Chapter 6: Kinryu
"Yes, you heard that right, i am from the Calm Belt near East Blue, and i will carry you there." Yeji casually replied, unfazed by their shock.
"B-but what about our supplies? or the route? or the people in Foosha Village? You can't just tell us out of the blue and expect us to comply without question, Yeji-san!" Makino protested, making complete sense regarding the issues that they would meet if they went to Kinryu right away.
Yeji on the other hand wasn't concerned in the slightest, knowing that said issues won't be hard to fix.
"Those won't be issues, Makino, i can assure you of that. I'll get to it right away." Yeji reassured her.
"That's good and all, but..... Isn't it too early for me and Makino to train on an island in an area infested with Sea Kings? Plus gramps probably won't let us hear the end of it. So there's no way we're coming with you" Luffy butted in.
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"Why did i even bother?" Luffy asked himself out loud, his arms crossed in front of his chest while he was sitting on top of Yeji's zoan form head, staring forward while the wind gently blew against his body and against Taiyo and Tsuki, both sheathed inside their scabbards.
A while ago they took flight towards Kinryu after Yeji managed to gather all of his and Makino's stuff from Partys Bar and convince Woop Slap to let them come with her, albeit with lots of protests from the man.
Despite his complaints he couldn't deny that he now found the trip pleasing, especially after him and Makino almost had a heart attack because of how insanely fast Yeji could fly, regardless of how huge her full zoan form was, making the slower pace for the very final part a nice sensation.
"It's no use to complain now, Luffy, i doubt that Yeji-san will change her mind at this point. At least we had to endure that only for 30 minutes." Makino whispered, holding him close to her after he got off of Yeji's head.
"I can still hear you two. In case you haven't noticed, we're only a few kilometers away from Kinryu." Yeji commented, making both of them sweatdrop a little, to then turn to look forward. As soon as they saw the country of Kinryu, their widened in wonder.
In front of them now was a massive island, so large that they could only see a tiny portion of it despite being a few kilotemers away. The island itself looked like it came straight from a chinese landscape painting, yet it somehow looked even more astonishing and grand.
Its surface was covered by countless enormious mountains and mountain ranges, both thin and wide, numerous tall rocky peaks, and lots of really tall rock spires.
Alongside the mountains there were also huge lush forests that covered most of the areas on the mountains and around them, various waterfalls and rivers of all sizes that went across the whole country, and huge plains, hills, and highlands that dotted the whole island.
What made Kinryu especially beautiful alongside the magnificence of its landscapes was the colors that said landscapes had. The rocks that made up the mountais were of a dark bronze, while the grass was of an orangish copper. The trees and the beach on the other hand stood out way more, the latter because they were constantly in bloom, showing off beautiful white, yellow, and pink flowers, while the beach was of a pristine snowy white.
Then to complete the beautiful masterpiece that was Kinryu country's landscape were various ancient chinese-styled villages, towns, and cities scattered all over the country's surface, creating a wonderful spectacle that could make almost everyone's jaw drop.
And lastly, the entirety of Kinryu was enveloped by a large layer of thin mist that surrounded both the lower areas and the highest mountains, giving the whole island a hue of mystery to it.
Luffy's, Makino's, and even Rodan's jaw dropped, looking mesmerized. Yeji giggled at their excitement, giving them a knowing look while she kept flying.
"kufufufufu~ I am pleased to know that you already like my home island, but i will let you know that you haven't seen anything yet. Once we will set foot in Kinryu, i can already tell that you will come to love it. I promise you that it will be worth it, and that i'll make sure to properly introduce you to the whole country, and leave you all the time in the world to explore it in between training sessions. After all, we will be staying here for a long while." Yeji gave them a wink as she said that, sounding really happy and eager to show them her home land, having missed it quite a lot herself.
A few minutes later Yeji landed in front of a huge mansion near a lake. She then put Rodan down and lowered her head to the ground, allowing Luffy and Makino to put their luggage down and get off of her, after they were done she turned back to her human form.
"Kids, welcome to my family's house." Yeji turned towards them and gave them a sweet and warm smile. The enormious front door of the mansion burst open, and a young woman quickly ran up to Yeji and gave her a tight hug.
"Sister!" The younger woman shouted as she jumped towards Yeji to hug her, making the older woman smile at her happily as she patted her little sister's head.
