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Five years ago…
Don was leaning against the wall of a wooden cabin, similar to the one Kalan had landed in, and across from him, sitting in a chair, was the same man Kalan was talking to as well. "So, I heard your boy discovered a new island recently, Love Island, right?" the man asked with a smile on his face, but Don looked agitated and bitter. "You seem to be—" the man started to say, but Don threw his hands up in rage, causing the man's eyes to widen slightly. "THAT DAMN BRAT WON'T EVEN LOOK FOR THE NORTH STAR!!! HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE NEXT RORY FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!" Don yelled as he slammed his fist on the bar counter, causing the man to chuckle slightly. "Of course, you think this is funny, Francis," Don said with scorn on his face.
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"Although I am biased, I will say… that young man has very similar traits akin to Rory, but he seems a little more patient," Francis said with a serious expression. "Patient!?" Don asked with a confused yet still angry face. "It's just… I've seen a man at the pinnacle of strength within his era, arguably in all of history, but that man saw everything in front of him and took it. The man I see today is waiting for something, and I don't know how to feel about that," Francis said with a worried expression. "That boy isn't stupid; as long as I'm alive, every Pathfinder will stay in check," Don said with a slight smirk, prompting Francis to chuckle boisterously. "Francis, I trust you because of our rivalry back in the day, so tell me the truth… do you think my boy can find it?" Don asked sincerely.
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Present Day…
'How wrong I wish I was that day,' Francis thought to himself with a solemn face as he leaned against the same wall Don had leaned against. 'All these years I've hidden away behind the illusion of pacifism, while my pupil grew alone. How dare you, Francis; Tory would laugh at the man you are now,' he thought as he stood up and took his hood off, revealing the same man in Jonah's visions, only his hair was in a ponytail now, and it was all grey with brown streaks through it. He had a scruffy goatee, but it wasn't dirty. "It's about time we talk again… Jonah," Francis said with a smile on his face.
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Jonah clashed with Jon's club, both of them wearing wide smiles on their faces. Jonah was riddled with bruises and was panting heavily but was still smiling. "You've surprised me, Jonah! Even though you don't have a berry, you are way stronger than a normal man!" Jon said with a smirk. "All that training last night really helped out!" Jonah replied ecstatically, just as the sun was breaking through the horizon. On a different part of the island, Trick and Nol were clashing and exchanging devastating blows. "COME ON SWORDSMAN, YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!!" Nol yelled with a boisterous smile. "Don't act like I'm not winning, Sea Giant!" Trick exclaimed, also sporting a wide smile.
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Don and Greybeard stared at each other as the earth beneath them was misshapen. "ROUND TWO, POPS!!" Greybeard yelled with a maniacal smile on his face as a red aura enveloped his fists, and he then dashed at Don. Don chuckled slightly as he activated Galaxy Nova on both of his fists and then also dashed at Greybeard. As the two clashed, so did their auras, causing massive bolts of purple and blue lightning to fly everywhere around them. Greybeard grunted at Don, causing him to make a slightly confused face, but as Don did this, Greybeard kicked him in the gut. Don slid back slightly but snapped his head back up quickly as Greybeard blitzed him once more, laughing maniacally while doing so. Don reeled his fist back and slammed it into the ground, causing large chunks of the island to fly up in front of him.
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Greybeard smiled even wider as he saw this, disregarding the boulders as he punched right through them. But as he got through the debris, he saw that Don was loading up a punch, reminiscent of what Kalan had done to him in their fight. "GALAXY NOVA!" Don yelled as he grabbed the ball of light and swung at Greybeard, but this time Greybeard matched Don's power with his own, causing Don's eyes to widen slightly. Greybeard reached over with his left hand, grabbing Don by the collar of his half-buttoned shirt, and then pulled Don to him with a headbutt. Don fumbled backward, disoriented from the attack but still on his feet. Greybeard then dashed at Don once again, with red aura covering his fist, and with a monstrous grin, he punched Don in the gut. As blood flew from Don's mouth, the impact sent him flying off the island and into the sea.
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Greybeard stood up completely, his body bruised and a trail of blood falling from the right corner of his mouth. "It's been fun… Pops," Greybeard said as he turned around and began walking toward the treeline. Pig and Charles ran out of the trees with ecstatic smiles on their faces. "We didn't even need to ambush him; you were amazing, Captain!" Charles said gleefully, but Greybeard's face was one of complete rage. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING?!!?" he yelled in frustration. "You… you beat him, so we thought…" Charles began to say, but a bubbling sound cut him off. Greybeard snapped his head around with a fearful glance. "You damn idiots!" Greybeard yelled at them as he ran the opposite way of the shore.
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"Wait, Captain, where are we going?" Pig asked with a deep voice. "Back to the ship; we either leave or die," Greybeard said, running as fast as he could. "What about the capital?" Charles asked with a confused face. "We can wrap around and make it there before Don can get back; this plan might be better than our original, actually," Greybeard said with a smirk. "And why are we running again?" Charles asked Greybeard, baffled. "Because I think I made my father upset," Greybeard said, causing Pig and Charles to look at each other with confused expressions. In the water where they were fighting was a small pool of bubbles, but then the bubbles began to look orange, then red, and now they were bubbling intensely.
