Chapter 17 - The Navigator and The Gunslinger!

After preparing lunch with Noah, with him openly admitting to being a terrible cook, everyone had lunch while talking.

"Now that you all know about the effects of the red orbs, it's time to learn about the purple orbs." Noah smiled as he saw his plate being taken by Nojiko, who began to wash everyone's dishes.

"You said this involves something with training. Are we going to learn to fight now?" Nami dried the dishes while her sister washed, all while imagining herself bravely fighting against her enemies... and shuddered a little in fear.

"Exactly." Noah continued watching the two of them doing things and wondered how powerful they would become. 

And as soon as they finished lunching, they went out to start training.

The first thing that needed to be established were the positions. As the crew grew, it was extremely necessary for everyone to know what their main role would be and how they would expose themselves to the world, what would be the reason for everyone to fear them.

Noah, obviously, would be the Captain of the crew, and also a swordsman. As Captain, he would have total control over the crew, recruitment and would be the face and responsible for it. At the same time, he is also a fighter who uses the sword as his main weapon, and naturally would also know how to fight without it.

Nami also took her obvious place as the crew's Navigator, and that was something that could not be denied. And although she didn't want to get too involved in fights, she still chose the Staff as her main weapon, making her an unusual martial artist in this world.

And Nojiko, relying on the experience her mother had passed on to her when handling some weapons as a child, chose to be the group's Shooter. More precisely, she would be a Gunslinger and would take care of the artillery. And for that, she chose two common marine flintlocks as her main weapons and a marine rifle for stronger and longer range attacks.

Aside from Noah's sword, which he was beginning to suspect was a Wazamono (Grade Weapon), the two girls would try to change their weapons as quickly as possible. Nami was already thinking about getting some metal staff and Nojiko would make a visit to some firearms store to get better ones.

And one interesting thing to note is that neither of the two accepted the position of Vice-Captain, as they said it should be a position reserved for the future.

°°°

Inside a training room on the ship, which Noah asked to be quite large, the three of them were standing and looking at each other.

"Well, so this is how it will be. First of all, you two need to know about some very important things. First, about your strength levels and mine. My Devil Fruit gives me approximately an understanding of how these levels work, and currently there are ten levels for the current stage we are at. And you two are at the beginning of the second level, while I am at the beginning of the sixth level."

"And what exactly do these levels mean?" Nojiko asked with interest. If only the first level was responsible for making them as beautiful as they are now, imagine the later levels.

"The first level is skin refinement, of which you clearly saw the effects. The second level, which you are now on, will start to refine the muscles, and the third will refine the tendons." He continued talking about the different levels until he reached the level he was at, "And I am at the sixth level, where I will refine my internal organs."

"Just one question, is that disgusting thing going to come out of us every day?" Nami asked and felt her stomach churn just at the thought of the rotten smell of the black goo.

"Not necessarily. Only when you manage to achieve the perfect refinement of the stage, and that's how you'll know you've passed. And no more questions, we have to start."

Noah moved his fingers and three purple orbs appeared in his hands. Throwing one to each, he kept the other and continued his explanation.

"Firstly, you two have no combat base and therefore it's not much use wanting to seriously fight with me. So I'm going to be your combat dummy and you're going to learn to fight with me first." He then looked at Nojiko, who was seriously looking at the purple orb, "And Nojiko, your training will be divided into two parts. The effect of the orb can last about an hour before it ends, so you will fight unarmed for half an hour and the remaining time you will practice shooting on the deck. All right?"

"What a shame." Nojiko immediately understood and smiled at Nami, "I was looking forward to shooting you guys."

"Nojiko, just shut up." Nami rolled her eyes at her, but inside she was very happy that she would stay longer with Noah.

"Let's get started." Smiling at them, he just nodded and swallowed the purple orb, and then a red orb. They saw this, but did not question why he could have another orb, and bigger than theirs.

After the two swallowed the orbs, they clearly felt what Noah was talking about. As that familiar energy emerged in their bodies, they felt their minds clearing of any other kind of thought and focused on not wasting any more time with anything.

Even just holding the staff, Nami's position became more firm on the ground, while Nojiko was attentively looking at Noah and her hands and legs were ready to attack.

"Begin!"

°°°

With the nautical chart and Nami's knowledge, the days began to pass as they traveled towards Loguetown, their last stop before heading to the Grand Line. And they also needed a nautical chart for the Red Line, so they wouldn't get lost along the way.

As much as the anime or manga never accurately depicted the passage of time at sea, Noah was feeling the gigantic size of the One Piece world first hand. Just by Nami's speculation, a very skilled navigator, it would take them about a week to reach Loguetown, if there were no further detours.

And as the days went by, their strength and skills increased. The girls seemed especially eager to get stronger too, and Noah had also not stopped hunting with all his strength in the Pocket Hunting Dimension.

