It had been almost ten years. Approximately nine years and eleven and a half months to be exact. That was the amount of time that had passed since Naroshi's entire life had changed. Since he'd witnessed the death of his adoptive father, One eyed Akio. He'd witnessed the gripping waves of the sea swallow up his ship along with the rest of his crew after they'd been attacked by an unidentified group of marines. The experience was nothing less than traumatizing for Naroshi. Not only did he lose the only parent figure that he'd had, but he'd also lost a friend. He'd died only a few days after Naroshi's birthday, which didn't make it any easier. Despite having to deal with the hardship of Akio's death, Naroshi managed to keep moving forward. At first his death had left him depressed, unwilling to take any risks, but with the help of his new guardian Ushio, he eventually managed to change and realize that even though Akio had passed, his dream was still living on through Naro. So, with nothing in his system but his dreams for the future, and a naive sense of optimism in his heart, he vowed to carry out his father's final wishes by attempting to overcome his fear of the sea, and continuing his training to become a pirate. The years went by, and as he got older, his strength increased immensely, reaching near the peak of what normal humans were usually capable of. Now sixteen years old, Naroshi was only a short time away from setting out onto the sea and towards his journey of become a pirate.

"Okay, Let's try this again."

Naroshi tended to think out loud often, but especially when it came to things like this. He found himself out in the outskirts of his current home, orange town, in the early hours of the day. This had been his routine for several years now. He'd get up, go into the entrances of the forest, and train until nightfall. He recalled when Akio would train him, specifically teaching him the art of Rokushiki. He was only a child, and thus could barely master the basics, but from what Akio taught him came the desire and the self discipline to allow him to hone his skill. Now here he was, nine years later, perfecting the skills that his father had taught him. Facing up against a singular tree. His eyes focused on the tree as his muscles loosened. As he concentrated his strength into his right foot, he stared directly towards the center of the tree, where he planned to make contact. He inhaled deeply, and then slowly exhaled, simultaneously moving his foot
forwards in a slashing motion towards the tree, sending a compressed slash of air towards the tree. The air connected, and then immediately dispersed. he held his current position, but his face gave off a look of disappointment. After another second, a loud boom could be heard for several yards even outside of the opening in the trees, and the blast of air ripped into the tree, cutting through it's center, but falling short about 3/4th's of the way into it. Dammit. Still not good enough.

He sighed and set his leg back down onto the ground, relaxing his muscles and placing his hands behind his head.

Well, my Rankyaku has gotten better, that's for sure."

He smiled slightly, staring at the damage he'd done to the tree. he'd certainly progressed beyond what little he'd been capable of back when his father used to train him. He was making it there. He just had to perfect the final steps.

"So this is what the noise was. Just some punk making a a mess of what isn't his, hm?"

"It would certainly appear so."

The voice caught Naro off guard, but he was at the ready to defend himself if necessary. He almost instantly turned around to face the adversaries. His eyes met two strange looking men, but not anything foreign to what he'd seen before. There were two men, stnading directly next to each other and wearing similar clothing. Both wore black clothes with red outlining, and the symbol of a long skull in the center of their chests. The one on the far right wore a long hat, and had a long beard. He was somewhat built with muscle as well. The one on the left was lean. Little to no facial hair, and a slim build. Both of them had the same menacing grin upon their faces. Naro could sense the negativity coming from them, but he was never one to jump to conclusions when it came to people. instead of showing hostility, he kept his nonchalant position, and tried to decipher what their intent of being there was.

"Well hello there. May i ask who you are?"

The burly one on the right slightly chuckled, and opened his mouth to speak first.

"Are you ignorant, or simply a fool? You're trying to tell us you don't know of our symbol?"

Naroshi took a few moments to examine the skull symbol upon their clothing, and then stared him directly in the eye and answered comically.

"Well...... No. I don't. But, i'm sure that you could bring me up to speed, couldn't you?"

He spoke with a smile upon his face to maintain a facade of arrogance in the hopes of taunting the two to ensure they wouldn't try to engage him. That was the only way he saw himself evading a fight against these two.

