Chasing Waves
Chapter 11
Mia and The Battle at Marineford
Growing up in a temple as a modest healer, Mia always gawked in awe as her sisters, specifically Kendra and Ruby, told her recounts of their past battles and wars. The descriptions had always been gruesome, but the result epic. They seemed to laugh and joke about it as if it was a fun family trip they had taken at the time. By the time the triplets had been born, these trips were cancelled. Mia's older sisters were therefore much better suited for war, but that did not mean Mia couldn't fight.
That did not mean the prospect of taking on a whole fleet was not gut-wrenchingly terrifying. Mia could only hope they were prepared well enough, and that her niece would hold on and wait for her rescue.
XxX
The only way to infiltrate the Marineford Base was through the Gates of Justice. The waters were eerily still on this particular day. The sky was clear and the air humid. The sun was high. Marineford was heavily armed, an impenetrable force upon first glance. Admiral Sengoku had every powerful body to spare standing ready for war, numbering into the thousands. It was horrific silence that surrounded the army. It was incredibly intimidating, a colossal gathering that would surely go down as a historic event. The silence echoed the Marine's overwhelming confidence and comfort with the idea of winning.
She dared not focus on a certain individual that might catch her eyes with his intense gaze and gravity-defying jacket, for she knew the Pirate Lords were armed and ready for the anticipated battle as well. Mia spotted and was aware of him instantly, drawn to his aura as if she's known him for years.
Everyone was grouped together neatly. Giants. Pirate Lord. Admirals.
The admirals - Aokiji Kuzan, Akainu Sakazuki and Kizaru Borsalino - could be spotted sitting on their thrones of justice from afar, a haughty attitude in their bodies. Mia inwardly shivered at the thought of having to face them. Her only comfort was that she did not have to do so alone.
As Mia spotted the massive structure from afar, she felt her stomach twist violently inside her abdomen. She could clearly make out the execution platform and two tiny figures kneeling on the hard surface of it. The glint the light revealed around them no doubt meant they were chained down. She saw the baby blue dot of colour in the distance. Though her nerves were still in array, her breast swelled with determination.
She heard Sengoku yell out to the massive gathering of marines. She could vaguely hear what his words echoed but chose not to focus on them too much. Mia concentrated on disguising herself in the water, becoming one with the ocean to silently slip forward to the base without notice.
By the time she reached the base of the Gates of Justice, her heart was ready to explode out of her chest.
She lay low in the water, completely concealed as her physical form was dissolved among the water. Sengoku's execution speech irked her to no end, but again, she chose not to listen to the words too intently. When he finished with a loud boom of arrogance, the marines cheered. Mia waited for the crowd to start settling down.
Her breath hitched.
XxX
Mihawk waited. The crowd jeered in anticipation of the incoming conflict. And epic showdown with Whitebeard is bound to be nothing short of legendary. Mihawk shifted his gaze to the execution platform. He recognised the girl instantly from his initial encounter with Mia and her nieces. The girl seemed oddly calm, as well as Portgas D. Ace. He knew better than to perceive their collected exterior as such. He had a good eye, after all.
A sudden break in the water caught his attention. It was a loud spectacle as a humongous spiral of water slithered out of the ocean and danced into the sky. It's power rocked the waves and caused the army to stir. Akainu yelled something intolerably annoying and arrogant, and the crowd waited.
The spiral remained dynamic for a few idle seconds, stopped in its turning and fell apart from the sky. Water splashed on the surface, and a form revealed itself, standing on the water like an ethereal being. The girl on the platform's head jerked up.
'Damn woman,' he thought. He didn't like this one bit.
She stood firm. Her face was infuriated the moment it looked at Akainu. However, she dwarfed against the size of the army she was facing. She might as well have been a speck in the horizon, a fly obscuring one's view of the ocean. However, there was no denying the powerful presence of her energy. Mihawk doubted any of the admirals could sense this in the slightest, for they were always overconfident.
