A Life Well Lived | ||
Date Started: October 9th, 2024 Date Finished: Ongoing Next Role-Play: Timeline: May 8th, 1593 Setting: New World, G-23 Characters Involved:
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Participants | ||
User:The ancient terror • User:TheRedFang06 • User:MKK977 |
New Generation[]
Walking impatiently back and right, the steps were loud and never ending, with the steps becoming more frequent and louder each minute they passed. Even though the marine base of G-23 was loud and the movement and shouts of various soldiers were an usual sign,, either doing work, training or any other thing to maintain the base.
Yet all it dwarfed in comparison to the one person in the room, shouting like a madman, where also the steps oriented. After all, in the office, a blonde woman walked back and forth cursing under her breath.
“Listen Gina! Your order is to take a student under your, they say! You will do what we say and stop being just a rampaging dog, they say! You should take responsibility, they say! Fuck!” Screaming out she smashed her fist on the table, causing it to split in two pieces, “Do I look like a kindergarten?! Just getting this brats so naive and delusional and probably leaving the first weeks or worse turning into only office workers?! I don't want to waste my time!”
Finishing herself shouting she looked at the damage she caused in her own office, only to let out a sigh. Grabbing a cigar from the broken table, she lit it up, before taking a deep drag, letting the smoke out in the form of rings.
“Let's just get over it. Scaring a few brats away, so they can't blame me for that, if they do not want to join me.”
She sighs, before kicking the door open, before leaving to the meeting area, where the new recruits awaited her
Fair to say, when the officer started to look around, most of her troops went as stiff as boards. Some paralyzed in fear, some in awe, as they held formation...
"Ugh. Boring."
...And then there was her.
A young woman, no older than fourteen. The only sign she was something remotely resembling a Marine were the blue pants she wore, and the hat on her head - her upper half was otherwise completely different from that of every other recruit, covered with nothing but a stained sleeveless shirt and a few bandages. She acted like she had no care in the world, holding a sheathed blade behind her neck with nonchalance as she barely even bothered to salute.
"How long is this gonna drag for? The Yakitori stand closes in forty minutes, for hell's sake!"
"Huh?"
Even though she expected the sight of either terrified, arrogant or just stupid brats, hoping to gain the position of being her student and just being a waste of time for her, this one individual got her attention.
Taking a drag out of her cigar, she came closer, ignoring the other recruits taking steps away, Gina looked down at the one individual, letting smoke out.
"Who are you? I think you are in the wrong place, it is not a Halloween party here."
The young girl looked at Gina with a nonchalant gaze, clearly unbothered by how close she was. Everyone else around them was cowering - she was feeling it all. She didn't pity them - to them, she was scary. A stern superior the gaze of which scared them shitless.
To her...
"Name's Riko. And to be honest, I showed up only because they said this would count towards a promotion and let me leave this place. But all that's happened thus far is me getting bored to death!"
... Well, it was anything but. The other comrades reeled back, whispering amidst themselves.
"Is she insane?!"
"She's gonna get court-martialed soooo fucking fast..."
"Welp! Was nice knowing her for all of three seconds!"
"Damn brat! Does she not know what protocol is?!"
All blissfully unaware that she was hearing them all. And yet she stood, relaxed - her hands holding onto the sheathed sword she had behind her neck, relaxed as if she hadn't just disrespected a superior.
“Get used to it. Early years are just boring as a marine.”
Gina said, sounding like she not really cared about all the disrespect….only for her hand to grab the top of the head of Riko, lifting her up, while the grip felt like she was squeezing the skull thinner and thinner.
“Yet at least not dress like a homeless person. First earn your right to dress like that, before acting like that. Otherwise buzz off.”
Gina said, if not before, now her aura was terrifying, her eyes turned near red, while around her somehow a purple aura was around her, adding to the death grip at the head of the young one.
"OUCH! GET OFF OF ME, YOU-!"
The girl would scream - not so much in pain, but in anger at being treated in such a manner, as she almost subconsciously moved to grasp her sword properly in a fighting grip. She gritted her teeth and kept staring defiantly at Gina, not scared in the slightest and more so annoyed at being manhandled. The pain was there, as her groans and facial expression made evident, but as much as she could, she was using that frustration to force it to stand by the sidelines, enduring as much as she could.
And slowly, held back only by her awareness of that not being a line she could just be forgiven for crossing, her hand was gripping her sword's handle tighter and tighter, waiting to strike it free...
“What are you waiting for, punk?”
With the inner struggle of the rookie went through her head, the stern and serious voice of the person holding her, the origin of her anger interrupted her. Even squeezing the head harder, the woman looked even angrier.
“If you have even halfway the balls to do it, do it. Or are you too scared to do that? People like you would die first at the hands of a pirate.”
Alright. That was it. Riko felt that jab as if someone had slashed her throat, and that woman's feelings did not make it any less difficult for her to decide it was worth it. She was always good at picking up on how people felt - she herself didn't know, or care to know, why - and what Gina felt?
She was underestimating her. She was thinking she was worth less than the shit she saw at the side of the road. And that, over the pain, was what brought her to her patience's end.
As the other cadets screamed and their eyes opened in shock, the blade flew off its sheathe, with every intention of hitting Gina's throat. Best case scenario, she was going to have to let go. Worst case, she had a dead superior on her hands. But if that was what she needed to do to get this bitch to shut her mouth, she would do that - no issues, no questions asked.
Wth the blade approaching fast and deadly, the panicked screams of the recruits were loud, while some normal marine soldiers were shouting to stand down. But instead of meeting flesh, the blade stopped. Instead of meeting the throat, causing a bloodbath or finally being free of the death trap holding her head, nothing happened.
Looking closely at the blade it was inches away from the throat of the marine, while in front of the blade, the reason was revealed. The metallic blade was holded between two fingers of Gina, like it was nothing like a cigar. Beside the deadly situation, neither fingers, nor the blade even buckle at the force.
“Stay down! You are arrested!”
A marine soldier was screaming out, raising his rifle as others came to grab the youngster. But beside the feeling of anger, fear and panic was all around feelable, one feeling stuck out of all of them, like oil in water. So completely out of place, but not only the feeling itself was strange, a feeling of slowly crawling amusement, but the origin of it, not taking too long to reveal it to everyone.
“Sagagaga…” The quiet muttering escaped the blonde’s mouth, eyes hidden under her hair only to throw her head back and burst into laughter, “SAGAGAGAGA! SAGAGAGAGA!”
"What...?"
Riko's eyes widened as she saw the blade caught between the woman's finger. So easily caught and intercepted, and yet...!
She let go of the weapon, surprised. She curled her hands into fists, ready to strike at the woman's arm until she let go of her, but...
She didn't even throw the first punch before she heard her laughter. It was... Unique. Both literally, and metaphorically. A single tinge of amusement at her situaiton.
"What are you laughing at?!" She screamed, ever defiant, completely ignoring the rabble that had just "arrested" her. He was likely trying to please Gina - for once, with her attention focused only on the woman, she was unable to immediately grasp the way everyone else felt, just like she was unable to fathom the reason she was laughing.
For once, Riko didn't read everyone around her - whether she wanted to or not. She didn't immediately understand how everyone felt.
And... To be honest, that thrill was something she would love to get used to.
“Sagagagaga! Stand down, men! Sagagagaga!” Between her laughter, the clear order came, causing all men to freeze and stop their purchase. Calming down a bit, she looked at Riko, holding her even closer to her, showing a shit eating grin on her face.
“You have balls after all. I keep you. Guess this might not be that boring. The rest of you cna buzz off or join the logistics team, I don’t care.”
Shamelessly she buzzed off all the other recruits, before turning around, still holding Riko on the head walking away with her.
"Huh?!"
Riko looked around to the best of her ability. Her eyes darted around the now still shapes of her comrades. How did this woman command so much respect? How could she silence so many with a word?! WHY COULDN'T SHE UNDERSTAND HER?!
Riko's thoughts went silent, however, when Gina simply said she was going to keep her. And as the other dispersed and she was dragged away, dumbfounded...
Well, she couldn't leave without being herself, no?
"LET ME GO, DAMMIT!" She shouted, breaking her brief silence as she - rather comedically - flailed in Gina's grip.
"I have legs! I can walk, for hell's sake!"
“Oh, really?”
Asking this simple question, the grin on Gina’s face turned a bit sinister as she continued to held Riko, but this time her pace increased so fast ,that it felt like everything started to vanish in front of the young marines face, only for finally coming to an abrupt stop, now standing in an area, which resembled a training compound, strangely completely empty with not a single soul there.
“Here we are.”
"HEY! WHA-!"
Riko was dragged off by Gina to loxations unknown, looking around to the best of her abilities. She looked at the woman with the look of a child who had been beaten at her own game.
"... Alright. Point taken, you hag - but I'm not stayin' down. Now. What's this place? Are we gonna punch air or something? Where's the targets?"
She asked, eager to prove herself not so much out of personal ambition but out of a desire to get back at Gina, and prove she was not as powerless as she made her out to be.
“Who are you calling hag, you shitty brat!”
Screaming out, the head got squeezed again, while she moved to the corner of the room, only to pull out of a closet strange target dummy. Even though it looked like a normal target dummy, the strange part was that it was fully made of metal. Carrying it casually with one arm, she put it in the center of the room with a heavy thud sound, before finally letting Riko drop on the ground.
“Get used to this friend of ours. He will be for the next few years your sparring partner in a sense.”
"OW! Hey, I'm calling it like I see it!"
Riko commented, sighing and groaning in pain until she was, at last, freed. She grasped her head with her hands, shaking it frantically... . "Shit, my hair will take forever to adjust now...!"
...For all the oddest reasons. She sighed again, exasperated, and got up, observing the metallic dummy. To get a general feel for its consistency, she kicked it lightly, just loud enough to make noise...
"Ok. This thing is tough. You didn't just staple a few sheets of metal on a dummy and call it a day. I like it!"
She cracked her knuckles, and reared back her arm. She went to punch the dummy with all her might, confident she'd bust it apart...
"OW! CHEESE 'N CRACKERS, THAT HURT!"
Only to find she had overestimated her strength, as she leapt around swinging her now very red hand frantically.
"WHAT THE HELL'S THIS THING MADE OF?!"
“SAGAGAGAGA! SAGAGAGAGA!”
Instead of an immediate answer, the only thing that escaped the mouth of Gina was loud laughter, making it obvious, even without her special ability it was directed at her misfortune.
“You are years away from even hoping to make a dent in it! This dummy is made of a special metal. It caused me a fortune, but after my visit to the land of samurai I got enough for a few of these bad boys. According to tests this metal, while not completely, it is closest a metal came to reach the level of Seastone!”
Gina explained, only to smile further, before pointing at the dummy.
“This will be the end of each training session. Each day you will punch, kick or headbutt the dummy, depending on where I see your highest strength, until your skin peels and you start to bleed.”
Riko stared at Gina with a half-lidded look. She turned her head to the dummy...
...Then back to her...
...Then to the dummy again...
...And as she finally turned to Gina one last time, she spoke.
"Ok. Now. Question. Who hurt you?"
“Life, you mouthy brat.” Replying sarcastically with an eye roll she looked at the dummy, “But to answer your question why. In the past there was a marine like never was before, a man and a hero so strong his fists could shatter mountains, his throwed cannonballs having an impact like meteorites and the one marine to put an end to the strongest pirates ever existed in his time of life.”
