Hi, all my faithful readers!*

Please enjoy!*

Disclaimer: I do no own One Piece or any of it's characters but the OC's inserted as well as Liza is my own character*

Chapter 36

Two days later…

Two long days passed without the Marines leaving the island. Each day they came in and tried to force Liza to reveal the destination of Shanks and Mihawk but she never gave them what they wanted.

Each time, Curtis tried to threaten her with something new but it failed every time. He grew frustrated and marched out of the bar. Since then there wasn't any sign of the marines again and things seemed to change back to normal.

During that time, Liza trained Aston and helped him develop his Devil Fruit's powers. It wasn't difficult since he understood what he needed to do when he activated it and using his powers from there was easier than thought.

Liza watched as Aston changed his body into iron instantly and a smirk came onto her lips. She twirled a few iron spikes in-between her fingers and chucked them at Aston. He stood still and hardened his iron skin even more.

The iron spikes bent against his hardened skin and fell to the ground. Aston turned back to normal and grinned in victory. He gained no damage from the iron spikes and Liza had to say she was impressed. He could harden himself even more in only two days.

"I did it!" Aston cheered and Liza laughed at the male as he did his little victory dance. She shook her head ta the male and was briefly relieved that they were in an open area where no one else was so see his embarrassing dance.

"Alright, that's enough dancing…forever" Liza said and cleared her throat to prevent her from laughing at his expression. "Well done, Aston, but you still have a lot of training to do to become stronger"

"Yeah, I understand. I'm just glad that I managed to get the hand of using my powers. No one really showed me how to use them and I could only control it on an impulse" Aston stated and Liza gave him a small smile.

"That's why I'm here! Now, I have one thing left to tell you before we stop with your power training and continue with muscle building." Aston's eyes lit up and Liza chuckled. "It's going to be more hell than training your powers. Believe me" She said and Aston sweat dropped while paling slightly.

Liza pulled out her dagger and Aston blinked a few times in confusion. He watched as Liza twirled it between her fingers and swallowed thickly. Whatever Liza was planning, it wasn't going to be something good.

"Your last step is to bend this steel tip" Liza pointed at the tip of her dagger's blade and Aston looked at her with a baffled expression. She wanted him to bent steel? How was that possible? He only had iron powers.

"Uh… I don't think I quite understand what you're saying, Liza-san. I can only manipulate iron. Any steel weapon is useless to me" Aston said but Liza shook her head. She trailed her finger over the blade of her dagger.

"Wrong. You did it once before" Aston's brows furrowed. "What do you think Hades' sword was made of? Iron? Wrong. It was made of steel and you bent it to your will making it impale him." Liza stated and Aston's eyes briefly widened before he looked down at the palm of his hands.

"I-I don't understand…"

"You can manipulate steel but only to an extent. When steel is made, iron ore is added as well as carbon. If you can control the iron ore inside steel, you should be able to control the object to do a simple task. Such as a sword stabbing the wielder himself" Liza explained and Aston sighed.

"Don't worry about the explanation that much. All you have to do is manipulate this blade of my dagger. Try it" Liza told him and Aston nodded. He held out the palm of his hand and his eyes locked onto the tip of the dagger.

His eyes narrowed onto the steel tip and he gritted his teeth. A green glow surrounded his arm and the palm of his hand as he activated his powers. Liza watched the blade briefly ripple like water before it stood solid again.

Aston groaned and let his shoulder slump. It was more exhausting than he thought but he couldn't even make the blade move an inch! How was he able to control Hades' sword? He couldn't remember!

"Try again" Liza ordered, her tone serious and Aston nodded. He stood the same pose once again and glared at the steel blade. He could do it! He had to. He had to master this and become stronger. That was his ultimate goal.

The blade started to ripple more on the hilt and Liza's blue eyes gleamed. She watched as the blade suddenly grew and flew up. It flowed towards Aston like water and Liza was astounded by the way the blade stretched.

A small trail of sweat fell from the side of Aston's face and he let out a shaky breath. The tip was almost at the palm of his hand. As soon as it touched his skin, it shot back to its original position while Aston staggered backwards before falling into a sitting position.

Liza was quick to sheathe her dagger before smirking at Aston. He could barely hold himself up from using too much power. She walked towards him and held out her hand. Aston gave her a grateful smile and just as their fingers brushed, she pulled back her hand making him fall back on the ground.

"Get up! We're heading back to the bar! We can't train the whole day or lay and recover" Liza stated, a teasing smirk plastered on her features and Aston gave her a playful glare. She knew he was exhausted but she never took it easy on him.

"I'm coming! Just…give me a minute!" Aston rasped as he quickly tried to stand up and ran after Liza until he was beside her. He looked up at her and smiled when he saw her mischief smirk plastered on her lips.

"So, Liza-san… Do you think the navy left? I haven't seen them since this morning when that Curtis guy burst out of the bar. You must've really pissed him off badly for him to get that angry" Aston stated and Liza's smirk widened.

"Yes, I have that talent" Aston lightly laughed at her words. "I don't know but I think he left. I haven't seen him as well and I hope that they took their ships back to where they belong. No marine should ever step foot on this island since it's filled with pirates" Liza said and Aston nodded.

They walked through the calm streets of the town while watching as people enjoyed the calmness. They were relieved that the marines hadn't shown up again but even they knew that they couldn't get too comfortable until they knew they sailed away.

Luckily, the bar wasn't too far away from the training area and soon, Liza stepped inside Aston following. Aston slightly dragged his feet, still a bit tired from using his Devil's Fruit powers but he was glad that he managed to control most of it.

"Oh, Liza-chan! You're back!" Richard greeted while waving at her while standing behind the bar counter. "I thought you would be gone longer but I can see that Aston won't be able to train longer. What did you do to exhaust the poor boy like that?"

Liza chuckled and crossed her arms. "Not much. He just learned that he can use his powers for something else as well. I'm actually very proud. He's very close to the awakening stage. I never thought that I would see anyone capable of doing that" Liza replied and Richard's eyes widened.

"That's…impressive" He murmured out as he looked at Aston who sat down in his own confusion at Liza's words. Richard had never met any paramecia user that could awaken their powers and only a very few knew of this ability.

"Awakening? What's that?"

"Awakening is another stage of the paramecia fruit that I've only seen once in my lifetime but where I traveled I hear a lot. When your devil's fruit power is awakened, you can start to affect the environment, transmuting anything around you into iron" Liza explained making Aston groan.

"What Liza-chan is trying to say is that instead of only you turning into iron, you can turn other things like weapons, chairs and even the ground into iron" Richard simplified and Aston nodded, finally understanding what Liza actually meant.

"Very funny. You understand when he explains it but when I explain it, it goes right over the top of your head. You seem to keep forgetting that I'm the one who trains you" Liza narrowed her eyes at Aston and he immediately paled. Next training session was probably going to be hell.

"You have a way of overcomplicating a simple explanation sometimes. Besides, he's a kid. I doubt that he even knows what 'transmuting' means" Richard said and Aston pouted while giving Richard a glare.

"Hey! I know what it means!" Aston exclaimed and received two disbelieving looks. "Alright…fine… I don't know what it means…but I can figure it out by listening to it in a sentence!" Liza shook her head and Richard chuckled.

The doorbell suddenly rang behind them and they turned to glance at the entrance where Benn, Lucky as well as Yasopp came in. Liza could tell by their expressions that they needed a drink and that something must've happened.

"You know… It's not entirely safe to roam the streets yet. We don't know if the marines are gone yet and they're after you guys." Liza pointed out as she turned around to face them and Benn chuckled, smoke coming out of his exhale.

"We made sure to hide ourselves well but we haven't heard any news either. I think they're gone but either way it won't matter anymore. Despite us hiding, Boss would already expose us" Yasopp said with a sigh, a small smirk tugging at his lips while Liza raised an eyebrow.

"Besides, a fight with the marines would keep us busy for an hour or so. I doubt they brought enough to even be a challenge for us. All I saw was one warship" Lucky spoke up and Benn nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I understand that you can handle yourself more than needed but there's one thing you lost me on. What do you mean Red Hair would already expose you? What did he do now?" Liza asked with a groan in her voice.

She hoped he didn't do anything stupid and that he stayed hidden for another day or so. At least Mihawk was quiet up in his spare room. He hadn't come out since this morning when she greeted him before she went to train Aston.

Aston gave Richard a wave as he went upstairs, the male chuckling at the younger's tiredness. Liza must've not gone easy on him. However, ever since his training begin, Liza didn't take it easy on him. She knew that hard training would only help him grow stronger.

The three pirates glanced at each other in uncertainty and Liza's brow twitched. They knew something was going on. They stared at each other as if mentally arguing who was going to spill the beans before Benn let out a sigh.

"Fine… Liza, you're not going to like this and I recommend you don't overreact when I explain the situation to you" Benn started and his words already made Liza angry. Overreact? Of course she was going to overreact if he didn't tell her what was going on!

"Shanks and Mihawk… They're fighting"

Liza's eyes widened and the vision of two swords clashing suddenly flashed in her mind. They were fighting?! What did they think they were doing?! She told each of them not to fight and yet there they go.

"Why are they fighting? Is it another match to see who's stronger like they did before?" Richard asked not understanding the situation fully. He glanced down at Liza and saw her anger flare, her blue eyes slowly darkening.

"No, Boss is dead serious and Hawk-Eyes too. They're determined to find out who is better by battling it out." Benn looked down at Liza, his brows furrowing. "They're determined to win over Liza" He finished and Liza gritted her teeth.

