Chapter 65: Lake Refuge
Summary:Finding some survivors...
Warning! Chapters 63-66 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!
Chapter 65: Lake Refuge
It didn't take long for Luffy's thought about chances to fight to be proven accurate, if not quite in the way he'd expected. Only moments after leaving the village, they had found themselves under assault. The truly odd thing was that the assault came in the form of Marines. Not ones organized or shouting about pirates, but nothing but swordsman of varying skill, all attacking in a berserker frenzy. Quickly realizing what was going on, Luffy had shouted an order to disable, not kill.
Marines might not be his favorite people, but most of them weren't actively malicious, particularly in the lower ranks. More to the point, these Marines clearly weren't even in their right minds. There must have been a base somewhere on the island that was affected by the miasma. Thankfully, most of his crew weren't quick to kill for no reason anyway. Despite proving somewhat tougher than low-to-mid level marines should be, they were able to disable the group without too much effort.
"Um…what do we do with them?"
Yamato, scratching her horns, looked puzzled as she asked that. Which…fair. Luffy had to think about it for long moments before sighing and producing rope from his inventory to start tying them up with.
"We take them to wherever the refuge is. Between myself, Kaya, and who or whatever is maintaining that bubble of protection, we might be able to purge whatever is influencing them. Which, in turn, might provide some answers."
Kaya nodded firmly from where she was checking one of the Marines that had taken a nasty blow from Yamato before Luffy had ordered non-lethal attacks. He'd live, Yamato hadn't been serious, but he was easily the most injured of the lot. Unsurprising, really. Coming from the New World, Yamato likely had a much lower opinion of the Marines than any of the rest of his crew. Something Luffy was going to have to remember. While the Marines might do a fair bit of good along with the bad in most parts of the world. That was very much not true in the bits Yamato was from. Thankfully, she was still cheerfully grinning, seeming more disappointed in how weak the Marines had been instead of annoyed they'd been left alive.
With a few minutes of work, they had the dozen Marines trussed up and trailing behind them, Robin having volunteered to make a bunch of feet to carry them in an odd-looking train. Luffy was once again unsure just how Devil Fruits actually worked, given that random feet not attached to legs and hips shouldn't work that way. Given the convenience and his standing mantra of 'Devil Fruits are bullshit,' he let that fact go easily enough after a few seconds of puzzling over the mechanics. Even the knowledge of what was powering them didn't exactly help explain how weirdly they sometimes functioned.
It was another twenty minutes, roughly, before the glowing barrier came into sight.
Far stronger and more opaque than the silvery mist they'd summoned to protect the Discovery, they weren't able to see beyond it until they'd come within a few dozen feet. Which was, apparently, not true for the people on the other side as a small-but-visibly armed party had gathered to meet them. Something in their expressions must have changed when they finally saw them, as one of the previously silent sentries called out to them a split second after they were first able to see the welcoming committee.
"Halt, travelers! I can see you haven't been taken by the madness, yet what reason do you have for being on this cursed island? Can you not see that you would have been better off sailing on?"
Before Luffy could answer, Kaya surprised him by stepping forward, voice calm as she spoke up for them.
"Peace, please. I and my Captain are both gifted with spiritual energies. We sensed the disturbance on this island the moment we crossed into the weather zone and sought to investigate."
Kaya lifted one had and summon an orb of pure spirit energy into it. No mean feat, that. Pure spiritual energy wasn't visible to the naked eye until you concentrated it heavily.
"It was only when we landed and saw the ruins that we realized this was Asuka Island. My own ancestor was a priestess who fled the war here, in days long gone, giving me an even stronger reason to investigate than before. We would, at least, know what is going on and whether we can help before moving on. We also, of course, wished to try and purge the influence of the miasma from the Marines who attacked us…"
Kaya gestured back to the train of unconscious Marines, and the tall native with dark brown hair and a band across his forehead nodded slowly. Having been given time to assess the group, Luffy had noted that several of the welcoming party showed signs of having been Marine swordsman. Partial uniforms, looking tattered with time and heavy wear, alongside some standard issue katanas and cutlasses. Those men in particular were looking on edge, and responded with strong approval in their expressions at the idea of trying to help their fellows.
"I…you are welcome to come as far as the lakeside, at least. Priestess Maya will have to be the one to say yes or no to anything more. Come, so long as you come in peace."
