Hi people! Just some background for anyone confused: this chapter takes place a few months after the last chapter, where she is not a total noob to shipwrighting now, and the other shipwrights pitch in to help train her. I just want to remind anyone who does not realize that this part of the story takes place two years before the Water 7 arc of One Piece, and Kaku, Lucci, Kalifa, and that bartender dude are not known to be evil. I also realize that the undercover agents would probably not just give away their secrets, but we waive the point, we look over it. (Anyone gets what that is from and you are officially cool). Just remember that. Sorry for the long intro, thanks to all my reviewers, followers, and favs, and now onto chapter 4.
Oh ship!: Chapter 4- Galley la-de-da part 2
I picked up a large piece of wood, and hefted it over my shoulder. I had to get this wood back to Paulie so he could finish up with the mast of that ship Lucci, Kaku, and he were building for a client. He wanted me to grab some because, as usual, he was using me to grab wood and things so he could continue working.
I turned my head as I head a commotion. I groaned, knowing it was another crew of pirates refusing to pay for their work. I just turned back around and kept walking, knowing that the others would have it under control in a minute, and I wouldn't be of any help anyway, seeing as I haven't leaned to fight. I have gotten a bit stronger from all this lifting and practice stuff I had to do, but I couldn't even touch some of the pirates that came around here.
I heard another boom, meaning they had taken the cannon approach this time, because the stronger ones were off somewhere else. They did this sometimes, but the clean up from the cannonball was always arduous, so they tended not to do it unless they needed to. I just continued walking and gave the wood to Paulie. I started to get back to helping, but I saw Paulie stop, and so I got up, and turned around only to see Iceberg.
"I need all of the senior shipwrights to stop what they are doing, and come over here. Also I need Althea and Alex over here." He paused as we all gathered in a circle around him. Paulie tapped his foot impatiently with his arms crossed as we all waited for Kaku to get back from assessing a ship somewhere on the other side of the island, while Lucci stood impassively, and Alex fidgeted nervously, afraid he had done something wrong. Finally, we saw Kaku land right next to Paulie and tip his cap to Iceberg respectfully. Iceberg looked around once again to make sure we were all here, and then he began to speak.
"I have two things I need to talk to you all about our newest apprentices here. First, I think it is time that we start specialized training for our apprentices." I began to get really excited. I had ben waiting for this, because although I had been getting training, it was more an introduction to all the tools and some basic other things I would need to know. "First I want Kaku teaching them about mechanics and the new technologies utilized in newer Marine ships."
"Alright sir." Kaku replied.
"I want Lucci teaching them about saws, and cuts." Iceberg continued.
"Yes sir." Lucci's pigeon Hattori answered for him, as always.
"Answer him yourself, pigeon bastard, instead of that freaking bird!" Paulie yelled at Lucci, also as usual. I sighed, would those two ever stop?
Hattori was about to open his beak, but a look from Kalifa shut him up. "Can we continue?" she asked coldly, and everyone nodded, scared of Kalifa, even Iceberg.
"I want Paulie teaching them rigging and about masts, Lulu for blacksmithing, and Tilestone for caulking (a/n this is when you seal up holes in a ship). "
"Yes sir." They said in unison, Tilestone yelling the loudest.
"On another note, I have been noticing that the number of pirates refusing to pay for repairs and ships has increased. Although you senior shipwrights have been dealing with the pirates and getting them to pay, our new apprentices are at risk whenever there is a fight here in Dock 1. I am putting you all in charge of training them; I do not care what fighting style you teach them, nor how you divvy the training up amongst yourselves, I just want them able to protect themselves and this shipyard, understood?"
"Yes sir!" we all agreed loudly and he turned back to Kalifa.
"You have a two o clock appointment with the mayor of Fume Island and some of the sea train operators from there, and until then, you have paperwork in your office to go over and sign." she said already knowing what he wanted to know. Iceberg groaned but followed her as she led him back to headquarters. Even he knew better then to argue with Kalifa.
As he left, the other shipwrights starting to talk amongst themselves, leaving Alex and I to stand awkwardly while waiting for our masters to tell us what to do. They finally turned around after a little while.
Paulie was the first to speak up. "Listen up. We've decided to train you in periods of one month. Each shipwright will get two weeks to train the apprentices in their specialty, and then two weeks to drill the basics of their fighting style into them. The apprentices will them resume shipwright training with all of us and will then pick a fighting style that they want to use, and will be trained in that. Okay?" Alex and I nodded.
