Serious: Infamy

Feeling the weight of the nodachi on his back Bartholomew walked down the street past many people wondering how he would learn to fight with his nodachi. He knew nothing about how to wield a sword and would hopefully learn quickly, but he wasn't sure. As he placed a hand on the hilt and walked along wondering how he would be at wielding it for the first time. He noticed some woods just beyond the town and figured it would probably be a good idea to head down there to train himself or discover how well he could wield his nodachi. Leaving the town he looked back at the people and he could see how he hadn't made any impression on them at all. He was a little annoyed but knew someone like him couldn't make one. Well not yet. One day maybe but as for now he would have to become stronger. Maybe one day he would be. As he entered the woods he searched for an open area. Finding one he removed his nodachi and could feel the weight instantly it surprised him.

Holding it before him in both hands he began swinging it around quickly attempting to swing it with precision, it was difficult but he knew he could manage it. As he swung the blade down then up and around he grinned till he felt the weight pull on him and drag him to the left a bit too much. He used all the strength he could to stop himself and found himself struggling to keep it from the ground but had managed. Lifting it back up slowly he allowed the tip to rest on the ground and wiped some sweat from his forehead. The damn thing was still heavy but he'd learn to wield it properly in time. Placing both hands firmly around the hilt he began to attempt swinging it again hoping not only to build up strength but also to learn to wield it properly. Someday he would become a notorious infamous pirate and on that day he would be recognised for his power and hopefully he'd have fulfilled his old crew's dreams.

Ren awoke to only find himself in a room of the hotel he visited earlier
"W-What just happened?" Ren asked himself as he started to itch his head. He then tried to get out his bed however his legs were stinging him "Ah Damn it that training really pushed me to the limit..." he thought as he slowly began to move his legs. A few minutes passed and his legs started to feel a bit better than before, "Now, time to head off and explore this village..." he said as he got of his bed made his way to the exit of the hotel. Once he had exited the hotel he started to roam the streets of this busy village in search of something exciting to do, Ren then remembered the skill he had gotten "Maybe I should try improve it... that would waste some time wouldn't it?" Ren thought as he looked back at the forest, "Back to the crazy forest it is..."

Continuing his training Bartholomew was sweating badly and he dropped his blazer to the ground. Realizing he needed to continue if he was going to get the hang of this he thrusted & sliced away. His arms ached and as he looked at the blade in his hands he realised it was easily sharp enough to slice through wood and that he would increase his own strength if he hacked down a tree.

Standing beside a tree he began to hack away at it and cut deep into it, he was happy with how easy it was seeming and as he kept continuing to hack away at it he could feel his arms getting more and more painful followed by his brow filling with more and more sweat. After he got his nodachi stuck in the trunk he left it and looked at it grinning. He'd done a great job of slicing into it.

As he picked up his blazer he wiped his sweat away and pulled his blazer on over his torso. He was hot and sweating allot. He knew he would have to complete allot more training if he were to become stronger and was more than willing. He had chosen to become a Pirate and that he would be.

"Ah, Memories...Not..." Ren thought as he slowly entered the forest, Ren suddenly heard some kind of sound it sounded like someone..... chopping a tree down? "Weird, I thought no-body visited this forest..." Ren whispered as he started to got ready to run "Soru" Ren suddenly appeared in a different location and this time the sound got louder "Looks like Im getting closer" he thought as he sprinted through the forest, after a few minutes of running he caught sight of a man holding some kind of sword... "Yo, watcha doing here?" Ren asked as he started to jog on the spot.

Turning pulling the nodachi from the tree quickly and gripping it in both hands to look at the dark furred bear which stood before him Bartholomew looked at him and gulped. This creature was much bigger than he thought it would be and looking at him he breathed heavily trying to focus himself.

His arms were tired and aching and his sword shaking in his hands as he struggled to hold it up. This damn sword was too heavy. He knew it but didn't want to stop training with it for something lighter though. As the bear had asked him, what he was doing he took a deep breath and replied.

"I'm training. . . how. . . how can you urm. Talk?"

He was shocked to see a bear talking. As he looked at him he could see he was just an ordinary bear and just couldn't understand how a creature could be speaking it just didn't seem to make any sense.

As he looked at the bear he continued gripping the nodachi firmly and watched how the bear looked at him with his red eyes.

