Plans & Simplification

As soon as I got back to the hideout, I said "Taki! I'm back! And I got some money!" With a smile on my face.

And then, I looked around to find no one there.

"Um.. Taki? Where you at?"

'What did I do before going to sell that ship? It was... Um.... Oh yeah! Is she still training? I completely forgot about that! I'll just set the money down and hope she's where I left her.'

I set down the money in the pile of ever-growing suitcases of cash, and decided to calm myself by using observation to check first. And to my luck, she was just sitting there, exactly how I left her.

I put my hand over my chest. 'Oh thank Director. Nothing happened like her being kidnapped or anything.'

And so, I walked out of the hideout and towards Taki's location to find Taki still focused and sitting down with her legs crossed, and then.. a moon. A giant moon.

I felt the shock appear on my face and my eyes bulge a little. 'WHAT! DID SHE REALLY MAKE THAT.. WHAT LOOKS LIKE 30 FOOT MOON IN THE TIME THAT I WAS GONE? DOES SHE HAVE SOME SERIOUS IMAGINATION OR SOMETHING?'

And then Taki noticed me. She turned her head and looked at me with a smile.

"Bugs! Your back!"

I barely was able to say "Um.. yep. I.. am.. thatssssss... some serious progress you've made there.. is this why you didn't want me to leave before?" I felt my face calm a bit, with my eyes opening and closing semi-rapidly, and the shock start to fade.

Happily, Taki said "Yeah! It's cause I wanted to show you how fast I could do the training you asked me to do!" Still watching me, with the massive moon behind her, floating.

That moon gave off an aura of destruction, simply because if it was dropped from high enough, it could probably have destroyed Logue Town. But using observation, I found a weird blue aura around it too. 'Guess that just comes with the ability to make moons?'

And then I realized something. "Um, Taki, do these moons perhaps cause you to go into your.. mhm.. Sulong.. form?"

Taki shivered and tensed for a second, before stopping both shivering and tensing up. "U-um.. ye-yeah.. um.. I alm-almost forgot about that. Um.. yeah.. it does.. even with.. um.. smaller.. ones."

I started to sweat a little. "S-so, um.. is that why you're not looking at it? B-because you would turn into that form if you did?"

Taki's voice shook a little, conveying high amounts of nervousness "Uh-huh.. y-yeah.. I fo-forgot for a minute too."

And then an awkward silence ensued before I said something "Um.. why don't you stop training for the day then, yeah? It's getting closer to night, and I'd prefer that you don't push yourself enough to.. cause chaos? Or.. something.. with that ability."

Taki was starting to sweat drop. "Yeah, um.. I should probably stop.. yeah. Before I change into.. THAT form."

And then, before my eyes, I saw what I thought was space bending and the moon disappearing into what I think was.. a black hole.

'WHAT! Is that how they disappear!? There's so much freaking potential just making the MOON.. freaking DISAPPEAR!! I MEAN, I guess that Taki hasn't figured that out yet, but.. seriously, how broken is this freaking devil fruit ability that a Mink Child was lucky enough to find?'

Taki got up, and I decided to throw those thoughts to the back of my mind, as we walked back to the hideout.

As soon as we both got back, we sat down in the chairs, and Taki asked "So, why'd ya disappear on me?"

"Well, Taki, let me revere you with a shortened story of today. So, you remember that ship I ended up with, right?"

She nodded her head, saying yes.

"Well, I found a place to sell ships to, called Forwilth Shipyard, and there, I met the owner and shopkeep, Branson Forwilth. And while he was a bit.. weird.. while inspecting the ship, he gave me an offer of more than I thought so he could buy the ship. You wanna know what that offer was?"

Taki nodded her head vigorously in anticipation.

"That offer he gave me.. was.. seven million berri."

Taki's eyes sparkled "WHAT! THATS A LOT FOR A SHIP THAT YOU DIDN'T HAVE FOR MORE THAN A WEEK!"

