Growing Up 21

After the incident with the Foxy Pirates, Bill had succeeded in getting his father to teach him and his friends. For the past three years they had rotated two weeks in the jungles of Vallipo and two weeks back at base.

True to his word, his father seemed to spare no effort for the kids. He personally trained Ranse in the Six Powers, and firearms, directly instructed Sasha and Ricky in swordsmanship, he taught Fia infiltration methods and how to better control her devil fruit, and as for Bill?

*CRICK CRICK CRACK* *Ka BOOM!*

Moving at full speed Bill dodged helter-skelter, a monster close on his heels.

With one mind on how to dodge and the other on where his friends were being held, Bill found these drills to be the worst.

He had to find his team somewhere in the forest, while at the same time, dodging the beast in the trees. There was a time limit, and he couldn't afford to try and fight the agile creature.

After all, there was some chance he could beat the Super Baboon chasing him, as long as it was alone.

But instead of this being a straightforward test, Bill was set to find each of his friends. Typically, there would be some test waiting for him.

The tests would get harder the more friends he released and the number of beasts on their trails would increase.

To make matters complicated, there seemed to be a correct order that he was supposed to release his friends in, this was because each beast would somewhat correlate with one of the kids' abilities.

Take for example, yesterday when he found Sasha first and a Super Crow was unleashed on them. With a flying creature after them, Sasha and Bill had to split up or be harassed into a fight, a fight that would take too long.

In contrast, had he released Ranse or Fia first, the Super Crow would have been wary of getting too close – giving them the chance to get the others.

But because they had split up, every subsequent creature was harder to handle creating a snowball effect.

Super Vipers, Super Bats, Super Crows, Super Baboons, and Super Rats – Vallipo Archipelago was a strange ecosystem. This archipelago weirdly housed 'Super' versions of many animals and fish, weirder still, apart from the Super Rainbow Trees, each small island seemed to contain a biosphere different from the last.

Pushing yesterday's events out of his mind Bill continued to run north, or at least what he thought was north, until he saw the tell-tale signs of an encampment.

Bill didn't know why he had chosen to run north; at the start of each drill, he would be literally picked up and thrown in an unfamiliar environment. After that, he would be immediately set upon by some monster. The first time this happened, he would have shat himself if not for him having complete control of his body.

"Hey! About time!"

Shaking his head, but still running at full speed, Bill reached the young cowboy. The boy's freckles were somewhat disappearing and to Bill's amusement, Ranse was beginning to look more and more like Burt Lancaster.

Looking over the situation, Ranse's legs were shackled from the waist down.

"Did you see where the keys may be?"

Asking with a huff, Bill knew that the Super Baboon was coming in at any second.

Ranse: "Check the table, probably!"

Turning his head over, Bill gave the beat-up camp site a once-over. There was trash, bedding, tents, and cargo stacked up to the side.

The site was a complete wreck, and presumably the keys to Ranse's shackles were here somewhere.

Going up to the table in the middle of the campsite, Bill began to rummage around.

Tipping over jars, lifting up books, Bill finally reached for a leather handbag. The handbag was fastened with a series of buttons and Bill immediately tore into it.

After undoing the third button, Bill decided to just rip it and as he did, the bag's contents went flying in every direction.

Dismayed for a second, Bill looked down to see where the bags contents had flown. To his surprise, his eyes caught a metallic glimmer from under the table.

Thanking his good fortunes, Bill took the key and rushed back over to Ranse.

"Quickly quickly!"

As Bill quickly undone the shackles, he saw Ranse's eyes grow and felt a presence behind him.

In one quick motion Bill lifted Ranse off the ground while the later kicked out heavily in the air.

"SICKLE WIND!"

In an instant a thin line of compressed air shot out from the boy, although the effect wasn't all that intense, it was more than enough to send the diving bird back into retreat.

"Rahahaha!"

As the boys ran on, Ranse laughed out and exclaimed:

"We're lucky! This time its only a Super Sparrow!"

Grunting in agreement, Bill looked back for a second and shouted out: "We're going east!"

With Ranse in tow, Bill sped up. Out of the four, Ranse had overtaken the others in terms of speed. Which wasn't surprising given that the Six Powers was a leg-based martial art.

As the two ran on, there wasn't much trouble. Bill would occasionally turn and throw something back at the Super Baboon, while Ranse kept the Super Sparrow at bay from diving down on them.

After some time, they found Ricky. The boy was hanging over a nest of Super Ants. Fortunately, the Super Baboon wasn't dumb enough to make a racket around this nest and due to this being training, Ricky was hung head-side up and not upside down.

Unfortunately, Ranse wasn't able to use the Moon Step and so the trick was to save Ricky without alerting the nest of Super Ants.

Looking up to the branch the boy was being held on, Bill saw it was just a thin twig. Even if the Super Sparrow didn't attack them above the tree line, there was no way the thing could have held more than just Ricky's weight.

"Look around for a big log, we'll make pillars"

As Ranse looked around for a large log, or anything that could be used as a makeshift pillar. Bill's eyes changed when he saw the big bird fly close to the twig-sized branch.

