"We must act now!" shouted a deep voice within a circular room "He grows more powerful by the day!"
"And yet, he is only a pirate." said a much calmer voice "It is still my opinion we leave him alone. For now he has not opposed us directly. Interfering now, would only give him an incentive to act against us."
"I agree." said an older voice "Moving on. What of the Terror Island news?"
"It is gone. Reports say it dove below the sea." the angry, now calmer voice said.
"So someone breached it's defenses. Do we think it was him?" the old voice asked.
"Doubtful. He is powerful, as much as i hate to admit it, but that is precisely why he could not have been the one. With power comes pride, no matter who you are. The island would not have allowed him entry." another calm voice spoke.
"We will keep an eye on him. Just like that Straw-Hat and all the others. Should they step out of line too much..."
"...They will be eliminated." finished the old voice.
.
.
.
"*yaaawwnn*" Aden yawned as he woke up.
He had the strangest dream. Filled with a smell of lavender, tea and a hint disinfectant.
As he were to get up, though, he noticed an extra weight on his right shoulder.
Looking in that direction, he was greeted by a head of black hair.
"So that's where the lavender smell came from...." Aden thought calmly....Not. " Hey what the hell?!!? Why is Robin in my bed!? Did i do something? Did she get in last night? Did something happen!?" his mind rapid-fired in panic.
Risking a look downwards, he sighed in relief as he saw they were both still dressed in their sleepwear. Him, a grey cotton shirt and pants. Her, a simple purple t-shirt with a 'DOCTOR' printed on the chest, and white shorts.
"...Good morning, captain." Robin suddenly spoke with a groan, before opening her eyes to look at him.
"...Mornin'." he responded in kind, keepng eye contact for a bit, before looking outside the window. His face tinted pink which got a giggle out of her.
"Nice day for fishing, isn't it?" Aden said as he saw a nice sunny weather.
"I suppose it is." Robin agreed "I should explain myself, before you give yourself a heartattack." she said, sitting up.
"What?" he asked confused.
"I crawled in your bed last night. Before when we were forced to speak the truth, you said you liked me. And so did i. So i simply went with the flow and took a chance. We can just forget this if you want." Robin explained, getting more emotional near the end.
Aden was silent for a bit. He simply stared at her from the side, contrmplating.
Not hearing a response, Robin began to get up, her tone dejected "I get it....WHOA!" she began, only to yelp as a strong arm grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back to lay down.
"Where are you going?" Aden smirked teasingly even though he was as red as a tomato.
"Nowhere now, captain. Feeling brave are we?" she teased, also with a red tint to her cheeks.
"....shut up." he said, embarrased, but hugging her closer.
It took them about an extra hour to get up, so when they showed up on deck almost hand in hand, it drew some friendly jabs and in the case of Buggy full-on mocking kissing sounds. Only to get smacked on the head by Nojiko with a "You're one to talk."
"Sorry, sweet." Buggy apologized and bowed his head. This only lasted a few seconds, however, as soon everyone was back to doing their own things.
Aden has decided to figure out the strange cube.
Holding it in his hands, he channeled his ability through it, but thist time he used electricity. Just to see what would happen.
As the rings in the cube began to move ad before, that same transpatent wall appeared. Only this time, it was tinted blue with sparks coming off the edge.
An image of a forested area could be seen as if through a veil, getting sharper and sharper, the longer Aden kept supplying energy.
"Hold on...Hold the fuck on! I know this place! That's my training spot when i was a kid... Does this thing show memories?" Aden theorized, but was not sure.
He stepped closer and he swore he could smell the trees from the veil.
Making a bold decision, he held the cube in his right hand and reached with his left towards the image.
Just when he expected to simply pass through, as he thought it was just a projection, he felt a smooth feeling on his hand, as if touching water. Deciding to try and put his hand through, his hand passed through the veil, feeling as if a small layer of water passed over his hand and stopped at his wrist. He could feel the breeze on his palm, and the smell of trees got stronger.
Suddenly, the veil began to rapidly shrink, and Aden barely managed to pull his hand back.
Staring at the cube it was glowing red, with steam coming off of it.
