Chapter 34: Aeternum
The waves of the sea moved slowly and the weather was peaceful. The Odyssey was slowly traveling through the sea at a good speed. Harry, Rias, and Naruto were sitting while looking at a large flag intently. They had all already decided on a name for their pirate group. And, right now, they were thinking about what their Jolly Roger should look like. They had already decided that it would be the black background with the skull having two bright stars where the eye holes should be and a nebula surrounding the skull. This was to resemble outer space and a small evidence for the universe.
However, they were so focused on painting and thinking about things, that they didn't notice that a ship had positioned itself right next to them and there were people watching with drops behind their heads and curious looks. The interesting thing was that all... or rather all... of the ship's crew were only women.
"Erm... What are you doing?"
The three of them turned around and looked in the direction where the voice came from. She was a thin old woman with gray hair and wrinkles on her face. And, although she had a serious expression, her eyes showed a strange kindness.
The trio looked at each other before standing up and standing in a circle, talking secretly before nodding at the same time and looking towards the navy ship that had a vice admiral.
"We are not pirates, Madam Vice Admiral."
"No, no, no..." Tsuru waved her hand before pointing at the Jolly Roger behind the three of them: "They are clearly painting their pirate flag."
"Tch..."
"Did you just click your tongue?" Tsuru asked looking at Rias.
"I don't know what you're talking about..." Rias just smiled.
Tsuru frowned at the trio but suddenly opened her mouth in alarm: "Girls, back off now!"
Tsuru screamed and all the marines stepped back to the side, just in time to avoid an explosion that destroyed a part of the ship. Wood, metal and flames flew to the sides and Tsuru looked at Harry, who had his wand in his right hand, pointing at the ship.
"I'm sorry. But, even if we are rookies, our goal is adventures and battles. And anyway, the marines would come after us in the future. It doesn't matter if it's now, a few days or months later," Harry commented with a small smile.
"Rookies you say?... You look strong just for a rookie," Tsuru narrowed her eyes and jumped forward, reaching the Odyssey easily as she looked at the trio.
"Naruto... Can you take care of the rest?", Rias asked.
"Of course, Rias nee-chan!" Naruto punched his right fist into his other palm before jumping towards the enemy ship and lightly smiling at the marines: "I'm sorry, but I have to defeat you girls."
"Don't underestimate us, you mustachioed bastard!"
"Hey, they're birthmarks!" Naruto exclaimed angrily before jumping up and knocking out the screaming girl with a punch to the stomach.
"Well... I just have to defeat them to take them to the barracks," Tsuru said looking at Harry and Rias. To the surprise of the two, the old woman disappeared from their sight.
Harry narrowed his eyes before releasing a strong wind around him, and Rias waved her hand creating a tornado of the power of destruction that didn't touch the ground where she was standing. The power of destruction only surrounded her and didn't even touch other things, because she knew it would be bad to destroy her own ship or harm Harry who was relatively close.
"Both with devil fruit powers?" Tsuru commented before appearing in her previous position. She couldn't get close enough to hit them.
"Mm?!" The vice admiral widened her eyes, surprised to see that her power that she had used stealthily didn't seem to matter to her opponents.
"Interesting…" Harry muttered as he looked at the cloth-like floor that rippled like waves. However, both of them had chakra, so they could easily move across this kind of shifting floor without much effort.
"Your ability turns things, and perhaps people as well, into thin, malleable fabric, right?" Harry smiled at the ability that seemed fun and interesting.
Tsuru frowned in annoyance. She just realized that her opponents might not be stronger than her – noting the difficulty they had in seeing her move and their way of blocking her – but they were intelligent, Devil Fruit users, and cautious. People like them were the most dangerous, was what Tsuru thought.
"What are their names?" she asked.
"Do you want to place bounties on us now that you know you can't capture us?" Rias asked with a bit of amusement. She knew that the vice admiral in front of them couldn't fight comfortably, not with Naruto behind her fighting with his subordinates.
"Well, nevermind," Rias shrugged. "We're already pirates anyway. By the way, my name is Rias Gremory, make sure to come up with a cool name on my wanted poster."
Harry smirked before adjusting his glasses with one of his fingers, causing them to shine for a second, surprising Rias a little.
"Since when can you do that?"
"Huh? What thing?" he asked bewildered. "Well, nevermind. My name is Harry Potter, Obaa-chan."
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!!", Naruto's shout came from the other ship, followed by a few screams from the women.
Tsuru's cheek twitched; she was annoyed by how relaxed these guys in front of her were. But, at the same time, she couldn't help but feel that they were a fun bunch.
"Mm?!" Tsuru muttered loudly as she sensed something coming from the sea, right behind Rias and Harry. However, Rias had also sensed it and opened her hands firing a pillar of destructive power, completely annihilating the enormous snake-like sea king that suddenly appeared.
"Are you done, Naruto?!" Harry asked forcefully.
Naruo smiled as he defeated the last marine with a rasengan placed on the girl's abdomen. Immediately, he jumped towards the Odyssey and smiled showing his teeth.
"There... I'm done."
Tsuru wasn't too worried, she could clearly sense that none of them were dead and had only been damaged to the point of falling unconscious, nothing fatally serious.
Harry pointed his wand at Tsuru and smiled: "It was an interesting encounter. Thank you for being our first battle, Aeternum, but it's time to part ways," Harry smiled friendly before levitating Tsuru, who was surprised by that and his body moved on its own towards his ship.
"Naruto..."
"Hai~..." Naruto jumped at once to the helm and began sailing away from the navy ship with a sighing Tsuru.
"Once again, a group of small monsters appeared," Tsuru shook his head.
. . .
Aeternum meant eternally, and the reason for the name in the group was because of the meaning of 'eternally'. The three of them knew that their journeys were just beginning and they would continue to meet new people and worlds. None of them knew how long this would last, but even if they could never meet again in the future, the three of them wanted to maintain the bonds they had made in their hearts, eternally.
The pirate group they currently had was only their first, but they had a feeling that they would have to do many things as a group in the future; Aeternum would not be a name used just once, but many times in the future.
And, as they sailed after hanging up their Jolly Roger in The Odyssey, a notification resonated from their phones.
[Through will and feelings, a modification has been made to the chat group app]
[The name of the group has changed]
[Chat group ➡ Aeternum Group]
When they saw the notification, they were first surprised before looking at each other and smiling together.