Explaining to her, she looked at the target dummy, as a smile appeared on her face.
“While I try to be my own person, he still is my role model, so I did every inch of research, how this man trained and found out he actually punched actual warships. He did it day after day, till his fists bleed. At first it was believed it was stupid, till the day he shattered a warship with just one punch.”
Shoving Riko to the side, Gina stood in front of the dummy.
“While not as big as a warship, this one should just be fine at the topic of durability. And yes most marines called me insane for doing it.”
Riko listened to Gina as she ranted and raved about her role model. As her... well 'instructor' spoke, she slowly lowered an eyebrow. And by the time she was done...
...Well, Riko's eyes clearly showed she was very close to falling asleep.
"Uuuuh... Oh, is it over? Sorry, I was using the chance to doze off..."
She said rather shamelessly.
"Turning a joke into a full-length rant. You're not making your case against being a hag, you know?"
She joked, as she walked closer to the dummy.
"So, long story short. My end goal is to break this thing?"
Her smile froze in place, as she turned back to Riko, only to raise her fist , before slamming it down hard on the top of the head of the young recruit.
“Pay attention, brat!”
"Wha-OUCH!"
Riko screamed, a bump forming atop her head as she stared daggers at Gina.
"Can you aim literally anywhere else? You already sentenced me to an eternity in the bathroom trying to fix my hair, for hell's sake!"
“Of course the hair is the only thing that bothers you, as probably inside the head, can’t be lost that much in the first place.”
Gina waved her off only to crack her neck, causing a cracking noise hearable.
“Since big words are not helping you to understand, I do not need to worry about you causing brain damage. But you still need to understand my words and I know the perfect way.”
Smiling a bit the only warning for the marine was the small tip of her feet, before an insane fast kick hit the target dummy, before it was send flying in with such force, that dust was pushed away like it was hit by a hurricane, before the dummy hit the wall causing the dummy to dig deep in the wall.
“And people call me that is stupid to do…until the results appear.”
Commenting the tip of the feet, which the dummy hit had still slight smoke on it, while the target dummy after dust settled down, had a clear and deep imprint shaped like a feet, where still slight smoke came out of it.
"What?!" Riko reacted rather violently to being not-so-implicitly called a dumbass, screaming viciously at Gina.
"Are you calling me dumb?! I'll show you who's dumb, you-!"
But her words were silenced when the woman kicked the very dummy she had hurt herself against into a wall, with enough strength to quite literally make it smoke, even leaving an imprint too for good measure. She gazed at it in shock, stopped dead in hed tracks by that display of power.
A simple "...Woah..." was all that could escape out of her lips.
“Sagagaga! What is wrong, brat? Not so bored anymore?”
Laughing a bit, Gina took another cigar out of her coat, before lightning it up.
“Years after years of suffering feeling my bones shatter, my muscles rip out and my nerves just completely dying out, the result finally showed. But hey. If you do not want to listen to a hag, maybe you can always become a cook or work in logistics. After all, I am not sure if someone like you has the patience and mental capacity to listen to orders to obtain the maximum training efficiency.”
Taunting a bit, her smirk soon felt, before lowering her head to give Riko a serious look, a look all amusement in her head was gone.
“You don’t need to be an ass crawler or even like me, I don’t give a damn how you talk with me in private, as beside kicking your ass I will not be like the other idiots who get instantly salty and demote you. But I expect you to take it seriously and use all of your collected three brain cells to listen to me in training and you want to know why?”
Riko, rather uncharacteristically, was actually paying Gina a fair deal of attention. She raised an eyebrow at the logistics comment, clearly displeased, as she slowly walked closer to the woman.
"Well. Must say, it's not like I've got much of a choice on the matter." She admitted. She wasn't annoyed, as some might have presumed - just stating facts.
She crossed her arms, her sword resting at her hip as she looked at Gina.
"Well. Spill the beans, you got me curious. Maybe it'll even leave me enough time to go eat some Yakitori before we begin."
Trying to ignore the comment about Yakitori, except the one slight eye twitch on her face, she put a heavy hand on the shoulder of Riko.
“It is important, because if you do not listen to orders on training, how will you explain to me, to yourself, to victims, families or others, that thanks to you not listening to an order on a mission an innocent person, a child, a relative or lover died?”
Saying rather seriously she gave Riko a squeeze on her shoulder, before letting go and taking a drag of her cigar.
“You have balls and a spine, which you will need. Just use them smartly, even with just your three brain cells. Because that will make me and everyone decide, if you are worth a scrub in the marines or just another big mouth, who will end dead. Once you are powerful enough you can give a damn about orders, as most orders and decisions come from yourself.”
Ok, this was important. Rikō may not have given much of a crap about the rules, but judging from her looks when 'victims' were mentioned, that one had actually hit pretty deep. Before, she was listening mostly because she had to. Now? She was caught, hook line and sinker.
She didn't answer directly, but it was clear she did get the reasoning behind Gina's words.
"But what if an order ends up being bullshit?" She blurted out. She needed to know, even if it didn't seem to be the best time given the explanation she had just gotten.
"What if whoever's in charge is just going to cause more casualties at the end of the day? What then? Am I supposed to just listen and let it happen?"
“Heh.”
Letting out a deep sigh she took a deep drag of her cigar letting out the smoke from her mouth.
“Welcome to real life. Most marines, who want to start their career, live in the black and white world. Sadly everything is just a shade of gray. And sadly I can’t give you an answer to that, that will satisfy you. Because if you do not want to listen to these orders, even if you are right, in the end, best case you get demoted. Marines are not perfect and sadly you need to suck it up, like most of the others, who think like you. The only way you need to do is get better than everyone else and get better than everyone, so you need to have less and less to worry about, while in the meantime just being your best. Try to save as many people as you can, try to work around the stupid orders the best way, so you can help people and grow greater than everyone else. That's how I did it…..”
Being silent a bit, her eyes widened, only for her to facepalm, letting out an aggravated sigh, directed at herself.
“Damn…they have a point…”
Riko clenched her fist as she heard Gina's words. Sadly, she was right - the system was a joke. Some people were always going to put the mission above any lives.
"...It won't be like that for long."
She said to herself, as she slowly moved to go grab the dummy. She turned back towards Gina at about the halfway point...
"So? Won't you help me put this back in place? This thing won't punch itself into oblivion, you know!"
Getting back to her senses, her eyes widened a bit at the words of Riko, only to slowly form a small smile on her face. If Riko would entice, the innervoice of Gina showed a strange, yet welcoming warmth to it.
“Cheeky brat. Make me realize the people were right, that taking a student is the best way to fix everything. After all, the new generation forms the future of the marines.”
Saying it more to herself, realizing her own stupidity, she came closer, helping Rika to get the dummy out, before putting it back in place.
“By the way. Is the Yakitori shop still open?”
Riko tilted her head slightly, putting a hand on her chin as she started to do some mental mathemathics...
"Yep, but it closes in ten minutes. Think you can fetch a skewer or two in the nick of time?" She asked, almost teasing her mentor as she turned to look at the dummy. "It's not like this thing is gonna escape anyway."
“Hmmmm?” Humming a bit the feeling twisted, from the warmth into some form of anger and cunning. But either she noticed it or not, it was too late, as a familiar hand grabbed around Riko’s head, squeezing tighter and tighter.
“I have a better idea.” Smiling a bit she looked ahead, only to double her hold, before rushing to a window and smashing it open, “But I think you should get it, your first order from you, Get two of them, you stupid brat!”
She shouted, before like a cannonball threw Riko out of the window to the horizon aimed around or Gina believed, close enough to the shop.
"...Oh for hell's saAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHKE!"
Riko screamed as she was tossed out the window, spiraling into the sky as a distant cry was heard...
"SCREEEEEEEW YOOOOOOU, YOOOOOOOU HAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag..!"
Ancient Trip[]
Paradise was an interesting place. For the blues it was a sea of hell ,a sea of craziness and death, while for the people from the New World it felt like a vacation trip. These opinions were especially shared with the marines, with them being present in every sea more or less. Yet even paradise had their dangerous places, ending the lives of pirates, marines or any form of seamen. And sometimes it was just the nature of the Granline itself forcing people to stay in deadly places, till their Log Pose reseted, either making them starve to death or getting killed by the wildlife on the island.
This especially was known by a death trap known to be the home of the past, the home to contain the prehistoric times, where once you entered it, you needed to wait for two years to survive and stay there for your only way to navigate in this sea to reset. Little Garden, the home of the ancient items, with flora and fauna nowhere else able to be found. Volcanoes spiking through the thick and giant jungle, sending smoke in the air showing they were still kinda active. Giant reptiles walking through the jungle, with rows of teeth ready to devour anything in their path made this place an absolut deathtrap.
“Come on, Riko! Move your ass or they will catch you!”
Only for a voice replying, riding a giant, flying reptile, an actual Pteranodon, who had a big bump on its head and crocodile tears in its eyes as it flew and transported its unwanted guest on its back with the blonde marine, Gina smiling, while drinking a bottle of beer, watching her student doing her training. After all, while at first the giant dinosaurs were the main issue, the true issue was not the giant lizards, but the little ones. And the reason was simple as the young marine ran through the jungle ground with hundreds of little steps behind her, revealing to be an army of angry Trodon’s chasing the poor recruit, only because for one reason.
After all it was definitely by accident that Gina told Riko, that in this cave of the night crawlers, she should get in and use the dynamite to gain a rare material and definitely not to wake up this whole army, making their target of anger be the student herself.
"SCREEEEW YOOOOOOOOOOU!!!!"
A scream came from down below as a certain young woman ran like hell, chased by the hissing monstrosities that she had unintentionally awakened. For once, Riko was anything but thrilled about being able to understand them - her talents, the same ones that let her figure out something all others were unable to, now allowed her to understand exactly how much those damn overgrown lizards hated her for stopping their beauty sleep.
With Gina's tutelage, Riko's rise had been meteoric. In five months' time, she had gone from Seaman Recruit all the way to Chief Petty Officer. And yet here she was, chased by an army of pissed off dinosaurs who gave barely half a crap about her rank. She ran like the wind, sword in hand and yet not managing to lose the damn things.
"ALRIGHT YOU T-REX WANNABES, SEE HOW YA LIKE THIS!"
She slashed a few times behind her, cutting apart some of the many trees that surrounded her in Little Garden's wilderness with the intent of letting them fall on the Trodons. Best case scenario, they'd squish the reptiles and get rid of them. Worst case, they'd have to move around them, which gave her more time to scramble out of the way.
As the massive trees got slashed, at first nothing happened, with the troodons still running after her, only for all of them to stop at the soft groaning noise of wood slowly starting to split. While dinosaurs were not the smartest creatures, their instincts were all spiked up at the action and if Riko would sense what the creatures thought it would be summarized by one sentence.
“RUN AWAY!”
Was the last thought, as the two massive trees started to fall with the little dinosaurs doing a 180° run away, before the massive trees fell, in a big dust cloud, before blocking the path. With a silence gathering, after minutes it was obvious that the dinosaurs were gone.
“Good job, cheeky brat!”
Only to be ruined by the loud voice of her superior, jumping off the Pteranodon, landing right beside Riko.
