FLASHBACK: Meeting the Metal Prince (Closed)

Anaïs stared at the ocean emotionlessly. She didn't know what to do now, she knew she had to get a crew together, train her members along with herself so that they can someday become the strongest crew in the world. But how would she be able to gain their respect when she wasn't even that strong herself? Anaïs sighed softly and stood up, she had to change that. But how? She would train by herself, she guessed. Anaïs started making her way towards the forest. She kept walking until she was in the middle of the forest, where no one would bother her.

A blade appeared and came her way, Anaïs dodged it and forced it to come towards her hand, she made it bigger and slashed a tree down. She continued this process of fighting for a while, secretly hoping someone would come and entertain her.

Doku laid in a tree in the middle of a forest, his crew gone and on his way back to Karasu and the dark isle. He had run out of wood to burn to power the steam of his ship so he had stopped off on the island. While gathering wood he had simply decided to climb into a tree where a cool breeze blew and the sun was blocked off from his eyes. The young man had begun to drift off to sleep before his tree had begun shifting and falling. Reacting quickly he wrapped himself into a metal ball which then crashed into the ground leaving Doku with only a few bumps instead of a few crushed bones.

The metal ball cracked open and Doku walked out. Looking at the woman controlling metal he chalked it up to her bearing the same devil fruit as his. Blades begun forming around the woman "I don't know who you are, nor do I care much. I suggest you begin speaking before I fillet you." Doku said in an irritated as the blades finished forming into a dome around her, 50 of them in all.

Anaïs blinked twice as she stared at the man before her, noticing also that there were a lot of blades forming around her. She tilted her head to the side, knowing that she was in a dangerous position, and made her own blade disappear. Anaïs realized then that the stranger had been in the trees and could have possibly been injured by her training. She pondered if it was smart enough to fight this person, and ended up deciding against it. She did not need to die before achieving her goal.

"I'm Anaïs Blanc and I have no idea of who you are either, of course you seem to have the same abilities as I do, which is interesting, at the least. I was just training around the trees, which seems to have disturbed you. I apologize for causing any disturbs" she didn't feel bad about disturbing the stranger, but she was interested on him, and he seemed to be able to control whatever special powers they had, better than her. So he could be a powerful tool.

Doku listened to the woman speak, she explained that she was training and apologized, albeit poorly. With a sigh Doku twitched his index finger causing all of the blades to shoot out going towards Anaïs before each one dodging her and began slicing down tree after tree clearing about a mile of forest. The blades shifted around the sliced up wood and engulfed them before carrying them to Doku's ship "You are free this time, mess with my sleep like that again and I won't miss next time." Doku spoke his voice carrying the tone of authority a captain and king's voice should have.

The young man turned and began walking to his ship, his intent on leaving clear.

Anaïs decided to follow the stranger, he seemed to have amazing abilities and she wanted to become stronger. "Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you again but..." she started talking, her grey eyes always looking at Doku's back. "Would you do me the favor of training me? I would be forever indebted with you and once I become strong and get a strong crew, we will be your allies and help you whenever you need, and will fight your wars" Anaïs didn't know exactly what she could possibly say to convince the stranger, but she really wanted to. She needed to. Anaïs meant the alliance thing, and the forever indebted. This would bring her one step closer to her dream, and that would make her extremely thankful to this metal... metal prince. She had to know his name, somehow, but that would come later, hopefully, if he agreed to train her.

Doku stopped as he listened to the woman requested him to train her. He remained disinterested until she brought up being indebted to him. A smirk grew onto Doku's face, she could be useful to him. Turning around Doku removed a cigar from it's case kept in his pants pocket. Removing a lighter he flicked it open to reveal a green flame which he used to light the cigar. Inhaling he let out a puff of smoke, away from this strange womans face. "If you wish to be trained then so be it." Doku spoke, keeping his cigar between his teeth. "Your first test is to take this cigar from me." Doku said as he began walking again "Start whenever you wish."

Anaïs' eyes widened as he gave the first test. At first she didn't know if he was serious about it, but then she realized that indeed he was. She thought that he was underestimating her but maybe she had underestimated HIS powers, and strength. Anaïs sighed and started running behind the stranger. "Will you tell me your name?" Anaïs asked in hope of distracting him. She made her hand have a metal armor, kind of like a cyborg hand but not quite, just protecting her, and made a blade appear from it. She also made an incredibly thin metallic cable appear between the trees, hoping that would make the man trip and fall, so she could take the cigar from him.

Once Doku heard the woman's rapid footsteps he himself stopped. Inhaling he let out a puff of smoke, once he figured she was close enough a metal wall sprung up blocking her path "If you want this cigar you're going to need to do more then charge me head first." Doku spoke, flicking some ashes off of the cigar. Doku's defensive style was simple, he stood his ground. In all of his years with his devil fruit he has learned to spring up a metal wall or dome whenever he is in danger, making the area he is at a mini fortress of defense.

