CHAPTER:4

The mysterious Rise Rexun

[Flashback] It was June 4th 2009 in a rundown city, I had lived with my older brother as nothing more than mere orphaned children, our parents taken by war and the two of us forced to live under harsh conditions, my brother fought and stole in order for us both to survive, he was a real street punk, him being 13 and me being 9, one day my brother stole from the wrong person, it was a guy who was a part of a gang known as Megalo, a frightening gang that harassed the town we lived in, not taking too kindly to what my brother did him and his men quickly hunted us down, and surrounded us, I thought that was the end of us both but my brother put up a great fight against the men, taking down five of the members all by himself, seeing this the man became impressed by my brother and decide to take him in, after my brother returned the watch he had stole. 

A year later my brother was part of the gang Megalo and had did his part to benefit the gang and ever since then, we never went hungry or slept out on the street like we did, but all that change once my brother came home one night in a panic, he told me that someone in the gang had set him up, my brother with not many options was eager to leave the city and cut ties with the gang entirely so on that night we made a desperate escape but my brother knew it wasn't going to be long until the members would catch up to us again, so in a tough situation my brother handed me his revolver that he obtain by the leader of Megalo. 

Nowell's brother: "Nowell listen I need you to be a strong little brother for me, this is serious, I don't know if I'll make it back to you alive, but I need you to keep going on, whatever happens don't stop moving and keep that revolver on you at all cost alright!" 

Young Nowell: "Evan don't go! We can leave this place together!" 

Evan: "No, that's not an option Nowell, they won't stop looking for us until I'm dead, so I want you to take this cab and get out of here now." 

Young Nowell: "But!" 

Evan: "No buts! Listen to me! This is a serious world we live in, meaning there's danger all around. I have to know that you'll be ok on your own and that you'll have the strength to take care of yourself, take the revolver and go understand!"

Young Nowell: "Brother…" 

Evan: "Be a good kid Nowell and don't end up like me, ok?" 

Young Nowell: “[Sniff!]” 

I took off in the cab and left my brother not knowing if I'd see him again but as I was tearing away the driver started looking at me a lot through the mirror, being young I didn’t think much of it, then he pulled over to an abandoned area away from the city, I had no idea what he was planning, then he took me out the car and plan to force himself on me. Scared helpless, I cried out for my older brother to come and save me, but I realized I was on my own at that moment. 

Cab driver: "Hahaha no one's coming to save you, boy! I just so happen to be acquainted with that little gang you both are running from!" 

With few options, I reached in for the revolver, but it was slapped out of my hand. 

Cab driver: "You're mine boy!" 

The man said grabbing both of my arms, I struggled and struggled to break free, but he was too strong, then in a last-minute attempt I kicked him between the legs, ran when he released me, went for the revolver and shot the man in the head, it was in that moment I knew that my brother couldn't take care of me anymore and that I would have to fend for myself, the revolver being the key to my survive and the protection passed down from my brother. 

[Present time] 

Everyone: "..." 

Soldier 21: "What a sad story!" 

Soldier 2: "Yeah, that's so rough!" 

Soldier 45: "I'm at a loss for words here!"  

The men around Pence said tearing up. 

Nowell: (The hell is going on here?) 

Morris: "Enough! I understand that was a really rough story of yours, but I'm a gambler once I set my eyes on something I never back down! I can't let my resolve go to waste now, can I?!" 

Nowell: "[Sigh] it's clear you won't change your mind, fine I guess I've got no choice." 

Morris: "Good now then let's end this!" 

Nowell: (He's determined to see this through to the end, to be honest he might just win, my ability Naked Eye is vanishing due to my aura in my eye fading, if I'm going to win I have to do this fast or it's all over.) "I agree let's make this bet all or nothing." 

Morris: "Huh, what you say?" 

Nowell: "You heard me, no backing down from this, let's see who's truly capable here!" 

Morris: (Damn brat!) "B--bring it then! Heads or tails?!"

Nowell: "Heads." 

Pence launched the coin in the air. 

Morris: (Just you watch! I launched the coin perfectly with tails at the center, meaning it should land on tails but just to be sure I'll kick the table again just in case the coin looks like it's going to land on heads, call it cheating but you forced me to go this route! The one who gets the turn first wins! I will be the Victor here, you have no chance!)

 Then suddenly Nowell grabbed the coin in the air and slammed it on the table. 

Morris: "What?!" 

Nowell: "Checkmate."

Nowell opened his hand to reveal that the coin landed on tails. 

Morris: "T--that's cheating!" 

Nowell: "Is it? Because I'm sure it makes up for your little stunt earlier." 

Morris: "Tch"

Soldier 21: "That's true Pence did kick the table." 

Morris: "D--dammit!" 

Nowell: "This is over." 

Nowell revealed an ace and face card and got a Blackjack.

Morris: "N--no… I lost." 

Nowell: "[Deep breath] I win." 

Soldier 26: "Holy shit! What an amazing game!" 

Soldier 45: "You said it!" 

Lay: "Nowell." 

Nowell: "I know Lay, well mister Morris, you owe us a ride now, don't you?" 

Morris: "[Sigh] a win is a win, but tell me, how did you play as good as me and get so many good guesses and turns?!" 

Nowell: "I can't disclose that since it's my secret, and it hasn't been discovered." 

Morris: (I knew it.) 

Nowell: "But I can tell you I discovered yours." 

