Collab bet'w Winter and Silent
Almost Two Years after Belfield
(before Sid's resurrection)
Dune Island
"Will this do?" Jack stopped next to Alicia, gesturing around them.
They stood on a barren white beach stretching almost a mile inland. It was just the cook and first mate–not another soul in sight. To the west along the shore, Lady Luck was a brown blotch, anchored at the island's only town. It was more a collection of shacks and bars. A nice waylay where pirates can take a break from the ocean and stock up on rum.
So while the rest of the crew started on their merriments, Jack and Alicia were here, alone. He gave her a wry smile. "I think it's empty enough to train against your Power of Destruction. Maybe a few crabs in danger but they can be lunch. How do we start?"
Alicia blinked as she looked at the expanse of space before them, starting to worry a little for what Jack might expect her to throw at him. Not that she thought he couldn't handle it, but she wasn't unaware of how destructive some of her greater attacks could be. She turned towards him at his question before giving a single nod to acknowledge him and his words.
"Well, that would be the question." she replied. "This isn't like training Sara, Cedric or even Hanako. They all wanted to learn the Power of Destruction in some capacity. But if I understood you correctly, you want to know how to fight it." she tapped her foot as she gave it some thought, taking a moment as she seemed to study Jack closely for a moment.
"We should probably give some thought to where your strengths and weaknesses lie and how they might match against someone like me." she brought a hand to her chest as she spoke. "You're already aware of what I can do, so I would ask if you feel you're able to match me blow for blow or otherwise keep up with my speed. If so then we can start with strategy, but if not we might want to consider how to use your strengths to get around those two problems."
"I do," conceded Jack to her statement. "I want to know how to fight against power like yours. As far as my strengths…" he forced down the self-deprecating jokes coming to his tongue, and hummed in thought.
"I've been training with everyone. It's helped me…deal with some things. I'm faster because of Runali, more precise thanks to Luro, more in control like Zilia. I'm…flexible. Adaptable. And then, of course, there's my haki."
He flexed a hand, briefly showing off the Armament haki. Lately he'd been practicing holding it for longer periods, sometimes going a whole day sustaining it.
Jack gave Alicia a wry smile. "You're the most powerful of our group, I'd reckon. You could say I saved the best for last."
Alicia listened as Jack explained how he'd trained with the others, nodding along with his mention of what he'd learned from each with interest. She set her eyes upon his fist as he demonstrated his Haki, something she herself didn't really understand all that well.
Seliria had done her best in teaching her about Observation Haki, but even then she was still wrapping her head around some of the finer details. Especially so since she'd been using it without even realizing it for the most part. His compliment made her look to the side bashfully, never being all too good at accepting them.
"I wouldn't be so sure." She'd often wondered whether that opinion stemmed from situations where she'd engaged in a situation first, meaning others didn't really have to exert themselves and show what they could really do. "But thank you." she nodded, recomposing as she thought about how to proceed.
"Let's try a hypothetical scenario then." she spoke as she took a few steps away from him to make some space, turning to face him again once she'd made enough room. "Let us pretend I've completely lost my mind and I fully intend to kill Adelaide. All that stands between me and her, is you." she smiled. "How will you stop me?"
She thought that maybe setting a perspective might have Jack consider his own strengths and weaknesses and apply them to what he knows about her. In a situation where running away to fight another day wasn't an option, she wondered how he might decide to act given that scenario. "Better yet, don't tell me… show me."
Jack barked out a laugh. "If I stood between you and her, she'd kill me first. So let's pretend I'm trying to kill you before that happens." There was a sharpness to his sarcastic smirk. He was much more afraid of his wife than Alicia Tashigi.
Feet shuffling into a solid stance, Jack summoned his full armament haki and activated the elemental gloves.
Alicia opened the spar to him which, in his mind, put him at an immediate disadvantage. He'd have to get creative if he had any hope of catching her off-guard. Jack never faced PoD before; even though he'd seen it plenty of times by now, a thrill of apprehension shook through him knowing he was about to be on the receiving end of that power. It was instinct, wanting to throw her off before that happened.
Jack twisted his right hand and fire sparked. He twirled around, gaining a monument to throw his first attack at her. He'd hid with his body his other hand which activated the ice element.
Jack threw both hands out and a gush of fire and cold blasted Alicia. The two together expanded into a steam-filled cloud around them, obscuring all vision. Jack, as quick as he'd activated the gloves, cut off his haki to them and–after brief hesitation–released the Full Armament as well. He never asked if Alicia could, but if he was going stealth, he didn't want her sensing his own spirit-fuelled power.
Quickly, mutedly, Jack stalked through the steam toward his opponent.
Alicia gave a small amused smile in response. As it turned out Adelaide actually had the worst odds matching up against Alicia, even Hanako with her inexperience had better odds and through no fault of Adelaide herself. Having a Devil Fruit that allowed her to manipulate and become air was an excellent power and certainly among the strongest.
But against someone who could not only cut the air, but also be almost entirely immune to it meant she was poorly suited as an opponent. "As long as it works." she nodded in response before her hand wrapped around Shusui, her thumb poised to elevate the tsuba allowing the blade to awaken on her command.
She narrowed her eyes as Jack began his opening, sliding her foot back as her left eye ignited into that blue flaming aura. The environment around her quickly enveloped in a dense fog, the corner of her lips lifting slightly. "Deception is a good start." she called, supposing he was close enough to hear her as her other hand wrapped the hilt of her black blade.
Alicia was unable to sense him as he wasn't a PoD user, thus she couldn't pick up on his soul's power output like she could with Hanako, Sara and Cedric. However her senses were still finely tuned, her ears listening for any movements while her silver eyes looked for any discrepancies in the air flow around her. Just like she had done when Seliria had thrown a rock at the back of her head, she would feel the air change and become aware of his movements once he entered a certain range.
If he didn't make his move quickly upon entering her range, he would lose his advantage fast.
She didn't have to wait long. A slice of air, a blur of blue, as Jack attacked with knives of ice. He carved a crescent toward her head. Then shifted to a horizontal cut aimed for her chest. He was fast; Runali's training paid off. He surged forward, trying to force Alicia into defense.
As the air shifted Alicia suddenly burst apart into light which reformed immediately into four versions of herself moving in different directions to avoid the attacks and confuse him, reforming together a second later before Shusui erupted forth from its saya with an upwards diagonal arc aimed across his body. The blade was coated with a thin layer of air serving to dull its edge, meaning contact should be anything but lethal but still rather unpleasant.
She would follow up, aiming a flurry of fast thrusts with a speed that appeared as if multiple black blades were coming at him at once. She refused to give ground, meeting his attack with the full intention to overwhelm him quickly.
Jack hissed as he pivoted, dodging Shusui a fraction too late. The blade met his arm and was stopped by his haki, leaving a dull thrum in its wake. He managed to track the real Alicia, taking that moment to remold his weapons into a sword and one-sided ax. It cost him.
They met blow for blow, but only barely. She was faster, more fluid. He felt every nick and cut she would've made if he didn't have his protection.
Too slow, too slow, he thought, as he redirected Shusui with the ax and made another cut with the sword that only met air. He pivoted and kicked out, trying to force her back. He followed it with a gust of fire from his fist.
She wore a smile as he kept up with her surprisingly well, indeed noting that his training with Ru and the others had paid off in allowing him greater speed. Silver eyes remained focused however, anticipating movement within a fraction as she observed for those subtle intricate tells that advertised a new movement. With Jack it was admittedly more difficult, his background and experience offering him that knowledge on how to disguise such tells much better than the average person.
As he threw his kick to force her back she twisted to the side and turned the flat side of Shusui's blade to lay parallel with her arm in an inverted grip, holding the sword vertically with the tip pointed towards the floor. She had the metal absorb the brunt of the kick while using the kinetic momentum he offered to bounce herself away from him just in time to avoid that fiery torrent.
