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Punch Bloody

Near a fair distance from Party's, a boy wandered alone. He wasn't doing much. An hour ago, the little boy had been chasing a butterfly, but now he had lost interest. They little boy wasn't really thinking about much either. He missed his mother (and her home cooked meals) a little but didn't want to show it for fear that his older brother would tease him.

All he did for the past couple of days was spar with his older brother, take walks, and look at fishes in the water. Actually, it was what he always did, regardless if his mother was there or not. The little boy didn't even look like he had a notion of what he was going to be when he grew. All he knew was that one day, he would get off the island and do something. Something great. Because great things are exciting, unlike what he was doing now.

Now it just so happened that the group of bandits who were thrown out of Party's by Shanks were wandering near the vicinity, when they had spotted the little boy down the road kicking rocks.

Approaching him, a lone bandit (the one that tried to grope Makino) walked into his path purposely tripping him. The unaware of the surprise attack immediately fell. The rest of the bandits nearby laughed and edged closer once the boy was down. But, as the thug was about to put his foot into the boy's groin, the boy rolled over on his side and sprang on top of the man, digging his pearly whites into his arm, propelling both forward.

This caused the bandit to scream and jerk his arm, flinging the boy into a pile of barrels.

"Hawhaw!" laughed some of the bandits, "beaten by a kid, whaddya have to say for yourself Picky!"

"Shaddup!" yelled the bandit Picky, nursing his arm, "Oww…dat one's got a bite like a mershark!"

Struggling out of the pile of barrels, the boy stood up with a bloody nose and clenched fists roaring, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT? WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT!"

The bandits laughed again. "He asks us what we wants! Tell 'em Picky!"

Picky stepped forward with a stupid grin on his face, unsheathing his knife. His lanky features coupled with a slimy face gave him a hideous look in the moonlight. "Oh I'll tell alright, ya little brat! You see, I would have had my way with that pretty gal Makino, if this stupid red-headed bum hadn't shown up!"

Inching closer, a look of recognition dawned on the boy's face, "I don't know about anything about a redhead, but I remember you. You're that bandit, Makino slapped you a couple days ago for touching her wrong area."

Picky snarled trying to usher the unhappy memory from his mind, "Heh, well the thing is, if we have you brat, Makino couldn't possibly refuse me. Unless she'd like to see me slit your bratty lil throat in front of her. Poor woman, I bet she's horribly frightened of bloodshed. So be a good boy, and come with us quietly, haha!"

The little boy sniffed angrily, lifting his head to look at the Picky's, but then looking back at his feet to avoid looking at Picky's hideous face. "Makino was the one who pounded your face bloody, stupid, so she CAN'T BE SCARED OF BLOOD, you stupid bandit!"

The bandits burst into cahoots of laughter, but Picky was ticked off.

"Why you little shithead," grasping his knife, he lunged toward the pile of barrels where the boy stood, "why don't you say that to my face!"

"Eat this, you stupid bandit!" In response, the boy had thrown one of the smaller empty barrels at Picky's face, breaking his noise.

"MMPRGHHH! GET THAT LIL SHIT!" cried Picky in pain. Hearing those words, the bandits immediately drew their arms, content that there was something to kill. Of course, little boys weren't as fun as grown men, but they squirmed much more, which was a plus at certain times.

Most of them dodged the onslaught of barrel projectiles and rushed straight towards the little boy. Although he was surprised, the boy managed to jump off the pile and on to the floor, using a couple bandits as stepping stones. The bandits leading the rush weren't too lucky as they toppled with a resounding crash, into the pile knocking themselves out.

"You'll PAY for that too!" cried a stout bandit, pointing a short sword at the little boy, who was now in a light fighting stance with his little fists raised.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" yelled Picky, at the sides clutching at his nose , "CAPTURE HIM! CUT OFF HIS ARMS AND LEGS!"

"Yarr, CHARGEEEE!"

"Huh, what's that noise?" Shanks stopped his mad dashing, skidding to a halt. He thought he had just heard someone shouting behind some building. Treading quietly, he poked his head from around some boxes, observing the designated area. Indeed, there had been trouble, as there were barrel bits strewn all over the floor, some men unconscious, and another 20 with weapons cornering a little boy. A man on the sides, presumably the leader, was yelling statements of "CAPTURE THE BRAT!" and "CUT OFF HIS LEGS SO HE CAN'T escape!"

Despite his situation, the little boy actually felt lighter on the inside. He rarely got the chance to fight, accept against his older brother (ending him up with all losses), but you know what they say. Improvement comes with each battle.

Shanks, was about to intervene, seeing a bandit throw a wild slash at the boy, but he backed down, seeing that the little boy had dodged and thrown a punch to the face. A man's fight, is a man's fight, so Shanks perched on his box, analyzing (and enjoying) the fight. The punch that the little boy had thrown to the bandit's face had been slow in Shanks's opinion, but apparently fast in the eyes of the weaker bandits.

