Chapter 26: On the Boat

Kai was on the boat and saw Nami start sweating. He nudged Zoro and nodded his head at Nami. Zoro looked confused before he saw Nami sweating. Zoro went to tell Luffy that something was wrong as Kai walked up to Nami. "You alright?" He asked and only got a nod in response. Kai waited a second before catching her body. She collapsed right after she finished nodding as she had just fainted. "Dumb girl acting tough." Kai said.

Kai just took her to the room that the crew was using as a medical room where Nami had stitched him up before. He put her down on the bed and put a cold cloth over her head. As he was about to lift up her shirt a bit a hand grabbed him. Sanji had a very serious look in his eyes and Kai sighed. "Do you think that lowly of me love cook?" Before he lifted up her shirt with his other hand revealing a massive bug bite. Sanji let go of Kai's hand when he saw this and said. "I always play it safe when it comes to a beauty in trouble." Kai just sighed. "Yeah, yeah, anyway we need a doctor."

Kai left the room and walked over to Vivi who was sitting on the back of the ship contemplating something. He handed her an eternal pose to Drum Island and said. "I picked this up before we entered the grand line cause I figured these idiots would need a doctor at some point. You choose, save the navigator girl, or go straight to Alabasta." Then he walked away leaving Vivi to her own thoughts. Eventually she got up and walked towards the rest of the crew who was in the medical room.

She entered and heard Luffy say. "We need a doctor! I won't let my crew suffer while I can do something about it!" Everyone noticed her walk into the room and looked at Vivi, not saying a word. Vivi said. "We need to get to Alabasta as soon as possible…" The crew didn't react at all as they gave her a deadly serious stare. "But, I can't just leave my saviour to die knowing that I could save them. I have this eternal pose to an island of doctors that should be near here. Let's make a quick stop and make sure Nami is okay, then we can go to Alabasta."

The entire crew had a smile on their face as they looked at Vivi. "You're a good friend Vivi!" Said Luffy causing Vivi to genuinely smile as she felt warm inside. Vivi was glad she found some real friends. She really liked the crew and Luffy. She brought the eternal pose too the helm to see Kai already there waiting for her without his marine coat on. "What are you doing here?" She asked him. He looked at her and said "Are you going to sail this ship yourself?"

"You say that like you expected me to be here."

"When I gave you that eternal pose I bet that would save Nami because of your kind little princess heart, and I never lose a bet."

Vivi giggled. "Yeah, we get it, you never lose. Let's get going." Kai just smiled and the two set off towards Drum island. "So what do you think about the crew?" Kai asked Vivi. "I really like them! They are really great people, but I guess they would have to be for you to approve of them. Plus Luffy is really great." Kai smiled. "Yeah they are pretty great. But, what's that extra part about Luffy for?" Kai asked as he wondered if teaching Luffy some things might really change the blockheads future.

"What? Oh they are all great. I just mentioned Luffy because he's the captain." Vivi responded. Kai just hummed and didn't say anything else about it. As they continued talking about things Vivi asked Kai. "So, where did your marine coat go?" Kai just said. "Who knows?" In a voice that made Vivi think he was up to something.

A little while later Kai returned to Nami's room to change her towel. He noticed that it was already fresh and saw Sanji in the corner of the room sleeping on a chair. He just hummed and wondered what the future would hold. Maybe his brother really was destined to fall in love with a tangerine, or maybe he would prefer some pudding instead, he did have a sweet tooth after all.

Plus there was that one time with a princess in Dressrosa. Kai just smiled to himself and held off on placing a bet. He had no clue what would happen with Sanji's love life and he didn't want to lose his first bet. (A/n: Any suggestions?)

Kai just put a pillow behind Sanji's head and left the room. He went to talk to Usopp who was working on Nami's clima-tact as asked him how it was going. "It's good so far. That seastone you gave me is really useful. Not only is it good against devil fruit users but it's really strong." Kai just nodded. He knew this already. "What did you do with it?" He asked Usopp.

