Awakening

IMPORTANT: I have a new story, It's called Game of Thrones: Corvin Blackwood. So if your a fan of GoT, check it out!

===

August stumbled into a cave, his body broken and covered with wounds from head to toe. After his fight with the Centipede, he was forced to fight dozens more beasts of the same calibre before he managed to find some shelter.

As he slowly disappeared into the darkness of the cave, his body gave out and he stumbled onto the cold hard cave floor.

'This place…It's familiar.' His eyes were slightly swollen, but he could see enough to recognise the familiar surroundings. Or maybe he was hallucinating?

The strange feel of deja vu that settled in his body disappeared one he finally realised the resemblance.

'The mines…'

Back when he had just transmitigated into August's body and gained his memories.

Body broken and beaten, tired, exhausted, on the hard cold floor of the mines.

The situation he was in was almost exactly the same.

'No…' He shook his head. Things were different now. Now he was strong, a proud member of the Revolutionary Army. He had defeated all the enemies in his path no matter how strong or outclassed he was.

He was no longer a slave, but someone who freed them. Their positions couldn't be further apart.

He had come so far from the days of working in the mines in his small undeveloped body. He didn't give up then, he wouldn't give up now.

Using the last reserves of his strength, he placed his palm on the cold wet floor and shattered the area above.

Chunks of rock began to fall down, sealing off the entrance to the cave.

With the entrance sealed he might be able to survive the night. He was too tired, he needed sleep. He would heal his wounds in the morning and everything would be alright.

Closing his eyes, he fell asleep immediately.

=====

(30 days later)

"Argh…I'm so close, I can practically feel it!" August exclaimed, wiping the remains of another animal of his fists.

As he sensed movement behind him he swerved around and moved his foot in a crescent shaped arc.

"Shatter Storm!"

The kick formed a blade of air covered with Shatter energy that beheaded the 2 of the 3 flying animals on their way to him.

The last one stayed in their air, moving in erratic patterns as he got close to August.

"Shatter bullet!" August flicked his index finger against his thumb, creating a small bullet made of condensed air. Like all of his attacks he added his devil fruit powers which made for a deadly combination.

The bullet pierced the skull of the final bird, finally putting an end to it's life.

He remembered Liam's words a few months ago, and after some deliberation he found he was in desperate need of a ranged attack.

In an environment where one wrong move could mean death, August didn't want to risk that and go up close and personal with every opponent he could find.

So while training to try and unlock Haki, he developed these ranged attacks to help him against these types of opponents.

If he pummelled the face of every enemy he could find, then he wouldn't know whether to call it training or madness.

While August was thinking, a tiger pounced behind him.

Before it's jaws could penetrate his neck, August spun around and sent his jaw off with a swiftly executed backfist.

Before the tiger could react, a sharp bullet pierced it's head, killing it instantly.

"Huff…Huff…" August took deep and heavy breaths. He had been at this for hours and by now he was exhausted.

The floor was littered with dead animals of all kinds of danger, giving the air an awful stench of death.

He wanted to move away lest he be sick, but the heavy smell acted as a way to attract more animals to his location.

He felt so close to a breakthrough. He was just one step away from fully awakening both types of Haki.

He sometimes felt the use of Observation Haki, but it was very inconsistent and only alerted him every once in a while.

Including this, he found that sometimes when attacking or defending, he was taking considerably less damage or dealing a lot more. There was an invisible armour around him at those times, he just couldn't see it.

Since he watched the anime, he knew these were the 2 types of Haki he was training for. Now all he had to do was awaken it. It was one step, but probably one of the hardest.

As he sat on a pile of bodies, catching his breath for the next fight, he felt an inclination to look up towards the sky.

The next moment he could barely tell what happened. The heat dropped by several grades, and all August could do was watch in horror as a large Dragon descended onto earth.

"What…the…fuck…"

Contrary to popular belief, the Dragon didn't use this opportunity to intimidate or show how much of a threat he was to August, he just started blasting.

*BOOOOOOOMMM*

Sections of August's body and clothes were covered with burns and singes as he just barely managed to escape from the roaring flames of the monster.

He flicked his fingers, creating numerous shatter bullets, but all the attacks did was irritate the Dragon.

He charged up 2 bullets again, but instead of going for the tough red armour surrounding his body August decided to go for the most vulnerable place…the eyes.

*TING TING*

A metallic sound resounded through the air, and August realised it was the bullets bouncing off the Dragon's eyelids.

