Chapter 7: Second Voyage

Over the horizon, the sun slowly rises up over the blue waters of the ocean. Its rays shine down on the island of Temasek, signalling the start of dawn and a new day. In the watchtower facing towards the east, where the sun is rising up from, a lone watchman stood on guard with a musket lays lazily on the wall next to him as he just glares at the sun with a vengeance under his tired eyes.

He lets out a jaw-stretching yawn before taking a look at his pocket watch. "Fifteen minutes till the shift change…" He mutters to himself. He raises his arms up in a long stretch, giving out a sigh of satisfaction from the sounds of bones cracking in place before picking up his musket, slinging the sling over his shoulder.

A whistle of the wind can be heard.

Curious of the noise, he peeks outside to find out the cause. What he got was a flash of white zipping past the roof above, who greets him when she passes by, "Morning, Alex!"

"Oh, morning, Rein." He waves to the flying humanoid dragon, who gives him a mock salute before speeds off into the sky with a loud whoop.

It has been a couple of weeks since I've arrived in Temasek, a couple of weeks of spartan training by my favourite/hated mentor. If I'm not eating or sleeping, I am training my non-existence balls off 24/7 the whole time I am here. I never even got any time to myself! It's either my bed or in the field on top of the cliff. Or in the sky when flying lessons are on.

That's right, you've heard that right, FLYING lessons. I finally get to use my wings like they are supposed to be used!

And boy, the first time I manages to circle around the entire island is unforgettable. The wind in your face… The semi-weightlessness from my gliding… If there is one word to describe the experience, it's liberation.

But of course, like anything that involves Sen, there's a twist in this entire experience that I have NEVER saw coming…

Two Weeks Before

Sen stands right in front of me with a massive grin, his massive red-scaled wings wide opened to show off its thin white membrane while a long and thin scaly tail flapping in the wind is protruding from the back of his hip. His hat is no longer on his head but rather hanging on his neck via a white string that I have never noticed before, revealing his wild red mane of a hair that has two small black horns sticking out of it.

"Sahahaha! Sorry about that. Didn't think you'll get shocked to the point that you actually retract your wings."

I let out a huff at that comment, blowing a wet bang of hair out of my face. Even I am surprised at that myself… Dropping and smacking myself against the sea from that height is not what I expected to do so early in the morning. At least my morning shower is somewhat taken care of. Laundry on the other hand…

"I…take it you have a lot of questions."

"No shit!" I screamed out angrily. Dropping a bombshell like that, what an asshole! What the heck even is he?!

Devil Fruit is definitely out. He can swim, that much I can be assured off.

But besides that, I really have no idea how such a thing is possible! Sure, there are non-human races out there besides the Fishmen, but none in the manga OR anime has even shown such a race of sentient life before! Horns, maybe, but with wings? Nope! Never even a peep of it! I mean, the beasts known as dragons confirmed as a possibility to have existed before through the Punk Hazard, but can it be true?

"Okay, okay. I get the anger, but calm down a little first and let me explain." I let out another huff but still my tongue. He then starts to explain himself, "I'm what you are commonly known as Dragons, only we are much more than those overgrown lizards you find in books and fairy tales. Those ones are a bit of a bad seed from our kind, we don't all want to kidnap princesses and horde gold." I raised an eyebrow at that last comment as he added, "You are an exception to the rule, considering you fell right in front of me."

"Hey. Just saying."

He let out a small cough in reply before continuing on. "My race is a reclusive. We rarely meet with any other races other than our own, choosing to keep to ourselves and studies. As for why we have human forms… I honestly can say I know. It just always has been this way."

"So… there might be other Dragons out there, hiding in plain sight like you?" I asked.

"Yup. Although our numbers have dwindled over the years…"

Wow… this is one hell of a bombshell to drop onto me. An entire race hiding in plain sight, and no one even notices. But wait a minute… "Why hasn't I even heard of you guys before?" I pointed out. If there are races like his out there, why didn't Oda even hinted at such a thing before?

"Reclusive, remember?" He stated, "I can point you to one and you probably can't tell the difference between them and normal people. Besides, we rarely, if never, shows our true selves to anyone."

"Ah…" That makes sense, I guess… "Then the reason you show yourself to me is…"

"You are a really big exception." He explained, "Your Devil Fruit is one of a kind, which you can guess paints you as a really big target. If those Five Elder Stars ever caught wind of its existence…" He raises his hands up, wrists locked against each other, "You're be detained and sent right to Mariejois. And trust me when I say this, execution or slavery would be the least of your worries."

Yikes… a fate worst than that? Can't even imagine it…

With that being said, his lessons became even harsher than back on the ship.

This time, I have to complete laps in the air with my wings as well as on land via my feet. Got to say, having cramps of both appendages that didn't exist normally is one experience I wouldn't wish to share with anyone. It's like getting arm cramps on my back, even if there is nothing on my back… On that note, did you know that I need to use my tail to steer?

Which then brings things up to my current action, with me finally touching down in front of him after my twentieth lap around the island, nearly toppling over from exhaustion as I rest my hands on my knees to stop myself. A few flaps later to loosen up my wings before I retracted my extra limps back into me with a tired sigh.

"Nice work." Sen commented as he checks the stopwatch in his hand, "Managed to skim off a full minute. I may have to increase the number laps tomorrow."

"Please… don't…" I manage to panted out. This is the third time he has added laps. Anymore and I'm going to start fainting again…

"Ten minutes rest." He instructed, "We'll begin sword practice right after."

Once he left to fetch the wooden swords, I plopped down on the grass with my legs stretched out as I starts trying to get more air into my lungs.

Oh, right. Nearly forgot about that…

Now, additional to the standard sparring sessions, he also started on my formal sword training as well. Techniques, stances, footwork, all that jazz, he pumped them all into me in the best he can. Got to say, I'm pretty ecstatic about it when he started, but kind of regretted it once lessons have begun.

No matter how many times I've mentioned it, but Sen is the very definition of Spartan that can ever be.

Any small mistake would be penalized, with means more push-ups and running, and that has been what I have been doing in the first lesson and the amount rarely changed much. So technically, I did more exercise than actual sword fighting, sadly…

The moment I saw his figure coming towards me with the familiar pair of practice weapons at hand, I immediately got back up just in time to catch the wooden sword tossed towards me. "So, what are we doing today?" I asked.

"The same drills as before." He explained as he raises his sword in front of him in a ready and solid stance, "Practice make perfect, and your stances and movements are still far from commendable. But you are close, though."

"Wait, so am I okay, or still got ways to go-"

"Begin!"

My question is left unanswered as I am forced to begin my drills, which is basically slashing at the air at a certain order with each of Sen's commands. Down, up, right-down, left-up, left-down, right-up, horizontal-left, horizontal-right, rinse and repeat. This carries on for the next several minutes, with minor tweaking in my stances and strikes from time to time.

One thing to point out here: compared to most Kenjutsu drills I've saw in videos (I'm a sword-fanatic, sue me!), the drills I'm going through is closely reminds me of certain Chinese Dao saber drills. My legs are almost never remained in one stance for too long before going to the next. Makes me wonder if his sword style is inspired by them…

A couple of hours of drills later, we both descend from the cliff to the staff canteen for breakfast.

Said canteen is located a couple blocks from the main office building Tio is working at, which is also located a street down from the staff dorms. The canteen is a whole two-story building with both floors being filled with tables and chairs for the patrons. The first floor is the actual kitchen that serves almost everyone working there with a few tables here and there, while the floor above is filled with tables and chairs of the birch wood kind, simple design and all that.

It's opened rather early, at about a couple hours before sunrise, and by about mid-morning is packed with most of the night shift's workers including those of the security duty.

Luckily, we made it before it is really packed, which means we manages to get a seat to eat our meals.

"So, Sen." I asked as I chewed on my delicious vegie omelette, "How much longer are we going to stay here? It has been two weeks and still no news on our next voyage."

"Who knows." He replied digging into his bacon, "Silvia is the one who organizes these, so we can only wait for her to say something."

"Is it common to wait for this long between voyages?"

"Yeah, sometimes. You should could yourself lucky. There are times that we have to rush to our next voyage almost immediately without any semblance of rest."

Yikes…That must be rough… Thank god I don't have to do that… The last thing I need is for Silvia to just drop in with a last-minute assignment.

And just as I've thought that, someone suddenly walks up to our table and slams their hand on it hard, getting our attention almost immediately.

Then Silvia, through her panting, says to us, "Conference Room B, now. We have a new job."

…Jinx myself, didn't I?

After finishing our meal by basically shoving the rest of the food down our throat, we made it to the conference room where most of our guys are already there waiting around Silvia who has a piece of paper at hand. The conference rooms are located next to the main office building on a separate wing, linked by a few corridor/bridges from the third floor onwards. They are, to the extent of my own knowledge, reserved from meetings only, but usually by the heads of the various departments in this Division.

The room itself is pretty basic as far as conference rooms go, with a long table that has several chairs for some of us to seat down. On one-side of the wall hangs a blackboard with a few sticks of chalk laying about with, while the other is a board filled with several posters and possibly lesser documents of sorts.

Silvia, having waited enough, places down the paper in front of her before speaking, "Tio has given us a new assignment. This time, we are to transport some sugar over to the Goa Kingdom."

That name has brought out several emotions inside me, shock and worry are a few of them. Goa Kingdom… isn't that the kingdom where Luffy, Sabo and Ace lived? Where Dragon and Garp were born? To head there when I'm just a month in this world, talk about strange coincidences.

"We will be bringing the ones from the plantation on the island of Gula." She then points at our navigator, a young man with a mane of a black hair that he kept out of his face by a headband, "Lio, I want to plot a route for us. Try to keep it short and fast." He nodded in response as she points to Lee, "Lee, get our supplies ready." He nodded at that and she continues, "We are to leave by tomorrow morning. Any questions?"

"Isn't Gula in the southwest from here?" Sam asked, "So…"

"…Lio?"

"It's on the way, yes." He noted, "But it would be quite a detour, at least by a couple of days."

"That's a little…"

I notice he, along with a few others, are now looking at her with what I assume is their variant of a puppy-dog eyes, which had me curious. What's at the southwest that caught their attention?

"…Argh… fine." She lets out a groan as a few of the guys let out a few cheers before adding on firmly, "But on the return trip, you hear? We don't want to take too long. You remember what happened the last time we did, right?" Groans can be heard from our crew in response to that. "Okay, beside that are there anything else?" No one raises their hands, to which she then said, "Then you are dismissed. We meet on the ship at least by sunrise."

We all scattered from the room, I walking up to Gord with a question in mind, "Hey, Gord, what's in the southwest that have Sam so excited?"

"Really? You've never heard of it?" He said in surprise, "It's Mirror Ball Island, the most popular island on the East Blue! It got featured on the papers countless of times!"

Mirror Ball Island… isn't that the island which Jango meets Fullbody through some dance contest? So, it is southwest from here, huh…? It would be fun to visit that place once…

The very next day, at about mid-morning, we finally set sail for our next voyage.

According to Lio, we will be taking a somewhat long way around instead of heading straight for Gula. First, we'll stop by Gecko Island to resupply before heading straight for Gula. Once we stock up on the sugar, we head for the Twilight Isles to resupply again before heading straight for Dawn Island, where the Goa Kingdom is located.

I look over the horizon, as the image of our island slowly disappear over the distance. My second voyage, one just a couple weeks after the first one too… not to mention the destination this time…

"The Goa Kingdom, huh…?"

Dawn Island, aka the Goa Kingdom aka the place where rich and powerful tries to burn away the poor once, is the hometown of the future (Most likely) Pirate King, Monkey D. Luffy. Not only that, it is also home of one of the most beloved and missed characters of the series to date; one Portgas D. Ace. If I'm unlucky, I might end up heading there and accidentally affecting the whole timeline in a huge way. Who knows what irreparable thing I might do that may derail the whole plot all together?!

