The adventures of the young, naive Tetsuya began when he was first ushered off to the Town of Beginnings for a simplistic task to become a bright, strong, and capable young man when his behavior declined at the home of his grandparents who were tasked with looking after him. At the ripe age of fifteen, he found himself in a completely different town with different chores, different responsibilities, and different friends. The turbulence of his life had him in multiple places. He was sent to live with his aunt and uncle for the time being, where he found that the opportunities were very little.
A mere boy with light brown hair and light blue eyes, he was normal. Painfully normal, that was, when you consider how mundane his lifestyle happened to be other than his herculean strength acquired from years and years of working on the island. Tetsuya was a fifteen-year old boy by the time his aspirations settled in greatly, and it all came from the talk of the quieted mischief in the town he remembered hearing about whenever he went about his endeavors.
From being a mere elementary school student on the rural countryside to a certified young boy living in a town of mundane activity other than the occasional mention of bandits, there was something that Tetsuya's mind never faded off of, and that was the opportunity to venture into the wild and become someone that could conquer land and alike in contrast to his boring life in the town where nearly nothing interesting happened at all. Not a single thing of interest struck Tetsuya as inherently interesting or worth spending time on there except small preoccupations ― preoccupations like observing the stream of a river or making his own map to explore the world.
Days with his aunt and uncle were days of toil, hard, mundane labor, and informal tutoring by a lowly valued English tutor nearby.
Tetsuya himself swore the English tutor had not a single penny to his name to be teaching him anything about the written language. He often found himself asleep, uninterested in the lessons about grammatical composition and language structure, finding them long, plain, and uninteresting. Whenever he wasn't working outdoors with his aunt and uncle, he was having conversations with his younger cousin, Tetsuro, who was brasher, outspoken, and more open about what he wanted to be. In conversations, sometimes the two would butt heads.
"What do you want to do, anyways, Tetsuya? I'm sure you don't want to be in this boring 'ol town forever. I wanna be an archaeologist when I grow up and move places. I'm sure that would be really fun!" Tetsuro once said when they were pushing along barrels of oil.
For a while, Tetsuya did not respond. He was not sure what he wanted to be. He was not sure what his ambitions were or even where he wanted to be precisely. Often, whenever such a question was asked, he would just shrug. However, in the occasion of the question when it was asked and where their circumstance was in the mundane town, he answered somewhat differently.
"...I'm not sure," Tetsuya said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I'd probably want to be someone with absolute freedom. Someone that don't hafta answer to anybody!" Tetsuya said, a little sharp with his words in contrast to usual, raising his tone somewhat when he said it. It made him look weird.
For a moment, Tetsuya stood out. The surrounding civilians of the town saw him pushing barrels along with his younger, slightly smaller cousin and stared at him weird as if he had spoken of something forbidden. Nobody said anything... that was, until an old, stubby man had broken the silence, walking over to talk to Tetsuya.
"What was that?" The old man asked, tilting his head to the side.
"...What was what?" Tetsuya asked, coming to a halt. He faced the old man. Old, worn, and torn, the man was haggardly, but he stood the test of time and looked just about solid enough to walk, run, and still do yardwork.
"Yer kidding me, aren'tcha?" The old man pressed, looking Tetsuya up and down.
"Kidding you what?"
"...You heard me! Kidding me all-around. What are you, crazy? You'll never grow up to do anything without being bossed around by anyone unless you're a pirate. Why do you think all the men here do nothing but work until they turn?" The old man continued, a disgruntled tone growing evermore in his voice.
"Turn?"
"...Turn. Turn old! They turn all old and haggardly like me. Luckily, I've still got enough in the tank to still do the work around here since most of our workforce are naive youngins like you, but you won't be as lucky as me, now will you? You'll probably die old on this island working your days away, trying to become a merchant. You don't know what anything holds for you, now do you?"
