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The morning sun crept into the small cottage, and for the first time in his memory, Aster woke to the smell of... nothing. There was no fish sizzling, no soup simmering.
He pushed his small blanket off and padded out of his room, his new, massive axe, Crimson Abyss, already in his hand. It felt wrong to be without it.
He entered the main room and stopped.
His parents were there. But they were... weird.
His mother, Eris, usually a beacon of calm, efficient grace, was standing by the stove, but she wasn't cooking. She was just... staring at a wooden spoon in her hand, her entire face a deep, uncharacteristic shade of pink.
His father, Rocks D. Xebec, the man who had split the sky, was sitting at the small table, but he wasn't eating. He was scratching the back of his neck, his gaze fixed on a knot in the wooden floor, a faint, dark flush on his own high cheekbones. The entire room was saturated with a thick, vibrating, awkward silence.
...Oh, void, Flamey's voice grumbled in his head, sounding... different. Tired.
Nope. I'm out. Wake me up when it's time to hit something.
The spirit's consciousness abruptly... muffled, as if he'd pulled a blanket over his head.
Aster, his face a mask of serious confusion, tilted his head. "Are you sick?"
His small, clear voice shattered the silence like a rock through glass.
Eris let out a high-pitched squeak and dropped the spoon. It clattered loudly to the floor. Xebec's head snapped up, his wild eyes wide and, for a split second, looking utterly, completely guilty.
"Aster!" his father boomed, his voice a full octave higher than usual, a strained attempt at casualness. "You're... you're up! Good! Breakfast! Your mother is... making... breakfast!"
Eris, her face now scarlet, turned and began to frantically and clumsily search for a pan.
This was... wrong.
"You're acting weird," Aster stated, not as an accusation, but as a simple observation.
Xebec and Eris both froze. They looked at each other, a silent, panicked conversation passing between them. Xebec cleared his throat, his 'commander' persona visibly cracking. He stood, walked over, and sat on the floor in front of his son, a movement that was strangely... hesitant.
"Kid... Aster..." he began, running a hand through his spiky black hair. "About... about last night. Your Haki. You're... you're always listening, aren't you?"
Eris had stopped clattering pans and was now perfectly still, her back to them, her entire aura a screaming, mortified red.
Aster nodded. "Yes. Mom's training. 'Find the absence.' 'Listen to the song.'"
"Right. Right." Xebec cleared his throat again, a deep, rumbling sound. "So... what, exactly... did you, uh... 'hear'... last night? After you went to bed?"
Aster looked at his father, his golden eyes clear and honest. He began his report, his voice the same, serious, deadpan tone he used for his training recaps.
"You were sad," he began. Xebec's awkwardness instantly vanished, his face darkening at the memory. "You were sad about a giant named Herald. You said he was your brother, but he was part of a trap. At the Holy Land, Mary Geoise. You said the Giants were part of the... 'gimmick'."
Xebec's eyes were sharp now, his full attention locked on his son. Eris had turned, her face pale, all traces of her blush gone, replaced by the pained memory of her husband's grief.
"You said you fought him," Aster continued, his recall perfect. "You tried to save him, but he laughed at you. He told you it was all an act, that your brotherhood was a lie, and that he served a 'true King.' You... you cried."
Xebec's jaw was tight. He just nodded, his gaze intense. "And then... what?"
"And then Mom hugged you," Aster finished. "She said you were an idiot. You said she and I were the only real things you could trust. And then..."
He paused, tilting his head slightly, as if trying to find the right word for the next part of the report.
"And then you started... licking each other. For a long time. It was kind of weird."
Eris made a sound like a dying bird. She spun around, her face a color of red that seemed to defy nature, her hands clapped over her mouth.
Xebec's dark, tragic, 'betrayed king' expression was shattered. His face went from pale, to red, to a deep, apoplectic purple in the span of a single second. He looked like he had swallowed his own tongue.
"But I won't judge you," Aster added, trying to be reassuring. "You're my parents, after all."
"Voh... Voh...," Xebec sputtered, but no laugh came out. He looked like he was being strangled.
"And... and... after... the... uh... 'licking'..." Xebec finally choked out, his voice a strained, high-pitched rasp. "What did you hear then?"
