While Izan and his wives were boarding Defying, Luffy and the rest just arrived at the Headquarters."Father, what happened? I just saw Izan and his crew leaving." Luffy was confused as he thought that his father would invite and speak for a while with Izan. Luffy couldn"t phantom what had happened.
But, that didn"t mean Garp wasn"t confused. He could already guess something. "Dragon, did you try forcing him?" Garp understood his son well enough to guess how Dragon would act towards others.
Dragon lowered his head as a sigh sounded out. "You are indeed right, Garp…" Dragon shook his head slightly as he continued speaking. "I did underestimate him way too much. I could clearly guess his worth and potential, but I ruined it by underestimating his personality." Dragon couldn"t help but to blame himself, it was evident that Izan would reach far, even further than himself. Yet, when Dragon saw someone so young and Izan being weaker than himself, he couldn"t respect Izan and talked down at him.
"Humph!" Garp snorted as he narrowed his eyes slightly. "This is where your personality is wrong too. You can never accept anyone unless they are beneath you. And that is why someone like Izan would never make an alliance or even hear what you have to say." Garp understood much more than Dragon, Garp isn"t young any longer and he has been through very much. Garp had fought against the strongest people of his era, Shiki, Roger, Whitebeard and many more.
"You aren"t any better, Garp!" Dragon coldly gazed at Garp, he was thankful of Garp for betraying the Navy, but he still felt hatred towards Garp for killing his twin brother. "Choosing the Navy and the World Government instead of you family, you believed those sc.u.mbags, but you didn"t even listen to what me or Dragan said back then!" Dragon yelled at Garp as his fists were clenched.
Garp stopped for a good while before he sighed while lowering his head. "It was my fault back then, that I can"t deny…" Garp gritted his teeth as he continued speaking. "That was why I betrayed the thing I have followed for all my life, that was why I tried raising Ace, Sabo and Luffy without telling them to become marines. I allowed them to do what they wished for and I would even sacrifice my own life if it could help them."
"But…" Garp"s voice turned cold as he slowly raised his head, his eyes turned sharp as he gazed at Dragon. "I will never forget what had happened either. When the Throne War begins, I will do my part. I don"t wish for grat.i.tude or anything, what I want is revenge. Revenge, they used me as their dog, I will show them that I was a tiger that they raised…!" Garp slowly turned around and started walking away.
Luffy wanted to walk towards Garp, but both Sabo and Ace stopped him while shaking their heads.
On the Defying.
They had just arrived on Defying, yet Defying let its sails loose and caught the wind and sailed away from Baltigo, the Headquarters of the Revolutionary Army.
"Defying is getting more control of the ship and its intent is starting to shape. It truly is fascinating as only a selected few items manages to create an intent and a soul." Jiutian explained with one eyebrow raised. In her long life, she had only seen three examples of a weapon or a tool managing to manifest a soul, and this would become the fourth one. One of the ones she had seen was Izan"s scythe.
"Jiutian, what benefits would Defying get if its soul and intent becoming stronger?" Robin asked as she cupped her chin as she tried to gaze around the deck.
Jiutian released a smile as she started speaking. "If it has stronger intent, it would be able to get a better control of the ship. An example is that Defying can now control almost every detail of the ship and sail as it listens to what we speak of. And, if it manages to get a stronger soul in the future, means that it will be able to create a manifestation and use it to make a body." Jiutian"s smile was gentle as it thought how good it would be if Defying was able to make itself a body.
"A body?!" Robin and Nojiko asked with their eyes widened slightly. Robin asked with a shocked expression as she hadn"t heard of any ship managing in making a body. Whereas Nojiko asked as she was thinking of something, Nojiko glanced at Izan, a defeated expression appeared on her face as she whispered. "Hopefully it isn"t a female…"
Perona managed to hear what Nojiko said, she raised her eyebrows as she summoned two ghosts which seemed to spin around her body. "Why shouldn"t it be a female?" The ghosts Perona made stopped behind Perona, Perona sat on the ghosts comfortably as she let out a yawn.
"It should be a girl." Robin nodded without thinking much of it, she saw the confused expressions, therefore she explained. "Defying is such a cute name, it would be very fitting for a girl." Robin couldn"t help but to feel everyone watching her with pity. Robin didn"t know that everyone pitied her because her sense of cuteness was far from normal…
"Cough cough, I would rather want Defying to be a girl. Husband deserves the best things." Hanc.o.c.k shamelessly answered. Hanc.o.c.k still hated males, she could barely stand it when she was in the room with Dragon and the male Commanders of the Revolutionary Army. The only ones Hanc.o.c.k accepted in her heart was Izan and his wives. After having been a slave, her sister dead and her Kingdom in ruins, the only warmth Hanc.o.c.k had left was Izan. Therefore, Hanc.o.c.k tried her best in not allowing any males in the crew, as she wouldn"t ever be able to rest.
"Sister Hanc.o.c.k is right, Dear deserves pretty females as his wives!" Perona had slowly but surely changed her mindset, her eyes see only Izan. She would do anything if it can help Izan, Perona didn"t mind sharing Izan with the others as her priority was to please Izan.
"Pft…! Hahahaha." Izan couldn"t help but to laugh at the quirks of his beloved wives. A beautiful smile appeared on Izan"s face which surprised everyone. Hanc.o.c.k and Perona started blushing as they would lose themselves whenever Izan smiled. "Defying will shape itself into a human when it is strong enough. We shouldn"t speak about Defying when it can"t even refute or speak back at us. We owe Defying for helping us in our travels, the least we can do is to respect it and allow it to shape itself into whatever body it wants to." Izan was a calm person at most times, Izan did want to conquer his enemies, but over the pa.s.sage of time, Izan"s thoughts had changed slightly. He wanted to be strong enough to protect his wives in the Real Universe.
If they had stayed in the One Piece world forever, then Izan could protect his wives no matter what. As Izan was closing up on at the strength of an Emperor of the Seas. And, it wouldn"t be long until his strength would be on par with them, surpa.s.sing them, and surpa.s.sing everyone on this planet. It would only require time for Izan to defeat them all now. But, Izan had his eyes set on the Real Universe, and he knew that the worlds he would be travelling to would only be stepping stones.
"Izan, where are we heading off to now?" Jiutian asked as she peeked a glance towards the horizon.
"There are few paths to the New World, travelling beyond the Calm Belt, or through Fishman Island. The safest for us right now should be travelling towards Fishman Island." Izan didn"t think much of it, he would take the safest route as of now while they would recover their strength and continue practicing themselves before they arrive in New World.
Izan wasn"t afraid of the opponents in the New World, as he was on the borderline of being as strong as an Emperor, while his wives would be weaker than most Commanders of the Emperors, but not too far away from their level of strength. Izan wanted at least his strength to be on par with the Emperors and his wives being able to contend the Commanders.
Defying sailed on its path forward without worrying about anything else. Izan, Jiutian, Nojiko, Robin, Hanc.o.c.k and Perona went inside as they were going to eat some food. It would take them two days before they would arrive above Fishman Island, and they would require being able to sail downwards towards Fishman Island which was 10 000 meters below the surface.
The moment everyone went inside, something appeared on the deck of Defying. Not even Jiutian or Izan were able to sense it while using Haki. IT was an ethereal figure which seemed to change its shape every second. "…" A whisper sounded out from the ethereal figure, but no one could hear it. "…" It tried again to whisper as it changed its shape countless times. "…" It tried once again before the ethereal figure vanished into nothing…