Nero "The Zero Hero" Noroi

## Backstory:

One day a group of pirates attacked my Village, killing his parents and taking his younger brother Stein away from him. I was out getting food for my family in the town nearby when I came home to see that the house had been torched to the ground, noticing only the burnt remains of my parents I fell to my knees in shock and horror before I noticed my brother wasn't there. I instantly shot up I ran around asking the locals where my younger brother was;

A kid mentioned a local Tavern where he saw my brother being taken to. I travelled to the Tavern bursting in the door shouting "Where is he?!" running at a burly man that looked Greasy and scummy, he swung his right hand around behind him twisting his body and connecting with my face, knocking me back about 3 feet, "Quit being so noisy, damn kids.." he said. He gets up and attempts to hit me again with a smug look on his face as a few members of his crew laugh about it, as he rotates into his punch aiming for my nose with a lot of might behind it, a man who would become my future Captain grabbed the Scummy pirates wrist and stopped him. "Not in this pub, not in this town" said my Future Captain, pulling out of his grasp and spitting on the ground the scummy pirate walked past them and I walking out of the doors. "You're not worth it" he said as they left, I then slowly lost conciousness

2 hours or so passed and I came to sitting up quickly but in pain from the first hit, noticing I was on the ground I looked to my left spotting my Future Captain sat on a stool facing me, holding a mug of beer, "Where did they go?! They have my Brother!!" I shouted loudly in an almost panicked state; "Look kid I don't know what you're talking about, just calm down and explain"...

As time passed by I explained the story of what happened, the Captain rubbed his chin and stood up with a smirk "Alright kid, I'll make you a deal. You've got fire in you, I like that, join our crew and work off the debt I'm about to propose, we save your brother and you'll pay us with whatever amount we decide the trouble was worth". I clung to his Captains coat and agreed "I'll pay any amount, just help me save my brother!". We ventured out of the Tavern and got to my Captains ship but by the time that we got on board, the Pirates were nowhere to be seen, we lost track of them. The Captain rubbed his head with a laugh and spoke light heartedly "Well.. seems we spent too much time in that Tavern", grimace took over my face ... "I've lost him, I'll never see him again"; Smack, his hand hit my back and he smiled at me "Now, now... you're not strong enough to help out anyway just yet, I'm sure they wont harm him, he seems to be some sort of hostage as it stands, why else would they pillage?" he walked forward and stood at the Helm of the ship "We'll train you in the months to come, and we'll track them down starting today, they have to make stops at towns after all, just like anyone else on a ship. Hey Kid by the way, my name is Taro Nishi, nice to meet you" he finished with a wide Grin on his face.

As Months passed, with bits and pieces of information here and there about pirates of that appearance and size, the trail wasn't cold yet...

(To be Continued)