Alicia twisted mid air as she took the offered distance, rotating to slash an arch of blunted wind to shove apart his flames to prevent them chasing after her. She landed a second later with barely a sound, graceful as if she were made of air herself. "Good!" she replied with a genuine smile. "Putting attacks together, combining moves to deliver a different outcome is a fantastic way of handling an opponent."
With Shusui's black blade twirling at her side she threw a sudden flurry of quick cuts forwards into the air, sending a volley of sliced air projectiles towards him to deal with. They cleaved through the earth along their curved trajectories, like the claws of a beast made of air raking the ground as they closed in. "Try turning your defensive into an offensive, use my movements and decisions to your advantage."
"Tsch, what do you think I've been doing?" Jack's smile belied his irritation, a rare spark of masochism shining through. He always did love a good fight.
They crossed blades again and again, and eventually the match ended in the only way Jack knew it would: Him on the ground, overwhelmed by Alicia's sheer force. He gave a crooked smile and raised his hands. "Parlay?"
He sat up, rolling one shoulder, then another, wincing. "Going to feel that tomorrow…I could do with a break. Sit with me?" he patted the sand across from him. "I wanted to ask you anyways, if you could explain Power of Destruction. I know you've explained before but, well, it's been awhile. Humor me."
Alicia stepped closer while sheathing the black blade within Shusui's saya, the sharp metal
'clink' confirming its rest. "You'll survive, I've seen you take far worse than that." she chuckled softly before bringing herself down upon the offered space of grass with a content sigh. At his question she gave a single nod, taking a moment to consider how best to explain it before finally settling upon a way to start.
"Well, it's power that resides within your soul." she crossed her legs neatly beneath her, resting her sword across her lap before continuing. "And it seems to be a power drawn upon by emotion which we temper through our minds." her brow furrowed as she began to think it might already sound complicated.
"If you imagine that your soul is the paint, your weapon is a brush, your emotions as your inspiration and your mind being that which gives form to how your art would manifest. That would make a decent enough metaphor for what the power of destruction is and how it's used."
"I've learnt that emotion seems to be what gives power its potency, which is why I wanted to set you the scenario with Adelaide to see if you might dig deep and find that potency to use for yourself." she smiled. "I believe everyone has the capability to empower themselves through emotion, not just us that harness the power within our souls."
Jack nodded along. "It sounds much like Haki. It, too, derives from the soul in a way–spiritual energy– and can be unlocked through training, or even in moments of great duress." The last, Jack spoke from an unpleasant experience. "Except the emotional influence. Haki is more about will and strength; the more you push, the more you grow it. It sounds like your Power of Destruction can become untamed with unchecked emotion."
His brow knotted into a frown as he drew random patterns in the dirt. "What happens then? What happens if someone…broken or unhinged or depressed, has Power of Destruction?"
Alicia slowly nodded as he explained a little about Haki, something she herself didn't have a lot of knowledge about. It did sound somewhat similar though. Will power did play a part within the power of destruction, however it was less of a way to grow your strength and more so a way to force out more control or destructive force.
"They'll become consumed by it and will ultimately be destroyed in turn." she replied in response to his question. "Which is why the mind plays an important role in tempering the emotion through its manifestation."
"It's not an emotion by strict definition. Joy, happiness, sadness, anger… they generate a distinct feeling and it's that feeling you draw upon within the moment." she took another moment to see how she might explain it better.
"You recall how it felt, the ache inside your heart." she brought a fist to her chest as she explained. "But you temper it, place it and give it a new purpose." she brought her hand to the side of her head, emphasizing how the emotion was taken and consciously tapped into. "A user won't be lamenting the loss of a loved one, or recalling a particularly fond memory with friends and family amidst a fight. The feeling is remembered and that is what we take to stoke the embers of our strength."
"Using the power of destruction may start out as a distinct selection of memories at first, at least it did for me when I was first learning. But in time it's simply the recollection of the feelings the emotions brought that is taken forward into battle and then joined to keep a stable equilibrium between positive and negative emotions."
