New Powers and new members!

February, 1514

"Fuwahahaha Hihihii hehehe

Life is great! Life is beautiful!

This day is perfect! My luck is great

I love it all!"

"… what the hell are you on?"

!

"Wolf?! Gods you startled me! What Are you doing here?!"

"Ehhm… I'm living here… remember this being my house before you all moved in? Anyways what's up with your creepy mood?"

"Ehh? Creepy? Who's creepy? What's creepy about being happy?"

Wolf stood before me, giving me the old 'I'm looking at an idiot' look.

'Damn does everybody in this world know how to cast that look… so annoying.'

Sabo, Kuina and I are currently living here since last week. The reason being that they spend most of their time here anyways.

From early morning till late at night they would be around here training or sparring with the others and since we even eat here we just stopped going back to the inn and crashed at Wolf's place.

I know that the excessive amount of training is most likely because of the crushing defeat they suffered and now they feel like they don't have enough time to become stronger but honestly, people like Shiki and his group aren't just roaming around even in the first half in the Grand Line so opponents like that shouldn't appear till much later.

Sadly I didn't have to the opportunity to tell them that. It's because they for whatever reason started to avoid me for the past 2 weeks.

'Really I don't understand it. Even if this was somewhat traumatic why would they start avoiding me?'

But problems won't get solved just by thinking about them.

"So will you answer my question?"

"Later. Since no one besides us is here I guess that Sabo and Kuina Are sparring with the others?"

"what else. They kinda act as if the devil is after them!"

"I'll go and see them."

"Yeah sure do whatever."

Just like Wolf said they were training their physical strength in the woods and judging by the sweat they've worked up I'd say they are doing this for hours already. Have I mentioned that it's still morning and we haven't even had breakfast yet?

"Jackson?"

Oh great. Kuina saw me and called out.

"Hey. Do you two have some time, I've got to show you something."

"Sure." x2

They walked over and I took out the reason for my extremely good mood this morning.

When I went to the town earlier to get some things for breakfast I noticed an old lady selling apples. There was nothing noteworthy about it, just that I wanted some apples.

The crazy thing that happened is that after I brought 3 apples one of them started to change right in front of my eyes. The color changed to a golden orange and strange patterns appeared on it.

It turned into a devil fruit out of nowhere! Moreover it was Shiki's Fuwa Fuwa no mi! (The appearance actually wasn't shown as far as I know but let's pretend like it was pls.)

I felt like I was on cloud 9 then. Shiki showed up on my birthday, gave me 5% extra growth, his two swords and now I even get his broken devil fruit!

After explaining this to Kuina and Sabo I got to see their stupid shocked faces with eyes wide open and mouth forming an 'O'.

.

.

.

"Jackson-nii, Kuina, can I be the one to eat this?"

Sabo expressed his wish to eat the fruit first and I didn't mind since I don't really need a devil fruit. Me becoming a powerhouse is practically guaranteed as long as I stay alive so there is no need to make the sea my weakness.

Kuina, even though she looked like she wanted it at first, rejected the offer in the end. She stated that as a swordsman, the sword shall be all the power she will ever need.

In the end Sabo ate the fruit.

"Jackson since you're already here, there is something I wanted to tell you."

"Hmm?"

"It's about my training. I'll stop learning the rokushiki."

"What?!"

"Please listen to me first. Not all of them at least. I'll continue to train only soru and geppo."

"I don't quite understand your reasoning!"

"… I've noticed that my progress in the rokushiki is a lot slower than Sabo's so-"

"Than stop comparing yourself with him. You are pursuing another style from him."

"Exactly. I will focus more on my swordsmanship instead. I will keep training soru and geppo for utilities sake but everything regarding attack and defense I want to handle with my sword."

"… but training the techniques also trains your physique."

"There are more efficient ways when it comes to training muscle strength."

Honestly I don't quite like the idea of her not fully utilizing the chance to learn the rokushiki but what she said also makes somewhat sense.

In the time she would need to progress in the other 4 techniques she could improve her swordsmanship greatly. I've seen her talent with the sword and it's really shocking!

"… I don't like it but I can't force you to learn something against your will. Honestly I don't want to but haki is an absolute must. I really hope you still plan to train haki."

"Yes that's perfectly fine with me."

"Then let's go and enjoy breakfast."

After breakfast I was approached by Law who also suddenly wanted to talk with me.

'Have I become popular over night?'

Disregarding the useless thought I followed him outside and focused on what he has to say.

"Let's make a deal!"

"… Don't you think you should add some more information to that statement?"

"I'll be upfront with you. There is something I really need to do. It's out there on the Grand Line but after seeing your fight and facing that gorilla last month, I think that I would need a strong backing."

"So you want my strengt?"

"Yes."

"And what do I get out of it?"

"… I know that your crew isn't complete yet."

"Hmm? So you want to join my crew if I help you finish whatever business you have to finish?"

"Under one condition."

"Tell me the condition first."

"… you have to also accept the others as fully fledged crew members."

!

'JACKPOT! Omg who would have thought that some things will solve themselves if I just don't pay any attention to them for long enough!"

Law seems to have misunderstood my silence and actually started to advertise the others as if he was offering a pitch sale.

"They can all be a great help! Bepo studied to be a navigator for the last e years and after sailing a bit to gain some experience I'm sure he will be ready to navigate us not only to, but also through the Grand Line! Shachi and Penguin are fast learners and will be able to operate any ship, even doing small repairing work."

Naturally I accepted! We told Wolf and had a welcoming party for our newest members that night. Wolf didn't really like it but that's life. During the party we revealed to our newest members that Sabo now has a devil fruit and set the date of our departure to a week from now!

(Hey everyone! Sorry for not posting last two days but it was unmanageable. I'm tired af and going to sleep now since it's 2 am where I live. If anyone is still reading at this hour, as always, hope you enjoy the chapter and feel free to leave feedback. Author out!)