(February 6th.)
I'll skip the Christmas Holiday Special since I'd rather have it as a flashback.
Back to the story.
This very year Monkey D Dragon has gained notoriety with his group of "freedom fighters." Everything was shown in the newspaper that Kaizo was reading.
"Son of the hero of the marines turns rogue? Is this the justice the people deserve?" Read the article, which came with a bounty poster.
[Monkey D Dragon
Only Alive
Bounty: 200.000.000 Beris.]
*WHISTLE* Kaizo whistles at the sight.
Two hundred million ain't no small amount but Dragon's actions don't really sum to such amount. It was then that he focused on the Only alive part.
Only Alive was only used on criminals that had some value to the world government, but Dragon is a marine traitor, those would mostly get only dead rewards. This made Kaizo think of the eldest of the Monkey D family: Monkey D Garp.
The only reason Dragon could have a bounty with such a high price and specific conditions would be if Garp himself was using his influence to alter it. This made Kaizo realize how much weight "The Hero of the Marines" have over the organization.
Still, the most significant thing about this is that Kaizo has confirmed that Monkey D Luffy has not been born yet, he made some research about the Monkey family and just as he thought, the only members are Garp and Dragon, which brings the question: Why would you name your son Luffy when you were named Dragon?
Regardless of that, Kaizo had more important things to do, planning Robin's birthday party.
Kaizo knows that Robin does not get along well with other kids that well and only cares for the scholars that study in the tree of knowledge, so he planned to make this a low-key party.
Thinking of everything he knows about Robin; he is planning a surprise party. Since Robin seems to enjoy thriller, Kaizo planned to decorate their hangout place with scary decorations, but he would have to hide them to prevent her from knowing.
Robin is extremely cunning and smart, besides the scholars, there was practically no one smarter than her. With this in mind, Kaizo devised a plan to catch Robin by surprise.
——————————
Robin was walking through the streets with a smile on her face and a basket filled with sandwiches. She was happy because today is her birthday, and she was going to spend it with her best friend.
Her day began with her aunt and uncle, mostly aunt, practically kicking her out of the house as her cousin laughed in her face, with a way like that to start the day Robin just walked towards the Tree of knowledge to see her scholar friends.
They all gave her compliments and greeted her with a smile, they gifted her various books that were from outside the island and a basket full of sandwiches as she requested the day before.
Having her books stored in the massive library, Robin went to meet Kaizo in their meeting point that is the woods.
When she arrived, there was nothing. Not a single sign of him being there.
She initially thought it was just a normal prank on his side or something like that but as she kept looking around, she found nothing, not decorations, nor toys nor anything.
It was as if Kaizo had never been there since the beginning. As she kept looking, Robin began to feel fear. "What if something bad happened to him?" Such thoughts began to plague her mind.
She tried calling for his name, but she didn't get any reply. Robin ran towards the town in a hurry, searching for Kaizo, but she received nothing worth mentioning. She kept running and looked for her friend, but she never found him.
Now, with no options left, she ventured deep into the woods, resolved to find Kaizo no matter what.
Meanwhile, after Robin left the lookout, Kaizo emerged from underground and looked around, seeing the area clear, he plucked himself from the ground and began to dig out the decorations he had previously buried.
"Hehe~ Robin's gonna love this surprise party." Kaizo.
Contrary to people believe, when one's age is rewind to being a child, one's psyche does in fact gets affected. The childishness one experiences for the first time return and invades the subconscious, altering their once mature mindset one possessed.
Kaizo's case is extremely unique since Wexof made sure that said childishness would follow Kaizo his whole life. He's still himself but also different from the him before reincarnating, after all: no human being is the same as another.
Now, with that out of the way, Kaizo began to prepare his surprise party for Robin. He made some simple adjustments to the Halloween decorations and finished in less than two hours.
With everything done, Kaizo went to look for Robin since he wasn't gonna wait for her to return.
——————————————
Back with Robin, she's not exactly doing so well. Kaizo knows the forest like the back of his foot, but Robin doesn't, meaning that she's currently lost on the forest all by herself.
