4 Zumisha City

Deep within the forest came surges of noise, one after another, like the sounds of waves crashing against the ground. Of course, the noises came from none other than Lowden, who was currently testing his new Devil Fruit power. As he expected, he basically couldn't use them at all. When he tried to use Water Strike, his fist turned to water as he struck it out, however, he couldn't control it at all. What should have been a punch ended up as Lowden simply throwing water from his hand.

When he tried to use Water Slash, a similar thing happened, he couldn't control the size or width of the strike, resulting in it splashing off of the trees in front of him rather than slicing through them. The worst one for Lowden was by far the Water Beam though. Similarly to using Water Slash, he couldn't control the precision of the beam, leading to the exact same result as to when he used Water Strike, just throwing water in front of him.

He practiced each of his moves about 4 or 5 times before he began to take in the damage he had. Sadly, the damage he inflicted wasn't in his targets, the trees, it was instead on the ground. Something he didn't take into consideration when he begun practicing was the water that he would leave behind in his wake. The ground surrounding him had changed from that of a forest to that of a marsh! It was clear that he couldn't practice here any longer.

After apologising in his mind he left towards the exit of the forest, back in the direction that he cam from. Luckily for him, he first appeared in this world right next to a road, so it was clear that a town or village of some sorts was on this island. Arriving back at the site of the battle, Lowden noticed something extremely strange. The bodies that were strewn across the ground were gone, the only proof that a battle even occurred there was the blood staining deep into the ground.

Along with the missing bodies, the box had also disappeared. Lowden felt his heart sink in his chest, if the ones that found the box were Marines, then it was a situation that could be resolved. However, if the ones that took the box were the allies of the dead pirates, then he would be in a tough situation. Keeping these thoughts in his mind, he wandered onwards further down the path and towards the nearest city.

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Lowden had been travelling down the path for about 20 minutes with no village in sight at all. No civilisation anywhere. The only thing surrounding him was the same trees that he saw miles back. To Lowden, the entire island seemed to be an endless forest, threatening to swallow him whole if he stopped moving for even a second, but perhaps he was just tired, he had just went through a life changing experience after all. The excitement of eating a Devil Fruit was wearing off and the weight of his new reality was kicking in.

All of these factors led to Lowden making what would possibly be his greatest decision in the future. He decided to stop walking and take a rest. Moving off of the road, he walked just barely into the tree line, maybe 2 or 3 metres into the forest. He slowly sat down, resting his back against a tree. As the fatigue washed over him and the sun set over the horizon, Lowden slowly brought his knees to his chest and closed his eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

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["Hey... Hey... Are you okay?"] {???}

Lowden awoke to the feeling of someone prodding against his arm with something. Almost instinctively, he swung his arm at the object, sending it flying into the face of the person standing over him. At this point, Lowden could see the person that had woken him up clearly. It was a teenager, probably no older than himself. He was considerably shorter than Lowden and had black hair styled in a very familiar manner.

["Fuck... Ow, what was that for?"] {???}

["Sorry, it was a reflex. Are you okay?"] {Lowden}

At this, the boy turned to face him in a tough manner, only to realise that Lowden was much taller than him, causing the teen to back down a bit. The teen took a literal step back before continuing.

["I'm fine... Just be careful! It's not my fault, I didn't know what to think when I saw someone with their eyes closed in the middle of a forest!"] {???}

["Look, I'm sorry okay? It was purely reflexive, I didn't mean to hit it back at you."] {Lowden}

To Lowden continuing, the teen simply sighed before furthering the conversation himself.

["No, it's fine. Sorry, I didn't mean to overreact. What is someone like you doing sleeping in a forest? Are you not scared of Bandits?"] {???}

["I just stopped for a while, needed somewhere to sleep. I was looking for a place to stay but I'm new to this island."] {Lowden}

["New, eh? Well, I can show you to Zumisha City if you want? It's the closest one to here, it's where I live."] {???}

["Zumisha City? Sure, I would appreciate you showing me the way."] {Lowden}

["Zumisha City it is then! Follow me, its just this way."] {???}

The teen quickly stepped onto the road with Lowden following closely behind. After walking for a few seconds, the teen turned to Lowden and began to speak.

["That reminds me, I never caught your name."] {???}

["Lowden. Lowden. D. Opal. What about you?"] {Lowden}

The teens next sentence caused Lowden to stop dead in his tracks with his jaw almost agape.

["Lowden, eh? Me? There is nobody that doesn't know me back in Zumisha City! I'm the boss around there, hehehe. The name's Kuzan."] {Kuzan}