; Sorry, minna-san for taking sooooo long on this chapter! I promise, Usopp will be in by the next chapter. Big hint in the opening paragraphs as to who he is I have been waiting so long to put him in the story! Unfortunately, it's been longer…. Only a little less than an hour each day in business-tech class to work on Kismet .
Lotus Star: Yep, Luffy's power is the same. Read the chapter!
As far as characters go, I've got Sanji and Chopper pretty well laid out. Can't wait to put them in
Thanks as always for the positive feedback, and stuff like that!
-Kismet-Chapter Three:Parting of Waysand an Oath
This particular age was home to a new breed of people, the ones who wished for unity, peace and freedom for all. The Children of the Renaissance, as they called themselves, practiced magic, science and the arts, hoping to one day bring peace to the war-torn world.
The Renaissance Movement gave much to society. Bards, painters and dancers who followed the ideals of peace and unity helped people take their minds off of the impending war. Renaissance was rumored to mean 'rebirth' in an ancient language, and there could be no better description for these people, the phoenixes of amity rising from the ashes of segregation.
The silent night was dark, a new moon hung over the camp. Few of the spies were now awake, and the group of cyborgs in the scrub oak thicket laughed silently.
"This will be far too easy!" Helmeppo scoffed.
There was silence for a moment. Then:"… Will it?"a menacing voicespoke behind the group. Helmeppo froze and turned around just in time to see a polished oak gun-handle flying at him. He also scrambled out of its way just in time. "We've been found! To arms!" Ben bellowed to his crewmates. Hewas surrisedthat the soldiers didn'tput a stop to allthesnickering and crunching that the scout Helmeppo made on his approach.
Hands reached for weapons on both sides. Kuina hadstayed hidden in the Wadou Ichimonji, but she woke Zoro from within his mind. Get up now, there's a fight! She cried excitedly. I finally get to fight after all these years!
He jumped up andunsheathed his swords with an almost inhuman but fluid movement that brought them not only into the proper stance, but allowed the crystal bladesto clash with the enemy's steelmilliseconds from leaving the enameled scabbards. The Wadou Ichimonji glowed with a wan amethyst light, made by Kuina's very essence. Many cyborgs quailed at the mage power, but did not stop from fighting. Kuina's laugh echoed through the campground as only a spirit's could.
"There he is!" Helmeppo cried, breaking free from the entangling thicket. "Get 7h-Tt and RETREAT!" On his last word he yelped and flew out of the way of the shadow of the raven-haired mage who wielded a rifle like a club, its tip glowing with golden gaiaenergy, the mage's special magic. Ben turned to see that Luffy was still asleep in the middle of the fray, and it was Zoro fought off the cyborg men who came to get the sleeping boy. he began to make his way foreward through the melee.
Shanks, who was nearby, raised his real arm and whispered some words in the language of magic, his eyes glowing like embers. His hand burst into flame and he shot off fireballs from it, much more efficiently than the crystal-barreled Fireguns. He blew smoke dramatically off of his index finger.
"Hey hey hey!" Kuina pouted. "Those were ours!" In reply, Shanks stuck his tongue out and blasted some more cyborgs in another area. Zoro smirked and continued to fight, but that one moment of watching the Captain cost him. A soldier with metal claws for fingers caught his shoulder with the razor-sharp appendages. Blood flew from his arm, a single drop falling upon Luffy's face. Needless to say the moisture woke the boy.
Luffy opened his eyes immediately to see what had happened. The man with the claws was coming straight at him, and Zoro grunted in pain. By the crimson stain on both Zoro's arm and the claws, Luffy knew that Zoro was protecting him. Why? He couldn't let his friend get hurt for him! He prayed to Neptune that he could have the strength to fight with his friend, the strength to help Shanks. Then he decided what was to be done.He threw a well-aimed punch at the claw-man, catching him in the nose.
"You bloody debil!" He howled in rage. "You brog by node, you brad! I'b sure Borgad wouldn'd bind if I rough'd you ub a bid!"
Luffy made a rude grimace at the soldier. "What? I couldn't understand you!" He proceeded to make more faces at his enemy.
Zoro looked back. "Luffy, no!" He came to the boy's aid so fast that one would say that he teleported.Four feet of gleaming diamondran the claw-man through, just as the claws were almost at Luffy's arm. "You have got to be more careful…" Zoro said with feigned annoyance to hide his concern.
"You too, okay?" Luffy indicated the slash on his friend's shoulder that oozed blood. He quickly punched out another cyborg that came up behind Zoro.
"It's nothing, really. Just a scratch." Zoro said as he returned Luffy's favor.
"That isn't a scratch!" He exclaimed.This was forgotten, though,becausehis next enemy, an almost completely metal man,took a few more punches to down than the last cyborg."This sure isn't easy… wait… You hold the third sword in your mouth? That's so cool! How do you talk?" He spewed questions at his sudden realization.
"I've got my talents. I am a mage, right?"
This conversation went on through the battle, both fighters watching each other's backs and commenting on style. Luffy, though, began to feel the weariness of the battle start to affect him. He hadn't really had any serious training for battles, so his endurance was low. Zoro, having been through many battles,picked up on this fast and started to push himself farther, for Luffy's sake. I made a promise, I have to keep it! I have to keep it…
"Luffy, you have to stay behind me, I can do this."
"Zoro?" Luffy got the swordsman's attention. "Thanks but I can't let you get all messed up 'cause of me."
"Stupid. Let me protect you!" Zoro ran through another cyborg deftly. "You can't hold up much longer."
