__________ POV Narration__________
Enel sighed in disappointment as he walked away from the hobbit's workshop.
Their conversation regarding the Ancient Weapon was brief, but Enel still learned what he wanted to know from it...
There was no way for him to take Pluton out of Wano while the country still had its borders closed off.
The only feasible way was if he blew open the Country's borders forcibly, or the country itself. They were both options that Enel didn't especially like.
The people of Wano had already suffered enough, they didn't need some mad war recruiter blowing apart their land to take out an ancient super weapon that was buried underneath their feet.
'Hmm... Maybe I can convince the future Shogun to open up the borders to Wano?
Momonosuke is still young, I doubt it will be that difficult to come to an understanding with him.'
The Emperor sighed as he walked further away from the Amigasa Village.
His hand rested inside his open yellow kimono as his mask shone under the moonlight.
The days would come and go. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
"Hehehe! I heard those lowlives in the Amigasa Village managed to secure some food! I bet the bastards that raided our food supplies are among them!"
Enel sighed as he heard a ramboxious bunch in the forest ahead of him.
Around 20 Beast Pirates of varying sizes and genders seemed to be plotting something quite vile.
At least 5 of them had some animal characteristics, a clear sign that they were all Artificial Devil Fruit users.
They were so-called 'Gifters', people that retained the animal characteristics after eating the sometimes faulty artificial devil fruits they were fed.
They were supposedly the elites of Kaido's lacklustre army.
The others seemed to be in a jolly good mood, leading Enel to believe that they were Pleasures...
Pleasures were essentially just regular foot soldiers that had eaten Smile Fruits and failed to gain any animal characteristics. Failures, in a sense.
Enel's back rested on the tree as he listened to them from a safe distance.
It quickly became rather clear that their mission was to investigate the recent 'raids' that happened in a few of their camps all throughout Wano.
They were just one of many search parties.
'I guess Kaido's men won't stay completely still and let us do our thing in their territory, huh?'
It seemed that Enel's associates, Garp, Zephyr, Shiki and Bonney all were conducting raids in a similar fashion to him.
'Well, at the very least they received my message... Even if they still decided to disregard it in some aspects.'
Enel had specifically asked all of them to not attract too much attention to themselves.
Of course, he did want them to help the nearby villages if possible, but it seemed that the only way for them to be able to do that was to break into the camps of the Beast Pirates, beat the shit out of them and steal their food.
Again, it was nothing more than a bandage on the bleeding artery that was Wano's current state of affairs.
But now that everything was coming together, the people of Wano only had to bleed a bit more before finally being able to close their wounds...
'But before that... Let's try to lessen the bleeding as much as we can...'
Enel's eyes narrowed underneath his mask as he slowly turned towards the small group of pirates, a smile rose on his face as he walked to them in the same casual manner.
"Huh?! Who the hell is there?!?" The beast pirates were immediately alerted, one of the Gifters reacted by drawing out his weapon, a long sabre.
The others followed suit as Enel tilted his masked face.
"Oh, I am merely a wandering fox spirit, kind human..." Enel's voice sounded unnerving to the Beast Pirates, imposing but also fleeting.
Their hands trembled on their weapons but they refused to be intimidated by some masked weirdo in a forest.
"Cut the crap! State your name and purpose right away!" One of the Pleasurers spoke out through his laughter.
"Tsk, don't bother speaking to him, he's clearly suspicious, let's just apprehend him!" One of the gifters spoke out and took out a large mace.
Immediately, they moved and surrounded the masked Emperor.
"Now now, the violence is not needed is it? We can be civil, like proper human beings! Though... You all seem more like animals..." Enel raised his arms and showed the surrounding people his palms in a defensive position.
Underneath his mask, he just wore an amused smile.
"Cheeky bastard! KILL HIM!"
Immediately, all of the Pleasures closed in, swinging their blades, stabbing their spears or polearms and smashing their clubs down onto the Emperor's body.
They all heard the sound of metal clashing, and sparks rose as the weapons came in contact with the man's skin.
The pirates could all only widen their eyes as witnessed the unmoving figure of the 'Fox Spirit' meanwhile their weapons bent on his body.
Sabres were dented, maces were shattered, and spears were snapped in half. Meanwhile, the masked Enel was only slightly exerting himself while not using any Haki.
"Tekkai(Iron Body)... It's been a while since I used it. But, I'll stop messing with you guys..."
In that instant, all of the Pleasures tried to jump back, but they were too slow.
"Ten-Fold Shigan(Finger Gun)!" Enel's hands moved at great speeds, and ten of the Pleasures were struck in an instant.
