Leaving

I'm 4 years old right now. At least I guess I am. I took the day I arrived here as my birthday because I can't remember the date. It doesn't matter anyway. Some things happened since I fought against those wolves. I got much stronger again. I returned to the fight scene and grabbed some more wolves for me to eat. I didn't have any ice, so storing the meat wasn't possible. But with my appetite, storing food wasn't really an option anyway. 

During these months I never stopped training and hunting. I got very good at it too. Now I could read tracks of different animals, it was quite cool. My body grew a bit. The nutrient-rich meat allowed me to grow stronger and taller. But I found out that my stubbornness might also be a weakness. I never ran away from a fight and the longer the fight went on, the higher my fighting spirit rose. 

This made it impossible to retreat for me. I was just more and more focused on the fight and no matter what, I wanted to win and I broke any form of limit to get there. I could feel how my strength rose the angrier I became and the higher my fighting spirit rose. It was good but also dangerous because no matter what, I would never retreat from a one-on-one fight. It was a bit strange but I'll just have to deal with it. 

Either I'll gather a crew of misfits or ... I'll just get stronger so that I can travel alone. I could become a Bounty Hunter for a while. I could also become a Marine ... not a bad idea actually. I do like to protect something if possible. I feel that desire to protect something that is precious to me. But I'm missing it right now. Eh, I'll see what happens in the future. 

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I worked on my 'blacksmithing skills'. That means that I managed to create a better bat for myself. My old one was all dented the wrong way. I haven't really found anything that is valuable in any of the ruins. Pirates work fast in this world. I used a lot of leftover materials to build myself a small house. It's nothing special but it's mine. However, it is time for me to leave now. 

I've been here for over a year and I believe it's time for me to leave. I took the time to build a small boat for myself. It's nothing fancy, just a small one. It looks a bit like the one Dracule Mihawk uses. I guess I am just not good at building. It took me over a year just to create a decent bat and that is like the easiest thing you can make. But I never said that I was good at creating stuff. I am more of a destroying kind of guy. 

And that brings me to the latest development. My new arch nemesis. The bear. Yes, the apex predator of these woods as far as I have seen. It's a massive beast that still looks like he belongs to the world of One Piece. Its strength is so great that during our first meeting, he knocked me out with one swing of his paw and I nearly died. I couldn't even react at all. I don't know how I survived that but I could feel my fighting spirit rise as soon as I woke up. It was what saved me that day. That and the saved up meant I had.

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After our initial meeting, we met a few times, but I always lost. I don't know why that beast didn't eat me yet. I guess I'm just that small. But today will be different. I will defeat him and be done with this. I can't believe that my life in this new world has been a constant fight for survival. But I can't complain, I do enjoy it. I just wish I was taller right now. I can't really train that well if I'm this small. But now let me get back to the bear. 

I make my way through the woods once again. I know where the bear lives and it takes me roughly 30 minutes to get there. I could see him lying at the entrance of his cave. I guess I'll have to wake him up now. 

"Oi! Bear, I'm back! Let's fight you fat piece of meat!", I scream. The bear opens his eyes and looks at me. After a moment ... he closes them again. Like what?

"Hey! Don't ignore me! I'll beat you up! Do you hear me?! Hey Bear!!!"

He didn't listen. That's it. I'll just attack then he will surely react. I know he will because I know that he's a smart animal. He probably has this in mind already but just waits for me to act. Well then, by all means, let me entertain you.

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I run towards the bear and raise my bat in the air. I then use my strength to swing it down. Just as it is about to hit the bear's head, he opens his eyes and moves his head to the side. At the same time, his paw slashes towards me. But I am prepared and duck underneath it. He seems surprised about that because he used to win with one attack up till this moment. That is none of my concern. I can feel my fighting spirit rising already. I was prepared for this fight and will win. 

As his paw passes above me, I put a lot of strength into my legs. Bending my knees, I push myself upwards with all my strength and swing the baseball bat upwards in a circular motion. The bat hits the bear's lower jaw and I hear a crack for a moment. The bear's brain hits the skull and disorientates it for a brief moment. But that moment is all I need. I make full use of it. 

My bat is now above my head and I tense my abdomen and arms to generate enough force to smash the bat with both hands onto the bear's head. It works again and the impact tears the bear's fur slightly and blood begins to flow. 

