Disclaimer: Hokurou's mine. One Piece is Eiichiro Oda's.
(13 years ago. Location Mariejois. Gallows.)
Finally arriving to the entrance of the prison chambers after minutes of shunshinning over the rooftops, I reached the entrance of the prison quarters and I encountered something I expected from the scum of this city.
A group of guards were holding down the large doors that led to the prisons where the slave where held at and judging from the roars and banging on the gate meant there were still some who were still some who were trapped in the other side.
Along with the said guards were some of the Tenryuubito who were shouting orders at them while holding pistols at them at point blank range, guess even the guards of these 'World SCUM' share some form of distrust with them.
Quickly finding a solution to this predicament I spotted shards of broken glass near me, grabbing the longer, more jagged shards, imbuing the makeshift throwing knives with chakra, I set my aim with half assed seriousness and threw.
Nailing each of the Shouting Tenryuubito in the head.
Wondering what had happened to the Tenryuubito with the sudden silence, the sound of stabbing and a series of thuds, they turned to look behind them and had looked fearful of the sight before them.
Three of the World Nobles, on the floor, dead, with glass protruding from the back of their heads and behind them, me, the rumored "Monster Slave" of Mariejois who had slain dozens of the 'finest' of marines and greatly injured a vice-admiral before being subdued.
Smirking at the terrified look on their faces, I decided to ham it up a bit more.
Pointing my thumb behind me, I merely said "I'll give you a TEN minute head start." emanating my killing intent to physical form so that they could see a white wolf twice my size behind me, looking at them in hunger.
In a heartbeat, the shellshocked guards ran with all their strength to the kingdom's exit, some of them were even stripping off pieces of their armor so they could run faster.
That would definitely add to my name if they manage to survive and report to their superiors.
But now, without the opposing force that it keeping the wooden gates closed, the tall objects finally gave in to all the stress as its hinges broke and the doors fell down, right in front of me.
With the obstructions gone, my eyes encounter the sight of a group of chained people, a mix of races, humans dominant in numbers, a few dwarves were standing on the shoulders of the men and women, there were even three majestic mermaids being carried by the men of the group.
Having dismissed my Sakki before I the gates fell down, I pulled away my sadistic side for for my concern of the imprisoned to take its place.
"Is this all of you? Are there anymore still trapped?" I questioned them quickly, wanting to get with my business and their freedom as fast as possible.
With a shake of heads from the group I sighed in relied, strengthening my hands with chakra as I snapped each of their chains and collars one by one, each one of them amazed at my strength and the surprise of the defusing of the slave collars without it exploding.
Once I was done, I motioned for them to follow me, which they silently obeyed and soon I gave my input.
Turning to them again after walking a few blocks from the Gallows I said "We're getting out of here." after the groups cheers and sighs of relief I continued "I need someone who can lead this group out of the city, who knows the fastest way out?"
To that, a Tall muscular merman with a fishes tail for a lower body and a young skinny girl with brown ragged. raised their hand, both of them seem to have some form of familiarity between each other, possibly saw each other as a father and daughter figures.
The girl answered "We were previously tasked to deliver parcels through various nobles so we know the city inside out." To that the larger man nodded his confirmation.
"Good." Grabbing a torch, some rags and creating a makeshift torch and giving it to the girl, continuing "Lead the others out of the city. I'll create a distraction for you, everyone would focus more on the rampaging beast than a group of runaway slaves."
"Hai." Came from the stoic merman.
"Arigatou Onii-san." said the young girl, giving a genuine happy grin but seemed to be instilled with paranoia and fear but in hopes of alleviating her dilema I replied by putting a calming smile on my face.
With the confirmation from the two they began leading the large group out as I jumped to the rooftops to find the tallest building in the kingdom.
Reaching one of the towers, I gained excellent view of the kingdom,the various main paths and highways.
I see various groups of slaves, Nobles and Guards running for the exits, the bastards not caring for anything but their own lives, even trampling over the bodies of their own allies while the slaves were running there was no tomorrow, intent on never getting captured again.
I can even see the group I encountered back in the chambers, the girl, torch in hand, led at the front, causing more and more of the enslaved to follow their one group.
