บท 25: The Dadan Family
When Leo and Bolt reached Mt. Corvo's base they saw a mountain path leading into the forest.
After they entered, the damp cold air of the forest made them a little uncomfortable. The evening sunlight wasn't strong enough to light their path inside the dense forest. There were giant old trees, with thick vines coiling around them, and hanging down from their branches. Many of the tree's branches were covered with green moss. The constant chirping of birds returning to their nests made their walk through the darkening forest less dreary.
By the time they were close to the Dadan Family's house, birds were sleeping quietly in their nests, the sky turned dark. The silence of the forest would have seemed more terrifying than the roar of the tiger if there was a normal person in place of Bolt and Leo.
They casually walked through the silent and dark forest. After some time they were out of the trees. In the moonlight, they could see a house not far from them, the faint yellow light coming from its window that was long as the width of the wooden wall, with equally spaced forearm length vertical wooden bars.
As soon as they came close to the house, Pochi began barking at them.
Pochi is a white dog with a curled tail and fox-like ears, medium hair. His eyes slanted down and white with a black dot as the pupil.
"What is it now?" Dogra said hearing Pochi's bark.
Dogra is a short man. He wore polka-dotted dungarees and, much like many other bandits he has a turban on his head. He was carrying a sword fitting his size on his back, and the dictionary in his hand.
He looked at the chattering bandit's crowd and said, "See, what's going on?"
From the crowd, three bandits nodded at Dogra and went outside.
When bandits came out they saw Pochi barking at two boys. Out of habit, the first thing that came to their mind was robbing. Bandit in the middle whose beard at the chin looked like a flower, pulled out his knife and pointed them. "Give me everything you have, if you don't want to die," he said with a scary face. Bandits on his sides started weirdly smiling, trying to scare them.
Seeing them talking Pochi stopped barking.
All the money earned from selling the fish was in Bolt's pocket. When they asked them to give everything, he became anxious. He thought Leo might donate the money as he did with the fish in the village. So before Leo could say anything he decided to voice his intention. "We don't have any money," he said while keeping his hand on the pocket, trying to hide the money.
Seeing this Leo sighed. "Why did you bother to open your mouth if you are going to show them where your money is," he thought inwardly.
But the next second Leo was dumbfounded hearing the bandit's words.
"Then tell your parents to bring money here," the droopy-eyed bandit said.
"These bandits are even dense than Bolt. And what do you mean by telling our parents to bring money? Do you think we are on the Earth to pull out my mobile and ask my parents to bring money," he thought inwardly. He didn't want to continue with this stupid robbery scenario. "Makino-san asked us to come here," he said flatly.
"Makino-san asked you to come here?"
"You should have told that earlier. You made us waste our energy for nothing," the flowery beard bandit said in disappointment as he hid his knife into his clothes. His expression looked as if someone refused him to pay for his hard work. Other bandits were the same.
Leo felt his brain heating up. "You were the one who was quick to draw your knife without asking us anything."
"Follow me," the flowery beard bandit said, then entered the house. Other bandits also entered with him.
Bolt felt relieved at the cancellation of the money donation event. "I am not going to give this money to anyone," Bolt said with determination.
Leo was puzzled. "What are you talking about?"
"Just keep this in mind," Bolt said as he entered the house.
Leo followed in with a confused expression.
Just as they entered they saw Curly Dadan, the boss of the Dadan Family exiting from the kitchen with a giant plate filled with meat.
Dadan is a tall and overweight middle-aged woman with long, orange, curly hair and a big, masculine face. She wore a white-collar shirt, a pink beaded necklace, chequered trousers held up with a large belt, and heeled boots
She put down the plate near the square-shaped sunken hearth in the center of the room. Over the hearth, rice was being cooked inside the metallic pot.
"Shut it you scumbags! It's time to eat," she yelled at the chattering crowd of bandits.
Magra and Dogra took their portion and started eating. Dadan took the meat and sat beside the hearth.
The crowd of bandits rushed at the giant plate. The bandits who just tried to rob them completely forgot about them and rushed at the plate. Pochi also came in and ran to the plate.
Chaos ensued in the hall. They were fighting each other over the meat.
"Hey give me that."
"It's my meat."
"Didn't you eat already?"
"It wasn't enough."
"Don't be greedy."
"It's the survival of the fittest."