"...No, sir. I done know nothing." Tetsuya said in his usual, submissive and passive tone with a bit of letdown in it. Sour, perhaps the future was not as bright as he once believed. But that perception did not last for long. He was quickly alarmed when the high-pitched, familiar tone of his younger cousin cut in to come to his passive defense.
"...Yes, you do, Tetsuya! Being able to adventure out without listening to anybody or having any restrictions would be amazing! What do they call those type of people, anyways?" Tetsuro chimed, an enthusiastic look on his face.
"Pirates. They call 'em pirates! Most of 'em wanted dead and alive around the world with a bounty on their heads. You wouldn't last a second out in the real world as a real pirate, Tetsuya. I'm tellin' ya. Don't try and do it. You leave this island ― you're as good as dead meat. You're better off stayin' here before you try doin' anything crazy and end up dyin'." The old man corrected, seemingly getting more and more progressively angry with his warning to the younger Tetsuya.
"And you, too, young little rascal. Stay out of the damn sea if you know what's good for you and keep pushing 'em barrels. You're not going anywhere if you keep trying to be a damned pirate. We all know what happens to 'em lousy rats." The old grunt directed, pointing to Tetsuro with an accusing finger. Tetsuro, the more proactive and impulsive of them, shrank back, going silent.
Afterwards, the old man ambled off, cracking his back with each step he took away to compensate for his lackluster physique getting him places reliably without suffering pain. Tetsuya despised the old man in secrecy, but would never say such to the old man's face. He only kept a slight eye on the old man's gentle, vulnerable and deceiving rear where his back cracked frequently and shook his head.
"Such a pain in the ass." Tetsuya mumbled inaudibly, going back to pushing the barrels along.
When the barrels of oil were finally at the docks, they called it a day. And for the next day... and the next day after that, the busy, physically preoccupied Tetsuya and his younger cousin, Tetsuro, hanging at a mere ten years old while Tetsuya was fifteen, would resume pushing barrels of oil over and over until they were at the docks or resuming other acts of physical labor such as towing water. It built physical strength and endurance, but not much other than that. Tetsuya had found it boring and mentally exhausting.
Tetsuya found everything in the town to be boring. But one thing that interested him was the talk of the town. The talk of the bandits. A talk of an infamous gang around the town that robbed people of their riches circulated, and it was something that interested Tetsuya. At times, when his aunt, uncle, and younger cousin were sleeping in their rooms, curiosity tempted him to go outside and look at what was happening during the night.
He speculated upon the occurrences in the skies with his own two eyes whenever he was not busy, looking at celestial objects or trying to draw his own map of the environment by looking at the sea surrounding the land the town was stationed on. At other times, he could hear commotion from the lower levels of the town. Screams, almost as if they were coming from a woman, but Tetsuya didn't mind them. He slept through them and didn't check as it would require him to slide up his window. He didn't want to wake up the rest of his temporary family members he was staying with.
For days and days, the talk of bandits and their mischievous deeds ranging from stealing from people to destroying the valuables of the town spread farther and farther like it was contagious, and Tetsuya eventually received news that the barrels he and his younger cousin often imported to the docks of the town were stolen.
"...Gone?" Tetsuya mumbled when his aunt and uncle confronted him with the news that their stock of barrels had disappeared rather hastily in the corridors of their wooden cabin alongside Tetsuro.
"...Yes. The barrels are gone. Did you forget to send them? I thought you were more responsible than this, Tetsuya." His aunt pressed, a disappointed, vain look on her face.
"No... not at all. Right, Tetsuro?" Tetsuya's eyes glanced over to Tetsuro for confirmation.
"...We sent the barrels to the docks. Tetsuya's telling the truth. How'd they end up disappearin'?" Tetsuro asked, shrugging his arms.
"...This is strange. We'll need to contact the supply-chain in case of taking the oil we take to the docks that the oil ended up missing. It won't reflect good on us, though." Tetsuya's uncle interjected, a stern tone of voice present.
