Chapter 025 – Fear

[Sabaody Archipelago, Groove 13, Shakky's Rip-off Bar – Kaienreki Calendar 1514, May]

Standing before the iconic bar, Lupin didn't hestitate to enter it, as he could already feel Rayleigh's presence inside. He opened the door and walked into the bar, ignoring the ruckus made by the other guests.

Lupin spotted Rayleigh sitting at the counter and directly moved towards him. Arriving before the living legend, Lupin let out a silver of his Conquerer's Haki, making all the other patrons faint immediately.

Except for Shakuyaku behind the counter and Rayleigh before him, no one else was left conscious in the bar.

Taking the seat right next to Rayleigh, Lupin sat down quietly.

"Oya, Oya. What an entrance. What can I get you, boy?", Shakky asked in a half-joking tone, after seeing what Lupin had done.

"Juice, surprise me with the kind.", he answered lightly.

"Hmm. Coming right up."

As Shakuyaku was getting busy behind the counter, Lupin asked Rayleigh the question for which he came here.

"Laugh Tale, where is it?"

"Ohh, didn't think you would be interested in that. You wanna be the King of Pirates?", Rayleigh answered intrigued.

"No. I am just looking for answers about my heritage. I don't care for the world very much.", Lupin answered honestly.

" *Sigh* I can't tell you. You have to find these answers yourself. I promised my Captain.", Rayleigh said.

This was different than his talk with the Strawhats years later in the original timeline, but even then Lupin believed that Rayleigh wouldn't have told them anything. He had just been testing their resolve when he made that offer.

"What if I kill you and every remaining one of your old crewmates? You know I am capable of such, don't you?", Lupin asked in a neutral tone.

"I know you can, but it changes nothing. Death comes for all of us.", Rayleigh answered indifferently.

"I suppose it does. *Sigh*", Lupin sighed in resignation, before continuing.

"At least tell me where the Road Poneglyph from the Ship's Graveyard is? You know who took it don't you? Or you must at least have a guess, don't you old man?"

"I don't know for sure, but the Shanks has probably taken it with him. The brat always held great adoration towards the Captain and he wouldn't just leave it up to fate, who becomes the next King of Pirates."

"Hmm, you are probably right.", Lupin answered and gulped down his juice in one go, before standing up and moving towards the door.

"Thanks for the drink, Shakky. I hope you don't mind getting my payment from them.", he said, while pointing at the unconscious pirates all over the bar.

"Not at all, kid. See ya.", came her answer, as Lupin was already out the door.

…

"A dangerous kid, isn't he?", Shakuyaku asked her husband, as her gaze was still locked onto the door.

The whole time Lupin had been in the bar, it had felt like an ancient beast was staring at her, just waiting to pounce if she made one wrong move.

"Aye, he is. Would have killed us too, if I hadn't told him about Shanks. *Sigh* They are right, he really is a monster … ", Rayleigh answered her and confirmed her earlier impression on Lupin.

"You think he told the truth about why he wants to find Laugh Tale?", Shakky asked.

"Well, if I am right about his parentage, then he really is just looking for answers.", Rayleigh said with a knowing glint in his eyes.

…

[Kaienreki Calendar 1514, June]

'Truly, the New World is a completely different caliber than the first half of the Grand Line.', Lupin thought to himself, as he looked at the island before him.

Lightning was constantly hammering down on the land, as if it was a never-ending downpour, making this island one of the most dangerous in the whole New World.

Lupin had come here specifically to train his Haki.

Over the last years, his strength had indeed reached a level, where he found it hard to estimate it, but there was still room to grow for him.

Elemental Infusion, that is what he wanted to train.

Lupin wasn't sure if it was possible, as he didn't remember any exact details, but he was sure he could do it.

It was a technique that allowed one to infuse an element into ones weapon by making use of Haki, like fire or lightning. It was something that would maximise the destructive potential of his attacks and would open up a whole new world of possibilities.

There was basically no better place to train this technique than on this island, where the natural elements would provide a place for observation for those who knew how to survive on Raijin Island.

Lupin didn't worry about any of this, as he just walked towards the center of the island, the lightning strikes unable to harm his tempered physical body as he didn't even try to dodge the blows or protect himself from them with Haki.

Once again it was time for a session of intense training, before he felt ready to take the last steps of his journey.

