Serious; Chapter One: Dawn of a New Age; Closed

Location: Tamner Hideaway/West Blue

The small island wasn't quiet, but then, it never was. Tamner Hideaway was a backwater island that was almost as far to the southwest as one could go. It was completely off the beaten path for most people. However, to pirates, it was a sanctuary. Marines rarely bothered to come this far and ordinary townsfolk had absolutely no reason to come here. Not if they valued their lives.

The entire island was pretty much a coastal town. Its borders were almost entirely surrounded by a high, and easily defensible, wall of stone. One small patch of the island did not have a wall around it, but there was no need for that. That side of the island was the harbor and it was almost always filled with dozens of pirate vessels. Any ships that came in to attack would essentially be committing suicide.

Since the town's population was almost entirely composed of pirates, the town's bars were not just unhealthy, they were downright dangerous. Especially for an inexperienced newcomer.

One such newcomer was learning this painful lesson the hard way as he was lifted by his throat up to the face of a much larger man. The man was nowhere near the size of a true giant, but he was still a good ten feet tall and built like a truck with broad shoulders, meaty arms, and a massive, barrel-like chest.

By comparison, the newcomer was much smaller, though he was by no means a midget. At six and a half feet tall, this much younger man had a well-muscled, but slim, physique. He was dressed in somewhat heavy clothing, such as a coat and thick jeans. On his feet, however, he wore only a pair of sandals. He had spiky, dark blue hair and light blue eyes. Out of all of these fairly ordinary features, the man had one, glaringly bizarre point. That was his wings. He had two of them, large and feathery, sticking out of a pair of long slits on the back of his coat. Neither wing moved and both were set in a tucked-in position. To a casual viewer, these wings would appear lifeless and mechanical. They were odd, but not totally out of place, assuming the young man was eccentric. Between the wings, a short spear was slung across the young man's back, its sharp tip glittering wickedly. Oddly enough, the young man made no move to grab his spear as he struggled in the larger man's grip.

"You think you can just run into me, spill my drink, and get away with it?" the man roared angrily. "Me? Luca Grimaldi?" He held up a wanted poster he had been holding in his other hand. "I have a five million beli bounty on my head, see? Don't even think of messing with me." He puffed out his chest haughtily. Obviously this bounty was a great source of pride for him.

"S-sorry," the smaller man gasped, as he struggled to breathe in the tight grip. He offered a weak smile. "I-I wasn't l-looking...t-totally my f-fault..."

"Idiot!" Luca roared, smashing the smaller man into a table, shattering the wooden structure. He left the man's prone form there in the wreckage as he looked back to his friends, laughing as he said, "Ha! What a loser! He isn't even trying to fight back."

Meanwhile outside the bar...

A fair sized man wondered along the path way of the village, he had dark purple hair and black rounded glasses. It was difficult for him to move around due to the fact that it was very crowded.


"<sigh> Talk about traffic.." he muttered to himself as he fixed his glasses.

Patch then got out a pouch full of beli, he scanned the area for some kind of bar or place to rest. Suddenly a small bar caught his eye.

"Bingo.." he said to himself as he made his way towards the bar.

He slipped the pouch into his pocket and fixed his glasses, he knew that something bad was gonna happen.

Inside the bar...

"Hahaha! What's wrong?! Cat got your tongue!" a man yelled as he began approach the man on the table.

He bent down so that his mouth was near his ear.

"You Runt."

The young man sat up, massaging his throat. He pushed himself off of the table and rose to his feet, albeit slowly. Aside from a few cuts and several unseen bruises, he was mostly unhurt. He brushed off a few wooden splinters absentmindedly and smiled broadly at the man who had just approached to whisper in his ear.

"Runt?" he repeated. "Well, yes, I suppose from your point of view, I might be." He turned to Luca and, with an extremely apologetic look, bowed and said, "I am really so very sorry about your drink. I can buy you three drinks as payment. How does that sound?"

