The Good Life: Old Souls (ch. 118) (Arcane Return) (Patreon)

Yoruichi had held herself back since reuniting with Law and the others. Just a half step back, just to see what had changed in the strange group of friends during her absence. Perhaps it was an insecurity, but humans changed fast. Faster than they realized. They could become completely unrecognizable over the course of a few days if the catalyst for their change was great enough. 

In her perspective, it had only been about a month since Asami had attacked and she was kicked off to a new world with Yamato. A month that had mostly been spent finalizing the peaceful conquest of what would be a new addition to Law's empire. But for Law himself, it had been about a decade. For Robin and the others, it had been around three months. 

The differences were subtle, but they caught her attention like a jagged edge. Law was still himself, but he was… more of himself. Focused in a way that he hadn't since his star-crossed lover Homelander died. In the aftermath of his death, Law had been in a slump. Depressed. Just going through the motions without really feeling it. 

Things got better in El Dorado. Sex was a great way to cheer someone up, after all, and it was nothing short of a miracle or a subtle use of his power that Nora was the only one who ended up pregnant during that month of delicious hedonism. 

Then he met Sukuna. A rival. A friend. Someone to cut his teeth against and motivate him. Yet, while the motivation was there, Law had still been… directionless. He knew what he wanted but he didn't know what path to take to reach his destination. 

Then there was Runeterra, where he started to experiment. He played the part of the charming businessman, following in the steps of his second greatest adversary, Stan Edgar. Yet, the shoes hadn't quite fit at the time. He was growing into them though, and that meant growing pains. Deliberate self-sabotage just to spice things up. Goading Asami into action with more and more overt pokes just to alleviate his boredom. 

Law's greatest weakness had always been his impatience. 

It wasn't really a surprise that when Asami hit, she had hit hard. Law had never been closer to death than when she found him in that run-down alley, his torso full of spikes as he was impaled from the inside out, his powers shut down, more blood outside of him than in… yet there had been a mad smile on his face. There was no fear, no lamentation, or rage at what was left undone. Law had the expression of someone who had finally gotten what he asked for and didn't mind in the slightest that the price tag had been his life.

Yoruichi had expected some changes in the aftermath of the attack. She had looked forward to seeing what they would be. Because Law didn't realize it, nor did Robin or any of the others -- but they were young. Practically children. Literally, in the case of Tanya. They were young enough that a decade or two was a substantial amount of time, a third of their entire lives if not more, when to her a decade was more akin to how they would view a year. And that was part of the reason why Yoruichi loved humanity so much. They were racing towards a finish line, trying to cram as much living into their short lives as they could and it was never boring to watch.

But, when she reunited with Law, which had been after a few seconds for her but a decade for him… 

“He really is playing a whole new game,” Yoruichi remarked to Robin as they watched Law battle the King of Beasts. She could feel the static in the air from their ‘Haki.’ It felt similar, but it wasn't spiritual pressure, not really. Not in the ways that mattered. Spiritual pressure was the weight of your soul upon the world, but Haki… it was more like the weight of your ambition. 

And Law had found his. His meandering desire to be a villain had found a North Star. It was an ambition that was honed to a deadly edge… and it was an ambition without limit. 

“He's stronger than I expected,” Robin returned, unable to keep a note of worry out of her voice. Yoruichi didn't know if she meant Law or Kaido, but the words applied to both. Kaido was strong. She could feel it in her bones that he was Captain-level in terms of strength. Though, admittedly, that ambiguous level of strength ranged from someone like Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who was a mad scientist before he was a fighter, and monsters like Retsu Unohana. 

Kaido would be up there. Maybe around that brat Byakuya Kuchiki’s level. Maybe a bit stronger. Or maybe a lot stronger, she amended when the shockwave of a clash toppled buildings and split the sky above. 

He was an excellent measuring stick to see how far Law had come in such a few years. Law wasn't ever really weak, at least in as long as Yoruichi had known him, but he wasn't exactly powerful either. He was a bit like a Vice-Captain, or a Second-Seat Lieutenant. Someone who was strong, who had potential, but they hadn't yet fully realized that potential to put them in the same weight class as a Captain. In her weight class. 