"I'm first." Kaku said, "We are going to learn about the newer types of ships, and motors. We start training tomorrow, so I want you two youngsters to skedaddle over her first thing in the morning" We nodded, at this point so used to his old man speech that we kind of just ignored it. "Well, its high time we got back to building this ship, and all. Snap to it you all." And with that we all resumed work on the sloop that was commissioned by the marines.
I was woken up the next day at four o clock in the morning by someone knocking at my door. I groaned, and pulled myself out of bed to answer the door. I pulled the door open and I was greeted by the smiling face of Kaku. Kaku was the only guy allowed up to the girl's floor, because we all knew Kaku would never do anything wrong.
"Good morning!" he said brightly. I groaned; it was too early to be up. " We begin training in fifteen minutes, so get ready and then meet me downstairs by the entrance to dock one." I shut the door in his face, pissed at him for getting me up this early, and when I didn't get my sleep, I became pretty grumpy. But, because I knew I needed the training, I pulled on a pair of sweatpants, a long sleeve athletic shirt, and a hoodie, because it was cold in water seven in the mornings. I dragged myself down the stairs and outside to find Alex in a similar state. He gave me a tired wave, and then his hand dropped back down to his side. He didn't bring a sweatshirt and was wearing short sleeves, so he was shivering, and I was tempted to give him mine; I had a long sleeve shirt on so I would be fine without it.
Kaku suddenly fell from the sky, landing on his feet, and dusted himself off. He turned to face us and began to speak, "So, today is the day we begin training for the next two weeks. Instead of doing the two weeks of shipwright training first, we will begin physical training today. I will be training you in the art of the sword." He pulled out four swords and showed them to us. "I use a four sword style, or Yontoryu. I will be training both of you in the art of swordsmanship, as well as increasing your physical capabilities. Alright?"
"Alright." We said, still groggy from lack of sleep.
"We will start with our daily morning run-," He said.
"Wait a minute . . . daily Run?!" I asked
"Yes, DAILY run around the island." And he turned around and began a light jog, as if he expected us to follow. I looked at Alex who shrugged at me.
"It can't be that bad, it's only our first day of training. I'm sure he'll go easy on us.
Two hours later, Kaku had proven Alex very wrong. Kaku had made us climb down all the stairs from dock one to the lowest level of the city, run around the first level of the city, run up the first set of stairs, then run around that level, and that continued until we made it all the way back up to dock one. I would have been pissed with Kaku if I weren't so tired.
"Yeah, going easy on us for our first day of training." I said between pants as we rested in front of headquarters. I had long taken of my sweatshirt and it was hanging around my waist, while the sleeves of my shirt were pushed up as far as they could go, and my shirt was soaked through with sweat. Alex's shirt was also soaked through, but he seemed a bit cooler then me because he had a short sleeve shirt and shorts on.
Kaku on the other hand had not even broken a sweat. "That's it for our warm-up. I'll let you shower and change and then I want you to meet me back over here after breakfast." He told us and then opened the doors. I collapsed on the ground.
"WARMUP! Dam you Kaku!" I yelled from my position on the floor.
"I heard that." He appeared at my side. I jumped, not expecting that, and apologized to Kaku, about that. I then pulled myself upright and up the flights of stairs and to my room, and getting myself ready for breakfast.
One shower and one meal later, I was feeling a lot more energized. My muscles still ached a bit, but taking a hot shower and resting for a bit really helped. I arrived at the meeting place before Alex and Kaku, and waited for them to get there. I saw Kaku approaching first, and behind him, Alex was walking towards me too.
"Its good to see that you youngsters are motivated for training," Kaku said brightly." He stopped in front of me, and waited for Alex to catch up. "Now we'll start swordsmanship training for today." He pulled out four sword-like saws and handed them to me.
"Huh?!" Alex complained. "Why don't I get to use the saws?" he asked, disappointedly. Kaku only smiled at him.
"I would give you them if I trusted you with swords." Alex looked distraught.
"Wait! You don't trust me with swords?!"
"I'm only joking, so don't get your knickers in a twist. I would give you them if I had an extra set of saws. I don't just have eight of them lying around for the both of you."
"Bu-"
"And a gentleman always lets a lady go first." Kaku finished. "You will have your turn after Althea. For now though, I want you to start with this strength training menu I have here." Kaku pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Alex. Alex looked it over and his eyes widened.
"ALL THIS with ten pound weights!?" Alex exclaimed.
