Nearly a full day after leaving Rose Island, the crew of the Vanguard, Calamity Pirates, were in a buzz.
"The newspaper is here, i got the wanted posters." Robin said calmly from her little corner on the deck.
"Yes! Let me see!" Buggy rushed in and snatched his poster from her.
"Wonder what the bounties are now." murmured Nojiko to herself as she took her own poster.
"No change in those besides Aden, but we have new photos. And Ring has a bounty?" Robin said as she looked questionimgly at Ring.
"Yeah, they seem to have digged it out when i joined you." he replied nonchalantly, causing the others to look at him strangely.
"What? I did say i was a pirate years ago, didn't i?" Ring added, holding his old wanted poster, just with some changes.
WANTED DEAD or ALIVE
Calamity Pirates Member
Ring 'Curse Weaver' Armad
B 1.666.000
Above was a picture of younger Ring, surrounded by floating orbs of energy, that seemed to attach to anyone that got too close as shown in the image, with a marine covered in them and clearly in pain.
He was shown wearing a dark cloak with a hood, and holding a staff with purple veins of energy running through it.
Noticing the others looking at him in confusion, Ring offered an explanation.
"It was part of the style. It really made people scared seeing a clearly evil guy throwing curses around. And the staff was also mostly for show. I don't even have it anymore." he explained with a slightly embarrased look.
"One of these days you'll have to explain those curses to me." Aden said simply and looked at his own wanted poster.
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE
Calamity Pirates Captain
'Four Winds' Aden D. Hum
B 160.000.000
The photo shows Aden with his new sword raised and covered on freezing mist. The picture was taken from a seemingly impossible angle, slightly elevated and to the side of Aden. Which would suggest someone flying.
"It went up again. And i didn't even do anything really outrageous this time." Aden said casualy.
"Your very existence is outrageous, no wonder your bounty keeps climbing." Buggy said in a mocking tone, getting blown back into the mast for his trouble. Aden was right on him starting a fight. As it quickly devolved into a mess of limbs, kicks and punches with a dust cloud surrounding them, the other three stopped paying attention to them.
"So what are the curses you can cast?" Robin asked simply out of curiosity.
"Well, practically anything i want. The say it is curses, but only because it was my preffered use of my power. What i can really do is place different attributes on things. The more complex, the more difficult it is. I can even place curses on people, like Bad Luck for example, but only for a very short time.
Living beings have a sort of energy around them that prevents the curses from sticking, but i noticed that the stronger the being, the shorter time limit of the curse placed on them." Ring gave a rather simplified explanation.
"Sounds like Haki effects to me." Aden said suddenly appearing next to them.
"Haki? You mean the stuff you use to see things?" Nojiko asked.
"That is Observation Haki. Which isnfocused for a specific purpose. I think he means the raw potential for it. Like the stronger someone's will, the lesser effect of the curse?" Buggy offered, as he stumbled towards them with a limp and a bruised cheek.
"Exactly right. If you were to place a curse on a mouse or a weak human, it might stick around for longer." Aden added.
"Aye, that seems to be the case. But anyway it is like that. It is not really Curse-Curse Fruit, but more like Effect-Effect Fruit or something." Ring finished with a shrug.
"So that's how you made the sword. You put a curse and an effect on it. The curse to test me, and the effect for if i survived the curse. And the effect is what? Energy channeling?" Aden snapped his fingers in understanding, and asked.
"Basically, yeah. But i can no longer sense the effects i put into the blade, but you can still use it the same. Strange." Ring grew confused as he tried to sense the curse he placed on Aden's sword.
Aden then explained about spirit of the weapon stuff. And after talking for a few more hours, with Nojiko adjusting the coirse from time to time, they spotted another island in the distance.
.
"His bounty went up again. You still think we should wait and see?" Asked a bald man with sword.
"Yes. Aden has shown no interest in anything except being a pirate. I say we let him." said a bearded man.
"I agree." said a commanding voice from the throne.
"Very well. We will just keep an eye on him."
.
"Four Winds Aden! Surrender now and you will not be harmed!" came a loud voice from a speaker on one of the ten navy ships now surrounding the Vanguard.
"What the hell? Now what?" Buggy said in slight worry as the ships were big and clearly meant for heavy combat.
"Now we fight. They give us no other choice. So...Go have some fun." Aden said as he flew upward and towards the main ship.
"....Okay." Buggy simply said and jumped towards another ship, by using parts of his body as stepping stones to hop to the ship. He feet still had to be the grounding point, but he could make temporary platforms using his body parts. When he reached the shil, he brought chaos and death to the marines, daggers and knives and body parts flying everywhere.
