Post by BlacKitten on Jul 27, 2017 13:03:27 GMT -5
Something felt very wrong this morning. It was the same daily routine for the past week. They woke up, got out of bed, stepped outside, and headed to a restaurant for breakfast. It became so repetitive that it was difficult to distinguish one day from another, but something felt off. While spending his time blindfolded, he couldn’t see even in his normal hours, but he could pick up subtle changes in Ara who’s walking beside him. Her footsteps were irregular, containing a lot of short pauses every so often. She hadn’t been speaking to him as frequently today, not that she was very talkative to begin with.
As per usual, there was hardly anyone on the roads this early in the morning. The fewer the people, the better it was for him. He hated crowds and distracting background noises.
Hmm, that’s strange.
On average, he should have reached his destination by now, roughly one-hundred eight steps after leaving the inn. His pace of walking didn’t change at all, and he had been keeping track of minor details such as this for the past several days just so he could navigate himself around. And yet, as he continues to follow the sound of her footsteps, they began to exceed the usual number of steps, now reaching one-hundred twenty steps. They should’ve already passed the restaurant. Was Ara simply not paying attention? Or did she have plans on going somewhere else to eat? Was she testing him to see if he would notice? None of these seemed likely. Their simplistic schedule should’ve been drilled into them as habits by now, so she couldn’t have made a mistake. If she wanted to eat somewhere else, why didn’t she say anything?
“Hey..., where are you going?” Without a change in his expression, he asked in a quiet and suspicious tone.
“Eh?” Ara perked her head up as if snapping out of a daydream, “Oh! Um..., s-sorry..., something had been bothering me.” She gave him a sincere glance despite knowing that he was unable to read her expression.
“Ah, sorry; I suppose training me is too much of a hassle,” he suddenly felt uncomfortable from simply thinking if that’s the actual reason.
“Huh? N-No, it’s has nothing to do with you. Well... um...,” she voice grew quieter and weaker, “I... have been sensing bloodlust hanging in the air. And, I can sense three abnormally powerful presences. I walked past the restaurant in order to make sure, and I’m now certain that they’re following us.”
We’re being followed?
Just who would want to follow them? Or, more accurately, who would want to follow him? Chances were that they have a bone to pick with him, not her. And, there were three of them? He couldn’t recall any past adversaries that worked as a trio before. Considering that they haven’t revealed themselves yet, they may attempt an ambush on them. Luckily, Ara’s Kenbunshoku Haki would render that tactic useless. The only problem left was gauging out exactly how strong they are. If they were each on the same caliber as Raven, then they were pretty screwed, but he could expect them to be weaker since there were three of them instead of one. Having numbers implied that they would each individually struggle to accomplish their main task at hand.
“What should we do?” Ara whispered, unsure if she made the right move by continuing walking in the open like this. Perhaps staying indoors at the restaurant would have been safer, but that would depend if their pursuers cared about making a scene with witnesses. On the other hand, perhaps she made the right move as the alternative would’ve endangered the civilians.
“Do you think I can take them on?” With his mentor’s ability to gauge out others’ strength, he wanted her to compare the potential threats to himself. Knowing what both sides were getting themselves into was crucial information.
“... Probably not all three of them at once,” she offered her insight, but her quiet tone quickly rose in volume as she sharply cried out to him, “Behind!”
Turning around swiftly on his heel, he quickly reacted to Ara’s tone of warning. His arms rose defensively against the unknown, suddenly feeling a shove from side as the girl knocked him away from an incoming attack in the form of an arc-shaped blade made of air. A few strands of his black hair drifted in the wind. The elastic strap around his head snapped; his blindfold had fallen off unexpectedly.
Violet-hued eyes opened to the real world, quickly scanning his surroundings. His mentor stood beside him in a cautious manner; her golden eyes stared at the attacker with hesitance.
“Yo! Long time see!” An amused and familiar voice called out to him.
Pluto strained his vision to gaze at a man standing in the far distance. He saw the distinctive spiky, short white hair, yellow eyes, and a wielded large scythe resting on his shoulder with a strand of chains dangling off the end of its shaft. There was no mistaken it; he knew who this man was, having already clashed against him twice before already.
“B-Berserker...,” he said with a flavor of shock, not expecting to find him here in the Grand Line. But then again, a monster like that belonged to these seas more so than the blues. This warmonger had no interests in weaklings and would hastily charge in headfirst at whoever is the strongest be it ally or foe. The only reason that the organization kept this loose-cannon around despite losing some of their own fighters to this man was solely because that he comes in pretty handy in sabotage.
A scythe...
It greatly irked him to see another to wield such a weapon for it reminded him all too much of Scarlette, a former accomplice who wielded the same type of weapon. The difference being was that the Berserker’s weapon had its shaft completely made of metal instead of reinforced wood. There was also a chain attached to it, allowing him to swing that large weapon like a flail.
“Hmm?” The man gazed at Ara. “Who’s that? Is she your sister’s replacement?” He smiled after provoking the boy with his sardonic question.
Immediately, Pluto clenched his teeth to suppress a surge of anger. It would seem that the news of his sister’s capture had already spread to people like him. Even though someone on their side already has him on a leash, they were still going to send in individuals to hunt after him?
“Pluto... who is he?” Ara asked out of concern. The expression that he was making concerned her. From the looks of it, these two have already met each other before.
“What are you looking all angry for, huh? I’m the one who ought to be angry here,” the Berserker stated while heaving his massive scythe from his back and pointing the outer edge of the blade towards the boy. “I heard you lost to someone. You got some nerve. The only person you can lose to is me.”
Easing up a bit, Pluto deeply sighed, “I didn’t think we’d meet again.” This man, who stood over six feet tall, wasn’t the most loyal warrior around. He was very simple and straightforward to understand. And, it was precisely because that he was understood that the boy viewed him as a threat, knowing that he wasn’t going to part ways with him without a fight. The fated night where he absconded from his home island in the North Blue was the night where he first confronted this terrifying man. It would be wrong to call him an assassin. If it was one, he would have been dead long ago, but instead, his life had been spared, not out of mercy but out of the Berserker’s own self-interest.
“Humph! Of course we’d meet again! Until you’re ripe enough for the picking, I have my eye on you.”
The bloodlust that I sensed before is from him.
Ara readied her spear, feeling nothing but hostility brimming from the scythe-wielder.
“Pluto!” The Berserker called out the name in an unrestrained tone of eagerness, “It’s you and me, one on one! Got it? No more interference this time.”
“Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch?” Ara stood in a sideways stance, wielding her poled weapon in both hands.
“No...,” he admitted, “You’ll be too preoccupied to stand or watch, girl!”
From the side, a shadowy figure plummeted from the edge of a rooftop with a blade flashing down in a streak of brilliant white. Sparks flew as Ara raised her shaft to defend against the clash of the doubled-edge saber.
“Ara!” Pluto shifted his eyes, catching sight of his mentor being attacked by a blonde fighter, armed with a saber in one hand and a shield in the other, all while being covered in chrome armor throughout her entire body except the head.
A knight!?
“Where do you think you’re looking?” A shadow loomed over him as the Berserker swung down his massive scythe. As the target evaded with a swift sidestep, the fang pierced the snow-covered cement as crevices branched out like roots from the point of impact. Overwhelming strength and power, that was his fighting style. Unlike Scarlette who moves in a deathly dance-like fashion, this wielder of the scythe prefers to crush the enemy with raw power.
Without even pulling the retracting the blade out, he singlehandedly went directly for a horizontally swing as the fang crumbles the ground upon its release. Nothing about him was complete defense; he would always go on the offensive. It had been a while since the two of them fought one another; the last occasion was at Jreum Island of North Blue. Many voyages had passed since then.
The scythe stopped short as the sole of a boot jammed against the shaft. “Berserker...,” Pluto gazed at him sternly with his arms crossed, “Where... is my sister?” There was no doubt in his mind that this man knew the truth of what happened; commenting on Ara being a replacement verified that much.
“He-he-he..., those are good eyes,” with the aid of a second hand, the white-haired man forced his weapon through. His yellow eyes watched in awe at how much his deliciously powerful prey had ripened since he last found him. At the end of his swing with the pole parallel to the ground, his opponent allowed the force carry him along. The boy stood on his weapon, balancing on a single leg without even swaying.
“I asked you a question,” he gazed down with a pair of cold, violet-hued eyes.
“Why don’t you go ask the one you lost to?” The Berserker asked while heaving his weapon upwards to remove the foothold for his opponent who merely landed lightly on the ground.
“I’m not in the mood for your primitive games,” Pluto’s hands turned pitch black as they morphed into a pair of dagger-like claws – a feature of his Razor Form. Using only a partial transformation, he parried against metal with a cross of his arms, fending against the force from above.
This sensation of being up against the zoan-user was completely different from the last time. As the happily swinging maniac clashed repeatedly in various angles and approaches, his forces were nullified, being trapped at a stalemate. He was unable to overwhelm him. It felt like fighting a different opponent altogether. No one would believe that this was the same boy during the night of his departure.
“If you refuse to tell me then get lost,” he said pragmatically while discharging violet electricity from his right hand. With a single swipe of his claws, he whipped up a giant vertical array of arcing air slashes that towered beyond the surrounding buildings. Colored in the shade violet, they whistled through the vacant space and crashed against a metal shaft.
Clenching his teeth, the Berserker was in a pushing contest against the force of Pluto’s attack, but irritating tingling sensations kept interfering with his muscle control as charges conducted from his weapon directly to his hands and forearms. The flats of his shoes slid and scraped across the road as he was being swept away by this enormous force. Had he lacked a means to fend off against this attack, these blades could very well slice straight through him.
Meanwhile, Ara found herself at a disadvantage, struggling to pinpoint an opening for her spearhead of her weapon to pierce at. Her blonde opponent wore body armor that would make exploitation difficult, and that was only a problem once she bypasses an additional layer of defense composed of a shield and a saber. As any good spearman would do, she used superior distance to keep her enemy at bay, but the knight could easily just charge straight through the gap between them with a shield to cover her.
With a sharp lunge, Pluto planned on interrupting the fight between the two ladies, and as he does so, his eyes caught a glimpse of pair of small white wings extruding behind the knight’s back. Immediately, the physiology reminded him of Libeccio, but such a useless feature meant nothing of relevance as he cast the thought to the back of his mind. Just he reached the halfway point to aid Ara, a foreign figure dropped down in front of him.
There was a moment of delay in his head as a homesick familiarity washed over him at the sight of the young man to have blocked his path. “Y-YOU...?” His eyes widened with shock.
“Yo! We meet again, old friend,” and in contrast to the voice of someone who had just reunited with a childhood friend, the third enemy greeted as a sharp thrusting kick into the boy’s core, launching him a great distance away across the street.
Why... is he here? I... have to fight him... too?
Yoochun, the name of his childhood friend, was five years older than him; he grew up as a friend as well as spy. His task had been to spy on the one known as Pluto, but their friendship was real enough for him to have helped him escape during the night of an assassination assault. Was he a friend or foe as of this moment? Hard to say, but his last words were: ‘The next time we meet, we’ll be enemies.’
From a backwards flip, Pluto reobtained his stance with a low crouching landing, but before he could take the situation in, his feet carried him away from the fang that impaled the street. The Berserker was hot on his tail, lashing out repeatedly with a grin on his face as each of his blows misses its mark on the elusive combatant.