Luffy and his crew relaxed slightly at the invitation and made their way to the barrier. Kaya reached out and touched it for a moment, then nodded to the others and passed through with no farther hesitation. Trusting her that it was safe, the others followed swiftly, only Luffy himself pausing for a moment to assess the barrier with his own spiritual senses. It was strong, far stronger than their own protection. Strong enough he suspected it would be an outright physical block for anyone trying to enter with fel intentions. Thankfully, none of their crew had any such thoughts, and the downed Marines apparently didn't count due to unconsciousness. Done with his brief examination, he passed through the barrier and followed down the path after the others.
A few dozen yards later they all rounded a bend in the path and froze at the sight of the 'lake' that had been mentioned. It was, Luffy absently thought, a completely reasonable reaction despite how amused their guides looked. After all, the lake was glowing. More than just glowing, it looked like a mirror reflecting a night sky lit by seven bright stars, in pure spite of the fact it was day out! Not to mention the fact that there were three brightly glowing orbs spiraling around the figure of an old woman, hovering in midair in the middle of said lake. Oh, and there was a half-ruined palace behind it all. None of that exactly helped.
Eventually, Zoro snorted and moved, his dismissal of what he was seeing breaking the rest of them from their own surprise. The locals didn't seem to mind, smirking and looking proud of the reaction. Still, they also didn't seem offended at the crew starting to move again so quickly either, directing them down to the lakefront which was surrounded by crudely constructed huts. This, then, was where everyone from the village had retreated to. Well, the survivors anyway.
While hardly the utter beacon of energy the old woman and the orbs were, as they moved to a carved stone altar to one side of the refuge, they were met by a troubled-looking young woman who Luffy's senses registered as having a remarkably strong spiritual presence. Stronger than Luffy's own, if not quite as strong as Kaya's. He was fairly certain the pretty young native was stronger than Kaya had been before starting her own training, possibly even stronger than before Kaya had gotten a boost from eating the Sick-Sick Fruit. While that Fruit wasn't particularly strong spiritually, it was still a Spirit Fruit, and had added a modest amount strength to Kaya's already large pool of spiritual energy. Given that this young woman, who had to be around Kaya's own age, was nearly as strong without such a boost? Luffy assumed she must be the 'Priestess Maya' the other local had referred to.
"Lacos, you brought guests? And more infected, too. I'm not sure I can purify so many, Lacos. Not of those that have been infected for so long…"
Before the tall native escorting them, whose name was apparently Lacos, could respond, Kaya stepped forward and bowed lightly toward the Priestess.
"Priestess Maya, I assume? My name is Kaya, and I have some considerable talent as a spiritualist myself, and would offer to aid that effort. My Captain too, has some considerable spiritual strength, though I'm unsure he knows how to purge curse influences like this."
Luffy shook his head, stepped forward, and spoke himself.
"Captain Monkey D. Luffy. I'm afraid I don't know the exact method, but I'm happy to learn, or to simply lend my strength to the effort. We came to investigate the island when we felt the wrongness here. We are happy to help with the infected, of course, but can you tell us just what is going on? Some curse of bloodlust is on the island. That much is clear enough to see. We also know a bit of the story of this place, as Kaya's ancestors were from Asuka originally. However, this seems…extreme. Was the Seven Star Sword not sealed?"
Maya had gone from curious to tense as first Kaya, then Luffy, had spoken. As he finished, she sighed and shook her head.
"The infected first. Bring one of them up to the altar. It will enhance our efforts. Once we have done what we can for them, I will explain what has happened on the island."
Luffy and Kaya both nodded agreeably and made to follow. Kuina, to Luffy's mild surprise, moved before he could order it. She grabbed one of the Marines from Robin's train of feet and easily carried the unconscious solider up the steps. Maya blinked at her, eyes narrowing for a moment, before shaking whatever caused the reaction off and following. Luffy and Kaya trailed behind, joining the Priestess as she directed Kuina to lay the Marine out on top of the altar itself.
"I will start the process, as I've broken a few others of the curse before. Observe only for the first one or lend a bit of strength if you know how. You can start to help properly with the next."
Luffy, Kaya, and Kuina all watched intently as the priestess began to pray…
... ... ...
