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"Vice Admiral Sengoku! A call from the headquarters!"

Just before the Akatora was about get another ass whooping, a man wearing a standard petty officer marine uniform came forth. His head was covered in sweat but his stature was tall and sturdy. In his extended hand laid a den den mushi, a snail-like creature that can transport sounds to distant places as long as there is another one of its kind there. Some say that there are even a few den den mushis' that can convey imagery as well.

"Headquarters? What is it now?"

Sengoku wasn't too keen on leaving training early, but work had to be done. If he skips another one, he might just end up letting more people suffer. If he was a man that his father raised, then he should always be ready to face the evil of this world for the sake of the innocent.

"Go on dear, take a break."

Looking at her son whose expression showed only conviction, Donna felt proud. If he was here today, she knows he'd be proud too. If only the man never went to fight that monster, maybe he'd still be here.

'What am I thinking? As if my husband would ever let that man go without a fight.'

Thinking back to her late husband's ever confident smile, she couldn't help but look towards the boy with only a pair of shorts in the distance. His red hair was all messy while his whole body was covered in red spots. Traces of his painful training that would soon blossom into an improvement of his power and character. But even as he suffers from pain, he still has a radiant smile on his face. He looks just like him when he smiles like that.

"Thank you, grandmother!"

An enthusiastic Akatora immediately left the training grounds and headed for the village. If he was to say something that made him really happy here, it was that he had made a few friends already.

'I wonder if they're done with work yet?'

Disco Village, just like other villages, had many households. Every so often, these people would have children. Children here are in the ages before they are thirteen, by then they would be called young adults.

Young adults are able to work for themselves and even leave the village if they want to, but most of the time they stick around and form families of their own. Those people usually start at a later age though, choosing to live with their parents first so they can earn enough money to start a business for themselves.

Right now, a few of these young adults have welcomed Akatora to their circle. Two girls by the name of Gloria and Diana and a young man named Brendon. They are the children of Woodcutters, which was the reason they all met in the first place.

...

It was a day that Akatora had imagined would be the same as usual. As Donna was a woman who didn't care about being part of society as much anymore, she had learned to live a life outside of the village. This meant that she didn't have much interaction with the people of Disco Village, at least not as much as she used to.

When the wood supply for the house was a little low, Akatora himself went out to get some from the woods. Something he had always loved to do whenever he had the time, it just helped him relax somewhat. With all the training and all, he also wanted to find some time to just immerse himself in the peaceful forest that he used to go to whenever he wanted to rest.

It was here that he found a pair of women crying as a young man fought against a Wild Orange Gorilla. These animals are usually found somewhere much deeper in the forest, but one of them seems to have been led astray and ended up here. Looking at the traces of a fight, Akatora was sure that the beast was the first to attack. If it weren't for that, the three would never have dared to attack it.

"Run! Get my father to come here when you get back! Hurry, Gloria! Diana!"

Brendon brandished his favorite axe and steeled his resolve. He was hit bad by a punch in his left arm, so he only had his right to fight back. He was unable to run with them because the two girls were slower than the beast, they'd be caught in a heartbeat if they all ran. All he could do now was to slow it down before it could chase after them.

"We can't run! I'll fight with you!"

"That's right! If we run, you won't be able to defend yourself!"

The two girls, however, won't run without a fight. Sure, they were scared to fight the seven feet beast with nothing but axes in their hands, but it was a fight they had to do. They weren't stupid enough to not understand that Brendon was going to sacrifice himself for their sakes.

"Shut up! Now go and get help or we'll all die!"

But Brendon wasn't about to just hope for a miracle and stay here. He knows that they can't beat this thing, so why should all of them die?

It was also the same for the Wild Orange Gorilla, however, as he took a rather thick branch that had fallen on the ground and brandished it like a sword. Its brown fur looked intimidating with the sun behind its back, causing the three young adults to tremble in fear.

"Roar!"