Filler

Notice Island

Pov Basil Hawkins.

We were currently on Notice Island stocking up on polar tang forecasts, a week had passed since my battle against Bastille, I was close to death and that reminded me of how weak I still am.

It's true, I've awakened all three types of haki, but I'm still weak and I should barely be a bit stronger than the Hawkins from the manga when I get to Sabaody.

Law came with me on the way to the forest, we had separated from Bepo and the others while they supplied the ship, because we are going to train.

We walked a few more minutes and stopped in a clearing.

"Well Law, I'll give you a first example of what Observation Haki is for, the two of you who are hiding come out" I said this and Law was surprised to realize that we were being followed and he hadn't noticed.

Two teenagers came out of the trees, one was tall and dark with long, disheveled blonde hair. He has a scar above his right eye and tattoos on his arms.

The other was tall and white-skinned. Her hair was long and light blue in color.

'So, it's Bellamy and his partner, who I don't remember much about'

"Mr. Hawkins I'm not looking for trouble, I introduce myself I'm Bellamy and this is my friend Sarquiss, we are sincere fans of you Mr. Hawkins" Bellamy was on his knees next to Sarquiss while he said those words to me.

I guess he replaced his admiration for Doflamingo with an admiration for me, though I thought he would be a Doflamingo fan by now, but never mind.

"I understand Bellamy, what do you want by following me?" As always, my tone of voice was calm.

"We would like to join your crew, sir." Bellamy raised his head, emotion showing on his face.

This guy was pretty weak before the timeskip, but after that the fact that he was one of the favorites to win the Colosseum tournament shows that he became relatively strong at least.

"Tell me Bellamy, do you think you're strong enough to join my crew? For now, I only have my first commander, which is Law who is next to me" I said while pointing to Law, they both turned to look at him but there was no recognition in their eyes, because Law still had no reward.

"Commander?" Law asked.

"Oh right, I haven't told you yet, my first goal is to be at least a Yonkou and for that I need several commanders, you are my first commander and vice captain" I said without giving importance to what I had just said.

But Law, Bellamy and Sarquiss were surprised, my goal as one of the four emperors was not something easy to achieve and was only surpassed in difficulty by the dream of being the king of the pirates.

"Allow me to be one of your commanders, Ser Hawkins, I will not disappoint you." Bellamy stood up with emotion.

"First I want you two to fight Law, so I can get an idea of ​​his strength."

They both nodded and prepared to fight, Law turned to see me and I gave him a nod.

A while later.

The fight went as I imagined, Law defeated them in a simple way, even if he hadn't used the devil fruit, he could have defeated them, but he used the fruit at my request, to show them how weak they were.

Both were now lying on the ground with blows to most of the body, they received a beating.

"Bellamy and Sarquiss, you are still extremely weak, but don't worry if you join me, you will be able to go further than you can independently."

They were both moved upon hearing my words.

They may have been weak in the original story, but they were still above average pirates in paradise, with good training and some useful devil fruits they could reach a good level. What I appreciate most is that Bellamy and consequently Sarquiss they can be very loyal to me, by the way it seems that Bellamy hadn't eaten his spring fruit yet.

"Very well, while you recover, I will train with Law"

time jump

2 months later.

The training had gone great, I had been able to use my haki at will, of course I'm still weak as I can only cover parts of my body the size of my fist with haki, which means I'm a long way from getting a handle of armor haki like Vergo's.

But like I said, at least I'm already able to summon it at will, also the king's haki.

But my biggest breakthrough hadn't been with Haki, my biggest breakthrough had been with rokushiki.

Where previously he only knew how to use the Soru, he had now managed to learn how to use Geppo, Shigan and Rankyaku.

Knowing that long-distance sword slashes can be slashed with the sword, so I practiced it together, reaching an acceptable level of slashing with a sword, I need to get a Meito soon.

Law also advanced quickly, although he has not yet mastered haki if he could learn Tekkai which I told him he could use as a base to learn armor haki, he also managed to learn Soru and Geppo.

Bellamy and Bepo were only able to learn Soru and Shigan, their talent was not as good as Law's.

Sarquiss learned Rankyaku and Soru, he seems like the type that likes to finish things off quickly.

Penguin and Shachi only managed to learn Soru, they are relatively strong, but they are the weakest in the group.

The last two months I thought if I should make Bepo one of my commanders, but I think it's not ideal, he along with Penguin and Shachi are loyal to Law and not so much to me.

Still, as long as Law is loyal to me, they will be loyal to me.

