~CHAPTER 13~

WHAT ARE YOU RUNNING FROM?

"Faster you brutes! We don't have all day!" Shen barks at his exhausted gorilla henchmen. The two beasts have been carrying Shen's largest cannon, the Dragon's Breath, as he called, down to the North Bamboo forest for about two hours. Now, the weight of the colossal weapon is starting to take a significant toll on them now.

"Boss." One of them huffs in a low, gruff voice, "This thing is heavy! If we go any faster, we'll collapse!" The gorilla complains. In response to this, Shen simply makes a small tutting noise and leaps in front of the gorilla.

"Tell me, gorilla, would you prefer to collapse from exhaustion becasue you went too fast..." Shen suddenly unsheathes his serpant-like sword - Guan Dao - and points it at the gorilla's face. "...or would you rather 'collapse' from blood loss because you went too slow?" The peacock asks menacingly, his expression being one of dead seriousness, as if to say, I won't hesitate. Not wanting for his life to end right then and there, the gorilla huffs and continues to walk towards the bamboo forest, earning a slight smirk of satisfaction from Shen. That's right, you obey ME. Shen thinks to himself before jumping back to his original sitting position on top of his cannon. As Shen's cannon caravan begins to enter the forest, they soon find themselves surrounded by numerous tall shoots of bright green bamboo, giving the a general forest low visibility. The perfect place for an ambush... prepare yourself, Saitama.

~Saitama's POV~

"Man, whoever this 'fan' is, they really shoulda' given me a map with the letter. Every inch of this place looks the same!" Saitama grumbles to himself as he travels along the forest path. No matter where he looks, he sees nothing but bamboo, bamboo, and more bamboo! For all he knows, he could've been walking in circles this whole time, and the fact that this is his first time traversing this deep into the North Bamboo forest doesn't help either. Despite all of this, the tiger can't help but feel a sense of peace and tranquility as he walks. The quiet and dormant nature of the forest, combined with the only movement being his own, makes for a calming atmosphere. Little does Saitama know, he is not alone. A little ways away behind him walks the Furious Five, each of them on edge and ready for an unexpected ambush. The group of warriors had been convinced to trail Saitama by Tigress, who had never ceased to drop her suspicions about the letter to Saitama since the Jade Palace recieved it.

"Tigress, don't you this is little... overbearing?" Monkey asks. "I mean, we're practically stalking him at this point."

"Saitama may be strong, but he's not the brightest candle in the room. To blindly trust a random letter like that, it's almost as if he's asking to be ambushed!" Tigress replies quietly.

"Well, as far as I've seen, we are the only people who could possibly ambush him." Crane remarks.

"And yet, he doesn't have half a clue that we're here," Tigress says back. "That blatant ignorance of him will get him into trouble, I'm sure of it." The four warriors behind Tigress exchange glances, each of them having their doubts about her claims. Despite this, they choose to persist in following their leader's orders through the forest. Little did any of them know, that Tigress would soon be proved right...

~Back with Shen~

"Here, stop here." Shen commands as his caravan nears the edge of a large clearing. With a relieved huff, his gorillas drop the cannon on the ground, the weapon landing with a loud *thump.* Shen whips around and nearly stabs one of his henchmen right then and there. "Are you crazy?!" He hisses in anger, "Do you want us to get caught?" The peacock questions rhetorically, his sword now uncomfortably close to the gorilla's neck. A small grunt and a shake of the head no is the answer he gets from his henchman. "Then act like it." He utters before sheathing his sword. Stupid animals, can't even follow basic orders! The peacock thinks to himself. I hope Saitama isn't this stupi- wait, is that him? A white tiger walks out into the clearing, looking around, as if he is searching for someone. Sure enough, it's Saitama.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Saitama asks aloud, his gaze shifting from one place to another. "Helloooo?" Saitama asks again. There is no answer. With a shrug, the tigers turns to walk off. "Guess they're not here," He mutters. "How dissapointing." Suddenly, a projectile shoots out from seemingly nowhere, and whizzes directly towards Saitama's head. "Hm?" Saitama whirls around and catches the thrown object with two fingers before examining it closer. From the looks of it, it's a sharpened "feather" forged out of steel. "That's odd," Saitama murmurs, "I've never seen something like this before. I wonder if I'm any good at throwing it?"

Meanwhile, Lord Shen has become quite bewildered upon seeing Saitama effortlessly catch his throwing knife. That speed- it's something I've never seen the likes of. No matter, there's no way he could possibly be what the rumors claim he is... no way at all. Shen inquires as he quietly begins to approach Saitama from his right side, his plan being to trick the tiger with a 'friendly' interaction. The very same throwing knife he had hurled at Saitama abruptly comes whizzing by his head, scratching the side of it ever so slightly. Shen, due to his low tolerence to pain, yelps and jumps up a bit as if he were badly injured. In the process, he fails to notice that the knife had sliced through seven two-inch diameter bamboo shoots behind him, and embedded itsself three inched into his cannon's steel side. Saitama, hearing the yelp and sound of his thrown knife being stuck into metal, turns towards Shen, who is now clearly to him. Luckily for the peacock, Saitama does not recognize him as anyone significant, the tiger having never heard of the gunpowder maniac before, "Oh, hey there! Sorry, did that hit you?"

OF COURSE IT HIT ME YOU IDIOT! "Yes, yes, it did, but it's nothing more than mere scratch." Shen says composedly, forcing himself to not yell and scream at the tiger. I should gut you where you stand! The peacock subconciously reaches for his sword, but quickly stops himself. "You're the fabled Dragon Warrior, right?"