Aster blinked. "Nothing. I was tired. I went to sleep."
The sound that left Xebec and Eris at the exact same time was not a word. It was a massive, shared, gusting whoosh of pure relief. It was so loud, it ruffled the papers on the table.
Eris, her face still bright crimson, buried it in her hands, her shoulders shaking. Xebec fell backward, sitting flat on the floor, his hand over his own eyes, his entire body trembling with a mixture of deep shame and frantic relief.
Why are they acting so weird?
Aster thought, genuinely baffled.
Just... just... Flamey's muffled, pained voice whispered in his mind.
Just stop. Don't think about it. Forget it. You'll understand when you're older. Much older. Oh, my... I need to sleep for a thousand years.
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An hour later, breakfast had been a fast, mostly silent, and deeply awkward affair. Now, they were on the beach. The air was clear, and the tension of the morning had been replaced by a new, sharp, professional focus.
Xebec was back. The 'father' was gone, replaced by the 'Captain.' He stood on the sand, his arms crossed, his massive presence a weight on the world. "Alright, Aster. I'm ready. I saw the rock you broke. I saw your mother's cheap, hacked-up axe. Now, show me what you and Crimson Abyss can really do. Show me this... 'Inferno Slash'."
Aster nodded. He looked at the stump, the target from yesterday. Then he looked past it.
He turned and, without a word, began walking toward the lapping edge of the water, the massive, dark, fiery axe resting on his small shoulder.
"Aster?" Xebec called, his brow furrowing. "The target is... kid, what are you doing? Get back from the water."
Aster didn't stop. He walked until his bare feet were at the very edge of the glassy, still sea. He stopped, turned sideways, and looked back at his mother. He gave her one, single, firm nod.
Xebec's head whipped to Eris. "Eris... what is he... Eris, what are you doing?"
Eris held up one hand, her gaze locked on her son. She was perfectly calm. Then, she lowered it.
The feeling of the world changed.
The oppressive, muffling, safe silence that was Eris's barrier... thinned. It didn't vanish, but a hole opened, a single, circular gap in the shield, with Aster at its epicentre. The raw, dangerous, hungry pressure of the Calm Belt, the one that teemed with monsters, flooded in.
Xebec roared. "ARE YOU INSANE?! THE SEA KINGS! ERIS, PUT IT BACK UP!"
He was about to lunge, to snatch his son from the danger zone, but Eris's voice, sharp and cold as steel, cut him off.
"Are you sure about this, Aster?" she called out.
Aster didn't look back. He just raised his free hand in a thumbs-up.
"She replied with her song," (voice of life users talking with it)Xebec muttered, his own words from last night thrown back at him. He froze, his body vibrating with tension, his Haki flaring, ready to intervene at the slightest sign of trouble. He trusted his wife. He trusted his son. But this was madness.
The wait was agonizing. One minute. Two.
Then... a shadow.
Far out. A disturbance in the glassy water.
A moment later, the sea exploded. A Sea King, a "comparatively small" one, which meant it was only the size of a single-masted galleon, burst from the water, its serpentine, mottled-green body coiling. Its massive, red, idiotic eyes, devoid of all thought save hunger, locked onto the only living thing it could sense: the tiny, three-year-old meal standing on the beach.
It let out a shriek that sounded like a steam whistle and charged.
"ASTER!" Xebec bellowed, his hand flying to the hilt of his own sword.
"Wait," Eris commanded, her voice an iron bar.
Aster had not moved. He hadn't flinched. He just... braced.
The Sea King, a wall of charging muscle and teeth, was fifty yards away.
Forty. Thirty.
Aster didn't think. He acted. His training, a year and a half of relentless, agonizing repetition, took over. The entire process was now a single, streamlined, explosive instant.
Soul Heat ignited. The internal fire flooded his muscles, and the world slowed to a crawl. Armament flowed. His invisible armor snapped into place, flowing down his arms and into Crimson Abyss. The Supreme Grade weapon screamed, its "voice" a high-pitched, delighted shriek of pure, bloodthirsty joy. It had been waiting for this. Inferno blazed. The black-red, consuming fire didn't just coat the Haki-infused blade; it merged with it, a dark, hungry void.
