The waves were calm, I looked out over the open ocean with a smile. "I've never seen so much water." I whispered.

"Wait what?" Silas looked over at me. "You've never seen the ocean?"

"No, I didn't really leave my house much, the day before yesterday was the first time I remember seeing snow." I told him.

"But aren't you the one navigating?" Coconut asked. "How do you know where we're going if you've never sailed before?"

"It's simple, I got it." I assured them. "You just follow the needle to get to the next island, it isn't that hard."

"That's north you idiot, it's not going towards any island!" Silas shouted before he recognized what he said and covered his mouth. "I didn't mean it."

"Relax, I'm not gonna kill you." I yawned. "And if it doesn't point towards an island then what's that?" I pointed out across the sea where a massive mountain rose from the water.

Silas pulled out a map drawing a line from orange town. "It's Heaven's Reach. A mountain that stretches up to the sky, 15 kilometers above sea level." He explained. "I've read about it in my family's medical books, there's tales of a flower at the peak of the mountain that can grant immortality."

"Well that's boring." I sighed. "Can't there be like a pile of chicken or a flaming sword, something interesting? Who in their right mind would want to be immortal?"

"Yea maybe we should find another island." Coconut cut in. "Who knows how many crazy people are trying to fight their way up the mountain."

I whipped my head around, eyes blazing with anticipation. "Fight? You're right, there's bound to be some strong people on that mountain, we'd be stupid not to go. This is a chance to level up."

"Um, I think he was implying that it was dangerous." Silas spoke, strands of hair falling from his head as he began shaking.

"Well of course it's gonna be dangerous, we might even die but isn't that the point? Fearing death never leads to anything, I figured that out a couple days ago. If we want to get stronger we have to do dangerous shit, so what do you say?" I held out my hand as a gesture.

"No." Silas said simply.

"Well lucky for me you don't have a choice, let's go!" I cheered as I grabbed hold of Coconut, shaking him in excitement.

"C-Can you stop s-shaking m-me?"

"Can't you feel it? Before any battle you have one of two options, fear or excitement. Choose excitement Coco."

I could tell he was deep in thought but soon the frown on his face shifted, morphing into a grin. "I can feel it, the energy surging through my body replacing the horror, fighting for fun, death always one step away. I'm in."

Silas began rocking back and forth in a fetal position, hair falling like autumn leaves as he sailed towards his impending doom. "They're crazy, pirates are crazy."


[A quest has been generated!

Heaven's Reach

Climb to the peak of the mountain.

Reward: x2 elemental skills, 1 million beli, increased bounty.]

"Come on Silas, you can't just sit there forever. We have to explore." Coconut tugged on his shirt trying to get him to move. "It'll be fun."

"No, you've been corrupted. I won't let you two drag me to my death, I'm staying right here, explore on your own." Silas pulled away, lying down and trying to push the fear away with sleep.

"Come on." Coconut pleaded.

"Just leave him, if he wants to be eaten by a sea king or captured by marines then let him. He'll get stronger by fighting for his life one way or the other, this is just his way of saying he doesn't need our protection."

Silas looked up as we walked away. "Wait! I never said that, I'll go, please don't leave me behind."

I smirked. "Then hurry up, we got a mountain to hike."

As I said that a shot could be heard from above. "Sir!" Coconut shouted as he tackled me, a bullet piercing the spot I was standing in moments before. "There's a sniper." Coconut explained. "Up there where that small patch of trees are."

"Where?" Silas asked. "I don't even see any trees."

"Right there, halfway up the mountain!" Coconut told him pointing at what looked like a few shrubs.

"We can't see what you see." I told him, just make sure their shots don't get to us.

[Coconut, Lv. 2]

Age: 12

[Stats]

Vit: 2

Str: 1

End: 2

Agi: 4

Def: 1

[Skills]

1. Eagle sight(Accurately able to see extremely far distances and make out the smallest of details.)

"What?" Coconut seemed confused. "But they're right there."

"Maybe for you but we can't see shit, those eyes of yours are special. I need you to use that gift to make sure we don't end up dead." I commanded.

Still confused but deciding to leave the questions for later, Coconut moved, keeping us away from the shots, issuing orders on where to move to evade each bullet.

Up in the treetops a man lowered his rifle. "Captain, they got away."

"It's fine, if they're here that means they're after the flower. We'll see them again as we keep climbing, if the rumors are true we can't let it fall into enemy hands. Keep an eye out, if you see a shot on anyone, take it."

"Right, Marine Captain X!" The men chorused as they continued their way up.

"Thank you." I breathed out in between labored breaths.

"Of course… sir." Coconut responded, taking a seat. "Though we probably wouldn't have made it if Doc didn't spot this cave, maybe you got better eyes than me." He laughed, bumping him.

"I just stumbled into it, your orders are what got me here." Silas looked down, wandering if he should've stayed on the boat after all.

"Alright well let's rest here for a bit, we'll get our energy back then head back up, they might be watching so we'll head out at night when their vision is limited."

"Maybe I could just stay in this cave, wait for you two to return." Silas offered.

I agreed. "Sure but this is a mountain, there may be snakes or other forms of wildlife around, just be careful."

"On second thought maybe I'll just keep following you." Silas backpedaled.

"That's fine too, ima get some sleep, gotta be ready for tonight."

A couple hours passed when the sun fell beneath the horizon and moonlight crept into the cave. My eyes flashed open, I looked over at the other two as they peacefully slept.

"Alright you two it's time to move, we're already behind!" I shouted.

They sat up, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. "Already? I just closed my eyes." Coconut complained.

"If you need the rest you can take it, I'm going to head out and see if I can find the safest route up the mountain, you two don't have the same level of agility and endurance as I do, it could take weeks to make it all the way up there." I left the cave noticing the stars in the sky for the first time since I got here. 'It's weird seeing stars, the sky is usually so polluted, and they even have different constellations here. Wait, where are the other moons? I thought there were five.'

I looked through the sky but could still only see the one shining brightly overhead. 'Maybe they're split up between the blues?' I hypothesized, not wanting to think too much about it.

I began walking around the base of the mountain, not straying too far from the cave to see if I could find a safe passage. I searched for a few hours, eventually coming across a path that could probably be climbed easily.

"Darius!" Silas shouted. "We're ready to go, Coconut is awake now!"

"Alright!" I yelled back, dropping down from a wall and running back to the cave.

Coconut shook the rest of his exhaustion away, a smile showing up as he looked to the mountain. "There's no snipers or any enemies in sight, we should be good to travel."

"Good work, the first few days are gonna be the hardest, you two lack the strength to make the climb, I found an easy route but until you two build up some more strength and endurance you'll be in a lot of pain trying to keep up with me." I explained. "Which is why, Doc, I need you to check for any signs of injury or strain every hour. Make sure you're not overworking yourselves, when you get so tired you can no longer move we'll rest. That's the fastest way to build up strength."

Silas nodded. "Got it, but what if we get attacked? If we're exhausted we won't be able to help you."

I waved him off. "It's fine, you guys can get stronger by training and hiking or even something as simple as walking. I only get stronger if I'm fighting so I don't mind protecting you guys until you're strong enough to protect yourselves. Now come on, we have to start our climb tonight, if we rest during the day we should be able to avoid other groups."


We had been walking for half a day when we finally decided to take a break, already the other two were getting stronger, their endurance rising steadily with a few points to strength and agility. They had both gone from level two to level 5, with their endurance now one point above mine.

"Are you two hungry?" I asked. "I no longer need to eat thanks to my abilities but I'm sure you two are starving by now."

"Now that you mention it." Coconut's stomach grumbled. "I am a little hungry, I've just been having too much fun to realize.

Silas shook his head. "I'm fine, I've been snacking on plants and berries during our hike." He said, popping a dark berry in his mouth. "I thought we all were doing it."

"Ooh can I try one?" Coconut asked.

"Sure." Silas agreed, ready to give him a hand full.

"You'd better not." I warned him. "I'm eighty five percent sure those are poisonous."

Silas looked at them before eating another. "I've been eating them since we got here, I think I would've gotten sick by now if they were poisonous." Silas gave him some. "Trust me, I'm the doctor here right?"

Coconut looked in between us before dipping his head towards me. "Sorry sir, but he is a doctor and I'm really hungry, we haven't even seen any animals since getting here, the other teams might have hunted them into extinction."

I shrugged. "Your funeral, I'm gonna go find something to hunt. You guys set up camp."

I started jogging around the area, eventually I came across a small hollow, in the center was a single bear, sleeping peacefully.

[Mountain Bear, Lv 20

It tears apart humans with its sharp claws and teeth, it sees it as a game.

Although it's slow and clumsy, it makes up for it with devastating power.]

'It won't be climbing out of there too fast, I'll stay up here for a bit.'

"Dual Lightning arrow." I whispered, aiming at the bear's head, though thanks to my less than accurate aim it instead just pierced its flank, making it roar in anger as it woke up. "Alright fuck it, back to option one." I smiled, jumping down into the stone hollow charging electricity in my hands. "Spark fist!" I shouted, my fist making contact and the ground cracking from the blow.

The bear recovered from the attack in an instant, swatting its large paw and sending me flying into the wall. "I never thought I'd survive a hit from a bear." I smiled as I ran back in, dodging around its attack before grabbing it by the paw and drawing my sword. I recreated the blade from bone, stabbing into the bear. Unfortunately I was barely able to pierce its hide when it roared and threw me off.

I landed on my feet, relentless in my assault I rushed in slashing away at its neck, the blood being soaked into the blade.

Roaring again, it slammed me into the ground knocking the air out of my lungs. It lunged at me, jaws open. I threw my blade up catching its fangs, the creature slowly overpowering me. I filtered as much bone to my other hand as I could and touched its mouth. "Bone art: Midas touch."

The bone quickly overtook its jaws acting as a muzzle as it blew past the blade crushing me with its snout. Realizing teeth wouldn't work it used its body weight to pin me down and slash into my stomach. I let my body go limp feeling its muscles ease up before ramming my legs into it and sending it into the air, high enough for me to roll out of the way.

As it came crashing back down into the hollow I ran at it, using my speed to grab hold of the creature and electrocute it.

[Mountain bear has been affected by paralysis.]

I smiled. 'About damn time." I thought as I drove my blade through its chest, blood painting the hollow red.

[Mountain bear has been defeated! 105 exp gained.]

[You have reached level 15, Exp till next level: 124]

'Electrocute has reached level 2!'

'Spark Fist has reached level 2!'

I looked down at my sword, the blood from the bear restoring it to near completion. I let it fall into my inventory, turning to grab the bear and drag it back to camp.

"Hey guys I found some food!" I called out.

Coconut looked up from his pile of sticks he was trying to make into a bed. "A bear!" He yelled, noticing the creature. "I never tried bear meat before."

"Who's going to prepare it?" Silas asked. "Does anyone know how to start a fire?"

Coconut raised his hand. "Couldn't you use your glasses and reflect light from the sun onto a leaf? I read that in a book once."

"It's a lot harder than it looks, I'm a doctor not a scientist." Silas responded.

Coconut's smile fell. "You could've at least tried." He whispered.

"I can make a fire." I spoke up. "Lightning pellet."

"My bed!" Coconut shouted as it was lit aflame.

"It was just a pile of sticks, you can find more." I told him as I walked over. "Bone art." The bear's body began to morph as the bones in its body pierced its flesh before coming down and forming a rotisserie line to rest over the fire. "I can't really spin the bear but it should cook pretty well."

"Don't we have to skin it and remove the organs?" Silas asked. "Someone could get sick."

"If anyone is getting sick it's gonna be because of those dark berries you were feeding Coconut, not because of a bear." I told him angrily.

"Those berries are fine." Silas argued. "Like I said, I've been eating them since we got here. Not to mention he's eaten some earlier and he's still ok. I'm the doctor here, I know what I'm talking about."

"And you're lucky you are, otherwise I would've killed you by now." I lied, sitting down in front of the fire with my arms crossed.

Silas walked off into the forest, for the rest of the day we didn't say much.

That night when I woke up, I was greeted By something that didn't really surprise me. Coughing could be heard in the clearing, the smell of sickness in the air. I got to my feet, walking over to where Silas was treating Coconut, the stress making his hair fall.

"See this is why you should've listened to me." I looked down at the young boy in pity. "Just cause he's a doctor doesn't mean he knows it all.

Silas seemed confused as he examined him, trying to find the issue. "Are you sure you didn't eat any of that bear, or maybe you were bitten by a snake?"

Coconut opened his eyes weakly, sweat falling from his head.. "I didn't eat any of the bear meat." He spoke in between heavy breaths. "And I wasn't bitten by a snake. It's something else."

I sighed. "I already told you what it was, idiot, it's those dark berries you were feeding him, they're poisonous."

"But I'm still fine!" Silas yelled. "And you sitting here patronizing me isn't helping the situation, if you're not going to do anything but talk then I suggest you leave."

"You really don't know do you?" I asked him. "The reason I brought you both along was because of the skills you guys had, Coconut has good eyes, you are resistant to poison, at least to a certain degree."

"If you knew that, and knew the berries were poisonous, why did you let him eat them?! Why didn't you say something earlier?!" He roared, his anger turning his face red.

"I did say something, you two ignored me, I just didn't want to explain any further because I was proving a point." I replied.

He began visibly shaking. "If I don't find the right herbs, he's going to die. This is your idea of proving a point?!"

"With the speed his health is dropping he has a couple days, I'm sure you'll find something by then. Have you tried using your blood, your resistance to poison could possibly act as a cure." I offered. "He's a pirate, he's not gonna die from something like this, and you're a doctor, you're not letting him die."

Silas calmed down a little. "It's worth a try." He pulled out a needle, pricking his arm and holding it above Coconut, allowing it to drip into his mouth.

"Letting him be poisoned was the easiest way to explain your skill, and I trusted that you as a doctor could save him. It's better it happens now with a slow acting poison rather than later with one that could take his life in moments." I smiled, seeing that his health was no longer falling. "He'll be fine, he just needs some rest."

"Well maybe next time you decide to explain my ability, you could use a poison that isn't life threatening." He sighed, though, the venom was still in his voice. "Thanks for the suggestion, I'm not too experienced with poisons and their cures, I'm not sure I would've been able to find the right plant."

"Maybe next time, listen, I'm the Vice Captain of the crew now. Even if you don't like my orders, you should follow them as long as they don't conflict with your morals." I turned away. "Now stand up."


It was the morning of our fourth day on the island when Coconut was finally well enough to walk again. For the whole day that he was out, me and Silas trained. I crafted twin daggers from the bear bone for him to use as weapons, making objects from natural bone was much easier and they didn't disappear after a certain amount of time passed. With the extra bone I was able to make 20 arrows, they weren't as strong but they were good to have just in case.

With a day's worth of training, Silas was able to reach level 7. His defense Increased greatly from all the hits he took, and he was able to work off some of his anger towards me. I suspect some still remains but I can trust the fact that he'll heal me when needed and won't betray the crew.

Coconut on the other hand, was unaware of what had occurred, forgetting all the events during his sickness. "So am I supposed to head back to sleep so we can keep traveling at night?" He asked.

I shook my head. "We'll travel during the day now, there's a few trees we can use as cover around here, and as we ascend there'll be quite a bit more until we reach the barren peak. If we're lucky we won't see anyone until we get up there, that gives me time to help you guys train."

Silas clenched his dagger. "It doesn't benefit you to help us train, we can just train together."

"I may not get any stronger from helping you two but I'm still able to develop my skills and become a better fighter. All things considered, I'm crafty but I'm still an amateur. Before coming here I never fought anyone, training would help me greatly."

"Yeah and if we train enough we might end up stronger than him." Coconut said excitedly. "Training together wouldn't be as efficient as fighting someone stronger."

"Fine." Silas agreed. "We'll train with you for two days but after that, we can train on our own."

I smiled. "Love seeing that you actually have a spine, well if I only have two days I'll make sure to drill it into your heads. The first part of the training should be obvious, continuing our hike for at least an hour."

"So what do you plan to do with the flower if we find it?" Silas asked.

"Probably destroy it if possible, I really don't want it for myself and having to deal with an immortal enemy would be such a hassle. Why do you want to eat it? If it's in the crew then both those problems will be solved."

"No I don't want to eat it, having to feel the pain of dying over and over again but still waking up the next day seems terrifying. I want to study it. It could be the best medicine if it can be diluted."

"I think eating it would be better, think of the ways you'd be able to help the crew if you were immortal. You'd be the strongest shield." Coconut interjected.

"Maybe, but think of all the help I could offer the world. The greatest accomplishment for any doctor is to be able to save someone. My dream is to one day save everyone. If I can do that, my life will be complete. Marine or Pirate none of that really matters to me, all that matters is that the patient in front of me gets to see another day."

"But you're a pirate, doesn't that mean you have to kill people now?" Coconut asked.

"No, I'd never kill. I could knock them out or incapacitate them but as a healer, I can't bring myself to take a life." Silas told him.

"I guess you're right, I'll probably still end up killing people but I always look for a second option if I can. You can have the flower." The buggy attendant decided. "Being immortal would take the fun out of fighting."

"Whatever you want to do with the flower is up to you to decide, I'm just here to train." I told him, jumping over another gap in the terrain. "Speaking of, this is a good place to start." A cave opened up in front of us, littered with corpses and dried blood.

"What do you think happened here?" Coconut said, bending down and poking at one of the bodies with a stick.

"If I had to guess, something big tore them apart." Silas answered him. "Their limbs were detached from their bodies but it doesn't look like the work of a sword."

"They were probably a party trying to climb the mountain in the past. That book that talked about the immortal flower has probably been around for a while, there's no telling how many people travel here every year." I searched one of the bodies, finding a bow that was snapped in half only held together by the string. I covered the broken arc with bone and tossed it to Coconut. "Your eyes are better for ranged combat."

Coconut looked down at the bow, pulling back the bowstring and pretending to fire at something. "What about the arrows?"

Using bone art I grabbed hold of a nearby skeleton, feeling the strain on my muscles as I broke it down and molded it into a quiver before filling it with bone arrows. "The arrows are weaker than traditional arrows but they should get the job done until you can find a better weapon."

"Cool." Coconut whispered.

"For now, I want you to figure out how to shoot the thing. As for Silas, your resistance to poison means you can use it in your arsenal. You're going to build up your speed, all you have to do is worry about getting your opponent to bleed, no killing shots. The poison will finish them off, if you don't want to kill, find a poison that can incapacitate them."

Silas nodded, silently drawing his blades.

I smiled. "Then I'll attack, try to keep up." I challenged him, dashing in.


The two days flew by fast, on the night of the second day we sat gathered around a fire. The bodies in the cave cleared out, I tried to put some of the skeletons in my inventory but for some reason it wouldn't work. I assumed it was because the system saw all the bones as separate Items, in the end I decided to turn the skeletons into hundreds of arrows to keep as extras for Coconut.

Speaking of Coconut, he reached level 7, and Silas went all the way up to ten. Apparently I overworked myself, because bone art was now on cooldown for two days. On the bright side, while I was helping Coconut with ranged battles I was able to get 'lightning pellet' up to level 10, the skill evolving into lightning orb. Now there was a tiny ball of lightning following me around.

I flicked it, watching it fly away before returning to my side. "What exactly do you do?" I asked.

"I snipe people with arrows." Coconut answered. "Isn't that what you told me to do?"

I looked up at him. "Sorry, I wasn't talking to you. I was lost in my own thoughts." I turned to Silas. "Did you find what you're looking for?"

He nodded his head. "There's a few paralytic poisons on this mountain, the most common being curare. In high doses it can be lethal but if I can control how much I use, it'll be safe."

"Use me." I offered. "No matter how close I am to death, I'll heal after some sleep. And I can signal when it's too much with a little lightning."

"Are you sure?" Silas asked.

"As long as you don't take this opportunity to kill me, I don't mind." I laughed.

"Alright, first I need to collect some." He showed us the book, pointing at what looked like a normal leaf. "This is what it looks like, we can split up to find some, meet back here in half an hour."

"Observe." I whispered looking at a leaf. "This isn't it, why is it so hard to find?" I asked, 20 minutes into my search and I still couldn't find a single plant. 'There's no way they're actually finding some, they don't even have 'observe' to properly identify them.' I complained, mistaking a Holly leaf for the ever elusive curare.

"I recognize that pattern." Somewhere else in the forest Coconut was happily storing the plants in the container Darius crafted from bone. "Oh, there's another one." He said, seeing some on a cliff fifty meters away. "I wonder how the others are doing."

Silas bit into a leaf, it was somewhat bitter, but then again that wasn't much different from other plants. "It tastes like it, as long as the others get a good amount I should have more than enough to last until we get to another woodland island. It's about time to head back, I'll just collect this last batch and go."

"So how'd it go?" He asked when he returned to camp, seeing Coconut happy with himself and Darius with a smirk.

"I found one." I said smugly. "I might have an eye for these sorts of things, maybe I'm a genius."

Coconut clapped. "I didn't know they had ones that small, that's amazing." He dumped out the bone basket, revealing a large pile of the green plant. "The only ones I could find were all these big ones."

"That's all you could manage?" Silas said incredulously, glaring at me through his glasses. "I at least managed to collect a handful, if it wasn't for Coconut I definitely wouldn't have had enough."

"Hey, I helped, didn't I?" I bit back. "Don't be mad cause you'll never understand the greatness of this singular leaf."

"Yeah okay, good job boss." Silas began boiling the leaves with water, creating a paste that he put into several vials he got from his bag, leaving just one out. I sat and watched him, wondering if I could ever use the poison myself.

"Coconut, you can head to sleep, we'll be testing these poisons overnight." I told him.

"Got it, sir. Have a good night." He smiled before heading over to the corner of the clearing and laying down.

"So how does this work? Start with small doses and build up?" I asked.

"For now, lay down and get comfortable." He ordered pulling out a syringe and putting in a small dose of poison.

I don't remember much after that, just a long night of pain as I struggled to breathe in between doses.


New and updated skills

1. Lightning orb(An orb of lighting that always floats around me dealing damage to anyone who gets hit by it. 10% damage, ignores defense.)

2. Electrocute Lv. 2(Course lightning through your hands before grabbing your enemies to shock them. 100% damage, 10 second cooldown. 15% chance to cause Paralysis.)3. Spark fist Lv. 2(An attack that charges up lighting in your fist for a devastating attack. 200% damage, 9 second cooldown)


Responding to comments

yashdaga205: Thank you, I try to keep my uploads within two weeks.

Lazy limits: I plan on keeping interactions with Luffy and his crew to a minimum. We won't see them much outside of certain arcs, but we'll read about them in the newspaper here and there.


Final thoughts

Silas is a bit weird, I don't really have a direct idea of his personality. Coconut is just your average impressionable kid, but Silas is harder to figure out. I don't know if I want him to be scared of everything like usopp or the type that has no enemies like iroh, always calm and not unwilling to have a friendly discussion on the battlefield. As for why I leveled up 'lightning pellet' so quickly, I needed something to do while they trained, and honestly, it's one of my more bland moves. Also, I'm thinking of just doing a full status at the end of every five chapters instead. That way, it doesn't feel like that many words.