Chương 29: Disguised 'Man'
As for Leo showing his power, no need to be concerned. With what he had shown, Leo could be considered a person who did a bit of training. The physical strength he had shown is barely enough for him to join some weaker pirate crews of East Blue. That's how perverse the physique of this world's people is.
Take this example. Three years before Luffy left for journeying on the sea he could easily break the boulder bigger than him into pieces with his 'Gomu Gomu no Pistol' attack. Luffy is the main character of One Piece, so after three years he must've gotten far stronger. And Alvida took this stronger Luffy's full-powered Gomu Gomu no Pistol attack, even though she got flown very far she was still fine. The attack that could break very big boulders into pieces wasn't able to do anything to her other than giving some pain and making her fly far away.
They continued to make their way in the direction of the Great Gate. As they walked, almost everyone kept their distance from them, they were scared of accidentally hurting the 'noble' boy. After some time they arrived in the residential area of Gray Terminal. They could see tents and houses scattered around. This area seemed a little cleaner than what they saw until now.
People didn't take much effort to build the houses. Houses were just enough to keep them safe from normal weather conditions. Most houses had walls made from wooden planks, tin sheet roofs with stones on them to keep them in place. Here instead of just calling it 'house', people called it 'junk house'. Some people lived in the tents that were erected using metal pipes. Even though this residential area was a little cleaner, it was still a garbage dump. Everything was smelly, dusty, and dirty.
Bolt and Leo started searching for the pirates, but even after a while, they didn't find any.
While searching Leo spotted a junk house that looked as if it would collapse at any moment. This was a typical junk house, other than a very wide arched metallic plate with bolts above its tin sheet roof. This was the exact junk house in which little Luffy who wasn't much bigger than Porchemy's fist was ruthlessly tortured. But until the end, Luffy didn't utter a single word about treasure. Leo entered the junk house he saw a large hole on the back wall, it was made by Ace and Sabo when they came to rescue Luffy. The rope by which Luffy was hanged was still there. Leo felt motivated remembering how admirable little Luffy's character was.
Bolt was just looking around outside. After Leo came out they again continued their search. The condition of people around this area was a little better, many looked healthy, muscular, and more hope for living as compared to what they saw on the outskirts.
Just then they heard a commotion not far from them. They went there to take look.
Some healthy-looking men were fighting over a fancy gold watch. Others were watching the fight with pleasure, it looked as if this was their regular entertainment event. It looked as if it was the movie theater scene, but instead of popcorn and a cold drink, men were eating meat and drinking sake as they cheered for their favorite participant. Some were even baiting on who would take the final possession of the watch.
"Give it to me!"
"Stop it you fools! I found it! It is mine!"
"Fuck! Who is that bastard who pulled down my shorts?" The bald man yelled angrily as he pulled up his shorts.
"Don't hit the private part that's cheating."
"Yes, I got it." The short cheered as he firmly gripped the watch. But his joy was short-lived, someone kicked him from behind, he fell flat on his face, watch slipped from his hand and disappeared somewhere in the fighting crowd. "No! My precious!"
"Fuck! I told you not to pull my shorts, who was this time?"
"Bastard! Give me my watch back," the original owner who found the watch pounced on the man with a crooked nose. The other men near him also pounced on that man, and once again watch lost in the fighting crowd.
"My watch?!"
"Fucker! That was you! How dare you pull my shorts? You are dead today!" The bald man chased behind the 'short puller'.
"Who is this wastrel, using eggs in the fight?"
"Fuck! I don't even get to eat eggs and someone is using for the fight."
"Whoever he is, please hit me with the eggs," the short man said with a watering mouth.
As time passed more men joined the fighting crowd. Many among them didn't even care about the watch, they just wanted to join in the fun. Kicks and punches were flying randomly. The cheering of spectators was getting louder and louder.
A man wearing goggles on his head, and whose face resembled a rat, very slowly came out of the fighting crowd, after walking a short distance he began to run.
"He is running with the watch!" Someone yelled from the crowd.
"Thief!"
"Bastard! Give me back my watch!"
"My precious!"
"My eggs!" Someone stole the eggs from the 'rich man' who was using them to fight. "You bastard, stop!" He pulled out a knife and chased him.
Some people chased the rat-faced man. Others who were just here to fight stopped fighting and dispersed. All the fighting crowd was gone. The watch was the main reason that kept everyone together until now.
Spectators were a little disappointed at the end of the fight. They also dispersed and started their job of scavenging.
Initially, Leo also thought of joining the battle royal, but Bolt stopped him.
"That was fun to watch," Bolt said.
"It would have been more fun if I had joined," Leo said with a regretful tone.
Bolt ignored what Leo said. "Let's go, we have pirates to search."
And again their search continued. After some time, another junk house that was on the verge of collapse attracted Leo's attention. Half of the junk house was submerged in the junk surrounding it. The only upper half of the door could be seen, on the top of it was a cracked signboard with 'HOSPITAL' written on it. Someone was standing in front of the house, looking at the signboard longingly.
"Hospital? Was there a hospital in the Gray Terminal at some time?" Leo thought with a puzzled expression. He looked at the back of the 'man'. His mind gave him some unnecessary information he didn't need.
The 'man' was about five and a half feet tall with short black hair, a slender body, and fair skin. 'He' wore a pink shirt with sleeves rolled up, black trousers, and worn-out black shoes. Even though clothes were old, they were clean as new ones.
Since they arrived here, this was the first 'man' they saw, whose clothes weren't dirty. The second brain informed Leo about the 'man' dyeing 'his' hair.
Hearing someone coming from behind, the 'man' turned.
The 'man's' face gave Bolt a little scare, he stepped back in reflex, and he felt the urge to vomit but he controlled himself. The face was charred black from being burnt, with no eyebrows. Almost anyone would feel scared and disgusted seeing the face.
But Leo was furious, the anger was bubbling inside him like lava. He perfectly understood how much agony this person must've endured for being burnt to this degree because he had experienced the same thing. Form how the face was burnt he was sure that this wasn't some accident.
Bolt's reaction was normal to the 'man', but Leo's that was something new. But 'he' didn't think much into it because it didn't matter to 'him'. "Yes, it doesn't matter," the 'man' convinced 'himself' again.
Bolt's face surprised 'him' and reminded a very painful memory. Hatred deep as the sea flashed through 'his' eyes, it wasn't directed at anyone but 'himself'. "You must cover your face," 'he' warned Bolt seriously and left.
Leo wanted to ask about what happened to 'him', but he refrained. Because the 'man's' attitude was clearly telling them to keep away from 'him'. Leo thought as they might have to live here for some time, they will surely meet that 'man' again. So he decided to ask 'him' at that time.
"Did you see his face?" Bolt asked, he was still feeling a little uncomfortable. "And why did he tell me to cover my face?"
Leo sighed while looking at Bolt. "You shouldn't react like that to someone's face. You must've hurt her feelings."
Bolt seemed guilty. "I know I was wrong. But that was too sudden for me to get my bearing under control."
"Okay, I understand. But the next time we meet you must apologize to her."
Bolt nodded. There was nothing wrong with apologizing. He was confused at why Leo was using 'her' instead of 'him'. The first time he thought it might be a mistake, but the second time that can't be. He looked at Leo for the answer.
But Leo just smiled at him.
"Oh." Bolt realized. "'He' was a girl!" He exclaimed. "That's why 'his' voice sounded a little girlish."
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