One Piece: The Legend of Beasts

The man didn't know his name, or rather, his name had never existed in the first place.

Soon after he was born, he was abandoned by his parents, who were already in financial difficulty, as a burden, and he barely survived three days in the wilderness.

Indeed, all of this had long been blurred in his memory.

He only remembered that since he was old enough to understand, he was sent to an island called "Guanhao Island" by a group of men in black clothes called "administrators". On the island stood an ancient tower with six sides and seven floors, which left a deep impression on him. No one asked him to do hard labor there, and no one forced him to pay any fees. He only needed to do a new set of movements every day.

Punch, punch day after day, even if you are about to die, keep punching.

There were many children of similar age doing the same actions as him. The man didn't know where they came from and had no interest in their origins.

He only understood that everyone was participating in a game called "survival of the fittest."

In addition to throwing punches, the administrators also instilled in them the idea of ​​unconditional obedience to a large organization, making them tools that could die for that organization at any time. Some of the children could not bear the huge pressure and disappeared without a trace after a few days. The administrators explained that they had contracted some mental illness and committed suicide one after another.

The children, including the man, were not surprised. They all knew that if they gave up halfway or raised objections to the management, they would undoubtedly be the next one to suffer from "mental illness".

So, they trained harder than before and sweated more and more. During the training, more people were too tired to hold on and fell to the ground one after another. Some people also tried to escape from the island. Of course, the final result was that they were all classified as missing.

In the end, there was only one person left standing on the training ground.

Afterwards, the administrators poured all their efforts and energy into training the man, enabling him to perfectly master a physical skill called "Six Styles" and the secret fighting technique "Youshen Baguazhang". They also kept giving him orders to assassinate important figures. The man completed the mission again and again without any harm, and he never hesitated even if the target was a child or an elderly person.

At the age of twelve, he was assigned to an organization called CP0 affiliated with the World Government. Here, he got his first name, or to be more precise, a code name.

Vidruvi, that's what everyone calls him.

Life in the organization is not much different from life on Guanhao Island, except for two more rules.

One is to serve the world's noble celestial beings unconditionally, and the other is that if the mission fails, they will be wiped out by the government's top brass.

The man never showed any expectation for anything, nor did he have any concept of good and evil. He just completed his work diligently like a machine. For him, killing people was equivalent to his duty, and failing to play his role was the greatest evil. Even if he was wiped out, he had no complaints. It was normal for the factory manager to deal with a scrapped machine.

As a human being, his emotions had long been wiped out along with the sweat he shed as he punched.

It was unknown how long this indifferent day lasted, but one day, Vidruve was given a special mission by a senior government official.

The reason why he was described as special was that he was sent to a member country called Woka to serve as the captain of the kingdom's army, responsible for supervising the surrender of the Tenjo Gold there, secretly telling the king his identity and constantly putting pressure on him, so as to use tough means to turn the Woka Kingdom into a country loyal to the World Government. During this period, he was given a new name called "Kubota".

To the man, the name was just a way to call him when he needed it, so he readily accepted the new identity of "Captain Kubota", went to that strange country, and began to live a life different from usual.

In order to make himself look like a human being, the man tried hard to understand the speaking habits of ordinary people, forced himself to imitate them to deal with others, and gradually integrated into the daily life of the army and became one of them.

In the minds of the soldiers, Captain Kubota was an easy-going and casual superior who often paid for everyone's drinks out of his own pocket. With him around, the serious atmosphere before the war would become much more relaxed, so there was no one who did not like him.

Only the man clearly realized that he was just playing the role of a good officer. Before the higher-ups issued new orders, he only needed to do his job well. As for those soldiers with different personalities, just like his colleagues on Guanhao Island, the man had no feelings for them. In his eyes, those people were no different from randomly disassembled parts.

Until his encounter with a young boy during a storm, his life changed slightly.

Without any hesitation, the man brought him back to the Kingdom of Woka, asked him to work hard for the country as a soldier, and trained with him in his spare time, deliberately guiding him to become stronger with himself as his goal.

This was not out of some kind of interest, but the man accidentally discovered the boy's potential amazing talent. At the age of nine, he defeated the notorious Onmyoji Pirates alone. More importantly, he possessed the Conqueror Haki that was one in a million. Not to mention a small country like the Woka Kingdom, even in a huge organization like the World Government, there are only a few people who possess Conqueror Haki.