She was livid.

"Liza-san! Liza-san!" Aston rushed down the stairs with panic in his eyes. "Mihawk-san isn't in his room anymore! He's gone!" Aston exclaimed and that was the last straw for Liza. The bar counter behind her cracked without her even touching it.

"They're dead" Her voice was low and dangerous and everyone felt shivers run down their spines. Liza stormed out of the bar without anyone even trying to stop her, not wanting to be in the way of her wrath.

"You might want to follow her before there's even more trouble or in case she actually kills one of them" Richard warned and their eyes widened. The three pirates scurried off, believing that Liza was capable of doing something like that.

"I haven't seen her that angry in a while…"

Richard looked at Aston's shocked and fearful expression before pointing at the door. "Go, make sure she comes back in one piece. I'll handle everything here" Richard ordered and Aston briefly looked at Richard before he nodded.

Richard watched as the young male ran out of the bar and let out a deep sigh. Just as things started to calm down, there was drama. He figured that Liza was going to lecture both of the pirates and that she was going to be angry for a long time.

Out in the open field…

Swords frantically crashed, two figures moving faster than the normal eye can see. It was an incredible battle of haki, determination and mostly, pride. Neither of them were going to back down on the fight.

Mihawk fought to regain his injured pride. Liza had chosen Shanks above him and not only was he angry at himself but also at Shanks. He was going to win and regain her heart again, no matter the cost.

Shanks, however, fought for his love towards Liza. He wasn't going to let another male take her away from him and he wasn't going to lose her, ever. He promised her that he was going to fight for her and he was going to win.

As their swords clashed and their concentration never shifted from another as Liza's dark presence spiraled near them. They broke apart, both glaring at each other before charging at full speed, their sword pulled back.

However, right before their swords clashed a figure appeared in-between them and blocked the onslaught. A large shockwave exploded from their area. A familiar dagger and another blade blocked the two swords from touching, the power making them quiver slightly.

Shanks and Mihawk's eyes were wide at the person's sudden appearance and were speechless. Dark blue eyes glared at them and white teeth grinded on each other as anger spiraled through Liza's body.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She roared and pushed them back with her hands. She then twirled and kicked Shanks in the stomach while punching Mihawk in his abdomen, sending them staggering back.

"Liza-!""Drop your weapons…" Liza cut both of them off, her voice low and dangerous. "I said, DROP THEM!" Shanks and Mihawk took a retreating step back before complying with her order. They both sheathed their swords, their eyes not leaving her figure.

"Liza, do you know how dangerous that was cutting in the middle of our fight?! We could've killed you!" Shanks exclaimed and Mihawk agreed with him telling her that it was reckless but Liza could barely hear their warnings.

"I was reckless? I was reckless? Do you two imbeciles realize what you're doing?! The Navy is after both of your skins but you don't care! You just decided to fight anyway! I saved your asses more than enough times! I'm not risking my life for you any longer!" Liza yelled, glaring at them.

"You don't understand. We had to do this-?"

"What? To see who more worthy of me is?" Liza snapped, her tone venomous. "How immature! I'm not some prize to be won in a tournament! You two are both fools! You want to know who I want?! Not one of you! I refuse to be part of this quarrel any longer! I'm done!"

Her dangerous aura exploded around her and pushed them back. Liza breathed heavy, anger still within her veins while her dark hair fell down her back again after the explosion. She was done. She wasn't going to play any games.

Aston stood alongside Benn, Lucky and Yasopp while watching the entire scene unfold and at one stadium Benn's cigarette even fell from his mouth. Never in his travels did he see such a dark presence from anyone or that it could push Shanks or Mihawk back by mere force.

Liza glowered at both of them before she sheathed her dagger and blade. She started to walk away, ignoring the calls from the men behind her. She felt a painful pang in her chest and her blue eyes dimmed a bit in color.

She felt angered, disappointed, hurt. Name the negative emotion and she felt it. She couldn't believe that they would actually fight over her. That meant the first part of her vision was true but maybe she was able to prevent the second part. Unfortunately she didn't know if she did.

"Liza-san…" Aston trailed off, his voice soft and sympathetic but she didn't have time for any form of sympathy. She needed a drink, a smoke and maybe even a few punching bags to calm herself down. She just wanted to escape the pain and anger.

"Well, well, well, would you look who it is"

Liza's eyes widened at the voice and her body went rigid. Everyone was immediately alert and Aston was quick to join Liza's side as she turned around to face a very familiar male. This was bad. It was very very bad.

"You know, I honestly thought that I wouldn't get any answer from you but in the end I got so much more! You led me right to the men I was looking for all along. You have my gratitude, Red Menace" Curtis spoke up and Liza cursed under her breath

They were in trouble.

Please Review!*