Acceptance

Reaching for the arm right in front of me, I grip his hand and with what feels like no effort, I'm pulled back up. "For a second you really impressed me there" The four eyes compliments me, but still I'm the one who ended on the ground.

He shakes the dust off my shoulders with his free hand "Also, my name's Denjiro"

"Yasu" My name comes out as a wishper, I cannot stop repeating the fight in my head, this man, Denjiro, he clearly is no Oden but I can feel it, there's a giant gap of strenght between the two of us, I pushed my strenght and speed to my limits and all I got was taking him by surprisse for less than a second.

And to make it even worse, all the other servant's auras feel as strong if not stronger than Denjiro's.

They're all monsters.

And I'm still naive, the victories against my father meant nothing.

I'm just a frog in a well that knows nothing of the seas.

I didn't realize against Oden, one doesn't question himself before what seems like a force of nature itself, but now I can see what I lack.

'How are they so strong? Every samurai I've seen has trained all their lives, but they are nowhere near this guy'

Suddently, a hand grips my shoulder tightly getting me out of my thoughts "Don't overthink it, kid" the voice of Oden reaches my ears, he again sounds serious instead of his carefree attitude.

I don't turn my head in his direction and just keep looking forward, I guess I really was deep in my thoughts, Denjiro has moved out of the way at some point and I didn't even realized.

"How do you do it? How do you get this strong?" I ask waiting for some kind of answer or key, something, anything that can shed some light over this question.

Oden almost with the same patience a father answers his kid "Well, it certainly helps having a strong body from birth..."

And there it is, the answer. Pure luck, just be lucky and get a strong body when you're born, of course.

"...but if I had to say, then have a clear mind and a focused body"

'What? What the hell is that supposed to mean? I already made up my mind, I want to be free, That's my dream! And my body is as focused as it can be, when I train I literally focus on nothing else than my sword and body, but I'm still weak!' I cannot comprehend what he's telling me, I already have those, so then, what is wrong?.

"You said that your dream is to be free, but what do you desire once you've obtained that freedom? Freedom is power and power without purpose is useless, so... what is your purpose, Yasu Mochizuki?"

"What I desire?, my purpose?" What do I want once I'm free? I want to get out of this birdcage called Wano and explore the world, but what do I want when I manage to do that?.

Again, before I can continue thinking about it a slap on my back brings me down to earth.

"Uhaha!, like I said, stop overthinking, now it's not the time for that! And I think they want to tell you something!" As quick as the serious and mature tone of Oden came, it went away, replaced by his carefree personality.

Looking in the same direction as Oden, I'm surprised seeing his nine servants slightly bowing down "We're sorry!".

"Huh?" My brain stops working for a second at this sight, why the hell are these guys bowing to me?.

One of them with two swords at his waist steps forward and slightly bows again "When you first entered, we were shocked to learn that Oden-sama brought someone out of his own will, so we wanted to know if you were really worth of Oden's-sama expectations, now we know what he saw in you, so again, we are sorry!"

I could still feel all the little cuts across my body, but looking at the nine servants apologizing wholeheartedly to me I started to feel a little embarrassed with my cheeks heating.

"D-don't worry, it wasn't that big of a deal, really" I stuttered the words out of my mouth while scratching the back of my head, I didn't expect them to apologize and bow to someone else who's not their lord.

"Thanks for your forgiveness!, with that done, my name's Kin'emon" The samurai said with joy while extending his hand to me.

I shook his hand, but before I could pull back, the other eight started also introducing themselves.

"Goronyanya! My name's Nekomamushi!" is he really an animal?

"Ashura Doji"

"Kawamatsu" At last, someone that resembles my height.

"Kikunojo" A gentle voice entered my ears, the voice of... a woman?

"Kanjuro!" huh, weird guy.

"Raizo!"

"My name's Inuarashi"

I bow a little before them "Please take care of me!" as the new one here I have to pay my respects to what is going to be my fellow samurai servants.

"Now that you all have presented yourselves, why don't we have a little celebration?" The voice of Oden draws the attention of everyone of us to him.

""Yes!"" All the other servants cheer at hearing this, I can feel the excitement in their voices, it's almost contagious.

They all start asking Oden if they can put their favorite ingredients.

"Oden-sama, can we put more tofu?"

"Yes we can!"

"And more fish cakes?"

"Of course!"

"And why is Yasu full of cuts on his body?"

"Because..."

With just a phrase, fear descends upon on us, sweat starts running down our faces.

"Because what, Oden-san?" The gentle voice of Toki reaches our ears.

"T-Toki..." Even Oden is afraid before his wife

'We won't forget your sacrifice, Oden' I send a quick prayer for him before quietly taking some steps back, it seems I'm not the only one, the nine servants are also making a tactical retreat with me trying to come out of this alive.

"Where are you going?" We all freeze on the spot as deers caught in the headlights.

'Oh Crapbaskets'

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PLEASE READ THIS

ok, sorry for the delay, I' trying to pick up the rhythm again

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If you have any questions feel free to ask

And with that thanks for reading.