[Kaienreki Calendar 1503, October]
Lupin was very excited to start his journey, as he could nearly taste the freedom in the breeze passing by his little raft.
Of course he knew that it was just an illusion, that could crumble anytime simple by meeting anyone stronger than him.
Still, it was a great feeling and he enjoyed it to the fullest.
The only belongings he had brought with him being a few barrels of water and fruit, his steel rod for physical training, a few cheap longswords, three sets of clothes, a toothbrush, a compass, a map and the Wado Ichimonji, which he had strapped on his back, finally being tall enough to do so.
He planned to hunt some Sea Kings near the Calm Belt, as there was no shortage of them in that region. But first he would have to find an island there somewhere, that had fresh water and maybe some fruits, as he was sure that the raft wouldn't survive his stay in the Calm Belt.
Afterwards, he would probably just roam the East Blue for a while, explore some islands, search for some interesting locations and then step into the Grand Line and search for a better training place.
…
It took him roughly a week to reach the Calm Belt and find an island there. At some point he had to abandon his raft and take to the skies while carrying the barrels with his supplies.
Every few hours he just rested in the sea, before continuing his journey using Kamisoru. It had been relatively easy to evade all the attacks from the Sea Kings with his Observation Haki, as he could sense any living creature in a few kilometers diameter surrounding him.
Still, the Calm Belt was huge and at some point he had come across a small uninhabited island, with fresh water and some fruit trees. The island was essentially a dead volcano with vegetation inside and the only animals living there were birds.
It was easy enough to find a small cave and scare off the surrounding birds of prey by using his Conqueror's Haki.
Having settled down, he took off his shirt and went towards the shore with the Wado Ichimonji on his back and a normal longsword in his hand.
The beast was hungry, so it was time for a hunt.
…
A few months passed like that for Lupin. He would just hunt Sea Kings and train all the time, like he had done before. Just that it was significantly more dangerous now.
Even the weakest Sea Kings of the Calm Belt were several times stronger than the ones in the East Blue. Avoiding them was no problem for Lupin, but hunting them was very dangerous.
Their physical endurance was so great that he had destroyed all his longswords within a few days. Without the Wado Ichimonji and his Haki, it was nearly impossible for him to kill them at all.
He had already thanked his lucky stars several times, that Koushirou had gifted him the blade, as without it he wouldn't be able to hunt the Sea Kings in the Calm Belt.
He also often left the blade in his cave and fought the Sea Kings using unarmed combat, taking that as chance to train Internal Destruction and trying to develop a new technique combining Tekkai and Kami-e.
Lupin had also learned to incorporate the other Rokushiki into his combat style more effectively, while becoming very proficient in controlling his own hair using Seimei Kikan in a defensive and offensive manner.
There was something great about having a sparring partner dozens of meters large, who didn't just drop dead or get tired.
Even now it was almost impossible for him to hunt down the true monsters amongst the Sea Kings and until now he had hunted solely the smaller ones, while regularly sparring with creatures of all sizes.
Still, Lupin had also nearly been killed a couple of times, as several Sea Kings had flocked together in an attempt to kill him. Those moments had been an enormous help in advancing his Haki, especially his Conqueror's Haki had advanced by leaps and bounds.
He could now control it precisely and focus it on only some specific targets, something he had been forced to learn to avoid starting group fights with several Sea Kings at once.
Honestly the most difficult part on these hunts had always been to protect his own prey from other Sea Kings.
More often than not, he had lost the spoils of his battle to a third party. The Sea Kings were just too huge to haul away fast enough.
He hadn't slacked off on his physical training either, training on the island using the steel rod and a part of the volcanic rock he had cut off or venturing into the deep sea and train there.
But not only his strength had changed drastically, even his appearance had.
He now stood at 183 centimeters tall. And while his frame was still a bit lanky and slim like that of a youth, his muscles were obvious for everyone to see. Like steel cords that were wrapped around his bones.
His hair had also gotten much longer, now reaching around his knees. Most of the time he kept it in a braid, formed by his hair itself without the need for a rubberband or something similar.
He had also tied his bangs back so they wouldn't block his view, while leaving two strands of hair on both sides of his face, which framed it nicely. These two were braided and wrapped with some cloth strip at the end.
His tanned skin and crystal blue eyes hadn't changed much, besides his gaze becoming brighter and gaining a sharpness and heaviness to it. His facial features now showed a hint of his future charming looks.
The constant battles over the last few months had changed his whole presence to a more beastly and aggressive one.
The moment Lupin had set foot on the island, strength-wise he could have probably tied with the average Vice Admirals, while defeating the weaker ones, except for monsters like Garp.
