The previous dojo had been interesting, which left Blake curious to see the next one on her quest to gather all clues for the hidden power boost. She was still unsure what it was that she was exactly looking for, it did sound like something different from a weapon. The young girl had heard of the objects called “Devil Fruit”, maybe it was one of those. She had also heard that they gave great power to whoever ate them, while taking away their ability to swim. On top of that apparently a person could only ever eat one fruit for their whole life, otherwise they would die. That knowledge made Blake a bit sceptic. What if the fruit gave her a useless power? The risk was considerable.
Even without any reward just fighting against the Dojo masters was fun on its own. For the young Kuja that had mostly honed her skills to kill people a honest duel was refreshing. With that in mind she happily stepped into the next village at the east end of the island. Again she noticed that no sign of marines or the navy in general was present, so she could fully focus on enjoying her sight seeing.
First of she stooped at a local restaurant, as it was apparently pumpkin season, the place promised a great selection of pumpkin dishes. Taking a seat outside under a paper umbrella she stretched her legs out and waited for the waitress. In the meantime she used the chance to examine the belt the wind master had given her. It looked like a normal belt, many of the martial artists on the island. The only difference was a big green stone in the middle of it. It looked quite expensive, but was most likely connected to her quest for power. As she observed the belt closer, she caught the eye of someone with a similar belt around his waist. Wearing a blue kung-fu gi, the tall man looked at Blake from a few tables across, while enjoying a pumpkin seasoned baked fish. A long speer was leaning at the wall next to him.
Blake had obviously noticed the man, not only because of his twirly moustache and blue died hair. In general the man seemed like a very weird person, so she tried her best to ignore him and instead focus on the food she was ordering, which was: pumpkin soup, pumpkin fries, with meat in pumpkin sauce and last but not least pumpkin ice-cream. The last one made her the most curious! Quickly she put the belt away again, when the first dish came.
The meal was amazing! Blake never could get enough of the flavour of pumpkins, but even then these dishes managed to elevate it even more and show the different aspects of what made pumpkin such a great ingredient. If it was up to her, every day of the year would be pumpkin season. First of the soup, was an amazing mix between the fruit's natural sweetness and the spicy seasoning, with an even more amazing creamy texture. The second dish helped calm that spiciness a bit, with the sweet pumpkin fries, yet earthy sauce that covered the juice meat. At last the desert finished it all of perfectly, the taste of the ice-cream was indescribable good! All together it left Blake extremely satisfied and more than happy to be alive.
Just as she was enjoying herself the most, reminiscing about the food's taste and stroking her filled belly, she noticed a sharp object approach from the corner of her eye, striking straight past her head and stopping in front of her eyes. It made her sigh. “Miss, that belt you have there, please hand it over to me”, said a man's voice to her right. “I just ate too, how rude. Master of the Water Fist, Sei, I presume?” From the corner of her eye she watched the man back up a bit, yet his long spear remained where it was. “Since you know who I am, I take it you are searching for THAT, right?” Blake nodded as much as the spear before her face allowed it. “I also thought that the people I had to fight were honourable masters, who did not need to attack a girl on the street.” Hearing that the man coughed and quickly pulled his weapon back. “Forgive me Miss.”
Blake slowly got up with a smile on her face, pulled the hood back over her face and asked: “Would you prefer to fight right here on the street, or should we find a quieter place, Sei?” “Quieter sounds good.” Blake agreed, no one had to know of her fight against the second master, otherwise it would draw unwanted attention. Therefore she followed him through some side streets to an large open space, surrounded by buildings. She was slightly surprised that a spear user would pick such a narrow space, it seemed almost like it benefit her more. Both backed up a few steps and the master raised his voice to establish the rules of their duel: “I will fight trying to kill you, you lose when you die, but remember that if you want information from me, you should keep me alive!” Blake chuckled a little and pulled the dagger from her left sleeve in preparation to engage him.
Sei did the same, he went into a stance, his long spear pointed towards Blake. Thanks to his tall build and the long weapon he almost reached all across the space between them and Blake finally understood why he had picked the area. “I see, everything here is within your reach...” “... while you only have a small dagger, you will not even be able to touch me!” That said he leaped forward striking at her head, which Blake just barely managed to dodge, but was followed up by a swing which sent the girl flying against a wall. “You can still give me the belt and give up, Miss!”
Blake felt not one bit like giving up, quickly she jumped back on her feet to dodge the next attack, yet once again she felt herself pushed into a corner by a master. It was no shock, all the man's attacks were flowing one into another, even what was supposed to be simple trusts fanned out over the whole area and created a wall of spear tips before her, with no way to approach him. The girl was not at wit's end though. Calmly she took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second, while dodging a stab, then she opened her eyes wide again. With the utmost focus, the what first seemed like a wall, slowly unravelled to be single strikes and she was able to dodge single strikes, no matter how many were thrown at her in a row. With the power of Kenbunshoku Haki, the strikes became predictable. Blake sensed the man's muscle movement before he was able to complete it, therefore avoided the resulting attack and carefully weaved herself past them, till she was standing right before him, she stopped the spear's movement with one dagger and at the same time pulled her second dagger, which stopped just inches before Sei's eyes. “You should give me your belt and give up, Sei!”
With a light sigh the man lowered his weapon and nodded, as much as he was able to with a dagger pointed at his face. Following this Blake also lowered her weapon and hid it in her sleeve again, before stepping backwards and honouring her opponent with a deep bow, mirrored by Sei. “This was a good fight, I am impressed by your strength.” He continued to hand over the belt while telling her what he knew about the hidden treasure. Slowly the clues came together and Blake understood more what it was that she was actually looking for. Again she thanked the man and asked if he would keep quiet about her, since she did not want to attract attention, the man agreed, as he did not want the public to know that he was beaten by a little girl.
One more belt collected into her backpack Blake got herself a small snack from the restaurant, then headed towards the next place on her list.
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