“Knew you would know how to deal with this little fuckers!”
Riko panted, resheathing her sword as she roared in happiness, finally free of the annoying buggers that had been hot on her tail since the start of that god-forsaken training session.
"HAHAHA, YEAB! EAT MY SHORTS, YOU LITTLE-!"
...Only for the woman who had gotten her into this mess to leap down and congratulate her. Riko took a deep breath...
"First of all, thank you. Second of all...!"
...And then she grabbed Gina by the shoulders, shaking her around frantically.
"YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN, YOU HAG! COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST TOLD ME, FOR HELL'S SAKE?! NO! YOU HAD TO LEAD ME ON! AAAAAAGH!"
“SAGAGAGAGA! SAGAGAGAGA!”
Yet Gina was nothing like them, as she just bursted out into laughter, while being shaken surprisingly fast and hard by her student. Even with the gift of her student, she would see there were no ill feelings, just honest amusement and slight glimpses of pride, so small as to barely be noticed.
“SAGAGAGAGA! Like on the sea, you never know what your opponent is capable of! Even though we have great intel, in the end in a confrontation with pirates, criminals or disasters, all in all it is like the Grandline! Dangerous and unpredictable! You did great, cheeky brat! SAGAGAGAGA!”
"Ugh!" Riko said as she separated from Gina. She was no less pissed, but she could acknowledge when her mentor's words made sense. She collected herself, looking at the fallen trees.
"Now what? Do I go wake up a T-Rex while you make popcorn on the back of a Stegosaurus or something?" She said, halfway between frustrated and ironic.
Calming down a bit, she whipped out a tear away under her eye, Relaxing a bit she looked to the left and right, while looking at the fallen, massive trees.
“Sounds like a good idea. Need to note it down for the future, but no, you cheeky brat. Normally we would be trapped for two years here, but seeing I visited the place a lot I kept a lot of log poses hidden somewhere, who should have the new location set. But we are here obviously for you to train.”
Looking directly at Riko, she smirked, as she pointed at a rock beside her.
“Try to destroy the rock with just your index finger, cheeky brat.”
"Note to self, stop giving the hag ideas on how to torture me." Riko whispered under her breath as she listened to her mentor's words. The rock wasn't too big - if she hadn't been told to use a finger, she probably would've been able to punch it into gravel or cut it apart without much issue. Oh well, Gina probably just liked to see her suffer.
"Just so ya know, Rokushiki aren't my thing. So don't expect me to put a hole in the thing right away."
She justified herself, before assuming a stance. She assessed her distance from the boulder, reared back her hand with only her finger outstretched... and punched.
Riko's strike did deal some damage. The boulder cracked a fair bit, and she did leave a small, but noticeable indent of her finger into the rock. But not only did she fail at outright destroying it, judging from how she was swinging her hand around she had also taken some damage.
"Holy smokes, it hurts...! How do those nerds even manage to learn to do that anyway?" She said, through gritted teeth.
“Oh we usually use Shigan on any target which is not tougher than a body, but I'm impressed you reached that far, without breaking your finger. Make me feel a bit jealous.”
Gina said, before looking at the rock and back to Riko.
“But what if I told you there is a way to destroy it with just Rokushiki, especially with Shigan and that way even rocks or steel would not even be an issue for you?” she started only to facepalm, like she realized something, “Right. Forget your three brain cells only work with actions not words, my bad.” She finished raising her one hand up in the form of an apology and the fact there is no humor or taunting behind it, showed she meant it, which made it actually worse.
"...Quit blueballing me and show me!"
Riko said, clearly pissed at her teacher as she waited for the mysterious secret to be revealed. Clearly, she seemed to be quite engrossed in the idea...
Without saying a word, she just raised her finger in a familiar position, before like the time Riko did, moving at an insane speed of Shigan movement. Yet near non visible the tip of the finger turned into a strange black color, before smashing in the rock.
And compared to Riko, not only it left a dent, but literally digged deep in the rock, like it was made out of paper….only for more and more cracks to appear on the rock, before shattering in hundred pieces in front of her, leaving nothing more but dust and small rubble behind.
Riko stared in awe, observing the shattered rock laying at Gina's feet. She grasped some of the gravel in her hands, trying to observe exactly what she did and why.
"...What did you do?!" She asked, incredulously as she found not even a hint of a pattern that signaled any sort of special method. It was just pure, raw strength, honed to its maximum...
In that moment, Riko was so far away from the truth. And yet unaware of how right her mental definition of it all was.
“Sagagagaga! Damn, I start to enjoy making you impressed and speechless, cheeky brat!”
Laughing it off she came closer to Rika, before putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Tell me, Riko, and use this time your three brain cells for once and answer this difficult question. What is willpower?”
"What kind of question is that...?" Riko sighed, trying to figure out what Gina meant. Still, if she wanted an answer, she'd offer her cup of tea.
"...It's the strength to push onward. To break through whatever's holding you back and advance towards what you want no matter how hard it gets. It's the drive to look at a goal every passing day, even when it looks unreachable..."
...Her mind went to that old dummy she had been punching for a few months now. About how not a lick of permanent damage had been left there by her yet.
"...And keep going all the same because you know you'll achieve it if you keep on pushing."
Humming a bit, she gave a nod of approval to Riko, while bending down to be on eye level of her student.
“That's correct, but also not the whole explanation of willpower. Your definition is what everyone in the blues and paradise believes what willpower is, but in the New World, this willpower has a different name, called haki.”
Saying it she raised her finger, while Riko this time saw the finger turning into a black color.
“Also known as manifesting our willpower into reality.” And with that she flicked this time gently and without much force to the forehead of her student, giving her a gentle or at least somehow gentle taste, how this manifestation of willpower changed every issue, she might have in her head.
"OW!"
Riko audibly reacted, not because of the sheer amount of pain, but because of how... different it felt. It was a simple flick, barely an annoyancw normally - and yet that flicked finger felt like she had just faceplanted a steel bar. The consistency of it felt more like metal than skin, and on some level... that impressed her.
And slightly scared her too, but still.
"... So the New World's people can just... punch you like their fist is made of steel or something? Why didn't I hear of all this?! Shouldn't something so useful be taught to the recruits?"
“Well here is the thing. While you are right everyone should learn it, to learn haki is not easy, as barely every 1 in 100 is even able to manifest haki, which is the most difficult part. YOu never know when you could unlock it, either be months, years or even decades.”
Gina explained, before grinning widely, looking more predatory than anything.
“And yes it is the bread and water in the New World. Besides, haki has a lot of neat things, if you learn it. But first you need to activate oyur three brain cells to maximum level and listen to me.”
Raising her hand she raised three fingers, “Haki is a manifestation of willpower, which can come out in three forms. This blackened stuff you see is called Busoshoku Haki, where you can actually manifest your willpower into physical form and be able to coat your own body or even weapons with it, to increase your force and durability of it. The stronger your haki, the harder it will be, where steel would be nothing more like butter for you. Also another interesting fact of this haki is that you are able to hit targets you usually would not hit. I know you at least heard about devil fruits and some kind of stupid devil fruits called Logia fruits, able to form into an element and near immune to any physical attack, as everything just passed them. With this haki you can still hit this fuckers.”
"I am aware of those idiots. Thought Seastone was the only way to deal with 'em, but this..."
A very eager chuckle came from Riko as she thought about smashing those overconfident nutjobs into the ground. They thought themselves invincible? Then she'd be the one to slap some sense into them - literally.
"So, hitting so hard you say 'No' to invincibility. What else? Can I put it in my sword?" She asked, genuinely eager.
Being amused by the rare show of interest and excitement her student showed, instead of answering it, she grabbed the blade from Riko, holding it in front of her. While at first nothing happened, suddenly like magic a blackness started to gather around the blade, before it was a blade covered by blackness, all silver gone.
“I think that answers your question.”
"...I was joking, holy biscuits."
Riko said, incredulous at how inadvertently right she was.
"You mentioned three forms. What's the other two like?" She asked, extremely curious.
Without saying another word, the smirk was still present on her face. Grabbing in her coat she pulled out a blindfold. Wrapping it around her eyes, making sure she did not see anything she sat down on the ground right in front of Riko. “Since you have a bit of anger towards me, let it out. Try to punch me. I will only block or dodge your attempts.” Said the now blindfolded marine to her student, waiting for her to make a move.
"...Oh well. KARMA INCOMING!"
Riko took to the idea of smacking the everloving hell out of Gina VEEEEERY well, judging from how eager she sounded. Hell, she even overdid it a bit - unsheathing her sword, and planting it into the ground. She grabbed the sheathe with two hands, reared back, and went to smack her mentor's head like she was hitting a home run in baseball.
With the sheathe coming down, like her student wanted to send her teacher's head flying like a baseball, the moment it came down, Gina in the moment it would connect, she ducked right underneath it, like she saw the attack coming.
“Too slow.” Gina said with a smirk, like she knew even at that position that Riko would not even hope to hit her.
"WHAT!" Riko shouted, as the sheer amount of force she had put into trying to home run Gina's head caused her to spin in place once or twice. After she had steadied her footing again, she barely hesitated - now going for a quicker barrage of strikes to make sure Gina had less time to dodge between each one.
"Alright you hag, try this on for size!" She said, trying to see if Gina was simply bullshitting, or if it was down to her being so supremely unsubtle.
The barrage of attacks started and with each strike coming the body of Gina moved like a dancer, her head dodging strike after strike after strike, with even the increasing speed of Riko, it looked like the marine was like a snail for her to avoid each strike. The attacks continued and became so fast both nearly became a blur.
While that happened in a close tree, two archeopteryx were watching this spectacles, holding two coconuts in their claws, like they holding a glass of a drink.
“Scraaaa? (How long are they doing that?)” The first bird-like dinosaur asked with a screeching noise, looking at the other who took a sip of his drink.
“Scraaa. Scraaaa.(Don't know. But more than 10 minutes passed.)” The second replied, as both continued to watch the scene like it was a show on television.
After a while Gina let out a yawn, getting a bit tired from the attacks, but for a different reason.
“You really want to beat me up, huh? At least I would explain this energy source and patience to do it now for 30 minutes, but we don’t get anywhere here and I can't have my student dying of exhaustion, yet.”
"Uff... Uff...!" Riko said, holding her sheath two-handed as she weakly tried to whack Gina again - though her sheer fatigue meant dodging that attack would've been thoroughly unnecessary.
"Hold still, you slippery-!"
Instead of just dodging it or letting it just pass by her side, Gina grabbed the sheath of the sword, before judo flipping Riko over her head right in front of her on the ground.
“I think that is enough or you die of exhaustion. And now your next question is "how did I do it to dodge every attack of you while blinded” and make you a comedy show for the wild life here?”
Gina said with a grin, removing the blindfold off her eyes.
"OW!" Riko reacted, clearly frustrated at having been, without a doubt, clowned on.
"First, yes!" She answered, slowly getting back up; "Second, SCREW YOU! Why did you wait so long before stopping this?! Geez, I need a shake..."
Fair to say, in a place as wild as that, she was not going to get her wish anytime soon.
“So that even a dumbass like you understands it was not a fluke and can guess it's some kind of technique.”
She said with a shit eating grin, before getting up to a standing position, before raising two fingers.