…

[Kaienreki Calendar 1515, November]

Tom died. Being executed by the World Government for his crimes on Enies Lobby. And Kuraigana Island had been destroyed by war.

These were the only significant pieces of information that Lupin cared about, while staying on the island. Even with his warning from years before, Tom didn't manage to avoid this fate, which caused Lupin to sigh in regret, as the old shipbuilder was a good guy.

Kuraigana Island was only of interest to Lupin since he knew that Dracul Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world, had taken residence there.

Roughly one and a half years, Lupin had now spent on Raijin Island and it was finally time to leave.

Opening his eyes, Lupin stood up from his lotus position, as he looked around himself.

His eyes seemed to flash with lightning and a hint of it seemed to be contained by his breath, while the surrounding lightning seemingly did not dare to strike down on his body anymore, as if afraid of his retaliation.

Grabing the Inquisitor form a nearby rock, Lupin's eyes flashed with resolve as his grip tightened around the blade.

"I hope you are ready, Kaidou of the Beast.", he whispered to himself, but with the thunderous noise of the nearby lightning, nobody but himself could have heard those words.

…

[Onigashima, Kaienreki Calendar 1516, 1st January]

Lupin could see the New Year decorations on Onigashima from the distance, as he approached the island by walking on the sea. Tonight was the New Year Festival called Fire Festival.

His Observation Haki told him that Kaidou, his commanders and several strong presences resided on the island at the moment. Lupin knew that these people were probably Orochi and his followers.

This was also the reason, why Lupin decided to attack tonight, as he wouldn't have to search for them one by one.

With all of them gathered together, he could finish what he came here to do quickly, so he could continue his search for the other Road Poneglyphes.

Lupin knew that somewhere in Wano there was a Road Poneglyph, but he couldn't just spend his time sneaking around the place and searching for it, so his only other option was to eliminate Kaidou and get the residents to help him search for it.

Not only would he free the residents from Orochi's tyrannical rule and Kaidou's oppression, he would also have a whole country help him search for the Road Poneglyph.

Using his wings, Lupin slowly rose into the air above Onigashima, as he concentrated his Observation Haki on the island.

An incredible clear picture started to form in his Mind's Eye, as he gained an omniscient view of the island.

Lupin's hair started to grow longer, as roughly three-hundred strands of it began to float around him.

The numbers stopped there, as Lupin controlled them using his spiritual energy and injected them with a healthy amount of Armament and Conquerer's Haki, transforming them into black spears that cracked with dark-blue lightning.

Using Future Sight, Lupin made sure to aim them correctly, before he fired them down at Onigashima.

'Lightning Spear Barrage' was how he named that attack and he had used it once against the Marine warships after his attack on Marie Geoise with great success.

At this time though his Haki was many times more powerful and so was his attack.

At this point in time, Kaidou's crew roughly amounted to twelve-thousand members and most of them were present tonight.

Most of them were low-level grunts, but Lupin sensed around three hundred fighters with considerable power, which were also the targets of his first attack.

Lupin didn't wait after firing, as he used his Shockwave Step to approach the castle.

*BOOM*

*CRASH*

A loud rumble was left behind due to his movement, as he crashed through the palace roof at the same time as the lightning spears rained down upon the castle and massacred their targets.

The Inquisitor in his right hand had already transformed into a blade of black light, as Lupin struck down his first target – King.

*SHING*

"ARGH--!"

King's Observation Haki seemed to have warned him against the attack, but with such a great gap in power and more importantly speed, the only thing he could do was watch and scream in horror, as Lupin's blade carved effortlessly through his Haki-coated torso, bisecting him in the process.

Lupin had attacked him first, as he wanted to avoid him fleeing using his devil fruit powers later on.

*CRACK*

Lupin landed with a loud crack on the floor, all around him dead subordinates of Kaidou, pierced through and mutilated by his Lightning Spear Barrage.

Only a handful had survived the initial assault, though not without heavy injuries, as they were unable to contiue fighting.

The only other targets that fell into Lupin's eyes were Orochi, Queen, Jack and Kaidou himself.

*BOOM* *RUMBLE*

Kaidou's Conquerer's Haki exploded the atmosphere as he registered what had happened just now, while Queen and Jack readied their weapons. Orochi was already turning around trying to flee, as the trusty bodyguards of his had been skewered by Lupin's hair-spears.

Lupin didn't plan to exchange pleasantries with them, as he directly unleashed his own Conquerer's Haki.

*BOOOM* *CRACKLE*

Dark cracks spread through the atmosphere, as the Haki of two kings clashed. Every living creature in the palace felt unbearable pressure weighing down on them, as they couldn't even move their own bodies anymore.

Queen and Jack were no exception either.

Though a moment later, a winner in their clash of Haki was already established, as Kaidou's tyrannical spiritual pressure was vanquished by Lupin's overwhelming beastly presence.

Queen and Jack could hardly believe what they were seeing. The 'Strongest Creature', their own captain lost in terms of aura, and he lost overwhelmingly.

Noticing the severity of their situation, they both immediately activated their devil fruit powers and transformed. The massive increase in physical strength finally gave them back some of their mobility, even though they still felt pressured and couldn't move freely.

"Who are y-?", Kaidou voiced out, but was interrupted as Lupin directly swung his blade.

*SHING* *THUD*

Though Lupin's target again had not been Kaidou or his other two top-commanders, but Orochi.

Lupin had sent a slash after the cowering traitor, than neatly bisected him, not unlike King. Orochi may be able to survive a beheading several times thanks to his devil fruit, but that wouldn't save him from being split in half.

"I am Lupin D. Black. And I have come for the head of the dragon.", Lupin introduced himself after settling his whole focus on the last three fighters that could muster up some resistance.

…

Looking at the bloodbath around him, Kaidou couldn't halp but feel pain in his heart.

Not because so many of his subordinates died, nor because his most trusted and loyal right-hand man King died.

While these things did weigh on his mind somewhat, the real reason why he felt his rage was about to overboil was because within only a few short seconds, the man in front of him had destroyed more than a decade of his hard work.

The strength of his crew had suddenly plummeted by more than half and the damage to its foundation was equally great, as many younger talents had also been killed by those black spears.

Kaidou wasn't really involved all that much in the logistics or coordination of his men, but even he knew clearly that to recover those losses, he would probably need years. And that was only if no other Emperor decided to take advantage of his crew's temporary weakness to attack them.

Whitebeard and Shanks probably wouldn't but Big Mom would certainly do so. Even worse, the World Government and the Marines may join her in their attack to claim the country of Wano for themselves.

Looking at the one responsible for the destruction of his forces, Kaidou felt an incredible bloodlust.

Judging by their earlier clash of Haoshoko Haki, his opponent seemed to have a greater mastery over Haki than even he himself, which made him a very dangerous opponent.

Though the pressurising effect his subordinate were clearly under, had little effect on him, as not only was his strength much greater, his own Conquerer's Haki – while not as strong as the attacker's – was shielding him from being shackled.

Still, as an Emperor of the Sea, Kaidou was also rational enough to see how he could remedy the current situation.

He just had to defeat the intruder and make him submit.

A man with such overwhelming strength would completely make up for his losses today, but of course he first had to make him suffer a bit for what he had done and then force him to bow before him.

And since that man had obviously come here to claim his head, a fight was inevitable either way.

"You want my head, then you will have to take it yourself!", he roared, as he transformed into his massive hybrid-dragon form and took up his weapon, destroying the palace around him.

*Clank*

Kaidou watched as the intruder let his sword fall from his hand and strip off his coat and bag, standing stark naked amongst the corpses of his subordinates and three gargantuan beast completely unafraid, his Conquerer's Haki still pulsating in the atmosphere.

"A fight amongst beasts, a fight for supremacy … Let's see if you can survive, Strongest Creature.", the man voiced out calmly.

The next moment he transformed into a equally terrifying beast – a massive black winged-wolf.

The sheer pressure the wolf gave off wasn't the opponent Conquerer's Haki anymore, it the was the aura of a true world-devouring ancient beast.

An apex predator.

A lone wolf ready to devour its prey, as if he had been starving for blood all along.

Dark-blue lightning covered its abyss-black fur and cracked around its paws and claws, while every breath it took ravaged the atmosphere like tornado. Its massive wings gleamed with a sharp dark light as if they were made out of treasured blades.

Kaidou had never seen anything comparable, nor had he any idea what kind of mythical creature he was facing right now.

Though one thing was very clear to him, as his instincts were warning him constantly: Today may very well be his last day among the living.

An almost forgotten feeling welled up inside his heart and it took the Strongest Creature a few moments before he realised what it was – fear.