As she walks aimlessly, she begins to reminiscent about her life before Kaizo became her friend.
She would be bothered by every kid in the village, and no one would stand up on her side, even her scholar friends/acquaintances were more inversed in their own research that helping her, which she can understand, but it was still hurtful.
But then Kaizo arrived.
She admits it, she didn't really think much of him when they first met, she thought he was just another bothersome boy that would most likely bother her.
But she couldn't be more wrong, not only did Kaizo didn't bothered her, but he also became her best friend by sticking always on her side. She couldn't remember a time she was happier before Kaizo arrived.
But now, she was alone once again, and Robin began to realize how awful being alone truly is, she hadn't mind before because she was used to it but after being with a friend for so much, the mere feeling of loneliness both saddens and terrifies Robin.
*ROAR*
A loud roar snaps Robin out of her trance and makes her look back. A large bear roared aggressively at the distance and locked on Robin.
Robin was scared of the bear and tried to run but her legs failed her. She couldn't move out of fear, the bear began to rush towards Robin as she was shaking in the spot.
The life of the young archeologist flashed before her eyes and a single regretful thought plagued her mind: "I wonder where Kaizo's is."
Just as the bear's claw closed in...
*SWISH*
A figure grabbed Robin and evaded the claw attack of the bear.
Robin looked at her savior and tears almost filled her eyes when she realized who it was.
"Kaizo!" Robin.
"Yo~ I told you to never drift towards this side of the forest. The not so care bear lives here after all." Kaizo scolded Robin.
"I was looking for you, because I wanted to celebrate my birthday with you, but you didn't tell me where you were!" Robin counter argued there.
"Well, we can talk later. For now, let me see how I fare against a bear." Kaizo cracked his knuckles.
The bear looked at Kaizo and began to charge once again, Kaizo princess carried Robin, jumped towards a tree behind him, and waited for the bear to make his move.
The bear kept charging but instead of Kaizo it decided to attack the tree. With its powerful claws, the bear smashed the tree, hoping that would've thrown his prey unto the ground, however, Kaizo had already jumped from the tree and even threw Robin upwards.
As Kaizo descended, he began to spin and delivered a nice stomp unto the bear's head. The bear got mad and tried to swat Kaizo away, but he nimbly evaded the attack. As Kaizo landed he heard the yell of Robin.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Robin yelled as she fell.
With another quick jump Kaizo swiftly and gently catched the falling girl.
"Why'd you throw me?!" Robin asked, clearly pissed.
"I needed some space to counter properly." Kaizo.
"Forget that, just run!" Robin said as she got off Kaizo.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him, but Kaizo didn't moved.
"No, I'm fighting this bear." Kaizo.
"Eh?! Are you demented?!" Robin.
"I am a man who dreams of becoming the strongest in the whole world, how can I run when facing a mere bear?" Kaizo.
"You're just a kid! That bear is going to destroy you!" Robin.
"Nah, I'd win." Kaizo.
*ROAR*
Robin was about to say something when she heard the bear roar once again. Kaizo patted her head and smiled.
"Leave that smelly bear to me, wait for me at the hangout." Kaizo.
Robin didn't retort as she saw the bear preparing to rush once again so she ran from the scene, she did however deliver one final liner.
"If you're not back by sundown, I'll hate you!" Robin.
"HAHAHAHA!!! And you call me childish, fine, have it your way! I'll be back before sundown, Robin!" Kaizo.
Robin left the chat- I mean the area just as the bear charged against Kaizo.
The bear lunged at the blue-haired kid, but Kaizo dodged to the right, evading the left claw. Kaizo grabbed a handful of dirt with both hands and rushed at the bear with a wicked smile.
In the past, whether it was just to test his strength or hunt, Kaizo fought various animals barehanded. He fought bears, lions, even sharks, and although he didn't win the fights unscathed, he did win in the end.
