Time passed by in the blink of an eye in the country of Wano. The random orphan who had been picked up by the strongest creature on earth two years ago and given a new name was now silently staring at the dark sky through a window. The wind was howling unusually strong and fierce that afternoon. The skies were stirring with dangerous looking dark clouds and the faint odor that always came with a heavy rain could be perceived by anyone with a half-decent nose who got out from their house every now and then. It was a terrible weather to do anything but staying home while enjoying a delicious and healthy drink with some good company.
"Wororororo, you're crying like a pansy."
Unfortunately for our young protagonist, he had to settle with Kaido. The giant drunk lizard kept making fun of the kid even though the man himself was sobbing like a bitch with unusually short legs.
"Just forget about the bastard." The captain of the Beast Pirates idly stated.
For an instant, the kid contemplated the idea of throwing his glass of peach milk at Kaido's ugly smirking face before deciding against it since that would be a waste of a good drink (milk was truly a gift from whatever passed as a god in this world). It had become a biweekly event in Onigashima for a drunk Kaido to summon the kid under the excuse of checking his progress and then force him to drink together and share some stories about the past, complain about annoying people and discuss ideas about how a proper death should be. This time in particular the kid told a story about how the most beloved hero from the island that gave him birth became its greatest disappointment after failing to protect the town from a group called the Thriller Bark Pirates a few years ago. The old man died all alone a few months after his shameful defeat, spending his last moments laying down between trash and empty bottles like a loser.
"SHUT UP!" The kid yelled, wiping off some manly sweat from his eyes. "I'm crying because what happened to him makes me sad, I don't give a shit about him."
His gramps was a jerk and his death was honestly a bit of a relief for the child, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't fervently follow the last piece of advice the old wrestling champion gave him before passing away; the mere idea of having a shitty death like that was enough to bring anyone to tears.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BASTARD?!"
The captain of the Beast Pirates, who probably never met his parents, lazily smacked the kid's head, sending him crashing against the farthest wall in the room. Luckily, none of his bones were broken this time so he immediately got up and glared daggers at the bastard, fully intending to hit him with a flying knee even if it meant his death...especially if it meant his death.
"My old captain used to say that you could do everything right and still fail because you lacked the might to get away with it." Kaido stared at his sake with a frown, almost as if the liquid held the answer to a question he couldn't quite remember. It was strange for Kaido to enter in this wise drunk state after drinking so little so this would be either enlightening or something that could be used to make fun of the man at a later date.
"Saying that might makes right is somewhat wrong. If anything, it would be more accurate to say that might makes everything, thus giving you more options to choose from." The captain shook his head and looked at the youngest person in the room. "Your grandfather was a weakling. For the sake of our dream, you must become truly strong."
What would be the right thing to say? Accepting that piece of wisdom in silence didn't feel quite right, but it wasn't like the kid disagreed with it.
"My death will be thousands of times better than yours." The announcement rang like a gunshot in the middle of otherwise quiet room. This wasn't a promise nor a warning, it was a fact that everyone would have to recognize sooner than later so there wasn't anything wrong with saying it aloud.
The heavy gaze of the emperor of the sea fell upon the kid, silently commanding everyone nearby to shut their traps before he lost his already thin patience. It became obvious that Kaido has finally started to take the kid seriousl-
"Wororororo, big words for a brat who is even weaker than a Shichibukai." And the asshole was now pointing at him while laughing...again.
"Is that an insult? I thought Shichibukais were supposed to be super strong."
"Maybe when compared to you." He snorted at the notion of those guys being anything more than cowards. "Now get your ass out of here, I feel like calling some girls."
The kid nodded, fully aware that there was only one correct course of action to follow after being dismissed by the strongest man in all the country.
''VICIOUS ELBOW DROP.''
~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~
Apparently, life in Onigashima could be pretty boring when one was recovering from getting swatted like a fly by a Yonko, especially when said person was still too young to be sent into actual missions outside the island.
On most days, the kid would hang out around the base after finishing his daily training, picking fights against any strong looking adult he could find and challenge them to a fight to the death. Usually, a few dark bruises, a broken lip and a black eye wouldn't be enough to stop him from following this routine, but this time King decided to be a sadistic bastard and told the adults they weren't allowed to accept his challenges as a punishment for annoying Kaido too much. It was a cruel and unfair punishment, but the smart kid managed to find a loophole. Since the adults wouldn't fight him, he simply needed to find some brats his age and show them the pecking order through violence. That probably wouldn't be enough to give him a good death, but it was better than doing nothing for the rest of the week.
