A False Deal

[ 3/28/1482- Next Day Early Morning ]

[ Word Count 2650 ]

" Hello" - Speech

' Hello' - Thoughts

*Boom* - Sounds

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( Achilles' Pov )

" Fucking hell, it hurts," I screamed in pain as soon I woke up. It took me a couple of minutes to calm down as I took some breaths. But the pain was still there but I just chose to ignore it.

After all the training I had with mom and dad, I can deal with injuries and wounds fine. It's just this is the first time I experienced something as severe as this so it took me a while to get used to it.

" Good to see you up." I heard someone say to me after I stopped screaming.

" There are some painkillers on the table next to you but I wouldn't suggest moving your body, just wait until Marco comes back."

I heard someone say to me in the bed to my left side where I saw Bullet was laying flat on his bed.

' What the fuck happened to him? I didn't think Eric would give him this much trouble.'

" So we both fucked up."

" Forgive me, if I had been more careful and planned this attack better, this wouldn't have happened to you." I said with a guilty expression as I did rush the enemy without thinking about their abilities too much. And overestimated my strength along with the crew's as well.

" Stop it, I don't wanna hear it. You shouldn't blame yourself. Even if we did plan out everything perfectly and find out their abilities, the results wouldn't have changed much.

"Those two were simply on another level, even if we find their abilities before, what could we have done differently?"

" I couldn't have prepared anything for Eric and his devil fruit abilities. And the same goes for you with William. What would have you even done differently if you found he ate the Dice-Dice fruit?"

" Honestly nothing much, I'm not a swordsman so even if I did bring a sword, it would have worked against me."

" Exactly so stop blaming yourself."

Bullet spoke back to me making me feel a little better about the whole situation. I got up from the bed ignoring the pain and grabbed the painkillers.

" Can you move your body?" I asked as I swallowed one of the painkillers there was no water but it is what it is leaving a bitter taste on my tongue.

"It's painful but I can move mostly fine. But Marco said not to move around too much since then the stitches will come undone." Bullet replied making me ask where Marco and Masterson are.

" You seem to be fine with the injury tho?" I said with Bullet calmly laying down with his normal blank expression on his face.

" I had similar wounds in the past, not to this extent but I can still handle the pain." Bullet said with a sad reminiscent look on his face. Reminding me of some of the stories he told me about when he was a child soldier.

" How long have we been out for?"

" Not sure, I was out cold after the battle and I just woke up before you like 15 minutes ago." Before I could say anything back, the door opened.

" Good morning guys. Good to see you up, Achilles.." Marco said in an excited voice after he entered the room.

The kid looked more tired than I thought he would. And he looked pretty worried when he walked into the room which turned into a smile of relief when he saw us awake.

" Sorry, we must have worried you and Masterson with us out," I said to Marco in an apologetic tone sitting down at the edge of my bed while ouching in pain. Even with the painkiller, my shoulder still hurt like a bitch.

" Did we do missing anything?" Bullet asked looking at Marco.

" You two were out cold after the battle for almost 2 days now. With you guys out, we decided to stay on the island since it's the safest and we would have gotten lost on the sea." Marco said filling in everything that happened.

" And oh the William dude is on the ship as well. We didn't kill him since I was sure you wanted him alive for information." Marco said making a sigh in relief as we needed William alive.

" Where's Masterson by that way?" I asked curiously where the marksman is.

"He's cooking us breakfast right now. And he did your guys' stitches by the way."

" We could tell, it's not even done well. Gotta have a real doctor check it once we leave this island." Bullet replied to Marco to which I agreed since it if is not done well, it could leave implications in the future.

" Oi Marco, can your flames heal the rest of our injures now since we have plenty of rest now." I said since I figured he didn't heal us completely since we probably didn't have the stamina for him to use.

" I can't, I tried while you two were sleeping. Like I said before my flame healing factor is weaker when I use it on others. I did manage to heal some parts of it but not all of it especially the cuts deep in your shoulder and Bullet's back." Marco said while looking down at the floor.