“Pluto...,” Ara peeked at the situation that grew worse and worse. Abandoning her opponent, she rushed forth in order to regroup with the zoan-user. They were outnumbered, and each of their adversaries was no pushover. Being separated was exactly what the enemy wanted to deprive them of the option of working as a team.
“Do not interrupt, Chitanda Ara of the Revolutionary Army,” in a calm manner, Yoochun swiftly swung out his leg, “Rankyaku.”
Immediately after receiving the attack with her guarding spear, Ara was pushed away. In many ways, this young man alarmed her. He knew of her name, her affiliation, and utilized a technique that should only belong to the natural opposition of her allegiance: the World Government. In addition to all of that, this man wore light, black armor around his forearms and shins, almost the exact replica of the armor that Pluto used to wear before they shattered by Scarlette’s doing. Just exactly who was this man and how was he connected to all of this? Just what circumstances and past did Pluto have to lead up to this?
Before she could reattempt to bypass this Rokushiki user, the wielder of the shield and saber began clashing against her from behind. Their formation was clear as day. The armored fighter would keep her occupied while that scythe-wielding berserker would handle Pluto, and in between the two clashes, this black-haired enigma would keep them divided.
Tch..., most likely, a group is sent after us, knowing full well that Ara would be an additional obstacle to them. That’s why he knows of Ara’s existence. Yoochun... seems to have done his research already. But, this formational seems to only work in a two-dimensional plane; I can easily destroy it by tackling this as a three-dimensional problem.
Black, leathery wings sprouted from the back of his shoulder sockets as they fanned once to propel him skywards. The claws of his hands shortened to their regular length, and his feet turned pitch black with the toes becoming hook-shaped claws. Ears morphed into a pointed cup-shaped structure at the top of his head. A layer of thin grey fur grew throughout the majority of his body, mostly covered by the exterior clothing. This was the complete transformation when he combined the physiologies of a human and a bat, a result of the Batto Batto no Mi, Model: Vampire Bat.
Curving his flight along an overarching trajectory, Pluto planned to bypass the role of the divider from above. His elusive nature had always been enhanced due to his natural ability of being able to fly. Whatever his next move was, he needed to ruin their formational battle strategy.
“Hmm? Where do you think you’re going?” Yoochun asked while raising his head up towards the white sky that’s stained by a black, humanoid freak of nature that could easily scare off any bystanders out this early in the morning. “Geppo!” With several kicks off of the air, each leading him higher and higher into the air in a zigzagging manner, he easily intercepted the dark winged fighter.
The ability to hop on air; is that... the same technique as Libeccio?
From both sides, the two airborne warriors clashed with their fists pounding one another, causing the air around them to ripple from the shockwave.
W-Was Yoochun always this strong?
Throughout his past, Pluto had once fought against him. He never once viewed him as a combatant before. There were close friend back then. The one he’s up against right now was once his only friend throughout his childhood. So why did it have to come to this? Why did they have to clash against each other?
I... I don’t want to... fight you.
Perhaps, this was all just psychological warfare against him by the organization. They must have chosen to send him, knowing full well that their past together would result him to hesitate, a cruel tactic to make former friends to fight and kill one another.
“Yoochun!” He called out, raising his bent leg to block a midair kick.
Hopping off the air to regain momentum, the Rokushiki user swung his other leg across, “Rankyaku!” A blade of razor-sharp wind was unleashed at close proximity.
Forced to evade, Pluto arched his back away as the swift projectile whooshed over his face, and that momentum of weakness allowed for the air hopper to attack him from above with a sharp drop kick.
“Gruh!” Plummeting straight down, he crashed into the cement, forming a crater from his harsh impact.
“Pluto!” Ara cried out upon seeing her ally down, but her instance of looking away only allowed her own opponent to pressure her into playing defensive.
Without given the luxury of having a break, Pluto flipped himself backwards from a lying down position in order to avoid the guillotine attack of Berserker’s scythe.
“Oi! He’s my opponent! Quit interfering!” The white-haired bloke complained.
“Then you should quit giving him the opportunity to leave his position,” Yoochun retorted.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t understand the situation entirely; Ara dashed away from her opponent, heading straight for her friend. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck her from behind, leading her to cry out in anguish as a powerful stream of electricity coursed through the entirety of her body. It lasted from a couple of seconds until her legs collapsed under her own weight. Paralyzed, she struggled to move her own limbs as she lied on the ground, twitching ever so slightly.
“Thunder Dial!” The female knight had pointed the tip of her blade towards her opponent whose back was exposed.
She... can shoot electricity from her blade?
“ARA!” The dark, winged hybrid jetted through the air only for his back to be blocked by Berserker.
Shadow Blitz!
In a near instant, he outmaneuvered the obstacle by circling halfway around the blockage through a technique involving sudden propulsion of his wings. By positioning his wings asymmetrically, he can move along a circular path just like a paper airplane with crooked wings.
“Soru!” In a streak of black, Yoochun flickered himself to block the zoan-user’s path. The two of them simultaneously exchanged punches, each of them blocking the other’s fist at the same instance.
“I’m surprised. This is quite unlike you,” the obstructer commented. “I remembered you being a lot more self-interested. The Pluto that I once knew wouldn’t batter an eye at the sight of someone’s suffering. You... have gotten soft. Is this the result of your sister’s influence on you for the past few years? Or, did that girl behind me change you in some ways?”
“Don’t get the wrong idea; I don’t care what happens to her,” Pluto broke the stalemate by backing off to reattempt another approach. Dashing side to side upon his lunge, he evaded two crescent-shaped slices of air from the Rankyaku technique.
“Really? Then why are you trying to head in her direction as of right now?” Yoochun retorted, not buying into what was being claimed.
“It’d be inconvenient to me if she were to die,” he said nonchalantly as he closed in to attack with fists raised and ready. Ara was the closest thing he had as someone who would be willing to teach him haki. It was only natural for him to not want to lose someone who could play such a valuable role for him.
“Oh? Are you implying that you would stop heading in her direction if we promise not to kill her?” The former friend raised his own arms as the two of them clashed. Advanced level punches and kicks were thrown deflected, and blocked. Secondary attacks behind the first layer of offense were used such as collapsing the arm into an elbow strike or using a knee strike at an even closer range. Their arms and legs flickered back and forth in their visibility to the normal human eye. A bombardment of explosions radiated from them each clash of their assault released a shockwave. They played a very complex game of flowing from one motion to the next in a continuous manner. Neither one of them could gain the upper hand, trapped in a vicious stalemate once again. For Yoochun, a stalemate was good enough for him to fulfill his role as the divider between their two targets. He glared into the opposing violet-eyes and could distinguish between the truth and the lies. They were old friends, after all. And after a pause with no response, a smirk grew on his lips. “Just as I thought, you actually care about her, don’t you? I thought you hated such emotions because they were a weakness and a burden to you. Then..., by your own definition, you’ve gotten weaker, haven’t you?”
The two of them leapt back in unison to gain distance. “Tch..., I didn’t expect you to be this good at fighting.”
“Can’t say that I feel the same way; your skill is still under my expectation. At this point in time, your martial art prowess alone can go toe to toe with a Rokushiki-user.”
Rokushiki..., I’ve heard of that term before in the North Blue. Not just heard, but I’ve fought against marine captains who used such techniques although they were specialists of only one or two of them.
“Arugh!” A metallic body was suddenly hurled straight past him, catching the attention of both Yoochun and Pluto to divert their attention in two directions. The one who was thrown was the female knight, and the one who caused it was none other than Ara whose spear took on a completely different color. Its usual orange-beige like shade turned pitch black, and it wasn’t just her weapon but her hands as well.
“Serendine...,” Yoochun spoke out the name of his ally whose armor had been punctured at the center of her torso, resulting in blood to be spilled. And in the meantime, the wielder of spear walked forth with a look of determination in her eyes now that she can freely approach the others without hindrance. “Berserker,” he signaled with just the codename.
“Heh!” The white-haired man leapt into air before extending the length of his reach by gripping the chain of his scythe, flailing it around wildly with a massive circumference. Gathering the accelerating rotational momentum, he made a final swing to whip out a massive arc of crushing wind.
“Ara...,” Pluto dashed past his former friend in hopes to make it in time to fend off the street-wide assault. “Urgh...” His legs stumbled upon feeling a bullet-like impalement from his back. With a turn of his head, he gazed back at Yoochun pointing a mere index finger at him.
“Flying Shigan,” the older one muttered.
Leaping into the air, Ara swiftly evaded the slash that scarred the snowy road below while reaching the same elevation as the assaulter. Her now black spear spun several cycles in her hands before swinging out. The smirking white haired brute pulled on the chain to regain possession of the shaft to his scythe, parrying the blow in midair. As a result of their clash, he was instantly hurled down by the overwhelming force of the girl’s attack.
“Eh!?” The man crashed into the earth, completely flabbergasted at how such a frail looking girl could generate that much power.
What... is that black spear?
This was the first that he had ever seen her reveal such power – one that he couldn’t even begin to comprehend at this stage.
“Looks like I’ve underestimated her,” Yoochun gazed up with an unfazed expression.
Upon a soft landing, Ara twirled her pole as the strange black coating dissipates, revealing its original colors.
“Ara, could you leave these three to me? This is my own problem. You shouldn’t get involved in this.”
Her mind immediately went against it. However, this appeared to be a personal matter to him. Had these three folks been complete strangers, it'd be a different story, but they obviously knew who Pluto was and vice versa. Reluctantly, she respected his wish, "Alright." As she backed off, no one attempted to pursue her.
From that point on, it was three versus one. Surrounded in a triangular formation, their ability to fight as a team proved to be troublesome. Just as Pluto fends off against one and reaches a safe spot, he would be immediately attacked by another, leaving him not a moment to take a breather.
Over a few dozen clashes later, he was left wheezing as the struture of his stance was the main factor that held him upwards. Blood trickled down the side of his head, arms, and legs. He had been pierced in the torso twice and beared a large gash across his back. His clothes suffered burned marks from the flamethrower embeded in Serendine's sheild, making her capable of releasing both fire and lightning from her wielded equipment. Numerous times, Ara had tried to intervene, only for him to remind her to stay back.
Fighting him wasn't without cost. Both the Berserker and Yoochun had suffered wounds of their own. The blonde-haired knight hardly received any damged thanks to her armor and sheild.
"Raven and I have a deal. Isn't what you're doing going against his plan?"
"Even though Raven may think that he has you on a leash, not everyone agreed in keeping you alive. But, a newcomer like him doesn’t have absolute authority. We do not have to follow his rules. We pondered on who to kill first. With your sister already in our possession, killing her first would be easy. Hmm?” He paused, noticing something off about the person who he’s speaking to.
Pluto’s eyes sharpened instantaneously upon hearing those words. Brow furrowed lightly as his ability to suppress and tame his emotions weakened, allowing some feelings and intent slip out. “Kill... Rebecca?” He muttered with a low, slow, and quiet exhale emitting from his mouth. Those words brought a very vivid and graphical imagery in his head, an image of his sister’s head flying off of her body as the blade of Scarlette’s scythe decapitated her. He remembered it all too well, a hellish foresight that ingrained deeply into his mind. Had he not foreseen that image changed that split-second into the future, it would have become reality.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! That’s it! Get angry!” Berserker immediately took a delightful reaction to the boy’s ticked off mood as he charged head on.
