A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back! Thank you all for your reviews! This chapter contains the first fight scene between two humans I've ever written!

Injuries and blood abound, you have been warned.

I hope it's not super clunky, if any of y'all have advice, I'd be happy to hear it! :) I think it came out pretty good.

I can tell I may have confused some people with my interpretation of haki, so hopefully this chapter clears things up. I just want to be clear that Brandy is nowhere NEAR as powerful a haki user as most of the people in late One Piece.

Anyway, reviews!

JJafan

Lol I'm glad you're exited!

FairyTailLink

Haha maybe lol. Louis is a great cook and from the north blue after all! XD

As for haki, I have my own interpretation that should be made a bit clearer in this chapter.

NastySquire

Maybe I'm more predictable than I thought lol. Keep in mind Brandy isn't nearly as OP as people are assuming. This fight is one of the major displays of how haki works in this fic. I'll explain a bit more at the end of the chapter.

DeadKing24712

I love the guesses! :D

Unfortunately, neither Brandy nor her father are/were anywhere near that strong. In terms of haki, she is actually not all that high on the totem pole. That might not make a lot of sense right now, but I promise it will by the end of their fight!

Crypton89

Thank you so much! I appreciate the praise!

Funny-Little-Cute White Fox

Thanks for the review!

Previously on TDoL:

I backed a few steps away and balanced the pebble on my thumbnail as if it was a coin I was about to flip. "Get set." I warned, and she settled back into her sword stance. I flipped the pebble high, and immediately got into a basic mma stance I had learned in my previous life, balanced on the balls of my feet, left side forward, arms in guard, and hands clawed halfway between a fist for striking and an open palm for grabbing.

The pebble seemed to drop in slow motion, and I had a brief flash of fear. Was I outmatched? Not only was Brandy way taller and had longer reach than 10 year old me, she also had a sword and haki. As quickly as I felt the fear, I crushed it down again. A: if I pictured myself losing, it guaranteed that I would. B: I took down a fucking Rhinoboar with my bare hands. Compared to that monster, the height/weight difference here was practically nothing.

As I finished preparing my mind and body, the pebble hit the dirt.

I dashed forward.

As I rocketed forward I pushed my observation haki to its limits, focusing solely on Brandy and my immediate surroundings. The world around me slowed to a crawl as my perception was enhanced, and I could feel a bloom of surprise from her at my speed. Just as I almost entered her range, I made a leap over her sphere of influence, and her blade sluggishly followed my path as she tried to keep her sword between me and her.

I smirked. When she had chased after me all those months ago, she had moved at basically the same speed as a baseline human. Even if she had been training hard since then, I had been training as well. She could sense me perfectly well, could follow my actions with her haki, but as I suspected, her body wasn't quite fast enough to keep up with my movement. I made a mid air flip and collided feet first with the side of a tree behind her, and used it as leverage to launch toward her back, entering the range of her blade.

She was still in the process of whipping around towards me, but she barely didn't make it in time. In an instant, I shot my left hand out and caught where her hand gripped her sword, keeping her blade from reaching me. At the same time, I whipped my right fist forward in a wild haymaker, slamming it into her jaw with all the striking power I could muster.

It felt like hitting solid iron, and My knuckles flared with pain as the skin on them split open. She wrestled with my grip, not nearly as dazed from the hit as I would have hoped, and I clung to her sword hilt for dear life. I caught a clear glimpse of her face, and on her jaw area where I had hit, I could sense most of her haki bunched up defensively. And on her cheek, where I sensed the highest density of armament haki, was a visible dusting of metallic black. She smirked.

Her body might not have been fully able to keep up with my movements, but her haki sure could! Fuck!

Going on the offensive, she bent the arm I had a hold of, slamming her elbow into my face. The force of the strike was amplified by her haki, and I could feel my nose crunch as I went flying back, seeing stars. She was pulled off balance however, as I had still maintained a gorilla grip on her sword hilt. My face was on fire with pain and I was quite dizzy, but I still had the presence of mind to brace my feet against her chest as we fell, pushing with my legs and pulling with my arms in order to yank yank the sword out of her hand. She shouted in frustration as her grip failed, and I hopped out of her reach, her sword in my hands.

She scrambled to her feet. "You thieving little shit!" she snarled, her face flushed with rage.

I grinned widely, the blood flowing from my nose staining my teeth red. As she took a step forward, I brandished her cutlass in front of me, which made her pause.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes, "do you honestly think you can use that properly?" She asked mockingly.

