Training

Zerina blinked in confusion at all the Amazon women poking and pulling on Luffy's rubber skin. She was sitting off by herself working on her own Amazon outfits. She wasn't sure what they were going to be doing when they reached the island they were going to be training on. This might be the only chance she had to alter them. But she kept getting distracted by how weird the other women on the ship were being.

"They're just naive when it comes to men since only women are allowed on Amazon Lily," Rayleigh said. She jumped when he spoke to her. "They think all men are rubber like Luffy. They don't even know of the existence of devil fruits."

"Oh." Zerina nodded. "Make sense. I guess."

"You're really good at sew, aren't you?" Rayleigh asked. His eyes were running over the altered blue bikini top she was wearing and the red one she was currently altering.

"Oh, well, I guess so." Zerina shrugged. "I did it a lot back on Hydra."

"It is a good skill to have. It comes in handy," Rayleigh said with a chuckle.

"I suppose it does. It's coming in pretty handy right now," Zerina said. She held up the top she was working on. She finally got it finished. It was the last one she was working on. "I'm done now."

"That's good. We'll be reaching Rusukaina shortly," Rayleigh said as he leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Rusukaina?" Zerina turned her eyes to him and blinked.

"It's where we're going to train. It's a harsh island, but don't worry, you'll be safe with me and Luffy by your side." Rayleigh winked at her. "I won't let anything happen to Shanks' daughter. And neither will Luffy."

A couple hours later, the Kuja ship docked at the island of Rusukaina. They all filed out onto the deck before descending to the island itself. Rayleigh looked over the island before turning back to Luffy and Zerina. He said, "Well, this is it. Our humble home for the next two years. This is Rusukaina. An island that has forty eight seasons a year."

"Forty eight?!" Zerina gasped. "How is that possible?!"

"The seasons change weekly on this island," Rayleigh explained. "It's a very harsh, unpredictable place."

"You have got to be kidding me," Zerina grumbled. She scanned her eyes over the island before her. Suddenly, she really didn't want to be here. So many dangers seemed to be lurking around all the rocks, trees, bushes, in all of the shadows and the far off places she couldn't see. "What in the world have I gotten myself into?"

Luffy walked up beside her and took her hand. She looked at him. He gave her his trademark grin. He said, "Don't worry, Rina. I'm right here. We'll get through this together."

Zerina returned his smile and closed her fingers around his. It was a comfort knowing he was beside her, but she still felt unsure about all of this. She was so unsure about everything. Once again Zerina could feel Hancock's harsh glare at her back. She sighed. That woman just doesn't get it. Luffy and I are only friends.

"Luffy!" Hancock wailed. Hearts were dancing around her as she prattled on about bring him food to eat. "Have no fear! I will bring you food weekly! You will not starve while on this island! I'm here for you, my darling!"

"Huh? You will?" Luffy drooled. "And meat? All kinds of meat? I want meat!"

"Of course, Luffy!" Hancock sang. She suddenly started to back peddle away from Luffy. "I'll bring you whatever your heart desires!"

Zerina sweat dropped as she watched the retreating woman. What's wrong with her? She can't even address Luffy without moving away from him? And she honestly thinks she's in love with him? She's insane! Delusional! She's clearly not in love with Luffy. She's just infatuated. But then…what do I know about love? She might actually be in love with him. Maybe I'm the one who's not in love with him. After all, I've never actual seen anyone who's in love. No one back on Hydra seemed to be…

"Absolutely not!" Rayleigh said, pulling Zerina out of her thoughts. "No women, but for the exception of Zerina, are going to be allowed on this island while we're training. Luffy doesn't need any distractions of any kind."

"But she is a distraction! She's a woman too!" Hancock hissed while pointing her finger accusingly at Zerina.

"She's going to be training right along side of us," Rayleigh pointed out. "She won't be trying to stuff Luffy full of food. Nor will she be gushing over him like a giddy little girl with a silly little crush. We'll be living off the land from now on."

Zerina felt her face grow warm when Rayleigh tossed her a knowing grin. Hancock growled. She pinched Rayleigh's cheek. "How dare you speak to me like that?! I should turn you to stone right this very second!"

"You are not going to be allowed to spoil him," Rayleigh said, ignoring the dark haired woman's threat. "Now go on and get out of here. We have to get to work."

"Fine!" Hancock huffed. She turned away from the old man. Her rough demeanor turned soft and sickeningly flirty again when she saw Luffy. "Don't worry, Luffy. I am cheering for you. I will see you again in two years."

"Right." Luffy nodded. "Thanks again for all you have done."

"Goodbye, Luffy!" The rest of the Amazon Lily women cheered as they waved goodbye to Luffy and trekked back onto their ship.

"Bye!" Luffy waved back.

"Luffy, Zerina, let's get going now," Rayleigh called to them. "We have a lot of work to do."

"Right!" Zerina and Luffy called back. They rushed to catch up to him.

While walking alone, Zerina noticed a very strange looking tree. She pointed to it and asked, "What's that?"

"That is the only safe place on this entire island," Rayleigh said. "You both are going to find that there are five hundred wild and very strong animals on this island. Zerina, I don't expect you to fight them head on. You'll be leaving that part up to Luffy. There's no possible way you'll be able to face up to them within the small window of two years of training. Do you understand me? Your training is going to be a lot more easy than Luffy's is going to be."

"Right." Zerina nodded. She wasn't a fighter after all. It made sense that she was starting at the bottom. Luffy's had years of training. She was fine with letting him handle the animals.

"Luffy, part of your training is going to be to protect Zerina from the harsh elements and animals here," Rayleigh continued. "Right now, these animals are beyond your current level of abilities. You're going to have to train really hard to protect her."

"Of course!" Luffy grinned. "I wouldn't expect anything else! I'm here to train to protect my friends after all! And Zerina is my girlfriend! That makes her even more important!"

Zerina felt her face flush again. Rayleigh laughed out loud. "Very good then! Let's proceed. First lesson of training is on Haki."

"Haki?" Zerina asked. "What's that?"

"Haki is not really that different from the normal senses. However, most people do not notice it or fail to awaken it at all. In simple terms, Haki is an ability to sense spiritual energy, use life force and overpower enemies," Rayleigh explained.

Zerina and Luffy gasped when a very large elephant came tearing out of the jungle. Luffy immediately put himself between the creature and Zerina. He then called out to Rayleigh who seemed unaware of the attacking animal. He shouted, "Hey! Old man, look out! There a giant elephant about to attack you!"

Rayleigh didn't seem to hear Luffy. Luffy then jumped in to defend Rayleigh. He pulled back his rubbery fist and slammed it down on the elephant. But Luffy just bounced off of it. He hit the ground. Jumping back up, he shouted, "Hey! Look out!"

"Haki is separated into three different categories, Observation Haki grants users a sixth sense of the world around them and limited precognitive abilities," Rayleigh continued to explain. He then demonstrated the use of Observation Haki. The elephant swung its trunk at Rayleigh multiple times. Luffy and Zerina stared in disbelief. Rayleigh was easily dodging the attacks from the elephant with ease.

"That's not possible," Zerina whispered. The hold on the bag in her hand loosened. It fell to the ground without her even noticing it.

"Armament Haki allows the user to use their spirit as armor to defend against attacks or to make their own attacks more potent. This can even be used against you, Luffy, even though you are made of rubber," Rayleigh continued to explained and give them visual examples of the Haki he possessed. In no time at all, he defeated the large behemoth. "And then there's Conqueror's Haki. This is a rare type of Haki only one in a million can use which grants the user the ability to overpower the will of others. Most people who can use Haki tend to have a type they are better at and as a result end up focusing on that one type. But a person can improve their abilities with all the types of Haki, it just requires more work if they choose to do that way. Therefore, at least two types of Haki can be used simultaneously."

Rayleigh paused to look at them. He smirked at the stunned expressions they held before continuing. He said, "Luffy, you have already awakened your Haki. You used Conqueror's when you were trying to rescue Ace. But I do not want you to use this until you can control it better. If you use it before you are ready, you will end up hurting Zerina by accident."

Luffy's eyes widened in shock. He then narrowed his eyebrows and clenched his fists tight. "I won't use it then. I won't hurt her, even by accident."

"Good." Rayleigh nodded. He then turned his attention to Zerina. "You, my child, have Haki too. And I'm going to help you awaken it here during your training."

"Me?!" Zerina pointed to herself. "But I don't have that!"

"Of course you we. Everyone does." Rayleigh smiled at her. "It just needs to be awakened. If I were to guess, I'd say you'd either have Observation Haki or Armament Haki, possible even both. We'll know soon enough. For now, I just want to work on strengthening your body. Your Haki will come out within time."

"Good for you, Rina!" Luffy threw his arms around her neck. He rubbed his cheek on hers. "I'm so glad you'll be able to use Haki as well! I won't have to worry about you as much, even though I'll worry anyway."

"I guess this is a good thing," Zerina said. She mindlessly patted Luffy's arm. Her entire body felt numb. She really had no idea what to think of all of this. It really was far to much to taken in all at once.

"Now that we have all the important explanations out of the way, let get started on training," Rayleigh said. He turned to walk farther inland, but stopped when Luffy called out.

"Wait a second! I've got to take care of something first!" Luffy said before running of in the direction they first came from.

"Hey, Luffy! Where you going?!" Zerina asked. She reclaimed her dropped, almost forgotten, bag before she followed after him. He was back at the weird tree when she caught up to him. She paused to watch him take off his hat before walking up to him. "Luffy?"

Luffy continued starting down at the straw hat in his hands. He sighed before saying, "I think it's best if I leave this here. I want it to be protected while we train."

He laid the hat on a rock. Zerina looked at the familiar straw hat before slowly pulling her eyes back to Luffy. She asked, "Are you sure, Luffy? This hat really means a lot to you. You're just going to leave it here? What if someone tries to steal it?"

"That won't happen. No one will be coming to this island," Luffy said. He pulled out a small piece of white paper. Zerina blinked at the paper but didn't question it. She watched quietly as Luffy tucked the paper into the band around the hat. "It'll be safe here. It's just time for the pirate Straw Hat Luffy to take a break. We'll come back for it once we're done with our training."

"I suppose I should leave there here too." Zerina looked at the bag in her hand. "I probably won't be able to carry them everywhere I go anyway."

Zerina debated on that idea for a minute before deciding it was probably for the best to leave her spare clothes where she knew they would be safe. She could always come back for them when she needed them. So she sat them down behind one of the rocks. With a sigh, she started to turn back to Luffy.

"Luffy, are yo-" Zerina stopped talking when Luffy's arms wrapped around her.

"Everything will be all right." Luffy then pulled back from her. He gave her a toothy grin and chuckled. "Let's get to it now! We have a lot of work to do!"

"Ugh!" Zerina scoffed as Luffy grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards Rayleigh. "How is it possible you can always be so happy?! You're so childlike!"

Luffy just laughed as he continued to pull her back to Rayleigh. Zerina couldn't help but smile. Luffy's laugh was cute. He was cute. Everything was going to be fine. She was going to be fine as long as she was with him.

"Zerina, I want you to do three hundred pushups, three hundred squats and five hundred stomach crunches," Rayleigh ordered with a grin that boarded on sadistic.

"Huh?! Why so many?!" Zerina demanded once the shock wore off.

"Because I am your teacher now. You must do what I say," Rayleigh said with a laugh. "If you question me again I'll add more pushups, squats and crunches. Now get to it."

"Fine," Zerina huffed.

"You can do it, Rina!" Luffy cheered.

"Yeah, yeah," Zerina grumbled. She dropped to the ground after deciding to get the pushups over with first.

"All right, let's get started with you now, Luffy," Rayleigh said to the rubber man. Luffy nodded in anticipation. Rayleigh started talking to Luffy about what he was expected to do on this first day of training.

…

Zerina laughed as she ran through the forest. She was being chased by one of the animals Luffy has come to make friends with within just months on being on the island. It was a tiger. Somewhere along with way of her training, the tiger targeted Zerina when she was gathering water to drink. She easily sensed the creature watching her. When the creature attacked, she dodged it with no problems. But just a few months of training she wasn't any match for the animal.

She knew that. So she just ran from it until Luffy came to her rescue. He punched the tiger, easily knocking it out. When it came to, Luffy threatened the creature to never try and kill Zerina again. If the animal did, Luffy would kill it and turn it into a fur coat for Zerina to keep warm on the cold winter days and nights. The creature immediately bowed to Luffy's strength over it. Then once the animal became submissive, it became a training partner for Zerina. It was to chase her while she was to try and get away from it.

Zerina's bare, worn from training feet, thumped against the forest floor as she ran. She bent her knees and propelled herself up to a tree branch. She grabbed it. She swung herself upon the branch. Laughing, she looked down at the tiger. It was staring up at her in disbelief. She adjusted the bo staff on her back that she had come to carry with her over the months and said, "What? Didn't expect me to be so strong and limber now? Well, get use to it, kitty. I'm actually getting stronger now. And I'll keep getting stronger. Rayleigh's training is working. Come on, now. Let's keep going."

The tiger growled at her in response. She laughed again before jumping down from the tree. She took off with the tiger chasing after her. As she ran, she jumped of rocks, branches, fallen logs and swung from dangling vines. She looked back to see the tiger was still as close as ever. While she was improving with her training, she still had a long ways to go.

She turned her eyes back in front of her, but not quick enough. Her foot caught on a rock. She stumbled and fell forward. It also caught her training partner off guard. The tiger, unable to disobey its natural instincts, pounced on Zerina. She whipped around to face it with a gasp on her lips. Reacting automatically to her training, her hand grabbed the bo staff. And, unknowingly, she infused the staff with her awakening Armament Haki. She slammed the staff on the tiger's head. She pushed the tiger down to the ground and even cracked the forest floor.

Zerina paused. Her eyes blinking rapidly in disbelief. She suddenly shrieked at what she had done. "Eek! I am so sorry! Are you all right?!"

She picked herself up and kneeled beside the tiger. She placed her hand on the tiger's fur. "Hey! Speak to me! Are you all right?! What am I saying?! Of course you're not all right! I knocked you out! And what was I thinking?! You can't speak!"

"Hey, Rina!" Luffy called out as he and Rayleigh ran over to her. Luffy screeched to a stopped before dropping to his knees beside her. "What happened?! You're not hurt are you?"

"No, Luffy, I'm not hurt. But I, uh…" Zerina turned her eyes back to the tiger.

"Hm," Rayleigh hummed as he examined the situation before him. "You awakened your Haki, haven't you?"

"I'm not sure," Zerina replied.

"Oh, you definitely awakened your Haki," Rayleigh said while still examining the scene before him. His eyes then landed on the blacked bo staff by her side. "That's why your staff is now black. Very good job, Zerina."

Zerina lifted the bo staff and examined it. Luffy chuckled. With a pat on her shoulder, he said, "Good job, Rina! You now have Haki! I'm proud of you!"

"But I…I actually did it?" Zerina blinked in disbelief as she continued to stare at her staff.

"You sure did," Rayleigh said. He then removed something he had hanging on his shoulder. It clanked together when it hit the ground beside Zerina.

"What's this? A bow and arrows?" Zerina asked as she inspected the bow and arrows that now were laying beside her. "Did you make these?"

"I did. They're the next step in your training now that you've awakened your Haki," Rayleigh said. "You're keeping the bo staff. I just want you to also be trained in long ranged weapon fighting as well as close range combat."

"I guess that makes sense." Zerina nodded. She picked up the bow and arrows then placed them on her back with the bo staff.

"It's getting late. We should call it a day for now. I bet you both are quiet hungry," Rayleigh said as he started to turn back and head for their camp.

"Yeah!" Luffy shouted. "Food! I want meat! Rina, I wish for meat! A ton of meat!"

"Ack!" Zerina twitched. She couldn't stop herself from granting his typical wish for meat. Her body began to glow. The glow spread out over the immediate area and a ton of meat popped into existence. "Luffy! Couldn't you have at least waited until we go back to camp?! We're going to have to carry this all back now!"

"Huh?" Luffy blinked up at her like he didn't know what she was talking about. "What for? We can just eat it right here. We'd just eat it back at camp, right?"

"Well…Yes…But…" Zerina blinked.

"Give it up, Zerina. There's no beating Luffy's logic." Rayleigh laughed. The old man then sat down and started eating himself.

"Oh fine," Zerina sighed in defeat. She should have known better. When Luffy wanted his meat, nothing could stop him. Suddenly, Luffy's arm was wrapped around her waist. He pulled her to his side and shoved a bit of meat into her mouth.

"Eat!" Luffy laughed. "You've awakened your Haki! We're celebrating!"

"Fine," Zerina mumbled around the meat. "We're celebrating."

"Yeah!" Luffy cheered again. Zerina shook her head. A smile pulled a crossed her lips. She really did enjoy being here with him. Even though her training was hard. And she had gained some new cuts and bruises along the way, it was worth it just to be by his side again. She started to feel herself become happy. She was actually feeling happy again.