Chapter 41: Family triangle - Are you kidding?
"I have a brother?" Perros wondered.
"You have a brother?!" Anna said in a strangely surprised tone.
Perros came nearer to him, to carefully observe him up close.
As Black slowly left the shade of the tree he was leaning against, he removed his mask and hat. Perros got nearer to him, observing up close. Black did resemble Perros in some ways.
"Does he look like me?" Perros asked as he stood next to Black.
Looking at them longer, Anna noticed that the only difference was the color of their hair.
"Eh... There are some similarities." Anna said uncertainly.
"Well, have you met our old man yet?" Black asked.
"No, I don't think so." Perros hesitated.
"No bald old man with a scraggly white beard?" Black wondered.
Perros looked confused. As he sorted through his memories, Perros remembered that someone had looked like that. When Perros realized this, his face lit up.
"Oh, shit!" Perros exclaimed in surprise.
"That geezer was him?" He added, yet in a surprise tone.
--- 1 year ago ---
"What's your name, boy?" He added.
"Perros, the man who will become a Bandazai." Perros introduced himself.
The man moved Perros to the side as he walked in, smiling slightly. The man headed to the counter where he was brewing coffee.
They were both in complete silence, the man poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip.
"I knew you would come..." The man said in a confident voice.
"Did Koon tell you?" Perros leaned against the wall.
"No, I just knew..." The man said and took another sip.
The man still stood there, his face covered by his hat, only his beard showing. Nothing happened for a while, until he put down his cup.
"Are you gonna train me?" Perros eagerly asked.
"All you did was drink a cup of coffee, nothing amazing." He added.
The man sighed, flicked his hat and looked Perros deadly in the eyes.
"Eager we are?" The man chuckled.
"You should learn patience young man." He added.
Perros looked surprised, but took his remorse to heart.
"And call me Presto." Presto introduced himself.
--- present ---
"So he just told you his nickname, huh?" Black joked.
"Who knew he wouldn't even properly introduce himself to his son." He added.
"You knew him even before?" Perros meter of surprise gradually grew.
"Yeah, I was living with him until recently." Black said idly.
What followed was a barrage of questions about their father from Perros. Black tried to answer everyone, but fell asleep subtly during all the answers.
"And did he tell you..." Perros was interrupted by quiet snoring.
Perros looked over at Black, who was leaning against a tree, sleeping peacefully.
"Did you really fall asleep?" Perros said uncomprehendingly.
"Am I THAT boring?" He looked at Anna in confusion.
Anna walked over to the tree, looked at Black, who was still asleep, and started pounding on the tree. What followed was actually surprising, several squirrels fell on his head and bit him.
"Ay!" Black cried out in pain.
"What's happenin'?" He added as he removed the squirrels from his head.
"You fell asleep..." Perros boredly said.
"That explains it." Black stretched.
Black picked himself up and was on his way away. Perros just stood there, thinking he was joking.
"That all?" Perros asked questioningly as Black passed him.
"You are gonna leave me like pops did, aren't you..." He added disappointedly.
Black stopped after a few meters.
"He meant it for your own good..." Black turned around with a serious face.
"That hat, it accompanied him throughout his journey. And that watch, that was from his first love." He added as he approached Perros.
"He put EVERYTHING that meant anything to him into you to carry on his legacy. When you were born, he disappeared because he couldn't even imagine that he could threaten you with his presence." Black added once more, approaching even more.
"And that senile old man thought putting you in his brother's arms was a good idea. Look where it got him... dead. It's only a matter of time before someone else dies because of you."
"First of all, Darren didn't die because of me..." Perros said suspiciously.
"Second of all, how do you know that he did?" He added.
When Perros finished, there was a moment of silence. The look on Black's face seemed to suggest he had said something he shouldn't have.
"You were watching me?!" Perros deduced.
Black sighed, it was all he could do before he opened up.
"He sent me to spy on you because he wasn't entirely sure of your early actions." Black admitted humbly.
"I cannot believe it." Perros was stunned.
"If something were to happen to you---" Black stopped, Perros passed beside him.
"Where are you going?" Black asked.
No answer. Perros headed for where the forest ended. Anna followed him without a word.
"Perros?" Black asked in a softened voice.
As Black stood still, Perros was getting further away from him. Like fast they met, the faster they parted.
"Don't you think you are overdoing it?" Anna asked.
Perros paid her no mind and continued on.
"This changes everything..." Perros mumbled.
Few days passed since Perros saw Black. He managed to collect more numbers and so the tournament's participants grew smaller and smaller.
"Where's our next target?" Anna asked.
"Our?" Perros responded.
"Yours, but I'm your second pair of eyes." Anna added.
"You know that doesn't help much, right?" Perros joked.
"Shut up, at least I'm trying, you know?" Anna retorted sharply.
Perros laughed, knowing that there weren't enough participants to bother him.
On their way back Perros counted the number of papers, to his surprise it was a lot.
"So, how much do we got?" Anna eagerly asked.
Perros looked at her with a "there you go again" expression. Anna grunted, but still wanted to hear the number.
"Thirty-four, we have exactly half." Perros counted.
"Good job!" Anna complimented Perros.
"Thank you, but I haven't won yet." Perros pointed out.
Several hours had passed and they found themselves at the beginning of the forest they had entered on the first day of the tournament.
"Look, there's the tent." Anna pointed into the distance.
Another moment later, they finally arrived at the site.
"And it looks like we're the first ones here." Perros looked around the camp.
A slight thumping sound echoed through the camp. Perros and Anna already knew what it meant.
"Ben..." They both turned around.
"Long time no see, you pipsqueak." Ben smiled devilishly at Perros.
"Are you the only one?" Anna asked.
"From the bounty board, yes. So I guess I'm the only one left besides you." Ben said.
Perros's mind crossed the thought of Black, but he shook it in instant.
"Those stupid Devious brothers just stuffed their pockets and disappeared. Legless Betty is finally legless... someone took her prosthetic leg. Black's a mystery for now, but I suspect he won't be coming..." Ben explained,
"I don't know how you plan on defeating me..." Ben smiled evilly.
"But I would say... may the better man win." He added, slowly reaching for the minigun.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone