6. Lessons Of Observation, Blades, And Guns

Story Start: Lieutenant Fullbody's Ship, After Lunch

Shooting over the ocean waves on my glider, I pulled up to the Marine vessel that had TRIED to sink our own and called out "Ahoy there! I require information, you may either give it to me willingly or I will take it by force! However, I give you my word that I shall not attack unless attacked first!"

"And how can we trust a filthy pirate's word?!" A Marine asked, him and several of his shipmates aiming rifles at me though not yet firing.

I raised an eyebrow and said "Need I remind you that it was you guys who tried to sink the ship of a crew that only got their flag a few days ago? Even though we are pirates, we have committed no crimes and our only conflicts so far have been with other pirates." I then smirked and said "Besides, all I want is a little bit of information and then I'll be gone, is that really worth the ass kicking I will give you guys if you don't tell me what I want?"

"You think you can take all of us on?! You're insane!" Another Marine shouted, his buddies all laughing and shouting agreements.

I sighed before I did a quick Rising Cobra and flashed my leg forward in a kick. A noticeable trough formed in the ocean in front of me and the ship for a hundred yards before the water rushed back into place, the vessel beside me rocking and rolling in the turbulence before settling down again. As the Marines scrambled back to their feet with gob smacked looks, I gave them a flat look and said "Logia."

"Noted." The second Marine squeaked out.

All of the Marines now looked nervous as the first one swallowed and said "I shall get the Commander sir."

"You go do that." I said with a smirk and he quickly darted into the ship's wheel house.

When he returned with the Commander, who had a very sour expression on his face, I asked "Permission to come aboard Commander?"

The Commander's sour face worsened before he bit out "Against my better judgement, Granted."

Swinging in and landing, I turned my glider back into its staff form and said "Thank you for being reasonable. Just give me what I want and we can all forget the other side even exists."

"And what DO you want Pirate?" The Commander asked.

"Any and all current information you have on the Krieg Pirates. This crew was the one to catch that member right?" I said, head cocked at the end.

"We were, though he didn't give us much." The Commander admitted.

"Commander, why are you speaking to that Filthy Pirate?!" A bruised and battered Fullbody demanded as he came from below deck, applied bandages and gauze pads showing that he had most likely been in the infirmary when I had been spotted on approach.

"Because he's not an idiot." I said flatly giving Fullbody a gimlet stare. The wind around me began to whip around stronger than before and several of the Marines took several hasty steps back as I continued "Now unless you want me to launch you a mile out to sea, kindly stay quiet while we conduct our business and then I'll leave."

Maybe it was because of the beating Sanji gave him that the others had told me about. Maybe it was the scared looks on his subordinates faces that clued him in. Maybe it was even his instincts telling him not to mess with me. Either way, Fullbody stopped his approach and merely scowled at me. Either way, unless he did something stupid, I wasn't going to bother with him.

Turning back to the Commander, I raised an eyebrow and asked "So what DO you have?"

"Krieg's fleet was demolished. There was only the flag ship left when we spotted it and it was in extremely bad shape. Our prisoner led us away by making us think that he was Krieg trying to escape by life boat. When interrogated, the pirate said that they had TRIED to go into the Grand Line only to run into a man fitting the description of the Warlord Dracule Mihawk. He single-handedly took out the rest of Krieg's fleet and their flagship somehow made its way through the calm belt back into the East Blue. He wouldn't tell us where the survivors were though." The Commander said.

"I see." I said, eyes closed as I took this in before I nodded and said "Thank you for your cooperation Commander, I'll be leaving now."

As I turned around and hopped onto the railing, the Commander asked "Why did you want to know?"

I glanced over my shoulder and said "I had heard that the pirate had been starving before you grabbed him. It's likely his buddies were too and he had escaped at a restaurant. What do you think he will do when he leaves?"

Fullbody scowled and said "We'll gather a task force and return immediately."

