Garp and I talked a little bit more after that. I asked him if he had any sons or grandsons, to which he responded with two. He said they were unlike you, choosing the vile path of pirates. But he didn’t want to talk on that too much, he said he was sure I would meet them soon enough. He also told me he wasn’t taking me to Navy HQ because he wanted me to mature in East Blue before reaching the treacherous Grand Line.

The Grand Line is a stretch of ocean that circles the world, splitting East and South and North and West. It was similar to the Equator that circles the Earth, except being much larger and surrounded by the Calm Belts, areas without currents and breeding grounds for deadly Sea Kings.

He said I must develop before entering such a dangerous land.

He told me, however, that he was taking Helmeppo and Coby due to some interesting info he heard them talk about. It surprised me, but I was fine with his decision. So after wrapping up our conversation, and after I let everything finally settle in my head, he sent me to Instructor Hotaru’s office for Demolition Squad’s first mission as Petty Officer’s.

In Instructor Hotaru’s office.

“Welcome, Demolition Squad. This is my first and only time briefing, after this it’ll be up to Kenji to brief your missions. Let’s get right into it.” Instructor Hotaru nodded as all four of us stepped into the office. He was enjoying a short break from teaching, after all, he was done with this season’s graduates. But once he got off his break it was back to preparing for the new batch of Marine’s arriving at 201st Marine Base.

“You four will be doing a demolition and infiltration mission, infiltrating a pirate crews HQ in Sazo Island; one of the small islands in this archipelago. They are hidden well, but intelligence has tipped their location and it’s your job to raid it.” He slid us all a wanted poster. It was the bounty of a criminal known as Daichi “Raider” Trak. His bounty was an outstanding 18,000,000! That’s one of the highest bounties in East Blue!

They really weren’t going to make this first mission easy!

“Daichi is a villain who spends time raiding nearby islands for villainous acts. So far he has killed 117 people, burned down 18 villages, and has taken advantage of several women. Interestingly enough, he would attack and then head to his base to hide from the search of nearby Marines. We’re going to have you go to his base, and hopefully, him and his crew won’t be there. If he is, it’ll be a lot more hectic. But I’m still confident you guys will be able to handle yourselves.”

“Personality-wise, he also seems somewhat paranoid. He has kept his crew important members down to a minimum, exactly three, and is the reason why we picked you to handle him. His other fodder can be handled by the lower-ranking Marine’s we’re sending with you.” He reached into a pile and pulled out three different bounty posters.

“A swordsmen, sniper, and strongman. Perfect opposition for you three. And you, Kenji, will take on Captain Daichi of the Trak Pirates.” Kenji’s emotions began to bubble at the thought of fighting Captain Daichi. He was suddenly compelled to fight on the battlefield, one on one against a famous pirate. The thought simply invigorated him.

Instructor Hotaru went over some of the details and assigned them a ship with a crew of fifty lower-ranking Marines. The next morning, the crew set off for sea. Conveniently, the Trak Pirate’s hideout wasn’t too far from the 201st Marine Base - only about two weeks of sailing. There were no problems during the entire trip, everything moved smoothly.

Finally, they arrived the small Sazo Island. It was an island complete with plains of endless tall grass, an extreme flat land. The Trak Pirate’s hideout was on this small island, directly in the center. Once the Demolition Squad got off their ship, they began to sneak their way to the center of the island, closer and closer to the Trek Pirate’s hideout. Naturally, they decided to attack at night, so they waited for the sun to fall to approach the base.

At 12:00 am, Trek Pirate’s Hideout.

The Demolition Squad was right outside the hideout, which was a collection of houses forming a town. This once was an actual town, the hometown of Daichi, but he slaughtered everyone within the village and labeled it his crew’s HQ. Today, it was set to be destroyed but the newly-formed Demolition Squad.

“Ten snipers surround the hideout, you’ll be looking for any escapee’s and will take out any scouter’s. All snipers are under the command of Haru. Make sure to cover our backs.” Kenji’s voice came through a wrist den-den mushi to everyone. The ten snipers reacted quickly, with Haru nodding to Kenji and organizing the sniper’s in a circle surrounding the base.

“Alright, Itsuki. Their swordsman, Red-Handed Blade, is in that building. Try and get as close as you can, I’ll give you ten marines to follow right after you. Though that’s only if he has extra guards, still unlikely. You’ve got this, go out and make your brother proud.”

“Of course, Captain!” Itsuki grinned and crouched, making a signal as those ten lower-ranking marines followed after him stealthily. They headed for the small wooden-house belonging to Itsuki’s target - the swordsman of the crew. It would be a tough battle, but Kenji was confident in Itsuki’s ability.

“Akoro, lead the thirty marines to the barracks. I’m trusting you to handle the brunt of the major fight, I’ll hurry up and try and take on Captain Daichi. As soon as I’m done I’ll try to get to you as quick as possible. But you’ll also have the support of the snipers, so don’t be too worried. You’ve got this, bud.”

“Of course, Captain! We’ll go right away!” And thus, the thirty men and the husky Akoro did their best to be stealthy, approaching the large hall which served as the barracks of the crew. It was up to them to take on the largest fight of the infiltration.

Kenji watched as all the snipers arranged themselves around the small wooden town, and the first few pirate scouts were killed swiftly. Itsuki and his group had managed to surround the Red-Handed Blade’s house, on standby for Kenji’s order. The same happened for Akoro and the Marine’s completely surrounding the Town Hall/Pirate Barracks.

Kenji put his wrist den-den mushi and finally spoke, “DEMOLITION SQUAD! ROLL OUT!”

And at that, the fight began.