chapter 10

I sat leisurely near the campfire with a cigarette in my mouth and a guitar in my hands while playing it and staring at this familiar and unfamiliar man sitting in front of me. I became lost in my thoughts as I gazed at his three eyes that were closed in relaxation as he listened to me playing a soft relaxing melody with my guitar, his huge two-and-a-half meter tall figure that was draped in a simple loincloth, made from shrubbery and leaves, only moved occasionally to take small sips from a bottle gourd filled with juice that was mixed with a large amount of whisky.

I closed my own eyes as I thought about the past four months.

After mastering soru to the highest possible degree, I then moved on to the geppo(moonwalk) technique, which of course, didn't require any brainstorming or any specialized training method.

It was the most simple one out of the marine's six powers in principle and application. To perform a geppo step, a person would need to kick the air hard enough to jump off of it as if jumping over a solid surface.

Its only requirement was having an ungodly amount of leg strength, which I did not have at the time. So I did what any sane person would do.

I took the largest and heaviest rock I could find and started running and doing squats while carrying it on my back.

To do such a thing, I had to lower my torso and bend my arms backwards beyond my back to embrace it in a weird backward hug in a way that was very similar to how Atlas from Greek mythology carried the giant rock as his punishment.

I continued doing that and nothing more for an entire month. And even though I could release a rankyaku that could travel for a distance of 4 meters by that point, I still couldn't even do a single geppo step, and so I persistently continued doing that for two more months until I could do it.

I could unleash a three meters wide rankyaky that could travel five meters by that point, but I could only remain in the air for five minutes using geppo steps.

It was also at that time that Wilson came to visit me. What's more, he did not come empty-handed either. As he came closer to me, I noticed he was carrying an oval-shaped, purple fruit with a lot of black swirls lining its bottom with a smooth upper part attached to a yellow swirly stem.

I, of course, didn't take long to put two and to together and realize that Wilson was carrying some devil fruit. He shoved it in my hands and started grunting and gesturing questioningly in its direction.

He was asking me about the edibility and taste of this fruit, as he had seen nothing like it on the island before. He probably asked me about it since he knew that I had eaten at least one of every fruit on this island thanks to my poison immunity, making me very knowledgeable about what was edible and what was not here.

After taking a minute to choose the best way I could describe what a devil fruit is to someone who had lived his entire life on a deserted island, I told him it was a mystery fruit that could give mysterious power to whoever ate. Still, it would also make them unable to swim for the rest of their lives and that I could tell him what kind of mysterious power it would grant if he gave me a couple of minutes to check.

after ten minutes of flipping through my devil fruit encyclopedia, I could finally spot a drawing that was identical to the devil fruit, which was in Wilson's hands by then

The hito-hito no (human-human fruit), model three-eyed human. And so I explained to him that if he ate this fruit, he would become smarter. And that he would also gain the ability to shape-shift into a form similar to my own, except that he would have three eyes and the added ability to hear the voice of inanimate objects and animals.

Wilson didn't think about it too much, as he shoved it whole inside his mouth after only several seconds of hesitation. He then spent the next five minutes spitting and rinsing his mouth with water, juice, and even whisky in a vain attempt to wash away the foul aftertaste left in his mouth by the fruit, while I just laughed watching his antics.

However once he was done with that, he stood still with a look of concentration on his face. Suddenly, his gigantic body shrank as his fur was absorbed into his body, along with the lower pair of his hands, and a large tear appeared on his forehead as it slowly changed shape as well, finally taking the form of a closed eye. And with a final grunt, he finally opened the three of his eyes, completing the transformation, turning into the Caucasian looking, three-eyed human that was currently sitting leisurely in front of me, as I was lost in my thoughts reminiscing the happenings of the last four months.

I had also considered that event as a signal that it was finally time for me to leave this island and finally set sail to the unknown.

And so I had spent the next month building a simple carvel ship with a small cabinet on its deck, while also teaching Wilson proper human etiquette and how to speak correctly, he could only talk in small weird sentences at first like "Wilson, smash!!". But he was improving quickly, and he could finally speak appropriately by the end of the month, leading to the situation I was currently in.

However, my thought process interrupted as I heard my name being called with a gruff voice that I knew belonged to none else but Wilson.

"what is it, Wilson?" I said as I raised my head and opened my eyes to look my friend in the eye.

"you stopped playing," answered Wilson, seemingly very annoyed, as he gestured at my guitar while looking at me like I was some idiot for asking such a question.

"you goddamned gorilla, you actually interrupted my thought process for such a reason?!," I said as I stood up while pointing my index finger at him accusingly.

"you stopped when you reached the best part. What kind of asshole does that?!" Wilson said as he too stood up and grabbed the collars of my tank top vest with his large hands.

"in the first place what kind of gorilla sits around a campfire to listen to music while drinking alcohol?!, why don't you go eat a banana and jerk yourself off in the forest or something if you're bored?!, your ancestors are probably crying in shame in the afterlife right now!" I said as I punched him in the face and sent him sliding several meters backwards.

"Now you've done it, you little bastard," Wilson said as he reared his fist backwards and started charging at me.