Luca twitched and slowly looked back around at the smaller man. He hadn't expected him to able to get back up after that. Usually his victims were knocked out by the first blow and even if they weren't, most were smart enough to stay down. However, his greed caused him to not think of the implications behind this and focus only on the prospect of a free drink.

"You have money to pay?" he asked, an oddly light, almost friendly tone in his voice.

"Sure," the young man replied, putting his hand into his pocket and fishing around for his wallet. "I'm not rich or anything, but I have a decent amount of cash. Besides, a couple of drinks shouldn't cost too much, right?"

Luca's hand shot out and grabbed the young man, smashing him into a nearby wall. His grin widened and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"So there are still idiots who carry money around in this place," Luca chuckled. "I would have thought this town would have weeded out the fools by now. Listen weakling, if it wasn't me doing this, someone else would." He held out his other hand expectantly. "So how about I just relieve you of that burden before something...regrettable happens to you."

"You want my money?" the young man asked. "But if you take it, how will I buy anything to eat?"

Luca spun and hurled the smaller man across the room. The young man skimmed across a couple of tables, clearing them of their contents, before slamming forcibly into a man who was lifting his mug to his lips. The impact knocked the drinker out of his chair and left him unconscious on the floor, beer sopping over his face and clothes.

"BOHAHAHA!" Luca laughed. "Did you see him fly?" he yelled to his friends. "That'll teach him to talk back to me!"

Patch opened the doors of the bar, he walked in slowly only to see a man being flung across the room. As a Doctor, he had to help the man. Patch walked over to the man and bent down.

"That was a nasty hit, you alright?" Patch said as he fixed his glasses.

He then got out a small box of bandages and opened it. The man's right arm seemed to be bleeding.

"This might sting a little.." Patch said as he applied the bandages around the man's injured arm.

Once he had finished he returned the bandages into his pocket and turned to face towards the man who threw him.

"This man's injured..I won't allow you to harm my patients." he muttered.

He let out his right arm and slowly turned it into a purple substance which looked like...poison?

"Im not gonna let you lay a finger on him."

Luca glared at the latest newcomer. They just kept right on cropping up. Didn't they know their place?

It was odd how this newcomer wasn't caring any weapons, but was still acting so arrogant. His arm, however...that was really strange. It seemed to be covered in some sort of liquid. The mysterious substance was a sinister dark purple.

"Devil fruit user," Luca muttered, as he realized what was going on. He wasn't sure what kind of fruit it was, but he had seen enough of devil fruits to know their potency. This newcomer was someone to look out for.

"Whew," the young man sighed as he stood back up, once again apparently unfazed by the attack he had been hit with. "That's not very nice." He pointed down at the unconscious man on the floor. "You hurt this guy, and he didn't even do anything wrong!"

Luca's eyes bulged as did just about everyone else's in the bar.

"HE GOT UP!" several people shouted all at the same time.

The young man glanced over at Patch and smiled. "Thanks for the bandages, doc. You don't mind if I call you that, do you?" Without waiting for an answer, he flexed his fingers experimentally and lifted and tapped both of his feet on the floor. "Yeah, it looks like I'm okay. Everything is still in working order. No permanent injuries as far as I can tell." He shrugged. "You don't have to threaten him, doc. It's not a big deal. We're just messing around."

Luca's expression darkened upon hearing those words. He placed a hand into his shirt and withdrew a long, curved dagger from a hidden sheath.

"You think I'm just messing around?" Luca growled. "Is that all this is to you? DON'T MOCK ME!"

Luca jumped forward, the dagger drawn back while his other hand reached towards the smaller man.

"Still," the young man said, still talking to Patch. He put a hand on Patch's non-poisoned shoulder to keep him from moving forward and he himself stepped forward, putting himself in between the doctor and the oncoming Luca. "I can't really let him get away with hurting an innocent bystander like this."

"YOU'RE DEAD MEAT!" Luca roared. Luca's outstretched hand caught hold of the young man's shirt and he thrust with his dagger. "DIE!"

