Heart Of A Dragon - 3

"Halt right there!"

"Stop him!"

"The base is under siege we nee-"

The marine base of Risky Red Island was ablaze with action, shouts and violence.

Kaden D. Freeman was the main perpetrator.

After smashing down the entrance to the base, sword in hand, Kaden moved as a blur with Soru.

He cut down three marines before they even realised what was going on. It was only a drop in the bucket. There were over a hundred marines stationed at the island.

Blade flashing out at one man shouting for reinforcements, Kaden's blade was stopped as two more leaped into action, both of them thrusting out their cutlasses to catch his slashing blade on the flats of their own blades and hold him still, while the one he was aiming at brought his hand up, a pistol.

A bang resounded as the gun fired.

And the bullet bounced off of his stomach as he flexed his abs to as hard as they could go with Tekkai.

In the process, the muscles of his entire body went as rigid as iron, and the strength of his slash increased, overpowering the two blocking him.

They were sent flying back as he overpowered them and his blade came down and split the the gun wielding marine down the middle, blood splashing and covering his face in a red haze of liquid.

Kaden knew this was the wrong way to go about things. The smartest course of action would have been to attempt to assassinate the Vice Admiral.

Graydle wasn't the only problem though.

This entire marine base filled with corrupt marines that allowed shit like this to pass were just as bad in his eyes, weaker or not.

'They all have to die.' Kaden thought as he moved in a blur of speed with Soru and stabbed his blade through the throat of one of the marines he just sent flying, before his other hand flashed up, his own pistol in hand and shot a bullet through the others forehead.

Even if he just killed Graydle, that would leave all the others. That wasn't true justice at all.

And if he was going to end up getting a bounty anyway, and he was going to do this. Then he should at least make sure something good came out of it.

And the pleasure of ripping out the throat of a proud lackey of his disgusting kin, sounded actually very good to him.

A troop of marines numbering over a dozen rounded the corner and riffles were aimed his way.

"Fire!" one called.

They were fast.

Kaden was faster.

"Rankyaku!" he snarled, kicking his leg out. A slicing scythe of wind tore through the hall, gouging through the walls with ease and sliced through the group of marines before they could fire, blood and guts dropping with their bisected bodies.

And he continued on, moving in a blur of incredible speed with Soru and cutting down marine after marine that he found on his way to his destination.

The kitchen.

Which he scanned for all of a moment, finding not a soul in sight and grabbing what he wanted.

Then he was on his way again, towards his second destination. The top of the tower, where Vice Admiral Graydle would no doubt be.

…It was weird though.

'You'd think he'd have noticed all this commotion going on and come see what it's about.' Kaden thought, a frown on his face as he kicked off the ground and flipped over a charging marine, unloading a bullet into his head from directly above, killing him and continuing on as he landed on the other side of the now corpse.

But even with the alarm, he saw no hide or hair of the Vice Admiral. That was worrying.

But he couldn't back out now.

He'd already stupidly committed to this action because of his bleeding heart. If nothing else, in a situation like this, he was happy with the asshole who originally owned this bodies memories merging with his own in the process.

It allowed him to kill these pieces of trash working for that bigger piece of trash who proudly worked for his trash kin without hesitating.

It was a slaughter.

There was no contest between the marines he went through and him. The marines stationed here were not weak. but they were weaker on average than the G5 marines.

And after all his training there, he was one of the strongest at that base and that was without taking the Rokushiki into factor.

Kaden might have been fodder with the potential of fodder. But he was still stronger fodder than these people.

Dyed in the blood of tens of dozens of marines, Kaden arrived at his destination not long later.

The door leading to the office of Vice Admiral Graydle.

His observation haki was still pitifully weak, both in sensory ability and range. But he could feel two people behind this door.

One pitifully weak presence, weaker than any of the marines he'd went through in this tower. The other was strong.

Not as strong as Vergo felt, not even close to be honest. Their presence felt about as strong as Commodore Yarisugu.

That might have been a good sign, if he didn't already know this guy had a logia devil fruit that put him above Commodore Yarisugu by default right then and there.

Not to mention all Vice Admirals had to know haki to a degree.

Graydle was a monster.

Maybe not a monster on the level of the biggest monsters in this world. But he was a monster nonetheless.

'God damnit, what the hell am I doing?' he questioned himself for what felt like the hundredth time since he started this.

He could still run now. There was still time.

But he couldn't.

Was he only going to pick fights he knew he could win in the future? How would he ever accomplish anything like that?

No!

Maybe this wasn't smart. Maybe it was based on foolish emotion of wanting to help a young girl and venting his rage over his fate.

But god fucking damnit, he wasn't just some no name loser!

He was Kaden D. Fucking Freeman! His potential was pitifully pathetic and hindered because of that other bastard, but the base was still there.

He had the blood of the rulers of this world running through his veins, one of the families that stood atop this world and the blood of their mortal enemies added on top.

And he had the will of a supreme king!

He wasn't like that other demented bastard that forced him into this situation. He wasn't a loser that had to rely on inborn potential! He had his knowledge! And he wasn't a coward like him that ran away to a completely different world rather than face his past and his family head on!

"I'm the mother fucking Celestial D!" Kaden hissed, hand tightening around the hilt of his blade and the handle of his pistol.

Yes that was right. He wasn't Celestial Dragon nor of the D-Clan. He was an amalgamation of both. Greatness was his to achieve, potential stolen or not!

Lifting his leg, Kaden lashed out with a thunderous stomp and smashed the thick wooden door straight off its hinges.

It slammed into the ground with a ground rattling sound and Kaden stepped inside the office, eyes blazing as he locked gazes with his target.