2 First Blood

(A/N 1560 words edited by HeliosTheDepressed)

(A/N MCS NAME IS NOW NOAH!!!)

"LISTEN HERE BASTARDS, DROP EVERYTHING YOU GOT AND RUN OR WE'RE GONNA KILL YOU ALL AND STRIP THE COIN FROM YOUR CORPSES!!!!!"

"IT'S MONEYBAGGS!" one of the guys walking shouted. Fear traveled through the caravan like lighting and the bandits were licking their blades trying to look as intimidating as possible to avoid a fight. My squad waited in the forest in case they decided to turn tail. "HEY," a man riding on the wagon shouted "stop being so afraid, these scum aren't even that powerful." to prove his point he raised his sword slowly, then suddenly, so fast I couldn't see it swung his sword at a fodder bandit, putting it nicely he got sliced in half.

As soon as Jared saw this he seemed to go into heat or something. "Aiden, get out here!" he shouted and we did as we were told, sprinting out to get behind them. "I see you have more servants." As soon as he said that I could see Jared's men seething. I get it honestly, we were rotten scum but we did have some free will.

I got especially angry as this whole bandit gig was just for me to get stronger. Moving on I finally came face to face with real danger. Not some scrawny bottom of the barrel bandit, but real adventurers and trained soldiers. This was my chance to try what I've been learning for the past week.

I knew that I wouldn't always get such an easy opponent as that guy I fought when I first arrived so I worked out like Saitama and even in that little amount of time I was able to increase my strength double what it used to be. Maybe it's because this world is different, or maybe I was just so weak that I could double my strength in just a week. Either way, I now have my heart set on fucking some bitches up.

Jared ordered his boys to move forward so Aiden followed his example, it was about even because of the pincer attack Jared set up however we were fighting trained troops that bandits could never take 1v1. It's now only a matter of who can kill the most and die the least. We clashed with the soldiers most of us dying simply because we were too weak. Some of us were wrapping around the soldiers trying to get an angle until we had a full circle around the soldiers.

Doing a quick headcount I'd say we had about 75 people including Brian's squad, and about 60 just here. On the other hand, the soldier's numbers were about 20, 'it's looking very grim for these guys!' I said to myself with a slimy grin. 'I think I'm getting a little more bandit-like… gross.'

I decided I should attack now and maybe get some merit from Jared. I went up to the nearest soldier who was distracted by two other bandits trying to find a gap in his defense. I got behind him and kicked him in the side.

The soldier got distracted by my kick enough for one of the other bandits to find an opening and stabbed him right through the gut. The guy that killed him had a little stare down and then the soldier fell. I didn't really feel anything, it felt like something was numbing me like novocaine.

'I feel, off…' This seemed to boost the morale of the bandits around us and we started mauling through the soldiers recklessly. The death toll for us is 14 while the death toll for the soldiers is 7. Not a bad ratio considering they had a crazy flying slice guy. Jared was fighting him right now actually.

They are right in the middle of everyone, there were explosions everywhere as the soldier used his sword to hack away at Jared while Jared dodged his attacks and countered with his own. To an inexperienced person like myself, I could probably last 30 seconds in a fight with these guys. They aren't monsters but on this island, they seem to be the best of the best.

At least that's what I'm seeing right now, the bandits had to get stronger to deal with the soldiers and the soldiers had to get stronger to deal with the ever-rising threat of bandits. This creates a never-ending cycle of growth. I don't know why I'm thinking about this, it's sorta useless at the moment.

Jared blocked a strike from the soldier and did some fancy flip maneuver then did a downward strike with his axes. The soldier blocked, causing a deadlock where the two fought for leverage. Multiple people from both sides saw an opening so a lot of people rushed around them. Some went straight for Jared and the soldier while others saw the people heading towards them and tried to defend their duel.

Bandits surrounded and gutted lone soldiers and the ones that were strong enough to defend against 2 or 3 bandits were eventually over-run. This... put a smile on my face, I've never seen such carnage in my past life and I think something changed in me when I got no clipped here.

'I have to get in this!' I thought with a wild smile on my face when suddenly the soldier faltered and got pushed back by Jared. I saw it, this was my chance! I ran up behind the soldier dodging random swords flying at me and dead bodies on the ground. I got right behind the soldier just as he recovered from Jared's attack and stabbed him in the back.

the soldier looked behind him and looked me dead in my eyes. It felt like the whole world stopped for a moment "fucking... brat... *keuk*" his eyes went unfocused and he slowly fell over with my sword still in his back.

I saw Jared staring at me, his stare full of conviction. "Nice one kid!" he suddenly screamed. All of the bandits gave war cries and the soldiers started shaking. The soldiers started running in all directions and the bandits chased after them. Even Jared got caught up in the frenzy.

No one noticed me slightly quivering. This guy was different I could see the light fade out of his eyes, this feels completely different than watching someone else get stabbed. Suddenly a soothing sensation flowed all around my body, after 5 seconds I was completely calm. It was like I'd never felt those emotions. I felt off somehow. it was an unnatural calm, this must be how God's blessing works. I kind of felt it back when I beat that bandit's ass. a complete utter calm, other than bloodlust.

I guess he wants me to become a monster or something then, now it makes sense why I felt calm even though I was just no-clipped to another world. *sigh* I can't do anything about this right now, ill leave it to future me to figure out. I guess I'll just stay here and guard our loot, I'm sure Jared and the rest have it covered with the soldiers.

[15 minutes later]

"Jeez took you long enough Jared."

"Hah! that was fun, we really should scope out what firepower they're bringing before we come all the way out here." he said in hindsight "Well it worked out this time. Let's get moving!" he screamed his order at us.

[A little while later]

We finally got back to our little shack and hammocks and counted up our loot and casualties. 23 deaths, all fodder, and idiots we really lost nothing. That last push gave us the coordinated strength we needed to really take out all of the soldiers.

Counting up our loot we got a whole bunch of berries that got distributed to everyone. Since I'm a lower-level bandit I only got 25000 berries which isn't a lot but split between 52 bandits we must've got a whole bunch of loot especially considering Jared, Brian, and Aiden got to keep most of it for themselves.

Then we have the material loot like gear, the wagon itself, a large horse-like creature that pulled the wagon. It's moments like these that remind me I'm in the one-piece world. I didn't get much since I already have good gear but I did get the cloak of the big soldier for defeating him. The actual armor went to Jared as it was too big for me to fit into.

I decided to cut the hood off of my leather tunic because it would just get in the way of my new cloak. It would help me blend into the crowd if I need to, it also hides my weapons from view naturally. I think I'm gonna go for an assassin or rogue build but also with good basic offensive ability. I need that to contend with the big shots of this world. I don't even want to think about haki or devil fruits yet so I'll save that for later. I doubt I'll find a devil fruit in the west blue anyways.

"Hey, greenie!" some guys called me over "Congrats on your first kill! Come drink with us!" it was an offer I couldn't refuse "CHEERS!!!" and so by the end of the night, I was in a dogpile with some slimy bandits giggling.