Stick around till the end for my end of arc notes :)
…
I woke up feeling incredible.
No aching muscles or half-healed wounds. No Marine kicking down a door, no Nami yelling at me because I had apparently tied a knot with "malicious intent," and, most importantly, no giant fish-man trying to drown me.
Just sunlight breaking through the window.
Warm, quiet sunlight pushed through a window somewhere to my left, and for several beautiful seconds, I lay there with my eyes closed and enjoyed what might have been the best sleep I'd had since leaving Goat Island.
Then something moved against my side.
I opened one eye.
Orange.
Lots of orange.
Nami was asleep beside me.
Very asleep.
Her hair had spread across half the pillow and part of my chest, one arm folded under her head while the other had somehow curled around mine. Her face was completely relaxed, which looked deeply unnatural after spending the last month watching her either glare at me, worry about money, worry about Arlong, yell about my sailing ability or cycle rapidly between all four.
I stared down at her.
Huh.
She looked almost innocent.
Suspicious.
I carefully tried moving my arm.
Her fingers tightened around it.
I stopped.
Nami made a small noise, buried her face slightly deeper against my shoulder and continued sleeping.
Right.
New problem.
I looked around for assistance.
The room offered none because it had died sometime during the night.
One chair had been knocked completely onto its back. Another appeared to be missing a leg. Three empty bottles were scattered near the wall, one of which had somehow ended up inside a boot. Somebody had left half a loaf of bread on the windowsill. There was a plate beneath the table, an orange peel hanging from the bedframe, and what looked suspiciously like a pair of Genzo's trousers draped over the cupboard.
I stared at them for several seconds.
I had questions.
Then I noticed the barrel.
A small wooden beer barrel lay on its side near the door with a cup still resting beside it.
Ah.
Right.
Last night.
…
The first person to hug me after Nami had been an elderly woman I had never met in my life.
She came out of the crowd at Arlong Park approximately four feet tall and travelling at speeds normally reserved for artillery shells.
I barely saw her coming.
One moment Nami was still wiping her face beside me, and the next an old woman had wrapped both arms around my waist and was squeezing with everything her tiny body possessed.
"Thank you!"
I stood there.
Very carefully.
"Oh."
She started crying against my shirt.
"Oh no."
Another villager approached.
Then another.
Within about thirty seconds, the same people who had been closing windows when I walked through Cocoyasi were crowding around me, touching my arms and back, shaking my hand, crying, laughing. It seemed personal space was just non-existant now?
I looked toward Nami for help.
She was laughing.
Traitor!
"No, seriously," I called over the crowd. "There are too many of you."
Nobody cared.
Someone grabbed my hand.
A man slapped my back hard enough to hurt himself.
Another woman shoved food into my hands despite the fact that we were still standing inside the destroyed remains of Arlong Park with blood everywhere.
I looked down.
Rice ball.
I ate it.
Look, emotional moments did not invalidate free food.
Genzo eventually forced his way through everyone, mostly by yelling until people remembered he existed.
"Give him some room!"
"Thank you," I said immediately.
Genzo stopped in front of me.
For the first time since meeting him, he didn't look like he was considering whether stabbing me would improve the local economy. His eyes moved across me, then toward Arlong's body in the ruined courtyard behind us.
He was quiet for a moment.
"Is he dead?"
I looked back.
Arlong remained exactly where I had left him.
Or where...whatever the fuck I had been had left him.
One arm missing.
Half buried in stone.
Not looking fantastic.
"I'm gonna say probably."
Genzo gave me a long stare.
"Probably?"
"I was busy" I glanced toward the broken pool.
Then at the remains of Hatchan's swords.
Then toward the section of Arlong Park where Chew had become part of the flooring.
"Apparently quite a lot."
Nami snorted beside me.
Genzo rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Nojiko came up behind him with her arms folded. Her eyes travelled over me once before settling on Nami.
"You okay?"
Nami nodded.
Nojiko stared at her.
Nami's mouth tightened.
Then she nodded again, slower.
"Yeah."
Nojiko pulled her into a hug.
Nami stiffened at first, then returned it hard enough that Nojiko rocked backward.
Around us, Cocoyasi was slowly beginning to realise there was no second half coming.
No retaliation cause Arlong wasn't getting back up.
One man near the entrance started laughing.
Another joined him.
Somebody behind them shouted.
Then somebody else did.
The sound spread through the courtyard until people were cheering, crying, grabbing one another, screaming toward the sky, and generally behaving as if an entire village had collectively lost its mind.
Which, given the circumstances, seemed fair.
A man climbed onto what remained of Arlong's wall and yelled, "WE'RE FREE!"
Cocoyasi exploded.
…
I genuinely don't know where all the alcohol came from.
That remains one of history's greatest mysteries. Although I assumed they raided the Fish-man stocks.
We walked back toward the village after making sure the surviving fish-men weren't going anywhere, and somewhere during the fifteen-minute journey, Cocoyasi apparently mobilised its entire strategic alcohol reserve.
Barrels appeared.
Bottles appeared.
Jugs appeared.
One old man arrived carrying something clear in an unmarked glass container that smelled strong enough to strip paint.
I pointed at it.
"What is that?"
He smiled. "Yes."
"Meh, good enough." I shrugged, downing the contents.
Food covered every available surface within the hour. Fish, rice, bread, roasted vegetables, meat, fruit, bowls of things nobody could identify once enough alcohol had been added, and enough beer to drown a small Marine branch.
People were dragging tables into the road.
Someone brought instruments.
Someone else started a bonfire.
Kids ran around screaming because the adults were screaming, while the adults screamed because they had apparently decided five years of fear could be compensated for by destroying their livers in one evening.
Respectable philosophy.
I was about three plates deep when the hero problem began.
A man whose name I had forgotten somewhere between my third bowl and fourth drink climbed onto a chair and pointed directly at me.
"There he is!"
I looked behind myself.
Nobody.
Fuck.
"The man who broke Arlong!"
People cheered.
I slowly lowered my cup.
"Please don't."
"The Branchbreaker!"
My eye twitched.
A second person raised their mug.
"BRANCHBREAKER!"
"No."
Then a third.
"BRANCHBREAKER!"
"I said no!"
A dozen voices joined them.
"BRANCHBREAKER! BRANCHBREAKER!"
I stood.
"THAT IS A TERRIBLE FUCKING NAME!" I yelled on deaf ears.
The village roared.
