It has been fifty-seven years since the execution of the Second Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy, and he has left a legacy in his wake so great that some say he was more legendary than the First King, Gol D. Rogers. But like the last Pirate King, at his execution, he told the world that he had again hidden the One Piece for the world to find. Many saying it was the start of the next Age of Piracy, but then, war broke out among two families: the Monkey family and the Cobra family. After four decades of bloodshed, the war finally subsided. And nineteen years later, a member of the Cobra family set out on a quest to obtain the One Piece, his name is Cobra D. Red.
Chapter 5: The First Roadblock Appears! Monaku of the Swift Blades!
West Blue, The Island of Doeter:
As the three men passed between the last few buildings leading out of town, they each started looking ahead at the prospect of what was to follow. Red would beat up his first Monkey on his way to being the Pirate King, Bede would finally be able to leave this place, and Miles would be closer to achieving his dream of being a master swordsman and the best. People watched as they left, some praying for the safety of Bede, others betting on the likelihood of who would survive, but everyone felt the tension in the air, knowing that if they succeeded, their freedom would be restored to them. But if they failed, nothing good could come of them trying to oppose the Monkey Family, and they knew that what would follow, would not be good…
"So, what's our game plan for this place," said Red, "I mean, what do we have to expect?"
"Well, this island has a very good geography for defense," replied Bede, "not only is the road going steadily uphill, so any attacker will be tired before they reach the fortress, but there are ridges on the path that are perfect for setting up defenses."
"And I assume that's what the bastard will be doing?"
"Most likely, but not only that, there are some cave systems under the fortress that serve as a sort of escape route, so even if we get to the place, our target might be long gone," finished Bede.
"Huh, so anyway, is there anybody in particular we gotta watch out for, like top tier guys?" asked Miles.
"Yeah, there are two guys that are his head subordinates, one of them is Monaku, a swordsman who will as soon slice off his own ally's head then an enemy's just to get to whoever he's ordered to kill," answered Bede, "and the other is Gratto, a strong man who is able to crush stones with his bare hands, some of us say he's more powerful then Monaku, but we're not sure. Anyways, those are the two you gotta look out for, then there's the boss-"
"Blah, Blah, Blah! I don't care how powerful these guys are, I'm gonna beat 'em!" shouted Red, determined to beat these adversaries.
The three continued down the path for some time, wondering if it would ever end, each having a bead of sweat on their forehead from the long trek. Pretty soon though, they started to see the path become more organized instead of the dirt path they were so used to. They ran up, excitedly, to see that they were at a sort of outpost. The small area consisted of a small stone wall with holes in it for guns and a small stack of barrels, presumably full of either water or rum when Bede shook one of them. The three walked around, taking in the surroundings of the area, Miles noting that the place had recently been occupied, with a pair dice on top of one of the barrels and a glass of booze that still had froth in it. Suddenly, Red pulled out his gun and fired three quick bullets into the forest, one of them apparently hitting someone, according to the yell of pain that was heard resounding from the forest.
Red then holstered his gun, the looked up glaring into the forest, "We were being watched."
All of a sudden, the trio heard a crashing sound, and had to leap out of the way as a tree came crashing down, smashing several of the barrels that spilled a mixture of brown and blue liquid. They then looked up to see a man with muscular arms carrying a giant sword over one shoulder. He had brown hair so buzzed it looked like he was bald, a pair of large shoulders, with equally large arms, presumably from muscle, and a large and puffed out chest. He wore a white tank top with a shoulder strap and loose grey pants. He would've been very intimidating had it not been for two very comical features about him that made the trio want to burst out laughing. Because of the fact that his chest was so huge, the tank top did little to hide his muscles and, very sadly, his nipples from being outlined by the fabric. But not only that, his arms may have been extremely well toned, but it looked like he hadn't given a though to his legs, which gave him a very umbrella-like look.
"I am Monaku of the Swift Blades," said Monaku, and although he looked like the comedy character in a comic, he spoke eloquently, "I will eliminate you three here and now, with the exception of the Cobra, who, by the orders of the master of this island, Monkey D. Skyler, has asked me to bring the man to him in order to deal out punishment."
"Oh yeah?" challenged Red, "punishment for what?"
"For your very existence," replied Monaku coolly, a look of cold determination in his eyes, "but that doesn't mean your friends will go as well, I have been strict orders to kill anyone who protects the Cobra, now perish where you stand!" And with that he lifted the sword from his shoulder as if it was made of paper and charged, faster than they had expected. The only thing that saved Bede from having his head sliced off was the quick draw of Miles' dagger that managed to knock the giant blade off its course and into another barrel, smashing it open with another wave of rum.