“!” Yoochun widened his eyes before shouting out, “BERSERKER! GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
“Eh!?” In just a fraction of a second, the white-haired man had a confused look plastered on his face as time itself seemed to have paused. He saw a beating organ floating in front him as blood gushed into the air. With a shift of his glance, he found a hole a few centimeters to the left of his chest. It was in that instance did he realize that it was his own heart that had been gouged out. He didn’t see how it was done, but soon, he came back to his senses as if having just woken up from a nightmare.
Taking a giant leap back, he quickly gained some distance. He felt his heart pounding; his skin sweating. He could hardly remember the last he felt this sensation. It was a sensation that’s biologically ingrained to every single organism, rooted deeply into the core foundation of their animalistic instinct: the fear of death. With a quick check, there was no hole in his chest. So, what the heck did he just saw? Was that just an illusion?
“Had you continued on with your attack, you would have been killed instantly,” Yoochun informed with a dark tone as his eyes remained locked on to the boy. He could feel it; the air around that boy was becoming restless. That wasn’t a metaphor. The surrounding air truly was becoming to ripple and vibrate.
“I won’t let you..., lay a hand on my sister... because you will all die right here... right now...,” he spoke those words, shaking with an intensive urge to kill; bloodlust was oozing and brimming from his presence.
Pluto..., your greatest talent isn’t martial arts or your observational ability. No..., beyond those individual skills, you have the potential to become a world-class assassin. Ironic, isn’t it? You see yourself as a protector, but you have the predisposition of a silent killer. Now we’ve done it..., our biggest challenge has just arrived.
“Zenkai!”
In a matter of seconds, Pluto was engulfed entirely by blurriness, protected by a thick layer of a stable vibrational air.
“What is that?” Serendine asked in a clueless tone.
Not one to wait and watch, Berserker attacked right off the bat; with a swing of his scythe, he unleashed absolutely nothing for it was halted by a single hand jamming the shaft from its full execution.
“Oh?” The man taken aback by the sheer speed required for Pluto to close that gap of distance, reacting with a pleased expression. And, in a blink of an eye, he found the winged menace standing further and further away, but that wasn’t due to the zoan-user’s speed –rather his own speed of being launched away. It took a while for him to even register the crushing pain from his abdomen as vibrations reverberated throughout his body from the point of impact, damaging him as a whole.
Just as his ally was knocked away, Yoochun intercepted the timing to attack from the side, “Soru!” In a flash, he relocated himself at the enemy’s flank before following up with an offensive, “Rankyaku!” The swing of his leg was stopped midway as his ankle was snatched by the boy’s crushing grip.
Clenching his teeth, he embraced himself upon failing to unleash his assault, “Tekkai!” His entire body was whipped over and around before being slamming into the cement ground that dented and cracked as a result. Crossing his arms, he guarded himself against a sudden stomp that released a destructive energy to further deepen the spot of gravel around him into a crater. “UGH!”
Serendine rushed into mid-distance, hiding behind her shield before aiding her flattened comrade, “Flame Dial!” A jet-stream of fire shot out as if the shield had a built-in flamethrower. The hot, fiery flames engulfed the zoan-user’s upper body, but all it did was divert his cold glare onto her. The knight noticed that the flames were having of no effect whatsoever. The coating of vibrational air was protecting him against the fire. “Just what is that form? EEAAA!” With a forceful flap of a single wing, a powerful pressure wave of air crashed against her shield, blowing both her body and her flames back. Her cerulean eyes widened in dreadful shock as a shadow loomed over her immediately. Wings splayed out, gliding with the same vector as hers.
“Howling Zephyr,” channeling the vibrations straight in to his fist, Pluto skewed the surrounding energy around him in favor of raw destructive power around a single hand. Even with a shield blocking between him and his enemy, he smashed it against the thick metal, and that single blow completely decimated the shield into cracked, bent metal that flew out like shrapnel throughout the block.
With the air knocked straight out of her lungs, Serendine was lying flat in a deep crater with her left arm shaking, holding nothing but the handle to her now non-existent shield. She realized that had it not been for her equipment, she’d have likely been knocked out cold by now.
“Now..., you die,” he spoke out in a low, grimacing tone while clenching his hand to unleash another assault to end this woman’s life. But, with a vigilant look in his eyes, he foresaw an image in his mind in a split second before it occurred. There was another source of bloodlust radiating that did belonged to him. He lurched to the side and dropped his weight to one leg as a steel fang for his head from behind.
This... sensation...
“HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” The Berserker rushed from the back as he pulled back the chain to his scythe in order to reclaim possession of the shaft. “What amazing power!” He yelled in excitement as he brought down his blade.
The zoan-user deflected the swing by clashing his forearm against the shaft. As he rotates his waist, he simultaneously grabbed the white-haired man by the face with his grip further enhance by the claws digging into the skin and flesh. In a downward swinging motion, he smashed his opponent’s head straight into the ground before mercilessly channeling the power straight into his gripping hand. Once the surge of vibrational energy reached the tipping point, an explosive force erupted from his palm, burying the cranium deep into the crust of the earth.
“Hmm?” A stern sidelong glance allowed him to notice that the female knight was missing from her current spot, and in the distance further up ahead, he could see Yoochun using his Soru technique to escape.
He’s too strong. Pluto –as he is now- is out of our league. We got what we needed from coming here. There’s no reason to continue fighting any longer. Our mission is complete!
“!” He halted his dash the moment his path was obstructed by a bat-human hybrid.
Tsk... He’s faster than me! Even if Berserker is still alive right now, convincing him to retreat is out of the question. But, if we all get killed here, then the grand scheme of things would all go to waste.
“Yoochun..., even if we were once friend in the past, I won’t hesitate to kill you if it means protecting my sister,” immediately, the entirety of his body froze stiff and spasm as a jolt of electricity coursed through him.
“Thunder Dial!” Serendine called out, pointing her doubled-edged blade at the winged monster. “Yoochun! Hurry up and attack!” The woman barked at the motionless young man, admitting that they'd need to work as a team to take this person on.
“It’s no use,” Pluto interjected while still in the process of being zapped, “Electricity of this intensity... doesn’t work on me.” He was naturally more resistant to being shocked ever since learning how to harness the bioelectricity in his body into a weapon.
A battle cry erupted as Serendine lunged from behind before lashing out with her electric-coated blade. Her opponent flipped over her head as the dazzling shimmering metal sliced through thin air. Fear overcame her as a pair of two fingers gently pressed against each of her temples. She heard a dark, sinister tone: “Have a taste of your own medicine.” And not long after those words, a jolt of electricity was directed straight into her head. She screamed in pain as her blonde colored hair frizzled. Seconds later, she dropped her weapon and fell to her knees before collapsing onto the road.
“Pluto! Please believe me, we won’t harm your sister,” he pleaded. “We didn’t even come here to kill you. Our task was to measure you as a fighter even if it meant lying to you.”
“Nonsense, people like you have been trying to kill me for months; why would they send you to measure me?”
“The people who wants to kill you...,” he panted. “They did not send us. The three of us came here on our own free will. Pluto..., I have risked myself to help you escape before. You should know that I wouldn’t want to kill you. However, as for why we’re doing all of this, I cannot tell you.”
“Either I kill you right now, or you convince me that you’re not my enemy,” he said in a harsh, uncompromising tone.
“Alright..., then let me tell you this: I am responsible for the Revolutionary Army to invite you,” a drastic claim had been made.
The vibrational coating around Pluto’s body suddenly dissipated, and immediately, he grew out of breath from the aftermath of using his trump card. “What... do you mean by that? Why would you-?”
“Well..., I guess... I wanted to turn you into a rebel. I might be saying a bit too much, but you’re not giving me much of a choice here. To put it bluntly, we plan to... backstab the organization from within.”
“What!?”
“To do so, we need a fighting force of our own. You will definitely want to take part in this, right? If we succeed, it would mean freedom for all of us. If you don’t believe me, then take a good look at us. I am someone who has been trying to get away with things unnoticed in trying to aid your survival. Berserker had already killed people in our group; getting him on this plan was easy because it meant getting to fight tough opponents on his part. Serendine here is someone who has pent up resentment much like you.”
“I couldn’t care less about their background or your own agenda. All I care about is Rebecca’s safety at this point.”
“I cannot guarantee her safety, but at the very least, the three of us have no interest in her whatsoever. Is that good enough for you?”
“And... when exactly do you plan to carry out this plan of yours?”
“We are striving for a small group of elite fighters to carry this plan out. A big group carries too high of a risk of betrayal. A single spy is all it takes for this plan to fail, so we have to be very careful in whom we choose. An exact date has yet to be decided. We need more time to prepare.”
Just as Pluto was about to leave, one other minor thing bugged him, “Oh... by the way..., why do you know Rokushiki?” Such a fighting style belonged to those affiliated to the World Government. Someone like him should have no way to come into possession of such skills. There was still something that didn’t add up.
“Heh..., you’ll learn the truth someday – perhaps very soon. I cannot tell you that for my own sake. We might meet again quite soon.”
Pluto picked up a souvenir at the end; it was a round, flat object that appeared to be the remains of a shellfish. It was located within one of the many craters in the road. If memories serve, that particular crater was where he destroyed that woman’s shield.
...
Days later when his life started to settle down, Pluto started to show results to his training that were unseen before. Ever since he tapped into his own reservoir of haki during his fight by accident, the feeling was fresh to him. All he had to do was remember that sensation.
Ara would notice that her student could occasionally manifest his haki for a brief spur of a moment for him to describe his surroundings in a more vivid manner, and his description would be correct. However, he wasn’t even close to have this be a voluntary act, but it was still a tiny step forward as he could sometimes carry over his minor meditative achievements to his active hours.
However, the mentor also sensed a tiny seed of darkness within the boy’s heart. He may seem fine from the outside, but with each passing night, his heart wept at the thought of Rebecca. He dreadfully worried about her. Nightmares of her demise would flash in his dreams. Ara would realize what it was that fueled his accelerating progression - a deeply rooted and silent hatred that grew with each passing day where Rebecca remained absent in his life. It was a constant reminder to him that he failed to protect her. He obediently followed everything his mentor said as a form of self-punishment for his failure. Hatred towards himself and hatred towards the organization, Pluto’s demeanor began to revert back to his original self from two year ago, the heartless, cold, boy who would do anything to survive. Without the bright sunlight that is Rebecca to keep him in check, all of the turmoil and problems that he now faces began to change him.
Even though she spent the past few weeks with him, Ara felt as if he was drifting away from her as the boy grew more and more distant. He became this cold, calculative, genius who learned at an amazing pace once given enough momentum. The tradeoff was his humanity.
Each passing day, the gauge to his bloodlust was rising. He made a promise to himself and reminded himself of that promise every day. That promise was to massacre everyone in the organization so that they can never bother him or his sister ever again. He was tired of being hunted down; one day, it would be he who hunts them down. He wouldn’t even have to do it all by himself. If his childhood friend was right, then it was very possible to make it a reality.
