372 Chapter 372

372

Two days later,

Most of the crew were back in the training room but this time Anchor was there with them. He was on the side, training with Coby to get used to his new powers and use it for combat.

Both Coby and Anchor were men of justice or that's how most of the Straw Hats saw them. All upright and ready to throw themselves to help people. Of course, most of the Straw Hats were about helping people, but even then both Coby and Anchor took it up a notch.

Everyone had their own quirks in the group, so nobody really bothered them with that. Each member of the crew had a goal of their own, and it was the crew's duty to help each other fulfill this goal.

In the dungeon room, most of the people were overseeing Johnny's training with his new powers. It's been a few days so Johnny was getting quite good at using his new arsenal of skills. Still there were many areas to improve.

Especially since his fruit was a zoan-type, those were meant for the physical category, normally. The more someone trained with their zoan power, the stronger they got. So, Johnny was, of course, getting pushed to his limits so most of the crew was there helping with that.

Luffy on the other hand was training Yosaku instead. They were also outside of the dungeon, in the cleared-out section of the forest. It was night-time so visibility was low. And yet for both of the Straw Hat pirates, it was enough.

Luffy could have trained by himself, but he did give himself time in the morning. So rather than just ending the day, when Ysoaku requested to train with him, Luffy had agreed.

Luffy also kind of felt bad for the guy. Especially since he won't be getting his fruit anytime soon. So the least he could do was to help his eager crewmate.

Even though Johnny and Yosaku were similar. Yosaku was much more ambitious and stubborn, while Johnny was much more mild and a bit hardheaded. Both of them shared one thing in common and that was having good ambition.

Sure they didn't have some grand ambition like being the strongest or anything like that. But they also wanted to be recognized, to get notoriety, to be strong enough to stand for their beliefs, and to help their captain fulfill his dream.

And also, both Johnny and Yosaku were good people. Back in Alabasta and the Marine-base incident, they helped many people directly. Sure helping people might not be their end goal, but both of the former bounty hunters were genuinely good people.

And unlike the few newer members of the crew, Luffy could trust both of them. So when he had time, he tried to help them any way possible. That's why Luffy wasn't even reluctant to give them a fruit.

Luffy had to be honest, even though Anchor joined the crew, he was a bit of a wild card. Sure the man was all good and ups, but he wasn't fully loyal to Luffy and his cause. Every moment he made at least one of the Straw Hats keep an eye on him. He didn't want any Marine spies on his ships. Luckily that wasn't the case.

Building Stormforge for Sabo was a good way to show his true goal. Anchor had said before his main goal was to become the best weapon smith and also something else. But Luffy couldn't just take his word for it.

So making a weapon for Sabo was also a test you could say. If he did have any ulterior motives, such as helping the World Government behind his back, then he wouldn't have built such a great weapon for Sabo.

From now on, he could trust Anchor a bit. But for Johnny and Yosaku, that wasn't the case. They were loyal and they trusted Luffy. So as their captain, whenever there was a chance he tried to help them back. Loyalty wasn't something that was built in one day. And even then loyalty could change if someone was in a bad circumstance.

It might not be the best example, but Squard of the Whitebeard Pirates was a good example. He didn't want any of that happening to any of his crewmates. And that's a big reason to keep them in check.

And that was by getting involved somewhat in their personal matters. Especially since both Johnny and Yosaku would be his main officers. But that was way later when the crew was big enough to accommodate it. For now, they were still a small crew.

Most of the time, Luffy tended to train Johnny as they used similar weapons. A naginata and a spear have a lot of things in common. So he could give a lot of insights on how to use his weapon.

But that didn't mean he didn't train Yosaku, no he did. Yosaku used a shield, a round shield. So Luffy tried teaching him how to ricochet his shield back and forth like a certain hero. And sure enough, Yosaku was able to learn it. He did that a while back when they were still in Alabasta, and now he had gotten better at it.

Luffy stood there as Yosaku charged at him with a war-cry, an axe, and a shield in his hands. Luffy wasn't using any of his Gears, so Yosaku was slightly taller and bulkier than him.

The former bounty hunter came in with multiple fast swings with his axe, each strike creating wind blades that were strong enough to cut through ordinary buildings. And Luffy was easily dodging them.

"You have gotten better," Luffy said as he ducked from one of the strikes, "Gin has been training you guys well… but it would be tough for you to learn that if you only have this much strength."

"I haven't gone full out yet," Yosaku said as he pushed all of his strength into his legs, using a Soru that cracked the ground beneath him. The former bounty hunter came in like a bull with his shield in the front. "Shielding Bull!"

"Really, Shielding Bull? That's just uncreative…" Luffy gave him a deadpan as he stretched out his right hand intending to stop him. But the moment Luffy managed to grab it, his hand slipped and Yosaku almost managed to hit him with his axe.

Almost in the last moment, Luffy bent backwards, Neo style, dodging the axe by a hair's breadth.

"Tch, almost had you…"

"Your shield really is annoying," Luffy said, "It's a slippery one, I will give you that…" Of course, this wasn't the same shield that Yosaku was using before. It was given as a gift by Anchor.

Anchor as a smith, liked to build weapons. Swords, shields, and all of that. But he rarely used most of the things he built. Mainly giving them away for either a price or for free. His shield was one of the weapons Anchor built using the smooth-smooth fruit.

Anchor, after gaining his munch-munch fruit, gave this shield to Yosaku as using a devil fruit and a devil fruit weapon at the same time would run his stamina dry pretty quick. And of course, the smith was working on a new project, so he wanted to give away his shield to a capable user.

"Yup, Subashi… she's a great shield," Yosaku said with a grin as he kept his shield at the front. His captain had a habit of taking people off guard so he was cautious even while fighting.

Luffy gave him a nod of admiration. The smooth-smooth fruit was great in many ways. It wasn't some high-class devil fruit, but the ability to make your body slippery from most attacks was something that was pretty useful.

"But you shouldn't rely on her too much, though. A devil fruit weapon takes up a lot of stamina…" Luffy said with a shrug. He was speaking from experience, his nameless naginata was running him dry whenever he used its energy abilities too much. A small grin formed on Luffy's face, "Let's get a bit serious shall we?"

"Yeah, I know. That's why I keep her for emergencies…" With that Yosaku stepped forward, spun and threw his shield at Luffy. The shield bounced off the ground as it came like a destructo disk towards Luffy's head.

Luffy for once didn't back down and brought his fist down with Haki, smashing the shield into the ground. Stopping it. Usually with that kind of power, a normal shield would have shattered but Subashi 'slipped' most of the damage outwards and only got stopped.

Yosaku used that chance to use Soru and blur right in front of Luffy with his axe pulled backward. "Ground Splitter!"

Clang

The axe was stopped right between Luffy's teeth, before the rubber-man punched Yosaku in the gut and sending him flying without his axe.