《One Piece - Martialised》 Chapter -1 - Info! Hello my dear readers! I apologize for not uploading any chapters in the last few days but there is a hefty reason for that, namely my bloody new job! Yes, I was foolish enough to join the package delivery service and will continue to do this job for the next two and a half months since the damn thing pays rather well for somebody like me. So for the next two and a half months (filled with my job, sport each evening plus my studies) I will most probably not upload any new chapters but whenever I have a day off it may actually happen that I can muster enough energy to write something worthwhile. If not than you''ll just have to wait a little bit. But worry not my darlings I''m not dropping any of my stories so calm your nerves and lay back with a nice mochito or something while you wait ;-) Stay safe and happy until we meet again :* Chapter -2 - Short survey Hello my adorable readers! Quick update on the survey. First of all thank you all for sharing your opinions on the matter and as of today I have started to write my new story. It is titled "Tales of Tomorrow" and if you are interested give it a go :) Until later folks^^ Chapter 1 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town No name, that''s what all the street-kids called him. And why should they call him any different? After all he never knew his parents and apparently they hadn''t seen fit to gift him at least a name before dropping him off at the local orphanage. There he had spent the first few years of his life and when the hunger from the little meals grew too strong for him he would head out and steal some food from the local marketplace which was usually a very crowded place to begin with. He had often wondered when he was little why their little town was so full of people despite there being nothing of notice to be seen and yet the town nearly exploded from all the people that came to buy and sell. When he was 5 years old he finally began to understand why. The underworld. Or at least that''s what the a.d.u.l.ts would call it in hushed voices thinking nobody would hear them. From what no name had understood of "the underworld" so far it was a place or rather a concept of a system, since it had no set place, where you could obtain literally everything there was. At first it was an exciting experience for no name to hear of such a thing but through his contacts with the drags of society he soon learned that the world was even crueler than what he had come to see as his reality. Drugs, weapons, devilfruits, and even humans became nothing more than a means to a profitable end. And so he came to learn of the true evil that every human possesses deep deep down inside them: Greed. Be it greed for money, power or the acceptance of other people opinions. It was a harrowing experience learning of all these things at such a tender age which lead to no name reflecting on himself. It was once said that a human being starts building his character by imitating the people around him and intergrating their views into himself. In no names case though, since he had nobody to really look up to and only the drags of society as rolemodels he skipped that phase and started to construct himself his own view of the world. At first it was nothing but a simple reflection of what he observed and disliked all around him but soon it became an ember of craving which over the weeks grew into a burning inferno of craving to transcend all he had observed. Now the question grew inside him how to achieve such a thing after all if you have an illness and swallow some medicine the pain may go away but that doesn''t mean that the origin of the problem vanished as well. And so the weeks passed and no name grew increasingly restless, not finding any clue on how to proceed in his mind, no matter how hard he thought about it. One day nearing his 6th birthday, or at least what he thought his birthday to be since he didn''t know any better, he woke up in his room much earlier than usual. After washing his face and munching down his breakfast in the little diningroom of the orphanage he walked down the coridor in the direction of the exit contemplating what to do this very day, when he heard a frustrated voice coming from the matrons office door which wasn''t completely closed. "What the hell do you mean they are pulling the funding from the orphanage? Where else would the higher ups find malleable younglings for their organisations?" No name, who identified this voice as the matrons, felt a shiver run down his spine as he registered the matrons words and what they meant. Pressing himself close to the wall next to the door he listened intently so he wouldn''t miss a single word of their conversation. "Sorr'' Penny but there is nothing I can do ''bout it. As far as I understan'' it some big shot organisation from da grandline has taken over the littl'' ones from our Blue and integrated them into their folds. They decided to restructure our towns system and it resulted in ''e closure of this orphanage." The man told the matron in a snarly deep voice which resulted in a frustrated grunt from the matron who obviously wasn''t happy with the mans words. "So, what happens now then?" She asked him. "You''ll close the orphanage and help me with m'' organised sales in the harbour." He replied. "Urgh, great. Sailors, how I love those stinking drunken morons!" the matron cursed in reply which elicited a snarling bout of laughter from the man. "Well come on then m'' sweetheart. I''m not wastin'' even more money argueing with you here." The man replied and started walking towards the door. No name of course bolted, not wanting to get caught in the aftermath of his eavesdropping. As he reached his room the words of the a.d.u.l.ts fully reached his brain and he had no choice but to come to the conclusion that he would soon be another one of those homeless drags in the town but still, he refused to become another pawn in the underworld which he had grown to despise so much. ''I''ll get by somehow. Not like I haven''t stolen food for myself regularly anyways.'' No name thought to himself and let a little grunt escape from his mouth as self fashioned reply to his own thoughts. ''Better get packing then. Who knows if the matron lets us keep any of the things from here or not.'' With that objective in mind no name took a thin blanket and spread it out on the floor. Next he grabed his pillowcase and ripped it into thin threads by using his teeth. Afterwards he gathered his things, like an extra pair of trousers he had found in an alleyway and a shirt he had stolen from a vendour after his old ones grew a little too small. The clothes were followed by some small things that he thought may become usefull in the days to follow and finished the pile with the stored away bread he had smuggled from the kitchen, should he ever get hungry, which was not very rare since he had always been a tall kid for his age, when he had compared himself with the rest of the children at least. From there he grabbed the stripps from the pillowcase and laced the blanket together at the top, creating a little bundle, which he swung over his shoulder. Opening the door and walking out he threw one last glance into his old room, turned around and walked out of the orphanage just as the matron screeched to all the kids to gather in the dining room since she had something important to announce to them. Just as he stepped down the last step he heard faint whining from inside the orphanage but didn''t so much as grimace in reaction to it and kept on walking towards the market place to hunt for some warm food as a second breakfast, not noticing an old brown pair of eyes which kept following him down the street always keeping him in view. Chapter 2 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town As no name was walking down the full market he eyed the different street vendors with keen eyes, checking their age, height and if they seemed fit or not, after all it was easier to loose someone on a chase that was too fat to run. After a few minutes no name found his target. The man he had his eyes on was one of his favored targets. Not only was the man fat but he was an avid coniseur of the black markets slave trading, funtioning as a middle man, which only served to help no name make his decision quicker. With no hesitation to his gait no name walked past the stall and as soon as the vendor turned towards a middle aged woman for a customer no name grabbed two pies from the stall and made a run for it. His quick actions earned him a side glance from the woman, which in turn made the fat vendor turn in his direction with realisation written all over his face. "Oy brat, come back here!" the fat man yelled and dashed after no name, well more of a wheezing jog but you get the point. After a minute of jogging the fat man stopped running and turned left and right, thinking of a way to finally get that brat since he remembered that this wasn''t the first time the brat stole from him. Turning to the left a menacing idea entered his mind. ''If it isn''t the Rubbly brothers, what luck. They must be in town for the newest devilfruit shipments. Maybe I can persuade them to catch the brat for me.'' With an evil grin on his face the fat man literally wobbled over to the two brothers who by now had seen him walking over to them. "What do you want Charles?" the older looking brother asked the vendor with an obvious twitch to his right eyelid, since it wasn''t the first time Charles came to them with some kind of demand or offer. But since it had always been profitable for them in the past the older brother swallowed down his annoyance and waited for Charles to finally catch his breath and spit out his need. "Hehehe, good day to you too Jim. If you would lend me your ear for just a second I promise it won''t be to your disadvantage if you do." "Alright, spit it out already, what do you want?" "There is this ennoying brat that always steals from my stall and I want his head so I was thinking that if you two could bring him to me I could maybe forget to lock the door to the storage tonight so two fine gentlemen like yourselfs won''t have to go hunting for some chemical entertainment tonight. What do you think, hmm?" Charles said with an allknowing grin to his face. After all, there is nothing more important to a junkie than his next shot. "Fine, you got yourself a deal Charles. What does he look like?" Jim said with a slowly forming grin of anticipation on his face. "He just ran past you two. He has dark grey, nearly black hair, deep blue eyes and is around 7 years old I think. Slightly ripped trousers and a grey shirt. Oh and two pies in his hands." Charles grumbled the last information more to himself then to the two. "Alright, I hope you''ll keep your end of the bargain. If not, we''ll see you tomorrow morning." Jim said with strained voice and turned in the direction no name ran into while Jims brother took out some ropes from carrying all the crates down at the harbour, just in case the brat tried something funny. With that they took off after no name to get the payment for tonights dosage while Charles slowly tracked back to his stall with an evil grin plastered to his face. No names heart was pumping wildly in his c.h.e.s.t, now and then turning back only to spot his two pursuers coming closer by the minute and soon they had caught up to him. With a jump the younger of the two crashed on top of no name whos body started to get flooded with adrenaline. Turning on to his back under the man that was sitting on top of him, no name threw a punch to the mans solar plexus which seemed to be effective as the man started to wheeze which gave no name enough time to rob out from under the man. Unfortunately the older of the two men chose that moment to make himself known which earned no name a hard punch to the face which threw him against an opposing wall. By now the younger of the two had gathered himself and stood up with a glare maring his rugged face, directed towards no name. "Shitty brat, that hurt!" He said and punched the already downed no name in the face which resulted in no name smacking his head into the wall once again. With the pain from the punch the world started to degrade into blurs. "End of the line for you brat! You''re coming with us. Charles wants to have some fun with you." The older said with an evil grin on his face while grabbing the rope from the younger brothers hands roughly. He proceeded by kneeling down before no name with the intention of tying him up. ''Damn it! All this for two pies? What a pathetic way to go down...'' no name thought to himself while feeling the rope being tied around his hands. Just as he was about to pass away into uncounciousness he spotted a third blur make his way over to the two men, who suddenly seemed to rapidly disappear from his view while the new one occupied his whole vision until he finally faded into the darkness. (2 minutes earlier, Jim pov) ''F.u.c.k.i.n.g brat, giving us such a hard time to catch him. At least we have him now. Now we can finally get another shot, mehehehe'' Jim thought to himself, already rejoicing at the thought of the following night. "Move it you piece of seaking shit!" "Ehh? Say what?" Jim said and turned around, only to be greated by a fist in his brothers face, which catapulted and as a result embeded him straight into the wall at the end of the alley. Still gobsmacked by such a feat Jim turned around, or rather tried to turn around while midair, which seemed to be the result of a kick to his own face which implanted him next to his brother before passing out, wondering what the f.u.c.k just happened when everything was going so nicely for once. "They did quite the number on you eh kid. Well, I wanted to take you with me anyways so two flies with one hit." Turning around to the two brothers inside the wall the man chuckled to himself "In more then one way it seems. What a good day, kahahahaha" And with that the man took the kid and threw him over his shoulder before disappearing down the now quiet alley. Chapter 3 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town (no name pov) As I was opening my eyes a ray of sunshine hit me and my head felt like five men started to play football with it. With a groan I sat up and while trying to shove the pain in my head to the back of my mind, with minimal success to my disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, I started to take in my surroundings. I was lying in a soft bed with white sheets, and judging by the smell freshly made at that. Looking around a bit more and by now getting used to the hammering in my head a little I saw a clean room filled with a desk, alot of bookshelfs, nearly topling over from the load they were carrying and a window from which the sun shone in. After taking stock of and finding no threats in my immediate surroundings I looked down and checked my body for more injuries besides the obvious one on my head. Nothing, good. Slowly shoving the bedsheets to the side I put a leg over the edge of the bed and took a careful step out of it. ''Well, could have been worse...'' I thought to myself as I only felt a little dizzy and walked towards the door. ''Judging from the bandage on my head I guess it is safe to say that the two men didn''t get their hands on me. Now the question comes up who got their hands on me instead.'' No name thought with a frown. Opening the door no name was greeted by a nice living room with a kitchen bordering it in which no name could see a tall back, belonging to a man. Hearing the door opening the man turned around and gave no name a kind smile. "Morning shorty, how are you feeling?" the big man asked. Confused by the seemingly peaceful athmosphere and expecting something more volatile no names only response to the seemingly nice question were questions of his own. "Where am I? And who are you?" "You are in my home and you can call me old man Bai. Are you hungry? I was just preparing something for my breakfast." Old man Bai said while turning around and while huming returned to turn something in the pan around. "Uhm, yes. Where you the one who helped me? I can only remember a blur from a certain point in time." No name said while frowning at his lack of usable memories. "Yes, I did indeed help you but how about we eat something first? I''m much more pleasant when watered and feed, hahahaha" Old man Bai said which made no names mouth twitch slightly, seemingly contaminated by old man Bais good mood. They both sat down and after setting the table digging in. No name had never tasted something so good in his life before. Granted, besides the occaisonal pie he stole from the fat vandor he never really had anything good before so he was lacking a bit of material for comparison but if he were to venture a guess the food, which was nothing much but rice, vegetables and strangely bacon tasted like the food of the gods. "So old man Bai *munch*, tell me *munch* what happened yesterday?" No name asked again while food was spilling out of his mouth since he gobbled up as much of it as possible. And manners? Well, nobody ever taught him about those so who cares. At least no name didn''t really. "We gotta work on those manners of yours, that''s for sure. Anyways, nothing really happened that is worth mentioning. I followed you from the orphanage, saw you stealing, the idiots following you, beating you up until I beat them up and took you with me. End of story." Old man Bai said while burping slightly after stuffing himself full with thrice the portion no name had. "Not that I''m not grateful but are you a creep or something? I saw some nasty stuff down at the docks sometime. Errr, what''s it called again? Oh ye, stalker! You one of those?" No name asked while imitating old man Bai by burping as well while patting his round belly with a big grin on his face in satisfaction. "Nanana, I''m not one of those. Stalkers are creeps that tail someone for psychotic reasons or something. I was just looking for a disciple and you seemed to fill the criteria so I picked you and brought you here." "Disciple? What do you mean by that? And why would I become one?" No name asked with a frown on his face. "Hmm, a disciple is mostly the same as a student though it goes a little deeper than that, at least in our case. Where a students relationship to the teacher is mostly superficial a disciples relationship with his teacher is build on trust and the deeper the trust the more the teacher will teach the student. Of course other criteria, like the abilities of said student, add on to the equation as well. And in the end the disciple will become the teacher and take over the teachers job or not if the disciple doesn''t want to." "Hmm, okay. And what exactly would you be teaching me? I don''t know you." No name asked with a contemplative face. After all he had no roof over the head, no money for food (which he could steal obviously but the point still stands), and no plans for the future. On top of that his craving was becoming pretty much unbearable lately. The only time he had felt some sort of deminishing of the craving was when he punched the man in the alley, so that was a concern as well. So the offer seemed pretty enticing if no name was being honest with himself. Old man Bai looked no name straight in the eye and as soon as they made eye contact no name felt as if the temperature in the room was dropping a hundred degrees below zero. He tried to move but couldn''t. Neither could he remove his eyes from old man Bais which seemed to search for something. After a minute the pressure on no name lifted without warning, which caused him to release his held breath with a long exhale, and with said disappearance old man Bais smile returned in full force, lifting no names spirit along with it. "The main focus of my teachings will revolve around the martial path. Not fighting, no. The path to conquer yourself and with it the world, if you have what it takes that is. I at least know that I don''t mahahahaha" old man Bais full belly laughter filled the room at his selfcentered joke that only he seemed to understand. After a while it subsided and the normal easy going smile returned. "Besides that basic education, manners of course will be a topic we''ll have to tackle sooner rather than later, a little bit of anatomy, things that you''ll need to learn when you live alone like cooking, which you''ll be doing from now on, so you better learn fast. You know, stuff like that." "Uhm, can I get some time to think this through?" No name asked. "Think? Shorty you''ve already been taken in so stop hasitating already. I promise you won''t regret it. Well, maybe a little in the beginning mahahahaha" And so with a firm slap on no names back, which nearly sent him through the wall, no name became old man Bais desciple, or maybe housemaid would be a better term? Chapter 4 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town After being taken in as old man Bais disciple no name had been introduced to a for now relatively lax training regime to build the basis for the following steps of the teachings. It started with stretching slightly to warm up the muscles before being sent to run circles around town. Now, no name was kind of used to jogging and the occasional sprinting to escape from pursuers but what he wasn''t prepared for was to have to sprint all the time. Naturally his stamina didn''t hold for long. When he stopped to catch his breath and take a little break from out of nowhere a small pebble appeared and smacked him straight in the face, and that happened everytime he stopped, no matter how well he tried to avoid other people. He had the strong feeling that his master had something to do with it but he had no clue how that would be possible so he didn''t keep thinking about it and instead started running again. After he returned no name was shown how to properly stretch his legs and upper body and boy was that a torture. After a 30 minutes strechting regime he was lead into the kitchen and shown how to prepare a simple breakfast. Obviously he messed up pretty badly, never even having touched a frying pan before. He hoped that he would improve in that department in the future but had the feeling that he had no talent for it. After the breakfast they sat down and started studying how to write. When he was asked what his name was, so old man Bai could write the kanji down for him to copy and study, and no name told old man Bai that he was called no name by everyone since his parents never gave him a name he was greeted by a small smile from his master. When he asked why he was smiling at his misfortune old man Bais only reply was: "Misfortune? No, certainly not. it is an opportunity to create yourself after your own sense of self from the bottom up. Now, what would you like your name to be?" With a pondering look on his face no name was taken outside into the backyard of the small house, ending the language study session for now. "You can keep thinking about your soon-to-be name later. Now, look around you and tell me what you see." Old man Bai said while looking at no name. No name looked around and took in his surroundings. "Well, a small garden with a few flowers, a sandtrack, a few wooden puppets, a few trees and a small stretch of grass. Am I missing anything?" no name asked while looking back at old man Bai. "There is only one thing you didn''t list and that''s alright because you couldn''t. All the things you told me about represent something and demand something in return for you using them. Or maybe it is more me that is demanding something but who cares about semantics." Old man Bai said while waving his hand next to his face in a shooing motion. "This place will be our dojo, our training and studying grounds. Once you set foot onto it I expect absolute discipline as if you were to step onto an actual battlefield. Of course you don''t know how to do that yet but that is alright. You will learn, one way or the other." Old man Bai told no name while murmuring the last few words more to himself, though no name still heard them and frowned a little, not really getting what his master meant by it. "Why though? I mean isn''t it just a little backyard? Why does it matter?" "Besides it being tradition? Hmm, tell me. Imagine you were to step onto a battlefield, what would be the biggest hindrance to your survival?" Old man Bai asked his student while sitting down alongside his student while observing his precious flowers that he had so painstakingly brought up over the years. "Uhm, I don''t know how to fight?" No name answered while not understanding his masters point. Wasn''t it obvious? "If you don''t know how to fight then how come you punched the guy in the alley on instinct alone without hesitation back there? Go on, guess again." "Uhm, my height? I''m pretty small for an opponent." no name said while looking himself up and down and comparing him to his master. "Better, and somewhat true, but not the point I was trying to make. In this world height is only a deciding factor in the lower echelons of strength. Do you know how tall Red haired Shanks, one of the four emperors of the sea is? 2 meters. Compared to Whitebeard it''s not even worth mentioning. Any more guesses?" Old man Bai asked smiling at his student. "Hmm, no clue. I have no weapons? No, that can''t be it. Errr, I don''t know, sorry." "That''s quite alright shorty. I didn''t think you would get the answer right away anyways." He said with a shuckle. "Than what was the point in asking me?" no name asked his master while gnashing his teeth with a slight tick to his eyebrow. "In my opinion finding the answer to a question yourself instead of looking for someone to answer it for you is always more fruitful in the longrun for your selfdevelopment. Do you get my point?" "Uhm, maybe? I don''t know." "No matter. You are still young. Plenty of time to find out if you share my opinion on the matter." He said with a grin. "Now, back to the original question. Where was I? Oh yes. The only really important thing in a fight is this right here." Old man Bai said while poking no name into his c.h.e.s.t. "What? I don''t get it." no name said, confusion written all over his face. "Yourself boy. In a battle YOU are your worst enemy. From now on, as soon as you enter this dojo you start training in self-discipline. Contain your emotions and weaponize them. Practise this every day and you are a step closer to learning about haki." "Haki? What''s that?" no name asked, still a little shaken from his masters words. Something inside of him had responded to his masters words and it felt right to him. "Ehh, you''ll learn about that soon enough. Now get up. I''ll show you the first basic stance you''ll learn for a while." Old man Bai said while standing up and stepping into the dojo. As soon as he did all kindness vanished from his face, replaced by a blank, battle hardened visage that sent a shiver down no names spine. Steeling himself he took a deep breath and stepped up onto the lawn as well, officially beginning his martial path. Chapter 5 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town "The art that I will be teaching you consists of three stances that build the basics to everything else you will learn. Everytime you will be unable to proceed in the art it is a sign that you''ll need to go back to the basics and improve those. Now, those three stances consist of the ''receiving stance'', the ''confronting stance'' and the ''avoiding stance''. We will begin with the receiving stance." Old man Bai spread out his legs to the side and lowered his hip in between the knees, building a square in the space between the legs and the ground. "The receiving stances main characteristic is that you present your front to your opponent with seemingly no defense on your side. Often this stance is referred to as horse stance, though ours differs a little in the execution. Important is that your knees are always above your feet which makes it alot harder to keep a straight back. Remember, you only stand deep when you are training to improve your muscles density and fasten your movement. In a fight you simply stand, though never loose the tension in your body. Ahh, don''t be too tense, otherwise you can''t move. Yes, just like that. Now, stand deep and move up and down. Keep going, no slacking!" While walking around no name, Old man Bai kept correcting mistakes that he found before picking up a handful of pebbles from the ground and throwing one at no names forehead every time he moved up so he had to quickly move down again. They kept practising on and on until seemingly hours had passed by and no name was nothing more than a sweaty buddle on the ground. "Alright, good work. Now we will begin the after-training exercise: meditation. In this exercise you will observe your breath. In the future you will receive different instructions on different ways on how to breath but for now keep your breath slow and steady. Yes, just like that. Keep it up and reflect on what you learned today. Afterwards the kitchen waits for you. I''ll come back in 15 minutes." With those words old man Bai left no name to himself who did as he was told and found it surprisingly refreshing to simply breath. After 15 minutes old man Bai returned and they ate the not so nice meal prepared by no name before he was sent to bed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next morning no name woke up and could barely move. His body felt like one single cramp! ''Bloody hell, the old man will be the death of me if this keeps going...'' no name said while slowly coming into a sitting position on the side of his bed while rubbing the remaining sleep out of his eyes. Groggily walking into the bathroom next door he went through his morning routine and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. "Morning master." "Ahhh, good morning shorty. Hope you had a pleasant night. Ready for the day?" Old man Bai asked with a knowing grin plastered to his face. "Urgh, please kill me now..." no name murmured to himself after seeing the face his master was making. "Mahahahahaha lighten up shorty. You''ll need your motivation today." His master said while turning around to browse through the Maichyo, the newspaper that reported all the important news from the 4 Blues and the grandline. "Alright shorty time for your daily run, off you go!" And off he go he went, or rather sprinted. On his run no name pondered the matter of his still undecided name. Should he just pick one randomly? No, that would be like reading a book and giving it a random title, ignoring its contents. So on what basis should he base his name? As he was running through a shopping street he looked into one of the windows and his face greeted him. His eyes roamed over himself wondering what seperated him from the rest of the people around him. Soon his eyes came upon his own. He had always been proud of their colour. Deep blue, just like the sea. All the people he had seen so far had had brown or brownish black eyes. So why not those? Now the question remained what name he could link to his eye colour. ''Hmm, maybe the old man has an idea.'' After finishing his run and the stretching no name walked into the living room to join his master for the study session. Taking a seat on the chair opposite his master he asked the question that had come up while he was running: "Master, do you know of a good name that I could link to my eyes?" "Hmm, not a bad idea. Cobalt, Coby, no definetely not, sounds dumb. How about Bu-,Blu-, no that''s not it either. Oh I know of a good one. How about Azul?" old man Bai stated with a grin to his face. "Azul, Azuuuul. Ye, has a nice ring to it, I like it. From now on my name will be Azul." Azul stated with a happy smile on his face. "Alright, now look so I can teach you how to write your name properly." After the studying they went outside again and repeated the same exercise as the day before, though this time implementing how to punch and kick correctly. And so the days passed by. Days became weeks, and weeks became months. After 4 months of boring repetition they started on the next stance, the avoiding stance. Chapter 6 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town (8 months after Azul became Bais desciple) "Come on, you have to be faster *smack*, otherwise I''ll keep hitting you." Old man Bai told Azul while leisurely standing in the middle of the training ground. Meanwhile Azul was standing with his guard up and his knees bent slightly eyeing his master, waiting patiently for the inevitable. And just like he thought, faster than the eye could see his master threw a punch at him. Putting his weight on his frontleg Azul moved with a minimal jump to the right, barely avoiding his masters punch. ''The brat is learning, good. Time to up the pace a little.'' Old man Bai thought and grinned into his bushy grey beard that reached him to the upper muscled c.h.e.s.t. "Good, you''re keeping your breath in tact and your emotions under control but you are still too slow. Faster I said!" And with that for the first time since the both of them started sparring four months ago old man Bai moved. With a grace of a butterfly the old man entered the high carrying confronting stance which Azul had yet to learn. He instead had to rely on his avoiding stance to try and not get hit, which was way to hard considering the monster that his master was. Slightly swinging to the left and feinting with a jab old man Bai threw a right cross at Azul who, utilising the erratic form of the avoiding stance kept on dodging and emptied his mind at the same time to not give his teacher a pattern to read from like he usually does. Next up came a thrustkick from his teacher which he barely avoided by bringing the center of his body slightly to the right though that proved to be a mistake since old man Bai changed the thrustkick midaction into sidekick with his shins by turning his knee into Azuls direction, which hit him straight into the side of his belly, emptying his lungs of air in seconds and leaving him a mess gasping for air. "Not bad. I think you are ready for the final stance so that we can soon begin with the next level, the actual forms. How are your breathing exercises coming along?" Old man Bai asked while grabing a bottle of water for his apprentice who greedily gulped it down. His master seemed still fresh as when they started sparring three hours ago, not even a little bit winded. Not for the first time Azul asked himself what kind of monster his master was. "Good I think. I''m having a bit of dificulty with the breathing for the windform, but the earth, water and fireform breathing exercises are coming along good so far." Azul said while pouring rain water from a tank over his head to cool himself down. Thinking back on the day his master had introduced him to the fireforms breathing exercise still brought a smile to his face. The day his craving got a release after all this time of searching. -------------------------------------------------------- (flashback) "Sit. I believe it is time I showed you another core of our art. The breath control." Old man Bai said while taking a seat on a patch of grass followed by Azul who still looked winded from the sparring of the day. "Now, the stance I have taught you so far and the other two you''ll be learning soon are only basics so that you can shift from one into the next when you are in a fight. But those stances alone are not enough, not enough to tame your spirit at least. As I told you, in a fight you are your worst enemy but also your biggest ally. In every human come together two things: the body, the flesh and blood, tendons, bones, the crude matter so to speak, and your soul, the spiritual center of your being. The thing that makes you you. A martial artist strifes to bring, through practise and discipline of the mind, the body and soul together into one solid entity and transcend the mortal world. I don''t know if that is actually possible but it is a fact that the soul is an incredibly strong thing which is capable of many wondrous things. The stronger your body becomes and the firmer your control over your soul and your emotions becomes the stronger your spirit gets. So you could say that your spirit is another word for aura which some people prefer to use. Said spirit manifests into three different things. First is the most basic thing as long as your body and soul have fused to a strong enough level. Armament haki, the physical manifestation of your soul, shown on- or outside your body and the only way to touch a logia devilfruit user without them being cuffed with seastone handcuffs. You still remember the lesson about the types of devilfruits and their different types, yes?" "Yes master. Zoan devilfruits give the owner the ability to shift into one specific animal, with there being undercategories like the ancient and mystical zoan devilfruits. The zoan devilfruits give their owner incredible physical strength and regeneration and are considered the strongest closerange fighters. Then there are the logia devilfruits, generally considered the strongest type of devilfruits, since they give their owner the power over one specific element of natur and can turn into said element as they will. Everything else that is not sorted into either category belongs to the paramecia devilfruit type." Azul repeated what he had learned while ticking of his fingers. "Correct. Now the reason why you are able to touch a logia user with haki is because every person that is alive is surrounded by an invisible fog of aura/spirit which you will be able to perceive the stronger you become and depending on the individual differs in strength. With haki you will yourself to touch the logia user and by your will break through the veil of the devilfruit in this case the logia. In response to that the logia users spirit reaches out themselfs to protect their own soul and in the process make them loose their intangible form. Of course should the logia user also be a haki user then it becomes tricky since he should have more control over his own spirit which makes it harder to force it to confront your own. In that case the ones born with conquerors haki have an inborn advantage. Those with conquerors haki have such a naturally strong and dominating spirit that they can simply force the opponent spirit out without them being able to do much about it. That is why they are so feared. They can overpower weaker willed people and force them to do their bidding, even to the level of surpressing the spirit. The last kind of haki is the observation haki. This kind of haki gives you the ability to ''see'' or rather ''feel'' the spirit of the world and people around you with your sixth sense which is a sharpened soul that has integrated the instincts of the trained body into itself to a level that the perception of the user becomes much sharper. Though it is essential for you to know all this, so remember it well, it is still a long long way until you reach that level. But to bring you onto the path to fuse your body and soul I will teach you the breathing exercises even though I think I know which one you will favour already." Old man Bai said with a shuckle. "The breathing exercises serve not only to fuse the soul and body but also to help you focus your intent in a fight. Just as there are four breathing exercises focused on the four elements, so are there four movement forms with different intentions to be used in a fight, focused on the four elements. The intent behind the earthern breathing is to stay your ground and not yield an inch from your position. In the martial forms it is expressed through strong and steady movement of the legs, mostly up or down. Unyielding, tall and unshakable and steady. That is the earthern breath and form. The second form of breathing and moving is the waters breath and form. The waters form focuses on erratic movements, to be unpredictable and sudden. Its focus lies in the center of your body, the belly, bladder, hip. All actions originate from there. The breath behaves like a wave. First it builds up slowly and in an instant turns into a crushing crescendo. Breath in slowly and exhale fast like a crushing wave. Ever flowing, never stopping, hectic, yet a certain calm to it. That is the waters breath and form. The third form is the one I suspect fits you the most. Fire. The most dangerous one to others and yourself, though do not confuse dangerous with strength. No, dangerous because those that play with fire regularly burn themselfs. The form and breath of fire are different from the other three forms and breaths. The fires center lies in the region around the solar plexus, where your bodies energy originates. The breathing exercise is a short in and a short exhale, though you would do well to be catious not to loose your self to the flames. The reason why the fire breath is so dangerous is that you use the flame or aggression of your enemy to fuel your own flame and turn it into an all consuming inferno that destroys your enemy completely. Where the other elemental forms give you the ability to tap out at any time, fire on the other hand doesn''t know mercy. Once kindled it will burn. That is another reason why there is no set form for the fire movement. It responds to the level of aggression shown to you in kind. Hot, fueled by emotion and intent, all consuming. That is fire. The last one is the form and breath for wind, the most kind but also the most fickle one. In the form it is shown through movement in the shoulder regions. It uses the energy and momentum of the opponent and redirects it to the chosen destination. The breathing is a short inhale followed by a long exhale. The wind shows compassion and is playful like a child but can turn into a monster on a moments notice. Now it is up to you to practise them. Go on, I will observe." And with that Azul proceeded to try out the different ways to breath. Once he was breathing like fire the burning inside of him swelled like a flame fueled by the wind and lost in intensity when he let his breath go. Finally after so long, he finally had found a way to deal with the craving. It was looking to become a nice day still. (flashback end) ------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 7 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town (Old man Bais pov, four months later) ''Never would I have thought that I could feel such pride in someone elses accomplishments. Hee, am I getting soft in my old age?'' Old man Bai thought to himself with a slight grin on his face as he observed his disciple with keen eyes like a hawk eyes his prey, ever watchful, missing nothing. As he observed Azul train his application of the fire breath a small plume of transparent smoke escaped Azuls mouth and nose while breathing out. Meanwhile he was flowing from stance to stance, turning and twisting around an invisible opponent, now and then striking with a swift kick or strike, always keeping his guard up and never swaying and keeping his balance with all the extra weight tied around his ankles and back. Over the months he had gotten a growth spurt and was now standing at a proud 1,50m. Impressive for a seven years old kid. ''Maybe I should add more weight to give him more of a challenge? Naa, I''ll up the weight next week. Let him accustom himself first a little bit. Will make it all the harder once he got used to the weight he is carrying now, hehehe.'' Old man Bai grinned to himself. Nobody ever said that a Master couldn''t have a little sadistic streak towards his disciple, after all he had to have some fun now and then as well, no? His disciples Kiai drew him back into reality not for the first time wondering where his disciple took all the power and air from to produce such a mighty battlecry. "Alright, that''s enough for now. You''ve come far in the past months. But you still need to keep your fires breath steady. You still sometimes let your fire get out of control. This is nice and cool in a controlled environment but it will cost you once you leave safety and get into a real fight. Always keep a tight leash on the fire inside you, at least so long as you haven''t reached the journeyman stage of the martial path. Do you understand why?" "Well, after learning the basics in the beginner stage and studying them, as I am doing at the moment, in the apprentice stage the journeyman has gained enough control over his spirit that he is able to manifest and control it to a certain extent outside of his body and perceive others as well, so long as they aren''t masters in the art. Thus building a protective shell around the own body which other people inner flames shouldn''t be able to penetrate." Azul repeated what he had been told some time ago when he reached the apprentice stage of breathcontrol. "Correct. But try not to focus so much on the fire breathing. I know it is the most natural for you but I have taught you the rest for a reason. So long as you haven''t reached the journeymans stage and have a firm control over your body and soul balance is a necessity which the other breathing forms give you. Now start meditation. I''ll prepare the food today. Having you lay waste to the kitchen for the past week was hard enough to watch, let alone taste its results." Old man Bai said with a snort. Truly, as formidable an apprentice Azul may be, he was a catastrophy in the kitchen. Pitty anyone who has to taste his food, if you could even call it that. (pov end) Azul having heard his masters words grew red in the face in shame. He had always tried his hardest to reach his masters level in everything to make him proud of him, but the harder he tried to cook something tasty the worse it got. Not for the first time Azul had wondered if he was born with two left hands when it came to cooking. What was it that made him unable to apply himself in the kitchen? He had sworn to find out one day, and if it killed him in the process so be it. Not like it hadn''t nearly happened once already when he tried to twirl the kitchen knifes like his master did on occasion. ''Damn that was embaressing....'' Azul thought to himself, still remembering his weezing and laughing master rolling on the ground, not able to stop crying once he saw Azuls disheveled appearance. Sitting down Azul took in a calm breath and closed his eyes, trying to calm his hammering heart from the hours of practise and enter the calm of meditation. Soon he reached his equilibrium and could feel the flame inside himself, which had over the months grown alot. Still his control over it and the craving feeling he had felt all these months ago had only become better and was gettting better by the day. One day he had asked his master what the craving inside himself was since he was unable to come to an understanding even after his master had taught him so much already. He had first looked up everything there was his master possessed about anatomy in the hopes to find out if it maybe was a medical condition or something of the like. Obviously he had found nothing. That''s why he went to his master. At first the old man had hummed with a contemplating look on his face which soon grew to one of understanding. When Azul had asked what he thought it was his masters words had baffeled him a little. (flashback) "Do you still remember when you first had this craving as you call it?" Old man Bai said before revealing what he thought about the matter. Thinking back on the day he had his first contact with his inner flame he remembered his selfreflection and his confrontation with the hard reality this world contained. "Yes, I was reflecting to myself about all this" Azul waved his hands around as if to take in the whole world with a gesture, obviously failing but judging by his masters look on his face he understood completely what Azul meant by it "and what kind of person I want to be and who I don''t want to be." "I see. That explains it than. It seems you really were made for the fire breathing form since you learned it without even knowing that it existed at the time. What you did, from the looks of it, was to take in the suffering and misery around you and use it as fuel to join together your soul and body in a nearly unconscious way which indicates to a strong soul, strong indeed. Burning something nonphysical as fuel and absorbing it to strengthen your soul. In all my years traveling the grandline I have never seen something like this..." Old man Bai murmured the last part to himself, seemingly reminiscing about his younger days. "Wait, strong soul? Doesn''t that mean that I will be able to unlock the conquerors hak-" "It is a possibility, yes, but that remains to be seen since a strong soul is not enough. Your fusion of body and soul and the resulting spirit will show you the truth in due time. Patience and we will see." Old man Bai told him while patting him on the shoulder with a kind smile on his face, revealing his old age for once. "But, it doesn''t harm to show you a few exercises should you really manifest the conquerors haki in the future. After all with a power like this comes great responsibility and no disciple of mine will be unable to control his own haki!" Old man Bai said with conviction bringing a bright grin to Azuls face. (flashback end) And so Azul started to hone the flame inside of himself. Fueling it yet always keeping control over every single aspect of it. In the beginning it had been unbelievably hard and even now there were times he was unable to bring the fire under his control and his master had to step in and direct the energy of the flame to his mouth which resulted in a transparent plume of smoke escaping Azuls mouth. It truly was a task he wasn''t ready for yet but he would learn how to control his spirit or die trying. No way was he going to disappoint his master! Chapter 8 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town (Azul pov, two years later) It was a nice morning in Azuls opinion as he was running his usual route with weights all over his body to give him more of a challenge. I always had enjoyed the early mornings when everything was silent as a grave, the sun slowly rising and the fog of the night leaving to come back in the evening. And yet, something this morning was bugging him. Maybe it was the nervoursness he always felt when he was to fight the old man? I mean he was a freaking monster! But no, this felt a little different. Anticipation maybe? But for what? Was his soul telling him something which he couldn''t perceive yet due to still being an apprentice? It was a possibility. He had learned to never discard his intuition. After all, how was he to learn Haki if he didn''t trust himself? Though that didn''t answer the question the feeling had brought with it. ''Nothing much I can do about now. Time will tell.'' He thought to himself and kept running. Soon he reached the market place where he had his little chase with the two men all those years ago. He kept going for a few minutes and the feeling inside himself kept on growing, telling him that whatever was going to happen wasn''t too far away anymore. Taking a steadying breath Azul speed up embracing the anticipation that was growing inside of him at a steady pace. (pov switch, Old man Bai) Old man Bai. An acronym he wasn''t too fond of since it shoved into his face every day just how old he had grown over the years. True, he was still strong but compared to the days when he had roamed the new world and struck fear into countless people just by his name he was nothing anymore. The only thing that was stronger in his old age was his spirit. Sadly, his body simply couldn''t keep up with its continuously growing soul. Every person who said a person grew weaker the older they got had truly no idea what they were talking about. Yes, physical strength was fading but the nearer one got to deaths eternal embrace the stronger ones soul grew to not buckle under the strain the knowledge of fading into nothingness could cause. Only when you were able to let your past go were you able to reach the pinacle of your spirits strength and old man Bai wasn''t ready for that yet. He had to make sure the disciple he had grown so fond of over the years was prepared for this harsh world and the terrors that lurked in its shadows. As everyday old man Bai was covering the whole island with his observation Haki, focusing especially on his apprentice to make sure he could step in should something unforseen happen his disciple couldn''t handle yet. And oh how good it once again proofed to be prepared for every eventuality, as he had learned in all those years on the grandline. Only a fool would try to survive such a sea by winging it, not like there weren''t plenty of those out there, proclaiming to be the strongest, pirates or marines alike. Fools, the lot of them! Chasing mediocrity. Justice? Bullshit. Justice doesn''t exist, only the strong forcing their will on those they came to dominate. Freedom? Bullshit. You always were shackled. If only one took a look inside themselfs and one could find the shackles that emotions or the own body was putting onto one. No, the only true freedom came after letting everything go and fading into the black. In old man Bais opinion, which had changed drastically over the years, maybe even become a little cynical (but who cares about semanitics), life was meant to be a preperation. To strengthen ones soul for what came along with death. What that was? Who knows. Maybe another journey? Maybe a continuous circle of living, dieing only to do it all over again. Or maybe there was nothing but a gluttonous being craving to gobble down all those strong souls once they passed on? Truly, old man Bai hoped it wasn''t the later. Rather an anticlimatic thought if he was being honest with himself... Now the preperation was paying of since he could literally feel the emotions of a group of five morons, wielding weapons, seemingly about to ambush his disciple. As if they would succeed. He had trained him too well to be offed by such vermin, but it never hurt to be careful. ''Bloody hell, I truly have gotten old...'' old man Bai said to himself with a selfreflecting grimace on his face staring down onto the street. Chapter 9 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town (random grunt pov) "Fatty Charles truly is generous, isn''t he boys? kekeke. Time to earn some Berry!" The rest of the group of five miscreants grinned their toothless grins in response readying their swords that had clearly seen better days already but still served their purpose. They had been sent here by the fat vendor that was responsible for distributing the slaves to the buyers and collect the money from the clientele which meant he was a fairly important guy, though easily replacable which was important since alot of the higher echelons of the clientele status wise occassionally had a pretty short fuse when it came to patience. So it happened sometimes in the past that the one to supply the clientele with the merchandise disappeared suddenly should he or she not be able to deliver in time, until fat Charles, as he was known, came around and held his place. That made it a lot harder for the bosses should he one day disappear since it could damage their income should clientele decide to look elsewhere for entertainment which meant alot of other different consequences for the bosses of Ishiria islands underworld. Fat Charles had given them 20.000 Berry up front and they would receive another 20.000 Berry should they succeed in capturing the boy that had the nerve to steal from fat Charles. Of course they would make sure fat Charles got what he wanted, as was tradition on the island when Berry was involved kindness disappeared, even towards children. As they were waiting at a corner to ambush the boy that was running the same route every day, they heard the telltale sounds of footsteps on concrete indicating that it was time to snap the trap. The gruntboss grinned an evil grin and licked down the knife he had unsheated from his belt. Ohh, how he longed to hear the screams once again. Truly magnificent to witness from one so young. Soon the boy rounded the corner and came face to face with three of us. His eyes widened as he saw our weapons and turned around to look for a way out of the trap but unfortunately for him the other two of our group stepped up behind him, blocking his escape route. "What will you do now little mouse? kekeke" one of the grunts said while grinning at the boy. "Why are you doing this?" The boy asked us while a neutral look took place on his face, seemingly brushing aside all emotions. ''weird'' I thought to myself. "Ahh, you know, you just don''t steal from fat Charles. That is a big nono in this town but that doesn''t really matter anymore to you now, no? kekeke" The same grunt from before said to the boy. ''Just someone after my own taste. He knows how to play with his food'' I thought to myself, not being able to wipe the grin from my face. "....I see." the boy said. What happened next sent a shiver down my spine. The boy took a quick breath in and exhaled just as quickly. Afterwards his whole demeanor changed and a cold sweat trickled down my spine. ''My eyes must be playing tricks on me. Time to gut you little mouse!'' I thought to myself and charged towards the boy, which seemed to awaken the others from their stupor. Wielding my precious little knife with one hand I stabbed towards the boys right eye which to my surprise missed by inches as the boy seemed to enter a stance and using my momentum to catapult himself with a quick twist of the hip towards me before smashing his fist into my solar plexus with unbelievable strength I didn''t think was possible from someone so young. What followed was a palm to my ear which made my surroundings blur and from there I only registered as the pain of a foot to my face sent me to the ground, cracking it a little from the sounds of it, until the last thing I saw was a foot crushing down on my neck. With a crunching sound and a sharp pain I stopped being able to breath. I tried and tried but it was no use. Panic flooded my being but soon even that faded away and everything went black. (pov end, obviously xD) After taking care of the first grunt Azul took in another quick breath, fueling the fire inside even more and rushing towards the next opponent. dodging a downwards slash by stepping to one side, Azul kicked the mans feet out from under his body before kicking him in the sternum while he was still airborn which resulted in the man flying into a nearby wall cracking it slighty, not standing up anymore. Another grunt used his preoccupation as a possibility to maybe turn Azul into mincemeat. Feeling danger at his back Azul, seemingly on instinct alone, turned around grabbing the stabbing swordarm and pulled the man towards himself before implanting his free hand under the mans chin, lifting him in the air from the force of the punch. Next he twisted the mans still grabbed arm so with countermomentum the man rocketed down, into the ground before another stomp, followed by a crack of the mans skull signified the mans end. The last two, being completely unprepared for the boy being able to fight back like that backed off, slightly intimidated by him. Azul though didn''t let them regain their initial momentum and charged with light steps towards the left one. He, in response tried to bisect Azul with a horizontal slash which Azul spun over in a twist with his back slightly touching the blade before hitting the grunt in the throat with a punch, causing said grunt to drop his weapon and starting to m.o.a.n for air. Eyes widening the last thing he saw was a kick to the side of his head that implanted him, with a resounding crack, in another wall, never to wake up again. Charging towards the last man, who turned around and tried to escape, Azul grabbed him by the back of the head with one hand while the other found its way to the mans chin before snapping the mans neck in a swift motion, which brought silence to the alley. Azul closing his eyes refocused his attention on his inner flame and with willpower he didn''t know he possessed brought it back under control. With an exhale he opened his eyes only to be met by his master sitting on a nearby barrel watching Azul with a blank face. "How are you feeling?" Old man Bai asked Azul who tried to judge his mental state and came to the conclusion that he was surprisingly calm. "So far so good I think. Calmer than I expected after taking a life. Is this normal?" Azul asked with a frown. "Depends on the person but I wasn''t any different when I took my first life. You have been honing your body and mind for a long time now so it is not very surprising. Come, you will spend the rest of the day meditating and contemplate what happened during the fight." With that old man Bai stood up and waited for his disciple to reach him before they walked off together. As they were walking back home Azul was still thinking on his fight when he heard his master words which made him grin like a loon for the rest of the day. "I''m proud of you." Chapter 10 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town The sun was setting over the small town called roku and the last of the vendors closed their stalls to prepare for the night. The drags of the townfolk started looking for a place to sleep at at night while others decided tonight would be the night to mug some poor bugger. In one corner at the far outskirts of the town, bordering on the close forest was a small house with a little backyard. Said house and backyard belonged to an old man, namely Lee Mu Bai, otherwise known as old man Bai to his ever growing chagrin even though he introduced himself regularly as such. Self mocking? maybe. Would he tell anyone the truth? Most certainly not. And in exactly that backyard was a young man going through some forms in slowmotion with eyes closed while remembering his fight, while fiddling in his mind with what he could have improved or done differently. After some time said young man, namely Azul, sat down still with eyes closed and started to immerse himself in his breathing exercises once again, as he had done for some years now, every single day under the watchful eyes of his master. But this day was different since his master was missing, not looking carefully over his student but leaving him to his own for the first time. After one hour of silence, only disturbed by the ruffling of the soft wind in the trees and the occasional chirping of a nearby chipmunk, old man Bai appeared on the lawn taking one critical look over his disciple before nodding once, seemingly satisfied with what he had seen, after which he softly spoke "Azul, follow me." before walking off into the house. Azul having heard his masters voice opened his eyes, stood up without a sound and followed after his master, wondering what he wanted. As Azul entered the house he saw his master standing at the frontdoor before walking out leaving his disciple to follow him, which he did without protest. While the sun was beginning to sink in the west they reached the forest. They kept on walking until they came to a mountain that made up the middle of the island and started to track up a small path that had been walked alot from the looks of it but was hidden very well. The further they got along the path the less trees grew on it and the rockier it got. At some point the sides of the path started to be framed by weird looking statues that seemed to look down upon the traveler with different faces, showcasing various emotions. They kept on walking in silence, as Azul felt like the circ.u.mstance demanded from him to keep his mouth shut, why he didn''t know though but he obliged his instincts without batting an eye. Soon they reached the peak which was framed in clouds but otherwise b.a.r.e except a round stoneslap on top of a ledge that protruded into the sky giving an unbelivable view over the whole island and the bordering ocean reaching all the way to the all encompasing horizon. "Sit." came his masters voice, ripping him from his wonder of the beauty the world presented to him. Without protest he did, crossing his legs under him and resting his eyes on the world before him. "You came to me just a boy and over the years I tried to form and shape you to the best of my abilities. You still have a lot to learn but the basics that you learned have sunken in and have formed you into a fine young man, for that I am proud of you." "Master I-" Azul said, emotions rising inside of him. "Be quiet, control your emotions and listen." Old man Bai said in a voice that allowed no arguing and so Azul took a deep breath and focused on his flame that had begun to grow once again. After a while when he had calmed down he refocused on his master once more that started speaking as soon as he registered that he regained his disciples attention. "In the old days, way before the world government took the reigns into its hands a few children every century were chosen to be trained as warriors of the breathing arts. Those that were privy to those things commonly refered to them with the name ''Sanga'' which means something along the lines of ''those that seek to enlighten themselfs by following the breath''. Once the disciples had reached the last point of the apprentice stage they were brought on top of this very mountain where they would spend the night in deep meditation to finally break into the realm of the journeyman and start following the breath where ever it lead them to. You and me, we are what remains of the Sanga and once I am gone you will be the last there is. It will be your choice to make if you want to groom another disciple or take what I taught you into the afterlife. I will not influence your opinion on those things, as I will be long gone by then. Now, to reach the stage of the journeyman you will choose one elemental breathing technique that I taught you and integrate the understanding you gained of it into the core of your very soul. From then on you will strive to practise only said technique as the other ones will have lost all meaning to you by then. This will be a choice made for life and once made cannot be undone. Of course you will not keep on breathing like you did to practise those elements as in the basics. No, that stage is over. It only served to give you an understanding of the nature of said element and which breathing style fits it the most. In the journeyman stage you will fuse your soul and body into one entity until it manifests into your spirit which will show itself in the form of haki. You do this by calmly breathing, continuously fueling the fire inside yourself, using it as medium to form a bond between body and soul until your flame spreads to the rest of your body, encompassing every single fiber. Do not be afraid, it will not harm you. The challenge is keeping your mind calm all the time, otherwise the flame will burn you from the inside out until nothing remains that was once you. I will leave you now and return in the morning. I know you can do it. Have faith in yourself." With those words old man Bai turned around and left Azul to himself who was still absorbing everything he had just been told. After arranging his thoughts for a couple of minutes he took a deep and long breath to calm himself down before closing his eyes while a quiet yet firm expression overtook his face. He would not fail! Chapter 11 ???, ???, ??? Darkness, all encompassing, all consuming. And yet there was light. Not a big one that would challenge the darknesses supremacy but still resisting its dominion as was just natural. After all, fire has no master and follows no orders but its own. Until one day, the fire could hear something. At first it was a whispering, not really audible. Soon the whispering grew into murmuring and the flame tried to understand what was said, maybe finally having found fuel to lift it to new heights so it would finally be able to challenge the darkness around it. Once the fire had been great, unchallenged even. But over the millenia more and more of it was siphoned away into the mortal realm where it could grow independently from its origin fire into an inferno of its own and trascend by merging with a mortal. Not all managed to transcend if at all, after all nobody really knew what came after death. It had always wondered, if nobody knew then where did the legends come from? And now after all this time it was the last of its embers, still standing strong, never bowing to anyone, and it would keep doing so until the darkness took it as well. As if mocking it the murmurs increased in intensity and the fire grew excited, possibly having found its chance to grow after centuries of silence. Soon it came about a small light, so small that it was barely perceivable and yet it stayed strong. ''What a spirit this ember has! Truly worthy to call itself a kindling.'' The flame thought to itself. Having witnessed lights like this from time to time in the past millenia the flame made its decision to embark on its last journey and set the world on flames! And so the flame embraced the kindling, igniting and fueling it until they became one never to be quenched again! -------------------------------------- West blue, Ishiria island, roku town On top of the mountain in the middle of the island called Ishiria sat a lone figure, eyes closed and unbothered by the pouring rain that had started minutes ago. So deep was he in his trance that he didn''t register the slow humming that started to, at some point while meditating, to fill the air. At first it was like a vibration in the air but soon it grew into something more understandable. Whispers of times long past, murmurs of story telling of the ages of old. Warning, advising, motivating. The whispers grew to such intensity that people started to wake up in the town at the foot of the mountain wondering what the hell was happening. One man that was sitting on top of his roof, who had a long beard and quite a few wrinkles on his face, was drinking his medicine, not that he would tell anyone that, after all his pride didn''t allow it to show weakness, was looking at the top of the mountain where he had left his precious disciple on his own. Once the whispers started to reach his ears a smile broke out on his face which grew into a fullblown laughter that sounded across the street in happiness at his disciples achievement. It had been such a long time since old man Bai had been a witness to ''the calling'' as it was refered to. It was the process of an elemental spirit of the acient world fusing with a soul to serve as medium and fuel to breach the rank of a Sanga member from apprentice to journeyman. In the process the spirit would fuse with the individuum and strengthen its soul to hights only a Sanga could reach at its full potential. Truly a day to celebrate with his best sake. F.u.c.k the medicine! We all die anyways. And with that old man Bai took out a bottle of his best sake and lifted it into the air as gesture of salute before throwing his head back to take a big gulp of the stuff. As Azul was sitting on top of the mountain he felt a warmth enter his c.h.e.s.t. He had let the flame inside of him grow as it wished in his meditation, just like his master had told him, and kept his calm, only serving as observer. Then at some point in time his flame didn''t grow any stronger and Azul had thought he had reached the limit for the night but suddenly an influx of heat had started to emenate from the center of his flame. It grew and grew to hights he didn''t think would be possible. As he was observing this, his flame started to integrate the heats origin and the fusions result was a very thick and heavy flame which billowed in all directions. As he kept his calm the flame seemed to calm down as well and started to spread to every fiber of his being until with a sudden jerking motion something broke between his body and soul. The result was obvious for any observer. Heat started to emenate from Azuls body, so much so that the rain that touched him evaporated into steam. Soon some kind of pressure started to form around Azul in a circle and began to slightly crack the earth around the stone platform he was currently sitting on. Minutes kept passing by that in turn turned into hours until finally the heat that was emenating from Azul receeded back into his core and the pressure lessened. Chapter 12 Redline, Mary Geoise On the redline, the one and only continent on the planet sits the holy land, namely Mary Geoise. It is home to the world aristocrats or sometimes called Tenryuubito. There on top of the world they reside, being catered to by butlers and slaves who have to follow their every wish, else they most certainly will die or worse. Besides the Tenryuubito, or better said along with them live the five people who have control over the marines, the secret services of the world government, the cipher pol, and the seven samurai of the sea, also called shichibukai which are pirates who apprehend other pirates under orders from the world government and in return are left to their own devices. Normally those five people only gently direct the direction of the world and act mostly from the shadows, only showing their faces when something drastic has happened or needs to be prevented. And so it seems an event which may influence the world to the better or worse has transpired, leading these five men to discuss how to preceed from there. "I thought we rendered them all from the face of the world. How is it possible that a new one appeared? And from the west blue no less, not many years after we wiped Ohara from the face of the earth..." the youngest of the five elders spoke with a frown on his face. "You forget that there was one other many years ago, causing chaos all over the grandline but he disappeared not long after. He must have something to do with it. I refuse to believe that they could reappear in this world without help. That would make all our past work pointless!" the eldest one spoke in a voice barely containing his frustration. "I doubt that to be the case. It was with Lee Mu Bais help, I have no doubt about that. The question is what are we going to do about that? The island from which the pulse of Haki emenated is a kingdom so we cannot simply send a bustercall to take care of the problem. If we did the rest of the kings would get on our nerves and possibly boycot in fear of the same happening to their countries." The middle elder, a long and thin indivdual with a white long beard said in a rough voice. "Why not send the cipher pol? Mu Bai must have grown old, as have we so I doubt he could still render their assault pointless." The youngest spoke to the rest. "Hmm, but one devision won''t be enough. Where are cipher pol zero and nine at the moment? Those two should be enough to take care of this." The eldest inquired to which the youngest turned around to check a few papers until he pulled two out. "Zero is currently undercover in the new world, observing Doflamingos process at Dressrosa and step in should any problem arise, though I doubt that should be the case. Still it never hurts to be cautious. I would advise against removing them immediately. Half a year should still suffice since they still need some time to travel to the west blue which should take another half a year. That should give us ample time. Now CP9 is still in water 7, observing the mayor and his brother Franky and if they do or do not possess the plans for the ancient weapon of their former master Tom. I would advise on keeping one member there to remain as observer while the rest start preparing for the task. The CP0 can take them along on their way to the west blue and take control of the operation as they see fit. They are capable enough I believe." The elder said, finishing his report and advice before stacking the papers in his hands cleanly and putting them back on the desk where he got them from. "That sounds like a sound plan. I will send out the orders then. Everyone in agreement?" The oldest asked into the group. "Ay!" came the response of the rest in one word. Thus the order was send out. What they did not know was that another organisation had perceived the outburst of haki and was making preperations to take over said country to use the origin of power as weapon against the world government whom they would soon be at war with all over the world, not knowing that it was a human boy who was responsible for the big figures of the political world to set in motion another major play on the board of the world. ???, Headquaters of the Revolutionary Army "Send word to the second fleet, which should be preparing in the west blue near where Ohara used to be, to set sail to Ishiria once they are ready. We cannot be the only ones to have perceived the outburst of haki from there! When will they be ready?" Asked a commander of the revolutionary army one of the men responsible for the transponder snails who was contacting the second fleet right that moment to inquire about their status. "Sir, they will need more time. They just started. They are not ready as of yet. Minimum six months, maybe longer." The man replied while saluting his officer. "Dammit! Alright, send word for them to hurry up! We cannot loose that island to the World government! Not when the war hasn''t even started yet!" replied the officer with a grimace on his face. "Yes sir!" And so the game had begun. ------------------------------------ West blue, Ishiria island, roku town Meanwhile in the small house on the outskirts of the town master and apprentice were sparring with each other, trying to bring out a stronger manifestation of the slumbering haki belonging to Azul. A race against time since old man Bai knew, once his disciple started his path as a journeyman, things would become a lot more difficult for him and he wasn''t nearly strong enough to stand against the tide that was to come. On top of it old man Bais health detoriated by the day and he knew it wouldn''t be long anymore until he would be taking on his last journey, but he swore to himself, not before getting his disciple ready for what was to come, and if it killed him in the process he would smile death in the face with a middlefinger in his opponents direction! And so the months passed by until only one month remained until the CP agents would arrive and the war over the world would begin. Chapter 13 West blue, Ishiria island, valley at the foot of the mountain *RRRROOOOAAAAAARRR* A mightly cry echoed through a small valley at the foot of the mountain that is located in the middle of the island called Ishiria, piercing the heavens as proud and tall as only a mountain can be. Following the battlecry, originating from said valley, was the sound of recurring clashes and shockwaves that shook the air as if fighting for dominion over the skys territories. Now and then a shockwave apart from the sounds of the clashing opponents would travel through the air and reach over the boundaries of the bordering forests. Should an unwise animal make the mistake and let its curiousity get the better of it and be hit by said shockwaves it would be blasted back and collapse with foam splurting from its mouth and eyes rolled back into its head. The origin of all those phenomenon were two people who had made it their duty to fight day and night for the last year, with only small breaks in between to eat, meditate, obliege natures calls and take a bath now and then in a river not too far away. One of the two was an old man, tall in statue with a height of approximately 3,5m and muscles to fit. A long beard adorned his old wrinkled face, which was the only hair left on his head which had baldened with old age. And yet, even in his old age you could see an excited grin that bordered on mania plastered onto his face, enjoying the fighting to the fullest. Old man Bai had been training with his disciple nonstop for the past year to prepare him and the results spoke for themselfs. Yes, Azul was still young but for his approximately 11 years of age his powers were simply of the charts. Even though there was still alot of room to grow, since he still had alot of growing to do in the physical and mental sense, Azul and old man Bai could be proud of what they had achieved in such a short amount of time. Would it be enough to overcome the hurdles that were about to arrive at their doorsteps? Maybe, and that was simply not good enough for someone like Lee Mu Bai. And so he had made a decision that tonight he would start the conflict of the opposing sides, if only to grant his disciple a small advantage and give him the chance he needed to escape, even though he didn''t know it yet, but all in due time. Azul on the other hand wasn''t nearly as tall as his master yet but he had had grown nonetheless over the past year that he now stood at a proud 1,80m which was pretty ridiculous for an 11 years old boy, packed with lean muscles to accompany his physique. His dark blue eyes had deepened while training and fighting continously with and against his master. Where before there was still a flicker of innocence inside them, nowadays they had gained a wildness inside them like the beginning of a flickering flame about to burst out and incinerate his opponent. This had been a result of completely merging with the elemental spirit and fully stepping foot into the realm of the journeyman. His haki had become a force to be reckoned with and surrounded him like an invisible shroud which added a certain type of pressure to his appearance that said as much to other people along the lines of ''challenge me and get crushed into splinters'' which only someone who had gained insights into their conquerors spirit could possess and radiate like a passive aggressive guardian you could say. Azul had started to take the forms of the elements and break them apart to forge his own from the pieces he saw fit to fit his fighting style which could be discribed with a single phrase: "merciless offense". So much so that it had become a little dangerous for himself since he sometimes lost himself in the rush of the fight, entering a near berserker like state, ignoring most injuries to himself. At first that had earned Azul a strict lecture from his master but after some time old man Bai had come to the understanding that this was a core aspect of Azuls soul which was only amplified after merging with the elemental and so he started to focus Azuls training on honing his offense and complement it with speed and endurance so that he could build the strongest basis for his personal fighting style as long as he had old man Bais support. After all, even if old man Bai taught his disciple only in defense now, in the hopes that he would ''come to his senses'' so to speak it wouldn''t help him much since the true nature of a person would come out one way or the other if he wanted to or not, so why not sooner to build it up into something that would crush his enemies without being able to retaliate. After all wasn''t there a saying that was along the lines of ''the strongest defense is an even stronger offense''? And so they trained, and in old man Bais case planned since soon he would be no more and his disciple would need all the preperations he could get his hands on. And so in the evening of the last ''peaceful'' day master and disciple would spend together old man Bai left to acquire the last ace he could give his disciple to help him on his future path. ------------------------------------------------- West blue, near former Ohara, revolutionary shipyard A man with a long green cloak stood atop the a giant galley, a ship adorned with canons and ammunition to sink a whole armada of marine battlesh.i.p.s from the looks of it. The mans face was mostly hidden but it was still possible to see a red tatoo covering the left side of his face which gave him, besides his general mystery, a wild look, only complemented by the aura that surrounded said man. Behind said man stood his closest confidents, namely a big man in a tight red, leather string-bodysuit and blue hair, named Imporio Ivankov, the king of the Kammabakka kingdom, which is pretty much a kingdom devoted to transs.e.x.u.a.lity. Next to Ivankov stood another tall man who had suprisingly panda ears ontop of a white cap and was carrying a bible in his left hand, pressed to his enormous c.h.e.s.t. His name was Bartolomeo Kuma, who recently joined the shichibukai. Behind those figures stood another person, a young man of approximately 13 years of age, who had a determined look on his face which looked a little weird due to his still young and not yet fully formed into an a.d.u.l.ts face which was slightly overshadowed by the big cylinder hat he was currently wearing. His name is Sabo, a nobles son who ran away and had a run in with the tenryuubito, who drowned his ship in bullets due to blocking their path in a small boat, which caused it to capsize and resulted in Sabo loosing his memories. Soon after he joined the revolutionaries to rid the world of the tyranny of the nobles. Before all of them a giant group of people had essembled, namely the second army of the revolutionaries and the first devision that would begin the war against the world government that would soon engulf the whole world and decide the peoples fate for better or worse. All their eyes sat on the tall man in the green mantle and as he stepped forward showing his face to his subordinates, gave himself away as Monkey D. Dragon, supreme commander of the revolutionary army and the soon to be most wanted man in the world. "Men, Women, brothers and sisters in arms. Today you have followed my summons to change the manifests of this world and begin a war that shall never be forgotten! I want you to look to the man and women to your left and right. Those people may be unknown to you but know this, every person who followed my call shared one thing with me and that is something more powerful than the connection blood or knowledge could ever provide you. An idea! A craving for change! Where ever you may go in the following years to come, whenever you meet someone fighting under the insignia of the revolutionary army, know that they are a kindred spirit and that nothing can quench the power this craving provides you with, and nothing, no matter how cruel the world government may act will change this fact! Today we fight, and tomorrow we may die but we will never surrender! TO VICTORY!!!" "Orraaaaahhhhh!!!" answered the crowd with a unifying cry, shaking the caves ceiling under which their sh.i.p.s were stationed before the commanders yelled orders to man the positions and prepare to set sails which brought a serious grin to Dragons face. Finally it was about to begin! ---------------------------------------------------------- West blue, a few hours away from Ishiria island, Marine battleship A group of indivduals stood together, discussing the approaching mission. One half of the group was clothed in suits completely in white, namely the three CP0 agents, who had the command during this mission, being the strongest unit belonging to the Cipher Pol agency, while the other half of the group consisted of three individuals clothed completely in black suits which belonged to the CP9, the special assassination and infiltration unit of the world government, officially noneexistent. "What do we know about the target?" Asked a slim man, the leader of the CP9, with a dove sitting on his shoulder, which now and then produced a silent *guru* as if trying to enter the conversation. The leader of the CP0, a tall man with a white mask, spoke up in answer. "The target was once known as ''the swords fury - Lee Mu Bai'' with a bounty of 1.100.000.000 Berry. He was renowned to not discriminate between pirates or marines when it came to battling and never lost a fight against anyone. This is even more suprising when you take into consideration that he once clashed with Kaidou, one of the four emperors of the sea. Though, neither did win. It was a stalemate." "Then how are we supposed to kill the target? We would stand no chance against an emperor if it came down to it." Bruno, a tall man from the CP9 spoke up, who had two horns made of his hair protruding from the sides of his head. "The target has become rather old and the Gorosei suspect that he has grown increasingly weak over the years, so much so that he probably had to raise a disciple to pass down his legacy, which is the main reason we were send here. If there is a disciple it is our task to find and eliminate said target, no matter the cost. But to do that we need to get past Mu Bai, who undoubtedly already knows the world government sent a deligation to eliminate the thread which will make our task increasingly harder but we have our orders and failure is not an option. Either you complete your mission or die trying. I will not put the reputation and honor of the CP0 up for sale due to failure. Is that clear!?" "Yes sir!" came the unified answer along with a salute and the straigthening of the mens spines. "Now listen, this is how we will proceed in said operation. Kaku you and Bowser will..." And so the plans were being made, not knowing that it would come completely different than everyone expected it to go. ---------------------------------------------- West blue, a few hours away from Ishiria, ship of the Zambatta pirates (ex mafia) "We are nearly there. Prepare for raiding and burn the whole city roku to the ground! Doflamingo will curse the day he nicked the leadership of my cartell in the west blue from me. You will pay Doflamingo, do you hear me? You will pay!" An older man in a blue suit yelled towards the sky with a raised fist, proclaiming his hatred towards his nemesis for all to hear. "Errr, sir? Just wanted you to know that we got a leak on the ship so we may arrive a little later than we expected..." Another pirate said with an ashamed look on his face, trying not to look his captain directly into the eyes while trying to defuse some pressure by sticking his finger into his nose on the tiring search for the king of all boogers. "What the hell happened down there? In the morning all was still fresh and chipper!" "Errr, we may have practised a little bit of shooting which got kind of out of hand..." The subordinate said while trying his hardest not to explode from how red his face had gotten from embaressment. The captain, hearing his subordinates words nearly collapsed in stupor with a giant sweatdrop on his forhead. "Arrrgh, am I only surrounded by incompetence? Fix it you morrons, THIS INSTANT!" "Y-Yes sir, right away sir!" and with that the subordinate skimpert away to fix the problem to not get thrown over board instead. Not that it would make much of a difference if he didn''t fix the problem. And so it seemed one group would arrive a little later than expected to the party which would throw some people mightily off the rails. Chapter 14 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town The small town of roku which was usually bustling with activity at this time of the day strangely was housing deserted streets, which was only patrolled by the occasional group of soldiers belonging to the royal army. Said royals had received a call via the transponder snail not too long ago that a group of cipher pol agents would be arriving in the kingdom of Ishiria and the royal army received the order from the king to greet them with alot of fanfare and assist them to the best of their abilities in order to not hinder and in fact help them to fullfill their mission which in turn would reflect positively on the king which may in the end help him earn a few favors with the Gorosei. So it came as no surprise that soon after the call was received all hell broke loose in the royal palace and the troops assembled at its gates before marching straight to the docks while on the way proclaiming and enforcing the curfew ordered by their royal majesty to not leave a single soul out on the streets that could possibly hinder the cipher pol agents. Soon all the soldiers that had been called to duty had assembled themselfs at the docks and awaited the agents arrival. ---------------------------------------------- west blue, Ishiria island, secret underground facility of the underworld Meanwhile old man Bai had broken down the main entrance to the underground market place belonging solely to the underworld and jokers syndicate, swatting every nuisance in the form of guards out of his way and leaving a path of destruction in his wake. Not letting himself be immersed in the carnage he caused by appearing in said place old man Bai simply held his whole concentration centered on one point inside the underground facility which exuded an all too familiar aura he had come to know over the years in his time in the grandline and he would not fail to acquire why he came here. And anyhow, who was supposed to stop him? So with a single thought in his mind he wove through the labyrinth like structure of the facility, listening fully to his souls instincts while observing the rest of the island with his observation haki. Nothing could go wrong, for there was no room for mistakes. Too much was on stake! Soon he reached the room and with a single punch old man Bai blew the door away and stepped into the room, walking straight over to a c.h.e.s.t, which was chained to a table. Not minding this he ripped the chains apart, grabbed the c.h.e.s.t and turned around and left without a single glance at the rest of the rooms contents. He still had some more preparing to do. --------------------------------------------------- West blue, on the horizon on course to Ishiria island, ??? The soldiers on the coast were growing a little restless. And who could blame them? Nobody liked to stand still for hours without moving a single centimeter. But that restlessness soon turned into murmurs as the first rows spotted a ship appearing on the horizon. "There they are sir!" one soldier on the lookout spoke loudly to his commanding officer who was sitting on an obviously expensive looking horse who in turn turned his attention from the lolipop in his mouth to the single ship on the horizon. Throwing his precious little lolipop away the commander yelled at his soldiers: "Alright you maggots, stand sharp and shut your trap! I don''t want to hear a single word from you lot while I great the agents. Should any of you go against my orders you''ll scrubbing latrins for the rest of your miserable life, you got that!?" "SIR; YES SIR!" the soldiers responded with horror written over the faces of a select few who seemed to already had had the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e to make the madam latrins aquaintance in the past, memorable no doubt. Soon the ship was only a few minutes away from landing which at first caused exitment to surface on the commanders face which very soon turned into confusion. "Soldier! Were there supposed to arrive more than one ship?" the commander asked the communications officer who in turn denied the question which caused even more confusion inside the commanders mind but gradually said confusion turned into a vague sense of foreboding. Granted, said commander had never been involved in any actual fighting, due to his highborn status but that didn''t mean he didn''t have human instincts which in this case told him to grab himself another lolipop and get the hell out of there! Sadly he couldn''t do that so he pushed those feelings down and told his soldiers to prepare for the worst should anything unexpected happen. And as it turned out he was right to do so. The sh.i.p.s took a sharp turn to the right, presenting their flanks to the soldiers who only now realized how many sh.i.p.s there were coming towards them. At first it seemed like it was only four but it turned out that behind those four hid another eight sh.i.p.s, bringing their numbers to a staggering 12 fully weaponised galleys who by now with an audible *cluck* pulled up the covers for their canons which sparkled ominously in the sunlight of the midday sun before all hell broke loose and the whole pier was turned into rubble. Men were screaming, animals crying and chaos took over the place until the first of the invaders landed and charged every soldier who remained battleready with an audible cry to strike fear into the defenders. Fighting took over the place, screams of the dieing or wounded, motivational cries to rally allies behind a few to charge once again and the hitting of metal against metal singnalling the beginning of war in the kingdom of Ishiria, which was promptly relayed to the kings administration via transpondersnail which in turn called the world government and informed them of the happenings which caused absolute chaos with the marines and the world government, not knowing what the hell these people were up to. Chapter 15 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town After gathering a bundle with a few necessities from their home, namely: a knife, some food, a bottle filled with water enclosed in strings to be carried or tied onto the bundle, a blanket, some candles, a compass, a map, a sailors telescop from his past, a book on medicine and its practical application for idiots, a stone to sharpen the knife and the c.h.e.s.t old man Bai was still carrying around with himself, obviously not fitting inside the bundle, old man Bai decided it was time that he told his disciple what was about to go down and what he had planned for this occasion. Taking a last look around his small home old man Bai remembered all the years he had spend here alone and how it had changed him taking on his disciple. Grabbing his best sake along with everything else, old man Bai stepped outside, closed the door and walked away, only his disciple remaining on his mind. The rest was a forgone conclusion anyways! Soon afterwards old man Bai stepped out of the forest and onto their makeshift training field where his disciple was sitting with crossed legs and waiting for him to come closer. After the old man had reached him, Azul couldn''t contain the uneasy feeling inside himself anymore and spoke: "master, what is going on? My spirit has been uneasy since this morning. At first I thought it was another spiritual growthspurt but it still hasn''t settled down! And what is all that stuff you are carrying there?" Azul asked with worry clearly written on his face. Smiling at his disciple old man Bai put down all the stuff next to his disciple. "That is yours now. Some of the stuff I put into the bag belonged to me when I was traversing the grandline a long long time ago. The c.h.e.s.t, open it." Old man Bai said while taking out to sake cups and putting them down between master and disciple next to his best sake bottle. Doing as he was told Azul opened the c.h.e.s.t and what entered his vision made his breath hitch in his throat. A devilfruit! A real f.u.c.k.i.n.g devilfruit! Never had he thought he would get to see one, not so soon at least. He could practically feel the altering power the fruit was radiating. "Where did you get this master?" Azul asked, eyes still wide. "Broke into the facility under the market place and stole it. I may also have damaged a few walls so it might collapse in a few hours but who cares about that old thing anyways." old man Bai said with a grin. "Only you master, only you would do something like that on a whim hahaha" Azul said while laughing at his masters bullheadedness. Now only one question remained. "Why though? I am strong already and will only grow stronger over time. What is there to worry about with you alongside me master?" He asked which made the light in old man Bais eyes dim which worried Azul even more seeing the reaction his master had to his words. "There is time, right?" "Sadly Azul, time has run out. I have made the most of the time that was given to us after you entered the stage of the journeyman and you indeed have grown strong, stronger than I expected in fact, but not strong enough for what will happen today and in the future. Cipher pol has arrived on the island and are looking for us, for you especially which is an encounter you are not yet ready for. The CP9 may not be a problem individually for you but as a group you would stand no chance, let alone the CP0 that roams in the new world and fullfills the orders of the Gorosei. Those old f.u.c.ks always had it out for us Sanga, so be warry of them! They are willy old foxes with a power at their fingertipps to plunge this world into alot of problems. That is why I sought out that devilfruit for you. It will change you and I don''t know into what, which is usually the case since not many have been discovered and doc.u.mented yet. It is a shot into the dark but sometimes you have no choice but to rely on luck. But it is not nescessarily a bad thing. You have to understand that the human body has limits. Yes you may train yourself but in the end you will always have the same possibilities as every other human besides you, given the chance to grow the same way of course. A devilfruit bestowes upon you the needed individuality and flexibility to cover more ground or strengthen abilities you already have or even go beyond that, at a high cost though. Never to be able to swim again, and sinking like a stone in the ocean are strong limitations that you should always carry at the back of your mind! But no matter, the choice is still yours of course. Now to the fun part." old man Bai said with a kind smile and took the sake bottle and opening it. "This is the best sake I have found on my journey and I safed it for a special occasion, one just like this. Today disciple you will embark on your official journey as journeyman and go where ever your breath takes you. Do an old man the favor and share your first glas of sake with him, will you?" "It would be an honor master." Azul replied with a smile that showed how happy he was at this very moment, sitting alongside his master under the clear blue sky, the seaguls crowing in the distance and the fresh air ruffling through his dark grey hair. Taking the sake bottle and filling both cups to the brim, both of them raised them in salute towards the sky and afterwards towards each other while speaking "to the Sanga" while old man Bai murmured softly to himself "and to you, Azul" after which they both took a taste of one of the best brews they had ever had and probably ever will. ''Truly, it doesn''t matter where the sake comes from, as long as you have someone important to you share it with you it will taste better than the drinks of the gods.'' old man Bai said while a grin formed on his face after which himself and his disciple started to laugh in happiness, seemingly not caring about everything else at this very moment. The slight tipsiness Azul had gained after his first cup may also have played a small part in it but who cares about semantics anyways. Chapter 16 West blue, Ishiria island, roku town The battle was raging in full blast. Buildings were burning and the screams of the civilians and soldiers alike echoed through the air, a cacophony of madness, anger, fear and sorrow. And yet the men and women kept on fighting for what they believed to be ''right''. The problem with that term had become glaringly obvious not long after the battle had commenced. As soon as the pirate ship had spotted the marine ship a naval battle had begun just outside the harbor which was still occupied by the revolutionary armys sh.i.p.s, blocking all entrance from and to the port. Not being able to take each other out in the fight, due to the marine battle ship having a stronger constitution and more weapons but was slow to fire and sail, and the pirate ship being the complete opposite, meaning fast and maneuverable but didn''t possess strong enough canons to sink said marine ship. Hence they both had decided to ignore each other on the water until they entered the harbor through sinking a revolutionary ship, and thus gaining their attention, and continue the battle on land. As soon as the pirates landed they started to cause havoc. Setting buildings on fire and plundering whatever took their fancy, which drew the ire of the revolutionaries, since they came to the kingdom to help the people against the world government and wanted to protect the people. So the revolutionaries gained another enemy, the pirates. But as