One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

The outer half of the island was a beach, while the inside was forest - a typical small island.

In the center of the island, in a clearing in the woods, a large bonfire burned brightly, casting the shadow of a human figure.

Sitting on a log in front of the fire was an extremely large and muscular man, especially his upper body which was like that of a gorilla. He had light purple hair with a white headband tied around his head. His head was slightly lowered, revealing only half of his grim face as the firelight flickered across it.

In front of him stood a group of people, with three men surrounded by the others.

"Why?" the large man asked in a deep voice. "Tell me, why didn't you capture a ship? Why didn't you lower the pirate flag?"

"Gulp—" 

The sound of difficult swallowing came from the three men.

Among the three, the one in front had messy hair and stubble, with dark skin and thick lips surrounded by heavy dark circles under his eyes. He said, "Boss, the pirate flag is our symbol, we can't—"

Bang! Before he could finish speaking, the large man suddenly stood up and swung his arm, violently knocking him to the ground.

"With just one small boat! If you don't lower the pirate flag, you won't be able to capture any ships! What symbol are you talking about at a time like this? How can we set sail without a ship!"

He stepped over the bonfire and planted his foot on the man's head, pushing it halfway into the dirt.

"Why didn't you follow my orders? Answer me!"

"Boss! The pirate flag is our honor! We can't lower it again. Our numbers are dwindling, if we lower the pirate flag again, morale will—"

Bang! Another heavy kick, the large man stomped hard on his face, cutting off his words again.

"Morale? That kind of thing will come back once we capture a ship! Only with a ship can we set sail again, and only by setting sail can we recruit more people!"

The large man's shouts made everyone shudder. Not satisfied, he stomped on the man on the ground a few more times, yelling:

"Because you didn't follow orders, I missed another opportunity! Do you want us to starve to death on this island before you're satisfied?!"

"B-Boss..."

A tall, muscular man with long limbs stepped out from the crowd of onlookers and said nervously, "The captain didn't mean to, he just wanted to uphold the honor of the Krieg Pirates—"

"Hm?!" 

The large man suddenly raised his head. "Are you going to disobey orders too, Pearl?!"

"No, no!" The muscular man trembled, cold sweat dripping down his forehead and wetting the crescent-shaped lock of hair on his brow. "I'll listen to you, Boss!"

"Good." 

The large man stared at him and said, "Starting tomorrow, you'll lead the team. When you come back, I don't want to see that small wooden boat again."

He lifted his foot and looked at the man whose head was buried in the dirt. "As for you, if you don't change your ways, you'll be kicked out of the Krieg Pirates!"

"Boss!"

Just as he lifted his foot, the man on the ground pushed himself up with his arms and slowly stood. Ignoring the dirt on his face and the blood at the corners of his eyes and mouth, he said, "Boss, you used to have a heart for adventure on the high seas, even if your methods were unscrupulous. I admired you. But now our men are leaving one by one. At a time when we should be maintaining morale, you're still thinking about stealing ships, stealing ships..."

"We can steal ships anytime, but we should do it openly and honorably, in the name of the Krieg Pirates, not through cowardly sneak attacks!"

"Captain! Don't say anymore!" 

People in the crowd started shouting: "The Boss is getting angry, Captain, apologize quickly!"

"Boss, the Captain must be talking nonsense because he's hungry. We'll go find food right away."

"That's right, Captain, hurry and say you'll listen to the Boss!"

But the man seemed not to hear at all. He raised his head and looked directly at the large man, tears mixed with blood flowing down from the corners of his eyes. He shouted, "We are pirates, pirates with a pirate flag, not thieves!!"

Crack! The large man's fist clenched tightly, his knuckles cracking one by one. His already fierce eyes began to fill with bloodshot. He raised his fist high and roared, "Gin! Are you defying me?!!"

Ever since being defeated by the Straw Hat boy, the Boss had lost his spirit, obsessed with stealing another ship, becoming even more despicable than before.

Lowering the pirate flag to attack merchant ships and warships - they had done it before, but they had failed! Instead of trying to boost morale after failure, thinking of relying on a small wooden boat for sneak attacks would only make them feel they weren't pirates! At least, not the kind of pirates Gin wanted to be!

In the past, he would have hidden behind the Boss's powerful reputation, treating the Boss's ambitions as his own.

But since being defeated by Mr. Sanji, he had awakened.

He didn't want to live such a despicable life anymore. Pirates... could be grand too! He wanted to meet them again on the high seas, openly and honorably!

Bang! The large man's fist came crashing down with tremendous force, even making a sound as it cut through the air. Gin looked at the incoming fist without fear and shouted, "Boss, wake up!!"

"Well said."

Just as the huge fist was a hair's breadth from Gin's face, a voice suddenly rang out.

Very close!

The large man's body froze, and he instinctively turned his head. By the bonfire, two people had appeared out of nowhere.

A young woman stood to one side, while in the place where he had been sitting on the log earlier, a young man was now seated. His legs were spread apart, elbows resting on his knees, hands propping up his chin as he looked over with interest.

"Who are you?" Krieg asked coldly.

"Same as you, a pirate," said Sage with a sigh. "Before, when I wanted to, I could never run into you guys. Now that I don't want to, I keep running into several of you in one day. It's like you're deliberately messing with me."

He had seen the firelight on the island and a pirate ship on the shore, so he came directly over.

Such a small ship - he thought it was just a few no-name small-time pirates. He was thinking that with a pirate crew just starting out, it might be good to find some subordinates for himself.

But when he arrived, well well, he recognized a few faces from wanted posters he had seen before.

Krieg, captain of the Krieg Pirates, "Don Krieg" with a 17 million berry bounty.

Gin, combat commander of the Krieg Pirates, "Demon Man" with a 12 million berry bounty.

Pearl, member of the Krieg Pirates, "Iron Wall" with a 7 million berry bounty.

Add to that Buggy whom he had encountered - he had run into four of them in one day! If he had run into these four just two days ago, he wouldn't be a pirate anymore. He would have turned them in for the bounties and bought some land!

But now he felt rather indifferent about it.

Still, it wasn't without gain.

As a pirate, Sage of course wanted to recruit subordinates. But he didn't even have a ship, so no one except Lily would be interested in him. Pirates aren't stupid - how can you plunder without a ship? But now... wasn't this the perfect opportunity? They were even having internal strife. He couldn't let such a good chance slip by.

Sage looked at Gin and said, "I admire you. Want to join me? The pirate flag on my ship will never be lowered."

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