"Come on, bud. I need someone to stay here and look over her and besides, the places I'm going are going to be rough with a large komodo rhino," Toji spoke with a smile, rubbing Iron's horn while rolling his eyes when the beast huffed.
Toph on the other hand looked just as displeased as the rhino when Toji patted his shoulder, rubbing Iron's head before looking over at the girl.
"You're really leaving?"
"Hah, really? You still want to come with?"
"Let me come with~ I won't even be a bother. I'll-"
"You need to stay here and take care of Iron while I'm gone. When I get back, uh…we'll do whatever thing that you want."
"Whatever I want?", Toph asked with a smirk, Toji not liking the look of it even as he nodded slowly.
"Whatever you want."
"…Come on, Iron! Let's go and leave this idiot to go on his own adventures," Toji smirked as Iron let out a huff in greeting before following after Toph. Cracking his back, the teen began making his way to the entrance, Wormy secured tightly in his stomach along with everything that he needed in his stomach.
'Time to see how fast I am,' Crouching down at the front gate and confusing the guards, Toji pushed off the ground and shot forward, the air exploding behind him as he raced out of the city.
While he knew that he could have pushed his body, he wanted to spare some stamina just in case he was attacked, taking his time as the boy raced across the rocky pathways while making his way to his next destination.
What was his plan for the next couple of years? Well, it was quite easy. Since he had lost a few Special-Grade tools and all of his guns and modern weaponry, he had to restock.
While he could just restock on the usual weapons he could get from those he hunted down or tried to hunt him down, he wanted to go for things a bit more special.
What weapons were those? Why, none other than those that were used by the past Avatars themselves.
Yes, Toji had made a vow to himself that he would most definitely not return until he had at least an artifact from an Avatar of each of the elements.
Considering how most of their artifacts were already rotting in the underground, that means that he had to go for the recent four before the Avatar that ran.
'That's Kyoshi, Roku, Yangchen and Kuruk. If Roku doesn't work out, we're going with…Szeto? Was that the one before Yang Chen? Either way, Yangchen is from the Western Air Temple which is close to the Fire Nation. So, if I cut around the western side, I'm fairly sure I'll hit every point that I need and make it back to Gaoling in maybe…3 years maximum?'
"Yeah, that should work," Toji murmured as he began to pick up speed, enjoying the wind caressing his face as he made his way to the port town where he had first eradicated the Crimson Sails Armada.
Time to get a boat.
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'Damn, those things are pretty big,' Toji thought with a raised eyebrow as he stared at the elephant koi of Kyoshi Island, each one nearly twice the size of his small ship.
Oh, he would love to eat one right now, but unfortunately, he had urgent plans…Nah, he's definitely eating some on the island.
'Speaking of the island, should I rest at the port? No, if I take them, I'll need a quick getaway. I'll do it on the other side,' He thought, turning the wheel before walking to adjust the sails as he caught the current he wanted.
Pulling on the ropes and tying one of the three sails fully down while doing another halfway, Toji narrowed his eyes with a smirk as he sailed around the island.
'There,' Fully closing the last sail, he walked back to the wheel and slowly began to drift towards the small gap at the back of the island, turning it so that the side was towards the island.
Turning up the last sail while picking up the anchor and throwing it out with a grunt, Toji grinned as the anchor rope snapped tight and pulled the ship along, turning its back to the island while the front of the ship was pointed to the exit.
"Nice, that should be eno-When did it get dark?", Toji murmured with a frown before sticking two fingers into his mouth, vomiting up Wormy and letting it unfurl.
As it wrapped around his body, the hilt of the Split Soul Katana was spat out by Wormy as Toji turned around, staring at the gigantic serpent looming over his ship.
'Huh, that must be the Unagi they told me about. Not half-bad,' Its head was the same size as the elephant koi fish alone, its body a mixture of different grays while its bright green eyes stared down at Toji.
"You want to attack?", Toji asked, watching as the beast opened its mouth to reveal sixteen pairs of razor-sharp teeth. However, its mouth snapped shut as it felt bloodlust radiating in the air, feeling its heartrate spike as Toji smiled.
"Just so you know, you will destroy my ship. I know that, but know that you will not die. No, I will make you beg and plead and even then, you will only die once I get bored of you. Now, make your move," The teenager's voice rumbled as it looked at the beast with a cold gaze, who felt fear for the first time as Toji reached for his blade.
He then blinked as the beast immediately dove down, raising an eyebrow even as he let Wormy retract the sword.
"Huh, wonder what he was so scared for? Anyway, time for some shopping~", Toji whispered with glee as he raced across the deck, cracking it as he leapt over the railing and sailed through the air.
With a roll, Toji landed on the wet sand, patting it off while raising an eyebrow at the quiet forest in front of him.
