Chapter 2
Merlin and Nami sailed in silence for a while as they followed the direction his spell was pointing them in. Nami was going over everything that had been thrown at her so rapidly back on the beach. It was a lot to take in and she still had so many questions about some of the things Merlin had said and done. As well as things she had observed. Things such as, where the hell did he sleep? If he'd been on the island for decades then there should have been obvious signs of habitation! Questions like that were bugging her while she simultaneously tried to think of ways to use his weird powers to her benefit.
Meanwhile, Merlin was enjoying saying his name over and over to himself while watching the gentle waves splash against the bow of the boat. It was impossible for him to hide his excitement! He'd finally let his personal hell and was out to sea with Nami! NAMI! It was also before she met Luffy so that meant he could join the crew with her and have adventures! It was all so exciting! But, most importantly, he felt hopeful once again.
After about an hour of silence, Nami was the first to break it, "I have questions and I want answers."
Merlin looked back at her and smiled brightly, it felt like his smile was trying to split his face in two, "Ask whatever you want!"
Nami was his savior, he'd do anything for her that it was within his power to do. He already knew he was going to smash the hell out of Arlong for her. Anything she wanted to ask him, he would happily answer. He'd do the same for anyone who had rescued him from hell, but because it was Nami that made it extra special to him.
"Okay, this has been bugging me a lot. You say you were on that island for decades and... well I believe you, despite the evidence that says no one had been living on that island for so long. There was nothing to show you lived there, why not?"
Merlin smiled brightly, this was something he'd be happy to tell her and proud to show her, "Ah! Yes, I can see why that would be weird. For the first couple of years I lived in a crude hut. Eventually though, I managed to have something better! Behold!"
Merlin walked past her to the cabin door. As his hand touched the doorknob, there was a small flash of golden light. When he pushed the door open it didn't show the tiny cabin of the boat, but rather the massive entryway to a mansion, "My portable home!"
Nami stared, gobsmacked, at the lush mansion entrance that most definitely hadn't been there moments ago. It looked like something only the mega rich would own. Floors covered in gleaming marble, columns decorated with gold inlays, fine wooden tables with plants she couldn't identify flowering in expensive pots. Then past the entrance she could see a massive twin staircase leading up to a second floor that had to be at least ten meters above.
It was a prize he'd gotten from the gacha on his nineteenth birthday. He could technically open the door to it from anywhere. However, by using a door to open it up he locked the entrance to the door he chose, which was necessary on a moving ship! If he'd opened it in the air, it would have stayed at that spot while they moved away from it.
He watched, thrilled, as Nami, still shocked, walked through the door into his home and gasped as she was surprised once more, "It's cooler in here!"
Merlin smirked, "It's got climate control built into it. It's always a nice temperature inside. Individual rooms can even be set to different temperatures if the person in it prefers it colder or hotter. It's got a kitchen big enough for twelve people to work in, a massive walk in fridge and freezer. There's a gym with an Olympic sized swimming pool. Out back there's a greenhouse with artificial lighting and watering systems to keep any plants healthy... And lots more."
Seeing Nami once more with her mouth gaping, he began to idly wonder if that was hurting her jaw. He, objectively, knew that the really good things that were given to him by the gacha were mind breaking for people in this world, but for him it was kinda... meh.
Once she recovered Nami exclaimed, "If you were living in a place like this then why would you complain about living on that island?!"
Merlin's mirth subsided a little as he let out a soft sigh, "While the house is nice, big, and had plenty of room. It's also empty. That amazing green house? Just has the same fruit trees that were on the island because that was the only place that had any seeds. The massive library? Completely empty, not a single book to read. The only 'entertainment' in this place is the gym. It's just a dead place with only me living in it."
He brightened up a moment later though, "But! As long as we're together, you're welcome to claim an empty bedroom for yourself! They're all massive with huge soft beds and no one can get into this place without my permission. The only catch is, the place you enter from is the place you exit from. You also don't have to worry about being trapped inside. Any door in the mansion can be used to exit it and come back outside."
Nami nodded blankly as she once more examined the entrance area. She could see why this place might not mean much to him with it being so empty, still she fully intended to explore it when they stopped traveling for the night! No way in hell was she sleeping on the hard wooden cot in the cabin when there was a temperature controlled bedroom with a massive soft bed in it within reach!
