When Sun Jian was 16 (in 171), he and his father took a boat to Qiantang, a county not too far away from their home. As they were sailing around, they passed by a riverbank, where a gang of pirates were dividing up their spoils. Sun Jian was enraged by what he saw and wanted to attack the pirates, but his father said it was none of their business and wanted to continue on. However, Sun Jian just could not let these pirates get away with this, so he went to shore and started making motions as though he was directing soldiers to surround the pirates. The pirates saw him and thought that they were about to be surrounded and attacked, so they scattered and fled. The young Sun Jian chased them down and killed one of the pirates. Then, just because he was that hardcore, he sawed off the pirate’s head and brought it back to his father.

As one translation of Sun Jian’s SGZ says: “ His father was greatly startled.”