A certain delivery animal eventually paid him a visit. A small, black, winged creature with yellow eyes and a smile full of triangular sharp teeth.
“A carrier bat?” Ara was able to identify the creature. “But that’s what the World Government would use to commute with pirates. Why would they send one to you?”
The delivery animal flew off without a care, leaving Pluto with a black envelope. And, for the very first time in a long while, he removed his blindfold and opened his eyes. “This isn’t from the World Government; it’s from him.” With a simple glance, he could tell that the design and style of the envelope was exactly the same as the first one that he received, so there was no doubt in his mind to whom sent this to him.
Delivering this with a bat; he’s mocking me.
He ripped the end of it open, then slid and unfolded the letter. The message was short and simple, taking him only several seconds to finish reading it. “Oh, is that all? I was expecting something worse,” said the reader with an unfazed expression. For quite a while, he had wondered what sort of tasks would be given to him. They may not all be consistent, but considering this was the first one, it gave him a bit of insight in what future tasks may involve.
“What... does it say?” Ara asked hesitantly. She didn’t want to pry but knew that this was a very serious matter. The way her student had been acting lately made her nervous.
ZZT!!! ZZT!!! ZZT!!!
Without warning, the hand that held onto the letter began to dazzle, coated in violet chaotic streams of electricity. The letter in his hand began to burn into flames until all traces of the paper were replaced with ashes and smoke.
“Pluto!” The girl called out in surprise. Why did he burn the letter like that? It could be out of hate, but she knew better than that. For someone like him, it meant that he didn’t want her to know what the letter said. By burning the letter, she had no hope of ever being able to read it. “What did the letter say? I want to know!” Her eyes widened at the sight of tears dripping down his face; they were tears of relief.
“Rebecca... is still alive,” he said in response.
Later that night when Ara was asleep in bed, Pluto morphed into a bat and snuck out. His first clue was the pirate ship harbored at the bay. Any conventional pirate on this island would arrive through a vessel. As he trespassed into the ship, his ears told him that there was no one home, meaning that the entire crew had taken shelter in town. He sniffed the air, memorizing the scent.
Returning back to town, he searched for a matching scent, leading him to a pub full of drunken men who had been drinking late at night. They were a rowdy bunch, slipping out whatever thoughts that passes through their minds. It was when everything suddenly turned pitch black did they all went silent. A sudden streak of violet light shot through the darkness in a split second. Minutes later, by the time someone fetched them the lights, they noticed that the pirate captain was gone, replaced with a gouged out blood heart sitting on the seat where the man was last seen.
The next morning, Ara woke up naturally. After sitting up, she stretched and yawned before glancing at the room. Pluto was still fast asleep, undisturbed by her movements of slipping out of bed. Her eyes took note of a suitcase that wasn’t there before the last she remembered. Suspicious, she flicked the two simplistic metal locks open and swung it open, and to her surprise, a large sum of beri was found inside.
W-Where did all this come from!?
They were running dangerously low of cash lately, but she had no clue how this amount of money came to be. She held the bundles of paper money in her hands and could tell that they were very real. With a rough estimation, there was about fifty million beri presented here. If this was Pluto’s doing, then that meant he was active during the night.
This explains why he’s still fast asleep.
By the time both of them were awake and walking outside, there were rumors spreading across town about how a pirate captain with a seventy million beri was killed last night in an instant. No one saw who did it but the crew members were so terrified that they fled the island immediately.
“By any chance..., was it you?” Ara looked at the boy suspiciously. A bounty of seventy million didn’t match the sum of money in the suitcase, but it was quite a coincidence for two events to occur around the same time.
“Perhaps,” he said in a disinterested tone.
I had no choice. The letter instructed me to kill him. Since I brought in a dead criminal, I received around a 30% deduction – hence the fifty million beri I ended up profiting form.
From that point on, Pluto began receiving such letters on a weekly basis, each instructing him to eliminate some petty criminal. As a result, Drum Island began experiencing a very low crime rate.
...
Past the first month, he began clashing against Ara in sparring –still blindfolded. Barely able to even grasp his opponent’s presence, he struggled to conjoin his martial skills alongside with combat. Both martial arts and the manifestation of haki required him to sustain a level of concentration for each area altogether. Utilizing both at the same time proved to be a very difficult task for him, yet his opponent could do just that so naturally with ease. Up until now, he had relied solely on his kinetic vision to react on reflex, but now, it felt like learning how to fight all over again. His ability to conjure up a concentrated dose of Bushoshoku Haki at will was a matter of chance. Sometimes he could do it, and sometimes he couldn’t do it. The more his focus wavers, the less likely he could succeed. Overall, the probably of success was about one in every third attempt.
Past the second month, his progression led to being able to utilize Busoshoku Haki to momentarily harden his fists and forearms about fifty percent of the time. When he does succeed, the skin of his limbs would darken into pitch black, resulting in strengthening both offense and defense. The success rate increased little by little each week that passed by.
As the third month concludes, Pluto had grasped the basics of manifesting and sustaining his haki at a conscious level with one-hundred perfect success rate, capable of consistently call upon his Busoshoku Haki to coat both fists and forearms and his Kenbunshoku Haki was enough to sense his surroundings continuously throughout his daily life. All that remains was to put him to the test that he failed the first time around.
In the winter wasteland away from the town, Pluto and Ara had trespassed into the Lapahns’ territory. Like before, the boy wore a blindfold as he walked forth confidently towards the herd of vicious white rabbits that were all glaring at him. No doubt that these giant red-eyed bunnies vaguely remembered him from three months ago.
Seeing with light, seeing with sound, and now seeing with presence, he had now learned a newfound way to view the world. A perfect spherical scope all around him, the only limiting factor was distance. But, he had no blind spots anymore. He could sense Ara’s presence standing behind him as well as the growling oversized rabbits being shot straight at him like a bombardment of white cannonballs with non-retractable claws.
As he moved along with a series of leaps, the parabolic moving bunnies all crashed into the snow a few at a time, missing their mark. They were all so huge and heavy that it wasn’t worth the energy for him to stop them.
With the sheer number of them, it was inevitable to end being surrounded and encircled from all sides. Swiping claws lashed at the blinded boy who ducked, swayed, and weaved around. Even the attacks from behind were evaded. The bunnies would continue to struggle on landing a hit on the elusive human.
“Hmm?” With a lowering of his stance and a slight duck of his head, Pluto felt something whoosh past his head, and while he couldn’t make out what that was, the best he could describe it was some form of a poled weapon with a spiked ball at the tip of it. These bunnies turned out to possess the skills to wield melee weapons. Ever since their alliance with the humans of Drum Island, most of their kind were now been part of the peace-keeping troops. Their weapons were like a hybrid between clubs and staffs.
Raising his right arm, Pluto armored his fist and forearm with concentrated haki which consequentially turned his limb pitch black. Blocking the metal ball with dull metal extruding spikes, the impact caused the shaft to snap, leading one bipedal bunny with nothing but a broken stick. All the meanwhile, he suffered no damage. More and more of the same weapons attempted to bash him from several sides in the form of swings and thrusts. He demonstrated his ability to evade them as well as destroy them with his armored hands.
He once wore forearm protectors which were given to him by Yoochun, but now that they were destroyed during his fray against Scarlette, being able to armor his forearms like this made a nice substitution.
Next, he demonstrated his offensive capabilities by palm striking the lot of these creatures with haki imbued hands, launching each of them away and keeping each of them subdued from just one nonlethal strike.
Later on in the day, there was one more test left, and that was being able to fight with eyesight. Having been conditioned for so long to fight without vision, he would need to revert back into getting accustomed into using his original sense again.
...
Back at the inn, the two of them lounged around, having accomplished what they set out to do a few months ago. While being attacked by those three was both unexpected and unwelcomed, had they not done so, Pluto may have taken longer to grasp the essence of his newly attained power. Despite having lived together under the same roof, something simply felt off with the absence of Rebecca’s cheerful and spirited self. Without question, the brother felt the full burden of that pain. One day, he would find and save her no matter the cost. She was his one and only family left in this world.
“Pluto...,” Ara said in a soft tone. Her eyes were closed shut, fully comfortable in lowering her guard down to rest with him around. “What are your views of the World Government?”
“My views?” Tilting his head, Pluto had honestly never really considered it before. All he knew was that the government that reign over the world had remained standing for about eight centuries. However, the term ‘World Government’ wasn’t entirely accurate. There were still territories that remain unclaimed such as the New World which was controlled –for the most part- by the legendary four emperors. “I... don’t know enough about them to have much of a view,” he admitted his ignorance about the world that they all lived in.
“What are your views on the marines?”
“I’ve met many marines throughout my voyages. Overall, I find that most of them are quite incompetent and useless,” he noted based of past observations.
Immediately, Ara smiled at hearing those words, “Yeah..., they’re quite useless indeed.” Her words drew his attention. Even though he knew that she belonged to the side of opposition towards the World Government, those simply didn’t seem like the words that would come from her. “Pluto..., if you don’t have any strong views, then why did you decided to join the Revolutionary Army?”
He closed his eyes, pondering on her question. It would be a complete lie if his answer was as grandiose as wanting to change the world or end all corruption. He had no such ambitions. “I...,” he then paused, wanting to phrase this as honest and correct as possible. “I wanted a place where I can call home.” With the brutal deaths of both his biological and foster parents, he had been on the run for a very long time. He was tired of it. He wanted to settle down in a safe place and be surrounded by those he trusts. He wanted the fourteen-year old Rebecca to be happy and for her to live to the fullest. That had been his wish for the past two years.
“Ara..., the truth of the matter is..., I don’t exist. Two years ago, I have been presumed to be dead from a terrible accident. Of course, I could always just announce that I am still alive, but... I chose not to.”
Opening her eyes, she gave him a curious look, “Now, I can understand why the higher ups would give a newcomer like you such a task.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“It’s not official yet, but there’s some talk recently about having you working as an undercover spy for the Revolutionary Army.”
“Eh? Who... would I be spying on?”
“The Marines,” she answered firmly, revealing that her past several questions were all linked to this very news. “If you’re presumed to be dead for that long, then you essentially lack a documented identity. You are untraceable, an enigma. And with your skills, you can become a great asset to us.”
Me? A spy? With my hearing, I can easily eavesdrop on others, not to mention that I can now utilize haki to sense others. I’m of legal age to become a soldier as well. It’s... certainly possible.
“Pluto, I hate the marines,” Ara stated bluntly, speaking as if it were a confession. “So..., I’m glad that you think so little of them as well. And..., I wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of having you become one of them. If you accept this offer, then we’ll have to part ways. But if you refuse, we can still operate together in some other missions or tasks. So..., what will you do?”
This was a difficult choice to make. Personally, he had more pressing matters to worry about such as locating and rescuing his younger sister. But, as things stand right now, he lacked the evidence to find her. Joining the marines might just be able to aid him indirectly. Without a doubt, the navy would contain a surplus of information about the past and current event – more than he would ever want to know. Criminal records, reports of crime, lists of islands, he could gain access to so much information to scavenge even if it meant doing so without authority. If by some chance he could find information in regards to the organization that has been haunted him throughout his life, then he just might be able to locate their hideout. It was a roundabout way of doing it, but it definitely remained as an option he could take.
