William
: 6:10pm
We reached the apartment safely, I started taking a bath for work later while Blossom prepares dinner. I got dressed as I got out of the shower then ate dinner, did some chores and head out for work.
"Blossom, I'll be leaving for work." I said.
"Take care!" She waved me goodbye.
I wore my blades along the way to the rooftop, I used the hook to travel from the rooftop to the bar. I just hope people and enforcers won't notice a man who's gliding around the city with a grappling hook but good thing I took a route where I won't get noticed by people, I got in my shift twenty-five minutes early but I started early anyway.
Time goes by for at least a week of pure studying, working, and training as I proceed to learn more about fighting techniques and being diligent at the same time. A lot has happened throughout that day mostly, Blossom gets to understand more about me while being in the same situation since then. Everything pretty much went back to normal as is, we get to understand more and more about each other everyday while being close. Eventually those days of my work and routine finally ended.
: July 15, 2024 9:50pm. Drew Lopez's Place Before the present day.
Ryan and I went at the place where Drew lives in, we saw a huge yard full of grass with a gate around it. We both took a closer look and found two houses, one is larger than the other.
"Damn, for a man like him he sure is rich." I said.
Ryan got frightened. "W-Will? This is too much for me, even as a man full of hard work and labor this guy's nuts."
"Don't worry, the money must've came from his parents." I replied.
"He's one damn lucky guy huh?"
I proceeded to press the doorbell to find a person greeting us. "You're supposed to be William, right?" He asked.
"I am indeed, and you are?"
"I'm Ezra Enriquez, the "Butler" of this mansion you see over my shoulder. By the way, who's your chaperone for the evening Sir William?"
"My name's Ryan, Ryan Ocampo. I'm with William since he's scared to face all of you" Ryan said as he mumbled. "You know what I'm saying."
"You're the one who if you could come with me, I just agreed." I replied.
"I was just kidding." he laughed.
"Please, do come in. You're our guests after all."
"Why are you called a butler though?" I asked.
"I have dreamed to be a butler ever since I was a kid, I'm Drew's childhood friend and when I knew his family was rich I decided to become their butler at a young age. Not officially though I just like to dress like this when I'm here."
"So, you're basically a sidekick." Ryan said.
Ezra and I laughed. "What is it?" Ryan wondered.
"Nothing, you just made our conversation awkward."
Ryan timidly says sorry to Ezra after that, we went inside of the smaller house to see the rest of the people. I noticed that the smaller house was a training area for martial arts and Drew saw us while looking at the mirror.
"WILLIAM!!!" He suddenly rushes in front of us. "You finally came!"
"Yeah! Finally found that free time of mine, I also brought a friend of mine with me."
"I-I'm Ryan, nice to meet you." Ryan said.
"Nice to meet you too." Drew replied.
"Ah Sir Vaughn, Sir Wyatt, and Sir Leo. Our guests have arrived."
"Dude stop talking like that." Vaughn said. "Talk like a normal person."
"My apologies." Ezra replied.
"Anyway, William it's nice to see you again."
"You too Vaughn, you two must be Wyatt and Leo?"
"We are, nice to finally meet you William." They said.
"Much obliged." I replied.
Ryan got intimidated from seeing the other guys. "Damn! You guys are toned!"
"Wasn't that quite rude?" I asked.
"No no no, we appreciate it." They replied.
"Aside from Ezra and Drew here, may I ask all your names?"
"Vaughn Sarmiento."
"Leo Pineda."
"Wyatt Rosales."
"Leo, Wyatt, Drew, Ezra: The boyfriends of those girls you flirted on." Vaughn said.
Ryan got stuck in bewilderment. "AHHHHHHH I'M SO SO SORRY!!! I FLIRTED WITH YOUR GIRLS, IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN SO PLEASE DON'T BEAT ME TO DEATH!!!" He pleaded.
"We didn't say anything about beating you to death, don't be so dramatic." Leo replied.
"I tried to stop him but he just kept on flirting with them."
"YOU'RE NOT HELPING WILLIAM!!!"
"Let's put those matters aside, you guys want some drinks?" Wyatt asked.
"I think a beer would do us some good, Will do you drink?"
"Something light would be good." I replied.
Everyone got their beers and talk a bit more, Ryan seemed to have snap his shyness after drinking a few bottles of beer for a while. They mostly talked about random stuff while playing games on Wyatt's console while I wandered around until I found a closet. Out of curiosity I opened the closet.
"That's some fine gear you have here." I said.
"Yeah... My dad used to teach me martial arts like Kali and Kendo." He replied.
"Does your friends knew about martial arts as well?" I asked.
"Ezra as you might've known have been my rival since we were kids, he was just the only one who's on par with me. As for the others, Wyatt is a swimmer, Vaughn is a taekwondo Brown belter, and Leo is a Muay Thai fighter." He explained.
