36 Chapter 36: The Baratie

When Usopp heard that Kuro had a crew coming here to destroy the town in a few days he felt anger in his heart and began to spew curses while expressing his urge to destroy Kuro's crew like they were flies, but deep down he was just a coward who would piss his pants the second he was left alone with a real pirate not to mention a whole crew, but Luffy liked how Usopp acted and thought he was funny.

[Haha… Hey Usopp… Are you anything like your dad, Yasopp?]: luffy

[Huh?... You know my dad?]: usopp

[Yeah, when I was little, I met him on Shanks' crew when they came to my home town… Yasopp would non stop talk about you, and he was also the best sniper I have ever seen]: luffy

Luffy began to reminisce on the time he met Yasopp and how he had him stand blindfolded with an apple on his head as Yasopp shot the apple off his head. When Usopp heard of the stories he began to cry due to knowing that his father really did care about him and would tell stories about him to others, and after reaffirming Luffy's stories with the memory of his dad, Usopp agreed to become a member of Luffy's crew.

[That's great Usopp!... You finally found a place to call home… Now, for saving my life I want to give you guys something… Do you guys have a ship for your pirate crew yet?]: kaya

[Yeah, but it's a bit small for our group, so we came here to ask for a ship to begin with]: luffy

[Then I will give you guys a ship to show my thanks]: kaya

Kaya then had the butler known as Merry go and prepare a ship for Luffy and his crew. Luffy then began to wonder when the attack on the island will start, so Soren reminded him that it would begin in a few days, and to just be prepared, Soren then had an idea to make the time fly and decided to start helping the crew train to better prepare themselves for the Grand Line.

[Zoro… You said you wanted to train yourself to be able to lift my sword?]: soren

[Yes… So, will you be training me over these next few days?]: zoro

[Yes… Also… Luffy, Usopp… Come with me, as for you Nami, just stay with Kaya so you can receive the ship]: soren'

Luffy looked happy to see what Soren had in store, while Usopp didn't know what hell he just walked into, so he also followed along. Soren then led the soon to be Straw Hat Pirates into the nearby forest and found a clear open area that let the sun shine down, making this place a perfect place to train for the next couple of days.

[Okay… So we will begin by doing weight training… Now before you start to scoff at this Zoro… You are used to training your arms and jaw with weight that can easily be released… But I train with weighted clothing, and that's what you will train with as well starting from today]: soren

Soren then reached into a bag he had brought along with him and created 3 sets of weighted clothing of different color so he knew who gets what. Zoro got a Green shirt, a set of Green wristbands as well as Green ankle bands, and his weighted as so, with the shirt being 250 pounds, or 113kg, while each wrist band also weighted the same as the shirt due to Zoro's previous training using weight, while his ankle bands weigh about 50 pounds, or 22kg. Luffy's set of weights were Red in color, and his shirt weighed around 100 pounds, or 45kg, while his wristbands weighed about 10 pounds each, or 4kg, while his ankle bands weighed around 15 pounds each, or 6kg. Soren wanted Luffy to focus more on speed due to Luffy's second gear that he would create in the future, and the more leg strength Luffy has, the faster he will become when he enters second gear. Usopp's set was Brown in color, and was much weaker as his shirt weighed only 50 pounds, or 22kg, while each wristband and ankle band weighed around 5 pounds, or 2kg, and as everyone began to put their clothing on, Usopp began to freak out due to the weight and tried to back out.

[Ahh… I think I need to head home now, my mom should be quite worried about me, and I also never told my friends where I went, so they must be worried about me as well]: usopp

[Not so fast Usopp… You already agreed, and you need this to be able to enter the Grand Line, so come back, stop being a kid, and become a man]: soren

When Soren brought Usopp's maturity into question, he quickly worked up some momentary courage and put on the weights while shouting.

[I'm a man!... Here, I'll show you now!]: usopp

Soren then smiled as everyone now had their clothes on, while Zoro seemed to be faring much better than Luffy and Usopp, but as he tried to move he found that he couldn't move his legs one bit.

