Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Farewell
Everyone stopped and turned torward the bright red light that was flowing out from Hikaru.
The red light took the shape of a head of the mythological creature called 'oni', the head of the oni was encased within the shimmering red aura in the shape of a samurai helmet, complete with a fierce-looking menpo mask that glared down at its opponents through narrow, demon-like slits it had jagged teeth that jutted out from the mouth, it apperance resembled a monster out of a nighrmare.
"w-what is that B-Brother A?"
Seeing the glowing red monster and feeling suffocated just standing infront of it, Brother B almost pissed his pants from fear and couldn't help turn to his Brother A who always knew what to do.
"A-Aura?"
But what Brother B saw was the same scared face he had, Brother A, unlike Brother B, recognized what this energy like thing infront of him was, what he really liked to know was what a person who should be at the end of the grandline was doing in such a remote island, practically nowhere, in the middle of the east blue.
"A-Aura? t-that's aura? Brother A then we need to run!!"
"RUN?? IT'S TOO LATE, our only hope is to try and survive this attack, I think the old bastard is only capable of using his aura once, and it shouldn't be that strong or he would have used it before"
Brother A was right, Hikaru was feeling his bodys on fire, his eye's were blood shot and veins were popping out of his forehead, he could feel some of the big old injurys bursting open, and he still hadn't launched the attack yet.
'I can do it'
Gritting his teeth, Hikaru reaffirmed his determination and with a red glow in his eyes prepared to take one final stand.
"Akai Oni no Ken: Akaki Oni no Shūen!!"
Accompanied by a flash of red light, Hikaru stomped heavily on the ground and he and the oni's head charged right at Brother A and Brother B at a speed far surpasing his previous attacks, uprooting the ground and trees behind him in the process.
"S-Shit!!"
"A-Attack Brother B!!"
"Silvermane Axe Style: Axe of Doom!!"
"Bloodgold Hammer Art: Hammerfall Apocalypse!!"
Channeling all their strength in this last ditch effort at saving their lifes, it all turned out futile as the moment their weapon touched the glowing red oni, their weapons shattered on impact, before the Aura engulfed them whole.
Hearing the agonzing screams coming from the red aura, Hotrau was left dumbstruck by the power display, he always knew his grandpa was strong but never thought he was this strong.
And this was his first time seeing aura and how devistating it can be, and it told him that the strength he was proud of was nothing but a joke in the face of true strength.
Slowly the red glow of the aura died down, Brother A and Brother B were laying on the ground, and Hikaru was laying on the ground with a huge injury on his chest in the place of a scar that he once had.
"G-GRANDPA!!!"
"N-NO, THE CAPTAINS WON'T LOST, THEY WON'T DIE LIKE THAT"
Hearing the frenzied shout of John snapped Hotaru back to reality, in time to see John pick up his greatsword and with a crazy look run at his granfather.
"G-GET BACK HERE!!!"
Rushing behind him, Hotaru used Thunder Breathing: Total Concentration and caught up with john and arrived infront of him blocking his way.
"Flame Breathing: Total Concentration"
Exchanging quick and Powerful blows with John, both of them attacked with powerful strikes, stronger than the ones they used before.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!"
Swinging his sword mindlessly gave Hotaru a chance to dodge the attack amd slash at John's side, which John barely blocked but ended up flying into the air.
'I'll end this!!'
Jumping behind John Hotaru lifted up his sword high and began to take deep breath in pattern he haven't used in the fight.
"Sun Breathing: Second Form: Clear-Blue Sky!!"
"DON'T MISS WITH ME!!!!!"
John swung his giantsword as strong as he ca at Hotaru's neck intending to cut him down first before Hotaru's sword reach him.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"
Splurt~
Hotaru's sword reached John's body first and cut it inhalf, and because of the impact john's greatsword changed angle slightly and missed Hotaru's kneck and struck in his shoulder instead.
BOOM
Slaming heavily on the ground and genrating a cloud of dust, the battlefiled descended into silence for a few seconds before Hotaru came out of the dust cloud panting heavily and holding onto his shoulder wjere a hideous injury was because of john's giantsword, leaving a dead John behind and running to his grandpa.
