Merry Awakened

Straw Hats were having the banquet with Shandians and Skypieans.

Their banquet was quite wild as everyone began to enjoy it a lot. But, this banquet only lasted two days.

After that, Straw Hat decided to leave Sky Island.

During this time, Liam was exploring Sky Island and gathering gold. After all, it was normal for him to gather enough gold for the future of his crew.

Nami was with him and so were Robin and Vivi.

Two Days Later,

"Luffy, it's time to leave Sky Island." Liam stood on the deck and shouted at Luffy who was still talking to Shandians.

"Coming!" Luffy shouted and finally bid farewell to his new friends before running toward the Going Merry.

"So, is everyone ready to leave?" Liam turned his head towards the other crew members and asked.

"Yes!"

Everyone raised their hands and shouted.

"Good! We don't have any reason to stay here. We will continue our journey in the Grandline."

Liam nodded his head and turned his head toward Conis.

"Bye Conis!"

"Everyone, goodbye!"

Conis raised her hands with a big smile on her face and shouted.

Soon, Luffy reached the ship and they started sailing toward the end of the Sky Island.

As soon as the ship started falling from the sky, a massive octopus appeared over them and formed a huge balloon.

"Wow! Such a big octopus."

Seeing this octopus, Luffy's eyes gleamed and he started drooling.

Bam!

"Idiot! That's not our dinner." Nami slapped his head and shouted.

"Anyway, will we be safe with this Octopus?" Nami turned her head toward Liam and asked. She was afraid that the octopus will suddenly give up supporting them and they will crash into the sea.

"We will have no problem unless our Captain doesn't make any mess. Luffy, that is not your plaything. So, don't even think about it."

Liam looked at Luffy who was trying to sneak to the top of the Octopus and spoke.

"Ehh! Can't I play with it?" Luffy showed innocent eyes as he started playing child in front of Liam.

"Nope! If you do anything to it, the Octopus will lose its air and we will all crash into the sea. Some of us might survive that but some might really die."

When Liam said that, Luffy instantly became obedient.

No matter how much of a childish person he was, he wouldn't allow anything to threaten the lives of his crew.

"But, I have another that you can play and also train." Liam mysteriously smiled and spoke.

"What? What?" Luffy got excited as he quickly rushed toward Liam and others did the same, especially Usopp and Chopper.

Liam took out several of the bands from his pocket and his expression drastically changed. He immediately threw them on the deck and said.

"These are Sea Stones Bracelets. You can wear them and learn Geppo. After learning Geppo, you can fly in the air and do whatever you want."

As soon as he said that, Luffy's expression dropped drastically. He was basically rejecting this idea.

But, Liam also knew how to inspire Luffy to train.

"Luffy, in the future, you will have to fight against Admirals and Four Emperors alone. Remember, even those Admirals are one rank below Four Emperors, they can still fight Four Emperors for a long time."

"So, if you train with these Sea Stone Bracelets, you don't have to worry about losing against them in Haki. Because Haki is spiritual power as well as physical power."

"The higher your physical power gets, the more Haki you can use. Besides that, if you find a bird in the air, you don't even have to use Gears to catch it and then Sanji can cook it for you."

Hearing the last sentence, Luffy's mouth started drooling.

"But, if I remember correctly, Luffy doesn't know Geppo. Would it be good for him to learn Geppo with sea stones on?"

Sanji lit up his cigarette and asked.

"It will take at least three to four days to land on the sea. Until then, Luffy will be able to get used to Sea stones. By the way Luffy, I have something fun for you."

Liam took out several of the boxes from the Cabin and threw them toward Luffy.

Luffy touched them and felt weakness all over his body. Despite training in the sea, he was barely able to touch these Sea stones and use a little bit of power.

"I asked Sanji to keep some meat inside these boxes. They are made of powerful Iron and Sea stones. When you put on those bracelets, you will already feel weak. So, to get over that weakness, you need to try to use your Haki and physical strength to break those boxes and eat the meat inside them."

As soon as Liam explained that, Luffy immediately tried to break one of the boxes without even putting on the bracelet.

"Idiot, I said wear these first!"

Liam instantly grabbed Luffy and forced him to put on those bracelets. As soon as he put on those bracelets, he felt incredibly weak.

"Sanji, here!"

Liam passed two bracelets to Sanji and said.

"You and Zoro can train at the same time. Zoro needs to build more endurance and strength so you will be using your lightning to strike him constantly."

"But, at the same time, you will have to wear these bracelets which will limit your devil fruit abilities. That means if you want to strike him harder, you must surpass your limits."

"Chopper, you just focus on that medicine I told you about. Nami, Robin, and Vivi, you need to continue your basic training. For three to four days, we will be doing nothing so it's better to use this time to train."

"Usopp, come with me!"

After giving the orders, Liam turned around and walked toward the Cabin with Usopp.

Everyone followed his command. Although he was just a Vice Captain, the crew would follow his commands more than Luffy's.

Of course, it didn't mean they put Liam above Luffy. Luffy was still the captain and the spiritual pillar of the crew.

But, Liam was more of a commanding figure of the crew.

"Liam, where are we going?"

Looking at Liam who opened a hole in the cabin, he curiously asked. Usopp knew about this part of the ship.

It was inside the ship that was used as the storage room.

"I have been thinking for a while. Our ship is certainly amazing but there is one thing it lacks." Liam answered as he kept moving inside the storage.

"What is it?" Usopp curiously asked.

"Durability! Going Merry was made out of normal wood. They might be able to stand the waves of East Blue but Grandline is a monster that can easily destroy it."

"So, I have been keeping an eye on its injuries hoping to fix it before it gets worse. But I found something extremely interesting, especially in Sky Island."

Liam explained as he walked closer to the empty barrels.

"Liam, don't be so mysterious. Tell me, what's going on?" Usopp couldn't bear the suspense since it was related to the ship that he loved the most.

"Look what I found before!"

Liam held several of the pieces of strange fruit in his hand. He showed them to Usopp with a mysterious smile on his face.

"Why are you showing me this eaten fruit? Is it special?" Usopp didn't find the texture of this fruit similar so he immediately asked.

"Think more about it. Don't you find this texture similar?" Liam didn't explain immediately instead put those pieces into Usopp's hand.

Usopp thought about it for a moment. He had a good memory so when he began to relate this fruit to devil fruit, one specific devil fruit came into his mind.

"Isn't this the devil fruit that we found on that island?"

Usopp's eyes widened as he asked.

"Exactly! Root-Root Fruit that we found on Green Island. We thought we lost it before but it was always in our ship. And, guess who ate this fruit?"

Liam's smile only got wider as he asked.

At this moment, Usopp who had learned a lot about Devil fruits from Liam instantly came up with a guess.

"It's Merry. She ate the devil fruit."

"Bingo! Merry ate the Root Root Fruit. That's why she was able to heal all the injuries that she suffered when she reached Sky Island." Liam's smile only grew wider as he spoke.

Usopp eyes didn't stop from widening but he still had some doubts.

"But, we don't have the technology of Vegapunk. How did Merry eat that devil fruit?"

"Hahaha!"

"That's right! That's what makes Merry different from other tools that ate devil fruit. She is different because she didn't eat devil fruit but rather she awakened the Ship Spirit."

"Yes, it's not the ship that ate devil fruit but rather the Ship Spirit. Usopp, Merry awakened the Ship Spirit.

At this moment, Usopp didn't know how to react. He just looked shocked, ecstatic, and amazed.

"Merry awakened Ship spirit and ate the devil fruit?"