in another world ; one piece : bnha

052

chapter fifty two
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x. 3d2y arc

For the sake of his identity, Shoto lied about his devil fruit, saying how it was the solidification of his ice that keeps him up from underwater.

And seeing how the boy talked like an absolute expert, Aokiji couldn't say anything back or suspect anything. Especially by how stoic Shoto was, showing how serious he was-- what was he supposed to do?

The heterochromatic was confident he wouldn't be found. Like, what can the Admiral do? Swim down and open his eyes to salt water just to see? Not to mention, he was a devil fruit user.

And just like that, Shoto got an easy pass to free ice classes.

He doesn't plan to stick any longer than a year, but he was confident he would learn a lot by how educational Aokiji was. Or so he thought.

"Pass me my lemonade."

The Admiral was sitting on a beach seat by the shore, dressed like he was having the best vacation of his life. Not to mention, he made Shoto his personal waiter for his food and drinks.

"Are you sure this is a part of learning how to be agile?" Shoto questioned while brushing off the sand from his legs as soon as he reached the cemented path.

"Yeah." Aokiji said as he took a sip from the curly and colorful straw that was connected to his glass of lemonade. "Are you doubting me?"

"Yes."

"Just do as I say and you'll know how to move like Lucci in no time." The Admiral assured. Although it was wrong of him to aid a Pirate while he was a Marine, this was his vacation and he doesn't see any problem with sharing his knowledge with another ice user.

This was something personal of his, the World Government doesn't get a say in it. And it doesn't hurt if they don't know.

"You have fire too, right?" Aokiji asked, he earned a nod from the heterochromatic. "Then, answer this. How did you even survive after eating two fruits?"

"I'm just built different, I guess."

The Admiral was not satisfied with his answer as he brought down his sunglasses and arched a brow, making Shoto thought of another lame excuse as well.

"Well, I'm not an ordinary person." Shoto said. "I have two sides of me." He lied, hesitating for a moment as he gestured towards his red and white hair.

"Really?" Aokiji was not buying it.

"Yes." The heterochromatic insisted. "Ice and fire, the two fruits managed to take one side each." Great, now he was getting into detail with his lie. He was now making himself like Blackbeard.

"Is that so?"

"That's right." Shoto nodded. "This is Sho." He pointed at his left side. "And this is To." He gestured to his right side. "Sho-to."

Aokiji was speechless. He can't understand if the boy was serious or not. But he was too lazy to question it further, it was simply difficult to understand in one go.

"Alright then, let's start with your first lesson."

Shoto perked up at this.

"Let's play beach volleyball."

Nevermind then.

"Hey, I'm serious." The Admiral sighed. "You're not taking this seriously." He chastised, shaking his head.

Shoto could only sweatdrop. He could say the same for him.

"We're really playing. It's for you to improve your agility. Now stop complaining." Aokiji told off, readying the net by creating one using his ice. He was pretty impressive with his control. Even Shoto can't shape things that precisely.

"I'm pretty sure agility's different between playing and actually using it in battle." Shoto voiced out.

"Wait, really?"

"Yes."

"Whatever. It's somehow similar." Aokiji dismissed. "Come on, hurry up, I'm serving the ball now." He urged impatiently but still managed to appear calm on the surface.

Shoto could only wish he floated into another island instead.

After a long day playing beach volleyball, Shoto was exhausted beyond his core as he immediately collapsed on the floor mat.

Aokiji was already fast asleep in his comfortable room.

But it seems like Shoto would have to endure the chill of the night as well. Although it did not seem like it, this training was getting extreme. Luckily though, Shoto was immune to the cold thanks to the way his body is built.

Plus, he even has fire.

The heterochromatic expected to pass out as soon as he lays down on the mat, but it has been 30 minutes already and he can't even bring himself to sleep. Bored and still feeling the rush from the volleyball earlier, Shoto sat up and looked around, reaching for his pockets before pulling out a vivre card.

He almost forgot. It was only his luck that vivre cards were basically indestructible.

"This one is from Marco." Shoto sweatdropped as he recognized the big patch of the paper before looking at the other ones he had. "Rayleigh-san's. . . Mihawk-san's. . . And Aokiji-sensei's."

That's four in total. That was sad of him, it seemed like he didn't have that many friends.

Marco only gave him a part of his because he asked for it, Rayleigh because he might be away from Sabaody and they won't be able to find him, Mihawk because why not, and Aokiji because he was taking extra precaution incase Shoto floats away again-- or gets eaten by a fish.

See? There was no significant meaning. Shoto sighed. They didn't want to be his friend. . . At least in the heterochromatic's interpretation.

Stuffing the cards in the handy garter of his flip flops, Shoto trusted for it to stay safely there. After all, it was surprisingly strong despite it only being bought from a local stand in one particular island. Still, it had the same design and color pattern as the designer brand called Gucci.

Shaking his head, the heterochromatic laid back on the mat, yawning slightly as he slowly starts to feel the sleepiness kick in.

Although Aokiji's training way was not that impressive, Shoto's hoping to see progress soon-- his time was limited here after all, he had places to be. He has to train his fire side as well.

And despite only being away from the rest of his crew for a month now, he can't help but miss their chaos. He missed how he wakes up to Brook's violin in the early morning, or to Nami beating Luffy up.

But it won't last too long.

He's sure he'll see them again soon. (He's currently manifesting).