Robin grew a sort of bridge of arms on which she ran towards another ship. Once there, she became a fast and silent flurry of scalpel strikes, kicks and occasionaly breaking mecks by growing extra limbs. At lne point she looked like a monster from a nightmare, extra arms holding swords taken from the marines growing from her back, some of them having eyes at the back of the palm. There were also eyes growing from the parts of the ship giving her an almost complete overview of the fight.
Nojiko used her power to distract the remaining ships as she realised some time ago, her power is more of a support type. Combining her visual illusions and the auditory illusions from her staff, she made her friends appear on different ships, causing the marines to fight empty air, never knowing if they were real or not.
Ring was throwing purple energy orbs towards the ships, cursing the weapons of the marines, causing them to break at random times or misfire at a crucial moment. He cursed parts of the ships so they wold break if anyone stepped on those spots and he also put Bad Luck on a few marines, even though that would not last long.
As for Aden, he landed at the leading ship in a burst of air, causing some weaker marines to be blown away.
"I hope you are strong enough for me to practice with my new sword. I need to figure some things out so i hope you can help me with that." Aden spoke in a cold, almost cruel tone, as he drew Storm Hunt.
"Four Winds you are under arrest. You will be brought to justice and placed in Impel Down!" shouted the marine in charge. A captain, judging by his attire, he wore a black suit under his coat. He had a bowler hat on his head and a buzzcut hair. He also had muttom chops styled facial hair. He was also very well built. Brawler at first sight as he had no weapons on him.
Aden could feel his strength so he hoped he would prove a challange. But he doubted it.
So to start, Aden released a burst of Haki to weed the weaklings. The moment the burst of willpower manifested hit the marines most of the 'fodder' was knocked unconcious. With only the captain and maybe a dozen men standing, the fight was about to start.
"Very well you wee bastard. We will bring you in cold then." the captain stepped forward raising his fists.
Aden could sense a movement of energy through the captain, going into his hands.
"So this is Armament Haki. Feels strange. I can almost see it." Aden thought to himself as he remembered that feeling. Usually only those who can use Armament can sense it around themselves, but Aden's Observation was simply in another league. Not only he can sense quite far away, but it is also incredibly precise.
"Well this should be fun." Aden said as he created a spark of fire on his left finger, ehich he instantly absorbed. Immediately, temperature spikes around him, causing the marines to sweat. His hair began to flow because of the raw heat, and air around him distorted, the effect being made more prominent by Aden. Storm Hunt clutchednin his right hand glowed red with flames flowing around the blade.
"Oh god...It's all true..." quivered one of the marines, instantly passing out due to Aden's ongoing Haki barage. This happened because the man's resolve was shaken by the display.
Without any delay, the captain charged at Aden, swinging his fists wildly, but with the precision of a skilled fighter.
Each of his strikes was blocked by Aden's sword or simply dodged.
Seeing Aden seemingly on the back foot, the marines still left standing also charged in, thinking they could help.
"No! You fools, stay back!" the captain shouted at his men. Too late. Aden, as it turns out, was waiting for that exact moment.
Deflecting the captain's latest punchy Aden released a violent burst of flames in all directions.
The ship caught fire, the marines around them were blasted back, their scorched flesh crumbling heaps of gore a bit away. The air was filled with the smell of burning hair and fabric, as well as a smell strangely similar to burned pork.
"You monster... I'll kill ya?" the captain shouted, releasing a wave of energy as his Haki became more prominent.
"A monster? For fighting against those who meant me harm? If that makes me a monster than so be it." Aden spoke seemingly without a shred of remorse. That was an act however. He did not enjoy killing most of the time. His more sadistic side came out only when dealing with truly wicked people. Or sometimes at random, but that's not the point.
"AARGGGHHH!" came a shout from the captain who abandoned all logic and simply charged Aden.
Aden simply disappeared in a streak of fire going last the captain and reapeared a distance behind him.
The captain ram for three more steps before crumbling to the ground, his head continuing rolling due to the momentum.
Seeing the ship covered in flames and his allies done with their fights, only leaving two ships remaining, Aden, not wanting to kill more people used his power to create a strong wind, pushing the ships in a random direction. They would only stop a dozen kilometers away. Hopefully they would not return.
As they all met back on their own ship, the celebration started. They knew they were becoming stronger and this knowledge brought them closer. Ring has officialy become a part of the crew, and to the great amusement of others, cursed Buggy's mug to triple the effect of alcohol drunk from it. This caused Buggy to pass out only five drinks in, bringing laughter from them all.
As the sun was setting and their celebration nearing an end, they approached the next island.
(Aand done. As usual if you have any complaints of ideas please share.
I am taking some serious liberties here so let me know if i go too far. This may be my fanfic but i want people to enjoy it. Thank you for reading and ill see you all next time.
P.S. i tried to proof read this but i am a bit distracted as of writing this, so please forgive any errors or simply point them out an i WILL fix them. Thank you.)