We went back to Rika's mother's restaurant, this time they decided to give us a free meal as a thanks for helping them, which was great for us, while I did stock a lot of food and money, the less we spend the better, I am planning on spending a lot in Loguetown, I hope they have the materials I need, not to mention the Log poses.
While I ate a small plate, Luffy like usual stuffed his mouth with food, Zoro was eating a small plate, with his swords at his side.
"Your appetite always impresses me." I point out, "Where the hell do the calories even go to? Do you just burn them out by using your devil fruit?"
He looks dumbly at me, before taking another bite of his food. "No idea, I always ate a lot even before eating the Gum Gum fruit."
"What I want to know is how the hell do you eat more than a starved man?!" Zoro asks incredulously, having eaten even less than me.
"You didn't eat anything for three weeks, when people starve their stomach shrinks, and they lose their appetite." I pause, "Actually, if I remember correctly if you eat too much you could throw up, or even worse, die from shock."
I look around only to see the people in the restaurant looking horrified at me. "What is it?"
"People can die from eating?!" Luffy yells horrified, oh, that would be terrifying for him.
"Not like that, once you're malnourished and start eating again, your body is not used to that many nutrients anymore but will keep trying to process them, making your body generate too much insulin and free radicals, which can cause shock." I explain.
The look on their faces makes me think they didn't understand, which is fair, they don't have medical knowledge everywhere like in my era.
"I didn't understand a thing… but why didn't you say that sooner?!" Zoro yelled.
"I was monitoring how much you were eating, I am no doctor but until we find one, I will be the one that will look for the crew's health." I just know enough for us to survive, without Chopper were not going to go far into the Grandline.
"Huh, so we don't have a doctor yet." Zoro confirms. "Other than me, who else is in the crew? If you're going for the One Piece, it must be a big crew."
"Nope" Luffy beams. "Just the three of us for now."
Zoro looks at me with a deadpan look, that I interpreted as 'Really?', I just shrug.
"Please tell me you at least have a ship?" He asks with a tone of desperation in his voice.
"Shishishi, nope!" Luffy just laughs.
"I think Luffy's missing the part of his brain needed for critical thinking…" Koby mumbles from his seat.
"Nah, he may not look like it, but he is a genius." I pause, feeling the incredulous looks sent my way. Damn, even you Luffy? "I mean he is a genius fighter and is great with people, but anything else…he is completely incapable, that is exactly why he needs a crew to begin with." I clarify.
"I can't believe I let myself have him as a captain." Zoro mumbles.
"Technically, you were blackmailed." I point out.
Oh, his ears reddened, cute.
"If he doesn't have a plan, do you have one First Mate?" Zoro asks once he gets over his embarrassment.
"Yep!" I do a small jump, and summon a map, surprising Zoro at the feat. "We go to Orange Town beat a mid-tier pirate and get another crew member for now, I have ideas as to how we can get a ship, but that's for later." I explain.
"Huh, good enough, better than going blind." He picks up his swords from the table, and I am curious about them, especially Kuina's blade.
"Actually Zoro, I just remembered, where did you get those swords? The white one in particular." I ask.
"Huh? Well, they're just some normal swords I bought around the East Blue, the white one being the exception, I got her from someone." His eyes take on a longing look, as if he was remembering something.
"I see. That white sword is special you know." He looks at me with a questioning look. "There is a remarkable aura surrounding the blade, and once you hold it for battle this aura flows around your body like a second skin, protecting you from certain phenomena." I explain.
He looks slightly confused, makes sense since he knows literally nothing about the moonlight world, I am more curious as to why this blade has such an aura, I remember it is one of the 21 Great Grade swords, but I am not sure that the smith who made it knew about Magecraft and the like.
"I see… I always felt like I was fighting better when using this sword, but never figured out why, can you find out where that 'aura' comes from?" He asks, genuinely interested, I figure that kind of mysticism must be normal for swordsmen.
"Yeah, just lend me it for a bit." I say. He hesitates a bit before giving me the blade.
And immediately I feel something wrong, the sword's aura became aggressive the moment it left Zoro's hand and went to mine, like it is actively rejecting me.
