19 That happened
"Hey, Bal," Smoker looked at me curiously during lunch.
"What's up," I asked and looked up from my tea cup.
"Is it true your intentionally throwing the score on your grades?" Smoker asked with a frown.
"Yes. Borselino said not to be conspicuous by being perfectly average. Its challenging you know? Having to gather enough intel to find the perfect middle of the entire grade is hard," I complained, "Besides, who wants to give a speech at graduation? Top of the class has to though."
Smoker sighed, "And here I thought you were dumb and lazy."
"Oh no, I am lazy and can be quite stupid. Like I completely forgot I could memorise something after seeing it once, so I spent an entire week rereading a non essential book," I lamented, earning a chuckle from Smoker.
"Can you believe we will start combat training next week? I mean I have my devil fruit, like I'll need it," Smoker said smugly.
"Hate to break it to you dude, but a devil fruit isnt shit in other seas. It's like bringing a dull sword to a sniper fight. Besides, Borselino said that there is a special technique and material used that makes fruit users weak as fuck," I said smugly and laughed.
"No way?! Seriously!?!" he seems dejected.
"Why not build up a tolerance to it? I mean come on," I smiled thinking about ways to help train him.
Smoker shivered, "Nah, I can do that later."
"Nope. I can get the stuff and the more you train, the more tolerance you get. Dont be a sissy."
"I'm not a sissy!"
"Then out this on one arm," I offered seastone cuffs. As soon as he touched it, his body flopped like a dead fish. I watched amusedly, "Great job. Your impression of a dead fish is good."
"Pfft!"
Turning to find out who was laughing, I found Borselino with Garp and the old retired guy. I waved and took the cuffs back, "Find something funny?"
"Nope! Pft..." old guy smirked.
"Okay. Any thing I can do for you?" I asked.
"Yeah, Borselino is going on a mission so you have to stay with me for a while. Dont expect me to feed you or anything," the old guy said.
"That's cool... Did he tell you yet?" I asked and smiled faintly.
"Tell me what?" old guy seemed apprehensive all of a sudden.
"Oh nothing... I'll bring Smokey to class. Have fun on your vacation," I waved and brought Smoker to our navigator class before waking him up, "The sea makes me sleepy too."
--
Leaving class to go find the old guy, I immediately found him at the entrance of the school frowning, "Hey, I told Smoker I would help him train with seastone for the rest of the week after school. Today he will mend his broken pride though."
"What is wrong with you?" old guy asked as he lead me to a housing district.
"Whatever do you mean by that?" I asked amused.
Staying silent the rest of the way to the house, I observed the surroundings and decided to be a little mean, "Did he tell you? Is that what this is about?"
"He did tell me. Yes and No. Were you trying to torture that boy subtly?" he asked.
"No, I want him to not be full of himself because he is strong here. Dont be mad at the cat for showing the mouse that mountains exist," I said.
He opened the door and let me in, "I have a guest room, down the hall on the right. Go do your homework and we can talk later."
"Um.. I dont think he told you what he should have," I said quietly.
"Sigh, then you tell me," he frowned.
"Okay... I sleep in a coffin, so just knock on it and I'll wake up. I never have homework. Getting home until sun set is 3d chess with obnoxious music and lasers. Evening to midnight is meditation, midnight to two is bath, two to six is sleep," I said with a smile.
He sighed, "Explain the game."
Smirking, I emptied out the living room and set up a laser security system surrounding the chess game and music player.
---
"I will never play this with you again. And that godforsaken music needs to stop," old guy said with a frown and bag of ice on his back.
"I'll be helping Smoker train for the rest of the week," I said and took my things back before putting his stuff back in the room, "Besides, I need a harder game to occupy my time."
Shaking his head, waving me off with an angry face. I shrugged and went to the back yard to meditate.
--
"Either get in the kiddy pool or I'll push you," I sighed next to smoker. Yes, I filled a kiddy pool with sea water. No, not to torture him. Waiting for a few more minutes, I frowned and pushed him in, "See. Not hard. Now shut up, sit down, and relax."
"I hate you. I hope you know that," he hissed.
"Its okay. I hate myself enough for the both of us. My other ideas were shot down so just shut it and get used to it," I chuckled.
--
"I'm~ back~," Borselino said when he came to get me from school one day. A year had passed since I last saw him.
"That's cool. How badly did you fuck up?" I asked.
"Not~ bad~ at~ all~," he smiled.
"Okay. Oh yeah, I mastered chess, shogi, guitar, piano, and different singing styles," I yawned, "Since your back, we can try high speed tag."
Not receiving an immediate response, I went to the old mans house and gathered my things before going to Borselino's.
---
Like that 7 more years passed. I spent 6 months with Borselino before going to the old mans for a year. Every day I trained with Smoker to resist sea water and sea stone. What I didnt tell him is the pool was made of seastone....
I often visited Garp, who brought Sengoku along now and again, and we enjoyed tea with snacks. I did gift Sengoku one of my tea trees again... Well it was a first for this Sengoku but yeah... My mind has started to shift in an odd way.
--
"You havent grown in two years," Sengoku stated at one of our snack sessions.
"Its a good thing, mostly. Just proves my shinigami side wont let my ghoul side take over... I hate to bring bad news though," I said while pouring a cup of tea.
"Oh? What's the bad news?" Sengoku asked. Garp had long since fallen asleep.
"To keep my ghoul side suppressed, I have to take someones lifespan...," I sighed.
".... I see. Truely, bad news," he mumbled.
"I may have not mentioned my inability to kill someone to save someone else....," I said and looked into my cup of tea.
"I understand but what does that have to do with anything?" he asked.
"I'm just letting you know for future reference. By the way, I wont tell you who I do end up killing, if I do that is," I said and sipped my tea.
"Very well then. I'd rather not know anyways," he said and poured another cup of tea for himself.
After a while of silence, I spoke, "Can I go on missions?"
"Uh... What kind?" he asked apprehensively.
"Well, nobody suspects a kid, if that's what you mean," I chuckled a bit, "Besides, I can go on those high mortality rate missions alone and get the job done."
After a moment of silence, he responded, "There is one job but I'm not sure if your able to do it."
"Tell me about it then," I smiled faintly.
"Its simple. Get rid of the invaders bloodlines," He smiled knowingly.
"I'll need... a few days to prepare," I hummed softly and looked out the window, "It'll be a crazy mess for a while. You should call that boy back."
-New Mission! Invaders bloodline. You must end the bloodline of the invaders and those who chose to join them. Reward: ??? Failure: Death-
'Its so tedious, can I just fight Zaraki again?'
-New Mission Update! Invaders bloodline. Free the slaves and put an end to the invaders and their co conspirators! Reward: ??? Failure: Death-
'Shit.... Well that happened....'