Chapter Four
In the three months since Gramp's left, Lucy levelled up four times more. Each time was harder than the last but reaching Level 10 made her bonus aspects kick in. Monkey Family Strength, which gave her an additional STR and VIT point for every five levels, added +2 STR and +2 VIT at Level 10. This was added to all of the stat points she'd managed to rack up through her quests and dungeon grinds.
Lucillia's day fell into a demanding but profitable routine. She would wake up in the morning and add a few points to her available skill set, primarily Cleaning and Cooking, by making her room and helping Makino-nee with breakfast. Her Cooking skill had gone from 70 to a full 100 within two weeks, moving from the standard of Awful to just Poor and then past Poor to Adequate. Now it rested at Good with 20/100 but she no longer got any benefit from making breakfast or lunch, since it had become secondhand to her.
After that, Lucy would be funneled to the bar, where she would work on her sums and letters under Makino-nee's guidance. The green-haired woman had been pleasantly surprised by the new diligence of her student, though not as much as Lucy was to find that she could maintain her concentration. Before, the letters 'd' and 'b' or 'm' and 'w' would flip with one another, and the other words would dance around the page. Now it was still a challenge but one that she could muddle through and that got progressively easier, the more she practiced. And Lucy had to do a lot of practice. At some point, it felt like the entire world was conspiring against her. Makino-nee made her read aloud from the cookbook, the Mayor handed her books on boring topics like 'leadership' and 'manners' that he insisted she read (in front of him, to prove she wasn't slacking off) and the Geemu Geemu no Mi increased the amount of details in her Observe.
It was exhausting! It brought her Reading skill up from Poor (0/100) up four whole standards to Accomplished (40/100) but it was still exhausting. At least she had won another 6 INT points for it.
'It would have gone even faster if I had Skill Absorb,' the dark-haired girl recalled with a pout. Lucy had been so excited when she'd picked up a book and the option appeared. The ability to immediately acquire a new and useful skill? That sounded amazing! Too amazing, it seemed, as no matter how many times she shouted 'yes' into the air, eventually bringing Makino-nee running, Skill Absorb didn't work. Instead the Geemu Geemu no Mi said that it lacked the proper Party Member to activate, which Lucy read to mean she needed friends.
The dark-haired girl had immediately set out to find one. First, she had needed to shed the title of the 'Hyperactive Monkey Bastard', which already depressed her reputation and skill points. Lucy had gone on every quest she could get her hands on that improved her reputation in Foosha. From picking fruit to running errands to sorting fish bait to feeding sheep, she had painstakingly raised her reputation from Unfriendly (36/100) to Friendly (25/100) in Foosha Town. The effort earned her five more points to her CHM stat and smiles from the residents but didn't unlock the Skill Absorb she so coveted. She had become rather upset by that and unlaid her woes at the feet of her most sympathetic ear.
"I'm sorry that your powers are being uncooperative, Lucy." Makino-nee placed a glass of orange juice by her side and patted her back. The bar was mostly empty at this hour, so she sat by the forlorn girl. "Why can't you use this… Skill Absorb… again?"
"I don't have any good friends," Lucy moped. "I mean, you're cool, Makino-nee but the Devil Fruit hasn't added you to my Party yet, so I don't think you'll be able to unlock it."
"Haven't the other children been inviting you to their games though?"
"None of them are any fun." Not compared to improving her stats or gaining exp points anyway. Lucy had gone regardless to seek herself a Party Member. "And they can't unlock my powers either."
"I see." The pretty barkeep stapled her fingers together, rested her chin on her hands and looked at her. "Lucy, why do you want to make a friend?"
"So I can unlock Skill Absorb!"
"Is that the only reason?"
"Ah, well… maybe?" Lucy fidgeted in her seat. Neechan's tone hadn't changed but somehow, she just felt like the older woman was disappointed. "The Skill Absorb would make me a lot stronger-"
"I understand that it can be beneficial for you, Lucy, but is that the only reason you want to find a friend?" Makino inquired softly. "And if it is, do you think that's a fair reason?"
"Fair?" The dark-haired girl echoed the word with a furrowed brow. What did fairness have to do with it? She just wanted to use more of her Devil Fruit powers.
"For your friend," the barkeep clarified. At the confusion on her ward's face, she changed tactics. "You and I are friends, aren't we?"
"Yes, of course!"
"Well, I can't unlock Skill Absorb. Does that mean I'm not a good friend?"