She was right. I had gone to an MMA gym in my previous life, and fought with countless wild beasts in this one, but all of that had been barehanded! I had no experience with the sword. I responded, my voice nasally from the blood. "Dno, dnot really hehe…" and promptly chucked the sword behind me with all my might, sending it spinning into the woods. Maybe it was dumb and prideful to give up my only weapon, but hand to hand was my expertise, and now we were on even ground.

Brandy looked honestly dumbfounded. I rushed her. My nose hurt like hell and I wanted to return the favor, so I jumped up and tried to land a Superman punch on her nose. I must have been too obvious, because she dodged just in time, and sent her elbow right toward my nose again. Recognizing the move from before, I countered, slamming my shin into her right side. Since she had put most of her haki in her elbow, my kick struck true! I'd been aiming for her liver, but was slightly low. It was still a body blow, which hurt like hell, but it wouldn't take her out of the fight. Since I was still airborne, the force of my kick sent me somersaulting away, and I landed outside her range.

I could hear her gag at the abdominal pain, and I rushed back in. She was much more defensive now, spreading her haki evenly over her body instead of concentrating it on a specific area. While none of it was dense enough to blacken any part of her, it still boosted her defense significantly. Every strike I blocked felt like a hit from a baseball bat, every blow I landed felt like hitting a tree. My speed advantage meant I was landing almost three times as many hits as she was, but she was still doing more damage to me with her haki than I was doing to her with my brute strength.

I grudgingly had to admit her senses were better than mine, as she ruthlessly took advantage of each and every opening I showed. Every mistake I made was capitalized on, every hit she made calculated. The longer the fight went, the more I had the strange feeling of nakedness. Like she could see through my skin, and perfectly interpret every single twitch of each of my muscles. The only reason I hadn't lost was thanks my physical ability, but quickly that advantage was disappearing. The more she experienced my movements, the less impact my blows were having. When she wasn't fast enough to dodge she moved just enough to turn a solid hit into a glancing blow.

That doesn't mean my hits were doing nothing however. I could feel her getting tired. Could sense her 'voice' diminishing. It was a war of attrition. If I had to put it in game terms, she had significantly higher attack and defense stats, while I had way more HP. The one that won would would be the fighter that held out the longest, and both of us were getting close to our limits. It would be a coin toss as to who would come out on top!

Suddenly, she broke away, leaping back. I briefly considered dashing after, but dismissed the thought. I breathed deeply through my mouth, using this break in combat to recover.

Breathing heavily, Brandy spoke. "Damn kid, I underestimated you." Hoping she was monologuing, I took the chance to painfully re-set my nose with a wet popping noise. "Thanks, I guess…" I responded. Making a gamble, I directed my observation haki inward. As I perceived my cells, I began to use seimei kikan to heal myself. Because I was focusing inward, I wouldn't be able to sense her if she attacked, but I had to take the risk if I wanted to win.

Unaware of my plan, Brandy continued talking. "I honestly thought this would be a cake walk. If it was the you from back when you stole from our house, I would have easily won, but you've gotten much stronger since."

I maintained eye contact, but didn't pay much attention to her words as my focus was devoted to healing. The bio energy from my full stomach flowing through my battered body as my injuries steadily healed. Breath came easier as my nose was finally free from flowing blood. With the increased oxygen, my recovery sped up.

Brandy continued, with a confidence that made me nervous. "Unfortunately, play time's over. This is as far as you go. I acknowledge you as a warrior, and I'm done holding back!" She got into a ready stance, and I tended, not quite done healing, when suddenly, she turned around, and sprinted away from me.

I blinked stupidly. Was she giving up? And then, like a cold hand was clutching my heart, I realized what she had done!

As we had fought, we had constantly changed position, circling around each other. The way we had been standing now was exactly opposite from when I had thrown her sword, which was what she was going for! While I had needed my full focus focused on not losing, she had had the presence of mind to control the positioning of the conflict until her sword was behind her!

Desperately, I dashed after her, my healing incomplete but good enough, but it was too late! I had hesitated too long, and as I reached her she already had regained her weapon. My observation haki was still aimed inward, so when she slashed at me I could barely react in time, throwing my hands up in a guard and activating my bio armor technique.

Searing pain bloomed on the back of my right forearm with a spray of blood as her sword sliced through the hardened flesh and glanced off the bone, continuing on to barely scratch my left. I couldn't keep myself from crying out in pain, and i reflexively jumped back, escaping her range.