But, a part of him didn’t want to do this. Doing so meant parting ways with Ara; it meant being a soldier for a very long time in order to continuously send information to the Revolutionary Army. Any military advances would be telegraphed to his true affiliation, meaning he would be partaking in a powerful and influential role.
What should I do?
As per usual, there was hardly anyone on the roads this early in the morning. The fewer the people, the better it was for him. He hated crowds and distracting background noises.
Hmm, that’s strange.
On average, he should have reached his destination by now, roughly one-hundred eight steps after leaving the inn. His pace of walking didn’t change at all, and he had been keeping track of minor details such as this for the past several days just so he could navigate himself around. And yet, as he continues to follow the sound of her footsteps, they began to exceed the usual number of steps, now reaching one-hundred twenty steps. They should’ve already passed the restaurant. Was Ara simply not paying attention? Or did she have plans on going somewhere else to eat? Was she testing him to see if he would notice? None of these seemed likely. Their simplistic schedule should’ve been drilled into them as habits by now, so she couldn’t have made a mistake. If she wanted to eat somewhere else, why didn’t she say anything?
“Hey..., where are you going?” Without a change in his expression, he asked in a quiet and suspicious tone.
“Eh?” Ara perked her head up as if snapping out of a daydream, “Oh! Um..., s-sorry..., something had been bothering me.” She gave him a sincere glance despite knowing that he was unable to read her expression.
“Ah, sorry; I suppose training me is too much of a hassle,” he suddenly felt uncomfortable from simply thinking if that’s the actual reason.
“Huh? N-No, it’s has nothing to do with you. Well... um...,” she voice grew quieter and weaker, “I... have been sensing bloodlust hanging in the air. And, I can sense three abnormally powerful presences. I walked past the restaurant in order to make sure, and I’m now certain that they’re following us.”
We’re being followed?
Just who would want to follow them? Or, more accurately, who would want to follow him? Chances were that they have a bone to pick with him, not her. And, there were three of them? He couldn’t recall any past adversaries that worked as a trio before. Considering that they haven’t revealed themselves yet, they may attempt an ambush on them. Luckily, Ara’s Kenbunshoku Haki would render that tactic useless. The only problem left was gauging out exactly how strong they are. If they were each on the same caliber as Raven, then they were pretty screwed, but he could expect them to be weaker since there were three of them instead of one. Having numbers implied that they would each individually struggle to accomplish their main task at hand.
“What should we do?” Ara whispered, unsure if she made the right move by continuing walking in the open like this. Perhaps staying indoors at the restaurant would have been safer, but that would depend if their pursuers cared about making a scene with witnesses. On the other hand, perhaps she made the right move as the alternative would’ve endangered the civilians.
“Do you think I can take them on?” With his mentor’s ability to gauge out others’ strength, he wanted her to compare the potential threats to himself. Knowing what both sides were getting themselves into was crucial information.
“... Probably not all three of them at once,” she offered her insight, but her quiet tone quickly rose in volume as she sharply cried out to him, “Behind!”
Turning around swiftly on his heel, he quickly reacted to Ara’s tone of warning. His arms rose defensively against the unknown, suddenly feeling a shove from side as the girl knocked him away from an incoming attack in the form of an arc-shaped blade made of air. A few strands of his black hair drifted in the wind. The elastic strap around his head snapped; his blindfold had fallen off unexpectedly.
Violet-hued eyes opened to the real world, quickly scanning his surroundings. His mentor stood beside him in a cautious manner; her golden eyes stared at the attacker with hesitance.
“Yo! Long time see!” An amused and familiar voice called out to him.
Pluto strained his vision to gaze at a man standing in the far distance. He saw the distinctive spiky, short white hair, yellow eyes, and a wielded large scythe resting on his shoulder with a strand of chains dangling off the end of its shaft. There was no mistaken it; he knew who this man was, having already clashed against him twice before already.
“B-Berserker...,” he said with a flavor of shock, not expecting to find him here in the Grand Line. But then again, a monster like that belonged to these seas more so than the blues. This warmonger had no interests in weaklings and would hastily charge in headfirst at whoever is the strongest be it ally or foe. The only reason that the organization kept this loose-cannon around despite losing some of their own fighters to this man was solely because that he comes in pretty handy in sabotage.
A scythe...
It greatly irked him to see another to wield such a weapon for it reminded him all too much of Scarlette, a former accomplice who wielded the same type of weapon. The difference being was that the Berserker’s weapon had its shaft completely made of metal instead of reinforced wood. There was also a chain attached to it, allowing him to swing that large weapon like a flail.
“Hmm?” The man gazed at Ara. “Who’s that? Is she your sister’s replacement?” He smiled after provoking the boy with his sardonic question.
Immediately, Pluto clenched his teeth to suppress a surge of anger. It would seem that the news of his sister’s capture had already spread to people like him. Even though someone on their side already has him on a leash, they were still going to send in individuals to hunt after him?
“Pluto... who is he?” Ara asked out of concern. The expression that he was making concerned her. From the looks of it, these two have already met each other before.
“What are you looking all angry for, huh? I’m the one who ought to be angry here,” the Berserker stated while heaving his massive scythe from his back and pointing the outer edge of the blade towards the boy. “I heard you lost to someone. You got some nerve. The only person you can lose to is me.”
Easing up a bit, Pluto deeply sighed, “I didn’t think we’d meet again.” This man, who stood over six feet tall, wasn’t the most loyal warrior around. He was very simple and straightforward to understand. And, it was precisely because that he was understood that the boy viewed him as a threat, knowing that he wasn’t going to part ways with him without a fight. The fated night where he absconded from his home island in the North Blue was the night where he first confronted this terrifying man. It would be wrong to call him an assassin. If it was one, he would have been dead long ago, but instead, his life had been spared, not out of mercy but out of the Berserker’s own self-interest.
“Humph! Of course we’d meet again! Until you’re ripe enough for the picking, I have my eye on you.”
The bloodlust that I sensed before is from him.
Ara readied her spear, feeling nothing but hostility brimming from the scythe-wielder.
“Pluto!” The Berserker called out the name in an unrestrained tone of eagerness, “It’s you and me, one on one! Got it? No more interference this time.”
“Do you think I’ll just stand by and watch?” Ara stood in a sideways stance, wielding her poled weapon in both hands.
“No...,” he admitted, “You’ll be too preoccupied to stand or watch, girl!”
From the side, a shadowy figure plummeted from the edge of a rooftop with a blade flashing down in a streak of brilliant white. Sparks flew as Ara raised her shaft to defend against the clash of the doubled-edge saber.
“Ara!” Pluto shifted his eyes, catching sight of his mentor being attacked by a blonde fighter, armed with a saber in one hand and a shield in the other, all while being covered in chrome armor throughout her entire body except the head.
A knight!?
“Where do you think you’re looking?” A shadow loomed over him as the Berserker swung down his massive scythe. As the target evaded with a swift sidestep, the fang pierced the snow-covered cement as crevices branched out like roots from the point of impact. Overwhelming strength and power, that was his fighting style. Unlike Scarlette who moves in a deathly dance-like fashion, this wielder of the scythe prefers to crush the enemy with raw power.
Without even pulling the retracting the blade out, he singlehandedly went directly for a horizontally swing as the fang crumbles the ground upon its release. Nothing about him was complete defense; he would always go on the offensive. It had been a while since the two of them fought one another; the last occasion was at Jreum Island of North Blue. Many voyages had passed since then.
The scythe stopped short as the sole of a boot jammed against the shaft. “Berserker...,” Pluto gazed at him sternly with his arms crossed, “Where... is my sister?” There was no doubt in his mind that this man knew the truth of what happened; commenting on Ara being a replacement verified that much.
“He-he-he..., those are good eyes,” with the aid of a second hand, the white-haired man forced his weapon through. His yellow eyes watched in awe at how much his deliciously powerful prey had ripened since he last found him. At the end of his swing with the pole parallel to the ground, his opponent allowed the force carry him along. The boy stood on his weapon, balancing on a single leg without even swaying.
“I asked you a question,” he gazed down with a pair of cold, violet-hued eyes.
“Why don’t you go ask the one you lost to?” The Berserker asked while heaving his weapon upwards to remove the foothold for his opponent who merely landed lightly on the ground.
“I’m not in the mood for your primitive games,” Pluto’s hands turned pitch black as they morphed into a pair of dagger-like claws – a feature of his Razor Form. Using only a partial transformation, he parried against metal with a cross of his arms, fending against the force from above.
This sensation of being up against the zoan-user was completely different from the last time. As the happily swinging maniac clashed repeatedly in various angles and approaches, his forces were nullified, being trapped at a stalemate. He was unable to overwhelm him. It felt like fighting a different opponent altogether. No one would believe that this was the same boy during the night of his departure.
“If you refuse to tell me then get lost,” he said pragmatically while discharging violet electricity from his right hand. With a single swipe of his claws, he whipped up a giant vertical array of arcing air slashes that towered beyond the surrounding buildings. Colored in the shade violet, they whistled through the vacant space and crashed against a metal shaft.
Clenching his teeth, the Berserker was in a pushing contest against the force of Pluto’s attack, but irritating tingling sensations kept interfering with his muscle control as charges conducted from his weapon directly to his hands and forearms. The flats of his shoes slid and scraped across the road as he was being swept away by this enormous force. Had he lacked a means to fend off against this attack, these blades could very well slice straight through him.
Meanwhile, Ara found herself at a disadvantage, struggling to pinpoint an opening for her spearhead of her weapon to pierce at. Her blonde opponent wore body armor that would make exploitation difficult, and that was only a problem once she bypasses an additional layer of defense composed of a shield and a saber. As any good spearman would do, she used superior distance to keep her enemy at bay, but the knight could easily just charge straight through the gap between them with a shield to cover her.
With a sharp lunge, Pluto planned on interrupting the fight between the two ladies, and as he does so, his eyes caught a glimpse of pair of small white wings extruding behind the knight’s back. Immediately, the physiology reminded him of Libeccio, but such a useless feature meant nothing of relevance as he cast the thought to the back of his mind. Just he reached the halfway point to aid Ara, a foreign figure dropped down in front of him.
There was a moment of delay in his head as a homesick familiarity washed over him at the sight of the young man to have blocked his path. “Y-YOU...?” His eyes widened with shock.
“Yo! We meet again, old friend,” and in contrast to the voice of someone who had just reunited with a childhood friend, the third enemy greeted as a sharp thrusting kick into the boy’s core, launching him a great distance away across the street.
Why... is he here? I... have to fight him... too?
Yoochun, the name of his childhood friend, was five years older than him; he grew up as a friend as well as spy. His task had been to spy on the one known as Pluto, but their friendship was real enough for him to have helped him escape during the night of an assassination assault. Was he a friend or foe as of this moment? Hard to say, but his last words were: ‘The next time we meet, we’ll be enemies.’
From a backwards flip, Pluto reobtained his stance with a low crouching landing, but before he could take the situation in, his feet carried him away from the fang that impaled the street. The Berserker was hot on his tail, lashing out repeatedly with a grin on his face as each of his blows misses its mark on the elusive combatant.
“Pluto...,” Ara peeked at the situation that grew worse and worse. Abandoning her opponent, she rushed forth in order to regroup with the zoan-user. They were outnumbered, and each of their adversaries was no pushover. Being separated was exactly what the enemy wanted to deprive them of the option of working as a team.
