An Eternal Bond

Drive

"Kanjuro!"

Okay... who's that? "Whoever you are, I advise you to not stain the name of Oden." I sliced and shreds of paper drifted in the air around me. I caught one between my fingers and stared at it. "It's definitely some sort of a Devil Fruit."

"Kanjuro was once one of us." Ashura explained. "Now... he is an enemy. Yet, he was once our friend."

"...I get the feeling." I rolled my shoulder backwards. "Alright, I'm guessing that this Kanjuro guy you're talking about is aiming for Momonosuke. He should be with Shinobu-chan."

"Then we'll go there." Kiku concluded with a nod from her brother.

I kept my hand on my sword, running through the halls of the palace.

"Hey, Y/N!"

I stopped in my tracks, my eyes going wide at the familiar voice. I turned and saw an uncomfortably familiar boy walking towards me.

"Hey there..." Ace. It was Ace. His voice sounded so gentle, so calming, I nearly forgot where I was. But as he got closer, I let out a heavy sigh and sliced.

"Y/N, you—" Izo stared at the sliced papers around me.

"Here's the thing, Kanjiro."

"Kanjuro."

"Whatever!" I shoved my sword in the scabbard. "The issue is that you don't know Ace. He has 178 freckles, his tattoo is on his left arm, his hair stops right above his earlobe, not below, his jawline is unbelievably sharp, his arms are not that thin, and..." I grinned as I walked by. "You got his ass wrong."

I turned to the samurai. "Look, if I got exploded or anything along those lines, I'd survive." My arm turned to diamond and I tapped at it. "However, if any of you get severely injured, you're finished. Get going. I'll hold off anything that gets in your way."

I ran ahead of them, ready for any attacks that may come. Well, I thought I was until an elephant came crashing into the room.

"What the hell?" I held my arm after being bashed into by the large mammal. "Damn, they make anyone into a pirate these days."

Inuarashi stepped forward, placing his arm in front of me. "Save your strength. I can deal with him."

"Wait, st— Agh!" It felt like parts of my insides just burst, right where my veins seemed to be poking through my skin in the form of spilled ink. And it spread. It was such a piercing pain, but the moment I heard the distressed noises from the samurai, I shook it off.

It didn't end. But I'd deal with it later.

"G-Get... going!" I shook my head, trying to get rid of the headache that was stabbing at my head. 

"What's the matter?" Izo put his arm around me but I gently pushed at him. "N-No, I'm fine. I'm fine! I..." As I lifted my hand to hold my throbbing head, I saw the dark abyss covering my hand and beginning to do the same to my arms.

"You are not okay." Izo led me to a wall. "This hasn't happened before, has it?"

I shook my head slowly, although it felt like my brain was moving as I did. I don't know what this was, but it felt like someone was whispering to me. In my head. They weren't loud enough to be identifiable voices, but they felt.. familiar.

"The Minks are coming towards the turn over there." I pointed. "Just go on! I'll be fine!"

The Akazaya Samurai slowly began to retreat away from me and left me alone in the hallways of the palace.