After we spent more time in this island, we found out more about the ongoing conflict between Inaki Family and their sworn enemy, Isami Family. Apparently, the tension between these two have reached the highest level in the past few months, and people are speculating that a war between these two factions might broke out any moment.
For me, this might be the perfect situation, as I was looking for future allies to help me. I could use this conflict to offer an alliance and help either of them win.
"What are you thinking?" Calvin asked me. We have just finished our daily training.
"Ah…I was just thinking about who we are going to side with, in the upcoming conflict" I said, while scratching my head "You know, I'm not the cunning one or the genius planner. I would appreciate if you could share your thoughts with me" I said sincerely, I knew I wasn't perfect after all.
"We all have our strong and weak points, don't stress up too much. Let's think of a plane after Ken brings some news"
A few hours later,
"Boss! I have some urgent news!" Ken was running towards us. When he arrived, he took a few seconds to catch his breath before he spoke "A big clash happened between the two families!"
"What?! Already?!" I was shocked at the news, as I didn't think it will happen this soon "What happened?".
"Isami Family has attacked one of Inaki's bases in Kao Island!..." He informed me "and the later were completely obliterated!".
"Obliterated?!" I was surprised, because I thought they were both equally strong.
"That's not the important news. The attacker was one person!"
"One person did all that…they must have hidden their trump card until now" Calvin stated.
"There is more, that person is said to be a dangerous pirate!"
"A pirate getting involved in a power fight, interesting"
"Ashen, I think we should side with Inaki Family. Since they are in a such a huge disadvantage, if we move to help them, they will appreciate it more" Calvin said to me.
"Yeah, that's what I thought" I kept thinking for few minutes before I gave out my word "Alright, go inform Diana we'll be moving soon"
A week later,
The war between the two Families has been one sided until now, and the outcome was obvious if it continuous that way. I was originally planning to interfere much earlier, but Calvin advised me to wait until the situation becomes desperate for the losing side.
We are currently visiting the Inaki Family main operation base in Seal Island, as I saw it was the perfect moment to move, I asked Ian to arrange a meeting for us with his father, the family patriarch. He agreed in exchange for me to fight him again, which I accepted.
[Inaki Family Main Operation Base, Meeting Room],
*Footsteps- Footsteps *
*Footsteps- Footsteps *
"Sorry to keep you waiting!" an old bulky man wearing a black suit entered the room. He is very tall, around 2,5 meters tall, with short grey hair, a scruffy beard and an evident scare across his left eye. Beside him was Ian and another young man who also lookes like his son. They proceeded to sit on the opposite side of the table.
"You must be Ashen, Ian told me about you" The old man spoke to me while maintaining eye contact.
"And you must be the head of the family"
"My bad I should've introduced myself earlier, I'm Kai the patriarch of the Inaki Family" he said, then added "This is my eldest son and the heir of the family, Ayden" he pointed to his left "And this is my youngest son Ian, I believe you already know each other"
"I'm Ashen, and this my crew members" I proceeded introduce everyone.
"Then shall we get down to business?" He asked me.
"I believe you already know why we are here?"
"My son told me about your offer. He said you wanted an alliance, but what I can't understand is why would you risk yourself to help us?...You are clearly not doing it out of your good will"
"You're right, I'm not. But it is something we both are going to benefit from" I stated, he looked a bit interested to hear about it.
"Explain more"
"It's simple, we will take care of your enemies and help you become the one in charge of Nishi land, in return you will promise to help us in the future by providing manpower and equipment's, or you could refuse and get wiped by your rival"
"Watch your tongue… We might be in a desperate situation, but we will not take insults from anyone, especially a pirate" Ayden responded with a cold expression.
"Calm down Ayden!" The old man stopped him "You're right we are in a desperate situation, but why did you choose us to be your allies?" he asked.
"I saw an interesting martial art displayed by your son" I stated, as I turned my attention to Ian.
"He might not look like it, but Ian is very talented when it comes to martial art. He managed to grasp the Hasshoken techniques in a short time" he praised him.
"I don't need your praise old man" Ian said, with an annoyed facial expression.
"Anyway, it seems that you are really serious about your offer. I don't know if you could really help us win or not, but we will except your offer on one condition"
"Go ahead!"
"The alliance will be valid only if you manage to fulfill your part of the agreement"
"Alright, I accept your condition" Everyone got on their feet, as we approached each other for a handshake.
"We'll be in your care for now!"
...
"We will get straight into it. There are two particular individuals that we need you take care of" Ayden said, as he showed me a wanted poster 'Jason Wiley Dead or Alive 400.000.000 million berries'.
"He used to be a pirate from the New World, we don't know his real motives for helping the Isami Family, but he is the main reason we are losing" He stated.
"What about the other one?" Everyone scratched their head when I asked.
"It's a little embracing, but he is just a kid" The patriarch said, with a frustrated expression.
"A kid?" I wasn't surprised at all, since there could be some monstrous kids in this world, like Big Mom or Kaido.
"Yeah, we don't know anything about him except that he has some strange powers"
"A devil fruit?" Calvin mentioned.
"Maybe, we will know once we meet him" I said before I turned back "We'll depart right away!" I informed everyone, then we left.
"Prepare the ships! We will also move at once!" The patriarch also gave order to his men to prepare for battle.