8 A New Quest
A few days had passed since Lowden began living with Kuzan. Within these few days, Lowden didn't start training heavily, instead, he familiarised himself with his new world. Not only did he explore Zumisha City, he also explored the rest of the island along with Kuzan. As he found, only the West of the island was covered in dense forest, where he first came to this world. The island that Zumisha City was on split itself into four different geographical zones.
The West of the island was covered in thick forest that seemed to stretch on forever. The East was an barren plain, rumoured to be home to a fearsome roaming bandit group. The South was covered in mountains and rolling hills with almost vertical drops, reminding Lowden of the Taihang Mountains that he visited back on Earth.
The North of the island, directly North of Zumisha City, was the most mysterious part. As Kuzan explained to him, only a few people dared to venture into the North of the island and even fewer make it out alive. Based on their reports, the North side of the island seemed to be a large swamp, completely overflowing with mist. It wasn't the swamp that seemed to kill the explorers however. Similarly to in the East, a rumour existed pertaining to a huge group of bandits patrolling around the area, killing or robbing anyone that they found. As Kuzan was explaining this, two new windows appeared in Lowden's vision.
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[[Congratulations, you have been offered a new quest!]]
[[Name: Hunt For Bandits (Part 1)!]]
[[Duration: Must be completed within 2 years]]
[[Information: Because of Aokiji's tales, you have heard the rumour of a large group of bandits, hiding out in the East! You must put an end to the group's tyranny!]]
[[Rewards: All Stats +5, Honour +5, Renown +50]]
[[Will you accept?: Yes/No]]
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[[Congratulations, you have been offered a new quest!]]
[[Name: Hunt For Bandits (Part 2)!]]
[[Duration: Must be completed within 3 years]]
[[Information: Because of Aokiji's tales, you have heard the rumour of a large group of bandits, hiding out in the North! You must put an end to the group's tyranny! But be warned, the Northern group is much larger than the Eastern one!]]
[[Rewards: Title: Bandit Slayer, Honour +20, Renown +100]]
[[Will you accept?: Yes/No]]
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Obviously, Lowden accepted both of the quests. As he found when exploring through his Stats, he could have as many quests as he wanted at the same time. Even though this was the case, more quests would mean more to do, resulting in less efficient work. If a quest is failed, a penalty would be given, though it didn't specify what the penalty was. Luckily for him, the 3 quests didn't result in a lack of efficiency, in fact, they probably increased the efficiency of the quest that Lowden was working on.
He agreed to train Kuzan, which he considered to be the most important out of the current three. However, if he just trained him, then both of their time would have been wasted. What was the point of training if he couldn't apply that training to combat? Therefore, Lowden believed that something like the 2 bandit extermination quests were a godsend. Not only would his plan be working out, he would get rewarded just for doing it!
After the few days that Kuzan took to introduce Lowden to the island, the duo finally began to train. To begin with, Kuzan was far behind Lowden in terms of his pure strength. Of course, Lowden was overwhelmingly strong for a 15 year old as he soon discovered. His endurance, reflexes and muscle strength were leagues above Kuzan for now. Lowden didn't really have a particular fighting style, in the few practice bouts that he had, he mainly relied on his strength and Devil Fruit to overwhelm Kuzan. In terms of technique, Kuzan was much better than Lowden, who recently came from a world where he pretty much never fought, despite his large body.
Unsurprisingly, Kuzan didn't have any weights for him to train with, after all, his family was quite poor. Instead, he relied on training with more natural structures, such as trees and boulders. Luckily for the two, the areas surrounding the City were ripe with such things. Usually the two trained in the forest of the west, nicknamed 'The Eternal Forest'. Both Lowden and Kuzan would increase the strength and precision of their strikes on the trees themselves. When Lowden proposed the idea, he was concerned in his mind about knocking the trees down from the force of his strikes, however, once he got to actually practicing, he found that the trees were overwhelmingly sturdy, barely showing any marks after 5 or 6 of his full powered blows.
