Post by BlacKitten on Jul 27, 2017 11:23:27 GMT -5
“Ugh...,” a heavy pair of eyelids lifted slowly, exposing the violet-hued pupils to the dimly-lit room that sheltered him without his recollection of ever arriving here. He could feel himself being covered beneath a thick blanket while resting on a bed with his cheek pressed against a soft, warm pillow. The texture and firmness were all unfamiliar to him; he had never slept here before in his life. Lethargically, his body rolled around like a log until his face was inches away from someone else’s face.
It took a moment for his brain to register what he saw. For a split second, he presumed it was his little sister lying in the same bed as him, but that immediately cannot be the case. Rebecca would’ve clung around him like a stuffed animal as she sleeps, and also, she was gone.
“AHHH!” Uncharacteristically of him to emit any sound of shock, the boy flinched back and fell off the edge before thumping against the cold wooden floor. He had confronted far more terrifying beings and remained composed, yet something like this was enough to make his heart start beating fast. Groaning in pain, he leaned up to recuperate. The rustle of the blanket and bedsheets caught his attention. A girl around his own age stirred in her slumber as she opened her eyes softly, revealing golden colored pupils. Her long, straight, black hair wavered as she sat up in bed.
She blinked at the sight of him before her face reddened. Lowering her head towards the mattress, the girl bowed apologetically before rapidly blurting out a rush of her thoughts, “S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to sleep here! I-I... uh... used your money without permission for us to stay in this inn. I picked the cheapest one with only one bedroom because I didn’t want to use too much money. You didn’t wake up for so long, and I got worried. A-And then... I... fell asleep without realizing it. I’m so sorry!”
“Huh!?” The boy blinked, holding up an open palm as to gesture her to slow down. As he tried to take in her words, he felt his own rapid heartbeat beginning to stabilize. It spooked him to wake up in this situation, but he got the gist of what happened from her explanation. In addition to her words, judging from the wooden brown chair situated on her side of the bed facing inwards, it indicated that she had been watching over him as he slept out of concern last night. Someone brought him here and had been looking after him during his dormant hours. All that’s left was to fill in the gap of time when he was unconscious. “How long have I been asleep for?”
“Um...,” She first needed to know what time it was right this minute to estimate an answer, “About fifteen hours!”
“EH!?” That was about twice the duration of what a normal human sleeps. He didn’t think he had ever slept for that long in a single go. In other words, it was already a brand new day since the last moments of consciousness. Recent memories gradually emerged, releasing residues of mixed negative emotions of sadness, anger, hatred, and frustration. He remembered what happened now. After his clash against an assassin from the New World, a long fight broke out in the midst of a blizzard outside. Despite throwing everything he’s got, he ultimately lost the fight. He nearly lost his life. And worst of all, he lost his little sister.
His glance stopped at the sight of a blank envelope on top of a drawer. He was not the one who put that there nor did he ever placed the letter back into the envelope.
The girl caught on to his fixated line of sight and panicked. She bowed again out of guilt, “I’m sorry! I read the letter!” Her head rose up steadily, followed by a dreadful expression, “I... know what happened... and about your circumstances right now.”
Quietly, Pluto stood up from where he had fallen before sensing a growing pressure within his stomach until it eased in the form of a growl. He had burned up a lot of calories from yesterday’s conflict that his body demanded more fuel. Come to think of it, he never really did get to eat a proper meal for quite some time, and without Rebecca’s cooking, he would need to find another means to eat in the meantime.
Holding back a giggle, Ara said softly, “Do you... want to get something to eat?” She then slid herself off the bed to dress properly for the frigid temperatures on this winter island.
The two of them eventually stepped outside at dawn when the white sky dwindled down light fluffy snowflakes; making the town appear almost magical and the violent blizzard from yesterday seem like nothing more than a nightmare that they had just woken out of. Hardly anyone was out at this early in the morning as the streets were devoid of humans, but despite no one being around, he still walked at a safe distance from this girl. Several times, his eyes would peek to glance at her but immediately look away upon being glanced back. He still knew very little of this person and attributed his behavior to the lack of exposure to female humans. Besides his little sister, the first other female he had ‘acquainted’ with just so happened to be a crazy, mentally and emotionally unstable, psychotic serial killer who tried to ‘liberate’ people from this prison of a world by chopping their heads off with a scythe! Surely he was justified to at least feel uncomfortable with another female human. For all he knew, there could be more lunatic young women such as Scarlette. Not to mention that the lack of witnesses made it an ideal time for Ara to reveal any hypothetical ‘dark side’ to kill him on the spot. While it was painfully obvious that Scarlette is a dangerous woman from the appearance standpoint, Ara could be a more deceptive breed of killers; her cute and harmless appearance along with that gentle and polite demeanor could all be a facade to lower his guard. Rebecca, his younger sister, was no exception. When he first met her, he also thought the little girl would try to kill him for the perfectly justified reason that he killed their biological father. He thought it’d make sense for the young one to try to take revenge on him, yet nothing of the sort ever transpired. Only several months of extreme caution led him to ease up and accept her as a non-hostile, hyperactive, genuinely loving sister.
They finally stepped into a restaurant as the only customers present. He picked a table next to a window where one could observe the outside scene while simultaneously be able to guard his blind spot through the translucent, ghostly reflection off the glass. Without a word to each other, they began ordering breakfast. He could hardly recall a time when he last ate at a restaurant before. Most of his meals were cooked by his sister over the past two years, and before then, he ate at a place that was once called home before it perished into flames in a very literal sense.
This normal activity -which regular people do- made him feel out of place. He could gradually notice a decline in his ability to focus and concentrate. His heartbeat seemed to have a different rhythm; that could just be from the fact that he was stabbed in the chest yesterday as well as poisoned. His body also seemed more resistant to the cold, producing more heat than usual – again, probably due to the poisoning. Even though he received an antidote that kept him alive, he likely had not fully recovered yet.
“Pluto?” Ara called out in an uncertain tone.
“Huh?” Before he knew it, he was already facing directly at her in a circular table with two glasses of water ready between them.
“Y-You’ve been staring at me for the past minute,” she noted at how he appeared to be lost in thought. “D-Did you want to ask me something?”
“I... was what...?” He didn’t even notice about his own subconsciously starring at her. This was rather uncharacteristic of him. Ever since he woken up today, he felt unable to notice his surroundings to his usual capabilities. “Oh...,” he realized that a question was asked, and the social norm demanded him to respond. There were many things he’d want to ask of her. “Yeah..., what is haki?” That wasn’t actually on his mind just then, but it had been during his time at Eldoran Island where the word was brought up on numerous occasions in the context of strange, unexplainable phenomenon.
“Ah! Is that what’s on your mind? I guess it’d make sense for you to be curious after the people you’ve met so far. Haki is...,” she paused to think of a way to explain it. “...something that all living beings possess. It’s like a sixth sense. There’re generally two main categories. Kenbunshoku Haki is the ability to sense other things. It’d allow you to sense the presence of other living beings around you, predict their next move, sense the emotions of others, and even be able to tell how strong each individual is. Busoshoku Haki is the ability to wield the power of haki to armor yourself, enhance your attacks, and extend it into a weapon like what I do with my spear.”
And thus, Ara continued to share her knowledge which cleared up much of the uncertainties that had been lingering in the boy’s head. She mentioned how rare it is for people to actually manage to harness this power. There were those who would spend their entire lives with no success. She touched on the fact that almost all of the strongest fighters in the world possessed this power to some degree which is why it’s more common in the New World where only the fittest survives.
The conversation mostly involved him listening to her voice. It felt as if this was the first time he heard her speak for this timid girl had never talked for this long before. They rarely conversed at all for that matter. Ara had traveled on the same ship as him for a few weeks, but much of that time involved her lying in bed and regaining her health. Rebecca had been the little bridge between them, but without her, they were forced to be upfront in communicating.
So far, her description of haki implied that it was quite a diverse power, capable of doing many things that seemed rather mystical. However, there was one aspect that he had witnessed that did not match to any of the examples of what haki could do, yet he vividly remembered her labeling it as haki several days back. “Then, what about that oppressive wave that knocked my sister unconscious? Didn’t you call it haki as well?”
“Oh..., that’s called Haoshoku Haki, a third category that not everyone possesses. I didn’t mention it since very few people in this world actually possesses that power. It’s not something one could attain through training. I’ve never actually seen it in action before until just several days ago. Rebecca is still too young and reliant on you; her willpower was outmatched, causing her to fall unconscious. However, you and I were perfectly fine, meaning that the willpower exerted on us failed to overcome our own willpower.”
“Willpower?” Such a term sounded arbitrary to him. “You said it can’t be attained through training. Does that imply that the other two categories can be attained through training then?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” at the very least, that was how she attained powers of both catagories.
A waitress then came by, settling down a plate in each hand down on the table, “Here you go! Enjoy your meal!” She bowed subtly before leaving.
They both got the same dish where the plates were divided into three sections in their presentation, consisting of scrambled eggs laid on top of a thick slice of toasted sourdough bread, light-brown colored beans on a separate part of the plate, and cube-shaped potatoes on another part. After the first bite, one could taste a very light fluffy texture in the eggs that had been seasoned and mixed with butter and something akin to sour cream.
“... Pluto? A-Are you alright?” Ara asked of concern.
“Huh?” His vision was blurred as droplets of water flowed down his cheeks. A short clip of memory flashed in his head, triggered by the taste. He remembered the last meal he had with Rebecca; it was during breakfast as well, an incomplete meal due to Scarlette’s ambush to kill his sister at the time. These gentle and soft eggs reminded him so very much of her cooking that it pained him to realize that she was gone. And quickly, that happy moment was followed by a vehement surge of wrath.
Are these... tears?
“Strange,” he swept his sleeve across his eyes, “I guess I’m not feeling too well today.” Bite after bite, he chewed and shallowed; his palates were filled with delectable flavors, a sensation strongly tied to his bond with Rebecca. He missed her very much. He missed her cooking. He missed her hugs. He missed the sound of her cheerful voice. He missed having someone to protect, care, and look out for. And the very thought of her being taken away in a faraway place without the slightest of idea in regards to her fate infuriated him. He had no idea how she was being treated this very second. He had no idea if she was even alive right now. She could be crying right now. She could be tortured right now. And, there was absolutely nothing he could do to know about it.
Weak! He was too weak! There was still someone like The Plague in this world, someone who could defeat him with ease. No matter how much he replayed the fight from yesterday in his head, he simply couldn’t pinpoint any flaw in himself. He hardly made any mistakes. He did the best he can. He threw everything he had against Raven. And yet, he lost in such a one-sided manner. Why? Most of his attacks could hardly even damage him. He wasn’t that he lacked skill, strength, or speed. What he lacked was haki, this mystical power that grants an enormous gap between him and his now new deadliest foe.
“How long..., does it take for one to be able to utilize haki?” He voice trembled. His composure wavered.
“That... depends on how talented you are, I suppose.” Ara then closed her eyes to collect her thoughts, “You... want to learn haki, don’t you?”
