The silence that followed Garp's pronouncement was heavier than the mountain outside. "…She's carrying proof that their 'Absolute Justice' is built on a foundation of lies." The words seemed to soak into the rough wooden walls of the hut, chilling the already cool night air. Luffy snored on, blissfully unaware, a testament to his unique ability to sleep through world-shattering revelations.
But Ace wasn't Luffy. He sat rigid, his silhouette stark against the dim glow from the hearth. His usual defiant anger was replaced by a simmering intensity, his dark eyes fixed on Garp, searching the old man's shadowed face. Lies. Proof. The words resonated with something deep within him, something tied to whispers about his own heritage, about the world's judgment, about the very nature of the 'justice' Garp represented.
I remained perfectly still in my pile of straw, my breathing deliberately slow and even, mimicking sleep. But behind my closed eyelids, my mind raced. Proof. Grandpa had said the Sunstone Heart held their history, the true history, why they feared Hi-no-Kuni. Was that it? Was the history itself the lie? A lie so fundamental the World Government would commit genocide to protect it? The weight of the smooth stone against my skin felt heavier, pulsing not just with faint light, but with the burden of centuries. My mission, once a burning pyre of vengeance, felt suddenly more complex, more dangerous. It wasn't just about making them pay; it was about revealing why.
"Lies…?" Ace repeated, his voice low, tight. "What lies, Gramps? What kind of proof? What did her island do?" He leaned forward, fists clenched on his knees, the questions spilling out, driven by a need that felt older than his years. "Why hide it? If their justice is so absolute, what are they afraid of people knowing?"
Garp sighed, a long, weary sound that seemed to carry the weight of decades spent navigating the murky waters between duty and conscience. He ran a hand over his face, scrubbing at the lines etched there. The firelight caught the deep scars crisscrossing his knuckles, testament to a lifetime of fighting, but tonight, he looked less like a hero and more like a tired old soldier guarding a secret too heavy to bear.
"Too many questions, Ace," Garp deflected, his voice losing its sharp edge, replaced by a gruff weariness. "Some truths... they're like poison. Knowing them doesn't make you stronger; it just makes you a target." He looked towards the shadows where I lay, his gaze lingering for a moment before returning to Ace. "This ain't some bedtime story. It's dangerous. More dangerous than any beast on this mountain or any pirate on the sea."
Ace opened his mouth to argue, his jaw set stubbornly, but Garp cut him off, his voice regaining some of its familiar force, though tinged with something that might have been genuine concern. "Enough! Knowing won't help you now. What you need," Garp jabbed a finger towards Ace, then swept it to include Luffy's sleeping form and my feigned one, "is strength. Real strength. Enough to survive whatever crawls out of the darkness. Enough to protect yourselves, and maybe," his voice dropped slightly, "enough to make your own choices when the time comes."
He stood up, stretching his massive frame, the movement banishing the heavy atmosphere with practiced ease. "Now, sleep! Both of you!" He directed the command pointedly at Ace, then glanced towards my corner again. "Tomorrow, the real work begins. Forget chasing giant bears. Tomorrow," a mischievous, almost manic grin spread across his face, "I teach you three brats some proper techniques. The Rokushiki." He laughed, the sound bouncing off the rafters, chasing away the last of the night's grim revelations. "Bwahahaha! Let's see if you can handle the Six Powers!"
Ace still looked frustrated, questions burning behind his eyes, but he knew Garp well enough to recognize when a topic was closed, barricaded behind the old man's stubborn will and, perhaps, his fear. With a low growl of annoyance, Ace finally lay back down, turning his face towards the wall, though I doubted sleep would come easily to him either.
Silence returned, broken only by Luffy's rhythmic snoring and the soft crackle of the fire. Garp settled back onto his crate, but he didn't sleep. He stared into the embers again, a solitary, conflicted giant keeping watch over a hut full of volatile secrets and explosive potential. And I lay awake in the straw, the word Rokushiki echoing alongside lies and proof, wondering what fresh hell awaited us with the dawn.