The young man stood his ground and just as the dagger's blade was about to reach him, he made his move. With one hand, he slapped the side of Luca's arm, knocking the dagger away from his body. Then the young man's other arm drew back, his fingers closing and tightening into a fist. The young man turned his body and punched Luca in the face with all of his might. The sheer power of the punch hurled Luca bodily across the room. This time, it was Luca who made a great impact: Right into a wall. The wall was made of solid wood, but a large number of planks snapped and bent outward. Luca's mouth opened and he coughed once, spitting out blood. Then he collapsed, sliding to the floor. The battle was already over. It had been a one hit KO.

"Hmm..?" Patch thought as he looked back the man who was now making his way in front of him. He turned his right arm back into it's original form. He suddenly noticed that a tall man was charging towards his patient.

"Move out the way Damn it! Do you have a death wish or something!?" he yelled towards the man in-front of him, suddenly to his surprise, the tall man was on the floor.. unconscious.

Patch looked at the un-conscious man, he was amazed. He then suddenly walked up to the body and bent down.

"Hold still.." he said taking out some bandages. He applied them to the man's bleeding forehead.

He then stood up and suddenly spat a small amount of poison which flew like a bullet towards the man's mates. It skimmed one of their faces however it was nothing serious.

"Take your mate and go." he said pointing to the bandaged man on the floor.

Aside from Patch's few words and movement, the bar was totally silent. The surrounding pirates all gaped at the young man with expressions that bordered on awe. They only reacted when Patch told the crew of the unconscious man to take their friend and leave. Immediately, the crew obeyed and everyone who was not associated with them went back to what they were doing.

"You'll pay for this!" one of the crew yelled over his shoulder when they had reached the door. Then they were gone.

While all of this was going on, the young man had silently looked on, his arms folded over his chest. His expression was neutral and it had not changed; not even when the pirates yelled out their threat. Then, without warning, he spun around to face the bartender.

"I'm sorry for the mess," he said, offering the bartender a quick bow. "I can pay for the damages."

"Uh...I would appreciate that," the bartender said, surprised by his generosity. "But it's not necessary. I'm used to it." Damage like this was far from uncommon, but normally it was a death wish to expect the pirates involved to take responsibility. "You've a brave one, standing up to him like that," the bartender continued. "I'll give you that much. Even if you are a bit foolish." He reached down and drew out a bottle from beneath the bar before setting it down on the counter. "Here. You can have this on the house. It's nothing compared to the money you saved me by stopping those maniacs."

"Thanks, but I don't drink," the young man replied, approaching the counter. "But what do you mean by I am foolish?"

"That man you just hit was a member of one of the strongest pirate crews in the area," the bartender told him. "His captain is a man with a forty million beli bounty on his head."

The young man let out a low whistle. "Not bad. He must be tough."

Patch sighed once they left, he then fixed his glasses once more and looked at the bartender.

"40 Million Beli, eh?" he said as he went over to the counter.

He took a seat and picked up the bottle.

"Don't mind if I do." He said as he opened the bottle, he took a quick sip. He then looked towards the bartend's direction once more.

"Say, what exactly is this person's name?" he asked with a serious tone as he began to take another sip.

Patch then looked over to the man. He seemed to have wings from his back.

"Skypian. Right?"

If the bartender was surprised by Patch having entered into the conversation, he didn't show it. In reality, he had actually been expecting it. The way these two had worked together, he assumed they might be part of the same pirate crew. A part of him did wonder, though, who was the captain? He must be strong to have drawn these two into his group. The young man obviously was very strong in the physical sense. He hadn't even used his spear during that fight and still won with a single blow. The other, Patch, had used some kind of devil fruit. Like Luca, the bartender did not know which fruit it was, but any fruit was a force to be reckoned with in the right hands.

