Chapter 4

Ikari, Bepo, and Law ran into the woods. Ikari easily navigated the forest filled with thick trees. They rushed without looking back afraid that they might see a pirate following them.

Soon, they got out of the forest. Ikari and the others panted heavily as they were now in front of the dojo. They went inside and saw a middle-aged woman wearing a pink yukata.

"Mom, I brought a guest." Ikari presented Law. "He'll help around the house."

"You brat!" Sakura glared at the boy. "First, it was a talking bear cub. Now, a human kid... When did this dojo become a nursery home?"

Ikari poked Law with his elbow. "He'll clean the dishes." he promoted.

She smacked his head. "You go do the dishes." she arranged the table with the help of the shivering polar bear.

Sakura sat down after setting the plates down. "Now, tell me what is your name?"

"I'm Trafalgar D. Water Law," he said loudly. "Nice to meet you, ma'am. I'll pull my weight around here and not free load. I'm great with household chores and I have medical knowledge."

She waved her hand. "First things first, don't call me ma'am, alright? Second of all, call me sensei. You can do the dishes for all I care and you'll be staying here as my student, understood?"

Law nodded. "Yes, ma—, sensei..."

Ikari was done with the dishes, he placed the food on the table and sat down next to his mother.

"Now, tell me what happened to you? You look sick and pale..." she said with a frown.

"Um... I came from flevance..." he noticed that their eyes didn't change at the mention of the word and sighed in relief. "The place where I hail from has a resource called amber lead. When it was known, the citizens were filled with happiness.

"It was valuable, and they dug it out to make money. The world government and the royal family of flevance knew of its importance and the disease it carries.

"It was fine buried, but when dug up. They are poisonous. My father was a doctor, you see, I learned medical knowledge from him. When he knew of the disease, it was already too late.

"My generation never lived past ten years old. The royal family fled with the help of the world government. And warned their people too late as it was passed down to us.

"My father tried finding the cure. But it was too late, my sister died, mother and father also died. The neighboring countries blocked our path and they massacred us thinking it was contagious. But it was not.

"I fled with the help of the corpses. Cora-san then, helped me find doctors and a hospital but they turned us away. Then he got information that a certain devil fruit can cure me if I somehow eat it.

"He stole the fruit meant for the pirates but he fed it to me. I followed Ikari and Bepo as Cora-san said. I think that he confronted the pirates as I got away." he sobbed and drank a mouthful of water in between his storytelling.

They continued to eat in silence as the story that Law told them was sad and tragic. Ikari thought that he was miserable enough but Law's life story made his life a fairytale.

Sakura glanced at the boy and her eyes were filled with sorrow at his life. "Take a rest. You had a long day. Bepo, clean the dishes. Ikari helps the poor bear."

"I don't need your pity." Law stared at her. "Measly chores can be taken care of me."

"I pity you. You're just a child. You're not meant to shoulder this burden." Sakura said sternly. "Go to sleep and rest... It will cool your head."

Law sighed and did as he was told. He glanced at Ikari and Bepo and saw Ikari gaze back at him who only nodded.

After washing the dishes, Ikari wrapped the sword at his waist. He took out the note written by Corazon. He clenched it and made his way out of the forest.

Arriving near the clearing, Ikari looked at the port and noticed that the pirate ship was gone but replaced by a marine vessel.

He silently walked towards it. As he was about to climb up. He saw a head looking down at him. A second later, he saw that a figure was beside him.

"What are you doing here, kid?"

Ikari saw a wrinkled woman with white hair in a ponytail. She had a marine coat draped on her shoulders.

"I have a note, I was tasked to deliver it to a passing marine," Ikari answered truthfully. "But there was a pirate crew earlier so I waited until they left. And here I am."

"I am Vice Admiral Tsuru. You can hand it over to me." she offered her hand.

He decided to trust her as she had no reason to lie about her rank. "It was from a man called Corazon..." he handed the rolled note.

Tsuru unfolded the paper and read it. Her eyes widened at the note. "Che– With this I can finally imprison that damned Doflamingo!" she looked at the kid that handed the note, and she ruffled his hair. "You saved a country from being enslaved. Remember that you did a good deed today." she smiled.

