Taiyo came back into the view of Bermudo, who continued to beat upon the massive man that he'd been facing. Bror however, didn't seem to be content with allowing that to happen. Sometime into the beating, Bror managed to grab Bermudo's fist, removing that he'd placed around his beard, and Tossing the lion man away with ease. Bermudo landed hard on the platform of the arena, upon his back, and Bror did not give him any time to catch his breath. Bror wrapped his insanely large hand around Bermudo's head. Four of his fingers were wrapped in a grip around Bermudo's skull, while his thumb was jammed into Bermudo's mouth. Bermudo attempted to fight back to the best of his ability, managing to draw more blood from the massive man with his claws, placing several marks within his wrist. Bror responded swiftly by smashing Bermudo's head into the floor of the arena. Taiyo grimaced at the sheer brutality of the fight. While he'd been trying to gauge the abilities of the fighters, he still did not take enjoyment from seeing the men hurt one another.

'This is intense.... They all must need the beli badly.'

He knew better than anyone the desperate need for money and resources, but had never thought to go about obtaining this way. Earlier he'd tried to rationalize why people would take enjoyment from watching this go on, but this looked seriously painful. He silently hoped that the announcer would take the fighters' health into consideration more so than the show they were putting on for him. Unbeknownst to him, that would not be the case. Bermudo, in what seemed to be what Taiyo could only call complete desperation and lack of options, let out an immense roar, loud enough to be heard above the noise of the crowd echoing throughout the warehouse. He then brought the force of his jaw, and his massive feline teeth down upon the large man's thumb. Bror immediately erupted with screams of pain, quickly trying his best to free his thumb from the clasps of Bermudo's mouth. Bermudo's grip was too powerful, and with one swift movement, he ripped his head away from Bror, all while maintaining the grip he'd placed around the finger, ripping the finger clean from the man's hand. Bror turned his attentions away from Bermudo immediately, and focused towards the wound he'd just received. His screams of agony filled the warehouse, but were soon to be silenced by Bermudo himself. He still had more left in him, going as far as to cut open the back of Bror's right leg once he'd turned his back to him, and then Slashing a gash across the left side of the man's face, immensely damaging his left eye.

"Stop! He's had enough!!"

Taiyo had become too fed up, and too disturbed to continue watching without making his grievances known. He yelled toward Bermudo at the top of his lungs, trying his best to overtake the sounds of the yelling crowd. There was no reason for him to continue on like this, he'd already won. was he doing this strictly for the beli reward? If he was, he wouldn't be spending so much time intentionally maiming his opponent. Did he have a personal grudge against the man? Or was he simply a sadist, trying to cause another person as much harm as possible? Taiyo didn't know the reason behind the lion man's actions, but they indefinitely left a bad taste in his mouth. He was strong, but what use was strength if he had no intentions of using it to help? What good was his fighting ability if it was only to be used to brutalize those weaker than him just for the sake of doing it? Taiyo then realized that he could not solely assess the combat ability of the fighters, but their motives and purpose behind fighting as well. Senseless violence was not something that would help Taiyo spread his ideologies across the seas, nor was it something that he wanted to partake in.

Taiyo's attentions were quickly turned back to the fight at hand, as Bror tried his best to fight back. The one's he'd received were very quickly taking their toll on him, as he drunkenly stumbled towards Bermudo, and ending up falling in his direction. His formidable size made this an easy move see through, as Bermudo quickly side stepped as the large man fell to the ground. Bermudo's onslaught wasn't done yet. He quickly placed himself on top of Bror's back, and began bashing his head into the arena floor. Bror quickly began to slip in and out of consciousness, but just as he thought the attack was over, Bermudo ended it by standing up, and stomping on the back of the large man's head, knocking him out cold. Taiyo was filled with even more distaste towards Bermudo and his actions. He was going too far. He hoped that someone else would share his assessment, but the lion's actions were met with nothing but uproar of excitement from the rest of the crowd. Taiyo's attentions turned to that of the other fighting left standing. The deer man. He was visibly in digust of the lion's actions as well, Tightening his fists to prepare for his next fight. A smile appeared across Taiyo's face as he witnessed this. He was now rooting for the deer man.

The two engaged in a conversation, the contents of which Taiyo still couldn't make out from the overbearing sounds coming from the seemingly mindless crowd. After a few moments of talking, Bermudo made the first attack, lunging towards Buck with a right claw and a jab for his stomach. Buck responded swiftly, with moving out of the way of the attack, and then aiming a jab at the Lion's stomach. the jab connected, seemingly knocking the wind out of the lion man. Despite the connected hit, he clearly was not ready to give in just yet. As Buck aimed a left hook towards Bermudo, he swiftly managed to lean his upper body back, and out of the way of Buck's fist. Bermudo would then attempt to grab at the Buck, throwing him over to get him off his balance, and then aimed his fist to connect with the deer man's temple. The Buck reacted to this quickly, and after being brought up within the air, brought his head down, protecting his brains from the blow, and causing Bermudo's fist to make contact with his antler. A crack within the antler was visible on the buck's head, but he did not let this slow down his movement. He would quickly attempt and land a strike upon Bermudo's mouth with his elbow. The strike caused Bermudo to fall backwards, sending Buck down along with him. Buck quickly got back up to his feet, and attempted to jump up into the air and away from Bermudo, who'd happened to still have a tight grip around his left arm. Bermudo, almost in a way to spite Buck, cut deep into the arm he'd placed his grip skidding it across as Buck leaped into the air. Buck let out howls of pain, but continued his attack. As he came down from his leap, he landed directly back into Bermudo's chest knees first, causing him to cough up in pain. He took another moment to grab the back of Bermudo's head with his right arm, speaking to him before dropping him down to lay flat on his back. The deer stammered up to stand over Bermudo, victorious.

"Buck, Buck, Buck, Buck!"

The crowd erupted in unison to cheer on the deer man, winner of the fighting tournament. Taiyo smiled upon seeing the deer man come out the victor, He had been rooting for him after all. Despite the battle already being done, Buck was not done displaying his dominance. He took grip of the cracked antler placed upon his head, applying for to it until it broke off, and then stretched his hand forward, dropping the broken antler directly on top of Bermudo. The crowd erupted in even louder cheers as the fat man hurried back into the arena, laughing all the way. within his hand was something that caused Taiyo's eyes to widen, shocking him once he'd taken a few moments to wonder if he was seeing it correctly.

"No way...... it's one of the fruits of power!"

Taiyo couldn't believe what he was seeing. A devil fruit. He could tell by the strange color, and the odd symbols riddled into it. He had come late, and thus hadn't heard the announcer introduce the fruit as an extra reward for winning the tournament.  He was only aware of their existence due to his prior experiences as apart of his uncle's pirate crew. his Uncle Hoshi was in constant pursuit of one up until his death. He constantly told Taiyo tales of those who'd possessed the devil fruits, and the power that they bestowed upon the individuals who'd eaten them at the cost of never being able to swim again. Out of all of the islands they'd searched, The Hoshi pirates could never seem to find the fruit that Hoshi desired the most. Taiyo had only seen the powers of a devil fruit up close once, from one of the most powerful people he'd ever known. He knew that anyone with the power of a devil fruit had to be of an asset to him. He had no clue which one the fat man was carrying, but he knew that was only more incentive for him to get The deer man to join his crew.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the official Beast of Jaya!"

The crowd erupted once more in applause for The Buck, Taiyo following along with him. He could think of the benefits associated with getting the Buck to join him. He watched as the Buck took his prize, leaving the ring and eating it with his right hand. Taiyo knew that this was his opportunity. He moved outside of the crowd, pushing through the people who'd been watching beside him, heading directly towards the Buck. He stopped a few feet away from him, smiling in order to display a kind demeanor as he introduced himself.

"That was quite the fight you put up in there. You're incredibly strong. Congratulations."

He extended out his right fist, anticipating it to be bumped by the deer man.

"My name is Taiyo. Taiyo Nensho. It's a pleasure to meet you, Buck."

Taiyo's greeting was responded to with the same level of charisma and acceptance that he'd set out to show, the deer man reciprocating his advances by bumping his extended fist, and telling him his name.

"The name's Legosi Lockheart."

"Legosi huh? I think i'll call you Lego! If you don't mind that is."

Taiyo watched as Legosi motioned for him to follow in his direction, complying with the silent request and walking along with him.

