Chương 2: Friends
"Leo, hurry up, we are already late." Bolt yelled impatiently from the outside.
"One moment, I am coming." Bolt hurriedly got ready and came out.
Seeing their impatient expressions Leo knew kids were almost ready to leave him behind. "Sorry guys, I had too much work, I couldn't free myself earlier." Leo apologized.
Suddenly he was held into choke by Liam. "This is for making us wait for so long."
"Stop. Stop. You are going to break my neck." Leo tapped Liam's arm with a helpless expression.
"Liam, leave him be. We can't waste more time." Bolt tried to free Leo.
"Okay then." He let go of Leo.
Leo rubbed his neck. "Liam, you should exercise some control over your strength, I really thought my neck was going to break."
"I know my strength, it's just you are too weak." With this, he started laughing loudly, and other kids also joined him.
Leo could just helplessly sigh at them. He was truly too weak, he was the weakest in his friend circle. Leo was also correct about Liam's strength, he was the strongest kid in the town, and with his strength, he could even beat an adult in the town. He was being trained by his father.
After some senseless talk, they made their way toward their destination. On the way, three more kids joined their group.
This Island is located between Dawn Island and Shimotsuki Village. It's a small island, divided into two parts by a small river, one part is covered with dense green trees, and another part is where Jingle town is located. It's a very normal peaceful town. Until now there hadn't been a single person who become, marine or pirate, from this town. The only person who had attempted to join the Marines was Liam's father, but he didn't succeed. Even though he was unable to join the Marines, he was determined to turn his son into a fine marine.
"Where are we heading?" Leo asked Bolt curiously.
"You will know when we get there." Bolt answered with an amused smile, he wanted to keep Leo in suspense, only then he would get to see his truly amazed expression.
Yesterday Bolt's father returned from his voyage. So today he was more excited than usual.
Whenever Bolt's father would return from his voyage, he would tell him many stories of the pirates, marines, sea kings, revolutionaries and so more. The next day Bolt would repeat everything to the kids, in a manner as if he himself had witnessed all those things.
Especially when he talked about pirates, he would get very excited. His dream is to be a pirate, only his friends knew about this. He still didn't have the courage to tell about his dream to his father.
On the way, he started repeating tales he heard from his father. "Do you know, whom my dad has seen, during this voyage?" He paused for dramatic effect and said, "It's the Don Krieg, the most powerful pirate in the East blue, he has a fleet of twenty ships and the crew of over two thousand pirates, and his bounty is 9 million."
"Wow, 9 million!!" All the kids exclaimed. Don Krieg is very infamous around this part of the East Blue, almost everyone knew about him.
Leo was surprised after hearing the name, Don Krieg. "His bounty is lower than the manga, I guess it will take some time to reach that amount."
"That much bounty!! Is he really that powerful?" One of the kids asked.
Bolt made an all-knowing expression. "Of course, he is."
"I heard he has golden armor, it is so powerful that even bullets can't hurt him." And so he continued telling the greatness of the Don Krieg. Suddenly he said something, which not a single kid believed. "One day I will be a pirate, who will be even stronger than the Don Krieg."
"What?!! Is that even possible?" They couldn't even imagine Bolt becoming someone powerful as Don Krieg.
From their expression Bolt knew they didn't believe him, so he looked at Leo.
Seeing Bolt's pleading eyes, Leo could nothing but take his side. "I believe him, Don Krieg would be nothing compared to Bolt."
Bolt's expression immediately brightened. "See, only Leo knows the greatness of me, the great pirate Bo- "
"You should stop dreaming, you can't even squeak a word about your dream in front of your father, and even if you become a pirate, this marine will catch you immediately," Liam said in a teasing tone.
"One day I will surely tell my dad about my great dream." Bolt said in a weak and uncertain voice. "But no marine can catch me, me, the great pirate Bolt Freeman." Now his voice was confident.
Suddenly Liam held onto Bolt. "See, this marine has already caught you. Hahahahah…." Bolt unsuccessfully tried to get away from him.
"No pirate can escape from the hands of the great marine captain Liam Osborne." With this he started laughing even loudly, other kids also started laughing.
"No, this doesn't count, when I become a pirate I will surely get stronger." Bolt tried to argue with a little confidence.
While they were happy arguing, Leo didn't have the time to pay attention to them, because he was very tired. He didn't know how long they were walking, but it was long enough to make him dead tired. "Guys..." He said with a weak voice, nobody paid attention to him. He waited for a moment and shouted loudly, "Guys…" Now everyone was looking at him. "Can we rest here for some time? I am tired."
"There is no need." Liam patted on his back. "Come here, I will carry you."
"Wouldn't that be inconvenient to you?"
"Inconvenient?" Liam started laughing, and then he showed him his muscular biceps. "See this, even ten of you wouldn't become an inconvenience for me." As compared to his age, Liam truly had some exaggerated muscles.
So, Liam carried Leo on his back until they arrived at their destination.
When they arrived at their destination, what lay ahead of them was the breathtaking nature's beauty.
It was a small but beautiful waterfall, falling from nearly six meters in height. At the bottom small pond of clear water was formed. The mingled chirping of birds on the green trees, and the sound of the waterfall were calming the mind. When the soft breeze mixed with the scent of blooming flowers and sprinkled water brushed against Leo's body, it refreshed him. It was the first time he was seeing such a scene in a real-life, it was simply amazing. Before this, he had only seen it in movies.
As soon as they arrived, kids freed themselves from their clothes and jumped in the water.
