The Bladeless Dojo

DJ laughed softly to himself, almost immediately as they got into the ship from their beach excursion, Dusty had fallen asleep in his arms. He walked the sleepy fox-girl to the door before picking her up and carrying her back to the rooms, listening to her tired murmuring.

He stood outside the girl's cabin and thought for a moment, muttering to himself as he spoke his thoughts. "If I go in there and try to put her in her own bed… then there's a chance Niri or one of the girls will wake up, think it's something perverted, and beat the living crap out of me…" He looked down to the boy's cabin. "However if I try to put her down in my bed and just stay out here for the night… Azu's in there." He sighed in thought and shook his head.

He almost went for the girl's cabin until he heard a noise outside near the kitchen that told him Azu had fallen asleep next to the refrigerator and was snoring loudly, passed out in a pool of his booze and certain combined other fluids. "Guess that means it's safe to go in then…" He sighed and opened the door to the boy's cabin where, sure enough Azu was gone and the rest of the males were sleeping soundly. He laid Dusty down in his own bed and took a chair from the nearby desk to guard her and continue his reflections.

Quickly finding himself bored and unable to sleep knowing the person he loved was asleep in a strange environment. He rummaged through his belongings, finding various sheet music, notes on instruments, swords, and various poetry sheets he had kept over the years, each with whatever instrument they were played with at the top corner. Among his findings he saw three bounty posters that had been torn and ripped, obviously battle-worn and aged.

One was of a man who looked to be in his early twenties, had curly whitish-blue hair and wore a pair of orange goggles on top of his head as well as a wooden sword at his hip. The other looked much more ordinary, a man dressed in a white kimono and wearing a tight topknot in his black hair, a typical samurai-looking fellow. The final one was a man with long black hair flowing over his shoulders and a white cloth tied around his forehead, a small scar running down the side of his face with a red and white flowered kimono covering his body.

"Heh, good times…" He whispered to himself. "I wonder how they're doing, if they've gotten any stronger…" He leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment before drifting almost into a trance.

--

(Flashback: Less than Three Years Ago, Ken Kyji Island)

"Hey you! What'dya think you're doing with that thing?" A man called out to DJ as he walked harmlessly through town.

"Huh? What thing…" The brunett e blinked and looked around and at himself.

"Don't play dumb! That sword on your back!" The man shouted, DJ got a good look at him, he certainly was an odd-looking guy, his hair color didn't look natural, and his hair was a lot curlier than most, and to top it off he had a strange wooden weapon and was wearing goggles for seemingly no reason.

"Who's playing? My sword? I take it with me wherever I go, why?" DJ blinked, still oblivious to what the man was getting at. By now a crowd of onlookers was beginning to form, eager to see what all the shouting was about.

"This town has a sword ban unless you are with the marines or have graduated from one of the two dojos here in town! It's a sign of outright defiance to be carrying a sword in the open like that!" The man shouted louder than ever.

'Geez this guy is loud…' DJ blinked to himself. "And you're much better? Carrying around a bokuto like that?"

"… Shut up!" The man shouted after thinking for a moment. "Well, at least you know your swords, since you're new here I'll give you a warning! The name's Gin, Gin Tama, remember it! I won't have outsiders causing trouble by bringing in illegal weapons so you better ditch the sword or get outta town real fast, ya hear!?"

DJ chuckled to himself. "I hear, real fast is kinda my specialty, so I'll be sure and not cause any trouble. Although I'm afraid I can't abandon my sword, I still have need for it."

"Understood…" Gin turned around, a few of his friends following him as the crowd began to disperse. "Just be careful and leave quick. I don't want any trouble stirred up here."

DJ nodded and watched Gin leave, sighing in relief that he hadn't caused any trouble for no reason. He loved fighting as much as the next guy, but there was really no reason to fight with someone for such a silly reason as carrying a sword.

"Guess I better get outta here then…" He looked down at his stomach, which was now growling. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to grab something to go though." He smiled goofily and continued to look for a restaurant or tavern, which with his super speed it only took a few seconds. "Looks like as good a place as any." He looked around him at the many different buildings, the town of Ken Kyji had. Many looked to be old style paper-and-mat houses while other more recent ones were made of cement and bricks like normal. The place looked like it was going through a revolutionary change that was changing their culture from old fashioned to modern that was only halfway done.

He looked up at the sign that said "Beer and Food", it was one of the handful of cement buildings within eyesight. He walked into the dark tavern and was immediately glared daggers at by nearly every member of the local for introducing light into their dank and smoggy environment. "Sorry fellas" He rubbed the back of his head and closed the door, nearly choking on the smell of smoke and alcohol, he couldn't be sure but he could have sworn someone had ripped one by him too and that wasn't helping.

He ordered his meal and drink, which was one of the rare times that he ever ordered alcohol because of what had happened with his father. He sat down at one of the table, none of them were empty, so he picked one with the person who looked least intimidating, a man in a small reed hat covering the top half of his face and wearing a white kimono.

"Hey there" DJ waved friendily.

"Hello" The stranger shot back in a rushed voice.

He blinked at the man's curtness towards him, everyone in this town seemed to be some kind of nut job, or at least not the friendliest of folks. This person at least didn't want to fight and wasn't glaring at him, so he decided to see if he could get some answers.

"Hey buddy, can you tell me what's with the sword ban on this town?"

"The marines and the government of Ken Kyji decided that to prevent people from recklessly carrying swords wherever they go and spreading violence, that they must learn to use them the right way by graduating from one of the two local dojos."

"But they can carry around any other weapon? Isn't that kind of pointless?" DJ asked.

"Yes, very. The government and the marines are very crooked that way. They take bribes from people who want to coast through the schools while pretending to have the island's best interests at heart… Plus since there are few swordsmen in this town, they encounter little resistance in their dominating stranglehold over the town's citizens."

"Damn Marines… nothing but trouble and death wherever they go." DJ clenched his fists, remembering his own marine troubles back home. "What about these two dojos? Are they any different or is it just two locations? And where are they?"

"They're just across the river from each other, but they're worlds apart in their teachings." The stranger started, just barely looking at DJ under the brim of his reed hat. "The first is the Bato dojo, led by Kenichi Suskohein, an evil little man who has deals with the marines and takes a tuition from his students to let them have swords just through paying, giving the government a percentage of course. When he does actually teach people, he uses a very aggressive and destructive style that puts little value on human life. The second is called the Bladeless Dojo, because only three people have ever graduated from it, and they don't use traditional swords. There aren't as many students there, as only those to cheap or honorable to go to Bato's Dojo attend there."

"Non-traditional swords, huh?" DJ bit his thumb in thought, remembering the curly-haired man with a bokuto in the town square.

"Yes, one uses a sword with a flatter and more rectangular blade than a normal katana, the other uses a bokuto, and the last one is the dojo master, I'm not at liberty to tell you what kind of sword he uses…"

"Ah, so Mr. Gin Tama is one of the graduates from the Bladeless Dojo after all…" The boy muttered to himself.

The man in the hat laughed softly and nodded. "Yes, he makes himself sort of like a vigilante protector of the town out of courtesy for the dojo master training him to be able to use a sword. He has a way of making himself known to newcomers, especially those who are carrying swords against the law like yourself."

"Uh… yeah, I was just on my way out, don't worry I won't cause any trouble." DJ looked up to the counter to see if his drink and food were coming yet. "Speaking of which, I don't even know your name yet stranger, I'm DJ Macleod, who're you?"

The man paused for a second, lifting his reed hat all the way up and off his head to reveal he had a serious looking face and a tight topknot on the top of his head with just a bit of stubble in between his eyebrows. "They call me Jack… but you may call me… Jack."

"Nice to meet you Jack-san, thanks for all the info." He watched as an attractive woman with dark red hair brought his food. "Hey Jack, this one of your samurai buddies from out of town?" She said with a small smirk and a nod.

"No" Jack took a small sip from the teacup in front of him while barely looking at the woman. "We just met a few minutes ago and…" Jack stopped mid-sentence as DJ downed the drink and food that the waitress had brought just moments before, finishing them off in seconds.

The waitress also blinked. "Wow, he's fast…"

"Indeed." Jack nodded.

The waitress extended her hand. "I'm Karen, let me know if you need anything else."

DJ smiled, already pink-faced from the small drink he'd had. "I'm DJ," He slurred, shakily shaking her hand.

"He's drunk after that little bit?" Karen watched him, brow raised.

