Chapter 3

 Back underground in the swamp, Pecho and the Croablins were celebrating their conquest. Unbeknownst to everyone else, he had snuck on to the stage invisible and grabbed the Titan’s Core while everyone else was distracted.

“ Ha! Ha! Looks like Hagatha could wait a little longer!” Captain Krunch jeered. Captain Krunch sat in his chair, twirling the Titan’s Cote in his hands.

Pecho smiled, knowing that he gets to live for another day, but, suddenly, the air got tense. The cheers and jeers stopped as the Croablin’s turned around to look at each other in confusion, wondering who was coming down to their swamp.

“ Who goes there?!” One of them shouted.

“ Phew, it took me a while to get here.” The mysterious figure said, as he entered the room.

Captain Krunch looked at the small figure in shock. He has come to expect many strange things to wander into his swamp, but even he was puzzled by this encounter. The guy’s face looked cat-like with sharp, pointed ears and bright golden eyes. His whole body from head to toe is covered in bright, red fur, but the most striking part about him is the glowing golden chain that is wrapped around his neck.

“ Who are you and how did you get here?” Captain Krunch demanded. The mysterious figure surveys the room.

“I was surprised earlier when you guys raided the auction house, but lucky for me, I saw a green guy skipping around and he led me over here.” He replies.

Captain Krunch furiously looks at Pecho.

“ Pecho!!!!” He bellows

“Sorry” Pecho replies, hiding behind a rock.

“ And now I’m here to retrieve the bag you guys took from me.” The mysterious figure said.

The Croablins looked at each other in confusion.

“ Is he talking about the Titan’s Core?” One of them asked.

Captain Krunch chuckles.

“ Fool, do you know who you are dealing with?” he asks

“ No, not really.”

Pecho looked at the mysterious guy intensely. He didn’t know why, but he felt he had seen this guy before.

Where have I heard you from? He thought.

“ Allow me to introduce ourselves then. I am Captain Krunch, the leader of the Krunch Pirates and the strongest pirate around!!.”

“ No need to shout. I’m right here”

“ I don’t know what made you come here, but now that you are here, you have forfeited your life!” Captain Krunch exclaimed

“Hmm, Is that so?” The mysterious guy retorted. Captain Krunch begins his maniacal laugh, but he gets interrupted by Pecho.

“Uh….., Captain Krunch?”

“What now, Pecho?!”

“ You need to see this.”

Pecho hands a tablet over to Captain Krunch. Captain Krunch takes a look at it and what he saw made his eyes grow in disbelief.

“ 52 MILLION?!?” He shouted, dropping the tablet on the ground. The other Croablins gathered around and took a look at the bounty poster being displayed from the tablet and their jaws dropped to the floor.

“ No n- …. NO WAY, THAT’S HUGE!!”

“ YEAH, IT’S EVEN HIGHER THAN YOURS, CAPTAIN!! YOUR BOUNTY IS ONLY 17 MILLION BONES!!”

Impossible! Captain Krunch thought. With no crew?! No weapons?! Just him?! There is no way one guy should be worth this much!

“ They say he is a ruthless pirate who is obsessed with treasure.” Pecho explained.

“ And he is willing to do anything to get his hands on treasure. He is the pirate known as Gold Chase Bane!”

The Croablins looked at Bane in fear, their bodies motionless. Bane just smiles.

“ Well, looks like that is all that needs to be said. Hand it over or… else.” Bane said. The Croablins flinch in response. Captain Krunch, still shocked, glares at Bane, his mind still processing.

“ It doesn’t matter how high his bounty is. I am the strongest in the galaxy!!” Captain Krunch shouts. He lunges at Bane with a spear, but Bane blocks his attack with his forearm and sends Captain Krunch flying to the wall with a simple punch .

“No, Captain Krunch!!” His subordinates wailed. Pecho looks at Bane in complete shock, his mind unable to grasp what just happened.

“ To be able to do something like that to Captain Krunch…. This guy is something else.”