8 A Place Called 'Home'

It was morning when Mike woke up.He was laying down on a bed. He looked around and saw that he was in a closed room with a window from which rays of light crept in. He tried to move his body and felt a jolt of pain comming from his ribs and shoulder. With some effort he pushed himself in a sitting position. He began to remember the things he did yesterday.

" I just started my journey but I am already so closed to death" ,he cursed himself silently.

He remembered that he felt something wonderful with his swordsmanship when fought with Arlong yesterday. So he opened his stats window to see if there were any change.

[

Stats:

Name: Mike

Age: 10 years

Strength(STR): 44

Stamina(STA): 45

Agility(AGL): 55

WillPower(W): 95

Swordsman level: Intermediate (0%)

Haki :

Armament : Intermediate( 20%)

Observation: Intermediate(35%)

Conqueror: Activated

Perks:

Sword genius(500% faster comprehension of sword arts)

Haki genius(500% faster in comprehending all types of haki)

]

There was not much increase in his physical stats. His armament haki increased by 10% and his observation haki increased by 5%. But the most significant change was his swordsmanship, it increased from beginner(50%) to intermediate(0%). He was very happy that his swordsmanship improved during the fight, if not he would have been killed by Arlong.

"GrrrrrrrrRRRRRR"

His stomach started growling while he was in his thought. He felt very humgry and thirsty since he hadn't ate anything after his food supply ran out at the sea. He got up from his bed and went outside the room to find something to eat or drink. He saw a stair leading downwards and went down. When reached the floor he heard some sounds comming from inside a room and smelt something nice comming from it. He went towards it and when he reach the door he saw Bellemere cooking something and the nice smell was comming from it.

"GRRRRRRRrrrrrrr.." his stomach growled again. His face started heating up when he saw Bellemere turned around and looked at him amused.

" I was very hungry and when I saw you cooking something, which smells very nice by the way, I cannot help myself" he sounded very embarrassed.

Bellemere heard footsteps behind her and turned around and saw the kid who saved her and her daughters yesterday. She heard his stomach growling and his face started heating up. She was amused that a strong kid like him who could kill pirates showing such emotions.

"giggle*giggle* that's fine, the food will be prepared in a minute", she answered while giggling.

"Well what are you cooking? It smells so nice." He ask( still red face ☺️).

" I doctor said that you will wake up today. I know you will be very hungry so I am cooking beef stew", she replied.

"How long was I sleeping for?", He asked

"You were sleeping for two days. You had two broken ribs and a wound on your shoulder. The doctor said that you have a very resilient body so you will be fully recovered in a week.", She answered.

"No wonder I feel like I can eat a whole cow now", Mike sigh.

"The cooking is almost finished so you can wait at the dining table. I will wake up my two daughters and we can start eating", She said

Mike nodded and went to the dinning table. He sat down on a chair and started thinking.

" Now that I came out of that Island I need to start thinking about my future plans. I have no money and no place to stay. I don't even have a good sword as a Swordsman. Arlong must have a bounty on his head. I will ask Bellemere about it. Even if I have money I don't know how to navigate the sea", He had a headache thinking about his future and he heard footsteps behind him so he turned around and saw Bellemere, Nojiko and Nami comming.

"They are my daughters Nojiko and Nami. Say hi!" Bellemere said

"Hi, my name is Nojiko", " Hi, my name is Nami", introduced the blue haired and the orange haired little girls respectively.

" Hello! my name is Mike. I came to this island just yesterday", Mike also introduced himself.

"Ok girls sit on the chairs, I will bring the food" Bellemere went to the kitchen.

Nojiko and Nami sate down on the chairs opposite to him and Nami starts talking.

"Mike, Bellemere and Genzo said that you were so awesome and you beat up the bad pirates, is it true?" Nami asked and leaned forward, too eager to know the answer.

" It's true that I beat up those pirates. They were not that strong to begin with", Mike bragged in front of the girls.

"You are so cool!!!", Nami exclaimed with star in her eyes.

" But even Genzo cannot beat those pirates so they must be strong. You look just as old as me, how can you be so strong, Mike?", Nojiko asked. She is more mature than Nami so she realize the truth.

" Yes Mike! Nojiko is right. You look no older than 12 years old, how did you become so strong?", At this time Bellemere also came out with the food and asked.

Mike felt embarrassed being praised by the girls and his face started heating up again. He never met this kind of situation on earth. He tried to hide it by looking down

" I am 10 years old by the way. Before comming here I was stuck on an island with no human population. There were many strong animals on that Island so I had to fight them to survive. I became stronger as I fought them and I was already the strongest when I left the island."

Then Mike told them how he how he survived on the island and how he drift on the sea for a week before he came here as they ate their meal. They were amazed that a kid like him can survive all that. When they were finished Mike ask Bellemere

" Bellemere, what happened to those pirates after I fall unconscious"

"After you felt unconscious we tied up the pirates that were unconscious and called the marine. After some hours the marine came to take the pirates. We found out that the leader of the pirates had a 20 million bounty, so the village chief had to go with them to collect the bounty since you were unconscious. The chief already came back yesterday. He told me that you can come to him to collect the bounty after you woke up." She replied.

Mike nodded at her to show that he understood. At the side he saw Nami having berry symbol in her eyes and saliva stiking out of her mouth when she heard the amount of money. Then she turned at Mike and looked at him like she was looking at a prey. He ignored the greedy girl.

"Ok I will go and talk to the chief about it. And thanks for taking care of me Bellemere", he thanked her.

"You were injured trying to save our lives, that is what I should do, so you don't need to thank me. In fact we should be the ones thanking you. Thank you!!".Bellemere said

"THANK YOU!!!!", Nojiko and Nami also said. (Nami still had berry symbol in her eyes)

"If..yo..you..say..s..so!!!. I ..wi..will be go.. going to the.. the..chief house" ,Mike shuttered and ran out with red face( he is still a relationship noob).

He heard Bellemere giggling behind him.

Mike finally reached the chief house after asking directions from some villagers. The villagers were very respectful to him. It seems someone told the villagers about him killing the pirates.

He knocked on the door and waited for some time before an old man with white hair opens the door.

" Ho..ho.. you are finally awake young man. I am Nako, a doctor and the village chief. Come inside" Nako said respecfully and lead him inside the house to a sofa.

Mike sat down and said," My name is Mike and thank you chief, I heard from Bellemere that you treated my injuries. I came to ask you about the bounty of the pirate captain."

" So, its about that. Wait here and I will bring out the money." he said and stood up.

" Wait chief, I have something to say. When I came to the village I saw many shops and houses destroyed. I think the village needs funds to rebuilt itself, so, I want to donate 5 million berries from the bounty to the village and I request the chief to let me buy a piece of land here so that I can settle down in the village for some time."

"You already helped us enough young man so you don't need to give us the money. As for the land consider it done. The villagers will also be happy to have you here." The chief answered.

" I insist you to take the money chief. I will also be happy to see the village rebuilt." Mike insisted

After some more talking he was able to persuade the chief to accept the money. He took 15 million berries and came back to Bellemere's place. When he reached there he met the family of three downstairs.

"Mike, did you get the money from the chief" Bellemere ask.

"Yes, I got it. I donated 5 million berries to help in rebuilding the village. I also talk to him about buying a piece of land here", he replied. He saw Nami's eyes turn red when he said that he donated 5 million berries to the village. He ignored the c

greedy girl again. He saw Bellemere thinking when she heard his reply.

"That's very kind of you, I am sure the villagers will appreciate it. Mike, why don't you live here with us instead of buying a new house. The house is pretty big and only three of us live here." She suggested.

Mike thought about it carefully, "If i live alone, I have to cook, clean and do every other household activities myself. It will waste alot of my training time. And I can also take care of them if we live together. I know they are very poor and cannot even buy enough food for the three of them."

" If you don't mind me staying here then fine I will stay here. Bellemere here is 1 million berry, I want to give it as a thanks for taking care of me as well as for staying here." Mike give the cash to her. He tried to give it in a way that she cannot reject. After some persuading she finally took it. He didn't have any place to call home in this world, didn't have any place to return to. So he decided that he will help these girls and see if he can find a home here.

He returned to his room. He got a lot of future planning to do.