ONE PIECE: NEN MASTER - CHAPTER 5 (Patreon)

[1 YEAR LATER]

I woke up to my mother calling me for breakfast. 

Groaning, I opened my eyes, blinking away the lingering haze of sleep, dizzily sitting up, while stretching my arms, legs, and tail in a single motion. Looking over my window to see it open, revealing a sunny day. 

Yawning, I jumped out of the bed and reached my closet, getting some clothes out of the neatly folded stack of clothes inside, courtesy of my mother. Clothes at hand, I dressed up, as my ears caught a hushed chorus of voices in the kitchen, one of them I didn’t recognize immediately, no idea what they were talking about also, but it seemed like we had a guest today. 

Hungry, I made my way down to the kitchen, ready to gobble down whatever mom or dad had cooked before departing to train. 

“I hope they made omelets,” I wasn’t a picky eater, but I had some favorite dishes, among them, the omelet with extra ham. I was easy to please, food-wise.

From the stairs, almost reaching the kitchen, I watched mom serving the food, as dad was standing behind the sink, scrubbing down some plates. 

Smiling, I scanned the area for the visit, noticing the only other person in the kitchen was a familiar brown-haired otter-mink, Sakura, sitting at the kitchen table, nose buried in her plate, voraciously devouring her food.

Wondering why she was here, I resumed my walk to the kitchen, the wooden floor of the house creaking underneath me, announcing my presence. At the sound of the snitching floor, everyone turns around, ears perking and tails swishing.

"Valor!" Sakura beamed, leaping towards me. I had barely reached the kitchen area before she had materialized out of her chair, appearing in front of me, giving me a fierce hug. "We were waiting for you!"

I raised an eyebrow looking at her almost empty plate, “Were you now?”

“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Tora were, I was… waiting for you in spirit,” Sakura giggled, rushing back to her plate.

I sighed, rolling my eyes, “So why are you here?”

“Valor!” Mom chastised, frowning as she put my plate on the table.

“I wanted to hang out with you! But you always say no, and leave to do Mink knows what in the forest alone, so I came and asked your parents!” Sakura replied with a proud smile.

My eye twitched, “I see, sadly, I have a busy day ahead, so maybe some other time, thanks for coming anyway, your company while short is appreciated.” I smiled, taking a seat to start eating.

“Valor, you can train another day,” Mom sighed, shaking her head, “Have some fun once in a while.”

“Yeah!” Sakura nodded, mouth full of food.

Fun? I was so close to creating my first Hatsu, I just knew it! Besides, I had fun training with my Nen, “But, I already made plans,” I replied, taking a bite out of my food.

“Valor, please?” Sakura pouted.

“Sakura, you are six years older than me…” I deadpanned. Ha! as if a pout would stray me away from the path of Nen, Nen is eternal, bitches are not… maybe I do need to do something else.

“Mrs. Tora? A little help?” Sakura, seeing her pout being outstandingly ineffective, turned to my mother.

Mom sighed, “I can’t make him.”

I sighed, perhaps taking one day off would do me good, “Fine, but tomorrow I’m busy, okay?”

“Yes!” Sakura beamed, pumping her fist to her chest in victory, “My adorable pout is invincible!”

“Is not,” I replied, tossing a napkin at her face, “I just feel like not training today.”

“I don’t care, I won!” Sakura replied, face covered in the napkin I had just thrown.

I chuckled, she really had a one-track mind.

—------------------------------------------

After finishing my breakfast, I followed Sakura to the town market, where Leo and Marushi waited for us. 

“I told you I could make him come!” Sakura was the first one to speak, declaring her accomplishment proudly, “Now pay up chumps!” she grinned, extending her hand towards them.

“Of all days, you had to come today?” Leo groaned, giving Sakura some cash.

“Well, a bet it’s a bet,” Marushi chuckled, paying his part as well.

“Oh yeah, come to mama,” Sakura grinned, counting her money with a mischievous look on her face.

I chuckled, “So, what are your plans?” I asked.

“We wanted to visit the secret port!” Leo whispered, making Marushi smack him on the back of the head, “It’s not a secret if everyone knows about it.”

“Ouch!” 

“You mean the abandoned port in the back of the island?” I inquired, tilting my head to the right.

“Yep,” Marushi nodded.

“They say, if you’re lucky, you can find a treasure!” Leo nodded with a big smile, tail wagging.

Never been that far from the village, but it could be fun, “I’m in,” I nodded, wondering how exactly a port would work here, I mean, the entire country was above a living animal, who was way above the sea, I guess that’s part of the mystery.

“Perfect, but first, let me buy some water for our journey, yours is on me Valor,” Sakura winked, giving me the thumbs up, “You made mama some money today.”

“Sometimes I hate her,” Leo grumbled under his breath.

“Don’t play the game, if you can’t take an L,” Marushi snarked at him.

“True,” I nodded, wise words on his part.

—------------------------------

[2 HOURS LATER]

Soon after Sakura and the guys bought their refreshments, we embarked on our journey to the abandoned port, right now, the winds were howling, making trees around shake and bend worryingly. But this wasn’t anything I wasn’t used to, living in Zou, these things were a day-to-day occurrence, heck twice a day, Zunesha would throw a tsunami our way.

“Do you think we will find something valuable?” Leo asked, his hands holding onto his backpack as his tail wagged happily.

“I doubt it,” I replied, we had no trade in Zou, the chances of finding any type of abandoned treasure or merchandise were slim to none.

“Yeah,” Marushi nodded.

“Meh, who cares,” Sakura shrugged, “If we do, cool, but otherwise, it’s the adventure that matters!” she declared, jumping into the air for dramatic purposes.

“I suppose,” Leo nodded, “But, I still have hopes!”

Fair enough.

—------------

Two hours later our journey was almost at its end, the port, was near, according to Marushi’s map. So far, our walk had been pretty uneventful, with our greatest moments being seeing a bird or two around, that and Marushi’s jokes.

However, that was coming to an end, for all of the sudden, a scream echoed across the forest, carrying a plethora of emotions, pain, fear, anguish, and much more, all in a mix that made me feel as if my heart had stopped for the briefest of moments.

“You guys heard that?” Leo asked, his voice breaking a bit.

“Yes,” Marushi nodded, a grim look on his face.

“We have to call the guard!” Sakura replied, a worried look on her face.

“You do that,” I replied, my eyes growing cold, “I will go and help.”

“I’ll go with you,” Marushi stated.

“We don’t have to be heroes guys!” Sakura protested in fear.

“Fuck…” Leo sighed, “Fine count me in, but if I die, I am haunting all of you!” 

“Sakura, you go and call the guard, we have no idea what were are facing, so run, run like never before,” I turned to her, even if she wasn’t scared, we needed someone to reach the guard and tell them something was wrong around here.

“You better not die on me, your mom will kill me!” Sakura joked with a weak laugh before darting away towards the village.

“Let’s go,” I muttered, running towards where I had heard the scream coming from.