"But Neechan can do so many other things," Lucy answered earnestly. "Neechan makes me food and helps me finish my worksheets!"
"You've gotten better at cooking and you don't need as much help with your homework. Does that mean you don't need to be my friend anymore?"
'Why would Neechan ask that question? Cooking and teaching is what Neechan does.' She thought the green-haired woman might be growing upset but she didn't know why. Gramps paid Makino-nee to do all of that, didn't he? Like he did that woman from High Town that visited twice a week to increase Lucy's DEX stat. But that woman would leave when Lucy's lessons were done. Makino-nee never left and Lucy didn't want her to either.
'Is Neechan saying this because she has to leave too?!'
No! Makino-nee couldn't leave! It took weeks to sail to the Grand Line and back. Even Gramps' shortest trips took no less than six months.
"Makino-nee can't leave!" The petite girl's elbow sent the glass clattering to the floor when she threw herself into the woman's arms. "I don't want you to leave! You'll be hurt if you go!"
Ding! +5 Rep with Satoru Makino
Gramps' warned her about the scary world out there. There were Sea Kings and pirates and islands full of cannibals and cannibalistic pirates… And Makino-nee didn't have a Marine coat!
The woman made a soft wheeze of protest as 18 kilos of pure little girl tackled her back. She barely managed to not fall off the stool. "Lucy, I'm not going to leave!"
"Promise?" Luminous ink-toned eyes looked up at her suspiciously.
"I promise, but Lucy the point I was trying to make, is that friends are chosen because they make us happy, not to improve powers." Makino smiled brightly at her. "Maybe one day, you'll find someone that will unlock your power for you but don't pick friends just for that, okay? It won't be fair for them."
'This again… what does fairness have to do with it?' Lucy nodded nonetheless. As long as Makino-nee didn't plan on leaving, she'd agree to anything. 'Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Gramps said my powers are special. Maybe… maybe, I need to find someone else special to unlock them. Someone different. Someone that I won't find in Foosha.'
Ding! +1 WIS
The ringing chime made her look up. Deciding that the Geemu Geemu no Mi agreed with her, Lucy put a temporary hold on her search for friends. Makino's valuable lesson hadn't been learnt then but that day, the first kernel of her future had been planted. The dark-haired girl needed a friend from outside of Foosha… and for that, she would have to one day leave the village.
Lucillia had earned two more WIS points alone in that time. The first was when she realized that the money earned from her quests was more valuable to her than Gramps' checkbook. Garp always filled out a full checkbook with signatures for 100,000 B per check before he left. This significant amount of beli was entrusted to his five-year-old granddaughter, a move that would have been far more risky if Lucy actually cared to buy anything. Instead she left it in her inventory, mostly to avoid the walking distance to leave it in her desk, and would otherwise have forgotten about it, if the icon didn't appear whenever she checked her 'hoard'. And Lucy adored checking on her hoard. There was something incredibly satisfying about watching the beli count upwards, especially when it was her beli.
The second WIS point came when she met Madam Tollards. She mostly worked with social climbing merchant children and the occasional rare noble and her rates, 10,000 B an hour, reflected that. Makino-nee paid her double that for two hours a week, and then twice more, when Madam Tollards offered ballet lessons. Lucy had one trial lesson and gained a single DEX in that one hour to demand further tuition. It ended up with the Madam receiving 80,000 B every week and Lucy sacrificing her Monday and Wednesday afternoons for violin and ballet lessons respectively. This practice had gained her nine DEX points so far. The dark-haired girl's WIS point though had come from something else.
Madame Tollards treated her really nicely. Lucy would have like that, except it was with the same shiny smile that the merchants had on whenever people from Edge Town came down to order fresh stock. And the Madame hadn't smiled at her once in her first week- though she hadn't said anything about her not having parents either, so good for the Madam- and only started after Makino-nee handed over the first of Garp's signed checks. The woman's eyes had widened at the name and she had been very kind to her thereafter.
'Gramps' name is important,' Lucy realized, and seconds later, 'I don't want people to like me cause of Baka Gramps.'
Lucillia generally forgave her grandfather for sailing away within hours of when he returned.
