CHAPTER 66
Cyclone continued to stare at the mysterious swordsman with a look of caution. This swordsman with his eyes permanently closed faced Cyclone's direction with an angry expression. Amiya lay on the ground not far from Cyclone, unconscious, dying. Water continued to rain down from Taikama's blast crashing into the ocean mere moments before. It was also getting dark out.
"What the hell is he doing here, Iwataka Tokisato … the blind swordsman … a pain in the ass more like it!" Cyclone said to himself, "To think this fossil is still walking around when he was supposed to be dead!"
"I can tell you're still here … about 3 meters away!" Iwataka said, clutching his sword that rest on his waist.
Cyclone sucked on his teeth.
"That's all I need to hear to know he hasn't gotten rusty. I'm exactly 3 meters away from him … his eyes are shut tight and he can still tell … his observation haki is still so strong!" Cyclone said to himself again.
Cyclone looked down towards Amiya.
"Just what I needed … someone like him showing up as I'm trying to take out the trash!" Cyclone looked back towards Iwataka who wasn't budging.
"What eyes do I currently have active … my byakugan and my mind's eye … I've been reading his mind this whole time hoping to get the jump on anything he has planned but he …" Cyclone clenched his fist.
Iwataka picked his head up a little with concern.
"Not thinking of anything! He doesn't even know what he's going to do next!" Cyclone looked back towards Iwataka, "Trying to switch to any of my other eyes would be too risky … if I stay quiet for any longer he's going to end up doing something I'm sure of it. It'll take 3 minutes maximum per eye I switch … I don't have that kind of time!" Cyclone grew frustrated as he finished thinking, but as Cyclone stared at the swordsman, he had an idea!
"It's a dirty tactic … but I'll take advantage of his inability to see. I'll speak to him as I switch my eyes out! It's fool proof… I just need to keep him talking for 3 minutes so I can switch to my time eye." Cyclone thought. Cyclone smirked and closed his left eye.
Iwataka focused.
"Iwataka Tokisato! It's been quite a while. Have you been well?" Cyclone asked.
Iwataka could tell something was off.
"What are you doing right now?" Iwataka asked.
"Right now? Wondering what I did to capture the attention of a man such as yourself." Cyclone said.
"I heard the screams of a young woman and came to stop whatever was troubling her." Iwataka said.
Cyclone smirked.
"Well sorry to burst your bubble but these are family matters, you're not needed." Cyclone said, "Don't worry, after a moment she won't need any more help."
Cyclone could barely finish his sentence before strong winds started to push him. They pushed him with enough force to cause him to stagger! Cyclone was surely shocked!
"CYCLONE-SORO! DO NOT CONTINUE TO BRING THAT WOMAN ANY HARM, THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING!" Iwataka yelled.
Cyclone shielded his face from the wind with one of his forearms and became angry.
"Damn it! I got too cocky and now he's angry. If I say something else provoking he'll surely attack me … it's been about a minute now … just two more minutes and I can end this in an instant!" Cyclone thought.
Cyclone composed himself.
"My apologies, it's just that she's a marine Iwataka, considering your history with them I didn't think you'd care." Cyclone said.
"While the marines and I have a troubled history, I cannot ignore the cries of someone who needs help. Especially when the stronger are bullying the weaker." Iwataka said.
Cyclone smiled.
"I see, but if I may challenge that belief for a moment, I believe the stronger should dominate the weak in some way or form to let them know their place. The weak have no right to anything in this world. The strong work for where they are while the weak sit back and look for handouts." Cyclone explained.
Iwataka was slightly shocked.
"Why should the strong cater to the weak when they can't even help themselves? Fool is what I call a man who sacrifices his power for someone who could've protected themselves if they put in the work and became strong themselves! Do you understand, Iwataka Tokisato!? As an example I provide this young marine …" Cyclone looked towards Amiya.
"The strong protecting the weak … is exactly what you're doing right now! A man with your power protecting this filth! It disgusts me to the point I could throw up and that is no exaggeration! It makes me as sick as an elder fighting off a terminal illness. I'd rather die than be disgusted like that …" Cyclone explained.
Cyclone clutched his sword again and smiled sadistically as he stared at Amiya's unconscious body. Seeing her broken and bleeding filled his bloodlust. He knew deep down he was supposed to be avoiding a fight but he couldn't help it anymore! Cyclone knew to really be satisfied he couldn't leave this island without making Amiya a corpse!
