40 The path forward

After Vlad said that and saw Kipset walk back towards the shack, only Aerius, Inorra, and Robert remained, standing right beside the shack back wall.

Turning to look at Aerius, he said, a bit annoyed. "Little guy, do you really see me such a monster? How could you treat me as such, even after feeding you?" *fake-sob* "You even sold me to the old man and I couldn't take him by surprise to win the fight."

Hearing that from Vlad, especially the sobbing, Aerius looked down, a bit guilty, and started approaching him.

"Boss, you know that wasn't my intention. How could I ever think of selling you? Aren't we best buddies, the mighty gryphon king and the Vermilion King?" Said Aerius while looking at Vlad, who was sobbing slowly with a worried face.

But when he entered Vlad range, the sobbing stopped, and instead of the sobs, he started laughing evilly. Then a large white hand reached for him, grabbing him as if he was a cat.

Raising the little gryphon to his face, he stared at the small guy with his dark-green eyes. Suddenly he picked his sharp and long ears as if he was a bad child.

"Brat, I'll let you go this time because old Nius is part of family. But when I turn again in that state, I don't want you to tell everyone what I can do and not do. Do you understand?"

Then Nius come to the rescue. "Lad, let my little friend alone, he most likely was worried for you. Just as you were worried for him when he drowned."

Aerius nodded his head and struggled from Vlad's hands, trying to jump on Nius's body. But when he saw that Vlad didn't give up on his hold, he said.

"That's right, I was worried, because you turned inside the temple in that form and you were really scary."

After hearing that, Vlad's eyes turned softer and lessened his grip while placing Aerius on his shoulder while saying. "I understand. Then all I can do is try to train in that energy and don't get consumed by it."

Seeing this, Nius chuckled a bit, but when he saw Inorra trying to escape towards the shack. He only said in a friendly manner, as if he was the neighbor grandpa next door.

"Hey Inor, come here for a bit."

Still, with the idea of escaping, he only heard a loud snort as he took another step. Turning to look at Nius, Inorra asked, a bit fearful of him.

"What for, old man? Do you by chance want to take revenge for the fact that I started a bet against you?"

"Heh, don't worry about that and come here." insisted Nius while chuckling a bit at Inorra keen instincts

"No way, I need to help Vlad with his food. You're for sure scheming something there, old man." continued Inorra to not do as asked.

Nodding his head, Nius strolled towards the Inorra and Robert. At the same time, Kipset also arrived with a wooden plate full of different food. Robert was still shocked by the sparing he just spectated and wasn't bothered by Nius approaching him, but Inorra's tanned skin started to turn pale when seeing Nius move towards him.

He was already cornered by the shack back wall and could only scream like a little girl when seeing Nius's large hand moving towards his head.

Touching the boy's head and patting him a bit, feeling that Inorra relaxed a bit, only that his feeling lasted mere seconds. Nius gripped a bit harder the boy's head and said with an upset tone.

"Boy, if I tell you to dance, you dance. Hmph, you bet against this old man. What about now that I'm the winner. Ahem the moral winner."

Feeling pain coming towards his head, Inorra yelled, panicked and in a pathetic tone. "You're petty, old man. So what that I bet against you, is not like you lost something? I'm the one that lost, for god sake."

"That's what you deserve, big mouth. I'm glad Kip is much smarter than you. He did well to bet on me winning. Good job Kip, you'll have to treat me later." said Nius while giving Kipset a thumbs up and smiling at him.

"Thanks gramps for the kind words." said Kipset humbly while giving Vlad his food.

After dealing with Inorra and Kipset, Nius turned towards Robert, a fresh face to the old man. "Ohh, you're new around here. Come here lad, tell this old man how you got in this shitty situation to be a slave."

Getting back from his shock, and when hearing the old man's warm tone, he got towards him and only felt a large warm hand. It held the same feeling as when Robert's teacher patted his head. He answered the old man's question without missing details.

"Well, sir. First of all, I'm called Robert Voss. I'm from a kingdom called Antulum Kingdom that is located in the Grand Line somewhere close to Water 7 and Enies Lobby if you know about them.

To be short with the story, when going for a diplomatic mission that my family sent me, the ship I was on onboard was raided by a group of pirates. Later they sold me to an auctioning house. I don't know precisely where since I was blindfolded most of the journey. However, they seem to have sent me to this kingdom that I don't even know where exactly it is, old man.

"Poor kid, those underworld scheming snakes seem to have got their hands on navy ships or made deals with them to transport people around the Calm Belt. Wait, those imbeciles didn't even tell you the name of the kingdom that you're currently in?" turned Nius to glare at Inorra, who made a face of "Ahh, I forgot to tell him that."