Somebody grabbed me from behind.
I twisted around. "What are you doing?"
"LIFT HIM!"
"Don't you fucking dare."
They dared.
Now, I would like it noted for the historical record that I could have stopped this. Physically, there was nothing thirty drunk villagers were going to do if I planted my feet.
Unfortunately, stopping them would have required throwing thirty drunk villagers off me, and apparently injuring people during your own victory celebration was considered poor manners.
So they got underneath my arms.
More grabbed my legs.
Then the ground disappeared.
"Oh, you motherfuckers."
They lifted me above their heads.
The chant became deafening.
"BRANCHBREAKER! BRANCHBREAKER! BRANCHBREAKER!"
"PUT ME DOWN!"
They carried me down the road.
"I HATE ALL OF YOU!"
Louder.
"BRANCHBREAKER!"
"THE NAME IS SHIT!"
Even louder.
Nami had collapsed against Nojiko laughing so hard she could barely remain upright.
I pointed at her from above the crowd.
"You did this!"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"You're enjoying it!"
She lifted her cup in salute.
Absolute betrayal.
Genzo stood near one of the tables, watching them carry me around his village like some oversized festival statue.
I caught his eye.
"HELP ME!"
He raised his drink.
"Branchbreaker."
My mouth fell open.
"YOU TOO!?"
That bastard smiled.
It was a tiny smile.
Still counted.
I was eventually released after somebody nearly dropped me while attempting to dance beneath my left leg, and I decided the only sensible response was alcohol.
Lots of alcohol.
I'd already had several drinks by then, but between the fighting, the transformation and being physically worshipped against my will, I figured I deserved to get absolutely obliterated.
So I found the largest mug available.
Filled it.
Drank.
Refilled it.
Drank again.
Nojiko watched from across the table.
"You're going to regret that."
"That's future Kai's problem."
"You said that about the fourth one."
"And look how happy present Kai is."
I drank another.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
I frowned.
Something was wrong.
Everybody around me was getting louder.
Genzo had begun arguing passionately with a fisherman about whether a pinwheel could technically count as a weapon.
A woman nearby had started crying because her soup tasted good.
Two men were hugging and apologising for an argument neither of them remembered.
Nami had abandoned her chair entirely and was sitting sideways on the table while trying to convince Nojiko she could balance a cup on her forehead.
I was completely sober.
I stared into my mug.
"No."
I drank again.
Nothing.
"No, no, no."
Nojiko noticed.
"What?"
I picked up the bottle and poured directly into my mouth.
She snatched it away.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Testing something."
"You've been testing something for the last hour."
"I thought I had a high tolerance."
"You're enormous."
"Exactly, but this is beyond that."
I paused.
The familiar sensation had been so faint that I hadn't even paid attention to it.
Somewhere between the first few mugs, my body had simply...adjusted.
The warmth was gone.
The slight looseness from earlier had disappeared.
My head was clearer now than when the party started.
My body, in its endless quest to protect me from literally everything enjoyable, had decided alcohol was apparently a hostile phenomenon.
I looked down at my right hand.
The wheel mark sat there innocently.
"You."
Nojiko followed my gaze.
"Are you blaming your hand?"
"My power adapted to alcohol."
She stared at me.
I stared back.
"That might be the saddest thing that has ever happened to me."
Nojiko's expression flattened.
"Arlong tried to kill you today."
"And yet here I stand."
"You lost your ability to get drunk?" Nojiko raised a brow.
I held the mug against my chest.
"This is the worst thing to ever happen to me"
Nojiko gave me a deadpan look before she walked away.
"No sympathy in this village," I muttered.
"I have sympathy for Nami!" she called.
"Rude!"
Speaking of Nami, she chose that exact moment to appear beside me.
By appear, I mean walk directly into my side.
I caught her by the shoulders before she bounced off.
She looked up.
Her eyes were slightly unfocused.
"Hello~!"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Hello?"
Nami narrowed her eyes at me.
"You're tall."
"W-wha-?" I said, thrown off by the statement.
"No. You're..." She lifted one hand above her head as if measuring. "Really tall."
"I've been this height for a while."
"That sounds fake."
She leaned against my side.
I glanced toward Nojiko.
Nojiko looked at her sister, looked at me, then smiled in a way I immediately distrusted.
"No."
"I didn't say anything."
"You're thinking something."
"I think many things."
I pointed at her.
"That's my line."
Nami poked my chest.
"Who're you fighting?"
"Nojiko."
"I'll fight her too."
Nojiko laughed from across the table.
"You can barely stand."
Nami turned toward her sister and, somehow, managed to look offended while using me as structural support.
"I can stand."
I removed my hand from her shoulder.
She immediately tilted sideways.
I caught her again.
Nami looked up at me.
"See?"
"Excellent demonstration."
She smiled.
Not her normal little smug smile either.
This one stayed.
Then her eyes moved up to my hair.
She reached for it.
I leaned away.
"What are you doing?"
"Hold still."
"No."
"Kai."
"Nami."
"Your hair is pretty."
"Correct." I nodded.
Nami grabbed a strand anyway and rolled it between her fingers.
"Really pretty."
"Also correct."
"Annoyingly pretty. What do you put in it?"
"There it is." I sighed.
She frowned at my hair as though personally offended by its existence, then leaned her forehead against my arm.
I looked around.
Nobody was helping me.
In fact, several villagers were very deliberately looking anywhere else.
Cowards.
Nami stayed there for a while, occasionally drinking from a cup I was increasingly certain she had stolen from somebody else.
Eventually, she shoved a plate into my hands.
"Eat."
"I have been eating."
"You got drowned."
"What does that have to do with food?"
"Everything."
"That isn't science."
"I don't care."
She pushed the plate harder against my chest.
I accepted it.
Nami looked satisfied, but then she stole a piece of meat off the plate she had just given me.
"That was mine."
"You have more."
"That isn't the point."
"You eat too much anyway."
"You literally told me to eat."
"I changed my mind."
I ate another piece before she could take it.
She gasped.
"You did that on purpose."
"Yes."
"Asshole."
She leaned against me again anyway.
The party kept going.
People danced badly.
Someone dragged Genzo into it. Genzo resisted for perhaps twelve seconds before alcohol defeated dignity and he joined them.
At some point, one of the villagers produced Arlong's chair from the wreckage of the park.
I have no idea why.
They set it on fire.
People cheered so loudly you would have thought we killed him again.
