I do not own one thing that has anything to do with the following at all!
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE STRONG?
That is the question Jaune Arc has been asking himself for the last three years since he arrived in Wano Country! For three long years, Jaune, along with the rest of his fellow warriors under Oden, have been training non-stop any chance they could to train, usually from sundown all the way to sunrise!
Jaune and the others knew that their own personal training would be intense, but that was a small sacrifice to pay in order to serve the next Shogun of Wano Country/ the man they owed everything to!
The young Arc may have complained at first about their training, but he quickly had a change in attitude as soon as he saw that the others were training just as hard as him if not harder! Kin'emon, who when they first met had his hair dyed blonde stopped doing that and let his hair turn back to its natural black color!
Jajne knew that was his Captain's conviction of changing himself from a well-known delinquent and ruffian from the capital to the leader of Oden's Samurai, the Nine Red Scabbards
Day and night, all of them trained intensely as Jaune faced the different Scabbard every night. Jaune knew this was to adapt to different fighting styles as no two Scabbard fought the same.
Dogstorm may use a katana in combat, but he uses it more like it was rapier or a sword more built for stabbing! Raizo didn't use a katana like the others as he was a ninja, and he used shurikens and other ninja weapons at his disposal. Kawamatsu, meanwhile, didn't hold his sword in the usual manner as he fought with a reverse blade style!
While Izo couldn't use a sword properly at all so he switched the firearms to which he was a master as he could shoot down a bird from a flintlock pistol over two miles away like it was nothing! Izo still wore a katana on his hip to keep up appearances, but his main weapons are his flintlock pistols.
Night after night they trained and trained and Jaune could feel his body begging him to stop but his will told him that he would not stop as he wanted to catch up to the others and be useful to Oden! He owed him for saving his life, taking him in when he had nowhere else to go, and giving him what many others didn't… a chance to prove himself without having to lie!
Soon, time went by in a flash, and before anyone knew it, three whole years had passed!
[Wano Country: Flower Capital]
"Hey, I heard Kuri's Daimyo will come to the capital."said one of the citizens.
"Don't get robbed."joked another in a playful manner.
"Lord Oden's Samurai are ruffians!"said a female citizen as the sound of people approaching the front gate that led into the capital could be heard.
"Look, they're here!"said one of the obnoxious citizens before he was silenced by what he saw.
Instead of the ruffians he was expecting he saw dignified warriors with stern faces approaching the capital with Oden at the center riding an intricate and beautifully designed litter box that was tied on top of a large cat-like creature to act as his transport mount.
The crowd was absolutely speechless as they were expecting ruffians, not such dignified looking people to be transporting the man who they believe not too long ago completely destroyed the Capital by stealing a young white boar piglet from the mountain God!
All of Oden's Nine Red Scabbards were wearing black kimonos with crescent moons on both sides of their chests to show their affiliation with the Kozuki clan. Their outfits looked like they were made out of the finest material with different intricate designs on the bottom of each Samurai. The only exception to this was Kiku and Raizo as Kikujou was wearing a yellow kimono tied with black hakama pants and Raizo was wearing an outfit one would expect the ninja to wear but was of similar color and design to the others.
All Nine Red Scabbards were walking on both sides of the litter box while Jaune, the unofficial member of the group, was walking behind it to act as the rear guard. He was wearing an outfit similar to the others and like the rest of them minus Raizo because of the intricate white obi belt he was wearing all had white haori with purple crescent moons all over the top draped over their shoulders.
The reason for today's visit to the capital is because Oden heard that his father and the current Shogun, Kozuki Sukiyaki, was ill, and Oden wanted to see if he was okay.
Jaune while looking all serious and looking around to see if there was any serious threat was actually admiring how beautiful the capital was as the cherry blossoms were falling all around them which made his fellow Samurai and him look even more majestic as the wind made their haori flow through the air like they were capes!
Jaune noticed the shogun's palace and almost broke character as it was a large beautiful looking structure on top of what look like was a waterfall flowing out of a large tree root in the shape of a crescent moon!
Jaune internally smiled as many in the crowd noted some of the scars underneath his kimono as well as his bulging muscles as Jaune had become more muscular in the three years he had been training with his fellow retainers.
He heard whispers from women in the crowd about him, but he paid them no mind as he continued to escort his Lord to his father's Palace.
…
"Hey father!"said Oden as he greeted his father casually as they were in the room alone with each other while Oden's Samurai were just outside acting as guards.
"Oden, you became such a great man! Everyone is surprised!"said the Shogun, as he never expected his black sheep of a son who up until he was banished from the capital had caused nothing but trouble and for that same son to become such a great man by taming Kuri and becoming its Daimyo was surely a dream come true!
The once forbidden region to enter was now prosperous, all thanks to Oden and his followers!
"I've only been made great! I haven't changed that all."said Oden as no matter how much time passes or where he was, he was always going to be himself!
Sukiyaki was caught off guard by this. As Oden only ever thought of himself and that is why he was banished from the capital!
'I-I-I cannot believe you feel grateful for others!"said Sukiyaki, as he backed away a little since he was honestly surprised and shocked by his son's change in attitude.
"Don't be frightened."said Oden as he thought it was no big deal, and soon both men began laughing.
Jaune, meanwhile, was guarding the door that led to where Oden and the Shogun were when he noticed that one of the servants in the palace appeared to be listening in.
