Before the Hunt
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece.
"HEELP! SOMEONE HELP!"
Axe's eyes popped open and he shot straight up from his bed while Kairi shrieked and fell out of her bed, landing on the floor with a loud thud. Axe bolted from his bed and through the inn, coming to a halt outside to see a large group of people standing around a panting man in overalls. By the looks of his get-up and other factors, Axe deduced that he was a farmer.
"What happened, old-timer?" one of the villagers asked him.
The farmer pointed down a dirt road that led away from the village, "The monster! It came last night and killed the animals!" he cried, fear completely filling his eyes, "The cows...chickens...pigs-! It killed them all!"
"Was it the full moon last night?!"
"I don't know, I never left!"
"Same here!"
"I don't think it was!"
"The wolf-beast is getting bolder!"
"What are we gonna do?!"
Axe scratched his head, then turned, and headed back to the room where Kairi was bouncing around on one foot, getting ready. She saw him and stopped hopping, "What's going on?!"
He yawned and lay back down on the bed, "Just some animals getting slaughtered in the night, nothing too big,"
"Nothing too big?!" Kairi watched him lay down, "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Going back to sleep, I need a few more hours!"
"But what about-?!"
"We got all day. Besides, it's not like the animals affect us in anyway, so it's not important. When I wake up, we can go around town and investigate,"
"But-,"
"G'nite," Axe put his head on his pillow and went back to sleep almost instantly.
Kairi stared, sweatdropping, I don't think I'll ever understand him...
After eating a light breakfast prepared by the innkeeper, Kairi strapped Heaven's Savior to her belt and decided to explore the village of Kohaku. Since the farm animals were killed, everyone was on edge...or were at least more edgier than they were when she and her captain arrived at the village.
She didn't want to go to the scene of the slaughter just yet, not this early, so she decided to scope out the village. As she walked around, she came across a large board covered with numerous papers and wanted posters nailed to the board.
"Huh...," she stopped in front of it and looked around, "Must be an announcement display or something," she mused, looking at random things that caught her eye.
HELP WANTED! Chefs and waiters needed at the Baratie! Pays good, just don't piss off the shit-geezer.
Hmm, I've heard of the Baratie, it's supposed to be the best restaurant in the four oceans...maybe we should go there and check it out sometime? What else do they have here...?
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
"Billy the Bandit"
Reward: 5,000,000 Beli
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
"Mountain Whale Dick"
Reward: 10,000,000 Beli
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
"Higuma the Bear"
Reward: 8,000,000 Beli
Kairi looked at the last one, This one has a big red X over it. I guess that means that bounty's already been taken by a bounty hunter. Man, for being the weakest of the four oceans, the East Blue has some rough looking people...
"You a bounty hunter?"
Kairi turned to see a villager standing behind her. She smiled nervously and shook her head, "No, just passing by,"
"Ah, well," the villager cleared his throat and walked up to the board, "Not many bounty hunters come through here, anyway, the legends scare them off,"
"I'm...sorry?"
"Eh, don't be," the villager sighed and folded his arms, "They usually just blow through here anyway. They don't like to hang around small, poor villages because we can't offer them much good stuff while they're resting. This is a village of hunters and fishermen. We hunt our own food and make our own clothes from the animals we kill,"
Kairi looked at his outfit and noticed that he was indeed wearing a kind of animal skin, Why didn't I notice that before?
"We rarely get trading through here, so we have to provide for ourselves most of the time. As long as we don't overdo our hunting or fishing, and stay inside at night, we get by just fine,"
"If you don't mind me asking, when did this legend start?"
"Oh...," the villager looked up and scrunched his face, looking thoughtful, "...I say...I dunno...about seven years ago. It was right around the time our best hunter and his family were killed by that beast,"
"What happened, exactly? I keep hearing different things?"
The villager sighed, "I was a little young when I heard the stories, so I'm not sure. If you want to know the truth, talk to the village chief, he's been around for decades,"
"Okay, thanks for the tip," Kairi began walking off, I think it's time to see that farm, see what this village is up against.
"Hey, you be careful, you hear?!"
Kairi waved at him, "Thanks, I will!"
When she arrived at the farm, she had to squeeze past some villagers to see what the damage was, but when she did, she almost vomited on the spot.
