Chapter 09: Two Months Later
"Morning, Hawks!" Makino said as Hawks opened the door. "You didn't bring the kids with you today?"
Sometimes I swear she has Observation Haki, Hawks thought to himself before he sat down.
"I'll have some ale and meat please," Hawks replied with a strained smile. Hawks almost never used manners, but he respected Makino to a degree where he would put an effort. "I didn't want to bring the kids with me when I drank."
"I thought you didn't drink," Makino tilted her head slightly. It was true that Hawks didn't drink a single drop of alcohol since he arrived at Dawn Island, so it was reasonable to assume such a thing.
"I guess you could say I didn't sleep the best last night," Hawks said. He had been counting down the days since Sabo was supposed to grab a ship and try to sail off, only to get shot down by a World Noble. Hawks sighed as he remembered Sabo crushing the World Noble with his claws. He didn't want it to happen, but after agonizing over it for the past two months, he decided that it was best for him to go along with Dragon. His relationship with the man had improved greatly since their war against the World Government. They never really got to become father and son, but they became great friends. Hawks and Dragon would often spar on Raftel throughout the four years after he became Pirate King, as it was the only place that could take the two titans clashing at full force. Hawks trusted Dragon to raise Sabo properly and reunite with him when he was older.
"I can understand that," Makino sighed as she poured Hawks a keg. "I'll be back with your meat."
"Thanks, Makino," Hawks said as Makino went off to the back of the restaurant. Hawks downed his ale as he heard the doors open.
Wha-, Hawks was taken aback by the aura coming from the person. He was surprised he didn't sense it until they entered the pub. Hawks turned around to see a woman that looked a bit like Makino, albeit a bit older and more mature. The lady sat down next to Hawks as the man returned to his ale.
"Hello," The lady offered Hawks a sincere smile. "My name is Lily. What about you?"
"Hawks," Hawks replied, giving Lily an indifferent smile. She wasn't being rude so there was no reason for him to be.
"What an interesting name," Lily commented. "It's nice to meet you, Hawks."
"It's nice to meet you too," Hawks said. He considered questioning Lily on why someone so powerful would hang around in the East Blue, but since Shanks, Dragon, Garp, and even he spent time on this island, something like that wasn't exactly much of an oddity anymore.
"Here's your meat Haw—" Makino cut herself off when she saw Lily. "Lily! What a pleasant surprise!"
"It's been a while, Makino," Lily offered her a small smile as Makino placed the plate of meat in front of Hawks.
"What brings you here this time?" Makino asked.
"I'm only here on some business, unfortunately," Lily sighed. "I should really go, though. It would be troublesome if my husband knew I was gone."
"I guess that would be," Makino sighed as Lily stood up. "I guess I'll see you?"
"Hopefully we will meet again," Lily nodded to Makino before giving Hawks one last glance as she left.
"Who was that?" Hawks asked as the door closed behind them.
"An old friend," Makino said cryptically. Before Makino could elaborate, the doors burst open again revealing Luffy and Sabo.
"Old man/Hawks!" They shouted at the same time. Hawks turned around to see the two, confused Sabo was still here instead of being in the Gray Terminal. Just before the two kids opened their mouths, it hit him. Hawk's expression became grim.
"Ace is gone!"
/
"Damn it!" Kuina shouted as she attacked Asura again. Asura sidestepped the attack and hit the back of her neck with the hilt of his sword. "Stupid puberty! If things keep going on like this, I'll never become the greatest swordsman!"
"Kuina," The agitated tone of Kuina's mentor caused her to stiffen.
"Yes, senesi?" Kuina turned around, her face contorting slightly in panic.
"Sit down with me," Asura said as he sat down on the grass. Kuina nodded and sat down as well. "You seem to be distracted."
"It's nothing!" Kuina instantly said. Despite constantly cursing her body, Asura never commented on her complaints as if she had never said them. Was he really that dense? "Nothing at all!"
"I know something has been off with you the past couple of weeks," Asura sighed, rubbing his head. "We need to resolve this issue, but I won't touch on it if you're not willing to say your grievances aloud."
"Fine," Kuina grumbled. Before this, she never had any type of attitude towards Asura, but her inner dilemma finally caused her to cave in. "It's because I'm a woman. It's not fair! I won't be able to get stronger because of this stupid body! How am I going to become the greatest swordsman if I'm-,"
"My rival was a woman," Asura cut Kuina off, causing her to gape at him. After her father healed from his injuries, he was disgruntled at the fact that Asura was still holding back in his final attack. Koushiro said that Asura's swordsmanship even surpassed that of Kozaburo, the man that forged the Wado Ichimonji. How could the rival of such a man be a woman? "Do you know what happened?"
