Taming a Tiger

Year 1509 Late October

13 years before canon starts

Small Island in East Blue

Ronze Gaben (Scopper Gaban) POV

It's been a few weeks since I started the kid on his training since he made the idiotic decision to eat a Devil Fruit. I still have no idea what that particular fruit is. I have a feeling that it is a Zoan of some kind. I really should have kept that encyclopedia I let Bullet borrow. Hunter is some kind of monster when it comes to physicality for someone his age. I haven't had this much fun training someone since Shanks and Buggy.

Now that I have a good beat on his overall strength, it may be a good time to start him on weapons training next while I build him up as he grows. Maybe I'll get him to wield axes like me just to spite his father or maybe I should give him that overweight blade his father used instead.

Ronze D Hunter POV

"GABAN IS A DEMON" is the only thought going through my head. He had me doing exercises that I have only seen special forces do in movies. He has a LITERAL child going through a forest obstacle course with a half a ton in weights spread across his body. He has got to be related to Might Guy somehow.

As soon as I finish the 20th lap around the course which encompasses the entire midway perimeter of the island, which is roughly two thirds the size of the Island of Manhattan, I practically collapse at our door. Gaban comes up to me with a smirk on his face. He says "Get up. It's time to start weapons training." as he smacks my back with the side of his foot then he walks away.

I trudge after him slowly since he hasn't taken the weights off me. We end up in the small clearing where he takes care of anything lumber related, be it chopping trees for firewood or using his axes to somehow make furniture for us to use when they break due to his ridiculous levels of strength. I plop onto the ground with a sizable thud and ask him "So Grandpa G, how am I gonna start weapons training here?"

A vein pops on Gaban's head hearing me call him 'Grandpa'. I know I shouldn't call him that so much but it's one the few things I got right now to entertain me on this island where only him, me, and a few hundred animals live. The island is too peaceful, even for the East Blue.

Gaban stops in front of a weirdly smooth tree stump with a large pile of small logs next to it. He tilts his head back to me and says with a smile on his face that betrayed the annoyance I know he felt, "Alright, this is lesson one of weapons use. I want you to split all these logs. It needs to be an even cut and I don't want any cuts on the stump. Each nic or cut means more weight will be added to your minimum. If you can cut ten in a row perfectly, we can move on to the next step."

I look up at him like he is the biggest idiot in the world and say "What am I even supposed to use to cut the wood?" His smile widens and he says "Your hand of course. How can someone master a weapon if they haven't become a weapon themselves?" After he said that, he tosses a log into the air and effortlessly chops it right down the middle.

Even if what he said sounded stupid as all hell, it made sense in this world where the most absurd things can occur. I look up at him and say with conviction "Okay. I'll do it." What I don't know is that he saw a flash of red cross my eyes when I agreed to the impossible task he gave me. He walks back to our house leaving me to myself.

{4 hours later}

POV Gaban

It's been a little while since I gave the brat his first task. What Hunter doesn't know is that the wood he is to cut is actually an Adam Wood hybrid I grow on the island. His first lesson is to know where your limits are. The wood is stronger than most metals. There is no way he can cut it with just his hands at his age.

As I am about to get up to check on him, I hear a large crash and then a roar that sends shivers down my spine. No creature on the island sounds like that. I haven't felt this sense of terror since the day we found Shanks. Granted this feeling is much weaker but only one being made me want to run away like a scared child, even if it was just for a moment. That was Rocks D Xebec.

Fearing for the life of the child under my care, I run out the house with my axes in hand. I make it to the clearing I left him in and see something I really wasn't expecting. The logs were all split as well as the stump itself. They were all cleanly split down the middle. The strangest thing about it was the large white tiger with itself perched on the lowest branch of the closest tree to the stump.

As I get a closer look of the tiger as I slowly approach it, I see it is an overgrown tiger cub. It opens its eyes and stares at me. It jumps down to the ground allowing me to get a proper gauge on its size. The cub is about as big as I am. Maybe it's a little bigger.

The most unique thing about the tiger besides its white fur is its eyes. They are a blended mix of an emerald green and a familiar shade of dark blue. I am able to tell from the look in the big cat's eyes that it sees me as prey. As I see the cat prepare to pounce at me, I ready my axes in reverse. Something is telling me not to hurt it.

It pounces towards me. I swing one axe towards the side of its head to knock it out. Right as I am about to connect with it, my axe and body pass right through it. It felt as if I was hit by a gentle breeze. Before I can turn, I feel the tiger swat me on the leg as if to say "try harder". We continue this dance for a few minutes each time I feel the tiger getting more and more smug.

Getting annoyed at being played with by an animal, I flip my axes around and go to strike it with the axe heads. Instead of going right through it, I felt the axes shift in my hands and just graze the tiger, shearing off a few hairs from its head, instead of where I had intended to strike it.