"So it can only sustain this for a bit, huh." Aden said in a thoughtful tone.
"Ermm, captain? Your hand was gone when you reached into the thing." Ring suddenly said, confusing the others.
"Curious." Aden hummed "I wonder if..."
*BOOM!* Aden did not finish speaking.
A cannonball landed right next to the ship, exploding and throwing watar upwards causing it to rain back over them.
"What the hell!?" Nojiko shouted in confusion.
"Captain, why did you not warn us?!" Buggy added, slightly miffed.
"I don't always pay attention to everything around! You have any idea how hard that is on the mind!?" Aden defended himself.
"Who is it?" Robin asked as she put a jand on Aden's shoulder.
"Pirates. Some upstarts believe they can get famous fast, i think." Aden spoke after focusing for but a second.
"Let's show them why that is a bad idea, yeah?" Ring said as he began to weave a curse. The purple glow of his power formed an orb between his hands.
"What are you planning, Curse-Weaver?" Aden asked, using Ring's monicker.
"Watch and see." was the reply he got.
Ring then tossed the orb towards the enemy ship, where it hit their bow, coated the entire ship and sunk into the wood.
Almost immediately, the sea began to churn, dark shadows zipping under the surface.
Suddenly, the shadows grew larger and broke the surface, revealing large heads of different shapes and sizes. One thing they had in common was the sharp teeth, and the hungry look as they stared at the cursed ship.
As quickly as the showed up, they dove towards the enemy ship, and disappeared below the waves. As the sea calmed, and the sound of flapping sails and water returned, it seemed as if nothing happened.
The crew looked at Ring with a questioning look.
"Wha'? Ya'll got yer own tricks. I gots me own." Ring said swithching to his fake voice.
"Yeah but what did you do?" Buggy asked.
"Sea-king bait curse. Made their ship seem like the tastiest food for the beasts. Irresistable, even." he explained calmly.
"Damn, man. You scary." Buggy said as he looked over the ship's railing.
"That's the whole point of the gimmick. Why do you think i dress as a necromancer again? All part of the image." Ring said, adjusting his coat.
"And with that let's get out of here. Nojiko!" Aden ordered.
"Aye, aye." Nojiko said, already moving to the wheel, and adjusting their heading to follow the Pose.
.
It was getting closer to the evening, the sun was slowly getting lower, when Aden experimented with the cube again.
This time he held the image of his brother in mind, as he still believed, the cube projected memories.
But to his shock, when the veil appeared, he saw Luffy on the ground about to be struck by a large fist made of lava.
Without thinking, he charged through the veil, putting the cube in his pocket, where he felt it reshape itself flat. Only about the thickness of a wallet. How? He did not care. The true power of the cube, he did not care. He saw Luffy about to die and just reacted.
Last thing he heard before jumping through, were the panicked voices of his crew.
.
"I'm about to die..." was all that went through Luffy's head "...and i couldn't save Ace. Aden, Ace...Sabo. I'm sorry you guys." he thought as he saw all the times with his brothers flash before his eyes.
Just as he braced for the hit, he realized, that after a while, it did not come. When he opened his eyes, he saw something he could not believe.
Aden was stood facing him, his left hand pushing against Ace's face. And the Lava Fist intended for him, was going through Aden's stomach.
"Aden?" Luffy asked in shock.
"Hello, little brother." Aden spoke raggedly.
"Four Winds!?" the Lava Fist owner growled and pulled his hand back, and took a jump backwards. He did so because he felt a strange tug at his arm.
"Aden!?" Ace shouted in surprise. It has been years since he saw Aden, and now he saw him get killed...Or so he thought.
As Aden stood there, everyone saw the hole in his body. The whole area went silent, waiting for what happens next.
"...*cough-splat* that hurt." Aden caughed some blood, but as everyone stood shocked, the hole in his stomach began to close. Slowly but surely, the flames that lined the hole began to reform into his body. But everyone saw the burns being left there.
Only Aden knew what really happened. At the moment of impact, he tried to use his fire to avoid damage. This worked, but he still felt the pain of being burned. So he subconciously used his power of elemental absorption.