“Of course, but I don’t think I can make it in time. I want to save Rebecca as soon as possible. But, I have no idea where she is being held captive. Even if by some miracle, I manage to grasp it quickly, that wouldn’t do me much good against an opponent who probably had many years of honing his haki. I’ll still be too inexperienced. I’ll likely be up against several tough opponents, not just Raven. In terms of a fight, I don’t stand a chance. But, my objective wouldn’t be to win. I don’t have to beat them. I just need to rescue her and escape. I won’t repeat the same mistake. When I was sent to rescue you, I was warned to avoid confronting Varuna head on. But, I ended clashing against him even though I could’ve just escaped after retrieving you. I had my priorities mixed up. All I cared about was winning back then.”
“Eh?” Ara perked her head up at the last bit of what he had said. “You were ‘sent’ to rescue me? By who?”
“Hmm? Who do you think?” he was obviously referring to the Revolutionary Army, supposedly the very same affiliation that Ara was connected to.
“B-But!” She was dumbfounded. “Y-You... A-Are you... affiliated with them too?” This came as a surprise, but it answered many questions at once.
“Technically, yes. I joined two weeks ago through an invitation. It happened quite recently, so it hasn’t quite sunken in for me yet. I hardly know anything about them,” he said it casually as if this wasn’t such a big deal. Despite that, the girl was making quite a reaction based on her facial expression.
“I... I didn’t know! Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” She had no idea that she was traveling with an ally from the same group this entire time. The boy had never appeared to be a pirate, a merchant, or anything identifiable for that matter, yet at the same time, his fighting prowess was top-notch among the paradise of the Grand Line, meaning he wasn’t any ordinary traveler either. He had always been a mystery to her. Without even a crew, he sailed the dangerous seas all while protecting his sister. It begged the question: just who is he? How did someone so young reach such a high level of strength? What pushed him to that extent? And, why did such an unfairly powerful assassin went after him in the first place?
He shifted his glance away, avoiding eye contact, “I thought you already knew.” Now that he thought about it, there was actually no conceivable way for Ara to have known about it.
“Is Rebecca a member as well?” She’d think the little girl would at least have told her that much during their time together.
“No, she’s not; and she doesn’t know that I’m in it either.” That had been kept secret from both his sister and Scarlette. “You’re now one of the few people who know about my affiliation.” It’d be an annoyance if someone from the World Government knew about him. Siding with the force destined to go against the world would automatically make him a criminal, but as long as his allegiance remained anonymous, they would have no reason to bother him for now.
“I see,” the girl nodded. For a brief moment, there was silence between them. “Um..., Pluto..., if you don’t mine me asking, why was an assassin sent after you?” Given how secretive and cautious this boy has shown to be, she doubted that there was a bounty on his head, and even if he did have one, there would have been no reason to abduct his sister and leave him alive. There was something even deeper and complex going on around here.
“Who knows...,” he feigned ignorance at first. “I don’t feel like talking about my past just yet. And, if I ever do tell you, I’d prefer if it’s not in public.” After an awkward pause, his mind clashed between two opposing course of actions, “Ara...” He blurted out her name while resisting the urge to ask. In his entire life, there was only one other time when he would ask of this, but it was so much harder when speaking to her for some reason. Asking a talking panda was so much easier than asking this girl.
“Yes?”
“Can you... train me in how to utilize haki?” Recently, he had felt as though his body is nearing close to the zenith of his physical potential. Any further amount of conventional training probably wouldn’t amount to any further increase in strength or speed. But, there were still those who’re stronger than him lingering in the Grand Line, and in order to acquire the means to hold his own against them, he’d need to get stronger in a completely different direction.
“Eh!?” Her brows rose in surprise. True, she was practically the only person he could ask at this time, but she had never trained or taught anyone else in haki before. And besides, wasn’t it a bit unusual for her to be training someone stronger than herself? “No way!” Raising both hands up in a surrendering pose, she declined in a panicky tone, “I can’t do that! I-I mean... it’s not that I don’t want to..., but there are plenty of people whose haki is stronger than my own. And, I’ve never taught someone before. B-Besides, I’m sure there’s someone else who’s more qualified than me to train you.”
“I think you’ll do just fine,” he commented in a composed and calm manner. “All I want are the basics, enough that I can progress on my own without the need of a mentor.” Against his preference, asking someone he knew little about brought risks to him, but his choices were heavily limited. If he could benefit or learn anything useful from her, then using her as a tool would be fine enough for him.
Ara still looked incredibly hesitant. She lacked the confidence in herself to pull through with what is being request of her. “But if I fail in teaching you, you’ll end up wasting your time for nothing!”
“Then that’s my fault for not being talented enough,” he brought back what she told him just a while ago.
“Are you sure about this?” She had briefly seen him in action before and believed him to be a very promising combatant. Someone with a high-level of martial art skills and experience in dangerous situations might have an advantage over the average human in learning haki. There was no doubt in her mind that he’s a very talented individual, but there was plenty of doubt in herself in being able to nurture that talent. Still, if he really didn’t mind, she could at least try to train him to the best of her ability.
...
After agreeing to train Pluto in harnessing his will into a manifestation of power along with a new level of awareness, Ara’s took him out of town in a vast empty space with the terrain buried in snow. White-covered pine trees scattered sparsely across the land. The air was crisp and welcomingly refreshing. The two of them stood face to face with one another with a five meter gap of distance between them. She wore a thick black fabric that covered her eyes with an elastic strap around the back of her neck to secure it in place. It was an eye mask used to aid one in sleeping well, designed to block out the outside light entirely.
“A-Alright, c-come and a-attack me..., I think...,” she made a halfhearted request, uncertain of her own safety. “B-But...” Her body then shrunk back, “G-Go easy on me..., I’m not that good at fighting without a weapon, a-and... you’re very strong, fast, and skilled.” Against someone of his caliber, even she wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of his full-powered attacks.
“Uhhhh...,” Tilting his head, he wasn’t too keen on attacking her. From a bystander’s perspective, it’d appear like a male adolescent assaulting a blindfolded, defenseless girl in the middle of nowhere. The very picture of it would just make him look bad. “Fine... I’ll attack using just my right arm. This is merely a demonstration after all,” as a compromise, he decided to handicap himself.
Neither of them took on any form of fighting stance. This was the first time that he had ever been up against someone who’s blind. The very thought that this meek and timid girl could counter him seemed preposterous had he not witnessed some of her skills already in the recent past. After a deep and slow intake of air through his nostrils, he dashed forth at a lightning fast speed. His left hand rested within his side pocket; all he planned on using was his right arm as promised.
Starting this out gently, he threw out a very loosely clenched fist, but before his arm could even fully extend, a palm intercepted it halfway during the execution. Her hand felt soft and warm, unlike any fighter’s hands he had ever come across. Advancing a step forward at an angle to the side, he swiveled on his leading foot, spinning three-quarters around before swinging out a back-fist towards the side of the girl’s head at the temple.
With a small movement of the head, Ara evaded the strike by staying out of its range. She could sense her opponent’s presence right behind her back, and by dropping into a lower stance with a subtle duck of her head, she evaded a horizontal arcing chop of the boy’s hand that would have struck her in the neck.
Interesting..., she’s doing all this without her sight; time to experiment a little.
Leaping back to gain some distance, he swiped his bare hand through the air with rigid, curled fingers. The very motion was so fast that to an ordinary plebian, his arm would have appeared invisible for a split second before witnessing five arcing blades of air cutting through the space between them. He held back the power output to the point where his Phantom Claw technique would merely give minor cuts to the flesh. Deep down, he still prayed that his attack wouldn’t land. Soon, his eyes widened nervously when the girl remained in the same spot with no signs of attempting to evade.
With a horizontal swing of her arm, Ara crashed against the blades of air with her limb, dispersing it into a light breeze. She did not even need to move from her spot to eliminate that assault.
The way she handled that attack instantly reminded him how Raven, the assassin from the New World, managed to stop his technique. It was the same method of countering him. “What did you do? Is your arm okay?” He spoke out of concern. How could that slender arm be unscathed? Never mind that, not even her sleeve was marked.
“He-he... yes, I coated my arm with Busoshoku Haki. It’s like wearing invisible, weightless armor,” she explained.
Lunging forth, Pluto jumped into the air before lashing down from above like a pouncing wild animal. His opponent stepped forward, causing him to land onto the snowy ground behind her. Crouching down, he clenched his right hand before flinging it outwards.
“!” Ara leaned slightly to the side with a slight look of surprise, not expecting a snowball to be thrown at her. Such a childish tactic was served only to distract her from the boy’s sudden dash to release an uppercut towards the jaw. Gracefully, she slipped around the attack, gently wrapping one arm beneath the attack as another wrapped around the boy’s neck like a coiling serpent.
Pluto felt his heart pounding faster than usual as his body involuntarily tensed up as a puff of warm air was breathed down the side of his face. He wasn’t being choked; his right arm and head were merely locked. In theory, he could free himself if he had access to any of his other limbs or the usage of his Devil Fruit power. He could try to struggle and outmuscle her, but his body was paralyzed, almost shivering. It wasn’t fear but a strange discomfort and hesitation that he was feeling.
T-Too close!
He could feel a tingling sensation from the girl’s breath; her face was so close by. Being held like this didn’t feel threatening to him at all. His opponent was simply too gentle. His brain simply didn’t register her as dangerous. With simple usage of leverage by Ara’s control over his arm, he was knocked off balance and plunged into the earth on his stomach. A knee was then pressed against his back, pinning him down. And soon, his vision was taken away as a blindfold was strapped over his eyes, leading him to see absolute darkness.
“Okay, Pluto! It’s your turn,” her words were spoken sweetly like honey, yet somehow enough to control him. She opened her eyelids, revealing a pair of golden-hued pupils, and in exchange, her student was the one now blind. “I want you to wear this blindfold until I say you can take them off.”
When the weight was eased off his back, he tried standing up. His body was acting normal again.
What just happened? Why did I freeze up just then? Was I influenced by her haki or something? Tch..., even after her explanation, I still don’t quite understand the nature of haki.
He immediately had lost all sense of direction since his plummet to the ground, unable to recall the direction of the town anymore. Everything was pitch black all around no matter how he angled his head. For as long as he could remember, he’d never had trouble with navigating without sight due to echolocation from his Devil Fruit power, granting him the ability to see the world through sound rather than light.
“Oh! And, you’re not allowed the use your Devil Fruit power,” Ara just remembered that this boy could transform and possess animalistic senses such that his visual handicap would be completely meaningless on him.
And, thus, his last remaining method of navigating was gone. Without sight or echolocation, he was now truly blind. His mentor’s voice was nearby; he could tell the general location of where the sound was coming from. Yet, it was only a rough estimation of where she is in both direction and distance.
“Hmm..., there’s really not much for me to say from here on out. It’s like trying to teach a blind person how to see. Everything is really up to you in figuring this out. You just have to feel it.”
“Looks like this won’t be easy,” he grumbled. “Tsk..., I did this before; I just got to remember the feeling.”
“You did what before?” She asked quizzically.
Pluto then recalled upon his past, “Throughout my time during the Grand Line, there had been two occasions where I believed that I used Kenbunshoku Haki in retrospect. The first time was at Crescent Moon Empire where I was able to sense the presence and vehement emotions that were like spiritual cries in my head. I was also able to correctly foresee Scarlette’s next move before she even acted. I thought I was hallucinating or something back then. The second time was when Scarlette tried to kill my sister through her ambush. I saw the blade of her scythe slicing my sister’s head off. It was thanks to that miraculous premonition that I was able to stop the scythe in time.”