"The pirate's name is Faustino D'Angeli," the bartender told Patch. "His enemies know him as the 'Wild Gentlemen'. It sounds like a bit of a contradiction, I know, but from what I've heard, it's not. The idea is, he's generally very courteous, but that's only if you stay on his good side. In battle, it's another story entirely. Faustino's ferocity is near legendary in these parts." At this point, the bartender's voice went quiet and he looked around to make sure no one was listening in, before leaning towards Patch and the young man. "By the way," he whispered. I also heard that Faustino ate a devil fruit. Though which one it is, I'm not sure. One rumor suggests that his nickname might be a hint, but you'll have to figure that out on your own."

The young man nodded through all of this, taking in the information studiously.

"He sounds really strong," the young man admitted. "Perhaps too strong. I'm always on the lookout for sparring partners, but I'm not really very powerful myself." The bartender's eyes widened in shock at this absurd statement, but the young man had already turned to Patch to answer his question. A genuinely confused expressed crossed the young man's face and he cocked his head to one side. "What's a Skypian?"

"Faustino D'Angeli..." Patch thought as he took another sip of the drink.

This name..he had heard it before, it was near the docks of the island, a group of people seemed to be talking about him. Patch fixed his glasses and then looked towards the young man.

"You don't know hat a skypian is? It's you." he said.

Patch then pointed upwards.

"They live in the island of the sky known as Skypia, it a mere legend however since you're here I can assume that's it's not all some fairy tail." he said once more as he took another sip of the drink.

Patch then got out a pouch of beli and threw it towards the bartender.

"That's for the info."

Patch then turned towards the skypian, he let out a hand.

"Patch. A doctor, nice to meet you."

The young man still didn't quite understand. It didn't make sense to him that anyone could live on an island in the sky. There was nothing up there except clouds and there were no clouds thick enough to hold up even a single person, let alone an entire civilization. He would know. He had flown up to try and stand on clouds, but only succeeded in getting himself wet.

Still, the young man didn't want to argue with Patch over something so trivial. Even if it was true and there were islands in the sky, it was not likely that they would ever affect him.

"Nice to meet you," the young man said, taking Patch's hand. "I'm Takao." He shrugged. "I guess you could say that I'm a blacksmith, though I rarely make anything myself. Usually I just try to improve stuff."

"Hm, we should get going, those guys from earlier might come back for revenge.." Patch said as he made his way out of the bar.

He took a sip of his drink and looked back at Takao.

"Any suggestions on where we should go next?" he asked .

Patch didn't really know his way around the island for he had just arrived here a few hours ago. If they didn't move soon they could have another encounter with the gang of people from earlier.

"Go...next...?" Takao stared unblinkingly at Patch for a solid five seconds. Then he smiled, shrugged, and followed after the other man. "I don't know."

Takao didn't have any idea why this guy was speaking as if they were a team. Sure, they had sort of worked together a couple of minutes before, but that had been more of a matter of circumstance than anything else. Still, he didn't have anything better to do right now.

"I was actually planning to take the day off," Takao mused, giving voice to his thoughts. "But then I met this lady who needed a package delivered to her husband. And after that there was this kid who was lost and a dog that had a bruised ankle..." Takao yawned and stretched. "All of the running around has made it really hard to catch up on my sleep. Anyway, where do you want to go?"

"Me?" Patch asked with a rather suprised look on his face.

Patch wanted to go anywhere which as away from here, he looked back at Takao. A smile smile crossed his lips.

"Im heading off to the store...you can follow me..I don't really care.." Patch said as he made his way to a small store which he had seen earlier.

As he walked he began to think about that pirate...Faustino D'Angeli. He seemed to have a DF however which one was it? Wild Gentleman..
The key word was "Wild" ...a zoan?

"In that case, I'm heading this way," Takao told Patch. He pointed off down another street. "Nice meeting you. Maybe we'll see each other again someday."

Then he turned away and walked off down that street, already lost in his own, private thoughts.

From the top of a tall, faraway building, a man lay with a small, handheld telescope placed over one eye. The man was dressed in fairly generic pirate garb: A bandanna, a sash around his waist, and a single-shot flintlock at his waist. Had either Takao or Patch been able to see the man, they would have recognized him as one of the men who had left the bar with Luca.

