Chapter 7: Encounter with Another Pirate Group

On a calm sea, a ship with a raccoon as a figurehead was sailing smoothly. This is the ship that attracted Yuwa's interest, and she begged Rex to pick it for their pirate ship.

In the Sachiko Wooden Workshop, Rex managed to acquire his right and ownership on this new ship by exchanging it with the Blast Blast Fruit. It was a coincidence that the owner of the Sachiko Wooden Workshop wanted to gain a Devil Fruit ability.

The shop needed someone who is capable of fighting any threat from any bandits, pirates, or robbers that want to harm the workshop. With the sudden appearance of the Devil Fruit, fulfilled the current needs in that place. Moreover, the Blast Blast Fruit is a Paramecia Devil Fruit that grant a strong offensive ability.

Just offering the Devil Fruit, Rex was able to get the ship, and another 100 million Berry. The Sachiko Wooden Workshop even helped them to send the ship on the seashore, lessening Rex's and his crews effort on moving the ship.

After aquiring the ship, Rex and his teammates no longer have any interest in joining in the 'free ship event' that will be held a few days later. Therefore, they decided to set sail early.

Back on the moving ship, on the deck of the ship, the three people were in the middle of talking and deciding on something.

"Now that we got our ship, we need to give a name to our pirate group. What do you think Captain?" asked Rokujin.

"That's a good idea. So, how about we give the ship a name first?" asked back Rex.

"Me me. I already thought out the name for our ship." interjected Yuwa. "The name should be Little Popo."

"Lameee. I have a better one. Let's name her Raccoon." suggested Rokujin.

"Rejected." said both Rex and Yuwa.

"Why? That figurehead look exactly like a raccoon."

"That doesn't mean we should name it as such." said Yuwa, disagreeing with Rokujin.

Rex nodded in agreement. "Let's name her as Tide Hunter."

"...that sounds awesome. But, how do you relate it to the Raccoon figurehead?" asked Rokujin.

"It's confirmed then. The ship should be named Tide Hunter." agreed Yuwa.

"Hey, didn't you hear what I say?"

"Let's move on to the second topic. We need a name for our pirate group." said Rex, not listening to Rokujin, causing the guy to sigh in defeat.

"Our ship has a 'Hunter' in it's name. So, let's put hunter in our group name too." suggested Yuwa. "Hmm...how about Devil Fruit Hunter?"

"Rejected!"

"Eeh? Why?"

"That's name is asking everyone to be hostile on us. That will only endanger our ship. So, that name won't do." explained Rex.

"How about Rising Hunter?" suggested Rokujin.

"Why?"

"We are new pirate. In the future, we certainly will rise into prominent."

"Hmm. Make sense." Nodded Rex. He then glanced at Yuwa. "Yuwa, what do you think of the name?"

"Should we consider Devil Fruit Hunter..."

"It's decided then. From now on, we are the Rising Hunter Pirate." declared Rex. Yuwa's mouth twitched, while Rokujin felt honored that his Captain took the name he suggested.

The Rising Hunter Pirate is now officially embarked as a new pirate in this ever-changing and turbulence sea of One Piece.

...

On a distance island, a pirate ship just reached the island, and docked on the beach. Some people came out of the ship and came down on the beach.

"Gabi, are you certain that this is the island where the treasure was hidden?" asked a man who was wearing a captain cap.

"Yes, Captain Deport. Look over there. That's the V shaped mountain that was drawn on the treasure map." replied Gabi.

"Ah, you are right." said Captain Deport, looking at the V shaped mountain. "Alright. Gabi, take the map, and lead the way."

"Alright Captain."

"Everyone, we will split into three groups. Me, Gabi, Biruk, Sajo, and Krai will go find the treasure. You four, you will be in charge of guarding the ship. The rest of you will explore the island to find any fruits, edible foods, or any useful herbs." said Captain Deport, arranging the tasks for all of his pirate crews.

Everyone nodded in agreement. After that, except for those four who were tasked to guard the ship, everyone else entered the island, and explored into the unknown forest beneath the V shaped mountain.

Not long later, some wild beast greeted these uninvited guests. Instantly, a fight broke out between these pirates and the animals that were inhabitants of this unknown island.

...

Back to the Tide Hunter ship, the three who were on the ship are in the middle of some kind of training.

"Are you ready?" asked Rex, smiling at Yuwa.

"Can we not do this?" asked back Yuwa. Right now, her face was pale.

"Sorry Yuwa. You are the only one available here. Don't worry, I won't hurt you." said Rex, looking at Yuwa full of desire.

"No. I don't want to do this."

"You don't have a choice."

"Nooo!" Yuwa hurriedly run away.

"Rokujin, caught her!"

"On it! Ah! She disappeared...Buh!"

A kick landed right in between Rokujin's leg. He instantly felt the pain jolting his body up to his mind. Rokujin collapsed to the side, while holding onto his crotch, and trying to say words, "...not again..."

"Sigh. Seems like I need to catch her on my own."

In that moment, Rex closed his eyes and then observed his surrounding. A moment later, he smiled.

"There!"

Rex jumped forward towards a certain direction, and hugged the empty air. Instantly, Yuwa was caught on her waist.

"Ah! Nooo! Let me go!"

"Sorry but no." said Rex smirking at the girl.

"Borrow!"

As soon as Rex said the word, something intangible flew out of Yuwa's body, and entered into his body.

"Nice. As I thought. My ability is not stealing. It's borrowing." Rex was delighted to be able to understand his ability a little bit more. "Though, I don't understand, why do I not need permission to borrow?"

