Voyage details:

It had been a long time he had spent on Water 7. The longest time he spent on any island. He thought to himself as he sat on the docks, feet dangling off as the sea foam sprayed about in the air with the waves rolling back and forth. Just listening to the sounds of people docking their ships here made him think about what it was like when he got here, and how he got here. Willow O. Omens, The Seeker of Death, the constant runaway, finally found a place to call a home, and travel safely with.

As he reminisced, Willow took in a deep breath and leaned back, looking up to the clouds while he drifted off into a little day dream, remembering just what transpired to bring him here. First it was a grand escape from Lhao Zhuu, the traveling islands, destroying a powder store just to make a distraction and get off and onto the ship of another crew. From there it was a travel from one island to the next, finding himself leaving the Grand Line and off to the North Blue. From there it was a travel to the SOuth, then the East and then finally the West.

Each time he left the ship he was on, and made his way to the next crew to stowaway with. Willow smiled to himself as he remembered just how many people he bamboozled, how many gullible people there were for a good story just to get their entertainment values. That so many people could be placated just as easily. He sighed to himself while he moved his thoughts from those people to the crew of black market deliverymen that he rode into Water 7 with. It was nearly a month ago at this point, he ruminated to himself.

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Flashback begins

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It was about a month ago, give or take a few days, and the ship he rode in on with Captain Daz, a green haired and bearded man who wanted to get to Water 7 to make a delivery. "Alright boys, get ready to finish dock-HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING?!" He shouted at his crew of ten, making sure that they were listening. They were listening with sparkling eyes to the story of Willow. He had been telling them a story as they were preparing to dock, and now that they had weighed the anchor, they could focus on the story finishing before finishing the docking.

"--and that's exactly how the great Goryuenmitsu was felled by a single hero, using nothing more than the sword he had oriingally owned, turning out to be the strongest sword to ever be forged. No one knows where the sword is now, some say the legendary hero was buried with the sword, others say the sword was broken and a piece of it was forged into each of the Meito we have today. But one thing is certain--the skeleton of Goryuenmitsu helped forge The Red line, or so the story goes." As he finished the story, everyone was busy clapping and wanting to hear more, but it was time to get to work on finishing docking. Willow just smiled while they went to work.

He made it. Back from the blues to the Grand Line. And on Water 7 no less. Things were looking up. It was harder to stalk someone on the Grand Line, wasn't it? At least that's what he told himself.

As the Dazman Delivery Dregs finished docking their boat, the Dregging Force Ton, Willow would be the first to step off of the gangplank and off onto the docks of Water 7, looking at all of the strong looking workers here. If this was how strong the citizens worked, the pirates or marines would be even stronger right? He could definitely find some protection while he was here! He told himself that as he walked away from Captain Daz, only to be stopped by a hand landing on his shoulder and turning him around. "Scuse me kid, but you don't think we were gonna let you go without paying that fee you promised us right?"

Willow's face, closed eyes, hiding the purple hued irises underneath, was just a blank stare, about as much as one could give while he recalled he had promised some form of payment to Daz for being ferried off to Water 7. "Ah yes! Just one moment good sir. I know you have your delivery, but I do have your payment for--just a moment." He twisted and turned, reaching around behind himself to fish around for some sort of something. He made it look like he was going for his wallet, but as he turned around, he took out his extending staff Shepherd and swung it at the ground, extending it to its full length to strike the ground between himself and Captain Daz, "Summer Solstice!"

He started to launch himself high up into the air, and away, utilizing his one high speed movement technique, to cover a great distance of nearly ten meters in one leap, but as he was getting ready to make his escape, something shot out, a rope, as if it had a mind of its own, and coiled around his ankles, yanking them together only to be pulled taut by Daz on the ground. Daz lurched his body backwards and over, swinging Willow like a flail and back onto the Dregging Force Ton! Willow would be crashing into one of the sails that had yet to be rolled up mast, crashing into it and then through, tearing a hole straight through the material and into the deck where his body would bounce upon it. The wood would crack under his person and he would let out a groan of pain as the rope receded from his legs, slowly pushing himself up wile the men from the crew surrounded him.

One thing was to get thrown about, another thing was to have the very men who were just idolizing him to turn on him!, the next thing he knew, these guys were revealing their true colors, black market dealers, based on those black suits, but they looked like upstanding businessmen trying to protect their cargo. Daz just started to walk up the gangplank as Willow pushed himself up with a grunt of pain. "Nothing personal kid, but you personally owe us some money. Now do you want to pay with it in beli or blood? I mean, you've already made a scene and people are watching, so I can just make an example out of ya if you want."

