"Are we there yet?!"
"Calm down. You're gonna get yourself killed."
I pout at that before grinning and sprinting at gramps, who is busy eating his rice crackers.
"YOU'RE WIDE OPEN! PISAU ANGIN!" I yell out as I swing my leg, releasing a projectile of sharp blade of wind to him, who easily jumps over it and lets my attack cut over the ship railing. "Tch, stop dodging, shitty gramps." I grumble and he just laughs.
"You're too young to even try touching me." Garp replies as he continues to eat his rice crackers, "And it's 'grandpa' for you! You cheeky brat!"
I scowl as I walk up to him and immediately snatch the cracker to eat it, ignoring his protest for eating his shit. "Whatever, shitty gramps. This ship is so slow. Can't someone just row it faster so I can reach home faster?" I ask while munching on the cracker.
"row the ship, master do it?"
"As if! I'd rather just swim there…"
Got struck by a great idea, I tap my fist to my palm.
"I'm gonna go swim! See you later, shitty gramps!" I bid them goodbye as I climbed and jumped overboard into the sea. Entering the sea, plenty of voices can be heard but I quickly tune them all out as I start to rapidly kick the sea with my feet to move forward faster back to Dawn Island.
Eyes closed, I keep on moving until I feel something big is moving closer. I stop for a moment to face whatever it is and swing my leg, releasing a projectile of sharp blade of water pressure at it to scare it off and I continue on moving.
If I'm getting closer to Dawn Island, then it's probably Lord of the Coast that I just scared off.
Finally feeling a land in a few meters, I stop and start kicking up to the surface and into the air. Taking a deep breath in and opening my eyes, I brighten up when I see the familiar village with windmills. I can see it. I can see home! It's close!
"Nyehehe! I'm almost there! Just a lil' more!" I squeal out in joy as I rapidly kick the air to launch myself to the island, giggling like crazy until I'm above Partys Bar and I stop kicking the air. Coating my legs with Buso and letting the gravity to take me down, I crash into the center of the bar and into the floor, crushing it along under me.
"I'M HOOOMEE!" I yell out and laugh out loud before facing Makino, who's both shocked and upset at the same time. "Makino! I missed you!" I exclaim out as I jump and hug her tight, limbs tied and locked up around her body.
"Welcome home, Eris-chan!" Makino replies with a wide smile as she returns the tight hug, not minding my drenched from head to toe form before we both pull away from each other, "But Eris-chan, should you really enter the bar like that?" She asks with a nervous smile and I blink.
"Huh? But it looks cooler." I replied innocently.
Makino just looks at me with a blank smiling look before letting out a sigh and that kinda offends me. What?! It's true! Especially after 2 years! I need to make a flashy entrance for better impact!
"Well, I'm just glad that you seem well. You've grown taller too." Makino comments as she pats my head and I puff up my chest confidently with my hands on my hips.
"Hehe! I have grown 5 centimeters taller, so now I'm exactly 130 centimeters tall." I reply with a grin and she giggles in return.
"You're wet. Did you swim here?" Makino points out.
"Yeah! The ship is taking its damn sweet time, so I decide to swim here." I admit with a smile, "But enough about that, I'm gonna go and meet Luffy and Ace! Bye Makino!" I bid her goodbye as I sprint outside and meet the Mayor on the way to the forest.
"Oh hi Mayor! Bye Mayor!" I greet and bid him goodbye, ignoring his scolding to stop causing ruckus at Makino's place as I keep on running into the forest.
Giggling, I ran through the forest and let myself hear the forest and its inhabitants. The birds are singing and chirping in curiosity, the beasts are growling in annoyance that the troublemakers are almost complete again, while the forest of Mt. Colubo itself is rustling its leaves in celebration of my return.
"I'm home, and I miss you too." I whisper back happily.
I run and run, until I finally see the old, crappy shack. Grinning, I keep on running as I put my arms in front and coat them with Buso, entering the shack by crashing into the wall before pumping my fists up in the air with a wide grin.
"I'M HOME! ARE YOU HERE, LUFFY, ACE?!" I yell out while the bandits inside are screaming out in shock.
"ERIS IS BACK!"
"SHE MADE A HOLE ON THE WALL!"
"WHY ARE YOU BACK, YOU SHITTY BRAT?!"
"Are Luffy and Ace here?" I ask with a grin while Dadan looks absolutely pissed.
