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11 years ago...

A 7-year-old Bogart D. Weiss laid in bed with the covers up to his neck while his father shuffled through some drawers. From beneath some clothing Hideki D. Weiss pulled a leather-bound journal. It was tattered and worn, but that sold its tale even more. The journal was a hand-written note of Hideki's research into monsters and the occult, sewn from animal skins - something that he told Bogie were skins from monsters he'd slain. It kept the lore of a handful of monsters within, concealing the information on their habits and how to beat them. Having this constant source in his hands helped him weave bedtime stories for his son.

In between tours at sea Hideki D. Weiss would tell stories of monster hunting and rumors of the occult to Bogart at bedtime each night. He chose to hide the fact that he was a soldier of the Navy in favor of being a hunter, someone that hunts monsters of myth and legend, to keep Bogie interested in different things. He hated the work he did for the Marines, but the traveling allowed him to visit different islands and collect more information for the ever growing journal, constantly expanding his repertoire of story points.

Giddy with excitement, Bogie listened to the stories his father told with wholehearted focus - that is, until he'd fall asleep. In the eyes of the young Bogart D. Weiss, his father was a hero to humanity and impossibly cool. The man he revered so greatly was the ideal future and he wanted nothing more than to follow in Hideki's footsteps when he came of age.

"Papa," Bogie interrupted, causing Hideki to pause in the middle of one of his many monster hunting tales. "Can you teach me how to fight like you?"

Hideki smiled, but hesitated before saying anything. If possible, he didn't want to lead his son to a life of fighting, but training him to defend himself was much better than the alternative. Still, he couldn't throw himself into it so easily. "Ah ha. I don't know. I think you're a little young for that."

"I'll listen to everything you say. I promise. And I won't fight monsters until I'm old."

He didn't want to train the young Bogie, but there were only a few weeks left until his next tour. He'd be gone for months before he'd see his son again, so it was hard for the man to say no. "Fine. But only if you promise to never hurt anyone."

"I promise!"

Sighing, Hideki agreed. "We can start tomorrow. But now it's bedtime." With that, Hideki got up and went to the door. With a finger on the light switch he said, "Goodnight," and flipped the light off.

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The sun had barely made its way over the horizon when Hideki and his wife were rudely awaken by the thundering footsteps of an approaching, excited, young Bogart. With the sleepiness still heavily impacting their motor skills neither had enough time to move out of the way or even throw up a minor defense as Bogie leaped into them with his running start. The promises Hideki had made to him the night before were fresh in the child's mind and he wouldn't be stopped now.

"Dad, dad!" Bogie shouted, shaking his father violently to complete the waking process. "I'm ready! Show me how to fight the monsters!"

With a groan, Hideki rolled off the side of the bed and onto the floor, catching himself with his arms to prevent injury - he just wanted to get away. With only a little time left until his next deployment, the extra sleep he could get was worth more than gold, but that value meant nothing to a child and it was his fault for getting him so riled up.

From the floor, Hideki responded, "Coffee, breakfast, shower... Then we'll see."

None of the former mattered. All Bogie heard was confirmation he'd be learning today, even if he was only given a maybe. "Yay!" he shouted, shuffling himself off the bed and towards the kitchen before any more words could be exchanged.

Bogie's mother, quiet in her happiness, pushed herself out of bed and followed her son into the kitchen. The woman wasn't as energetic as Bogie, nor as strong-willed as her husband, but she was strong in her own right. Working quickly, the woman put together a full breakfast - complete with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and freshly squeezed juice - before Hideki could manage to pull himself up off the floor. By the time the marine made it out to the dining space with the rest of his family, everything he'd requested, save for the shower, had been prepared effortlessly.

No words of thanks were necessary. The look Hideki gave to his wife was full of it, as well as the boundless love he had for her. Taking the look for what it was, she gestured to the chair for him to sit, which he did, and began stuffing his face.

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By 11:00 a.m. Hideki was already showered and both he and his son were out in the yard prepared to begin their training session. The man's agreement the night before had lit a match under his son's bum, which had inversely lit a torch under his own. The excitement couldn't be contained, so he had taken as much time as he could finishing his food and showering, but the end result was still the same. He still stood in front of the young boy, who stood quivering in excited anticipation for what his father was about to teach him.

