A/N; A slightly less difficult chapter than Chapter 25. Finally, we get to Skypeia proper. Yay Nundu. Of course, we meander around before that.
Chapter 26: Talking to Turtles
"Nee-san?"
"Hmm? Luffy?"
"Be nice." He told her.
"Fine." She agreed. "Ask away."
"Your scars-?" He questioned.
"I know." She smiled in a way that Luffy knew meant that she knew exactly what he was thinking about –and that she truly didn't mind that sacrifice at all, as she didn't see it as one. They were marks of pride to her. She just disliked people's reactions to them. She also had no trouble informing people who were being stupid about that fact with violence.
Luffy knew that she wasn't ashamed of those scars, but she did wear long sleeves all the time when not in the jungle or at night or under some shade which confused people. Ace told him that part of it was 'cause she would get a sunburn and those sucked and the other part was that people who didn't know her would pity her for those scars. As if she only had value if she were pretty and untouched by life and living it to the fullest. Luffy just didn't understand people like that. 'Cause his sis was more than a pretty face and anyone that thought otherwise would only live to regret it.
"People are crazy. I'm not excluded from that, even though I at least try to temper that with reason." She blushed as she shrugged. "It doesn't always work, as you well know. I've actually gotten worse, but far better at hiding it and all evidence of such activities." She finished with a smile before the blush spread further as she muttered. "For the most part, anyway. That's what blackmail is for."
That was totally reassuring and so like his big sis. Honest but subtle. Sabo said that Aki-nee-san was subtle in what she did, but this was one of the first times he had seen it. He sucked at subtle. So maybe she was being subtly obvious? Or was it obviously subtle? Luffy found that too complicated to think about. Luffy didn't hold any illusions that his sis was a saint or perfect. She was awesome but she wasn't perfect. Perfect people didn't exist as everyone had a different idea of what perfect was. And they were flawed because of that making them into a normal person. That and she had probably broken far more laws than he had, but hadn't gotten caught at it. That just meant that she was sneaky.
"They look worse." He proclaimed. It had been a few years since he had seen those scars, 'cause she really didn't have a reason to change into something else less covering the last few times she had visited, but he remembered them being a lot more faded and smoother than they were now.
"Product of using a double-edged technique." She shrugged before she tilted back the saucer of sake. "Scars aren't as stretchy as normal skin, so they tore. I'm still in the process of blunting that edge, but it isn't something that can be quickly done. Doc is a bit over-protective, not that I blame him for that."
"Why?"
"That first time… it was more than a little ill-advised considering the injuries I already had… let's just leave that it was a mess." She scowled. "A highly improvised and dangerous one."
"Ah." Luffy accepted the meandering explanation and judging by the expression, she was not thinking happy thoughts like how to use such techniques without killing yourself. Double-edged techniques just meant that you had to figure out how to not hurt yourself using them, which required pain and injuries and using them in the first place. Sis preferred speed and precision techniques over power, although he knew she wasn't weak so he guessed that to tear scars open meant that it was a speed skill and that stopping was painful.
"Do you know how to get up to Skypeia?" The young pirate captain asked. His sis might know but she wouldn't ruin the adventure. She left out too many details usually.
"Not specifically. If I go to one of the sky islands, I usually go by roc-hawk, or have Fuu-chan take me. I know that there are ways that a person can get a ship up there, but again, roc-hawk. Haven't investigated the other methods all that much. Haven't seen the point to use other methods to get up to sky islands since I was able to safely enough."
"So the log-pose isn't broken?" Nami asked.
"Having been to a few islands in the sky, one of which I and several others are banned from, I'll say it isn't."
"So what's a roc-hawk?" Chopper asked.
"Massive hawk-like predatory birds." His sis explained. "They can grow large enough that they can carry a galleon in their talons, easy."
"That's a big bird." Sanji commented.
"They are. They're not picky about what they eat either, so people are actually fair game, along with a number of beasts and smaller sea kings. There are a couple of nesting isles of them along the Grand Line, but a smaller sub-species lives in South Blue. Actually a lot of large birds live in South Blue now that I think about it. Deplorable lack of owls though. Most of those birds make better personal transport but they can get held up by storms considering the Grand Line's weather. Sailing in a hurricane is hard; flying in one almost certain death. Depending on the storm it can be flown over or you can get a slingshot effect if you crop the edge of the gales and headwinds are super annoying… I'm rambling. Sorry, Luffy."
"So you don't know how?" Luffy asked.
"Nope." His sis said with a grin that implied that he was the captain; this was his problem, so he had to deal with it.
"So back to salvaging then." Luffy stated. He had was going to do it anyway, 'cause awesome old ship that went to Skypeia? It should have treasure on it!
"Looks like." She agreed.
"You're being not very helpful." The young pirate replied. If his sis gave challenges, she at least said that she was. Usually. At least implied it. Damn. She was being confusing again.
"I'm on vacation. I'm not doing anything that I don't want to. Diving down after a ship isn't something I want to do."
"So what do you want to do?" Luffy asked since his sis didn't want to go swimming –that was sort of unusual, but he wasn't going to try to figure out why. She was being confusing on purpose.
"I'm on vacation. I'm going to sit back, relax and do nothing." Aki-nee-san replied with a bold-faced lie that was also true. Sis was always up to something, but the 'how' was always the hardest thing to figure out since she was being confusing again.
"Sounds like a plan I can get behind." Zoro replied.
"But your Captain wants to salvage, so a-salvaging you'll go." She told Zoro. Salvage. That's what he was going to do. Salvage. How to salvage?
