A/N: Hey guys! Fall break is over for me :( But that doesn't really affect you guys at all since it doesn't change my update schedule, haha. Thanks everyone for reading! The flood of alerts letting me know people are interested in seeing how this fic turns out is really awesome.

By the way, I forgot a disclaimer last time, so I'll just say right here that I own nothing of the story, past, present, and future, 'kay? So I probably won't bother with disclaimers for any other chapters either.

Chapter Three

Learning the Ropes

Spaz was, predictably, delighted at the possibility of leaving as soon as tomorrow and quickly ran off to pack. Very quickly. As Harry shook his head in exasperation over his companion's childish behavior, he couldn't help but pause to think about the mystery that was Spaz, not least because of that inhuman speed and strength he now knew the teen to possess, but because he knew very little else.

Spaz, after his lecture and impromptu decision to stick around Harry, never talked about himself, and never asked Harry questions. Oh, sure, he asked about food, and water, and if he could help with Harry's swimming training, and when they could leave the island for someplace else. But he never asked Harry about why he did such strange swimming training, or where he learned his sword-style, or even why Harry was on a seemingly deserted island. Of course, he never offered to explain his own presence, and Harry never asked.

On the surface, Spaz was like another Colin Creevey – always talking, always hanging on, always energetic to see him. But there was something different, and it wasn't that Harry wasn't a celebrity in Spaz's eyes. He talked a lot, but always shut up on his own when he saw Harry training with swords, or meditating on his magic – though Harry had yet to tell him about magic and probably never would – as if he understood the importance of such actions. And maybe he did – one usually didn't gain the ability to pull Harry through the air or run at such high speeds without a healthy respect for training.

Spaz seemed energetic enough when he fell out of that tree, but his face was drawn, his eyes bloodshot, and his appearance unkempt. A week later, he looked more presentable, but there was no denying his inhuman strength and speed, or the fact that he was just a teen, alone on an island, who didn't even care about the past of the first human who shows up. Or maybe he did care, but didn't dare ask because he wasn't willing to reciprocate. That suited Harry just fine.

There was something about Spaz that reminded Harry of, well, Harry. There was once when he tried to escape society too – though why go to an island when the Forbidden Forest worked just as well? It didn't last long; Harry missed human life, and he suspected that Spaz may have also until Harry showed up. One month. That's how long it took for the two of them to meet. The island wasn't big – Harry could easily see if a boat approached from any side, so he knew that Spaz was likely here the entire time, and yet somehow Harry never noticed him. Most likely, Spaz noticed his arrival and took care to hide himself; and if Spaz could hide himself for a month from Harry, it just didn't make sense for him to fall out of a tree that Harry spent a good five minutes cutting down as katana practice. Spaz must have made a conscious decision to reveal himself. Hell, Harry didn't know if that was really his name – his parents must've been really eccentric people if so.

It seemed this world really was quite chaotic, if it could produce people like Spaz at such a young age, and since Spaz could swim just fine, there were probably many powers out there besides the Devil Fruits, probably martial arts related. Part of Harry felt worried, but another part felt excited. His Gryffindor sense of adventure was reviving, and as he realized that, Harry couldn't help but laugh and run after his – friend? – to pack his own stuff for their trip tomorrow.

"Got everything?" Harry asked the next morning. Spaz was gone all night, only just returning now, an hour after sunrise. Harry spent the time packing away food into his bottomless pockets, and transfiguring some large palm tree leaves into a wallet to store some money – after all, it wouldn't do to open his trunk of money worth several hundred thousand gallons in the middle of a store to pay for some food in such a small town as he saw in his vision. Spaz, it seemed, didn't have much to take. He looked like a typical runaway, actually, with his dirty-white baggy-sleeved shirt and brown baggy pants held up by a tightly cinched black belt, and a large blue handkerchief Harry could not remember ever seeing before tied to a long pole rested on his shoulder, bulging with unknown items.

"Yes sirree Harry, I am ready! When are we going? How are we getting there? Will it take long? Is it a place with food? Can I -?" He cut off the string of questions when Harry abruptly stuck both hands out in front of him.

"Hang on, and don't freak out."

"Why Harry!" Spaz exclaimed as he tucked the pole diagonally into his belt to free his other hand and grabbed onto Harry's hands. "You need to keep a more open mind, yes you do, and stop worrying so much, 'cause really, I'm not the kind of person to frea -!" Cut off again (a more quick-witted person might have noticed by now that Harry was deriving a twisted bit of amusement from interrupting Spaz's babbling brook of a mouth), this time by the strangest squeezing sensation as the sand, trees and ocean around him were suddenly replaced by simple stone houses and dirt paths, Spaz gaped.

For a moment, it seemed Harry might have actually struck Spaz speechless, but as he smiled to himself over the alliteration he just created, Spaz went and ruined it by snapping close his jaw and sniffing the air.

"This town has food, Harry, com'on com'on, let's go, I want food!"

Harry resigned himself to being pulled along by the sleeve as Spaz followed the smell of food, talking the whole time.

"Wow, this place is small! But there's people and food and I wonder where we are! I bet we can find out at the tavern, I wonder if a town this small has good sake, and geez it sure is sunny today, huh?"

That was true – that last comment about the sun. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, light streaky clouds could be seen high up, and the dirt paths were so dry that small clouds of dust rose with each step the pair took. It wasn't as serious as a drought if the occasional thriving flower gardens he passed by were any indication, but at the same time, it didn't seem like it had rained here for several days, and wouldn't be anytime soon either. And yet, Harry's vision of the town was one where rain poured down from a blackened sky. Was it a vision of the past then? Or the future? Magically, visions of the future would require a lot more power than vision of the past, and as it was his first vision, Harry felt pretty safe assuming that the vision was one of the past.

Was it important? Will he ever even meet that little girl who was crying in the rain? And even if he ever did decide the vision was important or met her, what could he do about it? Without magic, it was doubtful that there were Seers here – and Rakma did say that there were no prophecies in this world, right? So if he ever told anyone he could see the past or future, they'd think he was crazy at best. It might be wisest to not read into his visions too much and just deal with things as they come.

As they walked, the duo came upon a slightly more populated area, the dirt paths slowly transitioning into cobblestone, and the smell of the ocean growing stronger. The town was oriented around a port, and open stands of groceries and baked goods lined the streets, people calling out their wares as small boats docked at the port just ahead.

"Whoa, did we leave the Grand Line? I always wanted to sea one of the outer four seas! I wonder what kind of food they make here. Can we look, Harry, huh, huh, can we?"

Grand Line? Outer four seas? There were five oceans, Harry knew, and if seas and oceans were interchangeable here like the reference to the "Seven Seas" back home, then the one they came from was the Grand Line, which is surrounded by the other four. How did that work? One thing Harry was going to need soon was a map. For now though, Harry walked with Spaz to a bread stand to listen in on a housewife bartering with the baker. He might as well use this opportunity to get a general idea of the currency. Spaz was bouncing up and down, but didn't seem to have any intention of buying. This was something to worry about – did Spaz have any money of his own?

"I'll take a loaf of this please," Harry said to the baker.

"Right-oh, here you are," replied the chubby old man with a smile, "haven't seen you around before. A new merchant?"

"Just drifting actually," Harry said as he took the strange loaf and handed over some bills as marked on the stand. He wasn't buying much, so there was little point in trying to bargain over it. The large amounts surprised him, though; each Belli seemed closer in worth to a pence than a pound.

"Oh-ho, enjoying youth, eh? Well, you might want to think about taking a break from it for the winter – it's autumn already and the snow will be coming before you realize! There's a nice inn you might think about a couple buildings down towards the docks."

"I see, thanks. I might do that." Harry smiled at the friendly baker and turned away with a casual wave. It was a good idea. Harry was pretty doubtful he could survive on his own for a winter and was feeling pretty lucky that he left the island when he did. It looked like a tropical island, and it probably would've stayed warm as the seasons changed, but who knew if winter might have brought other weather changes like storms?

"Spaz, here," Harry tore off half the loaf (was that a cabbage leaf in the bread?) and tossed it over to the boy who was still eyeing the produce. With lightening reflexes, he turned towards Harry and snatched the food from the air. Again, with the unexplained physical prowess.

"Thanks!" Spaz's eyes glowed with gratitude, but he said nothing more, and Harry didn't push. He had enough money to spare.

"Do you like this town?"

"The food is great!" Spaz managed to say around his large mouthful of bread.