Interesting, but why?
As I analyze the aura surrounding the blade I begin to understand.
I expected some sort of curse or enchantment but this… this is something far more interesting.
The blade seems to be the crystallization of a mystery or rather… of a promise.
It belonged to Kuina, Zoro's rival in his childhood, and it was used in all of their 2001 duels, it was present when they both made the promise that one of them would become The World's Greatest swordsmen, it was also present in Kuina's death.
Somehow, Kuina and Zoro's dream was capable to turn this blade into something amazing, beyond just a normal weapon… it's actually closer to a Noble Phantasm.
And even more impressive, a Noble Phantasm that will evolve alongside its user, so, as long Zoro doesn't give up on his dream and promise this blade, the 'Wado Ichimonji', shall aid in his journey.
I look away from the sword and give it back to Zoro, "This is truly amazing!" I giggle.
"What is it?" He asks with curiosity, probably seeing my enthusiasm.
"That sword quite literally a crystalized promise! As long as you keep the promise you made to the person who it belonged to it will become stronger alongside you, like that person is always at your side!" I smiled at him, his eyes widened and a small smile appeared on his face, and I believe he muttered 'Kuina'.
"Tch, let's see if you two don't hold me back." He scoffs, but the small smile stays on his face.
Suddenly Koby cried, Zoro and I turned our head to look at him.
"You can't be serious?! That's suicide! If only the three of you go to the Grandline you'll just be sailing to your deaths!" Koby screams.
Oh, Luffy must have told him about our destination.
"Not really, we're strong enough to survive there, just lack the means to sail." I say, Luffy, Zoro and I are strong enough to be classified as kings in the four blues, and unlike people like Arlong or Krieg we're also strong enough to be seen as Supernovas, in less than a month at least Luffy will get a 100 million bounty, and I plan to get something similar as well.
"Why do you even care?" Zoro asks. "Not like you're coming with us."
"I-I know that." Koby stammered. "But we're friends, right? And friends worry."
"We sure are kid." I pat his back. "And we're gonna meet in the future, we're all in the same sea after all. Once you become a Marine and all."
Koby smiles at that.
I then sense a group of people arriving at the front of the restaurant, probably the Marines.
"Excuse me." A marine opens the restaurant's door. "You gentlemen are pirates, right?"
"Only the three of us, we picked up the small one by accident. He was asleep in a passenger ship we raided. Could you keep him? He kept going on about the Marines, it was annoying as hell." They allowed Koby to join the first time, even though Luffy is a shitty liar, this way Luffy doesn't need to beat Koby up
"Um…" Huh, he is truly uncomfortable with this situation. "You saved our base and this town… and we're truly grateful to you, but you're pirates, so as Marines we must ask you to leave, your temporary companion may stay and for your actions we're not going to report you."
The citizens outside began complaining, throwing jibes at the marines for their actions.
"Well, it seems it's time to leave Captain." I look at Luffy.
"Yeah," He looks at Rika's mother. "Thanks for the food, ma'am."
"You're leaving already?" Rika asks sadly.
"Yeah, it was nice." I pat her head.
"We're going for our next adventure!" Luffy smiles at her.
"They actually bought that?" Zoro mutters as we finally made it to our small ship.
"Nah," I began preparing the ship for sailing using my really low knowledge. "But we did save their town, and they saw that Koby wanted to join the Marines, no reason to reject him because of association."
"Koby can handle himself, he'll be fine." Luffy said while the ship began leaving the harbor.
"First day as a pirate and I am already being chased out of a town by the Marines." Zoro muses.
"Shishishi, yeah!" Luffy laughs.
"Well, while we did save the town from a dictator, it doesn't change the fact we beat up the Marines there." I point out.
I feel Koby's presence getting closer to the shore.
"Luffy! Clair!" He calls, with Rika and her mother at his side. He snaps into a salute. "Thank you for everything! I'll never forget what you two have done for me!"
"A marine saluting a pirate? Well, first time for everything." Zoro leans back in the boat.
"Live your dream Koby!" I yell while smiling. "And remember our adventure here, keep your heart and follow what you believe!"
"See you soon Koby!" Luffy beams.