Ignoring the shredded body's of Brother A and Brother B, that only had half of tjeir bodys remain, Hotaru rushed to Hikaru side who was unconscious on the ground with his 2 swords near him stuck in the ground, one broken while the other was still intact, his eyes shrinking upon seeing the severity of the injury.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, please, please wake up!!"
Shaking Hikaru with his one hand he can move, Hikaru slowly opened his eyes, although they were fluttering showing he was barely keeping them opened.
"Ah, S-Someone, anyone please help"
Seeing his grandpa wake up, Hotaru turned around to go ask for help, but he felt a strong grip on his shoulder that stopped him from moving.
Turning around to see his grandpa giving him a weak smile and shaking his head, before he spoke with a horase and tired voice.
"No, Hotaru, it too late"
"D-Dont say that, you're gonna be alright.."
Drip~,Drip~
Hotaru's eyes started to water not before long tears were streming down his face and unto the ground.
"D-Don't cry, you always hated when I treated you as a child"
"I'm sorry Hotaru, you're gonna have to continue alone, I'm sorry I won't be able to accompany you anymore"
"But you need to know, we will always be with you, me, Cough, Cough, haa and you're parents will always watch over you"
"You have the blood of Haganezuka's samurais within you, so don't you forget that, we always keep moving forward, no matter what..."
Slowly closing his eyes, Hikaru's hand fell down from Hotaru's shoulder his body going limp with a peaceful and satisfed smile on his face.
'Ah...Tatsuda, Hattori, I'll finally see you guys again'
"G-GRANDPA, GRANDPA..."
Shaking Hikaru's limp body, Hotaru shed silent tears while biting his lip, saying farewell to his only family in this world.
-----
1 Week Later
Swish~
Looking out at the sea from atop of the small cliff(a bliff), Hotaru stood there staring aimlessly, he had a bandage around his right shoulder and his rips and more cpvering his body, Hotaru couldn't help close his eyes and bask in the sunlighy and the calming sound of the waves hitting the shore.
"Hotaru"
Hearing his name being called from behind him, Hotaru slowly opened his eyes before he turned around.
Behind him stood Stephanie who called him, and she was pushing a wheelchair that Manatee was sitting on.
"I knew we would find you here, have you eaten yet? or are you still on an empty stomach from this morning?"
"I don't feel like eating"
Turning back, Hotaru looked down at a small stone tablet planted in the ground, he read the text written on the stone tablet and clenched his fists.
[Hikaru Haganezuka]
it had been a week since the battle and the day his grandfather died, but it felt like an eternity had past.
After the battle, his grandpa's body was buried here by the villagers and held a big funeral for him that lasted a day.
Afrer that they began working on repairing the village's bulidings and surronding area that was damged by the fight.
The lost crops were a big problem because it meant there were probably gonna be a shortage of food for the villagers, but thankfully the other small villages scattered around the island that heard about what happened each donated a bit of their harvest, combined it'll be enough to last the village for a while.
As for Hotaru, after his grandpa's death he didn't want to return to his house so Stephanie allowed him to stay in her house untill he feel like it and had been taking care of him for the past week, but everyday he comes here and just silently stared at the ocean and did nothing.
Stephanie and Manatee toke his grandpa death hard, specially Stephanie who was definitely in love with Hikaru, and Manatee who felt like he could have done more, although noone else think that because he ended up losing an arm and a leg so he will have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
"Come to my house, I'll make you some breakfast"
Stephanie said that before turning around and she and Manatee began to leave, but stopped when she didn't hear Hotaru following her.
"Hotaru?"
Turning around to see what's wrong, Stephanie saw Hotaru looking at right at her with a weird expression on his face, but what he said made her angry.
"Auntie, I want to leave the island"
"Huh? what are you talking about?"
"I want to leave the island and explore the world"
"You can't be serious, Hotaru?"
"I am"
"there is no way are you doing that you are still child, you can't go alone, yiu won't be able to survive!!"
"But I..."