"Well, I suppose that's reason enough. How would you like to spend the winter here?"

"Winter? Huh, it's, um, 1510 AOP, March or April, so we're in a southern ocean? West or South Blue?" At this point, Spaz was pretty much muttering to himself and as informative as it was – oceans in the south? West and South Blue? – it didn't answer the question.

"Well?"

"Sure! That'd be cool! We could explore this island and stuff! I wanna see the local tavern and maybe we could try the sake. I bet I could drink you under the table, Harry, yeah? Whaddayathink? Huh? Betcha I could!"

"Bet you can't," Harry replied, a gleam in his eye as he turned around.

Spaz was delighted. "You're on!"

In the end, the two of them checked into a double room at the town inn with Harry's money and the next day they went and found the local tavern where they proceeded to start a drinking contest with every merchant in the building. Harry and Spaz both became thoroughly smashed, yet still managed to drink everyone under the table but each other, barely hanging onto consciousness long into the night, staggering back to the inn at dawn the next morning, leaving behind a very happy bartender who sold quite a bit of sake to Harry and the merchants.

The story spread quickly, and soon all the townspeople were waving hello to them in the morning, as if they were a part of the town now that they had set a new drinking record at the town bar. It was a welcome and homely kind of attention that was probably also partially influenced by Harry's status as one who had a decent amount of cash on his body.

The days passed leisurely, with Harry and Spaz wandering the town, usually together, but sometimes separated, only to meet up later in the evening at the tavern to share a bottle. The sake was interesting – different from the alcohol Harry was used to from home. They never drunk quite as much as that first day though, as with the winter weather there were almost no merchants to compete with; the docks were quite empty. Training continued. It was lucky that the villagers were a bit dim-witted as a light rain a week after renting a room at the inn revealed that when water stopped a centimeter from his skin, it made a potentially suspicious sight. Harry would have to work on shortening that distance until his clothes and hair would get wet and only his skin would be protected from water.

Harry also occasionally did experiments with Spaz's help to see what kind of water was dangerous. Rakma mentioned seawater, but a wave of it didn't do anything, and a lake of fresh water turned his bones into jell-o. Er, not literally. As far as he could tell, any water gained the property to drain his energy if it sat still long enough and lost that quality with movement. This was a blessing, because although cleaning spells worked just fine, nothing beat a hot shower or bath during cold weather, which he could now enjoy as long as he spelled the water to keep moving.

Spaz was pretty accommodating most days, but whenever he left on his own, Harry would peak into the small town bookstore. It didn't hold much literature because demand for books on the sparsely populated island was low, but they carried maps for the merchants who came and went and Harry found plenty to learn and think about from those. The world was split into four quarters; much like the equator and prime meridian did back home, though here, the splitting wasn't just an idea. A strip of land known as the Red Line circled the planet vertically, and an ocean known as the Grand Line split the planet horizontally. The four oceans other than the Grand Line were North, West, East, and South Blue.

His current location was West Blue, pretty close to the Red Line and thus a relatively good place to be if he felt like crossing over into any of the other seas and met any crew crazy enough to take on Reverse Mountain. He had to buy a few of these maps to keep the owner of the store happy with his constant presence and flipping through materials, but they were all potentially useful. Apparently the Grand Line was known as the Pirates' Graveyard, and the political system was ruled by the World Government who headed the marines in the fight against pirates. The strange ocean was the origin for most tall-tales and ghost stories that some swore were true and others dismissed as empty bragging. This was curious, because from his experience in the Grand Line, there was little to fear. It was, all in all, quite fascinating, and for a moment, Harry wondered what it would be like to explore the Grand Line himself.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked, though I admit there wasn't much action here as it was mostly trying to expand on Spaz and introducing Harry to a possible adventure. Next chapter will be more exciting as Harry will be meeting some key characters :)

Thanks to everyone who answered my question about re-uploading chapters. I edited the first two chapters.

And something I forgot to put in the previous chapter: Thank you so much, RedValentino for being my beta! It helps a lot to have a second pair of eyes for grammar issues, and a second mind for bouncing ideas off of. Those of you who like Spaz, please thank her for the inspiration! I think the character has so much more potential as a human, really, and I hope to keep developing him further.

Twelve reviews as of today, October 17, 2010! Thanks guys!

Edited

12/26/10