Mihawk saw Nino start to cry at the sight of her aunt's arrival. Mihawk heard the buzzing of the Pirate Lords around him. For the most part he tuned them out. Most of them were annoying and unfocused.
"AUNTIE!" the girl shrieked. It nearly made Mihawk's gut wrench for some reason. Perhaps it was just his personal involvement in the whole matter, which luckily no one at the Marines picked up on. Good thing they were incompetent morons.
At the moment they were rather overconfident. The sight of a young lone woman standing in front of them all surely was not very terrifying.
Mia yelled something back at Nino in a language Mihawk couldn't understand. It shook him for a moment, for he had traveled the world and could, at the very least, recognize languages and pinpoint its origin. He was no linguist however. Nonetheless, the language was sharp, intimidating. Something about it was ancient and otherworldly. It had an archaic presence but to most of the army it sounded alien.
Akainu could be seen chuckling. Aokiji looked at the young woman with a curious glance, almost as if he recognized her. Kizaru's face split into a wide grin.
"You have declared war on TWO parties today, by initiating the execution of these two persons!" Mia yelled out righteously to the Admirals. Mihawk was surprised her voice sounded so steady considering the pressure she was under. Then again, she continued to surprise him.
"Oh?" Akainu drew out. He annoyed the piss out of Mihawk, but luckily Mihawk never had to engage with him directly. Here was a man no pirate could ever like, and Mihawk was willing to bet the Pirate Lords felt the same. Akainu drawled on, his voice cocky and dripping with sarcasm. Mihawk's eyes picked up on Mia's brow furrowing in agitation at his attitude. "If we have declared war on your witch-kind, then where is your witch army?" The marines laughed in mockery in support of Akainu's jeer.
Frowning, Mia stomped her foot down on the water hard in response. Mihawk half-expected the water to splash as if a child had jumped into a puddle. Instead, a sonic boom exploded from her feet. The marine base quacked for a few seconds. In the open of the waters, two flashes of light exploded from thin air. They started to define into glowing discs, and not even a second later, a figure emerged from each disk. Red. Green. The glowing disks, what Mihawk assumed were more portals, evaporated.
Mia's sisters landed on the water gracefully. They flanked their sister widely, standing tall. Their temple uniforms flared in the ocean breeze.
"There is strong power in those women," Boa Hancock muttered thoughtfully out of nowhere. All of a sudden, all the Pirate Lords stood on edge. Mihawk remained stoic. The marines chattered nervously among each other, stumped by the sorcery they had just witnessed.
The admirals seemed stubbornly unintimidated. Aokiji even seemed to tremble at the idea of a good fight. The focus seemed to be lost on the never-ending battle with the pirates. Akainu opened his mouth to spout more nonsense.
The water exploded. Mihawk didn't need even a part of a second's glance to know that it was Whitebeard's ship. He did not know if it was planned, but he was really impressed with how the ship's front deck picked up Mia, her stance unwavering as she stood aside Whitebeard, united in their cause.
Aokiji sprang from the platform and froze the impending waves. A crystal clear and shimmering battlefield now connected the pirates and the marines,
He almost missed it, but he picked up on Mia's sister, the Green One, tossing her a glinting ornament. From the sheen of the light, it appeared to be a gold pendant. She skillfully caught it, studied it for a second and then held it close to her chest. Mihawk was sure only a handful on the platform actually witnessed it.
Mia seemed to start glowing - her whole silhouette had a subtle silver lining that only skilled eyes could pick up. He stared at her. For a second his mind tuned out and he only took in her glow, her luscious and curly hair bouncing in the wind and the absolute look of determination and sad hostility in her eyes.
He couldn't let this woman die today, and for that to happen, he would have to be the one to fight her.
Whitebeard echoed an inspirational speech, his whole fleet cheering in response. Mihawk wasn't listening. He was looking at Mia. Whitebeard was probably yelling something about family like he usually did. The pirates charged.
The battle had begun.
