4 Chapter 4 – Until The Last Man

The screaming priate, who was apparently the brother of the one Lupin had just killed ran at Lupin, leaving his previous opponents behind.

He was a rather tall and average looking guy, with a big axe in his hand.

Arriving in front of Lupin he swung the axe in a downwards slash, hoping to split the boy in half and to quell the rage and grief over his brother's sudden death.

What he could not have expected, as he only thought the boy had succeeded in a sneak attack, was that Lupin had fully concentrated on his Observation Haki and precognition.

He forsaw the trajectory of the attack, that had been swung with considerable amount of force and just sidestepped it.

Losing his balance slightly due to overextending and comitting fully in his last attack, the pirate needed a moment to balance himself again and retake his attack stance.

Obviously Lupin wasn't dumb enough to give him that time.

The moment he sidestepped the attack, he drew his blade in a upwards motion and struck with considerable amount of force, while taking two steps around the tall man.

A moment later and arm fell to the ground, while the priate kneeled over and screamed in pain, holding his stump.

Spinning around again, Lupin beheaded the man with a swift downwards slash.

„Damn! The litte monster killed another man!"

„Hector, that idiot! How could he make such a rookie mistake and get himself killed by a boy?!"

„FUCK! Where did this little demon come from?! Do I have to kill that boy myself, or what!? The rest of you, keep this old goat in check, while I take care of the brat!", the leader of these raiders suddenly said.

The captain knew he couldn't let the little boy continue to kill his man, the tides of the battle had already started to shift with three less pirates on the field. A part of the pressure from the pirates' numbers having vanished, the villagers could play by their numbers and exhaust their opponents slowly.

This was something the pirates simply couldn't let happen, as the reinforcement from the marines was surely already on the way, called by one of the hiding villagers.

So he had to kill the boy fast and use that chance to demoralize the villagers, before finishing this fight as soon as possible.

Kindred, on the other hand, knew that he would not last much longer against sevral opponents, including the captain. In a one on one he was sure to defeat the man quickly, but surrounded like he was, he simply couldn't land a fatal blow without risking receiving one himself.

He didn't know if Lupin could face the captain in a one on one, but from what he knew about their spars and what he observed during this fight, the boy had better chances than him of surviving the fight. He also knew that the boy wasn't as simple as he looked.

He had seen it in the boy's eyes growing up.

The boy thought he could hide his thoughts well, but Kindred had sailed the Grand Line. He had corssed paths with a myrad different people and had learned to read others by their body language, facial expressions or gaze over the long years he had spent on the sea.

The boy was meant for greatness, he believed in that more than anything else.

Lupin, meanwhile, had quickly recollected himself and taken a loose stance, that would allow him to react to most situations in a battle.

Sword raised diagonally in front of him, the point directed at his fast approaching opponent, while his feet stood shoulder-width apart, with his right foot being placed a few inches forward.

Again, shifting his whole focus onto his senses and Observation Haki, Lupin could somewhat see where the pirate captain planned to attack him with his own longsword.

But this time he didn't choose to counter directly while side-stepping the attack.

His animalistic instinct and Haki warning him of some danger.

So Lupin directly pushed of the ground with both feet and jumped back a short distance. The next moment he saw the sword passing by his orignial position, while the pirate captain drew a handgun with one hand, switching the two-handed grip on his sword to a one-handed one.

All the while aiming his gun so that, he would have definitely shot Lupin, had he used the same counter attack again.

Once again reacting quickly and trusting the alarm bells ringing in his head, Lupin dived forward and used his free hand to push off the ground with his full strength, launching himself feet-first towards the pirate's torso.

Thanks to his extraordinary senses and Haki he could postion his weapon perfectly to deflect the pistol aiming at him, while using his left foot to kick away the man's other hand, making him lose his sword because of the forceful blow.

Landing on the pirates chest with the sole of his right foot, he took the much taller man down with him to the ground.

Lupin landing on top off him, reacted immediately by pushing the blade sword through the man's throat, while keeping the man's arms locked with his legs and other arm. Perfectly using his superior strength to his advantage.

The pirate captain tried fight back of course, but this all happened in an instant and while Lupin had been able to act with precision and decisiveness in such a high-speed battle, the captain could not.

