Chapter 30: Reunion

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*Clash!!*

*Tang!*

*Swish!!*

*Bam!!!*

As both of their swords clashed, Kuina and Nael took some steps back while preparing to engage in another clash.

Although the battle seemed to be pretty balanced in the eyes of a normal person, in reality Nael was just being toyed around with.

Whether his attacks were being deflected like they were childs-play, or him not receiving decisive hits even though he became completely defenseless for some seconds, it was completely obvious from an expert's point of view that Kuina wasn't even trying.

And Nael, of course, noticed that a long time ago.

"Damnit, even though I trained so much at MarineFord... I won't surrender!"

*Clank!!*

This time as both swords clashed against each other, Kuina placed her hand on her mouth, before letting out a small yawn. Breaking Nael's pride, and ending the duel at the same time.

*Bam!!*

"Argh!!" Nael was sent flying and landed heavily on the floor before Kuina's sword was placed just a few centimeters away from his neck. Ending the duel and making Kuina grin mischievously.

"Damnit...!"

"""Nael...!""" All of his companions started running in his direction in order to help him stand up, as they were all concerned about his safety, with Arya being the most worried by the way.

It took a while, but after some minutes Nael stood up with a determined expression on his face and handed Kuina all the money on his wallet.

"Just you wait for me, I'll come back in a month and I will defeat you!" Nael gritted his teeth and declared proudly at the bewildered Kuina, who was just looking at him like he was an idiot. After that he turned around and started walking away gloriously like a protagonist with a new goal to surpass.

However...

"Hey..." Kuina grabbed his shoulder and stopped him from leaving.

"W-what is it...?"

"When I said all "your" money, I meant the money from your group"

""Huh?!""

"But..."

"But what?

"..."

...

In the end they had no other option but to oblige, after all Nael's pride was on the line. And none of them wanted to make people think of him as a coward who is unable to fulfill his promises.

"Don't worry Nael, we can just hunt down some random pirate with a bounty later..." Aisel, the burly and big guy of the group, said and tried to comfort Nael after his defeat.

"Yeah, let's go guys, we need to become stronger"

Nael lifted his dejected head and started walking away with a resolved expression on his face, while his friends followed after him, and Kuina waved at them with a happy expression.

However, before they could leave the place, Kuina turned to me while grinning evilly.

"Oh... Don't you dare..." I muttered with a frown on my face... A deeper frown I mean.

After seeing my angry expression, Kuina looked at me defiantly while her smile became wider and wider.

"Oh Sid, I didn't notice you were there!" Kuina spoke loudly enough so that everyone in the area could hear her.

Of course, Nael and his group were not an exception.

"Huh...?"

""Huh...?""

They turned to look in my direction with astonishment, and then started looking in the direction of Kuina with even more astonished expressions

"Sid, You were here?! And you know her?!"

"O-oh, Nael, I didn't notice you there...!" I scratched the back of my head while I tried to smile innocently to hide my nervousness...

"Of course I know him, we have been best friends since a long time ago!" Kuina grabbed my shoulder and started giggling while speaking to them.

"Y-yeah, we are... B-best friends" I placed my hand on her shoulder while barely holding myself back from breaking it. Bulging veins were starting to appear on my forehead due to my anger, however, I suppressed it and smiled as cheerfully as I could.

"No way...!"

"The always angry Sid?"

"The ever loner Sid?"

"He got a girlfriend?!"

"I think it's more like he got friend zoned... Didn't you heard him stutter when he said Best friends?"

"Welp, it was to be expected"

I could hear some murmurs from Nael's group after they saw me with Kuina acting in a friendly manner, yet I pretended not to hear them.

Nael simply walked directly to me and gave me a friendly hug with a few pats on the back, after all it had been a long time since we have parted ways, with him going to MarineFord to receive proper training, and me being the incompetent Mob marine that can't go up in ranks no matter how much he tries, we were destined to take different paths and distance from each other. Yet this guy as the protagonist he is, hasn't forgotten about our friendship at all.

"Where were you anyways? We have been looking for you since yesterday, and when we asked auntie Julia she said you moved towards the inn next to the marine headquarters in this town. However, when we asked about you, they said you weren't there..."

"Err... I was given some rest-days and I used them to do some tourism around the nearby islands, I just came back today so it's no wonder you couldn't find me yesterday..."

"I see"

...

°

°

°

After having a long chat between us, we parted ways with Nael and Kuina and me went back home.

*Ding Dong*

*Click*

"Ah, took you long enough! What were you doi- ... Kuina what happened to your head?" Bell-mere opened the door and smiled at us with an amused expression before she noticed three long bumps on top of Kuina's head.

"Bell-mereeee~ Sid hit me in the head..." Kuina ran and hugged Bell-mere  while pouting slightly with crocodile tears coming from her eyes.

"What happened out there Sid?" Bell-mere asked with a helpless expression as she saw how Kuina was acting right now.

"Your daughter just risked the future of the whole world because of her joking attitude, luckily I managed to save the situation in the last minute by using my incredible abilities"

"Future of the whole world my ass..." Kuina muttered dissatisfied in a low voice.

Yeah, sometime ago she somehow she has managed to discover that the whole thing of a Shadow eminence was only for my amusement, Whether I failed in my act and allowed her to discover it accidentally without noticing, or because she still has the power of a main character and the plot helped her to notice my real purpose, It was already done anyways...

Fortunately, she still believed in the existence of the Anomaly, as there couldn't be other reason for me to become so strong anyways.

So even though she could do things like this from time to time, she still allowed me to continue with my play most of the time.

"Anyways, today I have come to talk to you both about something very important that may happen within the next days..."

"...?"

"What now?"

 Kuina glanced at me with a curious expression, as it wasn't normal for me to meet them both for an important thing.

As I proceeded to explain to everything that could unfold within the next days, both of their expressions turned a little wry. Whether because they were scared of seeing important people that they hadn't seen in years, or because they were sad that they couldn't talk to them as their original personas.

After that I proceeded to explain to them how could we act when all this happened, as I had already everything planned.

However, while I was still explaining it to them, I felt a strong presence suddenly enter Loguetown.

It wasn't Luffy's as it was a lot stronger than what he should currently be, but it felt extremely familiar to Garp's.

Then I remembered...

Monkey D Dragon... One of the most mysterious characters of One piece, and one whom I couldn't collect any useful information about during these 9 years. 

Because I died before he even showed his powers or affected directly the plot as a villain or an ally, I was completely clueless about his powers. Except from the fact that he somehow controls the wind and maybe thunder?

Honestly, that guy is too strange.

*Tap*

*Tap*

*Tap*

As I stood up and walked towards the window, I looked towards the Dock in the distance and sighed before I spoke some cool words for the sake of the moment.

"A storm is coming..."

"There he goes again... See? I told you" Kuina whispered something in Bell-mere's ear while looking at me, however, I just ignored it and continued looking at the dock with a deep expression on my eyes.

Should I go and ask him directly?

...

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