box with golden highlights.
His room was empty except for a few barrels of gunpowder, 'I—It seems he wanted to burn the ship to erase all traces of himself….'
Casper whispered in his mind as he discarded his damaged sword, it was useless to him now. But it gave him a thumping feeling in his heart, he had a lot of fond memories with that piece of metal.
He walked next to Raizo with the box in hand and opened it, revealing a spherical spiralled fruit.
It was deep blue in color and emitted an aura of mystery, its spirals gave off a feeling that thunder was circling the fruit.
Casper soon glanced at Raizo's body and slowly whispered, "Whether or not you would have killed the crew, I would've done it myself.
"You saved me the trouble my foolish captain, I went through a lot of trouble to get my hands on this fruit. I was sure as hell not letting you get this. I have a promise to fulfill, for that I'm sorry."
Casper admitted, though he didn't know why he suddenly confessed.
Was it guilt? He had shared plenty of spectacular memories with them, so was he sorrowful for betraying them?
Another answer was him gloating, he had successfully run a con for almost three years, and had successfully succeeded.
Had he already lost himself with his years of being a pirate?
Well no matter what was now more important was the consumption of the fruit.
"Hito Hito No Mi, Model: Boukun" He whispered.
In other words, Human Human Fruit, Model: Tyrant.
Just as the tip of the fruit reached his mouth.
Raizo with speed never seen before pulled his pistol next to him and fired into the barrels of gunpowder.
"I don't know what your plans are, but I'm sure as hell not going to let you achieve them!" He echoed thunderously.
Casper's eyes shifted into an unseen rage as he yelled out, "Bastard!"
The barrels exploded without even a moment of hesitation as a storm of fire wrapped the ship.
But just before it reached him, Casper was able to take a small bite of the fruit as the flame wrapped itself around him.
The ship quickly exploded sending the charred version of him, into the everlasting ocean