One Piece; The Great Pirate Era

"Don't get yourself in a tizzy," Blood replied to Rum Drum as he squeezed his arm. "Do you honestly think I'm the sort of guy that would have ever let you shoot a kid?"

He then started to stand up straighter and he tried to keep his breathing a bit more steady. But it was clear he was still having trouble getting his bearings from the wound.

"I mean, Jesus, I don't care if you want to hold kids hostage but shootin' them's a totally different story. Now, are you going to give me some damn rum already because this hurts like a bitch."

Not out of the count, but still in a lot of pain, Blood was ready to take on Rum Drum and his band of misfits. Angered at his defiance, he slowly walked towards him, with a disappointed frown. "No, I have another thing in mind." He replied, pointing the pistol directly into Blood's forehead.

At first, Blood didn't do anything as the gun was placed on his forehead. However, his hand then moved from covering his wound to wrapping around Rum Drum's pistol. He squeezed it. At first, nothing happened. However, it didn't take too long for the pistol to shatter. The pieces fell to the ground, falling in the small pool of blood that had formed due to Blood's injury.

Rum Drum was confused, as he watched his gun being moved away from Blood's forehead and onto his hand. With the gun being slightly bent, alarm rose over him, before he pulled the trigger. However it was too late, as the barrel had been squeezed just hard enough to crush the passage.

The bullet became lodged and exploded into a fiery and smokey mess, before Rum Drum yanked his hand away, shaking it from the burning explosion. Growling annoyingly, once his throbbing hand was calming, he stared angrily at Blood.

As the bullet exploded, Blood quickly let go of the pistol and backed away. Like Rum Drum, his hand hurt and throbbed but he was in so much pain by this point that another injury really didn't matter. While Rum Drum waited for the pain in his hand to subside, Blood took his bandana off and wrapped it around his still injured arm before tying it with his teeth and free hand.

"Have you had enough yet?" Blood asked, a hint of irritation present in his voice. He knew he couldn't fight much longer and that Rum Drum would undoubtedly win at this rate. But still, he felt the need to continue egging him on, making him think he could still fight for a long time even though he would probably collapse any minute.

Growling angrily again and losing his calmness, Rum Drum stepped forward, readying his fist to punch Blood. "No! I'm just getting started!" He growled another cough, before squeezing his fist even tighter. The damage from the exploded gun caused blood to seep even more quickly, with such intense pressure. It was clear he was rather tired himself.

"...Heh...heh...heh..." Flint mustered a laugh, as he was still being squeezed tightly by Big John. Through his tone, it was quite clear he was extremely worn from the suffocation and crushing strength of his opponent.

"I was wrong about you," Flint said with a raspy and almost out of breath voice. "You're an alright guy...I can't just...let you die."

Staring annoyingly at their first pest, Rum Drum frowned. "What are you going to do, bleed all over us to death?" He asked, to which his pirate comrades laughed merrily. "You're in Big John's grip, no punches can phase him."

Tiringly wiggling his arm, Flint pulled out his last tubular pistol contraption, before aiming it into the sky. The pistol triggered an explosion, propelling the bullet upwards at a high velocity, followed by thunderous fire and smoke. With the pistol empty, Flint then slammed it onto Big John's pudgy arm.

There he held it, until a peculiar sizzling sound emitted from below. At first unphased but confused by his action, Big John suddenly yelped in sheer pain. With his immediate reaction to drop his hostage and tend to his sore and red burning arm, as he fanned and blew onto it, Flint dropped to the ground.

Almost falling onto his stomach, Flint grabbed himself on the floor on all fours, before quickly standing upright and gasping for air. "Big John!" Rum Drum exclaimed in shock, "You idiot grab him!"

Obeying his captain, the big blobbish brute ran straight towards Flint, shaking the pier the entire time. Meanwhile Flint was still attempting to catch his breath, as he hugged his rib cage with both arms.