“And all that stems from the second usage of haki, also called Kenbunshoku Haki. While the first haki manifests it into physical form, this haki grants you the ability of a sixth sense. It allows you to see the presence, strength and emotions of others. An ability with a sense, even if you are blind, deaf or all your senses failed, with this haki you can still see people with that. The reason why I was able to dodge all your attacks was, because of the fact I could sense your presence, I also sense your intent, so I can pre move or prepare for your attacks, so yes I can basically prepare for your moves no matter how much strength or speed you put into them.”
She explained, before scratching her head a bit, before smiling.
“And I think you would shine with this form of haki, if you have all these voices in your head.”
Riko listened as much as she could in her tired and frustrated mindset. She could grasp the basics of it - sense stuff she normally wouldn't be able to. While she did have that... innate empathy to her, that allowed her to figure out people easily, the ability to sense them regardless of anything else was still comparatively new.
"Honestly? The first one sounded more interesting to me." She explained, getting back up. She went to grab her sword to sheathe it again, and turned to Gina for one more time.
"So? What's Haki number three? Does it make lasers shoot out of my eyeballs or something?" She asked, eager to know.
In response to that, Gina just shrugged her shoulders, before pulling out a flask from her jacket, opening it up.
“Eh. Nothing special. Just the only type you can’t get through training but most are born with it. A haki which only one in 1 million people have. Basically you will got a cheat code and you will is already standard way superior to others, able to send it out like a shockwave, imitating people as beasts with oyur sheer will. If the will of the beast or person is weak, you can even knock the person out, without lifting a finger.”
Taking a swift drink from it she let out a satisfied sigh, as it was from the smell obvious it was something hard alcoholic.
“Compared to lasers, it's a bit boring. Just a Haki version, where you can beat half of an army without doing anything and just this type of haki, which only the top monsters of our world possess.”
"Huh." Riko said, cracking her neck. A power only the chosen few had... Boring. And unfair, but she wasn't sure nature had a Human Resources department she could complain to.
"I mean, maybe I'm one of those one-in-a-million people, but I wouldn't bet on it. Guess we'll see. Now, you said I won't exactly know when I get it, but is there some training regimen I can use to make it easier? Kinda get the basics down before I get the super cool punching-you-in-the-face-with-a-steel-arm technique."
...Well, it was a gross oversemplification, but it was accurate.
“Why do you think we are here in the first place, cheeky brat? Also if you're one of the few chosen ones, I will run and work in a bikini for 1 week. Because if that happens I lost the will in nature and need to embrace the insanity, before coming back to my senses.”
It was not clear if Gina was saying it to mock Riko or genuinely would do it, if that happens.
“The hardest part will be to unlock your haki. The Kenbunshoku haki will be unlocked after we force your body to dodge attacks without relying on your other senses, which could lead you to get hit a lot. As for Busoshoku, it's a bit more simple, but way harder to unlock. You just need to punch and take damage. Harder and harder things with each time having the thought to crush the target or to block the target. Haki is painful and difficult to unlock as it combines your willpower and harsh training hence not many even achieve that.”
Taking another swing of her flask, letting out a satisfied sigh, she looked down at Riko.
“But I think you are stubborn enough to unlock it, especially if I tell you even dinosaurs were able to unlock haki.”
Riko stared at Gina after she proposed her plan on releasing Haoshoku Haki. She wasn't one to get embarassed by a lack of clothing, but running around in her underwear for one whole week? Suddenly the prospect of having the ability to traumatize someone without lifting a finger wasn't all that appealing to her.
"Ooook, so hit and get hit. Got it. Let's start with that first one - what am I punching?"
She said, as she assumed a boxer's stance and started bouncing around. Even putting aside her obvious bias, it was a fairly reasonable choice in her mind - better to get started with the harder option first, so that the comparatively easier one could be awakened at around the same time once she started training both.
Putting the flask back to her coat, she started to walk away, gesturing to Riko to follow her.
“We will leave this place, once you not only unlock your haki, but also defeat the four apex predators of Little Garden. The king of land, sea, sky and underground.”
Smirking a bit she had a hard time to not snicker, but it was obvious from her aura she was amused.
“But we can have a preview if you want. Showing me you are already able to challenge and fight these kings as they are only simple animals and never able to be stronger than you, right?”
Riko crossed her arms, thinking back to what Gina had said earlier. If they were there to have her learn Haki, especially considering she mentioned even a Dinosaur would've been able to use it, it wouldn't have been far-fetched to assume she would've had to fight beasts who had awakened the ability. In short, she would've gotten clobbered.
"Pass." She said, sighing. She was eager, not suicidal. "Got anything smaller? That's probably a bit too much for me to chew on right now."
Fair to say, if Gina had brought Riko here as a recruit, she would've went head-in into the closest King's den.
Riko would instantly see the mood of Gina going from amusement to disappointment, as she let out a sigh.
“Damn. And here I thought I would like to see you beaten by a dinosaur. Anyway you may be right, they are a bit too much to chew on, after all I trained them, because I got bored, while being stuck on this island for two years.”
Shrugging her shoulders, she came to a halt as a massive boulder was there, before giving a thumbs in the direction of the boulder, as big as a dinosaur.
“Well we start easy. Punch the boulder as long as you can and if you can't anymore you will sit down and try to meditate. And then you repeat, till the day is done or the boulder is turned into dust.”
Gina said, before leaning at a tree, the hands put behind her head, letting out a yawn.
“Wake me up till you succeed in destroying the boulder or if it's evening.”
Gina said without a hint of shame, before actually closing her eyes and starting to take a nap.
"...Well, at least she did explain it."
Riko sighed as she realized exactly how painful this was going to be. She left her sword next to her teacher, and slowly approached the boulder, cracking her knuckles...
"Alright then, big guy." She said, as she reared back a fist; "Let's see how long it takes 'til you break...!"
She punched. Small cracks started to form on the surface - too small to show any form of significant damage. Riko breathed in, and went for another hit.
And then another. And another. And another. And another. And another!
Soon, she broke into a flurry - a barrage of fists and kicks that went faster and smoother as she kept going. Each hit led into the next with seamless fluidity and precision, focusing on dealing as much damage as possible to the boulder over the widest area possible.
A few hours later, when she was forced to lean on the large mass of stone to recover, a small lining of gravel was at her feet, drops of blood falling at her feet from her knuckles.
"Not nearly enough" she said to herself, as she climbed the rock, using its now irregular surface, courtesy of her fists and feet, to do so more easily. Once she reached the top, she sat down, crossing her legs. She closed her eyes, working to silence all the voices of the environment - voices only she could hear - while fighting the urge to sleep. A twofold effort of focus.
"...Cheese 'n crackers, I could really use some Yakitori."
Grabbing a big branch of a tree Gina looked down at the sitting and blindfolded Riko in front of her.
“Okay Riko again. Try to avoid my strikes and try to use less and less of your senses. Try to feel. Try to feel the intention not the gush of wind or the sound of the swing.”
Gina said as it was her last warning before striking on her head with multiple strikes to see how long Riko can dodge, being on purpose a bit slower to give the marnie the chance to react.
"You make it sound so easy when I do feel all those things!"
Riko commented, as she kept a general guard, allowing her to move her arms and intercept strikes without being too exposed in any one area. She heard her first swing, moving her arm to swat it away, before dodging the second one and intercepting a third. As time went on, Riko almost entered a state of trance as her dodges and parries became more and more fluid. She became more and more separated from her senses and herself. Until...
...For a brief instant, she saw Gina. She did not see her with her eyes, but she saw her. It made no sense and was obvious at the same time - she was there. She was there! SHE COULD-!
Riko's thoughts would be cut short as a stick hit her straight to the face, her own sense of excitement and wonder breaking her focus. The very same power she was supposed to use had been her undoing.
Letting go off the branch, there was any kind of reaction expected from Gina. A taunt, a scoff or just laughter, but what came out was something completely unexpected.
“Good job, Riko.” Was the simple, yet meaningful compliment Gina said to her student, while helping her up to get her back on the feet, “I felt it. You got small glimpse of it. And also you already learnt one of the weaknesses of Kenbunshoku haki.”
The mentor explained, removing the blnidfold, as Riko saw a small, yet honest smile on her face and could sense a strange emotion inside Gina, which almost felt like pride.
Riko was bewildered at what she heard. No mocking, no laughter, no jokes or scoffs or playful denigration. She heard... pride. And when the blindfold was off, her eyes corroborated what her ears had perceived.
She was smiling. A genuine, however small, smile. She had seen Gina smirk and grin in a thousand different ways, but a genuine smile was something she felt her mentor was nigh-incapable of doing.
She felt something brand new at having seen that side of herself. Some pride of her own. The kind she hadn't felt once in that grueling training of theirs.
She couldn't help but smile in kind.
As she got up with her mentor's help, Riko extended her hand, intending to grasp the blindfold.
"I think I do see what you mean. Let's go again - as many times as it'll take!"
Being surprised by the small change of mood, Gina's smile turned back into a smirk as she gave her student the blindfold.
“Well..now that's what I like to hear, cheeky brat!”
Gina said with a bit more excitement in her voice as she hosted the branch over her shoulder, like it was a mace.
“Just don't get distracted this time, so you may succeed in dodging for 10 seconds.”
And back to normal they went, with Riko blindfolding herself and assuming her earlier fighting stance. She readied herself, breathing in. Her eyes closed, making what little she perceived sink in total blackness.
"Ready when you are."
She uttered with confidence, as she prepared to dodge once again. She had gotten the hang of it once - she would do it again, and again, and again, as many times as it was needed to understand the ability she had awakened.
And as Gina's flickering image appeared in her mind's eye for another split second, an imperfect sensation brought forth by a new sense...
Riko could only smile.
Gina saw a lot during her time as a marine and most of the crazy stuff that happens throughout the world, where she was often involved or even was the cause of, which led her to be quite the headache for the upper ranks. Yet despite seeing and experiencing a lot she would never guess it would lead to that. If she would tell this to her version 1 year ago, the version would laugh at her and ask if she received in the future a hard attack on her head causing her permanent brain damage. And she would not blame her version of the past.
After all she was watching her student, yes STUDENT, something she would never believe to have or even wanted. But not only was she in Little Garden with this brat, but she actually started to enjoy training her. It could not be her students personality, sure it could not be, this stupid, loud and annoying personality….right? But the facts did not lie to her, hanging out with her after training and liking it, if Riko achieved improvement. She was way too happy to see Riko unlocking Busoshoku Haki…no it was just her showing, that her training did not go nowhere….right? She hugged Riko just to tease her and not feel genuinely happy and proud…right?”
“SCREEEAAAA!” BAAAMMM!
And she genuinely did not feel concerned right now as the big flying lizard hit her student with a blacked wing right into her face, sending her crashing through trees like a cannonball….right? After the improvement of Riko of literally unlocking her haki in record time of two months, annoying her for a whole month, before making her agree to take her and challenge one of the four kings of the island. After all she expected them to be the kings.
With Gina in the past visiting this island, she actually took four baby dinosaurs under her wing and after training got bored and trained them to see if these animals were able to learn haki at all. And even though it was meant as just to make the time pass, she was surprised that these reptiles actually learnt it. And even more surprised, that their intelligence and even social behavior developed, especially as there were no conflicts between them, all having their territory and respecting their borders and hunting place. So in the end this four developed to be the four apex predators of Little Garden. The Apex of the Sea, the Apex of the Land, the Apex of the Sky and the Apex of the Underground.