"I see you're still as energic as ever, Yin. And here i thought that you would have finally calmed down after 4 years from my last visit~" Yeji told her little sister, Yin, with a loving and somewhat nostalgic tone to playfully tease her, making Yin break the hug and pout at her elder sister after crossing her arms.
"Mph. Then you should visit us more often, Yeji, Instead of once every few years. Aren't you able to cross a whole Blue's worth of distance within an hour? Or did you become that much weaker these last few years?~" Yin retorted while giving her older sister a sly look, taking the opportunity to mock her a little as payback for visiting so rarely, only to receive a karate chop on the top of her head from Yeji, who gave her the "kind" smile that she terrified Rodan with.
"What was that, my dear little sister? I think i misheard what you just said.~" Yeji cooed in an unnerving and scary way, sending shivers down Luffy's, Makino's, Yin's and Rodan's spines.
"NOTHING! A-absolutely nothing!" Yin exclaimed in panic as she immediately took back what she just said. Yeji's face softened at her answer, and gave her a genuine smile, making her younger sister sigh in relief while she held a hand over her chest.
After calming down, Yin finally took notice of the kids' presence, taking a few seconds to process it
"..."
"KYA! You're so cute!!!!" Yin squealed as she picked up Luffy and hugged him tightly, making the boy question his life choices while she aggressively brushed her cheek against his.
"H-help" Luffy quietly whispered, looking at Yeji, scared for his life while Yin was busy calling him all the cute nicknames and adjectives she could think of at a speed that would put Eminem in the dirt.
Speaking of Yin, she looked like a younger, shorter (about 203 cm/6 foot 8), and almost identical copy of Yeji, sharing her eyes and hair color. The main differences were slightly smaller assets proportion-wise, a few freckles on her face, and that her hair was tied in a long braid.
Back to the story. Yeji gave Luffy an amused look while he was being cuddled to death by Yin, who looked like a child in a candy shop.
"You seem fine to me. It's not as bad as you make it out to be, plus she really loves kids, meaning that there's no way that she will do anything that will harm you in any way" Yeji told him in an amused tone, enjoying the show unfolding right in front of her eyes, getting a glare from Luffy as response.
Rodan on the other hand, being the true homie and best boi he is, didn't hesitate to butt in between the newformed duo, in order to save his friend. With a quick movement of his beak, he managed to snatch Luffy away from Yin's grasp, causing her to freeze for a few seconds while blankly staring at her now empty hands, proceasing what just happened.
She then snapped her head towards the male duo, who were celebrating like there was a holiday, glaring at Rodan, who noticed the stare right away and gulped, waiting for the right moment to make a fly for it, and get the fuck away from the now crazy looking woman.
"Shouldn't we intervene?" Makino asked Yeji as she turned her head to look at her, both of them watching whatever the hell was happening, the former confused as hell, while the latter was having the time of her life.
"I'm not sure what you are talking about. They are getting along so well~" Yeji ironically commented, finding the interactions that Luffy and Rodan were having with her little sister to be hilarious.
"This will take a while" Makino sighed, having completely given up at this point.
Later...
"Let me get this straight, Yeji. The only reason you came back here after 4 years is to train a pair of kids from the East Blue that became your students this exact same day?" Yin asked in serious and somewhat exasperated tone, giving her sister a 'really?' look as she asked that. Luffy and Makino were also present in the Hao household's main living room, but they simply kept quiet and watched the drama unfold.
"Yeah, that's the gist of it. Why?" Yeji asked her while tilting her head, acting as if it was totally normal to mess with her sister on purpose.
*breathe in* "YOU MOTHERFUCKING BITC-" Yin suddely snapped at Yeji, unleashing her wrath while laying down every sexual slur known to mankind, which looked oddly hilarious for some reason, but to be fair, she did do that in a pretty comical way.
Yeji and Makino were caught off guard by that, staring at Yin with a blank look while Makino kept Luffy's ears covered to 'preserve his innocence', not realizing that he could still hear everything, nor that he also had a blank look while staring at Yin cussing her sister out like a sailor.
'holy shit. Yin's pissed alright. I don't think that even a COD lobby can generate THIS many insults' Lufffy thought to himself while he kept staring, wondering how a human being can even come up with so many insults.
