Chapter 22: The Grey Line

A Few Days Earlier...

Masta leads the Saw crew as they journeyed to the temple and he was very worried. He hoped the message bird he sent had brought Hoji back so he could help with Riptide's training. The journey had taken longer than it should and soon the walls and the gate to the temple were soon within sight. "Soon my friends," he said.

The group stared at the towering gate before them. The gate had a double hip-and-gable roof which five bays wide and two bays deep. The eighteen giant pillars that support the roof measured twenty-one meters and the entire structure rose nearly 84 feet in height above the stone base which it is built upon. At double doors were two guards who eyed them in suspicion.

"What business do you have here?" asked one, a seahorse Fishman.

Masta gestured to Longtooth. "He is in need of the service of a healer."

The seahorse gave a snort. "So you say," he said. "Why would one like him be in need of a healer?"

"Are ye saying that he needs a damn reason to even be seen?" Blade was not in the mood for any type of crap especially when his friend was in need of medical attention.

The seahorse looked at him. "I don't think he needs one," he said. "So go back to whatever lowly place you came from."

Masta was shocked by the attitude they were receiving. "We shall not!" he said. "You should show respect to one of the elders of this temple."

This time his companion stepped forward. The salmon shark Fishman rested a hand upon the hilt of his doa broadsword that was at his hip as he glared at Masta. "I don't give a shit who you are," he said. "Zieg said you are to leave so do so before I make you."

Blade was at Masta's side glaring daggers at the other shark. "If I had my axes," he said. "I teach ye a lesson in manners, boy."

The salmon shark laughed at this. "You? teach me?" he grinned nastily at Blade. "How about I get you a weapon and we'll see who will teach who, you old fool."

That riled the old sawtooth up. "Old fool! Ye smart ass little punk, I'll kick yer ass from here to-,"

"What is in the name of the ancestors is going on here?!"

Both guards turned paling at the sight of the moray eel Fishman who wore red leather samurai which only lacked the helm and pauldrons. He carried the very weapons used by the samurai as well; the wakizashi, the katana, and the tanto. he glared at the guards who were quick to drop to a knee, keeping their bowed. His attention went from them to Masta and the others. "Masta," he looked so unsure that he walked up the old healer. "Old friend, it is you."

"What is left of me," Masta replied. "You look well, Granler."

Granler turned his attention to his friend's companions and seeing Longtooth, he knelt by him. "What ails this one?"

"He was attacked by his own son," Blade said.

Granler looked at the wound and like Masta, his expression showed concern. He turned his attention to the guards. "Zieg, get your butt over here," he ordered.

"Y-yes sir," Zieg stammered.

"You pick up that end of the stretcher," Granler pointed to the upper part of the stretcher. "You're going to help in carrying this poor Fishman to the temple."

Zieg didn't look happy but did as told. Granler escorted the group through the gate and through the giant courtyard that was at least over two and a half miles long. The temple itself was overwhelming. The wooden building was massive with a length of 187 feet and its width was 165 feet. It was the height that made it very impressive to look at. It stood at 155 feet and like the gate, it had a double hip-and-gable roof.

"Look at the size of it," Destiny said eyes wide. "Poseidon can easily go inside that."

"Yeah easily," Slashback agreed.

Nami was amazed because everything she saw reminded of the country of Wano. "How old is the temple," she asked.

"It is very ancient," Granler answered. "It was here when Lady Shella and those of us that came with her. We have never found anything that would tell of the temple's history."

Once inside, Granler made sure that Longtooth was taken to more skilled healers and Blade refusing to leave his friend's side was allowed to go. Seeing that done, the moray eel leads them to Lady Shella where he knelt just within the threshold to her room. "Milady," he said. "They've arrived,"

"Show them in Granler."

The moray eel nodded and moved aside. Masta led everyone inside and indicated where they should sit before he sat off to the side. Lady Shella was a lady of great wisdom and beauty wore a sea patterned dress. She was a sawtooth fish woman with long purple hair with golden hue colored eyes. Off to her left sat three elders and like Granler they too dressed like samurai but their armor was black. She studied the group before her. "How odd," she said. "I do not see the white one."

Nami looked at her surprise. "How do you know of my son?"

