CHAPTER 36 - Monsters & Regimen: Part 3
Moria kept his mouth shut. There was nothing he had to say. His career as a pirate was in the downside ever since he made contact with the Straw Hat crew back in Thriller Bark. And now that Straw Hat Luffy's henchman had brought along the notorious Trafalgar Law on the platter of trouble, Moria was simply tired. His two year plan of rejuvenating his lost crew a second time had resulted in nothing more than a catastrophic end. The ambush attempt against the Surgeon of Death was a turnaround Moria hadn't expected despite having numbers to his side. And yet the cunning pirate of the Worst Generation flipped tables just as he had the habit of flipping his fingers.
"I am right, aren't I?" Law demanded.
There was no answer. A map was kept on the dashboard with Moria's head. The man kept a constant stare towards the waters coloured blue shown on the map known as the Pacific Ocean. He made no comment to Law's demands. But he did speak.
"If you want to finish me off, be my guest." Moria made a reply, "There's no way I'm cooperating."
Law had every ability to grant the request, but that's not who he was. A dead prisoner was no use to him, and besides, killing in cold blood was never his code. He'd rather return Moria's head to the body and fight, than to win without resistance. He observed his fellow former Warlord.
"I appreciate your stubbornness." Law said, "Nothing less I'd expect from a Warlord, and a pirate who went against Kaido, and lived."
Moria glared back at his foe, "Don't bring that bastard's name."
Law returned a smirk knowing that he got Moria's attention.
"Heard that Jack and Doflamingo have caused trouble out here." the latter mentioned, "Both bloodthirsty pirates whom I'd rather stomp to the grave than collect their blasted shadows."
"So it's true, eh?" Law asked.
"What?"
"I had heard of your history with Kaido, but was quite unsure with a rumour involving Doflamingo. The incident at Marineford. Heard he attacked you."
Moria did not reply. Another embarrassing instance.
Law decided not to probe but wrap up his interrogation. He hadn't expected much information out of the session and got nothing significant, but he did receive a vibe of uncertain leverages ahead. Moria couldn't figure him out. Law left without further word.
One week had passed since the day he had to fight the Upper Demon Moon Gyutaro and his sister Daki. As for the latter, she was a test subject in Shinobu and Tamayo's endeavour towards reversing demonisation, and curing lethal demonic poisons. Law assisted the project, but decided to let Tamayo take over the advanced research, due her prolonged life and her long research against Kibutsuji. Shinobu and Law took care of the infirmary dealing with an increasing surge of wounded Demon Slayers, most of them young and dedicated, sent out against the new wave of organised Demonic attacks on countless habitations. The deaths rose. Ubuyashiki was in concern. Despite the defeat of Upper Demon Moons, Hantengu (No. 4) and Gyutaro/Daki (No. 6), there was no cease of demonic activity. More the contrary. As Tamayo had mentioned, 'Kibutsuji was wounded'. And she knew a wounded Kibutsuji was more a threat, and relayed her concern with the whole enterprise fighting against the common enemy. Law understood Zoro had been impatient the whole week. The latter indicated his angst, despite making no remark. Their sojourn at the mainland had been longer than anticipated and proved disadvantageous against their plans in the New World. The new ship was in progress and awaited completion. Meanwhile, they had to lay low from common enemies all around. The primary antagonists awaiting be Jack 'The Drought' and the 'Demon King' Kibutsuji. Both were trouble, with formidable underlings.
Law knew the week hadn't been a waste. Despite no progress on the New World end, the training with the Demon Slayers seemed to have gone well. There had been no attack on the Headquarters, but many assumed the instance of Gyutaro and Daki wasn't going to be the only one.
Law leaned on the corridor wall, trying to catch his breath. He held his blade as a support, keeping himself standing. Sweat flowing down his face.
"No time." he heaved, moving himself ahead.
He reached his room and found the mess in the same manner as he had left. The table and study were filled with scrolls, papers and books. The bed was unorganised and wrinkled to a maze. The mattress was in disarray half-suspended towards the ground. Closing the door behind, he decided to get back to his research. But that never happened. The man stumbled to the ground unconscious.
Zoro and Kanao observed the spar between Shinobu and Tomioka. Both the latter clashed blades letting off spark mid-air. Any common Demon Slayer would not have followed their movements. But the two observers managed to keep an eye on their effort. Tomioka lunged in with his Nichirin blade. Shinobu, slick with her movements managed to see it coming, dodging the lethal blade within an inch, dashing ahead with a counter riposte. Contrary to her previous thin sword, Kanao realised, Shinobu had replaced it with a standard Nichirin blade, keeping her old one stowed on her as a secondary. Tomioka twisted his own blade to deflect Shinobu's lunge. The confrontation let off another volley of sparks. The clash broke off, deflecting both the swordsmen away from each other. Both had landed on their feet, heaving hard from the long joust.
"Alright. That's good." Zoro remarked, ending the session.
"I can go on." Shinobu replied.
"Same." Tomioka agreed.
"You want to kill each other?" Zoro bellowed.
"Fine." Shinobu said, withdrawing her blade.
Tomioka followed suit.
"I sensed that aura better in this fight." Shinobu remarked, "Many Demon Slayers including the Hashiras have the ability to sense Demons. Added to that, I have been experiencing this weird feeling in my previous fights against the Demons. It seemed this intuition helped me dodge some dangerous instances, where it seemed the enemy had struck right through me, and yet, I was surprised to be alive."
"No surprise there. I had a hunch you might be ready to understand Observation Haki, seeing your movements with your petite body." Zoro explained.
Shinobu scorned at him hearing of her constitution.
"What?" Zoro enquired her look, confused.
"Do continue." Tomioka interjected. A slight chuckle was heard from him, taking Shinobu's notice.
"Right." Zoro looked back upon Shinobu, "Looking at your thin sword, your basic strategy involved less of inflicting physical damage and more of precision stabs, added with tactical evasion. That practice itself seems to be responsible, training you to be aware of your enemies' movements."
"And what good will that do against stronger enemies?" Shinobu demanded with her scorn.
Tomioka understood her angst. Zoro had laid out Shinobu's greatest frustration; her smaller body and inferior physical strength compared to her fellow Hashiras.
Zoro looked at her surprised.
"Though most people can be taught Haki within their lifetime, very few can actually learn it in the level that you are doing. Especially, Observation Haki. Despite you not knowing the full extent about it, it had saved your life, hasn't it? And besides, I wasn't expecting the three of you to show any kind of progress in the first week alone." He turned towards Shinobu, "On the contrary, your affinity with Observation Haki seems to show more potential than even my own."
"But Observation Haki cannot kill a higher echelon Demon or defeat a pirate like Jack."
"Maybe. But it needn't be that Haki be simply learnt to cause harm. I have seen some rare cases in my journey. The rare people with innate affinity for Observation Haki often tend to have experienced traumatic or other sorts of disturbing experiences in their lives. Monstrosity is common in a cutthroat world, and thus tragedy is not unheard of. But it's not the negative experiences that tend to awaken one's potential, but the emotions that tend to do positive things, like protecting one's friends and family, or genuine kindness. You told us back then that revenge is your answer against the Demons. It is true that they have caused you grief, killing your sister and what not. But is that what you truly want? Living in a personal world of grief and hatred? Kanae told me that she had wanted a life quite the opposite from the one you are living right now."
"She did, didn't she?" Shinobu mumbled in indecision, knowing well of her sister's dying wish, "But that doesn't change the fact that we have to kill Demons to gain salvation. And one can't defeat them without strength."
"But it depends on the question whether you have looked for strength. Where does the strength come from? For someone like Doflamingo it may be hatred but unlike most people, he has shown to be a rare case of genuine evil. But that's not you. You do realise you are holding a different blade this time, and capable of clashing against your fellow Tomioka with that same thing and similar strength?"
"That's right. She has gotten stronger." Tomioka remarked, observing her new Nichirin blade.
Shinobu hadn't realised that until then. Before the expedition to the Ryukyu Islands, she hadn't been capable of wielding a normal Nichirin blade due to her physical weakness. But without herself being aware, she had been capable of wielding Zoro's Kitetsu in multiple situations, and later being able to perform a Flying Blade attack, a technique, which Zoro himself considered it an ability found amongst advanced swordsmen.
Shinobu observed her new Nichirin blade.
"But how?" she asked.
"I believe one needs to have an honest conviction and dedication to gain genuine strength." Kanao said.
"Yeah." Zoro agreed, "It depends on the hard work as well, but the conviction is an important factor. Doflamingo's innate belief must've been to raise terror all around and that gave him strength."
"Maybe our victory against the Demon army on the Ryukyu Islands gave us all the hope to fight on, and look forward after a long time."
"That as well."
"You underestimate yourself, young lady." Zoro told Shinobu, "Your sister's kinda back and is telling you to live happy, eh? It's the bright side that counts, shan't it?"
"I guess so." Shinobu muttered. There was a blush on her face.
"Never mind me. You don't need me to tell you what's right, when you are doing it right. And besides, neither Jack nor Kibutsuji is undefeatable. Heard the Marine Admirals gave Jack a beating at sea, whilst we have given Kibutsuji a scare."
"We'll figure something out." Tomioka added.
"Right." Zoro nodded, "A week or two, and maybe, you three might handle the basics of Haki. I think you three can handle the riff-raffs under Jack with those Artificial Devil Fruit powers. As for you, Tomioka and Kanao here, both of you shall be able to employ Armament Haki if we can get enough time to work on. In the worst case, should Jack find us here before long, you both will be needed to hold him and his pirates who can use Armament Haki."
"Won't Armament Haki be able defeat to Jack?" Kanao asked, eager to know.
"Very uncertain. At least I can say that now, getting to know the basics of Haki." Tomioka remarked.
"Uzui and I would have been slaughtered should the fight have extended with Jack." He explained, "Zoro's Armament is strong in terms of attack, but on the contrary, Jack's defence is out of this world. He predicted my fast sword attacks despite his enormous size in his Mammoth form and blocked every one of them with his tusks without a single dent. The same for Uzui, despite him being able to get one of his bomb attacks onto Jack whilst the pirate was busy with my struggle."
"What's your point?" Shinobu asked.
"In regard to your previous blabber disregarding Observation Haki, I'd say you'd have more a chance of surviving Jack than your pupil Kanao or yours truly."
"I always knew you hated yourself, Tomioka. No wonder you want to be mauled by Jack. But keep Kanao out of your talks."
"Let him finish, sister. I think he has a point." Kanao replied.
"You step out of it, Kanao. You needn't hear of death from this guy."
"Hey, come on." Tomioka bellowed, "Listen to your little sibling. What I say is Armament Haki is not going to do good against Jack in our present situation. Maybe, Zoro or Law can handle Jack and dent the big pirate, but Kanao and I would only be running to our deaths."
"But that depends should you fight Jack again. Tora-o might have mentioned to you before, but I'll say myself. Leave Jack to the both of us. You have your own problem with Kibutsuji and his minions. Both Observation and Armament Haki should give you enormous advantage against the Upper Moons. Though Armament could burn through tougher Demons, Observation Haki is more useful against Demons with high agility, like that Kibutsuji and maybe that Kokushibo."
Shinobu looked at her new blade. She knew a Nichirin blade could destroy Demons without any Haki, and remembered her conviction to use her poisons and blade against Demons and Demons alone. For a part inside her head, she was willing to compromise her code against the pirates, seeing how fellows like Doflamingo showed more evil than most Demons she had met, and thus, considering it okay to fight the Beast Pirates without employing poison. That being said, Kibutsuji was the primary villain. Shinobu being a Demon Slayer decided to agree to Tomioka and Zoro's argument regarding her objective of defeating Demons with the skills learnt from her new regimen.
"I can sense a cold feeling out here, and I don't mean the night." mentioned Admiral Fujitora, his brows in a crease, "No hostility."
"A crying shame, this is. I don't know these townspeople or the ones in the uniforms, but it looks like Jack and his goons made them pay. Just look at this carnage."
Former Fleet Admiral Sengoku pitied the defeated and dead, and felt regret for not being able to arrive sooner and stop Jack and his pirates from wrecking the town of Shi-niju. Admiral Fujitora understood his colleague's remorse in the words spoken.
A Marine Captain showed up and mentioned that Jack and his minions were nowhere to be found.
"I hope Tsuru can chase them down at sea. We should get this mess fixed up as soon as we can. Jack is getting out of control and someone needs to put a stop to his rampage." Fujitora mentioned.
"Indeed." Sengoku agreed.
TO BE CONTINUED...