บท 88: Rose Of Darkness

On the deck of Defying, after Izan's body was caught and laid on a chair, Jiutian turned towards the others. "No need to worry, nothing bad happened to Izan."

"How can you know that?" Perona asked as she gazed at Izan without blinking.

Jiutian sighed before she answered. "All of you might know, but Izan's scythe is very unique, only Izan is able to wield it and the scythe itself has a mind of its own."

"A mind of its own?" Hancock asked as she narrowed her eyes slightly. It was indeed very unique if a weapon had a mind of its. "What you're hinting forth is that Izan's scythe made Izan unconscious, for what reason then?" Hancock could guess simple matters like these, but the reason was still hidden.

"Because the scythe doesn't think that Izan is ready for what is going to happen during the war, Izan's current progress of mastery in wielding his scythe is at Master, this might be impressive in this world. Yet that doesn't mean that Izan can move unhindered everywhere." Jiutian tried to explain what had just happened, she could wake up Izan from his current state, but Jiutian knew that she would get a backlash from so because Izan's scythe was more powerful than most could think.

Robin nodded, she turned towards Nojiko, Hancock and Perona. "We as well must become stronger, we can't let Izan do everything by himself in the future. If we can at least deal with Admirals during the war, then that would mean there would be less enemies Izan has to deal with. We must practice our own strength and teamwork."

"I agree." Nojiko agreed without a moment of hesitation, she would never allow herself to be weak. She didn't want to be someone Izan has to protect from any small threats, Nojiko wanted to be the one that could help Izan if he required it. "If we can lend our strength to Izan then that would be for the best…"

While they were all talking, Izan was in front of the man in black while holding his scythe tightly.

"You are weaker than I thought." The man in black didn't hesitate to mock Izan as he stood there gazing at Izan without any care.

Izan didn't reply, but his body vanished as he appeared behind the man in black and swept his scythe towards the man's neck. Izan would never step back after being mocked, even if his opponent was a god, a saint, a devil and anything in between. Izan's goal was to conquer everything, if he couldn't face his enemies, then he could just give up with his goal, his dream would mean nothing if he was afraid of fighting someone stronger than him.

"Really rude, aren't you?" The man in black vanished from his spot, he appeared a few meters away as he gazed at Izan with an indifferent expression. "Don't even try it, you can't kill me with your puny skills. Are you holding a stick or a scythe? Because I can't even see the difference, you are just using your weapon like a stick, humph…!" The man continued mocking Izan.

"… Don't you dare…!" Izan's facial expression changed, he squinted his eyes as he coldly glared at the man in front of him. Izan's face darkened slightly as he started spinning his scythe around and around. "Mocking me is one thing, but mocking my scythe is another thing… This scythe has been with me since forever, I will not allow anyone to mock it. I might not be on par with your strength, I could even die fighting you, but none of those things matters, because I will fight till either one of us is on the ground if you dare to mock my scythe…!" Izan sprinted towards the man in black once again.

What Izan didn't notice was that the man had a faint smile on his face as he blocked Izan's attack yet again. He flickered his hand and a scythe like the one Izan was holding appeared. "Then fight me!" He yelled out as he slashed towards Izan's neck.

Izan blocked the incoming attack while he narrowed his eyes, he could see that the man in black had around the same strength as him and his speed was slightly faster. But knowing this Izan wasn't happy at all. "Why are you restraining yourself…" Izan asked in a deep voice.

The reason Izan didn't use his power of Law or Conqueror's Haki yet was simply because he couldn't use them here. But Izan wasn't afraid, that was because even if he had to face people stronger than himself, he wouldn't lose that easily.

"I am restraining myself because I want to enjoy this fight." He replied to Izan without a change in his expression.

Izan rushed forward once again and clashed with the man.

Clash after clash, the two continued fighting for a very long time. Izan was breathing heavily as he could barely stand up on his legs, yet his eyes were calmly gazing at the man in front of him, studying his every move.

For some reason, the more Izan fought, the more his body seemed to get stronger and more familiar with his scythe. But those matters weren't important for Izan right now, what was important was to continue fighting, in hopes of winning a losing battle…

Izan fought without any care any longer, several injuries appeared on Izan's body as he couldn't stop all the counter-attacks of the man, yet Izan didn't even flinch when he got cut.

Time seemingly passed by swiftly, Izan was almost kneeling, yet his sheer willpower didn't allow him to fall or kneel. The ground was dyed in red of Izan's blood. But, it was at this moment that Izan started laughing, his laughter sounded out throughout the entire place which shocked the man slightly.

Izan was holding his scythe as he slowly raised his body, his muscles were aching, and blood gushed out from his wounds. Izan's laughter stopped when he finally gazed at the man in front of him. "Darkness shrouds anything and everything, and a rose has thorns that can kill anyone…" Izan smiled faintly as he continued speaking in a calm tone. "A rose of darkness would be the deadliest weapon if used correctly. Isn't that right, Black'Rose?"

A smile crept on the man's face, if people saw it correctly, they would even see that he was happy and enjoying how Izan called him. "Indeed, a black rose can be the deadliest of the weapons if used correctly…" He nodded as he bowed slightly towards Izan. "Master…" While Black'Rose was speaking, his figure was shrouded in a darkness which no one could see.

As the darkness was disappearing, Izan's scythe turned completely black. Izan tried to stare at Black'Rose's body. When the darkness went away, a man in his twenties appeared, he had long black hair which was in a pony tail. His eyes were darker than Izan's eyes, and the robe he was wearing was black with hints of redness in it.

"It is really nice to be finally awaken and meet you again…" Black'Rose spoke in a calm voice, yet Izan clearly saw that how excited he was right now.

"Indeed…" Izan let out a soft smile before his eyes went dark and he couldn't feel anything.

Black'Rose gazed at the vanishing Izan with a genuine smile. "I hope that you will be able to defeat your enemies. Use me, your scythe, to your heart's content, for when you are ready like in the past, we will show the entire world of the deadly black rose that can kill anyone…!"