[47] A Situation

[2930 words]

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"The Logia-Type: Ice-Ice Fruit."

Kuzan froze at the sight of the blue fruit. 

He raised both hands and smudged at his eyes as if trying to wake himself up. He even slapped himself. 

Ever so slowly, he opened his eyes once more. The fruit was still resting in Damien's hands!

"Well, if you don't want it, I can give it to someone else."

The words woke the boy up from his reverie: "I'll take it!"

He swiped at the fruit so incredibly fast that it set off a blast of wind. Kazan glared at the fruit and then locked onto Damien, narrowing his eyes.

"You're sure?" he slowly asked with a hint of maturity. 

Damien returned a nod. 

"Logia are a priceless treasure; y-you have five seconds to ask for it back before I keep it for good!"

The pirate remained unresponsive, leaving a silence to build up.

"…"

Kuzan glanced back at the treasured fruit. 

He admired the light blue-coloured flakes protruding out from it. A purple stem with the appearance of a handle. 

[Image of the Fruit (in Discord)]

He eyed Damien once more, and then back to the fruit. 

Kuzan slowly but surely took a mouthful. 

*Munch*

"…"

A second passed. 

"Disgusting!" The boy gagged, as if ready to barf it all up. His face scrunched up in disgust as the nausea hit his very mind. 

Damien stifled a laugh from the side and instead offered some advice of his own, "Kuzan, to ensure you get the ability, eat the entire fruit and leave not even a crumb behind!"

The innocent boy looked at the Sin Incarnate and slowly nodded, placing his trust in the older youth. With great pain, he swallowed the remaining pieces, much to his chagrin. 

It took a few moments but he finally finished it. 

*Huuu* Kuzan then took a deep breath. 

The influx of the basic properties of his newfound power flooded his mind, distracting him from the bitter aftertaste.

.

Damien watched from the side, examining the boy's movements.

Like a child given a new toy, Kuzan wanted to try it out. Such emotion was easily picked up by the sole spectator.

*Vvoo!*

At the corner of his vision, he saw Damien chuck a pebble at his forehead. It was going fast enough to break the sound barrier!

Kuzan habitually raised his hands to protect his head, but then, it happened…

*Shatter*

His arms exploded into countless pieces of ice, his forehead following suit.

Bits of crystals and ice shards rained onto the grassy floor, reflecting the sunlight with an array of colours.

The pebble continued its advent and slamming onto a century-old tree.

Boom!

The thick bark imploded, felling the tree with little effort.

Kuzan ignored the blatant deforestation, opting to study the oddness of his body. 

Though from afar, he seemed like a living corpse! His entire right arm had been removed and his head had a gaping hole through it.

"My body feels light up top, but it doesn't hurt at all… is this a Logia fruit?"

At the same time, the broken shards moved about.

*Krrrr*

The ice shards creaked back into shape, slowly reforming the missing arms and forehead. "This power is really amazing…"

Such was the passive invincibility of the Logia Fruit types.

.

Damien nodded in satisfaction, and directed the boy, "Go play around the island; get used to the power."

Kuzan nodded and ran to the most dangerous part of the island with an excited grin.

However, before he could disappear into the sea of trees, Kuzan turned around and locked eyes with his pirate friend.

Even with such a priceless treasure, a power with the ability to essentially void away the one weakness of Devil Fruits, Damien did not seem to waver before giving it away. 

Kuzan balled his fists in conviction, his breath was uncontrollably cold, freezing the air into a white cloud. 

"I won't let you down…" he firmly said before going off to do his testing. 

.

Damien naturally heard Kuzan's words and could not help but give a dry laugh. 

Unlike Garp, the Sin Incarnate had little inclination toward training enemies.

"An investment is a rather blunt way of saying it," he muttered. 

Kuzan was a future Admiral of the Navy Headquarters. Damien had freed him from Sabaody, the same day Garp was meant to arrive and save the day.

"Fiery Justice was his first motto when he joined the Marines," the pirate muttered, recalling some information from his past life. "It even converted a lazy boy who liked laying around into a man with great zeal and energy."

