Chapter 40: Last Battle in the World
"I just decided..." Naruto stomped on the man's head in annoyance. His face clearly showed his anger as he spoke slowly.
"I will train twice as hard when I return to my world. I will become the strongest, so that any thought of facing me in any way, is simply absurd."
Harry snorted as he lifted a Marine by the collar.
"You guys, who barely reached the level of Vice-Admiral, think you can defeat us?" Harry was clearly angry as well. In fact, even Rias, who had almost never gotten angry when she came to this world, felt the same as her two friends.
The problem with all of this, had already started to happen several weeks ago, when they had separated from Shirohige, his crew, and Luffy and Zoro. They had begun their journey and, after leaving the second island, the attacks began. Marines and pirates tried to capture, kill, or defeat them, over and over again.
"Next time bring someone more powerful...", Rias growled before kicking a Marine into the sea. They were currently at sea and several Marine ships had surrounded them.
"Hey... since we're pirates... shall we take their resources?", Naruto asked curiously.
"Of course!", Harry shouted, showing his annoyance.
In the end, they ended up taking everything they could from the ships, even forcing some overly arrogant Marines to strip completely naked.
"By the way, Rias nee-chan, you've never shown your rewards from coming to my world. In the end, what did you get?", Naruto asked curiously.
"Now that you mention it, it's true. Rias has never said anything," Harry commented with the same curiosity.
"Fufufu~… Do you want to see? Do you really want to see it?" Rias laughed before asking, causing the curiosity to grow even more.
The two nodded vigorously.
"Well…" Rias took out her phone as she began to use it. "Honestly, the first two weren't too surprising or even useful for that specific moment. The first reward was 5,000 BP, which I transferred to Harry. The second reward was actually an inventory," Rias waved her hand and space rippled before she pulled out a book.
"It's much more useful than using magic every time."
"And the last one?" Harry asked.
"Well… about that…" Rias took out a canvas and enlarged it, showing a painting made with a brush and ink. It looked like those ancient Chinese paintings, but even those paintings seemed illusory, if only a little. The canvas Rias had only showed a circle of ink.
Just that, a circle made of ink with nothing in the middle or outside of it.
"I don't understand this…", Rias scratched her cheek gently with a finger. "I only know that it's called 'World Without Gods'"
Harry tilted his head with a question mark above his head, and Naruto looked even more confused, until his expression changed to one of pity.
"It seems that you were out of luck, Rias nee–chan"
"I… I think you should keep it and take care of it, Rias. The chat group and its rewards are anything but normal. Maybe it contains something special and you just haven't unlocked its potential"
"Mm… maybe…", Rias sighed a little before putting the canvas away. Honestly, when she saw the names of her rewards, she was excited because she thought [World Without Gods] was something really amazing and powerful, but it was just a circle of ink on a canvas.
"By the way… How will we get to Kaido?"
"About that...", Harry looked at the two before speaking more seriously, "I think it's best to move towards Akagami."
"Eh?! Why?!", Naruto asked in surprise. In fact, even Rias was wearing a surprised and puzzled expression.
"From what Shirohige and that Rayleigh man said before we left, Akagami seems to be the most reasonable. And, as the mission says, we don't need to kill a Yonko. If we ask for a battle against Akagami, then I don't think he'll refuse so quickly. In fact, we can even make the battle more private."
"Hey... that's true...", Naruto said, pointing with a finger. "Besides, we've already spent more than a month in this world, probably two. Even I know it would be troublesome to go back and have others see that we're older."
Rias nodded in agreement. Even if the maximum time they could take to travel and defeat a Yonko like Kaido could be a year, it would cause changes in them, especially physically. A year could do a lot to a person, especially if they trained, fought, and traveled like the three of them did.
"The only problem is finding out Akagami's location," Rias commented, frowning a bit.
"We can ask Shirohige about Den Den Mushi, he might know something about this."
. . .
A month later.
"Why are you recording?" Naruto asked as he looked ahead from The Odyssey. Off to the side, there was another ship with pirates looking at the same place. But, even if they were far enough away to be safe and close enough to see something, they could still sense the Supreme King's Haki that was constantly being released.
"The chances of seeing an island change due to a battle are few. I want to record it," Rias replied as she watched a large deserted island change little by little. The mountains were cut by huge red flying slashes, the trees and lakes were lifted by huge tornadoes of wind. The clouds had darkened, but there was a huge hole in them due to each blow the fighters dealt.
"Indeed… the power of a Yonko is greater than that of an Admiral," Rias muttered. "In fact, I don't think the previous Admirals could defeat any of the Yonko, even together."
Suddenly, Harry flew up with the help of the wind and transformed. His transformation hid part of the sky above the island before his powerful voice could be heard.
