Chapter Four: Pirate Wits and Tricks
Rui approached the palace and requested an audience with the city leader to bargain for the return of his brother Kenshi and friend Kouji as well as the end to the chaos being caused by the city guards. Rui was let in but he was watched very carefully by the guards. He was led into a large hall where the leader of the city sat upon his throne whilst being surrounded by the buzzards that claimed they were men and clearly feasted from the man’s power. Rui bowed with respect to the man before straightening himself up and gazing up at the man.
“Dear Sir, I have come to you with the plea for my brother and friend to be released. I wish to know how I have attracted your wrath and what I can do to end it. Please, I only wish for the best for the people of this city.” Rui spoke using a calm and high-classed tone.
The leader laughed in a mocking manner before having the other royals join in to try and humiliate Rui. The leader was over-confident and cocky and decided upon something most absurd. The leader silenced the laughing and leaned forward to slyly grin down at Rui.
“How about we make a deal instead. If you can defeat my tournament you can have this city and your friends back and I’ll leave. If you lose then all the pirates must leave this city and you and your friends will be hanged. How about it? Feeling lucky?” The leader sneered and he believed that Rui would never win.
Rui looked at the leader and nodded in agreement. He knew the challenge would be difficult but Rui was the type to adapt to situations so he could only hope he could overcome the nightmare to come. The leader beamed a grin and gestured for the guards to take the pirate captain outside to the arena for the games to begin. The leader and the royal officials took their seats around the arena and gazed down into the pit where Rui paced about like a confused animal.
“This will be great, he’ll never survive this. Let round one begin!” The leader called out and the men started to chuckle darkly.
The gate opened and a group of five average guards entered and charged at Rui. The pirate drew his sword and lashed out at the men and killed them with a fair amount of ease. The gate continued to give more guards in groups of five and each time Rui defeated them. The pirate didn’t realise it at first but the leader was planning on using the weaker guards to wear down Rui’s energy so when the bigger enemies were due to arrive then Rui’s performance would be greatly hindered.
Rui just continued to hack and slash until the small groups of men stopped coming. The man panted and beads of sweat trickled down his forehead but he was not given long to recover when two large guards armed with battle axes moved into the pit with him. Rui gulped and backed away and tried to analyse his opponents knowing strategy would gain him victory rather than brute strength.
Rui raced towards one of the large guards and sliced at the man’s knees before making a quick exit to a safe distance before checking the result of the attack. He could see both guards were distracted by the attack so Rui rushed back in and cut the back of the knees of the other guard before attacking the first guard to finish the job. The two large men dropped like trees to the ground allowing Rui to deliver the final strike to the spines to end the lives of the guards. The pirate was getting exhausted but the fun was not over as three small yet fast warriors were thrown in to attack Rui.
Rui gritted his teeth as he was battered about by the lightning quick strikes and it wasn’t long until Rui was forced to the ground. Rui’s blood stained the mud and made it thick and sticky. Rui had trouble moving in it but it gave him a plan. He got back up and stepped on the back of a dead guard and stayed off the mud by jumping from corpse to corpse. The three warriors failed to see through Rui’s ploy and charged towards the pirate only to find themselves trapped in the sticky mess. They were wide open to attack and Rui wasted no time in using the chance to slice their throats and leave them to bleed out.
Rui continued to prove himself again and again but the leader continued to wear a large grin knowing that Rui would slip up soon enough.
Rui panted heavily and he felt like passing out but that was when the most surprising challenge appeared. Three large male tigers were thrown into the pit; each looked as if it had been starved for the fight to make sure they would go for Rui at all costs. The pirate trembled with fear; he had never fought such a wild beast before that he didn’t know what to do. The tigers sprinted towards Rui and the first one lunged at him. Rui stabbed it with his sword and killed it with ease but his blade became stuck in the thick muscle and fur that the second tiger struck Rui with full force and knocked the man to the ground leaving a deep wound on his upper arm. Rui cringed with pain but his heart froze as the third tiger took hold on his leg and shook him like a ragdoll. Rui was helpless, wounded and utterly terrified. The second tiger pummelled him with blows to the body as the third continued to bite his leg. Tears streamed down Rui’s face since he knew he was going to die; there was no way out of this now.
The air was filled with a war cry shriek and a blur erupted from Rui’s hat and launched itself at the second tiger’s face and caused the tiger to roar and rear up before falling over itself into the mud. Tsu, Rui’s pet monkey, tore into the tiger’s nose and eyes with it’s small fingers and teeth before moving onto the third tiger and did the same to protect Rui from further injury. Rui sat up and grabbed the nearest weapon from the mud and attacked the second tiger and killed it before turning to rescue Tsu from the third tiger.
The air was filled with the stench of death and Rui and Tsu were left exhausted. The trials had been defeated and Rui had won but the leader didn’t seem willing to accept defeat.