The man was keeping a close watch on both Patch and Takao. When they split up, he lowered his telescope momentarily to give a wave to a man behind him. This second man nodded to the first and then slipped away out of sight. The first man raised his telescope once more and continued to watch Patch.

It had to be a zoan. Wild was the term used for a animal which wasn't tamed. Patch sighed. He was thinking to much, who cares what Devil Fruit he had. Patch continued his way to the store, it didn't seem crowded and there was a lot of useful items on sale. There was a map of the island. It seemed to be for free due to the fact that nearly every body on this island already knew there way around the place. Patch picked up the map. He began to look around. A set of bandages could be found. He needed some new ones because his old once seemed to be running out. He reached for the pack. It seemed to cost 100 beli. He digged his hands into his pocket and got out another pouch. He threw it towards the shop keeper. He then began to approach the keeper.

"Say, do you have a log pose?" Patch asked with a curious tone of voice.

The man began to itch his head, he wasn't entirely sure what a log pose was. There was a dirty clyindar behind the man, it was very dusty. Patch pointed at it. The man got it out of the shelf behind him and began to dust it off, it seemed very old. Patch had 3 pouches in his pocket, he took out one and gave it to the man. He then retrieved the item. Patch walked out the store however he suddenly stopped. He had this feeling that he was being watched. He sighed. It was a slim chance, from all the other people in the island..why him? He continued his way through the island. He still didn't shake that feeling off.

Unlike Patch, Takao was totally oblivious to the fact that someone was keeping an eye on him. In fact, he was completely at ease, daydreaming as he waltzed down the street and accidentally bumped into people with his wings.

After being cussed out by two different individuals and having to duck under a sword swing that would have removed his head, Takao began to pay more attention to his path. He had somehow made his way into the center of town and there, at the very middle of everything, was a statue. The statue was nearly twenty feet tall and made of bronze. The statue was that of a very familiar figure. It was the King of Pirates.

For a moment, Takao could only look at the statue in awe. Here was a man who had earned people's respect; even that of his enemies. It had taken Takao a long time to decide to become a pirate, but this was the kind of man he wanted to be. Someone who was respected by all.

A cry of pain drew Takao's attention downward, to the base of the statue. There he saw a young boy sitting where he had fallen on his rump. Three other boys stood, blocking him from approaching the statue. One of them stood at the forefront of the trio and he was glaring down at the fallen boy.

"I see our first warning didn't have much of an effect," said the one who was glaring.

"Please don't stop me!" the boy on the ground cried out. "I just want to add my name..."

"You think you're as good as the rest of us?" the same member of the trio said, raising his voice as he did so. From the looks of it, this was the leader of the small group. "You're a coward, Thor. Just like your father. And you'll never change! So don't go acting like you have a chance to stand on the same level as us!"

Takao started to move forward, but something stopped him. A cold feeling had washed over Takao, almost like he had been dipped in a bucket of ice. Takao frowned, trying to figure out what the sensation was. It seemed familiar...then he remembered. This feeling was one he had felt only a few times in the past and only when he was in the presence of someone powerful.

Takao shuddered slightly and his wings tucked in even closer to his body, as if he was trying to keep warm.

Takao looked around, trying to find the source of the presence and his eyes landed on the boy, Thor. Almost at the same moment, the presence disappeared and Thor leapt to his feet, running away from his tormentors. He passed by Takao and as he did, Takao could see tears forming in the young boy's eyes.

Takao let him pass without a word, but he quickly turned and followed after him. He wanted to learn a little bit more about this boy.