"Are you really ready for this?" He asked, but it was a question more for himself than for the boy, as Bogie's answer was predictable.

"Yes!"

Hideki took a second to release another sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose to release some of the tension. "Well, the first thing you need to know is that monsters and people are all the same in the end... They're a threat. A danger. No matter who you're fighting, there's a potential to lose your life."

"I don't need to fight people," Bogie fired back. "I just need to fight monsters. Just like you!"

"You might not seek out people to fight, but the point is that you need to know how to defend yourself. Not just attack."

"Oooh." The boy calmed down, listening to his father's words, even if his understanding of them wasn't quite clear.

"That's the point of this. Know how to defend yourself. That means the basics are an absolute necessity. All the time. No matter how good you get at fighting, never forget the basics."

"The basics?"

Hideki took up a loose boxing stance. Bouncing from foot to foot, the man threw a couple of jabs into the air before finishing with a right hook. "The basics." There were many people in the world with fantastical abilities, but Hideki knew more than anyone else how important the basic skeletons of their fighting styles actually were. It was also part of his training as a marine, to learn basic hand-to-hand martial arts, as well as basic marksmanship. This was the stuff that had saved his life on multiple occasions out in the field and that was the main reason for passing on this knowledge to his son.

"Even the greatest fighters in the world start with basic techniques. It's the outline to who they are as martial artists."

Bogie, who had been patiently sitting on the grass watching his father, stood up. Mimicking the boxing stance, the child did his best to copy his father, punching the air and repeating, "The basics." Although the attempt was little more than a child's first impression, it was proof that at least some of what Hideki was saying was getting through the wall of incorruptible excitement and taking root.

The bare minimum was met. Hideki exhaled, the tension being lifted off his shoulders. Even if it was a process, he'd be able to teach his son how to defend himself and the teachings would be able to stick. But if he were going to teach the child anything, he'd have to start as basic as he could get and cover as many bases as he could with as few moves as possible.

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"I guess the first thing I have to teach you is how to throw a proper punch," Hideki said, putting his hands on his hip as if inspecting a site to begin construction.

"Like this?" Bogie threw a punch, a haymaker, with all his might. The boy lost his balance momentarily before catching himself and smiling at his onlooking dad.

"No, a proper punch," Hideki restated. "One that puts your whole body into it, but doesn't make you lose your balance."

Hideki took up a proper form. His left foot forward, his right foot backwards, and both arms up with fists clenched. The man cocked his right arm backwards, turning his body as he threw it forward and put his weight behind it. The power threw up a small gust of wind around the two. Bogie's eyes lit up with stars as he watched it happen.

"Woah," he gasped.

"Copy my stance," Hideki ordered, taking up the base form once again. Bogart did his best to mimic his father, but the feeling wasn't in it. "Hold it." Hideki moved over to Bogie as he stood there in the punching stance and kicked his feet to slide them into the proper placement. "It may feel a little bit uncomfortable at first, but that's the point of training - to make it natural." With a gentle hand, Hideki moved Bogie's torso and arms around so that they were proper as well. "Now shoot."

Once again, Bogie threw a punch, this time using the form his father had helped put him in. The feeling was unnatural for the young boy, but even in his inexperience, he could feel how much more stable it was. "Coooool.." Bogart took up his stance once again, waiting for his father to correct it again, before throwing another punch.

The two of them repeated this process over and over until Bogie's shoulder was sore from throwing aimless punches. The point wasn't the throw a heavy punch, but to ingrain the child with the right stance. However, by the time his shoulder was sore, he still hadn't been able to take up the stance on his own. Gradually, though, it was getting closer to what it should be.

"This is boring," Bogie claimed, dropping his shoulders to ease the soreness. "Can we do something cool now?"

"What did I say? None of this is meant to be fun. You have to learn the basics before you can be truly strong."

Pouting, Bogie nodded. He had agreed to follow his father's rules, but he wasn't happy about it now that they were in the middle of it. "But my shoulder hurts."

"Fine. We'll try something else. But when you shoulder rests, we'll do it again until you get the stance correct."

The boy's attention span was short. Being able to learn something else reinvigorated his excitement without much effort. "Yay! What next!?"

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Standing up straight with his feet apart, Hideki took a stance for the next movement. By swinging his right leg out to the side and rotating his body against his pivot foot accordingly, the man threw a kick towards the air. Had it been a person, it would have collided with their lower leg. Repeating the motion, Hideki threw kicks that would scale up the body of a would-be target, hitting points up to the middle of an average man's torso. With the last kick, he threw it with more force, once again generating a gust of wind to grab hold of Bogart's attention for the following explanation.

"This is called a side kick. It looks simple, but because of the stance that it's thrown from it's invaluable for both attacking and defending against foes of varying heights. The power of the legs is nothing to snuff at either, since they're thicker than your arms would ever be. Now, take up the stance."

Once again, with stars in his eyes, Bogie did his best to mimic his father's side kick stance. Having learned his lesson with the punch, he tried harder this time to copy it perfectly, but without the proper training, he'd be hard-pressed to do it. When the boy had taken his shot, Hideki once again walked over to kick his feet into the right position.

"Now, kick."

Bogie kicked, but was quickly signaled to take his stance again. This time, Hideki helped Bogie slow the process down. Rather than throwing a full-force kick, he helped his son keep his balance while he went through the motion slowly. As Bogie lifted his leg to kick, Hideki pushed the boy's body into the right position for each step of the way. They repeated this until Bogie had the general idea of what the kick should feel like.

From there, Hideki watched as Bogie continuously attempted to throw a proper side kick. Each time, he'd either shake his head or nod depending on how close he was to a perfect kick, but every time was paired with another finger signal to re-take his stance and try again. The marine also made a point of having his son throw kicks at varying angles, making sure that he wouldn't get too caught up in the same motion and forget that he was being taught this specific technique for its versatility.

The young Bogart had learned his lesson with the punching practice. Rather than throwing full-strength kicks the entire time, he instead decreased their strength so that he could throw more with less fatigue. He sought to learn what his father was trying to teach him, but he wasn't about to commit everything to each strike just to still be a beginner by the end of it.

"Okay," Bogie whined, "Can we learn something else now?"

"Not yet. You still don't know why this kick is so important."

"Because of its visitility?"

"Versatility. And no."

Bogie scratched his chin before taking up the stance and throwing another kick. The boy expected to figure it out if he tried it again, but he was just as confused as he was before.

Seeing him struggle, Hideki spoke first. "It's because of the balance. You can throw a powerful kick without completely giving up your balance."

"I can't kill monsters with balance," Bogie groaned.

"Oh? Then kick me. As hard as you can."

The child was puzzled by the request, but his father had yet to steer him wrong, so he listened. Moving closer to his father, Bogie took up the stance before throwing a full-power kick at his father's knee. He was swiftly met with a light knee block from Hideki, one that threw the boy completely off his balance and pushed him to the ground with his own strength.

Hideki extended his hand outwards to help the now scowling Bogart up off the ground before continuing his speech. "Your feet shouldn't be totally stagnant when doing this. You should be pivoting on your base leg, allowing it to work and absorb any additional shock you'd take from making contact with your target."

In order to show what he was talking about, Hideki took his stance and threw another kick, this time letting the kick dangle in mid-air while he pointed to his base foot. The man wiggled his foot, bent his knee, and did his best to show how stable he could remain while keeping his leg in the air. "You try."

Copying his father, Bogie lifted his leg and begin to wobble on his stabilizer foot, being forced to put his kicking leg down to catch himself within only a few seconds. "This is hard."

"Yes, it is, but that's what makes it so important. Keep trying."

The actual kicking practice had only been a portion of the training involved in learning the side kick. The rest of the time was spent with Hideki reminding Bogie to keep his balance and keep practicing. The man didn't want Bogie to return to just kicking, doing what he could to keep the child focused on the balance.

