Capítulo 19: Reminder
Somewhere on an island surrounded by the sea that was pulsing rhythmic waves and the glowing sun, a crisp circle in the bloody sky, illuminated a quivering path across the water. It bathed the ocean's meek waves and the wispy clouds in a burning red.
The sunset was truly a beautiful sight.
The tall figure stared out into the sun that slowly dipped below the horizon. The small breezes of wind caused her long white hair that was tied into a ponytail to flow. She sat against the tree with two pieces of paper in her hand along with a smile on her face.
"You're back, friend."
In between her hands were papers that talked about Imai Ryujin, the Fifth Emperor who had recently returned, and made her debut on Sabaody Archipelago. On her other hand was Imai's bounty that labeled a whopping three point four billion berries.
Yamato suddenly had a sad smile on her face.
"I wish I could see you and welcome you back. But…" Yamato trailed off as she looked at her surroundings and thought of her father. "I can't leave just yet. I'll wait for you."
Yamato stared out into the sun that had fully dipped below the horizons.
"I know you'll come get me, so no matter how long, I'll wait for you to come get me."
Imai woke up with a fast beating heart, the dream she had felt too real, and it seemed like she was there watching her first friend. Yamato's sad smile replayed in her head and she felt her heart clench.
Imai had woken up in the middle of the night. They had decided to take a break since Nico was beginning to grow tired after exploring for so long. Imai looked to her right and saw that she was still asleep.
She tugged at her jacket hoping to get it back since it wasn't that cold but that only caused Nico to hold onto the jacket tighter and face the other side.
Imai smiled helplessly and gave up on taking it back. Nico seemed like she was having the best sleep of her life and she didn't want to wake her up from that.
"To sleep so blissfully under these circumstances…" Imai muttered under her breath. She had to be cautious since enemies could appear at any moment. "I guess I'll stay awake, I'm not sleepy anymore."
The sudden appearance of Yamato in her dream had caused her to reach for the earring Yamato had put on her subconsciously. She had the right one while Yamato had the left one. Imai was given one after she and Yamato had shared a drink together and vowed that no matter what, they would be by each other's side in the end.
Though she wondered how Yamato felt when she was in seclusion. She wasn't able to contact Yamato at all or even write letters. It must've been painful for her.
Yet Yamato had faith in her that she would return and come back for her.
Imai laughed, "What am I doing. . .getting all sentimental isn't like me."
Soon, the morning came and Nico had woken up.
"Good morning, it seems you had a great sleep last night. What were you dreaming of?" Imai questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Nothing special, let's get going. No time to waste." Nico replied.
Imai smiled helplessly after Nico had successfully dodged her question. That's when she realized the jacket that she gave Nico was wrapped around her shoulders.
"That girl…oh well." Imai muttered as she caught up to her. "So, where are we going now?"
"To Shandia, past that place is where Conis will be." Nico said. "Back then, Shandia was out of reach of Enel's Mantra or Observation Haki. But I don't know how it is now since it seems like he's taken over everything."
"I see. If I recall, the Shandia were a tribe full of strong warriors. Hopefully we don't have to fight them but after what we experienced on the way here. It seems like it's inevitable."
As if on cue, a warrior with red stripes across his left eye appeared before them holding a bazooka.
Imai's eyes widened and quickly grabbed Nico before they could get hit by the explosion.
*BOOM*
As the smoke cleared out, more warriors had appeared with the same types of weapon. By the look of their faces, they seemed to have no interest in negotiation or anything at all.
'Damn Enel and his brainwashing.'
"Bazookas, high impact but it takes some time to reload. They have more numbers than us but…we're us so we should win this."
"Let's go!"
With that being said, the fight had begun. The warriors had trouble firing at them without hitting their own people due to how fast Imai was. There was also the troublesome devil fruit ability that Nico possessed.
Everytime they would almost pull the trigger and successfully land a hit on Imai. A pair of limbs would appear from beneath them and make them fall flat on their back.
Targeting Nico wasn't possible either. Imai fought off the enemies and kept herself within range of Nico in case she needed help. During this battle, the chemistry was starting to grow between them. With a simple eye contact, the latter would know what to do.
Imai's red eyes analyzed the warriors around her, she knew she could take them all down with a single strike. There was no point in hesitating anyway, after all, this is the first step in order to enter the realm of her past self.
She unsheathed her two blades as the twelve warriors shot the bazookas at her.
"Two Sword Style, Sovereign's Cleaving."
Imai disappeared from their sight.
"Ahh!" a warrior screamed. To their right, one of them had several cuts on their body before their head dropped to the ground.
'One.'
Imai slashed diagonally across his chest. The look of surprise and shock from the warrior told her he couldn't react. So with one swift strike, the warrior suffered a painless death as his head had dropped from the floor.
'Two.'
Blood dripped from Imai's blades. The thrill of killing people had once again returned. The excitement, the desire, the feeling, and the sensation altogether brought her delight and joy.
The third one suffered a harsher fate. Imai punched him in the gut causing him to fall forward a bit. Though that was enough for Imai as she grabbed the warrior's head forward and forced his head to be pierced by the blade.
"That was the third one. Are the rest of you going to watch or help your comrades?" Imai asked as she swiped her blades in the air to get rid of the blood.
The warriors were terrified of the monster that was in front of them. No, more like it was a demon coming after them. Her dull red eyes seemed to pierce past their souls.
Suddenly, the demon was right in front of him. For a split second, he could see the elegant movement of the blades that had attacked him.
"Huh?"
He didn't even seem to realize that his body and head were separated due to how he was mesmerized by the swordsmanship of Imai.
"In battle, never get distracted by the enemy. You are the fourth one." Imai said.
*WHOOSH*
A bazooka's missile was being shot at her. Imai quickly cut the bullet directly in half and covered herself in Armament Haki before the explosion could hurt her.
Applying haki to her feet, she appeared mid-air in between two warriors. Imai spread out her arms and quickly performed a strike that caused her arms to form an "X."
*THUD* *THUD*
Two heads had dropped onto the ground as their bodies slumped onto the ground.
"That was the fifth and sixth one." Imai said as she looked at the rest of them. "You guys are all next."
The warriors wanted to run, but they couldn't. They would rather die an honorable death than cowardly run away.
"Die!"
"You guys brought this upon yourselves…"
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder