Everyone's On Their Own Paths

Arata Sanji sat alone on his atoll of pillars, looking at the waters and into the distance where the sun was setting where he was. He took a deep breath in and out and repeated this process.

Arata: “I will no longer help any of you. If you cannot protect your own with your titles, then I will not protect you. Brother, I am reaching my limit. This world does not yearn for more life.”

Arata was talking to himself out loud in frustration of what the Great Swordsmen had turned into. However, he was intrigued to see that he could not track these people that took Iki, nor could he track Iki either. He quickly teleported a clone of himself to a friend of his, Kanji Adachi. In the room, Astro and Octavious still bickered with each other on what to do.

Kanji: “Oh?! Arata! How good to see you! Sit please, I’ll make some fresh tea.”

Arata: “I’ll make this quick, Kanji. I need your abilities.”

Kanji: “Huh? You basically have what I have. What could you possibly need?”

Arata: “Are you able to track a kid named Iki Ritus.”

Kanji: “Hmm, let me try…Huh? N-No. Is this thing not working? That’s three people now that I can’t track. What is going on?”

Arata: “Okay, that’s all I needed. Thanks.”

He disappeared along with his blue light that followed as Astro asked for Michiaki’s location. Kanji reminded him that he was hidden away from the world, but he would try anyway.

‘He might actually have his location on for some weird reason,’ Kanji thought. ‘Oh, would you look at that. No way he has it on for me.’

He told Astro and Octavious about it, but Octavious had no interest in going. He had Lucky’s location on as well, but he seemed to always be moving. Astro assured him that he would take care of Dante first and then come back.

Since he had never touched Michiaki, he couldn’t transport there. He had to walk a far way in order to see him. It was a week's journey at least and he would struggle getting there, but on the other side was a hill where Michiaki was residing up in the mountains, away from people.

Astro could use his shadow transport a few times to get closer, but it would still take him 6 days with barely any stops. He had already made his choice though, and his stubbornness wouldn’t let him leave and turn back. He was going to find him no matter what it took.

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Despite her sword being fixed, Isara was not happy. She thought that this would bring back that joy inside of her, but it didn’t. It relieved her of a little pain that she had felt when it broke, but it ultimately did not give her any hope.

She was lost on a road where she wandered and just existed.

No passions, no interests, and no family to even share her life with. In fact, she felt a heavy burden placed on her by herself to save this man, but she did not know where to start. She wanted to save this man quickly, but knew that she wouldn’t be able to gain the strength to be able to get him out. ‘There is only one thing I can do,’ she thought. ‘Break every type of sword in half until he is freed.’

Sarz: “That’s not going to work, Isara. We can rule out that it’s not a common or uncommon sword that could create such an ability, so it’s either rare, legendary, mythical, or ancient. Even if you do find someone with that sword, you may end up getting yourself killed or seriously hurt to destroy it, and it might not even be the correct user.”

Isara: “You’re right, but what else can I do?! The man is going to suffer until I get old enough to gain strength and develop my abilities? That’s stupid and ridiculous.”

Sarz: “I don’t know much about swords Isara, but I think you should hire someone to help you with your abilities, chaplets, and overall skills. It’s the only way to try and improve to be able to get that man out.”

Ine: “Wh-What’s going on. I was sleeping.”

Sarz: “Nothing, go back to bed, Ine.”

Ine yawned, and quickly fell back asleep while they continued their conversation. Sarz was thinking logical, but Isara was thinking from emotion. Isara decided to not do anything at the moment, but had to make a decision quickly. She then thought back to Welpen and how he worked hard for what he believed in. She sided with Sarz in a heartbeat after this, and realized that in order to be great, she needed to learn from the best. If she died, then nobody would be able to get him out of the log cabin.”