The Foolish Grappler

by Cryptographers

I was so Foolish and Weak back then, I was a complete failure. Yet, for some reason, I was given a chance to prove to the gods and fate that she wasn't wrong. So here I am, isekai'd to the world of one piece, and boy, is it different to what I thought. However, a wise man once told me that even a fool, if he persists in his folly, he could become wise. Oc gamer, Parallel-Cannon.

17. In the tapestry of dreams

The foolish grappler chapter 17 part 1

AN: What's this? an update I thought this surely was abandoned. If you thought that you would be wrong as I have been trying my best to continue this story. At the beginning this has always been a way for me to finally put the ideas that have been running in my head into a story so others could enjoy. Yet over the course of doing this I now see how much I underestimated the difficulty of writing and have found a whole load of respect for all the authors whose works I have read. This year has been tough to write both with my university increasing my workload and admittedly other things such as new games coming out and such that my friends wanted me to play taking up the little free time, I could get this started as a way to fill in time when I had nothing else to do and hence sadly has been on the bottom of my priorities. This is not likely to change anytime soon as I will be starting to work soon and that clearly takes precedence over this.

Furthermore, I have had a really bad case of writes block where despite having a great Idea of what I wanted to happen I keep on running into a figurative brick wall that killed my enthusiasm to write. The only reason I was able to get this out now was by forcing myself to sit and type this out. That worked but poorly such that the first draft state was a real pain to edit such that If I wanted to make the self-imposed deadline before the end of the year, I had to cut the chapter in half to make it more manageable.

If that was bad, then don't get me started with my pacing already we hit the 100k word mark at chapter 17 yet I would say its barely past the beginning arc similar to luffy just meeting Zoro which goes to show how my pacing is shit. Hell at this rate we will get to chapter 30 as we finish the first arc. Regardless, that doesn't change that I am going to try my best to finish.

This means that going forward you shouldn't be looking for regular updates the way I am going I may be able to get two more full sized chapters plus the other half of this one by the end of February If I am lucky and that is saying something. For the ones who actually enjoy reading my story I am both sorry and grateful that what I write is enjoyable to you despite the horrible grammar, spelling, and more.

Thank you, have a happy new year.

From Lolzman

After waiting in this damn line for what felt like ages (ten minutes), we finally got through the checkpoint between the main city and the high-end district. It was clear how they wanted to ensure that none of the riff-raff got in. Much to Adorno's relief, Marie had a pass to get into the higher-end district. It was clear that she was more prepared than Adorno gave her credit, though he did wonder where she got that from. 'it's unlikely she obtained it just because she's the chieftain's daughter, right?' Though Adorno to himself.

"So where to now? This isn't exactly what I thought you meant when you said we were just coming here to pick up some herbs? I think this area is normally above your allowance," Adorno questioned as he looked around him at the attention they were receiving, given how out of place they were. He doubted his casual shorts, loose shirt, and sandals helped him blend with the high-class fashion that everyone was wearing. Granted, at least Marie blended in slightly better than me.

"Well, the herbs I am looking for are quite rare because they are only found in the South Blue and barely grow outside the South Blue for some reason. That's part of why I am eager to get it to see if it can improve my formula. Anyway, enough standing around the place is not far from here." Before she even finished, she was already tugging Adorno in the supposed direction of the auction. Thankfully for Adorno, their destination was only a few blocks from the gate they had entered. So off they went, Marie leading the way with Adorno lagging along, hoping everything would be OK. They just had to get to this supposed store. Then, they could spend the rest of the time enjoying the festivity before Adorno was against staying here any longer; he was coming around to it.

However, when they turned the final corner, Adorno became shadowed by a large imposing building, with the front of the building being adorned with intricate stonework and ornate carvings on towering columns that really sold an air of elegance and prestige. But its impressive architecture wasn't what drew Adorno's eye. The massive banner across the front read 'Heros Festival Auction', which told Adorno this wasn't just a herb shop.

"Wait, the herbs are in the auction?" Adorno questioned Maire, who looked joyful at my confusion about this as she nodded exactly, barely able to hold her laughter.

"How are we going to afford it?"

