"We'll just have to wait and see," I told him. 3...2...1... GO. We both ran at each other at full speed, each charging up our own punches.

15:23 PM

Giant's Expanse, 1st Kingdom

Naruto OST 1 - Strong and Strike

As he ran at me with his punch ready to impact me, I did the same thing, only that I wasn't going to punch me. I aimed for his fist but before he got to hit it, I redirected the punch so he would be punching nothing. Surprised by the sudden loss of a surface to regain balance on, that was initially going to be my fist, he darted forwards almost falling due to the lack of balance. I kicked back quickly so as to analyze the situation. To my utter joy and surprise, other players were grinding in packs around our area and some were even dropping what they were doing just to see us fight.

"Pussy," he spat at me, poking fun at me not taking the punch.

"You are what you eat, Confucius," I replied, smirking. He didn't get angry this time. He gave me a defeated grin like he was all sport about losing just this once. We slowly approached each other, each step being a subject of intense debate in our heads. We were now a few steps in front of each other before stopping. We stood still, watching each other's muscles flex ever so slightly, reacting to those flexes with antagonistic flexes. We were signaling to each other where we were going to attack by these minute and unnoticeable flexes. To an outside viewer, it looked like we were standing there staring at each other. We were actually playing chess with each other. Shin took the initiative and attempted a karate chop at my neck, which was blocked right on time by the back of my hand. His other hand now tried to palm slam me in my solar plexus, which I took a step back to avoid. I went down to perform a sweep kick, sweeping my entire leg across his surface of which his body rested. He jumped over the kick while performing an aerial split. I quickly stood up from my pose and retained my stationary battle pose. He did the same thing as he landed on the ground from his evasive jump. This time, I attempted an open palm slam on his face. He moved his neck in the nick of time before having my palm imprinted on his pretty face. I hit him with the side of my hand by swinging it to where he relocated his head. This, evidently, threw him off balance and staggered him. Check m8. I kicked him in his chest dead-on, sending him skidding across the grass leaving a path of soil bare of any grass in his wake. He stood up, now pure anger in his countenance, and looked at me. He stood up and ran to me.

He kept attacking quickly with karate chops and punches, all blocked by me. I was barely keeping up with his attacks as he was so furious with his offensive. I tried blocking as much as I could, but ultimately he did hit me serveral times. I hadn't used an ounce of ki all this time because I knew I was stronger than this guy. After all, a strong person doesn't actively seek enemies, something I did not understand while I fought Kirito for the first time. I could probably wash the floor with his ass if I fought him back then again. He continued his barrage of attacks before I noticed a flaw in his technique. He didn't move his legs nearly enough as he should. I took advantage of this by parrying a hit this time, then attempting a counter-attack. This made him more busy in trying to block my attacks. Why didn't I do this much earlier? It would be less risky as keeping up a constant barrage is tiring. I feigned a punch. Before the fist even got close to him, I stopped the attack midway, now going down quickly, attempting another sweep kick. I got both of his legs off the ground as he was almost about to fall, but in seemingly lightning speed, I got below him before he fell and kicked him upwards by holding the ground with both my hands and kicking him upwards. Blood left his mouth as I kicked him in his ribs. In a fleeting moment, his stunned body was completely upright while mid-air. I concentrated my energy on simply keeping him airborne, not hurting him, so he was still healthy as ever. As he was floating, I jumped upwards in a fly kick pose. I aimed my leg towards his abdomen and hit it dead-on. He skidded across the field now, a trail of soil leading to his stunned body fleeting above 30% HP. He chuckled before saying something.

One Piece OST - Difficult [extended]

"So you're more than just meets the eye. That hit came by surprise, but that kick was just dirty play *tsk tsk*" he said, grabbing onto his chest in pain. "Well, I guess I can take off these," he said. He bent over to reveal what were on his ankles under his karate gi. A bracelet with pockets of weight on each of his ankles. He unstrapped it and lifted them up for me to see. He then threw them on the field and a slight cloud of dust was raised from where he threw them. Suddenly a big group of players that came closer by the minute gasped in awe. 'Was he carrying all that on his legs while still fighting?' they probably thought. Suddenly, next to his name, I saw his level increase by 4. He was now a level 14 player, his previously orange belt changing to green. All the while, I stood there silently, analyzing the entire process. There were now a large amount of players congregating around us, most likely 50 or so players scattered around the extremely large field, all watching from their respective vantage points. My clan were all watching with bated breaths, all but Murchada tensing their bodies. "Be a doll and try to last for more than 10 seconds, aight?" he spouted arrogantly before dashing towards me at an unbelievable speed. He leaped just before arriving at me and tried fly-kicking me. I blocked it with my forearm just barely before he leaped off of it, chipping off of my balance. I regained my balance before realizing that he was not done. He arrived just in front of me, a punch retracting far behind him before releasing, a small haze of black fog emanating from it. Ki powered fist, this guy has skills. I tried to block it without using my own ki, my biggest mistake, but he hit me. The impact sent me skidding across the field same as my kick had done to him. My HP was hovering just above 30%.