"I forgot, old man. Stop hitting my head. Auch, gentler, please for the name of the Sea!" started Nius hitting Inorra on the head for a repetitive time.

"Learn at least that kid, how can you not tell this poor child where he drifted to. Robert right? You're now in the Kaysang Kingdom of the South Blue. I've also heard of your kingdom and its sceneries, but to be honest with you, I didn't have the chance to make a visit and see for myself how special the views are there.

But worry not, child, you'll get at one point back to your family, that's one thing I can assure you. So don't lose faith in yourself and follow Vlad's example and not this chatterbox next to me. Now, if you excuse me, can you leave me and Vlad alone? I promised to tell him some things, how can I face him if I pretend nothing was said."

Happy to hear Nius say that, Inorra quickly left and entered inside the shack, followed by Kipset and Robert. When Robert entered the hut, he heard Inorra curse the old man under his breath.

"Hmph, stupid old man, just wait some years, and you'll surely lose to Vlad in a devastating fashion. What are you laughing at Kip, do you want a fight?"

"Hah, you sounding as a jest again, but when Vlad started to turn dark, with his hair also whitening, he looked to be closer to the old man, at least in swordplay. But is clearly that old Nius is stronger then Vlad in the other domains. Sigh, don't start a debate with me, go take a nap. Have you forgotten who always won in our spars already?"

After hearing Kipset say that Inorra was stuck, not knowing if it was better to respond or keep quiet. In the end, he chose only to give a snort and go lay down on his bed.

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While the three boys got back inside, Nius was looking at Vlad that was eating again, with a great appetite for what he got on the plate. In contrast, Aerius got a bit of saliva on his beak. After shaking his head, the little gryphon let Vlad focus on eating without butting his head on his plate.

Suddenly he had some blood flowing from his nose for unknown reasons.

"Sigh, it seems that if I similarly don't have control over the blood powers. I would just harm my body, if I keep pushing a lot of blood on single point, especially the head section."

However, as he ended saying that, this blood loss suddenly stopped, and weirdly enough, even the blood spilled from Vlad's sword started to gather slowly around his body. When touching his body, the blood seemed to disappear like magic.

The first thing Nius thought when seeing that was.

'This might be another ability of his devil powers. If later he can master or even get the hang of the blood powers, together with haki and those dark energies, he would be a total monster. The founding king really made a smart move in investing his assets in this generation of descendants, where the original Vermilion would die and be replaced by such a person who only deserved respect for his capabilities. Ancestor, I might sound like a traitorous bastard to the Vermilion line, but having this boy, compared to a snot-filled kid that couldn't even probably wipe his ass. For someone who couldn't even survive and get killed like how he did, it tells me plenty of his mental abilities.

'I might be wrong, but from what this guy told me, it might be true. Compared to an unstable kid who can't tie his shoes properly and having me do all the work, having an experienced ruler to be by my side as I crush the parasites that are the nobles, I can't ask for more.'

'He could hang around 35% of my power while not having control of his powers, which is already impressive for someone who only received his devil powers for one day.'

'Ahh, Lucius, you might curse this person for taking over your son, but he's at the same time your son. Me personally, I'll treat him as a grandson of mine. Nevertheless, the boy got your body trait's and surpasses you in the scheming department. The ancestors probably knew something about this moment, so I'll not doubt them and give all my support to him.'

He already knows everything that had to needs to be known. The only thing he needs is what route to take when moving towards Sagletius, and if the other kids want to become marines or pirates to what route they should take towards Valent. What he needs more is time. He has too many things on his shoulder to prepare to be the stellar ruler of each generation of Vermilions. '

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Looking at Vlad, he smiled widely at him. Waiting patiently in the cold breeze of the night for the boy to wake up, Nius started gathering the information that could be useful for Vlad later on his journey forward.

After 10 minutes, Vlad finished eating all the food on the plate, which gave him visible change. The paleness on his skin recovered, while the weight he lost looked to be something imaginary that didn't even happen.

The first thing he did when finishing eating was to look at Nius and say. "Did you got prepared the information about the outside of the camp?

Suddenly as he ended saying that to Nius, his body started doing a revolt on him. The reason? Most likely, it was because his body muscles got torn so many times in the fight with Nius that when they started healing, the load was too much for them.

The pain started to spread around his body. His muscles spasmed like they were alive, while his heart was also beating madly to keep up with his spasm. Instead of remaining on his feet, he dropped down as if a thunderstrike struck him right in his head. Still, he continued talking from his position.

Aerius also followed along and jumped from Vlad, getting in a better spot to sit.

"Argh, my body hurts so much that I feel like I was being stung by a swarm of bees. Fuck me. It hurts so much that all the tortures those guards did on me is garbage when compared to the pain I feel now."

Feeling that pain, he also started remembering the sensation he felt when fighting the second round with Nius. The power the dark energy hold was tremendous, but at the same time, he also risked being influenced by it. Then he remembered the feeling he had when his will manifested outside his body in a dark-red shockwave. When he did that, he started humming in a happy tone all of a sudden, taking Nius by surprise.

"So that's how this power works, it goes according to my will. Thanks a lot, old man, but I still have a lot to improve with myself. I'm still weak, but there's a lot of room for improvements. I'll come back to ask for a real match after some more years of training."

Hearing that, Nius could only chuckle and say with a smile on his face.

"You're still young, Vlad, well, at least taking into account this body of yours. What you had seen from me is the fruits of an entire life of training, and don't get the wrong idea. I've been training in Haki for 14 years so far. While my progress now has been slow, I don't slack one day.

Anyway, I'll tell you about what to look after when you're breaking out. I'll talk while you'll listen quietly from where you are. All the questions are asked after I stop talking. Got it, lad?"

Gritting his teeth from all the pain his body was going, he said with a hiss. "Fine, I'm all ears while I'm dying here of pain."

"Hmmm, from where to start. Right, I'll go with that. Look lad, if you don't want to be caught and put on trial, you'll need this information. When you exit the camp, you have two paths that lead to different locations. The shortest one is the path leading towards the Valent City, which is a base of operation for the marines. This is the safest path you can take, also. If you want to earn some money being a marine pays well. Maybe you might be lucky, or the other boys. Try telling them about this option before you guys break out."

"This path towards Valent follows a river that discharges on the South Sea, so only by following the river. You'll reach the port city, Valent. After that, all is set in stone, do whatever you want with your life."

"The second path of escape is a bit hard to follow. It is before the crossover, the spot where you can go towards Valent or Sagletius. The way towards Sagletius takes longer. However, once you are inside, you'll no longer have to care about the followers. Especially if you follow the path, I tell you.

If you choose to go towards Sagletius, you'll have to move through a quite tricky forest to pass and get towards Sagletius without getting lost. But to be sure that you're following the right path, people kind enough marked trees with red ropes on some branches, so only by following that you'll know that you're in the right direction. Once you've passed the forest, you'll see the walls of the Sagletius from a distance, especially the Royal Palace looming over the entire plains.

You probably will understand more about the capital city if you go there. It is not like it would even take you long. Search for some taverns and ask people around. Sure enough, there would be some drunkards to tell you what's going on around the city."

Breathing out from all the talking, Nius looked at Vlad. He, after he reached the finishing stages of his narration, was on his butt and listening to him with interest in everything he seemed to say about his choices. Not long, Vlad asked Nius a question.

"What's like inside Sagletius? Could I find there that fat inbred bastard to take my revenge?"

"You're already done from all the spasms you had on your muscles?" asked Nius, a bit surprised to see that he got back from lying on the ground shaking all over the place.

"Hmph, my muscles tore down too much in our spar, that time I spent lying and spasming was more like a healing process that my blood did to heal the damage done. It's annoying to wait around this time, while only being on the ground." replied Vlad, a bit annoyed about this change.

"Right, at least your muscles will be even stronger now, but I digress."

"What was like in the capital? Let me think a bit, kid. It's been a while since I last was there myself. The city is separated into three parts, and each of them is connected to the Royal District. So the flow of people is well organized and monitored. It is quite hard to pick a fight there, kid." laughed Nius dryly like he swallowed something by accident.

Still, he continued by saying. "Each part is designated for different classes. For example, there's a specific zone for the nobles and wealthy people of the kingdom or commoners. In this zone, the commoners and merchants are living their life, with what they know to do, from constructions to gambling or even if you want to taste women, you can find it there, boy.

And lastly, the zone you'll reach when following the path I tell you about when escaping is designated for those like you. Unidentified people, escaped slaves or pirates, criminals, thieves, prostitutes, weapon traffickers, human traffickers, is quite a sad place when I think about it. Sigh, well, that's most of it, kid. You better take care of yourself if you go there. I don't want to hear when I'm looking for you that you hit the dirt before this old bag of bones."

"No problems, old man, thanks a lot for your information, I will think a lot over my approach on this capital city Sagletius before escaping, and also the boys included. I don't want to babysit them around until they get themselves a family."

"Oh, also Vlad, you should take care of that kid, Robert. He might be helpful to you in the future. He's a noble bred. It's unlikely that he doesn't know something to do from all the occupations going around. If he knows medicine or navigation, you really struck gold with the boy in the long run. He's a good child from the interaction I had with him while you were unconscious."