If he is trained well, he can become a powerful navy or agent in the future, or even become his successor.

The moment the word "successor" popped up in the man's mind, he himself felt puzzled and didn't know why he had such a strange idea.

Perhaps deep in his heart, he felt some subtle emotions for the boy who also had no name.

The heavy rain poured down, mercilessly beating the bumpy ground. Vidruvi lay quietly on a rugged rock, his eyes were unfocused, his face was gray, there was a bloody hole in his chest, blood was gushing out, the flawless white rock was stained with large patches of red, his limbs were twitching slightly, and he could die at any time.

Kaido carried the mace on his shoulder, walked straight to him and stopped, staring at him coldly, his lips moving slightly as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he remained silent.

After a while, a faint whisper broke the silence.

"You've become stronger, little devil..."

Vidruvius turned sideways with difficulty and looked at the young man. A bleak smile emerged from his ashen face. "You won this battle. Your enemy was killed by your own hands. I guess you have been waiting for this moment for a long time, right?"

"Ah, yes."

Kaido raised his mace high and said in a cold tone, "My dignity has been trampled upon by you. I finally found you in this place. To be honest, I have never wanted to blow your head off more than now!"

As the words fell, the mace smashed down, Vidruve curled the corners of his mouth upwards and closed his eyes tightly.

From the moment he became CP0, he realized that this day would come sooner or later.

Agents are nothing more than pawns to the government. Once they lose their usefulness, they will be discarded. For him, who only knows how to faithfully complete every task, it is undoubtedly a blessing to die at the hands of the enemy instead of being removed from the government and wiped out.

boom!

A heavy blow rang in his ears. Vidruvius did not notice the new pain inflicted on him. He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head to see that a protruding rock on the left had collapsed and turned into rubble scattered on the ground. A trace of doubt flashed in his eyes, and he asked in a deep voice: "What do you mean?"

"If I leave you here alone, I'm sure there's no way you can be saved from your injuries."

Kaido said casually, threw the mace aside, and sat down on the rock next to Vidruwe. No expression could be seen on his face. "Not having the right to choose your own life, being deprived of dreams and freedom, if it were me, I would have already had a mental breakdown."

Vidruvius stared at him for a long time, as if he had never seen him before. Then he gave a wry smile that was intriguing. "Really? Who allowed you to read my mind without permission? This is a matter of personal privacy."

He looked up at the gray sky, his face unusually calm, and said slowly, "People in our line of work are born to be puppets in the hands of others. Everything is done by the minds of the upper echelons. If the mission fails, we will be killed without any reason. If we fail to play the value of tools, there is no meaning in our existence."

"...This is just an excuse for your self-satisfaction." Kaido glanced at him and muttered slowly.

"Who knows."

Vidruvi smiled bitterly, intentionally or unintentionally changing the subject, his breathing becoming rapid, "With your ability, you should have discovered that the goods that Shiqi was going to sell to the government were snatched away by your companions not long ago. It can be said that we have been completely defeated..."

Hearing this, Kaido activated his Observation Haki to sense the situation in the distance. After a while, a slight arc appeared at the corner of his mouth: "If they can't even do this, I will laugh at them!"

"What happens next won't be so simple... ahem!"

Vidruvi began to cough violently, and a large amount of blood foam spurted out along with his saliva. After a while, the man managed to force a smile, "This transaction of slaves and prizes has completely failed. The government will also lose the trust of the people because of its contact with pirates. I'm sure those people will not let it go, right?"

Hearing his last strange words, Kaido frowned and asked, "Those people? What are you talking about?"

"Hehe, even a scumbag like me will abide by the principles of duty. But you will understand in the future."

Vidruvi's voice gradually faded, and his vision began to blur. "Looking back now, the years I spent with you seemed pretty good. I don't know if I'll have the chance to apologize to Paul and the others in the afterlife."

Kaido smiled bitterly and said, "With Paul's violent temper, I'm afraid he will beat you up first."

"Heh... that's very much like that kid's style..."

Vidruve raised his right hand to the sky with trembling hands, his eyes half open and half closed, and said with his dying breath, "To be honest... I envy you pirates... you are free to do what you like... without any constraints... In the next life... I mean, if I could live my life all over again... I wonder if I can catch... that cloud called dreams..."