And now Riko was fighting the apex of the sky, which revealed to be a juvenile Quetzalcoatlus. Even though it was not the biggest dinosaur Riko faced and defeated, this juvenile showed why it was the apex, blocking the strikes of Riko, like they were nothing. And it even showed it higher intelligence, as the dinosaur landed, waiting on the crater to see if his opponent, Riko would still be a danger or be done.
"YOU DAMN LIZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!"
Riko screamed as she flew backwards, her back blackened to prevent the impact from crippling her. She already didn't like the lizards Gina had put her up with - some of them flied, some of them ran like hell, some swam, some dug, but this one? Every other Pteranodon or Dimorphodon she had dealt with was a gunship - small, scared and easy to dispose of. By comparison, this thing was a frigate ready to hit her with a full broadside at every turn!
She dug her sword into the ground, observing the monster from the cover of the trees. Considering what she knew from Gina and a reasonable guesstimation, she could assume trying to play dead wouldn't work against a wielder of Kenbunshoku Haki. So, no point in waiting - it was time for the anti-air to take the field.
Riko laid her hand on a sizable chunk of wood she had been shot through. Without much effort, she held it up above her arm, its broken status and grueling training ensuring she'd have little issue. And as the very tip of the tree bark hardened with Busoshoku Haki, she smiled...
"HEY, FLYING LIZARD!" She screamed; "CATCH!"
With that, she tossed the chunk of wood like a catapult, intending to force the monster back into the air - but on her terms this time.
With the creature's head snapped towards the incoming tree branch it eyes narrowed, seeing the object flew at it like it was a missile. Yet the dinosaur did not show any sign of fear or even retreat as the brack came closer. Closing its beak like a mouth it turned into a familiar color of black, before like a woodpecker rammed it into the tree. With sparks emerging a bit out of the confrontation between the two forces, the fact existed it was not only a thrown item, but also as ironic as it was the dinosaur had the better control causing the haki to fade on the tree, before it splintered into hundred of pieces.
Looking down at Riko, the creature tilted its head to the sigh, eying curiously the sword Riko was holding. Looking at one of its wings, it holded it strangle, like it was a limb but not for going to fly. Moving it back and right it made strange motions, which became more and more familiar. The creature imitating sword slashes. With the wing blackened it slashed around trees causing them to cleanly cut into pieces.
Eyes widening the creature was surprised itself, before slowly turning its head to Riko and grinning evilly at her. Even though Riko could understand animals with her gift, even without it she knew what this beast said.
“Graaaagg!(Thanks, blackhead!)”
With this words, the dinosaur rushed with a massive leap, using its wings instead of flying, covered by haki. It used it as sword blades, aiming to slash Riko with them.
"OH YOU-"
Riko was THIS CLOSE to breaking her self-imposed vow on expletives, but she kept herself contained. The thought of treating herself to some Yakitori while resting on this bird's ass was enough to motivate her.
As the Quetzal pretending to be a swordsman came flying in, she leapt upward - dodging a strike with a twirling leap as she unsheathed her own sword. Instead of going for a plunging strike, she tried to land on its back, keeping her sword ready in case she got intercepted. If she succeeded, she'd hold close and, infusing her sword with Haki, go for a series of stabs on the creature's back, exploiting its arms' inability to reach backwards to try and get in as many hits as possible before it inevitably scrolled her off.
“GRAAAAGGHH!(GET OFF ME, BITCH!)”
The creature screeched out as blood started to gather on its back, the stabs penetrating its flesh, with Riko being like a giant mosquito, hurting it more and more Yet as the blade penetrated even deeper into the flesh, the back of the creature turned black, before the blade was stuck in it. The wings flapping even faster, Riko would entice the trees becoming smaller and smaller, with the creature flying high in the skies of the prehistoric island, giving Riko a great view of the island.
Through there was not time left to view it, as the speed increased more and more, with the flying dinosaur increased more and more speed, before it started to spin in its whole body with speed making it look like a drill, while it started to crash making it obvious it started to slowly coming closer and closer to the ground.
Riko's mouth morphed into a grin as she stabbed relentlessly, wounding the Quetzal. It was desperate, furious - and thus vulnerable. But the fight wasn't over yet, and if she didn't act fast, she'd end up losing it all.
But in battle - not in that, nor in any other - Riko was never going to retreat. If she needed to take a risk, even such an enormous one, in the name of victory... Then she would.
SNAP!
The sword snapped in half by its owner's own design, Riko holding part her broken weapon as she let herself fall in front of the spinning Quetzal. Grasping its head crest, she held on for dear life, and...
As the broken blade blackened, she thrust it into the Quetzal's eye, intending to compensate her weaker Haki by targeting a natural weakspot. Even if it was reinforced, it was stil steel clashing against a soft, squishy eye: the difference in material infused was far enough to make the situation equal, if not outright giving Riko the advantage.
A bestial roar escaped the creature with blood flowing out of its eye, which quickly got taken away by the G-forces. The flight became even more violent, with the quetzalcoatlus crashing into huge trees, breaking them per impact, yet not slowing down its fall. If the eye would not be covered in blood and a piece of blade would Stick in it it would glare at Riko. However the speed of the fall only increased, with the only thing noticeable was that the beast's head turned fully black spreading in an eye speed towards its full body.
Watching the battle ahead Gina definitely was not concerned at all, as she only ran as fast as she could towards the fight, just because to see the outcome….right? She definitely did not get even more concerned as the flying dinosaur turned 90° downwards and like a meteorite about to crush in the ground with Riko still around its beak.
“RIKO! Get the hell away from there!”
She definitely was not concerned and scared that this might kill Riko, but only not wanted Riko to complain and cry, that she got hurt and defeated by a dinosaur…right?
Yet despite her speed, even crushing trees or dinosaurs away, it was too late as the giant dinosaur reached the ground, before colliding with it in a giant explosion, sending strong gust of wind and rubble everywhere with a huge dust cloud hiding the result for anyone observing the fight.
And when the dust settled...
Riko was bleeding, her head and upper torso blackened to resist the impact. But the rest of her was covered in vast cuts, traumas and bruises - Gina's mind eye would've been able to see enough internal bleeding to make a regular person faint ten times over.
But Riko still clung to consciousness, however weakly. Her hand still grasped her broken sword, still stabbed into the Quetzal's eye, as she weakly tried to push it deeper in. Even at the very worse, when she was two inches away from hell's mouth...
The woman remained unyielding.
While the marine was deeply hurt, the dinosaur in question was far better off, as compared to Riko it located his whole body in haki, as normally the impact would kill it thanks to its comparable fragile physique to other dinosaurs. But thanks to learning this technique it could utilize this strange hunting technique, as another reason why it grew to the top of the food chain.
“Grrrr! (Get off bitch!)”
The quetzalcoatlus growled, feeling the weak grip on the blade, as it tried to dig deeper into his eye. Getting off the crater, it made a sharp movement of his head, slamming it against Riko to send her flying a few meters, before crushing on the ground. The dinosaur glared down at Riko with one eye, as it approached closer and closer to Riko, before looming over the student.
Riko stood motionless, resting on the ground with her arms flat. Her hand still gripped her broken blade, her face still refused to give in.
Weakly, she stood on one knee, pointing the busted-up weapon at the Apex of the Skies. Even with her injuries, even with her being one step away from being out cold, she refused to yield..
"One... more... round...!" She uttered with gritted teeth, spitting blood unto the ground.
Glaring down at Riko the dinosaur stood there for a second, before the tip of its mouth started to turn black, before with insane speed moved its moved its beak aiming to ram a new hole in Riko and ending it once and for all.
KABOOM!
Yet as the attack crashed down instead of meeting the flesh of Riko, the mouth stopped in its tracks, as around it was a haki coated hand grabbing it and holding it a place, beside the insane force and mass behind it. The quetzalcoatlus glared for a second, who stopped ots attack and fed on its prey only for it one eye to widen in terror, as cool sweat gathered on its face.
What she met was the glaring face of Gina, making the flying overgrown bird’s instincts all scream in panic and terror, while the other arm of Gina wrapped around Riko’s weak form and hugged her protectively, like she was a sauropod protecting its breed.
“You won. Now recover from your wounds, before I decide to challenge you for your position. You are smart enough to know it's not a good idea, chicken wing.”
Gina said in a cold and way too angry tone, before with a casual push she pushed the dinosaur beak away, causing it to even stumble and fall on the back by the force behind it, before in panic it scrambled and started to fly away, looking obviously it wanted to get away as fast as possible.
Riko felt something on her skin. Of course, there was the pain of her nerves burning with that person's touch, but that... That was a detail she could, and did, ignore.
No. Gina's arms wrapped around her, cradling her form even when she was bruised and battered - even when she was weak - protecting her. That sensation was new, uncharted. A feeling she did not know, but had heard of.
Was... Was this what love felt like? Familial love? The kind one feels towards their kindred?
"You? A Marine? Don't make me laugh, you worthless idiot! Weak as you are, they'll laugh in your face and throw you out like the stray you are!"
...The kind she was supposed to have felt?
She couldn't quite fathom it. She tried to, but she just... failed. And so, all she could was weakly wrap her arm around Gina's shoulder, uttering...
"W...W-why...?"
...Before she finally fell unconscious.
Why? That was the question that bounced through the head of Gina way too much then needed. Why? Of course it was to make sure her attempt to be a student does not go to waste, right? It was just her job as she can't let her recruit die and become prehistoric food, right?
It meant nothing as her face was plastered in worry as she saw Riko's bloody frame. I did not mean anything as she carefully lifted Riko's body up, carrying her body like she was a fragile baby. It meant nothing as she slowly rubbed the head of Riko, while moving away towards their camp. She was not worried about Riko's well-being, just doing her job as a forced mentor……right?
“Mommy! Look! My kicks are as fast as yours!”
“.....I need a cigar and a drink.”
Gina said neutrally as she tried to bury this voice in her head back deep into her mind. As Riko would awake, she would find her wounds all bandaged up, wrapped in nearly all the blankets as the camp fire brought her. The scent of her favorite food was entering Riko's nose, while her gaze wandered to a dead drunk Gina as she lay on the ground, snoring loudly, while around them countless beaten dinosaurs lay there, surrounding the area and presenting like they were a form of warning.
Riko's eyes slowly opened as the familiar snore of hot Yakitori filled her nostrils. She stood up to the best of her abilities, observing her bandaged wounds..
"Damn, that lizard got me good... But I'll just punch another rock to gravel and do the same to him! Right, boss?"
She asked, and got no answer. She turned her eyes towards the KO'd Dinosaurs, seeing her mentor out cold. Her mouth was agape as she realized just how far she was willing to go for her.
For some runt who had tried to kill her on her first day, and had failed oh so spectacularly. She sighed. If not for the fact she was starving, she wouldn't have eaten that Yakitori. She didn't deserve it - she hadn't earned the privilege of eating it.
So, as she slowly ate the skewer, without even savoring the taste, she got closer to Gina, dragging her unconscious form next to the fire and sitting down next to her. She kept watch over her knocked out mentor, as she finished the meal. All while never breaking away from Gina's frame.
