Chapter 127: Determination

Chapter 127: Determination

“““““““...””””””””

The crew and Shakky were stunned into silence by Rayleigh’s reaction.

“What just happened?” asked Usopp.

They had known Rayleigh drunk. They had known Rayleigh looking like a beggar. They had known him, strong, badass, laughing and many other things but scared? That was a first and it was mind blowing.

“I think you two dears have traumatized him a bit.” Shakky replied, looking at father and daughter.
“Eri, did you do something to him?”
“I just kicked his shin because he was being a meany. You?”
“Nothing.” was the clueless answer she got.
“You say nothing. I hear bullshit.” said Sanji coming into the pub.
“I’m with Sanji on that one.” Franky agreed.
“Me too!”
“Me three! Yohohoho.”
“First time we met we tricked the marines into thinking we were grandfather and grandson so we could watch Roger’s execution. Next time we met was here when we punched that Celestial Dragon and he bummed me out. The third time I just asked him to teach me haki and helped me with something in exchange from an Eternal Pose to O’hara so he could pay his respect to Robin’s mom.” the vice captain defended himself.
“... That’s a likely story.” remarked Baby-5.
“He’s telling the truth but leaving out lots of details.” replied Shakky, serving Zoro a beer. “You reappeared after being confirmed dead with a fantastical tale of resurrection, roped him into freeing a thousand slaves on Marie-Geoise and forced him to lead them to O’hara without warning him in advance of your plan. And last but not least you learned Haki in a week.”
““““What?!”””” exclaimed the haki users in the crew, even Zoro who’s generally calm and collected did.
“How the hell!?” asked Luffy.
“I’m awesome, you all should know by now.” Rick shrugged.
“So Rayliegh ran because you’re always getting him into trouble.” concluded Nami.
“You’re saying that, like I’m a bad guy.”
“You’re a pirate, dad. You’re a bad guy.”
“I…”

Rick wanted to say something back but couldn’t. In front of the metaphorical uppercut his daughter just gave him, Rick sat in silence next to Zoro, asked for a drink and looked into it mindlessly hoping to find an appropriate answer.

“I think you broke him.” Jimbei said.

“It’s good to see you all alive and well but I wonder how you find yourself in paradise again.” Shakky spoke.
“Oh, that? Well…”
“Leaving Wano, Rick made the Sunny float, we flew over Calm Belt, arrived in North Blue and went through Reverse Mountain.” Nami explained before Luffy could.
“We wanted to find Hancock and Vivi.” he finally said.
“And now you’re going back and want Rayleigh to coat the Sunny again?”
““““Yes.””””
“I’ll see what I can do.”

After spending the afternoon at the bar waiting for Rayleigh the whole crew went back on the Sunny, where Luffy gathered everyone.

“Alright I made my decision. Eri… you can stay on board for now.” he announced.

Rick wanted to tackle him to the ground. The New World was no place for a thirteen year old. Sure, Eri was good with a sword. Far better than the average marine in fact, but the second part of Grand Line was not for the average marine. He said nothing because Luffy was the captain and what he said went, despite him not agreeing at all. Had he protested that could have created dissention, just like back on Water Seven. While the crew was more united now than back then and dare he think, ever, he still wouldn’t do it.

“Are you alright with that?” Luffy asked him.
“You’re the captain. What you say goes. It’s not like I can’t protect her. You’re explaining that to her mother though. Good luck.” was all he said and left for the garden.

He couldn’t begin to understand what went through Luffy’s head when he made that choice.

“He’s just worried.” reassured Robin to Eri who was a bit disappointed by her father’s reaction at the news of her joining the crew. “The New World is a very dangerous place. We’re fighting against the worst and the most powerful pirates in the world and he doesn’t want you involved.”

Eri nodded then followed her father to the garden. She found him sitting on a chair to the open side of the place looking at the heavy rain falling outside. Walking in front of him she made a simple demand.

“Train me.”
“No.”

He didn’t even take a second to think about it. The answer was instantaneous.

“Train me.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Look, I’m not going to train you, so stop asking. And I’m no swordsman. There is nothing I can train you in.”
“Haki. And I wasn’t asking, dad.”
“...”
“I will not be a burden or a small little thing that needs to be protected.”

Her declaration made him pause but more than that, it was the fire in her eyes. A determination that he knew well.

‘I wonder if that’s what Grandpa saw when we met.’

