Grit found himself walking the streets of Jam Land aimlessly.
None of the wild glitz and glamor of the main street amused him.
He felt like the city was perverting the whole 'circus' theme, to the point where it was mentally draining to witness.
So Grit figured he'd go for a walk and find a market someplace away from it all.
He always enjoyed walking the markets of whatever city his mercenary band would hold up in.
Walk the markets, get some food, maybe ask around for some fun sights to go to, that sort of thing. That was his plan.
He was walking through a nice part of town when he saw a crowd surrounding a large bulletin board.
Upon approach, he heard the rumble of rumors.
The board was full to the brim of wanted posters. They all had different faces, but the name was all the same.
[WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
RICHARD ROE
$120,000,000]
'Richard Roe?' Grit thought to himself. Then he heard the people talking.
"120 million? Mr. Shelby is taking this quite seriously." One citizen said.
"Why wouldn't he? The ruthless James Shelby can't let it be known he's gone soft." Another said.
"It's been weeks now, and how many victims have there been?"
"Over 200, the guy is a sicko."
"I think that it's multiple people. It's gotta be."
"No way! The papers say the victims die with the corpses brutally mutilated in the same way. It's the handiwork of a single individual."
"Then how do you explain all the witnesses describing different-looking people?"
"…"
Grit got lost in the chatter of the town folk.
From what he could understand, some psycho was going around at night and murdering a bunch of people.
His face always looks different each night, which is why the authorities dubbed him 'Richard Roe'.
"Pfft. I'd like to see him try it." Grit chuckled to himself, he would relish it if Richard Roe tried to come at him.
Grit asked for directions to the market and strolled in that direction.
Dozing into a daydream.
"Captain King-Hit sama! Please slow down!"
"Slow down?! Time is of the essence! I won't slow down until the score is settled!"
The King-Hit pirates were chasing after their captain in the streets of Jam Land.
Their bodies were covered in bandages and they all looked badly beaten.
"But boss, all they took was some booze and cigars. They didn't even take our treasure!" One henchman tried to reason.
"Shut up, you baka! This isn't about the cargo, it's about the respect! How can I call myself Captain King-Hit sama if I allow these assholes to get away with this?!"
Captain King-Hit was your typical-looking pirate. Missing teeth, a slight layer of dirt on the skin, pirate hat and cloak, flintlock at his waist, and of course, a cutlass.
He was a bald man that was likely in his mid-thirties (maybe that's why he wore the hat?), though his time on the ocean has made him look older than his years.
Regardless, he was a tall and proud pirate whom his underlings respected. All they could do was grimace and do as he said.
"But sir.."
"But nothing! When I get my hands on that laughing asshole and that cunty ninja and that faggy white-haired bitch! And don't even get me started on that tall gloomy fu-.."
Captain King-Hit was so lost in his rant that he wasn't watching where he was going.
He bumped face-first into the muscular chest muscles of a cloaked figure.
"Oi! You fuck! Watch where you're going!"
"Eeeek! B-b-b-b-boss!"
"What?" Captain King-Hit glanced back at his crew then back at the cloaked man, "Oh…"
Upon further inspection, Captain King-Hit recognized that face.
That face, and that massive sword on his back.
"Hey, it's you guys!" Grit said in amusement, a sinister smile on his face.
The King-Hit pirates stood in fear.
Their captain reached for his gun.
All the while, Grit kept that same intimidating energy of self-amusement.
Unbuckling his Demon Slayer…
*BANG!*
"I'm over that shit. I'm serious, I'm over that shit."
A young man frantically puffed on his cigarette and drank his coffee as he sat on the comfortable cushions in his booth.
Across from him was a young woman; his lover.
"You really mean that?" she tilted her head innocently. Her red hair had big round curls as if she was a housewife in the 50s.
"Yeah, I mean it! No more merchants, no more traders.. It's not worth the risk. We oughta be robbing more docile ships. Ones where there won't be no fuckin' heroes. A military payroll, for example. No one delivering a fuckin' military payroll is risking their lives protecting it. We need targets where it's not like their livelihood is on the line. A quick and easy surrender, and a big middle finger to their employers."
The young man's name was Bonnie. Recently he and his lover had been resenting the hard times their pirate crew had been going through.
His partner in crime, the young woman, was Clyde. Together they dressed in cheap suits and carried around tommy guns.
"That sounds wonderful my love." Clyde pouted her lips at her hunk of a man. Underneath the table, she played footsies with him.
Bonnie smiled and took one last sip of his coffee before slamming the mug on the table, "Take his place. Calm, quiet.. It's the perfect place to rob. Old people running the joint, and there wouldn't be any heroes. Only pussies drink regularly in tea shops."
"…"
Jinzo was in a booth on the other side of the tea house. He calmly sipped his tea and let the soulful flavor relax him.
'How about I cut your fucking neck. Who would be the pussy then?'
Jinzo swallowed away these thoughts with each swallow of his tea.
He felt it would not be in the spirit of his favorite beverage to spill blood in such a fine establishment.
The tea house was a humble wee' business.
Along the busy main street, Jinzo was happily surprised to see an inconspicuous stairway leading up to an old-fashioned tea house.
