"And that is what it means," finished Yamato, beaming. Law looked down at the ground, dumbstuck.
"And this is all… from deep within the Grand Line?"
"Yep!" Yamato nodded. "Whitebeard and his old rivals and allies know it. I learned it from Kozuki Oden, who sailed under his flag, and under Roger too!"
Law stared downward, hand over his mouth. This was too much to take in.
"I've…I've never heard of Kozuki Oden," he managed to say.
"I can tell you all about him later on if you like!" Yamato exclaimed, looking positively giddy. "He was such an amazing man and-!" A growling noise brought her up short. Yamato flinched, and looked down at her stomach.
"Hungry, huh," mused Izuku, a little smile on his face as Yamato rubbed the back of her head.
"We can eat later. For now let's finish up on this. It's getting dark." Law turned back to the planks. Yamato and Izuku nodded, and returned to their own tasks. He found himself blinking, screwing up his eyes, as he tried to concentrate. It was getting harder and harder to see.
"I'm going to make a torch," Izuku said, grabbing a hefty stick and heading into the house. He returned a moment later; carrying a dusty bottle and some flint. Law watched as he knelt down, and poured lamp oil from the bottle onto some old rags tied around the stick. With a few strikes of the flint, the makeshift torch was ablaze; lighting up the yard.
Before long their work was finished. Law held up each cross in turn, and Yamato gently tapped it into the grass-covered soil.
His father, Trafalgar D. Norman.
His mother, Trafalgar Lena.
And his little sister, Trafalgar Lami.
Law took a deep breath, as he looked from one to the other. Izuku closed his eyes, and clasped his hands in prayer. Yamato saw him, and did likewise.
"Rest in peace, Mom. Dad. Lami…" Law whispered, patting each cross in turn. He let out a long sigh, and turned to face the duo. "Alright, we can go."
"You sure?" Yamato asked. "I mean, this was your home."
"Nature took care of anything I could possibly get." Law pulled the tip of his cap over his eyes. "I'm fine."
He strode on into the house, back the way he had come. This place was a ruin now, but it had once been his home. A home where he had loving parents, a little sister, friends, and a hopeful future.
All taken away from him.
(X)
Yamato followed Law through the house, anger simmering in her heart.
It was unforgivable. It was so wrong! How could people do this to others!?
Yet…it was so familiar. Wano had isolated itself from the world, and had fallen to Kaido without the world knowing or caring. Doyle had almost been destroyed because of one vengeful noble. Elegia had been abandoned for its lack of wealth. And now Flevance, destroyed by hysteria and greed.
This was a far cry from the world Oden had described in his logbook. His world had been open and bright, full of wondrous places and amazing people.
This world was cruel, unfair, wrong.
They came out into the street, and Law stopped; looking back at the ruin that had once been his home.
"Midoriya. Yamato," he said, in a voice heavy with pain. "Thank you…for everything. I…"
Yamato felt her anger fade, as Law raised his head; his eyes shimmering.
"I never…I never would have had this chance. To say goodbye, one last time."
"It's alright. That's what friends are for? Right?" insisted Yamato, as Izuku nodded. Law looked away, pulling his cap over his brow again. But Yamato could see the tears welling in his eyes, threatening to spill.
"Sure. Let's head back. We can forage around the harbor." He stalked off down the street, Yamato and Izuku hurrying after him.
"Uh, Law," Izuku spoke up. "If we eat from here, won't we get sick from the Amber Lead?"
"No, you'd have to have eaten the food, with Amber Lead cutlery, off Amber Lead plates, your whole life for it to have much effect. Besides…" He looked back and offered a smile. "I can vaccinate you both myself."
Yamato smiled back. It wasn't much, but…"
"Hey Law?" she asked as she walked aside him. "What was your Dad like? I noticed a clinic inside there. Was he a doctor?"
"He was," Law replied. "He was a good doctor."
"I bet he'd be proud," declared Yamato. "You've helped a lot of people, after all."
"Yeah, I did," Law muttered, his shoulders slumping. Yamato faltered, only then realizing what she had said, and what she had reminded him of.
"What happened wasn't your fault." Izuku assured him. "We know who's to blame."
Yamato saw the darkness in his eyes, and her heart sank. She knew what he was thinking, and how he felt. To see a place like this, another island where no one was saved. Just like Elegia, and Swallow.