'Yeah, where are the usual sou-Ah, you're hidden,' He thought with a smirk, glancing at the areas where he could see, smell and hear the rustling of clothing and weapons.
He could smell the war paint they had on, the polish on their weapons and the slightly sweet perfume they were wearing. He could hear the soft sound of metal knocking against cloth and leather, the soft crunch of their boots on the wood and their slow breathing. He could see their eyes focused on him, their forms shifting through the shadows and the way they disturbed the temperature and the density of the air around them ever so slightly.
Honestly, he had to admit that they were pretty good as the average person would not even know where to find them. Unfortunately for them, he wasn't the average person.
"One," He called out loudly, pointing directly at the girl closest to him before tracing his finger to the next one.
"Two. Three. Five. Six. Seven…and eight," he finished, staring directly at the last one. Watching as she narrowed her eyes, Toji smirked as all eight girls walked out of the shadows.
'Not girls. Young women,' he thought with a smirk, noticing the scent of their pheromones in the air.
If he had to guess, it was between 16 and 18 years old and combined with the Kyoshi-style clothing they had, that would mean that this would be the Kyoshi Warriors he was told to be wary of.
"Not bad. Most people would miss you all in the shadows," Toji began, standing with his hands on his waist while watching as the one in the front narrowed her eyes.
"Most people, yes. You are not like them."
"I guess not. So, is this like a welcoming party or something?"
"Something like that, yes. We noticed the Unagi fleeing in fear from you so we assumed that you were an enemy."
"Well, not really unless you want me to be," Toji said with a shrug, smirking as he saw them all narrow their eyes before surprising them as he raised his hands out in surrender.
"Come on, I know that you guys don't trust me and I want to show that I mean no harm. Capture me."
'And take me to the Kyoshi artifacts,' Toji thought with a smirk, chuckling as they all glanced at each other before the middle woman, who he assumed to be the leader, spoke up.
"Hands behind your back."
"You got it," Toji spoke as he turned around, hearing them step closer before feeling rope being wrapped around his wrists. They were pretty quick at them too as the rope was done within just a few seconds, more rope wrapped around his ankles and knees before he felt a gag around his mouth and a blindfold around his eyes.
'Well, now it's only time to wait.'
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Squinting his eyes as the blindfold was taken off as well as rolling his tongue in his mouth to get rid of the texture of the gag, he stared at the older man standing next to the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors.
Behind them both, the Kyoshi Warriors formed a perimeter between the three of them and the rest of the village, some of them looking wary of Toji while the others were more curious on who he was.
"What is that around him?"
"We do not know. We tried taking it off, but it simply turned transparent and our hands passed through."
"Oh, don't worry about Wormy. He's like a backpack, but with infinite space," Toji spoke up, watching as the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors raised an eyebrow at that while the village leader narrowed his.
"Who are you?"
"Toji Fushiguro."
"Nope! Fuck this!", Both the leader and the village leader blinked as they heard a shout from behind them, turning to see a few of the traders from the inland country running away as fast as they could.
'Is he that famous?'
"May I ask what your profession is?"
"Assassination and mercenary work."
"Any work of note?"
"I was the one who eradicated the Crimson Sails Armada," Toji answered with a shrug, making the village leader's eyes widen while the Kyoshi Warriors looked doubtful.
"The Crimson Sails Armada were wiped out almost seven years ago."
"Exactly. I've been a mercenary since I was eight and they were my biggest score."
'At least, they were until the Council of Five and Long Feng.'
"That would explain why they ran. He must be infamous on the mainland," Toji heard the leader of the Kyoshi warriors whisper to the village leader, who nodded before turning his gaze to the boy.
"And what are you here for now?", the village leader asked, Toji raising an eyebrow as he saw the Kyoshi warriors stomping on the ground in unison.
"I'm here to visit the island that Kyoshi reigned over in the later part of her years."
"That's a lie," the warriors spoke in unison, making Toji raise an eyebrow before a look of realization appeared in his eyes.
"Ah, earthbenders?"
"No, none of us are earthbenders, but we are trained detecting the flow of someone's chi through their vibrations and figure out if they're lying or telling the truth by reading the impurities rippling from it."
'…I gotta learn that.'
"Okay, you got me. I wanted to fight the Unagi."
"Another lie."
"I wanted to come eat."
"…A half-truth?"
"Huh, you guys are really good," Toji spoke with a smirk, the village leader scurrying back while the Kyoshi Warriors unfolded their fans in unison as Toji tore through the ropes with a grunt.
"Put those down. You are not doing anything to me with them."
"Because we're women?"
"Why do women always go to that? No, it's because I've been in numerous life and death battles with benders from every category and you all are not enough. I've wiped out armies, destroyed fortresses and eradicated world leaders on my own. You eight are not nearly enough. Now, put those down and let's talk like civilized people."
