NOVEL WEB Chapter 6 – Cat Learns Some More, Then Beats Up Dog
Chapter 6
Yoruichi lept through the treetops that made up the canopy on Mt. Columbo. She had her Reikaku spread out thin, looking to see if she could find Garp, or Luffy. After 10 minutes of searching, she didn’t find either of them, but she did find what looked to be a bandit camp.
She sat in the trees by the building, which looked to have a hole in it. A Garp sized hole. ‘Looks like he was here, then’ Yoruichi thought. ‘Wonder why’. She sat on a branch, masking her presence to its minimum so the people below wouldn’t notice her, even though she was wearing a bright orange jacket.
Curly Dadan POV
She was picking up pieces of the wall inside her base, that the bastard Garp had blasted all over the place. Some of her men were trying to clean the place up, while the rest were going to get some repair materials from the storeroom that they kept stock for situations like this. ‘Garp insurance’ they called it.
“Why can’t that bastard use the door like a normal person,” Dadan grumbled. “Shoulda known something was up, what with Luffy running in here like the devil himself was behind him.” She stood up to put more pieces of wall into a bucket and froze. Standing in front of her was a tiny woman. Dark skin, purple hair, looked to be about 5’ flat.
Dadan jumped back, to her club which was against the wall, and picked it up and brandished it at the intruder. “Who’re you? How’ ya get in here?” she asked, loud enough to alert the boys outside that something was wrong. She wasn’t sure why, but she had a feeling that if she attacked the woman, shed need all her boys to stand a chance. Just like Garp.
The purple haired woman raised her hands up in front of her placatingly, a wry smile on her face. “I just want to know where Garp and Luffy are,” she said raising and lowering her hands slowly. “I know they’re out here somewhere; I just don’t know where. I’m Yoruichi.”
Dadan slightly lowered the club. If this girl, Yoruichi, was friends with Garp it was better she left, the faster the better.
She grunted, then pointed out the door deeper into the forest. “If ya lookin for those idiots, they probably deeper in the forest.” She said, “Garp’s probably feeding the brat to wolves as we speak” she muttered, going back to cleaning, seeing as the woman wasn’t trying to be hostile.
She didn’t notice the furrowed brows on Yoruichi’s face, nor did she hear the thanks or see her leave. “Damn Monkey family. Theyre all crazy.” Dadan said to herself, before turning around to yell orders at her boys.
Yoruichi POV
‘Well that was interesting’ Yoruichi thought, as she ran through the forest, going deeper and deeper in. ‘Wonder what the relationship is there’. She shook her head. She could ask Garp later. Maybe get a bit of a reaction out of him, seeing as she hadn’t gotten much yet. Teasing people was such a fun pastime.
Another 10 minutes later, she finally felt Garp’s aura, off to the east. She turned and headed in his direction. She couldn’t sense Luffy still. Wonder why. She decided to slip back into the treetops, to see what Garp was doing out in the forest.
When she got close enough to see him, she saw him standing at the edge of what looked to be a large hole of some sort. It didn’t look natural at all. More like someone punched the ground, then cleaned all the remnants out. ‘Well, knowing what little I do about Garp, that probably happened. He hits hard.’ Yoruichi thought, stopping at the second to last tree to the tree line. She could finally see down into the hole, to see what Garp was looking at.
‘Seems Makino was right. That is some real, ah, unconventional training’. Yoruichi stared a little down into the hole, looking at Luffy who was flinging himself using something like what he did with the door, all over the place, trying to doge a variety of animals in the hole with him. There was a bear, a couple tigers, a whole pack of wolves, and even an alligator. Every so often he would punch an animal in the head, making it stumble, and take it out of the fight.
After a few minutes of watching Luffy commit animal cruelty, and Garp child endangerment, she decided to hop down and walk next to Garp.
“What’s up, Jiji. Was wondering where you went off to.” She said, stopping next to the taller man and looking down into the pit. She didn’t miss Garp jumping a bit in surprise, but he had it under control.
‘Heh still got it. Gotta find any chance to work the skills out. Don’t get much of them nowadays.’ Yoruichi had a little smirk on her face when she turned to look at Garp. She pointed with her thumb down at Luffy, who was almost done with beating up animals.
“What’s with the infanticide, old man? Don’t think family is supposed to kill each other like that.” She said, the smirk still at her face. Garp looked almost offended, her little act of startling him all but forgotten at the comment.
He turned fully to look down at her, then said defensively “What do ya mean, girly? That’s training down there. Best kind of training there is. Put all my men through it. Of course, my grandson gets my own personal touch.”
Yoruichi hummed, not believing him for a second. She turned back to Luffy, who had just finished knocking out all the animals. “He did pretty good, ill admit. At least for a child.” She said.
Garp grunted in agreement “Yeah, he will be the best marine I can make him. But why are you calling him a child? You cant be that much older than him.”
Yoruichi laughed a little, before replying “I'm a bit older than I look, Jiji. Still don’t think i'll ever look as old as you do though.”
Garp growled a bit, before muttering “Almost as bad as the brats, this one is.”
Luffy finally finished and came back up with his little slingshot maneuver. When he got in front of the two of them, he sat down, cross legged. He smiled widely upon seeing Yoruichi, who looked dismissively at him. She noticed that he had a straw hat on his head, which he didn’t have in the bar.
‘Must have been what he grabbed from the bandit’s hideout, if what that woman was grumbling about’ Yoruichi thought. Garp stepped forward and grabbed the kid by the scruff of his neck. It stretched a bit, even more proof to Yoruichi’s eyes that things were not entirely normal here.
“All right, brat. Nows the time for your sparring training. We are gonna do something fun~ today.” Garp smiled down at Luffy. He started struggling in his grandfather’s hand, before Garp hit him in the head like he did back at the bar.
“Owwww! That hurt” Luffy cried, tears in his eyes. While that little interaction was going on, Yoruichi noticed that Garp had hit Luffy with the same black stuff she saw him hit her with.
Garp started heading back into the forest, and Yoruichi followed.
‘Now that I have time to think about it, Garp is fast. Almost as fast as Kisuke, and he was my third seat for a while. Not as fast as me, but still. You don’t see humans that fast every day’ she pondered. Lots of weird stuff in this dimension, if she’s right. The only humans back in her home dimension who got that fast were Quincy, and she didn’t sense that kind of aura from Garp, or Luffy. She finally saw them stop in a clearing, near what looked to be three tree houses. They looked patchworked, like someone blew a lot of holes in them that were later patched up.
Garp tossed Luffy to the edge of the clearing, before picking up a stick. “All right brat, you know the drill. Close your eyes.” Luffy whined a bit, but eventually did it. Garp lept forward, smacking him on the forehead with the stick. Luffy yelled out in pain, holding his head, and backing up. Garp didn’t stop though and kept hitting the kid in the head. Yoruichi noticed the same black stuff that was on the tree, on the stick. She resolved herself to ask Garp what it was after this was over. After about 15 minutes, Garp stopped abusing Luffy, leaving him laying on the ground, whimpering in pain, with welts all over his head, shoulders, and arms.
Garp tossed the stick back to where it came from, and walked back to Yoruichi. When he got back beside her, he started talking, “Luffy is a good kid, Although I want him to become a marine, ever since those damn red-haired pirates came here, he’s wanted nothing more than to be one of them. He even has the dream of being the king of them all. The King of the pirates.” Garp smiled, a little wistfully, looking off into the distance, as if remembering something. “However, he’s still young. He doesn’t know the true horror of this world, and to be honest, I hope he never does. A part of me is happy that he doesn’t want to be a marine, at least so he won’t end up in their hands.” He growled a bit. “If the world government found out exactly who he was, they would just kick him up and use him as leverage against his father.”
Garp shook his head. “Anyways, do ya wanna pick up where we left off last time? You’re pretty strong, Bahahaha.” Garp said, laughing.
Yoruichi looked at him weirdly. “You mean you want to fight again? Hmm” she said, thinking about it.
“No, not fight, just spar. Don’t get to do much of that nowadays, since everyone who’s strong is either too busy, or I’m not allowed to fight.” Garp said, whining a little about his predicament,
“Hmm, ok. But only if you answer a few questions for me.” Yoruichi replied in agreement.
“Ok.” Garp agreed, a little too quickly.
“Somebody is itching for a fight, isn’t he.” Yoruichi chuckled to herself. “Fine then. First, what’s that black stuff you used to hit me and Luffy with?” she asked, a curious expression on her face.
Garp looked a bit surprised. “You can see that? It’s called Haki. There are two types you really need to know, Armament, and Observation. There are three types of it, total, but the last one you gotta be born with. The other two anyone can learn. The black stuff,” he said pausing for a second. He held up his hand, which was then covered in black. Now that she had a closer look, she could see that it wasn’t covering his hand, it turned his hand a metallic black color.
Garp grinned, seeing her looking curiously at his hand and said, “This, is Armament Haki. It can be manifested out of the will to protect yourself, but some people are born with a natural affinity to it, like the amazons on Amazon Lily. It provides protection against many things, including bullets, and allows for someone to do more damage with their blows, or hit devil fruit users who normally wouldn’t be affected, like Luffy.” He paused, and they both looked at Luffy, who was still laid out on the ground, spread eagle. They turned back to each other, “The next type, is Observation Haki. It is born from the will to not get hit. It allows for a sixth sense of a sorts, which enables you to be able to dodge things much easier, as you can sense them coming, and at its highest levels allows for seeing into the future slightly, by reading the opponents body, to predict what they will do.