"You may remember when we… " her face softened a little as she recalled a memory she didn't like to revisit. "... when we lost Cedric. The fury I felt towards Landry in that moment, I was prepared to erase his existence and burn away the very ground he stood upon." she remembered how Valerie had tried to stop her from reaching him and the threat she'd made should she continue to try.
"That hurt, sorrow and sadness enveloped my anger and I became dangerous, not quite my usual self for that short moment of time. I learned that day just how important it was to temper these feelings, so that I may not ever lose control and become consumed by them."
"I suppose the less long winded answer is, balance. Remember the feelings, not the memories and harmonize them within your mind. I really hope that wasn't too confusing." she gave a small sheepish smile. Much of what she knew was self discovery after all, she'd had no teacher and had to interpret her progressions over the previous years.
Jack gave her a wry smile through the long-winded explanation. "It does sound…complicated. But I understand what you're saying. It seems to be about, hm, the inner self? Your power comes from your emotional state, then controlled and funneled by your intention. Uncontrolled emotions create imbalance. They're either too strong or…there's simply lack of control. Right?"
His gaze wandered over her shoulder, lost in thought. Jack's explanation didn't seem right, either, but it was the best way to show he understood. He imagined the feel of it; His fingers twitched as if they felt that power.
"You alluded to the Power as like painting. The paint, the brush, the inspiration. Does that mean…the manifestation is different from person to person? Do the abilities vary like Devil Fruit, or Trovale's summoners?"
"You're pretty much correct." she nodded. "It also often comes in context and circumstances. For example, imagine you're about to witness harm come to a loved one. That fear within that moment can be used to greatly empower your next move." she only realized now she probably should have led with that example.
"Or just now when we began our spar, I took the enjoyment of our exchange and drew upon it to manifest power. Not consciously or even purposefully really, it's merely felt and employed naturally. Now that I think about it, it's similar to how adrenaline fills the body but with some complicated hard to explain steps." she chuckled softly.
At his question she once again nodded. "Exactly right, often a user's power will vary from one another. It seems as though it can form based on personality or even preferences although truthfully I only know so much about that side of things."
"I do know that me and my sisters all seem to vary differently in how we use it. Of course there are some similarities, but there are things I can do which they can't and just the same they can do things I can't. Already Hanako is performing feats of power that I would be unable to replicate."
A warm smile froze before it made it to Jack's face. A reaction to Alicia's pride in her younger sibling, knowing that feeling, only for the stab of grief to remind him he won't ever feel it again. He hid it away by laying down on the grassy sand.
"I hope you don't mind me pestering you," Jack said, eyes closed against the sun. "I admit I've always had some interest in the power. Not to use–definitely not– but because…well…"
He paused, working himself up to something. When he did speak again, it was with some reluctance. "My father was from Yula Fei. I've been told he once wielded the Power of Destruction, too."
Alicia waved her hand dismissively in response to his worry for pestering her, not that he could see it after he'd laid himself down. "Not at all, I welcome your curiosity." she replied with a small smile as she continued to watch the ocean moving beyond the boundary of the shoreline.
Her eyebrow raised before she looked towards Jack as he mentioned his interest but didn't want to use it himself. Her other eyebrow raised a second later once he made mention of his father being a user and not to mention a Feian. "Why wouldn't you want to make use of it?" she asked, indulging her own curiosity for a moment.
"If only to bolster your own fighting techniques, it could give you a substantial advantage over an opponent." her eyes moved down to his hand for a moment. "I could only imagine what strength you might wield if you were to enhance your Haki with it."
"Amaiya, I…" Jack's brow creased with his frown, and he looked at the sea with long contemplation. "I
broil with emotion. All the time. I can't stop it; I don't know the meaning of peace. I show restraint, sure, but that's not the same as balance."