(I realize that the 'presence' I mentioned may sound like Haki and that is not allowed on this site. Well, this isn't quite the same thing. It can't knock someone out. It's more like the realization that someone powerful is standing in the area. Sort of like what Zoro does when he glares at someone and they back off. It's not intended as a power, more like an intimidation feature. It is something I only plan on using if Takao faces someone intimidating. There are my excuses, in case any Mods or Admins read and take issue with this. )

Patch continued his way through the busy town, his hands inside his pocket. The feeling of him being watched got stronger and stronger every time he took a single step. He couldn't shake of this feeling. he had to find the source of this sudden emotion and destroy it. He began to look around the crowd, every one seemed to be looking at their own direction however a sudden shine caught Patch's eyes. Something was shining on top of the roof of a building. It seemed to be pointing straight at his direction. Although he wasn't sure for it was quite a distance away. He fixed his glasses. It had to be one of those pirates from earlier cause that's the only group of people which he had made the most contact with. He couldn't show off his DF power in the middle of this crowd. He had a choice, either travel to the building and take out the person or ignore. Patch decided he should ignore this. If he just kept on minding his own buisnees he was bound to meet them. He continued to walk. After a few minutes of walking, he was at the center of the town, a group of boys seemed to be mumbling about something.

"Hey did you see that weird guy with the wings?"

"Yeah..what is he? Some kind of bird person?"

"No idea..."

Patch reckoned that Takao was here a few moments ago. He sighed and looked towards the statue. It showed the Pirate King. The king of the seas. He was respected by all people, he was a great man who showed great leadership and courage, a man of the sea. Patch wasn't really intrested in this man. After all, his goal was to find a cure to all sicknesses. He stared at the statue for a while and continued his way through the town.

Takao followed Thor down a couple of streets and then into an alleyway. Thor finally came to a stop, sitting on a box in the alley, crying quietly.

At long last, Takao came closer and he seated himself nearby. For nearly a minute neither of them said anything. Only once did Thor glance at Takao and that was when the winged man sat down. From that point forward, Thor hid his tears as best he could, but kept silent, hoping that Takao would go away. When he didn't, Thor finally looked over at him, glaring at the intruder to his misery.

"What do you want from me?" Thor demanded. He sniffled and turned away as fresh tears came.

"I'm just curious," Takao replied. "What was it that you wanted to add your name to?"

Thor considered not answering Takao, but he decided that there wasn't much point in it.

"The statue," he muttered. "I wanted to scratch my name into the base of the statue. A lot people in town do it if they are planning to become a pirate captain. I thought I would do it too, but those guys wouldn't let me."

"I know," Takao said. "I saw." He stood back up and walked off, waving as he went. "Thanks for the information. Later."

Thor watched Takao leave, his curiosity piqued. He jumped down from his box and followed Takao out of the alley.

"Who are you?" Thor asked.

"Me?" Takao stopped for a moment and shrugged. "I'm just a guy."

Thor looked at as Takao walked off. Oddly enough, Takao seemed to be going back towards the statue. Thor followed him, wanting to know what he was up to.

While this was going on, Luca and the other members of his crew had finally arrived back at their ship. There were two members of the crew supporting Luca and they dropped him in front of a tall and thin, but unassuming, man who was dressed in a dark suit. The suited man was seated at a table, drinking tea, an aura of intensive calm surrounding him.

Luca had regained consciousness and he tried to stand before the man in the suit, but could only hold himself up on his hands and knees, his arms trembling from the strain. So Luca compromised by looking up at the man.

"Captain," Luca wheezed. "I'm sorry. I have disgraced your name."

The Wild Gentleman, Faustino D'Angeli, paused in the act of raising his cup of tea to his lips. He carefully set it back down on its saucer and turned his head ever so slightly to look down at Luca.

"Luca," he said, his voice betraying no emotion except warmth for his subordinate. "What has happened?"

"Me and some of the boys were in town," Luca explained. "We were cruising through a few bars when some punk ran into me and spilled my drink. I tried to get him to pay for it and he played along at first, but then he caught me off guard and knocked me out with a lucky punch. The next thing I knew, I was being dragged away by these idiots." Luca glared over his shoulder at the men who had brought him back to the ship. They flinched away from his gaze. "Instead of staying and dealing with the guy, they turned tail and ran," Luca concluded. He bowed his head to Faustino and said, "I'm sorry boss. I have failed you by appearing weak."