Out of nowhere, Mia ran forward on the deck, to the nose of the ship and leaped into the air. The glow surrounding her exploded. Her definition was lost in the glow as she plummeted to the water. Mihawk was sure she was going to dive underwater, but then his mind broke when the glow sprouted appendages from the glowing form and the sparks of light disintegrated from Mia's form. He had to look twice.
His eyes never failed him though. There was no doubt. Mia had wings, and she was flying towards Akainu, suddenly donned in battle armour. Her sisters followed suit. Both transformed just like their sister. Their wings were long, white as if bleached by whatever gods created these people. They flew fast. They crossed each other in the air, wove around to confuse the Admirals. Their armor appeared to be a mix of silver and their respective colors, feminine in its design but no doubt godlike in the iridescent sheen that bounced of it as the sun reflected off the plates.
Mihawk started to weave down to the ensuing battle. No one noticed his movement.
He peered into the sky and saw Akainu nearly lose his balance in the air, when not Mia, but instead her fire-wielding sister Nama, clashed heat-to-heat with him. Mia clashed with Aokiji, flinging water dangerously fast, probably fast enough to cut a body in half. He dodged skillfully, swiftly maneuvering his body. The sweat on his brow, however, made it evident that he was not as confident in this battle as his body language portrayed. Sengoku fought on the frozen battlefield with the green sister, (Razu, if he remembered correctly), slashing at each other on the center of the war zone.
Mihawk loomed back. He waited.
XxX
As they were not on earth itself, Razu placed her confidence in her seaweed to whip and slash at the Admiral she was facing. She was the weakest flyer among her two sisters, but it still gave her an advantage. Her opponent could not fly. Nama was having the time of her life, Razu was sure. Truthfully, Nama was probably just as violent and unrestrained as Akainu was. It was a rivalry made in heaven. The fire from their clashes made it feel like the battle was happening in hell itself. The steam that came from Mia's water interacting with the heat now and again, made it difficult to see the enemy.
Mia struck Akainu hard in the jaw with her foot, her wings giving her the ability to spin in the air. The hit was bone-crunching-ly hard, and he steered towards the ground at a wind-breaking speed. He shattered part of the ice battlefield he had created and disappeared into the depth of the water. As the chaos ensued, Mia turned her focus to her niece and to Ace, still situated on the podium. She flew low, just above the heads of the pirates and marines clashing on the surface.
He picked up speed, the blue dot growing larger, when all of a sudden an electrifying energy attack soared past her ear, burning off the tips of her hair. She veered in the air, flapping her wings to float higher. Her head turned towards the source.
'Mihawk,' she thought, her heart dropping into her stomach. He seemed stoic as always, as if he didn't know her name nor cared for what he could do to her on the battlefield. Notwithstanding anything she ever felt for him, family came first, and she would sure as hell die trying to save her niece, even if it meant striking down a Pirate Lord today.
"Not such a modest healer after all, are you?" he smirked, and his tone of voice bothered her. She was under the impression they were no enemies. He had helped her escape. What was a he trying to do, standing in her way? Was this a point of pride for him? Was it for the thrill of the fight?
"I have no time to indulge you today," she grinded through her teeth. "You're in my way, and I plan to make you move." Though she had no sword of her own, the ice she concentrated in her hand made for a long sharp blade that looked like it could cut through a diamond. If she concentrated enough energy into it, it would not break under any steel of any kind.
Mia and Mihawk shot forward, their blades crossing in a sharp clang that made Mia's teeth grind. They parried around each other, blades clashing and piercing through the air. Mihawk was fast, but in this elevated state Mia could easily keep up. This was nothing near like their first meeting.
The sweat began to form on Mia's forehead as she cut through the hot air of the sunny day this battle was taking place on. Her courage propelled her forward to rescue Nino from an unfair and unjustified death. She would fight any person on the face of the earth to save her nieces, and even any of Straw Hats- was that Luffy and Mera falling from the sky with a clown or what the hell?!