"Oh that's right, Damn he doesn't know I can talk..." Ren thought as he covered his mouth. "Roar..." Ren said as he slowly backed away, "Hehe just kidding, well to make a long story short I got tampered with by some doctor and here I am." he said as he started to itch his head. "Well anyways, Im here to train and aswell so.. wanna have a quick duel?" he asked with a happy yet funny looking look (like this: ^_^") "This is not going so well.." Ren thought as he waited for a response from the man.

"Right so your a talking bear. . . got it. . . although I have to admit thats still pretty damn weird. But I'd really rather not have a duel at the moment. My arms are killing me from swinging this big blade around. Maybe later."

Lowering the blade he then wondered why the bear here was training and what for.

"What are you here for anyway? I mean what training? Your a bear, you don't really need to pay the bills or anything, I thought wild animals like you just frolicked in the woods eating, sleeping & mating."

Placing his nodachi back in its sheath on his back Bartholomew began breathing much more normally and could feel his body growing much cooler. No more sweat ran down his body and no more aches ran through his arms either. It was nice to have put that thing down.

"That's kinda rude..." Ren said with a straight look on his face. "Well anyways you see my parents got kid-napped by the marines so here I am training to retrieve them but it might take a long time so Im exploring different places and learning different moves to take down the World Government.." Ren said as he began to sweat a little. "Wow it sure is hard to talk to humans in the North Blue..." he thought as he started to yawn a little. "So, if ya don't mind I'll be training in a place near you..." after saying this Ren started to Jog through the woods looking for a open space to train.

"Right so you lost your parents to the Marines. Well thats kinda suckish, we have something similar then, I lost my friends to the Marines. I was friends with some Pirates who I travelled around with but. . . the Marines slaughtered them. I see your training too I would train some more but after dealing with that sword I'm starting to realise its pretty damn heavy. I guess I'll need to bulk up a little more. Mind if I join you? I could use a companion since I guess I'm kinda lonely. I'm hoping maybe one day I'll be able to start up a Pirate crew like those Pirate friends I lost. But that might just be a dream."

Bartholomew wanted to do something great with his life and after meeting this bear he was more than happy to join him with his quest to retrieve his parents as he would also get to have his revenge on the Marines for the deaths of his friends. Feeling the weight of the Nodachi on his back he knew he would learn to deal with it or have to use something lighter but he wasn't about to give up on the weapon so quickly. Bartholomew was pretty sure he could deal with it and bulk up enough to use it with ease.

"Hmm, join me?" Ren thought as with a excited look "Well, Yea sure.." Ren said with a happy look on his face. "Now...I got the perfect training that will benift both of us..." Ren said as he looked at the sword attached to the man's back. "However before we start, Im Ren Tadashi you can call me Ren! What's your name?" Ren asked with a happy yet quite curious look.

hearing the bear agree to joining him Bartholomew grinned. Hearing his name was Ren he nodded and replied.

"Cool, well I'm Bartholomew Booth and I'd love to join you in your training. Whats your idea?"

Feeling his arms getting better he was happy to do some training it was seeming just seconds after he had placed his sword down he was now feeling much much better.

In town the local pub was filled with pirates who were well known in this blue. The pirates who'd entered had scared away all of the civilians all except for the bartender who was having a hard time speaking to them and serving them as he knew he'd have his head sliced off if he served someone else before another pirate due to favouritism. He gulped as he served every drink and at the bar stood a large imposing figure who ordered a pint and downed it. He drank pint after pint downing every pint which came his way and still showed not a single sign of intoxication.

"Nice Name" Ren said with a smile on his face. He then decided that he should tell his new Nakama the training plans " Well I broke it up into 2 sessions so here it goes, Session one you duel me, this will improve the way you handle the sword and this will improve my reflexes and Session two me and you have a race you have to be equipped with your sword first this will improve your strength and speed and this will improve only my speed...." Ren then started to get ready for Session 1.

"Those actually sound like good ideas. I think they are great ideas. Ok lets get started with this duel then."

Removing his nodachi from his sheath he could feel his arms already aching a little bit but he attempted to ignore it and gripped it firmly in two hands. Looking at Ren he then replied to him.

" Come on then Ren I guess its time we start this thing then."

Looking at the bear which could talk he'd quickly gotten over the talking thing and looking at the bear he gulped a little due to the bear's mighty muscles he was worried of the damage he could be responsible for and knew it would be useful since he could get stronger and learn how to use this weapon.

He would hopefully become stronger too.

