Chapter 10 - Ohara
Chapter 10: Ohara (1502 – two years prior to Taylors Arrival)
Captains Log: 23.01.1506
By now, it has been a little over a month that Bonney joined our little crew. So far, she seems to have integrated seamlessly. For the most part, Hancock is to thank for that. Without her including Bonney in everything she and her sister do, it might not have been so easy.
Bonney is an odd kid, intelligent and usually subdued, but when it comes to food, she changes into a gluttonous extroverted little monster.
At first, I thought her recent captivity has to be the reason for that behavior. Since the prisoners Bonney included showed signs of malnutrition that she was overcompensating. Eating, what she was denied, during the time she spent in a cage, like an animal. I assumed it would normalize overtime when she realizes that there is no longer a shortage of food. Especially after she regained the bodyweight she must have lost.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. Even after weeks of her never leaving a table hungry it continued. Strangely enough, she put on some weight to the level one would expect a girl her age to be, but then she stopped gaining weight for some reason. Despite her unchanged eating habits, the training she joined in with the others, and her muscle gain in time doesn't account for all those calories she ingests.
If so, the Boa sisters who eat a fraction of what she does would be in quite a bit of trouble since it would mean they were underfed for quite some time, which clearly wasn't the case.
For now, I put it down under Devil-Fruit shenanigans since I can't come up with another reasonable explanation, and it is unlikely I will without consulting a doctor. I mention this because we are now trapped in this rainbow mist for exactly 39 days. If I also count the time since our departure from Shaboady, it adds up to 60 days on sea.
60 days of uninterrupted sea-travel, if not for that little encounter with those slavers.
Slowly but surely, our provisions are depleting - we stretch the time that the provisions will last us with fishing for food, and collecting the rain helps us with our water supply. Despite that, I assume we won't have much time until we inevitably end up with deficiency symptoms of some kind.
In this world, there are no freezers. Therefore the ways to preserve food are severely limited. While producing dried fruits is a known procedure, it is not commonly used, which makes it rare and expensive. The very limited supply we, thankfully, had onboard lasted us till today, with it now at an end, I suspect it won't be long until the first of us begins to show symptoms.
This usually wouldn't be so much of a problem, with the few eternal Pose and the Log Pose we have onboard, we could make way for an Island.
But we find ourselves in extraordinary circumstances since this rainbow mist seems to prevent the Poses, no matter which, from functioning properly.
All they do since the moment we entered the mist is spinning uncontrollably - unable to point us in a direction.
We are stuck inside with no way out of it. The only form of navigation we have. If I can even call it, that is the ability I gained from the fate-spider. An invisible thread, originating from my chest extending into the fog. In default of any other viable options, I have us follow where it was leading.
But with every additional day that we got nowhere. I feel more and more like Theseus. I just hope I could trust my Ariadne. Because I'm unable, despite more than just trying, to make any sense of her mind her memories. Hell - even just looking through the fate Spider eyes has me suffering vertigo. Like she possessed senses that just wouldn't translate to my human mind. As if her senses grant her access to an additional layer of reality existing and perceiving things in a different manner than everybody else.
In the past I had a similar problem with some of the bug senses - it took time getting used to them which is why I originally only relied on their sense of touch and suppressed their other sensory impressions. This is similar but a thousand times worse. I can't see myself getting a grip on this any time soon. I just hope it won't be too late by then.
The girls training proceeds smoothly. They are ahead of the curve I estimated they would follow. It is most likely due to Bonney since Hancock took her under her wing. The novelty of having another girl train with them seems to have reinvigorated their motivation.
With Hancock already able to use a bastardized version of Soru and able to use Geppou for a few minutes. I'm confident her sister won't take much longer to get there too. This also means that the day I have to make my decision, if I should allow them to eat a Devil-Fruit is getting closer with every passing day.
I'm not sure what they would decide to do given the option. They showed some interest in Bonney Devil Fruit ability and my own but eventually lost interest in the topic - Accepting the fact and then moving on.
At least for the most part. After I showed them, a few things I can do with my power, including Kain and Lilith. My spiders sort of ended up as our mascots, the girl's new pets, so to say.
I could glean some information from the girls while cooing over them.
The amazons have a long history of having snakes as pets and companions which is reflected in their Pirate flag. A human skull surrounded by clockwise oriented snakeheads.
Even now weeks later, the girls leave no opportunity out to pet them. I would have expected this behavior would weaken with time. But no such luck. The girls even forbade me, to fuse them back into me.
For this very reason, Kain and Lilith have taken up residency in the crows nest. The only place they are spared from the girl's overbearing affection ... well for the most part.
With a smile on my lips, I signed my logbook entry and closed it. I was getting back in the hand of writing things in my old cipher I used to make notes about my powers back in the day. Given some things I wrote in this book, I thought it prudent to take every precaution to make its contents as safe as I could manage.
I looked upwards and saw Sandersonia, again, climbing the mast to pet and cuddle them or any of their many smaller and therefore cuter offspring, who also use the crows nest as a sanctuary.
"Sandersonia, leave the spiders alone," I said. "They are sleeping."
"I know Onee-sama that's why I want to see them. They are so cute when they are sleeping atop of each other." She cooed.
I just shook my head. - girls.
I pushed myself to my feet from my position on the ground and took a step to my right in order to not be overrun by Bonney. She was closely followed by Marigold.
"Give it back," she demanded.
"No, I'm a thief. We don't just give back the things we have stolen. You have to catch me first." Bonney said grinning from the stern of the ship as Marigold slowly moved closer. Her hands spread out ready to obstruct Bonney's way past her at a moment's notice.
This didn't cow Bonney in the slightest, she used the few feet she had as a run-up and allowed herself to be directed towards the railing. But instead of closing all avenues of escape, Marigold thought her herding might result in. Bonney used the railing as a springboard and just jumped over Marigold. She landed right next to me in a crouch, grinning over both ears with her haul clasped in her hands.
With a swift hand swipe, I took it away from her. She looked at me with disbelief plastered on her face.
"A thief shouldn't allow herself to be stolen from this easy," I told her with a straight face.
As it turned out, the object in my hands was a rolled parchment. Opening it up revealed a drawn portrait of Marigold. Another one of Hancock attempts to get her drawing skill up to snuff for her to feel confident enough to tackle our flag.
A superficial glance showed me that she got better. She demonstrated a talent for drawing when she first started. A talent that was clear to see by now.
I handed it over to Marigold, who immediately pressed it close to her chest and gave Bonney an evil glare.
"So you wanna elaborate why you decided to steal from Marigold?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and stern voice.
If I didn't know any better, the frequency with which those events occurred, - Bonney stealing something - might have gotten me thinking that she was a kleptomaniac. If not for her explanation, which with some small changes stayed the same since the first incident.
"To train Onee-sama, how often do I have to repeat myself for you, to finally get it," she said agitated.
"Remind me again, what kind of training." I wondered feigning ignorance.
"Anti-theft training, of course. Marigold has to learn to defend her possessions against thieves the Grand Line is full of them," she said grinning.
So this time, it is theft-training, no longer vigilance or endurance or any of the half dozen other excuses she used in past.
"And you are the best and worst of them all," I played along.
"Exactly - If she can keep her stuff save from me, she needn't fear any other thieves."
"Right -" I said. It was only a half-truth. She was also training herself in being a better thief.
"If that would be true, why aren't you stealing from my sisters," She asked.
Bonney shrugged and walked away.
The answer to Marigold's question being, because Bonney knew better than to mess with the others. Sandersonia was too aware of her surroundings, foiling her attempts to steal something from her right at the start, and Hancock was currently faster than her.
Something, I was sure wouldn't last. I suspected that she would try to excel at Soru. Her Devil Fruit, personality, and self-chosen profession all pointed in that direction, and she happened to be the fastest of the lot, not accounting for the others using any Rokushiki techniques.
I suspect that the moment she makes some headway in that direction, Sandersonia and Hancock once more become possible targets in order to keep her own and their skills sharp.
It was one of the reasons I didn't put my foot down and stopped this. The other it wasn't down maliciously at the end if she got caught or not Bonney always handed back what she stole undamaged.
The Boa sisters knew it was all in good faith. So they always left it at a token protest, humoring Bonney. There has yet to be a retaliation of any form, and with Marigold preparing the meals she was in the prime position to teach Miss gluttony a lesson. But chose not to - not sure if wasting food this would undoubtedly result in, played a part in her decision making.
Either way, I appreciated it. As the Cook, and as a direct consequence, thereof the rationing of food was an important task on any ship, and I was glad she was up for it.
I noticed the fog was getting thinner as I was able to see further.
Suddenly the fog lifted itself, and we saw something else than the milky hue we were surrounded with for too long.
There was an Island a few kilometers ahead of our ship. A huge tree towered over the small landmass, its branches ranging to the outer edges of it.
On the far side of the Island, I could make out a group of warships shooting salvo after salvo on land, the big tree, already on fire, was enduring the bombardment so far.
I recognized the tree immediately. There was no doubt this was Ohara. The tree of knowledge was the huge giveaway, and if I was right in this, we just stumbled onto the Buster Call that wiped out the entire Island and killed every one of its inhabitants.
At the very same moment, I had this thought; another ship came into my view. Given its size and the strength of the presence on board, I could sense from it; there clearly were only civilians on board. Survivors evacuating the Island? But I thought there were none before the realization of what was about to happen hit me. The ship went up in a huge explosion; destroyed by the concentrated fire of the warships.
"Hard backboard," I ordered. "Get us out of the sight of those ships. Use the Island as cover and hide us on the opposite side of them."
I knew this couldn't protect the ship from being detected via Kenbunshoku Haki, since only I could completely erase any trace of my presence, but it might buy me some time to find Robin, and perhaps with her the answers I sought.
"Hancock you are in command, circle the Island the way I told you," I said. "Should you get discovered use your own judgment to address the situation. But keep in mind nothing is as important as your lives."
"Where are you going Onee-sama?" she asked.
"I'm just going to take a look around," I said ominously and vanished with a Soru. I immediately suppressed my presence to the best of my abilities. Erasing the average civilian presence I usually emitted.
For the first time in quite a while I set my foot on solid ground, it was not like I actually missed it. But there was a slight feeling of longing that was hard to deny existed. I just hoped it could be satisfied under better circumstances.
A few short Soru burst brought me closer to the center of the island, where the population center was located. From the edge of the small town, I saw people running away. Most of them were Marines, their uniforms leaving little doubt about their affiliation, but I also saw another group accompanying them.
Men in Black Suits, given the demeanor the fact they also were armed, and the occasional look for guidance leveled towards them from the regular Marines, made it clear they were working together in some fashion.
Some high-ranking members of the World Government, which were not directly integrated into the hierarchy perhaps?
None of them took notice of me, although I did nothing to hide from their eyes or paid any attention to their surroundings.
Their minds solely focused on escaping. I took a step further inside the town when I noticed it. The smell of burnt human flesh permeated the air, a smell I, unfortunately, grew accustomed to such a degree that I had no problem in recognizing it.
Despite the omnipresent fire, explosions, and the in part panicked screams of the fast retreating Marines. I could sense a group of people milling around in the depths of the tree of knowledge.
Which I realized now that I was closer, turned out to be a human-made structure. The huge tree was grooved out, like a building with the difference, that it wasn't built but grown. It must have been an incredibly arduous task to manage that without killing the tree in the process and spoke volumes of the people that lived here.
Unfortunately, this would be one more monument of human ingenuity, that I would witness being destroyed. The flames were already licking at its base, fast working their way upwards. There were the occasional impacts of cannon-fire on the tree bark, but so far the tree weathered it.
No wonder, given the thickness of the wood. Without the fire consuming it, I was certain the tree could have withstood it for years.
My curiosity piqued by what was going on inside the tree, I decided to take a look. I let my gaze roam the tree and found an open window at roughly the same height and distance I sensed people at. The unusual thing about it was, that at irregular intervals books were thrown out of it. They all landed in the small lake under the window at the bottom of the tree.
A few Geppo-steps through the air brought me to the outer edge of the window.
I barely made a step inside, as I already had to dodge books that were thrown recklessly my way. Only for the books to land outside with a splash inside the lake. Marking the start of them sinking down the bottom next to all the others already there. Within moments of my appearance, all the work ceased and the people present were looking at me with suspicion.
A battered up tall white-haired woman in her mid-thirties was the first to address me.