The disruption made Mia stop for a fraction of a second and look up to see just that. Through the confusion she saw Mera wave at her as she was plummeting towards the ground, grab Luffy and summon water to land them on throughout the battlefield. Before Mia could inquire or say anything of any kind, Mera started running towards her sister and Ace, dragging Luffy by the hand in sheer determination.
"Guess Mera is going to save Nino, then," she muttered to herself, but no one else could hear her over the rumbling explosions of the fight beneath.
Her fight with Mihawk continued, though he never increased in intensity. After a few minutes, she realized he was just trying to distract her from something.
"Why" - clang - "are you doing this?" she spoke through her teeth as her blade was held against his.
"Because anyone else would have tried to actually hurt you by now," he muttered matter-of-factly, calm in his disposition. The huskiness of his voice made her blood freeze. His forwardness threw her off guard for a split second, and just when she wanted to say something in response, the unspeakable happened.
Whitebeard's stabbing shook the battlefield. He launched a devastating quake that tilted the entire island and the sea around it, but it was stopped by the three admirals before it reached the execution platform. His abdomen bled as gaping hole was situated there very obviously. Swallowing her tears, Mia pushed through the battle. Somewhere along the fight, she had lost Mihawk and was now desperately trying to regroup with her sisters.
Through the confusion of the war, Mia didn't even notice Aokiji recovering from her blow before. A wall rose, trapping the pirates.
Mia was about to regroup with her sisters, when her eye caught Luffy knocking the executioners off the execution stand, Nino and Ace shaking on their knees as the platform quivered. An epic fight between Luffy and Sengoku started, Sengoku enlarged up to the size of a giant. Mera joined the fight, Mia noticed. Mera paired with Luffy to take down Sengoku, and just as Mia was about to jump in with her sisters and help, a soft light emitted from their bodies, and the armor and wings disappeared, the power of their amulets exhausted from nearly an hour of fighting.
Nino and Ace eventually plummeted from the platform, the structure giving away in the wake of Luffy's fight. Mia's started to run forward, dodging Pirates and Marines, her sisters hot on her heels. In the wake of the sea of pirates and marines, Mia lost sight of what was happening at the front of the base. As she ran, exhaustively but determined nonetheless, towards where Luffy, Ace and her nieces were, she noticed streaks of fire and lava and water and ice fly through the air and clash in a sizzling steamy collision.
Whitebeard called for a retreat and the pirates started pulling back. Mia continued to move on with her sisters, her sight of the front of the base finally clearing up as the battlefield became less crowded. Mia loosely heard Akainu call Whitebeard a loser or something for retreating and Nama made a comment about whether everyone was still in the third grade or whatever. Mia wasn't too attuned to what was being said around her. Instead, she focused on the battle in the front. Mera and Nino moved like yin and yang, interwoven in their movements. Every decision they made was done so with a purpose, just as Mia had tried teaching them. There was an overwhelming sense of pride that swelled within her as she continued to move with her sisters to the front.
The front finally opened up to her. Mia, Nama and Razu stopped in their tracks as Akainu spouted that he 'would not allow any of the brats to live as their bloodlines were sins and released a horrifying magma punch that could surely rip through a man.
It aimed for Luffy, and just as Mera called out for him to move, Ace took the hit. The fiery attack tore through him like he was made of paper. Mia smelled the stench of burnt flesh instantaneously and it made her sick to her stomach.
"NO!" Nino screamed, and threw a handful of sharp icicles at Akainu in retaliation. One scraped his face, leaving a nasty scar along his jawline, the others he deflected with a hot arm. He snarled at her, unmoved and unsympathetic in what he had done.
Marineford stared in frozen horror as Portgas D. Ace, the last remaining bloodline of the Pirate King, died in Luffy's arms. Mia shot forward, but Nama overtook her, throwing a hard punch at Akainu's face. The blow took him off guard as Nama came out of nowhere, and she threw him a few feet from the deathly scene.
Mia reached Luffy, who refused to let go of Ace. The trauma in his eyes had replaced his soul and character. It was as if Luffy was dead now too. Mia tried to jerk his arms away from Ace's body.
"Luffy! Let me try and heal him!" she shrieked, and finally detangled him off his adopted brother's body. Furiously, with the last bit of strength she had, she summoned some water from below her and focused the pure saturated glow on the gruesome hole in Ace's chest. Mia felt pressed for time as conflict was still thick around her.
As the tears formed in her eyes, she already knew it was futile. She sensed the lack of life in Ace's body the moment she had reached him. She could not rebuild his torso. She could not restart a heart that was not there anymore. Everything was fried.
"Auntie," Nino sniveled, and fell to her knees next to Mia, who was heaving above Ace. Her energy was on the brink of empty, but she had to prevail. Mera sniffed and wiped away the tears with her sleeve.
Though it broke Mia's heart that this poor child had to die at the hands of a cruel and heartless man, she was grateful her nieces had survived. However, the fight was not over yet.
"The pirates are fighting again," Nama stated amongst the devastation. The chaos ensued even further, and Akainu, mercilessly tried to kill Luffy again and again. Nama deflected as much as she could from him to protect Luffy, but she was slower now without the boost from the amulet, and she could barely keep up.
Mia's head started spinning as she was still positioned kneeling over Ace's body. She picked up on a few things as they were happening.
Nama fought Akainu, but was struck down. Whitebeard took his revenge and defeated Akainu for the sake and love of his adopted son Ace. Mia still heaved as she witnessed these events through a blurry vision. She could feel Razu, kneeling beside her, heaving as well. They were worn out almost completely.
The earth rattled as Mia realized that Marineford had just been split into two by Whitebeard. The shake and tumble of the surface brought Mia to her senses after a minute and she regained some focus. She stood up with Razu, shakily stepped away from Ace's body and took a step back.
Akainu had disappeared into the crater. Mia, stood in awe, as she saw mysterious dark figures at the front. When had they appeared?
She heard a pirate mumble something about "Blackbeard and his crew", but that was of little interest to her, for at the front, she saw a very familiar woman standing with them.
"Holy shit," Nama drew out humorously. "Would you look at that?" she rolled the words over her lips casually, not surprised.
"Is that ...Vera?" Razu stuttered out, taking a spot next to Nama, who she knew was more capable when it came to taking on Vera.
"Neptune give me strength," Mia heaved, her hair disheveled and her eyes glazed over slightly. "Nama, you have to take leadership again."
"No problem," Nama said darkly, a maniacal look in her eyes as her teeth bared at their older sister and past mentor.
The story of Vera's betrayal is a difficult one tell, solely because no one ever truly understood what happened. One day Vera was herself, and the other say she wasn't.
To understand Vera's original personality, one would have to imagine someone who was strong, motherly and protective - a combination of the triplets if you will. This analogy would make sense, as once the original Five retired, Vera took control of the temple and also raised the triplets after the passing of their mother.
Being nine sisters in one temple definitely came with its challenges, but Vera was the calming and spirit of reason that kept everyone together. She trained the triplet, teaching them to fight in coordination and as a united trinity. Vera taught them literature, music, dance, swimming, climbing and everything she thought would benefit their education, for she was sure they would become the new guardians of dimensions somewhere in the multi-verse.
Vera never showed weakness or sadness. She believed she showed courage by never opening up about her fears and troubles to her sisters, thinking she needed to protect them from any negativity she might have and wanting to stay strong for them.
As said before, no one really knows what happened. Vera had been acting strange for a number of weeks, and suddenly, vanished without a trace. She was then caught trying to steal cursed objects from other dimensions and move them between worlds, which was strictly forbidden unless special permission was granted by mother. But mother was dead, so Vera believed she could what she wanted. Her inside and outside changed dramatically. Bags formed beneath her once sparkling emerald eyes, her hair sagged into an oily spill over her head and her nails raked around her staff, once belonging to their mother, now darkened and cursed with whatever disease Vera carried with her.