Then Vlad, who already formulated some plans for Robert, only responded with a smile. "Come on old man, do you think I will let that little boy who's of noble birth alone? You're mistaken, he will stay with me and advise me on what choices of political things I should do. And when he's older I'll place him on the throne of Autulum."

"Hoh, that's big planning my prince, but we don't even know what's the situation on the other kingdoms, especially the Grand Line. Technically we're a backwated kingdom in the South Blue, one of the weakest seas along with East Blue." replied back Nius while stroking his white beard with a contemplating face.

"This will change once I get to run things in the kingdom. This idea that southerners are weaklings will also shift to other places. Hmph, tell me gramps, are you and me that weak? Are Gif, Vem, Ramoth that weak? I think not, so you're overthinking a lot. Maybe we don't have an army of thousands of people but this is resolvable once I start my reforms. I will create such a strong army that I will strike fear in all of those Celestial Fuckers."

Giving a laugh that sounded a bit evil, Nius smiled slightly and said. "With how things are moving forward, my prince, you'll become something that would shake this Great Pirate Era, together with those bunch of bastards attempting to find Pirate King Gol D. Rogers treasure. One Piece.

"Didn't you mistake his name? Wasn't it Gold? That's what I've heard from the slaves and prisoners, that the Pirate King was called Gold Roger. What's with the D?"

"How should I know? Maybe it's a clan of people that are scattered in the world." Replied Nius with a blank face, as if didn't know what was going on with the D."

"Well, do you think this treasure holds such importance that people would go crazy over it?"

"Who knows, but we can't say that this treasure of the Pirate King isn't something that we might not need for our kingdom. Maybe it is a powerful weapon capable of mass destruction, but for real, who knows. It can be anything."

'Anything? A way home? Sigh, funny thinking Vlad, but lets be real, I'm stuck here, so I better live my life properly in this second life of mine.'

Nius also got up from his sitting position while patting his dusted butt and prepared to take his leave. However, before taking his leave for good, he said to Vlad.

"Well, we can debate all day about what's inside the Pirate King treasure, but that's not even important right now. I'll take my leave since I got nothing else to tell you.

Your haki will awaken with time, it's not something that I simply can share with you. It's like a bottle of wine, with time that same bottle of wine after standing in a cellar for years it will get a richer flavor. That's exactly how our bodies work in regards to this power, time makes it better. Remember to get used to those new powers of yours, especially that dark energy. What you got from the fight with me is just the tip of an iceberg that its inside of you. Train more, and you might unlock other utilities of your powers. Now, if you excuse me, lad, I'll take my leave for good, have a nice night."

"See you tomorrow gramps." Said Vlad while also heading toward entering the shack together with Aerius, who was on his shoulder as if he got prepared to sleep right there.

'Heh, little guy, did you got bored by my conversation with the old guy? But, it's fine, I understand you're just a kid right now.'

He spotted the three boys inside their bed. Surprisingly Inorra was staring silently at the wooden roof. Robert seemed to go to sleep, while Kipset was murmuring something under his breath. Nodding his head, he went back to the table and took a seat by the window. Looking at the clear view of the moon, he started contemplating the changes he went through the fight with Nius and also the information he received."

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Time passed, and it was midnight inside the camp. Most of the people were asleep, but somewhere in a shack, lit candles were seen by the windows. Inside the hut, it could be sensed a tense atmosphere brewing around.

An old voice in a cold tone got heard inside the room at last. "Three more years, guys. We only need to wait three more years before we start our final counterattack. The lad we placed our suspicions is indeed our lost prince, Vermilion Vlad, don't ask me on details. He took the identity of Zagreus not to make others suspicious of him.

I confirmed the information is 100% accurate. I even spared with the lad, in just some years he will become a freak, he has some problems while controlling his powers, but in rest, he's in excellent conditions. Even his Conqueror seems to awaken slowly. He needs some push from certain individuals before he'll fully awaken that ability. Our chances of taking back the kingdom from the traitors' hands are getting closer to sure victory.

Also, the boy knows everything that needs to be known about the kingdom situation. I told him about our situation, and as I predicted, he will not run from the fight. We'll meet in the future in Sagletius to start the ending to what was started by the traitorous bastards.

I'll test the boy again in 3 years. I hope he will give me the best gift in my old age. Now, guys, you should also prepare. Gif, Vem, and you Ramoth, while the boy is gone, you'll train with me in secret. I'll teach you properly how to use the power described by Lucius, as it should be used."

With the old man ending, saying that the atmosphere exploded, with the three adult men yelling in a murderous way, even the collected Vem wasn't left out. The spirit in their bodies reawakened slowly with the confirmation of Nius.

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[author]

A/N: Some quality conversation between Vlad and Nius. What Nius thinks of Vlad. Also, this chapter summarizes the path Vlad will take, and what might he stumble once arriving there.

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