A/N Chapter 5 of Heroes Will Rise starts. It's the second arc of this new Saga, and it's time for some "new" characters to make their appearances. Enjoy...
Nexus: Heroes Will Rise 5 Around the World:
Nexus HWR 5.1 The Boys Are Back:
700 Miles North of Dressrosa
Inside a bar in a port on the west coast of Aebrith, people gathered around a television against the wall and were talking to each other in loud voices. The news on the screen was big, and men were slamming bets down on the table in front of the screen.
A woman with long purple hair, wearing a cowboy hat, stepped into the bar and a muscular man near the entrance turned to her. "Did you hear?" He questioned. "Dressrosa, the whole city-"
"I heard," the woman said, blowing him off without even looking his way. She walked by and puffed out some smoke from the cigarette she had in her mouth. She was wearing a white cloak with long sleeves that her arms were barely sticking out of at her sides. Her eyes were icy blue and they examined the room before seeing what she came for and focused on the man at the bar.
The young woman started walking forward and she heard a man on the right side of the room yell, "No way! A thousand bucks it was the Emperor! Never believed he would let a non-Sith keep hold over one of his cities. Not after the Forever Knights rebelled! Doflamingo was a fool!"
"The Emperor wouldn't just destroy one of his own cities for no reason, dumbass!" another man next to him yelled. "It was the King. I'll match your bet."
"Why would the King-" the first man began.
"Because he was bored," the second man replied confidently.
"Even if one of you was right," a shorter man standing in front of them started in a bored tone. "It's not like either of you could pay off that bet."
"You calling us poor?" one of the men asked and glared down at the shorter man who was also thinner and weaker-looking. The two he insulted attacked and a second later they were lying on the ground unconscious. The short boy with blond hair turned and walked away. Most of the others there moved out of his way, then filled back in in front of the tv while a bartender dragged the two unconscious men away.
The purple haired girl stared at the screen for a second and examined the destroyed scene of Dressrosa shown on the drone's camera. A few seconds later the feed turned to static and someone smacked the side of the television but nothing happened. "Damn bastards must have destroyed the drone," a fat man who must have weight eight hundred pounds grumbled.
The young woman chuckled once at the misfortune of those bar patrons. She turned and took a seat on a stool at the bar next to a man wearing a similar white cloak only his had a symbol on the back of it that hers did not. He was wearing an orange hat and had a necklace of red beads around his neck. His cloak's back had a skull and crossbones on it over a large cross, and the skull on the cross had a big white mustache. "Discover anything Mizore?" the twenty-two year old man questioned her. He turned and tipped up his hat a little to get a better look at the woman next to him who he met on his travels.
Mizore Shirayuki shook her head before looking across the bar and holding up two fingers. She took another puff of her cigarette then put it out on an ashtray at the counter. "Did you think it would be that easy?"
"I don't know," he replied. Portgas D. Ace chuckled and leaned back in his seat. The pirate whose cheeks were dotted by freckles watched as the nineteen year old girl next to him downed a shot of whiskey with ease. She knocked back the second one within a few seconds and he started laughing some more. She looked at him funny and he shook his head, "How does that taste?"
"My snow powers cool off the burning sensation in my throat almost immediately," Mizore replied. She breathed out and her breath lingered in the air to show how cold she was compared to the late summer air filling the hot bar. "I still get drunk, it's just easier."
"Ahh, I see," Ace said, scratching his chin and laughing a few times. "Well, might as well spend the night in town and then get heading east. I'm just glad we finally made it across the ocean."
"I wish your boat was bigger," Mizore whispered. "When you asked if I wanted to tag along, I was the only one left on the island, so I didn't really have a choice. But to think you would only have a raft."
"The smaller the boat, the better my fire powers work at pushing it," Ace explained. "Sorry if it was a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't meant as a two-seater."
She waved him off and then held up another two fingers at the bartender who gawked at the girl who was downing shots like water. Ace laughed some more but stopped when he felt something on his left side. He turned and someone was sitting down on the stool on his left. The man was wearing a black jacket over a blue shirt and he had a pair of jeans on his legs. On top of his head was a black hat that he had on tilted down over the top half of his face. He had a white scarf sticking out of his blue button down, and a pair of goggles sitting on top of the rim of his black top-hat. There was blond hair sticking out under his hat and the man questioned, "Who are you looking for?"