Brandy looked puzzled, and even a bit concerned. "Why didn't you dodge that? I could have cut off your arms!" She seemed to realize something, "Hold on, I can cut through iron, how did I not cut off your arms?"

I contemplated keeping her in the dark, but speaking would give me time to heal and stop the bleeding, so I responded. "Durability technique. It's pretty strong but I'm still working out all the bugs. It sorta fucks with my observation."

Her eyes widened as the bleeding stopped on my right arm. I didn't have enough stored energy to heal it completely, and my stomach rumbled in hunger. I was truly running on fumes now. I wouldn't be healing any more damage.

"You can heal yourself…" she commented, shocked.

Stalling for more time to to try to figure out a way out of this, I elaborated, "There's more to fighting than just haki. Controlling your body is a valuable skill." Collecting myself, I pointed my observation haki outwards once more, focusing it on Brandy. Sensing the change, she readied herself for battle. "I'll give you a chance to surrender. Give up." She declared with an irritating air of finality.

Thinking logically, I should probably do just that. I had gambled, and I had lost. My failed attempts at healing had heavily drained my stamina, and I wasn't sure if I could maintain my speed advantage for very much longer, if at all. She had regained her weapon, was fully warmed up, and knew all my tricks. I should surrender.

I scowled in irritation.

Anything I tried, she would read like a book! There was no longer any way I could win! I should surrender. No one in their right mind wouldn't give up! I need to surrender!

I gritted my teeth, snarling in anger.

There was a strange feeling in my gut, like a raging fire, that made me despise that idea. Like I was standing on the edge of an abyss, and to give in would be to hurl myself over the edge, never to return. Like I would lose a part of myself if I spoke the words of surrender. The idea of giving up, of bowing down, was sickening. It tore me up, bubbling up like an intense foreign rage, and before I could think twice, I had spat out my response with full sincerity.

"I'd rather DIE."

Brandy P.O.V.

Like she was blown by a sudden gust of wind, Brandy was forced a step backwards, beads of sweat forming on her brow. Blinking rapidly, she fought off a strange bout of dizziness, and re-centered herself with a breath. "Fine! Suit yourself!" She declared. Settling into the sword stance Dad had taught her, she decided to stop holding back.

She hadn't wanted to hurt the kid too bad out of respect for Lia, but he was far stronger than she anticipated. And if the kids rapidly souring attitude was any indication, this could accidentally become a battle to the death if tempers ran hot enough. And in a choice between the thieving brat and her? She chose herself.

Jasper P.O.V.

"Fine! Suit yourself!"

As Brandy made this proclamation and got into her stance, her movement… changed. It seemed faster than before, more graceful, as if she had practiced it tens of thousands of times. A sharp feeling of deadliness emanated from her, and her 'voice' seemed to surge in power as she announced her attack.

"Thresher…" She returned her sword to her her sheathe, setting up a draw slash.

My eyes widened. I knew that named attacks were supposed to be more powerful in One Piece, but I wasn't sure how much more.

"Whip!"

She slashed, a disk of light slicing out from her position in all directions!

I was out of her range, but my observation haki screamed at me to dodge, so I leaped upwards, tucking my legs out of reach, just in time for the flying slash to whip by where my legs were a second ago.

Trees in the surrounding area fell as the flying slash cleaved effortlessly through their trunks, leaving smoothly cut stumps in its wake.

I had barely landed and Brandy was already in range, her sword held above her head, preparing for a downward slash.

"Hammerhead…" she declared with intense focus, and it was all I could do to jump out back of the way.

"Smash!"

Her haki had gathered in a spread-out sphere around the tip of her blade, and when her sword smashed down into the ground, it was as if she had struck it with a sledgehammer instead of a sword! The force of the impact cratered the earth and sent stones and dust flying like a bomb went off, cutting up my skin and obscuring her from sight.

Panic clutched my heart as I pictured what that attack would have done if it had hit me, but I crushed it down. I couldn't afford to be distracted right now! I might not see her, but I could sense her just fine!

"Great-White…"

Her haki seemed to condense along the entire edge, and her blade gleamed like moonlight through the dust cloud, illuminating her silhouette.

"Slash!"

While the 'Thresher Whip' had expanded in all directions, weakening as it spread, the 'Great-White Slash' rocketed forward unchanging like an alpha predator, splitting the dust cloud in two.

It was far too fast for me to dodge! I threw up my arms in a cross armed block, protecting my throat and heart, and desperately tried to activate bio armor without observation haki. Failing the full technique, my body still stiffened into a tekkai which allowed me to barely survive.

