One Piece; The Great Pirate Era

Tightly holding Flint in his grip, as instructed by his captain Rum Drum Johnny, Big John laughed slowly and unintellectually.

"That's right runt, now you see it is I who has the upper-hand. This is our town and no one is going to stop us, and surely not a little turd like you!" Rum Drum explained, twisting his gun on the forehead of some child's, as they trembled in teary eyed fear. "Mommy," Is what they whimpered, with a snotty and tear river running face.

With no way to fight back now, without putting the children in serious danger, Flint stayed still, as Big John squeezed him tightly, cutting off his breath, as the other lowly pirates took their turns punching and kicking him, causing a whole mess of dusty debris to flow up.

Suddenly something knocked Rum Drum Johnny's pistol out of his hand, as this metallic blur whistled and twirled through the air. Both pieces banged onto the wooden pier, sliding to a halt to reveal an unarmed pistol and the bottom end of the shovel.

"What!?" Is all Rum Drum Johnny exclaimed, rubbing his sore, but not severely harmed hand. Slowly he looked to the side to see the drunk from before. With a frown, he stared sharply at him, not too pleased at his intervention.

"What do you think you're doing?" They asked, before the rest of his pirates slowly stopped pounding on Flint to see what the new commotion was about. "Didn't you hear what we told you last time? You going to drink us to death?"

Spotting the broken shovel far away from Rum Drum Johnny, Flint remained locked in Big John's arms, but leaned inwards, with a gasped moan of annoyance. "Augh! Now how am I supposed to dig out the post!?"

"Just thought I'd make the fight a bit more fair," Blood replied. However, he didn't say anything to the later remarks.

When he heard Flint, Blood looked and noticed the sign lying on the ground. He then looked at Flint in annoyance. "Forget about the stupid sign! I'm giving you this chance, so don't blow it."

Blood then turned the shovel around so he was holding the broken end. He then took a powerful swing at Big John's head, causing the shovel to completely shatter.

Not replying to Blood's comment, but simply frowning, Flint then gasped in pain, as his cheeks puffed out. Big John was squeezing the life out of him, as his face turned blue. However not even the blow to the head shook this behemoth in the slightest.

He simply laughed stupidly, as the shovel's metal bent to the shape of his head. "I guess you missed our little introduction about my first mate Big John." Rum Drum Johnny said. "That little whipper snapper has more fight then you'll ever have and he couldn't even beat one of his chest hairs!"

Laughing at their state, some of the pirates crossed their arms, while throwing in their added insults. "Let's get this over with already, I'm losing my buzz!"

"Good idea." Rum Drum Johnny said, "But how I do enjoy toying with this sad sack of garbage." He explained, meaning Blood. Quickly he brought one of the children to his chest, readying a dagger this time, and placing it up against their neck. One more hair closer would come close to breaking and slicing the skin straight off.

Raising their head up as far as it could go, the child did his best not to be cut by the deadly and sharp blade. "This fight is long over, and there isn't anything a run down, pathetic excuse of a pirate like you can do. You're hopeless and you're even more of an embarrassment as the village idiot!" Rum Drum Johnny exclaimed laughing happily. "I thought it'd be impossible, but damn if you don't make it possible!"

Blood was a bit surprised that his blow to Big John's head did absolutely nothing. He knew his body was tough but he figured his head would be a vulnerable spot. He turned to face Rum Drum again with whatever was left of the shovel still in his hand though it was in very poor shape by this point.

"You're the embarrassment," Blood said. "You can't even take a village idiot head on. You have to hide behind a child. Now that's pathetic."

With Blood's words striking a chord in Rum Drum Johnny's body, he growled angrily, before throwing the kid aside. The child tumbled through the rough and splintery dock, before whimpering as he laid on all fours.

"Don't let them go!" He exclaimed, as some of his pirates grabbed the kids from escaping. With his assets secured, he grinned wickedly at Blood. "If this is anything like last time, we'll cast you aside again." He explained, before flexing his one arm.

"Show me what you have you worthless scum!" Rum Drum shouted, lunging forward, and in front of Blood. He then slammed his large muscular fist into the pier where Blood was, as it exploded into a splintery mess of wood and debris.

Seeing Rum Drum lunge forward, Blood jumped out of the way. His moves were a little sloppy as he did this but he kept his ground. As Rum Drum's fist was in the pier, Blood went to kick him in the back of the neck.

