“Where are you headed?” A gentle voice called out from a strange, infinite darkness. “Are you gonna’ leave me here too?”

“I got places to go.” Another voice answered. “I don’t feel like being here anymore. What’s the point in living if you ain’t gonna go nowhere?”

“Is seeing the world that important to you?”

“I dunno. Is being comatose that important to you?”

At that moment, the darkness lifted.

Hanzo awoke, lying flat on his chest with dry saliva marking the corner of his mouth.

His rusty eyes scanned the locale around him as he lifted himself off the white sand where his fingers were pressed.

Sitting cross legged, he stared blankly in one direction and did not move from that position for a while.

He was on the island again.

The last thing he remembered, he was being chased down by a mob of angry men after slaughtering their boss, Jirako The Hunter.

It was a wild roller coaster, so wild that everything after that was a blur. Regardless of what happened, he should not have woken up here again.

Unless that was all just a dream... He thought. Was it??

Doubting himself was too easy when his experiences had no coherent transition. No evidence of travel besides the soot on his ragged clothes and the gritty stains on his sword.

Deep down, he knew it all happened. His sudden resurgence was obviously the work of teleportation, something he felt like he shouldn’t be experiencing so frequently.

He rose to his feet, feeling his brain shift from dizziness and took a few steps. The throbbing of his leg muscles almost pulled him to his knees.

Soreness rippled through his limbs and strung his spine like a harp. It was oddly pleasant though. He felt stronger and more athletic.

He started swinging his sword around, relishing the explosiveness in his body.

His mind flashed with scenes of the black, burning forest and Jirako’s crushing blows. The hooded menace was branded into his memory, reminding him of all the foes he’d taken down in the past.

Hanzo upset the lapping ocean waves with the speed of his swings, sparring with imaginary foes as he turned and twisted,

slashing the air to ribbons.

It was a marvelous sight indeed.

Old Man Uzai watched from the forest with tears in his eyes.

His disciple was growing!

Too overwhelmed to stand and wait, he stepped out of the woods with his arms spread wide like the grin on his face.

“Hanny Boy!!!” He cried.

Hanzo flung his sword sideways. It rippled through the air like helicopter blades and almost took Uzai’s head off.

“Oh look, a sand dollar!” The old man bent down to pick up the fuzzy disc while the blade shot over him with the sound of a large hummingbird and plunged into a tree.

“Say, Hanny, did you know that in some places in the world, sand dollars are actual currency? Crazy, isn’t it? The things ya learn!!”

Hanzo’s mood had turned sour and he turned on the old fool with spite.

“Shut up, you old fogey!! I’m not dealing with you anymore!! You and your daughter’s crazy schemes have put my life in danger way too many freakin’ times!!”

Uzai wanted to be amicable. “Well, come on now, Hanny! There’s nothing wrong with a little fun!”

“Fun?? You think putting my life in danger is fun??”

“Well, of cour—I mean…” Uzai fumbled trying to correct his words. “W-what I mean to say is...See you should’ve just eaten my porridge and maybe you wouldn’t have died, Hanny! I keep telling y’all whippersnappers…”

Rightfully pissed off, Hanzo shoved the old man aside and went to fetch his sword.

I can’t believe this. I got lost in a freaking wilderness and still woke back up on this stupid island. If somebody told me none of that stuff happened I’d probably believe 'em.

“What’s the matter, pal?” Uzai looked concerned.

Hanzo had his head down, fingers grasping the weapon.

I haven’t learned a damn thing.

He opened his eyes and straightened up, pulling the sword loose.

“What’s wrong?” Uzai laced his fingers, “You wanna talk about it with your old man?”

“No!!” Hanzo barked.

“Oh, ok. Well, then come on, pal! You’re wasting time! We’d better get back to training!”

The warrior ground his teeth, imagining all sorts of ways to butcher this babbling goat.

Uzai led him back to the sea for yesterday’s purpose and gave him permission to resume.

It was hard to get in the mood right away but Hanzo began to focus on sinking his spirit pressure into the ocean.

Through his shut eyes, he visualized himself meditating beneath a waterfall. He breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth without the old man having to instruct him to do so.

The battle with recurring thoughts slowly subsided, soon replaced by silence. And for a long time that’s all he heard.

Meditating wasn’t very hard to do but to spiritually move something as elusive as water, Hanzo feared, would take weeks.

