It was a hot Alabstan day, a faint breeze could be felt but it did little to ease the temperature, the busy desert street crowded with people. Yasuke stood next to his retainer Bazil in front of an old tavern. “Alright young lord, now please, promise me that you will wait inside here for me.” The samurai pleaded, his two large hands clapped together I front like he was praying, “Just have a few drinks and please don’t kill anyone.” He finished, looking down at Bazil with the best version of puppy dog eyes that the giant man could muster.

“Yeah, yeah, I fuckin got it relax.” The red haired pirate shrugged, turning around he entered into the establishment, waving off his companion, “What’s the worst that could happen?” His chuckle could be heard as his figure disappeared into the dimly lit bar. The young man’s last words stuck with Yasuke ominously.

“God only knows with you young lord..” The cook muttered to himself as Bazil was out of sight now, turning down the street Yasuke made his way with the crowd, his giant stature sticking out like a sore thumb, making his way to market right around the bend. Vendors with carts of vegetables throughout the wide area, a butcher was located about ten meters from the market entrance. A bell rung out as the door opened and the giant of a man from wano squeezed through the entryway.

“Go…Good Morning sir!” The elderly butcher initially shocked at the size of his customer.

“Hello!” Yasukes voice boomed, reaching into his kimono he pulled out a stack of beli and placed it on the counter, “I need a pork roast, a leg of lamb, and some fresh bacon, please.”

“Coming right up,sir!” The butcher’s mustache bounced with every word, within moments Yasuke had struck a friendly conversation with the man, chatting from everything from the weather to local happenings, their conversation more akin to yelling at one another jovially rather than a normal speaking tone. They were so loud that the samurai had failed to hear the explosion in the distance, the familiar sound of Bazil’s cannon ringing through the air, though it hadn’t been much more than five minutes since they had parted when the start of the incident had taken place. It wasn’t until now, with the sound of the cannon fire, that he had even the slightest chance of realizing that his lord was soon on his way to becoming the most infamous man on Sandy Island.

The butcher now finished cutting the meat, he placed the wrapped up items into a bag and motioned to give to the samurai, only to freeze in fear his gaze locked onto his glass store front. Crowds of people running like a demon was hot on their heels, black smoke billowed over the adjacent buildings signaling a large fire. The sounds of dull screams were muffled by the building itself, but the fear in their faces was more than enough to get a grasp of the situation. Yasuke, having turned around and examined the situation, realizing the smoke was rising from the area he had last seen Bazil, he placed his palm onto his face and began shaking his head. “Five minutes, young lord….That’s all I asked.” Sighing he turned back to the butcher, smiling and leaving the meat the samurai squeezed his large body back through the door and headed in the direction of the fray. Shoving through the frantic crowd, even for a man of his size it was like swimming in snow, his advance slowed greatly, what was once a short trip around the bend now felt like a cross country sprint, his adrenaline soaring, Yasuke was determined to find his lord and ensure his safety, it was his duty. As he rounded the corner the man was stopped in his tracks, his eyes widened at the carnage that had laid before him. Buildings smoldering from a once great fire, corpses of marines and civilians alike littered the desert market street painting the sand a shinning crimson. At this point the survivors were being treated by the marines, the culprits having vacated the scene roughly five minutes before the samurai’s arrival.

“Excuse me sir!” Yasuke yelled over towards a marine officer, “What exactly happened here?” His eyes showing genuine concern for the hellish scene they found themselves in.

The marine, looked the samurai up and down before he spoke, “Two p-pirates wrecked up the p-place.” His stutter apparent when he spoke, “We think w-we know who th-they w-were, b-but w-we haven c-confirmed anything y-yet.” The simple sentence taking twice as long due to his speech pattern.

“Do you know the direction they happened to go in?” Yasuke asked, having the patience of a saint.
“Th-that w-way” The marine said, pointing to an alleyway covered in bullet holes and blood.

“Thanks kid! Bwahaha” Yasuke said, rubbing the top of the young marine’s head, tussling around his golden hair. He hustled into the alley, following the trail of carnage through it, hoping to stumble upon his captain. Instead though, he happened to find the mutated corpse of a marine lieutenant on the ground, surrounded by the smoldering bodies of a few other wolf human hybrid like monsters. The smell of burnt flesh and fur hung heavy on the hair, “Young Lord…” He mumbled anxiously, canvasing the area, talking to anyone and anyone who would actually give him the time of day. As most of these people knew not to speak of strange happenings as those who do are spirited away by the World Government. Eventually he was pointed in the direction of Big S’s clinic, as he approached he noticed a few people working on the home that was next door, clearly having suffered fire and structural damage. The men struggling to hold up a large metal sheet they were going to use to cover the hole left by the cannonball. Yasuke came over and witout saying a word he smiled and took the large piece of metal and easily held it up for the men, so they could attach it to the home, while doing so he noticed the metal ball lodged in the far wall still, confirming that his retainer was the one responsible for the attack. Upon closer inspection he noticed the ball had hit just inches above a babes crib, “Got lucky there, huh young lord?” He mumbled to himself, drawing the confused looks of the workers, which he just brushed off as nothing with a smile and bellowing laugh. Finishing up he asked if they knew anything about to attacker behind the destruction, they pointed him towards the adjacent clinic, after a few kind words he made his way into the neighboring building. “Hello?” The samurai’s voice boomed in the small clinic, he was greeted by two large women.

