[East Blue, Shimotsuki Village, Kaienreki Calendar 1506, February]
Lupin retracted his wings again, much to both of their disappointment and spoke up again.
"Back to your gift. Choose whichever one you want. If you don't like either, I know how to find a few other good ones. We can also hunt down devil fruit users, if you want a specific fruit..."
Lupin had no qualms about killing someone to obtain his fruit, but he wouldn't do it without reason. There was a difference between being ruthless and being a homicidal maniac.
His fight with Sakazuki had been the same, because even though he didn't like the man, that wasn't the reason he had fought and killed him.
Sakazuki would have most likely recaptured or killed the slaves Lupin had set free, along with trying to hunt him and anybody close to him down.
His motto of 'Absolute Justice' was a very dangerous concept, as he thought that any means necessary to deliver justice, no matter how brutal or cold-blooded, were acceptable.
He wasn't someone that Lupin would want to have after him, constantly hounding him. And so he had decided to confront him directly and kill him if possible.
Not letting Lupin finish his words, Ina answered him.
"I want the mythical Zoan fruit. Going by your explanation it should be the obvious choice, right?", Ina asked him, a little unsure of her choice.
"There isn't really an obvious choice. It all comes down to how proficient you can use your fruit's powers.", Lupin began to explain, before continuing.
"There are devil fruit users in the world with normal Zoan- or Paramecia-types that are still top-level fighters, as they have unearthed the full potential of their fruit. So, even though the strength gained from fruits can differ greatly, it doesn't mean that you would be weaker with the another one..."
"The mythical Zoan will give you a great many powers that can compliment your battle style greatly, while giving you a great physical boost, though you should know that this is also a very special Logia fruit."
"As I mentioned before, there are a great many Haki-users in the New World and all Marines with the rank of Vice Admiral and higher are capable of using it. That makes it very hard to use the intangibility of a Logia fruit to your advantage. You would have to develop a very strong Observation Haki and control over your devil fruit powers to shift your body around incoming attacks.
"And even that may be useless against faster opponents. The Vice Admiral I killed on the Sabaody Archipelago had died largely because his speed couldn't keep up with mine."
"The lightning fruit on the other hand will give you the necessary speed you need to evade almost all incoming attacks, while greatly boosting your Observation Haki... Still, I personally would probably make the same choice as you."
"Why? Well, while I do know a lot about the powers of the Goro Goro no Mi, I know only the very basics about the Salamander fruit. One thing I know though and that is that mythical Zoan fruits are never so simple, as they literally grant you the power of a mythical creature and that isn't something to be taken lightly."
"I know of another mythical Zoan fruit user, who ate the Phoenix fruit. That man is one of the top fighters in this world and basically unkillable as long as he has enough stamina. As the embodiment of a phoenix he is able to regenerate even fatal wounds with ease using his flames. A mere lightning fruit can't compete with something like that, but as you see this is a very subjective topic to talk about."
Lupin gave Ina rather detailed picture of how he saw the matter. And even then he would probably be able to continue this discussion for another hour, as it was a very interesting and controversial topic.
Ina closed her eyes and thought about his words for a few long minutes, while he waited patiently for her decision. It wasn't something that one should decide on lightly, as these powers would stay with you for the rest of your life.
Opening her eyes again, Lupin saw her determined gaze and knew she had made a decision.
"I will take the Salamander fruit."
Lupin handed her the fruit with an encouraging smile
"Wait with the consumption until we are at our destination in a few days. It will take some time to learn to keep your power under control, so it will be inconvenient if you eat it now."
Giving him a short nod, Ina stood up to put the fruit into her own bag.
Lupin also stood up and announced: "Let's go back to the dojo. I want to have a short talk with Koushirou and give the sword back to him. Afterwards we will set off directly, no point in wasting time here. So you should probably pack all the things you want to take with you, while I speak with Koushirou."
"Mmhm.", Ina nodded in assent,
…
"Thank you for lending it to me for the past two years, it has been very useful for my training. But as you can see, I got my hands on a high-quality longsword. I also have to thank you for taking care of Ina all this time. And know that, should you need my help one day, you can come and find me. Or send someone in your stead."
Saying so, Lupin gave the man a light bow in thanks.
"I am glad the Wado Ichimonji could provide some assistance to you. And your thanks aren't necessary. I was glad warriors like you two could find a home in this place, even a temporary one. What do you plan to do next? I assume you will take her with you?"
"Yes, I will take her with me. I think we will first train for some time on the Grand Line, before setting off to explore the New World a bit, maybe visit the other three Blues. I honestly didn't plan that far ahead."
"I see. It's probably a good idea for you to train her, even though she is already very strong. The Grand Line and New World are no places for the weak afterall. Especially not with all the pirates fighting for supremacy and the Emperor title."
Koushirou's own strength was only around that of a weak Rear Admiral, as his Haki was very basic and even his physical strength was lower than Ina's at this point.
His only strength laid in his swordsmanship techniques, which while exquisite sadly lacked a bit in the attack department.
Still, Koushirou was undoubtedly one of the strongest presences in the East Blue.
Exchanging some more words with each other until Ina showed up a few minutes later with a big bag on her back packed with her stuff.
That was the moment where they bid Koushirou goodbye and the two were about to leave the dojo, when a little girl came running from the hall, while shouting.
"Ina-oneesama, are you leaving?!"
It was a four-year old Kuina and she directly latched onto Ina's leg, unwilling to let her go.
"Kuina, don't be rude to our guests.", Koushirou said mildly.
Nonchalantly ignoring her father, the pouting girl looked at Ina with puppy eyes, causing Ina to kneel down to talk to the girl on eye-level.
"Yes, I am leaving Kuina. You remember me telling you stories about the black wolf I was waiting for?"
Nodding in assent, the smart little girl looked up at Lupin and answered Ina with a doubtful tone.
"But, that isn't a black wolf! It's a boy! So you have to stay, Onee-sama!"
Kuina even teared up a little at the end of her sentence, not willing to see Ina leaving, who she came to regard as a big sister.
Kuina's mother had died early on and without her, Kuina had latched onto Ina for motherly love and support, while she also saw her as a female role model.
Kuina had seen her spar against her own father and thought that she was of equal strength, which made her admire Ina greatly.
Before Ina or Koushirou could answer Kuina, Lupin took a few steps back, while directing his next words towards the young child.
"Can't I be both?"
What he did next, would forever be embedded in the minds of Koushirou and Kuina, but for different reasons.
Taking control of his spiritual energy, he pushed a huge amount of it outside his body and formed a huge wolf with it, while compressing the energy to its limits and infusing it with the intent to harden, as well as some well contained Conqueror's Haki.
And suddenly it looked as if his figure transformed into a huge black wolf with lightning running through his fur. The aura it gave off was that of a King of Beasts.
"...Impossible, this... how...", Koushirou stammered.
"A wolf, he is really a wolf..."
Koushirou immediately noticed what Lupin did with his Haki, but he simply couldn't believe it.
For him this wasn't something a human was capable off. He himself had difficulties when coating his blade with a stable form of Hardening for a longer time, so he knew full well the difficulties that Haki represented.
He had never heard of anyone who could do something remotely similar to what Lupin did, nor had he thought it possible.
It was that moment that he realised, what a tragedy it was for all those others, who wanted to reach the top, to be born in the same generation as Lupin.
'There will be no other Legends besides his own in this generation, no brighter star in the firmament. Ahh, what glory and horror it is for all others to live at the same time as him, but to never actually reach him.', Koushirou lamented in his heart.
Kuina on the other hand was too young to be anything else, but shocked at the sudden appearance of a wolf.
Ina herself wasn't that surprised as she simply had blind faith in Lupin's capabilities and it was easy for her to accept his incredible display of Haki. She also didn't have too clear a picture of what his demonstration really signified.
Of course the construct didn't have any real battle power.
It was hard enough to create a stable form that big with his spiritual energy and give it colour using Armament, it was basically like a sculpture made out of glass. Beautiful visually, but easily shattered by any kind of attack.
It would probably take a lot of time for Lupin to be able to create such constructs, which had actual battle power, but it was nevertheless incredibly useful in training his control over his spiritual power.
Retracting the spiritual energy back into his body, the black beast disappeared and Lupin's figure became visible again.
Kneeling down to face the little girl on eye-level, Lupin pulled her out of her amazed state with his next words.
"Your big sister is going on a big adventure with me, girl. Still, this doesn't mean you won't see her again. You will just have to train extra hard and come find her when you are old enough. Simple as that, don't you think."
Nodding strongly at his words, the small girl replied.
"I will! I definitely will train super hard and find you on the sea when I am a big girl! *Sniff* I promise! *Sniff*"
Tearing up again, as she realised that this was goodbye, the little girl rubbed her eyes with her clenched fist. Ina took her in her arms and gave her a kiss on the forehead, while saying the exact same words Lupin had told her years before when he had left the island.
"I will be waiting."
Afterwards she and Lupin stood back up, as they both turned around and left the dojo, while Koushirou stood next to his daughter and rubbed her head for comfort.
As Kuina looked at the slowly shrinking back of her big sister, slowly a resolve bloomed in her heart.
To become the strongest swordsman and to go find her big sister again.
