It was Ling's third day on Mt. Colubo.
His routine had already begun settling in. Most mornings were spent exploring unfamiliar parts of the mountain, he sparred with the monkey whenever it appeared, and the rest of his time went toward physical training and increasingly frustrating attempts at Soru.
That morning, Ling had gone farther than usual.
He moved steadily through an unfamiliar stretch of forest, using the run to explore while forcing himself to adapt to the uneven ground and constantly changing terrain.
A low growl came from somewhere ahead.
Ling stopped.
A wolf emerged from the bushes in front of him, followed almost immediately by another. More shapes appeared between the trees until five stood across the path, while a sixth moved quietly through the brush to his right and began circling around his side.
The largest stepped forward. Dark fur covered its body, and several old scars marked its muzzle as its lips pulled back over sharp teeth.
Ling exhaled through his nose and raised his hands.
"Seriously?"
The wolves didn't rush him. Instead, the pack slowly spread out as Ling's gaze moved between them.
'One wouldn't be a problem. Six is different.'
The first wolf lunged.
Ling caught the movement in its shoulders and shifted aside before its jaws could reach him, driving a strike into its side as it passed. The wolf stumbled away, but the second was already coming at him.
He ducked beneath the next attack and turned just in time to see another rushing him from behind.
'One second.'
The world skipped.
When Ling returned, the wolf had already passed through the place where he'd been standing. He immediately moved aside before it could turn, only to find another member of the pack closing in from his left.
Ling slipped past the lunge, knocked the animal aside, and retreated several steps while keeping the rest of the pack in view.
The wolves weren't attacking blindly. Whenever he focused too much on one of them, the others shifted around him, and every attempt to create distance gave them room to approach from another direction.
Another wolf rushed him. Ling waited until it committed before stepping aside and striking as it passed, but a second attacked almost immediately afterward while a third came from the opposite direction.
For the next several minutes, Ling was forced to keep the entire pack within his awareness. Every opening he tried to take exposed him somewhere else, and avoiding one set of jaws often left another wolf approaching from an angle he couldn't comfortably defend.
One wolf disappeared behind a tree.
Ling's attention shifted toward the others for only a moment.
That was enough.
The missing wolf rushed him from the side. Ling managed to brace himself, but the impact still knocked him several steps across the dirt.
'Too slow.'
The largest wolf charged immediately. Ling slipped away from it, only to find another approaching from the opposite direction.
'One second.'
The attack passed through the place where he had been.
Ling moved the instant he returned and finally created a little space between himself and the pack. His breathing had grown heavier, and the wolves were beginning to slow as well.
He watched them circle.
Whenever one retreated after attacking, Ling found himself taking another step after it, only for the rest of the pack to shift around him. The monkey had punished him for the same mistake.
'Stop chasing.'
Ling planted his feet.
The next wolf approached cautiously before suddenly lunging. This time, he waited until the animal fully committed, moved just far enough aside to avoid it, and struck as it passed.
When the wolf retreated, Ling stayed where he was.
Another came next, and he waited again.
Little by little, the rhythm changed. Instead of following the wolves whenever they pulled away, Ling forced them to come to him. His attention moved between their shoulders, paws, and shifting gazes as he watched for the small movements that came before each attack.
One wolf backed farther away after another failed attempt, and a second soon began keeping its distance as well. Ling's arms felt heavy by then and his breathing had become ragged, but he kept the pack in front of him.
The largest wolf charged again.
Ling waited until it closed the distance, stepped aside, and struck its flank as it passed. The animal stumbled across the dirt before recovering and turning toward him.
For several seconds, neither side moved.
Then the wolf's ears twitched, and its gaze shifted past Ling.
"...What?"
One of the others began backing away. Another quickly followed, and within moments, all six abandoned the confrontation and disappeared between the trees.
Ling watched them go.
A heavy footstep struck the ground behind him with a dull thump, followed by another as branches shifted among the trees.
Ling's expression changed.
'Of course.'
He turned.