Dawn broke grey and misty over Mt. Colubo. The air was damp, carrying the scent of wet earth and pine. Inside the hut, the day began much like the previous one ended – with chaos. Luffy woke up demanding meat, Ace woke up scowling, and Dadan woke up yelling about the noise. Garp, however, seemed energized, wolfing down a bowl of the inevitable brown stew with noisy enthusiasm before clapping his hands together, demanding attention.
"Alright, maggots! Breakfast is over!" he announced, ignoring the fact that Luffy was still trying to lick his bowl clean. "Outside! Time to learn how to really move!"
He herded us out into the clearing, which was still damp and muddy from the previous day's exertions. The mist clung to the trees, giving the forest an ethereal, slightly ominous quality. Ace stood with his arms crossed, impatient. Luffy bounced on the balls of his feet, curious. I stood slightly apart, clutching the hilt of the Kaenken through my cloak, wary but ready.
"Rokushiki!" Garp declared, puffing out his chest. "The Six Powers! Superhuman techniques used by the best of the best within the Marines and Cipher Pol! Masters of Rokushiki can move faster than the eye can see, leap through the air, turn their bodies into weapons, and shrug off attacks that would cripple ordinary men!" He grinned fiercely. "If you useless brats can master even one of these, you might actually survive past puberty!"
He surveyed us critically. "We'll start with the basics of movement. First up: Soru!" He suddenly vanished. One moment he was standing before us, the next he was behind us, reappearing with absolutely no discernible movement in between. A faint whoosh was the only indication he'd moved at all.
Luffy's eyes practically popped out of his head. "Whoa! He disappeared! Like a ninja!"
Ace's eyes widened, intrigued. "How…?"
"Simple!" Garp reappeared in front of us again, grinning. "Soru is achieved by kicking off the ground at least ten times in the blink of an eye! That rapid succession of kicks gives you explosive speed, letting you move faster than most opponents can track!" He demonstrated again, vanishing and reappearing beside a nearby tree, leaving faint impressions in the mud where his feet had supposedly kicked ten times in an instant. "Easy, right? Now you try!"
Easy. Right.
Luffy went first. "Okay! Kick ten times! Shishishi!" He stomped his feet rapidly on the ground like he was trying to put out a fire. Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump! Nothing happened, except he got his boots even muddier. "Huh? It didn't work!" He tried again, stomping even faster, his rubbery legs flailing slightly. Still nothing.
Ace watched Luffy's failed attempt, then Garp's demonstration, his brow furrowed in concentration. He took a low stance, focusing his energy. He tried to replicate the rapid kicks, his leg muscles straining. Tap-tap-tap-tap! He managed maybe four kicks before losing balance, stumbling slightly. He scowled, frustrated, but immediately tried again, adjusting his stance, focusing his power. He was analytical, trying to dissect the technique.
Then it was my turn. I thought back to Garp's movement, the sheer instantaneousness of it. Ten kicks in the blink of an eye. It seemed physically impossible. I took a breath, focusing not just on my legs, but on the strange energy simmering beneath my skin from the Tenshi fruit. Could that help? I tried to mimic the motion, kicking rapidly against the damp earth. Kick-kick-kick-kick. Maybe five kicks? It felt impossibly fast, yet nowhere near Garp's speed. I didn't vanish. I didn't even blur.
"Bwahahaha! Pathetic!" Garp roared, shaking his head. "You call that speed? My grandmother moves faster getting to the dinner table! Put your backs into it! More power! Faster kicks!" He stomped over and delivered a 'love tap' to Luffy's head (BONK! "Ow!"), then prodded Ace's leg ("Lower stance, brat! Explode upwards!"), then poked my shoulder ("Don't just wiggle your feet, girl! Drive from the ground!").
We spent the next hour trying, and failing, to master Soru. Luffy kept stomping uselessly or accidentally stretching his legs into knots. Ace managed moments of slightly increased speed, a flicker of movement too fast to properly track, but couldn't sustain it or control it, often ending up face-planting in the mud after a burst. I focused, trying to channel that inner energy, picturing the rapid kicks. A couple of times, I felt a strange lightness, a burst of speed that carried me a few feet almost instantaneously, but like Ace, I couldn't control it, ending up tangled in a bush or tripping over my own feet. It was frustrating, exhausting work.