From my left collarbone, across my forearms, and down to my right hip, my flesh was slashed open with a spray of blood.

My amateur tekkai shattered, and with it, went the last of my stamina. It was all I could do to remain standing, my damaged arms falling limply by sides as my hips dropped, my body and mind hazy with shock and adrenaline. Blood poured out of my nose from reopened wounds.

Brandy continued attacking.

"Blacktip…"

Sweat poured down Brandy's face, her eyes clenched shut in concentration as more haki than I had sensed from her the entire night poured out of her body, flowing directly to the very tip of her sword, condensing on the end of the blade. As the haki all gathered into that singular point, the top four inches of her sword by the tip of the blade turned from the shining silver of steel to the gleaming black of obsidian. Sparks of ocean blue lightning crackled on the the razor sharp point, and the air seemed to shake with pressure and power. With deadly calm, she breathlessly finished the name of her attack.

"Reef Charge."

The ground shattered under her foot at the force of her step as she blurred forward, and in that moment between moments, I realized something.

I was probably going to die.

And then I realized something else.

Better that than giving up.

Huh. I guess I've changed more than I realized.

Brandy P.O.V.

While it was a general rule of combat to never take your eye off your opponent, observation haki users didn't necessarily need their eyes to keep track of their enemy. Because of this, Brandy never made any real effort to overcome her habit of clenching her eyes closed to concentrate. She still had total awareness of her enemy and her surroundings via haki, so it wasn't a problem. As her eyes opened mid charge, she saw her opponent for the first time since she blew up dust with the 'hammerhead smash'. The realization of the state of her opponent (who was a fucking child, she reminded herself) made it clear he was in no state to fight. Desperately, she skidded to a stop, her feet digging trenches in the ground. She had stopped herself just in time, her blade tip barely touching the brats little neck. A few seconds passed, and the kids hazy eyes widened in surprise, regaining a bit of clarity. Had the little shit been unconscious?! But he was standing!

He spoke, his words quiet and slurred from fatigue and injury. "Whhy ddid ju sstopp?"

Brandy felt her jaw drop incredulously. "You would have died if I didn't!" She shouted back. He looked back, uncomprehending, before realizing something. "Oh… yeah… wwe hhad a ddeal..." His hands shakily began to raise, as if returning to a guard position.

Anger and guilt in equal measure warred in Brandy's chest, and she pressed her blade a millimeter forward, drawing a drop of blood from the brat's (tiny) neck. "Oh no! Nuh uh! You're done!" She declared. His brow furrowed in defiance, his hands still raised in guard position, his knees shaking with the effort of standing.

Brandy tried again. "Don't you understand you brat?! You would have died just now if I hadn't chosen to stop! Are you listening? Do you understand? You would have DIED!" Silence stretched on, and his defiant glare intensified.

His blood continued dripping noisily to the ground.

Finally, he spoke. "Teach me Haki."

Brandy stood in shock for a few seconds, before removing the blade from against his neck, flicking the blood off, and sheathing her sword in rage. "Hell no!" She shouted. "I won! You lost! You can hardly stand, much less fight, and you're losing more and more blood by the second! Give up already before you fucking kill yourself!"

He breathed raggedly a few times before speaking up again.

"Teach me Haki."

Brandy snarled, and sent a flat footed kick to the stupid little fucker's chest. It landed with a thud, and he sailed backward, landing on his back in the dirt. He cried out in pain at the impact, and guilt lanced through Brandy's heart, which only fueled her rage.

She watched as he struggled and failed to get up, not even having the strength to lift his own weight.

She stomped over, and crouched down to stare directly into his face, tears of guilt and frustration welling up in her eyes. "You lost! Admit it! You can't even stand anymore! You need medical attention soon, or YOU. WILL. DIE. Give up already!"

His breaths came even more ragged, and finally he responded in barely more than a whisper. "If I die… I die. I'll never surrender. I… can't."

Tears were streaming down Brandy's cheeks, and she thought of Lia. Of the face she would make when she found out her boy had died, and Brandy had killed him. And with that image, her resolve broke. "Fine Kid! I'll make you a deal!" She nearly yelled with desperation, "I'll teach you Haki! Everything I know! Just don't die!" She scooped him up and started running toward town, but he resisted. "Nno!" He slurred. "I won't give up, but I didn't win either! I didn't earn—" "OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!" Brandy screamed, red faced with rage. "IT'S A DRAW THEN! I TRAIN YOU, YOU PAY ME, WE BOTH GET WHAT WE WANT! JUST STAY ALIVE!"

