Goals Greater Than Pirate King

The sudden pass came in an instant. Mikoto twisted around, eager to meet with Aaron's own speed, the two of them were moving at an equal pace and it was strange. It seemed like the equilibrium between the would've broken by now but every pace Aaron increased his race by Mikoto followed. The two of them wouldn't slow down.

Mikoto who had the ability to perfectly predict Aaron up to this point, using his speed and instinct, there was a brief revelation to him. Aaron suddenly took into off, his multiple firing shots, his racing motion multiplied. The number of feints he did increased to a higher level. Of course, each and every one of his feints was met with Mikoto slipping right in front of him.

A well-placed feint from Mikoto made Aaron do a quick back-step, recoiling back, but he did the same twisting motion as before. He pivoted around on his back foot, quickly shifting his weight to perform another dash, which as met with the same punch. It seemed like there was a shifting of gears on Mikoto's parts. He seemed to be trying to keep Aaron at bay and was succeeding.

Possibly even more so than someone should, especially when their speeds were this similar. Mikoto was actually getting comfortable in a much lower gear than his opponent. He had managed to stay in a much lower speed and still beat Aaron in a race. He intended to force Aaron down a gear. And with those punches it seemed likely.

The feints left and right that Aaron had been throwing needed to be changed up. Aaron skidded back and suddenly began another series of short and powerful dashes. He switched them up again and again, he spun around and tried to create another variety of feints, immediately dashes began to appear that dove above him and below him, but to his surprise once more Mikoto managed to keep up.

Geppou combined with Mikoto shifting into his beast form created a medley of new walls which, completely blocked off Aaron's latest charge. Nonetheless Aaron kept up his rush right at his opponent, he couldn't afford to slow down. As a matter of fact he kept his speed up and tried to force his opponent straight forward. A continuous burst of speed right at him attempting to peel back Mikoto's true speed.

If Aaron slowed down even the slightest bit he could possibly lead Mikoto to slowing down, and gain a slight advantage in speed or stamina, but Aaron knew better he needed to keep the pressure up on Mikoto, a slacking in the pressure wouldn't help. Aaron would pour the pressure on.

He had to keep up the gears. Aaron knew if he slowed down in movement, his pressure would lessen so he kept up the speed. The burst of speed once more applied in every possible direction. A wall as well as a threatening rush. There was no way to escape rush now for Mikoto. He needed to block the attack and prevent Aaron from charging.

Mikoto slid into his highest gear, not just with his feet, but with his hands. A near continuous application of speed originated from his hands in the form of a near shotgun-like burst. It was a wall. There was no unoccupied space to squeeze into where Mikoto's fist wasn't occupying. An entire wall laid before Aaron, no chances of him managing to squeeze past.

Nonetheless that didn't mean he wouldn't give it his all trying. An insane blitz in every direction, trying to test and attempt to break through at every point. He had known it would probably end up this way eventually. It wouldn't be possible for him to win if he was slower than Mikoto, he needed to go faster than him. And right now was the time for him to pour on the gas.

A continuous shifting of gears appeared for a second there. As both fighters tried to remain in control or get in control, but it soon began to seem impossible for Aaron. Mikoto had managed to completely block off all sides and all openings, a verifiable wall had appeared before Aaron both in the literal and metaphoric sense. Mikoto was blocking his way to his dream.

And he had every right to be. Aaron took a deep breath and remembered why he originally wanted to follow this man, why he originally wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. The fastest person in the world. Such a goal wasn't just a dream. He really could achieve it if he tried. The first stepping stone was just to surpass Mikoto!

Which he would do!

He needed to pour on the gas in order to create the opening he needed. Another frantic burst of feints. However, this time something small changed as he went up a gear. It was almost as if he hadn't shifted up a gear, but Mikoto had shifted down. As a matter of fact to Aaron in that dash, everything seemed to have shifted down. The falling leaves seemed to hang in the air for a second longer than they should. The birds seemed slower. Everything had slowed down.

And for the first time this fight he could actually take in what his opponent was doing. It wasn't just a blur any more. He could see Mikoto shuffle his feet in one direction, dash-off in another. The punches were slowed down and more importantly a hole appeared. Aarn didn't understand why, but Mikoto's rhythmic approach to his punches had left one small gap in the previously impenetrable wall. And Aaron could see it.

A burst of speed right at the gap seemed to put Mikot off balance. There was no hesitation to this charge unlike the previous ones. It was possible that it was another layer of feints being added to the mix. But Mikoto could sense that it was real. He had every intention of doing it here and now. So Mikoto had every intention of cutting him off.

Mikoto drove down, the entire wall shrunk as Mikoto lessened his legs, but Aaron didn't slow down at all. To him the hole The possibility of winning was still there. He couldn't slow down not here and not now. Mikoto raced in to block, but he was just a second too slow.

Or Aaron was just a second too fast. Mikoto's wall of fur and power, suddenly collapsed in and on itself, disappearing into a single man, who was watching as Aaron bolted on further down the road. For a split second, if not longer Aaron, was going faster than him. Mikoto slowed his pace down to a sudden halt. He had been outraced.

The finish line wasn't far in sight yet and Mikoto guessed they probably still had a quarter of the track to run, but it didn't matter. He was beaten in the race of the fastest. He could stubbornly cling onto that title for a little longer, give it one last shot in this race, but he knew that he had gone all out in that moment. Truly his current top speed.

Mikoto walked the rest of the way to the ship. His top speed had been drawn out of him and it had been squashed magnificently. He still wasn't good enough for the world. He would have to get stronger and get faster. The Yonkou seemed like the perfect play mate.