We are currently at sea sailing on the Polar Tang, which now had my Jolly Roger, we had left Notice today and I am thinking that it is time to leave for the grand line.

As always, we are on the surface, because I don't like being under the sea enclosed... my damn claustrophobia accompanies me in this life.

"Captain Hawkins, where should we go now?" Law asked me, it seems that he has gained a certain loyalty towards me thanks to the fact that I have made him stronger.

"I think it's time to go to the Grand Line, we must become stronger through battles" I said to Law and he gave me a nod.

When Law was turning around to inform the others about our next direction, everything was suddenly darkened by a large shadow, we both turned to look up.

"Shit…" Our words came out at the same time.

Above us was a mix between an island and a ship which was floating above us.

"Law, do you think the Polar Tang will withstand a fall from that kind of height?" I asked Law.

"I think it's unlikely, but maybe if I could adapt a kind of parachute to slow down, I think I could" Although confused by my question, Law gave a solution.

Soon we saw a man floating down, a very tall man. He has golden hair and on top of his head a part of a ship's rudder.

It's Shiki, this guy is too powerful, to fight against Roger, Sengoku, Garp and still be alive, hell I don't know how Luffy could defeat this guy, his Haki must be monstrous.

Shiki floated up to the cover of the fleece tang, we were all looking at Shiki warily.

"Basil Hawkins "The Great Rookie", since I heard about you, I have been looking for you, I am someone who appreciates talents and you my friend, you have great talent. How about joining me, the golden lion Shiki? Shihahaha." The guy looked very happy as he smoked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Your proposal seems interesting, I clearly remember the golden lion, the only one that has been able to escape from Impel Down, what do you think if we talk about it more calmly?" I told.

"Shihahaha I'm glad that you know my name, it's a good start for our relationship as crewmates, don't worry, I take good care of my crew" He gave me a smile and I returned it, the others looked at me confused, but nobody He did not say anything.

Later

merveille

I must admit that this flying archipelago is very beautiful, while Shiki had floated the polar tang to the islands, I told the others that I had no plans to join Shiki, but let's pretend while we see what benefits we can get.

The ideal would be to steal Shiki and then run away, but there will most likely be a battle, so I told Law that when he had the opportunity to adapt a parachute for the polar tang together with the others, in case of emergency.

We had already met the Indigo scholar and the gorilla, Shiki told me about his plan and I told him that it seemed like something very interesting and that I would follow it, it seems that he believed me.

For now, I was touring the main island and the reason is that I am looking for a mount, I mean the animals on this site are amazing.

I had already seen a giant tiger with six legs and two tails, but it was too big for me.

I walked a while longer until I reached a giant tree, there were several interesting animals there but there was only one that caught my attention.

A large, muscular, black horse with an obsidian-black horn, gnarled tusks, and red eyes.

But the most striking thing was its pair of wings, it had definitely evolved as a kind of unicorn and pegasus, but carnivorous.

Well, he was chasing a kind of zebra with deer antlers.

As I watched the hunt continue, I realized that it was very fast and very strong, it quickly caught the zebra and began to devour it.

I approached at a leisurely pace, when I was a few meters away the horse stood up and glared at me, exuding an air of danger and violence.

I quickly released my haki from the king, but unbelievably the animal only stumbled a bit, his willpower must be incredible, an alpha definitely.

To appear more threatening I transformed into a straw man, but what I didn't count on was that I would spit out a blaze of blue fire, thanks to my observation haki I was able to dodge most of the attack, but the fire quickly began to spread due to my straw man transformation

I quickly canceled the transformation and activated my armor haki on the part where the flames were, to stop the flames that were already on my body.

I hadn't taken into account my weakness against fire; I think I should secure the fruits that can be directly dangerous against me.

Sorry Ace, but I'll go get your fruit, I hope you get a new nickname other than fire fist.

I proceeded to run towards the horse, using Soru I appeared at his side, and punched him with my armor haki, I proceeded to catch him with my hand by his neck and slammed him to the ground.

I could see the anger in his eyes, I activated my king's haki as hard as I could, the surrounding animals fell unconscious and foaming at the mouth.

The horse looked me straight in the eye for a few more seconds, before accepting defeat and looking away in submission.

I let him up, and once he was standing in front of me, I told him.

"Very well boy, from now on you will be called..."

End of chapter

Short chapter because it's filler, the next chapter comes the direct interaction with Shiki and some fights.

Then we will depart for the Grand Line.

Any suggestion? I appreciate the comments.