Shella thought for a moment before she answered. "I have at times visions and no, that does not mean I am a fortune-teller," she said. "As for your son, I had a vision of a white sawtooth arriving on our island." She rose from her seat as did Granler, Masta and the other elders. "Now come and let me show to your rooms."

Masta stayed at Lady Shella side as she walked through the hallways of the temple followed by the crew and Granler with the other elders brought up the rear. They were not far from the rooms when the group was approached by two other elders and they were not pleased.

"Lady Shella," said the Horn shark fish woman. "We have received word that you have brought an outsider into this temple."

Masta growled some as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Kit, what Lady Shella does is none of your concern."

Kit huffed as she returned a glare of her own. "Look who has returned," she snapped. "Masta the lowly healer."

"Don't you dare call him that," Destiny said. "If it wasn't Masta and my best friend, my brother would have died from being poisoned."

Hearing praise from the silver made Masta blush some. It had been a long time since he heard such praise and he was grateful for Destiny. Her praise though seemed to do little to Kit and her companion, an electric catfish Fishman. The two elders looked at each other before they moved on pushing Destiny some. It did not go unnoticed.

"Kit, Grune," Lady Shella said with a harsh tone. The two elders stopped and looked back to her. "I will not tolerate such behavior. Apologize to this young lady."

Grune narrowed his eyes, "We shall not! You may be the leader for now but remember your time will come."

Granler almost went for his katana. "Is that a threat, Grune," he said. "If it is then I will see that you and Kit are removed from this temple along with whoever agrees with you and you'll ideas."

"Granler, let it go for now."

The moray eel looked at his leader. "Milady," he said.

"Please my friend," Lady Shella said. "Let the matter go for now."

Granler sighed, "If you wish Milady."

Once Kit and Grune had gone did Lady Shella looked very tired. "Lady Shella," Masta said. "Are you well?"

"I'm afraid I'm feeling suddenly tired," she said as Masta held her steady.

"Masta, look after her," Granler said. "Milady, I will show our guests to their rooms and if I am allowed the rest of the temple,"

"Thank you Granler," Lady Shella said taking the other's hand.

Granler leads Nami and the others through the halls to their rooms. "The ones on the right will be for the ladies," he said gesturing to the rooms. "The ones on the left are for the men and do not even think about sneaking over to see the ladies."

"I will see that the young ones behave," Jimbei said giving the younger ones a warning look.

Granler nodded. "I will wait while you all settle in before I show you around,"

A few minutes later...

"I will show you the rest of the temple if you like," Granler said the moment everyone regrouped again.

"Would there be something like a library?" Destiny asked suddenly.

Granler looked at the silver with surprise. "I would be sure if I would call it such but we do have a room that does hold some history."

"Is it possible if we can see it," Shen said wrapping around Destiny's shoulders as she gave the elder a big toothy grin.

"I do not see a problem with it if the keepers are fine with your request," the moray eel said. "I will see to this immediately if you don't mind waiting."

"No, go ahead," Destiny said.

Granler left and Slashback looked at Destiny. "What the hell," he said. "We're supposed to be training not reading, Des."

The silver turned to him. "Rip did not say how we suppose to train and besides I'm curious about this whole island's history."

"You can always do that later," he grumbled. "We need to train if we're going to be stronger."

Shen giggled. "Seems someone is a little jealous,"

Slashback narrowed his eyes at Shen. Deep down he had not taken well to Shen being around Destiny and he had grown very jealous. "Why don't you go somewhere," he said. "I was talking to Des, not you! So get lost!"

It was the wrong move. Slashback suddenly found himself up against the wall and to his own shock, it was Destiny who had him pinned. Everyone looked shocked to see this expect Shen. The silver had a look that was very dangerous. "Don't you ever and I mean ever, Slash talk to Shen like that again. Am I clear?"

Poor Slashback could only nod. Destiny stepped back just as Granler returned with a one the keepers who actually turned out to be a human monk. "Has something happened?" Granler asked seeing the look of slight fear on SLashback's face.

"No just a simple misunderstanding," Shen said. "No biggie."

Nami was giving her daughter a look to which Destiny avoided looking at her. It was pretty clear to all that Destiny was in deep trouble with her mother but it was hard to say when Nami would deal with her daughter's uncalled for behavior. "We are going to have a little talk later, young lady," Nami said in a low but firm voice.