Mia never knew what happened to her sister, but they were all determined to save her before even thinking about killing her.
Besides Vera, the Blackbeard Pirates were an interesting ensemble of characters. As Sengoku spoke to Blackbeard, Mia could see Whitebeard clutch his weapon with a trembling hand. Their appearance seemed ominous, standing within the dust and shrouds of the now nearly destroyed Marineford Base.
"Teach …" Mia heard Whitebread mutter, barely catching the low volume of his voice.
Vera stood next to Blackbeard, eyes fixated on her sisters. One of the marines pointed at her.
"Who is that woman?" he asked one of his comrades next to him, who shook his shoulders.
"That's just my sister," Nama drawled casually, taking a bit of a step forward. She widened her stance a bit, seeming to get ready for an altercation.
Blackbeard and Whitebeard exchanged dialogue, and instantly threw down and epic fight. Vera sprung forward, and the landing of her powerful jump emitted enough energy to throw all three sisters back.
"Look at you three, prancing around like Guardians." Vera let the cold words roll off her tongue. She gradually took a few steps towards her sisters, her black robes fluttering menacingly behind her through her strides. Vera used to sport lively and beautiful teal-coloured curls, but in her emotional demise, her hair had sagged and darkened and now lay upon her head like dripping tar enveloping her skull. The circles underneath her eyes spoke of darkness that ran deep into the soul of its captor.
"Screw you, Vera. You look like a swamp demon," Nama shot back without hesitation, her voice serious and gruff. Had the situation not been as serious, Mia might have doubled over with laughter.
Vera's face broke out into a freakish grin. "Swamp demons have feelings too," she said in a sing-song voice, icy and without feeling.
"Ugh, fuck off!" Nama bellowed, and swiftly shot a fiery flare of flames at Vera. The flames whirled straight at her, but Vera dispelled them with a flick of her hand.
"Now," Nama stated. The three of them split up. They shot forward, unseen by the human eye. In standard procedure for them, Mia and Razu flanked Vera from the sides and attacked from both angles. Nama disappeared into the air, reappearing right above Vera's head. The three of them hit impact at the same time. A powerful blast from Vera's body shot them away. The force of the shield tossed them a few yards away from their target.
The fight ensued for another few minutes. Vera looked as if she was about to deliver a devastating blow, as a terrifyingly powerful aura started to glow around her.
Blackbeard called to her. They were leaving. The pulsing aura emitting from her body died down instantly. Vera shot her sisters a glowering leer, smirked knowingly and dissipated along with the Blackbeard crew.
"What the hell just happened?" Nama asked, heaving from the intense yet short altercation.
XxXxX
Mia silently let a tear fall over her cheek as she sat on the edge of Shanks's ship. It was night, the stars were out and happily twinkling down at her, yet they did little for comfort. The day had been devastating.
After Shanks came to put an end to the conflict, Mera had already disappeared with Luffy on another pirate ship. Mia was irked, separated from her niece again without knowing where she or what she was doing. However, she took some comfort out of the fact that they proved themselves competent today. They've certainly grown stronger in their time as part of the Straw Hats. The problem came however, that after the battle, everyone's bounty increased, placing a massive target on her family's heads.
Nino boarded Shanks's ship with her, her sister understandably choosing to stick to Luffy in his time of need. Mia also had the feeling Nino wanted to be alone for a bit, still coming to terms with Ace's death. Mia offhandedly wondered if Nino had developed feelings for Ace somewhere along the way. If that was the case, perhaps her affetions for Zoro were long forgotten now? Perhaps it did not matter at this time, so Mia did not think about it any further. Nino was currently sleeping her a cabin she was sharing with her aunt. Figuring she wanted some time to work through her feelings, Mia came outside to sort out her own thoughts.
