The Family (Part 1)

It was already almost 2:30 p.m. and it was approaching lunchtime for most families on the island… and was also the time when Stephen carried the half-dead Fred into his wheelbarrow and took him home since he was unable to walk on his own after another marathon torture session

"Every day the same Fred...

Couldn't you torture yourself a little less before lunchtime?

Then I always have to take you home with all the equipment... and this weighs a lot..." Stephen said while performing the hardest and most humiliating training of the day for him

"Don't worry, soon the [Super Invigorating Shake Mark 14] will take effect completely and you won't need to carry me anymore today" Said Fred as he gulped down his concoction inside the wheelbarrow, as if he were a baby in his stroller

"And when it takes effect I will have already taken you to the door of your house, as always...

Mark 14? What difference is there compared to Mark 13?!" Stephen asked, who couldn't help but be curious about his friend's crazy inventions, especially since to his chagrin he had already tested the previous 12 versions.

"This time it finally tastes good even though it still smells so-so... and no longer has the side effect of making you pee smelling funny

I have substituted another ingredient for the asparagus" Replied Fred, who handed Stephen the bottle without using his hands

And without making any disgust at that bottle that had been used by Fred a few seconds ago, he tasted the content and said "Mmmm it's true it tastes like orange, not bad...

If you could improve its appearance, texture and camouflage the smell, I wouldn't mind drink it after each training session"

"These are problems that I intend to improve in future versions... when I can, have time and materials to experiment with...

I'm going to try to sell a jug of this along with everything else this afternoon to the merchants and see if I can get some new stuff that way...

Do you want to join me?" Asked Fred, who saw how his friend was red from the effort of carrying him and all the equipment up the hill.

However, much to his regret, Fred didn't receive a positive response from Stephen, who stammered "Um... I'm sorry Fred...

But...

This afternoon it will be impossible for me... I have to... work... on something..."

"Again?

You've been telling me the same thing all week..." Said Fred, who became somewhat sad and disappointed, after all Stephen was the best at choosing metals

While they continued chatting, the two children walked the short but vertical path that connected the village with the beach until they found the first house, which was precisely Stephen's house

"Hi son…

WOOOOOWWW...

FRED HAS SURVIVED ANOTHER DAY!

STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!

We have to celebrate it!" Said Marlon, who like every day at this time was waiting for them at the door to make exactly the same joke

"Nice to see you too, Uncle Marlon," Fred said, waving comfortably from the wheelbarrow.

"Fred are you half dead again?" Said Roxane, who also came out to say hello, especially to see if the children hadn't hurt themselves, either training or playing with sharp weapons

"I am a man of habit Aunt Roxane…" Fred answered jokingly without getting up from the wheelbarrow that Stephen had parked near his driveway.

Basically the usual routine, recurring conversations full of phrases that had become almost clichés over the years, nothing out of the ordinary one more day except for one small detail...

"Well, I see you better than usual...

How about having a quick fight before eating?

This afternoon Stephen and I will be busy so if you want to fight it will have to be now.

What do you say?" Marlon asked who proposed skipping the training match they had every Saturday afternoon to have it right now

"Now?

When have I come back from a hellish training that I almost didn't survive?

Isn't that abusive?" Said Fred, who was still talking while stretched out in Stephen's wheelbarrow.

"Abusive? MEEEEEEEEEEEE!??

I'm just an old man with a missing leg who has been working all day pounding metal in front of a furnace in the middle of summer

I'm sure I'm more tired than an energetic kid like you" Marlon replied melodramatically, pretending to be a poor four-meter-tall helpless with a muscle mass of 600 kg.

"Okay...

If you insist so much...

I don't want to deny his last wishes to a grandpa... " Said Fred, who, following Marlon's joke, jumped up from the wheelbarrow with one wooden sword in every hand.

Fred got up energetically from the wheelbarrow... too energetically... and ready for combat, something that obviously didn't go unnoticed by his favourite taxi driver.

"EEEHHHH!!!

YOU CAN MOVE!?

Then why did I have to carry you here!?" Stephen shouted extremely indignant, insulted and betrayed. He hadn't felt so disappointed since the day he discovered that Santa Claus didn't exist... and from that moment he stopped believing in magical powers.

"This...

I have recovered JUST NOW thanks to the shake…" Fred replied as he rolled his eyes from side to side, not even trying hard to fake his scam to not walk after a hard training session

"LIAR!" Stephen yelled as he furiously pointed at Fred with his pointing finger

Even so, Fred ignored that Stephen was furious with him and proposed to team up "What do you say Stephen, can you help me beat your old man?"