"Salvage. Now. Usopp!" Luffy called. "Make it happen!"
Usopp quickly began building suits that would allow the 'monster' trio to salvage the wreck of the St. Briss.
"So was it worth it?" Zoro asked, as the rest of the crew scrambled to obey the latest of Luffy's whims.
"The first time I used that technique?" Aki asked. "That's a rather philosophical question, you know?" She emptied the sake saucer, in a slow savoring manner. "Is vengeance ever worth it?"
Zoro paused, and thought and reflected for a moment. "I suppose it could be, but I don't want to find out." Zoro promised himself that he would not ever have to.
"Hmm." The older and more experienced bounty hunter thought with a humming noise that made Zoro think that she was seeing far more than he ever could. "I suppose you pass."
"Pass what?" He asked.
"The judgment of, if you're good enough for whoever's name you wish to attach to it. It means I now don't have to worry much. Your loyalty is commendable, although…"
"Wait? What?"
"Now I'm going to have to amend what I'm going to tease Kuina about." The infamous bounty hunter pouted. "You're really not the 'strong, silent' type anymore. More of the 'strong and grumpy' type. By the by, it wasn't for vengeance. At least not entirely. A mad dog threatens everyone with its madness, and I wasn't about to let it or anything else threaten my nakama."
Zoro felt the sudden urge to drink and did so even if he didn't quite know why. He did discover that the medicine was practically juice –just rather thick, tart with zinging aftertaste that demanded sake afterwards as that zing soured.
"I totally feel like I missed half of that conversation." Usopp complained from where he was making some suit like things that Zoro supposed they were going salvaging in. He supposed that they should work, but it was a matter of trust to actually use those things.
"Good! You weren't meant to be able to follow." She said with an amount of cheer that Zoro decided was just plain wrong considering how somber she was not even a minute ago. She pouted again soo after, "It is something of a shame that Zoro-kun and I weren't able to finish our bout though."
"Then let's go-" He started to suggest, but was cut off.
"Not in the mood! Beyond that, Zoro-kun, do you not remember the rules? I never considered that you were a masochist. More teasing material, I suppose. Third rule."
Zoro recalled the rules. They were simple. The first was don't die. The second was don't damage my ship or I'll hurt you. That rule had caused a number of the thin scratches decorating him all over as she retaliated. The third was anything else goes and the last was that she could stop it at any time for any reason.
Zoro's blood turned cold. Anything else goes –and she never specified who that applied to.
"So," Zoro began conversationally, "what would you have done in the last three rounds if we hadn't stopped?"
"For the round we stopped on?" Aki asked, as she mused over the rough plans she had laid out. Actually, she had long since gotten to the point she didn't have to think about her reactions in a fight, but she didn't want to kill Zoro so she had to in order to control how strong she wanted her blows considering everything else. Honryuu affected things even while in her sheath.
Jubilance provided treacherous footing, Zoro had his injuries and fatigue and the fact that he wasn't quite pushing her hard enough to make her reach serious which led to her being mock-serious and playful. Playful was bad as she had been told that her sense of humor was traumatic –she couldn't even argue the point as she did agree with the statement.
"I would have introduced some of my more than slightly dirty tricks. Tricks to mess up your footwork, to further destroy your balance on Jubilance and introduce you to why no one sane ever wants to corner someone that has a good manicure, a brain and access to poison."
The younger swordsman made a chocked sound.
"A nice clear coat of nail polish covers the nail; in a nice even lacquer coat or three. Another layer for color and then the next layer is a poison of choice. Mine is a mild paralytic to begin with and it's in a low concentration. It's really not that noticeable on skin contact, but if it hits blood… you get the idea right?" She asked with a cheerful wink.
Oh, yes, he got the idea. It wouldn't have killed him and he wouldn't have noticed the effects at all until was too late given how long they had been at it. It wouldn't be a disaster, but it would have been a far more doomed attempt on his part when it came to winning even a short spar.
"So the next round?" He asked. Aki mentally awarded him points for asking.
"I was planning on losing the sheath in the first three minutes. More disorientation and tactics meant to further cloud judgment. More claw work and a far more wild and undisciplined sword style. Then a nice solid hit or kick to the throat, or jaw. Maybe the chest. I wasn't going to be picky. Enough power and leverage behind it to make it hurt and color magnificently, but not enough to snap your neck or break bones. Shame that I don't have geta that the style really needs, but kimono confuse me." The reincarnated witch stated with a bored drawl.
She sort of even liked geta –better than those wooden clogs that she had to wear a few times at international diplomatic events when she was part of the MoM. Britain's weather didn't lend itself to sandals either. Even with a past life who had worn kimono before, and the few times she had worn them in this life she still didn't get them. Someone had to help dress her or she'd end up with too few under layers to be proper, or not get the proper knot or wind up proclaiming that she was dead. She knew all the protocol, what the various ornamentation and decorations meant and even how to make the most complicated knots and hair styles allowed for any occasion –yet she couldn't dress herself in a kimono without a mistake. Her female friends despaired at that and several of her other quirks concerning her appearance.
"And the last round?"
"If you were still able to have a good round after that, I would have brought out my gun."
"The one strapped on your leg?" He asked.
"Naw. Not the PM-09 (1). That's not something for a spar either. I would have brought out my old snub-nosed revolver. That one is concealed. It's a Heat special make but the ammo is too expensive for use in a spar (2). Pistol-whip."
The younger swordsman scowled at her assesment.
