"I was so close. Damn it, I thought that guy would have held at least a little longer. I guess all that training was not for nothing if you can take care of that guy."
Idris just nodded as he heard his captain rambling and turned to look at him. It had been nearly two years since he met him. At that time, even though he was a few years younger, Lucien was already his height, but the change over the past years had brought him something completely different.
He now towered over him completely, even though he himself grew to be now nearly 7 and a half feet, Lucien was now nearly 10 feet. But it was not only height, as he had grown out of the lean frame Idris remembered from the merchant ship. The fruit had made that necessary.
His fruit didn't directly make him stronger, unlike many devil fruits they have come across during the past years of bounty hunting that directly improved the user's strength, Lucien's was more about his brain and how he used it. So his own strength still mattered a lot. The other thing that changed was Armament Haki.
Cael had introduced the concept in theory during training. The practical version arrived during a hunt two years later, when Lucien went after a fifteen-million-berry pirate with a Logia-type fruit that let anything solid pass straight through him. Normal strikes were useless.
Somewhere in the middle of that fight, out of necessity rather than understanding, something hardened in his fist. It was the first time he actually noticed the change in colour and the hardening of the fist. He got the scar through his right eye in the same exchange. The two things arrived together.
After that fight, he had gone after physical conditioning the way he went after everything that interested him — completely, without pacing himself, until it stopped being a problem. Without missing a single day he trained his body and even though he didn't look as full and muscly like his fathe., The growth and the training had arrived together. The result was hard to miss.
His use of the fruit also improved in leaps and bounds as he found ways to seamlessly activate it and integrate it into his own fighting style. But he also understood its weakness and that was the enemy's knowledge of the fruit which brought forward his wariness. If the enemy did not know its power, then it could only be a sure-fire way to make him perceive things that weren't actually there.
It wasn't only Lucien, but the past two years of continuous bounty hunting and facing enemies stronger than themselves, which brought tremendous change in Idris, as Lucien trained him in observation haki.
It had taken him considerably longer than Lucien. A year of taking hits from a wooden club Lucien had carved specifically for the purpose. He caught onto it before the concussions accumulated into something permanent.
While training Idris, Lucien finally understood the satisfactory expression Cael seemed to have after every sparring session and haki session he had with him. It was a nice feeling to sma— teach someone that could improve their strength. It brought out great satisfaction in him.
After clearing the pirate hideout, they were completely dismantled in the battle. Lucien grabbed the rope they had tied their bounty with and lifted the man off the ground — over two hundred kilograms, one hand, no particular expression.
Both of them quickly collected the bounty at the nearest island that had a big marine headquarter as it was a bigger bounty and settled in a cafe, Idris had picked up a habit of drinking coffee, he liked and enjoyed the taste so much they once travelled to one of the corners of north blue just because they heard about magical coffee beans that tasted out of the world by many people.
After clearing out a forest of what seemed like man-eating plants they got the beans, Lucien curious about the taste had a sip before spitting it all out at idris who was enjoying it.
"You don't know the taste of good food even if it was fed to you," was his response. Since then Idris had kept a separate station in the ship's kitchen for his morning coffee.
"So, are you ready?" asked Idris as he opened the newspaper.
Lucien was looking out at the sea. He nodded slowly. "It seems we are. North Blue feels so much smaller than it did six years ago. We have been to almost every corner of it, taken down more pirates than I can count; this sea is becoming boring. I guess only that place has anything left to offer." He said it thinking of the red mountain and the waterfall that ran the wrong way, which now felt like something from another life.
"Do you want to go-" replied Idris before he stopped for a second as his eyes got wide. Lucien turned towards him to see his expression, and before he could even ask.
"Lucien, Look at this. They are blowing up Flavance. Killing everyone in it." Idris screamed as he put the newspaper down, and Lucien saw a familiar kingdom and the huge heading.
"Flevance Quarantine Decision Final. Surrounding Kingdoms Authorise Destruction to Contain Amber Lead Syndrome."
Lucien pulled the newspaper up as his hand held the newspaper tighter and tighter as he read the complete article. He put the paper down. Then he threw it. He was off the balcony and moving toward the port before Idris could say anything.
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Author Note: Guys, I wanted to ask this yesterday but will ask today instead.
What do you guys think of the Devil Fruit Choice? I didn't want it to be an overpowered one like Goro Goro no Mi. Please do let me know your thoughts.
1 Chapter For Every 50 Power Stones. Please Do Support.