Chapter 66 - 66: Train the brothers.

"Luffy, focus !"

Edam's voice was heard as he flicked a sitting Luffy's head with his index finger making a "Peng... !" sound reverberate in the air followed by a...

"Aaaaoouuuch...! it hurt...!" Luffy cried out loudly and rubbed his forehead in pain with tears in his eyes as he looked at Edam.

"Nii-san, it hurt stop..."

"If it hurt then focus..." Edam's voice seemed to be merciless but if you were to listen to it carefully, you would hear that...

....That there was nothing much to hear in fact, apart from a strict elder brother scolding his younger brother...

In fact Edam was even thinking in his head. 'Sigh... what a good brother I am...'

...

But now, now... what was truly taking place in here you wondered ?

Well quite simple, during those prolonged vacations, Edam woke up one day and suddenly decided to teach Ace and Luffy how to use Haki.

However as the two of them didn't want to, as they said that... and Edam quote, "A bother..." by Ace and "Not funny..." by Luffy... angering Edam to no end, the latter then resorted to force them instead.

What about the right of expression you say ?

F*ck this sh*t...!

(A/N: It's a joke, don't take it seriously...)

He then proceed to kidnapped and tied up the both of them up with the help of his eternal accomplice in crime Zaz, and began by teaching and explaining the two kinds of Haki that any individuals could possess.

However in the middle of his "lessons", one of the two would always fall asleep. So here he was flicking their heads with his finger imbued with his armament Haki rendering Luffy's rubber fruit completely useless and Ace scream in pain too.

It was really a "give and take" situation (In Edam's opinion) as he taught them something and he could train his Armament Haki too... and as none of them would listen he would surely become an expert at the end of the day.

"...You ! I told you I don't want to learn your stupid thing, let me go..." Ace who was just beside Luffy tied up on a chair too grumbled and glared at Edam.

However this glaring earned himself a "loving flick" on his forehead as he cried out. "It hurt...damnit...!"

Correcting one's younger brother when he speak crap out is the "supreme duty" of the elder brother in Edam's opinion, so here he was doing his "job" properly.

But one was extremely stubborn and the other was...

Well not stupid... just... just...

...Well maybe a bit...

No, it's just that Luffy was a little bit too pure and innocent... He wasn't ready to venture alone in the outside world yet. ( but just enough to be thrown in the jungle huh...)

"...Sigh... I didn't want to resorted to this speech but..." Edam sighed in exasperation and paused.

"...?" Ace and Luffy tilted their heads and asked. "What is it ?"

"..." Edam gazed at them for a few moments and then said. "Do you two know that the thing you labelled as a bother and as not funny is used by the most powerfull pirates currently alive...?" Edam smiled faintly and tried to act mysterious.

"Nani....!?" Luffy exclaimed as his two ears opened in an instant while Ace finally looked up and paid him some attention.

"Yep no joke, the Pirate King himself used it and was a strong user..." Edam said and looked at the both of them.

Though nobody ever told him that, he just ȧssume it as that after his encounter with Silvers Rayleigh, the King's right hand. If the second in command was already this powerful, how about the King himself right ? Just the very and simple thought of it sufficed to make Edam's blood boil hot.

And there was no need to talk about Luffy who was already red in excitement... Heck a bit more and steam would maybe even come out of him for sure.

His two black eyes were shining up with sparkles as he asked. "Really !?"

"Of course..." Edam replied to him and then glance at Ace and said.

"As for you... I know you don't like your father but-..." However he didn't get to finish that Ace interrupted him angrily.

"I don't care, don't speak to me about him-...!"

Peng...!

"Aaaagh damnit...! Why...?!" Ace cried out in pain.

"Don't interrupted me when I speak..." Edam wore a deadpan expression with his flicking hand already set to go again.

"...Tch..." Ace muttered under his breath making Edam glance at him and raise an eyebrow. "Humm...? You said ?"

In response Ace awkwardly avoided his gaze by looking aside.

"...Although you don't like your father, he was still one of the most powerful people in the world, this is a fact..." Edam looked at him in the eyes before adding.

"You two want to become the pirate King is it ? Then you will need this power for sure. It's a pity that I can't teach you how to use Ki too, but at least... learn this one... alright...?" Edam looked at them and said with complicated expression.

"Before I go back there, I at least want to teach you something to protect yourselves..."

"I won't feel that useless at least..." Edam spoke and then fell silent.

If he could, he would want to stay with them but... this wish was unrealistic and devoid of any meaning... he couldn't possibly be behind them at all time, it just cannot work this way.

