Karate Island

The arrival into the South Blue was not grand in the slightest, mostly because, well, it was just a weird entrance, not even worth much as an entrance, but I didn't expect much. It didn't even click in my mind, because it happened almost instantaneously, the ocean went from flat with no waves to a bunch of waves. I did notice the change, but I had been mindlessly just rowing, which was hard to do without showing my devil fruit ability off.

But I did notice when Rosalina appeared in front of me and said "You can stop now Buggy. We have arrived in the South Blue, and I can take back over."

As soon as she finished her sentence, I ended up dropping the oars to the ground as well as falling to the ground myself.

"Buggy, are you okay?"

I could hear her concern, and answered "Hmm. I guess I tired myself out a lot. How fast were we goin?"

I didn't look up and Rosalina answered "We were going relatively speedily. I am surprised that all you have done is your training to get that kind of performance out of your young body. But it seems as though you have done a lot of this training of yours, so I could only presume you could do it through such training. Now, if you would kindly excuse me, I am going to head to the helm to bring us to the Torino Kingdom."

All I could muster up was a thumbs up, and didn't move from that spot for a while.

A few days passed by, and I barely did much besides relaxing and training. Alice and Mariga had just been relaxing as well, while Taki had some training on the number of moons she could create, which was a weird sight to see. A ship, which had actual moons appearing and disappearing without a trace, some kids chilling on the deck, one swinging a sword, and one that looked like a fox.

It was quite a sight for the people who happened to pass by. And it happened more that once, we just didn't pay any attention to them, and went in a near direct direction, since Rosalina was trusted to do the navigation and steering.

Since my two different errands were going to happen first, we were heading towards the Torino Kingdom, which I still didn't remember if it was something I knew of or not.

But after not having restocked up on supplies, we needed to stop on just some island with civilization. And so, when we arrived, I was confused a little because of the people of the island. It was covered in people who looked like they were all ready to fight. It was also covered in buildings that looked like dojos, which confused me more, since I had no recollection of this island at all.

I turned to Rosalina and said "So, um, Rosa, what island are we on? It looks like a bunch of people are ready to fight, and it's slightly.. off-putting."

Rosalina was docking the ship fully, tying it to the dock that we ended up at.

"Oh, this island? This is Karate Island, which so happens to be one of the best places to find anyone who can fight without a weapon, hence the name, Karate Island."

"Karate island, huh?"

'Karate Island. Karate ISLAND. KARATE island. I can't come up with anything. Besides, an island full of fighters who don't use weapons, and yet use their whole bodies? That sounds like-'

I just stood there blankly, deciding to, as covertly as possible, use Observation to check for something.

'Could Helven have been trained here? His stupidly named 'Windy Forcy' techniques could have.. well.. possibly originated from here, but I just need to find someone using it, and I can find them, maybe learn it.'

I turned to look at Alice, Mariga, and Taki, who was in a cloak, and had an idea.

'Maybe coming here was an omen of some kind. While I think some actual formal training for myself would be good, maybe Alice should train here to become able to fight, maybe then, she can come with-. No, she can't, I would still have to bring along Mari then, since I don't want to just dump another child for Rouge to take care of. I'll have to put this idea on hold, but it might not be a bad one to keep in mind. If Garp shows up, I might have to tell him to bring Alice to train. Of course.. NOW I'm having a dilemma with what to do with Alice, instead of before she joined. I guess I put myself in that position, so I can't do anything about it now. Oh well.'

I had found nothing on the 'Windy Forcy'techniques, but still decided to wander around for the day while Rosalina, who was very insistent on resupplying by herself, got supplies for our trip around the South Blue.

I started to take a step forward when I heard a voice from behind me say "Father, can I come with?"

It threw me for a loop, because I knew the voice, and tripped a little when I heard them. It was Mariga who had said that, and I was utterly shocked at what she had just said.

"Wha.. wha.. whatdja jus call me?"

Slightly dejected, Mariga moved back slightly, putting her hands together before saying "Do you not like it?"

I thought on it for a second. 'Okay. Pros and cons of having Mari call me father. Um.. uh.. hmm?' I rubbed my eyes with my finger and thumb. 'I can't come up with anything as a pro or as a con. There's like.. a lot to unpack. I can guess she called me that because she sees me as.. a sort of.. father.. figure? Why would she see me as-' Something clicked in my mind.

'Is it because I saved her and was willing to protect her a while ago? It can't be that simple right?'

Stumbling still, I asked "Mari, you.. wouldn't happen to.. have a reason? To call me 'Father'.. instead of.. *sigh* ..'Bugs'?"

Twiddling her fingers, Mariga spoke quietly "It because you're cool. You saved me, and cared for me even if you did other stuff.. and.. I.. never.. had.. one."

'So it is that simple. That- But- Aaaaaah!' I groaned and looked directly at Mariga. "I'm not even old enough to be your father, but sure. Okay. You can call me.. 'Father'. If it's REALLY what you want to call me, then go ahead."

I sighed again and then looked at Alice and Taki. Both of their reactions were eyes slightly popping out of their heads, and jaws dropped to the floor.

'Oh, thank Director! I'm not the only one completely shocked by this development!'

I turned, ready to see Rosalina's reaction, only to find her not there. She had left a while ago, and I didn't notice.

Grinding my teeth together a little, I thought 'Damn you Rosalina, I was ready to see your reaction and you aren't here! Besides! Now I really know you have some weird power! You disappeared without a trace, even with my observation!'

I used Observation really quickly to find Rosalina, who was shopping and I continued my thoughts 'Oh fine. You don't have some weird power, and I just don't pay attention. Apparently. I will try to find out about you though. Hope my theory is wrong, so I don't freaking die.'

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the three in front of me. Taki, Mariga, and Alice, two of which were still in a stupor over me being called 'Father'. I just decided to ignore it, and turned towards the town.

"Okay then, how about we wander around. We don't have anything else to do today, right?"

Without looking back, I started walking foward, towards the town, with a Mariga who shouted towards me "Father! Please wait up!" Followed by the footsteps of Mariga, which were then followed by the footsteps of both Alice and Taki, who said in unison "Don't run off like that! We don't need a second situation like THAT!"

I felt a little defeated, saying "Oh, Director, I hope this isn't my day."

And walked through town.

While on the walk, we didn't find much, or more specifically, I didn't find much. No one was practicing the 'Windy Forcy' techniques that Helven used, and the only things I could find were Fishman Karate, multiple types of boxing, several variations of Karate that I had no idea of, but one hundred percent nothing of 'Windy Forcy' techniques.

'I guess I had my hopes up. *Sigh* If he breaks out, I'll have to capture him or something and have him train one of my crew in the 'Windy Forcy' techniques.'

Almost nothing happened the rest of the day. Taki, Alice and Mariga were watching the people fight each other, each using different techniques, and it was interesting to me that they were enthralled with the fighting, but I had fried my brain thanks to Mariga calling me 'Father', so I just paid somewhat subconscious attention to everything.

Then, when we arrived back at the Dock, where Rosalina was putting food and supplies away, I was approached by someone who said "Yo kid, ya wanna fight?"