Somehow in that little moment, that young kid reminded me of a certain blonde brat, who wished to become Hokage, who changed the ninja world by storm, inspired figures that became unique, great, those who united all ninja, those who were redeemed.
This one person, bringing more people together in his way, one by one, step by step.
And someone like me will be there, giving them that vital lift to get to the end, even if it meant MY end would come, alone, overwhelmed, dead.
Though I had accepted this fate, I had been forced into a line of self sacrifice and service to others.
I was forced into a life of risking my own life for others, to assist the innocent in every way, to be given all these expectations that rises as the years go by and I have to accept it to be something as natural as breathing.
My damn vows... That damned snake...
Looks like I have something to thank him for all those experiments with all the failures I have endured in my career as a ninja.
Gathering all the evil and traumatizing memories which I locked up in my head, all the deaths of my comrades, the men I failed to lead and protect, the civilians and innocent who were under my responsibility, my adoptive family.
I nearly threw up due to all the hate and depression that was flowing through my chakra system, breaking it down and deteriorating it while I forced all that malice and dark energy to form a separate entity
You never had a family to begin with!
You were the only one who believed in the White Fang...
My only goal is in the darkness.
You failed your comrades, just like you failed your nakama.
Hope is an Illusion.
This world... I don't care about it anymore...
Self-Sacrifice is easier to say than do.
While I walk towards my real dream, I'll enjoy fighting you.
All you needed to do was to fall once, and all that would turn around into deep hatred for the world.
It's already over.
I'm sorry my Musuko (son), if only I could see your face.
HOKUROU!
Entering my own world, the sounds of flames and screams were none existent in my mind.
I controlled my taxed breathing as dark chakra was forcibly pulled from my body.
Returning to the world around me, I opened my eyes to see the darker side of myself before me, looking exactly like me when I was in my prime, years older than me, wearing the the signature 'leaf' flak jacket, face mask and forehead protector with the leaf symbol that covered both his eyes, even though I couldn't see his face I could practically sense him smirking in arrogance.
This 'Holy Land' will be tested whether it can withstand the Inferno of the leaf that can outlast and overwhelm even Ameterasu itself.
"Looks like you need MY help lapdog" My alter ego mocked in a vain attempt to enrage me so he could take over my body more easily.
"Yes, indeed I do." I confirmed his statement, which made him facefault before bringing up a tough face and demanding to know what I wanted.
I ordered to him "There's some insects that need to be exterminated, let's flush them out of their nests." My darker side gave a grin of approval.
"Your getting closer to accepting your true nature, I'm proud of you." ruffling my hair in mirth before standing behind me, facing back to back and preparing to burn this kingdom.
We both formed the Horse hand seal, I roared as my nearly half my chakra reserves formed up in my mouth, the sheer magnitude of the Chakra causing moderate stress to my body, preparing to unleash inferno.
I flung my head backwards before leaning forward, putting my mouth closer to my hands holding the seal, "Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!" I roared as a line of fire spewed from my mouth that quickly spread out a kilometers and engulfed about half of the kingdom, while my darker side covered the other half.
*POV Young girl* Location Outside Mariejois.
I looked in amazement and fear as I looked back at the slowly receding view of Mariejois, only to find a giant inferno engulfed the kingdom.
The rest of the guys, even Tou-san had a shocked yet slight amusement in the sight before them.
Trying to find anything visible left my eyes set upon one of the towers which held an individual and a shadowy figure which I couldn't recognize that had put me in immediate worry.
My hero, our savior, Hokurou the 'monster slave' was spewing forth fire from his mouth which fed the unrelenting flames below him.
But before I could shout to the rest, onii-san and the shadow had stopped unleashing their wrath on the city and vanished, only after-images were left that were slowly fading away as the fires that were left still burned unrelenting.
Please be safe. I pleaded in my mind as I remained worried despite the admiration of onii-sans strength, continuing on the responsibility he gave to me, to lead these people to freedom.
And with that, I continued to run away from the city as we silently prayed for our hero's safety.
*POV Hancock* Location Bridge leading to the outside front entrance of the kingdom.
"Onee-sama!" Marigold, my youngest sister shouted to me, making me turn to her as she pointed back to the kingdom as it seemed that she couldn't trust her own words to explain the sight before her.
