Chapter 3: Training

I walked through the forest with a smile on my face feeling a sense of adventure into this little trip. From my experiences hunting into the wilderness, I knew that in this snowy environment I had to be careful of wolves and other predatory beasts. Even if they usually didn't attack humans it didn't mean I should let my guard down. And for that reason, I slept on trees.

Throughout my hike, I kept practicing my newly acquired devil fruit. I found out: that any slashing motion inside the room would cut anything that is inside said room till its edge, that by saying 'shambles' I could make any object or living thing inside the room swap places and finally that I could manipulate anything inside the room from the ground itself to living things.

Making my primary goal to increase the size of the 'rooms' I could create. The greater distance I could cover, the more impact I had on the environment and the more versatile I became.

But the progress was slow, as the greater the room the more stamina it would cost me to make. So I settled for a routine, I stopped walking and gave myself the challenge to teleport/swap my way to the top of the mountain.

I would create the largest room possible covering a couple of meters in front of me (at most 10m) and swap myself with some snow at its edge. Cancel the room and repeat till I felt I would pass out. Then I would climb on top of a tree and rest there.

This method was really effective as my rooms and my comfort in using my devil fruit abilities increased tremendously. But the problem came to the progress I was making toward the mountain. At this rate, it would take me a month to reach its base.

Looking at my reserve of food, I had exactly enough for a month if I portioned my food. That meant I would need to hunt to be able to reach the top of the Swallow-shaped mountain. But I didn't worry about that, since I was confident in finding some type of rabbit in this forest.

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A month later, my hopes were crushed I couldn't find a single animal through my journey to the base of this mountain. My training had paid off as I could now create a room with a radius of 100 meters (328 feet). But the lack of food was going to be the death of me since my abilities were costly stamina-wise that meant I had to walk my way to the top of the mountain to conserve as much energy as possible.

Looking up at the top of the mountain from its base, I could probably reach it in a single day. And by the small settlement of wooden houses I could identify at the top, there was definitely some sort of town there.

I wonder what culture these people have, there were some pretty strange people in the One Piece world. Just thinking about the possibilities gave me the rush of energy I needed as I immediately started ascending the mountain. Going as fast as my small feet could take me.

Through my ascension, I kept looking for any prey I could hunt as my stomach kept growling in protest. But alas I didn't find anything. The climb was pretty peaceful and I enjoyed the view of the entire island once I reached the little town at the top.

The town was gorgeous, the wooden houses were all beautifully illuminated. By warm orange lights probably from the fires in their chimneys. The town had a couple of roads, where sled pulled by bison circulated.

Every inhabitant wore warm clothes made out of fur and snowshoes to not sink in the snow when they walked. Overall the town gave a pretty ancient northern civilization vibe.

Once I stepped into the little town, I garnered the attention of its inhabitant. An old man dressed in white fur approached with a happy welcoming smile meeting my own excited one.

" Hello, little one my name is Wolf welcome to Swallow Town." He said while indicating the town behind him.

The smile on my face only grew at how welcoming this stranger was. "Nice to meet you Wolf-san my name is Law." I said with a smile. My stomach took that exact moment to groan loudly in protest making me smile awkwardly.

"HAHAHA, you must be hungry after climbing this mountain. Unfortunately, there aren't any restaurants in our little village. Come with me, I'll cook something for ya." Wolf said.

I brightened up hearing that, " Woah thanks, old man." I said excitedly.

Eliciting another heartfelt laughter from Wolf. During our walk toward Wolf's house, I was greeted by multiple villagers who stopped to have a quick chat with Wolf or simply waved at me. It seemed this small village was full of life, I could make out around 20 houses in total. With a single odd one in the bunch, the odd house was made out of metal and looked like a mansion compared to the other small wooden ones around it.

As we kept walking in the village I realized we were heading toward the metal one.

" Are you the village chief Wolf-san? Your house is pretty big compared to the others." I said.

" We don't have a chief in our village, more of a council. That I'm indeed part of." He said.

" Then why is your house bigger than the rest? Are you some type of nobility?" I asked.

" No, I'm an inventor I used to work under a great inventor by the name of Vegapunk. But when the world government closed off our lab and prohibited our research we disbanded. So I returned to my hometown and decided to continue my research here." He replied.

" Oh, Vegapunk! Is he as smart as people say?" I asked.

" He is indeed a genius among geniuses," Wolf said with a reminiscing smile.

Wolf and I finally reached the door leading to his house where he proceeded to open it by typing a password on a small touch screen next to the door. The metallic door opened vertically by going into a gap in the ceiling.

" Come in! Come in! let me show you around." Wolf said as he entered the house.

I followed after him in a hurry expecting robots serving him and maybe cyborgs but was greatly disappointed. His house was as normal as any other. It had 2 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, a living room filled with books on different subjects and a small kitchen. A normal plain house.

" Hahaha, why do you seem so disappointed?" he asked.

" Your house is too normal when you said you were an inventor I was expecting some lab, robots and other machines. But all I see is a normal plain house." I said dejectedly all my previous excitement completely gone.

" Hahaha, that's because I didn't show you my lab yet." He said with a small smirk.

My attention was immediately picked at his remark, as I give him an inquisitive look. "Hn?"

" I'll show you after we eat." He said with a smile as he guided me to the kitchen.

Wolf served me cream stew, with multiple vegetables and some small pieces of meat. Each spoonful I brought to my mouth made me happy I was alive. I went from falling to my death, to eating a warm tasty meal with some good company. I silently thanked whatever made that worm hole appear and transmigrated me in this world.