Kuina shook her head. Her mind told her that Asura just left her in the dust from day one, but her heart told her Asura was trying to teach her something else. "We dueled exactly 2001 times," Asura said. "I didn't win a single match."
Kuina gasped at Asura's words. For some reason, it reminded her of the relationship she had with Zoro. They had dueled 1998 times and Zoro had never won a single match before he died. "It doesn't matter if you're a woman," Asura stated. "Your skill will shine through if you work hard enough."
Suddenly, Kuina felt a strange sensation. She couldn't determine what it was, but she knew she could feel it, and it was telling her to duck. Kuina leaned back just in time for Asura to swing his sword horizontally. Kuina's eyes followed the air slash that the slash produced until it sliced a tree in two. "It took me four months under my sensei to get to the level you're at now," Asura said, standing up. "Think about what I said. We'll resume training in a couple hours."
Asura turned and walked away, leaving Kuina to blankly stare at the tree as it toppled over and fell.
/
Sanji was at his limit. It had been two whole months without food and Zeff was hoarding all of it. Whenever he would talk to Prince about it, he would just take a drag from his cigarette and dismiss him. Now, he was going to take matters into his own hands. As he snuck behind a rock, he locked onto Zeff's bag. He leaped and cut the bag open with a shout. His eyes grew with excitement as the bag tore open, but the excitement quickly turned into despair when treasure fell out of the bag.
"There was never any food to begin with, kid," Zeff said, not even caring to turn around. "If I told you that, I knew you wouldn't have accepted the food I gave you."
"W-what…?" Sanji gaped at the thin old man. Why was a pirate being so companionate towards him? Weren't all pirates supposed to be selfish and evil?
"You know what?" Zeff declared. "I'm going to survive this. I'm going to make a restaurant to feed anyone out at sea who is starving!"
Sanji looked at Zeff as he grabbed a rock with awe. His eyes steeled. "Yeah!" He shouted. He then noticed Zeff aim the rock towards his leg. Sanji's steeled look instantly faded as Zeff slammed the rock down to his leg, intending to take it off. "OLD MAN!"
"I believe that's enough of that," Prince cut in, grabbing Zeff's arms. Prince was just as thin as all of them, but he never once complained or begged for food. He was adamant on Zeff and Sanji eating their share saying that he's survived worse. "I have food."
"You have food?!" Sanji shouted. "So, you were the one hoarding the food! I can't believe you!"
"Listen kid," Prince's glare made Sanji stiffen. Prince raised his tattered shirt to reveal his ribcage. His state was just as bad, if not worse than Sanji and Zeff's. He walked over and knelt down to Sanji's level, his gaze boring into him. "I would starve a thousand times over if it meant you learned the value of food. As a chef, you must treat each ingredient as if it could save your life. I starved myself along with you and Zeff so you can learn that each ingredient can save your life."
Sanji gulped as he stood up to face Zeff. He grabbed one of the weird cylinders from his pocket and opened the cap, revealing a pile of food resting atop a blanket. "Congratulations on passing your training," Prince said, a weak smile on his face. "Dig in."
/
Asura walked down the streets, grumbling to himself. He didn't like bringing up his past rivalry with Kuina, but it had to be done. He looked for a bar to drink down his memories when he felt something bump into his knee. He looked down to see a familiar looking girl with glasses holding a small book.
"I'm sorry mis—" The small Tashigi stopped herself when she saw the man's swords. Asura usually brought different blades with him every time he went out to fight When he wasn't in a serious battle, he would make sure all of his swords got a good amount of bloodshed, as swords were forged as weapons as much as they were forged as works of art. "Woah! I've seen that blade before!"
She flipped through the pages before looking back and forth between it and Asura's swords. "That's Enma, right?!" She asked with a starry expression in her eyes. "That's a Skillful Grade blade!"
"Good eye, kid," Asura smirked. Ever since the war against the World Government, Tashigi had become much more of a friendly rival to Asura than an enemy. When the marines were rebuilt, Tashigi became the equivalent of a Real Admiral and was in line to become an Admiral when Asura left his dimension.
"Can I see it? Please?" Tashigi begged. Asura considered something. He knew Tashigi would become a great swordsman in the future, but what if he could give her a head start? Of course, he wouldn't teach her, as he already had a student that was taking up all of his time, but he had an idea. He grabbed one of the swords he had on him and handed it to Tashigi.
"Here you go," Asura said with a kind smile on his face. Well, he tried to put on a kind smile, but it came off more as a cocky smirk than anything. "You can keep this. Its name is Kashu."