Now, as he prepared to leave the island, he knew he would have no problem in curb-stomping any normal Vice Admiral crossing his way. He would probably even be able to trade blows with Peak Vice Admirals and low-level Admirals and achieve a tie considering his mastery over Haki.
This simple thought brought a fierce glint into his eyes, as he realised that he was getting closer to his dream of absolute freedom, day by day.
Slowly, but surely no one would be able to stand in front of him and call him his equal, or stopping him from doing something.
He would be the freest man in the world, even though the beast inside him reminded him with its presence alone that he maybe was no man at all.
…
[Kaienreki Calendar 1504, June]
Lupin was on his way back to the East Blue, having left the island in the Calm Belt a day ago, as he came a cross a man riding a bicycle on the sea surface.
Of course he recognized the man, it was Kuzan, who would later receive the moniker Aokiji when he ascended to the position of an Admiral.
At this time though he was still a high-ranked Vice Admiral, rank-wise and strength-wise.
He knew the man had also discovered him, which wasn't hard to begin with as he just kinda walked on the surface of the sea towards the East Blue.
He achieved such a feat after years of training his control over spiritual energy and practicing the existing Haki techniques to a very high degree, until he decided to try and invent some new techniques.
This was a successful attempt he had named Blue Walk, as it allowed him to walk on the surface of the sea by spreading his spiritual energy in circular fashion under his feet. The large surface area his Haki covered giving him sufficient buoyancy.
Admittedly, Kuzan was very strong, mostly thanks to his devil fruit, physical strength, Rokushiki and Haki. But Lupin knew that as a future peak Admiral-level fighter, Kuzan had a lot of potential left to dig up.
Even so, he estimated his strength at the moment was probably around a peak Vice Admiral-level. Kuzan was also the youngest out of the future trio of Admirals, while Borsalino was the oldest.
His younger age and it being more than fifteen years before the canon timeline, his power should be significantly weaker than his high-level Admiral strength he would have attained in roughly two decades.
So the man standing before him on a platform made out of ice, wasn't the powerful Admiral he would become later on and Lupin was a master of Haki at this point, so there was no fear in him as the Marine addressed him.
"Ara Ara... Excuse me, young man. Could you tell me what you are doing here?"
"Traveling."
Saying his piece, Lupin wanted to move past Kuzan, but the man stepped into his path blocking his way.
"The area around the Calm Belt has been in turmoil these past few months. Sea Kings have attacked half a dozen Marine ships nearby, something that rarely happens normally. You don't happen to know something about that, now would you?", the Vice Admiral asked him lazily.
The Marines hadn't yet developed the seastone coating around their ships, so they couldn't sail through the Calm Belt unhindered, but they still patrolled the areas nearby for pirates.
It seemed several of their ships had been attacked due to the unrest Lupin's excessive hunting and fighting in the Calm Belt had caused. Lupin though didn't really care about that, as he wouldn't just stop his training because it inconvenienced others. He was selfish like that.
Kuzan obviously tried to pull him into a conversation, but Lupin wasn't a very talkative guy. Even less with people he didn't know or had no interest in and Kuzan was both.
So Lupin simply said to the man: "Move."
While focusing his beastly aura on the man to let him know that he was ready to fight him, should he continue to block his way. A tense and short silence ensued, after which the Vice Admiral relented.
"My My. Excuse me, for blocking your way, Lupin D. Black.", saying so, Kuzan stepped out of the way, but not without keeping a close eye to the boy's reaction.
Of course the Marine would recognize Lupin.
Kuzan was a highly intelligent individual and Lupin's bounty was the highest currently in the whole East Blue. Moreover Lupin had only been seven years old when the bounty had been issued roughly two years ago.
Lupin wasn't bothered by Kuzan's probing and the Vice Admiral had no plans to fight the child in the Calm Belt.
Additionally his senses were screaming at him to not fight the boy alone, simply by being exposed to his aura for a short time.
What the Marine didn't know was, that the very reason the Sea Kings were in tumult these last few months, was because Lupin had hunted them constantly, resulting in fights for territory breaking out more often and generally heightened aggression.
…
A few weeks later, after having seen many different islands on his little journey through the outer areas of the East Blue. Lupin came across a very unusual sight.
A quick sprint using Kamisoru and Observation Haki revealed that roughly sixty pirate ships had surrounded, and were attacking a rather big island.
There were also a lot of Marine ships, but they were grossly outnumbered two to one. Still, the marines fought the pirates on the whole island, trying to protect the citizens and evacuating them to safety.
The island itself had one big city in the middle of it, while the surroundings were used for agricultural purposes. There were also a few sea ports with big roads that led directly to the city and a few scattered fishing villages.
