Nale awoke to a splitting headache. He tried to rub at his head but found his arms were still under a pile of rubble. That was right, he had been forced down through an entire skyscraper in Speria. Now aware of his situation he simply stretched his lips into his cheek and began to fill himself up with air.
His body expanded like a balloon, sending the rubble falling free of him. He had eaten the Gum-Gum fruit and had become a rubber man years ago, and had gotten used to working around its powers. Now freed of his bindings Nale rubbed at his head, the hair’s on his head were beginning to grow longer, he would have to shave that down again. His dark caramel skin stood out against the gray concrete all around him. Looking around he found that his jacket and shirt had been torn to shreds, revealing the symbol of justice on his back.
“Nale!” A voice yelled out.
Nale turned to see Hana running towards him. She was normally studious in appearance with milky blonde hair that she kept tied into a tail. Her face currently was showing concern, she should know better than that.
“Your alive!” Hana said as Nale got to his feet.
“Any other casualties?” Nale asked, wiping the dust from his coat.
“No sir.” Hana said, her attitude returning to normal. “At Least not for our group, Norio and Ryoto were unconscious but the explosion woke them up.”
“Im not sure it can count as an explosion.” Nale said, looking around. Rescue teams were pulling out corpses from the destruction. “How long have I been out?”
“A few hours sir.” Hana said.
“Nale!” Ryoto yelled out. He was younger in appearance, a square jaw with soft eyes and pale skin. He carried Nale’s two swords. That was good, Skillful grade swords were hard to replace.
“That gives the Umbra’s time to escape.” Nale said as Ryoto came closer. He would have to remember to give Ryoto props for not only bringing the Umbra captain in on his own, but withstanding their attacks when Norio couldn't. “Report to the ship and prepare to go after them.”
“Yes sir.” Hana said. “Though we do not know where they are heading, this island has many islands around it that the log pose could point them to.”
Nale took his blades from Ryoto and put them in the sheathes at his hip. He had been defeated, Enma’s Conqueror’s haki was overpowering. He held her back, but he couldn't defeat her decisively. There were only three of them, one a lost girl, and yet his full team had not beaten them.
“I think I can help with that.” A voice said.
Nale turned to see a ball of flame that began to form into a plaid jacket wearing man who looked eerily like a lumberjack. His jacket was red and black, and a firefighter axe sat on his back. His face was hard with a grizzled beard and tanned skin from a hard day's work.
“Who are you?” Nale asked in his nonchalant tone.
“You can call me Alder.” the devil fruit user said. “I am a bounty hunter, me and my team had captured half of the Umbra’s earlier today, we turned them over to the Blood pirates, who let them escape.”
Nale ground his teeth. “That explains why we couldn't find the last half.”
“My crew knows the Umbra’s better than anyone, let us help catch them. We can work together.” Alder said.
Nale looked the man up and down. “What do you want out of it?”
“We want the reward money for one.” Alder explained. “As well as the fame of being a part of taking them down.”
Nale sighed. “Where can we find them?”
Alder gave a smirk. “According to what we got out of the Blood pirates that stayed here, they escaped with a pirate known as East Wood. Odds are they are heading to his homeland, Lassoland.”
“Very well, Hana, get Norio and let's go.” Nale said, striding away from the carnage. “Alder, if your crew wants to join us they better be ready to leave swiftly.”
“We will meet you out at sea.” Alder said, launching himself into the air with his fire.
Norio was in the worst condition of the group, but thanks to his Zoan powers he only ended up with a broken arm. Still, Nale had to chastise him. They had taken to the sea, the small ship of the Lumberjacks tied to their ship. The main three members of the crew, Aspen, Cedar, and Pine, were hanging out on the CP-6 ship, along with Alder.
“This is the stance you want to take.” Ryoto said to Aspen. The lumberjack tried to copy his Tekkai. “You gotta make your muscles as strong as iron.”
“Aspen’s lucky.” Norio said, his arm was still in a sling, yet he was lifting weights as if it didn't matter. Norio was an oversized man to begin with, thus his Tekkai was much stronger than others. He had condensed all his muscles to their strongest form, yet continued to work out more and more. “His body is already strong, which is something he will need to take advantage of that Devil fruit of his.”
“Whatever it takes.” Aspen said, his body sliding into the posture of the Tekkai perfectly. Nale leaned forward at how fast he had learned the base posture. “Whatever it takes to defeat the Umbra’s, right captain?”
Alder laid on the railing of the ship blowing bubbles with his fingers from a pool of dish soap. “That's right.” He said, his eyes distant.
Nale had found out that the Lumberjacks all hailed from the South blue and had suffered greatly from the Umbra pirates attacks. Cedar was working with Hana, testing the powers of his Chop-Chop fruit versus her Spike-Spike fruit. He had said he needed the training using his limbs in the air. Pine was testing his power, shrinking and growing his roulette wheel as he deemed. Apparently he had made a breakthrough about controlling it, saying he could take control of the luck of it for brief moments, though apparently needed to give it time to recover after that.
“Ay Nale.” Alder said from his spot on the railing. “Teach me that Haki stuff, the one you used to fight their captain.”
Nale looked over at Alder who simply grinned up at Nale.
“You think you can learn it?” Nale said from his spot overlooking the deck of the ship. Even though he stood above Alder, Alder seemed more confident. “Conqueror's Haki isn't something just anyone can learn.”
“They call it Color of the Supreme King.” Norio said, lifting the hundred pound dumbbell with one hand. “It's something you're born with or dont have at all. They say one in several million are born with it. It's the power to truly be a king.”
“Thanks for the exposition Dog boy.” Alder said, referring to Norio’s Jackal fruit. “If that's the case, teach me.”
Nale eyed the man. Alder just smiled at Nale with his toothy grin. Nale was outlined by a Haki border, a deep maroon color. It was faint, only recently awakened, but it was there. The fact it was so small and already had color said a lot about the type of man this was. But Nale didn't see him as a user of Conquerors Haki.
“In order to use it, you would have to learn the other two forms of Haki.” Nale explained.
“Alright, let's get to it.” Alder said, not moving from his spot.
“Learning the basics of Observation and Armament Haki would take two years.” Nale said.
Alder grit his teeth. “Is that so? Guess we can worry about that another time then.” With that, he laid his head back on the railing and closed his eyes.
Nale was confused by the man, but before he could question further he was called away. He had to check in on those Marines that were trying to cut off the Umbra’s.
“Report?” Nale said.
“Panda sssh.” A female voice said over the transponder snail. “Who is this?”
Nale tensed. “This is Nale of CP-6. Enma S Nash, where are you going?”
“No where.” Enma said quickly.
“Captain, aren't we going to Lassola” Another voice said before the line was cut.
That fool Mink revealed that Nale was going in the right direction. With renewed confidence he told his men to hurry.
They were too late. CP-6 arrived on Lassoland, the land Marines had no control over, and found the Umbra had already left.
“Where did they go?” Nale asked the man with the large mustache, he called himself Randy Daytona, and was the mayor of this town.
“Seemed they followed the log pose.” Randy said with a shrug. “From the direction, I think they went to Illionia.”
Nale turned away from the man. In only two short nights the Umbra’s had apparently disrupted this country and defeated a Warlord of the sea. Alder stood looking out into the vast expanse of the island.
“We are heading for Illionia.” Nale said. “Will your crew continue to join us?”
“What other islands are around here?” Alder asked, turning towards the sea. “That direction.”
Nale thought it over. “Mediogashima is that way.”
“Is that so?” Alder said. “In that case, let's split ways here. I think they may head there, but I could be wrong. So let's cover our bases.”
Nale nodded in agreement. “If you don't find them, use this.” Nale pulled free an eternal pose from his pocket. “It will lead you to Illionia, you can meet us on the Island of Sisoniya. We will find you once you arrive.”
Alder smiled at Nale. “It was good spending time with ya, see you on Illionia.”
Nale nodded. “See you.”
With that, the two parted. Nale shot Alder a look as he left, wondering what was going on with that man. Why was he so obsessed with capturing the Umbras? Nale returned to his ship and they departed, following the log pose.
