deathsdoctor (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deathsdoctor) wrote2010-12-28 01:24 am
deathsdoctor) wrote2010-12-28 01:24 am
003
[The apartment is stuffy today, he doesn’t have anything requiring his attention anywhere else, except for ingredients for pemmican cakes, and it is quiet. So, so quiet. Two months in this hellhole is already approaching and it is hard to be patient and wait for an opportunity for freedom. Because there is always a chance. Even after years and years.
(He always told his idiots to shut up when it carried on too far, and now all he wants is the sounds of their voices echoing off armoured hull plates. He had such a noisy boat, and though the hunt for One Piece was hard, they had been together and they had been happy often more than not.)
The memories of that blurred out weekend still remain tauntingly out of reach… but now in his heart of hearts he knows what could be the only thing that could cause that kind of ache.
Perhaps Monkey D. Luffy, you were right. You never said anything at the time, but he still felt your disagreement. But still… he can’t wish them here to this.
He can only resolve to grow stronger for their sake should they come anyway. Because it was not only the Golden Age of Pirates that had shattered at Marineford. No, he can hear the flatline for quite a few others as well. But it will take time for others to see that the patient is well and truly dead.
Because the balance of strength could shift at any moment in Luceti and take away what small advantages he has. He is a Supernova, and he is more powerful than most of his immediate concerns here (though badly outnumbered), but the experiment with that blasted musical showed him too well what could be. Or will.
It also showed him what he could be. Left with him the imprints of the general direction he needs to take. He might not take the same exact path to get there, but he would get there all the same.
And most simply because he is still Captain of the Heart Pirates. And should his nakama come, he needs to protect them. Because that is what a Captain does.]
[So out today at the grocery store, in and out of Community Building Two, or on the edge of the forest well away from most people training. The closest to solitude he can get or so he thinks. Feel free to prove him wrong.
Those who catch him in the forest may find him doing one of several things depending on when they catch him. Meditating, practicing his swordsmanship, and further practicing his skills with the filial magic Kipinn and Tsinku granted him. Seeing if he can contact Nala. He’s heard snatches of her around and felt her warmth and friendliness, but he’s never quite held on long enough to talk to her. She’s willing though. That he knows.
But it’s mostly the swordsmanship though. The experiment’s lessons have stuck. Focus on the things that can’t be taken away so easily and that come within, but don’t ignore the ones that can be gained.
The practice with Devil Fruit powers will come at another time. He has a new technique in mind. But he needs to find something suitable to test it on, and utter privacy, instead of close enough.
You can’t do everything in a day, you know.]
(He always told his idiots to shut up when it carried on too far, and now all he wants is the sounds of their voices echoing off armoured hull plates. He had such a noisy boat, and though the hunt for One Piece was hard, they had been together and they had been happy often more than not.)
The memories of that blurred out weekend still remain tauntingly out of reach… but now in his heart of hearts he knows what could be the only thing that could cause that kind of ache.
Perhaps Monkey D. Luffy, you were right. You never said anything at the time, but he still felt your disagreement. But still… he can’t wish them here to this.
He can only resolve to grow stronger for their sake should they come anyway. Because it was not only the Golden Age of Pirates that had shattered at Marineford. No, he can hear the flatline for quite a few others as well. But it will take time for others to see that the patient is well and truly dead.
Because the balance of strength could shift at any moment in Luceti and take away what small advantages he has. He is a Supernova, and he is more powerful than most of his immediate concerns here (though badly outnumbered), but the experiment with that blasted musical showed him too well what could be. Or will.
It also showed him what he could be. Left with him the imprints of the general direction he needs to take. He might not take the same exact path to get there, but he would get there all the same.
And most simply because he is still Captain of the Heart Pirates. And should his nakama come, he needs to protect them. Because that is what a Captain does.]
[So out today at the grocery store, in and out of Community Building Two, or on the edge of the forest well away from most people training. The closest to solitude he can get or so he thinks. Feel free to prove him wrong.
Those who catch him in the forest may find him doing one of several things depending on when they catch him. Meditating, practicing his swordsmanship, and further practicing his skills with the filial magic Kipinn and Tsinku granted him. Seeing if he can contact Nala. He’s heard snatches of her around and felt her warmth and friendliness, but he’s never quite held on long enough to talk to her. She’s willing though. That he knows.
But it’s mostly the swordsmanship though. The experiment’s lessons have stuck. Focus on the things that can’t be taken away so easily and that come within, but don’t ignore the ones that can be gained.
The practice with Devil Fruit powers will come at another time. He has a new technique in mind. But he needs to find something suitable to test it on, and utter privacy, instead of close enough.
You can’t do everything in a day, you know.]
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Strange or not, they are his hobbies. Not all of them, naturally. He has a few more that he likes and a few he'd like to try. He'd love to make a hobby of tossing you, Blackbeard, off an ice flow, if he only had the strength.
But you've recognized him, and his brow arches, and he is serenely calm. Completely and seemingly at peace with one of the most dangerous pirates in the world in front of him and in striking range.]
Oh. Strange. Really? Well, it may seem like a bore to you, but I suppose there are worse ways to spend one's time.
As long as it's not a wasteful use, what's the harm?
[Trafalgar Law's eyes are blue like polar seas. Right now they glitter as if frozen over.
And then a cut to the chase, because all games need to end anyway, and he prefers not dangling in suspense.
Let's see (he doesn't need to glance around or waste a second to remember, he knows the area in which he was training)... forest behind, clearing in front, cliff to the side. Quite the drop too... hmmm... rock formations all around...]