Cyclone again attempted to pierce Amiya with his sword!
"CYCLONE! I TOLD YOU NOT TO ATTEMPT TO ATTACK THAT WOMAN AGAIN!" Iwataka said dashing towards Cyclone.
"YOU'RE TOO LATE! I USED THAT TIME WE SPOKE TO SWITCH MY BYAKUGAN INTO MY CLOCK EYE, FOOL! NOW I'M GOING TO STOP TIME AND KILL YOU BOTH AT ONCE!" Cyclone boasted.
Iwataka lowered his head and bit his lower lip.
"HA HA HA HA HA! TIME STOP!" Cyclone yelled while stretching his arms outward.
At his command, time around Cyclone, Iwataka, and Amiya came to a complete stop! Every drop of rain stopped as well, suspended in the air!
In Cyclone's world of stopped time, everything loses color and looks grey. Since it is impossible to stop time in a small area while the rest of the world moves, the entire world is brought to a hault! When he was young, he could only stop time for a few seconds, but now that he is older and more experienced he can stop time for as long as he pleases! However, time stopped longer than 1 minute starts to sap at Cyclone's life energy! The amount of time that is stopped after one minute then becomes the amount of time that needs to pass before Cyclone can use the eye again!
Cyclone smiled as he looked at Iwataka suspended in the air, mid dash.
"How unfortunate, Iwataka. Without this eye you certainly would have been some trouble. An all out battle between us would certainly split the ocean between us. Obviously I don't hope to attract that kind of attention, that's why I had to stop time to beat you." Cyclone explained.
Cyclone gripped his sword and walked over to Iwataka's suspended body. He rose his sword and slashed Iwataka across the chest. Cyclone smiled at his work and walked over to Amiya. Cyclone rose his sword again.
"I wanted to make you suffer, but I guess I'll be satisfied with this. Taikama already left you half dead anyway." Cyclone said with a straight face.
Cyclone stabbed Amiya in the chest and withdrew his sword.
"That settles that." Cyclone said with a smile and re-sheathing his sword on his back.
Cyclone walked past Iwataka, still frozen, and smiled.
"Rest in peace." Cyclone said, walking into the forest.
After a few moments he realized something.
"Hm? The rain is still stopped … that's right. Time will now continue." Cyclone said.
Everything that had stopped within stopped time began to move once more. Cyclone smiled to himself.
"My curiosity has gotten the better of me. I'll go find Kaku after I've confirmed these kills." Cyclone said.
Cyclone walked back into the clearing and almost choked on his words. Iwataka and Amiya were gone! Cyclone looked back and forth quickly!
"Where did they go!? WEHRE THE HELL DID THEY GO!" Cyclone yelled.
"9 HEADED DRAGON FLASH!" A voice yelled.
Cyclone looked behind him to see Iwataka dashing towards him with super speed! His sword held crooked in front of his face.
"Shit! I can't stop time because I accidentally went over my minute limit!" Cyclone said.
Iwataka stopped just in front of Cyclone and four balls of wind shot from around Iwataka and blasted Cyclone into the forest! Cyclone coughed up an unhealthy amount of blood! Cyclone flipped and stabbed his sword into the ground to act as a break and slow himself down.
Cyclone eventually came to a stop and rested on one knee, breathing heavily, one eye closed. Cyclone looked up at Iwataka coming out of the shadows of the trees.
"How did you …" Cyclone started.
"What you saw was an afterimage you saw, Cyclone-soro." Iwataka said.
Cyclone sucked his teeth.
"An afterimage? … but how? When?" Cyclone asked.
"When you foolishly told me your plan to stop time I used the wind to boost myself at such speeds I was able to move quicker than you could keep up with. Basicallly, you froze my afterimage in place!" Iwataka said.
Cyclone growled.
"This is exactly why I didn't want to fight this bastard just yet! He just had to get involved!" Cyclone yelled to himself.
Cyclone slowly stood to his feet bruised and bleeding from his mouth.
"If it's a fight he wants then it's a fight he's going to get … it's not like I can just let him walk around free anyway, he's too much of a threat to DEATH." Cyclone said, clutching his chest.