"You tired, kiddo?" he asked me condescendingly. I brushed the pain of my body before standing up.

"Nah, just hungry, that's all," I replied. He stared at me with a look of victory and disgust. "Oh, and by the way. What grade were those ankle weights of yours?" I asked him.

"They were 40lbs Stein series," he bragged with his arms crossed.

"HAHAHAHA! What good are the Stein series?! I'd rather use them for nipple piercing than ankle weights!" I replied, now finding this whole situation funny. Though I tried imitating a certain someone.

Mount Hasegawa

60 days hell

"Wear these ankle weights, kid," Lao Shi told me as he threw them across the floor with his talons. I tried picking them up casually, my biggest mistake. My back made an extremely weird and unsettling noise before realizing the weight of the load.

"What the hell are these, cargo load?" I asked him incredulously, stretching my back, attempting to soothe it.

"These are the 120lbs Metallicana series," he told me. What the hell are they, 120 lbs each? "Of course, you can't carry them yet, seeing as how you almost broke your spine tryna lift it. Imma give you the Stein series until you stop being such a pussy," he told me.

"How heavy are the Stein series?" I asked him nervously.

"40lbs each. Wouldn't even use them for nipple piercings, cuz they so pussy," he told me. Walking around with 20 kilograms of weight on each of my legs? Damn.

"Oh, these are the wrist weights. Wouldn't wanna forget these ones," he added as he threw another pair of bracelets across the floor, also from the Stein series judging by the rocky design. "Enjoy," he said, and with that, he took off to his 'crib' in the skies.

"Since you removed yours, it might just seem fair to remove mine, dontcha think?" I asked him playfully. He raised his eyebrow before realizing. After the realization hit him, he quickly recovered and started to laugh.

"You are still no match for me. You talk big, boy. What's your weight grade, 'Wooden'?" he rebuked. This guy was getting more and more toxic as we continued speaking. I bent over to pull up the legs of my pants, revealing a lustrous silver bracelet with pockets of silver colored weights surrounding it. Shin's jaw dropped at the sight.

"Those aren't... they can't be... HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET YOUR HANDS ON THEM?!" Shin yelled in obvious fury. Our bystanders were all awestruck by my revealing of the burden I've carried all through this fight. I unstrap both of the ankle weights and pull up my sleeves to unstrap my wrist weights. I had all four weights on my hands before throwing them behind me one by one. They all raised smokescreens of dust where they landed and made heavy thuds on the field.

"Ah, I feel much lighter. Actually, I feel two hundred and forty kilograms lighter," I said as I stretched my back. I noticed my belt turned from white to green with a blue tinge instantaneously. I looked at my level and it increased from five to sixteen. Just above the threshold to going with Diabel for specifically targeting the boss. Oh, well. I guess they won't be needing me anyhow. Shin darted towards me as quickly as he could, now the ki in his fist very much visible. I raise up my arm, almost raising it too high due to the fact that I've been wearing these wrist weights for so long, my body seems to have become accustomed to applying the extra force to every movement. I stopped the impact with a small application of ki on my hand. I looked at my ki bar and it read: 982/1000. It seemed to have increased after my sudden 11-level-up spike.

I dashed off the ground and appeared behind him in the blink of an eye. I tapped him lightly on the shoulder. As he turned his head towards me to face me, I threw a punch heading straight at his face, my entire fist covered with ki and watch him airborne for a solid two seconds. Before landing, I quickly dashed behind where he was headed and kicked him forward again. As his body flew off, I followed it and before it got to its destination, I prepared a hook kick. Since I ran faster than he could fly, I got in front of him quickly and executed the attack. The ball of my heel hit him dead-on at his cheek, and he flew sideways this time. This is so fun! I got below him before he landed and shot him upwards, this time much higher than I ever was capable of with the weights. I launched him up around twenty yards. I leaped as high as I could which was even above where he was. I spun forwards while holding my leg out. I spun like a wheel, and the leg was hardly visible as I spun so fast. The heel soon connected with his forehead, and he was sent spinning to the ground, almost buried by the surrounding soil. That was an extreme case of overkill, but I didn't mind. I sure showed him.

