Chapter 19: Allies/Friends/Acquaintances (Part 1)
Ironwood made his way through the academy and although some of his soldiers had insisted on accompanying him, he dismissed them and walked towards the building that housed some of the teams from Beacon.
He then entered the building and started to walk up the staircase to the floor which team MCSZ was located, "I wonder what kind of man that boy is?" he questioned as he then exited the staircase on the floor which the team lived on.
And to his surprise as he made his way down the hallway, a dog-like Grimm came wandering out of one of the doors, the Grimm then turned to look at him, and without even a care, it gave him a nod and skipped off down the hallway.
"What the…" he spoke as he watched the Grimm peacefully walk down the hallway, but before he could react to it, another voice spoke up.
"Fluffy, don't forget to be home by dinner" the voice echoed as a young man with a head of black messy hair poked himself through the door that the Grimm had just come through.
The young man then turned to Ironwood, "Yo" he said.
And Ironwood immediately noticed some similarities between the man and a now deceased friend of his, "Monkey D. Luffy" he exclaimed.
Luffy then raised an eyebrow as he continued to hang out the door and look at Ironwood, "Don't tell me you wanna get revenge for something somebody I'm related to did to you" he depressingly exclaimed.
Ironwood gave him a look of complete confusion in response to this, "Well, not exactly, but it does technically relate to your family" he then stated.
And Luffy's face drooped at Ironwood's statement, "Come on…" he whined as he swung the door open and out of it, and then shutting it behind him.
"Is this gonna be a chat, or a beatdown?" he questioned as he glared up at Ironwood.
But the older man just stared down at him in shock, and then a second later, he started to stifle a laugh, "You're definitely one of those Monkey's" he remarked as he gave Luffy a grin.
"I was a friend of your grandfather's" he stated as he started to walk off, propositioning Luffy to follow him, which the younger man seemed to comply.
"So you actually knew Gramps?" Luffy questioned as they walked down the stairs out of the building, and Ironwood nodded.
He then smirked, "I almost forgot" Ironwood stated as he held out his hand, "James Ironwood".
But Luffy shook his head and continued to walk alongside him, "Nice to meet you, Ironguy" he replied with a smirk.
"So what did you wanna ask me?" Luffy then questioned as he held his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner.
Ironwood gave the young man a look of consideration, and then asked, "Are you aware of the six powers and haki?" he asked.
And Luffy nodded, "Yeah" he answered as held up his fist as it gained a black sheen to it, "I know haki and I did know the six powers, but I forgot those".
Ironwood stiffened a bit at Luffy's last statement, "How'd you forget the six powers?" he questioned in a concerning tone.
But Luffy just grinned at him, "I can do a majority of the things they allow you to do anyway, but I can do the Six King Gun" he explained.
Ironwood looked at him in shock, "But that would mean you would've had to master the six powers" he exclaimed.
Luffy nodded at him as they continued to walk, "I did, but the only reason I did was because gramps said it was the only way to be able to use that Gun attack, and since that was the only one I knew I needed to get stronger, I chose to do all that stuff, but after I had mastered them, overtime, I had come to forget how to properly use them" he then explained.
"Would you know any reason why Garp wouldn't want to teach a lot of people those techniques?" Ironwood then hesitantly questioned Luffy, but the hunter in training shrugged.
"I have no idea of why Gramps would do anything" he answered as they approached the cliff and looked off into the horizon, "But maybe, judging from what I've seen" he started to explain as he sat down on the grass and looked at sun, "He saw something he didn't like, and he made a decision".
"And I'm guessing that you or your friends wouldn't want to teach anybody those techniques?" Ironwood then inquired as he followed Luffy's line of sight and also looked at the sun.
And Luffy chuckled at this, "Maybe, or maybe not, but if Gramps had a reason to not want to teach anybody those things, then maybe you should be trying to figure out why, because even I'm scared of the fact that Gramps had made a decision like that" he said as he laid down on the grass and looked up at the clear blue sky.
"I see" Ironwood stated.
He then started to walk off, "I hope to meet you again, Monkey D. Luffy, and I hope that I will be able to see what you are capable of" he stated.
But before he had walked off, Luffy quickly popped up from where he was lying, "So Gramps didn't teach anybody those things?" he questioned as he thought back to the beings that had sent him to the world in which he was currently residing.
