Episode of Gin
Rum flailed angrily, throwing lightning into the nearby clouds. Gin fought for control below the surface, the only showing of this a twitch in the scowl that stretched over his face. His control had slipped when Kuma smacked him, blacking out for a minute, but that was enough time for his violent alter ego to steal the reins from him.
At least there was no one for him to hurt while soaring in a paw-shaped ball of air flying through the clouds.
"Stop," Gin growled through half his mouth. The other half tried to bare its teeth, as ineffective as it was in practice and practically. Far as they could tell, Rum was mostly dormant and mute, so conversation would be one-sided at best. "Listen ta me, ya bastard."
Rum tried to wrestle control of Gin's lips from him, swinging their tonfa at their shared face. It didn't do much, their body being made of lightning and all.
"You 'n' Ah 're in tha same boat, Pal. We need ta not kill each other."
"That is not an option."
Gin metaphorically jumped at the voice that clawed its way from his throat. It sounded nothing like him, suave with an underlying evil.
"Surprised you, didn't I, Gin-kun? Kukuku. Oh, don't give the clouds that gobsmacked expression. Our face isn't meant for surprise. It's meant for anger and joy and being covered in blood. Mmm." Gin, or Rum in most of Gin's body, trembled.
"Why're ya here," Gin demanded. "Wha' d'ya want?"
"Why? That's so easy, Gin-kun, but I suppose it's the easy questions that come first. See, I am you, but the real you. The original. The you that is supposed to be, not the friend-loving pansy you've let your crew turn you into. Embrace me, Gin-kun, and I can give you the power you need. We can rival gods."
"Been there, done that," Gin shot back. "You were there, weren't you? Gods ain't that strong anymore."
"And it was delicious, wasn't it?" Rum argued. "His blood was like any other. It tasted the same. It felt the same. He screamed the same, too. The strong and powerful get what they desire, while the weak are crushed into submission."
"This 's yer ploy?" Gin shook his head. "Tryin' ta make me become you? Tha killer Ah used ta be b'fore Ah met Don Luffy?"
"That boy does not deserve the title of Don!" Rum snarled, his calm facade cracking. "Leading through the power of friendship? Bah! Fear is the greatest motivator."
"No, it ain't," Gin rebuffed, finally starting to feel Rum's hold slip. "We crushed a half-dozen foes that thought that way. You ain't gonna be diff'rent, Rum. G'night."
"Wait, you fo-!" Gin cut him off, breaking Rum's connection to his body and firmly locking him in his subconscious. He'd come out at night when Gin finally slept, but until then, Gin would stay here in his bubble in the sky.
"Ah hope mah friends 're alright."
It had taken years, but the Temple Olympus had been rebuilt in all its glory.
Well, glory was a stretch for its grey stone walls and wooden doors, but such stone was hard to find around the sky island of Berka. Construction had been at a standstill for the longest time until a few months ago when the monster they hadn't meant to make vanished under the force of some Blue Sea Dwellers, opening trade with the neighboring sky islands. The Temple Olympus and the Council Olympia might not be back to what it once was, but it was the little goals that needed to be met first. If only the scouting parties could've found what the monster had stolen all those years ago, but alas...
Of course, there was far more to the story of the monster than simple accident, the head monk mused as the sun started to dip behind the temple, but they rejoiced knowing he was gone.
The head monk was a woman bearing the title Zeus, having long ago given up her original name after joining the Council Olympia and taking the first name of Dionysus. She was garbed in a brown cloak with large red beads forming a necklace resting on her collarbone, two slits in the back allowing her small wings freedom to the air. In a time before, her red hair had been shaved so it would grow with her time on the Council. Now it fell to the small of her back, save for a patch by her right shoulder that had been burned away when Ares, or Eneru as he chose to call himself, stole the Holy Fruit from the temple and rampaged with Dionysus, Hestia, Apollo, and Demeter.