"To be honest, you did better than I expected. You've only recently learned that skill after all." She continued in the same catty drawl she had long perfected. She also remembered her experience as a teacher. True most of it was magically based, but same principals applied. Praise students for doing a good job, but make sure they don't kill their self or others with stupidity. "I suppose sometime in the last week, so in Albasta then, as you're the type to work obsessively on skills and it is still a little rough."
Zoro grimaced, but nodded at her assessment of his skills and when he had learned them.
"Anything you want to ask?" She asked. She would answer, but as long as she stayed in the mood to do so. She was actually getting sleepy.
"How are move you so fast? And how do you know when and how I learned zantetsu?"
Aki sighed. "You ask for those things first. Figures. Speed is easy. I don't think. Just react. Thoughts have weight. They are an unnecessary burden while fighting. A fighter should be focused on as a fight is a clash of intents, and if necessary, then it should be fought. If all fighting required thinking then every incidence of violence would be resolved over chess. A fight should be fought with intent and resolve, not thoughts. Thoughts resolve problems for people with clashing intents but only when they are willing to compromise. If the intents and people are resolved otherwise and unwilling to let go of the issue, then the fight should be fought. That's not to say that one can't fight smart, and use the terrain, surroundings or whatever to your advantage, but as that intent to fight, to do harm, to win is heavier with thoughts, an unnecessary burden and it is easier to predict because it is slower (3)."
"And the zantetsu?"
"Experience and observation. It is not so much as large of a change that you're wearing a sign that spells it out, but more a culmination of little things and intuited observations. Everything from the cut and condition of hair, to the pattern, color and style of what you're wearing says something about you. Sometimes it is as simple as 'I don't care what I'm wearing,' to writing out your past for everyone should they actually care to read it (4)."
"Is that possible?" Zoro asked.
"Takes a lot of people watching and experience, but it is. It's gotten to the point that it is all sub-conscious for me. My first impressions are not only disturbingly accurate, but furthered observation often gives me too much information. Like when was the last time Zoro-kun bathed. It was at least four days ago, if not five (5). The spar and teaching were just a bonus to cleaning the stink off. It was offending my cat."
"Meerw."
"That's accurate." The sniper commented as his body language showed that he counted the days before shuddering and getting back to work. "And scary."
"Well, it's not meant to be comforting." Aki replied. "As a bounty hunter, observation skills are a must. Even more so when politics get involved and huge sums of money, as not everyone that I've gone after were pirates." She stretched out on the stairs of Merry that led to the rear deck. Not the most comfy place, but better than one would think.
The infamous bounty hunter continued her lecture. "Money and power does funny things to people's heads. It can bring out the worst or the best of them. Hence my vacation and why I'm actually considering retirement. I love my work, but the majority of people I end up meeting I end up not liking." She left out all the scumbags that she avoided on principle and those that she did kill. Meeting someone means you exchanged names and acknowledged that the other person was there. Tossing someone through a building because they grabbed her ass was not meeting some either. Nor was being flashed and propositioned. Was it any wonder that she was known as 'Sword Maiden' Benihime? Honestly, she got tired of it at times.
Well, maybe she'd 'retire' once she got done with the current favor list she was doing. Ace had asked her to track down the place where Crocodile had gotten his dance powder from. It being a possible threat to his Pop's territory was a joke of an excuse but one she'd accept because it was Ace. Since she was going towards that direction in the first place, several of her contacts had taken advantage of it since a few other ports at the start of Paradise would want a few supplies that were more valuable and illegal being out of season. Smuggling things was surprisingly easy and profitable in many ways if you knew what you were doing, but more importantly when.
"You'd be dying of boredom within a week." Luffy deadpanned.
"I can do other things with my time. Work on my businesses, visit, learn, explore…" Aki argued.
Plot various dooms of people who had earned more than their fair share of her ire, move without further notice in a number of areas, a few pro-bono assassinations that were by natural causes caused unnaturally, maybe stop another war, find treasure, gamble with Rayleigh and con him out of his wallet or maybe with Alice although they wouldn't have to put as short of a limit to how long they'd play card games… there was a lot that she could do if she had more free time made available. Make and perfect another technique, visit Rouge and tell her what her son was up to now, see Ace and make sure he wasn't burning himself out on his hunt for the traitor and spend some time with him, stop in and check on other people like her little sis and mom and the bar, drive Sabo's crew bonkers while embarrassing him, bug Dragon into remembering he was human like she used to have to for Hermione on a study spree… She could do a lot of things.
She'd still have to keep up Valentine for various reason –but she'd have far more time if she didn't have to fool the world into thinking that Benihime and Valentine weren't the same person. Travel times became simply murderous which wasn't fun or pleasant. There were other reasons for keeping Valentine 'alive' such as the contacts that weren't available to Benihime but the main reasons went back to biology and magic. She had so totally screwed herself over. It wasn't like sanity and ethics had ever been her strong suit anyway, but she would like to keep what she had.
Really she'd only be bored if she had to stay on a particular island, unless it was the surface of Ryoko's home island. There was no way she'd ever 'retire' to that island though. She preferred Labyrinthos to that and several other small islands that weren't officially claimed as hers over the world such as Aviary Tower in South Blue. That wasn't including the various properties that she owned, or in one case –been given. The Queen of Elicoor was one that she liked –all demure and proper and soft on the surface with a vicious steel trap underneath. It almost made up for the weeks of being a bodyguard and the espionage she had to conduct. At least she wasn't stupid. Retirement to there was actually something to consider… but she would maybe be-
"Be bored." Luffy replied. "You do all that stuff anyway."