“Can I help ya? Be warned though, I’ve had about all I can take of strangers today.” Big S responded her towering female figure stepping out from the shadowed corner, standing on equal footing with the large Wano man.

“I was wondering if you know anything about a young man with a red mohawk?” The samurai asked, earning a dagger like gaze from the clinic owner, he quickly explained that he was looking for him for his own personal reasons, assuring he wasn’t here to cause any trouble. His tone was sincere and he was not the lying type, Samantha could tell that, so she explained what she knew, everything that had happened up until Bazil leaving here in the direction of the palace. She explained how he had been carried in on the back of a mink covered in wounds and unconscious from coming across the king’s brother, the legendary Alabstan general Tut and what she knew of the events that had happened prior to that. As she had her ear on the pulse of this nation, knowing anything and everything that happened in it almost as soon as it happened. Her story concluding she noticed the tears running down the once imposing man, now reduced to a giant blubbering baby curled up on the floor of her clinic mumbling to himself about failing his young lord and having to commit seppuku. Big S grabbed the collar of his kimono and yanked him to his feet, she now realized that this man was that devil’s keeper. Striking him across the face with an open handed slap, she urged him that if he hurried he could potentially mitigate the damage down by such a demon when left to his own devices.

But alas, Yasuke would have no such luck, coming upon the palace it had already spit smoke from the windows, rumors of a bandit army sieging the caste inter mixed with the coming of a devil were confirmed by the corpses that laid on the marble steps, some marines could be heard claiming they were so short handed because of an incident simultaneously occurring at the Rainbase.

“He hath come! The angel of death has come!” A voice yelled from a crowd of people surrounding him, “I hath seen it! I Ezekiel J. Moses bore witness to thy birth and was chosen to spread his word! The Red Devil did descend upon us this day, his body is gods weapon given human form!” As Yasuke drew closer he saw a pale skinned man, he was tall and slender and his hair was long and blonde and parted down the center. He wore nothing but ragged pants and his bare chest was covered in blood, “I alone was chosen to survive and lead his lambs as thy shepherd!” Ezekiel danced about in the circle the crowd had made, his loud and passionate tone clearly taking a fanatical turn towards obsession. “The angel of death chose me to spread his actions throughout the world, he hath come to wipe those who are unworthy from this holy land and water it with the blood of the wicked, all in the name of god!” The crowd was enamored with his speech, he continued to tell them of the actions that had transpired, the coming of the demon wolves, the raging hellfires engulfing the land, the lone demon who entered the corrupt kingdom of Alabasta and slayed the king and his guard. “We, the chosen few who hath been left to usher in the new world must protect our savior, our angel of death as he does all this not only for god, but for us.” He finished, the fire burning passionately in his eyes.

“Bwahahahahahahahaha” The crowds momentary silence broken with a bellowing laugh, “Young Lord is many things but he is not the religious type.” Yasuke laughed, wiping the tears from his eyes, “It was definitely a good story though.”

“We hath a non believer among us.” His long arms raised up as if he were nailed to a cross, the crowd now angrily gazing at the large samurai, they began murmuring of heracy and the death of non-believers, having completely fallen into a cults mob mentality. The mumblings grew louder and the crowd began to slowly shift towards Yasuke, encircling around him also so that he was forced into the same area as Ezekiel, the slender man approached ominously, “Not everyone can be chosen by gods messenger, envy is understandable.” He smirked, whispering into the samurais left ear, then moving past him, with the crowd in tow they left the area, heading towards the previous attacks.

Yasuke watched as he walked past and as his newfound cult followed quickly behind, like a large amorphous puppy dog with an easily swayable mob mentality, “Talk about nuts, Bwahahaha!” Looking back towards the palace he noticed a well dressed marine exiting the palace holding his head along with a few others, they approached another marine at the bottom of the marble steps and saluted him, going over their report of the incident, explaining how they had come to find Bazil on the throne with the crown and the dead king under his foot and then all the sudden everyone passed out after he screamed. Before he finished another marine had run up from behind and began frantically talking about an announcement another pirate had made only a half an hour ago, around the same time Bazil would have escaped the palace with the same mink he had ben spotted with earlier that day. Claiming that she had announced the existence of devil fruits and tabbed herself as an enemy of the marines and World Government.

Yasuke sighed once again shaking his head in disappointment, “Five minutes, I leave for five minutes and he manages to bring down an entire country"