Post by Blushing z0ro on Jun 20, 2015 14:04:59 GMT -5
The light of the large fire at the center of the encampment created dancing shadows all around, each and every bandit seemingly becoming the origin of a dark monster. One young man stood above all the others bandits on a small ledge, shaggy black hair and bright blue eyes that shown like jewels, obviously much younger than most of the other bandits, wearing oddly nice clothing; an open collar thick woolen white shirt, an open sleeveless black vest, maroon trousers and black boots; it was obvious that one was Bastian, the Rock Dragon Bandits' Leader. The young leader called out to the slightly older Pirate Captain, but Leonard did not care for the words of that kid, what he did care about however was the voice that resounded throughout the encampment right after Bastian's, Hiroto's voice.
She was here, she was safe, or at least not to severely harmed. Silly girl, all she did was apologize, in this kind of situation you should be happy, happy that your loved ones are coming to help you, not sorry. The "Young Lion" looked down for a second, calming his mind, she was right there, showing her the merciless eyes he had shown the bandits until now would be wrong of him. Leo thought of the good times he had with his crew, simple happy memories, then, as if by magic, the hardness of his lowered face melted away. Looking up at the young medic LeClerc smiled. "Don't worry. It'll be over soon." A simple life lesson the swordsman got from his mother, sometimes a smile is all you need. Leonard wanted to make sure Hiroto knew everything was going to be just fine. This was just the only way he could show it to her in that situation.
However, before the pirate captain even turned his attention to the bandit leader; the light of the fire was reflected off of two blades coming right down for the swordsman's head. Moving almost purely on reflex, Leonard raised his nodachi in a way that would cross the path of the blades. The sound of resonating metal was the only thing that anyone in the encampment could here at that moment. Bastian was standing across Leonard, two daggers in his hands as they crossed over the pirate's weapon. The kid was quite fast the "Young Lion" had to admit but he certainly seemed to lack in actual raw power.
The two did not move for a few seconds, everything in the world seemed to stand still. The smiled Leo had shown his Nakama had vanished. His expression was back to the blank determined one he's had since coming up the mountain. Bastian on the other hand, showed anger and frustration. "All be over soon? Yeah right, it'll end with you begging me for mercy, LeClerc!" The young bandit leader said, as he kept pushing his daggers against the pirate's nodachi. This guy had no idea who he was up against, to Leonard it began to feel quite obvious that while strong enough, this Bastian kid just wasn't up to scratch, he was a big fish in a very small pond. Stronger than probably anyone else on this backwater island, but out on the sea he was a fly. That statement could be applied to the "Young Lion" himself, the pirate admitted to himself, he had experienced how strong some people could be, the image of a certain military commander forming in his mind, but maybe it was that very experience that made able to get stronger and realize his opponent in the end was not.
The two still locked in their crossed blades position were completely immobile if it where not for the faint shaking of the three blades. Looking straight into the bandit's blue eyes LeClerc's raised his voice. "Tell me one thing... was it you that hurt my friend?" A simple question regarding the physical state of Hiroto which was met with a simple enough answer. "What if it was?" Replied Bastian with a cocky smile. At that moment all bets were off, the "Young Lion" pushed on his sword with both hands and made Bastian slide back several meters with a single motion. "If that's the case I'm going to make an exception for you..." Said Leo, his face clad in the shadows of the campfire. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" replied the bandit leader as he regained his composure after the attack. The nodachi wielder turned his face slightly showing cold black eyes, two black jewels that showed nothing but a faint sense of hate. "It means I'm going to kill you."
Until this moment Leonard LeClerc had never killed a person in his life, badly injured yes, possibly even crippled a few, but never killed. However the very thought of his hurt Nakama made him discard that side of him. Now all that was left ahead of the young man was what his grandfather called Shura no Michi, The Path of Carnage. Would the Shining Pirate's captain go through with it or would something stop him? No one could know, but what was certain was that there would be a furious battle, a conflict between two men no one present wanted to interfere with for fear survival instinct stopped any such thoughts.