This servant had purple hair and was quite fat and ugly looking, Jaune didn't like that he was listening to the Shogun and Oden's private conversation, so he decided to move him along.
"Hey, move it along!"ordered Jaune, causing the servant to quickly apologize to him before leaving.
"Weirdo."said Jaune before he went back to sentry duty.
… Neither Oden nor any of his Samurai knew that this was going to be the last time they saw Shogun Kozuki Sukiyaki alive…
A short time passed, and Oden and his samurai had returned to Kuri. Oden was in the castle looking like he was deep in thought.
Denjiro meanwhile was in another part of the castle managing Kuri's finances as that's was his specialty as he was always good with money and even managed to swindle people in his youth by getting more than he was giving in deals.
The others were in the training grounds practicing with their swords. And Jaune, meanwhile, was running to where Lord Oden was as he had something important to report, and he needed to get to his Lord as quickly as possible to report it!
"Lord Oden! A pirate ship has been spotted off the coast, and it's currently anchored not too far from here."said Jaune as he wondered how the pirates managed to get on top of the waterfall that led to Wano as it's usually impossible to leave the country unless you have a giant powerful ship taking you down.
Oden had to learn this the hard way as in his youth he constantly tried to leave the country illegally which was not good for him as he was illegal to leave Wano but Oden didn't agree with it and one of his dreams was when he became Shogun was to open Wano's borders.
"A ship? Jaune, tell me about this ship."asked Oden as Jaune was catching his breath as he had run a long distance to give his report!
"It's big Lord Oden, and it's in the shape of a whale. It must be some ship to make it over the falls still practically in one piece… and he's gone…"said Jaune as Oden disappeared from where he was sitting as his haori fell to the ground.
Jaune looked around and saw that Ame no Habakiri and Enma weren't where they used to be! Jaune quickly put two and two together, and his eyes dilated with worry as he knew what his Lord was up to!
Oden went to go confront the pirates himself and would most likely ask them to set sail with them once they repaired their ship and plan to leave Wano! Jaune quickly realized the mistake he just made went to go alert the others to help him stop their Lord from doing anything crazy!
"Everyone emergency! Pirates have landed off the coast of Kuri, and Lord Oden plans to go join them so he can leave the country!"said Jaune at the top of his lungs, getting the attention of his fellow Samurai.
"What?!"said Kin'emon with worry.
"That fool!"said Izo as he knew his Lord's selfishness better than anyone.
"We have to go help him!"said Dogstorm frantically as their Lord could be in danger.
"Forget that we have to go stop him before he leaves the country!"said Denjiro as he jumped down to where everyone else was.
"Jaune, lead us to where the pirates are!"ordered Kin'emon as Jaune motioned for all of them to follow him as he would lead the way to where the pirates were!
Meanwhile, next to the giant ship that was turned over, a group of people who looked exactly like pirates were looking around wondering where they were and what their next move would be.
"People are living here?"said one of the pirates who noticed a house and was surprised that people were living here, let alone that there was an island over the intense rapid waterfall they just traveled up.
"Pops, it will take a week to repair the Moby Dick."said one of the pirates to his captain!
The Captain was a giant of a man with long blonde hair, and for some reason, a crescent moon shaped white mustache. He he had a white Captain's coat draped over his shoulders, a green button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up in a few buttons, a black sash acting as a belt, A Captain's bright corn cap with the jolly Roger printed on the front, baggy khaki pants, and long black leather boots on his feet with his pants tucked into them.
Next to him was a beautiful giant naginata that looked like it could only have been wielded by him as it was bigger than the average man!
"The cargo is mostly water damaged!"said a female pirate with unique fancy looking clothes and had long light blue hair.
"We need to get food and supplies. Who wants to go?"asked a muscular man wearing a musketeer like outfit with white gloves and two sabers swords on his hips.
"Almost everyone since we need some exercise."answered a large man with an afro wearing light brown coveralls and a red long sleeve shirt.
"I'm coming too!"said a young man whose head kind of looked like a pineapple. He was wearing a purple button-up dress shirt, dark pants that cut off at his ankles, and black slip-on shoes.
"You can't as you're still only an apprentice!"scolded the female pirate, as the young man reluctantly decided to stay with the ship.
"We climbed up the waterfall, right? So why is there a sea in an island here?"wonders the captain as he didn't know why, but he could swear he was hearing someone approaching them at a fast pace!
Oden and his Samurai would later learn that these people were the Whitehead Pirates, led by their Captain Edward Newgate, or better known as Whitebeard!
The others would later become well known acquaintances as well as infamous pirates later on as the apprentice is Marco the Phoenix, the man with the sabers is Vista of the flower swords, the female pirate as ice witch Whitey Bay, the large man with the afro as Andre!
Meanwhile Oden who was wearing his usual outfit which consisted of a orange kimono that didn't cover his legs all the way, a purple sash around his waist and a white and purple obi belt intrically wrapped around his arms to keep his sleeves rolled up!
In his left hand was Enma and Ame no Habakiri was in his right hand, and both of their scabbards were in his belt.
Oden had both of his swords out at the ready as he was charging towards the pirates with the intention of challenging them and forcing them to take him with them out to sea when they planned to leave!
Jaune and the members of the Nine Red Scabbards meanwhile were chasing after their Lord with the intention of stopping him!
They all hoped they would make it in time!