"THEY'RE NOT! GO AWAY, YOU SHITTY BRAT!" She replies back, "AND YOU BETTER FIX THE DAMN WALL, DAMN IT!"
"Eeehh, Luffy and Ace aren't here?" I whine out in disappointment, "Then I'll go look for them in the forest. Bye!" I say as I turn around and start to run back into the forest, ignoring her yelling 'DON'T IGNORE ME, YOU DAMN BRAT!'
"Anyone know where those two are?" I ask out loud and the wind softly blows in return, gently tickling my cheek.
"the cliff"
"Oh, okay! Thanks!" I thank the forest as I run toward Ace Cliff, anticipation growing larger and larger by the second I get closer to my destination. I wonder if they changed somehow. Maybe they get taller? Or maybe tanner? Ace already hit puberty before I left and boy did he hate the pimples that kept on popping out of nowhere. I wonder if Luffy got the pimples outbreak too.
As I get closer, I can hear the boys' voices and I grin wider. I don't know if I can grin even wider, but I grin so wide that it kinda hurts, but I ignore it as I jump and kick the air until I'm right above the boys. I can see them watching the sea with anticipation and I can hear them talking about how excited they are to see me again. I chuckle at that as I stop kicking the air and let gravity pull me back.
"LUUUUUUUFFYYYYYYY! AAAAAAAACEEEEEEE!" I yell out as I plummet down at a fast speed, taking both of their attention. They widen their eyes and smile, before they start to realize that I'm literally falling from the sky like a meteor that they go into panic.
But before I land on the ground or on the boys, I kick the air to stop the gravity and I land gracefully on my bare feet in front of them.
"I'M HOOOOOME!" I yell out with my fists in the air before putting them on my hips as I look at the boys' stunned faces with a grin, "Miss me?"
"ERIS!"
Luffy's arms and fingers are stretching out and sliding around my head and hair that is slightly longer than 2 years ago as his body comes flying into my face, his legs sliding over my shoulders and locking up on my back with his stomach and crotch on my face. He starts to laugh as he rubs his rubbery cheek into my hair while I laugh along and Ace is watching with a happy glint in his eyes and a big grin.
"Luffy, you seem bigger and heavier than before. Are you getting fatter?" I tease him with a muffled voice until Luffy pulls back a bit to let my face free to talk.
"I'm not! But you seem a lot stronger than before, Eris! Shishishi!" Luffy replies happily.
"And you're still short as ever." Ace adds teasingly and I pout in return.
"I've grown exactly 5 centimeters in the past 2 years! I'm now 130 centimeters!" I protest and he laughs at that.
"You're still shorter than both of us. Even Luffy has grown to 149 centimeters." Ace continues, "And I'm 176 centimeters, according to last week when Makino-san measured our heights." He adds with a wider grin and I growl in annoyance at that before smirking.
"Well, I may be shorter than you both, but I bet I can kick your asses in 5 minutes." I reply and Ace's eyes spur in interest. Gotcha.
"Ho? Then how about we do our usual Sparring Session like before?" Ace asks and I smirk wider.
"Hell yeah, let's go!"
Letting Luffy to still clinging onto me like a baby monkey, Ace and me run off toward where we do our SS and I grin as I can show off a little.
"Oi Luffy, you better hang on tighter." I warn him once and he tightens up on me as I kick the ground faster to run past Ace in a blink of an eye and I stop exactly 5 meters from him, which shocks Ace while Luffy's eyes are sparkling and I puff up my chest in pride.
"What's wrong, Ace? Can't you run faster?" I ask mischievously, "Hurry up, or we'll leave you behind, Slowpoke!" I add and laugh together with Luffy as Ace starts chasing me with an angry yell; the forest rustles its leaves and joins along to the laughter and the yelling.
After fooling around with Ace, we finally arrived at the SS Arena.
I see that the place didn't change at all. Still rundown and muddy, and even the wooden score board is getting mossed up.
"I know it's been 2 years, but it feels longer than that without you guys around." I say with a smile, "training with gramps is such a living hell, but at least I'm stronger now! Flame too! Oh wait, where's Takao? Is he around?" I ask as I look around.
"He actually left to get you and Flame, but I guess you went past each other." Ace answers.