Ikari watched her back as she jumped on the ship. 'I saved a country... Well, I did a good deed after all.' he smiled at the thought.

...

The next day, Ikari woke up at dawn with a renewed vigor. He started his day by running around the dojo, forest, and the outskirts. After a full rotation, he took a nice hog bath and relaxed his tensed muscles.

He wore his today's yukata, a black variant with white curled waves at the bottom. Ikari wore it waist down, and let the sleeves hang down. He wrapped his red jittoku haori around his waist.

He didn't forget the new sets of weights, as Ikari grew. The weights increased to a couple of tons. He wore a ton of bracers on each arm and leg. Also, wrapped a ton around his waist to even out the weight distribution.

Weight training helps him surpass his limits. Ikari knew that only overcoming his limits will strengthen his haki reserves.

He unsheathed his Rain Moon Kitetsu. The handle was wrapped with black bandages. The edge and the body of the blade are white with blue waves among them. Embodying the rain and moon scheme.

Admiring the katana for a minute, Ikari started his training routine. He faces a nearby tree separating them by ten meters of distance. Since he got a new katana, he tried changing his and its temperature.

It withstands the burden of the heat and cold. 'As expected of a great-grade sword' he muttered. Imbuing the katana with hardened haki and extreme cold.

Ikari dashed towards the tree intending to cut it down in half. "One sword style: Rain and Moon Absolute Zero!" With the sword coated with haki and absolute cold temperature.

The tree was cut down in half as its trunk had a glacial effect from his devil fruit ability. It had its temperature sucked by the sword, and it had ice around it.

Ikari surveyed the tree that was just cut down. Ice could be seen forming near the slash. He looked at the sword and it also had ice forming near the handle towards the tip.

He returned the temperature to normal. Ikari noticed the ice spots disappearing. But the tree still had a frozen effect. 'I can manipulate the target's temperature. I can either freeze them to death or scorch them dry by the heat.' he grinned at the destructive nature of his devil fruit.

"If only I could manipulate my environment. What a pity, I still need to practice until I become efficient with the sword and devil fruit combined attack."

Ikari went back to the field and did various drills and forms. From slashing to thrusting. He did it a thousand times each. He did the training session with haki still imbued on the sword.

"I'm still weak... Next will be a flying slash... I'm still weak... Next will be a flying slash..." Ikari repeated his today's mantra while performing his routine.

At this point, Bepo and Law woke up. They noticed Ikari swinging his sword while shouting words. "Is he always like that?" asked Law.

Bepo scratched his furry head. "Yeah. The captain always practiced his swordsmanship every day without fail."

"Why are you calling him, Captain?" Law noticed Bepo referring to Ikari as captain.

"Oh, I'm his first mate." Bepo smiled shyly. "When we're old enough, we'll sail out to the sea. Captain wanted to go to wano to avenge his father. While I want to visit my hometown."

Law contemplated his words, he went towards Ikari. "Hey!" he called out.

Ikari didn't look back and only answered. "What's up?"

"I heard that you want to be a pirate," Law asked.

"Oh, Bepo told you..." he thrust his sword. "Well, I'm planning on sailing once I'm powerful enough and of age. Wanna join me?" he stopped and stared at Law. "I don't have a doctor yet, you can help me with that." he smiled.

"If I join you... Will you be joining my battle? Even if it's someone stronger than you?" Law clenched his fist as he remembered what Corazon said.

"Of course! You're my crew mate." Ikari lifted his sword to the sky. "I, Uzuki Ikari, vow to join Trafalgar D. Water Law's battles now and forever!"

Law widened his eyes. "I, Trafalgar D. Water Law, vow to uphold Uzuki Ikari's goal with all my life now and forever!"

Ikari and Law smiled at each other as they fist bumped. "Bepo! Come here! Meet our new doctor of the ship."

"What's our pirate name, captain?" Bepo inquired.

Ikari scratched his chin. "Hmm... We'll be known as Moon Pirates!"

They all laughed together at their new name. It would seem that their journey just started.