Task:

It was a pretty calm, and warm day out here at Crescent Island. A gentle breeze brushes the land accompanied by the soothing sunlight, beaming down on the earth. All of the citizens within each island were out, and about, enjoying a good time with their friends, lovers, as well as families. Within one of the jungles, the wildlife was at peace. The sound of birds chirping among other exotic noises both relaxed, and brought the place to life.

After his brief journey into one of the villages, and meeting of a new friend in one of their bars, Marcel found himself walking into the jungle to prepare for another day of training. The samurai wore a soft smile on his face proudly, taking a good look around at this wild area with his arms crossed. Law sat down on a rock to give himself some time to think a little, and to take in the beauty of this place before his training. He was mainly thinking about how interesting the world works. This huge world, and he was able to meet someone with a similar background to his so quickly.

Marcel sighed before getting back up to walk to his usual spot to train in. Marcel found himself walking into a huge circle shaped clearing, the perfect place for one to train. No trees in his way, although they are good for maneuvering training, and barely any animals to get in the way. Today, he was going to practice on with his newly acquired devil fruit powers a little more, even though he has a firm grip on the abilities now. Law was gonna take things slowly today, but everyone doesn't always get what they planned for.

On the other side of the jungle, a marine battleship was slowly approaching the land, but there was something off about it. The ship appeared pretty beaten up, and it was missing its cannons with the marine symbols covered up as well making it obvious that marines weren't behind the wheel on this one. It seemed pretty clear that whoever was wasn't trying to go stealth. Perhaps they had a reason, or maybe they were just idiots.

Back at the clearing, Law was standing still, concentrating in a stance with his katana out, and eyes closed. He stood like this for a few seconds before opening his eyes, letting out a quick, and powerful downward slash in the process following it with other air slashes as if he were fighting. He wasn't just training, or swatting at the air, he was imagining his targets, specifically ones recently from his past. He quickly impaled the chest of an imaginary corrupt marine captain, vertically slashed this group of five imaginary robbers in the stomach. A group of imaginary thugs attempted to sneak him from behind, but he made quick work of them by doing an X shaped slash. Then, that's when it appeared.

A dark aura manifested in front of the samurai, almost as if it were real, causing Law to stagger a little. The surprised expression on Marcel's face quickly turned to pure anger when appearing from that aura was the hooded figure who haunted him. Although it was all in his head, Marcel couldn't help but to breathe a little heavy from the sight of this phantom.

But before it could do anything, Marcel quickly decapitated it, causing it to vanish as a worried look coated the samurai's face.

Law was still breathing heavily, but managed to slow down, and get himself back together. His face was still showing signs of worry as he rolled up his left sleeve to take a good look at his saber tooth tiger tattoo. He stared at it for a little as familiar voices screamed at him repeatedly at once before a loud tiger like roar drowned out the other noises spooking him, and causing him to quickly lower that sleeve.

His face was in a bit of shock before swallowing some spit. "All of this is just in my head..." he told himself, trying to get a grip on himself before another scream broke his concentration. This time however, it was real. Marcel shifted his eyes to the direction of the feminine scream before following it, leading to another opening with water. Marcel hid behind a tree, peeking his head out to see what the commotion was. His eyes widened at the sight of a freaking marine battleship. Last time Marcel checked, he could've sworn that this place was independent.

But then he took another look, and noticed the things missing from it with an eyebrow raised. He then knew that this must've been a hijacked ship. Law let out a small sigh since he wasn't really in the mood for messing with the navy, but now his eyes were focused on a group of thirteen who were away from, and seemed to have came from that ship with most of them holding weapons with a woman down on the ground as well. What the hell was going on down there?

Down at the opening. It was a case of bandits kidnapping some poor souls from another island for their own purposes. Down on the land were eight bandits, all armed with flintlocks, and the five hostages. They were on their way to turn in these hostages to a client on this island until a woman among the hostages attempted to scream for help. "Shut the hell up!" one of the bandits yelled to the woman before smacking her down with his flintlock.

The other bandits around him laughed as the other hostages looked on helplessly. Among these hostages there was the woman who just got smacked down who looked no more than twenty, a homeless man who looked to be middle aged, twin brothers who appeared to be in their early teens, and their little sister who they were hugging in an attempt to comfort her who looked too be five. "If you don't want to end up like that bitch, I suggest you others don't try anything funny like her." another bandit spoke out as he pointed his weapon towards each of the hostages.

"Hmm." All of the bandits there suddenly faced their weapons to the direction of the humming while the hostages looked up as well. It was the medical samurai who stood there watching the situation. "Who the hell are you?" one of the bandits asked in a demanding tone. "I should be asking you all the same. This is my training area." Law responded in an unamused tone, agitating one of the bandits. "Why you cheeky little..." before he could finish, another bandit whispered into his ear saying, "Hey, isn't that the samurai guy who caused havoc in the East?"