As the ship starts leaving the shore, the marines walked up to the harbor.
"All hands salute!" The one in charge yelled, and all the Marines follow.
"Men! Seeing as our salute is a violation of Marine law, we will go without food for three days!" The Marine officer yells.
"Too extreme, just do laps or something!" I yell at them. We already had Zoro starving, no need for more people.
Looking bewildered the Marine officer yells once again. "Then we will run laps instead!"
I facepalm. "Idiots." I mutter.
"Shishishi, now our pirate adventure is finally starting!" Luffy declares to the ocean.
"With the two of you here, I think some crazy shit is waiting for us." Zoro muses.
You have no idea.
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We have been drifting aimlessness on the sea for a while now.
"Yeah, I really should have focused more on Navigation." I muse.
"Clair! I am hungry!" Luffy grounded, leaning overboard.
"You will have to wait." I warn.
"When are we getting to land anyway?" Zoro asks.
"Soon." I said simply.
In a few minutes Luffy is going to launch himself into the air and get kidnapped by a bird anyway, and them we're going to fight Buggy and meet Nami.
"How do you even plan on becoming the King of Pirates if you have no sailing skill?" Zoro asks Luffy. "Your First Mate can barely keep us on track."
"It's fine," Luffy dismisses. "We can just drift around, and Clair can get us on track if we need."
"Not really, I can only do the bare minimum." I point out.
"What about you Zoro?" Luffy asks. "Weren't you some kind of famous bounty hunter?"
"Don't recall calling myself that." Zoro rolls his eyes. "I only set out to find a certain man, but then I couldn't get back to my village, by that point collecting bounties was my best chance at survival."
Luffy just blinks dumbly. "Oh, so you're lost."
"Don't say it like that!" Zoro yells at us, teeth bared.
Luffy and I burst into laughter as I lower myself on the floor, holding my stomach.
A while passes without anything happening.
Luffy and Zoro are lying on the deck staring at the sky, while I am writing in my journal.
I want to help the crew get stronger for the Grandline but how? Magecraft can help but I doubt everyone can use it and it would not mesh well with everyone, Breathing and Walking is a possibility, but I think that only Zoro would be able to use it efficiently.
Maybe try to teach them the Rokushiki?
Soro allows superspeed and is the base for most of the others, Tekkai hardens the user's muscles, helping with defense, and is good to advance to other techniques, even helping with Armament Haki, Kami-e is superhuman flexibility, good for dodging mid-fight, Geppo will allow the user to walk midair, Rankyaku can be used to create projectile air blades, And Shigan makes your finger move at high speed to simulate a bullet shot.
I think Zoro can learn Rankyaku with proper guidance, and Soro and Tekkai are in his reach as well. Luffy could use Soro thanks to Gear second, but with prior knowledge he could achieve it faster and maybe get something closer to the version he achieved post-Time skip, losing the lifespan drain. Sanji can learn Soro as well, then go for Geppo like he did during his two years training. Nami would be great with Kami-e, which would allow her to fight in CQC, which is something she can't reliably do. Usopp ironically doesn't need anything for now, he has a lot of potential for Tekkai, so maybe that.
Too soon for me to think about that, I don't actually know how they fight yet so thinking on how to help them train would be ineffective. Well, actually I could help Luffy, I didn't try anything when we were on Dawn Island because I was not strong enough to actually help, but now I can do something.
As I was thinking I see a pink bird drifting into our view. "Oh, a bird, that means there is land nearby."
"Finally!" Luffy yells. "I'm super hungry!" And he just throws himself onto the bird's face, and gets his head chomped down on.
"Ahhh!" Comes the muffled screams of Luffy. "Clair, Zoro save me!"
"Shit! Captain!" He turns to me with a horrified look. "Why didn't you stop him?"
I just shrug. "He can do whatever he wants, the bird is going to the island anyway, so we can just find him there."
With luck he isn't inside a cage… who am I kidding? He absolutely is.
"So, let's row!" I laugh, time to meet a clown.
I forgot that for rowing to work both sides need to have similar pressure applied, and while I am strong Zoro is just stronger. So, I begin using reinforcement on my arms to match him, a honestly humiliating use of Magecraft that would make a Magus from the Clock Tower laugh at me, but who cares.
As we row we come up on three weirdos flailing in the water.
"It's a ship! HEY, WAIT!" They yelled at us. "PLEASE STOP! MAN ABOARD!"
Zoro yells back. "I can't stop! Just grab on and climb in!"
They actually do it, climb that is, impressive skill, probably not the first time this happened to them. But now our ship is really cramped.
"Thank you," One of them says, pulling out a sword "But stop the ship! We're pirates of Buggy the Clown-"
"Don't care. So, either shut up or I will throw you three out of the ship." I warn them. I really don't have the patience for that.
For some reason they swallow dry at my warning, even Zoro raised an eyebrow for some reason.
"What is it?" I ask.
"Huh, must have been the light." He mutters before looking away.
Okay then.
"How did you pirates end up soaking in the middle of the ocean?" Zoro asks them.
The three explain their encounter with Nami, and I must say I am impressed. I had forgotten how good Nami was at using the weather to her advantage, she was able to steal from them and time the storm's arrival in a way that allowed her to leave with no problem, I have seen machines with less accuracy than her, no wonder she calls herself the best Navigator in the East Blue, she easily is.
Zoro then forces the three to row in our place, which is actually great, I may be stronger than a normal human but still don't have that great of an endurance.
"How did we even lose Luffy?" I whine, annoyed.
"Their fault, we lost focus when they attacked us." Zoro explains while pointing at the three idiots.
"Fair." I accept. "Now, knowing Luffy's luck he must be trapped in a cage or something."
"Really?" Zoro asks skeptically, makes sense, he just saw Luffy being a monster in Shell Town.
"Yeah, actually, he may even find our next crew member." He does find Nami now I believe.
The randoms begin moaning about their fates, complaining about 'that woman' stealing their treasure and how Buggy will kill them.
"Who is this Buggy guy?" Zoro asks.
"Only the most ferocious pirate in these parts!" One of them say while sweating in fear. "Haven't you heard of Buggy the Clown? He even ate a devil fruit!"
"Devil fruit? Second time I heard about that, what even is it?" Zoro look at me.
"Fruit that gives the person who ate them powers, but they can't swim ever again." I clarify. "Luffy ate one as well, his gives a rubber body. Buggy's is a bit more annoying, he can chop himself into pieces, making him immune to cutting attacks, a swordsmen worst enemy."
He raises an eyebrow. "That really exists?"
"Yeah, you probably never saw a devil fruit before Luffy because they barely appear in the four blues, even less in the East blue, but are really common in the Grandline, so it's better to prepare yourself." I warn him.
He nods, now in deep thought.
The three goons just keep making noise in the background so I just ignore them, after all, one out of four shall become two out of four soon.
Servant Profile
Schweinorg D. Clair
Class: Foreigner
Rarity: 2 Stars
Parameters:
Strength: E
Endurance: E+
Agility: D+
Mana: B
Luck: E
Noble Phantasm: C+
Skills:
Existence Outside the Domain EX
Human Observation C
Independent Action EX
Presence Concealment A
Magecraft D
Rune Magic D
Jewel Magecraft D
Reinforcement C+
Clairvoyance C+
Monkey D. Luffy
Class: Berserker
Rarity: 2 Star
Parameters:
Strength: E+++
Endurance: A+
Agility: D++
Mana: E
Luck: EX
Noble Phantasm: ???
Skills:
Madness Enhancement EX
Battle Continuation A
Charisma(Dream) EX
Drums of Liberation EX (Locked)
Human Observation (Heart) B
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Roronoa Zoro
Class: Saber
Rarity: 1 Stars
Parameters:
Strength: E+
Endurance: A
Agility: D+
Mana: E
Luck: B?
Noble Phantasm: Three Thousand World (D)
Skills:
Magic Resistance E
Battle Continuation B
Mana Burst B+ (?)
Promised Blade EX
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AN: Well, here it is. Was actually planning to start the Buggy fight in this chapter but decided against it, now the entire Buggy fight will be in the next chapter, things will actually begin to change now...