I had successfully avoided most of them for the first few hours because food and alcohol were much more interesting, but eventually curiosity defeated intoxication.
A group formed around our table.
One fisherman pointed his mug at me.
"So what was that thing?"
I chewed.
"What thing?"
Everyone stared at me.
"The giant creature."
"Oh."
"The one that came out of Arlong's pool."
"Right."
"The one that tore Arlong's arm off."
"Okay, I remember now."
Nami smacked my side.
I looked down at her.
"What?"
"You know what he means."
"I wanted specificity."
She muttered something into her drink.
The fisherman leaned closer.
"Well?"
I scratched my cheek.
Honestly?
I had no fucking clue.
I remembered the water.
The weakness.
Something changing beneath it.
There were pieces after that, impressions more than proper memories. Weight. Movement. Arlong. Nami.
Especially Nami.
Then her hand against mine.
After that, I was me again.
"I don't know."
Nobody seemed satisfied.
A woman frowned. "It came from you."
"Apparently."
"You turned into it."
"Apparently."
"You had a giant sword."
That one caught my attention.
"I had a what?"
Nami lifted her head from my shoulder.
"A sword."
"How big?"
She held her hands apart.
Then farther.
Then gave up.
"Very."
I smiled.
"Oh, that's fucking cool."
"It cut through Hatchan's swords."
My smile grew.
"All six?"
"Most of them."
"Fuck yeah."
Nami rolled her eyes, though she was smiling again.
Someone farther down the table called out, "Does it have a name?"
I paused.
That was a good question.
Everyone around us quietened slightly.
I looked at Nami.
Nami looked back at me with the patient expectation of someone who had somehow forgotten who she was asking.
I looked down at my drink.
Still completely sober.
Tragic.
"I really wish I was drunk for this."
Nojiko immediately covered her face.
I stood, lifted my mug and cleared my throat.
"If we're naming it…"
Genzo sighed from somewhere behind me.
"I already dislike this."
I ignored him.
"Big Raga."
Silence.
I nodded to myself.
Then raised the mug higher.
"The Opp Stoppa!"
For approximately two seconds, nothing happened.
Then the drunkest man in Cocoyasi slammed both hands onto the table.
"BIG RAGA!"
Another villager shot upright.
"THE OPP STOPPA!"
It spread instantly.
People lifted cups.
"BIG RAGA!"
"THE OPP STOPPA!"
"BIG RAGA!"
"THE OPP STOPPA!"
I watched it happen.
Bringing lobotomy to One Piece!
History being made before my eyes.
Nami climbed onto the bench beside me, nearly slipped, grabbed my shoulder and raised her cup with the rest.
"BIG RAGA!"
I caught her around the waist before she fell.
She pointed her drink toward the sky.
"THE OPP STOPPA!"
I had never been prouder.
"You understand me."
"I understand everything!"
"You absolutely do not."
Nami turned toward me.
Her smile slowly softened.
The shouting continued around us, yet she stayed close, one hand still gripping my shoulder.
"You came back."
I blinked.
"From the pool?"
She nodded.
The humour had drained from her face faster than the alcohol had any right to allow.
"I thought you were dead."
Ah.
I looked down at her.
Nami's fingers tightened.
"When he pulled you under, I..." She stopped and looked down into her cup. "I really thought you were gone."
"I wasn't."
"I know."
"Very difficult to kill."
"I know."
She said that one quietly.
Then her forehead dropped against my chest.
"You're really stupid."
"So I've been told."
"And annoying."
"Common criticism."
"And you don't listen."
"I feel like this is becoming less affectionate."
Nami ignored me.
"But you came."
My mouth closed.
Her voice had gone softer.
"You could've left after Port Tragedy. You got the money. You didn't owe me anything."
"I promised."
"I know."
She looked up again.
Her eyes were wet now, though whether from alcohol or everything else I couldn't tell.
"That's what I mean."
I stayed quiet.
Nami poked my chest once.
"You say stupid things all the time."
"Rude."
"But when it matters…"
Her finger stayed there.
"You do what you said."
For once, I had absolutely nothing funny ready.
Disgusting.
Nami smiled faintly.
"I like that about you."
My eyebrows rose.
She blinked.
Then seemed to process her own sentence.
"No."
I smiled.
"Oh?"
"Shut up."
"You like something about me?"
"I take it back."
"Too late."
"I hate everything about you."
"Not what you said."
"You're ugly."
"You complimented my hair twenty minutes ago."
Nami slapped both hands against my chest.
"I was drunk!"
"You're still drunk!"
"Exactly!"
"That does not help your argument!"
She buried her face against me so I couldn't see it.
I laughed.
Her arms slid around my waist.
That shut me up again.
For a while, we just stayed there.
The village continued celebrating around us, and Nami held on with her cheek against my chest, quieter now.
Eventually she spoke.
"Don't drown again."
"I'll add it to the list."
"I'm serious."
"I know."
Her grip tightened.
"Don't."
I rested one hand against the back of her head.
"Alright."
That seemed good enough.
Ten minutes later, she was loudly threatening a chair because she had walked into it.
Balance.
…
The memory faded as Nami shifted beside me.
Her eyes slowly opened.
Then immediately closed again.
"Ohhh…"
I smiled.
"Good morning."
"Don't."
"Beautiful day."
"Kai."
"Birds are singing."
"I'll kill them."
"Freedom tastes wonderful."
Nami pulled the blanket over her head.
"Kill me."
"Can't. I promised drunk you I wouldn't let you die."
Her face slowly appeared again.
There was fear in her eyes now.
"What did I say?"
I considered my options.
Many.
Dangerous power sat before me.
"Nami."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Yes?"
"Your hair is pretty."
She stared.
Then grabbed the pillow.
I caught it before it hit my face.
"Violence already?"
"What did I say!?"
"Many things."
"Kai!"
I laughed and got out of bed before she could find another weapon.
The floor was cold beneath my feet.
Behind me, Nami groaned and pressed both hands against her temples.
"Why aren't you dying?"
"Adapted?" ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Her eyes opened.
"No."
"Yep."
"You're telling me your stupid power protects you from hangovers too?"
"I didn't even get drunk."
Nami stared at me with genuine hatred.
I smiled.
"This is the worst thing you've ever done."
"I did nothing!"
"You drank more than everyone!"
"Science demanded answers!"
"I hate your fruit."
"Me too now."
