Chapter 4: The Tale of Kal!
Previously on One Piece: The Next Story
Maze had defeated the Jumba and his minions Bo and Mo and freed the small mining village from their evil ways and even managed to find his first nakama Kal, and they are now sailing to their next great adventure.
The sea was calm as Maze and Kal sailed through it, with not a single ship insight or cloud in the sky the duo were able to embrace the calming properties of their surroundings.
"I'm so booooooard" moaned Maze as he slouched over the railing of the ship.
"Well it has been a pretty quiet couple of days since we left Diglot" said Kal as he sat down with his back against the mast.
"Exactly, we haven't had a single exciting thing happen, we haven't even reached the next island yet" said Maze.
"What do you expect neither one of us knows how to navigate a ship just do something to take your mind off it" said Kal as his sharp grey eyes now looked at the horizon.
That was when something pooped into Maze's head. He got off the railing and walked over to Kal.
"Hey I've been wondering something about you "said Maze with a curious look on his face.
"What" said Kal?
"Well I heard you were just traveling when you got captured but not why you were travelling" said Maze.
"Well it's not some huge secret, I was just keeping a promise I made" said Kal still resting against the mass now with his eyes closed.
"A promise, what kind of promise "asked Maze?
"To find a certain person and cut them down where they stand"
"Why"?
"That's kind of a long story" said Kal with one of his eyes open.
"We got nothing but time" said Maze with a grin.
Kal took a deep breath and started his story.
"It all started five years ago back when I was thirteen"
On a small island in North Blue a young boy with shoulder length silver hair was running up a dirt road while trying to tie his dark blue gi. He had a medium sized wooden sword in his hand. He came up to a large wooden door that stood in front of a single story building and a stone wall that encircled the outside of the building.
"Crap too late" said the young boy to himself.
The young boy ran back the way he came until he was about eighty yards away from the wooden door. He then started running as fast as he could straight at the stone wall and right before he crashed into it he slammed his sword against the ground and jumped into the air, the force of his sword and his jump made it so that he landed on the opposite side of the wall.
Just as he landed the young man was knocked over the head by the hilt of a sword that caused him to fall face first onto the ground.
"Oww what was that for" yelled the boy.
Standing over the boy was a man somewhere in his mid-Forties. He had long spiky brown hair, a muscular tan body, and a large scar going down his left eye. He was wearing a black gi over a red shirt, and had a katana with a black hilt in his hand.
"How many times have I told you to stop being late for training Kal" said the man holding the sword.
"I'm sorry sensei Goa, it was my turn to make breakfast this morning at the orphanage I ran here as soon as I could, I didn't even have time to eat anything" said Kal as he got up from the ground.
Goa just stared at Kal with a stern look for a second.
"Kal how is it you didn't have enough time to cook and eat when you are the only person that lives in the orphanage" asked the sensei with an irritated look on his face?
"Well you see I … I "stammered Kal.
"You over slept again didn't you" said Goa.
"Yes" said Kal quickly and quietly.
" LAZY!" YELLED Goa as he knocked Kal over the head with the hilt of his sword again!
A little later Kal was kneeling in the front row of a dojo with about twenty other kids his age. In front of him were Goa and six men and women all in their twenties three on either side of Goa.
The dojo was decorated with real swords all over the walls and training equipment covering the dojo floor.
"Okay everyone we will be having one on one fights today so for those who wish to volunteer to go first please step forward" said Goa.
The first to stand was one of the six older students from the front of the dojo. He walked over to the center of the dojo and stood a fighting pose.
It was a young man that towered at 7'5; he was even taller than Goa. He wore red gi which signified he was of a higher caliber then those wearing the blue gi.
All of the other students didn't make a move in fear o being chosen to fight. Well almost all of the other students.
Kal stood up and walked over to the incredibly tall student and entered his fighting stance.
Now there are a few things you need to know about this dojo. First all students are advanced depending on their fighting ability and determination, second one of the fastest ways to advance is to defeat someone of a higher caliber then themselves, and finally they are all given special wooden swords which contains another sword inside of it so that the students could practice their drawing technique.
Kal and the tall student stood face to face with each other, their hands firmly on their swords ready to strike at any moment.
"Ready, DRAW" yelled Goa!
On that signal the two young men drew their hidden wooden blades at each other. The fight was over in an instant and Kal was lying flat on his back while the tall student stood proud his sword hanging high in the air.
"Good work Mar" said Goa to the tall student.
Kal was now getting up disappointed by his loss.
"Kal do you know why you lost" asked Goa?
"Because he hit me with his sword" said Kal with an irritated tone.
"Yes that but also because of your difference in height" said Goa.
"Then there was no way I was going to win he's freaking huge" said Kal.
"You could have won if you had been faster, but because you had similar draw speeds his longer reach won it for him, so understand this now the strength, height, or even the persons weapon of the opponent doesn't matter so long as you have the speed advantage you will always have the advantage "explained Goa.
"Now Kal you are already as fast as one of my top students if you were to train more then you could undoubtedly become my top student" said Goa with a smile on his face.
Kal took what his sensei had said to heart, as long as he was faster than his opponent then there will always be a chance for victory.
That night Kal spent the entire night in the front of the orphanage practicing his draw until the wee hours of the morning.
While Kal was training, a pair of villagers was passing by the orphanage. But Kal was too enthralled in his training to pay them any mind.
"Hey what happened to the guards that were guarding the entrance to the village" said one of the villagers?
"Apparently there was some disturbance with some guy appearing in the village down the road so they were sent there to help sort things out" said the other villager.
Kal woke up in the front orphanage covered in sweat from the night before and incredibly late for training.
"Oh man sensei is going to kill me" said Kal who once again was running to the dojo.
When Kal reached the dojo he saw something he had never seen before. The large wooden door of the dojo wall was completely demolished.
