《Adventures of one dude with an afro》


 Chapter 1 - The Past

    While I was alive I had the name, Mike . Pretty normal stuff I must say. I was born and raised in the United States of America. I grew up in a pretty bad neighborhood, yet I went to a pretty good school in my opinion. Had good teachers and learned a lot of interesting and useful stuff. The local kids weren''t what you would call friendly even for kid standards, it seemed like was targeted specifically maybe it was because I was the best in class. Maybe it was because I could hold my own in a fight they never went beyond isolating me and calling me names. While looking back on it it was pretty harmless stuff, it devastated me when I was a child.


    Growing up I didn¡¯t have a lot of friends, which made me spend my time on something else. Not to brag, but I was pretty energetic as a child, and my mother, God bless her soul, who was overly worried about me, sent me to a colleague of hers every other day to train. We would train in hand to hand combat, how to neutralize a combatant with a knife, gun, hostage (that one seemed little odd at the time but he persuaded me by saying that I should know it as well so that I should my mother ever be in danger I would know how to save her) and how to fight multiple opponents from thugs to organized military experts. After 5 years of training, I was 15 when this happened, he said: ¡±should you want to continue training you need a weapon to specialize in, cause I have nothing more to teach you in self-defense.¡± I had been getting into street fights with the local gangs recently and had been using a metal pipe as a weapon, so I went with the next best this which was a staff. ¡±Really, a staff? I didn¡¯t even know I had one still¡­ Must be fate. Okay I know a good teacher for you, go to this address and say that I¡¯ve sent you and she¡¯ll understand.¡± said he. Little did I know I was going to be training the next 10 years with a nun who could beat my ass even while she slept, scary stuff.


    My mom was a pretty successful woman and we never lacked money when I was growing up, but when she died I instantly became impoverished. She had been diagnosed with cancer 3 years beforehand and couldn¡¯t continue working any longer so I had to cancel my training to go to see her and help her with the bills. Not knowing anything else practical than martial arts at 25 was not a good resume, so I only got a job at the nearby restaurant by chance.


    With the dawn of digital era, I started making youtube videos. It was just a hobby at the start but it quickly took all of my free time as I saw the money I had gotten. I made martial arts training and cooking videos. The martial arts videos gained a lot of popularity but only amongst certain circles and the cooking videos were doing decently compared to my size. But my efforts were futile as June 6th, 2017 my mother died. I was devastated and completely destroyed on the inside when she said she wanted me to accept her decision of getting euthanasia. I was shocked to know that she had only two more days to live.


    And I spent the 4th and the 5th with her until her very last moments. ¡±You know, I always hoped that you would become a fine gentleman unlike your father, who left us when you were only one. You remind me so much of him that sometimes I almost think he came back when I see you. But he never did, and I was so scared that you would leave me as well, and then you did and I was so sad when you left to train with that cursed nun that I cried myself to sleep that night. But then the next day you called and said that you would have called earlier, and I remembered that you were not your father, but my child, my baby boy and I will always love you wherever you go whatever you do. I love you and want to thank you for existing in my dark life. My shining light. My hope. Mikey will you promise me one last thing?¡± ¡±yes.. sniff¡± ¡±Don¡¯t be so sad, death is not the end...¡± ¡±¡­ only a new beginning.¡± ¡±Yes Mikey only a new beginning, so will you promise me that you will help the less fortunate in any way you can. It is one of my only regrets in life, other being not seeing your wedding and my grandchildren.¡± ¡±...Yes, mom, I promise¡± ¡±No to judge them by their skin colour and forgive those that did the same to us..?¡± ¡±!! ¡­. yes mom¡± ¡±say it out loud¡± ¡±I will not judge them by their skin colour and help anyone regardless if they are black or white.¡± ¡± yes good¡­ Mikey, I hope you will find happiness after my death and learn different things and find new interests...¡± ¡±mom¡­ Mom¡­ MOM¡­ mooooom sobs¡­¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    After my mother''s death, I had a rough 5 years which ultimately lead me to my death. These 5 years included seclusion in my room, bad eating habits, losing many social contacts and finally stopping training.


    One night after I was kicked out of my regular bar cause my tab was too high, I was stumbling closer to my home when I decided that I should skip through this alleyway, it would save a couple of minutes. I saw three black guys beating a white kid. *sigh * Remembering my promise with my mother I walked up to them, as I needed to go through there anyway. ¡±Turn around bro,¡± said one of them, as I was about 5 meters away from them. ¡±I just need to pass through here please, no fighting and I will forget what I just saw you do¡± ¡±he saw us¡­ shit¡± ¡±he needs to go¡± ¡±naw fam we can talk this out still...¡± ¡±YOU DO WHAT I SAY¡± ¡±*sigh * I guess there is no avoiding the fight, just don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t try to stop this¡± Not that I was going to forget the beating anyway, I would have just called the police around the corner.


    While mid-sentence I charged forward to towards the three guys who were very obviously thugs at this point. They were stunned because of my sudden charge and were frozen when I neared them. I decided that it would be wisest to take out the one who looked like he would react the fastest first, against taking out the boss first. The now already unfrozen thug#1 was reaching for the back of his pants, probably for a knife or a gun, hopefully, not a gun, since if even the underling has a gun they may all be armed, and this would become dangerous fast. He was reaching for his pants but I reached him first. I struck his jaw dislocating it. He cried in pain but I didn¡¯t stop and kneed him in the face, knocking him unconscious. Thugs #2 and #3 were also reaching for their pants. So they were all armed with at least knives, fuck. Thug #2 pulled out a knife and swung it at me in a wide arc. I caught the knife with my left hand and pulled thug #2 closer so I could knock him out more easily. Bang Bang Bang Shit, thug #3 had a gun. Thankfully he was a shit shot and shot his friend thug#2 dead.


    Obviously shaken by the experience of taking another one''s life he dropped the gun and froze. This conveniently let me run forward and knock him out with a well-placed roundhouse kick to the jaw. ¡±Phew, you okay?¡± ¡±¡­ i ..am ¡­.am¡­ ¡­.ii¡­ i... I yes.¡± ¡±Good, now leave before the cops come, you wouldn''t want to risk your studies for something like this?¡± while I was talking I realized a stinging pain in my side ¡±¡­ shit, they got my lungs?¡± I mumbled and collapsed in pain as the adrenaline surged out of my body. ¡±fuck, looks like I can¡¯t do more mom, I know you are disappointed in me, but will you accept me with open arms in heaven¡­?¡± was the last thing I remember back on earth

 Chapter 2 - New family

    Out in a clearing of a forest stood a boy, age 16. He had moderately black skin and a start of an afro was growing out from his head. His face was still childish but was starting to show handsomeness on his face. He had white wings coming from his back, betraying his place of origin to the sky islands instead of West-Blue where he was currently. His body build was average but he looked a little malnourished, yet he looked to have big muscles. He was 176 centimeters tall. His brown eyes fit perfectly completing his image of a competent young man.


    He was just basking in the sun when he suddenly collapsed and clutched his head that just received a sharp tinge of pain as memories of his past life returned to him.


    ¡±Woah...¡± was the only thing he got out of his mouth as he tried to process his new yet old memories.


    ¡±Thank god he didn¡¯t transfer my personality, I couldn¡¯t survive a day in the Grand-Line with that personality. Helping others, pshhh. If I can¡¯t help myself or my family I can¡¯t help any others.¡±


    I sorted my memories while glancing around with my head between my arms as the pain hadn¡¯t fully gone away yet.


    ¡±She said that they were going to give me a headstart, but that it was going to be a secret what, how, when or where it will show up.¡±


    Better start heading to ¡±home¡±, since I accidentally spent more time than necessary going through and sorting my last life''s memories, I bet Sky is already pissed that I come back late, should probably take some flowers with me to pacify her.


    I thought that as I started walking towards the same path that I used to get here. When I first started coming here to spend my time there was no path no comfy clearing no nothing. The path came into being with my every day going back and forth and I asked Sky and Jackie to help me clear out this area since they have nothing better to do anyway.


    I picked up a few roses from a random villagers garden for Sky on the way back. She was probably reading the devil-fruit catalog as she had been dreaming about getting a devil fruit for herself. She often would sit by the window facing the sea and have this yearning expression on her face.


    Past the village, a few kilometers away from the city there is a landfill site, or more commonly known as the ¡¯Endless dunes of garbage¡¯. That is where I¡¯m headed. Well, directly next to it there is a village of shacks made for and by the residents of slums when the city ejected them from their premises a few years back.


    It was chaos then. Almost 300 new people were building and or stealing houses to themselves. Murder, theft, arson and all other crimes imaginable were commonplace in new slums of Spritta. Walking through the make shit main road was always scary even though we had bought protection and already paid this month. At the edge of the makeshift village was a moderately large shack that left almost all other shacks to shame. I made my way towards this particular ¡±house¡± and when I was reaching for the door it was slammed straight into my face and most importantly the roses that I had prepared for Sky.