"...Thank you for saving my butt." She said, knowing she wasn't going to be heard. If she had spoken that way while Gina was up and running, she would've been teased to hell and back.
"Honestly? I thought I could take that lizard. I thought I could clip its wings and laugh as it crawled away. I..."
She breathed in. She couldn't quite bring herself to say it - even when no one would hear her. She left the sentence hanging, as she breathed out and placed her head in her hands.
"...God, I'm such an idiot."
Dragged to the camp, as soon as Riko finished the rent a hand grasped Riko’s shoulder, before pulling her down to lie herself as the arm wrapped gently around Riko in a hug. Hearing a slight snore it was more clear that Gina was actually asleep, but the next action was even more strange as it was clear she was asleep.
“Listen….you may be an idiot…but you are learning…it was my fault letting you in….i am sorry….so sorry…please forgive me.”
Even though she was asleep and was clearly sleep talking it was so accurate, so strange, that she somehow reacted to the words of Riko.
Riko was taken aback by seeing her mmmm... mentor pull her down. She was about to scream at her, but judging from everything... it was all but impossible for her to even be awake. Was she... sleeptalking? Dreaming?
Riko couldn't, and wouldn't, pry. She simoly sighed... and stood there, right next to Gina. She slowly closed her eyes, smiling.
"...Night, boss."
She said, before slowly drifting off to sleep.
With the appearance of the two humans now draining over months, the wild life even adapted to their presence. And nearly all of them avoided their camp like it was a territory of a terrible predator, being known as the blonde death and the black grim reaper. And especially if the two predators for unknown reasons fought against each other.
BOOOOM!
Especially as the black haired jumped and tried to hit the blonde with a blackened axe kick, which the blonde blocked with her arm like it was nothing, while the ground violently cracked underneath her.
“Wow, brat! I nearly felt it! Looks like you grew stronger and stronger with your haki!”
Gina joked with a smirk as her arm only shook slightly, but did not move away to allow the kick to connect with her head.
Riko smirked almost manically, her leg grinding again Gina's arm as the ground cracked and broke around them. Fair to say, the girl that had been defeated by the Apex of the Skies was no more - she was now a warrior who knew what to do in battle.
"Only thanks to you." She admitted, gleeful at her own success as she flipped over Gina's leg, intending to land behind her and hit her with a butterfly kick from behind once she landed.
“Too slow.”
Gina commented not even turning around as the devastating kick stopped inches away from her head, the force moving her hair, as between head and feet was Gina’s hand, blocking the strike, only for her fingers to move and grabbing around Riko’s ankle.
“Yet I appreciate the quick thinking, but as long as you are not fast enough for me to react, you will not hit me once.”
With that said Gina’s grip on the ankle doubled, only for her to drag Riko after her before spinning rabidly in place, gaining more and more momentum, as both woman become so fast they created a mini tornado, before with one swing Gina let go in an attempt to catapult Riko into the sky.
"OH COME O-!"
Riko said as she was flung upward. Her defensive coating allowed her to endure the tornado's buffeting hail itself, as she was flung upward. And when she was in the air...
"...Well! Checkmate, hag!"
She screamed, as she started to spin in place with her leg outstretched, coating the limb in Busoshoku Haki as she fell towards Gina like a buzzsaw, intending to use gravity and momentum to increase her axe kick's strength much more than even the one she had used at the beginning.
With the momentum stopping Gina’s gaze wandered to the sky as she saw the meteorite being Riko approached her fast with a speed that could crack any dinosaur skull into two. Yet if Riko would look, she would see Gina was grinning, her arms crossed over her head and coated in blackness.
KAABBOOM!
Only for the impact coming down, causing sparks to appear between the two hak coated limbs as neither gave out to give the other one more room than the other. Sparks went everywhere as it looked like Gina like all the other times she not even moved from her spot once, with the challenge being to make Gina move from her spot.
Riko was THIS close to grinding her teeth into dust by the sheer pressure she was exerting in them. Her leg was almost vibrating given the sheer strength of the clash - and she, like Gina, did not intend to move an inch.
And as the clash deepened, Riko would close her eyes...
And strike.
"ORYAAAAAAH!!!"
She screamed, as she used the arms Gina had used to block her strike as a platform to push herself into a somersault, essentially performing the kick one more time. With one, minute difference...
Not long after her right foot slammed against the hardened arms of the woman, her left would be infused with Haki in turn and fall down after it, hitting the other foot. This would create a hammer-chisel effect, pushing her attack forward to push past Gina's ironclad defense with precise, pinpoint-focused power: the bane of even the strongest fortification.
Eyes slightly widened with the increased force of RIko, the ground shook even more violently, as the forces tried to push each other away, especially as the struggle was this time harder, thanks to her students' smart tricks. It took only a few seconds, which felt like minutes, before…
KABOOOMM!
Impact was made as the ground exploded with debris and dust covered the result for any brave dinosaur, who observed the fight, only for the dust to settle. Revealing Rikos legs smashed deep in the ground, as her master was still standing like the attack was not enough. Yet the eyes of the master widened, as a small trail was visible in front of her feet, showing it was obvious. Riko forced Gina to move.
The realization hit Gina, as her shaking quickly vanished, replaced by a smile, before her hand moved and rubbed the head of Riko.
“Good job, cheeky brat. You finally did it.”
Riko panted heavily as her legs dug out of the ground, her long hair flowing behind her almost as if they were a cape. She was ecstatic, her emotions a blazing inferno. She was just about to scream, raising her arms to the heavens...
Only for Gina's hand to put itself on her head, a soft yet indestructible barrier Riko did not dare, or try, to remove. She smiled, allowing her hair to be rubbed.
"...Congratulate yourself, honestly. Couldn't have gotten half as far as I did without you, ma."
The young woman smiled... And then widened her eyes as she realized what she had just said. Well, shit.
Freezing in place, as her hand abruptly stopped at Riko's head, Gina's expression turned blank, her hair shadowing half of her face as her eyes were black dots. It was hard to see what she was thinking or if she was even thinking at all, as even her inner voice turned Radio silent.
"...Boss? You good?"
Riko asked, passing a hand in front of Gina's face to see if she would react. Nothing. Not even a wince.
"...Well, darn."
Riko grumbled as she grabbed Gina by her waist, hoisting her above her head as she started to jog towards the bonfire. She almost couldn't believe it. Gina, the mighty Marine who punched dinosaurs to kill time...
Knocked out cold by a single word spoken by accident.
"Don't die on me, ma!" She said, half-jokingly not noticing how she had said it again. It just came naturally to her. "You may be an old hag, but that doesn't mean you can kick it just yet!"
Being frozen a bit, a memory passed through her eyes as she remembered the days that felt like yesterday.
"Look, ma! Once I grow up I will become a great marine like you!"
It felt so real to be just a memory, but like glass it shattered slowly, before she came back to her senses. First thing she noticed was that she was moving, second was that her feet did not touch the ground and third, which explained the first and second, that she was being carried by Riko.
"Huh?" Since when was Riko able to just catch her off guard like that? However the memory came back to her as she remembered what Riko called her. Lucky that her face was not visible by Riko, otherwise she would notice a tiny hint of red on her cheeks.
"What are you doing, brat! I can walk!"
"Nope you couldn't."
Riko replied cheekily, not even bothering to look Gina in the face as she kept up her jog. She had what could only be described as a crap-eating grin on her face as she marched, undeterred, towards the campfire.
"You went stiffer than a statue right there. Figured I'd make the most of it." She joked as she kept going. This was her getback for that time Gina tossed her into the stratosphere, way back when - and she was nothing if not patient when it came to revenge.
...Well, maybe petty was the more appopriate word, but hell befall anyone who said it to her face.
Being silence for a bit Gina not muttered a word, thinking what to do next, as she thought about it to punch Riko on the head….only to give up and cross arms in surrender.
“You won this one, brat.” Gina muttered in annoyance, but let herself without resistance carried, “Don't expect to get used to it though.”
"Yus." Riko smirked as she kept carrying her mentor above her head, keeping up a speedy jog. "And, agree to disagree. You better not go stiff every time I call you that, ma! It has too much tease potential for even me to handle!"
Gina was about to shout in anger, only to hear the word again, making her eyes widen again.
"Ma...?" She only muttered, as another memory flashed through her mind as, with a dazed smile, her body turned frozen again, as it looked like this word was akin to a trigger for the experienced Marine to turn stiff.
"Aaaaand there she goes."
Riko chuckled as she realized the supreme teasing power she now had over the experienced Marine. As she slowly went closer and closer to the campfire, the Marine couldn't help but be ecstatic. Not just because of what she could do to Gina...
But because now, after trials, pain, and so many tears... she had finally started to prove him wrong.
Growth is a feeling, that was sent through every living being, that mostly led to euphoria and pride. From a Juvenile lion to finally slag an adult bison, up to a child building after many failed attempts a house for birds. If determination and work are constantly holded, only then growth will show, no matter the situation.
A growth Riko should have been proud of. These months in Little Garden, even with Gina's help, led her to an unrecognizable growth. From running away from a mere Carno, to defeating one Apex after another. Even though the battlw was hard, Riko emerged victorious in battle against the Apex of the Sky, Underground and Land.
Now only her final challenge stood in front of her. Even though he was called the Apex of the Sea, they were fighting by a river. But even though it was not as big as an adult, this juvenile Spinosaurus proved to be slightly different compared to the other Apexes. While they viewed Riko as food or a challenger to their territory, the moment she arrived, it was clear that even without words, the fight had other meanings, to which the Dinosaur happily obliged.
Apex he may be called, he proved to be a different breed entirely, the grounds showing deep slash marks from both blade and claw. Standing in front fo Riko, its body bleeding from multiple slash wounds and with even part of its Sail missing, the Dinosaur looked at Riko not in anger or like it wanted to eat her, but with eyes of respect, while breathing hard.
One thing was clear: Gina was right when she said this Apex was the strongest. Even as a baby, he was unnaturally smart and learnt fast, even faster than most Marines learnt Haki.
Riko stared at the creature with an intensity matching its own. Her body was battered and bleeding, proving the brutality of the fight until that moment. Her hand grasped the improvised sword she had taken to wielding - a jagged dinosaur tooth, shaped in the rough outline of a sword, even complete with its handle. It wasn't as well-suited to her as her old sword, but it was tough enough to make do.
She gripped her fist tight, wiping blood from her mouth as she observed the beast. Of all the lizards in Little Garden, this one was the only one she felt was worthy of being called a Dinosaur. Every other one, even the othef Apexes, were paltry competition at best.
"In earnest, then."
She smirked, as she placed her free hand in her hair. With gritted teeth and a tight hand, she pulled some out, holding them between her fingers. They were already black as night, but in her hand, they grew even darker, enshrouded by her Busoshoku Haki. With a swift movement of her arm, she tossed them forward like a buckshot: each was a small, extremely swift dart that would pierce the dinosaur's body if it didn't get out of the way. And while they wouldn't have done much damage at the end of the day, they would nonetheless be immensely painful.
"Sasori no Bantoge!"
Eyes widening the projectils of hair hit the creature on the spot, neck, mouth, like it was projectiles of snow. Yet while the damage was minimal the effect hit immediately.”
“SCROOOAAA!”