Ace stared at the man strangely for a few seconds, wondering what this guy was asking for. He could see blond hair sticking out under the man's hat, and for some reason it looked like the man also had tear streaks on his face. Mizore took another shot and looked around Ace at the guy sitting there with his head bowed. "Who is that?" She questioned, thinking Ace may have recognized him by the look on her companion's face.
"I, don't…" Ace muttered, but found himself unable to answer her completely. No, the resemblance is uncanny, but, it can't be. He grinned a little and said, "Ever heard of a man named Whitebeard?" He questioned the other man.
The man next to him chuckled a few times and he said, "Telling from the symbol on your back, I can tell you're one of his pirates, aren't you, Ace?" Ace pulled back and his face covered in sweat. The way the man just said his name, the sound of his voice, his hair and clothing, they all reminded him so much of… The guy started turning towards Ace and he pushed up on the rim of his hat so Ace could see the burn scars on his face, but also the huge smile and the watery eyes of the man in front of him.
"Ace," the man repeated. "You're alive," the guy sounded so choked up but Ace could not believe his eyes.
"Me?" Ace whispered. "How are, you so old?" He reached out for the other man's face and grabbed the inside of his mouth, pulling it to the side to see if he was really… real.
"Stop that," the blond man smacked Ace's hand away. "I've got a lot to tell you, little brother."
"Little?!" Ace exclaimed.
"You didn't age those two years you were dead it looks like," the man said, while Ace dropped his jaw as he realized this was actually happening. It still had not processed in his mind fully, but as he started to accept it he couldn't stay on his seat. He fell to the floor and looked up as the man in the black hat got up and looked down at him. The man lifted a steel pipe over his shoulder that had Ace gawking even more. "S-S-," Ace could not get the word out, until he finally whispered, "Sabo?"
Sabo nodded his head and Ace bowed his head, trying hard to hide his face that was getting covered in tears.
"What is this now? A couple of babies crying in a bar?!" the eight hundred pound man angry about his tv getting cut off walked up behind Ace and towered above him. He slammed his right fist into an open palm and a small shockwave rippled out. "Get out." A crowd of ten or so others stepped up behind him and started making similar taunts.
Ace stood up and Sabo grinned as he looked at his brother. The two of them turned at the same time to the huge man who took a step back from them at the sight of their smiles. "What's wrong with you?" He yelled angrily, not getting why the two of them were crying and smiling at the same time. He pulled back a fist and swung it forward at full force, making wind rush off of it visibly. Ace got ready, but Sabo lifted up his right hand first and he caught the much larger fist. His fingers were spread apart against the man's fist, and his hand had turned dark black.
Ace's eyes went wide, Armament Haki? Sabo clenched down on the hand and the fat man screamed. He lifted him up and slammed down behind him, smashing the man straight through the floor and into the basement, leaving a large hole on the floor of the bar.
Now, a lot more than eight people got up and were looking over at the brothers angrily. Ace lifted up his fists and they covered in flames, and Sabo rose his and curled in his blackened fingers.
"Dragon Claw!"
"Fire Fist!"
A minute after the huge man crashed through the floor, Ace and Sabo walked out the front door of the bar. The two of them were talking and laughing and Ace was shocked when Sabo told him how he survived back when they were kids and Ace thought he had died. "You had amnesia?!" Ace asked in disbelief.
"It only wore off when I saw the paper of your death," Sabo admitted in a grim tone. He smiled right after though and put an arm around his brother's neck, "But who would have guessed I'd see you just walking into port where we're docked?!"
"'We?'" Ace asked.
A woman with long purple hair walked out behind them, but she glanced back into the bar. There were flames all over the place and almost everyone in the room was moaning on the floor or completely unconscious. She chuckled and turned around to look ahead at her companion and his brother. Her head bowed and she smiled softly, Good for them.
"Oi Mizore, you coming?" Ace called back to her. She snapped her head up and saw the dark haired man and his nicer-dressed brother looking her way. She stared at them for a few seconds, and then nodded her head and jogged forward to catch up.
"Who's this?" Sabo asked, nudging his brother with his elbow. "Got yourself a girlfriend?"
