Prologue

The Journey Begins!

"Never underestimate us just because we kid around."

-Dante Flame

[Author’s note: the dialogues here are a word-representation of that of manga (Japanese comics). So I highly recommend readers to read a manga (a comedy one if possible) to get the actual visualization of the moods and expressions conveyed by the dialogues of the characters. Also, I’ve tried my best to present a Japanese manga in the form of an English novel. HAPPY READING!]

“KAGE~! RUN~!!!” Dante dashed past the market, clutching a couple of sak’e¹ bottles.

“I don’t need you to tell me that!” Kage replied, chasing behind him, “these marines sure are a pain in the ass!”

“heh!” Dante dashed to a thin passage between two buildings. Kage followed, and so did the marines. After sprinting for a while, Dante stopped abruptly, turning around. Kage stopped with a perplexed expression, and so did the marines, wondering about the reason for one of the most dreaded pirates to stop in his escape.

“Dead end!!” Dante declared, grinning.

“YOU DIDN’T KNOW!!!?”  the marines’ jaws fell in shock.

“Fine then.” Kage sighed. “let’s finish this.”

“Sure” Dante set his bottles down, “but why are marines bothered by simple thefts like that of a few sak’e bottles?”

“maybe they’re just jobless.” Kage suggested.

“NO!! THAT’S BECAUSE THOSE ARE THE COSLIEST WINES, BAKANE²!~!” the Marine squad-head exclaimed.

“Anyways…” Dante sighed. “shall we end this?”

“yeah!” kage instantly drew out two of his swords.

“two?” Dante rose an eye-brow.

“there’s too many of them…” kage justified.

“oh yeah?” Dante bolted forward, past kage, with a grin, “FLAME HOWL!!!”

Dante’s mouth swelled out and he spewed out a huge wave of flames. The marines readied themselves for the well-known attack, but however, fell prey. Most of the marines had been knocked off cold by the flames, barring the captain and a handful of them. Kage groaned, fuming at Dante.

“what?” Dante asked, shrugging.

“you took out most of my part too, you know.” Kage scowled, “and I believed I could enjoy this one…”

“sh-shut up!” the squad captain charged forward with his sword.

“eh? Don’t you have guns too?” Dante asked.

“I don’t like to use guns on small-fries like you!” he roared, his voice shaking with fright.

“then why are you afraid?” Dante sighed, “geez… what a terrible liar…”

“DODGE!!” the captain ordered, thrusting his sword forward.

“think again…” The sword clashed against kage’s katana³. “… whether you want that bounty or your head.”

The captain just realized kage’s second katana to be levitating beside his neck. He gulped, as his comrades stood frozen in fright, more than anger. “y- you are the bou- bounty hunter… k- ka… ge…?”

“bingo.” Kage glared down at the small and stout man with his sharp eyes. Well, any person looked puny before the towering body of kage.

“s..s..s…sorry…” the captain quivered, “m… -mercy…”

“hrrmmm? What’s that?” kage sneered.

Kage swung out both his katana, slicing the captain’s blade. The captain, fainted in fright, as he saw kage move. Dante’s eye caught a silhouette of a person lurking in the shadows of an opposite passage. Dante’s eyes grew serious. He held out his arm.

“Duck!”

The next moment several rounds of firing rang in the sky, overlapping any other sound. Kage relaxed from his last defense stance, letting dozens off cut bullets fall down. The person behind this attack moved out, revealing his identity as a marine captain. He glared at kage, who grunted in dejection.

“I missed twice…” kage sighed “should’a drawn another blade…”

Oh, by the way, kage has seven katana

“isn’t this the dreaded duo?” the marine grinned, walking towards the pirates, “Flame Pirates…”

“I s’pose…” Dante yawned, “man, I haven’t slept well since we ran outta sak’e.”

“I’ll put you both to sleep now.” The marine grinned, “ya’ know me?”

“no.” Dante nodded.

“who the hell are you?” kage added.

“OII!!! I’m captain Gunner Jacker!!!” the marine exclaimed in shock.

“weird name…” Dante muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

“OBVIOUSLY IT’S MY NICK NAME!!!” Jacker exclaimed, exhasperated.

“Fine.” Dante blazed up. “Let’s end this, Shunner!”

“Its jacker!”

“whatever…” Dante sighed.

“Okay!!! I’ll kill you hard and cold!!!” jacker raised up both his guns, aiming at the pirates. He pulled the triggers, lashing out several rounds of bullets.

“Kage, move back.” Dante said. The next moment, he leaped forward, his body bursting in flames. He tore through the bullets, burning them. He leaped up, hovering above jacker, before striking him with his blazing fist. Jacker fell back, stunned at the failure of his bullets.

“what are you!!?” jacker exclaimed, losing it.

“remember this well.” Dante glared at jacker, looming over him. His eyes gleamed white, like a hound’s, behind the flames. “never underestimate me, or my crew, just because we kid around. I can easily wipe your whole port off the coast. Understood?”

“y-yeah…” Jacker stammered, bewildered at his defeat.

The next instant, the flames faded away and dante reverted back to his old, kidding self. “so see ya, Oyajii4-san5!!!”

“WHAT THE HELL!!!?” The gaped behind the pirates as they walked away, happy with their loot.

***

TRANSLATIONS:

      

      (1) Sak’e (pronounced Saa-Ke)- Japanese Rice Wine

      (2) Bakane (pronounced Baa-kaa-ne)- idiot (Japanese)

(3)Katana (pronounced kaa-taa-naa)- Japanese sword (usually used by samurai)
(4)Oyajii (pronounced O-yaa-jee)- Old bearded Guy
(5)San (pronounced saa-n)- Mr.