CHAPTER 018(August 2114)

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CHAPTER START---

The sun slowly begins to descend beyond the horizon, orange hues caught in the sparking ocean water. The eerily calm water barely ripples about in the bay. At the base of a small mountain only surrounded by trees and a single dirt road leading to the shore.

Standing on a surfboard in the calm evening water, Law feels the gently shifting water rocking him side to side.

Wearing only a pair of blue shorts his messy hair sticks to his head as he focuses.

ROOM

He creates the largest ROOM he can, extending a thousand meters in every direction.

SCAN

He's assaulted by an influx of information in a flash. Everything from the beach and forests a hundred meters behind him to all the plants and animals further inland, as well as all the fish for a thousand meters in front of him.

This secluded beach is the perfect place for him to train between clients on this island.

Eyes closed he has both hands on the hilt of his new weapon. A katana, not his preferred blade but one that would send the message he wanted to convey to the world.

The weapon was a carbon fiber and tungsten mixture, specially made by Power Loader. The metal itself was white, even the blade. The hilt and scabbard were the exact same, both with small accents of blue, and his smiley face logo with its checkered teeth along both this hilt and scabbard. The guard was small and also white with a blue edge.

AMPUTATE

He slashes downward.

The ocean splits before him, a thin devision of only an inch, not enough to disturb the water much before it merges back.

His board gently rocks, slightly shaking his concentration. The larger the ROOM the more energy it would take to both open and maintain, and the more concentration it requires to keep it active.

Law wipes a bead of sweat from his face, during all his traveling he took any chance he could get to find a proper training spot.

'Training with mom was one thing, that was all about assassinations, but places like these are the best---'

AMPUTATE!

Another thin division in the water before it instantly reforms.

'Heroes are always fighting in public---'

AMPUTATE!

Another division, this time the board rocks and his concentration falters. His eyes snap open before closing shut again. In that split second his ROOM shrinks hundreds of meters.

He takes a deep breath and pushes himself, opening it fully once more.

AMPUTATE!

Another slash before the water merges with itself. A straight line of dirt begins rising to the surface. The result of dozens of slashes carving out a thousand meters through the ocean floor and bedrock, releasing stone and dirt into the water.

'Heroes fight in public, so I can be loud. And I'll need to be able to handle anything, everything---'

AMPUTATE!

He practices for another hour until...

"Gah!" Law drops to one knee as his ROOM shrinks to only a few meters. "Alright, that's enough for today, shambles."

For a brief instant, his ROOM forcibly expands to reach the shore before he disappears, substituted with a clump of sand.

He drops his surfboard on the sand and sheathes his blade. He moved to sit in the sand and enjoy a refreshing bottle of water.

Leaning against his cooler he takes a minute to catch his breath before opening another ROOM, his phone appears in his hand, warping from his jeep parked only a dozen meters away on the dirt road leading to this beach.

Opening his phone he begins scrolling through his notifications.

"Hmm, construction began, nice," he muses. His new home was finally under construction. "Now all I need is a place in Musutafu to park so people don't see Horizon driving the same cars as Law Matani, hopefully I get somewhere close to UA..." he continues scrolling.

As he's about to start searching for places in Musutafu to buy his phone begins ringing.

"Did you forget you already checked in on me today?" he asks.

"This isn't about that," Nezu says. "I may need you to return to Japan before next year, at least for a few days to visit."

Law stiffens at that, "what happened?"

"Nothing if I can help it," Nezu says. "Some powerful people are lobbying for your parents' execution. People with a lot of sway from abroad and within Japan."

"We expected that," Law says. "They've got a lot of enemies, but you said you could keep them alive, can you?"

"Of course!" Nezu insists. "I may simply need to take drastic measures to keep them hidden, if it comes to that then nobody will be able to get in touch with them for a long time, so I'll try to arrange for you to speak to them."

"I thought you said that's impossible."

"I will make it happen, I promise," Nezu says. "I'll likely have to pull a lot of strings and use much of the favors I have, but I'll make it happen, don't worry."

Law leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and holds his head, "right, not like I've got much of a choice, just keep me in the loop on this please."

"Of course, I've already got some people taking care of things. You just keep doing what you're doing, which, by the looks of it, you went surfing right after landing?" Nezu asks.

"You found the Horizon social media account?" Law chuckles.

"I'm surprised you even made one."

"It's all about brand image, when I really go public during the sports festival I need something to feed the media, it's hard to cheer for a ghost after all."

"I see..."

"Just curious, how strict is UA's no scouting policy?" Law asks.

"Extremely, no exception has been made, ever...aside from you."

"Could you handle the backlash if that got out?" Law asks, a calculating look on his face.

"Hmm, if the person that was revealed proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that not scouting them would have been a terrible decision, otherwise it could look bad," he explains.

"Ahh, then it's a good thing I'm perfect huh."

"Just think very carefully before you make such a decision, I can't stop you from announcing that part of our contract, but I also have an image to uphold."

"Don't worry I'll keep it pristine, but right now I need to go get food and prepare for surgery in the morning, then I'm off to Italy."

"Italy? Again?"

"Yeah," Law groans. "Just when I thought I did everything cool there---"

"Including your maid."

Law shrugs, "when in Rome?"

"You were in Milan, and I recall you did the same thing in Paris."

"French maid, c'mon who hasn't thought about that," he scoffs.

"Do you ever tell any one of these women that you're fifteen?"

"Mmm," Law thinks about it for a moment. "Ya know, between me being six-two, muscular, good looking, and rich, it never comes up."

Nezu sighs, "thankfully Horizon has nothing to do with the extravagant playboy Law Matani, you've really gotten the hang of this dual identity life."

"Honestly, warping makes it a lot easier. They stay in separate hotels within my range so they never even cross paths or go to the same places, pretty easy when you can pull that off."

"I assumed as much," Nezu says. "And how are you enjoying the new sword? Training in Hawaii with it must be fun."

"It's perfect, I just need a bit more time to get used to the curve of the blade, aiming is a bit odd," Law says.

"Ahh, that other ability you refuse to explain."

"That's the one," he chuckles.

"You know you can't keep them all hidden forever, right?"

"Obviously," Law says. "But...I just feel more comfortable keeping them to myself, it's how I was trained and raised. Never reveal your hand until everyone else is dead. But when I'm in UA I can start to open up more, at that point you'll have a real stake in the game, and it'll really get people itching to recruit me after the sports festival."

"That...is very concerning. And I'm glad you're already planning for your bid debut."

"Yeah well... let's just say if I did reveal my hand when I clashed with Hawks things would have gone very differently, far from the only mistake I made that day..."

An awkward pause settles between both of them before Nezu breaks the silence, "so, Rome again?"

"Right," Law shakes his head, focusing back on the conversation. "Some sinner needs me to undo a divine punishment, and I'm charging him a lot more and making it somewhat public as the cost, you'll see it on Horizon's profile page, when it goes fully public," Law gives a hearty laugh at that.

"Sinner...is it who I think it is?" Nezu asks, a tinge of worry in his voice.

"You've got a dozen supercomputers for a brain, so I'm betting it is."

"My god," Nezu mutters.

"That's exactly what he'll be saying, I'll be his new god..."

END CHAPTER---

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