One Piece: Goodbye For Now

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard © Me

Warning: Spoilers ahead. If you don't like spoilers, then don't read.

Summary- Before he heads off to train with Rayleigh for two years, Luffy finds himself faced with one more challenge: parting ways with Blizzard.

A sunny afternoon on the Calm Belt. The seagulls flew along the smooth surface of the sea, and not a breeze or wave was to be found.

On Rusukaina, the island just northwest of Amazon Lily, it is here that our story will take place.

After he had gone back to Marineford, Monkey D. Luffy and his faithful wolf-dog, "White Wolf" Blizzard had come here after sending a message to the scattered Straw Hat Pirates around the world via the newspaper.

The message: return to the Sabaody Archipelago not in 3 days, as they had originally planned…but two whole years.

Blizzard, at first, was against the idea, but he knew that it was for the good of the crew. After all, if they continued on to the New World the way they were now, then they wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance, as much as Luffy hated to admit it.

Silvers Rayleigh decided to bring Luffy and Blizzard here to Rusukaina to train the former on his Haki, which came in three forms:

Observation Haki, which was also called Mantra on Skypiea. This allowed the user to foresee the presence of others, even if they are too far out of the field of vision or were hidden. It also allowed the user to predict the movements of one's foes, thus allowing them to become easier to evade.

Armaments Haki, which gave the user a defense against Devil Fruit powers. Needless to say, Luffy was taken by surprise when Rayleigh flicked him in the nose and it actually managed to hurt him, albeit he took it a bit out of proportion.

Finally, there was Conqueror's Haki, a rare ability which gave the user the power to overcome the wills of others, thus causing them to pass out, unconscious. Luffy had remembered when Shanks saved him from that Sea King that one fateful day and scared him off with a killer glare, and he had also seen Blizzard execute said power as well. In fact, Luffy himself also wielded this ability, and had unwittingly used it several times.

Now knowing what he had to do, Luffy was prepared to go off with Rayleigh to train, and Blizzard was prepared, as well.

However, there was one last thing that the wolf-dog had to do…but it didn't mean he was going to like it.

XXX

"This is the only safe place on the island, right?"

"That's right."

Rayleigh had brought Luffy and Blizzard to a huge tree in the middle of the island. The tree gave off a rather pungent smell, which gave the resident animals a reason to stay away. Rayleigh told Luffy that this was the only place to keep his hat and the Vivre Card that he gave to him safe.

"Well, this is it," Luffy said as he took his hat off. "Looks like 'Straw Hat' Luffy is gonna take a bit of a vacation."

With that, Luffy placed the Straw Hat and the Vivre Card that had been placed in the ribbon on the rock, close to the tree.

"Let's go, Luffy," said Rayleigh. "It's time for your training to begin."

"Right!" Luffy said as he turned to follow the ex-pirate. However, he soon noticed someone was missing. Looking back, he saw that Blizzard was sitting by the rock, unmoving. "C'mon, Blizzard!" Luffy called. "Let's go!"

Blizzard didn't follow. He just sat there, staring at Luffy with cherry blossom pink eyes.

Luffy turned to Blizzard, fully, and patted his legs, whistling.

"C'mon, buddy!" he said. "C'mon!"

Blizzard still didn't move. He didn't even budge, not one inch!

Now Luffy was totally confused. He had never known his dog to not follow him anywhere. Wherever he went, Blizzard would come tailing behind him, willingly or not.

So why wouldn't he come this time?

Luffy approached Blizzard and crouched down to his height level, a somewhat worried expression on his face. He hoped Blizzard wasn't sick or anything.

"What's the matter, Blizzard?" Luffy asked as he pet his dog. "You eat something funny?"

Blizzard just stared Luffy right in the eye, long and hard, deep and intent. Luffy did the same.

It took a minute, but then, Luffy's eyes widened, as if realization had finally hit him.

"Oh…" he said. "I-I see. Well…if this is what you wanna do, buddy, then I won't stop you."

A pause came.

Blizzard's eyes suddenly began to tear up, as did Luffy's.

Without warning, the 17-year-old grabbed Blizzard and pulled him into a loving embrace, hiding his face into his shoulder.

Blizzard felt Luffy's body shake and his beginning to dampen.

Rayleigh just looked on with a soft smile.

"Thanks for being there for me, buddy…!" Luffy said, tearfully. "I…I don't know what I'd without you, you know that?"

Blizzard let out a sigh.

Luffy pulled away to look at the wolf-dog, a broad, toothy, but sad grin on his face.

"You take care of yourself, okay?" he asked Blizzard. "I'm gonna miss you."

Blizzard let out a small whimper, as if to say, "I'm gonna miss you, too."

"See you in two years," Luffy said as he stood back up.

Blizzard turned and ran off, into the forest…alone.

Rayleigh approached Luffy from behind and gently set his hand upon his shoulders.

"It's okay, Luffy," he said. "It's not easy to say goodbye."

"I know," said Luffy as he sniffled and wiped his tears from his eyes. "But…it's not goodbye forever, right?"

Rayleigh's smile grew wider.

"Of course not," he said. "It's just…goodbye, for now."

Luffy stared in the direction that Blizzard ran off in and watched as he ran up a nearby hill. Just when the wolf-dog was about to disappear from his sight, Blizzard reared up on his hind legs, arched his head to the sky, and let out a long, haunting, and yet beautiful howl.

Luffy's smile soon returned upon hearing it, and he responded with a howl of his own.

Up until today, Luffy and Blizzard stood by each other since the day the latter had joined the crew, and even more-so after the crew had been scattered, and even more when they reunited back at Sabaody.

As Rayleigh had said, this was not goodbye forever for Luffy and Blizzard…just goodbye, for now.

THE END

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