"Yes mother," Destiny said in almost in a whisper.

Granler said nothing as he nodded to the monk, "This Lunho, one of the keepers. He will take you and your friend to the library."

"Thank you," Destiny said. "Let's go, Shen."

Slashback watched his love leave with the odd girl and he felt as though he was losing Destiny to Shen. Gaff leaned close to him whispering, "Are you sure Des is not a lesbian?"

The young saw shark glared at his friend keeping his words to himself. He would deal with Gaff later. Neeta heard Gaff and didn't hesitate in giving him a kick to the shin. The shark-kuda hybrid winced in pain as he held his aching shin. Gratefully all of this had gone unnoticed by Granler or they would have been trouble. The elder lead on a tour of the temple and everyone was amazed at the sheer size it was.

"How old is Lady Shella?" Chizzara asked.

Granler paused thinking. "If I recall right," he said. "She just had her 1600 birthday a month ago."

"She's 1600 years old?!" Nami looked at the moray eel in total shock. "She doesn't even look like she's in her fifties."

"Surely you did know that Fishman and merfolk age differently," he said. "We age normally until puberty and from there, we age slowly."

Garth hand signed to Chizzara and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You know that brother of yours in trouble for this, right?"

"What did he say?" Granler was curious to Garth. "He did not speak only moved his hands."

Chizzara rested a hand on Garth's upper arm. "Garth was born mute and he uses sign language to communicate with his brother and me," she said. "Garth told me that he and Tarlong were at an island and said that even the hybrids there could age slowly."

"Interesting," Granler said as he nodded. "I will be sure to pass this information onto Lady Shella. She will want to know all about this sign language. Now come I will show you the training grounds."

Granler showed them to a part of the courtyard that was set up actual martial art training from the wing Chung wooden training dummies targets set for throwing weapons. Slashback had a wild grin on his face which Gaff paled a little. "Now there be no living with him," he moaned as he facepalmed.

"Gaff, didja see it?" Slashback was hyper with excitement at the sight of the targets. "I can really get some practice in now. Do you want to help me?"

"God no," Gaff said. "There is no way in the darkest deep blue that I'm going near you when you got your knives in your hands. I have no desire to get hurt."

Slashback gave him an apologetic look. "Gaff, I said I was sorry. I really am."

"The answer is still no."

"I see that some of you are eager to do some training," Granler said with an amused look upon his face. "I will indeed get the proper instructors out here for you."

It was then that two messenger birds flew in circles before they landed on Granler's outstretched arm. The birds cocked their heads as if looking for someone. One, a blue and green seeing Nami clacked its beak and ruffled his feathers before it relayed its message. "Mother, there's been trouble," The bird sounded perfectly like Riptide. "As soon as Longtooth is able to travel I need you to come with Blade and Longtooth and whoever they feel should come as well. I will send another messenger bird to lead you to where we are."

The second messenger bird with gold and purple feathers had preened some of her feathers before spotting Chizzara and seeing Garth's outstretched arm flew to him before relaying the given message. "Chizz, I screwed up bad this time," the bird imitated Tarlong perfectly even showing a worried and very tired expression. "Garth is gonna kill me and I won't blame him, but dad...he got hurt bad and I mean really bad. We were attacked by a couple of devil fruit users, zoan type and...damn, I did stupid. I wasn't thinking, lost it and the old man...he got injured protecting me. Garth, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for him to get hurt. I swear I didn't. Just get here as soon as you can."

Chizzara looked at Grath who looked like he didn't know how to feel at the moment and she gripped his arm. Jade colored eyes shifted to her. "Garth, you and I both know that bull-headed brother of yours is reckless, but we both know he never really got over that incident," she said to which the silver saw tooth nodded in agreement. "I know you love him still and he has managed to accept Marcus as his father at least."

Garth managed to sign using one hand against his arm. 'Still, we may lose our real father to his reckless this time. I don't know if I can forgive him if I lose the man who is our father.'

Chizzara shook her head. "Garth, don't even think that. If Marcus is like you two then he is tougher than old nails and you two are a pair tough sawteeth."

Garth gave her a smile before pulling her into a brotherly hug.

