25 Passage of Time
VERY VERY IMPORTANT! IF YOU JUST WANT TO READ THE CHAPTER AND DON'T CARE OF HOW THINGS WILL WORK GOING FORWARD SKIP AHEAD
I'm back! It's been a long time since I last posted a chapter. I won't lie, this story is my first time writing, I started this as a way to try to test and improve my storytelling and after more than a moth I got to experience being an author and I liked it but it burned me so I needed some time to gather my thougths and decide if I wanted to keep on writing this story, after some time I got to a conclusion.
I will be starting my second year of university and I will have less time and energy to write so if I'm going to write I need to give my everything. Here's the part that some of you won't like. For the next two weeks I want to spread this story to other webs and I want to focus on my Patreon.
I want to make a deal with all of you, I want to uplad regularly on a schedule and continue this story forward but I need that you also put some effort into this. When I next upload I will have chapters ahead ready, if you want to read this chapters before they release you could help me on Patreon, for those that don't want or can't, the chapters will be release in a steady lapse of time so don't worry but I will also be giving to Patreons a lot of sweat extra things I have planned, this wont affect the main story so normal readers wont miss anything.
Just giving 1 dollar means the whole world to me, you can't imagine how happy this makes me, if by the time I release the next chapter things dont go well I will continue the story but it would be like it has been until now with the time between releases not being set in stone and some of my planed extra content not seeing the light of day.
So, please if you really like this story consider just giving Patreon a glance in two weeks, it really means the whole world to me. If you read all of this then I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
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patreon.com/Lofty967
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A beautiful melody flows in the air, a white haired boy, sitting on his knees, plays the shamisen with a smile printed on his face, before him, a little girl watches him with stars in her eyes while his older brother plays with a little wooden katana fighting against an imaginary monster with his mother carefully patching some clothes at the side of the room.
Months passed since the fight between Yasu and the bandit leader and things slowly became normal again with Yasu recovering from his grave injuries.
After the fight against the bandits, Yasu could feel it, his body had changed, hee had become faster and stronger, much more than he had ever been by far. Some nights he would sneak out into the woods to experiment with the flames discovered when fighting against Juzo, the bandit leader. The first couple of nights nothing happened, but after constant attempts Yasu was again engulfed by those mysterious white flames.
When covered by the flames, all the pain of his injuries would disapear and his body would harden to the point where trying to cut his arm with a katana made the blade snap in two like a twig.
He tried controlling the flames. The moment the thought of the fire moving to other parts of his body crossed his mind, the flames instantly crept around his body like they had a life of its own, gathering in the palm of his hand.
It felt natural to him, too natural for his liking. How the fire responded to his every thought without defiance as a limb long forgotten made his skin crawl. He needed to see the extent of this power so the next time he came prepared with a little figure carved out of wood as a target and a big bucket of water in hand in case things went out of control.
Placing the figure on a rock and putting some distance between him and the target. White fumes started briefly coming out of his back igniting shortly after being released, covering Yasu's back with a mantle of flames.
Raising his right arm and pointing his palm to the target, the flames quickly slithered towards his arm enveloping it like a snake creating a trail of flames connected from his back to his arm.
Focusing on a mental image of a torrent of flames shooting from his arm to his target, Yasu pushed his hand forward with a grunt, but instead of an immense torrent of flames, a tiny flickering flame on the verge of extinguishing was shot from his palm, hitting the target and disappearing into nothingness.
The first failed attempt, the first of many probably, it didn't matter, he would just try again until he accomplished it. Raising his arm and pointing it to the target, focusing on the mental image for some time before being quickly distracted by Haki picking something up.
In the place where the flame struck the wood a little trail of fumes rose quickly turning into a flame and swallowing the whole figure almost instantly in a blaze of white fire. Caught by surprise, Yasu picked the bucket of water in a panic throwing it into the mass of fire forming around the wooden figure.
When the water hit the flames it all exploded in a cloud of steam taking out the white flames with it leaving behind the charred remains of what was the wooden figure surrounded by a little radius of molten stone on the rock.
Relieved, Yasu sighed before taking the empty bucket ready to return to the castle. About to leave the clearing inside the forest, a wave of heat struck Yasu on the back, turning around, a massive ball of fire was right in front of him, burning with even more strength than before.
Yasu could only 'look' at the fire in front of him having completely burned the wooden figure to nothing more than ashes and quickly melting the stone. Somehow even after being extinguished, the fire had come back to life from nothingness.
He had already used all the water he brought with him so he had no way of putting out the fire again, like a disease, the fire spread to the grass surrounding the stone.
'Looking' at the fire one question pooped up in his head. If he could control the fire while on his body then why couldn't he do the same while outside?
Instinctively he reached out to the fire with his hand, clenching his fist making the fire instantly disappear with only the molten rock and its burned surroundings being the only testament that the fire ever existed.