Turning to her view, I took a step back, mouth agape as I couldn't comprehend what I saw before me.
Mariejois, the place we considered a living hell, was replaced by a giant wall of fire which blocked our view of the city.
This was in no way possible, someone must have caused this.
"White eyes..." Sandersonia mumbled in sadness, where my confusion to her statement quickly turned to worry after I realized who she was referring to.
'Onii-san! He couldn't still be in there?!' I thought in distress as the ferocity of the inferno only kept rising.
But suddenly I remembered the times when he has spoken to us.
*Flashback (4 years ago)*
"Alright he's had enough, get him to his cell, no food for a week." Ordered the World Noble next to me, trying to act tough, desperately trying to find something that would benefit them here as he was the one demonstrating the Tenryuujima's more 'humane' punishments,
Which to them meant constant lashes in the back for hours.
This was supposed to be a sad demonstration for us slaves, but it somehow turned to something comical as the White-eyed teen was deadpanning the entire time, at some points even stating a life facts getting laughs from even the guards.
Though the Nobles were Livid that the boy wasn't reacting the way they were expecting,
but what was shocking to all of us was the considerable resistance and strength he had, the notched whip leaving only bruises on his skin instead of leaving gaping wounds.
And in the entire time of the punishment I sensed some form of aura emanating from him which seems to strengthen his durability, was it some form of Haki? It couldn't be one as it had no physical manifestation, this kid was more of a mystery the more you learn about him.
After such a humiliating demonstration for the presenters, the guards were quick to release the boy from the harness, chain him and drag him back to the gallows, but the path they crossed was the area where I was and it looked like the boy had more to say.
"Hold it." He ordered the guards and the fearsome pair immediately halted to his commands.
Though the noble near me was shouting something incoherent beside me, somehow everything tuned out for my hearing aside from the boy's voice as he rose his head to show me a happy grin, asking "You alright?" seemingly uncaring of his current situation and more focused on me.
And despite the circumstances, I blushed under his genuinely happy and chivalrous attitude.
"H-h-hai." I meekly stuttered my confirmation, why am I feeling like this!?
His grin faded to a more calm smile, merely saying "Good." even leaving me as a bigger stuttering mess before turning to the shouting noble, immediately losing the kind attitude at his mere presence, a mysterious aura manifesting into a a darker shadow that resembled a silhouette of a wolf, it even had a red eye glowing from it.
"Hopefully we got the issue taken care of right jii-sama?" asking in a dark yet polite tone while growling out like a wolf, making some people near us sweat in fear, yet it looks like my sisters and I are the only ones unaffected by this.
"Y-y-ye-YES!" The Noble quickly answered, laughing nervously at the glare he was receiving "Indeed haha, this fine woman and her two sisters will get a proper occupation of servitude to us, simple house maidens, nothing malicious whatsoever! hahaha." His explanation about his argument with the boy, surprising me and my sisters, why would he go out of his way and risk his life for us?
"Good" The boys happy expression immediately returned before turning to me again giving another calm persona.
"If any of you need help, I'll be there." he finally said before he asked the guards to finally send him back to his cell.
'Who is that guy?' I wondered.
*Flashback end*
"You alright?"
"If any of you need help, I'll be there."
"You don't owe me anything."
"I was holding back last time."
Remembering his previous words, I suddenly realized.
I had been underestimating him.
He had this time to show his power and strengths, yet I'm still worried of his well being when I should be confident of his abilities.
If I keep at this, if I ever faced against him one day, he would defeat me easily.
Turning to my siblings I reassured them that he was alright before turning back to the path we decided on and continued to run.
They both asked how and why, I merely stated.
"This is likely one of the strengths he was holding back from us." and from there the rest of our journey was silent before Sandersonia wondered something aloud.
"What was his name?"
...
That was a good point actually, all these years and he had yet to mention his name to us, sure the rest of the fellow slaves knew his identity, but it was likely he wanted them to keep silent from us.
But before we could delve further a note with a feather attached to it flew to the current of the wind and stopped right in front of me, opening it, it read.
Dear Boa Hancock,
Sorry if I couldn't get to you but it seems I'm busy dealing with something.