…
[Grand Line, Rusukaina Island, Kaienreki Calendar 1506, End of February]
After a few days of travel, where Lupin had carried Ina and both their belongings, while walking on the sea or using Kamisoru to move, they had arrived at Rusukaina Island.
They had made a few stops on different islands while traveling, whenever they had wanted to rest or to get something to eat and drink. Even though they mostly ate Sea Kings, they had hunted together, as Ina was now also proficient enough to use Geppo, while fighting.
Lupin had decided on this specific island, as it had a range of different opponents with differing strengths and sizes. It was a great place for Ina to learn how to control her devil fruit powers and further her mastery over Haki.
It was also near the Red Line, so they wouldn't have to travel far to reach the New World.
Having brought Ina to the cave he had inhabited since he came to the island to train before, they had sorted out their belongings and directly moved on to start their training afterwards. Not wanting to waste their time any further and eager to improve their strength.
Sitting in front of each other at the little clearing before the cave opening, Lupin advised Ina in regards to her devil fruit.
"Eat it now, but be prepared for the taste. It's absolutely horrid, thankfully you only have to take one bite. The rest will happen on its own."
Giving him a short nod, Ina didn't hesitate. She took the fruit and directly bit into it.
"Uugghh--"
Still, even with Lupin's warning, the bad taste nearly overwhelmed her senses. Though she managed to keep a hold of herself and keep herself from spitting the piece of fruit out by clasping her mouth shut with her hands.
Swallowing fast to get it over with, she could feel the piece of fruit dissolving the moment it hit her stomach.
Immediately after her body seized up uncontrollably and though she didn't feel pain, she had no control over her motor functions for several minutes.
Lupin placed her head in his lap, while carefully observing her reactions and checking her condition using his Haki.
Thankfully, nothing untoward happened and a few minutes later, she was back to normal, or kind of normal.
Ina's body directly burst into flames due to her excitement at feeling her strength increase massively.
Lupin had been prepared for that thanks to his Observation Haki and had protected himself with a thin layer of spiritual energy to shield himself from the heat.
Moving a few steps away from Ina, who had calmed her emotions and already retracted her flames into her body.
"It will take a few weeks at least until you get the hang of controlling your devil fruit powers, so we will postpone your Haki training for now."
"Starting today, we will spar daily, while you should try to use your devil fruit abilities as much as possible. You won't be able to hurt me anyway, so don't hold back. I will only attack you with my newly acquired wings, as I need the training anyway."
"We will do this for a few hours each day, afterwards I am going to train my physical body in the depths of the ocean. I suggest you go and fight any opponent you can on this island, as it will be the fastest way to gain some control over this power. There are only about three dozen animals on the island that are currently stronger than you, but as long as you master your Salamander-powers, they won't stand a chance."
"Following that, we will focus solely on your Haki proficiency, until you can defeat all the animals on this island using nothing but Haki and your physical strength."
"And I know you won't like the next part, but I think you should wear the seastone handcuffs, while training your Haki. Not only will it be useful to build up some resistance against it, so you won't lose all your strength through a simple touch, but it will also keep you from instinctively using your devil fruit powers to defend yourself."
"That's the rough outline anyway. You should still keep up your training of the Rokushiki and your staff-techniques. Most importantly, you must learn Kamisoru, as the mobility it will grant you is simply priceless for many situations even outside of battle."
"I will do as you say. You have a better grasp on these things anyway."
Taking off his shirt, Lupin unfolded his new wings and took a basic fighting stance, while coating them in an black layer of Haki to protect them from Ina's flames.
"Good. Let's fight.", Lupin announced simply.
Being fired up and excited about testing her new powers in battle, flames again erupted from Ina's body.
"Mmh. Let's fight!"
…
[Five minutes later]
Lying stretched out on the burned and destroyed grass, with bruises covering her frame, Ina recapitulated.
"Groan... I was...moan...wrong, I...groan... don't want to...hiss... fight any longer. Groan..."
Smiling slightly, Lupin answered, while stretching his already aching wings: "Looking good there, Ina."
Ina's endurance was no joke with the boost the mythical Zoan fruit gave her. It felt like his wings hit solid rock instead of a human body, but thankfully he wasn't only used to pain, but his healing factor also healed any bruises in a short few moments.
And while Ina's bruises seemed worse, they also healed in a matter of seconds, as it seemed the fruit gave an incredible boost to her regenerative capabilities too.
A moment later, she was already back on her feet and took a fighting stance.
"Well, enough joking around. Time for round two, this time I won't be the one to end up flat on my back!"
"I thought you wanted to stop with the jokes..."
The only answer he got for his teasing was a flaming fist.