I would need to be careful with what I do there. The last I need is to accidentally stop the plot from happening.

Luckily, from what the newspapers has been featuring over the past month, it appears that none of the plot major arcs has started yet. Alvida and Buggy are still roaming the seas, Don Krieg hasn't head for the Grand Line yet, and the infamous Axe Hand Morgan is still in control over Shell Town. Even the lack of information on one freckle-faced rookie…

Not to mention the rumours and gossips of some of the people in the streets of an infamous Three-Sword-Style swordsman that has been tearing into bounties left and right for the past few months. Guess Zoro is on his way to fame/infamy soon enough…

"Food for your thought?"

A familiar voice called as I turn around to face Kris who has a pair of sandwiches in his hands, "Gord made breakfast, egg-mayo sandwiches." He hands over one of the sandwiches, which I gladly receive. As I take a bite into the delicious morsel, he asks, "What are you thinking about? You seem worried over something."

"Huh? Oh… it's nothing, really." I tell him, "Just a bit nervous, is all."

"First time to a kingdom?" He asked, I nodding in response, "Well, I don't blame you from having the nerves. The people in the Goa Kingdom are said to be quite obnoxious. I've heard that they tried to burn away an entire slum village just because some great nobleman is coming to visit them or something."

Huh, so word about that has been going around… I guess it wasn't as covert as I assumed it was…

"That is mostly-likely rumours in the wind." Lee tells us as he descends down the stairs from the helm, "But the obnoxious part is pretty accurate. I would know, I've been there myself a few times before."

"Is the Goa Kingdom a regular client?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. They do pay quite a huge sum for high-quality goods, often overpaid at times, so we've made great profits from them." He then scratches his head with a tired grimace, "But they have certain… how should I put it…? Expectations is probably the right word."

"Expectations?"

"They are extremely fussy over certain things, like how we packed the crates to even how long it was on board the ship when we docked. Anything less and they might halve the payment or don't pay at all. There have been countless of our trade ships that suffer huge losses over small things like slightly bruised vegetables, or having a corner of the timber soaked. Heck, I've heard that they didn't pay and even demanded compensation over a lone unripe apple that got accidentally mixed in."

"Compensation for a single apple?!" These guys are way too much if that's the case! Who would demand compensation for one below-par fruit?!

"And yet, we kept the contract?" Kris asked.

"As devasting the losses are, the major profits we gain from it balanced it out nicely." Lee explained, "No harm no foul, I guess."

"Still, over a single unripe apple?!" I let out a groan at that, "Now I'm even more nervous… hope I don't screw things up…"

"It's a good thing we're taking a more scenic route, huh?"

A-fucking-men to that…

…

To be continued…

There! Done! Finished with this chapter, finally! Oh god, with work and not to mention the trouble I have for planning out this little arc of mine, I didn't know if I'll even finish this at all! You have no idea how long I have brainstormed over what to do from now on!

So, yes. Rein is heading for Goa Kingdom, with a few detours along the way! It wouldn't take too long, planning it to have at least a chapter for the trip and a chapter for the island. If you recognise the name of a certain island, then yes, you'll know what might be coming.

Also, this couple of months has quite a lot happening, didn't it? Stan Lee dying last month, god bless his soul despite all the dumb things he has done over the years, not to mention the heck of reveal in by Oda.

Now to clarify this, the previous chapter was written BEFORE Kaido's Dragon Devil Fruit is revealed, so that part is still blowing me away!

And there has been very good anime this season that I had been keeping up, with one Isekai show that had me hooked since its manga adaptation captivated me. The animation isn't the best, but the voice work is pretty spot on with how I've pictured the characters being voiced!

Not to mention the latest season of RWBY which, to be honest, almost make up for the some-what disastrous previous season with how much it improved over the past two seasons since Monty's passing, with reveals that has blown my headcanon way off, not to mention the insane pace Boku no Hero Academia has been going and with season 4 coming next year, I'm getting way hyped over the anime season next year!

Once again, I apologised for the wait and hopefully the next chapter wouldn't take too long…

With that, I thank you all for reading this!