soon as the marines entered the fray chaos entered its final stage. What were the marines supposed to think? The new faction, namely the revolutionaries tried to protect the people from the pirates but also fought against the royal army? That didn''t make any sense to the marines. For a moment the factions tried to come to terms with who they could trust in this battle but after struggling to find a partner, besides the marines joining the royal army, every faction decided to fight for itself and thus a battle royal commenced, a cl.u.s.terf.u.c.k of epic proportions that nobody expected to happen but had no choice but to accept and struggle till the last man remained standing! Meanwhile the CP-teams contacted the command center of the royal army and enquired about Lee Mu Bais location, which they couldn''t help with, after all Lee Mu Bai was commonly known as Old man Bai by those who knew of him, which wasn''t many since he was pretty reclusive. Having come to terms with the missions starting parameters the two teams spread out to search the town until they found a trace of Lee Mu Bai. In the end they came about nothing which confused them alot. Taking stock of their options they decided to cover the grounds around the town, including the foot of the mountain. This is where they finally found a trail. Two empty sake cups and an arrow pointing in the direction of the mountain. A false trail? Maybe, but they couldn''t risk it being the truth so they rushed towards the direction the arrow pointed to to make up for lost time and leave nothing to chance, something they didn''t have to worry about as they would soon find out. --------------------------------------------- Ishiria island, foot of the mountain, training grounds (30 minutes earlier) "What is going to happen now master? Where should we go?" Azul asked old man Bai, hoping he may know how they would be able to escape this miserable situation while standing in front of his master. "The coming confrontation is not to be your concern, disciple. By the time the fighting will start you will already be on a boat to sail to a different shore and to begin your true journey." Old man Bai replied with a kind smile while softly putting his hands on his disciples shoulders. "But what about you master? I''m not leaving you here to die!" Azul said, nearly yelling the last part, unwilling to abandon his master, who had become like a father to him. His master replied in a soft voice, never breaking eye contact with his disciple: "Listen to me Azul, listen very carefully. There comes a time in life where every person will be confronted with the unavoidable truth that everything must some day come to an end. Relationsh.i.p.s, friendsh.i.p.s, love, hate, sorrow, pain, everything. Even life. You as a martial artist, who fights against all odds at every turn, every time he faces an opponent in battle are more aware of this then anybody else. So do now what I have taught you throughout all these years. Use your training and let go. It is alright, I am ready to go. This last fight has long been coming and I will not falter in my steps or cower in fear at deaths feet, as shouldn''t you! Stay strong, tall with your shoulders back and burn bright Azul, burn bright! Show the whole world what we of the Sanga are made of!" Straightening his back his master smiled at Azul, turned around and began walking towards the mountain. "Thank you master! I will not disappoint you! I will show them! I will show them all!" Azul shouted with tears streaming down his face, kneeling down and bowing his head in a deep gesture of gratitude for everything his master had done for him. "I know you will, disciple. I know you will not let me down. You never have..." with a content smile on his face, his master walked into the distance without looking back. Azul though remained in his kneeling position, paying homage to the legacy of the greatest man he had ever come to know and who he would never forget until he as well took his final stance. Lee Mu Bai on the other hand was at peace with himself. He had truly lived a life with no regrets. Growing up with his master instead of parents, just like Azul himself and later travelling the world, chasing after the breath and honing his skills against the best of the best this world had to offer! Truly, there was nothing to regret for his legacy would carry on his will and teachings just like he had his masters. And one day, when Azul was ready, he would join him on his last journey. "Time to show these upstarts what a real warrior looks like" Lee Mu Bai said while tracking up the holy mountain of Ishiria island, training ground for the Sanga since times long gone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The cipher pol agents tracked up the mountain and were surprised to find old statues framing the path up the mountain until after some time they reached the mountains top. "So you little shitstains of the world government have finally arrived." Lee Mu Bai said while turning to face them. "It is time I''ll remind your precious Gorosei why you don''t f.u.c.k with a Sanga!" and with those words leaving his mouth Lee Mu Bais whole bearing changed from an elderly man to the battle hardened warrior that was renowned throughout the grandline in the past. His spirits prescence, like a mountain, unleashed, descended upon everyone on the island crushing those to weak to bear it into the ground under its might! Even the CPO agents had difficulty standing tall under the pressure Lee Mu Bai unleashed upon them. With growing horror the CP agents realised what kind of sleeping dragon they had just awoken. "Pathetic! You are a disgrace to those who walk the martial path! Your ancestors would have looked away in shame, knowing that their descendants, users of the renowned rokushiki form, would bow down to an abomination like the world government! But you will be able to tell them about this yourselfs once I remove your heads from your shoulders!" Lee Mu Bai said, unsheathing his sword he hadn''t carried in years, which was hungering for blood as he could feel its spirit awaken once more. Without showing any visible movements, Lee Mu Bai disappeared from the CP agents view only to have one of the CP0 members, bowser, cry out in pain, as his right hand had been severed from his arm. Realising that they had to go full out from the beginning, otherwise the mission would fail for certain, one of the CP0 members transformed into his zoan form, which showed to be a dinosaur with a shell like armor on his back, while the leader used his devilfruit to transform into his element, metal and rushed to confront Mu Bai, who wove with fluid movements out of the attacks way, which consisted of punches and kicks, reinforced by a fingerpistol now and then. The last member of the CP0, the support member as it seems, struck his hands into the ground which formed plants that tried to restrain Mu Bai in his movements, though without sucess as he, without much of a problem, cut them to pieces, before refocusing his attention on the tanks, that both attackers seemed to prefer as their chosen battle style. And so the battle raged on on two fronts. Shockwaves traveled down the mountain and caused many a soldier to look upon the top of the mountain when they weren''t battling another foe. Now and then a shockwave would cause a part of the mountain to crack on crush some men under it who had no time to dodge to the side. Mu Bai, having realised that his time was approaching focused a quarter of his haki into his sword and performing his favorite, single combat technique ''dance of the pebbles'' feinted a left strike to the leaders knee which he countered by demeterialising his left knee in preperation, only to be taken by surprise by Mu Bai whirling around his own axis and stomping down hard onto the earth, which made the rocks all around jump into the air and caused the leader to loose his balance and bringing his sword down onto said leaders neck, which ended with the leaders head falling to the ground, lifeless eyes staring at the sky. After having taken the leader out Mu Bai focused on the already handicapped dinosaur and in the moment of bafflement at their leaders quick demise, stabbed him into the eye straight into the brain and ending another life. By now the rest of the CP agents, that had been frozen from Mu Bais haki, realised that they had to somehow regain their ability to move. Otherwise none of them would leave this mountain alive. Exhausted, Mu Bai coughed into his hand, knowing without looking that his hand was stained red, which meant his time had come. Mustering the rest of his remaining spirits strength, Mu Bai raised his sword high into the sky, as if in salute, and brought it down quicker than the eyes could see and with a mighty slash parted the last remaining member of the CP0 into two halfs, along with the whole mountain they were standing on, knowing that only the CP0 agents were any real threat to his disciple. Slowly the darkness was clouding his vision but he knew his fight had finally come to an end, so he stopped to struggle and let go. After all, he had a worthy legacy to rely on and ''ohhh would the world see'', Lee Mu Bai thought to himself before, with a content smile, he closed his eyes to leave on his journey at last. Out on the sea Azul had seen his masters final move and knew that he had stood proud until the very end, but he could not contain the tears as they freely fell down his cheeks. If in sorrow for his masters passing or in happiness for his masters final stance, to honor his duty as a Sanga and Azuls master, he did not know. But one thing he did know. He would honor his promise to show this world what the Sanga were capable of and it would learn to fear him as they did his master! Turning away from his home and his masters grave, Azul turned towards the open sea and with a long breath let all his emotions go until a soft smile remained on his face. Oh yes, they would all see... Chapter 17 West blue The peacful days Azul spent meditating and furthering his understanding of sailing on a trial and error basis meant for the rest of the world nothing since with the appearance of a new faction that threatened the sovereignty of the world governments power the kings mobilize their respective armies in preperation for the invading revolutionaries, and soon it came just as expected. First it was only different islands all over the blues that possessed a monarchy as their form of governance but soon the wave of revolution reached the shores of the grandline and slowly but surely the world was embroiled in war. Meanwhile two days had passed and Azul had finally reached the next island, which came kind of convenient to him since a few hours prior to his arrival Azul had spotted a small leak in his boat and due to him having already digested his devilfruit meant he ended up in quite the conundrum. But all his worries disappeared in thin air as soon as he spotted the island and while standing on the tip of the main mast slowly entered the harbor, all the while his boat was sinking deeper and deeper to the oceans floor. But did he give a f.u.c.k? Why should he? He had reached land so who cares. And with that Azul stepped foot onto the pier like a king on unclaimed soil while his boat gave one last defiant gurgle before being silenced forever. His entrance however earned him quite a few gobsmacked expressions from the spactating sailors which brought an amused grin to Azuls face. ''Couldn''t have timed my entrance better. F.u.c.k.i.n.g epic!'' Azul thought to himself, finally having found some other kind of distraction from the boredom of the open waters that had ennoyed him for the past two days. It would have been a bit different had he been able to train a little but that had been impossible due to his tiny boat being in danger of capsizing if he did. And so he had nothing else to do but to reflect, meditate, sleep and occasionally adjust the sails. Even the wind had been slow going for f.u.c.ks sake! If at least some kind of storm had been in his path but no. Mother nature decided to be calm for once when he wanted some action. Just his luck, but no matter. Let bygones be bygones. And with those thoughts Azul stepped foot on the shores of Ka no Kuni, kingdom of the flowers and home to the happo marines, like a motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g badass. Walking through the city he soon came to the conclusion that this city was even more boring than his stay on his tiny boat! Nothing seemed out of order. Nobody was causing chaos and it irked him, a lot! So Azul decided to get the hell off of this island and find his amus.e.m.e.nt somewhere else. Sadly he had no money, at all which had put him into quite the conundrum on how to get off the island. Returning to the harbor an apiphany hit him and walking down the port Azul started to ask the sailors that were busy carrying the different goods from and on the sh.i.p.s if they knew of a ship that was looking for some helping hands, and lucky him, he found one. The first one was looking for a cook which caused him to fidget a little, not sure if he could live with his conscience to torture the guests for two whole weeks on end for his own gains, and in the end declined. The second one though was looking for someone who at the very least knew how to set and bring in the sails, which Azul did. So he accepted and started his journey to the main island of the west blue from where sh.i.p.s started their journey into all the other blues which was exactly what Azul was looking for. Over the following weeks he began to learn more about sailing from the different sailors that took him under their wing for his time on the ship and showed him how to navigate and repair easier to fix stuff on the ship, which the sailors were experts in as he came to know. And so the two weeks passed by in a flash, in which Azul finally had some room to train and exercise his body, not as much as he would have liked but at the very least a little bit, and soon they reached their destination, Las Camp, a city of gigantic proportions for someone like Azul who only knew of little towns, namely two: one that he had been living in for all his life and another that he had visited for one day. So his experience was kind of lacking which is why he took everything in with hungry eyes. After receiving his salary for the voyage Azul had a few main objectives he came here for. Number one, and the most important to him at the moment: finding out what the f.u.c.k his devilfruit represented since he had no clue, so he decided to browse through a library if he could find one, which he later did by asking the various people that lived in this city. Before visiting said library Azul entered a bar, booked a room for the night and ate something to satiate his hungry stomache. While he was eating a board entered his vision with wanted posters nailed to it. Walking up to it Azul started to collect all the high bounties he found interesting which earned him widened eyes and silenced the whole bar to which Azul responded with a raised eyebrow, seemingly asking what their problem was. Going back to their discussions the various patrons started to quietly whisper to each other which didn''t really interest Azul, no matter what bigshot they thought they could send to take care of him. It had already grated on his nerves when he entered the city and soon spotted the telltale signs of the underworld in a few people, signs that he was only too familiar with. Walking back to his table and finishing his meal while flipping through the posters he had collected he realised that not many of those from the west blue would earn him some solid cash, which meant he would have to traverse the rest of the blues but he didn''t really mind that much since he decided he would only enter the grandline after having at least a decent level of mastery over his devilfruit, which meant training and what better way than to flatten some weak-ass pseudo pirates and criminals. With a satisfied smile Azul walked out of the bar and down the street into the library where he began to peruse book after book. Soon hours had passed by and the sun was already about to sink beyond the horizon. Having found out what his powers could represent Azul, began his way back, not being able to wipe the excited grin from his face. He truly had chosen correctly by eating that fruit, even though it had tasted like shit, literally. When Azul was travelling in his tiny boat to Ka no kuni he had tried to find out what his powers were and oh had he been surprised by his arms cracking literally and flames to sprout from his arms, billowing with intense heat towards the sky. Afterwards he had further experimented but without moving his body it had proven to be rather difficult so he had stopped. But now that he was on solid ground and could exercise, and following his instincts about what his inner flame told him his fruits powers would manifest he had looked through the library in the hopes to find some ideas on how to further his powers and maybe get inspired to try something he hadn''t considered yet. So ingrossed was he in his thoughts that he only registered the large crowd that had gathered before the bar when he was about 10 meters away from it. Not knowing and not really caring either way Azul began to walk towards the bar about to ingnore the crowd when one of the man yelled to his comrades as it seemed: "Hey, isn''t he the one?" And with that the crowds eyes turned towards Azul who, having felt the excitement his inner flame was generating, realised that he would probably still get the workout he had been so remiss of. What an awesome way to end the day! Chapter 18 West blue, Las Camp island, capital Las Camp. An island whose names origin had been buried beneath the thick concrete that nowadays plastered the capitals city and welcomed its unsuspecting visitors with open arms only to pull them into the morast that lurked in the cities shadows, namely the underworld, haven to mafiosi, weapons dealers, drug sellers, slave traders and all the sc.u.m from the world. Las Camps name at first only discribed the gangs that regularly met on this island to trade with each other or settle problems with one another but soon enough the mafiosi had arrived and under the guise of bringing the misfits of society into their ''families'' had build an imperium of illegality from which even the top of the top of society profited, the tenryuubito. So it came to no surprise when the first to arrive at the bar Azul was staying at were the mafiosi, after him having collected all the bounties from there. Why they even bothered to put them up was beyond him. Maybe a trap to lure in unsuspecting bounty hunters? ''Mee, who cares...'' Azul thought to himself while not being effected by the tenseness that had descended on the street after the mafiosi had given their full attention to him. The tension grew and one or the other mafiosi had already pulled out a gun or sword, obviously preparing to take the young mans life if so ordered. The tension was broken by a voice coming from the middle of the mafiosi, which caused them to step aside, making way for their padre. The man that came into Azuls vision was a rather pudgy individual with a black sound with white stripes going down vertically adorned with a black hat on and a lit cigar in his mouth. "So you are that bounty hunter my men told me about... Aren''t you a bit ambitious for a man your age? Not that I can''t appreciate ambition when I see it. Why don''t you join my family? You could become someone great you know?" The man said while puffing his cigar with a grin, confident that the young man would soon be joining his crew which would after all in a few years set sail to the grandline and leave this god forsaken island behind. But against his expectations the young man reacted a little differently from what he had presumed. At first a slight twitch started to move the young mans eyelid which spread from there to his mouth which soon formed into a broad grin before the young man buckled over in roaring laughter, filling the whole street with it which was kinda contra productive to the padres musings on his future endeavors that would lead him to the top of the food chain. After all he knew exactly how the game was played having spent his whole life in contact with the underworld. "Me, joining y-you? hahahahaha, please, mercy! hahahahaha" Padre twitched slightly in ennoyance at the welps audacity which soon registered in his mens angry faces that eluminated the streets with their red faces. "How dare you mock the padre! Have you no respect for those more powerful than you?! You should take this chance to rise to greatness!" One of the padres men yelled, venting some of the frustrations they all felt. After all with his laughter the young man had literally spat on their decisions they had made from joining their padre. "Puuh, what a workout. Ahhh, apologies gentlemen, I didn''t mean to disrespect you, well maybe I did but doesn''t matter. It was just so funny that you would actually believe that I would join a little fatty like him when he can''t even control his own apetite, let alone command a battalion of men, hehehe" Azul answered, whiping some tears from his eyelids while still recovering from the laughing flash he just had. Not really sure the padre had heard the young man correctly he asked: "Did you actually just call me fat?" dumbfounded that someone could be this brazen in his territory. "Yep, I did. You wanne do something to vent a little? Come on, lets enjoy ourselfs a little, what you say fatty? A little workout could do wonders for your figure and calorie mirror. We don''t want you to get a heartattack now, would we?" Azul said while starting to roll up his sleaves while a monstrous grin formed on his face. Oh how he longed to finally start with the main event. The apetizer was alright, he supposed but you could only go so far with small portions. Time to dig in! "You little shit! You''ll regret your words, I''ll make sure of that! Get him!" The padre yelled after a vein had started to bulge on his red face from anger and shame while using his obvious devilfruit powers to open little gates on his body from which first tiny canonballs appeared that soon grew to regular sizes and flew towards Azul, who now moved into an actual fighting stance, after which an army of men on horses appeared from the padres body and with battlecries charge towards Azul who had a happy grin all over his face while he started to take deep breaths and exhale with the later being in the form of white smoke. As the first canonball reached him Azul grabbed it out of the air and with a resounding crunch crushed it in between his fingers which caused the padres eyes to widen at the raw strength displayed. The first rider was smacked to the side, along with the horse and collided with a nearby house, not standing up again. After which the same repeated itself a few times, with the occasional scream of mercy echoing in the streets. Weaving through the advancing soldiers, Azul turned on his own axis, delivering an elbow to a mans face, before elonggating his arm and following up with a fist to the face which implanted the man into the concrete below. Wirling, throwing kicks and punches Azul decimated the army in seconds only to end up before the padre, who had developed a serious sweat on his forehead, not sure who he had just pissed of. Before he had finished his thought and stuttered a "w-wait, we can ta-" a fist smashed into his solar plexus with such power that it threw him down the street and ended with him facefirst against a lamppost, slowly loosing conciousness, until blackness took him completely. "Mhhh, was alright for a warm up, but nothing incredible so. If only master was still... no Azul, don''t go there. We''ve had this discussion already. Letting go, letting go, letting go. Pfffffuuuuu" Azul murmed while slowly breathing out and coming back into the present. He walked up to the padre and picked him up from the street before throwing him on the pile of his men he had built while fighting and heaving them all on his right should before walking into the direction of the marine base of this island, which surprisingly still stood, to collect his earned bounty and then leave for the south blue. There were some heads to split after all! Chapter 19 - 19 Over the following months Azul travelled through the south blue, though he got kind of disappointed by a few things, but mainly from the lack of strong opponents. There even was an island called Karate-island, which would give you the impression that it was filled with mighty warriors right? Ye, fat chance! What he found there was unbelivably disappointing. Those people didn''t even know what haki was, let alone had trained their bodies to the stage where they were qualified to awaken their spirits through fusion of body and soul, though nearly nobody alive apart from Azul knew how haki actually came to be, which wasn''t much of a surprise to Azul, who had read through the archives of the island of ''warriors'', and from what he found there came to the conclusion that the world government erased all traces in the hopes to quench future threats. After leaving Karate-island, Azul had travelled to Torino, an island that was habitated by giant birds. It had been an exciting experience to observe how those giant birds became like shadows when they were hunting, despite there enormous size. And so, enjoying the serenity of the island, Azul had decided to spend some time on said island, to train and improve his devilfruit, which he had found out by accident possessed an ability he had not seen coming. ------------------------------------------------ Torino island, flashback approximately 10 months As Azul was training his breath he sunk into a trance he hadn''t had experienced since his breakthrough into the stage of the journeyman and thus was unprepared for what transpired outside his body. On the inside his soul and body had reached a new point in the fusion with each other and thus his spirits power billowed out, causing mayhem amongst the islands residents, which lead to a giant bird, the leader of the swarm, to fly over to Azul, buckling under the young mans haki and its pressure, after which he simply grabbed Azul into its talons, which said young man didn''t register due to his trance and, flying high into the sky with him, dropping him right over the ocean, as if to throw away a piece of garbage. Azuls spirit, having reached the limit of its evolution for the moment, and sensing the impending doom, forced Azuls body to open its eyes which caused Azul to widen his eyes in horror. And why wouldn''t he? He was dropped hundreds of meters from the sky, above the sea no less! Knowing he had to do something, anything to escape this situation he did what he had learned all those years ago and trusted his insticts. And oh was he surprised when his feet cracked open, literally and fire billowed out with tremendous heat, just like it had happened with his arms, but this time the flames on his feet seemed to enable him to come into contact with the air below them, as if it was a solid path he could travel on, and he did just that. And so he had solved another puzzle that was his devilfruit. He could now f.u.c.k.i.n.g run on air as if it was solid matter. Lucky bugger that he was he grinned and swore he would gut whoever dropped him from the sky, which caused the elderly bird to grow a sweat of terror as if having a premonition that soon he would be grilled chicken and how right its premonition proved to be! One of the best chickens Azul had ever had no less... (flashback end) And so his time on Torino had come to an end after 10 months of continuous training which resulted in Azul growing leaps and bounds. Soon he would be ready for the grandline, but first he had two more oceans to visit! ------------------------------------------------- East blue, inside a one man ship, somewhere on the ocean "Damn it, I''m all out of food again, even though I packed so much this time. Must be somehow connected with my growing metabolism. Hmmm..." Azul said while scratching his head in thought while browsing through the book on medicine for idiots his master had given him last year before... well you know, the shitshow. "Guess I''ll have to find an island nearby. Lets seeeee, taking the winds direction and my former position into consideration and multiplying that with the time and distance I''ve traveled since... alright, seems I''m not far away from Cocoyashi village on Konomi island, which seems to house some pirates at that! What a lucky coincidence hehe" Azul said to himself, since the day had become so much better with those news, as he was riffling through the bounty posters he had grabbed from a marine outpost in the south blue on his way to the east blue. Soon after the island came into view and through his telescop, that Azul carried on his belt at all times, checked where to best land on the island, until something rocketed his boat slightly. Thinking he may have rammed a rock or something Azul linsed over the side of the ship to check for any damage but found none and no rocks were in sight. Frowning slightly Azul came upon an idea and rechecked the bounty poster for Arlong and, just as he suspected, his target seemed to belong to the fishman race, which he normally wouldn''t really give a crap about but in this case it lead him to believe that some ennoying fly was messing with the control over his ship. "Oh no, you won''t!" Closing his eyes Azul focus inwards and try something he still had dificulties with, his conquerors haki. Embracing his inner flame and bringing its dominering spirit to the front of his mind, Azul let out a burst of slightly concentrated conquerors haki, which was alright for the moment when facing weak opponents, but when it came to stronger ones he still had alot of room to grow into. As if in response to his invisible command the body of a fishman floated to the oceans surface which, turning his feet into flames which billowed and yet still physically remained in the form of his feet, he picked up by the gruff of his neck and threw him onboard after which he followed the fishman. ''Now, time to talk, fishy'' Azul thought and smacked the fishman into the face which caused said fishman to promptly wake up. "Where am... who the hell are you?" the fishman asked, rubbing his swollen face, obviously in pain. "Who the hell am I? Who the hell are YOU? You little shit tried to sabotage my ship so what makes you think I''ll tell you anything? No buddy, you''ll tell me what I want to know, afterwards I''ll decide if you''ll keep your life or not." Azul said to the fishman who frowned, clearly not believing that he would loose to a mere human, which he promptly tried to proof but was smacked so hard in the face that he flew 20 meters into the air before falling back down into the waiting hand of Azul who asked the fishman in an ennoyed voice: "You ready to talk yet fishy or do you want another serving?" "I-I''ll tell you what you want to know! Please, just don''t kill me..." The fishman said in growing horror, now understanding that he kinda f.u.c.k.e.d up. "So where does your boss, this ''Arlong'' stay?" Azul asked while checking the bounty again for the dudes name since he didn''t seem important enough for Azul to remember him. "A-Arlong, the captain I mean, stays in Arlong Park. The big building over there with the shark-flag ontop of it." "You guys have a park? The f.u.c.k do you have a park for? Are you selling rides on a rollercoasters there or something?" Azul asked with confusion written all over his face. "Nono, you misunderstand. We have been here at Cokoyashi village for nearly a six years now and the inhabitants have to pay us money as tribute..." The fishman said while rubbing his hands together. "Seriously? And why don''t the marines sack you guys then? I mean you aren''t really strong for that matter." Azul said, not really getting how that would be possible in a small blue, outside of the grandline where pirates took sometimes islands as their teritories and for a tribute protected the inhabitants from other pirates. Though Arlong wasn''t nearly strong enough to be able to do something like that. "Ye, well, Arlong made a deal with the marines and for a procentage of said tribute we are left to our own devices, you see." "Ahhh, now it makes sense..." Azul said, now fully understanding the whole story. Truly, not only humans were possessed by greed. ''What a pity'' Azul thought, ''could have been such a nice smackdown, but now they had to go and become that what I dislike so much. No matter, lets end this so I can find some worthy opponents at the very least, if there even are any on this god forsaken ocean...'' Azul thought with increasingly darkening thoughts, which the fishman seemed to feel judging by the pressure you could see pressing the fishman into his place. "P-Please, I ca-" *crack* *pshhh*, the fishman tried to say in his growing horror, before Azul snapped his neck with one fluid motion and threw the fishmans lifeless body over board. ''Alright, time to kill some fish...'' Azul thought to himself while stearing his little ship before the gates of Arlong Park, breaking them into splinters with nothing but smash of his hand and entering to join the party... Chapter 20 East blue, Konomi island, Arlong Park (near Cocoyashi village) The sun was shining down and the pirate crew of the Arlong pirates, as they so smartly called themselfs, was either being lazy and sunbathing, enjoying the best food you could buy in the East blue from money, playing cards, or simply sleeping, while their captain, Arlong, a big man with blue skin, a saw as nose and a fin on his back, was laying in the middle of the whole crew on his chair and with cruel sadistic eyes observed the execution of another villager that had run out of money, to his unending amus.e.m.e.nt and entertainment. Oh how he loved to watch the humans suffer. Just how they had made his former captain, fisher Tiger suffer, and they would for that. All of them! With a loud bang and a sudden rush of air accompanying it the giant metal gates of Arlong Park flew right past Arlong himself, whos eyes widened in surprise, until they smashed into the main building of Arlong Park, squashing a few of the sleeping pirates under it, not to stand up again. Standing up in response to his anger at the sight of his brothers being killed in front of him, Arlong set his gaze on the intruder, that was slowly sailing a little ship, build for one man, into Arlong Park, while standing at its front with a neutral gaze observing his surroundings, slightly stopping on the young woman that was supposed to be executed by his crewmember Kurobi, the fishman karateka, before moving on and coming to rest on Arlong himself at last. This brought a strange sense of foreboding to Arlong, which he hadn''t felt since his time on the grandline, when he was so outmatched by admiral Kizaru himself. Though back then it was simply a matter of not being able to touch said man to begin with, this time the pressure he felt was different, more directed at his very being, as if his very soul was being judged by the young mans gaze. Being brought out of his musings by the young mans words, Arlongs face was mared by a frown. "Morning ladies, I''m searching for a person called...Arlong. Is that you?" The young man said, slightly interrupting his sentence to check a wanted poster after calling Arlong by his name. "What do you want human? Your kind is not welcome here! But no matter, since you are here now you won''t be leaving anymore anyways!" Arlong snarled at the young man who didn''t seem phased by all the venom in Arlongs words, having brought all his hatred for the human kind to the forfront of his mind. "Truly, how the mighty have fallen... A fishman from the grandline terrorising a little island in literally nowhere. An insignificant little town, and yet being tortured from someone they didn''t even know existed, I''m sure of. No matter, this will soon end anyways." Azul said while disappearing from the ship and reappearing on the shore, next to the waterway his little ship was parked in. "So, are we gonna fight or what?" He said with a blank face, seemingly asking all the fishmen around him who, in response stood up and drew their weapons to grind Azul to paste on the concrete. "Grahahahaha, you are a funny little human. Maybe I should keep you as a pet to entertain us when the villagers have to work to earn the money they have to pay me? Naa, I rather would like to see you get scewered by my men before I bite of your head and feed it to my little brethren out in the sea, grahahahaha" Arlong said while spreading his arms as if inviting the young man into them to join him on his way out to the sea. In response to Arlongs words the rest of the fishmen began to grin or outright laugh, while the human woman, that had managed to escape her captores slipped through the gates to inform the village about what was about to happen to the young man, after all nobody beat a fishman! And so she ran and told them, which sparked something they thought lost inside of them and marched with whatever they could grab for a weapon to the gates of Arlong Park to help their fellow human in times of need. But when they got there they frowned at the words spoken and the fear free manner of said voice that replied to Arlongs words. "So are you prepared to die little human? After all, you just entered a den of monsters and as it is, monsters are mean, grahahahaha" Arlong said, seemingly enjoying himself immensly. The following words though brought him to a stop in confusion. "Monsters hmmm? I''m not sure you know what a real monster looks like. Would you like to see? I can show you one. One that hunts as the reaper for hell for souls long overdue their punishment that they so rightously deserve. I believe I have found the right place for this..." With those words spoken an invisible pressure descended upon all present, bringing the weaker ones to their knees before fainting, being caught by those that somehow still remained standing, if only barely. With the descending pressure Azuls face hardened and a fire seemed to ignite inside his eyes. Bringing his eyes back onto Arlong Azul spoke: "Mystical zoan fruit: HELLHOUND!" Chapter 21 East blue, Konomi island, Cocoyashi village In the aftermath of the fight, if you could even call it that, Azul was invited to a party since the villagers had broken down into chears and sobbs of happiness to finally be free of the monster that terrorized them all these years, which lead to them starting to drink and cook, evolving into said party. Azul of course accepted, since he was all out of food, which was the main reason why he had come to the island in the first place and after asking the villagers were he could buy some provision for the travels ahead, they had burried him under food and bottles. The party carried on until the morning hours of the next day at which time Azul decided it was time for him to leave, and so he did. Walking into Arlong park, he picked up Arlongs body and threw it on his boat before beginning to load it with the consumables the villagers had given him the day before, not all of course. His ship was way to small anyways. Maybe he should get a bigger one? ''Thoughts for a later time.'' Azul thought to himself. "Can I help you somehow?" Azul asked on his way to the railing of his ship and hoping on top as he reached it. "I just wanted to thank you once more in a more quiet environment. So really, thank you." the young woman said, while bowing her upper body in gratitude while her light blue hair framed her face as she did so by faling in front of it. "You''re welcome miss..." Azul began, though midway realising he had no idea what her name actually was. "Ahh, apologies, I didn''t even introduce myself. My name is Nojiko. I live together with my little sister nami who is probably robbing some poor soul right this moment." Nojiko said with a grimace. "You''re welcome Nojiko. My name is Azul. Though, why would your sister be robbing people? To support you or something?" Azul asked clearly in confusion. "Well, it is a rather long story but if you want to hear it I can tell you." Nojiko said, waiting for Azuls reply. "You don''t need to tell me your story since it seems rather personal." Azul asked while starting to prepare his ship for the journey by tieing ropes into the sail and so forth. "Why would you think that?" Nojiko asked, clearly not understanding how he had come to that conclusion. Hell, Azul hadn''t even known her name a second ago, and now he acted as if he knew? Being brought out of her increasingly irritating thoughts by Azul, Nojikos eyes widened slightly at what he told her. "As you may have witnessed, I possess the powers of a devilfruit, besides other things that help in understandin other people. My devilfruit grantes me the ability to transform into different forms of a so called hellhound, a mystical creature of rather dark origins if you believe the stories about them. Even though I still have tones to learn about it and the creature I now am able to become, a few things have already become clear to me. Such as to perceive the qualities of another persons soul, and when I look into someones eyes while speaking with them I can literally see the emotions that travel within them. For that you have to know that the body and the soul are not one entity. They reflect upon each other and emotions is one indicator through which the soul communicates with the body, and since I can perceive the quality of another persons soul I also see the symbols it gives of. Do you understand what I''m trying to tell you?" Azul asked Nojiko who wasn''t fully sure after he had asked her. Alot of what he had said didn''t sit well with her. Hell, she didn''t even really understand the concept of the soul in the first place! "I''m not sure. I mean kind of, and yet not at all..." She answered to which he smiled at her. "Then you are not much different from how I was many years ago. I wish you good fortune miss Nojiko. If fate wills it we''ll meet again." And with that Azul turned the ship around and left, looking for a nice cozy island he could spend his time training on until he was ready for the grandline. ----------------------------------------------- East blue, Konomi island, Cokoyashi village An orange haired girl entered the town, bringing with her her newest acquisitions, namely berry, she had stolen from different people all around the east blue. Though when she stepped foot inside her village she was dumbfounded about the ongoings. A massive party was being held, which confused her to no end because Arlongs men by now should have flattened everyone for showing so much happiness alone. She was brought out of her musings by a cough coming from behind her. Said cough belonged to a man with a sandmill at the front of his brown cap, which he had put there when she was little to amuse her to no end, though she had grown up now so it wasn''t really nescessary to keep it there. Still she somehow liked it if she was honest with herself. Next to the man she had come to see as a father figure of sorts stood her sister, Nojiko who was smiling brightly at her. "Welcome back Nami. Follow us. It''s time to show you what happened while you were gone." Nojiko said and turned around and, to her growing horror walked towards Arlong park. She immediately tried to stop them, but they only smiled at her and told her not to worry, nothing would be happening. And so they soon arrived at Arlong park, with its gates ripped apart and the tower that once stood proudly in its middle reduced into rubble. "A few days ago a young man by the name of Azul arrived on Konomi island and killed every single fishman. The Arlong pirates, and Arlong, are gone. We are finally free Nami." Nojiko finished with a tearfull smile on her face, after which she embraced Nami, which finally breached her carefully over the years erected walls that kept her emotions at bay and Nami, in happiness and sorrow for all the cruelties they had to suffer over the years broke down into uncontrolable sobbs. She was finally free! Chapter 22 East blue, loguetown, two years after Konomi island A young man of nearly 2 meters , short shaved hair, as if he were some kind of monk, a b.a.r.e muscled c.h.e.s.t with a red pearled chain around his neck, and clad only in wide beige trousers, took his first steps after two years of intense mental training back into the embrace of civilisation. As he was walking down the pier with a bundle thrown over his shoulder every man and woman instinctively stepped out of the mans path. Why? They didn''t really know but they had the feeling, or rather want to simply do so. Coupled with his appearance, a few men thought he looked rather dangerous, despite his kind smile, while one or two women couldn''t help the redness that crept up their cheeks. And yet, the young man didn''t seem bothered by it. In fact, he didn''t seem bothered by anything, not even the cold, as it was autumn at this time of the year but the man didn''t seem to get cold at all. As he was walking down the streets to a shop which sold consumables the man stepped through a patch of water that had found its way onto the street by some poor souls bad luck. As he stepped through it steam started to rise, but disappeared as soon as his foot left the barely remaining water inside said puddle. Said man was Azul. He had spent the last two years sometimes hunting bounties, but mostly stayed on a remote island, only filled with animals as his companions, and there he had finally had the time and space to train in peace. And so he did. At first he only planned to stay on said island for a month or two but shortly after he arrived on the island he had had a breakthrough concerning his conquerors haki and besides focusing on his devilfruit transformations had fully focused his attention on sharpening his spirit and honing his instincts. While in training Azul evolved his conquerors haki into a battle ready weapon by incorporating his breathing technique with the heat and flames his devilfruit could produce to create an unlimiting, at least to his knowledge of trial and error, circle of using his inner flame as medium to temper and finally conquer his hakis conquerors form, while supplying his inner fire with the fuel his devilfruit could produce. As he found out not just on the outside no, to his luck also on the inside. And so he managed to hone his spirit into a lethal weapon in the form of his conquerors haki, which from then on surrounded him in a near fog like state, passively pressing down on all those around him, as if demanding their obedience or suffer the consequences. His devilfruit had become rather lethal as well, though he still hadn''t made any progress when it came to the power over souls. It seemed to be a rather instinct based skill which he would need years to become even a little versed in the art. Though that didn''t phase him as he had all his life to work on it and he knew that one day he would manage or as he used to say: die trying. Azul had decided that tomorrow he would set sail towards the grandline, and finally after all the years of preperations step into his masters footsteps and set the whole world on fire! ---------------------------------------------------- East blue, hours away from Konomi island, flying lamb The strawhat pirates, as they had become to be known, named after their quircky captain Monkey D. Luffy, who had obtained his precious strawhat, the symbol of his crew, from one of the four emperors of the grandline, especially the new world, namely red-haired shanks, and Luffy protected his treasure with everything that he had at his disposal. This possessiveness had been the deciding factor that had caused their newly added navigator to join his crew. After she and her village had been freed from the Arlong pirates two years ago she had followed her sister everywhere until one day she had been attacked by a group of bandits that decided, now that Arlong was gone, it was finally time to seize some riches from the, ironically, poor town. Before that had happened though, Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, consisting of Roronoa Zoro, Sanji (Vinsmoke) and Usopp had come upon their village and made friends with Nojiko who was tasked to watch after Luffys strawhat while he and Zoro had held a contest on who could eat more. And so it came that at the time of the attack Nojiko was still wearing Luffys strawhat. As they arrived to the scene to help Namis sister, Luffys strawhat dropped from Nojikos head while barely dodging a swords slash which was thanks to Luffys quick reaction to pull her out of the way. This unfortunately lead to his strawhat get damaged rather badly, and in his rage Luffy decimated the bandits to the last man, pummeling them black and blue. After witnessing Luffys decision to prioritize her sisters life over his treasure she chose to join his crew, knowing that she would be his first priority, just like the rest of his crew if there ever was danger heading towards them. And so they set sail towards Loguetown, the town also known as the beginning and the end, the town in which Gol D. Roger was executed all those years ago and the town that served as the gate into the grandline, to begin their jouney and move the world to try and make their dreams come true. Chapter 23 entrance to the grandline, reverse mountain The wind was howling, roaring its dominance to the world while whipping and forming the rain to its d.e.s.i.r.e, until finally it reached the ocean, which just like the rain buckled under the might of the storm that was sweeping over loguetown and the entrance to reverse mountain as if to warn any tresspasser that all who wished to enter the grandline had to cross through the first line of defense first. And so Azul did. Standing at the row of his little ship with a savage grin on his face he couldn''t help but roar in laughter at the fun he was having, comparing and wrestling with the might the oceans currents threw his way, smacking against the steering wheel, all the while being pelted by the rain and slashed by the winds. After half an hour of continuous battle that had flushed Azul with a rush of adrenalin, which he had dearly missed for all the years since his master passed away and besides the strongest of this world could inspire, compared to the absolute might mother nature could unleash over all that resided in this world. And so Azul steered his ship up reverse mountain, fully immersed in the breathtaking view that revealed itself to him. ''Finally, the grandline!'' Azul thought and let his laughter be heard all the way down to the twins headland, where an old man had just finished taking care of the wounds of a gigantic whale that had promptly dove down, going to hunt for food. Hearing the laughter the old man couldn''t help himself but remember how he himself had laughted when he entered the grandline for the first time with his old crew so so many years ago. Truly, it felt like a past lifetime by now. How old he had gotten over the years... Sometimes he wondered if there still was something else to life but he doubted it if he was honest with himself. After exiting his thoughts the old man went into his lighthouse and grabbed himself a beer, since he had been working for hours now and it wouldn''t be long anymore before his visitors would arrive at his little entrance to the grandline. But, to his surprise, what greeted him was not a galley, full of adventure seeking youths, how he had so often now seen it happen in the last few months. No, it was a tiny ship, probably not even made for long distance sailing with a lone man, young, judging by the missing hair in his face, standing at the row, a satisfied smile on his face. What a madman! Entering the grandline on such a tiny ship. What had to possess someone like that! Either he was stupid or he just didn''t care at all. A small chuckle of amus.e.m.e.nt slipped his lips. Oh how long it had been since he had met someone possessed by this rare kind of madness. And how he had missed it... "Welcome to the grandline, young man. You now have taken your first steps into the sailors graveyard!" Crocus, the guardian of the twins cape spoke to his visitor with a grin on his face. "Thanks, it truly was a spectacular view from up the mountain and I honestly can''t wait to see what else there is on this ocean hahahaha" Azul said with an excited laugh slipping through his teeth in pure, untarnished joy for what awaited him in the years to come. "My name is Crocus, and I am the guardian of the twins cape. And who might you be young sailor?" The lighthouse keeper asked, while grabbing another beer from the fridge and handing it to the young man, who promptly snapped the lid away with the flick of his finger, before throwing his head back and after taking a few long gulps, with satisfaction at the coolness of the beer, burped uneffected by his actions, which in turn earned him some laughter from Crocus, to which Azul only replied with a smile. "My name is Azul. It is nice to meet you Crocus, and thank you for this delicious beer." Azul answered while saluting the keeper. "Would you like to join me for dinner young man? I am curious to know what kind of person washed up on my shore, this late in the year, no less. How about it?" Crocus said while not waiting for Azul to reply before beginning to throw some fish onto the grill that was standing next to his lighthouse, even though it was still raining like mad, but none of the two seemed to give a damn about that. "Sure! Thanks a bunch Crocus, I''m starving..." Azul replied, steering his tiny ship onto the shore and tying it to a rock, before jumping onto the shore himself and walking over to Crocus and sitting down before the wall of the lighthouse, while gazing out at the grandline, crossing his feet under him in a relaxed fashion. "So tell me young sailor, what brings you to the grandline? Thirst for power? Treasures? Adventure maybe? Or a combination of all of those?" Crocus asked, meanwhile from time to time turning the fish on the grill around, and glancing at Azul, awaiting his answer which didn''t take long to form. "Besides it being apart of my training? Well, I promised someone something, many years ago. And I intend to keep this promise, even if it kills me..." Azul answered with a serene smile adorning his face, which was dropping wet from the rain. Of course he could just let it evaporate on his body, but it was part of the ritus when entering the grandline in Azuls opinion and he didn''t really care about getting wet anyways. "Hmm, I see. And may I ask what that promise contains? Maybe I can give you some advise when it comes to sailing the grandline. You know, I once traveled these oceans myself." Crocus asked while taking a bite from a well cooked fish, and giving another one to Azul, who promptly started to munch down on it. "*munch* To set the world on fire hahaha" Azul replied, not really minding the grin that formed on Crocuses face, if in humor or another emotion all together, Azul didn''t know and neither did he really care. "I see. I wish you the best of luck with that Azul... Do you have everything for your journey than? Without a log pose you won''t reach far on this ocean." "Ye, I got everything I need, but thanks for asking Crocus" Azul replied while lifting his left arm, onto which a logpose was tied, just like a wristwatch. "Anyways, I think I should get going now. It was nice of you to treat me to this delicious food. God knows I can''t get something good tasting together in the kitchen for the hell of it..." Azul chuckled to himself in selfmirth. Over the years he had come to accept that he would never be a great cook, and surprisingly it didn''t really phase him any longer. After all there were darker fates out there. "You are most welcome young man. Good fortunes for your jouney, and maybe we''ll see each other again one day" Crocus said while taking another swing of his bottle, just as Azul stood up, untowed his ship, and jumping on top, after which he waved back towards Crocus and taking course for the first island in the grandline. Chapter 24 Grandline, Paradise The grandline, also known as the sailors graveyard. Now the question may appear to some why it was called as such. Nowadays nearly everyone who was asked would reply by saying that the difference in strength in opponents, compared to the blues, was just that, and said person would be right. But in the past, when barely anyone had the guts to sail these oceans, a different reason was the reigning opinion amongst sailors. And that was nothing other than the unbelivable unpredictability the grandline possessed. Sometimes it would rain one minute, the next a draught would plague the sea and in just the same speed of change it would start to snow, as if to taunt the sailors that they should just turn around and give up, since they didn''t have the capacity to sail these oceans anyways. The grandline was, as Azul soon found out, nature personification of a madhouse! The first day it had been a rather lax day of sailing for him, with the occasional strong currents of wind whipping his tiny ship onwards in a rush of speed, but otherwise the climate stayed the same. The next day though, showed Azul just why this ocean was so notorious, and yet carried a sense of beauty within it. It all started with some rather soft rain. But soon the rain transformed into a thunderstorm, the likes of which Azul had never witnessed before, who stood in awe at the shear might mother nature unleashed onto the oceans. But soon after the thunderstorm began it, just as quickly, changed into burning heat that balefully shone down onto the water, followed by a clutter of hail that kept on going for two hours straight, after which even Azul with his thirst for excitement grew kinda ennoyed. Nonetheless, it was an introduction into the grandline he would probably never forget. After a few days of travelling Azul arrived at an island that had some weird a.s.s mountains, riddled with gravestones, but he didn''t care much for it. And so he landed on one of those mountains, set camp for the night and, while he still carried some seaking meat, which he grilled (the only form of cooking he kind of managed to his satisfaction), while waiting for the logpose to reset so he could set course for the next island the coming day. Though at night he was kind of surprised that some unsavory people had thought to ambush him, which ended with them being thrown into the water in reply. Otherwise his night on the island was pretty calm in his opinion. Something he relished in after those first few days on the ocean. The next day, after checking his small ship for damages, Azul set sails again and resumed his jouney. Luckily he had had enough seaking meet on board, as he was hit by one day of absolutely no wind, which bored the hell out of him, but all he could do was endure. Luckily, the Maichyo, the grandlines newsletter, came over his ship and after giving the weird a.s.s seagull, which wore a hat and a bag around his torso some berry, he at least found some entertainment to occupy his time with. It seemed the revolutionary army had started an all out war with the world government and nearly half of the kingdoms on the first half of the grandline, namely Paradise, had been involved so far and it only seemed to intensify. On another note, it seemed as if a lot of rookie pirates had entered the first half of the grandline and were causing havoc and terror whereever they appeared next. In Azuls opinion it was nothing but a poor cry for attention because it surely wasn''t fun to attack islands that couldn''t even pose a slight challenge in battle. ''Pathetic...'' Azul thought to himself. ''And to think the marines would actually give them so much of their attention. Not like they don''t have bigger threats to take care of like the motherf.u.c.k.i.n.g emperors for example. But no, they dedicate one whole section in the newspaper to some noname rookies, hahaha'' Azul thought to himself in amused wonder. After checking the bounty posters that came along the newspapers, Azul threw it down his cabin, not finding anything of notice in them, before stretching himself under the clear blue sky and closing his eyes to take a short nap. ''Might as well use this time to sleep a little...'' And with that Azul entered dreamland. Meanwhile another crew of pirates, belonging to the ''worst generation'', as the marines so aptely named them, had reached wiskey peak some time ago, and after a gigantic party, hosted by a city of bounty hunters, had to fight their way out of the city, joined by no other than the princess of Alabasta to their surprise. Why you would ask? Well, said princess had infiltrated the bounty hunters organisation, lead by none other than Sir Crocodile, one of the shichibukai, in order to gather intel on said man, who was instigating a war in said princesses kingdom. Was it smart to do so? Not really as it turned out. But no matter. After convincing the strawhat pirates with the lure of big money, they decided to help her. Yes, indeed, very piraty. But nobody said that they were the best of the lot anyways, hahaha. As said pirates set sail for the next island, with their royal escort in tow, they were confronted by a woman in some kind of purple dancing outfit and a cowboys hat on her head. Said woman was none other than Nico Robin, the ''devilchild'', as she was called after apparently sinking some marine battlesh.i.p.s. Though none of that matters at the moment, since said woman had taken the post of sir Crocodiles right hand in his organisation, which in turn made her the enemy of the strawhats. Though in the end, which confused them immensly, Nico Robin offered them an eternal logpose to Alabasta, which somehow pissed of their captain which in turn resulted the logpose being smashed to pieces and the crew taking the usual route, which lead them to the next island, little garden, exactly the same island Azul was currently landing on which would lead to a meeting neither would so soon forget about... Chapter 25 Grandline, Paradise, little Garden Slowly Azuls little ship sailed down a small river that seemed to reach deep into the islands core, so he had decided to follow it. Soon he came across the first dinosaur which made him grin like a loon in response. "Now this is more like what I expected from the grandline hahahaha!" Azul, satisfied with his choice of route after a rather boring first island, said while taking in everything in his surroundings. Jungle, as far as the eyes could see. Now and then a dinosaur would roar in the distance and a volcano would erupt which made said dinosaur yelp in response. Soon Azul, after tying his small ship to some rocks on the shore, perceived the familiar sounds of metal meeting metal and, curiousity awakened, decided to check it out. Walking through the jungle proved to be a rather tedious task but Azul persisted and after killing some unfortunate t-rex that crossed his path, which he took with him for lunch, Azul finally saw what caused the sounds of metal hitting metal. Two giants, clothed in armor and cloaks with one carrying a sword and shield while the other carried an axe and shield instead. And what a mighty sight they made! Swinging their weapons at each other they battle for supremacy, seemingly until only one remained. Captivated by the raw skill displayed Azul decided to keep quiet and simply observe. After all it was rude to interrupt a warriors conversation. And so the battle raged on until a nearby vulcano erupted, seemingly signifying the end of their duel. Brought out of his mind, Azul walked up to the laughing giants and spoke while slightly bowing his head: "Greetings fellow warriors. It was an honor to spectate such a mighty duel. May I know your names? I am called Azul." "Bwahahahaha, such dignity in one so young but there is no reason to bow, though it honors us that you do! We are the captains of the giant pirates, Brogy is my name, and this is my friend Dorry. Well met young warrior!" The one with the long beard, carrying a sword, now know as Brogy spoke while inclining his head himself, as tradition demands when two warriors meet. Following his friends example Dorry, the one with the rather bushy beard and axe, did the same and asked: "What brings you to this god forsaken island young warrior Azul?" with an ever present grin on his gigantic face. "This island was the next one after leaving from the first island after entering the grandline a few days ago. Say, would you like to join me for lunch? I came across an interesting specimen on my journey through the jungle, though I would ask you to cook since I kind of suck a.s.s at it hahaha" Azul spoke, slightly laughing at his own misfortune. "What do you say Brogy? You up for some good ol'' dinosaur meat? Bwahahaha" Dorry spoke while smacking his friend on the should with a resounding clap. "Sounds good to me Dorry. It is settled than, let us dine like kings! Bwahahaha" Brogy spoke while walking over to the fire place nearby that served as his den, besides which Azul threw the dinosaurs corpse, sitting down while taking some beer out of his bag he had slung over his shoulder. "Say, how about a spar later? I would love to learn from you." Azul requested of the lazily reclined Dorry that was drinking from a giants cup himself. "Apologies young Azul but we need every ounce of energy for our duel, otherwise we would bring shame to our honor as captains!" Dorry spoke with an apologetic look on his face, to which Azul responded: "Surely you can take a break from your duel for one day, no? Or is your reason so important that it demands you fight each day for how long exactly?" with an inquiring gaze directed at Dorry who looked over to Brogy who just nodded, seemingly a signal of some kind. "Let me tell you our story then since it will help put into perspective why we fight, though part of the story has been lost to even us bwahahaha" Dorry spoke while adding his characteristic laughter at the end. "It all began with something, which we don''t remember, a 100 years ago. This something was some kind of contest, but by the life of me I don''t remember anymore what it was... Anyways, said contest was declared a draw and as is tradition on Elbaf, the home of the giants, to decide a winner we started our duel. And ever since then we have been duelling on this island bwahahaha" Dorry explained to Azul who devoloped a mighty sweatdrop at him mentioning not even remembering what the reason for their duel was in the first place. "Bloody hell, a hundred years of continuous battle... damnit I wanna fight you, argh!" Azul yelled in frustration which earned him roaring laughter from the two giants. Soon they started feasting and exchanging stories over food and drinks until late into the night, fully enjoying the company of each other. The next day Brogy and Dorry, as soon as the vulcano erupted, stood up again and once more clashed for hours on end. Azul meanwhile was watching them duel, deep in his thoughts. ''A hundred years of continuous battle against the same opponent, again and again each day. They must know each other like the back of their hands. But how come one couldn''t beat the other over all this time? Surely they would''ve figured out by now how the other giant would respond and be able to form some kind of answer to that... But why did that not happen? As far as I can tell they are masters at the use of haki, so why couldn''t they read and counter the opponents moves after all this time? Or did they maybe... Yes, that could be it. But how would you even go about doing that? Masking your intentions like a veil surrounding your soul so your opponent is unable to guess where you will strike next... Hmmm... Maybe if they didn''t know themselfs where to strike until the strike hit? But that would mean they would fight purely by instinct! Bloody hell! Could I do this? I doubt it but maybe I can incorporate this mindset into my martial arts to learn it over time... but how to go about that... unpredictable, unpredictable, unpredictable.... how about using a stance that is made purely for defense for offense? That could help. Lets try that!'' And so Azul did just that. Moving away a few hundred meters from the fighting giants Azul began to go back to the basics his master had taught him and went through them in slow motion while trying to change the intentions he would use for the different stances on the spur of a moment. He practised and practised until the sun began to slowly set. Soon it would be the end of their duel so Azul began to track back to their makeshift camp, by which time something registered in his periphery. Someone was messing with their consumables. With a frown on his face Azul walked over to their camp and spotted a man and a woman, standing before the giants beer reserves. With a deepening frown Azul walked up to them being able to clearly feel and see the taint in their intentions meaning they were up to something sinister. "Mind telling me what you are doing there?" Azul spoke to the duo who stiffened in response and slowly turned around to come face to face with Azuls towering form that had a blank look on his face, though his eyes spoke differently. They were burning.... Chapter 26 Grandline, Paradise, little Garden Two days after Azul had entered little garden another ship sailed down the small river down into the core of the island until they came about Azuls ship, which stopped them in wonder. It seemed someone was already on this island. The strawhats began to tie the flying lamb to the shore after which some people decided it was time to go exploring to the growing horror of the other half of the crew, after all it was already darkening and the island was filled with dinosaurs. All of them though were ripped out of their ongoing conversations by a male and female scream that echoed through the jungle accompanied by the far away sounds of metal clashing against metal. This caused even more horror amongst some crew members while letting others grow a little more wary of the islands inhabitants, except for one, the captain. "Luffy, there may be dangerous individuals on this island, maybe even a warlord or something!" Nami yelled at her captain, being accompanied by the quiet sobbs of Usopps wails not wanting to die a v.i.r.g.i.n. This however brought laughter to Luffys face while sticking out his tongue in Namis direction while proudly proclaiming: "I don''t care! I want to ride a dinosaur!" and with that being said Luffy turned around while singing a wanderers song and hitting the trees with a stick he had picked up from somewhere, to find and ride his dinosaur. The rest of the crew remained, except Vivi, who followed after Luffy, and Zoro who wanted to explore as well which shortly after that evolved into a match on who, between him and the love cook (Sanji), could hunt the bigger dinosaur for dinner. And so it came that Nami and Usopp where the only ones remaining on the flying lamb, slowly crying themselfs to sleep. (meanwhile with Azul, a few minutes before the flying lamb arrived) "So? Are you gonna tell me, or do I have to get rough?" Azul asked the two people in front of him who had began to heavily shiver, caused by the heavy pressure Azuls passive haki was emitting. "W-we were just ehm, err, sightseeing! Yes, that''s right, sightseeing! hahaha" the woman in the yellow and green dress said, hoping her honestly pityful lie would work. Sadly she was having bad luck today as it seemed. "Ohhhh, so you were sightseeing, I see. And? Did you find anything while sightseeing?" Azul asked, a beautiful idea forming in his head which slightly made his lips twitch upwards. "Err, yes! Those barrels! Don''t they look fascinating? And look the delicious beer inside of it. How about you take a little sip dear sir? I bet it tastes wonderfully!" The young woman kept on going while trying to lure the man before them into drinking the bomb spiked beer, originally intended for the two giants, to earn the bounty that was placed on their respective heads. "After you, my lady. No please, I insist!" Azul said with a devilish grin on his face which caused the womans eyes to widen in horror, as Azuls iron grip landed on the top of the womans head, forcing it into the barrel which soon afterwards exploded outwards in a mighty explosion, with said woman in the center of it causing her to scream loudly. Azul on the other hand simply formed a protective bubble made of haki around himself to shield him from the blast. A little excessive but you could never be too careful! The man had tried to escape from Azul, not effected by the explosion thanks to his devilfruit but Azul always knowing where said man was threw a punch at him which, on impact, caused said man to cry out in pain before fainting and ripping the trees he crashed into on his flight through the jungle out of the ground. After having taken care of those morons, Azul walked over to a nearby tree and jumped on top of a branch to keep on spectating the rest of the giants duel. Meanwhile Luffy and Vivi had found a dinosaur which Luffy promptly jumped on top of, nearly being eaten by said dinosaur, starting to ride it until he was tired of it and began marching with a laughing Vivi further into the jungle following the sound of smashing metal. Soon they came upon the sight of the two giants fighting. "WOOOOOOOO, awesome!" Luffy yelled to which a voice replied from above: "Can you shut up down there? Some people try to study here!" and after looking up Luffy and Vivi came upon the sight of a young man that was looking down on them with a disapproving look on his face. "Ahhh, sorry, sorry, shishishishi" Luffy replied after which he jumped up to the young man who had returned to spectate the duel, completely dismissing the twos prescences. Soon after the vulcano errupted once again and the giants stopped fighting while laughing at the fun they had had. Azul jumped down from his tree and walked over to the two, smiling all the while. "Thank you for the magnificent fight you two, I''ve learned alot." Azul said while grinning up at the two who grinned back in reply, fully aware of the young warrior spectating their fight. The body of the woman soon landed directly in front of Vivi though, who loudly exclaimed her name, seeminlgy a miss Valentine, in shock of seeing her so badly hurt. Soon afterwards Luffy and Vivi walked over to the three joking and laughing friends, Azul and the giants, and introduced themselfs. "Hiiiiii, that was so AWESOME you guys! Do you have any spare armor for me? I want some as well! Neeee, can I have some of that meat, it smells soooo good..." the strawhat wearing man said while droolling like crazy which caused the giants to laugh and Azul to smirk in response. "I''m very sorry for my friend, he doesn''t really have any manners but he didn''t mean to be rude towards you. My name is Vivi and this is Luffy. It''s nice to meet you" The blue haired, elegant Vivi spoke with grace while Luffy just waved his hand next to his face as if that was all just irrelevant to begin with when there was meat to be had. "Bwahahahaha, my name is Brogy and this here are Dorry and Azul. Nice to meet you as well and suit yourselfs, though we may need to go hunting again but no matter. Wouldn''t take long anyways, bwahahahaha" Brogy spoke while cl.i.c.k.i.n.g his muck with Azuls after which they drank their fill in one go after which both of them burped which in Brogy case nearly knocked Vivi over, which again caused Azul and Dorry to laugh uproariously in reaction. And so they spent the night, getting to know each other and soon falling asleep around the flickering fire. Soon the next day arrived and the vulcanos explosion signified a new duel to be had... Chapter 27 Grandline, Paradise, little garden A few minutes ago the sun had begun to rise over the prehistoric island of little garden and the night active dinosaurs went to sleep while the apex predetors and their prey, that lived under the sun awoke which filled the island with bustling wildlife once again. In between the wildlife a man and a girl walked through the jungle, on their way to the last known location of the other two officer agents of baroque works that had been sent to kill the oafs that called themselfs warriors of elbaf, though the man of the two took them for nothing but fools. He was a slick man, just like the power he commanded thanks to his devilfruit, wearing a blue and white striped shirt and white trousers. Though the most eye catching thing about him was his hair. Said hair was shaped into the form of a three and the upper end of said three was constantly burning. Weird you ask? Yes, but not as weird as his partner which was but a child, working as an officer agent to hunt bounties. Luckily for her she had one special ability which went well in combination with her partners wax fruit. She was able to paint symbols on the ground which influenced the emotions of said person to the point that they weren''t able to get out of their state of for example depression. Truly a deadly combo, for Paradise at least. And those two had sent another pair of lower tiered officer agents to finally collect the heads of the two fighting giants living on this island. What happened to them though the both of them didn''t know. And so they had decided to investigate while the giants began their fighting once more. Soon the two arrived in the clearing where the giants normally slept and kept their food. Before stepping onto the clearing though, they heard a female voice, clearly distressed by something so they decided to listen first, before taking action as it seemed someone else had arrived on the island, possibly some more berry in human form. "Why are they fighting? They seemed to be such good friends and now all of a sudden they hate each other? Why?" Vivi asked, not understanding what happened to the giants. "Hate? What makes you think they hate each other? They are just dueling..." Azul asked her, her stupidity absolutely baffling him. "But then why are they fighting? This makes no sense! If they are friends than there is no reason for them to fight!" Vivi, spoke nearly yelling the last part to which Azul, seemingly having an apiphany, started to laugh uproariously in response, which seemed to tick Vivi off even more, going by the gnashing of her teath. "Let me guess, you are a pacifist? Or have only known people that fight to kill? I can kind of understand how you would think like that then, but there is one thing you have to hear before you keep on judging: The world is a gigantic place and the different lands and islands act on different traditions and opinions. If you understand that then you may want to try and see the world from the other persons perspective before judging them to your ingrained standards and opinions." Azul said with a kind smile on his face which made Vivi pause. Was she really so rigid that she had forgotten to keep an open mind? But then again she had only ever fought against those that fought and killed with hatred in their hearts and minds. "I guess you have a point there..." Vivi responded while sinking deeper into her contemplation, meanwhile Azul had already turned around, not waiting for her answer and kept on observing the giants fight. Suddenly his neck snapped around into the direction of the jungle, bringing confusion to Luffys face who had seen Azuls action, after which he shrugged his shoulders and turned back around, doodling in the ground. Soon after though he jumped up with a little roar of annoyance and told Vivi that he would be going back to the flying lamb since he was hungry and Sanji should cook him something. Azul though ignored their little banter and had stood up, walking towards the jungle which caused two figures in the woods to slightly panic. Soon they regained their clear minds and unleashed their attacks on the approaching figure. A large wave made of wax splashed out of the woods, tinged with the colors from miss aprils attacking style. Luffy and Vivi had by then started to head back into the jungle, until they saw the attack rush towards Azul and cried out in alarm, while Vivis eyes widened slightly when she registered whom the attacks belonged to. Luffy prepared to launch over to Azul to rip him out of the way by means of his gum-gum rocket, though Azul seemingly disappeared from their vision as if he was a ghost, only to hear to cries from the jungle before two figures flew out of it and smashed straight into the rocks near the giants campsite, which caused Vivis eyes to widen in shock, while Luffy ran over to the approaching Azul, stepping out of the woods, and smacking him on the back, screaming to the world that he simply had to join his crew. "Come on, come on, Azuuuul, it will be fine, shishishishishi" Luffy said with a goofy smile on his face while embracing Azul with one arm, who had a slight tick on his right eyebrow. "In your dreams rubber boy!" Azul said while gnashing his teeth in ennoyance. Not really at Luffy since it was simply his personality. No, at his two attackers which, once again! , caused Azul to be distracted from the giants duel, for f.u.c.ks sake! "That are mister three and miss april! We have to tell the others about them. There might be more of them here!" Vivi yelled in alarm, grabbing Luffy and nearly charging back to the lamb. Azul meanwhile stood before the two agents, poking them slightly with his foot, waiting for a reaction that didn''t come, before asking: "You know these clowns?" "Yes, they are members of baroque works, a bounty hunters organisation!" Vivi responded. "I can tell you more if you want to know, but we need to warn the others of the possible danger first. You can come with us to the lamb and I''ll tell you all about them there." Vivi said while pulling Luffy alongside her, who protested vehemently. ''Why not, maybe I''ll hear something about some strong figures in that organisation that are worth fighting against...'' Azul thought to himself, before walking after the two figures that left for the lamb to meet witht the rest of the crew. Chapter 28 Grandline, Paradise, little garden The three of them tracked back to the flying lamb where they met the rest of the crew, who kind grew wary of Azul, who towered over them. This compared with his passive haki surrounding him caused all of the crew to tense in preperation for trouble. Luffy and Vivi had kind of gotten used to his appearance by now, and compared to the giants he was tiny anyways, though the aura still bothered Vivi alot, even if she tried to not show it. Luffy on the other hand was as carefree as usual, probably due to his spirits strength. "Hey everyone, this here is Azul and he''ll be joining our crew!" Luffy proclaimed which earned him a punch to the back of the head that embeded him into the ground, after which he started to cry like a baby that his head hurt, which shocked the crew quite alot. After all, Luffy was made of rubber and blunt damage couldn''t hurt him. They grew even more wary of Azul, who still seemed calm and had a friendly smile on his face. "No I will not join your crew Luffy, for the last time... Anyway, it''s nice to meet you guys. As Luffy already said my name''s Azul" Azul said with a friendly smile, which calmed the crew down a little. "I''m Captain Usopp! You may join us if you like!" Usopp said which earned him a smack on the back of the head by their navigator. "Shut up Usopp! Hi, I''m Nami, the navigator" she said while bowing slightly in greeting. "I''m Zoro..." the swordsman introduced him next after which came the blond man. "And I''m Sanji, the cook." "Oy Sanji, cook something, I''m hungry!", yelled Luffy after Sanji introduced himself, who promptly with a bored face walked into the kitchen and started to cook his captains food. Next Vivi spoke up and adressed the problem at hand. "There are baroque works agents on this island, though those that we saw are already taken care of, but we don''t know if there are any more of them." "So, what do we do? Search the island?" Zoro asked, clearly not liking the idea at all, while yawning. "Uhm, I don''t know really..."Vivi responded, not knowing what to do. Not really interested in their planning Azul headed towards where he thought the kitchen was, followed by Luffy who while salivating like a waterfall still tried to talk Azul into joining his crew, who simply ignored him. In the kitchen the same game kept on going while Azul was looking around for something interesting until some food was put in front of him which promptly started to eat with a nod of thanks to the cook. Luffy, being his usual self tried to steal some but was rewarded with a punch that sent him into the wall, where he again started to cry out in pain. "Say Azul, how do you keep hurting Luffy? You ate a devilfruit or something?" Sanji asked Azul while smoking and exhaling the smoke in a white plume. "Ye, though that has nothing to do with it. You ever heard of haki before?" Azul asked Sanji, who denied, to which Azul only shrugged and focused back on his food, which by the way was awesome. After a few minutes the arguing rest of the crew joined them in the cabin for dinner. The room descended into companiable silence after that, only broken by the occasional cries of pain from Luffy, who again and again tried to steal food from Azul, who responded by punching him and by now Luffy had acc.u.mulated bumps all over his head that grew by the minute. "Oy Nami, when we get to the next island I need to buy some oil for my swords, can you lend me some cash?" Zoro asked sweating, already knowing what was coming. "Sure, with an interest on it of 200%. Take it or leave it." Nami responded with an evil grin on her face. "Dammit woman, that is daylight robbery!" Zoro yelled at her to which she only shrugged. After a few minutes his gaze mildened and he averted his eyes, causing Nami to release the breath she didn''t realise she was holding. Azul, taking a drink from his mug asked her after a few seconds of silence: "Why do you care so much for money?" to which Nami responded simply by replying: "Well, I was poor when I was younger, since my village was held hosta-No way... You aren''t the one that killed Arlong and his crew, are you?" she asked with her eyes widening in comprehension. "The fishman? Yes, though that was long ago. So I take it you are familiar with Nojiko then? Maybe even her sister? She said she had one..." Azul murmured. Afterwards with tears in her eyes Nami walked over to him and hugged him while thanking him profusely. After all, she never had the chance to before. Azul though simply patted her on the back with a calm smile on his face until she calmed down once more. The rest of the crew, now realising who he was began to see him in a new light as well, despite there still being that aura around him. After they all sat down once more, Azul grew thoughful. He had seen her soul, and knew what she had been through, so he decided to pass on something his master had once taught him, which he hoped would help her in some way. Looking into Namis eyes, and breaking the silence that had descended on the room while eating once more, Azul spoke, with slightly glazed eyes, as he remember his master and his teaching, trying not to missremember his wisdom. "I would like to tell you a story Nami, and for those who would like to hear it they may listen as well, so that it may help you deal with your traumata. Listen well and try to understand and contemplate. There once was a man who had four women as wifes, though said man had grown old and frail over the years and was now on the brink of death, so in his final moments he wished to speak with the wife he had met last. She was beautiful and by far the youngest amongst his wifes. As she came to his side the man spoke to her: "My dear wife, when I die in one or two days I will become very lonely without you around. Will you follow me to the other side?" he asked her. "Absolutely not!" said the woman, "I need to remain behind to sing praises about you at your funeral but there is nothing more I can do for you." And with that she stood up and left the room. Her cold rejection pierced the man like a sword since he had given his youngest so much of his attention throughout his life. He was so proud of her that he took her along to all events and it had surprised him that she loved him just as much as he loved her. Still, he had three more wifes and so he called for the wife that had come to him in the middle of his life. He had worked incredibly hard to win her acceptance, and he loved her with all his heart since she had caused him so much joy and possibilities throughout his life. She was beautiful, so much so that she was sought-after by many but she still had remained faithful. She gave him a sense of security. "My wife" the man spoke as she stepped to his deathbed. "When I die in one or two days, I will be incredibly lonely without your presence. Will you join me?" "That is not doable!" she responded in her usual buisness like manner. "Such a thing has never existed! I will organize a grand funeral service for you, but when that is over and done with, I will join your sons in their lifes!" The calculating unfaithfulness of his third wife struck him to the core. He sent her away and asked for his second wife. With her he had grown up. She wasn''t particularly beautiful, but she had always been there for him. She helped him with all the problems he had had and given advise when ever he needed one. There was nobody who he trusted more in his life. "Beloved companion, when I die in one or two days, will you join me? Without you I will be incredibly lonely." He asked his wife. "I am sorry" she responded sadly, "I sadly cannot follow you. I will follow you until the end but no step further." The old man was crushed from his wifes response and so he asked for his fourth wife, the one he had seemingly known for forever. He had neglected her in the last years, especially after he had met his seductive third wife and his elegant fourth wife. And yet, this wife had been incredibly important throughout his whole life. Silent and always watching had she worked for him from behind the curtains. He was ashamed of himself as the overtly thin woman in her bad fitting clothes entered the room. "My heart" the man spoke pleadingly, "when I die in a day or two, I will be incredibly lonely without you. Will you follow me?" "Of course I will follow you" answered the woman passionlessly. "I always have and always will go whereever you will go, from one life into the next." Azul spoke, finishing his story while still looking in Namis eyes, who was pulled into his story. "What does this story mean though?" she asked him, not understanding the point he was trying to make. Smiling at her Azul replied: "The first womans name was Karma, the second womans name was Family, the third was called wealth and the fourth glory. Do you understand it now?" Azul spoke and stood up leaving the crew to their thoughts and walking back to the giants, the organisation Baroque work completely left behind while remembering his masters words from his past... Chapter 29 Grandline, Paradise, little garden ''Karma hm... but what have I done in order to set right what was done to my master all those years ago? Nothing. But no more! Time to move on to the table of the big players! I may not be strong enough yet but I will be...'' Azul thought on his way back to his giant friends, throwing around the words he had spoken to the strawhats only moments ago, but was he truly that much different? He himself had had a heavy past and still hadn''t completely managed to free himself from the shackles that bound him to it. ''Maybe I don''t really want to let go? But why wouldn''t I want to? Am I afraid? Afraid to forget my master?....I guess it''s a possibility, even though I don''t like it all that much...'' And so his ruminations and selfreflecting continued, even after he had reached his giant friend who, after seeing how deep in thought he was, left him to his own devices, deep into the night. Only when he had sorted his thoughts, barely a few hours away from sunrise, did he close his eyes to catch some more sleep, since in a few hours Azul would already be on his way out to the sea. He had some scores to settle! "I will be leaving you today. Maybe we''ll see each other once again one day. After all you old geezers can get even older still" Azul spoke to the giants with a widening grin to which the giants responded with roaring laughter. "Take care of yourself young Azul and may fortune be with you" Dorry and Brogy spoke in unison to which Azul lightly bowed his head in salute and answered in kind. "And with you." Afterwards he took his little bag, threw it over his back and turned around to leave towards his little ship. On the way he met a dinosaur who tried to run in fright, though the keyword is tried. In the end it ended up as Azuls lunchbox for the way to the next island, since his logpose had reset itself by now, it didn''t pose a problem for the young warrior. Soon he arrived at his little ship and threw his bag onto it and began untying his ship from the shore. While he was doing so the crew of the strawhats was still deep asleep and the only one who saw him leave was Zoro who raised his hand in goodbye as Azul sailed past the flying lamb, who responded in kind with a smile on his face. And with that he resumed his journey. The weather at first remained the same but soon became rather rough which brought another smile to Azuls face. He hadn''t realised how much he had missed the raw elements displayed while travelling the grandline. The winds picked up in intensity and evolved into enourmous currents. With his muscles straining on his back, Azul kept the sail steady and with the other the steering wheel, all while grinning like a loon. Damn it felt good to travel again. Suddenly an apiphany hit him as he realised that through the exitement his breath had found a particular rythm to which his inner flame, which had remainded at mostly the same intensity since he entered the grandline, even when he used his devilfruit as continuous fire generator, had begun to respond. But now that he was breathing in, while literally surrounded by the purest form of nature, his flame burned and grew in tandem with his breath once again. His masters words echoed in his mind like a voice from beyond the veil. ''when you don''t know how to grow further, take a step back and start from the beginning'' At first Azul had thought his master meant to only go back to the beginning stances but now that he was breathing the freshest air there was on this planet, and his inner flame responded to it by burning ablaze, Azul realised that maybe his master hadn''t only meant the beginning of his training but the beginning of his being. What was the first thing Azul had ever done since coming into this world? ''Take a deep breath and let the life fill you'' and so he did. With a roaring crackle his inner flame turned into an inferno and projected itself outside his body, illuminating the darkness of the stormy night, like a candle in the wind. Pure energy was flowing through Azul as he stood there mesmerized but the feeling that his return to his origins had caused in him and as soon as he thought he had understood what had happened, it was gone, like the snapp of a finger, leaving Azul panting and confused, drained of energy, to the mercy of the elements. But he did not simply surrender. That was not part of his being, and so he fought, this time for his very existence, for literally the first time in his life. This time there was no master that could shield and protect him. No, he had to stand his man alone, and that against the strongest enemy there was on this earth,...nature itself. Night turned into day, though it didn''t really matter since the storm kept on raging, and day turned into night. After five days of continuous struggling with the elements, even though his inner flame returned after some time, it still was the toughest fight Azul ever had to fight. But he persisted, and in the end returned a stronger man, having proven to himself and the world at that, that he was now a man capable to always and fully to boot, rely on himself when it came down to it. And it made him happy, knowing from the core of his very being that he could succeed in the task he had received from his master, all those years ago, where before there always was a slight fear he would disappoint, it now was no more! Two days later Azul arrived at a snow covered island. Having never seen snow before Azul grew excited and entered the island to explore all the wonders an island covered in snow had, that normal summer islands didn''t. But when he arrived in the town he was surprised to find destruction. ''What happened here?'' He asked himself while walking over to a man that was covered in rubble from a toppled building, pulling him out from under it and searching for another one, until he had amassed a whole lot of them. While he was at it he was joined by a few villagers that had seen him trying to help, dispite being wounded themselfs, deciding to muster all the strength they had left to help him. After approximately two hours of contiuous digging they had unearthed all the wounded and covered them with blankets that they found nearby, as long as they weren''t ripped to shreds. Though some of the villagers offered their helper some clothes to cover his upper body, thinking that he must be freezing, Azul always declined since he didn''t feel cold due to his inner flame that had started to grow a little, and his devilfruit. Azul had since his journey to this island, and the happenings of said journey, begun to think on the feeling he had had that night when he became literally ingulfed in his inner flame and began to believe, even though he had no proof for that, that this was the state he would be able to achieve once he reached the masters stage and could progress from there. A tiny peek into the power he would be able to tap into and it made him yearn for this feeling, and thus had found a goal to chase after! Turning to one of the villagers, Azul asked if there was a doctor in the village, to what the villager replied that there was only one but said doctor lived in the castle on top of the giant mountains in the middle of the island, and the devices that helped to reach said castle had been disabled long ago. She though came down from time to time on a carriage pulled by a raindeer but nobody could tell when since she didn''t seem to follow any timetables. Azul only shrugged in reply and after cloaking his feet in roaring red flames speed of by running on the air, as if on a predestined path, towards the mountains top, which left the villagers gobsmacked while some people murmured "must be a devil fruit", before going back to work to help the wounded until the stranger returned with the doctor in tow. Chapter 30 Grandline, Paradise, Drum island Speeding through the air with flames billowing from his feet in the air, as it framed his rushing figure, Azul soon reached the plateau the castle was build on. It was a truly majestic sight. Covered in snow and ice, like from a fairytail, the chateau towered into the sky, made from white stones, and glistening in the reflecting sun. Azul began walking towards it and with each step he took melting the snow in his way like the embodiment of heat. A minute or two later he had reached the slightly opened gates that had been frozen in place, obviously being open for a very long time. Not pondering the strange sight any longer, Azul stepped inside while stretching out his observation haki, searching for the souls of the doctor that he was told was living here. Not long after he started to walk up the stairs to his left and down the corridor. At the end of it he was met by a large door against which he knocked, knowing that the doctor or someone else was staying behind the door. A few seconds after he had knocked the door opened and a small creature peeked out of its gap. "Yes? What do you want?" The little creature asked Azul who smiled warmly at the timid little creature, hoping to not frighten it away. "Apologies, I was told there was a doctor living here. Would that by chance be you little guy?" Azul asked with a calm voice, which seemingly had the d.e.s.i.r.ed effect of calming the little guy a little. "Errr, I-I mean, yes I am a doctor but also only the apprentice. Follow me, I''ll bring you to the doc" the little guy said while shuffling back a little and taking the door with it opening it fully, to allow Azul entrance into the room. The room he entered was filled with medical equipement and a few beds, for patients, Azul assumed. Following the little guy, Azuls attention was drawn back down to his guide. ''A devil fruit maybe?'' He thought to himself. "Excuse me, would you kindly tell me what kind of species you belong to?" asked Azul his guide who in turn only answered with one word. "Reindeer." and kept on walking. After some time they reached another room into which the little reindeer called "Doc Kuleha, we have a visitor!" which resulted in some female grumblings though Azul couldn''t clearly hear the womans words. "Oh my, what fine specimen we have here! What''s your name honey?" the old witch asked which sent an undescribable shiver down Azuls back, but he still remained polite, otherwise he may have come here for nothing and his ego wasn''t worth the lifes of some civilians anyways. "Greetings, my name is Azul. I''ve come here in order to inform you that the village at the foot of the mountain has somehow been completely been reduced to rubble and alot of people were wounded. I and the rest of the survivers would like to request your help in healing the people down in the village." Azul said while lightly bowing his head in order to support his request with his demeanor. "Is that so? Well little Chopper, it seems we have some money to make checheche. Ready the carriage!" "Oh, that won''t be necessary. I will take you down with me. It will be faster and the less time we need the better." Azul spoke while observing the little reindeer, now identified as Chopper, back a few seemingly important things into his small bag after which he walked over to the doc Kuleha, waiting for her decision. "And how would you take us down there? the gondola have been destroyed when Wapol left the kingdom not too long ago to become a pirate." Kuleha asked with an inquisitive look on her face. "Like this!" Azul said, disappearing from his position and reappearing behind the doc, whos eyes widened slightly at the young mans sheer speed, before she was grabbed and sat ontop of his right shoulder and Chopper onto his left, who couldn''t help but cry out in surprise, but after seeing Kuleha remain calm he calmed down a little himself. "Hold on tight! This may be a little bit faster than you normally travel" Azul spoke, bending his knees slightly before disappearing from his position, which was followed by Choppers maniacal scream for help and doc Kulehas mad cackling. A few seconds later Azul was outside the castle and jumped down the mountain but before either of his passengers could start screaming again his feet began to burn and billow in heat and he started sprinting on thin air, which earned him incredulous eyes from his left and appraising eyes from his right. "Say sonny, would you be interested in becoming my new driving vehicle? Much more efficient the the carriage and I''ll pay you well checheche" the old witch cackled in mirth which caused a sweatdrop to develop on Azuls head. "No thanks doc, I''m good." he replied. With a gleam in his eyes, possibly having spotted a worthy opponent, Azul tried to get some more information but was disappointed to find nothing else. ''Hmm, maybe I''ll get lucky and meet him somewhere down the line. After all the routes of the grandline are fairly linear once you picked a certain route.'' he thought to himself. And so it came that Azul put his two passengers back on his shoulders and disappeared into the night sky as nothing but