“You need those creatures… alive?” The Crusader managed to get out, utterly shocked by their request. “Why would you need them to still be living! I cannot imagine any of them being palatable to the stomach even if they live!”
“Sir, that…” The three men looked at each other as they tried to figure out what exactly to say.
“It’s what?” He continued, pointing at the rotting corpses. “Why would you want to even eat the flesh of those things? Look at how they turn rancid within seconds! That is not something you should put into your bellies, you should be eating meat from cows, deers, something that does not come from these unholy abominations!”
“We don’t have a choice!” The dirty blonde cried, “The only animals that live are those beasts!”
“Then eat nothing but vegetables! Eat the produce you grow on the fields, not this!”
“We can’t!” The bandana man shot back. “There’s nothing that grows in these lands, nothing! Anything that grows comes out wrong and twisted, or just doesn’t grow at all. We can’t eat any of the things that come from the land since they have toxins that paralyze those that eat them!”
“What? But that doesn’t make sense…” The Crusader said softly, the situation of these people becoming more clear. “There has to be something besides these unnatural things.”
They all stared at him, before Straw Hat cleared his throat and came forward.
“Good sir, I understand you are new to these parts,” he said, before grimacing, “But unnatural and terrible things have happened to the land these recent years. All the animals, even the pests, have warped and been transformed into those beasts you encountered earlier. All the vegetation that was fine before have become those very same twisted and unnatural plants that have become rock hard. Not to mention that any man that dies now rises from the grave and turns into a twisted creature.”
“Then…”
“Yes. Those beasts… They are our only method of securing any kind of food.” Straw Hat looked down with misery as he took a deep breath. “We don’t wish to devour such vile things either, but we have no choice in the matter. We have to do all this in order to survive, good sir.”
The Crusader couldn’t understand the situation at hand. No, more than that, what could cause this? How could… Wait.
God. The vile usurper. He had an idea of what was going on now.
“Then, the reason you came like this… Was this perhaps due to God being defeated and his power being removed?”
“God?” The bandana man looked at the Crusader with a raised eyebrow, before shaking his head and sighing. “Truth be told, I am not sure about that. This did all start happening after the war for the tower, so perhaps that could be the reason…”
That was the confirmation needed. He had his target location locked in now, a place that he would have to head towards to save the land and everyone present. However, now he was facing another problem.
Food. Water. Exhaustion.
He could feel his stomach growling for food, his throat begging for water, and his body begging for some rest. He knew that he could not continue fighting constantly, he would need to get something to recover to reach the tower.
If he were to help the village, then he could get all three. Granted, he would have to put in the work to get the food and water, but he would then have a place of rest that would be safe and secure. That was the most important fixture he needed at this time, as the problem with this land thus far was how unsafe the general area was. Thus, this was a quest he would need to achieve.
He would deny the idea that he was curious of how exactly the people planned to make these demons palatable, but that was not something he was too focused on.
“Fine,” He gritted out, wiping his blade clean of all the blood that had accumulated from the previous battles. “Is there anything I need to know regarding the capture of these monsters? Any parts I would need to focus on or something I should be aware of?”
“If you have to incapacitate them, please aim for the arms and the legs.” The bandana man explained, “I would suggest doing so since landing a killing blow seems to come naturally for you.”
“And do not worry about the transportation and restraining the creatures after you knock them down!” The dirty blonde hefted up the wooden stick in his hands. “We can do so after you finish!”
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The Crusader stared at their weapon of choice for a while, before looking back up at them with bland looks.
“I apologize, but I fail to see how those sticks will help in any shape or form in preventing those beasts from ripping you to shreds.”
“This is all we have, good sir.” Straw Hat sighed, “All of our iron tools have become shoddy throughout this time. But, please, do not underestimate these poles we wield. They are capable of piercing through the skin and joints of those beasts, which will help cripple them for good.”
“Yet you could not do such a thing despite having three people and having much more knowledge of these lands than I.” The Crusader pointed out, making the three men look away in embarrassment. The dirty blonde sighed as he scratched his head, before looking up and gripping his spear.
“Sir, that was just a mishap. We typically are capable of hunting and restraining beasts, but usually we deal with them one at a time. However, this time, we were unlucky and a horde was waiting for us at the edge of the forest. We were fortunate enough to avoid getting ambushed, please trust us.”
He stared at the three hunters, before shaking his head and taking a breath.
He better not regret this decision of his.
“Fine. Come, let us find some beasts to take back to your village for food.”
With that, the three men cheered, before they moved and led the Crusader into the forest. Back into the dark twisted woods, once more into the enemy’s battlegrounds for the chance of sustenance.
The three men held their spears nervously, all the while the Crusader kept his sword by his side. He kept his eye out, looking back and forth throughout the shadows for any sign of movement. Something that would be blatantly obvious that there was something off or a creature that was stalking them from a distance away.
It didn’t take long for him to spot such a thing. He stopped in his tracks, before looking back at the creature stalking them.
It was a tall thing, one with plenty of meat all around its body. The thing seemed to have too much fur, so much so that it seemed to be going all the way down to the ground. The dark red eyes seemed to track him constantly, keeping the focus directly at his sword. Then, it looked at the other men present, before grinning and coming forward.
The three men yelped in surprise as the creature came out of the shadows, its oversized hand gripping the nearby trunk. It grinned, showing off multiple sharpened teeth that appeared to keep on going forever.
The other hunters froze, unable to move in the wake of such a giant threat. The red eyed beast reached out for the nearest men slowly, clearly savoring the fear that was present off of the potential victims.
It did not expect for the Crusader to rush in and chop at his hand, causing a giant gash to form and nearly disconnecting its hand from its arm. A roar came from the beast as it stepped back and gripped the wounded area tightly to not let any blood pour out.
However, the Crusader did not give the beast time to recover. With two slices, he chopped off the left foot of the towering beast, causing the being to collapse onto the ground with a cry of pain. It squirmed around, trying its best to get itself back upright, but failing each try.
The Crusader scoffed as he wiped his blade clean, before turning back to the hunters. He gave them a dry look as they hesitated, before he gestured towards the beast.
“That’s one. You still need two more of these things to feed the village? I’d argue that one of these things should be more than enough.”
The three hunters looked amongst each other, clearly out of their depths. They gulped, before looking at the Crusader once more.
“That… Good sir, that beast alone should be enough to provide for the people. I… do not think we should need any more to get to everyone.”
“Excellent.” The Crusader went to sheath his blade. “Then it should be a simple task to collect the body and move on to the village then, no?”
The three men looked at the thrashing beast, before staring at their wooden spears. They seemed to think for a little while, before turning back to the Crusader sheepishly.
“Well, that… Good sir, if we may ask–”
“You require me to chop off all the limbs to lessen the weight, correct?”
The three men nodded rapidly, before the Crusader smiled behind his helmet.
“Did you three not say I should not worry, for you all could carry such a beast back to the village? Did you not claim that you could carry such things back to the village, that you could achieve such things all by yourselves?”
“Well, that…”
“I could have sworn I heard that you could carry the beast with three sticks. Yet, now that you asked me such a thing, could you really carry the creature? Do you not need my assistance to overcome such a task?”
“Good sir, please!” The men begged. “We were wrong! Please, provide us with assistance to achieve such a task!”
The Crusader chuckled. Without any further ado, he chopped the four limbs and the creature could no longer move around. The three men then proceeded to use their wooden spears to try to lift the beast.
They managed to get him up before stopping. Sweat poured down in droves from their foreheads and they gasped as they struggled to lift the beast even more. With red faces, they turned towards the Crusader one last time.
He took a look at them and sighed.
He already knew what they needed from him.