"I guess so. I kinda did go for a swim on the way here. The ship is slow as fuck, so I swim here because it's faster. Nyehehehe!" I laugh out and Ace is absolutely dumbfounded by that while Luffy just laughs.
"Eris, you sure are a good swimmer!" Luffy comments and I roll my eyes at him with a smile.
"And whose fault was it again? Who's between us is the hammer?"
"I guess that's me?"
"You're absolutely correct, and you win nothing." I reply and he just laughs before he lets himself go from me to run up and turn around to face me.
"Okay! I wanna go first! Shishishi! I'm so excited!" Luffy says as he jumps up and down in excitement and I grin in return.
"Don't cry as I beat you up, okay?" I warn him and he giggles as he swings his arm in rotation before putting his fists to the front.
"I'll beat you up until you cry instead!" He replies and I just smirk.
"Oh yeah? Then try to dodge this; Pisau Angin!" I yell out as I kick the air, releasing a blade of wind projectile to Luffy, who widens his eyes before he quickly jumps to dodge my attack, which cuts the tree behind him.
Ace, who's watching nearby, has a dumbfounded expression with bulging eyes and gaping mouth.
"Eris, you bastard! Are you trying to kill me?!" Luffy yells out and I just laugh out loud.
"Sorry, sorry! I can't help it! I get too excited to show you guys what I learned for the past 2 years, but I suppose it's too dangerous for you guys." I reply with a grin, "Then I'll just stick to Haki to beat you guys up instead." I conclude as I coat my fists and forearms with Buso.
Letting the black coating with pink coral tint covering up my arms, I slam my knuckles together before putting up my stance. "Come." I tell him and Luffy grins before he stretches out his arm.
"Gomu-Gomu no…Pistol!"
Right.
I tilt my head to the left, letting Luffy's punch go past it before I sprint up to him with a sadistic grin.
"Tinju Cinta!" I deliver a punch to his chin, throwing him up into the air before he eventually plummets back down and starts to yell out in pain.
"That hurt! Eris, you bastard! You're cheating again!" Luffy yells out angrily as he rubs his bruised chin. I just calmly walk up to him before giving him a Buso-induced hit on the head, and he cries out in pain again.
"It's not cheating if I trained hard for 2 years to control it." I argue back as I put my hands on my hips before grinning, "But I win this round." I add and he pouts in return.
"Fine. But we still have more than 49 rounds, and I will kick your ass later!" He exclaims out with a determined look and a grin as he jumps back up to his feet, and I grin back in return.
"I'd like to see you try." I reply as I put on my stance and coat my fists with Buso.
Despite Luffy's best efforts and improvements, I absolutely obliterated his ass with an evil laugh.
"I'd say, you've improved, Luffy! But you're still weak. You can't go into the sea being this weak." I tell him as I pin him down on the ground, while he's slapping the ground and asking for mercy. I let him go as he practically wilts down before starts to struggle around.
"Damn it! I was supposed to kick your ass! I'm your Captain, y'know!" Luffy protests with a growl.
"Exactly. That's why I'm gonna train your rubbery ass about Haki. You need to learn to prepare yourself for the New World, if you don't want to die." I retort back with a gentle, normal hit to his head before I turn to Ace with a grin, "Of course, I will train your ass too, big bro. You have less than a few years before your departure to piracy, so I need to train you even harder." I tell him and he scoffs.
"Yeah, as if I need a brat like you to train me. I'm older and stronger than you. I don't need you to train me." He huffs with a smirk while my eyes glint in mischief and I grin.
"YOU'RE WIDE OPEN! PISAU ANGIN!" I send him a blade of wind projectile and he actually yelps as he dodges my attack by falling down to his back that cuts open a big boulder behind him.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME, YOU WEIRDO?!" He yells out angrily while I just laugh in return.
"Ace just yelped like a kicked puppy! I'm gonna write this down in my journal!" I say with a giggle and Luffy joins in for the laughs while Ace is getting angrier and redder in embarrassment by the second before he jumps at me with a war cry.
I quickly jump up into the air and start kicking the air as Ace crashes into Luffy instead and I let the gravity pull me back as I land on top of the boys.
"Ace, Eris! You're crushing me…!" Luffy chokes out as he tries to crawl out from the pile, but unfortunately he's at the bottom, so it's futile.
"Eris, you dumbass! Don't you dare put this in your damn journal!" Ace exclaims out as he starts to wrestle with me by pulling on my cheek and nose as we roll off of Luffy.
