Devil-Fruit Activated
With a few complicated feelings, mainly on abandoning Nami, I left the Cocoyasi village. I coldly decided that even if I had the powers to do so, I wouldn't save Nami. I felt like all the deaths caused by Arlong would be worth it for Nami's growth and the canon story.
At night, I had instantly executed my plan of escaping. Although Arlong had destroyed all the boats at the shore, I had specifically hidden mine beforehand. I dug out a boat I'd hidden in the forest and dragged it to the shore. I carefully inspected my surroundings and set sail for the nearest town. Luckily, I was able to sneak out without any incident with the help of darkness and careful navigation.
After getting some distance away from the island, my nerves calmed down, and I fell asleep from exhaustion.
….
"zzzzzz…"
…..
"zzzzzz…"
Beep, Beep, Beep…
"What the f-fuck is happening…"
I blurted out with a trembling voice
[Wish 2 acknowledged… User has now consumed the Rumble-Rumble fruit. Note that you're unable to swim anymore.]
When I finally realized what was happening, my entire body trembled with excitement.
Rumble
That night, a huge lightning storm hit the seas of East-Blue… and maniacal laughing could be heard from a 12-year-old in the eye of the storm.
**
Another 4 years passed, and Cross turned 16. He gritted his teeth and trained his devil-fruit powers and physical abilities diligently.
While training his Rumble-Rumble fruit powers, Cross would often realize how broken this fruit was. He didn't get tired at all when using his powers, essentially making him an unlimited human-battery. Like if those machines in the matrix movie used him, there was a chance they'd be like 'What the fuck are we even keeping these humans alive for.'
Cross still had to learn a few things about his powers: mainly that he was unable to make any sense of the magnitude of electrical vibrations in the air available to him. Compared to Enel, who could the fruit's power to hear the entirety of conversations on Skypiea, Cross was barely able to use it as a radar.
Of course, learning Kenbunshoku Haki would overcome this limitation probably.
Apart from training, Cross would sometimes go on bounty hunting to hone his skills and put them into practice. Fighting bandits and pirates was a little too unfair with his Logia-type powers, but Cross didn't mind experimenting his Rumble-Rumble fruit powers on them occasionally. He would fight them with his melee skills and then use his lightning powers to kill them in different ways when he got bored.
Cross killed most of them because he did not want to reveal his Rumble-Rumble fruit powers to spread so much just yet. It's not like he didn't trust people, but he believed in the saying that, 'the fewer people that know the better'.
The fruit was a blessing and a curse. While it may grant him invincibility in many situations, it may also attract trouble from unexpected sources. There would always be unscrupulous characters like Blackbeard who'd try to use his powers or kill him to obtain the fruit.
Now Cross was in Haven Island to complete his new bounty. His target was the pirate 'Jack the butcherer', who had a bounty of 10 million Berrys.
…
It had been one day since my arrival at the Haven Island. The island itself was only a few kilometers wide, but it housed the vibrant market and community of refugees.
Back during the slaughter of the Okyot Kingdom by the pirates, the marines had carried heavy operations there to avenge the fallen citizens of the nation. Devastated pirate fleets and a few residents of the Okyot kingdom had all initially chosen to take refuge in the nearby Haven Island.
Soon a community had sprouted from the refugees, though it was rowdier than usual. A black market was opened here that would often attract bandits and pirates to engage in trade of stolen goods. Nevertheless, it was also an opportunity for me to fight and earn a little bit along the way.
Until now, I'd been able to decipher the hideout of 'Jack the Butcherer.' I was currently heading towards his hideout at the outskirts of the town. I was wearing my usual bandit outfit along with a skull mask that covered the entirety of my face.
Chinnn… I picked up an electrical vibration of someone running towards me.
A figure of man with a large stature carrying a large machete appeared in the distance. He was 'Jack the butcherer,' a man infamous for committing large slaughter of innocents.
"Hoho… You've realized my intentions and have come to take me out I see." I said.
Jack didn't respond to me and kept running towards me. I didn't know why the man wasn't stopping, but it pissed me off that he didn't respond to me. I took out my new weapon, a trident that I'd made using 'Thunder Metallurgy', to face the man.
"Stop blocking the way you pipsqueak, there's a demon behind me!"
Shoo… The man swung his huge machete at me as soon as I came into range. Though his indifference to me angered me enough to smite him 100 times, I still chose to dodge his swing by simply ducking.
Next, I thrusted my trident into Jack's heart, who was already running into it.
PUCHII… Jack's eyes froze; he couldn't believe that his life had been taken away from him just now. He fell to his knees, still looking shocked.
"W-What just h-haper to…" He murmured, his voice getting fainter by the second.
"Mwah ha… A small fry like you shouldn't have run into me. In your next life, listen to your teachers when they ask you not to run in the corridors."
Chinnn… I didn't get the opportunity to tease Jack more along the way to his death. I picked up more electrical vibrations of possible hostiles coming my way.
Soon a man of average-height wearing a large gray hooded raincoat and a red bandana that covered most of his face arrived. He carried two flintlocks on his sides, and a large flintlock rifle on his back.
He eyed me and then Jack, who was a few seconds away from dying.
"Not bad… but that man there is my bounty. I already wiped his crew and was chasing him here."
He said, his voice faint and raspy.
"Well too bad… where I come from, it's finder keepers."
He scratched the back of his head and then said, "Ahh… makes sense. I'll leave now!"
He started walking away from me. I glanced at his leaving figure, disappointed that he left so easily. The man looked strong and fun to play with…
"What… you're leaving so easily?! Don't you have any desire for the 10 million bounty?!" I asked, trying to agitate him a little.
"Nope… You can have the guy!"
"Aww… that's not so fun. I don't think I can allow you to leave so easily!"
The man suddenly stopped and turned around. He took out one of pistol and cocked it.
"You sure you want to die?"
As soon as the man pointed his gun towards me, my eyes flashed with thrill.
"That's the right attitude. I look forward to a good fig-"
BANG…! A bullet headed straight towards my forehead.
The man was about to put down his gun, but… just when the smoke from the shot cleared, the man's eyes widened. I was still standing in the same place, grinning.
Earlier, I had detected the electrical vibrations of him squeezing his flintlock. I detected the bullet's trajectory and blocked it with my trident.
"That was quite some distance… you're a pretty good shot!"
Woosh… I rushed towards him right after saying that.
"Hmph… let's see you block all these."
The man aimed and fired repeatedly at me. His shots were deadly accurate, leaving me with no choice but to rush and take his bullets head on.
Bang… Bang… I blocked one shot after the other.
In a few seconds, I had closed in half the wide distance between us.
Suddenly, the man took out his second flintlock and fired simultaneously at two different points of my body.
"Mwah ha ha… All useless! I can predict your shot trajectory with ease!"
The man furrowed his brows watching me block his shots with ease.
Just before I was able to get to striking range, the man inhaled and furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.
"Predict this!"
BAAANG! Two shots were fired again, but my senses told me something was different this time. I didn't have much time to think about it and blocked his shots the same way.
All of a sudden, the two bullets ricocheted off each other and headed towards both my shoulders. It completely screwed up my predicted trajectory, making me look helplessly towards them.
…
…
BUZZZ…
Both my shoulders had turned into literal lightning with buzzing sounds coming from it.
The man's body started shaking with fear when he saw me standing there like a devil.
Bang… Bang… The man uselessly tried again and watched the bullets pass through. I knocked the weapons out of his hand and then grabbed his collar to hoist him up in the air.
"Hmmm you were able to force me to use my full powers. I'll make sure to give you a burial"
While I was a little embarrassed about my Chunibyo dialogue, I was seriously surprised that he was able to outsmart me with his marksmanship.
"D-Devil!"
'Uhm… what the hell,' My virgin senses tingled promptly at the voice. This voice was significantly higher-pitched than the raspy voice before.
My curiosity got the better of me and I groped the person's chest. 'Humm… it's not too big, but it's well-shaped and firm,' I examined.
AHHHA, the girl moaned as I squeezed her tits to complete my thorough examination. I felt regret that I hadn't already killed her, as it would be worse now that I know that her breasts were great
.
I pulled her hoodie and bandana to get a closer look at her. She had a beautiful face with pale-skin, cyan eyes and straight, shoulder-length pink hair with bangs.
I chewed on my lip, hesitating on killing her. I threw her on the ground and pointed my trident towards her neck. She remained quiet, but her body was shivering with fear.
I drove my trident with a… THUDD… onto the ground. She closed her eyes, only to open them once again in surprise. I took out my skull mask and revealed my face to her.
"Hum… Not bad! You've promising potential young girl… work hard and you can achieve all your dreams!"
I nodded my head and stroked my imaginary beard in approval like an old expert appraising the young generation. I chose not to kill her because she was a great young talent, who actually wasn't the one to provoke me.
'Yeah, right. I totally didn't save her because she was hot,' I convinced myself.
While the girl was still pale, I lifted Jack's body and put it inside a large sack. I started walking away from the area towards a small reporting station for bounty collections.
When the girl finally recovered her composure, she collected her flintlocks and ran after me in a hurry!
"Gasp… Gasp… Hey Wait…! Please Wait!" She yelled.
I continued walking, not even taking a glance at the girl. When she finally caught up with me, she said, "Whew, I thought I was going to die for sure! What's your name? My name's Noelle and I'm 15 years old."
Noelle had broad grin on her face, making me think that she had forgotten that I was just about to kill her.
"Okay girl… My name's Cross and you don't need to know anything else. Just leave me alone now. I'm in a huge hurry to get somewhere,"
Currently, I was more concerned about the marine report station closing time fast approaching. I wanted to leave this island today to head to my next bounty target before he left his location.
"Ow… Don't be so mean to a cute girl like me! If you aren't nice to girls, they'll never like you back!"
Noelle pouted like a cute girl and chased after me. I flinched at her comment; it was super effective against a virgin like me.
"Okay… so, what do you want?" I asked.
"Oh, there's so much… First of all, how the hell did those bullets pass through you?!"
Noelle's eyes sparkled with curiosity when she asked me the question.
"Mwah ha ha … that's a secret that can cost you a lot."
"OWW… Why're you so mean to a cute girl like me."
She held my arm and hugged tightly to it. Though I frowned at how much of a narcissist she was, I enjoyed the feeling of my arms brushing against her breasts.