A massive shape emerged from the forest.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
The bear stood close to twelve feet tall, thick dark fur covering its enormous frame. A long scar crossed part of its face and disappeared beneath the fur near one eye, while its heavy paws sank slightly into the earth with every step.
Its nose lifted as it tested the air.
Ling glanced toward the shallow scratches along his arms.
'The blood must've drawn it.'
The bear's attention settled on him.
Ling didn't need long to decide. His breathing still hadn't recovered from the wolves, his legs felt heavy, and the strength in his arms was already fading.
Fighting something that large now would be stupid.
He backed away while keeping his eyes on the animal, but the bear followed.
Ling tried putting more distance between them. Exhaustion had already made his movements less precise, however, and his foot caught against an exposed root. He stumbled before barely recovering his balance.
"Shit—"
By the time he looked back, the bear had closed much of the distance.
Ling reached for the Toki Toki no Mi.
'Twenty minutes.'
The bear lowered its enormous body only a few meters away, its claws digging into the earth as the muscles beneath its dark fur tightened.
Ling was about to activate his ability when something tore through the forest with a sharp whoosh.
A hammer-headed staff shot past him and slammed into the bear with a booming impact, knocking the enormous animal off its feet and sending it several meters backward through the dirt.
Ling's eyes widened.
'What the hell?'
The bear forced itself upright and released a furious roar before charging straight toward Ling.
Something landed behind him with a heavy thud.
Before Ling could properly turn, an elderly man leaped past him and landed directly between him and the approaching bear.
Long, unkempt gray hair fell to the man's shoulders beneath a tall brown hat whose brim had frayed with age. A pair of orange-lensed sunglasses with black rims rested on top of the hat rather than over his face, while a dark blue cloak hung from his shoulders and trailed close to the ground behind him.
The stranger stood calmly in the bear's path.
Ling stared as the animal thundered closer.
Then the old man's thick eyebrows, which had almost completely hidden his eyes, lifted.
Ling saw his eyes clearly.
The air changed.
An overwhelming pressure rolled through the clearing. Loose leaves scattered across the ground, nearby branches shook, and Ling's clothes snapped against his body as the bear came to an abrupt stop.
Its paws dug into the dirt only a short distance from the old man. Its ears flattened, and after taking one hesitant step backward, it quickly took another.
Then it turned and fled.
Branches cracked beneath its weight until even the sound of its retreat disappeared into the forest.
Ling stared at the old man.
'Conqueror's Haki.'
The pressure vanished, and the stranger's thick eyebrows lowered again until his eyes were almost completely concealed beneath them.
Only then did he turn around.
Up close, age showed clearly across his weathered face. A beige smoking pipe rested between his fingers, and when the corner of his mouth lifted into a faint smile, Ling noticed the gap left by a missing tooth.
"You've pushed yourself quite far, noshi."
His voice was calm.
Ling studied him for a moment before lowering his hands.
"Thank you for helping me."
The stranger gave a small nod.
"No need to thank me, noshi."
He walked toward the place where the bear had fallen. Several meters away, the weapon that had struck it lay partly embedded in the dirt, a long staff fitted with a heavy, hammer-like head at one end.
The old man pulled it free and rested it against one shoulder with little apparent effort before returning at the same unhurried pace. His gaze moved briefly over Ling's dirt-covered clothes and the scratches along his arms.
"Six wolves are enough trouble without meeting a bear afterward, noshi."
Ling looked at him more carefully.
"You saw the wolves?"
"I was nearby for part of it."
Ling tried to straighten, but his exhausted legs immediately protested. He steadied himself before his balance could slip.
The old man's gaze dropped toward them.
"You should rest."
"I'm fine."
The corner of the stranger's mouth curved slightly.
"Of course you are, noshi."
Ling stared at him.
The old man adjusted the hammer-headed staff against his shoulder.
"What are you doing this far into the mountain alone?"
"Training."
The stranger looked at him for a moment.
"Then you should be more careful about where you train, noshi."
