บท 12: 12. BLACK SLASH.

Shogun.

Lord.

Ruler.

Governor.

The title given to the best or strongest.

Here I am. Right now. With the Shogun of Wano. Former Shogun to be exact, but meh, who cares. Just what did he eat to get this damn tall??

Oden wouldn't be Oden if it wasn't boiled. What is that, a premonition? Cuz if that's his catchphrase, then I'm seriously gonna be disappointed in Shoguns.

In any case, he's definitely a better candidate than that rat bastard who fools around with drinks and women all day. I can tell from his ki.

This guy is strong.

Very strong.

If cutting a wave in half didn't make me believe it, the power of his ki definitely did.

"AH! I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE YOU BEFORE BUT, YOU!! YOU'RE FROM THE KARASAWA FAMILY RIGHT??" He asked.

"You know me?" I questioned back.

"Well, we haven't met before now, but I know you're the second child of Karasawa. I was there for Ken's birth too! The Kozuki and Karasawa families have been close to each other for a long time, so I got to know about you when I talked to Mirai-san the other day".

Makes sense. But I was curious about one thing.

"If ya don't mind me askin old man, why were you dancing naked on the streets the other day? Did ya lose a gamble?"

His ki dropped suddenly and turned into a mix of anger and sadness. Guess I crossed a line.

"It's... I just felt like doing it..." He said.

"That's a lie but I'm not gonna ask anymore questions on that," I assured.

His ki went up again but this time there was a question from him.

"Hey kid, how'd you know I lied?"

Now I had no intention of lying to him. But ki would take way~ too long to explain and I'm not using my precious time that I could spend sleeping, on this.

"Just felt like you were lying," I answered.

"Your emotions say different though. Don't hide stuff from me kid! After all, I'M THE GREATEST PIRATE IN WANO!!!

Emotions?

There wasn't any lie or made up stuff in what he said.

"Old man... Do you know ki?"

"Hmm? Are you talking about haki?"

What? That sounds like ki with 'ha' before it. Are we talking about the same things? Ugh. It's at times like these you need a cigarette. It helps people understand each other. Maybe even some sake.

"What's haki?"

"It's the manifestation of the will. Giving form to your spirit. What's ki?"

"The ability to feel the life force of everything around you".

"WHAT!!! YOU ALREADY HAVE OBSERVATION HAKI?!?!"

I was surprised by his outburst. Well... Not really. Anyway, observation haki?

*One old man and a kid later*

"So that's observation haki huh?" I asked after finally understanding everything.

Though I was more surprised than I thought. Pirates knew ki. No. Not ki. Haki. The entire package of ki. Manifestation and observation.

They called it busoshoku haki and kenbunshoku haki (color of armament and color of observation).

I was wondering about the chaotic ki in this place but a lot of things were cleared up. But I still didn't get a lot of things. Pirates? Seas? One piece? The old man talked about way too many things, each of them too unbelievable to be true, and yet he hadn't lied once.

Apparently the world was a giant ocean with small islands in it and a huge ring around it called red line and there's some Roger guy and treasure and you know what? I'm done thinking about this.

I'm in an entirely different world. Well, after coming back from death, this much can't even faze me. But the other stuff he said, did.

He wasn't the strongest. That's that.

My clothes were still wet from messing with the wave so I hadn't put them on yet. Oden had disappeared before and brought us some fruits (A/N: mentioned in chp 9), and well we were eating them as we had our conversation. They were pretty tasty.

*munch*

"GAAHHHHHH" Oden screamed.

"GAAHHHHHH" I screamed to cuz I'd swallowed a fruit tasted like complete shit.

"WHY'D YOU EAT THAT??!?"

"WHY'D YOU GIMME THAT!?!!"

"THAT WAS A DEVIL FRUIT!!!"

I looked at the black apple with even darker spiral patterns on it. The interior was black too.

"Wait. What's a devil fruit? Am I gonna turn into a devil?"

Before Oden or I could say another word, information flooded my head. Dark magic. No a lot more. And, a voice.

"Free... Me... "

What? Who is this?? I felt someone whisper in my mind! What's going on?

"I... Am... Arkhos..."

...Arkhos?

"Inherit... my power... And RELEASE ME!!"

My body felt like it was being crushed under some kind of invisible pressure that got stronger with each word I heard from whatever was talking.

(A/N: Details in the previous chp).

The whispers died down soon enough but my confusion didn't. Like... WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED!?!? I CAN FEEL THIS STRANGE ENERGY INSIDE ME WAITING TO UNLEASH ITSELF ON THE ENTIRE WORLD!??!

I couldn't take it. There's too much pent up energy inside me!

I couldn't think straight anymore. I released all the energy. I swung my right hand around, towards the first thing I saw, like a katana and did a move I couldn't ever forget.

'[BLACK SLASH]'

*SHHIIIIIINNNG*

No. No. No. This isn't right. It's heading towards Oden!

*BOOOM*

Am I seeing things? Oden's arm turned a shining black, and he... Punched.

*BZZZZZ*

There was a second of clashing between the black slash and Oden's fist, but, Oden won. The black slash broke and dissolved into the air. The surroundings seemed the slightest bit darker than before.

"Oi!! What is that power!?! Show me that half-eaten fruit, quick!!!" He shouted.

I got out of my daze as I went back to the log I was sitting on and gave him the fruit.

"The Kuro Kuro no mi... This was in the devil fruit encyclopedia on Roger's ship. Oh God what have I done..."

I can't see what he what he did wrong. I need an explanation on how whatever's happening is actually happening, but why is he sad if I've got my dark magic back?

"What's wrong old man? Why do you look so constipated?" I asked.

"You don't understand kid. The fact that you ate this fruit means you've made an enemy...

...Of the sea".

End of chapter.