Chapter 19 War

Arriving on the island, they heard several steps approaching them and soon saw that they were surrounded by several civilians. However, they saw that the civilians were injured.

Civilian 1: " Please help us."

Sera: " Why what's wrong."

Civilian 1: " There's two pirates crew here... they took over our island and started a war over the island here. Please, take us somewhere."

Paul looked at them and smile, " Even though we are pirates ourselves?"

Civilian 1 looked around and at the people around him, " Anything is better than staying here."

Paul: " Well... who are the two pirate crews that are here."

Civilian 2: " The Simon pirates and another unknown pirate but they are both strong. Every time they clashed there would always be collateral damage."

Paul: " Simon Pirates? Well, let's see. Sera, can you heal their wounds."

Sera nodded as she went to get her medical bandages. The civilians that appeared were badly injured so Paul wanted to heal them so he can try to get more information before helping them out.

After bandaging all of their injuries and feeding them, the civilians were surprised by their hospitality. Even though they asked for help, they didn't think that they would help them or that it would cost them all of their things leaving them with virtually nothing.

Civilian 1: " I guess that there are all kinds of pirates out there."

The civilians then began telling them the story about the two pirate crew's arrival. The first lone pirate arrived a year ago and didn't cause much trouble to the area so the people didn't mind him staying there. However, half a year later the simon pirates came and started wrecking havoc everwhere in the island and soon took over one side of the island. They then clashed with the lone pirate but noticed his strength and occupied their side while clashing against them. However, with every clash there was collateral damage everywhere which did not help either side. They told Paul about Simon's power. Simon had the devil fruit power of the pasa pasa no mi which changes his body into paper which allows him to strike and and invade attacks easily. The other pirate was outrageously strong. He was alone but was able to fight off Simon's pirate crew off easily, but he was just alone, so he still struggled against the whole pirate crew. Seeing the situation, Paul wanted to test their strength himself.

Paul: " Daz, take the others and go to Simon's pirate crew and test their strength. I will go to the lone person." He then looked to the civilians, " You guys can stay here, gather more of your friends and family and settle down near here, the kung-fu dugongs can help protect you from animals and other threats."

The civilians looked at each other and nodded. At least the pirates that arrived helped them, they also didn't have any other choice but to stay here instead of going back and risking their lives.

Paul: " Daz, you guys be careful, find out their purpose first, face off against them only when you guys have to before anything else. In two days report back here."

Daz: " Got it."

The group separated as they went to their designated location. Paul was curious as to who the mysterious pirate's strength as he was able to deal with a whole pirate crew. Daz and the others went towards the area where it was filled with bright light and Paul went to the dark side of the island.

Paul quickly flew through the forest and began heading deeper and deeper into the dark side of the island. The visibility there was so poor that he could barely see in front of him, but with his observation haki level, he could see well enough to avoid crashing into trees and other objects. About an hour later, he saw some glimmering light and flew faster to it.

When he reached the area, he saw ruined buildings and people who were covered with slight injuries and rags. The people there all looked to be malnourished but they were covered with bandages. As soon as they saw the new face, they had a face full of pity and sadness as they believed that the new person would only get injured or may even die.

A little child came up to Paul: " Hey mister, I-I think that you should leave here. It is not safe."

Paul looked at the child covered in dirt, " It's okay. I am strong, there was a person that I met at the shore asking for help, so I came."

The little child's face lightened up, " Mister, are you part of the marines?"

Paul smiled at him, " No, but I am super strong. I came to help because... I want to... haha."

The small child got a little sad that he was not the marines or the world government, but since the person was here to help then that should be good right? When he was about to ask what he was his stomach grumbled.

Paul smiled as he took out some food that he brought with him. " Here, go share this with your friends and family."

The small child hesitated at first but then took the food and ran back to his parents and began sharing the food in which the parents thanked him.

Paul: " Hey where is that guy that fought against the other pirate crew."

The father of the child hesitated for a moment and then pointed towards a different direction. "He's in that abandoned mansion in the distance over there. But... please do harm him too much, he's not a bad person. He fought to protect us when the Simon pirate crew went to cause havoc. It's just that he doesn't really socialize with us much."

Paul: " Okay, we'll see what happens."

Paul continued walking until he reached the abandoned mansion. What he saw surprised him. This was one of those houses that a person could easily tell was a haunted mansion. The mansion looked old and damaged. The gate creeks when it swings open and close from the wind. There was even old tumbleweeds that pass through the area a few times. Chills came over Paul as he entered the mansion.