"Judging by the speed at which he ate, I'd say he has a low tolerance to alcohol and something speeding up his metabolism, bad combination…" Jack took another sip.

"Tanks for the food gthuys." DJ slurred again and wobbled to his feet, taking a few steps forward. "I better geth out of here…" He took another step, falling flat on his face and into someone else's table, breaking it in half.

"Oh my, hope he has enough money to pay for that…" Karen put her hand to her mouth in shock.

"I think that's the least of his problems at this point…" Jack pointed to the person sitting at the table that DJ just broke.

Sitting there was a very irritated-looking Gin Tama, who was looking back and forth between the collapsed DJ and his own food, an ice cream sundae which was now splattered all over the floor.

"Oh no, he's interrupted Gin-sama's sweets time…" Karen sighed hopelessly.

DJ stood up shakily, only to be thrown across the floor, almost out the door by the bokuto-wielding, white haired man. He quickly sobered up and stood up, shaking his head, still woozy from the drink.

"You son of a bitch, not only did you not get out when I told you to, because of you, my yummy chocolate sundae… WAS SPILLED ON THE FLOOR!!" He roared, smacking the musician-swordsman across the face and into a wall with his wooden sword. "The doctors say my blood sugar's too high, so I only get one chocolate sundae a week, one! And you ruined it!" Gin clutched his bokuto in a rage.

"Shouldn't we stop him?" Karen looked worriedly to the young man who had just been flung through a wall.

"It isn't wise to get in Gin-sempai's way when he hasn't had any sugar…" Jack continued sipping his drink nonchalantly.

DJ pulled his head out of the wall, blood running down the side of his face from the blunt force of the wooden sword. "Ow, and I thought I already had a killer headache from the hangover…"

"Hmm, you're still conscious, that's something kid, but you won't be for long! Sugar Rush-" Gin started, but this time the speedy swordsman was ready for him, dashing out of the way of his attack and in the blink of an eye was on top of a table behind Gin, amazing all the bar patrons who were watching the fight.

"Hmm, we were right, he is fast…" Jack observed, keeping his eyes on the newcomer.

"What the…?" Gin growled and turned around. "Bastard! Quit pussy-footing around and fight like a man!" The goggles-wearing man showed of his own impressive speed and appeared next to the table DJ was on, swinging and smashing it to bits.

As fast as he was, DJ was faster and jumped off the table, landing as nimbly as a cat back onto the floor. "You're fast, but you're nothing compared to me, you might as well be in slow-motion." He grinned confidently before staring at the table. 'He broke wood… with wood! That's really something; he's a bit faster than normal and strong as hell… I've got a good fight on my hands…' He stared at the bokuto, amazed that it could break something of equal or greater toughness than itself.

Gin smirked. "Impressed? Real swordsmen can break things harder than their swords, and some can even cut steel and harder objects, so using my bokuto, I can smash things that are harder than the wood itself!" He smashed the sword into the cement wall, leaving a decent sized crack in it.

"Oh shit…" DJ mumbled to himself.

"You better pay for that!" Karen shouted.

While DJ was still in awe about the wall, Gin took the opportunity to rush him and get within a few feet of him. "Keep your eyes on the fight boy!" Jack's voice called out to him.

"Sugar Rush… SLAMMER!" Gin swung his bokuto like a bat, hitting DJ square in the side of his head and sending him flying into the side of the bar, breaking even more of it much to Karen's anger.

DJ groaned, feeling more blood run over his eyes and head. "I think you overdid it Gin-semapi…" Jack sighed, shaking his head as he, Karen, and Gin all looked down on him before everything went black.

--

Well there's that, a new start to one of DJ's solo adventures! As you can see he made a few rookie mistakes here, so this is before a lot of his more formal training. So needless to say he fights a lot better in the CotA saga, plus he's not hung over in there XD PS: Gin Tama is based on Gin Sakata, from the anime Gintama, while Jack is based on Jack from the American anime, Samurai Jack, they are technically not mine because of this but I may have more of them later one in later fics. On to the preview!

Karen: Well after that thrashing Gin gave you, we figured this is the least we could do…

Gin: Hmph, whatever…

??: Would you like to be a student here as well? I could teach you much and make you much stronger…

DJ: …Aren't there supposed to be Seven Samurai?

Meet the Samurai

??: Welcome to the Bladeless Dojo, DJ Macleod