...They were already walking different paths even though those paths were extremely similar... to some points of course.

Different start, same objective but different ends.

...

"Tch..."

"...Alright ! I will learn it damn..." Ace looked up to meet Edam's eyes and then said again. "But before that, get rid of this godamn rope..."

It instantly brought a big smile to Edam as he replied.

"Hehe that's my brothers...!" Edam laughed out and then proceed to untie them both.

"So what do we do...?" Ace said as he rubbed his nose while Luffy was already starting to chase after a bee or something.

"Well I'm not an expert so..." Edam said with a smile.

...

But it was easier said than done, even after a he explained it for the whole day they didn't got a single thing out of it, so much that Edam had to call out his jokers namely Zaz, Cyera and Kyara... especially Zaz in fact... He was train in it since forever by the uncle Zaphyr and was also train by the minks tribe people, so according to the stats, he was clearly more fit for the job.

Edam couldn't really understand their pain as he had learned it from a book and most of all because the speed at which he had comprehended it was incredibly fast and natural even...

As for the twins, well they could teach one thing or two to Luffy, especially Kyara who had a personality rather similar to his...

Anyway thanks to them, after a few days Ace slowly began to understand one thing or two as they would make training session everydays for a whole week.

However Luffy in contrast still didn't understand a single thing even with all the help.

But that didn't bothered Edam that much 'cause as long as Ace could learned it, then he could teach Luffy later on. It was just a matter of time.

And so, a few days later on a morning they were all around Dadan house, Ace could be seen sitting down crossed-legs near the house with a ribbon to hide his sight as Edam stood behind him and swung a piece of wood shaped like a baseball bat in an irregular pattern.

Sometime Ace managed to dodge it, sometime not. And this repeat itself for a long, long time with Luffy observing with a pondering face as Zaz and the twins were near them playing a card game.

Even Stella was near them as she hang out the laundry and kept an eye on them from time to time with a small smile on her face.

"Alright let's take a break..." Edam smiled with the wooden bat on his shoulder while Ace untied his rubban and said.

"Phew... It's damn hard... but I think I've got the right feeling." Ace smiled widely.

"Yeah... let's go eat something..." Edam said and they were gone to eat a little something.

...

"Munch, munch, munch..." Not that far away from Dadan house right after the break, Edam was currently seen crouching down right in front of a flower pot as he ate a chicken wing and while being surrounded by a few other plants and flowers and herbs in pots, not much, just four pots or so.

A little garden and yet beautiful and refreshing to look at.

This refreshing place was Edam's private garden... One day after he came back from a hunt, he had for an unknown reason decided to built up a small garden for himself to keep up.

Anyway he was actually looking at a white flower with some yellowish color at the ends of the petals, a flower that had yet to fully bloom.

"Interesting...munch, munch..." He said and lifted one hand to reach out to the flower and stopped just a few inches away.

And then from the tips of his index and middle fingers, a red and smoky-like Ki came out to touched the flower and merged into it as he stayed still and observed it quietly while eating his chicken wings.

And as he expected it to happen, as the minutes were flying by, the flower slowly began to change, to slowly extend its petals outward, to slowly bloom...

...While Edam was looking at it with a somewhat fascinated look on his face as he then shift his gaze to the left, beside the blooming flower to rest upon another flower of a similar species. Compared to the one on the right this flower here was incredibly smaller and "frail" looking as if it had been malnourished its entire life while the current one looked "pumped up" and strangely "fierce" looking.

"Hum... Edam-nii why do you this ? Isn't that girls work to grow plants, munch, munch ?" Luffy's voice resounded as he lied belly down on a huge boulder a meter away from Edam and asked with a huge smile on his face as he too ate a chicken wing.

"Hum ? And who told you that ?" Edam asked with an amused face as he stood up and turned to him.

"It's Ace and Zaz...,munch, munch, gulp..."

"Uh huh..." Edam said and thought. 'Just you two wait and see who's the girl here...' he thought before saying to Luffy.

"Well I don't think that it's specificaly a girl job to grow out flowers though, and also listen here I'm not only growing out flowers, I'm training alright ?" He explained it to him calmly.

"Hmm..." Luffy nodded happily although he surely didn't listen or really cared in the first place.

"Good." Edam smiled and rubbed his head.

...

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Sigh... buddies my internet is crappy for now and I've some troubles to look at your comments and such so sorry if I do not reply to it.

And as always my mistakes ????