"Yeah," Saitama replies. "that's me. From what your letter says, you wanted to gift me something?"

Oh yes, I've got a real nice 'gift' for you. "O-oh, right! I almost forgot! Here, let me fetch it!"

Saitama nods, "Ok, I'll stay here."

~Furious Five POV~

"Was... was that Shen?!" Tigress, who had watched the whole scene unfold, asks, shocked at seeing the young Lord show his face once again. "How does Saitama not recognize him?!"

"Oh my, I guess you were right, Tigress. We should go help Saitama then, right?" Viper asks in a concerned and slightly pannicked voice.

Tigress quickly regains her composure, "No, we shouldn't." She replies, a slight glare on her face.

"What? Why?" Monkey questions, quite surprised at this suggestion.

"He needs to learn a lesson- brains over brawn." Tigress answers. None of the Five say anything in response, all of them now focused on Saitama and Shen.

~Shen's POV~

Ha! He just gonna let himself stand there like a sitting duck?! Pathetic! With standards like these, one of my mindless gorillas could be the Dragon Warrior! Shen hurries back to his gorillas, who have both finally recovered from their cannon-carrying fatigue. "Quick! Bring the wea- gift! Bring the gift!" He commands. The two gorillas nod, and lift the cannon once again. They haul it to the clearing, where Shen has them position it so that the weapon is aimed directly at Saitama. There is a distance of about ten feet between the tiger and Shen's cannon. "Do you know what this is, Saitama?"

"No, I don't."

You will soon, "Dragon Warrior." "Good!" Shen says gleefully, "Then it really will be a special surprise!" With that, he leaps up on top of the cannon and strikes his metal talon on it, igniting the fuse. Saitama, who is unbothered by this action, squints his eyes a little, noticing the knife he had thrown earlier in the cannon's side.

"Oh, there's that feather from before!" He comments while pointing at the throwing knife.

"What?" Shen snaps his gaze to the feather, a look of shock soon spreading accross his face as he puts two and two together. The rumors... they're-

*BOOM!*

Shen's cannon fires, sending a 50-pound ball of lead hurtling straight towards Saitama's face.

*CLANG!*

A dead silence fills the forest as Shen, now frozen in fear, subconciously feels his own jaw drop and breath hitch while he takes a small step back. Saitama just caught his cannonball. He caught it. I-it just instantly stopped! How?! How did he-?! Even Shen's henchmen are in shock, although unlike their master, they stand their ground.

"Is this the gift?" Saitama asks, tossing up and catching and cannnonball a few times like it weighs no more than the feather. "It's... shiny."

Shen can't take any more of this, "IT'S NOT A GIFT YOU IDIOT! IT'S A BALL OF METAL! A BALL MEANT TO KILL YOU! AND Y-YOU CAUGHT IT! YOU. CAUGHT. IT. HOW?!" Shen shouts at the top of his lungs in shock, fear, surprise, and anger. He takes a few deep breaths before realizing the fate he has just damned himself to.

"You...wanted to kill me?" Saitama asks, his eyes narrowing.

"N-no! Wait! I- AH!"

Shen abruptly flutters off of the cannon as the very same cannonball that he had shot at Saitama comes hurtling back at his cannon, shattering both the weapon and projectile upon impact. With clenched fists, Saitama begins to stalk towards Shen

"STOP! P-PLEASE STOP!" Shen begs the tiger while backing up and reaching for his sword.

"You... you wasted my time, made me come all the way out here, for this?!" Saitama questions in an angry tone. Shen yelps a little at Saitama's sudden anger, and skitters back, resulting in him tripping on a rock jutting up from the ground. Before he knows it, Saitama is towering over the peacock. In a fit of panic, the peacock attempts to slash Saitama with his sword. However, before he even see what's happening, his blade finds itsself in the hand of Saitama. With one quick clench of the fist, the sword shatters into pieces. Shen feels his life flash before his eyes as Saitama reels back his arm for a punch, but is miraculously spared when one of his gorilla henchman attempt to tackle Saitama from behind. Saitama, having heard the brute approaching, prior to the attack, reels around and releases his punch on the unlucky gorilla.

*P O W*

Needleess to say, Saitama's punch served as a better "parting" gift to the gorilla than Shen's cannon could to anything else. The other henchman, arguably the smarter one, tries to flee, but is confronted by the Furious Five. Saitama, on the other hand, turns to find Shen now far away from him and fleeing for his life.

~Shen's POV~

Run, Run, RUN. Don't look back, just RUN. Shen's mind races as he too races away from his near-death experience, Saitama. He looks around frantically for any sort of escape method and spots a nearby cave. There, THERE! I can escape there! The peacock rushes into the near pitch black cave and skurries behind a large rock, thinking that he had lost Saitama. His breaths are deep and panicked, as the once powerful and skillfull Lord has been rendered cannon-less and weaponless. The rumors... they're true. How? HOW?! How is he so strong?! What did he do?! My weapon was supposed to be unstoppable! As these panicked thoughts run through Shen's mind, he feels his heart skip a beat when an all-too familiar voice speaks right beside him.

"What are you running from?"

*P O W*

~Note From The Author:

Hoo boy, I sure pumped this chapter out quick! I guess that's what happens when ya get let outta school early! (Thank you, snow!) Anyways, thanks for reading Chapter 13 of OPT. Was it exciting? Was it fun to read? Was it an improvment form my old chapters? (I sure hope so!) Lemmie know in the reviews! I'm always happy to read your feedback. See you all in Chapter 14!