Hello! Here is the second chapter! Thanks for all the favorites and messages! You are great!
Zeowolf9 : Thanks for your message, it's great to know that you like this first chapter ! To answer your question, I'm rewriting my story because I didn't like the writing style. There are also a lot of things I want to change. But my new story is going to take a different direction and can almost be considered as two parallel stories. The previous story is still in progress of course, I'm writing the next chapter, which should be out next week if all goes well. You'll see the fork in the story in the next two chapters.
On that note, happy reading!
Usopp is passed out on the deck, foam coming out of his mouth. Nami is on the floor, her hands covering her mouth, tears in her eyes, and her body keeps shaking. Sanji's mouth is open in amazement, his cigarette is on the ground and slowly burning. When Stella attacked, they thought Zoro was dead, cut in half by the attack. Only Luffy smiles and laughs again.
"You're awesome Stella! I can't wait to see you fight with us! Shishishi!" Stella's gaze slides to the captain. She walks over to him and crosses her arms as she leans on one leg, swinging her pelvis.
"Sorry to ruin your enthusiasm. But I never said I'd fight with you." Luffy's smile turns into a confused expression.
"Why? You're coming with us, right?" Stella nods.
"Indeed, but only as a trainer. I won't be participating in your fights. I'm sure you understand why." Luffy's head tilts to the side, with a large question mark floating above his head.
"No, I don't understand." Stella looks at him, blinks, and raises an eyebrow.
"I see... To put it simply. Imagine me fighting with you against another pirate crew. What do you think will happen?" Luffy punches his fist in front of him with a triumphant smile.
"We'll fight together and beat the crap out of them!" Stella rolls her eyes and shakes her head with a sigh.
"No, what will happen is that you won't even fight a single pirate. I'll beat them in an instant, which won't be much fun for you." Luffy looks at her with a frown, taking in what she just said. His eyes go to the sea, looking at the endless expanse.
"So..." He says slowly, turning to her. "If you fight with us, we will never become strong on our own. Is that right?" He asks as he looks Stella in the eyes. The woman nods with a small smile.
"Indeed, besides I will only accompany you as far as Sabaody."
"Hm... Okay." Silence descends on the ship. The others look at Luffy with wide eyes, they can't believe that Luffy used his brain for once. It's... miraculous.
Zoro puts Wadô away, trying to calm the trembling of his hands. Even in the face of Mihawk, he didn't feel that sense of helplessness. Like an instinct that told him to stay away from this person and run away. Yet, when they met this young woman on her little boat, his instinct had not told him anything. It was only after she felt this incredible pressure that his body began to react.
Stella had her arms crossed and was waiting for the others to recover from their emotions. They have probably never been exposed to such overwhelming power. But they need to be shown that there are monstrously strong people on Grand Line, so that they will think before they rush in.
Once everyone has come to their senses and is more or less relaxed. Stella speaks again.
"I have shown you that I have great attack power, but if that were enough to live on Grand Line, then it would not be the sea of all perils. For let's face it, people as powerful as me are not in the first half of Grand Line. So you don't have to worry about getting crushed instantly." Nami and Usopp breathe a sigh of relief. They finally have a chance to survive on this sea. "If they're not here, the reason is simple. It's simply because the crews who attempt the adventure don't even make it to the first island because of the peculiar climate of Grand Line." Or not...
Stella turns to Nami, who tenses up under the inquisitive gaze.
"Since you're the navigator, you must know why they don't reach the first island on Grand Line? " Nami swallowed, she quickly thought back to all the information she had gathered. She remembered the state of Don Krieg's ship. Totally gutted and destroyed by the elements and Mihawk's attack.
"I... Uh... Well... The weather is very fickle, we have seen galleons destroyed by the elements. So we have to know how to react and very quickly..." Stella looks at her, making a small hand gesture to encourage her to continue.
"And? why do you think these galleons were destroyed?"
"Uh... They didn't know what they were going to face. If they had had the information, they could have faced it and reached the island..." Stella continued to encourage Nami to elaborate, but in the face of the navigator's muteness, the woman decided to give her a little nudge.