However, seeing as lava was a physical medium, he could not absorb it. Instead, what happened was that his flame ability developed further. He still felt that one empty "slot" for a new element. But he felt his fire change. As the hole in his stomach closed, leaving a badly burned flesh behind, Aden raised his hand and used his new fire. A part of him noticed he did not need to absorb different elements to switch between them anymore. Instead, it felt like focusing at a different part of himself. Almost as if a part of him was asleep, and now woke up.
The new fire burned brighter, almost reaching white in color, but he could feel he could freely control the temperature.
"Interesting." was all Aden said and disappeared right after.
The next instance, everyone heard a loud impact, and now recognized Akainu, was sent flying.
To everyone's confusion, Aden reappeared next to Akainu still in the air, and kicked him upwards, folding him over his leg like a towel.
This kept happening, Aden moving faster than the eye could see, only leaving behind a spark of electricity everytime.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" shouted Sengoku, and everyone could swear he burst a blood vessel.
"Aden?" Garp asked in confusion.
"Four Winds Aden, huh?" Whitebeard spoke quietly, already grateful for Aden saving Ace. And Luffy, he surprised himself.
As Aden kept beating on Akainu, the war resumed. Luffy and Ace ran towards Moby Dick, Whitebeard's people defending them along the way, Kizaru and Aokiji were both too stunned to do anything.
They both saw Aden appear from thin air, and push Ace away while taking a hit from Akainu.
Believing him to die in that one hit, they did not bother doing anything, but now, seeing Akainu get his mug rearranged a bit, they took things more seriously.
Kizaru most of all, because even with his speed, he could just about see Aden zipping around. And this worried him.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!!" Akainu suddenly exploded, releasing a shockeave of heat and sending lava in every direction.
This made Aden stoo his attacks.
"What's wrong Red Dog of the Navy? Feeling upset you didn't get to murder someone?" Aden mocked. Some would say that was a bad idea, but Aden, seeing the state he put Akainu into, was feeling brave.
Akainu had a swollen left eye, split lip, visibly favoring his right leg, and his right arm was hanging loosely at his side.
"You filthy, pirate upstart! You think you can defy justice!? I'll kill you, and then i'm gonna execute Fire-Fist. Your interruption is meaningless." Akainu spouted.
"Yeah, well guess what? I'm leaving. I know damn well i can't beat all three of you. But. Luffy and Ace are safely aboard the Whitebeard's ship already. So imma join them. But first..." Aden spoke, his face a mask of confidence.
Floating into the air, Aden began to release lightning in every direction, wind blowing violently outwards from him.
"South Stance: Supercell!" Aden shouted his attack, as all great fighters do.
All around the Marineford storm clouds began to gather, spinning at high speeds around central point. Which was Aden himself.
As the winds picked up speed, the whistling noise became deafening. The fast winds created walls of air encircling the entirety of the Navy base, with lightning cracking almost constantly. Water from the sea got lifted up and as a result, the water froze due to the fast winds. This caused everyone to be pelted by hail. And if that wasn't enough, tornadoes began to form inside the walls of the base itself.
This entire storm took less then ten seconds to form, leaving almost everyone scrambling for cover. The walls of the base groaned and cracked, most regular marines met a swift end, being thrown by the wind or lifted by a tornado.
Aden, seeing his work was done, turned away and flew through the storm's wall towards Moby Dick.
"What did he do!!?" Sengoku seethed.
"Looks like he pinned a storm to Marineford...BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That brat sure got strong.!" Garp laughed, only to get lunched on zhe head by a golden fist.
"This is a nightmare. First Whitebeard, now the Four Winds brat! THE WHOLE THING IS FU-" Sengoku tried to swear, but got hit in the face by a liece of ice. Which some would begin to say was deliberate. It wasn't, but people talk.
As Aden flew towards Whitebeard's ship, his vision began to blur and his wound flares up in pain.
As he got closer, he only managed to aim directly at the deck, before everything went dark.
(Welp. I am back. For one chapter at least. JK. Ill do my best to continue. But as stated before, it will be highly irregular.
Hope you like this one. Hopefully i didnt go tok overboard, but whatever. Even if i did, so what, right? Its a fanfic. Anyway, Omega out.)