On top of this, the two would practice their dodging and manoeuvrability within the denser sections of the forest. Each one would take turns striking at the other, who would have to fully dodge their strike within the mass of trees that surrounded them. Lowden would have the clear advantage if he relied on his Devil Fruit, but he chose not to, increasing the strength of his body instead. This also helped the one striking to increase their accuracy when attacking, benefiting both parties.
When they didn't train in the forest, they trained in the Northern mountains instead. Unlike in the forest, they didn't focus on attacking. They focused on the strength of their bodies and powers instead. Due to the mass of boulders, finding something to practice with was extremely easy. As soon as they found a suitable one, Lowden would practice by cutting the rock down to size using his Devil Fruit, where Kuzan would use the boulder as a weight.
On top of doing things like lifting the boulder over his head and doing push ups with it on his back, Kuzan was able to do various exercises that came from Lowden's old world, such as Squats and Russian Twists. After a month or so of this training, Kuzan was able to build his muscles to the point that he could do those completely foreign exercises with the boulder's weight added on.
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Only a month had passed since the two began training and the change was already visible. Kuzan was able to better contend with Lowden in terms of strength when fighting, though Lowden was still slightly better. Lowden had fallen behind Kuzan in terms of technique when they had just started, though the change was similar to Kuzan's, he was able to fight more evenly against Kuzan in terms of technique.
Even though he had improved, Kuzan was still no match for Lowden if they fought seriously, after all, Kuzan still couldn't use Haki against a Logia user. Completely exhausted, the two sat on the ground just outside the City panting and gasping for breath.
["Hey... hey... You-...you've really I-improved... I'm impres-impressed."] {Lowden}
In response, Kuzan simply looked at Lowden, evidently too exhausted to even reply. After a few minutes of lying on their backs, the pair slowly began to regain their breath as their hearts began to slow. Due to his better endurance, Lowden was the first one to stand up, promptly walking over to Kuzan and extending his hand, which Kuzan used as a lever to prop himself up.
["Well it's because of you, so thanks!"] {Kuzan}
Both Lowden and Kuzan had passed almost every day in the month like this. Training outside the village then coming back inside to spar with one another. After the training for the day had ended, it was roughly 4 pm, as it usually was. After standing up, Kuzan walked further into the City with Lowden following behind.
Kuzan's mother worked long after the two had finished training so she wasn't around to make food for the two. During Lowden's first day in the village, Kuzan showed him the food stall that he usually buys from when his mother is out. Just like Kuzan, it swiftly became Lowden's favourite place to eat.
By now, Lowden was a regular face in the City, he was famous for several reasons. For training the 'Boss' of the City, Kuzan and his treatment of people. Unlike Kuzan, who most people were afraid to get close to, Lowden was considerably warmer, causing people to flock around him constantly. Children and elders alike would greet him with a smile as he passed, making Kuzan a little jealous, though he would never tell Lowden.
A short walk later and they were at the stall, lights fully lit inside. Pushing through the curtain, Lowden could see that only two people were ordering food in the stall. Though he couldn't see their faces from this angle, he thought that they felt familiar somehow, despite not being able to recall ever seeing them. The two were comprised of a shorter older man and a taller younger man.
The younger man wore a brown suit with a matching hat, judging by how far it went down, Lowden knew that he probably couldn't see his face even if he looked at him from the front. The older man had short grey hair and was considerably more muscular than his younger counterpart. He wore a pink flowery t-shirt with shorts the same colour as his hair. Lowden felt like he should recognise the two, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Kuzan soon walked in behind him with a haggard look on his face. The boss over the counter just grinned knowingly. The two had been coming here for over a month after all, he knew what was going on between the two by now. Lowden took a seat next to the older man and ordered his food as Kuzan sat next to him. In his curiosity, Lowden took a glance at the man next to him. His eyes drew wider and wider as the man turned to look at him too.
That curved scar on the left side of his face, it could only be one person!
