Let's Fighting Love [Adventure]

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William pulled his dinghy onto Snake Island's shore and fastened it to a nearby sapling. He looked into the untouched forest ahead and took in a deep breath. After such a long journey he'd only just begun, and he wanted nothing less than to stay longer than he needed to. The ferryman's time limit was also working against him so, instead of resting, he ventured forward into the foliage.

Moving further, the land eventually turned to marsh. The wetlands gripped at his feet with every step he took, plodding deeper into unknown territory. The forest thick became an asset after a while. There were times where he would step and feel as though he'd fall through the ground, only to find safety in an arbitrary branch.

He used them as anchors to hold and free himself from the pulling floor, and as markers to track his progress. He'd unholstered Squallwalker sometime during his trek and used it to clear his path, and every now and then he would shave the sides of the trees he passed as insurance if he lost his way.

Snake Island's forest wasn't an East Blue brothel but there was something magical about it. The tree canopies let in beams of honey orange sun that highlighted things he'd often seen but never appreciated. Exotic mushrooms grew in packs against the mossy sides of dead wood, their colors varied from tree to tree, and vines formed bridges high over his head and gave way to animals that knew the land.

William pressed forward, knowing it was a dangerous place despite it's beauty, and noticed the ground begin to harden on his path. He cut through several swathes of copse and thicket that brought him to a clearing. The forest canopy blocked all the light in the area save a spotlight over a hollow tree stump.

The wild grass around it was low and fertile with mushrooms, as was the base and lip of the long dead tree. William moved closer to it and discovered it had become a basin of rain water, clear enough to see through to the bottom.

He stuck his hand into the cool water and scooped some of it into his mouth, swishing it to and fro to stave off the dryness he hadn't noticed set in. Aaaaah. It wasn't whiskey but it was damn refreshing. William reached into his duster and pulled out an empty flask set inside the basin. The cold water was heaven compared to the soupy forest air, and once his canteen was filled he took of his hat and dipped his whole head into the cleansing water.

The dead wood basin would be his resting point for a time. William sat with his back against it, shaving Squallwalker's edge with a whet he'd brought along for the trip, but an audible crack in the distance forced him to stop.

Hm? He listened closer and heard another crack in the distance. They were footsteps, but what kind? He'd seen many a creature along the way but nothing that posed a threat. These footsteps were big.

William slowly rose to his feet and discarded his whet, with Squallwalker in hand as a provision. The path leading up to the dead wood basin had an opposite path that led away from it and toward the mysterious cracking.

He could either circumvent the path and cut through more forest or confront what he'd heard. I can't waste anymore time. He thought, putting the safer to choice to rest, and ventured forward along the clearing toward the questionable crackling.

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Confident, William stepped forward and traced the brim of his hat with a single finger. The brim symbolized each brother's head on a chopping block; his finger, the blade of a guillotine. He might have appeared aloof, arrogant even, but he made sure to study The Cochranes closely while they moved. He noticed A.J. (the largest of them) was fittingly the slowest. B.J. (the smallest) was the lightest on his feet, and C.J. moved at a middling speed amidst his two brothers.

In a mad dash, William set forth toward the three who remained in an offset line that didn't match their speeds. The fastest lingered back, the slowest lead the charge, and the remaining brother floated between the two. That put William and the muscle-bound Cochrane on a crash course toward one another. He counted the seconds until the moment to strike arose— and when it did he lashed out with Squallwalker's sharp edge.

It found a place against the side of A.J. Cochranes neck and was a killing blow by any measure, but an uneasy feeling swelled in the pit of William's stomach once it hit. He knew something was wrong and looked to A.J. who he found, looking back at him, unfazed with a knowing smile. A.J.'s body had rebuked the blade like steel meeting steel. "Tekkai," he growled, then coiled his powerful arms around William. It stuck them together like iron shackles and A.J. lept into the air with William in tow. A.J. pushed off the air itself to bring them higher. They rose so high that the other Cochranes disappeared beneath the forest canopy and, in an instant, the two were upside down plummeting back toward the ground.

"Geppo!"



An outstanding mountain ridge came between them on the way down and collapsed into rubble against the impact. Jagged rock wrapped around their bodies and chewed on their skin and muscles, like thousands of stony teeth, until the mountain broke apart and spit them back into the forest. Even then they fell at break neck speed— their bodies cut through unforgiving nets of old wood branches— until they finally lost momentum by colliding with the island floor. With enough force to split the ground, a massive crater formed where they landed and from the eruption A.J. Cochrane rose, unfazed and with triumph in his eyes.

"Ididididid," he laughed, then yelled back to his brothers off in the distance. "Easy as crushin' a bug! No wonder they have such stupid nicknam—!"

"Interestin' skill you got there." William interrupted. He was only now climbing out of the crater, equally unfazed. "Tech Eye, was it?"

The Cochrane brute's eyes popped in disbelief. "How?!"

"I just did what you did," William shrugged then dusted himself off. "It's simple really. Can't believe I hadn't tried it before."

A.J. ground his teeth in frustration. "It takes years of diligent training to even begin to understand how Tekkai works!"

William sighed, unconvinced. "Maybe you just ain't that good?"