"Did they grew impatient?" she hissed, "Does it take too long for them to see us burn to death? Is that why they sent you here?
I raised an eyebrow at those allegations and was about to correct her when an elderly man preempted me. He uprighted himself behind the woman, where he was busy clearing out the bottom shelve of a bookcase, and laid his hand on her shoulder. This immediately served to let the woman lapse into silence and she slightly turned her head to give the man an inquiring gaze.
The man was old, he looked like a three and a half leaf glover come alive, the hairs of his beard and two strangely formed pigtails sprouting from the back of his head together resembled the petals of an upside-down three leaves glover. Whereas his Iroquois hair-style resembled the stem, even his hair had a slight green touch to it, reminiscent of a plant.
"Olivia calm down and take a look at her. She clearly isn't a Marine." He admonished the woman, now identified as Olivia, and then refocused his attention on me "But that begs the question why you are here young woman?"
Olivia interrupted his inquiry.
"It doesn't matter why she is here. we don't have time for this. In case you forgot we are about to be burned alive and the same goes for all the irreplaceable knowledge in those books, so stop standing around and get moving!" She ordered.
The other people present who had halted their activities resumed them without delay. Only the leaf glover guy, didn't ignore me. I didn't need to be a precog to know they would never be able to save all the books in the time it would take for the fire to reach them and the tree to burn down.
When it did they would all share the fate of what they so relentless tried to save. Of course, assuming the constant cannon-bombardment from the Marine ships didn't weaken the tree stem sooner and it collapsed around them all.
I took a second and marveled at their dedication to preserve knowledge they even at the cost of their own lives.
But this wasn't why I was here, and I doubted any one of them would pause to answer my questions until all the books were safe.
I turned around and jumped out the window, a few steps through the air, and I was above the source of the fire raging to bring down the tree. It was clear at first glance, putting out the fire would be delicate work. A burst of air too strong could bring the severely damaged tree down. If it is too weak, it wouldn't stop the fire but might end up fueling it instead, for it to return even stronger.
I took my time to gauge the exact needed force, and when I was certain I clapped my hands hard together, the resulting shockwave of fast-moving air in every direction blew out the fire like a three-year-old would have done to her birthday cake candles.
This should buy us some time, hopefully the Marines wouldn't come investigate the reason the fire stopped and just keep firing in the hopes to relit it. This was also the reason I refrained from deflecting or blocking any of the cannon-balls exploding around us. Because in doing so, I might risk alerting them to my presence even if they couldn't sense me.
I returned inside the library and was received by a horde of people staring at me. The curiosity I saw reflected in their eyes was one I would have expected to see in a scientist shortly before he took out his scalpel to dissect a newly discovered specimen.
A cold shiver ran down my spine when I remembered the last time I was on the receiving end of such a stare – fucking Bonesaw – It took me a moment to shake off the unpleasant feeling.
Without addressing them, I walked into the middle of the multi-floor library.
"You better hold onto something, it will get windy in here," I said.
I left it at that warning and slowly started to spin on the spot, getting faster with every completed circle. The books were ripped out, one after another, from the shelves they were placed onto and were carried along by the small Tornado I created. I increased my speed steadily in order to not inflict more damage on the books than absolutely necessary. I kept spinning until all the shelves were empty.
Following this, I came to an abrupt stop with another strong burst of wind every item suspended in the air was blown outside through the window I originally entered.
Doing this created an underpressure inside the room. The backlash of air filling it up again was enough to send all the people unbalanced by the first burst of air sprawling to the ground.
They all sat up and gave the now empty room a look over. The Leaf-Glover guy uttered: "My god," under his breath.
"I suggest we leave before the tree comes crashing down on us," I said to them. Before I managed to take two steps I saw Olivia's face contort in horror and I heard her say.
"Robin, I have to get to Robin." She scrambled to her feet but was unable to make a single step because I appeared right in front of her.
"Are you talking about Robin, Nico Robin?" I asked her.
She looked at me bewildered but caught herself from going places.
"Yes, that's the name of my daughter. She is out there" she mulled over what to say next and suddenly grabbed my upper arms and pleaded "please you have to protect her."
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to her." I paused. "After all she is the reason I'm here in the first place."
However, considering the people present in the room, Robin was no longer the only person who might have been able to help me. On the contrary, the chance that one of them could help me was, in fact, a lot higher.
This, of course, didn't stop me from trying to help a little girl. By now, there were only two other presences on the Island a small weak one, fitting the presence on would expect a child to have, and a really strong one. What alarmed me was, that the small one was getting closer to the other presence.
Despite what I sensed with my Kenbunshoku Haki, I had to be certain it really was Robin, which was why sent out a weak burst of Haoshoku Haki to make every insect on the island subservient to me. What I saw through countless eyes put me immediately on edge- Wordlessly I disappeared in a Soru.
As I reached the clearing next to the sea, I could make out two persons. One was a very tall man sitting on a wooden log and across from him stood a small child.
I just caught the tail end of their conversation with my own ears.
"... Absolute justice ... sometimes drives a man insane. I've decided to let you escape from this island ... A seed that Saul protected I wonder what it'll become ... It's none of my business against whom you'll bear a grudge, but be glad, that you have your life now. In the future ... try to live a life as ordinary as possible."
The words were spoken by the man. He had curly dark hair emerging in bangs from under his bonnet and framed his long slender face. The goggles he wore combined with his coat made him look really shady, which was further emphasized by talking to a little girl alone in the outskirts of a forest that transitioned into a beach.
The small row-boat swaying in the waves really didn't help that impression.
A child that looked awfully familiar. Black straight hair, a simple worn strapless dress, and tear-filled eyes was the first impression I got from her. A far cry from what she was depicted as on her wanted poster. She was no child of the devil. She was probably as far away from earning that epithet as you can get. I should know, I have met a certain bio-tinker for whom this description would be more than apt. Therefore I knew exactly what I was talking about.
"As if that would be possible after what happened here today," I said after I emerged from behind the trees and walked towards them. I was careful not to place myself directly in between them in order to not block their view of each other. We ended up standing in an isosceles triangle with the girl, who I identified without a doubt as Nico Robin to my left and the towering man to the right.
"You know where I come from there is a saying `those that burn books also burn people´, I never thought I would actually witness the truth of that statement. I always assumed it was hyperbole, a warning to make it clear to people, that burning books destroying the knowledge contained within is the first step of a long path that eventually ends with dead people. That just shows how naive I was in my younger days."
"Who are you?" the man questioned.
I couldn't resist to channel my inner Tattletale at the opening his question provided. Gods how I missed her.
"Well, wouldn't you like to know? I think just for today, I will be the guardian of Ohara and its inhabitants, especially of that little lady over there. Which, to be frank, puts me at quite odds with you.
I mean, as noble as the sentiment is, not to kill a kid. Doing so because another person died protecting her, a person you killed, and in doing so, robbed her of that little protection she had does not tell me good things about your moral compass. Would you even have had any compunction or second-guessed your actions if not for this Saul person?"
There was only silence as a response.
"Didn't think so. Well I really hope the other marines out there aren't such radiant paragons of virtue like you, but considering what I have seen so far, you probably can be counted among the best of them, which doesn't reflect well on you lot, at all."
"Are you done mocking me?" he asked.
"Oh, I haven't even started yet. Just out of curiosity, what exactly do you think would have been the life like for an eight-year-old girl known to be able to decipher the Poneglyps? A life you so graciously saved, alone out in the world possessing the ability to uncover what happened during the void century, able to read the Road Poneglyps leading to Raftel. Surely you can't be, that naive in thinking that the glorious world government who didn't shy back to slaughter the inhabitants of a whole island, in order to keep that secret from getting out, making an example out of them - Thereby warning anyone of attempting to do the same - wouldn´t come after her the moment they learned of her survival. After all, you are working for that very Organisation. Given your rank insignia, you are pretty high up there in the chain of command. Shouldn't you know about their... crimes"
When he didn't respond I added.
"Oh another round of silence, why is that? Can't you face the truth to what life you just condemned her to? Constantly being on the run, unable to trust anybody the moment a bounty is placed on her head. Because there won't be anyone, not even the civilian populace, not after the riches such an easy mark provides. You sentenced her to a living hell, killing her would have been a mercy compared to that."
His countenance hardened into a mask of determination, and then he moved.
I hadn't much time to think things through.
If this guy was anything like me, I wouldn't be able to change his mind after a goal was placed in front of him. With four other strong presences close by, I couldn't take any chances.
Especially with one of them being equal in strength to this one, the remaining three were weaker, but not by much. Fighting all five of them, at the same time at that, would be a problem, one I might not be able to overcome. Since I wasn't willing to risk the lives of my crew nor Robins for a misplaced sense of morality. I was left with little choice, I couldn't afford to show him any mercy, which is why I didn't.
I deflected his punch aimed at Robin with a shoulder check from my left side to his right underarm. This diverted his attack, and he only hit empty air. I noticed a short flicker of surprise on his face as he recognized his fatal mistake. By then, it was too late to regret it. I was already within his guard Izanami unsheathed gripped by my hands angled low poised to strike for a diagonal rising cut, and strike I did. I poured everything into it to make sure to end it in one clean strike.
My sword flashed upwards. It entered his body from his left hip and left it under his right shoulder, severing his body in two. He staggered for a moment, disbelief clearly written on his face emphasized by the softly spoken "Oh, my" he brought over his lips until his body registered it had just died. He managed an unceremonial step backward and then fell down both parts of his body separated by ten-centimeter guts and blood exposed in the rift between them.
A short glance over my shoulder made it clear to me how close Robin came to dying. Behind her was a trench of pure ice that froze the landscape for dozen of meter rock solid. He must have been a logia-type devil-fruit user no wonder he was surprised when I was able to make contact with his body, and he thought me, not being a threat. A Haki user in West-Blue, especially someone with such a weak presence I allowed him to glimpse of me surely couldn't ever hope to touch him.
`Pride comes before the fall´, came to mind as I looked at his dead body at my feet.
Despite what I had said, I had no intention to manipulate him into attacking. I just wanted to gauge the person responsible for Robin's cruel fate, to find out the motives behind his actions.
I wanted to know if he was a good person with good intentions that found himself working for an organization that perverted his ideals. Therefore, he was trying to do the most good within the boundaries the organization set for him. Even going as far as to disregard some of the orders given when the opportunity presented itself.
Or was he something else? Someone who, for the most part, agreed with the actions taken here today? Just not when it came to killing kids, the innocent? Was he someone who just couldn't stomach the murder of kids or was he a hypocrite that was okay with it only if he himself had not to do it with his very own hands? Or was he just some twisted fuck, for whom it wasn't enough to have everybody the girl ever knew killed and saw the opportunity to torment her for the rest of the very short life she had in front of her after this incident?
In one of the former cases, I might have been able to get him to cooperate, a bounty for a little kid is no way acceptable. However, in the latter cases, this situation was a great opportunity to rid the world of him, because if he really turned out to be such a twisted person. He sooner or later would have come after Robin, after us. So I thought it would be better to remove him from the board now before he could become a problem later on.
What I didn't expect was this conflicted person thinking he would be doing her a favor by saving her life, without any further help on his part. Did he think it would be easy or manageable for an eight-year-old girl to survive in this world with a bounty on her head, never to be able to trust anyone for the rest of her life?
But to think my justified objections would get him to the point where he tried to mercy kill her, was unexpected. When all I wanted was for him to go all-in with helping her and not do it half-heartedly.
I was painfully reminded of one of the worst deeds of my life when I killed a girl even younger than Robin, a toddler, for what end exactly?
I was not a person who constantly looked back and analyzed every past action. Regret always seemed like a pointless endeavor, learning from one's mistakes I could understand but asking yourself what you could have done differently and lamenting having acted this or that way - that was just not me.
Still, I couldn't deny that I lay awake more than one night and thought back to Aster - and asked myself; Was it really necessary to kill her?
Every time the answer I give myself was yes - that even if, the assumption we operated under was wrong, that Aster trigger and resulting power could lead to the end of the world. As we later came to learn, there was nothing short of killing her that would have spared her the eternal torture at the hands of Grey Boy.
We, I had no other option -
Nonetheless, on particularly bad days, I found myself back in that situation, and there was this niggling doubt that came to the forefront of my mind - Did I really exhaust any option?