"Nu-uh! I'm not missing this opportunity to write you being dumb!" I reply with a giggle as I push his head away and try to pry his hands off me.
"Why, you little—!"
I just laugh as he locks his arm to my neck and starts to give me a noogie in the head as he laughs along. Luffy just stretches his arms around us as he laughs along with us; the wind gently blowing over us to join with the joyful occasion.
After a moment, we lay on our backs on the grassy ground, watching the leaves of the trees around us rustling and the sunlight that peeks in through the gaps with a content smile on our faces.
"It's nice to be home." I comment and Luffy giggles.
"How was the training with grandpa?" He asks excitedly and I hum.
"It's a living hell, but I survived, so I suppose I can survive anything that comes later." I answer with blank eyes and smile, while Ace winces at that.
"I can't believe you actually survived gramps' hell training." Ace says with awe in his tone, "…then again, you're the only one that's stupid enough to fight him back when he came to visit." He adds and I pout.
"I'd rather see myself as brave, thank you very much." I retort with a huff.
"So what did you learn? What was that thing that let you cut the tree with just a kick? And how can you fly into the air? And what's that black thing on your arms that actually managed to hurt me?" Luffy bombarded me with questions and I just smiled fondly at him.
"One by one, Rubber Boy." I scold him softly and he just giggles. "Well, I learned about Rokushiki; a martial art that is taught to marines and World Government's agents. There are 6 forms in total, but I only learned 4 of them because I don't really need the other 2." I continue nonchalantly.
"Are you sure that's alright?" Ace comments with a sweatdrop and I just laugh.
"It's fine! Because I learned Haki to cover for those." I replied.
"Haki?"
"Hmm, I'll tell you guys the short version; Haki is a form that utilizes one's spiritual energy for various purposes. One is for enhanced senses other's spiritual energy and predict their actions called Kenbunshoku; two is giving the user a protective coating of spiritual energy called Busoshoku; and the third is only belong to a certain group of 'chosen ones' to overpower the willpower of others called Haoshoku."
I point at Ace with a smile. "Do you remember that one time when Luffy almost got killed by Bluejam's men?" I ask and he makes a sour face at that.
"Sure did. And then all but Bluejam himself fainted, for some reason."
"Believe it or not, but that's Haoshoku. Good for you, Golden Boy!" I tell him and both boys sit up and are surprised.
"Me? Haoshoku?" Ace asks again in doubt and I sit up with a nod.
"Yeah! Your old man Roger also had it, if you wanna know." I add but I frown a bit, "But I don't have it, so I can't really teach you how to control it. And your Hao boosted me that night too, apparently. I guess it got something to do with my people's destiny with your D. clan, or something."
"Tch, who cares about Roger and some destiny? Tell me more about this Haki thing." Ace spats and I hit him in the head for that. "The fuck, what'd you hit me for, Eris?!" He protests out angrily.
"I couldn't care less about your old man, but don't make fun of my destiny with you guys!" I yell at him and growls angrily, baring my fangs at him.
"So what? Who cares about some destiny? Destiny or not, it doesn't change the fact that your stubbornness will still do whatever you want!" He argues back and I immediately calm down as I cross my arms on my still flat chest.
"Well yeah, obviously. Some fated destiny or not, I'll still burn this world and protect you guys." I agree, "no matter where I am or who I am, I'll still find you to help you fulfill yours. Nyehehehe!" I add with a laugh. Ace looks annoyed in return and about to retort, but Luffy interrupts him.
"Hurry up and tell us more about this Haki, Eris!" Luffy exclaims out, sparkles surrounding his still baby face and in his eyes.
"Hmm, I'll put this into a subject later for our Education Session, so you'll have to wait until then, Luffy." I tell him and he whines out in disappointment. "Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it later, including Rokushiki. That way, you'll know how they work if you guys ever meet anyone that learned it too, especially enemies." I add before turning to Ace.
"Now, shall we continue our Sparring Session, Ace?" He grins as we both are back to our feet and facing each other as Luffy crawls off from us.
"Show me what you've got." He challenges.
"I sure will. And when you lose, you both will train under me."
"Good bet, but I'll kick your ass."
…and then I proceeded to kick Ace's ass 50 times, resulting in both of them getting an apprenticeship under me for Haki.
(Posted in June 17, 2022)