'boom' As soon as Paul entered the mansion, he immediately felt a strong life force come at him and Paul put up his guard as he blocked the incoming attack. However, as he blocked the attack, he was sent flying back to the entrance gate of the mansion.

Paul looked at his arms and found that he got slightly injured with that one blow. Even though he didn't transform anything yet, his body was still pretty durable as even regular bullets can't even harm him.

Paul: " 'whistle' this guy is strong. And to attack me without even asking for my name or checking who the opponent is."

He then fully transformed to the limit. He was in full dragonoid form. He was covered with scales as his arms and feet formed into different color dragon features. He had a long reptile-like tail. It was only his head that had his original face. Paul looked towards his opponent and was astonished by who attacked him. He looked like the vampire Dracula that was seen in movies in his previous life. He got the cape, pale skin and everything. The only difference was that he looked really handsome, young and had no distinguishing fangs.

???: " Leave this island or else."

Paul: " hmm?" Paul smiled, " Or else what."

???: " Hmph."

The vampire looking person dashed forwards and Paul responded the same. This time there was a brief collision and the vampire looking person was blown backwards, crashing into the mansion, destroying the doors in the process.

Paul: " You know, you should've asked that question first before attacking me."

???: "..."

The two began clashing again against each other. However, as time passed by, Paul noticed his opponent was gradually dodging and reading his moves.

Paul: " Observation haki? And at a high level to be able to respond to my attack really well."

With this, he began speeding up his attack and putting more power into it. Paul was just warming up his strength. With the sudden increase in power the opponent was getting pushed back more and more.

A few more clashes in and Paul finally got a solid move in blew the person away, having him crashing into a wall. He then slowly got up and prepared to fight again.

Paul: " Enough, I didn't come here to fight. I met some of the islanders here at the shore, and they asked for help. Being the kind and heroic me, I decided to help them out a bit."

???: " Hmph, what do you want with me then?"

Paul: " First off, my name is Paul, Bratley D. Paul. What about you."

However, he didn't answer him and just turned to the side. However, Paul saw this and noticed that the person only put on a cold front, but felt like this person was only just slightly awkward. Paul smiled and began to tease him a bit.

Paul: " Hey, hey, mystery man. Man with no name. Pale looking guy. Brooding type guy..."

???: " Would you shut up already!! My name is Vlad. Vlad Redfield."

Paul: " Vlad huh. So why are you on this island if you didn't even take over it like what that guy Simon and his crew tried to do." As Paul said this though, he was a little bit speechless. Vlad? That's definitely a vampire name haha.

Vlad: " My father... I am waiting for him. He was born here, although I don't know much about him, my late mother told me about him."

Paul: "Hmmm, what kind of person was he?"

Vlad: " I don't know. However, before my mother died, she told me that he was captured by the marines long ago. He is probably dead or in Impel down."

Paul: " Hmm did she tell you his name?"

Vlad: " Patrick... Patrick Redfield."

Paul was speechless when he heard the name. The person Patrick Redfield was never in cannon or part of the manga, but he was a character that played a role in one of the one piece games that he played, that guy was outrageously strong. He was strong enough to fight against whitebeard and Gol D. Roger in his prime. No wonder this guy was strong.

Paul: " Why are you waiting for him? I'm pretty sure it is nearly impossible to escape Impel Down. Do you want to meet him and have some fatherly and son bonding time?"

Vlad flared up in anger, " Are you kidding me!! I want to kill him myself. He abandoned my mother and me. He only went for his goal of the pirate king and nothing else, being captured in the process."

Paul: " Woah okay, calm down a bit alright."

Vlad realized that he was acting out of control and took a deep breath as he calmed down.

Seeing Vlad calm down, Paul said, " So then, what should we do about Simon and his crew, my crew already went to scope them out a bit, but can you tell me a little bit more about them? After all, you did clash with them a few times."

Vlad: " Hmph, they were quite strong. 1vs1 I can take them out no problem but together they are pretty strong. If it wasn't for my observation haki, I would've been defeated already. Their captain, Simon, is almost as strong as me, however he got three other crew mates that had decent strength. One, is a big brute who has a lot of brute strength, Another one, he is quite strong with his devil fruit power that allows him to manipulate his bones. The third guy is a pretty strong swordsman, He also got a bunch of small fries with him."

Paul: " Hmm I see, if its just that, then we could deal with it. Let's go, come meet my crew mates, they should be arriving in two days to report back their information on the crew, and then we can go deal with them then."

Paul then began walking back.

Vlad: " Hmph." Vlad's plan was to train up some more and then he was gonna go deal with them himself. However, he thought about it some more. At the moment it would be better to deal with the Simon pirates now rather than later and reluctantly followed after Paul.