His sis would be bored stiff, and wouldn't stay 'retired' more than a month. She loved the career she had chosen. It was as dangerous if not more so than being a pirate, but had less freedom. She didn't mind the constraints –she considered them a challenge and actually placed more on herself. Sis could be scary like that.
"Stop disturbing my daydream with logic. It's rude." She chuckled, the sound low and throaty. The smirk was like the one she often gave a few years ago. Things clicked in Luffy's mind. Oh. OH. Now things made sense.
Luffy reached the epiphany that his sis was planning something that was decidedly not her retirement or at least not yet –and it wouldn't be a nice surprise either. Or at least something pretty big before having 'Benihime' disappear from the world. At least if things went to plan anyways. If not there was always the next plan, contingency and the next and maybe just going with what seemed right even if they had gone past the worst case scenario. He never tried to mess with his sister's plans or get involved –there was no way to win unless something upset the board completely or she allowed it. Since she wasn't asking for permission to involve his nakama, she wasn't including them, so he was fine with that. Nor was she asking him to go along with an idea of hers either, which was also nice.
"Are you sure you want to nap there?" Luffy asked.
"I'm surprisingly comfy as is. I suppose I could go back to 'Lance…" She replied as she weighed the comfort of the stairs compared to the effort of getting up, over on the Jubilance and sleeping there. A shift of weight put his sis on her feet as she stood up. "My ship is more comfy and better stocked… if you need me, I'll be asleep –over there. Even if you yell, I'll still probably be asleep." Then his sis jumped the distance -a jump that only barely rocked Merry saw her over to her ship where her landing didn't even cause a ripple in the water.
Nundu the cat stayed on the railing of the Going Merry as his favorite person's "little brother" and his nakama dived down in those contraptions to salvage the wrecked ship. It wasn't his problem.
Nor was it his problem when a monkey like man decided to salvage the ship as well. It was an interesting technique to witness, but he didn't care. The man was what his favorite person classified as 'mostly harmless.' It was annoying that the monkey man's crew and ship cut off his line of sight to his person's resting place. The other two-legs had obviously failed in keeping her in check and watching over his person since they were busy doing two-legger things.
It did become his problem when the giant turtle appeared under the Jubilance. His favorite person was in that ship! Or was, Nundu admitted as he saw her move to the turtles head and with his cat ears he heard her ask, 'if turtles lost their shells, would they be naked or homeless?' Typical of her. The humans around this ship were panicking over other things he didn't care about. The humans jumping back on the caravel ship barely registered. The reactions of two-leggers he didn't care about to the turtle didn't concern him.
Just as soon as he was ready to jump the distance to the vessel that his human was using the sky turned dark and giant figures played out. This didn't bother Nundu at all –his night vision was exceptional even for a cat- but it scared the turtle. Land turtles would be slow, but sea turtles could swim fast. Pounce-chase fast. This was problematic. He would actually have to depend on these other humans for a few things…
Nundu actually decided to pay attention to the humans around him.
"Today has been a really weird day." The male who smoked began.
"A galleon fell from the sky…" The male with swords continued.
"The log-post keeps pointing up…" The female who smelled of the fruit trees complained.
"The strange monkey appeared to recover the sunken ship…" The male who smelled of gunpowder said.
"A giant sea turtle at the ship…" The animal with horns and hooves put in.
"The sky went black…" The female who smelled flowery reminded them.
"Finally, giant monsters a hundred times bigger than regular giants show up!" The stretchy male who smelled of meat exclaimed as he ended the summary.
"Yup! That really scared me." The intruder and monkey like man said. He was promptly kicked off ship.
This was nothing that needed a feline's touch yet. His favorite person wasn't without resources or cunning. Knowing the destination or at least someone that was there, was all his person needed to find someone. She wasn't done here yet. After all, she had told him as she had waited this morning that she had sensed an old acquaintance of hers.
The change of her aura told him that she was on the hunt. A slow, slow prowl. The hunting stalk of the top predator. However the inclusion of the meat-loving man wanting to reach this sky island where the prey was complicated and destroyed the leisurely pace of the hunt. His human knew other ways to reach the various sky islands, but she hadn't had to ever use them much less seek out further knowledge of them so she hadn't 'investigated' them. While the inclusion of this set of humans could ruin the hunt, they first had to get to the sky island to ruin the hunt in actuality.
He might not care for humanity in the least –they made no sense- he was and knew he was smarter than the average human. So all he had to do was watch and wait. He was a cat. He had no problems with this.
Watching the humans dither over what to do wasn't amusing to the cat. Nor was the discussion about his person. The stretchy meat-smelling man was right in saying that his person would show up again, if only for her cat.
"Verily, this is true." Nundu agreed.
"Luffy? Did that cat just talk?" One of the humans asked.
"I have been able to the entire time. I however, have kept a civil tongue. Make sure that everyone else does the same or I might have to get it and everything else while I'm at it."Nundu informed the newbie pirates. "For your own safety, don't make any mention of my favorite person either in any capacity. Now, if that is all, I shall be returning to my nap."
"It spoke human." Another human said.
"I have long since been able to. I just prefer to not to around idiots."
"Why that shitty cat!" The smoking man yelled at and attacked the cat –only to find his foot going through the cat. His shoe had disappeared within the cat's body, leaving the chef's foot covered in just a sock.