I am confident we will meet each other again. It would be interesting to spar against you one day.
So become stronger, become beautiful and wise, kind and intelligent. There is much potential in you.
Hopefully this letter reaches you, if not my skill at throwing must have seriously degraded.
-Hokurou de Sephtis.
"White Wolf of Death huh?" I pondered at the meaning of his name as we continued to run, as far away from this place and closer to our freedom.
*POV Tiger Fish*
"Boss-sama!" a shark fishman shouted at me during the walk of our exodus from the 'Holy Ground' "Look!" pointing back at the kingdom.
What I saw left me intrigued as to who was powerful enough to cause such a phenomenon.
What I saw was two giant streams of flame which engulfed the entire kingdom, the twin inferno's originating from two individuals, both them human.
One of them was a young boy in his teens, wearing rags with bandages taped to his hands and feet, the cuff and chains confirming my suspicion that he was a fellow slave.
'So that's the monster slave that's everyone has been talking about... I knew I felt his presence in the kingdom if only for a while...' I thought to myself as I remember a flash of pain running over me but nothing I couldn't handle but the Tenruubito's and their guards were choking from the pressure.
But the other individual with him was more of a mystery even through the way he dressed.
Navy blue uniform with red swirls on each arm, green jacket, blue headband over eyes. He didn't look like an admiral or marine, he wasn't any pirate I recognized.
Both humans seemed to emanate auras of their own, surprising for me as I couldn't recognize them as a form of haki, but what shocked me the most was that both of their auras were contrasting and were battling each other for dominance, the older one's aura was pure black, full of malice. While the boy's aura was a bright white, pure.
Before I could assess more, the two of them stopped the surge of fire before disappearing to whatever destination their heading to.
"I can't help but think that this won't be the last time I'll meet those two." I thought aloud to my fellow fishmen's confusion before putting up shocked faces and trying to catch up as I had already gone ahead of them.
*POV Saint Roswald*
"I knew that that brat would be nothing but trouble, he was literally a bad omen given form, but noooo, He could become an asset they said, He will submit they said, now this happened!" I mumbled loudly as I led my children out of the city and on the way to the nearest Marine outpost.
"Well here's one of the world SCUM lapdog." a deep, husky voice mocked, looking behind us, what I saw before me greatly confused me and greatly scared me.
Two men, one mature, one young, the former looking at us in blood lust, the latter glaring solely at me in indifference.
The mature man wore an all navy blue uniform with red swirls patched unto the sides of his shirt's arms, over that was a green jacket, he wore a facemask and a headband, attached to it was a metal plate which had a leaf symbol engraved on it. He was no marine.
While the other man was a certain individual I hoped that I would never meet.
Slicked back spiked hair, pure white eyes, tattered clothes, broken cuffs and chains, Sephtis, the 'monster slave'.
Looking on in fear, I fell back in shock as through the older mans gaze I saw myself dying in multiple ways.
I immediately put myself in a kneeling position and started begging for my families lives.
"Please spare us!" I tore up, earning a silent stare from Sephtis and a huff of arrogance from the enigma of a man while my children looked in shock at my submissive position.
Taking the two blades that I managed to grab from my home before I we ran, and offered it to both of them "Please!" Repeating myself once more, getting an interested look from the masked man and a more angry stare from the young 'monster slave' "Take this as a sign of good will, I have children!" Continuing to plead for my families continued existence, which brought the masked man to an unamused stance and a pitying stare from the young one once I brought morals into the situation when I mentioned my son and daughter.
The masked man took both of the blades and gracefully unsheathed them, looking at the two six-shot gun-blades in marvel.
"Interesting, exotic" the masked man finally voiced "Makes for a mixed, unpredictable style of fighting." complimenting on the two blades, already having a good idea on how to use them in good effect, before returning them to their sheathes and tossing them to the younger man while nodding to him.
"We have a deal." he agreed facing to me, before nodding to the younger man again, who returned the nod with a silent glare before following him in his destination,
AWAY from us.
Silently I wholeheartedly thanked all the deities in the land for such a miracle with us barely escaping with our well being fully intact.
But my proud son Roswald had possibly done the most idiotic thing possible which meant the damning of our lives.
