Time Never Mattered

Light and Time
"You spill the blood of my comrades all because you are a bit angry?" The Marine asked as he looked down on the battlefield to the bloody corpses of the many fallen Marines. "That's not the way to go about it. Grab your men and leave Hafler, boy." He suggested, "And if you do, I will turn my back for the sake of saving the lives of the Marines that can still be saved."

A man of dark skin and a bald head looked across the blood pit and shook his head. "Henson P. Clyde, you're here... Then that means someone else will be here shortly." The man cracked his knuckles without the aid of his other hand. He looked to his fallen men as well, "That's not how this is gonna go, Clyde."

"Where did this world go wrong, Locks?" Clyde questioned the pirate before him, "The history of this world just seems to keep going in a circle."

Locks took a step forward, "You wanna talk? I want to avenge my fallen comrades and end this."

Clyde sighed, "I would have preferred not to leak more blood on this battlefield." He held his hand up at his Marine platoon behind him. "Refrain from getting involved. There is no need to have your blood spilled any further, I will handle him on my own. Focus on gathering the wounded and taking them far away from here." He turned back to face Locks. "Even at the end of our battle, I hope you can understand me as a believer of Lawful Justice."

The Marine's body broke down into fragments of light, before reappearing directly in front of Locks. His finger had already been lifted up and aimed at Locks' chest, which he then generated a beam of light. "Maybe you'll rethink everything with a second chance." He uttered, firing off his light-based attack at Locks.

Though, just a moment before it could make contact with Locks, the ten-foot man disappeared before Clyde's very eyes where the beam would travel across the empty path before colliding with the sea causing it to erupt into an explosion.

Locks stood a great distance away, his arms folded across his chest as he allowed the wind from the resulting explosion to lift his captain's jacket into the air. "This ain't gonna be easy like other fights, Clyde. You're gonna have to work for this kill!" Reaching underneath his coat, Locks drew a sword tucked into the confinements of its sheathe. The sheathe itself was charcoal black with the tip of it a white-gray. The crossguard was also this whitish-grey tone, shaped like a four-leafed flower. The hilt was the same color as the sheathe itself, but along its grip, it possessed the pattern of clocks.

Smirking, the Vice-Admiral allowed his eyes to soak up the appearance of the blade. This was not the first time he had traded blows with Locks, yet it was the first time he had seen the man draw the blade. He had heard tales of what Locks had done with it in the past. "The blade that cut an island in half and placed it back together. Cut a hole into a boar, then reverted the strike. Must the most unbelievable of them all, drank an entire lake dry of its water."

Clyde went on an on about the things the blade had done and he couldn't help but find himself rambling on. "You've had that blade since birth, or so they say. Nochi Kachikage-the blade that leaves a shadow with time."

"You know, for someone with the ability of the Pika Pika no Mi, which grants the ability to move at the speed of light you sure do talk a lot." Locks said, pulling the blade from its sheath then placing it to his back. "Do you think I'm from Wano Country? That's Ringo's tradition." Turning the blade at an angle, he showed the black blade of Nochi Kachikage. "I made 'im myself when I was nine years old."

Swinging the blade forward, a black slash of what could be assumed to be compressed air imbued with his will traveled towards Clyde. As it ran across the ground, it ripped the earth apart and even sliced through the Marines that laid on the ground. Slicing through the fallen soldiers, their bodies would begin to turn into tried up husks of what they used to be.

With a glimmer of light, Clyde shined and vanished reappearing out of the path of the slash, much like Locks had done before. "Then as a member of the Marins who has vowed to protect his world, I'll on face you as my opponent."

Holding his hand out, light gathered and formed into a thick makeshift sword. Its existence was for the sole purpose of countering Locks' own blade. Vanishing in the flicker of light, he reappeared in front of Locks. Swinging his light blade at the Pirate, Locks had already accelerated his arm so that it would zip forward to meet Clyde's sword.