The way to train it was what I just did to Luffy, make him close his eyes, and then wack him repeatedly until he gets it. Or breaks, one of the two. Armament is trained by, well, getting hit, and wanting to protect himself. It’s what I’ve been trying to do with the animals, but ever since he got that devil fruit of his, it’s been pretty, uh, ineffective. Only sharp objects can damage him, anything blunt he just absorbs.”
Yoruichi replied thinking ahead a bit “Right because he’s made of rubber, isn’t he? That’s what Makino said.”
“Yeah, Luffy’s fruit is called the gum-gum fruit. It gives him the ability to stretch a lot, absorb blunt force damage, as well as lightning." Garp replied, a proud little grin on his face at his special grandson.
Yoruichi smirked, having gotten a little idea “lightning you say. Hmm” she looked back at Luffy, before pointing her finger at him. Garp watched on, curious at what she was going to do.
‘Better do it silently, don’t want to get the kid hurt more than he already is. Hado # 4, Byakurai’she thought silently.
A weak lightning bolt, colored white, came out of her fingertip, and zapped Luffy on the foot. She smirked, feeling a bit proud of herself. She learned something from spending 80 years with the former captains of the 12th division and the Kido corps. One of which was silent Kido casting, though she was kind of bad at it. It made her Kido spells come out weak, which is why she did it like that. She could also only cast the first 10 or so silently, maybe up to the 20s if she really tried. She just didnt feel the quicker cast was a good tradeoff for the weaker overall power. Kido was one of her main 'big hitters' after all.
She turned back to Garp, saying, “Yeah, looks like you’re right. He felt none of that. Should have given him a little shock at least. Anyway, you’ve answered my only burning question, for now. Let’s get going, shall we” she said, jumping over to Luffy, picking him up, and bringing him over to the tree houses. She placed him down on the ground, then jumped back into the spot where he was just at. She got into a ready position, looking like she was about to start running.
Garp clapped is hands, and laughed “Bahahaha, time to burn off some steam, isn’t it, Yoruichi?” He grinned.
Yoruichi decided to start things off, using her flash step to get closer to the grizzled marine, she then jumped up, and went for a roundhouse kick to the back of his head. Garp turned, blocking her kick with his hand, which hadn’t turned black. He still got knocked back from the force a step but was otherwise fine.
Garp grinned challengingly at Yoruichi, saying “Come on, girly, I know you hit harder than that. Bring it.” He then lunged forwards, trying to go for a grab, but missed as Yoruichi flash stepped above him. As she went into the air, she punched him in the back of the head again, doing a flip over him, and this time he couldn’t block. His face went into the dirt, but she could see the haki covering the back of his neck, going up into his hair. Garp got up, patting himself off.
“How was that one?” she taunted. Garp rubbed the back of his head a bit, saying “You are a slippery one, aren’t you” he turned back around to face her. Almost immediately, he disappeared in a burst of air. She could feel his presence with her Reiatsu, coming for a haymaker to her liver. She decided to vault over his arm, using his hand as a pivot. She pushed herself into the air, and then solidified the reishi beneath her feet, using it as a platform to boost back down in Garp’s Direction. She flipped around, and delivered an axe kick to the back of Garp’s head again, but this time he dodged with the same puff of air as before. She hit the ground, causing it to crack and dust to come up, blocking her vision slightly. She could still feel him though, standing about 20 feet away.
She heard Garp’s voice come through the dust “Could you stop aiming for the head? I don’t need any more brain damage. Sengoku tries to give me enough as it is.”
Yoruichi grinned, “I thought I should get a little revenge for your grandson, seeing as you liked to hit him there too.” She thought about her next move, but Garp beat her to it. She could sense a compressed bit of air, flying in her direction quite fast.
‘He didn’t show that before’ she thought ‘Guess we are picking it up a notch.’
She held out her hand, and said “Bakudo 8, Seki”. A white tinted barrier appeared, circular in shape, about 3 feet in diameter. It blocked the compressed air, which she could now see looked to be a blade of air of some kind and dispersed its use up.
While she blocked the air blade, the hair on the back of her neck went up. She flash-stepped away, much faster than she did before, leaving an afterimage in her wake. She decided to hide in the settling dust cloud to look for an advantage, and heard Garp say, “Got you now… uh, what, where’d you go?” Taking advantage of Garp’s confusion, she flash-stepped forward, leaping in the air, and kicking Garp in the face, sending him flying. He landed on his feet, near the edge of the clearing.