Luffy shook his head. "That isn't what friends do. We've got to stand together, right?" At the same time, Luffy wondered for a fleeting moment if he would make it out of this alive, but it disappeared quickly. He would make it. How else would he get to taste the new recipe for meatloaf that Makino was working on? He definitely had to live or Shanks would kill him. And Uncle Ben still had so many stories to tell him of the crew's missions.
As it was when he was created, there was singing. The battle stopped for a moment, and everyone listened and stared. It was then that Shanks knew that the singing had not been the gears, and the glow not the electricity alone.
The spirits themselves had given him a soul. Just like him. The Emperor.
Luffy was glowing, with wispy lights flying swiftlyaround him and through his very flesh. His eyes were fierce in the radiant, yet cold light, and he floated at least three feet off of the ground, his black hair blown by an undetectable gale.
Who are you?
We are the ones who gave you life. We are the Akuma no Kaze
-confusion- A-whatta no ka-whatta?
-annoyance- Akuma no Kaze. But perhaps you are not ready to know yet… Why have you called upon us?
Oh, that? I need to be stronger so that I can fight with Zoro and Shanks and Ben.
Ah, he has asked for a power that he already has within him! –agreement- Because of the— er—particularities of your body, you can manipulate it in any way you wish.
-confusion- How?
Just concentrate on what you want to happen.
-elation- AWESOME! Thanks!
The talk with the Akuma no Kaze took little more than a split second within Luffy's mind, and once it was over he dropped to the ground and landed on his feet. Putting a hand to his cheek he closed his eyes and pinched.
"What the hell is he doing?" Helmeppo screeched. "What the hell are all of you doing? Get him while he's defenseless!" In his exasperation, he ran at Luffy, intent on capturing him on his own.
To everyone's dismayand surprise and Luffy's delight, he pulled his cheek out to the length of his arm, and then let it snap back, his head wobbling from the recoil. Helmeppo stopped in his tracks. More like he hit a brick wall, metaphysically so."I've always wanted to do that!"Luffy piped, grinning his usual wide, toothy smile. "Oh, yeah. You were going to catch me or something, right?" He asked a shaken Helmeppo.
Helmeppo growled for a moment. "Well, what are you waiting for? This changes nothing! ATTACK!" A few of the more courageous cyborgs ran with their commander, charging the ranks of the spies. The fight broke out anew, and Helmeppo was running right at Luffy. Zoro readied his swords to attack, trying to get back his concentration as best he could so that he could dispatch of the commander. Then the troops would leave…
But lo, a fist literally flew past him, narrowly missing his face. The arm was, of course, Luffy's, and it continued to stretch like rubber, hitting Helmeppo with such force that it knocked him back a ways. "I call that my Firegun Punch!" Luffy stated proudly as his arm snapped back.
Helmeppo held his swelling face and called for a retreat, and the other cyborgs were glad to oblige. There were few left anyway from the fight with the mages, and facing this new threat and the swordsman did not seem like a good idea. The last of the soldiers disappeared into the brush, and Shanks' crew let out a cheer. They had won.
Shanks, however, knew that Luffy could no longer travel with his crew. Descriptions of the boy and the company in which he traveled would be given to every scientist and every cyborg. It would be far too easy to follow a hovership full of rowdy spies traveling through pine country. Sure, Shanks knew every wily fox-dodge ever invented, but he couldn't risk it. He walked over to Luffy and Zoro, his face grave.
"Luffy," he said with some difficulty. "I need… You need… to leave the crew now."
Tears sprang unbidden to the youth's eyes. "But I… It's because of what I can do now, isn't it? I promise to never do it again, I promise."
Shanks, too, found himself nearly crying. "No, I'm proud that you can use such neat powers, but it's too dangerous to come with us now. But you can make it as a spy, right?" The fire mage reached into his cloak and drew out his sun hat; the one Makino had weaved from the grasses of the desert country. "So, I'll have to give you this. It's important to me, so I'll be wanting it back someday." He smiled, and Luffy felt a little better.
"I promise, I promise I'll become the best spy ever!" He vowed, taking the hat solemnly.
"You had better." Shanks said dryly. "You sure did cost me a lot as far as food goes. Make sure that wasn't for nothing!"
Luffy nodded. "So, I guess I'll see you… whenever. Later Zoro!" Luffy was now grinning, and few were not amazed at how well both he and Shanks dealt with the situation. The way the two joked around about parting ways, even though they were very much like father and son, it was almost as if Luffy weren't leaving.
Zoro snorted. "Like hell I'm going to let you go on your own! You'll get into all sorts of trouble without me there." He pushed up his bandana yet again.
"And I just know there are plenty of people who'll want to fight." Kuina laughed, her face quite literally lighting up. "It's a good chance for us to get stronger, and to achieve our dream." An illusory sword waved about in the air, Kuina making moves as if to parry it, then puffed out of existence.
"Really? REALLY? Cool! You can be the first member of my crew of spies. See, Shanks, you don't have to worry about me with Zoro here! We'll get the best treasure ever for the boss." Luffy nodded happily. "I'll leave first thing in the morning, though, 'cause I'm beat. Gotta' get some sleep. Awful rude of those cyborgs, attacking while I was asleep." He yawned.
"Deal." Shanks nodded. It would be a long journey for the boy, but at least it would be safer. Somehow, Shanks knew that it would be destiny that would carry Luffy on through the lands, and maybe even help him bring peace to the world.
He had the heart, the courage and the power. But he had something far more important as well: a Nakama who would come through for him in need.