10. Reaching Arlong Park
Story Start: En Route To Conomi Islands
I had spent an hour at the very top of Merry's mast before I had realized that I had forgotten something, that something being unlocking Gin and Sanji's Observation Haki. One quick hypno session later, Usopp and Nami as the ones with the largest ranges were helping Sanji and Gin get used to their new sense respectively. (And no, Sanji was not happy that Nami had chosen to help Gin get used to his Haki and not him.)
With those two taken care of, I had floated back to the Marlin to make sure that her skin less air mattress was still maintaining both cohesion and temperature before checking on the tow line's knot integrity.
After returning to Merry, I slipped into her kitchen for one of the bananas we had picked up from Baratie only to get a surprise. Nia from Pokken was leaning against the kitchen counter, and my phone was in her hands. My hand went to my pocket but yep, it was gone. It only took a moment to realize what was going on and when Nia looked up with a smirk, I easily enough followed her silent command to close the door.
As the door clicked shut, I walked over and asked "Is you making a house call going to be a regular thing Taifun?"
"There might be one or two more down the road but I don't think we'll be able to call them regular." Taifun said before they tossed me my phone as they continued "I was just here to install a new Challenges app on your phone for things I'd like to see happen. I would have put it on back on the island when I was giving the crew all of those goodies but there were a LOT of possible pathways for your journey to look through." The ROB wearing a woman's face smirked and said "Including a few interesting ones where you ran into a certain Miracle Working Okama."
I paled rather drastically at the idea of running into that person. I had nothing personal against okama, (at least, I didn't think I did, but I never ran into any IRL) but I did NOT want to be sissified, no matter how thorough the process would be, thank you VERY MUCH!
Taifun cackled at the look on my face and said "Oh come now Tac, you'd make a fine woman."
"Ugh, no thanks!" I said with a shudder causing Taifun to cackle even more. A few moments later, 'she' gave a dismissive gesture and said "Well, those events are months away, if they ever actually happen anyways, your journey might take a pathway that keeps you from ever meeting them at all. So let's focus on the Present instead, more specifically, about the App. It's composed of three parts, Bounties, Challenges, and Store."
A translucent version of my phone that was about twenty times bigger than the actual device appeared in the air between us and the new App opened revealing three tabs labeled the same as what Taifun described. Gesturing at the hologram, Taifun continued
"Bounties is pretty straight forward: Certain people and/or other type of beings you will face will have value for defeating. For Pirates, this is pretty straight forward, their bounties match that given to them by the Marines and or the World Government. For people who DON'T have Marine or WG bounties, such as members of said organizations, the bounties are determined by rank in whatever organization they are in along with skill level."
The app switched tabs as he said "Challenges is a bit more eccentric. As I said before, there are certain things that I have seen in the various pathways that I would appreciate happening here. However, unless it is something rather substantial, I will not bring attention to these 'things', and unlike with Gamer powers, these metaphorical 'Quests' will not announce themselves when events that match up with their goals arrive. And they won't give you a notification when you complete them either. Some of them are also region locked so that you cannot view them until certain points in your journey. Because of all of these factors, I suggest you check this part of the app periodically. Completion of Quests will usually have monetary rewards, but sometimes items relative to your location or circumstances shall be rewards as well."
The app switched tabs again to the last one as Taifun stated "Like Bounties, Store is straight forward enough. The App stores the reward money you earn from Bounties and Challenges and can be either used to purchase items from this part of the app or for a ten percent 'Conversion Fee' be 'Withdrawn' to be used elsewhere. You can also 'Deposit' any 'Real World Money' you have if you need just a little bit more to buy an item from the store. Just remember that that money falls under the conversion fee as well if you want it back so think carefully before you deposit any large funds.
Items Purchased in the store can be categorized two ways, In World Objects and Nonstandard Equipment. In World Objects are as the name says objects that could be purchased if you come across them in a store. From match books to Eternal Log Poses, so long as one of these objects exist in the world you're in, then you can purchase it and a copy of the best version of the object will be made for you. Exemptions to the inventory are food and beverages, Devil Fruits, and anything considered as secure and or classified information; no buying the Gorosei's diaries for you! Also, if the last version of an item is destroyed, that object is removed from the store's inventory. So if the last copy of a very rare book is burned, it can no longer be bought.
Nonstandard Equipment is a bit more, shall we say 'meta' with what you can find. It's got gear for both you and any animal companions you pick up (that's about a fifty-fifty chance by the way) and upgrades for your weapons along with one or two new ones that go well with the wind element, I personally recommend the tessen."
Clapping their hands together, Taifun dismissed the hologram and said "Well, that's everything for now so if you'll excuse me, there's a version of you who decided to work off of the Evil Overlord List and is about to give a certain duo of equestrian princesses and their guards conniption fits as they try to catch them after he swaps everything in their kitchen with extremely stinky cheese. And I do mean everything."
