PLEASE ADD Naruto: The White Uzumaki TO YOUR LIBRARY!!
IT IS FOR THE FANFIC FEAST!! I AM CURRENTLY 5TH RANK
NEW SILVER MEMBERS:- Daniel Munitz
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The sun had just begun to touch the horizon, painting the glassy, still surface of the Calm Belt in shades of pale rose and gold. For three months, this exact moment had become a ritual.
Eris and Aster stood on the white sand, watching the empty sea. Aster's third birthday, the day his father had promised to return, had passed three months ago.
Every morning since, they had come to the beach at sunrise. And every morning, the sea had remained a perfect, sterile, and empty mirror.
Aster, now just over three years old, stood with a stillness that matched the ocean. He was taller, his small, lean body a body full of energy. He held his steel battle-axe in one hand, its weight familiar and comfortable. Beside him, his mother, Eris, stood with her arms crossed. Her face was calm, but her Observation Haki, which Aster could now feel as clearly as his own, was a tight, anxious net cast out over the water. She was worried. Deeply.
Calm down, woman, Flamey's voice grumbled inside Aster's head, the spirit sensing Eris's anxiety through their shared link.
That walking, Haki-infested natural disaster is the single most obnoxious and unkillable creature in this world. Nothing in this pathetic, wet ocean can kill that monster. He's just... disgustingly thoughtless.
Aster said nothing. He, too, was worried. He missed the noise. He missed the chaos. He missed his father's overwhelming, validating presence.
Eris let out a long, slow breath. The sun was fully up. Another day. Another failure. "Let's go in, Aster," she said, her voice soft, the disappointment a heavy cloak in her aura. "I'll make breakfast."
She turned. But Aster didn't move.
He had felt it.
It wasn't a sound. It wasn't a sight. It was a pinprick. A tiny, distant spark on the absolute, screaming edge of his Observation Haki. It was a feeling like a thunderclap, a wild, chaotic, joyful energy that he knew as well as his own name.
"He's here," Aster said, his voice soft, but absolute.
Eris's head snapped back, her eyes wide. She scanned the horizon, her own superior Haki stretching to its limit. At first, there was nothing. Then... she saw it. A tiny, black speck, so far away it was almost invisible. But it was moving. It was leaving a long, bright white path, cutting through the unmoving sea with impossible, relentless speed.
It was him.
Eris didn't move, her body frozen between hope and fury. They watched as the speck grew, resolving itself into the familiar, powerful form. Ten minutes later, the man burst from the shallows, water streaming from his impossibly broad shoulders. He was stumbling, but not from exhaustion. He was laughing.
He was still wearing the same, heavy, tattered black coat.
"ZEHAHAHAHAHA!" he roared, his voice blasting the silence of the cove to pieces. "I'M HOME!"
Eris's aura exploded. She didn't run to hug him. She marched across the sand and, as the towering man spread his arms for an embrace, she balled up her fist and slammed it into his solar plexus. It was a blow that would have shattered stone, and it connected with a THUD that echoed in the cove.
"You're late!" she yelled, her voice thick with three months of held-back panic and rage.
Xebec just laughed, the sound a pained grunt, but he didn't budge. He caught her fists as she swung again. "Three months! That's a new record, even for me!"
"Three months!" she shrieked, hitting his chest, her Haki-infused blows like small cannonballs. "I thought you were dead! I thought the Marines had finally cornered you, you arrogant... idiot! And are you....." she stopped, sniffing the air. "Are you still wearing that same coat?! It smells like saltwater and... is that gunpowder and blood?!"
"It's iconic, Eris!" he roared back, his grin impossibly wide. He simply enveloped her in a massive, one-armed hug, lifting her off her feet and crushing her against his chest. "I missed you, too, woman."
He turned his grin on Aster, who was standing right where he had been, just... watching. Xebec reached out his other arm and scooped him up, pulling his son into the chaotic, wet, and gunpowder-scented embrace.
"What's up, kiddo?" he boomed, ruffling Aster's black-and-white hair. "You look... taller. Tougher." He held Aster at arm's length. "You'd better be ready. I came all this way. You're going to show me that homework, right?"
Aster, dwarfed by his father's grip, just looked up into those manic, joyful, proud eyes and gave a single, firm nod.
