12 Chapter 12: Houston, we have a problem
Rick felt sore, he tried to sit but it hurt too much. Without the adrenaline's pain inhibitor effect it could feel now how bad he has been hurt.
'Jesus, I look like a mummy with all those bandages. That really was close. I should have learned observation Haki from grandpa.'
Rick immediately dismissed the idea.
'I'm already a 10 years old monster in the eyes of everyone. If I had haki, I would not be surprised if the marines kidnapped for some dissection. Besides, if I get too strong before Meeting the strawhats I won't be able to go with them. At best they would not want me. At worst, they will rely on me and won't get stronger.'
Rick sighed .
'That's supposing that I live longer than 5 years.'
With the imperfect body's life expectancy of 5 years he was in a bind.
'I need to get a better body. For that I must earn points. Lot of it, before the 5 years limit. Thank god I can eat a second devil fruit because without haki I would be totally screwed. I wonder what the store has.'
Rick opened the store and began his research.
~~~~~
'So there is a better version of the imperfect Body'
[ Imperfect body V 2.0] 50 000 Karma points.
Description:
Latest failed experiment of Doctor Vegapunk.
The only difference between the V1.0 is an increase in the life efficiency (20 to 25 years).
' Holy shit, it's expensive. 50k karma points. That's a lot of pirates to get rid of. I wonder what's the conversion for the points'
Ricked open the log.
'So basically, I got 3k points for the 30 millions Belly guy. And 500 points for each retainer and 1k for the princess. No point for the rest of the crew or the wannabe pirates that we dealt with on the way to HQ.
So 1 point is worth 100 000 belly. That means I need to beat the shit of enough pirates for a total worth of 500 Millions.'
Rick was dumbfounded; gathering 500 million in less than five years was a colossal task. Expect the worst generation (who all got at least a 100 million bounty, and it was 24 years in the future, where the number of pirates was high) finding 500 million worth of bounty in paradise was a colossal task.
'Well…. Complaining won't change anything. Now let's look at my second devil fruit.'
~~~~~~
'Now that's interesting. I would have thought that the logia types would be more expensive but not at all.'
Just because a devil fruit was a logia didn't mean it was a superior fruit. Some zoan types, the mythical ones, were rarer hence more expensive. The same for the paramecia types. Whitebeard Gura Gura no mi was worth a whopping 500K points.
As Rick was browsing the store he took a peek at the devil fruit of his favourite characters.
'Chopper's Hito Hito no mi, is just like him, so cute'
He saw Ace's and Koizuki Toki's, which respectively were worth 150K and a freaking billion points.
'Well no wonder the Toki Toki no mi is that expensive. Time travel and prophecies are completely OP.'
He went on and looked at Nico Robin's.
'It's official, Robin's Hana Hana no mi, is the prettiest one of them all. That's fitting.'
He was about to search for another devil fruit when his eyes caught something interesting. It was the devil fruit just under Robin's.
'Me Me no mi ? I don't know that one, but it's butt ugly. What does he do ?'
[Me Me no Mi - Paramecia Type] 10 000 Karma points
Description:
The Me Me no Mi is also called the sprout fruit.
It's a lesser version of the Hana Hana no mi.
Instead of directly blooming body parts, the Me Me no mi makes sprout appear wherever the user wants. The sprout then blooms into any body parts the user wishes.
User proficiency with the Me Me no mi determines the number of sprouts, the time needed for them to bloom and the radius of action.
'Bloody hell! It's just a cheating fruit!'
If Nico Robin had been a fighter she would have been one of the most powerful characters in One Piece. She would just have to train armament haki then bloom two hands and break the neck of any enemy she's facing.
The Hana Hana no mi was worth 50k points and even though Rick was interested in it, he would not take it. For one because it's 50K points, the same number he needed for the Imperfect body V2.0 and getting that is already more than a challenge. For two, even if he had the capital, it's Robin's fruit. There was no way he would take it from her.For three… The fruit was already in use.
'Robin ate her devil fruit quite young it seems.'
The Me Me no Mi though…
'It's perfect for me since each body part is a part of me. They would be able to use my Zushi Zushi no mi abilities. I would never again be in the same situation that I was in the hideout. I need to secure it fast. That devil fruit never appeared in One Piece but that doesn't mean someone didn't eat it.'
Rick put a bookmark on the two items he wanted, in case he forgot.
'Now, let's find something to help with Tsuru and Sengoku'
He was smart, he knew that soon Garp would introduce him to his closest friends : Vice-Admiral Tsuru and Fleet admiral Sengoku.The later was probably already aware of his existence, since Rick was wearing his cap. He even signed it himself.
'Garp is Garp, he doesn't really care about my origin or things like that, but Tsuru and even more so Sengoku, have a good head on their shoulders. If Garp brought to them a 10 years old kid as a new recruit who can take all by himself a pirate crew whose captain is worth 30 Million belly, they are going to ask questions. A shit load of them.
And I need a perfect poker face for them to believe my lies or it won't end well for me.'
After half an hour, Rick finally found what he's been looking for.
[Acting LV1] 100 Karma points
[Trainable skill]
Description:
The most basic skill of the art of deception. It allows the user to fake their facial expressions and body language.