The Sea King lunged, its massive, cavernous jaws opening wide, a rank, dark abyss ready to swallow him whole.
It was ten yards away.
Aster moved. He poured his father's betrayal, his mother's worry, his own promise, and everything he had into one, single, perfect strike.
He roared, a sound of pure, concentrated will, and swung.
The world tore.
A crescent of pure, black-red nothingness, twice the size of the one that had cut the boulder, erupted from the axe. It was silent, vast, and impossibly fast.
It hit the charging Sea King.
There was no explosion. There was no impact. There was just a faint hiss.
The Sea King's charge... stopped. It froze in mid-air, its massive jaws just feet from Aster's head. A perfect, clean, black-red line had appeared, cutting it neatly in two from its head to its mid-section.
The two massive halves hung in the air for a second, then slid apart.
But they didn't fall.
The Inferno flames, the black-red, consuming end, clung to the cut. The flesh didn't burn. It didn't bleed. It was... unmade. Before the two halves could even hit the water, they dissolved, crumbling into a massive, swirling cloud of black ash that rained down onto the calm, bloodless sea.
Aster stood, his small body trembling, his chest heaving. He planted the massive, heavy head of Crimson Abyss into the sand, using it as a crutch to keep himself upright. He was on the verge of collapse. But he held on. He had to know.
He turned his head, his golden eyes finding his father's.
Xebec was frozen. His arms were half-raised, his hand still on his sword-hilt. His wild, manic eyes were wider than Aster had ever seen them. His jaw was hanging open. He was, for the first time in his life, completely, utterly, and profoundly shocked.
Aster's small, trembling voice was almost carried away by the breeze.
"...Was it... good enough?"
He was terrified. Terrified that, even after all that, it wasn't up to standard.
Xebec just stared. He was gone.
Eris, standing behind him, let out a shaky, proud laugh. She balled up her fist and hit her husband on the back. Hard.
"Idiot," she said, her voice thick with emotion. "Close your mouth. Go to your son."
The slap snapped Xebec out of it. He moved. He crossed the beach in two thunderous strides, his coat flaring behind him. He didn't just pick Aster up. He snatched him, lifting the boy and his Supreme Grade axe high into the air, holding them up to the sky as a single trophy.
"GOOD ENOUGH?!" Xebec's voice exploded, a roar of pure, ecstatic, mind-blowing pride. "GOOD ENOUGH?! 'VOHAHAAHAHAHA!' KID, THAT WASN'T 'GOOD ENOUGH'! THAT WAS... THAT WAS PERFECT! YOU KILLED A SEA KING! A FLYING SLASH! YOU COATED WITH THE LITTLE HAKI YOU COULD CONTROL FOR A MOMENT! YOU USED THE INFERNO! YOU'RE THREE YEARS OLD!"
Held in that powerful, secure grip, Aster finally... finally... relaxed. The tension that had held him upright for two years bled out of him in a single, great sigh. His eyes, heavy and tired, began to close.
His voice was a sleepy, faint murmur, meant only for his father. "Good... I'm glad... I made you... happy again, Dad..."
And with that, his consciousness winked out, and he fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.
Xebec's triumphant roar died in his throat. He froze, staring at his son's peaceful, sleeping face. He slowly lowered the boy, cradling him gently against his massive chest.
...I made you happy again...
He realized, with a sudden, sharp clarity, why Aster had set up this entire, dangerous display. He hadn't just been showing off his homework.
He'd been trying to cheer his father up.
Xebec looked over his shoulder, his heart suddenly full. Eris was walking toward them, her arms crossed, that knowing, infinitely proud, loving smile on her face.
"He heard you, Xebec," she said softly, her voice carrying on the wind. "He heard all of it last night. He might not show it much, but he cares about us. A lot."
Xebec looked from his sleeping, powerful, caring son, to his beautiful, brilliant wife. He felt the cold, dark, gaping wound in his heart from Herald's betrayal. And then he felt this. This new, fierce, hot, real warmth that was his family.
A genuine, soft smile, one of pure contentment, touched his lips.
"Vohahaha... I," he said, his voice thick, "am so happy I have you both."
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