Wealth, Fame, Power... These words have sent countless men and women at the sea, searching for those. This story is about such a man, who set sail with one goal in mind; become the strongest in the world. Dear reader, pay attention now. You are reading the tale of Ikki, the "Gunblade Master". His adventures will leave you in awe and you may not believe them, shrugging them off as simply fairy tales or a myth. What you decide to believe is your own volition. But read it nonetheless. For this is the world of the man aiming to surpass everything.
GUNBLADE MASTER
Chapter 1: Legend Begins
The sun was rising, slowly but steadily and its rays shined upon the girl's golden locks, making it seem her head was shining. The sun continued getting further into the sky, this time reaching her eyes. With a small grunt, she opened her eyes. With a great amount of energy required, she stood up from the bed and she stretched, trying to shrug away the last bits of sleep. She looked outside her window and saw the sky was already getting a beautiful blue color, indicating a great weather for today. She put some saliva in her finger and raised it high, in order to feel the wind.
'Hmm... It will actually rain today... Bummer...,' she said to herself in a low tone.
She looked again outside, trying to understand why it was a bummer it would rain; she loved the rain after all. Then it hit her. Her green eyes opened wide from the surprise and she took off the gown she was wearing for sleep and got dressed in her trademark orange shirt and two color pants, red and yellow, at top speed. She rushed out of her bedroom to the kitchen, grabbing a can of milk from the fridge and slipping into her sandals. Then she started running, screaming all the same.
-SHIT! I AM SOOOOOOOO LATE!
"Now dear reader, I am sure you are wondering one thing; who could this girl be and what she is late for? I will be more than happy to explain that! This beautiful, caring and just a little bit of clumsy girl is none other than Rosetta, more commonly known as Rose in this story."
"She has huge breasts too. They jiggle every time you walk."
"IKKI! The hell you are doing here, interrupting MY story?"
"YOUR story? You forget that I am the one, the only, the amazing, the awesome, the ass-kicking, the beer drinking, chief of the chiefs, the new sheriff in town, smoldering handsome, egoistical, powerful, strong, stronger, strongest Gunblade Master Ikki?"
As you can see dear reader, the main character of this story is somewhat of a prick. You don't believe me? Let me put it this way. If you are dying of thirst in the middle of the road, he will do ONLY 3 of the following things. One, ignore you if you are not worth fighting with. Two, if you are somewhat strong but still weaker than him, he will ignore you but may write you down to a list, in case you become abnormally strong. And finally, if you are really strong, he will save you, bring you gallons of water, feed you and then let you rest. So he can fight you. If you lose, he will leave you to die of thirst again, but this time, since he already won, he will go back to Situation 1. He is a prick. You will probably hate him. But he is the main character. Deal with it.
A boy around 18 years old was sitting in a rock on the beach, staring at the sea. He was holding a pen and paper. He was having a kind of a sad look on his face. If someone were to meet him, they would think that he is lonely, or simply a great poet, trying to put into words his sadness of blue, so the world can benefit from his wisdom.
...Or not. This specific boy was holding a pen and paper which really was a list of names. A list of names the boy had basically left for dead last time he met each of them. He was sad while he was reading it. Not because of the damage he caused, but since his last addition to his list, there was no longer anyone strong enough to fight. That was a bloody tragedy for that boy.
"What a prick I tell you! I hope somebody would arrive right and kick his ass, give him a taste of his own medicine! Then they should hang him by the balls and...
...Please forgive my language and interruption. But alas, the main character of this story has once beaten my ass badly and forced to write this bloody book about him and his over flaming ego. I am sure I piqued your interest about who I am, but I actually don't appear in this story until much later and don't really get much of action either. I am just a sad fifth rate character, who appeared in the wrong story the wrong time, now being forced to write this book. WHAT A PRICK I TELL YOU!"
Going on with the story, the boy had short, spiky black hair with black eyes. His outfit was, believe it or not, the exactly opposite of what he usually acted like. He was always dressed to the teeth, with a white buttoned shirt, black suit and pants, with black polished shoes and a blue tie to top it off. He could actually be considered handsome. Then again, seeing he tears his clothes, getting into fights constantly and then ends up red in blood (usually not his own) we will leave the rest to the reader's imagination. This boy and main character of this story, is known as Ikki.