"Don't work, Addy. I got it all sorted out, "See stated as she quickly grabbed his hand again and dragged him to the side of the building, not bothering to answer any more questions about how she could afford something in this auction. However, instead of going to the end of the line in front of the auction house, she dragged Adorno further around to the side, which was just as well-decorated as the front, with another entrance with a VIP sign above the door being guarded by two tough-looking men in black suits. This entryway clearly didn't have as many people coming through as there were currently only two people ahead of them making their way to the door.

"Ummm, why are we going this way? I am pretty sure the line is over there, and that clearly says VIPs." Adorno queries, again looking to Marie for any kind of answer.

"Oh, did I forget to mention these two tickets aren't just normal tickets but Golden VIP class? My bad," She said in the most unbelievable tone that was further betrayed by the Cheshire cat grin on her face. My frustrated reply to demand her come clear on what was really going on, they heard frustrated yelling, which drew their attention towards the entryway of the VIP entrance.

"What do you mean my tickets are invalid? I am a lifelong Howling Wolf auction house society member, which gives me access to VIP suits for every auction. You have no right to stop my entry. As you know, I am in quite close relations with the head of the auction house society. All it would take is one word, and you are fired," Shouted a noble who, despite his well-tailored suit with golden embroidery, lacked any kind of threatening presence given how he had a weak stature that looked like it never worked a day in his life which time hadn't done any favours.

"I am sorry, sir, but every room has already been pre-booked by the head of the auction house. You, of course, still have your priory entry through the main door." Stated the guard in a monotone voice as if this was the hundredth time he had to explain this, which could be a possibility.

Sadly that only sparked further rebuttal from the noble as he continued to shout, causing spit to fly from his blabbering mouth to the guard who just stood still. He clearly has nerves of steel to be able to withstand this. While this was happening, a woman who was likely his guest seemed to have the least amount of interest in the current argument. Adorno could only guess that the Nobel was trying to impress his date, given how far outside she looked from his league, though that seemed to be failing.

Oddly, the guest was the one with the more captivating aura, drawing the eye to them. Her almond-shaped emerald eyes, framed by long, dark lashes, sparkled with intelligence. She had silky obsidian locks that cascaded down her shoulders, along with a chiselled jawline and high cheekbones, which added an air of sophistication to her porcelain complexion. She was oddly tall, not outlandishly, but relatively tall for a woman. Though she was pretty lithe, it didn't take away from her curves, which were accentuated by the form-fitting crimson dress that accentuated her. Curves it took longer than Adorno would like to. Amit tried to break his focus. However, before he could, he saw her looking in his direction sight at him which accompanied a wink. However, when she looked back to see that they were still arguing, she clearly had enough and finally spoke gracefully.

"Now honey, Cleary, there has been a mistake. Does it really matter where we are in the auction? How about we just go through the front? It doesn't really matter to me. This clearly isn't your fault."" She clearly was trying to placate him., and it seemed to be working. She then led him back to the front of the building.

"Oh darling, but you deserve so much more for our first-anniversary date", Replied the noble that was trying to suck up to her, which clearly wasn't winning him any favours.

"Fine but I will have a word with their boss about this awful service." With that off, they went with the man thinking himself great while clearly being manipulated by the woman.

"Are you sure we are still able to get in?" Adorno quietly whispers to Marie, to which she simply replies that it wouldn't hurt to try. Adorno and Marie finally made it to the guards, where she held out the two tickets. After a second look, they opened the door

"Welcome to Howling Wolf auction house for the Heros festival auction. Please follow the signs to your room on the ticket." Neither acted like they heard when the man reacted negatively to them getting in so quickly.

When Adorno stepped through the door, it was as if he entered a whole different world. The walls were covered in stone carvings intermixed with artworks. While Adorno didn't really know enough to appease any of this, he could tell this seemed way wealthier than he expected to be on this island. While Adorno was distracted, Marie grabbed his arm and began leading them following the signs. Adorno only came around when they came to the stairs to the second floor. After getting to the top and walking down the curved hallway, the doors to each VIP room were on the right side.

Their room was just past the curve's apex on the side further from the stairs, which only seemed to be on one side as the other was for staff only, for easy access for room service or something. Right then, Adorno heard the door opening to a room with two chairs with a table on each other side, each with a bucket of ice and a bottle of wine. The lighting was darker than the hallway and the auction hall, where they had a clear, commanding view of the stage.