As she walked back out and closed the door, she eyes Merlin, "Alright, fine. I can see where you slept and how you got some food. I assume you did a lot of fishing as well?"
He nodded. He did, in fact, do a lot of fishing. Though he had limitless military rations, they tasted like salted cardboard. He couldn't tell the difference between chicken primavera and Salisbury steak by taste, only their coloring differed and not by much.
She sighed and made her way back to the tiller to check their heading. The compass he'd conjured for the spell was sitting near it and still pointing toward Alvida. After checking that they were still on course, she focused on Merlin once more, "Anything else you feel I should know?"
She still had a ton of questions, but she honestly didn't feel like asking any of them at the moment. She'd just had far too many surprises today and she didn't think she was up for any more. She could always ask more tomorrow after she recovered from today... In that nice plushy bed he'd promised.
"Mmmmm Well, I think you should know that I am super duper strong. I had literally nothing to do on that island for so long. So, I worked out and trained. Sadly I don't have a whole lot of actual combat experience, but I do have a ton of strength and some technique. I don't think there's anyone in the East Blue that could ever hope to stand up to me physically. Add in the weirdness of my Devil Fruit and I could beat anyone without breaking a sweat." He tapped his chin in thought, "I think that's all I feel the absolute need to explain right now."
Nami nodded in acceptance. He still hadn't bothered to put on anything extra so he was still in just a pair of board shorts and flip flops. It was clear to the whole world how strong he looked. His muscles had muscles. She had no doubt that he could take on anyone in the East Blue. Or at least, anyone human. She was certain Arlong could still crush Merlin, even with his weird powers and other random stuff.
"Well, that's good. You can help me grab some bounties in exchange for me rescuing you, sound good?"
Merlin smiled brightly and nodded happily, "With pleasure! If there's anything you want or need help with, just let me know and it'll get done!"
Silence returned after their little talk. He knew Nami wouldn't ask him to help her with Arlong yet. He was just planting seeds that he knew would eventually turn into hope. She'd given him hope, it was only fair he do the same in return. Unfortunately, it would likely take a fair bit of him showing his power to give her any semblance of hope. Arlong was the overwhelming darkness in her life, overshadowing her every action and filling her with fear and hatred. He could feel it coming off of her when he offered to help her with anything, a burning hatred that went deep into her soul.
He honestly thought it would be better for her healing if she could win the fight herself... He let that thought trickle through his mind for a bit before a massive grin split his face. He lifted his hand and summoned forth two leather cuffs. They'd been part of an outfit from his gacha, just simple pieces of leather. Ones he'd used to practice enchanting with! After all, what was the point of having magic if you couldn't enchant stuff with magical effects?!
With the cuffs in hand, he turned to face Nami, "I just thought of something!"
Nami looked at his wide grin with a bit of trepidation, "What?"
He held up the cuffs, "One of your problems is being weak right?" He didn't wait for her to answer, "I don't have anything that will instantly make you stronger, but I do have things I made to help myself train and get stronger." He hefted the cuffs up meaningfully, "Strap these to your wrists and you can get a constant workout without having to do anything special!"
Nami looked at the cuffs warily. Sure, they just looked like plain leather cuffs, but he had some weird powers and she didn't quite trust them, "Prove it."
Merlin shrugged and easily snapped the cuffs around his wrists. He moved around without anything seeming to be different, "I call these resistance cuffs! They help the body grow stronger by applying restrictive force against any movement you make. You know how trying to walk or run through water is so much harder than running on land? It's like that! Only a bit less resistance than water. However! The coolest thing is that no matter how strong you get, you will always feel the same level of resistance! "
Nami looked a little confused, "If the resistance is always the same, how would that make anyone stronger?"
"Ah! Think of it this way. Let's say your strength right now is a two. You wear the cuffs and your strength lowers to one thanks to the resistance of the cuffs. While wearing them you grow stronger, eventually reaching three as your new maximum strength. Your new base while wearing the cuffs becomes two, and when you remove them it becomes three. They're amazing for beginners, though they lose a lot of effectiveness when you get a lot stronger. As a two wearing them lowers your strength by something like fifty percent, but when you become a ten it only locks away ten percent. See?"
He actually considered these cuffs a failure. He'd been trying to make something that would lock his strength at one and keep it there no matter how much he trained and worked out so he could constantly build more strength. He'd never gotten it quite right and had to resort to other methods to gain strength.
Nami eyed the cuffs before letting out a huff, "So, just wearing them and doing normal things will make me stronger?"
He nodded enthusiastically as he removed the cuffs and held them out to her once more, "Just take them off if you ever need to have your full strength or speed."
Nami eyed the cuffs suspiciously as she accepted them. Experimentally, she snapped on onto her left wrist. She didn't feel anything and took a moment to unsnap it and take it off. Just in case it was some weird thing that locked onto her wrists permanently and did something funky. She was already the slave of one monster, she couldn't countenance the thought of being made the slave of another. Even if Merlin didn't seem like the type.
Eventually she snapped on both of the cuffs. Her eyes widened a bit as she immediately felt the difference. It was just as he'd described, like trying to move through water. She waved her arms around a bit before once more removing the cuffs, just to make sure she really could take them off at any time. Satisfied that she could and that they only did as Merlin said, she snapped them back on and grinned, "Thanks, Merlin."
Merlin nodded happily and went back to the comfortable silence. It was really odd to him. Despite his desire to talk to someone else for so long, now that he finally had someone to talk to, he didn't really know what to say! If it was a meathead like Zoro or Luffy he could talk about all kinds of ways to train muscles and get stronger. Nami though? While she would put in effort to get stronger, it was less physical and more mental in her case. Doing things like improving her Clima-Tact to have bettwer weather powers. He only knew that because he actually had one of them in his storage.
…
Wait, if he had her Clima-Tact which hadn't even actually been invented yet... Did his Gacha steal stuff from the future? Or maybe... did it just make copies of items and give him the copies? Was there another copy of the sword Shusui still in the hands of that zombie guy Zoro beat? Was that speedo of Franky's from the past, present, or future? Ugh. He didn't want to think about things like that! It was headache inducing.
Instead of wasting his time on that, he made his way back to the cabin door while calling out to Nami, "I'm going to change into something more appropriate for sailing and grab us some food."
Nami smiled and nodded at him while she continued to move her body in various ways to check out how it felt with the resistance cuffs on.
He opened the door to the cabin after connecting it to his home. He made sure to leave the door open, though closing it wouldn't matter. As soon as he wanted to leave he would come out the cabin door even if Nami somehow sailed to the complete opposite side of the world. Rather, he left it open in case anything happened outside. If he heard Nami having any trouble he'd come running!
Merlin moved deeper into his mansion and made his way to his bedroom. Over the years he'd gained lots of clothing from the Gacha, much of it copies of character's iconic clothing. He had outfits from pirates, marines, and even one copy of what those pansy Celestial Dragon's wore, bubble dome and all. He'd never be caught dead in it, but couldn't bring himself to throw it away as he might find a use for it in the future. If nothing else, it would make an excellent disguise for sneaking around in Mary Geoise.
The best part of gacha clothing though? It all re-sized to fit him automatically.
He quickly gathered bits of different outfits to throw together something for himself. He ended up with a pair of jeans, biker boots, and a vest. He forewent a shirt since it was rather warm outside of the mansion and wearing multiple layers or even a full shirt would be rather hot.
From there he went to the kitchen and dug through what supplies he had. He'd never been flush with tons of fresh food. He occasionally got something nice to eat from the gacha, but a good ninety percent of what he ate came from the military rations. He'd never been a huge fan of fish, but he'd eaten tons of it over the last few decades. Unfortunately, just as he lacked food variety, he had gotten hardly any spices. What spices he did get didn't last long. The only spice he could get a lot of was salt and only because he'd built an evaporator that would evaporate seawater and leave behind salt deposits.
When it came to items that gave him infinite of something, he only had three. The first was his military rations, the second was fresh water, and the third was his beer cooler. As that beer cooler was the only way he had access to any good alcohol, he considered his luck in the infinite items department pretty good.
Thinking about that, he looked at his gacha system as it continued to float just off to the side in his vision. It would remain there until he'd used the last of his spins and he still have five remaining. As he focused on the screen, he noticed a small change, nothing more than an extra line of text.
[Congratulations for leaving tutorial island! For embarking on your journey, new items have been added to the gacha. As a special bonus your next pull has an increased chance of getting an item with a rarity of USSR or above!]
He frowned a little at that message, "There's something above Ultra Super Secret Rare? I've only ever gotten a couple of those. What could be above my devil fruit and dimensional mansion?"
Merlin just shrugged and sent the gacha spinning. He had no idea what could be above that level of rarity and didn't really care. He only had five rolls left and even with increased odds, the odds were definitely not in his favor.
While the gacha spun, Merlin searched his kitchen to figure out what he wanted to cook for Nami and himself. His cooking skills weren't the greatest, mostly just cooking fish in various ways on either his stove or a fire grill on the beach. As he was contemplating making some bland sushi using the last of his rice and the salmon he caught yesterday, the gacha finished spinning.
"MR, MR, MR, The hell is MR?"
[Congratulations on winning your first ever Mythical Rare item!
Haoshoku Haki Unlock: Unlocks your Haoshoku Haki, a type of Haki that is said to be possessed by only one person in a million and grants them the qualities of a King. Your Haoshoku Haki has limitless potential.]
Merlin scoffed at the prize even as he accepted it. He didn't give a crap about Haoshoku Haki. Granted, there was nothing bad about having it, but he knew training it would be annoying. How did he know that? Because he'd trained himself in both other forms of Haki and neither had progressed very far even after decades. For them to truly grow and become stronger required battle. Something he obviously had no chance to participate in.
Thanks to that, the growth of his Haki had stalled. His Kenbunshoku (Observation) Haki only let him feel something when it was relatively close. It had no real range to it, let alone cool things like seeing into the future. As for his Busoshoku (Armament) Haki? He could barely use the hardening stage on his entire fist and not for very long either.
He'd tried everything he could to train his Haki to be as strong as possible but had failed utterly. Now that he was off that island though? Oh, he was looking forward to getting to the Grand Line and enjoying some good fights!
He threw those thoughts out of his mind, for now, and focused back on the gacha. He hit another roll and then ignored it once again. What was he thinking about before?
"Oh! Right! Crappy sushi. God I can't wait to get to a town where I can buy seasonings and condiments! Plain rice, even high quality short grain, does not make good sushi rice without the proper seasonings."
He grabbed the rice and set it on the counter next to the high quality rice cooker. As he was measuring out the amount of rice and water, the gacha came to a stop. He glanced at it, scoffed at the item, and tossed it into his storage before setting it spinning again. Only two left after this one.
While it spun, he started the rice cooker and went to his fridge. He had no real recollection of what appliances were like in the One Piece world, but what he did know is he had the best of everything. Seriously, he was certain that back in his old world a kitchen like he had with all the appliances, pots, pans, knives, and other utensils would have cost several hundred thousand dollars. His fridge was a huge walk in and he had a matching freezer right next to it.
It was to the fridge that he moved to retrieve half of a salmon filet that weighed at least a dozen kilos. As he set it down the third of five spins stopped. He turned to look and quirked his eyebrow at the display, "Another MR? The hell?"
[The King's Buffet: The kings buffet is a ten meter long table capable of providing a massive buffet of food once per day. Every day at midnight any food left on the table will vanish and be replaced with a new, different, buffet. All of the food provided is of good quality with excellent nutritional value. (Does not include drinks.)]
Without any hesitation, Merlin dropped the salmon fillet into the trash can where it promptly vanished. He had no idea where his trash went, but anything thrown away just vanished like the fish had. With his hands free, he collected his prize. Unlike small objects, or intangible things like Haki, a massive table did not appear out of thin air. Rather, a small card with a picture of the prize on it appeared.
"The dining room, definitely need to put it there."
His steps were quick and assured as he went to his destination. Once there, he stored the existing massive table in his storage space and held up the card that contained his new prize. With zero hesitation, he ripped the card in half. There was an immediate flash of light as the ten meter long table that had been pictured on the card appeared. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, it matched perfectly with the decorations dotting the room.
A moment after the table appeared it was laden with a small mountain of food. All kinds of delicious scents invaded his nostrils and set his mouth watering. Merlin had been living off of rations and fish for far too long. Those rare instances of other foods were so few and far between that they were precious in the extreme. It took every fiber of his self control not to fall onto the table and begin devouring everything in sight like a starving wolf.
He swallowed the flood of saliva in his mouth and left the dining room to make his way toward the front door. He needed to fetch Nami and invite her inside so she could get what she wanted from the table before he devoured the rest in a most undignified manner.
"Nami?"