(-A few hours later, out at sea-)

There had been no party, no tearful farewells, no 'see ya laters'. They all knew what they were going to do. They were going to complete their job and then meet back up. They had no need to say 'good-bye' as they would see each other again. They had decided that by the time they all stepped on the ship.

Very few congratulations had been thrown in Aaron's direction to celebrate his victory over Mikoto. It was clearly impressive, but it was still their captain who lost. They couldn't say congratulations when ultimately it was still their loss. Mixed feelings that couldn't quite make themselves obvious in this mess for obvious reasons. They stayed quiet.

And now they were separated. The three ships, Mikoto's ship, Shane's ship, and the mixed ship had all sailed away in separate directions. All of them aiming to claim the world. They had no desire to enter the war that was ahead of them, but if they were going to be dragged into it, they would do everything in their power to win it.

Mikoto slumped down and began to rest quietly. He didn't want to admit it, but that race with Aaron took more out of him then he wanted to admit. His entire body was aching and he was fairly certain he developed some kind of burns on his arms and legs from moving that fast. He had told Enma about it and Enma just put some cooling cream on it and told him to take it easy.

The burns didn't surprise Enma as much as the fact that Mikoto actually did take his advice and was resting up. Mikoto was the kind of guy to get easily riled up and have a lot of excess energy. So the fact that he could actually relax was probably a sign that he had matured even a little bit since they met.

"What's this Yonkou like," Mikoto muttered causing Enma to perk up a little bit from behind his desk. "This Yonkou," Mikoto repeated, "what's she like?"

"I suppose now is a good of time as always to tell you," Enma stated although in all honesty he probably should've updated him before they set sail. "Rumors of her prowess is all that's known to many people. She's strong enough to either defeat you in battle or command enough respect to make sure you don't tell people the exacts of her nature."

"Okay, so our chances of beating her in battle are nil."

"Pretty much," Enma pointed out before pausing as he took it into consideration, "she doesn't have a massive crew like most Yonkous or like Kai, especially. She has a small select few pirates she likes enough to keep on her crew permanently. Everybody else she takes into battle are like us, just a couple of pirate crews who are impressed with her talent and hope to one day be accepted onto her crew full-time."

"That's odd," Mikoto stated leaning forward slightly and resting his head on his knuckles, "I mean your nakamas are like your family. Seems like most pirates would go out there with the intention of getting as many as possible."

"Well," Enma laughed slightly, unsure of how to say it as it was just rumors after all, but it was one of the most common ones, "she already done has a family."

"What?"

"Yeah, she did something not many pirates are willing to do," Enma stated, "she got married and remained a pirate. It takes a lot of guts to do something like that. Rumors are that they are even thinking about having a kid. Its amazing what kind of determination it would take to do that.

"Being pregnant is no walk in the park, and then having to constantly watch your kid while you're fighting Marines? Its amazing that she could do that. I know things like this are probably the furthest from your mind, but still you've got to admit it it takes guts and skills."

"I wouldn't say the furthest from my mind," Mikoto muttered while he looked down at the ground and smiled, "I wouldn't mind eventually settling down and raising a family, but the thing is I think I'm beginning to understand a little bit more about why he did what he did. And why thinking back on it like that, he was probably the world's greatest man."

"Huh, who?" Enma asked at a literal lost of names for who this guy could be.

"Think about it," Mikoto reminisced, kicking his head back and staring up at the sky. "The reason why she is still a pirate despite having a family is because she's confident that she can still complete her dreams or maybe that she refuse to give up on her dream throughout it all, but still wants a family. If you think that takes guts what do you think about the person who gave up their dreams."

"I don't really know," Enma brought up. He had no idea who Mikoto was talking about, but for some reason the way Mikoto was talking made him want to pay attention. It was like he was speaking from some place deep down in his heart. Still Enma supposed something needed to be said, "I'd probably say it was inevitable. Not many people can accomplish their dreams."

"I think this man just saw a bigger dream," Mikoto muttered, "a dream he wanted to have even if it swallowed his original dream. His dream for a family trumped even his dream to become one of the world's greatest pirates. He had the skills, I know he did. He could've become a Shichibukai or Yonkou if he had just kept trying.

"But he gave it up to raise a family. He gave it up to raise me."

Enma nodded. He recalled a few parting conversations about Mikoto's father, one of the world's worst pirates they called him. He didn't lose all too many battles, but the thing was after winning a few battles and getting a bounty finally instated he just vanished off of the map. The Marines thought he vanished into the thick of the night for a while so his low bounty remained ever-present for years, until they decided to give it up.

He had disappeared with a low bounty, so people thought he ran away from pirating at the thought of his death. That he gave up on pirating because he was scared, but really, and Enma saw it now, he gave up on pirating for something grander.

"I'm going to be honest," Mikoto chuckled, "I can't do that. I can't give up on my dream like he did. So even if its selfish, even if I have to turn away the idea of having my own real family, I'm going to become King of the Pirates. I'm willing to sacrifice everything, even my own life, to achieve my dream."

Jet Stream Island

So now I bet the one or two people who peruse my stories still are wondering where I went. A mixture of graduating from college and now spending 24/7 checking job sites and the like. A truly boring drawl, but absolutely necessary. However, that has sapped a lot of energy.

Combine that with a complete lack of a real and true schedule I have so much 'free time' that I have to figure out when to properly upload, which is why Sights has gotten a completely random upload schedule that I have no real reason for.

Which is why I am going to say this I will not have a schedule for updating. Sadly I cannot get in anything resembling a rhythm, but I do plan on uploading. It'll just be a bit more random unless something happens and I get into a true rhythm.