Letting out a scream of pain the eyes of the beast twitched violently and turn Red from bloodshed. Yet with the scream coming down the creature rammed its claw in the ground before cracking a huge chunk of earth out. Trying to keep the focus, the chunk of earth started to turn black, before it threw it slightly in the air.
"SCROOOAA!”
Only to turn around, slamming it's now black tail against the chunk of earth, shattering it, before sending tiny projectiles of black earth material towards Riko, like she did previously with her hair
Normally, a pained beast was a furious beast, and a furious beast was a predictable beast. But this? This was anything but predictable. Perhaps tactically unsound by some regards? Yes, but it was still something a creature like that wouldn't normally do. Further evidence of just how smart this monster was.
Riko, however, was hellbent on proving herself the apex predator of the island. As the debris flew towards her, she leapt, using it as platforms to leap high into the air, above the monster. She grasped her improvised sword with two hands, spinning in the air once, and using the momentum to shoot forward a devastating Flying Slash towards it with a roar. It was the Master of the Sea, ergo she would use the skies she had already conquered to gain the upper hand.
Looking up in the incoming deathly pressure of wind, the spinosaurus quickly raised its claws, crossing them in front of it, before the blade met the claw in a huge collision. Still the force was so great, even size and mass on his side, the slash pushed the creature further and further away.
“SCROOOAA!”
Only with a scream to get overwhelmed by the attack as blood escaped the mouth of the beast, before it fell back and crashed into the river with a big splash. With the water slowly calming down, only few water bubbles were visible, with the water going red, with scavengers greedily eying the result of the fight.
That was one nasty blow, if Riko said so herself. The Marine landed on a nearby tree, observing the red-tinted water. Her past self would've cheered, riding that buzz 'till it was no more...
...And all the way until the inevitable surprise attack bit off her head. Over these long months, the young woman had become aware of the relationships of predator and prey that encompassed many animals, and all the strategies each group employed to one-up the other. Faking death or defeat was not unheard of, and she wasn't going to be played easily. She was going to make sure she had gotten the victory before celebrating.
She closed her eyes. A quick burst of Kenbunshoku Haki emanated from her body like a sonar, focusing on the presence of the soon-to-be-deposed Apex of the Sea, in order to see how badly it had been beaten and pinpoint its position just in case it had moved by using the bloodstained water as cover - it was smart enough to pull something like that off, after all. Once she had marked its location, Riko would a one-handed flying slash, not to kill it, but to tell it not-so-subtly to either keep fighting, or get off what was soon going to be her territory. The lizard...
No, the dinosaur had put up a good fight. It deserved to live. In a small world like Little Garden, where survival of the fittest ruled, affording mercy was either a terrible mistake, or as absolute of a show of respect as they came. If it had the will to fight for its crown, she would indulge it - if not, she was not going to stop its flight.
With the bubbles slowly dying down, it looked like it was done, as scavengers were about to approach the corpse of the Apex... only for the water to burst up, the scavengers flying away like they were bowling pins hit by the ball. Breathing hard, as it was bloodied and wet, the Apex slowly looked up as its eyes spotted Riko on the tree.
"....."
Being silent for a bit, slow and heavy steps approached the Marine as the dinosaur came closer and closer to the tree. Stopping a few meters in front of it, the creature looked up... only to then drop down on its legs, eyes closed, as its head laid on the ground. Yet the creature did not collapse, as it was too slow to be abrupt, which meant it was controlled. So, the fact stood: The Apex was bowing in front of Riko.
Riko observed the beast, as her position relaxed. She stepped into the void to drop down from the tree, reaching the ground in front of the now former Apex with a deal of grace almost unbefitting of someone who had just dealt such grievous wounds to a beast that large. She smirked to herself, as she nodded in acknowledgement of the beast's surrender.
And then... She turned towards Gina, trying her best to keep a straight face. Though the air-filled cheeks and almost teary eyes she had were doing her no favors.
She... had made it.
Instead of a taunt, a smirk or a praise that usually came from Gina's mouth, the mkment Riko would turn around two arms would wrap around her, before she got picked up in a tight embrace.
"You did it! I am so proud of you, Riko!"
Gina screamed out, which nearly sounded lime a squeal, only for her to stop dead in her tracks as her eyes widened, with her just standing there frozen. Even the dinosaur would have raised an eyebrow at that action if it had any.
"I meant you did a decent job. At least you didn't die this time, you cheeky brat."
Gina tried to say neutrally, but even with her back on, Riko and even the dinosaur could see the red of embarassment on her.
Riko hugged Gina just as tightly as soon as she realized what exactly was happening. She was shocked at her action - her mentor had started to let down her walls, yes, but this? It was a new high, a new and surprising experience.
And yet the reaction she had came instinctively. She hugged Gina so naturally she barely even thought about it. And when she separated, trying to keep her cool aboht it all...
Riko simply smiled, and went back in for another hug - the kind of hug a parent and a child exchanged after a shared triumph.
...The kind of hug Riko could never experience until that day.
"You worthless waste of oxygen...! The only reason I don't sell you to the first person who asks is because I'd have to pay them to take in a useless nothing like you!"
"...I love you, mom."
Was all Riko could say, as tears welled up from her eyes.
Freezing again at the word of mom, she was almost about to turn stiff like a board…but this time it was different…because this time a word was involved she remembered only in the past.
“I love you mom!” The voice of a child said with white hair and slight red eyes, as she looked up at Gina with a big, bright smile.
Turning around, Gina 's hand started to shake, with her lip slowly quivered. The dinosaur sensing the tension decided to quietly retreat leaving the both alone. Her hand shaking she slowly put it on Riko's head, the shaking was feelable as a tear dropped down from her face.
“R-r-riko…i can't….y-you m-m….”
Gina tried to say, sounding so weak. A weakness she thought she buried in the deepest parts of her mind after that day, as she swore to never be weak.
“ARRRGGGHHHHHH!” The unholy scream of Gina went through the whole ship as she dropped to her knees, tears of regret, anger and sorrow stormed out from her face. Her fist smashing on the ground, destroying the wooden planks, while on the other she had a crumpled piece of paper in her hand….a report of casualties of battle.
Yet as she tried to deny it, a warmth gathered in her chest. A warmth she lost and thought she would never get it back. The pain of the past slowly sheeted off with the warmth spreading through her body.
Dropping to her knees her arms wrapped around Riko, holding her tightly and comfortable, like a dream she never wanted to let go. A reality that was denied from her, with fate decided to give her a second chance. All she could do was keep Riko close, tears streaming down her face, as her head rested on Riko's shoulder.
“....I love you too…my daughter…”
Riko could, and would not, say anything. She simply stood there, embracing Gina with a softness unbefitting of the display of power she had just been the maker of. They truly were like a mother and her child in that moment.
Soon, however, she separated. A hand passed before her eyes so that she could wipe away the tears, and she nodded.
"...We should go." She said, simply. "We've been here long enough, haven't we? The paperwork on your desk's probably up to the ceiling right now."
Smiling Gina whipped away the tears from her face, before getting up to her feet. Still emotionally drained she simply ruffled the hair of Riko, her…daughter. Even after all the years this word hurted her, but also was the desire for her also growing to say it again and again.
“Yes. You took way too long and now I have even more work to catch up.”
Gina joked, as she was about to lead the way, only for the duo to be interrupted as a small screeching was heard. Looking ahead they spotted a single trodon, which glared at the duo.
“Screeaa! SCEAAA! ScreScreScree! (I know black hair understands me! The rise began to get rid of both of you demons from our island!)”
"Your island?" Riko joked, tilting her head as she knelt in front of the Trodon. "More like my vacation home. And I advise you start using a bit more respect. Cuz if you don't..."
She cracked her knuckles. This was her achievement, and she was going to wear it on her sleeve.
"...Who knows, I could always come back and beat each and every one of you up if I feel you're in need of a spanking. Now, lead the way - I have a lot of Yakitori to eat once I get back home."
Instead of terrified the small dinosaur grabbed a horn, before with a deep breath blessed it through it causing al ud noise. The bushes were moving a bit as Gina was confused what Riko was talking with the small dinosaur…only for her eyes turned into white pupils, as she noticed the bushes, grass or rocks….where not these objects. All she saw was moving small tales and scales, with countless glaring eyes at them. Even the spinosaurus, who at first slowly walked off, widened its eyes before his injury doubled down in speed to get away.
“Scraaa! Scraa! Scraa! (For this one deay our clan all united and mass breaded! Today you will fall!)” The trodon said as Gina put a nervous hand on Riko:s shoulder, not sure if she saw or noticed the army behind it.
“Riko. You want to learn another valuable lesson?” Riko offered, sweating on her forehead because of nervousness.
Well. If there was one thing Riko couldn't punch out of existence just yet, it was numbers. She may have been an arrogant teenager who had just out-punched a dinosaur, but one of the many skills she had mastered during her training...
...Was the ability to read the room.
"Which iiis?" She uttered, getting close to her mo-ahem, teacher, as she prepared for the inevitable.
“That sometimes you need to learn which fight is worth picking up or not and when no other solution is there…”
She trailed off only to grab Riko, before holding her bridal style and doing a 180° leaving a dust cloud behind her as she ran like hell, “we run like hell!”
She shouted as the Trodon’s were all dumbfounded and expected a legendary battle against these monsters, but now they saw these monsters..running?
“Scra?.....SCRAAA?! SCRAAAA! SCRA! (What?.....Wait?! They are running away! Catch them!)” The Trodon screamed, before the army charged after them like a stampede of earthquakes in perfect harmony, as the ground became black covered with the scales of the beast like a flood chasing after the duo.
"...CHEESE 'N CRA-!"
Riko was expecting to run, yes, but she wasn't expecting to be essentially dragged along in the Gina express all over again. Gods, it felt like she had not even begun training yet...
"SCREW YOU, YOU LIZARDS! NOW I GOTTA RUSH MY GOODBYES!"
She screamed at them, waving her fist in the air. She could not leave the island without giving proper salutations!
Day of Decision[]
Marineford was on this day comparable peacefully. With the sun shining bright with zero clouds in sight, the temperature and relaxing temperature made activity much more effective. Recruits training or doing their chores with much more energy and usually, while the pirate activity was currently lower, beside the rise of new powerful figures in the New World.
Yet for one person her mood was slightly different. After all Gina would think of a hundred other things she wanted to do way more than what she was doing now. Fighting pirates, rescuing people, hell doing charity work and delivering soups, anything other than her sitting in the office of one of the admirals. Sure hse might not hate the person sitting in front her per se, but what most of the meetings might lead to which involve either a scolding or more paperwork.
“And then she punched the teeth out of the giganotosaurus! I never saw someone as young as her punching a haki tooth out of a dinosaur! I can't tell you how proud I was!”
Yet this time it was different, as Gina was more excited than she ever was in a meeting, as her eyes showed stars, while eating Yakitori, which she brought to the meeting.
"That is indeed interesting." Kyojin, sitting the opposite side of the desk, his black hair tied behind his back as his head rested on his hand, as he sat in a comfortable position where his body was leaning on the desk. A wide smile on his face, his eyes sparkled, as if he was listening to a fantasy story, and not the story of one of the marines. "And she punched teeth right out?" He couldn't not smile at that, it reminded him of his own past clashes against such creatures.
"Tell me more, Gina!"
“Oh yes she did! After that she made this giant dinosaur run away like a scared chicken, after ramming its own teeth into its feet!”