He was silent for a moment, jostling in Brandy's arms as she ran, and finally responded. "Ok…" he coughed weakly, "deal". And promptly lost consciousness.

She could still hear him breathing weakly, so she knew he hadn't died, but he wasn't far off.

She snarled bitterly through her tears as she ran, regretting this whole situation. This stupid fucker! Why was he so stubborn!? Why didn't he just quit?! It should be easy! Just two words! I quit! That's it! It was only for a stupid bet! Why had he gone so far!

A small voice spoke up in the back of her head, 'It was only a stupid bet, why did YOU go so far? He's only a child, what's your excuse? Aren't you supposed to be the mature one?'

She cried even harder, her blurry vision forcing her to navigate with observation haki.

"Please" Brandy sobbed. "Don't die."

A/N: And that's a wrap! Jasper fucked around, and ended up finding out. Brandy isn't anywhere crazy power wise as far as The grand line goes, and she would lose badly against any actual new world pirate. But in an area like the North blue, she is OP as fuck.

My interpretation of haki probably won't be popular. Most people think the blackening effect is only an artistic ad on, because it fixes the "why didn't whitebeard use haki in marineford" plothole.

My problem with that, is it closes one plothole, and opens SO many more.

When Luffy one shots the pacifista post time skip, Sentomaru states, "he used haki!" He was using haki and gear second, so he must have shouted 'red hawk' right? No. He shouted jet pistol. Red hawk requires enough haki to blacken his hand, jet pistol has a minimal amount.

When he first uses elephant gun, he refers to using haki to blacken something as Armament: hardening, which implies it is a separate technique.

Rayleigh says armament is an invisible 'suit' of armor, but why would he say that if only two people in the world can cover their whole bodies with it? Because armament covers the whole body, and only blackens a body part at a high density in that area. Rayleigh is more powerful over all, so he can use a more powerful haki without it blackening, because he isn't going all out.

When conquerors haki is infused into an attack, it doesn't blacken the attack (in the manga at least, I'm not sure about the anime) This fixes the whitebeard issue. He is infusing his attacks with conquerors, not armament.

Hawkeyes and Zoro have a conversation about black blades. Mihawk states that yoru "became black" through many battles. Most people say that that is all Mihawk said about black blades. But at the end of the conversation, just as the flashback is fading back to dressrosa, Mihawk states, "Chips on the blade are a swordsman's shame. A true swordsman is able to blacken his blades at will." Yeah you read that right. Blacken. AT WILL.

In wano, it's revealed that the "cut anything and nothing" power that Zoro unlocked in alabasta (the power to cut through iron) is in fact ryuo, an application of armament haki. So if Zoro could already use ryuo, why didn't his blade already blacken? Why did he have to learn it from Hawkeyes? Because it's a more powerful form of armament!

When Sanji uses Ifrit Jambe, he mentions armament haki. In the funimation translation of the anime, he says, "my top notch armament haki" but in direct translations of the manga, he says, my body is tougher from the modifications and my armament haki training." Now why would armament haki make his ENTIRE BODY tougher hmm? Because it coats the entire body and only blackens at high power densities!

Even now, in the manga, tons of characters STILL are stated to be using haki, and it doesn't blacken their attacks.

Coincidence? I think NOT!

Sorry, I get excited about stuff. This is how armament works in my story. If it is later confirmed to be incorrect, than it's a good thing this is a fan fiction ain't it?

Besides, Oda has only stated it's invisible, not that it straight up doesn't exist. We know from Mihawk it definitely is visible, so Maybe it's like stand users from jojo, where haki is invisible to non haki users, and completely visible to people with haki! Which means my interpretation is still valid! Yay!

Sorry for the rant, I totally understand if you skipped it. Just don't flame me about my armament haki being "wrong", especially if you didn't read my explanation. This is how it works, in my story at least.

There should finally be some time skipping next chapter, and we'll finally start getting closer to the actual stuff talked about in the summery.

Also, I was initially against Jasper getting a devil fruit because I couldn't think of one that worked well, but I've since thought of the perfect one for him. If I do go that route, it will be WAY later in the story, and I will of course remove the 'no devil fruit MC' part of the summery at that time. All I'll say is it fits perfectly for his character and skill set. What do y'all think? Would you be disappointed?

I welcome constructive criticism and questions, and I'm so grateful for all your feedback so far! :D

Reviews motivate me!

Ciao!