Shaking thoughts of the past from her head, Zeus turned back to the rebuilt home of the Council. Dwelling on when she was Hades would do nothing for the now. They had hidden, they had survived, and they had rebuilt. Now, the Council Olympia could used their full abilities to help the rest of Berka, or at least what remained.
"Lady Zeus," a voice behind her panted, the woman turning to see the tired form of Athena, a male monk of blond hair and grey eyes. His hair fell past his shoulders and no further. "There is a disturbance at the Pantheon. Lords Poseidon and Hades are trying to deal with it, but they told me to come get you."
"Very well," Zeus answered, her robes shifting in the ever-present breeze above the clouds as she turned. "Let us make haste, Athena."
The monks hurried their way across the cloudy base of the sky island, Athena pushing his limits to keep up, heading away from the temple and toward a massive pavilion known as the Pantheon. It was the communal meeting place for the island of Berka where the populous came to socialize or hold important meetings.
The Pantheon would need repair, Zeus idly noted as she took in the scene upon her and Athena's arrival. Several members of the Council, what little remained, were scattered around the area, those still standing brandishing their weapons of choice at a figure Zeus did not recognize. Her eyes flinted over the chaos; Ares, Hera, and Demeter were down for the count, the former smashed through one of the columns at the far end of the pavilion. Poseidon, Hades, Hephaestus, and Artemis made their stands with a trident, a sword, a chain-scythe, and a bow respectively.
Their foe was a man dressed in ruffled formal wear, a yellow button up, grey storm-patterned tie, and suit jacket. Twin gold-plated tonfa spun in his hands as if they were lighter than feathers, large weights on the ends glinting in the evening light. A deranged smile stretched over the intruder's tanned face.
"Kukuku," the intruder chuckled. "Well, well. I must say I'm not impressed. You see, I carry vague memories of this place, but the monks here were supposed to be stronger than this."
"Who are you?" Zeus demanded, her mere presence lifting the spirits of her standing companions. "What are you doing here?"
"I suppose you may call me Rum," the man chuckled. "Kukuku. I'm not here by choice, but I'm quite content with the placement. As for the what, I suppose I'm enjoying my- ...!" He doubled over, one hand dropping a tonfa to clutch at his head. "What are you-? Why? I thought I forced you-!"
"Get outta mah head!" a rougher voice growled from the man's throat. "Gimmie mah body back!"
"No no no!" Rum shouted. "This is my time, you slang-tossing barbarian! Mine!" Rum straightened with a definitive shake of his head, sparks of electricity shining from his eyes. The members of the Olympian Council present backed away from the showing, memories not-yet-faded coming to their minds. "My apologies. It's bad manners to argue with guests present."
"Lady Zeus," Artemis muttered, the nearly-bald woman never moving her arrow from where it aimed for Rum's chest. "It... He..."
"I understand," Zeus muttered, bringing her fists up into a ready stance. "The Holy Fruit has returned."
"Ah, yes," Rum smiled, the expression coming off as greasy and evil as he reclaimed his dropped weapon. "I recall something of that. The clues add up correctly. This is Berka, former home of Eneru and his priests? The supposedly-destroyed home of the man who called himself god." Rum's eyes narrowed. "While some call me the 'Electric Devil', I prefer to think of myself as the God Killer."
"God Killer," Zeus muttered. "Don't make me laugh. So you're the one who took that monster's life; a monster in return? How disappointing the world is."
"Still, we thank you," Hades piped up, a short, androgynous monk who's blond hair was only an inch shorter than Zeus'. The monk leveled their sword at the intruder. "You have returned the Holy Fruit to its resting place after too long an absence."
"It's ours," Poseidon agreed, his tall form framed with broad shoulders and black hair. "We shall take it back."
"Something doesn't seem right," Artemis frowned as two of the Council's Royal Three charged with war cries. Hephaestus quickly followed, her chain-scythe spinning.
"I know," Zeus agreed, pulling brass knuckles studded with Impact Dials from her robes. "It appears this Rum is not in complete control of his body. That intrigues me."