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Hideki knew that he couldn't keep his son focused on simply balancing for too long. The ultimate goal was to spill as much extra knowledge as he could while he had Bogie's attention, hoping that just enough of it would stick to push the boy in the right direction even in his father's absence. Proper form and bodily rotation for correct conversion of power into strikes. The importance of balance for both offensive and defensive techniques. And there was one more important idea that he wanted to teach his son while he could.

"You seem to be getting the hang of it," Hideki began, grabbing Bogart's attention. "You need to stay focused. Use your body, maintain balance, but never - and I mean never - sacrifice defending yourself in order to do it."

"What do you mean, papa?" Bogie continued his balancing practice while his father spoke. He had gradually begun to get better, but it was a hollow concept of what balance was and wouldn't be useful in combat for quite some time.

"You can't protect people from or kill monsters if you're dead. You need to always protect yourself. Always. That's why this next move is so important. It's basic, but so very important."

"Yay! A new move!"

"It's simple. Clench your fist and hold it up to block your face, crossing the other arm over it to hold it firm. If done properly, you'll have a tight guard to block incoming attacks against your upper body and face."

"Bleh... A block? Lame."

"Bogie! This is serious. Pay attention now, and copy the posture."

The sudden shock of being shouted at jolted the child into action, copying his father's movements in order to mimic the guard as best as he could. Because it was so simple, the actual positioning of Bogie's arms were nearly spot-on, but as he was a child, the guard lacked the rigidity necessary to be a proper defense.

"Good." Hideki moved over to his soon, putting his hand on Bogie's arms and feeling the tension in his muscles. "The most important part of this guard is keeping your eye on the attack. When you see it coming, you hold as firm as you can."

With Bogie's arms up in the formation, Hideki moved his fist towards his son slowly before pulling back and throwing a real feint with as much power as was safe. The punch didn't contact Bogie at all, but the resulting force from the burst of wind knocked the child onto the ground just the same. Bogart couldn't help but look up at his father in disbelief, unaware of the difference between being hit by the fist and just by the air it kicked up.

"If you had a firm enough guard, you'd be able to stay standing against something so minor. This is why you need to practices."

Bogie had been shoved to the ground by his own father, but once again, he got up and began to block. Even if some force were used against him, no part of the boy could believe that his father truly intended to wound him. There wasn't any malice in his tone; Bogie could only feel the love and pressure that the situation caused. While he had his father's attention, he wanted to show that the teaching wasn't in vain.

Time and time again, the wind would knock Bogart off his feet and send him tumbling to the ground. He couldn't stand the blast of wind that was released by his father's fist, a trained Marine, nor could he even see the punch as it was coming. The day had started to wane and dinner was almost guaranteed to come soon; the urgency for Bogie in his desire to successfully block one of his father's punches was growing. Each time he was knocked to the ground, he'd get up faster and faster in order to try again.

Bogart's knees were scraped and sore from the falling. Tears welled up in his eyes from the pain and frustration of not being able to successfully defend. But once again, the boy threw up his arms into a block and prepared himself for the inevitable punch. However, after failing so many times, never being able to see the attack, something finally clicked into place. Hideki's speed was far above what Bogie could see, but for a split second the child could sense the punch incoming, finally resulting in a successful block.

There were a number of factors involved. After so many failed attempts, it wasn't impossible for the child to unknowingly get the timing down. It was also simply a gust of wind, making the necessary block strength much lower than normal. But from Hideki's point of view, there was a little more to it than that. While both of those factors were important, the trained marine could tell the preview of Kenbunshoku Haki from his seven-year-old son. It was infantile, but it was there.

"Good job," Hideki said. The man chose to ignore the haki for the time being, instead focusing on the immediate training. "You managed to block the wind. I'm proud of you."

Bogie's body was sore from the different training and the numerous falls, but he was too content with the current situation. A bright smile lined the child's face as he giggled and hugged his father, the tender moment lasting only a few seconds before his mother called the two of them for dinner.

"Before we go in, I have one last thing I want to show you," the marine said, kneeling down to eye-level with his son.

To be continued...

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