The bird was, well a bird, but Bill saw the gears turning in its head.

"Ranse! Forget the pillar, look for his swords fast!"

As the bird flew closer and closer to the twig, Bill sprang into action. It only took a few seconds to see the two swords were on the anthill, quite close to the mounds entrance.

"There! Ranse, come here!"

As the cowboy looked over, he seemed to have the same thought Bill did and answered with an "Oh no…"

"Listen, when you cut the rope head south and I'll find you along the way!"

With these simple instructions Bill dashed towards the two swords, in the process waking up the anthill.

As he ran back to Ranse, he first tossed him the swords before grabbing the boy's shirt and lobbing him up to Ricky and the rope.

Bill didn't have time to see the result of this, but he knew at least his aim was right, and he believed that Ranse could cut Ricky down and land safely. This was absolutely not a move he could have used with any of the others, except for maybe Sasha.

Now though he had his own problems. He had half a Super Ant colony chasing behind him, and he had an unknown creature released that was bound to show up.

Running forward hard, Bill heard scurrying behind him and in front of him he saw red.

The Super Baboon was smart enough to not get close to the Super Anthill, but it apparently was not smart enough to run away when it saw Bill start to charge at it.

So, it didn't run until it was too late.

Seeing his salvation, with a laugh Bill put in all his effort and ran past the Baboon, who was apparently too scared to even remember it could climb trees.

As the Super Baboon looked at Bill with pleading eyes, Bill looked back with a shrewd smile before kicking the beast back with one strong kick.

Seeing the Baboon take the heat with the Ants made Bill laugh again. Somewhere around here was his dad and so he knew the Baboon wasn't going to die. Though it may get roughed up a bit.

Although Bill didn't have a strong connection with the beasts that were unleashed on him, the ape-like ones did seem smart. After all, one time his dad released a Super Gorilla. This creature could have easily turned Bill and his friends into paste, but it only fought just harder than they did.

So 'killing' two birds with one stone, Bill turned to run south. He didn't have any particular season to go this way except that it felt right.

He had been somewhat lucky that he found Ricky after Ranse. After all, had it been Fia or Sasha there was a real chance Bill wouldn't have been able to catch up after he split up.

Out of the five, Ricky was showing to be the cleverest, but the least physically strong. His two-sword style was impressive, especially for Bill who had always believed that using two swords was pointless, but Ricky turned out to be ambidextrous enough to seamlessly go from offense to defense.

The sword style his father taught him was called the Rumble Sword. This style focused on parrying and thrusts. A master could summon lightning to coat his blades. Instead of focusing on single killer moves, this sword style was useful against wide numbers of people.

Of course, with all that said, Bill told himself, Ricky was still basically a beginner and thanks to that he would soon catch up to the two boys.

As Bill moved forward, he heard a commotion ahead and arrived on a scene with Ricky facing off against three Super Rats and Ranse dashing back and forward between them and the Super Sparrow.

Running up, but staying as quiet as he could, Bill caught all six off guard when he gave one of the Super Rats a "Super Boot!"

After the kick, the five original combatants watched in shock as the unlucky rodent was launched above the tree line and into the distance.

Looking back down simultaneously, it didn't take but a second for the three remaining beats to scurry off.

Looking at Ricky and Ranse, Bill walked over slowly, breathing hard after so much running.

*Huff* Huff* "Well, they may come back but the Super Baboon is out of the picture"

"Woah! You kicked it so far away!"

"Hey Bill! Why'd you throw me like that?! Not all the Ants followed you!"

Being greeted by the two boys, Bill put his hands on his knees and sucked in air before standing back up straight.

By now he had enough control over his body to efficiently use all the oxygen he sucked in. He could even reduce the amount of soreness he felt after intense exercise, though he always had to be careful since he didn't want to put too much pressure on his muscles micro-tears.

The way he thought about it was, he had mastered Life Return but hadn't turned into Wolverine – so while he could recover faster, he couldn't do so instantly.

Hearing the two, Bill gave a laugh at Ricky who was sheathing his swords, and looked at Ranse asking: "How many followed you?"

"About a dozen, I had to pick this one up and run."

Hearing this, Ricky looked outraged and said: "You didn't untie me!"

Giving another laugh, Bill interjected before Ranse could reply.

"Alright, are ya'll good to run? I figure we'll head south before going west."

Getting the oks from the two boys, they turned and headed towards where Bill's gut told him to go.

With the monsters now more or less taken care of, the trip south went much faster and when they found Fia on an island in the middle pond, trapped in a seastone cage surrounded by Super Crocodiles.

If they hadn't gotten rid of the Super Baboon and Super Sparrow, this may have actually been the most dangerous test Bill's father ever put him against.

But now they had time to look around.

The first, and most obvious thing was pointed out by Ranse.

"That cage probably has a key."

The second most obvious thing was pointed out by Ricky.

"That big Super Crocodile has a bow and envelope on its tail"

Nodding his head with the boys' observations, Bill further saw there was eight or so Super Crocodiles, far too many for them to even think of fighting. Probably even more then they could distract.

