Regrouping With Whitebeard

About two years had passed since we had reached this island.

The crew was practically done with their training by the start of the second year. However, they were currently waiting for me to come down the mountain so we could leave. Refining my power and practicing more on my techniques made me lose my sense of time. 

As a result, I ended up finding myself training till the end of the year. It was long, but it was worth it; I began my descent down the mountain by promptly jumping right down the mountain. I passed through the clouds and finally saw the green forest I had left so long ago.

I was now 25 years old, meaning that it had been roughly 12 years since I started sailing. 

Landing on the grounds of the forest. I promptly began to walk to where I felt many presences together, I could feel Stussy's aura radiating from there. The walk wasn't too long, I promptly met the rest of the crew and Stussy there. 

Stussy looked as if she hadn't aged a day since I left her, didn't matter though. However, as for the rest of the crew, they had completely changed in the last two years. They all looked strong, strong enough to give CP1 to CP9 a real good run for their money. 

'Did Stussy teach them Rokushiki?' I stared as one crewmate had just come from the ship moonwalking. 

They all soon greeted me in a military like fashion, "Welcome back! Commander Boris!!" 

I remained frozen where I stood, this just didn't feel normal compared to how I had left them earlier. Stussy, who had slowly approached me before locking her arms to my right arm, looked up to me before asking. 

"How'd you like them? I made sure to train them to the best of my capabilities~" Stussy hummed while she rubbed her cheeks on my arm. 

I couldn't really be mad at her, she had trained them to be stronger. So it would make me feel a bit better when stronger or numerous enemies were attacking us. At least I wouldn't need to attack first to get rid of the majority of the enemies. 

Anyway, I briefly sat down to get a bite to eat. My body had been devouring raw energy for the last six months of my training. I used to go up to the White sea to kill some sea kings, but I refrained doing so the last six months. I had devoured some rice, some more sea king meat and a barrel of wine.

"Did you guys leave the island to resupply? I don't remember you guys stocking so much food on the ship?" I asked Stussy.

"Yeah, we ran out of food by the start of the first year. I made it a habit to pay a nearby island a visit for resupplying. Since I didn't know when you would come out, I had Ken here lead the operations." Stussy replied cheerfully.

The man in question, Ken, suddenly stepped out of the still-attention-standing group. He looked nervous as I continued to look at him. 'I'm not that intimidating, am I?' I asked myself. I hadn't payed attention to my looks ever since I descended down the mountain. 

I quickly asked for a mirror, and when Stussy showed the mirror to me. I saw in my reflection a rather mature looking man staring right back at me. My locks had gotten even longer, but my hair color had gotten even brighter. It had turned from its initial dark-silver hair color to a more light silver hair color. 

At this moment, anyone could have easily mistaken me for a Lunarian. The only thing that could have been missing was my wings. However, I don't have any, my face looked the same way I had left it: Indifferent. My eyes had remained the same pitch black colour. It was a weird feeling that I was having as I continued to look at myself in the mirror. 

I could only sigh in acceptance as I got up from the rock I was using as my seat. Stussy suddenly handed me my transponder snail before advising me to call Whitebeard before we could depart. I thought of it as a good idea and wasted no time dialing his number and waiting for him to pick up.

Whitebeard's voice could be heard on the other end of the line. 

"It's been a while, Pops, how have you been?" I asked politely.

"Gurarara!! Brat!! It's been a while, your father was worried about you!" Whitebeard responded jovially.

"It took me longer than I had anticipated to finish my training. I feel much better now," I remarked. 

Whitebeard must have had the retired pirates who were currently dispersed within his territory on high alert since I hadn't been around for the past two years. I kind of felt guilty for that, but I knew that it was necessary if I wanted to continue to protect Whitebeard's crew and territory.

Whitebeard then asked me to meet up with him at a nearby island for a prompt celebration. It seemed that Whitebeard's crew had missed me quite a bit. 'It wouldn't hurt to have a little bit of a good time, right' I pondered. 

Whether I liked it or not, I had to meet up with Whitebeard. I hung up after another round of small talk before promptly giving out the order to sail to the meet up. The rest of the crew cheered as we all made a bee line for the ship.

Stussy had remained clinging on my arms all the way to the ship. She had refused to let go even while we boarded and promptly sat on my old comfy couch. We took some time to bring the supplies from the camp and organize everything else within the ship. 

My Axe had been in my grip for so long I had almost forgotten about it till I sat down with Stussy. Its blade had long become black. As for its handle, I had to remove the wooden handle and replace it with a piece of steel that I had happened to find within the mountain's peak. I used lightning to mold and forge a long handle for the axe's blade before merging it with the blade. 

Looking at the axe from afar, I decided to give my weapon a name. After all, what kind of black blade is birthed without having a proper name? After pondering over it for a while, I decided on the name Labrys. It was a mighty fine name, for a mighty fine weapon.

We continued to sail for about a week before we could see any signs of the island we were supposed to meet up. I could only notice it because I sensed a feint presence of land in the distance. I had one of the crew scope it via moonwalk before they could promptly come back and report to me. 

The closer we got, we began to see a huge ship that was currently docking near the island. Its front harboured a huge whale, while its jolly roger was similar to mine. Who could it have been other than Whitebeard's Moby Dick. We finally managed to dock, and Whitebeard's men cheered in celebration as I left the ship and landed on the beach. It felt like I was finally home after a long journey.