Somewhere in the Malay Archipelago, on an island off the Philippines, a tall man stepped into a crowded pub.
He wore a thin white shirt over black trousers, a straw hat resting over his neat black hair, and golden shades veiling his brown eyes. A black glove covered his left hand, a white one his right. A revolver rested at his hip, secured in a black holster.
But it was the coldness he wore on his face that stood out the most.
In a place like this, where law mattered less and mettle mattered more, such coldness meant the beginning—or the end—of a dark tale.
The man approached the bar.
"Gin," he said, tossing a few coins.
The bartender, a rugged, fat man with half of his face burnt, narrowed his eyes.
He grabbed the coins, bit each one of them under his teeth, and mumbled something to himself before pouring a shot of gin—cheap, sharp, and barely meeting the coins' worth.
The man emptied the shot in one gulp, not even squinting his eyes.
The bartender's eyes glinted at that.
No newcomer could drink a gin made by him without wincing the first time.
The bartender went around serving a few more drinks before returning and pouring another shot of gin for the man without biting the coins this time.
"Haven't seen you around?" the bartender said with a thick slur.
The entire pub was still abuzz with noise, but from the way ears had perked up and eyes had shifted, it was obvious that most of the drunkards were listening to the conversation, too.
"I have been around…" the man said before emptying the second shot. "Just not here."
He reached into his shirt, making many hands reach for their guns.
Instead of a hidden weapon, the man pulled out a scroll, torn at the edges, before spreading it out on the table. "Need some info on him."
The bartender looked down, and his eyes widened instantly. "…" His breathing quickened, and he hurriedly folded the Wanted Poster back into a scroll, his face paling as if he had seen a ghost. "… Get out! There's no one like that here!"
All the hubbub had already died, mostly with the bartender's outburst.
The brown-eyed man looked into the bartender's eyes, noticed the glossy sweat on his burnt face, and nodded, tipping his hat with his right hand.
He left the chair, but instead of walking out of the pub, lifted the Wanted Poster higher.
Before the bartender could lunge over the counter and grab the fool, the man let the gravity open the scroll, revealing the image.
It was a steely face with a wide grin on it.
Under it, in bold letters, KALYO was written, with a total bounty of two thousand dollars.
"I need info on this man's whereabouts," he said slowly, lacking any enthusiasm.
Suddenly, a tapping sound rang in the pub, like a steel rod slamming into thick, rotting wood.
The sailors and other drunkards in front of the man gulped and parted, revealing a table on the far side of the pub.
There, a huge, bearded man, over 7 ft tall, and many feet wide, was seated alone, with a barrel-sized mug of beer. It was he who was tapping the table with the tip of his finger… which seemed to gleam silver under the dim light.
"That's me… from many years ago…" Kalyo said, showing his yellow teeth, grinning. "Who's asking?"
The man walked forward as people stepped away from him, as if he had an infectious disease.
"Gehrman…" he said, stopping in front of the table. "Gehrman Sparrow."
Kalyo frowned at that, not recalling the name. Shrugging his shoulders, he asked, "So, Gehrman Sparrow, what do you want from me?"
Gehrman neatly scrolled the Wanted Poster and put it inside his shirt.
"Is it true that you raped Inspector Vargas' teenage daughter five years ago?" he asked.
Kalyo stared at Gehrman Sparrow in the pin drop silence for a moment before emptying the beer, trails of it drenching his beard. Then, he slammed the empty, large mug on the table and leaned forward, looking right into Gehrman's eyes… with a hideous grin.
"Yeah…" Kalyo admitted. "Fucked her mother, too. And then killed the entire family… Why do you think they haven't updated my bounty in five years? Haha…"
Nervous laughter echoed across the pub as people forced out a laugh.
Kalyo ran a hand on his beard, almost towering over Gehrman Sparrow from behind the round table still seated. "What do you want? Don't tell me you wanted to have a go with that tight…"
"I am a Bounty Hunter," Gehrman Sparrow declared, the unseen hesitation in his brown eyes vanishing completely. "And I am here to collect your head."
Kalyo was about to laugh it out when Gehrman's hand blurred, taking the gun out of the holster.
However, the villain wasn't a fool, either.
By the time Gehrman took out the gun, Kalyo had grabbed the heavy table and flipped it right over the Bounty Hunter.
Bang!
Gehrman's first shot went right through the table.
Bang-Bang-Bang!
The successive shots broke the entire table apart, exploding it into splinters, people hiding here and there and running out of the pub with their lives.
However, as the chunks of wood fell, it wasn't a bloody sight that awaited on the other side.
Several thuds rang out as flattened bullets fell on the floor one after another, Kalyo standing perfectly still over them.
The huge man had gained another size, his entire skin blackening, almost glowing silver because of his Steel Body Quirk. His teeth were still yellow, though, shining like piss as he grinned widely toward Gehrman before punching out, air splitting apart around his fist.
If the punch landed, it wouldn't just kill him; it would outright obliterate him.
There wasn't a single man here who hadn't seen Kalyo do the same to someone else, exploding heads like he had punched watermelons.
Also, with such a close distance between them, it didn't even seem likely that Gehrman would be able to get away.
However, the next scene left them gaping, their brows jumping to the extreme!
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Note: Original Cinematic Image of Gehrman Sparrow and Kalyo (OC) confronting in the bar is available