Ling raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Mt. Colubo has four beasts that stand above the rest. Each one claims a different part of the mountain, and most animals know better than to wander too deeply into their territory."
Ling's thoughts immediately returned to the wolves fleeing without hesitation.
"That bear?"
The old man nodded.
"The Lord of the Midway Forest, noshi."
Ling glanced back toward where the animal had disappeared.
"That thing has a title?"
"It earned one."
"How strong is it?"
"Compared to the other three?"
Ling nodded.
The stranger took a slow pull from his pipe.
"Second weakest."
Ling turned toward him.
"...That was the second weakest?"
"That's right, noshi."
If the old man hadn't appeared, Ling's best option had been to throw himself twenty minutes into the future and hope the bear was gone when he returned.
"The weakest is the Lord of the Northern Forest," the old man continued. "A giant crocodile."
Ling thought of the oversized alligators he remembered from Mt. Colubo.
"How giant?"
"Large enough that the ordinary ones around here would look small beside it, noshi."
Ling stared at him.
'And that's the weakest.'
"Above the bear is the Lord of the Southern Forest. A tiger."
Ling's expression tightened slightly.
"And the strongest?"
The stranger pointed his pipe toward the east.
"The Lord of the East Forest. A giant snake, noshi."
Ling froze.
The old man's eyebrows lifted slightly.
"You've seen it?"
"...Yesterday."
"That explains the face, noshi."
Ling looked east through the trees.
"It chased me. I got cornered and had to hit it so I could get past."
"And?"
"Nothing."
The old man laughed.
"No-shi-shi-shi-shi-shi!"
Ling gave him a flat look.
"I'm glad you find that funny."
"You punched the strongest beast on Mt. Colubo, noshi."
"I was cornered."
"Still funny."
Ling sighed.
"It stopped chasing me after I got far enough away. I couldn't figure out why."
"You crossed out of its territory, noshi."
'So I was right.'
The old man rested the hammer-headed staff against his shoulder.
"Those four have their own territories. Most animals on the mountain know where the boundaries are and stay away when they need to."
Ling glanced east again before looking back at him.
"So crocodile, bear, tiger, snake."
"Weakest to strongest, noshi."
Ling committed the ranking to memory.
The bear had nearly forced him to escape twenty minutes into the future, while his strongest punch had barely shifted the snake's head.
'I've got a long way to go.'
The stranger glanced toward him.
"If you're going to keep exploring alone, learn where their territories are before you accidentally walk into another one."
"I will."
"Good."
The old man looked over Ling once more.
"Do you live nearby?"
"I have a place farther down the mountain."
"Can you reach it like this?"
Ling glanced in the direction of his temporary base. Normally, the distance wouldn't have concerned him.
"It might take a while."
The old man nodded.
"Then rest at my camp first. It isn't far, noshi."
Ling didn't answer immediately.
The stranger noticed.
"You don't know me. Being cautious is sensible, noshi."
He lifted the pipe toward his mouth before glancing around the forest.
"You can stay here if you prefer, but the smell from those scratches may attract something else."
Ling looked toward the surrounding trees, then back at the stranger.
Nothing about the weathered face, long gray hair, strange hat, orange glasses, dark cloak, pipe, or oversized staff matched anyone he remembered from One Piece.
"What's your name?"
"Naguri, noshi."
Ling repeated the name silently.
'Naguri...'
The name meant nothing to him.
"And yours?"
"Ling."
"Ling..."
Naguri gave a small nod.
"Come on, noshi. You can decide what to do after you've rested."
He turned toward a narrow trail between the trees.
Ling considered the offer for another moment before glancing around the clearing.
"...Alright."
He followed.
Naguri walked at an easy pace through the forest, the hammer-headed staff resting against one shoulder while the edge of his dark cloak brushed the ground behind him. He never moved quickly enough to force Ling's exhausted legs to keep up.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Ling occasionally glanced toward Naguri's back, then toward the massive weapon resting over his shoulder.
'Who exactly is he?'
Ling continued following him deeper into the forest.