He had been overwhelmed by the boy's fast reaction and counter attack, after his first trick with the gun did not work out.

The dying man still fired his pistol several times out of panic and fear, as he laid there, slowly bleeding to death, though with his arm locked in position, he didn't hit anything.

Lupin only let up on his hold over the man's arms, after he sensed his presence vanishing via his Observation Haki and couldn't hear his heart beating anymore with his superior hearing.

Looking up, he noticed that the battles around him had come to a complete halt at this point.

Both the pirates and the villagers looking at him in fear.

Only Kindred himself, looked at the child with a relieved look in his eyes, before he abruptly shouted, while going into attack mode again: „Take them all down!"

The other villagers walking up from their stupor at seeing a child make easy work of a pirate that had threatened their safety.

The pirates at this point had lost their morale and were turning on their heels to escape from this cursed village that housed such a little demon.

Lupin at this point knew that the village was already save, but tried his best to surpress such thoughts, so he wouldn't lose his calm.

'The hunt isn't over, there is still prey! Go! Move!', he urged himself.

He could feel his grip on his Observation Haki already failing, but decided that his normal animalistic senses were more than enough for the rest of the battle.

Lupin rekindled his fighting spirit and forced himself to fight until the end.

He couldn't let it become a habit to let his enemies escape after a battle. He wasn't like Luffy who would just beat someone up and them leave them be. Lupin wasn't naive enough to think that such actions wouldn't come to bite him in the ass later on.

'If you fight, than fight until the end. No backing off midway or else don't start a fight in the first place.'

To Lupin, that was just common sense in a world like this.

And so he went after the escapees and cut them down, one after another.

The difference was that he had long since lost his calm and fought just using his exceptional instincts. He did this until even the last man fell down – dead and forgotten.

The villagers had long since distanced themselves from him with fearful expressions on their faces. Afraid that he would cut them down too in his bloodlust.

So he stood there on the shore, before the last pirate he had cut down. Basically covered in blood, sword still in hand and panting heavily.

Sensing someone approaching, Lupin spinned around and readied his weapon, while drawing back his lips, showing off his teeth in a threatening manner.

„Lupin, boy. Calm down, the pirates are all dead. The battle is over. It's time to go back home.", Kindred stood before him, wholly unafraid and said in a calm and collected tone.

When Lupin heard the word 'home', his shoulders slumped down and the tension gradually left his body. Slowly the lupine part of him receeded to the back of his mind, while his human side took the lead again.

Looking around and realising the carnage he had created, the boy's started swaying a little and trembling excessively. He was obviously in shock, as his mind struggled to process the happening that had taken place.

At some point, Kindred had approached him and started to stroke his back, while whispering calming words to him.

„It's okay, boy. Everyone does that after their first real battle. It will get better. Just relax."(Kindred)

His strength leaving him completely, Lupin had to be carried back to their home at the outskirts of the village by Kindred. The old man then drew him a bath where he helped him wash off all the blood on himself.

After the bath the old man helped him to his bed, where Lupin fell into an comatose-like sleep, his mind being utterly exhausted from today's events.

Kindred then went back to the village by himself to sort out the aftermath of the battle.

It had been his duty since his arrival at the village, as his expierience as a retired marine made him perfect for the job.

He wanted to make sure that the spoils of the battle were distributed fairly, especially since his own adoptive grandson had practically won the battle for them.

Maybe these pirates even had a bounty on their heads, after all they had been stronger than the normal raiders the town had seen over the last few years. The marines would probably also show up in a while, so he would discuss the possible bounties with them.

He also was aware that he would have to calm down the other villagers, as they all had been rather terrified off his grandson, after they had witnessed him cutting down the rest of the pirates viciously.

He himself knew, that it wasn't something uncommon to fall into a frenzy, when fighting for ones life.

Fear, survival instinct, aggression and all the adrenaline weren't easy on the mind after all. That Lupin had manged to fight calmly at the beginning had been a surprise in itself, as it had been his first real battle afterall.

…

Several hours later Kindred came back to his house, finally having finished handling the aftermath of the raid.

As he had expected the pirates had bounties with an overall sum of around 5 million berry. The captain himself was worth 3.2 million, while the rest of the bounty was distributed amongst their crew.

