Chapter 76

Marineford.

Office of Fleet Admiral Sengoku.

The admiral sat and listened to another unpleasant report of late and gritted his teeth.

- So who killed him? Did you find out? Sengoku asked the short, thin youth.

He shook his head and said:

- No sir, Thriller Bark is completely uninhabited, Vice Admiral Yamakaji was there personally and could not find a single clue. Only the corpse of Moria and his Subordinates. Who killed Shichibukai Gekko Moriya is also unknown to us.

Sengoku clenched his fists and growled.

`` Damn, this is the second Shichibukai killed in a while ... '' Then the Admiral exhaled and spoke.

"Okay, go tell Yamakaji to check everything again, we usually didn't get involved in the Shichibukai business, but let him figure it out down to the smallest details.

- Yes, sir! - The guy saluted and left the admiral's office.

Sengoku leaned back in his chair and muttered:

- Something is wrong, I have a bad feeling ...

***

Six months later.

Amazon Lily.

On one of the highest mountains on the island, sat a swarthy man with strange tattoos on his arms and face. His dark blue hair fluttered in the wind, and the place he was in was unusually quiet. As if even the wind was bypassing him. If you look closely, you can see strange distortions in the air, as if the space itself was trembling. Even the birds did not fly around due to the terrible gravity, and the mountain, which was once the highest, has noticeably decreased in size in the last months of his stay here.

On the man's right hand, one could notice strange blue lights that looked magical and bewitching, and on the left, dark flashes of black flame, from the very sight of which a chill passed through the body. This darkness seemed to tighten, and the bright blue light was like the shining of the stars, which I wanted to look at forever.

At some point, the darkness on his left hand disappeared, as did the starlight on his right, and the man opened his eyes.

* Hoo-oo * * oo-oo-oo *

As soon as the man opened his eyes, invisible energy spread from him in all directions, from which all living beings around him trembled with fear, and then instantly fell to the ground unconscious.

The man stood up and stretched, and then he said with a grin:

"Not bad, royal will is a really interesting ability. - Then he looked somewhere in surprise and said discontentedly:

- Strange, I kind of said not to be bothered ...

***

Six months ago.

When I arrived on the island of the Amazons, I immediately decided to find a good place to train, and I wanted it to be secluded. It was also worth establishing contact with the local inhabitants, because they probably just won't let me train here, so I need to agree on this. In addition, they will be useful to me, from them I can find out the latest news from the outside world. Who knows what will happen there, I would not want to miss something significant. Maybe Luffy will do something or the Marines will unleash a war, everything should be watched.

I already had a plan on how to improve relations with Kuja, or rather with one of them. It so happened that she is in charge here and her word is the law. Therefore, if she says that I can stay here, no one dares to tell me to leave. I will become her friend or ally and maybe she will allow me to stay here for several months, but if not, then I will have to act more rudely. But I hope it will not come to this, they are not enemies to me, but I am a stranger and an invader for them. Well, as a last resort, I'll just find another island. But I would not like to lose this one, it was beneficial to me that strangers would not get on it, even sentinels were not allowed here, so here I would be invisible to the world government and the Marines.

With these thoughts, I took off and headed to the city center, first I had to find out if the Empress was here. If not, then you have to wait ...

I stood in the air over a large palace deep in a valley between several mountains and began to watch.

A beautiful city, the architecture resembles China or Japan in ancient times, I don't quite understand this, so I'm not sure. It could hardly be called a city, rather a large village full of women. Yes, there were a lot of women here, but I guess it just seems to me because there are only girls living here. But unfortunately, those whom I was looking for were not here. This was understandable not only because Kuja's main ship was not in port, but also because many women were talking about their Empress coming very soon.

It's a shame we'll have to wait. Okay, then, while I find myself a place to live ...

I went a little further inland, to several rather high mountains, which were far from the village of Kuja. There I decided to set up camp.

I created a blade from the star fog and carved a cave for myself in the rock, applied foliage and made myself a makeshift bed. In the future I will find skins of some animals. I wanted to live in wild conditions, I had never lived in a cave in my life. The island was warm, so I won't freeze, you can sleep on the stones.

When I finished everything, it was already evening, I put my cloak on one of the stones and said with a smile:

- Well, now everything is ready, from tomorrow my training will begin, finally ...

Getting up early in the morning, I ate some fruit and drank water from a local spring, then set off to the highest mountain. Although I will train my body, I also need to realize the full power of the devil fruit. Someone needs years to do this, but I just pumped it in the system, which was unnatural. I still do not understand much about the force of gravity, so I need to research the full force of the fruit for a long time and persistently. Also, do not forget about the logic of darkness, I am going to use it in some moments of the battle. Still, the ability to neutralize the powers of other fruit is very useful, as well as the space of darkness and can be very helpful in combat.

I need to somehow understand all this, as well as realize what awakening is. The concept of "awakening" is still incomprehensible to me, even though I have awakened the fruit by half. All this is due to the system, although it increased my strength, it did not give me an understanding of these forces. Except that Rokushiki and Melee are the only ones where I got an understanding. Okay, I'll start with meditation, focus on the power of fruits and try to feel something ...

I climbed the highest mountain, sat down, and then closed my eyes and began to feel the power of the fruit within me.