Once again I try to capitalise on the moment and take a small step back. I bring my right arm, which is holding the bat, backwards and thrust the bat into the bear's face like a lance. My fighting spirit shoots up and I feel the hard teeth give way and the bat smash the bear's entire jaw. 

However, this success has consequences for me. I don't realise how a paw approaches from the left and hits me in the side with full force. All the air in my lungs escapes and my body bends unnaturally. Several ribs break and I shoot into a tree at high speed.

With all my strength, I managed to stay conscious. I support myself with my bat and look at the bear. He is in a frantic state and seems to have lost all patience and composure. Now he's out for blood, my blood. I know that one of us will die today. 

I get into position and raise the bat with both hands. I wait for his attack.

"I'm not that easy to kill! I'll just keep fighting until I win!"

.

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What a day. Or better, what two days? I think I was unconscious for two days. I once again managed to not die and even win the fight against the bear. But it took all I had and then some and then some more. No matter what I did, only the strikes to his head were yielding any results. So the fact that I managed to catch him by surprise in the beginning was my saving grace. Because after that, it was still very close and my anger and fighting spirit were the only reasons I won. 

I think I made a tremendous breakthrough. I wasn't fighting fully conscious the entire fight. I was only going by instinct and the bear was as well. We were like two inexperienced brawlers who just duked it out by punching each other to death, one after the other. The loser would die and the winner ... might also die. 

I struck the bear with my bat, he struck me with his paw. I spit out blood and then ducked his other paw, to strike him again. And then he struck me as well. That's how the entire fight went after the beginning struggle. I could feel that my strength rose with each strike. At first, I wasn't doing any damage when I hit his body unless I managed to strike his head. But after the 15th strike, I noticed that it changed. And after the 30th strike, I was doing just as much if not more damage than the bear.

Yeah, that was that. Now I have a nice bear hide and good meat. I'll store it and take it with me on my journey. Because I don't know why, but something is calling me. A feeling that calls out to me. And I feel that it wants me to go to sea. That works for me. I was planning to leave after I defeated the apex predator of these woods anyway. I feel like my situation is a bit ridiculous though. I mean I am 4 and a few months and I already fuck up bears who are as big as small houses. 

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Two days later, I am ready to set sail. I have prepared a very small sail that should get me across the sea. I also have three rudders in case I lose one for some reason. And of course, I also have two fishing rods. I could run out of food and then what would I do? Then I'd starve to death, but that's fine.

In order not to have to eat the fish and meat raw, I also have a small frying pan with me with a small improvised cooker. I made the pan myself in the smithy. You never know what you might need. And look at me, I do need it. 

With everything ready, I finally set sail. I am very excited about this.

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Ok, that was a bad idea. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing here. I don't even know where I'm going. That was a crap idea. I'm drifting across the sea with no destination and no help. I should have thought better of it, especially now that this big pirate ship is coming towards me. 

I've been at sea for less than a week and I'm already being picked up by pirates. How lucky I am. I'll see if they can help me. You never know if you'll meet some good people at sea. It could be that these pirates are friendly...

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Ok, they are not friendly. 

"Hahahahaha, look at this dwarf. Oh, little one are you all alone? Are you looking for your mummy? Hahahaha"

"Hehehehehehe, maybe we should take him in and teach him a good trade."

"Hihihihihi, oh oh we should use him as bait to catch bigger fish."

"Hahahahaha" "Hehehehehehehe" "Hihihihihihi"

I was surrounded and they passed me around like a joint. 

"Oh look what we have here ... so much meat for such a small man. What are you going to do with it, hey? Are you going to eat it all by yourself?"

"And look at this bat. What a handsome little bat. Give it to me," said one of them and grabbed my bat. But before he could get hold of it, I smashed my fist into his face. 

"Nobody touches my bat! Got it!" I'm furious. These pissheads think they can jump around with me like a victim. But not with me. I'm going to smash their heads in.

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"Huh? Did the kid just pull John out of circulation?"

"What the hell? Get him!!!"

"Ahhh," the pirates shouted and attacked me. But that doesn't work with me. I ducked down and started swinging my bat around. I smashed the bat into the side of the first one. I kicked the second one in the face with my foot.

I used the new hold to free myself from my position and jumped into the next one. After I had taken down five pirates, the others finally stopped and took a closer look at me. I was very tense. I was in the middle of a pirate ship and these were adult outlaws. 

"What's going on here?" said a loud and powerful voice.