Chapter 35: Kuraigana Island
Several weeks later.
Naruto smiled as he sat on one of the railings of The Odyssey, right on the mast. Several weeks had passed and they had managed to get supplies of all kinds on Foolshout Island. The island itself was a bit strange, especially because of huge cacti that actually looked like large trees due to their height.
But, after a few quiet days on that island, they left and sailed smoothly towards their next destination. But, as they calmly traveled through the strangely calm sea, Naruto raised his hand and slowly closed his eyes. Little by little, he began to feel a slight tingling on his forearm, then the sensation spread through his hand, all the way to the tips of his fingers. And, by the time Naruto had opened his eyes, the entirety of his hand and forearm were black with a red glow.
"Harry nii-chan really is a genius. He really figured out the correct way to use Haki in just weeks," Naruto muttered before laughing a bit. It took Naruto longer to accomplish this, Rias only took a week to be able to learn both Haki, and Harry took even less time, achieving both Haki in just three days. The reason being that Harry had a much more advanced control and mastery over his spiritual energy than Rias and Naruto.
Naruto had trained a lot of chakra control, so it wasn't a problem for him. However, using a portion of what made up chakra was another matter. Using just spiritual energy was a bit tricky, but he managed it with determination and a bit of patience.
Also, Harry thought that, theoretically speaking, someone could learn Supreme King Haki (Haoshoku) if it was powered by spiritual energy. Unless there was something special in between that allowed those people to use this type of Haki.
Simply put, Observation Haki was using your spiritual energy, spreading it out, and sensing your surroundings. And since every living being had at least a little of this energy, you could sense it, and thus gain a sort of sixth sense. Armament Haki was using your spiritual energy to surround part or all of your body, gaining a layer that would help you defensively or offensively.
Now… Supreme King Haki… Well, Harry only had a few ideas.
"From the name, then it requires a great will, enough to bring weaker people to their knees," Harry muttered as he wrote furiously in his small notebook of ideas.
"Will is the human desire to freely decide what you want and what you don't. Something you want, an intention so great that it will dwarf everything else," Harry stopped writing and frowned a little.
"Spiritual energy is connected to the soul and therefore to a person's psyche... Mmm~"
"You've really gotten pretty good at this stuff," Rias muttered, looking from behind Harry, almost placing her chin on the black-haired man's shoulder.
"Gya– Kuhum!" Harry jumped in surprise, having been too focused, he didn't notice his surroundings. Rias let out a small laugh upon hearing Harry's small cry and said laughter increased as he tried to hide it.
"Guys, we're approaching the island! But I think you have to see this!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of the other two. They walked to one of the sides and looked at the island, noticing what the place looked like from afar. Both frowned slightly as they saw a dark-purple mist surrounding parts of the island. From afar, unique hills could also be seen that seemed to have a tip that turned inwards. In fact, rather than hills, they looked like huge roots that came out from the ground and turned at their top.
"Is that a castle?", Harry asked out loud, squinting his eyes a little to see a little better. Rias looked in the direction Harry was pointing, noticing the top of a castle that was barely noticeable, but there it was, hidden among trees and other things.
"It seems that way...", Rias muttered as they got closer and closer to the island.
Naruto readied himself and moved, calling for the sails to be raised as he anchored the ship so he could go down to the island. Rias and Harry just complied and waited a few moments before jumping off. The shoreline looked like a normal beach... if it weren't for the gloomy atmosphere and the purple mist that slowly floated by.
The trio slowly advanced as they looked around and extended their senses with the little Observation Haki they had trained a bit.
"Maybe it's better to go to the castle. This place seems deserted...", Rias commented as she looked at the path they were now walking on. It was made of concrete, but it was broken and there were even craters and what looked like cuts all around.
Naruto frowned as he felt something strange and formed two shadow clones immediately. Then, in a swift manner, the two clones charged at Rias and Harry respectively, leaping forward as Naruto pulled out his tantou from the back of his left shoulder, receiving a sword strike from...
"A monkey?!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.