"But the Ohara Incident left his heart torn and fate shattered; adopting Lazy Justice, returning to his previous, sloth-like self until canon times."

In Damien's mind, Kuzan had a strong inclination towards good and peace but the light he saw the Navy in turned dark and decrepit, eventually leading to his resignation.

.

In theory, Damien could easily deprive the young Kuzan of any budding thoughts of disloyalty but such an option was quickly dissolved away. Forcing loyalty was akin to admitting that he lacked the charisma and strength to earn it from his companions. "My Conqueror's Haki is a little picky, Rahahaha!" he laughed. 

The pirate then shook his head, clearing his mind as he muttered to himself, "Well, there's no point in thinking too much, let's see how the future proceeds."

*Tweet* Tweet*

The deep thoughts were quickly waved aside as Damien heard the sharp chirp from the side.

*Swish* 

A bird shot down from the sky and landed on his shoulder.

Damien gave a smile at the sight of the feathered creature, raising both hands, one to pet the bird and the other to accept the "offering" graciously.

It was another Devil Fruit!

"Looks like I was right, Mortem Island had been effectively untouched for centuries now, it's only natural a Devil Fruit has spawned here."

He glanced at the fruit and examined its appearance. His memory and past studies granted the name immediately.

"Paramecia-Type: Narco-Narco Fruit," Damien concluded. "Allows the user to imbue narcotic elements onto anything, making them a Narcotic Human."

He pocketed the fruit into his Inventory and went to see what the little rug-rat was up to.

…

"Ice Time!"

The chilling words came with a shuddering wind that was cold enough to freeze a person alive!

A giant gorilla roared out in great pain as his equally large arm was turned into thick ice, freezing it to the very bone!

"A ra ra~ You've been trying to kill me for a year now, what's the matter, afraid of a little chill?" 

Kuzan grinned like a mischievous brat as he stood in the jungle region of the Island. The two were surrounded by trees that seemed to scrape the skies!

The gorilla crying out in pain was nearly forty feet tall yet he was dwarfed by the colossal trees that littered the region.

Thick dark-green vines ran down the hundreds of meters of trees, creating homes for a multitude of animals. The grass was wild, filled with many poisonous shrubs and prickly bushes.

"Raawr!"

The gorilla bellowed out, slamming his other arm onto the tiny figure of the child.

Upon impact was not the expected sound of broken bones, but rather, the shattering of ice!

Countless shards of ice floated in the air as the gorilla removed his arm from the crater. 

The beast watched in fear as the tiny light-blue crystals slowly reformed the chilly figure of Kuzan. His body was partially frozen and emitted a strong frost, the white vapour exhaled at a periodic state.

*Woosh!*

Kuzan jumped into the sky, his figure flickering above, leaving a trailing of frozen air.

He landed at the top of the beast, both his hands placed on its dome.

Before the gorilla could roar out in fear, his mind was already frozen.

.

"Ice Time!"

.

A coat of bright blue ice had spread across the head of the beast, freezing it solid. Every second it would travel further down its body, digging deeper into the very skeletal system of the gorilla.

*Vvoo!*

Kuzan jumped off the freezing animal and threw a fist.

*Shatter*

Like glass, the entire skull shattered into innumerable shards of ice, clattering the ground! 

The gorilla's body went limp as the now-headless state sent a geyser of blood shooting into the sky, raining onto the tall trees.

The corpse fell with a loud thud, sending volumes of dust through the jungle.

Kuzan also landed on the ground, grinning a satisfied smile, and then came the pain…

*Bonk!*

Like a gong, his mind rang loudly as his eyes threatened to pop out of his sockets.

He fell to the ground, rolling in pain, almost as if he was set on fire.

Damien ignored the pained child and glanced at the broken gorilla; blood still dribbled out from the headless beast, spreading through the soil.

"The vegetation nearby is crying out for you to stop pummeling it with this overgrown monkey," Damien scolded the boy

Kuzan was still on the ground, gathering his breath, unable to respond.

"..."

"I-I'm made of ice… why can you hit me?" he slowly asked with an indignant expression.

The attacker just shrugged, raising a single fist.

*Fwwm!*

"Listen clearly, kid. No matter the Devil Fruit, Haki is always supreme!"

Kuzan seemed to have forgotten his pain, now staring at the jet-black coating of metal on Damien's arm. 

He gulped, his previous confidence in the invincible body was gone, rather replaced with yearning! 

"That's cool! Teach it to me too!"

Damien scoffed at the boy's words. "You're not even eight years old and want to learn Haki? Who do you think you are, me?" 

"…"

Kuzan was speechless and could not help but cross his arms in annoyance. 

However, his head was soon assaulted with a strong grasp as Damien once again ruffled Kuzan's hair to oblivion.

"Stop doing that!"

Damien hummed and responded with a smile. It was fun to mess with kids, especially when they could not do anything about it.

Alas, returning a grin to the young lad.

"Well, either way. One thing you should know is that your training will now have to double."

Kuzan almost fell on the floor.

"W-What… why!?" he roared out.

Damien shrugged, "What, you think this power excuses you from your physical training? If anything, I will need to bring in more training to match the fruit advancement too," Damien casually said. 

"Come now, let's go eat."

He grabbed Kuzan by the back of his neck and held him up like a suitcase.

The boy was too broken to respond, plagued with the thought of losing sleep to train! Almost as bad as sacrificing sleep to study!

…

[A While Later]

*Munch*

*Chomp*

*Gurr*

Two young men sat across one another, a simple fire in between.

The sun had set and the day was coming to an end with night slowly taking its place.

Damien inhaled a few tons of meat within minutes. Kuzan was trying to catch up; after eating a devil fruit, he felt hungrier than ever!

Quiet minutes passed as they two ate through an entire giant Sea King!

*Munch* *Munch*

The grilled meat seasoned with exotic peppers and herbs found on the island was surely a delicacy!

"Big Bro, *Munch*, you know, the newspaper that came a month ago, *Munch*, showed you using that super-cool form where you were covered black and red, *Munch*, what the heck was that?"

The pirate in question devoured a full leg of meat before answering.

"Oh, that. Enigma kinda pissed me off and things got out of hand," he answered.

Kuzan was not satisfied with that answer.

"All the cool people have different forms of fighting. Every time the enemy is strong enough, they switch to a stronger form and do the impossible; this could be yours!" he exclaimed, pumping his fists.

Damien glanced at the boy with a weird look.

He saw Kuzan's eyes sparkling, almost as if he were his number one fan.

"Did you get all that from those Germa comics I sent you," Damien said as he took another huge bite, "Well, I do need to work on that form so I guess you're not wrong."

Kuzan gave a child-like smile, "I really wanna see it!"

Damien smirked at the child's innocence. 

"Alright, alright, now finish your food. You want to get tall and strong like me? Eat, eat, and eat some more!"

…

[The Following Morning]

Damien had woken up at five in the morning. 

With his current vitality, he only needed four hours of sleep. Plus, going without sleep for some days was not a problem. 

He let Kuzan snore away, instead, using the peaceful time to think things through. 

"Different forms, eh? Sounds like an anime thing. It's only right for me to conform to it," he joked to himself.

Damien had naturally thought about it before. 

At first, it was an uncontrolled release of his power. Though it left him with only so much time to use it. 

"Perhaps if I can use my Haki to fully mould it into a more efficient shape then it could be useful!" 

The pirate cupped his chin, thinking of the things he needed to train in the next little bit.

1. The fruit released form. 

2. Black Bones. 

3. Overall Haki. 

Then his mind went to something else. 

*Fwiip*

A sharp Shing went off as a sword appeared in Damien's hand. It was a Famed Blade of the 50 Skillful Grade.

The Sin Incarnate cared little for the blade, nor its name. 

The arriving dawn shone by the sharp edge of the sword, slicing through the morning breeze.

*Fwwm!*

He wrapped the blade with his Haki and channeled a stream of pulverizing Haki.