Tetsuya released a sigh alongside Tetsuro. The meeting broke off and Tetsuya dislodged himself to the outdoors whenever he had free time, managing to find the bandits on rare occasions. They dressed in black clothing with white initials tagged on their clothing varying from person to person. It appeared to be a way of identifying themselves and distinguishing themselves at the same time. While the young boy watched from behind the bushes, the members harassed people in the town, stealing their supplies from their outpost. Tetsuya didn't like it one bit.
The people in the town were defenseless, weak, and not expecting any attack or siege on them by a vicious group of bandits willing to take anything they saw. To steal from the outposts of sellers in the town made Tetsuya progressively angry to see the injustice being done upon those in the town. He didn't intervene, though. On nights, the bandits had the most presence.
Their dark clothing camouflaged with the darkness and they rummaged through the supply outposts of asleep citizens, stealing commodities such as oil, sake, and water. Tetsuya watched the bandits steal and cheat others through tactics of intimidation at night through his bedroom window, where they used darkly lit spots to take things into their own hands.
It made Tetsuya angry, but there was little he could do about it or even interfere with seeing those that were weak and cheated by those powerful in numbers. When it was day, Tetsuya chose harmless routes for dayjob tasks involving delivering, but there was one particular day he could not avoid the bandits any longer and his curiosity got the best of him.
A sobbing girl along the path with light blue hair on one of the paths he avoided, refraining from using it to deliver barrels to the outpost was spotted in the corner of his eye. She caught his attention as she lay against the bark tree, causing him to double-take. The path was normally deserted around the dark hours. No one occupied it, and he knew well that it was asking for trouble if he walked the path. He wasn't sure what a girl was doing on the path, anyways.
He recognized it a while ago to be associated with thievery and the bandits he'd been hearing about around the town. Curiosity got the best of him, however. Her hands obfuscated her face, preventing Tetsuya from getting a good impression on how she looked.
"...Hey. What's wrong?"
The girl with light blue hair managed to stop sobbing and looked up, peeking up from her hands to see Tetsuya's inquisitive look. She eventually opened up about what was wrong after trying to dry her eyes with her hands, rubbing the tears around her face even more.
"...I was robbed by some bandits. They just... came around the path randomly and they started grouping around me, and then they took my leather wallet and dashed with it!" The girl said, shaking her head.
"...That's unfortunate. Maybe you shouldn't come around this path. It's too risky." Tetsuya advised slowly.
"...I had to go this path. My grandma lives down in a house this way right by the docks and it's really, really far away. I had to deliver her an ointment to help with her sickness on her birthday, but..." The girl went back to sobbing in her hands.
"Hey, hey. Don't worry. You said bandits took your leather wallet?" Tetsuya asked, tilting his head.
"...Yes. They also took the bottle of ointment I was carrying. Can you get it back? Please! I'll repay you as much as I can. I promise! I'll give you 1,100 Belly if you help me!" She blurted out haphazardly, no longer sulking in her hands and eagerly looking up to Tetsuya as if he was a symbol of hope.
"...1,100 Belly? Well..." Tetsuya did the math in his head for a moment.
"Alright. I'll do it." He finally said, a lukewarm, sheepish smile on his face.
"...Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" She threw her hands up in joy. It seemed her tears evaporated at long last, a quick highlight and change in attitude from someone who had previously been crying and miserable.
"...Yeah. No problem... erm, where did you see 'em last go?" Tetsuya asked, crouching down to be eye-level with her.
"...They went north up on the path. I remember them laughing and telling jokes about how they would make a sale on the market with the stuff they stole." The girl pointed up north on the path.
In the distance, Tetsuya could hear burly men with deep voices clamoring together in collective laughter and the sound of what could be assumed to be jewelry being shaken in the distance given the reputation of bandits for stealing what wasn't theirs. It was definitely them. He nodded his head, and without any waste of time, reassured her that he would return what was rightfully hers.