"Give me that." I said to Alex, pulling the paper out of his hands. I can't believe it. Kaku wants us to that much!
"Don't worry, Althea will have to do this also, after she finishes her lesson with me. You won't be the only one doing this." Kaku said calmly.
"Are you TRYING to kill us?" Alex yelled.
"On the contrary, this training is so that you don't get killed. I thought that we had discussed this." Kaku replied to the rhetorical question.
"I guess we should get started then." And Kaku proceeded to tell me about how I was to hold the saws. Kaku took two of the saws and showed me how he fought; he used two swords and a technique that allowed him to make compressed air blades with his leg to slice people. However, we both knew that I was not going to learn that anytime soon with the level I was at. Apparently, Kaku had a solution. After jumping back off to his room, he came back with an instruction manual for a different four-sword style and handed it to me. After that, he called Alex back over to ask him a question.
"What type of sword style would you like to learn?" he asked. Alex shrugged.
"I am not a huge fan of swords in general, but if I had to, I'd probably pick a two sword style." Kaku nodded.
"Okay, I can just teach you the kicking part of my technique. Two sword style and hand to hand combat." Kaku smiled at Alex. "Now you can go back to your training menu. And don't forget." Kaku's eyes darkened. "I am always watching, so make sure you don't skip anything." He smiled again. "Alright?" Alex nodded hastily, and Alex ran back to what he was doing. Note to self: do not mess with Kaku.
I looked over the training manual in my hands, and went over to the side to sit down and read it. Let's see, hold the swords in between my index and middle fingers and between my ring and pinky fingers. I read a bit further on basic swings and basic techniques, and got up ready to try them. I picked up the saws, and dropped the two in my right hand to check the book to see if I was doing it right. I took a few swings with each of my hands, and then put down the saws, rubbing my arms. These saws Kaku had given me were tiring to swing after a bit. In fact, they seemed heavier than the normal saws we used back at the shipyard.
"Not so light are they, Kaku said. I turned my head to look at him. He took the book from my hands, and he flipped through it quickly. He then muttered to himself and picked up all four saws according to what the book had said. He then showed me a few practice swings. I was surprised that he could do that so quickly. I must have showed it on my face, because he chuckled.
"This was the style I used before I modified it to the one I use today. I just needed a refresher."
He showed me a few moves, and handed the saws back to me for me to try. I practiced a few more swings, but my turn soon ended, so I handed the saws off to Elias, and he gave me the training menu. I groaned and went off to the side to begin training with the weights.
I was woken up the next day by someone knocking at my door. "I'll be out in a few minutes." I yelled to Kaku, and I heard him move on. I got out of bed, and stretched, wincing because my muscles were still sore from yesterday. I pulled on a pair of athletic shorts and a tank top; I was not going make the same mistake as did the day before. I ran down the stairs, not wanting to be late, and found Alex and Kaku standing there waiting.
"We are going to start with the same run that we did yesterday, but first, I want you to put these on." He gave Alex and I some armbands and things to put around our ankles. I bent over to put the ones on my legs on and was surprised. "They're weighted, aren't they?" I asked Kaku, and he nodded.
"We will be doing the same exercises that we did yesterday with these one pound weights. We will be increasing the weight by one pound each day for the whole time that you are being trained by me and the other shipwrights, so I expect you to skedaddle out here every day bright and early, you hear me."
And so, Kaku contained to train us in the same fashion for the next two weeks, but it did get easier as time went by.
Over the course of the two weeks after that, Alex and I learned how to appraise ships, and how to make and run motors for ships. This was new technology used by the marine ships to pass through the calm belts, because of the lack of wind, and we learned how coating ships in sea stone would not affect the devil fruit users inside, but would keep sea kings from noticing it. We learned how to assess the condition of a ship, and the best ways to repair a ship. We still had our morning training. I loved doing all of this training, at least most of it. I still hated the morning runs; I did not like waking up in the morning.
One day during our daily run, I grew annoyed at Kaku. I was now at the stage where the run was not that tiring anymore, although I still had some soreness afterward. This was not because I hated running, I was jealous of the way Kaku was able to jump through the air so effortlessly, instead of running on the ground like the two of us; okay, I hated running.
"How do you even do that?" I asked him.
"Well…, it takes a lot of practice and leg strength." Kaku scratched the back of his neck. "I don't think that you have a sufficient amount yet." Darn it, I deflated. "But," I looked back up at Kaku who had stopped on the roof of a building, and seemed to be contemplating something.