I blinked and cocked my head as I asked "You sent a version of me to a My Little Pony World? What species did you change them into?"
Taifun gained a grin that made 'Nia' look rather demented as they said "Oh, that's the great part, I didn't change their species. Instead, I gave them a set of Spell Sigils along with a multiverse store app on their phone then dropped them off in Lyra Heartstring's kitchen when she was making herself a midnight snack."
I let out a surprised laugh at that and said "Oh, that's evil!"
"Evil, yes. Also funny as hell." 'Nia' said with a cackle before giving a wave and said "Have fun beating the snot out of Arlong and his goons Tac." And with that, I was suddenly the only one in the kitchen.
Letting out a chuckle, I grabbed the banana I had originally came in for and went to open the door. The door immediately swung into me forcing me to go intangible if I didn't want a case of smacked face and Luffy, Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku, and Nami fell to the floor in a heap. Reforming beside the pile of bodies, I gave them a flat look and asked "Is there a reason why you were all leaning against the door avoiding being seen through the window set into its top?"
"You closed the door for some reason, we wanted to know what you were doing." Luffy said as he stood up, pushing all of the others off of him.
Nami scowled as she got up and continued "We felt your surprise but there wasn't anyone else in there with you. And for some reason we couldn't hear anything, not even you moving around."
"That's what happens when you remove all of the molecules in a one inch thick sheet around a room. The molecules on the other side have nothing to move against so there's no sound transference." I said as I walked out of the room, my legs turning to wisps of wind as I went through the others who were still trying to get up.
As I moved towards the steps, Nami followed and seemed to take an educated stab in the dark as she asked "Did Taifun show up?"
"Yep." I said, heading for the foredeck.
"Well what did he talk to you about?" Usopp asked.
"And who's Taifun?" Johnny asked.
"And how did he get on the ship?" Yosaku added.
I snorted and said "That guy is able to go wherever he damn well wants to and nothing but god tier warding could stop him, and even then I'd have doubts of it working."
"But what did you guys talk about?" Usopp asked again.
I gave our Sniper a flat look over my shoulder and said "It was Taifun. You know, the guy who gave me my Devil Fruit and weapons? The guy who gave you and the others those boons? He was just adding something to my phone that he hadn't been able to finish before my six months survival challenge was completed."
"So why all of the secrecy?" Nami asked with narrowed eyes.
"Maybe he was just feeling sneaky. Part of the description for what he is is Random after all." I said, taking the steps to the fore deck three at a time, strode over the railing at the bow of the ship and vaulted over, sitting on the cannon poking out from under Merry's figurehead. Thankfully none of the others followed and I gave a content sigh as I enjoyed the spray thrown up by the Merry moving at a faster than usual clip.
Peeling my banana then taking a bite out of it, I took in the view before me. When I finished my snack, I atomized the peel then pulled out my phone, using a swirling dome of wind to keep the spray away from it. When the screen was unlocked, I brought up the message Taifun had left on it when he had tossed it back to me.
Octopus Officer important down the line, leave to Zoro. Do NOT tell Nami.
I gave a heavy sigh and feeling like a Nara muttered out a quiet "Troublesome." Shaking my head, I exited out of the Messages app and pulled up the Challenges app to give it a proper look through.
Time Skip: Lunch Time
By Nami's estimate, we were just under an hour out, and Sanji had just finished making us an early lunch, 'so that we're running on a full tank when we turn those scaly bastards to sushi'. His words, not mine, and no, I had no idea where he got that saying from when I was pretty damn sure there were no cars in this world. Five minutes after digging in, I said "Hey Luffy."
"Hmm?" Luffy glanced over, a giant chunk of meat in his mouth with a bone sticking out. Pulling the bone out (with not a single fleck of meat left on it) he gave a hardy swallow and asked "What is it Matt?"
I tapped my phone and said "The App Taifun left on my phone earlier was a collection of Challenges, and there's one that you can help me with. Take a look at the one on the top."
I held my phone out and Luffy stretched an arm out across the table to grab it. Zoro and Gin leaned in from his sides to look at the text on the phone. A moment later, Luffy started cackling while the two battle nuts on either side of him eagerly smirked.
Tossing the phone back to me, Luffy gave me a thumbs up and said "SHISHSISHI, sure, it sounds fun!"
"What, what's the Challenge?" Usopp asked in confusion.
"Oh no, don't tell them a thing you three, it'll be a lot better if they don't know." I said sternly.
"Agreed, as much as I'm now anticipating this, it'll be better if they don't know what's coming." Zoro said in agreement.
"Let's just say that you guys are going to want some binoculars for this one." Gin said, still smirking.
"Ah, that reminds me." I said, temporarily pushing my plate away before moving to the shop tab on the app and a moment later enough binoculars for everyone else popped out. (I had both my spy glass and a binocular app on my phone so I didn't need one.)
As I passed them out, Nami's jaw dropped a little as she pointed at my phone and asked "Since when could your phone do that?!"
"Since Taifun put a Store section in the new app he put on it today. I still need money for it, and there are some limitations, but basically, so long as it isn't food, drink, or a devil fruit, and it is sold somewhere, I can buy it." I explained.
When Nami silently requested to see, I gestured for Sanji to stand up so that way she could slide over. Once the pair had picked up their plates and changed places, I tapped in Telescope in the search bar and angled the screen towards her so she could see the selection that had appeared.
Nami made an appreciative noise and said "Well that's certainly handy. It's a pity about the no food or drink bit but I can definitely think of a few things I would love to get that would be harder to find on most islands."
"Just keep in mind that you'll have to cover the cost, I'm an air logia, not a gold generating paramecia." I stated.
Nami gave me a pout at the fact that she would have to spend her own money for the goodies she wanted but she nodded in confirmation all the same.
Zoro grunted and said "Too bad we can't buy booze from it. Still, it'd be nice to buy new weights when I need to add more to my sets."
I snapped my fingers and said "We should probably see about buying you a couple of swords before we reach Arlong Park. Given this would be for replacing broken weapons, if you don't have enough money I'd be willing to loan you it so long as you agree to pay me back when you can."
Zoro considered that for a moment then shook his head as he said "Thanks for the offer, but I'd want to be able to actually hold a sword in my hands so that I knew it was a good one before I bought it."
"Fair enough." I said before my eyes glanced down at his shirt and I frowned as I said "Too bad I couldn't buy any of the instacure medicine that's out there in the multiverse. Being able to spray you with a max potion from Pokemon to heal those wounds Mihawk gave you would have been a big help for the fight that's coming up."
Zoro grunted and said "I should be fine."
I let out a hum of discontent at that but there wasn't really anything I could do about it. Well, I could knock Zoro unconscious before the fight but I'm pretty sure he'd be pissed with me all the way until we found Laughtale if I did that...
Shaking my head from such thoughts, I put my phone back in my pocket and pulled my plate back towards me, absently swatting Luffy's wandering hand away from it with my other hand as I did so.
Time Skip: One Mile Out
Merry went from her mad run across the ocean to a much more sedate three knots as I cut off the wind that had been the driving force for such speed. Marlin was set back down into the water (though the tow line was kept in place for now) and then I stood on Merry's figurehead next to Luffy, spy glass out while Luffy looked through his new binoculars. On either side of the figurehead the others also looked out at our destination.
"You going to be able to grab what you need when we hit half a mile from the outer wall Captain?" I asked, frowning at the shut water gate I could see. That was going to have to be dealt with before we started.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could grab the top of that flag pole from here." Luffy said with a nod.
"Alright, let me just confirm where the target is." I said before I collapsed the spy glass and pocketed it before bursting apart into a small gust of wind that shot over the water a foot above wave height, zipping through the gap in the outer wall and up over the closed sea gate. A minute later, I rematerialized in front of the gate on the right side door pointing right at the seam of the door with my right hand while my left was held out in the classic 'hold' sign.
Once I had judged that Merry was half a mile out (which should allow the others to join me and Luffy relatively quickly) I counted down from five then literally blew the gates open. (Part of what had taken me so long was unlocking the gate from the other side with no body noticing)
An instant later, Luffy's arm shot past me, grabbing a pillar and as Luffy grappled himself over the water, I shot in with him. All of the fishmen were still stunned by the gates opening up and weren't able to react as Luffy and I shot in side by side. Two seconds after the gate was opened, me and Luffy slammed into our target together, his right foot and my left firmly planting themselves next to each other into Arlong's chest. An instant later, physics came into play and Arlong was blasted through his beach chair like throne, through the door of the first floor of the main building, through the back wall, through the outer wall of Arlong Park, and flew an additional hundred feet over the rice paddies outside before finally landing to a skidding stop, throwing up a plume of water.
As Luffy and I landed in front of the ruined chair, we said together "Knock, Knock."
Challenge: Making An Entrance: Work with Luffy to launch Arlong through the main building and the outer wall at the start of the fight. Reward: seastone tips for air glider.
Challenge Complete
END
Author's Notes: If you read the other two branches then you know the drill: Poll to decide what I work on for the next two months on my profile, voting for this set closed on November 30th.
Well, I THOUGHT I'd need the whole month to get all three of these out but it turns out that it was only Tailor that gave me trouble. Still, I think down the line if this story doesn't win the poll but ties with another for second place I'll go for the one immediately below it just to be safe. But for now, for those who read all three stories, I hope you all liked the 'triple update', and I'm going to use the next two weeks to work on a few other projects. (I'm thinking maybe giving that SI reincarnate to Cardcaptor Sakura idea a bit of a start but we'll see.) Until next time, this is Tac, signing out!