The strongest presences he had picked up, were only a tad stronger than Kindred after he had eaten the devil fruit, which was an insignificant amount of power to Lupin.
The battle at this point seemed to have died down significantly, as a lot of the defenders were either dead or heavily injured.
As Lupin moved leisurely through the island, he came across some pirates who tried to attack him.
He killed them all using the technique he had developed by combining Tekkai and Kami-e – Hand Blade.
It was a technique that flattened his hands and turned them into blades, which made them perfect for close combat, while he could also use Rankyaku with them. He could also use his muscles to push out his nails further, which created a spear-like point he could use to stab opponents.
While creating these techniques he had broken his hand bones countless times in the last few months against the hard skin of the Sea Kings, but he finally managed to completely master it.
He had also learned a few other new techniques, but nothing he would have to use against weaklings like the men who attacked him.
And so, as he walked through the big city, a group of pirates appeared before him and shot at him. One even had a hand-held cannon, which he fired at Lupin.
"Die brat!"
"To hell with you, bastard!"
Similar shouts were heard from all his attackers.
*PENG* *PENG* *PENG* *PENG* *PENG* *PENG* *PENG* *BOOM*
Lupin was majorly unimpressed and simply used his long hair to shield himself. A thin and invisible coat of Haki was more than enough to keep his hair intact and repel the attacks harmlessly.
Lupin didn't even wait for the dust to settle, as he attacked with his Hand Blade and moved around the battlefield using Kamisoru.
*THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD*
A moment later the pirates fell dead to the floor, most of them missing their heads, while the rest had a big hole in their chests.
Lupin himself had moved too fast for their blood to even stick to his hands.
He generally only used Kamisoru to move in battle, taking advantage of the three-dimensional mobility it provided to appear at the unguarded areas of his opponents.
Turning around to the three presences he had noticed some time ago, Lupin was surprised at what he saw. And he also finally knew where he was in the East Blue.
Before him, a dozen meters away, was a younger Bell-mere with a kid-version of Nojiko in one hand and baby Nami in the other. Her officer's coat draped over all three of them.
The woman looked shocked at the casual display of his prowess.
All three of them had some degree of injury, with Nami only having a small cut on her forehead, while Bell-mere herself seemed to have multiple stab and gunshot wounds, being gravely injured. Nojiko fortunately only had several bruises placed all over her body.
Bell-mere had probably shielded the two children from several attacks after finding them.
After a short moment of silence, Bell-mere addressed him.
"What are you doing here, kid? You should go and leave the island if you can, it's not safe here anymore. And even though you are strong, you shouldn't risk your life fighting pirates."
Having always liked Bell-mere and even planning to save her from Arlong, Lupin was positively surprised at this meeting.
This was the Oykot Kingdom, the island were Bell-mere was supposed to find Nami and Nojiko, which had obviously already happened. If he remembered correctly, she would resign from the Marines afterwards and move back to her hometown to raise the two girls on her own.
"I am not from here. I was just passing by on my journey. Also, shouldn't you look after yourself? With your wounds it will be a miracle to reach the coast and get to safety with those two. There are still a lot of pirates up and running."
At his words, the wounded Marine began to frown heavily and did not know how to refute the boy in front of her.
She herself knew full well that the chances of her bringing the children to safety from this battlefield were truly small. But she simply had no other choice, if she wanted to save the two.
"I can help you."
Hearing these words, Bell-mere was fighting an inner battle. As a Marine she shouldn't let a kid fight pirates for her own safety, but with the two children in her hands and her own wounds, she wouldn't be able to put up much of fight.
Looking at the handsome boy in front of her, with his long wild black hair and crystal-blue eyes. She could feel it in her bones. He was strong, truly strong.
His presence was similar to the one of a Vice Admiral she had once come across in the headquarters.
Even though she herself found it ridiculous that this was her impression of the boy, she had always trusted her instincts. And so she came to a decision.
"I-...We accept your help, but only if you come with us. A kid shouldn't wander the battlefield. Also what's you name?"
During the whole conversation Nojiko had simply been silently watching Lupin, while Nami had been asleep since the beginning.
Not answering her last question, Lupin simply took of his bag and the sword strapped to his back, before undressing and stuffing his clothes and the sword into the bag.
"What are you doing, brat?!"
Bell-mere was shocked and also embarrassed at the boy simply stripping himself naked in front of her. But Lupin paid her no mind and after he made sure his sword and the bag was one tight bundle, he addressed the wounded Marine.
"Don't freak out.", Lupin voiced out, before turning into a humongous beast.