a red blurr, bringing the doctor and her assistent back into their castle while taking in the beauty of Drum island from above. Chapter 31 Grandline, Paradise, Drum island After helping the villagers and bringing the docs back to the castle, Azul had decided to explore the island a little to see what kind of beings originally inhabited this island. In his time sailing from one island to the next Azul had come about a theorie why the grandline was so different to the rest of the world when it came to the glaring differences between the different islands that were found on the grandline. Even though he hadn''t seen much yet the differences were still rather obvious. He had played through some scenarios in his mind but all of them seemed to be rather hard to proof and so Azul decided to start by checking the species that inhabited the different islands before the humans took residency on said islands. On little garden it was obviously the dinosaurs and due to that maybe, humans had decided to avoid the island. Soon Azul stumbled upon some species which seemed to be in an uproar over something. Giant, white bunnies (?) with sharp a.s.s teeth and muscles to boot that were barely visible in all the snow around the island. Natural predetors it seemed. Though after taking a closer look, Azul was a little surprised to find two humans trying to fight of the barage of raging bunnies, with moderate success. Walking closer Azul spotted a blonde man with curly eyebrows and a young man with a strawhat on his head. Though it seemed he was kind of handicaped from something rather large that he was carrying on his back. ''Would you look at that. I thought they would arrive later, no matter though.'' Walking closer to them Azul decided to help them out, since it seemed they were having quite the difficulties with the bunnies, as funny as it was for Azul to watch them fight these overgrown furballs. On his way over to the two Azul unleashed a concentrated blast of his conquerors haki, which made the falling snow disappear for a few seconds, until it began falling again which was when the bunnies collapse with resounding thuds all around the two who were panting slightly and after taking deep breaths seemed to become rather confused at what had happened to their opponents and after surveilling the battlefield found Azul heading towards them. "What brings you into these frozen waste ladies?" Azul asked with a calm smile that brought a small tick to Sanjis left eyebrow while angrily trying to ignite another cigarette as an outlet while Luffy just yelled in happiness: "Azuuuuul, what are you doing here?" "I was walking around a little to check out the island before continuing on to the next" he replied while coming to a stop right in front of the two, after which he spotted what Luffy seemed to be carrying. It was Nami, with an extremely red face, panting and sweating from the looks of it. She seemed to be sick. "Oh my, what happened to Nami? Shouldn''t she be put to bed instead of being carried around some frozen wasteland? She looks rather sick..." Azul asked while putting his right hand onto Namis forhead which burned from a feever. "Normally you would be right but her feever doesn''t seem to be going down, ever since we came resumed our journey from little garden and soon after we found some kind of bruise or bite on her stomache, so we started to head towards the nearest island in the hopes to find a doctor. We were told that there is one residing upon that mountain in your back." Sanji replied while smoking his cigarette in peace. "Ohh, you mean doc Kuleha and Chopper? Yes, they are up there. Hmm, I can take you there if you want. Would be a lot faster than climbing the mountain, judging from the route you''re taking. What do you say?" Azul asked smiling at the three while spreading his arms as if in invitation to hug them. "Sure thanks, but how would you do that? The carriages up the mountain are dead so climbing should be the only way..." Sanji replied with a frown. "Ahhh, don''t worry about it. Should only take a few minutes at best" Azul replied while walking over to them and heaving them onto his shoulders. "Oy, what the hell do you think you''re doing?" Sanji said, flabbergasted while Luffy was just whooping at the view he was having. "Hold on tight ladies!" Azul only said before covering his feet once again in thick flames which made the twos eyes widen at the sight and Luffy to exclaim in awe. A second later they were already sprinting through the air accompanied by jubilating and frightened cries, respective from Luffy and Sanji. ''Maybe the old doc was onto something and I should enter the transportation buisiness should my martial path end up in failure?'' Azul thought to himself with a selfmocking expression while he had the feeling that someone all too familiar was crying in laughter in the afterlife at his thoughts... Chapter 32 Grandline, Paradise, Drum island Soon afterwards the four of them had arrived before the castles gates and promptly entered while Azul lead them towards doc Kuleha who after quickly checking Nami found out that said bruise was the cause of said feever, as they had guessed already, but what they hadn''t guessed was that the bruise was caused by the bite of a prehistoric insect and would have been the death of Nami in a day or two, had they not arrived in time to treat her, which caused Sanji to begin sobbing crocodile tears in fear for his beautiful Nami, as he so sugary called her and Luffy to begin to panic for his nakama. Azul on the other hand was pretty calm, since the doc had just said that she could be treated, meaning she would survive, probably. ''When did I become so callous?'' Azul asked himself, not really feeling any worry but pretty much only calmness. Thinking deeper into his thoughts, Azul didn''t really realise that Sanji and Luffy had turned their attention to the reindeer doctor named Chopper, who in fear hid behind Kulehas legs, though only until the two pissed him of by calling him a racoon, and him transforming into his heavy hitter form, and smacking Sanji and Luffy through the room, while Kuleha was only smirking. Removing himself from his thoughts, Azul turned to Kuleha with a question on his face which he had been wondering about since he first saw the castle they were in at the moment. "Say doc, are you a world noble or something? And if you are, why are you and Chopper the only ones that live inside this castle?" he asked her. "I''m not a noble, though the castle now belongs to me since I claimed it as my spoils of war from that fat moron, Wapol, the former king now turned pirate, checheche" she responded while cackling like the witch that she was. "A king becoming a pirate? hahahahaha" Azul laughed openly, drawing the attention from the still arguing trio. "Wapol? We met someone like that on our way here! That fat dude ate part of our ship!" Sanji said which made Azul stop for a moment before breaking out into even bigger laughter. ''Ahhh, the weirdness of the grandline. You just have to love it hahahaha'' Azul thought while wiping some tears out of his eyes. "Say Kuleha, did Wapol leave any doc.u.ments here when he left to become a pirate? Or did he have a study of some kind?" Azul asked the old woman who hummed in thought before replying. "Yes he had one, but I''m not sure, though if he did leave any doc.u.ments, he closed them inside and took the key with him. He did that to many doors which remain closed till this day." "Would you tell me where the room is loc-" "OYY, you hold hag! Come out and give me back my castle this instant!" a voice which from the tone of it already annoyed Azul. "If you speak of the devil, he shall appear checheche" Kuleha laughed in mirth at the irony. Azul understanding what she meant just walked towards the entrance, simply intending to use this opportunity to make his life a little easier, as such a chance didn''t come often. Standing before the castle walls was a fat, round man, with a white hippo fur put over his head and down his back, while clothed in some kind of iron armor. "You Wapol fatty?" Azul said while sticking his finger inside his nose. Something was itching inside it for a while now! "How dare you adress a king that way peasant! Have you no manners? You don''t speak to your betters that way!" the fatty, now identified as Wapol by the redness of his face it had taken after hearing Azul calling him a fatty, yelled, charging at Azul who only took a glance at Wapol before turning his right hand into a claw, which in turn started to release a black, smoke like substance, which caused a shiver to run down Wapols spine. Finally pulling his finger out of his nose with a big booger ontop of it, which he snipped at Wapol, Azul took a closer look at Wapols eyes, sinking to the bottom of said mans soul. ''It seems my devilfruits power over reaping souls really is based on instincts at the moment. It sensed the distorted character this mans soul possessed and judged him accordingly, preparing to reap him....'' Azul said while his face took on an emotionless look, and plunged his right hand straight into the kings c.h.e.s.t, which caused said man to scream in silence and his eyes to turn completely black. Soon afterwards Azul pulled his hand back while still gripping Wapols soul until with a snapping sound it seperated from the mans body, which fell down lifelessly. As Chopper, Luffy, Sanji and Kuleha finally arrived at the scene, horror gripped their souls from what they saw in front of them. Azul, his hand, covered in black vapor, plunged into Wapols c.h.e.s.t who had his mouth open in obvious pain, until he pulled his hand back, pulling something with him. At first, the doctors that they were, asumed it would be an organ like the heart, but it turned out to be something different entirely. A transparent, winding and twisting, human shaped body, which only could be the soul of said man, after all he had fallen over, dead, just right after the extraction. And from there, after observing the soul in front of him for a few seconds, Azul turned his black, vapor covered hand into roaring flames, burning the soul into nothingness. They all stood there, rigid, not being able to move. Even Luffy, having understood on a deeply primal level, that what he had just witnessed was nothing to make fun of. After searching for the masterkey of the castle, Azul turned around to the trio with a serene smile on his face while saying and walking past them, to search the castle: "Welcome to the sailors graveyard." Chapter 33 Grandline, Paradise, Drum island The three rigid figures remained standing there in the entrance for a while longer, everyone seemingly absorbed in their own thoughts. Soon though they returned to the present. Kuleha, with an unreadable expression on her face turned around first and walked back up into her laboratory, closing the door behind her, seemingly not wanting to talk with anybody and wanting to keep to her thoughts in silence. Chopper was the next one, and with a determined expression on his face, stepped back into the castle, taking one look at the footprints and following the larger ones, up the stairs and to the corridor that was home to the now ex-kings privat chambers, including his study. Following Chopper, though with a few seconds buffer, was Sanji, having dropped his cigarette and for the first moment in a long time didn''t feel like smoking. The last one was surprisingly Luffy. What he was thinking about? Nobody would know. Maybe he was just sorting his feelings concerning his rather new aquaintance, or maybe it was something wholy different all together. He too went up the stairs, following after the reindeer. Azul meanwhile had found the kings study and was searching through a whole pile of doc.u.ments. Finances, Laws, Regulations until finally he came upon something he thought looked like something similar to what he had hoped he would be finding in a nobles study. Locations and contact information. As he read through the list he saw one contact that made him pause in thought. Could it work? Maybe... With the sudden thought he had had with the appearance of said contact Azul choose to try. Later though when he had found a transpondersnail. And so he continued through the doc.u.ments and found suprisingly few things he would consider even remotely important to his cause. Though what he found important was a map. A map to an island that housed a certain group of people he still had a bill to settle with. Cipher Pol. With a satisfied smile Azul shuffled and rolled the few doc.u.ments together and was about to stand up when Chopper entered the study and having the feeling Chopper wanted to talk, Azul sat back down with a patient face, accented by a kind smile. "Why did you do that?" Chopper asked just as Sanji and soon after Luffy entered the study behind the doctor, seemingly wanting to know as well. "You mean why I ripped his soul from his body and burned it?" Azul asked back, his kind smile never leaving his face, which sent a small shiver up Sanjis spine. ''Does he not have any other emotions he could display instead? His calmness is starting to freak me out a little...'' The cook thought to himself, trying not to show what he was thinking about. "That, my little friend, is not an easy question to answer, since it is difficult to comprehend the unique view I gain of this world when I enter the stage of a ''reaper''. In fact it is fairly impossible to understand for you. But if you want I can try to explain it to you." Azul replied while moving his arm onto the chairs siderest and resting his head on his fist. All the while his kind smile never left his face. Chopper though, after thinking about Azuls words, only nodded in reply. "Let me start with a small explanation than, little doctor. Every being, as far as I have come to see so far, possesses a soul from the moment they enter this world. At first it is the cleanest, most pure thing in this world. When it enters the body of an infant it tries to connect with the body over the course of the following years and introduces the concept of emotions to said childs body in order to communicate the souls thoughts and wants with the body of the child. Through these emotions the childs body is trained, unconciously I might add, in the use of instincts, since instincts are nothing more than what the soul perceives and projects on the body. But soon another factor comes into play in the growth of the child. Society. Due to being so pure and innocent the child takes in the worlds surroundings and without knowing any better emulates and imitates what it sees, hears and feels. And so, the once pure instincts of said child get transformed. They morph into a perversion of what they once were and with it a dark taint starts to blacken the childs soul and clouding the souls instincts and limiting the bond the soul forged with the body. Though sometimes it doesn''t just stop there. No, sometimes the taint becomes so overwhelmingly big that it starts to twist the soul itself and reforms the character the child may have had in the future. Pure evil, by the definition of this world. In moments like this, my devilfruit, as I haven''t mastered it yet to a high enough level unfortunately, reacts on pure instinct alone, and causes my mind to enter a state where it does not differentiate between foe and friend. Only the soul and its colour matters. Soon afterwards my hand begins to enter the metaphysical realm in the form of the black vapor you saw coming off of my hand, enabling me to grab and reap a soul, if I so choose I may need to add. I always have the choice in the end and I don''t regret what I have done, nor should you mourne the soul of the former king wapol since he returned into a purer form than what he had become." Azul finished, his kind smile still on his face, patiently sitting in the chair in front of the three that were clearly digesting the words they had just perceived. "I see. Thank you for telling me..." Chopper said, turning around and leaving towards the door when Azul spoke up once more. "You have a very kind and pure soul Chopper. Should you ever leave this island and venture out into the world, then you will need to sharpen your mind and firm your resolve for if you don''t you will succ.u.mb to the same taint that overtook Wapol..." Azul said, looking at Choppers back, having for the first time a sad smile on his face, after which Luffy also turned around and followed the leaving Chopper out the door. Sanji remained a little longer, opening his mouth as if wanting to ask Azul something as well, but seemed to change his mind in the end, after which he also turned around and left. Azul meanwhile reclined in his chair, having a blank look on his face murmuring mostly to himself: "You will need it in the days to come, little doctor. You will need it..." Before closing his mind in meditation, beginning to plan the first phase of action to finally fullfill karmas calling. Chapter 34 Grandline, Paradise, Drum island Approximately an hour after Azul had sunken into his meditative trance, he opened his eyes and with a clear purpose in mind walked out of the study, and then the castle, igniting he flames at his feet and with a mighty jump ascended into the air, running downwards from the mountains top, right towards the village. Soon afterwards he arrived in the village and was greeted by a big man, wearing a green fullbody armor, with metallic covers for his arms and fur around his neck to cover from the cold. The man took one look at Azul and promptly bowed his head before speaking. "Thank you for all your help. Unfortunately we still have to look out for our former kings return, since we received intel that his ship was spotted near the islands cost so we won''t be able to assist you, should you need our help with anything, as decorum would normally dictate, since you helped us so much. Ahhh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am called Dalton and am supervising this island for the time being." "You do not need to worry about your king returning since he has taken on his last journey which he will not return from. If I were you I would think more about the future and the regency this island will need if it wants to return to their future glory..." Azul spoke, walking past Dolton who was a little gobsmacked at the young mans words, while patting him on the shoulder in a reasuring way. Walking up to a nearby villager Azul spoke the reason why he came down from the mountain in the first place. "Excuse me, do you by chance possess a transpondersnail around here somewhere?" "Yes, we do. Follow me. I will show you the way." The older male villager spoke, turning around while gesturing Azul to follow him, which he did with a thankful smile. After a few minutes of walking they arrived at one of the only still standing homes, which they entered. The inside was warm and eluminated by a nearby fire, plunging the decore of the home into a warm light. Azul having spotted the transpondersnail walked over to it, while nodding towards the man who turned back around and exited the building, leaving Azul alone. Picking up the mic from its shell, Azul pulled out the parchments with the contact details from Wapols study and typed in the number for the emergency line, leading directly to Enies Lobby, the island of eternal day and home to the Cipher Pol agents serving under Spandam. ''Let''s see if this will work...'' Azul thought with a smile on his face, waiting until the other end picked up... ------------------------------------------------------ Grandline, Paradise, Enies Lobby Director Spandam had always been a powerhungry man. So much so that he shoved every other seemingly important d.e.s.i.r.es of his being to the back of his mind. This unfortunately had the concequences that his mental faculties were the sharpest tools in the shed and more than one time he had barely kept his position due to massively f.u.c.k.i.n.g up once or twice in the past. Luckily for him, the fleetadmiral Sengoku was more or less used to having to handle incompetent fools and so the repercussions of his mess ups didn''t bring such dire demotions with it, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the point of view. Said director was about to take another nap in his highchair, from which he could overlook the whole island of Enies Lobby, bored out of his mind when out of nowhere his transpondersnail rung. That shouldn''t be much of a problem normally but he had just sent the one person normally responsible and familiar with the protocol to lunch, which meant he had to take the call personally. ''Mehh, how hard can that be, right?'' Spandam thought with a nervous tick in his gait as he walked over to the snail, before picking up the snails mic and answering in his usual used reply, making sure the other end understood to whom they were talking to exactly. "This is director Spandam, supervisor of ther cipher pol and Enies Lobby, speaking. Who am I talking to?" Spandam spoke into the mic he was clutching in his gloved hands in nervousness. "This is the personal line belonging to king Wapol. We request imidiate assistance. This is an emergency call. I repeat. This is an emergency call. Request imidiate back up. Our current location is a two days travel away from the kingdom of Alabasta. We are being chased by a group of pirates too strong for us to handle ourselves. Receiving response to emergency protocol, as followed by the dictated standards, in 3,2,1..." after having heard the mans words Spandam began to sweat profusely, despite not being the most intelligent one on the grandline, that this was some serious shit right there. What should he do? Just answer as if he knew what he was talking about? Well, sounded not much different from what he had always done in the past. ''If you don''t know what to do just bluff. Believe in what you are saying and the other person will believe it as well. Alright lets do this Spandam, you can do this...'' "Emergency protocol has been received, according to the dictated standards, and is being processed. Please hold...", ''Whom should I send exactly? I can''t send my CP-agents since they are too far away and would need weeks to reach them. Damn it! Come on Spandam, think! Who else do I have control over. A few marine sh.i.p.s... could be a start but may not be enough and this is a matter I certainly don''t want to f.u.c.k up. Sengoku! He will know what to do hehehe'' Dialing the number of the fleetadmiral on his private transpondersnail, a man with a rough voice from to much screaming picked up the line. "Yes? Who is this?" "Fleetadmiral Sengoku? This is Spandam speaking. I just received an emergency call from king Wapol requesting imidiate assistence due to being chased by a group of pirates but my CP-agents are too far away to reach them in time. Do you possibly have any personnel you could send to recover them in my stead?" Spandam said, hoping the fleetadmiral could pull his a.s.s out of this situation, like he had done so often in the past. "Where are they right now?" asked the fleetadmiral in an annoyed yet urgent voice, no doubt thinking about the extra paperwork he would have to go through in the coming hours after this call. "They said they are about two days travel away from the kingdom of Alabasta." Spandam replied, patient, something he wasn''t very good in. "Alright, I''ll take it from here. Give the caller my snails number so I can tell them the proceedings from here on out. Good job Spandam." Sengoku replied, hanging up the mic immediately afterwards. "Pfffuuuu, looks like I dodged a bomb there. Now lets finish this and go back to sleep, err work I meant hehehe" Spandam said to the empty room, not realising he hadn''t put the responder snails mic on standby for the whole discussion so the other end had heard everything so far. "This is director Spandam speaking. I will transmit the fleetadmirals number to you. You will call him immediately and take charge from there on out. Spandam out." Spandam spoke into the mic, waiting for the callers response. A few seconds later, at first only silence came through the mic, but soon afterwards the caller spoke up in acceptance. "........... Understood. Caller out." And with a click the other end hung up and Spandam now relaxed after this trial of fire, exhausted walked back towards his big chair, clearly having earned himself a nice long nap. ------------------------------------------------ Grandline, Paradise, Drum island ''Well, this did not go to plan...'' thought Azul to himself. ''Why couldn''t he just send the CP-agents? But no, he had to be smart and call the fleetadmiral instead. Oh well, that at least tells me that the CP-agents currently are out on a mission on some island a little further away from Alabasta if they can''t reach there in two days. Maybe I''ll be lucky enough to find them myself. Would make alot of things easier for me. Now, the fleetadmiral...maybe I''ll get a nice fight out of this whole story? Hope I''ll get lucky this time around....'' And with those hopeful thoughts Azul dialed the fleetadmirals personal line, looking forward to what would result from the idea he had come up with in the spur of a moment. --------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Marine headquaters "This is fleetadmiral Sengoku speaking. Who am I speaking with?" "This is a subordinate of his majesty king Wapol of Drum island speaking. We await your directions fleetadmiral." a man with a calm voice spoke through the mic, slightly surprising Sengoku, since they had reported being chased but pushed the thought to the back of his head in order to focus on his on the spot put together plan. "Understood. Due to the Cipher Pol agents not being in reach to come to your assistence in time I will be contacting the shichibukai Sir Crocodile, in order to come to your help. You will travel to the kingdom of Alabasta and sail down the Sandora river until you reach the coast near rainbase. Sir Crocodile will take you into his care from there and deliver you to a soon arriving marine ship in order to bring you to safety. Do you copy?" The man on the other end replied: "Copy that fleetadmiral, though it may take us more time than we had expected due to having been hit by a lull in the wind. I wouldn''t be surprised if it took us one or two days more than at first anticipated. Do you copy?" Sengoku frowned but wasn''t much surprised. They were on the grandline after all. He just had to tell Crocodile to regularly check the river each day to make sure not to miss them. "Copy that. Fleetadmiral out." Sengoku said and hung up, already seeing the annoying conversation with Crocodile coming on the horizon. Sometimes he just hated his position.... -------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Drum island ''Well, at least I''ve gotten a shichibukai out of all of this... I guess it''s time to hit the seas once again if I want to make it to Alabasta in time.'' And with that Azul stood up, walked out the door and disappeared in the billowing snow, walking towards his tiny ship to finally get the fight he had been yearning for. Hopefully this sir Crocodile wouldn''t disappoint him.... Chapter 35 Grandline, Paradise, Alabasta With a click, Sir Crocodile, shichibukai and leader of Baroque Works, returned the mic of his transpondersnail back into its holding position, just as his partner, Miss all Sunday or otherwise known as Nico Robin, returned back into their secret base in Rainbase. Looking over to his partner, Crocodile not for the first time wondered if Nico Robin truly knew how to read the poneglyphs, as she had assured him that she could. He had put alot of trust into her by believing her without any proof. After all poneglyphs, those giant undestructible stone slabs, didn''t grow on trees. Well, in Alabasta not anyways. Crocodile had made sure of that by covering the land in an eternal draught and s.u.c.k.i.n.g all the moisture out of the ground to make it his kingdom in the end. And to rise even further in his grand ambition to rule and gain power he had set his eyes on the acient weapons that were said to be described on the poneglyphs, which brought him back to Nico Robin and his trust in her. Though that trust would expire as soon as she fullfilled her end of the bargain. No more risks, he had promised himself. "That was the marines fleetadmiral Sengoku just now. We received an order of importance, as he put it. A noble is being chased by a group of pirates to Alabasta and since the Cipher Pol are otherwise occupied it falls onto our shoulders to take them in until a marine ship arrives. This could potentially risk our plans... no, we will proceed as planned. I will receive them and you will gather the officer agents here, once the noble has been dealt with. From there we will keep going as planned." Crocodile spoke, first pointing towards the transpondersnail, before taking a cigare out of a golden box and igniting it with a lighter held in his heavily, and only remaining, juweled hand, not noticing the stiffening of his partner at the mention of Cipher Pol, which she seemed to be grateful for, judging by her long exhale, which could also be mistaken as annoyance. After igniting his cigare, Crocodile walked up the stairs and out of the base to begin his journey to the sandora river, to receive the noble and his entourage. Nico Robin meanwhile sat down with a pondering look on her face. ''Could possibly the strawhats be the ones to chase the nobles here? But they didn''t seem like the kind of pirates to even harm a single fly, well except the swordsman maybe. But those are always a little bloodthirsty in that profession...'' she mused to herself but in the end putting those thoughts aside, since it didn''t really matter in the end anyways. Only the poneglyph mattered. It always had... ----------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, somewhere between Drum and Alabasta Azul had been sailing for two days now and it had been an enjoyable ride so far. No harsh weather, no enemies, pirates or seakings alike. Nothing but smooth sailing. But after two days of sailing without anything notworthy happening Azuls boredom started to show its uggly head once more and so he decided, since he wasn''t that far away anymore from his long awaited battle, to try and get some control over his ''ripper-state'' as he had grown to adress it, after all dogs rip and he was one, a mean one to boot, sometimes at least. Though he hadn''t made any progess after hours of trying and it began to grind on his nerves, slowly but surely. ''Why? What keeps me from getting some control over this state? Every other aspect of my devilfruit has been nothing but smooth sailing so far, well with a bit of luck here and there in between, but the point still stands. But when it comes to the metaphysical form my claws can take on it just will not work, no matter what I try... is there anything I am missing in all of this? Maybe I should wait until the next time I enter it instinctively and try to see what makes it so different than the rest of my devilfruit.'' he thought to himself while falling back in his seat with a long sigh, bringing his focus onto the wandering white clouds and the clear blue sky above until it lulled him into a comfortable state of halfsleep, accompanied but the gentle cradling of the waves. All until a nearby familiar sound caused him to open his eyes again, still slightly dazed from his imprompto sleep. ''What in all hells? This sounds like fire but that is just not possible. I didn''t set my boat on fire on accident right?'' That thought brought Azul back into the world of the living, who started to check his boat for anything out of the ordinary until half way through his check-up Azul spotted a weird surfing boat like thing not too far away from his own ship. On top of the yellowy vessel stood a man with his hands in his pockets, munching on an apple and looking over to his ship until he decided to drive over, literally. The yellow ship seemed to be fueled by fire, coming from the mans feet, which caused Azul to pause slightly in thought. ''Logia, hmm? And a strong one at that it seems but not one that can harm me anyways. Lets hope it is some c.o.c.ky pirate that''s looking for a fight. I could use some distraction.'' Azul thought while a grin started to form on his face. The man on the vessel was wearing black shorts with an orange belt and had an orange cowboys hat on his head while his upper body was b.a.r.e, just like Azuls. Coincidence? Probably not. After all both had the power to command fire to some extent. The man waved in greeting, which caused Azul to let out another long sigh. Seems like he really had to wait for Alabasta until he could get his blood boiling again. ''No matter, lets see who he is.'' He thought to himself while raising his hand in greeting as well, still sitting in his place in a laid back manner. "Hey there, I''m Ace. You got any booze to spare?" The man on the yellow vessel asked with a wide grin, hoping to get a little tipsy it seems. Against the boredom maybe? "I''m Azul. Ye, though why should I give you any of mine? You got something to pay me with? Booze doesn''t grow on seakings you know?" Azul asked back, not moving an inch from his spot which caused the man to search his pockets for some money or something and fished out a pile of Berry, throwing them to Azul, who caught them, counted them and nodded before stepping down into his little cabin and grabbing a bottle for himself and Ace before walking back up and handing one of them to the man. "Ahhh, that''s some good stuff right there. The moron that I sometimes am forgot to buy some for myself when I was on Drum island so I had no choice but to suffer the monotonie that comes from riding from point A to B. Booze usually makes that experience a little more bearable hahahaha" Ace said while laughing and throwing back the rest of the beer in the bottle. "You wanna travel together till Alabasta? Company shortens the time in my experience. What do you say?" Ace asked, turning around and opening the back of his little vessel to bring out a bigass sandwhich, biting into it with a crunch and chewing loudly, which caused Azul to pause before going back down and bringing a piece of already grilled seaking back out with him, sitting down in his spot before companiable silence descended between them, only broken by the occasional crunch. "So you with Whitebeard? What position?" Azul asked while pointing to Aces back, who swallowed before answering. "Ye, I''m the old mans second devisions commander. Say, you wanna join? You look strong and newbies always get welcomed heartily hahaha" Ace asked before laughing and throwing the rest of his sandwhich into his wide open mouth, swallowing it in one piece. "Pfff, over my dead body. Nothing a pirates life could give me I don''t already have. Besides I find it pathetic" Azul said, shrugging before stuffing his mouth once again with seaking meet. God, he liked that stuff. "OYY! Who are you calling pathetic you idiot?! I''ll show you pathetic! Well, maybe later.... Too much water around us..." Ace said, trying to bring down his own anger to not do something stupid. "Bwahahahaha, never met a pirate afraid to fight on open water bwahahaha! As I said, pathetic hehehe" Azul laughed, only making Ace more angry in the process who in response only increased the fire output on his feet, speeding off into the distance towards Alabasta while Azul was still chewing on his meet and laughing at the pirate he had just met. "We''ll see who will have the last laugh next time damn it.....!" Ace grumbled to himself while letting some steam of into his feet, his prominent temper once again getting the better of him. Chapter 36 Grandline, Paradise, Alabasta It had been a few days since Crocodile had received the call from Sengoku about the arriving nobles and every. single. day. Crocodile had been standing at the river, keeping watch for them, and god did it get on his nerves! It was the early morning hours of the third day after the call from the fleetadmiral and Crocodile was about to go nuts from impatience when he spotted a small ship sailing down the Sandora river, which was framed by the only vegetation left for a few hundred miles around the Sandora river. Crocodile grew excited judging by the large toothy grin that formed on his face, expecting his task to finally come to an end, until his brain rebooted and a frown exchanged places with the grin. Now this couldn''t be right. A noble plus entourage simply couldn''t fit on such a small boat, let alone the luxury they carried around with them at all times. ''Bloody hell. Don''t tell me it''s someone entirely different... I swear if this is life f.u.c.k.i.n.g with my head once more I''ll grind this damn boat into dust!'' Crocodile thought, biting his cigar so hard in annoyance that he bit right through it, one half falling from his mouth onto the ground. Soon the small ship had reached the shore not far away from Crocodiles position and a young man in wide beige trousers and b.a.r.e upper body jumped down from the vessel, landing on the shore, and tied the ship to some palm trees that stood by the side. Crocodile stomped over to the young man, still frustrated by the whole situation before, through grit teeth, speaking in a menacing tone: "Who the f.u.c.k are you? You better have a damn good reason for landing here..." after all, thanks to the troops Crocodile had stationed at the entrance to the Sandora river it should have been impossible for any other ship besides the nobles to sail up the river, but apparently that still hadn''t been enough. Well, the young man could have simply boarded the boat slightly behind the stationed troops but Crocodile didn''t really think very clearly at the moment so that possibility slipped right through his normally so keen mind. The young man walked over to Crocodile and with a massive grin on his face spoke to the warlord of the seas, completely ignoring his questions. "It seems we both could use some good old venting. You, waiting for a ship of nobles that doesn''t even exist, and me for having to sail the grandline in utter boredom thanks to the f.u.c.k.e.d up weather this ocean has. So lets get right to it little Croco!" the young man spoke with fire in his eyes and promptly rushed over to the still slightly buffled warlord. The ship of nobles didn''t exist? What the f.u.c.k? And how did the young man even know about that whole damn thing? There was something fishy going on here, Crocodile could smell it! But no matter. ''The arrogant little shit wants to fight? Gladly! I need to let off some steam anyways.'' Crocodile thought while ducking under a left jab of the young man, and followed it up by jumping slightly back to gain some distance from his opponent to assess him a little better before taking the initiative. The young man was tall and muscled, which told Crocodile that he was adept at fighting at the very least, if not more so and to top it all of the young man carried a certain pressure around with him, one he hadn''t thought to find in Paradise. Haki, and a strong one at that! ''This just got a whole lot more dangerous. If he was able to get his haki to be battleready than that means he has broken through a threshhold when it comes to strength which even I will be hardmatched to counter. Luckily I have my logia fruit, and am in a desert no less! Though it annoyes me that such a whelp managed to unchain his haki before me, a warlord and future king! No matter, his dried up carcass won''t be remembered anyway. But I will be!'' Finishing his inner monolog, Crocodile rushed forward while pulling of the protective shell from the golden hook, where his right hand should have been, revealing a purple steaming hook, riddled with small holes from which a deadly poison dropped to the ground, sizzling on touch. Soon he reached his envisioned fighting distance and thrust his hook forwards with a wooshing sound, trying to nick his opponent to give him a deadly advantage. The young man though seemed to have read his intentions and put his balance on his backfoot by moving the center of his being further backwards, and by doing so avoided the hook by milimeters, still having a bright grin on his face. Next the young man rushed forwards himself, right into the opening Crocodile had left after thrusting with his hook, smashing his fist, with haki enhanced no less, into Crocodiles ribbs, causing said man to buckle over, gasping for air and lifting him of the ground and sending him flying a few meters. ''What strength! I f.u.c.k.i.n.g hate to fight haki users... They take any advantage away from us logia!'' Crocodile thought midair while twisting himself to not land on his back but instead land on his feet, never leaving his opponent out of his sight, which proved to be the right decision as the young man had disappeared from his spot and was throwing a kick at Crocodiles legs to take his balance away. Crocodile in response jumped over the leg and tried to grab said leg with his left hand, which only landed on the ground instead though, cracking it by drawing in any moisture that was left at the riverbanks, desiccating it completely. Having witnessed what Crocodiles left hand was capable of the young mans eyes sharpened, jumping in the air to dodge the mans attack. Crocodile though interrupted his literal inhaling of moisture and rushed forwards towards the man, thinking him unable to dodge, now that he was in the air. To his surprise though the young mans feet ignited and fur started to sprout all over his body, while he gained in height and density. "First form: Unchaining the beast!" The young man spoke while opening his eyes, which began to shine with a nebulous yellow light, followed by the further bulging of the now large creatures muscles. ''Well, f.u.c.k! This just got a whole lot more difficult. A Zoan-user, possibly a mystical one at that... At least I''ve never seen a wolf/dog covered in flames before. Better keep my distance from now on. I''m no match in melee against a Zoan-user who is proficient in haki to boot. F.u.c.k!'' Crocodile thought to himself with a grimace on his face. Thrusting his left hand to the ground, Crocodile manipulated the sand underground while yelling in his mind ''Quicksand!'' and jumping further away to gain more distance between them. Though the quicksand proofed to be useless as the creature simply ran over it on, from flames billowing, feet, on all four, right towards its prey Crocodile. ''Great. Groundbased attacks seem useless as well. That means I can only use the sand inside my body or conjured sandstorms. F.u.c.k.i.n.g hell! My luck strikes again...'' Crocodile pondered with an increasingly dark visage. Gathering the sand in his hand Crocodile conjured a small tornado made of sand towards the man which increased in size rapidly, leaving the man no choice but to interrupt his charge and run around it, which let Crocodile gather his powers and giving him a slight opening to formulate a plan. Having reached a conclusion, Crocodile waited a little longer for the creature to reach him, which brought a large amount of cold sweat to his forehead at his own insanity but persisted no less. In the last moment before the man reached the distance to actively attack Crocodile, he manipulated the sand in the ground to form two large thorns made of sand, that shot up into the air, trying to scewer the creature, which in response leapt further into the air, carrying a large shroud of red flames in his wake before charging once more, kicking of from the air left and right to acc.u.mulate more speed. Crocodile in response, hoping it would at least injure the young man enough for crocodile to retreat into the distance by turning himself into sand, turned his left hand completely into sand and formed them into three crescent blades, thrusting them at the creature, which only seemed to grin in a mocking expression, seemingly fully understanding as well as Crocodile had just moments ago, that Crocodile had no way of winning this duel. His only chance was to escape and try another time with more aces up his sleeve. Seeing and hearing the attack from Crocodile, so accurately named desert spada, the rumbling voice of the young man now turned beast ground out, answering the attack with his own creation. "First stance: incinerating charge!" Following his words, the beasts legs hardened from the coiling muscles and the flames from the beasts feet climbed up its legs, now covering the whole lower body, until with a sonic bang from displaced air, the beast disappeared only to leave an image sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right side of the nearing desert spada, only for the beast to appear behind Crocodile with a reared back flaming claw, ripping straight through the mans upper torso, causing blood and steam to spill all over the deserts sand, accompanied by Crocodiles pained outcry and the sizzling of his cauterised wounds, not giving his logia the chance to heal his wounds. Chapter 37 Grandline, Paradise, Alabasta Rain. In Alabasta. After years of drying vegetation and dwindling water the people stood dumbfounded and crying in hapiness under the cool blessing the heavens sent their way, finally taking pitty on the poor nation. Though others, who were partial to the reasons why there was no rain in the first place, stood under the downpoor nothing but stupefied. Absolutely baffled. Crocodile had lost a fight? But, how? When? And especially important: to whom did he loose? Was that person maybe just a kind samaritan or did he have other neferious purposes to fullfill and the warlord simply stood in that persons way? Nobody had answers to those questions. Nico Robin was one of those people who had no clue about what was happening and she didn''t like it one bit. Throughout her whole life she had discovered that to stay alive she needed all the information she could get her hands on, no matter how unimportant it may seem at first, it may come in handy at some point in the future. Having decided to try and find out what had happened she rushed out of their base towards the last location she knew Crocodile must have been in. Yes, it wasn''t her best idea, if she was being honest with herself, after all who knew if the person that had beaten sir Crocodile was still there and may act hostile towards her. After all, she had been the partner of Crocodile for some years now. After jumping on a carriage, Nico Robin speed of into the direction of the Sandora river, not minding the pouring rain that was pelting her on her way, and soaking her to the bone. So busy was her mind, trying to find out what the hell could have happened. After a 15 minutes ride with the fastest she was able to find on her way out of the base, she arrived at the Sandora river. Though what she found was not what she expected to find. ''Wasn''t there supposed to be some nobles ship landing at the shore?'' she mused to herself with a mostly blank face. One conclusion she had come up with was that somebody atop the nobles ship had taken offense to something Crocodile may have said or done and taken him out as a result. Though that thesis had brought up a whole lot of other different questions. Foremost why that person hadn''t taken care of the chasing pirate ship in the first place. And so when she finally was confronted by nothing but a tiny ship, made for one person, mostly two, though that was stretching it already, she was expectedly baffled, alot. Walking over to the ship, Nico Robin found the body of sir Crocodile, leaning against its hull, ripped clothes, with singe marks all over his body, and a faint breath that would have escaped most peoples notice. Next she spotted the one who most possibly was responsible for the condition of the warlord. A young man with broad shoulders and a height of at least 2,30m, short shaved hair, strongly muscled upper body and beige wide trousers, who at that very moment was sitting next to Crocodile, chewing with bulging cheeks on some meet, which seemed to taste pretty good, judging by his satisfied expression, until his eyes fell on her. Their intensity was jarring and she couldn''t help but step back in reflex. He smiled at her in response to her reaction but that didn''t lessen the pressure she felt coming from the young man. Suffocating. Gasping for breath, she couldn''t look away from the young mans piercing deep blue eyes, until seemingly appeared as if out of nowhere right in front of her, laying a hand on her shoulder as if trying to calm her down while calmly saying: "breath, woman. No need to be afraid." before smiling once more at her and walking back towards Crocodile, lifting him up onto his left shoulder and shortly after throwing him onto the small ship, jumping right after him, after loosening the tows that held the ship at the shore. "W-What is your name?" Nico Robin called after him, now realising that she had to at least get some information out of all this while enjoying the freedom that came from the mans absent pressure. "Azul!" He called back before steering his tiny ship back up the Sandora river the way it had apparently come from. If she had to venture a guess, to find a marine base to get the bounty on Crocodiles head. But that didn''t matter to her anymore. She turned around and started to plan how to get into the palace to convince the king to show her the poneglyph. After all there was only one purpose her life had left. Reading the acient stones. ------------------------------------ After making himself comfortable Azul checked his passengers condition once more and focused fully on steering his ship up the river, to find a marine outpost. After all these months he had had nearly no funds left and it came as a blessing in disguise that Crocodile survived his last attack. Not wanting to look a gifted horse in its mouth Azul decided to make the best of this situation and so decided to just hand the man over to the ''authorities''. After a few hours of traveling Azul reached the town at the entrance of the Sandora river, called Nanohana. Jumping off his ship, and tying it to the pier, Azul picked up Crocodile and went looking for the local marinebase, which he found after a while of asking around. Walking inside the base, Azul was greeted by a young woman who seemed to be bored out of her mind, until her gaze fell on the body of sir Crocodile, that was still ontop of Azuls shoulder, which made her spit out the tea she was drinking at that moment, before stuttering a "p-please wait here for a m-moment" and rushing up the stairs to get her commanding officer who soon after came down. I was a large man, with lime green hair and a white jacket, smoking two cigares at the same time and a weapon hefted to his back. "I''m captain Smoker. I was told you brought in Crocodile?" the man asked with an unconvinced face. After all Crocodile was a prominent figure, possessing the rank of a warlord for a reason. Though his disbelief was promptly shattered when Crocodiles body landed right at his feet, which caused his eyes to widen slightly in response. "How in all hells did you manage that?" He asked the young man that was standing before him, looking him up and down in a new inspecting light. "He wasn''t that much of a challenge. I expected more from a warlord appointed by the marines. Hell, the man didn''t even know how to control haki! He would get utterly stomped in the new world..." The young man said in a bored voice, seemingly not all that invested in the conversation. "Hmm, so I take it you know haki then? What''s your name?" Smoker asked with sharpening eyes. If the man truly knew how to use haki than it made him very dangerous, even to someone like him, a smoke logia user. "Yes, I know how. My name is Azul. Now can I get the bounty from his head please? I wanna get some shopping done before leaving this island." Azul responded while sticking his finger inside his nose. What was it recently that made his nose start itching when he was talking to annoying people? "Ye, wait a moment. No need to get moody. Just trying to get some infos on you..." Smoker responded, after nodding to one other subordinate to get the money from the safe while Smoker bent down to Crocodile, and after taking some seastone cuffs from another shelf cuffing him in them, before he was carted of to a cell to wait in, until another marine ship would pick him up, bringing him straight to impel down. "Here you go Azul. Have a pleasant journey." Smoker said, handing the brought in money over to the young man, who without looking into the briefcase turned around and walked out the door with a lazy wave of his hand over his shoulder in parting. Smoker meanwhile gave orders to contact Impel Down to send a warship for Crocodile. He himself had some phonecalls to make. ''The higher ups won''t like it that one of the warlords positions became free without any notice. And of course it has to be me that delivers these news. Just my luck...'' Smoker grunted to himself in thought before walking into his study and picking up the transponder snails mic to do what he had to. Chapter 38 Grandline, Paradise, Marine Headquaters Sengoku, the fleetadmiral of the marines, was normally a very pleasant man to be around. His joking relationship with his longtime partner and friend vize-admiral Garp had often earned him amused expressions and smiles from his subordinates which he never really took to heart, always keeping his easy going behaviour up. But sometimes even that exterior cracked, just like at this very moment when a certain captain stationed in Alabasta had called him to deliver the messege that the warlord Crocodile had been beaten in single combat and brought to them for the bounty by someone called Azul, who from the captain Smokers words, was proficient in the use of haki as well. That alone wouldn''t make Sengokus mood tipp but the one thing that came along with such news had developped to irk him more and more over the years, to the point that he got unbelivably cranky when he was confronted by his nemesis. Paperwork! Oh, how he hated this abomination of their god forsaken burocracy. Sometimes he thought he should have taken the easy way out like his friend Garp, who just like always, was sitting next to his desk with a bag filled with ricecrackers in hand and a grandfatherly smile on his face, which made the glas that contained Sengokus emotions, tip over in conjunction. "GOD DAMN IT, GARP! WOULD YOU STOP GRINNING LIKE A MORON!" Sengokus voice echoed throughtout the whole building, making some of his subordinates wince slightly at the volume of the fleetadmirals words. Along with his words Sengoku stood up and ripped Garps crackers out of his hands before pouring them all down his throat which made Garp cry out in sorrow, which brought a sadistic grin to Sengokus face. ''Suits you right, damn it! Making me do all this crap alone, urgh!'' Sengoku thought, the returning thoughts of the incoming paperworks making him wince. With a knock on his door three subordinates, titled the apostles of hell by Sengoku, came in, each carrying a gigantic stack of papers. "That''s it! Whoever caused this will have a bounty on his head! I want him before my desk yesterday!" Sengoku roared at his subordinates, who after dropping all the papers on his desk, shuffled out of the room to carry out the mans orders. Better not to get on the mans bad side while he was in a fit. Only Garp remained, laughing with tears in the corners of his eyes, soon after getting smacked by Sengoku over the head, causing a new row. ''Just like an old married couple'' some of their subordinates thought to themselves, not daring to voice their thoughts out loud. ------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Alabastas shores While Azul went shopping, dancing in the rain in a good mood after finally having had his battle for the day, the flying lamb, and the strawhats along with it, arrived in Alabasta. Vivi though, having spotted the rain covering her home was gobsmacked. ''How is that possible? I need to speak with father as soon as possible. This may change the tide of the war in our favor!'' she thought with a happy expression on her face. And so they decided, instead of touring through the land in the hopes to stop the war from happening entirely, to head straight for the royal palace, hoping that Crocodile wouldn''t be in control of it yet. After Azul was done shopping, having bought himself some new trousers and food of different variaties, headed back towards his ship, planning to enjoy the rest of the evening in the tender craddling of the waves while consuming all the different meals he had bought for dinner. Tomorrow he would head out towards the sea once more to travel on to the next island and think about how he could possibly get the Cipher Pol to come out of their hiding in the future. ----------------------------------------------- Meanwhile the news that sir Crocodile had been taken down by a young man named Azul spread throughtout the grandline like wildfire. Who was this young man nobody had heard of before? Was he a pirate? A marine? A bounty hunter? Or maybe even a revolutionary? Many people speculated and drew their own conclusions, though none knew if what they thought was actually the truth. The next morning though nobody was surprised when a bounty was issued for Azuls head. Taking down a warlord of the sea meant serious danger for the world government and a smirch on their reputation to boot. Sadly, the marines hadn''t managed to take a picture of the young man, and so all that was revealed was an unbelivably bad picture of a nearly bald young man, as if drawn by a child. Somewhere in the marine headquaters, vize-admiral Garp sneezed in response to the collective thoughts about the drawing he had been forced to come up with by Sengoku as punishment for laughing at him. Though alot of people had been surprised about the picture of the man, nobody had laughed since the bounty and title spoke for themselves. Wanted: Dead or alive ''Azul-(no title yet due to missing information)-100.000.000 Berry But nobody was as surprised as Azul as he received the issued morning paper the next day. With a bright grin Azul thought: ''they got some nerves to issue a Bounty on my head for helping them out! Oh well, not like it really matters....'' Crumbling the newspaper and throwing it of his ship onto the shores of Alabasta, Azul closed his eyes again and went back into his peaceful sleep. Chapter 39 Grandline, Paradise, Alabasta The next morning Azul had set sail to the next island called Jaya, which was said to be a haven for the sc.u.m of the seas. Pirates. There were no marine outposts on said island so it stood to reason to assume that the island didn''t have any laws enforced, hence the right of the strongest dominated said island. After hearing this Azul had been beyond excited about the island. He had been near catatonic in happiness. Maybe he could find some strong opponent there and really let loose? And so he set sail once again, all the while sporting a gigawat grin spotable for miles. -------------------------------------------- After meeting Azul, Nico Robin had been a little out of it, not really in a state of mind to think about the future and how to continue to still achieve her goals. Though after trying to calm down for a while she finally succeeded. Going through all the possibilities that remained as options for her to choose from she, for the first in a long time, decided to pick the direct approach to a problem. And thus she rushed towards the royal palace. After entering it she spotted the king talking with his advisors and the royal guards which she promptly restrained with her devilfruit powers, sprouting arms which in turn grabbed the unsuspecting guards and turned their arms on their backs and bound their legs, making most fall over. The king, with a surprised expression took in her appearance but didn''t find any threatening intentions written in her face and thus remained relatively calm. On the inside though he was formulating plans on how to proceed in the best way, to not hurt his subordinates in the process. "Greetings king Cobra. I have come with information that could be crutial to your countrys future but demand a certain price for giving said information to you." Nico Robin said with a small smile on her lips, her posture relaxed. "I see. And what would be that ''price'' as you call it?" The king answered, using his many years of diplomatic experience to hopefully keep his subordinates from getting hurt any further. "Nothing you cannot give me, I assure you. I simply wish to see the poneglyph that is in the posession of the royal family." "The poneglyph? Why could you possibly-? No matter. That is an acceptable price. Now the information if you would, please." "Fufufu, not so fast dear king. I will give you the information as soon as we have reached the poneglyph. No second earlier. You may take an assistant with you to send the information to your subordinates on the fastest route after receiving them but nothing else. Now, let us move. My patience is running out..." Nico Robin said, her face turning blank to which the king hurried his steps, leading the woman into the crypt under the royal palace. "Finally...after all these years I''ll get my answers..." Nico Robin murmured with an ecstatic look on her face, completely forgetting about the king who only watched her, wondering what she was talking about. "Nonono, that can''t be... there is nothing written about the void century here. This stone cannot be the only one in Alabasta! There must be! King, is there another one of these here?" Nico Robin asked in a frantic voice. The kings reply though smashed all her hopes. Years upon years of preparations, pointless. With a selfmocking hollow laugh, Nico Robins back crashed against a nearby wall, sinking down on it, not finding any strength in her legs to keep her up any longer. What was the point anyways? The king watched her sink down against the wall and had an unreadable expression on his face. Could this woman really read those writings? And if so, why did it crush her so to not find what she was looking for? No matter, his kingdoms security came first. Always. "You promised me information. I would kindly ask you to now reveal them to me." The king said in a monoton voice, just like it was common for those experienced in diplomacy. "Sir Crocodile has been defeated and should by now be on his way to the marines, if not even Impel Down. Baroque Works is thus without a leader and sooner or later the whole organisation will be crumbling down. Though until that happens you should start cleasing your army from Baroque Works agents and make peace with the rebel army. Crocodile was the one that siphoned the lands rain away with the help of his devilfruit. Oh and there is a giant bomb in the clocktower in the middled of the city, strong enough to wipe out every soldier within miles....Now do me the favor and leave me alone..." Nico Robin told the king in a monotonous voice, devoid of any emotions while staring up at the ceiling with blank eyes. After hearing the womans words the kings eyes widened and as he turned around to tell the assistant what he should tell his subordinates on how to proceed a familiar voice echoed through the mausoleum. "FATHER!" "Vivi? What are you doing here?" the king said with widening eyes. He hadn''t seen his daughter in years and gods had she grown up. He could still remember the times she would cause havoc inside the palace by riding around on Carue, her running duck and trusty companion. His melancholic thoughts were interrupted though by her crashing into him with a crushing hug, tears of worry and happiness flowing down her cheeks, wettening his torso, but he didn''t care as he reciprocated his daugthers embrace. After a minute of sobbing and enjoying each others prescences Vivi finally let go of her father and spotted Nico Robin, still leaning against the wall, not even registering the whole scene. Not even after Vivi started asking her father what such a woman was doing here instead of being brought into custody which made Sanji yell in defense of the beauty it not being right to imprison the fairy maiden, hearts in his eyes, which in turn ticked off the Zoro who called him a lovecook which lead to another one of their little quarrels. Luffy meanwhile had walked over to Nico Robin, poking her on the forhead, and after receiving no response after a couple tries, had a giant questionmark grow on his face. Turning towards the king he asked him: "What''s wrong with her?" The king replied: "I don''t know. She read the poneglyph and after not finding what she seemed to be looking for collapsed against the wall and has been sitting there since then." He said with a slight shrug. "Now, if you''ll excuse me, I have a war to prevent and an army to cleanse." The king said while starting to walk away. "Wait, father! What about Crocodile? He needs to be stopped!" Vivi yelled after him, which caused him to turn around with a smile, saying: "Crocodile won''t be a problem any longer. He has been beaten and taken into marine custody." "W-what? But how? Who? When?" Vivi asked not believing her ears. "Yesterday by a man named Azul at the shores of the river Sandora. I spoke with him, briefly I might add." The voice of Nico Robin answered instead of the king, bringing life back into her former dull eyes. It seemed she had come to an agreement with herself. Though only she knew what it contained. "You! How dare you take my father prisoner! You will pay for that plus your colaboration with Crocodile!" Vivi yelled in an angry voice to which Nico Robin only shrugged nonchalently. "Crocodile and I were never real partners. He used me for his ends and I used him for mine. Taking your father prisoner was the only fast way to finally achieve my goal, though that seems to have been a failure in itself... I never really was an enemy of yours. If you remember correctly, I even offered you an eternal-pose to return to Alabasta the fastest way possible but your captain turned my offer down." "It still does not excuse your crimes against this country!" Vivi responded, a little of her heat gone. "And yet, without her giving me crutial information the war may have ended up even more fatal than anticipated. In my eyes her slate has been cleaned of any crimes commited. It doesn''t mean we are allies though either." The king said on his way out. "But father! You can''t just-" Vivi yelled but was stopped by her fathers firm voice, quenching any further protests. "No Vivi, enough of this. I have bigger worries than the fate of a single woman..." And with those last words he disappeared, leaving Vivi and the rest to their thoughts until Robins voice echoed through the tomb once more. "I would like to request you to take me to the next island, Monkey D. Luffy. I will pay you accordingly and afterwards we''ll probably not see each other again. While Luffy was still thinking it over in his head and Vivi yelled her protests Namis eyes had turned into Berry signs and promptly smacked Luffy over the head while welcoming Robin on board. Chapter 40 Grandline, Paradise, Alabasta It had been approximately been one day since Portgas D. Ace had arrived on the desert island Alabasta, to which the trail of destruction caused by his former subordinate Teach, also known as Blackbeard, had lead him to. After finding another trail Ace hopped onto his little boat and drove up the Sandora river to check some sources on the end of it, when a little ship with a strawhat wearing jolly roger appeared in the distance. At first Ace had been a little confused why that struck such a chord in him but soon he came to the realisation that his brother Luffy always wore a strawhat and that he became known to the world as ''strawhat Luffy''. Chiding himself for his stupidity, Ace increased the speed of his tiny vessel and soon reached their side, onto which with a rope in hand that reached down to his vessel Ace jumped, startling a good portion of the crew, who promptly drew their weapons until, to Aces happiness, his l little brothers voice echoed over the otherwise silent ship, as if it had been struck by some kind of melancholy before. "Aaaaaaaccccccce! hahahaha, what are you doing here?" Luffy yelled with arms spread wide, grabbing his brother in an engulfing hug. "Hey Lu! Haven''t seen you in forever hahaha! How''s my little bros pirate career going so far? Heard you caused some havoc in Loguetown the other day." Ace said, grabbing Luffys head from above, who started to laugh in reply. "Hi, I''m Ace, Luffys older brother. Nice to meet you all. Hope he isn''t too much trouble for you. God knows I''ve had my fair share of trouble with him in the past hahahaha" Ace said with a laugh, bowing to the rest of the now calm crew as they assembled around the duo. "Those are my crewmates. The guy with the swords is Zoro. The girl with the orange hair is our navigator, Nami. This here is Chopper, our doctor and Usopp our sniper. Oh and that over there is a guest we are taking to the next island, Robin. Pretty awesome heh? Of course I''m still the strongest around here gahahahaha" Luffy yelled with a mad laughter after pointing to his crewmates for introductions. "Is that so? If I remember correctly I''ve never lost to you Lu. Maybe it''s time I''ll remind you of that a little hehehe" Ace replied, smacking Luffy over the head good naturely after which he pointed to Sanji who was about to light himself a cigarette, which promptly ignited in a small flame. "Wow, thanks. That must come in handy an aweful lot. You ate a devilfruit or something?" Sanji asked while taking a deep drag of his cigarette and releasing his breath in a long exhale. "Yes. I ate the mera-mera no mi. A logia. I''m fire incarnate you could say hehehe." Ace said with a grin directed in Luffys direction who cracked his knuckles in excitement, a grin on his face. "So, where is your crew at?" Zoro asked, looking over the railing, spotting Aces small boat. "Ye, where is your crew? And your ship?" Luffy butted in, now curious as well. Ace in reply only grinned, after which he turned around and pointed at the big-ass tatoo painted on his whole back. "I''m the second devision commander of the Whitebeard pirates. Hey Lu, why don''t you all join us? You would all be welcome, I''m sure of that." Ace asked while turning back around. While the rest of the crew was gobsmacked that Ace was a commander of the strongest man in the world, Luffy only yelled his denial. "No way! I''ll become king of the pirates! And the pirate king doesn''t serve under anybody!" Luffy proclaimed which only made Ace shrug in reply. Though nobody expected another voice speaking up in the following silence of Luffys proclamation. "I would like to join your crew!" Came the silky voice of a black haired woman from behind the crew, leaning against the opposing railing. "nooooo, Robin-chan! You cannot leave me, I mean us! Pleeeease" Sanji cried in tears, having transformed into a buddle of water on the sh.i.p.s deck. "Ohh? And why is that miss...?" Ace asked, clearly not having expected this to happen. "My name is Nico Robin. The world government has been hunting me since I was a little child. The last few years I''ve been protected from them by hiding in Crocodiles shadow but now that I have the opportunity to join the strongest man in the world on his ship I''ll gladly do so to loose the world governments agents for possibly forever." Robin said with a small smile that formed on her face at the thought of that happening. Ace eyed her for a moment, seemingly contemplating her words, after which he only asked her if she was sure, which she confirmed and thus sealed the deal. Afterwards Ace pulled his bagpack from his shoulder and took out a small transpondersnail and dialed a number on it. After a while of waiting, which caused the crews breathing to stop for a moment, someone picked up the mic on the other end. "This is Marco speaking. Who''s this?" The impatient voice of a man answered to which Ace replied with a grin. "Hey Marco! How are things on your end? Dad having bit the grass yet? hehehehe" Ace grinned into the mic to which a roaring deep laugther echoed through from the other end. "Don''t get c.o.c.ky with me you brat gurararara" a different voice replied instead of Marco. "Ahhh, old man! Didn''t expect you to be near hehehe" Ace answered with an embaressed look covering his face. "So tell me brat, why are you calling? You found anything on Teach yet?" Whitebeard asked through the mic. "I''ve found some tracks but will keep on looking a little longer here in Alabasta. I have a trail that leads to the other side of the island. Though that is not why I called. I found a new potential crewmember that wishes to join. Her name is Nico Robin. She says she has been hunted since she was a small child by the world government, though why she didn''t say. What do you think old man?" Ace replied, his humorous face disappearing with the begin of his report. "Hmm, give her the mic. I want to speak with her first." Whitebeard replied. Handing the mic over to Nico Robin, who was slightly nervous speaking to Whitebeard personally, Ace stepped back a little to give them some space. "So you wish to join my family? Why?" the loud voice asked through the mic. Hesitating for a minute to think about what she was going to reveal to the man, Robin decided it was an all or nothing moment. If she could join then she would be safe for a long time while also gaining the chance to explore more and more islands and possibly find additional poneglyphs. And thus she told him. Everything. "I grew up on the small island Ohara in the west blue. An island renowned and popular for its excelent scientists. From a young age I was fascinated by history and in the years to come, after my first contact with the past from long ago, I began to study archeology. Soon I found out that the scientists of my home had found and began to study through the help of the poneglyphs the history of the world, before the world government took over. I learned to read the acient language, in which the poneglyphs are written, and along with it, after Ohara was wiped from the face of the earth by the world government for studying the true history, became a hunted fugitive, always on the run. I simply wish to study and read the poneglyphs scattered around the grandline, in the hopes to find out what happened in the void century, without having to fear the world governments lapdogs. Joining your crew would enable me to do that. At least I hope so." Nico Robin finished her story, releasing a long breath in reaction to finally being able to speak about her past. Whitebeard at first remained silent. But that silent was soon broken by a contemplative humming, until he spoke: "Alright, I will let you join my family. We will speak further on this when you arrive in the new world. What will be your next island to arrive on?" Whitebeard asked which brought a relieved smile to Robins face. Ace answered for her instead by saying in a loud voice: "They''ll be going to Jaya next old man!" "Alright, I''ll send a few men and women to pick you up from there. It can take a little bit longer but that shouldn''t be a problem. Ace! Give her a little of my vivrecard. Should anything unforseen happen she can find her way to me on her own." Whitebeard said, which caused Aces eyes to widen slightly. Was she really that important? No matter. "Alright, will do old man. Talk to you later." Ace said, taking the mic from Robin and ending the call. Afterwards he pulled two pieces of paper from his bagback, ripping both into two halfs. One he gave to Robin, while the one from the second paper he gave to Luffy, who only looked confused. "That piece of paper is a vivrecard. It will move into the direction that I am located at, plus it shows my physical condition. If I''m wounded or unwell it will start to slowly burn. Luffy only grinned and put the piece of paper into his strawhats headband while Robin put hers into her pocket. Ace, after handing them over to the two, spoke to Robin: "I guess that means welcome to the family now, sister hahahaha" Ace grinned after which he broke into laughter, followed by Luffy who promptly took this opportunity to party again. And so they did. But even that had to come to an end some time, which meant for Ace to go his own way, sadening Luffy in the process, but not for long. "Take care of yourself Lu, and I''ll see you in the new world!" Ace said with a grin on his face, hugging his little brother for a farwell, after walking over to Robin and doing the same, who was kind of shocked at the sudden friendliness just because she joined Whitebeards crew, minutes ago at that. Jumping over the railing into his little boat, Ace took off into the distance, waving back at them with a smile. "Alright, time to sail for Jaya!" Luffy yelled in excitement for a possible adventure. And ohh would they get one. though maybe not one they had been expecting... Chapter 41 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down. Impel Down. The prison of the world government and home to the worst criminals this world has ever seen, or at least those of them that had been caught. A giant fortress, hiding most of its might under the rolling waves, and build from tones of concrete, never to let its prisoners see the light of day again. At its entrance a man was waiting for the newly arriving prisoner, Crocodile, now former warlord of the seas, and from the moment he stepped a foot on the pier of Impel Down, the newest inmate. Said man was none other than Magellan, chiefwarden of Impel Down. Soon after he had arrived on the pier Crocodile was lead before Magellan with a mighty frown on his face. "Why am I still in chains? Shouldn''t I be supported by the ones I serve under? That was the deal right?" Crocodile snarled, enraged at his treatment. "Yes, normally that would be the case, though yours is a little bit different. You see, the first problem was getting your a.s.s handed to you by somebody without even a bounty on his head, which put a mighty dent into the world governments image of absolute might and being able to provide safety for the inhabitants of the world. Though that one may have been enough reason to let you keep your title as warlord of the seas. But soon after you were captured another piece of information reached our ears. Namely that you Crocodile tried to overtake the country of Alabasta and rule in the kings place. Despite the Nefertari family being an exception from the norm, they still are a part of the royal families, and you usurping them as part of the world government didn''t really sit well with the Gorosei, to put it mildly. The endresult is that the world government will release the news that due to you being an usurper an order for your reinstallment of your former bounty had been issued and the stripping of your title was the consequence, once you were brought in. Thus we are now standing here and me welcoming you into your new home." Magellan told Crocodile while a menacing grin formed on his face. "You backstabbing little shits!" yelled Crocodile, only to be met by a large fist to the face, which implanted Crocodile into the ground. Signalling for the other guards to pick him of the ground and follow him, Magellan turned around and headed, followed by the new prisoner, down into the prison, Impel Down. ----------------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, somewhere on the seas Azul was having a nice day so far. He had set sails yesterday, after seeing a marineship arrive in Alabasta and soon afterwards leaving again. He mused that it may have been to take care of Crocodile but didn''t ponder on the matter longer than was nescessary. The sailing, soon after, had been nothing but smooth and he had enjoyed it greatly. With a strong enough wind to make some swift miles, he had literally flown over the waves, his boats bottom sometimes even leaving the waves for a short period of time. Sometimes leaning over the railing, to keep his ship from tilting over to one side completely and sometimes just holding his face into the strong currents of the wind, Azul had been atop the world. Sailing the waves had truly gotten to him. The soft cradling of the waves, the sun reflecting in the waves, the unpredictable weather of the grandline, the bloodrush accompanying a storm only the grandline could provide and the stormy winds ruffling his trousers and carrassing his face. Never would he have thought that he would enjoy something as much as fighting but sailing somehow had done just that. He supposed it was kind of natural. After all the flame that he carried only grew stronger with enough oxigen and what else was he bathing in when sailing but exactly that? And so the hours went into the land, or sea would probably be a more acurate description, until on the next day he finally spotted an island in the distance. Already hearing the occasional gunshots, and smelling the gunpowder the wind brought into his direction, a bright grin grew on Azuls face. ''Lets see what entertainment you can provide, ehh little island?'' he thought, drawing nearer while taking a large gulp of beer from a nearby bottle. Ahhh, what a life he was living. Truly wonderful! Grandline, Paradise, Jaya Jaya, the stronghold for all that didn''t want to follow societies rules and regulations. The fortress of those that called themselves pirates. Though more often than not that discription ended up being a rather large disappointment as Azul found out, soon after landing on the island. ''Honestly, I think my expectations were a little too large...'' He thought with a grimace as he dodged another drunken pirates wild swing without looking, tripping said man in the process, who fell straight onto the table of a nearby group of card players, who cried out in frustration at all the spilled alcohol and messed up cards, taking their frustrations out on said drunk. ''At least some form of amus.e.m.e.nt is being provided...'' Azul thought, watching the row about to blow out of proportions in the small pub as more and more men and women were involved in it, laughing in mirth at the sight that presented itself to him. Walking out the door, Azul began to explore more of the small island that was littered with wooden houses, pirates miling about, drinking, f.u.c.k.i.n.g, drugging themselves and what not. Truly a cesspool of those not fitting into society. And Azul kind of enjoyed it. After all this island had something raw to it. Something animalistic which called to his beastly side, making his eyes light up in a yellow light from time to time. Though that had the unfortunate consequence for him that most men that were still kind of sober, avoided him in fear, like the plague. Feeling and hearing his stomache rumbling Azul picked a random bar and walked in. Inside seemed to be some party going on but the drunken ecstasy that was envelopping everyone inside. Walking over to the bar Azul ordered some food and was promptly served soon after. Carrying it over to a corner, he sat himself down and started eating in gusto. Until, a young man with short blond hair opened the door with a big man in tow, that he was pulling by the scruff. "Grahahaha, that executioner was weak as f.u.c.k! Should have given him a lower bounty if he is so close to mine grahahaha" the young man bellowed which earned him a row of cheers from his mates as he walked over to a table, grabbing himself a bottle of rum and a nearby p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e from the looks of it, he sat himself down among his crewmembers while laughing and enjoying his time. Not soon after Azul had finished his dinner and began tracking back to his ship, enjoying the rest of the dimming sunlight on his small boat, a satisfied smile on his face until sleep took him. Chapter 42 Grandline, Paradise, Jaya Early in the morning on his third day on Jaya, Azul strechted himself and with a giant yawn stepped off of his vessel, beginning his stretching routine that he once again incorporated whenever he landed on an island followed by the practise of some movements to get his tired extremities working, just as the sun peeked over the horizon as if to check if the air was clear enough to rise and shine. After another half an hour Azul was ready for the day and started to think on what to do today. Originally he wanted to find some opponent to fight against but all the pirates on this island seemed so unbelievably fragile that he didn''t feel like doing so. Instead he had decided to train a little in solitude, so his skills didn''t rust. And so he ventured towards the town once again to buy some breakfast, which tasted alright for his tastes. Could have been worse, for example if he were to cook himself. As he was wolfing down his breakfast and rinsed the remaining food down his throat some kind of argument attracted his attention from the outside. At first he thought it was nothing but the usual morons but then he felt his instincts glow in yearning, making him laugh in delight, earning him a few weird glances from the now slowly hungover pirates that slept in the bar, before walking out of the bar. What greeted him was a group of three men and two women, pirates from the looks of it, standing before a big-ass man with a white shirt and long black hair tied together under some kind of black bandana and a bottle of rum in his hands, occasionally taking a large bite out of a pile of pies. He had a menacing grin on his face, missing a few teeth, and laughing loudly after one of the group of men yelled at him which earned said man a violent fist into his face, making the rest draw their weapons in reaction. "You will pay for your crimes Teach! Old man Whitebeard will not let you get away with what you''ve done!" another man yelled before charging at the large man with a warcry, followed by his squad, all being swiftly knocked down, hard. "Zehahahahaha, the old man has no power over me and soon I''ll be unstoppable! Look at me now! I''ve already aquired the strongest devilfruit there is! Who could possibly stop me? You? Zehahahahaha!" The large fellow laughed, making many bystanders step back, except the occasional rockie pirate that thought himself to be a bigshot that could take on the world. One of those rookie pirates, ignoring the context of their previous discussion completely, walked up to the large fellow with a c.o.c.ky grin on his masked face. Pulling a long knife out of his belt and leaning it on his shoulder he couldn''t help but look down on the fatty. "You rookies get c.o.c.kier by the day, you know that fatty? If you are lucky my captain could offer you a position on his ship grahahaha" The man in the furmantle with the knife on his shoulder laughed, throwing his head back. Some bystander couldn''t help but murmur to some collegue of his: "That''s the first mate of Bellamy the hyena! Now the big guy is in some serious trouble. Especially if his captain shows up. Did you witness how Bellamy took out that executioner guy the other day? F.u.c.k.i.n.g scary, I tell ya!" The little man whispered, gulping at what he had witnessed the other day. "Rookie? You little shit are calling ME a rookie? Zehahahahaha! I''ve been sailing the seas since before you were born boy! Zehahahaha" The large man laughed the man right into the face, occasionally gulping down large mouths full of rum, bringing a slight redness to his cheeks. "You damn fatso! I''ll show you just who the roo-" with a bang the mans face got carved in and he flew straight through the crowd that had come to spectate the explosive conversation. Though it wasn''t the large man that had sent the first mate flying. No, it was another large fellow. One who didn''t wear a shirt but besides his trousers wore nothing but a bloodthirsty grin on his face, eyes alight with excitment. "So you are a former member of the Whitebeard-pirates ehh? My lucky day to finally find a worthy opponent at last! I had given up hope by now, hehehehe" Azul laughed in a happy manner, while cracking his neck left and right, never leaving the big man out of his sight. His words though made the crowds eyes widen in shock. Whitebeard-pirates? For real? And this moron was actually picking a fight with such a guy? "Zehahahaha, would you look at that! A man after my own tastes! How would you like to join my crew? Blackbeard is my name and I''ll be sailing for the new world once I''ve gotten myself a proper crew, Zehahahaha" Blackbeard said, while spreading his big arms in invitation to join him on his endevours. "And become your subordinate and a pirate at that? Please, don''t insult me like that. I want no part in your pathetic little band of treasure hunters or some such. No, I want only one thing, but you''ll probably not gonna give it to me for free so I''ll have to take it from you by force. Luckily for me, I like that part the most!" Azul said, bringing his left leg to the front and his hands up in a guard, a monstrous grin on his face, before he unleashed his haki on the surroundings, making Blackbeards eyes widen in surprise. The heat of the air rose, the ground cracked and small pebbles of dirt ascended around Azul slowly into the air while the crowd began to collapse one by one until only those a 100 meters away could stay standing, sweating bullets while doing so. "Conquerors haki! Never expected to meet another king here of all places!" Blackbeard said while standing up, unleashing his own conquerors haki, making them clash in between them, with none getting the upperhand. That however was soon forgotten as Azul hardened his face, all excitment forgotten, sharpening his mind, and rushed forward towards his opponent, whom he had admittedly underestimated. Never again! And so the battle began which would soon become known as ''the reckoning'' in remembrance for the one that emerged victorious from the fight... Chapter 43 Grandline, Paradise, Jaya The strawhats had been sailing for a few days now and finally arrived in Jaya, just as the sun began to rise. Not wanting to let such an opportunity slip through their hands the whole crew decided to leave the empty docks behind and explore the island. Though to a few of them it seemed strange that an island that was said to be a safe haven for pirates was so deserted but soon after entering the core of the city they saw why. They arrived on a scene of two people standing opposite each other while bodies littered the floor around them. One of the two people was a big man with black hair while the other one seemed strangely familiar to the crew until they finally registered the man. Azul. At first they wanted to rush forward to help him but a look from Zoro silenced them into not interrupting what seemed like single combat to him. And so they stayed and watched, over time understanding just how far away they were from being able to compete in the big leagues, or at least what they thought the big leagues to be. Azul meanwhile assessed his opponent, just as he did Azul. Until, not wanting to wait any longer Azul rushed forward, kicking of the ground in a mighty jump, throwing a thrustkick right at Blackbeards c.h.e.s.t. Blackbeard however turned slightly to the side and tried to backhand the swiftly arriving Azul right into the face with his fist. In response Azul turned on his own axis, putting one hand on the ground and while dodging under the backhand whirled on the ground in a circular motion, kicking Blackbeards feet out from under said man who promptly crashed into the ground, groaning slightly from the impact but otherwise seemed completely fine. Azul though pressed on, not giving his opponent any chance to recover, raising his leg into the air and bringing it down upon Blackbeard whos eyes widened slightly before swiftly rolling out of the way, and not a second to soon. Azuls kick meanwhile arrived on the ground and with a resounding boom shattered the earth beneath his feet, sending cracks through the ground in a spiderwebs fashion. Blackbeard though had used his momentum from the roll he used to dodge the kick to come back on his feet and jumped a little backwards to gain some distance, assessing his opponent once more. "I guess it''s time to bring out the big guns ehh, boy? Zehahaha" Blackbeard said while laughing in excitement to finally be able to test his devilfruit against a strong opponent. "Behold!" He spoke and began to get covered in darkness, which soon turned into a turning and twisting cloud right behind him, stretching and consuming a meter around the large fellow everything that wasn''t strongly fixed onto something else. Marveling at his own power Blackbeard began to laugh even louder and soon smashed his hand that was completely covered in darkness onto the ground, and the result made Azuls eyes sharpen in thought. "Black hole!" Blackbeard roared, covering nearby houses, people and trees in darkness, which caused those to slowly descend into the all covering black mass, making many a victim scream out in fright or for help towards their comrades who in turn shrank back in fear. Azul meanwhile was also standing inside the fog and felt his control over fire slowly get siphoned away which made his eyes widen in realisation. ''No way. He can even absorb a devilfruits powers? F.u.c.k! I gotta take this a whole lot more serious than I thought!'' Azul thought to himself, jumping out of the darkness, swiftly gaining back his control, before igniting his feet in midair into roaring red flames, now standing midair, and kept on observing the mad-laughing Blackbeard as he enjoyed the distruction he was causing towards his surroundings. Not long after his initial move everything he had wanted to sink had disappeared from view in the darkness below that began to receed towards Blackbeard. The moment it had reached him, Blackbeard thrust his hand back on to the ground and roared: "Expulsion!" which caused everything and everyone he had swallowed before to be spit out again, completely crushed from the gravity of his darkness. Azul meanwhile had decided he had seen enough to formulate a rough idea about what Blackbeard seemed to be capable of and crouched down as if to jump towards his enemy, though what he did differed a little. Not wanting to play around any longer Azuls eyes turned yellow with a flash and dark grey thick hair started to sprout all over his body, his muscles bulging, growing in height, while his face was elongating and sharp canines grew from his mouth. Finishing of his transformation flames exploded from his arms and the rest of his legs, accompanied by an earthshattering roar that made everyone present flinch at the volume, even Blackbeard recoiled. "So you ate a devilfruit as well? A mystical Zoan by the looks of it Zehahahaha" Blackbeard spoke while a few drops of sweat developped on his forehead. His control over his devilfruit was not as good as he wished it were, and fighting someone with a mystical Zoan would be a real challenge for his abilities! Azul meanwhile had stood up to his full height of now 4 meters until he muttered, nearly unaudible: "second form: forming the beast!", which tightened all the bulging muscles on Azuls form, reducing his overall huge form into a tighter, more human-like appearance while still retaining his appearance. One huge difference though was that his feet and arms now consisted of pure fire, as if they had been a piece of iron stuck too long inside the fire, shining with a redly white glow, the hottest form of fire. No more billowing flames to accompany him, no. Everything seemingly screamed efficency. After his change had been completed a glowing red light appeared in the middle of his c.h.e.s.t, glowing with a pulsating light. Having witnessed his opponents change Blackbeards eyes narrowed. He knew exactly how dangerous Zoan-users were in close combat. After all he had had the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e before while he was sailing under Whitebeard. He needed to use every chance he could get his hands on to siphon off the mans devilfruit powers or this would be a short fight, judging by the temperatur the mans arms and legs were giving of, making the air around them flicker in heat. "Black vortex!" Following his outcry a strong suction force enveloped Azul who at first resisted the traction by using the air below his feet to keep him in place as if he were to push of a rock for example. But soon he decided that this was a waste of time, since the gravity only seemed to increase, and let himself be pulled towards the blackhole in Blackbeards hand, who grinned at his success. Soon the grin began to fade though as he tried to grab Azul by the neck as he rushed towards Blackbeard due to the suction, only to have his arm grabbed in turn, making him cry out in pain, as his skin sizzled and burned under the raw heat of the beasts arms. Following that was a lessening in the tractionforce, which the beast promptly used to smash his other arm into Blackbeards elbow from the inside, making Blackbeards pulling arm focus into a different direction, away from Azul who afterwards was completely free from the suction, making full use of it. Letting Blackbeards arm go he slashed his claws over the mans broad c.h.e.s.t, making his flesh burn and the appearing blood evaporate. Blackbeard having no other choice but to retreat once more tried to smash his fist into Azuls face but he instead ducked under it, brought his left hand onto the ground, and pushed himself into an upwards kick, with his head near the ground, smashing his right foot straight under Blackbeards chin, who was lifted into the air with blood flying out of his mouth. Not letting the moment slip through his hands, Azul crouched down onto all four while Blackbeard began to fall down, pulling a handgun out of his belt, hoping to regain some momentum by wounding his opponent and not giving his enemy any time to make his move. Azul though exploded forwards, growling in his deep beastly voice: "second stance: rising towards the sun!" With an explosion of displaced air, cracking the ground behind him, Azul arrived below the falling Blackbeard whos eyes had widened in horror, seeing the brightening of the beasts arms until they were so bright it was hard to look into their direction. With an upwards jump Azul brought both of his arms in a crescent shape upwards onto Blackbeards back, slicing deeply into his backside, making him rise further into the air and cry out in pain once more, though Azuls move was not yet completed. He had thought this moveset out while watching the sun rise each morning. And so he implemented its rise over the sky into said move. First striking the opponent into the air with a slashing motion, afterwards increasing their rush through the air by a few kicks to the midsection and ending their journey by ruthlessly striking them with piercing claws straight into their sternum, crushing them beneath him in the earth. His movement was accompanied by the earth getting torn to pieces for 20 meters in diameter, causing the astonished strawhats and nearby pirates to wobble on their feet, until only silence remained. That was until a shot echoed through the air, hitting the unsuspecting Azul straight into the leg, making him fall onto one knee. Next a man descended from the sky, with wings for arms, right into the craters center where Blackbeard was located. The man hurried himself with retaining his captain, letting his walking stick fall to the ground, and pulling the uncouncious and heavily injured blackbeard out of the hole. Meanwhile Azul tried to rush over to finish his fight, but was interrupted by another shot that he managed to dodge this time due to his haki, though he could not spot the shooter which meant he was incredibly far away. Knowing he was being denied his victory, Azuls inner flame, fueled by the smirching of his honor as a warrior, roared and exploded out of him, increasing the temperatur around him enourmously, making the wingman sweat in dawning horror at the heat that was smashing into his face. "You will not escape your fate Blackbeard! Your life is mine by right!" Azul roared to the heavens, making his hands turn into black miasma which he brought in a rush down upon his opponent, trying to ripp his soul away from him. The wingman however sensing the danger, smashed Azul into the face with a foot so that he could only touch Blackbeards soul slightly. Feeling his instincts cry in satisfaction, Azul focused on the point of contact with Blackbeards soul and found some of the miasma still being present there, which he could feel like a beacon at the back of his head. Concentrating he formed the miasma ontop of Blackbeards soul into a mark, which drilled itself into said mans soul. ''I will find you again Blackbeard. And next time you will not be so lucky!'' Azul said with a violent grin, now having found a way to track down Blackbeard whereever he went, before turning himself back into his human form and marching out of the battleground while Blackbeard and the Birdman were flying away into the distance... Chapter 44 Grandline, Paradise, Jaya As Azul was leaving the battlefield, which could now only be called the former town of Jaya, nobody dared to stand in his way after witnessing the destructive power that he could wield. Meanwhile his leginjury from the shot had already healed itself due to his regeneration but that wasn''t the best thing Azul was confronted with. He finally had gained some insight what triggered his ''ripper-state'' and how he could possibly learn to control it. Happy with his discovery and still filled from the rush of battle he so loved Azul marched back to the surprisingly still standing bar and bought himself some good food. He was starving! The strawhats stood there at the edge of the crater in wonder, some watching as Azul marched back towards the bar they had crossed before, while others were still gobsmacked at the destruction of the city they had seen happening. Soon the group decided to join Azul for an early lunch and possibly gain some knowledge over the man they knew so little about. As they arrived at the bar they already saw Azul stuffing himself with a happy smile on his face and walked over towards him while Nami decided to order the food for them and possibly negotiate for a lower price. All for the money after all. It seems as if the story Azul had told her didn''t really manage to get through to her... what a pity. It was such an enjoyable story! Zoro was the first to walk over to Azul since he could respect a fellow warriors strength if he saw it, even if he didn''t want to admit that he may loose pretty fast if they were to fight right now. "May we join you?" Zoro asked, talking a big gulp from a beer he had grabbed from a table nearby, smacking the protesting man over the head he had stolen it from, who grumbled in protest but soon shut his mouth when he spotted the large group the thief belonged to. "Sure, have a seat." Azul answered with a full mouth and a happy face. "We just watched you fight. Where did you learn how to fight like that? And how do you train?" Zoro asked, wanting to know if the young man knew of a way to gain strength faster than what he had been doing so far. "I noticed. My master taught me when I was younger but since I''ve started my journey I''ve been training by myself. Well, except the occasional opponent but that''s part of the course work hahaha! As for how I train...well, that''s not something I will tell you about since I would give away knowledge that is not for your ears to hear and wouldn''t be much use to you anyways I''m afraid hahaha" Azul answered, all the while stuffing his face with the food that crammed the whole table. All the other strawhats were also listening with one ear, curious how he had achieved such a level. "But you must have been training for decades to reach that level right? Though that seems to be quite weird since you aren''t all that old. How old are you anyways?" Nami asked, not even knowing such a simple fact about Azul. "I''ve been training for nearly 10 years now, my apprenticeship included and I''m around 16 years old now." Azuls words made Zoro spit out his beer he had been drinking while listening in shock. "What the f.u.c.k? Only ten years? But I''ve been training for nearly 20 years now and I''m nowhere near your level! How could that be possible?!" Zoro yelled. Had he been such a slow learner all this time? He knew that his talent had been rather simple compared to Kuinas, before she had died, but he never thought himself to be so mediocre in comparison to some other folks. "Hmm, I can''t really answer that question since I barely know you Zoro. But I can tell you that I would possibly never have reached my current state without my masters instructions and wisdom to support my growth..." Azul said, his happiness slowly dimming until only a neutral face remained. Taking a big gulp from a beer nearby Azul watched Zoro and looked him up and down. From what he saw Zoro was strong, no doubt about that. Maybe he should help a fellow warrior this one time? After all he had been helped by the giants on little garden as well, though more passively in a way. Standing up, Azul motioned Zoro to follow him outside, wanting to see what the man could do but before he could walk outside a middle aged man with short blonde hair stepped into Azuls path, which made Azul raise a brow in curiousity. "I heard two pirates fought each other in the middle of the town today and one of them knocked my first mate out. That wouldn''t be you would it?" The man said, letting his tongue hang out of his mouth like an animal. Azul thought back to his confrontation with Blackbeard but there had simply been too many bystanders and he didn''t really care anyways. "Wouldn''t know. There were too many small fry and I''m not really all that interested in weaklings." Azul replied while simply shoving the man out of his way, walking outside with Zoro following right behind him. The man, stupefied by Azuls answer, grew a malicious grin on his face before turning his legs into springs and burst right through the wall of the bar, trying to take Azuls head off in surprise. Azul though simply raised his left hand and backhanded the man straight into the concrete where he remained for the next few minutes, until his crew picked him up with fear written all over their faces. "Alright Zoro, lets see what you''ve got. I''m not really proficient in swordplay but I know the basics and in the end your body is the most important factor in the whole equation when it comes to martial arts. Come on, hit me!" Azul said while looking at Zoro who pulled out his three swords, two in each hand while his most precious one ended in his mouth. Rushing towards Azul with his swords at his sides, Zoro attempted his oldest move. "Onigiri!" only to be stopped midrush by Azuls hand holding both of Zoro arms which were crossed before his c.h.e.s.t about to carry out a double slash from both sides. ''What the-? It''s just like with hawk-eye that time! Why is it that they can both stop me so easily? Without effort? Am I that weak?!'' Zoro thought while gnashing his teeth on his sword in his mouth. "No, you are not weak Zoro." Azul answered as if he read Zoros mind, making Zoro recoil in shock. "Hahaha, don''t worry, I can''t really read minds, only emotions and yours were literally written all over your face hahaha" Azul answered in a nonchalent way, with a smile on his face. "Say Zoro, how have you been training all this time? I can feel the strength in your arms. Weight training maybe?" Azul asked, raising an eyebrow in question, stepping next to Zoro while motioning him to follow him back into the bar, at which entrance the rest of the strawhat crew stood, having watched their small confrontation, if you could call it that. "Ye, mostly weight training..." Zoro answered as the walked back, sheathing his swords in the process. "I see. Well, there is never really a reason not to train in that department but it becomes pretty useless when you don''t train your swordplay along with it. Raw strength is very useless if you don''t have any techniques or fighting style to back it up. You saw Blackbeard earlier. He was humongously strong for a human without a Zoan devilfruit but he had no technique, only experience. Of course experience is important but the technique trumps all. If that aspect is superior to that of your opponents then even if you lack in strength compared to said opponent you may still win. Speed though is another matter all together. You are very slow. If your opponent can even spot your advance towards him it becomes increasingly harder to outmatch him since his eyesight is seemingly used to higher movement speed. My point is: don''t focus your training only in one single aspect but increase them all. Of course you can pick one and bring it to a higher level than the others but it is important to not forget those, which you did from what I''ve seen so far." Azul told Zoro, patting him on the shoulder and marching back to his table, sitting down again to continue eating. Zoro meanwhile was contemplating what Azul had told him about. It''s true he had been focusing on weights lately but he thought that he had never let the rest of his body and art hang behind. It seems he had been wrong. Time to change his training style a little. Though it made him happy that he hadn''t been completely on the wrong track so far... The rest of the strawhats joined Azul in his feast all the while chatting about this or that. Only Robin seemed out of it, from time to time staring strangely at Azul in thought. ''No matter. When Whitebeards men come here I won''t have to think about such things for a long while...'' Robin thought to herself and for the first in a long time putting her permanently pondering mind to rest, simply enjoying the good food with a small smile on her face. Chapter 45 Grandline, Paradise, Jaya Soon after Azul and the strawhats had started talking with gusto, eating all the while and enjoying the company of each other, more and more people started to crowd the bar as the day slowly came to an end. As the bar seemed to be the only real house that remained standing which provided food as well, they began to relax inside. A few people were very tense at first when they spotted Azul but soon began to understand that not every lethal person remained in that state of mind all the time and vise versa, so they calmed down a lot, which brought another change to the atmosphere inside the bar. Some people started to drink, while others pulled out instruments, beginning to party like the last day on earth was about to end. The strawhats of course joined in as well, inspiring Azul to do something he hadn''t thought he was capable of. Standing up with a bright grin, bringing some quiet to the partying crowd, they put their focus on to Azul, who only started to grin even more. Looking around he found a young sailor that was carrying an accordion leaning against a wall with a bottle of rum in hand, surrounded by a group of other young men, laughing and grinning alongside them. He promptly walked over, grabbed the young man by the shoulder and pulled him along, before jumping together with the young man on top of a table in the middle of the room, near the area for the dancefloor. Grabbing a nearby bottle of beer and taking a long gulp of it, burping afterwards Azul turned towards the young sailor, whispering something into the young mans ears, after which the young man nodded with a growing grin on his face. Azul, having achieved what he had brought the young man along for, brought his eyes on the murmuring crowd that was still quite tipsy and brimming with energy to keep the party going. Coughing slightly Azul started to hum a familiar melody every sailor knows from the bottom of their hearts. Slowly but surely some other sailors, having comprehension written on their faces with a grin, began to hum alongside Azul. Soon afterwards the rest of the crowd joined in until the young man started to play in gusto, spinning around his own axis already fully hyped for the thundering mellody that would soon errupt. And so it did with a mellody that made the bar vibrate due to all the voices that joined in, while bashing their jars in tact on the tables, here and there a small laughter in happiness penetrating the song they were all singing. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what shall we do with the drunken sailor? what shall we do with the drunken sailor? what shall we do with the drunken sailor early in the morning! Hey ho and up she rises hey ho and up she rises hey ho and up she rises early in the morning! What shall we do with the drunken sailor what shall we do with the drunken sailor what shall we do with the drunken sailor early in the morning! Throw him in the hull with the captains daughter throw him in the hull with the captains daughter Hey ho and up she rises hey ho and up she rises hey ho... and on and on it went. In the middle of the song a few people had decided to quit singing and started dancing instead which made Azul laugh in happiness at the awesome atmosphere in the bar before jumping down from the table, grabbing a gobsmacked Robin by the hand, pulling her onto her feet and onto the dancefloor where Azul began to whirl and sway in tact with his at first unwilling partner, which soon began to change though as her small smile cracked into resounding laughter as well, fully entering into the bars party, singing and laughing along with the rest of the happy crowd. Azul meanwhile was having the time of his life. Besides battling and sailing, his only interests, he for the first time experienced what a party was like. And for his baptism it was one hell of a party! And so they danced and danced, danced some more, occasionally drowning themselves in beer and rum, or stuffed themselves with food, until the crowd after hours of singing and dancing seemed to finally have run out of fuel, slowly calming down and falling asleep just where they were partying only minutes before, arm in arm with people they may have battled with instead, if the party hadn''t happened, and thus bringing a calm peace for the first time in many years to the small island of Jaya. Chapter 46 Grandline, Paradise, Jaya The morning after the party was accompanied by a lot of groaning and swearing to say the least. One of those people was none other than Azul himself, having drunk a shitload the night before, and through all the dancing swiftly brought it into his system. And thus we find said young man sitting at a table with a wet towel on his head, staring blankly up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pounding in his head. Besides him sat his dancepartner from last night Nico Robin, who didn''t look to be doing any better in that aspect, since she had never let herself go like that before. Even though she enjoyed the party immensly she began to doubt if the fun was worth the cost... Soon the rest of the strawhats woke up as well. Some groaning, and some like Luffy with a chipper smile, too bright for Azuls eyes so early in the morning, which resulted in Luffy taking a feel of the morning air, unwillingly I might add. A few hours and a good breakfast later, Azul was sitting at a table with his drinking buddy Robin, wondering how to proceed from here. Should he set sail tomorrow? After all he had been staying on this island for quite some time now and it was pulling him out to the sea again. His ruminations were interrupted by the whitebeard pirates limping towards them, which made Azuls eyebrow rise, not knowing what they wanted. Did they want to thank him maybe? "You are Nico Robin, correct? We are the members of the Whitebeard pirates that were send to bring you into the new world. Sadly, our current condition is not really something to be travelling the grandline with. Either you find yourself a different way to reach the new world or you wait here with us until we are recovered, which though may take a little bit..." one man from the entourage spoke, bringing a thoughful look onto Robins face, meanwhile Azul got even more confused. "Wait, Whitebeard? You joined his crew?" Azul asked into the thoughtful silence of the group. Robin turned towards him and was about to answer when another member of the group spoke up in her stead. "You are the one that beat Teach, weren''t you? Pardon me, you know him under the name of Blackbeard. Thank you for doing so but your help may not be received with much gratitude when it comes to the captain..." the woman said with a frown while Azul still hadn''t received a satisfying answer to his question, but he didn''t insist on one since it wasn''t really his buisiness anyway. Surprisingly though, Robin still gave him one that made him pause. "Yes, I joined Whitebeard to finally find some peace while following my dream. I have always been and probably always will be hunted by the world government, since I am the only survivor of the massacre that befell Ohara..." Robin spoke with a blank face, though her eyes spoke of all the feelings that ran through her at the thought of her past and Azul was probably one of the very few people that could see everything that was going on behind that fassade Robin was putting up in public. "I see. Ohara hmm? But you must have been just a child at that time. Why would they still hunt you? Or do you possess something they want from you?" Azul asked her, completely ignoring the rest of the group that had decided to sit down on a table next to theirs. "Yes, I do but it may be something a little different from what you may expect. I am able to read the ancient poneglyphs that are scattered all over the world. Back then, the scientists began to research those texts and the world government found out about it, sending a b-bustercall to Ohara, annihalating its existence from the map..." Robin spoke with milky eyes, not being able to contain a slight choke at the word bustercall, considering the horrible memories that came along with it. Azul just sat there, listening to her words, wondering just what could possibly be written in a text that would justify the extinction of a whole island but in the second he finished that thought, he chastised himself, knowing fully well that justice does not really exist. After Robin finished her monologue she looked towards Azul, searching for some expression on his face but found none. Just a blank slate with penetrating eyes that viewed her very being to the last cranny of her soul. It made her feel very exposed but could do nothing against it in the end, so she simply waited until Azul averted his face from hers, while speaking his thoughts, making her pause at his words. "You and me, we have a lot in common you know. We are both hunted by the world government. You, simply for your knowledge on how to find out about the past and me... well, I am a direct connection to the past. A personification what the world government feared with their whole being once upon a time. Luckily for me, they don''t know what I look like." Azul spoke with a small smile, lifting Robins down mood upwards alongside his own. "So, how do you plan on getting into the new world? It is still a long way until you reach Sabaody Archipelago, from where you can head straight towards fishman island to cross the redline for the new world." Azul asked, taking a sip from a glas of water he had gotten for himself, not being able to see alcohol so soon after drinking last night. "I don''t really know. I made a deal with the strawhats to bring me to Jaya, but now my plan seems to have taken a heavy hit. I may need to improvise..." Robin said with a thoughtful expression while also taking a sip from a glas of water to greese her raw throat she had gotten from the long and extensive singing and laughting of last night. Suddenly a thought came to Azuls mind, but he wasn''t sure if he was mad or simply had gotten acclimatized to the madness of the grandline. No matter, why not just try it out and see what happens. "Say Robin, would you be willing to make an agreement with me? I have an idea but it may potentially bring about your death." Azul spoke, making Robin grow weary of Azuls plan. "And what exactly would that agreement entail?" She asked with a small frown on her normally blank face. "As I told you, the world government is hunting for me just as for you, but what you don''t know yet is that I am also hunting them. Confusing, I know. My point is, I know that a group of Cipher Pol agents are undercover on some island after Alabasta." With his words Robins eyes widened in fear, taking a quick look around her but found nothing as her paranoia from the past had kicked in at the mention of Cipher Pol. "Calm, Robin. Nobody here could get past me, let alone attack you in the process. What you saw with Blackbeard was just the tip of the iceberg." Azul spoke, his soothing voice bringing a calmness with it that made Robins spirit settle back down. "The problem with those agents though is that I probably won''t be able to tell them apart from the normal civilians, except if they somehow break their cover. And that is were you come in. The bait." With horror written on her face, Robin slowly shook her head in denial, being afraid of the world government to the point that she had sat up rimrod straight in her chair. Azul though could see the real reason her soul tried to hide deep within herself for not taking this opportunity for revenge and freeing herself from her hunters. ''She may be afraid but her soul cannot hide her yearning for freedom. It practically radiates it outwards in a cry for release. Fear truly is a terrifying thing...'' he thought while taking away his eyes from her vibrating soul. "You do not have to give me an answer right away but if you agree then I will escort you into the new world to Whitebeards ship. So long as you are thinking this through, how about I arrange for a place on the strawhats ship to take you further towards the new world. This island won''t do you any good in the longrun anyways. And since mine and the crews logpose are both pointing towards skyisland, no doubt, I will be accompanying you for a limited amount of time. Do you agree?" Robin meanwhile was thinking about the pros and cons, not sure on how to continue, but in the end she reached out her hand and shook Azuls, who smiled a small smile that lifted her selfdoubting spirits once more. Afterwards Azul stood up and marched over towards the strawhats. He had a deal to settle after all. Chapter 47 Grandline, Paradise, Jaya After Azul had made a new agreement with the strawhats concerning Robin, he returned back to her, telling her about it, which made the whitebeard pirates turn into his direction, holding a transpondersnail in there hands. "We haven''t informed the captain about the happenings yet and considering you are the one that is controlling everything at the moment, Robin and Teach that is, I believe you should call the captain yourself. Wait a second, we''ll give you his number." Azul took the transpondersnail and after receiving the number, dialed Whitebeard, to tell him how things would proceed from here. "Who is this?" came the voice of a young man on the other end of the line. "My name is Azul. I''ll need to speak to your captain. It concerns a problem of yours and a new crewmember." Azul spoke, waiting for a reply from the other end, which ended up being a different voice all together, much deeper this time. "I heard you wanted to talk to me brat?" Whitebeard spoke in a bored voice. "Ye. I''ve recently had the p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e of meeting a former crewmember of yours. Teach, or Blackbeard as he calls himself now. Sadly he managed to escape." Azul answered with a grumble at the memory of the fights end. Following his words silence was his answer, which brought a slight tick to Azuls forhead. He didn''t have all day to chat around! "What''s your name?" the deep voice of Whitebeard rumbled through the mic, making Azul pause slightly. Didn''t the young man tell him that already? No matter. "Azul. Anyway, your subordinates got their asses kicked by Blackbeard so they''ll be staying here in Jaya to recuperate from their injuries. Meanwhile I''ve struck a deal with Robin, though she hasn''t fully agreed to it yet. If she agrees then I''ll take her to the new world where you can pick her up yourself or you tell me your location at that time and I''ll come to you. Either way is fine with me." Azul spoke in an equally bored voice while sticking his finger into his nose. Always this itching! "I see. Call me again when you reach the new world. And brat, thanks for helping my sons and daughters. I bet they charged Teach head-on like morons, gurararara" Whitebeards laughter echoed through the mic, causing Azul to laugh in turn at the faces the subordinates were making when hearing their captains words. "Alright, I gotta go now. Smell ya later!" Azul said and hung the mic up, faintly hearing the beginnings of Whitebeards laughter once more shortly before hanging up the mic, shrugging at the subordinates dumbfounded expression at his words. "I guess it''s time to prepare the coming journey upwards..." Azul mumbled to himself, walking out of the pub, down the destroyed road towards his tiny ship, boarding it to take stock of his supplies before heading back into the pub to order some provisions for the days to come. The strawhats meanwhile did pretty much the same, until both the flying lamb and Azuls miniature ship left the harbor together to sail towards a man that seemingly knew about skyisland from what Robin had found out by asking the barkeeper. Soon afterwards they reached the shore where said man was sitting on a rock, smoking a cigarette, observing the arriving ship, until they both landed at the shore and walked over towards the man. "Hey old man, we heard you knew how to reach skyisland?" Luffy grinned in exitement. The old man exhaled the smoke from his cigarette before grinning in turn and said: "Skyisland ehh? Well boy, let me tell you a story..." Soon they came upon the topic of how to actually reach said island in the sky. The knockup-stream. A giant stream of water, exploding upwards with such force that it ripped sh.i.p.s and even islands to shreds, making a few select crewmembers wail in fright, annoying Azul to no end. Walking back to his tiny ship Azul realise that it probably wouldn''t survive such a force, no matter how many wings would be installed at its sides and so he simply decided to run up there. "Alright guys, I''ll see you up there. Don''t f.u.c.k this up!" Azul said, grinning at the workout he would soon get, igniting the flames at his feet. "What do you mean up the-?" Nami spoke until she saw Azul igniting his feet, making her eyes widen in understanding. Before she could finish her sentence though, Azul grabbed Robin in a princess carry, making her yelp in surprise, and bending his knees pushed with a mighty crack the earth beneath his feet, jumping up into the air with a giant grin on his face, running with a passenger towards heaven itself... Chapter 48 Grandline, Paradise, ??? Blue, strechting endlessly. Now and then the occasional white cloud drifted through Robins vision, only helping to amplify the surfacing yearning that crept out of the deepest corners of her mind as she was carried through the endless sky. Never had she felt so, for a lack of a better word, free of every worry that normally plagued her mind, despite being held in a pair of arms not really having any freedom to move around, ironically. At first she had been f.u.c.k.i.n.g scared of the height they were travelling at, Azul being the only being that prevented her from plumeting to an early death but soon that worry had faded away, getting used to the pair of arms that held her steadily, the rushing wind that ruffled through her black hair and the slowly but surely distancing ground they had left only minutes ago. Azul meanwhile was enjoying himself alot, never before having used his devilfruit powers to travel to such heights, brimming with excitement for what they would discover up in the sky. What does a skyisland look like? Does it float on clouds? Does it consist of normal earth like the islands on the surface of the earth? If not than what were they made of? Did people exist up there? So many questions floated through his mind, just waiting to be answered as they were getting closer to their destination. Flames billowing, Azul with the grinning Robin in his arms reached a thick layer of clouds, so white that they were unable to see through them, rushing straight into said clouds. As they entered the white cloud they were met by some kind of watery substance, which wasn''t pure water but still caused water vapor to form on Robin, which soon was incinerated by the heat Azul was radiating, returning the vapor back into the clouds embrace. With a soft popping sound they broke straight through the clouds surface, only to be greeted by endless whiteness. Clouds, as far as the eyes could see, in all kinds of forms and shapes. The ocassional fin signalling to the pair that even animals existed in the ocean of clouds, somehow being able to swim inside the ocean of clouds without falling out from the bottom. Grinning to each other, Azul made his way over to a nearby solid looking cloud, touching one foot down at first, and after making sure it would hold both of their weights, set down completely, releasing Robin from his arms. Afterwards they stared in wonder at their surroundings, gobsmacked what nature made possible on the grandline. A freaking ocean made of clouds up in the sky for heavens sake! If they hadn''t seen it with their own eyes they may not have believed it themselves. But here they were, standing on solid clouds in heaven, for a lack of a better word. After all it really looked like heaven. "Unbelievable..." they both murmured at the same time, turning towards each other before both grinned wider at the same time. It seemed they both had been gobsmacked by what they were seeing right now. "Do you think there are people living up here? I mean there are animals swimming through the clouds so it could be possible..." Azul asked the thoughful looking Robin before she answered. "Possibly. I mean Cricket said that half the island of Jaya disappeared so it may have ended up in the sea of clouds and its inhabitants along with it. So the possibility remains that their descendant survived up here..." Robin theorized, walking on the bouncing clouds with a small giggle, before throwing herself into a bundle of clouds that had the height of a normal chair. Azul followed her example and dove right into a huge pile of clouds, letting out a laugh himself at the incredible softness that engulfed him, making him want to take a nap immediately, which he promptly did, while Robin kept on observing her surroundings, completely absorbed in her own thoughts about this wonder made by nature. While Azul was still napping, Robin walked to the edge of the cloud they were staying on, careful not to step into the ocean so she wouldn''t fall down to the grandline on accident, shouting over to the strawhats, signalling to them their position. At first the only reaction that came back was unbelivable astonishement from the crew that there actually existed an ocean up in the sky, not much different from the pair of Azul and Robin, but soon they registered Robin and Azul staying on a cloud which made Usopp do something unbelivably stupid. He literally jumped inside the ocean to dive towards the bottom! Facepalming at the young mans stupidity, Robin told the crew that had sailed over in the meantime, that they probably should consider getting Usopp back if they didn''t want to go look for a replacement crewmember. At first they had been confused until it dawned on them what came after the bottom of the ocean of clouds with widening horror on their faces, before Luffy plunged his stretching arm into the white ocean and Robin deciding to help a little sprouting eyes and hands on said arm, directing him towards the still diving Usopp that was reaching the bottom, just as Luffys arm grabbed the moron, pulling him upwards and throwing him back onto the ship, which earned him a giant smack on top of his head, knocking him out instantly, from their exesperated navigator at the mans stupidity. Azul meanwhile had woken up from the ruckus and couldn''t help but laugh at the stupidity displayed, falling back into the bundle of fluffy clouds, knocking him back into dreamland almost immediately, which in turn earned him an amused chuckle from Robin and a wide grin from Zoro who promptly jumped down from the ship on top of the small island, bouncing around like a kid in a bouncing castle at its birthday party. After having had their fun for a while the crew began to think about where to go next, while Robin stayed with Azul who was still soundly sleeping with a resounding snore of contentment. Their planning though was interupted by a man that had a giant bazooka on his shoulders, a mask on his face and skates below his feet, traveling with amazing speed upon the clouds. At first the crew was surprised that they would actually find another human being, with wings on his back at that, up here but that surprise soon turned into hostile confusion when the man without warning began to attack the crew, but was soon fought of by Zoro, Sanji and Luffy, though he didn''t really seem to be in any danger from the squad of three attacking him, showing that he knew how to fight at least. After the man had disappeared another man showed up, this time an old man wearing a knights metal armor on top of a weird looking, pink pegasus. A horse with wings! Offering the crew some information and a whistle should they ever be in danger to call him, the man disappeared into the horizon. Shortly afterwards Azul woke up with a giant yawn, simply picking Robin up again without asking her, making her yelp in surprise, before igniting his feet once more and began to walk into a random direction, soon followed by the sailing ship. Surprisingly they soon reached a gate, guarded by some granny that took some pictures of the crew and the airwalking pair, which brought some confusion to all involved but that was soon forgotten as an actual island in the sky appeared before their eyes bringing awe and wonder to every single one of the group. ''Heavens, how beatiful! I could get used to living in such a place...'' Azul thought to himself, not knowing that he wasn''t the only one that was thinking along the same lines. Nothing surpassed heaven after all... Chapter 49 Grandline, Paradise, skyisland As if pulled by a magnet the group, with giddy expressions of excitement on their faces, soon arrived on the island in the sky. The island itself wasn''t that much different from the ocean of clouds they had seen when they arrived in the sky. The main difference though, if there was one to mention, was that the clouds they had previously bounced around on were being used by the angel like inhabitants of the sky to build and shape their houses from, looking like they had sprouted straight out from the ground they were build on. Strolling through the streets Azul ventured through a lot of stores, only to be confronted with the problematic that his currency didn''t work up here, so they searched for a bank and found one. Surprisingly it was possible to exchange money from ''the bluesea'' as it was called up here for the currency of the sky ''extol'', which they did and continued their shopping spree, now tasting various foods until their stomachs bloated or they nearly spit the food out due to the strange tastes. The women of the group, namely Nami and Robin, of course couldn''t resist the female urge to visit the various clothes and shoe shops and ended up with a whole pile of bags filled with outfits they probably would never wear anyways... Usopp meanwhile had fallen in love with something called a ''dial''. A dial was nothing more than the shell of a snail which possessed various uses, ranging from recording sounds or smells, to releasing fire or wind or even absorb and release force from said dial, making them a possible combat asset for anyone smart enough to utilize, which prompted Usopp to exchange various dials with the various people of skyisland with things from the bluesea. Azul could only snort at the mans antics. In his eyes Usopp wouldn''t be able to proceed for much longer on the grandline if he continued to rely on his childish tricks. But he would hopefully learn his lesson when he met someone he couldn''t beat with such useless nonsense. Even though Azul doubted somehow that Usopp would ever really learn his lesson since he had a cowardly soul, from what Azul had been able to see so far. But maybe even that could change, who knows... Their shopping trip, as awesome as it had been, had soon though come to an end when a small group of similarly clothed men had arrived before them, calling themselves the ''white barrets'', the police force of the skyisland, and demanding the group to surrender themselves into their custody for breaking several laws that sounded suspiciously like bullshit to Azul, who could only snort at the mens words. When the men actually tried to grab Azuls arm, along with the strawhats behind him, that had yet to decide on how to react, Azul simply looked at the officers and released a concentrated wave of conquerors haki with sharpened eyes, making the people in his vicinity vibrate slightly, before the officers one after the other collapsed before Azul, bringing screams of horror about from the inhabitants of skyisland. Thinking the problem was resolved Azul turned around back to the store they were at when something inside him screamed to dodge aside, which he did without hesitation, and not a second too late. Where he had stood just a second ago a giant bolt of blue lightning struck down on the earth, ripping the earth asunder, and making the surroundings shake from the booming sound and impact the bolt of lightning had just caused. "F.u.c.k!" Azul cursed, having been too careless in his excitement and joy of the place, not suspecting any threats to be in his vicinity. A lesson learned the hard way which he wouldn''t forget so soon afterwards. Still shocked from what had happened, Azul arrived to the only conclusion that he thought could be possible in conjuction with what had happened before the impact. Someone was behind this and that someone had the ability to actually control lightning! Standing up with a jump from his sitting position, Azul raised his former lowered guard back up, now sure he was in enemy teritory. Walking over to a shaking blonde girl with a pink dress and small wings on her back, Azul asked her what she knew about this. "T-that was gods judgement" she stuttered out, obviously in fear from the lightning bolt. "God? I doubt that... No matter. Where can I find this ''god'' you are speaking about?" Azul asked with a frown on his otherwise hardened face. He had a bill to settle with this ''god'', whoever the f.u.c.k that was. Nobody attacked him like that and got away with it! "God resides in the Upper Yard, along with his four priests..." she spoke, calming down slowly after which she introduced herself as Conis and took the group back to her home where she lived together with her father, from which the group soon learned all the two knew of the god called Enel and his four priests: Satori, Shura, Gedatsu and Ohm. Each of the priests put the one to be judged through a trial, each different depending on the priests. Now that they had been attacked by god Enel, the two angels were sure that the group would have to go through with the trials, which brought a grin to Azuls face, now that this had all become a little easier. Soon afterwards they, instead of waiting for another attack, journeyed towards the Upper Yard, which in the end turned out to be nothing other than the island they had been told to go looking for by the old man Cricket: Skypea and its golden city! Though none of the group knew that they were in for a rough time the coming days. And so they arrived at Skypea. ''Let the battle begin!'' Azul thought to himself on top of the flying lamb, a blank look on his face, not betraying his thoughts to anybody that may be observing them already as he suspected... Chapter 50 Grandline, Paradise, Skypea The island god Enel resided on proofed to be one giant island covered in thick forests, occasionally interrupted by a random milky way, the pathways the guards of the island traveled over with their scaters, consisting of a certain kind of cloud that was easily formable and thus made into ''waterways'' that floated in the air without issues, making traveling that much easier. The flying lamb though was too big for those milky roads and so after some arguing on how to proceed the group decided to leave it besides a giant shrine in the middle of skypea. After having settled that problem the group split up into smaller groups, each wanting to travel into a different direction. Azul and Robin decided to remain a team with Chopper as third teammate while Nami and Zoro formed the second group, which only left Luffy, Usopp and Sanji for the last team. Packing their stuff the group jumped down from the flying lamb onto the solid earthy soil of skypea but of course not before causing Azul another giant laughing fit as he watched Zoro with an enourmous ''Tarzan-cry'' swing on a liana from the ship on the shore, toppling over Usopp and Sanji in the process which brought another row upon the group. After having calmed down again a little, Azul, Robin and Chopper set out into the thick jungle, soon loosing sight of the rest of the group in the process. ---------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Shandia tribe "Today brothers and sister, the proud warriors of Shandora will reclaim their birthright and heritage from the false god that has stolen our duties as guardians and our home from us, which the great warrior Kagara left behind to his descendants. But no more! Pick up your weapons brothers and sisters in arms! It is time for war!" A tall man with dark tanned skin and tribal tatoos spoke passionately to a crowd of his fellow warriors before him who answered his call for vengence and retribution in kind and so once more the proud warriors of Shandora went to war. But this time it was a gamble they were all aware of. Either they would succeed or loose and perish in the process! ------------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Upper Yard A tall muscled man with short blond hair hidden partially under a white bandana, b.a.r.e upper body, which had a ring made of metal sticking out of his back like a halo for his head, and yellow-black wide pants on, was sitting on top of a thick branch with legs dangling lazily over its edge. Opening his eyes slowly and bringing his focus back to the here and now, god Enel couldn''t help but laugh in mirth. "Ahhh, finally the Shandia have arrived in the Upper Yard, and thus all pieces have assembled for the final battle over gods garden hahahahaha! Just as I, god, have fortold it would be happening and so it did. Let us see how many of you will remain in the end and if any of you are worthy enough to follow me into my destined kingdom, Fairyworth hahahaha!" God Enel spoke, after which he disappeared with the sizzling sound of an electric current, transforming himself into a small bolt of lightning, right towards the soon to arrive warriors of the Shandia to begin the battle royal! -------------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Skypea As they passed through the thick bushes and trees of the jungle they were currently in, Azuls instincts started to tingle slightly once again making him pause in his steps, earning him a curious look from Chopper and Robin, before he simply smiled at them, continuing right behind them, already having passed a few old stony ruins, indicating them getting closer to what must be remains of an old civilisation, possibly the golden city itself. Azuls mind though was occupied by his instincts that began to flare up a little now and then. Having enough of the uncertainty, Azuls eyes grew minimally sharper, stretching out his observation haki as far as he could, covering about half of Skypea with it. Frowning a little at his limited view due to it not being his strongest ability, he vowed to continue honing this ability more. But soon his musings came to a stop when his perception came upon two different groups of people that seemed to be fighting by the emotions that were covering the groups like a fog of rage and bloodl.u.s.t. One group seemed to consist of some kind of tribal warriors while the others were all clad in white, making cackling noises like goats, making Azul pause once again. This time though he didn''t smile since his haki had come upon another person. That person radiated arrogance to the extreme and moved with such speed that it was extremely hard for Azul to keep up with him, though that was only the case when said person moved in jumping motions from his perspective. Sometimes he seemed to remain standing in front of an opponent, that judging by his emotions began to slowly fall into despair, which only made said mans arrogance grow in glee, until without a warning said arrogant mans opponents life disappeared from Azuls view like a flickering candle in the wind, simply extinguished. ''Judging by the mans spiritual strength I believe this should be Enel and it seems he is proficient in the use of observation haki as well, though no signs of armament haki...'' Azul thought to himself, having stopped walking completely for a few seconds now while observing what was happening on Skypea, bringing slight worry to Robin and Chopper as they saw his blank face, not knowing what made Azul pause. In fact they had looked around themselves quite worried for some time, thinking there might be enemies nearby but had found none so their worry morphed into confusion, at least in Choppers case. In Robins case her experience taught her not to jump to conclusions without proof that you weren''t in trouble and thus she remained vigilant, until Azul finally brought his focus back on to the two, speaking what he had discovered. "It seems we have stumble into the middle of a war of some kind between a tribe of warriors and what must be the enforcers of Enels rules. But the small fry shouldn''t be of any worry to us. The only threat we need to be careful of is Enel himself and something tells me we''ll meet sooner than we expected..." Azul said, murmuring the last words mostly to himself and yet in the process informing the both of them about his thoughts, bringing clear worry to Robins face and an anxious one to Choppers. Whatever made Azul become cautious could be a lethal threat to Robin and Chopper, which both of them were very aware of. Nonetheless the group stepped further into the ruins, burying their thoughts for times when it was nescessary to worry and focus on the here and now. And so they marched on, soon reaching a giant city made of stone. Chapter 51 Grandline, Paradise, Skypea As Robin, Chopper and Azul breached the thick treeline a gigantic city in old aztec-style appeared before their eyes, making the group pause in awe at the pure beauty this ruin, of a surely once prosperous city, presented to them. At the end of the city from their viewpoint stood some kind of gigantic pyramid, though they were unable to see its top since it was breaching the clouds that had settle like a blanket over the city at a certain height, which made the group wonder what was above it. Behind the temple the beginnings of a truly enourmous vine began, which sprouted straight up into the sky, so thick that it was impossible to see where the treeline began and where the vine started, as it was broader than the city itself! Slowly tracking forwards, the group walked through the empty ruins, broken down pieces of art that remained in some compasity, not speaking a word, completely submerged in the atmosphere the city presented to them. Robin started to observed a few carvings, absorbed in her thoughts and seemingly trying to figure out what was written in them, while Chopper peeked inside some empty houses, curiously and a little afraid about what he may find. Azul on the other hand was totally submerged in the ancient feeling of this city, making something inside of him vibrate on a miniscule level, making him wonder what this feeling was all about but in the end couldn''t figure it out since said sensation was just to small and so he shoved it to the back of his mind. Maybe in the future it would resolve itself. After having contemplated the sensation this city brought to him for a good while, Azul returned to the other two who had by now reached the giant temple in the middle of the city and so the group began to climb up its steep staircase. When they reached the top though, only an empty platform greeted them. Though at its edges dents remained as if something incredibly heavy had stood on the platform for quite a long time, but not being able to figure it out the trio took the next staircase at the end of the platform, bringing them right below the clouds surface and with a strong jump, carrying Chopper and Robin with him, Azul jumped right through the clouds. As they landed and Azul put down his two companions, he became aware of a group of people that stood in a line facing another man, sitting on top of a round ball. Recognizing the mans aura, Azuls eyes sharpened, pushing Robin and Chopper behind him, telling them to leave this place and search for cover. The group of people also had discovered the trio and made some pause, while others grinned. Nami, who had hidden herself behind another wall decided to swiftly run over to Chopper and Robin, bringing a little surprise to Enels face, not having expected another participant. But that was soon forgotten as he took in the people in front of him with an arrogant grin on his face, laughing at the fun he had had the last couple hours, making two of the group of opponents grit their teeth in anger at Enel. "And so it seems the last survivors of our little game have reached the final hurdle from which the best will be allowed to follow me to Fairyworth hahahaha!" Enel said in a lazy tone, laughing at his upcoming final journey he had waited for for so long. "You will pay for what you''ve done Enel!" the tribal warrior roared at Enel, bringing out his bazooka and taking aim at Enel, who only grinned in reply, while Ganfall, the old knight in metal armor pointed his lance at Enel with a determined expression on his face, saying nothing and Zoro unsheathing his swords. Azul meanwhile stood behind the group, not sure what all the circus was about. If they wanted to fight than they should get on with it already instead of swinging big speeches! Waiting for the tribal warrior to finish his proclaimed challenge and finally charge at Enel, Azul sat down with a neutral look on his face, making Nami sweat behind the stone walls at the sight. Though the warrior named Viper, as Enel called him after laughing in his face, never got to actually attack. At least not before Ganfall attacked with a dash towards Enel, who looked extremely bored in turn. Soon Ganfall was in front of Enel and pierced said man straight through the torso, electrifying him in turn before materialising right besides said man and piercing his head with a current of lightning, charring him black in the process and with a thud send him to the ground, unconcious or dead. Azuls eyes sharpened at the sight. ''A logia, and from the looks of it one that personifies lightning or electricity. What a deadly power! Luckily nobody possesses those abilities in the new world!'' which brought a small shiver to Azuls otherwise relaxed posture at the thought. This man needed to be taken care of! Robin meanwhile was shivering in fright at having witnessed the mans abilities. To her knowledge, certain logia-users were near invicible, if their fruit didn''t have a weakness like Crocodiles that could be exploited. "A lightning logia, one of the invincible powers...we are doomed..." she said in a tremoring voice, which only made Azul chuckle in turn, confusing Robin to no end. Did he not realise that this man could not be hurt by anything but seastone? She really couldn''t understand Azuls carefree posture. "You will soon come to understand Robin that the part of the grandline you have traveled on so far only contains the absolute bottom of the hirarchy when it comes to strength. Nobody is invincible, no matter what fruit they ate. A strong spirit can topple the whole world!" Azul said as if he had read Robins thoughts, confusing her even more. After watching the rest of the group get taken out by currents of lightning Azul stood up and walked over to the slightly charred Zoro, and after checking his pulse, threw him over to the hiding group, who started to look after said man. Azul though turned back around to the cackling godling, face hardening and eyes sharpening. "Watch and learn girl and you may yet see something you thought impossible, saving you from the bottomless pit you burrowed yourself in, believing that some people can always kill you whenever they want, no matter what you do. But believe me when I say: You are wrong!" Azul spoke, now fully focusing on the battle that was soon to follow... Chapter 52 Grandline, Paradise, Skypea God. That is who he was and always had been meant to be. In his younger years, before he had acquired his power over lightning and thunder, his proclamations that he was destined for something greater had earned him ridicule and laughter. Until one day Enel had come upon a weird fruit and from that moment onwards he had known that everything would become different. Fate was calling him to his righteous kingdom. Fairyworth! And to reach it he had been bestowed with the means to achieve that. Now he was the culmination of natures fury, and nobody would be laughing about him anymore! With a mocking grin on his face Enel observed his opponent, measuring if he was worth anything. True, the young man struck an imposing figure with his three meters in height and the defined muscles to support the height. Maybe a new bodyguard? Enel mused to himself. ''Let''s test how good he would be at such a job now, shall we...'' Reaching a satisfying conclusion in his thoughts, god Enels body began to spark with blue electricity, covering him wholy. Raising his right hand towards the heavens, he grinned widely, and spoke the words that had brought him so much satisfaction, whenever he saw the fear in the inhabitants of the sky upon hearing them. "Judgement!" and snapped his hand down towards the ground. The following seconds everything was engulfed in blinding light, followed a few seconds later by a resounding boom only lightning could produce, signalling the arrival of his strike to judge his soon to be follower. Though after seeing that his opponent had disappeared before his very eyes, even with his enhanced perception of the world around him, made Enels eyes widen in shock. Though only until a flaming claw ripped through his stomaches flesh, bringing a sensation to Enel which he hadn''t felt since he was a small boy. Pain! Unberable, searing pain! With an outcry of said pain, Enel watched as the claw, covered in blood eveporated his lifes nectar, only to rush upwards to his bowed head, attempting to rip Enels head from his shoulders. With reflexes god Enel didn''t know he possessed, he transformed into a current of lightning, though without his fine control that he normally possessed, and smashed into the stony ground approximately 50 meters away from his prior position, ripping the ground apart due to the overload he would normally be able to control. Pressing his hand to his stomach, Enel still couldn''t believe his eyes, and so couldn''t everybody else who was watching the god bleed onto the ground. He was lightning! How could a mere mortal rip into his flesh like this? How dare this peasant! He would pay for his insolence! With a roar of rage Enels whole body transformed into lightning and grew in height, transforming into an imposing manifestation of the literal god of lightning: "Raijin!" Robin, having seen a logia getting ripped into literally couldn''t believe her eyes. This simply wasn''t possible! How was he able to achieve that? Logias weren''t touchable, and she knew. She had tried countless times in the past but always came out the lesser and yet here she was, being witness to something she had given up upon long ago as a hopeless endevour. After freeing herself from her astonishment Robins brain rebooted and she returned to her sharp-minded self. ''If Azul is able to hurt logia users than doesn''t that mean I can be freed from A-Aokijis looming shadow? Please, please let it be so! Please don''t let this be a dream!'' Robin thought to herself, her whole body shaking, which gave Nami the impression that she was afraid, so she tried to calm her down with a soothing voice, not knowing that Robin wasn''t afraid. No. Robin was excited! Freedom was finally in reach and she would be damned if she threw her chance away to live! Azul meanwhile was observing his opponent who was transforming into the literal incarnation of the god of thunder and lightning, towering even over Azuls head. ''Truly, a logia based on thunder and lightning is a terrifying object of destruction... This man cannot be alowed to live on! The only worry I have is that someone else, much more dangerous may acquire his devilfruit after I have taken him out... No matter, one step at a time!'' Azul thought to himself, making his eyes flash yellow and his body grow in height to match his opponents, fur growing all over his body, face elonggating and fangs sprouting from his snout, letting out an earthshattering roar, as the flames on his feet and arms burned brighter and billowed higher as if to challenge the heavens. With a chuckle Azul realized just how ironic this battles scene was. A gigantic wolf like creature challenging the incarnation of thunder and lightning. ''Who would have thought that myths and legends could be brought back to life in such an unsuspecting manner...'' With another roar, Azul vanished from his position, dodging a dragonic beam of lightning, which crushed the ground it impacted on, all the while thunder and lightning rumbled and cracked overhead in the sky as if it was the end of the world, Ragnarok! Jumping to meet his opponent, Enel brought both of his fists up into the air and tried to strike his opponent down into the ground but got disappointed in the end. The beast, reacting too fast for Enel to realise, kicked against the air once more before twisting around his own axis, avoiding the hammer like attack meant for its head, bringing his right leg to bear with a whip like velocity onto Enels skull from the side, but against Enels expectations, didn''t pass right through but instead with a crack impacted his actual skull, sending the god flying with a boom from the displaced air, smashing him through a few buildings until he came to a stop by rolling a few times, his head in a gigantic haze, not used to the bodily damage and pain at all. With a groan Enel tried to stand up, having had to discard his Raijin form due to the strain it caused on his hurting skull, thanks to the kick of this damned beast! Though his raging thoughts on how to turn around the battle into his favor were rudely interrupted by the beast appearing right before him, simply standing on air with flaming feet, though what happened next scared the living shit out of Enel. The beasts flames turned black, into a vapor like substance and before Enel could react were plunged into his c.h.e.s.t. At first he panicked, expecting burning pain. Though none came, until he thought his opponent had made a mistake and was preparing to grab onto his foes hand to shock the living shit out of the beast when suddenly without warning, his eyes turned black and a flailing pain engulfed his whole body, making him scream though the only thing that happened was his mouth opening, nothing coming out. Soon afterwards something ethereal was dragged out of Enels body, which he could barely see anymore, his eyes turning dim and dark and soon he could see no more at all, collapsing with a thud onto the hard and cold floor of the acient city below, becoming his grave along all the people who had died here in the past before him. Everything was silent in the ruins. Everybody who was still able to keep his or her eyes open had spactated the duel between god and beast and were now watching as the beast turned back into his human form, the soul of the god still in his hands, twisting and turning in agony. Though some began to speculate who possessed more qualifications to proclaim himself a god between the two foes, after watching one rip the literal soul out of the other, before after inspecting it for a few second letting his black, vaporizing arms turn back into roaring red flames, burning the silently screaming soul into nothingness, until silence reigned supreme. Viper, having witnessed the whole fight and now the death of his sworn enemy could finally fall back onto his homes and fatherlands earth, letting his tears run freely down his cheeks, completely submerging himself in the bliss of victory, even if he hadn''t brought it to fruition of his own. He cried in silence, remembering all his brothers and sisters that had lost their lifes in the struggle for their homeland and could now rest in peace. Azul meanwhile walked back over to the group hidden behind the stonewalls, being met by Robins arms, wrapping around himself while slightly crying into his c.h.e.s.t, whispering so only he could hear: "Thank you..." , before turning around, sitting down against the stonewall and submerging herself in the bliss that came with the knowledge that not everything was lost yet. Joining her silently sitting leaned against the wall, Azul and Robin observed as Chopper kept on fussing over the charred Zoro, who was groggily sitting up, before standing up and taking in his surroundings, ignoring the docs fretting, though not for long as Chopper had gotten increasingly frustrated, suddenly morphing into his heavy point, smacking Zoro over the head, back into unconciousness, which made Azul grin in amus.e.m.e.nt until he closed his eyes and fell asleep, having completed what he set out to do for the day, and it never got old, the afterglow of the battle. Chapter 53 Grandline, Paradise, Skypea After the defeat of god Enel a giant party was held in honor of the one who slayed the hated god. And yet said man didn''t really attend his own party all that much. Instead he had chosen to venture through the old ruins of Shandora, contemplating the weird feeling in the back of his mind that he had experienced the first time he entered the city and did now once again. So absorbed had he been that he didn''t even realise where his feet had been carrying him until he stood at the foot of the giant vine that pierced the sky from the middle of the island. After realising where he was Azuls curiousity had been picked on how far up the vine reached and so decided in a slightly drunken state to walk up the thing, just for the hell of it. He walked and walked and soon he had completely sobered from his earlier drinking, now able to take in the unbelivable view he had from up there. As if in trance, not knowing what drove him to keep going, Azul kept on walking further upwards, until after what felt like hours he came about a solitary patch of cloud to the side of the vine. At first he was confused when he came upon said cloud, not really understanding what a single patch of the cloud was doing so far up here when the rest didn''t even travel up halfway as far as this one did. But that confusing soon turned into stunned wonder as he took in the giant golden bell that sat, as if on a pedestal, at the top of the vine as if it was the highest good to perceive in all the heavens. With a jump Azul landed on the patch of clouds and walked up to the giant golden bell. It shimmered slightly in the rising sun that had began to come on up on the horizon, illuminating him in a golden shimmer. With a grin on his face Azul decided to wake his party companions from their drunken slumber with a melody that hadn''t been heard for a very long time indeed. Walking up to the giant bell, Azul pulled on the chain that made the giant bell ring and with a resounding ''gong'' rang the giant bell, echoing all over the skies and possibly even down to the grandline itself, bringing with it a beautiful melody rarely heard, if ever. All over the land down below and even further down on the grandline, people heard the emenating sounds of a bell tolling, marveling and in some cases weaping at finally hearing the bell ring for the first time in centuries. The Shandia that had been woken up by the sound were gobsmacked from the sound of their beloved bell that had gone missing. They had thought they lost the precious bell for forever, and yet here it sounded. A few rushed up into the old city of Shandora to look for the origin of the bells ringing but couldn''t find it anywhere, until a few with a bit more sensible ears decided to follow the ringing and soon stood before the giant vine, and soon came upon the understanding that the only place they hadn''t yet looked for was at the top of the vine and so they rushed up, huffing and puffing at the speeds they were running up the vine, but still they persisted. Soon they reached a height from which they could see the solitary cloud far up in the sky and could still hear the fading sounds of the bell originating from said cloud. With tears running down some of the mens and womens faces the warriors of Shandora finally had found their precious bell again. But what surprised them even more than finally finding it was the one that sat leaning against one of the beams that held the bell up, listening to the bell, obviously being the one that had rang it. Azul, after spotting the warriors waved over to them with a smile, until they waved back, jumped on the cloud and started to prepare the cloud for the journey down into the city it belonged to. Luckily the bell was on top of a cloud which was easily movable, which made the transportation issues that much easier for them. And so after centuries of absence the bell was brought back into Shandora, sparking another party. Though some still slightly drunk from the last one instead chose to sleep through it, not being able to stand the sight of alcohol so soon afterwards. Azul being one of them. Waking up the following morning, Azul stood up feeling refreshed from a night without drinking and decided to once more take a walk through the old city of Shandora, not being able to forget the feeling in the back of his mind. On top of that he had grown fond of the city if he was being honest with himself. Wandering through the ruins, surprisingly or maybe not, Azul came upon Robin that was standing at the side of the giant bell, reading something that seemed to be written there. Facing him were old runes or a language that was simply written in that style, completely different from the modern ones of today. As his eyes drifted over the writings the murmuring in the back of his mind grew in volume, increasing into a melody he had heard before, he had the feeling. And yet he couldn''t remember where he had heard the whispers... With a frown on his face Azul turned to Robin not being able to shove the questions to the back of his mind any longer. "Can you read this?" he asked her, waking her from her own musings, to which she nodded. "This, Azul, is one of the poneglyphs that I have been looking for to study and learn the history of the ancient past." Robin said, brushing her fingers over the elegant writings of the poneglyph. "The ancient times? You mean before the world government?" Azul asked with slowly dawning understanding, connecting the dots that had remained under a kind of fog in his mind. He remembered now! The whispers, he had heard them before. Once. It was the time when he had undertaken the ceremony to become a journeyman, on top of the mountain in Ishiria. Back then he had perceived only shreds of what was surrounding him as he had been so strongly immersed in his task at hand. But now that he stood here, and the whispers grew in intensity, pounding in his head, as if striking with a metal pole against some kind of invisible barrier that made his head hurt the longer he focused on it, he finally remembered. Faintly he registered in his periphery that Robin was telling him something but he couldn''t understand her as the noise in his head had increased in volume. With a groan that made Robin turn towards him with a frown on her face, Azul grabbed his head and stumbled away from the poneglyph, trying to escape the noise that was crushing his mind, a kind of pain he had never experienced before. Gazing into himself Azul spotted his soul pulsing with a growing intensity and so while stumbling backwards, Azul dropped against a wall behind him, while Robins face had slight panic written upon it, not sure what was happening to Azul. "Please, leave me... I... need... to focus..." Azul g.r.o.a.n.e.d out through grit teeth at Robin who after thinking about her possibilities to help him came to the conclusion that she couldn''t really do much anyways, and so left him to his own devices, rushing down the steps to search for Chopper. Maybe he knew what to do. Steam started to rise from Azuls body and the earth beneath him began to slightly crack as he tried to contain the shaking of his soul, but with lesser and lesser sucess, while the whispering and murmuring growing stronger and stronger all the while. Soon he couldn''t surpress his spiritual pressure anymore and with a satisfying outcry of the voices in his head, a resounding boom shook the very foundations of the city of Shandora, quaking the land and sending the birds up in the trees flying away in fear and crumbling the nearest stonewalls into dust, as the pressure kept increasing. Until at one point in time Azul couldn''t contain himself anymore and let out a roar in pain and with a thud fell over, succ.u.mbing to unconciousness while the pressure around him increased once more until it faded along with the whispers that had began to fill the air, leaving peaceful silence behind in the deserted city of Shandora... Chapter 54 Grandline, Paradise, Skypea Up in the sky Robin and Chopper were rushing back into the ruins of Shandora after Robin had found him in the nearby still sleeping camp of the party group. When Chopper had seen the slightly panic-stricken face of Robin he immediately knew something was wrong and after she told him what had happened with Azul a few minutes ago his brain was already working on conclusions to the origin of said mans condition, all the while rushing back into Shandora. Though as they arrived at the city a shockwave had smacked straight into them, taking them off their feet in the process. After they had climed back onto their feet all that remained in the city was an eery silence. Not even the occasional animal or gust of wind made a sound. Just silence. Not bothering with their thoughts any longer they rushed up the giant stairs of the temple at the end of the city and soon came upon the slumbed over body of Azul. Checking him over in a practised fashion Chopper soon discovered that Azul was only unconcious but couldn''t figure out why. The only thing that caused him to worry a little was the thin string of blood that was leaking from the corner of Azuls mouth but after checking this as well, didn''t find any injuries inside his mouth so he came to the conclusion that it must be internal. Nothing he could do at this very moment, so with Robins help they laid him down with a jacket under his head for comfort and waited, as that was the only thing they could do at this very moment. ----------------------------------------------- ???, ???, ??? After going through all the pain and then finally succ.u.mbing to darkness, Azul opened his eyes groggily. Though what greeted him was even more darkness, contrary to what he had expected. Looking down at himself he was gobsmacked to find that his own body was ethereal, though still seemed to be standing on the darkness as if it was solid. Arriving at the only conclusion that seemed logical to him at the moment Azul formed the thesis that this was his soul, so he mused that he was either in his mind, inside his own soul or somewhere he didn''t know of. Finishing his musings, Azul began to walk with careful steps further into the darkness, since he couldn''t see where a pathway was or not but soon discovered that it didn''t really matter, surprisingly. He kept on walking, further and further and began to think that exploring the darkness wasn''t the reason why he came to this place and maybe he should start meditating or something instead to find out the reason for the shaking of his soul previously, when a slight shimmer of ethereal light appeared in the distance. Happy that he finally had found a clue on what to do in this seemingly endless darkness, Azul walked towards the faint light, only to be shaken to his core by what he found. A staircase made of ghostly vapor that ascended further upwards and what greeted him there wasn''t a thing. No. It was a person. One that looked very familiar and he thought he would never see again. His own master stood before him, though he seemed a lot younger than what he could remember. "W-What is this? A dream?" Azul croaked out with a shaky voice, not sure what he was seeing at this very moment. "No, young one. This is not a dream. But before I tell you more let me introduce myself. My name is Lee Mu Bai, last known member of the Sanga, but deriving from the fact that you are here it stands to reason that you are a member of the Sanga as well." The younger version of Mu Bai spoke with a happy smile after discovering that the Sanga hadn''t ended with him after all. "B-But how are you here? You died! Am I dead as well?" Azul asked, voice riddled with emotions after meeting his master after such a long time once again. "Dead? I assume then that you know me?" Mu Bai asked with a serene but contemplating expression on his smooth ethereal face. "You don''t recognise me? It''s me, Azul. Your disciple!" Azul croaked out, slowly reigning his emotions back in and taking a long deep breath to calm down a little. Surprisingly he could still do so, even in soulform. But on the other hand it wasn''t much of a surprise at all since he was a practitioner of the breathing forms which were connected with the soul directly. "Ahhh, I apologize, Azul. You see, what you see before you is but an early memory of the one that later seems to have become your master and this memory simply did not yet know of you, so I could not recognize you. But I am happy that I could find a disciple in the future to pass the legacy of the Sanga on to." Mu Bai spoke with a happy expression while walking over to Azul and lead him further along the pathway by putting one of his hands behind Azuls back as if in comfort. "So I died hmm? Did I die while fighting at least?" Mu Bai spoke, curious what happened to him in his later years. "Yes. You fought the CP-agents while sending me away and died in the process..." Azul spoke in a reminiscent voice, emotions choking him up. "I see..." Mu Bai said, while casting an observant eye over Azul, his face contemplating. "From what I can see, your soul is surprisingly strong for someone of your age though you struggle with emotional control as it seems. Here, in this realm, emotions are a lot harder to control since you are in your soulform and thus feel them alot clearer due to them not being muffled by the barrier that is your body. May I ask what breathing form you chose when you became a journeyman?" Mu Bai asked while casting his eyes back onto the pathway ahead of them, submerged in his own thoughts. "Fire. It always has been the most natural for me." Azul answered, now observing his teacher as well. Contrary to Azuls body that was not only shimmering but also pulsing as if by a heartbeat, Mu Bais body was serene like a lake that wasn''t ruffled by the wind and slept in peaceful bliss. Furthermore he seemed alot more solid than Azul did. Why that was, Azul did not know. "Oh? Fire? We haven''t had one of those practitioners in millenia, though the time is hard to gauge in this realm so I''m not all too sure. Though I''ve never met another one since I haven''t been here all that long anyways, hahaha" Mu Bai spoke while laughing in a carefree manner, making Azul smile alongside his old master. "Soo, what exactly is this place? Guessing from the fact that you are here and not just a piece of my imagination I assume this is not my soul we are currently in?" Azul spoke, his mind coming to the only conclusion he thought possible. "Indeed, this is not your soul. Though I can understand why you would believe so. No. This place is a seperate plain of existence, created to conserve memories and served to help the members of the Sanga to train their soul and control over their emotions to prepare them for the threshold into the realm of the master. Though not every member of the Sanga was able to enter this plain so early on in their journey. It was a condition for those who could enter here to have fused so far that the soul can hear the voices of the past clear enough so those voices could guide you here in turn. You see, all over the grandline are many islands that possess the poneglyphs but only a few of them were made with the purpose of a training ground, while others only preserved wisdom or history for those in the present time. Unfortunately, the world government managed to purge the knowledge on how to understand or read the poneglyphs from the world. So we here thought that the Sanga had been purged completely but it seems we were wrong." Mu Bai lectured in a similar tone he had used in his older years as Azuls master, making Azul grin and chuckle a little. "Did I say something funny?" Mu Bai asked in a confused voice. After all he had only explained this place a little bit. "Apologies master. I was just taken aback how you already seem to have possessed your lecturing voice in your younger years, though sounding a little less blunt hehehe" Azul answered, making Mu Bai grin as well. And why wouldn''t he? He had always been awesome like that. "Well, now that you are here it falls to me to teach you the next step so you may soon enter the stage of the master. Follow me. Your training won''t be easy so prepare yourself!" Mu Bai spoke, all mirth disappearing from his face once he spoke of the following training regime, and quickened his pace, leading Azul into a gigantic temple that, just like the rest of this place, shimmered in a ghost like milky light, surrounded by hundreds of ghosts that looked upon Azul with faces that betrayed no emotions, so Azul could only steel his mind and prepare himself for the days to come... Chapter 55 ???, ???, ??? Walking down the ghostly path that widened further ahead, following his master more and more ghosts appeared at the path''s sides, framing it with rows upon rows of people. Soon the first row of people transformed into big men carrying wardrums that they started to play as if a ceremony was about to start. Deep, reveberating sounds traveled through the endless darkness with every beat, making Azuls soul pulsate alongside each hit. Seconds transformed into minutes as Azul kept on following behind his master, all the while being submerged in the penetrating sounds of the wardrums, tempting him, leading him further until the sounds were the only things that he could truly focus on. Soon his master disappeared from his vision but Azul kept on going, further into the temple until he reached the center of it. Above his head the temples roof split open, revealing the endless darkness of the void to his eyes as he looked up as if on command, until he felt a pair of hands gripping his shoulders in a firm way, motioning for Azul to sit down, which he did completely submerged in the all consuming thunder of the wardrums that filled every cranny and corner of the temples room. The pulsating sounds transfered over to his soul, and with every beat of said drums made Azul shut his eyes a little closer, not being the master over his own actions. Slowly his concious mind began to shut down even further until only his emotions remained. At first they were tranquil, steady from the drums thunder. But soon the drums beat changed into a faster rythm, and a slow humming from thousands of voices intoning a melody began to fill the air, bringing one single emotion to the forfront of Azuls soul while the rest faded into the background. Azuls mind began to submerge itself in this emotion, diving into it like jumping into a lake, until blackness overtook him once more, but not for long... -------------------------------------------- As Azul opened his eyes he could see himself. And yet it wasn''t him at all. His mind was muddled and all he could think about was showing the world his prowess. His superiority. His might. His! As he observed his actions Azuls mind couldn''t help but frown at what he saw. His body was moving without his command and he could do nothing but experience this strange vision. As his body moved over a gigantic battlefield of thoughts, Azul observed as he roared and cackled in glee at the suffering he was causing, slaying foes and friends alike left and right, not bound by any chains or shakles and the absolute judge on this field of war. Completely free. And yet, Azuls mind did not feel free at all. The more he viewed his own actions the stronger the feeling of shakling himself became, until he finally understood what the vision was about. This vision was of what he could become if he gave in into his own inner flames d.e.s.i.r.e to consume and destroy if he did not learn to control his own emotions. Words of his master came to his mind, strengthening his belief on the vision he was seeing from his own eyes. ''When the body is free and the mind is not, then it matters not where you go. You will always be shackled. If you free your mind though, then it matters not where you are. Out in the world or shackled in a prison cell. You will always be completely free.'' As Azul came to this conclusion the vision he was seeing faded into the background along with the emotion he had been submerged into, like fog blown away by a gust of wind. Just as Azul was beginning to regain some clarity again another emotion rose up inside of him, pushing the rest to the back of his mind once more. This time a burning d.e.s.i.r.e he hadn''t felt before came to the forfront of his mind. It was a different kind of craving and burning. Just as he began to wonder what this feeling was all about the veil of fog returned and shaped the scenery around him into a dimly lit room, lit by flickering candlelight and red velvet curtains. The room itself was slightly filled with smoke, yet not in a suffocating manner, and had a charming and enticing aroma to it, slightly enhancing the senses and making Azuls loins burn in a fashion he had yet to fully experience. He only ever had had this feeling in the morning but had never wasted much thought on it, but after the next few seconds of viewing the vision Azul knew completely what this vision was all about. D.e.s.i.r.e, in its purest form. Women, clad in barely concealing clothes, made from the purest and softest materials began to appear behind the velvet curtains, floating over the soft carpets with sultry looks and flushed cheeks, swaying their h.i.p.s seductively while slowly walking over to Azul whos body took in every perfect conture of their soft and milky b.r.e.a.s.ts, to their perfectly formed legs and slim stomachs that seemed to scream out for him to carass and submerged himself in between them, preparing himself on instinct to burry his teeth in his prey and never share any of it with other males. They were his! And his alone! Speaking to himself as if in a mantra Azul repeated the lines his master had taught him all those years ago and which had helped him in his last vision. ''If the mind is free the body will not matter. If the mind is free the body will not matter. If the...'' And he kept repeating, until the vision also faded away like fog in the wind. Taking a deep breath to calm his mind from what he had experienced so far Azul waited for the next vision to come. The next vision was like a stab into his heart. He was standing next to his master as he faced of against the CP-agents and could do nothing but watch as he kept dieing. One time. Then the vision started again. Twice. And again it started. And on and on it went. Like a never ending loop of pain, despair and hopelessness, Azul had to watch his master die again and again. He tried to repeat the mantra he had build for himself and yet it only helped a little and so he persisted and suffered. Seconds became minutes, and minutes became hours. Hours became days until finally Azul managed to remain a calm mind in front of his masters death, and so the vision faded away until darkness took him once more in fatigue. Chapter 56 While Azul was undergoing his visions, his body in the real world was being looked after by Robin and Chopper. At first they had hoped that Azul would wake up after a couple hours but this proved not to be the case as his condition remained unchanged. Over the day various people had realised that the three of them had been missing for a rather long time and some decided to go look for them since the strawhats especially wanted to return back on to the grandline and continue their adventure. Though when they arrived in Shandora and came upon the scene of Azuls unconcious body being watched over by Chopper and Robin, worry sparked in some of their minds until the worry faded away and was replaced by confusion after being told what had happened with the young man. At first some of them had thought that a strong enough enemy had appeared and knocked him unconcious but that worry proofed to be unfounded in the end. "So, how are we going to continue then? Azul seems to be fine, despite him being unconcious and we can''t remain here forever, which would be pretty pointless anyways." Zoro spoke neutrally. The rest of the crew couldn''t really decide for themselves and Luffy wasn''t much of a planer to begin with so they simply decided to flip a coin and it ended up with them boarding the flying lamb to go back onto the grandline. Though they were a little surprised that Robin decided to remain at Azuls side instead of jumping on board alongside them. Chopper at first wanted to remain as well but soon came to the conclusion that even though he was a doctor and it was his duty to watch after his patient he really couldn''t do much for Azul anyways and proving to be more rational than most had suspected Chopper followed the crew on to the ship which soon set sail back into the grandline. Robin all the while remained at Azuls side, watching over him and suplying him with water so he wouldn''t dehydrate as the days continued to fly past the two. Solitude their only companion while Azul was still experiencing the visions, being tormented all the while but unknowingly growing in spiritual strength. -------------------------------------------- After experiencing greed, arrogance, d.e.s.i.r.e, pain, fear, hopelessness, rage and falling into unconciousness once again, Azul woke up to the gleaming ghostly eyes of Lee Mu Bai, who was looking down at him as he was lying on the ground, gazing upwards. The drums had stopped playing and the voices of the masses had come to a standstill, Azul realised. "How was it?" asked Mu Bai while sitting himself down next to the dazed young man, who slowly came into a sitting position himself. "The visions? Horrific, to be honest. It felt so, restricting, for a lack of a better word..." Azul answered with a blank face as he observed the temple he was sitting in. "That is not surprising. What you just experienced is the feeling your soul feels ever since you were born. In the visions you saw through the eyes of your body but could not influence it, only feel what the body feels and nothing more. You were literally the soul of your body while your body was taking control of itself, to let you experience the burden every soul has to carry. This is what it means to be a journeyman. ''follow the breath'' is not just a saying. It means to follow the connection you have to your soul by experiencing everything your soul feels when you go through life until you reach a point where you see and feel clearly. Once you have reached that state as you have now, you are tasked with a quest which most have failed upon and only a select few have succeeded. Letting go. What that means and how to go about doing that is something you, like everybody before you, have to figure out for yourself, as it differs from person to person. At the end of letting the emotions go you experienced during your visions you will have reached the masters stage and fused your soul together with your body. Luckily for you, you found this poneglyph, because you now are able to hear the voices of nature in spiritual chokepoints that can be found all over the world and through it perceive the advice of nature and spirits of times long gone. It is also known as ''hearing the voice of all things'' as I have come to experience on my travels though nobody knows anylonger what that truly means and simply take it as an advanced type of haki or some such thing. Nonesense of course." Mu Bai said with a chuckle at the end, remembering the stupidity of the people that ruled and tried to conquer the world without knowing anything about it. "I see. Thank you for you help master. I guess this is it, hm?" Azul asked, sad that he had to leave his master behind once more but knew he had to continue on nonetheless. "Yes, this is it. Though we may see each other again if we are lucky. Who knows? The grandline still holds many mysteries for you to discover which I''m not telling you about. Otherwise the surprises won''t be as good hehehe" Mu Bai spoke with a grin on his face, clapping Azul on the shoulder. Afterwards he stood up, waved back at Azul and walked down the temples entrance to join the rest of the waiting people, before they all walked into the distance, disappearing together with the temple that slowly faded away, like fog in the wind, leaving Azul behind until darkness took him, bringing him back into the real world with a warm feeling inside himself and a new quest to fullfill. Chapter 57 Grandline, Paradise, Skypea As Azul slowly opened his eyes, the first rays of sunlight met his eyes, making him squint slightly but soon adjusted to their intensity before bringing himself into a sitting position with a slight groan accompanying his actions. Taking in his surroundings he realised that he was still in Shandora, or was that again? His experience in the other realm was slightly confusing him, until he managed to sort his memories out and put them into order. Looking to his left he saw Robin sleeping next to him with a peaceful expression on her face, while covering the rest of her body with a giant blanket, so large that she probably could wrap herself inside of it 50 times before she ran out of material to do so. ''All hail the mighty sushiroll!'' Azul thought with a grin and slowly but carefully began to roll Robin into the sushiroll, and before she slowly opened her eyes with a big yawn, finished his task. Sitting himself down Azul couldn''t help himself but marvel at his work and started to laugh with full belly laughter when he saw at first confusion on Robins face after she saw the state she was in, continued by the exesperated tries to get out of the tightly rolled blanket with an increasingly redder face, making Azul laugh even harder. "Bloody freakin hell! How did I...? You did this, didn''t you? Get me out of this right now!" Robin grit out through her teeth, wiggling around inside her sushiroll like a dolphine stranded on dry land, bringing new tears to Azuls eyes until he calmed down a little and freed the fair maiden from her plight, earning him a giant smackdown in the end, which made him grin a little at the sting he felt from the little strength that she had, let alone that she had to alleviate herself with her devilfruit to even reach to the top of his head when he was standing, making him laugh once again, and once again earning himself a smack on the head, though he didn''t really feel it anyways. "Calm down girl, all in good humor hehehe" Azul said while drinking some water from a bottle nearby, giving it to Robin afterwards who also took a sip. "How long was I out anyways?" He asked her. She replied while taking a small bite from a fruit that had been supplied by the warriors of Shandora for them while they stayed here, making Azuls stomache grumble at the sight in hunger. "Three days you''ve been out. What was it that caused you to react that way?" She asked back, giving him some fruits that he gulped down in gusto. "Hmm, maybe I''ll tell you someday, but not now. Though thank you for taking care of me in the meantime. I appreciate it." Azul said while smiling kindly at Robin who nodded in reply after receiving the young mans thanks. "The strawhats already returned back to the grandline, if you were wondering." Robin said, wiping her mouth with a napkin she had grabbed from somewhere. "Hmm, I see. Would you like to go back as well then? To the grandline I mean. Even though I like it up here, I have some things to take care of down at the blueseas. What do you say? Wanna go back down?" Azul asked, flushing down the food with the rest of the water from the bottle after which he stood up and began to stretch himself a little bit after having to stay down on the ground for three days to get his muscles some activity again, making him m.o.a.n slightly in the process. "I do not mind to go back down, though I really enjoyed my stay up here a lot. Despite what happened at the end." She replied, standing up as well, after which she gave Azul the bundle with all his things in it. Stretching herself a little as well the two of them walked back towards the Shandia and thanked them for the supplies after which they said their farewells and disappeared inside the jungle towards the exit of the skyisland they had inquired about. Lifting Robin off of her feet again, Azul jumped into the air and began to ran down towards the bluesea, rushing through the thicker clouds that evaporated on contact with him on his path, soaring through the sky once more, and letting the wind rustle clothes and c.a.r.e.s.sing their skin. Some time afterwards they reached the height of the grandline again. At first Azul thought about going back to Jaya to pick up his ship but in the end decided against doing so, since he had everything he needed in the bag at his back and could get himself a better ship at one of the following islands. The weather as they traveled over the oceans surface remained surprisingly calm and so they had no issue to arrive at the next island, even though it took them hours to do so. The island they came upon was a weird one, to say the least. Everything there was elonggated. Be it the animals, fruits, trees, houses or humans. Thin and incredibly tall. Though they were even more surprised that, as they were about to set foot on the island the ocean next to the shore froze solid in milli-seconds, making Robins eyes widen in remembering fear. Her shaking didn''t go unnoticed by Azul who stretched out his haki over the island and soon found out the origin of her horror. A man with a strong spirit had put his hand into the ocean and frozen it solid in a speed that was truly impressive. A devilfruit, no doubt. Putting a calming hand on the small of Robins back, Azul smiled at her, telling her that all would be alright, making her calm down a little, though her fear didn''t lessen. Azul meanwhile had found out that the strawhats spirits fluctuated a little. Some seemed to be very afraid while others were cautious and battle ready. Unluckily, Luffy rushed the man, the hothead that he sometimes was, and got frozen solid as a result, scaring the rest into action, nobody knowing who the man was. Azul, feeling what was happening, decided to interfere, as none of them were ready to face such an opponent and going by Robins reaction, he seemed to be an enemy of her at the very least. Lifting Robin back up, Azul disappeared from his position and soon reappeared once more, right as the tall man was about to grab a shivering Nami, attempting to freeze her solid as well. Not wasting a second, Azul put Robin down a good distance away and appeared right above the mans approaching hand, smashing it down from above straight into the earth, making the mans eyes widen at the realisation that he hadn''t shattered due to haki being used. Standing back up, the tall man looked upon the newest arrival but couldn''t really identify the man, surprising him even more, since most men that can use haki already have a bounty on their heads, which the man normally knew from memory. His gaze soon afterwards wandered over to the woman with black hair in the distance he knew only too well. "I had wondered where you have been Nico Robin. It seems you have chosen yourself another victim eh?" The tall man asked with a small chuckle making Robin frown while the remaining unfrozen strawhats bustled to unfreeze their companions in the meantime. "What do you want Aokiji?" Robin asked, bringing a bright grin onto Azuls face after hearing the mans name. "So you are an admiral ehh? God I''m a lucky one! Finally my time for retribution against the world government can begin in full blast hahahaha" Azul interrupted their heated exchange with a bellowing laughter, while kicking his right leg backwards and with it fell into a battle ready stance, finally facing of against a servant of his nemesis... Chapter 58 Grandline, Paradise, Long Ring Long land Aokiji, despite his otherwise lazy appearance had a sharp mind, often forgotten by his many enemies that he had fought over the years in his service under the marines and the world government. And said sharp mind tried to figure out why this young man seemed so dangerous to him. Yes, he possessed haki but that wasn''t rare once you took a look at the upper echelon of the grandline. Sure, it was rare to find one in Paradise, but that was about it. So why was it, that this young man was able to make him cautious? Him, an admiral? "Mamama, not so hasty young man. I didn''t come here today to fight. You know, and all that." Aokiji drawled in his usual tone, as if nothing in the world could excite him anymore. "And anyway, to challenge and attack the world government directly isn''t a very smart move. Especially not from a rooky, ya know." Aokiji spoke, sticking his little finger inside his nose, searching for the biggest treasure in the whole grandline. One Piece! Just kidding hehehe... "If you say so... Now shut it and lets fight!" Azul spoke, growing bored of the salmon he had just received from the admiral bringing a rare tick to the admirals forehead. "As you wish." Aokiji spoke, exhaling white mist from his mouth as his body began to frost over and crack from the splintering of the dropping temperatures that surrounded him, freezing the ground in his perimeter along with himself, preparing himself for the battle that was to come. Azul though came out of his stance making Aokiji frown a little and spoke: "Nearly forgot. Gimme a second..." and with that Azul disappeared from his position to reapear directly behind Robin before lifting her into the air with the usual yelp of surprise before disappearing once more, setting her down on top of the flying lambs deck, after which he smiled at her calmly and disappeared once more, leaving for Aokiji before setting himself down into his battlestance once more. "Now, where were we? Oh yes. I was about to rip you to shreds!" Azul said, grinning and growing in height, fur sprouting all over his body while his apendages began to burn brightly, heating the air up around himself, making the oxigen shimmer under the heat he was producing. After he had grown to nearly 5 meters in height he began to shrink once more, becoming more compact and his flames gained in intensity. "Second form: forming the beast!" Azul spoke in a deep growling voice before hopping into the air to avoid possible attacks that Aokiji could unleash from freezing the ground. Not waiting for his opponent to attack first, Aokiji formed spears from thin air, sending them hurdling at his target, while he himself rushed forwards at a different angle, trying to blindside his enemy. Azul dodged the spears that wistled past his ears, never letting his opponent out of his eyes before rushing forwards with a rush of blistering heat accompanying him, throwing a quick straight kick at Aokiji''s stomach, who swiftly swirled to the side, attempting to grab onto the leg, which he succeeded in though came to regret due to his hand melting on contact, before he let go and jumped back into the distance, reforming his melted hand. ''No freezing on contact it seems...'' Aokiji thought while dodging claw strikes left and right, sometimes ducking below a blistering kick that nearly burned his hair off, splitting his focus between his haki, to telegraph and read his opponents intentions, which wasn''t easy at all due to his opponents blurred contenance, obviously knowing how to mask his intentions well enough and thus making the fight even harder for the admiral. After ducking after a kick for his head, Aokiji went on the offensive himself, trying to deliver a hit to Azuls head, which he avoided by bending his head back slightly backwards, but with that actions stretched his stomache and enabled Aokiji a freezing punch straight into Azuls solar plexus, which left him weezing for air for a second, all the while having to dodge kicks from the admiral that smashed the ground into pieces or froze the earth on contact. After regaining his breathing Azul opened his minds eye as wide as possible and was able to predict a punch from the admiral that was aimed at his liver which Azul blocked, bringing elbow down in a guard before his upper body and used the momentum of the admirals advancement to smash his own elbow into the admirals temple and followed up by extending his lower arm, ripping with his fire and haki enhanced claws through the admirals face, causing said man to howl in pain from the four claw marks that now adorned the tall mans face from his cheek to the nose. Jumping backwards, Aokiji tried to slow the bloodflow on his face by cooling the temperatur around the wound down to the lowest point and succeeded to a point. The problem though was the depth of the wound. At the deepest point the wound had already been cauterized, and thus left a cut on the mans face, no matter how well the rest of the wound was mended together in the future, making the admiral growl in anger. "You''ll pay for that!" He snarled, only receiving a bloodthirsty grin in reply, before rushing his opponent once more, awakening his devilfruit powers, making snow fall from the heavens and cooling the whole island down to a freezing point until the whole island was covered in a faint sheen of frost, which steadily grow in density. Azul meanwhile was preparing for one hell of a tough battle after feeling the temperature of the whole island drop below zero and came to understand that somehow Aokiji had caused the powers of his devilfruit to skyrocket, making him a much tougher opponent than he already was. Focusing his strength inwards, Azul began to increase his inner fires density and strength, causing more and more of his body to ignite into flames, as if the fire from his legs and arms climbed up his arms to reach his head as a goal in competition. Last but not least he unleashed his conquerors haki on the surroundings, which exploded outwards in a shockwave, making Aokiji''s eyes widen in shock. ''He possesses conqueror''s haki and can even control it? F.u.c.k! No more playing around! This just grew alot more dangerous...'' Aokiji thought to himself with sharpening focus, now fully in battle-mode. As he was rushing forward towards his opponent, accompanied by chunks of frozen ground that levitated around him and reformed under his will into sharp weapons to kill his enemy on his command, a sharp intrusion struck Aokiji straight in his mind, like an invisible spear that tore through his logias protective shell, impacting his spirit directly, making Aokiji cry out in pain at the mental attack, and caused him to cough up a mouthful of blood while stumbling back in pain, holding his head all the while. Azul, after forming his conqueror''s haki into a lethal weapon to pierce the admirals defenses to make him vulnerable for a longer time, sprang into action immediately while his thrusting steps ignited the frozen grass beneath his feet, before after being left alone once more freezing over, rushing towards his enemy. Seeing the admiral in considerable pain, Azul brought both of his claws to his c.h.e.s.t and crossed them with the claws pointing towards his opponent. With a roar Azuls eyes brightened due to the rush of power that his devilfruit supplied him with, while he focused more and more heat in his claws until they became blistering white from heat alone, producing such heat that no snow or ice made it into his immediate vicinity before melting away swiftly. Growling for all to hear with a penetrating voice Azul disappeared with a sonic boom caused from the displaced air and the splittering ground behind him to appear right above Aokiji, who''s eyes widened in horror, now realising he was unable to dematerialize fast enough, if at all before feeling a searing pain errupt on his right shoulder, cleaving right through like a hot knife through butter, only just stopping at his ripcage. "Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust!" Azul intoned while cleaving through Aokiji who roared in pain to the heavens, before a gigantic boom splintered the ground of the island with an enormous shaking ecompanying it. Azul meanwhile jumped back while transforming into his humanform, sweat running down his forehead and upperbody, soaking the beginnings of his trousers which were torn at some points from the intense fighting. Panting he collapsed on one knee, having exhausted most of his mental and physical energy while fighting the admiral for all this time, as he just now realized that the sun was beginning to set in the horizon. The fatigue finally catching up with him, Azul collapsed backwards, only now realizing that Robin had come rushing towards them as the last clash had ended, and caught him before he hit the ground. Closing his eyes in contentment Azul finally fell asleep to recover from the toll of the hardfought battle. Robin meanwhile was shocked to see the state Aokiji was in, after she had caught Azul and checked if the enemy was still a threat, but found out he wasn''t. Hell, she couldn''t even tell if he was still breathing from his looks. His right shoulder was limply hanging from the rest of his upper body, still attached but cauterized so heavily that it probably need to be amputated, if he was still alive that is. Still, she was too cautious to attempt to drive a knife through his heart. Who knows what kind of reflexes a monster like him still had! Shoving the mental image of Aokiji out of her mind, she sprouted a few more arms to help carry the unconcious Azul back to the flying lamb as he was in no condition to travel on his own, let alone carry her. After settling him inside and Chopper checking him over, the crew decided to swiftly depart from the island, not wanting to risk another admiral showing up, no matter how unlikely it seemed. And so they set sail for water 7. Aokiji was in horrible pain, not being able to feel his right arm and shoulder at all he was to afraid to take a look in fear of what he would find but knew he had to do something as he would die otherwise. His opponent had left as it seemed so he nestled his transpondersnail out of his pocket, surprised that it had survived their fierce confrontation, calling the imergency hotline for highranking members of the marines and was promptly received. "This is admiral Aokiji speaking. I am located on Long Ring Long land, a small island in Paradise, and am in need of immediate medical