“Do not interrupt, Chitanda Ara of the Revolutionary Army,” in a calm manner, Yoochun swiftly swung out his leg, “Rankyaku.”
Immediately after receiving the attack with her guarding spear, Ara was pushed away. In many ways, this young man alarmed her. He knew of her name, her affiliation, and utilized a technique that should only belong to the natural opposition of her allegiance: the World Government. In addition to all of that, this man wore light, black armor around his forearms and shins, almost the exact replica of the armor that Pluto used to wear before they shattered by Scarlette’s doing. Just exactly who was this man and how was he connected to all of this? Just what circumstances and past did Pluto have to lead up to this?
Before she could reattempt to bypass this Rokushiki user, the wielder of the shield and saber began clashing against her from behind. Their formation was clear as day. The armored fighter would keep her occupied while that scythe-wielding berserker would handle Pluto, and in between the two clashes, this black-haired enigma would keep them divided.
Tch..., most likely, a group is sent after us, knowing full well that Ara would be an additional obstacle to them. That’s why he knows of Ara’s existence. Yoochun... seems to have done his research already. But, this formational seems to only work in a two-dimensional plane; I can easily destroy it by tackling this as a three-dimensional problem.
Black, leathery wings sprouted from the back of his shoulder sockets as they fanned once to propel him skywards. The claws of his hands shortened to their regular length, and his feet turned pitch black with the toes becoming hook-shaped claws. Ears morphed into a pointed cup-shaped structure at the top of his head. A layer of thin grey fur grew throughout the majority of his body, mostly covered by the exterior clothing. This was the complete transformation when he combined the physiologies of a human and a bat, a result of the Batto Batto no Mi, Model: Vampire Bat.
Curving his flight along an overarching trajectory, Pluto planned to bypass the role of the divider from above. His elusive nature had always been enhanced due to his natural ability of being able to fly. Whatever his next move was, he needed to ruin their formational battle strategy.
“Hmm? Where do you think you’re going?” Yoochun asked while raising his head up towards the white sky that’s stained by a black, humanoid freak of nature that could easily scare off any bystanders out this early in the morning. “Geppo!” With several kicks off of the air, each leading him higher and higher into the air in a zigzagging manner, he easily intercepted the dark winged fighter.
The ability to hop on air; is that... the same technique as Libeccio?
From both sides, the two airborne warriors clashed with their fists pounding one another, causing the air around them to ripple from the shockwave.
W-Was Yoochun always this strong?
Throughout his past, Pluto had once fought against him. He never once viewed him as a combatant before. There were close friend back then. The one he’s up against right now was once his only friend throughout his childhood. So why did it have to come to this? Why did they have to clash against each other?
I... I don’t want to... fight you.
Perhaps, this was all just psychological warfare against him by the organization. They must have chosen to send him, knowing full well that their past together would result him to hesitate, a cruel tactic to make former friends to fight and kill one another.
“Yoochun!” He called out, raising his bent leg to block a midair kick.
Hopping off the air to regain momentum, the Rokushiki user swung his other leg across, “Rankyaku!” A blade of razor-sharp wind was unleashed at close proximity.
Forced to evade, Pluto arched his back away as the swift projectile whooshed over his face, and that momentum of weakness allowed for the air hopper to attack him from above with a sharp drop kick.
“Gruh!” Plummeting straight down, he crashed into the cement, forming a crater from his harsh impact.
“Pluto!” Ara cried out upon seeing her ally down, but her instance of looking away only allowed her own opponent to pressure her into playing defensive.
Without given the luxury of having a break, Pluto flipped himself backwards from a lying down position in order to avoid the guillotine attack of Berserker’s scythe.
“Oi! He’s my opponent! Quit interfering!” The white-haired bloke complained.
“Then you should quit giving him the opportunity to leave his position,” Yoochun retorted.
It didn’t matter that she didn’t understand the situation entirely; Ara dashed away from her opponent, heading straight for her friend. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck her from behind, leading her to cry out in anguish as a powerful stream of electricity coursed through the entirety of her body. It lasted from a couple of seconds until her legs collapsed under her own weight. Paralyzed, she struggled to move her own limbs as she lied on the ground, twitching ever so slightly.
“Thunder Dial!” The female knight had pointed the tip of her blade towards her opponent whose back was exposed.
She... can shoot electricity from her blade?
“ARA!” The dark, winged hybrid jetted through the air only for his back to be blocked by Berserker.
Shadow Blitz!
In a near instant, he outmaneuvered the obstacle by circling halfway around the blockage through a technique involving sudden propulsion of his wings. By positioning his wings asymmetrically, he can move along a circular path just like a paper airplane with crooked wings.
“Soru!” In a streak of black, Yoochun flickered himself to block the zoan-user’s path. The two of them simultaneously exchanged punches, each of them blocking the other’s fist at the same instance.
“I’m surprised. This is quite unlike you,” the obstructer commented. “I remembered you being a lot more self-interested. The Pluto that I once knew wouldn’t batter an eye at the sight of someone’s suffering. You... have gotten soft. Is this the result of your sister’s influence on you for the past few years? Or, did that girl behind me change you in some ways?”
“Don’t get the wrong idea; I don’t care what happens to her,” Pluto broke the stalemate by backing off to reattempt another approach. Dashing side to side upon his lunge, he evaded two crescent-shaped slices of air from the Rankyaku technique.
“Really? Then why are you trying to head in her direction as of right now?” Yoochun retorted, not buying into what was being claimed.
“It’d be inconvenient to me if she were to die,” he said nonchalantly as he closed in to attack with fists raised and ready. Ara was the closest thing he had as someone who would be willing to teach him haki. It was only natural for him to not want to lose someone who could play such a valuable role for him.
“Oh? Are you implying that you would stop heading in her direction if we promise not to kill her?” The former friend raised his own arms as the two of them clashed. Advanced level punches and kicks were thrown deflected, and blocked. Secondary attacks behind the first layer of offense were used such as collapsing the arm into an elbow strike or using a knee strike at an even closer range. Their arms and legs flickered back and forth in their visibility to the normal human eye. A bombardment of explosions radiated from them each clash of their assault released a shockwave. They played a very complex game of flowing from one motion to the next in a continuous manner. Neither one of them could gain the upper hand, trapped in a vicious stalemate once again. For Yoochun, a stalemate was good enough for him to fulfill his role as the divider between their two targets. He glared into the opposing violet-eyes and could distinguish between the truth and the lies. They were old friends, after all. And after a pause with no response, a smirk grew on his lips. “Just as I thought, you actually care about her, don’t you? I thought you hated such emotions because they were a weakness and a burden to you. Then..., by your own definition, you’ve gotten weaker, haven’t you?”
The two of them leapt back in unison to gain distance. “Tch..., I didn’t expect you to be this good at fighting.”
“Can’t say that I feel the same way; your skill is still under my expectation. At this point in time, your martial art prowess alone can go toe to toe with a Rokushiki-user.”
Rokushiki..., I’ve heard of that term before in the North Blue. Not just heard, but I’ve fought against marine captains who used such techniques although they were specialists of only one or two of them.
“Arugh!” A metallic body was suddenly hurled straight past him, catching the attention of both Yoochun and Pluto to divert their attention in two directions. The one who was thrown was the female knight, and the one who caused it was none other than Ara whose spear took on a completely different color. Its usual orange-beige like shade turned pitch black, and it wasn’t just her weapon but her hands as well.
“Serendine...,” Yoochun spoke out the name of his ally whose armor had been punctured at the center of her torso, resulting in blood to be spilled. And in the meantime, the wielder of spear walked forth with a look of determination in her eyes now that she can freely approach the others without hindrance. “Berserker,” he signaled with just the codename.
“Heh!” The white-haired man leapt into air before extending the length of his reach by gripping the chain of his scythe, flailing it around wildly with a massive circumference. Gathering the accelerating rotational momentum, he made a final swing to whip out a massive arc of crushing wind.
“Ara...,” Pluto dashed past his former friend in hopes to make it in time to fend off the street-wide assault. “Urgh...” His legs stumbled upon feeling a bullet-like impalement from his back. With a turn of his head, he gazed back at Yoochun pointing a mere index finger at him.
“Flying Shigan,” the older one muttered.
Leaping into the air, Ara swiftly evaded the slash that scarred the snowy road below while reaching the same elevation as the assaulter. Her now black spear spun several cycles in her hands before swinging out. The smirking white haired brute pulled on the chain to regain possession of the shaft to his scythe, parrying the blow in midair. As a result of their clash, he was instantly hurled down by the overwhelming force of the girl’s attack.
“Eh!?” The man crashed into the earth, completely flabbergasted at how such a frail looking girl could generate that much power.
What... is that black spear?
This was the first that he had ever seen her reveal such power – one that he couldn’t even begin to comprehend at this stage.
“Looks like I’ve underestimated her,” Yoochun gazed up with an unfazed expression.
Upon a soft landing, Ara twirled her pole as the strange black coating dissipates, revealing its original colors.
“Ara, could you leave these three to me? This is my own problem. You shouldn’t get involved in this.”
Her mind immediately went against it. However, this appeared to be a personal matter to him. Had these three folks been complete strangers, it'd be a different story, but they obviously knew who Pluto was and vice versa. Reluctantly, she respected his wish, "Alright." As she backed off, no one attempted to pursue her.
From that point on, it was three versus one. Surrounded in a triangular formation, their ability to fight as a team proved to be troublesome. Just as Pluto fends off against one and reaches a safe spot, he would be immediately attacked by another, leaving him not a moment to take a breather.
Over a few dozen clashes later, he was left wheezing as the struture of his stance was the main factor that held him upwards. Blood trickled down the side of his head, arms, and legs. He had been pierced in the torso twice and beared a large gash across his back. His clothes suffered burned marks from the flamethrower embeded in Serendine's sheild, making her capable of releasing both fire and lightning from her wielded equipment. Numerous times, Ara had tried to intervene, only for him to remind her to stay back.
Fighting him wasn't without cost. Both the Berserker and Yoochun had suffered wounds of their own. The blonde-haired knight hardly received any damged thanks to her armor and sheild.
"Raven and I have a deal. Isn't what you're doing going against his plan?"
"Even though Raven may think that he has you on a leash, not everyone agreed in keeping you alive. But, a newcomer like him doesn’t have absolute authority. We do not have to follow his rules. We pondered on who to kill first. With your sister already in our possession, killing her first would be easy. Hmm?” He paused, noticing something off about the person who he’s speaking to.
Pluto’s eyes sharpened instantaneously upon hearing those words. Brow furrowed lightly as his ability to suppress and tame his emotions weakened, allowing some feelings and intent slip out. “Kill... Rebecca?” He muttered with a low, slow, and quiet exhale emitting from his mouth. Those words brought a very vivid and graphical imagery in his head, an image of his sister’s head flying off of her body as the blade of Scarlette’s scythe decapitated her. He remembered it all too well, a hellish foresight that ingrained deeply into his mind. Had he not foreseen that image changed that split-second into the future, it would have become reality.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! That’s it! Get angry!” Berserker immediately took a delightful reaction to the boy’s ticked off mood as he charged head on.