[Now… I want you guys to take one lap around the whole island, and anyone who doesn't complete this by sun set gets no food]: soren

When Luffy and Usopp heard this they began to freak out, and Luffy even made claims that Soren couldn't do that because he was the captain, but Soren didn't care. Then Zoro began to struggle as he picked up his leg and took a step forward and began to walk, and though Zoro's ankle weights only weighed around 50 pounds each, it was still hard to move as his upper body was being brought down by well over 700 pounds. Luffy and Usopp watched as Zoro kept quiet and began to take each step with sweat trickling down his forehead due to the amount of concentration and effort being used to take each step, and when Soren made it known that time clock was ticking, both Luffy and Usopp knew Soren wasn't kidding about letting them eat, and they both started walking forwards while struggling, but soon, they were catching up to Zoro, even if just by a little bit, and when Zoro saw this he made it his goal to not let Luffy beat him as he thought that Luffy was at least around his level in weights, as he knew that the three of them had different weights on due to their physical prowess.

[Come on guys… pick it up, the clock is ticking… My grandma can go faster than this]: soren

Soren was right as most Saiyans could easily stand 700-800 pounds on their body due to Planet Vegeta's increase in gravity which would take your body weight and increase it by x10, so his grandma who was at least 130 pounds could withstand 1,300 pounds of weight. (A/N: I thought it would be funny to explain how an old lady was stronger than Luffy and the rest of his crew excluding Soren, but grandma was one bad war vet who lost an eye)

Soon, the sun set and Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp just barely made it around the entire island after constant insults to their pride about how an old lady who was most likely dead in their eyes was better than them. Luffy had wanted to get this lady into his crew if she was still alive, but he was more focused on getting food, so he soon forgot about her, and after the sun had set Soren stopped the training and told them they could rest to which Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp fell to the ground and almost went to sleep.

[Since you guys can't move, I will make some food for you]: soren

When the three of them heard that Soren was going to be cooking they were a bit disappointed as none of them had tried Soren's cooking before, but any food was better than no food and they truly couldn't get up to move again, and once Usopp saw that the training was over he began to try and take off the weights only for Soren to stop him.

[What are you doing?... The weights stay on until I say they come off]: soren

[What!... Then how will we move!]: usopp

[You get used to it… Do you know how much this coat I'm wearing weighs?]: soren

Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp were curious as they didn't think Soren was wearing weighted clothing, so seeing that none of them wanted to guess Soren told them.

[This coat weighs 4,000 pounds, and with my sword holstered on my waist it's 5,000 total pounds… I can't sit in a row boat without it sinking, so that is another reason we need a bigger ship as I don't want to sink our ship once we start to get more weight]: soren (A/N: Soren's ship can hold around 90 tons being a medium sized ship, this equals around 180,000 pounds, or 81,646kg, the Going Merry is a bigger ship and can hold around 160 tons)

[F-Five Thousand!?!?...]: zoro, luffy, usopp

[Hey, Grandma can hold around 2,000]: soren (A/N: still running joke)

Soon, the food was ready and Soren served it to the 3 fools who were trying to understand just how dangerous the Grand Line is for monsters like Soren to be normal, but the second they took a bite of Soren's food, the sounds of ecstasy could be heard as the food was great.

[Soren, I didn't know you could cook!]: luffy

[Hehe, I can do a lot of things, but cooking is only a hobby I needed for survival on my own… I don't plan to cook too often on the ship]: soren

Luffy looked dejected as he now realized he needed a cook, and that would be the next stop after saving the island. Soon, 2 more days passed and today was the day of the pirate attack on Syrup Village, and with the training over the past 3 days was complete, Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp could function normally under their weighted clothing, but fighting was still out of the question as they didn't have that much control with the weights and would lose stamina quickly.

[Good news… For today only I will let you guys take off the clothes as today we will be fighting pirates, but after that I will have you spare with each other wearing the weighted clothes]: soren

When the group heard the first part they were excited, but hearing the second part made them regret life, and Luffy was contemplating kicking Soren out of his crew, but his stubborn attitude made him put up with Soren as it was benefiting him for the betterment of the crew. Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp then took off the weights and started to stretch out their joints and muscles before Luffy stated that he felt much lighter than before which made Soren smile before he spoke.

[Now… Run as fast as you can and jump as high as you can]: soren

Usopp and Luffy were the first to test this as Luffy didn't use his Devil Fruit power and jumped as high as he could, while Usopp tried to run as fast as he could, and to their surprise, Luffy jumped a good 10 feet into the air, while Usopp was at least 3 times faster than before. Zoro saw this and also did the same and realized that he was a lot faster than before, so fast that his vision was a bit blurry and his face planted into a nearby tree.

[Hahaha!... Zoro just kissed the tree with his face]: luffy

Luffy and Usopp began to laugh a bit while Zoro was a bit Red from a mix of anger and embarrassment due to his blunder while Soren just had a slight smile seeing Zoro's surprised face.

[Okay… Take an hour to adjust to your strength, and when you're done, come to the North side entrance… Usopp, you lead them there, Zoro and Luffy are idiots with no sense of direction]: soren

Soren then disappeared shocking the 3 of them as they wondered just how strong was Soren to be able to disappear like that with all that weight on his body, but what they didn't know was that Soren could easily take 1,000 times his current weight and just barely break a sweat. Soren was now standing on the North side entrance and was watching as a pirate ship was closing in on the island, and soon after, Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp appeared next to him and watched the pirate ship off in the distance.

[Here they come… Now remember Usopp, you are now 3 times stronger than before, so you are strong enough to beat most of these fools, so don't let them intimidate you]: soren

Soren then watched as Usopp gulped a bit, but after thinking about his training along with Soren's words he built up a bit of courage and was ready to fight alongside Soren, Luffy, and Zoro. Soren saw Usopp's courage start to bubble and he wanted to built off it as he never liked how weak will Usopp was until the 2 year time skip where everyone went to train, and even then, Usopp was a bit of a wimp who lost his courage to those he knew were stronger than him, so he decided to strengthen his will now and build off of it till he no longer fears death.

[Ready!... Here, they come!... Attack!!!]: soren

Soren watched as the pirates started to charge up the hill towards them, and then both he and Zoro disappeared and started to cut up the pirates while Luffy started to use his Devil fruit ability to K.O. pirates with a single hit, and Usopp was taking refuge towards the back, but he was attacking the pirates with his sling shot that was modified by Soren over the past 3 days to have a stronger penetrating force by reinforcing the rubber bands tension making it harder to pull back, but also shoot the pebbles at a stronger and faster pace, and Usopp even just killed a pirate with one attack. Soon, all the pirates were either killed or forced to retreat due to Soren taking out the hypnotist Jango and making his power to hypnotise people who were weaker than him, or just mentally weak into becoming stronger or falling asleep.

[So that's it huh?... I guess I really am strong, haha!]: usopp

Soren, Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp then went back to Kaya's mansion to see Nami, Kaya, and her butler Merry waiting for them to return as Soren had informed them before the fight that today was the day of the attack. Kaya had her goodbyes with Usopp and Luffy thanked Kaya and Merry for the ship and they set sail for the next place which was Loguetown, but Soren persuaded them to stop on a halfway point which was the Baratie as he said he heard they had amazing food, and when food was involved, Luffy was all down to visit, and then they ended up there.

[Is that a Marine ship?... I hope they don't attack us]: nami

Nami then looked up to the newly made Jolly roger that was a skull and crossbones with a Straw Hat, and when the Marines on the ship saw the Going Merry's pirate flag they opened fire, and that was when Luffy used his ability to expand and accidentally shot the cannon ball into the Baratie.