He only saw such determination from someone else. Someone who was weak in everything but heart and did their very best despite it. A person that would not give up no matter what they were up against, growing stronger at each obstacle, at each challenge that stood in their way.

‘It’s like looking at Vivi all over again.’

Sighing he tried one last time to rebuke her.

“What makes you think that I can teach you haki? What makes you think that you can learn? What makes you think that you’ll be ready when we go to war against the other emperors?”
“You learned haki in a week! And I’m your daughter. I’m sure I can do it too!”
“I’m a special case! My body is… it’s not normal.” he lied by telling the truth.
“Then mine shouldn’t be too.”

Father and daughter looked into each other’s eyes in silence. Neither wishing to break eye contact.

“What does it cost you but time?”
“...”
“Please, dad. I don’t want to be a burden. I’m not asking you to make me the strongest in a snap of a finger. I’m asking you to train me so I can protect myself.”
“... Goddess damn it.” he muttered under his breath. “Fine! Everyday after your training with the sword is done we’re training your haki. If you can access it to begin with!”
“I will!”
“We’ll see!”

The conversation over, Eri, jumped at her father’s neck to give him a hug and a thank you and simply stayed there. Joining him in watching the rain fall.

~~~~~

Rayleigh had been convinced by his wife when he returned late in the night to their home. Honestly, sometimes he wondered if he shouldn’t have agreed to the R.A.’s proposition to stay on O’hara in exchange for his protection. While they still got news from the island from time to time and paid requests to help any members making their way to Sabaody, the fact that Rick knew where he lived bothered him. It means that at any moment the man could show up and ask for something crazy. Had it been twenty years ago he wouldn’t have minded so much but now he was an old man and wanted to enjoy his retirement peacefully. Mostly.

Still he agreed to help the crew once again for both Luffy and Robin. That was why around noon he arrived at Sunny’s location with his tools. Jumping onto the deck he found Rick instructing Eri. When an arm suddenly swung a metal pipe at her, she used her sword to cut it despite being blindfolded and the hit coming from a blind spot. Every haki user present and who witnessed the display had their jaws drop.

“Eri, did you just…”
“What? Did I get it wrong? I’m sure I cut what you arm attacked me with.”  she asked, removing the blindfold.
“How!? I just taught you what haki was and how it worked four hours ago!” exclaimed her dumbfounded father.

Rayleigh nearly had his eyes popped out of his orbit hearing this but kept his cool.

“Ha! Now you know how I felt! Karma is a bitch!” he shouted but Rick ignored him.
“How did you do that?” the vice captain asked his daughter.
“I don’t know.” she shrugged. “One moment I was listening to you, the next I saw your arm swinging hard for my head from behind. So I just… cut it?”
“You just… cut it? Are you telling me you used armament haki instinctively? In concert with observation?!”
“I did just like you told me to do!” she replied irritated.
“... Either you’re a genius or you’re a shit teacher old man!” the last part being quite loud and for Rayleigh.
“You two are just monsters!”
““Hey!””
“Seriously! People train a couple years to even get the basics down! Not even master it!”
“Maybe it was a fluke?” proposed Ussop.
“Let’s test that.”

He put the blindfold back on Eri and attacked again but this time with two pipes. It definitely wasn’t a fluke. In one swing the teenager cut them both in half.

“What the hell.” Rick whispered.
“I’m your daughter, it’s normal that I’m awesome.”
“... I give up. This family is insane. So to preserve the bit of sanity I have left I’m going to start working.”

And Rayleigh did, ignoring everything and anyone else. Back on the deck, Rick trained his daughter for an hour before letting Zoro take a turn. Clearly, she didn’t need him much anymore since she could already use haki, so Zoro was sparring with her to help her get a better feel and strengthen it. That gave him time to make his own training.

‘Is that normal?’
‘Of course not. But it’s not something that I’ve never encountered before. I, myself, was able to do that too.”
‘I really don’t get it. I could learn it fast because my soul is strong after countless lifetimes, but she…’
‘“She has an innate talent in manipulating her spiritual energy and she inherited your determination. It’s not that surprising.’
‘To you maybe… Anyway, are you ready for some tests?’
‘What tests?’
‘Conqueror haki?’

‘Sure.’
‘Let’s get away to an isolated place first then.’ he thought and flew toward the forest. ‘Now that I think about it, why didn’t you use this haki to fight Moria or the navy?’
‘Because when I took control over your body I did it through connecting to your anger. I was too lost in it to actually use it. In fact I never used haki at all, no matter the type, each time. All my opponents would have died if I did.’
‘Makes sense.’

