Friends And Enemies.

It didn't take long for Jin to arrive at the Syndicate's HQ. When he did, Jin walked out of the car, ignoring the bleeding man who drove him there and approached the front door.

As one would expect, the entrance to such a place would be heavily guarded. When they saw Jin getting closer, they just stared him down.

Everyone who lived in that town knew not to approach this place. So considering how carefree Jin looked as he approached, and the way he dressed, he definitely wasn't from the town.

So in response, one guard stepped forward and raised his hand at Jin, saying, "Turn around. This place is shut off to outsiders."

Jin smirked and ignored his words, instead dropping his eyes to whatever weapons they carried on their waists.

'Knives, bats and...'

One of the men who sat around smoking a cigarette, carried a katana with a pitch black sheathe on his waist. The weapon immediately caught Jin's eyes.

"Perfect. I've been looking for a good sword."

WHOOSH!

Jin immediately charged at the men, covering the distance that separated them in an instant.

BOOM!

Before the man who wanted him to turn around before could react, Jin had already arrived and struck him in his chest with a piston like punch, sending him flying through the concrete walls of the building.

Immediately, the other men charged at Jin with weapons drawn, aiming to end his life.

But, it was to no avail.

BOOM! BOOM! BANG!

Jin swiftly sent each of them flying with one punch, soundly defeating the guards before they could even hope to damage him.

But, there was one man left. The man wielding the katana.

His face was dripping with sweat as he looked at the scene before him.

'How could one man be capable of this? He's not human! This is...wait! Could he be...?!'

The man frantically dropped to his knees and stared at Jin. His mouth trembled as he said, "S-sir...y-you're from 'that place' right? I was told that you were coming later this month. If we knew that you were coming so early, we would've prepared accordingly."

Jin watched as the man bowed down, waiting for his words.

'Who does he think I am?'

Jin wanted to play along for a bit, but, when he gave it some real thought, he decided against it.

Instead...

"No, I'm not who you think I am."

The man quickly raised his head and stared at Jin again.

"Then...who?"

Jin approached him and crouched down, dropping his glasses a bit as he stared into his eyes.

"Call me Jin. I'm going to become the new boss of this place."

The man was flabbergasted at first, but then he seemed to think about something.

And as the thought propogated in his mind, a smile began to form on his face.

BANG!

This time, the man hit his head on the ground as he bowed.

"Boss!! My name is Akizawa Takechi! I will serve you with all of my might! I only ask for one favor! When you become the boss, please, free me and my brothers from the oppression of 'that place'!"

Jin was surprised. The man really switched sides that quickly.

From the way he spoke, he seemed to have been frustrated with his boss for a while.

And now that a way out had showed up in front of him, he was willing to do anything to grab it.

"Is that so? Then, we will see. Give me your weapon."

The man quickly grabbed the sheathed katana from his waist and gave it to Jin, hoping that he would accept it.

"You're doing well already."

Jin received it and turned it horizontally before unsheathing it halfway to check the sharpness of the blade.

"Not bad. But now that you have given me this blade, do you think that I will spare your brothers inside?"

Akizawa's eyes flinched for a little bit, but he quickly looked around at his brothers who were just defeated.

They were still alive.

Then he remembered Jin's words that were said not too long ago.

"No, Boss! I think you will let them live. Because if everyone is dead...who will serve you?"

Jin threw his head back in laughter as he walked inside of the HQ.

"That's my boy! Follow me!"

Having heard the walls being destroyed before, the lobby was filled with at least 100 men ready and waiting with weapons drawn.

So as soon as Jin opened the doors, they all locked eyes with him.

"Kill them!"

It was clear that they didn't want to talk. Jin was of the same mind. Fight first, questions later.

Jin drew the katana and calmly turned it backwards to the dull side.

"Come, it's time for your new boss to teach you all a lesson."

While Jin was busy disciplining his new soldiers, on the twelfth floor of the building, in a large luxurious room that pretty much took up the entire floor, an old man sat in a comfortable black chair, smoking a cigar.

On his desk was a large revolver, loaded to the brim with ammo and a monitor, playing the battle taking place in the lobby.

Next to him, was a large bald man with covered in tattoos, carrying a giant brutish sword that looked like it was made to carve flesh and bone.

The large man kept looking at the man next to him and the gun on his desk, glancing between them from time to time.

"Oyabun, you seem afraid. Do you think this man will really make it up here? This building has twelve floors and each of them have at least 50 men guarding them. Some have over 100. Unless he's from 'that place', which we already confirmed he's not. Other than that, it's impossible.'

The old man's hand was shaking as he saw his men being dispatched like ragdolls on the screen.

"Fuma, you haven't even lived half as long as I have. I've seen things, things that if I told you about them, you would call me a senile old bastard."

He laid his cigar down on the tray and rubbed his temples as he continued watching the battle.

"What I'm saying is, I have a feeling that this man is what they call a sorcerer, in 'that place'. An entity that is barely human. I've seen glimpses of what they can do. Fuma, if I'm right and he wills it, today is the day we die."

At first, Fuma didn't believe this. He had already seen the warriors from 'that place' and he believed that they were exclusively trained there.

There was no way that a random man could exhibit the same power.

Unfortunately, that reality was being shattered in real time with every floor Jin conquered.

Each floor was cleared faster than the one before.

By the time Jin got to the 11th floor, which held the strongest men in the Syndicate besides Fuma, he was so fast that it only took him 12 seconds to defeat just above 100 men.

It was a feat that only someone who had broken past the human limits could pull off.

DING!

In no time at all, Jin arrived on the 12th floor in the elevator with Akizawa at his back.

Fuma immediately drew his sword and stood in front of the old man, while the latter picked up the revolver and aimed it at the doors.

"Kill him? Is he not your brother too?"

Jin walked out of the elevators with a bored expression on his face, sword on his shoulder and one hand in his pocket, his eyes locked on the final two opponents in front of him.

He seemed to have been having a conversation with Akizawa before he left the elevator. One which changed his demeanor drastically.

"Old man, get out of that chair, its mine now."

Jin completely ignored Fuma as he started walking towards the desk, completely intending to throw the old man out of his chair.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The old man let out all six shots in the revolver in rapid succession.

With incredible speed, Jin immediately unsheathed the katana, sliced the bullets in half and rapidly approached the duo.

"OYABUN, GET OUT OF HERE!"

Fuma shouted this at the old man as he charged at Jin, brandishing his savage blade with all his might.

He expected Jin to dodge or something of the sort, but Jin unexpectedly clashed with him on even grounds strength wise, overpowering the large man easily.

In no time at all, Jin sliced through the man's blade and his body with one slash, killing him. In the next step, he appeared in front of the old man, grabbed the revolver from him and bashed him in the head with it, sending him flying out of the chair.

"I told you to get up, old man."

With a flick of his wrist, Jin whisked the blood off of the katana and resheathed it as he sat on the chair.

"Ah...finally. Akizawa, get me something to drink. I'm thirsty."

It was finally done. Jin had acquired a new base by the generous donation of it's former owner, some lackeys to help him take care of everyday tasks and even a comfortable new chair to rest after a hard day of training.

Now, the only thing left was for training to actually begin. He needed to become stronger.

After all, he had only fought random humans so far. Who knew when a real opponent would show up? Especially when he kept hearing mentions of 'that place'.

After Akizawa brought him some wine, Jin beckoned to him and said, "Before I go into training...tell me about 'that place'. It sounds interesting."

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