Training with Raleigh

After the fight ended, Roger and Professor Jones emmerged from the boat. Professor Jones then saw Viktor collapsed on the ground with Crocus attending to him.

Seeing Viktor lying there unconscious, Professor Jones worried something bad happened to him and approached Crocus, "Hey Crocus, what happened, is Viktor alright? "

Crocus reassured Professor Jones, "Don't worry, he'll be fine. He just needs some rest after he fainted from exhaustion."

" Seriously, what happened that tired him out so much? "

" He was fighting the other kids, Buggy and Shanks. Although, to be fair, mainly Shanks. Buggy went down pretty easily. "

" Ah, that sounds like him. So, since he fainted, I guess he lost. I mean, Shanks is kind of like Roger's successor, so I'm not surprised he lost. "

" Actually, Shanks and Viktor tied. He's the same age as Shanks, so I'm surprised he managed that. "

Raleigh then approached Raven, " Hey your that kid, Viktors friend, right? "

" Yep, I'm his friend. Well really his only friend, so I guess I'm his best friend. The only other person he's friend with is Professor Jones, but he's more of a mentor figure. "

It was then that Raven realized with sadness in her voice, " This is the part where I'd tease him for having no friends, but I'm in the same

boat, so the joke wouldn't land. "

Raleigh then asked, " Just one question, where did Viktor learn the sword? His style is rigid, almost like a machine. While it's precise, it lacks a passion or will behind it. I've never seen someone wield a sword like that. Although, towards the end of the fight, it seemed like he was gradually fixing this flaw. Almost as if he was copying Shanks style. "

Raven replied, " Oh, well he pretty much learned it on his own. While I can't explain the specifics, through his devil fruit, he's able to analyze people practicing on the island, as well as swordsmanship manuals to create his current style. As for his improvement mid battle, that was also due to his devil fruit ability as he sort of copied Shanks moves. "

Raleigh nodded, " Oh, so that's what it was. His movements felt like they were copied from a book, without any battle experience to expand upon them. Although, it seems he himself realized this and used Shanks to progress. At first, I was going to give him some advice, but it seems he simply needs to battle more and absorb swordsmanahip from others to progress. "

" I'm pretty sure he'd still love to hear advice from you. If you're not going to help him, could you guide me a bit? After all, I'm a cute little defenseless girl. Who knows who'll try to take advantage of little old me. " Raven said with a pitiful expression.

Raleigh hesitated, but then Raven attacked him with her patented puppy dog pout, " Pleaseeee, Mr Raleigh. Look at how cute I am. Slave traders would die to get their hands on me. Could you imagine me bound by chains, privy to the whims of my master. Just imagine what those nobles would do to me to satisfy their sick desires. Why they'd-"

Raleight cut her off before she could finish her sentence, " OK, OK, I get it. I'll help you out. Please don't finish that thought. I'd like to sleep tonight. "

Raven's face was filled with happiness when Raleigh agreed," I knew I could count on a big strong man like you Mr Raleigh. Imagine it: Sickos faced with a cute little girl like me attack me, thinking I'm an easy score. But then, I reverse it on them."

Raven's happy smile turns into a sadistic one," I'd butcher them all down to the last man, their streams echoing in my ears. They'd call me a demon and I'd laugh at their suffering. Serves them right for trying to do the same to me. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha "

Seeing that sadistic smile on a cute little girl like Raven both creeped him out and saddened him at the same time. ' What horrors has this girl experienced to make her like this?' Raleigh wondered.

Seeing Raleigh's hesitation, Raven realized she went a bit to far and reassured Raleigh she'd only act out of self- defense and not go slaughtering civilians. Eventually, Raven managed to convince Raleigh to train her.

Raven cheered and Raleigh began training her. While they were doing this, Roger and Professor Jones approached them and Roger laughed, " Ha ha ha ha, hey Raleigh,did you go from training brats to little girls? "

Raleigh sighed," Yeah, I found it kinda hard say no to her. Although she clearly has some sadistic tendencies. "

Professor Jones looked at Raleigh with a knowing look and said, " Hey Raleigh, let me guess. She went on a rant about how she wants to murder slave traders that would attack because she's a cute little girl. "

Raleigh nodded," She then went into detail about how she'd butcher her enemies and laugh at their suffering, going full sadist on them. "

Raleight looked at Clover in bewilderment," Wow, that's exactly what she did. I'm guessing it's something she does often."

