What this? A surprise chapter! I usually post chapters every other day or so, but this chapter just flowed out on its own. Enjoy, if you will. I would really appreciate it if you leave a review for me to read. Do roast the ever living hell out of my story.

Chapter 8: Slap, Bang and Swoosh!

"Excuse me miss, is Mr. Cancel available?"

Sophia looked up from the magazine she was reading. A man was standing in front of her desk. He was wearing a teal shirt with light brown pants. He had a jovial smile on his face. His graying hair was tied up in a bun on top of his head. The contrast between his young looking face and his old looking hair made for a jarring sight, though his bright smile squashed any feelings of weirdness before it could take hold.

"Umm… He is currently in the workshop, working on some personal project of his. My name is Sophia. I handle the sales of the readymade prosthetics and gadgets. How may I help you?"

The man looked around the store. He took a moment to take in the sights before speaking. "Huh. I thought you only sold those chairs and prosthetics. The rumors never said anything about all the other stuff." He said, moving towards a shelf that held what looked like children's toys. He picked up a small wooden sculpture that looked like a hybrid between a bat and a gorilla. It had a key attached to its back. "What does this one do? I was looking to buy some toys for my granddaughter."

Sophia walked up beside the man, looking at the toy in his hands. "Oh that one is called Tiny. After the popularity of our chairs among the children, we came up with the idea of making more products aimed at the kids. Tiny is among the first batch of toys we made, called the Zoanimals. The lore is that they are a group of animal friends that ate different Zoan fruits. Tiny here is a gorilla that ate the Bat Bat Fruit." She explained like the good clerk she was.

"Children's toys? Didn't Mr. Cancel hate children? Why the sudden change of hearts?" The man asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well…" Sophia scratched her head. "It was actually I who came up with the idea. All the animals were designed by me, while boss handled the tech aspect of the toys. Here, let me show you."

The man handed the toy to Sophia, and watched with fascination as the animal toy changed forms from a bat-gorilla to just a gorilla and then just a bat as she rotated the key.

"Oh wow! How does it do that?" He was genuinely curious. It was his first time seeing something like it.

"I am sorry, but I don't know. Boss is the one who made it, and the explanation he gave went straight over my head. Besides, it's proprietary technology." She answered. "The animal goes into one of its three available Zoan forms when you rotate the key. Spin it clockwise until you hear the click and it does a full transformation. Spin it the other way and it turns into its base form. Pull the key either up or down and it goes hybrid."

"Oh wow! My granddaughter will love it! Heck, I am entertained by it, and I'm a bloody old man! How much is it?"

"It's ฿4,999 for a single toy. You can get a Friends' Box for just ฿24,999. It has 6 animals in it, with no duplicates. It also comes with a story book about the animals. It is the perfect gift for children." Sophia answered with a smile.

The man hummed as he scratched his chin. "Pilu has a few other friends that often come over to play. Alright, I'll come again in the evening with my little granddaughter. Please keep one of the boxes for me until I get back." He said, looking towards the section of the store that had a couple of boxes labeled "Zoanimal Friends' Box". He could see that they were almost sold out.

"You know what; I'll make the payment right now. That way you can turn away other customers without remorse. Also, would you mind informing Mr. Cancel that I would like to have a chat with him after closing time?"

"Oh of course. Who should I say was asking?" Sophia asked.

"General Augustus", he said as he exited the store, leaving behind a dumbstruck Sophia.

…

"Who? Why?" Cancel asked; the irritation in his voice palpable. He really didn't like being disturbed while he was working.

"Again, GENERAL AUGUSTUS! He apparently didn't say why, just that he'd like to have a chat with you." Shirley answered for the umpteenth time.

Cancel didn't respond for a couple of minutes, immersed as he was in his task. Shirley had no idea what he was doing. She was just looking at the objects floating around the room with fascination. Despite having already known about his devil fruit powers, she was still having a hard time believing that a person could move things around with just a thought. She was honestly a little jealous of him. After all, everyone has dreamt of having telekinesis at one point in their life or another. It's just such a desirable ability.

Shirley had been trying to get Cancel to listen to her for the past ten or so minutes, but it was as if Cancel wasn't even there. Why did I come here again? She had first went to his store for something that she no longer remembered, but had found out from Soph that he was holed up in his workshop. Seeing her head towards the workshop, Soph had requested she pass on a message to her boss, to which Shirley had obviously agreed. Now she was here, trying peacefully to get him to understand that one of the most powerful people in the Kingdom wanted to meet him. However, try as she like; a small crack appeared in her diplomacy dike.

"Who? Why?" Cancel asked again.

Shirley could feel her diplomacy dike shatter as a huge wave of anger passed through it. The result was Cancel landing face first in the street as he was sent flying through the wall as her palm met his face.