Only Leo and Bolt were standing outside. Leo was slowly taking in the amazing scenery, and Bolt was amusingly looking at his amazed expression. "So, how is it? Do you like it?" Bolt asked.
"Yes, of course. It is simply amazing." Leo gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks for bringing me here, I never knew there was such a place on our island."
Bolt was quite satisfied with Leo's reply. "Of course, you didn't. This place is so far from our town, no adult would tell us about it. Kids are banned from this place. So, you better not tell your mom about coming here. Got it."
"Yes, I will not. But then how do you know about this place." Leo asked him curiously.
Bolt pointed at Liam. "His dad brought him here once, and you can guess the rest."
Bolt leaned closer to the Leo and whispered in his ears. "His dad even takes him to the forest."
"What?!!" Leo was shocked. As even most adults wouldn't dare to go in the forest. And Liam was only nine years old. He didn't know what to comment on Liam's father. He thought inwardly, "He is truly serious about Liam's training."
"This is a secret, he told only to me, and now I told you. This should only remain between us. If his mom found about this, his dad will not have a place to sleep in his house." Leo nodded in understanding.
Liam saw two of them whispering to each other. "What the hell are you two doing? We haven't got a whole day. We would have to return as soon as possible, before anyone notices. So, hurry up."
Bolt and Leo looked at each other smilingly, and hurriedly removed their clothes, and jumped in.
After so much walking under the sun, Leo's body was craving for the water. When his body got into the cold water, he couldn't help but say, "Ahh.. this is heaven."
Leo looked around, he saw all the kids enjoying themselves, he had a strangely wonderful feeling in his heart. "So, this is how feels having friends. I never felt like this on the earth. I didn't know I was missing out on such a wonderful feeling." In his previous life, he hardly had anyone he could call a friend.
Suddenly Bolt's voice brought him out of his thoughts. Bolt pointed at Liam, who was playing by himself in the water. Bolt gestured for Leo to splash water on him. Both of them exchanged a mischievous smile and slowly approached him.
"Liam," Leo called him. He turned to them. As soon as he turned, both of them started splashing water on him and started laughing.
Liam put his palms in the front, trying unsuccessfully to stop the water. He also started laughing. "What? You two think you can take me on. Take this." He also started splashing water on them. Seeing this, the rest of the kids also joined them.
They played around for a while. They drank water from the waterfall before they left for the town, water had a strange but wonderful taste, and Leo drank till he was full.
When they reached the town, after saying goodbye, everyone returned to their homes. When Leo and Bolt came near their homes, Bolt again reminded Leo to keep quiet about their outing. "I know, don't worry." Bolt reassured him.
When Leo went in everything was already cleaned. No one was in the tavern, he went upstairs, and he saw Nejiko taking an afternoon nap in her bedroom. Without waking her up, he quietly went into his bedroom. He was tired from all the walking, so he was fast asleep when he got into his bed.
In the night after dinner, Nejiko asked Leo about his outing. As the kids planned, he told her about the Giant Tree, instead of the waterfall. When she heard this, she couldn't help but remember her childhood, when she was used to playing there with her friends. "That's a great place for you kids."
She wanted more details of his outing, so she could remember it for him, and retell it when he grew into a fine man, and then laugh about it. But Leo made sleepy eyes, tried giving her a cute pose, to stop her from asking more about his outing. "Mom, I am sleepy." He never went to the Giant Tree, he had only seen it from the town, he couldn't even make up a lie about it, so the only thing that came to his mind was to give her a cute pose.
Even though he didn't look cute at all, but in her eyes, he was the cutest boy in the whole world. All the fatigue of her day was washed away by his expression. While looking at him she thought, "That's why I live." She couldn't imagine a life without him, he was her whole world. She smiled at him. "You go ahead, I will come upstairs after cleaning the kitchen."
While Nejiko busied herself in the kitchen, he went to bed. "Thank god, acting cute always works for her." After some time Leo heard her footsteps, he closed his eyes, pretending he was asleep.
She quietly came into the room and looked at her son's face lovingly for a while. She covered him with a blanket, and kissed him on the forehead. "Sweet dreams my child." She softly whispered in his ear. While going out, she stepped out quietly and closed the door very slowly, in fear of waking him up, she didn't want to wake him from his sweet dreams.
When the door was closed, he opened his eyes and hurriedly wiped his forehead clean. "Why does she do this every day?" His face was a mixture of annoyance, and a smile, which even he didn't know was there. Even though he never admitted it, he really liked her patting, her kissing, her care, it was the same motherly feeling he used to get back on the earth from his mother.
After some time he really started exploring his sweet dream, unknown to him a smile continued to linger on his face.
So this was Leo's usual routine in the One Piece world.
In the coming days, Bolt, Leo, Liam, and other kids continued the exploration of their Island. They explored many places like the Giant Tree which was almost three hundred years old, the cliff from where they could see very distant ships in the sea. They also never missed visiting the waterfall once a week.
Days of Jingle Town were very sunny and peaceful.
Six months after their first visit to the waterfall, one interesting thing happened. Bolt somehow managed to gather his courage and told his father about his dream to become a pirate. On that day whole town heard the tragic screams of Bolt. His father beat the crap out of him.
Leo and Liam teased him about this for a very long time. Even though they teased him, he could only vent his feelings in front of them. Whenever they were together he would rant about his father, how unfair he was. "What is wrong with becoming a pirate?" He would say this very bravely in front of us, but he never uttered a word 'pirate' in front of his father.
After this incident, there was nothing new to Jingle Town and Leo was more than okay with it.
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