Weeks of nothing but standing and trying to pull the ocean like a rug sounded especially dreadful when he thought about dealing with the old man the whole time. At least he was keeping his mouth shut for now.

As the minutes accumulated, the tide rolled in under his bare feet, splashing his ankles and then receding.

He felt something begin to pull him forward, thinking he might just be feeling a little woozy from standing still.

Goosebumps stung his skin and sucked all the heat out of him, cutting his concentration short.

He opened his eyes but he wasn’t standing on the beach anymore. Everything was submerged in a navy blue world swarming with coral reefs and schools of glimmering fish surfing invisible currents.

The sun’s light warped above the surface of the ocean, the star itself a dull glowing beacon above.

Hanzo reeled in shock and fled with a crushing desperation to swim back to shore in the span of a heartbeat.

The more he tried to flee, the more turbulent the waters became. The murky sands exploded into great avalanches, spawning all kinds of rare sea creatures.

Hanzo’s intuition expanded and somehow he was able to tell that the entire ocean was coming to destroy him.

He let out a voiceless scream and ran as fast as possible but no amount of leg muscles could get him anywhere.

Suddenly, another powerful force vacuumed him through space and sent him bowling back into his physical body.

“AAH!!!” He screamed, bouncing ten feet into the air.

Uzai perked up at the loud cry and gave him a blank stare.

“Oh, hey Hanny.” He beamed. “Any luck, pal?”

The old man looked down and saw a strip of water peeling back into the ocean. He turned to his student in surprise.

“You did it Hanny!! You moved the ocean!!”

This was good news. Now, Hanny could advance to new levels. But he wasn’t able to hear the celebration of this idiot over the sound of his pounding heart.

When he came to his senses he was furious.

“What the heck was that, old man?!?!”

“You did it, Hanny! You were able to connect with the water!”

“No!!” The boy cried, “I was in the ocean just now!!”

“Oh. Well you see, sometimes when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you. It’s a part of the technique. It lets ya know that you successfully bonded with the element!”

“Well, why didn’t you tell me that before??”

“Because, Hanny, I wanted you to experience it by yourself! Life is the best teacher there is, you know.”

It was a lousy statement, but Uzai believed that experiencing a thing firsthand was a beneficial method of learning.

He showed his disciple the carpet of wet sand that he subconsciously summoned.

It seemed strange that he managed to do that much in just a few hours when most people struggled to pull results in a matter of days or even weeks.

What was really going on here?

“I’m proud of you, Hanny!” Uzai pat the young man’s shoulder, “Anyways, time to take a break!”

“Huh?” Hanzo said.

“Yep! Come on, get your things. It’s time to eat ourselves a good breakfast!”

Hanzo realized that he was actually pretty hungry and hadn’t eaten a meal since that strange chamber incident.

“Wait, who’s making the food?” His eyes sharpened like he was about to be attacked.

“Oh, Naomi is!” Uzai chirped.

“What!!? Are you crazy??” Hanzo shrieked.

Uzai seemed puzzled. “Whatcha’ mean? You don’t like Naomi’s good old fashioned homemade cookin’?”

“She tried to kill me, you roach!! She put poison in my food!!”

“Oh!” Uzai chuckled. “Well that’s just her way of saying she likes you!”

Hanzo slapped himself, grinding his teeth in frustration.

This idiot!!!

This old man was quite a force to be reckoned with.

“You could always help yourself to some of my good old fashioned porridge, you know.” Uzai offered, pulling a bowl of the thick oats out of his scarf.

“No!! I want some real food!! That stuff tastes like diarrhea with sugar sprinkled on it!!”

Uzai plucked a spoonful in his mouth and licked his chops.

“Mmmm!” He moaned with delight. “Scrumptious!!”

“You know what??” Hanzo raged, “Screw you. I’m not even hungry anymore.”

He turned away and stepped ankle deep into the cool water, glaring at the bright horizon. The sheer vastness of the ocean made him shudder, reminded of how it literally pulled him into the infinite depths.

“Y’know Hanny, if you want, you can go over to Naomi’s house and grab those beef shawarmas off the stove. Bring em’ back and I’ll fix ya up some sandwiches!”

Unresponsive, Hanzo spread his arms out to the sea and started to channel his spirit pressure again.

“Oh boy…” Uzai frowned. “Better be careful doing that too many times, buddy old pal. If you’re not careful, ya might not come back!”

Hanzo’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance but he decided to keep going.