Still, she dedicated herself to the lessons and brought her Ballet skills up to Good (20/100). Her Violin skills were a notch below that, since it involved less movement, but Adequate (90/100) wasn't that bad either. On the afternoons where she wasn't with the Madam, Lucy either worked on one of her half-finished projects from Gramps or visited Woop Slap. He always had some piece of wisdom or the other to give her and while she didn't understand everything, trailing after him had won four WIS points and five CHM. People found it cute when the little girl became the Mayor's unofficial assistant and well, Lucy had never been one to refuse free candy. Her reputation with the Mayor increased to Friendly (35/100) and in accordance to that, she generously decided that he would be the one princess she wouldn't kidnap. He was very busy with his current job. Mayors had a lot of paperwork. She would know; she had to stamp them all.
On the weekends, Lucy would visit the Blood Tangerine dungeons. Her prizes from there were never as high as the first time, eventually dwindling to only 4000 B after defeating the Boss. She didn't mind. It added seven STR and VIT to her stats and the orange loot remained constant. Besides, with the beli gained from the dungeon and the quests, Lucy now had a hoard of 103,600 B. Sure, even one of Gramps' checks could almost equal that amount but Lucy was proud of herself regardless. Every dragon's hoard had to start from somewhere and hers looked to be a promising one.
Still… another Dungeon might have even better loot for her hoard.
x
Monkey D. Lucillia, Dragon, was wandering through the forest. She climbed up a tree. She climbed down a tree. She climbed up another tree. She climbed down another tree. She said Observe a lot. She hit a few wild beasts with Sir Tree Branch VI (the successor of Sir Tree Branches I through V, and the initial, unnamed tree branch that she posthumously named Patrick). She climbed up yet another tree. Some of the bears were just too big for Sir Tree Branch VI.
"You're doing a good job anyway," she assured, patting its gnarled, wooden bark. Lucy had packed her inventory for a weekend jaunt in the woods. She didn't know what would be necessary for the trip, so she mostly just emptied the fridge, threw in half her closet and added anything that wasn't nailed down or too heavy for her to lift in the basement. The basement had all of Gramps' toys. Shame that harpoon gun was too big for her. "Do you think we should go left or right?"
Tree Branch VI did not answer. He was the strong, silent type.
"Left it is then. Inventory Open." Lucy reached inside for some raw meat to distract the bear.
Had anyone come by then, they would be treated to a truly strange sight. Perched at the lowest branches of a high sycamore was a dark-haired little girl in a white sundress with red flowers at the hem. A red ribbon kept short locks of raven hair from flying into oval-shaped black eyes while a proper crossing of knee high white socks kept the skirt from swaying in the wind. The girl appeared indifferent to the massive bear clawing at the wood beneath her, reaching out to what appeared to be thin air. As her hand moved back, a large slab of marbled steak followed. It was thrown well away from her chosen path and when the bear wandered off to find it, the girl neatly climbed back down.
"Observe." The girl blinked twice, looked disappointed and turned to the tree branch she held like a walking staff. "Not this one either."
Lucy wandered off. She had been here since early morning and since breakfast, second breakfast and early brunch were all done, it should be almost noon. That meant lunchtime was approaching and while the dark-haired girl looked forward to that, Makino-nee ordered her home before dinner.
'And not even one dungeon to be found.' Her thoughts were grumpy but her spirits still relatively high. She used Sir Tree Branch VI to clear away some leaves from a nearby boulder and then climbed up for lunch. It was simple- sandwiches and fresh fruit- but filling her stomach made her far more optimistic.
"Observe, Observe, Obse- can't that man keep quiet?" Lucy looked up irritably from where she was reading the description of yet another tree's history. Then she realized something. "Wait, there's someone else here?!"
This forest was filled with man-eating beasts and poisonous plants. By the Gods, why would anyone spend time here?
'I don't count. I need it for dragon training.' Even if this were not a dungeon, it was more interesting than wandering around the forest with no idea of where to go. Lucy promptly turned towards the sound, still holding Sir Tree Branch VI tightly in her grasp, and strained her ears. It looked to have stopped somewhere, still a few meters away, and near rushing water.
'The river!' While Lucy's strength and reach may be limited by her height, her speed was not. The petite girl quickly ran past the trees towards where she'd passed the river an hour ago. She was careful to stay in shadows; who knew what kind of crazy person might be found alone in the woods? 'Is that a boy?'
The dark-haired girl plastered herself to the side of a tree trunk, peering out with dark eyes widened in fascination. It was! It was a boy!
'I've never seen one like him before.'
It's not like the boys in the village didn't get dirty or bruised sometimes but they never had as many cuts and scrapes on their skin as this boy did. They didn't have metal pipes in their hands to bash at alligators either. The boy was rather good at it. His blows matched the murderous look in his eyes too.