"This is very distressing news," Granler said. "I must tell Lady Shella right away. Please forgive me."

"Can you show us where Longtooth and Blade are?" Nami asked. "We need to let them know what has happened."

"Of course," Granler said.

~~.~~.~~

"Blade," Nami said the moment she entered the room where Longtooth was. "Riptide sent word that there's been trouble and he is asking for you and Longtooth."

"Trouble?" Longtooth struggled to sit up some from the bed he was resting in. "Did the captain state what it was?"

"No," Chizzara said. "I believe it may have dealt with the devil fruit users that attacked them. Marcus was badly injured."

"Marcus?" Blade looked alarmed. "Do ye know how bad?"

"From what...is what a messenger bird, right?" Nami said looking over to Chizzara and Garth nodded to her. "The message said it was bad. Riptide said he would send another message bird to show where they are."

"Damn," Longtooth growled. "I can't stay here."

"Are ye crazy," Blade said as he gripped his friend's shoulder. "Ye are not strong enough to even walk around let alone travel."

The mako gave his old friend a warning look. "Blade, our captain asked for us and I am not failing in my duty to him. We failed once and I am not doing that again."

Blade looked at him. "We both failed," the sawtooth said. "We both failed to protect our last captain."

'Wait," Trapper looked at the two. "Are you saying that both of you were pirates at one time?"

"At one time we were, lad," Longtooth said. "We served on the crew with Stryker and his brothers."

Kaiuleale eyes were wide. "You were crewmates with the one who murdered my father?!"

"Ye know who yer father was?" Blade asked the young tiger.

"No, my mother never told me who my father was," Kaiuleale said. "Only that Stryker murdered him."

"The longer we delay the stronger Stryker will become," Longtooth said. He was frustrated and it was clear to all. "Did Riptide say when he would send the message bird?"

"No," Nami said.

"Great," Blade said. "We have to wait until we get the word."

~~.~~.~~

Riptide dropped to his hands and knees sweat running down his face as his breath came in short pants. He felt small hands cupping his face followed by the warm tingling sensation that flooded his whole body. The aches and pains he was feeling were slowly fading. Resting back on his knees he wrapped an arm around the small child before him bringing her closer. From his knees he moved so he could sit cross-legged where he placed his companion on his lap, his arms around her. The sun was beginning to set and Riptide decided to watch it with Saw. He had spent the entire day training in a grassy field determined to master his Hidden Fury. Hoji had offered to help but Riptide politely refused expressing more concern for the safety of the town that they were staying at. The ancient stingray finally agreed once the sawtooth assured that he was doing his training in the field that was by the town. A few townspeople saw Riptide with Saw and to them, they saw a father-daughter since the guardian took the form of a five year whose skin was the same color as Riptides.

Why are you sad? '

Riptide glanced at the guardian. "I'm worried about my sofu," he said. "His injuries were bad."

Saw tilted her head. He will get better. she said reassuring him.

"I hope so, Saw," he said as he held her close to him.

The guardian looked at him in surprise. Her past masters had never done this with her and she found her newest master so different. He treated her so different and to her, it was so strange. You're so different from all my past masters. '

"Different? How?" Riptide looked at her.

Past masters never treated my brothers and me like this. '

"Saw, you have brothers?"

Yes.

"Do you know where they are?" Riptide asked.

Saw seemed to struggle as she tried to remember where her brothers might be. It almost seemed like she was in pain and it was enough for Riptide to grow concerned. Having taken the form of a child made it easy for the hybrid to hold her close to him. 'I can't find them,' Saw was frightened and she actually clung to him. Why can't I find them? I can't find my brothers! '

"Saw hush now," he whispered to her rubbing the small of her back. "We'll find them, I promise."

Unknown to Riptide, Hoji was watching the scene unfold before him. The old karate master like all those before and after him had all grown up hearing the stories of the great guardian sharks who protected their island. Hoji recalled all the tales about those who were chosen by one guardian to become their master, but no one spoke of what Riptide was now showing to the sawtooth guardian. The white hybrid was comforting the guardian even showing the love of a parent. He is indeed different from the past masters of the guardians. the old stingray thought. He is more unique and perhaps in more ways more stronger than those of the past. I wonder how this will affect the rest of the guardians once they are found.'