"Oh, this is so cool, don't you think so, Addy? We get to feel like nobles for a day", said Marie as she dived onto the right chair, claiming it as hers.

"I mean, this is interesting. I guess not exactly what I would call fun", Adorno replied.

"Yeah, but all you do is train and train, so your opinion doesn't count."

"But you just asked what I thought?" Which caused her to roll her eyes.

"Anyway, what will be going to be auctioned? Sure, we are just here for the *herb* but I am interested in what kind of stuff is auctioned off."

"I don't know, maybe some artwork; some treasure could be anything as long as its value is high." From there, they continued to talk, which caused Adorno to relax and enjoy talking to Marie gradually. At the same time, they waited for the auction to start.

It didn't take too long before their discussion was interrupted by the speaker system crackling as it was turned on while at the same time, the lights everywhere darkened but for the stage except for a spotlight illumining a single man in a bright green striped suit with oversized sunglasses on that take up a fourth of his face along with his massive afro about a meter wide.

"WELLLLLCOME TO THE 289th GREAT HERO FESTVIAL AUCTION!" Loud clapping could be heard among the attendees.

"I am sure tonight will be a night to remember as this year's auction is bigger than ever with quite a range of items for sale along with a big surprise at the end; well, sit tight and let's get the auction going. YAH!" Although his enthusiasm clearly wasn't fully felt by the assurance, only one individual cheered with him.

The auction had been going smoothly with countless valuable items up for grabs: rare swords and priceless art, none that piqued Adorno's interest. Sure, the swords were cool given what observation could show, but it also revealed that he couldn't just pick up any high-ranked sword and use it without training in swordsmanship; otherwise, he is likely to do more harm to himself than he otherwise would. Regardless everything was going fine but of course that's when everything went to hell, and it all started with the blaring alarm.

*RING RING RING RING RING* (fire alarm)

That preceded the shutters slamming down on the balcony, shutting them out from the rest of the auction hall. This alone could be routine safety procedures; however, that didn't settle the bottomless pit in Adorno's stomach, filled with uneasiness every second. This wasn't helped by the door audibly locking as the shutters locked, seemingly trapping them in the room.

Looking at Marie only caused the pit to deepen further as she seemed to be on the edge of a panic attack, likely not dealing well with the past trauma of the first attempt to kidnap her. She seemed to be experiencing a whirlpool of emotions of fear, self-loathing, and hopelessness, to name a few. Clearly, Adorno had to do something, too, but he clearly was the last person someone should go to for help in these cases. This wasn't a time when a simple don't worry about it would do anything other than make things worse. She had all the right to fear because he was feeling the same. What was meant to be a fun day of a break from training really has transformed into something that makes Sensei's most challenging days seem fun and easy going. Thankfully, before Adorno could lose too much time reflecting on how he would stop complaining to Sensei, the COM spoke.

"THERE IS A FIRE. PLEASE ORDERLY FOLLOW THE EXIT PLANS TO OUTSIDE."

Seeing he needed to act, he quickly tried to remove any worry from his face, reached over to Marie, and said, "Cleary, we are in a bit of trouble, but we will get back home. OK, all you have to do is follow my instructions, and we will get back home. Have a bit of faith, huh?" Adorno finished with a smirk with all the fake bravado he wished he had. Thankfully, it worked as her worry seemed to ease.

"Yeah, sure, Addy, I believe in you, though not looking forward to explaining this to Dad," She finally replied, seemingly to have regained her spirit. Though it's likely that she hasn't completely lost her fear, she is just willing to push through it, which shows his inner strength, something Adorno wishes he had. But he couldn't waste time with such thoughts. He had to focus on the situation.

"First thing we should do is focus on a way of getting out of this damn room" With that said, he got up and checked the door, which was indeed locked. The handle wouldn't budge, and after giving it a shove, it showed it clearly wasn't a normal wooden door. With the most straightforward option gone, they checked for other possibilities, but sadly, they didn't go anywhere. Adorno helped Marie reach the air vents, but they were fused into the wall and unable to be opened without tearing some of the walls with them. The shutter also seemed to be even harder to open than the door, and there wasn't anything he could use to pry the door open. Marie came up with the idea that even if this was on purpose, it could still be the standard fire alarm, and hence, there could be a failsafe to unlock the room from the inside. This led to them nearly ripping apart the room to find it, but there wasn't one.