The little boy constantly punched, ducked, and weaved between the legs of the bandits. They had been afraid to use their weapons, in fear of accidentally hitting each other. Shanks grinned in the shadows. "That kid, he has a natural fighter's instinct. Close combat is his forte it seems. Well that's pretty obvious, since his punching range is pretty small. And although, he's taken some hard hits, he's doing pretty well out there."

However, despite his fighter's instinct, the boy had made the mistake of weaving in, too far into the group of bandits. In short, he became tightly surrounded, his fists useless.

"STOP!" Picky yelled, pushing his way into the inner circle. Sheathing his knife, he paused, pulling out a beautiful, silver revolver. "He's mine!"

The others backed off after giving the little boy some kicks and punches. The little boy looked with awe at the beautifully crafted weapon, taking the feebly thrown kicks and punches. Seeing the look in the little boy's eyes, Picky asked, "Like her? She costed 10,000 berri. You get the honor of being her first target Yahaha!"

The bandits laughed, finally they would get to see some action. Picky continued, "Now what will it be, an arm or a leg?"

Shanks, on his box, gave a bored look, picking his ear, "What, it's over already? Ah well." Shouldering his katana and stretching his legs out, Shanks decided that this was the right time to step in.

Just as Picky was about to cock and pull the trigger, a shadow swiftly zoomed across the crowd. At least eight of the bandits had ended up on the ground, after being knocked to ground by an unseen shadow.

"WHA—WHERE DID HE GO?" yelled Picky, turning to the spot that the little boy had previously been. Picky waved the gun, only to find it sliced in two. His face turning red from anger, he yelled out more orders, "FIND HIM, HE COULDN'T HAVE GONE FAR!"

As some of the bandits scuttled left and right in search of the boy, the moonlight fell overhead, illuminating a figure on a roof.

"Heh, picking on children now, bandit?" Shanks called out from a top of a small building, the little boy peering out from behind his legs. "Well, no matter, he was doing a fine job whipping you guys anyway…"

At the sight of Shanks, Picky and rest of the bandits froze. It was that redhead again! But this time he didn't have his crew with him, so the self confidence of the bandits rose. So the redhead can move swift as a shadow, but that didn't matter to the bandits as they outnumbered him.

"HEY! WHY DON'T YOU COME DOWN HERE AND FACE US LIKE A REAL MAN!" yelled the rogues in unison, drawing their weapons again.

Shanks grinned, "So you want to fight huh? Well, since I was bored watching you guys get whipped by a kid, sure why the hell not? In fact, I bet I could beat you all up before touching the ground!"

Before the bandits could respond, Shanks seemed to have disappeared, only the blade of his katana flashing and leaving marks, causing the bandits to drop like flies. Apparently, none were a match for him, as they couldn't even see his attacks coming. A few minutes later, only Picky was left, sitting on his rump, cowering in fear. "M…mercy!" he squeaked.

"Mercy?" Shanks's voiced lowered, grabbing the trembling man by the shirt collar and pressing the katana to his throat, "You want mercy, after hurting a kid and threatening a simple barmaid?"

"Ah let him go mister, can't you see he's beaten?" They boy had climbed down the roof in haste when Shanks was dealing the bandits. "Besides, he's probably a bandit because he robs unsuspecting natives of their stuff! And plus, Makino and I can kick his ass anytime."

Throwing the bandit roughly to the ground, Shanks sheathed his katana. "You should thank the kid, for sparing your life. Go on!"

Prodding by Shanks's foot the crumpled heap on the ground, Picky whimpered towards the direction of the little boy, "Thank 'e for sparing me."

Feeling satisfied, Shanks called out to the rest of the bandits who were now conscious and moaning from pain, "You've got 10 seconds, to get out o' here before my sword starts to dance!"

"And as for you" Shanks turned to Picky who desperately trying to scramble away on all fours, "if I hear that you've bothered Makino or this boy, I'll let you choose which arm and leg you want to keep."

Once the scene had been cleared, Shanks turned to the little boy who, stood staring at him, a bruise starting to form on his face. "Hey there mate, you all right?"

The little boy harrumphed, and shuffled over to Shanks, "I could have taken them all! You didn't have to butt in!"

Shanks smiled, "Of course, but next time, try covering your back to wall instead of barreling into the center of their rush. Keeps it cleaner you know?"

The little boy pouted at Shanks putting his hands on his hips, "Say, who are you anyway? I haven't seen you in this town before. And yet, you interrupt my fight, and now you're giving me advice? What if YOU'RE with some other bandits?"

Shanks chuckled, "Well, you got me there. Only I'm not a bandit. I'm a pirate. I was the redhead those scumbags mentioned back there."