"I see... I think we'll start from the beginning. I understood that you were going to Logue Town because it is the last island before the passage to Grand Line. But why do you have to go there? After all, there is only water separating East Blue from Grand Line." Hearing the question, Nami blinks, understanding that she is trying to help her assess her knowledge of Grand Line.
"Passing through the Reverse Montain is the only possible way, as Grand Line is bordered by Calm Belt, which is a sea where the wind does not blow and there is no current to push the ships. But the worst thing is that it is the nest of the sea kings, who attack any ship that tries to venture there. So passage through the Reverse Montain is mandatory." Stella smiles and nods.
"Exactly. Now that you're finally on Grand Line, what are you doing?" Seeing Stella's smile, Nami slowly relaxes and regains her courage.
"Well... We managed to get our hands on a map of Grand Line. So using the directions on the map and a compass, we know where to go." She finished proudly, but seeing Stella's neutral face, she began to have a doubt. "What? Did I say something wrong?" Stella closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
"No, it's nothing. It's just that you used the term 'compass'." Nami frowns and crosses her arms.
"What's the big deal? We use a compass to navigate, how else can we know where north and south are?" Stella rubs her temples. Seriously, she doesn't even know about Log Poses?
"Have you ever heard of Log Poses and the magnetism of Grand Line islands? Reassure me."
"The what?" Stella lets out a long sigh. She forgets all too easily how ignorant normal people were about Grand Line. She drops her arms down her body and looks at Nami with a bored expression.
"Log Poses are the compasses of Grand Line. The needle is calibrated to the magnetism of an island, which allows ships to navigate. Once on the island, you just have to wait for the Log Pose to load on the magnetism of the next island, and so on. A normal compass is totally disoriented by the magnetism of all the islands and can only go in circles. Not having a Log Pose is certain death. Fortunately for you, there are stores that sell them in Logue Town. But they are still quite rare and unscrupulous traders sell fake ones. For your information, the real Log Poses are in glass bubbles and the needle moves in all directions. It will automatically calibrate itself on one of the first islands once on Grand Line." Nami looks at her with wide eyes, digesting this new information, but one thing is certain. If they had gone to Grand Line without this compass, they would have died before they even started. Because drifting randomly is the worst thing that can happen at sea.
"But then... What's the point of having a card if you can't use it?" She asks weakly. Is her dream just an illusion? Something that would be useless? She shakes her head, chasing these dark thoughts away. Stella watches the navigator pale for some reason. She crosses her arms and sighs.
"Maps are mostly used to find out how far the islands are from each other and to show magnetic paths. Having a map is always useful, because there are some islands you'd better avoid if you don't want to stay there for months. Or die approaching them because of the particular conditions they present." Nami's eyes shine again. "However, I would like to see this map. I don't think it's complete, but I can at least tell you how to read it." Nami smiles at Stella's words and rushes to her room to bring back the map she had such a hard time stealing from Baggy the clown. While waiting for Nami to return, Stella turns to Zoro.
"Tell me, little fingerling. Do you think you could touch me if I didn't move?" Zoro raises an eyebrow.
"Yeah, probably. But I'm sure you'll laugh at me again. Besides, why do you call me a fingerling?! I'm not a fucking fish!" He says irritably, glowering at the woman. But all he gets is an amused smile and a chuckle from their new recruit.
"You're right to be wary, because even if you tried to cut my arm, you wouldn't manage to make a single scratch." The swordsman frowned. How could his sword not cut through her skin? He looked her up and down, carefully observing her body. Her mocking face, her crossed arms, and the tanned skin of her belly that is visible under her blue tank top. The rest is covered in clothing, preventing him from seeing any battle scars.
"Are you really fighting with a sword? I don't see any scars." Stella frowns and unconsciously places her hand at her heart. But she quickly withdraws it as if it were burned. She quickly recovers and flashes a mocking smile.
"I may not have a visible scar, but that doesn't mean I don't have one. What about you? Do you have any battle scars?" Zoro smiles back and slowly lifts his white shirt to reveal the deep scar that runs diagonally across his chest. Stella raises her eyebrows and whistles.