“!” Yoochun widened his eyes before shouting out, “BERSERKER! GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
“Eh!?” In just a fraction of a second, the white-haired man had a confused look plastered on his face as time itself seemed to have paused. He saw a beating organ floating in front him as blood gushed into the air. With a shift of his glance, he found a hole a few centimeters to the left of his chest. It was in that instance did he realize that it was his own heart that had been gouged out. He didn’t see how it was done, but soon, he came back to his senses as if having just woken up from a nightmare.
Taking a giant leap back, he quickly gained some distance. He felt his heart pounding; his skin sweating. He could hardly remember the last he felt this sensation. It was a sensation that’s biologically ingrained to every single organism, rooted deeply into the core foundation of their animalistic instinct: the fear of death. With a quick check, there was no hole in his chest. So, what the heck did he just saw? Was that just an illusion?
“Had you continued on with your attack, you would have been killed instantly,” Yoochun informed with a dark tone as his eyes remained locked on to the boy. He could feel it; the air around that boy was becoming restless. That wasn’t a metaphor. The surrounding air truly was becoming to ripple and vibrate.
“I won’t let you..., lay a hand on my sister... because you will all die right here... right now...,” he spoke those words, shaking with an intensive urge to kill; bloodlust was oozing and brimming from his presence.
Pluto..., your greatest talent isn’t martial arts or your observational ability. No..., beyond those individual skills, you have the potential to become a world-class assassin. Ironic, isn’t it? You see yourself as a protector, but you have the predisposition of a silent killer. Now we’ve done it..., our biggest challenge has just arrived.
“Zenkai!”
In a matter of seconds, Pluto was engulfed entirely by blurriness, protected by a thick layer of a stable vibrational air.
“What is that?” Serendine asked in a clueless tone.
Not one to wait and watch, Berserker attacked right off the bat; with a swing of his scythe, he unleashed absolutely nothing for it was halted by a single hand jamming the shaft from its full execution.
“Oh?” The man taken aback by the sheer speed required for Pluto to close that gap of distance, reacting with a pleased expression. And, in a blink of an eye, he found the winged menace standing further and further away, but that wasn’t due to the zoan-user’s speed –rather his own speed of being launched away. It took a while for him to even register the crushing pain from his abdomen as vibrations reverberated throughout his body from the point of impact, damaging him as a whole.
Just as his ally was knocked away, Yoochun intercepted the timing to attack from the side, “Soru!” In a flash, he relocated himself at the enemy’s flank before following up with an offensive, “Rankyaku!” The swing of his leg was stopped midway as his ankle was snatched by the boy’s crushing grip.
Clenching his teeth, he embraced himself upon failing to unleash his assault, “Tekkai!” His entire body was whipped over and around before being slamming into the cement ground that dented and cracked as a result. Crossing his arms, he guarded himself against a sudden stomp that released a destructive energy to further deepen the spot of gravel around him into a crater. “UGH!”
Serendine rushed into mid-distance, hiding behind her shield before aiding her flattened comrade, “Flame Dial!” A jet-stream of fire shot out as if the shield had a built-in flamethrower. The hot, fiery flames engulfed the zoan-user’s upper body, but all it did was divert his cold glare onto her. The knight noticed that the flames were having of no effect whatsoever. The coating of vibrational air was protecting him against the fire. “Just what is that form? EEAAA!” With a forceful flap of a single wing, a powerful pressure wave of air crashed against her shield, blowing both her body and her flames back. Her cerulean eyes widened in dreadful shock as a shadow loomed over her immediately. Wings splayed out, gliding with the same vector as hers.
“Howling Zephyr,” channeling the vibrations straight in to his fist, Pluto skewed the surrounding energy around him in favor of raw destructive power around a single hand. Even with a shield blocking between him and his enemy, he smashed it against the thick metal, and that single blow completely decimated the shield into cracked, bent metal that flew out like shrapnel throughout the block.
With the air knocked straight out of her lungs, Serendine was lying flat in a deep crater with her left arm shaking, holding nothing but the handle to her now non-existent shield. She realized that had it not been for her equipment, she’d have likely been knocked out cold by now.
“Now..., you die,” he spoke out in a low, grimacing tone while clenching his hand to unleash another assault to end this woman’s life. But, with a vigilant look in his eyes, he foresaw an image in his mind in a split second before it occurred. There was another source of bloodlust radiating that did belonged to him. He lurched to the side and dropped his weight to one leg as a steel fang for his head from behind.
This... sensation...
“HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” The Berserker rushed from the back as he pulled back the chain to his scythe in order to reclaim possession of the shaft. “What amazing power!” He yelled in excitement as he brought down his blade.
The zoan-user deflected the swing by clashing his forearm against the shaft. As he rotates his waist, he simultaneously grabbed the white-haired man by the face with his grip further enhance by the claws digging into the skin and flesh. In a downward swinging motion, he smashed his opponent’s head straight into the ground before mercilessly channeling the power straight into his gripping hand. Once the surge of vibrational energy reached the tipping point, an explosive force erupted from his palm, burying the cranium deep into the crust of the earth.
“Hmm?” A stern sidelong glance allowed him to notice that the female knight was missing from her current spot, and in the distance further up ahead, he could see Yoochun using his Soru technique to escape.
He’s too strong. Pluto –as he is now- is out of our league. We got what we needed from coming here. There’s no reason to continue fighting any longer. Our mission is complete!
“!” He halted his dash the moment his path was obstructed by a bat-human hybrid.
Tsk... He’s faster than me! Even if Berserker is still alive right now, convincing him to retreat is out of the question. But, if we all get killed here, then the grand scheme of things would all go to waste.
“Yoochun..., even if we were once friend in the past, I won’t hesitate to kill you if it means protecting my sister,” immediately, the entirety of his body froze stiff and spasm as a jolt of electricity coursed through him.
“Thunder Dial!” Serendine called out, pointing her doubled-edged blade at the winged monster. “Yoochun! Hurry up and attack!” The woman barked at the motionless young man, admitting that they'd need to work as a team to take this person on.
“It’s no use,” Pluto interjected while still in the process of being zapped, “Electricity of this intensity... doesn’t work on me.” He was naturally more resistant to being shocked ever since learning how to harness the bioelectricity in his body into a weapon.
A battle cry erupted as Serendine lunged from behind before lashing out with her electric-coated blade. Her opponent flipped over her head as the dazzling shimmering metal sliced through thin air. Fear overcame her as a pair of two fingers gently pressed against each of her temples. She heard a dark, sinister tone: “Have a taste of your own medicine.” And not long after those words, a jolt of electricity was directed straight into her head. She screamed in pain as her blonde colored hair frizzled. Seconds later, she dropped her weapon and fell to her knees before collapsing onto the road.
“Pluto! Please believe me, we won’t harm your sister,” he pleaded. “We didn’t even come here to kill you. Our task was to measure you as a fighter even if it meant lying to you.”
“Nonsense, people like you have been trying to kill me for months; why would they send you to measure me?”
“The people who wants to kill you...,” he panted. “They did not send us. The three of us came here on our own free will. Pluto..., I have risked myself to help you escape before. You should know that I wouldn’t want to kill you. However, as for why we’re doing all of this, I cannot tell you.”
“Either I kill you right now, or you convince me that you’re not my enemy,” he said in a harsh, uncompromising tone.
“Alright..., then let me tell you this: I am responsible for the Revolutionary Army to invite you,” a drastic claim had been made.
The vibrational coating around Pluto’s body suddenly dissipated, and immediately, he grew out of breath from the aftermath of using his trump card. “What... do you mean by that? Why would you-?”
“Well..., I guess... I wanted to turn you into a rebel. I might be saying a bit too much, but you’re not giving me much of a choice here. To put it bluntly, we plan to... backstab the organization from within.”
“What!?”
“To do so, we need a fighting force of our own. You will definitely want to take part in this, right? If we succeed, it would mean freedom for all of us. If you don’t believe me, then take a good look at us. I am someone who has been trying to get away with things unnoticed in trying to aid your survival. Berserker had already killed people in our group; getting him on this plan was easy because it meant getting to fight tough opponents on his part. Serendine here is someone who has pent up resentment much like you.”
“I couldn’t care less about their background or your own agenda. All I care about is Rebecca’s safety at this point.”
“I cannot guarantee her safety, but at the very least, the three of us have no interest in her whatsoever. Is that good enough for you?”
“And... when exactly do you plan to carry out this plan of yours?”
“We are striving for a small group of elite fighters to carry this plan out. A big group carries too high of a risk of betrayal. A single spy is all it takes for this plan to fail, so we have to be very careful in whom we choose. An exact date has yet to be decided. We need more time to prepare.”
Just as Pluto was about to leave, one other minor thing bugged him, “Oh... by the way..., why do you know Rokushiki?” Such a fighting style belonged to those affiliated to the World Government. Someone like him should have no way to come into possession of such skills. There was still something that didn’t add up.
“Heh..., you’ll learn the truth someday – perhaps very soon. I cannot tell you that for my own sake. We might meet again quite soon.”
Pluto picked up a souvenir at the end; it was a round, flat object that appeared to be the remains of a shellfish. It was located within one of the many craters in the road. If memories serve, that particular crater was where he destroyed that woman’s shield.
...
Days later when his life started to settle down, Pluto started to show results to his training that were unseen before. Ever since he tapped into his own reservoir of haki during his fight by accident, the feeling was fresh to him. All he had to do was remember that sensation.
Ara would notice that her student could occasionally manifest his haki for a brief spur of a moment for him to describe his surroundings in a more vivid manner, and his description would be correct. However, he wasn’t even close to have this be a voluntary act, but it was still a tiny step forward as he could sometimes carry over his minor meditative achievements to his active hours.
However, the mentor also sensed a tiny seed of darkness within the boy’s heart. He may seem fine from the outside, but with each passing night, his heart wept at the thought of Rebecca. He dreadfully worried about her. Nightmares of her demise would flash in his dreams. Ara would realize what it was that fueled his accelerating progression - a deeply rooted and silent hatred that grew with each passing day where Rebecca remained absent in his life. It was a constant reminder to him that he failed to protect her. He obediently followed everything his mentor said as a form of self-punishment for his failure. Hatred towards himself and hatred towards the organization, Pluto’s demeanor began to revert back to his original self from two year ago, the heartless, cold, boy who would do anything to survive. Without the bright sunlight that is Rebecca to keep him in check, all of the turmoil and problems that he now faces began to change him.
Even though she spent the past few weeks with him, Ara felt as if he was drifting away from her as the boy grew more and more distant. He became this cold, calculative, genius who learned at an amazing pace once given enough momentum. The tradeoff was his humanity.
Each passing day, the gauge to his bloodlust was rising. He made a promise to himself and reminded himself of that promise every day. That promise was to massacre everyone in the organization so that they can never bother him or his sister ever again. He was tired of being hunted down; one day, it would be he who hunts them down. He wouldn’t even have to do it all by himself. If his childhood friend was right, then it was very possible to make it a reality.
A certain delivery animal eventually paid him a visit. A small, black, winged creature with yellow eyes and a smile full of triangular sharp teeth.
“A carrier bat?” Ara was able to identify the creature. “But that’s what the World Government would use to commute with pirates. Why would they send one to you?”
