Two days after the battle was finished, the country was finally at rest and the place went back being calm.
The uprising was successful and the daughter of the previous was crowed as the queen of Kita Kingdom. There was also a National Day of Mourning after that, since there was a huge life loss from both sides.
The queen also demanded an audience with me, which I answered. She asked me and the crew to leave the island as soon as possible, since we weren't welcome. I explained to her our situation, and that we need a few days before the log pose can record the magnetic fields of the next island.
The queen understood my reasons and allowed us to stay for a little longer, since it was thanks to us that she is sitting on the throne after all.
As for Misagi, he disappeared without a trace after our fight on that day.
One week later,
We were staying on the ship to avoid any unnecessary problems. I was sitting in the captain's cabin, thinking deeply about my future plans. The number one thing that was occupying my mind these past few days, is Haki. The fight against Misagi was a wakeup call that having a devil fruit only will not get me anywhere.
So, I decided that I will be focusing on my training to unlock it 'I need to have at least one type' I thought. As for the Rokushiki, I'm trying to get kami-e for now, my goal is to master all the six skills so I can have access to the seventh technique 'Rokuogan'.
I believe that combining Haki and the Rokushiki together, is much more effective than just using Haki alone. You could use Tekkai with Armament to have a stronger defense, or Kamie-e and Observation to dodge close range attacks easily, and many more combinations.
"*Knock*-*knock*…" someone was knocking at door.
"Come in!"
"Boss, the loge pose has captured the direction of the next island. We are ready to leave any time" Ken informed me.
I looked at the map, "Nishi Island…" I'm hoping it would be a more peaceful place than here, so I could train for a few months "Alright, let's prepare the supplies, we will leave today" I left the cabin after I gave the order.
Ken took Calvin with him and went to purchase the necessary supplies, like food, cannonballs, ammo, and a bunch of other things.
"Ashen!"
While I was standing on the ships deck enjoying the morning breeze, I heard a feminine voice calling my name, the port was calm and empty and the only person who was standing there, was Diana.
"Hey! what's up?" I waved my hand and greeted her with a smile. She waved back and made her way up to the ship.
"I met Ken and Calvin on the way, they said that you will be leaving today"
"Yes, we need to move on. There is nothing left for us here, and we are not welcomed anyway" I said to her, she looked at me for a little bit with hesitation before she spoke.
"Is your invitation still valid?" she asked with a serious face.
"Do you want to join us?" It will be great if she would, her skills are impeccable. She will be a great addition and with her personality, I'm sure she could be of help beyond that.
"Yes! I kept thinking about it these past few days. I figured out that with your strength, if I follow you, I will have a greater chance to achieve my goal" She spoke with confidence and determination.
"What is your goal?" I asked her, though I could easily guess what it was.
"To be the best sniper in the world!" She loudly declared with confidence.
"!!!...Hooo! Since you said it that way, it would be foolish not to accept you" I reached for handshake "Welcome on board!" She was excited after I said that and brought out her weapon.
"I will make sure to put a bullet on your enemy's head!" She said, while admiring her rifle.
When we finished talking, Ken and Calvin were already back with several people with them, and they started loading the ship's supplies.
When they were done and everyone boarded the ship, Ken took the helm, and we lowered the sails.
"SET SAIL!"
"…"
Four days later,
[Somewhere on the sea],
I was sitting on chair at the ship's quarterdeck, reading the newspaper on my hand.
"Interesting stuff… Dracule Mihawk killing a vice admiral, so he started hunting marines at this point of time…The Marine Hunter" There wasn't much known about this guy from the manga or the anime, except that he was nicknamed marine hunter and he was the strongest swordman in the world.
"Kings and queens from World Government affiliated nations are going to gather at Pangaea Castle in Mary Geoise for the Reverie" The Reverie was happening this year, it's a quite big event as it is held every four years. If I could compare it to something from earth, it would be the world cup.
"Brace yourselves!...Incoming storm!" Ken warned us and started steering the ship away 'As excepted from the grand line's weather' it was sunny for a second, then the next thing we see is a huge storm coming our way.
Ken tried to move away, but the ship wasn't fast enough to escape the storm and we got swallowed in.
