Chapter 9

West blue, Ishiria island, roku town

(random grunt pov)

"Fatty Charles truly is generous, isn't he boys? kekeke. Time to earn some Berry!"

The rest of the group of five miscreants grinned their toothless grins in response readying their swords that had clearly seen better days already but still served their purpose.

They had been sent here by the fat vendor that was responsible for distributing the slaves to the buyers and collect the money from the clientele which meant he was a fairly important guy, though easily replacable which was important since alot of the higher echelons of the clientele status wise occassionally had a pretty short fuse when it came to patience. So it happened sometimes in the past that the one to supply the clientele with the merchandise disappeared suddenly should he or she not be able to deliver in time, until fat Charles, as he was known, came around and held his place. That made it a lot harder for the bosses should he one day disappear since it could damage their income should clientele decide to look elsewhere for entertainment which meant alot of other different consequences for the bosses of Ishiria islands underworld.

Fat Charles had given them 20.000 Berry up front and they would receive another 20.000 Berry should they succeed in capturing the boy that had the nerve to steal from fat Charles.

Of course they would make sure fat Charles got what he wanted, as was tradition on the island when Berry was involved kindness disappeared, even towards children.

As they were waiting at a corner to ambush the boy that was running the same route every day, they heard the telltale sounds of footsteps on concrete indicating that it was time to snap the trap.

The gruntboss grinned an evil grin and licked down the knife he had unsheated from his belt. Ohh, how he longed to hear the screams once again. Truly magnificent to witness from one so young.

Soon the boy rounded the corner and came face to face with three of us. His eyes widened as he saw our weapons and turned around to look for a way out of the trap but unfortunately for him the other two of our group stepped up behind him, blocking his escape route.

"What will you do now little mouse? kekeke" one of the grunts said while grinning at the boy.

"Why are you doing this?" The boy asked us while a neutral look took place on his face, seemingly brushing aside all emotions. 'weird' I thought to myself.

"Ahh, you know, you just don't steal from fat Charles. That is a big nono in this town but that doesn't really matter anymore to you now, no? kekeke" The same grunt from before said to the boy.

'Just someone after my own taste. He knows how to play with his food' I thought to myself, not being able to wipe the grin from my face.

"....I see." the boy said. What happened next sent a shiver down my spine. The boy took a quick breath in and exhaled just as quickly. Afterwards his whole demeanor changed and a cold sweat trickled down my spine.

'My eyes must be playing tricks on me. Time to gut you little mouse!' I thought to myself and charged towards the boy, which seemed to awaken the others from their stupor.

Wielding my precious little knife with one hand I stabbed towards the boys right eye which to my surprise missed by inches as the boy seemed to enter a stance and using my momentum to catapult himself with a quick twist of the hip towards me before smashing his fist into my solar plexus with unbelievable strength I didn't think was possible from someone so young. What followed was a palm to my ear which made my surroundings blur and from there I only registered as the pain of a foot to my face sent me to the ground, cracking it a little from the sounds of it, until the last thing I saw was a foot crushing down on my neck. With a crunching sound and a sharp pain I stopped being able to breath. I tried and tried but it was no use. Panic flooded my being but soon even that faded away and everything went black.

(pov end, obviously xD)

After taking care of the first grunt Azul took in another quick breath, fueling the fire inside even more and rushing towards the next opponent. dodging a downwards slash by stepping to one side, Azul kicked the mans feet out from under his body before kicking him in the sternum while he was still airborn which resulted in the man flying into a nearby wall cracking it slighty, not standing up anymore. Another grunt used his preoccupation as a possibility to maybe turn Azul into mincemeat. Feeling danger at his back Azul, seemingly on instinct alone, turned around grabbing the stabbing swordarm and pulled the man towards himself before implanting his free hand under the mans chin, lifting him in the air from the force of the punch. Next he twisted the mans still grabbed arm so with countermomentum the man rocketed down, into the ground before another stomp, followed by a crack of the mans skull signified the mans end. The last two, being completely unprepared for the boy being able to fight back like that backed off, slightly intimidated by him.

Azul though didn't let them regain their initial momentum and charged with light steps towards the left one. He, in response tried to bisect Azul with a horizontal slash which Azul spun over in a twist with his back slightly touching the blade before hitting the grunt in the throat with a punch, causing said grunt to drop his weapon and starting to m.o.a.n for air. Eyes widening the last thing he saw was a kick to the side of his head that implanted him, with a resounding crack, in another wall, never to wake up again. Charging towards the last man, who turned around and tried to escape, Azul grabbed him by the back of the head with one hand while the other found its way to the mans chin before snapping the mans neck in a swift motion, which brought silence to the alley.

Azul closing his eyes refocused his attention on his inner flame and with willpower he didn't know he possessed brought it back under control. With an exhale he opened his eyes only to be met by his master sitting on a nearby barrel watching Azul with a blank face.

"How are you feeling?" Old man Bai asked Azul who tried to judge his mental state and came to the conclusion that he was surprisingly calm.

"So far so good I think. Calmer than I expected after taking a life. Is this normal?" Azul asked with a frown.

"Depends on the person but I wasn't any different when I took my first life. You have been honing your body and mind for a long time now so it is not very surprising. Come, you will spend the rest of the day meditating and contemplate what happened during the fight." With that old man Bai stood up and waited for his disciple to reach him before they walked off together.

As they were walking back home Azul was still thinking on his fight when he heard his master words which made him grin like a loon for the rest of the day.

"I'm proud of you."