"Hehe, Perfect..." Ren said as he got out his claws, "Stay sharp..." Ren said as he started to sprint towards Bartholomew, "Soru" he dissaperd and suddenly re-appeared behind him. "What's this over already?" Ren said with a sarcastic tone of voice as he directed his sharp claws into Bartholomew's back.

As Ren had launched himself towards Bartholomew he grinned as he felt something hard crash into his nodachi and held it back powerfully. When he realised it stopped he turned around to see the bear behind him and held it in front of him looking at the bear.

Charging towards the bear named Ren he let go of his nodachi with one hand and attempted to slash at him downwards from upper left to lower right in hopes in harming the bear. The weight of the blade made the attack much more lethal and made it travel much quicker too. SO if Ren didn't move quick enough he would be on the receiving end of a strong blow to the torso.

"Nice.." Ren said as he quickly done a flip backwards, the slash made by Bartholomew had cut some of his dark black fur off but Ren didn't really mind. "Hmm it seems he dosen't know how to hold that sword firmly.." Ren thought as he started to leap into the air "Move fast!, Bear Crush!" he yelled as he quickly fell towards Bartholomew in a ball shape. If Bartholomew didn't make a move fast he would be crushed my Ren's weight and suffer a lot of serious injuries.

As Ren dodged and leapt into the air and his sword continued heading downwards he was dragged down and out of the way by the sword's weight. Landing down beside him Bartholomew he raised his nodachi and attempted to slice around in a circle and into the bear. He wanted to harm him and beat him but could already feel sweat forming and how his arms ached a little.

The sword quickly spun around to hit Ren. As it quickly shot towards him Ren would be badly cut deeply if he didn't avoid it.

Ren suddenly got out of his ball form and jumped off the sword using it as a launch pad for him to avoid the attack, He hoped that if he jumped of his sword he would suddenly lose his balance making him open for any attacks. So Ren landed and quickly started to charge at Bartholomew "Nice attack but can you dodge this one!" he thought as he turned so his elbow would be pointing to Bartholomew's chest "Hehe, get ready for a world of pain..."

As Ren landed on his nodachi and kicked off he obviously hit the ground struggling to lift the sword but as he recovered and stood back up with blade in hands his arms were aching and he noticed Ren charging at him. Taking the smarter route he took up a strong stance and stood strong and still gripping the nodachi firming in his hands waiting for Ren to hit him.

"What's this?" Ren thought as he slammed his elbow into the nodachi, "I doubt you can hold this much strength..." Ren said as he pushed against the fairly big sword. Ren then gave one last push before he siad "Soru" and dissapeared behind Bartholomew and held out his leg hoping that Bartholomew will somehow trip over it, yes it was a dumb move but it also had some logic into it.

As Ren slammed into his nodachi Bartholomew grinned, when he vanished he was shocked to see blood trailing along his blade and over his body too. He was confused about it and when he felt something smack into his legs he hit the ground dropping his blade.

As blood splattered across him he grinned knowing he'd harmed the creature but he had also tripped him up. Rolling on to his back and grabbing the blade he grinned holding it with both hands. He realised he had grown stronger and wielding the blade was much easier now. Sitting up to look at Ren he could see blood splatters across the ground and smirked.

"Shocked?" Bartholomew asked

"Not even the slightest..." Ren said as he lept into the air once again and once he was coming down he was spinning around "Big Bear Drill!" he yelled as he started to come down like a bullet. He quickly put his arms forwards taking out his sharp claws, Ren had just invented this move as the two were battling.

As Ren came at him Bartholomew stood up he gulped seeing how quickly the bear came at him and as he was aiming to dig his sharp claws deep in to him he stabbed his nodachi into the ground and throw himself up into the air to avoid the attack.

He directed his body so he would probably land right next to the sword, Ren suddenly landed in his hands and began to spin spreading his legs (Similar to Sanji's Party Table) "Bear Windmill!" Ren yelled as he began to spin faster, while spinning he began to walk with his hand slowly towads Bartholomew who was busy getting his sword out the ground.

Falling back down to the ground as Ren spun his legs around Bartholomew focused himself he didn't fear him and clamped his mouth shut tightly. Hitting the ground avoiding the feet he raised his nodachi quickly into the way of Ren's legs hoping to injure him. Since he was upside down he highly doubted he would see his blade and seeing as how quickly he was spinning his legs around he doubted he'd even have the time to react properly since soru may have made this bear quick but it didn't give him super fast reactions.

Grinning he watched as Ren's legs continued to spin and almost meet his blade.