While the Dragon still had its eyes closed, August disappeared from it's spot, instantly appearing in front of the large beast.

He tensed his arm further, praying to whatever entity out there Haki would cover his fist.

*BAM*

His fists slammed into the tough plated scales, but no visible damage looked like it was being done. He pushed more Shatter energy into his fist, but the red plated scales refused to budge.

The Dragon shook his head like it was removing a fly, sending August away again, leaving him to ponder. As they stared at each other, August came to realisation.

'That's it! He's using Haki! That explains why the armour is so tough, it's coated it's entire body in Haki.'

The Dragon lifted it's legs off the floor, flapping its wings as he flew into the air. Once considerable distance had been made, The Dragon screamed at August and began flapping its wings in powerful thrusts.

A hail of air blades came raining down on him, creating cuts all over his body. August felt the pain of sharp stings all around his body. By this point, all of his clothes were shredded off and all August could do was defend himself while healing his wounds.

If the Dragon kept up his pattern of attack, then August would lose due to the stamina drain his healing cost him.

If there was any time to awaken Haki, then now was the time.

He kept his eyes closed, deciding to focus on the rest of his senses. That was the foundation of Observation Haki, relying on your senses.

Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on the area around him. He heard the raging sound as the dragon flapped his wings, the weak sounds of his skin being cut, the temperature of the surroundings.

He stayed like this for a few seconds until something happened. August felt a blade of air enter his range. Somehow, he knew it's size, its width, its trajectory, and it's angle. He knew everything about that blade.

As the blade moved closer, August tilted his body to the side, letting the attack pass by him harmlessly.

He felt another sharp object enter his range, and he repeated the process, moving his body to the side as the blade cut through the ground he was on.

He repeated this process, for how long he didn't know, only opening his eyes when the attacks ceased to exist.

When August opened his eyes again, he felt everything was different. Things looked the same, but he could tell things had drastically changed.

The Dragon opened its mouth to turn August to ashes, but August was already in the air by the time the pillar of fire hit the floor.

"I can sense it!" He said in glee, kicking the air even faster as he met the Dragon in the air. The Dragon flew down to meet August and swung it's claw at him while August did the same and attacked him with his punch.

The attack caused a massive blowback, and only then did August see that his fist was indeed black!

His fist was black, but one effect his body limit breaker had was that although his fist was black, the red reins were still visible on the affected part.

The Dragon was hit with a terrifying uppercut, sending it reeling back, but no apparent damage seemed to be done despite his new powerup.

He dodged another swipe from the Dragon, using the top of his claws as a platform to boost himself all the way to the Dragon's face.

'So his Haki is stronger than mine, that's why it does no damage. If that's the case…I'll remove that difference with my raw strength and devil fruit.'

He coated his fists in a larger concentration of Shatter energy and punched the Dragon in the snout. The attack seemed to have done the trip, as the Dragon let out a shrill scream.

He kept his fist on the Dragon, adding more and more force and energy as the plated armour started cracking despite it's black colour.

*SHATTER*

The armoured plates around the Dragon broke in pieces, but before he could capitalise on the advantage he was forced to jump up.

The Haki coated claw that would have ripped him to pieces passed through the open air above its head.

August narrowed his eyes. Now that he had pierced the armour of the Dragon, all that was left was to attack it again.

"Hehe…" Before he was struggling to keep up with the monster in front of him, but now he had the advantage.

'Haki is so overpowered.' He thought. August already had a good foundation with his devil fruit powers and physical feats, but the addition of Haki had considerably boosted his overall fighting ability.

He concentrated on his right fist as it turned into a pitch black colour. Now he had awakened Haki, all it took was some minor effort to use it.

Using Soru, he disappeared in a flash of speed as the Dragon shot it's breaths of flames at him.

The flames which slowly began gaining the consistency of magma followed him like the Plague, but he could now sense it. Things like projecting the trajectory or position of these flames came like clockwork to him, and it made it much easier to get to the Dragon.

"Shatter Blade!"

He summoned his weapon, getting closer to his opponent as he used all of his gathered momentum to kill the Dragon in one fell swoop.

*SHINK*

His concentrated blade of energy pierced the unarmoured part of the Dragon like butter. The Dragon's eyes rolled back, its mouth stopped shooting flames and it's body stopped moving.

"Phew…"

August stayed in the air as the Dragon rocked the Island with it's landing. Now that the thrill of battle was over, he finally had time to relish in it's rewards.

"I awakened it."

All his hard work had finally paid off. He had done it.