the hoof of the soaring dragon | ONE PIECE (discontinued)

Chapter 19 *

Hidden in the middle of the fog, a hole had been forged in the dense forest. Where normally the same view of the trees' grandness surrounding the castle was repeated, there were only about ten stumps surrounded by their remnants: branches scattered on the ground; soaked leaves that could no longer be distinguished on the ground. And amid all this, the very reason for this carnage.

"If I put my two hands together, the impact becomes too important. One should be enough..." muttered Akira to whom the fall of the forest had been associated with proof of the success of her efforts. Her breathing was strong and her hard work was flowing along her jaw.

She slowly closed her eye and let her instincts regain control. It was true that the logic behind her newfound ability still eluded her yet she could now examine it to the point where she could now blow up a tree with a simple touch.

"I see that you are able to define the intensity of the impact," noted Mihawk who was, as usual, sitting on one of the stumps, a glass of wine in hand and his sword placed next to him. "We should be able to test it on humanoids and avoid further deforestation of the island."

Pushing her hair back, Akira let out a chuckle and turned to give him a nervous smile "Should we?" She asked, referring to how the humanoids were always glaring at her every time she entered the training field.

"We should" he responded with amusement in his eyes "but for now, let's head back to the castle before they burn our meal" added Mihawk as he glanced at the windows in question where the twins had been for over an hour now.

"I'm still confused on why Toma decided to cook today with Nana." She approached the man to take a sip of the water bottle that sat next to him "As far as I've been told, none of the two enjoy cooking, why didn't they let us take care of it?"

"I'm not sure" Mihawk got up to take his swords "But he did talk about some kind of rivalry..."

•••

"Alright," Toma said, looking at the ingredients on the table. "Let's do this"

Nana looked at him with a skeptical frown on her face, not completely sure about what they were about to do.

"Oh, come on! We just need to follow the recipe! How hard can it be?" exclaimed the one who dragged his sister in the kitchen for what was supposed to be a surprise. Indeed, the need for a counterattack after the show the swordsman had displayed was the source of motivation for the boy to venture into the unknown land that represented the kitchen.

"If we end up burning the cake or the kitchen or the house, I'm blaming you" she stated, pointing at him before finally rolling her sleeves to get to work.

At her statement, Toma scoffed and rolled his eyes "Hand me the milk" he directed, reading on the book he thankfully found in the host's collection. "Then the flour"

Following his instruction, Nana handed the floor to a Toma who had kept his attention on the instruction. Just as he was about to take the flour from her hand, he let the bag go at the unexpected sensation, dropping it on the floor.

Nana took a step backward as a cloud of white powder spread around the room. "Toma!"

"It's not my fault!" he protested "I asked for the milk first, I wasn't expecting a bag!"

"That's not a reason to drop it!" She sighed, shaking her head. "We will clean this mess later: we need to hurry up before the end. You do the beating of the eggs with the sugar while I take care of melting chocolate"

He nodded, taking the bowl and carefully breaking the eggs only to clumsily mixing the ingredients.

Glancing at her brother who struggled to successfully obtain a smooth batter, Nana commented "You know... asking for help to Mihawk will not make this less of a surprise for Akira"