Nami turned to look at Merlin as he stuck his head out of the door to the cabin of the boat. A door that, led to an impossible place that she still had trouble wrapping her mind around, "What?"
Merlin grinned brightly, "Come inside and get some food."
"You're done cooking already? That was fast."
Merlin chuckled but didn't say anything as he led her to the dining room of the mansion. He wanted to see the look of shocked surprise on her face. He was certain that she'd never been through so many shocks in such a short time in her life before.
As soon as they stepped into the room, he turned to look at her. It took a moment for her to look around the room. When she spotted the massive table laden with food it seemed like her brain paused as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. When she did her jaw, once more, dropped, "How did you make so much food so fast?!"
He couldn't resist. Honestly.
"Magic."
Nami's stupefied stare intensified as she looked at him, "Magic can do that?!"
Merlin laughed a little and made a grand gesture to the table with his arm, "Magic can do oh os many wonderful things! Please, dig in, take as much as you wish. Take whatever you wish. This is a feast fit for a Queen, so forgive it for being far too paltry for you, but it was the best I could do."
Merlin grinned the entire time, even when dishing out the uber cheesy line at the end. At the moment he was so happy and so filled with joy that he had to share it with Nami, the woman that saved him. He would give her everything she deserved and do just about anything for her to repay her for the rescue.
Meanwhile, after hearing Merlin's little speech, Nami put on a fake haughty attitude and preened from his words, "Well, I suppose it can't be helped that it's a feast only fit for a Queen. I did only just rescue you from a deserted island, after all."
The pair were silent as they looked at each other for a moment before bursting out in laughter. Merlin laughed the hardest as he was reminded just how good it felt to laugh and enjoy the moment. It was amazing the little things he was experiencing once more that he hadn't experienced in so long.
Once their laughter calmed down, Merlin gestured to the table once more, "In all seriousness, feel free to take whatever you want. The table is magical and will make this much food once a day. Whatever isn't eaten will just disappear at midnight and be replaced with fresh food."
Nami, looking slightly awestruck but taking the information in stride, collected one of the available plates on the table and started to place different foods on it, "It all looks and smells amazing."
She looked at Merlin after setting a buttery roll on her plate, "Magic really is pretty amazing isn't it?"
Merlin got a far off sentimental look as his mind drifted to the past, "It's unbelievably amazing. It took me a while to figure out how to make and cast spells, but once I did... Oh the possibilities that opened up before me. It was truly, in a word, magical."
His focus returned to the present to find Nami giving him a small smile. He continued, "It's not just about making big explosions or setting things on fire either. It's all the little things I can do with it too. Personal fireworks displays. Automatically folding laundry. Automatically washing dishes. Ah, so many chores that I never have to ever do again!"
Nami giggled and returned to filling her plate with delicious food, "That all sounds rather nice. Got any spells to help with stealing treasure from pirates?"
Merlin nodded, "Oh sure, sure. I got spells to silence your footsteps, let you walk on any solid surface, and even temporarily turn you invisible."
As he spoke, Nami's head whipped around to stare at him so fast he thought she broke her neck. Even more disconcerting was... he could swear he saw Belly signs in her eyes, "You can do all of that?!"
Merlin grinned and gave her a playful wink, "Easily!"
He watched as Nami's eyes glazed over and she practically began to drool. It took her a moment to shake it off and return to gathering her food. She commented over her shoulder in as casual a voice as she could manage, "Maybe I'll keep you around for longer than I was planning."
"If that is your wish. Whatever I can do for you, nothing will be able to stop me from doing. All you have to do is ask."
Nami looked at him for a few moments without saying anything, as if she was weighing and judging his words. Eventually, she turned back to the buffet and finished loading a second plate of food. She hadn't gotten a lot of food, but she had selected a bunch of different foods. Taking a closer look at the table, Merlin wondered if they were foods she'd never had before. There was a lot of what would be dubbed 'western' food on the table.
Nami still hadn't said anything else to him by the time she left with both plates of food. Merlin just smiled to himself as he eyed the food table. He would constantly let Nami know that he would help her in any way he could. He knew she wouldn't ask for help until he'd proven his strength to her, but that wasn't an issue he was worried about.
Now though, he had something more important to deal with. His eyes practically glowed as he eyed the food laden table while something monstrous rose up within him, his appetite.
Nami returned to her position at the tiller for the boat and checked their course quickly. Once she was certain they were on course, she started eating her food while thinking of her new companion. She had no idea what to think of him. There was something about the way he looked at her. It was a look she'd never seen before.
She knew she was beautiful, she often used her beauty to get her way. She was used to looks of desire, lust, and even greed being directed at herself. She even considered such looks to be normal. Not appreciated in the last, but normal and expected. The look in Merlin's eyes though? Not a trace of the feelings she was used to seeing in the eyes of men. The closest she could remember is the look in the eyes of a religious fanatic, yet even that wasn't really right.
Then there was the way he was constantly saying he would help her out however she wanted. Part of her wondered if he knew about Arlong but it was quickly dismissed. They'd never met before and he'd been stuck on that island long before even her mother had been born. As much as she wished Merlin could take out Arlong, she knew it was impossible. Even through all the impossible things Merlin had shown her, none of them could come close to the raw strength and vicious power of Arlong and his crew. She'd seen them do far too much damage to ever believe a human could take them down.
She put those thoughts out of mind and focused on the plates of food she'd collected. In her travels to steal from pirates, she'd had a wide variety of dishes but she'd never seen some of the foods that had been on that buffet. She'd taken samples of anything she didn't recognize that smelled good. The exception being a fluffy buttery roll.
As she took her first bite of some chicken her eyes widened in surprise. She didn't recognize how the chicken had been cooked or the spices used and she was pleasantly surprised. The taste was foreign to her yet still delicious. She couldn't make out any of the spices used but they came together in a delicious, somewhat spicy, medley that actually seemed to make her feel even hungrier.
"Maybe I really should keep him around for a long time. A big mobile mansion filled with delicious food? It would make my runs to steal from pirates so much more luxurious!"
Merlin opened his eyes with a sigh. He currently lay in the massive bed that dominated a portion of his bedroom. Though his bedroom was really more of an en suite as it had a living room, bathroom, and then the bedroom.
His eyes wandered over the room he was so familiar with as the smile he'd woken up with slowly faded only to be replaced with a pall of depression. With a heavy sigh, he tossed off his blanket and crawled out of his bed, "What a wonderful dream that was."
A not at all pleasant and rather condescending snicker issued from himself as he walked toward his bathroom, "As if Nami would just appear out of nowhere and rescue me from my hell." His head tilted in confusion, "Was it just a nice dream, or am I losing my mind again?"
Despite the seriousness of the question, he just shrugged his shoulders and dismissed it. Sanity was for those who could afford it, he certainly couldn't. The depression, and even slight anger at himself for daring to dream something so wonderful, followed him into the bathroom. His mind fully focused on the details of the dream he'd woken from, trying to engrave every detail of it into his memory so he had something pleasant to remember. His body just went through the usual motions of using the bathroom and showering that he'd done every day all his life.
A quick rub of his face told him he should shave. He'd grown out a beard once, he'd hated every moment of it. Since then he'd sworn to keep himself at least somewhat clean shaven, even if he only shaved once or twice a week. With a put upon sigh, he reached up and swiped his hand through the steamed up mirror over his sink.
…
"S-still dreaming?"
Staring back at him in the mirror was his seventeen-year-old self, a sight he hadn't seen in decades. He'd sworn he would never use those evil Pure Gold Extracts to live longer. Dying of old age had been something to look forward to, not dread. Yet there his reflection was, young and staring back at him with the same surprised look on its face.
As what he was seeing trickled into his thoughts, his heart began to hammer in his chest as excitement filled his veins. Without another thought, he took off and ran out of his room and through the mansion until he reached the front door. He threw it open and stared in awe at the bow of the small boat and the wide open ocean before his eyes.
"Not a dream..."
Tears prickled in the corners of his eyes as the reality of his situation once more came home. The joy bubbled up in his chest and had to be let out in a joy filled shout, "IT'S NOT A DREAM!"
He heard a scoff as Nami came around the corner of the cabin where she'd been out of direct line of sight, "Of course it's not a..."
She trailed off as she saw him. Her eyes widened as a flush started to color her cheeks. As he turned to face her, the flush became even brighter as her eyes widened further. Before he could ask anything, her clear embarrassment rapidly shifted to rage. She instantly came up to him and drove her fist into his head, catching him completely off guard and driving him into the floor, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU PERVERT?!"
As soon as she finished yelling at him, she spun around and looked away, "GO PUT SOME DAMNED CLOTHES ON!"
Merlin blinked and picked himself up so he could look down and see what the problem was. Sure, he was naked but was there something wrong with that? Confused, he addressed Nami, "Is there something wrong with being naked?"
Back on his little hell island he'd gone months without ever wearing any clothing. Any semblance of shame had vanished from his mind. Frankly, he only wore clothing when he felt like it, if there was a specific reason to do so, or out of habit. Changing his clothes yesterday was more about wearing clothing appropriate for being on a boat. The shorts he wore before that were because the fabric of the beach lounger he was sitting on felt weird against his ass.
Nami stamped her foot on the floor, "Just go get dressed dammit!"
Merlin huffed in a bit of annoyance but made his way back into the mansion regardless. Women were weird, clearly.
When he stepped back outside, this time fully dressed in the outfit he'd worn the previous day, Nami was giving him an annoyed stare, "I don't know what you got up to on that island all alone, but out here in the world people wear clothing! Remember that!"
Merlin scratched the back of his head, was this what embarrassment felt like? He looked at Nami's eyes and seeing the righteous anger there, he looked away, "Sorry. It's just... Well, I thought yesterday was a dream until I saw myself in the mirror. I didn't even really think about being naked, why would I? I'll do my best to remember to wear clothing from now on."
Nami continued to give him the hairy eyeball for a few moments longer. Eventually she let out a sigh and nodded her head in acceptance, "Good. I'm sure clothing was optional back on that island, but it's not out here. Just... do your best, alright?"
Merlin smiled brightly, "Anything for you Nami!"
She rolled her eyes, "I'm going to go get some breakfast from that table of yours. Keep an eye on our heading, alright?"
Without waiting for his reply, she went into the mansion and left him alone on the boat. Merlin smiled and made his way over to the tiller and relaxed next to it. He'd meant what he said, anything for Nami. Even if it meant having to wear clothing all day every day. At least he could still sleep naked!
Thankfully, the outfit he'd chosen to wear seemed acceptable to her. It should be considering he picked it out based on the guys from the Straw Hat crew. He chose to wear blue jeans because Zoro and Sanji wore pants. Technically Usopp wore overalls, but those had pants too! Luffy was the only one that wore shorts. As for his vest top, Zoro and Sanji wore shirts, though Sanji usually wore a jacket too. Meanwhile Usopp wore no top and Luffy wore an open cardigan or vest. He liked the idea of a vest the most so he went with that. As for footwear, he went with practicality there. His biker boots might seem odd, but they had the best grip on wet surfaces out of all of his shoes!
Hmmm maybe he needed a little something more to hit outfit...
A golden ripple sprang to life next to him and opened up to show a view into a massive area filled with all kinds of junk. He'd had thousands of pulls on the gacha, after all. He didn't throw away the majority of random stuff he'd gotten over the years, only the stuff that annoyed him. Speaking of gacha pulls. He looked at the gacha screen that was still floating in his vision.
After he'd gone psycho on the table of food, he'd gotten drowsy and headed off to bed. He'd never finished the last two pulls he had from his birthday. He set the gacha spinning as he looked through his collection for something to add to his outfit. A sword perhaps? He wasn't the greatest swordsman in the world, but he was fairly strong at it and could probably fight against Dracule 'Hawkeyes' Mihawk for a while before losing. He could definitely make Mihawk draw Yoru and fight him seriously! If not, Shodai Kitetsu and Ace would have killed him the moment he touched them.
Oh, now there was an idea! He moved into the warehouse and looked through his collection of swords. He could just summon Ace into his hand, but he wasn't in a rush and digging through the pile of stuff would remind him of what he had sitting around. When he spotted Ace, Gol D. Roger's personal saber, it was sitting in its sheath next to a lower grade sword.
He paused as he looked between the swords, automatically accepting and tossing aside the common item the gacha gave him and setting it rolling again. As much as he wanted to use Ace, it seemed like using it here in the East Blue might be a bit of an insult to the blade. One thing a true swordsman never wanted to do was insult a blade. Using a sword as powerful as Ace to deal with the trash in the East Blue would be a massive insult to the blade, even if this was Roger's home sea.
With a sigh, Merlin collected the lesser sword next to Ace. The blade he selected was still one of the fifty Skillful Grade swords on par with blades such as Yubashiri. Kashu, the blade Merlin selected, was a rather plain looking katana, even having a common round tsuba. The only thing that visibly stood out as exceptional was the blade itself. It had a black spine, a blue wave-like hamon pattern, and razor sharp silvery edge. Though it was inferior to Ace, it was still an excellent sword in its own right and would be perfect for use in the East Blue. He'd save Ace for either Paradise or the New World.
As he stepped out of the warehouse, he saw Nami standing nearby and staring into it with wide eyes. As he got closer she asked, "What is all of that?"
Merlin grinned brightly, "This is my warehouse and all my stuff."
Once he stepped past the threshold the warehouse entrance closed completely. When it vanished, Nami focused back on Merlin, "There was so much stuff in there! Some of it looked really expensive too! Why couldn't you just say you had all that to pay for me rescuing you?!"
Merlin smiled at her, "Because anything really valuable in there is more likely to get you killed, like the extract would have."
He held up his hand and after the usual golden ripples he was holding a strange looking fruit. It was shaped similar to a mango but was silver in color with jagged black swirls covering it and a large T-shaped stem at the top.
"Take this as an example. This right here is a Devil Fruit of the Logia variety. If eaten it turns the person who eats it into a Metal Human. Whoever eats it would be able to turn any part of their body into metal and produce things like spikes and blades from their body. On top of that, any normal attack, such as a sword slash or gunshot, would simply pass through the person without causing them harm. Or, alternatively, the person could harden themselves and the attacks would just stop as they would be hitting metal. It's a very powerful Devil Fruit that would easily make even the weakest of people into an instant powerhouse."
He looked deep into Nami's eyes, "It's easily worth at least half a billion Belly, probably more. If I was to give it to you and you tried to sell it, the same thing would happen to you as if I gave you my last Pure Gold Extract. You would be hunted down and killed." The fruit in his hand switched to another, "Even this Devil Fruit, worth only around two hundred million, at best, would get you killed before you could collect the money. Remember this, always, a treasure is only worth what you are capable of selling it for as long as you can protect it. Either of those Devil Fruits are worthless to you because you would die before you could sell them. The same could be said of almost anything of value that I own."
His look deepened as he stared into Nami's eyes with conviction, "I would never give you something that would only get you killed. You're far too important to me to give you something that is the same as if I killed you myself."
Nami swallowed heavily, but nodded in acceptance. The sheer conviction and certainty of his words went rather far in convincing her that despite the value of those treasures, they weren't worth more than her very life. She quickly shook it off and gave Merlin a confident smirk, "It's fine. Rather than give me a treasure, you're just going to help me rob pirates and catch bounties until I'm satisfied. You got that?!"
Merlin gave her a blindingly bright smile, "Yes ma'am!"
While he put everything away and got a belt to hold Kashu in place on his hip, Nami checked their direction and position. Once she was certain of where they were, she addressed Merlin, "We should be getting close to where Alvida is rumored to be. She should arrive either near, or just after, sunset." She looked over at him, "You all set to take her down and rob her blind?"
Merlin laughed and tapped the katana at his waist, "All set and ready!"
Nami threw a fist in the air, "Onward to treasure!"
AN
Before everyone starts screaming 'SIMP!' or asking about it.
MERLIN IS NOT A SIMP.
I'd like you all to just try and imagine what being stranded all alone on a small island for sixty years would be like. No internet. No TV. No books. Not even a news coo delivering a newspaper. Just you and your own thoughts. The first few years might not be too terrible. You could occupy your time with training to get stronger. But what about after ten years of just training? Twenty? I don't think anyone could stay sane for that long.
Remember that movie with Tom Hanks, Cast Away? His character in that movie went insane, just look at his interactions with Wilson, the ball. Or when he had to go up on the mountain to get the rope he'd made into a noose? That character was only trapped on the island for 4 years. Merlin has been trapped 15x as long.
With his mind pretty broken from such a long time alone, Nami would be the most important thing in his life because she rescued him. She, alone, is responsible for getting him out of his own personal hell. Try and keep that in mind when you read interactions between them.
Other than that, how was the chapter? If you liked it and want to read more, One Piece: Merlin is up to chapter 5 on pat-reon slash thomasdarkrose, if your interested in reading more and maybe giving feedback before it goes out to the public.