"A-Ah…!" I gasped, clenching onto my stomach tightly as I slowly opened my eyes.
My vision was completely blurred as I slowly pushed myself up from whatever I was lying on. I breathed slowly until my lungs gradually began to loosen.
Through my ears, I could hear it, the sound of battle taking place.
"Ace…" I whispered softly, slowly looking around the blur of colours. "You've finally awake." I heard a deep, husky voice spoke as I froze. I slowly turned my head to the direction where I heard the voice from and found myself staring at something tall and dark, overshadowing me.
"Old man?" I guessed softly as I squinted my eye. I rubbed it once, blinked twice…and soon, the cloud before my eye began to disappear. When my eyes fully adjusted, I found myself staring at my old man who stood with his back to me.
Upon sight of him, I felt my heart loosened…
"So you're still alive."
"Guhahaha…I've lived 2 years without listening to a daughter of mine cursing for me to die." The old man laughed with a wide smile under that crescent beard of his. "That's a pity…" I mumbled, slowly climbing onto my feet as I looked around at the battlefield below us.
My eyes trailed around until I finally spotted the one I was looking for.
Portgas D. Ace.
There he was, kneeling on the execution platform on far distance. I slowly rubbed my stomach, still able to feel the pain that was crawling on my inside. However, the pain had diminished greatly compared to before.
"Even if you beg me, I'm not going to curse you anytime soon. I don't feel like it."
"Is that so?" The old man said as I slowly straightened myself. It was there again…this strange pain wrapped around my heart.
Something wasn't right…but I didn't know what.
"Hakuren." Hearing the old man's call, I slowly looked up to him. "Can you fight?" He asked, staring down at me from the corner of his eyes. I stared at him before I snorted out a laugh.
"Have you gone senile, stinking old geezer?" I snapped; taking a couple of steps before my eyes narrowed. The unfortunate Marine I had my eyes on suddenly burst out in a scream before collapsing onto the ground. I felt the iris of my left eye jumped the instance I casted my illusion.
"Does it look like I can't fight?" I spoke in a mocking ton towards the oversized grandpa beside me.
"Heh, hurry and get out of here." The old man said in a tone as though he could care less. I smirked upon that, knowing full well that he didn't mean it. I slowly let my eyes drifted back to Ace and for some reason…an image of Hotaru appeared into my mind.
"Old man…" I began, my mind quickly racing as I try to think of what words to use.
"I…"
"Jimbei has already told me everything he needed to." The old man said when he noticed how I didn't intend to continue any further. At his words, my head snapped up to him.
"But I'll be hearing it personally from you afterward." At his words, I couldn't help but feel a faint smile slowly wiping over my lips. "…Too much trouble. Ask that moron later yourself." I said before a blast of mist blew from our backs and swept across the area within a 500 meter radius.
"W-What's with this mist?"
"Where did it come from?"
"Hey! Don't let your guards down! It must be those pirate's tricks!"
The Marines around me screamed as I leaped off Moby Dick and landed before them. "Prepare yourself, they can be anywhere!" The Marine that stood in front of me said, holding his gun up as he glanced around.
With a little side step, I walked around him who was completely oblivious to my presences.
"C-Cobras! Th-There's cobras all over the ground!"
"D-Don't pani-AAAAH!"
Screams erupted from behind me, but I just kept walking, never once looking back. "It doesn't hurt." I mumbled to myself, blinking my eyes before removing my hand from my stomach.
I knelt down onto the ground.
With a soft intake of breath, I kicked off the dirt as I flew out of the mist to see an army of Marines mixed together with the pirates. With a blast of wind, the mist behind me scattered away, reverting the area back to normal. My legs carried my body through the battlefield. The places I ran by, vines shot out of the hard soil, binding onto any Marines that were in range.
"Hey Hakuren!"
I heard a voice called. I skipped to a stop, turning to the source of the voice only to find a naginata flying down from the sky and stabbing into the earth beside my feet.
"It's not as good as your naginata so don't go breaking it." I grabbed the naginata, spinning it around my hand before looking up to Marco who stood not far away. I smirked faintly before tearing my gaze from him to the Marines that were surrounding me.
"It's Illusion Goddess Hakuren!"
"Don't let her pass!"
"Whitebeard's Ex-Second Division Commander is here!"
"Don't let me pass?" I muttered, feeling an itch within my left eye again.
"AAAAAAAAH!"
The marines that were within my reach cried, all of them dropping onto the ground one after another as they looked around in fright. "What's wrong?" One of the Marines shouted from afar.
"I-I can't see!"
"Everything's pitch black!"
"My eyes!"
"It's dark! What's happening?"
These pathetic men cried as I ran by them, not having the spare time to take their heads. 'If I use mass range of illusion…the others will be affected as well…' I cursed in my mind as I looked across the fields, to the pirates and Marines that are completely mixed together.