But now… 

Another shockwave tore through the city as the two clashed at blistering fast speeds. Using techniques that weren't dissimilar to her Shunpo. She still had the edge in speed, even if Law was doping with magic, but it was clear. 

Law was now a peer to her in strength. 

No. No, that wasn't quite right. His speed, his enhanced body, his refined Rooms, his magic, and Haki… 

If they ever fought… Yoruichi wasn't certain that she would win. Law's bag of tricks ran deeper than hers, and more than that, she could feel him getting stronger as the fight dragged on. If it ever came to a fight between them, if she didn't end the fight in the first five minutes, Yoruichi could only see herself losing.

“What a ridiculous guy,” Yoruichi mused, a smile tugging at her lips. Her skills had been honed over the course of hundreds of years. She’d never slacked on her training, but she had polished them to perfection nearly a century ago and honing them further hadn’t been a concern since. And in less than two decades, Law had closed the distance between them. More than that, Law had no intention of slowing down. He was still seeking greater challenges, new abilities, and Yoruichi had no doubt in her mind that in another decade,big not another year or two, he would be definitively stronger than her. 

It made an itch in the depths of her soul creep up, sounding a lot like the words ‘I told you so.’ Her Zanpakutō. The manifestation of her soul. A weapon that she’d abandoned because she was simply stronger without it, something for which she’d had to console it endlessly afterwards over. 

Even as she said the words, Law proved them true when a vast chunk of New York began to rise up, taking the form of an absurdly massive gun. Yoruichi's gaze flattened, “Oi. Isn't that a bit much?” She deadpanned, watching as Kaido intended to match the oversized gun head on. 

The shockwave of the two clashing was one of the most destructive things that she had ever seen, and that was saying something. The island of Manhattan was completely obliterated, and it made the nukes that destroyed the world look like firecrackers in comparison. It was powerful enough that they had to step through the Dias to avoid the shockwave, and when they reopened the portal, New York City was simply gone. 

But as the portal opened once more, the victor was revealed. 

Law looked battered. His skin was torn, burnt, and bruised but he gave them a megawatt smile, “Meet Kaido! We're friends now,” he informed, making a gesture to the King of Beasts behind them that looked more dead than alive. His skin was shredded and scorched, half of his face was missing alongside an arm. Yet, Yoruichi saw the gradual mending of the injuries, telling her that it wouldn't be long before Kaido was back to full health. 

“I said I'll join your crew. Didn't say anything about being friends, brat,” Kaido immediately grumbled and Yoruichi snorted. 

Law had pretty broad taste in women, but when it came to his guy friends he really prefered tsunderes, huh? 

“Bah, same thing!” Law dismissed his former enemy and now friend with ease, making Kaido sigh under his breath. Given his sheer size though, it was easily heard. As was the grumbling about ‘Rocks’ and ‘Morons.’ 

However, Kaido didn't exactly protest before turning his gaze to Robin, who met it, but her guard was climbing up. “You’re Nico Robin, aren’t you?”

“I must be more infamous than I thought if an Emperor of the Sea knew of me,” Robin returned, her tone guarded, but still a trace of surprise could be heard. She wasn’t exactly afraid, just cautious. The kind of caution that was learned, when you were told to fear someone, rather than the caution that was developed through exposure. 

Kaido grunted, “I knew the last user of the Flower-Flower Fruit back when I was a rookie with Rocks. If you did half of what they accused you of, then you used the fruit a thousand times better than that idiot as an eight-year-old.” Oh, that was interesting. Robin was pretty cagey with her past -- they all were, honestly, and Law didn’t ask unless it was relevant. “But I know you more because the World Government has been up my ass, thinking that you got grabbed by one of our crews, and we finally had a way to translate Road Poneglyphs.”

Robin offered a thin smile, “My apologies, Kaido-san. But I have been here with Law for the past several years.” There was a spark of interest. A reaction that betrayed her when Kaido mentioned ‘Poneglyphs’. 

That earned a hum before Kaido looked to the portal behind him. “And where is here, exactly? And what's with these damn portals? I thought I saw something interesting in one when I was drunk and ended up in a boring desert.”

“Oh, you’re in for a treat! I’ll tell you all about it,” Law said, striding forward and tossing Yoruichi a wink and a roguish grin as he lead them through the portal. And then Yoruichi watched him leave his old world behind for the last time, having taken everything of worth from it in his estimation, without so much as a glance back. 

He launched into an explanation about the Dias and the multiverse, something that he was making headway in conquering with Asami acting as a rival. However, Yoruichi favored watching others reacting to the sheer size of Kaido as he was wide enough that he could brush shoulders with the buildings on each side of the road.

She watched Kaido as well as people gaped up at him, seeing him as something as truly inhuman. Or how they wilted in his presence, the weak willed dropping like stones unconscious even though they were well beneath his notice. It was more interesting what she didn't see than what she did -- Kaido expressed some interest in learning about the scope of the multiverse, but there was no true surprise. There was a flicker of ambition in his eyes though, much like with Sukuna, and she knew Law wouldn't go unchallenged for long. 

But she also saw that Kaido didn't even register the slavery around them, or the people mounted on crosses. Robin hadn’t known Kaido personally, only what rumors and hearsay that had circulated about him, but it was clear that Kaido wouldn't be a good influence on Law. 

She also watched Law as he was in his element now that they were back in Nora's world, coordinating what their next moves would be to secure the rest of this world and Fallout. It was there that the real changes in Law revealed themselves. 

Law's kingdom had never been important to him before. It was… a toy, basically. Something he kept around to play with, but if it ever got boring he'd throw it aside without a second thought. When he got his hands in the Dias blueprints, Yoruichi had figured that it wouldn't be long before Law cut all ties with his burgeoning empire, wanting to cast off the deadweight so he could explore the multiverse unhindered. Maybe he would set roots in a world one day, but she always assumed that world would essentially be a storage closet to keep their stuff in and maybe a place to kick their feet up on occasion. 

But a decade had changed Law. 

His greatest flaw, his impatience, had been smoothed away and in its place was a mentality that all long-lived people gained -- what was a decade? What was a hundred years? Plans could be set in motion long in advance and their payoff may not manifest for centuries, and that was fine. It was only a hundred years. 

He’d started to plan. The petty kingdom that was just a distraction before suddenly became a centerpiece in so many long reaching plans and strategies. Yet, he was still himself. Still inviting chaos just to see what would happen, but it was targeted now. Deliberate. He invited chaos because it combated stagnation, and that translated to progress. It could be forward progress, people pushing forward to some goal or ambition. Or it could be negative progress where all the steps that came before amounted to nothing because the path they walked ended in a pitfall to the depths of Hell. 

But even that was still progress, because as some fell, others would rise. 

In her eyes, Law had matured in a blink of an eye. The youthful recklessness had been replaced with determined experience. It showed in everything he did now, all that he was building towards. She had said it before, and she would say it again -- Law was playing an entirely different game now. His cruelty was no longer thoughtless. His maliciousness wasn't purely for his entertainment. Little by little, he was setting something humongous into motion and by the time that ball got rolling, it would be far too late to stop it. 

She could see it now with the benefit of age, having watched humans for a century, and being closer to half a millennia old than not. The ripples that occurred with every movement, every decision, would swell until they became tidal waves that swept over the multiverse. Yoruichi couldn’t claim that she knew what laid out there, what challenges or opportunities they would find, but what was clear… was that Law was preparing for them, the challenges and opportunities alike. 

The core of an army was being created for the sake of conquest -- to take the rest of Nora's world, to seize the rest of Fallout for Taylor, and lastly to defend Piltover from Noxus. 