Willow just sighed and pushed himself up off of the ground, twirling his weapon around and holding it in a defensive stance. Left hand down on the butt end of the staff, right hand holding the central part as he pointed it upward at an angle at Daz. His feet were spread, forming a T-shape if the heel and arch of them were together. He knew how to fight, he just wasn't a master of it yet! But he would stand his ground and wait for the perfect moment to strike!

"So, blood it is then. We'll take a deposit on bones and teeth for the down payment on fixing our sail you tore. Nothing personal, but you got involved with our personal affairs."

"Uh boss--you're doing the thing again. You know, where you start saying personal things even though you claim they aren't persona-AUGH!" The agonized cries of one of the workers as the rope of his captain was thrown around his neck, only for that worker to be launched off of the boat and clear off of the docks, landing headfirst in the concrete walkways where his body would go limp.

One down and nine lackeys to go along with Captain Daz. "I told you to not point that out you little rat! That goes for the rest of you!" Daz spun around, angrily pointed his thick sleeves at his crew, which made them flinch and quiver, backing up from the potential attack that could come their way as a result! They broke up their formation of surrounding Willow too, which didn't sit too well with the temperamental captain.

Willow lowered his guard for just a second, lifting up a finger to ask a question, "Pardon me, but I'm just gonna go--But I was wondering, why do you keep saying nothing is personal when you make it so personal?" Even with his naive tone and dopey closed eye look, Willow was able to duck down as the rope was thrown out of his other sleeve, a knife on the end of it so that it flew straight into the body of another of Daz's crew while Willow started to break into a run away from Daz while the rest of the crew started to follow!

Two down, eight to go! Keep that in mind Willow, focus on the numbers, take them out one by one. He was much more aware of the situation than he let on, even if his body hurt right now, he could ignore the pain. And while he got off of the boat as Daz was having a small break down for striking his first mate with that rope knife so hard it went through and through the guy's shoulder, he had some time to avoid the captain, for now.

Meanwhile, the first crewmen that was lodged into the concrete was getting a crowd to gather around, the interest in why a man was planted like a root vegetable in the concrete leading up from the docks was a mystery. But the citizens got a partial answer as Willow came sprinting by them, with eight men dressed in suits following him!

It was a tough time, but Willow could handle himself, he just needed to get into an alleyway with two exits to start fighting! Even with his vision restricted on both sides by the hood of his jacket pulled up over his head to account for the cold weather of the area at the moment, he could take notice of one alley way that met his criteria. He bolted down the alley where the eight warriors would be following suit. Time to start the counter attack!

"He went that way! After him!" Shouted one of the well dressed men, each one holding a different weapon. There was an axe-wielder, a spear toting man, someone with a couple of scimitars, a man equipped with a club. There was a woman who had on a set of bladed boots, a man with a pair of heavy weighted boxing gloves. One warrior with a long braided ponytail fought with nothing but his plain fists and feet, and there was the last one in the back who was wielding a gun. That last one was Willow's main concern.

While they thought they had him cornered, he still had the option to continue running down the other side of the alley way and out onto the street on the opposite end. Of course, that would mean being chased out into the open and that wasn't his prerogative. No, there was something different about the dopey exterior of Willow, those eyes were opened, but narrowed, in a clear fighting stance while in the alley to force them to come at him two at a time. The gunner couldn't do anything either! He would be shooting his comrades, and only Captain Daz was allowed to team kill apparently.

That was exactly how he wanted it. First came the axe wielding warrior and the woman with the blades on her boots. While she broke into a cartwheel and bent her legs in toward her chest, the axe-wielder swung the weapon down while she kicked up, launching him upwards as she flipped over onto her feet and brought both legs down in a crescent axe-kick at Willow, who simply leapt backwards to avoid having his weapon cut in two. And then came down the guy to try and give Willow the ax! Of course it missed but the force it created on the ground sent debris everywhere. Enough for Willow to take clear note that getting hit by that would be bad.

Determining who the bigger of the two threats was, Willow brought his staff into its fully folded position, a foot long before he swung his right arm up across toward his left shoulder, the sound of something shooting out and flinging back into place came out as through the debris came his staff, extending and retracting just as fast as it came out, clocking the man wielding the axe straight in the forehead, Yin Path: One Moon."