I see the feline pant as if it was tired from just this little fight. As I go to swing at it again, the tiger starts to get smaller. Just as I am about to hit the shrinking cat, I see the boy I have been raising pass out in front me. I drop my axes and catch the boy before he falls.

At least now I have a good idea on what his devil fruit is. I wonder if he knows that he released that slight burst of Conqueror Haki. It's not the first time I have seen him use Haki. He seems to use Observation Haki without realizing it on a regular basis. I haven't been able to sneak up on him since a little after he ate that devil fruit. The kid is going to be a real monster when he grows up.

{3 Hours Ago}

POV Hunter

It's been about an hour since Gaban left me here to chop wood with my bare hands. It took me til about 10 minutes ago to get the weights off me. I finally stand up from where I was laying and go to check out the wood. I touch the wood and letters appear in front of it.

[Adam Wood Hybrid Log]

[A log made from a tree hybrid created and grown by Scopper Gaban. The tree is a hybrid of trace amounts of Adam Wood grafted onto Ironwood to try and regrow the renowned Tree of Life in any environment. This wood is perfect for creating anything to last on the seven seas.]

This is the wood he has been using for everything!? No wonder that stick he used to try and sneak attack me with had hurt so much. I am just glad my 'danger sense' followed me here to this world. I was able to get used to it again just about a week ago.

I toss the log from hand to hand trying to figure out a way to cut it. The best way I can think of cutting this with my bare hands is with Haki. The only problem with that is I don't have Haki unlocked. I don't even really know how to unlock it.

I could ask Gaban but it would lead to questions about how I know of it since he never mentioned it or that he knew it. I have asked him how he knew so many stories about the Pirate King Roger a few times. He always says that he heard them while he was a shipwright on a merchant ship. Ridiculous I know but one would expect a child to fall for it.

I gotta think it's similar to unlocking Nen from HunterXHunter or unlocking Ki in Dragon Ball. Both are basically either having someone who already unlocked it awaken it for you, or you have to experience some extremely intense training or some kind of trauma. I am honestly in no rush on this front since the youngest to unlock Haki was my favorite villain from the series, Donquixote Doflamingo. He awakened it at 10 years old. I still have a few years till then.

The most pertinent thing for me is how to use my devil fruit. From what I remember, Paramecia and Logia users seem to be able to use their fruit as soon as they eat it. I have tried to do anything I could think of to use my Zoan fruit. I even did the ridiculous DXD method used to awaken a Sacred Gear. I am glad Gaban never saw that.

I begin to think about what I know about Byakko from my memories about its mythology in both China and Japan. It's a part of the Four Symbols in Taoism with Kaido's and Marco's fruits. Byakko represents the West and is associated with the Element of Metal in the Five Elements of the Chinese Philosophy Wǔxíng.

Byakko is also viewed as the God of the Wind and the King of Animals. It would explain why all the animals on the island don't bother me when I am training. <Finally the cub gets it.> a gravelly voice reverberates from my very soul. I ask aloud "Are you the Will of my devil fruit?" <And if I am?> the voice quips back.

Is this what it means by the Will of a Zoan existing within its fruit? Does Byakko intend to take control of my body? I would rather not take a back seat view to my second chance at a life. <Nor do I want to drive so to speak.> Byakko says to me with what I can only guess is a smirk on his face? and I respond with "Is this how it is with all Zoan type Devil Fruit Users?"

All levity leaves his voice as he says <No. We can converse like this because of your born affinity for the ability known as Observation Haki. Like with the man you know as Patrick Redfield, you were born with a unique ability that comes from Observation Haki. As you already know, you can see information of people and things you touch similar to the ability from your world known as psychometry. Due your outside knowledge of this world, it evolved when your memories returned to you when you found my fruit once again. You can now see the records of the world around you. I believe that the term from your memories for these records is the Akashic Record. From what I can gather from your jumbled memories, there is more to your ability but you just haven't gained enough mastery with it to develop the other aspect.>

I fell to the ground, dropping the log I still had in my hand, trying to digest the information I had just received. "So besides what I thought was my 'Danger Sense' from my past life is actually Observation Haki, I was born with an Advanced version that gives me essentially an 'appraisal' ability at the moment." I say after sitting there for a few minutes.