'Damn it, how the hell can we get the hell out of here' Though Adorno as he leaned against the door, frustrated, they couldn't find a way out. That was until he heard something through the door. When he listened closer, he discovered that he could make out the sounds of screaming and shouting, so much so that he wondered how he couldn't hear it before. Still, regardless, he could make out that someone or some people were coming closer to their door. Quickly coming up with what resembled a plan, he told Marie to return to her seat and act oblivious. At the same time, he looked around for something to use as a weapon and found a large vase that seemed expensive, so he grabbed it and moved it to the corner that would be blocked by the door. When it opened, he didn't care how much it cost. If anything, the more, the better served them right for doing this.

Every second, the expanse was getting greater and greater as they heard the voices of what seemed like at least three men.

"Oi, this is our one right, Bob. You haven't gotten the wrong one again, have you?" questioned one of them.

"Oh, shut up, Jim, ya bastard. How was I meant to know we each were assigned a room the fuck does it matter? We knock them out and take them to the space." Replied the one named Bob; however, before Jimmy could snap back, the sound of two smacks was heard as the third voice spoke.

"Shut up, both of you numbskulls. They now know we are coming. Just open the damn door. Our target is a teenage girl. Surely, you idiots can't mess this one up."

"Urgh, don't have to be an ass about it, Ken" With that said, the sound of a key could be heard entering the lock and turning with a click. Then, I noticed my heart beating louder and louder in my ears. My hands, which were jittery because of anxiety, became stone. Still, my body first tensed up and then relaxed just as Sensei taught or hammered into my body. My eyes were locked on the door as it seemingly took minutes for it to open and for the first man to enter my vision. They looked familiar, not that he had seen these men before, but they clearly belonged to the same ones that attacked the village, which shouldn't be that surprising.

They clearly seemed to be saying something, but I couldn't hear it over the beat of my heart as I waited for the third man to enter my view, and that's when the whole hell let loose.

Given how quickly this happened, I didn't have much of a plan to deal with them, though I don't think I was in a state of mind to follow an extensive plan. It was only in the future I would learn how to manage this state that I could fall into, but that wasn't now, thankfully; it wouldn't be that much of an issue right now as just unadulterated violence was more than enough to get me through this.

The first mook went down after the vase crashed into his head, causing the likely priceless piece of artwork to crack thousands of shards after it was thrown by me right before I slammed into the door right into the third man's head, launching him down to the ground. This quickly left the man in the middle, who was turning my way in surprise. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't reacting fast enough, likely not expecting much resistance as I redirected myself from the door to where I was within reach, with my right foot providing a solid foundation and my left foot providing the drive through my body as I threw a textbook right to his cheek causing him to hit the floor the second after. Within three seconds, I knocked down 3 fully grown men. Granted, it was with the element of surprise and ambushing them, but that still was an achievement my old self could never pull off. However, I didn't realise that until much later.

"Marie, we got to go now. Follow me." As I heard the chair, I stepped over the knocked-out or groaning men to look out into the hallway. Marie all but sprung out of it and rushed to my side as she avoided stepping on the bodies.

Looking down both ways, I saw it was clear for the moment. I grabbed Maire's hand and rushed to the right. I didn't trust the usual way down. It could be guarded, so staff access was the better option. That's where we went as I pulled Marie to rush towards the staff access. Passing other VIP doors from which sounds of violence came while I wished I could help them, there was no use in getting everyone killed. I was better off focusing on how Marie and I could return home.

Thankfully, the door was unlocked, leading to a simple staircase, and we quickly descended to the floor below. Unfortunately, my bad luck hadn't yet ended, as when I opened the door, I was met with a hallway with ten mooks lounging about, clearly bored from not being a part of the ones that went up. Furthermore, I didn't open the door carefully, not expecting it to matter. Sadly, it drew everyone's eyes to me. My first instinct was to close the door and run back up, but that clearly wasn't an option; the only way for us to make it out would be through these bunch of Laya bouts.

"Uh, Hi guys, how ya going? We were just passing through. You wouldn't mind us, would you?"

