I do not own any ideas taken from One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball, HunterXHunter, Yu Yu Hakusho or Rustage's One Piece D&D. Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto, Tite Kubo, Akira Toriyama, Yoshihiro Togashi, and Rustage are the brilliant minds behind those stories. I'm simply using them to set the stage for my account! It's all for fun, so please enjoy!
Chapter 2: Enter! Vagabond Mugen
Nasty weather preluding a storm forced Bulma to steer the Flying Nimbus south and east to avoid it. They zipped through the sky away from the battery and Bulma spotted a nearby island. Asuka looked over the island as they approached, and he pointed out corpses strewn around the shore. They dropped down onto the beach and hopped off of the nimbus. Both stretched and popped their backs before investigating the coast. The bodies on the beach were men and women dressed in ratty clothes with weapons gripped in their hands, fresh cuts and slashes covering them.
"This looks- well, terrible," Bulma spoke grimly as she looked away from the corpses.
"Yeah, no kidding," Asuka said as he looked around at tracks in the sand and dirt. Asuka felt something weird and turned toward the edge of the nearby forest.
"Look." Bulma pointed at a trail of bodies leading into the tree line. Asuka and Bulma looked at each other and began strolling toward the woods with the Flying Nimbus behind them.
"There's something strange in the woods," Asuka stated as they passed fresh corpses into the tall green trees.
"What do you mean?" Bulma asked.
Asuka shrugged, "There's a strong person in there." He pointed forward and chuckled.
"A strong person..?" Bulma raised an eyebrow and surveyed the surrounding area as they walked. Shouts and gunshots filled the air, and Asuka ran toward the noise. Bulma waved for the nimbus to follow them as she hurried after Asuka.
More corpses littered the ground as the duo rushed between trees and toward an echoing sound of combat. Asuka burst through a bush to see a swordsman wearing a red jacket, his scabbard hanging across his back. He had pale white skin and a messy black afro that blew wildly in the breeze. He clutched his sword in his right hand as he zipped between bullets and cut down two bandits.
Bulma came to a stop beside Asuka, and the bandits noticed them. Bullets ripped through the bushes, and the two of them leaped into action! Bulma pulled a dark blue baton from her belt, and with a wave of it, a powerful gust of wind erupted outward and blasted three bandits back. Asuka hurled his left arm, struck a bandit in the head with a Chop-Chop Rocket, and kicked another in the chest.
The remaining bandits, blindsided by the new arrivals, fled as the swordsman continued viciously slaying the others. The swordsman turned on his heels and stared at the duo, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly as warm blood dripped from the blade.
"Yo." Asuka waved slowly and smiled widely.
"Who the hell are you two?" The swordsman asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm Senju D. Asuka. This is Bulma." Asuka pointed a thumb at her.
"What do you want?" The swordsman asked as he eyed the duo carefully.
"I sensed somebody strong in the woods and wanted to fight them." Asuka chuckled, "Well, I guess I wanted to meet them at least."
"Uh-huh." Mugen nodded slowly, "What's up with that cloud thing?"
"That's my Flying Nimbus," Bulma explained. "It's a sentient cloud that my father found, and he gave it to me after he ran some tests on it."
"Uh-huh." The swordsman cleaned his blade off on the shirt of a dead bandit and cracked his neck, "I'm gonna get going."
"Wait, hold on. What's your name?" Asuka asked.
"Mugen."
"Why were those bandits attacking you?" Bulma wondered out loud.
"I was attacking them." Mugen grinned.
"Ah..." Bulma glanced at Asuka.
"So, are you looking for work?" Asuka asked with a devilish smile. Bulma and Mugen shot Asuka a bewildered look. "Why don't you come with us?" He finally asked.
"Why should I?" Mugen scoffed.
"We're on an adventure, and I need a crew to help me sail the seas!" Asuka pointed his finger at Mugen, "Join my crew."
"Crew?" Bulma and Mugen asked in unison.
"Okay, how about this? One swing of your sword, if I survive, you join us, and you can go on your way if I die." Asuka had just finished his sentence when Mugen skipped passed him and sliced through Asuka's chest. Mugen twirled his sword around and sheathed it slowly. "So, it's settled then," Asuka spoke. Mugen spun around and saw Asuka standing there intact with a smile.
"What the hell?" Mugen stared in shock.
"I can't be cut," Asuka explained with a chuckle.
"I thought so when you launched your arm earlier, you ate a Devil Fruit!" Bulma exclaimed.
Mugen scratched his head, "You damn cheater, you got me good."