At the core of the army were the infantry. Warriors conquered by Nora, humans wielding advanced weapons and armored beyond what their enemies could typically get through. They were further supported by specialist infantry, men in power armor with all the advantages that it offered. Taylor had gone all in on power armor -- she’d found plenty of sets across the wasteland, but one of her priorities had been producing new suits with the goal of everyone receiving a set. The only bottleneck there were the fusion reactors. 

Additionally, there were super mutants and the insects. Taylor, now enhanced with Compound V, was able to control the prior strain of super mutants, and there were still plenty to be found across the wasteland. They were gathered up alongside the Behemoth versions of themselves, their numbers further bolstered by synths being printed off and fed into the goop of the FEV virus. But for all the power they offered, it paled in comparison to the sheer variety of insects that Taylor was able to bring to bear. 

The girl was an army unto herself. Bloodworms to tunnel under the enemy's feet and ambush them from below, setting traps. Ants, mantises, beetles, and more served as disposable infantry as well as every other kind of infantry. Airborne threats such as moths that exploded with powder that was poisonous or caused hallucinations, wasps that fired their stingers at the same rate as machine guns, or tiny insects barely the size of her fingernail that could swarm an enemy and strip them down until not even bones remained in seconds. 

To say nothing of the technological edge that they had against all the worlds that they’d encountered thus far. Laser weapons, plasma, chemical weapons, vertibirds, the Prydwin and similar airships, Liberty Prime… and when Gai, or Final Fantasy as Law called it entered the picture, they would have a robust source of mechanical infantry and powerful robots. 

It was a consolidation of resources that dramatically increased their overall power, and for all their fretting, Yourichi genuinely couldn’t see Noxus standing a chance, even with magic. To say nothing of the more mundane worlds. 

Yet, plans were made. Compound V was back in full production, and it was being drip-fed into the soldiers who proved worthy of it. The Egg Carton, formerly the Institute, was in full swing with fresh talent and new discoveries to be explored. All that strength, all of that raw power, would soon be set in motion and Yoruichi struggled to think of a way that mundane worlds like El Dorado or Fallout could hope to stop them. 

Such was the change to Law. It was a good change. The kind of change that meant he would actually get to make the most of his immortality rather than the throw himself into the deep end head first approach he had preferred. And while it was a welcome change, that didn't mean all of the changes were… good. 

Jenova was an addition to their growing empire that Yoruichi didn't know what to make of. The white-haired woman sat in a chair, in a stolen body, snacking away as every word went in one ear and out the other. 

She wasn't a Hollow. She wasn't a Shinigami either. Jenova was closer to the Soul King than anything else -- she wasn't part of the afterlife, she was the afterlife. All those who died on any world that fell within their borders, their soul would go to her. Her ‘Lifestream.’ There, the soul would do as it did in the Soul Society: loiter around for decades or centuries before being reincarnated. 

It was also becoming increasingly clear that her world was the odd one out because, according to Jenova, the process that was maintained by the Soul Society in her world was just an automatic feature of the afterlife. No Shinigami. No Hollows. Just a sea of souls that would steadily reincarnate the dead once they stayed in the rinse cycle long enough. 

It shouldn't bother her, but it would be a lie to say that it didn't. Just a little bit. Yoruichi didn't have many lines in the sand to begin with, and there were fewer that she wouldn't step over for the right reasons. She had long since cast away things like morals or justifications for the sake of a duty that she had also cast away.a century ago. 

Yet, she had been a Shinigami. One who safeguarded the spirits of the dead so that they could move on. She wouldn't ever call the Soul Society a ‘better place’ -- some regions were barely a step above Hell itself with how wretched they were. And she had never felt a sense of responsibility for a soul after they left the Living World and entered the Soul Society. 

Yet… yet it picked at her, like an itchy scab, how Jenova so easily agreed to sacrifice souls to power lightbulbs. How readily she consumed them as if she were a Hollow. It just bothered her in a way that she wasn't sure if she should act on it or not, simply because it was that sacrifice that powered this explosion of expansion. 

