Chapter 23 Getting The Crew Battle Ready

EMBASSA CITY PORT

"..Patain….Captain!...CAPTAIN!" A voice began yelling until it got right in my face.

"AHHH, what the hell!" I said jumping to my feet with a start, looking around expecting enemies. I'm mildly annoyed to see Drake standing there.

"Drake….. What the hell is so important that you woke me up like that!" I said with barely controlled anger at my Vice-Captain.

"You never told us what the plan was when you got back, It's midday and you and Mori have been passed out here for hours." He said with a tick mark appearing on his brow while he pointed towards Mori laying next to an empty barrel of beer.

"...Oh… damn. Gather the crew, and get her ready to set sail, I'll meet you all on the upper deck once I get cleaned up" I said while giving him a pat on the shoulder as I made a beeline for my cabin. Quickly changing my shirt and pants I rearm myself with my weapons as I head towards the upper deck to get a good look at the crew.

'Hmm, really need to make a name for our crew….Heaven's bounty? Edge Runners?....How about GinTaka… gotta workshop that' I finished the thought with a smile as I headed into my office to be greeted by a surge of new faces. Giving all of them a smile I head toward the bounty wall before stabbing a dagger into a specific poster. Minor gasps were heard around the room as well as plenty of battle-lusted smirks.

"Good morning everyone" I said with a smile as everyone greeted me back. "Well as you can see our next target has been chosen" I said with a smirk as I took my seat behind the desk.

"The Ghost-Hand Pirates, the third-ranked crew in the North Blue, those posters are actually out of date, as of now the Captain is worth 135,000,000 while his Vice-Captain reached an impressive number of Seventy million." I said with a devious smirk as I observed everyone's reactions. Mori seemed to be the most excited, Drake was mildly excited, Law and Sugar seemed curious about how hunting worked, while Monet, Corazon, and Caeser seemed more interested in what I had to say next.

"Now from the Information I've received they are only a 6-man crew, while impressive, it's a weakness I intend to exploit. I have already decided the Captain is mine to face in one on one combat, while Monet will take care of the other four by herself" I said with nothing but confidence in her, she seemed surprised and began to object before I quickly silenced her.

"But captain I just starte…"

"It'll be fine 'snowball', there isn't one person on that crew that could hurt you, besides this is vital to your training. Just trust in yourself, all of us will be watching your back" I said to her with a smile as the rest of the crew were quick to nod in approval.

"Yes… Captain" She said slowly gaining confidence with the crew's show of support.

"And what of the Vice?" Drake asked curiously, causing me to realize I forgot something.

"I've decided to leave that decision up to you, though I'd like you to pick between yourself,Corazon, and Mori to face him in single combat. 'Bokumi Tora' has defeated a marine Captain in single combat, he's also an accomplished swordsman. So I'll give you a few minutes to decide. But on another note, Mori and Law come forward" I said with a smile as Drake stopped and seemed to go into a thinking pose.

"Yes Cap?" Mori asked curiously as the chibi Law was beside him.

"I guess I'll start with you, here, tell me how this is?" I said as I dropped a beautifully crafted 1.8-meter-long single-bladed ax onto my desk. Mori's eyes lit in joy as he grabbed the ax in happiness, giving it a few test swings until giving me a nod in satisfaction.

"She's called Berserkr, a skillful graded weapon, perfect for a swordsman of your level." I said with a smile as he showed genuine surprise and looked at the ax in his hand with a new light.

"Thank you Cap!" Mori said excitedly.

"No problem Mori, just get used to it. Now Law.. Pick one" I said as I dropped two katanas onto the table. He seemed confused before grabbing the one with orange and black accents.

"What do I need a sword for?" The kid asked, confused.

"You ate the Operation fruit, a surgeon is nothing without mastery over a blade. I'll be personally overseeing your swordsmanship once Mori finishes your basic training." I said with a smile as the boy's eyes widened in understanding, he thanked me before retaking his seat. Deciding that was done I turned to Drake waiting for his decision.

"With everything you've told us, I'd say it'd be best for me to handle Tora." Drake said with resolve, I just nodded accepting his decision.

"Alright then, apparently they've camped themselves on Minion Island, about a week and a half away. During that time I'd like to set up training plans for all of you. Starting with Law, you will join Mori and Sugar for your conditioning training. However, by mid-day, you will be with Corazon, the delegated Paramecia teacher. Caesar, you will also join Law and Corazon." I said thoughtfully, looking up I noticed no objections to the proposition.

"Good on that front, Corazon will be training with me during the mornings, and I will continue to train you Monet during the whole day. These training plans will be followed every day unless I say so.." I said, eyeing both of them and receiving nods in response.

"And finally Drake and Mori, I'm sure you guys already have your training set?"

"Yes Captain" Drake confirmed.

"Yep" Mori replied.

"Well with that settled what are you guys still doing here? Get your asses to work!" I yelled with a smirk as they all ran out the door with impressive speed. 'I guess I better follow my own advice... Hopefully, Monet can push me enough to evolve my Observation Haki, I'm sure I can knock out this last level in a few days' Finishing the thought I headed over to the 'Range; to oversee Monet's progress.

'I guess before I check on Monet, I should make sure there aren't any problems with Law and Caesers training under Corazon….." I finished the thought as Drake's voice came yelling from the helm.

"Turning Hard to port, Mori release the sails!" I heard him order, seconds later the ship caught wind and we started heading away from Embassa.

