[8] You’re Old Enough Now…

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Chapter 8: You're Old Enough Now…

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As far as his memories could see, Sir Crocodile always remembered himself as an ambitious person.

He once dreamed to own the world, and later when he realised the absurdity of that ambition, it was the entire sea he was after— Crocodile craved the title of Pirate King.

That's why when he clashed with Douglas Bullet at the age of 20, the fact that the match had ended in a draw had left him very shaken. Was he not strong enough to even beat a Roger Pirates' exile? Was he that weak?

Two years later, witnessing Gol D. Roger's death had renovated his broken motivation and he ambitiously started to challenge all sorts of pirates, earning the title of Warlord of the Sea just a few years later.

Upon such a big achievement, Crocodile was back to his former, arrogant self. So he went to the New World part of the Grandline, one day coming across Emperor Whitebeard– Edward Newgate– Strongest Man Alive– whom he challenged.

The result of that fight? Well, he was now hiding in Paradise, acting like the guard dog for Alabasta.

Because when Whitebeard punches you, your bones aren't the only thing that breaks— your morals, motivation, and ambition all just shatter against the fist of destruction.

In fact, the only reason Whitebeard didn't kill 'him' was because he wasn't in the mood to kill a Woman! Such a humiliating incident was what forced Crocodile to consult Emporio Ivankov to change 'her' gender.

Now Crocodile had a simple but relatively small goal— take over the largest sandy island in the world, Alabasta, where he would be able to live a life suitable for royalties while having absolute power on his fingertips due to the sand that was everywhere.

So anybody could guess just how angry he must be when a variable to his master plan suddenly appeared to (literally) pour water on his plans.

Who the fuck was Hashirama Senju and why the fuck did that come to Alabasta? Who gave that brat the permission to mess with his life?!

Crocodile didn't count just how many times he had wished to just go to Alubarna and kill that brat— that'd put everything back to where it was. But no… no, he controlled himself to not do that, not after spending an entire decade acting like a hero, he couldn't just reveal his true personality like this. That'd drag both the World Government and the Revolutionary Army into this if he just decided to take over the Kingdom by force in broad daylight.

That would be the dumbest mistake he made in years.

For that reason, since he had held on for so long, he decided to hold it in for a few more years. In the meantime, he was gathering subordinates, strong people who would help him in his subtle conquerance of this country— of this land that'd stay dry no matter how many Hashiramas appeared around it.

Hashirama had the power to bring rain to this desert. But Crocodile? Crocodile could simply suck the moisture of his trees, one forest after another, and ruin all the effort the boy had put into all this.

He could do that in a single day.

It would be easier to kill the boy, he didn't have to do that himself but just sending one of his subordinates would do, but the problem was Hashirama's older sister— Tsunade Senju was a strong foe, he had sent assassins after her countless times in the past few years, but she simply destroyed them without much effort.

In fact, Crocodile theorised she had 'Haki'– the only thing beside water that could beat his invincible self.

Crocodile himself had Haki, otherwise it wouldn't make sense how he travelled to the New World and returned alive (even with how powerful he was) but the level of Haki wasn't that strong.

So he didn't want to take his chance against an unknown woman, with powers possibly beyond his.

With Tsunade present, it would be hard to harm Hashirama, that's why Sir Crocodile was following this plan instead.

More and more strong and capable soldiers were joining his organisation, the Baroque Works, and soon he would have enough chess-pieces to move around and take over Alabasta, eliminating the Senju problem to the root as well.

For now, he just had to wait… wait until it was the right time to strike.

….Three years later, when Hashirama turned 16, Sir Crocodile was pleasantly surprised when his spy from the Alabasta Castle reported something very interesting.

Something that screamed– "The right time has come."

* * *

Hashirama– still 13-years-old– had no idea of the patient and cunning man's plans, but he was still training hard every day.

He was in Yuba now, building a forest around it and also helping with the building of wooden houses. Due to the latter part, the pay of this job was higher. Unlike the rumours he was hearing three years ago, the King and Queen only ordered the work on Yuba starting today.

