The Nameless Order.

Pen and Sword.

It has been a while since the incident, since the destruction of a rival gang, the White Tiger has become a legend, so much so that the father of Axis returned to personally meet the White Tiger. His father was the founder of the gang, but unlike Axis, he was cruel and selfish, but Ashirou could care less, besides, what could an old man like Axis's father can do?

On the day of his arrival, he was met with the members of the gang which welcomed him, "Where is my son, Axis?" his father asked the members, "You are early, father." Axis greeted him, "And you are late, Axis." His father responded. "What brings you here?" Axis asked his father of his visit, "I wanted to see how you are handling things here and of course, to meet a local legend among the mafia these days. The White Tiger." His father replied, "Certainly, follow me." Axis toured his father around and talking to him the things that has happened and things about Ashirou.

After the tour, they went to find Ashirou in the gym. Going in, the gym was empty as all the members went to meet Axis's father, only Ashirou was there, doing pull ups all by himself. "Hey, White Tiger! Can you come here for a sec?" Axis called out Ashirou as he finishes his rep, after drinking some water and wiping his sweat, he approached Axis. "This is the White Tiger? I expect him to be more bigger, more terrifying!" Axis's father remarked, "Sorry to disappoint, sir, but I can take on anyone." Ashirou responded, "I can agree, father. He even won against me." Axis vouched for Ashirou, "You losing to him is no surprise, you are weak. But you, prove to me that you are stronger than you look!" Axis's father said, "Then what about a tournament? Bring all the members to fight, the winner of all faces against me." Ashirou suggested, "Then it shall be." Axis's father agreed.

After a week of training and preparation, the tournament has begun, the members are fighting and the winners fought against each other, after a while, a victor was found. After the crowd cheered, Ashirou stepped into the ring as the crowd went silent. "Still wearing your crappy uniform in the ring? Is it because you have nothing to show?" the victor mocked Ashirou as the crowd laughed at Ashirou. 

After chuckling, Ashirou removed his hat and his coat before handing it to one of his friends in the gang, the two fighters went into a stance, waiting for the signal to fight. Once the bell ringed, Ashirou's opponent charged at him, in a shift motion, Ashirou brought his opponent to the ground, angry, the victor demanded a rematched, the match begun again, but the members already made a new plan, to kill the White Tiger, the victor was handed a metal bat before charging at Ashirou, Axis started to worry while Ashirou was caught off guard but recovered quickly, pulling his tanto out, Ashirou managed to deflect the bat before quickly stabbing his opponent's shoulder, but his opponent managed to still hit him with the bat before losing his grip and dropping it, Ashirou didn't even flinched even when he got hit with the bat. 

"What now? Got nothing else to show?~" Ashirou mocked his opponent, "Fuck you..." Ashirou's opponent responded back. Ashirou pulled out his blade from his opponent's shoulder, Ashirou won but Axis's father had other plans, "Get the second winner to fight Ashirou!" he requested and the member the won before losing entered the ring.

"A good substitute for my gym session, I guess." Ashirou mumbled as he won again not long after. Angry, Axis's father stepped in the ring, "Oh? The old man is fighting the White Tiger too?" Ashirou mocked him, to his shock, he pulled out a gun, thinking fast, Ashirou managed to quick draw his Deagle and managed to hit Axis's father's gun barrel, jamming it. The entire crowd was silent as Axis's father assessed the situation, "Hmm... Not bad, White Tiger... Not bad at all. Mario! Give the rewards to the White Tiger!" Axis's father finally acknowledges Ashirou's capabilities.

After the tournament, Ashirou received a boatload of money which he promptly shared the reward among the members, retreating back to his room, Ashirou rested as he treated the bruise he got from the bat hitting him, "I didn't know you can do quick draws. Especially one as accurate as to disable a gun's barrel is a .50 AE chambered gun." Axis remarked as he entered Ashirou's room. "I practiced it in my free time. I would go to the forest and practiced it on a tree, quite tricky for a big gun like the Desert Eagle." Ashirou responded. 

"Care to tell me your technique?" Axis asked Ashirou as he sat down beside him, "It all starts with the positioning of my gun and myself, I usually have the gun positioned to my back, the handle pointing away with the mag for easy access. Pulling it out to my right and doing a sort of circular motion around my waist while my other hand grabbing the slide to chamber a round if it isn't already loaded and pulling the trigger once up, you'll get to the motion and sequence if you practice it long enough. And just your typical hammer strike like cowboys if it's loaded already though it's only for singular targets." Ashirou explained to Axis. "That sound complicated... But thanks for not killing my dad, not that it would matter much to me, but I think you'll be hated more if you did." Axis thanked Ashirou, after a while, Ashirou rested his head on Axis's shoulder, "Ashirou?" "Shh... I'm tired..." Ashirou whispered. "Heh, good night then." Axis said as he let Ashirou sleep on his shoulder.

After a day, Ashirou received sightings of Aiko in New York, he promptly took action to track Aiko down. It was a game of hide and seek, if Ashirou would get lucky, he'll bump into Aiko. Fortunately for him, he would manage to locate Aiko, he was going to the grocery store with a friend, following suite, Ashirou pretended to also go and buy some stuff at the store. He would stalk Aiko for the rest of the day and locate his house, after a while, Aiko separated from his friend and went into an alleyway, Ashirou took this opportunity, but to his surprise, Aiko was expecting him to following him to the alleyway, his gun already drawn to meet Ashirou.

"Quite the clever trick, luring the stalking to an alleyway and ready to shoot." Ashirou said to Aiko, "I already noticed you following us, I was just waiting for the right time to figure out who you are stalking, and you've made the mistake of targeting me." Aiko responded. "Aiko Hirohaito, yes?" "How do you know my name?..." "Just a little intelligence gathering, and a little wanted poster I picked up." Ashirou said as he lit a cigarette, "What do you want?" Aiko asked Ashirou, "Oh, I mean you no harm, I just wanted to do your friends a favor and find out how you are doing." Ashirou said as he leaned on a wall, "Which friends?" Aiko tested Ashirou, "The white hair one with brown skin. I think he had a scar on his right eye and another short one, a pretty boy one, looks like a K-pop idol." Ashirou described Ikeru and Akii to Aiko. 

After a while, Aiko lowered his gun, "The incident, you kill a man. Was it true? That he... y'know. I mean I don't wanna anger you but you know what I'm talking about." Ashirou asked Aiko, "Sigh... It's true..." Aiko admitted to Ashirou, "Relax, I'm not a cop... But thanks for being honest, y'know, that guy was part of a mafia gang. My gang to be exact, but I don't care about him, and I think you did the right choice, but the rest of my gang wants you dead." "So?" "Let's keep this a secret. I'll say that the location is wrong, and you will be under my protection for the time being." Ashirou said as he finishes his cigarette. "I see..." "Here's my information and number. Call me if you get into trouble." Ashirou said as he handed Aiko his card before turning to leave.

Returning to base, Ashirou learned that a member saw Aiko and the members have voted to go and kill Aiko, he retreated to his room to think of what to do when Axis went into the room. "You were with Hirohaito, no?" Axis asked Ashirou, "I was. I promised that I would protect him, but it seems I'll be in a pickle. So, what's your decision?" Ashirou said to Axis, "As much as I hate it... I can't do anything about it. Go and make up some plans, or I'll do it." Axis said to Ashirou before leaving his room. Left with no choice, Ashirou decided to try to stop the plan.

This is no honor, but be assured that my justice will shield him, even if I die...

Next Chapter: "Reputation over Honor."