"There was one person" Ironwood stated as he continued to walk off, "But for some reason, Garp wanted that to remain a secret as well".
And as Ironwood walked off, Luffy rearranged his sitting position to have his legs crossed as he looked at the academy, "I wonder who that person was?" he thought out loud, "It hurts to try and figure out how much of a difference has been made to this world, I think that I might be having a headache or something" he muttered as he held his head and lied back down.
"I wonder what I should do for the rest of the weekend?" he then questioned as he returned to looking back up at the clear sky.
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Zoro and Sanji both casually walked through a random area as they both followed where the two people they could sense.
"Why are you following me, you dumb cook!" Zoro questioned as he glanced to Sanji.
And said chef glanced back with the same sense of loathing, "I'm not following you, you dumbass, if anything, you're following me".
"No I'm not, you bastard" Zoro growled as the two of them continued to haphazardly walk in the same direction.
"You don't even know where you are going half the time, so what makes you so sure of right now" Sanji then smirk as they eyed each other.
"Because you and I both can sense something is off about those people" Zoro growled as he got angrier.
"That's not an answer, you idiot" Sanji replied with a smirk, "You really are just winging everything".
"Shut up" Zoro then muttered as the two of them continued to walk in the direction they had seen Luffy's 'sister' walk off with the two other girls.
But unbeknownst to them, as they went off in said direction, they would come face to face with a situation no one in their entire group could have possibly predicted.
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Chopper was in a weapon's class as Harold Mulbery discussed the evolution of the weapons of hunters.
"It is quite evident that as time goes by, more and more ways to create and alter weapons will become available, now I must ask the question, does anybody think that this will stagnate?" he questioned as he looked to the class.
He looked to everybody that was seated, and although Chopper was trying to be hidden behind a book as he awkwardly looked to everybody else, he knew that sooner or later the teacher was going to call upon one of them.
So he anxiously spoke up, "It depends on what you think stagnate means" he muttered at just a loud enough volume that he knew the teacher could hear him.
"That there will be no new ideas when it comes to weapon creation" Mulbery replied as he and the rest of the class glanced to Chopper, who was meagrely putting down the book he was hiding his face behind.
"I guess in theory, there could be no new ideas of how to combine weapons if every combinations is used" he started to mumble as everybody looked at him, "But that would just mean that if somebody wants a special weapon, that they will have to be a bit more out there".
"So do you think it depends on the person, and not on the parts available?" John asked.
And Chopper hastily nodded at him, "Yep" he said as he tried to hide behind his book again.
The teacher continued on with the lesson as Chopper sighed, ("Why was I the only one who signed up for this class, I bet the others are having a better time than me, or at the very least don't have to deal with being awkward").
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Both Ruby and Weiss had decided to go for a small walk before the day was over, and as they walked Ruby appeared to be apologising.
"I'm so sorry you missed class, please forgive me" she cried as she tugged at Weiss's clothes.
But the older girl just sighed as they walked, "Well, classes are over for the week, I think missing one day is perfectly fine for somebody like me, but you should be more concerned about yourself" she exclaimed as she put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
And Ruby wiped a silvery tear from her eye as she slightly smiled, "I guess I should" she replied.
She then looked at the silvery tear that just dripped off the hand that she had used to wipe her eye, "But what about that?" she questioned with a high amount of curiosity.
Weiss sighed at this as well, "A lot of things have happened because of those guys, but it appears that you are fine, and I guess that is all that matters" she murmured.
"But what will I tell people about what happened to my eyes, I mean how will I be able to explain this" Ruby replied.
And Weiss, unbefitting of her personality, just shrugged, "I guess that you will have to roll with it, I mean, what's the worst that could happen". She then stopped and stared down at her hand as a small layer of frost appeared on it.
"I guess a lot of things have happened" Ruby then stated as she leaned precariously over Weiss's shoulder and also looked at the older girl's hand.
The two of them then just silently sighed before continuing on their walk to wherever they were going before they'd had their conversation.
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Ironwood stared blankly at the scroll in his hand as he sat on a bench in what he thought was a more deserted area of the academy, "Dammit Garp, you couldn't have told anybody what was going on, did you have to do this?" he questioned the empty space in front of him.
"It's obvious that kid has his own way of dealing with things, but if even your own relatives don't have any idea why you did 'that', then what could've possible happened" he exclaimed as he held his head in his right hand while maintaining his sight on his scroll.