help, due to having sustained mortal wounds which may cause my demise if not treated soon enough. I will try to slow my heartbeat down with my devilfruit so I will not bleed to death but please. Hurry the f.u.c.k up!" Aokiji ground out in a pained voice, shocking the receiving end to no end at what the admiral had just told her. After waking up from her stupor the marine captain at the other end immediately send word to the higher ups who rushed to send the nearest marine ship to the admirals help. Who could possibly have caused such wounds to an admiral in Paradise? About this incident alot of questions were asked, but all of them needed to wait until Aokiji was treated and they could get whoever was responsible for this grievous insult to the marines and the world government! Chapter 59 Grandline, Paradise, Marine Headquarters Marine Headquarters, no matter what some people may say, had always been a focus point where decisions concerning the mortal world were made and this very day it was no different than on other days, except that some kind of undecipherable weight hung over all the personnel that worked or lived at headquarters. Said weight had been brought upon headquarters after the messege from one of their strongest, an admiral, had been received, who a few hours later arrived at headquarters, sedated and heavily injured many thought impossible for someone of the admirals strength. The older generation though knew that the admirals weren''t the strongest their was on the oceans but still, their strength was nothing to caugh at. That''s why they were titled as the strongest fighters the marines produced. A few hours after Aokiji had been brought in and been treated accordingly an emergency meeting of marines had been called to order, to discuss what they had found out so far from the admiral in the moments that he had been lucid enough to be questioned. Heavy boots echoed over the wooden panels of headquarters as some of the vize-admirals arrived to judge and give a verdict concerning the situation, all of those available at this moment sitting around a big round table, serious frowns marring their faces, plunged in silence until the one leading this meeting arrived. Vize-admiral Momonga. "I hereby call this meeting to order! Now, what do we know so far about the one responsible for this mess?" vize-admiral Momonga asked into the room that at first remained eerily silent until one other vize-admiral spoke up, having been the one that had questioned Aokiji in the infirmary. "The one responsible is a tall man, nearly four meters in height, though still seemed to be rather young. He has short-shaved hair of the darker sorts and wears nothing but a pair of beige trousers. He arrived shortly after Aokiji confronted the strawhat pirates and rescued them from further injuries by the admiral, so I think it is safe to assume that he knows them personally. He arrived alongside Nico Robin, also known as ''the devil-child'' with a bounty of 79.000.000 Berry on her head. Shortly after the young man had brought Nico Robin to safety, the two of them began their fight. From this action alone it is possible that these two are allies. Anyways, the fight brought a few startling facts to light. First of all, the young man possesses the abilities of a mystical zoan. Though which is hard to guess as not many have yet been discovered. His fruit transforms him into some kind of canine which is able to produce flames of enormous heat and seems to enable him to walk on air. Not hopp like with geppo of the rokushiki, no. Literally walk. I believe it has something to do with the mythology of his mystical zoan, so it could be possible to find out which one he possesses going by that. Still, it would at best be a good guess. On top of his devilfruit abilities, which were a strong counter to the admirals own powers, the young man seems to be able to use all three types of haki to a high degree. From what the admiral implied he even seems to have created a new way to use the conqueror''s haki, which speaks of a deep understanding of his haki and makes him all the more dangerous. This is all we have discovered so f-" The vize-admiral spoke in a serious voice, making a lot of eyes sharpen, until a marine captain barged into the room, interrupting the meeting of the vize-admirals, who turned around to see the captain panting from running up to their meeting room in the upper floors of headquarters. "Apologies sirs, but we have just received word from our spies stationed in Jaya, as is routine every end of the month. For those that don''t know, Jaya is a haven and safespot for pirates and thus has a high priority order on the list for observation. This time though, the spies nearly missed the window to report in, due to them having only recently recovered from numerous injuries sustained from a large fight that leveled Jaya''s town nearly completely." The captain spoke in a rushed voice, straightening his back when all the vize-admirals leveled their eyes upon the captain, making him sweat slightly. "Urgh, another one causing problems. Pirates I presume?" Momonga grunted out, developping a headache from all the happenings of the past few hours. "Not completely sir! One party of the ones fighting was identified as a former member of the Whitebeard-pirates, namely Marshall D. Teach, alias ''Blackbeard'' as the spies supplied." "Blackbeard? Isn''t that the one that was recommended for the open spot amongst the shichibukai by that bird-fellow the other day?" vize-admiral Tsuru threw out amongst her collegues. "What do we know so far about this Blackbeard?" Momonga asked, while turning back towards the captain, who hadn''t moved a muscle from his former position. "Sir, as far as we know, Blackbeard has consumed a devilfruit that is presumed to be a logia, though it seems to possess the peculiarity that he is unable to dematerialize himself. His ability seems to allow him to control darkness and suck in everything he comes into contact with. To what limits is of this moment still unknown. Furthermore he seems to be proficient in all three types of haki as well. To what level is unknown as well." The captain told the vize-admirals who grew silent once more at the news until a minute of pondering passed by and Momonga asked the captain to continue his story. "Sir, the other participant seems to be a young man of impressive height, only wearing a pair of trousers. He, as well, possesses a devilfruit of the zoan type and seems to have control over his haki as well. To what level is unknown as well, though Blackbeard adressed the young man by the saying ''meeting another king'' which I believe is an indication that he is in possession and possibly control of conqueror''s haki as well. They clashed and Blackbeard lost, after having first taken out a group of Whitebeard-pirates that seemed to have confronted Blackbeard of their own volition before the whole fight broke out. At the end of the fight, Blackbeard was heavily injured and had to be rescued by his crewmembers from the looks of it. In the heat of battle our spies were heavily injured from the shockwaves alone, which leveled the town of Jaya in the process, and making it impossible for the spies to supply us with more information about the two, as the winner soon after Blackbeard as well, left the island. This is all we learned!" The captain finished his narration, making a few of the vize-admirals curse at the story they had heard just now. Momonga said while surpressing some curses of his own with a dark expression on his face: "I believe it stands to reason that, from the description we received of the winner, he is the same one that incapacitated admiral Aokiji. Do we have a name to fit the mans discription captain?" He asked towards the captain, who straightened once more after thinking he had been dismissed. "No sir. Though I may have an idea of who he is, but I am not a hundred percent sure..." The captain said, while going through his memories and came upon a strange happenstance he thought to be a possibility after witnessing all the clues and information being passed around the room. "Go ahead marine, let''s hear it then." Momonga said, while all eyes came to rest on the fidgetting captain that began to sweat slightly under the pressure. "Sir, I was one of the personnel that was stationed in Alabasta, in case a high-caliber bounty was brought in to be delivered to Impel Down and it just so happens that I was a member of the group that took former Shichibukai Crocodile into custody..." The captain spoke, which brought some unpleasant expressions to the faces of the vize-admirals since some of them held honor in high regards, which the world government didn''t really care about and took an opportunity by the scruff of its neck to take in a dangerous pirate, even though he had been under contract hours before his delivery to Impel Down. "....and the description I have heard so far from the winner of the duel on Jaya and the one from the admirals opponent are very similar to the one that brought Crocodile in that day. I only saw him briefly but he looks exactly from what I can remember seeing that day. If my assumption is correct than the man you have no name for yet is none other than Azul, possible bounty hunter, revolutionary or pirate, or even something completely different. He doesn''t seem to follow any approach we have seen so far when it comes to opponents he picks to battle against." The captain finished his narration, making some vize-admirals pause in thought. It seemed to be too big of a conincidence for this not to be the case. Furthermore this Azul''s route seems to be on course with Alabasta and Jaya so the possibility of the captains theory was at nearly 100% accuracy. "Thank you captain for your help. You will receive a note of recommendation for your exceptional service today." Momonga said while turning back to his chair and sitting down, completely disregarding the captain while already turning over ideas on how to approach this Azuls bounty and some such. "Thank you sir! Much appreciated sir!" The captain stated with a vibrating undertone from happiness before turning around and swiftly walking back out of the room, leaving only contemplative silence in the room. "I believe, after all we have heard here today a rather large increase in this Azuls bounty is nothing else but a necessity. Let''s hope that the spies managed to sneakshoot a picture of this Azul. The one we have right now is rediculous for someone of that notoriety. Now any recommendations regarding Azul''s bounty and title?" And so the meeting proceeded far into the night until finally the vize-admirals came to a conclusion, which was revealed the next day in the newspapers, bringing shock to a lot of sailors and inhabitants all over the grandline due to the reasons given in the newspaper, which the marines had tried to cover up but in the end slipped through some loopholes anyways and thus became public topic number one. ---------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 60 Grandline, Paradise, flying lamb After their hasty retreat from Long Ring Long island and taking care of their wounded, a pleasant calm fell upon the strawhat crew and their passengers. Returning to their daily routines, it was like a vacation after all the action of the last couple of weeks and was welcomed with open arms. The next day Azul woke up with a giant yawn and took in his surroundings, not sure where he was at first but soon felt the familiar spirits of Robin and the rest of the strawhats, which meant nothing of notice had happened after his battle with Aokiji. The thought about the admiral brought some more questions to Azuls mind, like if said man was still alive... Standing up from his bed, Azul walked over to the door and exited it, coming upon a relatively small deck where Luffy and Usopp were playing around with some kind of utensils while Robin and Nami were laying on sunchairs with Sanji fussing about them like the moron he sometimes was. Zoro meanwhile was sitting against the railing to one side, snoring deeply asleep. Azul decided to go look for something to eat though just as he was about to turn around a loud yell of shock smacked him right into the ear, making him stumble a little forwards in surprise at the volume. "Bloody hell woman, tone it down a little will ya?" Zoro g.r.o.a.n.e.d out while yawning in laziness. Nami, the origin of said shriek though didn''t really pay attention to Zoro as she was reading the just delivered newspaper with wide and shocked eyes, not believing what she was seeing... -------------------------------------------------- Grandline, New World, Moby D.i.c.k "Oii, old man! Take a look at this!" Marco, the first commander of the Whitebeard-pirates yelled over to his slightly snoring captain and surrogate father that had been reclining on a giant chair, fitting his gigantic body. With a grunt Whitebeard opened his eyes, still groggy and a little ticked of from having been ripped from his nice dream, before bringing his eyes to rest on his son, who was walking over towards his dad waving the newspapers around as if wanting to swat some annoying fly with it. Opening the newspaper to what had caused his son such surprise, he got an equal amount of surprise to rise to the forefront of his mind. Out of the newspaper fell a wanted poster on the ground with a slow swaying motion. Wanted: Dead or alive ''Burning Grimm'' - Azul Bounty: 950.000.000 Berry "Yesterday morning, a confrontation between the wanted man stated above and admiral Kuzan, alias Aokiji, took place on a small island in Paradise, which resulted in said admiral to be incapacitated and grievously wounded. It is not yet known if he will be able to continue his duties as an admiral due to his injuries and no further statement has been released by the marines headquarters on said issue. As the investigation about the one responsible for this incident took place, further evidence was brought to light that connected ''Burning Grimm'' - Azul with the complete destruction of the island of Jaya and the capture and incapacitation of the former shichibukai sir Crocodile. Due to all those incidents and the wanted mans words of the world government being his enemy it is easily understandable why the world government issued such a drastic increase in berry for said mans head. We, of the news-co, can only speculate why the mans bounty did not cross the threshold of 1.000.000.000 Berry, since his might and danger seem to be enough, as he was able to defeat an admiral. We of the news believe the reasons for this to be nothing else but an attempt to not increase the chance of him gaining any follower in Paradise. Although we believe that they failed to stop such an action from happening should he really want to gather a group of followers. Still, it is not known to which faction said wanted man counts himself. Of course we will try to keep updating our readers should any more news about this new threat of the seas arise. Read further on page..." Whitebeard read out, after which he closed the newspapers, which looked tiny in his gigantic hands, with a blank look on his face, which soon morphed into bellowing laughter, surprising his ''family'' a bit. "GURARARARA! Who would have thought the brat had that in him! GURARARARA!" Whitebeards laughter echoed far and wide, stilling the rest of his crew, while some fell into deep contemplation what that may mean for them since one of their family seemed to be involved with said man... ----------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, ??? Nearly at the same time that his captain was reading the newspapers, Portgas D. Ace had also opened the newspapers and had promptly spit out the rum he had been drinking previously after seeing the young mans wanted poster, recognising him instantly as the one he had met before arriving in Alabasta, who had pissed him of so nicely. The picture was rather simple compared to his own where he had created flames behind himself in posing for it, letting a little bit of narcisism shine through. Azuls picture though only showed his upper body while he was standing in a fighting stance with one hand at his front and the other at the height of his c.h.e.s.t, both pointed towards his supposedly opponent, all the while grinning widely, seemingly bathing in the excitement of a lifetime. ''Puuuh! I really need to work on my emotional control a little...'' Ace thought to himself, thinking back to the nearly broken out fight against Azul above the sea that he had barely managed to avoid... Grandline, Paradise, flying lamb Reading the article about Azul aloud for all to hear, while said man was lounging on the railing with a big piece of meet in his hand, munching on it with a satisfied smile on his face, the rest of the strawhats were either hyped, scared, thinking or yelling for Azul to stand up and fight, which said man waved down with a swatting motion. Contrary to the strawhats reactions though, which were rather mild in comparison, the various rookie crews began to try and gather more information about their contender, whom they may have to fight in the future should he out himself as one of the pirates, chasing after the throne. After all, the time when all the members of the ''worst generation'' would meet before entering the new world was approaching slowly but surely and none wanted to be excluded from the race that was to come... Chapter 61 Grandline, Paradise, flying lamb Moving slightly to the left, Azul seemingly dodged a slash from Zoro''s katanas only barely though no panic could be found on Azuls blank face as he kept on watching Zoro that tried to cut him apart. Moving forward with a step of his right foot, Azul stepped straight into Zoros guard, denying him the distance to use his swords so he had no other choice but to step back a little, though this was not going to happen as Azul grabbed Zoro by the scruff of his shirt and while grabbing him span around, throwing Zoro over his right shoulder, smashing the man into the deck of the flying lamb, where he remained shortly, trying to catch his breath before jumping up once more, turning back around to charge once more at his opponent that had grabbed himself an apple and took a crunching bite from the red glorious ball, enjoying how the sweet juice filled his mouth, only barely letting his perception remain on the swordsman who couldn''t help but curse inwardly. The two of them had been sparring for four hours now and Zoro hadn''t even managed to slightly nick Azul, no matter what kind of technique he used or how fast he slashed. He simply was unable to touch the man. Halfway through they had taken a short break, in which Azul had had a conversation with Robin in which she told him that she agreed to become the bait in his plan, making Azul all the more happier, after which he told her how they were gonna go about doing so. They would start from the next island onwards with Robin walking around the city as much as possible, while Azul always remained in reach should somebody contact or even try to arrest her, so they could try and lure the undercover agents out of hiding. Though none of the two knew how long this would take since they didn''t know on which island the CP-agents were stationed, but that didn''t really concern Azul since they had already decided to bring Robin into the new world and all the islands on their way could be possible locations for an undercover operation. When the break was over they resumed the sparring once more, slightly boring Azul but it was better than nothing. At least here he could exercise his body a little, compared to his former ship. He had already formulated the idea to get himself a new ship on the next island, due to it being a prominent island housing some of the best shipwrights of the whole grandline. Though, he hadn''t completely thought through what kind of ship he wanted. He had always liked the feeling of sailing on his smaller ship since he felt the most impact when the grandline threw shit at him, and so he may get himself another small ship, though this time slightly bigger so he had at least some room to move on. At the end of his spar with Zoro the man was laying on the ground as a sweaty puddle, completely spent. After Azul started to walk back towards the railing to take a little nap, Luffy attacked him to get some action as well, since he had grown restless after watching Zoro spar so long with Azul, resulting in a brawling match, into which even Usopp joined, who was swiftly knocked out as a consequence. They kept on rumbling till the late hours of the day, when Sanji interrupted the duo, with Luffy barely able to stand on two feet, having so many bruises and bumps on his head, calling them into the cabin for dinner. The group ventured inside and were greeted by a heavenly aroma, promptly digging in and what a feast it was! Soon afterwards the crew had fallen into companiable silence as they were digesting all the food Sanji had shoved at them, now and then burping in satisfaction, earning the miscreant a vicious punch from their navigator until they all ventured to bed since tomorrow they would reach water 7. Azul though stayed outside, having grown used to and fallen in love with sleeping under the stars and thus slept outside under the soft breeze of the grandline. The next day they arrived in water 7 and what a view the city presented the group. After forming teams, as the strawhats needed to get some repairs ordered for the flying lamb, and Azul and Robin commencing with their plan they split up and ventured into the giant city that resembled one gigantic fountain. While the strawhats ventured to some shipyard, Azul disappeared from behind Robin after telling her he was always in reach and assuring her that all would be fine, remaining in the shadows, covering his haki as much as he could, becoming pretty much invisible to those that weren''t masters of their haki. As Robin kept walking through the city she wondered if the plan was such a good idea to begin with but she had come to trust Azul slowly but surely and his strength assured her even more. After nearly an hour of nobody approaching her she had nearly given up and was about to turn into the direction she thought Azul may be hiding when a tall person, completely covered in green fabric walked past her, whispering into her ear to meet him, judging by the persons voice a man, at the galleyla shipyard if she didn''t want the strawhats to die in turn, making her thoughts run a hundred miles a second. ''They seem to believe I am a part of the strawhat crew...'' she contemplated, giving a short nod as answer, after which the tall man disappeared in the crowd. Soon afterwards she sat down in a caf¨¦ still in deep thoughts and was joined by Azul who wordlessly sat down at the table next to hers, with his back to hers, so she could quietly tell him about the man''s words. After listening attentively, Azul told her to go meet them and ask them at the meeting how many they are here in water 7, after which Azul would crash the party and take over so she wouldn''t have to bother with this whole thing anymore than nescessary, making Robin exhale in relief. As she stepped inside a group of four members, all covered in black suits greeted her with silence, making Robin nervous a little though she knew that Azul was watching everything from the shadows. Taking a deep breath Robin asked: "What do you want from me?" "The world government has issued a missive for your arrest, should you ever appear in the reach of Cipher Pol. Should you resist we will first kill all members of the strawhats that you are a part of as it seems and afterwards execute you as well." The leader of the group, a slim man standing in the middle, spoke up in a monotonous voice. "I see. And what makes you think you can take on the strawhats with only four members? Or are there more of you here in water 7?" Robin tried to inquire carefully, hiding her true intentions behind a mask of arrogance, hoping the Cipher Pol agents would mistake it as confidence in the strawhats strength. ".....No, there are no more members in water 7, though for those weaklings we will be more than enough." the blond woman of the team spoke up before the leader could keep her from revealing unneeded information. Though she did and fullfilled the task Robin had received from Azul, making her grin a little, knowing that she was relieved from her duty. The CP-agents, seeing her smile narrowed their eyes, not quite understanding what the woman before them was smiling about, until a shiver went down the spine of each CP-agent, widening their eyes as they saw a shadow fall over the group from behind them. Turning around they spotted a big man with a bloodthirsty grin on his face. They tried to move their bodies but a pressure fell down on their shoulders a few of the members hadn''t felt in years, igniting a deep fear that was hidden deep inside their minds from an event that had nearly cost them their lives in the past. And judging by the next words of the tall man before them they were right to connect the feeling that had errupted inside them with today bringing clear horror to those that were prievy to the events of Ishiria and what transpired there... "Finally, after all those years... but it matters not. Nobody escapes their karma and it just so happens that I have been sent as its judge and executioner." Chapter 62 Grandline, Paradise, Water 7 Walking over to the tallest man in the group of the Cipher Pol agents Azul, who knew from the body language of the agents that they were completely imobilized and thus had no way to escape their fate, knelt down in front of the man with horns made from hair at the sides of his head, now soaked in sweat from the pressure that pressed him literally into the ground. "Now ladies and gentlemen, before we come to the main event of today''s process, I will ask you a few questions and, depending on how satisfied I am with your answers, your judgement may be less... painful, may be a decent enough description." Azul said in a kind of soothing way, while he had walked from the big man to the woman of the group, kneeling in front of her as he did before, and slowly stroked the womans long blond hair, making her shiver a little at his touch. Taking away his hand from her Azul stood up and walked back to the tallest man, all the while looking their leader in the eye with his smile remaining on his face. "I believe you to be the leader of this group. Is this a correct assumption, birdman?" Azul asked the man with the pigeon on his shoulder that was shivering, a lot, while the man nodded in assent at Azuls question. "Good, good... It seems we are off to a good start, wouldn''t you agree?" Azul said, walking around the group to the frozen Robin who had never seen such a dark side of Azul, making her unsure on how to deal with this new development. As Azul reached Robin his hardened still smiling face melted a little, after which he bowed down to her level, putting his right hand on her head and whispered in her ear, so only she could hear his words, after which she shortly nodded, turned around and left, closing the door of the hall behind her to wait outside for Azul for when he was finished with his buisiness. At first she had been surprised by his words. After all, she had been witness to executions and torture before, though she had to admit that she never took p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in it and always had tried to keep her hands clean. Shoving her questions to the back of her mind, Robin walked over to a crate and sat down, knowing this may take a while. Azul meanwhile had returned before his prisoners, coming to a stop before the large man once more and laying his hand on top of the mans head. "Question number one: Who is the one responsible for deploying the Cipher Pol agents and where is said person stationed?" Azul asked, always keeping eyecontact with the leader, who didn''t say a word, making Azul sigh at the man''s stubborness. Though he could kind of understand the man. After all, knowing that he wouldn''t leave this place alive, why should he rat out the ones who lead the cause he seemed to believe in so firmly? ''...great. No answers it seems. No matter. I''ll try a few more. Maybe I''ll be able to at least get something out of this. Though I probably should be happy enough with their lives... bahh, who cares about semantics anyways.'' Azul finished his thought process, grunting slightly at the end, after which he let his left leg smash down upon the big mans knee, shattering it into pieces, causing said man to roar in pain and making the faces of the group drain of all remaining colour. "I''m normally somebody that is against causing unnescessary pain to others just for the hell of it but since you are members of the world government and the l.a.p dogs of the Gorosei I think I can make an exception here, just this once. Now, question number two: Do you know the locations of the other Cipher Pol undercover units?" Azul asked while walking to the front of the big man, sitting himself on his heels while watching the leader press his lips tightly together, making Azul sigh once more. "It seems I''m not getting anywhere with you guys and I''m not much of a fan of torture so I''ll just send you on your way. No worries, you won''t be lonely down there for much longer." Azul spoke while lifting his right hand up slightly, turning it into black vapor slowly but surely. This in turn caused the woman of the team to squirm under the pressure with fear clearly written in her wide eyes while sweat was pouring down her face. She didn''t want to die yet it seemed while the rest of the group had seemingly accepted that they would soon die, though that didn''t lessen the fear that was written all over their faces. Azul meanwhile had entered a weird state that he hadn''t experienced before. As soon as he had turned his arm completely black his mind began to loose all emotions that had clouded his mind before. Feelings of glee, rage and satisfaction that had risen inside him when he had cornered his prey after so long, vanished, just like that. Only blankness remained and the knowledge that he was doing the right thing, as corny as it may sound. After all, right and wrong were nothing more than subjective terms. And yet, it was as if a higher force was directing his arm which plunged straight into the womans c.h.e.s.t, making her scream in silence, and pulled out her soul that was squirming in his grip, soon afterwards enveloped in roaring flames, burning it to ashes. Next came the second tallest man with a nose that was weirdly quadratic. Again Azul submerged his hand in the mans c.h.e.s.t, ripping his soul out after which it disappeared behind a curtain of flames, his body all the while slumping backwards. Dead. The huge man was trying to rob away in fear of what he had seen. He had witnessed many horror''s before but something deep inside him was screaming at him to run and not let his enemy touch his soul, which would result in his eternal disappearance. Sadly for him, all his attempts ended up in vain. Azul pierced the mans c.h.e.s.t with his hand, but instead of ripping out the soul immediately he gripped it and squeezed, as if he had always known what this would cause the man to feel, whos body spasmed as if in a seizure, convulsing and squirming while screaming in silence, until his suffering also came to an end, his soul turned into ethereal dust, body slumped over. Dead. Turning to the last of the group, Azul walked over to the man that was shivering in fear. "Karma does not forget, Karma does not forgive, no matter what your body may look like, the soul will always bear the mark of deeds long gone and be judged accordingly. Now your time has come as well. Judgement has arrived and demands its payment in full..." Azul spoke, slowly sinking his billowing black hand into the mans c.h.e.s.t, observing with quiet eyes as the man''s body seized and twisted in pain, a black mark forming on his soul, tainting it by Azuls will, marking him. For what? Azul didn''t know either. He just did it on instinct, but he had a few ideas. After all he had studied the mythology behind his fruits incarnation. Slowly pulling his arm backwards, Azul severed the mans soul from his body before his arm turned red, clothed in roaring flames, vanishing the mans soul in a silent scream, until only silence remained and Azuls emotions returned in full force, forcing him to take in a deep breath to calm the raging inferno, shoving the memories of this night to the back of his head for later exermination, before standing up and walking out of the hall and over to Robin. Smiling kindly at her, while a weight had partially fallen off of Azuls shoulders, he sat down next to Robin while raising his head towards the stars, his thoughts wandering into the past to his master and was finally able to let go, exhaling his own wish for revenge against those that were partially responsible for his masters demise, and letting it glide towards the horizon, carried away by the wind... Chapter 63 Grandline, Paradise, Enies Lobby ''Damn it! What to do, what to do...'' Director Spandam thought while he was walking up and down in his office in the tower that sat at the headposition of the island of Enies Lobby, mumbling to himself while occasionally jumping up in frustration. The reason for his conundrum was one of his Cipher Pol teams having missed the report they were due to have given two hours ago, after they had informed him this morning via transpondersnail that they had spotted and made contact with Nico Robin, whom the world goverment had issued a missive for to be capture on sight. Fullfilling their duty while not blowing their cover the CP9 had done just that and at first everything had went fine but it just so happened that they hadn''t reported back to receive further orders after taking Nico Robin into custody! Hence Spandam''s frustration and restlessness. At first he had thought about sending another CP team that was standing on standby in Enies Lobby to check on and possibly assist them, had discarded that idea though because it may blow their cover and he didn''t believe Nico Robin to be able to resist his CP9''s attempt to capture her in the first place. His second idea had been to contact the marine outpost on Water 7 and have them check up on his team. The problem though was that he had no authority over the marines and it would blow the teams cover a hundred fold as well. Not knowing what else to do he had decided to call the fleet-admiral, in the hopes he knew what to do and maybe even take charge of the operation. In his mind Spandam was already formulating various ideas on how he could adress the issue without himself getting another reprimand when, ripping Spandam out of his thoughts, the call connected and the annoyed voice of the fleetadmiral came through. "Who is this?" Sengoku asked, holding the mic with one hand while his other worked through the piles of paper that had acc.u.mulated on his desk, only have focusing on the speaker on the other end. "This is director Spandam speaking, fleet-admiral Sengoku, sir! I hate to interrupt you in your duties but I have come upon a... a situation you may say hehehe... I was hoping you may be able to maybe help me a little since I have come upon a dead end with my limited authority." Spandam spoke slowly, trying not to mess up and follow the script he had written in his mind to the last letter. "Urgh, what is it this time?" Sengoku voice sounded through the mic, bringing a slight sheen of sweat to Spandams forhead, causing him to gulp silently before continuing his charade. "Well, as you may know sir, the world government officials, who regularly issue missives for fugitives that are wanted by the world government, have renewed the one for a woman named Nico Robin. As you may or may not recall, she was the only survivor of Ohara and has been on the run for a long time now. My CP9 agents, stationed undercover in Water 7 at this very moment, have spotted her in said city, after which they contacted me and I ordered them to make contact with her, using her crew as leverage to make her surrender in silence, in order not to blow the CP9''s cover or if nescessary take her in by force. The problem though is, that the agents were due to report back to me two hours ago to update me on their missions progress and if they had taken Nico Robin into custody. They did not report in. I wanted to contact them myself but every evenue I may have been able to exploit had for a consequence the blow up of their cover, so I decided against it and was hoping you may be able to help me out of this situation, hehehe" Spandam spoke, wiping the sweat off of his brows after having said what he had planned to say, bringing it over in the best way he thought possible. ".... I have a bad feeling about this..." Sengoku murmured, coincidently having todays newspaper laying next to his paperwork with the frontpage displaying an article about the marines newest threat, Azul, displayed all over it. Thinking back to the information he had received on the man, he remembered that said man had traveled alongside Nico Robin for some time so it may not be a coincidence that the agents didn''t report back if they came upon someone they were ill-equiped to handle, bringing a headache of gigantic proportions to the fleet-admirals head. "You will pull out of this operation Spandam. I will order the marines on Water 7 to investigate the matter." Sengoku spoke into the mic, hanging up after issuing the order, making Spandam sigh in relieve, after which he slumped back into his chair. Once again his sharp mind had safed his a.s.s... ------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Water 7 "May I ask why you sent me out of there? Not that I am not grateful but I am still curious." Robin asked while walking next to Azul as they tracked back to the flying lamb through the dimly illuminated streets of Water 7 that were swarming with groups of people, venturing out after a long day at work to enjoy the company of their friends and families at a nice dinner, letting the occasional faint laughter echoe through the evening air. Humming to himself, Azul began to formulate an answer, not sure how much he should tell her. "My devilfruit has many abilities that differentiate it from the norm, even among Zoan-fruits. I believe that has to do with it being of the mysthical type. To understand some of my fruits quirky abilities better it may help if you knew about the being it represents, the hellhound. In tales of old the hellhound is a being that isn''t easily classifiable, mostly due to its fickle nature. In the stories, when a person gets lost in the dark of the night, somewhere in the woods for example, it may happen that he comes upon a hellhound. From their it depends solely on what the hellhound sees in the person himself, being able to perceive and examine the soul of the individual to the deepest part. If what he found left him satisfied he would lead the person back into safety. If not though that person would never be seen again. In other stories the hellhound is depicted as a hunter that marks the souls of its victims, enabling the hellhound to find them wherever they are on the planet, chasing them over land, water or even through the air until he finds them and drags their souls to the fiery pits of hell, where they would await their judge-and punishment according to their sins commited, which caused the hellhound to leap onto their trail. Now that I have told you about some of the stories that cover the myths of the hellhound you may understand why I sent you away or at least come to some conclusions..." Azul finished speaking, after which silence descended on the duo, Robin deep in thought while Azul simply enjoyed the beauty of the dimly lit evening and soothingly fresh air, soon arriving at the flying lamb. Though as soon as they arrived at the landing side, both of them were a little dumbfounded at what they saw happening between two of the crewmembers... Chapter 64 Grandline, Paradise, Water 7 The scene Robin and Azul came upon was one they hadn''t expected, at all. Usopp and Luffy stood some distance apart from each other, both with grim expressions plastered on their faces, before Usopp pulled out his slingshot, bringing a twitch to Azuls eyebrow at Usopps ''weapon'', before he began to take aim at Luffy at let shuriken, stink bombs and other stuff rain upon his captain, making Azul wonder what this whole thing was all about. Hadn''t these two morons been best friends up until now? Shrugging his shoulders at Robin, the two of them walked around the battlefield and soon joined the rest of the strawhats, asking them what was going on, out of curiousity. At first a depressed silence greeted them, until Zoro opened his mouth, seemingly the only one that wasn''t about to cry in despair at whatever the f.u.c.k had happened while Robin and Azul had been ''occupied''. "The flying lamb is unrepairable and thus needs to be replaced. Usopp, after hearing the plan to discard the ship and get a new one, demanded to duel Luffy as captain for the ownership of the flying lamb and Luffy told him straight up that if Usopp didn''t agree with his captains decision that he was free to leave the crew." Zoro told the duo, bringing further depression to the crew while Azul simply let a sound of amus.e.m.e.nt escape his mouth, not really sure how he should react to the story, trying to contain his laughter at the rediculousness of the situation. "You are pirates, right?" Azul asked with a twitching eyebrow, just wanting to make sure he hadn''t mistakenly heard something different than what was actually true. "What is that supposed to mean?" Nami asked, letting some of her frustrations out on Azul, who only raised his eyebrow before replying. "I thought you of all people would have learned early on in life that the life of a pirate is not always fun and games, Nami. Yes, your ship may be important but are your relationsh.i.p.s so fragile that they break only because of such a small matter? For f.u.c.ks sake guys, this is the grandline! Sailors graveyard, ring a bell yet? Grow the f.u.c.k up! This place does not tolerate such childish quabbling." Azul told them, causing Nami to slightly recoil at the reminder of her childhood and Belmeres aprupt end. Azul and Robin meanwhile went past the crew, not really interested in the duel, venturing into the kitchen and grabbed themselves a bite to eat before going to sleep. Or at least they tried. Just when Azul was about to fall asleep the screaming voice of Usopp entered his ear, bringing a tickmark to Azuls forhead in annoyance. Standing up and kicking the door open he came upon the scene of Usopp''s pretty bruised bod, screaming at Luffy that he would be leaving the crew, while Luffy walked away from Usopp, covering his eyes with his strawhat as tears ran down his face. "For f.u.c.ks sake, would you shut up already!" Azul yelled over to Usopp, who was pretty gobsmacked from the volume alone, interrupting his tirade. "Thank you very much, god damnit..." Azul muttered while walking over the deck of the flying lamb, now that the fight was over, decided to sleep under the stars once more, falling asleep quickly as silence descended upon the night. The next day arrived and Azul awoke with a satisfied yawn, standing up and stretching his tired limbs, before he walked down the steps to the lower deck, where Robin was already waiting for him with a cup of coffee in her hand, slurping it with a small smile on her face. "Morning. You ready to go? I need my own ship. This crew will drive me nuts otherwise..." Azul asked while murmuring the last part mostly to himself, still loud enough for Robin to hear, which brought a small chuckle out of her. "Yes. I assume we will be going to the shipyard then? Do you know where it is?" She asked, continuing to slurp her coffee with a peaceful expression on her face. "No clue. We''ll find it somehow." Azul said, picking up an apple he had grabbed out of the kitchen while they were conversing with each other, taking a crunching bite out of it with a happy smile on his face. The rest of the crew seemed to still be asleep, going by the tired snores that echoed through the cabin, seemingly having had a long chat last night about how to continue onwards from what had transpired earlier. They walked over to a man with blonde hair that was knoting some tows together, who began to yell at Robin the second he spotted her, screaming into her face what the hell she was wearing and to have some decency, bringing a new tickmark to Azuls forhead, earning the blond man a smackdown of epic proportions, ingrating him into the soil below. Robin couldn''t contain her laughter at the sight, while the both of them stepped over the unconcious man, venturing deeper into the shipyard, until they came upon a tall man with lightblue short hair. "Excuse me, I''m looking for someone that can take an order for a ship I would like to have build." Azul said to the man as he turned into their direction, looking them over before nodding shortly, motioning them to follow after him. "My name is Iceburg. I am the major of this city and owner of the shipyard. Did you have something special in mind for the ship or do you want to buy one of the sh.i.p.s we have in reserve?" the major asked, petting a small mouse that was sitting inside his shirts c.h.e.s.tpocket. "Hmm, preferably something custommade. I have no experience with shipbuilding though there are some things I would like you to consider when you construct the ship." Azul said while scretching his cheek in thought. "That should be no problem. What did you have in mind?" the major asked, as he lead the two into a small office, while the door remained open, bringing the noise of the working shipwrights to their ears. "Well, my former ship was pretty small and I would like to have a smaller one build again. Size wise it should be big enough for one person to steer it, while housing a cabin with around four small beds and some cupboards for storage. The c.o.c.kpit should be a little bit bigger, giving room for a small group of people to move around in. Though only one mast please. The only other requirement would be a little more durable wood for construction. What are the options for that? Money is no issue, so please no withheld information." Azul counted out what he had formulated in his mind that he thought would be nescessary. "That seems to be reasonably easy to construct. Now, for wood, if money truly is no issue then the most durable but also rarest and most expensive sort would be adam''s wood. It could take a while to aquire but it should be doable. Do we have a deal then?" the major asked Azul who nodded after which the both of them shook their hands, shortly talking about the money issue, until they agreed that the money for the wood would be given up front while the rest of the costs for construction and some such would be paid upon delivery. Afterwards Robin and Azul ventured out into the city to have a nice meal in a restaurant they thought looked alright, eating in satisfaction, until they were unkindly interrupted... Chapter 65 Grandline, Paradise, Water 7 "You are hereby put under arrest, ''Devil child'' - Nico Robin! If you resist we will respond in kind!" A man, clothed in a white marine coat for higher ranked members, loudly spoke across the small street while a small batallion of his subordinates shuffled into rows upon rows of orderly ranks, guns pointing at their target, who tensed after hearing those words. All the civilians that sat inside the caffee, the duo were eating in, began to panic and some even started to scream due to being in the same direction the marines pointed their guns in, and who could blame them. Most of those people probably had never even seen a gun before, let alone end up at gunpoint. As Robin tensed in preperation already ingrained into her from her past experiences, her still halfway rational mind made her turn her head to check for Azul''s reaction, calming her instantly as the young man kept on eating his enourmous slice of cake, which he had to specially order since his body size was simply not satisfied by the normal portions anymore, a calm smile on his face. Breathing out, Robin let the tensing of her body receed and a calm look came upon her face in succession. The captain that had kept a vigilant eye on their target frowned heavily. Why was she relaxing? She had a whole batallion of marines against her! Mulling it over the captain looked over to her companion and something came to his mind after seeing the young mans face, though he couldn''t put his finger onto it. Keeping a vigilant mind, the captain switched his gaze back onto their original target, though not forgetting her partner, until the silence between the two fronts was once more interrupted by a yelled greeting. "Roooobiiiiinnnnn deeeeeeeeaaaar, you look so dashing this beautiful morning. May I accompany you through the city my love?" a young blond man with curled eyebrows and eyes shaped like pulsating pink hearts wirled onto the scene, making the batallion of marines sweatdrop in exesperation while the tablepartner of Robin grew a tick mark on his forhead while the right side of his mouth ticked up and down as if in a spasm. Robin on the other hand smiled at the new arrival, not sure how else she should react. Her smile made the blonde mans heart jump out of his c.h.e.s.t, while he wirled around Robin, battering her with proclamations of his love and offering her deserts that seemed to appear out of nowhere all of a sudden. "Enough with this nonsense! Are you coming with us now or do we need to use force?!" The marine captain yelled out in annoyance, making Sanji stop in place and glare at the batallion, before he jumped into action immediately, attacking the marines without warning with wirling kicks that send soldiers flying left and right, stunning the captain momentarily, until he decided to step in and attack the blonde man, transforming his arm into a whip due to having eaten the whip-whip fruit, making it crack in the air, before he pelted the blond man with harsh slashes, ripping the mans jacket at some places, until the man decided to counterattack, forcing the captain into the defense. They kept on trading attacks while Azul and Robin remained sitting in the caffee ordering the bill for their food, which a trembling waiter brought for them and received the respective amount of berry in return. Standing up, Azul asked Robin if she wanted to wander some more through water 7 since they still had a few days left until the ship would be completely build. The shipwrights of water 7 were fast, but not that fast, so they had to wait a little bit. Luckily water 7 had a pleasant athmosphere and lots of nice restaurants which would make their stay a little more relaxing. Receiving an affirmative from her, Azul yelled over to Sanji: "Oyy lovy-dovy chef, we''re leaving! You wanne come or keep on messing around with the marines?" making Robin laugh slightly. "What did you just call me!? My name is Sanji, you overgrown musclehead!" Sanji yelled back, causing Azul to grin a little at the stupid insult, though his really wasn''t all that much better if he was honest with himself. "Jajaja, whatever you say. Now do you want to come or stay here?" Azul answered, sticking his finger into his nose, growing bored of how long Sanji needed to come to a decision. "Urgh, alright. Just give me a second. This dude here ruined my suit and I want some payback for that..." Sanji replied after a few seconds, struggline to come to a decision after the marine had threatened the lady while eating no less! Turning back around Sanji prepared to rush the marine captain once more until some kind of invisible shockwave hit him in the back, making him stumbling forwards a little and bringing some confusion to his face, which turned into shock after he spotted every marine, that was still ready to fight a second ago, slumped over on the ground, unconcious. "Let''s go already, shall we?" Azul''s bored voice echoed from behind Sanji, making him turn around while Robin was still watching the marines with a contemplating look on her face after she turned around and began to follow behind Azul. Sanji soon did so as well after seeing that his fight had become kind of pointless without having an opponent who could defend himself. The following days were spend with Azul occasionally wandering water 7, sometimes joined by Robin or somebody from the strawhats until finally the day arrived the small ship, ordered at the shipyard, had been build and it was time to set sail once again. Chapter 66 Grandline, Paradise, Marine Headquarters "Report!" Sengoku spoke into the mic of his transpondersnail, waiting for some news from the batallion he had sent to observe and possibly capture Nico Robin in Water 7. "Yes sir! We followed your orders to the letter but were met by some unfortunate circ.u.mstances which leave me at a loss to be honest with you sir." The marine answered through the mic, confusing the fleet-admiral. "Unfortunate circ.u.mstances? Ellaborate marine!" Sengoku replied back, hoping for some details, which he normally didn''t get many of due to being surrounded by incompetence... "Sir! We confronted Nico Robin while she was eating in a caffee with someone. Just as we were about to capture the woman due to her not complying with a peaceful surrender that we offered, a young blond man in a black suit jumped in at the scene and reacted rather brutally to the situation, making me believe him to be a member of the strawhat crew and thus intimately related to Nico Robin. He attacked us which ended with a stalemate between us and the man. As we were about to continue the fighting the duo that was eating all the while in the caffee stood up and made to leave the scene, offering the young man called Sanji to join them, which we tried to stop. This is were it gets confusing. Some kind of pressure descended on every marine, me included and knocked us out cold in an instant which I simply do not understand..." The marine captain finished his report, letting silence reign between the two. "Urgh, not again... you will stand down for now captain. I will send a vize-admiral to capture the strawhats, as it is possible that the young man you faught against was the origin of the altercation, though this needs further evidence to undermine. The vize-admiral will arrive in a few hours by seatrain and you will give any assistance that is required of you. Do you understand marine?!" Sengoku spoke, not in the mood to further deal with another annoyance that had emerged in recent days. "Yes sir! Understood sir!" The marine replied, after which Sengoku put down the mic to focus once more on his paperwork. -------------------------------------------------------- "I should be back in around an hour. Prepare whatever you need to prepare so we can get off of this island without much hassle." Azul spoke with a giant piece of meet clutched in his hand, speaking to Robin who nodded shortly, while he went to the railing and jumped over it, giddy already to try out his new ship. He went through the city and bought some more supplies and most importantly picked up his personal transpondersnail, a baby one, which over time would take on his appearance, that he had ordered a few days ago. "Aren''t you a cute one? Gudigudiguuuuu" Azul purred at the tiny snail which gave him a weird look as if asking what the hell was wrong with the man, making Azul laugh at the comical expression the snail was wearing. Covering the small snail under its shell again, Azul kept on walking through the streets until he arrived at the shipyard after some time, venturing right inside, a spring in his step, making him nearly smack his head on the door, which was quite big already. He hadn''t even realized how tall he had gotten. Luckily his growth had kind of stagnated at 4,5 meters so he would have that many issues with doors in the future. Well, maybe a little, but who cares about semantics anyways... "Yo Iceburg, my ship ready yet?" Azul shouted over to the blue haired major, making said man turn around and nodding after having spotted who the voice belonged to. "Follow me, I''ll show you our work. I think you''ll be quite satisfied with the results." Iceburg spoke, waving his hand, motioning Azul to follow after him, as they went down towards the docks which housed alot of sh.i.p.s that were still being constructed by the looks of it. Behind a giant ship a small ship appeared, dwarfed and hard to be spotted in the tall shadow the big ship created. The small ship had a deep brow mahagony like colour and sharp contures. It had one mast as Azul had wished for. The c.o.c.kpit was rather large by itself, sporting a good six meters in length and 4,5 meters in width, with the steering wheel near the end in the middle. The rest of the ship had a length of 10 meters, bringing the total length to 16 meters, fitting Azuls body height and mass rather well. The front of the ship was adorned by a beautifully carved galleon figure, depicting a woman with hair that was ruffled to the back of her neck by the wind while she herself was stretching her hand into the horizon, trying to will the waves at her back that surrounded her to rush forwards. Wondering what he should name his new vessel, Azul submerged himself in thoughts, until he shoved his contemplations to the back of his mind for later and jumped on his ship to inspect the cabin. The second part of the cabin contained four beds, two on each side while curtains obscured the windows on the side that were installed at the height of the oceans level along with a few closets for clothes and other stuff. Walking outside with a big-ass grin on his face, Azul walked over to Iceburg, slapping him on the back while laughing, sending the man stumbling nearly into the ocean, waving his arms in order to not fall right into it. After he had recovered his balance, Iceburg turned around to give the young man a good talking to but was hit by a suitcase into the face, accompanied by the young mans words that inside were the rest of the money, just as promised, after which Azul jumped right onto his ship and sailed out of the shipyard, leaving Iceburg to hurriedly count the money, hoping he had not been cheated... As Azul was standing at the row of his ship he marveled at the smoothness it sailed over the ocean, the wind ruffling and playing with him on his journey out to the sea. How he had missed this... Soon he arrived at the landingside of the flying lamb but was confused at the silence he found there. Covering the ship with his haki, Azuls pupils narrowed. Everybody was missing. Fastening his ship nearby on the coast, Azul walked over to the flying lamb and jumped on board, checking the deck. ''Marks, dents and scratches... A fight happened here... For f.u.c.ks sake! Can''t anything ever be easy on this ocean?'' Azul thought to himself in annoyance, jumping over the railing and walking towards the nearby stores and shops to inquire what the f.u.c.k had happened this time... Chapter 67 Grandline, Paradise, Water 7 Walking over to the different stores Azul asked the various shopkeepers if they had seen anything out of the ordinary and quickly received the information he had been looking for. After all, down here at the coast where rarely any visitors ended up at, smalltalk and news travelled fast and acurately to starve the various shopkeepers of their boredom. Apparently a batallion of marines had stomped through the streets, lead by a tall man wearing, wearing a white coat with the kanji''s for ''absolute justice'' written on its back, while his face was covered in scars accompanied by a curled mustache. His rugged look had scared a lot of the shopkeepers. That''s why they remembered him so vividly. Furthermore, he had been adressed as vize-admiral, which explained to Azul why they had been able to take the crew down without too much of a struggle. Thanking the shopkeepers for the information, Azul began his track up into the city, already formulating a plan on how to reach them in time. Though he had the feeling that he may have to break into Impel Down, bringing a light skip into his step at the bubbling excitement. Soon Azul reached his goal, the marine outpost. Disappointingly the base was rather empty so all he achieved after raiding the place was a lot of shivering and quivering marines that could barely talk in fear, some rather scrunched together information on when they left for Impel Down exactly and to his amus.e.m.e.nt a big white coat with justice written on its back, belonging to the captain that was usually living in this base, seemingly his spare one, going by the clean state it was in. Wrapping it over his shoulders and hiding his face partially under a hat with ''marines'' written on it, Azul pushed of the ground with a boom, arriving at his ship in seconds, which he brought back into the shipyard for safekeeping, earning him a few confused gazes which soon turned into kind smiles when he pelted them with berry notes. Having made sure his ship was taken care of Azul threw over his borrowed uniform and disappeared into the air, running with billowing flames as if on an invisible street towards Enies Lobby, just above the tracks for the sea train, which he had found out lead directly to said island. Meanwhile the strawhats and Robin had arrived in Enies Lobby and, under struggles from a rather pissed of Luffy, were lead through the city part of Enies Lobby, straight towards the later part of the island where they would board a marine ship that would take them behind the humongous ''gates of justice'' and on direct course to the infamous prison, Impel Down, to be locked away for the rest of their lives. Thus explaining why they were struggling so much, having long reached the conclusion what their fates were to be, should they not escape somehow. The only ones not struggling were either the scared ones, the injured ones, or those like Robin who was more of a thinker then an actor, and her thoughts had traveled to many possible directions, though the only one that she thought may be crowned by success was if Azul somehow managed to find out what happened and reach them in time... ------------------------------------------------ While he was running over the ocean''s surface, Azul began to plan how he would bail those morons out. Of course he could just crash into the island like a berserker but that would only delay him in catching up to the captives and possibly bring down the full might of the marines on his head, which he simply wasn''t strong enough for. Thus he had decided to play ninja and sneak in under the guise of being a marine captain. After travelling for ca. 20 mins. Azul arrived at Enies Lobby''s harbor, surprised himself how much faster he was than he would have been by train or ship. Making sure nobody spotted his illuminating figure running through the sky, Azul landed between rows of empty buildings and began to swiftly jump from roof to roof, knowing full well which the captives endgoal would be after coming to Enies Lobby. From the distance Azul could see that the giant bridge that connected the first half of Enies Lobby, which was home to the many subordinates, with the second half of the island had began to move back up, signalling that the captives had already reached the second half and were on their way towards the waiting battleship that would take them through the gate of Justice, which was with groaning sounds beginning to open. Having realised that he needed to hurry if he wanted to catch them Azul increased his already impressive tempo, making him at maximum a blurr to the human eye. Soon he had reached the end of the first half of Enies Lobby and was able to see from its edge that the gate of justice had opened to the intended width, until it began to close once more, meaning the captives had gone through already. With widening eyes Azul rushed through the air once more, discarding all stealth in order to catch up to them in time. Luckily for him nobody spotted him but it, even though that was the least of his worries. With each burning step the closing gates came closer and Azul was able to spot the warship in the distance, having started to turn right, straight for the following gate of justice that would lead it towards Impel Down. Standing in the air, Azul took a deep breath to calm himself and rest his burning muscles for a second. After all he had just run miles upon miles in recordtime only to nearly get crushed to paste. After he had regenerated a little bit, Azul gazed over towards the warship, only to groan in frustration as it had already reached the halfway open gate of justice, leading it directly to Impel Down. Willing himself forwards in annoyance, Azul rushed forwards once more, already going through the best ways he could sneak the captives away, but knew he had no possible ways to do so. The biggest problem was that he didn''t know who would take them in, and with it hindering Azul at taking them away by force. For now at least. The best way would be for him to disguise himself as member of the crew and follow the captives down into Impel Down where he would think up a way on how to continue. Having decided on a course of action, Azul rushed through the closing gates once more, this time with a little bit more breathing room, soon arriving behind the warship, where he opened one of the portholes and after a lot of struggling to fit through simply smashed himself a bigger entrance into the ship, having reached the limit of his patience for the moment. Inside he found himself conveniantly inside some kind of locker room, where he found some kind of marine-grunt uniform for himself. Though it didn''t really fit so he ripped it in half, wearing the shirt as a vest instead, after which he ventured upwards on deck, near the sh.i.p.s entrance so he would be positioned the best to follow after the captives who soon enough arrived on deck. Checking them over, Azul found that some of them were a little hurt but nothing too grievous. They should survive, probably... While he was standing there in his ripped apart marine uniform, one too many times gazes were leveled at the huge man that had suddenly appeared on deck, confusing some of the marines who had never seen such a tall man before and didn''t recognize him as someone they had seen before on the ship but simply shoved the thought to the back of their minds. After all, nobody could possibly appear on their ship without their knowledge. Fortune gazing down on Azul who simply didn''t care about all that and after checking the crew and Robin over got bored and stuck his finger inside his nose, searching for some enlightenment in those tricky holes. And so it came that an unofficial prisoner was delivered into the infamous prison Impel Down, bringing much joy to the inhabitants in the coming hours and horror to those that tried to guard them. The stowaway on the other hand couldn''t have asked for a better birthday present for the coming day. Chapter 68 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down As the warship arrived at the port of the infamous prison Impel Down, Azul got his first good look at the fortress, though he knew from stories he had read in the past that he could only see the tip of the iceberg since most of the fortress was located under the rolling waves of the sea. The entrance of the prison looked pretty bland and disappointed Azul a little who wasn''t really sure what his expectations had been in the first place. ''Hmm, maybe the interior is more interesting...'' he mused to himself while around him the marines bustled in a hurry to carry out yelled orders as they would arrive shortly at the harbor. Stepping down from the ship in a row, the captives were being lead in the middle of the group with the vize-admiral Doberman at the front. They were greeted by a tall intimidating looking man, clothed in a black suit and small black wings on his back, namely the highest ranking warden of Impel Down, Magellan, and a small entourage of subordinates alongside him. "Here are the captives. Hope you got a few nice and cozy cells for the pirate sc.u.m. Though if it were me I''d just gut''em where they stand and be done with it..." Doberman spoke to the tall man who only grunted in reply, having had to travel all the way up to the entrance for a group of small time pirates he couldn''t care less about. Even worse, his diarea was acting up again and he really needed to take a dumb! "Alright you lot, move it! I''ve got better things to do than waste my time on you..." Magellan spoke, only to have a squeaking voice pipe in after his grunted orders for his now bustling subordinates. "Gehahaha, warden Magellan, are you sure you don''t just want to shit again? Of course if you don''t want to fullfill your duties any longer you could just hand me your position instea- ahhh, nevermind boss! I''ll do as I was ordered already." The squeaking man ran over to the rest of the subordinates after a glare from Magellan who really wasn''t in the mood for his subordinates shenanigans at the moment. Azul having heard the whole conversation had to suppress the bellowing laughter that was sure to erupt from his throat at the idiots that were guarding the high security prison, ending with him clearing in throat instead, acting as if he had something stuck in there, earning him a few sidelong glances from his ''collegues''. Soon the entourage of wardens turned around and began making their way down into the prison, while the marines turned around and headed back on the ship. Funnily enough, Azul simply stood still in place, acting as if it was normal for him to do so and waited until the marines had tracked back on the warship before he marched over to the already closing prison gates and slipped right through. ''Mission accomplished hehehe! Maybe I should change my profession to a ninja or something? I bet I would look awesome in their suits... Oh well, I''m still young and who knows, could become a hobby of mine or something...'' Azul thought while walking down the dimly lit corridor, drilling for gold in his nose all the while. "Hey! What is a lone marine doing down here? Weren''t you supposed to leave after the delivery of prisoners?" Asked a stationed warden that was sitting in some kind of relay station which would let the lower level know about what was happening up here, having a light frown on his face. "Don''t mind me. I''m only on a stroll to see some friends down there" Azul answered, about to walk just right past the man with a bored look on his face, making the man take a step back after hearing Azuls words and was about to run back to the relay station to notify the lower level that someone broke into the prison when he slumped over from a smack on his head, sending him into unconciousness. "Urgh, well done Azul... Now what to do with the dude...Oh well, I''ll just take him along and dump him at the prison cell area" He mused to himself while tapping his foot on the concrete in thought. ''Though, now that I''m here, why not check if I can find out where the strawhats are supposed to be imprisoned at. There should be some kind of datafolders here, right?'' Azul thought, walking right into the relay station and began to go through all the papers that seemed new enough to him that hadn''t yet been put away. Soon afterwards he got lucky and found a small pile of papers. ''It seems like Chopper and Nami are being imprisoned in the first level the so called ''blood red hell'', while Luffy, Zoro and Sanji got put behind bars in level 3 ''starving hell''. Now, where was Robin brought to though. There are no entries here...what the hell? Is there a special area for interogations and stuff like that or something? Or will she be executed? Urgh, this shit is getting more annoying by the minute. No matter, I''ll search until I find her...'' Azul thought to himself, folding the papers and putting them inside his pocket after which he walked out of the relay station, grabbed the warden, threw him over his shoulder like a wet towl and continued his path downwards, soon arriving at level one: ''the blood red hell''. Chapter 69 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down The entourage of wardens and captives slowly made their way down into the depth of Impel Down. Soon they had reached the first level, earning gasps of horror from the prisoners at the sight that presented itself to them. Trees, as far as the eyes could see, but not normal ones. No. The trees in the first level were deep red in colour and glinted ominously in the dim light of the prison, reflecting of their cystalized branches that had been coated in dried blood, telling volumes about their sharpness. Screams from tortured prisoners filled the air, bringing shivers to the faces of the crewmembers while the guards of Impel Down grinned savagely at the fear they could smell in the air. "You and you will spend your time on this level. I hope you''ll enjoy your stay in my prison." Magellan spoke in his deep voice, pointing at Nami and Chopper whos eyes widened at the realisation that they would be seperated from the rest of the crew while they were staying in Impel Down. "Stop it! Get your hands away from them!" Luffy''s enraged voice resounded through the prison while he was being restrained by a group of sweating guards, who obviously had trouble at carrying out their task to keep him from running amok. "Take them away!" Magellan spoke, ignoring the rebelling rest of the crew while already walking on, towards the second level. Meanwhile Nami and Chopper were shivering in fear at the malice that greeted them as they were thrown into a group cell, already inhabited by the sc.u.m of society. And what did that say about themselves if they ended up in the same place now? Where they just as bad? Just when the group of prisoners decided to have some fun with the ''fresh blood'' Chopper to transform into his heavy point-form, having been knocked out early on in the fight against the vize-admiral, who simply didn''t know that the reindeer possessed a devilfruit himself, making short work of the inmates, making both Nami and Chopper breath out in relief. Though soon they would have to make their first run through the forest and none of the two were looking forwards to that. While Nami and Chopper had found their homes for the foreseeable future, the rest of the group tracked down further into the depths of Impel Down, all of them depressed and angry to no end. The hope they still had felt a while ago, thinking they may be able to escape from this hell on earth was beginning to twindle rapidly at the horror''s they came across on their way down. The second level they had crossed was one giant horror version of a petting zoo. Inside the level, not the humans were petting the animals, no. It was the other way around and the animals were gigantic, bloodthirsty versions of the ones from the regular petting zoos, chasing the prisoners through the level until they were unable to move further, due to the fatigue and strain they were put through, until they were caught and beaten to death in the process. After the groups excourse down horror road they arrived in a desert like level. The starving hell! Contrary to the previous level, in this one the horror''s weren''t enforced by brute force, though the giant animal guards were still present for the worst case, no. On this level starvation and dehydration were the enemy. The enourmous heat that was produced on the fourth level rose up and boiled the inhabitants on this level, pretty much literally, alive. "Here ends your excourse through the wonders of my prison. I hope you''ll enjoy your stay..." Magellan spoke in a strained voice as his urge to take a shit grew steadily by the minute, though his pride denied him from telling the group to hurry up. He motioned for the guards to push Zoro, Luffy and Sanji into a cell, while walking forwards towards the deeper level of Impel Down. As the rest of the captors and the remaining captive, Nico Robin, disappeared in the distance, enraged roars and rattling noises could be heard from the newly inhabited cell, but soon even that subsided, bringing back the eerie silence that permitted the third level from all the dried up corpses and dehydrated/starved humans that remained here. Robin meanwhile had pulled herself back into a secure shell deep inside herself that she had build early in her life, having nearly given up all hope to escape this place alive. She still had a slimer of hope left, but only a tiny one, which she guarded ferociously inside her shell like a lioness her recently born cubs. As they descended further down they passed by level four, where prisoners were being boiled alive, or otherwise tortured. Normally, every newly arrived prisoner had to go through this ceremony of cleansing as an introductory rite so to speak, meaning they were pushed into the giant boiling pot in the middle of the level, though today Magellan was in a hurry since he needed to take a gigantic crap as soon as possible and he always had the possibility to come back another day if he wanted to. Throwing over a yearning gaze in the direction of his bureau and the sacred toilette therein, Magellan motioned for the group to march forwards, descending into level five, the freazing hell. Though this was not their end goal, no. What rarely anybody outside of Impel Down is aware of is that there is another level at the literal bottom of the ocean, reserved for only the most notorious or dangerous of criminals. The sixth level, endless hell. As they arrived in the dark abyss of Impel Down, after their shiver enforcing track through level five, what greeted them was crazy laughter, curses thrown at the guards or invitations yelled for the beautiful Robin to come a little closer for ''inspection of injuries'' hidden behind greedy faces, not having had felt the soft c.a.r.e.s.sing of a womans touch in a long time. Here Nico Robin was pushed into a cell, luckily for her, seperated from the rest of the prisoners, but that was as far as her luck got, since she was informed that soon somebody, a ''professional interogator'', from the world government would arrive and have a little chat with her. After those words her prison bars were slammed shut and the guards left, leaving Robin to pull her knees to her c.h.e.s.t while burrying herself in the corner of her cell, focusing all her attention inwards on the small spark that prevented her from becoming nothing more than an empty shell. Hope. Chapter 70 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down After walking for a while, the warden still slumped over his shoulder, Azul reached the first level of Impel Down, making his eyes widen a little at the sight. ''What the f.u.c.k...?! What kind of sick f.u.c.k do you have to be to come up with shit like this?'' He thought to himself. Even though Azul knew of the cruelties this world was infested by, to witness the abyss of such sick products of some persons mind was another matter all together. Having observed the level from his alleviated position for a while and spotting the entrance to the next level, Azul began to walk forwards, straight towards the prison cells that were located at the edge of the blood red forest to go look for the first two of the crew he knew should be imprisoned here. ------------------------------------------------ Nami and Chopper hadn''t been staying long in their cell before two guards arrived and pulled them out of their cell, bringing them over to the group of prisoners that were lined up before the entrance to the forest, to join the group as the newest arrivals for the upcoming daily blood red marathon that was about to commence. "Time to bleed, maggots! huehuehue" the guards captain of this level spoke with a rough voice and lifted his arm as the signal for the prisoners to start running. Though just as he was about to drop his arm, a tall shadow fell upon the man, making him turn around, only to be greeted by a hand that speared right through the mans torso, making the captain spit up blood before he died. At first nobody knew how to react but that was soon taken care of as a crushing pressure smashed all the guards into the ground, unconcious. Nami and Chopper who had been scared witless at first at the prospect of having to run through the bloody forest were now weeping in relieve, knowing they were safe. "A-Azul!" the two cried while charging over to Azul and throwing themselves into the man''s arms, who only smiled softly. "You two alright? I''ve seen you on the ship but could only check for superficial injuries..." he asked after the two had calmed down a little, the rest of the prisoners not being able to move a single muscle due to the pressure that pressed them to their spots. "Ye, we are fine. I''ve checked us over while we were in the cell" Chopper said, wiping his moist eyes he had gotten from all the things that had happened in the last few hours. "Good, then it''s time for us to descend before we get the hell out of this place for good." Azul spoke, putting Chopper on his shoulder while Nami simply stepped to his side, the stifness of her shoulders alleviated a lot. "P-Please, take us with you! We don'' wanna die in ''ere" one man spoke, stuttering under the pressure, making Azul turn into his direction, making the man straightening his back on reflex under the young mans gaze. "And why, pray tell would I do that?" Azul asked, eyeing the men up and down, making alot of them shiver under his gaze. "M-Most o-of us are s-small time criminals on this level. Pickpockets, con artists and so on. N-Nothing like the l-lower levels with all the pirates you see." another man spoke up this time, and from his stature his words seemed believable as he was incredibly thin with no muscles to speak of that were a must to some level for every sailor. Thinking it over Azul formulated a plan in his mind. After all, it would only be a matter of time until they would be discovered. So possibly, he could use the small gangsters to cause a ruckus on the lower levels to serve as a distraction for when they would be escaping later on... "Fine, but you''ll do as I say and once our paths seperate you''ll be on your own..." Azul said, lifting the pressure of his presence from the men and women, while turning around and marching towards the exit for the lower level, making the group of prisoners breath out in relief. "We''ll need to find the rest of our crew! They should be somewhere on the lower level." Nami spoke while they walked through the bloody forest, sending shivers down her back when she thought about what would have happened had Azul not arrived in time. "I know where they should be located. We''ll only need to reach the lower level. Though, in the papers that I found, Robin wasn''t listed in one of the five level, which means there must be another area for interogation or stuff like that in Impel Down." Azul spoke while walking next to Nami, until unexpectedly a woman spoke up from behind the trio. "The one you''re looking for may be in level six..." "Oh please woman, that level is only a rumor. I bet they threw the person into a cell on level five or above and just forgot to fill out a form or somethin''" another man replied to the woman''s words, sparking a conversation between the fellow inmates, until Azul interrupted them. "What is that rumor all about?" he asked curiously, shutting up their heated conversation. "It is said that below the fifth level, their exists another one, literally on the bottom of the ocean, dark like the abyss, reserved for the worst of the worst of prisoners, incarcerated to never see the light of day again. Forever tinged in darkness..." the woman finished, making the rest of the group shiver at the thought of such a level. Azul meanwhile had a frown on his face. Did such a level exist? Possible. Could it be that Robin was at that level. Even more possible. Was he going to check if such a level existed? Hell ye. And so they traveled further through the woods until they reached a steep stairways from which screams echoed all the way up. They had reached the entrance to the second level. Hell of the wild beasts. Chapter 71 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down As they ventured down the stairs, most of them in fear of what awaited them down their, only having heard rumors of the lower level, the area they came upon revealed itself to them. It was a maze-like giant room filled with stairs, buildings and cells that crisscrossed with or over each other, creating a weird circuit structure that was perfect for the spectacle of the second level. The group arrived just at the time where the monster guardians and other animals began their hunt for the prisoners in delight, hoping to find themselves some food for the evening. And thus, it came as no surprise that those animals spotted the large group of new arrivals, already salivating at the thought of their juicy limbs in their maws, making the group behind Azul shiver in fright. With a roar the beasts charged at the group only to receive a kick into the jaws, rocketing them into a nearby wall, causing the whole structure to collapse under the might of the impact, while Azul took down his leg and began walking forwards to get to the next level. The group behind Azul though stood in awe at the raw strength they had just witnessed and had to snapp themselves out of their stupor to catch up with their imprompto leader who was leaving them behind. As the group advanced forwards through the level, occasionally attacked by a monster or a group of guards that were swiftly and efficiently taken out of comission from Azul, more and more of the prisoners on the second level took note of the makeshift group that remained alive through all of the attacks, protected by a single man, making many of the prisoners join the group of escapes, enlarging their already impressive group. Many of the prisoners though were confused why they went into the deeper level and only after hearing the story how two of the trio at the front knew their leader who came to rescue them and had still more left in the lower level, did the newly arrived ones understand and join them anyways in the hopes that they would be able to escape from here in the end through some happenstance. Azul of course knew of their newest members but pretended to not know of them, knowing full well that in the end it came down to a simple equation: the more the merrier. And so they traveled, a strangely joyous cl.u.s.ter in this dark prison as the members may still have their guards up but some had gotten the illusion in their minds that they could already smell freedom and thus became more outgoing. After some time the large group arrived at the entrance to the third level, guarded by a giant being, often labeled in myths and legends as a spinx and leader of the monster guards that inhabited the second level. When the group arrived before the monster many grew fearful and made to escape, believing them to have already lost all chance at escape when Azul appeared above the creature and with a drop kick smashed the giant being right into the ground, cracking it until the spinx fell right through, straight into the third level, bringing with it a billow of escaped heat from down below. Under admiring gazes that brought a slight tick to Azuls forhead, the large group went further down and entered the desert like third level. The starving hell. Meanwhile chaos had broken out in the observation room that kept a vigilant eye on the camera like transpondersnails that observed the entrance and happenings on every level. Thus the chaos as the guards had been privy to the formation of the large group of prisoners that now advanced further and further down into Impel Down, threatening the whole prison. "Quick! Inform warden Magellan! This has gotten out of hand!" A guard yelled, after which another one, responsible for communication, called the office of the director Magellan, hoping that he may know how to continue with this mess. Chapter 72 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down Magellan had just comfortably arrived at his quarters and sat himself down on his personally crafted toilette to take the shit of the century when he received a call on his transpondersnail. With an annoying grunt, Magellan took the mic into his hand, still sitting on his beloved toilette and going about it like a champ. After all he had had a lot of time and practise invested in his defecation, evolving it into an artform. Though he guessed few would be willing to call it that... "Urgghhh, this is, urgh, Magellan speaking. What is it? Hnggg" the tall man spoke into the mic, at first receiving only silence from the other end. Soon though the caller snapped out of it and responded with something that made the wardens mood sour in seconds. "Sir! There has been a revolt in level one, lead by a tall man who took out all the guards without problem. The revolt has spilled over into the second level and by now reached the third level, with none of the guards, nor monster or man, being able to stop the groups advance. What are your orders, sir?" Magellan mulled it over once more in his mind before coming to a conclusion. "First order: Give Hanniabal the order to round up the troops at the upper level one or two to stop any prisoners from escaping Impel Down. Second order: Tell Sadi-chan to send her guardian-beasts to confront the group. Should they arrive in the lower level still than I will take care of them myself." Magellan said, hanging up the mic instantly. After all he had his art to perfect and a few stupid convicts wouldn''t stop him from doing so. ------------------------------------------ The group of prisoners had been walking through the heat of the third level for a few minutes now and a lot of cursing was heard through the group, making for a rather amusing scene in Azuls eyes. Chopper, who was sitting on Azuls shoulder was already gasping for air as the heat was too much for the reindeer to handle, resulting in him slumbing over Azuls shoulder like a wet towl, just like the guard he had been carrying back on the first level whom he had soon afterwards dumped in a corner as unnescessary balast. Nami meanwhile had opened her top in the heat, making many of the men grin in happiness though she couldn''t be bothered much by it due to the incredible heat that permitted the third level. Soon they arrived at the cells and it didn''t take long for the trio to spot Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, whos eyes widened when they saw Azul leading the large group through their level, accompanied by Chopper and Nami. "What''s up? You comfy in their?" Azul spoke through the bars, not being able to surpress the grin that formed on his face, earning him a scowl from Zoro and a happy laugh from Luffy while Sanji had fainted in the corner after seeing Nami with her shirt unbuttoned. "Yeye, laugh all you want you overgrown manchild. Now will you get us out of here already?" Zoro asked with a slight grin, thankful to Azul for coming after them. Azul meanwhile had stepped before the bars and after touching them slightly confirmed that they were made from seastone. Luckily, the rest of the cell was not made from seastone, meaning he could smash everything around the bars and thus freeing the trio. And so he did just that, making Nami facepalm at the stupidity of the architects that had designed the prison cells. While they had been busy, the other prisoners had gone to look for keys to free their fellow inmates, though they had stumbled upon a slight problem. Gigantic animal guardians with weapons. One of the guardians wielding three familiar looking swords which made Zoro roar in fury and Azul to laugh at the irony. As it turned out, the animal guardians carried around keys with them making the whole search a whole lot easier, though aquiring them was harder than it first looked. Azul had decided to stay at the back and let the strawhats try and deal with it. After all, Azul couldn''t and wouldn''t always be there to box them out of the dilema, thus helping them a bit. Though not really. He was just too lazy to move his a.s.s for an overgrown zebra with an iron maze no less... Thus the third level was conquerored and the troop, now having gather a shitload of members tracked down further to find and rescue the last member of captives. Nico Robin. ---------------------------------------------- It was dark and despair was creeping closer the longer she stayed down here, accompanied by screams, cruel laughter and mocking proclamations yelled between inmates, strengthening the negative athmosphere that pressed Robin further and further into the cells corner. And yet, the spark she had secured in the deepest core of her being held firm, not giving in, and it never would if she had anything to say about it. After all, she knew she could rely on the spark that had imbedded itself in her soul over the last few weeks and would stay strong just like its origin, who was just now on his way to get her. She just knew that it must be so. Chapter 73 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down The large entourage traveled through the heat of the third level and soon arrived at the stairs which lead to the fourth level, the burning hell. At the top of the stairs the group was already able to see the light of the distant fire''s that flickered in the fourth level, tormenting and torturing the captives in one way or another. They ventured down the long stairs and were met with the origin of the heat on the third level, smashing into the large groups faces like a child that ran into a brickwall, head first. Most of the people had thought the heat on the third level to be terrifying already but were now met with the real deal, and to think that many prisoners had to permanently stay on this level send shivers over many backs. "Urgh, so hoooot. I think I''ll die of a heatstroke..." Chopper whimpered from ontop of Azuls shoulder, making Azul grin and the rest of the group groan under the heat with proclamations to please go back up into the cooler level, only to be rebuffed by the raging Sanji that was burning himself somehow. Soon after the group had entered the level their presence had been noted by the working prisoners, making a lot of eyes widen at the sight with hopeful proclamations in between which resulted in the group to swell even further. Now and then a small scuffle would break out in between the hundreds of prisoners though those were swiftly subdued by Azul simply gazing at them with calm eyes, making the offenders straighten their backs with many unmanly squicking sounds accompanying the action. Azul meanwhile had grown a little suspicious at the little resistance they had encountered. Where were all the guards? Weren''t they supposed to stop them or something? As his thoughts reached this stage his peripheral haki senses picked up a large life signature that headed towards the groups direction, making Azul stop in his tracks, bringing silence to the following crowd with the weaker ones from the upper level wondering why they stopped and the stronger ones from the lower level growing weary in worry. After all this level was home to the office of the supreme warden of Impel Down, Magellan. And many prisoners had had unpleasant encounters with the large fellow in the past. "Stay out of this." Azul said to the group behind him, picking up Chopper from his shoulder whom he handed to Nami that was dripping from sweat, just like the rest of the group, soaking Chopper even further until his fur bulged, transforming the reindeer into a pure ball of fur with a face and a hat on top of it, looking rather comical. Not long after he had said those words the reason for them became apparent as Magellan walked into their direction, making a lot of the prisoners cry out in fear, not having witnessed how strong their leader was yet and thus afraid that they would get punished or worse by the warden. "This is as far as you''ll go!" Magellan said, his body beginning to turn purple in colour, until the first drops of the fluids his body now consisted of dropped onto the ground, sizzling and steaming slightly with purple gas in the process. "A devilfruit hmm? Now this will make this more interesting..." Azul mused out loud, already forming ideas about the capabilities his opponents fruit possessed. ''Acid maybe? Or some kind of poison? Hmm, better not to get hit by it in the first place to find out...'' his thoughts wandered while his body transformed into his 5,5 meters tall, canine form, bathed in the flickering light and heat that his body produced, raising the temperature of his surroundings even higher. "So you possess a zoanfruit? Mythical maybe? No matter. You''ll die either way for breaching my prison. Now die! Hydra!" Magellan spoke out in a strong, deep voice, creating three snake like heads behind his back, consisting of the purple fluids which rushed towards Azul who swiftly stepped aside. Though the hydra didn''t seem to care as it rushed towards the group that had gathered behind Azul, making his eyes widen at the deviousness of the warden. The hydras head though was cut of from Zoro who had taken out his swords in preperation already, while the rest of the group rushed backwards to seek cover behind different buildings or other things. Bringing his focus back onto his opponent, Azul took to the air with a snarl at the lack of honor his opponent had shown, though he wasn''t surprised much since he was a warden of this sadistic abomination of a prison in the first place. With a boom of displaced air, accompanied by a veil of flames that left red blurs behind Azul, he dashed towards his opponent, while clothing his claws in armament haki, not sure if Magellan was a logia or not. In the end though it would not matter, he knew. While he was flickering through the air, Magellan tried to send his hydras after his opponent but was simply outclassed when it came to speed and thus called them back, building a protective shell around himself, which would harm any physical attack that he would face. Azul meanwhile had observed his enemy''s strategy and had to admit that it was a good plan. Unfortunately for Magellan, Azul could raise his body''s flames to ridicolous levels for a none logia, evaporating the fluid in seconds on contact, which Magellan realised rather late with growing horror at the realisation. Thus Azul, having appeared right in front of Magellan in a crouched position, increased the heat on his body, making them glow in a nearly white light, and with a sweeping kick pulled the legs out from under the huge mans body, smashing him into the ground, followed up by a dropkick into the mans sternum, which resulted into an agonizing scream that was backed by the sizzling of Magellans burning skin. Increasing his weight on his stomping leg, Azul attempted to impale the man with his leg. His insticts though told him to retreat instead and so he did, not a second to late. The grievous injury on Magellans c.h.e.s.t had turned the mans eyes crimson which resonated with the fluids around him that grew from purple to a glowing red. "Urgh! You will regret this...!" Magellan g.r.o.a.n.e.d out, holding his burning c.h.e.s.t that had a black burnmark on it. Behind Magellan a humongous creature grew, towering five meters over Azuls already impressive height, steam rising from its mouth to the not far away prison ceiling, creating a thin smoky blanket that spread further and further. "Venom-Demon: Hell''s judge!" Magellan roared in fury, his construct responding in kind. Azul meanwhile had distanced himself further from the man, shrinking his form to his normal height while remaining in his canine body, his flames in the process growing larger and hotter, rising further up his arms and legs until they completely consisted of fire, only his torso and head remaining normal. ''Going by its name I believe it is safe to say that the fluid he produces is poison, though I''ve never heard of a poison that acts like a virus... Admittedly, I know nearly nothing about poison so that''s that...'' Azul mused in his mind, falling into his prefered combat stance, waiting for Magellan to make his move so he could exploit the opening it would create and finish the fight as fast as possible, simply because the spreading poison created a unique environment that Magellan would have an advantage in while fighting. Azul didn''t have to wait too long though as the venom-demon sent a punch at Azul who ducked under it, leaving the arm to crash into the ground, splintering it in the process. Ignoring the sizzling arm above him, Azul rushed towards the origin and weakness of the humongous creature. Would Magellan perish, so would his creation along with him. Pushing off the ground to evade the spreading poison, Azul ascended into the air, swivelling on the air''s currents, clawing at Magellan who raised his large right arm protectively before his c.h.e.s.t, which Azuls burning claws ripped right through, making Magellan scream once more, while commanding the venom-demon in the process to send another punch at the beast, that didn''t wait for the punch to come but instead sent a piercing thrust formed from his conqueror''s haki into Magellans mind, making said man spit out a mouthful of blood as he staggered backwards with a groan from the pain he was feeling. Magellan, after his mind had received this sharp invasion into his mind had problems seeing clearly as a result and thus ordered his venom-demon to cover his front with punches to stall for time so he could recover. Though his plan seemingly failed as the next thing Magellan felt was a scorching claw that ripped through his c.h.e.s.t from behind him, impaling his heart on the claw, which slowly but surely burned to ashes as the beating pulse subsided and along with it, Magellans eyes closed, shutting down for the last time. With a thud Magellans huge frame fell forwards while the venom-demon collapsed on itself, making Azul jump backwards to dodge it. As a result the floor of the fourth level caved in, sending all those that stood on top of it and hadn''t retreated far enough away down into the next level. The freezing hell. Those that remained on the fourth level though decided to not follow the group further down, now that their biggest and most fearsome enemy had fallen. Instead they rushed towards the warden office, keen to plunder what they thought to be of value and finally get the hell out of this place. Chapter 74 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down At first there was nothing but resounding silence in the room belonging to the observation crew. It had all started with the beginning of the fight between Magellan and the intruder. A fight none of them had thought possible to witness when it came to shear destructiveness. Though that awe the group of observers had been in for a prolonged period of time had swiftly turned into absolute horror as the one they held in the highest prestige and awe as their leader was pierced by the burning monster, killing him swiftly. It had happened so fast that the crew had at first thought they were imagining things. But soon reality came knocking at their door, demanding them to return to it. And so they did. After the silence chaos reigned. "No wa-ay... H-He just killed the w-warden...!" "F.u.c.k! What should we do now?" "Calm down guys! We need to contact headquarters!" Which they soon did, not sure why they hadn''t done so in the first place which may even have prevented the wardens death! Dialing the marine headquarter a woman picked up at the other end of the line, her monotonous voice betraying her boredom, which soon shattered into a million pieces. "This is the marine headquarters speaking. How can I help you?" "This is director Shogi, commander of the observation team in Impel Down. We have an emergency here! Impel Down was infiltrated and a full riot has spread through most of the prison. Furthermore, just a few minutes ago warden Magellan was killed in action by the main perpetrator of the riot in single combat! Please, we need immediate help or this will