Ashes to ashes

Another chapter. Leave your thought in the comments

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The number of pirates grew thin as I mowed them down little by little. I may have ended half of them already, and still many remained.

These ordinary pirates didn't pose a real challenge. Here and there, some would make me work a little harder, but they were not particularly strong either. These were an appetizer. The main attraction was standing still, watching everything unfold. 

A kanabo smashed into the ground where I was standing a second ago. Focusing on the man, I could have mistaken him for the twin brother of the bandit leader I killed long ago. Maybe he was.

"C'mon! Now's my turn against you fucker!"

I quickly closed the distance between both of us. He was putting on a tough act, but he was scared, as many were. Passing under his kanabo, with a swing of my sword, his guts were spilled out onto the floor.

Sensing the lying figure on the floor, I let out a small breath I didn't know I was holding. The first battle that almost took my life wasn't something I could easily forget.

I didn't want to forget the look and tears of fear both Hiyori and Momo had that day.

Soon, more pirates came down on me with their weapons, ready to kill me. Most were scared to their core, and judging from how some kept looking back, I was sure I wasn't the only source of that fear.

Clashing against the sword of a pirate, my katana cut through the blade's steel like butter, not giving time for the man to react as his neck was sliced in half.

This was taking too much time. I need to find my father and Kyomi and ensure they're safe.

The air singed as arrows were falling from above. Jumping back, I dodged most of the arrows while cutting down the rest. It was time to end this.

A flame ignited on my back between my shoulders. Muscles hardened and tightened through my body as a wave of vigor washed over me.

Shooting my arms in the direction of the pirates. A brutal scream escaped from my throat followed by something I had been practicing for a long time.

"Kasai: Kōzui!" Like a limb of my own, the flames on my back crawled through my arms, reaching my hands before exploding violently outwards to the pirates in a wave of fire covering everything in front of me.

What should have been a quiet and calm night instead turned into a night imbued with countless agonizing screams of pain from the pirates as their flesh slowly melted down.

They had invaded my...our home. I heard crab man screaming in pain because of me. Still, listening to so many screams all at the same time made a shiver run down my spine. From disgust or...something else, I don't know, and that made me really want to vomit.

During this fight, I had been ruthless, the man I had burned down into ashes and the people that were screaming in pain being a testament to it. Now that I lost my momentun from the fight, I felt regret gnawing at me.

These pirates may deserve death, but burning alive like this is too mu-

!!??

My teeth clenched as I held my sword, coated in Haki, over me with all the strength I could muster. A giant sword, bigger than me had been a mere moment away from splitting me in half.

The winged man who watching until now decided to finally join in the fight when he noticed I let my guard down.

My hands were shaking under his sword with my feet were digging into the ground. If not for the Haki, I'm sure my katana would have snapped like a twig under his.

I was struggling not to be cut in half right now. He wasn't. The man was clearly holding back and not putting much effort into the attack.

"How did you get here?" The man spoke, his tone betraying how he was looking down on me 

Tilting to the side, the giant sword slid down my blade, crashing against the floor and driving it deep into the ground. I had an opening! Jumping, I quickly got face to face with him, ready to cut him down.

I slashed with my sword as quickly as I could, aiming for his neck. If I had any chance of doing this, it needed to end as fast as possible.

A numbness struck my arms as my blade stopped dead in its tracks. His neck was intact. Instead, his forearm had blocked my sword easily. The swing of my blade didn't even scratch his clothes.

What was this man made of? His arm wasn't even coated in Haki, and he stopped my blade as if it were nothing!

About to try for another slash, my observation Haki screamed inside my head as the man's hand that was previosly holding the sword was now going to swat me out of the air in a punch. In a desperate attempt to not being instantly squased, I flared the flames on my back as hard as possible while coating my arm in Haki.

The muscles and bones of my arm groaned in pain as his fist connected with my left side. The sound of the air breaking reached my ears as I was sent flying.

The force of the blow made me crash against a wall, instantly breaking it, and then the one after that, and the one after that. The little air I had in my lungs was cast out every time my body broke through a wall.

My battered body finally came to a stop, crashing for the last time against some wood. Everything hurt. How many walls did it take to stop me? Heh, it sounds like the start of a bad jok-Ugh my head.

I clenched my teeth. My head was killing me. If not for the armament and the flames I most probably would have lost the arm.

That freaking giant was strong, too strong. I don't know if I could even win against him. Should I just run? The more I thought about this fight, more and more doubts appeared in my mind, with my heart going faster each time.

Was I nervous? Bringing up a hand to my face made me realize what was happening.

"Yahahaha!" I didn't want to run away. I was not nervous. Running my fingers over my mouth, I could feel an alien smile on my lips It had certainly not been there while fighting against the pirates. I was excited for this fight!

My left arm felt as if it would break at any moment, and every time I took a breath my lungs objected in pain. But my heart was still beating, eager to get back in the fight! For a moment, I thought I felt some fingers running across across my neck.

Surprisingly, I still was holding onto my sword in my right hand. Stabbing the tip of the blade into the ground, I leaned on its handle to try and get back up again.

"Mom I'm scared!" A sudden voice made me snap my head to the side Crashing through many walls made me lose my focus. A woman was cowering in the corner of the room. In her arms, she had two kids, a girl and a boy. Both were crying on their mother's chest. The woman wasn't in a better state, shaking in fear, looking at me.

The mother flinched the moment she saw me face their direction, and tears came down her eyes. "Shhhhh Just stay still, honey" Her voice was shaking as she tried to comfort her kids.

Focusing on the room we were in, the smile on my face instantly vanished. Broken plates were on the floor, and food stained the tatami. The pile of broken wood that stopped me had probably been the table they were eating just a moment ago until I crashed through their dining room.

The mother's attention snapped to the sword in my hand "Please don't hurt us. Take whatever you want" She was choking on her tears, holding her kids tight against her body.

I opened my mouth to try to calm her, but the words got stuck in my throat. Just a moment ago I was smiling and laughing after crashing in their home, of course they were scared of me.

I tried to breathe, but my lungs refused to fill all the way. A knot formed in my stomach, making me want to vomit.

Trying to form the best smile I could, I forced my voice to come out. "Sorry for intruding" Those were the only words I could muster for the family.

Bowing to them, I walked through the hole I had made in the wall, and by how far the man had sent me, there were still many to go through.

Focusing my Haki on the winged man to make sure he wouldn't try anything, I felt him looking at the hand with which he punched me, opening and closing his fingers. Good. His attention wasn't on me.

This was an opportunity to strike at him while his guard was low.

Slowly, I made my way through every home and establishment I had crashed through. There weren't many, but I still needed to take responsibility. As I walked through every building, I made sure to apologize to everyone that I came across.

Not all of them took my apology well, but I was the one who destroyed their homes or stores. I could handle a few insults or slaps.

Eventually, I reached the winged man. He was looking down at me with his arms crossed. 

"Have you finished?" The man spoke, not even trying to hide his indifference to the situation.

"Yes" I gripped my sword harder, ready to attack him

"Those flames you had on your back. You're lunarian. Where are your wings?"

That caught my attention. Lunarian? Nevermind, this was not the place nor the time for this.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't care either" 

The man just grunnted in response.

"What is your name?" I asked him this time, mainly to have some way to call him in my head

"King. I don't care about yours" King? Now that I remember, Kaido called him that in Orochi's castle. I totally forgot.

No more words were needed. Neither of us came here to talk.

Tonight, things would end, for good or bad.