Ace turned and grinned, but before he could answer, Mizore did for him, "As if." She kept walking until she was in front of the men and Sabo started laughing behind her at Ace's expense.
Ace frowned, but he was not sour for long though. How could he be, when a long-dead brother had appeared before his very eyes? Ace grinned and looked up in the sky, I've been lucky so far. Old man, Jozu, hopefully even Thatch, and everyone else. I'm going to find you all. The Whitebeard Pirates will be a family again.
Eight Thousand Miles East of Ace
Another dead end. This is getting tedious, the short man with a thin coating of black hair on his head dropped the figure whose collar he had his hand gripped around. The man hit the floor and instantly started scrambling away from him after the rest of his comrades who were already running away. Krillin scratched the top of his head and he smiled at the feeling of his short hair on it. I can't wait until she sees my hair. I wanted to grow it for so long, but only now…
Krillin sat down on the black field he was on and he sighed. The midget put his chin in his hands and looked out into the eastern distance where the third sun was rising over the horizon. He was wearing an orange gi with the sleeves rolled in and his pant legs rolled up. It was very hot out in the open, and the black color of the ground did not make it any easier for him. He sighed and lay back fully, while the man who ran away from him was looking back confusedly as Krillin was not giving chase. Krillin could feel the man stop running and he sighed again. "You can go," he called out. "You don't know anything, so I have no business with you."
"Are you serious?" the man Krillin had been questioning shouted back at him. Krillin leaned up a little and looked the man's way. "Man" was not actually the best word to describe the strange creature that was part butterfly, part hippo, part human. The Chimera Ant was glaring over at Krillin and it growled, "You think you can stop an envoy of the King, beat up his men, and question him, and you will be allowed to live? Your business with us has not concluded, not for a long shot human," it finished speaking in disgust, spitting the word "human" at him like an insult. The Chimera Ant turned and flapped its wings, shooting up in the sky, though wincing as one of its wings was bent along with a leg and an arm.
"Well if you have slaves, you can expect no mercy from me," Krillin called out after him. He looked the other way from the retreating Ants to where the humans he saved were all gathered and talking to each other. This King though, I wonder who's in charge around here now. I was under Lelouch's control for so long, I'm no longer in the loop with things in these parts. He sat up more fully and looked around the black field he was on. He saw a group of monsters in the distance and saw them notice the group of slaves he freed. "Hold on," Krillin mumbled, and he stood up fully. The people near him started shouting, but the Grimm they spotted suddenly exploded, and the man who freed them flew back over and landed in front of them. "Hey, I can give you guys a lift to the nearest town or something if you'd like."
"Really?" a man standing in front of Krillin asked in shock. The guy looked malnourished, very hungry, and he had scars all over his exposed skin. "Could you, bring us south then?"
"South?" Krillin questioned.
"We're escaped slaves," another figure who looked like he underwent some terrible torture replied. "None of the Co-op cities would protect us if the King's men came looking. We need to head south, hopefully there are some Resistance holdouts still safe."
"Please," a white bear creature added. The bear was standing behind the malnourished man, and it was missing its left arm and left eye completely. "We'll never make it up here!"
Krillin nodded his head finally at the group and many of them smiled. The scarred-up hungry man directly in front of Krillin nodded back and thanked him. "Before we go though, can you remove my nullifier?" The man questioned, and Krillin nodded and reached forward, putting his hand on the man's neck where there was a brace. Krillin clenched on a certain spot and the device fell apart, shocking the others around him who had seen similar nullifiers withstand every escape attempt tried on them. "Thank you," the man said, and then he held out his right hand and curled his fingers down to point at the ground. "Room!"
A bubble expanded from his hand and widened to cover all of the slaves around him. In a second, all of the other nullifiers and collars were on the floor in front of him. The Room faded and the injured man looked at Krillin who was surprised by the man's power. "What is that? Magic? A Devil Fruit?" The second guess got the man in front of him nodding. Krillin grinned that he got it right on his second try and he stuck a hand out to the taller person, "My name is Krillin. Nice to meet you."