Ever since he reincarnated, he's been mastering the basics of a variety of techniques in order to strengthen his young body. But he's never had a chance to properly test said body since most of the time his opponents lacked enough defense to retaliate after a few hits.
Whether it was the kids in town that mocked Robin or wolves in the woods, Kaizo had remained undefeated in all their confrontations. But a bear, massive over 80 kg mammalian beast, with claws so powerful they can pierce hard wood, and this is the anime version of said beast, so it's even buffer. And also, Kaizo's just a kid.
Oh yeah, Kaizo is going to enjoy this.
Kaizo threw sand at the bear's eyes. The bear grunted as the sand entered his eyes and some of his nose and even sneezed a little. Kaizo took the opportunity and delivered two side hooks at the bear's snout.
The bear was momentarily bothered by the punch but then began to claw anything in front of him, Kaizo barely evaded a claw took some distance from the bear.
'It's strong. Stronger than a normal bear but still way stronger than me. My fists barely scratch his skin, and I don't even want to think about its toughness. Well, it's not like I was expecting a walk in the park.' Kaizo thought.
The bear finished brushing enough sand off its eyes and locked on Kaizo once again. Kaizo decided to try clashing head on with the bear to test how he's standing regarding his raw power.
The result was the expected.
The bear charged against Kaizo's right fist and easily overpowered him. Kaizo felt pain in his entire right arm as the bear's head pushed him back.
The bear wasn't giving any openings and kept rushing, doing a big leap forward to crush Kaizo. The bluenette seized the frame in which the bear was still airborne and slip from beneath the bear.
Kaizo slid perfectly and retook his fighting stance and focused on the bear, not without analyzing the damage to his arm.
'Dislocation in my fingers and wrist.' Kaizo caressed his hand and pops his bones in their original position.
'And bruises all over my knuckles and fingers except for the thumb.' Kaizo caressed his knuckles and cleaned off the dirt and blood off them.
But then, a smile appears on his face as he looks at the bear.
'It seems my fists alone won't be enough, eh? Bear?' Kaizo thought as he grabbed a stone from the ground.
The bear lunged at Kaizo again but this time, Kaizo went into defensive. Every claw attack was just dodged by Kaizo's innates reflexes, at one point, he began to even flex and closed his eyes to train his instinct, but dodging became harder.
The wasn't dodging as fast as before and got some scratches around his body, but Kaizo didn't care, it's best to test things like this in a savage animal than an actual enemy. The bear then got on both his back paws and tried to smash Kaizo with his frontal paws.
Kaizo simply jumped in the narrow space between the paws and opened his eyes, making eye contact with the bear as this one missed his attack. Kaizo then grabbed the stone he's been holding unto and smashes it against the bear's left eye.
*ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR*
The bear released a pained roar as Kaizo landed behind the bear. The bear grabbed his head trying to take the rock off but doing so gave Kaizo a chance.
Grabbing two stones off the ground, Kaizo swiftly sharpened one with the other and lunged at the bear's neck.
*STAB*
Kaizo used the sharpened stone and stabbed the bear's neck with it, without waiting for a response from it Kaizo immediately used the other stone to pierce further the neck area. The bear was in shock and instinctively managed to swing his paw like a backhand.
Kaizo couldn't avoid the paw while being airborne so, he used both his forearms and legs to protect his chest and head from impact. The claw struck and Kaizo was sent crashing towards a tree.
His arms and legs got injured but amongst the pain he was feeling in his limbs, a small sense of achievement rose upon Kaizo. He looked at the bear, who was still standing, and looked right into the blank expression it was doing before its colossal body collapsed.
As Kaizo saw the bear fall he let out a small dry laugh as he stood up in pain.
"Strongest in the world my ass. Call it strategy or whatever but a victory like this is not fulfilling to me. Welp, a win's a win as they say, too bad I'm too injured, otherwise I would've loved to take every inch of meat from you... that came out wrong." Kaizo.
[HA! GAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!] Wexof.
'I suddenly feel pissed. I should go back to the lookout.' Kaizo thought as he moved his injured body out of the area and made is way towards the lookout.