"Hey, anit that girl one of the targets." One of the mooks, who was quite board-chested and, well, seems, only the largest threat, spoke to the one beside him who was bringing out a rolled paper.

"Let me see it.. ah yah, she is pretty high up too," replied the mook who was hunched over and checking over the paper.

"Well, ain't it our lucky day, boys? We didn't even have to go to them. They came to us. HAHAHA!" cheered the first mook, causing them all to break out in joy and laughter, believing they already had good as captured Marie. It was up to me to show how wrong they were, as I wasn't going down without a fight. Luckily, they were getting into a disagreement with the splits of the rewards.

Quickly realising that this wouldn't be pretty, I looked to Marie, who was scared stiff just as they were at seeing each other.

"Marie, go back into the stairwell, close the door, and lock it. Don't let anyone in other than me. Yeah, got that."

"No, I am not leaving you alone- Do it, Marie. The only chance I have to beat them is not having to worry about where you are and if you are being attacked. Please do this once." She started to disagree, but I quickly interrupted, pleading that she follow my instructions. Seemingly, after some internal debate, she weakly nodded and went to close and lock the door, which was audibly locked. That broke the augments the mooks were having.

"If I asked nicely, you wouldn't let us pass, would you?"

"we will if yah hand over the girl, and we will let ya go, boy. There's no use fighting us, so save yourself the pain. There's no shame in knowing when to quit."

"Interesting you say that not long ago, I would likely unabashedly take you up on that offer. That's how much of a scumbag I was, but sadly for all of us, that ain't me anymore, so if you want to take her. You got to go through me." With that, I entered one of my fighting stances that prioritised defence and counter-attacking over mobility and offence.

All I revived was laughter, supposedly at a boy who overthought himself, and they were more than happy to fix that. "I see. Well, you can't say I didn't give you the option. Now, let's get this started.

The thing about fighting in hallways or any confined area is that it's linear, so you can either go forward or backward. This disadvantages fighters who favour mobility as they often lead to challenging, close combat that is brutal and highly violent as people are cramped and unable to dodge, leading to both sides fighting to the last man standing. Thankfully, there are some upsides, such as stopping large groups from attacking all at the same time, which is likely the only reason I will survive this fight. All of this went through my head as they began to charge. The first man had his sword raised as he would be the first to arrive.

Thankfully, he didn't have good structure as a simple extended hand to his wrist prevented him from chopping down, quickly followed by a few punches to the face. He was already tipping over backwards as the second one was about to reach me as he was thrusting his large knife at me. I ducked to the left and returned with a reverse elbow to the back of his head as his momentum carried him past me.

By then, the rest realised that this wouldn't be as easy as they thought, given the two grown men growing on the floor.

"I see boy you know at least how to fight but that ain't going to do you much we still out number you-" "Yeah yeah can you quite your yapping and start more fighting I rather be home for dinner", That caused a quick silence before they broke out in rageful screams as they all charged.

The next one that reached me wasn't any better than the ones before him, clearly having no formal training, allowing even me to read and slip his punches that gave me an opening to throw an elbow to his face and push him into the wall. This gave me the stability to throw a simple combination of three kicks to the next one, aiming for his knee, stomach, and head in that order. Things were going great so far, so that clearly should have told me that shit was about to get worst after the last kick; I felt an impact on my core as someone tackled me to the ground as they mounted me. They started raining blow after blow where I was barely able to put up a guard against their raining blows.

- Flashback -

The day had started quite nicely. The sun was complete in a crystal blue sky, accompanied only by beautiful birds as they flocked around. The forest was calm and peaceful, with small animals coming and looking for food and or drinking from the stream. Sadly, I couldn't experience any of it as right now I was doing all I could to deflect or block as many of Sensei's hands, which, despite looking like they belonged to an 80-year-old, felt like bullwhips if Sensei wanted to, and right now they did.

From what I could understand, this training exercise was meant to teach me how to deal with overwhelming attacks and having to privatise which ones I could block and which I could take. Sensei purposely chose to telegraph which attack was which, though that did little to help given how many he was throwing at me. It felt like he had more than two arms.