"That's good enough for both me and Bullet. Thank you." I said messing up his hair while Bullet just nodded at Marco in thanks. Which seemed to put Marco's mood back to normal.

* Growl *

" Ugh, you mind getting us the breakfast Masterson is cooking up. I don't think we will be able to walk." I asked Marco after my and Bullet's stomach growled which was quite loud.

" I will be back in like 5 minutes with food," Marco said before leaving the room.

[ 8 Minutes Later ]

" So we gotta back to Palm Island to have our wounds checked on," Bullet said eating an egg sandwich.

" Why tho?

"It's gonna take us like 2 days to get there, wouldn't any other islands with doctors work?" Masterson asked sounding confused.

"It's because no sane doctor is going to heal pirates especially one of the most notorious crew in this sea."

" But Palm island is different for pirates since, on the pirate island section, they have doctors that don't shy away from helping and treating wounded pirates," I said while looking at the map in my head.

I turned off the map during the battle since I didn't want to be distracted. But I did somewhat remember two devil fruit marks on the island. This turns out to be correct as they are 2 devil fruits marking close to where the castle was. It was right under the castle, probably in the basement.

" Huh, you make some good points. Never thought about that before." Masterson said almost sounding surprised at Bullet's intellect.

I kinda see why since Bullet looks like the type of person who uses his fists more than his brain. But there's a reason why I choose him as the Vice Captain, he's hella strong and pretty damn smart as well.

" Oh right what are we going to do with William?"

" Well, we gonna torture him for where the headquarters of the Hutts are," I answered Masterson, while curiously looking at Marco who didn't talk much but quietly read a medical book to my amusement.

" Actually after we're done eating, we are gonna go meet him."

[ 30 Minutes Later ]

" Listen, guys, follow my lead and don't talk unless it's needed, and don't make any expressions either," I said to the crew before entering the prison room.

Marco told me how he cut off William's leg so I plan on using that. And for that to work, I need them to act naturally, especially Marco and Masterson.

" You look terrible," I said to William who was now awake. I sat down on the chair in front of his cell while the guys stood behind me.

" Speak for yourself." William counter back sarcastically in a low voice almost as if he has no energy.

" What do you want?" He asked as he tried to get up causing the chains to shake. I thought he would try to break the chains with his fruit's powers but he didn't.

Most likely since he figured he wouldn't be able to escape no matter what he does. He has no legs and has no crew left either. And he's weak right now to the point Marco or Masterson can kill him.

" Information about the Hutts. You said the leader of the organization contacted you to take us out." I said ignoring the pain in my shoulder and moving closer to the cell.

I fully had my observation haki activated. Although I just have gotten the basics mastered now, I can still somewhat someone's emotional state if I fully concentrate on the single person.

" Yeah Paris did, but why should I let give you information about him. You're just going to end up killing me when you got what you want."

" So that's his name," I muttered finally getting to know something about the mysterious leader of the Hutts.

" You seem to know a lot about him compared to the average person who has contact with him." Bullet behind me said noticing those two have a far closer relationship than they previously thought.

" He's nothing but a fool who couldn't survive in the Grandline not even the first of it. A weakling who came to this sea to make himself feel more important than he is."

" Nothing more than a no-name pirate whose acting as he's some important big-shot. He's alive because that monster thought he wasn't even worth killing." William said mocking Paris to my and the crew's shock. I honestly didn't think he would say this much in depth.

" But I think I told you brats enough about Paris."

" Now tell me what do I get out of this?" William asked in a loud voice. And here I thought he would reveal everything we wanted like an idiot. Must have known we didn't want the personal information on him but rather his location.

' Than again no pirate that survived in this era for so long is a complete idiot. My god, I sound like an old head when they compare the 1900s to the 2000s.'