On the second day of the trip, Nami and Nojiko managed to achieve perfection in muscle refinement. And just as Noah speculated, their bodies did indeed change, but not as much as his. To the surprise and delight of the two vain women, their bodies became even more robust, fuller breasts, wider hips and a thin, refined waist. They also gained a bit of muscle, but it became almost imperceptible against the delicacy of the skin.

On the third day, still with fire in their eyes and a desire to improve, the two women finally achieved the complete refinement of the tendon, mainly improving their combat abilities and a supernatural elasticity. Which was tested and approved by Noah.

And finally, on the fifth day, they managed to complete the bone refinement, and another majestic change accompanied this. Nami, previously 1.69m, grew a little more to 1.72m, while Nojiko went from 1.70m to 1.73m. They were still small compared to Noah, who was currently 1.95m.

Now taller, deadly more beautiful, and with irresistible natural scents, Nami and Nojiko were more than satisfied with the gift Noah was giving them. And this made them fierce in training... and in bed as well.

°°°

In the training room, Nami and Nojiko were immersed in a battle. Their sweat-soaked clothes suggested the long duration of their engagement, also revealing the progress of their physiques when noted the muscle definition in certain body areas.

"Kya!" Nami shouted lightly, swinging her staff at high speed in Nojiko's direction. The force she applied was so strong that it made a shrill noise cutting through the air on its way.

SWOOOSHH!

Using almost impossible acrobatics, Nojiko actually dodged the bat's hit, feeling the wind waves thrown against them. Even so, her face remained calm as she landed on the ground with just one leg and soon after attacked Nami.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Trading blow for blow, Nami and Nojiko's movements were incredible as they tried to land at least one hit on each other.

With agility and strength, Nami was able to wield the staff in any way she pleased, attacking and defending in a perfect and deadly synchrony. Whereas Nojiko was able to deliver blow after blow, kicks and punches with a grace and power she didn't know she had. The five days of training accompanied by the purple orbs were more than enough for them to establish their own fighting style.

After fighting again and realizing that they could not break through each other's defenses, they simply stopped fighting while panting, their bodies soaked in sweat.

"You fight as if you were dancing, Nojiko. Do you want someone to play music in the middle of the battle too?" Nami breathed heavily and teased her sister with a smile on her face.

"Your luck is that I can't use my guns..." Nojiko smiled at her in a very calm and relaxed manner, "So be careful that I don't accidentally shoot you."

"I don't doubt it, you're terrible-" Nami shrugged at her, but soon felt a chill down her spine. Throwing herself to the side, she dodged a kick from Nojiko that sent wind to her face.

"Lousy navigator." Nojiko looked at her with the same smile as always, retreating only from another attack from Nami.

The two kept looking at each other as if they wanted to grab each other's throat. But after a while, they just laughed and fell to the ground, tired.

"You're picking up bad habits from Noah." Nojiko complained a bit, noting this more provocative behavior from Nami.

"He keeps annoying me, so I might as well annoy you." Nami had a smile on her face when she talked about him, even if it was about a subject like that.

After a while, the two looked at each other again, but with a plan in mind. Knowing where Noah was, they started heading towards his room.

°°°

Sitting inside a wooden bathtub, Noah was on the last step of refining the five viscera. The energy of the red orb he had now consumed was more than enough for this.

The term "five viscera" refers to the liver, heart, spleen, lung, and kidney. Fully refining these organs can bring significant benefits to the body's overall function, which would greatly benefit Noah. He was unsure how this process would physically affect him, as it had in previous instances, but he was eager to find out.

As the energy made its last refinement cycle, he finally felt that addictive sensation of a weight being removed from within, and also felt the usual black goo being expelled from the body.

The functions of his five main organs began to be refined to new levels. The liver completely refined his blood from all toxins and impurities, while the heart quickly pumped the blood throughout the body.

The spleen, like the liver, refined his blood again in search of malformed, old or damaged cells, making each milliliter of his blood new and clean. And to make the filtering cycle even better and complete, the kidney further refined the blood. And with a deep breath, Noah felt how his lungs seemed fuller and the air around more breathable.

"Finally..." Noah released the breath he had been holding and stepped out of the murky water. He proceeded to the shower, took a thorough bath, and then exited with a towel wrapped around his waist, heading to his room.

He would check for more specific physical changes when he was in the room, where there was a full-length mirror.

As he was approaching his room, he noticed that the door was already ajar. Anticipating what might be inside, he entered the room. As expected, his room was tidy with two gifts on his bed -- two pairs of underwear.

"You two ..." Noah looked at his bed and walked over there. Picking up the two panties, he saw that one was black lace while the other was almost a white thong.

They were not dirty in any sense, but they carried a smell that could make his nose explode with pleasure. And he did not hesitate to lightly smell the two panties. 

"God bless body refinement..."