So, coming up with a plan he said: "Ok, I'll get the envelope. The two of you get the cage off to the side. When you do so, Ricky, I'll throw you the key to unlock Fia.

When she's free, tell her to just blast away."

Understanding the plan, the boys' wasted no words and went into action. Bill used himself as the primary bait again due to the fact he was uncomfortable putting Ranse in such a dangerous situation.

And while Ranse may could live through this test, Ricky would almost surely be crocodile food, so that directly voted him out.

Super Crocodiles were dangerous, Bill had thought about jumping on their backs over the swamp but then thought better of it.

Instead, in one great leap he went directly to the side of the small island and snatched the envelope. Then with envelope in hand he grabbed the big crocodile's tail with two hands and flipped it over onto its comrade.

This move succeeded only due to its suddenness. Even Bill wasn't 'sure' he could leap the few dozen meters in a single bound.

After he had gotten the animals attention, the plan went smoothly, and it wasn't long before Fia was freed and blasting away. Ricky hadn't even fumbled when he caught the key Bill threw over.

With their fourth member, Bill started to get flummoxed.

When Fia asked about where the beasts chasing them were, Bill could only tell her what had happened up until now.

"So, this is either the easiest test we've ever had, or you've just aced it?"

Shrugging his shoulders Bill could only answer truthfully.

"I guess, but we can't let our guards down. Just follow us for now, don't attack unless I call for it."

Rolling her eyes, Fia did as Bill asked and seemed to fade away.

As Aramaki taught Ricky the Rumble Sword, he taught Fia the Phantom Step.

The Phantom Step was a footwork different from the Six Powers. It wasn't as fast and didn't pack as much of a punch, but what it lacked in pure power it gained in stealth, and flexibility. Plus, as Aramaki said, with Fia's devil fruit it was a hand-in-glove fit.

With that, the four kids took off to the west. Besides a Super Bunny here and there, there were still no monsters around and Bill would occasionally slow down to listen.

Searching around for less than thirty minutes, Bill found tracks large enough to suspect he was going in the right direction.

"Watch out, Super Gorilla." He called out behind him.

Seeing the massive, ugly, silverback Bill started to get flashbacks from over a year ago.

Of course, he and his friends had grown tremendously over that time. Still, the Super Gorilla was the strongest beast to date they had faced.

Looking around the area, Bill didn't see Sasha which meant either the Gorilla was a beast meant to chase them or it had left its 'camp' area.

His gut told him he was in the right area, and with the other super beasts gone he decided to split up.

"I think we're in the right area, split up and look to free Sasha. Once you do come back and help, I'll hold this thing here!"

Though they had misgivings, the three went in different ways to search.

As for the Super Gorilla, it snorted out and walked slowly in Bills direction. He could read it's face that it felt this game was beneath it.

Bill on the other hand was on edge, as the Gorilla walked slowly on all fours he started to walk slowly faster in its direction.

Feigning right, the Gorilla predictably reached for him, and Bill shot back kneeing the creature in its left forearm.

Bill liked the ape-like monsters, but in this situation, he put everything his thirteen-year-old body could. Which turned out to be substantial as the Super Gorilla reared back surprised and holding its limb.

Not letting such a chance slide by, Bill sent a flying side kick on the creatures exposed right leg, just barely avoiding a would-be devastating ground smash.

After this quick opening to the fight, Bill could see the Gorilla no longer looked too proud. Bill had also found his confidence and the fight started in earnest.

Peppering the Super Gorilla from a distance and following in with close attacks. As Bill fought, he seemed to go somewhere else, between elbows and dodges after several minutes Bill still hadn't been hit back.

After all of this, Bill decided to try and end the fight, and with a feint tried connecting an uppercut, but not to be outdone, the Gorilla countered with a surprising kick!

Hit by a foot as large as his chest, Bill went flying back into the brush. Looking up, Bill couldn't breathe and tasted iron. The Gorilla hadn't held back and in just one hit hurt him worse than a couple dozen hits hurt the Gorilla.

As the Super Gorilla walked closer, rage in its eyes, Bill's adrenaline started pumping. Getting up slowly, Bill knew he had to stop weak attacks. One more hit and at best he would be out of the fight, at worst? He didn't even think about it.

Fighting like a savage. The Art of 9 Limbs was just such a martial art.

With his blood boiling, Bill ran in close and delivered a nasty elbow to the Gorilla head. Moving back just in time he then connected with a huge kick to its knees. The big beast fought back after every hit only to get hit worse. It was stronger than Bill, but Bill had the skill humans did over animals.

Looking at the creature fall, Bill yelled out: "You Give?!"

As if spurned by Bill's challenge the Gorilla tried to get up before receiving another hard hit.

This time Super Gorilla didn't try and get back up, seeing it laid out in front of him, Bill fell back himself.

From nowhere, he just started laughing. Looking up into the tree above, he saw something he'd never seen.

A dragon fruit lookalike slowly changed its color and design, Bill couldn't describe it…

But he felt frightened.