"Zehahaha! Good! But..." Xebec's grin widened. "First things first."
He set them both down and turned, still dripping, to the water's edge. "Just as we're about to go to the house, Rocks stops us," Eris muttered, her arms crossed, her anger already evaporating, replaced by a weary fondness.
"Oh, wait," Xebec said, as if just remembering. "I almost forgot. Your gift."
He reached into the deep folds of his massive coat. Eris let out a long-suffering groan. "What did you bring this time, Xebec? It's not another cursed, talking fruit, is it?"
"Better!" he proclaimed. He pulled out a long object, wrapped tightly in oilcloth and tied with thick rope. He dropped it on the sand and began to unwrap it.
Aster and Eris watched. As the cloth fell away, the morning sun caught the weapon, and it seemed to ignite.
It was a battle-axe. But it was a work of dark, magnificent art. The haft was long, crafted from a metal so black it seemed to drink the light, etched with a subtle, dark, ornate pattern. The pommel was a wicked, stylized spike, and the head... the head was a masterpiece of malevolent beauty. It was a single-bitted axe, but designed with a terrifying, fiery elegance. One side was a broad, curved, flame-shaped blade. The other side was a black, jagged, scythe-like hook, covered in dark, spiky metalwork.
It was the most beautiful, terrifying thing Aster had ever seen.
(The Axe PIC)
"This," Xebec said, his voice radiating a deep, personal pride, "is 'Crimson Abyss.' It took me forever to find. Chased a rumor halfway across the New World. It's one of the main reasons I'm late."
He hefted the axe. It looked impossibly deadly, even in his huge hands. "It's one of the 12 Supreme Grade Swords." He let out a snorting laugh. "The fools who name these things wouldn't know an axe from a toothpick. But... I thought it suited you."
He held it out, hilt-first, to his three-year-old son.
Aster, his face a mask of pure awe, reached out.
OH... MY... ME!
Flamey's voice shrieked in Aster's head, a sound of such pure, religious ecstasy that it made Aster wince.
IT'S... IT'S BEAUTIFUL! IT'S GLORIOUS! IT'S... IT SINGS THE SONG OF INFERNO! IT'S A PACT-WEAPON! IT WAS MADE FOR US, ASTER! IT WAS MADE FOR ME! TAKE IT! TAKE IT, YOU IDIOT! IT'S OURS! HAHAHAHAHA!!
Aster's small, calloused hands closed around the black haft. It was heavy, heavier than his steel axe, but the balance was perfect. It felt... alive.
He didn't just feel it. He heard it.
Through the Voice of All Things, a new song flooded his senses. It was not the simple, clear note of his steel axe. This was a deep, ancient, and powerful chorus. The axe was awake. It was proud. It was hungry. It had been sleeping for a very, very long time, and it was ecstatic to be held by someone who could hear its voice... and feed it.
"Thank you, Dad," Aster said. His voice was soft, but it was vibrating with a rare, powerful emotion. He ran a small hand over the cool, black metal. "It... it likes me, too."
Xebec, who had been grinning proudly, blinked. His grin faltered. "...It likes you? What did it tell you?" he laughed, the question clearly a joke.
Aster just nodded, his golden eyes still locked on the weapon. "Yes."
Xebec's laugh died. He stared at his son, his wild eyes full of a sudden, sharp confusion. He looked at Eris.
Eris was just smiling, that small, knowing, infinitely proud smile. "Come on, Xebec," she said, looping her arm through his. "Let's get you fed. We have a lot to cover."
An hour later, Xebec was halfway through his third mountain of food. He ate with the same manic, chaotic energy as before, but he was listening. Eris sat across from him, her tea forgotten. Aster sat on the floor by the open door, the new, magnificent axe, Crimson Abyss, lying across his lap. He was polishing the black haft with a cloth, his head tilted as if listening to a new friend.
Eris was recapping the last year and a half.
"...his Armament is progressing," she said, her voice calm and factual. "It's still more reactive than conscious, but he can will it now. He can move it, cover his body, or even his weapon, for short bursts."
Xebec nodded, his mouth full. "Zehahaha! Good! A shield is useless if you can't move it where the punch is!"