turn into the worst kind of scenarios imaginable!" Following the words of commander Shogi the woman inhaled sharply in shock, not wanting to believe her ears at first. Though after confirming the mans words she told him to wait before she rushed out of the office, drawing the attention from her fellow captains on her, who wondered what she had just heard. Sprinting out of the communication office the female captain dashed up the stairs to the higher floors, reserved for the supreme authorities of marine headquarters and shortly after she arrived before the fleet-admirals office. Knocking swiftly she just opened the door and without knowing interrupted a meeting between the three admirals and the fleet-admiral, making her eyes widen at the sight, before bowing down in apology. "Thousand apologies sirs but we have an extreme emergency at Impel Down that needs your immediate attention!" The female captain said, making all the admirals and Sengoku stand up, after which they left for the communications office, startling all the captains out of their boredom with their appearance, making them stand up and saluting their arrival. Walking over to the mic, Sengoku picked up the line. "This is fleet-admiral Sengoku speaking. Whom am I talking to and what happened?" "S-Sir, I am commander of the observation team in Impel Down. We have an intruder in Impel Down that started a riot of epic proportions throughout the various levels and furthermore defeated warden Magellan in single combat, rendering any resistance of value we may have been able to present pretty much useless against someone that strong. We require help, if possible yesterday! Please sir! This is getting out of ha-" A crashing sound resounded through the mic from commander Shogi''s end, silencing their conversation until different screams and outcries of pain echoed through the line, making Sengoku grimace, clearly understanding what had happened. "Deploy warsh.i.p.s 1-10! They are to sail towards Impel Down and take out any resistance they find! Kizaru! You will join them and have the command over the fleet! Don''t f.u.c.k this up!" Sengoku bellowed his orders, making all the marines bustling in a hurry to carry them out while Kizaru just yawned and walked out of headquarters to the nearest ship that would set sail towards Impel Down... ---------------------------------------------- Meanwhile Azul and the strawhats, along with a small group of prisoners had crashed down into the fifth level of Impel Down, the freazing hell. Grunting the group stepped out of the crater they had caused with their arrival on this level, observing their new surroundings in the process. They tracked through the level while Azul had jumped up onto the tall prison buildings, searching for some kind of entrance that would lead them further down, if there was another level. While he did so the strawhats and prisoners searched the filled prison cells for Robin, though the later just wanted to free more prisoners. Not finding her in any of them the strawhats returned back to Azul who had found a small elevator that seemed to go down. Thus they walked over to it and bustled around a little until they managed to get the elevator to work. ------------------------------------------------- As Robin was huddled in the corner of her prison cell, she heard dimly the creaking of a prison cell. At first she thought it was some prisoner being brought somewhere by the prison guards but when she looked up she gazed upon the eyes of a slim man with black, empty eyes, clothed completely in a black suit with a black tie around his neck. His apathetic face sent shivers down her spine but she refused to back down before the man so with weak knees she stood up to him, straigthening her back in the process. The man though didn''t seem to take any notice of this as he only smiled without an ounce of kindness adorning his face, walked up to Robin and twisted her arms to her back after which he cuffed her hands in seastone, pushing her forwards, out of the cell and down the middle of the levels walkway, all the while the convicts leered at Robin, roaring for her to join them in their cells or spitting at the man like animals from behind their bars. Soon the two reached a small room that was mostly empty, except for a chair in the middle while a small table filled with instruments of the vicious type stop besides it. The man turned to the small table and lifted up a small steel needle into the flickering light, observing it as if it was the most beautiful thing he had even seen in the world. Turning back towards Robin, the man gazed into her eyes with a grin on his face. "Now, let us have a pleasant time, shall we?" The man spoke, walking towards Robin who recoiled but had no chance to escape in any way. Soon afterwards screams and sobbs could be heard coming from the dark room just beyond the doors, betraying the horror''s Robin had to endure, hoping still but even that was becoming harder by the minute... Chapter 75 Grandline, Paradise, Gate of Justice The fleet of 10 marine warsh.i.p.s had left marine headquarters nearly an hour after Sengoku had issued the command for their deployment with them now positioned at the gate of Justice that would bring them to the great current in the middle of the three gates from where they would travel to Impel Down. Kizaru, being an admiral had the supreme command over the fleet though it didn''t seem like he did anything to enforce his rules, behind his lazy visage a sharp and cruel mind resided, sometimes coming to the surface when he was hunting down pirates or criminals alike. While he was standing there, looking lazy to the world, his sharp mind was formulating different ways to approach the coming battle. After all, he hadn''t become an admiral for his battle prowess alone, though it played a big role. No. What was important also was his tactical ability and currently he was employing just that. After having received all the information from the commander Shogi along with Sengoku, Aokiji and Akainu, Kizaru''s mind had already begone going to work. At first glance the supression of the prisoners seemed easy enough but that was simply not true. The biggest problem he saw was that they could only use a limited amount of force to fullfill this task, him especially. Should he discard the fact that the prison was mostly underwater they would all die swiftly, should he deploy his devilfruit to the extreme. Thus he was thinking on how to go about this challenge. But he still had some time to mull things over until they reached the prison and an idea had already begun forming in his head... ------------------------------------------------ Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down As Azul and the rest of the strawhats were descending down to the sixth level Azuls instincts were screaming for him to go faster as some sort of premonition was gnawing at the back of his mind and he wasn''t stupid enough to simply discard his instincts. Thus he smashed a hole into the elevator under suprised outcries, jumping down the hole which made his tempo that much greater. With a crashing sound, Azul landed on the dark sixth level of Impel Down, splintering the earth beneath his crouched figure into all directions. Dashing forwards while his haki covered the whole level, Azul was greeted with a lot of highlevel spirits, imprisoned behind thick bars made of seastone, warped and mad emotions rolling off of them, with a few slightly lighter spirits here and there. Soon his haki come upon to signatures that were confined to a room seperate from the main population of the sixth level, with one squirming in agony while the other was glowing in happiness and malice, making Azuls eyes widen in dawning realisation as he recognized the hurting spirit, it being Robin and from the looks of it she was being tortured no less. With a cracking sound Azul smashed right through the buildings in his way, ignoring the walls as if the were made out of paper as he automatically clothed himself in a sheen of haki, soon arriving before the door to the interogation cell. As he entered the view that greeted him though made the fire inside of him roar in rage... ----------------------------------------------------- Nico Robin was in pain, unbearably so. At first she had tried to remain strong and retreat into the furthest reaches of her mind in an attempt to not break under the strain of the torture. Though that had only helped for a couple of minutes until the pain from having a steel needle pushed below her fingernails was causing tears to roll down her cheeks and her pained screams to fill the chamber, the mans mad giggling backing it as he bathed in his victims agony. At first she had thought the man would start asking her questions but she soon realised that he was enjoying breaking his victim too much to start with the interogation which could possibly shorten his enjoyment. Shivering from the pain while tears ran down her cheeks and blood down her hands, the man had turned back to the table to pick up some kind of spoon for a lack of a better word, making her try to twist her head away in fear, making the man grin even further. As both their eyes fell upon the man, who had taken in the scene before him, the mans face contorted into a furious face, snarling at the slim man that stepped back in fear. Robin meanwhile had recognized through haze of pain and fear the man before her as none other than Azul, after which her body spasmed from relieve as she fell unconcious instantly, the strain of her stay in Impel Down finally managing to breach her defenses as she knew she would be alright now. As Azul stepped through the door the fire inside of him grew and roared to life, stronger than he had felt in a long time. Without acitvating his devilfruit his haki lashed out, crashing down onto every inmate currently imprisoned in the sixth level, making them sweat under the pressure while many simply couldn''t stand the power that pressed them into the concrete, knocking them out cold. In the epicenter of the pressure Azuls haki had begun to change with the growing of his flame, which swept over onto his haki, making the near invisible shockwaves that now and then lashed out gain a red tinge that singed everything it came into contact with as if burned by some kind of fire. The man the pressure hit the hardest though was the man that was standing before Azul. With each step Azul took towards the man, he was pressed further into the earth until he was literally kissing the dirt he was previously standing on. Not long after the burning waves of haki ignited the laying torturer, slowly burning him to ashes, which caused Azuls flame to flicker in satisfaction at the sight. Before he had completely turned to ashes though, Azul turned his hands into black vapor, ripping the soul of the man out, marking it with a strong black taint before he incinerated it into nothingness. Having taken out the f.u.c.ker, Azul let his haki''s pressure subside and swiftly walked over to the slumped over Robin, as far as her restraints allowed it. Checking her injuries, Azul came to the conclusion that she needed to see Chopper immediately, thus freeing her from the restrains that held her up. Slumping forwards Robin fell into Azuls waiting arms, lifting her carefully up before he walked out of the crumbling chamber to find the little doctor so he could treat her wounds. Chapter 76 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down Walking over to the newly arrived crew, Azul carefully laid Nico Robin down on the ground before him, motioning Chopper to come over, which he promptly did bustling to work. He checked the various injuries while Azul stood to the side while observing the doctor working, impressed by the routine the little reindeer had ingrained into him. "How are her injuries?" Azul asked the little doc while keeping his eyes on Robins unconcious form. "She has various cuts, bruises and puncturing wounds, probably from some kind of needle that was shoved under her fingernails. Otherwise she seems fine. The only worry I have at the moment is her mental state as she hasn''t woken up yet, despite her injuries being superficial at best." the reindeer listed of her maladies in a professional voice while Azul listened attentively, at the end simply nodding before turning around and walked over to the big cell area which housed the many prisoners on this level, an idea forming in his mind already on how to proceed from there. The scene Azul came upon was that of walls lined with nothing but prison cells, filled with various haunted looking inmates that had fallen rather quiet when Azul had stepped on the scene, carrying his passiv conqueror''s haki around himself like a cloak. Checking the various cells Azul spotted a figure he thought he would find down here. Crocodile. Walking over to the man behind the bars Azul looked inside the crammed cell, causing some of the inmates to back up a little the closer he got. "You look like shit, you know that?" Azul said into the dark cell, watching as the crouched down former samurai, now clothed in black and white striped prison clothing, stood up and returned Azuls gaze. "All thanks to you you f.u.c.ker...!" Crocodile responded through grit teeth since he had not forgotten about the vicious defeat at the mans hands, leaving a nasty scar on his body. "Though it seems you haven''t lost your grumpy way of speaking hehehe... Listen, how about you team up with me for some time until we bust out of this prison? Originally I was planning to let all the prisoners on level six rot in their cells but after I took out Magellan there will be new trouble arriving. Possibly on the level of an admiral and as strong as I am, I can''t take on a whole fleet plus an admiral all on my own. What do you say?" Azul asked watching Crocodiles reaction through the bars while around him the cells inmates had their spirits return slightly at the words of the man that had broken into Impel Down. Hope sparking in the men and women incarcerated for life in Impel Down. "Oii, take me with cha, will ya? I''m strong ya know?" A slim man cried out before the rest of the inmates were able to soon filling the whole cellblock in proclamations of loyalty and submission. Meanwhile Azul kept his attention on Crocodile who obviously was wrestling with his inner demons that demanded to refuse the mans offer out of hatred. In the end though he nodded in compliance, after which Azul smashed down the wall creating an opening for Crocodile to step out of. While Crocodile went looking for his clothes in the nearby storage room Azul went down the isle to check out the rest of the prison cells. In the end he chose to not take anybody else with him. Azul had formulated the idea that Crocodile could be used to occupy everything below admiral level, taking some burden away from Azul who knew that he needed at least one more pair of arms that could fight at that level. He had played with the thought of freeing some others but that would result in more trouble than it was worth in his opinion. Furthermore, besides Crocodile, he knew nobody on this level that was sitting behind bars. Thus with Crocodile in tow Azul returned to the group that had prepared the elevator to go back up and so with Azul lifting Robin into his arms under Crocodiles widening eyes at the womans face, the group stepped onto the elevator, travelling upwards into the waiting chaos that had gripped the upper floors by now. --------------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down While Kizaru and the fleet had spotted Impel Down in the distance the wardens of the prison had engaged in a fierce battle against the towering numbers of escaped prisoners. To this scene the fleet of marine battlesh.i.p.s arrived, waiting for the admirals orders on how to proceed. Kizaru meanwhile was humming to himself. He had decided to keep out of the battle for the moment as his involvement would speed up the subjugation but also endanger the prison from getting blown to bits in the process which he simply could not risk without reason of total escalation. Thus he ordered his marines to join the guards in melee combat and support from the sh.i.p.s with normal guns to lighten the crowd of escaped convicts. Halting his advance as well was the missing leader that had broken into Impel Down, making Kizaru warry of a possible ambush for his troups further down in the prison should they be able to push the prisoners back. ''Should everything go to shit I can simply order a bustercall on Impel Down. Sengoku said it would be the absolute emergency solution but he isn''t here right now so who cares what he says...'' Kizaru mused while jokingly playing around with the golden transpondersnail in his hands... Chapter 77 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down Stepping out of the elevator on the freezing level the group were greeted by silence only interrupted when their feet met the concrete as they kept on walking. Some of the strawhats were bickering within their crew while Crocodile kept to himself, now and then eyeing Azul as if to assess a possible threat. Meanwhile Chopper was sitting on top of Azuls shoulder and repeatedly checked on Robins condition while Azul was carrying her. Their path lead the group through the deserted prison cells coming about a frozen corpse now and then which caused some shrieking amongst the strawhats, namely from Nami. Whenever that happened Crocodile grunted in annoyance at the volume while Zoro stuck his finger in his ear as if to check the condition of his eardrums. After a while of walking they arrived at the stairs that lead to the upper level, the burning hell. As soon as they entered said level Choppers condition began to worsen once again making him become a wet towl once again. Still he kept on checking on Robin if only by eyecontact. They ventured through the level, coming across the gigantic pot filled with bubbling water sending a grimace to Crocodiles face who could still remember his babtism when he first arrived in Impel Down. The strawhats truly had gotten lucky to not have to go through this initiation upon their arrival. Next to the bubbling pot a lot of various instruments and constructs laid against the walls or were simply thrown on the ground, their means clear to all eyes judging by the bloodstains that still decorated their exterior. Shoving the disturbing sight to the back of their minds the group left the burning hell and tracked up the stairs that lead them into the starving hell which seemed to brighten Crocodiles mood after he had been freed from his seastone cuffs on the sixth level, now that he came upon a desert like environment. After basking in the athmosphere of this level he rejoined the group that had kept on walking not too keen to stay on this level either as many of the group were sweating rivers by the time they reached the stairs that lead to the second level. On the second level the came upon the first small scenes of battle. Though surprisingly the ones that laid dead on the ground weren''t only wardens and prisoners, no. Amongst them a few marines could be seen which stopped Azul in his tracks shortly after which he turned to Crocodile. "It seems the marines have finally arrived at Impel Down which means that they possibly brought a decent amount of sh.i.p.s filled with troops along while under the command of a high ranking officer." "Indeed..." Crocodile answered shortly, walking up to the dead marines, turning them over with his foot. "Though those are only grunts which means the situation hasn''t become too dire for the marines to do something... ''drastic''." Crocodile grunted out while pulling a cigare out of his reclaimed clothes, lighting it with a juweled lighter. Taking a deep inhale of thick smoke and exhaling it with a groan of satisfaction Crocodile returned to the group that kept watching him, the strawhats especially who hadn''t been happy to see the warlord join their group. "Listen Croco, I didn''t free you out of the goodness of my heart. You were one of the few down there with a smidge of sanity while not being too weak either. In the coming battle I''ll be occupying the commander of the fleet while you''ll have to take on the officers below the commander. You guys will grab Robin and get the hell out of this place, you got that?" Azul said while watching Crocodile with observing eyes, noting the slightest changes in the mans face that may speak of betrayal or other backstabbing plans, though found none after which he turned around to the strawhats and adressed the last point. "No way! I''m not letting you fight all the enemies!" Luffy yelled, earning him a smack on the back of the head from Nami. "God damnit Luffy! Please use your brain just this time, for once in your life!" Nami yelled at Luffy who started a yelling contest with his navigator that he was the captain and was making the decisions for the crew, bringing a slight tickmark to Azuls forhead. Not giving in to his annoyance Azul turned to Sanji instead handing Robin over to him with the knowledge that he would do literally anything to keep her safe while telling Zoro to watch Sanji''s back which he acknowledged with a grunt. Chopper meanwhile had jumped down from Azuls shoulder now that he didn''t have to endure the heat anymore which brought him back into a decent condition. As he kept on telling Sanji on how to best carry the woman to not endanger her further, making said lovecook nod rapidly in understanding, Azul walked over to Crocodile after which the two began to head out first shortly after followed by the group of strawhats. The farther the group headed towards the first level the fiercer the battle got. Soon the arrived at the top of the stairs that revealed the first level to their eyes which painted an impressive view to them. Letting his gaze fall on the tunnel to the surface Azul cracked his neck left and right after which he turned towards Sanji, Zoro and Chopper telling them: "Stay close behind me." after which he rested his gaze one more time on the unconcious Robin and turned back around to face the battle that was about to commence the final confrontation that would end the revolt of Impel Down... Chapter 78 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down ''Well then, let the fun begin!'' Azul thought while a grin grew on his face as he walked towards the battlefield, basking in the wild and animalistic athmosphere that raged on the first level of Impel Down involving every living being into this pure and unfiltered chaos. Slowly Azul began to fall into a light jog his muscles beginning to go to work and not soon after he breached the final threshold that had seperated him and the group behind him from the battlefield. With a bang Azul charged right into the frontline like a wild boar into a herd of children, not caring in the slightest for the men and women getting blasted to all sides from his humngous figure and the impact that it caused. As he kept on charging further and further into the crowd his speed increased to a light sprinting while he battered swords aside left and right, ripped rifles out of hands and used them to smash the original owners back into another group of attacking guards and marines that were send flying with outcries of pain and surprise as a consequence. As he advanced further and further into the lines of the wardens and marines more and more prisoners took notice of his humongous figure that was battering the defenders and prisoners alike away left and right like annoying flies. And so it didn''t take long until a swarm of prisoners joined in behind Azul, finally having found a way to breach the seemingly endless lines of defenders that kept them from their freedom. Azul meanwhile was basking in the rush of battle, the flame inside of him flickering in excitement, waiting for the pinacle of the battle that was soon to come. While Azul was sending the fighting people flying, Crocodile was only a step behind Azul manipulating his sand to cleave through the guards and prisoners alike as he didn''t really care whom he attacked either. While this was going on Sanji, Chopper and Zoro had build a triangle formation with Sanji and Robin in the middle to cover all angles while advancing further, now and then cutting, kicking or smashing away the occasional lost fighter that had the misfortune to cross their paths. Luffy and Nami all the while built the rear of their group, trying to stay out of fights in Namis case while Luffy was trying to pick the occasional fight with some guards, only to be disappointed at the weakness they were displaying. The marines that had spotted the gigantic form of Azul mowing through their comrades like it was nothing fell into panic-mode, turning around in order to get away from the monster before their eyes. Unfortunately for the marines they were stuck in the narrow tunnel like a scenario from a cheep horror movie. In front of them? Azul, alias the monster. In the back? Their comrades. Pressing forward nonstop, denying them their path of retreat. Thus chaos issued in the marines ranks until that was quenched by a fist to the head or a foot to the c.h.e.s.t. And so they advanced further upwards until not too long afterwards they spotted a white light at the end of the tunnel, bringing with it a rush of fresh air and the howling wind that washed over the ocean beyond the pier, on which 10 gigantic marine battlesh.i.p.s swam, canon''s pointed at the entrance of the prison, halting the now free group in their steps. Azul meanwhile had his gaze set upon the formost marine battleship since he sensed the strongest spirit on top of said vessel and was not that surprised when a man in a yellow black striped suit stepped forwards, which caused an uproar amongst some prisoners that fearfully called the man admiral Kizaru, making Azul grin in anticipation. "Ohhh, how unexpected... the ''burning Grimm'' was the one who broke into Impel Down... how scary..." the admiral drawled causing Azul to sweatdrop in stupefaction. "Admiral Kizaru... now isn''t this wonderful..." Crocodile spoke with a drawl himself in his usual condescending manner after which the admiral switched his gaze an the former samurai of the seas, though only for a short while, swiftly returning to observe his possible opponent. "You got any information on the yellow dimwit?" Azul asked Croco never taking his eyes off the admiral who had started to give orders to the marine officers that stood behind him, one rushing of into the interior of the ship while another grabbed a big transpondersnail to relay the happenings to headquarters. "hmm, it is said that his devilfruit makes him very fast but I have no idea what category it belongs to, nor what else it can do..." Croco said, relaying the information he had gathered while he was still Mr.0 and preparing for a possible falling out with the marines for when he took over Alabasta eventually. "Ohhh, interesting... How about we get down to it then dimwitty?" Azul called over to the admiral who at first kept his silence until he began to glow in a yellow light, signalling the beginning of the fight that would end the revolt of Impel Down one way or another. Chapter 79 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down Falling back into his favorite fighting stance Azul kept his eyes on his shining opponent only to have his eyes widen in the next second as admiral Kizaru had disappeared in a yellow flash of light right before his eyes and in the next second a yellow foot was colliding with his face, catapulting Azul backwards with unprecedented force and smashed his body into the wall of Impel Down. While this was happening Crocodile had engaged the officers under Kizaru that had rushed forwards to support their superior but were kept from doing so by a veil of sand that pushed them backwards. The strawhats meanwhile had begun to take over one of the marine battlesh.i.p.s while the rest of the prisoners rushed forwards to engage the rest of the sh.i.p.s, some deciding to keep observing the fight between the leaders of the two factions like salivating reporters. Jumping back to his feet while brushing the veil of dust aside Azuls mind kept analysing what he had seen and felt so far from the admiral his eyes setting on his calm opponent. ''Light! The motherf.u.c.ker can move at the speed of light! God damnit Crocodile... couldn''t you have been a little more specific about that teeny tiny detail you asshat?!'' Azul thought to himself while his subconcious formulated different strategies and plans on how he could fight someone that was able to move at such speeds. Momentarily his thoughts came to a pause though as his eyes remained on his opponent which should simply not be possible if said man traveled at the speeds of light but here he was, visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye which only meant one thing. ''He has to actively apply his devilfruit for him to move so fast. It is not a passive ability of his. Found your weakness buddy!'' With a growing grin on his face, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth in a disregarding fashion Azul unleashed his conqueror''s haki in full force which exploded outwards like a near invisible, slightly red tinged, shockwave while his body changed into his hellhound form, height remaining the same. A second shockwave exploded outwards as his arms and legs ignited, bringing incredible heat to his surroundings while Azul roared to the high heavens, making Kizarus eyes sharpen and his body to glow yellow once more. Stepping forward Azul cracked the ground as with the next step he exploded forwards towards his opponent who seemingly vanished from his previous spot only to appear right above Azul with Kizaru''s leg shining in an ominous light. Azul meanwhile had tried to always keep Kizaru covered in his observation haki, which was incredibly hard due to said man being very adept at masking his signature and possessing that unbelivable speed. With a push downwards Kizaru shot a yellow beam at the beast below him which rotated its waist clockwise to escape the beam but in the end was still grazed by it and sent flying by the explosion that followed afterwards. Azul though didn''t really care about the wound he had sustained just now as his body was already regenerating at incredibly high speeds, thanks to being a zoan, and thus burst forwards once more while running on the air with flames following his every step. Kizaru''s body meanwhile had lost its shining light, bringing another revelation to Azul. ''So he cannot permanently stay in his high movement state. Got ya, bitch!'' With a roar Azul appeared before the admiral with his right claw raised to cleave the man apart who sent a haki infused kick to the ripping claw in order to push aside the attacking arm, suceeding and giving the admiral time to assess the new situation he found himself in. Acting on reflex the admiral gathered yellow light in between his two hands he had pulled towards his c.h.e.s.t intoning: "Yata-mirror!", shoting a yellow light beam forwards which bounced onto one of the warsh.i.p.s, after which Kizaru disappeared from his previous spot, in the process dodging a devastating thrustkick from Azul that caved in the wall it impacted after his original target had disappeared from before him. Finding his opponent on top of one of the marine sh.i.p.s, where fierce fighting was raging on, Azul jumped into the air on roaring flames, bringing his claws next to his feet as he crouched down in the air, the flames growing stronger and stronger as if they were about to burst forth at a moments notice. Resting his gaze on the ship and his intended target a sonic boom cracked behind the beast as Azul exploded forwards like a beast jumping towards its prey in an elongated manner. "fourth stance: solar flare!" the deep guttural voice of Azul echoed behind the sonic boom and like a shooting star smashed into the warship sending flames into all directions, igniting the gunpowder below deck alongside with the already devastating impact, ripping the ship into shreds in a giant plume of fire out of which another yellow beam of light traveled towards the mast of a ship next to the burning and sinking one. Azul had already returned to rushing towards his opponent, dashing on roaring flames with a rumbling laughter of joy accompanying his attack. Kizaru meanwhile had crossed his arms over his c.h.e.s.t and formed two circles with his hands which began to glow in a bright light after which an armada of yellow balls rushed towards the nearing beast which dodged them fluidly as if dancing with the flames that surrounded the beast as its dancepartner. The lights though that had missed their target kept on travelling onwards, exploding on the nearby warsh.i.p.s that disappeared in another plume of fire, giving the moving beast a terrific yet beautiful background for its deadly dance which by now had reached the admiral who twisted out of the way of another ripping claw while forming a sword from the light he had gathered between his hands. Reacting to the new kind of threat Azul coated his arms under the flames in armament haki, giving them a slightly metallic sheen before he rushed forwards once more, completely engulfed in the fun he was having, the flame inside of Azul roaring in agreement. Bringing down his redly glowing conqueror''s haki once more, which smashed all the fighting figures on the warship down below them from atop the mast into the ground under groans of strain, Azul dashed forwards once again, while Kizaru had developped a slight sheen of sweat on his forhead from the rapid use of his devilfruit powers that he had deployed in order to escape the deadly claws that even now tried to rip the mans head of. Stepping into the admirals guard with a roar of laughter Azul thrust his claws forwards like a spear, colliding with the sword of light the admiral had formed who used the arm the claws belonged to as a pathway to glide on top of to reach the center and base of the arm, Azuls upper body, which caused Azul to put his other arm in the way of the sword to safe his head from being split open. Both arms occupied Azul pressed forwards with his towering height and enourmous physical strength, easily overpowering the admiral in that aspect and sent a kick to the admirals knee which made the man groan in pain upon impact. Though said man used the impact as fuel to transform into a beam of light and thus saved himself from lasting injuries but had to give up his position and momentum in the process. Stepping out of the crater Kizaru g.r.o.a.n.e.d slightly as his head began to hurt a little from his continuous usage of his powers. Contrary to most devilfruits, his demanded more than just using the powers. Due to him being able to move at such high speeds he had to constantly train his perception to a level that it could keep up with his own bodies movements. Though he could only do so for a limited amount of time if he used it without pause like in this fight, thus bringing a headache to said mans head. Azul after observing the admiral for a second had spotted the fatigue that began to surround the mans figure and grinned in glee. With a burst forwards Azul rushed his opponent, impacting the man and the deck once more, cracking it even further after which it, just like the other sh.i.p.s exploded in a plume of flames. Kizaru meanwhile had transformed himself into a beam of light and landed on a mast of a nearby ship, while Azul walked upwards in the air under roaring fire until he reached the mans level. As he reached the admirals height though his eyes widened at what he saw. Kizaru was holding a golden transpondersnail and had just pushed the button on its top with a grin on said mans face... Chapter 80 Grandline, Paradise, Marine Headquarters The last few hours had been tense for the marines in the marine headquarters and yet no chaos ensued due to the iron grip the upper echelons had over their subordinates. Though this all changed at one point in time, namely when the silver transpondersnail rang, the only one of its kind in the marine headquarter. It had only rung once before around 20 years ago when Ohara and its scientists had literally been wiped of the map. By nothing else than a Buster Call, the ultimate weapon of the marines and world government. Thus it came as no surprise that pandemonium broke out once it rang and the vize-admiral activated the protocoll that stepped into place in a case such as this. Red alarm lights began to illuminate the whole base while sirenes echoed over the normally quiet and peaceful island. Marines began to run all over the base, carrying out orders of their superior''s who had already began their walk towards the special buster call warsh.i.p.s that were equiped with enough weaponry to blast an island out of existence, as history had proven once before already. While all the preperations were being made, nobody really had the time nor energy to notice one sole marine captain that stood stock still in the middle of all of it. Said marine captain wore the name of Buck and was prominent for his directness. This though was only a mask to cover up what was sleeping in the depth of said mans mind. Ambition for transparency. Taking this little bit of knowledge into consideration it would surprise nobody if this man had ulterior motives to become part of the marines and exactly that was the case. Following his bosses orders and his own ambition Buck had been put into the marines as a spy for none other then the Maichyo, the newspaper. As Buck was standing there his brain had short circuited when the alarms and echoing orders for the ensuing buster call had been called out until it rebooted and he formulated an idea that would bring him alot further to the fullfillment of his dream. Thus he rushed out of the base, a small videotranspondersnail hidden in his coat while he called his boss to inform him of the news he had become privy to a few minutes ago and would surely be worth his cover to get blown up for should he be discovered while doing so. --------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down ''You madman...! You actually ordered a buster call for your own prison?!'' Azul stood in the air, dumbfounded and a little impressed by the ruthless efficency displayed by admiral Kizaru when said man had discovered that he may fail in his task to contain the revolt at Impel Down and simply ordered a buster call to take care of the nuissance swiftly. Running through various scenarios in his head Azul wasn''t sure how to proceed from here on out. As it stood their escape had already been difficult enough since the gigantic gates of justice blocked their easy escapes and made it all the more harder to get back out onto the open waters. Now though they would have to deal with 10 warsh.i.p.s of the deadliest kind, filled with vize-admirals and 1000 marines per ship, possibly only of the captain level no less that would chase them down in the confined room between the gates of justice until the last man fell and only rubble remained of the once proud prison Impel Down. ''Damn it!'' Azul cursed in his mind while his mind worked furiously to formulate some kind of plan they could employ to escape this situation but no matter how he turned and twisted the future into the various scenarios it ended up in disaster. ''F.u.c.k! Is this really how it''s going to end for me? No! I refuse! Those f.u.c.kers of the world government won''t get their hands on me that easily!'' Turning around in the air swiftly Azul dashed over to the still battling strawhats that had been struggling against the high numbers of marines that continuously rushed them, supported by the tired looking Crocodile that had various bruises and scr.a.p.es all over his body, evidence to the hard battle he had been fighting. With crushing pressure accompanying him Azul arrived on the warship, knocking all the marines unconcious by his aura alone while he transformed back into his human form. As he arrived confused silence engulfed the strawhats except Crocodile who only let out an exhausted breath while turning into Azuls direction and scrunched up his face at the blank face he saw on the normally grinning face of Azul. "We have to get out of here as fast as possible! Kizaru has ordered a god damn buster call on Impel Down and all the prisoners that escaped!" Azul spoke as he landed next to the crew that was confused as hell while Crocodiles eyes widened in horror at what was to come next. "...No way... F.u.c.k! I''ll get the other prisoners that are still alive and get to setting sail immediately!" Crocodile rushed away in order to at least have a chance to get out of there alive. Meanwhile the strawhat crew was very confused, not knowing what a buster call was in the slightest and turned to Azul so he may explain it to them. Azul though had no time to give them a narrative of what was soon descending upon them, turning around and rushed back into the air to delay their worst threat for the moment to give Crocodile the needed time so he could set sail. Shrugging their shoulders in naivety the strawhats began to get rid of the marines that now lay unconcious on the deck of the ship, throwing them onto the pier of Impel Down while the prisoners began to run all over the deck, not wanting to draw the ire of the former warlord even though none knew why they were being driven so hard. As he ascended back into the air Azul transformed back into his canine form his eyes rested on the now opening gate of justice with a grim look on his face after which he turned his eyes onto the smugly grinning admiral, an expression so very unusual on Kizaru''s normally apathetic face. With a growling Azul rushed towards his opponent once more, fully intending to rip the man to pieces for good! Chapter 81 Grandline, Paradise, Gate of justice Buck was standing along his fellow captains in an orderly fashion behind vize-admiral Momonga that had taken command of their ship, now having crossed the threshold of the gate of justice bringing them into the middle of the three gates, the gate of Impel Down having been opened simultaniously with the one that lead to the headquarter, giving every marine a clear view on the fierce battle that was currently engulfing Impel Down. From his position Buck could see a few of the barricading marine sh.i.p.s burning and sinking while gun and canon shots echoed through the air. The occasional beam of light, possibly fired from admiral Kizaru, illuminating the battlefield after which it exploded in a huge fireball. Sweating slightly, Buck had positioned the small video transpondersnail in such a fashion that it had a clear view of the battle that was raging, even though they were still rather far away from the nucleus of the fight. ''Unbelivable that the marines would even exterminate their own comrades in order to not let any prisoners escape... unfortunately for you the whole world will soon learn of your f.u.c.k.e.d up ways, thanks to yours truly, grihihihihi'' Buck thought to himself while the vize-admiral had stepped aside to go over to another transpondersnail to coordinate the soon commencing attack with his fellow officers. Minutes passed by like an eternity and all Buck could focus on was the fierce battle that was raging up in the air between the leaders of the two factions, like a moth drawn to a flame. One was admiral Kizaru, easily identifiable due to his bright devilfruit combined with his yellow suit. The other one though was hard to identify as it was a colossal beast with fire roaring forth from its arms and legs, surrounding it like a cloak of deadly chaos, while the beast was fighting with the admiral, trying to rip the man to shreds that was hard pressed to dodge by the looks of it, sweating bullets as they had been fighting for what probably felt like an eternity to the man. Shooting a beam from his leg, Kizaru attempted to blast his opponent to pieces who simply jumped over it, twisting in the air so that his head pointed downwards before the beast kicked off of the air atop itself, barrelling towards the admiral who promptly dematerialised and shot as a beam of light into a nearby marine ship, causing the ship to explode into pieces and marines and convicts alike to cry out under the shockwave that catapulted them backwards. The beast meanwhile had seemingly tasted blood as it relentlessly chased after the admiral, clawing, punching, piercing, kicking or burning everything that stood in its path while it tried to end the enemy that escaped again and again, though each time the gap between the two fighters narrowed precariously for the admiral who seemed to have noticed this as well. Buck that was observing the fight like many of the other captains was shocked at the power the two combatants rained down upon each other, deforming their surroundings into rubble and splinters in the process. All of this was of course transmitted through the transpondersnail to his boss who had promptly ordered some subordinates that were stationed on the main islands with the highest population in paradise to set up huge displays, drawing curious eyes upon them in the process, to broadcast the battle that was soon entering its hot phase. Buck meanwhile was ripped out of his trance from watching the highlevel fight by the first fired canonshot the warsh.i.p.s had sent, and thus the buster call finally began. Grandline, Paradise, Sabaody Archipelago After receiving the orders from the boss of the Maichyo the staff had promptly rushed to carry out their orders and set up gigantic screens in the biggest townsquare drawing the attention of the population onto them. "Hey! What are those for?" A curious vendor asked one of the men that had finally finished setting up the screen and were now connecting the screens with the transmission the boss was broadcasting from their base to the islands all over paradise. "We are workers of the Maichyo and while we are talking a major battle is raging at Impel Down which we will be broadcasting, live of course! If you can rely on one thing in this world then it is on Maichyo! What ever major thing is happening around the world we will bring it live to your doorstep! If you haven''t done so yet, set up an abonement immediately!" One of the workers answered, bringing a sweat drop to some passerbye''s that had clearly identified the man''s words as advertis.e.m.e.nt, still curious though what kind of battle the man was talking about and thus stayed. And holy were they surprised from what they were seeing, many never having been witness to such violence before in their lives and certainly would never want to be after what they were about to see. Chapter 82 - 82 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down "What is happening Iva-chan! Why are we rushing out now? We were having such a nice party and the men were... kyaaaaa" a woman in revealing clothing screamed out in embarrassment after her thoughts descended back into the gutter it had been every day since she had joined the entourage of the king of the Kamabakka kingdom filled with transs.e.x.u.a.l, bis.e.x.u.a.l, heteros.e.x.u.a.l and every other s.e.x.u.a.lly oriented being that was imaginable. Though not so long ago they had been imprisoned in Impel Down because their king had been captured as a member of the revolutionary army and been brought into the notorious prison. Here they had build themselves a home in between some levels and enjoyed their lives despite still being inside a prison. One day though Emporio Ivankov, king of Kamabakka, had become increasingly restless and soon ordered his subordinates to pack up and follow him as it was time to leave Impel Down. As they had ventured outside of their hideout it had come as another surprise when the group had not met a single other prisoner or guard on their way upwards until they reached the first level, already excited that they would soon be free once more. Though that excitement disappeared rapidly when they saw corpses without end while the noise of battle echoed down the tunnel from the surface and entrance of the prison, telling them that they would yet still have to fight to get out of this place. With a warcry the group had rushed upwards and came upon a sight that made their eyes widen in shock. Destruction as far as the eye could see and on top of that further marine sh.i.p.s had appeared at the horizon. The group soon decided to swiftly try and leave this place and spotted a ship that was setting sails and beginning to sail away from the fighting while beams of light and flames ripped the air above them apart, shockwaves shoving the group backwards while they barely stayed on their feet. Ivankov meanwhile was observing the battlefield until his eyes came upon a figure he hadn''t expected to see at all in this place. Rushing over to the leaving ship Ivankov enlarged his head to epic proportions while all his subordinates jumped on top of it and jumped onto the leaving ship while Ivankov couldn''t help the mirth in his voice. "Yiiiiihaaaaaa, Croco-boy! Long time no see deary! Hihahahaha" Ivankov spoke while he landed making Crocodiles eyes widen in surprise until he snapped back into focus at the task at hand, knowing he had no time to waste at the moment, bringing Ivankov up short having expected a snapped comment from Crocodile. Instead his eyes were drawn upwards to the battle in the sky, blinding him momentarily after which an explosion engulfed another marineship, followed by a beastly roar that made his arms and legs vibrate under the volume. Next to Crocodile a woman with deep black hair groggily opened her eyes as well, awakened by the bellowing roar. Casting her eyes around in confusion at first the memories of the past few hours came rushing back to her, making her recoil in fright until her fearful eyes came upon the roaring beast in the sky, causing her to recognize it instantly as Azul, which calmed her down some. "Where are we?" Robin asked the few people that remained next to her, which caused Chopper to turn into her direction and swiftly started to fuss over her condition, making her smile slightly. "We are on a marineship outside of Impel Down. The marines arrived with a few sh.i.p.s in order to prevent us from escaping. Not long ago Azul told us that the admiral has called for a buster call, though none of us really know what that means. It seemed to make Azul tense though so I don''t think we''ll like it that much..." Chopper said while checking over Robin again and again, making sure she was in acceptable condition. Robin though had only heard the last few words from Chopper, making her recoil at hearing about the buster call. Memories started to surface from deep inside her mind, making Robin shiver while she pulled her knees to her c.h.e.s.t in fright. ''Not again. Please. Not again. Please, not again!'' Robin repeated in her head over and over while Chopper had fallen into a slight state of panic after seeing the state Robin had fallen into. -------------------------------------------------- Up in the air Azul rushed Kizaru once more whos suit had been ripped and torn at some places while some blood was flowing down the side of the mans face with his glasses knocked of his face long ago. Bringing his claws to slash the mans torso, Kizaru only managed to bring up his arms in fatigue in a cross guard to prevent the worst of injuries. With a roar Azul brought his burning claws down on his foe, only to be stopped by a normal sword clothed in haki by a hopping vize-admiral. The power behind Azuls attack though smashed the vize-admiral backwards so that he sailed straight downwards and impacted the sea below with a mightly splash of water while Kizaru used this opportunity to transform into a lightbeam that rushed on top of one of the warsh.i.p.s that had arrived and started firing just now, collapsing against the railing in exhaustion. The vize-admiral meanwhile had swam upwards to the oceans surface, only to be greeted by a burning claw that ripped through the mans face, making him roar in pain. As the beast brought down another claw to seperate the mans head from his body a dog paw, clothed in haki stopped the claws in its tracks, after which the beast jumped backwards. The newly arrived vize-admiral while hopping on air pulled the heavily wounded Momonga out of the water and after throwing said man over his shoulder dashed back on to the secure warship, swiftly being greeted by medics that had already started to treat the wounded admiral Kizaru that was collapsed against the railing under the shocked eyes of the captains that had never seen an admiral in such a state before. Azul meanwhile after shortly mulling over if he should pursue the admiral and vize-admiral decided to return to the escaping ship that had gained some distance to the buster call all while he was fighting for time. Turning around, Azul transformed back into his human form and dashed towards the sailing marine ship on which he landed after some time of travelling. Once he landed on the deck though, the first thing that greeted him were slim arms that wrapped around his torso while tears wet his c.h.e.s.t. With a soft smile on his face Azul wrapped the sobbing Robin in his arms, for a moment forgetting all the fighting and simply being a pillar of support for a friend that was in pain. Chapter 83 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down Standing there on the deck of the ship with Robin crying against his c.h.e.s.t Azul took stock of the situation they were currently in while trying to sooth the distraught woman who slowly calmed down and with it her shacking body returned to normal though she refused to let her pillar of security go for some more time until she was ready to somehow tackle the world once more. ''Ironic how a few simple conversations can help someone who has been isolated for her whole life forge a connection as a means to venture forwards once again...'' Azul thought while watching Robin straighten her back after wiping her cheeks clean of her tears before she stepped next to Azul, not saying anything. Deverting his gaze away from Robin, Azul spotted the big man in the weird red suit with the curly blue hair and said mans entourage that were speaking with Crocodile. Walking over to the former warlord Azul simply wanted to find out who else was on their ship that he didn''t yet know. All the while Robin followed behind Azul which he knew but simply chose to ignore. "And who are you?" Azul asked the big man that set his eyes on Azul who for the first time met somebody that was just as tall as himself, both towering over the rest with a height of 4,5m. Azul though possessed alot more muscles. The clown, for a lack of a better word, on the other hand had covered his body in some tatoos and only covered some parts of his body, all contained in his weird swimming suit like thingy. "Oh my, aren''t you a big fellow yihahahahaha" The big man laughed weirdly while some members of his entourage courageously oggled Azul who only raised an eyebrow in their direction making them step behind the large man that laughed once more upon their interaction. "I apologise for my overenthusiastic subordinates. I am the current king of the kingdom of Kamabakka, home to the s.e.x.u.a.lly freespirited of this world. Emporio Ivankov be my name yiiiiiiiihaaaaaaaa!" the large man said, bringing a slight tick to Azuls eyebrow at the weird outcries of the king before him. "So you were prisoners as well then? Otherwise I''ll have to ask you kindly to get your arses off this ship." Azul said, his eyes wandering from each member of the entourage until they came back to rest on their king, whos face never lost its toothy grin. "Do not worry about us being members of the world government. In fact we are their opponents! How would you like to join the revolutionary army? We could use someone of your strength, yiiiiihaaaaaa!" Ivankov''s words finally enlightened a lightbulb in Azuls head. "Not interested but thanks for the offer..." After hearing the groups statement and saying his piece he simply turned around and walked to the railing to sitdown against, before motioning Crocodile and Nami over to join him. Robin all the while never left his side like a shadow, starting to worry Azul slightly if she maybe had been more impacted by the whole ordeal than he originally had thought. Looking into her eyes though and searching her soul he only found an image of him that radiated security which pulled all the fears from Robins subconcious mind and converted them into positive energy. Understanding what was happening to her he didn''t question it further and simply let her stay. Though he hoped that she would finish the assimilation process before the fighting picked up once more since he could not look after her all the time when he played the biggest role on their ship. While waiting for Nami and Crocodile to join him Azul looked into the distance towards Impel Down and witnessed for the first time the true might of the buster call. Hundreds of canonballs blackened the sky under their rapid fire as they blasted the prison into pieces under the echoing screams from the remaining marines, guards and prisoners that were still on the pier and fighting for their lives. Turning away from the sight, Azul adressed an issue that they would have to take care of sooner rather than later and he would need their help to solve the problem. "Alright, so far we have been able to get some distance between us and the buster call but it will not always stay that way. After the marines have completely eradicated Impel Down and anybody in its vicinity they will turn their eyes on us and unfortunately we are in their teritory right now, giving them all the power which makes us very vulnerable. As soon as the marines close the two open gates of justice the gigantic whirlpool in the middle of them will come back into existence once more, possibly swallowing us after some time. Our only hope of escape is to somehow get the giant gate to open up which would lead us to Enies Lobby, from where we can easily disappear from under their radar. To get to this point though we need that gate open which is a huge problem. Do you have any ideas on how to get it to open?" Azul asked the group which were deep in thought. "I could buy us some time with the whirlpool through smart navigation but that will only get us so far. I cannot help with the gates unfortunately. Though, out of curiosity, how are they opened?" Nami asked in return making the rest of the small group turn back to Azul who had a small idea in his head that grew more insane by the second and worried the group slightly after they had spotted the growing toothy grin on the mans face. "The gate opens from the outside through a lever that is situated on a patch of land or some kind of base. That doesn''t matter though as I''ve thought of something rather fun. You probably won''t like it though, hahahaha" Azul said with a slight laughter escaping his mouth causing Crocodile and Nami to step back a little in aprehension while Robin grew a smile on her face, soaking in the positive energy that Azul radiated at this very moment. "What? Do you want to break open the gate of justice that leads through to Enies Lobby by force or something?" Crocodile asked a little confused. He simply had no clue what the man may have thought of in the minutes they were talking. "We will not break through by force and it will not be the one that leads to Enies Lobby. No. We will escape through that gate of justice!" Azul said with a shining grin on his face, turning around while pointing right at the open gate that lead straight to the marine headquarters. "You are mad!" the others muttered in utter shock at the ridiculous idea. Azul though couldn''t help but laugh louder. "Maybe a little, but who cares about semantics anyways hahahahaha" and with those words the marine ship they were currently travelling on changed course from the middle of the three gates of justice straight towards marine headquarters. Chapter 84 Grandline, Paradise, Impel Down While the lonesome marineship had set course upon the open gate of justice that lead to the marine headquarter, the warsh.i.p.s belonging to the buster call fired the last salve of shots at the already plenty destroyed prison, sinking it completely below the crashing waves of the grandline. Next the sh.i.p.s cast their gaze upon their next prey which they thought had no possible way to escape their reach due to their escape route being blocked by the gigantic gate of justice leading to Enies Lobby and the open seas that were sailable to all. Though the glee of the marines soon turned into shocked confusion as they spotted the lonely marineship that had set course towards the open gate of justice. "You gotta be kidding me...!" Hahahaha look at the scaredy cats sailing right into the tigers mouth hahahaha!" "What fools!" "They have to be mad like none other..." the various marines muttered to themselves while the higher ranking officers had frowns on their faces, not understanding what the escapes hoped to achieve by sailing towards the marine headquarters since they were outnumbered and outclassed in every aspect once they arrived at the headquarters. Wouldn''t it be smarter to try their luck against the buster call instead than going up against the whole headquarter itself? It puzzled the lot of them into oblivion. Kizaru meanwhile after having had his wounds treated had already set his sharp mind to figuring out the possible objectives that Azul and his group could try to fullfill on their course but like the rest came up empty handed which made Kizaru frown even harder. He hadn''t taken Azul as the hasty and stupid type. Wild and dangerous? Yes. Only brawns no brains? No. So it frustrated him to no end that he just could not come to a satisfying conclusion on what they may be trying to achieve. ''No matter. Better to quench any problems before they get out of hand.'' Kizaru thought to himself after which he spoke in a commanding voice, quite different from his usual drawling and lazy attitude: "Contact headquarters about what happened here and signal the outpost at the gates of justice to shut the gates immediately!" "Yes sir!" the marines responded in unison, rushing of to carry out the given orders which shortly afterwards caused the giant gates to slowly close, directly in front of the lonesome marineship. Keeping his eyes focused on their targets the marines spotted a single red dot that swiftly rushed off of the marineship straight towards the gate of justice and disappeared behind the nearly closed doors, confusing some marines on the ship until they heard the grinding teeth of the admiral that had an annoyed look on his face. "Azul... of course. If he manages to overtake the outpost that controls the gates then he could shut the armada of warsh.i.p.s in between the gates of justice which may cause their destruction due to the whirlpool while still allowing his group to pass through before hand... Damn it! Why didn''t I think of this before hand. Call headquarters to deploy an admiral to the outpost for the control of the gate of justice immediately and set every sail possible for maximum speed. Course towards the gate of justice. We must not get closed in between the gates under any circ.u.mstance!" "Yes sir!" and with blowing sounds the gigantic sails were set in full force while headquarters was contacted about the threat the warsh.i.p.s were currently facing. ---------------------------------------------------- With an euphoric expression on his face Azul motioned for the ship to set course to one specific location he had always wanted to see. After all, it was not an easy feat to find a suitable location where he could begin to set the world on fire! Chapter 85 Grandline, Paradise, marine Headquarters While Azul and his group were sailing past the now closed gate of justice the marines inside of the headquarter and the ones sailing the buster call sh.i.p.s after the escapes had established a permanent connection per transpondersnail between each other to coordinate in the most efficent way. That connection though lost its use not soon after its establishment when the giant gate of justice closed before the warsh.i.p.s noses, cutting of any sightings they may have been able to report back to headquarters. On top of that slight inconvenience were the warsh.i.p.s now imprisoned between the gates of justice which brought even more chaos into the communication center at headquarters as they had practically a livestream to the marines that were beginning to get s.u.c.k.e.d into the gigantic whirlpool in the middle of all the gates. Thus they had to on the one hand help their fellow marines escape their deathtrap by oppening one of the gates and still keep track of the now out of sight escapes on the other hand. Thus it came as no surprise to anybody when admiral Akainu exploded in rage at the marines being made absolute fools of by a single group of escapes. In the end nobody wanted to stand in the admirals temper and swiftly moved aside when he rushed outside and borded a ship to sail towards the command post that was responsible for the gate of justice that lead to headquarters. Why he did so? Maybe to help, maybe to try and chase the escapes. But honestly nobody really knew and the admiral was not known for being the smartest when he exploded in a rage. While Akainu set sail, Aokiji and Sengoku tried to find out where the runaways hoped to achieve by sailing towards headquarters. Garp meanwhile only stood at the side while munching on his ricecrackers while madly laughing at the cat and mouse the runaways were playing with them. ''...What is there in headquarters that could help them escape? Sh.i.p.s? They already have one. And on top of that Azul seems to be able to walk on air, however that can possibly be so they should have no problem escaping in any direction. Hell they probably could have just walked upwards from the middle of the gates of justice and possibly escaped over them instead of through them. Though he does have quite alot of folks with him on the ship. Hmm, where could he possibly want to g-...No f.u.c.k.i.n.g way!'' After mulling over the map that had been spread before the fleet-admiral to help him understand the situation better a shiver ran down the mans spine while his eyes widened in disbelieve. Knocking over his chair with a crash while standing up Sengoku silenced the whole room with the so uncharacteristical action, freezing all action for a second before Sengoku rushed out of the room, Aokiji hot on his heals. "Kuzan, you need to head towards Mary Geoise immediately! Grab whomever you need and move it while I''ll contact the Gorosei. The five elder''s are about to receive an unwelcome guest rather shortly!" Sengoku g.r.o.a.n.e.d out at the madness he was confronted with while Aokiji froze in his tracks in shock for a moment before he rushed towards one of the faster sh.i.p.s the marines possessed, hoping to reach the elevator that lead towards Mariejois before the runaways did. -------------------------------------------------- ''So far so good. I wonder if the marines have caught up yet with my plan. No matter. Even if they did they are far too late to do anything about it and by the time we''ll arrive at the cesspool of imbeciles all help will be for naught'' Azul grinned with a sharp light in his eyes while he was keeping his eyes focused on the towering mountain range that was the redline that had come into view not soon after they had passed the gate of justice. Next to him Robin stood with a small smile on her face, content for the moment while basking in Azuls aura. Still her mind had not needed long to catch up with Azuls idea and she couldn''t help but grin internally at the unabashed fast one Azul had pulled over all opponents with his decision to sail towards headquarters. Ivankov all the while had found a transpondersnail and made contact with Monkey D. Dragon, the revolutionary army''s leader, informing him about what had happened and where they were currently heading, making Dragon cough at the other end as if he had swallow something the wrong way. Not soon after Ivankov had gotten the order to free as many slaves as possible and cause alot of ''incidents'' so to speak. Though Ivankov didn''t doubt for one second that their trip to Mary Geoise was anything but a coincidence and many such ''incidents'' were bound to happen one way or another if he had judged Azul correctly. After about an hour of sailing the group arrived at the redline and promptly found the elevator that would bring them upwards to Mary Geoise, bording it while throwing all the guards and/or staff into the ocean without pity. ''Time to visit the gods it seems. Rather early if you ask me but no matter. Let the fun begin!'' Azul grinned while his eyes began to burn dangerously, his aura intensifying along his thoughts, making Robin take another step closer towards him, wrapping her arms around his large torso once more, no words needed to be spoken as it seemed they had reached a mutual understanding for the time being. Though it wouldn''t be long anymore that they would have to have a conversation... Meanwhile admiral Akainu arrived at the outpost and after wildly looking around only came upon the destroyed keyboard, increasing the heat at the piece of dirt to enourmous levels as a roar of rage echoed over the waves. Kizaru and his subordinates though weren''t as lucky as Akainu who was standing on dry land right now. No. They had to fight against the vicious currents of the whirlpool. All staff cursing the mad bastard that had locked them inside this hellish rollercoaster hoping they would get released form there sooner rather than later. Not far away from them next to the redline a tall man wrapped in tender arms couldn''t help but sneeze a little while his grin intensified, knowing fully well why he had to sneeze all of a sudden and wishing the marines all the fun in the world, hehehe... Chapter 86 Grandline, Paradise, Mary Geoise Silence reigned at first in the meeting room of the Gorosei after the call from Sengoku had been ended. Some of them were contemplating how to proceed, some sulked in the shame they felt for the marines that had failed so monumentally and were supposed to be their main executive force, and some like the eldest of the group were contemplating the man that had started this whole mess. A man that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and caused one mess after the other for the world government. And yet they knew next to nothing about Azul ''- the burning grimm'' as he had been named by the marines. Sure, they knew a few things about his abilities but that was about all of it. What they did not know was the most crucial and at the same time volatile aspect of the man named Azul in order to possibly control or manipulate the world around him in such a fashion that he could be used in their great design. Where did he come from? What was his ambition? Does he belong to a faction, maybe even one of his own making? Did he have allies? And if so, who were they? With those thoughts plaguing the Gorosei''s minds minutes passed by in absolute silence, everyone absorbed in their own thoughts as it often was the case until one had found some wound on their target to analyse and pierce their fangs into. Unfortunately the silence was broken with a different purpose in mind then they all would have liked instead. "We need to evacuate the other world nobles immediately and station what troops we have at our disposal in the intruders way. If only to slow them down until Aokiji and reinforcements from the marine headquarters arrive here." One elder spoke to which the rest of the elders nodded in consent, except the eldest one who still was deep in thought. ''What is this feeling? Something that is nagging at the back of my mind but I am unable to put my finger on it. It''s driving me up the wall, god damnit!'' The man in complete white simple clothes thought while a deep frown marred his bespectacled old face. Taking notice of their oldest comrades silence and frustration the groups attention switched to the man in question whom in answer to their unasked inquiries simply shook his head and promptly called for a servant that was to go and delay their orders to the rest of the world nobles. Thus for the first time in the history known to the mortal man the holy land Mary Geoise was evacuated. The servant had promptly rushed out of the great white building in which the Gorosei resided and relayed the orders to the responsible authorities that as well passed on the orders until many sole servants were sent out to notify the world nobles that were going about their hobbies of mutiliating, disciplining, f.u.c.k.i.n.g, eating or otherwise spending their abundant time. Though contrary to what the Gorosei expected, the world nobles, or rather most of them except a select few, had grown up in the knowledge that they were the supreme existence on this beautiful earth and strengthened in their beliefs by the power at their every beg and call and thus simply ignored the Gorosei''s orders without said men knowing about the disaster that was about to befall the holy land. After all the Gorosei had already retreated into the innermost chamber in order to consult with their leader, a being unknown to all. Im, king of the world nobles and supreme ruler over the world government. ----------------------------------------------- As the group of invaders were riding the elevator upwards Azul stood at the railing of the ship, bewitched by the absolute beauty that lay before him, gazing down onto the endless blue of the grandline that stretched farther then the eye could see. But in the end he had to pull himself out of his reverie as the group was fastly approaching their destination and Azul wanted to have a quick discussion with the group before they arrived. "Alright listen up! We are not far away from our destination and as it happens I still have a score to settle with the world government and the marines are still hot on our tails meaning this transition into the new world has to go fast. Ivankov, I assume you also have some objective to achieve in Mary Geoise, correct?" Azul asked the large men after stating their current position. "Yes, I do boy Yihahahaha" Ivankov answered to which Azul only nodded, ignoring the weirdness of the man for the moment. Afterwards he turned towards the strawhats who did not really know on how to proceed from there on out. Azul though knew with certainty that the crew were not ready for the new world and so told them exactly that. "Listen guys, the new world is different from the first part of the grandline. As you are now you wouldn''t even stand a chance against the footsoldiers of a yonko, who you will unavoidably meet while there as the Yonko rule over the new world with an iron fist. Thus I would advice you to return to paradise and pick up your ship from water 7 that should be ready by now. I as well will need to return to water 7 for my own ship but first I will bring Robin to safety as I promised. So you will help the rest of the group with the transition of the ship to the new world while I will be gone for some time. Can I trust you to keep Robin safe once more?" Azul said, making Robin go stiff at the mentioning of Azul bringing her to safety in the new world. Not reacting to Robin''s changed body posture Azuls eyes remained on the strawhats who mulled Azuls words over after which some of them agreed while other''s needed some more ''forceful convincing'' you could say. Sanji though had swiftly agreed to safeguard Robin once more, earning him a few mocking insults from Zoro until another one of their small squables ensued. ------------------------------------------------------ While the elevator had arrived at the top of the redline and brought the group to the doorstep to Mary Geoise admiral Aokiji and his troups had arrived at the bottom of the redline and were only waiting for the elevator to come back down again. Though what they would find once they arrived in the normally tranquil city of Mary Geoise none of them had believed to be a possibility. Chapter 87 Redline, Mary Geoise "Jihahaha, brother that slave is meant for p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and not for transportation jihahaha!" A woman with brown hair and clothed in the traditional garb of the tenryuubito yelled over to her brother that was attempting to ride on top of a woman that was told to carry the fat, short man on her back while on all fours that were leaving a small trace of blood behind her as she advanced forwards. "Ehhhh? What do you mean Shaluria? Slave is a slave. Why would I make a difference between them? All they are good for is serving anyway." The short man called back to his sister Shaluria while a small frown came on his face as he was sitting on the womans back that was trembling under the weight of her master. She had been a small child when she was taken from her parents and brought here to Mary Geoise and forced to serve under Saint Carlos. At first she had been nothing more then a servant to cater to the mans gluttony but when she reached her early teens that changed. At first she had been confused. After all she had never been educated on s.e.x.u.a.lity and pretty much everything else for that matter and yet, deep deep down inside of her she knew that what she was experience at that time wasn''t supposed to happen yet. Still, the slave that she was she had been forced to become the nobles p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e slave and soon grew used to the role even though her disgust at the man and his family never left her but she learned to ignore it, mostly. Over the years she had observed many slaves be killed over the tiniest things like not serving wine fast enough or transporting the nobles too slowly and had already lost hope that she would reach the age of 25 but was baffled when she kept on living. That had changed today though as her master had out of boredom decided that she would be transporting him now instead of the giant he had in his posession and thus ended up on her knees with the master on her back, struggling to advance even a tiny bit forwards. Still, she knew that if she didn''t hurry she would die and she refused out of some small spark that had grown over the years inside of her being if only out of defiance to let the noble win. Even though she knew that such a notion was rediculous. She had no chance of escaping. Ripped out of her thoughts by a strong lashing on her behind from on top of her by her master she grit out every ounce of willpower she could muster and krept forwards. Faintly she could here the father of her master call over to his son while her heartbeat pulsed in her ears. "Stop fooling around Carlos and come over here. I have a present for the two of you." The father called over to Carlos that told his slave number 6 under him to change directions and bring him over to his father. She of course tried to obliege. As she turned around a small pebble twisted under her knee while turning making her grit her teeth in pain until blood started to trickle down the side of her mouth. With a small whimper she tried to continue onwards but the unusual strain was too much for her and under horror filled eyes she observed as if in slowmotion how her right arm gave out and was followed by the rest of her body, collapsing to the ground. ''This is it I guess. Huh, who would have thought I would live to this day still? I wonder how mom and dad are doing? Are they even still alive? Do they think about me sometimes? Maybe they had another child to replace me?'' Erratic thoughts like that ran through her mind while her master crushed her under his weight while cursing his slave in the process. As she closed her eyes to the finality of her situation the back of her eyelids grew darker all of a sudden. In confusion of not having been shot yet she opened her eyes once again. Maybe the master was playing another one of his sick games to the amusment of his lover/sister once again? Though as she opened her eyes a large shadow had fallen over her form and she could see her masters feet levitating over the ground. With confusion clouding her mind her eyes wandered further upwards towards her master that was struggling against something. ''Not something. Someone... but how...what...'' She thought as her mind worked furiously to comprehend what she was seeing. A large man with a blank face held her master upwards with his grip tightened around Saint Carlos'' neck not betraying any emotion. Though when her eyes fell on the mans eyes she recoiled slightly under the burning fury she saw inside them, all consuming, ravaging and wild. "How dare you peasant! Put down my son this instant and get down on your knees! I''ll have you hanged for this!" Saint Rosward, father of Saint Carlos and his sister Shaluria roared from a few meters away, demanding the man to put Carlos down. "Don''t kill him father! He is such a nice speciman. Maybe part giant? I want him! I want him now! Father, please? Can I have him?" Shaluria whimpered towards her father who grunted until he nodded shortly to his daughter/lover. It was not easy to differenciate those categories when it came to Tenryuubito as they were like rabbits, i.n.c.e.s.tuous ones for that matter. Thus it came as no surprise that Rosward couldn''t refuse her her request. With a happy yelp and a small kiss to her fathers cheek Shaluria turned back towards the tall man that was standing there with her brother gripped in his hand. "Now that you belong to me get down on your knees! And would you release my brother already? He''s turning blue already! You can consider yourself lucky that you are mine now jihahahaha" Shaluria said while walking over to the tall man while swaying her h.i.p.s seductively, drawing her fathers eyes to them. Reaching the tall man she reached out her hand to let it run down the mans muscles c.h.e.s.t while a purr escaped her lips in the process. Though before her hand could reach the man a crushing pressure smashed her and her father into the concrete of Mary Geoise, cracking some bones in the process under their collective outcries of outrage, surprise and pain. Maybe even some p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e? Under number 6s'' confused gaze as she was observing everything that was happening before her, so completely different from the usual going ons in Mary Geoise, her eyes widened slightly as she began to understand why the tall man wasn''t doing what the Tenryuubito were saying. As she was about to open her mouth to plead for the man to help her she heard the deep rumbling voice of the man, sending a shiver down her spine as the invisible force that pressed the two Tenryuubito into the concrete seemed to intensify. "Yours? I would rather burn this world to cinders than belong to a shitstain such as you, Tenryuubito!" The man spat out through his teeth as his burning eyes seemed to set the three nobles on fire with their intensity alone. Then, under her unbelieving eyes, the mans arms turned into pure black vapor, bringing a sense of doom and helplessness with it that she was only too familiar with. But she remained hopeful. Maybe she really could be free once more... Chapter 88 Redline, Mary Geoise Aokiji was restless to say the least. He had been restless for a while now, not unjustly so may have to be added. First he got his arm nearly sliced off, then Impel Down was reduced to rubble and now the man that nearly crippled him had arrived at Mary Geoise. Why? That was only too obvious to Aokiji who didn''t like the Tenryuubitos all that much himself and he himself had found out that Azul had declared himself an enemy of the world government, thus saying all that needed to be said about what was about to happen in Mary Geoise. And the worst of it? He doubted he could stop the man. If only Sakazuki hadn''t run of like the hothead that he was they would have succeeded in preventing the inevitable and possibly elliminate the threat all together! But no, the moron had run of and left the mess to Aokiji like usual which in this case was a huge problem. As he was mulling over all the plans he had formed while they had journey towards the redline he came to the conclusion that none would really work. He simply didn''t have strong enough troops with him! All he really could do was delay the destruction that was probably already on its way to the nobles doorsteps... ---------------------------------------------------- Shocked, that was all she was in her humble opinion. Frozen to the ground that was still stained with her blood while she was viewing the scene that was playing out before her, immolating all she thought she knew of the world and what was going on inside it. Of course she knew that she had not been fully educated and thus wasn''t as smart as possible but she still knew that she was not dumb. She never had been for that matter which may be one of the reasons why she had managed to stay alive until now. Coming out of her thoughts with a jerk she saw as the tall man with the burning eyes plunged his smoking black arms into the Tenryuubitos c.h.e.s.t under silent screams of pain while the rest of the family roared while implanted in the concrete that this would not go unpunished. Yet the tall man didn''t seem to care in the slightest that an admiral was already on his way and would right all the wrongs commited which made number 6 swallow in disgust at what was labeled "justice" in this world. Retrieving his arm slowly the mans arm seemed to grip something though it wasn''t what she had expected to see. While she had been a slave she had been witness to many cruelties and thus new just what exactly lay dormant beneath the skin of every human being. Yet, that wasn''t what was pulled out of the man. No. It was a translucent thing in the form of the man that was squirming and jerking like a fish that had landed on dry land. With a rip the translucent being severed from Saint Carlos'' body who slumped down in the grip of the tall man, dead. That much number 6 knew in the back of her head. But right now she couldn''t focus on that fact, even though she had dreamed of seeing it happening so often in the horrorfilled dreams after she had been taken by the Tenryuubito again and again against her will. All she could focus on was the admitedly beautiful yet horrifying sight of the translucent being that was still gripped by the man who was observing it was apathetic eyes that had been furious just a second ago to her amazement. Slowly the black vapor on the tall mans arm began to spread outwards, flowing like a cloud towards the translucent being, slowly covering it, inch by inch until it was black, completely so. Not being able to remove her eyes from the man she watched as he walked over to the two imobile Tenryuubito and sat down on his heels next to them. "I honestly did not expect your souls to be this corrupted and tainted and am baffled how somebody could become so...wretched. But no matter. You will be judged soon enough. That I can promise you..." The tall man spoke, his voice steady, not betraying what was going on in his now apathetic eyes that had been oh so furious not long ago. Reaching out his arms the tall man grasped both Tenryuubito, one in each hand. As he was about to continue like before while his arms turned smoky black once more a beautiful woman with black hair that reached her shoulders stepped next to him and informed him of something that number 6 had seen coming with dawning horror that betrayed her apprehension that she may have to stay in this place forever still. "Azul, Aokiji and a group of marines have just arrived at the gates to Mary Geoise. How are we going to continue from here on out? Ivankov has already freed some slaves but alot of them are still incapacitated by the Tenryuubito and those are still alive." The woman spoke in a calm voice while she seemed to nearly glow as she stood next to the tall man now identified as Azul. "Did he now? Not that it matters much. I will meet him. Can you take this woman to the rest of the slaves that were freed?" Azul spoke to the woman that turned towards number 6 who teared up after hearing the tall mans words, not able to burry the hope that now spilled forwards from her. "Of course. But what if more marines arrive let alone another admiral? I know you are strong but two is alot, even for you... be careful okay?" The woman spoke with clear worry displayed in her voice after which she walked over to number 6 who croaked out to her own embarressment like a newborn for the woman to help her which the woman did without a comment to the state she was currently in. To number 6s'' amazement she did so by sprouting arms that supported her weight in such a fashion that she was walked forwards as if she was a puppet, every limb grasped by a group of arms. Meanwhile the woman with the black hair threw another glance at the tall man, seeing him burning the screaming souls of the two Tenryuubito after which she turned her head back on to the road and walked number 6 away from the scene. Number 6 couldn''t believe what was happening today and for the first time since she had been captured at the age of nine she aloud herself to cry in happiness, her head leaned against the womans shoulder who kindly smiled down at her in empathy. Tracking slowly forwards the two ventured through Mary Geoise that was unusually deserted, coming occasionally upon a group of armed soldiers that saluted the woman at her side to which she didn''t really seem to respond. Number 6 thus accepted it as something that was normal to her, not knowing that it amused Robin to no end that a group of people she didn''t know at all saluted her only because she was closely related to Azul in the eyes of the many. She didn''t really mind it though, having gotten used to it on their trip to Mary Geoise. Soon the two arrived at another elevator that would lead the group down to the new world and Robin was both looking forward and looking towards it with apprehension as it meant both freedom and possible seperation from the only person she had a connection with on the whole world. Just as they were arriving though and number 6 had taken in the whole scene before her a loud explosion, followed by a shockwave made her and Robin stumble forwards while the later turned into the direction the explosion came from with a worried face. Number 6 wondered what exactly was happening over there but it was soon forgotten as the pain of her body, now dereft of adrenalin, registered with her, causing her to collapse into the woman next to her who caught her on reflex and helped her to sit down. Her mind though as number 6 could see was somewhere else. Somewhere much more dangerous she mused... Chapter 89 Redline, Mary Geoise As Aokiji stepped out of the elevator that had brought him up to the holy city his haki registered a group of a few man running off, probably to inform the invaders of the newly arrived force but he didn''t mind. He knew that Azul had probably already sensed his arrival as his haki was already rediculously strong in the admirals opinion. Walking through the deserted city Aokiji followed his haki to the blinding light that showed him Azuls location, who didn''t even bother to conceal his aura much to the admirals annoyance. Not long afterwards he arrived on a scene he had hoped to prevent with his arrival but it seemed that hope had been in vain. Azul stood before a group of three corpses that laid at his feet while Aokiji spotted something black, gripped by Azul get consumed in flames, making the admiral wonder what that was. Soon enough though his attention was brought back to the three corpses, undoubtedly Tenryuubito going by their specially designed clothes that would prevent the air of the normal people to touch their bodies. As Azul turned around Aokiji was met by a blank face while the mans eyes turned from apathetic to burning in intensity making many a marine step back under its intesity. Not to mention the passive aura that surrounded the tall man that set every instinct inside of him on edge which made him wonder how his subordinates remained on their feet before this man. "Do you know what you have just done Azul? Those were Tenryuubito! You just killed the leaders of this world in cold blood!" Aokiji asked the tall man that seemed to ponder the admirals words for a second. Truly, Kuzan knew that the Tenryuubito weren''t good people but in the end it was his duty as an admiral to protect and serve them and thus he did the only thing he thought would help in this instance. Play for more time. "Leaders? Don''t take me for the common fool you meet on the streets, Aokiji. I have no leaders. And certainly not that disgusting perversion of a human being..." Azul spoke with a neutral face while spitting onto the cooling corpses of the three Tenryuubito at his feet, making Aokiji grind his teeth. True the Tenryuubito were bad people but even then, didn''t the dead deserve some respect no matter their deeds in life? "You will have to answer for your crimes Azul and you will rue the day you decided to f.u.c.k with the world government. Mark my words, this isn''t the end of it!" Aokiji grit out, though Azuls answer surprised him a little if he was honest with himself. "I do hope so little admiral. After all, war with the world government is something that has been on my mind for a long long time now. The five f.u.c.ktards you call leaders should better prepare themselves for the more time passes by the stronger I become and it won''t be long anymore until the past will come back to demand payment for past deeds that require satisfaction paid in blood! Azul said as his eyes sharpened and his arms and legs exploded in roaring flames that caused Aokiji the last time he had laid eyes on this sight with an uncomfortable phantom pain rushing through his right side in remembrance. Slowly Azuls form began to sprout thick hair all over his body while his face elongated and sharp teeth grew in his mouth. Aokiji, seeing that Azul was preparing for battle knew that he had achieved all that was possible with words when it came to delaying his foe and thus unleashed the frost that cracked under the drop in temperature while his subordinates readied their rifles. Though unsurprisingly to Aokiji a concentrated burst of conqueror''s haki that had only grown in strength from what the admiral could feel with growing horror, smashed the admirals subordinates backwards, leaving the two combatants to themselves. On an invisible signal Azul rushed forwards with a boom and began their fight, as Aokiji knew, he would be on the defensive the whole time and hoped that it would be enough to give his collegue the required time to arrive and possibly safe his life in the process, as reluctant as he was to admit that fact to himself. Arriving before the admiral Azul reared back his right claw and accompanied by a wave of conqueror''s haki to destract his foe from defending, he brought down the lethal weapon on the admiral that was hard pressed to repel the wave of haki but luckily reacted fast enough and thus escaped the swipe to the right of the beasts arm, flames l.i.c.k.i.n.g at the admiral in the process bringing a sheen of sweat to the mans forhead that froze over a second later. Sprouting a pillar of cracking ice beneath the beasts feet that tried to impale Azul, Aokiji counterattacked and jumped back, gaining the needed distance to unleash his awakening devilfruit on the foe before him. Twisting his hip with force, Azul evaded the pillar of ice that shot into the air next to him in the next second before he catapulted himself forwards once more with a roar accompanying his advance. What greeted him was a blast of icecold air while the air around the two combatants cracked under the coldness and snow began to fall and ice to spread over the ground. Cold winds blew and billowed through the deserted streets though it didn''t seem to phase the beast as the flames on its arms and legs grew in strength, melting any kind of ice that came into contact with him, the air shimmering under the heat around Azul. Shooting forwards Azul dashed through the air and arrived next to the admiral that had formed a sword out of thin air next to himself and used it as a way to block the enemy while two partisans appeared behind the occupied canine which rushed forwards in order to impale said beast. Azul though simply smashed his legs against the air and kicked off of it, bringing his whole weight and strength to bear on the admiral who instead had thought the beast to dodge sideways. So it came as no surprise when the direct course of his foe took him by surprise which ended with Aokiji barelling into a villa that stood behind him, crashing through the walls and into a room currently occupied by four Tenryuubito that obviously hadn''t evacuated as ordered, suprise written over their faces. Next to them a group of slaves served them beverages while one played an instrument to their amus.e.m.e.nt, n.a.k.e.d to boot. With a groan Aokiji came to his feet slowly, as his eyes came to rest on the beast that now stood before the group of Tenryuubitos, sending shivers down their spines as they looked into its eyes like a hebivore that knew it was about to get devoured. Though his attempt was in vain as Azuls claws turned into black vapor to Aokiji''s horror as he could feel the aura around them clearly, sending a shiver of una.d.u.l.tered fear down his back and had to watch helplessly as Azul literally ripped the souls of the nobles out of their bodies before he incinerated them leaving nothingness behind. Chapter 90 Redline, Mary Geoise Akainu, after his short trip to the gate of justice had received the instructions to rush after Aokiji to Mary Geoise and with a disbelieving mind he did just that. Soon they had arrived at the redline after some time of travelling and entered the elevator with readied weapons, even though they knew it would take some time until they would reach the holy city. Still, the tenseness of the crew was so palpable that it was nearly possible to grip it with b.a.r.e hands. Akainu meanwhile had had a conversation with Sengoku and was told what the guardians on Mary Geoise had reported to him while he waited to arrive at Mary Geoise. It seemed as if Aokiji was in battle with Azul, leader of the escapes from Impel Down, and was trying to delay him. Not more could be expected as Aokiji had been bested by Azul once before already making Akainu gnash his teeth at the besmirching of the marines honor when he thought about Kuzans failure. Though soon even those thoughts came to a stop as the elevator finally arrived in Mary Geoise and what greeted them shocked the troops to the core. Destroyed buildings and infrastructure as far as the eyes could see, burning or frozen while corpses of dead Tenryuubito littered the ground. Obviously the ones that had decided to not listen to their leaders. Stupid morons that they had been... Walking forwards Akainu stretched out his haki and soon found the two fighters making his eyes widen at the strength of Aokiji''s opponents aura. ''So Azuls fame isn''t baseless it seems. I''ll still incinerate him!'' Akainu thought before he dashed forwards, only one goal in mind. Azul, dead at his feet! -------------------------------------------------------- "Sir! We couldn''t find any more slaves. All the remaining buildings that haven''t yet been burned or frozen are empty!" One of the members of the Kamabakka kingdom reported to Ivankov who nodded and swiftly gave the order to bring the elevator down to the new world where a group of revolutionaries would pick them up not much later after Ivankov had contacted the army. Robin meanwhile had turned around towards the still fighting Azul and Aokiji, not able to step near the fight as the pressure alone was enough to send her to her knees. Though she couldn''t just stand there and do nothing! After all they were about to leave Mary Geoise and Azul needed to know about that. She knew he could walk on air but that didn''t mean he had to be left behind on his own. After speaking with Ivankov they decided to send a few men to tell Azul about their soon to be journey. The few men rushed out, though Robin couldn''t help the worry that lurked at the back of her mind after watching them disappear in the ruins of Mary Geoise... While Azul was fighting with Aokiji his haki picked up on a strong aura that had just appeared in Mary Geoise, stronger even then Aokiji himself. ''So another admiral has arrived. I think it is time that I end this and get the hell out of here...'' Azul thought to himself, keeping track of the swiftly advancing admiral that was rushing in their direction. Aokiji meanwhile was bleeding and panting under the strain of keeping up with his foe that had battered him continuously with blows reinforced with haki, physically as well as mentally with his conqueror''s haki, until Kuzan was on the verge of mental collapse himself. Thus was the strength of someone possessing the spirit of a conqueror! With one last attempt to get away from his foe, Aokiji created a wall with icy spikes between them while he rushed to meet with his collegue, masking his haki as good as possible in the process. Azul though managed to keep track of the admiral and rushed forwards, melting the icy wall of death with his roaring flames, chasing after the fleeing man. In the end he didn''t manage to catch up to said man in time as a boiling fist of burning magma smashed into the ground between the chaser and the admiral, stopping Azul in his tracks with sharp eyes on the attack. ''Magma? Holy hell, that is one deadly power right there! I would love to test how my flames can content against molten earth but I have been fighting nonstop for I don''t know how long now with only short breaks in between. Time to bounce!'' Azul thought to himself, turning around and soon came upon a small group of dead men that had been covered in a ball of magma by the looks of it, possibly sent to inform him of something. Speeding away from the scene while his body returned to his human form Azul was dodging fist made of magma that began to rain down from the sky like the picture of the armageddon that the scene painted. Soon he arrived at the elevator which was about to descend and only a hundred meters seperated him from it. Looking over his eyes met Robins and he had to watch in shock as she jumped out of the elevator, rushing to meet him. "What the hell are you doing? Get back in the elevator!" Azul yelled over to her but she seemed to ignore his words as she rushed towards him until she smashed into him like a canonball. The elevator meanwhile had descended far enough that it disappeared behind a sheen of clouds already on its way down. "I-I just couldn''t leave you behind... You are my only connection I have that keeps me from becoming nothing more then a shell. Please Azul... don''t leave me behind!" Robin answered while tears acc.u.mulated in the corner of her eyes, through which Azul could see the despair Robin had felt at being alone once more, calming him down swiftly. Ducking under another fist of magma that sailed over his head, Azul turned around and spotted Akainu that was rushing towards him. Picking up Robin, Azul turned towards the admiral and couldn''t contain the small mocking grin that grew on his face while speaking in a mocking voice that only fueled the admirals rage. "You know, for someone that claims to be the ultimate instance of the marines you are one slow dipshit but don''t worry, we''ll meet again one day. I can promise you that!" Afterwards Azul rushed forwards and with a grin on his face jumped off of the edge of the redline, barrelling headfirst towards the new world while Robins shrieking and Azuls roaring laughter filled the air on their descent. And who could blame them. They had just done the impossible and it would not be long until the rest of the world would hear of the man that burned down the holy city, Mary Geoise... Chapter 91 Grandline, New World, ??? With the wind roaring in their ears Robin and Azul plumeted with increasingly high speed towards the nearing ocean below. Coming out of his