Anaïs cursed under her breath and rested her forehead against the metal wall in front of her. She tried to think of something that would work against this person. He seemed really intelligent, and able to use their special abilities to their maximum, but he also was extremely cocky, underestimating her and even sounding arrogant. Anaïs' eyes widened slightly when she thought about something, he was not paying much attention, thinking that she would do something obvious, something easy to dodge, he would not check for details, he would not be with his guard up. So maybe she would have to do something really sly, something small, something easy. Thinking and thinking then Anaïs came up with the idea of creating a thin silver wire (almost invisible to the average human sight) and connecting the wire to her hand, therefore by pulling from the wire, the cigarette would fall from his hands. Deciding that would be a good enough idea, as it wouldn't hurt trying, Anaïs followed the steps just described and waited to see whether they worked or not.

Doku chuckled, she wouldn't be able to get through his defense, it was the greatest thing Doku prided himself on. In his mind she would never get the cigar then, before he knew it, the cigar was yanked out of his hands. Doku began chuckling and clapping "Very smart. Very very smart indeed." He said a grin growing on his face. "You're next goal. I want you to be able to cut me, make me bleed. I will not be using my own abilities for this, just my skills I have grown from years of...Well, work that one in my career does." Doku said with a chuckle.

technique:

Anaïs grinned, she was glad that the guy called her smart, even if her first action had been stupid, she wanted to impress the man so he would continue training her, and she would become stronger, faster, better at controlling her abilities, even if she wasn't sure what they were to start with. She would have to ask the man eventually. But now he wanted her to cut him, and she didn't know exactly what she would do, she didn't even know what kind of abilities he had besides the metal ones. She frowned a bit but then smiled slightly, thinking up a possible technique. With her soft, feminine voice, Anaïs said "Dancing Swords". She created four swords that levitated in the air, and with a subtle movement of her finger, they started swinging towards Doku, hoping to cut him somehow.

Doku watched as she formed what seemed to be a new move right off the bat. With a smirk he dove and rolled out of the way of the blades before quickly making his way up a tree. Standing there he smirked "Good attempt, I'm impressed, but you'll have to do better."

Anaïs grinned, she was having fun in this training session and couldn't wait to see what her coach would do next, she was extremely proud of the technique she created randomly, as it seemed good, just like he had praised her for it moments ago, an even said that he was impressed, but she needed to turn it up a bit so she could defeat him. With a subtle movement of her hand the swords flew towards her and became a relatively long one, Anaïs tried to think about what she would do next, she knew she didn't have long, and after a mere second or two, she proceeded with the next attack. With this sword she did a spin and slashed the tree, cutting it down. She waited to see what the man would do.

Doku watched as his student formed her swords into an exceptionally long sword. With a swing she had sliced through his tree and sent him falling down. Leaping off of a branch and tucking, Doku hit the ground with a roll before standing up, scuffed up with some twigs and dirt in his hair. "Well...Bravo...I honestly don't know why I thought standing in a tree was a good idea but...Really good job on that one."

Anaïs grinned, she was getting complimented! She was mostly proud at getting better at fighting, she didn't really care about what Doku thought. She just wanted to grow stronger, stronger, stronger. She swung the sword and made it transform into a double-blade sword, (just like this one but the blades are longer here). "Thanks, next time I'll be sure to cut you or something" she nodded enthusiastically and started approaching Doku, moving her sword from side to side, making it move in circles. Just as this was happening, four blades appeared behind Doku, placed so they would grace his skin, making a soft cut if he moved in the right direction, which would be backwards. Anaïs secretly hoped that she could distract him enough for him to start backing down and get a small cut from the blades. (The position of the blades would make a cut either from the sides of his waist, or his neck. The blades are thin and shouldn't be big enough to be visible to Doku's peripheral vision).

Seeing her swing her sword Doku jumped back and then...promptly got a few slices on his sides and neck. Blood, though not much had began dripping already "Hm...well done." Doku said putting his hand to the cut on his neck and feeling the red liquid "You have an honor, you're the first person ever to cause me to bleed." Doku said with a chuckle.

Anaïs' eyes widened as Doku mentioned that she had been the first person ever to cause him to bleed. She didn't know if it was because he was going easy on her or because she had a lot of potential, possibly the first, maybe both. "Really?" Anaïs asked, not entirely believing what he was saying. She made the blades and her own sword disappear while she put her left hand on her waist, just waiting to be instructed something else or to have a small conversation with the stranger that was now "training" her. She thought everything was slightly easier now, as far as coming up with attacks and everything seemed... more fluid. She was glad she was becoming more used to combat and stuff...

Wiping some blood onto him thumb Doku took a look at it and chuckled amused "Ahh yes, truly this is the first time I have bled, though if I were using my devil fruit I would have been able to counter it rather easily." he spoke with a smile "I'm sorry to say but this training session has to be cut short, I'm late for a meeting so I really must be going." Doku said as metal wires begun stitching up the cuts he had received. Once again Doku turned and began walking to his ship.