    ¡±Someone left this for yo..u I¡¯m so sorry are you hurt?!?¡± Asked Jackie when he opened the door.


    Jackie was a 2 and a half meter giant of a 15-year-old. I bet he can still grow even taller. He had a gentle face, blue eyes that almost shone from their malnourished sockets, brown hair that fi his face perfectly yet was a little too long to be comfortable so he kept it as a ponytail most of the time.


    ¡±It¡¯s not me who you should be worried about it¡¯s us. When sky hears that the roses I prepared were reduced to this stage by you, she will have your head after mine.¡± I glanced at the now crushed roses, he caught my glance and followed it, face whitening when he saw the destruction he had caused and the consequences he knew were imminent.


    ¡±Well, why were you in such a hurry, what came for me,¡± I said after brushing some dust and petals off from me.


    ¡±Oh yeah!¡± He said, reaching for the little chest he had dropped, or ¡±placed to the ground while you weren''t looking¡±. ¡±This,¡± he said and just gave me the chest.


    ¡±Well, what is it,¡± I said frowning, knowing no one in our little family was courteous enough not to open anything that came for anyone.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡±We wouldn¡¯t dare to open it, some thief had tried to steal it but his hand was blown to bits when he tried to open it. Neither Sky nor I was here at the time so when Noah saw the thief come in from the broken window, he just hid and watched from afar as he tried to open the box to confirm the presumable profit inside¡±


    ¡±Damn, well, how did you know it was for me then?¡± I asked while taking my hand off from the lid that I had just almost tried to open.


    ¡±The note¡±, he said and pointed at the piece of paper stuck between the lid and the rest of the box. It clearly stated Mikey/Josef. ¡±We didn¡¯t know who Mikey was so we thought it was the sender after seeing your name on the note. By the way, we don¡¯t know when or how this appeared at our table, but it wouldn¡¯t be the first time something strange happened around these parts.¡±


    Yes, this was obviously the headstart that they prepared for me as they used both of my names, old and new. I wonder what¡¯s inside, a devil fruit, most likely as it looks big enough for a few fruits to be inside, a weapon, wouldn¡¯t fit a staff in there even if it was ground up, a technique book, could be but maybe like in a miniature form with small text and thin pages.


    Whatever it maybe it must wait as I heard my name being called from inside by an sexy yet cold voice ¡±Josef. Get in here within ten seconds or you will eat less than a dog in the slums¡± ¡±But dogs don¡¯t eat or are eaten in the slums¡± I retorted. ¡±MY POINT.¡± I kinda wanted to find out which one she was referring to but her tone left little room for arguments, so I walked inside to face her.


    Inside was dirty yet clean, small yet full of stuff. There were bookcases filled with logs, old newspapers and kindling. The table had four chairs around it and each chair was filled with dirty laundry, clean laundry, dirty dishes or clean dishes. I took one clean plate and went to scrape the bottom of a particular kettle for some fish soup. I walked straight past her and ignored her accusatory glare, which infuriated her, yet she did nothing other than try to glare holes to the back of my head.


    Finally, I was done taking what was left of the fish soup and sat directly in front of her.


    Sky was a beautiful young woman, with blonde long hair looking like a golden river, fiery red eyes and a cute small face. She, like Jackie, is 15 years old. Sky has a petite figure 160 ish centimeters tall, but that is not to say that she isn¡¯t well developed where there is the need to be developed. She is balanced well, I would say.


    ¡±Where is Noah?¡± I asked, focusing all my attention on the meager soup in front of me.


    ¡±Sleeping, he had a rough day at the shipyard, Old man Rick had him beat for making a tiny mistake again. We all know Noah¡¯s designs make the most money for him¡± She sighed and stopped glaring at me, lamenting the fact that she could do nothing to help her little brother.


    ¡±He¡¯s still getting beat?¡± I asked looking up from my soup frowning. ¡±I should go talk to Rick, this can¡¯t keep happening.¡± ¡±NO!¡± ¡±Why not!¡± She yelled and I started increasing my voice to match hers. ¡±Because every time you go ¡±talk¡± you come back bruised, bones broken and bleeding all over the place. On top of that, it never helps!¡±


    ¡±Well, at least I tried to do something. And I never start the fights, they always start it, thinking they can beat me easily.¡± I grumbled at her with no valid point to be made.


    She frowned at my statement and was opening her mouth for a comeback as we heard it.


    While we were arguing Jackie had sneaked past us, trying to go into the bedrooms. ¡±Thump¡± Is all we heard before he crashed mightily to the ground before the opening bedroom door. From the other side of the door, we hear ¡±Jackie? I am sorry if you can¡¯t evade a slowly moving door.¡±


    As the door opened it revealed the one behind it to be a more muscular male version of Sky. Short blonde hair, red eyes, handsome face of a 15-year-old teen. He had a well-toned body of a young man who works hard physical labor every day. His face was usually dashing but was currently covered in a sleepy expression that doesn¡¯t compliment it well. Sky and Noah are, against all opinions, twins.


    ¡±Is the old married couple act done already? Did they open the box without me?¡± He said to no one in particular as he stepped to the cluttered living room.


    ¡±We are not married!¡± ¡±It¡¯s not an act¡± came from the mouths of me and Sky. It seemed that neither of us wanted to comment on the old part but ill let that slide for now, as I blush at her statement. She blushed too but it is unclear whether she blushed because of her own statement or something else.


    ¡±Yeah, let''s open the box! I was coming to wake you up but it seems that you were one step ahead of me.¡±


    Under the pressure of three different people, I took out the box from its hiding place in the steep pocket of my pants.


    ¡±Here goes nothing,¡± I said and opened the box, slowly, without losing any hands.


    After opening the lid I glanced inside the box after checking that my hands were fine.


    What I saw shocked me so much that I pushed my head back up with strong force while yelling.


    ¡±They are devil fruits! There are fo OUCH!¡±


    I recoiled my head back down in pain as Jackie recoiled his back up. Caressing his chin which I hit with my head, he said ¡± Devil fruits?! And there are four of them?! Who can send such rare and expensive gifts to us? To you.¡± Excitement and suspicion clear in his voice.


    ¡±Are there actually devil fruits?¡± asked Sky and Noah at the same time. Both of the twins had sparkling eyes.


    ¡±Yes, and if this gets outside these walls we must get rid of them or be strong enough to own them.¡±


    I said grimly as the others started to remember the wealth that was now sitting in our living room.

 Chapter 3 - Dividing the fruits and discussing the future

    Dividing the fruits and planning the future


    After calming down we all sat around the dinner table. Each one of us had a different devil fruit in front of us and we were looking them up on our two devil fruit catalogs.


    ¡±Found yours yet?¡± Asked Jackie, turning to me.


    ¡±N¡± Was all I was able to get out of my mouth when Noah started yelling.


    ¡±I found mine! And you wont believe it¡¯s a logia.¡±


    Shit. We don¡¯t need that kind of attention. We should get rid of it fast. It¡¯s even canon. But I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s this exact one. Still we shouldn¡¯t play around with the butterfly effect. Should sell it as soon as possible.


    ¡±Aaand it¡¯s the mud one¡­ THE least cool one¡± He said casting a sad look at the wierdly green fruit of immesurable power.


    ¡±Does anyone want to become a mud man¡± ¡±or woman¡± ¡±¡­ or a mud woman.¡± I said releasing a sigh at Skys interruption. ¡±No one?¡± I asked and looked from the nonchalant Jackie to the un interested Sky and the sad Noah.


    ¡±If no one wants it then I am relieved, cause I don¡¯t want it either, I want to sell it. No matter what, some random brats from the Garbage dunes with logia powers makes waves anywhere, and not the pleasant little disturbing the calm sea like good waves. I mean the lack of waves and the receding shoreline of an incoming massive tsunami kind of waves. Luckily we can get rid of it at some auction house or going to a marine base, they would love any logia fruits for their troops. I support the auction house since then we don¡¯t have to be worried about us being tracked by the marines, though I suggest we sell it at grand line cause there will be more potential buyers there.¡±


    ¡±What do you mean grand line? Are you going to leave?¡± Asked Sky as she has a habit of noticing the meaning hidden between the lines.


    ¡±Not just me, all of us. Four kids find four devil fruits. Whats to say they don¡¯t find more? We are in danger as soon as any one of us eats any one of these fruits. Unless we go to the marines and climb the ranks fast there we don¡¯t have good enough protection. And the marines aren¡¯t actually that good of a choice. Just look they haven¡¯t even captured Gol. D. Roger yet and he and Garp the fist have clashed multiple times already.¡±


    ¡±Actually I heard they managed to capture Gold Roger.¡± Said Jackie.


    ¡±¡±¡±What!?!¡±¡±¡± We asked in unison. So IT will start soon. We need to hurry if we want to out run it to an extent. I still want to atleast interact with Luffy and his crew. Also I want to see Rogers execution. It''s just hard to get to East-Blue from our own West-Blue. Maybe these devil fruits can help us cross the red line, or we can go to the grand line and cross the calm belt, like the marines, but I can¡¯t remember how they did it, Its been so long since I watched One Piece and I can¡¯t even re watch it to refresh my memory.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡±Yeah,¡± continued Jackie getting excited ¡±They have captured the pirate king and they will execute him in three months, in his home town, Loguetown, the town of beginnings at East-Blue. I wish I could go see it.¡± He said yearning clear in his eyes. I agree It would be epic to see his execution, I am glad he shares my views so often. Well, he is my best friend after all.


    ¡±Maybe we can, we never know, after all we have three devil fruits still here.¡± I said and grinned while pulling Sky¡¯s and Noah¡¯s catalog from them and started looking for mine again.


    After some time I found mine and called the others ¡±Found mine¡± I simply said that and they came to me, Noah almost fell to the ground when his sister sprinted to my side.


    ¡±It is a paramecia and it allows the user to generate and manipulate clouds. Scale: small.¡±


    ¡±Cool isn¡¯t it¡± I asked the others who just shrugged and went to their seats. Pshh. They were just spoilt by the logia. ¡±You guys don¡¯t want it then?¡± I asked. ¡±Isn¡¯t it better to wait and see if the other fruits are better?¡± Asked Jackie, clearly not into the kumo kumo no mi. ¡±Suit yourselves¡± I replied a bit sulkily as my fruit is awesome, they just don¡¯t see it yet.


    I don¡¯t want to become a pirate. That¡¯s just an impossibility. Nor do I want to become the lapdog of Gorosei and the world government. I just want to adventure and see this world and its sights. Make some friends and battle some enemies. Just like luffy and the gang. My old self tried to help other people and died a miserable death. I will adventure this world and help those who I deem need help. Maybe that kid who got beat before my eyes was a rasist and deserved it¡­ Or maybe he was the one who got those thugs into jail in the first place. I don¡¯t know. Nor do I honestly care at this point. I¡¯ve decided since none of us have good impressions of the marines and the world government, yet all of the people in this room right now have a heart too good to be pirates, we¡¯ll just become adventurers. I know that there are pirates like the straw hats who don¡¯t kill and are people with good hearts. But the title of a pirate doesn¡¯t sit well with me. If that occupation doesn¡¯t exist well make it a reality. We might be the only ones but it doesn¡¯t matter. We¡¯ll sail the seas like marines, unhindered and help people, make merry like pirates and adventure to the paradise, new world, calm belt, raftel, mariejois, the moon and marineford, I want to see them all. And I want to be surrounded by my family while there. Much like Whitebeard and his crew. Much like luffy and the straw hats. Much like Gol D. Roger. That means they have to be strong. I need to be strong enough to protect them. And them strong enough to protect me and themselves. We need to train hard if we want to become a powerhouse in the coming era. We need to train our devil fruits, haki, generally get our strenght up, and if we are lucky we can recruit Nina back from the marines and she can train us in the six skills of the marines. We have a chef Sky, shipwright Noah, I and Jackie have no current roles other than our incoming combat potential. I can be the captain or maybe we can find someone worthy to lead our voyage.


    A sudden ¡±Got mine¡± woke me up from my dreams.


    ¡±Which one, what powers, is it good, is it cool?¡± Noah rapid fired questions to her sister, waiting impatiently.


    ¡±An ancient zoan: Neko Neko no mi. Model sabertoothe tiger¡± Wow. That cat annhialated another species. Species.


    ¡±We should keep it.¡± I said. ¡±Even though it¡¯s almsot rarer than a Logia, it has power to back it up. We can pretend like it is a normal Zoan, not an ancient one. We can sell it if it becomes a burden of we don¡¯t eat it.¡± Though it would be a shame to lose an ancient Zoan cause no one wanted it.


    I released a sigh at Noah¡¯s piercing eyes ¡±¡­ and it¡¯s cool.¡±


    ¡±Yes! It¡¯s cool, Jo said it so it must be true.¡± Noah celebrated.


    ¡±I found mine too,¡± said Jackie. ¡±It¡¯s a Paramecia that makes your body stretch. Called gomu gomu no mi.¡±


    Another sigh escapes my mouth.


    ... Really?

 Chapter 4 - Discussions

    Fuck me. I am fucked. Now we need to not only get out of here and to Grand-Line and fast then to the new world, we also need to get on the good side of Shanks, one of the future 4 emperors of the sea. And that name means a lot, in the power scale. Like the strongest swordsman in the world Miwahk scale. Just become equal with Shanks and just gift him the devil fruit or something. Maybe an honorable duel between men with the devil fruits as the stakes. That actually sounds kinda viable and fun. Okay, that''s the plan for now. Now I only need to persuade the others from eating or selling the gomu gomu no mi.


    ¡±So, what do you want to do with these fruits? Who eats one and who doesn¡¯t? Which one do we sell and which do we keep?¡± I asked from them, trying to not sound anxious


    ¡±We already agreed on selling the mud fruit,¡± said Noah, looking back and forth between the other two, having a small mental conversation between his sister while they locked eyes.


    ¡±I don¡¯t want any of these fruits.¡± Said Jackie kind of surprising me and the siblings. ¡±I value my ability to swim. It¡¯s even more important if we are really leaving this shit hole behind and actually go to the Grand-Line. Better save my fruit for someone else better suited.¡± I see, he has actually given this some thought, I should praise him for not letting the devil fruits cloud his judgment.


    ¡±Then I give up my current and any future devil fruits up for others. As our shipwright, it would be a damn shame if I accidentally drowned when going to repair the ship.¡± I see. A bold but praiseworthy statement, giving up on future devil fruits. While he may have momentarily forgotten how devil fruits work, Jackie''s reminder struck his dreams of becoming a devil fruit user down in an instant, as the job of a shipwright is his dream, hobby, passion and the thing he knows best.


    ¡±Then I guess I¡¯ll eat mine,¡± said Sky, looking embarrassed that she was the only one yet to eat their fruit. ¡±Sailing Grand-Line is undoubtedly going to be dangerous and we currently have combat prowess of minus one hundred, with us having no real combat experience, lack of nutrition meaning lack of training thus a lack of muscle.¡±


    She is a good chef and hopefully, the cat type Zoan will enhance her senses of smell, hearing, taste, and sight passively. Although we all knew what she said was right and totally waterproof, it still hurt at least my pride as a man and as a seasoned warrior, who died of a stray shot¡­


    ¡±Then I¡¯ll eat mine as well. I am interested in the prowess of this fruit, which we are going to need. That leaves us with one devil fruit we are going to sell and one we will keep for later. Now we have to discuss our future. Do you guys want to become pirates?¡± This may have been an unfair question to ask as currently, pirates are all pillager and killers.


    ¡±¡±¡±No, Nope, Not in a million years¡±¡±¡± were the answers I received. ¡±Then do you want to become marines?¡± Another unfair question. I just painted the marines in an extremely bad light and everyone here has a bad impression of the world government which doesn¡¯t help their subjects, us.


    ¡±¡±¡±Never, When did they ever help us, Aren¡¯t marines just underlings to the world government?¡±""


    ¡±Where did you hear that?¡± I question Jackie. ¡±You should never say anything like that while you¡¯re this weak. I know someone who went spouting those kinds of things, and then they weren''t anymore. They got took out. Fast.¡± I said that as grimly as possible to hammer home the point that they shouldn¡¯t cross the world government too much, or they will get hurt. I mean that old hobo must have been a defector from the world government or something, cause thinking back on him now, he knew way too much. He even knew about the gorosei AND described their faces accurately, as far as I can remember from the anime.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ¡±I just don¡¯t want any of you to do the wrong things. So If we don¡¯t want to be pirates or marines, what can we be between these two groups. I mean I have an idea but if you suggest anything I¡¯ll listen.¡±


    ¡±We can be traveling merchants or bounty hunters¡± Came from Noah to which I nodded. ¡±Merchants are a no go. What would we sell or buy? Bounty hunters might be good if we were alone, but if we travel as a bigger group most marines might think of us as pirates, you know with no visible marine tags and nothing to sell might leave marines with only one option¡± ¡±Undercover pirates. I see¡± Noah finished my sentence frowning.


    ¡±Yes. From what I see we have only one option and that is to become adventurers.¡± ¡±Become what?¡± asked Sky looking skeptical at the new term.


    ¡±You all know what adventures are yes? Good. Adventures are thrill-inducing journeys. And adventurers are the brave men and women seeking that exact same thrill of journeying to the unknown and discovering new and wondrous places with, of course, new adventures, enemies, friends, rivals and such.¡± I finished my dramatic telling expecting excitement and got it from only one pair of eyes, Noah¡¯s.


    ¡±Why so serious looks?¡± I asked trying to hide the disappointment of failure deep in my heart.


    ¡±First of all, we would make enemies of the pirates just by existing and living the free life that they worked so hard for. Second, we are still not immune against the world government and the marines by only being neutral they can still put a bounty on us and we would become enemies no matter what.¡± Answered Sky.