"Huh, what? Why am I outside? Oh hey Shirley! When did you get here?" Cancel asked. He sounded disoriented, as if he had just woken up from a particularly interesting dream. The people in the street were pointing and whispering, which they immediately stopped and went off on their own merry ways when they saw a clearly angry Shirley exit through the new hole in the wall.

"'When did you get here' he says. Cancel we have been repeating the same two lines of dialogue for the past ten minutes. TEN MINUTES! ARE YOU SAYING YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE ME?"

Cancel honestly didn't know what on earth she was talking about, but he knew better than to say that when she was so close to exploding in a berserker's rage.

"I-I-I'm sorry Shirley. I was building something very delicate and important and it had all my attention. Please forgive me!"

Shirley sighed. "Alright. But next time you ignore me, I'll make sure your hands share the same fate as your legs."

Looking at the devious grin she was giving him, all Cancel could do was gulp and nod. "Umm… so why were you here again?" Cancel asked, looking anywhere else but at her.

"General Augustus wants to see you after closing time." She said as she scooped him up and placed him in the wheelchair that had rolled up beside him.

"General? For the pirate incident? I thought I was supposed to meet with the city guards or something. Why the general all of a sudden?"

Shirley shrugged. "I don't know. Why not ask him? It's almost closing time anyway. Let's go back to the store. I'm taking Soph with me for some shopping."

"Oh about Soph, I had to discuss some things about her with you and Doctor Crocoid. When should we talk?"

"Not today, obviously; I'll ask if he is free tomorrow. I'll have Soph inform you."

Cancel floated up to Shirley on his wheelchair as she started walking towards his store. They reached their destination in no time as they talked about random stuff.

"Boss! The general is upstairs!" Sophia shouted when she saw Cancel enter. "Oh hey Shirley! Are we really going shopping?"

"Of course we are! C'mon, your boss will close the store, won't you Cancel?" Shirley looked towards him. Cancel just nodded absentmindedly and headed upstairs to the meeting room. He could feel a strong presence with his telepathy. Now that's a General alright. That barrier around his mind …a Zoan, or …? This ought to be interesting.

"Hello Mr. Cancel. I gotta say, your taste in tea is impeccable." The General put down the cup of tea as Cancel entered the room. They shook hands, the General making no attempt to turn it into some kind of a contest. Cancel was half expecting the cliché scenario, though anything to the contrary was most welcome.

"General Augustus? To what do I owe the pleasure?"

The General took a second to get a closer look at Cancel before speaking. "Just visiting a young scientist, hoping to strike a deal with him for the sake of the nation. You know, regular General stuff? Some of my subordinates have been singing praises of your artificial limbs for quite a while now."

"Well in that case I am sorry to disappoint, but I have no intention of working with the military." Cancel gave a straightforward reply.

"I expected as much. Still, my position forced me to try. I am well aware that you don't like authoritative figures very much. Is it because the World Government covered up the news about your village? Or do you have another reason?" The General leaned forward as he waited for Cancel's answer.

"Well if you know so much about me, you should also know that I have a few gaps in my memories. The answer to your question is in one of those gaps. I don't remember why I dislike people in power, I just do. The World Government was just a bonus." It was only half-true, of course. Cancel did remember parts of the reason why he hated powerful people, but the General didn't need to know that. It wouldn't match his origin story if he told the man about his mum and his uncle. Cancel continued before Augustus could say anything.

"Regardless, I apologize for not attending the meeting. I needed some time to relax. I could have just sent a letter saying I wouldn't come, but I guess my brain was too tired to think properly."

"Oh it's fine." Augustus gave him a jovial smile. "It was the guard captain's fault for informing you late. Nobody should be expected to attend a meeting with strangers on a moment's notice."

"Glad you understand, General. I have to say though, you don't possess the snobbish attitude that most high level military officers of weaker places are known for. How come?"

"Bwahahaha! You don't really mince your words, do you Mr. Cancel? Well, when you have as much age and experience behind you as I do, you tend not to bother with appearances unless necessary. Besides", he paused as he leaned back in the sofa, his face taking on a teasing expression, "you will find that I am not that weak."

Time froze for a second as an invisible wave of pure power and authority exuded out from the General. The portraits hanging on the walls shook as the windows slammed open. Cancel's wheelchair was pushed back a few inches. Contrary to his expectations however, Augustus saw no sign of fear on Cancel's face. Rather, the boy seemed to be smiling. "Hoh? Looks like there's more to you than meets the eye, young man."

"I know right?" Cancel took a sip of his tea. "Still, that was an impressive display of Conqueror's Haki. I rate it 6.5 out of 10."

Augustus raised an eyebrow. "I guess you have seen your fair share of strong people then, despite your age. Though I have to ask, who is the 10 on your scale?"

Cancel smiled. "My late father."