"If you're smart you'll do no such thing. If Krieg spots a single seagull flag he'll book it, recover his strength and numbers somewhere else and still be a problem. Leave him to us, I'll recommend to the owner that he calls you guys when the fighting's done." I said before I turned my head back forward and leapt up into the air, glider opening as I did so. I circled over the ship once before I turned back the way I had come from and shot back to the Baratie.

Time Skip: Thirty Minutes Later, Deck Of The Merry

"YOU WENT TO THE MARINES?!" Nami shouted with shark teeth.

"They had that Krieg Pirate for three days and were the ones to capture him. They were my best bet to get information." I explained with a shrug.

"I know I'm not going to like this, but why did you want that information?" Usopp asked nervously.

I sighed and said "The guy was starving. His buddies are almost surely starving. Logically, he's going to bring them here. And if simple Logic can't be trusted then you can be sure Anime Logic can be. Those guys are GOING to show up. It's best if we know what we'll be up against because I can guarantee you Luffy's going to wind up in a fight with the guy. He IS the Main Character in the source material after all."

"Damn it, why does this keep happening?" Nami asked, knocking her fist against her skull.

"I don't know why you're complaining; it's not like YOU would be the one fighting." Zoro said with a smirk.

"Of course I'm going to have to fight! It's said that Krieg has fifty ships under him!" Nami yelled, shark teeth reappearing.

"Actually it's just the flag ship now. The rest of the fleet got shredded by the Warlord Mihawk when they entered the Grand Line." I said.

Nami visibly calmed down as Zoro's gaze sharpened and he asked "They ran into Mihawk?"

I nodded and said "Yeah, I don't know if he would pursue them out of the Grand Line or not, but if he had nothing better to do then there's a good chance, for pride in finishing a job if nothing else."

"Excellent." Zoro said with a savage grin.

My gaze turned flat and I said "Zoro, he would kill you in the blink of an eye. Even if I could get you up to my ability with Armament Haki within an hour and you had a whole week to get used to using it, it STILL wouldn't be enough to take him on."

"Zoro Bro won't be beat that easily!" Johnny declared, Yosaku nodding his agreement.

"Mihawk is the World's Greatest Swordsman, he is easily capable of slicing mountains in half you idiots!" I snapped at them.

"Eep!" The pair yelped at my glare, hugging each other and paling.

Snorting, I turned back to Zoro and said "Zoro, I respect your strength to hell and back, but believe me when I say this. You. Are. NOT. Ready."

Zoro eyed me calmly and the tension around us steadily racked up. A minute into our staring contest, Zoro said "I have made a promise to be the best swordsman in the world. If a chance comes to make that a reality, I will not let it pass me by, it would forever shame me."

"You will die." I said.

Zoro's lips twitched and he said "Then I die."

I growled low in my throat at those three words and how cavalier he was with them. My eyes scrunched shut for a moment before they snapped open and I said "Come with me. Johnny, Yosaku, you as well." Spinning on my heel, I began walking to the stairs.

"Matt?" Usopp asked in confusion as the three did as told, the Bounty Hunter pair trading a confused look with each other.

"If Zoro insists on being an idiot then it would be bad form of me not to do my best to increase his chances, however slimly, and I HATE repeating myself so I might as well teach the other two as well."

"But you're not a swordsman." Nami felt the need to point out.

"No, but I am a Wind Elemental." I said cryptically.

"What's that got to do with anything?" Usopp asked, though I ignored him.

Hopping up onto the kitchen roof, I waited until the other three joined me before I pointed in front of me and ordered "SIT."

Zoro raised an eyebrow but did as told, Johnny and Yosaku flanking him. Crossing my arms, I said "Normally, I would have waited until after you got a good grasp on using Armament and Observation Haki before I explained this. However, while I believe that I can help you unlock Observation fairly quickly, there are no short cuts to doing so with Armament so I must change my plans. Once Mastered, what I am about to teach you three will not only allow you to slice stone and metal easily, it will also allow you to use the advanced sword technique called the Flying Slash, also known as the Wind Blade."