Ikki looked again down at his list; all the names that were on it were scrapped out. Not a single one that was worth entering his Rematch List. No, all of them were super weak. He let out a small sigh and tore the piece of paper in front of him; it was no longer needed. He lied down on the flat rock and closed his eyes. He longed for a good brawl, but it was no longer possible to have in this island. There were hardly any strong guys left in it. The funny part is that this island, otherwise known as Juune (Gunship) Isle has produced dozens of famous people, that were either ridicule strong or have done something so amazing, they were basically legends. The biggest of them was a former pirate, 'Red Blade' Jon. Not only his bounty exceeded 500 million, he was one of the few (if there were any at all left) Gunblade users. In fact, the Gunblade originated from Juune Isle.
The Gunblade; a treasure only passed down to the True Heir. The strange thing is that the Gunblade will allow only a handful to wield it. And the one with the strongest affinity with it takes it with him. If he or she died, the sword returns to its birthplace, Juune. A shrine was built around the place it kept returning to, a simple rock. There it lay, awaiting for the next worthy person to take it away from its resting the place. With that rock as the center, the shrine was built. A special group of monks guard this place and the Gunblade with their lives if need be. They call themselves the Juu Monks.
The Juu Monks train hard day and night, all of them striving to serve the Gunblade, then have the Gunblade serve them. The strongest monk every year gets his shot of drawing the Gunblade; if he succeeds, depending on his affinity level with the blade, he keeps it for a whole year. Only if he wins again against all monks he can claim yet another year with the Gunblade. If he loses, he puts it back it to the rock and allows the winner to try his affinity. Not that this needed at all; if the Gunblade doesn't deem you worthy, you wouldn't even be able to hold it. For the past 9 years, the Gunblade has been resting in the hands of one particular Juu Monk, whom we will meet soon.
Ikki drifted to a sleep; Juune Isle was a huge island but he was already infamous with the entirety of its citizens. The only place he wasn't allowed to visit was the Gunblade Shrine. He attempted that once, but the entire dojo ganged up on him. Even he couldn't take the entire order consisting of hundreds of monks. While he was lying on the ground, he vowed he would return and beat the living crap out of every single monk. Next time, he politely arrived, following the correct procedure of entering the temple, even offered some money. Then he challenged the entire order into a fight, this time on one-on-one duels. The Juu Monks accepted his request but he was defeated in his fifth match against the current Gunblade User, Kingo.
Ever since that incident, Ikki was training to get a rematch with Kingo and this time kick his ass so hard, he wouldn't be able to see the new light of day. But even he had to admit something; Kingo was still stronger than him. That was the reason Ikki was sad there was no one else to fight to get stronger. The only place that had stronger guys was at shrine, but he wasn't allowed there unless it to either join (and shave his head) or offer money and challenge the monks again. But this would take quite a lot of time and there was no guarantee he would be able to meet Kingo at his best.
While Ikki was lost in thought, trying to find a solution to his problem, he heard a VERY loud noise. He jumped, looking around to locate where it was coming from. The first thing he saw a large sand cloud, coming closer and closer to him. His lock of hair that usually rested between his eyes suddenly spiked up.
'My Hair Sense is tickling! Someone is strong is coming! BRING IT!' Ikki yelled at the one coming. He took an offensive stance and then jumped directly to the poor person heading towards him.
The only thing Rose had as a warning was a yell from someone before she realized a kick was heading towards her. She immediately raised her leg and deflected the kick aiming for her head, then she jumped back and looked at her attacker. She recognized that boy in front of her. In fact, she had the misfortune of growing up together with him as neighbors.
'Damn you Ikki! Why did you do that all of a sudden!' yelled Rose, her hands still in a defensive stance.
'Oh, it's Big Breasts. What are you doing here? My Hair Sense tingled, so I thought someone strong was here. Guess even the absolute greatness of my hair can get wrong sometimes. I mean, if it tingles because you were there, it probably mistook strength for big breasts. Now piss off my way cow. Your all mighty god wants to pass.' Ikki replied, like all that was a normal greeting. Rose was normally calm and collected, but this time a vein ticked. It was one thing getting attacked like that, but getting bossed around by this idiot was too much for her. She exhaled deeply, calming herself and moved to another stance. She lifted her right leg above her head and then she brought it slowly at her hip's height. Then she kicked the ground with her left leg, instantly closing down the distance between her and Ikki, raising her right foot high and low in a single motion, aiming for Ikki's head.
