Skinning

Anselm woke up feeling sweaty and refreshed to the sound of the birds chirping. As for what birds, he didn't know. His back felt sore from sleeping on the tree. Not that it was an issue. It was to be expected. But at least no one attacked him at night. Anselm sat upon the large branch. He examined himself. His bandaged forearm felt fine. There was no hindrance or soreness felt from the wound. He pressed his finger against it. A slight sensation of pain hit him. But it was gone as quickly as the finger was withdrawn.

'Strange. I'm pretty sure wounds like these don't recover as quickly. Then again, I'm in a different world. In the One Piece world, no less. People can quickly recover from fatal injuries as long as they're medically attended to. Luffy and Brook could heal their bones and teeth by drinking milk. But then again, even the fire tank pirate was surprised.

Well from what I can remember, sleeping and resting helps in explosive recovery.'

It was morning. The sun has just risen. Anselm examined the situation below. The fire down below survived because of the massive amount of firewood he had foraged. But it was coated with morning dew. It was almost gone. After checking the situation below, Anselm climbed down the tree. He did not feel like jumping down just yet. He fed the dying flames the last bit of wood he had. It received the wood gratefully.

He went out and gathered some more wood. It took around an hour. It took unusually long because he had to find wood that was not moist from being coated by the morning dew. He was not strong enough to punch down trees just yet.

After collecting the massive amount of wood, he put a quarter of it in the fire. The long flickering tongues of the flame devoured it with an intense greediness. As Anselm felt the warmth wash over him in the cold morning, he arranged the wooden horizontal stick over the fire again. He emptied his pot of the roasted wolf from last night and kept it on a flat stone near the fire to reheat it. He went to the brook and filled the cooking pot with water. He hung it from the horizontal wooden pole. This time, he tied it to the wooden pole with rope from his satchel to make it extra secure. He poked the fire and made it so that it burned with as little intensity, yet would still boil the water. 

Looking at his body, which at this point, had accumulated dirt, sweat and grime, he decided to go for a wash. He took out a pair of spare pants he found and went to the nearby stream. He proceeded to strip down naked and wash his pants and shirt. 

He then left both pieces out on the nearby rocks to dry. He tore off his bandages. His forearm was already healing with slight scarring. 

He proceeded to jump in the stream. The current was pleasant. The water was cool on his naked skin. He went for a dive and opened his eyes. The stream was flowing pleasantly at a rather relaxing speed. After examining his surroundings and finding no signs of danger, Anselm began to enjoy himself. Relaxed, Anselm got soon engrossed in his thoughts.

' Does this world have no underwear? Is that why fans always spotted Nami wearing no panties while she wore her iconic low waisted jeans? Or was it because Oda was just down bad? Or is it because the weather's so breezy and roomy? Might just be the latter… But it's kinda interesting. What should I wear when I acquire the funds? I don't wanna wear shorts like Luffy's though. Maybe Zoro's outfit. I love sanji's suits but it's kinda overkill.'

' Speaking of funds and Zoro, I wonder if I should be a bounty hunter? That might actually be a good idea and can fund my trips in the ocean. I could probably start my own fashion store and use it to clean out the black Beri into white Beri. Who knows? I could usher in a new era of Pirate fashion….'

Anselm laughed ' Whitebeard dripped out with an all black fit with some Air Jordans Size 23 and a mullet or boosie fade…..'

'Now that i think about it, that's fire as hell!!'

'I should really consider this fashion designing thing. Maybe I could pick up a skill or two? Nah that seems like too much work to be honest. I'll just wear some comfortable durable black pants and boots and wing the rest. Aight QUIT IT. Stop getting engulfed in your thoughts. All of that will come years after my training regimen. I feel like I'm missing something important though….'

' Ohhh damn it, I forgot to skin the wolf and rabbit for fur. That might have been immensely helpful. I should go back to the dumping ground and check whether the animals have feasted on their corpses.'

'Sigh… that's another minor goal added to fixing the irritable sling and finding a place to set camp up properly. Lots to do already besides training. It's time to leave.' Anselm let out another sigh and got up.

After washing himself, Anselm got up and wore his spare pants. He picked up the two thoroughly soaked and squeezed shirts and pants and went back to the campsite. After placing them near the fire to dry out, Anselm immediately took out the boiling water from the pot. He had originally planned to wash his wound, but since it's almost healed, he decided to drink some and save the rest for cleaning the skins. And just like that, Anselm enjoyed his early morning breakfast of reheated roast wolf and hot water. After finishing his meal, he checked if the shirt was dry. It was unfortunately not.

Deciding to go around bare chested, he ran straight for the dumping grounds. Luckily the wolf corpse was left with its skin untouched. Its internal organs were missing. So were the rabbit's remains. Picking it up and going back to the campsite, Anselm thought 'I never did skinning before. I might just have to wing it.' 

Reaching the campsite, Anselm retrieved the kitchen knife from his satchel and started to carve out the wolf's skin. It took some time (and mental preparation, despite having cut it up before), to dig out its brain matter, snout and eyeballs and dump them. He dug a hole where he dumped them and buried it. He then slowly carved the fur out. He scraped the flesh and fat from the fur and stripped it down making sure to pay close attentions to the paws, ends and delicate areas like the head. Using the hot water, he cleaned it and left it to dry out. It looked kinda creepy with the wolf's head having no eyes and empty inside. But it was done. He recalled that this process was called Tanning. He didn't really know the process, but he was going to start drying them and fashion them into a warm woolen cloak.