Chapter 10: The Price of Arrogance
AN: Real life sucks, sorry about the wait. Thank you for all the reviews, your suggestions, and support really mean a lot to me. Now without further ado, lets rock. Ok my Beta is kind of busy with IRL stuff, so this chapter is self edited, please forgive my slip ups, will replace when my Betas life calms down.
With Johnny and Termari at the helm, the Serenity cut through the waves . I was standing by the rail watching the world go by. I was also thinking of my plans for the next island, and how I wanted to turn events to my crews favor. A thought suddenly occurred to me, Zoro was down two swords, and my students no longer carry there's around. Checking to see if I was alone, Luffy and Sanji were down stairs getting lunch ready, well Sanji was, Luffy was trying to steal food. He wasn't doing a good job if the cries of pain were any indication. I opened my "Inventory". Looking through some of the junk I picked up after the last fight, I broke down several useless swords to their component parts. I open my crafting menu, to see if I have the Katana template. I scroll though various designs; no dice, the closest I had was the Tanto design I used to give Yosaku his. Looking at the Tanto, I had a thought, pointing at it I drew it to center screen to look at it closer.
The Tanto is a dagger that can take multiple shapes, for various purposes. The Tanto differs from the Katana in several ways, but the root is their. Sometimes a Katana and Tanto pair are mirrors of each other, just differing in size and scale. My power is the power of the imagination given form, close enough is all the wiggle room I need.
Using the Tanto as the base, I give the metals and wood. As the Tanto starts to form, I quickly add more materials to the crafting screen. The craft window stutters a bit, then a new window appears.
Crafting Modification: Lvl 1
You are adding new materials to a known template, as you level this skill you will be able to add effects and designs not listed in the original template. Experiment, this skill relies on the imagination of the user.
The Mod screen pops up, I can now change everything about the blade, tange, hilt, and guard. I reach out and grab the weapon from the screen, pulling it in front of me, I decide what to do with this new ability. I run my two fingers down one side, smoothing the edge away. I grab the tip of the weapon, and start to pull. A measurement screen appears before me, listing the cost of the modification per 10 cm. When the counter reached 71 cm, I stopped pulling. The blade was still straight, looking like a Chukoto. The tang also needed to be modified to support the new blade. I take my palm, then I run it over the back side of the blade pushing slightly. I give the blade a gentle curve, one that was more pronounced on the middle of the sword, giving it the distinct body hugging look. The Tang was easy to modify, I just added more metal to it giving the tang three support holes. Looking over the blade, I noticed that it was to narrow. I pointed at the width modifier, then taped it until the blade looked right.
The rest of the sword I didn't put much thought in to, Normal circle guard, hide wrapped hilt with a brass pommel. The sheath was black lacquered wood, with no design. When I fished my work, I had more than enough to make two of these swords. A new screen flashed into life,
Katana Template
You can now craft basic Katana swords. Modifying existing weapons to add quality to your work.
I look over my new creations with "Observe", to get a look at their stats.
Basic Katana
Basic sword that could be found at any smithy. Can be upgraded.
I nod to my self put the finished swords in my inventory, then called to Jonney, "Johnny how long before we reach Conomi Island?"
Johnny opened his navigation window, glancing at it,"Hmm about a half hour Boss."
At that moment Sanji walked up the stairs with two plates, he didn't see the floating menus, he was not in the party,"You have an interesting ship, the kitchens kind of small though."
I smile at the comment, "Don't worry Sanji I will get some work done to the ship before we go to the Grand Line." Turning towards the stairs I yell out, "Luffy we are a half hour out from our destination."
Luffy ran up the stairs, lunch in hand, bruises from his theft attempt plain as day. Moving to the front of the ship he plopped down on the rail. "Another adventure I can feel it. I cant wait to get their!"
Sighing , I make my way to the front of the ship as well. I was about to tell Luffy some basics about the Island we were about to reach, when a disturbance in the water caught our attention. Looking at the food, in our hands I just had to sigh, a rueful chuckle following. I whisper in quiet amusement, "Looks like Mohmoo is hungry."
A huge form burst from the water, a massive cow head on the body of a huge sea serpent. I wish Ussop were here, his reaction would have been priceless. Settling down, watching the show should be fun enough. The Sea Cow moved towards the ship's rail, I send back to Johnny, " Be ready to get us out of here full speed."
Johnny was staring at the huge creature with an eyebrow raised, he knew he could take it. Shaking his head to clear it, "Whats up Boss?"
I point to the shore line and surrounding ocean, "This should be a busy port and shipping lane, with this kind of current, and that site looks perfect for a large dock. The question becomes, why is this place so quiet then?" I look at him "We know Arlong makes his territory in this region. This type of quiet narrows down his location. Don't let those bastards do anything to my ship"
Johnny nods,"Right Boss, Temari and I will get out of here quick when you give the word."