Law tilted his head slightly, overhearing the two. "Havoc?" sure he did some noteworthy things in the East, but havoc should be far from any of that. "The one with over two million on his head?" the bandit asked causing the other one to nod. The bandit's eye brows raised as a wicked smile grew on his face.

"Well well. Looks like it's our lucky day." the confident bandit said as he pointed his weapon to the samurai, the other bandits following his actions.

Marcel watched as all the flintlocks were now aimed at him. The samurai let out a sigh. This having a bounty thing was certainly a real hassle. "Well, at least I can pass this off as training I suppose." Law responded with his hand already gripped on the hilt of his sheathed katana. "This guy must think he's hot stuff. What possibly makes you think that some sword can take down a gun?" the overconfident bandit asked, turning around to his goons as they all laughed.

A poor mistake. Marcel took this opportunity to quickly unsheathe his blade, running up to that bandit, and decapitating him in the process. Blood splattered out much to the other bandit's shock, and surprise. The bandits as well as the hostages looked in shock as that body fell to the ground. Law stood there with his katana out, and already stained in blood, staring at the remaining bandits who finally got themselves together, putting their flintlocks up at the samurai. "F-FIRE!" one of the bandits yelled as they all fired their weapons at once which all managed to hit their target, or so they thought.

There wasn't any blood located in the areas the bullets hit, but rather smoke. The smoke then disappeared, revealing that Law's body was intact much to the bandit's and hostage's surprise. They all then tried firing again only for it to end up with the same results. As they looked in shock once more, Law took this opportunity once again to quickly dispose of them. Blood splattered the ground as Law did quick deep slashes to some of their chests, slit the throat of another one, and impaling the chest of another, leaving one left.

The last bandit panicked, falling to the ground in the process, and dropping his gun as he violently shook. "J-just what the hell are you!?" the bandit yelled out as Law approached him.

"A smoke man." Marcel plainly said before doing a quick downward slash on his victim's head, killing him instantly.

On the hijacked marine ship. "Are you serious?" A powerful looking bandit grunted to himself with a den den mushi in his hand. He overheard the carnage that was going on from one of the dead bandits whos den den mushi was still on from a previous conversation. "One man did all this huh? Heh, it must be him after all then." the bandit said before picking up another den den mushi. "Send out the other twelve. Not going to get this deal screwed up because of one kid."

Back on the island, Marcel had just got done untying the hostages from their ropes. "Follow that path through the jungle. You will stumble upon a village." Marcel said, pointing in that direction as the hostages thanked him, carrying off the unconscious woman in the process. Law looked down at the dead bandits while thinking that they were hardly a challenge. That's when the sound of footsteps approaching caught the pirate's attention.

Law turned his head to see about twelve bandits similar to these eight rushing towards the scene of the fight all armed with flintlocks and rifles. None of them spoke. There was only snickers, and confident smiles with these criminals. A disappointed look grew on the samurais face as he was hoping that those were the only ones, or that the rest would at least be a challenge. He then shook his head, and shifted his body to face the other bandits, gripping his katana as he prepared for more blood spilling.

It was like a standoff. Neither side made a move. It was the samurai with his katana out, and twelve bandits with their guns out. "Guessing they are waiting for me to make a move." Law said to himself as he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. Just then, all of the bandits started to fire, aiming at the pirate's head, and upper body.

They continued to fire until they couldn't fire anymore. With satisfied grins on their faces, all of the bandits began to cheer, and praise each other before plotting on looking for those hostages. Just then one of the bandit's eyes widened, causing another one to ask him "what?" The surprised bandit then pointed to the direction of Law with his hand shaking as the others began to look. The body was still standing tall with the entire upper body, and head gone, and replaced with smoke.

"What the fu-" before that bandit could finish, more smoke appeared around the samurai's body until it spread it out in a fifteen meter radius, creating a thick fog of smoke, blinding everyone except for Marcel in the process. Law's upper body, and head would the reform as the sound of the bandits panicking can be heard. Law could see exactly where they were at, unfortunately, the bandits couldn't say the same. Like a phantom in the night, Marcel took down each bandit one by one in their state of confusion, leaving nothing but blood, and a pile of bodies as the smoke continued to linger.

"Heh. This guy." the head bandit said with a smirk on his face as he looked over to the fog from the dock of the ship. He wasn't able to see anything, but he had a pretty strong feeling he knew what was going on. He seemed to be a little more amused than pissed about any of this. Four other bandits who appeared to be wearing goggles came up behind their leader with one of them saying, "We're ready to go, boss." The head bandit glanced over to them with a brief nod before looking back down at the fog.