To be perfectly honest, even years later, after the fact, I had no definite answer to this question. If I had, I was certain, I would no longer be confronted with it.
The only thing I was sure of was that right here, right now. I found myself in a similar situation. Was this the universe attempt at a joke? Was this karma?
I honestly didn't know, and I was not sure I cared. Because this time, I found myself definitely on the right side of things. This time I could save the girl prevent the bad things from happening, and maybe I could even atone for what I did. - silence the niggling for good.
The selfish reason, finding a way back home, didn't even play a part in my thought process when I acted.
I had not much time remaining, the strongest remaining presence already got agitated.
I separated myself in two splitting my power fifty-fifty. One half immediately erased her presence and moved at top speed to the other side of the Island to where the cordon of Marine Battleships was located. My other self turned its head and shouted at the top of my lungs out at sea. "HANCOCK!"
To flag her down, after Kain transformed into me send her my way.
My eyes landed on Robin, her body shivering, tears streaming down her face. While her eyes were fixed on the body lying next to me in the ever-increasing puddle of blood. I would have liked nothing more than to spare her from witnessing the death of a person no one should see something like this at her age. Hopefully one day she could forgive me for it.
A more cynical part of me mentioned that without the actions I took in defense of her - to forgive me - she might not have lived long enough to get the opportunity to do so.
A moment later Hancock arrived with a sloppy Soru next to us. My gaze wasn't directed at her, but towards the sky, at the fast-approaching presence.
"Take her out of here," I gestured at Robin. "Get as much distance between me and what is coming our way as fast you can. And Hancock, whatever you do, stay away from the ship."
"Got it Onee-sama." She said and reached for Robin's hand, softly prompting her to move. Robin, at first, didn't react, she clearly was under shock, just staring ahead of her. We didn't have time for this.
"Get her away from here, right fucking now!" I barked. Those words prompted Hancock to give up her considerate approach. Instead, she just grabbed Robin's and dragged the catatonic girl with her.
Satisfied, I put on my mask and finished donning it just in time because not a second later, a huge spheric mass of glowing viscous liquid dropped out of the sky like a meteor.
The impact unrooted the trees in the immediate area, and the steaming red hot liquid spilled out of the crater. There were hissing sounds, and smoke appeared everywhere it made contact with, anything other than stone. Trees without the liquid getting nowhere near them just ignited from the sheer heat coming off from it.
In the very midst of the crater a human emerged, his body slowly formed out of the lava. Again, I saw myself confronted with a marine. This one was easily as tall as the one whose dead body lay at my feet. He wore a white marine cap under a gray hood, that was part of his marine coat, designating him as someone with a rank of captain or above.
He looked at me in a way that left no room for interpretation regarding his intent.
"Surrender yourself immediately or die," he announced without a shred of emotion as if he was stating an immutable fact of what was about to happen. I saw lava dripping from his right hand, clenched into a fist in greedy anticipation.
I would have preferred to face someone with such a dangerous-looking devil-fruit while being whole, on the other hand, it wouldn't stay a one on one in that case. It seemed like I just had to hold out long enough for my other half to return from her little errand, divide and conquer wouldn't be the first time I had to use this tactic.
"Leave now and I won't kill you and everybody else wearing a uniform in the vicinity of this Island." I threatened back.
My counteroffer wasn't meant any less sincere. The difference was I would prefer not to make it a reality.
I saw the chaw of his square face clench hard, in a smooth well-practiced movement, he retreated his hand and punched the air in front of him aimed at my position. From his first emerged a huge blob of lava that flew my way at high-speed. I sidestepped it, only to have to dodge another one and another he was relentlessly attacking, trying to back me into a corner.
He was unsuccessful. I could read his movements far too easy and his attacks weren't nearly fast enough to trouble me, which was why I swayed left and right and avoided his attacks with the least amount of movement possible.
But for some reason, the fact that he was didn't even try another venue of attack put me on edge. By now, after more than a dozen failed attempts to nick me, even the dumbest person should be aware of how futile his attacks were and change them into something else, something with a greater chance of actually hitting me.
I dodged another blob of lava, and in order to do so, I had to move diagonally to my upper left instead of just left because there was a blob of lava right next to me, when the realization hit me.
He wasn't trying to hit me, he was preparing the stage, reducing my ability to move.
He must have concluded given the death of his comrade through a bisecting slash that I might have taken him by surprise either through speed or trickery. Therefore he took no chances, taking control of the battlefield, reducing and hampering any possible attack vectors.
Furthermore, by doing this he was taking away my ability to dodge, slowly chipping away at the territory I can step on safely. Even his arrival worked towards that goal. He was literally standing in a sea of magma and barely moved a step since he arrived, probably thinking himself untouchable being protected this way.
If I wouldn't have been used to fight in a similar way with my bugs. I probably would have noticed this far later than I did. This meant I couldn't afford to waste time.
Sure, I could start running away from him turn this into a moving battle, but I wasn't confident I could contain the fight this way, Hancock and Robin were still close by, and our ship wasn't that far from the coast.
Obviously, I would prefer if this whack job of a morally bankrupt organization wouldn't start using them as target practice or even worse attacking them in an attempt to draw me out.
This was also the reason I didn't send the girls back to the ship, given how they handled the refugee ship. I was sure someone trying to get off the Island would have triggered the use of drastic measures. It might even have brought all the marines here.
Therefore seeing what this guy was able to do while holding back, the four on one fight I didn't fancy a few moments ago, was now something I really didn't want to occur.
It was time to turn this up a notch. An overhead sword strike from me sent a vertical wind-blade his way. My attack ended up severing a blob of lava which was rapidly approaching me, in the process. As it turned out, he was no slouch more than just a blaster, because he evaded it by moving his right foot behind his left, leaving me facing his left side, an opening I intended to use.
Because I doubted his physical abilities came close to mine, I suspected he would be too slow to avoid an attack coming from behind.
With a combination of Soru and Geppo, I moved to my right outside of his line of sight, and behind him, my sword was mid-thrust aimed right at his heart when my Kenbushoku Haki screamed at me to get away.
I pushed as hard as possible against the air surrounding me and focused my Haki into a dome facing forward, encapsulating me in an attempt to shield me.
A moment later, I softly landed over a hundred meters away from him. I was barely able to avoid my opponent's violent eruption into a magma spewing explosion that leveled the whole area into a burning crater. In addition, it was raining ash and magma down from the sky.
Now I knew why Rayleigh said Logia fruit users are tricky to fight even if you can overcome their intangibility. They only had the need to use Haki when they defended against a Haki reinforced attack, their opponent, in most cases, wasn't so lucky. Depending on the specifics of their fruit it might be necessary to use Haki in order to protect oneself from the damaging nature it possesses.
Forcing you to spend far more energy in a long drawn out fight – therefore it was no wonder he wanted to drag this out -
It also became clear this wasn't the only reason he was trying to buy time. He probably thought the longer he was in a fight against me the greater the chances his comrades would notice and move to intervene on his behalf.
But when I just went for the kill, given his reaction, I came closer to success than he would have liked. He misjudged me, and I forced him to rely on a move of desperation to avoid dying. A move that at the same time also served as a distress signal. There was just no way anybody could miss the ash cloud darkening the sky.
Unfortunately for him, his actions backfired to an epic degree.
The explosion and the ascending ash clouds distracted the other three high ranking marines for just a single moment, in which their vigilance was reduced as they looked at the darkening sky. A moment my other half currently separated into three entities was waiting, hoping for, an opening big enough to move against them all and take them out in a single devastating surprise attack.
The chances of success to kill the three strongest with an iteration of myself, holding just one-sixth of my power, without an opening were slim to nonexistent. If only one of them somehow survived my initial attack, thereby putting the remaining ones on edge. I would be in for a fight I couldn't afford and most likely not win.
I needed to take them all out in a single devastating attack. Thankfully Lava boy delivered exactly what I required of him.
My three clones moved in unison the instant I sensed his attack. A Soru burst brought one of me right behind the second strongest remaining presence, and I put my Haki reinforced fist right through his back, destroying his heart in the process. Another me's clawed gauntlet ripped out the throat of the next, and the for the last one I swiped my right clawed gauntlets through the air and four red lines appeared on this guy back, he didn't even have enough time to recognize what happened like the two others before he fell down in a lifeless heap at my feet. Blood started to pool out from the five parts of flesh I turned him into.
Only at that point, my three iteration became visible again.
One of the suit-wearing guys with a striped coat approached me. He was guarded on both sides by similar clothed guys without the coat. All the while radiating a smug confidence that was completely misplaced considering the events that just took place.
"A Rokushiki user," He said grinning. "If you yield and place yourself under me in CP-9 I'm sure we could find some ways to forget about your" he paused for a moment searching for the right word in his no doubt limited vocabulary "transgression against the Governments rule."
While he was occupied with essentially undressing me with his eyes, even though I wore my heavy coat and my full body armored costume san mask, nothing was justifying attracting this kind of attention. Sure, my costume clung to my body like a second skin, but the armor panels hid what little curves I had - even as a near twenty-year-old - to near perfection.
And that didn't even factor in that I just brutally murdered someone right in front of him. Given the lack of reaction, he showed probably not a comrade or a subordinate of him. Or was this just some kind of sick-fetish? Didn't matter; I was far more interested in the clues he let slip.
CP-9 this organization he seemed to be part of - No that didn't seem right he acted more like the Boss of it, thinking himself special, because of the authority that came with it - Was it some sort of secret service? All the circumstantial evidence pointed that way. This was, after all, an operation to suppress Government secrets from leaking, and there was no way just anybody would be allowed to participate in it.
Was he and this organization the reason this all happened in the first place? Seemed likely, which meant I had a lot of questions to ask him.
"You," I glowered as I took a step towards him, followed by another, and I could already see his confidence wavering, his smile became strained, and he slowly started to shrink back from me, for every step I made, in his direction he made two away from me.
Until he finally let fall all pretense and just yelled, "Kill her!" Kami-e allowed me to avoid all the bullets shot at me from the Marines that had slowly started to surround us from all sides after I killed their superior. To their misfortune, no one taught them how to do that in such a fashion that you avoid shooting your own comrades. They essentially took care of themselves without me helping it along.
Those, who escaped being shot by their own comrades stared fearfully at me. An effect that was further amplified, when I blocked the kicks aimed at my head from the two suit-wearing guards that appeared to my left and right with absolute ease. Even though this part of myself was made up of little more than one-sixth of the whole.
The most shocked about this were the two, that attacked me and whose attacks I stopped cold with seemingly no effort.
They didn't even try to flee after witnessing the gap in our abilities firsthand. Instead, gritting their teeth, they tried to overpower me. Increasing the pressure, they exerted on my arms I used to defend myself with. Amateurs, I thought to myself but didn't bother wasting another one on them. Because at that moment, translucent incredible fine weave of spider silk descended upon the whole area, covering the ships and everybody on them.
Those few, who were able to make it out with their eyes were taken aback. I, on the other hand, had to reassure myself of the necessity of what I was about to do. I couldn't allow for there to be anyone left able to report, anybody to spill anything of the events that took place here and the fact that there were any survivors. Another me appeared behind the scared out of his mind guy and vanished with him in tow. His disappearance allowed me to resume with my plan.
All those that remained, I denied the time to wonder about it and just pulled at the strings coiled around the hand of the one iteration still standing on top of another Marine vessel. The Haki reinforced spider silk went taut and cut through all ten battleships and their crews like a hot knife through butter.
No matter what was in their way or what they were wound around, it was cut into small bite-sized pieces, no exception.
I watched from the beach as the ships fell apart and the sea was colored red by the blood of the thousand people I killed with extreme prejudice. Ended their life without mercy should have left a bitter taste in my mouth, but strangely it didn't.
For a moment, I wondered if I was already this far gone, that such a carnage done by my hand didn't even faze me. It was gone as fast as it appeared because I couldn't forget what all those people that I turned into fish-food did to this Island to its people - they had it coming and got what they deserved.
With that thought on my mind, I left a catatonic guy behind at the beach. He was a low priority. There was nowhere he could run to, or hide on this Island where I couldn't find him. I vanished in the direction of the huge smoke plume forming in the distance.
The smile on the Lava guy's face froze on his face. Understandable, he was anticipating the arrival of the reinforcement, he alerted to his situation just with his eruption and found himself confronted with their deaths. Thereupon it disappeared and gave way to an even more disturbing grim expression.
"I warned you, didn't I," I said. "But you just wouldn't listen."
His demeanor changed from one instant to the other, from a predator thinking himself moments away from succeeding at taking down his prey. To that of a cornered rat trying to come up with ways to ensure its survival.
I certainly didn't forget the phrase that - a cornered animal is a dangerous animal - and that was doubly true for a human. Which was why I prepared myself for anything.
That was when I noticed, that Hancock and Robin stopped moving around the same time I evaded his attack. Seconds went by where we just stared at each other, gauging our opposite.
But what had me really worried was the fact that the girls didn't continue to run. Their auras were still strong and unwavering which ruled out that they were seriously injured. However, something had to be wrong because Hancock knew better than to stop and watch what was going on. So why didn't they move?
It took me a moment to direct some of the bugs under my control to where I sensed them to see the problem for myself. It didn't help matters that in addition to hot ash raining from the sky, blotches of Lava, spots of burning vegetation were littering the whole area. Not only did this kill a lot of my bugs but made turned moving them into a version of running the gauntlet.
I barely managed to get a picture of their predicament.
When I noticed the subtle shift in his stance, the changes in his presence, and before he knew what he was about to do, I was already aware. I dreaded this exact scenario, one of my charges being dragged into this fight.
He once more called forth incredible amounts of Lava from his body and formed it into an enormous tsunami that rolled towards Hancock and Robin, while his true self was somewhere liquified within the murder wave.
The scale of destruction a single user of such a logia-fruit was capable of was outright frightening, just going by this display, I was reminded of Endbringers all over again. With one major difference, this time, I was not powerless, unable to do anything about them.
For a moment, I considered going after him, take him down while he was hiding within his attack. But ultimately decided against it, there was no guarantee I could do it before the wave reached them. In case I was still tangled up in a fight by the point it reached them, I wouldn't be able to help them.
Which left me with just one real option, I had to spring his trap and hope my counter-strike would be enough to end it.
I appeared in a Soru right in front of the two girls, and a short glance towards them confirmed my earlier observations via bug why they had stopped moving. Hancock was jammed in between a tree and the ground. Given the scraps and dirt on Robin's knees and palms, she must have pushed her out of the way only to be caught by it herself.
Hancock was trying in vain to lift the in part with burning tree from her hip. Since she lacked the necessary leverage was unable to do so. Robin was still in a daze and was fear-stricken staring at the wall of superheated wall of lava, which was fast approaching.
I readied myself. I angled Izanami horizontally parallel to the ground. I was reapplying and fastening my hand's grip on her leather-bound handle. Meanwhile, I gathered my Haki and let it flow in a concentrated effort along the length of the blade, turning it into a physical representation of my Will, sharp, unwavering, unyielding, and most of all indomitable.
I could feel the heat permeating from my costume. The surrounding forest started to fume more of the residual water was vaporized, the closer the lave got to us. The air devoid of any humidity had me wet my lips.
I waited to the very last moment to strike. Izanami flashed from my very left to the very right, and a broad wind blade shot forward and met the tsunami of liquid fire head-on blowing it to pieces, dispersing the lava it consisted of throughout the clearing.
Exactly what I knew my opponent wanted to happen, slithering through a tunnel beneath the ground. He emerged from the earth at the exact moment my slash came to an end. His fist was poised to strike, my arms holding onto my blade to my far right out of position, my stance vulnerable, unable to shift to defend myself in time.
I only managed to raise my left elbow to meet his attack aimed for my heart head-on reinforced with all the Haki I could muster after expending the considerable amount I poured into my sword. Our wills clashed against each other, and both shattered like glass into tiny pieces. His attack was meeting my now unprotected arm, the momentum of it forced me to my knee. I was unable to compensate for the shifted balance my prior attack left me in.
I heard the sizzling sound of flesh being burned, as the lava flowed down my arm and threatened to spill on my torso. I felt the heat and the subsequent cold I knew followed burnt nerve strands. It didn't feel nearly as bad as I remembered having an arm stump cauterized. Nonetheless, it hurt like hell and I had to clench my teeth in order to not give him the gratification of hearing me cry out in pain.
"I win," he leered.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been right. He inflicted major damage to my arm, debilitating even. My mangled arm was moments away from being burned through, opening up an unobstructed path to my heart. The Haki I used to reinforce what little was left of my limb could only prolong the inevitable.
Most would lose the arm from the elbow down after receiving such an attack, and it definitely would have been checkmate against anybody else.
But not against me and certainly not today.
I presented him with the bait, and he bit down on it hard.
He was the fly that got caught in the net of the spider. I grinned under my mask as two razor-sharp spider legs burst out of his chest, piercing his heart in the process.
"No, you didn't," I mumbled to myself. And the appendages moved sideways in opposite directions severing the top quarter of his torso from the rest. His body fell lifeless to the ground, revealing my other self standing behind him, with spider-legs sprouting from her shoulder blades. While she walked around the corpse, she retracted them and went on to touch my upper arm, and we became one once more.
I shifted the damage my arm suffered to a few spiders who joined the dead on the ground, and my arm restructured itself from a mass of spiders into pristine condition. I sheathed Izanami and turned towards my vice-captain, who was still stuck struggling to free herself. I wedged my foot under the tree-trunk and lifted it off Hancock. She scrambled to her feet and dusted herself off.
Hancock's cheeks were tinged rosy. The way she avoided looking into my eyes and had her gaze firmly pointed towards the ground made it clear to me she felt ashamed. She failed to fulfill a simple command, get the girl to safety, and instead ended up putting herself, the girl I ordered her to protect, and me in danger.
I knew any encouraging words I could have said to her in this moment, would just be perceived as me taking pity on her. Which was why I decided not to voice any. I put my hand on her head and ruffled her hair.
"Take your charge to the huge tree in the center of the Island. Her mother should be there waiting for her. I will be there shortly." I said to her.
All I received from her was a nod of her head as acknowledgment.
I sighed and made a mental note to carefully monitor her behavior, in the coming days. It was one thing wanting to do better, but something entirely different to see herself as a failure. With their still mending self-esteem, I had to be careful that it didn't turn into self-loathing.
I waited until Hancock took Robin piggy-back and left the burning field towards the tree before I moved in a different direction. I had something to verify, twice during my fights; I noticed a fruit suddenly transforming into something else. If the spiders in the vicinity wouldn't have felt a sudden drop in temperature around a fruit-bearing plant after I killed the first high-ranking marine.
I might have missed an increase in temperature near another fruit after killing the fifth and wouldn't have sent some spiders to investigate.
Should my suspicions turn out to be correct, the number of unused devil-fruits in my possession would go up to six.
I arrived in a small clearing, away from prying eyes hidden in the midst of the forest. As I looked around, I noticed a huge variety of different plants within it. I was no botanist. Therefore I couldn't be entirely sure. But it struck me as odd to find such a variety here, far above what was usual for a natural grown part of the forest. A closer look revealed what perturbed me, there were at most two of every plant present, and their placement was orderly.
No plant had to compete with its neighbor, not for sunlight or space to grow in. It was by design that no one had any deficits - human design.
I was in a garden, and if I had to guess, I doubted most of the plants found here are indigenous to this Island. What purpose it served was anyone guess, either way not something I cared about.
I walked to a small bush, the fruits growing on it reminded me strongly of pepperoni. They were red and had a cylindrical shape that attenuated from the top to the bottom of the fruit. Amongst a good dozen of them growing on the bush was an outlier, it had black tendrils spread along the fruit, and the color was a deeper red. As I reached for it, I could feel the heat it emanated. I plugged it and resumed my trek to the other `strange´ fruit in this garden.
The tree I neared had fruits hanging from it. They looked similar to a maracuja, the difference being a dark blueish tinge to them. The fruit I was interested in, on the other hand, was light blue with a white pattern displayed on it. A small wind-blade attack sent forth from the tips of my fingers severed the fruit from the tree, and I caught it in my hand. I immediately noticed how cold it was to my touch, and on closer inspection, the white pattern on the fruit turned out to be stylistic snow crystals.
I stashed the fruit to the other one in my backpack and then walked toward the real reason I sent the kids ahead, the lone CP-9 Agent left on the Island. I needed some questions answered ...
Authors Note: The attentive Readers might have already noticed what Taylor being there means.
One of the results might have been, without a small girl in need of saving that Taylor never would have undergone training under Rayleigh, which would have had a rather large impact on the story.
Given my pen-name, everything Taylor did in this and to be honest in the prior chapters with Bonny should have generated a Time-Paradox ... Since she actively removed the cause for her actions.
Not sure if some of you know the movie "the time machine" from 2002 the latest movie adaption of the book of the same name by H.G. Wells. In it, the main character built a time-machine after the death of his betrothed with the sole purpose to prevent her from dying.
The problem with this is quite clearly also a violation of cause and effect -
Since his betrothed death, was the cause for him to build the time machine in the first place. Therefore if he now travels back in time he would effectively be removing that very cause. In a causality-subjected universe, he wouldn't be able to alter this event in any way.
This is my preferred way of how time travel should work in (science)fiction – it pretty much only allows you to change things that you have already changed. Another very good example of this would be the movie Twelve Monkeys.
Unfortunately, this is also is the least interesting form of time-travel possible solely because events can't be changed. Meaning everything is fated to play out exactly the same despite somebody time-traveling... which let's be honest more often than not (if the time-travel mechanics are known) makes for a boring read.
.
Which is "unfortunately" not what is needed for this story – Sure I could make it work ... have Taylor shadow Robin for the duration necessary for the report of Robins sighting to be made. Perhaps with Taylor being the one ending this Pirate gang, Robin was seen in the company off. So in essence, forcing Taylor to not create any inconsistency in the timeline.
Having said that – please don't overthink the time-travel you witnessed here so far. It is pretty much just a tool to allow Taylor the crew I want for her to have despite them living all over the place. A tool to allow Taylor "easy travel" to other and different regions of the world, a way to assemble her crew in a short and hopefully interesting way.
So pretty much everything Taylor did while not in the Rainbow fog is part of a timeline she essentially erased from ever having happened (more to this effect in later chapters). For the items and people she brought with her they gain the same protection from causality Taylor has going for her (Fate-spider). Meaning when they return to "normal time" at one point, persons and especially items/devil-Fruits won't exist twice. Their existence got overwritten by those Taylor & Co have in their possession.
Not that this makes a lot more sense, but at least it helps against the headache-inducing problems ...Not that it really matters - Taylor will return to a time after she made those changes to history, but sometime before the start of One Piece canon.
Originally I intended to write this chapter as an Interlude from the point of view of Robin, but it would have been a retelling of pretty much anything that happened to her in canon with the divergence point being the conversation between Robin and Ao Kiji. On the one hand, it would have been a good opportunity to show how others, especially a close to despair Robin, would have reacted to Taylor. Being saved by her from the fate that would await her. On the other hand by doing it this way I could spare you all having to read a rehash of what occurred on Ohara in canon.
This chapter contains excerpts of One Piece chapter 397 – unfortunately, I can't seem to find the group responsible for the English translation I took my excerpts from to credit them for it.
Another thing - since it was mentioned several times.
In the non-altered timeline from the two fruits Bonney held hostage the Hana Hana no Mi (Robin canon fruit) would have fallen into the ocean and from there made its way to Ohara to be eaten by Robin. Instead, since the slaver's ship was forced to evade to the right, the other fruit fell into the ocean. So yes - expect Robin to have a different canon fruit.
Some have mentioned Bonney's presumed connection to Sorbet kingdom and Bartholomew Kuma. I haven´t watched the anime in quite some time - but what I gathered from the manga and the wiki seems to agree with me. That Bonney infiltrated the Levely by poising as the Dowager Queen Connie - So far there is nothing that would prove the contrary, that she is in fact the Queen.
To be honest I never considered that to be true - Given the hints that Bonney at one point was a "guest" of the world government. (Especially considering that I think her canon power can do exactly what I postulated in the last chapter - she is an incredible asset - second probably only to the Ope Ope no Mi (Law's DF)).
Therefore, I concluded, since she escaped from the WG at least twice that she had a knack for disguise and infiltration ... and a beef to pick with them.
I mean the circumstantial evidence that she has a deeper connection to Ace or Whitebeard is IMO more pronounced.
There won't be a chapter next week - Starting on December 20 I'm posting another story a "classic" Alt-power fic - But I will return to this one.
Captains Log: 23.01.1506
By now, it has been a little over a month that Bonney joined our little crew. So far, she seems to have integrated seamlessly. For the most part, Hancock is to thank for that. Without her including Bonney in everything she and her sister do, it might not have been so easy.
Bonney is an odd kid, intelligent and usually subdued, but when it comes to food, she changes into a gluttonous extroverted little monster.
At first, I thought her recent captivity has to be the reason for that behavior. Since the prisoners Bonney included showed signs of malnutrition that she was overcompensating. Eating, what she was denied, during the time she spent in a cage, like an animal. I assumed it would normalize overtime when she realizes that there is no longer a shortage of food. Especially after she regained the bodyweight she must have lost.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. Even after weeks of her never leaving a table hungry it continued. Strangely enough, she put on some weight to the level one would expect a girl her age to be, but then she stopped gaining weight for some reason. Despite her unchanged eating habits, the training she joined in with the others, and her muscle gain in time doesn't account for all those calories she ingests.
If so, the Boa sisters who eat a fraction of what she does would be in quite a bit of trouble since it would mean they were underfed for quite some time, which clearly wasn't the case.
For now, I put it down under Devil-Fruit shenanigans since I can't come up with another reasonable explanation, and it is unlikely I will without consulting a doctor. I mention this because we are now trapped in this rainbow mist for exactly 39 days. If I also count the time since our departure from Shaboady, it adds up to 60 days on sea.
60 days of uninterrupted sea-travel, if not for that little encounter with those slavers.
Slowly but surely, our provisions are depleting - we stretch the time that the provisions will last us with fishing for food, and collecting the rain helps us with our water supply. Despite that, I assume we won't have much time until we inevitably end up with deficiency symptoms of some kind.
In this world, there are no freezers. Therefore the ways to preserve food are severely limited. While producing dried fruits is a known procedure, it is not commonly used, which makes it rare and expensive. The very limited supply we, thankfully, had onboard lasted us till today, with it now at an end, I suspect it won't be long until the first of us begins to show symptoms.
This usually wouldn't be so much of a problem, with the few eternal Pose and the Log Pose we have onboard, we could make way for an Island.
But we find ourselves in extraordinary circumstances since this rainbow mist seems to prevent the Poses, no matter which, from functioning properly.
All they do since the moment we entered the mist is spinning uncontrollably - unable to point us in a direction.
We are stuck inside with no way out of it. The only form of navigation we have. If I can even call it, that is the ability I gained from the fate-spider. An invisible thread, originating from my chest extending into the fog. In default of any other viable options, I have us follow where it was leading.
But with every additional day that we got nowhere. I feel more and more like Theseus. I just hope I could trust my Ariadne. Because I'm unable, despite more than just trying, to make any sense of her mind her memories. Hell - even just looking through the fate Spider eyes has me suffering vertigo. Like she possessed senses that just wouldn't translate to my human mind. As if her senses grant her access to an additional layer of reality existing and perceiving things in a different manner than everybody else.
In the past I had a similar problem with some of the bug senses - it took time getting used to them which is why I originally only relied on their sense of touch and suppressed their other sensory impressions. This is similar but a thousand times worse. I can't see myself getting a grip on this any time soon. I just hope it won't be too late by then.
The girls training proceeds smoothly. They are ahead of the curve I estimated they would follow. It is most likely due to Bonney since Hancock took her under her wing. The novelty of having another girl train with them seems to have reinvigorated their motivation.
With Hancock already able to use a bastardized version of Soru and able to use Geppou for a few minutes. I'm confident her sister won't take much longer to get there too. This also means that the day I have to make my decision, if I should allow them to eat a Devil-Fruit is getting closer with every passing day.
I'm not sure what they would decide to do given the option. They showed some interest in Bonney Devil Fruit ability and my own but eventually lost interest in the topic - Accepting the fact and then moving on.
At least for the most part. After I showed them, a few things I can do with my power, including Kain and Lilith. My spiders sort of ended up as our mascots, the girl's new pets, so to say.
I could glean some information from the girls while cooing over them.
The amazons have a long history of having snakes as pets and companions which is reflected in their Pirate flag. A human skull surrounded by clockwise oriented snakeheads.
Even now weeks later, the girls leave no opportunity out to pet them. I would have expected this behavior would weaken with time. But no such luck. The girls even forbade me, to fuse them back into me.
For this very reason, Kain and Lilith have taken up residency in the crows nest. The only place they are spared from the girl's overbearing affection ... well for the most part.
With a smile on my lips, I signed my logbook entry and closed it. I was getting back in the hand of writing things in my old cipher I used to make notes about my powers back in the day. Given some things I wrote in this book, I thought it prudent to take every precaution to make its contents as safe as I could manage.
I looked upwards and saw Sandersonia, again, climbing the mast to pet and cuddle them or any of their many smaller and therefore cuter offspring, who also use the crows nest as a sanctuary.
"Sandersonia, leave the spiders alone," I said. "They are sleeping."
"I know Onee-sama that's why I want to see them. They are so cute when they are sleeping atop of each other." She cooed.
I just shook my head. - girls.
I pushed myself to my feet from my position on the ground and took a step to my right in order to not be overrun by Bonney. She was closely followed by Marigold.
"Give it back," she demanded.
"No, I'm a thief. We don't just give back the things we have stolen. You have to catch me first." Bonney said grinning from the stern of the ship as Marigold slowly moved closer. Her hands spread out ready to obstruct Bonney's way past her at a moment's notice.
This didn't cow Bonney in the slightest, she used the few feet she had as a run-up and allowed herself to be directed towards the railing. But instead of closing all avenues of escape, Marigold thought her herding might result in. Bonney used the railing as a springboard and just jumped over Marigold. She landed right next to me in a crouch, grinning over both ears with her haul clasped in her hands.
With a swift hand swipe, I took it away from her. She looked at me with disbelief plastered on her face.
"A thief shouldn't allow herself to be stolen from this easy," I told her with a straight face.
As it turned out, the object in my hands was a rolled parchment. Opening it up revealed a drawn portrait of Marigold. Another one of Hancock attempts to get her drawing skill up to snuff for her to feel confident enough to tackle our flag.
A superficial glance showed me that she got better. She demonstrated a talent for drawing when she first started. A talent that was clear to see by now.
I handed it over to Marigold, who immediately pressed it close to her chest and gave Bonney an evil glare.
"So you wanna elaborate why you decided to steal from Marigold?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and stern voice.
If I didn't know any better, the frequency with which those events occurred, - Bonney stealing something - might have gotten me thinking that she was a kleptomaniac. If not for her explanation, which with some small changes stayed the same since the first incident.
"To train Onee-sama, how often do I have to repeat myself for you, to finally get it," she said agitated.
"Remind me again, what kind of training." I wondered feigning ignorance.
"Anti-theft training, of course. Marigold has to learn to defend her possessions against thieves the Grand Line is full of them," she said grinning.
So this time, it is theft-training, no longer vigilance or endurance or any of the half dozen other excuses she used in past.
"And you are the best and worst of them all," I played along.
"Exactly - If she can keep her stuff save from me, she needn't fear any other thieves."
"Right -" I said. It was only a half-truth. She was also training herself in being a better thief.
"If that would be true, why aren't you stealing from my sisters," She asked.
Bonney shrugged and walked away.
The answer to Marigold's question being, because Bonney knew better than to mess with the others. Sandersonia was too aware of her surroundings, foiling her attempts to steal something from her right at the start, and Hancock was currently faster than her.
Something, I was sure wouldn't last. I suspected that she would try to excel at Soru. Her Devil Fruit, personality, and self-chosen profession all pointed in that direction, and she happened to be the fastest of the lot, not accounting for the others using any Rokushiki techniques.
I suspect that the moment she makes some headway in that direction, Sandersonia and Hancock once more become possible targets in order to keep her own and their skills sharp.
It was one of the reasons I didn't put my foot down and stopped this. The other it wasn't down maliciously at the end if she got caught or not Bonney always handed back what she stole undamaged.
The Boa sisters knew it was all in good faith. So they always left it at a token protest, humoring Bonney. There has yet to be a retaliation of any form, and with Marigold preparing the meals she was in the prime position to teach Miss gluttony a lesson. But chose not to - not sure if wasting food this would undoubtedly result in, played a part in her decision making.
Either way, I appreciated it. As the Cook, and as a direct consequence, thereof the rationing of food was an important task on any ship, and I was glad she was up for it.
I noticed the fog was getting thinner as I was able to see further.
Suddenly the fog lifted itself, and we saw something else than the milky hue we were surrounded with for too long.
There was an Island a few kilometers ahead of our ship. A huge tree towered over the small landmass, its branches ranging to the outer edges of it.
On the far side of the Island, I could make out a group of warships shooting salvo after salvo on land, the big tree, already on fire, was enduring the bombardment so far.
I recognized the tree immediately. There was no doubt this was Ohara. The tree of knowledge was the huge giveaway, and if I was right in this, we just stumbled onto the Buster Call that wiped out the entire Island and killed every one of its inhabitants.
At the very same moment, I had this thought; another ship came into my view. Given its size and the strength of the presence on board, I could sense from it; there clearly were only civilians on board. Survivors evacuating the Island? But I thought there were none before the realization of what was about to happen hit me. The ship went up in a huge explosion; destroyed by the concentrated fire of the warships.
"Hard backboard," I ordered. "Get us out of the sight of those ships. Use the Island as cover and hide us on the opposite side of them."
I knew this couldn't protect the ship from being detected via Kenbunshoku Haki, since only I could completely erase any trace of my presence, but it might buy me some time to find Robin, and perhaps with her the answers I sought.
"Hancock you are in command, circle the Island the way I told you," I said. "Should you get discovered use your own judgment to address the situation. But keep in mind nothing is as important as your lives."
"Where are you going Onee-sama?" she asked.
"I'm just going to take a look around," I said ominously and vanished with a Soru. I immediately suppressed my presence to the best of my abilities. Erasing the average civilian presence I usually emitted.
For the first time in quite a while I set my foot on solid ground, it was not like I actually missed it. But there was a slight feeling of longing that was hard to deny existed. I just hoped it could be satisfied under better circumstances.
A few short Soru burst brought me closer to the center of the island, where the population center was located. From the edge of the small town, I saw people running away. Most of them were Marines, their uniforms leaving little doubt about their affiliation, but I also saw another group accompanying them.
Men in Black Suits, given the demeanor the fact they also were armed, and the occasional look for guidance leveled towards them from the regular Marines, made it clear they were working together in some fashion.
Some high-ranking members of the World Government, which were not directly integrated into the hierarchy perhaps?
None of them took notice of me, although I did nothing to hide from their eyes or paid any attention to their surroundings.
Their minds solely focused on escaping. I took a step further inside the town when I noticed it. The smell of burnt human flesh permeated the air, a smell I, unfortunately, grew accustomed to such a degree that I had no problem in recognizing it.
Despite the omnipresent fire, explosions, and the in part panicked screams of the fast retreating Marines. I could sense a group of people milling around in the depths of the tree of knowledge.
Which I realized now that I was closer, turned out to be a human-made structure. The huge tree was grooved out, like a building with the difference, that it wasn't built but grown. It must have been an incredibly arduous task to manage that without killing the tree in the process and spoke volumes of the people that lived here.
Unfortunately, this would be one more monument of human ingenuity, that I would witness being destroyed. The flames were already licking at its base, fast working their way upwards. There were the occasional impacts of cannon-fire on the tree bark, but so far the tree weathered it.
No wonder, given the thickness of the wood. Without the fire consuming it, I was certain the tree could have withstood it for years.
My curiosity piqued by what was going on inside the tree, I decided to take a look. I let my gaze roam the tree and found an open window at roughly the same height and distance I sensed people at. The unusual thing about it was, that at irregular intervals books were thrown out of it. They all landed in the small lake under the window at the bottom of the tree.
A few Geppo-steps through the air brought me to the outer edge of the window.
I barely made a step inside, as I already had to dodge books that were thrown recklessly my way. Only for the books to land outside with a splash inside the lake. Marking the start of them sinking down the bottom next to all the others already there. Within moments of my appearance, all the work ceased and the people present were looking at me with suspicion.
A battered up tall white-haired woman in her mid-thirties was the first to address me.
"Did they grew impatient?" she hissed, "Does it take too long for them to see us burn to death? Is that why they sent you here?
I raised an eyebrow at those allegations and was about to correct her when an elderly man preempted me. He uprighted himself behind the woman, where he was busy clearing out the bottom shelve of a bookcase, and laid his hand on her shoulder. This immediately served to let the woman lapse into silence and she slightly turned her head to give the man an inquiring gaze.
The man was old, he looked like a three and a half leaf glover come alive, the hairs of his beard and two strangely formed pigtails sprouting from the back of his head together resembled the petals of an upside-down three leaves glover. Whereas his Iroquois hair-style resembled the stem, even his hair had a slight green touch to it, reminiscent of a plant.
"Olivia calm down and take a look at her. She clearly isn't a Marine." He admonished the woman, now identified as Olivia, and then refocused his attention on me "But that begs the question why you are here young woman?"
Olivia interrupted his inquiry.
"It doesn't matter why she is here. we don't have time for this. In case you forgot we are about to be burned alive and the same goes for all the irreplaceable knowledge in those books, so stop standing around and get moving!" She ordered.
The other people present who had halted their activities resumed them without delay. Only the leaf glover guy, didn't ignore me. I didn't need to be a precog to know they would never be able to save all the books in the time it would take for the fire to reach them and the tree to burn down.
When it did they would all share the fate of what they so relentless tried to save. Of course, assuming the constant cannon-bombardment from the Marine ships didn't weaken the tree stem sooner and it collapsed around them all.
I took a second and marveled at their dedication to preserve knowledge they even at the cost of their own lives.
But this wasn't why I was here, and I doubted any one of them would pause to answer my questions until all the books were safe.
I turned around and jumped out the window, a few steps through the air, and I was above the source of the fire raging to bring down the tree. It was clear at first glance, putting out the fire would be delicate work. A burst of air too strong could bring the severely damaged tree down. If it is too weak, it wouldn't stop the fire but might end up fueling it instead, for it to return even stronger.
I took my time to gauge the exact needed force, and when I was certain I clapped my hands hard together, the resulting shockwave of fast-moving air in every direction blew out the fire like a three-year-old would have done to her birthday cake candles.
This should buy us some time, hopefully the Marines wouldn't come investigate the reason the fire stopped and just keep firing in the hopes to relit it. This was also the reason I refrained from deflecting or blocking any of the cannon-balls exploding around us. Because in doing so, I might risk alerting them to my presence even if they couldn't sense me.
I returned inside the library and was received by a horde of people staring at me. The curiosity I saw reflected in their eyes was one I would have expected to see in a scientist shortly before he took out his scalpel to dissect a newly discovered specimen.
A cold shiver ran down my spine when I remembered the last time I was on the receiving end of such a stare – fucking Bonesaw – It took me a moment to shake off the unpleasant feeling.
Without addressing them, I walked into the middle of the multi-floor library.
"You better hold onto something, it will get windy in here," I said.
I left it at that warning and slowly started to spin on the spot, getting faster with every completed circle. The books were ripped out, one after another, from the shelves they were placed onto and were carried along by the small Tornado I created. I increased my speed steadily in order to not inflict more damage on the books than absolutely necessary. I kept spinning until all the shelves were empty.
Following this, I came to an abrupt stop with another strong burst of wind every item suspended in the air was blown outside through the window I originally entered.
Doing this created an underpressure inside the room. The backlash of air filling it up again was enough to send all the people unbalanced by the first burst of air sprawling to the ground.
They all sat up and gave the now empty room a look over. The Leaf-Glover guy uttered: "My god," under his breath.
"I suggest we leave before the tree comes crashing down on us," I said to them. Before I managed to take two steps I saw Olivia's face contort in horror and I heard her say.
"Robin, I have to get to Robin." She scrambled to her feet but was unable to make a single step because I appeared right in front of her.
"Are you talking about Robin, Nico Robin?" I asked her.
She looked at me bewildered but caught herself from going places.
"Yes, that's the name of my daughter. She is out there" she mulled over what to say next and suddenly grabbed my upper arms and pleaded "please you have to protect her."
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to her." I paused. "After all she is the reason I'm here in the first place."
However, considering the people present in the room, Robin was no longer the only person who might have been able to help me. On the contrary, the chance that one of them could help me was, in fact, a lot higher.
This, of course, didn't stop me from trying to help a little girl. By now, there were only two other presences on the Island a small weak one, fitting the presence on would expect a child to have, and a really strong one. What alarmed me was, that the small one was getting closer to the other presence.
Despite what I sensed with my Kenbunshoku Haki, I had to be certain it really was Robin, which was why sent out a weak burst of Haoshoku Haki to make every insect on the island subservient to me. What I saw through countless eyes put me immediately on edge- Wordlessly I disappeared in a Soru.
As I reached the clearing next to the sea, I could make out two persons. One was a very tall man sitting on a wooden log and across from him stood a small child.
I just caught the tail end of their conversation with my own ears.
"... Absolute justice ... sometimes drives a man insane. I've decided to let you escape from this island ... A seed that Saul protected I wonder what it'll become ... It's none of my business against whom you'll bear a grudge, but be glad, that you have your life now. In the future ... try to live a life as ordinary as possible."
The words were spoken by the man. He had curly dark hair emerging in bangs from under his bonnet and framed his long slender face. The goggles he wore combined with his coat made him look really shady, which was further emphasized by talking to a little girl alone in the outskirts of a forest that transitioned into a beach.
The small row-boat swaying in the waves really didn't help that impression.
A child that looked awfully familiar. Black straight hair, a simple worn strapless dress, and tear-filled eyes was the first impression I got from her. A far cry from what she was depicted as on her wanted poster. She was no child of the devil. She was probably as far away from earning that epithet as you can get. I should know, I have met a certain bio-tinker for whom this description would be more than apt. Therefore I knew exactly what I was talking about.
"As if that would be possible after what happened here today," I said after I emerged from behind the trees and walked towards them. I was careful not to place myself directly in between them in order to not block their view of each other. We ended up standing in an isosceles triangle with the girl, who I identified without a doubt as Nico Robin to my left and the towering man to the right.
"You know where I come from there is a saying `those that burn books also burn people´, I never thought I would actually witness the truth of that statement. I always assumed it was hyperbole, a warning to make it clear to people, that burning books destroying the knowledge contained within is the first step of a long path that eventually ends with dead people. That just shows how naive I was in my younger days."
"Who are you?" the man questioned.
I couldn't resist to channel my inner Tattletale at the opening his question provided. Gods how I missed her.
"Well, wouldn't you like to know? I think just for today, I will be the guardian of Ohara and its inhabitants, especially of that little lady over there. Which, to be frank, puts me at quite odds with you.
I mean, as noble as the sentiment is, not to kill a kid. Doing so because another person died protecting her, a person you killed, and in doing so, robbed her of that little protection she had does not tell me good things about your moral compass. Would you even have had any compunction or second-guessed your actions if not for this Saul person?"
There was only silence as a response.
"Didn't think so. Well I really hope the other marines out there aren't such radiant paragons of virtue like you, but considering what I have seen so far, you probably can be counted among the best of them, which doesn't reflect well on you lot, at all."
"Are you done mocking me?" he asked.
"Oh, I haven't even started yet. Just out of curiosity, what exactly do you think would have been the life like for an eight-year-old girl known to be able to decipher the Poneglyps? A life you so graciously saved, alone out in the world possessing the ability to uncover what happened during the void century, able to read the Road Poneglyps leading to Raftel. Surely you can't be, that naive in thinking that the glorious world government who didn't shy back to slaughter the inhabitants of a whole island, in order to keep that secret from getting out, making an example out of them - Thereby warning anyone of attempting to do the same - wouldn´t come after her the moment they learned of her survival. After all, you are working for that very Organisation. Given your rank insignia, you are pretty high up there in the chain of command. Shouldn't you know about their... crimes"
When he didn't respond I added.
"Oh another round of silence, why is that? Can't you face the truth to what life you just condemned her to? Constantly being on the run, unable to trust anybody the moment a bounty is placed on her head. Because there won't be anyone, not even the civilian populace, not after the riches such an easy mark provides. You sentenced her to a living hell, killing her would have been a mercy compared to that."
His countenance hardened into a mask of determination, and then he moved.
I hadn't much time to think things through.
If this guy was anything like me, I wouldn't be able to change his mind after a goal was placed in front of him. With four other strong presences close by, I couldn't take any chances.
Especially with one of them being equal in strength to this one, the remaining three were weaker, but not by much. Fighting all five of them, at the same time at that, would be a problem, one I might not be able to overcome. Since I wasn't willing to risk the lives of my crew nor Robins for a misplaced sense of morality. I was left with little choice, I couldn't afford to show him any mercy, which is why I didn't.
I deflected his punch aimed at Robin with a shoulder check from my left side to his right underarm. This diverted his attack, and he only hit empty air. I noticed a short flicker of surprise on his face as he recognized his fatal mistake. By then, it was too late to regret it. I was already within his guard Izanami unsheathed gripped by my hands angled low poised to strike for a diagonal rising cut, and strike I did. I poured everything into it to make sure to end it in one clean strike.
My sword flashed upwards. It entered his body from his left hip and left it under his right shoulder, severing his body in two. He staggered for a moment, disbelief clearly written on his face emphasized by the softly spoken "Oh, my" he brought over his lips until his body registered it had just died. He managed an unceremonial step backward and then fell down both parts of his body separated by ten-centimeter guts and blood exposed in the rift between them.
A short glance over my shoulder made it clear to me how close Robin came to dying. Behind her was a trench of pure ice that froze the landscape for dozen of meter rock solid. He must have been a logia-type devil-fruit user no wonder he was surprised when I was able to make contact with his body, and he thought me, not being a threat. A Haki user in West-Blue, especially someone with such a weak presence I allowed him to glimpse of me surely couldn't ever hope to touch him.
`Pride comes before the fall´, came to mind as I looked at his dead body at my feet.
Despite what I had said, I had no intention to manipulate him into attacking. I just wanted to gauge the person responsible for Robin's cruel fate, to find out the motives behind his actions.
I wanted to know if he was a good person with good intentions that found himself working for an organization that perverted his ideals. Therefore, he was trying to do the most good within the boundaries the organization set for him. Even going as far as to disregard some of the orders given when the opportunity presented itself.
Or was he something else? Someone who, for the most part, agreed with the actions taken here today? Just not when it came to killing kids, the innocent? Was he someone who just couldn't stomach the murder of kids or was he a hypocrite that was okay with it only if he himself had not to do it with his very own hands? Or was he just some twisted fuck, for whom it wasn't enough to have everybody the girl ever knew killed and saw the opportunity to torment her for the rest of the very short life she had in front of her after this incident?
In one of the former cases, I might have been able to get him to cooperate, a bounty for a little kid is no way acceptable. However, in the latter cases, this situation was a great opportunity to rid the world of him, because if he really turned out to be such a twisted person. He sooner or later would have come after Robin, after us. So I thought it would be better to remove him from the board now before he could become a problem later on.
What I didn't expect was this conflicted person thinking he would be doing her a favor by saving her life, without any further help on his part. Did he think it would be easy or manageable for an eight-year-old girl to survive in this world with a bounty on her head, never to be able to trust anyone for the rest of her life?
But to think my justified objections would get him to the point where he tried to mercy kill her, was unexpected. When all I wanted was for him to go all-in with helping her and not do it half-heartedly.
I was painfully reminded of one of the worst deeds of my life when I killed a girl even younger than Robin, a toddler, for what end exactly?
I was not a person who constantly looked back and analyzed every past action. Regret always seemed like a pointless endeavor, learning from one's mistakes I could understand but asking yourself what you could have done differently and lamenting having acted this or that way - that was just not me.
Still, I couldn't deny that I lay awake more than one night and thought back to Aster - and asked myself; Was it really necessary to kill her?
Every time the answer I give myself was yes - that even if, the assumption we operated under was wrong, that Aster trigger and resulting power could lead to the end of the world. As we later came to learn, there was nothing short of killing her that would have spared her the eternal torture at the hands of Grey Boy.
We, I had no other option -
Nonetheless, on particularly bad days, I found myself back in that situation, and there was this niggling doubt that came to the forefront of my mind - Did I really exhaust any option?
To be perfectly honest, even years later, after the fact, I had no definite answer to this question. If I had, I was certain, I would no longer be confronted with it.