A.J. dashed forward in a frenzy. "I'LL KILL YOU!" William recalled A.J.'s once knowing smile and gave one of his own.

"Stay back!" A voice called that brought the massive Cochrane to a screeching halt. C.J. Cochrane soon appeared from behind his brother. He'd overheard their conversation and was now studying William more closely than before.

"Not as thick as yer brother I see."

"No." C.J. replied. "And neither are you it seems."

Noticeably on edge, A.J. Cochrane turned to his brother and scowled. "That was a fluke! I can squash this asshole no problem!"

"I'm sure you could," C.J. suggested without taking his eyes off William. "But not that way."

C.J. stepped past his brother to examine William. "There's something I have to take care of. Finish the job, he said to A.J. "And try not to be so careless."

Meanwhile, William darted to cut C.J. off with Squallwalker drawn back to strike. "But you just got here." He brought the sword down in a heavy slash meant to cleave him two, but was intercepted by the Cochrane brute, A.J. "Tekkai."

The blade clanged against his skin and lost all it's impetus, and when William searched for C.J. he was nowhere to be found. A.J. Cochrane, once again, reached out to grapple William but was forced backward by a shoving front kick.

"You must think you're tough shit." A.J. grunted to William's satisfaction.

He smiled. "Tougher'n you, I've learned. Better lookin' too, and smarte—"

Suddenly William felt a sharp pain pass through his right leg, like a gun shot. He fell to a knee and soon felt another pass through his shoulder which forced him to drop his weapon.

"Pasusususu." B.J. Cochrane laughed from behind, a smug grin stretched across his face. "Tobu Shigan."

William looked back and found the youngest Cochrane standing across the schism with his hand outstretched like a pistol. "Bastard. What'd you do to me?"

"We've trained our bodies to such an extent that armaments are unnecessary. We are the weapons," B.J. hissed. "I believe you've discovered what my brother represents."

"The armor," William thought to himself. "Yeah. So what are you? The gun?"

"A man of intellect! I can appreciate that," B.J. gleamed, a hint of sarcasm in tone.

"Well, gun, go on'n shoot," William implored.

B.J. Cochrane wagged his finger to deny him. "Ah, ah, aaaah. According to Charles James you, my friend, are a very quick learner. Besides," he pointed past William. "Alexander James appears quite eager to deal with you himself."

William turned around in time to catch A.J. Cochrane's fist with his face.

"Soru," B.J. hummed then disappeared. His voice became a faint echo. "I'll be seeing you, but I can't guarantee you'll do the same!"

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Am I going to die, William asked himself.

"You are if you don't get your ass up," a familiar voice replied.

William knew who it belonged to. The thought seemed to make him to appear, a brave man with piercing blue eyes like William's own. In fact, they favored each other almost exactly, but this man's hair was dark where William's was fair.

"Fuck off, old man," William said and rolled over to his side like a boy in bed.

"Pick a fight with me later," the man said. "Now's not the time to lie around."

"And why should I listen to a traitor like you," William bit back. The man went cold with a sigh, his stern eyes filled with sadness.

"You hate me that much, huh?" He seemed to recover and smirked like William would in a similar circumstance. "Is that why you're pretending to be someone you're not? What's with the get up? And blue contacts, too. You really know how to make your fa—"

"I SAID FUCK OFF!"

"Why don't you get up and do something about it," the man said. His smirk went away in exchange for a look of contempt "I know why. Because you'd rather lay down and do nothing than accept the truth. You're too weak to kill me yourself. Go ahead then. Lay there. I don't care."

The words seemed to bring back old feelings, like pain, that coursed through his body like molten iron. "I want nothing more than to see your rotten corpse in a cemetery," William protested in both realms— the red world and the real one— and in both he rose to his feet.

"Is that so," the man said. "Then allow me to knock you down a peg. Soru!" He kicked off the ground ten times and dashed at William with a sword in hand, then aimed it's steel cusp at him. "Shigan!"

With no sword of his own William drew back his fist and filled it with his vast hatred. It was foolish of him to strike out with his bare hand, but he didn't give it a second thought and let his power soar through the air to challenge it head on.

And when the two forces came together William saw the weapon drawn against him wither into a contorted heap and it's wielder, the man he hated so much, wailed in a voice that wasn't his own.

Suddenly, William was knocked out of the red world and back into the real one, where he found B.J. Cochrane lying on the ground; his hand a mangled mess.

"A... am I going to die," B.J. asked.

William stumbled over to B.J., badly injured but alive nonetheless, and stood over him. "Yeah," he sighed. "I'm sorry you got dragged into this, kid."



B.J. looked up at William, surprised by his sentiment, then back to his hand. "I'm afraid," he whimpered. "Can you make it painless?"

"Sure," William nodded. Then he smiled. "I figured out that technique of yours. It's impressive. I'll use that one on you."


"What's your name," B.J. asked out of nowhere.

William paused, unsure of how to answer at first, then tensed his fingers to initiate Shigan. "Gol. D. Lac."

"Thank you, Gol D. Lac," B.J. said.

Tears filled his eyes before he closed them to mimic death's darkness. William struck him fast and true to make sure the transition between worlds was seamless for him.