"No thanks, I've been beaten enough for today, I'd rather watch you suffer one more time" Stephen answered, trying to muster up all the rancor he could at that moment to throw it at his face… although it wasn't too much…

However Fred wasn't bothered by that answer, not having Stephen's help in this fight was part of his plans "This time I won't lose...

I have a secret weapon that..."

"No hidden weapons, poisons, ranged weapons or anything other than the wooden sword in your hand... at most I let you use the stupid thing you've done to your hair…

And seriously, thank me for using a wooden stick against you, it's giving me hives on my hand" Interrupted Marlon suddenly, who easily read Fred's intentions. He knew him as if he were his own son.

"...

MMM...

Okay...

Goodbye to my secret weapon then..." Said Fred with disappointment as he emptied his pockets, underpants and hair of various suspicious objects... and picked up the wooden swords again "Even so...

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

And without anyone giving the signal to start, Fred charged at Marlon in one jump, swinging his wooden sword diagonally, aiming at his uncle's hips.

Clanc! Clanc! CLANK!

However, that slash was prevented by Marlon's wooden club, which brought Fred's arms down. However, Fred was prepared for such a move, so taking advantage of the centrifugal force that Marlon had involuntarily given him, he twisted his body with great flexibility and launched a roundhouse kick towards his stomach...

ACCHHH!!

And just as Fred planned from the beginning before his kick could touch his uncle, the sand he kicked up with that same leg reached his eyes, briefly blinding him.

POOM!

That kick didn't do much damage to Stephen's father's muscle-fortified beer belly, but it managed to propel Fred up like a trampoline, as well as distracting him from the imminent threat that loomed over him.

'Come on hair, show that you are useful to that fucking alopecic'

As Frel spun through the air, his big red ponytail with a wooden knife attached to the end like a whip was spinning even faster than he was, a whip that was about to hit Marlon's chin like a bolt of lightning.

Clanc! Clanc!

But Marlon, thanks to his briefly regained sight, his superhuman reflexes and combat experience, was able to block the attack with the reverse of his club.

'Damn monster!'

After that frantic and elaborate frustrated plan of attack, Fred almost fell to the ground after that great jump.... however, his malevolent smile showed that his attack wasn't over yet...

Nope...

Everything else had been a distraction to mask his true attack!

'Checkmate castrati!

BALL BREAKER!!!'

Fred still free falling to the ground brandished his sword trying to stab Marlon's crotch!

CLANCK! CLANK!

However, the many years of sparring with Fred had taught Marlon something... to always protect your private parts in every moment. And that's what he did at the last moment kicking Fred's wooden sword with his prosthetic leg

Screech! Brasshhhh!!!

And of course, due to the difference in strength and body mass between Fred and Marlon, Fred was thrown backwards while successfully landing on his feet, but leaving a skid trail in the sand due to the force with which he had been pushed

"That's a dirty trick!

And you call yourself a warrior?" Marlon yelled indignantly as he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, he had never been as close to losing another limb as today.

"BUUAAAKAAA!!!

What warrior or what bullshit?!

This is a match and the goal is to win!

ANY METHOD IS LEGITIMATE!

MUA HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Fred yelled like a demon-faced maniac, displaying an impeccable sense of honour and sportsmanship as he threw the wooden sword that Marlon had smashed with his metal leg...

"Oh no, Fred is behaving like a villain right now..." Roxanne said somewhat worried seeing Fred's evil face right now, in her mind Fred was a very honest and kind boy

However, Stephen wasn't surprised at all, so he said sarcastically "Yeah... sure...

Only now..."

As that conversation unfolded, Fred and Marlon continued to fight

Fred was trying to turn that fight to his advantage by making frantic high-speed assaults, trying again and again to pierce Marlon's defenses with quick charges and backing away once they had been avoided or blocked.

The difference between the strength of Fred, a nine-year-old boy, and an adult as big and strong as Marlon was abysmal, so he tried to avoid a direct confrontation at all costs. Just blocking an attack from Marlon or just getting bowled by him meant being shot back at high speed, so exchanging attacks with his weapons as used to be done in manga or anime wasn't a realistic option for him

'Since we were little, the Marlon guy has taught us to fight whenever he could and I can only say that I have never been able to beat him on any occasion. In fact I think I have never managed to hurt him and that considering that he has never fought seriously, that he's missing a leg and uses wooden weapons… something that demotivate him as you cannot imagine

I have never seen him use something similar to Haki and he confessed to me that he didn't know what it is…

He also doesn't know how to shoot his attacks with the bat like Yamato or Kaido, although he confessed that he had the opportunity to see someone do that with his sword when he was young

Neither does he have an Akuma no mi, nor does he know how to use the Rokushiki

However, he's strong, very strong to be just a blacksmith on an almost abandoned island