She sighed, wiping away the stray tear. Although she came out of the fight relatively unscathed, she was shaken down to the core. The fight with Mihawk, the death of Ace, the show of Vera ...everything hit at once the moment she stepped outside to be alone. Everything had happened so fast. She realised that she had lost sight of Mihawk during the battle, who seemed to have mysteriously vanished throughout the fight.
It was empty on deck, save for one lad in the Crow's Nest. The rest of the crew comfortably slept as the ship strongly pulled into a direction Mia did not even know. The air was humid, so the breeze that rolled by was very cooling on Mia's skin.
She stared down into the dark unending water of this world's ocean. It was still somewhat of a stranger to her. It was as if they were made of the same substance yet spoke different languages. Her loneliness enveloped her as she felt her disconnect to the waves of this sea. They had worked together so well today. Why was it pushing her away again all of a sudden? Was it mad at her?
"Aren't you cold?" spoke a male voice behind her. She didn't have to turn her head around completely to recognize Shanks's presence. He strode up to her to stand next to her tired form. He had been a real hero today, she thought. Suddenly missing Mihawk as he stood there.
"No, the cool air is nice," she answered lightly, shrugging her shoulders. She saw him scratch the back of his neck with the one hand he possessed. Mia could tell he was slightly uncomfortable and wanted to say something to make her feel better but did not know how. She beat him to the punch. "I'm sorry about Ace, Shanks. Your crew told me you knew him too," she whispered, looking down sadly.
"It's okay. I appreciate that," he responded softly, casting his face off to the side, perhaps so that she could not see he was upset. All of a sudden, he cleared his throat. "He and Luffy were really naughty kids, you know," he started light-heartedly, a nostalgic but soft smile on his handsome features. "They were always getting in trouble and fights … Garp certainly had his hands full."
"That sounds lovely," Mia responded kindly, smiling softly as well. "Reminds me of the girls."
There was a moment of mutual serenity between the two. The loud sloshing of the waves being split by the ship was the only thing heard for a few seconds.
"Shanks?" Mia inquired kindly.
"Hm?"
Mia blinked at him hard. "Where are we going? Back to Fushia?"
Shanks smiled, not surprised by her question. "Well, I'm sure Makino must be missing you a lot. But no." Her excitement visibly fell. "We'll get to your destination in a few days."
"You know, I get the feeling you're not telling me where it is on purpose," Mia quipped lazily, too tired to argue with him about anything at this stage.
"It's the safest place for you and your daughter, considering the circumstances," Shanks explained, looking at her meaningfully.
Mia smiled. "She's my niece."
He shrugged when she corrected him. "She looks like you anyway. Also, she's going to have to train. Very hard. Knowing Luffy, it probably won't be a while until the Straw Hats meet up again. So, for now, best to lay low and build up strength."
Mia looked straight on into the dark abyss of the distant ocean, a feeling of longing in her heart as the wind swept her hair around softly. "If she has any left at this stage."
Her body felt very tired and weak at that moment, especially when she looked up at the sky, and found no moon to be seen.
XxXx
A/N:That's it. This chapter is done. DONE. After like, what, two years or something? Look, I'm SORRY but adulting had to be done. I graduated and had to start working. I ended up on this farm school in the middle of the mountains, far away from everything. Took me a while to my shit together. My bad.
I hate this fucking chapter. Let's just get that out of the way. I don't care if it's terrible, FUCK IT, it's DONE. IT'S DONE.
We can now move on the actual part of the story that I want to develop. Mia and Nino's time in the two year time-skip. Calm yo boots, Mihawk shall appear soon.
And I'm soooorrrryyy I'm bad at writing fight scenes. I just wanted to get it out of the way. I did not rush though - took me four months to write this chapter. I kept hitting a fucking wall.
I wonder if any of my original followers are still around. Sorry I let you guys wait. I feel awful. Things should get going again fairly soon.
I proofread this a few times, but ya'll know me at this stage. A typo always slips by without notice. IT'S TYPOS NOT SPELLING MISTAKES GET OFF M BACK GRANDMA.
I'm sorry. I love you. Drop a review, let me know what you think.