"But what?" I asked.
"But, maybe I can teach you a different technique." he said slowly.
"What technique?" I said slyly, wanting him to finish his though.
"Its called Ge- I mean… air jumping… that's the word, yeah." He said, catching himself from saying something. It was kind of suspicious how he said that, but I ignored it.
"So… how does this air jumping work anyway, Kaku?"
"Well, you wont get it immediately, but, do you know how there are different particles in the air at any given time?"
"Yeah, like oxygen, and dust." I had learned about that stiff when I was being tutored as part of my trader training.
"It's basically stepping on those particles. You have to be very quick, though, or else you will fall after the particles disperse." He explained.
"That makes sense, but how would it even be done?" I asked.
"Like I said, a lot of practice and physical. It comes down to that." he said. "Give it a try." And so, I tried to jump, while keeping that in mind, but all I managed was a second longer in the air, and certainly no jumping again. I was disappointed, but Kaku just laughed. "It isn't that easy, you know. It takes a very long while to master. It took me a few years even."
"GET A MOVE ON YOU TWO. I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM SAYING THIS, BUT YOU TWO ARE LAGGING BEHIND." I heard Alex yell from ahead of us. Kaku and I glanced at each other and laughed, but we did get moving again.
After our run ended, and we had eaten breakfast, I went to shower, as I usually did. However, Kalifa was in there, so I decided to just change my clothes and head back out a bit earlier than I usually did for lessons. It wasn't like we were doing sword training after this; I usually practiced after dinner, and I could afford to take one later. We were only doing mechanics today, after all.
I headed towards the shipyard, but I stopped when I heard people talking in hushed voices
"How could you teach them the six powers?! Only the CP9 know those techniques." I heard a voice that was unfamiliar. What was the CP9?
"Well, actually, I only taught them one of them the basics of Geppu (a/n sky walk/air jumping) and Rankyaku (a/n the leg swords. If you want more information, there is an article on the six powers on the one piece wiki). It's not like I'm full out telling them that were in the CP9. No one even knows that we exist anyway. I mean, they grasped it pretty quickly, we could make them new agents, or something like that." The second voice said
"When you are training them, just don't train them in the six powers." A feminine voice said.
"Well, how else do I train them? That is the only way we have ever been trained." The second voice said again.
"He does have a good point." A more deep and serious voice commented.
"Fine, train them how you want, but I do not want them finding out about us and our plans for Water Seven."
"Well I was pretty sure that that much was obvious, but okay." The second voice said.
"CP9 dismissed." The deeper voice stated. I flattened myself out against the wall, so that when they came out, they would not see me; but as I waited, no one emerged from the space. I stuck my head out a bit to see, but no one was there. That was weird; there was only one exit from that place. I remained on guard, but there was nothing I could do, so I just continued on to the shipyard.
Today was our last day training with Kaku, and I had requested that he teach me about this "air jumping" that he was telling me about. We were also finishing up on the leg sword technique. I reached the dockyard and saw Paulie next to Kaku talking very animatedly.
I walked up to Kaku and Paulie, and asked them, "Where's Alex?"
"What? No good morning to your new teacher?" Paulie said.
"New teacher?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I get to train you two for the next four weeks. I'm looking forward to it." He told me and cracked his knuckles.
"Well, its not quite your turn, I still have one day left with the two of them, and speaking of which," Kaku corrected Paulie, and then pointed behind me. "I think that's Alex running over here." I turned around to see Alex sprinting towards us at top speed. It took him about five more seconds to get to us, and he panted as he stopped next to me.
He lifted up his head and pointed to Paulie. "What's he here for anyway?" he asked me.
"New teacher starting tomorrow." I told him. He nodded in that way he always did when he wasn't sure what to say next, and ended the conversation.
Kaku suddenly clapped his hands together to get our attention. "Now, we should get practicing, after all it is our last day together." He said, and we split off, Kaku with me and Alex off working out for the first half of the day, for one last day before we changed mentors to Paulie.
I hope you enjoyed this, and sorry for the wait. School is drawing to a close, and all the teachers are laying the projects and tests on me. I tried my best to get this out as soon as I could, but I had to focus on schoolwork. I had originally planned for this chapter to encompass all the mentors, but I just kept writing more about Kaku. Please review and comment, it really makes my day, and any constructive criticism really helps. Also, to the anonymous reviewer that gave me good advice on my last chapter, thank you for your input. I fixed the problem and I will try not to make the mistake again.