Drake 14: Chapter 14 X.
Drake Drake was noncommittal about Nos’s enthusiastic demeanor.
He walked up to Nos with his two companions and said: “You must be Lieutenant Commander Nos.
A pleasure.
I am X.
Drake.
Your efforts in helping to eliminate the Glide Pirates are appreciated.” He then introduced the two men beside him: “These are my subordinates…
Major Galland and Major Sam.” Nos immediately responded: “Welcome, Captain Drake, and welcome as well to Major Galland and Major Sam.
As for the Glide Pirates’ defeat, it was my duty to do my utmost.” Drake nodded, then turned his gaze to Pons and asked: “Are you the one who killed Robert, Pons?” “Indeed, I am,” Pons replied calmly and without any hint of servility.
Drake looked Pons over with a more appraising eye.
Robert was no easy opponent…
his Cold-Cold Fruit ability was quite insidious.
Even Drake himself had nearly fallen prey to it early in their battle.
After adjusting his approach, he had used repeated Soru dashes to move at high speed, preventing Robert from locking onto him with his fruit ability.
Drake then harassed him with Rankyaku and Shigan attacks, waiting for signs of exhaustion before closing in and finishing Robert off in his Allosaurus form.
Even so, Drake had only managed to wound Robert, and the man had ultimately escaped under the cover of Fogg and Winnie.
Yet according to Nos’s report, Pons had dispatched Robert relatively quickly…
which suggested that Pons might be even more powerful than Drake himself.
Drake was quite confident in his own abilities.
Though he currently held the rank of Captain, he believed he could defeat most Marine Commodores and even some Rear Admirals.
If that was the case, then Pons’s strength likely already matched that of a Marine Commodore.
Drake then said to Pons: “Have you ever considered joining the Marines?” If someone with such immediate combat power could be recruited into the Marines, it would undoubtedly be a great asset.
Moreover, considering Pons’s age, he still had enormous potential for growth…
he might very well become a key Marine combatant in the future.
Pons had not expected such a direct invitation and was momentarily taken aback.
Though he had previously considered becoming a bounty hunter, joining the Marines had never crossed his mind.
After all, while the Marines were largely portrayed in a positive light, they essentially served as the World Government’s enforcers…
and by extension, the Celestial Dragons’ dogs.
Pons had no desire to serve the Celestial Dragons, who were universally detestable, with most being outright rotten to the core.
He was about to refuse when Drake continued: “You have outstanding strength and a proven track record of defeating great pirates.
If you were to join the Marines, you would surely be placed in an important role from the very start.
You look quite young…
probably only sixteen or seventeen…
which means your potential is virtually limitless.
Upon enlistment, you would likely receive focused training, including instruction in the Rokushiki and Haki, allowing your abilities to improve even further.” Drake’s earlier words about being placed in an important role did not particularly sway Pons.
However, the mention of receiving focused training…
learning the Rokushiki and Haki…
did pique his interest considerably.
After all, though the world of One Piece was full of Devil Fruit users, it was ultimately a world where Haki reigned supreme.
Without Haki, one might easily defeat lesser opponents, but when facing true Haki masters, one would inevitably encounter an insurmountable gap in power.
If possible, Pons certainly wanted the opportunity to learn Haki.
But that was easier said than done.
Could he train relentlessly until he awakened Haki on his own?
He doubted he had that kind of talent.
That left the option of seeking instruction from someone…
but who?
Rayleigh?
Not only would he need to find a way to sail all the way to the Sabaody Archipelago, but even if he found Rayleigh there, why would the man teach a complete stranger?
As for asking other powerful pirates…
that was even more absurd.
From his current perspective, joining the Marines, gaining the attention of Marine’s higher-ups, and being formally taught Haki seemed like the most viable path forward.
As for not wanting to be a Celestial Dragon’s dog…
he could simply view the Marines as a stepping stone to power.
Once he had mastered Haki and the Rokushiki, he could find an excuse to leave the organization.
With that reasoning, Pons found himself increasingly tempted.
Seeing that Pons had not responded for some time, Drake did not push him.
After all, this was a decision that required careful thought.
Nos, however, looked somewhat anxious, fearing that Drake might grow displeased.
After thinking for several dozen seconds, Pons finally said to Drake: “I can join the Marines, but please allow me to return to Riman Island first to say goodbye to some acquaintances.” Drake nodded.