"Woo! That's quite a scar, I hope it has a nice history and it wasn't a cat that did it." The swordsman grunts as he puts his clothes back on.
"I got it from Dracule Mihawk. I guess you know who that is?" Stella nods as she places her hand on her sword.
"Indeed, I know that big cat. And apparently, he's been clawing at you. It's amazing you're still alive." Zoro opens his mouth to answer but Nami comes running. In her hand is rolled the precious map of Grand Line.
"I have it!" She arrives in front of Stella with a big smile as she hands her the map. "Here! I can't tell you how hard it was to get it!" Stella smiles as she takes the card and unrolls it. On the worn paper is drawn the Reverse Montain with the four channels leading to its summit. The starting islands are indicated for each of the four Blues. Concerning the islands of Grand Line, only one of the 7 existing paths is indicated until Sabaody. After this island made of mangroves, no indication is marked. Stella frowns slightly as she looks closer at the map. It looks very familiar to her, especially the writing style, its annotations and... the small symbol at the bottom right of the map.
"Tell me... " She begins slowly. "How did you get that card?" She asks, directing her eyes to the navigator. Nami blinks, wondering if there's something wrong with the map.
"It was stolen from a particularly stupid pirate captain. " She says. Luffy jumped up next to Nami with a big smile.
"It's true! I fought him and sent him into orbit!" Zoro nodded his head in a small grunt of confirmation.
"I must say, he flew surprisingly well. But his devil fruit had surprised us all."
"Admit right now that you couldn't do anything against him, Shishishi. Being able to split at will and being impervious to blades is downright cheating!" Stella's eyebrows furrowed even more as she heard Luffy. Insensitive to blades? A devil fruit? "What was his name again?" Luffy asked. Nami and Zoro looked at him with a flat look.
"It was Baggy the clown, it's not complicated though." Nami scolds, completely ignoring the tremor that ran through Stella's hands. She looks at the card again, confirming that it is indeed the one Baggy took. She looks at the bottom right of the card at a small twelve-pointed star. Her finger gently runs over the mark, still feeling the irregularities of the paper. Stella shakes her head and sighs as she rolls up the card.
"This map is far from complete, but it will show you at least one of the seven paths through Paradise. " The others look at her questioningly.
"Paradise?" Stella raises an eyebrow, not understanding what the problem is. Until she remembers the people in front of her.
"Ah yes, sorry. Paradise is the name given to the first half of Grand Line. The second half is called Hell, or the New World, or the Shin Sekai." She lists, using the rolled up map to separate the different names.
"What?! But... But... If the first part is called paradise, then I can't even imagine what the second part looks like!" Cries Usopp. He walks over to Luffy crying his eyes out and grabs his captain's jacket, before starting to shake him. "Give up this idea of going to Grand Line! We don't stand a chance! We'll just die!" Luffy smiles at him with a laugh.
"Don't talk nonsense Usopp! Grand Line is even cooler than I thought!" He exclaims, shaking with excitement. Zoro approaches Usopp and places his hand on his shoulder. The sniper turns to him, hoping the swordsman can resonate with their captain, but when he sees Zoro's toothy grin, his hopes are shattered.
"Come on, don't cry Usopp. You know that when Luffy has decided something, there's nothing you can do about it. So just give up and enjoy the ride!" Encourages Zoro with a big laugh at the sniper's decomposed face. The poor man falls to his knees and looks at the sky.
"Why? Why am I in this crazy crew?!" Luffy laughs harder and says he's funny, which causes Usopp to jump up and yell at Luffy.
Stella watches the show with a small smile, obviously the liar is also a coward. One might think that this is a disadvantage, but it is quite the opposite. Because people who are constantly afraid for their lives, are the most inventive. Anything is good to live another day. When you're on Grand Line, it's important to be in the present to see the sun rise.
After Luffy successfully separated from Usopp, Stella clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.
"Good! Let's focus! Like I told you, I won't fight with you. I'll just train you and watch your progress. You are totally free to follow my training or not, only Luffy cannot escape it." Luffy tilts his head as he hears this.
