Winter is Here.
We were hunting Danpas. Luffy and I were going for our first killby purselves. I was still Lv 8, edging closer to Lv 9. I allocated half of the free points I had to Agility and the other half to Strength. My Swordsmanship felt stuck at Lv 7—it felt like I hit a bottleneck.[NOTE] Swordsmanship progress stalled. Consider harder challenges.Maybe I should head to Shimotsuki Village for a few dojo lessons… or fight stronger opponents and force the growth.
Danpas are basically big pandas, but there ones had brown dots and weren't as strong as bears.
Ace and Sabo chased while I hid in the forest, and Luffy waited at the top of the hill. One of the Danpas passed me.
"I'll leave that one for Luffy."
I looked at the second one running toward me. I closed my eyes, tightened my grip on the sword, saved my footing on the snow, then used Dash—my blade cleanly cut the Danpa's head off.
"Let's go, Sora—congrats on your first solo kill!"
"Thanks, guys. Wouldn't have been able to do it without you," I said, hehe.
We started chasing the last one through the rough snow.
"Luffy, he's coming your way!" Yelled
"Here he comes!" said Luffy all excited
Luffy jumped down the hill and slid through the snow. The Danpa tried to move, but Luffy slammed into the ground and his body bounced right into the Danpa's stomach, knocking it back ten feet. The Danpa tried to get up with one eye open, only to fall back down.
"Let's go, Luffy! You did it!" we yelled in unison.
"I did it!!!" Luffy yelled, frantically running around the Danpa. "I made a kill for the first time—YAY!"
Just then Sabo noticed a shadow looming over us.
It was the forest's big tiger.
"Luffy, watch out—behind you!" yelled Sabo
"Huh? Behind—?" wondered Luffy
"Huhhhhh! A big tiger!" Luffy yelled, snot coming out of his nose and his eyes almost popping out of his skull.
The tiger had crimson eyes and a black-and-orange pattern that glowed against the white snow, and the bastard was probably six to seven meters tall. The humongous beast jumped down, staring Luffy down. He wanted to cry, but he stood his ground on top of the Danpa's body.
"This is my prize! I won't let you have it!" he yelled, white snot running from his nose and his eyes teary, full of fear and anger. "I am not… gonna… let you… have it!!"
"He's too tough—get away now, Luffy!" yelled Sabo.
"Luffy, back up now!"
The tiger smelled and licked the Danpa body and ignoring Luffy, then swatting him away like a fly. Even after being slapped away, Luffy tried to go back, while yelling frantically that the tiger can't take his price. Only to get slapped again. Ace ran up, picked his butt up, and we ran off.
"Let's run while he's distracted!" I yelled
"I'm gonna get even with you!" Luffy yelled while being carried away.
We carried the Danpa I slayed back to base. Luffy seemed really sad as we walked back.
"Sorry about your first kill." said Sabo
"Leave him. We had no chance against that tiger," said Ace.
"But he stole my prize—that's not fair!" Luffy yelled as we walked over the bridge.
"I think if we train and get more experience, we can take him down," I told Luffy to calm him. "Cheer up—we'll get there."
"Okay, let's train!" He jumped; the old bridge started to shake.
"Oye luffy Stop" Ace warned.
And on his next jump, the bridge broke. Luffy fell through, and I burned Dash to grab his hand while also falling off the bridge. Luckily, Ace and Sabo threw away the Danpa carcass to make sure that me Luffy and I wouldn't fall into the river below. I held Luffy's hands while Ace and Sabo held my legs. Luffy just stared at us and, with a big smile, said,
"Sorry—shi shi shi."
They pulled us up, and we went back to the treehouse.
"Let's just go to bed on a bad day," said Sabo.
"Go to bed on a bad day?" cried Luffy. "Shi Shi, I'm starving, haha," he said.
Ace and I smacked him. "Oye, it's your fault."
"I lost my first kill, too." I cried
"Sorry, Sora—shi shi shi," he said, and then he knocked out.
He woke back up a minute after and said, "It's great having brothers—shi shi shi. You guys come on my ship. It's gonna be fun."
"No, you come on mine." We argued for a while until Luffy suggested whoever beats the tiger gets to be captain.
"Are you sure, Luffy? That brings your chances down a lot," said Sabo.
"None of us can beat him, so it makes it even." arugued Luffy
We all said, "Good idea."
The next day, we set out to face the tiger with fish on our backs as bait.
"What a waste of food," complained Luffy.
"It's our bait, Luffy." said Sabo
We walked through the foggy, snow-covered forest. A roar pierced the cold. A massive shape moved in the mist; trees shuddered as it advanced.
"Tiger—!" Sabo started.
The silhouette broke the fog.
The bear roared.
[New Quest Defeat The Bear- Reward New Sword]
" Oh it's the Bear," I thought
"What— it's a bear?" Sabo said.
"That's not what we expected—shoo, shoo, shoo," Luffy complained, disappointed.
"Wait—he's as strong as the tiger. If we can't beat him, we can't beat the tiger." Argued Ace
"You're right," I said. "He'll be our warm-up, then." I said
Ace ran forward with his metal pipe in hand.
I pulled my broadsword from my inventory and followed right behind. "We're going in first."
"Oye, that's not fair," complained Luffy.
Ace jumped for the head while I cut at its right leg. My old rusty sword left only a small line its had alot thicker skin compred to the Danpas, while Ace raised a bump on the bear's skull. We jumped back to read it. Its eyes rolled white and it unleashed a huge roar.
"Shit!" yelled Ace. "Let's get out of here!"
We dropped fish on the ground, but the bear didn't care. It barreled after us on all fours, enraged, while we ran for our lives. I spammed Dash, I could use about 30 times now before my body would give out.
The moment we broke from the trees, a wooden hammer hissed past us and smashed into the bear's belly, sending it flying.
An old man, cigar in his mouth and a hat with goggles on top, walked toward us and past us, straight at the bear. The bear rose to charge.
"Who's that?" asked Luffy.
"That's old man Naguri from Gray Terminal."
"Watch out!" yelled Sabo.
The old man didn't flinch. He slid a hand from his pocket and opened his palm—the snow rose around him.
The bear stopped.
"You don't belong here. Go back to the forest." Naguri Said
The bear roared, then turned and trudged away, almost sadly.
[SCAN] Unknown energy detected. Classification: "Conqueror's Haki" (unlearned).
"Cool," exclaimed Luffy, remembering when Shanks used his Conqueror's Haki against the Lord of the Coast. A chill ran down my spine, seeing Conquero's Haki being used for the first time.
[DING][QUEST COMPLETE] Black Bear encounter resolved — Reward: New sword[ITEM ACQUIRED]
I looked in my inventory and saw a Katana.