It seemed these lackeys were easy enough to take down. They weren't the type of crew he would need to seek protection from. No, they were only worth his time to take them down for trying to give him a hard time! The woman came rushing in, leaping over the downed comrade as Willow vaulted up and over the downed axe-man while she had no footing on the ground. And as he performed his own little gainer-flip of a cartwheel, hands never touching the ground, he brought the staff around and about his shoulders, the body of it crashing into the woman's face as she came over, only to launch her straight back at her comrades.

Four down, six to go. That only left the next round to come his way as he turned and started to sprint away again, further down the alley only to turn back around and threateningly hold up his staff. These cronies were good at moving as a unit, but whenever their cornered rat bared its fangs at them, they flinched as if fearing some sort of reprimand from Daz, something he could use in his favor and keep changing the field of battle for his own purpose. He was not going to give in so easily!

It seemed that the fight was being dragged out, at least byt he standard of Daz, who was still on the ship, waiting impatiently for his boys to return. Tapping his foot, gritting his teeth, tensing up his grip and loosening it while he waited and waited, with no results, "Those idiots. He's just one kid! How the hell long could it take to take care of one measly brat?!" As he wanted an answer, another ship came to port. A distinct circular shape to the ship, more ovular to be perfectly honest, but it had no distinct bow or stern. It was like it was a traveling forge, and as it came to port, a man with tattoos along his forehead and down over his eyelids and to his chin stood on what could be considered the bow while listening to the rantings of Daz.

"This boy you speak of. Is his name Willow Omens?" It was an ominous scene, and Daz was even intimidated by the ten foot tall man who stood with a hammer at the ready for action. As this man looked down at Daz, all the information regarding Willow would be exchanged between the two. It was not going to bode well for Willow when he returned.

Cutting back to the fight between Willow, and the now three remaining warriors. There was the spear wielder, the kung-fu specialist, and the gunman. He was huffing and puffing, arms sagging low as he kept moving to counter the motions of mister pointy-stick and sir punches-a-lot, anything to keep them in the line of fire between himself and commandant shoot-to-kill. As he nicknamed them during his fight. These three were the only ones that were able to land hits on him so far, the rest disposed of across the alleyway in various knocked out positions, their eyes rolled back into their skulls, left without anything to defend themselves with or fight against Willow.

Willow himself looked worse for wear. His jacket was torn in three different spots, the hood torn open, blood running down his eyebrow and over his eye and straight to his neck. He was huffing and puffing, taking a deep breath and spitting out a glob of blood straight into the ground below. "Well...Bye then!" Willow turned and ran, making a feint as if he was about to engage them, only to run out of the alley and down back toward the docks.

Before he went back to that forsaken place though, he doubled around into a small sundries store, looking to see if he could get some sort of first aid kit. Of course, the person who was running the shop was rather confused as to how someone could get so beat up, while the sounds of people shouting and looking for Willow could be heard from outside. "Oh--I'm going to go use your upstairs really quick, thank you." He said while tossing some Beli onto the counter to run upstairs. Just as he was upstairs and out of sight, the three remaining lackeys came inside looking for the perpetrator.

Just as they were getting ready to start searching for the shop, Willow was grabbing a satchel from the storage room upstairs. tucking away into it various supplies and whatnot while he leaned on a precariously perched box, starting to push it toward the floor with all of the heavy supplies in it. As the floor creaked, the fighters looked up, ready to try and go upstairs to see what was up there. But just as they all nodded at each other in agreement, the box that Willow was leaning on came crashing down and knocking out the gunman and the kung-fu artist in a quick motion.

Willow came down, landed on the heavy linens in the box and got to running outside while the spear fighter was dazed, "Thank you! Here's some extra beri!" He shouted while throwing a few thousand more beri into the air for the shopkeeper to cover the cost of the supplies he was walking out with. The shop keeper was just left flabbergasted. He ran outside just as the spear fighter was getting ready and throwing the door open to challenge Willow right there on the street.

He had enough time to put a bandage over his eyebrow, keeping any more blood from getting in his eye. Now it was a fight between two people with similar weapons and fighting styles. One of them was just more prone to stabbing and slashing rather than bopping and clobbering. Now it was a scene. The alley way fight discovered by some passers by, while the scene in the shop was noticed really easily. Things were getting crazy, and Willow was the source of it all just because he didn't want to part with a few hundred thousand beri. But come on, that was an outrageous fee to ask for!