Their armours, leather or metal, all bent and broke. In an instant, 10 men received a small hole in their chests and were sent flying through the trees around them.
The other 5 Pleasures that had managed to step back weren't spared, however, as Enel's long leg whipped out in an instant.
"Rankyaku-Whip!"
Instead of a flying slash, the kick caused the air pressure to move towards the pirates more akin to a whip of compressed air.
The whip came in contact with them, piercing and breaking limb and bone as the last Pleasures were sent flying as well, all in different directions.
At that point, the Gifters were beyond anxious, one of them immediately closed in, his hands big and furry, fists covered in a pair of spiky gauntlets.
"Buffalo Strike!" The nameless Gifter's punch connected with the Emperor's chest, only for the spikes at the top of his knuckles to snap and for him to feel the bones in his arms breaking.
'W-wha-'
He didn't even get to be confused properly before Enel made another move.
"Shugan(Hand Gun)." His entire hand pierced the man's side, sending him and one of his arms flying in different directions.
Enel then flicked the blood on the ground.
"W-well hold him back! You go back and report this to the others!" Three of the Gifters immediately decided to work together, while the last one immediately turned and took off running, his features similar to those of a deer.
Enel smiled at the last three gifters, as they all prepared to make a move.
They didn't get to unfortunately, as Enel was already in front of them in the blink of an eye, his figure turning into a blur as he appeared in between them.
In that same instant, Enel used Shigan three times, sending all of them tumbling to the ground and shattering the weapons in their hands.
'Now then... This should attract enough attention away from the others. I'll still have to make sure that Amigasa Village isn't affected by this small stunt...'
Enel flicked the blood off his fingers as he walked off.
And everything worked like clockwork. The Beast Pirates swarmed that forest, with plenty of Gifters to go around and try to sniff out the perpetrator.
The only clue they had was a hasty appearance description...
Before long, that figure appeared again, slaughtering an entire camp on a different part of the forest.
This time, a few more details were available. Some more experienced pirates were able to pinpoint that the assailant was using the Six Powers...
Which meant one thing... 'The Government is acting out against us!'
Such matters were obviously going to be of great concern. And like clockwork, the Beast Pirates started trying to crack down on any possible spies from the World Government.
Kaido himself seemed to not be all that involved or even aware of what was currently going on.
The situation was being handled by one of the remaining Tobiroppo now, namely Black Maria.
It was only a matter of time before the Agents hiding within the Flower Capital were sniffed out of their hiding spots.
They were far from inconspicuous, and it seemed that the Beast Pirates had their eyes on them for a while now.
They were on thin ice, and the appearance of that 'rouge agent' the so-called 'Fox Spirit' was the last nail in the coffin for them.
It was over in around two week's time, one of the Agents even died in the process. Plenty of Beast Pirate goons were also taken down, but the second Black Maria stepped in personally things were done for.
Enel could only laugh a bit as he felt the World Government agents being inadvertently driven out of the country.
With that, the World Government had lost its eyes within the country, which was awfully convenient, as a lot of the events that would transpire weren't something that Enel wanted them to see.
They were also unlikely to take any action and send a more powerful figure to take a look at Wano. Kaido was a lot stronger than before, and they were well aware of it.
They were also most likely unwilling to spare such resources while the war was knocking on their doors.
'That settles that... There is still plenty of time left...'
With his remaining weeks, Enel decided to do what he needed most... Training his Haki.
Now, he didn't have a teacher with him in the cave he resided in, but he did have really good senses.
So he decided to just listen in to the lessons that Luffy was receiving, and he immediately started training Internal Destruction alongside the StrawHat.
The concept behind it was rather simple, and it followed the principles of Emission, which Enel was already accustomed to.
It was only a matter of time before Enel gained some semblance of mastery over it. But Conqueror's Coating was a bit trickier.
The Emperor had the right mindset, but he still needed quite a bit of meditation to manage to coat his fist in Conquror's Haki.
Still, Enel couldn't help but smile when he saw his fist being covered in an ephemeral blue aura.
And just like that, days turned to nights, and the cycle repeated itself until the time finally came.
Luffy, Kid and Francisco all broke out of prison alongside samurai and other slaves, aided by some of the remaining straw hats like Brook, Sanji, and Jimbei and by the Red Scabbards.
'The day is right around the corner... I should call a meeting with everyone before everything goes down. Straw hat's party included.'
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
Took me a bit to write this one tbh, had to go to some office event so I wasn't able to write at all yesterday, it is what it is
Story Shoutout(saw this one recommended on my profile by the_onez3, it's pretty good) : Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)
__________ POV Narration__________
Enel sighed in disappointment as he walked away from the hobbit's workshop.
