Chapter 9: A fight to be remembered

William hailed from a tribe of half giants, known as the Vermonts, people from the south part of West blue described them as weasel-like in appearance, strong brawny humans with a large muscular body. Their strength and robustness were major characteristics of the tribe. 

They heavily believed in might, and took it upon themselves to frown upon the sharp-witted and the bright. Taking the moon and sun that show up clearly on top of the mountains they reside in as their spiritual guides in life, the Vermonts earned distaste from the other tribes and island villages. 

They believed in flaying their foes alive, making torture even more unbearable for the sinners and the criminals and the like, they are known to say 'you angered the sun' or 'the deadly night moon will haunt your dreams' as they proceed with the feat. 

The strong will prevail and the weak shall be stepped upon, they made it into an infamous rule for the generations to come, for no enemies survived their wrath. 

Yet even with all that power and unnatural born toughness, the Vermonts were generally looked down upon, for most of them were pretty pathetic and never taken seriously, not many possessed wisdom, not many were capable of trustworthiness or even attractive, with marriages usually happening between battle partners, cousins or even siblings… 

'... A bunch of outlandish wild barbarians, who have muscles for brain and empty souls…' once a merchant seeked to trade animal hide and ceramic whetstone with them, only to leave with disgust growing in his stomach, he went back to oraha to narrate the happenings within the tribe. 

Within the tree library, where the wise archeologists of West blue venture, the trader spoke of the place saying things such as '... Nothing but a pile of used rubber and stinky air…' or '... A place where might speaks for knowledge, and blood is drunk as a beverage…' while speaking of his experience before the knowledgeable masters. News spread and west blue quickly grew to hate the tribe. Most loathed their existence and marines were even tempted to wipe them from the seas. 

William was born different, often referred to as 'the blessed one' by his siblings. An extraordinary mind with a deep thinking process and a healthy body to back it up, he grew amongst the tribe members, inheriting their enthusiasm for battle and living their grotesque lifestyle and wild traditions. He viewed his family members as 'fiendish animals' and their habits as weird and unpleasant, for he was a different 'breed of sheep' within the herd. 

From the day he read his first book about herbal medicines and human anatomy, 'book of the storm' he named it, as he found it during a stormy battlefield where the violent rain washed the blood off the corpses, he made an oath to himself… To change them… to teach them mercy and forgiveness… To tell them that skinning their opponents alive wouldn't please the false gods they made for themselves… To sharpen their minds instead of their weapons… 

Poisonous disdain grew in his heart for their animal-like behavior, but he still couldn't bring himself to hate them. He loved his loving mother and ever-so-prideful father and his pair of young sisters, yet teaching them reason was going to be a long and back-breaking process, and William knew that… 

Long time passed, and one time he promised to bring them dry wood, for they desperately needed it for winter, and the harsh terrains they grew in didn't help much. For centuries, All they ever did was assemble feasts of food near the rocky hills and pray to the sun to bless their cropland. Nevertheless, William knew that winter was coming and the tribe had no chance of surviving it…

On the way back to the tribe, William's eyes landed upon a colossal fire from the distance, he hurried in carrying the wood on his shoulders, and what he found… Corpses… burned to crisp… 

He searched for his parents and sisters only to find them dead, their now black bodies surrounded the collapsed house, he collected the ashes in a jar, and went wherever the wind led him. He found two marine soldiers of high rank, serious expressions formed as they spoke among themselves of the 'barbarians'. 

'... The celestial dragon really wanted slaves this bad…'

'... Cipher Pol agents are truly scary…' 

William wanted to kill them… Whoever these celestial beings were… Whatever this secretive organization 'cipher pol' was… 

He took some of the ashes, put them to the side of his face, and burned one of his cheeks as a sign, one that he has to remember for his whole life, for it ignited the memory of his forsaken tribe… 

And now with the mask broken, his half burned face showed itself to Matthew, his upper body was injured, something that didn't faze the strong William one bit… 

"... Are you one of them??" he asked a question while inspecting his wounds, a question that confused Matthew. 

"... What are you talking about?" 