The fight wasn't all that great. That devil fruit tasted like a pear and didn't seem to do anything. It was honestly a waste, at least the money should be enough for a ship, though."

What? That couldn't have been the case. Why was that the case? Devil fruits were no myth, Taiyo knew them and the power they could provide a person well. The one person he'd known to possess one was a formidable fighter. He'd even taught Taiyo how to fight himself. The Tsuyoi-ken. The strong fist fighting style that Taiyo used came from this devil fruit user. He knew they were real, they had to be. So what was the reason behind the deer's complaints? He said the fruit tasted like a regular pear. Had the fat man rewarded his fighting efforts with a fake fruit? Taiyo grimaced at the news, slightly disheartened by the fact that there was a chance the deer wasn't going to show out in the devil fruit department, which would make him less of an asset to him. He decided to calm himself, and show some more compassion towards the situation. He didn't want to view Legosi as nothing more than a tool to further his own aspirations, he was a living man after all. He was just incredibly eager to get his dreams into motion, and wanted as much power and resources to be successful with them. He'd noticed that Legosi had mentioned something about using the money for a ship.

'A ship huh.... he has plans to travel the sea after all...'

Taiyo would watch as Lego picked up the clothing he'd thrown off earlier, tearing off the left sleeve of his shirt and jacket, and wrapping them around the cut wound the lion had placed around his forearm. Smart.

"That cat pisses me off, maiming me like that."

Taiyo didn't blame him in the slightest. He'd be pissed off with the lion man as well. Lego would put on his shirt and his coat, and then soften his facial expression after turning his attentions to Taiyo.

"But enough about stuff that annoys me.... Nice to meet you, Taiyo, how can I help you?"

Taiyo smiled at Lego once again, happy with the way things were going. He thought the prospects of Lego actually being interested in joining him were increasing the more the conversation went on, and he fully intended to convince the deer man to join his side.

"I came here tonight with intentions to watch this fight go down. But not for the same reasons as everyone else. I see no relevance in watching people cause bodily harm to one another for no reason. that doesn't interest me. I came here to gauge the abilities of those who fought with intentions to recruit them. In case they were interested, that is."

He took a few moments of silence to let the first thought he had in his head to resonate with Legosi. he had to approach it in a way that would make him look like more than just one of the mindless idiots searching for violence in the crowd. He had to let it be known that he intended to do something more.

"I am going to be a pirate. I have no interest of using piracy to make the seas more dangerous for those seeking adventure. I am looking for anarchy. This system is broken. The marines who preach absolute justice contradict their ideologies with acts of sheer brutality, and the revolutionaries who oppose them care little about how their actions affect the innocents caught in the crossfire. I intend to break down both of these institutions. I am going to challenge society's current definition of justice, by delivering it under the guise of society's worst criminals. I am going to make judicial equality through piracy."

he took several more instances to let his plans and his ideologies be known. If he truly wanted to partake in a crew relationship with Legosi, he had to be aware of what the crew would stand for.

"To make this happen, I will need help. Every legendary pirate has a crew! So i came here looking for one. Would you be interested in helping me turn this idea into a reality?"

"Alright Taiyo, I'll-

"Alright Buck, give me your prize, and I might just not have to shoot you."

As Taiyo anticipated Legosi accepting his invite to his pirate crew, both of the two were interrupted by an unexpected change of events. Legosi turned around, and Taiyo looked past him to see Bermudo. He was now fully clothed, a gun aimed in the direction of the two. His focus was on the deer man. He'd wanted the prize money, that he wasn't able to win on his own. He wasn't asking for it either. He was fully planning on taking it, and didn't seem to mind to have to kill in order to do so. Taiyo looked at him sternly, clenching his fists towards him. He despised acts of injustice such as this, and didn't allow himself to forget the brutal display of inhumanity the lion had shown in the arena. He'd wanted to strike him, right then and there. Despite that, Taiyo knew that there didn't seem to be any prizes to be given. The announcer hadn't yet returned to Legosi to provide him with the cash money, and Legosi had already eaten the fruit. How would Bermudo react to this information?

"I've faced far scarier things than a gun pointed at me before I was even a teen, Bermudo. I already knew this was gonna happen the first second I saw you, and I hid the money. What're you gonna do about it? Shoot everyone until someone stumbles on it? You were gone for a while there, more than long enough for me to be all over this warehouse. Shoot me and go waste your time, already."

