Taki's Sulong Form

For a couple weeks, everything was fine, I ended up living in the Hideout, only really going to get food from the local market, and sometimes going out to eat, clearing out a whole restaurant like with the clothing store Robecca Hamburg. One weird thing that Taki did was just boil water without anything, but I stopped paying attention after the second time. But, I decided to live my best life before setting my plan into motion. Part of the plan included training with my Devil Fruit, so I wasn't going to focus on that for now.

During those days, I mostly left the hideout to go to the beach to train with Surya, using muscle memory to my advantage to even try and essentially create my own sword-style. It mostly was me just swinging Surya to actually get a feel of using a sword, since I hadn't had really any experience before.

Some of the time, Taki would follow me and watch me train, asking way too many questions. I thought during those times 'She is a child still. Maybe I need to teach her stuff to get her to stop asking so many questions!'

On one particular day, closer to the end of the month, Taki had insisted that I don't sleep in the hideout that night.

'Okay, so, a mink just asked me to not sleep in the shared place we have. Is it because of her Sulong form? I don't remember the full details, but there has to be a weakness, right? Does she just not want me to see her in a Sulong form?'

With those questions in my head, I just decided to go along with it and said "Sure, I can find somewhere else to sleep for the night. Just don't destroy MY stuff."

'I mean, I do trust her, but since I don't remember everything about the Sulong form, it must be because of a.. um.. decision.. no, um.. missing piece of the puzzle? Since I don't remember everything? Well, it doesn't matter, I can check on her if I want using observation. She doesn't know about it yet, so it'll be fine to check on if she hurts herself with her own power, right?'

And she just watched me swing the sword down while I had some sweat building up. Obviously, to not get my fancy clothes dirty, I had just decided to wear some shorts, and being in some hills, I had a lot of privacy from people, where no one really would find out about the hideout or our existence. Which means I didn't have to care about my appearance, nor did Taki. Besides, anyone who stumbled upon us wouldn't know who we were thanks to the cloaks we always wore, since hiding from prying eyes makes it hard to be known. The only people who knew our appearances were the restaurant and clothing shop owners and staff, being as we go there somewhat regularly.

I was really focusing on the sword and connecting to it as well, I was really trying to unravel the secrets of this sword, but the only thing that came to mind was 'This sword decided to choose me as it's master, why is that? Is it because people in the East Blue don't really have or use Haki? I mean, strong people have come from here, but they didn't get strong here, so is my ability to use and strength of Haki a part of the reason for Surya to choose me?'

I decided not to dwell on it as the sun started to set, and I grabbed some food we had, a set of clothes and pajamas, then my cloak, and just left saying to Taki "For our trust to grow, I will find out what you are keeping secret, but I don't need to know about it for now, since I will end up revealing mine as well if you decide to stay on my journey with me after getting to Zou. But, we all have secrets, so it's fine." And I walked out of the expanded entrance hallway to outside.

'I don't know what I just said, but I think I was trying to say "keep your secrets, but as friends, we will find out everything about each other." or something along those lines. Man, I am not good with words today. Probably one of my rare off days where I just can't speak or thing completely straight.'

And after walking for a couple minutes, I was in front of a hotel, where I checked in for the night, took a shower to freshen up, and layed on the bed in pajamas.

'I wonder just what Taki is doing. Maybe the Sulong form does something she didn't want me to know? I might as well check then.'

Using my observation, I sensed a little short of the hideout in a circle around me. 'Okay, really? I just need to focus the observation in one direction, and I should be able to see everything happening in the Hideout.'

And doing exactly what I thought of, I sensed everything in the hideout pretty quickly.

But what I did not expect was Taki with chains wrapped around her wrists that were bolted to the ground.

'Okay, what is happening? Did she chain herself up for a reason?'

And I sensed her just sitting there, chained up, with her eyes closed, facing towards one of the few holes acting as skylights in the roof.

But when she opened her eyes, I realized that there was a full moon out tonight. 'Okay, I totally called it! Is she training her Sulong form or something? I think those chains are a bit overkill.'

And continuing to watch, Taki, who looked at the moon directly, had her eyes turn red, and all of her fur started to turn white, which felt pretty cool to watch. Seeing black or orange hair and/or fur turn into white was pretty cool. She did grow in size a little, starting from an actual child to about average teenager in size. And what looked like lightning started to spark off of her body.

'Okay, I didn't remember them growing in size, nor the lightning! but I guess those are some things I forgot. Did she not want the electricity to affect me which is why I'm here now? I guess she trusts me, but not herself, yet anyways. I better help her with training later if she asks. Now, what else?'

And for a few seconds, she just sat while turning into Sulong form. Until she started to try and break the chains. She just jerked her arms forward and away from the anchors in the ground to try and break them. Then, she started to claw at the chains, and let out a howl that pierced my soul when she did it.

'UM. Is her devil fruit, the moon moon fruit, responsible for enhancing this howl? I don't remember the howl actually being able to shake my soul? No, wait, that's not the important thing. I don't remember the Sulong form causing any kind of.. ferociousness to come out! Is that just something else I forgot or something new since I came to this world?'

I watched as she tried to run around the room or outside, I don't know why, but she tried. And then she started to claw at the ground, where the anchors were. 'WHERE DID SHE FIND THOSE ANCHORS? I SWEAR THE FACT THEY DON'T BREAK IS WEIRD.'

And the continued to run around for a couple more minutes before becoming tired and falling to the ground. I started to get concerned because she was already tired, but she wasn't changing back. Until a boiling pot of water ended up causing a chain reaction to close some hand-made blinds over the skylight.

'WAS THE WATER FROM BEFORE A TIMER? SHE IS FREAKING SMART TO COME UP WITH THAT AS A TIMER.'

And then she closed her eyes, only for her entire body to shrink and go back to normal. I did check on her to make sure she was fine, using observation to check her heartbeat.

'She really sent me away because she was worried she would hurt me. Guess I need to give her a hug later. She is freaking smart for a seven year old too. I probably don't need to check on her again when this happens, since she got the process down.'

And I fell asleep, trying to just calm myself as much as possible.

The next morning, I walked back in my fancy clothes to the hideout, walked in after a couple minutes, and as soon as I saw Taki, I just gave her a hug using one arm, which surprised her.

"Why are you hugging me?"

"Well, it seemed like you needed it." I obviously lied the best I could.

For the next few months, that process would repeat, of me training sword swings and then on the day of the full moon, getting kicked out for the night, and repeating that process. I did do the 3-Punch, not the 6-Punch workout because it was slightly simpler and gave me more time to train with Surya.

The training did get boring, but it was worth the muscle memory.

And after about half a year of being on Logue Town, news spread quickly of the capture of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, along with an execution date.

The only thought in my head at that time was 'My plan will soon be set into motion soon.'