Chapter 21: Reach the Heavens

Zoro was training like a maniac at the training grounds, swinging his two bamboo swords at training posts like a beast.

Panting heavily, he was suddenly approached by a silent Koushiro.

He was holding Wado Ichimonji and Zoro could feel it in his bones, something happened.

"Koushiro-sensei, why are you holding Kuina's sword?" Zoro gulped.

"Zoro... Kuina, she fell down the stairs this morning." Koushiro said flatly.

"W-wha? What happened to her!? How is she!?" Zoro started hyperventilating.

Koushiro shook his head and Zoro's eyes dilated.

"I have to get big bro..." Zoro sprinted out of there instantly.

Near the outskirts of the village, Tyr who was swinging his sword smoothly, yet quickly, sensed Zoro's aura who was panicked.

"Hmm? What happened? Did he perhaps get a lucky win?" Tyr chuckled and Zoro appeared. Sweating profusely.

"T-Tyr..." Zoro caught his breath and Tyr sensed something was wrong.

"Breathe, what brought you here in a hurry?" Tyr frowned.

"Kuina! She... She fell down the stairs and Koushiro-sensei didn't tell me how's she doing!" Zoro said in a panic.

"What!? Come on!" Tyr grabbed him and flew towards the dojo.

"Koushiro, what's Kuina's status!?" Tyr busted through the sliding doors.

"Tyr..." Koushiro acknowledged his presence and he looked at the floor with an unconscious Kuina.

"She broke her neck. And she isn't waking up." Koushiro explained.

Tyr sucked in a cold breath. He immediately inspected Kuina's vitals and reflexes.

"Kuina! KUINA! You promised! We were going to fight for the number one spot!" Zoro screamed and the other disciples held him back.

"Zoro! Calm down! Kuina's vitals are still steady. And her reflexes are intact. Not for long though." Tyr clicked his tongue.

"Koushiro, do you trust me?" Tyr locked in and he nodded.

"I need to bring Kuina to a place where she can get treatment." Tyr thought of Punk Hazard where Vegapunk was.

"Truly? You can cure her?" Koushiro went wide eyed.

"If we make it there, yeah." Tyr reassured him.

"Please." Koushiro groveled on the ground and Tyr lifted him up.

"Not now with that crap, give me metal and sponges, now!" Tyr ordered the disciples.

"Can you really treat her there, Tyr?" Zoro was holding back tears.

"Yeah, don't worry. We'll make it, I'm built different after all." Tyr smiled at Zoro.

"Bring this with you, I'm sure you'll keep it safe." Koushiro gave Wado Ichimonji to Tyr.

Tyr looked at it for a moment before he shoved it to Zoro.

"Zoro, I'll entrust this to you. Keep a tight hold of it okay? Kuina's going to use it when she returns. Maybe try a three-sword style or something so you can finally beat her." Tyr gave a small smile and patted his head.

"Guu! I... I'll protect it! No matter what!" Zoro tried to hold back his tears.

The metal and sponges then arrived. Tyr heated up metal bars until it was orange hot.

He then formed it perfectly so it can fit Kuina's neck. Making a neck brace for her.

Tyr also added extra parts to protect her head as he wasn't sure if Kuina had traumatic brain injury.

"I'll be back, we need to hurry. Though I'm not sure Kuina will ever be at 100% again." Tyr carried Kuina carefully and flew to his boat that was docked near the shore.

Zoro groveled towards Koushiro. "Sensei... Teach me everything. I promised her that I will be the strongest." Zoro gritted his teeth.

"I'm going to get stronger! The greatest swordsman to ever live! So my name will reach the heavens!" Zoro vowed.

__Tyr POV__

He put Kuina on his bed and strapped her so she won't move during their ride.

"Fuck... I don't have a log pose... And I'm not sure that Vegapunk is in Punk Hazard." Tyr winced as he stared at Kuina.

"Garp!" Tyr drove the boat towards Yotsuba island.

Dawn island's neighbouring island that is the closest to Marineford.

Tyr then called Garp. "Answer damn it, come on."

The transponder snail rung and after a few rings, Garp answered.

"Huh? What do you need, brat?" Garp's voice resounded and he was relieved.

"Garp, can you do me a favor? Can you know where Vegapunk is? One of my friends is gonna die soon... And I need advanced medical treatment." Tyr explained the situation succinctly.

"A friend huh? Well, you have been taking care of Ace and Luffy for me..." Garp hung up and Tyr went straight to Shell's town which is at the edge of Yotsuba island.

After an hour of waiting, his snail rang and Tyr answered.

"Where is he? Did you get his location?" Tyr bit his lip in anxiety.

"Brat, I have some bad news for you..." Garp's voice sounded solemn.

"Fuck, give it to me!" Tyr gritted his teeth. "Vegapunk's in Egghead. An island in the new world." Garp asked his best friend Sengoku; the fleet admiral.

"I have a good one too though, we have an eternal log pose for it." Garp sighed as their way towards it will be shitty.

"Lead with that you asshole!" Tyr was understandbly upset.

"Calm your tits, brat. You need to go through the reverse mountain. It's approximately south east of Wano. That's your fastest way there." Garp informed him.

"But that's the other side of the red line!" Tyr frowned heavily.

"Yeah, go as close to the calm belt as possible. I'll give you the log pose. After that, everything's on you." Tyr nodded and they changed their course to the general direction of Marineford.

Tyr saw the eerily still waters of the calm belt. He sent his coordinates to Garp and he twiddled his thumbs, waiting.

A marine battleship with a dog's head as the bow appeared.

Tyr fired blazing flames in the sky as a flare and Tyr immediately sensed something coming.

A blue crystal with a directional needle was caught by Tyr. They then sped off, in a hurry.

