The Going Merry hadn't moved in twelve hours. No wind, no current... and sadly for Luffy, no entertainment.
"GOD I AM SOO BORED!"
"SHUT UP! I'M WORKING ON MY MAPS!"
"Guys I got bad news, we're really low on supplies, I'm nearly out of food to use, and Chopper needs more medical herbs. We need to get to an island soon and restock on practically everything" Said Sanji, who had just come out of the supply room.
All eyes were on Nami as she took out a map of the section of the grand line they were in.
"The closest island to us is called Iron Talon; it's a spring island that marines avoid because of the amount collateral damage they did there once looking for Gold Roger, or so the rumours say. Pirates use it as a supply station and the locals welcome them with open arms. It's the perfect place for us to go to and stock up, even stay for a few days."
Vivi wasn't impressed by Nami's attitude. They had to get to Alabasta as soon as possible before Crocodile caused too much damage.
"Well how long will it take to get there when the wind picks up?"-Zoro (who is surprisingly awake)
"Should be a few hours if my math is right."
As if it was what nature was waiting for, a strong wind picked up and they were on their way to Iron Talon Island.
Four hours later- Iron Talon Island
When the Straw hat crew pulled into port, it looked like there was a race going on, with the finish line at the start of the port.
"What's going on?"
"You folks are just in time," a short man with a worn out suit approached the ship before anyone could get off; "this is the yearly race from one end of island to the other. There's only one rule, no off track help. What happens on the track stays between the runners and on the track. Last year's champion and this year's rookie are about five minutes away if the guys at the checkpoints aren't sleeping... like last year."
The crowd began to roar with excitement when two people came into view. One was wearing green shorts and a white T-shirt and the other was wearing an extremely baggy dark brown cloak that hid their face and the rest of their body from the world.
"The guy in the cloak is last year's champ, Fang. Walked a majority of the way here, the guy he was up against tired himself out before he even came close to making it here."
"Talking about me again old timer? You really need to talk about my day job more instead of my achievements." At some point the man named Fang had walked up next to him without them even noticing.
"But nobody ever wants to know that you're a jeweller and make sea-stone bullets for guns...original yes, interesting no."
"Umm sea-stone, what's that?"-Chopper
"Fang will give you an explanation later, after he finishes the race! Come on kid, I've got fifty belis riding on you!"
"Don't worry; I already finished."
"You did, when?"
"A few second ago, poor guy passed out with a few meters left."
The old man adopted a thinking pose and closed his eyes.
"He skipped a rest stop didn't he?"
"Idiot mistake, yep. Now, I was gonna give the newbie's an introduction to sea stone wasn't I?"
Nami let out an offended "hey!" which was ignored as Fang walked off towards a path leaving the town. He stopped and turned around when he noticed he was the only one moving.
"Are you guys coming or not?"
Later- Fang's home
Fang had led them to a large shack that looked like it was owned by a blacksmith from the outside, but the interior looked like a home for a small family. When they'd got inside, Fang removed his cloak reviling he had an athletic build, very pale skin, dark blue hair that was spiked back, and the most un-natural looking eyes they had ever seen, with a black iris and red where there was supposed to be white. He was wearing a dark red track suit and some trainers under the cloak.
They ended up sitting around a large coffee table that had a large rock on it.
"What you see here is one of the largest chunks of sea stone I have. Sea-stone is very hard to come across, mainly because you'll mostly find it on the ocean floor. However that doesn't mean there aren't any deposits on land. The mountain on this island is one of the few sea stone mines in the whole world. Now here's the cool part... if a cursed fruit user is exposed to it, not by being in the same room but by touch, they temporarily lose their powers and most of the time are severely weakened. They are mostly turned into nets, cages and handcuffs for convenience, but that's where I come in. My job has been to experiment with sea-stone, and I've perfected making sea-stone bullets and sea-stone based poisons."
Nami being the observant one in the group had noticed something when Fang had brought the sea-stone in the room.
"Fang, did you eat a cursed fruit?"
The others thought Nami was crazy, with Usopp shouting about how rude she was being, until Fang started laughing.
"Ha ha what, ha ha ha gave me away?"
The others were still looking at Nami, but this time for answers.
"You were wearing gloves when you brought in the sea-stone."
Fang's expression took a turn for the darker after Nami said that.
"And I have good reason to, my powers are the only thing keeping me alive..."
AN: Yeah um... the ability for Fang's cursed fruit I chose will be revealed in the next chapter. I changed it from the first two ideas I had which were:
The Horror-Horror fruit which allows the user to invade dreams then turn them to nightmares and create someone's worst fear by invading their conscious mind.
The Ato-Ato fruit which allows the user to split all atoms (which for those who don't know will cause a big explosion) in an object after making contact with it but it has a ten second delay.
Also I'm hoping someone will beta this story for me and help me write because I don't have that much time on my hands anymore and I've been told that my writing style needs work.
Until next time
Ja Ne ^_^