"... Those green lights, there are familiar…" his eyes turned dangerous for a second, no longer having the same playfulness and thirst for an entertaining battle, instead they resembled a killer's… an angry revengful killer… 

"... Hahaha, you seem to have a sour spot for the government, I wonder what's the story behind it" Matthew was intrigued by that, '...classic one piece pirates' he thought. 

Everyone seemed to have a grudge against the corrupt government, especially the world nobles. 

'well, it certainly is for a good reason..' Matthew couldn't really fault them. Seeing people treat others like dirt just because they exist was not something he would tolerate, '... Who are they to judge people,  their pretentiousness and arrogance knew no bounds…the many-faced god won't be pleased' 

"... That technique seemed awfully familiar…" William brandished his two greatswords, readying himself for another beam attack. 

"... It's a gift from the many-faced god…" Matthew charged another 'crescent kaze', realizing that William's speed won't be enough to dodge it, and will force him to focus on the defense. 

"... The many-faced god huh? Not the celestial dragons… Jihahaha" William laughed,  his bear hybrid form couldn't take too many of those beams, so he had to go on the offensive. 

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"... The celestial dragons, aren't they the 'gods' of this world?... What do you think their blood looks like…" 

"... Jihahaha, not sure of their blood, but they probably eat silver and shit gold nuggets…" the cruel sharpened his eyes and steeled his resolve. Preparing himself to receive the attack

"... They might truly serve as the best sacrifice…" Matthew held onto his bayonet, power flowing through his veins

"... What's with that weird fascination with death?..." 

"Blood is power" the red beast spoke, another white-green arc of energy was sent form the tip of his spear towards William. 

'... Fast!' it was so quick that he barely had enough time to react. He tilted his body to the side, hoping to mitigate as much damage as possible. 

*splash* another wound made itself on his body, he bit his lips to reduce the pain and charged towards Matthew. 

" Jihahaha, warrior Matthew! It seems we have much in commun…" he brought his swords downwards, with great strength behind the swing.

*crescent step* Matthew dodged the swords easily and counterattacked by thrusting with his spear.

"... Demolish!" the tribesman yelled the name of his attack, he stomped the ground making cracks appear below both of them as he hacked sideways at Matthew with one of his giant swords. 

The latter ducked slightly evading the blow that aimed to chop him in half, he then switched his spear stance and stabbed multiple times at William's vulnerable side. 

"... Sun dome!" William spun with his great swords in circles, which seemed to be a good idea as the spear wielder's deadly blows were completely blocked. 

"Haaa!" He stopped the spin briefly only to follow with another wide slash, catching Matthew off-guard. 

Matthew defended with his spear as the attack sent him flying through the air. He rotated mid-air negating the force behind the strike, before gracefully landing on his feat. Once again, He resumed another sojutsu stance. 

Meanwhile, in a not too far away hiding spot… 

'... These two… Are something else' never had the young Angella witnessed a fight of this caliber, her master generally went easy on her and softened his strikes, only now did she see his real movements. It was quite a sight to behold for someone that's still inexperienced like her…

'... The celestial dragons, who are they?' something else bothered her about their conversation, who were they? the first impression she got about them wasn't that joyful… 

"... It's been a long time since someone pushed me this hard." William muttered, a devilish smirk returned to his half burned face. 

"... Should I feel proud about that?" seeing his normal thrusts not doing much to the bear hybrid, Matthew carried out a secret movement, one that he learned recently, the martial arts manual named it 'Tsuki kôgekï'. He held the glowing bayonet tightly before kicking off the ground, his speed tripling and his figure appeared blurry to some degree. 

*splash* William's brain failed to process what just happened as Matthew's cloudy silhouette retreated after moving rapidly. His massive body received one hundred cuts at the same time… thankfully none of them went too deep because of his devil fruit's great resistance to physical attacks.

However the blood from the cuts kept flowing, the red lines refused to heal and close itself, which came as a great surprise to the big William considering his great endurance.

"... An attack that leaves this many chronic wounds… how interesting, Jihahahaha" 

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