Seeing their already intent gazes sharpen further, I took in a deep breath and said "It is a universal truth that even if we can't see it, everything is in constant motion. Even a pebble lying on the side of a road is constantly making microscopic motions. These motions are called vibrational frequencies, though most people call them an object's heartbeat, and even the very air around you has one due to the molecules that composes it. If you can learn to hear these heartbeats, if you strike in between them, no matter how durable the object is, you will slice it like it was naught but paper. Allow me to demonstrate."

Turning, I moved off of the roof and set myself down on the railing at the stern of the ship. Pulling my glider off of my back, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, and turned on my air sense for the second time that day, the first having been to track down the fleeing Marine vessel. After a few moments, my eyes snapped open and my staff lashed out in a vertical half spin. A slice was carved into the ocean for a hundred yards throwing water to either side before it rushed to fill the void again, causing all of the nearby vessels to rock violently, well except for the Baratie, that one swayed up and down a lot more gently.

Putting my glider back away, I turned back to face the other three and said "Observation Haki will likely make this process quicker but I'm interested if any of you will make any progress in this before I show you guys after dinner. Good luck."

And with that, I hopped off of the railing and went inside to go play on my Switch for a few hours leaving the three swordsmen to attempt to learn an advanced technique on their own.

Time Skip: That Evening, In The Port Rigging

Everyone including Luffy were sitting in the rope ladder leading up to the yard arm and crow's nest, Luffy up top, Nami and Usopp below him, and the three swordsmen below them. I was hovering in front of them in the air with legs and arms crossed as I said "Alright guys, I told you before that I would teach you about Haki. Haki is...well, the best words I can use to describe it are 'Applied Bullshit'. It lets you detect what a person attacking you will do, increase the impact of your own attacks while at the same time allowing you to hit the intangible, and for the rare few, exert your dominance over others, usually by knocking them out."

"Uh, what's dominance mean?" Luffy asked.

"Power and influence over others." I explained. At Luffy's quiet 'ah' I continued my explanation and said "Haki is split apart into three main categories: Observation, Armament, and Conqueror's. The first two anyone can learn but the third you have to be born with to use it." Nodding at Luffy, I said "I think Luffy might have that last one. Not only is he a D, which are said to be the enemies of the gods, his goal is to be the King of the Pirates, and it would make sense that someone with that kind of ambition would have it." 'Not to mention it would make sense for the main character to have it.' I thought to myself.

"Shishishi." Luffy laughed with a grin as the others glanced up at him considering.

Gathering everyone's attention again, I said "I'll go over Conqueror's a little more with you at a later time Luffy, but for now I'll focus on the other two. Observation is first and its uses are many. You can use it to sense others if they are hidden from your other senses or too far away to detect normally, sense a person's emotional state, predict an opponent's moves shortly before they make them, and true masters can see up to a full minute into the future, though only in snippets for that. It's also possible for two Observation users to communicate semi telepathically thanks to the emotion sensing, kind of like how people who have worked together for a long time don't need to actually speak to have a conversation with each other."

"On the flip side of the Haki coin we have Armament Haki. As the name suggests, its primary purpose is to defend the user. There are two stages, the first forms an invisible shield around what's being protected while the second, stronger form turns the effected object black." I held up my right fist in demonstration and a moment later it was gleaming black. Dropping both the technique and my fist, I continued "Armament Haki is more than a shield though, it's also a weapon. For starters, Armament Haki negates Devil Fruit abilities if those abilities alters the user's body. For instance, say you're fighting a guy that can turn into, oh I don't know, let's go with gelatin. A normal hit wouldn't affect the guy because his body would just turn into gelatin when hit. However, use Armament in your strikes and it would be just like hitting a normal person. And it doesn't have to be a body part doing the striking either, if you're using a weapon like a sword you can imbue your Haki into it. Most higher class swordsmen do so as a matter of course in order to prevent chip damage or outright shattering of their blades in combat."