His HP was restricted from dropping below 30% as per the duel agreement, so he was simply lying there in pain, a congratulations message prompting me. I pressed okay and walked over to see the pile of shame and broken spirit huddled up into a shell of nothingness. I walked towards the area where I threw my weights and equipped them once again. Suddenly, I noticed around me people chanting my name like I've just slain a dragon. They all cheered for me, raising their fists high. They ran after me in a celebratory mood. As they reached me, they tried raising me high up, but it was a hard task for carrying almost 500 pounds wasn't easy.

"RYUUMA, RYUUMA, RYUUMA!" they shouted, all awestruck by the performance. I had just dispatched the infamous fighter Shin like a fly. From the corner of my eye, I see him standing up, potions and painkiller ingredients being munched as he rose. After healing sufficiently, he attempts to say something.

"Oi, Ryuuma! Good game," he shouted. I ordered my peasants to lay me down so I could walk towards him. I gave him my hand before he gave me his. We shook, and a smile grew on the guy's lips. The rest of our clan came to us, all of them except for Murchada shouting.

"That was amazing!" Karma, Silica, and Arisu shouted, stars embedded in their pupils. Murchada had a wide grin and came up to my holding out his hand so we could attempt a manly handshake.

"Bro, you also got your hands on Metallicana series? Holy shit were they hard to get, am I right?" he told me as he pulled up both of his sleeves and pants. I quickly pondered this, remembering that Lao Shi had given them to me. I realized just how grateful I wasn't for these seemingly treasured items.

"Actually, Lao gave 'em to me for free and all," I told him, raising my hands in an innocent manner, like 'I didn't know this shit would happen'. Murchada lost his smile quickly before continuing.

"This scar on my eye isn't the only one I got, asshole," he said while pointing at his scarred eye. He unequipped his clothing underneath the bear coat, revealing a number of scars and trauma he has endured. His entire abdominal area was covered with discolored skin and large stitched gashes. Well, that really didn't differ from my experiences. "THIS! This is what two pairs of Metallicana series of weights cost me, and you just tell me that some dumbshit hoodrat dragon came in and gave 'em to ya?!" he shouted. He re-equipped his shirt after everyone around us, including my peasant squad, got a good look at the result of the fun he had.

"Dude, it wasn't easy for me, either. He made me... I can't..." I tried saying, but only remembering the horrible, disgusting, humiliating things I endured while training with my dragon tutor.

"Excuse me guys, but you have a dragon?" a random peasant from my squad said as he came to approach Murchada. Well, shit, I guess we spilled the beans. Might as well let everyone know how badass the Lazy Dragons clan is.

"Yeah, we got one from a quest, and that's how we got the name for our clan," I told them, not even bothering to sound serious. They all stood there agape for a second before beginning an outburst.

"AWESOME, YOU GUYS HAVE A CLAN WE CAN JOIN?!" they all, more or less, shouted. Well, time to act as a war commander. This will be fun.

"Yeah, the Lazy Dragons. We accept anyone that's not a complete cunt," Murchada said, and with that, we now gained forty-eight new players in our clan. They were on a line heading towards Murchada. After a little vetting (basically checking if they're above level 5) he accepted them to our clan, but I made the original clan members admin members. This allowed them to have the same functions that I, the clan leader, had, except for the power to dissolve the clan. Everything else was shared. We decided to divide the manpower equally to each member of the clan. There would be a problem as there would be three left if we divided as equally as we could. I pondered this for a while before a diminutive figure plowed through the crowd.

"About the offer to let me join the Lazy Dragons, it's still up or what?" Shin asked me while facing me directly. I smiled at his newfound humility and replied.

"Sure, why not?" I said. He smiled at me faintly before resuming his average badass expression.

"Then I'd like to take the offer," he said. I nodded in approval, and with that, he picked up his ankle weights and equipped them.

What came after the humiliating fight was hours of grinding and fun. We had everyone level at least above 8 now, and now that I was the highest leveled player, Murchada being level 12, I lead them on with our grinding. By now our clan was moderately strong and would most likely gain traction pretty easily as a large number of people are already in our guild. The three most prominent clan grunts were VoodooSnake, Vinsmoke, and Six-6. They were the most outspoken of all of them and could very well become senior members in the foreseeable future. As for now, it was our task to divide the clan into divisions of 8 grunts and a senior member. We chose each of our members on our own discretion and also by which one that we felt were appropriate for us, and so I've got a team of 8 people! Now I'll just have to train them.

