The Bandit of the Forest!
The Vessel of Wood!
"Mister Mungi?" questioned one of the people gathered around a large wooden throne. A large wooden spear pierced the wall right beside her head, She dropped to her knees and bowed, "I'm…sorry…what did I say that offended you?"
"You called me Mister Mungi," said the large person in the throne. He was extremely muscular, but he was lean as well. He had a large wooden spear in his hand and he twirling it carelessly.
"I'm sorry…Mr. Dai," she repeated herself. The man mad a loud grunt in dissatisfaction. "Missus?" A large spear shot from the bandit's hand gouging her throat in a clean fashion. She collapsed onto her own bowing legs.
"My name is Dai Mungi!" shouted the man standing up from his throne and approaching the body. "I am to be refered to by my full name and nothing less, just as my father was! My father was a great man and I will follow in his footsteps. Any objections?" No one in the room replied. "Now what was so important that she would interrupt my existence?"
"A new female has arrived on the island," said one of the many other men in the room. "She arrived with a group of four men."
"A new female…hrm," said Dai Mungi, "is she attractive?"
"Our sources say yes," said the man, "but they more threatening news is the fact that our sources also said that she and her four partners all came from the same pirate ship."
"What pirate ship?" asked Dai Mungi as he went back to his throne and sat down.
"Our sources do not recognize the flag," said the man, "it must be fairly new. We do not believe any of the pirates have any significant bounties…at least none comparable to your current one of 33 million belies."
"Yes," said Dai Mungi as he stared off into space, "my bounty is something my old man could never have achieved. I made him sorry for not appointing me the leader of this band of bandits in the first place. My skills excel past his old feeble ones."
"Yes, indeed they do," said the man. He didn't want to mention the only reason why he obtained such powerful skills was from the artifact that the Yonkou gave him a few weeks ago. "But we still feel as if the crew is worth looking into they could spark a rebellion if their crimes do not go unpunished, I say we go extract a few belies from them to make our point."
"And what do you suggest we do if they resist our laws?" asked Dai Mungi with a wicked smile on his face.
"We execute them for the masses of course," said the man, "no other punishment would do."
"Very well, dispatch our five best men to the Men's Area," said Dai Mungi, "I'll make a personally visit to the Women's Area." His eyes trailed to the body of the dead woman, "I'm going to need a new woman to keep me company anyways. My old one no longer has that same spring in her step."
"Want us to clean the room while you are gone, sir?" asked the rest of the men.
"No," said Dai Mungi, "I love the smell of blood in the morning." He flipped his spear around and attached it to his back using a harness. He went onto his way to the area where the women of the island resided.
Dai Mungi stopped in the center of the area, "ALL WOMEN FRONT AND CENTER!" he commanded. A large group of women quickly gathered in front of them. The majority of them immediately went into a bow. Dai Mungi quickly lashed out at the ones who didn't.
He scanned the area when he was done with the people, "where's Melanie at? I was meaning to talk to her about a new position that opened up. I wouldn't mind getting some of her fire under my control."
"She's at the hotel," said one of the women, meekly, "a new ship has arrived. She was talking to the new arrival."
"Great," said Dai Mungi as he spun around and headed off towards the hotel, "I can kill two birds with one stone. The new arrivals are apparently pirates, so I'd be careful around her. I'm only acting in your best interest."
The crowd made loud surprised gasps and comments like "I never would have thought", or "she seemed so sweet".
Dai Mungi approached the hotel and walked straight in. His large spear in his hand when he came barging into the door. "Hello! I am here to apprehend a pirate and have some very friendly conversation with her. Where is Mrs. Melanie?"
"Here I am," said Melanie as she wandered up to him in her bright green dress, "do you need anything? Or do you just want my alcohol?"
"No, alcohol for me thanks," said Dai Mungi as he sat down in the biggest chair in the room, "I'm here to talk to the new arrival. I would like to be as sober as possible when I talk to her, where she can take me in with all my greatness."
Melanie smiled, "Yes. I am afraid you just missed her." She was lying, Sage was still in the back of the kitchen doing some last minute clean-up for the next big wave. "She went back to her ship to look after the rest of her crew. She's a cook, too, you know."
"I was unaware of this fact, actually," said Dai Mungi, "when she gets back, please send her to me at my fortress, deal?" Melanie nodded slowly. "Great! Now I have an offer for you. I want you to come with me to my fortress, my last assistant had an…accident."
"I appreciate your offer, but…" Melanie was unable to finish her sentence as at that exact moment Sage came out of the kitchen.
"Melanie, I'm going to need your help soon," said Sage. She had changed out of her previous outfit and was now in a different one. A yellow shirt with a sunflower on the front and a short yellow skirt.
"It looks like she came back just in time," said Dai Mungi. He was well-versed with all of the town's females, so when an unfamiliar face showed up he knew right off the back. "Hello, my sweet." He shuffled right up and put his arm around her, "heard you were new here? Don't you know its good etiquette that when you arrive at a new island you should immediately pay your respects to that island's king?"
"You?" asked Sage, "Oh! You installed that wall didn't you? I think the people of this town would really appreciate it if you could tear that wall down? They miss everyone on the other side." Sage said everything so sweetly that it could melt the heart of a golem.
