Chereads / The Greatest Journey / Chapter 21 - Chapter 21- Echoes of Loyalty

Chapter 21 - Chapter 21- Echoes of Loyalty

Page 1-

Don was standing on Fruit island as it was split in half due to his Jet Strike. Don was holding a crevice up to his ear while he held the unconscious body of Charles by his collar. "Yeah it's Captain Don…" he says with a straight face. "Are you alright Captain?" Himá says quickly. "Yes, I'm alright, Grey beard and Pig got away but I captured Sniper Charles, I'm requesting to stay here on Fruit island." Don says bluntly. "What!? Grey beard will be here in a matter of days, if you are not here then-" Himá exclaims but was cut off by Don. "His sniper is an Eloka user and the other woman has a Lamina berry. Without Charles you and the other Vice Captains can win, just remember what I told you." Don says in a comforting tone. "Be careful." Don says as he then puts the device back in his pocket. Don then Groans as he sits down and lays back on the forest floor, closing his eyes as he lay there.

Page 2-

Himá stood there with here eyes widened, her body frozen with pure shock but then she felt a warm touch on her shoulder. As she snapped her head around she saw Copper, smiling at her softly. "So the old man isn't coming anymore huh?" He asks her, causing her to begin breathing frantically. Himá grabbed her chest and looked at Cooper with a face of sorrow, still breathing uncontrollably. Just as a tear began to fall from her right eye, cooper wrapped his arms around her, completely embracing Himá. Himá's eyes widen even more as this happened and her breaths started to slow down along with the tear fading away. Cooper stepped back from Himá and looked at her with a genuine smile. "It's gonna be alright." He says to her, as she wipes her cheek.

Page 3-

"Will you need to come up with a new strategy?" Cooper asks curiously. "No. Even if Pig has acquired a berry, it's still the Coastal Gaurd versus two pathfinders." Himá says bluntly. "Alright, I'll head back to my post then." Cooper says with a smile as he begins to turn around. "Cooper…" Himá says as he does this. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." Cooper says to her. "No not that. Why were you down here in the first place?" Himá asks curiously. "Just because it's been ten years Himá… doesn't mean I can't feel when my captain is upset." Cooper says as he then walks away. Himá stood there, looking at him with a blank stare as he said those words to her.

Page 4-

Elbor and Erick were sitting down, both devouring a piece of meat but Erick had stopped. "Hey so what else is Giáp good for other than defense?" Erick asks curiously. This question caused Elbor to stop eating as well. "Generally no but it's pretty useful at bypassing Eloka berries intangibility." Elbor says, causing Erick to look at him confused. "Have you seriously been out at sea this entire time without knowing the different types of berries?" Elbor asks with a slight chuckle. "I guess not." Erick says with a disappointed face. "Ah don't worry about it Kid, I can tell you everything I know right now." Elbor says with a smirk, causing Erick's expression to light up with joy.

Page 5-

"Before you know about the different berry types you need to know that each type are split into three different levels. Base level berries, or level one berries, are the weakest berries in their group. Premature berries, or level two berries are usually strong berries but more so depending on how well they are mastered. Mega berries, or level three berries, are berries that have been deemed limitless in power once awakened and even before that, those are the strongest type of berries in their respective types by far." Elbor says as he then begins to tear into his slab of meat once again. "Wait you said awakened? What is that?" Erick asks with a curious face.

Page 6-

"Any berry can be awakened by its user, no matter the level of the berry. It's almost like gaining an entirely new berry once it's awakened but that process usually takes years of practice with a berry and not many berry users live that long." Elbor says, still eating the meat. "Okay so what about the different types?" Erick asks Elbor, intrigued by their conversation. Elbor smiles slightly before he talks. "There are Lamina type berries, Eloka type berries and then Louga type berries." Elbor says to Erick, causing Erick eyes to widen with curiosity.

Page 7-

"I'll start with what most people think is the weakest type of berry… Lamina type berries." Elbor says, causing Erick to look at him with a confused face. "I'll explain. Lamina types all have the ability to transform into some sort of animal or summon that animal in combat" Elbor says. "Why would that be weak, that sounds awesome!" Erick exclaims with a wide smile, causing Elbor to look at him with a slight smile. "Lamina type users are granted immense strength and speed in their human forms, along with animal like reflexes and perception. But Lumina users that can transform are granted Hybrid forms. In their hybrid forms they turn into a human hybrid of whatever animal their berry possesses." Elbor says as he takes another bite of his meat slab. "I'm confused on how these berries are weak?" Erick asks with a baffled looked and his mouth filled with food.

Page 8-

"Just hold on a second kid!" Elbor says bothered by the constant interruptions. "Lamina type berries also can turn into the full version of whatever animal it possesses but these aren't weak just weaker than their kin." Elbor says causing Erick's eyes to widen. "There are also Hybrid Lamina type and Ancient Lamina type berries. Hybrid types are just how they sound, they give the user the same abilities as a normal Lamina berry but the user will have two different animals to choose from." Elbor says as Erick looked at him with a shocked face. "Woahhh!" Erick says ecstaticly. "Ancient Lamina berries are just as cool, trust me." Elbor says with a slight smirk.

