Week 100
"Leroy. Do you see yourself as a Hero?" Freddie asked. Huffing on his pipe. Behind him, a vast diagram of how the Marines hierarchy worked. Pointing to how often times there were Marines that were sent to islands for Monetary Reasons. And that the biggest thing Marines did were not Justice and Peacekeeping. But was rather sent to places with high amounts of natural or man made resources to protect them from being stolen or misused. The Narrative that Marines were most usually in hotzone battlefields across the planet wasn't wrong. But it was often because the Marines had built up a story to motivate themselves to invade these nations.
CPA then going in undercover, pulling strings, and getting people in leadership that would benefit the World Government.
Their war against the Pirates was the major conflict. Because everyone in these scenarios were labeled as Pirates. Justifying and Manufacturing Consent against their Annihilation. Every depot, every station, every base the Marines used and the operations coming from within. Was only because it got more resources, and could reinforce their own.
"What?" Leroy asked. Writing down scribbles in a book that only he could understand.
"Do you- See yourself as a Hero?"
Leroy scrunched his brow. His knuckles tightening around the pencil. "No." He said bluntly. Continuing to theorize before the pages.
"Why not? You've saved lives. You've stopped oppressors. Exploiters. Pirates and Marines alike."
He stopped, letting the pencil fall. "Because Heroes in this world are often Marines. Labeled as such not because of Virtues or morals. But because they benefited from others suffering. Every Marine labeled Hero. No matter how good their actions are…"
He locked eyes with the Teacher. "Still comes from operating in a system that allowed it to exist in the first place. My Grandfather is THE Hero of the Marines. But look where it got him. A position he refuses to move up from, a Dead grandson, and a wanted Grandson that he's forced to hunt down because he shakes the status quo."
"If people want to call my actions Heroic. Or even myself a Hero…Fine. But I'd never call myself one."
"To the world. I am a Villain. A Villain their Heroes must crush and cheer for the destruction of. If all Marines are Heroes. Then all marines are in some way as bad as the worst among them."
"I'm a Pirate. And thats all I'll ever need to be." He said confidently. Freddies teeth showing from an impressed grin.
Week 110
"PUSH! Push! Push!" Arnie said. Clapping his hand together. Leroy struggling to pull a massive sled of weight behind him…Nearly 10 million tons of weight dragging against it! Causing the ground beneath to form trenches in the dirt. Not even the soil able to support such a monstrous mass.
"HNGH!!!" His knuckles turned weight against the straps around his shoulders. Veins bulging on his hands and forearms. Thighs burning, if he stopped for too long, they'd begin to shake and quake in pain and soreness.
"You've gotta tear those tendons! Tear those fibers! Force the Omega Fascia to grow in their place and stitch the body back together!"
"GRAHHHH!!!" Leroy screamed as he crashed his feet into the ground! The earth cracking and shattering with each monumental footfall! Finally! He crossed the required distance and dropped the straps! A sudden release off his body!
"WHOAAAA!" He screamed! Air from his throat so hot that in the cold temperature of the Winter season, a massive plume of visible steam escaped his lips! Arnies hands clapping behind him. Leroys grey hoodie and sweat pants were soaked in sweat. "There we go! There we go!" Arnie said continuing to clap his massive paws together.
His hand pushed the massive tankard of water into the Pirates hand. Leroy gulping down huge mouthfuls of water. Eyes shut, chest heaving tipping it back further and further.
24th Month.
The Training was already half way done. But this did not concern any of the teachers on the island. They all knew that if they wanted this to be a success. They'd need to push, and keep pushing until they were at the final day of the final year.
The Twentyfourth month marked exactly Two Years having passed for the crew.
By this point. Leroy had access to three branches of Haki. Observation, Armament, and Conquerors. His Affinity was Broad. While his Branch Lean was Conquerors. Just like his Grandfather and his Father.
"Lets go over it one more time." Zeke said. Extending his pointer and tapping the whiteboard behind him.
"Haki. Theres 8 Affinities. Each of these affinities determines the type and behavior of Haki Abilities that a Person uses. It also determines the how good the user is at certain aspects of the standard abilities of Haki. Hardening with an Ejection type may have an easier time focusing their Haki into a point or projecting it out. Broad types have an easier time coating large parts of the body in Hardening." He squeaked the marker against the slate. Writing this All down.
"Armament. One of the Three most used Branches. It's all about attack and defense. Force. Power. And Kinetic Energy. A block, a punch, empowering an attack, bypassing Logias to hit them in their natural body. Just like all Branches, it has 8 abilities that align to the affinities that can be learned and utilized. To explain all of them would be far too much to drop on you. As you fight and learn. You'll stumble upon them naturally. Think about it like using the type of punch again and again. Eventually you'll fall upon a new way to tighten you fist" He turned to face.
"But I'll tell you some of them. So you have a reference in the future. Theres the ability of Ryuo. Meaning Flow. It is where a person is able use excess haki to coat their attack in a 'bubble' and impact with more strength without even touching a person. Or being able to 'launch' there Armament into a target. Allowing it to burst and erupt. By passing durability and armors for internal destruction. It is the ejection affinity ability of Armament."
"Observation. Sensing and Understanding. Intention, Danger, Possibilities, Sounds, senses. Predicting what your enemy will do before they ever even do it. It is supernatural awareness. Peering through walls. Viewing peoples aura. Or- the Precision ability of the Branch, Seeing into the future. Experts in Observation can peer into the future by a few moments to see exactly what is going to happen. Giving them time to react to it."
He continued to write. "Conquerors. Or Known as the Supreme Haki. Its about presence, pressure, will made manifest, and Enormous overwhelming grasp upon the environment. Forcing the minds of weaker opponents to buckle and fade. Pressure to force all those around who cannot compare to fall to their knees. The Singularity ability of Conquerors is said to be…Telepathy. Of sorts. The Users Presence is so supreme they can manipulate the surrounding environment with their Haki."
"Conduit. Negative and Positive. Up and Down. Push and Pull. Conduit is about controlling the flows of energy. In the body. In the environment. Amidst others. Primarily its used for the creation and manipulation of Elements. These elements working and functioning depending on the users Affinity. But much like I taught you. A person could coat their fist in Positive energy and overload a persons senses. Negative to cause wounds to become worse. This is the Augmentation Ability of Conduit."
"Firmament. Shape. Molding. Sculpting. Firmament is about creating, defining, and manipulating itself into new things. One of the most basic things a person can do, is to create and manifest a power. A Konseki. An ability that is befitting and tied to the user. Its persistent ability is known as 'Bylaw' it is the capability to create a temporary curse or condition onto something. But it must make sense. Air tight. Or it'll backlash upon you with the desired affect instead."
"And that similar to how Vow work?" Leroy questioned.
"Bingo. Its thought that the reason why Vows work is because its a rudimentary tapping into of Firmament. But thats just a theory. Vows are even simpler than Bylaw. It is a give and take. Risk and Reward. Opportunity cost. They do not let you do things you would not already be logically capable of. Vows only work if you think the trade off is worth it, and you can logically accomplish it. You can't make a Vow that instantly defeats any opponent. But you can make a vow for a cost of some sort that ensures your strikes are stronger than typically capable."
"Now! Onto Kata and Kido." Zeke continued along with his seminar.
"Kata. Unique singular attributes to ones Haki. Its never anything to crazy. No matter how much you want it to be. Its similar to a vow. But also similar to a Konseki. Thinking of an effect, and working with yourself and training to create it. My own armament Kata 'saws' at a target with when I strike them. To do it, I had to grind my hands coated in Hardening to 'simulate' the effect before the Armament began to do it itself."
"Technically….It's not impossible for someone to have a Kata in…Every Ability of each of their branches…But that would be an enormous amount of time to sink into for little to gain when a Kata can cover multiple abilities. My Sawing effect works with Ryuou, Hardening and Basic Armament."
"But then…what's a Kido?" He scrunched his brow.
"This one I haven't taught you about. Its…a special move! Think about a Roundhouse compare to a standard push kick. Both are kicks doing the same thing. But one is far more destructive, and takes a lot of training to do by comparison. Kido's are the same. It requires you to understand how to use Haki in Combat. And then combining them together for a single attack. It could even include your Konseki. But the difference is they are stacked. Not fused. This is why one of the basic abilities is 'Mixture' using multiple Haki's together at the same time…"
"But combining Haki and fusing them to result in a new ability is?" The brow went high up on the younger mans face.