Having said this, he lowered his raised arm and rested it lightly on the rock. He slowly closed his heavy eyelids, but this time, he would never open them again.

Thunder roared and heavy rain poured down. The corners of Vidruve's eyes became a little moist, as if drops of water were falling from the sky, or tears were welling up in his eyes, slowly sliding down his cheeks.

Witnessing the departure of this mentor who had taught him many things, Kaido felt mixed emotions. He wiped the water stains off Vidruvi's face and said sadly, "It is precisely because the laws of the world are so filthy that more pathetic people like you are produced."

Let me put an end to this tragic cycle with my own hands!

"Just watch over it in the land called Hades, Kubota."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kaido felt a wave of weakness in his body. He opened his arms and fell backwards. He happened to lie next to the motionless man. He closed his eyes and fell asleep unknowingly.

While he and Vidruvi were deciding the outcome, the battle on the other side also entered a white-hot stage.

"Lion? Chikiri Ya!"

The golden lion leaped high into the sky, dancing the two swords in its hands wildly. Countless magnificent slashes intertwined into a golden storm, sweeping downwards like a violent storm. Wherever it passed, the ground seemed to be torn apart, and criss-crossing gullies appeared in an instant, extending to the sea dozens of miles away.

The towering mountains that originally surrounded the area became as fragile as sand sculptures before the violent blow. They were easily cut into countless pieces, collapsed with a loud bang, and raised a cloud of dust.

At the same time, heart-wrenching howls came from the ground one after another.

"Why do we have to suffer too?"

"Admiral! Not this way! Ah!"

"Don't come to me! Help!"

Shiqi glanced at them and cursed, "Idiots! Who told you to get so close? Get away from me!" He said this while his hands kept moving.

"How cruel!"

It was unknown whether it was out of sympathy for his men, but Newgate sighed. Facing the overwhelming golden storm, the tall figure of the man still stood there without any hesitation, with his legs bent and half-crouching, his hands crossed in front of his chest.

"Disperse!"

Following Newgate's roar, his fists, wrapped in a layer of white balls, swung upwards and left and right. Suddenly, spider web-like cracks appeared in the air, spreading wildly in all directions, and in the blink of an eye, covered the entire sky.

Immediately afterwards, the dense cracks suddenly exploded like glass.

A deafening roar resounded all around like thunder, and the indestructible golden sword energy instantly turned into powder. The remaining debris scattered all over the sky and finally dissipated into nothingness.

At the same time, there was a whistling sound of wind behind him. The blond man laughed wildly, and golden waves flowed on the blade. He swung his hands suddenly, and two extremely sharp long swords slashed towards the back of Newgate's neck at an astonishing speed.

"Hahaha! I got it!"

"too slow!"

As if predicting the opponent's next move, Newgate turned quickly and swung the naginata in his hand from top to bottom with lightning speed.

clang!

The naginata and the double swords collided fiercely, neither giving in. The strong impact accompanied by black lightning reached them respectively. The two of them were shocked and pushed the ground hard with their feet, then jumped back and stood facing each other.

The bodies of the pirates were lying all over the ground, and faint groans could be heard occasionally.

"Hey, Newgate! Did you notice that?"

Shiki pointed his blade in a direction and said solemnly, "The voice of that masked bastard suddenly cannot be felt, which means..."

He suddenly burst into laughter, and the cigar in his mouth almost fell. "Haha! That kid just saved me a lot of trouble! The deal that I worked so hard to prepare for a long time was messed up, but I feel a lot more relaxed!"

Newgate was stunned. He didn't expect his reaction to be so unexpected. Then his crescent-shaped beard curled up with the corners of his mouth: "It's rare to find an optimistic pirate like you."

“That’s not optimistic.”

Denying the other party's evaluation of himself, Shiqi turned the long sword in his right hand, pointed the blade at the man who had been fighting with him for a long time, and sneered, "Compared to those nonsense, I want to pursue a passionate battle! Speaking with fists is the standard of proving strength! Let's get serious! Newgate! After I kill you, Rocks will be next!"

Newgate didn't take his arrogant provocation seriously at all. He waved his naginata across his chest and responded with an equally hearty smile: "Gulala! It's been a long time since I met an opponent like you. I also want to stretch my muscles after a long time!"