Zoro's hand drifted over his sword hilts at that and his gaze turned more intent. Nodding my head to Zoro, I said "In fact, there's something called a Black Sword/Blade. It's where a person has used Haki so often with their weapon that it has become permanently black. If you guys see someone with one of these swords before you hit the second half of the Grand Line my advice is to run like hell away from the user if they're not focused on you."

"A-and if they ARE focused on us?" Usopp asked, shakily raising his hand like a student in class.

I gave him a grim smile and said "Then you should promptly bend over and kiss your ass goodbye, though chances are that if you wait a moment you won't actually have to bend over to do so." My gaze turned downwards towards Zoro and said "Dracule Mihawk's sword Yoru is most DEFINITELY a Black Blade."

"Eh, why are you mentioning this hawk guy all of a sudden Matt?" Luffy asked in confusion.

My eyes narrowed and I said "Earlier today I learned that it was Mihawk who wiped out Krieg's Fleet, forcing their flag ship to retreat back into the East Blue. There's a chance that he'll follow them and Zoro here has the absolutely incredibly STUPID idea to challenge him if that is the case."

"So? If Zoro wants to fight this guy, let him fight." Luffy said with a grin.

"He'll die though!" I snapped, jerking my gaze upwards towards Luffy with a snarl of anger.

Luffy studied me seriously for a moment before he glanced down and asked "Zoro, is this hawk guy the one you said you wish to meet?"

"Ah." Zoro said with a nod.

Luffy closed his eyes for a moment before he said "I rather like my insides being inside of me, do as you want."

"Heh, glad you understand." Zoro said with a smirk.

My face met my palm and I said "Great, we're going to be down a First Mate soon."

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine, Zoro's strong after all, Shishishi!" Luffy said, laughing at the end.

"Not strong enough." I muttered. After a few moments, I shook my head hard and said "Whatever, he's not here now so let's go back to Armament Haki. There's one last thing, actually make that two. First, an advanced user of Armament Haki can create a shield of the stuff a short distance away from the user's body without a medium. Second, there is another, much harder technique, where you can push your Haki into another object and destroy it from the inside."

"COOL!" Usopp and Luffy shouted, stars in their eyes.

"That depends entirely on what you use that trick on. I've seen what a human body exploding looks like, and you're going to need more than a mop to clean THAT mess up." I said with a dark smirk.

Four out of the five people in front of me turned a decidedly unhealthy green at the mental image I just gave them and even Zoro looked slightly disturbed. Shaking his head to clear that image, the Santoryu user asked "So what do we need to do to learn these techniques?"

"Well, like I told you, Johnny, and Yosaku earlier today, I know a bit of a shortcut in getting you guys able to use Observation Haki. And even under normal circumstances if I knew a way to make it easier to learn Armament as well I would still teach you Observation first. After all, there's a reason why the saying 'Never take what you can block and never block what you can dodge' is still around. Anyways, if you're willing to trust me then I think you will be able to use Observation Haki before bed time."

"Why would we need to trust you?" Nami asked suddenly suspicious.

I let out a shrug and said "I couldn't really do this for myself because I'd have no way to end it but I think that if I put you all into a light hypnotic trance then I can make it easier for you guys to use Observation Haki the first time. After that it'd just be a matter of practice."

Nami crossed her arms with a frown and said "You don't actually expect me to allow you to hypnotize me do you? Who knows what you'd do with a beautiful girl like me under your control?"

I shrugged again and said "Then I guess you don't mind spending a few months sitting still meditating or trying to dodge someone attacking you with a blindfold on."

"Er, well..." Nami said, eyes shifting side to side before she sighed and said "Fine. BUT! I want you to record this so that way I know that nothing fishy happened!"