"Oh...my...God...,"
"It was...it was a total mess, I mean, I have never, ever seen anything like that before in my life!" Kairi sighed and plopped down across from her now awake captain, "I feel sick to my stomach,"
Axe swallowed his meal and looked around, "Where's the chicken...oh that it is!" he reached over and noticed that his First Mate was glaring at him, "I'm listening, I'm listening, keep going,"
"How in Heaven's name can you eat after I just told you what I just saw down at the farm that got attacked?!"
"I dunno, I'm just hungry," Axe shoveled his bowl of scrambled eggs into his mouth, "Learn anything else?"
"Apparently, if we wanna know anything more about this place, we should ask the village chief,"
Axe let out a loud, long belch as he tossed his now empty bowl onto the large pile of dishes that were stacked up in front of him and patted his stomach.
"Giddyup,"
"Wow, big crowd,"
"Well, they said he'd be in the meeting hall with everyone else,"
Kairi and Axe squeezed through the large crowd of villagers that filled the village meeting hall in the middle of Kohaku. They found out that the chief was holding a big town meeting and was going to be found at the hall, so they made that place their destination.
However, they didn't expect to see so many people for such a small village. After climbing onto a rafter with the help of a ladder left behind by others who needed a view, the two young travelers looked down to see an impressive, elderly man banging a gavel on a table, trying to calm everyone down.
"QUIET!" he shouted, "QUIET!!"
That did it.
The chief lowered the gavel, "As you are all aware, the farm animals were attacked and killed last night-,"
"YEAH! By that damn beast in the woods!"
"It tore them apart!"
Again, the chief banged the gavel.
"Listen to me!" he shouted, trying to regain order, "I know what it was that killed our live-stock, but that doesn't mean that we can go crazy! I know that a good number of you want to take up arms and go into the woods, but if you do that, you'll be no worse off than the animals! We are a village of simple people, we have no experience in dealing with monsters or whatever the hell is out there in the woods outside our village!"
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!" an angry, overweight man shouted, "Huh?! Wait for it to come after our families?!"
"Think about the children!"
"Yeah, think about the kids!"
Again, the gavel was banged against the table.
"I know that we've suffered enough!" the chief raised his voice, "We've had enough, I know this! We've had enough! We have mercenaries on their way to help us rid our village of this monster once and for all!"
"Mercenaries?!"
"Why not call the Marines?!"
"Why call on those people, they rip off everyone for their services!"
Gavel again.
"I'm aware of the reputation some mercenaries have, however the group I have contacted and asked to meet to solve our problem come recommended by the Marines themselves!"
"When are they arriving?!"
"They'll be here by nightfall,"
"We have to suffer another night with that thing out there?!"
Kairi shook her head as the meeting hall became filled with angry shouts again, "This is insane. Sure, I can see why they'd be upset if a wild animal goes around killing animals, but they're getting worked up. If they're good at hunting, why won't they just go out there and see what they can find?"
She turned to her captain and found that he was no longer beside her.
"Where-?" she looked around, "Where'd he go?"
He didn't stay as long as he originally planned, but Axe had a feeling that at the time, he wouldn't get anywhere. So, with that in mind, he made his way back to the inn and talked to the innkeeper about the legend of the wolf in the woods. She told him everything she knew, everything she had heard since moving to the village a few years back.
Given this new information, Axe left the inn and made his way to one end of the village where a small, run-down house stood. Axe stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked at the house: it had a couple of boarded up windows, windows with broken glass, the wood was rotting, and even the front door was ajar. Taking a closer look, Axe noticed a thick layer of dust on the wooden steps.
This place is abandoned and has been for a long time... he wiped his fingers on his pants and rose to his feet, "So, this is where it started?" he thought aloud, remembering what the innkeeper told him a short time before.
-Flashback-
"C'mon, spill!"
"Alright, alright, calm down," she sighed and threw a towel over her shoulder, leaning against the counter, "From what I know, the legend starts about seven years ago. Even before this legend started, people thought that there were some strange stuff in the woods, but anyway...," she cleared her throat, "About seven years ago, the best hunter of Kohaku went out hunting and his son was sent to get him. The kid was only like six years old at the time, and when he went to go look for his dad, he got attacked by an animal and bitten. Now, his dad shot and killed the animal to save his son, but from that point on, some strange stuff started happening,"
"Like what?"
