Subordination

“Wood? You’re telling me with your fire you’re not able to beat that Brent? How strong is actually the guy?” I was not willing to believe what Hao just said to me… He was using Fire skills and wood would normally be the most unwise weapon to use against him. This was the world upside down.

“Truth is weirder than fiction mate. I’m not really taking any pride in saying this but our worldview is limited living on such a small island. The thing with devil fruit users is they become creative with time. Brent has fought on the Grand Line and I bet he’s met his fair share of Fire affinity fighters. I mean it’s one of the most destructive elements. You’d figure out that’s what most people would be utilizing to cause ruin and destruction…” Hao paused and smiled bitterly. I agreed with his reasoning.

“Makes sense...but where are you going with this? You still haven’t answered my question.” I retorted, perplexed where he was trying take this.

“I’m not really an expert on the subject, but he’s managed through some weird science application to make his wood so compressed that it’s almost impervious to fire. That’s one of the reasons why he can defeat me so easily, besides being able to avoid physical damage thanks to his logia’s body.” Hao made a clearer explanation.

“Neat!!” Luffy listened to all of this. “So he’s some mysterious wood guy basically?” And there you go! I thought…

“Pfft!!” Hao laughed and started to make fun of the little guy. They went back for round two while I started to devise a plan with the rest of the guys.

The fight had attracted a lot of unnecessary attention and people must have reported what happened to the pirate crew already. Brent, being the boss around here, would want to gather all the threatening forces. I was strong enough to warranty him sending scouts and recruiting officers here. If I accepted to follow them things would go fine; In the other case…

Anyway, we had to make decisions here. Fight now or avoid trouble. Things would only escalate from now on and those guys would never take no for an answer. As reckless as I was, I would want to head first into the tiger’s mouth and meet the pirates at their headquarters. I wanted to investigate and take possession of whatever they had stashed there, and I was not sure they would not hide it if they figured out danger was coming at their doorstep.

Fighting and defeating his crew members consecutively was the safest thing to do, but what if they became aware of our true strength in the process? Would they flee, hide their treasures or relocate? I really did not know.

On the other hand, I was not able to estimate the strength of our opponents. In case they were more powerful than all of us, we were basically screwed. I had never met anyone stronger than me, besides you know...Gramps or Shanks. But it was not a fair comparison. Those guys were veterans and battle-hardened monsters. Using them as comparison scale for small-time bandits was disrespectful.

Considering all this, it was not strange for me to become a bit arrogant. However, the experience from my previous life helped me to keep a cool head and be wiser. I was eager to go and fight like a barbaric fool right now. But an inner voice kept me from such irrationality. Good things would always come to the patient. Arrogance and foolhardiness were only useful in precipitating ardent men’s fall. It was pivotal to dissociate bravery from madness.

Time passed as I was considering all sorts of potential scenarios and configurations this could go...Soon I told everyone to pack up their bags and follow me back to the forest. I wanted to avoid the storm first. This was a cowardly tactic some would say, but it was the only thing I could do right now. I was not prepared to meet abnormal existences such as the twins’ and I could not fathom the strength of people being able to tie them down. I had fought a bit seriously against Hao, If I did not use killing techniques he was almost my equal. Anyone else in our group would have suffered defeat against him. Even if Sabo went all out he could not injure him.

So, the best thing to do was to use hide and kill tactics to take out the foes coming our way. Once we had reduced their fighting’s strength we could come up with a better plan.

As we were going back to the forest Hao approached me and took me apart from the group, claiming he needed to have a “serious talk”.

“You guys want to become pirates right?” He asked having observed us and understood most of our motivations.

“Yeah, that’s the idea. Ace and Sabo have their own plans. I don’t know exactly why Ace wants to become a pirate but he has set a goal for himself and needs to defeat a certain person. As for Luffy...Well, the guy wants to become the Pirate King.” I summed up the situation vaguely.

“...” Hao stayed silent for a moment. “What?” I asked; I did not understand why he looked at me with such insistence. He looked as if he’d come encountered a difficult math problem.

“Why?” He retorted all of a sudden.

“Why what?” I was not sure what he meant. “Why we’re aiming to become pirates?” I guessed randomly. Beside this what could he want to know?

“No...Don’t play dumb. Why would you want to be the subordinate when you’re clearly the stronger guy?” The bomb came and hit me with nowhere to dodge. I had figured someone would ask me this question one day but I was still weak against it. I could not go and say I was reincarnated with a brother complex...Could I? It could easily get misunderstood. I most certainly did not lean that way; I was as straight as it comes, but I had remaining guilt from how I handled family in the past.

“The thing is…” I started to go and explain my reasons to him. As the others were making a shelter in the form of a hut on a giant tree, Hao and I were having a mature conversation. Before long, they were finished and called us.

“Hmm...I get most of your reasons but I feel like you’re still hiding things from me.” He wanted to ask for more and you could see the sweat on my forehead. He was indeed a sharp one.

“Anyway, I don’t care what your reasons are. My brother and I are indebted to you, so we’ll play along with this. However, I need you to remember this. I’m obligated to you, not your brother.” He emphasized and crossed his arms with a mean look.

“??” I was not sure where he was going with this.

“...You can be dense dude. I’m saying I’m your subordinate. Not Luffy’s. Is that clear now? I don’t care how you do this but you'll need to find a way and tell this to him. If not, I’m sorry but we’ll have to renege on our promise.”

“But…” I was stopped before I could continue.

“No buts and If. Figure this out on your own. That brother of yours is a cool guy but let’s be real. You and I are more alike!” He smiled and left before I could try and find excuses.