    ¡±Well then what do you suggest?¡± I asked sulkily after my adventurer plan has been virtually decimated. We can still adventure the seas and make enemies and rivals if we are pirates, but a lot of our options would be limited if we were to become a pirate crew.


    ¡±I suggest that we go to sleep, as we all are clearly agitated from all the news and talk about this tomorrow again. Let''s just sleep on it and tomorrow same time as today, we will discuss this again. Without any groundbreaking news, I hope.¡± She said and rose from her sleep.


    She was right, somewhere along the way it had grown so dark that candles had to be lit.


    ¡±Fine, we¡¯ll sleep on it,¡± I agreed grumpily, ¡±But let¡¯s just eat our devil fruits now, so as to not risk anything,¡± I said and started munching on my bright pink banana. She just shrugged and took a bite out of her white apple. It tasted truly horrendous. Like vomit mixed with sugar and re vomited. Makes me want to vomit. As far as I can see through the tears in my eyes Sky was having the same reaction. Right after the first bite had entered my stomach I felt a connection to the clouds above us. Only they were so high up that I had a hard time trying to reach them. It¡¯s probably impossible for a while. Trying to make weather phenomenon like Dragon¡¯s happen. On the other hand, I think that I could create some clouds right now If I tried hard enough. Sky was already experimenting with hers and the other two watched on with awe and excitement. Zoan fruits have two, technically three, transformations. Your normal form, animal normal hybrid, full animal. She was currently in her animal-human hybrid mode, and she grew two huge fangs from her mouth, curving down towards her jaw. She tried to open her mouth to the fullest and when she did that her mouth snapped open more than ninety degrees. We were all shocked. She snapped her mouth closed and held her hands before it, trying to figure out how it was possible that her jaw didn¡¯t break.


    ¡±That¡¯s so freaking cool!¡± Noah¡¯s eyes were like two headlights almost fully open and it looked hilarious.


    Sky, while looking embarrassed, started transforming slowly into her full animal mode. Her Sabertooth cat form was golden. Almost fully golden fur coupled with her massive fangs and piercing red eyes was a terrifying combination to be faced with. Though now she was only muscle and no technique. I need to start training her with hand to hand combat techniques that I remember. But that will have to be tomorrow. I need to sort my old memories as well as think up a training program for us all.


    And a way to make money quickly.

 Chapter 5 - Training

    Chapter 5 - Training


    Yesterday when we ate the devil fruits I didn¡¯t have much time to experiment with mine, I wasn¡¯t even thinking about it at the time. While walking back to the clearing I was at yesterday when I received my old memories, I started thinking about experiments for my abilities and trying to come up with a training regiment for my family members.


    We aren¡¯t blood-related, hell I think that Noah and Sky are both children of world nobles. Just the way they carried themselves all those years ago when we first met. It must have been like ten years ago by now.


    As I was reminiscing about the past, I had already walked to my little hideout in the middle of the forest. I stood In the middle of the clearing, emptying my mind of any stray thoughts and started to activate my newfound powers.


    ¡±First will be, generating clouds!¡± I shouted inside my head and watched in wonder as a small cloud began forming right before me. It took a couple of seconds to fully form but that was only because I am inexperienced in generating clouds as, naturally, this was my first time doing so. Even so, I felt that it should have been a quicker process. ¡±Well, maybe through practice will I be quicker. After all, even Luffy had a hard time controlling his rubber body when he was young. Okay, I can generate clouds, cool, what else can I do?¡± I spoke to no one but myself. I willed the cloud to come closer, and it came surprisingly fast. Maybe it¡¯s because I am closer to it that I can manipulate it faster. My connection to this little one seems way more powerful than to those up above. Though it might be because this one was made by me and not mother nature. I tried touching my newly generated cloud friend and surprisingly it was similar to a rubber ball, it had elasticity but didn¡¯t give in and behaved a lot like clouds in the sky islands, meaning it can support some weight on it before it dispersed. Exactly three boulders or about 40 ¨C 50 kilograms of weight.


    Rubber ball might have been a wrong comparison, my clouds behaved, after thorough experimentation, more like a chair with some padding. Soft on the outer layer but hard and solid on the inside. These were the normal clouds. I also could make rainclouds which were dark blue containing almost infinite amounts of liquid. I could make the rainclouds rain down normal rain, hail, and snow. I could also make thunderclouds but they sap a lot of my energy and while I can release the thunder sealed inside the clouds, I cant direct it¡¯s striking point. Thunderclouds also have unlimited amounts of thunder in them.


    So far I could only come up with some combat applications but that didn¡¯t bother me much, as my main weapon would be a staff and haki. My clouds will be in a more of a supporting role, such as creating footholds and changing the battlefield. I also experimented a little on my idea of making a personal cloud to transport me to battle. So far I can support myself on the cloud if I make it bigger, but making it move with me on top of it is still hard. My sense of balance is completely fucked while I¡¯m on top of it. Maybe I should make some handles for my own safety.


    I realized as I was walking back home, that I had completely forgotten to even start making a training regiment for us. When I reached our front door, I had already formulated our training regiment. We just needed to decide on some basic matters such as our weapons, when to leave and when to sell our fruit. Opening the front door while in my thoughts, I almost walked into Jackie who was reaching for the door with his head in the other direction, talking to someone. I almost walked into his outreaching hand.


    ¡±Sorry Josef, I was just coming to pick you up, as you would have been late otherwise.¡± He said and took back his hand from my face. ¡±Nah, it¡¯s fine. I almost walked into you just now, its not your fault.¡±


    ¡±Let¡¯s get straight to the point, ¡± I said as I saw that everyone was gathered already. ¡±I have a few questions that need answering and I think you¡¯ll find them interesting as well. Let¡¯s discuss our plans for the future first as they were left little unclear last night.¡±


    ¡±What else do you want to discuss?¡± Asked Noah, as he was apparently ready to leave already.


    ¡±First of all, I didn¡¯t actually ask this of you yesterday, but do you all want to actually leave from here. With the training regiment and skills, I will teach you guys soon, you could live like kings in this shit hole. I¡¯ll just say this first here, I want to leave. I want to see everything and anything this wonderful world has to offer and I would like to join me on my adventure.¡± I said it. My grand ambition born yesterday. Instead of my earlier day to day survival attitude, now that my old memories lie in my head, I have the power at my fingertips to roam this world as a powerful person among many others. I stared in silence towards my friends, family members.


    They truly are closer than family to me. Jackie is a gentle giant who is a little less gifted in I.Q scale but is truly talented at handling our emotional states and our personalities frequent clashing. He is necessary for us to retain sanity. The glue that holds us all together.


    Sky is the beautiful rose of our family, with its thorns of course. Now with the maturity of my old memories, I have found that I am thinking her a lot more and sometimes she just pops into my head from nowhere and I get distracted. Her cooking is awesome and brought me solace many times when I had a particularly depressing day.


    Noah can be annoying but I truly think of him as my younger brother that I never had and he is reliable to the point that I would leave my life in his hands. I looked at them all and they looked back. I know that they picked up on my insecure tone, from their looks. They now know how I feel.


    Jackie was the first to respond and broke the silence. ¡±I will leave with you. With all we¡¯ve been through here together I can¡¯t just leave you alone. Who knows when Sky will kill you¡±.¡± He said with a smile on his face. ¡±Plus there is a place on the Grand-Line where I want to visit as well.¡± ¡±Where?¡± I asked with relief in my voice. And his response left me shocked.


    ¡±The village of warriors. Elbaf. My late mother used to tell that our family was from there before she was even born, and her goal in life was to reach Elbaf. Unfortunately, she passed before she made it there, but I will go there in her place.¡± So he really was part giant. How can he remember something like this? We have known each other since we were like 4. Maybe she made him memorize the name before she passed. I thought maybe since he was really tall for his age, but giants are almost twenty meters tall. I wonder how Jackie''s giant blood shows itself? Through height or through strength?


    ¡±We will also go with you. We have a goal that we need to reach no matter what. We were going to leave this place sometime soon, but there never was any opportunities to tell you guys or an opportunity to leave.¡± Said Sky looking apologetic. I was in a shock. These two who I¡¯ve known for almost 10 years now we''re going to leave. And they might not have even informed us about it.


    ¡±Where do you need to go?¡± I asked while masking my chaotic emotions.


    ¡±Mariejois¡±


    ¡­


    ¡±Fine, we¡¯ll take you there, but I want to hear the full story some other time¡± There is no way in hell that we would be let away easily when we go to Mariejois. But luckily that is one of the places on my bucket list, so it¡¯s on the way. Somehow. Even if there is no one clear way.


    Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have given her the ancient zoan fruit. Well, what¡¯s done is done.


    ¡±The next order of business is our weaponry. What will you use to fight? I can train you in hand to hand combat but I will use a staff. I don¡¯t know any other fighting styles or weapons proficiently enough to teach you. I can give you pointers regarding the weapons you should use, but it¡¯s ultimately your choice.¡± I let them ponder for a while. This decision should be left to them.


    ¡±I am also thinking of recruiting Nina to our crew. As her being a marine will be beneficial to us. And she knows most, if not all of the Marines six powers. Having trained them for five years, I am sure she is good enough to teach them to us. Plus, she is strong.¡± This news left Jackie ecstatic and Sky looked ready to kill for whatever reason. Jackie had had a little bit of a crush on Nina, who was the only girl coming close to his height, and her personality matched very well with his. Actually, they were the opposites, she was hot-headed and got easily enraged, while Jackie is gentle and likes to take his time with things.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡±Really?! I¡¯d love to see her again. But will she accept and join us if we are pirates?¡± He said.


    ¡±That brings me to my second question. Yesterday I asked you whether you¡¯d want to become pirates or marines or what I¡¯d call adventurers. I kind of made that question unfair. Remember what I said, it had no positives and only the negatives. As I wanted you all to join my cause I skewed the question to be more persuasive to me. I apologize for that.¡± I said and bowed deeply. I had to do this or it would have bugged me my entire life, for taking away their freedom of choice and I doubt that would have been the last time I¡¯d do something like that.


    Looking up I saw them, their differing emotional states being clear in their faces. Mild anger and distrust from the brother-sister pair for only a second and relief and anger from Jackie''s side.


    ¡±Why would you do something like this?¡± Asked sky, face cool and controlled.


    ¡±I only wanted us to stay together. I would have accepted if any of you wanted to become pirates or marines, but I only wanted us to stay together and out of trouble.¡±


    ¡±Well I¡¯m glad you came forward with this, but I¡¯d prefer if you wouldn¡¯t do this kind of things to us anymore. I understand that you only wanted the best for us and that is why I¡¯ll leave it at that.¡± Said Jackie with a smile on his face. Why you gotta be so cool, man. Damn. I can tell that Sky only accepted my apology when Jackie accepted it. Noah was still looking distrusting of me as this was their chance to get to Mariejois. He¡¯d come around, I know he would.


    ¡±With my heart being settled we come to the question of how to sail the seas. Pirates, marines or some unaffiliated method. As much as I am eager to go adventuring we aren¡¯t strong enough. There are many beings that could kill us with a wave of their hand. Either the pirates or the marines. Doesn¡¯t matter which we choose, both sides have extremely guys working for them. That being said I suggest that we wait some time before making a final decicion. We need to train. Have you come to a conclusion on how and with what you want to fight?¡±


    They looked puzzeled for a moment before realising that I changed the topic to the one we had earlier. Jackie was first to answer. ¡±With my strength, I think I¡¯d prefer just using my fists. Plus all these weapons and learning all of the aspects sounds tiring enough for me to lose interest.¡±


    ¡±Sure. I can train you in hand to hand combat. Is there some kind of fighting style you¡¯d prefer. In the fights that we¡¯d had you always used your body to your advantage, so maybe something akin to krav maga or ...¡±This muttering went on a little while until Noah stoppd me ¡±You lost us when you started talking about different unknown styles¡± ¡±Wha- oh yeah. Sorry. I¡¯ve decided on a martial art for you Jackie. One that will make good use of your heritage and current fighting style.¡± ¡±Nice. But where did you learn something like that. You certaintly didn¡¯t know how to fight when I¡¯ve had to save you multiple times from the local gang members.¡± Shit. Fucking old life memories confusing me. Phew. Relax. ¡±Remember everyday when I wanish to my hideout in the woods for the whole day? What do you think I was doing? Nothing? How could I do nothing for the whole day. No. I¡¯ve been practising.¡± ¡±How come you don¡¯t gain any muscle then?¡± Shiiit. Freaking sharp eyed witch. Damn you Sky. When did you sneek a peek at my non existent abs. ¡±Martial Arts isn¡¯t all about muscles. I.. It¡¯s also about the thecnique. Thats what I¡¯ve been training, more than muscles. Enough about that. Sky, have you decided?¡± She sighed ¡±Yes, I¡¯ll also take your hand to hand combat lessons.¡± She said and I shifted my focus from her to Noah as I don¡¯t want to be exposed more.


    ¡±Actually I think you shoould go with knives in both hands. You are ambidextreous right? It¡¯d be a shame not to use such a gift for your own advantage.¡± I said while turning back to Sky. She looked puzzeled. ¡±How did you know that? I know for a fact that i¡¯ve never said it out loud.¡± ¡±You use both hands when you cook. Specificially you use a knife in both of your hands. I¡¯ve seen you do it, and know that it¡¯s almost impossible to do without being ambidextrous. So you¡¯ll be getting hand-to-hand combat and two knives. Cool. Noa,h you¡¯re next¡± I turned back to him.


    ¡±I¡¯d rather not fight¡­ if possible?¡± ¡±Not possible. You have to atleast learn hand to hand combat for now and maybe a weapon in the future. The places we¡¯re going to aren¡¯t friendly and the people we meet will want to kill us. Decide on something and you¡¯ll devote your life to that. Jackie for example, he can throw a mean kick with his strength and big build, but that doesn¡¯t matter if the opponent is faster than him and dodges. Normal people fight with their fists and sometimes with their legs. But martial artists fight with their whole body. Fists, Elbows, Legs, Knees, Shins and heels. Not only does that give a lot more variety, youll also learn to temper your body and spirit. This world is a magical world where fruits can give people the powers to harness lightning, become the master of fire and turn people to stone or steal their shadows and make use of them. In this world, there are huge sea monsters that roam the seas and snack on warships. And people indistingushable from you and me who have their morning swim next to these monsters and they aren¡¯t the least bit afraid cause they know, the monsters know, and the rest of the world knows that almost nothing can hurt them. In this world, our bodies can surpass human limitations. We only need a strong enough will. If you fear hard work then you can never improve.¡±


    I ended my speech and stared at Noah who was speechless from my psuedo-pep talk and said, ¡±Don¡¯t you have somewhere you need to go. Do you think you can just sail there all willy nilly and just be a passenger while others fight. If you have 500 000 000 Beli then maybe. But you don¡¯t have, do you. That¡¯s why you need to forge your own path to the goal you want to achieve. Pirate king Gol D. Roger is a man you can take as an example. You can say anything you want about him but he certaintly left his mark in history.¡± He¡¯ll leave an ever bigger mark soon. It felt like I said these words more for myself than for him. Something like sementing my detrmination. Something along the lines of not dying in a random alley and being remembered.


    ¡±Don¡¯t worry. Something like your future shouldn¡¯t be decided in a few minutes. For now, you¡¯ll only take the hand to hand combat class. IF you find a weapon you¡¯re interested in just tell me. I might or might not be able to help you, but I¡¯ll do my best.¡±


    ¡±Okay, we got weapons covered, I will now speak about my hand to hand combat course. Two hours of every morning will be used in training self-defense and building up muscle Specificially we start at seven am. Now I know that his will impact you jobs and routine, so I¡¯ve decided to go and sell the mud mud logia fruit in the city. West blue¡¯s biggest trading hub, The Vulkk city must have some auction houses or similiar things. I will then make our living standards rise by two hundred percent. Getting us a house in the merchant district near the stores with good security. Also, it¡¯s the closest to the shore. I¡¯ll get us a few good cooks and a butler. These are a must if we are to fully focus on our training.


    There is a one hour resting period after morning practise where we will eat breakfast and rest. At ten a¡¯ clock comes individual practise for two hours until twelve. From twelve you have three hours of free time, do what you want. At two there will be lunch served Three pm to five will be combat practise. Five to seven will be a common time for us to deepen our friendship and comradarie, this is also the place to socialise with our future crewmates. Then at seven there will be dinner and after that free until seven am the next day.¡±


    ¡±You said with future crewmates, what do you mean? It won¡¯t be just us?¡± Asked sky in a slightly distressed voice which I just dismissed to be the anxiety of meeting new people and not fear of and lack of trust to other people.


    ¡±Well, we don¡¯t have a navigator, and while you can make good food, do you really know what kind on nutrition person needs most just by hearing the symptoms or the name of the ilness. That is why I need you to get better and thought of getting you a teaher or someone knowleagable. Hell maybe we can just get good chefs and have them teach you , it¡¯d save money. Neither do we have a capable doctor. You never know what kind of ilness one gets out in the Grand Line, not how to treat it, not how they got it, nor how to defend one against it, is it infecitous or not, is it lethal or not. These two are the ones we need to actually even leave. Ones i¡¯d like, for variuos reasons, to have are a Sniper, Historian/Archeologist, Muscician/Singer and last but not least a tinkerer/scientist/weapons maker I don¡¯t really care who but someone with a creative and quick mind. And before you ask, I thought of inviting Nina bbecause she is strong and because she know the marines six powers.¡± I said that last part while looking at Sky and she just rolled her eyes at me.


    ¡±This is just a foundational schedule, it can be altered for person-to-person if need be. We won¡¯t be using this schedule until I get us a new place. You all have tomorrow free right?¡± I asked and although I knew the answer I wanted to be sure, and thankfully I was right according to their bouncing heads.


    ¡±Tomorrow I will introduce you guys to training. In two days I¡¯ll go to the city and look for a place to sell the devil fruit. Who wants to come with me?¡± All three raised their hands, but sky opened her mouth. ¡±I think I should come. I have a devil fruit power and can protect you and the money. Also when we go shopping for all the different things we need, I¡¯ll keep track of the spent money so we can save some for later.¡±


    ¡±Okay, Sky is going with me then.¡± I said and Jackie and Noah looked almost deoressed that they weren¡¯t allowed to go with me.


    ¡±While I have nothing else to talk about. Do you guys have anything you want to talk about. Anything piques your interest while I talked?¡±


    ¡±What kind of weapon will you use, Josef?¡±


    ¡±Good question Jackie. I¡¯ll be using a staff. For now, it will have to be just from normal wood or metal, but I hope that one day I¡¯ll get some wood from the treasure tree Adam and make my staff out of that.¡±


    ¡±I really want to make a ship out of Adam tree¡­ Did you guys know that supposedly the pirate king¡¯s ship the, Oro Jackson, was made from Adam tree?¡± Noah interjected with longing in his voice.


    ¡±Too bad that it¡¯s expensive and rare. I heard that Adam wood enough for a small ship was sold for AT LEAST 200 million Berries.¡± I shot him down fast.


    ¡±Damn it.¡±


    ¡±Well if you got no other questions then I¡¯ll retire for the night. Goodnight and look forward to tomorrow¡± I said as I walked away from the cramped common room.

 Chapter 6 - Town

    Chapter -6


    At my little hideout in the woods, I was true to my words I said yesterday and I gathered all of three willing or unwilling participants here to train in self-defense. Sky, Jackie, and Noah are facing me in a straight line.


    ¡±What I am teaching you today is to be used strictly in self-defense. Hell, it doesn¡¯t even have many full frontal combat applications. It¡¯s called krav.. you know, it doesn¡¯t matter what it¡¯s called. Just know that this martial art focuses on defusing many different situations, such as..¡± I motioned to Jackie and he walked to me while looking puzzled. I put his body to face me. I gave him a knife, he took it to his right hand and I positioned him like he would be able to easily swing or thrust the knife into my body. An advantageous position so to speak. ¡± Just stay there and don¡¯t do anything unless I say so. Good. Now you have a few options if you¡¯re faced with a situation like this. Any idea how to handle this?¡± I shot a quick question to them. ¡±Get rid of the knife¡± Noah yelled not so loud.


    ¡±Good. That¡¯s the first step and there are a couple of ways to do this. First, you need to get rid of the knife, many would just try to slap the knife away and run away. Now, while admittedly. this might work once, luck plays a part in every interaction and we want certainty, so we need to be certain that this combatant is out for a while to make a good escape. To guarantee certainty this next move was added. First, we get rid of the knife by slapping it, but we need to create space for the next move so we slap it upwards in an angle so we get the arm out of the way. Like this.¡± I Demonstrated with Jackie and talked at the same time.


    ¡±Now you have got your space and you must use it to your advantage. How?¡± They hesitated for a moment and Noah came through again. ¡±Kick em¡¯ in the nuts.¡± He said jokingly and was left aghast as I complimented him and demonstrated just that. ¡±Yes. Good. Really good. Exactly that. No matter the opponent''s gender, a kick to the groin paralyzes them and leaves you with ample time to make your escape.¡± I demonstrated a few times with Jackie being the attacker and with me being the attacker.


    I demonstrated a few more techniques one for disabling an unarmed person much larger than you, one for disarming a person with a firearm and couple more for disarming and disabling a combatant with a knife or another bladed weapon. Though not a sword. I could probably dodge a sword with my honed reflexes, which, and I tested, had come with some muscle memory from my past life. For muscle memory, it was self-defense combat and some staff techniques. Now the only thing needed for us is repetition and muscle training.


    After an hour of repetition, we stopped and had something to drink. We still had about half an hour for two hours I had planned for were full.


    ¡±Now there¡¯s something I¡¯d like to try, please entertain my selfishness for some odd thirty minutes.¡± I got their approval and summoned a small white cloud about 1 meter long and wide, and was as thick as 50cm.


    ¡±Cool! Can you summon anything else, like rainclouds or thunderclouds?¡± Noah asked while poking the cloud excitedly. Jackie looked fascinated as well and Sky¡­ Well, Sky saw that I had started using my devil fruit and transformed herself and was not paying any significant interest in me and my cloud. Sigh.


    ¡±Yea, I can summon rain, thunder, and snow-producing clouds. And with a normal cloud like this, I can do something neat... Like this!¡± I Jumped to the cloud and after some balancing, I stood straight on my little personal cloud and controlled it to move forward with a walking pace as I would have fallen down had I been going at any faster pace. This one didn¡¯t disperse as I jumped on it cause I made it thicker by stacking two clouds together and making them look like one cloud.


    ¡±WOW, YOU CAN FLY?!?! Seriously I want that power!¡±


    ¡±I thought you wanted to be able to swim.¡± I retorted to Noah with a smug smile on my face.


    ¡±DAMN IT ALL!¡± He shouted in agony as I slowly flew past him multiple times while being extremely smug. Fun times.


    ¡±Okay enough playing around, you got something to try yes?¡± Sky dampened my mood a little bit as she interrupted my torment. Oh well, now to the fun stuff.


    ¡±*Coughs* Yes I wanted to try a new technique I thought overnight. If I stack my clouds like this ¡­ and then ¡­. Yes! It should be good now. SKY! Can you come and punch this as hard as you can¡± I had made a wall of clouds. As I previously had stated the clouds can hold weight but I haven¡¯t tested how they fare against impacts. Hopefully,  they can hold themselves together against impacts of her fist.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Sounds of clouds dissipating


    Aaaaand it didn¡¯t. Nice. Well, that is a successfull experiment in a way. After all, I discovered that it didn¡¯t hold against Sky¡¯s transformation packed punch. We tested all four types of clouds that I could produce. Normal clouds don¡¯t have much defensive power and get destroyed easily. Snow clouds have high defense power but little to no combat applications for now. Rain clouds are largely the same as snow clouds but can support more weight than snow clouds, as such they are destined to be footholds I create in battle and not shiel material. Thunder clouds have the most offensive power, and while I can¡¯t control where they strike if I release the thunder, if I keep it inside the clouds they strike the first entity that comes into contact with the clouds. Hmmm. Maybe I should make it look like a pillow. Focus Snow clouds in the middle so it gets more defensive power and line the edges with thunder clouds so that I can rotate it and send it to attack like a shuriken if need be.


    I started working on it and slowly everyone gathered started wathing the ever transofrming clouds in front of me.


    After ten minutes I felt that it was complete and decied to test it again. I even added some thunder cloud ribbons to each of the four edges to make it more pleasing to look and have more reach. This time I warned Sky that she should be ready for a counter attack. I figured this should be a good lesson about dodging attacks. And if she didn¡¯t dodge¡­ well I lowered the amount of thuder clouds and just replaced them with rainclouds, but it¡¯s only temporary.


    Sound of clouds not dissipating?


    ¡±Yes, that¡¯s a success, now take my counter attack!¡± I got a little high spirited and sent Sky flying when my pillow hit her.


    ¡±HELP MEEEE AAAHHha aaahh aah aah...¡± ¡±Shite...¡±


    I quickly reacted and created some normal white fluffy clouds on top of rain clouds to make her fall soft but so that she wouldn¡¯t fall through the white fluff.


    ¡±Phew. Went British there for a second.¡± seeing nothing serious happened I sighed and joked a bit to relax my tenseness.


    In the en,d nothing happened, but it served as a reminder for me on how to use my powers and taught caution to Sky and the others, as to what a small mistake in judgement on BOTH sides can cause.


    Today me and Sky are going to the city to try to sell the Devil Fruit. Best places would probably be an action house managed by the mayor or an underground place. We would just need to find it first.


    ¡±Halt!¡±


    ¡±Why should we?¡± I asked from the guard who was in his little guard box, clearly doing nothing important.


    ¡±You¡¯re from the trash dunes right? In that case, you need to use the side door.¡±


    ¡±But why?¡±


    ¡±Cause normal people don¡¯t wan¡¯t trash coming in from the front door.¡± He snorted at his own response and just pointed to the side.


    What the hell. You mean we can¡¯t even go in from the front gate and need to use some old side door. Going along the wall for a bit we arrived at the side door that we presumed was the rght one.


    Getting through that one while being stared at by the guards and passerbys was not the best start to a day but I kept the incoming money in my mind.


    ¡±Excuse me but can you kindly tell us where we could sell some rare and or exqusite things?¡±


    Even though I really didn¡¯t want to interact with the guards I really needed the information.