With a leap, I flew into the sky as a bolt of lightening flashed within the dark clouds swirling above my head.
"It's Hakuren!"
"Hurry!"
"Fire!"
The Marines below me cried as I quickly let my eyes scan over the area. I quickly sort out the Marines and pirates within my brain as a roar of thunder boomed across the land.
"Eyesores…" I whispered, my hair beginning to fly up from the massive amount of static coming from above my head. That moment, lightning began spilling from the clouds
"AAAAAAH!"
The Marine's cries were synchronizing with the roar of thunders. The lightning moved across the land, zapping any Marines that were in its path into nothing but dust.
"You fool! It's just illusions! Don't be trick!" A men's voice shouted from the side of the Marine.
"Are you stupid…?" I whispered, landing back onto my feet as the lightning vanished. With a spin of my naginata, I stabbed the blade into the earth as vines shot out within another 500 meter radius around me and immobilized the Marine.
"Even if you know it's an illusion, that doesn't prevent you from feeling it as the real thing, morons." I said before quickly dashing through the sea of both Marine and pirates. Any Marine I had my eyes on; a bolt of thunder would fell from the sky and turn the enemy into dust.
"Everyone! Get back!" The Marines screamed as pillars of fires start erupted from beneath the Marine's feet, roasting them to bits.
"It's only an illusion! Don't fall for it! Close your eyes and charge!" One of the stupid Marine ordered and to my surprise, they seriously did charge at me with their eyes close.
"How stupid."
I mumbled, easily dodging their random attacks before a bolt of lightning slammed down against us. The sound of thunder beamed against my eardrums along with the screams of these Marines.
"Even if you can't see a lion, would you believe there is one if you hear its roar?" I huffed, grabbing one of the fallen Marines' swords. I flicked the blade into the air and with a kick right at the end of its hilt, the sword thrust through the smoke.
Through the pitch black clouds that surrounded me, I heard the blade of the sword tearing through flesh then followed by a scream. With a wave of my finger, the thick layer of blackened smoke around me vanished, revealing dozens of Marines that surrounded me.
"Hurry! Shoot her down!"
"Don't let her illusions get you!" The men shouted I smirked, though very faintly. "Fools." I dodged a couple bullets as trail of afterimages began appearing around me.
"W-What's going on?"
"She's multiplying!"
"I-I can't see properly!"
The bullets are soon firing at random. I didn't even need to bother dodging as I simply walked towards them, my body moving back and forth at a quick pace. The moment I finished my little warm up…I vanished from their sights.
"Where…Where did she go?"
"Keep your guards up! She can't be-"
Blood splattered out as cuts formed over the Marines' bodies. A slash at their vital point was all it took to get them to obediently drop dead onto the ground, not even given the time to feel the pain. By the time I had stopped, I was in the center of a sea of bodies.
"Ace…" I whispered, my eyes focusing only on one thing…and that was the stupid moron who got himself onto the execution platform.
'Come to think of it…Monkey D. Luffy…' I wondered to myself, remembering how I haven't seen that chimpanzee since I woke.
With someone as weak as him, would he able to survive?
"HAKU!" I suddenly heard Ace's scream coming from afar as I turned. But the minute I looked around, I found myself staring at a beam of light that was heading towards me.
My eyes widened as I quickly kicked off the ground. As fast as I was, my pace couldn't match the pace of the light as it pierced through my left shoulder. "Uagh!" I gasped, quickly digging my naginata into the ground to hold myself up.
"Illusion Goddess Hakuren~"
I heard a slow, lazy voice called. I turned, my gaze deepened into a glare as I stared at my attacker who stood behind me
"I got you~"
The Admiral, Kizaru.
I gritted my teeth as my eyes shifted onto the hole that was left behind in shoulder. I clench onto my burningwound, unable to feel the tips of my fingers. That attack just now detached my nerves.
My left arm is useless.
"To be able to create such a scene…that's a troublesome devil's fruit." Kizaru spoke slowly, seeming to be in no hurry while I on the other hand, was.
I didn't bother with a word to him. With a wave of my naginata, I stabbed the blade into the earth. The radius around Kizaru began to glow.
"Oooh?" Kizaru mumbled with slow interest as he slowly glanced down to the ground at his feet that was beginning to glow. That instant, a blazing fire pillar shot out of the ground followed by a wave of heat that spread through the air.
"Admiral Kizaru!"
A couple of Marines screamed from afar, unable to get close because of the immense heat. I stared, my grip tightening on the naginata at the figure standing within my pillar of fire.
"What luck I have…" I mumbled softly, a roll of sweat slowly sliding down my forehead as I listened to the sound of footsteps. Very slowly, Kizaru came walking out of the flame without a single burnt on his body.