A brow raised in disbelief. Ara gaped her mouth at what he had just said. She was actually present during the second time, remembering Scarlette striking at his blind spot. In truth, there was actually no imaginable way for any ordinary human to counter that ambush attack without it being a fluke. Pluto was naturally a very observant fella. She had no choice but to believe that he awakened it once before during the first occasion that he spoke of. But, this was still incredible. To think that he had already used it accidentally in the past, this could indicate that he had an innate talent for Kenbunshoku Haki.
Moments later, Pluto felt an icy cold puffy projectile smacking him straight in the face. Nonchalantly, he brushed the clustered up snowflakes off with a sweep of his hand, “Oi...”
“It’s been so long since I played in the snow,” Ara bent down to mold the snow in between her bare palms. “Try to dodge them, Pluto!” She threw out another snowball, knowing full well that he had no hope in predicting the trajectories.
“Oomph!” Something much harder suddenly struck him in the abdomen, causing him to lurch forward. “D-Did you just throw a ball of ice at me!?” Without his eyes, he couldn’t tell what just hit him; it felt much harder than a snowball but crumbled like powder after impact.
“He-he, I did say that haki can be imbued into weapons. The same goes for projectiles too. An archer can imbue it into an arrow. A gunman can imbue it into a bullet. A swordsman can imbue it into a blade of air. And likewise, I can do the same with a snowball,” she demonstrated how the power can be temporarily extended into projectiles.
Tch..., Busoshoku Haki can do even that?
Thinking back, this would explain a phenomenon in the past when they were up against the user of the Tane Tane no Mi, “I remember now. When you thrust out your spear, you fired out a darting force of air that punctured a hole through Scarlette’s white homunculus. Piercing attacks would have just slipped through without creating a hole in it, so that’s how you ended up doing it.”
“Eh? I don’t know how her Devil Fruit power work, but I did imbue my attack with haki back then. Oh..., that’s right. I completely forgot to mention this. Any supernatural defenses from Devil Fruit powers can by bypassed with Busoshoku Haki. For example, normal physical blows wouldn’t affect Logia-type users, but a haki-imbued physical blow would damage their elemental bodies.”
“Wha-? Haki can do that too!?” He was starting to question what exactly haki can’t do. Why was it able to do so many things? What exactly was this mystical power that supposedly everyone possesses? He had never once encountered a Logia-type user before, but he was aware of what those rare powers were capable of. In his mind, he had always believed that it’d be a problem if he ever had to fight one of them, and it seemed that his training could potentially solve that concern.
“Yes, but you’re a zoan-user. So, it’s not something I’ll be able to demonstrate on you.” The animalistic transformations simply didn’t offer any special means of defense where an ordinary physical blow couldn’t work against.
Haki is a lot more useful than I first thought.
...
A bit past noon, the two of took a break to eat lunch. Pluto, who remained blindfolded, relied on the sound his mentor’s footsteps to approximate where he was heading, but with more people active in the town, he was at constant risk of walking into someone. While he lacked eyesight, he didn’t need vision to guess that passersby were staring at him.
Pluto soon felt a foreign arm hooking around his own arm. He reflexively lurched away but was dragged back.
“Let’s go,” Ara guided him as she walked along the road after nudging him to follow her lead.
“W-Wait! What are you doing?” His heart started to beat faster after learning who was clinging onto his arm. His thoughts scrambled, losing their sense of logic and ability of articulation. This strange feeling had been occurring quite often today for some reason. He had never anything quite like it before, but he hated this sensation by default because it felt like a weakness.
“What do you mean? You’ll start bumping into others if I don’t hold onto you like this,” she explained as if it was obvious. A part of her felt at ease that he was blinded; that meant he couldn’t judge her through sight. This made her felt more welcomed to do things that she normally wouldn’t do.
Pluto clenched his teeth. In his entire life, never once had he hooked arms or held hands with someone. This was such an embarrassing gesture to him. It was like being hugged or something. Why was this a bother? Why should he care if others see him in this pathetic state? Why couldn’t he just ignore and tolerate it? “Can’t I just walk without the blindfold? We’re not training at the moment,” he sought for a way out of this predicament.
“You don’t have much time, right? You want to learn the basics as soon as possible, don’t you? You won’t be able to sense the unexpected if you only use haki at times of when you think there’s danger? Even outside of combat, you could be ambushed. Even in a completely normal setting, it’s a good habit to sense your surroundings constantly,” she would normally be lenient on him, but Rebecca once told her that he was an overly cautious person. With that in mind, her words were phrased in such a way that would befit his nature. In truth, she didn’t mind at all if he took off his blindfold, but then she wouldn’t get to toy with him like this.
“Tsk...,” he lowered his head a bit, annoyed of having to put up with this. It felt like she was treating him as a little kid who needed to hold hands or else he’d get lost.
Moments later, Ara gave him a curious look, surprised that he was actually going along with this. He was being a lot more obedient that she anticipated. A week ago, she would keep her distance away from him, but now, she realized just how tolerant he is to things such as this. Perhaps, it was due to his little sister who had spent much of her time softening him up. She learnt much about him from Rebecca who’s the more sociable one of the siblings. This boy wasn’t as scary as she thought he’d be, or perhaps that was simply noticeable when contrasted to Scarlette who was just recently taken down by him.
...
After lunch, Pluto kneeled on the ground right outside of the restaurant with his head hanging towards the ground. “Why must you torture me...?” That was the most humiliating lunch he ever had.
“What’s wrong?” Ara bent down a bit, viably holding back a smile. She found it rather entertaining at seeing this side of him. If Rebecca was here to see it, she would be all giddy and laughing at how her strong, stoic brother was succumbed to affectionate gestures.
“I swear..., they were all staring at me,” he may be blindfolded, but he was paranoid and self-conscious enough to feel the gaze of others. “You even tried to spoon feed me...,” He cringed trying to picture it from another person’s perspective. The image of himself that he carved was crumbling because of her.
Tilting her head and closing her eyes, she shrugged with a small smirk on her face, “That’s because you couldn’t find the food on your plate.” She held back her giggling upon recalling him having trouble finding his eating utensils and repeatedly poking his plate with a fork aimlessly. It all just went to show how heavily reliant he was to his eyes to observe the world.
Later that night, Pluto felt his way around the room of the inn with his hands, carefully maneuvering around to avoid stepping on top anything or bumping into walls. Meticulously, he laid down several sheets of cloth on the floor, layering them on top of one another to form a makeshift bed. He wanted nothing more than to sleep in order to forget about what happened today. His ears twitched at the sound of slippers stepping into the room.
Having taken a hot shower, Ara walked in in a white bath robe. Her long, straight black hair was let down, glimmering under the light from still being wet. “What are you doing?” She asked curiously. It felt a little less embarrassing to walk in like this, knowing that he would be unable to see her.
“You take the bed; I’ll sleep on the floor,” said the boy who didn’t bother turning around due to his lack of sight. Even to this very hour, he received no instruction to remove his blindfold, and the longer he wore it, the more agitated he became. Losing one’s primary senses really made even the simplest of tasks tedious and inconvenient.
“Eh!? You don’t have to that! You take the bed; you’re the one who’s needs to recover from your injuries.”
“Hmm... on second thought, I could sleep outside on the roof or something,” he murmured to himself, realizing he hadn’t done that in quite a while.
“No way; it’s freezing outside,” she rejected that idea.
“Well, the floor it is.” Take the extreme choice and the preferred choice would become the compromise.
“Then, I’ll sleep on the floor too,” she added.
“Tch! That defeats the whole purpose of me sleeping on the floor. You sleep on the bed; it’s more comfortable.”
“But uncomfortable for you. You need it more than I do. The bed is rather large; we could...,” she paused before her voice grew much quieter, “... share it.”
“I think I’ve lost enough dignity for one day,” he pouted.
Five minutes later...
“Goodnight Pluto,” Ara turned off the lights after having forcefully pinned him to the bed long enough until he stopped resisting. The boy put up a good fight considering he was deprived of his vision, but he was a disadvantage on multiple different levels.
That marked the end of the first day.
...
On the second day, Pluto spent most of his time doing standing meditation. Idly standing in a solid firm stance, he was to empty his mind and concentrate on his breathing. Not a single bundle of though ought to emerge, a difficult task for someone who thinks a lot. Air would slowly enter through his nostrils, traveling as deep as they can to expand his abdomen before being exhaled back out through the nose. Never once was he ever allowed to see in his daily activities. Ara had also forbid him to use his Devil Fruit power to override his blindness. She also realized that this would do him some good after the disheartening events that transpired. There was bound to be stress and heartbreaking concerns lingering in his mind, but emptying all that out would allow him to regain his original focus and concentration.
By the end of the day, he gradually memorized and familiarized his surroundings and mapped everything out in his head, knowing the relative distances between ‘landmarks’ such as the bed to the door and the inn to the restaurant. While nothing spectacular was accomplished, his sense of hearing grew keener as he could better judge the distance of a passerby through the sound of their footsteps, allowing him to avoid running into people. His mind was desperate to avoid requiring Ara’s help at any means necessary. No more hooking arms or any of that nonsense. It was like transitioning from a toddler to an adult in a day’s worth of time.
Ara would be constantly alongside him, overseeing his mundane training. There was hardly any action involved. Her blind student was beginning to cultivate the internal side of an individual – aspects that could not be seen, and yet, being with him was never boring. She could definitely understand where Rebecca was coming from in the thrill of teasing him, but she tried her best to refrain from doing so when the opportunity arises.
The third day was very much a repeat of the second day in regards to training. However, Ara managed to temporarily borrow a Den Den Mushi in order to contact the Revolutionary Army whom hadn’t heard anything from her for around three weeks. She informed them about her situation and past occurrences that led up to the present – about how the human slave trading was dealt with in Blue Lagoon and about the achievements of the newly recruited member, Pluto, who became a big help in taking down a multitude of threats. She commended him for his strength but also explained the sticky predicament that he was currently in. The revolutionaries were understanding people in her experience in being one of them. They had taken in many children who were lost or abandoned by the world and raised them as part of their forces. They combatted the injustice that the World Government had long since created through its corruption. Whatever happens to Pluto from here on out, she wanted to make it clear to them that if he ever goes against their best interest, it would be because he was forced to. His younger sister had been taken hostage; he was now being controlled by someone aligned with the Underworld. With his permission, she told them what was necessary; she would take responsibility of him.
Lastly, Ara stated that the two of them were essentially stranded on Drum Island; their original vessel remained too unstable and damaged to be used for sailing again. Much of their important belongings had been brought over into the inn, including the remaining beri leftover to pay for their fundamental needs such as food and shelter. The money originated from Pluto’s bounty hunting in the past, but it wouldn’t last them for much longer.
The blind student rubbed the back of his head and sighed, “I’m not too thrilled of you telling them all that. I don’t completely trust them yet.”
The girl gave a gentle smile, “Don’t worry, they’re good people.”
“Well, if you trust them, then that’s reassuring. You’re timid, so they must have done something to have earned your trust and loyalty,” he reasoned, likely just bias to make himself feel better. “But, I don’t trust them. The only one I trust right now... is you.”