Both of them exchanged looks momentarily as if they were shocked, but then turned their attentions back towards Naro. The smaller one on the left took his turn to speak, and just by looking at him Naroshi could tell he had a mouthful.

"I see, So you're both ignorant and a fool? Failing to show respect to a pirate? Such a flaw is worthy of the death penalty."

That itself was enough for Naro to almost lose his cool. They were pirates? This was the first time he'd run into any pirates that stopped by the village since his father. But these guys were different. By the way they spoke, carried themselves. They weren't good men. At least not the way his dad had been.

"We are members of the Cutlasses. The most notorious pirates in Orange Town. Led by none other than "Blood wolf, Pirate captain Junie. We are here, for whatever you got kid. Hand it over, and maybe we'll be kind enough to spare your life."

Naroshi took a few moments to allow what he'd just heard sink in. These were the pirates that his father told him about. These were the kind of guys who gave pirates a bad name. They took from people, hurt people, killed them. They were the ones standing in the way of his father's dream.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and exhaled as he took both his hands from behind his head, and left them down at his side for a moment as he spoke.

"I see. Well, this is awkward. You see, i'm going to be a pirate too, but not anything like you guys. I'm going to become a pirate to change how they are usually perceived. You know. When people think of pirates, they immediately think of thieves. Murderers. Generally bad people. I figure that's because of the assholes like you."

both of the pirates clenched their teeth, and began to get angry towards Naroshi. their muscled tensed as if they were preparing to fight.

"So, this is your one and only wake up call. I'm going to give you this chance to think about the crap you just said, realize the error of your ways, and leave with the vow to be a better person. Or....."

Naroshi then prepared his fighting stance, glaring directly towards the two as he did so.

"You can stay here and get your teeth beaten in by me. Your choice."

Both of them were in silence for a few moments, but then began to laugh simultaneously.

"Arrogant Child, you want to play pirate? I'll make sure to kill you like one."

The burly man then charged towards Naro alone, slowly due to his immense size. Naro, sighed as he did so.

"Just remember i gave you the chance."

As the burly pirate charged Naro, Naroshi made sure to follow his every move, to ensure that he knew where and when to move. After a few brief seconds, the burly pirate man managed to close the distance between the two of them, and made an abrupt attempt to attack Naroshi with his left hand aiming a punch at the side of his head. Naro's speed instantly increased as he moved, allowing him to clear a short distance almost instantaneously. He moved out of the way of the punch from the pirate, and behind him entirely. The pirate still managed to keep up with his movements slightly.

"you're fast boy! But not fast enough!"

The pirate adjusted his body slightly, turning around to face Naro in the same instant that he appeared behind him. He aimed his right hand directly towards Naroshi, aiming an open palmed strike at his head. Naro was prepared. He had prepared his right hand with a single finger pointed out in the direction of the pirate's palm strike. He jolted his finger forward towards the open palm at immensely high speeds. his finger penetrated through the center of the palm, as though it were a speeding bullet. One, clean penetration. Shigan. He ripped his finger from the palm, sending  a stream of blood pouring from it. The burly man began to scream out in agony, holding his wounded hand and shaking profusely. Naro took no sympathy for him, and delivered another attack, aiming a high speed kick directly at the back of his head. This sent the burly man toppling down, landing onto the dirt upon the forest floor, unconscious. Naroshi wiped his finger clean of the mans' blood, and then turned his sights back towards the last pirate standing out of the two. He had looked extremely shocked and disturbed, and part of Naro couldn't blame him. He would have felt some remorse had they not came to him with the attentions of harming him and others in the town. Regardless, that was irrelevant. He had to make his point clear. He stared directly towards the remaining pirate, staring directly at him, still giving off a nonchalant appearance as if the entire situation was of little relevance to him.

"I'm sorry i had to do that to your friend. But you get it right? Two pieces of scum running up on a kid alone in the forest, trying to rob him? I'm sure that you'd have done the same were you in my shoes."

The pirate slightly grimaced, but then Prepared a fighting stance as well.

"You'll pay for that kid! Time to die!"

The final remaining pirate charged Naroshi faster than the burly one had of course, but with less grace. He was rushing himself, wasn't taking his time. a careless mistake that would cost him. once he was within five meters of Naroshi, Naro took advantage of the distance between them to utilize his speed ability once more. He dashed forward, moving up the five meters and behind the pirate within an instant. immediately after appearing behind him, he struck him once in the back, sending him flying forward. He connected with the tree that Naro had damaged earlier, sending it tumbling down and landing next to The burly pirate, who lay upon the ground still out of it. Naro walked over towards the pirate, who was still conscious. Naro bent down to lower himself enough to talk to the pirate, who was bleeding slightly from the mouth. The side of his face was bruised, and his left eye was slightly shut.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this, but people like you are standing in the way of my dream. I'm supposed to make sure that people will be able to live without fear of pirates, and i can't do that when there are pirates like you going around hurting the innocent. If you want to change your ways, you can. All you have to do is help me by telling me where i can find the rest of your crew, and this "Junie" that you spoke of."

This was the first time in a long time that Naroshi had run into any pirates, let alone utilized his Rokushiki on an actual opponent. Despite that, he was doing pretty damn good. He figured that this was his test. His sign. The experience that would determine whether or not he would be capable of becoming a pirate after all. All he needed was for this pirate to cooperate. For him to help him out, and maybe change his ways in the process."

"Go........ Go to hell."

Naroshi chuckled slightly to himself, and nodded.

"I'm sorry that's how you feel."

Just as he spoke, another incredibly loud noise could be heard coming from the direction of the town, nothing but a few dozen meters away. He figured that was his answer. He looked back towards the pirate and smiled.

"Looks like i got my answer. Thanks anyway. Now do me a favor, when your friend wakes up, get the hell out of my town. Don't ever come back. I could have killed you both now, but i did you a favor. Remember that i spared your lives."

Naro stood back up, and faced the direction of the center of the town where the noise had come from. He had to get moving.

"Don't kid........ Junie's a psycho. If you get in his way, he'll kill you."

Naro turned his head back towards the remaining conscious pirate. Was his warning a sign of a change in him? It had to be. He didn't have to acknowledge it, nor did he have to care. Naro slightly smiled. His father's belief may have actually been true. Despite that, he couldn't heed the warning. the people of Orange Town were in danger. He had to do something to help.

"Thank you for the warning, but i don't have a choice. If he's messing with the innocent, then i have to help them. Thank you, though. I appreciate the warning."

With that, Naro started towards the town, out of the forest at full speed. This person, "Blood Wolf" Junie, was going to need a wake up call too.

Naroshi refused to let up on his speed, not even a little. The noise he heard had come from the center of Orange Town, and he could tell that it couldn't have meant anything good. As he sped out of the forest, he kept his eyes focused on the direction he was going. After about a minute, he was back on the very outskirts of town. He stopped to look ahead towards the center of the small town. The majority, if not all of the towns population were all lined up kneeling down in front of three people. Naroshi couldn't make out their facial features from his current distance. From what little he could see, one of those three had to be Junie. He ran closer towards them, at a moderate speed, but made sure that his footsteps made as little noise as possible. He stopped at a distance of about 20 meters between him and the rest of the people. He was facing their backs, and none could see him besides the villagers who had been forced onto their knees. Naroshi took the time that he had to examine the three men who had been apparently terrorizing the villagers. They all were physically capable of doing some damage, but which one was Junie? The one farthest to the right was of average height and build. Not too skinny, but not too fat. He wore a red dew-rag upon his head, and baggy black clothing. The one on the far left was of the same average build, but had a hefty amount of dark hair upon his head. He wore a brown, torn robe, and somewhat worn sandals. The one in between the two was tall, about the same height as Naroshi was. He was still of an average weight, and wore a robe covered in red flowers. Upon his back was a large club weapon made entirely of rugged wood. his hair was tied back behind his head. If Naro was to guess, he'd assume that was the leader. That had to have been Junie.