What do you want of me, Marshall D. Teach?
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So, what sorta stuff was goin' on back home when ya left?
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Will it really be nothin' then?]
Mmm. Fate...
[Those eyes glitter a little more in interest.]
I didn't realize you were a such believer in it, Mister Teach.
[And as for that information... he shrugs.]
You may know it all, depending on when you left. The world's continuing its inexorable march towards chaos and war, if that's what you mean. Otherwise... you're going to have to be more specific.
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Of course I believe in it! Fate's what drives us all onward in life! Hard work an' ambition an' all that's good, but if fate ain't on yer side, yer pretty much screwed! It's like bein' on a ship with a broken rudder! Sure, ya can try ta make it move the way ya want it to, but if yer goin' against fate, ya ain't goin' anywhere!
I just wanna know what's changed after the war! With Pops dead an' all, I wanna know how badly things were shook up!
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Aa. No room for influence from one's choices. I see.
[Pops.
Of course Law needs a reminder of one of the reasons why he despises you. Backstabbing nakama killer. Direct murderer of at least two, indirect of far more.
He thinks of Jewelry Bonney. He never really cared about the woman, beyond that she was a rival, but he thinks she deserves some revenge none the less.
He thinks of the boy lying shattered and bleeding on his operating table. Another rival, but this one he had a promise with. This one he risked everything for. '... Let's meet again in the New World.' And he thinks he deserves revenge more.
But there will be no lies here.]
The expected. The New World's waters are red with blood and everyone's fighting it out among themselves. Men and women are making names for themselves and the old order is coming to an end. The amounts of new pirates taking to the seas is astounding and the Marines are drunk on their own victory.
It is an interesting birth to a New Age.
[He rubs his chin.]
What happened at Marineford makes it even more so.
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...Zehahahahahahahaha! Sounds like the perfect sorta way ta start my era! Kinda figured somethin' like that'd happen, though; all those silver medalists thinkin' they've got a chance now, people like you an' Straw Hat who've been growin' stronger at a decent rate, plus a buncha rookies inspired by Pops' last words... it'd be chaos even if the Marines weren't so full o' themselves!
1/2
Such an act worthy of kingship.]
Now what baffles me is how do men know when fate truly smiles on them. Life's such a tricky thing, don't you agree? How are you so certain about it?
Because, as you say, your rise to Roger's throne is inevitable, despite the myrid of others clammoring for the crown.
[Strolling casually a few steps closer to that cliff as the breeze picks up and snow scatters in the air and thunder rolls in the distance. He is a man in thought, a man remembering.
A man pacing.]
Naturally. You never know what you're going to find when you open the newspaper. Some of the things have been shocking. I suppose it's a sign of the times.
[Head shake as he casually drops this tidbit as he paces forward. No lies, Blackbeard, no lies.]
For instance, who would expect a second Yonkou to show his face at Marineford when things seemed most dire? Not anyone there, anyway. He put a halt to everything. And I do mean everything. A very unpleasant surprise, but Red Haired Shanks in a mood can't be a pleasant thing for anyone who's facing him.
2/2
[No lies.]
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[If Blackbeard's shocked, his face and voice don't display any hint of it. He's spent over twenty years on Whitebeard's ship, always intending to backstab him at one point, and lying constantly in regards to his ambitions and his strength. Having to lie for a few moments is child's play. If anything, the revelation helps to maintain the smile on his face - going by that comment, he was (will be? Stupid time-travel tense issues) still alive when Shanks showed up, meaning it was quite likely that he survived his experiment (basically the only part of his plan that he had the slightest doubts about), seeing as he was going to carry it out seconds before he was brought here. Sure, there's the matter of him surviving Shanks, but he assumes that he got out okay - after all, it's his fate.]
So? I'll deal with him, Kaidou, an' Bigmom eventually! Hell, he was easy enough ta beat back in the day! He'll have gotten stronger since then, o' course, but once I've healed up, my crew an' my powers'll be enough ta beat 'im!
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And while you have a master plan... he knows you aren't stupid, far from... you've also been drifting along on the winds of chance, opportunistically preying on anything that would get you closer to your goal.
No, he won't call this foolishness. This is arrogance. Hubris at its finest.
It makes him smile, and it's both beautiful and terrible in its gentleness. For perhaps, just perhaps, he has now seen your end.
It may well turn out that you're your own worst enemy after all, Teach.]
Easy enough? Do tell. [The journal in his inside coat pocket thumps against his ribs with the breeze. It feels... open. He'll have to check later to see if it really is and if it recorded anything.] If you think it's your fate to survive him, [That Cheshire smile. It does not fade.] then what can I say to that?
[Law expects lies. He knows them intimately, his life has taught him well about the many ways people lie, and he knows you're lying now. He knows he hit a cord. Not by face, or voice, or smile, but by what you say. How you say it.
Sometimes the gentleman blusters too much.]
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Impressive.
[He's oh so curious about what scars he gave you in turn.]
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[As if his own body is trying to prevent him from going on another long rant about fate and his destiny and whatnot, his stomach growls.] Man, I'm hungry! Guess I'd better get somethin' ta eat before I go an' see that ocean! See ya 'round, Trafalgar Law!
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[Wait...
Oh, he'll wait. This is Luceti; not the Grand Line. The rules are so much different here in this cage. One Piece does not exist here. He knows the consequences of a misstep. He's not stupid.
He's not strong enough.
...
...
...
But one day he will.
He won't allow anything else.]