'Left, right, right. Ah fuck, wrong one. How long do I have? Surely 15 mins are nearly up, right?' Adorno thought to himself as he desperately tried to withstand the onslaught. Unluckily for him, he had neglected to watch where he was stepping and tripped as he backed up. Looking down at the unstable bit of earth that he stepped on, he could only curse his own negligence, but that was the least of his current problems, as before he could look up in the slit second he looked away, Sensei had seized the moment, and before Adorno could realise what had happened, he was on the ground with Sensei on top of him raining blows.

Sometime later

"Urgh, I didn't know my face could get this swollen. Thankfully, I don't have a mirror to see how bad it really is, " said Adorno as he rested on a tree log, wiping his face with a wet cloth.

"Ha you likely look as you feel boy haha that will teach yah to look away from your opponent in the middle of battle." (Adorno)

"Fair, sensei, but did you really have to stop throwing dummy attacks?"

"Oh, and you would prefer it if I only lightly tapped you because your opponent will do that once they have you in such a vulnerable position. Hum?"

*sigh* "I understand that your right sensei, but don't you think that was a bit excessive?"

"I see. Well, how about you tell me what the exercise's purpose was if that was indeed excessive?"

"Um on how to deal with an onslaught of attacks and prioritize which to block?"

"and is that all?" Sensei asked as he raised his brow, giving that look that I didn't have the complete picture yet. Which, of course, got me to reflect on the last 15 mins of pain. 'What is he trying to get me to learn?'

"How to deal with getting hit?"

"Ha ha ha, I suppose that's an unintended benefit. Haven't we done exercises that teach that lesson more effectively?" That was fair; that wasn't really one he was trying to teach, so I had to look back at what happened, and then one moment stuck out.

"I finally got it; the lesson was to keep watch of my surroundings during a fight."

"Nope, though that's not that you wouldn't do well to improve on that skill. You most definitely would. You were close to it in your original answer but veered off on tangents relating to your mistakes. It is understandable that sometimes we just get stuck on what we do wrong, and it blinds us to the right answer. Do you remember the question I asked before the exercise, or did I knock that memory out of your head?"

"Um, what was the best defence…. Oh, damn it" It quickly came to me what it really was, but before I could speak, Sensei spoke.

"And you replied with 'not being hit', which is a fair answer. What is the point of a guard or being able to dodge if 'not being hit'? However, this answer is much easier said than done. As simple as those three words are, there is an unimaginable depth to them of all the ways one can go about 'not being hit'. You took a defensive approach, which may be the right one sometimes, but it didn't serve you well then.

- Flashback end -

Then, another punch woke me up from my memories regardless of. It gave me the idea to get out from under this bastard. Thankfully, they clearly didn't get training as I was about to thrust with my pelvis up, setting their rhythm, allowing me to throw a few punches back that got them to fall off me. I quickly got up before they could do anything to me.

Now it's time to go on the offensive. As I charged towards the remainder of the mooks, I surprised them that I would run at them and be the aggressor, believing I would stick to my defensive guard. Well, indeed, sometimes the best defence is an excellent offence. It took me much less time to figure out that particular lesson sensei was teaching me with that exercise.

The next few minutes were a blur of fists and elbows connecting with heads, with feet slamming into guts and knees. It was a mash pot of all I had learnt from Sensei, finally paying dividends. Lastly, I took out the last guy with a spinning back deli, wearing a nice knockout. Then, with that, the only sounds in the hallway were my panting and the pained groans from the mooks at my feet who were still awake but thankfully knew better than to get up if they could.

I looked over to the door to see Marie had already opened the door. Clearly, she had been watching me fight, given the pained expression on her face.

"Come on, we got to keep moving. These guys are not the last of them", I managed to say, getting her to hurry across the hallway, making sure not to step on any of the people in the way.

"What's wrong?" I ask as she finally reaches me regarding her pained expression.

"what's wrong? YOU IDIOT YOU TOOK ALL OF THEM BY YOURSELF. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING."

"Uh, that I really needed to get through, and they weren't kind enough to let us past; ouch", I reply, ending with a pained ouch, given she just slapped my cheek.

"This isn't the time for jokes either. Is it the time for stupid bravado? We could have made it up the stairs. It would likely be better than facing them…. *sigh* you're insufferable, you know?"

"Well, I do try anyway. We really should be getting going, but I still have no clue where an exit is in this place. Surely, it can't be that hard to find." Then, off we went through the halls, not knowing what to come up against next.