chapter 5

A whole week has passed since my fight with the giant gorilla. A week that I spent mostly training my sword skills, strength, and stamina, by alternating between sword practice swings, push-ups, sit-ups..., etc. And when that became too boring for me to bear, I would head to the forest to find the giant gorilla for a quick sparring session, for the sake of gaining more fighting experience, definitely not because I was feeling lonely.

The outcomes of our fights were mainly similar to our first fight. My fighting capabilities, however, were slowly improving, and I felt it. What surprised me, however, was that the gorilla was also improving as we continued to fight. I have also forged what someone can barely call a friendship with the silver monstrosity which I shamelessly called Wilson.

At first, it was very dismissive of me because of my fighting style and probably thinking that I could only cut its side thanks to a fluke of some kind during our first fight, mostly because I failed to cut it again during our second fight. However, after drawing blood from one of its legs in the third fight, there was finally some recognition and respect in its eyes as it looked at me.

That, however, wasn't enough to earn its friendship. I also had to bribe him with many fruits, meats, and drinks, both alcoholic and fruity. That's right. He turned out to be a hot-blooded male, and the way I found out was anything but pleasant.

It happened as I was looking for him to fight and drink together. I suddenly heard a loud shriek coming from his favorite spot.

And so I bolted in the shriek's direction, afraid that the first and only friend I had in this world was in some danger, Only for my sprint to come to a screeching halt as my eyes twitched in disgust at the sight before my eyes, as I turned around and left while cursing under my breath, "goddamned horny gorilla, don't you even know the concept of bros before hoes, getting laid at the time of the day that I usually visit him at of all the times."

I had also tried and failed to figure out the marine's six powers(rokushiki), except for the shigan, which I could generally perform with all the fingers of my left prosthetic hand because of its metallic nature, and only being able to complete it with the index finger of my right hand after a second of concentration to harden its muscles, anything other than that spraining my fingers and causing me intense pain.

And so, after performing my daily routine today, I was once again marching through the forest to visit Wilson. Once I'm near its lair, however, I hear it shrieking again, leading me to sigh and plant my face into the palm of my hand, 'this horny bastard is doing it again, are you a gorilla or a fucking rabbit goddamnit. I'll kick him in the nuts or something the next time we fight,' I think to myself maliciously as I turn around and viciously kick a poor rock lying innocently on the ground and send it flying through the air.

However, I stop and turn around again as I hear another shriek coming from the same place, this one sounding like it belongs to a completely different animal. So I sprinted again while preparing myself for a fight, in case Wilson needed help wasn't likely.

Once I reached there, however, I just froze and felt my face distort in a murderous rage at sight before my eyes, which was the complete opposite of what I had expected.

"what the hell..., "I said in a cold tone of voice that was more similar to a growl than anything else, pausing as I surveyed the battlefield before me. "Do you think... "I growled, again pausing my words at the sight of the bloodied and surrounded Wilson. "you're doing to my friend!"

I roared as I charged sword in hand toward the bloodied Wilson, who had his back to a tree with several small silver gorillas between him and the said tree, while standing next to three corpses of adult silver gorillas laying motionless on the ground, noticing my presence, Wilson attackers, a dozen or so oversized tigers that seemed to resemble the tiger Wilson had killed when I first met him, had to split their attention as two of them break from their formation probably underestimating my thanks to my much smaller size compared to them.

However, the rest held their ground to stop Wilson from escaping as four more of them threw themselves at Wilson, trying to claw him and bite him to death. Wilson, being Wilson, however, caught one of them with his two upper arms as it lunged at his neck, trying to tear through his throat while catching another one with his two lower hands as it tried to bite off his genitals that were thankfully hidden behind a thick mane of silver fur, the other two however bit both of his legs drawing blood and pinning him in place.

Noticing another pair of tigers preparing to lunge at Wilson and realizing that I won't make it in time to help him because of the distance, I desperately draw archangel in a feat of speed worthy of being called a quick draw and fire from the hip, emptying its chamber in a mere half-second while shouting "it's high-noon "(author's note: a named attack that I shamelessly ripped from Overwatch XD) at a low voice which strangely reverberated through the surrounding area.

The first two bullets only scratched the torsos of the two tigers that were still information and preparing to lunge at Wilson, slowing them down and buying a precious second or two for him. The third bullet luckily landed in the left eye of the tiger that was held by Wilson's lower arms, killing it instantly. The fourth impacted the tiger's head, biting his left leg, disorienting it, and forcing it to let go. However, the fifth and sixth completely missed their targets because of the short amount of time that I had to aim and take my shot.