The boy tilted his head, "What? They said something?"

Shanks sweatdropped. Although this boy possessed a natural fighters' instinct, he appeared to be a bit slow in the head. "Nevermind, Makino sent me to find someone," Shanks said, as he pulled out the paper with Makino's scribbles. "Only problem is, I don't think her pictures are accurate, so I only have the names. Ace and Luffy was it?"

The boy took the paper and took a hard long squint at it in the moonlight. Suddenly his face changed, "HEY! THAT'S ME! Well, sort of, I don't look this ugly in real life."

Shanks snatched back the paper and took a look at it. "What? Really?" Looking back and the boy and then the paper Shanks shrugged, "Well you do, sorta look like a monkey…"

"Hey, shut up Mr. Pirate!" cried Luffy stomping his foot.

Shanks replied poking Luffy in the chest, "It's Shanks. And its not Mr. Pirate, its Captain!"

"Heh, I bet a monkey would make a better captain than you!"

"Oh yeh? Are you talking about yourself?"

"YEAH!"

"So you ARE a monkey!"

Both of them glared at each other fiercely before dissolving into fits of laughter. How they didn't wake up the neighbors, nobody knew. But it was good that they were on the same level.

After a few seconds recollecting themselves, Shanks said to Luffy, "Well come on, we better get to Party's. How come you're up so late anyway?"

Luffy started walking puffing his chest out proudly, "Dunno, Makino was busy so I went out to play. I fell asleep somewhere and after I woke up, went back to Makino's for a bit and ate meat. Then I went out to play again, and then I fell asleep. After I awoke, I took a walk around, before the bandits showed up. Of course I saw them following me. I even let them trip me so they could get a head start."

Shanks chuckled at Luffy's story. He continued to walk behind Luffy (who thankfully knew his way around the village).

Suddenly Shanks stopped, "Hey, what about your brother?"

"Oh Ace? Don't worry about him, he can take care of himself, he's a better fighter than me!"

"No no, I can't, I promised Makino. Since you're tired, we'll stop at Party's first. She'll be glad that you're back at least."

"Who said I was tired!" cried Luffy, stifling an urge to yawn. "I'm old enough to stay up late. We don't need to go back to Party's! I'll help you find Ace! I know all the places where he hangs out!"

Shanks stood still, weighing his options for a moment, "So this kid doesn't wanna go to sleep huh? But Makino would be a little eased if I brought Luffy back. On the other hand, Luffy would know where Ace is, plus, he knows this town well."

After a moment of careful consideration, Shanks finally said aloud, "Alright, we'll look for your brother. But make it quick alright? I don't want Makino to kick me bloody or something horrible like that."

Luffy grinned, "Sure thing, but you better keep up, Cap'n Shanks!" And with that, Luffy rushed off into the west, with Shanks keeping close behind."

Somewhere, north of the area where the brawl had taken place, Picky and his bandit gang had stopped to recuperate and catch their breaths. After the humiliation they had been through, Picky had been rather furious, but not wanting to anger the rest of the crew, he kept his mouth shut.

Bladd, one of Picky's crew, boldly asked, "So what should we do now?"

Picky in response, slapped Bladd with the flat of his knife blade, raising a bump on his head. "What do you think scumbag? We're going to go launch a surprise attack on that bastard Redhead after we get ourselves together!"

Most of the bandits, recoiled inwardly at the thought. After all, it had been the second time today, that they had been whipped. And by the same people too. But since Picky was the strongest in the group, no one argued.

As the self-proclaimed leader of the bandits went on to reveal his plans concerning Shanks, several unnoticed shadows emerged to the left of the area, behind the nearest house. They appeared to be listening and discussing something in hoarse whispers at the same time.

"We only need one, kill the rest."

"Alright, Tatchi, you get rid of the bodies."

"Fine, fine, but why do I always have to do that crap?"

"Um, you are the strongest out of all of us?"

"Oh, why thank you."

"—and so we'll ambush him when he walks out of Party's." finished Picky. There were murmurs of agreement within the group. "We'll put the plan into action, in the morning. For now, get the supplies and lay low."

"Yes, si—AHHhhhhh!"

Just as bandit group was about to disperse, a scream was roughly emitted by the back of the group. Apparently, the shadows from before had attacked Picky's group, starting with the stragglers. The plan abandoned, bandits scattered in all different directions, eager to get far away from the slaughter as possible. However, as the shadows were swift, most did not escape.

Picky, who had taken the whole thing in shock, sank on to his shaking knees. He had just witnessed three shadows slaughter the group with no mercy. Falling onto his shaking knees, he watched Bladd scream with wide-eyes as he was run through by a figure that seemed to have many arms. Taken out of his trance by a spray of blood, he looked up in time just to see two figures loom over him.