"Krillin," Trafalgar Law whispered under his breath. He nodded and reached out his right hand, shaking the shorter, but much more muscular man's and introducing himself. "Who are you?" Law asked him. "Part of the Resistance? A freelancer? Or-"
"I'm just," Krillin started, then shook his head as he did not have a label for himself like everyone else on Aebrith did. "I'm just Krillin." He said it, then stomped down on the ground hard and cracked the floor beneath him. The floor cracked and curved around the group in front of him until there was a big circle in the ground that the former slaves were standing on. Krillin reached down and grabbed the sides of the cracked area, then lifted it up in the air with one hoist.
"You're very strong!" the white bear, Bepo, called down to him.
"Thanks!" Krillin called up, though he did not know which of them said it to him since he was under the chunk of ground. "Hey, while I bring you south, could you tell me if you know anything about my wife? I'm looking around for her."
"When was the last time you saw her?" Law questioned down. He figured he owed the man at least this much considering Krillin just saved his, and the few remaining members of his old crew's lives.
Krillin grimaced and replied, "Before Nexus." The others looked at each other and did not look hopeful as that left an entire world that she could be on, maybe two. Krillin decided to try anyway, "Her name is 18. She's stronger than I am, so I figured some people might have heard of her."
Law looked around at the others on top of the rock being flown south, but none of them had looks of recognition on his face. He frowned himself as he was hoping to give the short man some good news. "I'm sorry," Law called down to him. "But we haven't-"
"Ah it's fine," Krillin shouted up, speeding up as he did. "I'll find her, don't worry about it!" I promise 18. He looked out into the southern distance determinedly. Maybe you're with the Resistance. Never a bad idea to check. Worst thing that happens, I have to keep looking. That's right Krillin, stay positive. Stay positive and soon, you're going to find her.
Three Thousand Miles Northeast of Krillin
"Leol-sama! Leon-sama! Leol-sa-"
The light-skinned human running towards the lion Chimera Ant got a claw around his neck as Leol snapped his arm out and grabbed him by the throat. Leol turned from the conversation he was having with merchants on the docks and growled at the human wearing a red bandanna who dared to interrupt his conversation. "You better have a good reason for this," the lion said. He had a human's skull embroidered with gold on the bottom of a necklace around his neck, golden earrings, a fur coat, rings on his fingers with different colored gems on them, and even two of his sharp teeth were made of gold.
The human tried speaking but Leol was clenching too hard and he could not. The lion growled but loosened his grip a little, and the human started gasping and speaking at the same time. "Ahh, the sh-ip, it, the slaves, they- they're gone-" Leol clenched his right hand into a fist and the human throat in his grip was squished into mush. The merchants talking to him stepped back, but Leol turned away from them and started sprinting fast for the docks.
"What are Flutter and Hirin doing?" Leol roared. His two Lieutenants, not to mention the rest of his crew, must have been completely incompetent if what he thought had happened had really just occurred. I will have to find an entirely new crew after I eat the old one. This would be a complete failure! Leol reached the dock that his ship was on and he gawked at the sight down the dock of his ship. The figurehead that had his face on it was slashed up with something powerful, and he ran over to the ramp that led up to the side.
He ran up the ramp and his eyes widened. The member of his crew who reported was smart to mention the slaves first, as they were Leol's top priority, but they were not just gone. There were bodies all over the top of his ship. It looked like a few of the bodies were of the slaves themselves, most likely killed by his crew while they tried to escape. Most of the corpses were of his own men though, and he spotted Hirin over near the bow of the ship, her hands on her left side with red liquid seeping through her fingers. "Hirin!"
The female Chimera turned her head a little and smiled over at the brown lion with a long white mane of hair. "Leol-sa…maaaa," she collapsed forward, but before she hit the ground Leol was there, grabbing her by the back of her shirt and holding her small body up. The Ant's pink hat fell off and her yellow hair was a mess around her head, with some blood even mixed in with it.
"Hirin, where is Flutter? What happened here?" Leol questioned her.
"Flutter, over there," She whispered and shook her head to the starboard side. Leol walked over to the edge of the ship and looked down, and he frowned deeply at the sight of the mosquito-Ant floating face-down in the water. "I'm sorry, Leol-sama. One of the slaves, he was tricking us."
