Chapter 66

A/N: Sorry for the slow updates, everyone. It's a rather busy month. I wish a day had more than 24 hours so I have more time to write. I have midterms next week and I'm focusing on studying for it. Anyway, cheers! Thanks for reading!

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In the end, the Royal Aces were successful in dealing with Blackwood Island. The island was a burning and broken mess due to the combined relentless assault of Ace, Hepha, Terzo, and the Ashen Dragon.

Currently, they gathered on the beach where they first landed. Everyone was accounted for. Vash fixed up Teach skillfully. Although, Teach still had trouble walking straight due to the amount of blood he lost.

The locals that Soma encountered accompanied them. They stood in front of the crew. Ace scrutinized them with a scowl, mostly because they looked eerily familiar to him.

"Soma. These are the locals?" Ace asked.

"They are," Soma answered. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, there is," Ace said before raising an accusatory finger at them. "You guys look eerily like Wendigos!"

"They do," the rest of the crew who saw the Wendigos with their own eyes chimed in.

"They're not monsters, Ace," Soma said. "They're people!"

"Who are you?" Ace questioned the locals.

To those who haven't seen the Wendigos for themselves, it would look like Ace was being paranoid. But, he wasn't. The only difference between the Wendigos and the locals, as far as Ace could see, was that the locals had hair on their head.

The locals didn't look offended at all. Instead, they spoke to Ace with a slight bow.

"We are Husks. We exist to feed. Bound to our duty, never freed."

"Feed?" Soma noticed how the locals introduced themselves.

"Here, the Wendigos must be kept," the old man that Soma first met said. "All for a world that never wept."

"You guys kept the monsters here," Mihar said, translating their words into simpler ones.

"You feed the Wendigos?" Ace asked. "With what?"

Although they haven't answered yet, Ace already had an inkling as to what the answer is.

"No food grows on Blackwood Island. Our flesh is a blessing, so grand!"

"...you sacrifice your people," Ace said. "You feed those monsters with your own flesh and blood?"

"Precisely, that is what we do. It has been that way, long time too!"

"No food grows here…? How did you even survive?" Soma asked. His fists were clenched.

The locals of Blackwood Island were silent. They hung their heads in shame.

"...you eat your babies," Ace said, taking a wild guess.

Their silence was all the answer he needed.

Then, the locals went down on their knees.

"Yes, we are no longer human. Our greatest wish, to die as man!"

The locals touched the ground with their forehead, groveling at Ace and his crew.

"Grant our wish with your great power! Free our souls, divine flame and fire!"

Ace was stunned by the strange behavior of the locals. If he understood them correctly, they wanted him to burn them alive. They were begging for death.

"Ace…"

Ace turned around. His crew was waiting for his orders. He looked at each and every one of them before coming to a decision.

"All hands, prepare for departure!"

"Aye, Captain!"

The Royal Aces, except Ace, started boarding their ship. They all had a tacit understanding. They knew what Ace was about to do. Once they were all aboard, Ace turned to face the locals.

"Is this what you want?" Ace asked them.

"...yes," the locals said, breaking their strange speaking pattern for the first time.

Truthfully, Ace was actually inclined to kill them. They said so themselves. They were no longer human, both in form and in spirit. Giving them what they want is the kindest thing he could do to them.

Ace reared back his fist. Eri wanted to watch what was about to happen from the ship, but Mihar turned her away.

…

"They didn't even scream…"

Soma was looking at the vast sea of the Grand Line. The moon was already high up, casting the dark waters with a luminous white glow. Stars dotted the sky, illuminating the cloudless night.

Despite the beauty of the sight, Soma was distracted. His mind was still glued on their last island. He wanted to feed them, seeing their horribly malnourished bodies. It was his duty as a cook to do so…

Soma was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't realize that he wasn't leaning on the Ashen Dragon's railing alone. Hepha stood beside him, drinking a bottle of sake. She said nothing and just accompanied Soma in silence. 

When Soma finally noticed her, his first reaction was a tense jerking of his whole body. But, he didn't say anything. Eventually, he just relaxed and accepted her company.

All the while, Hepha was sneaking glances at Soma's reaction to her presence. When she finally saw and felt him calm down, that was when she spoke with a small smile on her face.

"I'm hungry," Hepha said. "Would be nice to have something that could go along with my booze."

Hearing her words made Soma want to laugh. Of course, he didn't show it to her.

"Fine, fine. I'll see what we have," Soma said before walking off to the kitchen.

While Soma was within earshot, Hepha spoke again.

"You're a good kid, Soma."

Soma almost froze at her words, slightly faltering in his steps. Then, a small smile found itself on his face.

"Tch. I don't wanna hear that from you, damn woman!" Soma said, but it lacked the usual venom whenever they argued. He resumed his walk to the kitchen to cook something for Hepha and the rest of the crew.

…

(DAYS LATER)

Just as Ace said back at Blackwood Island, the Royal Aces were sailing towards Karakuri Island . Thankfully, Blackwood Island was one of those islands that didn't take long for the Log Pose to set.

The Royal Aces went about with their own agendas on the ship. Hepha was busy in her forge with the ridiculous amount of Ebony she brought back. Doppol, or in this case his Doubles, were organizing the crew's treasure room. 