“Aww..., Pluto,” she took that as a compliment which immediately ticked him off.
...
Nearing the first week, Pluto was starting to grow skeptical if he was making any progress at all. The worst thing he could be doing right now was wasting his time that could be used to work on a plan to save his sister. All he had been doing for the past week was meditation while living his life with a cloth covering his eyes the entire time. But, if a blindfold was enough to awaken this power that Ara could use, then anyone would be able to acquire it. There must be something more to it than just this.
“Ara..., how much longer do you plan for me to do this?”
“U-Um...,” She sounded uncertain, “As long as it takes.”
“Isn’t there..., a faster way to do this?”
“You’re being impatient, Pluto,” she scolded him. “T-There is another way..., but...,” her words trailed off into silence.
“Another way?” He immediately grew suspicious. What exactly was this girl hiding from him? “What is it then?”
“It’s nothing! I didn’t mean to say that!”
“Tsk! No, you’re definitely withholding information.”
“But..., if I tell you, then..., knowing you..., you’ll definitely try that approach.”
“And why is that a problem?”
“I don’t want to put you in danger,” she was being protective.
“Danger?” What was the worst that can possibly happen? And, how could this possibly be any more dangerous than all the events he had been through?
“...Yes..., remember all those past occurrences when you used haki by accident? It all happened during times of extreme danger towards either you or someone else. I-If..., we were to put you in danger..., then it’s possible...”
“I see,” come to of it, he had never actually accidentally used haki on a quiet, relaxing, calm environment like the setting he was in right now. Each time it happened, the trigger was always during extreme situations. Even when Scarlette used it by accident, it was due to a bullet being shot at her head. Danger might the key to a quick path of either his own enlightenment or demise. “It seems like a gamble, but it might be the fastest approach. Let’s try it.”
Ara winced, knowing that this would happen. She disapproved of the idea of putting him in unnecessary danger. “But Pluto..., you’re the most dangerous thing on this island right now,” she resorted to excuses.
“There’s always the idea of you being that danger,” he noted.
“No way! I’m not going to hurt you!”
True, he’d have a better chance at teaching a cat how to swim than getting Ara to attack him with killing intent. “Ara! I can’t save my sister if I don’t get stronger fast. Please, if putting me in danger is what it takes, then even if there’s one percent chance that it’ll lead me to a shortcut, then so be it.”
“You want to get stronger fast? Well, I suppose if it’s you, then it’s possible,” she must acknowledge that the boy must have possessed a tremendous potential for growth to reach his current level at his current age. But, this was an entirely different realm of power. It wasn’t muscles or techniques that they were dealing with here; it was a fundamental sense that lied dormant in everyone. The amount of illusions and mental blocks layered within him would correlate with the difficulty of him reaching his goal. Danger would stimulate the instincts within him. He must abandon his sense of logic that dictates his every move. “In that case, you could try fighting against the most vicious species on this island.”
“What kind of species are we talking about here?”
“They are known as Lapahns; they are a breed of snow rabbits,” she said innocently, ironic to her previous statement of the being the most vicious species on the island.
“You want me to fight a bunch of rabbits!?” The lack of seriousness irked him. “I don’t have time to be chasing rabbits!” What could these cute, adorable bunnies possibly do to endanger him? Nibble him to death? Throw pointed carrots at him?
“How unlike you to be underestimating your opponents, Pluto,” she said whimsically. “Say that after you beat them blindfolded with no Devil Fruit power allowed.”
He sighed, realizing that fighting innocent looking animals was becoming a trend now, “First a panda and now rabbits.”
“?” Ara tilted her head in puzzlement in what a panda had to do with any of this.
...
Later on that day, they ventured out into the plain of thick snow. Tall pine trees scattered around the area, but the spaciousness meant that Pluto need not worry about running into things. The crunching sound of boots pressing against the snow indicated to him where his mentor was walking, making it easy for him to follow along.
“Alright, we’re here,” Ara halted in place as she gazed out into the distance where a large cluster of white furred creatures dwell. The lapahn were a species of bipedal carnivorous snow rabbits. The adults stood over seven feet tall. They all possessed a bulky round build with claws at their forepaws, long rabbit ears, red eyes, and three pairs of whiskers on their faces. The default expressions on most of their faces appeared stoic, unfriendly, and perhaps grumpy. A rough estimation would lead one to believe that there were about a hundred of them. They were like a bizarre hybrid of snow rabbits, polar bears, and gorillas.
“Well..., let’s get this over with,” the boy pressed his face against his palm.
A hundred pairs of hostile red eyes glared at the two humans who clearly did not belong on Drum Island. In unison, paws were raised up in the air as they all growled – their form of a battle cry.
“Um..., what was that?” Pluto questioned as the growling clearly didn’t resemble to sound of rabbits. As far as he knows, rabbits don’t make noises at all. He had always imagined them to be very quiet and docile creatures. Being so reliant of the sound of footsteps for the past week, he failed to notice of a lapahn rocketing straight at him in a single jump, covering dozens of meters of distance through the air.
“Ara?” He turned his head towards where he last remembered where the girl was standing, but not a single response was given. Instead, he received a heavy blunt force and hurled him back into the distance, “Oomph!” The lapahn had rammed his shoulder right into him, using its powerful linear momentum and superior mass.
Tumbling into the snow, Pluto immediately crawled back up in an alarming state. That force definitely did not belonged to a little snow bunny that he had in mind. That was the force of a sumo wrestler being launched out of an oversized cannon. Raising his arms in a compact manner to shield against the invisible threat, he guarded against the unknown, embracing himself as another swipe of a paw smash against his defense at an angle from the side. His body neutralized the force, directing it down into the earth as he remained sturdily in place. Now that he could gauge out the relative distance of his target, the physical contact of the paw allowed him to sense his opponent through touch.
In a swift and sharp motion, he shot out a punch that dug deep into the fur-coated blubbery body, launching whatever the shape and size of his opponent away. Judging by the resistance of the impact, he just punched a creature that weighed around a ton.
However, now that he hurled his opponent away, he had no way of telling if his assault did any damage. Without sight, he couldn’t see the expression and bodily language of his opponent. Worst of all, he didn’t even realize that the entire herd of giant rabbit monsters had now considered him as a threat. All of them rocketed through the air like giant furry cannonballs, raining down from the sky.
Without the sound of approaching footsteps, the boy had no awareness whatsoever of the enlarging shadows around him. Suddenly, a tremendous weight crushed him from above as he slammed into the ground against his back, “ARGH!” Air within his lungs was forcefully knocked out. Effectively pinned down and being crushed, he desperately sought a means to relief himself of the weight above.
The lapahns growled as a discharge of violet-colored electricity conducted straight into his body for a few seconds. Immediately, it jumped away to recuperate from the paralysis.
With the freedom to move again, Pluto quickly rolled to the side and onto his feet, not realizing that his very movement allowed him to evade a thundering crash. A mere fluke, but he now began to realize that he was dealing with more than one of them.
Rabbits, huh? What the heck am I up against? These can’t be rabbits!
A rain of thundering crashes surrounded him in close proximity as if a meteor shower just occurred on top of him. Judging by the subtle growls in all directions, he was currently surrounded, completely encircled by a herd of these creatures.
Ara..., where is she?
The fact that he couldn’t hear any conflict in the distance meant that his mentor must have reached a safe spot. She wouldn’t ditch him, would she?
Several lapahns charged forth, converging towards the point of where the blindfolded human stood.
All he could see was total darkness. All he could hear were growls. All he could feel were heavy paws smacking across the snowy terrain, claws tearing against his skin and flesh, and the icy cold air. Aimlessly, he struck out several blows that hit nothing but thin air.
Meanwhile, standing on top of the branch of a massive snow-covered pine tree, Ara watched with her back pressed against the bark. The confrontation between Pluto and the herd of lapahns was turning out exactly as she expected. No matter how powerful of a fighter he was, take away the primary sense and the mightiest of warriors may be reduced to a defenseless and helpless individual. Without sight, he could see neither his targets nor the attacks directed at him. He can neither attack nor defend. On top of all that, the thick snow rendered his movements to be sluggish while the terrain was the natural habitat for the lapahns. He was nothing more than a child being bullied right now.
Well..., you asked for this...
ZZT! ZZT!
Several lapahns were knocked away, slamming into others of their kind as the human boy resorted to a desperate means of countering them.
The snow rabbits halted their relentless assaults as streams of electricity were visibly being emitted from the boy’s arms. Each time he was hit, the electricity would paralyze them, granting him a small window frame of time to retaliate. His strategy brought him some landed hits, but ultimately, it was a short-lived plan as the creatures could dance around his arms and strike him in the numerous openings that he possessed. Two arms were simply not enough to defend his entire body in all directions.
Half an hour later, Ara would find herself approaching a torn up, beaten body half-buried in the snow. If nothing else, it was impressive as to how long he could endure all those hits.
Squatting down, she gently attempted to lift him up, but the first touch zapped her finger, “EEK!” What a strange ability he possessed. A human who could discharge electricity, he sure possessed a lot of tricks up his sleeves. Once again, she tried to touch him, hoping to not be zapped any more. He was covered in slash marks and bruises. His skin felt cold to the point that she began to worry if he was going to be alright.
“Ugh...,” With one eye open and one eye closed, Pluto was stirred awake. It had been a while since his blindfold was taken off. He looked up to see a face that he hadn’t seen for a week and had nearly forgotten what she looked like. She was dressed in a completely different outfit since the last time he saw her. Despite the frigid temperatures, he could feel slight warmth surging within his cold, freezing body just from looking at her face.
“Sorry..., it didn’t happen. I wasn’t able to replicate the sensation of haki. I failed,” he said almost forlornly.
“Mm...,” she shook her head, “I never expected you to on your very first try. There are no guarantees. It’s hard. Grasping it is very hard.”
“I underestimated them. Those ‘rabbits’ were tough.” His initial arrogance must have blinded him from fathoming the dangers. Come to think of it, he had been through many dangerous situations without ever sensing that sensation. It was only those two times did it ever happen. But why? What were so special about those times to have triggered a spur of the moment awakening?
No..., it isn’t danger or at least, not entirely. It was... fear. It can’t be replicated. I can’t just pretend to be afraid.
Genuine raw fear that struck him deeply into the roots of his instinctive being, that was what differed those two instances from this one. The fear of his death and the fear of his sister’s death, those had been the triggers. The reason he didn’t feel that sensation during his fight against the Raven was because of hope. He had hope that he could defeat him and snatch the antidote to cure his sister. Hope and fear were like water and oil; they don’t mix well.
What was his greatest fear?
The death of Rebecca, the girl he had been protecting with his life on the line for the past two years. It wasn’t just her life he wanted to protect but also her innocence and all of the things that made her special to him. To dedicate his life in protecting her, he had an antagonistic view of all those that threatened her. Anyone that harmed her would immediately be harm towards him. Attacking her meant attacking him. Killing her would mean killing his purpose of living.
Fearing was easy. Right now, in his powerless and pitiful state, his sister had been abducted, taken to a place unbeknownst to him. Whatever happens to her would remain unknown to him.