"...Don't worry. I'll be right back and return everything they owe you, okay, missy?" Tetsuya said to the girl, beginning to jog off into the distance down the path after standing up.
"...Right. Be careful!" The girl yelled over at Tetsuya as he jogged further and further away.
As he jogged down the path, he noticed a series of moderately-sized footsteps and black pieces of fabric along the dirt path. He could only assume they belonged to the bandits, and came to a stop when he saw a group of burly men negotiating at an outpost.
Four of them stood in unity, talking over one another and boasting about their self-proclaimed self-made riches when Tetsuya knew they had made it off of stealing from others. He recognized the bandits from watching them in silence in the uneventful space of the town, and was determined to put a stop to their hypocrisy.
The first step was confronting them. Tetsuya, mild-mannered, approached one of the bandits slowly and tapped on their shoulder, eye-level with them just by standing. They were moderately-built men, but outnumbered him. Tetsuya would need to be careful.
"...What do you want, punk?" The bandit said, turning over to face Tetsuya. The boy who had been used to being talked down made his claim slowly but gradually to try and prevent arousing an unpleasant reaction from the bandit.
"...I come in peace. I want you to return what belongs to a friend'a mine. She said you stole her ointment and you stole her leather wallet. That's not right, pal." Tetsuya said, a straightforward expression conveyed by his words.
There was a momentary still of silence. No one moved, no one spoke, and no one did anything much. Civilians spectating the confrontation turned their attention to see the bandits all merely staring at Tetsuya, not a word emerging from their mouths.
. . .
Then they all started laughing out loud.
"...HAHA! You'sa funny one, kiddo. Whatcha gonna say next? Give you an entire ship? Get lost! It's ours now. You look like a schoolboy. Better get to hittin' the books before we get to hittin' you, lil' punk." One of the bandits snapped at Tetsuya.
The words were a warning. Tetsuya could feel the pressure on him from the judging eyes of civilians who didn't dare step in or interfere. Either he turned back or he risked his entire world falling apart.
Closing his eyes, Tetsuya shook his head, rejecting the possibility of turning back. No. If he wanted to be someone who was free and didn't answer to anyone, he would need to stand against orders, especially from people he didn't like. The bandits he was faced against were no exception. They all looked obnoxious, confrontational, and arrogant. Tetsuya disliked that.
"...I'm sorry, but no. You ain't makin' me leave." Tetsuya countered bluntly.
There was a pit of silence.
"...We ain't makin' you leave? Well, if it ain't 'we', then it's gonna be me, ya overgrown schoolboy. Let me show you how it's done." A bandit came out of the pack, separating himself from the other three of them. He was moderately smaller than Tetsuya yet muscularly defined with a piece of straw in his mouth, wearing cut cargo pants and a black outfit marked with his initials similar to the other bandits with the exception of his cargo lower outfitting.
"...I said I come in peace, pal. I don't want to fight'cha, and even if I did, we wouldn't be gettin' anywhere, now would we?" Tetsuya said, trying to stand his ground. Though his opponent did not have as much elevation as he did, he still feared he would be outnumbered by the other bandits. He kept his hands open, still looking for compromise. He was starting to think the payment promised by the girl wasn't worth it after all as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his forehead.
"What... you scared? "You scared'a me? I'm a midget compared to the res' of my friends, and you scared of me? You ain't nothin', schoolboy. C'mon. Try and hit me. I'll give you'se a shot. Hit me. We ain't givin' you the stupid ointment back or the leather wallet. It's all ours." The bandit mocked.
"...I'm not scared." Tetsuya said simply. He balled his fists, a sudden change in thought going through his head. His aunt and uncle told him to avoid fighting, but it was the leap he had to take to separate himself from the pack.
"...Then do somethin'. Do somethin' to get your stupid ointment, you damn schoolboy! Hit me. Hit me right smack dab in the face since you think yer so tough."