Bolt was dumbfounded at this. He thought Leo would perfectly fit with them. "Ah… He is already there," he slapped his palm on his forehead.
Leo was already among the bandits, fighting fiercely over the meat.
"Who is this?"
"He is eating too fast!"
"Stop him!"
All of them pounced on him, but they couldn't stop him. In just a short time Leo finished everything, and still looked as if it wasn't enough.
Bandits immediately drew their weapons from wherever they were hiding.
"How dare you to snatch the meat from the bandits?"
"Do you want to die?"
Very few of them got to eat something, so they were very angry.
Curly Dadan who was just going to take the first bite of the meat looked at the plate in shock. "What happened? I just put the plate there, how come it is already empty?"
She looked at the unfamiliar boy, who was looking at the meat in her hand with beastly eyes. She felt mortal danger for the meat in her hand. In reflex, she stuffed the whole meat at once in her mouth. But this made her choke on it, and then she fell on her head.
"Boss!!"
"Are you alright?!"
Bandits rushed to her in worry and helped her up. Someone gave her the glass of water. She drank everything in a gulp, then started breathing heavily.
"I almost died because of you little shit," she yelled at Leo.
"That wasn't my fault. You should've eaten slowly," Leo said in a tone as if he was teaching her.
"What did you say?" Dadan approached Leo with intention to hit, but other bandits stopped her.
"Easy, easy, Boss." Magra tried to calm her.
Magra's overall appearance resembles that of a chicken. He has a wattle on his chin, and a comb on his bald head. He has a mustache and sideburns, and big eyelashes. He wore a decorated jacket paired with a scarf around his neck, and a pair of shorts held up by a standard sash. He also sports long, striped socks. He was carrying a saber on his right hip.
"Who the hell are you?" She couldn't understand how this boy suddenly popped out of nowhere into their house.
"I am Leo," he said in a relaxed manner.
"I am Bolt," Bolt said as he approached the crowd.
"Woh… What a pretty boy!" Bandits exclaimed.
"I am sorry for the trouble caused by him," Bolt apologized as he pushed Leo's head down. "He just can't control himself when he sees the food. I hope you can forgive him."
Seeing how mannered and handsome Bolt was, Dadan calmed down. "Why did you come here?"
"Makino-san asked us to come here to deliver some clothes and meat," Bolt said while pointing at the bag.
"Makino asked you to come here?" She thought for a moment. "But I am sure that I have never seen someone with your face in the Windmill Village."
"Oh. We are not from around here. We just arrived today. We have some work around this area, so Makino-san asked to deliver this here."
Dogra took the bag from Bolt and looked inside. "This must be Luffy's, Ace's, and Sabo's clothes," he said as he pulled out clothes one by one. In the end, there was a carefully folded green leaf in his hand. "What is this?"
"It has meat inside," Bolt said.
Dogra opened the leaf. There was a little cube of meat inside.
"Why did Makino send this?" Dadan was puzzled. "This isn't even a mouthful."
Other bandits also had the same reaction.
"It's the Redsilver's meat," Leo said.
"What?!" Dogra and the other two bandits yelled in shock.
"Redsilver?" Everyone else didn't know anything about it.
Dogra decided to take on himself to explain. "Boss, do you remember that a few years ago the Rogue bandits came here to show off their wealth?"
"Damn, those bastards of Mt. Reo. I really want to beat them again," she said while clenching her teeth.
Rogue bandits are rivals of the Dadan Family. Many times they fought, each time resulting in a draw.
"Boss, should we head to their base tomorrow?"
"Boss, it's been a long time since we fought with them."
"I am itching to fight."
"This time we will show them who the boss is."
Bandits began clamoring with passion.
"Everyone, you all are too off the topic." Dogra tried to draw their attention, but their passionate hearts couldn't hear his voice. Only Dadan and Magra heard him.
"Shut it you scumbags," Dadan yelled at the bandits. "First, let's hear what Dogra has to say, then we will decide what to do about those bastards." Bandits became quiet and looked at Dogra.
"The Redsilver fish is very pricey, even palm-sized one can go for a million belly." Bandits were shocked hearing this. "The Redsilver is the reason why the Rogue bandits suddenly became so rich at that time. They snatched this fish from someone from the Fair Village."
Fair Village is another village on the outskirts of the Goa Kingdom.
"What? They got that fish from robbing someone. How come I am only hearing about this now?" Dadan's voice was mixed with jealousy and anger.