Spirit, ambition, willpower... that was the true nature of haki, he began to understand what Ara was talking about when she described what it was. This wasn’t going to be easy at all. This had nothing to do with physicality or mental prowess; it really did have to do with his spirit.
Along with danger and fear, only if he has something of precious value to lose would his spirit cry out into the world. That would be his shortcut.
It took a moment for his brain to register what he saw. For a split second, he presumed it was his little sister lying in the same bed as him, but that immediately cannot be the case. Rebecca would’ve clung around him like a stuffed animal as she sleeps, and also, she was gone.
“AHHH!” Uncharacteristically of him to emit any sound of shock, the boy flinched back and fell off the edge before thumping against the cold wooden floor. He had confronted far more terrifying beings and remained composed, yet something like this was enough to make his heart start beating fast. Groaning in pain, he leaned up to recuperate. The rustle of the blanket and bedsheets caught his attention. A girl around his own age stirred in her slumber as she opened her eyes softly, revealing golden colored pupils. Her long, straight, black hair wavered as she sat up in bed.
She blinked at the sight of him before her face reddened. Lowering her head towards the mattress, the girl bowed apologetically before rapidly blurting out a rush of her thoughts, “S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to sleep here! I-I... uh... used your money without permission for us to stay in this inn. I picked the cheapest one with only one bedroom because I didn’t want to use too much money. You didn’t wake up for so long, and I got worried. A-And then... I... fell asleep without realizing it. I’m so sorry!”
“Huh!?” The boy blinked, holding up an open palm as to gesture her to slow down. As he tried to take in her words, he felt his own rapid heartbeat beginning to stabilize. It spooked him to wake up in this situation, but he got the gist of what happened from her explanation. In addition to her words, judging from the wooden brown chair situated on her side of the bed facing inwards, it indicated that she had been watching over him as he slept out of concern last night. Someone brought him here and had been looking after him during his dormant hours. All that’s left was to fill in the gap of time when he was unconscious. “How long have I been asleep for?”
“Um...,” She first needed to know what time it was right this minute to estimate an answer, “About fifteen hours!”
“EH!?” That was about twice the duration of what a normal human sleeps. He didn’t think he had ever slept for that long in a single go. In other words, it was already a brand new day since the last moments of consciousness. Recent memories gradually emerged, releasing residues of mixed negative emotions of sadness, anger, hatred, and frustration. He remembered what happened now. After his clash against an assassin from the New World, a long fight broke out in the midst of a blizzard outside. Despite throwing everything he’s got, he ultimately lost the fight. He nearly lost his life. And worst of all, he lost his little sister.
His glance stopped at the sight of a blank envelope on top of a drawer. He was not the one who put that there nor did he ever placed the letter back into the envelope.
The girl caught on to his fixated line of sight and panicked. She bowed again out of guilt, “I’m sorry! I read the letter!” Her head rose up steadily, followed by a dreadful expression, “I... know what happened... and about your circumstances right now.”
Quietly, Pluto stood up from where he had fallen before sensing a growing pressure within his stomach until it eased in the form of a growl. He had burned up a lot of calories from yesterday’s conflict that his body demanded more fuel. Come to think of it, he never really did get to eat a proper meal for quite some time, and without Rebecca’s cooking, he would need to find another means to eat in the meantime.
Holding back a giggle, Ara said softly, “Do you... want to get something to eat?” She then slid herself off the bed to dress properly for the frigid temperatures on this winter island.
The two of them eventually stepped outside at dawn when the white sky dwindled down light fluffy snowflakes; making the town appear almost magical and the violent blizzard from yesterday seem like nothing more than a nightmare that they had just woken out of. Hardly anyone was out at this early in the morning as the streets were devoid of humans, but despite no one being around, he still walked at a safe distance from this girl. Several times, his eyes would peek to glance at her but immediately look away upon being glanced back. He still knew very little of this person and attributed his behavior to the lack of exposure to female humans. Besides his little sister, the first other female he had ‘acquainted’ with just so happened to be a crazy, mentally and emotionally unstable, psychotic serial killer who tried to ‘liberate’ people from this prison of a world by chopping their heads off with a scythe! Surely he was justified to at least feel uncomfortable with another female human. For all he knew, there could be more lunatic young women such as Scarlette. Not to mention that the lack of witnesses made it an ideal time for Ara to reveal any hypothetical ‘dark side’ to kill him on the spot. While it was painfully obvious that Scarlette is a dangerous woman from the appearance standpoint, Ara could be a more deceptive breed of killers; her cute and harmless appearance along with that gentle and polite demeanor could all be a facade to lower his guard. Rebecca, his younger sister, was no exception. When he first met her, he also thought the little girl would try to kill him for the perfectly justified reason that he killed their biological father. He thought it’d make sense for the young one to try to take revenge on him, yet nothing of the sort ever transpired. Only several months of extreme caution led him to ease up and accept her as a non-hostile, hyperactive, genuinely loving sister.
They finally stepped into a restaurant as the only customers present. He picked a table next to a window where one could observe the outside scene while simultaneously be able to guard his blind spot through the translucent, ghostly reflection off the glass. Without a word to each other, they began ordering breakfast. He could hardly recall a time when he last ate at a restaurant before. Most of his meals were cooked by his sister over the past two years, and before then, he ate at a place that was once called home before it perished into flames in a very literal sense.
This normal activity -which regular people do- made him feel out of place. He could gradually notice a decline in his ability to focus and concentrate. His heartbeat seemed to have a different rhythm; that could just be from the fact that he was stabbed in the chest yesterday as well as poisoned. His body also seemed more resistant to the cold, producing more heat than usual – again, probably due to the poisoning. Even though he received an antidote that kept him alive, he likely had not fully recovered yet.
“Pluto?” Ara called out in an uncertain tone.
“Huh?” Before he knew it, he was already facing directly at her in a circular table with two glasses of water ready between them.
“Y-You’ve been staring at me for the past minute,” she noted at how he appeared to be lost in thought. “D-Did you want to ask me something?”
“I... was what...?” He didn’t even notice about his own subconsciously starring at her. This was rather uncharacteristic of him. Ever since he woken up today, he felt unable to notice his surroundings to his usual capabilities. “Oh...,” he realized that a question was asked, and the social norm demanded him to respond. There were many things he’d want to ask of her. “Yeah..., what is haki?” That wasn’t actually on his mind just then, but it had been during his time at Eldoran Island where the word was brought up on numerous occasions in the context of strange, unexplainable phenomenon.
“Ah! Is that what’s on your mind? I guess it’d make sense for you to be curious after the people you’ve met so far. Haki is...,” she paused to think of a way to explain it. “...something that all living beings possess. It’s like a sixth sense. There’re generally two main categories. Kenbunshoku Haki is the ability to sense other things. It’d allow you to sense the presence of other living beings around you, predict their next move, sense the emotions of others, and even be able to tell how strong each individual is. Busoshoku Haki is the ability to wield the power of haki to armor yourself, enhance your attacks, and extend it into a weapon like what I do with my spear.”
And thus, Ara continued to share her knowledge which cleared up much of the uncertainties that had been lingering in the boy’s head. She mentioned how rare it is for people to actually manage to harness this power. There were those who would spend their entire lives with no success. She touched on the fact that almost all of the strongest fighters in the world possessed this power to some degree which is why it’s more common in the New World where only the fittest survives.
The conversation mostly involved him listening to her voice. It felt as if this was the first time he heard her speak for this timid girl had never talked for this long before. They rarely conversed at all for that matter. Ara had traveled on the same ship as him for a few weeks, but much of that time involved her lying in bed and regaining her health. Rebecca had been the little bridge between them, but without her, they were forced to be upfront in communicating.
So far, her description of haki implied that it was quite a diverse power, capable of doing many things that seemed rather mystical. However, there was one aspect that he had witnessed that did not match to any of the examples of what haki could do, yet he vividly remembered her labeling it as haki several days back. “Then, what about that oppressive wave that knocked my sister unconscious? Didn’t you call it haki as well?”
“Oh..., that’s called Haoshoku Haki, a third category that not everyone possesses. I didn’t mention it since very few people in this world actually possesses that power. It’s not something one could attain through training. I’ve never actually seen it in action before until just several days ago. Rebecca is still too young and reliant on you; her willpower was outmatched, causing her to fall unconscious. However, you and I were perfectly fine, meaning that the willpower exerted on us failed to overcome our own willpower.”
“Willpower?” Such a term sounded arbitrary to him. “You said it can’t be attained through training. Does that imply that the other two categories can be attained through training then?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” at the very least, that was how she attained powers of both catagories.
A waitress then came by, settling down a plate in each hand down on the table, “Here you go! Enjoy your meal!” She bowed subtly before leaving.
They both got the same dish where the plates were divided into three sections in their presentation, consisting of scrambled eggs laid on top of a thick slice of toasted sourdough bread, light-brown colored beans on a separate part of the plate, and cube-shaped potatoes on another part. After the first bite, one could taste a very light fluffy texture in the eggs that had been seasoned and mixed with butter and something akin to sour cream.
“... Pluto? A-Are you alright?” Ara asked of concern.
“Huh?” His vision was blurred as droplets of water flowed down his cheeks. A short clip of memory flashed in his head, triggered by the taste. He remembered the last meal he had with Rebecca; it was during breakfast as well, an incomplete meal due to Scarlette’s ambush to kill his sister at the time. These gentle and soft eggs reminded him so very much of her cooking that it pained him to realize that she was gone. And quickly, that happy moment was followed by a vehement surge of wrath.
Are these... tears?
“Strange,” he swept his sleeve across his eyes, “I guess I’m not feeling too well today.” Bite after bite, he chewed and shallowed; his palates were filled with delectable flavors, a sensation strongly tied to his bond with Rebecca. He missed her very much. He missed her cooking. He missed her hugs. He missed the sound of her cheerful voice. He missed having someone to protect, care, and look out for. And the very thought of her being taken away in a faraway place without the slightest of idea in regards to her fate infuriated him. He had no idea how she was being treated this very second. He had no idea if she was even alive right now. She could be crying right now. She could be tortured right now. And, there was absolutely nothing he could do to know about it.
Weak! He was too weak! There was still someone like The Plague in this world, someone who could defeat him with ease. No matter how much he replayed the fight from yesterday in his head, he simply couldn’t pinpoint any flaw in himself. He hardly made any mistakes. He did the best he can. He threw everything he had against Raven. And yet, he lost in such a one-sided manner. Why? Most of his attacks could hardly even damage him. He wasn’t that he lacked skill, strength, or speed. What he lacked was haki, this mystical power that grants an enormous gap between him and his now new deadliest foe.
“How long..., does it take for one to be able to utilize haki?” He voice trembled. His composure wavered.
“That... depends on how talented you are, I suppose.” Ara then closed her eyes to collect her thoughts, “You... want to learn haki, don’t you?”
“Of course, but I don’t think I can make it in time. I want to save Rebecca as soon as possible. But, I have no idea where she is being held captive. Even if by some miracle, I manage to grasp it quickly, that wouldn’t do me much good against an opponent who probably had many years of honing his haki. I’ll still be too inexperienced. I’ll likely be up against several tough opponents, not just Raven. In terms of a fight, I don’t stand a chance. But, my objective wouldn’t be to win. I don’t have to beat them. I just need to rescue her and escape. I won’t repeat the same mistake. When I was sent to rescue you, I was warned to avoid confronting Varuna head on. But, I ended clashing against him even though I could’ve just escaped after retrieving you. I had my priorities mixed up. All I cared about was winning back then.”