"Why?" He asks. Stella looks at him with a sweet smile.
"Because Shanks explicitly asked me to take care of you. Besides, the future Pirates' King needs to be strong." The boy's eyes widen at the mention of his idol.
"Did you say Shanks?" Stella nods and crosses her arms.
"Yes. That little prick tricked me into coming here for a vacation. I should have been more suspicious, I didn't think he was capable of using his brain against me." She finishes with an annoyed pout. The others watch her pout like a child. It makes this overpowered girl look more human and could send them to the bottom of the sea. Luffy starts laughing and pounces on Stella, who only raises an eyebrow at the arms that wrap around her repeatedly.
"This is awesome! You know Shanks! How is he? What's he been up to? Has he gotten stronger than last time! Tell me, tell me!" Stella offers the young boy an amused smile as she rolls her eyes. Visibly, both are affected by the same ailment, that of asking a mountain of questions at the same time.
"Luffy! Let go of Stella-chan immediately! You'll end up choking her! And ask one question at a time, asshole!" Sanji yells as he pulls on Luffy's arms to free Stella, who doesn't budge an inch despite the cook pulling hard on the rubber arms. Luffy sticks his tongue out at him, but frees Stella anyway, without moving away from her. The captain's eyes are riveted on the woman, excitedly waiting for the answers to his questions.
Stella lets out a small laugh and ruffles the boy's black hair.
"To answer in order. I've known Shanks for a long time. He's fine, today he's probably celebrating your departure for Grand Line. And since you saw him, he has become one of the four Yonkos. And as a bonus, he is currently in the New World." Luffy jumps up and down with a big excited smile.
"This is so cool! One of the four Yonkos! That's class!" He said as he raised his arms, before a questioning expression was visible on his face. "What's a Yonko?" Everyone else falls to the ground.
"Are you serious?! Why are you happy if you don't even know what a Yonko is?!" Nami shouts. Luffy turns to her and blinks.
"Do you know what it is?" Nami opens her mouth to answer, but no sound comes out. She searches through her memories, but nothing comes to her.
"Uh... No... I don't know what it is either." She looks around at the others to see if anyone has the answer, but from the shaking heads, it's quickly apparent that no one has ever heard the term Yonko. They turn to Stella who looks at them with a small amused smile.
"I think a little lesson on Yonkos and the Navy is in order." They blink and frown.
"The Navy? Why? No... Don't tell me... Shanks joined the Navy!" Luffy shouts with panic. "No, no, no, no, that's a lie! I don't believe you! Haaaaaa!" He runs through the whole boat screaming. Until, passing in front of Stella, she grabs him by the collar of his jacket. Stopping him in his tracks.
"Let's calm down, Shanks is still a pirate. But to better understand the power of a Yonko, I'm going to compare it to the ranks of the Navy." Luffy stands in a ball like a kitten being picked up by the neck and looks at her with wide eyes.
"Is that right?" Stella giggles as she puts it down.
"Yes, I guarantee he's still a pirate." Luffy breathes a sigh of relief as he places his hand over his heart.
"Whew... You scared me." Stella rolls her eyes and pulls out a small notebook with a pen from her jacket. She opens it to a blank page and draws two pyramids on opposite pages. On the left page she writes "Pirate" and on the right page " Navy", then she adds parallel lines to make tiers. When she's done, she drops to the floor, cross-legged. The others look at her with a raised eyebrow before sitting in a circle. Luffy is on Stella's left and Zoro on her right. The notebook sits on her lap so everyone can see it.
"We'll start with the navy, tell me what you know. " Everyone looks at the two drawings, quickly understanding what she is asking.
"Down below are the midshipmen, then sergeants, lieutenants, captains, colonels, rear admirals, sub-admirals, vice-admirals, admirals, and the chief admiral, with some annoying variations." Said Luffy in a bored tone. The others look at him with round eyes and open mouths. How does their captain know so much about the Navy? Stella quietly notes the different ranks and adds what Luffy missed. She's not surprised that he knows almost every rank by heart. His grandfather must have given him a hard time.
