iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

— I kick back in order to create space and stalk him as he does in the fights I’ve witnessed him in.]

100

—the other end to his head, anticipating the dodge I moved in the same steps. I let him lead for a moment. Swinging the staff to hit his left side and then his right.—

100

𝒜𝓌𝓌.. 𝒞𝓇𝒶𝓃𝓀𝓎 𝓅𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓈, 𝓎𝑜𝓊’𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑜𝓇𝓉𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓉𝒾𝑒𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝐼 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂. [I match his stance. My eyes watching his hand on the hilt of his sword. I step forward, moving like a dance as I sing my staff, aiming one end of the staff to his swords and—

100

—𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓈𝑜 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓃. [I twirl the staff when I walk over to pick it up from where it landed in the chaos of entanglement.]

100

𝒴𝑒𝒶𝒽… 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝒽… [Hands move to his shoulders as he brings me down. I take the opportunity to sweep a leg, knocking his out from under him.]—

100

—I launch myself forward in a kick towards his head, missing as the rope tangles around my ankle and draws up along the mast. I huff as I swing upside down, my eyes narrowed at Zoro.]

100

—I turn in a front flip as if moving from a strike that he hadn’t taken. My mind trying to calculate and anticipate his movement. I jump on the ship’s edge and run to take high ground for the next strike.—

100

— I leaned into his pull as he brought me back to my feet. I step back in place in front of him. I boxer bounce side to side as I search for an opportunity. I move left to right and back again. I sweep my leg, not to hit him but to kick my staff towards me.—

100

[It was like time stood still for a moment. The warp speed of my kick slowed for the split second it took for Zoro to block my strike and sent me flying. My hands moved in front to catch me but proved unnecessary with his grab of my shirt.—

100

—I slid my foot to his left, catching the mistake and corrected to the right. I vault myself forward, swing my legs in kick. One leg towards his face, the other to kick the hand gripped at his swords.]

100

[I draw back, stretching back into lunged squat. My staff set against my back, arms raised like the time he was tied at the courtyard of the base. My eyes searched his stance for an opening.—

100

—I kick my staff up from the deck to bring it to my hands. I twist and swing the staff, pointing the end at his throat as I gave him a challenging grin.] 𝐿𝑒𝓉’𝓈 𝑔𝑜, 𝒢𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉 𝑅𝑜𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑜𝒶, 𝓅𝒾𝓇𝒶𝓉𝑒 𝒽𝓊𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇. 𝒮𝒽𝑜𝓌 𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓈.

100

𝒴𝑒𝓈… 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅 𝓂𝑒 𝓊𝓅… [I reach my hands out for him to offer to help me. When I was able to get a hold I slip my foot beneath me and pull myself up.—

100

—I groan and make careful steps to reach him, using my staff to swing me forward as I kick him.} 𝒟𝑜𝓃’𝓉 𝓁𝒶𝓊𝑔𝒽 𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝑒! 𝐼𝓉’𝓈 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒶𝓊𝓁𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝑒𝒸𝓀 𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝑒𝓉!

100

—{I pull back from the wood and twirl my staff. I see @akingofblades.bsky.social laughing. Was he laughing at me?!Did he see me slip and slide into the cabin wall?!—

100

{I stomped my foot forward and went to spin. The floor slick from Usopp freshly mopping it. I slide, bending my knees and leaning my body forward until I crash into the wood paneling.} 𝒟𝒶𝓂𝓃𝒾𝓉 𝒰𝓈𝑜𝓅𝓅!—

100

𝔖𝔱𝔦𝔠𝔨𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔰, ℑ'𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔨 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔟𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔰 ℑ𝔣 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔠𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔪𝔶 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢

102

—Battling imaginary visions of Arlong or Buggy depending on who haunted my dreams the hardest. With a twirl and spin I moved around the main deck of the ship through the night, meeting the sun as it lit the sky.}

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— I reached to grab a staff I used to practice with. I had been watching Zoro and the other’s fight. The night’s I was unable to sleep such as this, would be the time I would use to practice fight moves with staff swinging combinations.—

100

— until the taste of wood met my tongue and the bowl emptied in my hand. I set it aside, deciding the sneak back into the kitchen wouldn’t be as successful a second time.—

100

—I swirl the noodles with my chopsticks before I step out onto the main deck again. I move to the edge of the boat, watching the waves crash as the ship moves in tune. Each bite of my Ramen was a slow take with a slurp of noodle as I zoned out and into my thoughts—

100

—I had stashed away when my stomach couldn’t handle it. I went to the stove, turning it on to let it heat the leftovers. Once the ramen started to steam and boil slightly I pulled it from the stovetop and clicked the stove off. A fresh bowl was pulled to replace the cold one.—

100

—attempting to avoid the squeakiest and creekiest of the floorboards. I pull the fridge open with the loudest crash of glass to the door and pause with my eyes wide. Slowly I turn my head to see Sanji still fast asleep. I blew out a silent breath and plucked a bowl of Ramen—

100

— I walked close enough to peek over his shoulder for what he had been working on. The meal planning looked delicious, from what I could see of it anyway. I continued my tip toe to the fridge, looking like the Grinch as each leg was raised with every single step,—

100

—I continued on after connecting which snores belonged to who, and determining there was not an extra person or an intruder aboard. My hand pushed the door to the kitchen gently, careful not to wake a passed out and sleeping Sanji, sprawled against the table with papers spread beneath him.—

100

—That man is always sleeping. I walked towards the kitchen of the ship, stopping when I heard more bear-like snores surrounding me.. ALL of them? Maybe it wasn’t the nightmares of Arlong and Buggy haunting me, it was these idiots all having deviated septums or something.—

100

—welcoming the sea soaked breeze against my skin. The peace of it was broken but the loud interrupting snore that echoed from above. I dropped my arms as my eyes looked up to the crow’s nest. Who picked Zoro to be the lookout again?—

110

— I quickly changed out of the sweat soaked clothing before I stepped out of the cabin and onto the main deck. The stars are still out and shining brightly against the dark abyss of the sky. I closed my eyes, letting the breeze move over me as I raised my arms,—

100

— I move my palm over the scars I left from cutting the Fishman’s brand from my skin. Though now my arm was adorned with a new design I could still feel the raised skin of the past. The room was dark, which only pointed to it still being some point in the night. I threw the blanket off of me.—

100

{I woke up with a jerk. Sweat coating over my skin as my breath was heavy. The rocking motion of the ship pulls me from the nightmare. Arlong’s face still haunted me. Even now, after the battle that left them defeated and me a pirate of the Strawhats.—

100

𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓁𝑒𝒻𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒹𝑒𝒶𝒹, 𝐼 𝑔𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓎'𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓃 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒 𝐼 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓀 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒'𝓈 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝓊𝓇𝓃

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>> -𝒯𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓈𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓇 / 𝒜𝒸𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓌𝐻𝒶𝓉 𝒫𝒾𝓇𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓈 -𝐸𝓃𝒿𝑜𝓎𝓈: 𝑀𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓎, 𝒟𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝒸𝒾𝒻𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝒾𝑔𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝒶𝓅𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝓇𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓁𝑒𝒹. 𝐵𝑜𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓌 𝒶𝓇𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹. -𝒮𝒽𝒾𝓅𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓅𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝒶𝓁 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝓃𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒞𝒽𝑒𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓇𝓎. 𝒴𝑜𝓊’𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝑒 𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓇𝑜𝓋𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓈𝓈 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝓈𝓌𝑜𝓇𝒹𝓈𝓂𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝑜𝓀.

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