It had taken almost five hours for them to work through the dozen Marines they'd brought with them. Maya had seemed shocked and surprised as Luffy and Kaya helped tweak the process with their own techniques, refining what she was doing. They, in turn, had gotten their own surprise when, as they all started to flag on the eighth Marine, Kuina had stepped forward while holding Wado Ichimonji. He'd been too tired and fuzzy-minded to stop her as she drew the blade and slashed…then had stared with the other two as the slash had severed the curse they'd been pulling away from the Marine's spirit without cutting the man's flesh.
Kuina had somehow cut the curse, using the space they'd created between it and the man's own spirit as they unentangled it for purging. Once they'd gotten over the shock, the quartet had used the new combination method with the remaining four men. It had allowed them to finish the remainer, but Kuina had ended up just as exhausted as they were by the time she'd used the technique those four additional times. Perhaps understandably, her reserves of spiritual energy and her ability to use it were currently rather limited. Still, it had allowed them to finish, and they'd all been treated to what food the locals could offer.
Luffy had subtly added some food from his own inventory, making it closer to a proper feast, helping everyone regain a bit of energy before joining the Priestess in one of the larger huts. It was a bit cramped with Lacos, the Priestess, and all those members of his crew that had come ashore inside, but they made do. After a few long minutes of silence as she gathered herself, the Priestess began to speak.
"Thank you again for the help with those men. I wish I could purify all of those infected with the curse. But there are hundreds just like them wandering the island. There have been ever since, roughly three months ago, someone from the Marine training base unsealed the Seven Star Sword. They unsealed it incorrectly, too. Something which only made the situation worse, as it immediately plunged the entire island straight back into the depths of the bloodlust curse that destroyed the Asuka Kingdom in the first place!"
Maya grimaced, fists clenching in frustration.
"There was no warning. We weren't supposed to need to redo the seal for months yet when, abruptly, the curse descended on the island. The weaker minded or more violent Marines and villagers, not to mention the wildlife, all started rampaging immediately. If we hadn't already gathered up the Orbs for the ritual, everyone would be dead. As it was, Elder Izaya had all of those that could resist rush here, to the lake and palace, and she sacrificed herself to repurpose the Orbs into fueling a barrier."
More than one of the crew glanced toward the lake, and Maya's grimace grew more pained.
"Technically she lives. But she will not survive once the barrier falls, and she can't hold it forever. Only pure force of incredible will has allowed her to maintain it for so long. How much longer she can manage…I don't know. I'm amazed at her strength to hold it so long already."
Luffy nodded firmly, voice solemn as he responded.
"Then we shall insure her sacrifice is not in vain. If the Sword was Sealed once, it can be Sealed again…or perhaps even purified. It was originally a Holy Sword, if I remember the stories correctly, so that might also be possible. Either way, we will help you, but we need to know whatever you can tell us. About how the sword was sealed, what the curse is, who has the sword now. Anything and everything you can think of that might be relevant."
Maya nodded, hesitating for a second as she seemed to consider where to start. Finally, she spoke.
"The Marine Base on our island is, primarily, a training command that takes officers from the Blues and sharpens their abilities into being 'Grand Line' worthy. It does this with many types of officers, but focuses on swordsmen most of all. Given the island's strong local traditions in that area, it made sense when the base was first built, and they've continued to use it that way ever since. Us locals, of course, like having their base here. Or at least we did, until now. It's small, but was large enough to deter casual pirate raids. Given we can generally look after ourselves somewhat as well, training most of our people with either the sword or spear, we've had little trouble with pirates."
Maya shrugged as Lacos grumbled at that comment.
"Not none, of course. This is the Grand Line, after all."
That matter-of-fact statement got snorts, nods, or chuckles from Luffy and his crew. Maya's lips twitched at the acknowledgement of a shared truth.
"Since the base is on the other side of the island, generally we don't interact with them much. But some of the islanders that live away from the main village did notice the arrival of a much larger ship than usual just a few days before the trouble started. One of them, who sells game and wild-harvested foods to the base from time to time, asked about it. Apparently, a Vice Admiral named 'Ship Cutter T-Bone' was in command of the ship. A swordsman of some repute, we assumed he was simply here for the school. It happens from time to time that higher ranked Marines come through looking for a personal student."
That made sense. Any Marine forwarded from one of the Blues to service on the Grand Line, rather than enlisting on the Grand Line itself, would have to be a promising officer. Having so many such in one place and of a specific type? That would naturally draw those looking for a protégé of said type. Since high-level swordsmen were a major asset to the Marines, it was probably allowed, or even outright encouraged, for existing senior officers to take anyone they felt had promise out of the regular chain of command and hone them.