"Alright, alright! You're all hopeless at that for now!" Garp finally declared, seeming bored with our failures. "Let's try something else! Maybe you'll be better at defying gravity! Time for Geppo!"
He grinned, looking particularly devilish. "Geppo! Moonwalk! By kicking off the air itself with tremendous speed and power, you can basically 'walk' on air! Fly!" To demonstrate, he simply leaped into the air… and stayed there. He kicked his feet beneath him, creating small, almost invisible impacts in the air, propelling himself upwards, strolling casually across the sky above the clearing as if climbing invisible stairs.
Luffy's jaw dropped. "He's FLYING! So cool!"
Ace stared upwards, speechless for a moment, pure astonishment on his face. Flying? Without wings or Devil Fruit powers? Just by kicking?
"Now you try!" Garp called down, still strolling nonchalantly twenty feet above us. "Just jump and kick the air! Hard!"
Luffy, ever enthusiastic, jumped as high as he could. "Geppo!" He flailed his legs wildly in the air for a second before crashing back down with a rubbery thud. "Ow! Didn't work!" He tried again, jumping and kicking frantically. Same result.
Ace was more cautious. He leaped, focusing all his strength into powerful kicks aimed at the empty air beneath his feet. He managed maybe two kicks before gravity inevitably won, pulling him back down. He landed hard, grunting in frustration.
I watched them, then looked up at Garp casually walking on nothing. Kicking the air? How? It defied all logic. I leaped, focusing, kicking downwards as hard as I could. Nothing. Just the empty feeling of air beneath my boots before I landed back on the solid, muddy ground. I tried again, picturing those impacts Garp made, trying to replicate the force. Maybe… maybe if I channeled that Tenshi energy? I jumped, kicked, and pushed outwards with that inner warmth. For a fraction of a second, I felt… resistance? A slight slowing of my descent? Then thump, back to earth.
"BWAHAHAHA! LOOK AT YOU ALL! LIKE FLOUNDERS FLOPPING ON A DOCK!" Garp roared with laughter from above. "NEED MORE POWER! KICK HARDER! KICK FASTER! ARE YOU TRYING TO PET THE AIR OR KICK IT INTO SUBMISSION?!"
We spent another hour leaping and flailing, achieving absolutely nothing except sore legs and bruised egos. Luffy eventually got bored and started trying to stretch his arms up to grab Garp's leg. Ace kept trying with grim determination, sweat dripping from his brow, refusing to give up despite the impossibility of it. I kept experimenting with the Tenshi fruit's energy, feeling those fleeting moments of resistance, wondering if control over that was the key, at least for me.
Finally, Garp descended, landing lightly beside us. "Enough for now. You're all equally terrible at flying." He grinned, wiping mock sweat from his brow. "Break time! Go catch lunch! And this time," he glared at Luffy, "bring back something bigger than a beetle!"
Exhausted, muddy, and thoroughly demoralized by our complete inability to walk on air or disappear, we trudged back towards the hut. Ace was silent, lost in thought, probably analyzing his failed attempts. Luffy was already talking about hunting giant boars.
As we neared the hut, Ace slowed his pace slightly, falling into step beside me. He glanced over, his expression unreadable.
"That sword," he said quietly, nodding towards my back. "Kaenken, Gramps called it. The Flame Sword." He paused. "Where did it come from?"
Before I could answer, Garp's voice boomed from behind us, making us jump. "Oi! Less chatter, more hunting! And Akane!"
I turned, wary. He had that calculating look again.
"That fruit you ate," he said, his tone suddenly serious again, all traces of the laughing instructor gone. "The Tenshi Tenshi no Mi. Don't think these little games are enough. Power like that... it attracts attention. Dangerous attention." He stepped closer, lowering his voice so only I could hear. "You need to master it. Fast. Before they realize exactly what survived the flames of Hi-no-Kuni."
He stared hard into my eyes, his gaze intense, almost burning.
"Because eighty million beri is nothing," he growled. "Absolutely nothing compared to the price they'll put on the head of an Archangel walking the earth."