It was generally a division for each member and we devised a system where the senior members can summon their division if they wish to. I believed with a burning heart that this clan is what Martial Arts Online needed to allow the other players to regain their morale. We will be the clan that stands at the top. We will beat the 'pros', as that is what we call them these days, the professional practitioners IRL, although not a single pro has been since the early days of the deadly revelation. I had no idea where this newfound conviction stemmed from, but I liked it. I, at least, have a function in this god forsaken game.

It quickly became dark before we decided to rest our heads for the night and head back to Kishiburo. I let them all go back, but I remained. I wanted to do some extra training. The 55 skill points earned from my inexplicable shonen-anime-esque powerup were put to good use and now I'm stronger than ever. I fought a pack of six giants now. This was gonna get hard. I jumped as they all simultaneously hammered the ground. I landed on the head of one before taking off to fly-kick another one. I broke its neck and killed it in one shot. I descended before it burst into a blue shower. I was on the giant's feet now. I attempted a sweep kick powered with ki so it could be more effective than simply bumping the creature's foot with your leg. The giant lost balance and fell down. I dashed to his head before stomping it and killing it in two shots. 4 left. Before I continued, a winged figure dove down through the clouds. It was hard to see due to the darkness shrouding all light, but the creature was undeniably him. Lao Shi. He landed elegantly on the ground before taking a deep breath. What came after was a stream of fire spewed from his mouth incinerating the giants almost instantaneously.

"No fair, they were my prey," I told him, sulking.

"Nuff 'bout that. 'sup with taking all your weights off in that fight you had?" he asked me as he crouched down into a spiral like a snake.

"Huh? You watched the fight? Well, I was more or less carried away by all the action," I told him, withholding some truth to my statement.

"Bullshit. You just wanted to look cool in front of the crowd, didn't ya?" he replied, a smug smile showing at his lips. He was spot-on but I didn't show it. Instead, I tried furthering the lie.

"Why the hell would I want that? C'mon those people don't mean shit to me," I replied. Now he'll definitely know I was lying.

"Ryuuma. I say this for your own good. Don't be corrupted by your own power. That'll make you no different from the 100 kings," he said, omitting all the slang now. That just meant he was dead serious.

"Wh-well I wasn't going to kill him," I replied. He looked at me with a serious expression before continuing.

"Your eyes, kid. You thoroughly enjoyed beating the shit out of the guy. You liked it, and you were drunk with the power. Don't try to lie to me, boy, I saw it," he began. I realized just how much I enjoyed the match for all the wrong reasons.

"Your power isn't the strongest in the lands. There are others stronger than you by a lot. Hell, there are others in this kingdom that even befriended dragons, though you must be the first to have done so," he warned. Others with dragons? Welp, there goes my 'special snowflake' badge.

"Lao Shi, I'm telling you, there's nothing to worry about. I won't remove the weights for stupid reasons again, alright?" I told him, now a bit peeved by his persistence.

"It ain't about that. It's about the fact that you think you're hot shit now. People think you're hot shit, now, and I know for a fact that there are people in that very city that are stronger than you. Don't try to make a reputation for yourself when you can't do shit to show for it. The higher you fly, the harder you fall," he said. For some reason, this did make me very angry, so my reply was pretty uncalled for.

"I don't give a single damn about other people! I'll be stronger than them! I'll be stronger than Kirito! I'll be stronger than the dojo masters! I'll be even stronger than you-" he interrupted me as he smacked me with the blunt side of his talons, launching me around 3 meters high before falling on the soil. He threw me around 20 yards. Lao Shi now wore a furious expression as he slithered towards my aching body.

"Ya think being 'strong' is being able to fight people and defeat them? You think strength is measured in how much blood you have on your hands?! You think strength is measured in how much people fear you?! Strength isn't measured in anything physical. Strength is abstract!" he yelled as he now hovered above the ground as smoke escaped from his nose. I quickly came to my senses, now. What the... this isn't me. I'm not corrupted. This... This isn't me at all! I gathered all the strength I had to stand up and face him with the dignity I have.

"You're right... I'm sorry for acting up. Please forgive me," I said, and with that, I put my right fist against my stretched out left hand and bowed. Lao Shi then calmed down as he slowly descended and the smoke stopped leaving his nose. He calmed completely before continuing.