Their conversation regarding the Ancient Weapon was brief, but Enel still learned what he wanted to know from it...
There was no way for him to take Pluton out of Wano while the country still had its borders closed off.
The only feasible way was if he blew open the Country's borders forcibly, or the country itself. They were both options that Enel didn't especially like.
The people of Wano had already suffered enough, they didn't need some mad war recruiter blowing apart their land to take out an ancient super weapon that was buried underneath their feet.
'Hmm... Maybe I can convince the future Shogun to open up the borders to Wano?
Momonosuke is still young, I doubt it will be that difficult to come to an understanding with him.'
The Emperor sighed as he walked further away from the Amigasa Village.
His hand rested inside his open yellow kimono as his mask shone under the moonlight.
The days would come and go. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
"Hehehe! I heard those lowlives in the Amigasa Village managed to secure some food! I bet the bastards that raided our food supplies are among them!"
Enel sighed as he heard a ramboxious bunch in the forest ahead of him.
Around 20 Beast Pirates of varying sizes and genders seemed to be plotting something quite vile.
At least 5 of them had some animal characteristics, a clear sign that they were all Artificial Devil Fruit users.
They were so-called 'Gifters', people that retained the animal characteristics after eating the sometimes faulty artificial devil fruits they were fed.
They were supposedly the elites of Kaido's lacklustre army.
The others seemed to be in a jolly good mood, leading Enel to believe that they were Pleasures...
Pleasures were essentially just regular foot soldiers that had eaten Smile Fruits and failed to gain any animal characteristics. Failures, in a sense.
Enel's back rested on the tree as he listened to them from a safe distance.
It quickly became rather clear that their mission was to investigate the recent 'raids' that happened in a few of their camps all throughout Wano.
They were just one of many search parties.
'I guess Kaido's men won't stay completely still and let us do our thing in their territory, huh?'
It seemed that Enel's associates, Garp, Zephyr, Shiki and Bonney all were conducting raids in a similar fashion to him.
'Well, at the very least they received my message... Even if they still decided to disregard it in some aspects.'
Enel had specifically asked all of them to not attract too much attention to themselves.
Of course, he did want them to help the nearby villages if possible, but it seemed that the only way for them to be able to do that was to break into the camps of the Beast Pirates, beat the shit out of them and steal their food.
Again, it was nothing more than a bandage on the bleeding artery that was Wano's current state of affairs.
But now that everything was coming together, the people of Wano only had to bleed a bit more before finally being able to close their wounds...
'But before that... Let's try to lessen the bleeding as much as we can...'
Enel's eyes narrowed underneath his mask as he slowly turned towards the small group of pirates, a smile rose on his face as he walked to them in the same casual manner.
"Huh?! Who the hell is there?!?" The beast pirates were immediately alerted, one of the Gifters reacted by drawing out his weapon, a long sabre.
The others followed suit as Enel tilted his masked face.
"Oh, I am merely a wandering fox spirit, kind human..." Enel's voice sounded unnerving to the Beast Pirates, imposing but also fleeting.
Their hands trembled on their weapons but they refused to be intimidated by some masked weirdo in a forest.
"Cut the crap! State your name and purpose right away!" One of the Pleasurers spoke out through his laughter.
"Tsk, don't bother speaking to him, he's clearly suspicious, let's just apprehend him!" One of the gifters spoke out and took out a large mace.
Immediately, they moved and surrounded the masked Emperor.
"Now now, the violence is not needed is it? We can be civil, like proper human beings! Though... You all seem more like animals..." Enel raised his arms and showed the surrounding people his palms in a defensive position.
Underneath his mask, he just wore an amused smile.
"Cheeky bastard! KILL HIM!"
Immediately, all of the Pleasures closed in, swinging their blades, stabbing their spears or polearms and smashing their clubs down onto the Emperor's body.
They all heard the sound of metal clashing, and sparks rose as the weapons came in contact with the man's skin.
The pirates could all only widen their eyes as witnessed the unmoving figure of the 'Fox Spirit' meanwhile their weapons bent on his body.
Sabres were dented, maces were shattered, and spears were snapped in half. Meanwhile, the masked Enel was only slightly exerting himself while not using any Haki.
"Tekkai(Iron Body)... It's been a while since I used it. But, I'll stop messing with you guys..."
In that instant, all of the Pleasures tried to jump back, but they were too slow.
"Ten-Fold Shigan(Finger Gun)!" Enel's hands moved at great speeds, and ten of the Pleasures were struck in an instant.