This bouty, while only slightly above average for the East Blue, did not mean they had been weak. Kindred simply estimated that they had hidden a part of their strength.

Still, the fact that Lupin had been able to defeat the captain spoke volumes of the child's future potential.

Once grown up Kidred was sure the boy would become a true monster amongst men.

After discussing with the villagers for a while, it had been decided that Kindred and Lupin would take 3.5 million Berry, while the rest would distributed evenly amongst the rest of the milicia.

The marine reinforcement had arrived shortly after the battle and after a quick discussion with them, it had been decided that they would send the bounty to the village from the nearest base with a patrol ship in a few days.

Kindred wasn't worried about them not keeping their word, as he was a former officer from the headquarters.

He still had a bit of a pull in the marines, as a lot of his old comrades were also all officers, one even reaching the rank of captain. These marines from the East Blue wouldn't dare to anger him for such a meager bounty.

Important to note was that even though Lupin had helped the villagers gaining victory in the fight, it had not been without casualities. Two men had died due to their injuries, while several had been heavily injured and even lost a limb.

The families of those that had lost a member would have a harder time in the future, surviving without the help provided by a capable and working adult.

Another thing Kindred had to take care of was the fair distribution of the spoils they had gotten from the pirate ship. They had found nearly five million berry in cash and several crates full of looted and stolen goods, including silk, wax, spices and jewelry.

The worth of all that, including the ship itself and the weapons from the now dead priates was around twelve million berry.

The ship itself was badly damaged due to lacking maintanence and its size being too small for twenty men to comfortably travel on, so it wasn't even worth more than the wood it was made off. At the end the villagers had decided to take it apart and find another use for the wood.

After another long discussion, it had been decided that Kindred and Lupin would take all the cash, while the rest would go to the villagers.

Their spoils included also anything of worth that the pirates they had killed, had kept on their person, which included a lot of different melee weapons and a pistol. There had only been two other rifles and there was barely any amunition left.

It wasn't so easy to just buy firearms and amunition in bulk, if you were a wanted pirate. That was also the reason most pirates preferred bladed weapons, as they were easier to aquire and didn't need amunition.

Kindred had given up on most of the weapons and only kept the captains longsword and the pistol. The rest he had given to the villagers for some spices and other goods.

The sword would be Lupin's spare one from now on, while Kindred himself to keep the pistol and bullets as a trump card, like that pirate captain had done.

There were only two things left that troubled Kindred now.

One being, if Lupin would be alright after having expierienced blood and death at such a young age. He had even killed most of the pirates himself, so Kindred was worried that such an event may leave some serious trauma. It had been unavoidable to ensure their own survival, but that didn't lessen the worry and guilt Kindred felt for allowing such a thing to happen.

Still, the other thing that weighed on Kindreds mind, had proved how right he had been with his assumptions during the battle.

While searching the ship, they had found a young girl probably around 15 years of age chained up in a small storage room. The girl had been malnourished, sick and injured. She had obviously been kidnapped and used for the crew's entertainment.

She had hardly reacted to any sensory stimuli and carried a lifeless look in her green eyes. She propably had been an exotic beauty, when the pirates had found her, with her black hair and caramel-colored skin.

Kindred had seen such a sight very often in his days on the Grand Line.

Most pirate ships would carry kidnapped people, either for work on the ship and to take care of the daily chores or for the crew's entertainment, often times even both.

The Grand Line was definitely not suited for the weak-minded people. Kindness in these waters was a privilege of the strong, while the weak could only submit.

He hoped the girl would recover with the help and care of the villagers. It would probably take a lot of time and maybe time itself wouldn't be enough to help her get over her expieriences.

Luckily, he had also manged to calm down the villagers and assure them that Lupin wasn't some dangerous demon child.

He had lied to them and told them that Lupin's real parents were from a warrior tribe in the Grand Line were even the children were already hardened fighters and it was perfectly normal for Lupin to be like that too.

The clueless villagers, while still fearful and scared of the child, now wouldn't think of him like some abomination, but just a child that was born different.

Kindred himself didn't know the truth of his words, as he had no idea about the boy's special heritage.

After finally reaching his home, with the spoils of the battle in a sack on his back, he washed himself and after taking a look at the sleeping child, went to bed himself.