Chapter 4: Recruiting Hawkins (Ch 4)

Durant’s palm gradually increased in strength as his emotions fluctuated. Kalifa felt her neck being tightly pinched, and she could hardly breathe. She used all her strength and shouted with difficulty: “Lord Durant, please let me go. The Celestial Dragons are nothing but insignificant ants in front of you.”
Durant looked at Kalifa who was begging for mercy in front of him, with a disdainful smile on his face, and said jokingly: “It turns out that when life and death are at stake, the authority of the Celestial Dragons can be easily abandoned.” After that, he threw Kalifa to the ground.
Kalifa gasped for air, her face full of fear. She knew the horror of Durant, a cruel and merciless demon. Facing such a being, only obedience could ensure her safety. If she was not careful, she might die in the next second.
Three days later, Durant and Kalifa arrived at the waters near the Sabaody Archipelago. They saw a pirate ship floating on the sea from afar.
After careful observation, Kalifa saw the flag on the pirate ship and said to Durant respectfully, “Master Durant, that pirate ship should belong to the Hawkins Pirates. The bounty on Captain Hawkins is as high as 249 million berries.”
As a member of CP9, Kalifa is very familiar with this kind of intelligence.
At the same time, on the ship of Hawkins Pirates, a pirate loudly reported to the captain: “Captain Hawkins, we are about to arrive at the Sabaody Archipelago.” However, Hawkins did not answer him immediately, but continued to focus on the card in his hand, constantly fiddling with them, and muttered to himself: “It’s so strange, why do I see that my defeat rate is as high as 100%?”
Hearing Hawkins talking to himself, the other crew members showed puzzled expressions. They didn’t know what happened, nor did they know why the captain suddenly said that. One pirate asked curiously: “Captain, what are you calculating?” Another pirate guessed: “Is it divination?”
At this moment, a pirate pointed to the sea not far away and shouted: “Captain Hawkins, there is a ship coming towards us, but it doesn’t seem to be a pirate ship.” In fact, since the small boat that Durant and Kalifa were riding did not fly a pirate flag, it could easily be mistaken for an ordinary ship.
Hawkins slowly stood up and looked towards the approaching ship, feeling an ominous premonition in his heart.
When more than a dozen pirates saw Kalifa’s appearance, their eyes widened, and each of them revealed greed and lust. Some of them even started to untie their belts, ready to pounce on her.
“This woman is pretty! Let’s just snatch her away and kill that man.” one of the pirates shouted.
Hearing this, Kalifa’s face turned very ugly, her heart was full of anger, but more of it was worry. She was worried that Durant would be angry about this. After all, she was now Lord Durant’s woman, how could she tolerate others being so frivolous?
However, Durant did not get angry because of the pirates’ words. Instead, his sharp eyes were fixed on Hawkins. Durant could not help but feel a liking for this man with a unique temperament. Although he had not found a suitable combat crew member yet, he thought Hawkins might be worth recruiting.
After feeling Durant’s gaze, Hawkins showed a faint smile on his face and said softly: “I can feel that you are a strong man.”
Durant raised his lips slightly, a gleam of confidence flashed in his eyes, and he went straight to the point and said to Hawkins: “Magic Basil Hawkins, I’m not going to waste any words. The winner takes everything from the loser. If you lose, then your life, wealth and everything will belong to me; conversely, if I lose, my life will become your trophy. Is this fair?”
“Asshole, too arrogant, Captain Hawkins, let us deal with this guy.” Hearing Durant’s words, the pirates of Hawkins Pirates were all angry and shouted at Hawkins. They really couldn’t stand the other party looking down on their captain, especially when they learned that their captain was going to accept this bet, they were even more angry.
“You are no match for him, retreat.” Hawkins ordered in a cold tone. He knew that Durant’s strength was unfathomable and could not be compared with ordinary pirates. Therefore, he understood that this was not a simple duel, but a life-and-death contest.
The next moment, Hawkins’ body began to change, constantly expanding, and finally turned into a straw giant more than ten meters tall!
“The appearance of conquering demons!”
Just as the straw giant swung his claws, Durant had already pulled out a dead tree and swept it up.
Hawkins was unable to react in time and was slashed by Durant in an instant, but the scarecrow giant immediately returned to its original shape the next second.
Kalifa was surprised to see this scene and said, “What’s going on? How can you be safe and sound after being attacked by Lord Durant?”
Just as Kalifa finished her words, a pirate from the Hawkins Pirates screamed, and his entire chest seemed to be ripped open by an invisible sword energy, and blood spurted out immediately.
The straw giant resisted the pressure and rushed towards Durant, but several sword energies kept cutting through his body.
At this time, Hawkins also realized the strength of this person, especially his swordsmanship which was so superb that he couldn’t even see clearly. This was trouble.
Watching his men fall one after another, Hawkins’s face became extremely gloomy, and a sense of despair surged in his heart. He knew that it was meaningless to continue fighting like this. He stared at Durant with his eyes wide open, with unwillingness and helplessness flashing in his eyes.
“I surrender.” Hawkins finally squeezed out these words from his teeth with difficulty, his voice was low and hoarse. Facing Durant’s overwhelming strength, he had to bow his head and admit defeat.
“Hawkins, you made a wise move.” Durant’s mouth corners slightly raised, revealing a faint smile, and his eyes revealed a hint of pride. Through this fierce battle, Durant clearly realized that since he seized the power of the old golden lion, his strength has been greatly improved. With his superb swordsmanship, he can easily crush most opponents. However, he also understands that if he encounters a truly strong enemy, his weaknesses in other aspects will be exposed.
Durant flicked his wrist and sheathed the withered wood sword in his hand. He looked around and his eyes fell on Hawkins. He solemnly announced: “Hawkins, since you have lost, from this moment on, you are a member of my Death Pirates. Remember my name, my name is Durant.”
“Yes, Captain Durant.” Hawkins bowed his head and answered respectfully. He had no choice at this moment. The opponent was much stronger than him. If he did not surrender, he would probably die in this vast ocean.
Durant knew very well that someone like Hawkins could only be convinced by absolute strength.