Around Cyclone's heart there were knives ready to pierce the only thing keeping him alive. Years upon years ago, Cyclone swore to himself that he would only use his special abilities for DEATH's gain and DEATH's gain only, if ever he used his powers for his own gain, the knives over his heart would surely stab it and end Cyclone's life! Cyclone is not immortal like Psycho is, so he must be more careful with his life compared to the latter!
"I made a promise to myself all those years ago, not because I wanted to, but because of the debt I owed Torebion … in all honesty, I hate I made this pledge! I'm so crippled. Only being able to use this awesome power for DEATH's gain? What was I thinking?" Cyclone thought.
"Iwataka is a threat though, so I could be able to use my real power against him, but I'd have to change eyes again and there's no way he's letting me do that again. I have no choice but to beat him with swordplay … shooting energy beams or powering up would bring too much attention to this fight so I won't do that, but that's fine." Cyclone thought.
Cyclone composed himself.
"Alright, Iwataka Tokisato … let's do this." Cyclone said.
Iwataka and Cyclone stared at each other in the middle of another small clearing while on the other side of the island a certain someone was leaving.
Taikama readied his rowboat and jumped in. Taikama looked at the island and used one of his oars to push his boat into the water. As Taikama rowed away he continued looking at the island.
"This island was weird." Taikama said, pulling out a photo of his father, Cyclone.
He smiled and hugged it.
"I'm going to find you, father! I can't wait to see you again. I've gotten so strong. I bet you have too!" Taikama said happily as he rowed away.
Cyclone, sword drawn stared at Iwataka with a straight face. Iwataka's eyes were still shut as he faced Cyclone.
The two suddenly dashed forward and clashed swords! Wind circled around them rapidly as the two swords scraped each other. Cyclone was angry and Iwataka had a neutral face. The two forced each other away and ran back at each other and clashed again. The swordplay was ferocious and quick! Both threw quick slashes but were countered by the other! There were some slashes that didn't clash but the adversary was able to sway out of the way! To the average swordsman/woman it appeared to be even, but it was not! … Iwataka was winning! Cyclone backed away to catch a few breaths and noticed pain in his chest area. Cyclone grew shocked and took off his cropped jean jacket and was shocked to see multiple slashes on his chest! Each cut was heavy. About 15 inches long, that's what each cut measured. They were deep as well.
Cyclone looked up with anger and surprise.
"When did you …" Cyclone began to ask.
Iwataka smirked.
"Just because I missed a few slashes doesn't mean I didn't get you, Cyclone-soro." Iwataka asked.
Cyclone grew a vein in his head. Cyclone dashed at Iwataka, full of anger.
"I'M ASKING WHEN YOU CUT ME YOU BASTARD!" Cyclone yelled.
Cyclone charged at Iwataka again and swung his sword, missing badly. Iwataka used this moment to swing an attack towards Cyclone's neck, but Cyclone swayed back and smiled.
"You missed! Huh?" Cyclone felt something bothering his feet so he looked down to see wind pushing his feet with great force! The wind pushed him off his feet and forced his body to fall sideways in the air!
"SHIT! WHAT THE HELL DID HE DO!?" Cyclone asked.
Iwataka seized the moment and flipped his sword to reverse-grip styled and attempted to stab Cyclone through the head and into the ground!
"DAMN IT!" Cyclone said as he formed an energy ball and blasted it at Iwataka forcing the swordsman into a tree and forcing Cyclone away. Cyclone landed on his back and rolled a little before coming to a stop. Cyclone looked up to Iwataka already charging him!
Iwataka shot forward and slammed his sword against Cyclone's again. Cyclone violently shook as he and Iwataka were at a stalemate.
"Look how angry you are, Cyclone-soro. You've already lost this fight … but … you acknowledged that a while ago didn't you?" Iwataka asked.
Cyclone snapped and forced Iwataka away from him and attempted to cut him down.
"DAMN YOU! GO TO HELL ALREADY!" Cyclone yelled.
Iwataka squatted and brought his sword to his side.
"DIE!" Cyclone boomed.
Iwataka swung his sword so quick it almost appeared to skip time as the time it took from Iwataka grabbing sword to swinging it might as well have not happened at all! Cyclone was still able to see through it and dodged it by swaying backwards. Cyclone raised his sword to slash Iwataka.
"TOO SLOW! I WIN!" Cyclone yelled.
But something out of the ordinary was about to happen! Cyclone realized as he tried to bring his arm down to land the killing blow on the blind swordsman that he couldn't bring his arm down!
"W-What!?" Cyclone asked.
"What the hell is going on!?" Cyclone asked again.
Iwataka, his arm still extended, smiled to himself. Wind started to blow in such a way that Cyclone's body started being forced into a position on its own!
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!? I CAN'T MOVE FOR MYSELF!" Cyclone yelled.
Iwataka smiled.
"Look in front of you, Cyclone-soro!" Iwataka yelled.
Cyclone struggled to look in front of himself, but when he did he saw that he was being forced around a sphere of wind!
"WHAT!?" Cyclone yelled.
"This island is called by the locals, "The Home of the God of Wind" because of the occasional strong winds that take place here, I've spent the better half of my years working with this islands wind patterns and learned how to reciprocate some of it's peculiar blowing patterns!" Iwataka explained.
Cyclone now completely pressed against the sphere of air, his legs and arms spread as if he was looking to pounce on something. His torso wide open for attack! Cyclone's eyes widened.
"By shaping my sword ever so finely and swinging it in certain patterns I can generate any form of wind-based attack I want! I even use the wind around me to detect enemies. The locals have started to call me "The Wind Waker" even though I've respectfully declined the nickname numerous times." Iwataka said.
Cyclone was still trapped and couldn't move.
"How much longer until I can use my clock eye and get out of this mess!? It's only been a few minutes; how long did I forget to shut it off!?" Cyclone yelled to himself.
"It doesn't matter how much time you have left until you can stop time either, Cyclone-soro!" Iwataka yelled.
Cyclone's eyes widened to the point they looked as if they were going to pop out of his skull. Iwataka did a 180 with such speed Cyclone almost didn't see him move!
"It doesn't matter how much time you have left because I'm going to finish you off right now! At this current moment you should be in a position where I can completely slice you in half!" Iwataka said.
Cyclone frantically tried to think of what he could do to save himself, but there was nothing he could do!
"FLASH OF THE HEAVENLY DRAGON!" Iwataka yelled bringing his sword across Psycho's body.
Iwataka was then past Cyclone with his arm still outstretched. Cyclone was still in the air. A HEAVY slash across his body. Blood poured from the wound as Cyclone fell out of the air. Even more blood trickled from his mouth, his eyes had rolled into the back of his head. Cyclone slammed on his back into the ground, his mouth wide open. Iwataka stood up and sheathed his sword. He looked back at Cyclone.
"The wind tells me he's still alive. I must have miscalculated how far I was from him." Iwataka said.
Iwataka walked over to the body. Cyclone stared up at him through pupil-less eyes. When Iwataka went to grab him, Cyclone shot up.
"TIME STOP!" Cyclone yelled.
In the blink of an eye Cyclone disappeared without a trace. Iwataka touched the ground and felt blood. He looked back up towards the trees.
"He's not dead. But he's close to it, he'll survive though. It's just not in my destiny to defeat that man!" Iwataka said with a smile as he walked in the other direction towards his home.
"I need to hurry back to the young marine, hopefully she hasn't died on me! That took a little longer than I would've hoped." Iwataka said.
Cyclone propped himself up against a tree and panted heavily. The blood loss making him weak.
"I couldn't … kill him in stopped time because of how weak I am … I was barely even able to use my time stop to get away … If I attempted to take the time to kill him the time stop would have ended and he would've finished me off … finished me off …" Cyclone repeated.
"FINISHED ME OFF!? I'M THE INVINCIBLE CYCLONE!" Cyclone yelled, immediately coughing up blood after! Cyclone heaved and covered his mouth. He looked up with an angry expression.
"I … need to find Kaku … so we can leave and report this to Psycho immediately!" Cyclone said.
Cyclone forced himself through the forest for a few minutes until he came across a body. Cyclone leaned against a tree with a confused and scared expression. Kaku laid in the middle of another clearing, mutilated. His arms had been ripped from his body and both his legs broken, his eyes were ripped from his head as well and a hole had been shot through his chest.
Cyclone almost barfed! But he also smiled to himself, an evil smile, a smile of pride!
"Taikama … you animal." Cyclone smiled.