“Alright.” The old man shrugged. “You’ve been warned! Just watch out for the water spirits down there. They’re much stronger in the ocean. They like to catch people and squeeze ‘em dry till they ain’t got a drop of spirit pressure left. Anyways, see ya’ later pal!”

With that, Uzai left the boy to himself to train.

A few hours later, Naomi came by and found the scoundrel still littering her beach with his messy existence.

Of course he’s still alive… she growled bitterly.

It seemed he hadn’t moved from his spot for some time.

To her disbelief, she noticed a deformation in the sweeping tide. The soft, whispering waves flowed around him, gurgling like a small fountain struggling to rise.

The sight was maddening. She walked up closer, glancing at his sword pushed into the sand, then back at him.

His eyes remained shut, unaware of her presence.

She saw the slight tremors in his arms, the faint hairs standing on his skin and the translucent aura coating his frame.

The water around him wasn’t very abundant but it was there for sure. The way it rippled back and forth, she knew he was trying to lure some out.

What an idiot. He has no idea what he’s doing.

She turned her attention away from him and went to his sword to pick it up.

The gemstone seemed to dim down as she lifted it and held it along her shoulder, grabbing his soot stained boots as well.

She studied them, wondering what sort of shenanigans he'd been involved in ever since he vanished from the beach along with that overwhelming presence.

After that she simply walked off, leaving him shoeless and unarmed.

Before disappearing indefinitely, she dropped the boots, reached her hand out and jerked her arm across her vision.

A wave swept out of the blue and slammed right into the boy, bowling him over. It was such a sharp and violent blow that he was left coughing and hacking, feeling the stinging salt water fill his nostrils and throat.

He looked around, knowing he’d been pranked by some fool but could not find any suspect in sight.

It had to be Skeeter.

That little son of a...

He was tempted to reach for his sword in anger until he found it missing.

What the heck??

He coughed. Somebody was sabotaging him.

The only person he knew to go for his sword was Naomi.

The banshee flashed in his mind, imbuing him with rage.

“Curse that flippant witch!!!” He yelled, searching for his boots.

It was hard to think she’d gone for those as well. Maybe Uzai absentmindedly took them while he wasn’t looking.

Whatever the case, Hanzo could worry about the boots later. The sword was top priority.

He followed a pair of unknown footprints into the woods and scooped up a nice club on his way.

It was a bit rough going barefoot through the prickly forest. In no time, his soles were stuck with all kinds of arboreal flakes and pointed fragments.

He emerged out of the woods back on that familiar road and started to pick up the pace.

I can’t wait to land this stick on her skull. She’s in for some heavy brain damage.

It took him a little longer than expected to get to his destination but alas he reached the sturdy old cabin, twirling his club.

He moved behind some shrubbery, checking the area for any traps and other potential disruptions.

Satisfied, he creeped up to her doorsteps like a soldier on recon, stepping lightly so the boards under him wouldn’t squeak.

A forceful wind blew, sending the dagger wind chimes knocking into each other, producing a reckless, resounding melody in his ears.

What kind of decoration is that anyway??

He questioned the hazardous contraption, hoping it wasn’t actually some gizmo meant to kill trespassers.

He grasped the doorknob and nudged the door open gently.

The hinges squealed in protest as he peeked through the opening, looking for any wires that might trip.

Nothing was found.

He slipped inside and shut the door in haste, then turned around and evaluated his new surroundings.

Naomi’s house was a campy and muted place, stocked with musty furniture, riddled with fishing equipment, odd trinkets and weapons. Lots of weapons.

He saw at least a dozen in every corner.

The walls were decorated with impressive swords, classic firearms and other deadly instruments that could be found elsewhere.

A spacious glass table was taken up by old boxes, warped weapon magazines and what looked like the skull of some dragon.

What in the world?? Hanzo

To the right, hardly separable from the living room was the kitchen where he discovered a basket full of beef shawarma.

Is that what the old man was talking about? He gulped.

The smell made his mouth water.

Heck, might as well just take this too.

With quick fingers he wrapped up the beef in the checkered towel and removed it from the basket, still looking around for his sword and boots.

Where the heck are they??

His heart started to pound in his chest. He didn’t want to have to go down the hallway. If she was in her room, she should’ve heard him anyway.

He sufficed with the beef and traded in his club for one of the fancy swords on the wall, then started off toward the exit.

Right at that pivotal moment, the door swung open and there stood Naomi glaring wide eyed at the dusty vagrant looking back at her like a deer in headlights.