Monaku then took the blade and held it in both hands, a smile playing across his face that never reached his eyes, "So, you're a user of the Main Gauche style, never expected to see another who used it in this day and age."
"Took a while to even slightly master it, but I think I've got it down, mostly," he then looked down at his vest, which as they had kicked up dust on their way there, had been given a fine layer of dirt and frowned. "Guess I might as well take this off," then quickly sheaving his dagger, he unbuttoned the vest, revealing his muscular upper body, not as muscular as Monaku's, and tossed the garment over to Red, "hold onto that for me would'ja?"
"Why would you need to take it off? You can just get another one when we reach the castle," but when Miles gave him a quizzical look, he just gave a sigh of annoyance and said, "alright, I'll hold onto it." When Miles turned to face his opponent, who was starting to get impatient, Red tossed the vest over to the pile of barrels, hoping it hadn't fallen into the liquor pool.
"So, are we done playing fashion show, or do I have to kill all of you now just to save myself the trouble of bringing the Cobra back."
"No I'm done, let's fight!" said Miles turning to face the muscular man.
Monaku gave another cold smile and raised his sword again, about to enjoy having his blade sink into some more flesh, "Good." And with that, the surprisingly fast Monaku charged again.
The two swordsmen ran at each other and met in a flurry of swipes, the two slowly circling as their fight progressed. Both of them managed to get off a decent number of hits on each other, occasionally one of them getting a scratch on the other, but neither of them was backing down. Blades clashed as the two swordsmen met in armed combat with dazzling light sparkling off the blades each time they met.
"Swift Blade Slash!" shouted Monaku, as he sliced his blade in a fast arc. Miles leaped clear over his opponent to land behind him and saw that the slash had cleaved several of the trees behind him, causing them to fall over. One of the trees fell into the tower, causing it to slightly collapse in on itself and causing it to slightly crumble.
Miles looked up at the other man, and smiled, "So you like announcing your attacks do you? Well I guess we're one in the same," said Miles, then sheathing his dagger, he held the sword in his hand so that it faced into the ground, "Fissure Strike!" he brought the sword up in an arc so it ended with him holding it above his left shoulder.
As the name implied, the force of the blade made a small shallow fissure in the ground that kicked up stone, dirt, and dust. Using the curtain of earth as a veil, he charged forward to deliver the final blow, but Monaku was trained better than that and he managed to lift his sword up to deflect the strike, causing Miles to fall on his knee. Monaku took that time to quickly wipe the dust out of his eyes so that he could resume fighting. Miles got up slowly unsure of how to deal with his foe, they then began to circle each other, occasionally meeting and having a quick bout of swipes, then backing off each other. Miles couldn't ever get his sword in for the finishing blow and he wasn't sure how to do it, all he could do for now was to wear down Monaku so that he could get the last hit. They met once more in a series of slashes and jabs at each other, both hoping that they would manage to get a lucky shot off on their opponent.
The two then finished their series of attacks and both were thrown back a few feet from the force of their skirmish. They glared at each other as they began to circle again, both looking for an opening in the other's defenses. Miles saw that Monaku was using a classic two handed stance, ready to swat away any attack he made, and Monaku saw that even though he had his hands down, Miles was quick with his hands and he appeared open, but he would be able to quickly raise his arms and block his attack. The two were unsure what to do, when a voice rung across the battle ground.
"Do something!" shouted Red, having no clue about the mental battle in the fighter's heads.
"SHUT UP!" yelled the two swordsmen in unison, pissed off that their concentration was ruined by an idiot.
"What? You guys aren't doing anything! You're acting like whirlpools in the North Blue," he then raised and twirled his finger to simulate this, "you just keep circling and circling doing nothing, and then occasionally, an iceberg gets sucked in, and that's cool to see, but then it goes back to more circling!"
The two were mad beyond belief that someone who didn't understand the basic fundamentals of swordsmanship was comparing it to a whirlpool. Monaku was especially mad, glowering at Red as if he was the reason he had so much hate in him.
"You find my practice boring Cobra scum?" said Monaku, glowering at Red with contempt.
"Yeah, like I said, you guys are like whirlpools, you just spin and spin and-"
"I heard you the first time!" screamed Monaku, not knowing how an idiot like him could exist in the world. "In any case," said Monaku, seeming to have calmed down, "I doubt master Skyler will be angry with me if I kill you here and now, especially if you die painfully!" He then charged past Miles, who was too startled to even try to stop him, he cried loudly, "Red look out!"
With the warning in mind, Red tried to back out of the range of any swipes the warrior threw, managing to back himself against the already crumbling tower, but Monaku was counting on this and, leaping forward, he cried triumphantly, "Swift Blade Thrust", and impaled Red through the chest, stabbing him into the wall of the now falling tower.