Page 9-

"Ancient Lamina berries turn the user into some sort of ancient or mythological creature and once these berries are awakened, the user gains some sort of ability to match their creature." Elbor says. "Okay. Okay, what about the other types because those seem incredible." Erick asks with an excited stare, causing Elbor to chuckle boisterously. "Louga type berries are the second strongest, these are berries that usually have some sort of ability to change either their own body or other things around them. Your berry is a great example of a level three Louga berry." Elbor says with a smile, causing Erick to look down at his hands with a surprised face.

Page 10-

"Eloka types are generally considered the strongest type of berry, not only does the user gain control over some sort of element but their body can also turn into that element, giving most Eloka users some sort of intangibility." Elbor says with a smirk. "Wait so why can't you turn into water when I hit you?" Erick asks with a confused face. "It's true that I have an Eloka type berry but in all honesty I'm just not that skilled with it, I'm much more proficient in the use of Aura." Elbor says with a disappointed face. "Well that just means that you still have room to train." Erick says with a smile. "Since we're already on the topic, I might as well explain the three types of Aura to you as well." Elbor says with a smirk, causing Erick's eyes to grow brighter.

Page 11-

"You already know about Giáp so I won't need to cover that so first I'll talk about Vista." Elbor says with a grin. "Vista allows the user to focus aura directly to their brain, boosting their senses but upon mastery of Vista some users can acquire an ability akin to furture sight. I believe Vista id the easiest of the three to learn but the hardest to master." Elbor says as he looks at Erick. "Is that something we can train later, maybe after the war?" Erick asks with a curious face. "Unfortunately not, I can't use Vista at all, you would have to find a different teacher for that." Elbor says apologetically. "Roui is the strongest known application of Aura , allowing the user to physically manifest their mana. Having Roui is similar to acquiring a berry actually, the only problem is… you must be born with this technique." Elbor says, causing Erick's face to sadden.

Page 12-

"Don't be upset about it, you've already eaten a berry and you have Enkai, learning any form of Aura is just additional." Elbor says with a warm smile as he put his food down and begins to stand up, prompting Erick to do the same. "What are we doing?" Erick asks with a confused face. "We still have the rest of the day to train your berry and your Giáp." Elbor says with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face. Erick's eyes light up as he gets into a fighting stance. "Sounds like plenty of time." Erick says with a smirk, activating Alt one onto both of his fists. Elbor Chuckled boisterously as he created a water club in his hand and reeled it back, ready to strike Erick.

Page 13-

Grey beard and Pig were on their ship, sailing away from Fruit island. As Grey beard stared at the island, a single tear began to fall down the right side of his face. Grey beard then began to have a flash back to when he was just seven years old. Grey beard was frail and very small, as if he never ate. Another young boy, significantly larger than Grey beard, pushed him to the ground as two other boys crowded around Grey beard as well. "Y'know, for being the son of the greatest coastal Gaurd captain, you're pretty pathetic." The boy says, prompting the other two boys to laugh obnoxiously. The boy then grabs Grey beard by the collar of his shirt and throws him against the wall, causing Grey beard to shout in pain.

Page 14-

The bullies kept laughing as Grey beard cried and pleaded for them to let him down, but they never did. As the boys were laughing, all three of them suddenly stopped and looked down with confused faces, revealing that all of their pants had fallen down. The boy quickly let go of Grey beard as all three of them frantically pulled their pants up. The main bully turns around and sees a young Charles, waving and smiling at them, jokingly. "You're dead!" The main bully yells but as he steps toward Charles he stops, as his eyes widen with shock. A young Pig had stepped behind Charles, she was massive for a child and this struck instant fear into the boys, prompting them to turn around and run away.

Page 15-

Charles and Pig walk over to Grey beard, who was still crying from the recent attack. "Hey, those guys just do that stuff because they know what you'll be." Charles says as he kneels down on one knee, placing his hand on Grey beards shoulder. Grey beard stops crying and looks at Charles with a face of Genuine safety. "You guys don't… hate me?" Grey beard asks with a confused face. "Hate you? Why would we hate you? I don't even know you man." Charles says as he chuckles slightly at the ridiculousness of that statement. "My dad… is Captain Garp!" Grey beard exclaims.

Page 16-

Charles chuckles as he stands back up and puts his hand down towards Grey beard, trying to help him up. "I'm Charles, Pig and I were just thinking of what it would be like to find that item." Charles says with a smirk, causing Grey beards eyes to widen with complete shock. "It seems like all we're missing… is a captain." A boy says with a genuine smile as he walks up to them, causing Grey beard's eyes to swell up with tears as he then took Charles's hand and gets up. The boy had shot red hair and a singular scratch on his eye. "Oh and this is Jasper". Charles says as he points at the red haired boy. "I'll see if I can find a guy." Grey beard says as he wipes his tears, boasting a wide smile on his face. This statement caused all of three of them to chuckle with joy

Page 17-

Grey beard returned to the present as his face was now riddled with dozens of dried up tears but he held a stoic expression on his face. "Pig." He says bluntly, causing Pig to raise her eyes at his words. "Charles is our family… right?" Charles asks with the same stoic expression on his face. Pig nods at him, looking at him with a piercing glance. "We won't stop." Grey beard says bluntly. "No matter what happens at the Capital, we won't stop until Charles is back on this ship…" grey beard says as he stared at Fruit island. "…then we'll go find it… like we said."

Chapter end