I turn back to rail in time to see Sanji kick Mohmoo in the head, as the creature fell back into the water, I had to laugh, "Damn Sanji were is the love man."
Sanji gave a small laugh through a mock scowl, "It was going to try to eat me to."
Gin had come on deck to see what all the commotion was, he gets my attention, "Sage the creature doesn't look to happy." He points to the recovered animal barring down on us.
A quiet, "Inventroy", and a small flick of my hand for showmanship, I bring my training spear out. Activating "Air Step", I rush to just above Mohmoo head. I activate "Power Strike", but use the shaft of my spear to deliver the blow. As the dazed creature fell into the water I return the deck, I look around the water and use "Observe". As I scan the ocean, several screens pop up informing me we have incoming in the water. "Johnny get us out of here now. We need to get around to the other side of the Island, there should be a small town we can dock at."
"On it Boss", Johnny worked his controls, and the ship shot forward as Temari helped her partner with her wind magic.
Looking back as the ship darted forward, I see the enemy's change course to give chase. The calm of the "Gamers Mind", comes over me as I asses the situation. I could use some of my more esoteric skill, but that would ruin some of my anonymity. How ever I had a Water Spirit with me, who I know would like the chance to have some fun. With a thought I sent Haku into the water to prepare. While all this was happening Luffy was cheering like a mad man at our accelerated pace, "YA, go faster!"
As she went under she sent me the images of our pursers, ugly bastards the lot of them. Ok Haku get ready for some mayhem in 3, 2, 1, now. Together we use "Water Prison", And the effects were quiet comical. The pursuing mermen suddenly ran head first into, what must have seen like nothing. The spell wouldn't hold for long as we were moving to fast for me to maintain it at this distance, but the delay would lets us make land fall unmolested. Haku returned to my side as we rounded the coast and made for the docks.
When we arrived 20 min later, I had Haku send Yosaku our location through Garra. Using the spirits I spoke to my crew in private to issue orders. "Johnny, I have two swords for Zoro that I want you to give him, but for now I am going to take Gin aside to do a little training with his spirit under a time dilation. Yosaku keep me informed of the situation on the island. Also Jonney keep Luffy and the others up-to date with him."
I frowned a bit, this place was the Strawhats first true test. The core members truly came together in the wake of Nami's tragedy, and their bonds were first forged here. What to do? Hmm.
"Guys I have something to tell you that you may not like." When I said this I steeled my self. "The Strawhats can't grow if we fight there battles for them, that being said we can eliminate some of the risk to them. Johnny your on crowd control, if things on this island explode like I think they will, I want you to keep the civilians safe. Yoskau you keep an eye on the crew, if it looks like they are in a truly perilous situation, intervene. You both have ways to move very quickly when you need to, but maintain discretion. We do not want to advertise our strength to the world just yet. Gin like I said before we will spend some time under a dilation, were I will train you in the basics of your new abilities. I will also have Haku scout around the village to keep us abreast on the going ons their. Any questions or comments?"
Johnny was frowning, "Boss why do we need to be so quite For that matter why did we join Luffy Aniki's crew? It's not like we need the security with you and all of us on board."
Yosaku agreed with his friend, "Ya Boss we are strong enough for the Grandline by ourselves, I with Johnny on this." Gin was quiet, but he was looking at me with an expectant expression.
I thought about how the major future events, and how messed up this world truly is. "My friends, I will be honest with you. We are following that kid primarily because he is a good sort, but that's not the whole truth. Portags D Ace, Captain of the Second Division of the Whitebeard Pirates. Sabo the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, these are the men that Luffy calls his brothers. Luffy doesn't know that about them yet, but his potential is the same as those two. By traveling with them we could become a part of and see history that is in the making. That excites me, also I want to be underestimated a bit by the world government, that will give us more freedom to act."
Yosaku digested this new information with a stunned expression, Gin and Johnny also seemed shocked. Gin said. "Are you serious, those two are among the strongest in the world."
I nod, "Ya I find the whole thing kind of funny, most of the most earth-shaking individuals came from this part of the world, yet the world claims that this is the weakest Blue. I enjoy the irony"
With no more question forth coming I turn to Gin, "You two ready for some fun?" I got a nod in response,"Lets get to it then, I will tell Luffy we are going to go look around for a bit, I got enough supplies to last a week in storage, that should be enough time to get you up to speed."
I walk to were Luffy was looking around, "Luffy, Gin and I want to have a look around the Island. Johnny will keep in touch with us if you need us."
Luffy looked at me with a cheerful expression, "Sure, let me know if you find any meat."
Nodding, and with a small laugh, I look at Gin. "Lets get going, we have work to do."