I grabbed a wooden sword. "This is for Kendo, right?" Then Ezra suddenly comes in.
"Hey guys." Sees the gear. "Man, this takes me back to the good old days."
"I-I guess so..."
"You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah I'm fine, I just had memories of these after all."
I patted him on the back. "Everyone has a feeling of nostalgia."
While Drew and I were talking near the closet, Ryan helps Vaughn on getting some boxes outside of the house. He found two shinai and quickly grabs them.
A/N: Shinai or 竹刀, a wooden sword in kendo.
"Guys! I found some old stuff here that are in neat condition."
Everyone comes near to Ryan. ""Strange, I haven't seen a shinai like that for quite a time." Leo said.
"It looks like it can still be used." Vaughn replied.
A sudden idea pops out on Drew. "Hey William."
"Yeah?"
"Are you up for a duel?"
"A what now?"
The sudden atmosphere change as Drew hands me the shinai, I grasped the sword without thinking clearly due to a sudden pressure. I regained my senses and asked for a reason why.
"W-Why do you want a duel?" I asked
"You said anymore rather than not at all last time we talked, I also wanted to see how you fight with my own two eyes." He explained.
Ryan grabs Leo's shoulders to talk about something. "May I ask, how good is Drew on martial arts?"
"Hmm, let's just say... he can best you at the weapon of his choice." Leo said.
"Well that's fucking obvious!"
"He also fought a man twenty kilograms heavier than him and somehow manages to protect me from that bully." Ezra replied. "That man's a beast when it comes to fighting, I just hope William comes out of that mat alive."
"I-I-I see..."
"He also won several trophies in high school and even in Kendo, I can barely win at him anymore." Ezra said as he points at the trophy room.
"Holy mother of god!"
Okay now I'm really scared of him!
We stepped in the mat, Drew told me about some rules for the mock battle.
"Here are some rules, we could use our fighting techniques may it be martial arts or something else with the use of the sword. You can also win if you immobilize your opponent and make them yield." Drew explained.
"Soooo... it's a deathmatch then?"
"Something like that, I just wanted to see your form that is all."
Wyatt steps in to be the referee. "Alright, are you ready."
The audience went silent as the match is going to start.
Arius if anything happens, just stay put.
"Copy that."
"START THE MATCH!!!"
Drew dashes onto me with powerful strikes yet I parried his attacks, he attacked again then I parried and gave him an elbow strike to the face. As he was dazed I quickly attacked but our swords kept parrying so I knocked him off balance to make him yield."
"Do ye yield?" I asked.
"Never!"
Drew started to hit back but I somehow kept up with the rhythm of his attacks; dodging each swing and thrust. I struggled as he got back defending, I tried to find ways on how to immobilize him yet he got to take advantage by hooking my shinai and spins it upward, losing contact of the sword.
A/N: In kendo, the move is used to disarm the weapon. It's called "Maki Waza".
"Yield William!" He said.
As he was about to whack my head, I managed to disarm his sword away from him in an outstanding amount of speed but accidentally breaking it in the process.
"No way!!!" Leo said as the audience gasps.
I quickly grabbed my sword then he threw a series of kicks and punches, I tried to block them all with my sword but all of that powerful blows damaged the sword and breaks into half afterwards.
"Let's settle this with a hand-to-hand combat."
"Yes we shall."
We engaged in hand-to-hand combat dodging and parrying every punch, I took heavy blows but I gave the same amount of blows to Drew. Everyone seems surprised on what I did, Ezra knowingly Drew has great combat skills in an armed combat but somehow felt different to him when I attacked.
"I see." Ezra said.
The audience looked at Ezra. "Judging from William's moves just now, he's very powerful when it comes to hand-to-hand combat as expected."
"You think so? He's really good at sword fighting as well." Wyatt replied.
"Ehh, his sword fighting skills are yet to be improved but nonetheless, he's good. I've seen better sword fights but this is what you would expect coming from a pirate."
"A what now?" Ryan tried to confirm.
"He'll explain later but for me, William's not an ordinary fighter, he's a maniac." Vaughn replied.
Drew picked up the shinai. "So who won?" I asked.
"No one, were still having a duel."
"Ezra! Fetch us two pairs of sticks." Drew requested.
"As you wish." Ezra replied.
He got us two pairs of Kali sticks and we started with the basics. "Okay William, I'll teach you how to parry properly."
"First, if I swing to the right you parry with your right. If I swing to the left you parry still using your right stick, remember that your right stick if for upper attacks and your left is for lower attacks. Got that?"
"I got it."
"Now let's put that in motion."
He swung his right hand then I parried with my right hand just as he told me, the rhythm got faster and faster until I succeeded to parry all of his swings.
"A fast-learner you are William." He praised.
"Thank you very much, now let the true battle begin." I replied.
Drew repositions himself in the corner of the room, he suddenly charges in and takes a full swing to me.
"HOLY-" I swiftly dodged.
Calm down, it's just Kali which this guy's better at than me. But I'm wielding two sticks, I'll have to give this guy his own fucking medicine.
He attacked again so I parried and tried to deliver another elbow strike; but he dodged it.
"I won't fall for that twice." He said.
He kept attacking so I kept parrying and dodging until I got caught off guard, he disarmed then attacked me. I rolled over to grab my sticks and saw an opening from his shin, I tried to hit it but an immediate reflex came into his head and somehow decided to use a knee strike which hit me on the shoulders. I might've taken the blow but I managed to use a sweep kick at the last second which made him lose his balance, we got severely injured by each other and snapped out from the lust of fighting. The crowd went silent after seeing the final blow.
"Well... played... William."
"I'm... dead to Blossom... if she sees my bruises." I replied.
"You two are hellishly strong!" Ryan said.
"Yeah... Those two blows were powerful for a single attack, I'd be scared if I have to fight either of you." Wyatt replied.
"Just stick to swimming Wyatt, you'll live long." Leo said.
"So, who won?" Vaughn asked.
Drew laughs after hearing everyone's reactions. "We'll call it a draw."
"Finally! Someone who's strong enough to take down." Drew praised.
"Are you fucking kidding me? I almost felt like I died!" I exclaimed.
"You seem great in actual hand-to-hand combat, what technique do you use?" Drew asked.
"I actually forgot, I think it was bar... bartitsu or something?"
"BARTITSU?!?!"
A/N: Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defense method originally developed in England in 1898–1902, combining elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane fighting, and French kickboxing (savate).
P.S. My co-author had me do this to give you information about the things they've said, I thought of it as a waste of time because you can just search it in google but he worked hard to search these so might as well put it here. Enjoy the novel!
"Who would've thought William's techniques were so gentlemanly for a pirate." Leo said.
"W-What?" I got confused.
"There's no need to hide it William, we already know." Drew said.
"O-Oh." I replied.
"You were a pirate?!" Ryan asked.
"Privateer." I replied.
"SAME THING!!"
Drew gave me a towel and an ice bag. "Here Will, I don't want to get scolded by your Blossom. She's scary as hell y'know what I'm saying?" He laughs.
"Sort of, but how come?" I asked.
"How come what?" Drew said
"How come you knew?" I asked
"Ever heard of the news? The infamous Captain Villanueva scourging the seas for the past two years."
"I only became captain for a year and maybe a half."
"Anyway, Will who's Blossom?" Ryan asked.
"Ahh..."
We ended up talking more about the match and how I became a privateer all through those years, I explained to Ryan who Blossom was but somehow he got scared when I was just looking at him talking about Blossom. It was already 12:00am so all of them headed back home, Drew offered to take me home so I agreed. I tried to sneak in but she noticed me anyways, she even gave me an hour of scolding or two. I can't even remember I was too tired that time.
: July 16, 2024 7:10am Present Day
It was the same old day for me to go to school along with Blossom and her friends which technically makes them my friends too. At this point, I felt exhausted after all of those days that happened. We nearly reached the school and I started spotting every people that are staring at us.
"Everybody's staring at us again." I said.
"We're pretty sure they're staring daggers at you." Lucy replied.
"Definitely." Chloe said.
"Am I really this lucky?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Oh shut up, I think I do feel lucky. Just for the wrong reasons." I whispered
"Did you say something Will?" Sam asked.
"N-N-Nothing! I was thinking these past few weeks; the atmosphere seems kind of different?"
"Hmm, it does feel kind of different." Blossom replied.
"Probably because you're always at Will's side and clinging on him like you met years ago." Sam said.
I blushed. "I-I-I... guess you're right."
We're nearly to the campus gate until we meet up with Ezra and Wyatt walking together to get to the station.
"Hey guys, how's Drew and the rest?" Blossom asked.
"Well everyone's fine, as for Drew he stayed at home." Wyatt replied.
"Why? What happened?" Chloe asked.
"He got totalled by Will over here after their duel last night." Ezra explained.
"WHAT?!" Chloe exclaimed.
"U-Uhh, he said we should have a duel. I agreed." I replied.
"How are you alright already?!" Chloe asked.
"U-Uhh..."
Chloe sighed. "Next time, try not to get into fights with Drew. He tends to be aggressive if he's fighting."
"I will."
"You should hurry, your class schedules are early today." Wyatt reminded.
"OH MY GOD YOU'RE RIGHT!" Lucy exclaimed.
"We got to go Will, I'll see you later." Blossom said.
They waved goodbye. "Bye everyone!" Eleanor said.
"Bye, I'll see you later." I replied.
To be continued...