3 Joining the Crew

Everything happened so quickly that Nico and the other two were rendered speechless. Never could they have imagined that David would ever retaliate.

Although he had taken the person by surprise, to be able to knock out an adult in two moves spoke volumes about the boy's strength. And he was only sixteen!

Nico snapped out of his shock and thought, 'This kid… isn't he a little too strong for his age?'

He then gestured to the two men behind him. The men looked at each other, then at David in a rage. They shouted, "You little bastard! I'll make you regret your actions."

Meanwhile, David had already made some distance from the two men approaching him. Although he had a solemn expression on the surface, inside he was flabbergasted. That was because he had realized something else.

'Looks like the system not only enhanced my strength but also my senses!' he thought. Although he didn't know a thing about fighting, having superior strength and perception was really advantageous.

But soon, he snapped out of his thoughts as Nico's two henchmen were already a few steps away from him.

David decided to make the first move as he rushed toward the guy on the left, then raised his hand and delivered a straight punch to his chest. The man was already prepared and raised his arms to guard himself from the incoming attack.

When David's punch landed on his forearms, however, he stumbled a few steps back and looked at David in shock. He felt a searing pain coursing through his arms as he thought, 'What a strong punch! Are his bones made of steel!?'

Meanwhile, the other person rushed toward David and viciously swung his fist at the boy's face. Although the attack wouldn't kill him, it would surely break a few bones.

David looked at the incoming punch and was surprised once again. Due to his enhanced senses, he was clearly able to see its trajectory. Moreover, he felt like the attack had been thrown in slow motion.

He ducked and easily dodged the punch. Without waiting a moment longer, he rushed toward the person, jumped, and delivered an uppercut to his chin.

BAM!!

The man was lifted from the ground as the punch landed on his face. He then landed on his butt and caressed his jaw, which was hurting immensely. He realized that a few of his teeth had already been broken!

He looked at David and roared, "You son of a bitch! I'll fuckin' kill—"

However, before he could even finish his sentence, he saw David's knee flying toward his face. And it was too late for him to block.

CRACK!!

That was the last thing that he heard—the sound of his nose breaking—before he joined his friend before him in an induced slumber.

"Heh." David looked at the bloodied face of the person and gave him a contemptuous smirk. The physical boost given to him by the system hadn't even been completed yet, but he was already able to fight head-on against a group of adults.

As he was reveling in his newfound strength, the last remaining henchman ran toward David and pinned him to the ground. The boy had made a rookie mistake—losing his focus during the battle—and the henchman had taken full advantage of it.

"Shit!" David cursed as he tried to free himself from the person's arms, but it was too late. The person behind David wrapped his arm around the youth's neck and began choking him.

"You little bastard, you think you're hot shit, eh?" The man grinned as he continued applying pressure on David's neck.

David gasped for air as he struggled to breathe. He tried removing the person's arm from his neck, but his efforts were proving fruitless.

Unable to come up with any solutions, he instinctively raised his hand and viciously brought it down, elbowing the man in his ribs.

"Aaaggghhhh!!" the man screamed in agony, his hand around David's neck loosening for a split second, but tightening again the next moment.

David raised his hand once more and elbowed the man's rib in the same spot. He continued attacking him over and over again until, finally, the man's ribs cracked and he loosened his grip on David's neck.

The man grimaced in pain; he didn't know how many ribs of his had broken already. But before he could find a moment of respite, David had already climbed atop him and delivered a solid punch to his face.

David's eyes were bloodshot from the lack of oxygen earlier, so he continued repeatedly punching the man in the face in a rage, screaming, "Bastard! I nearly died!"

Meanwhile, the man's face was completely bruised and bloodied. He felt like his face was being beaten by a hammer.

Fear crept into his heart as he thought he might die if the attacks continued raining down on him. He struggled to look in Nico's direction to ask for help, but found that his boss was nowhere to be seen!

David, on the other hand, overcome by rage, raised his hand to deliver another punch. However, right at that moment, he felt something touch the back of his head. He paused in his actions and slowly turned around, only to see Nico pointing a gun at him!

'Fuck, I forgot there was another person!' He nervously gulped and raised his hands in the air. He slowly got to his feet and walked to the side.

Nico looked at David's bloody hands, and at his three henchmen, who had been knocked out cold. He turned and looked at the kid once again and said, "You're quite the fighter, aren't you?"

To say that he was shocked would be a severe understatement. He had watched David going against his men from beginning to end. Although David didn't have any fighting skills to speak of, his raw strength alone was worthy of praise.

"Tell me, can your fists beat my gun?" Nico's lips curled up into a smirk.

David's body trembled in fear as he saw the gun being pointed right at his face. He'd been overcome with adrenaline earlier, and due to his oversight, he had completely forgotten about Nico. And now, he was at the man's mercy.

Seeing the fear in David's eyes, Nico chuckled, "You're quite good, I must say. I'll give you two choices: you can either fight for us in the ring and give me my money or…"

"Or what?" David asked eagerly.

Nico grinned and continued, "Or you can join the Rosetti Crime Family. Come work under me and you can repay your father's debt over time. So what'll it be?"

"I'll join the family," David replied in a heartbeat. For him, it wasn't even a question worth thinking about. He would rather live to fight another day. And with the system, he was sure he would be able to make it big in life.

"Hehe," Tony chuckled as he lowered his gun, "wise choice." He pointed at his henchmen and instructed, "Now bring these useless fools downstairs."

With that, he turned around and walked out of the apartment. David stared at his unguarded back with narrowed eyes as he clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly. In the end, he simply sighed. 'Even if I kill him now, what then? I'll probably be hunted down by the family.'

Nico, on the other hand, had his gun hidden in front of him, ready to fire at any moment. When he saw that David hadn't attacked him, his lips curled into a smirk. 'Wise indeed,' he thought.

One by one, David carried the unconscious men to the back seat of the car parked right in front of his apartment building. When he entered his apartment again, he saw that the last person had already come to.

It was the first person he had knocked out. He got to his feet and looked around the messy room in a daze as he mumbled, "Where the hell is everyone?"

David's voice drifted into his ears. "They're downstairs."

The man looked in his direction and was overcome by rage. The memory of being kicked in the balls and punched in the face came flooding into his brain.

He subconsciously covered his balls and roared, "You son of a bitch! What'd you do to them?"

David nonchalantly replied, "Nothing. Boss Tony offered me a job, so I guess I'm one of you guys now."

"Huh!?" The man was flabbergasted. "Offered you a job? After what you did to us?"

David rolled his eyes. "It's because of what I did to you guys that he offered me the job." With that, he turned around and walked down the staircase. "Let's go, the boss is waiting."

The man followed behind David in a daze. He couldn't believe what was happening. When he reached the car and saw that two of his friends were still knocked out, he suddenly felt a little grateful toward David.

He couldn't help but inwardly scoff, 'Beaten to an inch of your lives at the hands of a kid, heh! At least I'm still standing.'

Everyone got in the car and departed. Tony was behind the wheels, with one of his henchmen sitting in the front passenger seat and the rest in the back seat.

The only conscious person in the back looked at David and said, "Man, you hit me like a ton of bricks."

Tony burst into laughter and added, "David 'the Bricklayer' Watson has a nice ring to it, don't it?"

[Countdown: 802 days…]