Author's Note:

Hi everyone!
I had every intention of publishing this chapter this past weekend but totally forgot.
To make up for it I'll be updating another chapter tomorrow!
Enjoy! ♡

Love always,
Ash.xx

.・。.・゜・.・・゜・。.

After her second encounter with the cougar in the forest, Amari follows the elder woman back to her hut.

"I didn't complete the task." Amari speaks up. "The beak of the sabrewing, I couldn't-"

"This was never about the list." Emika interrupts the girl as they walk.

Amari slows, almost to a stop, as realization hits her. She jogs to catch up to the woman. "This was a test?" She asks. "You sent me on a wild goose chase! I almost died! What if I hadn't figured out how to do... Whatever that was?"

Emika just laughs in response, similarly to the way she did when she heard the first story. "You have much to learn, Amari Kiyoko." She states. "Come, let us eat. Tomorrow we begin your training." She opens the door to her hut and the pair are met with a stomach-rumbling aroma. Amari hadn't realized how hungry she was until this moment.

The younger girl joins the woman at the small table for dinner, neither of them saying a word. There was a sense of contentment between the two. Although Amari had no idea what the old woman was up to, her journey of self discovery had truly begun. Tomorrow marks the start of a new era for Amari Kiyoko.

.・。.・゜・.・・゜・。.

Once the sun peeks through the cracks of the old hut and rays of sunlight are cast on Amari's face, the girl can no longer sleep. She groans tiredly as she rolls over, lifting her head from the cot she slept on to find the hut empty and the front door slightly ajar. She pulls herself to her feet and rubs her eyes as she approaches the door. On the porch she finds Emika, wide away and almost through her first cup of tea for the day.

"How long have you been out here?" Amari asks, covering her yawn politely.

Emika hums. "I wake before the island does." She speaks softly, as if her words would stir the island itself. "Watching Mizuhana come to life every morning is my favorite part of the day."

Amari looks out at the forest, watching as the stream laces through the trees. The birds begin to sing as the sun now peeks over the treetops and the small creatures of the forest pay a visit to the flowing water in the safety of the daytime.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Amari asks, watching the little animals begin their day.

"Accessing your power must be done through your own will. I will not wake you or force you to train. If this is the path you desire, you must take the initiative in all aspects." Emika explains, Amari turns to face her as she listens. "Your power is unlike anything I have ever seen. I do not know its full potential, or how to access it, that is something that you will have to find yourself. What I can help you with, is channeling your haki to control the abilities that you have already witnessed."

Amari straightens her back as the woman stands from her seat.

"Come." Emika instructs. "Show me how you spoke to that cougar."

Amari furrows her eyebrows. "I told it to go away."

Emika shakes her head in rejection. "No, show me how you spoke to that cougar."

Amari has to admit that now, not in the face of danger, trying to recreate that connection to the island is harder. The sounds of the waking island around her distract her mind from focusing. Emika picks up on this and forcefully taps her can against the wooden patio of the hut to regain Amari's attention.

"You chose this path, to understand your abilities. Nobody said that it would be easy." The elder speaks.

Amari meets her eyes and nods. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes as she focuses on her surroundings. The sound of the rushing water, the songs of the various birds, the croaking of the frogs and squeaking of the squirrels, the warmth of the rising run, the gentle breeze tickling her skin, and the sweet aroma from the plant life calm the girl. She opens her eyes to face her teacher, her eyes darker than normal once again.

A wide grin spreads across Emika's face. "Astonishing." She admires the girl. "Your connection to the island is more powerful than I thought." She claps her hands, folding them together. "Now, lets see that armor of yours."

Before Amari can speak, Emika's arms become that shiny, black metal like hers had the first time she faced the cougar. Amari looks down at her own hands, clenching them into fists, and watches as the shiny, black coating expands from her fists up her arms. Amari's does not progress up her arm nearly as much as Emika's does, which she assumes is a result of experience.

"This is Busoshoku Haki. When you use this form of haki, your spiritual energy is transferred to this armor. Not only does this armor help you to defend yourself against attacks, but it will also make your attacks more powerful." Emika explains as Amari ponders her words. "Come on, show me what you've got."

Amari stifles a laugh. "I'm not going to fight you."

Emika raises an eyebrows. "Because I'm old?"

"Because you're my grandmother." Amari corrects the woman, her armament fading.

A strong punch from Emika catches the girl off guard, causing her to stumble backwards. Amari places a hand to her cheek, where the older woman had just left a punch, and exhales forcefully. "Fine, if that's how you want to do this." Amari's fists become coated with the shiny, black armament once again and she runs at the woman.

To put it gently, Amari's fighting was sloppy; her punches where lazy, her attacks were uncoordinated, and she was terribly off-balanced. Each punch that the girl threw, Emika was easily able to dodge or deflect before landing another punch of her own. The two carried on for quite a few hours before Emika's armament faded.

"We'll work on your fighting next." She assures the girl. "But first, lunch."

The meal between the two was rather quiet, as it had been the night before. Amari would occasionally glance up from her food, at the woman across from her, but Emika paid no mind to her. The elder was a curious woman, she seemed to have so much knowledge and so many secrets. In a way, Amari had begun to admire her.

After lunch, the two trained tirelessly in hand-to-hand combat until Amari was begging to rest. The young girl was amazed at the stamina and endurance of the old woman. She didn't know what to expect upon training with her, but she definitely did not expect the old woman to be throwing punches the way that she is.

Emika looks at the girl with disappointment in her eyes. "A sixteen year old girl tired after 2 hours of combat training? How are you going to fare in the face of real danger?"

Amari sighs as she pushes herself off of the ground, again. "Elder Emika, please, it's only my first day." She catches her breath.

A muffled scoff comes from Emika as she turns away from the girl, mumbling something to herself.

"Why are you being so hard on me? I'm doing the best that I can!" Amari argues.

Emika stops as she ascends the short staircase to her hut and turns her head to the side to face Amari. "This village is depending on you." She states. "If you're content with the effort that you're giving to your training, there's nothing I can do to help you."

Amari furrows her eyebrows. She walks into the hut behind the woman and closes the door behind her. "Is there something you're keeping from me?" She asks bluntly, earning a raised eyebrow from the elder. "You mentioned danger and the village depending on me." She points. "Is there something coming?"

"There's nothing coming that is not meant to come." Emika speaks almost in a riddle. Sometimes her lessons are so difficult to understand.

As Emika turns in for the night, Amari lays wide awake on her cot. She stares up at the ceiling in the dark as her mind turns. The village is depending on me, she thinks to herself, depending on me for what? She groans as she turns over on her side. In the corner of her eye, she notices a tall staff leaning up against a wall and furrows her eyebrows. That hadn't been there before.

Unable to sleep, the girl pulls herself out of the cot and grabs the staff in her hand to inspect it. It's made of some sort of metal, something foreign to this island, and has some sort of inscription along the one side that was also foreign to her.

Taking a glance outside and seeing that the stars are just starting to appear, Amari takes the staff and softly closes the front door behind her as to not wake Emika. She spins the staff around in her hand and a smile creeps across her face. Becoming more confident in her twirls, she starts to maneuver the staff around her body, which results in a hard metal thud to her head. A soft grunt escapes her lips and she holds the staff still as she feels her head for a bump.

The night breeze dances through the trees and the sound of the nearby stream becomes more prominent the closer that Amari listens. As her body relaxes, becoming in tune with the island, her eyes darken and she begins to move the staff around once more.

.・。.・゜・.・・゜・。.

The next morning, before dawn, Emika wakes up and finds that the hut is empty. She makes her cup of tea as usual and glances outside, watching as her student practices the forms that she had taught her yesterday. Amari has been at this through the entire night, not even realizing that the sun is starting to rise until she senses Emika watching her from the doorway.

"You're getting better." Emika states, seeing that the girl is now aware of her presence. "Must have taken you all night."

Amari grunt as she jerks the staff upward, controlling the weapon as she comes to a halt before swinging her arm to the side, the controlled staff acting as an extension of herself.

"I see you've found my old staff." Emika hums.

Amari continues her training by jabbing the staff on a downward angle. She oscillates the staff behind her back before bringing it forward. As she swings the staff downward, Emika suddenly steps in front of her and Amari stops the staff just above the woman's shoulder. The girl's chest heaves as she looks at the woman, her eyes that same shade of dark purple. Amari resets her stance, holding the staff at her side as she faces Emika.

Emika holds her hand out to the girl and Amari blinks as she looks down at it. She hands the staff over to its owner and Emika smiles contently. "You've done well, child." She praises the girl's efforts. "Get some rest. When you wake, we'll craft you your own staff."

Amari's eyes widen at her words. Her own staff? Her mind starts to spin with various questions such as whether Emika has more of that metal or if there's somewhere on the island that they make such weapons. Exhausted from training through the night, Amari gratefully collapses onto her cot and quickly falls asleep. She wasn't tired until Emika appeared in front of her. Then, all at once, it was as if her awareness of her own body came back to her. All she knows is, she's relieved to be laying down and dozing off regardless of what time it is.