"Not bad Luffy, now we move on to pirates."
"Pirate King!" Exclaims Luffy energetically. The woman writes at the very top of the pyramid.
"And now?" They look at the nearly empty sheet with questioning. Are there really ranks among the pirates?
"Uh... Pirates?" Asks Zoro, not quite sure of himself. Stella gives him a small mocking smile, pointing to the word pirate that is already written. The swordsman grunts at the silent mockery.
"Yonkos?" Tries Usopp. After all, it is to better understand their power that they rack their brains.
"Nice try, but I'll save that for last. To help you, I'm going to ask: How do you know a pirate is strong, without having met him?" They think for a little while, until Nami comes up with the answer.
"With the bounties? The higher a pirate's bounty, the stronger he is."
"Exactly." Said Stella, pointing to Nami with her pen. "Now, what bounty do you think corresponds to what rank in the Navy?" They look at her for a long moment, not knowing what to answer. How can they know the answer? Seeing that they stare at her, not knowing what to answer, she decides to help them.
"I'll give you a hand. Who do you think a pirate with a bounty of 1 million Berry has the same power as?" They all look at the ranks and try to compare them with the power of Luffy who has a bounty of 30 million. Sanji starts.
"I'd say he's as powerful as a lieutenant. " He says as he thinks back to the beating he took from Lieutenant Fullbody, but also the pain he had against Gin who had a 12 Million bounty. Stella nods.
"That's a good start, then?" Usopp leans over the sheet, flipping back and forth between the two pages and looking at Luffy.
"Personally, I think 10 million goes to the rank of captain, 50 million for colonels, 100 million for rear admirals, 250 million for sub-admirals, 500 million for the rank of vice-admiral, 1 billion for admirals and 5 billion for the chief admiral." Finishes Usopp. Without saying anything, Stella notes what the sniper said. From now on, each rank in the navy has a parallel bonus on the pirate side.
"Not bad Usopp, you're more or less close to the real thing." The man rubs his nose, proud that he has managed to solve this problem. "Well, regarding the Yonkos, I'll give one more hint. Luffy, when you met Shanks 10 years ago, his bounty was already 1 billion Berry and he was not yet a Yonko. So what's up? Where are the Yonkos?" They all gawk as they look at the chart. Luffy leans over the notebook and frowns. His face starts to turn red and smoke comes out of his ears. The others look at him with amusement.
"Seriously Luffy! It's not very difficult! Yonkos are stronger than Admirals!" Despite Usopp's answer, Luffy's blush did not stop.
"Hmmm... There's something that doesn't add up... Because there's only one pirate king, not four..." He mumbles. Stella looks at him and blinks before bursting into laughter. Her laughter is so startling that the others don't know what to do. She cowers in on herself, letting her notebook fall to the floor. Stella tries so hard to stop laughing, but she can't. Nervous smiles begin to appear on everyone's lips, her laughter is very infectious and... weird. After a few seconds, they all end up laughing in turn, without knowing why.
Stella puts her hand over her mouth to keep her laughter from echoing across the sea, but she can't keep her shoulders from shaking. The others are no better, Luffy is lying on the ground, hitting the ground with Usopp laughing. Zoro is in the same position as Stella, preventing his laughter from coming out. Nami bites her lips, refusing to laugh but her cheeks hurt from smiling so much and Sanji lets his laughter come out without trying to block it.
The minutes pass. If a boat passed by, they would be taken for fools. Stella takes a deep breath of air to calm herself, rubbing her eyes to remove the tears that have accumulated there. The others also begin to calm down. In a quiet hum, they recover from the laughter that caught them off guard. Stella's laughter was so bizarre that they couldn't resist it.
"Sorry about that, but I understand why you thought that, Luffy. But you're not that far off base." Manages to say Stella once she calms down. She retrieves the notebook and turns the pages until she comes across the two pyramids. "The Yonkos are the four most powerful people who are closest to finding the One Piece." Whatever traces of laughter Luffy still had disappeared at once, and a sense of urgency made him stand up abruptly.
