Chapter 3: Moving Forward

Minutes passed as Flint sat crossed legs with his eyes closed. He focused intensely on the state of his body. While he was not used to meditation, he had spent his childhood learning how to hunt and fight with his father for food. This had made him a lot more in tune to the workings of his own body, after all, one misstep in a hunt or battle could cause fatalities.

"Nothing..."

Despite all of the build-up, Flint felt nothing, no changes. While his body was still exhausted and run down, he felt no difference in its state considering the supposed power contained within that Devil Fruit.

"That's kind of disappointing, maybe it's a dud?"

Flint quickly shook his head before his thoughts spiralled into a negative whirlpool of despair.

His closest friend had told him that it was a life-changing item, he chose to believe that and gamble everything on this chance.

He got to his feet and made his way out of the cave.

"For now, that place seems solid enough to make a temporary base out of, there's no telling whether the raiders will be back"

He had no home to return to, no one waiting for him. It truly was a fresh start.

"Food is my priority I suppose, there should be a short while before night"

Flint contemplated, prioritising his tasks.

While the village was a relatively safe place, the forests surrounding it were quite dangerous. It was these forests and cliffs that had protected the village from raiders for so long, the forests were filled with venomous snakes and wild beasts like wolves.

Skulking around the forest, Flint kept his body low. Although he would play about in the forest daily, he knew better than anyone to not underestimate it.

The sun fell as Flint carried his catch of the day. It was a pale blue bird with a duckbill and chicken legs.

He dragged his worn body back into the small crack.

In the few daylight hours left, Flint had gathered enough materials to make a fire to cook his food at the very least and while he had originally intended to cook and eat it outside the cave, he realised that the skylight of the cave was the perfect funnel for smoke to stop the sealed room from becoming smoke filled.

"At least I won't be sat out in the cold waiting for food"

As he watched the fire sizzle the meat hanging above the flame, Flint realised he had forgotten something. Something essential to surviving.

"Water... I forgot it..."

Flint had forgotten one of the three essential human needs.

"Fuuuuuuuck"

Flint sank on the spot, his body weak as he thought about the last time he had drank water, the night before.

"First thing tomorrow, water is my priority. The village well is unusable, it's likely contaminated at this point and I don't really want to go back there just yet..."

With those final words, Flint dug into his unseasoned food before heading to bed.

The next morning came, as a solemn silence filled the forest.

Flint had woken early, forced awake by his restless sleep.

He trekked through the forest, heading towards the ocean. As his village was among the mountains, the journey was at least an hour when travelling downwards therefore, he packed up some of the meat he had saved up and left as soon as he woke.

The journey down took him a little over an hour as he chose to descend slower than usual, keeping an eye out for bandit remanents.

The sounds of crashing waves caused a small smile to creep upon his lips.

"Finally..."

Flint gazed out towards the vast blue sea as he savoured the light breeze brushing against his skin.

"Now then, it was to the right"

Flint began strolling along the beach, warily observing his surroundings. Of course, he had not come to the beach for drinking water, he was not that desperate. What he was truly looking for was the exit of a freshwater river that travels from the mountain peaks and leads into the ocean.

"Ah, there it is but wait a minute"

Flint stopped in his tracks as he looked at the familiar river exit. After all, despite its familiarity, something felt different.

"The mouth is wider"

Flint tilted his head as he saw the clearly manmade adjustments made to the river's mouth. Upon closer inspection, sand piles were lined further upstream.

"Has someone used the sand from here to dull the impact of the rushing current? But what for?"

He could not think of any idea why the village residents would do this, after all, the few sea ships they had, used to be lined up along the beach, ready to be launched.

"Perhaps this was them..."

Eventually, he came to the conclusion that it was the bandits.

"This leans more towards them being pirates over bandits, considering they were that determined to be docked safely"

Most pirates would anchor offshore while leaving someone to maintain the boat and the rest would head to sea via rowboats or even swimming. Bandits however were those that had no desire for the sea beyond what was compulsory.

"Regardless of who it was, it changes nothing... For now, I need to hop across to the other side, the water here is too salty to be a good source of drinking water"

Flint took a look at the speed of the flowing water and judged that it was safe to walk through.

"I guess their tampering helped me a bit, we used to have to do a running jump... the amount of times I fell in isn't even funny..."

Bittersweet memories flooded his mind as he took a step forward. His foot sank into the river. Followed by his body. Energy drained from his body at an alarming rate.

Flint's mind raced as he used the remainder of his energy to throw his already limp body to the other side.

His breathing was ragged as he pulled his body out of the water.

"Hah haah hah That haaa was way too close... did I fall into a trap?"

Flint stared at the inch-deep water that had given him a deathly experience, yet all he saw was the water. Not a single sign that a trap of that calibre had been set, not that he was very experienced with traps.

"Wait... that is seawater right?"

His heart thumped loudly as a theory slowly built in his mind.

"Is it that? The Devil Fruit?"

It was the only answer that made sense.

"However, if that's the case..."

Flint decided he would investigate the moment he got further upstream.

"The small lake should be a good place to top up on water and test"

Something in his body was telling him that water was the key.

Time passed as Flint finally found himself at one of the many connected lakes along the river. This was one of the smaller lakes on the island.

Flint looked at the calm surface, his reflection stared back at him.

"While I am here, I may as well wash off the dirt from my body"

Flint stripped off his ragged clothes and set them aside, before crouching down to scoop some water to cleanse his face.

"I wish I brought a bucket... I have my waterskin but I would rather not use that for washing if I can help it"

Despite his careful actions, the water slipped between his fingers, leaving nothing but droplets behind.

"Hmmm maybe if I'm quicker with it"

This time, he dipped his cupped hands in and yanked them out within seconds. Water splashed out of the lake, yet only droplets splashed on his face.

"Ah I am a baby now..."

After his reenactment of baby's first bath, he dipped his hands into the water once more.

"If this doesn't work, I suppose I will have to use the waterskin"

Flint focused on the water he had cupped in his hands, his face tense as he tried to stop it from moving.

His hands moved slowly, without the water budging. Flint released some of his tension when he noticed the water had stopped moving. The water remained in place even as his fingers relaxed slightly.

He looked away from his hands, to do a double-check. As he did, he noticed the unnatural stillness of the water in front of him.

The lake's surface was completely still. Well, that was not completely true, in a radius of roughly 3 meters, the water had an unnatural stillness, beyond that, the water flowed naturally with the wind.

Suddenly, the name of the devil fruit resurfaced in his mind.

"Phantom Liquid Fruit"