Chapter 12: A Strom is brewing

"... The walls are rusty and painted with dust, it's sickening, I can't believe folks used to inhabit these" on this moment Matthew was searching for the workers inside the warehouses, a clue that he found suggested they should be somewhere around the square area of the village. 

Two crossroads were spotted from the distance, one of them leading to the beach area where the center of the village is located, the other directly to the 'nightwood' forest, Matthew took the one to the village, and resumed strolling around. 

'I have never known villages to be this scattered and sparse, large warehouses for storage purposes were to the east side, the center and square to the south where the beach should be, to the west should be where the chieftain's house is sighted, that's where Angella went…' the young man was truly in for a journey… 

—--

'... I believe observation haki is the easiest one to unlock for my case' on the way Matthew thought to himself, observation haki complemented his fighting style quite well, not only would it improve the effect of the 'crescent step' and 'Tsuki kôgekï', it would also help with learning other future skills and abilities. His speed and vision proved to be his greatest advantages over other opponents, of course if we exclude spear martial arts from the equation, making kenbunshoku his current best route of improvement. 

His physical strength and toughness  weren't the best, and while they didn't match up to someone strong like William they would gradually increase with time, so learning armament or hardening haki in the future shouldn't be an issue, 'crescent kaze' was enough as of now, it had enough destructive power to beat most west blue pirates and he even managed to best a zoan devil fruit user in a battle of attrition. 

Rankyaku was quite the useful technique, it could be used in various different ways, from sending a wind arc from your blade to even imbuing it on your limbs turning them into lethal weapons. geppo and soru are always good choices when it comes to the marines six powers, they helped a lot with mobility which is in Matthew's opinion, the most important part of a fighting style, you could be the most vigorous human on this world, yet with no speed to back it up, you will basically be a meat shield, see what happened with William. And Matthew was determined to study the two techniques. As of tekkai and kami-e, well, they have to be left for later, Matthew honestly had no idea how to begin with the two. 

'... A devil fruit would also be nice' in this world there are three types of devil fruits, well technically its two, considering there's not that much difference between a paramecia one and a logia, your body will still generate substances and incorporate them into your human cell components in a way that doesn't basically kill the user, paramecia substances are typically refined and man-made such as wax, strings, poison, rubber… Whereas logia ones are found in nature like sand, fire, ice… so in theory there should be something like a wood-wood no mi devil fruit that exists somewhere, and finding it would hit the sweet spot for Matthew. As for zoan devil fruits, unless it is a mythical one, Matthew would probably not bother with it. 

'... And there's this awakening' devil fruit users can also undergo a process called awakening in which their powers increase dramastically, the circumstances behind it are unknown other than the fact that it has something to do with the 'mastery', and there are very few who actually did manage to awaken their devil fruits. in addition, the process also differentiates from one user to another. 

On the way to the center of the village, Matthew's ears twitched, he took his spear and… *shoo* a rankyaku arc was sent through the bushes splitting a nearby tree in half.

"come out…" he said

"KYAHHHH" a scream of fright reached his ears, the voice seem to belong to a girl in her twenties, it was as high-pitched as you would think it sounds like. 

"please don't kill me!" a woman came out, a cool yellow jacket hugged her womanly figure, her velvety red hair was branded covering the left side of her face, she would have passed for a fine maiden if not for her pair of wide hooded eyes, the eyelids were comically big and eyebrows way too thick, but if anything, this appearance gave off a warm feeling to the onlookers. 

"... I will do anything!" she clumsily kneeled down, her knee and shin touching the dirty ground. 

"... Why were you sneaking around, woman?" Matthew was quite used to the exotic appearances of the people he has seen so far, first was his albino disciple, next was the three meter tall William and now this girl. 

"..." awkward silence. 

"... A man seeks answers" 

"... I… I am a tailor and a linen armorer, strong one, I make silk gowns and light clothes for a living…" 

"... Did you work for Rudger? Where are the other villagers that he imprisoned?" 

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"... In the beach, strong one, we were promised safety and protection by rudger the tyrant, from the day they raided, they told us to make as many weapons and armor as possible, and if we were caught slacking off, we would have to answer for our disobedience and our families would pay the price" she narrated the details in a quivering tone, her hands were trembling, a sign of an ill-treated group of people, which was quite sad for Matthew to see. 

"... The beach is it, what were you doing in the forest this faraway, woman?" 

"... Searching for a girl, strong one, her name is Angella, and her father… passed away yesterday from overworking himself to death" 

'... Another tragedy strikes the poor Angella, she wouldn't expect to hear this now, would she?' Matthew sighed, life truly hits you harder when you least expect it to. 

"... Lead the way" he retracted his bloodlust, easing the atmosphere enough for the woman to breath. 

" I'm sorry?" only now could she stop shaking in fright, she slowly raised her head and looked at the man in question. 

"... So Handsome!" a gentle red blush formed on her cheeks as she eyed the man who seemed to be at her age, ' aren't fighters supposed to be scary looking? this guy however…'

"... I said lead the way" his eyes didn't seem that gentle. 

"... Yes" only now did she notice the wound on his shoulder, her blush instantly disappeared '... An injury this severe and he's still somehow swinging that spear'

—--

"uhhh" in another place in the island, William slowly opened his eyes, his head was fuzzy with a mishmash of the previous memories before he passed out. 

"... I'm alive?... Jihahahaha, gods, what a battle that was" his usual quirkiness came back to him, remembering the fierce fight he just had, the adrenaline and hot blood pumping through his veins almost made him climax in pleasure midfight. 

"... My precious book" his eyes shined in anticipation, nothing excited him more than recording his life experiences in 'the book of the storm', it was quite the strange book, not only did it have detailed information of human body parts, it also spoke of the medicines used in the ancient times to treat every type of physical injury, every wound that scratched the surface skin could be healed as long as the organs holding too much blood aren't effected. 

The tome had another empty 'verse', filled to the brim with white pages, meant for recording the results of experiments and even… Torture, verious ways of inflicting pain, the 'best' courses to stimulate the nerves, were mentioned in the other 'verses' about human anatomy. That's where William liked to write about his daily life… 

"... When I was born I believed i could fly, but when I woke up, I couldn't… half-humans are incapable, or as father says… But what if it's a lie? We can't know for sure unless we jump off a tower of some sort… Only then would it truly be known…" william vermont.1870.

"... Today a small marine battleship was spotted, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on their blood… It felt good… weirdly exciting to kill them in such a gruesome way… the night of that day, I drank myself to sleep, wondering what tomorrow had to offer… The burnmark of my face will serve as a beacon of strength… " william Vermont.1886

"... Today I was marked as the 'cruel', a title befitting someone of my stature, and a bounty was assigned… They will pay, I will make sure of it…" william Vermont.1895

"... Today, the lady of luck has finally smiled upon me, the sun and moon blessed me with an opponent… It was a fight to be remembered, one that I lost, yet no tears were shed… " william Vermont.1912

" Jihahahaha, I wonder if the red beast has a crew yet, I can't wait to find out… " William's eyes finally regained their former enthusiasm.

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