"Scissor's Kick!" she yelled. Ikki might be a selfish man, but when it came to fighting he had enough experience to deal with such a simple and straightforward attack. He blocked it with his elbow, smiling as he did so. However, he underestimated his opponent; Rose was a Juu Monk and highly trained. Although it was true that she judged her previous attack would be enough to deal with Ikki, his block didn't faze her at all. Instead she quickly brought her right foot to the ground, regaining complete balance and doing a spin she aimed for Ikki's ribs with another kick. This time, she was successful and Ikki was thrown away several meters before he could stop the momentum. Ikki smiled and cracked his head; of course Rose was strong. He only said those things in order to make her fight with him, which otherwise would ignore. It was actually perfect for him: since he wasn't allowed to fight any Juu Monks other than the expensive procedure, he had to make some to fight them outside of the shrine. Rose especially was a target of Ikki's, her strength easily outranking most of the Juu Monks. In fact, she was dubbed one of the '5 Guns'. 5 of the Juu Monks were so strong, they managed to defeat a whole fleet of pirate ships by their own when the later attacked Juune Isle. Kingo was the strongest and in a whole other level, but Rose was strong enough.
"All right Big Breasts, I will show you the might of Ikki, the Awesome Brawler!" yelled Ikki and once more charged towards Rose. The later was still rather calm, paying attention to Ikki's every more. Then, still calm, she started blocking every attack from Ikki, actually attacking back quite a few times. She was sure she had inflicted quite a lot of damage to Ikki, but the arrogant youth just kept smirking and attacking. His toughness was the real deal; but Rose was not be underestimated. She would train daily for the past 7 years. The moment Ikki raised his fist and tried to throw a straight punch, Rose raised her leg and deflected his punch. While Ikki was trying to regain balance, she jumped high in the air and dove straight for his head with both feet gaining momentum. Ikki, by pure instinct, slipped his head back enough to dodge the certain kill, but was hit hard in his chest. He coughed hard, trying to take a breath desperately, but Rose instantly put her knee to his chest, applying pressure. Then she punched right next to Ikki's ear, making him dizzy by the force.
"So much for the Awesome Brawler," mocked Rose.
Ikki's eyes were wavering and he knew he was losing consciousness from that hit and the lack of air. He could barely hear Rose speaking and he couldn't make a word by what she said. But what made Ikki truly dangerous is his growth rate and his unique ability to search for a way to get out of a tough spot in mere milliseconds; instead of his brain telling him what to do, it would just move on its own, protecting Ikki. This occurred again now. Ikki could only move his feet, but he couldn't reach or even distract Rose long enough to counter her or even escape from her hold. Then his only solution was to smash the ground beneath him.
Still gasping for air that wouldn't reach his lungs, Ikki raised his right leg and brought it down hard. Rose ignored this but she lessened her grip on Ikki just a little; more by instinct not to kill him rather than anything else.
And that exact moment Ikki raised his left leg and kicked his right one, which had sunk into the ground from the previous attempt. This time, the combined force shook the ground, making a small hole beneath the two fighters. Rose, surprised she lessened her grip once more, plus her knee floated just for a second, due to the sudden gravity pull of the ground breaking. In that exact moment, still gasping for air, Ikki head butted Rose making her fall back. In that exact moment, he took a huge breath, filling his body with oxygen, did a headstand and jumped further away from Rose, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. Rose got up slowly, herself only just registering what Ikki had done. It wasn't really the action that shocked her; it was an absolutely marvelous move, not only allowing Ikki to get out of that extremely dangerous spot but also scoring a single hit on her. Despite herself, she smiled. Even though Ikki was still below her in actual combat strength, he was the only man on that island that would never pull his punches. Even though she was one of the '5 Guns', she was always being underestimated at first. And by the time she wasn't by her opponent, it was already late.
Ikki on the other hand wasn't smiling this time. In his mind, he was running hundreds of various combinations and situations, trying to get the upper hand in the fight. As he started running towards Rose, trying to recommence their fight, a loud bang was heard, probably from a huge gong. Both opponents looked at the direction of the sound, Ikki irritated and startled and Rose with awestruck.
"DAMN! I FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT! I AM OUT OF HERE!" yelled Rose and without further ado, she ran off at full speed.
"OI! GET BACK BIG BREASTS! WE JUST GOT STARTED DAMN IT!" Ikki yelled after her, but the later had already vanished from sight. Sighing, Ikki fixed his tie and started walking back to town. Losing his chance of fighting further with Rose, he was rather irritated.
And the bear that dared attacked him on the way found itself becoming stew.
Juune Isle, Shrine Entrance
Rose was running at top speed and soon found herself at the 1000 stairs. This wasn't the official entrance to the shrine, but if you wanted to become a disciple at the Juu Shrine this was the requirement; climb those stairs and gain entrance. At first, all the disciples could barely go to 300 or 400 before giving up and try again another day. The stairs were steep, slippery and huge. You had to literally jump to get over one of them. For the last twenty years, almost all students could only pass the "Stair Test" at their 5th or 6th try. Only Kingo was able to complete the challenge in his first day. Rose, who was considered talented, had to try three times before she was able to complete it.
Of course, normal people would visit the shrine too, so for that purpose an elevator was built. However, none of the disciples would use it; one of their daily routines was to climb the '1000 staircase' as fast as possible. Kingo was the fastest; he could complete it in under 2 minutes.
Rose took a deep breath and stretched herself. Then she jumped, easily reaching the fifth step of the staircase. Almost immediately she jumped again and again, until she reached a steady pace of seven steps at the time.
Minutes later, Rose finally reached the shrine. The preparations were already complete.
"Yo, sleepyhead!" someone called. Rose turned and saw Roy, one of the '5 Guns'. He was large, the largest among all monks and disciples with a large beer belly. Many would complain that someone with his attitude shouldn't be a monk, but his ability was definitely higher than any. After Kingo he was the strongest monk. Plus, he would always have a large smile and always be there for you if you needed him. He was the type of guy that would encourage the newcomers, show them quite a bit of tough love and then train them in a way where their strengths would show quickly and hide their weaknesses.
"Bulalalala! You really aren't a morning person are you Rose? Bulalalala!" Roy laughed out loud. Rose pouted.
"Don't be a meanie! You know I can't help it!"
"What, Rose is late again? Talk about being original; getting late on the most important time of the year! Congratulations!" a voice was heard from behind Rose. A vein popped in Rose's forehead. This was the person she would get the least along among everybody in the entire isle; Linda. Many would consider Linda beautiful but her attitude towards everybody was humiliating to say the least. She would only respect people that were above her in strength and ability and anyone who was below her wasn't someone she would interact with. She had long blond hair with large blue eyes and she was the only Juu Monk that had eaten a Devil's Fruit.
"Now, now Linda, I am sure Rose has a good excuse about this. You know, like having to say a tearful goodbye to her boyfriend, who left her in order to travel t-the seas and b-become a strong man s-seeking for a-a-adventures! NO! I AM GOING TO CRY!Buhaha!" a man right behind Linda said and actually started crying hard. Everyone sweatdropped.
"Now now, Collin-san! Please don't cry, I don't have a boyfriend!" said Rose, trying to calm down the man. Collin was a crybaby; his emotional range was the range of a teaspoon; he would cry for the weather, the ants, training, pirates, Rose and her lack of talent to find a boyfriend... He was always dressed sloppy, wearing pants that no longer fit him and his dougi would always get dirty because he would play around all the time, like a small child. Usually Rose was the one who had to take care of him.
"Of course not, Rose could never get a boyfriend. If she got one, hell would freeze over! Ohohohoho!" Linda laughed. Rose's veins increased.
"Ho? Are you sure you want to start this Linda? What about your boyfriend?" asked Rose evilly.
Sparks started flying between the two women. Collin started crying and Roy tried to separate the vixens but he was only thrown away by a joint kick. The two women were ready to duke it out but then a loud gong was heard, its vibrations ring clear even after the echo had died out. All monks turned to see the Elder Monk, Genoh and Kingo besides him. Although all Juu monks were required to wear a dougi and only a dougi while on the shrine, Genoh had to differentiate from the others and he had a black mantle on top of his dougi. He was bald with no eyebrows, a combination that would scare almost everyone. He was strict and very rule oriented. His presence usually would silence the entire shrine. Kingo on the other hand was pleasant to look at. He would always smile and was considered handsome. He had long black hair and he was rather slim but appearances were deceiving. He was polite and an excellent teacher. No one could match him in strength or skill; he was by far superior. He was, after all, the current Gunblade User.