Luckily, it has been a few months since the somewhat reclusive young blue-haired siblings joined the crew, but this was the first that the kid would be interacting with them. His incautious victi- sparring partners were having fun without suspecting a single thing, thus making this the perfect time for a presentation.
"Hear me well! I'm the one and only Ran D. Savage, The Tempest." Savage introduced himself to the younger children after jumping in front of them, using a cool pose with his arms flexed that he had practiced for the last three weeks. "The greatest wrestler ever, a dark champion capable of putting the fear of kami into the heart of any face foolish enough to dare to oppose him, and you are now my protégés if you know what is good for you."
The siblings blinked in confusion; they seemed a little bit slow in Savage's humble opinion, but beggars couldn't be choosers for this kind of thing.
"Eh?" The older sister stood up at the challenge, pushing her sibling out of the way and stepping on his back as if he were part of the floor. "Did you hit your head or you're just this stupid? Bastard."
For a matter of fact, Savage did hit his head a couple of times this morning while practicing the legendary Germa 66 Supplex on a wooden statue, but that was beside the point.
"Are you deaf?" He glared at the girl. "If you can hear me then stop hurting my new little brother."
"Pay-Pay and I were only playing." She glared back. "Tell him, Pay-Pay."
Savage's soon be to be protégé/little brother groaned in pain, still suffering under his sister's weight.
"He says that you can go to fuck yourself." The girl translated.
Well, fuck him too. Since both siblings rejected the gentle approach, they would see why nobody in Onigashima actually fought Savage to the death despite his insistence on the matter. They would learn to respect wrestling.
Making good use of the footwork he had polished over the years in order to finally catch Kaido by surprise, Savage swiftly repositioned himself behind the little girl and lifted her up by the armpits. The bluenette's first reaction was to try to headbutt him, but after enduring Kaido's smacks for so long, the attack was little more than a love tap for the injured kid.
Credits where they were due, instead of doing something stupid like trying something else, the girl did the smart thing and tried the exact same attack a few more times until she got a dizzy just like any half-decent pro-wrestler would do. That was some decent potential for spectacle.
"Thanks..." The future little brother said with a nervous expression, finally free from his sister's heavy love/abuse.
"You're welcome."
"Don't thank him." The little girl complained with the saddest puppy eyes Savage ever seen as she kept struggling in his arms. "Your cute big sister is in pain because of him."
The kid deadpanned and turned to Savage.
"Do I get anything if I accept you as my Big Bro?"
He must be the smart sibling.
~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~
Negotiations were lengthier and harder than one would have expected from a conversation between children, but at the end of the day the young wrestler proved that charisma was the only thing needed in order to convince people to follow his lead...that and bribe the other party with food and clothes.
''I'm willing to add a few extra bottles of milk for each one every week, but you have to join my morning training sessions.'' The siblings seriously listened to the counter offer.
Kaido had put Savage in charge of the cows in Onigashima as a joke a year ago when he was drunk, but the kid never saw a reason to complain about the job because of his love for milk. Cows were surprisingly good training partners too.
"You also get two freebies instead of one when you are trying to kill me during our training sessions."
"We accept." To everyone's surprise, the one who spoke was the girl. "As long as you don't bully us, we'll call you stupid Big Bro Randy."
That...wasn't his name, but there was something that Savage wanted to know before correcting her.
"Was it the milk, the clothes or the freebies?"
"The last two." She replied before hitting the boy's jaw with a mean right hook that would have made his gramps proud.
Unfortunately for the girl, that was her last freebie of the day, so Savage proceeded to throw her into the air with as much strength as he could muster. It was a good thing that the ceilings in this place were so damn high, he wouldn't want to damage them by accident.
"My name is Page One and she is Ulti." Page shyly introduced himself. "Let's get along, Big Bro Randy.''
Again, that wasn't his fucking name, but before Randy could correct the misunderstanding, a chair flew past his head, barely missing by a few centimeters.
"Fuck you." Ulti panted heavily, her legs still shaking because of the fall.
If Savage were to follow all the lessons he had learnt from Kaido over the years, this would the right moment to show them what were the consequences for stepping out of line, just like the girl arguably did just now.
"That's the spirit. Nyaanyanyanya." Instead of that, he threw his head back while laughing like a mad man. "Let's steal some food from the kitchen and have a celebratory meal."
People should only live for their own sake, so it wasn't like Savage expected them to be obedient. He would be beating the shit out of them at their sparring sessions anyways.