Returning to the present day, the last note of the song he had been playing for Hiyori traveled through the air giving way for silence to settle in followed by the excited clapping of Hiyori and the gentler ones of Toki.
Turning his head to where Momonosuke continued playing Yasu finally spoke after a long time playing the shamisen.
"Momonosuke, do you know where Oden went?" He hadn't seen Oden since morning, Oden had left just the day before to dance at the village so he had no clue why he could have left.
Momo stopped playing with the wooden sword and turned to Yasu "He started crying and left when I showed him some newspaper"
Yasu tilted his head hearing this, Oden would always smile for others so for him to cry something must have happened. "Momo, could you show me in which direction he went running?"
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Finally, after walking through the forest, Yasu had reached Kuri's beach, he had been following Oden's scent thanks to his enhanced senses and Oden's scent wasn't especially hard to follow.
Oden was lying on the sand without moving an inch, Yasu could feel it, right now Oden was experiencing a storm of emotions, from the greatest of joys to the most crushing sadness. By the way he was breathing he had probably been crying for some time.
Without saying a word, Yasu got right beside Oden, letting the fresh sea breeze crash against him, neither of them said a word with Oden just staring into the sky.
After some time Oden broke the silence.
"What is your dream Yasu?" That question was the only thing that came out of Oden's mouth, a question that he already knew the answer.
"Haven't I already told you many times?" Despite asking his own question, no answer came from Oden and again no word was uttered.
After some seconds in silence, Yasu sighed "I just want to experience everything the sea has to offer, get out of Wano and explore every Island I plant my feet on, I want to be free"
Shifting his gaze toward Yasu, Oden remembered one conversation he had with his captain and close friend.
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"WHAAAAAAAAT!!!!" A chorus of voices screamed into the air followed by the screaming voice of Oden "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE DYING!!!??"
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I don't have much time left to live!!" Oden's captain and one of his closest friends, Gol.D.Roger, burst out laughing after casualy dropping the news of his nearing death to most of his crew between laughs.
"Why are you laughing!? You're going to die!!!" Buggy, one of the two kids on board screamed angrily at the captain of the ship.
Again, the question was met by a joyous laugh "Why wouldn't I? I lived a really good life after all! I visited many places, met a lot of people and had many adventures with you guys!" Even when talking about his death the joy in his voice didn't disappear.
"But you're going to die!" The red haired kid next to Buggy screamed.
Placing a hand over the straw hat of the red haired kid "I don't mind, everyone dies at some point, there's no way to avoid so if I'm going to die I will do it with a smile on my face!" Roger said while tears ran down the kid's face covered by the straw hat. "Also!!...I won't die at all!!"
All the crew that didn't know of their captain's illness looked at him with hope after hearing that last part including the two kids before him, waiting for what their beloved captain had to say, hoping for a miracle, after all, if they had to define the man that was their captain they would say miracle worker.
Lifting his index finger and with a giant smile plastered on his face, Roger explained what he meant
"As long as people hunger for freedom and keep on dreaming I will not die!!"
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Roger's after saying that still echoed in Oden's head. Looking at the back of the kid he picked up with him from the capital, the figure of his old captain appeared in his mind overlapping with the kid.
'I see' Looking at Yasu he finally understood those words 'There's still a little more than twenty years left but I guess adding my little grain of sand won't hurt'
Getting right up into a sitting position, Oden looked at the endless ocean before them.
"I've decided!!" Oden screamed in excitement making Yasu turn to him with a puzzled expression. "I will teach you how to read!!"
And just in a second, the confused look in Yasu's eyes changed as if he had just heard the stupidest thing ever "Oden-san, you remember I'm blind right?" his tone didn't hide in the slightest Yasu's disappointment.
"This is no regular language!!" Throwing his hands into the air Oden explained with excitement in his voice "I will teach you to read and write in a language long forgotten to time that only us, the Kozuki Clan and a few others can read! It's usually carved on stone so you'll be able to read it!"
Getting fully up, Oden pointed to the ocean before turning his head again to Yasu "There's a hundred year gap in history, you won't find any record or information about it anywhere, and outside of Wano it's considered Taboo to just know about it.
No record remains to this day except for a few carved stones we the Kozuki Clan spread around the world. These monuments are called Poneglyphs and they hold the truth to what happened in that hundred year gap in history."
Placing one hand on Yasu's shoulder and lifting the index finger of his other hand, Oden continued speaking in a serious tone.
"Yasu, I want you to promise me one thing, when you go out into the sea I want you to find these poneglyhps, read them, discover the truth of the world and when you have the full picture I want you to come to your own conclusion. I need you to promise you will do it"
Gulping loudly, Yasu gave a nod, the truth of the world was promised before him and his very soul couldn't let go of that burning feeling spreading through his chest.
"Then it's a promise... I'm betting on you"