Eventually Yin calmed down after a few minutes, and quickly chugged down a tea that one of the maids brought after hearing the whole Pantheon getting torn down in the living room.
"Look, Yeji. I'm not mad at you for your 4 years absence, and i'm not mad about you bringing kids along to train them either. I'm sorry for my sudden rant, but please try to send us letters a little more often to let us know if you're fine, and please try to visit us a little more often." Yin said with a sigh, apologizing to her sister and pleading her to come over more often.
"Sorry that you two had to witness this. I don't have anything against you, in fact, you're more than welcome in our house" Yin told Luffy and Makino after turning to look at them, apologizing to them aswell.
Suddenly Yeji stood up and walked towards her sister, stopping right in front of her, to then bow at her.
"You don't need to apologize, dear sister. I should have just returned here once in a while, i've been focusing on my researches too much as of lately. Can you forgive me?" Yeji stated in a sincere tone, looking at Yin with guilt, knowing just how much her family worries about her wellbeing despite her strength, to then ignore it most of the time.
"Yeji.... Of course i can! Aren't we still sisters at the end of the day?" Yin reassured her in a pretty cheerful and playful tone, showing that she didn't hold any hatred towards her sister.
"She's right, Yeji. Even if you were to return after a decade, you'd still remain our child." A mature and soothing voice suddenly chimed in, belonging to a woman who somehow looked even more beautiful than Yeji, to the point that not only she was straight up gorgeous, but she could also give Boa Hancock herself a run for her money, or at least the future version of her, since the current one is 15. Said woman also looked a little older than Yeji, it wasn't hard to tell for Luffy and Makino that it was the Hao sisters' mother.
"Greetings, children. My name Hao Nuwang, mother of Yeji and Yin, and current head of the family. As my daughter said, you two younglings are free to stay at our abode for as long as Yeji's training requires you to." Nuwang presented herself, greeting Luffy and Makino in a way that sounded both authoritarian yet incredibly kind and motherly, something that Yeji definitely learned from her.
To that gesture, Luffy and Makino quickly got up and bowed as respectfully as they could out of instict, making the Hao matriarch giggle softly, finding them adorable, to then gently motion for them to sit down, which they slowly and politely did.
"Kufufufu~ There's no need for you to keep such manners around me if you aren't comfortable with them, you can just act natural, i don't mind, nor do i bite~" Nuwang playfully told them, giving them a warm and loving smile, followed up by gentle headpats after she got on one knee, making them blush.
"Awww, look at you both~" She cooed softly, before turning towards Yeji "You really picked yourself some real cuties, dear~. Oh how i wish you and Yin would give me such adorable grandchildren~" Nuwang told her daughter with a sweet and playful tone, teasing her a little as she rolled her eyes.
"Now then. May i offer you kids something to eat?" Nuwang asked as she clapped her hands twice, summoning various servants into the room, which were all maids for some reason, including some little girls too.
At first Luffy and Makino were confused by this choice, and the fact that there were kids amongst the servants too, but after thinking about it for a bit, Luffy came up with 2 probable answers for this.
'Either Yeji's father is a womanizer and a pedophile, which i highly doubt judging by Yeji's and Yin's personalities, since they'd most probably castrate him and chop his dick off at the first occasion. Or they don't have any male servant to avoid the possibilty of sexual harassments altogether, which is a fair worry to have when taking a look at how the women of the Hao family look like, at least from what i can see so far. The only thing that i can't bring myself to understand is why they have children working too, because this doesn't really look like child exploitation to me for some reason. Might aswell ask' Luffy thought to himself, as he then cleared his throat to get Nuwang's attention
"Uhhhh.... Why exactly are there kids amongs your maids, Nuwang-san? Most of them don't look much older than me, and i'm pretty sure that child labour is supposed to be illegal and immoral. Also why do you have only maids in the first place?" Luffy pointed out, mostly out of curiosity, not wanting to make any assumption or accusation yet.
Hearing the questions, Nuwang gave him a warm smile, not bothered or offended by his curiosity at all. "These little maids you see are all orphans from nearby towns and villages. Usually most settlements have enough competent warriors to protect them from the local beasts, but not all of them do, and the smallest ones often end up destroyed, or with a lot of casualties, leaving lots of people without a family.