"It was only after the sudden descent of the curse and the chaos of scrambling for safety here that we learned that was not the case. We managed to capture and purify a few Marines, in our attempts to discover what had gone wrong. We were horrified to find that Vice Admiral T Bone had come here with specific orders to break the seal on the sword and take it for the World Government's needs, due to some sort of upcoming conflict. They apparently thought that his possession of some martial ability called 'Haki' would be enough to overcome the sword's curse and render it useable."
Kaya and Luffy's eyes met and they both grimaced. Haki was, without question, a spiritual ability. It was, however, just about the crudest application of someone's spirit that existed. Even what Kuina had done earlier was no longer pure Haki. Wado Ichimonji hadn't blackened like it would have with armament. Instead, the edge had glowed briefly as Kuina struck. Haki had likely given Kuina the stepping stone needed for more, but if T Bone had only had the brute force application of Haki itself to fall back on? It would have been poorly suited to deal with something like a curse of this strength and nature. It could have likely overcome the more minor curse on something like Kaya's 'Grumpy Baby Knife-kun,' but not the much stronger island-spanning curse sealed into Shichiseiken.
Maya had seen their brief exchange, commenting on it as she continued.
"I see you are familiar with whatever Haki is, though I am not. I know only that, whatever they had believed, the attempt was an utter failure. He wasn't just possessed by the sword, but apparently outright empowered it enough to break its seal early. He slaughtered the entire group that went with him, using their deaths to spread the aura of darkness, the miasma as you called it, over the island. All of the other Marines were taken over and have been influenced by Shichiseiken's desire for bloodshed. Fighting among themselves, with the islands animals who are equally affected, or with other Marines and travelers who arrive on the island. Only those who had retreated under the protection of the barrier here are safe."
Well, fuck. Luffy hadn't exactly been looking forward to fighting a Vice-Admiral, let alone one empowered by a curse. Then again…his eyes darted to the now eager-looking Yamato and he nodded absently. He now had backup who was, if anything, stronger than he was currently. With Yamato along, he was fairly confident they could take even a boosted Vice Admiral. With that in mind, he made his decision.
"In that case, it wouldn't be right to leave without rendering aid. My own crew are…well were powerful bounty hunters. Technically we were recently declared pirates after we took a completely legal bounty that inconvenienced the World Government. Something we are still hoping will be resolved peacefully. We've never actually committed any acts of piracy, or even done anything illegal so far as I'm aware. Perhaps fixing their error here will aid with that? Regardless, we became bounty hunters in large part because we wanted to help people while seeing the world. It would go against everything we believe in not to render aid when you're so clearly in need of it."
Maya, who had stiffened when he mentioned they were technically pirates, relaxed as he continued. Better they not find that bit out accidentally, later. Luffy wasn't actually under any delusion that solving this issue would do anything more than piss the WG off more. It was, however, plausible enough to sound logical to the locals. Which should help them rationalize accepting help from 'pirates.'
"I…I think I can take your word for that. No one who was evil could wield purifying energy the way you and Kaya did, Captain. I will choose to trust you…but I'm not sure how you can help. Even if we could capture Shichiseiken, I'm unsure any of us are strong enough to seal it again!"
Luffy gave her a confident grin.
"Well, we won't know until we try, now will we? First, we have to figure out how to find this Vice-Admiral, preferably alone, and get the sword from him in the first place. One step at a time, as it were."
Their planning would go long into the night, as Maya told them not just about the movements of the sword and its wielder around the island, but also as much as she knew about the curse and how it had been originally formed and sealed…
... ... ... ... ...
AN 1: As I warned in the release post, I'm reusing characters, locations, and ideas from The Cursed Holy Sword movie but not the actual plot. Things are significantly different here, including how the Sword got unsealed. T Bone, who is a Vice Admiral that appeared in the Water 7 arc. I'm actually not entirely sure he's supposed to be a Vice Admiral yet, but I couldn't find a quick reference for what his rank was at Water 7. I'm thus choosing to say he's already a Vice Admiral, in part to give a sufficiently dangerous enemy with Luffy and Yamato around. If this isn't accurate...just consider it another butterfly effect that he got stronger quicker.
As for what made the Marines send him...for those that didn't immediately connect the dots? It's the fact that things have been steadily going to shit for the Marines and they are looking for any extra edge they can find.