That made her laugh, although she immediately regretted it and grabbed her head again.
We cleaned up eventually. By cleaned, I mean I picked up the heavy things while Nami followed behind me, cheering me on.
Outside, Cocoyasi was quiet.
Very quiet.
Bodies were scattered beneath trees and against walls, thankfully alive, victims of celebration rather than violence. Empty mugs sat on fences. Someone had fallen asleep hugging a barrel. Genzo was sitting against the side of a house with his pinwheel tilted over one eye, snoring softly enough that I decided not to mention it.
Yet the village felt different.
Doors were open.
Windows too.
Nobody was checking the road every few minutes.
A woman swept broken cups from outside her home while humming.
Two men were already discussing repairs to the buildings Arlong's people had damaged over the years.
Someone farther away was taking down one of the old tribute notices.
Nami stopped beside me.
She just watched.
I didn't say anything.
After a while, Nojiko appeared from the house carrying water.
She gave one cup to Nami.
Nami drank the entire thing without breathing.
Nojiko handed her another.
"Good night?"
Nami glared.
"Die."
Nojiko smiled.
Then she looked at me.
I raised a hand.
"Morning."
"You caused half of that."
"False."
Nojiko walked away shaking her head.
Nami drank the second cup.
I looked toward the road leading to the eastern inlet.
"We should probably leave this afternoon."
Nami stopped drinking.
"I want to check the boat first. It's been sitting out there for two days, and knowing our luck, somebody stole part of it. Then we need supplies." I started counting on my fingers. "Food, water, probably new rope because you said the old one was bad…"
Nami said nothing.
"…and charts, obviously. You probably already have those somewhere. Then we can work out where we're going next."
Still nothing.
I looked over.
Nami had lowered the cup.
"What?"
She looked down at it for a second.
"Kai."
Something about her voice made the rest of the sentence die before I said it.
"What?"
"I'm not leaving."
I stared at her.
Nami met my eyes.
"Not yet."
Oh…shit.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm staying here."
She gestured toward the village.
"With Nojiko. Genzo. Everyone."
I looked past her.
Nojiko had stopped near one of the houses to help an older woman carry something inside.
Genzo was waking up slowly under his pinwheel.
People were moving through Cocoyasi in the morning sunlight, doing ordinary things because, apparently, they were finally allowed to have ordinary mornings again.
Of course.
Yeah.
Obviously.
I should have realised.
Nami had spent years trying to save this place. Everything she had done, every pirate she had robbed, every berry she had counted, every time she had swallowed whatever Arlong made her do, had been for this.
She had finally gotten it back yesterday.
And apparently some part of me had expected her to wave goodbye the next morning and immediately sail away because I happened to have a boat.
Stupid.
Really stupid.
"Oh."
Nami watched me carefully.
"I just...I need some time."
"Yeah."
"I haven't been able to live here properly since I was a kid."
"I know."
"Nojiko and I have barely had anything normal for years. Genzo too. Everyone."
"Yeah."
She rubbed her thumb along the edge of the cup.
"I need to stay, Kai."
"I heard you."
Her face tightened. Fuck, that came out sharper than I meant it to.
I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Sorry."
Nami was quiet.
I looked toward the sea. Our stolen boat was somewhere around the coast, hidden in the same inlet where we had left it before walking into Cocoyasi.
I had already been thinking about where we'd go.
Not even specifically.
Just somewhere.
That had apparently been enough.
At some point between Port Tragedy and here, my plans had stopped being mine.
We needed food.
We needed charts.
We needed a better ship.
We needed somewhere to go next.
I hadn't noticed when that happened.
Nami stepped closer.
"I'm sorry."
"No."
She blinked.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Apologise."
"Kai…"
"You're staying with your family."
She looked down.
"That's not something you apologise for."
"But you thought…"
"Yeah."
I laughed quietly through my nose.
"I did."
Nami looked back up.
I could have lied.
Probably should have.
Would have been easy enough to grin, tell her I preferred sailing alone anyway, make some joke about finally getting peace and quiet without a tiny dictator criticising my knots.
The words didn't come.
"I thought you were coming."
Nami's expression softened.
"I know."
That somehow made it worse.
I shoved my hands into my pockets.
"Well."
I looked toward the road again.
"You should stay."
Nami said nothing.
"I mean it."
"I know."
"You've spent years trying to get this back. Leaving now would be stupid."
Her mouth twitched.
"You calling me stupid?" she said, raising her fist.
"I said it would be stupid." I raised my hands.
That got a small laugh from her.
I nudged her shoulder with mine.
"Stay as long as you need."
Nami looked at me.
"And you?"
I glanced toward the sea.
"Keep going."
"Where?"
"No idea."
"That is not a plan."
"I knew you were going to say that."
"Because it isn't."
"I'll figure something out."
Nami sighed. "You're going to get lost."
"Impossible." I scoffed.
"You got lost on the walk from Nojiko's house to the well last night."
"I was carrying you."
Nami smiled again.
Then it disappeared slowly.
"You could stay for a while longer though…"
For a second, I seriously considered it.
Cocoyasi wasn't a bad place. The food was good, the people had finally stopped looking at me like I might eat somebody, and Nami was here. I could probably spend a few weeks helping rebuild, eating for free under the increasingly flimsy excuse of being the village hero, and annoying Genzo until the pinwheel finally flew off his head.
Hehe. It sounded nice.
Maybe that was exactly why I shouldn't.
I looked past the houses toward the strip of blue visible between the trees.
The sea was waiting.
And somewhere past it was everything I'd wanted since the day I realised what world I'd been dropped into.
The Grand Line.
Haki.
Emperors.
Monsters I couldn't even imagine fighting yet.
I hadn't left Goat Island to settle down after beating one fish-man.
Not even a particularly handsome fish-man.
"I should probably get going."
Nami's face changed slightly.
"Now?"
"Yeah."
"You don't even know where you're going."
"Never stopped me before."
"That isn't the reassurance you think it is."
"I've survived pretty well, don't you think?"
"You nearly drowned yesterday."
"A minor setback."
"You turned into a giant…thing."
"A major improvement."
Nami stared at me.
I smiled.
She tried not to and failed miserably.
I looked back toward the coast.
"I've still got a lot to do."
That part wasn't a joke.
Arlong had been a slight challenge, and Garp had shown me just how enormous the gap still was between the people sitting near the top of this world.
And whatever had happened beneath that pool had only made one thing clearer.
I wasn't done.
Not remotely.
I wanted to know what this fruit could become.
I wanted to know what I could become and more than anything, I still wanted the same stupid thing I'd wanted since I was a kid picking apples on Goat Island.
To become the strongest.
Nami watched me for a moment, then sighed.
"I figured."
"Figured what?"
"That you'd leave."
"Ouch."
"You've been talking about the sea since the Port."
"I also talk about food constantly too"
"You're not marrying a stew."
"That remains undecided."
She rolled her eyes.
For a few seconds, neither of us said anything.
Then Nami stepped forward and hugged me. She simply wrapped both arms around my waist and held on.
I blinked before slowly putting an arm around her shoulders.
"You've become very affectionate lately."
"Say another word, and I'll rob you."
I scoffed; her grip tightened once.
"Don't disappear."
I looked down. She kept her face against my chest.
"I won't."
"You can't promise that."
"Then I'll promise to make enough noise that you'll hear about me."
That earned a small laugh.
"Yeah," she muttered. "That sounds more realistic."
…
I left Cocoyasi that afternoon. I tried to leave as quietly as possible, but it wasn't easy. Not with an entire village crying at the shoreline.
Mostly because I threatened to leave during the night if they tried lifting me again.
They behaved.
Mostly.
The boat was loaded with enough food and fresh water to last considerably longer than anything I'd ever packed for myself, which told me immediately that Nami had been involved. There were charts too, properly rolled and tied inside a waterproof tube with several routes marked along the East Blue.
I held one up.
"You know I can read maps."
Nami stared at me from the dock.
"You got lost sailing in a straight line."
"The sea moved."
"The sea does that."
"Exactly. Hostile environment."
Nojiko laughed beside her.
Genzo did not.
I pointed at him.
"Take care of my village."
Genzo's eye twitched.
"Your village?"
"I liberated it!"
"You were here for two days."
"Two extremely productive days."
"This is Cocoyasi!"
"Until next time, acting mayor."
"I am not the mayor!" Genzo exclaimed.
I pushed away from the dock before he could find something to throw.
Nojiko waved.
Several villagers farther up the shoreline did too.
Someone shouted, "BRANCHBREAKER!"
I immediately turned.
"DON'T START!"
The entire shoreline erupted.
"BRANCHBREAKER! BRANCHBREAKER! BRANCHBREAKER!"
"FUCK ALL OF YOU!"
This fuck as village man!
Nami was laughing again.
I could hear it even as the distance grew.
I took the rudder, corrected the sail using information I was definitely going to claim I had figured out myself, and watched Cocoyasi slowly shrink behind me.
Nami remained at the edge of the dock.
Still there and still watching.
I raised one hand.
She raised hers.
Then the coastline curved, and the village disappeared behind the trees.
For the first time in weeks, the boat became quiet.
Just wind.
Water.
Wood creaking beneath my feet.
I looked at the empty space beside the rudder.
Yeah.
That was going to take some getting used to.
I exhaled through my nose, then turned toward the horizon.
There were worse problems to have.
Somewhere out there was another island.
Another fight.
Another person stronger than me.
And if there wasn't?
I'd keep sailing until I found one.
I smiled.
"Alright."
The wind caught the sail.
"Let's see what else this world's got."
…
Three Years Later - The Holy Land, Mary Geoise
The first alarm began shortly after midnight.
The second followed less than a minute later.
By the fifth, every Marine barracks within the western district had emptied.
Boots thundered across white stone as soldiers poured through the immaculate streets of Mary Geoise, rifles held tight against their chests while bells screamed from towers throughout the Holy Land.
Smoke rose beyond the noble estates.
Not from one building.
Several.
A Marine officer came running down the steps toward the central courtyard.
"Report!"
A younger soldier nearly collided with him.
"The lower holding district has been breached!"
"What?"
"The slave quarters! The cells are open!"
The officer grabbed him by the uniform.
"How many escaped?"
The Marine stared at him.
"All of them."
For a moment, the officer simply stopped.
Another explosion rolled across Mary Geoise, and the windows shook. Farther down the avenue, something enormous crashed through a marble wall, and dozens of figures came spilling through the opening.
Men, women, and children.
Fish-men.
Humans.
People still wearing broken collars around their necks.
They ran barefoot across the white streets while Marines desperately tried to form lines ahead of them.
"Stop them!"
"Block the eastern route!"
"Where are the Holy Knights?!"
"More prisoners are escaping from the southern estate!"
"WHO IS DOING THIS?!"
A rifleman raised his weapon.
Something landed between the Marines and the fleeing slaves.
The impact cracked the street.
Dust rolled outward.
The first row of soldiers stumbled back.
A tall figure slowly straightened from the crater.
Long white hair fell across broad shoulders, considerably longer than it had been three years earlier. His clothes were torn in several places, and blood stained one sleeve, though none of it seemed to belong to him.
A familiar wheel-shaped mark stretched across the back of his hand.
One Marine lowered his rifle without realising it.
Another went pale.
"No…"
The man rolled his neck, and several joints cracked. Behind him, another group of slaves disappeared into the smoke.
The officer stared as the recognition came slowly.
Then all at once.
White hair.
Size.
That grin.
The bounty posters had changed plenty over the years, but his face had not.
"You've got to be kidding me."
The man glanced toward him.
His grin widened.
Someone behind the Marine line whispered the name first.
"K-Kai Voss…"
Another soldier swallowed.
"The Branchbreaker."
Kai's smile immediately disappeared.
"Still fucking using that?"
The Marines raised their weapons.
Kai sighed.
Then stepped forward.
Behind him, the bells of Mary Geoise continued screaming into the night.
Kai "Branchbreaker" Voss had reached the Holy Land.
And apparently, he had decided to rob it of something far more valuable than money.
…
END OF ARC I
Word Count - 5616
a/n [to long to put in the proper author notes (￣y▽,￣)╭ ]
Well.
Holy shit.
That is officially the end of Arc I.
Twenty-six chapters later, we have finally reached the end of what I basically consider the opening saga/prologue of this story, and I wanted to do some proper author notes this time instead of my usual "hehe chapter done, please vote" before disappearing into the void.
This is probably going to be very long, so for anyone who actually reads all of this: firstly, why? Secondly, thank you lmao.
I wanted to talk about the chapter itself first, then the arc as a whole, some things I think worked, some things I definitely think could have been better, a few choices that were intentional even if they might seem weird right now, Kai's powers, Nami, and then obviously that ending because I imagine a few people just reached Mary Geoise and went:
WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN THOSE THREE YEARS?
And the answer is:
:)
Starting with this chapter, I really wanted Chapter 26 to feel like an actual release.
The last few chapters had been increasingly serious. Cocoyasi, Nami's situation, Kuroobi, Arlong, the pool, Kai nearly dying, whatever the hell climbed back out of said pool, and then Nami being the person who managed to get through to him. There had been a lot of buildup and tension sitting over this part of the story, so I didn't want to defeat Arlong and immediately sprint toward the next plot.
The village deserved to celebrate.
Nami deserved to breathe.
Kai deserved to discover the greatest tragedy of his life:
He has adapted to alcohol.
RIP BOZO.
Honestly, the idea of everyone else becoming increasingly shitfaced while Kai is sitting there desperately trying to get drunk and slowly realising his Devil Fruit has decided FUN is a dangerous phenomenon might be one of my favourite stupid applications of his ability so far.
That is something I want to keep doing with adaptation, by the way.
Obviously, this power has some absurd combat possibilities. That is the whole point. Mahoraga's adaptation was already ridiculous before sticking the concept into One Piece, where there are things like Devil Fruits, Haki, racial abilities, weird martial arts, weather phenomena, sea weaknesses, and whatever ungodly nonsense exists once we start going deeper into the world.
But I don't want adaptation to only exist when somebody punches Kai.
If his body is genuinely responding to phenomena, then sometimes that should result in incredibly useful things, sometimes terrifying things, and sometimes the universe should just fuck him personally.
Alcohol adaptation falls firmly into the third category.
The Branchbreaker stuff was another thing I really wanted in here because I love that Kai genuinely hates the name.
I know some people have liked the nickname from the beginning, and some people have also made fun of it, which actually made me want to keep it MORE. A nickname becoming famous against the wishes of the person carrying it feels very One Piece to me, especially when Kai has absolutely no control over the reputation developing around him.
So, naturally, Cocoyasi screaming BRANCHBREAKER while carrying him around like a trophy was mandatory.
Then we arrive at the objectively superior name.
BIG RAGA, THE OPP STOPPA.
Peak literature.
Oda could never.
I specifically didn't want Kai to suddenly sit everybody down and go, "Ah yes, allow me to explain my Mythical Zoan transformation, its mechanics, history, nomenclature, abilities and lore implications."
Because he doesn't fucking know.
That is important.
Kai has theories about his power. He has tested it constantly. He understands more about adaptation than anybody else currently alive probably could because he is the one experiencing it, but that does not make him an omniscient narrator.
There are things happening to him that he does not understand yet.
The thing that came out of Arlong's pool is one of them.
For the time being, to Kai and the people around him, it is basically just this creature/form/whatever that appeared after his power was pushed further than it had ever been pushed before.
There is more to this.
Obviously.
But I don't want every mystery to be explained immediately after it appears. I think I have sometimes been guilty of explaining Kai's power too quickly because I enjoy coming up with the mechanics, and I need to remember that sometimes it is much more interesting for something weird to happen and just...sit there.
Speaking of things I wanted to let sit, let's talk about Nami.
Because I can already hear the romance allegations.
I KNOW.
I KNOW WHAT I WROTE.
Drunk Nami was deliberately much more affectionate and honest than sober Nami has been so far. The whole idea was that this girl has spent years controlling herself, lying, planning, stealing, hiding what she actually cares about and constantly preparing for the next problem. Arlong is dead, her village is free, she has been drinking enough alcohol to knock out a horse, and the emotional filter is completely fucking gone.
So suddenly Kai gets:
"Your hair is pretty."
"Eat."
"You came back."
"I like that about you."
"Don't drown again."
And sober Nami the next morning is immediately faced with the horrifying possibility that she said literally any of this aloud.
Beautiful.
I also really liked the progression of Kai and Nami throughout this arc because I didn't want their relationship to begin with either of them instantly trusting or adoring the other.
Their first proper interaction basically involves Nami threatening him, Kai casually knowing horrifyingly private information about her, and both of them negotiating percentages because money is one of the only languages they both completely understand.
Then Port Tragedy makes them useful to each other.
Kai is physically ridiculous but has the planning ability of a concussed brick.
Nami is incredibly good at reconnaissance, navigation, theft and escape planning, but she doesn't have Kai's ability to simply go through a problem when there is no way around it.
They fit.
And somewhere between robbing Crest, betraying each other, escaping Garp, arguing on a stolen ship, explaining signal flags, counting money, discussing Arlong and eventually reaching Cocoyasi, that partnership starts becoming something more personal without either of them really declaring it.
That is probably why I like their final conversation so much.
Kai just assumes she is leaving with him.
He doesn't ask.
It never even occurs to him that he needs to ask because somewhere inside his head Nami has quietly moved from "person I made a deal with" into "person who is part of whatever happens next."
Then she says she's staying.
And the important thing for me was that I did not want Kai to guilt her.
I didn't want some big dramatic argument where he goes, "But what about me?"
Nami has spent years sacrificing herself for Cocoyasi.
She has finally won.
She finally gets Nojiko back properly. She gets Genzo. She gets her home. She gets the ability to wake up tomorrow without thinking about tribute, maps, Arlong, money or whether somebody she loves is going to be killed because she failed.
Of course she stays.
Honestly, I think it would cheapen her entire storyline if she immediately went, "Cool, Arlong's dead, bye guys!" and sailed away the next morning.
So she stays.
And Kai understands.
It still hurts him.
I think that matters too.
One of the quieter themes that emerged while writing this arc, even though I definitely did not sit down at Chapter 1 with a giant board saying "THIS IS THE THEME," is Kai constantly getting attached to places and people despite always wanting to move forward.
Goat Island is home.
He loves his parents.
Then Shellstown becomes part of his life.
Even after everything that happens there, people like Mallor matter.
Then he gets stuck with the Blue Gull and originally basically hijacks the fucking thing, only for Pelli, Rusk and the crew to slowly become people he genuinely likes.
Then he has to leave them.
Then Nami happens.
And once again, he gets used to having someone there.
That little moment after leaving Cocoyasi where the boat goes quiet again was something I wanted because Kai has spent so much of his life dreaming about the sea. Adventure has always been exciting to him. The next island is exciting. The next opponent is exciting. The next chance to grow is exciting.