Yoruichi stood there, waiting for him to get up. While he did, she asked “What was that blade of air you sent at me? It was pretty cool.” She crossed her arms, waiting for an answer.
Garp looked over his shoulder at her, and said “It’s called rankyaku, it’s a part of the Marine’s standard fighting style, the Rokushiki. Pretty cool, right?” He grinned, that large D grin again.
She kept looking at him, contemplating how it works. “How do you do it?” she questioned, genuinely curious.
Garp looked at her furtively. “Unless you join the marines, I can’t tell ya. Marine secret. Though, I can show you more.” Then then disappeared, Yoruichi noticing the puff of air, before having to vacate her previous location, which was then assaulted by a Garp grade punch, completely shattering the ground around him. While she moved away, and started using the dust again as cover, she whispered an incantation “Bakudo, 38: Kuron." A clone of herself broke off in the opposite direction. She was now behind Garp, who was looking around for her.
‘He was probably wondering why his Observation couldn’t sense me. He seemed to be able to use that future sight if our first fight was any indication.’ She smiled, ‘Too bad I’m much to experienced in getting rid of my presence’ She then controlled the Clone, causing it to run at Garp. He reacted, throwing an uppercut at its chin. As soon as she saw that, she flash-stepped forward, reaching for his leg. “Bakudo 17: Yubi Sejou.” She said, causing a white flash of light to settle around Garp’s foot.
All of this happened while Garp was still swinging, and right when he hit the clone, it disappeared, and he also felt his back foot freeze, after hearing Yoruichi’s voice come from behind him. He whirled around, but tripped because he was not expecting his foot to respond.
Yoruichi lept back, grinning at him. She watched him shake his foot a bit in the air, like he was trying to get something off. She then saw a strip of skin on his ankle go black, and he put his foot back down. Yoruichi frowned.
‘Guess the kido doesn’t work with Haki.’ She pondered. ‘Wonder if its proportional to the level. Yubi Sejou is pretty low in the rankings, after all.’
While she was pondering, she heard Garp say something. When she focused on where he was standing or was previously. She looked around for a second, before hearing “Up here.” From above her.
She looked up, and saw Garp jumping repeatedly, floating in the air. ‘How is he doing that?’ she thought. ‘Wait…’ she focused on where his foot was connecting with an imaginary platform. Or, not imaginary, with her spirit sense, she could see Garp’s foot move extremely fast, and compress the air below it. He then used it to leap off of, using it to keep him in the air.
She crossed her arms frowning. “Impressive technique you got there; I assume that’s another one of those Rokushiki right?”
Garp laughed. “You’re pretty quick, girly. Its galled Geppo. How are ya gonna get me up here?” he grinned.
“Could always wait until you come down, it cant be easy moving that fast for long.” Yoruichi replied, crossing her arms, foot tapping as she stared up at the bouncing marine.
Garp looked a tad surprised. “So, you figured it out that quick, huh. Well, you’re right. It is tiring, but I can keep this up for hours. I might as well keep going with the fight, though.” Garp then started falling, and as he turned around, she sensed him use geppo to get a boost in speed to the ground. She jumped back out of the way, watching him smash against the ground.
‘Garp really likes his dust clouds, doesn’t he. Or maybe he just likes breaking things. He sure likes breaking doors.’ Yoruichi pondered.
As she stood there, Garp dashed in her direction, intent on landing a hit. Running forward, arm stretched out back, fully covered in black. Yoruichi quickly put a shocked expression on her face, lulling him into a false sense of security. Right as he was about to hit her, she waved to the left, outside, and kneed him in the liver.
Garp went down like a sack of potatos. “Ugh,” he said, groaning a bit “Didn’t think we were going that hard.” He spat off to the side, and got up. “We should stop here, Luffy just got up again. You got me good though.” He grinned at her.
Yoruichi looked off to where she put Luffy, seeing him start to get up from where he lay. She looked back at Garp, then replied, “Yeah, it was a good little spar. Nice to stretch the muscles a bit.” She turned and started walking in Luffy’s direction.
Garp coughed a bit into his hand and muttered under his breath. “Yeah, if that’s what you call that.”
Yoruichi stopped for a second and looked over her shoulder at Garp. “Heard that.” she said, frowning at him.
Garp froze, feeling like Tsuru was mad at him again. “Good spar, Yoruichi” he replied, this time loud enough for her to ‘hear’.
She smiled, then kept walking. Saying nothing. ‘Time to abus- I mean, train the kid some more’ she thought. ‘This might actually be a decent vacation at this rate.’