Bonnie continued, he was now convinced of his next actions, "Let's do it, babe. Let's rob this joint. It's the start of our new way of thinking. From now on, it's easy robberies. Men!"
With a snap of Bonnie's fingers, the men in the surrounding booths all stood at attention. There must have been a dozen of them.
"Shall we?" Bonnie looked into his lover's eyes passionately.
"Oh, I love you, babe!" Clyde got up from her chair and kissed her man.
Bonnie pulled her away and then pulled out his gun, "ALRIGHT NOBODY MOVE! THIS IS A ROBBERY!"
"PUT YOUR FUCKIN' HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE EM!" Clyde jumped on their table and pointed her gun at the patrons.
"ALRIGHT! WE'RE GONNA GO AROUND WITH A BAG, AND YOU'RE GONNA PUT YOUR WALLETS IN IT! NO FUNNY BUSINESS!"
Bonnie went around the room with a couple of his henchmen holding the bag, collecting everyone's wallets.
Jinzo watched the scene with a brow raised, his hand reaching for the crimson blade by his waist under the table.
Then Bonnie came to Jinzo.
"Wallet. Now." Bonnie pointed a flintlock in Jinzo's face.
"Don't have one." Jinzo promptly replied.
"Money?" Bonnie nudged the gun against Jinzo's skull.
"Here…" Jinzo reached into his pocket and put whatever cash he had in the bag.
Bonnie had a smug look on his face, "Haha, good, good…" He then saw the light shimmer of the hilt of Jinzo's katana, "What about the sword? Looks fancy."
"Not gonna happen," Jinzo told him.
"I wasn't asking. Give me the fuckin' sword, asshole."
Jinzo glared into the eyes of Bonnie, "You think this is the first gun I've had pointed at my face?"
Clyde got anxious hearing her lover encounter resistance, she pointed her gun at Jinzo and shouted wildly, "DO WE HAVE A WISE GUY OVER THERE?"
"Yep. Looks like we got ourselves a wise guy." Bonnie returned the glare at Jinzo.
They were locked in a staring contest- or better yet, they were in a game of chicken. He who makes the first move loses.
The air got thick with hostility.
The old tea house owner hid behind the counter.
The patrons watched on with bated breath.
Well… Every patron except one.
Suddenly, an alarm clock rang.
*BRNGGGGG*
A well-dressed man erupted from his booth. His name was Wolfgang Strife.
"I'm awake!" Wolfgang Strife said as he hammered his fist down onto the alarm clock, smashing it into pieces.
Wolfgang Strife, dressed in a dark gray suit and overcoat, yawned.
"Man, that was a good nap." He scratched his hair of ashen curls. "Oh?"
He woke to a gun in his face. It was the gun of Clyde. She got down from the table to handle this personally.
Wolfgang Strife looked at the young woman, confused, "Um, I don't need any more tea darling, thank you…"
"I'm not a fucking waitress! Your wallet in the bag. Now."
"Thank goodness. I thought you were a little ugly to be a waitress."
"!"
At these words, Clyde shot her gun without thinking. She did not take insults to her beauty lightly.
*BANG!*
A glimmer shined in Wolfgang Strifes' eye.
Suddenly, a hole in his head opened. The bullet passed straight through the hole before the spot on his forehead reformed again.
'What? I swear I shot him!' Clyde thought to herself. But before she could shoot again..
"Hey, don't you think you should check the forecast before you rob someplace? It's always good to take the weather into account."
Wolfgang Strife looked at her with his typical sleepy expression and pointed upwards.
"What? The fucking weather? What are you talking about?!" Clyde looked at the finger of Wolfgang Strife like it was a foreign entity.
"Look up." He lazily said.
"Pfft, please. As if I'm falling for that!" Clyde readied her pistol at Wolfgang Strife once again.
…
"What the..?"
Jinzo could not believe his eyes. Looming over the Bonnie and Clyde pirates were mini storm clouds.
They were ripe with rage.
*ZZZZZZZT!*
At once, all the storm clouds hit the Bonnie and Clyde pirates with a powerful bolt of lightning.
They were all defeated in an instant.
*COUGH!* The bodies of Bonnie and Clyde were singed in comical cartoony fashion.
"What the? What just happened?" One patron said aloud.
That's when Wolfgang Strife got up from his booth and stretched, "Ahhh! So satisfying."
"Oh my god!"
The surrounding patrons gasped in disbelief.
"It's Admiral Strife!"
"Admiral Strife? What's he doing here?"
Admiral Strife waved nonchalantly, "Never you mind, citizens. I was just enjoying some tea. Man, that 'relax' stuff sure made me doze off.."
Admiral Strife then placed some coins on the counter, "Thank you. It was delicious."
He left without looking back.
[WOLFGANG STRIFE
MARINE ADMIRAL]
Everyone was shocked at the scene that just transpired.
Among them was Jinzo.
"An admiral of the navy? Wait till the guys hear about this…" Jinzo got up, reached for some money in the bag, and paid for his tea.
Stepping over the burnt bodies of Bonnie and Clyde.