“Eh?” Ara perked her head up at the last bit of what he had said. “You were ‘sent’ to rescue me? By who?”
“Hmm? Who do you think?” he was obviously referring to the Revolutionary Army, supposedly the very same affiliation that Ara was connected to.
“B-But!” She was dumbfounded. “Y-You... A-Are you... affiliated with them too?” This came as a surprise, but it answered many questions at once.
“Technically, yes. I joined two weeks ago through an invitation. It happened quite recently, so it hasn’t quite sunken in for me yet. I hardly know anything about them,” he said it casually as if this wasn’t such a big deal. Despite that, the girl was making quite a reaction based on her facial expression.
“I... I didn’t know! Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” She had no idea that she was traveling with an ally from the same group this entire time. The boy had never appeared to be a pirate, a merchant, or anything identifiable for that matter, yet at the same time, his fighting prowess was top-notch among the paradise of the Grand Line, meaning he wasn’t any ordinary traveler either. He had always been a mystery to her. Without even a crew, he sailed the dangerous seas all while protecting his sister. It begged the question: just who is he? How did someone so young reach such a high level of strength? What pushed him to that extent? And, why did such an unfairly powerful assassin went after him in the first place?
He shifted his glance away, avoiding eye contact, “I thought you already knew.” Now that he thought about it, there was actually no conceivable way for Ara to have known about it.
“Is Rebecca a member as well?” She’d think the little girl would at least have told her that much during their time together.
“No, she’s not; and she doesn’t know that I’m in it either.” That had been kept secret from both his sister and Scarlette. “You’re now one of the few people who know about my affiliation.” It’d be an annoyance if someone from the World Government knew about him. Siding with the force destined to go against the world would automatically make him a criminal, but as long as his allegiance remained anonymous, they would have no reason to bother him for now.
“I see,” the girl nodded. For a brief moment, there was silence between them. “Um..., Pluto..., if you don’t mine me asking, why was an assassin sent after you?” Given how secretive and cautious this boy has shown to be, she doubted that there was a bounty on his head, and even if he did have one, there would have been no reason to abduct his sister and leave him alive. There was something even deeper and complex going on around here.
“Who knows...,” he feigned ignorance at first. “I don’t feel like talking about my past just yet. And, if I ever do tell you, I’d prefer if it’s not in public.” After an awkward pause, his mind clashed between two opposing course of actions, “Ara...” He blurted out her name while resisting the urge to ask. In his entire life, there was only one other time when he would ask of this, but it was so much harder when speaking to her for some reason. Asking a talking panda was so much easier than asking this girl.
“Yes?”
“Can you... train me in how to utilize haki?” Recently, he had felt as though his body is nearing close to the zenith of his physical potential. Any further amount of conventional training probably wouldn’t amount to any further increase in strength or speed. But, there were still those who’re stronger than him lingering in the Grand Line, and in order to acquire the means to hold his own against them, he’d need to get stronger in a completely different direction.
“Eh!?” Her brows rose in surprise. True, she was practically the only person he could ask at this time, but she had never trained or taught anyone else in haki before. And besides, wasn’t it a bit unusual for her to be training someone stronger than herself? “No way!” Raising both hands up in a surrendering pose, she declined in a panicky tone, “I can’t do that! I-I mean... it’s not that I don’t want to..., but there are plenty of people whose haki is stronger than my own. And, I’ve never taught someone before. B-Besides, I’m sure there’s someone else who’s more qualified than me to train you.”
“I think you’ll do just fine,” he commented in a composed and calm manner. “All I want are the basics, enough that I can progress on my own without the need of a mentor.” Against his preference, asking someone he knew little about brought risks to him, but his choices were heavily limited. If he could benefit or learn anything useful from her, then using her as a tool would be fine enough for him.
Ara still looked incredibly hesitant. She lacked the confidence in herself to pull through with what is being request of her. “But if I fail in teaching you, you’ll end up wasting your time for nothing!”
“Then that’s my fault for not being talented enough,” he brought back what she told him just a while ago.
“Are you sure about this?” She had briefly seen him in action before and believed him to be a very promising combatant. Someone with a high-level of martial art skills and experience in dangerous situations might have an advantage over the average human in learning haki. There was no doubt in her mind that he’s a very talented individual, but there was plenty of doubt in herself in being able to nurture that talent. Still, if he really didn’t mind, she could at least try to train him to the best of her ability.
...
After agreeing to train Pluto in harnessing his will into a manifestation of power along with a new level of awareness, Ara’s took him out of town in a vast empty space with the terrain buried in snow. White-covered pine trees scattered sparsely across the land. The air was crisp and welcomingly refreshing. The two of them stood face to face with one another with a five meter gap of distance between them. She wore a thick black fabric that covered her eyes with an elastic strap around the back of her neck to secure it in place. It was an eye mask used to aid one in sleeping well, designed to block out the outside light entirely.
“A-Alright, c-come and a-attack me..., I think...,” she made a halfhearted request, uncertain of her own safety. “B-But...” Her body then shrunk back, “G-Go easy on me..., I’m not that good at fighting without a weapon, a-and... you’re very strong, fast, and skilled.” Against someone of his caliber, even she wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of his full-powered attacks.
“Uhhhh...,” Tilting his head, he wasn’t too keen on attacking her. From a bystander’s perspective, it’d appear like a male adolescent assaulting a blindfolded, defenseless girl in the middle of nowhere. The very picture of it would just make him look bad. “Fine... I’ll attack using just my right arm. This is merely a demonstration after all,” as a compromise, he decided to handicap himself.
Neither of them took on any form of fighting stance. This was the first time that he had ever been up against someone who’s blind. The very thought that this meek and timid girl could counter him seemed preposterous had he not witnessed some of her skills already in the recent past. After a deep and slow intake of air through his nostrils, he dashed forth at a lightning fast speed. His left hand rested within his side pocket; all he planned on using was his right arm as promised.
Starting this out gently, he threw out a very loosely clenched fist, but before his arm could even fully extend, a palm intercepted it halfway during the execution. Her hand felt soft and warm, unlike any fighter’s hands he had ever come across. Advancing a step forward at an angle to the side, he swiveled on his leading foot, spinning three-quarters around before swinging out a back-fist towards the side of the girl’s head at the temple.
With a small movement of the head, Ara evaded the strike by staying out of its range. She could sense her opponent’s presence right behind her back, and by dropping into a lower stance with a subtle duck of her head, she evaded a horizontal arcing chop of the boy’s hand that would have struck her in the neck.
Interesting..., she’s doing all this without her sight; time to experiment a little.
Leaping back to gain some distance, he swiped his bare hand through the air with rigid, curled fingers. The very motion was so fast that to an ordinary plebian, his arm would have appeared invisible for a split second before witnessing five arcing blades of air cutting through the space between them. He held back the power output to the point where his Phantom Claw technique would merely give minor cuts to the flesh. Deep down, he still prayed that his attack wouldn’t land. Soon, his eyes widened nervously when the girl remained in the same spot with no signs of attempting to evade.
With a horizontal swing of her arm, Ara crashed against the blades of air with her limb, dispersing it into a light breeze. She did not even need to move from her spot to eliminate that assault.
The way she handled that attack instantly reminded him how Raven, the assassin from the New World, managed to stop his technique. It was the same method of countering him. “What did you do? Is your arm okay?” He spoke out of concern. How could that slender arm be unscathed? Never mind that, not even her sleeve was marked.
“He-he... yes, I coated my arm with Busoshoku Haki. It’s like wearing invisible, weightless armor,” she explained.
Lunging forth, Pluto jumped into the air before lashing down from above like a pouncing wild animal. His opponent stepped forward, causing him to land onto the snowy ground behind her. Crouching down, he clenched his right hand before flinging it outwards.
“!” Ara leaned slightly to the side with a slight look of surprise, not expecting a snowball to be thrown at her. Such a childish tactic was served only to distract her from the boy’s sudden dash to release an uppercut towards the jaw. Gracefully, she slipped around the attack, gently wrapping one arm beneath the attack as another wrapped around the boy’s neck like a coiling serpent.
Pluto felt his heart pounding faster than usual as his body involuntarily tensed up as a puff of warm air was breathed down the side of his face. He wasn’t being choked; his right arm and head were merely locked. In theory, he could free himself if he had access to any of his other limbs or the usage of his Devil Fruit power. He could try to struggle and outmuscle her, but his body was paralyzed, almost shivering. It wasn’t fear but a strange discomfort and hesitation that he was feeling.
T-Too close!
He could feel a tingling sensation from the girl’s breath; her face was so close by. Being held like this didn’t feel threatening to him at all. His opponent was simply too gentle. His brain simply didn’t register her as dangerous. With simple usage of leverage by Ara’s control over his arm, he was knocked off balance and plunged into the earth on his stomach. A knee was then pressed against his back, pinning him down. And soon, his vision was taken away as a blindfold was strapped over his eyes, leading him to see absolute darkness.
“Okay, Pluto! It’s your turn,” her words were spoken sweetly like honey, yet somehow enough to control him. She opened her eyelids, revealing a pair of golden-hued pupils, and in exchange, her student was the one now blind. “I want you to wear this blindfold until I say you can take them off.”
When the weight was eased off his back, he tried standing up. His body was acting normal again.
What just happened? Why did I freeze up just then? Was I influenced by her haki or something? Tch..., even after her explanation, I still don’t quite understand the nature of haki.
He immediately had lost all sense of direction since his plummet to the ground, unable to recall the direction of the town anymore. Everything was pitch black all around no matter how he angled his head. For as long as he could remember, he’d never had trouble with navigating without sight due to echolocation from his Devil Fruit power, granting him the ability to see the world through sound rather than light.
“Oh! And, you’re not allowed the use your Devil Fruit power,” Ara just remembered that this boy could transform and possess animalistic senses such that his visual handicap would be completely meaningless on him.
And, thus, his last remaining method of navigating was gone. Without sight or echolocation, he was now truly blind. His mentor’s voice was nearby; he could tell the general location of where the sound was coming from. Yet, it was only a rough estimation of where she is in both direction and distance.
“Hmm..., there’s really not much for me to say from here on out. It’s like trying to teach a blind person how to see. Everything is really up to you in figuring this out. You just have to feel it.”
“Looks like this won’t be easy,” he grumbled. “Tsk..., I did this before; I just got to remember the feeling.”
“You did what before?” She asked quizzically.
Pluto then recalled upon his past, “Throughout my time during the Grand Line, there had been two occasions where I believed that I used Kenbunshoku Haki in retrospect. The first time was at Crescent Moon Empire where I was able to sense the presence and vehement emotions that were like spiritual cries in my head. I was also able to correctly foresee Scarlette’s next move before she even acted. I thought I was hallucinating or something back then. The second time was when Scarlette tried to kill my sister through her ambush. I saw the blade of her scythe slicing my sister’s head off. It was thanks to that miraculous premonition that I was able to stop the scythe in time.”
A brow raised in disbelief. Ara gaped her mouth at what he had just said. She was actually present during the second time, remembering Scarlette striking at his blind spot. In truth, there was actually no imaginable way for any ordinary human to counter that ambush attack without it being a fluke. Pluto was naturally a very observant fella. She had no choice but to believe that he awakened it once before during the first occasion that he spoke of. But, this was still incredible. To think that he had already used it accidentally in the past, this could indicate that he had an innate talent for Kenbunshoku Haki.
Moments later, Pluto felt an icy cold puffy projectile smacking him straight in the face. Nonchalantly, he brushed the clustered up snowflakes off with a sweep of his hand, “Oi...”
“It’s been so long since I played in the snow,” Ara bent down to mold the snow in between her bare palms. “Try to dodge them, Pluto!” She threw out another snowball, knowing full well that he had no hope in predicting the trajectories.
“Oomph!” Something much harder suddenly struck him in the abdomen, causing him to lurch forward. “D-Did you just throw a ball of ice at me!?” Without his eyes, he couldn’t tell what just hit him; it felt much harder than a snowball but crumbled like powder after impact.
“He-he, I did say that haki can be imbued into weapons. The same goes for projectiles too. An archer can imbue it into an arrow. A gunman can imbue it into a bullet. A swordsman can imbue it into a blade of air. And likewise, I can do the same with a snowball,” she demonstrated how the power can be temporarily extended into projectiles.
Tch..., Busoshoku Haki can do even that?
Thinking back, this would explain a phenomenon in the past when they were up against the user of the Tane Tane no Mi, “I remember now. When you thrust out your spear, you fired out a darting force of air that punctured a hole through Scarlette’s white homunculus. Piercing attacks would have just slipped through without creating a hole in it, so that’s how you ended up doing it.”
“Eh? I don’t know how her Devil Fruit power work, but I did imbue my attack with haki back then. Oh..., that’s right. I completely forgot to mention this. Any supernatural defenses from Devil Fruit powers can by bypassed with Busoshoku Haki. For example, normal physical blows wouldn’t affect Logia-type users, but a haki-imbued physical blow would damage their elemental bodies.”
“Wha-? Haki can do that too!?” He was starting to question what exactly haki can’t do. Why was it able to do so many things? What exactly was this mystical power that supposedly everyone possesses? He had never once encountered a Logia-type user before, but he was aware of what those rare powers were capable of. In his mind, he had always believed that it’d be a problem if he ever had to fight one of them, and it seemed that his training could potentially solve that concern.
“Yes, but you’re a zoan-user. So, it’s not something I’ll be able to demonstrate on you.” The animalistic transformations simply didn’t offer any special means of defense where an ordinary physical blow couldn’t work against.
Haki is a lot more useful than I first thought.
...
A bit past noon, the two of took a break to eat lunch. Pluto, who remained blindfolded, relied on the sound his mentor’s footsteps to approximate where he was heading, but with more people active in the town, he was at constant risk of walking into someone. While he lacked eyesight, he didn’t need vision to guess that passersby were staring at him.
Pluto soon felt a foreign arm hooking around his own arm. He reflexively lurched away but was dragged back.
“Let’s go,” Ara guided him as she walked along the road after nudging him to follow her lead.
“W-Wait! What are you doing?” His heart started to beat faster after learning who was clinging onto his arm. His thoughts scrambled, losing their sense of logic and ability of articulation. This strange feeling had been occurring quite often today for some reason. He had never anything quite like it before, but he hated this sensation by default because it felt like a weakness.
“What do you mean? You’ll start bumping into others if I don’t hold onto you like this,” she explained as if it was obvious. A part of her felt at ease that he was blinded; that meant he couldn’t judge her through sight. This made her felt more welcomed to do things that she normally wouldn’t do.
Pluto clenched his teeth. In his entire life, never once had he hooked arms or held hands with someone. This was such an embarrassing gesture to him. It was like being hugged or something. Why was this a bother? Why should he care if others see him in this pathetic state? Why couldn’t he just ignore and tolerate it? “Can’t I just walk without the blindfold? We’re not training at the moment,” he sought for a way out of this predicament.
“You don’t have much time, right? You want to learn the basics as soon as possible, don’t you? You won’t be able to sense the unexpected if you only use haki at times of when you think there’s danger? Even outside of combat, you could be ambushed. Even in a completely normal setting, it’s a good habit to sense your surroundings constantly,” she would normally be lenient on him, but Rebecca once told her that he was an overly cautious person. With that in mind, her words were phrased in such a way that would befit his nature. In truth, she didn’t mind at all if he took off his blindfold, but then she wouldn’t get to toy with him like this.
“Tsk...,” he lowered his head a bit, annoyed of having to put up with this. It felt like she was treating him as a little kid who needed to hold hands or else he’d get lost.
Moments later, Ara gave him a curious look, surprised that he was actually going along with this. He was being a lot more obedient that she anticipated. A week ago, she would keep her distance away from him, but now, she realized just how tolerant he is to things such as this. Perhaps, it was due to his little sister who had spent much of her time softening him up. She learnt much about him from Rebecca who’s the more sociable one of the siblings. This boy wasn’t as scary as she thought he’d be, or perhaps that was simply noticeable when contrasted to Scarlette who was just recently taken down by him.
...
After lunch, Pluto kneeled on the ground right outside of the restaurant with his head hanging towards the ground. “Why must you torture me...?” That was the most humiliating lunch he ever had.
“What’s wrong?” Ara bent down a bit, viably holding back a smile. She found it rather entertaining at seeing this side of him. If Rebecca was here to see it, she would be all giddy and laughing at how her strong, stoic brother was succumbed to affectionate gestures.
“I swear..., they were all staring at me,” he may be blindfolded, but he was paranoid and self-conscious enough to feel the gaze of others. “You even tried to spoon feed me...,” He cringed trying to picture it from another person’s perspective. The image of himself that he carved was crumbling because of her.
Tilting her head and closing her eyes, she shrugged with a small smirk on her face, “That’s because you couldn’t find the food on your plate.” She held back her giggling upon recalling him having trouble finding his eating utensils and repeatedly poking his plate with a fork aimlessly. It all just went to show how heavily reliant he was to his eyes to observe the world.
Later that night, Pluto felt his way around the room of the inn with his hands, carefully maneuvering around to avoid stepping on top anything or bumping into walls. Meticulously, he laid down several sheets of cloth on the floor, layering them on top of one another to form a makeshift bed. He wanted nothing more than to sleep in order to forget about what happened today. His ears twitched at the sound of slippers stepping into the room.
Having taken a hot shower, Ara walked in in a white bath robe. Her long, straight black hair was let down, glimmering under the light from still being wet. “What are you doing?” She asked curiously. It felt a little less embarrassing to walk in like this, knowing that he would be unable to see her.
“You take the bed; I’ll sleep on the floor,” said the boy who didn’t bother turning around due to his lack of sight. Even to this very hour, he received no instruction to remove his blindfold, and the longer he wore it, the more agitated he became. Losing one’s primary senses really made even the simplest of tasks tedious and inconvenient.
“Eh!? You don’t have to that! You take the bed; you’re the one who’s needs to recover from your injuries.”
“Hmm... on second thought, I could sleep outside on the roof or something,” he murmured to himself, realizing he hadn’t done that in quite a while.
“No way; it’s freezing outside,” she rejected that idea.
“Well, the floor it is.” Take the extreme choice and the preferred choice would become the compromise.
“Then, I’ll sleep on the floor too,” she added.
“Tch! That defeats the whole purpose of me sleeping on the floor. You sleep on the bed; it’s more comfortable.”
“But uncomfortable for you. You need it more than I do. The bed is rather large; we could...,” she paused before her voice grew much quieter, “... share it.”
“I think I’ve lost enough dignity for one day,” he pouted.
Five minutes later...
“Goodnight Pluto,” Ara turned off the lights after having forcefully pinned him to the bed long enough until he stopped resisting. The boy put up a good fight considering he was deprived of his vision, but he was a disadvantage on multiple different levels.
That marked the end of the first day.
...
On the second day, Pluto spent most of his time doing standing meditation. Idly standing in a solid firm stance, he was to empty his mind and concentrate on his breathing. Not a single bundle of though ought to emerge, a difficult task for someone who thinks a lot. Air would slowly enter through his nostrils, traveling as deep as they can to expand his abdomen before being exhaled back out through the nose. Never once was he ever allowed to see in his daily activities. Ara had also forbid him to use his Devil Fruit power to override his blindness. She also realized that this would do him some good after the disheartening events that transpired. There was bound to be stress and heartbreaking concerns lingering in his mind, but emptying all that out would allow him to regain his original focus and concentration.
By the end of the day, he gradually memorized and familiarized his surroundings and mapped everything out in his head, knowing the relative distances between ‘landmarks’ such as the bed to the door and the inn to the restaurant. While nothing spectacular was accomplished, his sense of hearing grew keener as he could better judge the distance of a passerby through the sound of their footsteps, allowing him to avoid running into people. His mind was desperate to avoid requiring Ara’s help at any means necessary. No more hooking arms or any of that nonsense. It was like transitioning from a toddler to an adult in a day’s worth of time.
Ara would be constantly alongside him, overseeing his mundane training. There was hardly any action involved. Her blind student was beginning to cultivate the internal side of an individual – aspects that could not be seen, and yet, being with him was never boring. She could definitely understand where Rebecca was coming from in the thrill of teasing him, but she tried her best to refrain from doing so when the opportunity arises.
The third day was very much a repeat of the second day in regards to training. However, Ara managed to temporarily borrow a Den Den Mushi in order to contact the Revolutionary Army whom hadn’t heard anything from her for around three weeks. She informed them about her situation and past occurrences that led up to the present – about how the human slave trading was dealt with in Blue Lagoon and about the achievements of the newly recruited member, Pluto, who became a big help in taking down a multitude of threats. She commended him for his strength but also explained the sticky predicament that he was currently in. The revolutionaries were understanding people in her experience in being one of them. They had taken in many children who were lost or abandoned by the world and raised them as part of their forces. They combatted the injustice that the World Government had long since created through its corruption. Whatever happens to Pluto from here on out, she wanted to make it clear to them that if he ever goes against their best interest, it would be because he was forced to. His younger sister had been taken hostage; he was now being controlled by someone aligned with the Underworld. With his permission, she told them what was necessary; she would take responsibility of him.
Lastly, Ara stated that the two of them were essentially stranded on Drum Island; their original vessel remained too unstable and damaged to be used for sailing again. Much of their important belongings had been brought over into the inn, including the remaining beri leftover to pay for their fundamental needs such as food and shelter. The money originated from Pluto’s bounty hunting in the past, but it wouldn’t last them for much longer.
The blind student rubbed the back of his head and sighed, “I’m not too thrilled of you telling them all that. I don’t completely trust them yet.”
The girl gave a gentle smile, “Don’t worry, they’re good people.”
“Well, if you trust them, then that’s reassuring. You’re timid, so they must have done something to have earned your trust and loyalty,” he reasoned, likely just bias to make himself feel better. “But, I don’t trust them. The only one I trust right now... is you.”
“Aww..., Pluto,” she took that as a compliment which immediately ticked him off.
...