"Far more of an Advancement. The Terminology is strange…There's Advancements in Haki. Which is just using more of its capabilities. Then theres Advanced Forms. Which are the pinnacle abilities among the Branches. Often the Hardest. And of course, Advanced Usages. Which is where you Fuse the Haki together…." He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Hah…I guess better words would be: Refinement for Advancing Haki usage. Synthesis for the Fusion since your combining them into a new thing. And I guess Advanced can be kept the same for the Most Difficult or powerful abilities of a Branch. If you really want a Word….Expert?" Zeke shrugged his shoulders.
"Any way! Any questions?" He collapsed his rod and tossed it to the side.
"A Konseki can be anything right?"
"Yes…Anything within reason or capability. But yeah technically it can be anything. I never even discussed the types of Konseki…And the other stuff about them…But thats a whole other system…" Zeke folded his arms together. Releasing a sigh.
"Right…What about a Hand?"
"A Hand?"
"Yeah. A Hand. Like. An arm or hand to grab stuff. Punch with and other stuff." Leroy explained. "Nothing crazy. Just like another hand or fists to punch and do stuff with if my flesh hands are busy. Maybe like even manipulating the shape of projection…Giving it some versatility…Maybe like a Spinning Ball! Like how a fist gyrates and drills!" He punched the air. Demonstrating what he meant.
Zeke was…Dumbfounded. Eyes widened as he recoiled back. Thinking it over…It was so simple…Perhaps the simplest Ability he'd ever heard! But…Technically…
"Yeah. Technically it could work…Its really basic. And sometimes the most basic of Abilities are actually harder to make. Because of how nebulous they are…But you are defined enough that It could possibly hold up!"
"What would you call this…Projection arm drill spinning ball ability? Having a name in mind helps visualizing its creation." He sat back.
"Helix. I'll name it Helix! Just like the strands that make us, us. I'll have a Helix that can be shaped into anything I need. If I can shape things with firmament. But its limited and temporary. Then I'll just weaponize it! And use those same ideas and principles to my advantage!"
Zeke smiled at that. Nodding along with his students excitement.
The Afternoon of the next day. A new challenge showed its face against Leroy and his Teachers.
"Leroy!" Zeke called out. The Pirate in question rushing into the living room. "Yeah whats up?"
"You're leaving the Island!" He declared. Flipping the paper around. A Slip of Paper within that spoke about a 'Championship for the Strongest'
"What?!" The Shout filled the room. "Why?"
"This tournament. It's been put on by a…Bit of a blast from the past. A Man known as Taek Don Gall. Decades back he was arrested after declaring himself one of the strongest men on the planet…So much for that seeing as how it held up when he tried to Invade Marineford. Your Grandfather and Muromachi took him down together…"
"Ha. But it seems after that break out you caused in Styx. It let him out as well. And now he's back at the same old scheme. He's seeking strong opponents to challenge him and prove him wrong."
Leroy scrunched his brow. "Prove him wrong about what?"
"About the fact that he can take over any and everyone by himself. He's an Individualist through and through. Believing so deeply in his own abilities that he'll step on everyone else around him. He doesn't have a crew. Just stepping stones he's forced to work for him."
His eyes narrowed at that…An Individualist who believes he can take on any and everything alone…The Exact opposite of Leroy as he was now.
"Wheres the fight?"
"Well…Theres preliminary matches starting in a few days. According to this. After that. All one hundred people left will be dropped on an Island for a massive battle royale. Who ever wins THAT. Then enters into a bracket. Only after a single person wins against all of this. Do they get a chance to go up against Gall himself on his island. The Island of Ufic."
"What? Seriously? Thats shit ton of stuff! It'd take weeks! Just to think about the time between matches! Its deranged to think someone can go through all that without rest." Leroy retorted back.
"My thoughts exactly. But– That's what he wants. He wants it to be one long bout. Apparently not lasting even a week. Putting those with strength through the wringer to try and prove themselves against Gall's mettle."
With a small huff. The young pirate crossed his arms. Thinking to himself. "Well I don't know how I can not accept. He did escape cuz of my actions but. I'm not worried about that…If he wants to grind himself against other peoples resolve. Then I'll do the same right back to him."
"Besides. Don't I have to fight actual tough opponents to bloom my Haki?" A smirk creased across his lips.
"Sign me the fuck up."