"Of course boss", He turned to the child and still had a sickening smile on his face. Roan stayed out of sight to see how the situation would unveil. The slender man went to meet him and proceeded to deal him a heavy blow in the abdomen. The boy went flying a few paces to hit a wall nearby. The boy was coughing and wheezing as the slender man picked up the pouch that had fallen out of the boy's hand. He threw it up and down a little distance so as to get a feel of the weight. "You did good today yonu, maybe this'll get us your dad's back for a while. I just love it when a young ripe fruit is pressed to get the amazing juice out. Don't take it too hard boy, it's the bad things in life that make us strong, and when you get strong, you get happy!!!!!". He said letting out a riveting cackle into the wind. The boy slowly got to his feet and looked on as the man opened the pouch to check the contents. Th slender man opened the pouch with the bigger dude on the sides silent all the while. Roan could already tell what was going to happen, and prepared himself to take action. Immediately the slender man's hand went halfway into the pouch, his face froze. Like, in real time. His entire expression stood still at that point in time. As he inhaled to let out a Bowelling scream, Roan emerged from the shadows saying "That's enough, it was me that gave the boy that pouch, so let him go. This is between you and me". He had a stern expression on his face showing he was there for business. He didn't know what to expect, but he wasn't afraid. Up until that point in his life, the only two people that could have beaten him in a fight were his father and Yusha. The bulky one let out a single grunt and a head motion in the direction of Roan.
From the back of his trousers, the lanky one pulled out a blade, longer than the conventional dagger but shorter than a sword. He walked slowly, but with anger and obvious malicious intent towards Roan. It wasn't as much so as he was angry at Roan specifically, but he was just generally angry and needed to transfer aggression. As he was about two feet away from Roan, he picked up the pace and lunged straight at him, swinging his blade like a butcher gone crazy. He slashed, gashed, thrusted and Roan avoided all of them. Don't get it wrong, this was the first time Roan had been in this kind of setting, he couldn't quite grab it yet, but his life was on the line, and for someone who's having his first epic fight. This would be momentous for him. The slender continued to attack wrecking most of the surrounding walls. Then he suddenly stopped. He said with as calm as a voice you can imagine while waving his knife in Roan's direction, "It seems you're no idiot in a fight. I thought I was going to cut something off, but now let's just end it", Roan said in return with anger in his voice. "Why are all of you so bent on killing so much. Why do you have to do this to other children just because someone did it to you". "Eh, what's wrong with this guy. I take it back, you really are an idiot, aren't you. You have to be for you to not know how the world works. If the strong want to be controlling and wicked on the weak, they will be and the weak can do nothing about it. And if someone stronger comes out and wants to be kind and generous to the weak in any aspect, by measure of his strength will his will be done. There is no such thing as good or evil in the end, all that matters is who is stronger to make their own will come out on top and inevitably win. All that matters are results, and the result of this will be you sprayed along that wall over there".
Roan couldn't quite put his finger on it, but all the while his opponent was talking, he could feel something in the air, almost clogging his nose, he used to feel it a lot from yusha and a few blacksmiths and artisans, but never this thick and choking. By the time he was done, he was thickly enveloped in it. Then he sprinted for Roan and his cuts went through Roan's defenses, Roan was getting cuts and jabs here and there. But he was still holding his ground, the moment he saw he good opening, he burst through it, landing a knee right in the gut. His hands were quite sturdy from farmwork and so, his framework was far more rigid and dealt more damage than a common street brawler. His opponent staggered a bit but looked him dead in the eye. Again, a wicked smile creeped along his face spreading his cheeks to their elastic limit. "You don't know how to use haki properly, don't you?". Roan couldn't even retort at this point, that choking miasma seemed to fill everywhere now, but for some reason, it wasn't as thick as he initially felt it. He looked to the left and to his surprise, the bulky companion was nowhere to be seen, he was so focused on his opponent and the miasma he was sensing that he had forgotten all about his opponent. Like icing on the cake, he looked round and again, he couldn't find the little boy. What on earth happened. Yeah, I haven't seen someone like this other than yusha, but still. How could I possibly let my guard down. What have the years of sparring with Yusha been about. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Seems like you've already accepted death. It'll be no fun if you're resigned to it though, so let me take a limb and hear your screams".