"None of you are capable of hurting me unless I allow it. Be glad I didn't take your foot as well as your shoe. Now if you don't mind," the cat licked a paw and the shoe slowly emerged from the paw to drop down onto the ship's deck. "I shall return to my nap."
"Evil cat." He heard muttered.
The cat smiled in a fashion that only his devil fruit ability allowed -the result was just plain disturbing. And the cat continued smiling that smile while napping and did so, until they reached port.
Once they did, Nundu being a small and adorable cat jumped onto the most sensible and cat-like of the lot and followed her while she shopped. If he left while she was trying on a few things and ate the shop manager –it was a people problem. He showed back up and followed the flowery female around. He approved of her manner in dealing with people. Very cat-like.
They returned to the ship where the two strongest on ship were receiving first-aid from the furry doctor. Any injuries given to the swordsman from his person had long since become non-issue due the first aid and his favorite person's medicine.
Due to the flowery woman's leads, they went around Jaya to another human's place. The met another irritating monkey man who was far too arrogant, but also too loud one the way. That human was actually worrisome as the ship he was on received quite a bit of damage. That could be bad. He could get wet.
Eventually they met the boss of the salvage and sonic monkey duo, who he didn't care about either. The cat slept as the pirates got along and partied. People's problems didn't concern him. He woke up the next time the monkey human howled and noticed that there was a fight going on. As the aggressors were clearly winning and he didn't care for the losers he hopped onto the aggressor's ship. He knew the type of person that his favorite person's little brother was as his favorite person was the same, but more lethal. Some things were forgivable. Others are unforgivable, no matter the reason. Stealing prey just wasn't done, but watching it for someone else was just doing them a favor.
Eventually the meat loving human caught up to the one he had been tailing and proved the difference in the strength between his prey and himself, by knocking the other out in one hit. He didn't see why people just didn't eat their prey, but he had long since given up on trying to understand humans.
"Meow." He called.
"Oh, cat. Have you been keeping an eye on where they have Mister Chestnut's gold?" Luffy asked.
"Mreow." Nundu repeated, while he led him to the gold. The gold obtained, they raced back to the ship. Along the way, this human just proved how much like his favorite person he was, by befriending a large insect –specifically a beetle which made them far later than they should. Yeah, he was going to just find a place on the ship and sleep again.
This proved to be a mistake as a few hours later the modified ship was sailing into a whirlpool and then up the knock-up steam. This was after running into the target of his favorite person's favorite person's hunt.
The cat mentally told himself that he really needed to learn people's names. Before that, he had to get dry. Clouds were wet no matter what they were made of.
Yesterday
"Ah, Mister Turtle, you can stop swimming away now. The giant shadows are long gone." The bounty hunter told the giant sea turtle to no avail for the sixth time this hour. The turtle was still swimming –and on the surface too. How odd, but that was just Honryuu acting up. It was also still panicked. It was also not listening.
"Sea kings, sea serpents and various other predatory species I can speak to with ease." Aki complained out loud to the turtle who wasn't listening. "Turtles I can't. Figures." She pouted.
"My problem is that I'm getting further away from my target and my cat." She could sense that and it wasn't just from her pacing on the turtle's huge head. "So solutions to my problem are limited by the fact that I need to get up to that Sky Island. There's no way that Luffy won't reach it if he tries. He is a lucky bastard like that." A lucky bastard who benefited from having a few overprotective siblings –her among them. The Dadan bandit family wasn't the only gang of bandits in the mountains of Dawn Island, but the only one aside from Higuma's bunch Luffy had ever interacted with. Even so, he had only interacted with Higuma's gang the one time –they all had suffered a nasty case of death by the time she was thirteen. Other bandit gangs succumbed to the natural hazards of the mountains and jungles.
"Nundu is likely to tag along with Luffy, for entertainment if nothing else. However he's not going to do much unless he sees a direct benefit from it. Shame, I could have convinced him to… nah, he wouldn't have agreed in the first place. My nearest aviary is a week and a half away if I'm guessing the speed and heading of this turtle correctly should it dive now and I have to sail. That's only because I'll be fighting headwinds so I could otherwise cheat with Jubilance and use the engine. It's not like the ship doesn't have the power from the generator cutting the travel time down to two days. Speaking of power… Luffy would be fine against Enel's lightning, but only that. He wasn't Birkia's strongest warrior for nothing… even without the damn fruit."
She sighed and turned in a twirl to pace the line she had been walking for the past two hours again. "At Birkia we ended up leaving with a ton of refugees that otherwise wouldn't have survived before the island fell apart and before I was able to recover consciousness–that's what I get for nearly dying- so we weren't able to get an accurate reading of who was left and who still followed Enel or if that bastard was still alive –which he proved to be. Damn my luck." She felt the need to use a large amount of profanity but ignored it.
She continued speaking her thoughts aloud. "Luffy's not the brightest, so there's a good chance that some of them could match him or the others. Zoro not getting zapped isn't likely to happen. That damn logia could have even gotten new minions. Merlin knows that he doesn't care for them. So that means… damn."
The red head stopped pacing back and forth on the turtle's head. It was large and steady enough perch –Jubilance was barely rocking on it. "I'm actually going to have to call for help."
She went inside of Jubilance to grab the den den mushi and a stick that reacted well enough with her magic to be useful for the various basics of magic that were handy and subtle such as the point me and those that even a non-magical person could do –like divine where fresh water was.