"One of the slaves?" Leol questioned in surprise. "It was not some of those self-righteous humans? No," he realized and shook his head. "We're too far north for them to try to free slaves. They would have to sneak them thousands of miles to get them to safety, it doesn't make sense." He shook his head some more and looked back down at Hirin who he rested on the deck. "Which of the slaves was it?"
"The boy," she whispered. "The one we found sailing alone on the ocean."
Leol's eyes opened wide and he remembered how easily that boy held up his hands, ready to become a slave as their ship pulled up alongside him. He was using us to get here faster. Shit, there's no telling his strength. He escaped his nullifier and killed my entire crew. The Chimera Ant captain looked over the side of his ship and growled furiously. I can't go after him.
"You don't need to go after me," a voice said behind the lion. Leol's face covered in sweat and the female Ant facing the deck lifted up her head a little in fear. Leol turned around and he stared at the boy standing there. It looked like the kid raided their supplies and found the clothes they stripped from him when they first found him on the ocean. He was wearing his brown cloak again, though his hood was down and his light-skinned face was visible. They could see his short brown hair too, but only the amount that stuck out from beneath his red poof-ball hat.
"I thought about escaping with the others," Darth Marsh began as he walked towards Leol. "But then you would just go get a new crew and make more slaves, wouldn't you?" He asked rhetorically. Out of the brown sleeve on his right arm slid a small silver hilt, and out from the end of that hilt extended a red blade of light. Leol's eyes went wide at the sight of the red lightsaber, and Stan pointed it forward at the Chimera Ant. "Prepare yourself."
"A Sith? This far north?" Leol questioned. He started baring his teeth and Stan looked at him confusedly after hearing him say that. "What do you think you're doing?" Leol snarled, his claws extending and his face looking more animalistic by the second. "Stealing my product?! Killing my men?!" Leol was roaring and the wood beneath his feet splintered. "Does the Emperor understand the consequences?!"
"The Emperor?" Stan muttered. "Never heard of him," he added, confusing the lion enough for it to stop preparing to attack him for a second. "All I know, is that having slaves is wrong. But even worse, is selling them, and making more. You are the scum of the earth, and I am going to eradicate you." Stan did not reach up, but his cloak's hood lifted above his head on its own and cast a shadow over his face.
Of course he is not one of the Emperor's, the Sith are some of my top customers. This bastard. Leol snarled and his eyes were getting bloodshot with rage. "Just who, do you think, I am?!" He shot off the ground and moved amazingly fast towards Stan. He pulled back one of his claws and roared as he started swinging it forward. Stan rose up his right hand, and Leol's own claw suddenly changed directions mid-swing, aiming down at the floor instead. Stan was within a foot of him, lightsaber already extended, and Leol's attack missed badly. The lion wanted to get up his defense, or prepare another attack, but Stan was no longer in front of him.
The twelve year old boy stood right behind Leol with his lightsaber held out to the right, his left knee bent down on the wood, his head bowed to the floor. He let his lightsaber sink back into the hilt, and then he heard the roar of agony behind him and red splashed onto the back of his cloak. Stan spun around and his cloak flapped behind him, red droplets flying off of it into the wind as he glared back at the dying lion Chimera Ant. "It is a shame," Stan growled. "I meant to cut through you completely. Now, it will take several minutes for you to die." Though he said it was a shame, he did not sound too sorry about making the slaver suffer.
Stan, or Darth Marsh, turned away from the dying Chimera Ants and he leapt up in the air. He jumped off the deck, then did another Force-Jump and rose even higher, and jumped again on top of that to do several flips over some buildings near the river's edge. Siths? The Emperor? The dead returned to life on this world, so maybe, all those stories Master Anakin told me about the history of the Sith…
He landed on top of a building in the small port town and heard sirens behind him. The kid looked back and towards the river that cut into the northern Aebrith countryside. There seemed to be a commotion on one of the docks and he figured they found the mess he left for them. Stan glared down at the bracelet on his ankle and he thought about what he heard the slavers talking about when they clipped the anklet on him. It will hide my power from humans and monsters alike. I wonder if that includes shinigamis? Stan grimaced and a thought that had been nagging away at him for a long time came back to the surface. It needs to. I can not approach Ichimaru Gin head-on. The only way I could kill him is if I catch him by surprise. But, his gaze shifted south and he thought, what if those Sith, the ones of old who my Master talked about, what if they know things? They could teach me, make me a more powerful Sith, make me into a true Sith Lord.