"Looks like we're surrounded..." Harry said as he looked around, noticing the figures of other similar monkeys, some with armor and staffs, others with swords of all kinds and others simply in a fighting stance with their fists.
"Well... we'll have to fight," Rias smiled slightly as a black-scarlet aura emanated from her hands before forming two dragons of the power of destruction. Harry just snorted before the wind swirled around his hands and surroundings.
"He~!... Acting all cool. I can't stay behind!" Naruto said excitedly before kicking the monkey and using shunshin, appearing in front of the monkey and slicing its torso before finishing it off with a rasengan.
The warrior monkeys felt sweat pour down their faces as they realized that they had attacked powerful opponents. However, at the same time, they felt excited and thirsty for battle. They all jumped up shouting towards the trio.
. . .
"Fiuu~... ", Naruto whistled a little as he wiped the little sweat from his forehead. "These things were endless"
"Mmm... ", Rias looked around, seeing the large number of humandrills fainted on the ground, some dead and others seriously injured. "They weren't weak by any means. In fact, they seemed to learn our attack patterns just by watching, especially yours, Naruto"
"Let's move on, guys. I don't want to stay in this place any longer. There's a chance that more of them will appear," Harry said, sighing a little. Everyone nodded, agreeing with what Harry said. The three of them ran without stopping until they reached the castle gate. And to their surprise, it looked in good condition, almost as if it was recently used. No... In fact, it looked like it was still being inhabited as they used Haki to sense better and noticed that it was lit by torches near the door and a small warmth could be felt from the building.
As Harry was about to knock on the large doors to get attention, he was shocked to see a strange ghost and couldn't react in time when it passed through his body.
"Horo–horo–horo–horo–horo!"
"Harry, are you okay?!" Rias ignored the strange laughter and knelt down to help Harry who was on his knees with his hands on the ground.
"Just leave me... I'm just a flea that needs to die."
Rias dropped her mouth, as did Naruto. The two were completely speechless. However, within a few seconds he recovered and stood up with a stony expression, not showing any expression or feeling. But, inside, he was really embarrassed.
"It must be a devil fruit…", Harry said, ignoring the shocked expressions of his two friends.
"He's acting like nothing happened!", Naruto and Rias screamed in their minds.
"Who are you, strange intruders?!", a woman with pink hair and round eyes appeared when the door opened. She was wearing a long strapless black dress with lavender ruffles, red high-heeled boots, and a large black top hat with white floral decoration. She has a pink bat tattoo on her left bicep and a watch on her left wrist, and she wears pink nail polish on her nails. She also carried a parasol in one of her hands.
Rias noticed the two strange ghosts floating on either side of the woman, but decided to ignore them: "Are you the owner of this castle?... We are travelers who arrived at the island. At first we didn't think it was inhabited, sorry if we bothered you, but we were looking for a place to rest more comfortably."
The woman looked at them for a moment before frowning a little.
"I'm Perona, and I'm not the owner of this castle. But... you can stay for a few days if you want. There's only one more person in this place, the rest are just those violent humandrills. Also, the owner isn't here right now."
The three looked at each other before nodding carefully.
They passed through and Perona led them inside the castle, to a room where there was more comfort. But, inside that room, there was a bandaged man with green hair. He looked really tired and hurt, but still with his eyes open, looking around.
"Who are you guys?!!" he screamed as he stood up, but fell backwards spinning on the ground in pain. Perona screamed angrily and sent one of her ghosts towards him.
"I'm an insect... I want to die"
"Stay calm, you senseless idiot! You're still hurt!", Perona screamed angrily.
"Don't tell me what to –Gah– do, woman!", the young green-haired man screamed, but had to hold back his grimaces of pain as he felt some wounds open up and his damaged muscles leave his body stiff and full of pain.
"Wait...", Rias caught the attention of Perona and the man.
"Aren't you Roronoa Zoro, part of the Mugiwara crew?"
"Ah?... What's up with that?", Zoro frowned in alert.
"You... don't know anything, do you?", Rias said in surprise.
"What thing?" Zoro narrowed his eyes.
"Your captain's brother... Ace will be executed in a few days."
Zoro's eyes widened in surprise.
___________________