The only thing I was sure of was that right here, right now. I found myself in a similar situation. Was this the universe attempt at a joke? Was this karma?
I honestly didn't know, and I was not sure I cared. Because this time, I found myself definitely on the right side of things. This time I could save the girl prevent the bad things from happening, and maybe I could even atone for what I did. - silence the niggling for good.
The selfish reason, finding a way back home, didn't even play a part in my thought process when I acted.
I had not much time remaining, the strongest remaining presence already got agitated.
I separated myself in two splitting my power fifty-fifty. One half immediately erased her presence and moved at top speed to the other side of the Island to where the cordon of Marine Battleships was located. My other self turned its head and shouted at the top of my lungs out at sea. "HANCOCK!"
To flag her down, after Kain transformed into me send her my way.
My eyes landed on Robin, her body shivering, tears streaming down her face. While her eyes were fixed on the body lying next to me in the ever-increasing puddle of blood. I would have liked nothing more than to spare her from witnessing the death of a person no one should see something like this at her age. Hopefully one day she could forgive me for it.
A more cynical part of me mentioned that without the actions I took in defense of her - to forgive me - she might not have lived long enough to get the opportunity to do so.
A moment later Hancock arrived with a sloppy Soru next to us. My gaze wasn't directed at her, but towards the sky, at the fast-approaching presence.
"Take her out of here," I gestured at Robin. "Get as much distance between me and what is coming our way as fast you can. And Hancock, whatever you do, stay away from the ship."
"Got it Onee-sama." She said and reached for Robin's hand, softly prompting her to move. Robin, at first, didn't react, she clearly was under shock, just staring ahead of her. We didn't have time for this.
"Get her away from here, right fucking now!" I barked. Those words prompted Hancock to give up her considerate approach. Instead, she just grabbed Robin's and dragged the catatonic girl with her.
Satisfied, I put on my mask and finished donning it just in time because not a second later, a huge spheric mass of glowing viscous liquid dropped out of the sky like a meteor.
The impact unrooted the trees in the immediate area, and the steaming red hot liquid spilled out of the crater. There were hissing sounds, and smoke appeared everywhere it made contact with, anything other than stone. Trees without the liquid getting nowhere near them just ignited from the sheer heat coming off from it.
In the very midst of the crater a human emerged, his body slowly formed out of the lava. Again, I saw myself confronted with a marine. This one was easily as tall as the one whose dead body lay at my feet. He wore a white marine cap under a gray hood, that was part of his marine coat, designating him as someone with a rank of captain or above.
He looked at me in a way that left no room for interpretation regarding his intent.
"Surrender yourself immediately or die," he announced without a shred of emotion as if he was stating an immutable fact of what was about to happen. I saw lava dripping from his right hand, clenched into a fist in greedy anticipation.
I would have preferred to face someone with such a dangerous-looking devil-fruit while being whole, on the other hand, it wouldn't stay a one on one in that case. It seemed like I just had to hold out long enough for my other half to return from her little errand, divide and conquer wouldn't be the first time I had to use this tactic.
"Leave now and I won't kill you and everybody else wearing a uniform in the vicinity of this Island." I threatened back.
My counteroffer wasn't meant any less sincere. The difference was I would prefer not to make it a reality.
I saw the chaw of his square face clench hard, in a smooth well-practiced movement, he retreated his hand and punched the air in front of him aimed at my position. From his first emerged a huge blob of lava that flew my way at high-speed. I sidestepped it, only to have to dodge another one and another he was relentlessly attacking, trying to back me into a corner.
He was unsuccessful. I could read his movements far too easy and his attacks weren't nearly fast enough to trouble me, which was why I swayed left and right and avoided his attacks with the least amount of movement possible.
But for some reason, the fact that he was didn't even try another venue of attack put me on edge. By now, after more than a dozen failed attempts to nick me, even the dumbest person should be aware of how futile his attacks were and change them into something else, something with a greater chance of actually hitting me.
I dodged another blob of lava, and in order to do so, I had to move diagonally to my upper left instead of just left because there was a blob of lava right next to me, when the realization hit me.
He wasn't trying to hit me, he was preparing the stage, reducing my ability to move.
He must have concluded given the death of his comrade through a bisecting slash that I might have taken him by surprise either through speed or trickery. Therefore he took no chances, taking control of the battlefield, reducing and hampering any possible attack vectors.
Furthermore, by doing this he was taking away my ability to dodge, slowly chipping away at the territory I can step on safely. Even his arrival worked towards that goal. He was literally standing in a sea of magma and barely moved a step since he arrived, probably thinking himself untouchable being protected this way.
If I wouldn't have been used to fight in a similar way with my bugs. I probably would have noticed this far later than I did. This meant I couldn't afford to waste time.
Sure, I could start running away from him turn this into a moving battle, but I wasn't confident I could contain the fight this way, Hancock and Robin were still close by, and our ship wasn't that far from the coast.
Obviously, I would prefer if this whack job of a morally bankrupt organization wouldn't start using them as target practice or even worse attacking them in an attempt to draw me out.
This was also the reason I didn't send the girls back to the ship, given how they handled the refugee ship. I was sure someone trying to get off the Island would have triggered the use of drastic measures. It might even have brought all the marines here.
Therefore seeing what this guy was able to do while holding back, the four on one fight I didn't fancy a few moments ago, was now something I really didn't want to occur.
It was time to turn this up a notch. An overhead sword strike from me sent a vertical wind-blade his way. My attack ended up severing a blob of lava which was rapidly approaching me, in the process. As it turned out, he was no slouch more than just a blaster, because he evaded it by moving his right foot behind his left, leaving me facing his left side, an opening I intended to use.
Because I doubted his physical abilities came close to mine, I suspected he would be too slow to avoid an attack coming from behind.
With a combination of Soru and Geppo, I moved to my right outside of his line of sight, and behind him, my sword was mid-thrust aimed right at his heart when my Kenbushoku Haki screamed at me to get away.
I pushed as hard as possible against the air surrounding me and focused my Haki into a dome facing forward, encapsulating me in an attempt to shield me.
A moment later, I softly landed over a hundred meters away from him. I was barely able to avoid my opponent's violent eruption into a magma spewing explosion that leveled the whole area into a burning crater. In addition, it was raining ash and magma down from the sky.
Now I knew why Rayleigh said Logia fruit users are tricky to fight even if you can overcome their intangibility. They only had the need to use Haki when they defended against a Haki reinforced attack, their opponent, in most cases, wasn't so lucky. Depending on the specifics of their fruit it might be necessary to use Haki in order to protect oneself from the damaging nature it possesses.
Forcing you to spend far more energy in a long drawn out fight – therefore it was no wonder he wanted to drag this out -
It also became clear this wasn't the only reason he was trying to buy time. He probably thought the longer he was in a fight against me the greater the chances his comrades would notice and move to intervene on his behalf.
But when I just went for the kill, given his reaction, I came closer to success than he would have liked. He misjudged me, and I forced him to rely on a move of desperation to avoid dying. A move that at the same time also served as a distress signal. There was just no way anybody could miss the ash cloud darkening the sky.
Unfortunately for him, his actions backfired to an epic degree.
The explosion and the ascending ash clouds distracted the other three high ranking marines for just a single moment, in which their vigilance was reduced as they looked at the darkening sky. A moment my other half currently separated into three entities was waiting, hoping for, an opening big enough to move against them all and take them out in a single devastating surprise attack.
The chances of success to kill the three strongest with an iteration of myself, holding just one-sixth of my power, without an opening were slim to nonexistent. If only one of them somehow survived my initial attack, thereby putting the remaining ones on edge. I would be in for a fight I couldn't afford and most likely not win.
I needed to take them all out in a single devastating attack. Thankfully Lava boy delivered exactly what I required of him.
My three clones moved in unison the instant I sensed his attack. A Soru burst brought one of me right behind the second strongest remaining presence, and I put my Haki reinforced fist right through his back, destroying his heart in the process. Another me's clawed gauntlet ripped out the throat of the next, and the for the last one I swiped my right clawed gauntlets through the air and four red lines appeared on this guy back, he didn't even have enough time to recognize what happened like the two others before he fell down in a lifeless heap at my feet. Blood started to pool out from the five parts of flesh I turned him into.
Only at that point, my three iteration became visible again.
One of the suit-wearing guys with a striped coat approached me. He was guarded on both sides by similar clothed guys without the coat. All the while radiating a smug confidence that was completely misplaced considering the events that just took place.
"A Rokushiki user," He said grinning. "If you yield and place yourself under me in CP-9 I'm sure we could find some ways to forget about your" he paused for a moment searching for the right word in his no doubt limited vocabulary "transgression against the Governments rule."
While he was occupied with essentially undressing me with his eyes, even though I wore my heavy coat and my full body armored costume san mask, nothing was justifying attracting this kind of attention. Sure, my costume clung to my body like a second skin, but the armor panels hid what little curves I had - even as a near twenty-year-old - to near perfection.
And that didn't even factor in that I just brutally murdered someone right in front of him. Given the lack of reaction, he showed probably not a comrade or a subordinate of him. Or was this just some kind of sick-fetish? Didn't matter; I was far more interested in the clues he let slip.
CP-9 this organization he seemed to be part of - No that didn't seem right he acted more like the Boss of it, thinking himself special, because of the authority that came with it - Was it some sort of secret service? All the circumstantial evidence pointed that way. This was, after all, an operation to suppress Government secrets from leaking, and there was no way just anybody would be allowed to participate in it.
Was he and this organization the reason this all happened in the first place? Seemed likely, which meant I had a lot of questions to ask him.
"You," I glowered as I took a step towards him, followed by another, and I could already see his confidence wavering, his smile became strained, and he slowly started to shrink back from me, for every step I made, in his direction he made two away from me.
Until he finally let fall all pretense and just yelled, "Kill her!" Kami-e allowed me to avoid all the bullets shot at me from the Marines that had slowly started to surround us from all sides after I killed their superior. To their misfortune, no one taught them how to do that in such a fashion that you avoid shooting your own comrades. They essentially took care of themselves without me helping it along.
Those, who escaped being shot by their own comrades stared fearfully at me. An effect that was further amplified, when I blocked the kicks aimed at my head from the two suit-wearing guards that appeared to my left and right with absolute ease. Even though this part of myself was made up of little more than one-sixth of the whole.
The most shocked about this were the two, that attacked me and whose attacks I stopped cold with seemingly no effort.
They didn't even try to flee after witnessing the gap in our abilities firsthand. Instead, gritting their teeth, they tried to overpower me. Increasing the pressure, they exerted on my arms I used to defend myself with. Amateurs, I thought to myself but didn't bother wasting another one on them. Because at that moment, translucent incredible fine weave of spider silk descended upon the whole area, covering the ships and everybody on them.
Those few, who were able to make it out with their eyes were taken aback. I, on the other hand, had to reassure myself of the necessity of what I was about to do. I couldn't allow for there to be anyone left able to report, anybody to spill anything of the events that took place here and the fact that there were any survivors. Another me appeared behind the scared out of his mind guy and vanished with him in tow. His disappearance allowed me to resume with my plan.
All those that remained, I denied the time to wonder about it and just pulled at the strings coiled around the hand of the one iteration still standing on top of another Marine vessel. The Haki reinforced spider silk went taut and cut through all ten battleships and their crews like a hot knife through butter.
No matter what was in their way or what they were wound around, it was cut into small bite-sized pieces, no exception.
I watched from the beach as the ships fell apart and the sea was colored red by the blood of the thousand people I killed with extreme prejudice. Ended their life without mercy should have left a bitter taste in my mouth, but strangely it didn't.
For a moment, I wondered if I was already this far gone, that such a carnage done by my hand didn't even faze me. It was gone as fast as it appeared because I couldn't forget what all those people that I turned into fish-food did to this Island to its people - they had it coming and got what they deserved.
With that thought on my mind, I left a catatonic guy behind at the beach. He was a low priority. There was nowhere he could run to, or hide on this Island where I couldn't find him. I vanished in the direction of the huge smoke plume forming in the distance.
The smile on the Lava guy's face froze on his face. Understandable, he was anticipating the arrival of the reinforcement, he alerted to his situation just with his eruption and found himself confronted with their deaths. Thereupon it disappeared and gave way to an even more disturbing grim expression.
"I warned you, didn't I," I said. "But you just wouldn't listen."