"And it's obvious something will happen at the Vytal festival, something always happens at big events when a D. is involved, now I've just gotta figure out what it is" he muttered as he started scrolling through his scroll for a specific number.
And as he reached the number he was looking for, he sighed and pressed it, the name Winter Schnee popped up as the scroll started to ring, "The future is dim".
Also, far above Ironwood, in his office, Ozpin watched on as he could see that his friend was questioning certain aspects of his life, the headmaster then turned with a sigh from his window and marched over to his desk to sit at his chair.
"The future isn't set in stone anymore, anything could happen now, and 'I' get the feeling that neither you nor I, Salem, are prepared for what it has in store" he melancholically said as he slumped into his chair.
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Zoro and Sanji appeared behind Milky and what appeared to be the other members of her team, "Yo, what the hell is with you guys?" Zoro questioned as he held Shusui with its blade out by his side.
All four of the people turned around to reveal what they all looked like, the girl on the left of Milky had hair that was a very similar colour to the hair of a certain swordsman, but she had it kept in a very long and straight ponytail, she appeared to not be wearing any jewellery of any kind or any excessive clothing, as she only had a pure black kimono on, and she appeared to be wearing no shoes (she also had quite a large bust, but only Sanji really noticed this). And she appeared to be carrying a single pure black katana on her left hip.
The girl on the right of Milky was quite evidently a faunus as she had a two tipped, and quite fluffy tail that looked like it belonged to a fox, she was wearing a pure black suit with a red tie, and she multiple piercings in her ears. She was also wearing a quite large white bandanna that covered the entirety of her forehead and reached to below her neck, and her blonde pixie styled hair had light brown highlights in it.
And the last member of the group was a very young looking boy, who appeared to be wearing a quite pompous outfit that made him look like somebody royal, he had a silver and gold sabre, with an extremely large and mechanical looking handle at his right hip, and he was wearing extremely thick glasses. His hair was also styled to accentuate the royal theme he had.
"Who the hell are you!" the young man questioned as he sized up Zoro and Sanji, but before he could say anything else, and before Milky could say anything, the two other girls put their hands out in front of their teammates.
"Just go ahead" the black haired one eloquently expressed as she looked at Zoro and Sanji.
"Yeah, we got this" the one with the bandanna then quite roughly said as she also looked at Zoro and Sanji.
And although she looked hesitant and somewhat sad, Milky turned and shuffled away, while the younger man just shrugged and walked off after Milky.
The two girls then turned to fully focus on Sanji and Zoro, "So you two could sense something was off about us?" the black haired one questioned.
"Yeah, and it's really starting to piss me off!" Zoro exclaimed as he glared at them as the tingling he was getting from his observation was starting to drive him crazy.
But as the 'gentleman' beside him, Sanji simply sighed and took a drag of his cigarette, "Now, it wouldn't be that hard to answer, would it, young ladies" he exclaimed as he and Zoro started to glare at each other.
And as it looked like they were about to forget the whole situation they were in, and instead fight each other, the girl with the bandanna whistled to get their attention.
"You two really did act like children, didn't you" the black haired girl expressed as she sighed and and held the base of her hand to her head, "They were right, you really are a handful".
The other girl then added to the statement, "I wonder how we get along so well, when you two act like that".
"Act like what" the two guys yelled as they started to try and beat each other up while also paying attention to the girls.
The two girls sighed again, and the one with the bandanna held up two fingers and muttered a single word, "Shambles".
And in an instant, Zoro and the black haired girl appeared somewhere on top of one of the buildings of the academy, while Sanji and the girl with the bandanna appeared in one of the empty fields of the academy.
The two girls then, at almost same time, turned to their respective (and quite bewildered) associate and smiled, "Hi, Dad".
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I'm so sorry for being gone for so long, I honestly have no excuse besides not being able to properly manage my own life, but at least I managed to get another chapter done for this story, and hopefully I can manage to get at least two more done before the end of the year.
But besides apologising for my own problems, yeah, that ending, don't worry, part two of this chapter will immediately address that, but I just wanted to get something out as I felt that I had take too long between uploads.
So if there are any questions relating to certain plot points, it would be advised to wait until the next chapter comes out, and then I'm all ears.
Anyway, Comments, criticisms and questions are always welcome,
And besides that,
Peace Out