Chapter 119

Grandline, Paradise, ???

Robin and Azul had been stranded in this weird mist for a few days by now, how long exactly was hard to tell since the daily day-cycle didn't rotate as was usual. That fact alone made it apparently clear to the both of them that they were no longer on the grandline but somewhere else.

At first they had thought they would only be staying in this dimension for a few hours, maximum a day but as it turned out they were wrong.

Thus they had made their provisional peace with their current situation and decided to make the best of it. The only real worry the two had at the moment was their dwindling food supplies as they had only packed food for the trip to water 7.

Due to both of them having eaten a devilfruit neither could simply dive down and look for some seaking. As it stood they were pretty f.u.c.k.e.d but they hadn't lost their hope yet.

To not die of boredom the both of them had built themselves a routine that they followed with the utmost persistency. Azul's routine looked somewhere along the lines of training, meditation, some more training, looking through the mists a little, watch Robin experiment with her devilfruit, eating, sometimes f.u.c.k.i.n.g Robin and to round up the day some further training.

Robin's day on the other hand was not as exciting since she was not a physical fighter which limited her options in these mists a little. She usually started her day by watching Azul train then began her own exercises to stay in shape followed by some experimentation to further her proficiency with her devilfruit. To finish her day she reread books that she had taken with her but rather soon she grew very very bored of her books and thus decided to join Azul on his explorations.

Thus the two spent the days in each others company, soon having lost any feeling they had had in the beginning for the time they spent in the mists. Out of boredom Azul one day proposed a friendly spar to Robin to help her incorporate her devilfruit into her "fighting-style" better and without further ado she accepted.

Their sparring though was a very onesided affair as Robin had absolutely no chance at getting the upper hand, no matter what she tried. What she did not know though was that her dodging ability went up quite a bit as she was constantly on the backfoot against Azul, no matter how lax he fought.

Under Azuls guidance Robin advanced leaps and bounds over the days and soon enough was able to apply her haki in battle, within limits naturally.

Azul on the other hand had grown bored as hell. Yes he liked to train and teach Robin from time to time but that didn't change the fact that he yearned to fight somebody. In order to cope with his yearning Azul began to increase his meditation sessions and shorten his physical training. Surprisingly to him his increased meditation helped him immensely as he could practically feel himself become calmer and more collected which in turn caused a spike in his haki to appear. Turns out he had been going about becoming a master wrong all along.

Azul thought that through his heightened physical ability his haki would become stronger but that was not really the case. Yes, his armament haki became firmer and more pronounced but when Azul submerged his mind in meditation his view on his soul showed that he hadn't made much progress to merge his body and soul.

Thus he focused more on the mental aspects of his training and with it he became calmer and calmer as his inner flame simmered further down the longer he trained. At a certain point in his training Azul had been so calm that he experienced the same feeling he had had back in Skypea where his masters incarnation showed him the way to become a master.

While he was experiencing this extraordinary feeling hours passed by like seconds while Robin grew rather restless besides Azul as she didn't know what was happening to him.

Her growing fears soon disappeared though when Azul opened his eyes the next morning.

"Are you alright? You've been sitting on the same spot for the last 24 hours at least!" Robin asked Azul who was only barely listening to her words as the world around him seemed to glow in a dim light of various colours, like everything in sight gave of some kind of feeling.

As Azul was focusing on that feeling he heard murmuring from the wooden planks he was sitting on, soft whispering from the torn and ripped sails still hanging partially from the mast besides him and the deep gurgling of the small waves ebbing against the haul of the shipwreck telling stories of their own.

'What a strange feeling. Is this what master was talking about? He once said that to enter the threshold to the stage of the master I will have to experience what my soul experienced throughout my life…But why than can I not hear the voices all around me clearly? Am I still not there yet…?' Azul thought to himself in wonder as he listened to the murmuring all around him like a child that sees the world in its true colours for the first time.