"I sense turmoil in your soul, kid. Meditate some and get in touch with your inner demon. Pacify him, and you'll be alright. Your inner demon was stronger than I thought," he mumbled the last part. "Well, gotta go, boy. Remember, don't leave your spirit until you pacify your inner demon," he concluded, and with that, he tensed before shooting towards the clouds and escaping towards the sky in a vertical axis as if penetrating the very sky. I then realized that it was around 6:00 PM. I quickly hurried back to Kishiburo. It took a few minutes, but I arrived. I went to the biggest inn I could find. It was called the 'Rotuma Inn and Tavern'. I stepped inside to see a whole group of my clan members dancing and singing with jugs filled to the brim with sake. I saw my old friends sitting around a table in the corner, eating and having fun all the while.

"CHEERS FOR RYUUMA OF THE LAZY DRAGONS!" one shouted the moment he saw me. Suddenly, all activity ceased before another person yelled something.

"CHEEEERS!" he yelled, and with that, the entire room was filled with a loud and clear 'cheers'. After that, all activity continued and the singing and dancing continued. I walked towards the table where my friends sat. They had conveniently left some space for me.

"With all the money we got, we rented the entire inn for the night," Murchada informed me. Holy shit, that's a lot of money wasted on a place to sleep. Outside is as good a place as any, right?

"Ugh, what a waste," I sighed as I held both the sides of my head in despair.

"By the way, big-bro. What were you doing back there? I heard someone else with you, but I couldn't make out who he was," Silica asked.

"It was Lao Shi. Apparently he watched the fight and was none-too-pleased by what he saw," I admitted. I gained Shin's attention before he asked me a question that had been bugging him for a while.

"Who is Lao Shi?" he asked confused. This earned him a few chuckles from the other members. They were anticipating his reaction and were already amused by what they thought he would probably say.

"A blue serpentine dragon with a white Fu Manchu that speaks ebonics," I replied. This earned me an ominous stare from Shin.

"Ha ha, very funny," he replied, now pissed off.

"We're not even joking. We'll show you the guy tomorrow. You'll swallow your words," Arisu said, now everyone in the table laughing at Shin's stupefied look.. Out of nowhere, a new member of the clan approached us. His gamer tag was Vinsmoke. He, incredibly enough, wore normal black pants and a dinner jacket with a blue shirt and a matching black tie on the inside. The significance of the suit was that it was very elastic and also elegant at the same time. He had short cut blond hair and a sharp jawline that gave him androgynous characteristics.

"Hey, fellas. Let's make some noise!" he shouted, and with that, pulled Karma up from where she was sitting and danced with her. At first, she was reluctant, but he did manage to bring the fun side out of her and she ended up enjoying herself. They danced to the song that the people in the inn were singing that was Bink's Sake, a song from a really popular anime.

"Gather up all of the crew, time to ship of Bink's Brew~" they sang, and all the people who knew it sang loudly while the ones who didn't simply followed and hummed to the tune. Needless to say, we had a blast. It was around 1:00 AM before the last drunkard hit the hay, and with that, I retreated to my room.

I locked the door behind me and took a lotus position. I sat down and concentrated on nothing but my breathing and vitality. Before I knew it, my body was transported to my mind. I opened my eyes to find myself standing. Right before me stood a man that looked just like me. The only difference is that all of his colour including his skin and hair was an inversion of my colors. He was my exact opposite. I could feel the power emanating from him, now. This would be bad if I somehow managed to empower him. Just before I spoke up, the widened his grin across his cheeks and said something.

"Nice seeing you again," he said as he licked around his lips with a serpentine tongue.

Hey, guise. I have finally updated. Do not worry, I'm not dead. I'm merely busy is all. I've been thinking about making Ryuuma go through inner turmoil a little. Oh, and if the powerup just now was really inexplicable, just know that Ryuuma isn't the strongest. There are others who've reached LVL 16 without the use of weights. The weights are just there to dull your abilities, and when you take them off, you level up according to how long you've worn them. Your strength also increases the longer you wear them, so that's why Ryuuma was strong enough to lift the weights.

Before you say it, yes. I am shitty at making names. I'm also shitty at writing fight scenes, so I'm sorry if what I wrote made no sense. I just tried to be as descriptive as possible.

For all you romance nuts, I will add some romance involving the main character, but I'd rather have my testicles smashed into pieces than pairing Ryuuma to either Arisu, Silica, Shin, Murchada, any boy actually, any underage girl actually, and any girl with low self-esteem. That ain't his type. If you like serious Lao Shi more than the chill one, trust me, he's gonna get way more serious afterwards, and especially after he shows his true form.

As always, favorite or follow if you liked it and just leave a review for the love of god. It could be anything. Love/hate/criticism. As long as you write one, I'll be happy.

- Sherlock D(umbass) Holmes.