Both women ducked as Hephaestus flew over their heads, crumbling in a heap behind them. In front, Rum was a storm in the literal and figurative sense, electricity arcing from his weapons as Poseidon and Hades danced around him, avoiding his attacks with impossible precision. Each dodge only made Rum's smile widen.
"Yes!" the intruder cried. "Yes! Prove your worth so I can validate my exis-!"
Rum locked up, his eyes widening as a trident stabbed him through the chest and a sword lopped his right arm off.
"Stop... me..." the voice from before begged, the intruder staring at the severed appendage. "Rubber... Haki... Something."
"Silence!" Rum roared, lightning traveling through the weapons in his body to shock their wielders. Rum took their momentary inability to move to grab their weapons and rip them from their grips, tossing the metal as far as he could. His lost arm returned in a bolt of electricity without the sleeve around it. "You will not ruin this for me!"
An arrow pierced his neck before he could capitalize more, sending Rum stumbling back. He turned, fazing the arrow out as Zeus approached in the blink of an eye, a black-clad fist inches from the intruder's face. Rum most certainly did not curse as the surprise sucker punch clocked him across the cheek, sending the lightning-man further back.
Zeus did not talk as she attacked, allowing Rum's reactions to miss by little more than hairsbreadths at a time. Artemis' arrows did the man no favors either, even if they offered no real damage compared to Zeus' Haki-coated fists.
"This is't how it's s'pposed to go!" Rum growled through a swelling cheek, Zeus ducking under another a swing of his tonfa before she could have possibly seen it.
"Funny," Zeus finally said, another strong punch giving Rum a black eye. "I remember myself telling the last person with your Fruit that same thing. Impact!"
With a final punch to the gut, the monk released all the stored potential energy of her Dials into Rum's torso, laying the man flat. His vision swam as it faded, the monks still conscious glaring down on him.
"Shall we kill him?" the one called Poseidon asked.
"I say we do!" Hades put in.
"Not yet," Zeus answered. "Please, not yet. I have questions for him. Artemis, Athena, take this monster to Asphodel. If need be, we can execute him later."
"Right away, Lady Zeus!"
Gin's world swam into focus too slowly for his liking, or half-focus on account of his facial injuries. The slab he rested on felt like nothing but a sheet of rock, but that wasn't right because everything around him was white. Blinking the grog away as he rolled into his side, Gin cradled his head, groaning. A headache pounded against the inside of his skull, compounding the pain in his bruised cheek and black eye.
The room around him was made of cloud, as was his bed and the bars making up one wall. A cast of cloud wrapped around his right arm, solid as rock and immovable. His clothes were still on, but his sleeves were missing on the right side and there were holes in his shirt and jacket around his torso.
"Where 'm Ah?" Gin muttered, trying to remember the last time he got so hammered he couldn't remember how he got somewhere. That had been Galley-La after getting Robin back when he woke up with his shoes tied to the top of a flagpole, but that was a long time ago. Way before-
"You're awake," a somewhat-familiar voice said. "And far less violent."
Gin's eyes snapped to the monk standing on the other side of the bars. Her hands were hidden behind her back, but her eyes drilled into the incapacitated form of the pirate.
"Ah did't kill anyone, did I?"
"Luckily, no," the woman answered. "Hephaestus and Demeter had some minor fractures and Hera will need a new katana, but no one was killed. I'm more interested in who you are, 'God Killer' Rum."
"Please don' call me that," Gin sighed, finally sitting up. He felt weak, moreso than he should have.
"Then what shall I call you?"
"Jus' Gin is fine. That's mah name."
"Heso, Gin. I am known as Zeus, the head monk of Temple Olympus in Berka. Perhaps you'd like to tell me how you got a hold of our Holy Fruit and back here? And maybe why you were going on a rampage when you crashed near the Pantheon?"
"It's... a long story."
"We have time," Zeus responded, pulling a chair from the walls of cloud around them and sitting down, the imprint of where the chair usually hid an empty space. Gin watched her carefully, unsure where to begin or if he even should.