"What?! But... But... We don't have a moment to lose then! We have to find it before they do! Nami! How long before we get to Logue Town? No! We can do without it! How long before we get to Grand Line?! And..." Stella puts her hand over Luffy's mouth to shut him up.
"Calm down, kid. They may be the closest to finding it, but they have been for many years. So there's no reason to rush. Besides, Raftel is a very fickle island, no Log Pose indicates. Do you know why Roger became the Pirate King after he managed to get there? Simply because the last person to go there was centuries ago." Luffy breathes a sigh of relief, but Nami turns pale.
"Wait... What do you mean Raftel is not indicated by the Log Pose?! How do we get there then?!" Stella rolls her eyes at the navigator's panicked words.
"For the moment, you don't have to worry about it. I could tell you how to get there, but that would totally ruin your adventure. " Everyone's eyes bug out and their jaws drop open.
"You... you mean you know how to get to Raftel, where One Piece is?!" Usopp exclaims. Stella closes the notebook and shrugs.
"Yes... But I have no interest in going there right now. I have other things to take care of before I go. So you don't have to worry about it. One Piece is all yours. But like a referee, I won't favor one team over the other." As everyone stands still, absorbing the information. Stella quietly walks away and sits on the railing with her boat right behind her. It is Nami who comes to her senses first.
"Wait, wait, wait! How come you know this?! Who are you really? Are you a super spy or a detective? Or something like that?!" Stella giggles softly as she looks up at the sky and swings her feet.
"Maybe a little of both. You know I'm an explorer, but not only that. I'm also an informant. Besides, when we're on Grand Line, my Den Den will be ringing a lot, so I'd be very grateful if you didn't answer for me. You don't know who you might run into." The navigator frowns.
"Like who?" She asks cautiously. Stella continues to look up at the blue sky.
"Hmm... Like other pirate crews, nobles, revolutionaries, or..." She lowers her head and looks into Nami's eyes with a small mischievous smile. "Navy." The sailor swallows hard and starts coughing.
"Wait... What?! The navy?! You work with them?!" Stella shrugs once more.
"Yes... But you have nothing to fear. I will not divulge any information about you." A relative silence settles over the ship. The pirates, with the exception of Luffy, are tense, expecting a new revelation. The woman calmly resumes. "Since I 'work' with the Navy, there is no bounty on my head. But as you've seen, I'm powerful and I give information to other sides, so they watch me closely. To keep me from harm and to be safe, I had to sign a non-aggression contract with everyone." They blink, totally lost.
"A non-aggression contract? What does it consist of?" Sanji asks as he lights a new cigarette, the previous one having fallen out while he was laughing.
"Basically, I'm not allowed to attack first. Nor to participate in conflicts, wars, battles and other confrontations that would involve two sides. Mostly the Navy, but that works for others as well. Of course, this extends to confidential information. Also, not everyone can ask me anything. I have a certain code of honor. "
The straw hat pirates look at the complex woman in front of them. They know her a little better, but clearly they are facing someone far above them.
"Wooo... And if you had a bounty, what would it be worth?" Zoro asks. Stella opens the notebook again and puts a star on the Yonkos' level.
"When you're the greatest informant in the world and you know the way to Raftel, you have to know how to defend yourself." Zoro swallows and looks at Wadô, stroking the handle. It all seems so unlikely, a girl they randomly ran into is one of the strongest people in the world... A woman who fights the Yonkos on equal terms... A woman who gives the finger of honor to men who dare to say she is weaker than them... Kuina, you were wrong, you still would have beaten me when you were an adult.
The others can't believe it, in front of them is a person who could be worth billions of Berry, but she looks normal, except for her white hair. They are stunned, but at the same time, they realize how lucky they are to have her with them. How likely was it that they could have made such a powerful ally by accidentally running into her?
Stella looks at them with a sweet smile, until she spots something in the distance.
"I think Logue Town is in sight, youngsters. Get ready to disembark." Everyone wakes up and begins to move around the ship under Nami's orders. Stella leans against the railing, watching the island get bigger and bigger.
She feels that her vacation is going to be fun.