A/N: So I was stressing over Bio and this lab assistant in Comp Sci, and I check my email, and WOW! There was a flood of alerts from fanfiction . net informing me of people who wanted to read the next chapter! So, of course, it made me so happy :) Thanks for your support, everyone!

Chapter Two

Settling In

"He didn't have to kick me, the bastard," Harry said, as he had landed face-first in the sand. Shaking sand off his head, he sat up to take inventory of what he had and where he was. What he had was simple enough, if not a bit interesting as well. There was of course the trunk that Rakma had shoved at him before kicking him into the new world. Opening it, Harry could see that it was filled with a paper currency he had never seen before.

"Beli?" Harry wondered aloud as he read the word printed on the sheets. "Strange. It's going to be so annoying trying to figure out how much everything is worth now."

Setting aside the trunk of money for a moment, Harry notices a strange blue object next to him on the sand. Visually it was hypnotizing, composed of individual swirls like the shells of snails, each a different shade of blue, which formed a generally egg-like shape. It smelled sweet, and its flesh gave just a bit to the touch. Looking closer, it seemed to have a stem protruding from its curved body. "This must be the Devil Fruit he mentioned. What to do… should I eat it now? I don't know exactly how I'm going to use my magic to protect myself from the water yet, so it might be a bit dangerous. I think I'll figure that out first before eating it." And with that, Harry stuffed the fruit into one of his bottomless pockets. "Wouldn't Hermione be proud? I thought things through for once." It was a sad thought, and Harry couldn't help but pause a moment to wonder if he would ever make another friend like her. Near the end of the war, she was still the bossy bookworm, but gained the reputation for always having a new spell on hand that would be useful in the next battle. What kind of people would he find in this new world? Would they truly be able to understand how it felt to live a war that never seemed to end?

Shoving his thoughts aside, Harry looked to the last item on the sand that seemed to have accompanied him to the new world. He laughed. Sitting innocently on the sand was the tea cup he was drinking from at Rakma's house, still as full as ever. After some simple experiments (drinking from it, tipping it over, throwing it ten meters high into the air), he found that it was ever-full, never-spilling, and nigh on indestructible.

"Wicked," he said, and then stuffed that into his pocket too.

Looking around at his location, it was clear that Harry was on the shore of a small island that seemed deserted, but lush with vegetation, especially large trees in the distance that would tower over even Hagrid. Closer was the ocean, and so Harry was inspired to try his theory about using magic to make him immune to sea water.

"No time like the present!" Grabbing his wand, he shrunk the trunk of money to stuff into his pocket, and then waved it over his head.

And then paused. What spell should he use? He couldn't recall learning anything that would suit this situation. There was the Impervius charm, but it was a weak spell unlike what its name implied, only capable of redirecting rain – would rain affect him after he ate the Devil Fruit? – not pushing aside huge bodies of water from touching his skin if he immerses himself in the ocean. He could extend the bubble-head charm to cover his whole body, but encasing his body in a bubble wasn't very practical for swimming purposes, not to mention would look ridiculous and bring up far too many questions that he'd be uncomfortable with. Maybe, he could manipulate his secondary magic for the effect he was looking for? His secondary magic was a pulse of magic with a specific intention. His first success was a pulse of "life-force" that accelerated plant growth and could theoretically speed up the healing rate of animals and humans – it was inspired by his need to do something other than destroy and kill like in battle. Maybe if he could emit a constant pulse from his very skin with the intention of pushing away the water a centimeter or two, he would never get wet and could still move around in water the same way he used to.

"Alright, no time like the present to try it out!" Theory always sounds so great in one's head.

"Damn it." Harry laid down exhausted and soaking wet on the sand. It took a few tries to manipulate his magic into a pulse from his entire body, not just his hands, but that was the easy part. Harry soon discovered that maintaining a constant pulse a mere centimeter from his skin at a constant force like he imagined took an incredible amount of focus and stamina. Focus and stamina that he did not have.