"Hey, behind you!" One of the bar patrons exclaimed in the background, warning Flint of the oncoming danger just in time. Immediately seeing the big blob heading straight for him, Flint leapt above him, just as he lunged in to grab Flint.

Shocked and confused, Big John completely missed Flint, as he hopped onto his blubbery head, and then to the back of him. However it was evident he was at the end of his rope as well, mostly due to the life force crushing strength of Big John he had endured several minutes earlier.

"You've already used up all your pistols, what now?" Rum Drum asked, a little surprised, mainly for the fun of it.

"I still have one bullet left." Flint said through his breaths, as Rum Drum and Big John turned to stare at him. "You're bluffing," Rum Drum replied with a frown. "Get him this time Big John and crush his lungs! Don't hold back!"

Growling angrily for his captain's orders, Big John lunged forward, ready to take Flint out. Weakly situating himself, Flint knelt, his knees pointing outwards to his opponent, as if ready to lunge. Staring determinedly, he stiffened himself.

"Propel-Pel Launcher!" He exclaimed through his weary breaths, before lunging forward. With such sheer force and speed, the air and spot where he once stood immediately exploded into a wave of air. Heading towards Big John with such intense speed, head first, he slammed straight into the behemoth's gut.

This time however he was able to protrude further into the pudgy beast, lifting it off of it's feet, and into the air. Going backwards with such intense speed, Big John had no time to react, except for shock, and unwillingly was forced wherever Flint's propelled strength took him.

That being backwards, right into Rum Drum. "What!?" He exclaimed in shock, before Big John smacked into him. Because Big John was a heavier opponent, once he slammed straight into his captain, he tumbled through the pier, and into the ocean. However Rum Drum Johnny flew straight into the piers shipyard, completely trashing everyone of them, as they caved in on one another.

And as for Flint, with no way to exactly stop such a tremendous amount of propelled power, he also tumbled through the pier, before slamming straight into a building's wall, where he abruptly stopped, before dropping limply to the ground.

Shocked at both Big John and Rum Drum Johnny being dealt with, the pirates stared in disbelief. "They're not really done are they?" One of the pirates asked with a dropped jaw and wide eyes.

Blood didn't say anything to any of Flint's comments. However, as he watched him escape Big Johnny and continue the fight, the only real thing that could go through his mind was "Why the hell didn't he do that sooner?". Maybe then he wouldn't have had to get shot then.

However, this minor irritation quickly faded as he watched the kid propel himself into Big John's stomach.

"No way..." he said quietly as he stared in disbelief.

But now that Flint was out for the count, this placed everything back on him. He could see the pirates were shocked and he knew he needed to take advantage of this moment if they were really going to leave for good.

"There, ya see that? Get the hell out of here if you know what's good for you," Blood said angrily. He made sure his posture now suggested that he could still fight and would even though this was a complete bluff.

Listening to Blood, the pirates still left their jaws agape, still unable to comprehend what had just happened. However with the villagers and this drunken brute looking ready to go on the prowl, they staggered backwards, bumping into each other every once and a while.

"Ca-Captain!" One of the pirates exclaimed as he rushed towards the damaged ships. Several others soon followed him, as a stampeded ensued. "What about Big John!?" One of them exclaimed concernedly.

"Forget about him, he's too heavy! He's already sunk!" Another replied, "Let's get the hell out of here!" They finished, as the entirety of them converged onto the shipyard, before jumping into the ocean to escape.

As soon as the pirates were gone or at least, far enough away where they wouldn't see, Blood collapsed on the pier.

"Well don't just stand there," Blood said towards the townspeople. "Get that kid some help. And go find me some rum while you're at it."

"Forget rum!" One of the villagers exclaimed, hurrying towards the injured Hawkins. "You need to some serious patching." The village's doctor said, soon after following the worried towns person, who was near Blood.

Looking over Hawkin's shoulder, checking his vitals, and lifting his arm in all different angles, without the use of any tools, he inspected his patient. "You're lucky they missed the vitals, I can stitch this up without amputating."