Luca twitched fearfully, but did not dare move as Faustino laid a hand on the back of his neck. For a moment, the hand tightened around his throat and Luca thought he might be in trouble, but then the grip loosened and Faustino patted Luca's head fondly. Apparently Faustino was in a good mood. Luca had seen men die for far less than the crime of losing a fight.

"Do not concern yourself with it," Faustino told him. "It is not you who has disgraced me, but this impudent whelp that brought you low." Faustino returned to his tea and waved Luca away dismissively. "Go. Tend to your wounds. I shall deal with this matter personally."

Patch continued to think about the person watching him. Was he still there? Why was he watching him? Who is the per- He was thinking too much. He figured that he should just relax and continue his walk through the town. He yawned and reached for his log pose which was in his pocket. He picked it up, it didn't seem to be pointing anywhere. It was probably gonna change either today or tommorow. He slipped the log pose back into his pocket. Suddenly a loud scream could be heard. Patch quickly looked around only to see a small boy on the floor blood dripped down from his forehead. Patch rushed over to the scene, he bent down towards the boy and picked him up. He seemed to be hit with some sort of blunt weapon. Patch got out his new pack of bandages, he slowly applied the bandages to the boy's forehead.

"Care to tell me who done this to you?" he said as the boy slowly began to open his eyes.

"Aaaa! Where am I?! Who are you!? Who-Who am I!?" he said to himself as he got out of Patch's hands and onto the floor.

Pacth fixed his glasses. This boy seemed to be suffering a severe case of Amnesia. Patch was worried that this would happen. He picked the boy up and put him over his shoulders.

"It's ok...Im a friend." Patch told the boy as he slowly began to walk.

"So any idea who done this to you?"

The boy shook his head.

"I don't even know my name.." he told himself as some tears began to come down his cheek.

Patch sighed. He had to find some way to bring this boy's memory back.

Just as Thor had thought, Takao was headed back to the statue. This time, the winged man didn't pause to admire the metallic figure. Instead, he walked straight up to the statue, passing by the same three boys who had blocked Thor. They parted before Takao, not willing to stand in the path of an adult, let alone one that was six and a half feet tall, had wings, and carried a spear.

Takao came to a stop in front of the statue and he drew his spear from its place between his wings.

In the shadow of a building somewhere behind Takao, Thor watched as Takao brought his spear down and began to scratch something into the stone near the base. Thor's breath caught in his throat. It looked like the winged stranger was writing his name into the statue. Cautiously, Thor left his hiding place and approached, wanting to take a closer look.

By the time Thor reached him, Takao was already finished and was now holding his spear so that the back end was set against the ground. With one hand on his hip, Takao took a step back to admire his handiwork. He had heard Thor approaching and a small smile flickered across his face. The smile vanished as Takao turned and his eyebrows rose, as if he was surprised to see Thor standing there.

Thor stared at the five, crudely cut letters: Takao.

"Takao..." Thor read quietly. "You actually wrote your name."

"Guilty," Takao said, grinning like an idiot while he rubbed the back of his head. "I guess your words inspired me. I was already planning to become a pirate captain, but I'm not very strong. So I'll do just about anything, if it'll help me be successful."

Thor frowned and glanced up at Takao. "But you forgot about your last name."

"Not really," Takao replied. "I actually don't have one. I have a problem with remembering what happened to me before I turned eight. I was found and kind of adopted by this one guy, but he never told me his last name, so I never bothered to take it on." Takao slipped his spear back onto his back and extended his hand. "So now you know my name. I don't believe we were properly introduced. What do they call you?"

Thor hesitated for a moment. He still wasn't sure he could trust this guy, but what did he have to lose? The worst that could happen would be that he would be laughed at when Takao heard his name.

"My name is Thor," he told Takao, taking the winged man's hand. "Thor D. Odinson."