"Really?" said Dai Mungi, "I would do that, but then people would gather. Gatherings lead to meetings. Meetings lead to riots. Riots lead to revolution. And if there was a revolution I would have to kill a lot of people, I don't want to kill a lot of people. So, that wall is actually there to make it where I don't have to. So, you see that wall is a good thing."
"Okay," said Sage, "but maybe allow them to meet every so often?"
"I said NO!" shouted Dai Mungi as he twisted around and glared at Sage, "when the king says 'no', that means no!"
"But you didn't say 'no', silly," said Sage.
Dai Mungi's eyes flashed over with rage. He picked Sage up by her shoulders and rammed her against a wall. Sage let out a high-pitched squeal. "Listen, cutie, on this island we only have one law. And that one law is 'Do not upset me'. Do you want to know the punishment for breaking this law is?"
Sage managed to squeal a barely audible, "what?" Whether or not it was the beginning of a sentence or just that one word was unknown because as soon as it came out, Dai Mungi tightened his grip cutting off her voice.
"Its death," said Dai Mungi, "you tick me off, I'll kill you or your crewmates. Whichever one gives me more pleasure. And I think killing you would give me a lot of pleasure, you have that scream. Its pleasurable." He tightened his grip causing Sage to scream again, "that's it."
"Wait!" shouted Sage, "you can't do this. I'm a pirate, my crewmates will kill you if you kill me."
"Oh, really, and who are these supposed crewmates of yours that can kill me?" asked Dai Mungi he brought his spear off of his back, "I am the vessel of wood! Watch, any dead wood I'm in contact with I can easily control!" A single needle grew from the side of his spear. These needles soon started exploding from his spear at a rapid pace until he was left with a menacing large staff with numerous needles. "Can any of them do this?"
"No," said Sage, dejectedly, "but Mikoto will still…" she was picked up off of the wall and lifted high into the air. She looked back at Melanie. Melanie was staring at her bug-eyed and full of terror, she was managing to shake her head at Sage and telling her to be quiet.
"Mikoto?" said Dai Mungi, "the half-dog freak!" He dropped Sage onto the ground and laughed. "He's back! That beast! I can't believe it! I always knew he was brain-dead, but to return to the island where he was constantly hounded by us bandits! If it wasn't for Marco Okuso we would've killed him a long time ago!"
Sage stared up at him from her position on the ground scared to death of Dai Mungi's intimidating giant spear. "I'm lost…I don't know why you want to kill Mikoto?"
"Simple," said Dai Mungi, "its justice. Killers deserve to be killed. The Marines have been using that excuse for ages. This is just another way of exercising it. I want you to deliver a message to him for me…You can sweeten it for him if you like, tell him I was kind and bought you some drinks and a dinner before giving you this message. Or you can tell him, I beat the crap out of you, rubbed your face in the mud, and then threatened you to deliver this message. I don't care, I just him to know I plan to kill him and if he could come and see me in my fortress, I'll gladly settle my business there."
Sage watched Dai Mungi as he left the building. She quivered in her place before swallowing her fear, confident that Dai Mungi had left. She stood up and smiled. "Well, it looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I better go tell Mikoto!"
"What are you insane?" asked Melanie, "That Dai Mungi fellow is insanely powerful! He has the strength of twenty men easily! Not to mention that he's the vessel of wood!" Melanie broke off from her rant, "what does that men? The vessel of wood? Is that like a Devil Fruit or something?"
"Close," said Sage, "but don't worry one of our shipmates is a vessel, too. Besides, Mikoto can easily beat that guy into submission. Mikoto is just that kind of guy. Not only that, but if this really is Mikoto's hometown he'd want to destroy anyone that made you guys unhappy. That's the kind of guy he is." Sage left out of the door with a troubled look on her face, something that Dai Mungi had said hadn't matched up correctly.
The ship was parked on the outside of the island in the dock. The guard eyed her suspiciously as she came out, but he didn't seem to be too bothered with her reappearance. She walked onto the deck of the ship steadily. Something was off. The ship didn't…wobble as much as it did before. The ship was stuck in one place. The waves didn't shake the ship anymore. Dai Mungi had trapped them on the island. Not only that, but she smelled smoke and it was coming from below the deck! She bolted around the corner and down the stairs. Had Dai Mungi set fire to their ship to burn their only means of escape?
She was on the second to bottom level where her kitchen was located. She turned and saw heavy black smoke billowing out from underneath the doorway to her kitchen. That was the place they'd set fire too after all. Lots of oil, grease, and other flammable material. She gathered up a bit of cloth and kicked the door down. She was amazed on what she saw on the other side.
Mikoto was standing above the stove with a fan fanning the smoke off of what Sage could only presume was a failed dish. Mikoto smiled sheepishly at her as she ran out of the doorway and grabbed a pale of water. She rushed back into the room and poured the water all over the stove.
Maybe if she was lucky, Dai Mungi would kill Mikoto for her.
The Invitation to a Challenge!
Sage Accepts?
Buh-buh-BUH! Well, this arc is progressing faster then expected. Anyways, the villain for this arc has finally appeared! Dai Mungi, a man who slaughters people for fun, enjoys the smell of blood, and was able to imprison an entire island. Will Mikoto be able to stop him or will Sage get her wish? More importantly, however, has Ridley gotten his alcohol yet?