"Got her locked on a direct course toward Minion island, should only be a week and a few days if the winds are on our side" Drake said as he appeared next to me in a flash of Soru, the metal training suit already on. "Yep I need to get started too, don't want these training freaks to surpass me'

"Thanks for your hard work Drake, train well, Bokumi Tora will be your hardest battle to date." I advised him while I patted his shoulder in support.

"Ha, don't worry about my fight Captain, you have a monster of your own to defeat." Drake said with a chuckle as he walked off to join Mori in his training.

'Well let's go check on the Paramecia squad to see how Corazon is handling it.' I thought while brushing off Drake's challenge, heading over to the western side of the deck I came to see both Law and Ceaser sitting in front of Cora as he seemed to be going over the basics of the Paramecia class. Deciding to listen in without interrupting I sat on one of the ship's rails closest to them.

"What you both need to understand is how wide the paramecia class is, one could turn you into a cannon while the other could make you secrete poison, sometimes they can even copy abilities that would be considered to fit in the other two classes. There will never be one training plan that will work for all fruits considering how much abilities can vary. I already have a few ideas for both of you. Oh captain, is there anything you'd like to add?" Corazon finished his speech and looked up to find me overlooking their training.

"No you're doing fine Cora, continue please" I said with a smile as the man dropped two items in front of his charges. A bundle of steel for Caeser and a piece of meat for Law.

"Ok then, I'll start with you Caeser, I want you to focus your dissolving energy onto this ball of steel, however, I don't want to see a single drop hit the floor. Before power comes control, and with a fruit as potentially dangerous as yours, control is an absolute must. Wouldn't want you dissolving through the ship and killing yourself, Hahaha" He said with a smile as he watched Caeser try a few times, failing badly. He smirked and offered a few words of encouragement to our gorilla before turning towards Law who was looking at his piece of meat in confusion.

"And what am I doing? Cooking?" Law asked with a smirk, holding the piece of meat in confusion.

"You're a surgeon kid, practice on animals before you practice on people" I chimed in, the boy turned to me and nodded in understanding.

"Room" The boy said much to Corazon's and my surprise, he lifted the katana carefully before doing a couple of meticulous swings, almost perfectly cutting the boar meat into four slices. Cora started clapping madly in excitement at Law's talent. 'Well I'll be damned, I don't know what I expected but his talent is slightly insane. Hmmm I wonder if his mastery over regular medicine transferred over to his Operation fruit ability'

"Impressive, but you have to be a perfectionist with a fruit like yours kid. I know you already see it but that small mistake you made could be a difference between saving a life and taking one. Alright, that's all from me, I'll leave you boys alone to get a handle on your fruits. Oh and Cora, good job" I said as I nodded to him and left the boys to their work.

"Thank you captain" Cora replied as I headed off towards the Range to see what Monet was up to you.

A few seconds later I came to a surprising scene, three of the metal targets with an Ice sickle stabbed almost everywhere within the target range. Turning to Monet I see her covered in sweat as she had a total of twenty 'Snow icicles' floating above her head. With a single twitch of her brow, they all were sent flying into the furthest target, not a single miss. 'I guess her future battle lit a fire under her, she's never trained this hard on her own. Looks like my plans working perfectly, she's ready to create her next move'

'Well look at you, looks like you're ready" I greeted her with a smile, she turned to me quickly, a small scowl marrying her features before she sighed and waited for instruction.

"So… You figure out a cool name for your attack?"

"Are you serious….."

"Now don't be sour, it's half the fun of fighting, come on. I know you thought of something." I said with a smirk as she huffed for a moment before answering.

"I was thinking of….' Sickle barrage'?" She said embarrassedly. 'Not bad, I guess' I thought with a sigh.

"Alright, workshop that. But congratulations on your first move" I told her with a smile as she did a jump in happiness. I let her celebrate for about a minute before interrupting her.

"Now it's time to move on, you have two choices on your next move. Defensive or Area of Effect?" I asked curiously, wondering where she'll take her 'build'.

She stopped celebrating before thinking it over for around a minute.

"I'd like to try creating an area of effect move…." She said slightly unsure if that was the best answer.

"Yes! I was honestly hoping you'd decide on Damage. Well, I have an Idea I'd like to try out, it shouldn't take you too long to grasp the concept, I believe in you" I said as I took out a book from my inventory.

"What is that?" She asked curiously as she appeared next to me looking over my shoulder.

"Here it is, I haven't told you this but with Elemental fruits like yours sometimes it's smart to research how Nature uses it because sometimes it's easier to recreate something than make something new. This is a 'Snow devil', in simple terms it's a tornado made of snow. A very rare and destructive force, this will be your goal for the next few weeks. Create one, it doesn't matter the size" I told her as her eyes widened at the possibilities.

"Yes captain!" She said before walking off in excitement to try it out.

"Hey, this is yours, It's a record of every snowstorm that's been recorded in the North Blue, read it in your spare time. I have to go make a few calls, but I'll be back to give you a few pointers later" I told her with a smile as I threw her the small book.

"Don't take too long, I might figure it out by then" She said cheekily as she walked off toward the edge of the ship to practice. 'God dam….' I thought as I watched her walk away, though my thoughts froze when she turned and looked at me with a smirk and continued to walk. 'I swear it's every time, how does she catch me...…. Let's just go call fucking Vista' I finished the thought with a sigh as I headed toward my cabin.