Brand New World

Ch. 9: The Quest for El Dorado

The next morning, Usopp kept going on and on about how he saw a ghost last night. Most of us just shrugged it off, but we did find it was strange that the Going Merry was fixed and returned to its original condition, or at least as close as possible.

Nami spoke up and said, "Hey, Kakusei, Robin told us how you confided in her about how you were from another world."

"She did!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, but she also told us why you didn`t want to tell us yet," Nami replied. "It makes sense. So when did you remember where you were from?"

"The first day I was awake," I replied, "before the party."

"Alright," Nami said with a smile on her face, "but now we need to talk about our game plan for finding the gold!" I swear I saw her eyes turn into Beri symbols.

So, one team was going to get the gold, while the other team was going to sail the ship out of the altar area and meet us at the gold`s location. Nami, Sanji, and Usopp would sail the boat, and Luffy, Zoro, Chopper, Robin, and I were the exploration team. As we left, of course both Luffy and Zoro were going the wrong way to the gold. Zoro was complaining how dull it was for him yesterday and how he didn` t get to see a priest. I told him that the priests were no picnic, but all he said was "Bring it on." And then we saw a giant snake with hair hanging down from the sides of its body. Nice. So Luffy ran from it, and Zoro tried to fight it. And while chasing Luffy, it bit a tree, and began dissolving it, so the snake was poisonous. It tried to bite Robin, but she swung away using her powers, creating a vine-like set of arms. Everyone went their own way to escape the snake, but it separated us. I could sense in general where the others were, but I couldn`t pinpoint where they were. I`m not trained enough in Ki, I guess.

Back at Enel`s residence, he was counting up the odds in the upcoming fight.

"We have 50 soldier`s, and 4 priests," he said nonchalantly. "So including me, we have 55 fighters… There are also 20 Shandian warriors, 5 people from the Blue Sea entering the forest, and 4 on the ship. No, wait, 3, the old man can`t fight anymore."

"4 priests, Enel-sama?" one of his attendants asked. "I thought that Satori-san was defeated."

"Yes, my dear," Enel said calmly, "but we have a new priest in his place now. So we have a total of 83 fighters! This will be an eliminative skirmish! YAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Three hours from now, how many fighters will remain? Anyone want to guess?"

"We`re playing a game?" another attendant asked.

"This is great!" Enel exclaimed. "Hey, you, take a guess!"

After a guess by a counselor of 50 fighters, Enel said that exactly six people would remain.

Back with me, however, I was walking in what I believed what was a southward direction when one of the bodies of Ki I was sensing on the island went out, or was at least so faint, I could not sense it. One fighter down. Then all of a sudden, this guy who looked like a child of man and a goat tried to palm me, so I roundhouse kicked him, spinning around in the process. Then more of these guys came after me, and some Shandians came after me as well. So I led them to each other and watched them fight. I`d rather not try to fight them all. I had a feeling I would need my strength. However, more came and I just kept beating them, one after the other. I kept feeling more and more bodies of Ki go out. I finally got a break and decided to keep moving. I was a bit concerned about Robin, but I shrugged it off remembering she could take care of herself.

A little later, I came upon some ruins that looked really old. I did some looking around, and sketched some pictures for Robin and the others to look at later (more Robin than the others). Then all of a sudden, this guy pops up out of nowhere. He was about a head taller than I was, and had scruffy black hair. He was wearing a skin-tight black t-shirt, a pair of dark green kung-fu pants kinda like mine, and he was wearing a pair of sandals and some goggles that made him look like an airplane pilot. He also had some weird finger tip-less gauntlets covered in several different Dials which made me a little nervous.

"No one passes to God`s domain unless I say so," he said while sitting cross-legged and holding one hand out, fingers spread.

"And who are you to say so?" I asked putting down my backpack and getting ready for a fight.

"I am Raikiri, the Sky Shinobi, and Enel-sama`s greater hunter," Raikiri replied very loudly. "I am one of the four remaining priests to Enel-sama."

"Four?" I thought in shock. "From what I remember, there should be three priests left after we kicked Satori`s ass. Where did this guy come from?"

"If you will not attack, I WILL!" Raikiri said lunging forward at me. All of a sudden, two of his Dials activated, creating two large, blade-like objects on his arms, and while he swung them at me and missed, I could swear I saw electricity crackling along them. Then he pulled out a small ball-and-chain weapon with a few dials on the rear of the ball and threw it at me. The dials created some clouds, leaving a trail as the ball`s chain wrapped around me. While holding the chain with one arm, Raikiri used his free hand to create another blade and simply touched the cloud path. I swear I felt like a thunderbolt hit me, and when the shock subsided, I almost lost my footing.

"How the hell did you do that?" I asked, panting hardly. "That`s just Iron Cloud, right?"

"Almost," Raikiri said slyly. "My blades are made from Iron Cloud, yes, but they also have Shock Dials inside them."