With his hand sunken into the wooden pier, and as Blood dodged his attack, Rum Drum jerked and wiggled, to free his hand. As he did so, Blood used this opportunity to strike him in the back. However he only had one hand that was trapped, his right arm was still free.

Lifting his arm up quickly, he grabbed Blood's leg, mid-swing, before squeezing it tightly to stop the kick. He laughed at Blood's predicament, before whipping and throwing his body straight into a pile of crates. Once he was out of the way, he then ripped his arm out of the pier, breaking it even further, before turning to stare directly at Blood, where he had thrown him.

"The only sad thing about killing you, is that I won't have a reason to laugh when I come here for our pay!" Rum Drum exclaimed, not bothering to attack him, simply because he felt he was not worth it. But at the same time he couldn't help but to want to pummel this sad piece of trash, to pass some time, and have fun.

Blood's eyes widened as he saw Rum Drum grab his leg.

"****!" he thought as he went flying into the crates. With a crash, he felt his body aching all over already. He struggled to get up and when he eventually made it to his feet, he was already regretting the decision he had made. Blood then took one of the crates and, with all his might, heaved it towards Rum Drum. He then ran forward and went to take another punch just as Rum Drum was avoiding the crate.

Noticing that Blood was still not giving in, Rum Drum frowned, before noticing a crate heading his way. As it flew through the air, his immediate reaction was to catch it, so that he could show all his amazing strength. Bowing slightly as it slammed into his palms, he maintained his ground, holding onto the crate, before Blood hit him directly in the chest.

Grunting from the blow, he dropped the box, before coughing severely for fresh air. "Lousy cheap shot..." Is all he muttered, still coughing, before looking angrily at Blood. "So what is this? You're still sore about what you brought upon yourself and now you're beating up on us to fill in that void of worthlessness?" He asked, using the word 'Us' to indicate people that Blood would remember.

"No, you just took the last of the rum," Blood replied although Rum Drum's comment stung a bit. "So how about you be a dear and give it back?"

He knew Rum Drum would probably attack after his last comment and Blood was preparing to defend himself.

"What!?" Flint exclaimed, still being squeezed tightly, as the pirates held the children hostage at gun and blade point. "That's why you're doing this!?"

Laughing at the words exchanged all around, Rum Drum wiped his chin, before chugging from another bottle of rum. "Don't let this man fool yourself lad. He's still sore because we cast his worthless ass oversea years ago. Looks like the fish didn't even like the taste of failure."

While Rum Drum was drinking from a bottle, Blood used this opportunity to punch Rum Drum directly in the face. The bottle of rum he had been drinking smashed and fell to the ground, cutting Blood's fist a bit in the process.

"Clearly you didn't understand me the first time," Blood said a little angrily. "Let's try this again: if you want to stay here, you'll have to go through me first."

With his free hand, Blood then went to punch Rum Drum in the gut, exactly where he had thrown the crate at him from before.

As Rum Drum drank his bottle once more, it exploded into a thousand tiny pieces of glass, as Blood smashed it with his fist. Glass and booze went everywhere, before raining below onto the deck, and seeping through the crevices where it was ultimately drunk by the ocean.

Spitting what rum and glass shards were in his mouth, Rum Drum frowned angrily at the loss of his favorite bottle of rum. "Tough words from someone I once knew." He said, blood running from the side of his lip, as he grabbed Blood's fist from punching him squarely in the gut. "I don't know if you have the guts to back up such words."

"Well, that makes two of us."

Quickly, Blood removed his fist from Rum Drum and moved as though he were about to punch him with his bad hand in the torso area. However, at the same time, he headbutted his opponent.

As Blood yanked his fist out of Rum Drum's lock, he jerked forward from the forceful tug. However once he came in for another attack, Rum Drum readied himself, but was not expecting such a sneak attack. Getting pounded in the forehead, he staggered backwards, before falling into the pile of crates.

The pirates under his command gasped in shock, as they witnessed this new display. Groaning from the pain, as he laid in the broken pile of wooden crates, Rum Drum rubbed his jaw, before frowning at Blood. "Quite a dirty trick, but I guess I should expect it from the likes of you."

However there was something off and Rum Drum didn't like it one bit. Slowly he rose, twisting his head to stretch out the pain. "What's gotten into you? Where's that wreck I was looking into before?"

"It's like I said: my rum's gone." As if to prove his point, Blood took out the beaten flask and dumped its contents onto the ground. However, nothing came out, not even a drop. "Now, are we gonna sit here and talk all day or are you gonna actually do something?"