Gina said even more excited and proud, as she devoured her food, something she enjoyed thanks to Riko’s influence.
“And most importantly, while she is mostly full of herself and often a brat, she never gives up, especially after she lost against the strongest dino on Little Garden, you know the spinosaurus I trained personally? Instead of giving up she trained even harder, kicked a pirate's ass in time, before surpassing the king of this island in less than 1 month!”
"Ahahahaha." Kyojin leaned back in his chair, reaching for a jar of cookies to enjoy along with the wonderful report of Gina. "I expected nothing less of Riko, she always had my interest!" Taking a cookie out of the jar and then taking a bite, he offered Gina one before continued. "Who was the pirate? Anyone of importance?"
Taking the cookie giving him a nod of thanks, she ate it, nearly choking at it as she continued to talk.
“Some newling, Titanna Volcaine. He got beaten up, but sadly escaped as at that point fate decided to be a bitch and threw the wild life against her and later me long enough for him to escape.”
Muttering a bit disappointed, her mood quickly went a bit solemn, as her eyes nearly shined with a small smile on her face.
“She called me mother, Kyojin. I never thought I would hear these words or ever wanted to hear these words after..after…the incident.”
Gina said her eye twitching, as well as her fingers, grasping the table hard, the unpleasant and horrifying memory quickly appeared, before quickly disappearing, replaced by a laughing black haired brat..her daughter.
"Better not dwell on the past, Gina." Kyojin's voice went warm as a slight smile took over his expression, he tried being comforting her, but he knew, Gina was deeply hurt by the past as it wasn't so kind to her. "And from what I'm hearing, life gave you a second chance. It is rare, so cherish it."
Letting out a sigh, Kyojin's eyes wandered around the office as he thought silently to himself. "This is quite interesting, Riko didn't disappoint me after all... I wonder where she will be in a few years from now... Perhaps she will be the first to catch up to me among them..." His smile widened a bit more, he enjoyed betting on such things with himself in secret.
"Take good care of Riko, Gina. If she trusts you that much, you have to take good care of her." A laugh almost broke out as he continued. "This is like the universal cat distribution system, she picked you, and now you have a cat."
“......” Being silent for a bit, Gina looked like her brain went shut down, before slamming her fist on the table, throwing her head back and bursting into laughter.
“SAGAGAGAGA! Riko as a cat?! At best being a starved tigress! Oh I can't wait to put cat ears on her! SAGAGAGA!”
Continuing to laugh it took sometime for her to calm down, before her face had a soft smile.
“Where did I land? Years ago you were all brats, barely able to hold a sword, now look at you now. One became an admiral on spot, where I heard whispers to obtain the position as our leader and the other became Vice Admiral in record time! It makes me feel very old!”
Gina chuckled, before grabbing a cup, filling herself a bit of tea, before doing the same for Kyojin.
“It is easier said than done, Kyojin. I am aware I should move on, but sometimes the wound needs a lot of time to heal, especially if the reason was part of yourself. I cherish Riko, I deeply do. For a brat, who tried to kill me at our first meeting, she means the world for me. Yet for all the love I want to show her, for all I want to protect her, one day my little chick needs to spread her wings one day. And it might happen sooner than later.
"Don't say that, you're still as young as they come, Gina." Paying her a compliment came naturally to him, since Kyojin is of royal blood himself, he was taught from a young age how to pay a compliment and when. "When the time comes and she spreads her wings, I will be there to back her up. Don't worry too much, Gina. She's in good hands." If only he knew what a grand promise he had made that day, perhaps he wouldn't have said anything at all.
"It will be alright..." At least he hoped.
“You know Kyojin. You already sound like the whole world will be at your shoulders…which technically may be, but I trust you. You will do great.”
Gina said, putting a hand on his shoulder giving him a smile to ease any doubt.
“Besides, I think it will not last long. I already know deep down, Riko will be one of the future admirals. Her growth is abnormal, but I will only let her go and let her be the free eagle if she proves herself, ergo kicking her mothers ass!”
Gina said with confidence in her daughter, before leaning back on the chair taking a sip of her tea.
“Also we don’t need to sugar coat stuff. I will not get younger and I learnt the value of teaching. Once Riko is done, I have my sights on two others, which promise great potential as well.”
Kyojin smiled warmly and widely, as he ate his cookie. "Yeah, I'm sure she will be among the best soon enough."
Gina smiled as she was about to take a sip of her tea, only for her snail to ring. Looking a bit surprised she picked it up as she opened the call.
“Vice admiral Gina here. What is the issue?” She asked, taking a sip of her tea…only to cough it all out literally spitting it out, “REPEAT!? WHAT HAPPENED!?”
On the other side of the world, the sound of battle was heard over two ships. With marines and agents fending off a load of bloodthirsty pirates it was even though looking like an unusual sigh, this battle was more important than most of the other battles. After all, what the marine ship contained was something that would be devastating, if the pirates got their hands on it.
“Boy! Claim the tribute and send these whitecoats to the bottom of the sea!” The green haired pirate shouted, as he rose his sword, before clashing it with the one and only marine, who so far showed any resistance against him. But this never stopped him from receiving the treasure. After all he was Fames of the Silverdust Pirates and every treasure in the world belongs to them.
The blades clashed with golden sparks - Fuhen Kadai's superb edge, wielded by an appropriately powerful foe, didn't budge nor scratch, befitting one of the feared and renowned Great Grade Meitos. And the hands that held it, accompanied by that powerful glare that made it clear she wasn't going to lose an inch... Belonged to a certain woman.
She held tight, keeping the blades crossed. And then, she went in for a swift kick, blackened by her powerful Haki. She sought to deliver a crippling blow and reset the distance, making it clear she would not falter or fall.
"Been there, done that, you dork!" She uttered; "You want the stuff? You'll have to go through me. Bigger and badder bastards have tried - guess where they're spending the rest of their days now!"
“GOGOGOGO!” Laughing loudly instead of the haki leg hitting him, elegant like a feline, the pirate jumped in place, before perfectly landing on the haki infused leg of the vice admiral, before using it as a jumping place to jump over the marine landing right behind her with a mocking bow.
“Well glad to hear worse guys than me got defeated by you. Makes people underestimate the underdogs and people who are not desperate for attention.”
He commented, before grabbing into his pocket and threw a few berry coins at the marine for an unknown reason.
"I'm not underestimating you." Riko uttered, simply twirling her sword. She was accustomed to attacks that looked harmless, or involved similarly harmless items - she herself had quite a few in her repertoire. Ergo, she wouldn't be fooled by whatever trick this guy had up his sleeves.
"I'm just giving you a feel of how badly you messed up."
She said, closing the distance with notable speed and leading with a straight, extremely quick punch to the gut with her left hand, blackened by Haki. This guy was fast, so she had to compensate by focusing on outspeeding him in turn, while also being able to counterattack easily if necessary. Ergo, she chose an option that didn't require much commitment, and allowed her to counter effectively in case he tried something funny.
As the fist moved with insane speed, the impact came as the pirates behind Fames could see his body bended down with the impact, as the sheer force sent out a column of winds, making marines, pirates and agents try to steady themself to not go blown away. Yet with the wind blown away, the pirate stood in place.
“Not bad, red eye!” The pirate said excitedly as the haki fist made contact with flesh, but also the feeling of fingers wrapping around her first, only to be revealed to be the pirates own haki coated first, which caught and held the marines fist on bay. The coin was a trick, but it had a simple reason. To make her just confused and paranoid. After all, people tend to act differently if they believe there is an action hidden in your actions.
However, what was the case the pirate gave not much time to think about it, as he pulled violently the fist towards him to aim to unbalance the marine towards him as the next moment his other fist coated in the blackness of haki to aim and smash against her face.
Riko would grit her teeth, apparently frustrated at how he had blocked her strike. And...
Smiled.
For as soon as Fames tried to unbalance her, a devastating force would emanate from Riko's fist. It was a point-blank, almost shotgun-like emanation of Busoshoku Haki, the power of which was far superior to simple Coating: The advanced technique known as Emission. Assuming the pirate could react in time to such a sudden maneuver, he would have two options: let go to minimize damage, or try to hold on as the attack blew his arm back with enormous power. Either way, his plan to mess with Riko's balance would have yielded lesser results - if any at all, and he most likely wouldn't come out unscathed.
Feeling the force rattling though his hand the feeling of the pain intensified, rattling the bones on his hand keeping the fist at bay. With each passing millisecond it only grew more and more as he felt the damage would increase and would think it would cause heavy damage if not for the fact his own fist was covered in haki.
Yet even though the force increased, the pirate fought through the pain, as the marine underestimated the danger of his attack. After all there was one attack and danger which was still approaching, with the black fist smashing into the face of the marine, a force someone as experienced as Riko would feel it was way too strong to come from just a single marine, before the pirate used the force to sent her flying off him, instead of getting away from Riko’s attack, not carrying how much damage it might left, like he was confident he would recover fast from it.
As she flew back, Riko was shocked at the apparent idiocy of this pirate. Even the dinosaurs of Little Garden had the most basic level of self-preservation to them, while he had just decided an attack strong enough to obliterate any common man was worth exchanging for a comparatively superficial punch to the face.
Granted, it was one mighty strong punch. She reached up to feel her nose. Great, it was broken. She groaned in pain, frustrated at just how unwilling to quit this moron was.
"Fine then. You wanna tango? Let's tango."
Sheathing Fuhen Kadai, which she had held even as she flew backwards, Riko drew her other sword. Mugentei Hikari was smaller, more maneuverable - perfect for a situation like this. If Fames didn't care how hard she hit him, then trying to end it with one decisive blow without resorting to that would've been a risky strategy. She needed the surgical precision of Gentle Blade to allow her to defend more effectively, all while attacking with minimal usage of her stamina.
Unburdened by the larger weapon she wielded previously, she blitzed forward with enormous speed and even greater agility than earlier. She seemingly tried to go for a simple, Buso-coated stab through Fames' wounded arm... Only to then leap upward with a rising knee strike, also blackened by Haki, aimed at his torso in order to knock the wind out of him and disorient him, and - if he tried to - to catch him as he started to dodge. He may not have cared much about pain, but not even those with the most inhuman levels of endurance could offset the brief, but piercing agony of feeling of being momentarily unable to breathe.
And if Fames tried to pull another trick and attack her in the middle of her own offensive, he'd find Riko was not gonna be fooled by the same trick twice.
“URGGH!”
Letting out a grunt of pain, the knee dug deep into his torso, with the sound of a few ribs cracking in response. In slow motion the cheeks of the pirate puffed up, his eyes widened, before the kinetic force of the knee made its job and sent the pirate flying right into the sleeping area of the ship, crashing through it as wood and dust gathered everywhere. Marine soldiers, who were not occupied by the crew, quickly went to the collision area and pointed their rifles at it.
“GOGOGOGO!” However before any words of arrest or surrender was said, the laughter of the pirate was heard, with the marines seeing the shadow of him getting up, before firing at him. Yet as the shadow stand humanoid it slowly shifted as something came out of the back…something massive, blocking the bullets, before a purple structure came out of the smoke and swept the few unlucky marines away with force sending them overboard, threatening them to land in the waters unconscious or heavily hurt, leaving them at the mercy to slowly drown.