The den den mushi glared at her as she picked the snail up. Wanting to not be in the same room she kept it in on the Jubilance, she went back to the turtle's head. She did a rough estimate of what time it was at Sabaody and judged that her minion was likely up if not Fuu-chan. Tempus wasn't a spell that she could recreate in a runic form without ungodly amounts of effort involved and a high chance of killing herself. She had never studied beyond the basics of temporal magic beyond how to use it.
An unexpected benefit to keeping her aura at a frequency to mess with den den mushi is that she also knew how to use her aura to boost the connection range and scramble the signal. While it was commonly said that adult den den mushi could send and receive signals from the other side of the world that was a false statement. As her minion had explained it to her, the den den mushi sent all of these signals to each other and boosted the signals of the call to each other –like the muggle game of telephone but far less prone to misunderstandings. That was how the 'black' den den mushi intercepted calls. The equipment on den den mushi in general just allowed people to take advantage of that ability to communicate over long distances with. Knowing how to boost the signal allowed her to be more selective about which den den mushi passed the messages along lowering the risk of being overheard as there were less 'chances' for it be over heard from. It also had the benefit of allowing her to force a call through to someone even if she didn't know the number.
The problem of keeping her aura and feel at that particular frequency was how once she stopped her aura would surge. She could at least control how it would surge so that she didn't knock out the turtle and the den den mushi. The good thing about being on a giant sea turtle with no one around for miles? There was no one around for miles.
Power was always one of the most alluring things in the world.
She slowly released the constraints on her aura and breathed. It was nice to truly relax. Even the air smelled different. The turtle slowed down considerably, before stopping and breaking out in a turtle-style cold sweat as it was now aware of her existence.
Consequently keeping such a firm control over her aura all the time prevented her from using the 'rarest' type of haki. That was why she hadn't used it earlier to make the turtle bend to her whims.
"Ne, Mister Turtle, you don't mind if I call you Snapper?" She asked.
The turtle slowly shook his head 'no.' Ooooh, she had a smart turtle!
"Good, now can you head to the left? You've gotten me far away from where I wanted to be." She explained. The turtle slowly turned. It was a wide turn, but it wasn't directly back towards where she had been separated from Luffy. "A little further to the left." She told the turtle newly dubbed Snapper. Snapper complied.
She was pretty sure that she was turned towards Jaya, but the time of day didn't allow for the handy find my direction tricks any survivalist was bound to pick up. Not that she was handicapped by it. The point me spell always pointed north –even in the Grand Line. A quick check allowed her to check that she was pretty accurate –day time navigation was never her thing. She was good enough to get by, but she knew better navigators than her existed. While she might not always be the most accurate she knew how to eke out every little speed advantage the winds and waves would allow her.
The turtle was moving towards Jaya –at a much slower pace than it had left, but it had been a fast turtle for a while. She estimated that she would get there sometime tomorrow morning if the turtle kept up this slow pace.
Unable to put off the call any longer she called the particular frequency she wanted –boosting the signal to make it reach while scrambling any others that could pick up on it.
"Hello, you've reached-" A young male voice began.
"Ah, Jim. Is Fuu-chan available?" She cut in.
"Boss?" He asked.
"Yup! Is it so surprising that I'd call?"
"No, and yes in that order. Whatever happened to P. C.? Wasn't he with you?"
"We cut through Sanq in North Blue. His sister abducted him. You haven't heard?"
"No, he hasn't bothered to informed us, or we missed the call. Bastard."
"It happens. There was far too much pink to be vanquished."
"Pink? Ah, never mind. I understand." Jim replied soothingly. Not that it was needed.
"Anyway, I knew to borrow some of Fuu-chan's skills. There's a place that I'd like to get to and I believe that I'll miss the fun way and my normal methods would take too long to get there. I have a small time issue."
"Ah, that could be a problem, but we're not all that busy at the shop. Where are you at?"
"A half day and some hours away from Jaya, on a giant sea turtle named Snapper. Do you think that Fuu-chan can reach there by about this time tomorrow at the latest?"
"Jaya? Man boss." Jim complained. "That's like a fourth of the line in less than a day! A little more actually, considering the distances (6). Fuu-chan is fast, but not that fast and then there's the chance that she might be too tired to get you to a place you'd need her abilities for. Even taking the birds would have a similar situation considering the air currents in those areas."
"Take the train then." She replied with ease. "I've always liked them."
"Even if we did take the train, the sea train stops at various islands. It's not like it is a straight shot from Enies Lobby to Water 7. It has stations, and it picks up supplies and passengers (7)!"
"Actually there is a track for that does go straight from the Lobby to Water 7. It is just that commercially, the train usually follows the other tracks. A large number of marines patronize Water 7 just to ship off their criminals using that track. As for your other concerns…that's what hijacking is for (8). Shame that I'll miss the opportunity. I've wanted to do that ever since I saw it, but didn't. That would be just troublesome to explain and I'd get a bounty that I wouldn't want." Aki explained.
"Hijacking the sea train. A train of all things. The train! I don't even want to talk to you. You want a guy who hasn't even turned fourteen yet and a coffee deprived rain-hawk harpy lady to go hijack a train so that we can be ready to fly off to Jaya –a place that I'm not sure we even have the eternal pose to- so that you can get to a damn island. Why?"
"The eternal pose should be in the cabinet with the rest of them Fuu has collected and made. I believe that it is the third shelf, about the sixth one over. As for why, I found proof that I missed someone on something I did a few years back. He nearly kills me and mine; I nearly kill him and did kill some of his. I do believe that he won the war so to speak as the island isn't the same anymore…"
"Wait, the logia guy that nearly killed you? He's still alive?" Jim asked.