And she didn’t know how this new Law would react if she asked him to stop for the sake of what was left of her sense of responsibility. Her pride in being a Shinigami. So, she would sit back. She would wait. She would judge and measure. 

She wasn't the only one to do so. 

“Eh? You have my foolish son captured?” Kaido echoed at some point during the conversation, seated on the side of a building. Throughout the conversation, his gaze was sharp. Despite his size and demeanor, Yoruichi knew he was a lot smarter than appearances would apply. 

“Yeah, Yamato is in Fallout with a few other important prisoners,” Law answered. “Part of the deal for kicking you out of Wano was that she had to help take me down. Want me to let her out?” 

Kaido scratched at the still healing skin on his cheek, looking much better than he had an hour ago, even if his arm and eye were still regrowing. “Brat, how does time pass between universes?” 

“Depends on if there is an Anchor or not. Seconds could be millennia between universes, but with an Anchor, time would stabilize. So, how much time has passed in your world depends on what kind of time difference Asami is working with. Beyond that, there's what we did with you and jumping to a certain point in time to pick you up.” 

Kaido hummed, “Then keep it a secret for now. And keep him locked up. If he escapes, then that's its own thing, but if he wants to be Oden, then he-... no, she had better start acting like him.” 

Law cocked an eyebrow in his direction, inviting an explanation and Kaido chuckled. It was a soft one, but it still reverberated through the building they were in. “Oden was a man's man. I can't blame her for wanting to be like him, and I was willing to acknowledge her attempts until this mess. Tricking me into a new universe and shutting the door behind me? Oden would have beaten me in a straight fight! That fool girl knows nothing beyond what lies within the borders of Wano. She can't imagine an evil greater than me.” 

A smile graced his lips. It was an ugly thing that promised cruelty. “Find my world, brat. I want Yamato to see what her cowardice invited to Wano… because, without me? The World Government is going to move right in, and as bad as I was, they'll be a thousand times worse.” 

‘Ahh, poor Yamato,’ Yoruichi thought, curled up in Law's lap in her cat form, enjoying a few scratches behind the ear. She felt a bit bad for the woman. She felt like the type with good intentions and a headstrong resolve to see them through. But the world didn't care about intentions, and being righteous didn't mean victory. Hopefully, Yamato would break the right way and their little harem could grow a member. She’d always had a thing for tall women. And for huge boobs. 

“We're hunting for it, but we'll need to crack how Asami is hiding worlds first, so it could take some time,” Law offered, earning a grunt from Kaido, who accepted the answer for what it was. Robin had told them what she could about the King of Beasts and his pirate crew, but he didn't seem too worried about them. Either he didn't care, or he trusted them to survive with his absence. Or a mixture of both. 

He didn't act like someone who had lost everything. Perhaps he was cut from the same cloth as Law, who found defeat every bit as worthwhile as victory… or maybe he was planning to retake everything he lost. With interest. 

“Until then… I have one more world to conquer,” Law said, sitting up, and she hopped up to drape herself over his shoulder. “You should come with, Kaido! You and Sukuna are going to get along great! Or hate each other. It's kinda hard to tell with that guy sometimes.” That was the excuse, at least, but the truth was Kaido wasn't domesticated enough to have the run of the house yet. 

Kaido grunted, and with a quick few ‘see you laters’, Yoruichi found them before another Dias with Jinx in tow, who was eager to return home. The Dias was an older model, needing more time to warm up, leaving her to sway anxiously from foot to foot. But, when the portal came alive, since Kaido was far too big, with a snap of Law’s fingers, they were brought to the top of the building that the Dias was located beneath. 

And because of it, they got to a front row seat of an airship dragging a banner behind it. 

Law looked at it with a vague amount of disbelief, his lips parting while Kaido instantly threw back his head and started laughing. “It’s been three days,” he whispered with dumbfounded disbelief, and that’s what set off her own chuckles. “What in the hell happened in three days?!”

The banner pulled behind the airship was one of mourning. Mourning over the loss of Piltover’s brightest star. 

Trafalgar Water Law was dead.

Apparently.