Stan hummed to himself and he looked around at all the directions available to him. I can go anywhere. Do anything. As long as the end result is Ichimaru's death, the journey does not matter. Whatever makes me strongest. Stan's conviction held firm and he leapt back up in the air, jumping his way towards whatever the horizon had in store for him.
A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed! Ace, Krillin, and Stan have all arrived on Aebrith and have varying goals for their time their. Krillin and Stan stop some slavers while Ace finally reunites with his brother. If anyone remembers, Leol's crew was the one in the first chapter of Heroes Will Rise, in the flashback, that captured Romeo, Lily, and Mine as Wendy got turned into a Heartless. One more thing, the girl with Ace, Mizore, is from Rosario x Vampire, a show I have not seen in a while but admittedly has some pretty strong characters in it I wanted to throw in somewhere. Anyway, here's the list anyway:
Rosario x Vampire: Mizore
Hunter x Hunter: Leol, Hirin, Flutter
One Piece: Whitebeard, Jozu, Thatch, Ace, Sabo, Trafalgar Law, Bepo, Doflamingo
Ben 10: Forever Knights
Star Wars: Sith, Anakin
Bleach: Ichimaru Gin
South Park: Stan Marsh
DBZ: Krillin, 18
-Think that was it for this one. Short chapter, and there are a few more like it coming up in this Around the World chapter. Now, review responses:
joebob323
STEWIE! I love that kid! Where the heck did he get mind powers though? Eh, it may be powerful among the stupid people, but if he ever meets that one mind bending guy from Heroes, well, bye-bye! also, I liked that you took a step away form the Arbirth arc to focus on things back at home. nice chapter!
Stewie's back! His powers are a mystery for now, but yeah, maybe Matt Parkman (that guy you were thinking of) will meet up with him soon. Glad you liked the hop back to Awul, as those characters will not just fade out because they aren't on the main team of travelers! Thanks for the review!
Espada-001
Well I thought it was nice to see an uplifting scene at the beginning for Gohan, and getting to see Gwen attempting to get closer to him. She's really going to have to be a bit more direct with him if she wants to get her feelings across though. I know that I asked this question before but I can't remember if you had an answer at the time, but I was wondering what part of KTH Tsuna was from or if he even got his signature box weapon since that's a major part of his power. Also I think that Reborn might even crack a small at seeing Tsuna in a position of power and seeing that his students moving up in the world. I noticed a little slip up though at the part where Batman arrives with Mysterion, you mentioned Mandy as though she was in the room when he arrived or was the supposed to be confirming that she is actually monitoring the meeting room? Anyway I was wondering when Stewie was going to get brought back into the story after he disappeared and I'm guessing that somewhere along the line he fell into another tub of toxic material and regained his mental powers. Also I know I already sent a PM to you but I just wanted to confirm that Guest review was sent by me, and the series were the Laws of Talos, and The Adventure. Both were just some short series on Youtube but I thought they had some interesting characters that could be used. Anyway thanks for another great chapter and I'm looking forward to the next update, till then have a good day!
Gohan and Gwen was definitely some fun to write, a good break from the nonstop battles of chapter 3. Tell you the truth, still do not know when Tsuna came in his timeline, as I never finished Hitman Reborn... That and Yu Yu Hakusho are shows that I'll watch an episode or two every once in a while but have never watched all the way through. You were totally right with that Batman Mysterion scene where I mentioned Mandy. I looked back and saw that I messed up when I was editing, as when I first wrote it I think I remembered that I just had her leave the room, but when I was re-reading it all I noticed was that everyone was shocked to hear about Lubba, and I knew she already knew about it so I mentioned her grinning. But yeah, I'm going to remove that right now, so thanks again! I threw Stewie into that scene only after watching that episode where he got mental powers, so it was pretty fresh in my mind, and I remembered that he survived that battle like Bart did. And haha, I did see your PM, so I know that was you now, but no I have yet to see those shows. If I have time I'll watch them, and thanks again for posting another review! Well, thanks again everyone for reading! 'Till next time!