Chapter 26: Meeting Luffy
On the way they got surrounded by the grey wolves, they approached them slowly while growling. These wolves were too weak for Leo and Bolt, so they just gave them a little beating and let them run away.
After this they continued to walk through the dense forest, accompanying them was the chirping of birds and not too cold a breeze of air.
After some time, Leo noticed, in front, an anaconda wide enough to swallow an adult human easily, coiling around the tree branch above the path they were walking. It was looking at them with its beady eyes as it stuck its two-pronged tongue out from its narrow mouth. It was perfectly blending with the tree branch with its brown skin overlaid with green blotches along the length of the body. The anaconda was master at ambushing its prey. It silently waited for Leo and Bolt to come near.
Leo glanced at Bolt who was busy playing with the metal rod, flying before him. A mischievous smile spread onto Leo's face.
When they arrived underneath the branch, the anaconda swiftly pounced at Bolt from above.
The sudden appearance of the anaconda completely caught Bolt off guard. In reflex, he tried to avoid it, he lost balance in the process. As he fell he haphazardly threw the rod at the anaconda's wide mouth which was about to swallow him. The rod missed its target. Dread struck into Bolt's heart, he was about to die.
But just then Leo punched at the anaconda's head, "BAM", punch made a fist-sized see-through hole on its head. Drenching Bolt with the blood.
"Thud." Dead anaconda fell just beside Bolt.
Bolt was so frightened that he almost peed in his pants. He felt grateful that Leo saved him. "Ah, Leo?" Just then something came to his mind.
"Are you alright?" Leo said in worry as he helped him up.
However, Bolt could see Leo trying his best to stifle his laughter. "You, bastard, why didn't you tell me?" he yelled in anger and embarrassment. Bolt knew Leo could observe everything around him with his senses, it was impossible for him to not notice this anaconda.
"I wanted to teach you that one must remain alert at all the time," Leo tried to sound as serious as possible, but he couldn't hide a glee from his face.
Seeing his expression Bolt knew that Leo was just trying to make fun of him. "Oh. You were teaching me." His expression returned to normal as if he truly believed what Leo said. "Thank you, I will remember your teaching."
Leo heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God, he didn't notice anything."
"You taught me such a great thing, it wouldn't look good if I didn't teach you anything in return," Bolt said with a sinister smile.
Leo had a bad feeling seeing his smile. "No, no. You don't need to take any trouble," Leo said as he backed away from Bolt.
"I certainly wouldn't be troubled. I might enjoy teaching you." The stones lying on the ground around Bolt began floating up.
"Oh, fuck!" Leo turned and started running.
Bolt laughed wickedly. "What a joke, you think you can run from me?" He started chasing him. As he chased he threw stones at Leo with his full power, without holding anything back, there wasn't an ounce of mercy in it.
Rain of stones approached Leo from behind. Without looking back he dodged every single stone and continued to run. "He is gone mad," Leo yelled inwardly. Even a single hit was enough to blow off any of his limbs, and he might die if it hit his vital parts.
"BOOM. BOOM. BOOM….." Many trees fell and small craters formed on the ground by the stones dodged by Leo.
Leo reached the river bank. He could see crocodiles in the water, vines hanging above the river by the tree branches. This was the exact place where Ace, Luffy, and Sabo used to hunt crocodiles.
Initially, he thought of crossing the river by using vines but he gave up on that idea because it would be difficult for him to dodge the stones while hanging by the vines. So he jumped on the backs of crocodiles and crossed the river.
As soon as he reached on the other side he turned back. "Stop. Stop. Okay, I am sorry," he yelled loudly while still dodging the stones.
"What? I can't hear you," Bolt said as he cupped an ear toward Leo, while still sending stones in his direction.
"I am sorry," Leo again yelled loudly, as he continue to dodge.
"What? I still can't hear you," Bolt said smilingly. He enjoyed Leo apologizing.
