Task:

Being void of any other noise, the sound of dripping echoed the house. The once warmhearted and cheerful tone that was given off when first coming back to this island changed drastically for the worse. Marcel sat there, mortified at the grim scene of his beloved master, his step father who was a better father figure than his actual father, killed in one of the most chilling ways. The samurai could be seen visibly shaken by this. "N-N...No..." was all he could mutter.

Brief flashbacks of his step father, his trainings with him, the laughs he shared with him and his mother all raced through the samurai's eyes. Marcel began to breathe heavily with tears visibly seen in his eyes which is something he hasn't felt since the death of his mother. The samurai dropped his blade and fell to the ground in a fetal position. The scene then shifted to the past in the very same house except it's fixed up and clean. A woman was seen cleaning some dishes by a sink in the kitchen while looking out the window in front of her with a warm smile.

What she was looking at was a young boy practice sword fighting with an older man using wooden katana. The two she were looking at, was her new husband, Kizaru D. Tatsumi and her son, Marcel Law. Young Marcel attempted to overpower his step father, but would always end up finding himself sown on the ground, dropping his practice weapon in the process. Over and over, as if replaying the same scene from a movie until he just decided to stay on the ground. "Oh? What happen to all that energy you had earlier?" Kizaru asked in a wondering tone as he walked over to his downed step son, tapping his leg with the wooden weapon.

"I can't focus. There is so much on my mind right now, Kizaru-San. If I could just clear my head, I wouldn-" just then, Kizaru whacked Marcel upside his head with his wooden katana enough to hurt but not to knock him out. Marcel quickly wrapped his hands around his head before saying, "Ahh, what was that fo-" "What is on your mind, Law?" Kizaru interrupted as he sat down next to Marcel. Law glanced over to him before looking up to the sky. "A lot..." is what he said.

Kizaru then placed a hand on the boy's forehead before saying, "Good." Marcel looked up to his father in confusion before he continued. "Those things in your mind will only make you stronger. You must cherish those memories. Both the good and the bad. That is the true path to strength." Kizaru claimed with a smile on his face as Marcel returned the smile with a nod.

A sudden, "Hmm.." snapped Marcel who was still in the fetal position out of his flashback like trance. The robbed figure was casually sitting on a couch nearby while shaking his head a little. Marcel quickly looked up to see him as his body continued to shake but now with fury in his eyes. The figure raised his hands up and said, "Easy now, Tiger. You're looking at me as if I ran over your puppy or something."

"But...what an unfortunate sight." he admitted as he looked up to the ceiling. "You...you..." Marcel continued to say until the robbed figure looked back down at him, this time resting his feet on the coffee table in front of him and arms stretched out at the top of the sofa. "I didn't do this." he said, straight up and casually. "All I did was lead you to the truth, Law."

Marcel slowly crawled towards the figure, dwelling in his rage to stand properly. "However..." Suddenly, the figure was behind Law with ten grunts around him, all wearing a similar attire with the tiger like symbol on the left side of their chests. Marcel turned around with his eyes widened at the sight. "I may be able to "point" you in the right direction of who's responsible, if...." the figure then gestured his hands towards the grunt.

"You entertain me some."

Before Marcel could process this, the robbed figure snapped his fingers and two of the grunts ran at Marcel, each holding one dagger. Marcel was left with two slashes on his arm under his tattoo before rolling out of the way. The samurai was able to get back on his feet just in time to deflect one of the grunt's daggers with his katana, but was slashed on the cheek by the other.

Marcel pushed off the grunt he deflected and quickly took care of the one who slashed him by impaling him through the heart. The grunt he pushed back dashed towards the samurai once more in an attempt to stab him, but was quickly stopped by the actions of Marcel slicing the hand holding the dagger off. As the grunt groaned in pain, dropping to his knees, Marcel impaled the grunt through his head. The robbed figure was now laying on the couch with an arm behind his head while raising his other arm in the air to snap once more, sending three more grunts towards Marcel's way.

These three were wielding brass knuckles. The first one of the group of three attempted to throw a punch, but Marcel side stepped it and bashed the end of his hilt on the top of that grunt's head with enough blunt force to kill him. Another attempted to swing, but Marcel managed to pick up the grunt he recently killed before he fell to use as a shield, causing the grunt to hit his dead comrade instead. Marcel threw the body out of the way onto the third grunt as he quickly did away with the second one by slitting his throat.

The third grunt threw the dead body out of his way, but it was too late. Marcel was in front of him with the katana already impaled through the grunt's stomach, killing him instantly. There were now five grunts left and the robbed figure was on the edge of his seat as he continued to watch. The area grew quiet once more. It was nothing but eyes gazing upon each other until the sound of a snap echoed in the area, causing the remaining five to go after the samurai with all of them holding katana as well.

Marcel's blade collided with the first grunt's as another attempted to decapitate the samurai. Marcel ducked and slid out of the way before killing one of the grunts with a deep slash to the side, leaving four of them left. Another grunt attempted to do a downward slash on the samurai's head who quickly ducked, causing that slash to instead hit another one of the grunts, killing him and leaving three of them up. It appears that they only appear intimidating as they did a poor job of fighting as a group. The remaining three tried to come at Marcel at once with all of their blades colliding with his.

Marcel easily pushed them off and dashed towards the one in the middle, impaling him through the left eye in a way that it would kill him. The remaining two on Marcel's left and right tried to impale him simultaneously, but Marcel moved back, causing the dead grunt in the middle to fall forward and get impaled by the two blades. Marcel firmly planted his feet on the ground and took one good swing that would manage to decapitate the two remaining grunts at the same time.

As the fell to the ground, Marcel began to breathe heavily from the battle before looking down at his katana, completely drenched in blood. He took out a cloth and began to clean it before placing a hand on the cut on his cheek, then the two on his arms to inspect how bad the damage was which didn't seem too bad. He then realized it was completely quiet. He quickly turned around to where the figure was, but he vanished along with the couch. "Where did he..." before he could finish, Marcel stepped on the floor where the couch once was and noticed that it felt different from the rest of the floor.

The samurai looked down and to his surprise, he found that tiger symbol on that area of the floor as well, colored in black. Marcel quickly crouched down and still couldn't believe this. That symbol was here as well!? He thought to himself, but before he had time to process this, he realized something more about this area. It wasn't a floor. It is an entrance.

-Exit-