Law who stood in the center of the fog took out his cloth, and cleaned the blood from his blade. He had a feeling that those were the last of them, but he didn't like the sight of his dirty blade. He looked up at the direction of the ship, thinking that there is obviously someone in there pulling the strings. While he was thinking, Law notices three figures walking into the fog, all looking calm. They seemed to have a better attitude compared to the grunts, but should still also be blinded, or at least that's what the samurai thinks.

Before he could end them with his blade, Marcel was suddenly kicked in the face by the fourth bandit that managed to sneak up behind him. Law fell to the ground, looking up to see the four bandits standing over him, each wearing goggles, and smirks on their faces.

"Looks like you got a little too cocky with that devil fruit of yours."

Marcel rubbed the side of his now bruised cheek as he continued to look up at the four. He observed them, realizing that the four bandits were wearing goggles. Most likely how they were able to find him so easily. That one bandit did have a point, he was relying a little bit much on his fruit's abilities. "Surprised? We snagged these goggles a while back. Can let anyone see through the thickest of fogs." the bandit gloated as the other three nodded.

"We aren't push overs like those other chumps you beat. You could say were are the elites of this group. We are who the boss calls when he needs something done right, and with swiftness." Law sighed. He couldn't take anymore of those pointless gloating, and decided to retaliate by quickly leg sweeping two of the bandits, causing them to fall face first on the ground, breaking their goggles in the process with some of the glass piercing into their eyes. Poor souls.

As they squirmed around in pain, Marcel quickly got back on his feet, grabbing his katana as the remaining two bandits jumped over their comrades in an attempt to attack the samurai. The two bandits were holding combat knives, and attempted to cut Law with it only for their attacks to be dodged by Marcel's quick thinking. Even though they would've easily phased through him, the words the bandit told Marcel before got him to thinking that he shouldn't be relying too much on that fruit.

As soon as one of the two bandits slipped up, Marcel did a quick upward slash at the bandit's jaw, killing him instantly before stabbing the other one through the heart. Law then stood over the two remaining bandits who were still in pain, deciding to end their miseries by stabbing them both in the back of the head.

The head bandit looked on, on the deck, wearing another one of those goggles with a smirk. "This is going to be fun."

The fog slowly dispersed, making everything visible once more, but it wasn't a pretty sight. A total of twenty four bodies littered the area with pools of blood. "Hmm, a bit more than I thought." Marcel admitted as he cleaned the blood off of his blade once more. "Oh. Looks like I wont be needing this then." a voice approaching Marcel said, causing the samurai to look up.

A man threw a pair of goggles down to the ground as he continued to walk. He was about 6'5" in height with a medium build standing over Law. Marcel looked up to him before asking, "I take it you're in charge?" The man stopped before laughing. "Well...I WAS in charge until you ya know, killed off all the people I was in charge of." the man said with a shrug. "I should be a lot more mad about this, but what you did here was very impressive, and so is that fruit of yours." he praised with his arms crossed.

Marcel simply stared the man down with no response. "Guessing you're not much of a talker. Well then...how about this? We could go into business together. With that power of yours mixed with my strength, we could make it big in the underground, but first we'd have to get back those hostages you freakin let loose." he said, casually. "Sorry, but I don't really get mixed in those sort of things. Especially with idiots." Marcel responded.

The head bandit sighed before shaking his head. "Well, suit yourself." the bandit then got on his knees, saying, "I surrender. Do what you will with me." Marcel silently looked down to him with a puzzled look. After all that had happened, he simply surrenders!? Never in his life has the samurai ever dealt with an enemy that would just simply give up like this. As Marcel walked over to him, still not sure what to make of this, the bandit smirked, grabbing Law's ankles quickly before he could respond, and with his immense strength, he threw the samurai up into the air.

Marcel's eyes widened as he was now up pretty high in the air. He was more surprised about this guy's strength than the trick. Law would look down at the bandit who was waiting for him to splat on the ground. Just as Marcel was inches from the ground, he quickly turned his whole body to smoke, and floated there calmly on the ground, causing the bandit to rub his chin. "Oh? You're a logia user? That makes sense...." the bandit said in a defeated tone, pouting a little as Marcel reformed.

The moment he finished reforming, Marcel dashed at the bandit before he had time to react. coating the blade of his katana with smoke, unleashing a still crescent shaped slash formed by smoke, sharp enough to decapitate the helpless bandit leader, his head flying off into the distance as his body keeled over.

Now another body joins the other twenty four. Marcel looks on at the bodies as he sheathed his blade. That should be all of them. He then pondered about how to remove the bodies. He couldn't just leave him out here like this. Perhaps wait for the wildlife to get to them, or just throw them into the water.

Marcel then let out a small sigh. "I really need to stop getting mixed with bandits..."

-Exit-