Harder than it seems

/4 months later/

The South Blue is indeed a bit stronger than East Blue, but it's still rather weak…

I said that while cleaning my hands from the blood of a pirate.

This time we encountered a decently strong pirate group who, just like the ones 4 months ago, had been "kicked out" of the new world.

The only difference was that they laid low while training and after a few months were ready to try again. Unfortunately, they choose the wrong enemy to test themselves on...

-What did we find this time? I asked the crew members.

-Nothing interesting, just some Berries and the usual. Should we sink the boat like last time?

-Nah. Let's bring it with us, a boat like this costs over 100 Million Berries.

-Yes, John! Said the sailor.

After almost a year since we started our adventure, our normal crew changed a lot, not because of casualties, but because they didn't have the spirit and talent to continue. But all of our main crew stayed.

With the exception of the cook who was only temporarily with us. We found a teen girl on Karate island who could cook and fight very well! Hence, ou new composition is as follows:

Captain/Navigator/Combatant- Valet Silver (Ace) /Fire-fire fruit+Intermediate Haki/

First mate/Combatant/Medic- John /Hamon+Martial techniques/

Second mate/Navigator- Loodwick Felps /Wall-wall fruit+Very basic Haki/

Boatswain- Eliot Rougass /Very basic Haki/

Shipwright- Toile Rougass /Very basic Haki/

Doctor- Frindin Ruok /Seed-seed fruit+Very basic Haki/

Cook/Combatant- Susein Vuvuba /Martial techniques+Basic Haki/

Sniper/Blacksmith- Popeye George /Glass-glass fruit+Very basic Haki/

Helmsman/Barber- Fedrum Bibos /Metric-metric fruit+Basic Haki/

(Everyone can use martial arts. Those who have the /Martial arts/ tag to their name can use advanced martial techniques like the Rokushiki. If you want to use Haki effectively you must be able to at least swing your fists and evade no?)

(I will categorize things like this- Very basic Haki, basic, intermediate, high, advanced, Final.

Very basic, means the person has started to show early-stage Haki, but not being able to properly control it, basic is the basic, that's why only Ace, Mc and the girl who had proper training in the island are capable of achieving this.)

Our crew has all been training in some sort of martial arts but some can already use Haki to a certain extent, being either Observation or Hardening Haki.

(This is not impossible to accomplish. Even more so if you consider everyone apart from either Ace or the MC can easily find their match to train themselves against.)

Oh yeah. We also found some fruits, not many, 5 to be exact. But most were sold to the marine.

Finally, they allowed us to exchange two fruits for a technique manual, and we had to keep them a secret, else we would be considered criminals.

I exchanged 4 fruits for the Geppo and Soru manuals.

Ace didn't care about the lost money, but I was more than happy.

The extra one was reserved for someone.

We gave the Metric-metric fruit to our Helmsman. The fruit allows him to perfectly measure any form of distance/value. I believe he might even be able to measure power and emotions later on.

My proof for that is the fact that ever since he ate the fruit he seemed to have become much more sensitive to other people around him.

The fruit also greatly helped him with controlling the ship and training Haki. He can always use the perfect amount of energy or movement needed in any situation as long as he uses his fruit.

(Kinda like an aim hack. It would be quite good for a long-distance sniper. But I put it in the Helmsman. As a form of support. Too boring? Or too Op?)

From these 4 months, we reserved two months purely to Karate island.

The island contained a lot of traditional martial arts. As long as you had money, or you passed the tests, you could learn a specific martial art. And that was how we found our new cook.

Her name was Susein Vuvuba, she was the eldest apprentice of a traditional Dojo on the island.

Upon hearing about a group of outsiders challenging and training all around the place, she, with her immense enthusiasm, decided to fight them.

Only to lose miserably.

Okay. She isnt weak, it's more of a lack of physical strength than anything else. Her technique is good, but it doesn't have that "Humph" needed for the Great Line.

This might be a good time to explain her looks.

She is a rather tall girl, staying at around 1,90M tall. From head to feet, she had short black hair that went till her shoulder. On her head there was a gray eagle accessory, her eyes were green and her nose was small.

She didn't have an "Hourglass body". In fact, her boobs were very… Unnoticeable Giving her a very tomboyish appearance. She normally wears clothing similar in style to what Goku wears. A type of training clothes.

