Bold is for attacks
Italics indicate thinking
Steve's POV
We were sailing our way to Wano when the news coo arrived with the paper, this one was focused on the big meeting of all the world government royalty going on.
"So many major players, hard to keep track of them all." I noted.
"Looks like King Neptune was there too." Nami said "Shirahoshi too. Luffy seems like your grandfather was the one who escorted them."
"Let me see, there's probably a picture of Vivi." Sanji tried grabbing the paper.
"Wow, you all know some very important people." Monet laughed softly.
"Look Viola is there!" Sanji smiled.
"Hey Chopper look at this." Nami took the paper back and showed him a picture.
"You know that guy, he looks big." Wyper leaned over.
"Ah it's Dalton, and Doctorine!" Chopper smiled.
"That old hag is still alive?" Sanji asked.
"Shut your mouth!" Chopped whacked him and started cutting out the photo.
"Be nice." I laughed.
"Wait don't cute parts out I didn't read the whole thing yet!" Nami yelled "There was something there about Big Mom I wanted to read about."
"Put her out of mind already." I sighed "The less time worrying about that hag that better."
"I'm glad everyone is doing okay." Luffy smiled "After we sail around the world lets go back and see them all again."
"We should be getting close to Wano soon." Nami said as we passed a few rock spires sticking up out of the water "This isn't your average current; I have a bad feeling about this place."
"I'm sure we'll get through with your guidance." I shrugged.
"Robin…I want to see you again."
"I hope so, even Kin'emon warned me about how entering the country is difficult because of the waves and rapids." Nami said.
"There's probably unusual underwater geography causing the current." Monet explained "Where there are gorges or even underwater volcanic seams heat and pressure of the rock can alter the course of the water leading to strange tidal paths."
"Leave it to the scientist to make it more complicated than it needs to be." Wyper said "The water's crazy, that's all we need to know, but Nami's right we should be careful, with the spot fixes I did after the fight with Big Mom the Sunny is in rough shape, we need to find Franky so he can do some real repairs before this whole ship shatters into boards."
"The samurai alone make Wano intimidating, but the weather itself is even against people coming or going." Brook commented.
"IYO!" a giant octopus nodded.
"Wait where did this thing come from?!"
The bizarre human sized octopus wasn't a fish person it was just a normal, very odd octopus' fellow who sputtered and saluted at us before two giant Koi fish jumped out of the current and began pushing the ship through the waves.
"I can't tell if they're helping or trying to kill us." I said as the ship was rocked about.
"Why are there Koi in the ocean?" Sanji asked.
"Probably a special species adaptation, Lil might be better suited to giving information on that she is the zoologist after all." Monet held onto the railing "About half of us cannot swim so I suggest we do something about all this rocking!"
"Why did Jinbei have to stay behind he could totally steer us out of this." Carrot said.
"Can't worry about what we don't have let's get out of this mess." I said.
"How, the waves are moving like paper art!" Nami yelled "We can't steer through this current even with the paddles."
"Look, the water goes up!" Carrot pointed.
"A waterfall…" I hummed "Nami can we go up that?"
"HOW?!" she snapped.
"You're the navigator you figure it out!"
We followed the current and the ship was pulled along it like it was magnetic and then we were thrown right through a whirlpool onto the island
"At least I didn't drown." I shook my hair dry "Everyone else, okay?"
I was met with silence "Well that's not good."
Looking around I noticed I was somehow in a forest.
"Where the heck am I, and where's the ship?" I walked around a bit There was a pleasant breeze and energy to this place.
"So this is Wano, it seems nice but something about the energy is off, my observation feels clouded, like this place is drowning in a haze."
I followed the nearby path and as I got deeper in the more, I noticed the death and decay around me, trees were more barren, the ground seemed less fertile and the soil ashier.
"A Shrine?" I looked up "I don't fit in but maybe there's someone there who can point me in a good direction?"
I went closer and the first thing I noticed was that this place was surprisingly well kept for a shrine in the middle of a dying forest. The stones were cracked and the archway with a few tiles missing but the main shrine itself was in almost pristine condition.
"Hmm." I bowed at the shrine "Should at least be polite."
I looked over and saw an old woman was sitting there.
"Hello Ma'am." I nodded.
"Oh, hello there." She turned around before her face suddenly went white "AHHH!"
"Please don't scream I'm not here to hurt anyone I-."
"A demon!"
"Demon?"
"What are you screaming about you old bag?" a short wrinkled elderly man walked out with a cane, as soon as his eyes gazed on me he seemed to suddenly become very focused.
"It's a demon, here, at our shrine come to destroy it." The old woman sobbed.
"I'm not here to destroy anything." I said.
"Is everyone in this country so quickly judgmental?"
"Koga do something." The old woman said.
"Relax would ya." He grumbled.
The old man was shorter than most, bald and clean shaved but his strange soft purple eyes were intimidating.
"I'm not trying to cause trouble." I said.
"You might not be, but those cursed arms of yours are." The old man said.
"HMPH!" the old woman suddenly threw a handful of salt at me.
"What the hell was that?" I growled "Huh?"
Suddenly the area on my chest it hit began to burn.
"AHHH!" I grabbed my chest "What the hell?"
"Jeez Kusu you could wait till I'm ready." The old man said pulling out a piece of paper with strange characters written on it "Freeze to the soul."
I got ready to pull my arm back and attack when the man threw the paper and it connected with my arm, suddenly every muscle felt numb and stiff, I couldn't even throw a punch.
"These are no ordinary old people!"
Both than pulled out prayer beads and began chanting. I felt that hateful side of myself boiling up, like they were drawing it out.