"Observe." Lucy whispered it quietly under her breath, still enraptured.
'Name: Portgas D. Ace
Level: 14
Unfriendly (30/100)
The only son of Pirate King Gol D. Roger, Ace has been raised his entire life thinking that he doesn't deserve to exist for his cursed bloodline. He distrusts everyone in the world around him and plans to become a pirate and make his own name one day.'
'He wants to be a criminal, huh?' Lucy pondered on the oddity of finding such a boy. Not only was he at a higher level than she was but he seemed to dislike her even though they'd never met. 'And the son of the Pirate King?!'
The son of a king… had to be a princess, didn't he? Or a prince, technically, since he was a boy but she was certain that would still do.
'Mayor Woop Slap has too much work to be kidnapped but this boy could be my first prince!' Lucy nearly clapped her hands with glee. She had the makings of a promising hoard with her but hadn't a single prince or princess to her name. And how could she be a proper dragon without a prince or two?
'No, Lucy, remember what Makino-nee said,' she reminded herself sternly. 'You can't count your omelets until the hens lay eggs. Or something. You're not strong enough to fight him face-to-face.'
Mayor Woop Slap said if one couldn't handle their obstacles directly, they should work around them.
'So sneak up on him when he's done fighting and knock him out with Sir Tree Branch VI.' Lucy would need some way to bring him back to the village too. She didn't want to risk summoning the inventory aloud but she wished she had opened inventory before- oh! 'All I have to do is think about it?'
The familiar glowing blue box had appeared. One square had a rope icon on it that she immediately reached for. Then, testing her hypothesis, she mentally dismissed it. A smug grin crossed her face when the inventory closed.
'I'm going to catch myself a prince~!' Lucy spied the boy's shoes at the side of the river, though unfortunately not her side. 'I'll have to jump across. Maybe with that log…'
It took a few minutes more but her prince was soon done hunting himself an alligator. Hefting it on his shoulders, and wobbling a little from the weight, he walked back to shore. Tightly holding Ser Tree Branch VI, Lucy followed.
'Not a log! Not a log! Not a log!' The dark-haired girl screamed a little when the green 'log' she'd jumped on started to move. Rather than have it buckle her off, she ran down its slippery surface, made an erratic jump to land and stumbled over the dirt. Only Ser Tree Branch VI digging into the wet soil kept her from falling over (and utterly ruining her dress). Her prince turned around, eyes bugged out, at the sudden disturbance but before he could say anything- or reach for his pipe- she swung.
Thwack! And Prince Ace was down.
So was she.
Lucy hadn't recovered her balance, so when she swung that tree branch, she also dislodged the only object keeping her up. Without it, she tumbled forward and landed- not all that gracefully, despite her ballet lessons- on Ace. Her head was somewhere in the vicinity of his neck and chest and when she looked up, it was to a very much unconscious boy.
'Oh! He has so many freckles on his face!'
They looked a little bit like the stars that Gramps' used for navigation. She pushed herself up to her arms, still hovering over him and taking in all of the other details. His shaggy hair looked like it had lost a fight to a drunk with a blunt pair of scissors. His sleeveless red shirt was tight and faded from too many washes, more pink than red in places, and rather frayed. His forehead was bandaged but it didn't look clean. He really should have changed it.
'I'll change it when I get home,' Lucy decided and proceeded to bring out her rope. She didn't know any specific knot, so mainly just closed it around him a couple of times and looped the long half through the bottom. Then she grabbed the other end and proceeded to drag him across the ground.
The weight wasn't too bad, since she was extraordinarily strong for her age but having to slow down to find the proper path wasn't fun. It took at least half an hour to tie him to some vines and swing him across the river. He woke up once but another hit with Ser Tree Branch VI knocked him right out.
Ser Tree Branch VI died a swift, ignoble death when she accidentally dropped it in the river though. Lucy would have gone back to get him, except, you know, alligators.
'I'm sure Ser Tree Branch VII will be a worthy successor.' She clambered up the closest tree and snapped off another sturdy branch. "Fare thee well, Ser. You will be missed."
Lucy had made it another two meters before she was heard another shout.
"Aaaacccceee? Where are you?! I got my catch already!"
'Another boy?' The dark-haired girl stopped dragging her prince along and propped him below a tree. Then she smoothed out her skirt and cupped her hands. "He's here!"
It would be rude to leave without letting her prince say his goodbyes after all.