"Hello folks. Pleasure to meet you all. Some of you already know me, some of you don't. I'm sure that you'll all be up to speed shortly. You see, My name is Junie. Captain of The Cutlasses. We're the most notorious pirates in this entire town. What we want is fairly simple. Every last goddamn Beli you have. All of it, from each and everyone of you. If you obey, we will spare your lives. Fairly simple, right? For the sake of your lives, i'd certainly hope so."

He spoke with such arrogance that Naroshi felt the sudden need to strike him off the bat (which wasn't normal for him). This guy was certainly full of himself. As Junie finished his statement, Naroshi turned his attention towards the line of civilians from the town. This guy was truthfully relentless. Along with the men and town leaders, he'd also lined up the women and the children as young as five years old. As if he didn't care about the fact that there were people there who had families to feed. He made Naroshi angry faster than he usually thought it capable of him getting mad. He looked among the people for his guardian, Ushio. He saw her at the far left end of the row of people. Their eyes met each others, and she immediately began to shake her head, as if she was silently ordering him to not try anything. He saw her clearly, but decided to disobey. Part of him felt bad about it, but he knew it was something that he had to do.

Naro kept his eyes on the three pirates, witnessing them stand over the row of civilians as if they had some sort of sick satisfaction out of making them feel powerless. Picking on those weaker than you was a coward's game. Naroshi had never resorted to physical violence unless provoked personally, but in his eyes, this was reason enough. He focused on the pirate on the far right. That would be his first target. Naroshi moved forward at full speed, clearing the distance between himself and the tree of them. His first attack was a punch with his left hand aimed directly at the back of the Pirate on the far right's head. It connected at full strength, sending him flying forward a bit as it had caught him off guard. The pirate went flying off the ground, and directly into the side of a wooden building. His body connected with the wall, running through it entirely. Pieces of rubble fell on top of him, causing him to come off virtually trapped underneath the rubble and unconscious.

Following up from that attack, Naroshi moved at full speed once more, circling around Junie, to his left side, aiming an attack at the other pirate next to him. He brought his foot up, aiming it at the side of the pirates chest. The hit connected, the pirate barely having much time to react towards what Naroshi had done, sending him flying backwards, crashing into the side of another building. once his head hit the side of the wall, the force immediately incapacitated him. Naroshi wasn't done with his barrage yet. He turned his body, adjusting himself so that the front of his body was facing Junie, and aimed a punch directly towards his face. Junie wasn't a rookie look his crew mates had been. He reacted, following up with another closed fist to match the blow that Naro had attempted to deliver. As he did so, the two struggled, putting more force into their blows and attempting to push each other's fists back, making eye contact as they did so.

"Insolent Boy! Who are you? Making a mockery out of my crew mates, disrupting me is a death wish!"

"I'm the kid Whose gonna cave your teeth in."

Naro followed up his taunts with another strike with his other fist aimed at Junie's head. Junie followed up by almost immediately bring up his free hand to match the blow once again, this time gripping it within his open palm. Naroshi struggled with trying to break the hold that Junie had on him, feeling the near crushing grip of his palms. He brought up his foot for one smooth kick aimed at Junie's chest. The hit connected, and Naro pushed his foot further into his chest. The force temporarily knocked the wind out of Junie, causing his grip to subside. Naroshi immediately took the opportunity to fall back a bit. He pushed himself backwards, stopping when there was 8 meters between him and Junie. Junie grimaced as he caught his breath, recovering from the attack, as the two stared at one another. After a while, he clenched his teeth, getting angry at Naroshi's physical capabilities.

"That speed. You're no Amateur Boy. What's your name?"

Naroshi smiled. He liked having his skill complimented by his opponents. It made it all the more easier to show them everything he was capable of doing.