Elsewhere several other villagers hurried towards Flint, the younger of the two, to aid him. Two men quickly lifted him up, before looking over to the others in charge of Blood. "Hey this one's alright! He just bumped his head real good!"

Later, a few hours would pass as both heroes would be treated for their injuries, whether serious or trivial. Out cold for most of the situation after the fight, Flint laid in a bed, with a wet rag on his forehead. However he quickly woke up, springing upwards, as the damp rag tumbled down to his lap.

"Huh!? Where am I?" He asked himself, noticing a peculiar room, he didn't quite remember. The door was slightly opened, and outside was the tavern he previously worked at. Confused he walked slowly to the entrance, spotting several villages, and a ton of dishes and rum barrels prepared.

"Oh hey!" One of the patrons exclaimed, waving to the confused Flint. "He's awake guys!" They added, to which many of the others also sent their happy comments and pleasantries. Still confused, but smelling the delicious aroma of the foods, the bar keeper approached.

"Good you're awake. We prepared a feast for our two heroes," He said, washing and scrubbing a dish in hand. "It's the least we could do after all you've done for us...and because all our ships our totaled." They added, to which Flint completely dismissed the fact, in the presence of such mouthwatering food.

"Alright! Thanks!" With a mouth dropped, and watering, he rushed straight to the large table, before feasting on several large dishes.

Although there were plenty of people to celebrate the victory, Blood sat in a corner of the room with a large mug full of rum. He drank happily but mostly kept to himself as he didn't particularly enjoy any sort of praise. His bandana was gone due to the fact it was pretty much soaked in blood and fresh, proper bandages covered his arm.

His arm was still in a decent amount of pain but he was able to ignore most of it due to his drunken state.

"And they told me to forget the rum," he said, mostly to himself as he took a large swig.

Engorging himself with fine cuisine meats, vegetables, fruits, and plenty of deserts, Flint was having a great feast. "Oh boy this is even better then the left overs I had earlier!"

However even this delicious feast couldn't divert his attention, from the drunken man, who turned out to be quite the hero. As he drank nonchalantly to all that was around him, Flint popped out in front, with a large stick of meat in hand and mouth. "Hey, why aren't you eating?" He asked, before swallowing his food. "It's for both of us!" He said handing over a stick of meat he brought over for Blood.

"I don't have much of an appetite," Blood said, not taking the stick of meat at first. However, as it continued to dangle in Flint's hand, he simply couldn't refuse. So he took the stick of meat and had a bite. "It'll help keep me sober...ish." He added as if he had to explain himself.

Once Blood took the stick of meat, chewed on it, and explained himself, he would soon notice Flint or nobody was around his table anymore.

It was as if Flint had super-sped back to the buffet style table, as he began to gnaw and tear from a large piece of meat, before throwing some vegetables in his mouth, and chugging it all down with a large mug of some sweetened beverage. "Ah this is so good!" He exclaimed happily, before continuing his meal. "...Still I really needed a boat..." He said with his mouth full.

"Hey barkeep, are you sure there aren't anymore boats here?" Flint asked, after swallowing a large heaping of his food. "I'm sure of it...Rum Drum Johnny crashed into all of them, when you hit him."

Frowning, Flint engulfed more of his drink, before gasping refreshingly, but angrily. "Shoulda sent his stupid ass in another direction." He added, as he thumped his drink on the table.

Nearby, a waiter drying dishes overheard the conversation. "Well actually, we do have that one thing." She explained, looking at the barkeeper, who in return displayed shock. "You're right, we don't use it anymore either!"

"Use what?" Flint asked curiously, but confused. "Is it a boat!?" He added excitedly. "Sure is! Go find and get it ready." They ordered their waiter, who nodded a bow, before dismissing themselves to locate it.

"Alright!" Flint exclaimed happily again. "I can get on with my adventure...right after I eat some more of this tasty food." He said, grabbing another turkey leg.

