45 Student Vs. Master

[Sorry I haven't posted the last two days I was traveling and there were some complications. But now I'm back.]

Rayleigh and I crossed swords, "It looks like you got a new sword. You're going to have to tell me the story behind it." My arms strained to push against my teacher, "I'm glad you noticed but let's get serious."

[Body Art: Massugu]

Rayleigh couldn't dodge my punch, and I sent him flying towards the ground at sonic speeds. The floor buckled as Rayleigh rolled to his feet, but he wasn't allowed a moment of rest as Ace was on him.

Sending jets of flame from his fists, Ace forced Rayleigh, allowing me to land behind him and land a kick to his hip. Going with the momentum, Rayleigh twisted, landing on his feet again to meet me again in sword lock.

"Having trouble, old man?!" Rayleigh smiled, and we exchanged a series of blows before locking blades. "Keeping my eyes open, I thought you guys were pirates?" Rayleigh taunted, steering my sword to the side before lashing out with a haki encased punch.

[Bone Art: Sukeruton]

Bone armor covered my chest just in the nick of time as Rayleigh sent me flying, shattering my bone protection. "Ace, you're on." Like a substitution Jutsu, Ace replaced me with a smile plastered on his face.

Condensing a ball of fire in his palm, Ace threw a spear of fire hurtling through the air at Rayleigh. Sending out a condensed air blade Rayleigh grinned as the two projectiles collided, exploding on contact.

Ace flew through the smoke, his lower half transformed into flames, hovering in the air Ace opened his mouth and breathed a stream of fire. The front of the stream billowed out, turning into a fireball.

With no other option, Rayleigh jumped back, avoiding the sea of flames. But before he could touch the ground, I used Soru teleporting behind him.

Placing my hand on his back, I used an old technique.

[Body Art: Geiru]

A gale-force wind erupted from my arm, hitting Rayleigh with the force of a cannonball, it usually wouldn't hurt the old man at a distance, but at this close, it was going to do some damage. Rayleigh groaned as I sent him flying yet again into a mangrove tree embedding into the trunk.

Ace landed next to me, and we both looked at the hole Rayleigh had yet to emerge from, "You don't think that was too much for him, was it." I opened my mouth to say something when Rayleigh's haki washed over us.

Ace and I activated ours instinctually, creating a three-way battle. Rayleigh grabbed the edge of the tree, staring down at us. His glasses were askew, and his silver was all over the place. Adjusting his spectacles and smoothing back his mane, Rayleigh smiled, "I know I didn't teach you that, but you're adults now. So it's about time I stop treating you like children."

Faster than we could blink, Rayleigh launched himself at us, his sword out the side, ready to take our heads. But before he could reach us, something came hurtling past us and struck Rayleigh in the chest.

Rayleigh stopped, and blood started to drip down from his nose. We all looked and saw Shakky standing in the doorway, another frying pan in her hand. "Get inside." Even though she whispered, Shakkys voice carried to all of our ears, and we nodded, not saying a thing.

No one spoke again for the rest of the night, and the next morning all three of us were forced to repair the damage from our fight. I learned something new about my powers that I could encourage living plant life.

Though it wasn't that pronounced of an effect, I wasn't a botanist, so I didn't have a firm understanding of the plant's body system. Besides encouraging growth, I couldn't do much, but practice makes perfect.

The giant hole in the mangrove tree was the only thing we could do anything about. Even with my influence, it would take years for the tree to grow back what it had lost. Shakky wasn't pleased, and I had to cough up the last of my coffers to pay the fee.

I went to bed that day, a shadow of a man, though this left another huge problem. Ace and I had no more money to spend, and we had no supplies. "Why don't we ask Shakky to spot us a few berri." I looked at Ace, and he realized the absurdity in his words.

"Sorry, but I don't think that's going to happen, but I do have one idea." Ace leaned in, and I whispered my plan into his ear, "I don't know why I didn't think of that. It's perfect, but one problem what do we do with the people?"

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, "If they want, I'm going to let them join my crew." Ace stared at me before looking away, "You're going to leave, pops?" I nodded, "It's been fun, but I need to go down my path."

Ace smiled, "You never did strike me as the follower type, but let's not act like this is the end. We still have to find Teach. If we do that, I'm sure pops won't complain." Ace stood and offered me his hand.

Taking it, I brushed off my pants, "Okay then, let's get this underway. Should we tell Rayleigh?" Ace shook his head, "If we did, the old man would want to either join us or stop us. And we need the money."

I agreed with Ace even though I knew it was likely that Rayleigh would do nothing, we both grabbed dark clocks that covered our entire bodies, and we sneaked out in the dead of night.

It was apparent when we reached the lawless section, while the rest of the island was deep asleep, area 20 was still a bust with activity. Gangs fought, and people warmed their hands over oil drum fires.

So Ace and I fit right in as another pair of shady men among hundreds.