Chapter 29

Grandline, Paradise, little garden

'Karma hm... but what have I done in order to set right what was done to my master all those years ago? Nothing. But no more! Time to move on to the table of the big players! I may not be strong enough yet but I will be...' Azul thought on his way back to his giant friends, throwing around the words he had spoken to the strawhats only moments ago, but was he truly that much different? He himself had had a heavy past and still hadn't completely managed to free himself from the shackles that bound him to it.

'Maybe I don't really want to let go? But why wouldn't I want to? Am I afraid? Afraid to forget my master?....I guess it's a possibility, even though I don't like it all that much...' And so his ruminations and selfreflecting continued, even after he had reached his giant friend who, after seeing how deep in thought he was, left him to his own devices, deep into the night. Only when he had sorted his thoughts, barely a few hours away from sunrise, did he close his eyes to catch some more sleep, since in a few hours Azul would already be on his way out to the sea. He had some scores to settle!

"I will be leaving you today. Maybe we'll see each other once again one day. After all you old geezers can get even older still" Azul spoke to the giants with a widening grin to which the giants responded with roaring laughter.

"Take care of yourself young Azul and may fortune be with you" Dorry and Brogy spoke in unison to which Azul lightly bowed his head in salute and answered in kind. "And with you."

Afterwards he took his little bag, threw it over his back and turned around to leave towards his little ship. On the way he met a dinosaur who tried to run in fright, though the keyword is tried. In the end it ended up as Azuls lunchbox for the way to the next island, since his logpose had reset itself by now, it didn't pose a problem for the young warrior.

Soon he arrived at his little ship and threw his bag onto it and began untying his ship from the shore. While he was doing so the crew of the strawhats was still deep asleep and the only one who saw him leave was Zoro who raised his hand in goodbye as Azul sailed past the flying lamb, who responded in kind with a smile on his face.

And with that he resumed his journey. The weather at first remained the same but soon became rather rough which brought another smile to Azuls face. He hadn't realised how much he had missed the raw elements displayed while travelling the grandline.

The winds picked up in intensity and evolved into enourmous currents. With his muscles straining on his back, Azul kept the sail steady and with the other the steering wheel, all while grinning like a loon. Damn it felt good to travel again. Suddenly an apiphany hit him as he realised that through the exitement his breath had found a particular rythm to which his inner flame, which had remainded at mostly the same intensity since he entered the grandline, even when he used his devilfruit as continuous fire generator, had begun to respond. But now that he was breathing in, while literally surrounded by the purest form of nature, his flame burned and grew in tandem with his breath once again.

His masters words echoed in his mind like a voice from beyond the veil.

'when you don't know how to grow further, take a step back and start from the beginning'

At first Azul had thought his master meant to only go back to the beginning stances but now that he was breathing the freshest air there was on this planet, and his inner flame responded to it by burning ablaze, Azul realised that maybe his master hadn't only meant the beginning of his training but the beginning of his being. What was the first thing Azul had ever done since coming into this world? 'Take a deep breath and let the life fill you' and so he did. With a roaring crackle his inner flame turned into an inferno and projected itself outside his body, illuminating the darkness of the stormy night, like a candle in the wind. Pure energy was flowing through Azul as he stood there mesmerized but the feeling that his return to his origins had caused in him and as soon as he thought he had understood what had happened, it was gone, like the snapp of a finger, leaving Azul panting and confused, drained of energy, to the mercy of the elements.

But he did not simply surrender. That was not part of his being, and so he fought, this time for his very existence, for literally the first time in his life. This time there was no master that could shield and protect him. No, he had to stand his man alone, and that against the strongest enemy there was on this earth,...nature itself. Night turned into day, though it didn't really matter since the storm kept on raging, and day turned into night. After five days of continuous struggling with the elements, even though his inner flame returned after some time, it still was the toughest fight Azul ever had to fight. But he persisted, and in the end returned a stronger man, having proven to himself and the world at that, that he was now a man capable to always and fully to boot, rely on himself when it came down to it. And it made him happy, knowing from the core of his very being that he could succeed in the task he had received from his master, all those years ago, where before there always was a slight fear he would disappoint, it now was no more!

Two days later Azul arrived at a snow covered island. Having never seen snow before Azul grew excited and entered the island to explore all the wonders an island covered in snow had, that normal summer islands didn't. But when he arrived in the town he was surprised to find destruction.

'What happened here?' He asked himself while walking over to a man that was covered in rubble from a toppled building, pulling him out from under it and searching for another one, until he had amassed a whole lot of them. While he was at it he was joined by a few villagers that had seen him trying to help, dispite being wounded themselfs, deciding to muster all the strength they had left to help him. After approximately two hours of contiuous digging they had unearthed all the wounded and covered them with blankets that they found nearby, as long as they weren't ripped to shreds. Though some of the villagers offered their helper some clothes to cover his upper body, thinking that he must be freezing, Azul always declined since he didn't feel cold due to his inner flame that had started to grow a little, and his devilfruit. Azul had since his journey to this island, and the happenings of said journey, begun to think on the feeling he had had that night when he became literally ingulfed in his inner flame and began to believe, even though he had no proof for that, that this was the state he would be able to achieve once he reached the masters stage and could progress from there. A tiny peek into the power he would be able to tap into and it made him yearn for this feeling, and thus had found a goal to chase after!

Turning to one of the villagers, Azul asked if there was a doctor in the village, to what the villager replied that there was only one but said doctor lived in the castle on top of the giant mountains in the middle of the island, and the devices that helped to reach said castle had been disabled long ago. She though came down from time to time on a carriage pulled by a raindeer but nobody could tell when since she didn't seem to follow any timetables. Azul only shrugged in reply and after cloaking his feet in roaring red flames speed of by running on the air, as if on a predestined path, towards the mountains top, which left the villagers gobsmacked while some people murmured "must be a devil fruit", before going back to work to help the wounded until the stranger returned with the doctor in tow.