Next Stop

It had been 2 weeks since the group had set off from Cantera Island. At the front of the ship Sabo was sparring with Roman and Silk sparred with Shaya.

Although Sabo hadn't come close to mastering either types of haki, he had made drastic improvements. He was capable of using armament haki but not instantaneously, he still had to spend time to channel his spirit into a specific body part and then focus on maintaining it. It was still some ways a way from being effective in combat. As for his observation haki, it was miles ahead. Although he couldn't fight with his eyes closed, he could already use it to see the paths of attacks that would ordinarily be too fast for him to see with his eyes.

At one point during his sparring sessions with Roman he was able to see a few seconds into the future and easily avoid his attack. Although it was a fluke, it still greatly shocked the demonic trio. Till now the only other person on the ship who had accidentally used their observation haki to glimpse into the future was Shaya and she too hadn't come close to mastering that ability it. It was clear that he had an extremely high affinity to observation haki.

That wasn't the only improvement he had made over the past 2 weeks. His physical strength had also sky rocketed. Ori speculated that with just his body strength he was no weaker than a normal marine and his overall strength was a little under an elite marine.

Silk had also improved over the past 2 weeks. His observation haki couldn't be used effectively in battle as he was still only able to use it when he had time to clear his mind and focus. His strong point though was his armament haki. He could now use it instantaneously. Although he couldn't hold it for long nor could he strengthen his attacks, he would still be able to damage a logia in a fight now with the odd punch.

Unlike Sabo his physical strength had barely changed, the stronger you are the harder it is to improve. So over the past 2 weeks his overall strength hadn't actually improved, Ori told him the fastest way to see an improvement was to improve his armament haki to the point he could use it to strengthen the power of his attacks.

At the back of the ship Ori was sat cross legged with his eyes closed. He had 2 pitch black katana's laid across his lap. On either side of him was a piece of blank piece of paper and in his hand was a pen. He was writing 2 different word's on each piece of paper. On the paper on the left it read 'Pirate' and on the right it said 'King'. When he finished writing he opened his eyes and looked down at the pieces of paper with a smile on his face.

As he looked at the paper he was slightly surprised to see that his writing was radiating his sword intent.

"The bottleneck that has stopped me from reaching the Grandmaster Swordsman seems to have become less crowded. Who knew that infusing my calligraphy with my sword intent to practice my swordsmanship would be so effective. I think I'll add that to my training. As it doesn't require me to actually practice sword play I can pretty much do it anywhere."

After getting over his surprise he looked at the ground around him and smiled helplessly.

"I should probably tidy up."

Spread all over the ground was paper with drawings of circles and squares. Up till now he had been practicing his multitasking by drawing squares with his left hand and simultaneously drawing circles with his right. This evening he had managed to draw 50 perfect squares and circles in a row which was the task he set for himself 2 weeks ago when he came up with his unique way of training.

With a wave of his hand he blew all the pieces of paper off the ship, only keeping the 2 that said 'Pirate' and 'King'. After storing the 2 pieces of paper away he looked over to Roman and the others who were taking a break.

"Rome, Shaya, can I borrow you for a minute?"

As soon as he said that he took to the sky holding a sword in each hand. Knowing what he was after Roman grew a pair of golden wings and took off after him holding a plain black spear, whilst Shaya took her throwing knives in her hand preparing for what was to come.

As soon as Roman neared, Ori stabbed out with his left sword forcing Roman to raise his spear to block. Roman was forced back a meter when Ori's next attack came in the form of a downward slash. Roman couldn't even find the time to counter as each attack flowed perfectly in to the next, keeping him constantly on the back foot.

Suddenly a throwing knife came tearing through the air aiming for the back of Ori's head. As if he had eyes in the back of his head he gently stabbed out with his right sword. As the points of both weapons were about to meet, Ori pulled his sword back and as if the two were connected, the knife followed. Ori directed the knife towards Roman's thigh before he pulled away.

Whilst he redirected the throwing knife with the sword in his right hand, his left hand never stopped attacking Roman, keeping him from realising what his right was doing. Just as the knife was about to reach Roman another knife had arrived at Ori's head. Without hesitation, Ori slashed his sword upwards cutting the knife in 2.

By the time Roman realised there was a throwing knife coming towards him it was too late to dodge. He coated his leg in haki blocking the knife. When he was about to attack Ori he realised that Ori had his sword placed by his neck as he looked at him with a smile.

Roman was shocked by Ori's display. Even though he expected to lose as Ori's swordplay was far above his spearmanship, he never expected to lose so easily.

"Did you break through to the Grandmaster Realm?!"

Ori shook his head as he removed his sword from his brothers neck.

"Not yet, but I'm close!"

As the 2 landed Shaya walked over to him and knocked him on the head.

"You broke one of my throwing knives."

Ori scratched his nose as he smiled sheepishly.

"Haha my bad!"

He then looked over to Silk and said.

"We should reach St. Poplar this evening. Not including today we have 3 days until Otohime arrives. Where exactly are we to meet her?"

"King Neptune asked my mother to meet them at a small uninhabited island just off of St. Poplar."

Ori nodded before turning to Roman and Shaya.

"We might as well go straight to the island, we can rest there for the next 3 days."

He then steered the ship in the direction that Sabo gave him.

A few hours later they arrived at a small island which was barely over 2 kilometres. They docked their ship and got off preparing to relax when a horde of over 20 Sea Kings surfaced.

Shaya didn't even bother to look at them as she jumped from the ship to the island. Ori and Roman stared at the intruders with saliva dripping from the corners of their mouths.

"Dinner!"

Ori looked at Roman and said with a smile.

"Race you!"

As he said that he disappeared from his previous spot appearing by one of the Sea Kings.

"Sword Draw!"

As he said that he drew his sword at a speed even Shaya struggled to see. He then flashed from his previous position and as he did the head of the first sea king fell to the sea. Seeing how he wasn't waiting for him, Roman flew towards three Sea kings and thrust out with his spear 3 times in an instant, with each thrust claiming the life of a sea king.

Not even 30 seconds later all Sea Kings were killed and placed on the island waiting to be cooked. Ori and Roman who were taught to cook by their fathers when they were young went on to skin and cook the beasts.

After eating their fills Ori who was lying down lazily couldn't help but think to himself.

[I really hope whoever joins the crew next is a good cook! Although mine and Rome's cooking isn't bad, it's not exactly our strong point.

Speaking of what we need for the crew, we still need a shipwright and an actual ship. This little ship wasn't intended to actually be our main ship, it was just supposed to get us started, but one thing lead to another and we never got around to changing it. If memory serves Water 7 is the home of all the great shipwrights, including Uncle Roger's. Ok it's decided then, our next stop will be Water 7!]