As he was ready to get fighting the spear man, the spear toting fighter came rushing in, and ready to thrust that spear multiple times, a series of seven aimed for Willow's torso. He weaved to the left, weaved to the right, spinning his staff around, striking upwards and downwards to send that spear away this way and that. But he only had the ability to block five of those stabs, two slipped through, one straight along his leg, the other jabbing along his side through his jacket. The hiss of pain rang out from Willow as he spun about, leaping off of the ground temporarily.

He twirled the staff above his head like a propeller as he came to the ground, ready to fight against the spear wielder. The spear was brought up and around, ready to swing across Willow's torso, but as Willow came down, he shouted, "Yin Path: Two Moons!" The staff was brought down with his right hand, striking into the spear to send it straight into the ground while Willow brought the staff up in a quick motion, jabbing the point-end of the staff straight into the spear wielder's temple. It looked more like Willow swung his fist and knocked the guy straight in the side of the head, enough of a blow to knock out the spear wielder in one blow. He was the one that came out on top. ANd now it was time to stagger back to the docks.

But first, he had to sit down and treat his various wounds while making sure that his outfit was given a quick patch-job. Arms bound up, gauze to account for the various bruises and cuts he had, a bandage over his eyebrow, some patches slapped on over his torso wounds, he was ready to go see Daz now.

Willow was walking back toward the docks, ready to confront Daz and take care of one thing, just to encounter another. The moment he was back in sight of the docks, he saw that one ship. The Yuklan Smith Works. One of the ships of the Yuklan fleet! His face just changed from stoic determination to an agape mouth, eyes bulging out, a face of sheer audacity and shock, surprised beyond comprehension. That was the very ship that was stalking him! And the one figure he saw on the bow was the most astonishing. It was Johannes! Why did it have to be Johannes?!

Willow had one foot off the ground, arms mid swing as if he were marching, the other foot on the ball of it, only to swiftly turn about and get ready to run back in the opposite direction. it was time to nope out of here, get away from Johannes before anything bad would happen. As he turned about to get to running, he was confronted with the visage of Daz. "Well--I found out why my boys are all down for the count. Your friend Johannes told me a lot about you friend." he said while pulling the rope taut between his two hands only to pull it so taut that it seemed to snap. In a flash of light off of a reflective surface, Willow was temporarily blinded and swiftly cut up across his body a dozen times. They were all superficial cuts and he was lifted into the air with the force, only for Daz to slam his fist into Willow's gut and throw him to the ground.

Willow's mouth hung agape, eyes wide in sheer awe at what was being done to him. He wanted to fight, but that move was too fast for him. His eyes in clear view at this point, "Just like he said! You have the weirdest eyes! Eyes of a cursed kid. This is nothing personal, but I gotta put you down for a nap and Johannes will pay your tab for me and then some!"

Willow was mumbling something on the ground in between wheezes as Daz was readying some rope to tie him up. Daz, the curious businessman that he was, would leave over and try to hear what Willow was saying, "What was that? i didn't quite catch that kid."

"Yin Path: One Moon!" He said through a pained breath while swinging his staff upwards, sending it out and straight into Daz's manly bits. he was lifted up and knocked backwards while clutching between his legs, the green haired man bent over and doubled over in sheer pain. Willow groaned and rolled over onto his stomach and started to push himself up to his feet. he was hurt, he was battered, he was bruised. But he. Would. Not. Back. Down.

As he got up, he turned around and stared at Daz with his gaze trained on the man whoe was busy nursing his busted balls.

Willow O Omens, The Seeker of Death. Versus. Captain Daz The Greedy Green. Ready? Fight!

Daz finally got up on his feet as Willow was prepared for a fight. All around them people were gathering, giving the two fighters some space. it wasn't uncommon for fights like this to break out here apparently. But it was uncommon for the marines to not be called for so long. Maybe they had a little leeway as the people wanted to see a fight between the two panting warriors, maybe it had been a while since they had seen some action. Daz was mumbling about the pain he was going through, gagging a few times as he resisted the urge to lose his lunch. At least he couldn't use that two handed whip attack with one hand nursing his gonads.

Many blows would be getting exchanged, Willow and Daz both striking each other. Willow rushing in for quick melee strikes, Daz slinging his rope from one sleeve out against debris to use it like a flail as his hand gripped the rope and swung it about. A chunk of wood used to try and strike Willow across the head from the left to the right and back. But Willow would be having none of that! His staff was lifted up like he was bunting a baseball pitch, hitting the blow once, twice, three times before he spun about and stabbed the staff outwards, hitting Daz in the stomach while his back was to the man.