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my phone, setting it to record before putting it in my coat pocket. With that done, I said "Alright, unfortunately, I don't have a pocket watch to swing in front of you guys or a spiral to make you watch so we're going to be doing this old school with a visualization exercise." Wind began to blow past the five in a variable but continuous gust, becoming stronger then weaker in pulses that were in time with my heartbeat as I said "Everyone close your eyes. I want you all to picture yourselves on a grassy hill. It's a perfect day out and all around you are people flying kites. Laid out on the hill in front of your feet are five kites, each one labeled with a word, Touch, Smell, Taste, Sight, and Hearing. Also in front of you are five stakes set into the hill. Give me a thumb's up when you have the image set."

Thumbs were quickly raised and I nodded as I said "Good, now here comes the hard part. I want you to connect your actual senses to those kites. Give me a thumbs up when you believe you have done so." The pulsing in the wind shifted tempos, becoming a slower beat that should help them go into a 'slower' state of thinking. Three minutes later, they once more all had thumbs up and I moved onto the next part.

"Alright, now that you have your senses connected to the kites, it's time to use those kites for their true purpose. Pick up the Touch Kite and send it up into the air. As the kite gets higher, your ability to feel that sense diminishes. Once it's a hundred feet high and you can't feel anything, tie Touch off on the first stake...Next up is Smell, release the kite into the wind and began letting out the string keeping it from blowing away, tying it off once it's at the same height as Touch...Following Smell is its counterpart Taste, allow the wind take it up with the other two and tie it off...Sight is next, allow it to drift away, you've done this enough times you don't actually need to see as you tie it off. Finally is Hearing, unlike all of the others, Hearing has a long tail tied to it. That tail is the sound of my voice, and even as Hearing raises up to join the others, it remains touching the ground, allowing you to hear me. With Hearing tied off, all of your senses have drifted away, leaving nothing but a veil of darkness around you."

I gave them all fifteen seconds in between removing each sense. When that was done, I said "Observational Haki transcends the normal senses, and everyone experiences it just that little bit differently. For some, it is sight beyond sight, for others, hearing beyond hearing. Your five senses have left you, leaving only darkness around you, but that does not mean that the world outside of that darkness has ceased to exist. Push through the darkness until you can once more detect things around you. When you do, make two thumbs up."

All of their brows furrowed to varying degrees as they did as told. Unsurprisingly given how good she was at detecting changes in weather patterns, Nami was the first to move her hands into the gesture, taking only thirty seconds to do so. Usopp was next, the Sniper's scrunched up face relaxing around fifty seconds in as he fisted his hands with raised thumbs. Zoro and Luffy were both within a minute of the Long Nose. Finally, Johnny and Yosaku made the gesture at around the three-minute mark.

Nodding to myself, I said "Alright guys we've got the hardest part done, you've broken the barrier to Observe the world. When you wake up, I want you to remember the feeling you got when you did so. But for now, it's time for your Sense kites to return to the ground. Reach forward and grab the string for Hearing, reeling it back in, your hearing coming back as you do so...Next is Sight, bring it back to the ground, restoring it as you do so...Taste comes back down next...now bring Smell to the ground...Finally bring Touch back to complete the set. Now that your senses have returned to you, I want you to once more try and use Observation Haki, give me a single thumb's up when you do so."

Nami and Usopp immediately gave a thumb's up, rapidly followed by Zoro and Luffy a few seconds in. It took Johnny and Yosaku about six seconds but they too soon had their thumbs up. Nodding, I said "Alright guys, remember to keep how you pierced the darkness in mind, able to recall perfectly how you did so as you come out of your trance, which will happen when I snap my fingers in three, two, one." SNAP!

As one, the five all twitched back to awareness and began blinking their eyes a few times. Shaking his head, Usopp said "Man, that felt weird."

"You were aware during it?" I asked mildly curious.

"Vaguely." Usopp said, making a wiggling so-so motion with his hand.

I hummed then shrugged and said "Probably because I didn't specify whether to forget or remember the session I guess."

"I still want to hear that recording." Nami said as she held her hand out for the phone.

Rolling my eyes as I took it out and drifted closer to them, I said "Geeze, it's like you don't trust me."

"Don't take it personally, I don't think she actually trusts anyone." Usopp said.

Nami snorted as she took the phone from my hand and said "I do too trust people, just not you guys THAT much."

"Fair enough." Usopp said before he seemed to turn his focus inwards. A moment later, he let out a startled "WHOA!" and jerked back. He would have fallen out of the rigging to the deck if I hadn't snatched his coveralls and pulled him back forward. Grinning nervously at me, he said "Heh, heh, thanks Matt."

I gave him a nod even as Luffy stretched his head down to look his Sniper over and asked ""Usopp! Are you alright?! What happened?!" Luffy asked in concern.

"Ah, yeah, I'm fine. I just tried using Observation Haki on the surrounding area and was surprised by what I sensed." Usopp said as he looked down into the ocean below the ship.

"Got blindsided by all of the microscopical life in the water, didn't you?" I asked with a slight smirk.

Usopp nodded strongly and said in an awed voice "I had no idea there was so many tiny things hanging around that we couldn't see!"

"Yeah, it can be a bit overwhelming at first I'll admit, but training will allow you to ignore all of those signals you're receiving in favor of all of the ones that matter on the human scale of things." I said with a nod. It really had been quite overwhelming that first time I got Haki working and was swarmed by thousands of soft voices that gathered together to make it seem like I was in a rock concert.

Nami frowned for a moment before she paused the recording and closed her eyes as she focused. A moment later, she gasped and said "Oh, that's beautiful!"

The others soon followed the two's examples and various exclamations were given, from Zoro's grunt of vague interest to Luffy's excited chattering with Johnny and Yosaku in the middle. Once they had gotten over their excitement, Zoro grunted again and asked "So now what?"

"Now? We practice." I said. I took my phone back from Nami then dropped down to the deck and began making my way for the entrance to below decks as I said "Come on, let's see if we've got a beach ball or something similar in storage we can roll to each other while blindfolded. If not, we can roll a cannon ball amongst each other."

"Right, because that's not dangerous at all." Nami muttered even as she and the others began following me. As a matter of fact, it turned out that there WAS a beach ball for us to use.

Time Skip: The Next Morning, Third Story Deck Of The Baratie

Sometime between after Luffy and I had talked with Zeff and this morning a couple of tarps had been put up to cover the hole in the wall. I now had those two set on the floor of the deck and the inside of the room, kept in place by some of Zeff's books and various nick knacks as I studied the hole. Said head chef was lounging in a chair on one side of the deck while on the other was all of the lumber and tools I would need for the job. Pouring himself a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice from a pitcher he had brought with him, Zeff said "Alright Carpenter, let's see these Construction Skills you spoke of."

"Right." I said with a nod before I cocked my head and said "First things first, need to pull the damaged boards off, preferably without widening the nail holes too much, then replace the brace, oh wait, that's three supports there, that'll be tricky, going to have to pry up some of the floor boards as well to get to those, will need to be extra careful doing that. Everything else is just cutting the boards to the right shape and attaching them to the undamaged sections."

Glancing over to Zeff, I said "Give me about two hours."

"Hmph, very well, get started." Zeff said gruffly.

I nodded and picked up the hammer and a wonder bar (mini crowbar) and began lightly tapping the bent end into the place where the top damaged board met the still good brace on the right side of the hole. Once I had it in far enough I used small taps of the hammer to carefully pry it loose, twisting the board on its x axis once it was separated enough to easily pry the nails out of their holes without putting any more damage on the wood then what was made when the board was first nailed in. Spend a few moments hammering the nails down so no one could get hurt stepping on them then set the board down to repeat with the next one below that.

As I put the last board down, Zeff said "You know, if you're going to take your time like that for everything, you won't finish in two hours."

"Would you rather I did MORE damage?" I asked before I moved over to the floor boards and began carefully prying them up. As I got the first one up, I said "Right now, I'm working on avoiding damaging the already aged parts of the floor and wall. Once I've got the new braces in I can pick up the pace since the new wood will be tougher."

"Hmph, I suppose you know what you're talking about." Zeff said boredly.

"Yep." I said with a slight nod. Once I had a row of floor boards up, I had enough room to work on the braces. Sawing the broken ends off at both the top and the bottom, I cut the new braces to the proper heights before I attached them to the old brace ends with a couple of four-hole straight connector plates on either end, pre drilling them with a small hand drill and using one inch screws on the two by fours to make sure I didn't collide the screws on one side with the other. Once all three braces were in and the floor boards replaced, I took a moment to have my own drink of the orange juice and said "Alright, that's the hard part done. Now I just need to cut the siding to the right lengths and set them in place."

Zeff merely grunted at that and I let out a half snort half huff at his gruff manner before I drained my glass and got back to it. For the braces, I had used the tape measure provided. I had gravity working with me for those though so for the side to side measurements I pulled out my phone and began using the Measure app I had on it. Not only would the phone not sag or waver thanks to gravity, it allowed me to store the measurements I took.

As I quickly got all of the numbers I would need Zeff said "That's a rather interesting device you've got there. I don't believe I've ever seen anything like it..."

"I'd be very surprised if you had." I said, leaving it at that. Zeff let out another grunt but didn't push the topic further. I cut all of the boards in one go, numbering them as I went. Once that was done, I slotted them into place on the wall, using the small hand drill to predrill holes in them as I went. Once they were all in place it was a simple matter of hammering the nails in and I was done.

A quick check of the time had me smirking at Zeff and I said "One hour and forty-eight minutes. And all that's left is the waterproof paint."

"Hmph, well come on then, I'll show you where it's kept and you can finish." Zeff said, getting out of his chair and stretching before stomping off down the deck.

"Righto!" I said, being deliberately chipper to counter his surliness. After all, the hard part was already done.

Time Skip: That Evening

Usopp and I were laying prone on either side of the Merry's Kitchen roof. Held in our hands were two of the rifles that were part of my spoils from wiping out the Bloody Path Pirates. We were sighting a twelve-unit pyramid of old cans on Merry's figurehead that the chefs of the Baratie had donated for us, the cans having lost their use from developing rust and small holes that leaked when filled. Apparently, one or two of the chefs of the Baratie usually did the same thing we did and use unusable cans for target practice.

We had the cloth covers of the guns folded to cover the gun barrels rather than the flintlock and trigger areas. There was a loading gap on the right side of the barrel to place a musket ball and powder combo cartridge straight into the back of the barrel that opened up when you pushed the trigger guard away from the trigger like one of the old style repeating rifles in my old world. Closing the mechanism after loading it Usopp said "I can't believe you talked me into trying one of these things."

"Slingshots are all well and good as a special weapon but that one in your pouch isn't very intimidating to others until they've seen you use it or you've gotten infamous for using it. If you want to REALLY make someone piss their pants right at the start, have a gun ready that you can have pointed in their face." I said as I loaded my own rifle. Looking down the sights, I held my breath then fired.

The first can was knocked off of the pyramid, hanging from the figurehead by the string attached to its bottom for easy recovery and a hole in the right side a couple of centimeters from the red line half of the cans had marked on them, the others marked blue. Usopp sighed and said "Fair enough I guess." As he fired and the next can fell off, his shot having hit the top right due to recoil, he side eyed me and said "And I think if you had said that earlier instead of making that bet for the week's chores I would have agreed sooner."

I shrugged as I reloaded and retook my sight picture as I said "Maybe, but chores are boring."

The third can jumped off of the pyramid and swung from the end of its line and Usopp chuckled as he said "You're not wrong there." His next shot was much closer to the center of the can and he sighed as he said "Getting used to the recoil of this thing is a pain though."

"That's why we practice." I said, reloading then firing.

"Maybe, I don't see why you're bothering with this though. I mean, can't you just blast a guy into orbit from a mile away with your devil fruit?" Usopp asked as another can jumped into the sky before bungie jumping.

"Well, I could do that, and under normal circumstances I probably will go with my devil fruit abilities first. But there may come a time where it wouldn't be a good idea to use it, like when dealing with people who take the devil part of that name literally and try to burn me at the stake, or someone's managed to tag me with sea stone prism and I don't actually have access to said powers." I said as I fired my next shot. Glancing over as yet another can began swinging, I said "Plus, I learned how to shoot when I was with the Boy Scouts and it seems like a waste to let a skill get rusty to the point of being worthless."

Usopp hummed at that and said "Fair enough." before he put in his next cartridge and fired. A moment later he let out a triumphant "HA!" As he middled his latest can and said "Finally!"

"Good job, see if you can keep it up." I said as my next shot hit the ninth can, rather high but still on the line.

"Oh that'll be easy now that I've got the hang of this." Usopp bragged as he reloaded and fired. Sure enough, the tenth can was middled as it was shot off the figure head.

We each fired one last shot before we got up and made our way over to the figure head. Leaping up, I pulled the cans up by their strings and set them down in two groups. After studying where each shot had landed in relation to the aiming lines I tsked and said "Looks like you beat me by one shot."

"Yes!" Usopp said, pumping his right fist with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah." I said with mock grudgingly before I cocked my head and said "So, another round?"

Usopp's grin was reminiscent of the grin Zoro gave me before we started fighting on the island earlier that week.

Time Skip: The Next Day After Lunch

I was hanging up about a mile high in the sky over the Baratie and Merry, 'lounging' on my stomach while kicking my feet and idly watching the various customer ships coming and going beneath me. Ostentatiously, I was keeping an eye out for a certain pirate group. Really though, I was feeling crowded only having the Merry and part of the Baratie to wonder around in. Just having all of the open air around me seemed to cure my sudden wanderlust so I simply chocked it up to a quirk of being an Air Logia. Absentmindedly spinning my right hand to generate a spinning current, I had a sudden thought and blinked before I shifted into a crossed leg sitting position. Holding my right palm in a cupping position, I spun my left pointer finger around the palm. As the wind began whipping around in a small circle fast enough to begin whistling, I grinned and thought 'Oh, now there's an idea...'

Time Skip: Three Days After Arrival To Baratie, Morning

Usopp and I were in the area he had claimed as a workshop working on a new mixture for his exploding stars, using my phone's access to the internet to make a mix of chemicals that Usopp was already calling his Hellfire Star. He may or may not have started cackling like an evil genius as the list was composed. Given that thermite was one of the components, I felt like letting out a cackle of my own once or twice.

However, our science lab time was cut short when Usopp suddenly looked up from the chemicals he was mixing with an alarmed look.

"What is it Usopp?" I asked with a questioning frown.

"I'm picking up something large coming towards the restaurant, but the people on it feel really weak, and not in the strength sense, more like on death's doorstep kind of weak. I think it's those Krieg Pirates you were sure were coming." Usopp said. The kid began storing the chemicals we were working with as he said "As much as I want to stay down here where it's safe, I'd rather see the danger so that way I can at least move out of the way."

"That's the spirit!" I said clapping him on the shoulder before we headed above decks. In my head though I was thinking 'Given the state of these guys, this is either going to be anticlimactically easy or a rather tough fight. Given Anime Logic is in play, I know which one I'm betting on.'

END

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay on this one, with mom gone for the week, I had to go to the library for spell checking purposes. The Library was closed both Veteran's day and the day after and I had a dentist appointment after work the day after. I hope the chapter was worth the wait, Tyrant of the Sea is the next story I'll be working on.