An Eternal Bond

Yamato

"Hiken!!"

I panted and looked up, my eyes aching from using my enhancement for too long. I looked up, seeing more fighters coming my way. "Dear Ace, how did you do this the first time?"

I outstretched my arm, feeling the ache in my eyes return, a bit more drastic this time. "Room." My hand dropped and I pulled out my sword, slicing the air and watching the fighters fall apart like bricks.

"It's like there's someone generating them!" I groaned, flinging my arms in the air.

While walking through the building, I stopped and looked behind me. Someone was following me. It was a Devil Fruit user, for sure, otherwise I would've had to use Observation Haki to figure out they were following me.

I turned my back to diamond and crossed my arms, continuing through the building.

This time, I could hear the quiet creak of the wood under both mine and my pursuer's feet. I came to a halt and abruptly turned, my hand shaped in a gun position. "Higan!"

The wood supporting the corner of the wall was charred and my hand hovered over the gun on my belt.

"So... I was right..." A tall figure appeared from around the corner. "You knew Ace!"

"...HUH?!!"

•••

I stared at the masked figure for a moment. "How... do you know Ace?" The voice sounded like it was right in the middle of a male and female voice, but the way their arms scaled to be so much smaller than their sleeves made me think they were a girl. Or perhaps like how Luffy looked a few years ago.

"I met him a long time ago when he came to kill my father."

"Y-Your father? So you're..."

"Kaido's son."

Ah, I was mistaken. "Kaido's son, huh? So... are you going to try and stop me from getting to the guy that's trying to get rid of your father." My arm was encased with Haki, my eyes set on his weapon.

"No. I don't plan on stopping you. I plan on helping you."

"Helping me? Why would you—?" At that moment, my hand felt like rubber as it stretched to the ground. Both me and Kaido's son looked at my drooping arm and I lifted it as it returned back to normal.

"Luffy...!"

I ran down the hallway, hearing the heavy footsteps of Kaido's son following me closely. "Not that way!" He took my arm and pulled me down another hall, this one somewhat darker.

I squinted, the path of the hallway play in my mind until it came to an open room. "Are those... dragons?"

"How did you know?"

"Observation Haki. One of my brothers taught me. You have it, right?"

He nodded. I smiled a bit and put my hand on the handle of my sword. "I'll go first, you cover." He instructed. I looked down at his weapon once again, suddenly recalling it being surrounded by flames and coming at my face.

"Whoa! Are you alright?!"

I nearly fell face flat on the ground before I used my elbows to catch myself. "S-Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."