His demeanor changed from one instant to the other, from a predator thinking himself moments away from succeeding at taking down his prey. To that of a cornered rat trying to come up with ways to ensure its survival.
I certainly didn't forget the phrase that - a cornered animal is a dangerous animal - and that was doubly true for a human. Which was why I prepared myself for anything.
That was when I noticed, that Hancock and Robin stopped moving around the same time I evaded his attack. Seconds went by where we just stared at each other, gauging our opposite.
But what had me really worried was the fact that the girls didn't continue to run. Their auras were still strong and unwavering which ruled out that they were seriously injured. However, something had to be wrong because Hancock knew better than to stop and watch what was going on. So why didn't they move?
It took me a moment to direct some of the bugs under my control to where I sensed them to see the problem for myself. It didn't help matters that in addition to hot ash raining from the sky, blotches of Lava, spots of burning vegetation were littering the whole area. Not only did this kill a lot of my bugs but made turned moving them into a version of running the gauntlet.
I barely managed to get a picture of their predicament.
When I noticed the subtle shift in his stance, the changes in his presence, and before he knew what he was about to do, I was already aware. I dreaded this exact scenario, one of my charges being dragged into this fight.
He once more called forth incredible amounts of Lava from his body and formed it into an enormous tsunami that rolled towards Hancock and Robin, while his true self was somewhere liquified within the murder wave.
The scale of destruction a single user of such a logia-fruit was capable of was outright frightening, just going by this display, I was reminded of Endbringers all over again. With one major difference, this time, I was not powerless, unable to do anything about them.
For a moment, I considered going after him, take him down while he was hiding within his attack. But ultimately decided against it, there was no guarantee I could do it before the wave reached them. In case I was still tangled up in a fight by the point it reached them, I wouldn't be able to help them.
Which left me with just one real option, I had to spring his trap and hope my counter-strike would be enough to end it.
I appeared in a Soru right in front of the two girls, and a short glance towards them confirmed my earlier observations via bug why they had stopped moving. Hancock was jammed in between a tree and the ground. Given the scraps and dirt on Robin's knees and palms, she must have pushed her out of the way only to be caught by it herself.
Hancock was trying in vain to lift the in part with burning tree from her hip. Since she lacked the necessary leverage was unable to do so. Robin was still in a daze and was fear-stricken staring at the wall of superheated wall of lava, which was fast approaching.
I readied myself. I angled Izanami horizontally parallel to the ground. I was reapplying and fastening my hand's grip on her leather-bound handle. Meanwhile, I gathered my Haki and let it flow in a concentrated effort along the length of the blade, turning it into a physical representation of my Will, sharp, unwavering, unyielding, and most of all indomitable.
I could feel the heat permeating from my costume. The surrounding forest started to fume more of the residual water was vaporized, the closer the lave got to us. The air devoid of any humidity had me wet my lips.
I waited to the very last moment to strike. Izanami flashed from my very left to the very right, and a broad wind blade shot forward and met the tsunami of liquid fire head-on blowing it to pieces, dispersing the lava it consisted of throughout the clearing.
Exactly what I knew my opponent wanted to happen, slithering through a tunnel beneath the ground. He emerged from the earth at the exact moment my slash came to an end. His fist was poised to strike, my arms holding onto my blade to my far right out of position, my stance vulnerable, unable to shift to defend myself in time.
I only managed to raise my left elbow to meet his attack aimed for my heart head-on reinforced with all the Haki I could muster after expending the considerable amount I poured into my sword. Our wills clashed against each other, and both shattered like glass into tiny pieces. His attack was meeting my now unprotected arm, the momentum of it forced me to my knee. I was unable to compensate for the shifted balance my prior attack left me in.
I heard the sizzling sound of flesh being burned, as the lava flowed down my arm and threatened to spill on my torso. I felt the heat and the subsequent cold I knew followed burnt nerve strands. It didn't feel nearly as bad as I remembered having an arm stump cauterized. Nonetheless, it hurt like hell and I had to clench my teeth in order to not give him the gratification of hearing me cry out in pain.
"I win," he leered.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been right. He inflicted major damage to my arm, debilitating even. My mangled arm was moments away from being burned through, opening up an unobstructed path to my heart. The Haki I used to reinforce what little was left of my limb could only prolong the inevitable.
Most would lose the arm from the elbow down after receiving such an attack, and it definitely would have been checkmate against anybody else.
But not against me and certainly not today.
I presented him with the bait, and he bit down on it hard.
He was the fly that got caught in the net of the spider. I grinned under my mask as two razor-sharp spider legs burst out of his chest, piercing his heart in the process.
"No, you didn't," I mumbled to myself. And the appendages moved sideways in opposite directions severing the top quarter of his torso from the rest. His body fell lifeless to the ground, revealing my other self standing behind him, with spider-legs sprouting from her shoulder blades. While she walked around the corpse, she retracted them and went on to touch my upper arm, and we became one once more.
I shifted the damage my arm suffered to a few spiders who joined the dead on the ground, and my arm restructured itself from a mass of spiders into pristine condition. I sheathed Izanami and turned towards my vice-captain, who was still stuck struggling to free herself. I wedged my foot under the tree-trunk and lifted it off Hancock. She scrambled to her feet and dusted herself off.
Hancock's cheeks were tinged rosy. The way she avoided looking into my eyes and had her gaze firmly pointed towards the ground made it clear to me she felt ashamed. She failed to fulfill a simple command, get the girl to safety, and instead ended up putting herself, the girl I ordered her to protect, and me in danger.
I knew any encouraging words I could have said to her in this moment, would just be perceived as me taking pity on her. Which was why I decided not to voice any. I put my hand on her head and ruffled her hair.
"Take your charge to the huge tree in the center of the Island. Her mother should be there waiting for her. I will be there shortly." I said to her.
All I received from her was a nod of her head as acknowledgment.
I sighed and made a mental note to carefully monitor her behavior, in the coming days. It was one thing wanting to do better, but something entirely different to see herself as a failure. With their still mending self-esteem, I had to be careful that it didn't turn into self-loathing.
I waited until Hancock took Robin piggy-back and left the burning field towards the tree before I moved in a different direction. I had something to verify, twice during my fights; I noticed a fruit suddenly transforming into something else. If the spiders in the vicinity wouldn't have felt a sudden drop in temperature around a fruit-bearing plant after I killed the first high-ranking marine.
I might have missed an increase in temperature near another fruit after killing the fifth and wouldn't have sent some spiders to investigate.
Should my suspicions turn out to be correct, the number of unused devil-fruits in my possession would go up to six.
I arrived in a small clearing, away from prying eyes hidden in the midst of the forest. As I looked around, I noticed a huge variety of different plants within it. I was no botanist. Therefore I couldn't be entirely sure. But it struck me as odd to find such a variety here, far above what was usual for a natural grown part of the forest. A closer look revealed what perturbed me, there were at most two of every plant present, and their placement was orderly.
No plant had to compete with its neighbor, not for sunlight or space to grow in. It was by design that no one had any deficits - human design.
I was in a garden, and if I had to guess, I doubted most of the plants found here are indigenous to this Island. What purpose it served was anyone guess, either way not something I cared about.
I walked to a small bush, the fruits growing on it reminded me strongly of pepperoni. They were red and had a cylindrical shape that attenuated from the top to the bottom of the fruit. Amongst a good dozen of them growing on the bush was an outlier, it had black tendrils spread along the fruit, and the color was a deeper red. As I reached for it, I could feel the heat it emanated. I plugged it and resumed my trek to the other `strange´ fruit in this garden.
The tree I neared had fruits hanging from it. They looked similar to a maracuja, the difference being a dark blueish tinge to them. The fruit I was interested in, on the other hand, was light blue with a white pattern displayed on it. A small wind-blade attack sent forth from the tips of my fingers severed the fruit from the tree, and I caught it in my hand. I immediately noticed how cold it was to my touch, and on closer inspection, the white pattern on the fruit turned out to be stylistic snow crystals.
I stashed the fruit to the other one in my backpack and then walked toward the real reason I sent the kids ahead, the lone CP-9 Agent left on the Island. I needed some questions answered ...
Authors Note: The attentive Readers might have already noticed what Taylor being there means.
- The violation of cause and effect -
One of the results might have been, without a small girl in need of saving that Taylor never would have undergone training under Rayleigh, which would have had a rather large impact on the story.
Given my pen-name, everything Taylor did in this and to be honest in the prior chapters with Bonny should have generated a Time-Paradox ... Since she actively removed the cause for her actions.
Not sure if some of you know the movie "the time machine" from 2002 the latest movie adaption of the book of the same name by H.G. Wells. In it, the main character built a time-machine after the death of his betrothed with the sole purpose to prevent her from dying.
The problem with this is quite clearly also a violation of cause and effect -
Since his betrothed death, was the cause for him to build the time machine in the first place. Therefore if he now travels back in time he would effectively be removing that very cause. In a causality-subjected universe, he wouldn't be able to alter this event in any way.
This is my preferred way of how time travel should work in (science)fiction – it pretty much only allows you to change things that you have already changed. Another very good example of this would be the movie Twelve Monkeys.
Unfortunately, this is also is the least interesting form of time-travel possible solely because events can't be changed. Meaning everything is fated to play out exactly the same despite somebody time-traveling... which let's be honest more often than not (if the time-travel mechanics are known) makes for a boring read.
.
Which is "unfortunately" not what is needed for this story – Sure I could make it work ... have Taylor shadow Robin for the duration necessary for the report of Robins sighting to be made. Perhaps with Taylor being the one ending this Pirate gang, Robin was seen in the company off. So in essence, forcing Taylor to not create any inconsistency in the timeline.
Having said that – please don't overthink the time-travel you witnessed here so far. It is pretty much just a tool to allow Taylor the crew I want for her to have despite them living all over the place. A tool to allow Taylor "easy travel" to other and different regions of the world, a way to assemble her crew in a short and hopefully interesting way.
So pretty much everything Taylor did while not in the Rainbow fog is part of a timeline she essentially erased from ever having happened (more to this effect in later chapters). For the items and people she brought with her they gain the same protection from causality Taylor has going for her (Fate-spider). Meaning when they return to "normal time" at one point, persons and especially items/devil-Fruits won't exist twice. Their existence got overwritten by those Taylor & Co have in their possession.
Not that this makes a lot more sense, but at least it helps against the headache-inducing problems ...Not that it really matters - Taylor will return to a time after she made those changes to history, but sometime before the start of One Piece canon.
Originally I intended to write this chapter as an Interlude from the point of view of Robin, but it would have been a retelling of pretty much anything that happened to her in canon with the divergence point being the conversation between Robin and Ao Kiji. On the one hand, it would have been a good opportunity to show how others, especially a close to despair Robin, would have reacted to Taylor. Being saved by her from the fate that would await her. On the other hand by doing it this way I could spare you all having to read a rehash of what occurred on Ohara in canon.
This chapter contains excerpts of One Piece chapter 397 – unfortunately, I can't seem to find the group responsible for the English translation I took my excerpts from to credit them for it.
Another thing - since it was mentioned several times.
In the non-altered timeline from the two fruits Bonney held hostage the Hana Hana no Mi (Robin canon fruit) would have fallen into the ocean and from there made its way to Ohara to be eaten by Robin. Instead, since the slaver's ship was forced to evade to the right, the other fruit fell into the ocean. So yes - expect Robin to have a different canon fruit.
Some have mentioned Bonney's presumed connection to Sorbet kingdom and Bartholomew Kuma. I haven´t watched the anime in quite some time - but what I gathered from the manga and the wiki seems to agree with me. That Bonney infiltrated the Levely by poising as the Dowager Queen Connie - So far there is nothing that would prove the contrary, that she is in fact the Queen.
To be honest I never considered that to be true - Given the hints that Bonney at one point was a "guest" of the world government. (Especially considering that I think her canon power can do exactly what I postulated in the last chapter - she is an incredible asset - second probably only to the Ope Ope no Mi (Law's DF)).
Therefore, I concluded, since she escaped from the WG at least twice that she had a knack for disguise and infiltration ... and a beef to pick with them.
I mean the circumstantial evidence that she has a deeper connection to Ace or Whitebeard is IMO more pronounced.
There won't be a chapter next week - Starting on December 20 I'm posting another story a "classic" Alt-power fic - But I will return to this one.