    ¡±Well there is the auction house belonging to the rich merhants but I wouldn¡¯t use that, since they rip you off. Then there is the government auction house which is reliable but take some off from your profit. Ahh! There is a really big auction coming up and I hear some tenruybito are coming for that aswell. Where is that? Ah, It will be in the government auction house in ten days. Where is that then? Well, it¡¯s just a couple of turns away here is a map.¡±


    ¡±Thanks¡± I thanked the man and ran away with Sky. Turned out to be a good decision after he realised that he had rambled some pretty serious secrets to some kid and cursed us loudly.


    After putting some distance between us we asked to see a map of the city and the kind ladytold us how to get to a information board in the middle of the city.


    ¡±Just walk straight and take a left and you will get to a clearing with few benches. There is an information board right there kiddies.¡±


    She was a sweet old lady but maybe too old as we backtracked for the fourth time. And even double checked with her.


    ¡±Oh, youngsters in this day and age are so used to being given everything. Look I may have gotten it wrong but you should have been able to find it. Just take a right here and walk straight until you see a citysquare. There will be an information board for you. Now shoo!¡±


    Maybe the very different advice she gave this time will be correct. I glanced back at Sky who was clearly having a hard time believeing my re-assuring.


    After an hour we finally found something like an info board. It¡¯s now almost midday and quite hot. With what little money I had saved up I bought Sky and myself a few cold drinks. We found a relatively silent and quiet spot to sit and started sipping our milkshakes. She had a chocolate flavoured banana milkshake and I had forest berrie mixed with some vanilla flavouring. I have to give it to them it¡¯s pleasingly cold at this hot day and also good enough to even be palated by Big Mom, I presume. It was peaceful. Trees surrounded us and gave a natural curtain for us to hid behind while a small pond was tranquil right a head of our bench.


    ¡±Why do you need to go to Mariejois?¡±


    The world froze. Little birds flew in fear of something, though it felt that it wa because of me. Sun went behind a dark cloud (that I didn¡¯t conjure). The little speech of people around us faded out.


    I slurped my milkshake and Realised that Sky had started shaking.


    ¡±Cause I need to know one thing, are you two children of dragons?¡±

 Chapter 7 - Piercy D. Tessa (1)

    Chapter 7


    POV ¨C Piercy D. Tessa


    Phew. *Wipes off sweat* It was hard enough escaping those slavers on my own but these asshats needed saving. Well, I did defeat those slavers and I am pretty sure some of them had bounties from the world government but they never acted to catch them since they provide slaves to the detestable Celestial Dragons.


    Now what to do, I am somewhere in West-Blue, in some random city. A beautiful girl like me will be in danger alone.


    The one who was thinking these kinds of narcissistic things was Piercy D. Tessa. Granted she was all things considered a very beautiful girl. She had a small head filled to the brim with fiery red silky smooth hair going down along her back, like a river of fire. Her face would be considered beautiful her eyes blue like gems of water, her 18-year-old body matched her face as it had become quite tempting to men. Though the two katana at her side deterred most men and her skill in those katana made the few undeterred go away, either in one piece or in multiple. Her good-looking face was ruined now as her wound from the latest fight had re-opened on her cheek. It was now bleeding quite profusely as she had gotten absorbed in her thinking and forgot to add pressure to her wound.


    ¡±Shit. It¡¯s going all over my almost-not-so-but-almost new clothes. Do I still have money when I left home? Wait...¡± She had a realization as she gazed at the three unconscious men at her feet and an evil smirk started for in her face.


    ¡±I apologize for the intrusion in your pants¡­  Wait that sounds wrong.¡± She sneakily said that and giggled to her own joke as she reached for the pouches at their waists.


    ¡± 700.. 800.. 900.. 10 000 beli. I should get some new clothes and food with this.¡±


    She left the robbed guys unconscious as they were and left with glee looking forward to her new clothes.


    After an hour of shopping when bags had started to build upon her arms and sun had started to retreat she realized that she had nowhere to spend the night. I got a couple of kimonos and some casual clothes as well. Now the only thing needed was a house and food.


    While she was standing at one place she heard the sounds of a scuffle happening nearby. While she wasn¡¯t the noblest or justice driven people around she found herself edging closer to where the sounds were coming from.


    Across the street in an alleyway hidden from the glance of normal people and only someone who looks for it can find it there was a fight in the making. Tessa found herself looking at two against five situation with three others down on the ground, either unable to fight or unconscious. The clearly trained thugs were fighting against a couple of teens. A girl and a boy. The girl had blonde hair and short stature while the boy was taller and had brown skin, afro, and wings. Tessa found this extremely fascinating as she had never seen a person with natural brown skin and/or wings. Or an afro to be honest. He was also fighting extremely confidently and proficiently unarmed. The girl had now begun transforming into a monster of a sort and she also grabbed Tessa''s interest.


    After she¡¯d transformed the other side got scared and started to panic and flee. Seeing that they needed no help finishing the fight Tessa left the scene, memorizing the pair''s faces and went to find a hotel or an inn to spend the night at. Also, she had managed to grab some unfortunate poor guys money bag and had thusly bought herself a VIP night.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡±What a refreshing morning!¡± A beautiful woman said out loud while only wearing a nightgown and standing totally exposed at a balcony. People stared and gossiped. Admittedly she was beautiful and the nightgown only covered her private areas.


    ¡±Nice. She looks good at that. Though she looked even better without it last night¡± Tessa was reminiscing about last night and winked at the woman on the balcony and went away to look for some breakfast.


    After getting a hearty breakfast of some donuts and fruits she started exploring the city she now knows to be Valkk.


    Tessa wondered around the merchant streets and found many interesting things and lots of good food she liked.


    After a couple of hours, she found herself out of the city in some empty shipyard, listening to people talk or one man talk and other grunted pained responses while eating snacks.


    ¡±You can¡¯t leave, your designs make us so much mone¡­ I mean you know nothing of substance. You only know some superficial skills. Compared to a real shipwright you are just a newborn babe. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll teach you all the skills needed to become a top-class shipwright. So YOU just need to stay there and design some ships and let me ¡±teach¡± you how to become a good shipwright.


    Mwahahahahaaa. Like you''ll ever get any good. You just don¡¯t have any talent for this. Your body isn¡¯t made for this.¡±


    The older man left and went straight past Tessa like he never saw her. The young blonde was lying on the floor and seemed to be in pain after being repeatedly punched and kicked. After a couple of seconds though, when he was sure that the older man had left the building he rose easily and just dusted his clothes like he¡¯d just fallen on the floor and not gotten beat till the point all he could do was lay there.


    ¡±Learnt nothing of substance bullshit. I¡¯ve read all the books of shipbuilding and maintenance that you just leave laying around cause you don¡¯t have any patience to read. I can replicate all the ships you¡¯ve built and MY designs make you 70% of all the profits you get. If I don¡¯t have any talent in shipbuilding then at least I have talent in acting since you never noticed that I didn¡¯t even punch back cause that would have cripple you permanently. No kids, like ever. Well, at least we will be leaving soon. I almost have the ship ready and Sky has become a really good chef. Jackie is strong and tall as hell so I needed to make the doors and rooms extra tall. We still need a good doc before Jo agrees to leave. And I see his point but I can¡¯t take this much longer. Thank god Nina is a good navigator and a teacher. Geppo is such a useful move. Soru too. I still need to find a fighting style for me. I can go a good distance with just the martial arts that Jo taught us but I¡¯d still need a specialty. Jackie has his myai thai, Jo uses his staff, Sky has her daggers and Nina uses her katana. I need something that will make me stand out from a normal pirate and let me contend against the best of them.¡±


    Interesting he knows fo the Marines six powers yet isn¡¯t a marine. They are planning to become pirates and are going to leave soon, though they need a doctor. There is a swordswoman who uses a katana, I need to see her sometime. Wait, that¡¯s not so important. Interesting information gained today. I might be able to tun this situation to my advantage.


    ¡±Are you going to creepily smirk there the whole time or you gonna do something?¡±


    The blonde¡¯s face was very near her¡¯s, and that shocked her to her core.


    ¡±Ninjutsu technique: Emergency escape!¡± What was left of her was a leaf floating in the air for a couple of seconds.


    ¡±What! That¡¯s so cool! Is she a Ninja? Maybe she can teach me to become a Ninja. That¡¯d be so cool. Too bad I scared her away. Well, I¡¯ll probably see her around and if not nothing is lost. Except the ninja techniques! Arrrgh!¡±


    While the young man lamented his failure and gushed over the mysterious woman¡¯s ninjutsu, Tessa herself was getting over the fact that she had gotten flustered to the point of escaping without making sure he wouldn¡¯t expose her secret.


    ¡±Damn it all to hell. How come I¡¯d be surprised just because his face was near mine. Ridiculous. Me a trained samurai and ninja. A shame to my home country. Oh well not like I had some pride for that shit hole anyway.¡±

 Chapter 8 - Piercy D. Tessa (2)

    Chapter 8


    POV ¨C Piercy D. Tessa


    After lamenting her secrets exposal she decided that it didn¡¯t matter as he had no way of training in her ninja ways without a proper teacher.


