The sun shone down upon the blind man's head, warming his grey hair and the scalp underneath. With each step further away from the tavern he took, the louder the songbirds started to sing once more. The noise in the tavern grew distant and only the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves and grass on opposite sides of the dirt road was what accompanied the two walking men. Every now and then, the 'thunk' of a farmer's hoe would mix into the bird songs and the warm breeze as the farm tool was swung down into the dry dirt to help break it up, making the sewing of seeds easier. The song that Nomi's blade sung continued, as subtle as it was. Even though the weapon was being held as still as a spring water lake, the edge of the blade sliced the air in two with no effort. His footsteps however, were giving away his position as the crunch of dirt sounded from each and every one of his steps. There was no need to hide himself from the 'monk'. It would be impossible to ambush this man and have him be completely unaware. 'Jin Long' was still in there. Those warrior instincts belonged to the man whom Nomi travelled with all that time ago. Those kinds of instincts, those reactions, they were taught. The 'monk' may have changed his name, changed his image, but the old man, the real 'Jin Long' was underneath the charade.

[color=teal]”Those words are what the old you would speak, not this fake clown whom walks before me.”[/color]
The blind man continued to walk forwards as he heard the shaven-headed man venture off the dirt road and head through the grass. Nomi came to a halt at the spot where the 'monk' left the road and turned his head to 'glance' in the direction the man he was following had headed. A frown was spread across the silver-haired man's face, visible even through his blindfold. Lifting his head up a fraction, it seemed that the pair were not alone, for a group of man were hiding behind a hill several feet away. The closer the 'monk' got, the noisier these hiding people became, until they finally emerged from over the top of the hill. Nomi turned to face the group and took a step forth as he felt the presence of the kitchen hand being restrained within them.
[color=teal]”You'll be dead before you could even think about hurting that boy!”[/color]
Nomi taunted from he road and allowed his frown to turn into a smirk, poking a finger in Jintaru's direction several times, as if trying to alert them of the impending danger.. Perhaps using his blade on this 'monk' could wait.

Watching with interest, the 'monk' had placed his purse down behind him and took a page out of the blind man's book. He taunted the group, challenging them to try and take his coin off him. The 'sight' caused the blind man to let out a short, loud and entertained [color=teal]'Heh!'[/color], as he swung his blade up over his head and slot the steel weapon back into it's scabbard, the handguard 'clicking' lightly as the blade locked into place. This was followed up by the blind man folding his arms across his chest and taking several more steps forwards, coming to a stop when he was roughly six feet away from the 'monk'.
[color=teal]”Oh my, you're starting to sound more and more like me. Perhaps there might be something worth while to you after all.”[/color]
As the group of bandits started to approach, their footsteps heavy and clumsy, the blind man started to count in his head.
[color=teal][i]One...[/i][/color]
They drew closer, completely unaware of what they were even doing. They had no idea of the man they thought they could defeat with sheer numbers. Perhaps if there was a hundred of them, then maybe one of them might get a lucky enough strike in to do some damage.

[color=teal][i]Two...[/i][/color]
A large brute of a man with an axe as big as he was took a wide, uncontrolled swing at the 'monk', but his fate had already been sealed. To the bandits, it would have looked like the 'monk' didn't move, almost as if he were standing in one place and then standing in another a blink of an eye later. To normal man, this speed was only heard of in the greatest of swordsmen, but to the blind man, he actually allowed a small 'tut' to escape his lips.
[color=teal][i]Three![/i][/color]
Nomi stepped forwards and using the toes of his right foot, he curled the coin purse onto the top of hi boot, which he flicked up, tossing the purse into the air much like he had done his sword from earlier. Like a snake springing forwards to snap it's jaw at a prey, did Nomi's hand strike out, snatching the purse from the air only seconds before the crimson spewing from the large axe-wielding man, covered the ground red where the coin purse originally sat. The blind man flourished away from the life blood that streamed from the man's severed wrists before any of the droplets touched him, retreating a safe enough distance away to watch the rest of the scene before him without being disturbed.

As the next two brave men approached and swiftly made their demise, executed most professionally by the shaven-headed swordsman, Nomi just chuckled to himself darkly as he started to stride forwards, pausing to glance down at the head of the poor headless bandit. He grinned and turned, bending down with his hands on his hips to get a better 'look' at the lifeless head.
[color=teal]”What a waste.”[/color]
Dishonourably, the blind man turned and kicked the head over towards the remaining group, causing the lot of them to flinch and back up a few paces as the decapitated body part rolled to a halt a few feet before them. The silver-haired man approached the 'monk' and slapped a hand on his left shoulder, smirking in his face as he passed in front of him.
[color=teal]”You've slowed down. Still got the power though.”[/color]
He chuckled coldly, almost sarcastically and he tossed the coin purse towards Jintaru's face. Turning his back on the shaven-headed swordsman, Nomi started to take several steps towards the remaining group, lifting his right hand up and slowly counting each of the four men individually with a point of his finger.
[color=teal]”But scum like this don't deserve to be victim of such professional swordsmanship. Just bashing their heads open with a rock is all they should receive.”[/color]

Another dark cackle sounded from Nomi's throat as he felt the remaining group take a couple of steps backwards, one of them was trembling so badly that his tremors could be felt from even where the blind man was standing. Lifting up both his hands and punching his right fist into his left hand, Nomi cracked a smirk and tilted his head right and left, cracking his neck as he did so to loosen himself up.
[color=teal]”I'm not going to be as 'gentle' as the clown behind me. I'm going to make each and every one of you suffer. But, if you give me that boy, you can all walk away with your lives and limbs intact.”[/color]
It was a reasonable offer, he thought.
[color=FFA54C]”Piss off blind man! What can you d-”[/color]
The sound of knuckles crushing a man's nose echoed throughout the clearing, cutting the bandit's sentence short, as the blind man darted forwards and planted a firm straight punch of his left hand square into the bandit's face. Much the same as back on the dirt road, to those untrained, it would have appeared that Nomi had vanished and reappeared in front of the bandit almost instantly. As a howl gurgled from the throat of the bandit as he reeled backwards, the blind man glanced to his right and smirked at a second man who gripped both his hands about the handle of his club so tight, that he was making his knuckles turn white.
[color=teal]”Can I hurt you too, or will you run away now?”[/color]