"We'd hear howling at night, the pets in the village would go missing, and the kid himself looked real sick. People thought that he got rabies and the other animals were going around taking revenge for their friend that got shot,"
"Are you serious?"
"Don't interrupt! Anyway, like I was saying, one morning, after a full moon night, people saw something wrong at the hunter's house. They checked the place out and found blood everywhere. The hunter, his wife, hell even their pet dog was killed. The only one missing was the boy, but they found a trail of blood heading out to the woods, so it was easy to guess what happened,"
-End Flashback-
"This is one interesting village...,"
"I can't believe Axe ditched me!" Kairi kicked a rock across one of the dirt roads that went around the island, "Now, I gotta go and find him! I couldn't find him anywhere in town, so he's gotta be wandering the island," she scratched her head and sighed, "If I knew how tough it would be being this guy's nakama, I would've thought twice about it,"
She walked around for awhile until she came across a bridge that crossed a small river. Kairi leaned against the side of the bridge and closed her eyes, listening to the running water as she took a tiny break from looking for her idiot captain.
Despite the legend here about wolves and the fact that animals just got slaughtered, this is actually a very peaceful place to be... she thought as she listened to the water below, ...I bet this could be a great vacationing spot if it weren't for the animal killings and the bad legends around here.
A loud splashing sound reached her ears and her eyes popped open. She pushed off the railing and looked around, but didn't see anyone around her, yet the splashing sound was still being made.
"Someone there?" she called out loudly, "Hello?"
The splashing stopped almost instantly.
Feeling nervous, Kairi made her way to one side of the bridge, slowly pulling out Heaven's Savior as she walked around. The splashing sound had been coming from below the bridge before it stopped, so she knew that something was below there.
Taking a deep breath, Kairi leapt into the river water and faced the underside of the bridge. However, there was nothing under there. Confused, Kairi wandered in under the bridge and looked around. There was something here before just now, and it left some things behind.
She found a knife, freshly caught fish (so fresh, they were still writhing around), and other assorted items.
"Looks like I interrupted someone's fishing session," she thought aloud, placing the fish back into the water, saving them from suffocation, "Wonder why they ran off, though? Did I spook the other fish?"
"HEY KID!"
Kairi screamed and lost her footing, which made her fall into the water, soaking her from head to toe. Sputtering, she sat up and saw one of the villagers from before in the meeting hall.
"Sorry, kid," he reached downward and pulled her up to her feet, "I didn't mean to spook you, but you shouldn't be out wandering alone,"
"I wasn't alone, I just lost my friend and I was looking for him and-,"
"Who, the kid with the over-sized axe? I just saw him at the inn not too long ago,"
"WHAT?!"
"What happened to you?"
Kairi's eye twitched as she dripped water on the inn room floor, "Where were you?!"
"I was-,"
"I was out looking for you because you ditched me, and I ended up taking a dip under a bridge-!"
"See a troll?" Axe cracked, earning a deathglare for interrupting and joking with his friend's unfortunate accident, "Sorry,"
Kairi sighed and walked to the bathroom for a towel, "No, I didn't see a troll, but I did see something weird...or I didn't see something weird, I dunno,"
"What are you talking about?"
"I was taking a break from looking for you, and I was standing on this bridge and I heard something splashing around underneath it. So, I went to go look, but I didn't see anything-,"
"Not even a troll?"
"ENOUGH ABOUT THE TROLL! SHUT UP ABOUT THE TROLL!" she screamed at him, looking very irritated, "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND TROLLS?!"
Axe just shrank back from the angry girl.
"Like I said, I didn't see whatever was making the splashing, but what I did see was like a small, makeshift campsite or something underneath the bridge. It looked like someone was fishing there or living there...,"
"...maybe it was a troll?"
"WET BOOT TO THE HEAD!"
Kilnorc: Okay, this was fun to write, hehehe. I know I'm going back and forth with the right legend about the wolf beast, but when you think about it, not one story is always the same, people are always bound to alter it somehow, so it works!
On the next chapter of Origin...
Axe: Looks like the mercenaries came by last night. Interesting bunch of people.
Kairi: I'm getting a bad vibe about these people.
Innkeeper: Something's not right here...
??: You shouldn't be here! You gotta get outta here, now!
The Lost Boy
Axe: That's interesting...