Captain Newgate [Essence META] (on HIATUS)

The air was thick with humidity as I sprinted to the tree line leading to the jungle, my heart racing in panic. "GET AWAY FROM THAT YOU FUCKING TURTLE!" I shouted, desperate to save the Devil Fruit from the maw of a seemingly oblivious turtle. With a surge of adrenaline, I lashed out with a swift kick just in time to stop the creature's bite.

"AAAAAAGGHHHHH! Ugh...I hit the shell. *sigh* Great job, idiot. Stranded on an island all by yourself and you still somehow manage to stub your toe. Great job," I muttered to myself in frustration.

The turtle, which I could swear gave me a disdainful glare, retreated into the depths of the jungle, leaving me with a strange mix of relief and annoyance. "Surprisingly non-confrontational, but now I have to make a barrier around the damn fruit. Just when I think I can relax a bit," I grumbled.

I glanced at the calendar tree, my makeshift way of keeping track of time. Seven marks indicated a week since I had been stranded on this isolated island.

My predicament would have been so much more worse had I not possessed the Essence of the Grandline, which allowed me to craft custom Devil Fruits. The fruit that the turtle so rudely attempted to consume was not intended for me, but for the large ship with four big ass masts that had also found itself stranded on this island.

The fruit was specifically designed for inanimate objects, made especially juicy which was meant to soak into and bring to life whatever it was applied to. Dr. Vegapunk's mysterious fusion process was a secret in my previous life, but I hoped the fruit would work as I wanted it to, especially when used to bring the wrecked ship to life.

Alone on this deserted island, even if by some miraculous feat I managed to repair the ship, I had no knowledge of sailing. My custom Devil Fruit was my one hope. Upon activation, it would let the ship be possessed by a spirit and enable it to navigate the seas even without me. As long as I provided the necessary materials, it would even repair itself.

To ensure its safety, I gathered stones and sticks to form a protective barrier around the precious fruit. Satisfied that it was secure, I settled back on the warm sands of the beach, contemplating how to fill the time I now had on my hands.

Two months was an agonizingly long time for someone who was so used to modern conveniences. If I wanted the devil fruit to not have a weakness to water, which would be crucial as it will be used on a ship, I had to wait double the time for the fruit to grow to maturity.

Thankfully a specific essence prevented me from being bored. So thinking of what to do I went through all my essences to decide on a course of action.

Essence of the Blank was nice to have but aside from giving me limitless potential, it doesn't really make things easy. At least it also makes it so that I make progress every time I try to learn or exercise something however minuscule it might be.

Essence of the Broker was nice too but there was no one around to broker a deal with so it was basically useless right now.

Essence of the Sound Mind and Soul is more of a support essence that protects my mind and soul from outside influence and strengthens it. Apparently, the perfect balance of my mind and soul provides me with infinite willpower and immunity to boredom.

Of course, none of this will help me right now aside from the infinite willpower thing which, to be honest with myself is so fucking useful right about now.

When you can just get the fuck up to do something you decide to do instead of coming up with endless excuses to postpone it constantly is just euphoric. That sense of freedom is indescribable.

"Oh well, I'll be here for quite a while anyway. Might as well practice fishing."

I got up and walked to my shelter to take a harpoon I recovered from the shipwreck. The damn thing had a broken wooden handle at first but thankfully after a lot of trial and error, I managed to carve a new one and fixed it using wood from trees.

Once I had the harpoon I went to the beach and stood in the calm waters and waited for my prey. Thanks to my infinite willpower I stood still like a statue. This would require patience that I didn't have in my past life. I had to catch something this time because I was starting to get sick of coconuts and bananas.

I would close my eyes to concentrate but my observation haki wasn't good enough for that yet. I barely even achieved any proficiency with it after a week.

Because I was standing so still the fish started getting used to my presence. I didn't move and waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

Deciding on a target I readied myself to strike. Instead of hitting right on top of it, I tried predicting its path.

Taking my chance I struck as fast as I could with all my strength and luckily managed a hit unlike my previous attempts these last few days.

Flailing around on the tip of my harpoon was a fish around 30 cm big.

"YES! FINALLY I GOT ONE"

As much as I love air conditioning and a proper toilet maybe this kind of life isn't so bad.