"...Fine," Zeus said after a minute. "Let's start here. Have you been to a sky island before?"
"Yes," Gin replied, thankful for the prompt. "Godland Skypia."
"Where are you from?"
"Virgio Island in East Blue. A part o' tha Blue Sea."
"Who do you work for?"
"Monkey D. Luffy, tha man who'll be tha King o' tha Pirates."
"So you are a pirate?"
"Ah am."
"Why do you have the powers of lightning? Those that were first stolen from us by the one who called himself Eneru?"
"Ah killed him when he attacked mah friends. We found his Devil Fruit on our ship and Ah had ta eat it ta protect mahself from some marines."
"Why do you have two personalities?"
"That's harder ta explain."
"Try."
Gin sighed, knowing there was nothing he could do. He was at her mercy and, a quick test confirmed, his powers weren't working. That was probably on account of the cloud cast around his right forearm. Something about the clouds being made with Sea Prism Stone Particles?
"When Ah was young, mah dad died in a mine explosion..."
Supernovas Escape Chaos at Sabaody
By 'Big News' Morgan
Four days ago, the Sabaody Archipelago was plunged into chaos by the crews of the Worst Generation, inciting reactions from the Marines. Unfortunately, all of the Supernovas escaped during the chaos.
Known pirate crews that were captured include the Howling Dogs under 'Big Chomp' Fido, the Crescent Blades under 'Ruby of the Sea' Roseanne, the Yellow Coats under 'Curiosity' George, the infamous Tres Horny Boys of the Maximum Fun Pirates, and the fearsome Sparrow of the Caribbean along with almost 200 assorted crooks captured individually or killed. Unfortunately, the Maximum Fun Pirates and the Crescent Blade Pirates escaped from captivity en route to Impel Down due to sea king attacks.
Both the Hero of the Marines Monkey D. Garp and the Warlord Kuma, who were on the ground when the chaos happened, were unavailable for comment. Marine Admiral Aokiji refused.
Marine sources noted that Supernovas were seen cooperating to avoid capture. Such instances included witnesses seeing 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro traveling with 'Mad Monk' Urouge and 'The Glutton' Jewelry Bonney. 'Captain' Eustass Kid and 'Surgeon of Death' Trafalgar Law also fought alongside each other near the Sabaody unemployment office with the 'Dark King' Silvers Rayleigh, former right hand to Gold Roger who had stayed quiet for nearly two decades.
"We've scraped something together from this," Fleet Admiral Sengoku said. "The rookies got away, but we managed to arrest many pirates whose combined bounties top 1.8 billion. A large part of that goes to the capture of the Sparrow, whom many thought would become an Emperor on his next voyage into the New World. This is a strong step forward in quelling the Pirate Era."
About the crews of the Supernovas, Sengoku said, "No, we don't have anyone of that kind of note. If you say we do, that will be libel and treason."
Story continues on page 3
"Is that newspaper to your satisfaction?" Zeus asked. "It was not difficult to procure, but news from the Blue Sea rarely matters to us. It means more to you, I suspect."
Gin finished reading the front page of the news, setting the Paper aside with a sigh.
"Yeah, Ah s'pose it does. They didn't say anythin' 'bout mah crew 'cept that they weren't captured, so Ah guess that's good."
"To be fair, this news is tangentially important to us as well. The one called the 'Mad Monk'? He use to be one of us."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. He was Dionysus with us when he followed Ares -I'm sorry, Eneru- in his abandonment."
"Ah did't know that. Why'd he leave?"
"As you saw first hand, or at least feel the remnants of, we of Temple Olympus are no sinking skyfish when it comes to battle. We use our training for the purpose of finding peace in the storm of life. Urouge, as he calls himself now, was an excellent student until the first time we were attacked. At that point, he stopped looking for the peace and more for the storm itself."
"Huh," Gin grunted.
"He was a better Hestia than the one who followed him, Gedatsu," Zeus shrugged. "That man was so forgetful, we had to remind him to speak with his mouth open. I'm almost glad Eneru took him away."