But adventure also means leaving.
I think that is something he is only beginning to understand.
Now, Arc I as a whole.
This story has changed A LOT while I've been writing it.
Some of that is good.
Some of it is "my brother in Christ, what were you cooking?"
The very beginning was primarily me wanting to write a fun One Piece fic where some lunatic gets Mahoraga-inspired adaptation and eventually becomes an absolute menace.
That part has not changed.
Kai still wants to become the strongest.
I still want hype.
I still want ridiculous displays of strength.
I still want those moments where somebody thinks they understand what Kai can do, only for the wheel to turn and suddenly the entire situation becomes their problem.
But I think the story became more character-driven than I originally expected.
Goat Island was mostly about establishing Kai, his family, his reincarnation and the basic mechanics of adaptation.
Looking back, I think there are definitely things I would write differently.
I probably spent too much time explicitly explaining how the power worked in certain places. Thresholds, stages, retained adaptation, lost adaptation, lowered thresholds and all the other mechanics are important because I don't want his ability to just become "Kai wins because adaptation lol."
There need to be rules.
The reader should have some idea of why something happens.
But rules do not always need an entire science lecture every time they are relevant.
I've been learning that balance as the story has continued.
I also think some of the earliest chapters have more of the writing habits I've been actively trying to move away from. Repetitive short sentences. Too many isolated reaction lines. Explaining something immediately after already showing it. Fight scenes getting caught in a very clean rhythm of attack, adaptation, stronger attack, adaptation again.
You guys have probably noticed the difference by the later Arlong chapters because I've been consciously working on that.
The Kuroobi fight, in particular, was when I started thinking about fights differently.
Instead of writing every punch because "this is a fight chapter, therefore I must describe fighting," I started asking what the reader actually needs to remember from the fight.
That change helped me a lot.
A novel cannot animate twenty minutes of choreography.
If I describe every fist, dodge, block, counter, foot position, and movement, it eventually stops being exciting and just becomes an instruction manual for violence. So now I'm trying to identify the actual memorable moments and build around them.
Kuroobi hitting Kai with Fish-Man Karate. Kai adapting much quicker because blunt impacts are something his body already understands. The villagers seeing one of Arlong's strongest officers gradually lose control of the fight.
Kai throwing him all the way back toward Arlong Park.
Those are the bits I want remembered. Those images matter more to me than writing seventeen paragraphs of Kai and Arlong trading hooks.
That is probably one of the biggest lessons I'm taking from Arc I into whatever comes next.
The Shellstown/Vale section is still one of the parts I'm most conflicted about.
There are things I really like there. Vale herself gave Kai something personal to push against. It established early on that being a Marine did not automatically mean being good, while also avoiding the opposite problem of every Marine being cartoonishly evil.
Mallor exists. The regular Marines exist and later, Garp exists.
There are people inside the system who are decent, and those who're complicit, people who look away, people who exploit it and people who genuinely believe they're doing the right thing.
I like that.
I also like what Vale did for Kai psychologically.
She was probably the first major person in his life who tried to define him by his strength and turn him into something useful to her.
"My clever little monster."
Then when everything finally breaks, Kai rejects that ownership very violently. Perhaps a little too violently.
Actually, definitely violently.
But the aftermath mattered. The villagers were not cheering him. Toma was scared of him. Kai did the "right" thing in the broadest sense and still had to sit with the fact that the way he did it was horrifying.
I like that.
What I'm less happy with is that some of that section can be rough structurally. There are moments where I think I knew the destination before I knew the best route there, and you can sometimes feel the story moving pieces into position.
That is something I want to improve.
I want characters to arrive at plot points because their decisions naturally push them there, not because I need Chapter X to contain Event Y.
Then came the Blue Gull.
Ahh…Pelli my beloved.
Honestly, I think the Blue Gull section did more for Kai than I initially planned. It was basically meant to be transportation after he lost his boat and Vale's ledger.
Then "Stew room" and Pelli and all that happened.
And suddenly I had this weird temporary found-family situation where Kai boards a ship as a terrifying wanted criminal, beats up half the people on it, basically forces them to take him where he wants to go, and somehow leaves with them crying because they're going to miss him.
Pelli is also absolutely returning at some point.
I refuse to elaborate further though (￣y▽,￣)╭
I think Port Tragedy is where the story properly started finding the tone I wanted. It had a lil crime. A lil corruption. It has Kai and Nami being the greedy little goblins they are..
It has Garp being Garp.
It has Smoker.
And most importantly, it establishes one of the rules I want to maintain going forward:
Kai can be wrong about his own power! (～￣▽￣)～
The seastone situation was intentionally confusing to him at first.
He believed he was adapting to seastone itself. So then, after the cuff came off and his strength surged far beyond normal, he realised something else had probably been happening.
The cup analogy was later meant to make that clearer without pretending that Kai now understands every microscopic detail, and even after the temporary adaptations faded, he didn't completely return to baseline.
Some growth stayed.
That is important for the future because otherwise the power has a giant problem.
If Kai adapts to everything, becomes amazing for two chapters, then loses it all and resets literally, thus the progression feels worthless. But if he keeps everything at full strength permanently, progression becomes insane too quickly.
So there's this middle ground.
Adaptations can fade, and memory remains. Thresholds can change, and occasionally something happens that seems to change Kai in a way neither he nor I want to immediately reduce to a spreadsheet.
Then Cocoyasi.
I think Nami is probably the strongest part of this section for me.
I wanted her fear of Arlong to feel real.
Kai knows One Piece. We, as the audience, know that Arlong is an East Blue villain and where he ranks among the absurd monsters later in the series.
Nami does not experience him like a powerscaler, though.
To her, Arlong is the thing that killed her mother, owns her village, controls her life and has spent years teaching everyone around her that resisting him gets people killed.
So when Kai comes along with his bounty and his stupid confidence and basically says, "Point me at him," Nami cannot just instantly go, "Oh cool, protagonist arrived."
Kai failing means people die.
That was what I wanted the Cocoyasi conversation to establish.
It isn't about whether Kai personally survives. It is whether Nami trusted the wrong person.
That also made the pool scene matter much more to me. Kai getting drowned isn't scary solely because "oh no, the protagonist might die."
Nami is watching the person she finally allowed herself to trust get killed using the exact weakness she had warned him about.
For a few seconds, it looks like Arlong was right.
Then the wheel turns.