"Silence you fools! Surely you could wait until the official matches have started?" yelled Genoh. All the monks bowed in apology. Nobody would dare talk back to an angry Genoh. And an angry Genoh was an everyday occurrence. The old man nodded to Kingo, who bowed and walked in front.
"Good morning my fellow disciples! It's finally time for the day all of us have been waiting for! The day the Gunblade Tournament begins! The winner will get a chance to draw the Gunblade from its rock. I have already placed it back. Let us fight in a calm manner!" said Kingo.
The moment Kingo ended his speech, everybody became focused. The very reason they entered this shrine was for a chance to wield the most powerful blade in the world, the Gunblade. The Gunblade Tournament was a contest between every monk that was willing to fight for that chance. However, the real test wasn't winning the tournament; that could even be considered the easy part. After winning, the monk would have to pass a test of compatibility with the Gunblade itself. Then and only then would he or she receive the Gunblade to wield and use for an entire year, until the next tournament.
Genoh walked in front. He looked at the face of every monk that had shown up. He could see determination, desire and above all, focus. He smirked.
"Now then, I announce the start of the 564th annual Gunblade Tournament! Show everybody the result of your training and try to claim victory. May the best man win!"
A gong rang again. Everybody tensed and looked at their opponents. This was it. The fight of the year. The winner would get bragging rights for an entire year and a chance to wield the Gunblade. Of course, the competition was stiff and the favorite to win was once again Kingo. But there was always the chance. Rose, Roy, Linda especially were training very hard for this day. It was time.
Juune Isle, Port
Even at this distance, the gong from the shrine could be heard, loud and clear. The workers carrying the trade supplies in port stopped for a bit and looked at the direction of the sound.
"Oh, it's today, isn't it?" said one of them.
"Yeah! Although I am sure Kingo will win again and make this 10 years in a row!"
"Ha! This time I am sure Roy will win!"
"Don't forget Linda-san!"
"Don't be a..."
"PIRATES! PIRATE SHIPS!" someone yelled from the lighthouse. Everybody turned at him and then at the sea. At first, they couldn't make out anything. But then they appeared. A large fleet of pirate ships, all waving their Jolly Roger with a single pirate mark. The mark of...
"IT'S 'BOOTSTRAP' JAYCE!"
"WHAT?"
"You mean that pirate that has been going all over the place wreaking havoc lately? We should alert the Marines! And the monks! HURRY UP!"
All of them left the boxes and started running in a panic.
Juune Isle, Town
Ikki, still irritated but this time with a full belly (that beer stew was absolutely amazing) was walking around town, trying to find out something to pass the time. Most shoppers and citizens would quickly stare away from him in order to avoid any confrontation with him, but Ikki wouldn't care either way. He was extremely bored and irritated to care about normal people. He sat in a bench, stretching his feet and taking a bite of his new specialty dish, bear sausages. As he took out his Battle List once more, to recheck it, he heard someone yelling at the top of his lungs.
"PIRATES! PIRATES ARE COMING! 'BOOTSTRAP' IS COMING!"
At first, there was complete and utter silence. Then a baby started crying. As if that was the cue, everybody started screaming like the world had just ended and started running up and away in a complete panic. Ikki on the other hand smiled. Pirates would do just fine. He didn't know who this 'Bootstrap' was, but a fight was a fight; there was nothing more simple than that. He jumped up, tearing his Battle List: there was no longer any need for that, since now he would have fresh meat to beat up. He started walking calmly towards the port while all of the citizens were running past him acting like complete lunatics. Ikki's eye caught a dougi and without even thinking he charged at that and punched the owner in the face.
"Hmm.? Oh, it's you Kev." Ikki said.
"Don't punch me like that Ikki-san! Or rather, don't punch me at all!" said Kev, eyes watering and holding his bruised cheek. Kev was a Juu Monk, but he was utterly weak. He was skinny, weak willed and most importantly a coward. His head was shaved but that only did him worse, since he literally looked like a potato rather than a serious monk in-training. He was good friends with Rose and that was the only reason he decided to become a monk. Kev passed his entrance test, the '1000 stairs' on his 20th try and had only actually reached the training area 5 times after that. Long story short, Kev would never get into Ikki's list, so the later was somewhat kind to him.