"Remember Smoker's jutes? With some of it on the tips. I added that. I also put a ring of seastone around the staff about 15 inches away from both ends of the staff so that even if you swing it like a bat you will most likely hit someone with seastone anyway. I want to do more but it's really hard to use this stuff." Usopp explained.

Kai was more than satisfied with this before he had an idea. "Hey Usopp. Can you coat the keel of Merry in seastone to make it stronger?" Usopp thought about it for a while before he said. "I can try." (A/n: Should I save the Merry and avoid the whole Usopp leaving the crew arc or should I keep it in. I can even do a mixture of the two like save the merry and Usopp still leaves or, not save the merry and Usopp never leaves.)

Kai walked back up on the ship and found Zoro training. He decided to help him out a bit as he had already made Luffy and Sanji a little stronger anyway. "Hey mosshead. Can you cut steel?" He asked Zoro who looked at him like an idiot. "*sigh* Don't even say it. I'm not an idiot. You dumbass mosshead." Kai said as took out his sword and with a quick slash a metal weight was split in two and fell to the ground. Kai sheathed his sword again like nothing happened and Zoro's eyes went wide in shock. "How did you do that?!"

Kai didn't say anything but quickly took his sword out again and slashed at Zoro. He slashed across his chest and made a mark in an x on his chest by crossing his slash with Mihawks. At least he should have made a mark, but Zoro didn't get cut at all. Not even a scratch was left on his skin or clothes as Kai put his sword back and walked away from Zoro. "Did you forget mosshead? A true swordsman can cut anything in the world, but only when he can cut nothing. You need to choose what you cut. Listen to the sounds around you and feel the rhythm of all things."

Zoro was shocked by everything that just happened and started thinking. As Kai left Zoro to try to figure out what he showed him said he saw a boat in the distance. He looked at his own shoulder to make sure his coat wasn't on and nodded to himself when it wasn't.

As Kai waited for the other boat to get closer to them as he was standing at the head of the boat. He sat on the railing next to Luffy. "I call the next fight." He said to Luffy. "What! No fair! I wanna fight!" Luffy started yelling at Kai.

"Too bad rubberman! I called it. You can fight him later if I don't kill him." Luffy looked upset. "You better not kill them then. I wanna fight more. No one told me that we would have to wait on a boat without fighting people once we became pirates." Kai looked at Luffy and shook his head. He thought about the past.

…

Back in Foosha Village.

"I'm gonna be the king of the pirates! You can't stop me gramps!" A young Luffy yelled. "You don't wanna be a pirate! All they do is sit on a boat all day doing nothing!" Garp yelled at his grandkid. Luffy yelled back. "Then that's what I'll do too!" as he walked away huffing.

…

"What's wrong Shanks? Why do you look so bored on your boat?" Luffy asked Shanks. "You know Luffy. It gets really boring on a boat. You have to wait around all day and you can't even fight people." Shanks told the young kid. "Who cares? If that's what it takes to be the king of the pirates, then I'll do it too!" Shanks smiled at Luffy's answer.

…

"You know Luff. I feel like you would get bored of being a pirate." Kai told Luffy when they were with Sabo and Ace. Who both nodded. "Yeah Luffy. You wouldn't be able to fight me with pipes everyday." Sabo said and Ace nodded. "Or you wouldn't be able to hunt meat in the forest with me." Luffy just looked at them. "What? Why not?" All three of them facepalmed. """You're going to be on a boat!""" They yelled at the little rubber kid. "So?" Luffy asked, causing all three to faceplant. """Nevermind.""" They all said as they moved on from the idiot and started to discuss how to steal from the bandits next week.

…

Back on the Boat.

Kai looked at Luffy and face palmed again. "No one did?" He asked Luffy. "No one." Luffy said. Kai smacked him so hard his head flew all the way to the back of the boat and landed beside Vivi who was manning the wheel. "AHHH. HE'S DEAD!" Vivi yelled as she saw Luffy's head. Luffy brought his head back to his body and asked Kai. "What was that for?" Kai just sighed. "You're hopeless Luff." Luffy was so confused he didn't even realize Kai just accidentally called him by his nickname he used to call them when they were kids.