At the immediate clashing of their blade, a shockwave formed blowing a gust of wind akin to that of a category one. Clyde slid across the ground, dirt gathering beneath his heels as he attempted to keep himself up. Though he was strong enough to not get knocked to his rear, his physical strength was not equal to Locks' own.

With a simple head shake from both parties, the warriors vanished. Clyde in the form of light and Locks in the form of teleportation. They met once again in mid-air, they blades clashed releasing yet another shockwave. Though this time the winds raged to the point that the sea began to roar. Vanishing, they met against on the ground with another clash. The earth underneath their feet crushed under the immense pressure and strength the duo gave off.

Clyde leaped back but as he did, with his free hand, he fired off spheres of light from his hand aimed at Locks in an unorthodox barrage. Some blasts continued to travel towards Locks, while others simply fell short and crashed into the ground exploding just before they could reach the man.

For those that did continue to seek Locks' demise, the pirate simply jumped around through his teleportation or high-speed movement techniques, dodging each of the blasts as if they were too slow. Yet, the question of how could they be too slight when theoretically there was nothing faster than light itself.

Quickly, Clyde came to a realization as he sent off another barrage of blasts to create a moment for his thoughts. "I knew they said he had been adequate with his devil fruit, but to think he could use it to this level." Clyde thought to himself, as he watched Locks jump around and even sometimes deflect his light blasts with his sword. "Getsu Getsu no Mi, a devil fruit that grants the user the ability to manipulate time... to an extent. I've studied all of the summaries of your battles and they want to say you're worth "At Least" 500,000,000." The vice-admiral continued to shoot beams of light at Locks, "But none of them gave me a clear description of what it is your fruit can do."

"I've got you!" A marine shouted, holding his rapier up over Locks' head, who he'd surprisingly been much taller than. Imbuing his blade with haki, the Marine sought out to slice Locks cleanly in half. "Die!"

Clyde himself had been lost in his own train of thoughts and missed his comrade acting against orders. With eyes widened at the shouting of his comrade, before responding with his own yell. "No, Captain Oran! GET OUT OF THERE!"

Slashing downward, Oran's blade—Mizukire—began to cleave right through Locks. "I told you I'd get him!" An early celebration, a bit too early, because before the blade could fully pass through Locks, he vanished behind the Marine.

However, unlike the Marine who took a moment to hesitate, Locks did not. "Skip Lag—Shredder", he uttered. Slicing through the Marine captain with an array of slashes that seemed to have skipped into the future before leaving nothing but shreds of Oran's body laying on the ground before him. His blood splat across his black steel-toe boots.

"This is what you wanted to see?" Locks said, watching as his Clyde stood stuck. He was frozen in shock, but his body quivered. "You stand and quiver but not with fear, right? But because your comrade was killed right before your eyes! What do you want? Revenge? YOU WANT REVENGE? GOOD BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT I WANT!" The Pirate screamed, holding his arms out at all of his fallen men.

"Look, you have plenty more still standing! I don't! Not a single one of my men are standing. All of them lay in a puddle of their own blood, but do you see me standing here disappointed and distraught? No! Those who cause harm to my little brothers will pay in blood and I will bet my life on that."

Flashing to reality, Clyde smacked himself. "Even with all of that, Chronos, I still think you could be saved. Luckily," Clyde said, briefly closing his eyes. "I am the one who will be able to give you that saving!" With the combination of both Soru and his light movement abilities, Clyde closed the gap between himself and Locks in the blink of an eye. While he traveled towards Locks, he fired off more of his light beams, though just as he suspected, Locks deflected them off of his black blade.

"Saijo O Wazamono are the most revered of the Meito, I didn't think the gap between two Meito could be so wide!" He claimed, clashing against Locks' sword with his light sword once again.

The duo clashed for a total of thirty seconds. Both swinging their blades in angles to try and grab the upper hand against another, their Kenbunshoku Haki aided in allowing them to follow each others movements. Their clashing had gotten too intense that they began to sink into the ground, their feets planting themselves into the earth as though they were roots waiting to be grown.

"Locks is the superior swordsman in this situation, I can't hope to beat him sword to sword." Lifting his finger he shot off two beams of light in the midst of the continuous clashing. Both beams ripped through Clyde's right shoulder, leaving two side-by-side holes.

Locks jumped back. With his advanced usage of kenbunshoku haki, he could see into the future where he learned that if he had remained there, Clyde would send more light beams. Blood spat from the two wounds, soaking the majority of his right side. "Those weren't regular light shots, once they penetrate the skin the burst and explode, and compress back into a beam as reach the outside."

"Shit, using kenbunshoku haki and the Getsu at the same time, force me to think a bit more and stuff like that slips my mind. Either that, or I'm getting low." Eyes drifting to the side, Locks found a pile of his men by his side. With Nochi Kachikage, the pirate captain stabbed into the men until they became dried up husks.

Though, before he could remove his sword, seven more beams of light breached his space piercing through his body. "Laser Shot: Scatter", Clyde said as he created more holes in Locks' body.

It all happened so fast. Truly, Clyde had used his devil fruit to its absolute maximum ability. Speed and power, he used both of those elements of the Pika Pika no Mi to stand over many of his former opponents. Even for Clyde, this battle had been longer than anything he'd ever had to do before. But the Vice-Admiral wasn't done yet. He still had more for his assault, he needed to assert his dominance and show Locks who had been in charge or in other words, who truly controlled this battle.

With another flash of light, Clyde relocated himself to where Locks tried stationing to recollect himself. His Sword of Lightheld high, Clyde used the flat end of the blade to smack the right side of Locks' face resulting in a grand explosion.

Dust, debris, wind, and smoke filled the air, swallowing the duo before Clyde had finally jumped from the cloud while Locks remained within. Clyde's body had been clad in busoshoku haki up until he landed to the ground, where he deactivated it and gave off a few heavy pants.

"It seems I'm starting to run low on stamina..." The Vice-Admiral said, "That battle against those pirates is starting to have its toll... That battle was well over 24 hours, I didn't think he'd show up though. I can't even keep both of my haki activ-"

"GAH!" Clyde spat, blood escaping his mouth as he was cut off from his previous train of thought. He looked down to his chest. And in the spot where his heart sat, the black blade of a sword pierced right through. He looked out the corner of his eye and in his rearview, stood Locks and the blade that stabbed through his heart was Nochi Kachikage.

"Busoshoku! But how did you...?"

"It's because you know nothing," Locks began his shoulder, body, and right eye leaking with blood. "About the abilities of my devil fruit." Pushing the nodachi further into Clyde's heart, "My fruit grants me with the ability to decelerate, accelerate, lag, skip, stop, and finally reverse the flow of time. I had run out of time, but I took some from my men that you nearly killed." As Locks continued to speak, his wounds slowly began to heal, but the wound over his right eye left a scar.

"With that, I can decelerate my wounds and heal them... to an extent of course." Removing his blade from Clyde's chest, kick allowed the Marine to fall over. "When I kill my opponents, I usually take from them. Out of respect for you, I will not do the same. But your life will be equal to those that you have slain here."

Clyde's eyes slowly began to close as he took in the information that Locks gave him, "I knew it would only be a moment before... Tch, I can feel my life slowly fading." Smiling, images of a small dark-skinned green-haired girl, much like himself, flicked in his mind. ''"Taraji, be the change and just know... I love you..."

Locks turned to the remaining Marines, "If any of you would like to continue on, remember the information that I just shared with your captain." He placed Nochi Kachikage over his shoulder before a white aura exerted from his body. "If you want to hate me, that's fine! Detest me, curse me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run. Run and cling to your pitiful life. And once you possess the same power as me, come back and face me."