Taking up a nearby dead guards pistol, he aimed it at Sephtis, shouting "YOU ARE THE SCUM YOU COMMONERS!" before pulling the trigger.
The masked man, again, with his actions now confirming my fears, had flashed in front of the bullets path, the speeding ball of lead doing absolutely nothing to him.
Allowing us to have a moment of shock, the masked man walked menacingly towards my son, who still had a face full of fear, standing completely still as if looking in the eye of death himself despite the older man masking his entire face.
Now standing at arms length of my son, he put forward his hand over my sons head, his hand clutched as a fist, I feared that he would crush my son, but what he had done had shocked me to my very core.
He released his grip and what he had in his hand was both impossible and insane.
The bullet.
The ball of lead dropping on my son's glass helmet, creating a crack on the very thing that had kept his intergity free and also creating a light ping sound had brought him back to his senses.
Roswald screamed, dropping the flintlock before he tried to run back to me, which had been halted by the masked man by gripping on his glass helmet, threatening to break it and crush my sons head in the process, both shaming him and killing him.
I was in whole shock at that entire moment, being able to do nothing for my son as the only thing my body was capable of doing was stare.
More shockingly that was the time my daughter who decided to act, having more wits than a more wise noble like me.
"Let go of my brother!" she shouted in tears, picking up the dropped flintlock by the barrel and started hitting the masked man with it as her eyes teared up more.
The masked man formed a darker aura around him as he now stared at the non-existent threat to him, prompting more screaming and thrashing about from my son but my daughter, Shalulia never wavered, continuing in her effort to free her brother, now my efforts of saving my family were crushed.
If I could just be as foolhardy as her... I depressingly thought as this was likely the end for us three.
But what happened next was even a mystery to me than the question as to who were these two monsters.
The masked man had suddenly dropped my son, allowing Roswald to finally run up to me, hugging me like I would disappear if he let go and cried. The man then kneeled with his one knee as he faced Shalulia, my daughter was struck by fear once more, unable to move as the masked man's full attention was on her now.
He then proceeded, to the slave kid's surprise, remove his headband, revealing his eyes to us.
Both had fully red sclera and iris, in the centre were three stretched triangles that were evenly spaced around the pupil, curving at the top at the top around the eye, forming a pinwheel.
Each of us except for the kid and the masked man were stunned at his unnatural eyes, the very eyes itself were beckoning us to look at it, pulling us into a false sense of security.
The man then reached out for her, Shalulia wavered but the red-eyed man was now completely docile when it came to his attitude for her, being slow and easy on his reach.
And did another physically impossible feat, his hand going through the glass with both body part and transparent object remaining completely intact as he ruffled the girls head.
"Good, you know well." he complimented surprising us with his complete change of attitude "Protecting your family is above all." giving her an absolutely genuine eye smile, completely calming her of her fears.
Turning to me and my son, he called out "Hey, runt." shouting to my son how was pulled out of his stupor "If you think you can just kill me just like that, remember your letting go of everything that is protecting you from me. So you better get stronger before you try something stupid again." He advised before he stood up and returned on his was to the opposite path.
Sephtis commented "Never thought you had it in you older me." what was he talking about?
The older man merely laughed and remarked "I just want you to not carry everyone's burdens and expectations for yourself and actually live your life you know?" leaving the young beast baffled before they both disappeared in a flash.
I couldn't tell how long we were still there, as still as a rock, Shalulia had a far off look in her eyes, while Roswald had a fiery, determined look in his.
After a while, possibly hours, a regiment of marine's had arrived including Vice Admiral Sakazuki.
"Lord Roswald!" Sakazuki shouted "Are you hurt?"
"No.. no, were fine." I replied tired, what took them so long?
While I relaxed, I could clearly see the rage in the eyes of my children, clearly due to the timing of the marines.
"Let's go, I've had enough for today." I told them, now they visibly relaxed and each of them held my hands as I walked them, in escort of the vice admiral and a group of marines he selected, while the rest ran into the still burning city, in effort to save what still left inside the inferno.
We didn't even bother requesting a mount to ride on, walking a long path sounds like a good way to dull my head of all the stress right now.
END OF CH2.