Her horns began to itch, as she remembered what Izuku had said; back in Elegia. Shigaraki had come within a breath of destroying Japan utterly, but it had been saved in the end; by a world full of heroes.
Not like this world. How horrid, how cruel, must this world seem to him? It was crushing his soul, she could tell.
And what had she done to protect him from it?
Yamato reached up, and rubbed the base of her horns. The itch was getting unbearable.
'Exposing him to atrocity after atrocity,' a voice whispered. 'All for the sake of your adventure, your freedom. Oden never did that, did he?'
It sounded familiar, almost like her own. Yamato glanced about, trying to find where it had come from. But there was no one there but Law and Izuku.
'You know who brings calamity after calamity in their wake, right? Baring witness to all the world's evils?' mocked the whispering voice. 'You know who…'
Then she paused, as her eye fell on something in the dark of the forest. A faint firelight, peeking through the woods; maybe…a hundred meters away.
"Izuku," she spoke up, stopping.
"Yamato?" Izuku asked as Law turned.
"There isn't anyone here… is there?" she asked aloud, pointing towards the faint light.
"No… there shouldn't be." Law followed her pointing finger, eyes narrowing.
"Could it be a Marine patrol?" Izuku asked in a low voice. "You said they walled off the island, right?
Law nodded, and the boy floated up, Black Whip unfurling and wrapping around them; hauling them up alongside him. Izuku let the torch fall onto the street, and flew over the trees. Yamato clasped Takeru with one hand, and saw Law grasp his nodachi; readying himself to fight.
All at once, they came upon a lagoon; a breakaway creek heading inland from the river. They could no longer see the harbor, or the Arctic Unicorn. Yamato could see the fire, flickering under a tree.
"There," Izuku whispered. Yamato turned her head, and saw a figure sitting at the shore, carrying a long pole with a string attached.
"A fishing rod," Law mused. He glanced at Izuku and Yamato. They both nodded.
The trio descended, until Yamato and Law touched down. They crept forward, weapons at the ready, while Izuku hovered overhead. Yamato fixed her eyes on the figure, looking for some sign of danger. But there wasn't anything at all. He just sat there, his fishing rod out over the water.
"Hello?" she called out. Izuku and Law rounded on her, eyes wide. "What? He's only fishing for dinner."
"Hello there," replied the figure, standing up and stretching his arms. Law sighed through his nose, and Izuku fixed his eyes on the figure; as if half-expecting him to attack. "The fish aren't biting tonight, I'm afraid."
The figure stepped into the firelight. He was short, around Izuku's height; with beige skin, a white beard reaching to the middle of his chest, and bushy eyebrows. His head was bald, with a bandage wrapped around it. His eyes were gold and ringed, and his ears were festooned with rings.
"I must admit, it's rare to see one who can fly without wings," he commented. His voice was gentle, friendly; but with an accent Yamato had never heard before. "That said, I never expected to meet anyone in this dead city."
He crossed his arms, and stroked his beard. "Might I ask who you are? You don't seem to be with those masked men."
"Masked men?" Yamato asked aloud.
"Were they Marines in gas masks?" Izuku asked, and the old man shrugged.
"I do not know of these Marines. They were men who wore odd white armor and masks."
"How did you get in there?" Law demanded, eyes narrowed. But Izuku stepped in front of him, shaking his head.
"Forgive my friend here. This city used to be his home. But it was destroyed years ago."
The old man perked up, and he turned, adjusting his sunglasses as he stared at Law, and then at Yamato. He frowned, and seemed to straighten up.
"I see." The man took a deep breath. "I can see why you are tense then, young man. The Kara around you is dark and heavy." He turned to Yamato, and she felt like he was looking… into her. "And you also, young lady."
Kara? Dark and heavy?
Like the upside Devil?
"It is the release of limiting beliefs, of exploring darker thoughts and urges. There are trials that await you, my dear."
"Ummm, what is Kara?" Yamato asked, feeling a cold pit grow inside her.
"What the hell are you on about old man!? Where did you come from!?" demanded Law, losing his temper. "This city is walled off! No one can get in or out unless they're Marines!"
The old man smiled. He seemed amused by Law's display, as if he were a silly child and not an angry young man with a weapon.
