44 Saying Goodbye

That night Ori and Shaya were talking happily by a fire not to far from where Roman was sleeping.

"You and Roman really are close aren't you?"

Ori looked up at her strangely as he asked.

"What made you ask that?"

"When Hancock described how you acted when you saw how injured Roman was on Notice Island, she said she had never felt killing intent like that.

My father said there are 2 types of killing intent:

1. The type that was formed through constant killing.

2. The type that comes into fruition when the reverse scale of a dragon has been touched."

"Reverse scale of a dragon?"

Shaya nodded as she explained.

"Legend has it that dragon's scales are almost impenetrable, but each dragon has one scale that points in an opposite direction, that scale is their only weakness. As soon as their reverse scale has been touched, the dragon will see red and stop at nothing to kill the one who touched it. There is supposedly nothing like the killing intent of a dragon whose reverse scale has been touched.

From Hancock's description you sound like a dragon from legends and Roman is your reverse scale."

Ori looked back at Roman before replying.

"I don't know about that, but I guess you could say I rely on Roman quite a lot and the thought of him not being there…"

As he thought about when Roman was bleeding out on the floor, he subconsciously released a fearful killing intent.

Shaya put her hand on his shoulder as she forced him to sober up. When he looked up he saw Shaya smiling gently at him. The sight of her smile seemed to subconsciously calm him as he retracted his killing intent.

Seeing him stare at her like that made Shaya's heart race as her cheeks went red. She hurriedly changed the subject as she randomly asked.

"What made you decide to swear brotherhood with Roman?"

Hearing that Ori woke up from his daze not even realising he was staring as he replied.

"Since I was born, I've always been pretty clever for my age and as a result when I was younger I was pretty mature for my age. Roman's different he's always acted his age.

You'd think me being so mature I'd find Roman's immaturity annoying, but it was the complete opposite. For some reason whenever I'm around Roman I was able to act my age and I found it relieving.

It's like there's 2 parts to me. When I'm around Roman and it's just the two of us, I'm able to be this impulsive, free spirited child and I never feel more like myself. But then when we're training together against wild beasts, or just around others who aren't family, I remember that someone needs to be the mature one who's always thinking about the big picture so nothing bad happens…

I realised that part of me isn't naturally who I am, I'm not the type who likes to overanalyse the situation before I act. Even though that's not normally part of my nature, I am capable of it, or at least more so than Roman, so it's up to me to do that.

I'm getting better at not being that other person when I don't feel it's absolutely necessary but it's still hard at times."

When Shaya heard that she looked at Ori in shock, she never expected someone so young to be so conflicted.

[If he's not naturally that person but feels like he needs that person around, then I'll be that person for him!]

Ori looked at Shaya who had seemed to drift into her own world before lying back and allowing himself to fall asleep.

Walter who wasn't far away had clearly overheard their conversation.

[Ori, if that's not who you are then you need to find a way to abandon that part of your personality. As a king you shouldn't force yourself to be someone you're not, even if it is for the sake of a loved one. If you do you'll either lose track of who you really are or grow to resent those around you for being the reason of change.]

The next day, Ori spent the whole day revolving the Heavenly Demon Sacred Art to help his recovery whilst Shaya spent it continuing the training Mihawk left her to complete! Roman remained unconscious and Walter peacefully over watched the trio.

The morning after Mihawk and Marcus finally returned. When Orion saw them return he had his eyes trained on Mihawk.

[So that's the man who will go on to be the world's strongest swordsman?!]

As he thought of that he subconsciously released his aura and a strong war intent.

When Mihawk saw the child releasing his aura he couldn't help but smile subtly as he decided to play with him a little.

He allowed for his Sword Intent to surge forth pressuring Ori. The thing that caught Ori's attention was his footsteps. As he took each step his Sword Intent would surge forth with double the power of the step before.

After 3 steps, Ori was already struggling to stay on his feet. As he took the 4th step Ori was sent rolling over.

[So strong. Worthily the future world's strongest swordsman worthily the disciple of my father!]

Thinking to there he looked at up at the sky still in awe over those steps, as he muttered silently.

"Big bro Hawky's quite strong!"

Even though he was speaking silently, with their enhanced senses, everyone still heard him. Mihawk's eyebrows twitched as he heard how he was referred to.

"Big bro Hawky?!"

Ori sat up and nodded as he explained.