~~~~~

It took three days for Sunny to be ready to sail under the sea. During that time Shakky got in contact with O’hara and through the R.A. with Kaza. She had been absolutely furious at Eri and Rick. When she ordered her daughter to stay right where she was and that she would personally come and pick her up, she got a resolute ‘no’. More yelling later and Eri said in a very mature way that she was staying with her dad and his friends for a bit and that that was it. She told her that she loved her and then hung up the den den mushi. That simple act made Rick gasp in fright.

“Do you hate me that much? She’s going to kill me!”
“She loves you too much for that, dad.”

Quickly, Rick picked up the den den mushi and called back, waving Eri away.

“Eri! I swear that….”
“It’s me.”
“...” hearing his voice pulled the wind out of her.
“I agree with you.”
“Then make her stay there.”
“I can’t do that. Luffy said she’s on board so she’s on board. Captain’s orders, you know?”
“I don’t care about your captain’s orders! She’s our daughter and you’re bringing her to the most dangerous place on the planet!”
“I do not. Look… Kaza, she wants to see the world, she’s going to see the world. You know this. I haven’t known her for long but I saw the determination in her eyes. Determination like that? You can’t fight it. The situation is better than you think though. Which do you prefer? That she set sail with me by her side to protect her or on her own or with the R.A. ?”
“... If anything happens to her...”
“Then the ones responsible will die. Them, their families, their hometown and their home country. I will burn the whole world down.”

“Good.”
“On that note. Did you start teaching Eri haki?”
“No. I wanted her to grow up a bit more for that. Why?”
“She demanded that I teach her. After a morning of explanation and theories, she pulled it off on her first try.”
“What do you mean her first try?”
“I mean that when I blindfolded her and attacked her, she naturally used observation and counter attacked with armament. Kaza, our girl is a genius regarding haki.”
“You’re kidding me.” she replied in a flat tone.
“I swear I’m not. She doesn’t have much and it’s not strong, but she uses it so easily…”
“... You better make her the best haki user in the world so she can defend herself or your goddess will not find…”
“I doubt that. If there is one thing you won’t ever do is hurting me.”
“...”
“She has a whole pirate crew worth nearly twenty billion Berry, ready to defend and protect her. It’s not about her being with me isn’t it? It’s about her not being with you. I get it, you know. She’s been your everything for so long, I get why you want her by your side. Always.”
“... I only have one thing going for me in my life Rick and it’s her. I…”
“That’s not true. You have me.”
“You’re away! And I have to share you!”
“I admit it’s not ideal but it’s temporary. A few years at best. Until Luffy finds the One Piece and becomes the pirate king.”
“That could take more than a few years! It could take decades!”
“No. We’re really close. We already have three pieces out of four of the map to Laugh Tale.”
“...” she didn’t say anything to that and instead took a deep breath. He could hear her through the den den mushi. “Two years. If in two years you’re not done. I’m coming for you and her and will bring you back with whatever means necessary.”
“It’s a deal. See you in two years then?”
“You better.”

After exchanging a heartfelt ‘I love you’ and saying goodbye, the call ended.

“Thank you for your help, Shakky.”
“Think nothing of it.” she said dismissively.
“After all the shit I put your husband through? You could have held a grudge.”
“You’re kidding? He hasn’t been so excited in years! Oh, he may complain a lot but he’s having fun. You should have seen him when he came back from O’hara the first time. Cursing you to hell and back, all the while he had a smile on his face. If anything I’m grateful.” she explained with an amused smile.
“Still, I feel like I owe you a lot, so if you need anything, just ask.”
“I’ll remember that.”

When he left the bar and went back to the ship, they were ready to go. They said their goodbye to Rayleigh who threw a ‘don’t visit again!’ to Rick, and made their way to fishman island. This time the trip wasn’t as perilous as the last time. Zoro and Luffy behaved themselves after all. They were also helped by the kraken that Luffy had befriended previously. It was a nice reunion and a very fortunate one. Unlike their first time, their entry into the island was not chaotic at all. They did get into trouble for a moment when guards came to check on the new arrivals but seeing it was them they were warmly welcomed and directly brought to Ryugu Palace to meet with the king. Once there, they were surprised to see an old friend of theirs among the royal family.

“““““““VIVI?!”””””””