"His Observation is... advanced," Eris continued. "My 'absence' drill, hiding my entire presence with my fruit? The one I used to hide from... well, everyone."
Xebec's chewing slowed. He knew how powerful that technique was. "He can find you?"
"He mastered it six months ago," Eris said simply.
Xebec stopped, a large piece of fish halfway to his mouth. "He... what?"
"He says he 'finds the dent in the song of the rocks,'" she said. "But that's not the half of it. Then there's the fruit. He made the pact. The 'Pact of Worthiness.'"
"Hah! I knew it!" Xebec slammed his mug down. "The fruit talks to him, doesn't it?"
"More than you know," Eris smiled. "They have a... relationship. He... made friends with it. He calls it 'Flamey'."
Xebec choked. He spat a mouthful of water across the table, his entire body seized by a coughing fit that was half-laughter, half-asphyxiation. "FLAMEY?!"
"And," Eris continued, ignoring his fit, "he developed a new technique. An internal one. He calls it 'Soul Heat'." She explained the mechanism: how Aster, in a fit of frustration, had stopped trying to push the flame out and had instead channeled the heat in, supercharging his muscles and reaction time.
Xebec's coughing and laughing stopped. His face, for the second time that day, became a mask of sharp, analytical intensity. He looked from Eris to his son, who was now polishing the glowing, flame-shaped blade.
"Internal..." Xebec murmured. "He's not just using the power. He's refining it. He's changing its very nature. At... at two." He looked at Eris, his eyes blazing. "He's a genius, Eris. A true genius."
"That's still not the half of it, Xebec," Eris said, her voice dropping, her aura becoming serious.
This was the moment.
"He can hear the axe, Xebec. He 'heard' the rocks, and the sand. He 'hears' the water. He has it. The Voice of All Things." She took a breath and delivered the final, critical blow.
"...Just like I do."
Complete, absolute silence.
Xebec's mug, which he had just picked up, stopped. He stared at her.
Aster's hands, which had been methodically polishing, froze. His head snapped up, his golden eyes wide, his own shock a palpable thing.
Just... like... her?
"Mom?" Aster whispered, his voice full of a sudden, desperate confusion. "You have it too?"
Xebec's head snapped from his wife to his son and back again. His wild, brilliant mind was visibly churning, putting pieces together with lightning speed. Eris's impossible, precognitive-level Observation Haki. Her ability to know things... to find the island... to understand the Poneglyphs he'd hunted... and now, his son... who had a 'Pact' with his fruit... who 'heard' his new axe...
His face, which had been frozen in shock, began to twitch. It then cracked open, split by a grin so wide it looked painful.
The roar that came out was not a laugh. It was an explosion. It was the sound of a man who had just had the entire universe make perfect, beautiful, violent sense.
"ZEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
He threw his head back, his laugh so loud it shook the dishes in the cupboard and sent a flock of gulls screaming into the air from the beach.
"BOTH OF YOU?! BOTH OF YOU! I KNEW IT! I KNEW YOU WERE SPECIAL, ERIS! I KNEW YOU WEREN'T JUST SOME... SOME NOBODY! BUT THIS! AND HIM!"
He jumped up, his chair crashing backward, and swept Aster up from the floor, lifting the boy and his new, massive axe high into the air as if they weighed nothing.
"You didn't just get my Haki, boy!" he roared, his face a mask of pure, ecstatic joy. "You got your mother's soul! The ultimate warrior and the ultimate scholar! The Conqueror's Will and the World's Voice! ZEHAHAHA! THE WORLD ISN'T READY FOR YOU! IT'S NOT READY FOR US!"
Aster, held aloft, was still staring at his mother, his mind reeling. "You... you can hear Flamey?"
Eris laughed, a light, bright, happy sound. "No, little one. I can't hear a 'Flamey.' That's all you. I just heard the... the song. The song of the island. The voice of the sea. The truth of the stones. Just like you."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Aster asked, his mind trying to re-catalog his entire life.
Eris brought a finger to her lips, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "You never asked."
To which Aster just stared at them as both of them laughed along with Flamey.
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Night fell. The reunion was, for now, complete. The cottage was full of warmth. Xebec, clean for the first time in what Eris claimed were years (after she'd forcibly burned his old coat), tucked Aster into his small bed.
"Alright, kid," he said, his voice a low, happy rumble. "Tomorrow. You, me, and 'Crimson Abyss.' You're going to show me that attack your mother conveniently left out of her report. I want to see what my son and his 'Supreme Grade' weapon can really do."
Aster, already sleepy from the emotional day, nodded. "Okay, Dad."
He closed his eyes, but his Haki was wide awake. He felt the shift in the room. His parents were happy, but beneath his father's booming joy, there was a... a dark note. A cold, deep tiredness. A... sadness.
Aster kept his breathing even. He felt them. The scrape of chairs. The cottage door opening and closing gently.
He strained his Haki, pushing it out to the beach. They were there. Sitting on the sand, side-by-side, in the silver light of the twin moons.
Eris spoke first, her voice a soft murmur on the wind. "Alright, Xebec. You're home. You're safe. Now, tell me what's wrong."
A long, heavy silence. Aster could feel his father's massive frame, tense as a drawn bowstring.
"I saw him," Xebec said. His voice was... flat. All the "Zehahaha" was gone. "At Mary Geoise."
"Saw who?" Eris's aura tightened.
"Herald."
Aster felt his mother's shock like a physical blow. "Herald? Of the Giant... but... Xebec, he's your... your brother."
"He was part of it, Eris," Xebec said, his voice like gravel. "The whole thing. The setup. It was all a trap. And he... he was the bait."
"A trap?" Eris's voice was a terrified whisper. "At Mary Geoise? You... you attacked the Holy Land?! Alone?!"
"I had a lead," Xebec growled. "A lead on the final piece. The key. It was a lie. They were waiting for me. The new 'Holy Knights.' And... him."
"So the Giants..." Eris's mind was racing, her aura a storm of confusion. "They're... they're part of this... this gimmick? This grand deception?"
"His unit is," Xebec said. "He... he fought me, Eris. He stood with them."
Aster felt it then. The emotion rolling off his father in waves. It was a deep, cold, aching grief. It was a wound, far deeper than his mother's sadness when he left.
"You fought...?" Eris whispered.
"I... I didn't understand," Xebec's voice was raw. "I thought he was being controlled. I thought they had his family. I tried to... to sense him. To get through to him. I... I broke his arm, Eris. I shattered his shield. I put my blade to his throat..."
His voice cracked. For the first time, Aster heard his father sound... small. Helpless.
"And he... he just laughed at me. He looked at me, with my blade at his neck, and he laughed."
Aster felt it. A single, hot, angry tear cut a path through his father's aura.
"He told me it was all an act. All of it. The years on my crew. The blood we spilled. The nights we drank. The... the brotherhood. He said... he said he was 'on duty' the entire time. He told me... 'For the true King, Rocks. You're just a noisy fool who doesn't know his place.'"
"I've never," Xebec whispered, his voice thick, "felt so... powerless. My Haki... my power... it could break his body, but it couldn't touch his will. It couldn't change the lie. I don't... I don't know what to believe anymore, Eris."
A long silence, broken only by the faint sound of the sea. Then, the rustle of fabric.
"You idiot," Eris said. Her voice was infinitely soft. "You absolute, arrogant, trusting fool."
Aster felt her aura move, felt her wrap her arms around his father's massive, tense frame, pulling his head down to her shoulder.
"This family..." Xebec's voice was a muffled whisper against her skin. "You two... you're the only things in this whole damn world that are real. The only things I can trust."
Aster felt his father kiss her. A deep, long, desperate kiss. He felt his father's hand grip her waist, pulling her impossibly close.
"I love you, Eris."
"I know, you dummy," she whispered back, her voice thick but strong, her own Haki a warm, silver blanket around them. "I love you, too."
They kissed again, a deep, healing kiss under the twin moons.
In the small, dark cottage, Aster relaxed his Haki. He closed his eyes. He understood.
His father wasn't just a monster. He wasn't just 'strength.' He was... sad. And the world, his father's world, was full of liars.
Aster gripped the cool, black haft of Crimson Abyss, his new, permanent companion.
Tomorrow, he would show his father something real. Something that might give him a bit more joy.
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