Asuka laughed and grinned, "So cool! I have a wizard and a swordsman in my crew!"
"Wizard?" Mugen looked Bulma up and down before turning back to Asuka, "What are you- I guess it's 'we' now... What are we, pirates?" Mugen asked.
"I'm not sure yet." Asuka chuckled, "I didn't expect to meet crew members so fast."
Mugen groaned slightly, "Listen, I've gotta take down the boss." He pointed further into the forest, "He's a menace, and I'd like to cut him down."
Asuka looked at Bulma and then back at Mugen, "Lead the way."
Mugen led them through bushes and between trees as they trekked through the woods. The smell of smoke and a cacophony of shouts began to fill the air as they approached a large bandit camp. The trio stood at a distance and watched the base, staying out of sight.
"What's up with these guys?" Bulma asked quietly.
"Typical bandits. The leader is a savage bastard who keeps outrunning the town guards." Mugen sighed, "I should've taken Twinblade down long ago."
"Did you used to run with their gang?" Asuka asked.
Mugen shrugged, "I've helped them rob some ships and such. But only because that fuckhead King threw me out of town." He rolled his eyes.
"Sounds dramatic." Bulma smiled awkwardly.
"Well, whatever is going on, we'll kick these guys' asses." Asuka grinned.
"They'll know I'm coming," Mugen stated as he pulled his sword.
Asuka popped his knuckles and walked in unison with Mugen, striding toward the camp. Bulma walked with them, trailing behind away from danger. Two bandits on the wall spotted the three of them and sounded the alarm! Poorly made wooden walls ringed the camp, and a single gate stood on the western wall. Six bandits rushed from the gate at them, swords in hand.
Mugen clashed blades with a bandit and quickly cut him down, engaging another immediately. Asuka let swords slice through him, and he beat the bandits down with heavy punches. Bandits on the wall opened fire on them with rifles and pistols, bullets striking the ground and trees around them. Bulma skipped onto the Flying Nimbus, zoomed up to the top of the wall, and blasted the bandits down with a gust of wind.
The two boys beat down the bandits outside and rushed through the gate as Bulma hovered in the air on the nimbus. Only a handful of bandits were within the walls, and the trio continued attacking the camp. Asuka launched Chop-Chop Rockets and struck down bandits as Mugen sliced his way through the others. Mugen slashed a bandit in the chest and kicked him down, pointing his blade against the man's throat.
"Where's Twinblade?" Mugen asked coolly.
"He went t-to town. Qanton!" He spat out fast.
"He's going through with it?" Mugen gritted his teeth and cut the top of the man's head off with a clean swing, his brain plopping out as his head hit the ground.
"What's going on?" Bulma called down to them.
"We need to get to Qanton City now!" Mugen shouted up to her.
"Qanton? Are we in Qarlaq Kingdom?" Bulma asked with a strange look on her face.
"What's going on?" Asuka asked Mugen.
"Twinblade has been talking about attacking the city and kidnapping the royal family. He wants to ransom them and will kill them if he has to!" Mugen took off running, determined to stop the bandits.
Bulma dropped down on the nimbus, and Asuka hopped on the back of it, "Follow him." They flew after Mugen, twisting between the trees and over bushes.
The trio moved forward quickly for nearly twenty minutes before they burst from the trees and came to a clearing, a long, lush field with a great lake in the middle. Across the area stood a tall stone wall, the outskirts of Qanton City.
"Listen, I owe the princess my life. I need to protect her!" Mugen shouted to them.
Asuka jumped off the back of the nimbus, "Get on, and you two speed to the city. I'll catch up."
Mugen nodded and leaped onto the nimbus, "Thank you." Bulma flew quickly for the city as fast as the cloud could take them.
As Bulma and Mugen zoomed closer to the gate, they saw bandits and guards fighting outside. The gates were broken open, and the siege had already begun. They flew over the wall, and the streets were full of bodies and spreading fires. Bulma sped toward the castle and came to find guards and bandits clashing in clusters all over the city.
"Oh, my god..." Bulma gasped.
"Twinblade has gathered every thug from the badlands of Qarlaq." Mugen gritted his teeth.
They approached the castle and dropped to the battle that had consumed the upper terrace. Mugen skipped off the nimbus and began cutting through bandits with ferocious swings of his sword. Bulma blasted an intense gust of wind that rocked the bandits, knocking them down hard as the guards were sent stumbling around.
Bulma jumped off the nimbus and waved at the guards, "Sorry!"
Mugen dashed onward and entered the castle, Bulma following close behind as she shouted at the Flying Nimbus to return for Asuka.