That was only natural, and he saw no reason to refuse.
After a brief rest, Drake had a small-to-medium warship assigned from the N-6 Branch, along with Major Sam and four sailors, to escort Pons back to Riman Island.
Drake himself, along with Major Galland and the remaining sailors, would transport Narut, Winnie, and Fogg to Impel Down.
Aboard the warship, the four sailors took turns at the helm.
Pons and Sam sometimes fished, sometimes chatted, and sometimes simply sat around staring blankly at the sky and soaking up the sun.
On a larger vessel, there might have been space for training, but this warship was not that big…
roughly the size of the Going Merry.
There was not much room for exercise.
Pons could at most do some push-ups and sit-ups to keep his body from rusting.
The warship was also not particularly fast, roughly on par with Reg’s old vessels.
It took about three and a half days before Pons finally returned to Riman Island.
The island’s residents had only recently endured a pirate attack, so when they spotted an unfamiliar vessel approaching, those near the harbor grew extremely tense.
When they realized it was a Marine ship, the tension eased somewhat.
Once the ship docked and they saw Pons step off, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Some acquaintances approached and said: “Pons, it’s been almost twenty days since you left with Lieutenant Reg…
why did it take so long?” Pons smiled and replied: “I was held up by some matters.” Another person asked: “You went to collect the bounty with Lieutenant Reg, didn’t you?
Did you get it?” “Thankfully, I received it without any trouble.” After some brief exchanges, Pons took his suitcase of bounty money, first went to the general store to buy a large cloth bag, then returned home.
He set aside eighty million Berry from the total and placed them into the bag.
After that, he carried the bag out of his house and gathered several prominent townsfolk, leading them to visit the town mayor.
The mayor, Dent, was a small, elderly man in his early sixties whose wife had passed away from illness several years earlier.
In his younger days, Dent and his wife had had a son and a daughter, but their son had died young, and their daughter had married a merchant from another island after reaching adulthood.
With the dangers of the sea and pirates, she could rarely return to visit.
Dent’s life had been rather unfortunate.
Still, having served as mayor for thirty years, he had accumulated considerable authority in the town.
He received help in his daily life, so his circumstances were not overly difficult.
At this moment, besides Mayor Dent and Pons, there were four others whom Pons had called to gather.
The six of them seated themselves around a round table.
“Pons, why have you called us all together?” A middle-aged man with a thick beard asked.
This man was named Carlo, the head of Riman Town’s merchants’ association.
In such a remote town, the association was naturally quite small…
it only occasionally risked pirate attacks to sail to nearby islands and trade with their settlements.
Even so, as the association head, Carlo was the town’s second most important figure, after Mayor Dent.
In the past, when Pons had hunted boars, it was Carlo and his small association that bought them.
Thus, Pons and Carlo were fairly well-acquainted.
“Don’t be in such a hurry, Uncle Carlo.” Pons placed the bag of money on the table and said to everyone: “Inside this bag is eighty million Berry.
I am donating this sum to the town to be used as reconstruction funds.” Upon hearing this, everyone’s breathing grew heavy.
Carlo stammered: “E-eighty million Berry?!” Their merchants’ association’s annual trade volume was only a few million Berry, and a considerable portion of that went to the Heavenly Tribute.
The actual profits distributed to members were quite meager.
Eighty million Berry was equivalent to over a decade of their association’s total trade volume.
The town had suffered severe damage from the pirate attack.
Carlo’s association had also donated what they could…
three million Berry…
but that was a mere drop in the bucket for the town’s reconstruction.
No one had expected Pons to produce eighty million Berry all at once.
Another young man, about seventeen or eighteen years old, asked: “Pons, where did you get so much money?
The bounties for killing Zodyl and Oko together add up to… what, thirty million Berry?” The young man was named Barry, one of Pons’s friends in town.
He was not particularly influential himself but was representing his father.
Barry’s father, Old Barry, was the captain of the town’s self-defense militia and enjoyed considerable prestige.
Old Barry was quite skilled in martial arts.
During the pirate attack, he had fought valiantly and killed three pirates while sustaining severe injuries himself…
yet miraculously survived.
However, his wounds had not yet healed, and he could not leave his bed.
When Pons had gone to invite him for a discussion, Old Barry had sent his son as his proxy.
Hearing Barry’s question, Pons smiled faintly and said: “I happened to take down a few more pirates over the past few days, so I earned a little extra bounty.”