The higher the level the more people will believe in the user's expressions.
'Exactly what I need. Now,what to do? Each level cost 100 more points. Do I buy the max Level and use all of my remaining points, or do I buy a lower level and train the skill and keep some points ?
Rick pondered a moment before buying the highest level. ( Level 5 )
'That's a shame but I don't know how much time I have and how hard it is to train the skill. At least now I'm ready. Probably.'
~~~~~~
Days passed, and Rick was finally allowed by the doctor to get up and exit the infirmary.
"Listen, you little shit. I didn't bring you back from the brink of death just so you could stupidly go fuck yourself up again by training."
'Man, the doc has such a foul mouth.'
"No training for you for two weeks. Or that's what I should have said if your teacher wasn't Garp."
"What?"
Seeing the look of confusion on Rick, the doc smirked.
"Yeah, I told him you needed a month to heal completely"
He wink at Rick who finally got it.
"Thanks doc, despite your foul mouth you're a kind man."
And darted out the infirmary door.
"You little shit! Who's a foul mouth?!"
~~~~~~
While he was resting, Rick got the visit of the princess and her retainer. They thanked him for rescuing them.
The princess was from the Bourgeois Kingdom in south Blue, her name was Azalea. She was curious about Rick.
' How could such a child do all that?'
She could not understand. She was looking at him Like a predator looks at its prey. That was making him uncomfortable.
'What does this american blonde bimbo want? She's scary glaring at me like that.'
Azalea had long platinum blonde hair, and deep royal blue eyes. Her lips were on the thin side and she had a perfect nose. A small beauty mark was under the corner of her right eye.
'She will be a total knockout in the future!" thought Rick.
Yes " will be". Despite thinking of him as a child, Azalea was barely older. She was around 14 or 15 for Rick.
(Author note: Sorry dear readers, no underage sex in this story and Goddess forbid: NO LOLIS)
'I could be wrong though. I'm 6 and look 10'.
Kaza visited him regularly, updating him on the last stories and gossip on the ship.She knew how boring it was to be forced to rest. Especially for an hyperactive child like Rick.
He liked her, she had a nice big sister vibe, and if he was right a mischievous side too. Though on the job, she was always professional and merciless. He was more scared of her than Garp.
Garp never visited him. He didn't know what to make of it.
'Is it a good sign or a bad sign?'
Not knowing was making him anxious.
'Well I'm about to find out.'
Rick arrived on the deck, everyone was busy doing something. He saw Garp standing in front of the ship, arms crossed, showing his back to everybody.
'That can't be good.'
He walked to the Vice-admiral.
His fellow marines stopped doing whatever they were doing and were waiting expectantly.
Kaza tailed Rick at a good distance.
Finally he arrived behind Garp. Every single cells of his body were screaming:
'ABORT THE MISSION! ABORT THE MISSION!'
But sometimes, you have to take the Garp by the horns.
"Vice-Admiral Garp, Seaman Recruit Rick Wald, reporting for duty!"
Garp didn't make a move nor a sound. The sound of both the waves and wind aside, silence was reigning on the deck.
The wild beast of the marine turned around slowly then lowered his head to look at Rick.
"Seaman Recruit? Where? I only see a stupid little brat who almost got himself killed!"
Garp was clearly not happy.
Rick's brain was working a mile a minute
'I'm in deep shiiiiit! Quick damage control! Damage control! The acting skill! Quick!'
He lowered his head and looked at the floor, crocodile tears were running effortlessly on his cheeks and dropped to the deck.
He let out a sob.
" 'M SOWWWWYYYYY!"
Everyone was bewildered. Rookie Rick was crying? The kid that has been enduring Vice-Admiral Garp unholy training for the past 8 months and wiped out a pirate crew worth 30 Millions alone, who never complained or shed a tear, was now crying ?
"I… I wanted to save the hostages as fast as pwossible. 'M sowwwy grandpaw." *sob* *sob*
Garp was frozen. He didn't know what to do. He never expected Rick to cry either.
Fortunately for him, Kaza had his back.
"Sir, you should be ashamed of yourself! Making a kid cry just when he's discharged after a life threatening injury. I've seen pirates with more heart than you! Vice-admiral Tsuru will not be happy when I tell her."
Or not.
Rick was secretly cheering for her. From now on Kaza would forever be his hero.
'Yeah go Kaza! Tell him off!"
Garp was completely lost. He looked around and saw the disapproving looks his subordinate had. And the threat of Tsuru knowing about this event sent chills down his spine.
He was in total panic.
"Huh… It's good that you're alive kid, but next time you may not be so lucky, so learn your lesson, never go alone."
*sob*
"Yes grandpaw."
*sob*
Garp turned around looking at the sea again and added:
"We'll start training again when the doc gives you the green light. For now get some rest. You're dismissed.'
"Undwerstood."
Rick then turned around. And strike a pose, did a victory sign with each of his hands, winked and stuck his tongue out.
Kaza held back a laugh, the rest of the crew had their jaws dropping to the floor and eyes out of their orbit.
Every single one of them had the same thought.
"""""THAT CROOK!"""""