Asuka charged through the broken gate, stepping over fallen bandits and guards as he quickly made his way up the stone steps toward the marketplace. As he reached the top of the stairs, two bandits fired pistols at him and missed badly. He charged forward and hurled both arms, swiftly striking the two bandits down. He yanked his arms back to himself and set across the burning marketplace as people frantically moved to fight the flames. He continued toward the castle and spotted the Flying Nimbus in the sky.
Mugen cut down three bandits as Bulma blasted others back with her Climate Baton. The duo crushed through more bandits as they made their way to the castle's main hall. The King and his two daughters lay tied up on the floor; a tall, scar-covered man wielding two swords stood over them, laughing. Guards and bandits fought viciously around them as the large man grinned down at his hostages.
Twinblade looked up at Mugen and flashed a wicked smile at him. "Come to swear fealty to the new King?"
Mugen didn't say a word, he skipped at Twinblade, and they clashed their blades in a wild flurry of combat. Twinblade slashed his twin blades at Mugen; he dipped away from them and swung his sword upward at him. Twinblade collided his right-hand sword with Mugen's blade and slashed his chest with his left-hand sword.
The bandits beat down the guards and turned their attention to Bulma. Seven bandits closed in on her; she blasted three back with a gust of wind and smacked another in the face with her baton. A gunshot echoed as a bullet ripped into Bulma's back, and she gasped loudly in pain and stumbled forward.
"Chop-Chop Rocket!" Asuka's fist struck down the bandit that shot Bulma as the Flying Nimbus flew into the main hall. Asuka leaped off the cloud and threw himself into the bandits around Bulma.
As Asuka beat through the bandits, Mugen and Twinblade continued their savage clash, and Mugen is kicked back hard. Twinblade slashed his stomach and kicked him in the wound. Mugen stumbled back when suddenly Asuka leaped up and grappled Twinblade, wrapping himself around him. Mugen grinned slyly, sliced straight through Asuka, and shredded through Twinblade's chest! Asuka jumped off Twinblade as he stumbled back and dropped his blades. Mugen moved to untie the royal family as Asuka rushed to Bulma's side. Twinblade grabbed his chest and coughed blood as he fell to the floor, his plans crumbling around him.
Asuka steadied Bulma as she staggered around and laid face down on the nimbus. He held his hands down on her bullet wound to stop the bleeding as he frantically looked around. The King stood and hugged his daughters as he shot a dirty look at Mugen.
"You're welcome, asshole," Mugen said to the King.
"Mugen!" Princess Rukia hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much; you saved the Kingdom!"
"Yes, thank you." Princess Karin said with a smile.
"You saved me from the seas; I saved you from that dual-wielding freak." Mugen said to Rukia and grinned.
"I guess I do owe you some gratitude." The King said reluctantly.
"Help Bulma and get us some food!" Asuka shouted at the King.
The trio stayed in the castle for three days as Bulma rested, and the boys ate and ate and ate. The citizens put out the fires that had spread across Qanton city, and significant damages were luckily avoided. Twinblade and his men were imprisoned in the castle dungeons, and repairs to the castle had already begun.
At the end of the third day, Rukia gifted the trio money for their help and saw them off when they decided to leave. Rukia and some guards walked the trio to the shore, and Bulma searched her bag for a DynoCap. She pulled one out and popped out a small speedboat in the water.
"Thank you guys again. The Kingdom owes you all greatly." Rukia shouted out to them as the three of them loaded into the boat.
"Bye, Rukia!" Bulma waved and smiled widely.
"See ya'!" Asuka grinned.
"I'll come back here." Mugen nodded to Rukia, "I can't say when, but... I'll come back for you."
Rukia's face reddened, and she looked up at the sky, "Be safe out there."
The trio finished settling into the boat and sped away from Qarlaq Kingdom, heading east and north toward the next Dragon Ball!
Back in the Qanton castle, King Remus spoke with a marine in the throne room. Captain Sterik handed him a bounty poster, and the King looked it over carefully. He frowned slightly as he stared at the girl on the paper. "Yes, this is her. I'm sure of it."
"How long ago did she leave?" Captain Sterik questioned.
The King thought, She left ten minutes ago. He cleared his throat, "She and her companions left two days ago. I believe they were heading east."
Sterik smiled, "Wonderful. Thank you for your time, Your Grace." The Captain turned around and walked quickly from the hall, his footfalls echoing around the room.
Remus looked back to the bounty poster and reread it. Nefeltari Bulma, Only Alive. 30,000,000 Beli Bounty!
To Be Continued