"...YES! He WAS kind to that kid. I mean, he ONLY punched him once and then he stopped. Usually by now the other man would have received a dozen more punches, about twenty kicks then have his leg tied with a steel ball and thrown into the ocean. HE IS A PRICK I TELL YOU!"
"SHUT UP and go on with the story! It's finally getting to the good parts! I mean, why wouldn't you just skip all the boring stuff and start the battles? There are some AMAZING battles that happened then!"
"If we were to start the battles, the dear readers wouldn't even know who is the bad guy here!"
"Screw the dear readers! I am the Great Ikki, THAT'S this book's selling point! Not the bloody story! WE WANT THE BLOOD!"
"What are you doing here Kev? Shouldn't you be at practice by now?" asked Ikki.
"Today is the Tournament's day, so I skipped out.. WAIT! There is no time for this! Pirates are attacking Ikki-san! What should we do?" yelled Kev in desperation.
"Calm down! Aren't you a monk? Shouldn't you fight them as you are supposed to do?" Ikki asked, getting more irritated by Kev.
"I can't! They are pirates!"
"Meh. Small fry. I am going to go kick their asses. You should come too!" said Ikki.
"Me? WHY ME?"
"Because from the looks of it, there is a fleet of them. I won't have time to write anybody on my lists. I want you there as my list guy. Ok, here is the Rematch list, here is the Don't Bother Again list, the Might Kick Their Asses Later list and of course, my favorite, the Tie Them With A Steel Ball And Throw Them At The Sea For Being Weak list. And here is my lucky pen. If you lose it, you are automatically on that one." said Ikki, giving out the goods to Kev. The later sweatdropped.
"Um.. Ikki-san? Don't you think we should go with the others on the shelter?" asked Kev.
"Huh? You asked if I want to kick your ass?" replied Ikki with a murderous look.
"No no! I get it already! I will go with you but I am hiding the entire time!" said Kev.
"There we go! Let's go Kev!" yelled Ikki.
Pirate Fleet Maiden Ship, Bootstrap
Inside the ship, a man wearing large black bootstraps was sitting, gold and treasures all around him. He was holding a chain where at the ends of it he had chained various female slaves he liked. He had his eyes closed, paying no attention to the whimpering of the slaves. A knock was heard on the door.
"Come in."
The door opened and a very tall and thin man entered. He was wearing bright yellow clothes and a fancy, also yellow, top hat with a red ribbon on it. He bowed low, holding his hat so it wouldn't fall.
"Give me your report Sei." said the man, his eyes still closed.
"It appears there is a commotion in town. I am sure they will be alerted of our presence soon." replied Sei, his voice low and thick.
"It doesn't matter. Today is the day of the Gunblade Tournament. The Juu monks will be too late to retaliate, or even react at the end of this. How long till we reach port?"
"Ten minutes, give or take."
"Make them five."
Sei bowed low again and left the room without another word. His Captain, Jayce, surely had a personal grudge against the Juu monks, since he knew every detail about them. But he didn't care about such trivial matters; let Jayce do what wants. Sei only cared about two things: plundering and killing. As he went, he noticed an eagle sitting on deck, resting a bit before it would take flight again. As Sei passed over it, he threw something at it, but with such speed no one, not even the eagle itself, could see.
The next moment the eagle fell dead, without even a moment to realize its life had ended.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author Corner: Hola everybody, this is Alex and I come to you with a new One Piece fanfic. I hope you enjoyed reading chapter 1 as much I enjoyed writing it (been a very long time since I wrote something I was satisfied with) Chapter 2 will be following shortly, as I already have the rough draft for it. One of the main reasons I decided to have an OC story instead of one focusing on the Mugiwara Crew (Straw Hats) is so I can have readers chip in with their characters and be part of the story. I will release a template in the next chapter, so look forward to it! Just a note, the characters you will be making will NOT be part of the main crew, but there will be dozens of crews, whether they are pirates, marines or simply your next door badass random character, that kicks ass and takes names, Darryl Dixon style. That's all for chapter 1, throw a review if you liked it. And then another review.