I wouldn't know how to measure its strength, since in the world of One Piece it's very difficult to do that unlike other manga where strength is measured in numbers, in cultivation levels, in internal energy or in other fixed and absolute power scales

But if my speculations don't fail me, Marlon must be stronger than the pirates that Luffy had to face in the East Blue, including Arlong' Fred thought while frantically attacking. He couldn't help but regret that his young age prevented him from having the necessary strength to fight on equal terms with that adult, just like what happened to Ace when he was little

Fred, however, was fast, extremely fast even for a combat-experienced adult, so fast that Marlon had been relegated in this fight to a defensive position where he avoided attacks with one hand and tried to catch Fred with the other as if I was an elusive cat...

His only advantage against Meta-leg Marlon was his great speed and agility forged with his hellish training, so he kept accelerating, changing directions, feinting, attacking and retreating again and again, coming very close to hitting him squarely on many occasions...

Until finally after many attempts...

"UAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The results of his previous training session bloomed like never before before the Steel family... but in the form of a brutal ramp that reached from the little finger of each foot to his ass.

"UAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!

FUCKRRRR!! MY TWINS! MY QUADRICEPS! MY...

ALL MY MUSCLES BELLOW MY ASS!" Fred screamed as he fell to the ground and immediately writhed in pain, hitting his head on the ground to counteract that great pain with a lighter one

The reason why the sparring was always scheduled in the afternoon was so that Fred could rest after your cruel training and prevent something like that from happening... but it seemed that on this occasion Fred had overestimated himself and the recuperative capacity of his new shakes more than necessary.

Something that Marlon knew and that he took advantage of in his favour as a good strategist... or that's what he said while trying to speak with a smart voice, but with a Kinemon face "I…

I knew that eventually that would happen, I just needed to tire you...

You have to learn to choose your battles wisely and not let yourself be provoked by others, especially when the conditions aren't in your favor little Fred...

Never forget this valuable lesson from your sensei!"

An extremely obvious lie, but Fred had no energy to discuss it, the pain was killing him and he needed to get home, so he appealed to friendship like Naruto did when he couldn't get out of a difficult situation "AAAHHH!! OUGHHH!!! I SHIT IN!!!

Stephen...

My soul friend

If you're so kind, that I know you are...

Would you do me the enormous favour of taking me home with the wheelbarrow..."

"No need, your arms are still fine, you'll be able to come back doing a handstand

You always train that on the beach" Stephen answered, who unfortunately for Fred hadn't yet forgotten the resentment he felt at being used as a free taxi by him. A pity, because if Fred had asked him 30 seconds later Stephen would have helped him without a doubt...

"Spiteful dwarf! You will...

What if I also get a ramp in my arms on the way home?" Said Fred, who still hoped to use compassion and friendship to get out of this

However, Stephen for the first time in many years didn't take a step back and continued to force himself to be spiteful for a few more seconds "You also train the neck and the mouth…

It's time to take advantage of it

STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!"

"Jokes aside…

Do you need help Fred? If you want I can prepare you something to eat too" Roxanne said, who was massaging Fred's extremely hard and convulsing legs to ease the pain.

"Is not necessary Aunt Roxxane, I can get home perfectly and I already have everything ready to cook" Fred responded as he gladly got that massage while talking to his friend to avoid thinking about the pain among other things "By the way Steph, this afternoon I will try to sell what we have collected and made during the past week and I will buy what I see since you aren't accompanying me.

However, tomorrow afternoon yes or yes we have to go to the forest to collect ingredients and continue with the training

Don't you dare shy away anymore, lazy cry-baby"

"Yes, yes... I promised you, don't worry..." Stephen answered, a little tired of repeating the same thing to him since Tuesday.

"By the way honey...

What is there to eat today?" Marlon asked as his guts rumbled inside his beer belly after working out so hard.

"Lentils" Roxanne replied as she continued to massage Fred's legs.

"YEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!

THE BEST DISH IN THE WORLD!" Marlon and Stephen shouted, hugging each other energetically, as if they were celebrating the victory of their favorite team... and immediately afterwards they asked Fred "And do you know why Fred?"

"Because it has a lot of iron?" Fred replied, who already knew the answer beforehand

"Exactly!

STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!" Father and son celebrated as if it were the best moment of their lives

An exaggerated, absurd, stupid... but also wholesome situation that couldn't prevent Roxanne and Fred from arching their right eyebrow

"Well, we'll have to love them anyway" Fred said, while he continued to watch as Marlon threw Stephen into the air to catch him one time after another

"Yes, it's not like we have many more options, especially me" Roxanne answered, which helped Fred to get up... although with little success, he didn't feel his legs again

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