Gin opened his mouth to respond, having never heard the name Gedatsu before, but quickly closed it. Eneru had had four priests, five at one point, apparently, and he only met Shura and Ohm in passing. What confused him was Zeus referring to people like Dionysus and Hestia as if they were but are not anymore, but that wasn't as important as their strength.
"Where did ya learn ta use Haki?" Gin asked.
"Haki?" the woman responded. "I'm confused. What is Haki?"
"That black stuff ya used ta hit me. It's called Haki in tha Blue Sea."
"Oh that. Here, it is known as Mantra."
"Ah thought Mantra was hearin' people's thoughts?"
"Well, yes and no," Zeus agreed. "There are three forms of Mantra, but only two anyone may learn. These are the Mantra of the mind and the Mantra of the body. Eneru and his followers only ever learned to use the Mantra of the mind because it is easier to use. There is another, the Mantra of the Soul, but one must be born with that."
Gin nodded along. He supposed that made sense.
"What are your plans from this point?" Zeus asked.
"Ah don' know," the pirate answered. "Ah need ta get back ta mah crew, but Sabaody's a long way off. Plus, Ah'm not much use ta them as weak as Ah am now. Mah anger got me inta this mess in tha firs' place. Ah'm a danger."
"Perhaps we could assist you with that?"
"What?"
"Allow me to elaborate. Your powers are one of the sacred treasures of our order. Having them here again is a dream come true, and right after we finished rebuilding the Temple Olympus. We don't count our meeting as coincidence. Stay with us. Study with us. We can help you control the darkness and anger inside you."
"There's somethin' ya want from me," Gin stated.
"True. When your adventures come to a close, we want you to come live here. When you pass on, the Holy Fruit will return to the Tree of Peloleus from where Eneru stole it years ago. Does that deal seem acceptable?"
"You and yer order would be willin' ta teach an outsider like me Mantra? A pirate? How do ya know Ah'd even come back?"
"You would not be the first outsider to learn Mantra from us. And the pirates tend to keep their promises far better than other Blue Sea Dwellers."
"Who else have ya taught?"
"The best was a pirate like yourself, though he came with the rest of his crew. The Spades, they called themselves, and their leader could turn to fire. His name was Ace."
"Ya know mah Don's brother!" Gin shouted, quickly bringing himself under control. "Tha Ace ya mentioned is tha brother o' mah captain! He never mentioned ya, but we didn't get ta ask about his adventures, really."
"You have met Ace? Perhaps he still wore to council beads we gifted to him?" She indicated the large red beads that made up her necklace.
"Now that ya mention it, Ah think he was. Well, iffin Ace got ta know ya and wore yer stuff, Ah guess tha's a pretty good recommendation. Please, teach me. Ah can't return ta mah friends 'til I'm safe."
Gin laid on the hard cloud bed half-asleep, staring at the blank ceiling. He'd read and reread the news article Zeus had given him as a peace offering, nearly memorizing it. His only relieve was the mention that none of his crew were captured, so Coby must have escaped captivity and the others got away after he was sent off by Kuma's attack. His thoughts constantly led back to his position now and the offer he'd accepted earlier in the day.
"Ah guess this 's mah home fer now," he mused.
I don't think I care for it.
Gin jumped, his eyes looking for anyone nearby despite knowing he was alone. His hand rose, the man biting the meat under his thumb to keep his mouth shut.
Poor poor Gin-kun, lost and lonely. Lost and alone. With only me as his company.
"How are you doing that?" Gin demanded, taking his hand away.
It's quite simple, gin-kun, Rum answered. Currently, I am locked away from your body because of that accursed cloud you're wearing on your arm, but your mind is mine to explore. I can talk to you even without your lips.
"Shut up!" the pirate cried. "Shut up! Get out!"
I've nowhere to go, Gin-kun. Even so, I am as much a piece of you as your powers. I suppose it could be said I awoke from them, a fusion of your mind and the latent sentience of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, making me, the best and most-powerful you you could be. Work with me, Gin, and I can show you the world like you've never seen it before. We could become a king, worshiped by countless masses. Women would fawn over us, begging for a fraction of our attention. Is that not every man's dream? The world could be ours!
"Ah'm no man," Gin grit out, holding his head in his hands. "Ah'm a weapon, a demon that has chained 'imself ta tha will o' mah captain. You're right 'bout one thing, Rum. Don Luffy ain't right 'bout everyone on tha ship bein' equal. Ah've chosen ta become a protector fer Don Luffy's crew, makin' mah life lower 'en his. There'll be no kingdom fer me. Tha only king Ah'll believe in 'll be tha King o' tha Pirates!"
You fool! We need not shackle ourselves to that idiot!
"Ya know, Rum? Ah pity you."
Pity? What a moronic concept. Why would you pity me when I am the superior version of you?
"B'cause ya've seen mah life, but ya haven't learned what I have. Ya value rage over everythin' an' look where that got us. Love'll take us farther 'n hate."
Love? That's your answer? Love?! Love gives you nothing but pain when what you love is gone! And everything you love will leave you eventually. Just like mother left. Just like Father left. Even that blonde you fancy. She'll leave you, too. We are meant to be a monster, Gin-kun, so stop fighting your nature. Our nature. Monsters take what they want so it can't leave. You can even keep the girl. I don't care. Just stop fighting what we are supposed to be and let. Me. Out.
"Nothin' ya say'll change mah mind, Rum," Gin sighed.
Then I will break it, Rum warned. The more you fight me, the more I will wear at your sanity until your convictions crumble. I will become stronger than you until you are nothing but a wimpering shadow of yourself locked in the back of your own brain while I become the pilot. You chose this path. It may take years, but I will make us who we are meant to be, and you will not keep me from that.
"Blah blah blah," Gin mocked, lying down. "You can try again an' again an' you'll always fail. Ah chose ta follow Don Luffy an' nothin'll stop me till Ah see 'im b'come tha King. Least of all a stupid little voice."
Gin! Rum yelled, receiving no answer. Gin you fool! I will win in the end! I will!
Gin didn't respond.
The sun was just poking up over the clouds when Gin's learning began in full. He was now dressed in a brown robe like the rest of the monks of Berka, but lacked the beads they wore. Around him sat much of the council who did not trust the pirate quite yet, even though they chose to follow the choice of Zeus. Said monk sat before Gin, watching him breathe in the scents of the garden around them. Their aromas helped him stay awake after a poor night's sleep, he noted.
"First, you must understand our order," Zeus began, using a staff to draw 14 horizontal lines between herself and the Logia. "We are what you might call monks of battle. We use the dedication and concentration of training to balance our minds and bodies. Such also means we can protect ourselves from outside attacks, which happen more often than one would think."
Gin nodded with a tired blink before Zeus moved on, gesturing to the cloud between them.
"There are 13 members of the Council Olympia, and each member of this Council bears a name consistent with how long they have served. This can also be shown through hair length because members' hair is shaved upon their initiation and never cut afterward. Do you understand so far?"
"Ah do, Lady Zeus," the pirate answered, "but why did ya draw 14 lines iffin there ain't that many members? Does one represent me?"
"A good guess, but no. The 14th line represents the secretary, the next in line to join the Council. Should one of the current Council choose to retire or, gods forbid, fall sick and pass on, the secretary would be the next to join the Council."
"Ah understand, but mah hair will only be shaved iffin Ah become a full member, not just tha secretary."
"Correct. You're catching on fast. Each of these placements," -she tapped each line with her staff- "holds its own name. The one known as Zeus typically has held every other name before, though I am an exception."
"Because o' Eneru?"
"Because of Eneru, yes. From newest to oldest, the titles are Hestia, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, Demeter, Hephaestus, Ares, Athena, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus." With each title, she tapped an ascending line. "Should you take the lowest position, you would be known to us as Hestia. Unfortunately, Berka was thrown into chaos with the exit of Eneru and his followers who killed a great many people and destroyed most of the island. We have yet to fill more than three of the spots they left after killing the previous Zeus and Poseidon."
