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chapter fourteen
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ii. sky island arc


Shoto could have never predicted for this to happen. Even if he did, what kind of assistance would he have offered? He told them the place was shady, he told them that the no-tax fee was probably a trap.

And will you look at that,

He was right.

And now, he was on the quest to find his nakamas while gloomily facing the family that he suspected to have something to do with their so-called arrest.

"Shoto, get on." Luffy ushered, desperate to be reunited with the rest of his crew. But still, in the mean time, he was sure they were capable enough to defend themselves.

However, Shoto didn't reply to his words.

It made Sanji, Usopp, and Luffy turn to look at him in concern. Shoto wasn't usually the type to mess around, maybe he had something to say?

"I don't think I'll be coming with you for now." The boy stated, and while they tried to find the mischief in his eyes, they unfortunately did not. Meaning he was indeed genuine.

"What? Where are you-"

"Let's trust Shoto in the process." Luffy interrupted one of his friends, holding a hand to stop them. "Our main goal is to find the rest and find the golden island. Just come back and see us, okay?" He looked at Shoto with expectant eyes.

Looking back, Shoto nodded.

"I promise."

"Wait, Luffy- what if. . ." Sanji trailed off, but their Captain already knows what he was trying to imply. Nonetheless, he held no offense against it

"You really think Shoto would break his promise?" Luffy questioned. "We may be his crew but we ourselves haven't seen what he really is capable of."

"So, that means that. . . The power we have seen off of him isn't even half of what he's capable of?" Usopp asked.

"Not even 1/4 of it."

And the amount of faith and trust that Luffy had placed on him was something that flattered Shoto at most. No one really believed in him and here was their idiotic Captain not even doubting him the littlest bit.

He really was holding on to that.

Shoto ran off to the other direction, the other island where it was stated to be forbidden. He had plans and he had hoped that those plans would help his crew.


The air was cold, despite the sun kissing his skin, he could still feel the chills run down his spine, there was something terribly off about this place. He may not know it yet but he was sure that it was something he couldn't be happy about.

Stepping in the middle of the island, it was oddly quite. Too quite. Then, he saw a little feather poking from the corner of his eyes, with this, he knew someone was there.

"Hiding is useless when you're still not going to mask your presence. Come out." He wearily said, looking around with tense shoulders.

Suddenly, the sound of nets fired could be heard, and luckily, Shoto was quick to move on his feet, using ice to tower himself over and freeze the nets. Slowly, people started coming out, all of them resembling the crazy guy that attacked them earlier with explosions.

"So this is your tribe." Shoto mumbled. "Reminds me of something." Recalling his history classes, this did remind him of the native americans.

"Haven't you been warned not to come here? We show no mercy, you know?"

"Mercy? No, I'm not looking for anything to reconcile myself." Shoto admitted. "I could of guessed that there is something- no. . . Someone here that runs the so-called Vearth."

He didn't know how to address what they call the soil but having said that was enough.

"What do you know?" A gun was pointed on his head, and Shoto was well aware that it explodes and spreads, not the typical guns you can find in stores.

"All our lives, we've been in a war against the people here." One of them spoke. "We own this place and yet, they still insist to take it away as their own. They are all nothing but filthy thieves."

Catching at least a little gist of their endless dispute, Shoto puts away the gun pointed to his head, freezing the front of it so that person wouldn't pull the trigger out of the blue.

Then he acted, jumping in his ice as he went to form a large border that goes taller than the trees that surrounded them.

"You know, I was actually curious on who are the bad guys here." Shoto started, panting slightly from the sudden power he used. "And at first, upon hearing your part, you guys were."

He formed another border that made 5 more people to get stuck on the extremely cold ice.

"Then I realized, you all are such self-centered hypocrites." Confused by the phrasing of the heterochromatic, they still attacked, they were hostile beings after all, born and raised to cause destruction just to protect the things they believed their ancestors did.

Shoto had impressively put up a good fight. But after all, he was mistaken to be weak just for his appearance. Unbeknownst to them, he had an advantage over them.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself." The one with a bald head spoke with gritting teeth. "Don't you think you're underestimating us too much? You entered forbidden territory by yourself, I say you're too confident."

"Your point?" His icy eye glanced their way before he soon found himself surrounded by more people, the two large borders he created now being cracked into pieces.

"You see, we really hate people like you." The bald one continued, carrying the weapon by his shoulder now. "Those with gifted prowess that ends up making them too proud."

Shoto paused for a second before looking curiously.

"People like me?" Maybe there really was a new type of world up here. Maybe there are more capable with devil fruits too. If so, then he has to be extra cautious. Only if he had advised his crew sooner. . .

"Enough chitchat, you're starting to piss me off." The man gritted his teeth, loading more ammo in his weapon.

Shoto stood in a defensive stance, looking around alerted. They were way too plenty. It was going to be tough but he still had a promise to hold on to.

With a clear goal before his eyes, he watched as they attacked, everything unfolding slowly before him.

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