Tetsuya had no other option. He brought his fist back and amped it up for a full-power blow. Without thinking any further about what he was going to do, he smacked the bandit upside the head, slamming the full weight of his fist into the cheekbone of the bandit. The bandit's entire cheekbone was fractured within the hit and he had fallen over like a bag of bricks.
THUMP!
Just like that, the bandit was laid out by Tetsuya's simple strike across the face. The fifteen-year-old didn't even know he possessed such destructive power within his fist. All along, he had thought he would suffer the extreme consequences of physical and mental humiliation at the hand of the bandits. But the stigma of his own thought changed by the course of reality. The bandit was knocked unconscious, snoozing on the floor like a baby. The rest of the other bandits looked at Tetsuya as if he was inhuman.
"...What? Wuh... wuh... wuh... w-what jus' happened? What did he jus' do to Tenny?" One of the bandits mumbled out in a state of shock.
"...I think he jus' knocked that man Tenny right off his knockers, Manny. We gotta go... this schoolboy ain't normal. He's gonna damn us all! Here, you can have the damn ointy-whatever and the leather wallet!" The leather wallet and the ointment were thrown towards Tetsuya. He caught them both within time. The bandits dispersed, running away in comical fashion and leaving just the unconscious body of the single one of them foolish enough to give Tetsuya the first hit.
"...Woah..." The civilians said in sync after watching the event transpire. The complete disbelief turned into applause as they saw Tetsuya as a hero for scaring off the bandits and claps for Tetsuya.
"Thank you so much! You scared those damned bandits at long last. I was wondering when they would leave us alone. They were trying to steal our stuff." An old man spoke at last, walking towards the completely mystified Tetsuya.
"...That's one heck of an arm you got there. Who taught you how to punch?" The old man quizzically asked, tilting his head to the side.
"...Nobody. I just got lucks on my sides." Tetsuya explained with semi-broken English, a happy-go-lucky sheepish grin on his face.
"...Just got luck on your side, huh? Well, then... that's wonderful! I pronounce you the new hero of this town. You truly are a wonderful thing to be blessed with in this area. Those bandits have cursed this area for the last six months and they've never left us alone. It was about time they finally succumbed to the might of someone... but be forewarned. Those bastards will come back with even more devious tactics if they can't take you out in a fistfight." The old man explained, a serious look on his face.
"Devious tactics? Like what?" Tetsuya asked, curious.
"...Well, they'll start hunting you like a deer in headlights, of course! They'll start employing clever tactics like beartraps, guns, and all kinds of weapons. It's your job to be mentally sharp to avoid those traps and be one step ahead." The old man went on.
"...You look rather young in the face. You can't be a grown man. You must be, why, a schoolboy or something of that nature, ain't that right?"
"...Yeah." Tetsuya nodded.
"...Even more impressive for a boy such as yourself to be so strong. It's up to you to decide what you do with that power. You could be someone very important in the future." The old man said, encouraging words lighting up his speech.
"...Important?" Tetsuya's eyes began to light up with interest.
"...Yes. I can see your future being very bright. Perhaps if you're willing to stop by my house later, I can give you feedback on how you can confront those bandits. But someone must first deal with this unconscious hooligan..." The old man said, motioning to the unconscious body.
"...Oh, right." Tetsuya said. "My bad."
"No problem. I'll have some young men I know take care of it. You can rest easy. You did mention two very particular items. I'm assuming they need to be returned to somebody, yes?" The old man spoke assumptively.
"...Yessuh, that's right." Tetsuya refocused himself on the goal and gave a vigorous nod.
"...Then go ahead and do what you need to do. I'll be waiting for you in this section of the town anytime. Be careful heading back. I'm sure those bandits have an eye on you." The old man explained, giving a salute to Tetsuya.
"...Right. Thank you." Tetsuya saluted back, smiling. The old man returned the smile, and they parted ways.