Now, this is the perfect time to explain Roan's peak fighting style. When dealing with beasts and people other than yusha, he would almost always underestimate them, because before now, Roan had seen anyone in his age range that could put up a challenge. Apart from yusha that is. When he fought with people, it would be like when you're playing a online game and listening to your mother at the same time, you can't really put your mind on both at the same time. Now, whenever he would spar with yusha, he would enter a pseudo flow state. Flow is when a person has reached peak performance. His senses are in tune with each other, with no lag or second thoughts. His body had been drilled into this state by no other than yusha, and he always had a set of combo skills he wanted to use. His opponent came swiftly for his left hand with a blade in hand. Roan, without needing to open his eyes grabbed his opponent's wrist to twist it and turn him off balance. He twisted it with so much force that his opponent had no choice but to succumb. Roan didn't waste time with a quick hit to the face that could have sent him to the ground but saw an opening still and used the same left hand to punch him in the gut. As soon as the opponent fell down, he rolled out of the way and quickly got up. He felt something trickle down his nose. It was blood. Imagine the classic psychopath thinking that how is this possible look, that is exactly the expression he had on his face. And again, they engaged in mortal combat, Roan's eyes were working seamlessly with the rest of his body and he didn't miss a beat. He pressured his lanky legged opponent with jabs kicks all while blocking or parrying his attacks. In the heat of the fight, the perfect scenario happened, Roan saw an opening so wide, a village could pass through and normally as a guy never caught off fresh, he went for the kill. He sent his thin thighed friend to the ground. After taking a few seconds to catch his breath before going to look for the boy. He was probably taken by the bulky one, if the bulky one wanted to ambush him, he would've by now, not that he could with Roan's senses.
Within his range of sensation, he felt someone else from his back. It wasn't the burly one, no. It was the solemn figure that sat in the middle. He looked down at his fallen henchman with unfazed eyes. Then slowly at the minor mess around him noticing the absence of the boy and the other henchman. Then finally at Roan, observing the slightly battered state he was in. Roan hadn't engaged in as many close quarter and near death battles as his opponents, but he had always had the usual tussle with some wild animals near the farm, so he knew instinctively how to hold his ground. At this point, he knew all too well that this one would be the toughest, after all, this whole village revolved around strength and cunning. He braced himself for the fight to come. The opponent walked carelessly towards him, as if completely unphazed by Roan's presence. Unfortunately, dear comrades and comradesses, this is where the inexperience of our dear Roan came to play. Had it been he had come to his senses sooner, he would have been able to put up more of a fight. The mere pressure that he felt when his opponent casually came walking towards him was numbing. Roan kept thinking of several ways to attack, but his mind kept nullifying them. He was caught in this trance until his hooded comrade had gotten too close.
As if being dragged back to reality by the reducing proximity, he jolted back to reality, and decided to go with a right hook. His opponent effortlessly caught his hand and before Roan could try to counter, he felt a pressure collide with his chest. If not for his eyesight, he would have thought that the kick was made of air. He rolled on the floor till he came to a stop. He picked himself up and looked at his opponent, this guy was still casually walking. Roan tried everything he could, but it was like advice falling on a child's deaf ears. He tried punching, jabbing, kicking, he couldn't even defend, not cos his opponent was too strong(well, he was). But because this was basically a one sided massacre. The tall opponent could see through all of Roan's attacks, and didn't even have to put much effort in it. After having one or two potential attacks blocked or simply swatted away, he would receive a painful reminder that he was nowhere near the level of his opponent.
This went on for a while. Before we know it, Roan's right eye is cut above the brow, he's clutching his chest, and the red source of life is flowing from his lips. Things weren't looking too good for Roan, flow or not, he didn't have any more tricks to pull. Then he realized, I never thought I would be in this position, think, think, think. What was all that time sparring and training for, what would Yusha and dad think of me. Due to the cut above his eye, he decided to try closing his eye to prevent blood from flowing into it, then he noticed something. In fact, it was a shocker he didn't notice it all this while, there was a difference between him fighting with his eyes open and them closed. Just a split second before his opponent's attacks connected, there would be that tinge of a nauseating smell coming, the shocking thing was, he felt the sensation of smell, not sight or what he usually uses to replace sight when his eyes are closed. And as the gods may have it, it was the same stink that he sensed when he fought his previous opponent. This on the other hand was much more refined and concentrated, instead of spreading everywhere like the smell of 5 day old rice, it was lined across his gloomy combatant's body, albeit quite loosely, but not too loose to see before his actual kick landed, those few seconds should have been enough for him to react on time, IF he had been at his best. Armed with this new information, he thought no time like the present to try it out. He took 3 more hits until he could finally reliably perceive it, but by then it was too late, his body was too far from peak, any moves now should have been to run away. He couldn't think of anything to do, even if he had gotten a quick peek into his opponent's fighting style, if he couldn't react on time, it would all be useless. And in the depths of despair, when all seemed lost and Roan almost felt like he was way in over his head, that sonorous gentle voice that could command an army showed up. "That'll be enough now". No, it wasn't Yusha, it was Mr. Grey, and behind him, hiding precariously behind the tall gallant butler was the scruffy kid who had somehow been at the center of this whole mess. And just like a piece of paper, Roan was forgotten. The evil crime boss began looking at the gallant Butler and approaching him with observable caution, narrowing his eyes to study the new obstacle. Roan wasn't sure whether it was his injuries or the fact that he had just been bad at it. Cos he felt like he was sensing a similar energy emanating from Mr. Grey and although carried less stench was slowly stretching towards his new target. It was also noticeable that the mob boss was doing the same. It was almost as if their auras went forward to fight before they would. The auras were swirling and colliding with visible pressure. And so the two true masters met in combat.