" Well, if you tell us everything we need, we'll set you free," I said hoping this would be enough even though it's a lie.

" You think Im sort of an idiot? The moment my enemies see me in this state, they will kill me. Not to mention there's nothing I can do to prevent you from killing me as well. I rather die than face such humiliation."

" Sigh… than if what we healed your legs? We restore you to your former self." I said smirking knowing this will get his full attention. I looked at Marco and the guys making sure they understood what I was getting at. Thankfully they nodded at me to show they understood whats going on.

" That's impossible. You want me to believe such lies?" William said sounding pissed causing the chains bounding him to shake.

"It's not impossible my friend. You saw Marco's abilities first hand. The mythical zoan model phoenix. Its ability is more than just transforming into a mythical creature, it also grants its user the ability to heal others' wounds no matter how severe it is.

" The flames of the phoenix can regrow limbs, heal all cuts, wounds, and even diseases," I said hyping up Marco's fruit to the limits.

" Mythical zoans are strong but the reason why the phoenix fruit is so sought after by everyone in the world is due to its flame capable of healing anything.

" How do you think I healed so quickly from the wound you gave me." I said in my best salesman voice but also making sure I didn't go overboard as well with the fruit's capabilities.

" But what will stop you from killing me?" William asked making me realize this is what he's worried about the most in his situation.

' Thank god I have a good poker face.' I thought to myself as I was about to William again.

" On my pride as a pirate and a fighter, I promise you I won't harm you in any form unless you foolish attack me and my crew. " I said to William in a loud voice trying to make myself look like an honorable man.

" And besides without your crew, you're of no threat to us." Bullet continued after me which seemed to be the last nail in the coffin to have him give us what we want.

" Fine, brats. I gave you the information you want." William said making me along with everyone smile. He most likely agreed since he know he was going to die no matter what. But by accepting my deal, there was a chance he could live along with getting his two legs back.

" The headquarters of the Hutts is in a little place called Cresent Moon. It's a volcanic island so most people don't travel there and those who do venture are killed by the Hutts."

" Now fulfill your part of the deal."

" Right before that, I want you to tell me whose stronger you or Paris?" I asked depending on his answer, that I have to make multiple changes to my plans.

" Obviously me, Paris after coming to the North Blue barely fought anyone. He was a coward who became traumatized after fighting him."

" Unlike that weakling, I fought my way back to the top of the food chain, I may have failed in the Grandline but I still kept my pride as a pirate intact."

William said with great distaste making me curious who this dude was to make Paris this scared. And what the relationship between Paris and William is since he sounded pretty pissed off at Paris.

' Oh well, none of my business.' I thought to myself standing up from the chair. And motioned towards Marco to give me his sword.

" I figured this was going to happen. The deal was almost too good. " William muttered in a low voice devoid of any emotions as I stood above him.

" Sorry, but as a pirate, you should have never trusted the words of another pirate," I said with me placing the sword above his heart.

" Your right. Told this to Paris when you kill, would you? A captain without his crew has no purpose.

William said as I stabbed right his heart. I honestly thought he was going to use devil fruit but didn't as he graciously accepted death.

" It was a good run. But all good things have to end, right Eric." William spoke his last words slowly closing his eyes forever.

[ Question: How do you guys feel about the reveal of Luffy's true fruit and everything else that's been revealed. So far I'm still on the fence about the rubber fruit being a mythical zoan. So I would like to see other people's opinions on this topic. Do let me know here or in the comments.]

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[ I accidentally deleted the chapter when I was going through some of the drafts I had saved up l. Sorry about that.]

And that's the end of the chapter, folks

With all that said, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, take some effort to write this chapter, lol. If you liked the chapter, drop some power stones, would appreciate it. It helps out the story greatly. Makes my ego bigger, lol.

Also, leave some comments as well if you want. You can leave a review as well on what I can improve on. Like seriously leave some comments so I know people are reading my story.

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Cya,