    ¡±Well, I better leave before some stray becomes attracted to me. As of now my plan of action will be a shower and then I¡¯ll try to contact these people and see If we can¡¯t work out something.¡± After deciding on her future actions she started to clean the trash from her hair and clothes. Unluckily she had appeared at the ¡± Endless dunes of garbage¡±.


    ¡±What the hell. Why is there something like this in this city? Just garbage all around me, why? Why did I appear here, ARGGHH! Why can¡¯t I choose where I appear with the emergency escape?¡±


    ¡±SHUT UP! WE ARE TRYING TO WORK HERE! IF YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THEN YOU CAN HELP US, BUT FOR THE LOVE OF MOTHER NATURE DON¡¯T MAKE SO MUCH NOICE!¡±


    ¡±Ninjutsu technique: Emergency escape!¡±


    ¡­


    ¡±Hey, Jackie! ¡­ JACKIE!¡± ¡±WHAT!¡± ¡±I found a girl lying in your closet. You know anything about her?¡± Heavy footsteps come closer to Tessa and an unknown black haired woman. Her black eyes looking curiously at Tessa. ¡±No. You sure that you don¡¯t confuse it with Jo¡¯s? Who knows what he has in his closet. An army of skeletons or a girl, all are possible in my opinion.¡± ¡±* sigh * I am sure it¡¯s yours, it has your name on doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    What is happening? Where am I? Jackie? Didn¡¯t that blonde guy mention Jackie? Maybe he¡¯s the same that he mentioned¡­


    ¡±Who are you? And how did you get in my closet?¡± While she was absorbed in her thoughts Jackie, presumably, had come to the room and was close by looking at Tessa curiously.


    ¡±Huge!¡± The man was huge. And Tessa made sure to vocalize her surprise. Almost four meters tall with a lean but muscular body.


    He¡¯s strong! I could beat him but I¡¯d need some time and tricks. And the lady next to me is also strong. And she looks good, that¡¯s always a plus.


    ¡±That¡¯s strange, you feel the same as Jo, yet different. More ¡­ powerful.¡± As he talked he began to get a better feeling and started going on guard the more he spoke.


    Good, at least he didn¡¯t do anything stupid like run away when he knows someone is stronger than him and whoever this ¡±Jo¡± person is. It seems that lady was always aware that I am stronger than her but she never showed it, she must have seen many people much stronger than her so she had learned to hide her surprise and other emotions that might be a hindrance in battle. Didn¡¯t that guy also mention Jo, Jo with a staff and didn¡¯t want to leave before finding a doctor. Probably the same guy. Doctors¡­ I am sure that there was a skilled doctor around West-Blue. While his money making methods were ¡­ questionable, his skills were definitely top notch. It seems I need to use my life as an incentive for him to come with us.


    While Tessa was absorbed in her own thoughts, the weary Jackie and Nina had called Jo and Sky. They would have called Noah as well but he called them first and told that he had interesting news and that he was coming back as soon as possible. Jo and Sky told that they will come as soon as possible but they might take some time.


    ¡±Do not attack her or do anything that might make her attack you. You got something troublesome in your closet you know that. Don¡¯t worry nothing will happen, we¡¯ll be there soon. We are already close¡± Said Jo to Jackie as he called him a second time in distress as the girl had now started to mutter in her own thoughts and occasionally drooled on herself. She wasn¡¯t listening to them and they were scared to do anything rash to get her to listen.


    So they waited.


    ¡±¡¯Sup. I am back. You know what super cool I saw today? When that bastard rick thought he¡¯d had enough fun and left I found a Ninja. A real Ninja! Do you know how surprised I was when I found a girl in the corner absorbed in her own thoughts and when I surprised her she used her ninja powers to escape? ¡±Ninjutsu Technique: Emergency escape!¡± Imagine my surprised face when this beautiful girl just disappeared after shouting her technique. Then it hit me. ¡­ She was a NINJA. A REAL LIFE NINJA. FOR REAL. So cool! And she was very beautiful. With her red hair to her back and sky blue eyes. And those swords, she had...¡± ¡±Two katanas at her side. One long and one very short.¡± ¡±Yes. One long as her hair and.. one¡­ short¡­ How do you know that.¡± ¡±You better come and see what we have up here,¡± Said Jackie from upstairs and Noah, while excited, started treading the steps to the second floor of the house. Will she take me as an apprentice? How should I ask? Maybe I should dogeza all the way to the floor while shouting ¡±take me as your disciple!¡±. Yeah, that sounds good.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    As Noah was making such plans Jackie and Nina were talking about her swords. More specifically the katana (long).


    ¡±I am telling you that is a famous sword. One of the 21 great blades: Fuyu no kaze. Meaning Winter Wind. That grade of a sword is not going to be with a random anybody. She¡¯s important, or she will lose the sword if she¡¯s not good with it but you said she¡¯s stronger than Jo? We indeed have a problem then.¡± Said Nina and glanced to the now drooling girl. Actually, she wasn¡¯t drooling anymore but was keeping her attention focused to their conversation. Inwardly Tessa was almost panicking but knowing that she was stronger helped to keep her cool.


    So they know about Fuyu no kaze. That marine girl sure knows much and she is way too cunning for my taste. Well, when my plan succeeds then I¡¯ll have a good asset on my side. Plus she¡¯s pleasant to look at. I hope this Jo person comes fast, then we can start talking and accepting my plan.


    Without considering the other side at all Tessa was already envisioning the bright future she would have. Her on the fly thought up plan was becoming solidified to her future.


    POV: Josef and Sky


    ¡±What do you think about her? Sound familiar?¡± I asked sky as we were flying toward our new home on the merchant side of the city of Valkk. Three years ago when I and Sky sold the swamp swamp fruit we got enough money to live in luxury for years. We bought a suitable home with a sea view, at least two floors and a suitable garden for training. I taught them enough self-defense for them to survive in the world. I started teaching Jackie Myai Thai two years ago. Before that I had him strengthen every part of his body as that would play a vital part in increasing his strength. Myai Thai uses both hands and feet, elbows and shins and trains them all to become weapons capable of killing people.


    Sky Started training with daggers in both hands at the same time. I showed her a couple of stances and also had different daggers made for her to test and decide on her favorite. She settled on two karambit style knives and wielded them dextrously even in the shop and surprised the smith when she asked to make one for her other hand as well. She also had discovered that her two massive fangs, while they were hard and sharp, were also very brittle if hit in the right spot and would break off and she could wield them as knives. Though they would take a long time to grow back, about a month.


    Though Noah hasn¡¯t specialized in anything yet he learns anything he tries to learn super fast. Prodigious learning speed. It should be put to use.


    ¡±Isn¡¯t she the woman you said was watching us while we fought yesterday. The description is similar, though you only said redhead, woman, same as us in age. With those exact words.¡±


    Answered Sky while, ironically, she was flying in the sky with my cloud under her.


    As for me, I was riding a thundercloud with a wooden staff in my hand. We had gotten lucky and sold the devil fruit and bought some Adam wood. Though only a little as it is very hard to transport it to the four seas from the Grand-Line making it so much more expensive. With the relatively small amount of Adam wood, the others agreed to let me take it and make it into a staff. A staff that can take cannonballs multiple times, a dream come true. I mean Zoro could cut the building in half but cannonballs can decimate multiple buildings. And supposedly this staff can take multiple of those. And then imagine coating it with armament haki I almost started jumping from excitement.


    ¡±We are nearly there. The house still stands so they should be okay.¡± Said Sky and a second later a screaming woman came from the house running and a man equally loud begging something.


    ¡±What is he doing? Care to tell, elder sister?¡± I asked while smirking at Sky as she looked with frost in her eyes toward Noah chasing behind the woman. ¡±Let¡¯s leave our clouds here before she notices, I don¡¯t want my powers being exposed yet,¡± I said and jumped from my cloud, She jumped from hers as well. We landed on our respective roofs and had a good view of the happening.


    ¡±What in good god¡¯s name are you doing Noah? Care to tell me as well?¡± Said Sky with some frost in her tone. She jumped down from the roof she was standing on. She landed on her feet with agile movements. She looked very cool from my perspective even as I was focusing most of my attention on the woman Noah was chasing.


    ¡±I was going to ask her to be my master! She¡¯s a Ninja! I went up to ask her and when she saw me I was on the ground doing dogeza and shouted: ¡±Let me be your disciple!¡± And she just freaked out. I don¡¯t know whats wrong with her.¡± Noah started pouring out his story while the woman, sounding upset, responded to him.


    ¡±What do you think I should do when you escape my detection and appear before me and start shouting. Be glad that I didn¡¯t cut you in half!¡± She said and glared at Noah for a while before sifting her vision to me.


    ¡±Okay, okay. Let¡¯s cut it out and we¡¯ll discuss things inside. You okay with that?¡± I descended between the two from my roof and looked at both of them. But my attention was focused on the woman the entire time. Both nodded and I let out the breath I was holding.