<Correct, cub.> Byakko says in response. I tilt my head and ask "Why do you keep calling me cub anyway?" I hear what seems like Byakko clearing his throat and he says <Your body is that of a child no matter how old your soul is. Besides the parents that gave you life and your 'Uncle' raising you, I am to act as a guiding figure for you on your path of Righteousness.>

I say to him in a somewhat perturbed manner, "You know I plan on being a pirate, right? Someone who isn't necessarily the paragon of justice." <You forget that Justice is subjective to those that believe they are in the right, cub. You can be a morally grey or even an outright evil person and still live by a code of morals.> Byakko says as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

Already getting tired of the ethics lesson, I ask him "So what abilities do I gain from your fruit, Byakko? He responds <Beside what one would normally gain from a typical Zoan Fruit, you gain a slight dominion over my spheres of influence. The greater your mastery is with it, the more techniques you will develop.>

Seeing where he was going with it, I say "So I have at the moment a limited control of the elements of metal and wind." I feel him smile as he says <You are a lot smarter than you seem, cub. That is correct for the most part. Like with your memories of the Devil Fruits that contain Seiryuu and Suzaku, you gained unique traits that give you abilities similar to fruits that are categorized as Paramecia and Logia. I will guide you on how to train your devil fruit abilities as you develop them.>

"So what would be the most simple abilities from each 'skill tree' as we can call them." I ask the giant tiger residing in my heart or soul, wherever the devil fruit goes after being eaten. <Embodiment would be the most basic. You can either be as free as the wind around you or as sturdy as the metal in the earth. Logia Devil Fruits are the epitome of Embodiment. Control would be the next most basic. Paramecia are, for the most part, Control Incarnate but they are hyper focused on a very specific aspect of their 'element', so to speak.>

"So what do you recommend I focus on first?" I ask Byakko. <The most efficient path would be to split the different aspects amongst the two dominions. I would recommend Wind for Embodiment and Metal for Control. You still have many years until the so-called 'Canon' begins. One mustn't rush on their journey to reach their goal no matter what it be.>

{2.9 hours later}

I spent practically the next 2 and a half hours learning the basic theories behind each dominion and each aspect from Byakko since it is best to learn from an expert rather than try and learn on my own. After that was roughly 20 minutes of me attempting to put said theories in action with little success.

I could only float for a second or so and there wasn't anything metal around to try manipulating. I even tried to turn my hand into a vibrating blade of wind to cut the logs using what I remember about wind manipulation from Naruto. Suffice to say, it didn't work out. I nearly broke my hand on the log.

<It seems like your mind understands what it is trying to do but your body isn't quite getting it. Perhaps I should show you.> Byakko chimes in, stopping me from attempting the 'wind blade hand' again. "How would you be able to do that?" I ask in response.

<Give in to the part of yourself that says it's a tiger and you will transform into your full Zoan form. Then simply give control over to me and I will show you how the basics work.> Byakko sagely states. Against my better judgement, I agree to do so.

Feeling my body shifting is like a full body stretch that relaxes the entire body. For what felt like a couple minutes, the shift took only a couple seconds. I see I am walking on all fours now and I am much bigger than my normal body. <Did you expect something different? My true form is quite sizable. Granted, I am still the second smallest of the Four Symbols.> Byakko chides at my thoughts.

I walk around to get used to how my new body works. After a minute or so of it, I passed control over to Byakko. The feeling of not being in control of your own body is like watching a movie from a first person perspective. I watch and feel the basics that Byakko was explaining to me. Devil fruit abilities seem to work off one's imagination if it fits in the confines of one's powers.

After he's cut all the logs showing a variety of ways to use Control for Wind since that was the most efficient thing to do, Byakko asks me <Cub, do you mind if I let loose once since, in all honesty, I have been in that fruit without a host for almost 700 years?>. I mentally shrug my shoulders thinking what's the worst that could happen.

Byakko let's put a roar that sends out a shockwave that blows the wind into a gale force for a moment and it splits the stump. Byakko then decides to rest in the shade of the closest tree on the lowest branch. Shocked at the so-called God of Righteousness acting like a kid himself, I am surprised yet again when Gaban comes out of nowhere brandishing both his axes.

Byakko then leaps down from the perch he had and mentally says to me <Perfect timing, Cub. Your 'Uncle' will serve as the perfect training dummy for me to show you the concept of Embodiment.> As Gaban is about to strike us with the back of his axe, a feeling of floating encompasses me and we phase right through him as if we were a breeze of air.

As the dance between Byakko and Gaban continues, Byakko tells me <That feeling of floating is what you should focus on when you Embody the Dominion of Wind. I am going to pass control back to you now that you understand the basics.>. The feeling of being in control of my body returns as I phase through Gaban's attack.

Exhaustion suddenly hits me. It seems the nearly 10 hours of training finally caught up to my young body. Gaban seems to notice my tiredness and goes to strike me with the axe head this time. I feel for the part of my soul that now resides in the Dominion of Metal. In my desperation, I alter the course of his axe swing to just barely miss me.

After that, I start seeing spots in my vision. <It seems you have met your limits for now. Get some rest, Cub, you are going to need it.> Byakko said as my consciousness fades into slumber and my body shifts back to normal as I fall into a familiar figure's embrace.