Enel was standing on top of the crow's nest meditating, training his Mantra. Inside the crow's nest, Augur was doing the same. Ace suggested that he focus more on Observation Haki to make his sharpshooting skills as well as his Devil Fruit more powerful.

Most of the Royal Aces were on the ship's deck training. Ace wanted the crew to get stronger. He won't always be there to protect them, after all. Training during their free time would benefit the crew a lot in the future.

Terzo was training with Teach. Teach was much more powerful and experienced than Terzo when it comes to fighting and Armament Haki, so he was showing him the ropes.

Soma trained with Vash. Soma had a blindfold on as Vash walked around him with a wooden rod to bash him. In this way, Soma trained his Observation Haki and pain resistance while Vash trained applying Armament Haki to a weapon.

Mihar was being trained by Ace himself. They were doing the same training Vash and Soma were doing to awaken Mihar's Observation Haki. However, instead of training his Armament Haki like Vash, Ace was training his Devil Fruit. 

Ace was manipulating fire to act like the arm that would bash Mihar with a wooden rod. He had one of his arms raised to do this as he just sat down to relax with Kotatsu as his back rest and pillow. The big cat didn't look uncomfortable at all. In fact, Kotatsu was purring contentedly.

Lastly, Eri was training with Tanya. Looking at them both warmed Ace's heart as well as made him want to laugh. Their age gap was the same as his and Luffy's. It was like looking at the past for Ace as he watched the stern Tanya train the bubbly Eri.

"C'mon, Eri! You can do it! 80 straight push-ups!" 

Tanya encouraged Eri to complete her set. Everyone was surprised when they witnessed Tanya do 100 proper push-ups without breaking a sweat. Her thin and frail-looking stature betrayed her surprisingly strong body. She was only a few levels weaker than Ace and Sabo when they were at her age.

"78…! 79…!"

Eri was shaking uncontrollably. Her face reddened at the effort she was exerting. Her clothes were wet with sweat from the strain of doing the exercise. But, she pushed on.

"80!"

Eri plopped down on the deck with a thud after completing her set. Ace and Tanya started clapping at Eri's accomplishment. Hearing them clap, the others stopped what they were doing and clapped for Eri as well before going back to their routine.

"Great job, Eri!" Ace commended Eri's effort to encourage her and make her feel appreciated. "Only 20 more to go!"

"Y-Yes, Captain!" Eri shouted from her position. She didn't raise her head to talk to Ace out of sheer exhaustion. "Y-You remember our promise, right?"

"Of course!" Ace was serious when he said he would train Eri. She was just a child. Mihar may be her guardian, but as Captain, Ace is responsible for her safety. He wanted her to be strong.

"What promise?" Tanya looked at Ace with the inquisitive look on her face that the rest of the crew got used to as they spent time with Tanya. The unbelievably mature ten-year-old girl had a bad habit of being nosy.

"I promised Eri that if she could do a hundred push-ups, sit-ups, and squats in five minutes, I'll personally train her," Ace said.

"Interesting," Tanya said, putting a hand under her chin as if in thought. "What do you plan to teach her?"

"I'll teach her how to fight, of course!" Ace said proudly. "A strong body is wasted if it doesn't know proper fighting techniques!"

"Huh?" Tanya raised her eyebrow at Ace as if she was looking at someone stupid. "Isn't that a waste?"

"What do you mean?" Ace asked. He wasn't offended at all at Tanya seemingly question his decision.

"She has a Devil Fruit," Tanya said matter-of-factly. "Shouldn't she focus on that first?"

"You know what her Devil Fruit is, right?" Ace asked.

"Of course," Tanya answered. "The Return-Return Fruit. Her power makes basically everything twelve years younger."

"Exactly. But, she needs to touch them first," Ace said. "To do that, she needs to get up close and personal. No one would let her touch them once they knew what Eri's capable of. She needs to learn how to fight first to use her power effectively."

"Good point, but you're forgetting one crucial thing," Tanya said, about to refute Ace. "Devil Fruits can be trained, too."

"That's right," Ace said. "But my point still stands. How will she train her Devil Fruit if she doesn't get an opportunity to use it on her opponents?"

"Ahh. I see what you think now," Tanya said. "You have no idea how Devil Fruits work, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Ace was curious. Tanya seemed to know something.

'Is her knowledge one of the reasons she Awakened her Devil Fruit so quickly?'

"I was hoping to ask you guys more about something I've been so curious about since you're all from the Blue Sea," Tanya said. "Wait here. I'll go get it."

Ace watched Tanya run off to somewhere in the ship, presumably her room. She was beaming in excitement and wonder. Ace knew Tanya enough to know that what she was about to ask is most likely somehow in the realm of science.

It didn't take long for Tanya to return to the Ashen Dragon's deck where Ace was. She stood in front of him and gave him what looked like a ruined book. Most of the pages were torn and blackened. The cover itself was barely holding on. It looked like it barely survived being burnt.

"...I swear, that isn't me," Ace said apologetically.

"Huh?" Tanya seemed confused for a moment. She then looked at the book and a look of realization dawned on her face. "Ahh. You were joking. Well, in case you aren't, I'm not blaming you at all. This book was already like this when I found it three years ago."

"What is it?" Ace asked, curious to know what the ruined book contained.