"Tenpenchii!" As Harry shouted, tornadoes exploded from the sky, ravaging the island as lightning descended furiously, joining the tornadoes. This attack wasn't just his Devil Fruit's Wind Manipulation, it wasn't possible for him to cause this kind of disaster with just that. But, when he added his chakra, Sage Mode, and Raiton, he was able to create this technique.
However, as lightning and tornadoes devastated the island, a man could be seen jumping towards the enormous Roc. And, if the others were closer, they would have noticed an excited smile mixed with a hint of fear.
There were things that Harry was weaker at than Shanks, such as speed. Because while Harry could travel miles in a single flap of his wings, it was in a straight line. He didn't have enough mastery to move freely with terrifying speeds. Therefore, Shanks could catch up to him without too much trouble.
And even with Haki and his higher level defense due to his transformation, Harry still received a cut on his neck, causing blood to explode from his wound. However, Shanks was now close enough that it was difficult for him to dodge. And, seeing this opportunity, Harry used his wind manipulation to remove several feathers and combine them with his chakra, sending them flying and cutting into Shanks' body, who had coated himself with Armament Haki.
"Shit...", Shank growled as he felt himself suffering injuries. But, his eyes widened as he saw how Harry's huge body began to spin. The huge wings moved and he spun sideways, sending the Yonko flying. The destroyed ground exploded when Shanks hit the ground and lay on the ground.
"I give up...", he sighed. "You're so annoying!"
Harry descended as he returned to his human form and looked at him in exasperation as his right hand clenched his still bleeding neck wound. His pants were cut and there was another cut near his waist and smaller ones all over his bare torso.
"Am I annoying?... We've been fighting for three days and three nights, you bastard! If I'm annoying, then what are you, huh?!"
"Dahahahaha! Going all out from the start would be foolish, especially since I didn't know your full capabilities!" Shanks laughed as blood continued to pour out of his wounds. They both fought for days, but simply used Haki and punches, only on the third day did they become more serious. At first they simply sized each other up and wore each other down with not-so-deadly attacks.
"Well... you won, congratulations."
"Hmph..." Harry snorted. "We could just keep fighting... why are you giving up?"
"What's the point of continuing to fight? We'll just sink the island and you'll be at a disadvantage because of the sea. Even with your ability to fly, you'll reach a point where you can't maintain that transformation; as for me, I'll just float in the sea without being able to move..."
"Well... whatever...", Harry sighed before starting to walk towards the coast... what was left of it.
"You can go back alone, right?"
"Yeah... plus, my crew will come anyway," Shanks replied as he looked at the sky still dark with clouds.
"Hey..."
Harry stopped without looking back: "What?"
"What's your goal? Yours, Aeternum?"
"We just wanted to test ourselves, get some rewards, and enjoy the freedom that comes with being a pirate. In fact, after this, we probably won't see each other... maybe for a long time."
"I see..."
"..."
"..."
They both remained silent for a few moments before Harry's footsteps could be heard again as he walked towards The Odyssey, which was slowly approaching.
. . .
"You're really lucky that the wound wasn't so deep that it cut through the most important thing, Harry," Naruto commented with a slightly worried look as he healed Harry's wounds, especially the one on his neck.
Rias frowned and knelt down to pinch her boyfriend's cheek.
"I don't mind you fighting stronger people, but from now on, try to be more careful. I don't want you to die, Harry."
Harry shifted his gaze slightly and noticed Rias' worried look. As they traveled to Shanks, they had grown closer. They talked about things that seemed like nonsense before, but now actually seemed important: colors, foods, preferences, etc. Their strange and sudden relationship as boyfriends had improved and they had become closer.
Harry smiled at her with a bit of affection, "I will... I will be more careful. Thanks for worrying, Rias."
Rias' lips curved into a beautiful smile before she nodded.
"Ugh... could you please not do that in front of me? I feel jealous of your current relationship, you know? I want a girlfriend too!" Naruto whined angrily.
"I'm sure you'll find a perfect girl for yourself, Naruto-kun."
"Just don't be too much of an idiot..." Harry smiled at his annoyed friend.
"By the way, what did you get for completing the mission?" Harry asked, having ignored the notification when Shanks gave up.
"Ten thousand points, something called the lotus of reflection, and a spear," Rias replied.
"I received ten thousand points as well. Also, a movement technique called heavenly steps and a fifty percent discount coupon for the store," Naruto said.
"Huh?... And what does the lotus and the steps do?"
"Well, the lotus is for reflection, as the name says. As long as you keep it with you, it helps you think faster, reflect on what you don't understand, and understand it faster," Rias said with a thoughtful look.
Naruto smiled as he made the peace sign, "The steps not only allow me to kick the air and walk through the sky, but also to exert much more strength and nimbly evade things that are difficult to dodge."
"Interesting..." Harry, who was lying on the deck of the ship, took out his phone and saw his rewards.
–Rewards–
[10,000 CP]
[Elemental Sight]
[Bloody Firmament Saber]
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