Leo clenched his teeth, he knew Bolt was doing it intentionally, but what could he do. "I am really sorry, okay. I will not do it again." There was no way Leo would have apologized if not for the place where they were standing. This was the place where those three brothers hunted, so he also wanted to hunt the crocodile and taste its meat.
Even though he wasn't able to hit Leo, he felt proud for making him apologize. For the first time Leo apologized after making fun of him. "Okay, this time I will forgive you, but don't do this again."
Leo obediently nodded, and cautiously returned to Bolt's side by jumping on the crocodiles' backs. "What if he suddenly started throwing stones at him again?" But nothing of that sort happened, Leo heaved a sigh of relief.
"What do you say about eating crocodile meat," Leo asked while looking at the crocodiles in the river.
"I am interested. We didn't have crocodiles on our island, so let's try it," Bolt said as he imagined how it might taste.
"Wait a moment. I will bring one out." Leo jumped above the river.
When the crocodile saw Leo, it became happy as prey was delivering itself to him. It widened its mouth full of sharp pointed teeth, waiting for the prey to fall into its mouth. But it didn't know that these were the last moments of its life.
Leo spun in the air and landed a solid kick on its head. All the crocodile teeth shattered like glass at the forcible closure of its mouth. It got pushed inside the water, the water rose high, drenching Leo.
After a few moments, the crocodile came back up, dead. Other crocodiles hid into the water seeing how easily their friend was killed. Leo dragged the dead crocodile out.
Before they roasted crocodile, Leo helped Bolt wash him clean in the river. Bolt washed himself and his clothes free from the anaconda's blood.
After this, they skinned the crocodile and roasted its meat.
As usual, Bolt ate cautiously as he kept an eye on Leo, who was engrossed in stuffing himself, the crocodile meat was being rapidly vanished into his mouth.
At some other location in the forest. Ace, Luffy, and Sabo were taking a rest after the sparring session.
"I am starving. Let's go get something to eat," Luffy said as he moved his hand over his stomach.
Ace became annoyed at this. "What? Didn't we eat a deer not too long ago? How come you are hungry again?"
"I am empty after using so much of my attacks," Luffy explained as his stomach rumbled, giving proof that he was hungry.
"Your Gum-Gum fruit is really crappy. It is already useless in a fight, and what's more, it even makes you hungry very easily," Ace said in disdain.
"Stop making fun of Gum-gum fruit. Just wait, I will make you cry someday," Luffy yelled angrily. He never doubted his fruit, he felt he only needed some practice to perfect his attacks, then he can easily beat Ace. So he didn't like Ace making fun of his devil fruit.
"You making me cry?" Ace sniffed disdainfully. "With your rubber body, all you can do is bounce back attacks and sink like a rock."
"What did you say?" Luffy headbutted Ace angrily and pushed him back. Ace also pushed him back.
"Okay, both of you stop." Sabo separated them. "Ace, I am also hungry. Let's go eat something."
"Sabo! You are too easy on Luffy," Ace said in frustration. He knew Sabo wasn't hungry, he was lying for the sake of Luffy.
Sabo just smiled at him.
"Let's go, Ace. See Sabo is also hungry," Luffy said with a wide smile as he knew Ace wouldn't be able to refuse now.
Ace sighed helplessly. "Okay, let's go for crocodile."
"I love crocodile meat," Luffy yelled happily.
Three of them headed towards the location where they usually hunted crocodiles.
As they arrived closer, Luffy smelled a fragrant smell of crocodile meat being roasted. He carefully sniffed the smell to see from which direction it was coming. "Meat!! I can't wait anymore," Luffy said as saliva dripped from his mouth like water, and then he ran in the direction of the smell.
"Luffy, wait!" Sabo and Ace yelled simultaneously and ran after him.
Luffy ran to Leo and Bolt, he didn't care who they were, there was only the meat in his eyes. He sat beside them, and without asking anything he began stuffing himself.
Leo and Bolt were stunned at Luffy's sudden appearance.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone