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I set the 400 pound barrel of freshwater down on the deck next to Paulie.
I ignored the crazy look that Paulie and Alvida sent me. I trained extremely hard to be this strong for over half a year. Unfortunately that meant that there was nothing on the ship I could use for weights. The townsfolk hadn't thought that far when loading up the ship. The only thing that made me strain was the barrels full of cannonballs, but there were only so many ways one could lift that for benefits.
I sat there, watching Paulie swing a net full of cannonballs in a kettlebell style workout that I had developed for him. He needed his raw core strength to build. Some days he would do this, some days he would strength train his legs for the Soru he needed to develop.
Geppo and Kami-e would come next for him. But it would take a long while before he could accomplish the beginning technique.
What comes next for me?
Objectively, I should train Kami-e up even further. I could use it, but I had not mastered it. I was already a very good dodger, though. I had trained with Soru so much that my mind could keep up with the high speed movement it brought. Most opponents wouldn't be fast enough to provide a real challenge until the Grand Line.
Why am I even thinking about this? Everyone else is too busy to help me train Kami-e anyway.
I could probably convince Alvida to help me train the skill for a little while, but she had already stepped into the navigating role of the ship, something I was grateful for. The East Blue may not be as hectic as the Grand Line, but reading a map, calculating distance, and keeping a ship on the right route was still a full time job most of the time.
Any rest she had, she actually wanted to rest during it, not train. Very few people wanted to try and hit their captain over and over again as well. With those facts realized, I decided that it was time I started branching into the other 3 techniques of the Rokushiki, or the six powers.
But which one?
I knew that Shigan, or finger pistol, would be one of the last that I would train. The finger pistol was just that, training your fingers to be so strong that they can pierce your opponents skin with a high powered pierce.
Is it useful? Absolutely.
Is it a high priority for someone who uses a cutlass as their main weapon? Not particularly. So I shelved the Shigan for now, even if it is something easily trained on the ship.
Another option was Tekkai, or Iron Body. This was also self explanatory. The user flexes their muscles to such an extreme that they become as hard as iron. It basically turns you into a tank that can take any hit. Unless you're fighting someone at the upper echelon of strength in this world. The only downfall of this particular technique is that it requires the user to be completely still while it is being used, unless you have some devil fruit shenanigans going on.
Actually, I bet you could train the body to be able to use Tekkai while moving…
I wouldn't mind learning the technique, or even perfecting it. However, I did see it becoming obsolete, once Haki get's involved further into the Grand Line.
Haki was the ultimate goal of a fighter for this world. Haki is one's spirit, or their will, manifested into the world. It comes in 3 different forms. The most common, and arguably the easiest to develop, being Observation Haki.
Users of Observation Haki can see the world without using their eyes. They develop a sixth sense that can be used for various purposes. It can be used to sense your enemies when they approach, find comrades, sense danger, etc. But the real goal is when it is near perfected, one can begin to predict their opponents moves with a sort of future sight.
The second most common Haki is what is known as Armament Haki. Armament Haki allows the user to coat their body, or their weapon, in their will. This dramatically increases one's fighting ability. The main reason being that Armament Haki was capable of rendering devil fruit abilities null and void. It can tank devil fruit attacks, and it can ignore devil fruit defenses. It is something every captain must have in his arsenal by the time they reach the New World.
The last Haki is also the one that is most uncommon. It is known as Conqueror's Haki and only develops in people that have the type of will that puts others to shame. The type of will that anime protagonists have. The will to make the world bend to their wishes. When someone uses Conqueror's Haki, it releases a wave of the user's will onto the world.
Those with weak spirits and wills will literally pass out from even being exposed to it. Some of the weakest hearts might even stop from being subjected to this rare type of Haki.
It was impossible to teach, only possible to train.
But it's still too early for all of that. Once I get a bigger crew, I'll work on it. For now, Rankyaku will do.
Rankyaku, or Storm Leg, was my next goal for the Rokushiki, or six powers. In short, it was an air slash similar to what the sickle-sickle fruit and top-tier swords man could do. Except it was made by kicking your leg so hard that it produced the air slash. It provided a ranged attack to a mostly close-range fighter.
It also has to provide insight of how I can accomplish the same thing with my cutlass.
I moved to an isolated part of my ship and immediately got to work. I knew the concept, I just had to put it to practice. And that's what I did. I set my feet and I sent a roundhouse kick into the air. Of course, nothing happened just as I expected. I tried again, only this time I spent a significant amount of effort into the technique.
Once again nothing happened, but I was not discouraged. I felt a smile begin to blossom on my face as I did it again, and then again, and then again.
Ok not to toot my own horn here, but I expected to have at least produced more than a small breeze with my leg…
We had been sailing south for a week now, and I knew we were closing in on Mirror Ball Island. I had yet to have even the slightest success with Rankyaku. I knew it wasn't because I lacked the kicking strength so it had to be with the technique. The problem is that I was unsure how…
I was basically working off of only memory and anime knowledge at this point. What was I missing?
I stood on the bow of my ship, contemplating what it could be.
The left side of my face itched slightly from the scabbed cut that ran from my cheekbone and stopped right above my jaw. Alvida had been right in her initial assessment that it would scar. At least it was an extremely clean cut, and wouldn't be too ugly.
As I thought about that wound, I couldn't help but think about where I had gotten shot in my shoulder blade. It hadn't even been two weeks and I could safely say that I hadn't felt the wound in days. It didn't even hurt for someone to touch it. It was a freaky aspect of this world, and a welcomed one, how fast people could heal from injuries.
I drew my cutlass on a whim, and decided to take another route to rankyaku. After all, swordsmen of this world could do the same thing that the 'storm leg' of the Rokushiki could do. If I could manage to do it with a sword, then maybe it would give me some insight into how I could recreate it with my body.
I thought back to how I had seen Mihawk, Zoro, and so many others complete the air slash in the anime. I did actually remember there being an explanation as to how it was accomplished. The user had to swing their sword with both strength and speed to 'cut the air', thus creating an air slash.
I even remembered Ryuma, a man renowned as the 'sword god', making a piercing version of the air slash, where he thrusted his sword with enough strength to create a wind bullet.
Let's try it.
I held my cutlass out to my side before facing the side of the ship. I closed my eyes before picturing the proper form of what I wanted to do.
I grabbed my sword with my other hand, took a step, and swung the blade with all of my strength. I used my legs, I used my core, I used my arms, I used my breathing, and I used all the techniques I knew to keep the blade straight and cut properly.
I was confident that I succeeded.
And then I opened my eyes to find that there was no such 'flying slash'. I sighed and a spark of anger lit inside of me. I did not like to fail at any task, and I wouldn't fail at this one. So with a renewed determination from my anger, I set my feet again.
Once again, I swung my sword at the air in front of me, determined to cut it and produce a flying slash. I was unsuccessful, but that didn't stop me from trying again.
Not gonna lie, didn't expect to see that…
The main port and town on Mirror Ball Island was considerably larger than I had expected. The dock was extensive, and housed at least 15 different galleon sized vessels that all held the same flag and sails. Not to mention the other 10 galleons anchored outside the port, waiting for a spot to free up on the docks that could actually handle their ship. Luckily for us, our ship was small enough to make the smaller docks on the east side. Every single one had the same design and obviously belonged to the same organization. The sails were white in color, with the symbol of a panda painted on it.
Why was this significant? Because it was the symbol for the most popular clothing brand in the world: Doskoi Panda. Clothing brand might have been a stretch considering they were known to sell anything from clothes to toys and even running a shipping empire. I actually didn't even know that their base was set up on Mirror Ball Island.
It was starting to make sense why a Marine Base had popped up on it as well. With a company that large, Doskoi Panda probably had significant investments within the marines and the World Government. Who knows how much they paid in taxes…
"Damn…" Paulie muttered at the sight we were sailing into.
"I told you this was a bad idea!" Alvida hissed at us, looking smug at our reactions to the activity in and around the port.
"It's perfect. We'll hide in plain sight. Nobody is going to notice a long marine ship pulling in." I told her with a smile, just to aggravate her.
"What's our story here, Captain?" Paulie asked, turning away from the port and looking at me. Already I could see his jawline was beginning to sharpen from the workouts he had been doing lately. Not to mention how his wiry frame was beginning to cut up.
That's actually a good question.
"Hmm, we bought this off of the base in Shells Town after they decided it had become too old for active duty. Keep it simple." I told them as I pondered if it would work or not. I hadn't actually thought about the fact that we were wanted criminals in a while. Nor did I really know if I was a wanted criminal.
Do I have a bounty?
"Ok, and what are we doing here?" Paulie asked, nodding his head along.
"Tell them the truth, we're looking for an old friend of ours. Last we heard he was in the marine base." I answered, with an even bigger grin. It wasn't far off from the truth, but it wasn't exactly the full story.
Alvida physically rolled her eyes, but she nodded at me all the same.
"Half-sail boys!" She commanded as she too went somewhere on the ship to busy herself and prepare for our docking. I could tell from both hers and Paulie's movements that they were slightly nervous. It was time for us to figure out if all of East Blue knew about what happened at Shells Town or not.
"Turns out we were worried for nothing." I commented as I walked onto the docks of Mirror Ball Island without anyone caring or even looking in our direction.
I could see marines patrolling at the far end of the dock, but that was where all of the massive Galleon ships were at. The marines checked everyone's papers, unless you were on our side of the dock. They only cared to protect the Doskoi Panda ships and their employees.
"I guess so…" Paulie responded as he dusted himself off. He didn't have his rifle in his hands, as what civilians carried around a rifle. But inside his black coat, I saw him buckle two pistols on his waist in case anything went down. I secretly thought he didn't want to lug the rifle around all day.
I didn't really care if someone called me out about the cutlass on my waist. Nor did I care if someone saw the jolly roger sewed into the cloak draped on my shoulders.
"Alright, Paulie you're on recon. Find me the Marine base and look for any holes in the patrol." I told my first mate, as he was the one I found most qualified, considering his time in the marines with me.
He sighed, but didn't tell me no before walking down the docks to complete his mission.
"Alvida, I need new sails and supplies. You think you can handle that?" I asked the woman as she strutted down the docks. She nodded, sending the feather in her hat waving. "Meet back here when the sun goes down."
What was my plan for breaking out this 'Little Jon', one might ask.
I had thought about the problem at length while traveling to the island, and I hadn't really made a decision. I knew that I needed information though. I need to know where they are keeping him and with how much security. Without that information, I had no idea how to accomplish my mission.
That was why I had delegated Paulie to find out the information that we needed. I did not want to be the one to scout out the marine base, because that was boring as hell! Nor did I want to oversee the purchase and delivery of our supplies to our ship.
This was a brand new island for me. I wanted to explore it! I wanted to talk to the locals about their lives. I wanted to see the cool architecture. I wanted to have fun. So that's what I did. I walked in the marketplaces scattered throughout the city. I ate food from the food stalls. I haggled with market stall owners over jewelry that I had no intention of buying. I even bought tickets to a show that I walked out of because it was too slow.
I looked up to see that the sun was about to start setting over the city.
Looks like my fun is up…
I was not like Zoro and Luffy. I did not get lost very easily. I always kept track of the sun and where it was above me. I also kept track of the general direction I knew my ship would be. So it was nothing for me to set my feet in that direction and start walking towards it.
A flash of white in the corner of my eye caused me to glance in the direction nonchalantly.
It was a group of marine's, about 5 or 6 of them, and they were heading into what was obviously a bar. None of them were of any rank above a petty officer, so it wasn't likely they were important or obviously strong. But I couldn't help myself, and I found myself walking into the bar confidently.
It was a nice place. The furniture looked well taken care of, and there was plenty of room. Already, it was becoming packed though with people getting off of work and heading to the bar. It became obvious that it was a popular bar almost immediately. A couple of girls were working tables with tight fitting shirts and short shorts. It was no wonder why the marines came to this place.
The actual bar that supplied the alcohol was in the center of the back wall, with a door leading into what I assumed was the kitchen. A blonde woman, with sharp eyes and a round bust, worked it by herself making drinks and brushing off comments from the men surrounding her. She couldn't have been any older than myself, maybe 21, and had a rack that was something to brag about. She was still young enough that they sat up and stared back at me without the need of a bra, if the two dots on her shirt were anything to go by.
I looked around to see that the marines had taken over a corner booth, with one of them ordering a pitcher of beer for the rest at the bar. I saw other tables of marines as well. It must be the bar they all hang out at. Most likely, the owner was a retired marine.
You know, I've never been in a bar fight…
As I had that thought, a plan that I found extremely amusing blossomed in my mind. It was one that would allow me to have a little fun, and accomplish a vital part of my mission. I smiled as I decided it was crazy enough to go forward with it, and walked towards the blonde woman at the bar.
I made myself a spot in the exact center, not caring for the shoulders that I shoved out of the way to do it. It also happened to be directly in front of her, as I didn't like waiting to order. She looked straight at me when I got there, and her eyes dipped down to my torso that was showing underneath my cloak before coming back up to my eyes. I didn't miss her smirk.
"Whiskey neat." I told her loud enough for my voice to carry over the other men trying to get her attention. Some of them even looked over at me. I made sure to look all of them in the eye, almost as a challenge for them to try me. I was looking for a fight, you know.
After all, who would walk into the marines local bar wearing a jolly roger on his back.
The unnamed woman smiled at me, and one of her hands reached to grab a glass before slamming it in front of me. Her other hand had already grabbed the bottle of whiskey and was pouring it into the glass without even looking. She was good at what she did, and she knew it.
"Next time, you'll wait in line."
The rough voice came from my left. It was one of the men that I had shoved to get them out of my way.
It was as if the place noticed my presence then, because I could feel the atmosphere change. It got fairly quiet, and I saw people's heads turn towards me. It was like a scene out of a movie, to be honest.
"Fuck off now." I told him, while shooing him away with my hand. After that, I reached down and brought the whiskey to my mouth. I didn't bother sipping on it. I shot the entire glass immediately. The prospect of what I was trying to do was getting my blood pumping.
It burned my throat so good.
"Listen here pal…"
I tuned out the man on my left, because I was too busy listening to the corner booth full of marines. I knew they had noticed me by now.
"Is that a jolly roger on his back?" I heard one of them ask.
That's when I started to hear the sound of chairs scraping against the hardwood, from the marines jumping out of their seats. I smiled and set the glass down. Then I decided that I had had enough of the build up. It was time to enact my plan.
"Is that a pirate?"
A hand reached out and grabbed the collar of my cloak, the same cloak that Rika had gifted me. It was an instinctual reaction for my own hand to snake out and latch onto the wrist of the man that dared to touch it. I twisted it when I finally turned to the man I had intentionally pissed off earlier.
He winced and began to fold in around the arm that I was putting extreme pressure on.
"Let him go, you scum!" A marine was behind me as they had finally figured out that I was a pirate. Or at least, I was wearing a jolly roger and that was good enough for them.
Took you long enough.
By this time the entire bar had stopped everything and was looking at me, including the bombshell of a bartender directly in front of me. I sent her a rogue smile and a wink.
"Sure thing." I answered the marine as I let go of the random middle aged man that thought he was brave enough to touch me. But I wasn't one to let that go unpunished, so as soon as I let him go I sent a spartan kick that hit him in the sternum.
Let's have some fun!
You could have heard a pin drop when I kicked him. He flew a couple of feet away, knocking over a table and spilling the drinks that were on it. There was a pause in the air, but only for a moment. Then about ten people burst into action.
The first marine caught a right hook that dropped him instantly, despite the fact that I barely swung at him. I felt my smile begin to widen when the second rushed me. He jumped at me, trying to tackle me. I turned and shoved him while he was in mid air, sending him crashing into two more marines.
The next few moments were full of absolute bliss for me.
I got blindsided with a punch from my right side that I barely felt. That marine went down from my elbow on his chin. Another caught a roundhouse to the side of the head. The marine that I first sighted in the streets rushed me and tied up my arms, only for me to plant my forehead on his nose.
That was the first time I had ever headbutted someone and it was awesome.
I threw two more punches, and two more marines fell before a mass hit me on my back and I was sent sprawling to the ground. I rolled the man that tackled me over, but another one fell on top of me.
What happened next wasn't so pleasant, as there were four marines standing over me kicking me while two more wrestled me on the ground. If I was willing, I could have used my strength to manhandle the two marines on me, but I decided that I had my fun and it was time to move forward with my plan.
So I let the marine's wrestle my hands behind my back as one of them put their knee on my neck to keep me still. I barely felt his weight to be honest. Every once in a while, I would feel the impact of a fist to my ribs, but these marines were so weak I barely even felt it. My smile was still plastered across my face.
"To your feet! You must have been the dumbest pirate ever coming here!" One of the men on my back yelled in my ear.
I was hauled up, and I let my legs hold me up. To anyone that knew better, they could tell that I wasn't hurt at all by the beating I just took.
"Yea, Commodore Pudding is going to see you hang with that pirate broker isn't that right boys!?"
"Yea!"
"Yea Pirate scum!"
I looked up and when I did, I caught the eye of the blonde bartender with the massive perky tits. Her face was flushed and she was looking at me as if I was a piece of meat. When we made eye contact, I gave her a certain look that anyone in the world could understand.
A hand yanked on me and I let my feet fall in the direction they were pulling me. But before I did, I saw the woman gather herself and reach down to her shirt. But before I saw her bring her shirt up to flash me, another yank from the marines forced my head away, not letting me catch a glimpse of her skin.
Noooo!
Then I was being dragged through the doors of the bar with wide eyes and a broken heart.
"You motherfuckers!"
A/N: Boom!
Robert likes to act like he has a plan, but that would be giving him too much credit. In reality, he got an idea of how to infiltrate the marine base and went with it. After all, he's not too unfamiliar with the inside of the brig.
The bartender was a splash of inspiration. We'll never see her again for those pervs that will ask. I just thought it was funny!
What did you guys think of his new plan? Good or bad?
How will he manage to escape?
Let's talk about it.