"Godspeed, brat." Garp wished him luck.

"Damn it, the reverse mountain will take weeks to get to." Tyr clicked his tongue.

"No... I can do this." Tyr carried his boat and flapped his wings.

Carefully accelerating so g forces won't shake Kuina, Tyr slowly reached supersonic speeds with jets of fire originating from his soles.

Flying through the skies, Tyr went for an endurance marathon towards the reverse mountain.

Taking several hours, he arrived at the reverse mountain which had upward currents.

Tyr slowly went back to the water and he navigated the powerful currents with the eternal log pose that locked on Egghead's magnetic field.

Using his fire, he slowed down their speed at the sharp turns and especially at the middle of it where four currents meet. Turning the tides violent.

He quickly lifted up the ship again and flew towards the direction of Egghead.

But the new world isn't the most dangerous part of the grand line for nothing.

Lightning hit him aplenty and Tyr gritted his teeth at the violent lightning storm that homed in on him.

As if nature saying that flying vehicles were not going to pass.

"Uooogh!" Tyr covered his back in haki as he made his way down to the new world via the reverse mountain.

"Hah, hah, fuck." Tyr was exhausted. The fine control needed to use his flames like jet burners for several hours was mentally and physically draining.

"Close, just wait, Kuina." Tyr panted as he sailed to the direction of Egghead.

After a few hours of sailing, he saw an island with its signature cracked egg structure that sit atop of clouds.

(Pic)

"I should've gotten Vegapunk's transponder snail coordinates." Tyr cursed the gorosei for not giving him one. Garp was the one who gave his snail to him.

"Knowing that guy, he must be at that structure at the top." Tyr could see that his breaths fogged immediately.

But the island's weather was like a tropical rainforest. The exact opposite of the surroundings.

"Just a little more." Tyr grabbed his boat and flew towards the top of the island.

But he saw a band circle the cloud. And he had a very bad feeling about it.

"I think that's a defense system..." Tyr looked at it carefully. And there were numbers around it that read 100.

"Hmmm?" Vegapunk saw something in his den den mushi camera system.

"A Lunarian!? But Alber is the only Lunarian left... No, that one has black flames on his back." Vegapunk was shocked.

Tyr then wrote something in the air with fire. *Vivre card*

"Vivre card? What does he mean?" Vegapunk's huge brain thought about vivre cards.

"Oh my god." He then took out a piece of Tyr's vivre card that he hid.

The gorosei were looking for him like crazy. And them getting a piece of his vivre card would get him captured so quick.

Vegapunk immediately cancelled the automatic laser defense system of his laboratory called labophase.

The blue band around it changed its number to 000 and Tyr saw a digital screen say welcome.

He immediately flew towards the curious structure and waited for a bit.

"Tyr, my boy! I knew you were alive. But you're insane, escaping from the gorosei." Vegapunk appeared.

"Yeah, not now though Vegapunk. I need your help, my friend broke her neck." Tyr winced.

"Ahhh, then we will use that MRI and CT scan you talked about back then! Those helped a lot to diagnose diseases." Vegapunk gestured for him to come in.

Going to the med bay. Tyr took off Kuina's neck brace.

"This girl must be important to you. Just the journey here is risky enough. Though I must say. I never expected you to be a Lunarian..." Vegapunk blinked.

"I don't know too. Back when I escaped Mary Geoise, the skin on my back got ripped off and my wings appeared. There's this flame on me as well." Tyr pointed at the flames on his back.

"Can I get your blood sample, it is truly fascinating." Vegapunk looked at him with awe.

"Sure, let's give her treatment first. Let's look at the MRI and CT scan." Tyr gestured for them to look at the results.

"My, she definitely would've turned out worse in time. She has a spinal cord injury and internal bleeding in her skull." Vegapunk thought that was an injury that would definitely lead to death.

"So she needs neurosurgery and stem cell treatment huh?" Tyr sighed in relief as he sat down, exhaustion finally catching up to him.

"She does, it will take about a month for her spine to regenerate fully. It's good that she's still a child. Her ability to regenerate is still high." Vegapunk nodded at him.

"Take care of her for me, Vegapunk. Thank you." Tyr smiled weakly.

"Ohhh! No need to thank me. Even these stem cell treatments are your idea. I would've taken a lot of time to figure that out if you didn't point it out." Vegapunk was happy that his discovery of the lineage factor led to many more things.

"I will rest for a bit. You can research my blood and lineage factor. I'm also curious about it." Vegapunk took some blood from him in excitement.

"And can you give me a piece of your vivre card? Your den den mushi coordinates too. Good thing I have Garp's earlier." Tyr requested.

"Ohh, you were in such a hurry in the past. And we were pre-occupied by your ideas that I forgot to give it to you as well." Vegapunk gave him a piece of his vivre card.

"This place is insane though, it's such an advanced city. I hope everyone can live in such a place." Tyr looked around and Vegapunk smiled.

"That's the goal." Vegapunk grinned as he looked at the island.

"I hope you succeed in it. Though you're in an extremely tight position due to being in cahoots with the world government." Tyr sighed at him.

"Well, I needed their infinite funding, hehe." Vegapunk smiled sheepishly.

"You could've allied yourself with an emperor of the sea. I heard that Whitebeard is a great guy." Tyr shrugged.

"They won't be interested in technology, Tyr." Vegapunk sighed.

"Nonsense, I think he'll listen if you talked to him. But it's too late now. And you could've also patented some inventions, sell them to the public you know? Capitalism is king for making money." Tyr chuckled.

"Enough of that, I'll just get depressed. Rest now, I'll analyze your blood and get the little lass her treatment." Vegapunk shooed him away.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.