"My father is your master and as the saying goes "A master for a day, a father for a life time", since he's like a father to you and you're older than me you're my big bro!"

Surprisingly no one could refute his logic to that point but Mihawk asked with a frown.

"What about "Hawky"!?"

"That's your name!"

"No my name's Mihawk!"

"Yeah but Hawky has a better ring to it!"

Mihawk could see this wasn't going anywhere so he rolled his eyes. Suddenly a large figure appeared in front of him flicking him on the forehead forcing him back 2 steps.

"Ouch, what was that for old man?!"

"Old man?! You haven't seen me in almost a week and first you ignore me and then the first thing you say to me is old man?!"

With haki infused hands he flicked Ori's forehead once more sending him flying a few meters.

"Ouch, you know I'm still injured right?!"

"Injured my arse. You just challenge someone over 4 times your age and now you remembered you're injured?!"

"Ouch, I'm sorry…"

"That's better… Now follow me!"

After leading his son to a secluded spot, Marcus looked at him with pride in his eyes as he said.

"I'm proud of you for the way you handled yourself even if you did get your arse handed to you by a little Vice-Admiral. But you were a banged up, so I'll forgive you this time."

Hearing him refer to Kizaru as a "little vice-admiral" made him roll his eyes.

[You maybe one of the few people alive who's able to call someone that strong a "little vice-admiral"]

Marcus' voice brought him out of his daze.

"After me and your uncle Walter leave tomorrow, Mihawk will take all 3 of you with you to a certain island to finish your training. That's a place that everyone from both our family and the Gol D. family had to train before they were allowed to truly enter the world.

How long it takes you to finish your training is down to the speed in which you 3 progress. If it takes you 30 years then you won't finish till your 35.

Before I forget, your mum gave me this devil fruit to give you as a little goodbye gift."

As he said that he handed over a small wooden box before continuing.

"It's a paramecia called the Time Fruit, with it the user can affect the laws of time. Even though you've already eaten a devil fruit, you can give this to a member of your crew you trust in the future.

This is from me!"

As he paused he took out a small decrepit notebook before continuing.

"These are the notes of your grandfather, he was also the user of the wind devil fruit. He had taken his ability with the wind fruit to the apex gaining him the title Fujin (God of Wind).

Since you started training your swordsmanship your ability to control your devil fruit has suffered. Although you're a swordsman first doesn't mean your devil fruit abilities should suffer, you're a powerful logia, don't forget that!

And lastly, remember that whatever happens in the future, wherever you go… Both your mother and I love you dearly!"

After hearing that after tonight he wouldn't see either of his parents for a long time, Ori's mind went blank..

Even though he knew that they had to leave at some point it didn't hit him until just now.

[I took them for granted, I saw them every day for 5 years and got used to it. After today I have no idea when I'll see either of them again.]

Thinking to there he got on both knees as he kowtowed.

"Thank you for everything. I promise to grow into a man both you and mum will be proud of one day!"

Marcus nodded with a gentle smile.

"I believe you!"

That night Roman finally woke up allowing for Walter to say goodbye.

After a teary goodbye they all ate one last dinner together around Roman's bed. That night everyone laughed, ate and just enjoyed each other's company.

The following morning Marcus and Walter set sail with their boys seeing them off with tears in their eyes.

It took another 2 weeks before Roman had recovered to the point he was able to move freely and continue their training. Mihawk had the trio follow him to the island where they were to conduct their training the next morning.

When they finally arrived they all shuddered when they used their haki to feel the presences around them. From their aura Ori felt the strongest of which was equal to Kizaru from that night. Mihawk smirked when he saw their faces.

He lead the trio to the other side of the island which was surprisingly quiet considering the amount of powerful beasts that lived on the island.

"Welcome to the Land of D!

You will start from here and have to make your way to the position we entered the island from as that's the only way off. There are 5 layers to the island, each layer has several hundred beasts and a boss. The boss of that level is equal to the normal monsters of the following layer. With the boss of the last layer being about the same level as Kizaru.

I'll be staying here in the "primitive layer" to help guide you when you're not battling. I won't help you even if you're in trouble, you can only rely on each other from here on out.

When Master, uncle Walter and Roger took the test together, they set the record at 12 years."

Hearing that, the trio felt their blood boil and their competitive spirit ignite. Ori clenched his fists in excitement.

[This is the first step in my journey to becoming the True King of the Pirates!]