ecstatic state of mind while falling from such an incredible height Azul ignited his legs once more, slowly stopping the two until they were hovering just above the sea level. Looking at each other in the eyes the two couldn''t help but grin stupidly while small laughter echoed over the otherwise relatively calm sea. "You know, if it is always a requirement to destroy a city in order to experience something like our freefall then I may have to do so more often, hehehehe" Azul said to Robin with mirth written all over his face, slowly making his way into a random direction not really caring where they would end up at. "And I may just want to assist you in your most glorious endevour, hahahaha" Robin replied back while drying the corners of her eyes with her sleeve after the wind had made her eyes water quite strongly. "Any idea where we are?" Azul asked after a moment of silence to which Robin shook her head in denial. "I suppose any direction would do the trick for the moment. Once we reach an island we''ll find out where we are one way or the other." She said after a moment of pondering. "True. Let''s just head into that direction." Azul said while spinning on his own axis with Robin in his arms and ended up coming to an uprupt stop, pointing in some random direction which caused Robin to sweatdrop slightly. Though she couldn''t supress the elation she was feeling right now. After all, wasn''t this how it was like when you were free? And so they, or rather he with her in his arms, started walking of into the horizon, not caring in the slightest for the quivering seakings that had at first thought to jump the pair only to be stricken with a sense of doom that shooed them back underwater to hunt for a little less dangerous meal. --------------------------------------------------- Grandline, Paradise, Marine Headquarters With a smash Sengoku let all his pent up emotions explode on his poor desk, that had done nothing untowards to deserve such a harsh treatment, with a palm strike shattering it into two pieces while Garp couldn''t help laughing like a moron on the sideline. "Stop laughing you buffon!" Sengoku yelled, only causing the man to laugh even louder until Sengoku couldn''t stop himself any longer and began to strangle the man before him, only to get interrupted by a slightly sweating marine captain that was normally responsible for depositing the paperwork in his office and it was obvious from the mans face that he wanted to be everywhere but here at that particular moment. "Yes?!" Sengoku gnashed out through his teeth causing the captain to swallow with a gulp until he took in a breath and get the report over and done with. "Sir, it seems we''ve had a spy in our midst that filmed everything that has happened in the last few days and streamed it, live, all over the world. By now it is absolutely impossible to contain the spread of information. On top of that it seems like the revolutionary army has seen to the revelation of the burning and freeing of slaves from Mary Geoise along with the killing of many Tenryuubito. It will only be a matter of time until the newspapers will write about the incident. There literally is nothing that we can do about all of this..." The captain reported while a shadow fell over the fleet-admirals face and his eyes began to glow red like a demon from hell. With a yelp the captain decided to dismiss himself at the sight, f.u.c.k all problems that may arise from subordination! He wasn''t going to die in such a stupid way. No way! Having lost his immediate target Sengoku turned back to the still laughing Garp. Though said man soon choked on his own laughter when he saw his old friends face while croaking out with a small shiver running down his spine. "Parley?" No marine dared approach the shrieks and outcries of pain that echoed forth from the office for the next couple of hours... ------------------------------------------------- The following day the newspaper released, just like predicted by the marines, the full story to the world which caused an uproar all over the oceans. Many people were shocked at the raw destruction the marines wielded, excessable at nothing but the push of a button which ended with many islands to reconsider their stance when it came to their believe in the world government. Others on the other hand though breathed out in relief that their allies had so much firepower at their disposal and showed once and for all that the marines were yet to be toppled and still had the might to supress the pirates. Another matter though was the man that had instigated the whole mess. Nobody really knew what to think about said man. After all, he had never laid claim to any known faction. Yet it was clear that he did not stand with the world government. This small fact and what he had done to Mary Geoise and its inhabitants earned him alot of respect from many different corners of the world and along with it came nothing else but fear. After all, not even the marine admirals posed a threat to the man as many thought. He had beaten two and escaped a third after hours of fighting no less, thus making his case clear for all. Chapter 92 Grandline, New World, ??? While the whole world went to hell the one who stood at the middle of the whole mess, along with his female companion, had leisurely ventured along, not caring in the slightest for the chaos he had caused on pretty much every major island on the grandline, until they came upon a small island. With a growing grin on the pairs faces the two set foot on dry land once more. The island they set foot on was a beauty of nature. White beaches, palmtrees that were gently swaying in the wind and seaguls that were weirdly glowing in a red light circling overhead on the wind. "Now would you look at that! What do you say we make a little stop on this island? I could go for some vacation right about now hahahaha" Azul asked his companion with a grin on his face. "Hmm, yes. A vacation sounds like a good idea... maybe there even is a small town on this island? I could really use a nice shower..." Robin replied while her mind ventured to the shower of her dreams, drifting away just like the seaguls up above. Luckily for Azul she didn''t notice the slight twitch that emerged just for a second on Azuls eyebrow when some rather sugestive pictures entered his mind out of his control. Not wanting to dwell on his fantasy going offroads Azul began to cover the island in his observation haki and in doing so came upon a lot of lifesigns that at first only belonged to animals. Not long after though he found a small town by the looks of it. Motioning for Robin to follow him the two ventured into the green vegetation. Once they entered the treeline they could clearly hear the bustling of small animals that were skimpering away once they felt the dangerous air around Azul. Thus the two of them had no problems on their way, except maybe the trees which were a little problem for Azuls huge frame at first. Though only until he grew annoyed and simply bent them out of the way while Robin couldn''t help but laugh at his rediculous plight that she doubted anybody else would have had. After a track of ca. 15 minutes the duo arrived in a small village that carried a relaxed vibe with it. The town consisted of small huts that resembled coconuts while small rivers flowed through and around the whole village, kids playing inside them or the occasional a.d.u.l.t that was lounging inside of them instead of a chair before their small huts. All in all it resembled a vacation resort and judging by the villagers they had every intention of it staying that way. "Now would you look at that! That''s a way of living I tell ya'', hahahaha!" Azul said to Robin while putting his hand on her head with a giant grin on his face ruffling it in the process, completely ignoring Robins outcries to leave her hair alone at first. Soon though he was brought back out of his vacation fantasy by Robin who pinched him into his right n.i.p.p.l.e, making him yelp from the sudden and surprising pain. "What the hell woman! What did you pinch me for?" Azul asked while he massaged his right n.i.p.p.l.e that had turned a little red in the process. "That should teach you not to mess around with a woman''s hair!" Robin replied while smoothing her silky black hair back into position while slightly glaring at Azul who was pretty stupefied at her words. After all they had been through her hair had never played much of a role before and now all of a sudden it did? It confused the hell out of Azul. Their small bantering though drew the attention of a few amused villagers upon them that couldn''t help but grin at their antics while some of the men couldn''t help but think along the same lines of Azul. What was so important about some hair anyways? The women meanwhile only grinned, seemingly as if they were the only ones with some inside knowledge. "Welcome to the small island of Solaris! How can we help you two?" An old man asked while stepping forward with widening eyes once he stood before the towering body that belonged to Azul. After a second of recomposing himself the old man stretched out his hand and Azul took it in a friendly handshake, followed by Robin who did the same. "Well, we actually came upon your island simply by happenstance and don''t really know where we are in the New World. But now that we are here we decided that some small vacation wouldn''t be a bad idea. If you have no problems with that of course." Azul said while smiling at the old man before him that was even more confused by Azuls words. How could they not know where they were in the New World? Did they loose their memories or something? "The captain? Who are you talking about grandpa?" Azul asked, his mind already going through all the emperors that the old man could be talking about while said old man stumbled at being called grandpa. He was only 55 for heavens sake! "Ehemm, Red-haired Shanks, one of the emperors of the sea of course. I haven''t heard of an island that wasn''t claimed yet by one of the emperors and the captain, Shanks that is, has a tendency to claim islands that resemble a good spot for vacation and as you can see, ours belongs into that category. My name is Roshi by the way. Nice to meet you fellas." "I''m Azul grandpa, and this violent lady is Nico Robin. Shanks heh? Could be interesting to meet him I guess..." Azul mused to himself, while his words brought a tickmark to Roshi for being called a grandpa once again and one to Robin as well at being called violent. Though judging by his nonchallant attitude Azul didn''t really seem to care all that much. Why would he though, right? Soon they arrived at the small hut and after taking stock of all that they had at their disposal the duo decided to do some small shopping after which their vacation could finally begin in full swing! Chapter 93 Grandline, New World, Solaris island Azul and Robin had went for a short shopping trip after checking their inventory inside their new home though it soon turned into a full blown shopping spree. Why you ask? Well, for one Robin is a woman. And furthermore... oh who am I kidding. Enough said. Nonetheless it made for a curious sight to see the humongous frame of Azul get dragged through all the small shops by a tiny woman in comparison without so much as a chance to voice his objections. In the end though Azul decided the gains outweighted the pains as he was sitting in the warm sand while waves were rolling up on the shore of the beach. His eyes though didn''t take much notice of that as his focus rested on the beautiful woman clothed in nothing but a black bikini with a piece of silk wrapped partially around her slim waist as she gracefully walked through the shallow waters on the shore on her way over towards him. ''...Damn! I knew she was good looking but... damn!'' Azul thought as Robin came closer and from the look on her face it was obviously written on Azuls face what he was thinking about right at this moment. With a predatory grin on her face she sat down next to him while putting her weight on her arms that she stretched out behind her. "Do you like what you see?" Robin asked him with amus.e.m.e.nt clearly dancing in her black eyes. Mulling over his answer for a second Azul responded unexpectedly: "Yes. Yes, I do. Would you mind standing up and walking over once more?" all the while a grin formed on his face as had become a trademark to Azul. Robin meanwhile was caught of guard by Azuls response which resulted in her blushing up a storm, having rather expected him to try and change the topic or something similar. Thus her incredibly witty response came to nobody as a surprise that knows a little about woman. She smacked him on the arm due to being unable to come up with a good enough argument to turn around the table. If you can''t argue with logic, go offroads! "What the hell woman? Where are all these violent tendencies coming from all of a sudden? I thought I was the violent one between us? Maybe you should fight the battles from now on? hahahaha" Azul responded playfully while rubbing his arm in mock hurt while laughing at her highly red face. Their bantering though was interrupted by a couple of waiters that arrived next to the duo with bowls filled with fruits of all sorts and buckets filled with some kind of wine, straws put into it for easier access. Another few meanwhile had put up a pile of wood and began building a small roasting place. Put upon it was some weird a.s.s animal, scewered on a pike. Walking over towards it Azul couldn''t help himself but be a little baffled at what he saw before him. "What the f.u.c.k is that? Did some cow decide to hump a chicken or something?! What the hell are you up to on this island while the rest of the world isn''t watching, ehh?" Azul asked the guys that were building the roasting place who couldn''t help but start spluttering in response before understanding that Azul was having put one over them judging by his roaring laughter. Taking a long breath Azul breathed in the fresh air and truly, for the first time in days submerged himself in relaxation, slowly drifting off into dreamland while embracing the soft and warm body next to him that had nestled itself into his side. Thus the two of them began their vacation with a good long nap, as is tradition, a small smile on both of their faces. Chapter 94 Grandline, New World, ??? While Azul and Robin indulged themselves in relaxation and discovered the joys of their budding relationship the world didn''t stop in its steps to wait for the two. On an island, located in the New World, two rather dangerous groups of people met. One of the two was the ambitious type but he understood it well to hide his goals and dreams behind a curtain of lies and deceit. The other one was of a similar disposition though he was a lot more cold blooded when it came down to it, possessing none of the other mans dreamer like qualities. Due to the two groups mentalities and character traits it came as no surprise that the atmosphere at the place of meeting contained no jolly and good natured streaks, even though both parties leaders wore their trademark grins, looking every bit the vicious men that they were. Sitting opoosite each other the two groups stared with various expressions at their counterparts. The tense athmosphere was soon broken though by none other then the host of the meeting whose grin widened in glee. "Hehehehe, who would have thought that you would actually have the balls to come to me of all people despite your knowledge of my affiliation. And yet, I can''t help but feel a sense of joy at the prospects this meeting may yet bring to fruition hehehehehehe!" The captain of the hosting group said while reclining on the couch he was sitting on with his arms lazily thrown over the back of said couch, dangling besides him as if they had no bones inside them. Despite the mans lax attitude and rather funny outfit, considering he wore a pink flamingo like jacket and pink glasses to boot, none of the guests would dare to piss the man off without good reason as he carried an air of ruthlessness with him that was rarely seen on the grandline. "Sense of joy ehh? I didn''t take you for type to prefer to only observe where the world will go in the future Doflamingo, or did you throw away your kings disposition after having taken a glimpse at the true monsters this world has to offer? ZEHAHAHAHA!" The other parties captain asked with a vicious smirk adorning his ever grinning face after which thundering laughter erupted from his throat. His words caused a few of the crew members to grit their teeth at the mocking words directed at their captain and were about to step forward and start an argument only to be stopped in their tracks by the small chuckling of their Captain that soon turned into amused laughter. Though some of his more prominent crew members knew that it was not a laughter of happiness which was easily identifiable by the Veins that began to bulge on Doflamingos forhead bringing a slight sheen of sweat to his subordinates backs. "Enough with the bullshitting. Tell me Blackbeard, what is it that you want?" Doflamingo spoke, abruptly cutting of the laughter that had filled the room only moments ago. "Straight to the point I see..." Blackbeard answered curtly, bringing contemplative silence to the room as the two captains eyed each other with calculating gazes though it was hard to pinpoint that fact in Doflamingos case due to him wearing his trademark glasses. After a minute of silence Blackbeard once more spoke his mind, seemingly completely off track though. "A few days ago I was staying on a rural island not far away from Dress Rosa, recovering from some wounds I sustained a while ago that were rather deep. That was though until I received the newspapers one beautiful morning and guess what. To my surprise, the man that caused me these injuries had caused an incident of such magnitude in just a few days that all my plans were thrown over board like a piss drunken sailor in a vicious storm. But fortunately while doing so he rang the bell you may have heard yourself in the process. A bell that signals the start of the contest for the throne that has been empty for a long time now. War is coming and I intend to participate in it. What do you say Doflamingo? Why not join me in an alliance for a while? ZEHAHAHAHA!" Blackbeard spoke, his voice reveberating through the room that sent shivers down the occupants inside of it while Doflamingo remained silent in contemplation while his face was completely blank. While Doflamingo was thinking one of his commanders and member of his family spoke up, ripping Doflamingo out of his thoughts along with the droning voice that was nearly overtuned by the belowing laughter caused by Blackbeard. "We have only just started our negociations with Kaido, Joker. It is not yet too late to pick a path of our own. Though that would mean we would have to go against an emperor sooner then was originally planned... What should we do Joker?" Trebol spoke while snot was running down said mans nose as was common from him. Doflamingo only hummed in thought at his subordinates words, thoughts running a hundred miles per second all the while. "Oh? I would have thought someone with your connections would have an inside source in the marines and thus would have informed you zehahaha" Blackbeard spoke, slightly laughting at the end in amus.e.m.e.nt which brought another vein onto Doflamingos forhead. He would have to speak with Vergo after this meeting... "After Azul caused the destruction of Impel Down and burned down Mary Geoise a man I had contacted previously to the destruction of Impel Down, who by now has become a member of my crew, informed me from inside the marines of the decisions that have been made yesterday morning in a meeting of the highest authorities of the marines after which he left the headquarters in the bustling and began his journey to join me. The marines have decided to relocate their headquarters into the New World and it is only a matter of time until further drastic measures will be taken, I can assure you of that Zehahahaha!" Blackbeard spoke, silencing all the murmurs that had started in the room, bringing a shocked silence to the occupants. "...So it is true... Fine. I will join you in an alliance but don''t think for a second that I won''t rip your throat out on a moments notice should you even think about backstabbing me!" Doflamingo said with steel in his voice, shocking the occupants in the room once more into further silence only disturbed by Blackbeards bellowing laughter. "That''s what I wanted to hear. May the strongest prevail and earn himself the right to wear the title of ''King of the Pirates'', ZEHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Blackbeard spoke loudly after which his whole crew began to laugh alongside their captain. Doflamingo meanwhile was grinning to himself while his crew began to cheer in anticipation to the coming days. ''Indeed, only the strongest will prevail but that doesn''t mean the strongest will be dumb as well Blackbeard. Only I will become King of the pirates! You will see in due time hehehehehe...'' Doflamingo thought to himself while his grin widened in glee. Not long afterwards the two captains settled down in a nearby room and began their planning and with it the elimination of the fiercest competition while both of them pursued their own agendas along with the slowly building plans that would bring each closer to the throne... Chapter 95 Grandline, Mary Geoise While Blackbeard and Doflamingo forged plans of their own, the leaders of the opposite faction had gathered to meet in a secluded location. In a room specially designed to keep curious ears away the five elders kneeled before a throne. A scene that would mindboggle the rest of the world were they to see such a scene since most people that knew of the leadership on the top of the world government had always thought the five elders to be the supreme instance that governed everybody. And yet, here they were, kneeling before a man with a thin figure whom had taken his place on top of the throne that had remained empty for so long. "Im-sama, your orders?" the oldest of the five elders spoke to the slim figure on the throne who hummed in thought, not immediately answering. "It seems my plans need to be accelerated quite a lot. After what happened in Mary Geoise we can not afford to make anymore mistakes and you will make sure of that, even if you have to step onto the battlefield yourselfs once more..." Im spoke in a monotonous voice, not betraying any emotion in the process. And yet, his voice carried an authority with it that not even the five elders were able to project to their subordinates. After all, they were no kings. "As you command." The elders spoke in one voice before they stood back up while keeping their eyes on the ground, not daring to look their monarch into the eyes after they had failed so grivously. After the five elders had returned back into Mary Geoise that was destroyed beyond recognition they swiftly summoned the fleet-admiral to them. They had orders to pass down and this time nothing would go wrong. They would make sure of that! -------------------------------------------------- The next day after the five elders had received their orders from their king and the following conversation the five had with the fleet-admiral a few news were released into the press, causing another wildfire to ignite amongst the inhabitants of the world. On the deck of the mighty Moby D.i.c.k, Edward Newgate, alias Whitebeard sat on his gigantic chair with the tiny newspapers grasped between his fingers. As he was reading the newest release the experienced pirate couldn''t help but narrow his eyes while a certain darkness began to fall on his weathered face, unlikely anthing his sons and daugthers had seen before. "Captain?" a man sitting a few meters away from Whitebeard asked with uncertainty obvious in his voice after he had seen the expression that overcame his fathers face. Without turning to his son Whitebeard began to read the newspapers article in a rumbling voice, silencing the rest of his crew that hadn''t noticed the change to their fathers behaviour. "After the burning of Mary Geoise and the subsequent deaths of many Tenryuubito, we of the newsco knew that it would only be a matter of time until the world government would prepare to strike back in a vengence. The only two questions that remained open though were the ''when'' and ''how''. Obviously the world government won''t reveal their plans to the public just yet as our esteemed readers may have surmised by now. Thus it came as a surprise to us when we received word from the marines that they would be relocating their headquaters into the new world. We of the newspaper can already smell the barrel of black powder that has begun to burn slightly after this daring move that will narrow the frontlines between the marines and the emperor''s, that rule the new world with an iron fist, down into a slim line until it may disappear completely one day. We of the newspaper of course will keep our esteemed readers updated to every major happening that will be occuring in the following days..." After Whitebeard stopped reading the article an eary silence hung over the normally noisy Moby D.i.c.k. The silence though was broken by none other than Whitebeard himself whos deep voice reveberated over the deck, ripping his family out of their stupor. "Bring me my transpondersnail. I have a call to make..." Whitebeard spoke and it didn''t take long until one of his daughters rushed over with his transpondersnail. With a mechanical clacking sound Whitebeard dialed the number he had received not too long ago from a man that had literally flooded the newspapers with his deeds and it was time for the two of them to meet after all this time. Chapter 96 Grandline, New World, Solaris island "Oi, big guy! You got a call on the transpondersnail!" A yawning middle aged man called over to the humongous form of Azul that was drifting on an orange rubber duck inside a pool in the middle of the small town. "Wha-" Azul answered intelligently after having been ripped out of his sweet dreams by the middle aged man that had come over to the border of the pool and was scratching himself on his a.s.s while his trousers hung dangerously low on his h.i.p.s. "I said you have a call on the transpondersnail. Over there..." the middle aged man said once more after which he yawned and walked over to the shadow of a nearby tree and slumped down against its trunk, returning to dreamland. Azul meanwhile had lifted his sunglasses slightly and was in the process to take in his surroundings as if he wasn''t really sure where he was right now. After a few slow seconds his memories seemed to return to him which made him grumble in annoyance to having been woken up. Fumbling to get into a suitable position to stand up Azul forgot that his ''chair'' was nothing but a rubber duck, even if it was on the enormous end size wise, and anyone who ever tried to stand up on any kind of swimming gear knows that it is one hell of a tricky buisiness. Thus with a yelp Azuls makeshift ship capsized and caused the huge man to get soaked from top to bottom. Though due to his enormous size Azul ended up sitting with only half his body submerged which caused him to grumble once again. On the sidelines however the bell like laughter caused Azul to burry his annoyance and march over to the small hut where the damn snail was still ringing, all the while accompanied by the echoing laughter of Robin who was literally crying on the ground having rolled down from her sunchair after having witnessed the elegance with which Azul left the pool. Still grumbling internally about stupid rubber ducks Azul marched over to the by now tired looking transpondersnail from all the ringing and with a tick to his eyebrow snatched the mike from its shell. "What?!" Azul grumbled into the mic in his annoyance, stunning whoever was on the other end for a second into silence after which the deep rumbling voice of Whitebeard came through, slightly amused it seems. "Am I interrupting something, boy?" the man asked through the mic which brought another tick to Azuls eyebrow as he could still hear Robin laughing slightly in the background, now a little calmer. "...No, nevermind. So, what''s the matter old man?" Azul asked through the mic after taking a calming breath and shoving his thoughts about revenge for the damn rubber duck to the back of his mind for a later date. "Hmm, we need to meet. We have some things to talk about." Whitebeard said through the mic, causing Azul to raise one eyebrow slightly. "And why is that? You sound as if it is urgent." Azul answered while walking over to a small bar and began mixing himself another mochito as if it was second nature to him by now. "After you f.u.c.k.e.d around with the world government certain events have been set in motion and you are in the center of it all, if you want to or not..." Whitebeard said over the mic while Azul could faintly hear something that sounded alot like a party in the background, even if it was faint. "Hmm ye, I don''t really care. But if you wanna talk so badly come on over. Robin and I have found a cozy little island when we entered the New World. Solaris it is called. Why don''t you come on over? I bet your old bones could use some relaxation hehehehehe" Azul spoke into the mic, sipping on his mochito with a little umbrella inside of it while chuckling in amus.e.m.e.nt. "Gurararara, you got some balls to talk to me like that but no matter. Oi Marco! Is Solaris island one of ours?" Whitebeard said into the mic while halfway through his sentence called over to his son. "I don''t think so. Red-hair owns it, probably. Would fit him if it is as cozy as Azul described it." Marcos voice sounded faintly in the background. Azul though wasn''t really listening as his gaze was set on the slumbering form of Robin that was stretching herself slightly like a lazy cat in the sun, causing his heart to speed up a little. His thoughts though were ripped away from his wandering imagination by Whitebeards deep voice. "Hmm, no matter. We''ll come over to you guys. In a week or so we''ll be there. Take care of my daughter young man." Whitebeard said through the mic after which he simply hung up, leaving Azul alone with his thoughts which promptly began to wander again as soon as his gaze returned to the woman next to the pool after their conversation. ''God damn...! This so ain''t fair...'' Azul thought to himself as he kept watching the bombshell he had grown so fond of over time not realising that she was fully aware of the burning gaze that was roaming over her graceful form, bringing a small grin to Robins face. ''Finally fufufufu'' Robin thought to herself while turning onto her stomach with glittering eyes and a smile on her face. Chapter 97 Grandline, New World, Solaris island (lemon ahead: beware!) After his talk with Whitebeard, Azul had shortly mused about the future but in the end discarded every notion that ventured into that direction simply because he was aware that the future was unpredictable and thus shoved that train of thought to the back of his mind. His mind cleared, Azul couldn''t help himself but return to his observations of the minx that was slumbering next to the pool who caused his heartbeat to jump out of its usual rythm occasionally and it grew worse with every passing day. Azul though was well aware that his growing d.e.s.i.r.es weren''t onesided as Robin had begun to become more daring as time went by. It began with a simple touch here, a clumsy stumble there or the occasional request for Azul to put some sunblocker onto her back and legs. Their back and forth lead to its peak one evening as the two of them were having a barbeque at the beach with the sun beginning to slowly sink on the horizon and some music playing in the background from a device eerily similar to a dial as they were found on Skypea. Both of them had drunk a few beers which caused the mood to become more cheerful and unreserved, though it didn''t go overboard as the both of them were still fully aware of their actions. Focusing inwards Azuls body began to shrink and compress until his shrinking stagnated at a height somewhere above 2 meters. Under Robins curious gaze Azul got to his feet, his drink still in one hand, and after mulling it over for a second while watching the sun set in the horizon made up his mind. Lifting the jug to his mouth Azul emptied its cool content into his mouth while marveling at the drink and thanking whoever created this liquid gold from the bottom of his heart as it was running down his throat. Throwing the now empty jug carelessly to the side with a thud as it embedded itself in the soft sand on the beach, Azul turned around with a forming grin on his face while a fire began to simmer in the depth of his eyes sending a small shiver down Robins spine, for which reason she didn''t know. Walking over towards the sitting woman Azul held out his hand without saying a word but it seemed it was unnescessary in the first place as Robin without the slightest hesitation took the offered hand and was promptly lifted to her feet. As the current song was coming to an end Azul slowly and yet with a firm grip pulled Robin towards him whos eyes began to glitter in mirth. Stretching his left hand to the left side, all the while holding Robins hand Azul flattened Robin against his c.h.e.s.t while his right hand took hold of her hip and began to slowly glide upwards until it came to rest at the middle of her back, firming their positions. Without warning the music picked up again and this time it was accompanied by the two of them whirling over the sand in a joyous dance that caused the both of them to completely discard the rest of the world. As they danced and danced the distance between Robin and Azul grew smaller and the contact bigger. Hands began to roam over a muscled c.h.e.s.t and a small back until the dance was completely forgotten and all distance was closed as the two people gave into their burning d.e.s.i.r.e for each other. With his heart hammering in his c.h.e.s.t Azul pressed Robin with his left hand against himself, relishing in the feeling of her soft b.r.e.a.s.ts pressed onto his n.a.k.e.d upper body, while his right hand took hold of Robins hair which caused her to cry out in surprise until said outcry transformed into a m.o.a.n of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e as Azuls lips smashed onto her own soft lips with a burning d.e.s.i.r.e to explore and consume everything she had to offer. As Azuls lips came into contact with Robins another shiver ran down her spine and she couldn''t help but let out a soft m.o.a.n in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. Giving into her own d.e.s.i.r.e Robin wrapped her arms around Azuls neck while one hand explored the strong muscles that pulsed like an inferno beneath her touch with their explosive power which was at this very moment completely focused on her. Accompanied by another m.o.a.n Robin felt Azuls tongue ask for entrance into her mouth and she didn''t hesitate a second to grant him excess to explore and dominate to his hearts content as the two of them grew more pasionate by the second. Sliding his left hand down the slim back of Robin, Azuls fingers came to rest on her firm and perfectly shaped b.u.t.t which he promptly began to knead under the heated m.o.a.ns of its owner. Seperating herself from Azul for a second to inhale a heated breath, her eyes came to rest on Azuls burning eyes and while the two of them embrased each other with their eyes locked a silent conversation seemed to take place at which end Robin nodded shortly to which Azul nodded back in reply. Afterwards Azul softly lifted Robin into his arms and with his legs bursting into flames disappeared into the direction of their small hut. As soon as the two of them appeared they were greeted with wide eyes from the other occupants that began to open their mouths as if to inquire about something but none of the two had the time nor the patience to talk with them. Unleashing a concentrated blast of conqueror''s haki Azul knocked the whole village out after which he smashed the door towards their hut open under the small laughter of Robin at seeing how eager Azul was, though she couldn''t help but agree with the sentiment and was thankful that he did. Closing the door behind himself Azul let Robin down onto her feet who promptly turned around and resumed their duel of the tongues where they left off at the beach. Pressing herself against Azul, Robins right hand trailed down the front of Azuls muscles c.h.e.s.t until she reached his trousers and without hesitation slipped into them and continued onwards. As soon as she did her slim fingers came into contact with Azuls seemingly burning and pulsating c.o.c.k as it was roaring for release. The minx that she was though she slowly began to stroke its impressive length up and down, increasing her tempo slightly with each motion. The result was immediate and Robin couldn''t contain the satisfied grin that surfaced on her beautiful face that was tinged red from her d.e.s.i.r.e for Azul. M.o.a.ning in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, Azul lost his focus for a second, relishing in the feeling of Robins small and elegant fingers curled around his c.o.c.k. Gazing down towards the minx his d.e.s.i.r.e for her skyrocketed. With a twist Azul reversed their positions and with ease lifted Robin off the ground while both of his hand came to rest on her b.u.t.t while she was pressed in between him and the wall behind her. His action caused Robin to m.o.a.n in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and protest as she had to let go of his c.o.c.k which in turn came to rest just below her p.u.s.s.y which was moist and radiated an enticing heat that called for Azul to enter with a burst. Seperating his lips from hers Azul mouth began to slowly wander down her jaw, shortly nibbling at her earlob until it continued onwards under Robins soft m.o.a.ns, trailing down her beautiful neck and pausing shortly at her collarbone until his journey continued. Trailing kisses and small licks downwards Azul soon reached her erect pink n.i.p.p.l.es and began to suck and nibble carefully on them causing Robin to jerk and spasm in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in his arms which she could not get out of. "Please, Azul...stop teasing me already..." Robin m.o.a.n.e.d out under his administrations which brought a playful grin to his face to which she couldn''t help but pout slightly. Turning them around without a problem while the two resumed their heated kissing Azul carried Robin over towards the bed and laid her down softly after which he simply incinerated his trousers with a simple thought. Curious how that works? Me too. Standing right before her Robin couldn''t help but widen her eyes slightly at the size of Azuls c.o.c.k and without thinking about it reached out her hand like a child that simply out of curiousity had to touch it and soon afterwards began to stroke him once more under his burning gaze that seemed to penetrate her every layer. Softly shoving her hand sidewards Azul got down before Robin on the bed and put both of her legs on his shoulders after which he slowly pulled up her bikini p.a.n.t.i.e.s after which a few thin strands of juice followed, elongating Azuls predatory grin to epic proportions. "Oh my, someone''s eager for the main course it seems..." Azul said with a playful grin to which Robin couldn''t help but smack him playfully on the c.h.e.s.t. "You are one to talk..." She replied with burning cheeks while her hungry gaze remained on his c.o.c.k as if wanting to devour it with her eyes alone. "Indeed. But before that we have one more thing to administer hehehe" Azul said while thanking his master for introducing him to the wonders of the female body one night when Old Man Bai was a drunken nuissance. With a thankful glance upwards Azul lowered his head slightly and began to trail kisses down Robins left leg that was still resting on his shoulder under her growing m.o.a.ns. Soon Azul reached her p.u.s.s.y that was already soaking wet and leaking the juices of eden for his taste and so he did. At first softly and slowly he trailed upwards but instead of wandering over to the small bud in the middle he started all over on the other side, earning him an outcry of protest from the owner of this heavenly p.u.s.s.y. Thus it didn''t take much longer that Robins body began to convulse in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e under his care and with an outcry of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e Robin screamed Azuls name to the world as she came in a mighty o.r.g.a.s.m. Falling backwards Robins c.h.e.s.t rose and sunk in fatigue to which Azul couldn''t help but grin as he took hold of his d.i.c.k and position it at the entrance to her juicy lips. Grinning down on Robin Azul thrust forwards into her p.u.s.s.y while he burrowed Robin below him who sn.a.k.e.d her arms and legs around his body under m.o.a.ns of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e from the both of them. After he had entered her Azul had to take a moment to gather himself to not come immediately as Robins p.u.s.s.y seemed to wrap and tighten around his c.o.c.k as if to milk him of his every drop. Not long after he had gotten a little used to the sensation Azul began to move his h.i.p.s back and forth. At first slowly but soon his tempo increased, both of them m.o.a.ning in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e as he pierced her again and again, his c.o.c.k pulsing with eagerness in the process. After a few minutes of rocking back and forth Azul kissed Robin deeply and while doing so undid her wrapped arms and legs which was followed by her being turned around swiftly until her face was mushed into the pillows and her perfect a.s.s was facing towards Azul while she was on all fours. With a thrust Azul shoved himself into her once again while marveling at the beautiful contours a.s.s to her slim backside to her elegant neck. While f.u.c.k.i.n.g her Azul took hold of Robins hair and slapped her behind a few times, earning him loud m.o.a.ns and shivers of p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e that traveled all the way down to her p.u.s.s.y, squeezing it until Azul was nearly bursting from it. Increasing his tempo Azul took hold of Robins perfect t.i.t.s while leaning over her while giving her a deep kiss. With a m.o.a.n his tempo increased once more until he couldn''t hold it anymore and with an outcry poured his burning seed deep into Robin who came along with him from the sensation. Falling down next to her in exhaustion Azul pulled Robin towards him who snuggled down on his c.h.e.s.t in a soft purr and promptly fell asleep from exhaustion while Azul couldn''t help but smile in contentment and soon afterwards followed after Robin into the dreamland. Chapter 98 Grandline, New World, Solaris island (Small lemon at the beginning!) Soft, warm and all around heavenly comfortable was how Azul would probably describe his past night together with Robin from which he woke up with his hands cupping her firm b.r.e.a.s.ts while Robin was literally wrapped around his body like a snake around its prey. Obviously a clingy sleeper. Unfortunately for the both of them their vacation would soon come to an end as the first signs of sunlight shone through the window and bathed the two of them in its warm light. On top of them somebody rather loud was yelling outside to which a few people responded with roaring laughter bringing a pretty big tickmark to Azuls forhead while his eyebrow began to twitch erratically. Robin on the other hand had decided to use the ruckus outside to silently slip under the covers and wake her lover up in the sweetest way possible, causing Azul to jerk awake immediately and his eyebrow to come to a standstill at once. With a grin on his face Azul lifted the sheets slightly that covered his lower body and was greeted by the sight of Robin lovingly stroking his growing c.o.c.k after which she trailed her tongue upwards his shaft while her eyes made contact with Azuls. Holding eyecontact Robin slowly began to envelope Azuls d.i.c.k with her rosy lips until his c.o.c.k reached her throat, causing her to let out a slight groan from the unknown experience. Like a champion though she managed not to gag and from there on slowly and with loving care began to bob her head up and down to which Azul could only respond with a groan of his own and began to move his h.i.p.s out of reflex as if to increase the possible p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e he was feeling. The feeling of Azuls c.o.c.k caused Robins blood to rush through her veins while the strong scent sent a shiver down her spine to which she m.o.a.n.e.d in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e as she experienced a mild yet comfortable o.r.g.a.s.m. Bobbing her head faster and faster it didn''t take long and Azul with a m.o.a.n of ecstasy, while grabbing Robins head and pushing it further downwards, shot his burning seed down her throat which Robin at first couldn''t quite handle but had no other way then to swallow down and surprisingly found Azuls seed to not be of unpleasant taste, if unusual. After Azul had come and Robin swallowed all of his c.u.m she slowly began to lift her head upwards, all the while taking care to not let anything slip by she may have missed. At the end she simply smiled at Azul with rosy cheeks and gave his now limp c.o.c.k a small kiss in affection. Azul meanwhile grabbed Robin and pulled her upwards while giving her a passionate kiss in gratitude and was in the motion to further their early fun together, only to be interrupted by hammering against their door. With a grumble Azul stood from their bed to which Robin couldn''t help but laugh a little while Robin went into the bathroom to take a quick shower and get dressed. Every step he took further towards the door Azul grew in height until he returned to his towering 4,5m, dwarfing pretty much everything in the small town. Seeing what was happening Azul grumbled slightly and supressed his passive aura after which he grit out with a slight yawn accompanying it: "what?!" "Errrr, s-sorry to disturb you so early b-but there is somebody here to see you sir..." the man answered still standing straight, not moving a muscle as if he were a hebivore that had just escaped its predator and was afraid that only the slightest movement may effect its chance to keep on living. ''Whitebeard already here? Hmm, I thought he would turn up later today... no matter. If he wants to meet that badly he can wait another few minutes and at least let me wake up properly.'' With those thoughts running through his mind Azul turned back around, not seeing a few women that had turned completely red after Azul had opened the door in all his n.a.k.e.d glory, not caring the least bit who saw him n.a.k.e.d, and went back inside the hut. Robin meanwhile had gotten dressed in a purple summer dress and with a ribbon bound her hair back to which Azul stood in the door for a few seconds, marveling at the beauty before him after which he went over to her and gave her another searing kiss grinning when Robin yelp a little at his surprising action. Though her protest died rather quickly in the end. Afterwards Azul took a quick shower and joined Robin. Together they went outside and grabbed a few fruits for breakfast after which they went towards the area where Azul could feel a very strong spirit, not any weaker then his own making his eyes widen in surprise. Tracking through the small woods the two of them soon arrived at the beautiful beach where some kind of lazy party seemed to be going on. Walking over to the crew of men the two were yet again surprised when they saw who lead the group. "So you must be Azul ehhh? Large fella, aren''t ya? Bwahahahahaha! Come, come, join us! You and your woman are more then welcome to party with us bwahahaha! Oh, where are my manners. I''m Shanks. Nice to meet cha''" A middle aged man with red hair, three scars over his left eye and one arm called over to Azul and Robin while downing one jug after the other. Azul meanwhile couldn''t help but grin back at the man. Why? His inner flame had begun to burn in excitement and Azul couldn''t surpress the laughter that slipped through his lips in reaction. What an exciting end to their vacation indeed... Chapter 99 Grandline, New World, Solaris island After the duo had been invited to the party the both of them grabbed themselves a drink and some food and sat down in the soft sand while slowly warming up to the partying folks. Soon laughter filled the beach once more. Men dancing in a drunken stupor, others gambling, singing or brawling with their comrades, their captain the worst of them all. Thus the hours passed by in seemingly seconds until the sun began to sink in the horizon. While the partying crowd slowly began to calm down after drinking for such a long time, some simply to drunk to move any further, Robin had fallen asleep against Azuls c.h.e.s.t while sitting with her back leaning on him between his legs, feet burried in the soft and warm sand with a satisfied smile on her face. Azul on the other hand was slowly slurping the rest of his beer, watching the nearly red sun set in the horizon, softly stroking Robins hair as if in a trance, now and then earning himself a soft purr from Robin as if she were a little kitten that cried for more attention making Azul occasionally chuckle in amus.e.m.e.nt. While the last partying people began to fall asleep where they had been partying only minutes ago Azul heard slightly asymethric footsteps stumble through the soft sands of the beach of Solaris causing him to turn around. A second later with a thumping sound Shanks let himself fall into the warm beach next to the duo with a satisfied groan while slurping down his possibly last bear for the night but Azul had the suspicion that Shanks never really came down from his drunken height in the first place. That could explain his contatious laughter and want to keep the party going, no matter the circ.u.mstances. Though Azul had met the man only today so it was after all only a suspicion. "What a party eh? hahahaha" Shanks asked Azul though said man thought it possible for the question to be of the rethorical nature and thus only hummed in answer. "So tell me, what were you doing on my island in the first place?" Shanks asked another question, this time moving his gaze away from the setting sun onto the huge frame of Azul who took another swing of his nearly empty jug. "It was the first island we came across when we entered the new world and simply decided to take a little vacation. Nothing more, nothing less." Azul answered with a nonchalant shrugg which earned him an amused chuckle from Shanks. "You know, after I heard about the burning of Mary Geoise and the role you played in it I had thought you to be a little bit more...fierce I believe to be an ample description hahahaha" Shanks said while laughing softly and taking another swing of his beer afterwards followed by him swiping his mouth with his left arm. "Fierce eh? I believe there is a time and a place for everything and as I just said, we are on vacation. Not to mention someone with your spirit should be more then capable to judge what dwells under the surface or have you drowned even your spirit in beer? Could be an exciting experience though..." Azul responded while muttering the last part in thought how that would feel if at all possible. Not that he would ever attempt it, after all it would be against everything his master had taught him. "Bwahahahahaha, I''ve been drinking so long it would be a possibility I suppose hahahaha" Shanks responded between weezing bouts of laughter which ended with him wiping a lone tear from his eyes corner, still chuckling slightly. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you for getting Luffy and his crew out of Impel Down. That boy is important to me and really didn''t deserve that fate, not that anybody would honestly. No matter. If you ever need some help with anything just give me a call. I owe you that much at least for getting his clumsy a.s.s out of that hellhole hehehe" Shanks said, chuckling at the memory of little anchor while pulling out a small piece of paper with his transpondersnail number on it. As it was moving slightly towards Shanks Azul assumed it to be a vivre card making contacting the man that much easier. "Thanks, I''ll keep that in mind. Oh, before I forget it. We''ll be receiving some more guests in a approximately 30 minutes, just so you know. Though I believe you know each other already." Azul said while tugging the vivre card into a pocket of his trousers. Shanks meanwhile was a little confused as he eyed Azul, urging the man to elaborate with his eyes who in response only stretched his hand with the nearly empty jug in his hand towards the horizon where a ship had appeared not long into their conversation. Judging by Shanks slightly widening eyes he indeed knew who that ship belonged to. "The hell is Whitebeard doing here?" the man asked in a little bit of stupefaction at the weird situation they now found themselves in while Azul could only grin in amus.e.m.e.nt, Robin still purring under his administrations. Azul meanwhile had his eyes set on the ship that was coming closer by the minute, occasionally sipping his beer. Yep, the Moby D.i.c.k had arrived and the fun was just about to begin. What a vacation indeed! Chapter 100 Grandline, New World, Solaris island While Azul was watching the sun sinking down behind the edge of the ocean far off in the horizon Shanks had silently disappeared to wake up his crew. Going by said mans body language, Red-hair was tense and justly so. After all Whitebeard didn''t carry the title of strongest man alive for nothing. Something that even one of the four emperor''s of the sea had to respect. As the sun had disappeared from the sky completely and darkness engulfed the small normally so relaxed island the villagers ignited many torches to illuminate the major places around the island. This, coupled with the heavy atmosphere that had descended on Solaris after everyone had learned of Whitebeards appearance, brought a rather eery quality with it as shadows danced in the flickering light of hundreds of torches as if ghosts and spirits of the past were dancing and mocking the people still remaining in the land of the living. Thus the party that had raged until a couple minutes ago was already forgotten, replaced with a nervous anticipation for what was to come. Shanks all the while had thrown his black cape over his shoulders and sheathed his saber at his hip and was now sitting with a contemplative look on his face on a tree stump a little away from the majority of his crew, no doubt gears turning in deep thought. While Azul was still sitting with Robin in his arms the Moby D.i.c.k had gotten close enough to the island and was now letting rowboats down into the ocean after which the crew of the Moby D.i.c.k began to board said rowboats except a select few that were to remain behind and guard the ship for any kind of reason. With splashing sounds that grew louder the closer the small sh.i.p.s got the Whitebeard pirates soon arrived at the beach of Solaris, the gigantic figure of Whitebeard amongst the first to set foot on the island. Under the crunching of the sand beneath his feet Whitebeard walked over to the now assembled crew of Shanks and the the calmly sitting Azul that was observing Whitebeard as said man came closer. ''Truly, strongest man alive is indeed a fitting title. Only masters spirit has illuminated the night just as strongly and that was at the end of his life...'' Azul thought to himself with a neutral look on his face with memories surfacing in the back of his mind, his masters grinning face flashing forth now and then. Around 10 meters away from the red-hair pirates Whitebeard came to a stop and mustered the line-up before him with a calm expression on his face. Only seconds later Shanks pushed his way through his tense crew and walked over to stand opposite Whitebeard whos body was bathed in the flickering lights of the nearby torches, giving his already intimidating figure a menacing quality that sent shivers down many a sailor. "It has been a long time since we last met, Whitebeard..." Shanks said in a diplomatic fashion, not knowing the reason behind Whitebeards sudden appearance on Solaris, to keep every evenue on how to proceed from there open to him. "The last time we met you were just a cabin-boy under Roger together with that funny rednose. What happened to him?" Whitebeard replied with a monotonous voice that grolled like the crashing waves in its deepness. "Ohh, Buggy? We split up after the captains execution. Last I heard of him he was somewhere in the Eastblue, no doubt causing trouble for everybody, bwahahahaha" Shanks answered with a humorous tinge to his ruminations causing him to laugh a little that slowly subsided after a few seconds leaving silence behind in its wake. "Why are you here, Whitebeard?" Shanks asked, all humor gone as if a switch had been turned. Though before Whitebeard could reply another voice interrupted the mens discussion. "He is here because of me, or...us? Either way, you get my point." Azul said with a monotonous voice while his huge frame stepped forth from the shadows, craddling Robin in his arms while said woman clung to him like a sleepy Koala to its tree. As he did so the eyes of a few Whitebeard pirates widened once they laid eyes upon Azuls enormous height that wasn''t all that much shorter then their captains while shivering under the mans passive aura that surrounded him like a cloak making a few of the mens knees shake slightly. "I see that my daughter has gotten rather attached to you...and so have you it seems, gurararara" Whitebeard said after a few seconds while Azul came to a standstill besides Shanks, Robin craddled in his arms like a precious gem. "...Attachment is the wrong word I think. But I do care for her a lot, yes. I suppose that makes you my father-in-law or something, right old man? Hahahaha" Azul answered at first blankly which soon morphed into a slight grin on his face which was accompanied by his chuckling, dumbfounding alot of the sailors listening in on their conversations. "GURARARARARARARARARA! You are one shameless little brat, aren''t you? Gurarara" Whitebeard replied, his bellowing laughter echoing over the beach in its penetrating deepness. Shanks meanwhile had developed a little sweatdrop on his forhead as he now understood why Whitebeard truly had come to Solaris frustrating him just a teny tiny bit in the process. After all he had sacrificed his passive drunkeness for those two morons before him which had taken him weeks to accomplish! "Besides the matter with my daugther there is another matter we need to discuss." Whitebeard said while sitting down into the warm now slowly cooling sand beneath him. Whitebeards words caused Shanks to perk up again while Azul only nodded. "Give me a second. I''ll put Robin to bed real quick." Azul said his feet igniting in billowing flames after which he disappeared in thin air causing the men watching to widen their eyes due to his speed while Whitebeard only nodded and Shanks let himself fall down into the soft sand not too far away from Whitebeard. Appearing at their hut Azul opened the door and walked inside. Pulling the cover back he put Robin down and after taking of her clothes put the cover back over her while Robin was mumbling something incomprehensible in her sleep, bringing a soft chuckle out of Azul. After checking everything was in order he left again and with burning legs appeared on the beach once more where he sat down next to Shanks and Whitebeard, the three forming a triangle between them. "Now, what is so important that couldn''t wait for us to reach you in a few weeks old man?" Azul asked Whitebeard who had just received a gigantic sake bottle from his subordinate from which he took large gulps with streaks of the sake running down the side of his mouth. "I assume you''ve read the newspaper recently?" Whitebeard asked Azul while sipping on his drink, which in turn caused Shanks sharp mind to make a few connections in seconds. "Not really. Haven''t really had the time nor interest I guess. Why? Anything major happened?" Azul asked back while Whitebeard chuckle slightly at Azuls words. "Must''ve been a good vacation then, gurarara... The world government has relocated its headquarters into the new world. Though that was only their intro move. War is coming, boy! And you will be right in the center of it, along with my daughter. None of your fault though. Her history would catch up with her one day one way or the other. That was one reason why I took her in so willingly. She is one of the few that may contribute to the outcome that will decide the slowly approaching conflict." Whitebeard said, all amus.e.m.e.nt absent from his voice while he spoke into the darkness of the night, only illuminated by the torches that adorned the beach. "Into the new world? Interesting...any idea what their next move may be?" Azul asked while his thoughts ran a 100 miles per second as he was combing through the infos he just received. He had always known that a war was coming and he had been looking forwards to it. But so soon? That had been out of his expectations. It was becoming clearer to him by each passing second that he needed to advance on his path so that he could attain the rank of a master. Otherwise the conflict that was soon to come would become that much harder for him while also taking care of Robin in the process. "Hmm, nothing too concrete as the world government controlls sharply what reaches the ears of outsiders these days. An inside contact of mine tried to hint at something when he attempted to contact me not too long ago. He said something about Kizaru but was cut off swiftly afterwards before he could finish his explanation. Though for him to blow his cover he must have poked at a hornets nest and found something rather disturbing in the process..." Whitebeard said, taking another gulp from his flask. After a few minutes of silence between the three Shanks spoke up, changing the topic slightly. "You know, your old subordinate Teach has been sighted in Dress Rosa alongside Doflamingo, Whitebeard. No doubt that he is up to something again that crafty little f.u.c.k..." Shanks said while unconciously tracing over the three scars that adorned his left side of the face. "I am aware of that. I have ordered Ace to return. Once he has I will be visiting my wayward son myself..." Whitebeard rumbled into the night causing Shanks to perk up while Azul was ignoring their conversation mostly. Yes, he had a claim to Blackbeards life but he wasn''t important enough these days to go out of his way to hunt the fat f.u.c.k down himself. If Whitebeard wanted to kill the man himself let him do so. Advancing on his path took priority at the moment and Blackbeard didn''t really pose a challenge to him anymore anyways... "Say old man, do you mind us tagging along until you reach Dress Rosa? I need to get back to Paradise to pick up my ship." Azul asked, interrupting Shanks and Whitebeards conversation. "No problem. Though what about Robin? Is she to join you back into Paradise?" Whitebeard asked, setting down his flask of sake. "It is up to her. I would be happy to take her along with me but I will not decide her path for her." Azul responded while leaning backwards on his hands, holding Whitebeards gaze all the while after they had made eye contact. "Hmmm, I suppose I cannot refute your statement...fine. Let her decide for herself though I would feel more comfortable if she stayed within reach while the world government is in such an uproar." Whitebeard responded to which Azul only smiled before he replied. "Don''t worry about the world government. If they attempt anything I''ll rip them to shreds. And should I not be able to I can still grab Robin and run away. So long as they cannot fly they will not be able to catch us." Azul said while being completely at ease to which Whitebeards rumbling laughter echoed over the beach once again. "Fine, you convinced me enough brat. Now how about you show me around this island a little? After all a little vacation for myself doesn''t sound all that bad, gurarararara!" Whitebeard said to which Shanks chuckled and Azul grinned. The gigantic rubberduck would soon find itself another victim and Azul couldn''t repress his glee at that prospect. The old man won''t know what hit him, hehehe! ------------------------------------------------------- Grandline, New World, Marine Headquarters "Fleetadmiral Sengoku sir! We have a situation sir! Whitebeard is on his way to an island red-hair Shanks is believed to be residing on! We could have another teritorial conflict on our hands sir!" the marine captain called into the now eerily silent room in which eyes had been widening at the uprupt interuption of the peace they had experienced until now. "Bloody hell! Always these damn pirates...Prepare a platoon of sh.i.p.s to contain the shockwaves their conflict could cause for the other island that are under their protection. Should one of them loose a potential fight it could come to a sacking of civialian settlements under the loosers protection by other upcoming pirates. We cannot allow that to happen!" Sengoku ordered after which the captain saluted and disappeared down the hall again. Sengoku meanwhile turned around towards the new admiral with a contemplative look on his face after he shook his head. "Now, let us continue with this nonsense." Sengoku said while walking back to his desk to continue reading the inauguration phrases that were mandatory for one reason or another and each admiral had to hear them as soon as they took the position. Utter nonesense in his opinion... What he did not see though was a small transpondersnail used to spy on people that was glued under his table with a direct connection to the Maichyo who were already bustling to bust out the newest edition of their papers for the world to know what the big players were up to... Chapter 101 A new war between emperor''s on the horizon? We your loyal and ever watching and observing journalists of the Maichyo had no other choice but to release this special edition due to an event that took place last night and may bring a new conflict to your own doorsteps in the not too distant future. Thus we saw it as our duty to inform you about the danger that you may potentially find yourselves in. Last night one of our agents inside of the world government reported that the Whitebeard pirates with their notorious captain Edward Newgate "The strongest man in the world" met with another emperor of the seas, Red-haired Shanks on a small island in the new world called Solaris island. It has yet to be confirmed why those two giants of the oceans met and potentially entered into a conflict since both parties normally refrained from causing tensions in the new world. Though our experts speculated on two theories in particular and in their opinion their is no doubt that a war is on the not too distant horizon. The first theory goes as follows: Due to the relocation of the marine headquarters Whitebeard saw himself and his crew in danger and decided to widen his teritory in order to strengthen his position in the new world, not knowing that another of the emperor''s was currently residing on the island said man picked for his endevour. The second theory though is the most possible since we have yet to receive a sign of the two parties clashing with each other. It is not widely known but Red-haired Shanks was in his youth once a member of the pirate crew of the king of the pirates "Gol D. Roger". His captain on the other hand was once a member of the same pirate crew that Whitebeard once belonged to along with the other two emperor''s of the sea, Charlotte Linlin "Big Mom" and "Kaidou, king of the beasts" under the leadership of the man that was once hailed as the biggest rival to Gol D. Roger over the title of the king of the pirates, until said man was defeated by the marine hero Monkey D. Garp together with Gol D. Roger on an island erased from all maps by the world government. His name was Rocks D. Xebec. We of the maichyo believe that Whitebeard made contact with Red-haired Shanks in order to possibly reestablish the former crew of the Rocks pirates, this time under his leadership in order to gather all the pirates on the seas under his banner and confront the world government, should they choose to go to war against the pirates of the world. Your ever watchful newspaper, Maichyo. (Get an abonnement now!) -------------------------------------------- As the newspaper was released and arrived in the hands of the inhabitants around the world and uproar swept over the oceans like a tidal wave and brought panic and fear with it. In answer to the article the marines went into preperation to prevent a possible outfall while a certain man in a flamingo coat made contact with the world government to execute the first part of their plan of which their target sailed right into their arms which would be the spark that set the gunpowder barrel on fire... Chapter 102 Grandline, New World ''That''s how life is supposed to be. Now the only thing missing is someone to fight withˇ­'' Azul thought to himself as he was comfortably swaying in a hammock on the Moby D.i.c.k, all the while a slight breeze swiping playfully over his skin. It had been a few days since the crew with their passengers had left Solaris island and were steadily approaching their destination. While Azul had continued his vacation somewhat with the occasional training session in between Robin had gotten to know some of the Whitebeard pirates even though all of them knew that she wouldn''t budge from her place besides Azul unless something unforeseen was to happen. ''Even though I love the serenity of my vacation I think it''s about time that I continue on my path and finally attempt to step into the rank of the master, even though I''m not really sure how to accomplish thatˇ­'' Azul thought not for the first time as his blood had slowly started to become restless over the last few days, urging him to move forwards unless he wished to stagnate, which he didn''t. His musings though were interrupted by the distinctive cawing of the newsco and its delivery of the daily newspaper. Waving the seagull over towards him Azul fished a few berry out of his pocket and exchanged them with the seagull that dipped its head in greeting and thanks before taking off again on its route towards the next customer on the list. Opening the newspaper with a rustling sound Azul was greeted with an article about Solaris and the meeting that had taken place there, even though 95% of the article was pure speculation making Azul roll his eyes in exasperation at the drama queens of the newspaper. It didn''t take long and Azul had finished the article after which he turned over the page and took out the newly released wanted posters. With a yawn Azul threw his legs out of the hammock and after stretching his body accompanied by a few soft popping sounds originating from the joints that popped back into their rightful place Azul marched over the deck passing a few bustling crewmembers that were responsible to keep the deck clean, the sails in the correct position and whatever else was to be done on deck. Walking over to a small barrel Azul fished out a handful of apples which was rather a lot in Azuls case, and a few bananas after which he resumed his walk towards the towering Whitebeard that was sitting on his throne-like captain''s chair, all the while starting to chomp down on his breakfast. "''Sup old man. You wanna have a look into the newspaper? Newest edition just arrived." Azul asked Whitebeard causing a few of the surrounding men and women to perk up at his words since the newspapers had become a fireproof way to pass the time with. Instead of answering though Whitebeard yawned in boredom after which he took a gulp of his ever present flask of sake while his free hand was motioning Azul to hand over the newspaper. After handing it over Azul walked over to the railing and plopped down against it, now starting on the last fruits that made up his breakfast. With a rustling of paper Whitebeard began to read though it was hard to make out any kind of expression from his blank face in reaction to what the man was reading. "How was it sailing with the other emperor''s? You still in contact with each other?" Azul asked after which he threw the rest of the last apple into his mouth, chomping down on it with gusto. "Hmmm, we never were much of a crew. Yes, we sailed together but that was all of it. Though Roger never was part of our crew. Don''t know where they found that tidbit of information fromˇ­" Whitebeard said into the silence that followed Azuls question which had shocked quite a lot of the Whitebeard pirates into a stupor. "So you aren''t in contact anymore?" Azul asked again, not caring in the slightest if he was putting his finger into a maybe not so closed wound, even though he didn''t think Whitebeard retained any kind of sentimental memories of his past crew. "No, we aren''t." Whitebeard grunted out, his short answer making clear that he was rather reluctant to keep speaking about his past while the old man kept ruffling through the leaves of the paper. Azul though had become a little curious and his boredom didn''t help in keeping him from getting on Whitebeards nerves any further then necessary. Thus he kept on asking. "What kinda guy was your captain? I imagine in order to keep a crew like that in order he had to have been somewhat of a charismatic and chaos loving man, no?" Azul asked with his finger in his nose while his eyes half lidded kept their focus on Whitebeard that hummed slightly in thought. "Xebec D. Rocks was a very unique kind of man. Indeed, he loved chaos but not for the sake of chaos but more like he bathed in the aftermath of the destruction he brought onto the world. When it comes to charisma though I still am not really sure to this dayˇ­" Whitebeard said in his deep rumbling voice to which Azul hummed in thought. ??And the pirate king? You said you weren''t part of the same crew but I know that you became somewhat of rivals in the end. What was he like?" Azul kept on asking and judging by the silence that reigned on the deck he wasn''t the only curious one. "Gurarararara, you really are a curious one, aren''t you? Gurararara!" Whitebeard laughed in mirth to Azuls continuous questions while Azul simply shrugged. After some time Whitebeards laughter calmed down and the man took another few gulps from his sake flask, oiling his throat after which he hummed in contemplation, thinking where and how to begin. "Roger was a curious one. Always on the move, to discover and explore. ''To turn the world upside down'', he used to say sometimes. He was freedom incarnate, or at least his every being yearned for him to beˇ­" Whitebeard narrated while his gaze became slightly unfocused as he was reviewing his memories of his rival/friend, his gaze resting on the horizon all the time. After taking another gulp of his drink. "Did he ever reach his endeavor to become ''freedom incarnate'' as you put it?" Azul asked while Whitebeard put down his flask after which he brushed the remaining sake of his chin. "He found something, as you all know ''the one piece'', but if he found true freedom along with it I cannot say." Whitebeard said causing a lot of his crewmembers to gasp after it registered in their minds what their captain had just revealed to them. "Y-You mean one piece actually exists?" one of his sons asked, nearly yelling at his dad in shock which caused Whitebeard to erupt into bellowing laughter. "GURARARARARARA! Yes, one piece does exist. Do you really think Roger would lie in his last moments? Only a schemer would think like that and Roger was nothing but a simple sailor. A pirate, if there ever was one." Whitebeard answered his son that fell onto his b.u.t.t seemingly in shock to what Whitebeard had just revealed to them. After all some men and women only started their journey onto the ocean with the hopes and dreams to one day find the one piece, though many had given up on that dream along the way, putting it down as nothing but a childs fantasy or wishful thinking. "What is the one piece? Do you know what it is dad?" Another man asked, causing the suddenly erupted murmuring and excited whispers to stop immediately. "No, I don''t. Roger offered to tell me but I declined." Whitebeard said after which loud cursing and yelling began on deck to which the captain only laughed softly while taking another gulp from his flask. "Why? You are a pirate, aren''t you? Aren''t pirates supposed to be hunting treasures and riches all the time?" Azul asked Whitebeard in wonder. "Indeed. Though not all treasures are made out of gold and silver you knowˇ­" Whitebeard answered while his eyes motioned towards his crew that had gotten into a slight brawl over what the one piece actually was. Azul after hearing Whitebeards words couldn''t help but smile in understanding as he had had such a bond once before as well so he understood him perfectly. Standing up Azul walked over and took the flask out of Whitebeards hand and took a gulp from it himself, relishing in the cool liquid that ran down his throat after which gave it back to the grinning Whitebeard. "You are a good person old man. Your crew can count themselves lucky to have you as their captain." Azul said while he began to walk away from the increasingly large brawl that developed on deck while Whitebeards soft laughter sounded from behind him. "Gurararara, you can still join my crew you know?" Whitebeard said, the grin in said mans voice obvious to all. "In your dreams you geezer." Azul responded while flipping Whitebeard the bird in his descent from the upper deck to which Whitebeard erupted into bellowing laughter which Azul couldn''t help but to reciprocate as he went down to get some training in. Chapter 103 Grandline, New World Later that day the sun was setting in the horizon, tinging the sky into a warm red color. Down below the oceans surface all the while was calm with the occasional seagull drifting on the slight waves, possibly taking a break after a long time of flying. Another thing that was slowly passing over the waves was the Moby D.i.c.k. Its colossal frame shoving itself through the tiny waves without budging in the slightest spraying water from the broken waves left and right at its front. On top of the ship, covered by the red line of the evening sun, was a lone figure that was moving through different stances, sweating from the strain the extremely slow motions caused the man. While the man was moving through the different stances his eyes were shining with a bright blue light as if they were two juwels from the depth of the ocean floor, gleaming from elation the strenuous movements were putting him through. While the man was exercising another man with a huge frame, towering even over the practicing ones, stepped up the stairs that lead onto the upper deck of the front of the Moby D.i.c.k. "Does your fighting style have a name?" The large newly arrived man named Whitebeard asked Azul who kept on practicing as if he hadn''t heard the question to which Whitebeard didn''t react besides walking to the railing where he sat down while observing Azuls form in silence. 10 minutes later Azul finished the last movements of his forms and with a slow and steady breath exhaled, a peaceful expression overtaking his face while sweat was running down his muscled body as he moved over to where he had put a towel over the railing, which he promptly used to wipe the sweat away from his face. In the process Azul walked over towards Whitebeard where he sat down besides the captain of the Moby D.i.c.k, receiving a bottle of beer from said man which he took gratefully. "Why do you want to know?" Azul asked while he let the liquid gold of the beer run down his throat, filling his stomach with a pleasant cool feeling. As he did so his face remained soft with a serene expression plastered onto it. Whitebeard in response grunted once, took a few large gulps from his ever present sake flask, after which he hummed in thought before he replied. "It reminds me of someone though the difference is so big I could be mistakenˇ­" Whitebeard rumbled in a thoughtful tone. As his thoughts seemed to come to a halt Whitebeard glanced at the man sitting besides him who hadn''t yet answered him and only hummed slightly, not giving anything away. "Does the name Lee Mu Bai ring any bells?" Whitebeard asked again while keeping his eyes trailed on the face of Azul who had yet to answer. "Did you know him this Lee Mu Bai?" Azul asked with a neutral tone which didn''t really tell Whitebeard anything though he still wonderedˇ­ "I met him once after he fought Kaido to a draw. To that day I hadn''t even heard of the mans name and yet there he was, a nobody, fighting my old comrade, now emperor of the seas, to a draw. Rather unusual if you ask me. He was a ferocious man that Mu Baiˇ­" Whitebeard mused in a rather low volume, unusual for the man. "Just like you he had a domineering spirit I had rarely seen before and again just like you he didn''t seem to belong to either pirates or marines. Curious, wouldn''t you say?" Whitebeard said while his deep voice reverberated over the deck of the Moby D.i.c.k on which the two where alone, the rest of the crew sitting inside the sh.i.p.s canteen where they had received their dinner. Somehow said dinner always ended with some kind of brawling in between crewmembers while the rest couldn''t help but laugh at the morons that were fighting. Especially heated was it today after Whitebeard had unleashed the truth about the one piece on them causing the already noisy crew to break all records. After Whitebeards retelling on how he had met Lee Mu Bai silence descended on the pair once again, only broken now and then by gulping sounds as they drank their respective drinks, neither being bothered by the silence as they watched the sun sink further and further below the horizon. "He was my master seemingly a lifetime ago. At least that''s what it feels like now. I studied under him for a few years so you aren''t wrong in your assumption of our fighting styles sharing a few similaritiesˇ­" Azul said after a few minutes of silence causing Whitebeard to hum in response before he replied with an inquiry. "What happened to him?" Whitebeard asked while glancing towards Azul whos face remained calm and yet the vigor that had been present in his eyes had dimmed a little when he heard Whitebeards question. "He died." Azul answered shortly causing Whitebeard to nod as he had suspected something like that to be the case after he heard Azul refer to Mu Bai in the past tense. "The world government?" Whitebeard asked followed by a large gulp from his by now nearly empty flask. "Ay, the world government." Azul replied with a nod of his own. Afterwards the two of them sat in silence for a bit longer, enjoying the serenity of the ocean and the soft breeze that playfully twisted and turned around them and sometimes caused the sails to flutter. Raising his flask towards the sun in salute Whitebeard spoke:"To Lee Mu Bai!" a few seconds later Azuls bottle joined the flask in the air after which he himself repeated the salute."To Lee Mu Bai!" Afterwards the both of them emptied their respective bottles in one go, both burping like a roaring lion to the high heavens followed by laughter that echoed over the ocean in all directions causing a few seagulls that had settled on the ocean for the night to gawk in indignation while slightly jumping into the air in surprise. Piratesˇ­! Grandline, New World All over the grandline sh.i.p.s belonging to the fleet of the Whitebeard pirates began to leave their respective harbors under the watchful eyes of the marines and agents of the world government which swiftly afterwards notified their commanders of the direction said sh.i.p.s sailed to. All of them, as the commanders soon found out, had one common goal. Dress Rosa. Thus a committee was called together to discuss how they would respond to the mobilization of Whitebeards fleet and their possible goals. Chapter 104 Grandline, New World, Marine Headquarters "What do we know so far?" Sengoku said after he had walked into the room designated for the meeting about Whitebeard and took his seat next to Garp that was munching on another bag of crackers. Also on the table situated were the three admirals: Kizaru, Akainu and Fujitora along with the vize-admirals. Standing up vize-admiral Doberman spoke while going over the parchment he had received with the newest reports that had come in not too long ago. "Sir, it seems as if all of the sh.i.p.s belonging to the fleet of Whitebeard that had resided all over the new world on islands belonging to his territory have mobilized and taken course in the direction of Dress Rosa where we expect Whitebeard himself is travelling to. His motives so far are unknown. Red-haired Shanks it seems has decided not to involve himself in whatever Whitebeard seems to be after and still resides on Solaris island where their meeting had taken place. The other two emperor''s though seem to be restless going by the activity that has erupted among their territories. The reasons though are pure speculation. Whitebeards fleet consists of over 30 sh.i.p.s, while his commanders commander said sh.i.p.s in groups of three which brings his commanders to a startling ten, not counting those that are responsible for supply and information gathering. Each captain has a bounty of at least a few 100.000.000 berry while no commander is below 500.000.000 berry. The top five are worth no less then 800.000.000 berry at a minimum. A gigantic armada with the biggest threat at its head. Whitebeard himself." The vize-admiral narrated which caused the athmosphere in the room to sink lower and lower while silent curses were muttered here and there. After he had finished his report the man sat back down with a frown on his face. "Thank you, vize-admiral. As you know we do not know Whitebeards motive but due to his fleet gathering we can guess that his intentions are everything but peaceful. So far Whitebeard has been a rather tame emperor fo the seas when compared to his counterparts Kaido of the thousand beasts and Charlotte Linlin, Big Mom.Now, I have discussed this issue with the gorosei and we have made the decision to send a committee towards Whitebeard in order to test the waters. Due to the world governments plans for the future it is imperative that we do not squander our manpower in a meaningless war until we are ready to deal with the pirates once and for all. Thus it was decided that admiral Fujitora and Kizaru will be travelling accompanied by vize-admiral Momonga towards Whitebeard to gain any insights into the "why" of his actions. Hopefully we will be able to prevent a bloodbath from taking place. Questions?" Sengoku spoke to the gathered personell who remained in a thoughtful silence broken a few seconds later by admiral Kizaru. "Hmmm, what is our course of action should the situation escalate before we get anywhere with the ''negotiation''?" Kizaru asked in his drawling voice. "Retreat. If you have no other choice but to fight then you may do so but otherwise you get the hell out of there. I will not sacrifice two admirals and a vize-admiral in a meaningsless scuffle. I was already against the ''negotiation'' when it came up first but I have my orders and so do you. Good luck to you three." Sengoku spoke after which he stood up and left the room that was completely silent after his retreat, only interrupted by the occasional crunching of Garps crackers. Grandline, New World, Dress Rosa Doflamingo was on edge, to say the least and not without reason. His contacts from the world government had just recently delivered the message to him that Whitebeard was assembling his fleet and had taken course to Dress Rosa. Doflamingo had always known that there would come a day he would have to compete against the absolute monsters of this world but he had hoped he would have some more time to prepare for such a confrontation. Thus he had arrived at the martering question that had plagued his mind ever since he had received the message. Why? Why was Whitebeard coming to his island with his whole fleet at that? Rushing through his palace Doflamingo kicked the doors leading towards the throne room open where he could sense the auras of the Blackbeard pirates, all the while the veins in his forehead were pulsing after he had arrived to the only logical conclusion possible that could have lead to this situation. "What did you not tell me, Teach?!" Doflamingo snarled as he burst through the doors into the throne room causing Blackbeard to turn around in confusion while he had stuffed a pie into his bulging mouth that was overflowing with food. "What do you mean?" Blackbeard asked after gulping down all the food in his mouth which he promptly flushed down his throat with a bottle of rum. "Whitebeard and his whole f.u.c.k.i.n.g fleet are on their way to Dress Rosa! I know that it wouldn''t be because of me. So I will ask again: what did you not tell me?" Doflamingo grit out while barely restraining his fury at the man before him whos eyes widened in horror at the news. "zehahaha, I-er may have killed a member of Whitebeards crew before leaving it myself zehahaha" Blackbeard said while he nervously laughed with a few droplets of sweat running down his forhead after hearing that Whitebeard was on his way to Dress Rosa. "You f.u.c.k.i.n.g imbecile!!! Do you realize what you''ve done?! You maneuvered us into a corner! How are we supposed to set the plan in motion if we are eliminated before that is even possible!" Doflamingo said while he began flexing his fingers. Ohh, how he yearned to cut this fat piece of shit to piecesˇ­ "We could relocate to the facilities where the smiles are crafted. Maybe we''ll get lucky and they won''t spot us?" Blackbeard spoke while trying to come up with a solution to this problem. What Blackbeard said though brought a thought to Doflamingos mind. If they settled on one of the islands under Kaido he could possibly use Kaido as shield against Whitebeard and kill two flies with one stone. Originally he had intended together with Blackbeard to sell malfunctioned and poisoned devilfruits to Kaido in order to kill of said mans crew. Then when he had no man left he and Blackbeard together with their crews would try to assassinate said emperor. That was the only relatively good plan the two could come up with, as much as he hated that fact. But now a new opportunity revealed itself to him and his cruel frown turned into a savage grin. Perfect! ------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 105 Grandline, New World "Isn''t he getting cold from all this rain and the wind?" somebody asked into the small crowd that had gathered at the entrance that lead downwards into the depth of the Moby D.i.c.k where most of the crew, except those that were needed to keep the ship on course, had taken shelter from the monsoon like rain that splattered on the wooden Deck of the Moby D.i.c.k while the wind was howling overhead, shoving the falling raindrops from one direction into another. Robin was standing amongst the group and she like everyone else was wondering why Azul was out there in the rain, training. She knew why he wasn''t bothered by the rain, at least she thought she knew a bit, though she had never really asked about his abilities besides being told about his devilfruit and thus most of her pseudo knowledge originated from observation alone. Though his abilities or why he wasn''t freezing out there in the rain wasn''t what was going through her head as she observed his frame that whirled through the curtain of raindrops that pelted Azul like millions of needles from all directions. No. What she was wondering about was his motivation to train this hard every single day. Yes, she knew about the world government and the small tidbits of information Azul had fed her but she realized she knew pretty much nothing about his past. Her musings though were interrupted by a huge frame that threw a shadow over the small crowd while stepping past them into the storm, immediately swallowed by the curtain of rain while the wind tore at Whitebeards white captains coat as he walked down the stairs to the middle of the Moby D.i.c.k until he reached the steps that lead to the upper deck on the front of the Moby D.i.c.k which he took while swaying slightly in his gait from left to right with every step he took until he set foot on the wooden deck above. Whitebeard had never questioned somebody for wanting to become stronger in order to pursue their ambition but he couldn''t help himself but wonder about the youth that trained before his eyes. He himself had trained many youths in his long and wild life in order for them to lead a safe and adventure filled life, like any good father would have done that carried a position and title like he did. And yet something about Azul was different. He had known this fact in the back of his head since the day he had laid eyes upon the young man. A spirit, filled with vitality and explosive strength like he had rarely seen before, hence why this young man reminded him of Lee Mu Bai so much. Whitebeard had already thought about helping the young man before him a little bit, even though he knew that Azul was already plenty strong, if only to thank him for the help he had provided his daughter in her hours of need. At least that was what drove him at the beginning but over the last few days Azul had grown onto him. Maybe because he was a c.o.c.ky little shit like he himself had been in his past? Or maybe it was his kindness? Whitebeard didn''t really know and honestly he didn''t care much either. The only question he wanted answered was how he could possibly help the young man before him because if he kept growing like he did in the past then it would only be a matter of time until he would be confronted by an emperor and Whitebeard could tell that Azul was not ready for such a confrontation yet. Whitebeard waited until Azul finally slowed down in his movements signaling the end of his training which was when Whitebeard stepped forwards while pulling his coat off his shoulders and discarded it on a nearby barrel on the deck of his ship. Azul was fully aware of Whitebeards presence but he wanted to finish his training regime first before putting his attention onto the man besides him. Though he never would have expected Whitebeard to step before him while motioning him to come at him. At first he was a little confused but in the end discarded every thought that would only hinder his progress. Thus he fell back into a fighting stance with his hands raised before him after which he blurred towards Whitebeard who patiently received Azul without batting an eyelash. Azuls first contact with Whitebeards palm that received his fist felt like hitting a wall made of steel causing Azul to widen his eyes as Whitebeard hadn''t even utilized his haki to coat his palm. After the surprise wore off Azul continued his advance by folding his forarm inwards towards his c.h.e.s.t while moving forwards to deliver his elbow to Whitbeards face though the man received said elbow without even moving his head aside like it was nothing more then the bite of a mosquito. A bystander may have thought that the force behind Azuls hit was simply too little but judging by the blast of air that drew a trench of impressive length through the ocean behind the railing while the rain seemingly stopped for a few seconds, said bystander would be wrong in every account. Jumping backwards Azul regarded Whitebeard with a new light in his eyes. Fighting Whitebeard was like fighting his master all over again, like he was thrown back into the past where he would receive a thrashing of the highest order! "You have some impressive power behind your attacks and your spirit is strong, no doubt. But to hurt me neither your mastery of your devil fruit nor your spirit are strong enough yet. Your haki will take time to advance further and I have the feeling that this is something I will not be able to help you with. Have you awakened you devilfruit yet?" Whitebeard asked while he slipped out of his defensive stance after which he walked over towards his coat which he threw over his shoulders once again. "Awakened my devilfruit? What does that mean?" Azul asked in confusion. Had he awakened his devilfruit? He didn''t really feel much different when using his devilfruit so how would he know? "It seems you don''t even know about awakeningˇ­come, let''s get out of this rain first and I''ll tell you all about awakening. You''ll need to know if you want to grow in strength though I believe you would have reached it sooner or later anyways, regardless if I told you." Whitebeard replied while walking down the steps to the lower deck with Azul following behind the old man who was going through the fights he had been in before, wondering if he may have come across an awakened devilfruit but since he didn''t know what that term implied it was hard to draw any conclusions. "Tell me what category does your devilfruit belong to?" Whitebeard asked while he grabbed himself another flask of sake while Azul grabbed himself a piece of meat that lay on the old mans desk, possibly his dinner without any decorum. He was hungry after allˇ­ "Mythical zoan." Azul responded while trying to rip off a large piece of the meat with his teeth bared. "Hmmm, that makes it a little bit difficult for you to awaken your devilfruit but not impossible. But first let me tell you what the awakening actually isˇ­" Chapter 106 Grandline, New World "To understand the awakening you need to come to terms with what a devilfruit actually is. There are many stories on how the devilfruits came into being. Have you ever heard one?" Whitebeard asked the young man before him who was comfortably reclined on the chair before Whitebeards desk while munching on the meat he had grabbed himself. "Let''s assume I haven''t. Would you mind to enlighten me?" Azul said cheekily, earning him an amused grunt from Whitebeard in return. "It is said that there once was a powerful devil, living and ruling over the oceans and its inhabitants. Said devil had gotten into his possession a tree with gorgeous fruits on it, each possessing an ability that defied reality as we know it. He guarded that tree like it was the most precious gem in the world, never letting it out of his eyes. His treasure though did not go unnoticed by the other devils less powerful than the owner of the tree as the fruits on the tree began beckoning and calling for the lesser devils to make them their own and with the fruits powers overthrow the rule of the supreme devil that was keeping their freedom in shackles. Thus the lesser devils came together and began forging a plan with which they hoped to steal the tree and its fruits from the supreme devil. The lesser devils knew that they could not fight the supreme devil head-on so they decided on a cunning plan instead involving another party that had become a thorn in the devils sides. Humans. Over the years the humans had grown plenty in numbers and began building their kingdoms and cities all over the world. But in the process of doing so they continuously breached the borders of the devils kingdom, the ocean. The humans variety with their ingrained yearning for love, freedom and all that was good caused a deep jealousy and hunger to grow and fester in the devils hearts as they never by only themselves would be able to experience and achieve such goodness and thus made them the perfect scapegoats for their plan. And so they used their power to possess and change forms to take over a young prince of a royal family with whom they began their plot. Over the next few years they kept on observing the humans, their actions, mannerisms and through observation alone learned how to seduce and tempt the humans, appealing to their darkest d.e.s.i.r.es, the ones they themselves were most familiar with: greed and the yearning to possess. With their cunningness they managed to seduce a young and beautiful princess of the humans while possessing the human prince and by doing so cast the veil of love over her, blinding her to the world and her own actions.After they were sure the human princess would do as she was asked the possessed human prince sent her to the supreme devils abode under the guise of being injured through an accident so that, over time, she could come closer to the devil in order to seduce him with her charms. And so she did without asking why as she trusted the prince and would do everything for him, not once believing him to be anything else then what she had been told he was. As it so happened the young woman succeeded and one night when the supreme devil was asleep stole the tree with its luscious fruits from under his gaze and brought it back to the prince.Having achieved their goal the lesser devils were bursting with glee and thus, along with the princess and possessed prince fled to the young mans kingdom in order to harness the power of the fruits with which they would overthrow the supreme devil. Thus each consumed one and fused with it, never to separate again. The supreme devil though, upon discovering that his most precious treasure had been stolen became furious and called for the lesser devils so that he could send them out to find whoever dared to steal from him. But, to his surprise, the lesser devils never answered his summons and soon it dawned on the supreme devil that he had been betrayed and robbed by his own kind. In his endless rage the supreme devil cursed the lesser devils into never being allowed to return into his kingdom so long as they were in possession of the fruits of his treasured tree and would die upon entrance should they still attempt to return."After Whitebeard had finished his tale a contemplative silence filled the cabin while Whitebeard drank some sake, moistening his throat. "Is that why devilfruit-users cannot swim any longer after they consumed one?" Azul asked while the tale still played in the back of his mind. "Possibly. As I said, it is a story. It''s true that every story normally contains a grain of truth but which that is is always difficult to determine." Whitebeard replied while he wiped the sake that ran down the corner of his mouth away with his cuffs. "Before I''ll ask you what this story has to do with awakening I just wonder, where did you hear this story? It doesn''t sound like something told in barsˇ­" Azul wondered with a slight frown on his face as something about the story sounded fishy to him. "Gurarararara! That is something you''ll maybe find out some day and I''m not telling you. Who would want to experience boring adventures. I''m sure you don''t gurararara" Whitebeard said with a grin on his face. "Fine, be that way you damn geezer. So, what does your story have to do with awakening?" Azul asked Whitebeard with a grunt of dissatisfaction which caused Whitebeard to only laugh harder at the boyish expression Azuls face had taken on. "Everything you brat. Everything." Whitebeard replied while he grinned down at the grumbling young man before him that was now starting on his second piece of giant meat. Chapter 107 Grandline, New World, Dress Rosa In the meantime Doflamingo and his family joined by the Blackbeard pirates had began amassing all the valuables they had gathered over the years as the ruling family of the kingdom of Dress Rosa in order for them to leave Dress Rosa to the small island of Punk Hazard that was nothing but a rocky piece of land, devoid of any vegetation worth mentioning.Though the exterior of the island was deceiving for in its depth, reached through a hidden entrance in the side of a mountain, dwelled a factory of huge proportions which