"Don't worry about your friends, Tatchi, will get them." the nearer one sniggered.

"W-ho are you? What do you want? DON'T HURT ME!" Picky scrambled back a few steps before the other figure, gripped his shirt and lurched him back forward.

"Quiet! Don't wanna go waking up the townsfolk now, or you're really gonna get it." Tapping a blade against, Picky's throat, the figure continued, "We're taking you back to our Cap'n, so get a move on, before I slice off yer tongue!"

Picky nodded in fear, as the figure lurched him to his feet. The other figure looked away in disgust.

"Ugh, looks like he wet himself. Quick lets leave before someone wakes and sees! Tatchi can pick up our trails."

Picky bit his lip, trying not to cry out, as the two large figures escorted him roughly, through the street, which had been covered in blood.

Meanwhile, in Party's, Shanks's crew had been less rowdier than usual. Makino had slightly been in much higher spirits, after Shanks had offered to find Luffy and Ace. Ben Beckman had occupied Shanks's empty seat, keeping an eye on the rest of the crew. On a table near the bar counter, Yasopp and Lucky were still busy eating and drinking, laughing at some random crew member's joke.

Suddenly, Lucky lifted his head up from his drumstick, "Hey Ben, say, shouldn't Shanks be back by now? I mean, it doesn't usually take this long to bring back a couple of whippersnappers."

Beckman sighed as Makino dropped a plate in response. "W-h-hat? Well, shouldn't you guys be looking for him? What if he's in trouble?"

The random girl of the crew, who I shall now refer to as Nettles, helped Makino pick up the pieces, "Don't fret marm, Cap'n will be back, right Mr. Beckman?"

Ben, took his cigarette out of his mouth, "Right Nettles. So don't worry, Makino, everything will be alright. You'll get those kids back."

Makino threw the plate shards into the garbage. "Stay calm," Makino thought, "Shanks will be back with Ace and Luffy. Plus, Ben doesn't look like one to tease." After counting to ten and taking deep breaths, Makino returned to washing glasses.

Yasopp who had finished drinking and eating, waved his pistol and juggling a pack of cards, "Hey, anyone wanna play Spit? I'll throw in 400 berri for the winner!"

Immediately, most of crew sitting at the tables got up and filed out the door, muttering something about "catching 40 winks" or that they "forgot something on the ship". Yasopp looking insulted yelled out to the crewmembers that were rushing away, "CHICKENS! ALL OF YOU!"

Makino looked bewildered, "What happened? What's the matter?"

Ben, took a drag of his cigarette, "Oh its nothing important. You know the card game Spit? At the end of a round, when you try to slap the pile with the least amount of cards quickest? Well Yasopp here, prefers to shoot it. And he never misses. Shanks was the only one who ever beat him. And he didn't get any holes in his hands either."

Nettles looked on with surprise, "Really? I thought anyone with a shred of sense would never play Spit against Yasopp."

Lucky Roo in turn, looked at Nettles with mock surprise, "Really? And I thought that everyone here with a shred o' sense would know that the Cap'n doesn't have a shred of sense."

"I'm still here you know…" replied Yasopp.

Everyone laughed. It lightened up the mood a little. Makino walked over to Lucky Roo's table and poured a little more rum into Yasopp's glass, "It's alright Mr. Yasopp, I'm sure they didn't mean to insult the way you play Spit."

"Damn right…" muttered Yasopp downing his glass, "Slapping card piles are for girls. Real men play Spit with guns."

Ben, glanced at the clock in the corner of the bar room. 2:17 it read. Standing up, Ben called to the rest of the crew that hadn't been scared away by Yasopp, "Everyone, take the barrels of rum and the packed provisions back to the ship, it's getting late."

"Aye, Beckman." Chairs shuffled, as the remaining crew members carried the parcels, and shouldered the barrels.

Makino glanced worryingly at Ben wringing her hands, "But what about you Captain? And the boys?"

Beckman gave her a reassuring smile, "It's alright, I'll stay until Shanks comes back with the boys." Turning to Yasopp and Lucky who were also shouldering barrels, Ben said, "You guys are in charge of the ship, I'm gonna wait for Cap'n Shanks and the boys with Makino. Don't set fire to the ship now."

Yasopp gave Ben a hearty slap on the back with his free hand, "Of course we won't. Who do you think we are, Marines?" Laughing at his own joke that partially didn't make sense, Yasopp walked out the exit, Lucky and Nettles following, shaking their heads.

"Oh thank you so much for staying Mr. Beckman." said Makino, wiping of the sweat from her forehead, "I'm sure the boys will be fine in Shanks's care."

Ben resumed sitting in his seat looking out the window, "Of course Makino, its what he would have wanted. Although I'm not sure what kind of baby-sitter he'll turn out to be. I've hardly seen him with kids."