"Shock Dials!" I exclaimed. "What the hell are those?" I thought to myself. "I certainly don`t remember any Shock Dials in One Piece."

"Yes, Shock Dials," Raikiri said slowly walking towards me. "Shock Dials are a very rare type of Dial. No one is even sure where the Island they originate is in the White Sea. These Dials can store an electrical charge for a very long time, and release it all at once, or in short bursts. Enel-sama is kind enough to provide me with all the electricity I need, so I never run out, and I have a very large stored charge."

"Well, at least this will be a little easier than fighting Enel," I thought, remembering Enel`s Goro Goro no Mi, "at least I can hit this guy. But I need to keep my distance."

"Keeping your distance won`t help you," Raikiri said, pretty much revealing he could use Mantra. "I an Enel-sama`s greatest hunter, remember. I don`t have to be close to my prey to kill them." Then he tossed a bunch of Cloud Dials in different directions, creating paths to seemingly random areas. Then he jumped up and stabbed his blades into two of the clouds, and realizing what he was doing, I jumped into the air myself so I wouldn`t get shocked by standing on some of the connecting clouds. I shot a few Ki blasts into the air, but he dodged them easily. "Interesting attack, but if you can`t hit me, you`re just wasting energy. RAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Wait, I can use that old trick," I thought to myself, while jumping away from Raikiri`s attacks.

"What old trick?" he said as I charged forward.

He began to use Mantra to try to see what I was going to do, but all he heard was, "I`ll hit him with a right jab, but stop short of his face."

"What`s with this guy?" Raikiri thought as I still charged forward. "He`s moving forward but not even going to attack me?" I ran up and did exactly what I was thinking. I threw a right jab, but stopped short of his face. I may not have hit, but the wind from my speed caught up and nailed him for me. He flew a few feet back, and yelled, "What the hell just happened?"

"Someone never took a physics course, did they?" I said slyly and wagging my finger in the air.

"I don`t need to!" Raikiri yelled, as he shot his Icon Cloud blades forward at me, and instead of trying to cut me to ribbons, he formed them into oversized hands and grabbed me. Then he delivered another shock into my body, and I yelled at the top of my lungs in pain. "I`m sorry if you`re hurting, but when my prey likes to fight back, I like to torture it a little." Then he threw me towards the ground with enough force to send me through a layer of cloud. It still felt like I was thrown through a layer of earth or rock though. He followed me down, and I realized we were in a giant ancient city.

"I guess I found Shandia, the city of gold," I said wearily.

"But you won`t be around long enough to enjoy it!" Raikiri said as he lunged at me forming claws out of his Iron Cloud. I dodged the claw swipes, but then he formed fists and punched at me. I stopped the punches, but then a wave of pain shot through my body, and I jumped back. I took a look at my body and saw what looked like a slash mark across my arms and chest.

"Let me guess, an Axe Dial," I said letting my arms hang down.

"You guessed right," Raikiri said, retracting his Iron Cloud arms. "I can vary my Dials as I wish to create new effects against my prey."

"But what if you can`t keep up with your prey?" I said as I sprinted forward, with the wind surrounding my feet increasing my speed. I tried to throw a punch, but he created a wall to block it using the Iron Cloud. Then in a split second, a shockwave shot through my body racking me with pain, and Raikiri said, "Impact". "An Impact Dial too?" I said as I was left holding my chest in pain.

"Correct," he said slyly, "Just for the prey that can still manage a hit after all I`ve done to them."

"Shit, what am I supposed to do now?" I thought. "I can`t land one hit on this guy now. He`s been toying with me all along!"

"Kakusei!" Robin yelled in shock as she came upon my fight. "What are you doing here?"

"Currently getting his ass handed to him," Raikiri said as he walked up, and formed another Iron Cloud blade. "I always did enjoy being able to kill more prey at once."

"Robin, RUN!" I yelled still holding my arm. "Run away!"

"I won`t move," Robin said calmly. "I won`t let him harm these ruins."

"Then DIE!" Raikiri yelled as he charged at Robin.

With a burst of energy I didn`t know I had left in me, I ran in front of Robin, ready to intercept Raikiri. I caught the blades and, taking a huge electrical shock to my body, still stood standing holding the blades. "I… I won`t… let you… do that." I said, breathing heavily.

"How can you still stand?" Raikiri said in surprise. "You`re half dead as it is, and you want to protect this woman? You`re insane!"

"I… WON`T… LET… YOU… TOUCH HER!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, and power surged through my body. It was that feeling from before, but this time, I knew I had full control of it. Raikiri flew back about ten feet, and behind me, Robin just stood there in shock and awe.

"What… what was that, Kakusei?" Robin asked slowly.

"My newly acquired power," I said calmly, feeling like I had just recovered from my previous injuries.

"Wha… what… are you!" Raikiri asked, looking very fearful.

"I`m the guy who`s gonna kick your ass!" I said defiantly. I knew that this battle had taken a huge turn in my favor. And it was all because of my newly activated power, my Haki.