*Purrup*

The pulverizing energy bubbled like magma, slowly covering the entire blade with its ominous light.

Damien slashed the weapon in the direction of a grove as a bright, black slash of energy shot out in its wake. 

*Swish!* The slash cleaved through tens of trees, leaving a finely sliced valley that sent dozens of trees to the sky.

However, the impressive sight did not satisfy Damien. 

"Swords this, swords that… I don't see why everyone wants a sword," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the blade.

*Crack*

The residual Pulverizing Haki had worn out the durability of the Skillful Grade Sword, leaving it effectively useless. 

.

Damien shook his head and came to a new thought. "Well, swords aren't my thing anyways. I need something more unique to work well with my powers."

He threw the sword away into the sky, uncaring of its destination. 

*Squack!* Unfortunately, it hit a seagull that fell into the deep blue sea. 

"…"

"Anyways," Damien offhandedly said. "Great Grade Blades are the minimum quality to hold up my power but a Supreme Grade would be ideal…"

He balled his fists in a deep desire to grow. The feeling of weight born by the inevitable God Valley Incident truly sent him into overdrive. 

.

"Where's the intruder? Let me fight him!"

The notorious pirate looked to the side and saw a sleepy Kuzan frantically walk out. He had one eye covered with his eye mask, his nightsuit still on. He waddled around, looking for a fight. 

Damien sighed, "Kuzan, there's no enemy."

The boy looking to fight froze. He glanced at Damien, then looked at the cleaved-up section of the forest. 

"Huh? Why'd you cut apart half of a forest then?" he crossed his hands with some irritation. "Yesterday you said the vegetation was screaming in my heroic battle with the mountain gorilla, and yet you cut apart so much of it like this."

Damien shrugged, "This is different. They didn't scream when I cut them. If anything, they were happy to be cut apart by me."

"That's ridiculous!" Kuzan exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger.

…

[A Little While Later]

The two eventually made it to the breakfast table, aka a stump of a giant Sea King that was recently cut after offering itself as a meal.

"Now, let's eat some more."

Kuzan nodded as he saw the delicious meat barbecued to perfection. 

"Looks delici-"

*Fwooo!* *Rumble*

Yet at that moment came an island-shaking boom. 

Powerful winds blew about as the trees cried out. The birds and animals were thrown into a loop, panicking at the sudden spectacle.

Damien's eyes sharpened at the sky as he saw a giant stream of green energy forming, much like a river.

*Purrup*

*Creak*

Red mist gathered at the palm of the pirate's hand while Kuzan's body turned strikingly cold, releasing chilling winds.

.

The two went to the spot near the heart of the anomaly, an open patch of grass surrounded by trees covered in snow.

Damien stood in front of Kuzan, simply watching to see what happened. 

Under their examining eyes was a beacon of green light that befell the island. The blinding light caused Kuzan, alongside the other animals present, to flinch. 

[Spectacle Image (in Discord)]

A burst of air went off as the green light fell onto the clearing in front of Damien, spreading out in all directions. Everything fell under Damien's sharp Observation; a silhouette of a person standing at the core of the blast. 

Damien squinted his eyes, zooming into the mysterious figure. 

"A woman?"

The sight became clearer and clearer as the appearance was fully visible. 

"Um, it's a pleasure to meet you," a soft voice resounded in the eerily silent woods.

"My name is Amatsuki Toki," she said, locking her green eyes with Damien. "Can you tell me what year it is?"

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner. 

Mainly a chapter for Damien and Kuzan, focussing on their dynamic, amongst other things. 

Someone mentioned Kuzan wasn't lazy at this age… There's no evidence for that. All we know is that he had Fiery Justice in his years as a marine but he wasn't in the Navy till 19. The direction I went is where he was lazy from a young age and rather it was joining the Navy which lit the fire in him. Then came Ohara which returned him to a state which was most comfortable after losing hope in the Navy: Lazy Justice.

When his backstory is explored by Oda, I'm sure it will drastically vary, hence AU.

Anyways, it seems that breakfast time has been ruined by an unpredictable situation.

Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q