"Really?!" Tashigi gingerly took the sword from his hands before flipping through her book again. "This is another Skillful Grade Blade! This is priceless! I-I don't have any money… so…"
Tashigi held the sword out to Asura, but he shook his head. Some things never change. "I don't need money," Asura said, putting a hand on Tashigi's head and ruffling her hair, much to her protest. "As payment for Kashu, promise me you'll become a great swordsman."
"I'll become a great swordsman! No! I'll become the best swordsman in the world!" Tashigi declared, holding the sword up. "Just you watch me!"
"The greatest swordsman in the world, huh?" Asura rubbed his chin. "That's a big dream you've got there."
"I'll fulfill it!" Tashigi said, the determination refusing to leave her voice. "I'll beat anyone that stands in my way!"
"I'll look forward to it," Asura said as he turned to walk off.
"Wait!" Tashigi called, causing Asura to stop. "What's your name?!"
"My name?" Asura turned his head so Tashigi could only see Asura's scarred eye and a smirk growing on his face. "Call me Asura."
/
Luffy and Sabo arrived at the Gray Terminal just in time to see it on fire. They had lost track of Hawks on the way there, but they hardly noticed. They arrived just in time to see Ace's ship get shot by a galleon. "ACE!" Luffy shouted, tears starting to form in his eyes as he watched his sworn brother desperately trying to fan out the flames.
"Luffy!" Sabo called, but it was too late. Bluejam walked up behind Luffy and grabbed him, putting a blade to his throat.
"Where is the treasure?!" Bluejam demanded. "Tell me or I'll kill him!"
"No!" Sabo shouted, trying to free Luffy, but Bluejam just kicked Sabo away. Since Luffy wasn't really able to move, he was forced to watch a second cannonball hit Ace's ship.
"ACE!" Luffy shouted. Suddenly, a crushing force started to spread out from around Luffy, causing Bluejam's crew to pass out.
"Luffy!" Sabo shouted as Bluejam fell back, unconscious. Sabo grabbed Luffy.
"Ace…" Luffy managed, his tears flowing down his cheeks before his eyes rolled into his head and he passed out.
"Where are you, ya stinking brats?!" Sabo distantly heard Dadan's voice in the background.
"Dadan!" Sabo cried, utterly helpless. He lost one brother and almost lost another brother in one day. He would cry, but he was too deep in shock at the events that just unfolded.
/
Dragon immediately tensed as a man landed on his ship. Instantly, the Revolutionaries surrounded the man. Everyone was tense, but no one drew any weapons. Dragon couldn't help but notice the man seemed familiar, but he couldn't exactly grasp what was familiar about him or where he met him. What shocked Dragon was the kid the man was carrying in his arms. A heavily injured Gol D. Ace was cradled in his arms. The man walked up to Dragon and held the child out to him. Something compelled Dragon to take the boy.
"Raise him well," the man said, giving him a nod. Dragon didn't know the man, but he could tell he was strong. Even though he was suppressing his aura, it was still one of the stronger presences on the ship. One of his Revolutionaries then walked up to the man and took off her hood, revealing Nico Iris, a rather new recruit. Despite that, she was already an invaluable asset, nearly doubling the size of the library and becoming one of Dragon's main sources of intel in such a short amount of time.
"I hear you go by Hawks now, captain," Iris said, smiling at the man. Dragon paused. This man was her captain? He's heard mentions of Iris's captain, but only that he was really strong and had a devil fruit.
"That I do," The man, Hawks, replied. "What about you?"
"Iris," The woman responded.
"It suits you," Hawks said as he reached into his pocket. Dragon tensed, thinking that the man could bring out a weapon, but was surprised when he took out a Devil Fruit and placed it in Iris's hand. "Give it to him when he's ready."
"Of course," Iris said before putting her hood back on and blending back in with the crowd.
"Wait!" As Hawks turned to leave, Dragon was surprised when his wife stopped the man. She walked up to him, her hood still on and out a hand on his shoulder. "I just want you to know I'm proud of you."
"Proud?" Hawks tilted his head in a confused expression, which even Dragon found kind of goofy. "Who are you?"
"You'll find out soon enough, but just know that I'm a friend," Lily said before blending back in with the crowd.
"Alright then, if you would excuse me," Hawks shot Dragon a glare. "I have two kids to take care of."
With that, Hawks vanished without a sound or a trace, leaving a confused Dragon with a mortally wounded kid in his arms. Damn, what am I going to do with this?
I thank you all for telling me about the whole Vegapunk thing. To be honest, I don't know what you're expecting from me. To rewrite my whole fic? Anyways, for the rest of you, thank you for reading!
