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'Lord Oden...' thought Jaune late into the evening as he was unable to sleep.
The others were catching up with one another but he stayed in his room to cool off... so to speak...
The images of his late Lord boiling and being shot at the hands of the King of the Beasts still haunted the young Arc! He couldn't get that sound of that gun shot that ended his late Lord's life out of his head! No matter how much he tried to ignore it, the ringing oh that gun shot in the sound of the boiling oil could be heard in his ears!
Red aura started to surround the young samurai as his anger was boiling over! Rage! That is all he felt for Orochi and Kaido, the two men responsible for ending the life of the man he owed everything to! They were the ones who destroyed the Land of Wano! They are the ones who made Lord Oden humiliate himself for five years! They are the reason Lord Oden and Lady Toki are dead! He HATED them to the very core of his being..
"Lord Oden! Lady Toki!"said Jaune as he walked towards the nearby wall and covered his arm with Haki as he began to punch it with such force that it was like the world was struck with a cannonball!
"Kaido! You will pay! Lord Oden's death will not be in vain!"said Jaune, as he decided to go outside and take a breath of fresh air.
As he walked outside he noticed that his anger seem to be a trucking a large horde of Grimm, particularly Beowolves!
"You chose the wrong person to mess with...!"said Jaune, not in the mood for anyone to bother him right now.
"Arc style: Greater Crescent Moon Slash!"said Jaune as he unsheathed Kashu with such speed and power that I created a powerful slash wave that cut apart the horde of Beowolves with a single cut.
That wasn't the only thing cut as it appeared that every tree within a mile radius of the slash wave was cut down with a single slice, like they were nothing more than butter!
"Still not enough!"said Jaune, knowing it would take more to penetrate that next to impenetrable skin that covers Kaido's body.
"I need to master the will of the Conqueror! I need to make my Ryou stronger! I need to make my swordsmanship stronger if I hope to cut down that monster!"said Jaune, before taking a deep breath.
"How long have you been there?"asked Jaune, as Qrow appeared behind him.
"Long enough to see your temper tantrum back at the house."said Qrow, as Jaune cursed himself or not realizing it sooner as his anger was clouding his judgment and senses.
"So, who's Kaido?"asked Qrow, wondering why Jaune was avoiding that name with Ruby and Pyrrha.
"I monster I promised to kill."said Jaune, knowing only Kaido's defeat or death will free Wano.
"So Salem?"asked Qrow.
"Kaido is a monster that you can't even imagine."said Jaune, not sure if Salem and Kaido were in the same league.
"You managed to cut apart all those Grimm with just a slash of your sword."said Qrow, pointing out all the damage Jaune did
"Kashu is a blade of the highest quality. In the right hands it is quite the lethal weapon."said Jaune, as Kashu and Crocea Mors handled well with his Arc style.
"Kid, what are you not telling Ruby?"asked Qrow, knowing when someone was hiding something.
"Before Lord Oden's late wife, Lady Toki died. She made me promise... both of them made us promise that we would free the Land of Wano from Kurozumi Orochi, the current Shogun of Wano, and Kaido, the pirate who makes sure Orochi stays in power. Kaido is the real threats as he is next to impossible to defeat. Only a handful of people I've ever taken on Kaido in a fight and brought him to his knees... unfortunately most of those people are dead or too old to continue fighting..."said Jaune, as Roger and Whitebeard are gone.
He heard about it on the second day he went out on the ocean. Teach, or better known as Black beer took over Whitebeard's former territories! He knew he should have never have trusted that brat as he was too suspicious and Whitebeard should have never let him get on board the Moby Dick!
"So... you plan to go back, even when two people have been waiting for you to come back and never thought you would come back."said Qrow, referring to his niece and her friend Pyrrha.
"Have you ever had someone believe in you when everyone else doubted you? Have you ever had someone who gave you the time of day and hit you when you did something wrong because they care about you? Have you ever met someone so strong and trustworthy that you just wanted to follow them to the very edge of the world?"asked Jaune, not turning around.
"Yeah, Ozpin is that guy as he gave me a place to feel like I belonged."said Qrow, as Jaune chuckled before responding.