It was a lovely day. Not to many clouds in the sky, sun shining down and the night was quite a way away. Perfect time to pick a fight with some drunken pirates. A young pirate was making his way to a certain tavern, and made no attempts at remaining inconspicuous. He immediately realized that the tavern was not in the best shape, with damaged walls and broken tables. The pirate, met with the gaze of the tavern goers entered and sat at the counter. He ordered a glass of water and asked the bartender what had happened. Genshi Molynieu attentively listened, as the bartender spoke of a winged man his bespectacled ally beating a pirate who was causing trouble. The white haired pirate spit his water out of shock when he heard the victim, Luca, had a bounty. He dropped a handful of coins on the counter and ran out of the bar, looking for the winged man.

After a quick search, Genshi found the man he was looking for near a giant bronze statue. Removing his flannel shirt he folded it up and placed it on the ground, the preparing himself for what would follow. His taped hands and elbow pad exposed. He raised his hand and pointed it at the winged man.

"You there, with the spear and wings. I heard you beat up a powerful pirate with little to no ease. Please, fight me, I need to know if you're incredibly strong, or just lucky." The pirate said, raising his fists.

Genshi had an ulterior motive for starting this fight. If a pirate worth five million was beaten by this new guy, then by defeating him, Genshi would earn a larger bounty and a one way ticket to fame.

Patch looked around the area he was standing in, he was thinking on how he should bring this boy's memory back. He sighed and continued his way down the street. He was on his way back to the statue, he was gonna start from the middle of this town and work his way round. However as he walked towards his location the kid began to shake. His eyes wide open and fixed on 1 person, the person seemed to be wearing his hood up, he also seemed to be hiding from something. The boy slowly lifted his hand and pointed it towards the man, he was shaking with fear....

Flashback

A young boy ran along the streets of the town, he seemed to be carrying bread with a happy look on his face.

"Mum, I got some food for us!" he would say to himself as he ran along the streets of the town.

However a tall man stood in front of him, his hood up. He seemed to be carrying a bat, a greedy smile grew on his face. The boy couldn't see his eyes because the hood cause a shadow over them. The man lifted his bat and smashed it onto the boy's head. The boy dropped his bread and fell onto the floor. The man picked up the bread and began to chuckle.

"Thanks..kid."

Patch looked up at the kid.

"What's wrong?" he asked

The boy couldn't speak it was like his tongue was frozen in cold ice. However he suddenly got the power to speak.

"THAT'S THE MAN WHO HIT ME DOWN!" he suddenly yelled.

The man turned to face Patch, he suddenly began to run.

"Oh no you don't.." Patch yelled as he ran after the man.

Thor released Takao's hand and whipped around so fast, he almost slipped. He couldn't believe that someone had just challenged Takao out of the blue like this. And had that man said that Takao had beaten a powerful pirate? Just what was going on here?

Takao walked past Thor, putting himself in between the boy and Genshi. He had no idea who he was facing and he couldn't take the risk that this guy would attack an innocent bystander.

"Whoa, hey," Takao said, holding up his empty hands. "Any other time I would have jumped at the chance of a duel, but I'm kind of taking the day off. Unless I'm mistaken, the fight you're talking about was one that I didn't want to get into. It just sort of happened." Takao smiled and bowed his head modestly. "Besides, you don't want to fight me. I may have a little bit of talent, but I'm really weak. That guy I fought was just an arrogant idiot."

"No need to be so modest. The barkeep said that he had a bounty of five million. Defeating someone like that is no feat for the weak." Genshi said, taking a step forward.

He came to a sudden halt when he spotted the child he was with. What kind of pirate would walk around with a child. What's more, he was prepared to guard the child, even if Genshi had no plan of targeting the young'n? Maybe he really wasn't as strong as the pirate believed, and that five million guy was just a blow hard who was acquainted with someone far stronger. Genshi disappointedly lowered his fists, he was hoping to battle someone of great strength and add a whopping amount to his meager bounty.

"Well, could you tell me where i could find a powerful pirate? I need to test out my new fighting style."