Chapter 236 - 236)Agatone

"Alright now, calm down. Enough playing around," Jace intervened, he wasn't about to let his own son and Luke duke it out then and there. Even as the retired family head, he had a certain job to stick to, and that was making sure the current family head(s) stayed in line and did not cause unnecessary drama. "You both will get your chance later, but for now can we please just talk about your arrival and the circumstance of your stay,"

"...Alright…." Naturally, Luke valued the tone used by Jace, not to mention he respected the shit out of K Johnson, so a close friend of his sensei asking him to do something or requesting him to do something was more than enough for him to put his desires aside. He simply let go of Ajax's brother and walked back as if nothing happened. Naturally, he was curious about whether or not what happened with Aurora was going to be an issue, but by the vibe and feel of the atmosphere, Luke could understand that they weren't that bothered by such a thing.

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we?" Jace asked after clearing his throat. "As you are aware, I am Jace Cirillo, the previous head of the Cirillo family,"

"And I am….Hector Cirillo, world champion and the current head of the family," he said with a smug look. Hector was quite literally a beast, his appearance was very much like Ajax's, as in the hazel eyes and the light brown hair and the weirdly and eternally chapped lips. However, he was far more royalty-like, his entire presence was threatening, his aura was enough to suffocate someone, it was just that, like Luke, he too suppressed his killing intent. He was definitely taller than Luke, who was around 6 feet, Hector would probably be around 6 feet 5 inches or more, he had a clear height and weight advantage, compared to Luke who was rather lean. 

"I'm Andromeda, and I too, am the head of this family," she shot her husband a quick look before turning back to Luke, "it certainly is a pleasure to finally meet you," Luke simply smiled and nodded not knowing what to say. She looked at her oldest child who was still grumbling on about how Luke casually treated him like dirt, "introduce yourself,"

It wasn't a request, her voice emanated the same aura like that of a royal decree. Perhaps for her children, it was as such because the second Andromeda said that, he immediately straightened his back and looked at Luke, "I'm Aeneas…the oldest son of Hector and Andromeda Cirillo, and as you can see, I specialize in using the sword,"

"I'm Aetos…the second oldest of all the siblings, and I enjoy using the short sword…" he was certainly a shy one, which was weird considering the fact that Luke assumed the dagger user to be the shy one out of the four.

"I'm Agatone. It's a pleasure to meet you, I apologize for my behavior, and hopefully, we can move past this and work together in the future," he was genuine, and that was something Luke truly appreciated, of course, the possibility of it all being a facade was there as well.

"We've met before…..I'm Ajax…the youngest of all the boys…and my preferred weapon of choice are knuckle dusters….." He said pausing every half a second, it was obvious he was still scared to be open around Luke.

"It's truly a pleasure to meet you all…I am Luke Stone, and once again, I cannot express how much it means to me that this family is going so far for my personal interests," Luke said as he looked around the room, he failed to notice a common look that everyone except Jace shared, they were all curious to know if he was from some kind of a secret background, much like theirs, but obviously, it was just them having high hopes.

"And how was your first session or class with the students?" Jace asked in the hopes that there weren't any issues.

"I mean no offense, but they need more work than I thought, but don't worry. This is why you asked for me, and I can tell you, by the time I'm done with them, they'll be way stronger than any one of these four," Luke pointed at Aurora's four siblings.

"!!!!"

Aeneas's face visibly turned red, not only with embarrassment but also with anger, mainly due to the fact that he could do nothing but calmly take in the comments. However, Agatone's reaction was the one that most interested Luke.

"I'm sure you're willing to make that a bet?" Agatone asked with his eyebrow raised.

"Done," Luke smiled in response, "then how bout this, at the end of next month, you'll face a student of my choice and if you win then you anything you want and if I win, I get anything I want, as long as it's within our power of course," 

"Seem's fair, alright then," Agatone nodded in acknowledgment and stepped back. There was only one thing he could possibly want from Luke and everyone in the room knew what it was, not only that, they were also amused by his courage. He wanted Luke to take him in as a personal student, naturally, it was a great opportunity, however, the circumstance was different for him. He was the son of Hector, meaning Agatone chose some stranger he just met over his own father.

Hector simply chuckled under his breath. He never forced his children to study under him nor did he force them to train in martial arts, he simply wanted them to know basic self-defense as a precautionary measure. It was slightly disheartening to see his own son choose someone else over him.

"More work….hmmm.." Hector thought out loud for a second, if that was the case, then wouldn't that mean the overall quality that's been going around would've been reduced significantly? Or has already been reduced by a lot? "Do what you feel is right. I am not one to judge how strong someone is without fighting them or seeing them fight, but based on what my father tells me, you're more than capable of occupying this position,"

"Thank you…." Luke slightly bowed his head, regardless of whether he wanted to fight him or not, he was still the family head that more or less saved his family, he couldn't be disrespectful to someone he was grateful to.

"Is there anything else?" Andromeda asked while looking around, "it seems that just your presence is a threat to some of us," she eyed Ajax carefully, she wasn't mad or disgusted, instead, she found it funny how her children who always thought they were the strongest finally got their shit beaten up.

"I don't think so…" Jace nodded and looked at Hector who also seemed to agree with everything. 

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Meanwhile, inside Genesis, somewhere in between the continent of Alexandria and Garcia, was a massive water body that confused every traveler ever. It was filled with pirates and monsters leaving no voyager who set sail to return with their life.

On this sea was a medium-sized ship, it wasn't particularly a Viking longship but it did have the dragon head and for some reason, the boat seemed to be flying, at least that would be the sane conclusion after looking at the speed at which it was going.

At the front of the boat stood a figure in a black cloak, it was baggy, meaning it covered his hands and legs, but still it looked relatively cool and mysterious. Behind him was a small group of others who looked unfazed by everything that was happening.

"Oy how much longer," one of them asked while somehow maintaining balance.

"I don't see you doing anything so shut up," the man in the cloak casually replied. "This is going to be interesting," the ship suddenly slowed down as the sight of another ship entered their eyes. A black flag with a huge skull waved around, obviously, they were being raided by pirates, but the truth was that the man in the cloak allowed for this to happen.

"Hahaha, it seems you've submitted?" another figure jumped onto their ship, he was skinny and wore a red jacket and a very questionable straw hat. No one would ever guess that such a person could be the leader or captain of a ship, but by the way, he spoke and moved, it was a given.

"You're mistaken, it's just that our captain is stupid," the man sitting down said as he drew a card from the deck. The group seemed to not care for the fact that they were being raided and casually continued playing cards. It seemed that they left all responsibility onto their captain.

"...." The skinny man clenched his jaw and turned to see the cloaked man standing near the boat wheel. With a single leap he landed onto the corner of the ship, right in front of the boat wheel, he looked at the man who deeply stared into the ground.

"I'm Cruffy," he pointed his sword at the cloaked man, "I'm a fire style user, so it'll be best if you give up," he said, and not a second later, he heard chuckling from the group that played cards. "We can avoid bloodshed and settle it between the two of us, or we can wait till my boat reaches, and that'll take only another minute…your call,"

"Fire style? That's funny," the cloaked man smiled under his hood as a sword dropped down his sleeve and entered his hand. His entire body slowly began burning, slowly the shady cloak began tearing up and melting away into nothingness, with every second that passed, the man's features were revealed.

"Cruffy right? I'm Prometheus,"