Which brings us back to the transformation.
I am very happy with the idea of that payoff, still pissed people were guessing it beforehand ￣へ￣
There are definitely execution details I may look back on and want to improve, because writing something that visually insane in prose is difficult without describing every single fingernail on the thing.
But conceptually?
Yeah.
I like it.
There are MANY things about Kai's fruit that have not been explained yet.
Some things from the earliest chapters matter more than they currently appear to, so the things Kai thinks he understands are incomplete while some things haven't even become relevant yet.
I've got a ridiculous amount of ideas for where the power can go, and I am still deciding which ones actually serve the story rather than just sounding cool in isolation.
Because believe me.
I can def make it sound cool, but power creep with this ability could become fucking nightmare if I'm not careful, and we don't want wanna BG3 situation happening again, iykyk.
Also, what were your thoughts on the Kai/Nami relationship specifically?
How are you guys feeling about them? Did the progression feel natural? Was Nami getting attached too quickly? Too slowly?
Do you like their dynamic being somewhere between business partners, friends, constant arguments and whatever the hell drunk Nami was doing in this chapter?
Do you want romance eventually? Do you absolutely hate romance and want Kai married to the pursuit of violence?
I've seen thoughts on it before, but now that Arc I is actually finished, I'm genuinely curious where people sit, because regardless of what eventually happens romantically, Nami is important to Kai now.
That much is deliberate.
And no, her staying in Cocoyasi does not mean she has been launched into the void and will never exist again.
Come on now. Use your brains.
Speaking of launching things into the future
THREE YEARS LATER!
Yep.
We are now basically at the start of canon.
I went back and forth on whether to show every year between this arc and the beginning of canon, but eventually I realised that would probably hurt the story more than it would help.
Kai has already established what he wants.
He wants to get stronger.
So we don't need fifty chapters of:
Kai arrives on Island #7. Kai fights local pirate. Kai adapts.
Kai eats seventeen chickens.
Kai leaves.
Repeat.
That doesn't mean nothing happened during those three years.
Very much the opposite.
Things happened. A LOT happened.
But I think it's much more interesting to return to him after a meaningful amount of time has passed and let readers realise:
Oh. This motherfucker has been BUSY!
And where do we reintroduce him?
Mary Geoise naturally.
Now, I know the immediate question:
What is Kai's bounty now?
Not telling you…
:)
What happened during the three years?
Not telling you…
:)
How strong is he now?
Not telling you…
:)
Does he have Haki?
My lawyers have advised me not to answer. (^///^)
What forms does he have?
Hmmmmmm.
What happened with Nami?
Wouldn't YOU like to know, weather boy.
What happened to his hair?
It grew.
There.
One mystery solved.
Haha, anyways I want Arc II to have that feeling of entering a familiar world after somebody has been running around off-screen moving furniture for three years.
Canon is beginning. The pieces you know are going to start moving but Kai has already existed in this world for years.
People know his name. There are probably people who love him and those who hate him.
The Marines have history with him.
Garp knows him. Smoker knows him. Nami knows him.
The East Blue knows the Branchbreaker.
And apparently now Mary Geoise is getting introduced too.
Before I finish, I do want to talk briefly about criticism.
Please keep giving it.
A few of the changes in these later chapters came from people pointing out things that weren't working, whether that was the power mechanics being unclear, Kai seeming nerfed, fights feeling repetitive, sentence structure, pacing or character decisions.
I don't necessarily agree with every criticism.
Sometimes somebody comments on something, and I stare at it thinking, "Did we read the same chapter?" But criticism still makes me examine why I wrote something the way I did, and sometimes the answer is…
"Actually, yeah. That could have been better."
ANYWAYS! I think that is enough self-analysis before I develop the ability to see my own writing in the walls.
So.
Arc I is finished.
Genuinely, thank you.
Whether you started when this had five chapters or found it yesterday and read everything in one caffeine-fuelled sitting, thank you for spending your time on something I'm writing for fun.
I don't make money from this.
There is no Patreon hiding somewhere.
No secret paid chapter stockpile.
I write because I like writing, I like One Piece, I like reading comments, I like seeing people argue about Kai's power mechanics, and apparently I enjoy creating increasingly complicated problems for Future Me.
However, I am going to be taking a two-week break before the next proper chapter. （〃｀ 3′〃）
Uni is demanding my attention again, and unfortunately a degree does not accept "I was writing about Big Raga" as a valid excuse for missing assignments 'n stuff.
Cowards!
So I'm going to focus properly on university for the next two weeks and give myself a little breathing room to plan the next section, rather than forcing chapters out while I'm busy.
I'm not disappearing, though.
I'll still be around, reading comments and replying when I can and probably still be lurking around thinking about this story instead of doing whatever assignment is currently threatening my CWA.
There just won't be a normal chapter update during that break.
So while I'm gone, I REALLY want to hear what you guys think.
What did you think of Chapter 26 specifically?
Did the celebration work after the heavier Arlong chapters?
Did you like drunk Nami?
Was Big Raga peak fiction or should I be permanently banned from writing?
How did you feel about Nami staying in Cocoyasi instead of immediately travelling with Kai?
Did their goodbye land for you?
And what did you think when the chapter suddenly jumped three years forward and dropped you into Mary Geoise?
More importantly, what did you think of Arc I as a whole?
Where the hell do you think this story goes from here? And what happens when the actual canon story begins in a world where Kai "Branchbreaker" Voss has already been running around for years?
I have plans.
Some sensible, questionable. Some I'm extremely excited about. Some will probably change five times before I write them because that is simply the curse I have chosen.
But for now?
That's Arc I.
Thank you, guys, for reading, voting, commenting, and correcting me. For arguing with each other in the comments because I absolutely read that shit with a grin. Thank you to everyone who has left reviews, stones, votes, follows, favourites or whatever platform-specific shiny object helps push the story upward.
If you can, reviews genuinely help me a lot because I desperately want that rating number to become pretty, so if you've got the time, leave an honest review. Tell me what works and what doesn't. And, obviously, stones are always appreciated if you want to support the fic.
Be honest with the feedback.
I mean that.
Praise is nice, and useful criticism makes the next arc better.
I'll see you guys in two weeks for the beginning of Arc II.
Until then…
Roses are red
Weapons against me won't prospa
With this sacred treasure I summon
BIG RAGA!, THE OPP STOPPA!
(Please never let Kai know I endorsed this.)