" Oh yeah, she's pretty insistent people know that about her."

Raven then interjected. " Like I said I'm a cute little girl. Usually I'm nice, but if someone starts to be naughty, then I'll treat them naughty. And naughty boys deserve to be punished. Preferably by dismemberment."

Everyone of the Roger pirates collectively shuddered and thought, ' Yeah, that's one little girl you don't want to mess with. She's scary. '

Then Viktor woke up and approached the group. " Hey guys whats up? "

Raven then said, " Nothing much, Just got some pointers from Raleigh over here, you jealous? "

" What?! You got training from Raleigh! Hmph, well I'm not jealous. Not in the least. On a separate note, cmon Raleigh, train me too. "

Raleigh rejected Viktor as like he told Raven, Viktor already found his own path. He'd have to keep fighting with others to progress.

Viktor understandably wasn't thrilled about this," What?! You won't train me? You trained Raven, but you won't train me?"

Raleigh answered," Raven doesn't have your devil fruit, so it's a lot harder for her to learn how to fight. Also, she gave me a reasonable argument, albeit a bit to sadistic for my taste."

Viktor gave Raven a skeptical look, which made Raven uncomfortable," Hey, what's with that look of yours? I just used my cuteness to my advantage. I pointed out what could happen to a cute little girl such as me. "

" I'm almost afraid to ask, but what's the sadistic part about? "

" I just told him what I do to naughty boys. Tee hee! It's not like your any better than I am when it comes to your enemies. " Raven said with a scary smile on her face.

" Hey, I'm completely different, I don't take as much enjoyment in butchering them. " Viktor argued with eloquence.

" But you still slaughter them. Also, unlike me, you don't even let their bodies go. You mutilate their corpses and then afterwards you burn them to ash. "

" Hey, that's for self preservation. There are all sorts of strange devil fruit abilities. I just want to make sure my enemies are dead and stay that way. "

Then Professor Jones hit both of them with a fist of Love, " God dammit, you brats. Both of you are a little off in the head, but I still love ya."

Roger then asked, "You kids haven't been on our ship, the Oro Jackson, have you?"

Raven and Viktor both shook their heads no. Roger then said to everyone, " We're going back to the Oro Jackson! Gotta show these kids the best ship in the world! And then continue the party!"

Everybody cheered and went back to the ship. Viktor and Raven were given a tour of the Oro Jackson and all its facilities. What they saw amazed them. Viktor became determined to have a ship built similar to the Oro Jackson when he set sail.After the tour ended, they joined the party.

Raven and Viktor, being the kids they are, tried to sneak a sip of booze, but Professor Jones stopped them dead in their tracks, " Booze isn't for kids. Wait until your adults before drinking. I don't think I have to tell you the disastrous effects drinking can cause to children. Instead, how about you drink some juice like Buggy and Shanks. "

Viktor complained, " Awh, but I wanted booze. "

Raven then consoled Viktor, " Me too, but juice sounds good to. We've never actually had juice before. "

Shanks said, " Seriously, you've never had juice? "

" Yep. I mean we're both orphans, so we don't have a lot of money. The money we did earn went towards meat and other food for a nutritional diet. "

Then Raven and Viktor tried the juice and they were amazed by how good it was. Raven even cried, " Oh my god, this is so good. Why didn't I try this sooner? "

Raven and Viktor then tried the food and even Viktor joined the sob fest, " Why didn't anyone tell us that that food and drinks could taste so good? When we set out to sea, we've gotta get a chef, cause Raven's cooking is nothing compared to this. "

Raven complained, " Hey, my food isn't bad. It's much better than that slop you tried to cook up. You used to appreciate me for it. "

" I know, but this is sooo good! "

Roger then said, " Ha ha ha ha ha, I see you guys are enjoying the banquet. "

Raven and Viktor responded with food in their mouth, " So good! "

" Well, enjoy it kids, we got plenty of food and drink. "

The party lasted the entire night. Raven and Viktor had the best night of their lives and partied until they collapsed from exhaustion.