"By the time I got the news, they had already snatched it. So I didn't see any point informing you, boss," Dogra explained with a guilty expression.
Hearing this, Dadan looked at everyone furiously. "You lazy shits. What were you all doing at that time? If we had received the news first, that fish might have been ours. I bet that not a single one of you had done any successful robbery in years. You all have become too lazy."
Bandits looked down in embarrassment.
"Look at those Mt. Reo bastards, how hard working they are. That's why they are rich. That's why they always smugly show their pompous faces to us. It seems I've been too lenient with all of you. It's time to start the training again," Dadan said sternly.
"Boss, Noooo. Not the training again, please." Bandits kneeled in front of her.
But this time she was firm to turn them into hardworking bandits.
"This is the main reason why I didn't tell about the Redsilver at that time," Dogra thought inwardly.
Leo and Bolt were sitting beside the hearth, amusingly watching the drama.
As bandits they were they only knew about how expensive this fish was, so Leo had to explain the effect of the fish. But they didn't show much of a reaction at this. Money was more important for them.
Someone even suggested selling this cube of meat. But Leo quickly shot down that idea by saying, Makino-san especially sent this for them to eat, not for selling. So everyone reluctantly ate their share, even though it tasted horrible no one dared to spit it out, after all, it was too expensive. The remaining portion that was for Luffy, Ace, and Sabo, was packed away by Dadan.
As three of them were living in the forest, their room was empty. Dadan told them to sleep there for the night. Leo became overjoyed at this. On the floor were two white futons with a pillow and a white blanket each. Leo couldn't sleep until late in the night due to excitement.
The next morning, Leo woke up by the sound of two bandits fighting over whose turn was to wash the clothes. They argued for a long time without any conclusion. In the end, Dadan had to intervene, she punched them, and ordered both of them to wash clothes.
Leo kicked away Bolt whose leg was on his stomach. "Ah. It's already morning," Bolt said with sleepy eyes.
"Wake up. We have to get ready to move," Leo kicked him again before he went out.
After washing himself, when he came out the morning sunlight, the fresh air, and the chirping of birds welcomed him.
Bandits were pulling out Dadan from one of the holes dug by those three to catch boars. Leo laughed seeing this.
When she was out, she yelled at bandits. "How many times do I have to tell you to fill these holes?"
"Boss, we didn't know about this one, but now we know," Dogra said.
Other bandits began filling the hole.
When they arrived yesterday, he didn't take a look at the house carefully.
It was a one-story wooden building with a slanted roof, and a slanted roof porch just in front of the door. On the roof, there was a wooden lookout tower built, on which Dadan Family's flag was flapping. A rope was tied from the tree to the house, used for hanging washed clothes. Under the rope was a wooden double-sided step ladder.
Except in front of the house and the path, all the ground was covered with green grass. Leaving little space around the house, they were surrounded by trees.
Leo climbed on the lookout tower and observed the surrounding. He could see the tops of trees for a far distance until his vision was obstructed by the giant trees. It looked like a miniature version of the sea of trees.
When Leo came back down, he saw Dogra hanging clothes on the rope from the double-sided step ladder.
Leo was looking forward to the breakfast, but no one was preparing it. "Maybe breakfast isn't their thing." He thought they directly eat at lunchtime.
After some time Bolt came out.
Both of them got ready to leave in the direction of Gray Terminal. Leo already asked bandits about how to get there.
Everyone gathered to say goodbye.
Seeing this Leo and Bolt thought. "They really are good people. They just stayed here for a night, but everyone came to say goodbye to them."
After saying goodbye, Leo and Bolt entered the forest.
Bandits kept waving them until they were out of sight.
As soon as they were out of sight.
"The beast is gone!"
"Thank god, he is gone."
"I am hungry since the last night, I want breakfast."
"Immediately prepare the breakfast, I can't wait anymore."
"I pray for him to never come back here."
For the first time, Leo felt having enhanced senses wasn't always a good thing. He could hear every single of their word. Their comments stabbed at his heart. "Bastards, they were waiting for me to leave."
He shook his head to bring his head back onto the track.
The forest they were traveling through is called Midway Forest, a forest between Mt. Corvo and the Gray Terminal.
Leo was feeling very nervous because they might encounter Luffy, Ace, and Sabo at any moment.
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