Morris: (!!!!) "You don't mean!" 

Nowell: (It was quite easy really thanks to my ability, I saw that he left a microscopic color mark on each of the cards that being aces, face cards and numbers, the face cards had a tiny blue, while aces had red and number cards like ten had green and how did he spot these? Easy his glasses that were incredibly zoomed in on the cards, the old man's cheating tactics and his way of playing Blackjack it's no wonder he was such a threat, but I'll be nice to him and won't reveal his secret to everyone.)

Nowell: "Don't forget our deal Morris, you owe me." 

Morris: "Fine! fine! Fine! Man, in all my years of playing Blackjack, this was one of the toughest matches I had yet. I've completely lost. You got me, kid." 

Nowell: "Good, then how about we--?" 

Rise: "Hold it!"

Nowell: "Huh?" 

The group looked to see that a tall, muscular man in a tank top was approaching them. 

Rise: "That was a great game there you! I had a fun time watching!" 

Nowell: (What? Who the heck is this guy and when was he watching?) 

Rise: "I also heard you two fought and took down the Krakus, boy does that make me excited!" 

Nowell: "Excited about what?" 

Rise: "That I get to test my abilities against you two!!" 

Nowell: (Abilities? Wait is he?!) 

The Man dashed over to the two in high speed. 

Nowell: "What the, he so--?!" 

Lay rushed over and blocked the man's attack with his blade. 

Rise: "Heh nice you're a fast one!" 

Lay: "Who are you?" 

Rise: "Forget the chatter, let's focus on fighting!" 

The Man punched Lay back with force. 

Nowell: "This guy I can see his Aura and it's massive! So he's a user of Forcer as well!" 

Lay: "You were able to push me back, no ordinary person could do that, you have Forcer as well." 

Rise: "Yep!" 

The man swung at Lay with his left arm while Lay dodged it by tilting back. 

Rise: "How about this!" The stranger than did a low kick with a mass amount of aura engulfing it. 

Lay: (!!!!)

 Lay quickly jumped back. 

Rise: "You dodged nice!" 

Lay: (If I hadn't I don't know if the force field around my leg would be able to tank it!) 

Nowell: "Holy crap, that guy is tough! I've never seen Lay jump back like that before." 

Meanwhile, the men who had watched the card game were confused. 

Soldier 26: "What's going on?" "Why are those two fighting all of a sudden?" 

Soldier 33: "Something's not normal about them." 

Nowell: "Lay do you need my help?" 

Lay: "No." 

Rise: "Come on kid let's have some more fun!"

 Lay: "I wouldn't continue this, I might end up chopping you into pieces if we do." 

Rise: "Oh! Scary!"

 The two charged forward at each other and clashed. Lay swung his blade left and right while the stranger dodged the first slash and blocked the second. 

Nowell: "No way! That guy blocked Lay's slash! His aura is incredible!" 

Lay: (Who the heck is this guy?) 

Lay then stopped his attack and did a 360 slash. 

Rise: (Hmph.) 

The mysterious man then grabbed it. 

Lay: (What?!) 

Rise: "This is a nice blade but let's see what happens when I break it." 

The man concentrated all his Aura into the hand holding the blade. 

Lay: "I won't let you."

 Lay also put a massive force field aura onto his blade. As the two concentrated their power, the ship started shaking. 

Soldier 21: "What the hell?!" 

Morris: "They're shaking the ship!" 

Nowell: "Lay stop colliding your aura with that guy or you'll sink us all!" 

Lay: "Shut up if I don't he'll break my blade!" 

Rise: "Hehe! keep it up shady I'm having a blast here!" 

Lay: "Bastard." 

The two continued colliding auras until. 

Ryan: "That's enough what in the blazes are you two doing!" 

Nowell: "Was that?"

Rise: "Oh great." 

Ryan: "Rise stop, are you trying to bring us all under water?!" 

Rise: "Stay out of this old man, don't you have a map to glue your eyes too?" 

Ryan: "We can't get to our destination if you bring down the ship! Stop this now or our contract is done!" 

Rise: "Don't be such a stick-in-the-mud Maxdell I just want to have some fun!" 

Ryan: "Stop at once!" 

Rise: "Tch." 

Rise released Lay's blade while Lay still stood on guard. 

Nowell: "Lay that's enough, let's call it a day." 

Lay: "..."

Rise: "Jeez way to be a buzzkill Maxdell, [sigh] whatever, hey you two we'll continue this again! So stay on edge, not that's a problem for shady." 

Rise walked away. 

Nowell: "What was with that guy?" 

Ryan: "Honestly I'm surrounded by such incompetence." 

Charles: "Brother let's inform them." 

Ryan: "Right, all of you on board, be ready, for I want to announce that we should be closing in on Glarera's Rock once we pass through a very cloudy storm!" 

Nowell: (A cloudy storm?) 

Soldier 15: "Finally we're almost there." 

Soldier 20: "Heh perfect." 

Ryan: "Also if I were you I stay in doors until tomorrow, so stay put." 

Soldier 21: "A storm?" 

Soldier 33: "Hope it's not serious." 

Soldier 45: "Still I know we're close to treasure island!" 

Nowell: (He hasn't told any of them.) 

Lay: "..." 

Nowell: (This It's good at all, at this rate will be at Glarera's Rock before we know it!)

As Nowell thought this, little did he know Morris was watching both him and Lay with suspicion and interest.