Though Daz was not going to back down as easily himself. Willow had his feet latched on to again, only to be flung up through the air by Daz's other arm, and the one that had the wood flail was not holding between his legs. He swung his arm about, sending Willow through the air before the rope let go, leaving Willow airborne long enough for chunks of wood to bre flung like projectiles, several flying at Willow who flipped in the air and swung his staff about, though it was in a more collapsed state, wielding it like a cane instead so that he could bat the projectiles away and into the street below.

Landing and skidding on the ground, Willow yelled at the top of his lungs, psyching himself up as he broke into a sprint and started to near Daz. Daz was trying to launch projectile after projectile, One struck Willow, sending him backwards, but his staff was slammed in the ground, using it like a post to stop himself from going too far. His look was much more serious now, those damned haunting eyes of his staring down at Daz, someone who found himself a little worried actually.

As Willow came running back forward, he was going to win, he was going to win and then run from Johannes. It seemed that Daz was at an agreement, he would bring Willow back after a while and if he had not found Willow in a certain amount of time, Johannes would be looking himself.

"HRAAAAAAH! YIN PATH: SUMMER SOLSTICE!" Willow shouted while running through the debris field that Daz scattered across the street. He brought both of his arms up overhead, holding onto Shepherd as he leapt into the air and swung the weapon down, extending it to its full length as his feet were just leaving the ground. When it extended and hit the ground, Willow launched himself and performed several flips through the air. This was a gambit and as the staff receded back to its storage length, he brought his right hand up as if he was going to throw a haymaker.

Daz was in panic mode, he was trying to throw debris piece after debris piece, each one being haphazardly tossed and missing Willow easily. His eyes were locked on those purple ones. The odd color of them and the rumor he was told about them ringing true in his head. Something about a curse of a demon child destined for death and for those around him. And as Willow was getting closer, everything seemed to be going in slow motion.

"Yin path: One Moon!" Willow swung his right arm in mid air, sending the staff out to its full length when he was in range. And as it extended, the staff came across and struck Daz on the chin. And as the force was stopped by the initial contact, WIllow started to twist in the air, lifting the staff up and Daz with it as his eyes started to roll back into his head. The green haired black market salesman was lifted up into the air and launched several feet up high, only to crash back down as WIllow landed himself.

Entire Daz crew down, none to go. Willow huffed and puffed, in a ragged state while he looked on at the crowd around him and started to dust himself off. He was winded, he was beat, and he needed to give himself more first aid immediately. As he was patching himself up, a looming shadow appeared behind himself, while he was finishing up the patch job, Willow looked over his shoulder only for his face to turn into pure shock.

Johannes Yulkan Kite, the one man that was very intent on hunting Willow down. The first one to sign up for the hunt to bring Willow back home, where he belonged, supposedly. "Hello there Filth, it's good to see you again."

Willow was already running away, leaving behind a dust cloud while his arms and legs flailed about, eyes bulging out and mouth hanging open while he was yelling out various babble and drivel! It seemed Willow would be getting away for today, but now Johannes and the rest of the Yulkan smiths were on the island of Water 7. They could hunt him as they pleased while Willow would be avoiding getting caught, hopefully.

Though, in addition to all of this, the entire scene of chaos was watched by a marine from the rooftops, taking note of everything that was happening and the perpetrators. Sure they could catch some black market workers, but there was that Orange Haired loon to hunt down for now, at a later time.

Willow finally came to a rest and found a place to stay eventually, winding up in the slums of Water 7 for now. There wasn't much that he could do this way or that. he had to lay low for now, and that's just what he would be doing for the next couple of weeks until he would come across a set of three quirky pirates. One who liked to play cowboy, one who was a fishman that collected swords and had a short temper for fakes, and a musician that liked to stun people with that guitar.

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Flashback ends

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Willow just smiled to himself, thinking back on how many fun times he had here on Water 7, his feet still kicking back and forth as he had managed to get so much done. Now--he was a full-fledged pirate, a member of the Six Barrels Pirates, and they were getting ready for departure.

Looking over his shoulder, in the distance, Willow could see the silhouettes of the people that would be joining him on their boat and getting off this island, ready to escape to their next adventure. But one thing would remain apparent for him, the other tribes of Lhao Zhuu would be looking for him after this. And for that, he was ready for another fight. He would always be ready now. He wouldn't let their customs keep him from his goal of finding the best place to die one day.

[END]