(14) Setting Out! Mizu Mizu No Mi, First Stage!

[Mr. Koushirou POV]

Everything happened too fast. As Kuina approached Aoki, a blue domain of some sorts appeared and surrounded the two of them.

The blue domain blocked my view of the fight, I looked over towards where Avery was but he wasn't there.

Seconds later I heard a sound of metal clash, and assumed it was Kuina and Aoki's swords clashing against each other.

Though I heard Avery yell out instead.

"Relax you two! Its over!" He yelled and the blue domain dissapeared in an instant.

I got a clear view of everything and was startled by what I saw. Both Aoki and Kuina's blades pierced Avery, I couldn't imagine how much pain he went through.

---

[Avery POV]

"Avery!" Kuina and Aoki both yelled out in unison, they immediately took there swords edges out of me.

"Thanks, it didn't hurt all that much but thanks anyway." I said casually.

"What are you the man of steel? How didn't it hurt?" Aoki said as she looked all around my body for any signs of injury.

"Was that a Superman reference?" I asked suddenly.

"Superman? Who's that?" Kuina asked curiously.

"Nevermind that, but I'm truly fine Aoki. You don't have to go all inspector gadget on me, investigating my injuries like that."

"Hmph! Just making sure!" Aoki said, with her cheeks puffed up.

"Wait, who won?" Kuina asked suddenly.

"Technically, Aoki won as if I didn't intervene you could have... well died." I said, I lowered my voice for that last part.

"Hmm, I guess I'm a pirate now. How do I adress you now Avery? Do I call you captain now?" Kuina said which made me chuckle.

"Hehe, just continue calling me Avery. It'd be weird if you didn't considering how long I've known you." As soon as I said this a system notification went off in my head.

[QUEST COMPLETED: Save Kuina and make her join your crew! Obtained: Three Hundred Thousand Berries!]

Yes! I finally had enough berries to purchase Mizu Mizu No Mi!

I immediately opened the [𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚙] and found it.

[Mizu Mizu No Mi(Water Water)] [COST: 1M Berries] [Type: Logia]

Purchase! As soon as I said this, a blue strange looking fruit appeared in my hand.

[Mizu Mizu No Mi (Water Water) First Stage] [Purchase mani Devil Fruit for complete abilities!]

Complete abilities? Main fruit? I opened the [Shop] once again and typed Mizu Mizu No Mi in the search bar and found it quickly.

[Mizu Mizu No Mi] [COST: 20B Berries!] [Type: Logia]

My heart dropped when I saw the price. It took me ten months to get just a million berries, how long would it take to get twenty billion?!

Luckily, I know how to make a lot of money very very quickly in this world. This version of the fruit must be severely weaker than the main version, should I even give this version to Aoki?

[You should, as the main and first stage fruits are essentially the same. If she ate the main version after already having ate the one you currently have, she wouldn't die as the Devil in the main fruit would simply absorb the lesser version of itself!]

That's, I'm grateful for that. Time to go give this to Aoki.

"Aoki! Here, I bought this fruit a couple days ago. Treat it as a gift for you winning!" I handed her the fruit and tried to look as non suspicious as possible.

"Thanks, but It looks weird. What type of fruit is it?" Aoki asked curiously.

"Uhh, its exotic I bought it from a shop." I wasn't really lying, as I did buy it from a shop. Just not the shop she was thinking of.

"Alright it looks good I guess." After saying this, Aoki took a bite out of the devil fruit and her once lively expression turned into one of utter disgust.

"Ugh! Avery where'd you get this fruit? It tastes horrible!" Aoki was about to spit it out, due to how bad it tasted.

"Wait you haft to eat it! I bought it for you as a gift, your big brother will be very sad if you don't eat it." I pulled out Aoki's greatest weakness, I called it: Avery puppy eyes!

"Ugh, fine I'll eat it. Only because you asked me to!" Her resistance to the Avery puppy eyes was like Superman's resistance to kryptonite, just weak!

I watched Aoki closely, and after she had digested the fruit her expression changed drastically once again. From disgust to satisfaction.

"Avery! What's going on? I'm suddenly filled with a bunch of energy! That says a lot because I was just dead tired!"

Good sign, its official she's become a devil fruit user! I guess this is where our story ends in Shimotsuki village, there's really nothing left to do here.

"Mr. Koushirou I think it's about time we set out." I walked over to him and spoke, a slight smile popped up on his face. It was like he had already expected this.

"I know, there isn't really anything left for the three of you here in this village. Never forget about your origins, Shimotsuki village will always welcome the three of you!"

He really earned my respect, he is really a good man. I hugged him and called over Kuina and Aoki, they both said there goodbyes and followed me out to the villages dock.

"So umm, big brother where is our ship? You don't expect us to swim do you?" Aoki suddenly asked.

Hah, you can't even swim anymore.

"Of course I have a ship!" A moment later a large ship suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

It was just a large ship though, it had no Jolly Roger, no customization, no nothing! It was just an incomplete ship without it being customized by its owner!

The three of us were all equally surprised, as I never actually saw the ship in reality I just knew I had it thanks to the system.

We all boarded the ship and I grippes the helm. Thankfully I had experience with sailing a ship, otherwise I'd be fucked.

We explored the ship a bit and found that the ship wss stocked up, there was a bunch of food, boos, wine, and an anchor ready.

None of us were of legal age to drink on Earth, but who cared about that now? I took a sip of some wine and yelled out.

"Onwards!" This is it, this is where my journey as a pirate truly begins!