Or tonight, since it was night time because he was unwilling to work under the hot sun. Actually, maybe he should do that starting tomorrow just to increase his heat resistance.

Toto and Koza were the only other people around here to help him. There was Vivi too, and though she was helping she was doing it voluntarily rather than being paid for it like the other two.

"Step back, guys."

Hashirama said, gesturing the three of them to step back while he put his hands on the ground. A second later, the ground trembled and one after another, precisely shaped wood came out to wrap around each other and form houses.

Dozens of houses.

"Done. Now it's your job."

The three people stared in awe at the scene that unfolded in front of them before Koza and Toto quickly nodded and headed into the houses.

The houses were simply made of wood, so the joints connecting each with another were also made of wood and sometimes vines wrapping around them. Toto and Koza's job was to strengthen the joints with nails and whatnot.

Hashirama could make strong wooden structures, but the joints become weak if he stopped imbuing chakra into the structure. In a fight, that was fine as any wood he controls has chakra within it anyway, but in these sort of house creation situations it was a different case.

"By the way," after delivering a bucket filled with nails to the two workers, Vivi came back to him and asked. "Is it just me or is your eye colour changing?"

"Uh? Oh, yeah, it is." Hashirama pointed at his eyes. "They're becoming green the more I use my abilities. I don't see green though, don't worry about that."

"Hmm," Vivi stared at his eyes. "They look beautiful."

"Thanks,"

"How big of a house can you create, by the way?" Vivi quickly moved on from the subject and asked. "Or is this size the limit?" she pointed at the three houses behind her, all the exact same size.

"I can grow them bigger." Hashirama said. "Would you like to see?"

Vivi narrowed her eyes. "Why do I feel like it's supposed to mean something dirty?"

Hashirama smirked. "Maybe it is. Anyway, I will show you someday. I am sure the opportunity will come."

It should. He didn't know how long Crocodile's patience would last, but he was sure it would reach its limit before canon began.

Hashirama had enough time to get strong enough to beat the sand lizard up.

* * *

-In Alubarna

Tsunade poured water down her throat, gulping the sleeping pill, and then wiped her lips.

Recently, it's been getting harder for her to sleep. Maybe it was as Hashirama said, she lacked male attention, but really— she couldn't bring herself to like anybody. She had gone on a couple of blind dates in the past 5 years, initiated by her friends at the hospital, or even some patients. Yet, she couldn't feel attraction to any of them.

She wasn't always like this, she remembered some guys she liked in the past, when she was still in the ship with her parents, and later on she even liked Doctor Dan. But now? She felt nothing no matter how rich or attractive the guy sitting opposite her was.

…Well, maybe saying she felt 'nothing' would be a lie. She did feel something, as long as it was Hashirama.

She felt love. Mostly sisterly-love, but amidst it was something far more crude as well. She hadn't accepted that fact for years, yet now that he was growing up into a fine young man, she couldn't lie to herself anymore. Really, it was all her own fault.

Nurturing him to suit her ideal taste, to meet her ideal image of an attractive male— it was her fault she did that, instead of nurturing like her little brother or even a son like she should have.

Really, she started taking care of him since she was 16, so her younger self hadn't seen this future coming, but now that it had come, the older and much mature Tsunade was having a hard time trying not to feel anything for him.

His attractiveness aside, she just loved him with whatever he was built of, he was her only family left in this entire world, and she loved him more than her life. She really would never mind spending entire eternities with him, but… what was the point of thinking all this when he was already getting closer to Vivi?

Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "Maybe I should move out."

Maybe living with him under the same roof was the problem? That may be the case… Increasing distance should help.

But after pondering for a while, she realised she didn't have it in herself to leave him alone.

Tsunade kept shaking her head and rejecting the ideas that emerged on her head, and slowly she felt herself fall asleep.

* * *

Another three years passed in the blink of an eye. Hashirama was finally 16 years old, and knew it was 3 years before canon started, given Vivi was 13 years old now and she was 16 when canon was supposed to start.

After an entire day's training with his sister in the personal battle-gym he had built with all the money he earned from his mercenary missions, it was nighttime and both siblings were eating their dinner.

"Shira," his sister said, having finished her food first, as she looked at his face with a smile on her face. "I have something to say."

"Yes?" Hashirama frowned softly, confused at her soft tone that held back a stretch of sadness.

"I…" She sighed. "I am going to join the Marines."

"..."

"You told me not to join Sir Crocodile, so I won't, but both you and I really need real fighting experience. Joining the marines for now doesn't seem like a bad idea to me." she said, her lips thinning. "I plan to join just by myself for now, and you can come in a few years when I reach a high enough rank to be able to look after you."

"But, didn't an Admiral destroy the Senju Pirates? You are willing to work under them, still? Let's say you do, wouldn't they recognise you?" Hashirama asked, frowning deeply at her.

"No, I don't really mind." She shook her head. "I heard stories about that Admiral. His name is Sengoku, and he is now the Fleet Admiral of the Marines. He's pretty righteous, I hear. Sure, he killed grandpa, but he was just doing his job. I rather like to blame grandfather for not listening to grandmother and disbanding the crew earlier. If the Admiral didn't attack us, then some other pirate would have, in either case the person to blame was grandpa."

"As for getting recognised?

Tsunade thinned her lips. "Well, most marines won't remember, I am sure, but that Sengoku may recognize me. 22 years ago, I was 10 years old when he attacked Grandpa's ship, amidst battle our parents decided to flee with me on grandmother's orders. Sengoku could have stopped us, but he didn't pursue us, and rather told the others to focus ahead. The reason why I don't blame Sengoku for attacking the Senju Pirates is because of that kindness he showed, probably due to me being a child. I have always been grateful for that…" she said. "I doubt he will capture me even if he does recognise me, I was too young back then and didn't have any control over the situation."

Hashiramaa listened to her words in silence. He knew it was Sengoku who attacked the Senju Pirates since she told him before already, and knowing Sengoku's history with Korazon in the canon Hashirama knew he wouldn't hurt or capture Tsunade. But…

"You know," Hashirama looked at her. "There is no marine base in Alabasta. You'll have to leave this place if you want to join the Marines, and even then your new post may not even be in the Grandline. That'd mean we won't be together anymore."

"Yes, I know… but, you are old enough now." Tsunade said, making him raise an eyebrow.

"You witnessed the death of our family when you were 16, so you take this number as the appropriate age to mature up?" Hashirama asked, chuckling. "Sis, for how long have you been planning this?"

At his words, Tsunade's grim expression lit up a little as she giggled.

"Aww, you can read me so well? Yes, it's been a while since I had this plan. But I didn't want to leave you alone when you were young." she smirked. "But now that you are old enough, it's not safe for a beautiful lady such as I to live under the same roof as you. What if you violate me in my sleep~?"

"I am your younger brother." he gave her a dry look, before sighing. "Oh well, it can't hurt to get some independence myself too. Just… keep in touch, okay? I will miss you."

Tsunade's eyes shook as she stared at him in silence.

Slowly, she smiled.

"Of course…"

—-

'He will miss me…' Tsunade couldn't help but smile at that thought. 'I will too, and that's why I need to stay separate from him to stop these forbidden feelings I have.'

Looking at how handsome he had grown, Tsunade couldn't help but blame herself for all this. As she said before, she had nurtured him with the image of her ideal man in mind, so no wonder he came out as so attractive to her. Long shoulder length hair, dark green eyes, and a handsome face.

[Image Here]

Yeah, if he wasn't her brother she would have married him by now.

"Hey, look at the bright side. Maybe you'll find a man you like in the marines?" he said in a joking tone, but that only worked to hurt her more. "Anyway, we should both go to sleep earlier today. You have to leave tomorrow, I have to visit Yuba. I hear concerning news around it."

"Hm? I see." Tsunade smiled. "Maybe we should sleep together tonight? It's been so long."

It was a tease, but he just shrugged and said, "Sure. No idea when we'll meet again, so it may not hurt to spend some time together."

Now on this particular night, Tsunade really realised he was a man now, starting from his scent to the muscles that hugged her to sleep, all those spoke masculinity.

She decided to relax for just once, since she doubted if they'll ever sleep on the same bed again.

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