The shout brought the other boy running and Lucy didn't have to wait for long until a blonde had broken through the brushwood. He wasn't as cut-up as her prince but his short hair was pasted to his forehead with sweat. He had the kind of springy hair that would make the loveliest curls if they were ever grown. "Ace?!"
Then the blonde's attention turned to her and he threateningly raised his pipe. "What are you doing with Ace?!"
"One moment, please. I'll answer all of your questions when he's awake." Ace would have questions too certainly and Lucy didn't want to answer twice.
Beside her, Ace stirred again. This time, she didn't send him back to darkness.
'He needs to be awake to say his goodbyes.' Lucy allowed the boy to return to consciousness, even giving him a second or two to look around himself. 'The blonde must be his friend.'
"Who the hell are you?" Ace demanded, once he had seen her. He started struggling around on the ground but the rope stayed firm. "Where are you taking me?"
"I'm Monkey D. Lucillia. It's a pleasure to meet you," Lucy chirped, bowing slightly. First impressions were Important. "I'm taking you to my lair." It wasn't a cave or anything but her house wasn't that bad either. It had a dark basement.
The dark-haired boy responded to this with a brief look of shock and then a string of words that Lucy would have been grounded for.
The blonde was more distinct. "You're kidnapping Ace?"
The dark-haired girl beamed. "Yes!"
Ding! -5 Rep with Outlook Sabo
The blonde looked a bit baffled. "Why? Do you work for Bluejam?"
"Bluejam?" Her head tilted to the side in evident contemplation. "It's fine but I prefer strawberry."
"Strawberry?"
"Strawberry jam!" She should have packed some with her. Then she could have shown the blonde that it was far superior to blueberry jam. "It's less tart and I think the sweetness goes well with muffins."
The blonde was utterly silenced by her immovable argument.
The prince, sadly, was not. "That idiot's not a pirate! She's a Marine's granddaughter!"
"A what?!" The blonde looked worried now, while she took the opportunity to whisper Observe under her breath.
'Outlook Sabo
Level: 11
Unfriendly (5/100)
A runaway noble from the Goa Kingdom, Sabo despises the selfishness, malice and intolerance of his social class. He has a sharp mind and a gentle heart and wants to sail the world and record all its wonders one day.'
'He's stronger than me too.' Lucy realized in surprised wonder. He looked a little older admittedly and it was not that significant a difference but none of the other children were near this high. And while nobles weren't known for high STR and VIT, she shouldn't risk a fight here either. She had already gotten surprised several times today. 'I'll have to work around him too.'
A sneak attack wouldn't work. He was standing right in front of her.
"Hey, pay attention to us when we're talking to you!" Ace shouted, drawing her out of her mind.
"What do plan to do to Ace, Marine?" The blonde followed up. "You know he's a pirate, don't you?!"
'Well, if I hadn't known by Observe, then you would have told me,' Lucy thought dryly. 'That's a good question though. What do dragons do with their princesses?'
She had kidnapped him but she didn't know the finer details of what came afterward. There might have been a knight at some point- that could be the blonde. And the princess had to stay at a high tower. Maybe her roof would do. The knight had to save the princess before the dragon… Oh.
"I'm going to eat him."
"..." The dark-haired boy abruptly restarted his struggles to escape.
"You want to… eat him?"
"He looks delicious." He did not. "And I am very hungry." That was true but then she had prepared an pre-dinner snack for this, hadn't she?
There was a plan! "I have sandwiches. I'll trade you some, if you let me leave with Ace."
Lucy would just have to keep her prince on the roof until Sabo arrived to pick him up later. They could have a fierce duel on the lawn!
"Sabo's not going to trade me for some sandwiches," Ace yelled at her indignantly.
"Hey, wait a second!" The aforementioned Sabo waved his hands in the air. "I haven't refused the offer yet!"
"SHE WANTS TO EAT ME! GET ME AWAY FROM THIS GIRLS!"
"Please consider it." Lucy put her hands together in plea and looked at the blonde with wide, slight watery, luminous black eyes. They almost always worked on Gramps. "He's my prince!"
"Your prince, huh?" Sabo looked at her calculatingly. "What kind of sandwiches?"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT KIND OF SANDWICHES?!"
"Roast chicken, beef and turkey. I made three of each and have a bottle of orange juice with me too."
Sabo tapped his chin consideringly. "Hmm… how long until you plan to eat him?"
The dark-haired boy paled. His freckles stood out like a handful of tiny daylight stars. "Stop playing her crazy game, Sabo!"