I smirked. "I know right? Anyways, before you get carried away with happiness, I got more to talk about. So, I obviously took that offer, and he went into the back room to get that money, and I came up with some stuff I'll tell you about after the story. Anyways.." my expression changed to being more serious. "I happened upon someone of interest. She happens to be the business partner of Branson, and she apparently helps out with getting more ships to sell. Her name is Rosalina, and that's not the interesting part."

Taki's face also went more serious. 'Great, she can be serious when needed, even as a child.'

"The interesting part is, using one of the abilities you can learn and I'll teach you to use, I found something very concerning. I came up with an idea, and if that idea is right, I don't know why she would be here."

Taki got a little scared at this. "W-who?"

"Well, Taki, there are some really strong people out there. Waaaaay stronger than me in my current state. And one of those people can manipulate souls. Her name terrifies most people who even know who she is, Big Mom. Looking past the.. very childish.. theme she has, she's one of the most powerful people in the world as of now. She could probably kill me with a single punch."

I stopped talking for dramatic effect, as well as conveying exactly how strong I thought Big Mom was currently, as I haven't exactly experienced her existence yet. And it worked, Taki had some fear showing on her face.

"Now, she isn't here on the island, per say, but if my theory is right, she is controlling someone on this island. I have no idea why, or how in the first place, but if you ever meet the person named Rosalina, take extreme caution, I don't need a devil to follow me around." I ended that with an extremely serious tone with slight anger in my voice, which Taki was taking extremely seriously, finally steeling herself to have a straight face. But it looked like she stopped breathing, waiting for the next part.

"So, continuing on with the story, Branson came back with the money, and I learned she was his business partner, I already told you that, but oh well. I then came up with an idea on the spot, and left with a new briefcase of cash, sitting in the pile we currently have."

Taki breathed finally, and then became confused for a second. "Wait. Idea? Does that have to do with..."

"Yes. It has to do with the stuff you came up with earlier, right?"

"Yes. So, the idea, really, is just to buy the Forwilth Shipyard. But, that's not all, because I am currently cooking up some other ideas to go alongside this one I'm telling you about." I was moving my arms and hands to eccentuate what I was saying.

"This idea that I came up with uses some knowledge almost no one will know if until it happens. But, the idea is to bring the Forwilth Shipyard along with us on the trip in the Grand Line. How, you may ask? Simple. Make a floating shipyard. It'll have to be big, so it can hold a lot of ships, but the business can expand exponentially in the Grand Line if done right. I hope that when I do buy the shipyard, I can expand it to greater heights than it could ever reach here. Now, I plan on becoming a pirate again, just for freedom reasons, and I'd be branded as one anyway, so having income come from the shipyard would have to be secret, but it would help anyways. Alongside that, if.. Rosalina.. isn't under the control of Big Mom, and it's just me being paranoid, then I have some hope that she could be the leader of a different group of Mercenaries and or bounty hunters as a secondary passive income, so we'll have more money to use for ourselves while traveling around." I smiled near the end, but Taki had her eyes spinning and swirling while holding her head.

I realized that and asked "Um.. which part didn't you get?"

"The.. um.... hm.... Paaaaasive.. in.. come...? Expand-... -ing... ex-.. -po-.. -nenti-.. -ally?"

"Oh, um sorry. I'll try to simplify that. So.. basically, I'll end up owning two.. companies I'll say. And as the owner, I get money. BUT! Placing other people as the, quote, leaders, unquote, allows me to basically hide in the shadows and make any extremely important decisions. But, since I'm not doing anything else with those.. companies, I would get money nonetheless since I would happen to be the actual boss. Now, expanding exponentially just means, with a bigger business, I can get more money, and then I can expand that business, getting even more money, and that happens over and over again, that's really it. Anything else since I cleared that up?"

Taki's eyes were still swirling, but less so now.

"Um.. can you.. maybe.. say all that again? I think I missed some.. things.. or all of it."

I sighed. 'This is gonna take a while. Guess I should be patient with the child in front of me.'