He released a hard exhale. "I've tried, you know. To douse the fires inside, to let some kind of peace into my being. The only time I get that is when I'm in the kitchen. Any other time, well… I suppress. And if I can't suppress, then it comes out recklessly or impulsively. I've heard enough horror stories of when the Power becomes twisted and the devastation it wroughts. I fear having that Power will wrest my restrain and control
me."
Propping himself up on his elbows, Jack finally looked back at Alicia, and just for a moment…let the chaos inside of him come to light. Grief painted everything, a wound that never healed, still bleeding. Even after all this time…he wasn't over Cedric's death.
Below that, anger. Anger that Alicia had never seen yet was old, constant, and directionless. Burning from an undying source. When his face smoothed over, she saw the traces of it in the lines around his mouth; the hardness in his eyes.
Love. Jack's heart ached with it. For Adelaide, for his family, for Stardusk. Right now, it was for Alicia most of all, to be here in this moment with her.
Worry. A spymaster never stops worrying. It showed in the tension of his body.
More flitted across, a tangle of emotion pulled to the surface with a simple thought. Harder to read those–a person can only emote so much of what existed inside them. The vulnerability lasted for a breath before Jack wrangled them back into the depths of his soul. He breathed hard, as if exerted. It made him uncomfortable.Tiny traces of what he felt lingered…or had they always been there, visible if you knew what to look for?
Jack said, "I wear a 'mask' for a reason, as Luro and Zilia call it. Partly to protect myself, true. Mostly it's for my own sanity. I think I could burn the world if I didn't put a barrier between what I felt and what I do. Does that…make sense?"
All fell to silence save for the air lifting patches of sand to meld with the more abundant grass that surrounded them, strands of white lifting from her shoulders while silver eyes fixated upon him. Her soft smile faded to be replaced by sorrow in what she saw reflected in those eyes. She who was sensitive to such feelings in others due to the nature of her abilities could feel the deep wounds marking his soul as that veil was lowered for just a moment.
Alicia remained quiet, the shush of the ocean filling the emptiness as the air continued to toy with the loose strands of her hair. "More than you realize." she replied in a softer tone caught within melancholy memories of her own experiences that lead her to the woman she was now. Another pause followed as she contemplated his words, acknowledging them not with words of her own but with the silence so that she may afford them the appropriate respect in response to their gravity.
After a moment more had passed she returned her eyes to Jack, another soft smile gracing her features as she sought to alleviate his incorporeal wounds just a little. "There is no light without the dark." she spoke. "If you can find it within you to let me and the rest of the crew be your light, then we'll rival the sun itself when that dark begins to feel impenetrable." she brightened her smile a little further. "We are all here for you, no matter what."
She ran her hand along her saya just a little. "Ah! My metaphors are getting worse, a ship and an anchor would have been far more appropriate." she gave a small chuckle, seemingly more aware these days of how she had a tendency to apply poetic metaphors to situations. Once the mood had shifted enough to entertain the idea she thought of a proposal that might satisfy what Jack was looking for without risk of compromising who he was and becoming something else entirely.
"Instead of exploring how you might use the power of destruction in its entirety. What if we instead focused on something smaller, a foundation of strength you can tap into if you were to find yourself in a worrisome situation?" she offered. "Perhaps a way for you to dip into that emotion and pull it forward into your intention for just a moment to yield a powerful movement." she hummed for a moment. "Like a trump card or something, a controlled burst to enhance yourself in a pinch."
Jack inched closer until they almost touched. Communicating comfort and solace without breaching Alicia's discomfort. He nodded along, slowly, taking in this proposal. The smile he gave was devoid of his usual sarcasm–a mirror of her own.
"I would like that."
Vaulting up, Jack brushed the sand from his breeches and extended a polite hand to Alicia. "I guess break time's over then?"
Alicia nodded and took his hand graciously, raising to her feet with a soft exhale before making some space between them. "I suppose we should make up for lost time, no?" she replied as she drew Shusui to her side and took a stance, her left eye suddenly igniting with that familiar aura. "This time I'll be a little more aggressive…"
"… let's begin."