The blonde took another look at his friend and then sighed. "I would have stolen you back after I got the meat, Ace."
Then he hefted his pipe, swung it forward in one sharp, familiar motion and fell to a sharp stance. "Let's fight."
Lucy took one look at Ser Tree Branch VII, freshly snapped from a random tree in the forest and far inferior to even the rusted pipe in the boy's hand. Then she looked up at the sky. It was close to evening and Makino-nee would be closing the bar in less than two hours. "You win."
"Huh?" Under Sabo's bemused glance, she performed a quasi-pirouette to dodge his next blow and then danced back on her feet.
"I have to go!" Then, remembering his words, she mentally called her inventory open and took out her pre-dinner snack. The sandwiches and juice bottle were kept in one of the many soft plastic lunch boxes she had bought with her hoard money. "Here! You can have this!"
The runaway noble looked rather taken aback as the petite girl suddenly changed her priorities and seemed to pluck a lunch box from out of nowhere. He still managed to catch it though and then laid it down to untie his friend. His reward for that was a knuckle punch from his friend for even pretending to consider the girl's offer.
By the time Ace was freed though, his mysterious dark-haired assailant had disappeared.
"Who was she?" Sabo asked, as he munched on the delicious sandwich.
"A Monkey." Ace savagely bit into his own sandwich, mist grey eyes unerringly focused on the trees where the girl had last stood. "She's a gods bedamned Monkey…"
x
Player: Monkey D. Lucillia
Level: 10
Exp: 204/10,000
Gamer Mind: Passive
HP: 650/650
WP: 650/650
STR: 13 (+2)
VIT: 11 (+2)
DEX: 12
INT: 14
CHM: 13 (+6)
WIS: 11 (+2)
Unused Points: 5
Aspects:
Monkey Family Strength: Lvl. 1 (+1/5 STR, +1/5 VIT)
Conqueror's Haki: Lvl. 1 (Blocked, +5/5 STR, +50% Exp. Active)
Will of the D: (+25% Exp Always Active, +2/5 CHM)
Daughter of the Dragon (+100 Rep. Boost with RA, -100 Rep. Boost with FES, +1/5 WIS, +1/5 CHM)
Skills:
Reading/Writing/Math: Accomplished (40/100)/ Good (20/100)/ Good (70/100)
Cooking/Cleaning/Sewing: Good (20/100)/Adequate (65/100)/Adequate (0/100)
Violin/Ballet: Adequate (90/100), Good (20/100)
Reputation:
Five Elder Stars: Unfriendly (0/100)
Revolutionary Army: Friendly (0/100)
Foosha Town: Friendly (40/100)
Marineford: Neutral (0/100)
Money [$1 = 100 B]: 103600 B
x
Ace has entered the story! Don't worry the ASL trio won't be at odds for long, though initial conflict can be expected. This chapter has a significant time passage involved, so I apologize to any readers that may be confused. In the future, I'll try to streamline more of the effects of Lucy's training. This one was lengthened to illustrate two things though. The first is that not all of the effects of the Geemu Geemu no Mi are positive. As you may have noticed, Lucy didn't learn her lesson from Makino about valuing friends for their own self-worth. While she will still do so, as it's in Lucy's character to value her loved ones, there was a seed planted of another problem. Lucy thinks that her Gamer abilities make herself, and those in her Party, special. While that is not untrue to an extent, it will leave her developing a measure of arrogance towards others, like the sedate, normal residents of Foosha who don't have her strength, skills or, frankly speaking, inherited advantages. Humility wasn't a trait her canon self showed often but neither was arrogance. And Lucy is starting to develop the initial stages of arrogance, so this is to prove that negative effects occur and that Lucy isn't, morally speaking, a perfect person. She has her flaws. Some shared with Luffy and some that are entirely her own.
Second, on the subject of skills. I write Skills and Reputations in stages. They go from:
For Reputations: Hostile - Unfriendly - Neutral - Friendly - Loved - Exalted
For Skills: Awful - Poor - Adequate - Good - Accomplished - Exceptional
When I say (x/100) for a particular skill, that applies to the stage too. So Lucy can be 90/100 Awful in Cooking and when she gets +10 Cooking, it takes her to 100/100. This means that she's cleared the stage and moved from Awful to Poor. But that also sets the bar down to 0. Now Lucy's 0/100 Poor. I understand this can be a bit confusing, so I elaborated a little on it within the chapter itself and here. Hopefully this clears up any questions.