was used to produce manufactured Devilfruits under the supervision of the head-scientist and former partner of the world renowned scientist Dr. Vegapunk, Ceasar Clown. While the Donquixote family along with the Blackbeard pirates hightailed out of Dress Rosa the world government had already sent their two admiral and one vize-admiral out to parl¨¦ with Whitebeard, though it was simply a ruse to play for more time so that Doflamingo and his allies had enough time to disappear before Whitebeard could reach Dress Rosa. And it wouldn''t be long anymore until the two contingencies would be meeting as they moved ever closer as the time went byˇ­ ------------------------------------------------------ Grandline, New World, Moby D.i.c.k "Through my years of travelling I''ve rarely seen a person actually awaken their devilfruit as its awakening seems to require a certain set of conditions that need to be met before it could even be achieved. Though even with all the required conditions met it never seems to be set in stone that a person is able to awaken their Devilfruit." Whitebeard said while his previously grinning face returned to its former calm countenance. "So? What are those conditions?" Azul asked while burping in satisfaction after he had gobbled down the former piece of meat now bone in his hand. "That as well varies but most of the time it boils down to a few factors, of course with exceptions. Though I''ve found that those exceptions are pretty much confirming the norm. First of all there is a certain type of ambition. To grow, to gather, you name it. Then there is hardship. Be it through battle or otherwise. Dire circ.u.mstances seem to help but even that isn''t always enough. As I said, nothing is set in stone when it comes to Devilfruits and I am no scientist so all I''m telling you stems from observation and experience. The last and the most important factor that I have observed is none other than compatibility." Whitebeard said while reclining lazily in his humongous chair while exhaling in comfort. "I hope that wasn''t all you had of information since I barely understand what you mean by those things old man." Azul said while one eyebrow was raised at Whitebeard. Of course he could try and work some things out but in the end all of them would be nothing but speculation on his part, thus he decided to needle some more tipps out of the old man. "Gurararara! Patience is a virtue you brat gurarara" Whitebeard said while seemingly finding immense p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in seeing Azul getting more riled up by the second after throwing him some tidbits of information as appetizer. "Yeye ohhhh wise one. Now spill already!" Azul said with a slight tick to his eyebrow which earned him another bout of rumbling laughter from Whitebeard which in turn increased the frequency of his eyebrow''s movements. "Remember the story and what the lesser devils did with the fruits?" Whitebeard asked while taking another gulp from his flask already a little tipsy from all the drinking he had done today. "They consumed itˇ­Though if I remember correctly you said they became oneˇ­but it''s only a story so what''s your point?" Azul asked with a confused frown on his face to which Whitebeard hummed in wonder or contemplation maybe? "You know Azul, in my nearly 65 years on the seas I have seen things that others would have never believed to be possible and I know that you are no stranger to unbelievable things yourself even though you keep a tight leash on what you let slip on information. In the case of Devilfruits I have come to believe that the fruits nowadays are nothing special, originally only normal fruits. If a person who has eaten a Devilfruit dies it regularly happens that not far from the place he died said Devilfruit appears once again. But I don''t believe it just appears out of nowhere. I believe that the devil that was housed in the former Devilfruit escapes the corpse of the now deceased owner and searches out another container for itself which seemingly is nothing else then an ordinary fruit. In the story the devils became one with the fruits they ate. What if the devils souls were bound by the fruits themselves after consuming said fruits and became something like the incarnation of the power they once consumed themselves? Something like an avatar you could say." "Hmm, that sounds rather ambiguous don''t you think? I mean I''ve never seen a devil flee the body of someone who ate a Devilfruit after they died and I have a special eye for everything that is on the metaphysical plainˇ­though it is always possible that the extenuating circ.u.mstances changed the normal events a little bit" Azul said with a pondering expression while thinking about his time of ripping Wapols soul out of said mans body. Maybe because he severed the soul the devil could not escape and was burned alongside Wapol? Hmmˇ­ "Possibleˇ­ Anyway, where was I?" Whitebeard asked with a slightly red nose while trying to find his way back to his explanation. "Devils, souls bound to the Devilfruits and so on" Azul said, trying to help Whitebeard get back to it. "Ahhh yes. Now, if we assume this to be the case that the devils possess or rather became the devilfruits themselves then it would be possible to imagine why these factors play such important roles in the awakening. First there is ''ambition'' or the d.e.s.i.r.e to grow in some way. It could be explained that this kind of craving resonates with the devils own d.e.s.i.r.es. This then leads to the next factor: compatibility. If your d.e.s.i.r.es are the same as the devils inside the fruit you ate and your way of going about life are in tune with the devils it serves as further stimulation. And lastly there is hardship. The way you face challenges, how hard you push yourself and how far you are willing to go for your dreams and d.e.s.i.r.es." Whitebeard said while he threw aside his empty flask while pulling out another one from under his desk which caused Azul to sweatdrop slightly. "You more then once said stimulus. What do you mean by that? What are you stimulating?" Azul asked the old man after grabbing himself another beer himself. "I thought that was obvious. The devil of course. You want to rouse your inner devil from his dormant state. That is why it is called awakening. You awaken the devil inside yourself to unlock the potential sealed inside the fruit which can only be brought out once the gatekeeper, the devil himself wakes up!" Whitebeard said causing Azuls face to go blank. "Now, doesn''t that sound like fun?..." Azul asked into the room causing Whitebeard to erupt into another bout of laughter. Chapter 108 Grandline, New World Fog, as far as the eyes could see, framed by nothing but the swaying waves at its bottom on which the huge marineship sailed on its way to meet one of the emperor''s of the sea. On its deck a man clothed in a black and yellow suit stood at the railing seemingly deep in thought while none of his usually lazy demeanor was visible. Not far away from him sat the newly inducted admiral Fujitora who was having a bowl of noodles with the vize-admiral Momonga seemingly without a worry in the world. But Kizaru didn''t mind them one bit. His mind was focused on the upcoming meeting and he couldn''t figure out the dreading feeling that had arisen inside his stomach as soon as he had been ordered to go meet with Whitebeard as an official representative of the marines. Since the trio, along with their crew, had set sail Kizaru had been pondering this feeling in the pit of his stomach which resembled something like a burning ball of steel that slowly burned itself through his intestines though not all that intense. Kizaru had at first thought the feeling stemmed from the prospect of meeting with the strongest man in the world, who was a pirate no less, but not soon after the thought had popped up he dismissed it right away. No. The feeling went more into the direction of dread, as if he knew something was going to go wrong and Kizaru had learned over his long career in the marine corps never to dismiss his gut feelings. Thus he stood there, the fog layering a thin layer of vapor onto his suit, face and hair while a soft drizzle had begun to fall from the skies. "Oi Kizaru! Stop your worrying, will you? Your tenseness is driving my appetite into the ground. Come have a bowl of noddles with us instead, hmm?" Fujitora''s voice echoed over the deck and in the process ripped Kizaru out of his planning for the worst case scenario as he had the feeling they would need such a plan soon enough. "I''m not in the mood for noddles, Fujitoraˇ­" Kizaru responded while walking down into the cabin of the leading officers of the marine ship to study some maps instead leaving behind his two comrades in arms who hummed in thought as they could feel the tension in Kizaru''s spirit clearly since they had set sail from headquarters which was so unlike Kizaru causing the both of them to feel a little under the weather as well, no matter how hard they tried to play it off. Grandline, New World, ??? In the meantime said alliance had retreated into the hidden base of a seemingly deserted island at the start of the new world in order to train, gather information and prepare themselves for the beginning of the endeavor to seize a main part of the power that lay dormant at the feet of one of the emperor''s of the seas, ripe for the takingˇ­ Grandline, New World "MARINE SHIP AHEAD!" the alarming outcry came from atop the mainmast of the Moby D.i.c.k where a lookout was stationed at all times even though nobody in their right mind would think about attacking one of the emperor''s sh.i.p.s head on but on these oceans you could never be too prepared. Following the warning from their lookout men jumped out of their hammocks or dropped whatever they were currently doing and began to rush over the deck to their posts in order to prepare the ship for a possible battle while commanding officers were yelling out orders and cursing whoever was too slow for their liking as was normal for any respectable sailor, let alone officer on a pirate ship. Woken up from the noise outside Azul yawned in fatigue after his workout he had had last evening with the sleeping Robin that was pressed against his side who was slowly coming back from her dreams as well. "Urgh, what the hell is that noise so god damn early in the morningˇ­?" Azul asked into the fresh morning air after swinging his legs over the edge of their bed stretching himself up high which caused a few popping sounds to echo from his joints that lost the last vestiges of sleep in the process. "Lemme sleep some moreˇ­" Robin mumbled into the sheets with a dead tired voice while burrowing her head under the pillows like a rabbit under the earth causing Azul to chuckle at the sight after which he put on his pants and went outside where he took a deep breath of the fresh morning air, all the while observing the bustling of the crew that seemingly was preparing for eventual combat. "What''s going on?" Azul asked while walking over to Jozu who lazily reclined against the railing while munching on something to eat which turned out to be some sort of sandwich. With a grunt he handed Azul another one followed by swallowing down the food in his mouth and answering Azuls question in short words as was his style. "Marine ship it seems. Though they got the flag for diplomacy out so we aren''t sure what they want." "Hmm, alright." Azul replied just as shortly after which he walked over to the railing while taking a bite from his newly acquired sandwich.As he reached the railing his eyes took in the sight before him. Fog, splashing water under the slowly approaching keel of a marine ship which had its cannons retracted and a flag for diplomacy hissed though Azul could sense the fear and apprehension on board the marine ship even from such a distance of at least one mile without even utilizing his haki, which hung over the marine ship like a stinking cloud. "Seems like it''s going to be an interesting day." Azul mused to himself while a slow grin began to form on his face after which he turned around and headed back into the cabin to get some more minutes of sleep before the marines would reach them as there wasn''t much he could do in the meantime and who would deny the warm and soft body of a woman if they had the chance to feel one up anyways?Thus Azul disappeared into their shared quarters while the marine ship was slowly approaching in his back on which the marines had no clue who they were about to meet soon enough once againˇ­ Chapter 109 Grandline, New World While the Moby D.i.c.k was swaying softly on the ever moving waves of the ocean, the wind softly howling over its surface and the rain drumming in its own melody on the wooden deck of said ship the marineship had finally arrived to their position and were now in the process of lowering a small boat into the ocean that would bring a contingency over to Whitebeards ship under the ever watchful eyes of the Whitebeard pirates. Not long afterwards the two admirals and one vize-admiral stepped foot on the deck of the Moby D.i.c.k which had many pirates widen their eyes as soon as they understood who was standing right before their eyes. One admiral was already a terrifying existence to most pirates and two in tandem was something not seen often on these oceans for which many a pirate was very grateful for, no doubt about that. "Excuse our clumsy entrance." Fujitora spoke, though all the pirates were rather confused who the man was that was wearing a marine admirals coat as none of them had ever heard of a man that looked like him holding the position of an admiral. "Under the orders of the marine headquarters we are here to parley with Edward Newgate, alias Whitebeard, one of the four emperor''s of the sea." Kizaru spoke with a monotonous voice, not betraying any thoughts that may be going through said mans head. His partners though could tell immediately that Kizaru was very tense judging by his body language and the absence of his usual drawling way of speaking. "Never thought I would house three snot nosed brats from the marines on my ship one day, gurarara" the deep voice of Whitebeard sounded out while said man stepped out of his cabine, his usual flask of sake strangely absent. While his body was slightly swaying from side to side the man himself walked over to his throne like chair and sat down on top of it, his eyes never leaving the three marines that had become unusually tense once they spotted Whitebeard. After Whitebeard had sat down Kizaru followed by Fujitora and Momonga stepped forwards in order to get the discussion on the way. "So? What is it that you want?" Whitebeard asked the admirals while leaning the side of his head on his fist. "The marine headquarters is wondering why you have mobilized your whole fleet and are moving into the direction of Dress Rosa an island inhabiting a royal family and thus threatening the sovereignty of the world government and its just rule." Kizaru answered in a monotonous and yet diplomatic voice, though in answer to his words Whitebeard only grunted at first. "Don''t play games with me bratˇ­I am fully aware of the position of the marine headquarters and how close Dress Rosa is located to it thus endangering the old morons that are staying there currently." "And yet you are still moving towards it, disregarding the carefully crafted balance of power that has been established over the years. Why are you doing this Whitebeard? You have never done so before and aren''t known for causing chaos, at least in recent yearsˇ­Do you plan to go to war against the world government?" Kizaru returned with a stony face while everyone who heard the admirals words had their eyes widen at the words spoken by Kizaru. "GURARARARARA! You have some nerve bratˇ­To come onto MY ship and lecture me on matters you know nothing of. I''m WHITEBEARD! And I will not dance like a puppet to your tune! This "balance of power" is rubbish and you know that as well as I do. Now run back to your bosses and tell them whatever the hell you want but to leave me and my kin the f.u.c.k alone or I promise you you will get a war you will never forget!" Whitebeard spoke while the sky had become darker just as his face had taken on an angry expression reflected clearly by the anger that he had shown while putting the admiral in his place and none of the men present doubted that Whitebeard was restraining himself only barely from ripping the admiral to pieces by the aura that surrounded Whitebeard at the moment. "Well well well, if it isn''t sparkly the yellow monkey himself. Never thought I would meet you in a place like this! How have you been? Your wounds healed by now? After all you had plenty of time after running like a coward the last time we metˇ­" Another voice spoke into the oppressive silence that had fallen on the deck after Whitebeard had let out a spark of his anger. The voice that had interrupted the meeting belonged to none other then Azul whos eyes were slightly glowing in the darkness of the cabin while he walked up its stairs, his eyes drilling a burning hole through Kizaru that had nearly snapped his neck by how fast his head had swiveled around as soon as he heard the familiar voice of Azul. "Youˇ­! What are you doing on Whitebeards ship!?" Kizaru nearly snarled with grit teeth, his stony fa?ade cracking ever so slightly. "Catching a ride but I wouldn''t worry about that if I were you little marine admiral. Instead I would be thinking about how you could possibly escape this situation instead since I''m not inclined to let you leave again after the shit that you pulled at our last meetingˇ­" Azul spoke while stepping out into the open in the process taking in a deep breath of the fresh air caused by the still falling rain, giving the air that unique aroma it only possessed after or during rainfall. To Azuls words Kizaru couldn''t help but grit his teeth in a jumble of emotions he couldn''t identify at the moment. Turning his eyes away from Azul with some difficulties Kizarus eyes returned to the owner of the ship. "We came onto your ship under the flag to parley. You know as well as I do that it is a taboo to attack someone while under the flag of diplomacy!" "You are lucky, little marineˇ­very lucky. Now get the hell off my ship. Your kind aren''t welcome here!" Whitebeard said while Azul frowned in dissatisfaction but he was only a guest on the ship of Whitebeard and his honor demanded that he respect the rules reigning on anothers ship he was only a guest upon, even though his every fiber roared for him to rip the cowardly admiral to pieces where he stood and said admiral seemingly had understood this as well after throwing a quick glance at Azul after which he turned around hurriedly before marching back into the small boat they had come upon which soon afterwards was disappearing back towards the marine ship that was already in the process of setting sails. With a frustrated snarl Azul turned around and marched over to the back of the deck to vent some of his frustrations in his training routine. It seems like the day hadn''t turned out all that good in the endˇ­ Chapter 110 Throwing forwards his kick Azul smoothly relocated his weight forwards and followed his thrust-kick by moving forwards with a step all the while turning his hip sideways. Said movement he used as starting motion to rotate on the tip of his foot on the same place he was now standing on. While lowering himself into a crouch he brought his kicking leg back to his body and shifted his weight onto the same leg he had previously kicked with and extended his other leg outwards like a whip for a sweeping low kick and from there flowed into a new series of kicks and punches, his feet never staying on one spot for long, always moving. While Azul was practising he tried to calm his mind as much as possible which was a rather hard task as can anyone who has ever tried to meditate while stressed verify for those who haven''t. But Azul had gotten used to his wandering mind over the years of training himself and thus developed various ways to bring his thoughts back to the present. None the less in the moments that his thoughts strayed for but a few fleeting seconds he couldn''t help himself but think about his upcoming journey that wasn''t all that far away any longer and the excitement that began to bubble inside him at the prospect to sail the oceans on his own once again. True, Robin would most probably accompany him on his journey but she had always been a quiet and reserved person so he didn''t really mind all that much and some company would do him some good even though he wasn''t sure how long she could stay with him as even he himself didn''t know where his breath was going to take him in the following years. Possibly to places that she won''t be able to follow him to. But if that was indeed the case he would make sure that she would be staying somewhere safe where she wouldn''t have to worry about the world government finding her. But that was a thought for another dayˇ­ As Azul was training the Moby D.i.c.k had resumed its course towards Dress Rosa and was picking gaining miles quickly. They would probably reach said island in the next couple of days. The three admirals were sitting together inside their cabin enveloped in a not so happy atmosphere while they were waiting for the transpondersnail to connect with the fleet-admirals. "This is Sengoku speaking. Who is this?" the old voice of the fleet-admiral echoed through the connection. "This is Kizaru and company speaking. We just finished our meeting with Whitebeard and are currently returning back to headquarters." Kizaru replied while his easy going look had returned in full force with half dropped eyelids behind his orange sunglasses. "And? What did you find out?" Sengoku spoke, slightly impatient as had become the norm for the man these days. "Whitebeard was rather tight lipped for the reasons why he was sailing towards Dress Rosa. Though from what I could gather he does not really intend to go for a direct attack on headquarters straight away. Though I belief it would be prudent of us to tighten our defences and remain alert for the coming weeks as we cannot rule out the possibility that he lied." At Kizaru''s words Sengoku hummed in thought for few seconds while his mind possibly formulated various strategies they could employ to do exactly like Kizaru suggested. "Anything else? Otherwise I''ve got work to return to which you just doubled at the very leastˇ­" Sengoku asked with a dissatisfied frown perceivable even through the transpondersnails connection. "Yes. We met someone else on Whitebeard''s ship that I did not expect to meet there. Azul-the burning grim was on Whitebeard''s ship and judging by the easy going way he addressed Whitebeard it isn''t impossible that the both of them have become some kind of allies or some such. Why he was on Whitebeard''s ship though remained an unknown to usˇ­" Kizaru said which brought Sengoku up short judging by the cough that echoed through the connection at Kizaru''s words. "What the hell was that trouble maker doing on Whitebeard''s ship!?" Sengoku roared through the connection causing Momonga to flinch slightly at the volume of the fleet-admirals voice. "As I said already, we don''t know. I could give you some theories but that''s all they are. Theories." Kizaru responded while the nearby Fujitora chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt. "No, keep them to yourself. For now at least. We''ll have a more in depth discussion about what really happened once you''ve returned to headquarters. Sengoku out." And after saying his part the fleet-admiral ended his call and hung up. "That didn''t go so bad now, did it?" Fujitora asked the other two admirals who only grunted in reply earning them another chuckle of amus.e.m.e.nt from the blind admiral Fujitora. "What a peaceful little island this is. Yo old man, is there anything interesting to find on the island?" Azul called over to the nearby sitting Whitebeard who hummed in thought for a second after which he replied in the negative while shaking his head. "Ugh, great. A peaceful island isn''t really what I had in mind when coming to the New World." Azul grumbled to himself which earned him some snickering from nearby crewmembers which earned them in turn a chilling glare that had them hide behind Whitebeard''s chair in fright. "Chickenˇ­"Azul grunted out causing Whitebeard to erupt in laughter. After said mans laughter subsided Whitebeard frowned slightly after thinking over Azul''s words from a few seconds ago. "A peaceful island? Are you not viewing fighting Teach and his crew as a form of violence?" Whitebeard asked. "Blackbeard ain''t on Dress Rosa anymore. He''s somewhere in that direction." Azul said while pointing out onto the open waters that lead away from Dress Rosa. "How do you know? You''re haki isn''t so strong that you could observe the whole island from so far awayˇ­" the old man asked with a frown. "Oh ye, I forgot to mention. The last time I met Blackbeard and roughed him up a little I marked his soul so I know at all times where he is. He cannot hide from me." Azul said lazily while sticking his finger into his nose out of boredom causing Whitebeard to grunt in frustration. "You couldn''t have mentioned that a bit earlier could you?" He ground out through his teeth under his huge moustache that to this day caused slight amazement to well up inside Azul. "My bad. Forgot to mention it I guess." Azul replied while shrugging his shoulders. Not like it matters in the end. After all they would have had to pass by Dress Rosa one way or the other to reach Teach so he didn''t consider it all that important and after some time forgot about the matter. "Whatever. We''ll land on Dress Rosa, claim it under my flag, refill our resources and then set sail again. Prepare to dock!" Whitebeard called over to his crew who immediately saluted and began carrying out the captain orders while Azul turned around and laid his arms on top of the railing while his eyes rested on Dress Rosa. After all that''s where he would part from Whitebeard and he couldn''t help himself but grin at the thought of roaming the seas once more on his tiny shipˇ­ Chapter 111 Grandline, New World, Dress Rosa Not long after the Moby D.i.c.k and its crew were busy landing at the port of Dress Rosa which garnered a lot of curious eyes to the huge ship until someone spotted the Jolly Roger flapping at its main mast, which in turn caused clamouring and bustling at the port as people began yelling and running from left to right. After all it didn''t happen everyday that the strongest man in the world docked at your harbour. Azul meanwhile had gone down into his cabin and begun packing his small bundle along with Robin who had one for herself. Afterwards the two walked back up on deck where they joined Whitebeard who was overseeing the docking of his ship. "You are leaving then?" The captain of the Moby D.i.c.k asked the duo while keeping his eyes on the port before him. "Yes. It''s time that I continue my journey. Having a vacation was nice and all but my spirit yearns for a good bloody fight!" Azul said with a smile as he was munching on an apple. "I see. And you are sure you want to join him on his journey? You would be saver on my ship, you know." Whitebeard spoke to Robin who only smiled in response causing Whitebeard to nod his head in understanding. "Here, take this. You will need it if you want to reach paradise. Your logpost is of no use in the New World. Here you need one of these. Each of the three compase needles points to the location of an island. The harder one needle vibrates the higher the chance of a naturally dangerous island. Some islands even change their positions so it''s never a bad idea to be a little bit more flexible when navigating the new world." Whitebeard said while handing a logpose over to Azul who curiously took it from him. It looked mostly the same to the one from paradise. The only difference being three small compass'' instead of one, each pointing to a different island. "Thanks old man. We''ll come visit once we reach the new world again. You''ve got my number if you need anything." Azul said while putting the logpose onto his wrist. Afterwards while waving to Whitebeard in goodbye walked down the gangway and set foot onto land with Robin doing the same. Turning his head towards the town Azul spoke to Robin while walking: "Do you wanna go take a quick look around the city before we hightail out of here?" "No, I''m not really in the mood to go sightseeing. Let''s just get out of here." Robin replied which caused Azul to falter in his steps a little. "Say what? Did you just decline the offer to go shopping? Are you sick or something?" He asked Robin which earned him an amused look from said woman who afterwards only shrugged her shoulders as if not knowing what was wrong with her either. "Alright, suits me just as well." Azul replied in turn after which he lifted Robin into his arms and ignited his legs causing red flames to billow into the sky. Bending his knees Azul gathered his strength in his legs and with a slight crack of the concrete below his feet disappeared in the horizon, Robins elated scream echoing behind him all the way. Chapter 112 Grandline, New World The wind whistling in their ears the duo of Azul and Robin had been travelling none stop for the past two days but even for someone with Azuls constitution, tiredness began to set in at some point. Thus it came as a pleasant surprise when they spotted a lone pirate ship sailing on the ocean down below them and without hesitation the two decided to claim it as their own to take a small break on it. For the crew though it was like the story out of a horror movie when the gigantic in comparison Azul with Robin on his back landed on their deck clothed in flames which frankly spoken scared the shit out of the lot. "W-Who the hell are you?" one pirate spoke up, echoing the thoughts of his comrades while their captain groggily emerged from his cabin to see what all the ruckus was about. Azul and Robin though ignored the pirates as they finally had some time to rest which both of them had been looking forward to. "Sorry but you''ll have to vacate the ship as we have a need for it and you guys smell rather strongly which I can''t tolerate at the moment. Now, hop hop of you jump!" Azul said with a yawn while waving his hand in the direction of the railing, stupefying the pirates with his words. "Err Azul, I''m not sure that''s how this worksˇ­" Robin said from behind him as she had to contain her laughter at his kind of ridiculous actions. After all she had the time to sleep and be lazy while Azul carried her none stop so it came as no surprise that she didn''t share much of his grumpiness. "If I say this works it works. Watch me work my magic! Behold!" And with those words and a comical bow in Robin''s direction Azul disappeared from his position like a shadow in a too bright light after which men began to fly left and right through the air, all landing one way or the other inside the ocean under outcries and curses. "The fu-aaaaahhhh!" The captain tried to voice his thoughts on the matter as well but he too joined his crew inside the rolling waves of the grandline until nobody but the two remained on the ship which promptly left towards the horizon. "Urgh, my bleeding heart acting up once moreˇ­" Azul murmured on his way down into the cabin before stopping in his steps and turning around. On the deck he grabbed one of the emergency row boats and lifted it over his head before he took if into the direction of the panicking pirates where he swiftly dropped it on some of their heads while rubbing his eyes in tiredness. "Here ya go my sweethearts. I''m no monster and you gifted us your little boat so, ye. See ya!" And with those words under bellowed curses took of back to the ship where he promptly went down into the cabin and fell asleep on a soft bed while Robin remained on deck and took care of their course. The next day Azul woke up with a giant yawn while a nice aroma swirled around his nose which he promptly followed. At its origin Azul found Robin standing at a stove while humming a soft tune and cooking them some breakfast. "Good morning! Slept well?" She asked while Azul nodded and sat himself down at the table where he was swiftly served some meal which he began to wolf down like a starving dog. "You know what''s funny?" Robin asked Azul while watching him eat with a smile. "Old man Whitebeard drools and wears a sleeping hat while asleep." Azul replied with a grin which cracked Robin up after her eyes widened at his words. "Hahahaha, that''s not what I meant but funny none the less, hahaha! No, what I meant is that we actually took a long a.s.s detour on our way to the redline. Turns out Whitebeard sent us into the wrong direction by sailing towards Dress Rosa. Solaris Island was closer to the redline than Dress Rosa by a long shot." Robin said which had Azul spit out the drink he was currently slurping from. "God damn it you old geezer! How far are we away from the redline then? Any idea?" Azul asked after cursing Whitebeard with a grumble. "2 days travel I believe if we catch a good wind. If not it could take from 2 up to who knows how much time. We are on the grandline after all." Robin replied which had Azul only nod in return. "Then let''s hope we''ll get some favourable winds so we can get my ship from water 7 rather sooner then later. I hope my beauty hasn''t been harmedˇ­" Azul mumbled which caused Robin to smirk after which she stood up and walked over to Azul where she sat herself down on his l.a.p while straddling him suggestively all the while purring into his ear: "There''s only one beauty you''ll need to concern yourself with right nowˇ­" and thus settled the program for the rest of their day. Chapter 113 Grandline, New World Three days after Robin and Azul had taken over the stray pirate ship the two reached the gigantic mountain range the redline. "Have you ever wondered if the redline has always looked like it does today? I mean I''ve never seen something so straight created by nature beforeˇ­" Azul asked Robin as he was standing near the railing while watching the redline come closer in the near distance. Hearing his question Robin came over to him while forming the tow in her hands into a bundle with a contemplative look plastered onto her face. "There are many things I''ve been wondering about throughout my life but this is not one of them, I''m sure. Though it is a good question. Maybe I can give you an answer once we find some more poneglyphs." She answered to which Azul hummed in appreciation, turning away from the majestic sight afterwards with the purpose in mind to gather their belongings into to bags since they would be leaving this ship soon. Carrying their belongings in his hands Azul came back onto the deck of the ship and handed them to Robin who was promptly lifted into the air afterwards where she made herself comfortable quickly under Azuls slightly exasperated gaze. "Alright, time to return to paradise!" He said and with a jump accompanied by the usual flames in his wake Azul ascended into the air while the both of them watched their vessel drift closer and closer to the redline where it soon crashed into the rocky walls under the whining of the cracking planks made of wood until the ship slowly began to sink below the oceans surface. Meanwhile Azul and Robin had already reached an impressive height and it wouldn''t take long until the both of them would once again enter Paradiseˇ­ Meanwhile on a different corner of the world Whitebeard was mulling over his options that had revealed themselves to him during his conversation with the marines and the action alone of sending three admirals spoke of a high level of confidence on the marines part that he wasn''t sure how to deal with. In the end he decided that he would begin the preparations for the soon to ignite conflict between pirates and marines as it was obvious that the marines were rather sure of their strength. Thus with a command to gather his commanders that had by now arrived at Dress Rosa Whitebeard began giving the orders for his sons and daughters to fortify Dress Rosa as the first line of defence, officially marking the start for the pre-event that would initiate the greatest war the world had seen since the formation of the world governmentˇ­ Chapter 114 Grandline, Paradise Sabaody Archipelago was an island that laid at the end of the first half of the grandline. A place where all the paths from the various routs available after entering the grandline joined together and thus brought many crews together, creating an explosive mix of danger, craziness and parties. If you added the many Tenryuubito onto that mix, who regularly ventured down from Mary Geoise atop the redline to buy themselves some new slaves at the various auction houses for human trafficking, then you had created a bomb that only needed one party to act out which would result in the whole island disappearing under roaring canon fire. It just so happened that at this beautiful day another factor was added to that mix. A factor that didn''t give a rats a.s.s about all the other parts and would do as he pleased, just as he had always done and probably always would be. Under the wide eyes of the civilians of the Archipelago the huge frame of a man, covered in flames and with a woman sitting on his shoulder, dropped down from high up in the skies down into the middle of the city. Though contrary to all expectations his fall didn''t result into him becoming nothing more then a smear on the ground, considering the height he had to have fallen from. No, the half giant surprisingly slowed down in his descent and softly landed on his feet while the flames that made up his legs disappeared as if they had never been there in the first place. "That''s what I call a landing straight out of a story book! Hahaha" Azul laughed to himself while patting himself on the back for a job well done. After all nobody else was doing it for himˇ­ "Not like you haven''t done it countless times before alreadyˇ­" The tired voice of Robin echoed from on top his shoulder where she lazily reclined with her back laid against his head, causing Azul to grumbled at her words. "Oh shut up, will you? After all I''m the one doing all the work here. Some appreciation would be most welcome from time to time, you know? I''m not a freakin'' boat you can ride whenever you want." He answered grumpily. "Okay, okay, I''m sorry alright? Thank you o gracious man that you saw fit to let me accompany you on your broad shoulders." Robin replied cheekily causing a tick mark to appear on Azuls forehead which in turn caused Robin to try to contain her laughter but failed miserably. "That''s it! From now on I demand payment for each ride on my shoulder and you''ll rue the day you challenged me in that regard! If I remember correctly you couldn''t walk properly for two days after I was through with you the last time hehehe" Azul replied while his face took on a wide grin that caused Robins head to turn as red as a tomato, unable to respond any longer while her thoughts went onto a journey through the past. While they were at it the surrounding civilians couldn''t believe their ears and sweatdropped like one man after hearing the tall mans last argument, all the women having blood rush to their cheeks in embarrassment as their thoughts went into the gutters alongside Robin. Never say that women were the innocent as they are just as dirty as men when it came to fooling around. The only difference being that they know how to hide that fact and over the years managed to create a smokescreen for themselves making all of mankind believe that they were holy beings, clean of all sin, even if they were in fact just as dirty minded as any other man on this beautiful earth. After a while Robins mind returned from her fantasies and with a small trickle of blood running down her nose she chose to stay silent with a pouting huff while Azul marched through the streets of the Archipelago, his massive grin never leaving his face. Thus the two navigated their way through the different districts until they found the amus.e.m.e.nt park and without hesitation ran inside to see what all the fuss was about but in the end got incredibly disappointed as it was just too boring for Azul who had seen and experienced things by now that left a silly park like that in the dust by a mile. Robin on the other hand just didn''t get what was so fun about all the rollercoasters. The only thing she enjoyed was the sweets but after seeing how down Azul was after seeing how boring the park actually is she couldn''t bring herself to bath in all the glorious sweets all by herself and thus the two made their way out of said park on the lookout for some tavern where they could grab themselves some decent alcohol and maybe get a little tipsy to safe the day from becoming an utter disappointment. Chapter 115 Grandline, Paradise, Sabaody Archipelago After their disappointing time in the amus.e.m.e.nt park Azul and Robin ventured back into the city of the Archipelago and soon after found a small tavern where they promptly booked a room for the night as well. Tomorrow they would go look for some rations they could consume on their journey to water 7 and finally leave the Archipelago. Once the two had put their things upstairs into their room they sat themselves down in the small tavern and began to eat some dinner. While they were doing so they completely ignored the eyes of the folks inside the tavern that had a greedy or sometimes even reverential expression on their faces after understanding who those two were. In the end though none made a move as they were probably too afraid to do so or simply waiting for another opportunity with fewer witnesses, no matter how dumb that actually was. "You wanne hit the pillows? I could use some sleep." Azul asked Robin while yawning a little as he had grown bored in the last couple hours and nothing really seemed to draw his attention on this island. "Sure, I could use a nap as well." Robin responded after which they both got up, threw some cash on the table for the food, and went upstairs where it didn''t take them long to disappear below the sheets, completely disregarding the greedy morons downstairs which said morons didn''t take to very kindly judging by the incensed expressions. The next morning Azul woke up with a giant yawn which in turn ripped Robin out of her dreams as well. "Morning. You hungry?" Azul asked while sitting with a sleepy expression at the side of the bed. Though before Robin could answer their door was kicked out of its angles while some men ran inside the already cramped room under roars of motivation. "Time to die and for me to get rich, burning grim-Azul!" one man roared to which Azul stuck his finger into his ear while wiggling it a little. "Pipe down dude, it''s freakin'' early in the morningˇ­ Couldn''t you guys have waited for us to at least get up and have some breakfast? I''m always a little grumpy when I have nothing in my stomachˇ­" Azul said causing the men to grit their teeth in anger at being disregarded so easily, again. "Just you wait, you''ll learn to fear us in due timeˇ­!" Another man said to which the rest giggled like a group of school girls causing Azul''s eyebrow to tick slightly in annoyance. "Let''s just get this over and done with already." He said while standing up. As he did so his height increased to his original one as he had shrunk himself down while out with Robin. Otherwise he wouldn''t have fit into any of the rollercoasters, not to mention the fooling around they had engaged in after returning for the night. As he grew the eyes of the men widened to epic proportions while some droplets of sweat began to pour down their heads as they realised they may have bitten of more than they could chew. While putting on his trousers Azul walked over to the group and without preamble began knocking the morons to the side left and right without them being able to retaliate in the slightest. All the while Robin had gotten herself dressed and walked over towards Azul who by now had left a few holes in the wall of the inn where some of the men had flown out of before implanting their faces into the concrete down below which caused yet another stir within the population. After the two arrived down in the inn they ordered themselves some breakfast and sat down in peace while stifling a yawn occasionally. Though their breakfast was interrupted as the barkeeper came over with sweat running down his forehead and while bowing, which confused Azul to no end, handed a newspaper over to Azul with shaking hands. Azul in return took it while shrugging his shoulders towards Robin who could only grin at the weirdness of the day after which she returned to her breakfast. After taking the newspaper Azul grew curious and while munching on an apple opened the frontpage of the newspaper. His eyes immediately fell on the headline of the article and followed the few bounty posters afterwards which slowly sailed towards the table below it. "Now would you look at that. My bounty increased! Better late then never I guessˇ­" Azul said with a small smile after which he returned his eyes onto the article that may be responsible for the weirdness of today. The title read in bold letters: "World government passes on title of the most wanted man!" Afterwards Azul couldn''t help himself but began roaring in laughter that echoed throughout the whole inn and drew curious gazes from the outside to it, wondering what may be the cause for said laughter. Though what none suspected was that the man most spoken about at the moment was currently enjoying a casual breakfast in there. Chapter 116 World Government passes on title of the most wanted man! Your most loyal and ever watchful reporters from the Maichyo just received the news from the marines that they decided to update the bounties for most criminals and alongside them released a statement which will no doubt shock many around the world, even though it may not come as a big surprise for those that have been reading our articles in recent times. No doubt that there are many young criminals out there who are currently celebrating at their new status but we of the newspaper simply have to put our main focus on the one person that received the biggest enhancement when it comes to his notoriety. It is yet unknown how said person views his own bounty since he has never declared himself party to any political faction, be it pirates or revolutionaries. We ever observant and curious reporters naturally enquired to the reasons why the marines saw fit to relocate the title that formerly belonged to the leader of the revolutionaries "Monkey D. Dragon" to someone like "Burning Grim-Azul" simply because of an event like Mary Geoise. After all the bounties reflect not only their danger to the public but also what kind of threat they pose to the rule of the world government directly. Thus it surprised us immensely when the leader of the revolutionaries lost his title to somebody without any political faction to support him and do his bidding. Thus we asked the marines for their reasons as we stated already and received surprisingly none whatsoever. In order to uncover the mystery we researched the matter on our own accord and what we found shines a remarkable light on the whole matter. It seems our newly crowned most wanted man was not as invisible after disappearing from Mary Geoise. If our readers remember we recently disclosed an article about the growing tension between the different factions in the new world and two of the four emperor''s meeting on a small island, possibly to discuss said matters. What was not included in the story however was the fact that a third party was involved in the meeting between Whitebeard and Red-Haired Shanks, namely the main subject of this article: Burning Grim-Azul! Yes our dear readers, you read correctly. We were just as startled as you probably are at the moment. We were not able to find out why exactly he was partial to the meeting between those too giants of the sea but it appears that the burning Grim may play a bigger role in the coming events then we first thought. After the meeting concluded Whitebeard assembled his fleet and sailed for the island Dress Rosa where he promptly took up residence while claiming said island as his territory. Meanwhile the absence of the currently crowned king and shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo of Dress Rosa remains an open topic of discussion as he simply disappeared shortly before Whitebeard appeared on said island. Why, we do not know yet. On his way to said island Whitebeard was hailed by a lone marine ship under the flag to parley. Surprisingly on board were two admirals and one vice-admiral who promptly started the negotiations. Though the topic of the conversation eludes us. But it seems as if said conversation did not end on good terms as the admirals shortly after stepping onto the Moby D.i.c.k left it and didn''t waste time in leaving the scene behind. As we found out the burning Grim had taken up residence for some time on the emperor''s ship, leaving us to speculate on their relationship. In the coming days or weeks we may look back to this day and remember what was written in this article as we may come to find ourselves with a new alliance at our hands which could possibly be a mix of explosive potential! Of course we, your ever watchful and curious reporters, of the Maichyo will keep our eyes and ears open for any new development in the matter. More information on burning Grim-Azul on page 2 More information on the emperor''s of the sea on page 4 More information on the recent bounties on page 5 The article went around the world like a newly spread plague and caused shock to many sailors and civilians alike while many marines, especially on the upper echelons grit their teeth in frustration at the obvious spies amongst their ranks that leaked information they would have preferred to keep behind closed doors until they could use said information to their own advantage. Though the raise in bounty came as no real surprise for many as Azul had caused an incident of such proportions and direness that it had been more of a shock that his bounty hadn''t been updated immediately and a man hunt for his head been called. Grandline, New World, whole cake island On a specific and rather unique island located in the new world a certain empress had taken up residence. Said unique island was an island notorious for its unbelievable variety of sweets as even the island itself was made up out of sweets. Charlotte LinLin alias BigMom ruled said island and nobody in their right mind dared to challenge her position as the empress amongst the emperor''s of the sea. Thus it came as no surprise when nobody protested her having left behind her island, which she rarely did, to visit a former comrade of hers who, just like her, had taken up residence on a certain moving island not far away from hers in order to discuss recent events as BigMom may be prone to instances of blind rage but nonetheless you did not become an emperor of the seas by strength alone as a certain sharp mindedness was required as well, as unique as it may be in some casesˇ­ Why she left for her former comrade though now of all times instead of fortifying her current position could only be answered by a single speculation for those that knew the woman personally. Ambition! It seems as if more then one party would be included in the coming conflict and it remained unknown who would possibly come out on top of it in the endˇ­ Chapter 117 Grandline, Paradise, Sabaody Archipelago ''Now, how should I deal with this shit? Meh, probably the best if I just ride out the wave. No need to fret so much.'' Azul thought to himself with a slight shrug accompanying his thoughts. ''But damnˇ­didn''t think they would pump it up so much. I''m a little proud, not gonna lie hehehe'' Azul continued in his thoughts while a bright grin formed on his face. Standing up he motioned for Robin to follow him after they had just finished their breakfast and marched out of the small inn causing the owner to release a small breath of relieve. As he was walking out of the inn Azul was greeted by a contingent of marines that had aimed their rifles directly at him while the commanding officer was calling over to him: "Burning Grim-Azul, under the authority given to me by the world government you are hereby sentenced to death. Fire!" and so they did under roaring bangs the first volley of bullets flew straight at Azul who lifted Robin onto his shoulder while simply turning his hip to the side and in the process dodged the first volley, dumbfounding the marines that had thought he would drop like a bag rice. "Come now, did you really think I would die to such a pathetic attack?" Azul asked while sticking his finger into his nose after which he released a burst of conqueror''s haki at them which smashed the contingent of marines into the ground, knocked out cold. The bystanders could only look on in shock as he casually walked down the street while stepping over the knocked out marines leading into the direction of the sea, people of all dispositions cowering away from him like he was cursed, though he didn''t really mind as it was easier to walk like that. While he walked down the street Azul spotted a small shop which sold frames causing his grin to widen after which he walked over to it and grabbed one at random, throwing a pile of Berry into the shops entrance right into the owners face who yelped in surprise but didn''t protest the gesture. ??This will look good on my ship! Here, mind putting my bounty poster in there?" Azul asked after which he handed over poster and the frame to Robin on his shoulder who only rolled her eyes at his bout of narcissism but did as she was asked none the less. In her hands now proudly depicted could be seen Azuls bounty reading: Burning Grim-Azul Bounty 2.000.000.000 Berry Only dead! ''Menˇ­'' Robin thought though she couldn''t help herself but grow a little heated at the knowledge that her lover was now the most wanted man in the whole damn world! Even though she had a f.u.c.k.e.d up past now that she was pretty much safe from everything in this half of the grandline her cautious nature settled down rather quickly. Soon the duo reached the shores of the ocean and without another look back disappeared into the sky. After all they would soon see the island once more. Not that they were looking forwards to itˇ­ On an island in the new world two gigantic people were standing opposite each other with savage grins plastered on their faces. One of the two wore a pink dress with a triangular hat on her head while a cloud and a sun with faces were floating at her shoulders. The other individual only carried with him a thorny mace made of steel while a tattoo of some draconic being framed one half of his huge muscled frame disappearing below his long bushy black hair through which two long horns protruded. "It has been a while LinLin. Did you finally decide to show up here so I can smash your face in?" the tall man with the mace asked to which the equally tall woman only responded with high pitched laughter at first before she answered his words with her own threat. "You are an idiot Kaidou, you''ve always been. Though it seems you''ve forgotten that you owe me. Maybe I''ll need to smack some sense back into that thick skull of yours mamamama!" "You got some nerve LinLin!" and with those final words the two simply decided to cut their banter and get down to business which only suited BigMom just fine as she hadn''t only come here for some good old brawling but she knew Kaidou and it had always been a good idea to first spend some energy before you could talk properly with the idiot so she did just that while the sky parted under their colliding power of their conqueror''s spirits which could be seen for miles bringing a new sense of dread to the marine spies that promptly reported the happenings to their superior''s who nearly got an aneurism from all the shit taking place at the momentˇ­ Chapter 118 Grandline, Paradise, ??? While shit was hitting the fan between two of the emperor''s in the new world Azul and Robin had arrived in a weird place while travelling over the ocean one night. Standing on some kind of ship that seems to have run atop some riff and as a consequence sunk halfway into the ocean Azul with Robin sitting on his shoulder was observing his surroundings with a dumbfounded expression. "Where the f.u.c.k are we?" Through his words Robin woke up from her light sleep and began to look around with a sleepy yet curious expression. "What happened while I was out?" She asked him which in turn dragged Azul out of his musings about this place. "I''m actually not quite sure. I was just running over the ocean as usual, minding my own business, until fog began to gather around us. I''ve seen a lot of weird weather phenomena while on the grandline so I didn''t think much on it. Though apparently the fog that I ran into brought us to this place, whatever its name isˇ­" Azul replied while hoping from shipwreck to shipwreck all the while wondering what they stumbled upon here. "Fog? But what makes you think we are somewhere else in the first place?" Robin asked with a bit of confusion written on her face. "Well, before the fog arrived there was nothing inside the ocean for miles on end. And yet, out of seemingly nowhere, hundreds of wrecked sh.i.p.s appear? That''s weird, even for the grandline. Thus I came to the conclusion that we must be somewhere else." Azul answered which caused Robin to nod as his explanation sounded plausible. "Hmm, I''ve read about a phenomenon called the rainbow mist before. If sailors sailed into said mist they would disappear from the face of the ocean without a trace. Maybe we entered those mists?" Robin asked after a few minutes of contemplation. "Huh, isn''t that a bummerˇ­" Azul replied in a monotonous voice after which a moment of silence ensued between them with only the slight splashing of the waves against the shipwrecks providing any sounds in the background. "Sooo, how do we get out of this thing?" Robin asked into the silence to which Azul only shrugged slightly before springing forwards once again in order to explore some more. The further the two ventured into the graveyard of sh.i.p.s the thicker the mist became and the sh.i.p.s grew lesser and lesser. After an hour of running Azul stopped in his tracks on top of one of the shipwrecks with a frown on his face. Robin, after glancing down at Azuls frowning face, asked him what the matter was. Responding with the frown on his face still present Azul said: "I don''t know why but it feels to me as if we aren''t getting anywhere. As if I were just running on the spotˇ­We really need to get out of this mist. If we don''t it won''t be long until we run out of food and we both know what happens thenˇ­" "Yes. So do we continue to advance or do we return to where we entered the mists? Maybe we could return to the grandline from there?" Robin said as the situation became increasingly clear to the both of them. "Let''s flip a coin since both have the same possibility of f.u.c.k.i.n.g us over. Makes deciding a lot easier." Azul said with a shrug causing Robin to sweat drop mightily. "Are you serious? You want to leave such a decision to the flip of a coin?" She asked with wide eyes though Azul didn''t seem to care much about her worries as he simply took out a coin and flipped it into the air. "Heads we head back to the spot from where we entered, Tails we keep going." Sighing to herself Robin nodded and didn''t say anything further. Catching the falling coin out of the air Azul slapped it onto the back of his hand and checked which side was facing upwards. It was Heads. "Well seems like we''ll head back. I guess we''ll just have to wait for the entrance to open once more." Azul said and turned around to speed back towards the entrance not knowing that they would spend quite some time in those mists they had gotten themselves intoˇ­ Chapter 119 Grandline, Paradise, ??? Robin and Azul had been stranded in this weird mist for a few days by now, how long exactly was hard to tell since the daily day-cycle didn''t rotate as was usual. That fact alone made it apparently clear to the both of them that they were no longer on the grandline but somewhere else. At first they had thought they would only be staying in this dimension for a few hours, maximum a day but as it turned out they were wrong. Thus they had made their provisional peace with their current situation and decided to make the best of it. The only real worry the two had at the moment was their dwindling food supplies as they had only packed food for the trip to water 7. Due to both of them having eaten a devilfruit neither could simply dive down and look for some seaking. As it stood they were pretty f.u.c.k.e.d but they hadn''t lost their hope yet. To not die of boredom the both of them had built themselves a routine that they followed with the utmost persistency. Azul''s routine looked somewhere along the lines of training, meditation, some more training, looking through the mists a little, watch Robin experiment with her devilfruit, eating, sometimes f.u.c.k.i.n.g Robin and to round up the day some further training. Robin''s day on the other hand was not as exciting since she was not a physical fighter which limited her options in these mists a little. She usually started her day by watching Azul train then began her own exercises to stay in shape followed by some experimentation to further her proficiency with her devilfruit. To finish her day she reread books that she had taken with her but rather soon she grew very very bored of her books and thus decided to join Azul on his explorations. Thus the two spent the days in each others company, soon having lost any feeling they had had in the beginning for the time they spent in the mists. Out of boredom Azul one day proposed a friendly spar to Robin to help her incorporate her devilfruit into her "fighting-style" better and without further ado she accepted. Their sparring though was a very onesided affair as Robin had absolutely no chance at getting the upper hand, no matter what she tried. What she did not know though was that her dodging ability went up quite a bit as she was constantly on the backfoot against Azul, no matter how lax he fought. Under Azuls guidance Robin advanced leaps and bounds over the days and soon enough was able to apply her haki in battle, within limits naturally. Azul on the other hand had grown bored as hell. Yes he liked to train and teach Robin from time to time but that didn''t change the fact that he yearned to fight somebody. In order to cope with his yearning Azul began to increase his meditation sessions and shorten his physical training. Surprisingly to him his increased meditation helped him immensely as he could practically feel himself become calmer and more collected which in turn caused a spike in his haki to appear. Turns out he had been going about becoming a master wrong all along. Azul thought that through his heightened physical ability his haki would become stronger but that was not really the case. Yes, his armament haki became firmer and more pronounced but when Azul submerged his mind in meditation his view on his soul showed that he hadn''t made much progress to merge his body and soul. Thus he focused more on the mental aspects of his training and with it he became calmer and calmer as his inner flame simmered further down the longer he trained. At a certain point in his training Azul had been so calm that he experienced the same feeling he had had back in Skypea where his masters incarnation showed him the way to become a master. While he was experiencing this extraordinary feeling hours passed by like seconds while Robin grew rather restless besides Azul as she didn''t know what was happening to him. Her growing fears soon disappeared though when Azul opened his eyes the next morning. "Are you alright? You''ve been sitting on the same spot for the last 24 hours at least!" Robin asked Azul who was only barely listening to her words as the world around him seemed to glow in a dim light of various colours, like everything in sight gave of some kind of feeling. As Azul was focusing on that feeling he heard murmuring from the wooden planks he was sitting on, soft whispering from the torn and ripped sails still hanging partially from the mast besides him and the deep gurgling of the small waves ebbing against the haul of the shipwreck telling stories of their own. ''What a strange feeling. Is this what master was talking about? He once said that to enter the threshold to the stage of the master I will have to experience what my soul experienced throughout my lifeˇ­But why than can I not hear the voices all around me clearly? Am I still not there yetˇ­?'' Azul thought to himself in wonder as he listened to the murmuring all around him like a child that sees the world in its true colours for the first time. Chapter 120 Grandline, New World While Azul and Robin were stuck inside the mist for weeks on end the outside world, namely the second half of the grandline began to heat up while the different factions began to gather their troops in preparation. On one hand there was Whitebeard that had left Dress Rosa behind and had taken up residence on Fishman island where he fortified his position so far that it became nearly impossible to attack him and his family for anyone that regarded him as their enemy due to the unique location of Fishman island. Red-haired Shanks on the other hand had decided to make himself sparse and left behind his usual partying spots as he and his crew sat sail towards the open seas of the new world. The last two emperors though, after their battle, had promptly joined forces, creating a mighty force of their own which nearly reached the manpower of the marines alone, which spoke of their many arms at their beg and call. For what purpose the two had formed said alliance remained a rather big mystery to many. Though it was assumed by some that the two simply reignited their status as former crewmembers as being an emperor of the seas could become rather boring as you had nobody besides other emperors to contend with. Besides the pirates and marines the revolutionaries had begun to build up their defences on the islands they had taken over from the world government and on those pulled up many factories in order to mass produce weaponry with which they hoped to equip many new soldiers that wished to pick one side in the coming war that would engulf the whole world, before they would be swept away in it without being able to change or protect anything. Their leaders all the while had fortified their defences on their hidden island and begun to forge plans on how to deal with the threats that would soon appear at their doorsteps. The last faction, the marines and the world government had undergone the biggest reform though. Under the administrations of the genius doctor Vegapunk the Pacifistas had finally been finished and without warning been set loose on the unsuspecting world, beginning with the Shichibukai, which surprised everbody. Speculation was that the world government didn''t want to leave possible holes in their image and defence. Thus they tried to get a hold of the Shichibukai, who were pirates and thus a possible loophole. With Boa Hanc.o.c.k being the only Shichibukai that wasn''t invisible or too strong to take down, like Mihawk for example, they attacked the island Amazon Lily. Under many casualties the pirate empress Boa Hanc.o.c.k with many of her people had to flee their home but in the act luckily managed to escape the Marines. Last but not least, besides the Pacifistas, the marines had begun and finished some upgrades to their normal marine sh.i.p.s which would soon turn those normal sh.i.p.s into semi battle sh.i.p.s that had a lot of similarities with the ones used for the Bustercall. The weeks after that small clashes between battalions of marines began to appear more regularly until it was no longer deniable. The great war of this era was about to break out and pull many people down with it with nobody knowing what the result would be or how the world would look like once it was overˇ­ Chapter 121 Grandline, Paradise, ??? While the different factions in the new world were engulfed in small skirmishes as a prelude to the big war that could break out any day now, by some folks estimation, the life in the first half of the grandline remained rather calm. Of course the term peaceful was up for debate but none the less, compared to the witch caldron the new world had become these days it was not a completely false statement. In one small part of said ocean a weird mist had appeared as if out of nowhere and brought with it a surprise that not all were happy about. Though the surprise itself was rather gleeful of finally escaping the bloody mist after all the time of being confined in its realm. Said surprise of course consisted of our lovely teddy bear Azul and his companion Robin that couldn''t help but cry out in glee at finally escaping their prison after spending nearly two months inside the stupid thing. After their release they swiftly decided on seeking out the nearest island and enjoy themselves a good long bath and some different food as they had eaten the same stuff almost every day! Thus under a cloud of heat and flames signalling the duos arrival, they reached the nearest island and oh were they surprised once they saw where they arrived at. "How in the f.u.c.k did we arrive here already? We didn''t move from our spots inside the damn mist?!" Azul asked with a stupefied expression as right before their eyes laid Water 7, no more, no less. "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, maybe we did so unconsciously? Or the sh.i.p.s we stayed upon drifted with the mist?" Robin mused in thought. "You could have just said you had no idea you know?" Azul replied with a slight grin which caused a slight tick to appear on Robins forehead. "Hm? Did you say something? No? Okay, then let''s get moving again, shall we?" She said in turn while patting Azul on the head which caused Azul to stifle a bout of laughter as he knew exactly that Robin liked to muse about many things and hated it when he brought up the fact that she had no clue just as often as she theorized about the world. Without replying but with a grin on his face Azul speed of into the distance and soon afterwards appeared in Water 7 where he immediately headed towards the docks he had left his beauty in the last time he was in the city. While the two went towards the docks Azul couldn''t help himself but notice that the activity of marines in the city had significantly increased since they had last been on the island. Wondering what had happened while they were trapped inside the mist Azul walked over to a stall and bought himself the newspaper of the day. Flipping through them swiftly Azuls eyes widened a little at what he was reading. ''Holy moly, we really had bad luck getting trapped inside that stupid mist in such explosive times!'' "Who do you think will ignite the war?" Robin asked Azul while glancing upwards where Azul was scratching his b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.t in thought. "Difficult to say. It could be anything really. From one of the factions losing their patience to a small time pirate deciding to attack an island under the protection of the world government who in turn could maybe use the attack as a cover to start the war on their own with the moral high ground on their side. I guess we will just have to wait and see." Azul replied while his eyes roamed over the streets filled with stalls and people that went about their daily activities, ranging from small thieves to rich nobles buying everything in their sight. Soon Robin and Azul had reached the docks and promptly marched inside where they went to look for Iceburg or some other shipwright to guide them towards Azul''s beauty. "Oy, where is the major at?" Azul called over to a nearby shipwright, who had a few nails tugged between his lips while hammering onto the railing of a ship, and said man motioned towards another end of the docks to where the two swiftly walked in order to finally find the man. They found Iceburg conversing with a few men about some plans they had laid out in between them, depicting various forms on how to construct a new ship no doubt. "What''s up old man, do you still remember me?" Azul asked while his finger dug into his nose. At Azul''s words Iceburg turned around and nodded his head without hesitation. "How could I not after all the trouble you guys brought to my cityˇ­ I presume you are here for your ship?" The man responded with a slight grumble though his stature still remained tall and noble. "Yep. Where is she at? I couldn''t see her anywhere on my way in." Azul answered while pulling out a humongous booger which he snipped into the face of a nearby shipwright with a grin, causing said man to splutter and furiously wipe the flying snot-ball of his face. "She is in a separate dock. Come, I''ll show you the way, though you still owe us some berry for the time you left her in our care." Iceburg replied while beginning to walk past the giggling Robin who had observed Azuls action in amus.e.m.e.nt. "No biggy. Will this be enough?" Azul asked back while throwing a small bag of coins at Iceburg who caught it, opened and counted them swiftly after which he nodded and replied: "That will be enough. Now, follow me." Afterwards the three ventured deeper into the docks until they came upon the beauty that was Azul''s ship, which lightly swayed upon the soft waves that rolled into the docks from the ocean. "Gods, I have missed you darlingˇ­" Azul said while he let his hands glide over the railing of his ship while Robin could only groan slightly in exasperation, even if she couldn''t help but agree that the ship was beautiful. ''Men and their toysˇ­'' Robin thought to herself after which she walked over and joined Azul in boarding the ship. Chapter 122 Grandline, Paradise, Water 7 After packing and boarding the ship Robin waited for Azul to join her on the softly swaying ship made of mahogany coloured wood with beautiful carving along the railing and front of the ship. Azul meanwhile had disappeared with Iceburg into a small room from which scratching sounds began to echo after a few minutes of mysterious silence. When Azul came out of the room with the major in tow the two of them carried three wooden planks with words carved onto them in their arms. Two of the carvings were secured at each side on the front of the ship while the largest of them was put up at the rear of the ship. After the name of the ship had been revealed to all eyes still watching Azul couldn''t help himself but grin in satisfaction. Even though he had to make up his mind fast about a suitable name he was satisfied with his choice. To his surprise Iceburg pulled out a bottle of alcohol from somewhere and motioned for Azul to smash it into the ship, as was tradition when baptising a new vessel of the seas. "Don''t let me down buddy. We''ll be sailing till the we reach the world''s end and thus I give you the name ''liberated Revery''!" and following his words he smashed the full bottle against the hull of the ship where it cracked into a thousand pieces while the waves seemed to crash stronger against the shores of the port as if in agreement. "So long guys, I got a ship to ride!" Azul called out after which he unfastened the tows chaining the ship to the shore and jumped onto it with an enormous grin plastered onto his face. "Farewell and thanks for helping me out!" Azul called back while waving once in goodbye after which he turned around and steered the ship out into the open seas, sails unfolded, the wind howling in greeting while the waves took the ship into their open arms, through which the ship furrowed without difficulties to the delight of its captain that was grinning like a loon all along. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// While Azul and Robin had entered the open waters once again the world government had begun to mobilize the first wave of their troops in preparation. The first contingent was to head towards Sabaody Archipelago with a single purpose in mind and that was to build a military wall that served a lot of purposes. Number one was to take any newcomer pirates that could be potential crewmembers of the emperors into custody while also stifling future problems in the bud even if said crews would not join the emperors. Reason number two was to cut of any supplies that were being delivered towards Fishmen island and thus forcing Whitebeard and his crew to possibly surface once again. Of course that plan was only in the beginning stages since Fishmen island still had a lot of supplies so they would need to wait some time until their plan could cause any problems but it was always good to pile problems onto the heads of your enemies if you had the chance to do so. Reason number three was to interrupt the supply chains the revolutionaries had built over the years, thus strongly limiting their movements. Reason number four was nothing else but publicity as the world government showed the world that they would be the ones that could guarantee prosperity and security for all the people on the grandline simply but stationing many warsh.i.p.s on one of the main hubbubs of the grandline. The world governments actions though were being received with scrutiny as all the onlookers began to speculate on their motives immediately and were beginning to wonder if the world government would be the first to make a move which would ignite the great war. Chapter 123 Grandline, Paradise With billowing sails, the wind driving them forwards, the liberated Revery smoothly cut through the waves of the oceans that had once again welcomed Azul and Robin into its open arms, even if those arms sometimes tried to strangle them in their tight embrace. And yet Azul wouldn''t want it any other way. Otherwise the journey would be one boring as hell trip he really could do without. But luckily for him that wasn''t the case. Standing with one arm grasping the rigging that held the mast straight Azul let himself hang like a billowing flag in the wind, only one wave away from dipping his feet into the water with how angled the ship was cleaving through the waves. Grinning from ear to ear Azul enjoyed the feeling of sailing like this to the fullest and hoped the next storm would be just as fun. Robin meanwhile was a little anxious for Azul and repeatedly tried to get him to step back on board but all her attempts fell on def ears. "Now that''s what I''m calling sailing hahahaha!" Azul roared into the whistling wind while Robin rolled her eyes in exasperation at Azul''s antics and yet she couldn''t help the twitching of her mouth in amus.e.m.e.nt. "Please come back down from there Azul! I swear, I''m not gonna dive after you if you fall into the water!" Robin called back which only caused Azul''s laughter to intensify. "Stop being a chicken and come join me! Experience everything with the glee of a little child! After all we only have a short time on this beautiful planet hahaha!" Azul roared into the wind causing a tick mark to appear on Robin''s forehead. Did he really just call her a chicken? Stomping like an angry mother hippo Robin went out of the cabin to give Azul a piece of her mind when she was suddenly grabbed without warning and flung into Azul''s arms, holding her steadily right above the waters surface, causing Robin to scream in fear until her mind realised that she was safe for the moment when her screaming turned into adrenalin filled laughter, joining Azul in the excitement. Though while they were immersed in the rush that sailing provided them they didn''t notice a seagull with a newspaper in its beak that couldn''t help but sweat drop at the two humans and their antics. Truly, the job of a seagull of the Maichyo never got boringˇ­ //////////////////////////////////////////////////// Grandline, New World BigMom and Kaido had had used the time of the cold war between the different factions to bolster their forces and had decided, as both of them grew bored with only those small skirmishes that they would take the lead in the great war without much preamble. Thus, one beautiful morning in the new world one of the marine sh.i.p.s on their usual patrol that were checking on the islands under the world governments control nearly stopped in its tracks due to all the sailors getting a simultaneous heart attack at the sight that presented itself to them. As far as the eyes could see, sh.i.p.s with different get ups but all running two different Jolly Rogers appeared at the horizon and covered it like a black flood that descended upon the poor marines. With horrified expression the marines grabbed the local transponder snail and made to relay the message that a huge force of pirate sh.i.p.s had set sail towards the redline and the marine headquarters that were located there most probably. While the news about the armada of pirates were being relayed all the marines atop the lone vassal knew what the appearance of such a huge force must mean. The huge war of their generation had finally begunˇ­ ///////////////////////////////////////////// Grandline, New World, Fishman island Far down below the ocean''s surface an island vastly different from the normal ones was located. Said island consisted of corals and seaweeds of many different colours and variations, bathing and decorating the island to a state that it became an underwater paradise some may even say. Besides the underwater fauna the island was inhabited by the fishmen that were able to swim and breath under water while also being able to withstand the enormous pressure the ocean but onto the creatures of the deep. Amongst the usual folks of fishmen, which consisted of all kinds of fish-human variations, another family was living far under the water, out of the reach of most humans. These were the royal family of the fishmen consisting of the king and his children, one of which being the mermaid princess Shirahoshi. In the past the mermaids and other fishmen had been hunted by the humans for their exotic looks and extraordinary strength, making it very hard for the fishmen to leave their home to explore the world without being sold into slavery. That all ended though once none other than Edward Newgate took the fishman island as his territory and declared the fishmen to be under his protection. His actions held such high value to the fishmen that they of course did not protest Whitebeard taking the island as his base from which he operated in the great war that was soon to break out. The Whitebeard pirates at first had assumed that they would have some more time to prepare for the coming war but while Whitebeard was enjoying his time with the royal family in the palace of the island he found out that that was not to be the case. Under roaring laughter that nearly caused the walls of the palace to vibrate Whitebeard read through the newest missive one of his spies had relayed to him. "Those fools haven''t changed a bit in all those years, gurarara! So be it. Marco! Ready the men! The time for diplomacy and petty games has come to an end. From today onwards we are at war!" Whitebeard called down from the palace towards his main ship from where the rallying cries of his family echoed far and wide. After listening for a few seconds Whitebeard turned around and marched over to a nearby table. He had two more family members to notify after all, whether they saw themselves as such or not. Chapter 124 - Please check the newly added auxiliary chapter! 500 Chapter 124 Grandline, Marine Headquarters After the news of the approaching armada of pirates had reached the headquarters of the marines all the personal evolved into a state comparable to a beehive on fire, pure chaos to be exact. Luckily for those at the bottom of the hierarchy in the marines, those at the top to be exact, were quite experienced when it came to dealing with threats of big magnitudes and thus reigned in the chaos with a tight grip not long after it had come to be known. Sitting in the big conference room Sengoku, the fleet-admiral, reclined in his chair at the head of the table, a frown marring his face. Before him on the table laid a map depicting the first half of the new world and the islands the war would most possibly be fought on. Next to Sengoku sat his friend and comrade Garp, followed by the admirals and vice-admirals. But, as the occasion was of a pretty high importance, another instance was sitting in on said meeting, namely the Gorosei, via a video transponder snail. "The armada of Kaido and BigMom is the most immediate threat so all our forces should focus on them to finish that battle as fast as possible. After all there are still other threats waiting to clash with usˇ­" the oldest of the Gorosei spoke into the contemplative silence of the meeting with a voice that brokered no argument and none were given in response, only nods of consent. "That would indeed be the smartest course of action. We should avoid a war with more than one front at all costs. If we enter one and one side fails it will doom the others like a house of cards that collapses onto itself when one card is removed. Which forces should we deploy to take on the two yonko?" Sengoku asked the Gorosei while agreeable humming filled the room as all of the admirals present knew that a war fought on more than one front was a dangerous and difficult undertaking, especially against foes of such power. "Send out our warsh.i.p.s and station half of our pacifista on those sh.i.p.s. The other half should remain in the marine headquarters for the case that another faction decides to take action in the chaos and take the head of the serpent off while the body is busy dealing with the most obvious threat." Another member of the Gorosei answered after the five elders discussed the matter for a few seconds. "Though only the pacifista won''t be able to take on the yonko, which is the biggest problem we are facing at the moment. How should we deal with them?" Sengoku wondered causing slight frowns to appear on some of the present members. "That indeed is a problem we have spent quite a lot of thoughts on. Luckily a fortunate avenue has opened itself to us when we most needed some more manpower." The oldest of the Gorosei responded bringing silence to the now arguing officers. "What manpower are you talking about? I know of only a handful of people that could possibly clash with those two and come out alive in the endˇ­" Kizaru asked the Gorosei with a contemplative frown on his face. "A faction we had not considered to appear in the war to be honest but one that may stand a chance with some help from our faction. As you may know Doflamingo disappeared from the face of the grandline a few months ago and has yet to be found but it turns out he didn''t need to be found as he came to us instead. He has allied himself with a man called Blackbeard, which may ring a bell in some of your heads when hearing the name. The man himself has an ability that could potentially win us this war but has to be handled with caution as the man is a fickle and scheming pirate if there ever was one. That much we could gauge from the meetingˇ­" Another of the elders answered the admiral''s question which caused quite a few eyebrows to jump into many a hairline. "Doflamingo and Blackbeard? Have you gone senile up there? In which universe do those two even stand a chance against one yonko, let alone two?!" Akainu spoke out with frustration at the whole situation tinging his voice. "Watch your mouth, admiral, and yes they do stand a chance if you consider the devilfruit Blackbeard possessesˇ­" The oldest of the elders butted in with his eyes boring into Akainu who didn''t falter one bit under the withering glare of the man until the two were interrupted by vice-admiral Tsuru. "Enough of this bickering. What is this devilfruit you speak about? What could it possibly do to reign in those monsters?" The old woman spoke with annoyance tinging her voice causing Garp to chuckle in amus.e.m.e.nt at his old comrade''s guts. "Blackbeard''s devilfruit saps away the power of the devilfruit of his opponent once touched." At the elder''s words silence fell upon the room only to erupt in exclamations of different kinds once the man''s words registered fully with all those present. "Do you know what that means? That man, should he become even more powerful, will become the biggest threat to the admiral''s who mostly dominate the oceans because of their logia powers! Should those become a moot point than we would lose a lot of firepower and pressure!" Vice-admiral Momonga spoke with dread in his normally rather calm voice. "Indeed, vice-admiral. But who said we would let that happen? Once Blackbeard has fulfilled his purpose his existence will no longer be tolerated. In fact we aim to gain that man''s devilfruit for ourselves in the future. But that is a topic for another day. Admirals, you will assist Doflamingo and Blackbeard with taking care of the two yonko. Which one you target first will be up to you. After you have done so take out Blackbeard immediately. There will be no prisoners in this war!" The oldest of the elder stars spoke and received grim nods in return. After the most pressing matter had been discussed the present officers returned to discuss the different strategies they would soon employ in the great warˇ­ Chapter 125 - Update! 500 Chapter 125 Grandline, New World Thunder was cracking up in the dark grey skies while rain was pouring down onto the earth, as if the heavens aimed to refill the oceans. Amidst the downpour the armada of Kaidou and BigMom sailed towards the marine headquarters, all the while navigating through the towering waves that made the giant pirate sh.i.p.s of the two yonko look like toys in comparison. Even though two of the strongest beings on the planet resided on those sh.i.p.s any sane man would have discovered, at the sight the armada portrayed amidst the storm and raging waves, that only one force truly reigned supreme on the planet, namely nature. While the respective crews on these sh.i.p.s struggled with the winds blasting into the sails, straining the ropes to their limits in the process, and under shouted orders from the officers climbed the masts or pulled the sails tighter in accord the two leaders of the armada barely took notice of their crews struggles as they sat inside the dry and warm cabin belonging to Kaidou where they both were drinking away the boredom they each felt. It had been a long time since the both of them had really been challenged and not having a suitable opponent took a lot of excitement out of their lives as pirates, which was a big downside of being a yonko if there ever was one. Of course the two could always fight each other but they had done so way too often in the past that they were unable to ignite the flame of excitement in each other when they stood face to face on the battlefield. Thus they had made the decision to go to war with the marines. Still, this was not the only objective BigMom was aiming for with this war. Yes, the part about the excitement held true for Kaidou but BigMom still had some more ambition left simmering in her core. Namely the throne. She wanted to be the queen of the pirates and through the war she hoped to find some more information on the ryu-p.o.r.neglyphs inside the marine headquarters. After all, these old foxes had held Gol D. Roger captive for quite some time so the idea that they knew more than they let on wasn''t completely fabricated out of thin air. And if the war managed to increase her forces some more in the process, so be itˇ­ "Mamamama, this stuff is gooood! Where did you get it again?" The giant woman asked with a slur and slightly red tinged cheeks across the swaying cabin where the huge body of Kaidou laid, his head put onto a nearby bed while the rest of his body was sprawled across the planks down below. "Don'' rememberˇ­ Somewhere north or soˇ­" Kaidou reply with a slight hick at the end. With a groan that spoke of his boredom Kaidou slowly rose to his feet while he held his pounding head with one hand. "Ugh, this sake is shit! I''ll go get myself something else somewhereˇ­" and with those words made to stumble out of the room. Meanwhile BigMom had a slight frown on her face after she had heard Kaidou''s words. She was by no means an expert when it came to sake, as she preferred sweets more for that matter, but she liked the sake and made to voice her opinion out loud when she realised in her half drunken state that her drinking buddy and former crewmate had already stumbled out of the cabin. With a toothy grin on her face at the prospect of now having more for herself BigMom drowned herself in the swaths of liquor until she fell asleep from all the alcohol she had consumed. Kaidou meanwhile stepped out of the cabin and into the roaring winds that whipped cold needles of water onto his body, and yet didn''t do anything to him as would have been normal for any kind of human being when pelted with nearly ice-cold needles of rain. At the sight of their captain some of the pirates saluted before bustling back to work, though Kaidou didn''t really care for those worms that had joined him later when he had already been an emperor. Only those that been with him all the way held his respect, to some degree, and not those greenhorns that had only joined him after he had become the strongest being alive. With a stumble the drunk monster of a man walked over towards the railing where he stood only for a second until he jumped over it. At first his crew thought their captain was trying to kill himself again but were soon relieved when the form of the slim dragon appeared from behind the railing and took of towards the horizon, only one thought in mind. To find amus.e.m.e.nt and sakeˇ­ /////////////////////////////////////////////// Grandline, Paradise Contrary to the storm that was currently raging over the new world the weather in Paradise was rather calm and peaceful. Under playful winds the liberated Revery slowly but surely pushed onwards, the occasional bout of saltwater spraying over the railing and with it ripped the man at the rudder out of his state of semi consciousness as he was falling asleep rather often at such calm winds. With his legs slightly hanging over the railing Azul was lazily reclining besides the rudder, a half eaten piece of meat in his left hand all the while. Not far away from him sat Robin with a book in her hands, reading in silence without so much as a glance from time to time at their course whenever Azul had fallen asleep once again after watching the clouds drift about in the skies. After another bout of water, this one being a little bit bigger in size Azul groggily opened his eyes and moved out of his way too comfortable position in order not to fall asleep again. Just when he was about to continue eating his already cold piece of meat the transpondersnail they kept down in the cabin rang with its usual puru-puru sounds. "Be a dear and grab the snail, will you?" Azul asked Robin who nodded and went down into the cabin from where she appeared only seconds later with the small snail in her hands and handed it over towards Azul who answered the call by picking up the mic without any hesitation. "Who''s this?" He asked while he ripped a piece of meat out of the cooked delicacy, munching happily on it, even if it was cold and sprayed with salt water. "Is that any way to speak with your father in law you brat? Gurarara. How are you doing, snotty nose?" The deep baritone of Whitebeard grumbled through the mic to which Azul''s full mouth formed into a toothy grin. "Old man! How''s my favorite geezer doing? Hope the arthritis isn''t as bad any more. You gotta be careful in your old days, you know? Hehehe" Azul responded with a toothy grin causing Robin and a few people in the background on Whitebeard''s end to chuckle in mirth. After some chuckling from Whitebeard himself Azul swallowed the meat in his mouth and made to speak once again but was interrupted by Whitebeard."You damn brat, gurararaˇ­ we''ll see if you''ll keep your cheek once you arrive here, gurarara". Doing an imaginary shrug Azul wondered why the old man had called them once he had had his fun as it had driven of some of the boredom he had felt at the moment. Thus, he asked. "So, what''s the occasion? Why are you calling us?" Azul spoke into the mic and afterwards moved over towards a nearby c.h.e.s.t, always keeping an ear on the mic and rudder in the process, as they had stowed some cooled beer in said c.h.e.s.t, which he removed with a smack of his lips accompanying the action. Snipping the lid off with one finger Azul revelled in the cool liquid that poured down his throat waking him up fully all the while. Sighing in p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and handing another bottle of beer over to Robin who smiled in thanks Azul returned his full attention back to the mic, just in time to hear Whitebeard respond. "BigMom and Kaidou have set sail towards marine headquarters. The war has officially begun. Where are you right now?" At Whitebeard''s words Azul raised one eyebrow, obviously surprised but otherwise didn''t show any emotion besides the glee the cool beer in his hand provided him. Marching over towards the railing Azul sat himself down and begun to hum in contemplation. "Somewhere close to the Archipelago. How long do you think it''ll take us to reach it?" Azul asked Robin who took out the charts of these waters from a nearby c.h.e.s.t and took a quick look at them after which she replied: "We should be reaching the Archipelago in the next few days I believe, if we don''t hit a lull in the winds that is. Either way it shouldn''t be more than a week I think." After speaking her mind she stowed the charts back into the c.h.e.s.t she had picked them from and returned to drinking her cold beer, her book laying next to her, opened but face down so the pages wouldn''t move in the wind. "You heard her. Why do you ask?" Azul spoke into the mic that laid before him and moved over to the rudder to take charge once again as they had swayed of course slightly while talking and drinking. "We''ll be sailing to join the war soon ourselves and I wanted to take you along with me. We''ll be waiting here on fishmen island." Whitebeard said through the mic. Azul made to respond but was interrupted when Whitebeard abruptly cut the connection and left Azul grumbling to himself while Robin smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt at the sight. ''Seems like the old man wins this round but this isn''t over yet you damn geezerˇ­'' Azul thought to himself with a grumble and with gusto emptied his beer after which he moved over and threw the yelping Robin over his shoulder while marching down into the cabin to let of some steam. Annoyance always got him riled up in some way but luckily for both Robin and Azul they had an excellent outlet and thus engaged once again in the oldest form of pacification. Rutting like rabbits. Chapter 126 ???, Somewhere outside of Marine Headquarters Far away at the edge of the new world the marine headquarters was bustling with activity as war had finally arrived at their doorstep and the preparations for said war ran at full speed. Just as planned the marines had mobilised their forces and prepared them adequately for war. While the sh.i.p.s took to the sea to take up their positions from where they would confront the nearing enemies, the leaders of the marines had each taken over some responsibility or squadron of their own with which they would command a part of the military might of the marines in order to stay as flexible as possible in a war of such magnitude. Through such a tactic the leadership had guaranteed that they would not get blindsided or restricted by having only one single leader who may get overwhelmed from too many reports or orders that needed to be given. Each one of those leaders had command over at least three war sh.i.p.s and a whole platoon of Pacifistas. Said robots, on top of already being strong through the build in lasers won from Kizaru''s devil fruit, also possessed the ability to communicate with each other and relay orders from their superiors faster than was possible through transponder snails which would possible be the one thing that secured the marines the win as knowledge and communication were one of the most important aspects in a war, one they had in much more capacity than even the revolutionaries or the emperors. Unfortunately, the good weather and the confidence of winning this war after observing their troops gather and prepare for war had made the leaders of the marines a little arrogant and careless, something rather unlike the veterans that held the reigns at the top of the food chain but in the end they were only humans and thus prone to errors, no matter how strong they were. Thus, it came like a shock of enormous proportions when a huge shadow fell over the marine headquarters, plunging it into darkness and silencing the bustling on the grounds of the port where marines of all kinds of ranks ran around, reloading or securing the provisions needed to survive at sea in the new world. Inside the silence confusion was birthed until said confusion grew and became surprise, then unpolluted fear, voiced and echoed by yells and outcries to grab whatever weapon was near. Though all those actions required courage and order and in the chaos that was the port none of that existed, or rather not any longer, since an eardrum shattering roar crashed into the people inside the port and caused havoc amongst those who heard it. Whoever had the chance took up a weapon and rallied besides the yelling commanders, all trying to form some kind of battle formation that may help them but no matter what they tried it would not work as the roar and the shadow that had fallen over the port had caused quite a lot of marines to fall weakly to their knees or butts while said marines stared up into the skies with shock, fear and panic written clearly on their faces. All of these things receded into the background though in the face of the creature that had by then landed inside the giant crater that was the port only minutes ago and slowly began to return to its original form. Scales became skin and claws became fingers until a humanoid being of gigantic sizes was all that remained. With a small hiccup the figure turned around towards the towering form of the marine headquarters and without preamble marched towards it, only sake in its mind. After all, Kaidou really couldn''t find any more fun in the world when he was already the strongest being there is. Only battling and sake could amuse him a little which was exactly why he had come this very day. To get himself some sake and his blood pumpingˇ­! Chapter 127 - Update! Hello everyone. I know, I know, it has been quite a while since I updated this story but, as always, there are reasons for that. First of all, I just have to say how proud I am of this fanfiction. I know it isn''t the best, has a lot of plotholes and grammatical issues but nonetheless it was the first fanfiction I''ve ever written and it could have gone a lot worse in my opinion. Now, unfortunately, I have realised that my standards have risen a little bit, hence my hesitation in updating this story. Thus, I am announcing that One Piece - Martialised, One Piece - My name is Bonez, Daz Bonez, and Tales of Tomorrow will be going into a hiatsu, solely for the purpose of a rework. Furthermore, as fun as it has been, I will be halting to upload my stories on from this day onwards. Alternatively my stories will be available for reading on fanfiction.net from now onwards. So, if you wish to continue reading them, once the hiatsu is over of course, you may do so. My author''s name on fanfiction.net is: Pink Ape Thank you for reading and I''ll see you soon.