"Focus and stamina, huh?" Harry groaned as he realized once more how much he hated Fate. In one of his attempts to continue living in his previous life, he tried to learn swordplay. It was an accepted hobby by society, and it satisfied his battle urges with its history in a battles and war. A local dojo taught a unique two sword style with a Japanese katana and a dagger. "You need to focus more," his sensei often lectured, "and your physical stamina is poor. We will work on that. Focus and stamina are both important skills for the future."

Harry highly doubted this was what his sensei had in mind, but damn he hated how everything in his life seemed so connected; it was like someone else was writing out his destiny for him!

Heaving himself up, Harry walked towards the forest to start making a shelter. If what Rakma said about the chaotic state this world was in is true, then there was no point in Harry leaving this island to explore until he trained enough to defend himself from possible enemies. His knowledge of this world - and his current location in respects to other islands - was limited, so the Devil Fruit was his best bet for preparing to deal with any fights, and if he had to train his magic and swordplay to best utilize that advantage, that was what Harry was going to do. Setting his mind to staying on this island for at least a few months, Harry magically cut down a large tree and transfigured it into a simple hollow block of wood with an opening he could walk into. It would do as a house for now. The rest of today would be spent on gathering firewood and food. Tomorrow he would train in swords to raise his focus and stamina, before practicing his water immunity magic again. If he worked hard, he may reach the point where he'd feel safe eating the fruit in a month.

There is something about isolation on an island that works as a great motivator. With nothing else to do, Harry found an incredible fountain of focus within himself, and all the physical activity with his swords helped raise his physical stamina as well as his ability to pinpoint his focus as sharp as the edge of his conjured blades. Practicing his pulse magic raised his magical stamina just as quickly, and trained his focus to encompass the broader field of his entire body. His mind was set on a single track with his Devil Fruit as a goal; it was perhaps good luck that he discovered someone to talk to after the first month. What he thought was a deserted island turned out to be not so deserted after all. Its sole inhabitant besides Harry was an adolescent boy who lived in a tree house that Harry accidently cut down for firewood. Boy was that a lecture he hoped never to have to hear again. After saying his piece, and extracting a promise from Harry to collect firewood from fallen branches instead of whole trees, the teen finally concluded that since Harry destroyed his home, he was now Harry's responsibility, and the only way to properly take that responsibility would be to allow him to stick around everywhere he went. Everywhere. Sometimes, Harry wasn't sure if it really was lucky that he discovered the boy and not just another curse in his messed up life. Though eventually they would've met – the island wasn't that big after all.

"So, so, so, Harry? Ya gonna try it again? Try it again! I wanna help, I wanna help! Please, please, please?" Did he mention that the guy never shut up?

"Yes, I am, as soon as you get off and shut up you spaz." Harry replied, shrugging the boy's arm off his shoulders.

"Stop playing with my name, Harry, geez, and I'm off, see, see? Now gimme the rope! I'll pull you up if you drown, swear I will, really, really!" Yes, that's what he said, his name is Spaz.

Two weeks ago, Harry had finally decided to eat the fruit, which was, incidentally, almost as bad-tasting as some of the potions back home, and saw the first piece of evidence when he accidently stepped in a pool of rainwater. He wasn't paying much attention to it, since he was just fine being rained on the previous day, but apparently the large pool of standing water was different from rain. Sure enough, his physical energy seemed to drain rapidly through the foot that was in the water until he collapsed, his body thankfully tumbling a bit from the momentum and tugging his foot away from the water's grip. The danger of the situation fully dawned on him as he lay on the sand, recovering. His energy returned quickly, but the shock lingered. From then on, Harry did his best to maintain his anti-water pulse as much as possible, even falling asleep with it on and pushing himself to wake up with it there. The next time he stepped into the water was a few days later, after finding Spaz and discovering his eagerness to "help." Tying his wrist to a tree with a conjured rope, he tested his ability in water, trusting his new companion with Gryffindor brashness to reel him back to the shore if he lost the energy to return to shore on his own. Spaz had amazing strength considering his small size, and when Harry's first test failed due to a previously unnoticed leak on his scalp, Spaz saved his life enthusiastically (he reeled Harry in so fast, Harry flew out of the water several meters).