"Are we going to be, okay?!" I asked Ken in worry, he also looked nervous, but he said he got it.
The storm was stronger than we thought, and the strong waves kept toying us around for hours.
After fighting the storm for few more minutes, it started naturally fading out suddenly until it disappeared. When we looked around, the sea became calmer, and we were able to see an island on horizon.
"Did we arrive?" Diana asked Ken, he reached to his pocket and brought the log pose to see if it was the correct island.
"That's weird, the log pose isn't pointing on that island" he stated "It seems that the storm drove us away from our path"
"What should we do" Calvin asked me, as everyone was waiting for my decision.
"There is no point in leaving now, let's go check it out" I said, then Ken changed our course and sailed toward the island 'I should get a new ship when I have the chance' I thought to myself as I was observing our destination.
Half an hour later,
When we arrived, we were greeted with a cold breeze and from the look of it, the island has a cold, winter climate, and the snow was visible from a distance.
"Can we just skip it?" Diana said, not looking excited about landing on this place.
"Stop saying useless things and let's go" Calvin said after we docked the ship on the beach as there wasn't any port.
"Seems like this place is uninhabited" Calvin noted while rubbing his hands against each other to warm them.
"And cold!..." Ken was also doing the same.
There was only a snowy forest ahead of us, beside that the only other thing we could see is a huge mountain which is situated deep inside the island.
We headed deep into the forest and kept looking around without finding any signs of human presence, until we stumbled across a cave opening on a small rocky hill.
"Let's go inside rest for now!" I said, then we went in.
"It's spacious" Diana commentated. Once everybody settled down, I went out to bring some woods for the fire and took the opportunity to explore the place further.
"I should get back before it gets dark…" Just as I turned around to leave, I heard a loud roar coming from behind.
"*ROOOOAAAARRR!!!!*" It was ear-piercing and echoed through the forest, a few seconds after I heard the sound of crashing preceded with another roar.
"This scene looks familiar…" I said to myself, as I was watching the monster who caused it in awe. Standing before me is humanoid beast, he is around 15 meters tall with a bulky body covered in hair. He was carrying a tall tree with both his hand.
"Looks like coming to this place wasn't a waste of time after all" The beast proceeded to swipe the area left and right, destroying everything in the way 'Is he on a rampage?' I thought as I observed him closely.
Once I had a rough idea about what he could do, I decided to jump in and attack 'I will take this opportunity to train' I was going to fight him without using my devil fruit power. Using Geppo, I increased my height to be at the same level as him, then I proceeded to dash toward him at a high-speed using Soru.
I tried to attack him using raw power, but the punch I threw didn't seem to do any damage at all. I tried to attack him again, throwing a straight punch while hardening my body with Tekkai before the impact. But once again the attack didn't seem to affect him at all.
'He is extremely durable, and he has a tough skin' After that, the beast swung the tree that he was carrying at my direction.
*SWOOSH* The attack was fast and carried a strong weight behind it, which caused huge wind blast, but I was able to dodge it easily.
"Haha, I just found the perfect training partner!" I could easily melt him using my fire power, but I'm going to use him as a punching bag instead.
'Let's see, I should imagine myself creating an invisible armor with my spiritual energy around the area where I want to use Haki' I was recalling the information that I know about armament Haki.
I tried to apply the concept, but as expected I failed miserably. I kept on fighting with beast for hours before it became dark and decided to call it a day. I also changed my plans and decided that I was stay here for a while to train.
When I went back, I told the crew about my plans. They were shocked and confused at first, but I told them the reason why, and I also took the opportunity to explain Haki to them, so they could be more careful if they fought someone who is using in the future.
"So how long does it take to learn Haki?" Diana asked with a curious face.
"I don't know. It depends on the person it might take you a few years or decades" I responded, she looked frustrated when she heard that "Don't think that you can get stronger without putting the work" I said then added " Even if you managed to get Haki that would not be the end, you would still have to constantly fight life and death battles in order to get stronger at it".
"How come nobody knows about it?" Ken asked.
"That's because only strong people can use it" I turned toward Diana "As for you, I have already come up with a training routine" I'm going to teach her the Rokushiki, but before that she is going to need a strong physics.
"With that, we will begin our training tomorrow!"