Those people then end up becoming easy targets for the greediest and most dispicable nobles, who buy most of them as slaves at a dirt cheap price, to then overwork them to the point where most of the time they end un dying within a year. I can't stand that in the slightest, and it repulses me to think about it, let alone let it happen, which is why i either donate them money and resources to fix their lives and restore their community, or personally take them under my wing after getting to know them. The same applies to all the adult maids in this room.
These children in particular came up to me the same day i took them in, and asked me how they could have repaid me, insisting that they wanted to show me their gratitude and 'fullfil their debt' after receiving my kindness, despite me insisting that they didn't need to, and that they should just enjoy their childhood while they can. In the end, i just told them that they could help with chores around the mansion, but they took it at heart a little too much~." Nuwang explained, closing her eyes to then open only her left one, staring down at her kid maids with a scary glint in her eyes, the one that moms give their children when they want to ground them, making them sweatdrop and feel a shiver going down their spines, especially one of them, who had just come back while holding a silver tray with a carafe of juice and various glasses, having gone to the kitchen on her own in order to grab something to drink for Luffy and Makino.
"S-sorry, mistress" The little maid sheepishly apologized, trying to maintain her professional demanor despite feeling a little nervous when she noticed Nuwang's stare, which was really impressive for her age, since she looked no older than 7. Seeing the child's nervousness, Nuwang sighed softly, to then open both of her eyes and look at her servants with a calmer look.
Speaking of Nuwang, she looked like a somehow MILFer (if this adjective even exists) version of Yeji, being the one Yeji and Yin got their looks from, having those same bright aqua eyes and jet black hair with teal tips. In Nuwang's case, she had slightly wavy, waist-length hair, part of which was tied into a high bun on the back her head, with two pretty thick strings of hair converging into it by going around the sides of her head, just above her ears.
Outfit-wise, Nuwang had an extremely elegant long navy blue kimono with gold trims, an aquamarine sash tied around her waist, a pair of white tabis, a pair of black zoris with light blue thongs, drop-shaped earrings made of a blue crystal, and a golden necklade with a white, crane-shaped pendant.
Anyways, a maid suddenly burst into the room, panting a little while she had an alarmed look on her face.
"Mistress! That little scoundrel is back and causing troubles in Aotori!" The maid reported, breathing heavily due to having rushed all the way back to the Hao mansion.
"Again? Hasn't he learnt his lesson yet?" Nuwang asked, taken a little aback by the news, but also a tiny bit annoyed.
"Y-yes! And it's worse this time! He started to beat up whoever will get in the way of him getting his food, and pick fights with all the martial artists that he comes across!" The maid explained, sounding really allarmed as she said that. When hearing that, a smirk grew on Yeji's face, who just got an idea, already knowing what this was about.
"That won't be an issue. My students can take care of him." Yeji casually stated, causing Luffy and Makino to snap their heads at her, staring at her as if saying 'the hell you want from us?'.
"Really now, Yeji? Are you sure they have what it takes? After all, you picked up these cuties to become your students this same day" Nuwang observed while Yin nodded in agreement, doubting her daughter's choice a little.
"Yes, i am sure of my choice" Yeji confidently replied.
"Do we get a say in this?" Luffy and Makino asked in unison while staring at Yeji hopefully.
"No"
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To be continued...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Yuishiro
Yuishiro Sup, third chapter published in a row within the span of 2 days (somehow). It probably won't happen again for a long while, so i apologize in advance if i end up disappointing your expectations.
Anyways, the next chapter will feature the second fight even in this story, which small spoiler, will be a lot more light-hearted and with very little stakes compared to the one with Julius, which i hoped you enjoyed.
BTW, here are the options that i proposed in the second chapter of Pokemon:Tweaked Travels for a third new story of mine
-My own take of a Genshin isekai where you take over Aether's body (starting from the fight against Asmoday)
-A KNY story from the POV a demon OC who is a similar case to Nezuko (will probably be an isekai, mainly because i find the ideas of consciously altering the canon events of a reality with your mere presence interesting)
-And a RWBY story that will center around an in-verse OC based off of Tails (this will be my first non-isekai. This story will also contain various other things from the Sonic franchise adapted to fit into RWBY. As for why i didn't choose Sonic himself, because yes, he'll also be included in the story in a way, let's just say that there is a reason that involves character developement.)
And like i already asked over Pokemon:Tweaked Travels, let me know which one you would like to see become a real story first.
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