"That is Who Kozuki Oden, Gol D Roger, and Edward Newgate were to me! They thought I could be strong like them! They gave me the time of day even though I was and ant next to their giant foot! They made me strong, felt like I mattered, treated me like I was their family. And now all of them are dead! Each died a hero's death so to say. Whitebeard died standing on his feet trying to save someone he considered a son, while reigniting the flame of the great pirate era. Roger died in his last words sent countless souls to sea in search of his great treasure, the One Piece! Kozuki Oden boiled for over an hour in a marvelous display of a samurai's will as he sacrificed his life to save me and the others from certain death in order to achieve his dream of opening up the Land of Wano to the rest of the world. That day he sacrificed himself for me, he made me promise to fulfill his final wish. And an Arc never breaks his promise!"said Jaune, as that's the one Creed he has ingrained into his soul and one he will die to keep.
"Heavy Kid..."said Qrow, who didn't know what to say.
"You ganna tell Ruby and the others?"asked Jaune as he sheathed Kashu.
"No... that's something you have to do when you're ready."said Qrow, understanding what Jaune was going through in his own way.
"Thank you..."said Jaune as he turned around and wiped the tears off of his face.
"Now come on, Ruby and the others are waiting."said Qrow, as Jaune followed him back to the house.
"Oz has something he wants to tell us"
-=O=-
A clock could be hurt as everyone sat in the living room as Ozpin gave his explanation to Weiss, Yang, and Jaune. The taking up the clock certainly wasn't helping the atmosphere.
"So..the Maidens, magic, Salem. It's all true?"asked Weiss, making sure she heard everything correctly.
"Miss Xiao Long. Is this more or less what your mother told you?"asked Ozpin through Oscar.
Yang did it answer so Weiss decided instead."For the most part."
"You forgot something."said Yang, finally deciding to speak.
"You forgot to tell everyone what you did to Qrow and my mother."
"What did be do?"asked Pyrrha, wondering what Yang meant by that.
"Oh, great."said Qrow, as Raymond had to bring that up.
"Hmm.. that's not a secret I thought she would give up so easily."said Ozpin, honestly surprised that Raven decided to share that bit of information.
"Your mother must trust you a great deal."said Ozpin, getting an unamused look from Yang.
"Ha... my ability to reincarnate, though of course, isn't without a few key benefits. Much like the Maidens, I too possess a certain magical power."said Ozpin as he stood up."Using this power, I was able to give the Branwen twins the ability to see more. To move freely and be unburdened by thier natural bodies.
"I... well... gave them the ability to turn into birds. Rather ridiculous sounding out loud, isn't it?"said Ozpin with a chuckle.
'Wait, what?' asked Oscar.
"Sounds like a Zoan Devil Fruit."said Jaune, as the two powers sounded the same.
"Uncle..."said Ruby nervously.
"You turn them into birds?"asked Ren, making sure he was hearing everything correctly.
"That honestly doesn't surprise me."said Pyrrha, as this was nothing new to the amount of revelations they've heard over the last several days.
"Alright, now you're just messing with us."said Nora, sure that the adults in the room minus Jaune were pulling their legs.
"He's telling the truth."said Weiss, getting everyone's attention.
"We saw it. Yang's mom... changed right in front of us."said Weiss, who wouldn't have believed it for herself if she didn't see it with her own two eyes.
"Why would you do something like that?! I mean what is wrong with you?!"asked Yang, wondering what Ozpin was thinking.
"Yang, that's enough. We made a choice, we wanted this."said Qrow, as he and Raven agreed long ago.
"May I?"asked Ozpin, getting a nod from Qrow.
"Granting this power to them was no trivial task. And I can assure you it was not done frivolously that required assistance and gathering information on Salem's plants. As well as searching for maidens when their hosts became unclear."said Ozpin, as nothing was ever as simple as it sounded.
"Okay, so have you done this with others?"asked Ruby, wondering if this has happened before.
"Like General Ironwood, or Professor Goodwitch?"
"As helpful as that might be, unfortunately it is not that simple."said Ozpin, as nothing was really that simple.
"What else is new."said Pyrrha, as Jaune noticed she was showing on usual hostility from the Pyrrha he remembered.
"My power is my power is finite, and if I'm being honest dwindling. The amount that I give to Qrow and Raven was all things considered rather minuscule. you see centuries ago I sacrifice the great deal of magic to four young women. Who I'd hope use my gift for good, they were the first Maidens."explained Ozpin, as they need to hear everything in order to understand.
"Miss Xiao Long. It was never my intention to lie to you, to any of you. There I just matters as I prefer to... play close to the chest.. I believe that's the way you phrased it."
"Yeah."said Qrow with a chuckle.
"Everyone has a choice. The Branwen chose to accept their powers, and the responsibilities that came with them. And later, one of them chose to abandon her duties in favor of her own self-interests. Now... all of you have a choice. If anyone wishes to leave, now is the time. There's no shame or disgrace and abstaining, only in retreat."said Ozpin, as no one stood up.
"Very well then."said Ozpin as Yang stood up.
"Yang."said Ruby.
"If Ruby sticks around, then I will too. If there is one thing I know about her, it's that she somehow knows the right thing to do."said Yang, before facing Ozpin."But. If we're going to help, if we're going to keep risking our lives, no more lies, no more half truths."
"... Understood."said Ozpin, although Jaune felt there was some deceit in that statement, but he couldn't be sure.
"So...what now, I mean what can we do?"asked Pyrrha, wondering what the next step was.
"Hmmm... that is a difficult question."admitted Ozpin."One I believe is best answer tomorrow."
"What do you mean?"asked Jaune.
"The road ahead is filled with untold hardships and many struggles, Mr Arc. But for now I believe that today is the best day for all of you to catch up. So please rest up and enjoy tonight."said Ozpin, as he felt like everyone needed to reconnect.
"Actually, I think now is the time I show everyone a little trick I picked up on the Grand Line."said Jaune, getting everyone's attention.
"What do you mean, kid?"asked Qrow, wondering what Jaune meant by that.
Jaune in response picked up a pocket knife and coated it with Haki.
"This, is not my semblance. This is a power I picked up on the Grand Line, and anyone can use it."said Jaune as he struck the table with the pocket knife, cutting it in half with one clean cut even though he didn't put much force into it.
"This is armament Haki, basically considerate an invisible force of armor that you can coat your body and weapons in."said Jaune, as Ruby was staring with stars in her eyes as the pocket knife became uncovered Haki.
"You said the road ahead has untold hardship, so I think I'll give him a little power boost in order to get them a little bit more ready for the road ahead."said Jaune, covering his own ungloved hand in Haki.
"Wow! I can break so many legs with that power!"said Nora with excitement.
"There are three forms of Haki, and two forms of armament Haki. I think I'll teach you all the basics in order to make your weapons a lot harder and stronger than they were before, along with giving you guys an extra invisible armor to protect yourselves."said Jaune, as he was sure Salem was going to try harder than ever to kill his friends.
The least he could do was help them get stronger for the road ahead.
"So... you going to show us how to cover our arms and weapons in this Haki."said Pyrrha, as Jaune pulled out Kashu and Crocea Mors.
"Follow me."said Jaune as everyone followed him into the balcony.
"Now watch."said Jaune as his hands became covered in armament Haki.
"Woah!"said Yang, not believing what she was seeing as she and the other saw his swords change color from their normal color to Black.
"Now this is normal armament Haki. and this..."said Jaune as he started focusing Ryou into his blades, causing them to be covered by a sinister looking red aura.
"This is the next step of armament Haki, known as Ryou in the Land of Wano."said Jaune as everyone kept staring as he turned around with his Kozkuki Clan kimono flowing through the wind.
"Arc style: Crescent Slash!"said Jaune as he jumped down from the balcony and he swung both Kashu and Crocea Mors, cutting apart a nearby boulder with the sheer power of the slash x mark.
Everyone, including Ozpin was amazed by what he just did, as that boulder look like it was at least twenty feet thick and he cut it like it was nothing.
"Now, who wants to learn?"asked Jaune, as everyone minus Qrow and Oscar raise their hands.
"Great..."said Jaune, hoping that this will give his friends a fighting chance.
Short Chapter, but I hope you like it.