Noticing a different man, although not too different, Rum Drum just frowned, before grinning. "Oh well, it's your funeral if alcohol is this importation to you!" He exclaimed, lunging forward with quick speed, before side-kicking Blood directly in the face.

He quickly tumbled through the pier, before Rum Drum landed smoothly. "But I guess you would fight for the only thing that eases your pathetic pain."

As Blood tumbled down the pier, he grimaced a little. He should have expected such a retaliation. However, he quickly got up. Looking around, he saw one of the poles used to hang gas lamps nearby. He took this pole, ripping it from its current position. The gas lamp came crashing to the ground as he did this but he didn't seem to care.

Using the pole, Blood took a swing at Rum Drum, aiming directly at his side.

With the wooden pole, ripped from the pier, swinging towards him, Rum Drum embraced for impact. It slammed directly into his side, as he stiffened himself to maintain his balance. The piece snapped into two, wooden splinters spraying above, before he frowned angrily at Blood.

It was a painful impact nonetheless, but he was still in for the fight, and no longer enjoying his little toying game with his old 'friend' Blood. Suddenly he jerked forward, grabbing Blood by the sides, before lifting him above his head, and pile driving him into the wooden pier.

As Rum Drum went to force Blood into the pier, Blood took what was left of his pole and placed it in front of him in order to lessen the impact. While Rum Drum was in the process of the piledrive, Blood then delivered a powerful kick directly in Rum Drum's face.

Taking in less of an impact, by using the pole as leverage, Rum Drum was then hit by Blood's swift kick. It hit him directly in the face, sending him backwards, but he was able to keep himself in the fight. As he was thrown off of his feet, he twirled backwards, before landing as smooth as possible, before angrily growling. Quickly he punched Blood with both his hands.

He did so, as soon as he landed, first his right fist, which delivered a powerful blow to Blood's left cheek, and then his left, which he used to uppercut Blood. As soon as both fists were delivered, he tightly squeezed both to deliver the final blows.

As soon as Rum Drum stepped back, Blood regained his own footing. However, his movements were jerky due to the position he was previously in and he nearly fell over in the process. Once he managed to regain himself, he felt a surge of pain in his left cheek as Rum Drum punched him. He had no time to fight back or regain himself for the second punch.

With his two fists coming down upon him and little time to react, Blood grabbed a hold of Rum Drum's forearms in order to stop the attack. His arms shook in the process as it was clear this was no easy task and he hadn't fully recovered from the previous attacks. With a swift motion, Blood moved out of the way of the attack while almost forcing Rum Drum's attack to finish only instead of hitting Blood Rum Drum's arms were aiming towards the pier. As the arms came crashing down, Blood punched Rum Drum twice in the face.

With part of the pier exploding in a fiery attack, Rum Drum was surprised to see that Blood had slightly alluded it. Even more so when he was hit in the face twice, before staggering backwards and falling on his back. With no rum left, and being knocked down twice by the laughing stock of a previous era, in short he was furious.

Rubbing the blood off his chin, he growled. "What has happened to you!?" He exclaimed,d no longer finding pleasure in Blood's presence, nor could he seemingly torment him. With another growl, he whipped out his pistol. "I've had it!" He exclaimed, before firing it.

The pistol aimed directly at one of the children afar, as the bullet zipped towards them.

Seeing the pistol and where Rum Drum was aiming it, Blood did the only thing that came to his mind: he ran towards it. As the bullet soared, it pierced Blood in the shoulder.

For a split second, Blood immediately regretted the decision he had made as his shoulder throbbed in pain and the blood started to pour out. He clasped his hand over the wound. Though he was panting as he tried to fight off the pain, he was still standing.

With the bullet halted, once heading towards one of the children, blood began to soak on the splintery pier boards. The child opened her eyes, once she noticed the pistol's echoing shot, did not follow a bullet, or anything painful.

There she noticed a man, their villages drunk slumped in front of her. Clutching his wound, her jaw dropped, as did many of the other children held hostage. Even Rum Drum Johnny, who knew this 'pathetic' drunk from years past, was shocked. Not in the years he knew this man, did he ever do something like this. He stared on, slightly wide eyed, and an opened mouth, alongside his pirate comrades.

"...Why?" The little girl uttered, as Rum Drum held his pistol loosely. "You're not the man I once knew, what are you?" Rum Drum asked soon after, picking up his pistol again, and aiming, but with less vigor and force.