"An' if Ah joined tha Council, Ah'd norm'ly become Hestia, then Dionysus. But..." Gin paused, counting out the lines, "ya only have down ta Artemis filled. If Ah joined right now, Ah'd become... Apollo?"
"Very good," Zeus praised. "You're smarter than you appear."
"...Was that a complement or 'n insult?"
"Moving on," Zeus pressed, ignoring the question. "While the titles seem like a sort of hierarchy, this is not quite true. With the exception of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, every member of the council has an equal voice. Votes are discussed, but the decisions fall on the Royal Three. The council is meant to sway at least two of the Royal Three to pass or shoot down a vote. Hestia has no say, but is present to record the discussion and final choice and to learn how the proceedings run. When it came to leaving you alive or executing you, I convinced Poseidon to vote alongside me while Hades voted against."
Gin nodded along, but he was sure there were many more intricacies than he was being told.
Several days later
Gin panted, his body black and blue from the training the monks were putting him through. The man had never realized how dependent he'd become on his powers, and how much he had neglected his physical abilities because of it. Ares stood across from him, a woman with a scar stretching from her cheek to between her eyes. She smirked at his panting form, a scythe held behind her effortlessly. Despite his closer-ranged weapons, Gin had yet to land a single hit while the monk had bisected him several times over.
Another problem caused by Logia arrogance, he noted. He was not allowed to use his powers, but that did not stop Ares from beating him with her Haki until what would be a killing blow. He couldn't blame the robes he wore now for his inability to keep up, not anymore. In fact, he was quickly growing to like the simple style of clothing.
"Mantra of the body and Mantra of the mind are the will of all things," Ares muttered, her quiet voice at odds with her fierce fighting style. "Some choose one over the other, but I feel you want both. To use Mantra of the mind is to hear how everything moves so that you may move first. To use Mantra of the body is to blend your will with the will of the world around you until it is physical."
"That don't even make sense," Gin panted, having heard the same speech three times before.
"Perhaps it is time for a break," Ares commented. "I can feel your confusion. Mantra is not something we expect you to unlock soon. It will take months or years of thought, meditation, and practice to awaken, and more to master."
Gin did not answer, flopping on the ground with the warm sun's rays beating down on him. A News Coo cawed above them, Ares moving her hand to catch the paper it dropped without looking up. She sat, opening the paper to read.
"Show off," Gin panted. He stayed there for a minute, catching his breath, before pushing himself into a sitting position. He froze.
There, on the front page of the paper, was his captain.
"... So, uh, 'bout those years o' trainin'?"
End of Episode
Warnin'! Incomin' strong Appalachian accent (fer fun)!
Welcome back! This 's tha second New Timeskip Episode an' tha first ta be completely off tha beaten path. Ah hope ya enjoyed mah play on where Eneru/Enel came from an' what they can offer our wayward 'Devil'. Tha next chapters'll be similar in describin' where tha new members ended up, in this order: Gin (this chapter), Grace, Amy, Merry, and Billy. Ya know, in tha order they joined.
After that, Ah'll go on break again 'til Ah finish tha Marineford War Arc. At that point, this story'll be marked as Complete while One Piece powers on through tha New World. This story'll then go under a hard revision, combinin' smaller chapters together an' correctin' timin' mistakes Ah made, like thinkin' Coby an' Grace were 12. Sure, Ah'll still be writin', but Ah prob'ly won't post anythin' after that 'cept Extras and Omakes 'til Ah reach tha end o' Wholecake an' have a better understandin' o' tha One Piece dynamics as tha Canon plot grows. (Seriously, what'll SWORD do now that Ah've screwed with it without even knowin'? How'll that play inta everythin'? Ah'm as lost as y'all're! Heh, Sword messed with SWORD. Maybe Cap'n Wallace 'll come back?) Anyway...
Read and Review!
-SwordO'ThaGods