"Why don't you make us since you're so strong and all?", the leader of the group spoke with a mocking smirk, to which Toji sighed before placing his hands behind his back.
"Come on."
"What are you doing?"
"Come on and attack. I won't use my weapons on you, but you are free to use whatever you wish," he answered, immediately dodging to the side to avoid the fan thrown at him.
Grabbing it with a spin before throwing it back, he smirked as he hit the warrior to the far left back with her own fan. A yelp escaped her lips as it smacked into her forehead, the other warriors surging forward in unison.
With ease, the boy moved and weaved around the warriors with a smile, hopping over a leg sweep before pulling his legs in and flipping over a sword swung at him.
Dropping down into a split to dodge a fan swung at his head, Toji fell backwards as one kicked at him, immediately wrapping his legs around their leg before knocking the girl towards her friends.
However, he raised an eyebrow as one dropped onto his stomach, immediately swinging her fan at his face only to be surprised when Toji turned his head and bit down on the fan.
Ripping it from her hand, he spit out and headbutted the fan into her throat, making the girl gag as she fell to the side before Toji kip-upped onto his feet while staring at he leader who was the only one still standing.
With a grunt, the girl lunged at him, stabbing her fan at his head. Tilting to the side, Toji rapidly weaved around her strikes, shifting to the side when she swung her other fan down before lifting his leg to block her kick.
Pushing down and forcing her to kneel, he finally reached forward and caught her fan, the leader gritting her teeth as he held the sharp edge to the side of her neck.
The next moment, he snapped it shut and held out his hand, surprising the girl as he helped her up before handing the fan back over to her.
"You are quite kind to your enemies."
"You were never a threat. Why should I be angry at you?", Toji answered with a shrug, smirking as the girl rolled her eyes before going around to help the other warriors up.
"Breathe through your nose, put something cold on your throat and drink only water for the few hours. That throat strike is going to be hurt for a bit."
"T-Thanks," the girl wheezed, but thankfully, it had only been a light strike that he had done. Had he hit her as hard as he would normally, he would be staring at a corpse with a hole in her throat right now.
"Anyway, you guys got anything to eat?", Toji asked, smirking at the shocked village leader and the surprised village standing behind him.
"…Please, come eat."
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'Oh yeah, this is much better than those expensive salmon I ate in my old life,' Toji thought with a grin, devouring an entire elephant koi fillet on his own. It was the size of half the table, but Toji was far too hungry to care for that as he also ate most of the steamed and roasted vegetables on the table.
"Can I ask? How do you hunt these down?", Toji asked, looking at the village leader enjoying his own smaller plate while the man was seated opposite of him.
"Oh, we don't. These fillets are eaten once a year when an elephant koi comes onto the beach itself since its life is about to come to an end. Naturally, we can only store half of it while we give the other half to the Unagi as a sacrifice."
'That would make sense,' With no waterbenders and no large ships that he could make out on the shore, it would have been idiotic of the village to try and hunt the fish.
Especially when one considered the fact that they would have looked like fish to the Unagi itself.
"Ah, makes sense."
"Anyway, what are you truly here for, Toji?"
"…Honestly, I really just wanted to see the Kyoshi Warriors in action, Oyaji. I've heard tales about them and I wanted to see if they were as good as the stories."
"And?", Oyaji asked and Toji grinned before nodding.
"Compared to most 'elite fighters' I've faced, they were better individually. I think there's even some master benders I fought that they could take down as a team. Naturally, not all of them would survive, but it would be one or two at the very least."
"Hmm, that is refreshing to hear, then. We tend to stay out of the war so we hope that our Warriors don't have to come into contact with any master benders."
"Non-bender, actually," Toji clarified as the man looked at him, chuckling at the man's surprised look.
"Truly?"
"Yep, I'm a weapons expert actually, but I've learned that one needs to master everything they have if they want to be able to survive in this world."
"A good lesson to learn. Well, now that you've accomplished your goal, what are you going to do now?"
"Well, I don't have much to do and I'm on leave from my work for six years so…got any work?", Toji asked before blinking as the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors walked in. However, she didn't have the headdress or the war paint on, her hair falling freely and an amused smile on her face as she bowed to the leader before looking to Toji.
"Hey, Oyaji. They said you were looking for me."
"I was. Toji, while you are here, would you mind teaching the warriors to be as strong as you are?"
"What?/ What?!"
A/N: And we end it here~! We have six years to work with and four/ five artifacts to find! It's about to be a fun time~!
Next chapter: Figuring out a new form of blocking.
Like always, you can go to my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories & even some that haven't been released out to this site yet. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
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Ba-Bye~!