Harry quickly grew to appreciate Spaz after that, though he was disgruntled at the unwelcome flight.

"Ready Spaz?" asked Harry, slinging towards the boy the other end of the rope he tied to his wrist.

"Ready as ever, yes sirree, I'm ready, no worries Harry, I've got you covered!"

"Mm-hmm, don't get too excited. I haven't almost drowned in three days now, you know." And with that, Harry dived in to practice swimming. As he swam, Harry pondered the Devil Fruit. The Fruit had changed something else about his body, but it was so strange that Harry wasn't sure to make of it. Once, during an argument with Spaz, he managed to insult the teen so much that he began delivering "the silent treatment." Harry didn't mind the quiet so much, but the obvious "I'm ignoring you" attitude reminded him of Ron who was six feet under rose bushes back home. Not to mention, his new companion looked so put out by the situation, that he finally said, "I am glad you're here with me" as a gesture of reconciliation. Spaz, in his elation, immediately tried to pounce on him, but instead went straight through, shocking them both. After days of experimentation, Harry was still thoroughly confused about the parameters for his ability, but at the very least he knew he could render his body immaterial as a ghost until something triggers the ability to shut off, returning his body to its material state. It had a lot of potential as a defense in battle if he ever figured out how to start and stop it, but as offense, well, it wasn't easy trying to pick up a sword or wand with immaterial hands, and anything that immaterialized with him became useless in attacking. It was the strangest thing, but even his "immaterialized" magic became completely ineffective on living things other than himself. He'd make a great spy if he combined his power with a disillusionment spell, but as a fighter, he had to depend on swordplay and magic.

"Neh, neh, Harry, so, when are we gonna go someplace new, huh? I wanna meet more people! Explore the world! Taste new food! Yeah, yeah? Come on, Harry, let's go, let's go!"

"Spaz, how many times do I have to tell you that I wouldn't know where to go or how to get there?" A casual flick of his wand hidden in the sleeves of his robes conjured up his practice blades as he settled into a casual starting stance before continuing his talk. "We either have to build a boat and float somewhere depending on pure luck or wait for someone to drop by and either give us a ride or give us more information about where the heck we are." Inhale; he raised his right arm, loosely positioning the katana in front of his chest, his left hand hovering between the sword and his waist. "Since we have yet to see any boats, we'll have to keep stocking up on supplies before we can even think of attempting the first op- !" With a grunt, Harry stumbled a bit, releasing his weapons and clasping his hands to his temples as images flashed across his mind. A small town, a young girl, rain, tears, unique but forced laughter.

With a groan, the vision faded, and Harry returned back to consciousness of reality where Spaz was frantically asking him if he was alright.

He blinked and realized that he just had his first Seer vision. And not only that, he instinctively knew that if he tried to apparate into the town he just saw, he'd succeed, no problem.

His weapons reappeared in his hands and Harry returned to his position, ignoring Spaz's indignant exclamations about how rude it is to ignore someone. Thankfully they stopped as Harry inhaled deeply again. There was a pause, before he exhaled explosively, his long blade cutting sharply to the left. He spun with the momentum, his left hand flicking off throwing knives at imagined targets as he turned a full circle, ending with an upward then downward slash, punctuated by a stab from the dagger his left hand now held after expelling his knives. Inhale; exhale. He vanished his blades and turned back towards the pouting boy.

"Hey Spaz, what do you think about maybe leaving this island tomorrow?"

A/N: And that's it for now. Please keep reading my work :) If you have requests for future events, or predictions for what's happening at any time, I'd love a review! I think I can reply to reviews individually, and you get the replies in your email, right?

Also, do any of you know whether or not I'll loose my reviews if I re-upload a chapter? I kinda want to get rid of a few grammar errors in my first chapter. Thanks!

Seven reviews as of today, October 11, 2010! Thanks guys!

Edited

10/13/10

10/15/10

10/30/10

12/05/10