Chapter 1: The Brave Soul

Nami enters a village, asking himself if anything has changed since he's been gone for 10 years. While thinking about seeing his old friends, He's interrupted by a commotion.

A family is being harassed for money by a group of thugs. As the family cowards, a kid steps in front of them. He tells the group of bullies that he wouldn't give them a dime even if he had any. The leader of the group steps forward and addresses himself as Grim.

Grim tells the kid that his family will die if they don't pay them what they're owed. The kid addresses himself as Lucas and tells Grim that these people and this village are under his protection. The group laughs as Grim holds his palm towards Lucas. Lucas tells the family to get behind him as he extends both of his arms to shield the family from the impending attack. Grim smirks and tells the brave soul to disappear. Lucas closes his eyes and braces himself.

Lucas opens his eyes to see Nami standing in front of him. Nami turns to Lucas then kneels down in front of him. He tells him that he'll handle the situation. Lucas's eyes light up as Nami says this but then changes to fear as he sees Grim charging a ball of energy in his hand. Lucas yells for Nami to watch out. Nami's eyes darted back towards the attack. Nami elbows Grim in the nose. The energy blast shoots up into the air. While Grim recovers from the strike Nami gave him. Nami tells the group to stand down.

Grim laughs as he wipes the blood from his nose. Nami with a smirk patiently waits for the group to make a move. Grim tells the rest of his group to attack. Nami uses a flurry of flash steps on the group, disappearing. Nami reappears behind the group. Lucas looks on in shock as the group of 10 men fall unconscious. Nami asks if the family is okay and tells Lucas to look after his family.

Lucas with sadness in his eyes tells Nami that he has no family. Nami tells him that he can join him. Lucas's form changes from a human boy to a fox-like animal and he hops on Nami's shoulder.

Nami smiles as he starts walking further into the village. As he takes a few steps, Lucas tells Nami that their real name is Lucy making him her. Lucy then points to a strange energy coming from a distant forest. Nami looks to the distance then tells Lucy to hang on as he runs towards the forest.

As Lucy screams for Nami to slow down, A Shadowy Figure makes a run for it. Nami tells Lucy that The Shadowy figure is an Ender, A creature known to cause trouble in populated areas.

Lucy, confused, asks Nami if he's sure that chasing it is a good idea. Nami, with no signs of stopping, gives her a glance. Lucy buries her face into Nami's hair. Nami smirks as he suddenly disappears. The Ender looks behind it to see if Nami was still chasing it but then is suddenly met with a grinning Nami, blocking its path.

The Ender takes a stance. Nami tells Lucy to go somewhere safe. Lucy nods and encourages Nami to kick it's butt. Nami smirks as he rushes the creature. The creature tries to defend itself by throwing shadow sicles in Nami's direction, but Nami avoids the attack. The sicles create small black portal-like holes where they land.

Nami notices that they slowly spread and thinks to himself that getting impaled would do a lot of damage even with Aura Release. Lucy tells Nami that it's connected to the Ender. Nami apologizes to the creature as he disappears and reappears behind the entity with his hand covered in a black liquid.

The Ender falls to the ground, evaporating along with the black holes. Nami shakes the black substance from his hand and tells Lucy that someone modified the creature's power. Lucy questions why someone would do that.

Nami looks at the village and tells Lucy that someone was looking to turn this village into an experiment just like the other black zones in Absalon. Lucy looks at Nami as he walks off into the distance, then hops back on his shoulder. Nami smiles and tells Lucy that he won't let that happen. Nami asks if Lucy would like to go get food.

Lucy excitedly agrees and transforms into a human girl. Lucy tells Nami to come on as she pulls his arm forward. Nami smiles as he picks her up and tells her to hold on tight. They start to chant for food as he rushes off with Lucy in his arms.

In the air, a person floats, watching Nami and Lucy run further into a forest. They smirk as they say, you'll make the perfect vessel Nami.