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A large ball of light shot from the water and into the sky, but it wasn't light; it was Don, and on both of his fists were Galaxy Nova. "I told you that you were a fool," Don said as he fell to the ground at high speeds, his arms crossed all the way down. As Greybeard and his crew were running away, something smashed into the ground a few feet in front of them, causing a large gust of wind to blow away from the landing and creating a large dust cloud around it. With wide eyes, all three of them looked at the cloud of dust as a shadow began walking toward them. "This whole time I thought we were playing fair!" the shadow bellowed as a star-shaped object began to glow around the shadow's fists and then disappear.
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Don walked out of the cloud of dust, a slight smile on his face. He was still bruised and had a trail of blood down the right corner of his mouth. "Even with Rory's berry, you know the truth, don't you, Grey? That's why this plan was even made, right?" Don said with a smirk. "I don't know what you're talking about, old man!" Greybeard shot back, emitting false confidence. "That berry isn't what conquered this world…" Don said as he squatted down and bent his elbows down to his waist. Greybeard stepped back slightly as red aura began to coat his fists. "… IT WAS HIS AURA THAT RULED THIS WORLD!!!" Don yelled as he blitzed toward all three of them with a wide smile on his face.
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Greybeard dashed toward Don, but he now wore a frustrated look as he did so. The two clashed, but this time Don was overwhelmingly stronger, punching Greybeard into the ground. Just as Don reeled back his fists to release another devastating blow, he felt something grab his wrist. Don snapped his head to his left, causing his eyes to grow wider. There stood Pig, but she was now a Minotaur-like creature with black fur and a golden ring through her nose. She then punched Don in the face, sending him flying back a few meters. "Are you okay, Captain?" Pig asked as she began helping Greybeard up from the ground. Pig began to revert back to her human form as she did this. "That berry is impressive," a deep voice said from the treeline.
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Don walked out of the trees with a smile on his face. "That's a Lamina-type berry, isn't it? Normally you'd turn into something like a horse or a lion, but it seems that isn't the case here, which means… you ate a Secret Lamina berry, right, Pig?" Don said, looking at her with a smirk. 'That old man is just as sharp as ever,' Pig thought to herself with a distraught expression. "Now that just leaves one more, and I'm guessing…" Don began, but just as he did, quicksand suddenly began to wrap around his feet and quickly engulf his body all the way to his neck. Beside Greybeard and Pig now stood Charles, but his arms were made of quicksand and were trailing to the ground, leading to Don's body. "Great timing, Charles," Greybeard said with a smirk. "You guys did great at distracting him as well," Charles said as he began to sweat. Don began to laugh boisterously, causing all three of them to look at him with surprised faces.
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"Now that's impressive!" Don said with a wide smile. "The rarest kind of berry to find… an Eloka-type berry!" Don said as black and blue lightning began to escape the quicksand wrapped around his body. "Having all three types of berries on one exploration team can be quite effective!" Don said as the lightning began to strike from his body all around them. "But you are all forgetting one thing about those berries of yours!" Don said with a boisterous smile. The lightning caused the quicksand to burst off of his body, and Charles then fell to the ground in agonizing pain. 'Eloka-type berries are often regarded as the strongest type because of their ability to make the user intangible in some way, but with enough aura, that intangibility disappears,' Greybeard thought to himself with wide eyes.
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Don chuckled boisterously as the lightning on his fists began to recede back into his fists, leaving only small sparks crackling at his fists. "Roui rules over all of those things!" Don yelled as he took a step forward, but his foot crushed the ground beneath him as what seemed to be a miniature galaxy formed in Don's right fist. Greybeard and his crew looked at Don with wide eyes. "That man you claim to be the successor to, the man I thought you'd inherited the legacy of… THAT MAN WAS MY RIVAL!!" Don yelled intensely as the wind began to blow all around them. "This is what I have been telling you since your youth, and now it is your own fault you never listened," Don said as the galaxy on his fist began to grow brighter.
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Don lunged his chest forward and then threw his arm in front of his body as if he were throwing the galaxy like a baseball. "GALAXY NOVA…!!" Don yelled as he began to reel his arm back. "Get back, you two!! I can try and stop this while you two escape; then I'll regroup with you guys!" Charles said as he got up, still grunting in pain. "Charles, you can't—" Pig started to say but was cut off by Greybeard. "He's right," Greybeard said, causing Pig's eyes to widen with shock. "My father will never kill someone, but if he tries to kill me with that attack, then it'll kill both of you. We'll return to the capital, get you back right, and then start the attack," Greybeard said with a stern tone, just as Pig fixed her face, realizing their current situation.
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Charles turned back around as he put his hands on the ground in front of him. His forearms all the way down to his fingertips extended out onto the ground, forming a pile of quicksand in front of him. "I'll see you two then, yeah?" Charles said as the quicksand began to form into a solid wall. Greybeard placed his hand on Charles's shoulder. "You know we will," he said with a smile on his face as he and Pig turned around. The wall had completely formed, but it was straining Charles's body. Don looked at the wall with surprise. 'I don't know what's behind that wall, but… my priority is stopping this war at all costs,' Don thought to himself as he closed his eyes and then quickly shot them open once again.
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"GALAXY NOVA… JET STRIKE!!" Don yelled as he threw the galaxy, but instead of flying forward like a baseball, a large stream of aura blew in the direction of the wall. The beam caused all of the ground beneath it to completely disintegrate and split the island in half, right down the middle. As the smoke cleared and Don stood up straight, he saw Charles lying on the ground, unconscious from the massive defensive feat he had just displayed, but Greybeard and Pig were nowhere to be found. Don began to smile and then chuckle until he burst out in a boisterous laugh. "HAHAHAHA!! I guess I really am getting old!" Don said loudly as he kept laughing.
Chapter end.