Luffy was getting ticked off as he listened to Helmeppo, "you made a deal" he whispered, "Grandpa would be ashamed of hearing of a marine like you"
"And who is your grandpa? Some ensign? I'm sure that my daddy would beat him like that. You know what? For that, you will die too, marines, shoot him!" Helmeppo commanded.
The marine soldiers next to him drew their weapons reluctantly, knowing that they would be punished if they disobeyed Helmeppo. As son of the captain he might not have true power amongst other marines but amongst branch 153, he might as well be an ensign. None of the marines would dare disobey him. They aimed at Luffy and fired their shots *bang* *bang*!
The civilians started running and fleeing in their houses when they heard the gunshots.
"That is what you get for disrespecting- me…?" Helmeppo and the two marine soldiers watch in quiet disbelief as the young Luffy didn't bleed out but his chest stretched with the bullets before shooting them back at the marines, one shot hitting the wall behind Helmeppo and the other hitting the marine to his left in the torso, causing him to drop his rifle in pain.
"What are you?" Helmeppo's eyes were wide, turning around and running away, "you two handle these trouble makers"
The marines went to run too but I activated my blood buff, grabbing the two by the wrist, "captain, do I have permission to drain these two?"
"Just the injured one, he is going to die anyways and they didn't do anything wrong" Luffy shrugged, "not like they had any agency in who to attack. That Helmippy guy, that guy you can drain"
I let the uninjured marine run and turned to the other one.
"Please, let me go!" The wounded soldier pleaded as his delicious blood escaped from the wound.
"I will make your last moments pleasant at the very least, don't worry, it'll feel good", I sank my fangs into the marine's neck, piercing the skin and tapping on the delicious blood hidden in his veins. He tasted a little salty but not bad. The man moaned as I drained every last drop of blood in his system. Glancing over to my system, I was at 90 blood points, 7 points, better than most civilians but still not as good as a low bounty pirate. No skill this time but they couldn't all be winners, right?
When I was done with the drinking, I drew upon the corpse my signature mark, the fanged maw.
"Pirates…" I heard someone whisper nearby, "shouldn't we get the marines?"
"I ain't going anywhere near the captain, you do it!"
"Hell nah, they aren't slaughtering us. I'd rather wait than risking drawing Morgan's wrath"
"Kyukyukyu!" I laughed, "you still want to recruit Zoro captain? Then I suggest we get moving"
"Yeah, before he gets killed by that butt chin", Luffy smiled and walked… straight away from the marine base.
"Captain, the base is that way"
"Oh- right, shishishi!"
As we got close to the training yard's fence, we could see a dozen or so marines standing, facing towards Zoro, their guns drawn. Helmeppo lay on the ground, a slap shaped imprint on his cheek.
"We had a deal!", Zoro struggled against the bindings, "You promised! 1 Month and I would be free!"
"My idiot spawn made that deal, yes but he isn't a marine, he had no authority to promise anything. I tried ignoring it but now pirates are after you. You are too dangerous to become a pirate… Men, aim… and… fire!"
Luffy jumped in front of Zoro, the bullets bouncing off his rubber body.
"I assume you are that pirate who my son talked about? You have the straw hat… A devil fruit? No matter, I will kill you all the same. If bullets won't work, how about blades? Men, take out your swords and charge!"
"I am Monkey D. Luffy and I'll be king of the pirates! And Zoro will be part of my crew, my nakama!", Luffy said as he stretched to punch one of the approaching marines.
I turned to Zoro, "You heard the captain, you want to die or to become part of the crew?"
"It is obvious, isn't it? I can't die before I have completed my ambition. I'll join you but if you stand in the way of my dream, I will cut you down. So just cut me free!", Zoro said with a wide grin.
I cut apart the ropes with my cutlass, before handing it to the swordsman, "You will have better use of this than me for now. We will need to get your swords after we beat these guys up"
"But how will you fight without your sword?"
"Oh… I can hold my own with just my fists", I activated blood buff and charged at a nearby marine, punching him several meters back, where he laid on his back, growing from his hurting ribs, most likely broken. With the three beasts on the battle field, the marine grunts didn't even last three minutes.
"Useless, utterly useless", Morgan roared, rushing at Luffy with his ax raised high, "Die you pirate scum!"
"You help the captain, I have a butt chin to 'Talk to'"I told Zoro and rushed to Helmeppo, sinking my fangs into the bastard's neck. I made this one a painful bite. He didn't deserve the bliss of a normal bite. He flailed, punching and kicking but eventually, he went limp. I was disappointed but not surprised when Helmeppo only gave me 2 blood points, the lowest of the civilians. He had no strength, so his blood wasn't of very high quality. Activating blood buff once more, I rushed towards morgan, who was being pummeled by the combined force of Zoro and Luffy. I grabbed his leg and sank my fangs in, letting the jerk enjoy the pleasure of the bite as I drained him further and further, 10 blood points, 30 blood points, 50 points, 55 and he was dry.
Basic Brawling skill absorbed
The battle was over and I placed my insignia on both of the corpses I had drained. The marines didn't fight any longer, instead celebrating the death of Morgan. We moved into the base, retrieving Zoro's swords and getting some money, 3 million berry, before we were asked to leave, politely. We had scared the marines into politeness.
We stocked up on food and booze before setting sail. The marines were saluting to us as we left.
"Status?"
Max D. Cain
Blood points: 145
Blood skills:
Blood buff 1(Multiply your strength by ten)
Absorbed skills:
Basic navigation
Basic cooking
Basic craftsmanship
Basic swordsmanship
Basic fishing
Basic Brawling