The delivery animal flew off without a care, leaving Pluto with a black envelope. And, for the very first time in a long while, he removed his blindfold and opened his eyes. “This isn’t from the World Government; it’s from him.” With a simple glance, he could tell that the design and style of the envelope was exactly the same as the first one that he received, so there was no doubt in his mind to whom sent this to him.
Delivering this with a bat; he’s mocking me.
He ripped the end of it open, then slid and unfolded the letter. The message was short and simple, taking him only several seconds to finish reading it. “Oh, is that all? I was expecting something worse,” said the reader with an unfazed expression. For quite a while, he had wondered what sort of tasks would be given to him. They may not all be consistent, but considering this was the first one, it gave him a bit of insight in what future tasks may involve.
“What... does it say?” Ara asked hesitantly. She didn’t want to pry but knew that this was a very serious matter. The way her student had been acting lately made her nervous.
ZZT!!! ZZT!!! ZZT!!!
Without warning, the hand that held onto the letter began to dazzle, coated in violet chaotic streams of electricity. The letter in his hand began to burn into flames until all traces of the paper were replaced with ashes and smoke.
“Pluto!” The girl called out in surprise. Why did he burn the letter like that? It could be out of hate, but she knew better than that. For someone like him, it meant that he didn’t want her to know what the letter said. By burning the letter, she had no hope of ever being able to read it. “What did the letter say? I want to know!” Her eyes widened at the sight of tears dripping down his face; they were tears of relief.
“Rebecca... is still alive,” he said in response.
Later that night when Ara was asleep in bed, Pluto morphed into a bat and snuck out. His first clue was the pirate ship harbored at the bay. Any conventional pirate on this island would arrive through a vessel. As he trespassed into the ship, his ears told him that there was no one home, meaning that the entire crew had taken shelter in town. He sniffed the air, memorizing the scent.
Returning back to town, he searched for a matching scent, leading him to a pub full of drunken men who had been drinking late at night. They were a rowdy bunch, slipping out whatever thoughts that passes through their minds. It was when everything suddenly turned pitch black did they all went silent. A sudden streak of violet light shot through the darkness in a split second. Minutes later, by the time someone fetched them the lights, they noticed that the pirate captain was gone, replaced with a gouged out blood heart sitting on the seat where the man was last seen.
The next morning, Ara woke up naturally. After sitting up, she stretched and yawned before glancing at the room. Pluto was still fast asleep, undisturbed by her movements of slipping out of bed. Her eyes took note of a suitcase that wasn’t there before the last she remembered. Suspicious, she flicked the two simplistic metal locks open and swung it open, and to her surprise, a large sum of beri was found inside.
W-Where did all this come from!?
They were running dangerously low of cash lately, but she had no clue how this amount of money came to be. She held the bundles of paper money in her hands and could tell that they were very real. With a rough estimation, there was about fifty million beri presented here. If this was Pluto’s doing, then that meant he was active during the night.
This explains why he’s still fast asleep.
By the time both of them were awake and walking outside, there were rumors spreading across town about how a pirate captain with a seventy million beri was killed last night in an instant. No one saw who did it but the crew members were so terrified that they fled the island immediately.
“By any chance..., was it you?” Ara looked at the boy suspiciously. A bounty of seventy million didn’t match the sum of money in the suitcase, but it was quite a coincidence for two events to occur around the same time.
“Perhaps,” he said in a disinterested tone.
I had no choice. The letter instructed me to kill him. Since I brought in a dead criminal, I received around a 30% deduction – hence the fifty million beri I ended up profiting form.
From that point on, Pluto began receiving such letters on a weekly basis, each instructing him to eliminate some petty criminal. As a result, Drum Island began experiencing a very low crime rate.
...
Past the first month, he began clashing against Ara in sparring –still blindfolded. Barely able to even grasp his opponent’s presence, he struggled to conjoin his martial skills alongside with combat. Both martial arts and the manifestation of haki required him to sustain a level of concentration for each area altogether. Utilizing both at the same time proved to be a very difficult task for him, yet his opponent could do just that so naturally with ease. Up until now, he had relied solely on his kinetic vision to react on reflex, but now, it felt like learning how to fight all over again. His ability to conjure up a concentrated dose of Bushoshoku Haki at will was a matter of chance. Sometimes he could do it, and sometimes he couldn’t do it. The more his focus wavers, the less likely he could succeed. Overall, the probably of success was about one in every third attempt.
Past the second month, his progression led to being able to utilize Busoshoku Haki to momentarily harden his fists and forearms about fifty percent of the time. When he does succeed, the skin of his limbs would darken into pitch black, resulting in strengthening both offense and defense. The success rate increased little by little each week that passed by.
As the third month concludes, Pluto had grasped the basics of manifesting and sustaining his haki at a conscious level with one-hundred perfect success rate, capable of consistently call upon his Busoshoku Haki to coat both fists and forearms and his Kenbunshoku Haki was enough to sense his surroundings continuously throughout his daily life. All that remains was to put him to the test that he failed the first time around.
In the winter wasteland away from the town, Pluto and Ara had trespassed into the Lapahns’ territory. Like before, the boy wore a blindfold as he walked forth confidently towards the herd of vicious white rabbits that were all glaring at him. No doubt that these giant red-eyed bunnies vaguely remembered him from three months ago.
Seeing with light, seeing with sound, and now seeing with presence, he had now learned a newfound way to view the world. A perfect spherical scope all around him, the only limiting factor was distance. But, he had no blind spots anymore. He could sense Ara’s presence standing behind him as well as the growling oversized rabbits being shot straight at him like a bombardment of white cannonballs with non-retractable claws.
As he moved along with a series of leaps, the parabolic moving bunnies all crashed into the snow a few at a time, missing their mark. They were all so huge and heavy that it wasn’t worth the energy for him to stop them.
With the sheer number of them, it was inevitable to end being surrounded and encircled from all sides. Swiping claws lashed at the blinded boy who ducked, swayed, and weaved around. Even the attacks from behind were evaded. The bunnies would continue to struggle on landing a hit on the elusive human.
“Hmm?” With a lowering of his stance and a slight duck of his head, Pluto felt something whoosh past his head, and while he couldn’t make out what that was, the best he could describe it was some form of a poled weapon with a spiked ball at the tip of it. These bunnies turned out to possess the skills to wield melee weapons. Ever since their alliance with the humans of Drum Island, most of their kind were now been part of the peace-keeping troops. Their weapons were like a hybrid between clubs and staffs.
Raising his right arm, Pluto armored his fist and forearm with concentrated haki which consequentially turned his limb pitch black. Blocking the metal ball with dull metal extruding spikes, the impact caused the shaft to snap, leading one bipedal bunny with nothing but a broken stick. All the meanwhile, he suffered no damage. More and more of the same weapons attempted to bash him from several sides in the form of swings and thrusts. He demonstrated his ability to evade them as well as destroy them with his armored hands.
He once wore forearm protectors which were given to him by Yoochun, but now that they were destroyed during his fray against Scarlette, being able to armor his forearms like this made a nice substitution.
Next, he demonstrated his offensive capabilities by palm striking the lot of these creatures with haki imbued hands, launching each of them away and keeping each of them subdued from just one nonlethal strike.
Later on in the day, there was one more test left, and that was being able to fight with eyesight. Having been conditioned for so long to fight without vision, he would need to revert back into getting accustomed into using his original sense again.
...
Back at the inn, the two of them lounged around, having accomplished what they set out to do a few months ago. While being attacked by those three was both unexpected and unwelcomed, had they not done so, Pluto may have taken longer to grasp the essence of his newly attained power. Despite having lived together under the same roof, something simply felt off with the absence of Rebecca’s cheerful and spirited self. Without question, the brother felt the full burden of that pain. One day, he would find and save her no matter the cost. She was his one and only family left in this world.
“Pluto...,” Ara said in a soft tone. Her eyes were closed shut, fully comfortable in lowering her guard down to rest with him around. “What are your views of the World Government?”
“My views?” Tilting his head, Pluto had honestly never really considered it before. All he knew was that the government that reign over the world had remained standing for about eight centuries. However, the term ‘World Government’ wasn’t entirely accurate. There were still territories that remain unclaimed such as the New World which was controlled –for the most part- by the legendary four emperors. “I... don’t know enough about them to have much of a view,” he admitted his ignorance about the world that they all lived in.
“What are your views on the marines?”
“I’ve met many marines throughout my voyages. Overall, I find that most of them are quite incompetent and useless,” he noted based of past observations.
Immediately, Ara smiled at hearing those words, “Yeah..., they’re quite useless indeed.” Her words drew his attention. Even though he knew that she belonged to the side of opposition towards the World Government, those simply didn’t seem like the words that would come from her. “Pluto..., if you don’t have any strong views, then why did you decided to join the Revolutionary Army?”
He closed his eyes, pondering on her question. It would be a complete lie if his answer was as grandiose as wanting to change the world or end all corruption. He had no such ambitions. “I...,” he then paused, wanting to phrase this as honest and correct as possible. “I wanted a place where I can call home.” With the brutal deaths of both his biological and foster parents, he had been on the run for a very long time. He was tired of it. He wanted to settle down in a safe place and be surrounded by those he trusts. He wanted the fourteen-year old Rebecca to be happy and for her to live to the fullest. That had been his wish for the past two years.
“Ara..., the truth of the matter is..., I don’t exist. Two years ago, I have been presumed to be dead from a terrible accident. Of course, I could always just announce that I am still alive, but... I chose not to.”
Opening her eyes, she gave him a curious look, “Now, I can understand why the higher ups would give a newcomer like you such a task.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“It’s not official yet, but there’s some talk recently about having you working as an undercover spy for the Revolutionary Army.”
“Eh? Who... would I be spying on?”
“The Marines,” she answered firmly, revealing that her past several questions were all linked to this very news. “If you’re presumed to be dead for that long, then you essentially lack a documented identity. You are untraceable, an enigma. And with your skills, you can become a great asset to us.”
Me? A spy? With my hearing, I can easily eavesdrop on others, not to mention that I can now utilize haki to sense others. I’m of legal age to become a soldier as well. It’s... certainly possible.
“Pluto, I hate the marines,” Ara stated bluntly, speaking as if it were a confession. “So..., I’m glad that you think so little of them as well. And..., I wasn’t too thrilled at the idea of having you become one of them. If you accept this offer, then we’ll have to part ways. But if you refuse, we can still operate together in some other missions or tasks. So..., what will you do?”
This was a difficult choice to make. Personally, he had more pressing matters to worry about such as locating and rescuing his younger sister. But, as things stand right now, he lacked the evidence to find her. Joining the marines might just be able to aid him indirectly. Without a doubt, the navy would contain a surplus of information about the past and current event – more than he would ever want to know. Criminal records, reports of crime, lists of islands, he could gain access to so much information to scavenge even if it meant doing so without authority. If by some chance he could find information in regards to the organization that has been haunted him throughout his life, then he just might be able to locate their hideout. It was a roundabout way of doing it, but it definitely remained as an option he could take.
But, a part of him didn’t want to do this. Doing so meant parting ways with Ara; it meant being a soldier for a very long time in order to continuously send information to the Revolutionary Army. Any military advances would be telegraphed to his true affiliation, meaning he would be partaking in a powerful and influential role.
What should I do?
