9-A Pleasant Surprise

As the masked giant said his sentence , the Marine was prepared to draw his gun at any moment , until he heard the man before him speak again :"I have several Devil fruits along with some nice weapons and useful informations ." As he said that he turned to the blind-folded individuals and said:"Oh , and these are pirates who were forced into joining the non-sentient pirates that I have sent you . "

The Marine , Marc , was pretty surprised . He really thought that the man with the highest bounty in East Blue would be a bastard who lives torturing people from what he saw at first . About the other blind-folded pirates , he wasn't sure so he decided to ask the giant before him :

"Why the blind-folds and earplugs ?"

Marthin:"Just so that they cannot see the 'experiments' or hear them or me say anything important or stress inducing . Don't worry , I would usually take them off when we are on sea and give them sometime to take a breather and see the light of the day . You can ask them yourself if you don't believe me . "

This was surprising , such treatment for prisoners is really good and well thought . The fact that it was done by a supposed 'pirate' was even more .

And Devil fruits ? Those who can find them are really lucky ! And the price can go up to 100 milion Berry or even a billion !

And this man before him says that he even has several of them .

Marc:"I would like to see the products then ."

Obviously , Marthin wasn't lying . After being attacked by some pirates who had Devil fruits , he managed to extract the fruit and he even found some that were noted in the Diary .

He knows what every single one of those fruits' powers are , and he is keeping the useful ones fir himself and his future crew members . Like the Kira Kira No Mi and the rescently descovered Ki Ki No Mi that is a Paramecia fruit that gives the user the ability to grow plants using parts of his body , expanding his body and changing his skin to bark . Apart from these two , all the others are pretty useless and even detrilential like a fruit to preserve beauty and skin and such .

After I entered the Base alongside the Marine , I spotted a bouny of myself and smirked . 'Just started and I have the highest bounty of East Blue . Hilarious . Wait till I get my hands on you , Sakazuki . My bounty will soar to the skies and no man alive will be able to save you from my clutches .' Just thinking of the murderer of his father alive and well made him disgusted , he wanted to kill , torture , destroy him completely . 'And that guy who dealt the last blow to my father will also be burned alive .'He heard rumors about a Captain killing his father but he didn't know his name , if he did he would have looked for him to skin him alive . He knew he will most likely lose , so he decided to train and form a crew to help him achieving his dream .

He sold 3 fruits and got more than 250 million Berry if they were willing to buy them all off his hands . He decided to stay here for the night , he wasn't really in a hurry and he was also studying the other pirates who had pretty large bounties .

He was now relaxing and taking a stroll around the Base . He heard some pained grunts and muffled snickerings . He saw a young man getting his ass handed to him by two other Marines , he wasn't really shocked by this scene , since the guy being beaten is also a Marine and bullying recruits is not a foreign concept to him . But what surprised him more was the young boy himself , no matter how they hit him he manages to redirect the hits at the last moment wich makes him suffer less damage , he seemed also pretty muscular and well-built , if he was weak and was picked on that would be normal , but for a guy who looks like he could kill them in single hits it was weird . He waited until the Marines finished and fot away mocking the blue-haired young man .

The young man , Darryl , got up and dusted himself off with a dead-panned look , like he wasn't even the guy who was just getting beaten on the ground . He heard a rustlling near him and then a voice behind him.

???:" Why won't you fight back??"

Darryl was surprised and also a bit scared but he managed to say:" They are my superiors and they just got back from a mission , so they were stressed and needed someone to blow off steam on ."

???:" This still didn't answer my question. "

Darryl turned and saw one beast of a man . Green long hair arranged in a tidy manner and snake-like emerald green eyes staring deep in his soul . He wondered what the tall man before him meant by that , even though he explained perfectly the sutuation .

Darryl :"what do you mean?"

Marthin:" My name is Marthin ." As he said that he offered his hand to the man before him .

Darryl:" Darryl , nice to meet you ". he accepted the handshake and wanted to ask the man again but he beat him to it .

Marthin:"You don't have to be the punching bag of some weaklings who think that beating those weaker than them is a way to feel better about themselves. You can hit back and no one will no longer bother you . So why do you take the hit and let them trample on your pride like that ."

Darryl:" *Sigh* Well , I don't really know what to do in my life and becoming a Marine seemed plenty to live day to day ."

Marthin:" So you have no dream or something ?"

Darryl:" Exactly , being a Marine is the safest for poeple lole me who only have a sword and a gun to only rely on . Being a pirate hunter is bothersome since the Marine will start seeing you as a threat . A Revolutionary would be even more stupid and even if you don't do anything wrong they will try to capture and execute you for treachery against the world government. "

Marthin:"How about a Pirate then?"

Darryl :" Isn't that like the worst of the three worlds ? You might not be able to live and the government will see you as a threat and try to execute you ."

Marthin:"It is , but it is also the best of the three worlds as well . You will be famous , have a lot of money and be free . It's a risk worth taking for such treasures , and you might even find your dream ."

Darryl's eyes shone a starry light as he thought ' A dream? Mine ? what would it be like ? what will I see and face while shearching for it ? So many questions and so little time to answer them . Maybe he is right , maybe a Marine is not such a good choice after all . I don't get free time and it is nigh impossible to reach my dream . I don't even care about justice or things like that . ' he beamed a little at the thought but returned to his dead-panned expression and said :" Who would take such q worthless and young runt like me . Not even my father cares about me enough to even ask if I had eaten dinner or not ." What he heard next made him really surprised , dulbfounded , worried and .... maybe a little bit happy .

Marthin:" If no one will take you , then I will! We will travel the seas together spread our names and even the Dragons themselveswill bow when they hear our names , nothing will separate us and our imparable bond . No Homo. " As he said that he took off his mask and smiled at the guy in front of him .

When Darryl heard the man before him speak and smile like that , he laughed and said :" Hahahaha, alright I will be your friend and first crewmate . Let's show this world our real worth and might . Captain ." He then offered his hand in a handshake and they laughed a little bit and Marthin adressed his new and first friend his age:"We are going to leave this island after tommorow in the afternoon , grab your stuff and cancel your Marine demand . Oh and also , I would like to see your fighting abilities tommorow . Go wild ." Darryl grinned from ear to ear when he heard the sentence and his fire red eyes blazed in a deep light .