Nearing the first week, Pluto was starting to grow skeptical if he was making any progress at all. The worst thing he could be doing right now was wasting his time that could be used to work on a plan to save his sister. All he had been doing for the past week was meditation while living his life with a cloth covering his eyes the entire time. But, if a blindfold was enough to awaken this power that Ara could use, then anyone would be able to acquire it. There must be something more to it than just this.
“Ara..., how much longer do you plan for me to do this?”
“U-Um...,” She sounded uncertain, “As long as it takes.”
“Isn’t there..., a faster way to do this?”
“You’re being impatient, Pluto,” she scolded him. “T-There is another way..., but...,” her words trailed off into silence.
“Another way?” He immediately grew suspicious. What exactly was this girl hiding from him? “What is it then?”
“It’s nothing! I didn’t mean to say that!”
“Tsk! No, you’re definitely withholding information.”
“But..., if I tell you, then..., knowing you..., you’ll definitely try that approach.”
“And why is that a problem?”
“I don’t want to put you in danger,” she was being protective.
“Danger?” What was the worst that can possibly happen? And, how could this possibly be any more dangerous than all the events he had been through?
“...Yes..., remember all those past occurrences when you used haki by accident? It all happened during times of extreme danger towards either you or someone else. I-If..., we were to put you in danger..., then it’s possible...”
“I see,” come to of it, he had never actually accidentally used haki on a quiet, relaxing, calm environment like the setting he was in right now. Each time it happened, the trigger was always during extreme situations. Even when Scarlette used it by accident, it was due to a bullet being shot at her head. Danger might the key to a quick path of either his own enlightenment or demise. “It seems like a gamble, but it might be the fastest approach. Let’s try it.”
Ara winced, knowing that this would happen. She disapproved of the idea of putting him in unnecessary danger. “But Pluto..., you’re the most dangerous thing on this island right now,” she resorted to excuses.
“There’s always the idea of you being that danger,” he noted.
“No way! I’m not going to hurt you!”
True, he’d have a better chance at teaching a cat how to swim than getting Ara to attack him with killing intent. “Ara! I can’t save my sister if I don’t get stronger fast. Please, if putting me in danger is what it takes, then even if there’s one percent chance that it’ll lead me to a shortcut, then so be it.”
“You want to get stronger fast? Well, I suppose if it’s you, then it’s possible,” she must acknowledge that the boy must have possessed a tremendous potential for growth to reach his current level at his current age. But, this was an entirely different realm of power. It wasn’t muscles or techniques that they were dealing with here; it was a fundamental sense that lied dormant in everyone. The amount of illusions and mental blocks layered within him would correlate with the difficulty of him reaching his goal. Danger would stimulate the instincts within him. He must abandon his sense of logic that dictates his every move. “In that case, you could try fighting against the most vicious species on this island.”
“What kind of species are we talking about here?”
“They are known as Lapahns; they are a breed of snow rabbits,” she said innocently, ironic to her previous statement of the being the most vicious species on the island.
“You want me to fight a bunch of rabbits!?” The lack of seriousness irked him. “I don’t have time to be chasing rabbits!” What could these cute, adorable bunnies possibly do to endanger him? Nibble him to death? Throw pointed carrots at him?
“How unlike you to be underestimating your opponents, Pluto,” she said whimsically. “Say that after you beat them blindfolded with no Devil Fruit power allowed.”
He sighed, realizing that fighting innocent looking animals was becoming a trend now, “First a panda and now rabbits.”
“?” Ara tilted her head in puzzlement in what a panda had to do with any of this.
...
Later on that day, they ventured out into the plain of thick snow. Tall pine trees scattered around the area, but the spaciousness meant that Pluto need not worry about running into things. The crunching sound of boots pressing against the snow indicated to him where his mentor was walking, making it easy for him to follow along.
“Alright, we’re here,” Ara halted in place as she gazed out into the distance where a large cluster of white furred creatures dwell. The lapahn were a species of bipedal carnivorous snow rabbits. The adults stood over seven feet tall. They all possessed a bulky round build with claws at their forepaws, long rabbit ears, red eyes, and three pairs of whiskers on their faces. The default expressions on most of their faces appeared stoic, unfriendly, and perhaps grumpy. A rough estimation would lead one to believe that there were about a hundred of them. They were like a bizarre hybrid of snow rabbits, polar bears, and gorillas.
“Well..., let’s get this over with,” the boy pressed his face against his palm.
A hundred pairs of hostile red eyes glared at the two humans who clearly did not belong on Drum Island. In unison, paws were raised up in the air as they all growled – their form of a battle cry.
“Um..., what was that?” Pluto questioned as the growling clearly didn’t resemble to sound of rabbits. As far as he knows, rabbits don’t make noises at all. He had always imagined them to be very quiet and docile creatures. Being so reliant of the sound of footsteps for the past week, he failed to notice of a lapahn rocketing straight at him in a single jump, covering dozens of meters of distance through the air.
“Ara?” He turned his head towards where he last remembered where the girl was standing, but not a single response was given. Instead, he received a heavy blunt force and hurled him back into the distance, “Oomph!” The lapahn had rammed his shoulder right into him, using its powerful linear momentum and superior mass.
Tumbling into the snow, Pluto immediately crawled back up in an alarming state. That force definitely did not belonged to a little snow bunny that he had in mind. That was the force of a sumo wrestler being launched out of an oversized cannon. Raising his arms in a compact manner to shield against the invisible threat, he guarded against the unknown, embracing himself as another swipe of a paw smash against his defense at an angle from the side. His body neutralized the force, directing it down into the earth as he remained sturdily in place. Now that he could gauge out the relative distance of his target, the physical contact of the paw allowed him to sense his opponent through touch.
In a swift and sharp motion, he shot out a punch that dug deep into the fur-coated blubbery body, launching whatever the shape and size of his opponent away. Judging by the resistance of the impact, he just punched a creature that weighed around a ton.
However, now that he hurled his opponent away, he had no way of telling if his assault did any damage. Without sight, he couldn’t see the expression and bodily language of his opponent. Worst of all, he didn’t even realize that the entire herd of giant rabbit monsters had now considered him as a threat. All of them rocketed through the air like giant furry cannonballs, raining down from the sky.
Without the sound of approaching footsteps, the boy had no awareness whatsoever of the enlarging shadows around him. Suddenly, a tremendous weight crushed him from above as he slammed into the ground against his back, “ARGH!” Air within his lungs was forcefully knocked out. Effectively pinned down and being crushed, he desperately sought a means to relief himself of the weight above.
The lapahns growled as a discharge of violet-colored electricity conducted straight into his body for a few seconds. Immediately, it jumped away to recuperate from the paralysis.
With the freedom to move again, Pluto quickly rolled to the side and onto his feet, not realizing that his very movement allowed him to evade a thundering crash. A mere fluke, but he now began to realize that he was dealing with more than one of them.
Rabbits, huh? What the heck am I up against? These can’t be rabbits!
A rain of thundering crashes surrounded him in close proximity as if a meteor shower just occurred on top of him. Judging by the subtle growls in all directions, he was currently surrounded, completely encircled by a herd of these creatures.
Ara..., where is she?
The fact that he couldn’t hear any conflict in the distance meant that his mentor must have reached a safe spot. She wouldn’t ditch him, would she?
Several lapahns charged forth, converging towards the point of where the blindfolded human stood.
All he could see was total darkness. All he could hear were growls. All he could feel were heavy paws smacking across the snowy terrain, claws tearing against his skin and flesh, and the icy cold air. Aimlessly, he struck out several blows that hit nothing but thin air.
Meanwhile, standing on top of the branch of a massive snow-covered pine tree, Ara watched with her back pressed against the bark. The confrontation between Pluto and the herd of lapahns was turning out exactly as she expected. No matter how powerful of a fighter he was, take away the primary sense and the mightiest of warriors may be reduced to a defenseless and helpless individual. Without sight, he could see neither his targets nor the attacks directed at him. He can neither attack nor defend. On top of all that, the thick snow rendered his movements to be sluggish while the terrain was the natural habitat for the lapahns. He was nothing more than a child being bullied right now.
Well..., you asked for this...
ZZT! ZZT!
Several lapahns were knocked away, slamming into others of their kind as the human boy resorted to a desperate means of countering them.
The snow rabbits halted their relentless assaults as streams of electricity were visibly being emitted from the boy’s arms. Each time he was hit, the electricity would paralyze them, granting him a small window frame of time to retaliate. His strategy brought him some landed hits, but ultimately, it was a short-lived plan as the creatures could dance around his arms and strike him in the numerous openings that he possessed. Two arms were simply not enough to defend his entire body in all directions.
Half an hour later, Ara would find herself approaching a torn up, beaten body half-buried in the snow. If nothing else, it was impressive as to how long he could endure all those hits.
Squatting down, she gently attempted to lift him up, but the first touch zapped her finger, “EEK!” What a strange ability he possessed. A human who could discharge electricity, he sure possessed a lot of tricks up his sleeves. Once again, she tried to touch him, hoping to not be zapped any more. He was covered in slash marks and bruises. His skin felt cold to the point that she began to worry if he was going to be alright.
“Ugh...,” With one eye open and one eye closed, Pluto was stirred awake. It had been a while since his blindfold was taken off. He looked up to see a face that he hadn’t seen for a week and had nearly forgotten what she looked like. She was dressed in a completely different outfit since the last time he saw her. Despite the frigid temperatures, he could feel slight warmth surging within his cold, freezing body just from looking at her face.
“Sorry..., it didn’t happen. I wasn’t able to replicate the sensation of haki. I failed,” he said almost forlornly.
“Mm...,” she shook her head, “I never expected you to on your very first try. There are no guarantees. It’s hard. Grasping it is very hard.”
“I underestimated them. Those ‘rabbits’ were tough.” His initial arrogance must have blinded him from fathoming the dangers. Come to think of it, he had been through many dangerous situations without ever sensing that sensation. It was only those two times did it ever happen. But why? What were so special about those times to have triggered a spur of the moment awakening?
No..., it isn’t danger or at least, not entirely. It was... fear. It can’t be replicated. I can’t just pretend to be afraid.
Genuine raw fear that struck him deeply into the roots of his instinctive being, that was what differed those two instances from this one. The fear of his death and the fear of his sister’s death, those had been the triggers. The reason he didn’t feel that sensation during his fight against the Raven was because of hope. He had hope that he could defeat him and snatch the antidote to cure his sister. Hope and fear were like water and oil; they don’t mix well.
What was his greatest fear?
The death of Rebecca, the girl he had been protecting with his life on the line for the past two years. It wasn’t just her life he wanted to protect but also her innocence and all of the things that made her special to him. To dedicate his life in protecting her, he had an antagonistic view of all those that threatened her. Anyone that harmed her would immediately be harm towards him. Attacking her meant attacking him. Killing her would mean killing his purpose of living.
Fearing was easy. Right now, in his powerless and pitiful state, his sister had been abducted, taken to a place unbeknownst to him. Whatever happens to her would remain unknown to him.
Spirit, ambition, willpower... that was the true nature of haki, he began to understand what Ara was talking about when she described what it was. This wasn’t going to be easy at all. This had nothing to do with physicality or mental prowess; it really did have to do with his spirit.
Along with danger and fear, only if he has something of precious value to lose would his spirit cry out into the world. That would be his shortcut.