Kal quickly ran into the dojo to see what had happened what he saw when he got inside left him completely still.
The students were sprawled across the floor of the dojo, their bodies covered in gashes. A few of the older students had fallen with their swords still in their hands as though they were trying to fight back.
Although the scene of the dojo's students was shocking what really had him scared stiff was the sight of Goa in a sword lock with a man he had never seen before.
The man was around his thirties he stood at 6'5 and wore a gray shroud over his body and his head was wrapped in bandages. His face was covered in scars and so were the parts of his arms that weren't covered by the shroud. In his hand was a large sword with a curved blade that had a blue tint in the steel of the blade.
At first look it seemed as though the two men were at a stalemate but really the mystery man had the upper hand. Goa was bleeding from gashes all over his body while the mystery man didn't seem to have a single scratch on him at least not any he acquired recently.
The killing intent of both men filled the dojo, neither one of them had even notice Kal walk into dojo, if either of them had lost focus for even a second the other would cut them down in an instant.
Something happened inside of Kal as he watched the fight to the death that was happening right in front of him. He pulled out his wooden sword and entered the stance he had practiced all last night.
"He still hasn't notice me, if I attack him now it my give sensei the opening he needs to beat this guy" thought Kal.
Kal positioned himself and readied his attack.
"First stance: Flash Slash" said Kal as he came up to the side of the mystery man.
The mystery man didn't notice Kal until it was too late; Kal had already swung his wooden sword into the man's side as hard as he could.
The man didn't even wince from the blow but it did cause him to take his eyes off of Goa for a split second, which gave him the opening he needed, he quickly sheathed his sword and got in position to draw.
"Fifth stance: Hilt Smasher!" yelled Goa as he slammed the hilt of his blade into the gut of his opponent faster than anyone could see.
The sheer force of the hit caused the mystery man to not only crash through the dojo's wall but also through the stone wall of the gate.
Goa fell over from pure exhaustion, Kal quickly ran over to him to see if he was okay.
"Sensei, are you okay" said Kal warily?
"'I'll be fine Kal and …are you okay" said Goa as he was breathing heavily?
"Yes sensei but the others I think their…"
"Do not worry they are still alive, heavily injured but alive if you hurry to the village you should be able to…"
Goa stopped what he was saying when he saw the mystery man walking towards him and Kal.
Kal turned to see what his sensei was looking at. Kal got up as fast as he could and got back into his first stance pose to defend his sensei.
"Hmm I'm honestly surprised I missed one of you runts" said the mystery man.
In the time it took for Kal to blink the man was right in front of him. The mystery man back handed smacked Kal to the other side of the dojo.
"I usually don't kill kids but that little trick you pulled back there really pissed me off, hell maybe I'll just finish off all the brats in here but you first" said the mystery man as he slowly walked over to where Kal was lying.
Kal couldn't move as this monster of a man walked toward him. Kal saw nothing but death coming until he heard his sensei speak.
"LAZARUS!" screamed Goa!
The mystery man turned to face Goa.
"What do you want old man I'm kind of busy at the moment" said Lazarus?
Goa slowly got up, fighting the pain that was coursing through his body the entire time.
"You came here to kill me right, then do it, but spare the lives of my students" pleaded Goa.
"Well will you look at this, the great Master Goa is begging for the life of his students instead of his own how commendable" said Lazarus sarcastically.
"Are you going to do it or not" said Goa angrily.
Lazarus just stared at Goa for a moment before making his choice.
"What the hell, why not I got someplace I have to be anyway" said Lazarus nonchalantly.
He walked over to Goa and lifted his blade over his head.
"Any last words Goa" said Lazarus?
Goa looked over at Kal.
"Goodbye Kal, and make sure you keep getting stronger".
As soon as Goa finished talking Lazarus lopped his head off with a single swing.
Kal couldn't even think as the body of his sensei lied lifeless and headless on the floor of the dojo. The only thing he could fell was an overwhelming hatred for the person who had done this.
"I'm going to kill you" said Kal softly.
Lazarus was now heading to the hole he had made in the wall when he turned around to hear what was just said.
"What was that" said Lazarus?
"I'm GOING TO KILL YOU I SWEAR IT!" said Kal with anger he had never felt before.
Lazarus just had a wide grin on his face.
"Good luck with that kid" said Lazarus as he walked out of the dojo.
"It was a little while later when some villagers came by and got all the students the help they needed, and since then I have been training and searching for the man that killed my sensei" said Kal.
Maze's eyes were at the brink of crying from the sad story he had heard.
"That was a hard story to hear man" said Maze while wiped his eyes.
"Thanks captain" said Kal calmly.
As Maze was about to head inside of the boat another question popped into his head.
"Wait one more thing, how did those two bodyguard brothers catch you anyway you're obviously stronger than they were" asked Maze?
"Oh well they kind of caught me while I was sleeping on the beach, and while I was still sleeping Bo was trying to get my sword away from me and my body reacted by habit and cut his cheek" said Kal somewhat embarrassed.
"Those two were complete idiots huh" said Maze.
"Yup" agreed Kal.
A/N: Well there's chapter 4 everyone I hope you enjoyed a look into Kal's tragic pass, and a look at one of the many villains of this world Lazarus. Now for the fourth time I would like to thank all those that have read and reviewed this story and also to all those who have submitted their characters. Now I would like to let you all know now that the first of the OCS I have received will be in the next chapter so look forward to that also to all those that have already submitted characters I want you to know that you don't have to stop at one send me as many characters as you want (that way you have more chances of getting one in).
Also I could really use some ideas for villains so if you have one, don't be afraid to send it.
Well that's all guys and gals and look forward to chapter 5 which with some luck (and a lot of coffee) will be up some time tomorrow.