"Nooo! Give me back my power!" Yuwa now was even paler after she lost her power. She clung tightly to Rex's right hand.

"Hey, let go of my hand!"

"No! You have to return my power back first!"

"Let go!"

"No!"

Rex tried to wave his right hand to force the girl off of his hand, but she was stuck very tightly to his right hand as if she was glued to it.

"Sigh. I only borrowed your power. It's not like I won't return it back." explained the captain.

"Promise that you will return it!"

"Fine. I promise."

Only then did the girl let go of his hand. However, she stood just beside Rex, watching him closely as if afraid that he will run away with her power.

"Hey, why are you standing close to me?"

"I'm watching you."

"...sigh." Rex then inhaled a breath, and then disappeared from his place.

"No!" Yuwa's expression changed, and she hurriedly tried to caught Rex. However, the guy was no longer on that spot. "Argh! He lied to me. He stole my ability. Rex! If you are a man, come back here and return my power!"

"Why are you so anxious? I'm just trying to figure out how does my ability work." replied Rex, appearing some distance away from Yuwa.

Seeing that Rex has no intention to run away, only then Yuwa relaxed a bit. As for Rex, he tried using the Invisibility power for several times, until he was no longer able to use it.

"Seven times. Is this the limit of my borrowing power?" mumbled Rex. "If I want to return it, do I say 'return'?"

Suddenly, Rex felt the borrowed power was starting to disappear from his body. Not only that, he felt his body become a little weak after the power left his body.

"Huh? Why do I suddenly feel so energetic?" exclaimed Yuwa. Instinctively, she knew her power came back to her, along with some energy. "Did you return my ability?"

"Yes."

"So, why do I feel energetic?"

"That's because, somehow my energy also followed your power back to your body." replied Rex, looking a little pale.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe... just my hunch, taking my energy seems to be the cost of borrowing your power."

"Huh? That's also possible?" Yuwa was thinking that Rex's power seems to be a little weird. A thought came to her, maybe I should let him borrow my power for a couple of times, so that when he return it back, I can get more energy.

"Rex, actually..."

"Don't think about it."

"Wha? I haven't said what it is."

"I can figure it out from your expression." replied Rex. This caused Yuwa to smile dryly.

"Honestly, I need a rest. I don't think I'm able to borrow some power before I get enough rest."

Rex then lay down on the floor, trying to get some rest to recover his lost energy. Seeing that, Yuwa stood up, walked and sat beside Rex. She then asked Rex, "Hey, tell me about that ability of yours."

"Which ability?" asked back Rex, without opening his eyes.

"The one you use to detect me when turned invisible."

"Oh the Observation Haki."

"Observation Haki?" Yuwa looked at Rex. For some reason, she felt that that Observation Haki is a great skill.

Seeing that her attention was picked, Rex then decided to talk about the skills that could be used to fight any Devil Fruit users. "Do you know that someone without a Devil Fruit power also capable of fighting someone who have those Devil Fruit ability?"

"I know that."

"Then, do you know the skill that they are using to contend against those Devil Fruit users?"

"You mean, by using Observation Haki?"

"It's Haki. Observation Haki is one of these Haki. There are three types of Haki, namely Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and Conqueror's Haki." Rex then briefed Yuwa about the three types of Haki.

"Wow! That's mean, we who uses Devil Fruit ability are not really invincible." Yuwa views on Devil Fruit ability was completely changed after she heard about the existence of such skills.

"That's a nice skills. Hey Rex... I mean, Captain. Please teach me how to use those Haki." requested Rokujin, who silently listened not far away from the two. "With those Haki, I will no longer get bullied by her, even when she turned invisible. Instead, I will be the one bullying her."

"You want to bully me? Dream on." rebuked Yuwa. "Captain, please teach me how to use Haki."

"It's not easy to learn it. However, I'm sure the two of you could manage to learn it."

The two waited expectantly for his confirmation. Rex saw their enthusiasm, and nodded. "Alright. I will try to teach you two on how to use those Haki."

"Yeah!" the two shouted in happiness.

"However, the environment in this ship is not suitable for such training. We need to find an Island to stay on for your training."

With that, the three then continued sailing their ship to find an island. The ship sailed for almost four and a half hours, before they finally managed to find an island.

"Rex, look. This island should be great for our Haki training right?"

"Well, this is certainly a good place." nodded Rex.

"Then, let's go enter the island." suggested Rokujin, eager to come out of the ship.

"Hey, look. There is a ship over there." said Yuwa, reminding the two.

Rex and Rokujin turned to look at the left side, and saw a ship was docked on the shore.

"That's a pirate ship. Look at that flag. A skull with a sand timer?"

"What kind of pirate is that?"

Boom! Boom!

Just then, the pirate ship launched two cannon shots, and instantly, two cannon balls flew swiftly towards the Tide Hunter.

"The f@#k? They are attacking!" yelled Rokujin in shock.

"Make the ship move faster!" shouted Yuwa.

"It's too late!" Rokujin panicked.

At that moment, Rex jumped out of the ship. With his bare hands, he caught both the giant cannon balls. Those balls then disappeared as soon as it touched Rex's palm.

"Here, I return these things back to you!"

Rex then swung both of his hands towards the direction of the enemy's ship. The two cannon balls once again appeared. However, this time, the two cannon balls are heading as fast as it can towards the pirate ship.

Boom! Boom!

Instantly, the two balls crashed hard on he ship. Two big holes are instantly created, and seawater now are flooding into the ship.