Chapter 9: Time traveling

Gabi who is now the badly injured old man, was in disbelief. He hurriedly looked around at the surrounding. A moment later, he saw the ship that belong to his pirate's group. It was already in shambles. Other than that, he didn't manage to spot any of the members of his pirate's group.

'F**k!'

Gabi silently cursed in his heart. At first, he thought to ask some of his subordinates to help him. Now however, the situation have changed. Not only their ship got destroyed, those subordinates are also nowhere to be seen. Even worse, another pirate group have arrived on the island, and already standing in front of him.

For a moment, Gabi's mind underwent a change and entered an accelerated thinking process. He was desperately trying to find a ways for him to survive. As his thinking process turned faster, he already considered several options.

First, he will continue to beg these new pirates to spare him, and help him to recover from his injuries. However, he doubt that he will survive with this. According to what he heard, his pirate's group already have a conflict with this new group. Thus, it highly possible for them to not help him, rather they may just go and kill him.

Secondly...well, there are no other options. Gabi suddenly become depressed. Adding to the pain from his injuries, it almost caused him to faint. No...I must not die. I just have gotten my ability...wait, my ability!

Gabi contemplated about his newfound ability. This ability seems to be able to send something through time. What if he send himself to the future? No! He have this feeling that he will die of aging. Then, what if he send himself to the past? Maybe he will turn younger? Although he might suffer the aging effect, it might get countered by the effect of turning younger.

For a time, the theory replayed in his mind, and it become more and more vivid in his mind, until he finally thought that this plan is possible. In addition, he could not think of any other plans. Thus, he convinced himself about this plan. Then, without any hesitation, he implemented his plan directly.

At the same time, Rex and his two new crews were looking at the old man in confusion. Did this old man got shocked after hearing that his pirate's group escaped, and abandoned him?

"Hey old man, are you alright?" Asked Rex.

"Time Glitch!"

"Huh?...wai..."

Just as Rex decided to check on the old man, the old guy suddenly used some kind of power. It caused Rex to feel a strong ominous situation. He hurriedly tried to stop the old man, but it was too late.

Pi! Rex vanished!

The instant the Time Glitch activated, it caused Rex to disappear into thin air completely.

Rokujin: Huh?

Yuwa: Huh??

Gabi: Huh?????????

Rokujin and Yuwa were in shock when they saw their new captain just disappeared without any warning. As for Gabi, he was the most shocked out of all of them. He froze at his place, while staring blankly at the ground where Rex was standing before.

What's going on? Was not it suppose to be me who will get sent through time? Instead of him, why was that person got transported? WHHYYY???

"What just happened? Where is Rex?" Asked Rokujin in confusion. He glanced to check his surrounding, but didn't see any trace of his captain.

"Ah! Look! Something is happening to that old man!"

Suddenly, Rokujin heard Yuwa's surprised voice. He then looked at the old guy and checked what was going on.

"Oh no! Ahhh!!"

Gabi who just used his new ability is now experiencing the after effects of the Time Glitch. His already old body hurriedly aged. His skin turned wrinkles, his grey hairs dropped down to the ground, and his injuries worsened.

After a few minutes, the guy laid down on the ground with a wide eyes, and dumfounded look on his face. His expression showed the disbelief in his mind and the unwillingness from the bottom of his heart.

As his condition worsened because of the aging effects, a flash of answer came to his mind. At the time when he activated the Time Glitch, he was holding on to Rex's hand. He felt that that is the reason why that youngster was the one being sent through time.

After realizing this, he regretted not releasing his hold on that guy. Yet, it didn't matter anymore, for his body already underwent the side effects of his ability. A few moments later, he breathed his last breath. Tragic!

"Did you see that?" Asked Yuwa.

"Yes."

"He just turned older?"

"It seems so."

"...and he died just like that?"

"That...is true."

The two looked at each other, and then looked back at the dead old man.

"What do we do now?"

"Erm... should we look around to find the captain?"

"Let's...do that."

After reaching a momentary plan, the two walked away to find Rex, leaving the dead Gabi as if his death doesn't matter to them. How tragic!

...

At this time, Rex who just disappeared was in a very difficult situation. Right now, he was experiencing a free falling, while also spinning and twisting in all directions. It was an unexplainable feeling, which causing him to feel nauseated and headache.

Though, this state didn't last for long. A moment later, he suddenly popped outon the same place where he stood up just before. The moment he came out, he dropped to his knees, and started vomiting.

Uhuk! Uhek!

For a moment, the sound of him vomiting can be heard, causing some small creature that happen to be nearby to be frightened. While vomiting, Rex tried his best to cope with the headache that was still remained in his head, caused by the time travel.

Two hours later...

Rex finally calmed down, and felt a lot better after resting for awhile. He also could no longer felt the pain on his head.

"Where am I?"

He glanced left and right to find out his current whereabout. As he looked around, he suddenly felt that the place was looking familiar. Although there are some changes in the scenery, he still able to recognise the rough outline of the surrounding area.

"No way..."

He have a hunch of his current whereabouts. To confirm his guess, he turned his head to look at the mountain side. Sure enough, he saw the V shaped mountain far in the middle of the island.

"I knew it! I really am on this island!" Exclaimed Rex. Then does it mean that he only got sent into some kind of space fluctuations, and then come back again at the same place where he was standing just now?

Rex was about to have a breath of relief, but suddenly remembered that he saw no one other than himself standing in that place. Furthermore, the scenery also already changed. The grass and the trees already grown tall.

Looking at the place where he docked the Tide Hunter ship, he saw no ship in that place. Instead, he saw a coconut tree was standing tall at that location. This made his heart tighten with worry.

"How? Did I just traveled through time?" Blurted Rex in shock. His instinct is telling him that that may really be the case. He then remembered that before he got into that unexpected situation, he heard that old man pronounce about 'Time Glitch'. He really got sent through time!

"Damn that old man! What's wrong with him? Why did he have that ability...no, why did he sent me time traveling? Is it grudge? I don't think I know him!"

For a while Rex grumbled and cursed that old guy, up to his seven generations. On the other hand, he felt that his luck become worse the moment he met the old guy. Why did he even try to care about that injured old man? If he knew this would happen to him, he will certainly not go check on him.

"Now, this is a headache. How should I find out which timeline did I traveled to? Past or future?" Questioned Rex. Though, he somewhat have this feeling that he got sent towards the future time. However, he was not sure how many days, months or years had passed since then.

Growl!

"Uh... let's just forget about this problem for now. It's time to find something to eat."

Rex then decided to enter into the forest to search for some fruits. At the same time, he was glancing around to find some wild animals to hunt.

...

Two weeks passed and Rex still didn't find any clue about the current time. During this two weeks, he already explored the most part of the island. He also build a small hut as his temporary home on this island.

Right now, Rex was standing at the seashore, looking at the distance place. His mind trailed off with some worries about his current situation. His worries are not about whether he didn't get enough food supply, or insufficient clear water.

He was worrying about the current time, and his mission of finding his brother, Ace. If the current time passed more than three years, it highly possible that Ace already got caught by the government. In worse case, he already got killed by that hateful admiral, Sakazuki Akainu.

Rex did thought about leaving the island to find some nearby mainland or town, so that he could find out the current time. However, he faced a certain problem. He can't swim! Worse still, he is not good at making any kind of ship.

"Sigh. If I only know how to fly, I can just flew away and leave this island." Mumbled Rex, regretting his own inability to get away from that island. "I'll wait for another week for any incoming ship. If there is none, then I will make a raft and sail out."

Rex tried to comfort his restless heart, and made up his plan. To ease up his worries, he let himself be absorbed in doing training. This time, he is decided to do a training that will allow him to fly on air.

As to how he could train himself to be able to fly, he tried to remember how those Chiper Poll agents were able to walk on the open air, and attempted to do it by himself. He further tried applying his Armament Haki while attempting to fly. To him, it should be easy feat to be able as he is already adapt with using Haki.

Then...the reality slapped him on his face!

He couldn't fly at all!

Rex stopped his training after several fruitless attempt. It was not just hard to be able to fly, it's also needed him to have some kind of medium to stay on air, and maintain that condition. Without any guide, Rex found it much harder to succeed.

"No. I must not give up. Otherwise, I have to wait for who knows how long to get out of this island."

Rex motivated himself to continue training. This time, he contemplated first on how he can create a stepping medium on air. If he could just do that, he should be able to fly without wings...no, he should be able to walk on air!

With that in mind, Rex started focusing his Haki on both of his legs. Then, he started to kick the air in an attempt to create a footing on the open air.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several wind shock erupted from the kicks. Those shock waves flew away like big bullets, hitting and breaking many trees in the distance.

No. This is not the right way!

Rex changed his way of hitting the open everytime he felt that it was not the right way. This act of kicking nothing continued for some times. If some people saw him did this, they might think that he have some screw loose in his head...

After doing the air kicking for half a day, Rex finally found the right way to focus his kick, and create a footing in the open air. This made him so happy.

"Hahaha finally! Now, let's try to run on air!"

He then jumped up as high as he can. When he was half way ascending up, he started kicking the open air according to the way he created the air footing. Then, he was delighted as he succeeded in jumping up higher.

In that moment, a maniacal laughter reverberated in the island, as the sole human on it run around in the air above the island!