"The name is Naroshi. I'm a pirate in the making. I see that you're a Pirate Captain. Junie right? Well Junie, i've managed to defeat all four of the crew members you brought to my town. Now all that's left is you. You're way more skilled than any of them had been. That's how you managed to become a leader right? you found a whole bunch of weaklings to do your bidding huh? I mean, it's not a bad idea. Smart. It just makes you dishonorable. How can such a coward desire the respect of others so much?"

Junie's face lit up red after Naroshi finished speaking. If Naro wanted to piss him off with the words he chose, he surely did a good job.

"That's some mouth you got on you. You're not a bad fighter. You'd make an exceptional pirate. Too bad you'll have to die for your insolence."

Junie reached towards his back, and then pulled the large, rugged, wooden club from it's hilt with his right hand. He brought it directly in front of him, and held it towards Naroshi.

"Make your move kid, and chose wisely. One wrong move, and you lose your head."

Naroshi kept a smile upon his face, but knew that Junie was right. he had to be smart about how he would approach him. Junie had already showcased that he could keep up visually with Naro's speed. That meant that he'd have to use a combination of his skills to be able to get a hit in on him. what was there for him to use? The only offensive attack that he could potentially utilize at that range would be the Rankyaku. Would it be enough? During his training earlier, he'd barely managed to clear entirely through wood with it. It was his only hope now. His last resort. If he ran into the battle with any other tactic he'd get his brains bashed in within an instant. It was all that he had left to try.

Naroshi tensed the muscles within his legs, as he prepared to move forward. Within an instant, he dashed forward, clearing the distance between him and Junie. Junie immediately brought his arm back, moving the massive club back with it. He then struck back forwards and towards Naroshi with the club. As he did so, Naroshi Brought his leg forward with a high speed kick, sending a compressed wave of air along with it. The air and the club collided, The air blade cutting directly through the center of the club, and slamming directly into Junie's chest, cutting through the first two layers of skin. Junie was sent flying backwards several meters, landing backwards on the ground hard. His club lay at his side, broken in two, and a large gash was within the center of his chest, but he was still conscious. He coughed heavily as he tried to move, experiencing the immense pain from the damage Naroshi's attack had done. He smiled as he saw that his attack had done exceedingly well, and brought his legs and arms back down to his normal stance.

"That's what i call a Rankyaku. Looks like all that training certainly paid off."

While he was successful with his move, the fatigue from the abundance of abilities he was using was beginning to take a toll on his body. He felt slightly winded, his muscles beginning to feel strained. It felt like he had over done himself. At least he had done so with good intentions and outcome.

Naroshi brought his attentions back to the people of the town, who now all slowly stood back up to their feet. Naroshi locked his eyes onto Ushio, as a large grin appeared on his face.

"Ms. Ushio! Did you see me out there? What did you think?"

The woman came directly towards Naroshi with a smile upon her face. There was no more than a few inches between them when she looked up to him, and smiled to him directly. seemingly out of nowhere, Naroshi felt her fist connect with the back of his head, sending him toppling back towards the ground. After a few moments of trying to acknowledge the pain he was now experiencing in his head, he slowly brought his body back up.

"you idiot! What were you thinking? These pirate are dangerous! You could have been hurt! You could have been killed!"

"But i wasn't. I know that you worry about me, and i appreciate it. But didn't you see what i just did? I'm stronger than you think i am."

Ushio stared at Naroshi in awe for a few moments, but then closed her eyes and sighed.

"You're right. I'm sorry. You are strong. Gosh, you sound just like your father."

Naroshi laughed as he held the back of his head where he'd just been struck.  Suddenly, he felt Ushio's arms wrap around him, and her head touch his chest.

"Thank you Naro. I don't know what we would have done without you."

"Yes child. I don't know how you did it, but you saved us all from a lot of troubel there."

"Thank you, It was nothing, really."

Several civilians turned their attentions towards Naroshi, smiling and thanking him for what he'd done. He smiled and looked around as he saw the outcome of the decisions he'd just made. He saved people. He made them happy. This was what His father would have wanted. coming to the realization that he was achieving his goals with every action he took. This was just the beginning. He was on the road to becoming a true pirate, and making his father's dream come true.