"In order then; it is your self," he replied, walking back towards the fire. There was a camp laid out beside it; with a blanket and a sack. He knelt down by the sack, pulled out an apple, and bit into it. "The 'Self' contained within you. It leaks like a taut wineskin, and it will only poison you, rupture you, ruin you from within, unless…" He looked directly at Law. "Your Self is mended. As for where I came from? Well, I came from a land far away. I simply came upon this place by providence. As is the way of most things in this world."
"'Self'? 'Far away?' Quit the riddles old man," Law growled.
Dark. Heaviness. Did he mean her too?
"Excuse me, sir." Izuku spoke up, stepping between the old man and Law once again.
"Hmm? What is it my flying friend?" The man bit into his apple again. It had white speckles on it.
"If I may ask, how did you get in here? This city is walled off. Did you climb over?"
"I did not," the man replied plainly.
"Did you swim through the grates leading out to sea?" Law asked.
"Not at all."
"Then how did you get in here?" Yamato cut in. "Oh, uh, my name is Yamato, and this is Izuku and Law." The man chuckled, giving her a wry smile.
"How polite to give your names. Well to answer your question young lady, I do have a name. One I have not used in a long time."
He sighed, and for a moment, he seemed very old and careworn.
"You can call me Drona."
He pointed upward, at the sky.
"And I came from up there."
(X)
Heavensward
"Vice Admiral! We got a call!"
John Giant lifted his head, as Melinda came trotting out onto her office balcony.
"A report just in from the Skylark," she began. "They've found Swallow Island burned to the ground. What's more, there was a dead Germa 66 Snail Cruiser in the harbor; and the ruins were full of dead troopers."
John narrowed his eyes. "The report yesterday about a Black Beast. That was Swallow too, wasn't it?"
"It was!"
John glowered. Tosa was a good Marine, one of his best captains. But he had come back unconscious, on a half-wrecked ship, with his first officer in a wheelchair and his crew beaten half to death. And now Swallow was burned; and full of Germa corpses.
This didn't make sense. Had Germa destroyed Swallow? It was certainly their style. But if they had, who had killed them? Had the Heart Pirates tried to defend the island, only for it to be destroyed in the fighting? Or had they come back from somewhere else and caught the Germa in the act? Or was it someone else entirely?
He didn't like this. He had no time for mysteries; not with so much at stake. If Law's Black Beast had been stolen from the Vinsmokes, it would explain a lot. But for him to have pulled off a heist like that…
"Any return calls from Germa?"
"None sir. They're not answering."
The arrogance! And that wasn't the worst of it! Their rampage had pirates fleeing ahead of them, jumping any ship they came across just to get food. Every other island in the North Blue was screaming for help, and with every day that passed, more calls came in.
The North Blue wasn't like the New World. There, the surviving kingdoms were big and strong; anything smaller had been picked off by the Emperors long ago. Here the kingdoms were smaller and weaker, less able to cope by themselves, much less independent communities. A single pirate ship was more than many of them could handle. And now pirates were running for their lives left and right, while the Germa 66 prowled the waves; killing without a word of explanation.
John gritted his teeth. If the civilians of Swallow Island had aided the Heart Pirates willingly, then they deserved punishment. But it was for the courts to determine the truth of it, and decide their punishment. That was justice, not mindless slaughter like this. Even the worst criminal deserved a fair trial; and it was for the Marines to ensure that happened.
If Judge would not explain himself by snail, then maybe he would do so in person.
"Prepare my carrier." John rose from his chair, his officers leaping to their feet. "Are Rear Admirals Urban and Redking at the ready?"
"They're aboard their flagships sir," replied Melinda primly. "Their fleets stand ready."
"Good. Since Judge doesn't seem to want to answer his snail, I'll go talk to him myself."
"And if he refuses, sir?"
"Then I will bring this matter to the Holy Land myself," he growled. "I will not answer for this chaos, Melinda. Not so soon after the Reverie."
He hadn't been at the Reverie, but he had heard from Sengoku about what that traitor Jansen Baker had done over at Doyle; and what King Bach had said about it. The Marines had been shown up, made to look unreliable, untrustworthy, weak.
And now an aligned kingdom was running amok, throwing the North Blue into chaos.
It could not stand. It would not stand.
Because John Giant would not let it.
Big thanks to the team as always.
So 65 and 66 were meant to be one Chapter, but IKN felt it best to split these up so to speak. Our Social Link with Law grows stronger, we meet a new character, one who will be of importance in the days to come. And John at least some some sort of code.
Hope you all enjoyed. Wish we could fight the Germa on chapter '66' but oh well.