When Blood went to look back towards Flint, he noticed he was gone. For a minute, he didn't know what to make of this until he saw Flint over by the buffet table. Blood laughed a little before taking another bite of the meat stick.

He listened to the conversation Flint was having with the bartender but didn't say anything. Nor did he seem all that interested.

Ready to leave for his new adventure whenever, but captivated by the delicious food and drinks, Flint wasn't sure what to do. So he did the only thing he could think of and began to eat more. Why waste a good meal? If it didn't go in him, it would surely go in the others, but he was sure he might need the extra energy for wherever he was going next.

With that in mind, he grabbed two turkey sticks, occasionally eating from one and then the other, as well as two different drinks to chug from. With each bite and drink, his eyes and motion inadvertently moved over to where Blood was sitting alone and drinking lots of booze.

"If I'm getting a boat, I need a crew to." Flint said to himself, engorging in the meat sticks and drinks, before wiping his mouth happily. Blood might not had possessed or really showed any amazingly spectacular skills, or just yet, but he had the guts. Flint like that about him, if nothing else, so he rushed back to him.

However he immediately stopped, realizing he couldn't just barge in again. Grabbing a large bottle of rum from the table, he brought it over to Blood with him. "Hey there!" Flint exclaimed welcomingly, before thumping the bottle on the table. "Thought you could use another drink!"

There was a slight second of pause, before he continued. "So, I'm off to sea soon, want to join up?" Flint asked immediately and out of the blue, he really never was one for subtlety.

Blood immediately eyed the drink. Just as he was about to grab for it, he heard Flint's second remark.

"What are you nuts kid?" Blood replied bluntly. He then took this opportunity to grab the drink Flint had brought. He took a swig and wiped his mouth immediately after. "Why would you invite a drunk like me? Now that's just stupid."

"Well, you'll keep me completely sober on this journey, no doubt." Flint said laughing, before slowly stopping. "But seriously, I don't know. I just liked how you fought out there for those kids, that's the kind of people I'm looking to traveling with." He explained himself.

However with another short moment of pause, he pointed his finger at Blood. "Also, you owe me for stealing my coin."

Despite Flint's first attempt at reasoning, Blood seemed un-phased by it even though it was a bit flattering. However, when the coin was mentioned, Blood nearly choked on his drink.

"Hey, now wait a minute!" Blood exclaimed. "I don't owe you a damn thing!"

"Sure you do!" Flint exclaimed, pointing more so accusingly. "You guaranteed me a boat if I paid you, and you took my money!" He explained, folding his arms, "And since you don't have a boat and I got one now, the only other thing is to join me." He then stopped shortly, unfolding his arms, before holding his hand out. "Unless you give back my coin."

"Listen kid, I don't have your precious coin. I took a damn bullet for you today! That should be more than enough," Blood replied tartly, banging on the table. However, he then shook his hand a little since he had used his bad arm to slam the table.

"What!?" Flint exclaimed. "That was a family heirloom, I was giving it up to buy a ship...what did you end up using it on?" He asked, after first in shock and disgust, but by the end of his statement, in sheer curiosity.

"I bought a flask from the bartender," Blood said rather simply. "I got a meal out of it too but Rum Drum knocked it over before." He then took a swig of his rum.

"I bet the bartender's still got it if you want it."

Waving his hand in a gesture of dismissal, Flint looked away. "Nah, cause then I'd probably have to do more work. Did you see how far that jerk shoved that sign in, I'd be digging all day!" Flint exclaimed, raising his hands into the air.

"Are you sure you don't want to come? I bet there's all types of alcohol out there in the ocean." Flint explained, before shrugging, "But you do what you want to, I'll be leaving soon." He added, slowly walking back to his feast.

"Pretty sure kid," Blood said. He didn't say anything in response to Flint after that. However, he was clearly thinking over what Flint had said. But it seemed ridiculous to even be considering such a thing. Him, go out to sea? This kid was nuts.