ONE PIECE: NEN MASTER - CHAPTER 16 (Patreon)

[Valor POV]

“Well?” hissed Nekomamushi, his face only an arm-length from me. By his side, one of his guardians remained silent as he towered over me in size, though not as much as Nekomamushi himself.

I remained quiet, pondering on Nekomamushi's question, my ears flattening, as my fur prickled uncomfortably, which made sense considering that now that I thought about it, Nekomamushi hadn't asked a thing really. 

“I will need more than that. Well, alone is not a question. Please elaborate further on that, Lord Nekomamushi." Honestly, what kind of question is Well, alone?

“You fucked with my third cousin twice removed!” yowled Nekomamushi. “You have the entire island looking to get laid with you, and you picked someone from my family?!”

Wait... that Minx was related to him? Great. I need to start making background checks.

I might have Sakura run a background check on possible one night stands. She is overly invested in my life, she might as well do something to justify that.

"I apologize for my behavior, but I honestly didn't know she was your third cousin twice... removed," I said solemnly.

"Meh, don't worry about it. I was kidding, I don't even know the girl," Nekomamushi grinned mischievously, making my eyes twitch.

"... Say what?"

"Goronyanya! Goronyanya!"

"Was that the only reason you came to visit me? To bother me?" I asked with clear annoyance in my voice.

"I came here to finish your training with the Sulong form! And to bother you, it's a win-win for me," Nekomamushi replied, breaking into another fit of laughter. "Goronyanya! Goronyanya!"

I sighed, sitting down on the cool earth beside my house, curling my tail neatly over my feet. “I thought we had that covered already,” I reminded him, my tail swishing from side to side.

Nekomamushi snorted, crossing his arms. "You will have that covered when I say you do. Not a moment later, not a moment before. Not even the moment I say!"

I…

What?

Why does everything with him has to be so confusing?

"Lord Inuarashi said he would be the one to teach me, and better than anyone," I said, taking this chance to bother the big cat as payback for what he had done a few moments ago.

Nekomamushi’s whiskers quivered disbelievingly, in a mix of anger, jealousy, and shock.

"Brat, are you testing my patience?" Nekomamushi growled, his eyes promising a world of pain.

I smiled. "Would I ever do such a thing? Why would I ever annoy the great Nekomamushi?"

“Hmm you're right, why would you!” Nekomamushi mewed happily, believing my lie. Sometimes he's too gullible. “On another note, let's show that mutt who's the best teacher! Follow me!"

As the massive cat darted into the forest, I followed suit, keeping a good distance between us. He was still attacking out of nowhere for... training purposes, so the distance would allow me to react in time to any of his usual shenanigans.

"Now, what you want to do is..." Nekomamushi began to explain the moment we came to a stop, as we stood in a small grassy field in the center of the forest, about a few hundred meters from the village.

"Ok?" I said, imitating his movements.

"You want to keep the back straight, your shoulders there," Nekomamushi began, while standing on his hind legs, and putting his paws on my shoulders.

"And we wait for the moon to appear, right?" I asked, tilting my head.

"Yep!" Nekomamushi nodded. "I'll stay in case you are one of the berserkers."

My ears twitched at that. "You think I will lose control over my transformation?"

"Possibly," Nekomamushi nodded. "And as you are right now, only the dumb mutt and I can stop you. And that's without the Sulong, so to avoid any casualties, I will stay here."

That makes sense. If I truly lost control over my transformation things could get ugly real fast.

"Now, look at the moon!" Nekomamushi ordered.

Doing as I was told, I looked up as the clouds cleared revealing a full moon. As I stared at the moon, I felt a pulse within me, and just like that, I began my transformation.

My nose became wet, my eyes became cold and bleary, my tail became bushy, my fur become thicker as it turned snow white, my ears and paws become larger, my teeth turning into sharp, white, glistening fangs, as well as my musculature becoming larger, much larger.

As this happened, I could feel my hearing becoming better and sharper, my eyesight becoming sharper,  my sense of smell becoming acute,

as well as the ground beneath me rumbling.

I could also feel the transformation greedily sucking my Nen with each passing second. But did it really matter? The exchange was massive, I felt stronger than ever.

“This... feels amazing!” I started, my voice deeper and more savage, as I turned around and looked at Nekomamushi who was looking at me in shock. “I feel like sparring. Let's go for a few rounds!”

Why would they even worry? This is incredibly easy to control. I mean, I do kind of feel like throwing some hands, but other than that, I feel fucking fine!

Nekomamushi gulped. “Goronyanya... Goronyanya...”

"He's... bigger than I imagined he would be," The guardian beside Nekomamushi muttered in a low tone.

"He is..." Nekomamushi nodded before breaking into a fit of laughter. "See! One lesson and you transformed perfectly! I'm the better master, Goronyanya!"

"So, are we fighting or what?" I asked, eager to test these powers. As I was, I could hardly wait to see how the transformation would interact with my Nen.

"Goronyanya! I like your spirit brat, let's do it!" Nekomamushi grinned, looking at the moon to start his own transformation.

As I watched Nekomamushi transform, ready to step into battle, my mouth stretched into a broad smile. And with that joyful and battle hungry smile, I tipped my head toward the night sky and the moon watching over them and roared with enough strength to shake the heavens.