Their armours, leather or metal, all bent and broke. In an instant, 10 men received a small hole in their chests and were sent flying through the trees around them.
The other 5 Pleasures that had managed to step back weren't spared, however, as Enel's long leg whipped out in an instant.
"Rankyaku-Whip!"
Instead of a flying slash, the kick caused the air pressure to move towards the pirates more akin to a whip of compressed air.
The whip came in contact with them, piercing and breaking limb and bone as the last Pleasures were sent flying as well, all in different directions.
At that point, the Gifters were beyond anxious, one of them immediately closed in, his hands big and furry, fists covered in a pair of spiky gauntlets.
"Buffalo Strike!" The nameless Gifter's punch connected with the Emperor's chest, only for the spikes at the top of his knuckles to snap and for him to feel the bones in his arms breaking.
'W-wha-'
He didn't even get to be confused properly before Enel made another move.
"Shugan(Hand Gun)." His entire hand pierced the man's side, sending him and one of his arms flying in different directions.
Enel then flicked the blood on the ground.
"W-well hold him back! You go back and report this to the others!" Three of the Gifters immediately decided to work together, while the last one immediately turned and took off running, his features similar to those of a deer.
Enel smiled at the last three gifters, as they all prepared to make a move.
They didn't get to unfortunately, as Enel was already in front of them in the blink of an eye, his figure turning into a blur as he appeared in between them.
In that same instant, Enel used Shigan three times, sending all of them tumbling to the ground and shattering the weapons in their hands.
'Now then... This should attract enough attention away from the others. I'll still have to make sure that Amigasa Village isn't affected by this small stunt...'
Enel flicked the blood off his fingers as he walked off.
And everything worked like clockwork. The Beast Pirates swarmed that forest, with plenty of Gifters to go around and try to sniff out the perpetrator.
The only clue they had was a hasty appearance description...
Before long, that figure appeared again, slaughtering an entire camp on a different part of the forest.
This time, a few more details were available. Some more experienced pirates were able to pinpoint that the assailant was using the Six Powers...
Which meant one thing... 'The Government is acting out against us!'
Such matters were obviously going to be of great concern. And like clockwork, the Beast Pirates started trying to crack down on any possible spies from the World Government.
Kaido himself seemed to not be all that involved or even aware of what was currently going on.
The situation was being handled by one of the remaining Tobiroppo now, namely Black Maria.
It was only a matter of time before the Agents hiding within the Flower Capital were sniffed out of their hiding spots.
They were far from inconspicuous, and it seemed that the Beast Pirates had their eyes on them for a while now.
They were on thin ice, and the appearance of that 'rouge agent' the so-called 'Fox Spirit' was the last nail in the coffin for them.
It was over in around two week's time, one of the Agents even died in the process. Plenty of Beast Pirate goons were also taken down, but the second Black Maria stepped in personally things were done for.
Enel could only laugh a bit as he felt the World Government agents being inadvertently driven out of the country.
With that, the World Government had lost its eyes within the country, which was awfully convenient, as a lot of the events that would transpire weren't something that Enel wanted them to see.
They were also unlikely to take any action and send a more powerful figure to take a look at Wano. Kaido was a lot stronger than before, and they were well aware of it.
They were also most likely unwilling to spare such resources while the war was knocking on their doors.
'That settles that... There is still plenty of time left...'
With his remaining weeks, Enel decided to do what he needed most... Training his Haki.
Now, he didn't have a teacher with him in the cave he resided in, but he did have really good senses.
So he decided to just listen in to the lessons that Luffy was receiving, and he immediately started training Internal Destruction alongside the StrawHat.
The concept behind it was rather simple, and it followed the principles of Emission, which Enel was already accustomed to.
It was only a matter of time before Enel gained some semblance of mastery over it. But Conqueror's Coating was a bit trickier.
The Emperor had the right mindset, but he still needed quite a bit of meditation to manage to coat his fist in Conquror's Haki.
Still, Enel couldn't help but smile when he saw his fist being covered in an ephemeral blue aura.
And just like that, days turned to nights, and the cycle repeated itself until the time finally came.
Luffy, Kid and Francisco all broke out of prison alongside samurai and other slaves, aided by some of the remaining straw hats like Brook, Sanji, and Jimbei and by the Red Scabbards.
'The day is right around the corner... I should call a meeting with everyone before everything goes down. Straw hat's party included.'
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you liked the chapter!
Took me a bit to write this one tbh, had to go to some office event so I wasn't able to write at all yesterday, it is what it is
Story Shoutout(saw this one recommended on my profile by the_onez3, it's pretty good) : Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)