Taiyo took note of the quick thinking that Legosi had showcased. While it was dangerous to play as if he didn't care if he was shot, he had lied about hiding the prize money before it was provided to him. That was incentive to keep him breathing, and if Bermudo was smart, would prevent him from pulling that trigger.

["You've seen how fast I can be, you already know I hid it."

Taiyo watched closely on Bermudo as he listened to Legosi's continued bluffs to stall him. He was looking for an opening, a place where he could attack and get that gun out of his hands. Taiyo wasn't going to let the lion potentially rid him of his newfound crew member. He was going to do his best to protect the deer.

["Hid what, your balls?"

Their attentions turned from the situation at hand, towards the retorts of the short, fat announcer, who'd brought himself back into the area. In his right hand had been a plastic bag filled with few wads of beli, not nearly the 25 million award that had already been promised to the winner. He came to stand in midst of the situation, and then extended the plastic bag out towards Legosi.

["Hold your killin' until you're out on the streets, I don't feel like wiping up anymore blood stains than I have to."

After he spoke, two of what appeared to be his lackeys appeared behind him, holding rifles and aiming them towards the three from a 10 meter distance behind the lion.

"Here's the prize, winner. I had to take a cut since you're a Mink and all, but here ya go."

"What the hell? You can't do that you fat bastard!"

Taiyo quickly protested this, quickly angered by the fat man's lack of consideration for the struggle that Legosi had to go through to win that money. He'd been placed in an arena with other blood thirsty fighters, one of which was rather sadistic in his way of fighting, and came out with several battle scars. It was not easy, and it was damn sure worth the 25 million beli he'd been promised. Who was the announcer to take away the prize that Legosi had earned entirely on his own merit?

"What the hell, Goh, I didn't even get paid this little regularly!"

Legosi was audibly and visually upset by this unfair pay cut, and decided to protest it rather than take it silently. The fat man cared little about his disliking of the pay cut, and shrugged and began walking away.

"Also had to take some out for Bror's thumb. Maybe you stupid animals should think about what you're doing to others better. Get the trash out of my ring, boys."


After his command, the guards readied their guns for fire. Taiyo knew that meant they were no longer welcome. He watched as Legosi chucked the bag with his earnings toward Bermudo, storming out towards the exit of the warehouse. Taiyo followed after, angry about the ordeal he'd just witnessed. He was angry with Bermudo for pulling a gun out on them, but of most he was angry at the announcer, the one that Legosi referred to as Goh. He put these people's health and lives for danger to make money off of the poor who flocked to the warehouse to watch, all with the prospect of winning great rewards, only to allow them to damn near murder one another, and decided to cut the earnings of the winner after they'd put up their fight. That was not fair, nor was it just. His lack of empathy and concern for the way his actions affected others disgusted Taiyo, and he wanted vengeance for Legosi. After exiting the warehouse, he would walk a few feet further than Legosi, and then turn around so he would face him, as well as the direction of the exit that Bermudo would soon follow out of. After waiting a few moments, he decided to speak what had been on his mind.

"That man, Goh was his name? He cannot treat you like that. You earned your money by winning that competition. He cannot decide to cut you short of what you earned rightfully. He doesn't deserve to make profit off of you, and then disrespect and undermine you because of your race. You deserve to have what was taken from you...."

Taiyo took a second to let his frustrations to be heard, and then got an idea in his head. This was a near perfect way for justice to be served, and for all three of them to further their own motives. Legosi wanted the rewards that were promised to him, Bermudo wanted money for whatever reasons he had, and Taiyo wanted a pirate crew. Under most circumstances, taking the belongings of others would not be something he would actively seek doing, but this was merely him getting Legosi the items that were rightfully his. He knew what they were going to do. They were going to steal the money back from him.

"I have an idea. Why don't we all find a way to get what we need? The two of you need beli, and Lego earned his. This Goh guy owes you whats yours. Why don't we just take it from him? I know the two of you are probably in no condition to go in there and fight, but what Lego, do you know his schedule? If you know the right time to strike, all three of us can coordinate a plan to serve him justice."

He was hesitant to include Bermudo, but knew that the more numbers they had, the more swiftly things would go. The only thing to wait for now, was their reaction.