Strangely enough, even after spending all of her life training, her body did not look overly muscular.

She greatly cared about her appearance though. Trying to keep herself "steady" most of the time.

She wanted to join our ship, but her father didn't allow it. So she fought against him in order to receive permission. Every day she fought him. Finally winning 2 months later, after receiving my training.

I only gave her some tips here and there

And as such, we received an experienced martial artist. She has a lot of untapped potentials, she just needs to meet and challenge higher enemies.

She is also a great cook! Our food problems were easily resolved. I could cook, but that is a waste of time...

As for why she didn't know Haki… I also found it strange, but no one on the island seems to know it. Only some old reclusive people.

I later found out they maintain a stable balance in the island in order to keep its overall strength low, so as to not attract the World government's attention.

Apart from that I learned a lot of martial arts from this world and combined them with my own. After spending two months memorizing everything I could with my clones, we departed.

Unfortunately, I didn't find anyone on the island who knew the Marine techniques. Showing how rare these techniques were in the East and South Blue.

The ones who probably knew how to, have already traveled far away. All in order to keep the balance of the island.

I tried to learn Haki after that, as I felt my current knowledge about this world and current strength was enough for me to start learning Haki. And that was… Harder than I thought.

Because I wasn't from this world, getting used to this strange new power was already hard. My body slowly changed but that wasn't enough. I needed a trigger.

Ace told me he could feel my Haki, it was here, I just needed to awaken it.

I tried fighting with Ace, but our fights were always controlled, so it wasn't enough to awaken it… I needed a sense of crisis, even if it was small.

Or I could just wait, I believe my Haki will eventually awaken as long as I train madly.

My last resort was asking for the Nexus key to forcibly awaken or simply give me the ability to use Haki

[Processing… It's possible. Warning. There is a …% Chance of your spirit being damaged and a ... % chance of it breaking down.]

[Processing second option… By paying 500 Units, it's possible to give "Innate Haki" talent. The price is calculated based on your disponibility for the power, its potential, the user potential, and Nexus rank, current circumstance...]

If I can't awaken by any means, then I might have to resort to those

(Some might have forgotten he can actually get any power as long as he pays, in the initial chaps I talked about why he wouldn't and couldn't do that. But now I bring it back so that he can use it if necessary. Remember that the Nexus key can't do everything and even if it does, there is an increase in price.)

The other 2 months were spent during what we came here to do. To search for this fucking Beast. I am not that worried, actually.

The longer it takes for us to find it, the stronger I can get while enjoying the free time distortion… But I can't say I never thought about it.

What is it doing? How strong is it? Bla bla bla…

These thoughts sometimes come back to my head, propelling me to get stronger faster.

I spent these two months practicing the fusion between the Martial arts of this world with the previous one. Attracting the attention of Susein the martial arts fanatic.

-John! What are these sparks going around you? Why is the air so cold around you sometimes? Is that also part of your devil fruit? But I thought it was those clones! Tell me…

-Wait. One question at a time...

I answered her questions and at the end, she couldn't be more excited. Asking me to teach her.

I gave her the same requirements as the others but… She easily made it.

So I taught her Hamon. Or at least tried, she doesn't seem capable of using it.

-It's fine. Not everyone can use it. It might also be a question of the constitution. Some species have their own special abilities. So other Humans might not be able to learn it.

She seemed downcast, she was usually a very excited person who loves to train in everything she sees.

So I tried using the forced breathing method, injecting Hamon in her body to force it into breathing in a certain way. The result was surprising:

-Its… It's creating Ripples! She said excitedly.

-Congratulations.

-But what was the trigger? Was it my Hamon? It's rather minor, but it could show me better ways to fuse Hamon with the energy of this world.

…

I never showed them what Hamon can actually do. I think a little isn't going to harm anyone.

-Hamon is a very difficult art, it takes years to decades to shape it into something usable. I said while using external breathing to condense water in the air.

-Ohhhh! Exclaimed the watching sailors

-It's like a devil fruit! Said Frindin

-Do something else! Said another sailor

-I am not a clown! But I can show you all some tricks I guess since I am bored...

/End of small flashback/

And all of that brings us to our current location, the Torino kingdown.