Chapter 1: The Brave Soul

Nami enters a city, excited that he's reached the city of absalon. "Finally, I made it." he says to himself in relief. "Now where are you?" As he thinks to himself, His thoughts are interrupted by a commotion. 

 A small group of kids are being harassed for money by a group of thugs. As the small children coward, One of them steps in front of them. "You aren't getting anything from us." they tell the thugs. 

 The leader of the group steps forward and addresses himself as Grim. 

Grim tells the kid "All of them family will die if they don't pay them what they're owed." One kid walks up and addresses themself as Lucas and tells Grim "These people and this place are under my protection."

The group laughs as Grim holds his palm towards Lucas. Lucas commands the rest of the kids "Get behind me!" as he extends both of his arms to shield them from the impending attack. Grim smirks and tells the brave souls "Disappear." Lucas closes his eyes and braces himself.

Lucas opens his eyes to see Nami standing in front of him. Nami turns to Lucas then kneels down in front of him. Nami tells him "Relax, I'll handle this."  Lucas's eyes light up as Nami says this but then changes to fear as he sees Grim charging a ball of energy in his hand. Lucas yells "Watch out!" 

 Nami's eyes darted back towards the attack. The energy blast shoots up into the air. Lucas sees Nami, slowly lowering his arm, but says to himself "I didn't even see him move" 

While Grim recovers from the strike Nami gave him. Nami tells the group "stand down. You're not getting past me."  Grim laughs as he wipes the blood from his nose. Grim points to Nami as he questions "Do you really think you can stop us?" 

Nami shrugs with a callus look and replies "You wanna find out?" Grim scoffs and tells the rest of his group "Bring me his head and I will reward you." The men charge at Nami. Nami takes a stance and then dashes towards his aggressors. "I'll make this quick." 

Lucas looks on as Nami takes down each of the men one by one. Grim tries to sneak up on Nami but Lucas warns Nami. Nami counters the sneak attack and blasts Grim through an abandoned building. 

Lucas looks on in shock as the group of 10 men fall unconscious. Nami asks Lucas "Will your family be okay?" Lucas with sadness in his eyes tells Nami "I have no family." Nami looks at Lucas for a moment and ponders on what he should do. 

As Lucas starts to walk away, Nami calls out to him asking him "Do you want to join me?"  Lucas's form changes from a human boy to a fox-like animal and he hops on Nami's shoulder. Nami smiles as he starts walking further into the village. "Welcome to your new family."  As he takes a few steps, Lucas tells Nami  "My real name is Lucy" making him her.

 As Nami is about to ask questions, Lucy points in the direction of a strange energy coming from a distant forest. "Nami, do you feel that energy?"  Nami looks to the distance then tells Lucy "Hang on" as he runs towards the forest 

As Lucy screams "Nami slow down!", A Shadowy Figure makes a run for it. Nami tells Lucy "That thing is an Ender, A creature known to cause trouble in populated areas."

 Lucy, confused, asks Nami "Are you sure that chasing it is a good idea?" Nami, with no signs of stopping, gives her a glance. Lucy buries her face into Nami's hair. Nami smirks as he suddenly disappears. The Ender looks behind it to see if Nami was still chasing it but then is suddenly met with a grinning Nami, blocking its path.

The Ender takes a stance. Nami signals for Lucy to hide. Lucy nods and encourages Nami "Kick it's butt." Nami smirks as he walks up to the creature with confidence. The creature tries to defend itself by throwing shadow sicles in Nami's direction, but Nami avoids the attack. The sicles create small black portal-like holes where they land.

Nami notices that they slowly spread and thinks to himself that getting impaled would do a lot of damage even with Aura Release. Lucy tells Nami that it's connected to the Ender. Nami rushes the ender and Nami apologizes to the creature as he disappears and reappears behind the entity with his hand covered in a black liquid.

The Ender falls to the ground, evaporating along with the black holes. Nami shakes the black substance from his hand and tells Lucy that someone modified the creature's power. Lucy questions why someone would do that. 

Nami looks at the city and tells Lucy "someone was looking to turn this village into an experiment just like the other black zones in Absalon." Lucy looks at Nami as he walks off into the distance, then hops back on his shoulder. Nami smiles and tells Lucy "I won't let that happen."  Nami asks Lucy "Are you hungry?"

Lucy excitedly nods and transforms into a human girl. Lucy tells Nami "Come on, the food is getting cold already!" as she pulls his arm forward. Nami smiles as he picks her up and tells her "Hold on tight." They start to chant for food as he rushes off with Lucy in his arms.

In the air, a person floats, wearing all white, watching as Nami and Lucy run further into a forest. With an expressonless face they say "You'll make the perfect vessel, Nami.