"Knock it off!" I roared and started charging up a beam attack "RAAAH"
"THIS ONE IS MINE!"
"Give your body to the darkness, so we can annihilate your enemies!"
"Luffy…help me. Robin, Lil…I won't get this close and not find you.
"DIE!" I got ready to blast them.
NO POV
A slight vortex of spiritual energy was building up in the Shrine's main entrance was as the couple confronted the demon before them, the beast ready to strike back.
"I finished weeding and sweeping the back garden." A voice said "Huh?"
"Stay back child." Kusu warned "These a terrible demon in this man."
"I'll exorcise it but it's fighting back." Koga added as the beast was charging an attack "This much demonic spirit energy I've never seen such levels of it before."
"A demon?"
The girl looked passed them and gasped.
"No stop!" she ran by them.
"No don't!" they warned.
"Not you him!" she darted passed "Stop attacking please it's okay!"
"DIE!"
"PAPA STOP IT!" Lil yelled.
"Huh?" Steve stopped attacking.
The charging beam faded and he looked forward.
"Lil…"
She ran forward and hugged him "Papa!"
Steve's POV
"Papa!" Lil hugged me "Papa!"
"Lil." I felt my arms able to move again and hugged her tight "Here you are."
I just stood there for a minute holding her close, for a minute I felt like I was losing myself to that voice but just hearing her was like all that haze instantly burned away.
"Lilto." The old woman walked up "Who is this man."
"Oh right!" she said "This is my Papa. Papa this is Miss Kusu and her husband Mister Koga, they run this shrine I've been helping them while I was here. They know Kin'emon."
"That kid's keeping stranger and stranger friends these days." The old man grumbled "Now he's friends with a demon."
"You know that's not the nicest thing to call someone." I said.
"It's true brat." The old man grumbled "I've never seen such intense demonic spirit energy in a living human before, surprised you're not dead and possessed."
"I'm too strong to die." I told him.
"Not much longer, your soul is weak child." The old woman said "If we try and exorcise that demon in this state you'll die."
"I'm not dying." I glared.
"Papa is dying?!" Lil yelped.
"If we don't get the demon out it'll take over, if we take it out the kid dies." The old man said "Ah well guess you'll have to die."
"THAT WASN'T HELPFUL AT ALL!" I snapped "And explain what's going on, a demon, and those weird attacks you did what were those?"
"Exorcist arts." Koga said "The manipulation and purification of spirit and soul energies."
"So like Haki."
"No not Haki, are all kids these days so stupid." The old man grumbled.
"Lil I really don't like you hanging around with these two." I grumbled.
"C-Calm down Papa." She sighed.
"Spirit energy is like a cousin of Haki." Kusu said "Similar but also different with skill it can be manipulated, there's a race of monsters called Yokai, and they need to be dealt with by exorcists, though those are few and far between, Yokai sometimes possess humans and when they do they drain their soul energy and take over bodies."
"I didn't get these powers from a demon I got them from a Devil Fruit." I explained.
I dropped my bandages "It did this to me."
I showed my flaming arms.
"Hmm, interesting, I've heard of a few fruits they say are possessed by powerful evil spirits." Koga said "and now one's gotten it's grip on you kid."
"Then what do we do?" Lil asked.
"Maybe there's a way." The old woman hummed "If we prepare and strengthen his spirit energy, and his control of it, we may be able to curb and reseal the demon, weakening it's control, basically putting it to sleep forever inside the current vessel."
"I'll do it." I said "If I can silence this shouting, and control this power will this curse finally go away."
I held out my arms "Will these flames fade when I don't want them. Will I be able to hold my family without those bandages in the way, feel their skin on mine?"
The old man stared me down.
"If whatever you're planning can make that happen, I'll do whatever it takes." I said.
"HMPH!" the old man scoffed "Nice determination, maybe this won't kill you then. "Lilto go and close the main gate to the shrine, I'll need quiet for this."
They started drawing on the ground making a spirit circle out of chalk salts and candles, Koga put on special robes and Kusu did the same while also getting more of those prayer beads.
"I got one last thing before we start kid." The old man said "If we do this, I need something from ya."
"Hmm?"
"There's darkness in the country even I can't exorcise anymore, it's not that sort of evil." He said "But you're strong so once I do, just help Kin'emon out, that kid could use the help."
"That's a stupid thing to ask." I laughed "Of course I would, he's a friend after all."
"Good." The old man pulled out a series of spirit tags "Than let's begin!"
Sometime Later
"Ugh my head is spinning." I woke up laying in a bed.
"Papa!" Lil dove at me "You're awake you've been sleeping for a while now I was worried!"
"Sorry if I worried you." I gave her a hug, her tiny body felt so soft "Huh?"
I looked down and saw my arms but they were…normal, flesh white and clear not dark and burned or covered in green and purple flames.
"My arms are…"
"It worked alright; the demon put up a hell of a fight." The old man said walking in all bandaged up "You pack quite a punch kid."
"Sorry did I make a mess?" I asked.
"You ranted and raved a bit." He said "Threw a few blows nothing I couldn't handle."
"Thanks for your help." I stood up.
"This…not…over…you…vessel…ours…"
I heard the voice but it was so much more distant and quieter.
"You're not out of the woods yet." The old man said "unless you learn how to master your control over spirit power that demon will just break the seal."
"I'm not letting that thing win." I said "So, show me what I need to do, teach me the skills I need."
"We can get to that in a bit." The old man said "For now, rest and build up strength…you're going to need it."
AN
Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.
Pick Up point- Chapter 919
Till Next Time!