"Got proof of it. Admittedly, we didn't look too hard, but still the Grand Line is a large place and we could have missed each other. Anything he has done since that point in time is my responsibility, if not also my fault too."
"Shouldn't you wait? Gather up a few of us that can actually fight at that level and then go?"
"Ah, but Duckling's long lost partner is in the area, along with some others that I care about. They're the type to end up in the middle of it. I just ended up away from them and Nundu."
"Nundu's with them. That's not much better. So, no choice then?" He asked.
"None." Aki replied.
"Do I really have to?" The thirteen year old male whined.
"Yes. Unless, you want me to inform certain people about who did what a few years ago -as a prank. After all, even with everything you've done for me –you still owe me."
"That's dirty! And I was eleven! That shouldn't even count! No one does anything smart when they're eleven!"
"It still doesn't quite top killing a sea king at ten." She informed him. Objection overruled. His argument became invalid.
"But I haven't even had breakfast yet." Jim whined. He knew he was overruled too.
"Eat it on the train." Aki told him before she hung up.
"Goddamnit." James 'Jim' Hawking complained as the connection cut out. He knew from previous tries that calling back just wasn't an option.
"I thought I heard Shishio on the den den mushi. Was it actually her?" The blond bombshell wearing nothing but a dress shift which did absolutely nothing but emphasize the size of her breasts asked.
"Yes." Jim growled as he tried to focus his attention elsewhere other than his companion's boobs. As a teenager in puberty –this was a lost cause. Not only was it a lost cause because 'Fuu-chan' was hot, but she was fresh from the shower and all she was wearing were those panties that covered less than a bikini bathing suit bottom and the sheer dress shift. The wings with everything else just made the 'naughty angel' look turn pornographic. She'd dress more formally later, but before coffee expecting Fuu-chan to act like she should considering her status was a lost cause.
"So what did she want?" Fuu-chan asked as she took the coffee he had brewed and drank straight from the pot. He would be more worried about her getting burned if she didn't do this every day after she woke up and showered. No sugar. No cream. No milk. Just straight black coffee that was strong enough to be illegal. He never saw any benefit to her drinking it, but the detrimental effects of her not having it were a miniature natural disaster in the making.
"For us to meet her at Jaya, by this time tomorrow."
"No mention of the exact time considering time zones (9)?" She asked.
"I believe that she meant by her time." Jim replied. The time zones could mean the difference of seven hours and some odd minutes. So they had even less time that a day.
"That's even less time." Fuu-chan replied. "I can't make that time flying if we run into any storms. A straight shot also puts me through the Florian Triangle, or almost there. The winds there are so calm that there are practically no thermals to take advantage of. The headwinds are also immense on several other routes from here to there at this time of the year…"
"We're supposed to go to the Lobby and hijack a train."
"A train?" The blond replied as she worked it over in her mind. "I can see how that'll work. Water 7 to Jaya and beyond is far more manageable and less tiring. "
"Glad you can. Feel like explaining to me how we're not going to become wanted criminals while doing so?" The teenager asked.
"Lying my pretty little wings off. The controls malfunctioned. The train isn't stopping. Something. Between the two of us, no marvel of technology or feat of engineering is beyond our ability to dominate." Fuu-chan reminded the teenager. "I suppose it will be easy enough to figure out once we get there."
"Whatever happened to sanity." Jim complained.
"I gave away my right to it when I asked Kurenai-sama to train me."
"Wonderful. This leaves me as the sane guy all over again."
"She say anything about breakfast?"
"Yeah. Eat it on the train. Get dressed already." Jim replied. The things and lengths that he and the rest of the fools he called his nakama would do for her. Captain, boss, master, favorite person or whatever. After all, what better way to repay the fact that she'd do anything for them other than to return it in kind?
He picked up his personal den den mushi, ammo, his twin pistols, a knife, some small change for anyone on the 'crew,' put on his goggles, a heavy jacket and the rest of his tools. There was a train to hijack and some disaster to engineer –having Nundu would have been helpful for that but he could make do- or find someone to frame up for the 'disaster.' Or they could cut power to the cars and wreck the den den mushi signals from any of the cameras entirely after having Fuu-chan work her magic on the door… after all there were only two orders superior to the one he had just been given. One was don't die. Two was don't get caught.
Jim wasn't planning on failing his boss in anyway. After all, this sort of thing looked to be fun no matter that his sanity was protesting the decision.
A/N; Meet some of Aki's nakama. Nundu the apathetic and genius cat who eats everything. Fuu-chan the angel who calls Aki her master. Then there's Jim a.k.a. the minion who is not only the youngest person on the crew but also the sanest one. Jim's specialty lies in logistics, tactics, mechanical and technological knacks. Not as back-up or as a fighter for all that he has some talent as a sniper. He also can cook.
1. Oh, dear, this isn't the same one mentioned in Chapter 22. Sorry to say, but that one broke some time ago. This one isn't 'Silent Chaos.' The PM-09 isn't a Castor-Gun Model which has the ability to fire 'magic-shots' and will be designated as a CGM. The gun in Chapter 22/'Silent Chaos' is properly named CGM-SC-01. Type of gun, specific name/model, the make number (as it is the first one made, it gets 01). The PM-09 is Piercing Massacre –ninth edition. Lots of piercing power, some armor piercing and explosive rounds and OP ridiculous capability –that means lots of ammo, shot really fast. The bullets fired can pierce through a number of things with ease, but specifics can be iffy with haki reinforcement. Normally, those of the PM series have the equivalent piercing power of a modern-day M16 in your hand, with burst-shot capabilities. Major drawbacks are the kick, lack of precision in burst rounds and the speed at which it eats ammo –ammo that is not the mass produced lead balls common in OP.
2. She might have only spent a short amount of time under Heat's tutelage, but that doesn't mean that Aki can't take care of her own guns nor make her own. She had an excellent foundation for understanding of the mechanisms of everything involved in gun-smithing and just lacked practical experience when making or shaping the parts. This means she knows how to replace parts and upgrade her weapons as needed given access to materials and a workshop. This is just her giving credit to Heat as he created the original that she has modified. She even visits him semi-regularly. So her little snub nosed revolver has been modified to allow for more modern ammo. The ammo that Aki has to make by hand as she jealously guards her weapon's secrets. It is why she is sparse in using it. Please note that this is just regular ammo –the spelled shells are only for the CGMs and those are expensive glass cannons and not just in energy and time put into each shot. The CGMs have a habit of cracking after x number of shots depending on the type of spelled shells it has been shooting and how close each shot was after another.
3. This is actual sound advice for fighting in general and fighting against one with kenboshuku haki. According to OP wiki, it is easier to pick up murderous intent and read it with kenboshuku. You mentally tell yourself that 'I'm going to kill this guy,' and your brain will work to picture that and then you coordinate yourself to attack. Easy to predict. Remove the mental statement and just focus the brain doesn't get distracted imagining it happening and you move faster and become harder to predict. Rely on impulse/reflex and the only warning 'time' your opponent is gets is very small. Beyond that, if you back it up with enough ego and strength against a kenboshuku user, their confidence could/would be eroded away unless they have similar or greater resolve.
4. Aki is scarily observant. Most women are, in a number of ways, but Aki is far more practiced at it. True most of what modern women focus on is appearance and what that says about you, but a number of other things can be inferred about you based on appearance alone. It's not always accurate, but it can be done. This can be based off of hair style, color, length, the type of shirt, the color of shirt, the type of material or anything else like skirts, accessories, pants, gloves, make-up, hats, coats, scarves and even shoes! Converse shoes imply a flightiness and impulsiveness of youth, while strappy sandals imply feminine easy-going woman, but strappy sandals with heels imply feminine elegance and power while boots say that you're aggressive, self-reliant and tough. All these inferences usually happen at a sub-conscious level and your brain wants them to 'match' to a degree. It is why people would never consider wearing hiking boots with a cocktail dress or strappy sandals with heels and a heavy camouflaged coat. The brain mentally calling for the fashion police aside, acknowledging and being aware of all these tiny judgments makes for being really observant. It is actually tougher and easier on men. Easier as they have less variety, but tougher as women and men don't think the same way. So a guy could look like a lay about that failed out of college, move like an athlete and actually be a doctor.
5. Oda says in SBS that Zoro bathes once a week. Given how much he exercises and trains, the body odor must get rather potent before he bathes. Aki's estimate is slightly off, but still disturbingly accurate for the timeline in BV. Strawhats beat Baroque Works, rest and recover. Clean up, have feast, leave Vivi and Alabasta. Robin shows up on ship, Aki arrives three days later.
6. Yeah, I'm saying that Jaya and Water 7 are about mid-way point on Paradise. Also I get to point out the superiority of air travel verses sea travel and land travel. Speed. Distances that take 10 hours in a car at 60 mph are less than an hour in a plane. The main problem with air travel –unless you have a flying ship is that the comfort of travel is less than ideal and reliant on muscle power unless again you have a flying ship. Birds fly slower than planes, but they are still faster than a ship. Aki's complaint about travel times is bullshit to the rest of the world but in comparison to portkeys, floo and apparition? It becomes a legitimate complaint. More so because air travel is often wrecked/delayed by storms and this is the Grand Line.
7. The sea train rails connects to several islands. Enies Lobby, San Faldo, St. Popular, Pucci and Water 7. Trade goes on between these islands thanks to the sea trains and takes far less time and energy than shipping the materials by ship.
8. I find it hard to believe that there is only ONE Puffing Tom in existence. Considering the scope and length of the tracks it is possible to have multiple conveys running the same track. They'd have to have multiple trains in order to keep up with demand and all the tourism. The main difference is that the Puffing Tom doesn't go as fast as the Rocket Man and also unlike the Rocket Man –the Puffing Tom has breaks. Even so, at full speed the Puffing Tom is fast enough to equal Fuu-chan's travel speed against headwinds and storms don't slow or stop the train either. Birds fly faster when they're diving, but beyond that most birds have a pretty low cruising speed compared to what is needed for a plane to fly.
9. Going on the similarities between our world and OP, the world has been divided into 'time zones.' Twenty four in total, so twelve on each side of the line. The concept of 'time zones' however is misleading. What happens with most of the world in OP is that one island's noon is forty minutes after another or their day begins twenty minutes earlier on one side of the island compared to the other. Because noon is the highest point in the sky that the sun reaches, so physical distance between two towns means they have two different noons even if they're in the same time zone. The only exceptions to this idea are the islands that are connected to the sea train. It is because of the trains that 'time zones' became firmly established. It was this way in America for years until the train businesses took off and required that the time in certain regions be made standard for that entire region so to fix congestion at the station and ensure that what was being transported was transported in a timely manner. So while the concept of time zones exists, not many pay attention to them beyond figuring out the time difference so to place a call unless you work or depend on the rails.