"No, Hotaru I won't allow it!!"
"Stephanie calm down"
Interrupting their argument, Manatee spoke up for the first time in a calm voice before he truned to Hotaru with a serious look on his face.
"Hotaru, why do you want to leave the island?"
"...Before I thought that I am strong, but the last fight proved to me that I'm actully very weak, and infront the truely strong people I can't do anything, I hated it, I want to go explore what lay outside the island and train to get stronger fast so that I won't have to feel so useless ever again"
Staring at each other, a smile slowly came onto Manatee's face, before he chukled to himself.
"I understand"
"What?!!"
"Really?"
Surprised that Manatee accepted it that easily, Hotaru couldn't belive it, while Stephanie was pissed.
"What are you talking about Manatee? have you lost you're mind? he's a child and you want to throw him out into the harsh world on his own??"
"Stephanie, he already made up his mind so he'll eventually gonna leave, and even if we stopped him now, what about if he ran away secretly? I know a small mechant that passes through this island, and he should be here tomorrow or after, I'll ask him to give him a ride, it's much more safe than him possibly running away on his own and getting lost in the sea"
"W-Wha?"
Speechless and knowing what Manatee said was the truth, Stephanie knew that she couldn't say no or she'll risk him really running away to the sea on his own.
"Fine, but just if that mechant take Hotaru with him"
"Thank you, Uncle Manatee, Auntie Stephanie"
"I'll go back my stuff right now!!!"
Hotaru said that before running off in the direction of the village, to back his stuff for the upcoming trip.
------
Standing infront of his house, Hotaru felt that it was oddly quiet, like something was missing from it.
Shaking his head Hotaru opened the door and entered the house and started to look around.
The house felt dull and dark, unlike the house he knew from his memories, he looked around and saw the plate he was eating from was still on the table, everything was the same from a week ago.
Going inside his room Hotaru backed some clothes and some sentimental stuff inside a suitcase and walked back into the hallway nearing the exit, before he reached the door, Hotaru saw the box in the living room that his grandpa opened before he rushed out of the house.
On top of the box was a katana in a red scapard, grabbing the sword and unsheathing it, Hotaru marvled at the beuaty of the design on the blade and the scapard and at the quality of the sword.
picture here --->
'Grandpa's remaining katana...'
The katana was his grandpa's remaining sword that didn't break in the last battle, he haven't thought about them but someone must have returned it to his house.
'it must be Uncle Manatee..'
Staring at the sword, Hotaru put it back in its sheath, carried it with one hand while the other held onto the suitcase and walked out of the house
Hotaru put his suitcase outside and grabbed the doo handle, looking back into the house he grew up in, Hotaru's eyes couldn't help but water slightly before he turned around and closed the door.
"Goodbye"
Only his sound remaining behind before the house descended back into silnce, signaling the end of a chapter in Hotaru's life.
------
2 Day Later
Standing on the small dock of the island, Hotaru was hugging Stephanie who had tears in her eyes goodbye.
"Make sure to be safe, don't push yourself too hard, okay?"
"I promise auntie"
After saying goodbye to Stephanie, he turned to Manatee who was sitting in his wheelchair before hugging him too.
"Kid, I know that you'll grow up to be an amazing swordman, I just want you to know, whatever you do, we'll always be proud of you, and so will you're grandpa"
"Thanks uncle Manatee"
"Oi, kid are you on or off? we need to move!!"
"Okay coming, goodbye uncle auntie"
Turning around and getting on the ship it wasn't long before it left the dock, sailing into the wide ocean, slowly getting further and further away from the island.
Watching the island getting smaller Hotaru had alot of mixed emotions: Fear, Anxiousness, but mostly excitement about what was waiting for him in the one piece world.
Creak~
Turning around, Hotaru saw the man that was called Simon walking up to him, before standing next to him and looking at him.
"So Kid, where do you wana go?"
Staying quiet for a minute, Hotaru knew exactly where he wanted to head first if he wants to get stronger as a swordman and breakthrough the Steel Cutting Relam.
"Shimotsuki Village"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone