Chapter 2

—Third Person—

–Year 1522: February 19–

A pirate vessel was seen riding the waves, slowly closing in on an unsuspecting island. It was a large pink ship with four sails, one higher than the other three. Each sail had a pink heart, and the ship itself had two hearts on each side.

The figurehead was a duck, and the Alvida Pirates flag flew on the mainmast..The Alvida Pirates' Jolly Roger is a traditional skull on crossed bones. However, the skull is depicted from the side and has a pink heart on it.

A woman with a slim body, well-endowed, dark-green eyes, and wavy black hair was standing on the deck of the pirate ship.

She wore a bikini top and tight, Capri-length pants. She also had a cape-like pink cloak with red hearts draped over her shoulders and a pair of sandals.

"Heppoko, Peppoko, Poppoko!" the woman, Alvida—officially known as "Iron Mace" Alvida—called out as she saw the island drawing nearer.

"Captain!" three voices called out simultaneously as three people stepped out from inside the basement.

The first was a tanned-skinned man with a large forehead and short black hair. He also had a black mustache and goatee and wore a green short-sleeved shirt—Heppoko.

Next to him was a man with long blonde hair, blonde eyebrows, and a blonde goatee. He wore a light blue shirt with vertical lines and a black lining near the chest. In the anime, he also wore a light blue headband—Peppoko.

The last was an overweight man with a large chin, black hair, and a bit of stubble on his chin. He wore a black and white striped bandana with a matching short-sleeved shirt. His sideburns curled down—Poppoko.

Looking at the three of them, Alvida felt disappointed.

"You're weak," she said, her voice cold. It was jarring for the men to hear such an emotionless tone from her.

She was always one to express her emotions in some way, whether it was by smashing things or shouting.

"C-Captain, we're sorry!" They could do nothing but pray that she wouldn't kill them.

'S-she's going to kill me,' Peppoko thought as he felt the crushing pressure on his shoulders.

Alvida's shoe pressed down on the man with great force, and only when a small crack was heard did she release her foot.

"You are going to train with me and get stronger," she said. Although she directed her words at him, it felt like she was addressing the entire crew, which now consisted of only six people, including her.

"Y-yes!" the entire crew chorused, including Knox and Rambo, who stood at the helm of the ship. She was utterly terrifying for the first time after eating her Devil Fruit.

"Very well, now then." She turned around and looked at the shore as they prepared to disembark from the ship, She saw a cave on the side of the island when they were circling around the island before. It was quite hidden from view unless one looked for it specifically.

"Join me after docking the ship inside the cave out there and cover the entrance with something." They scrambled as soon as they heard their captain's orders.

Without any more words, she jumped down from the ship and onto the ground, her kanabo in hand. Turning around, she looked at her five crewmates.

"You do know what will happen if you cross me, right?" Her voice held the same cold tone as she asked.

"We will never betray the captain!" they chorused at the same time as sweat began to roll down their heads.

'Good. If they planned to leave me here on this island, I'd have no way out unless another ship comes by,' she thought with a small smile.

Without anything more to say, she began to walk around the island. The island was covered in thick forest, with trees and plants, as well as various animals. As after walking for a few minutes, she saw a tiger-like creature, but the difference was its size.

It was the size of an elephant, with its sharp teeth bared at her in hostility, it took a step forward.

"What do you want, kitty?" she asked in a teasing manner as she put her weapon down. Baring its teeth once more, as if it understood her insult, it growled and pounced on her, with her doing nothing to defend against its incoming claws.

As expected, the attack slid off her cloak. The tiger was flabbergasted as it tried to attack her more and more. Claw swipes, headbutts, tail swipes, bites—nothing seemed to work on her as she stood still, waiting for the tiger to get exhausted.

"You understand, don't you? Nothing you do will affect me," she said, walking up to the tiger, which was backing up slowly.

"I hope your meat tastes good." The tiger's face paled, and before it could react, she was on it, her fists clenched, pummeling it to the ground.

After a few minutes of beating it up, with a sigh, she looked at the tiger, now dead.

"I wonder if my Devil Fruit would work on air?" she thought aloud as she swung her fist with strength, using her Devil Fruit on the air as she did so.

Lo and behold, her fist blurred as the resistance of the air was removed from its travel path. "Yes!" With a cheerful smile, Alvida celebrated by throwing her hands in the air.

She took her weapon once more and tried again, now using her Devil Fruit with her weapon in place of her fist. Same result, the weapon became a blur as she swung it, no longer visible to the naked eye.

'It would be difficult if I cannot see my own attacks,' she thought with a small frown on her face as she put her kanabo down.

'Hm, whatever. I came here to train for Haki anyway,' she smiled as she turned around and found her five crewmates walking towards her.

"You guys, I want you two, Peppoko and Heppoko, to cook this tiger," she said, pointing at the tiger she killed. 'This will give us some food for at least five days.'

"And you three, Knox, Rambo, and Poppoko, I want you to attack me," she ordered, walking to a clearing in the forest a little away from the tiger, taking a blindfold from her pocket.

The crew could only nod and do as their captain said. Of course, they wouldn't attack her if she could be harmed, but that's no problem now that her Devil Fruit would just deflect anything.

Tying the blindfold over her eyes, she closed them and tried to sense the area and the attacks that would come her way, but if it were that easy to gain Haki, everyone would have it.

Taking their spots as they surrounded her from all three sides, Poppoko grabbed his large warhammer and swung it toward Alvida with all his strength.

Rambo took his sword and swung it as well, joined by Knox as they attacked her with full force. Of course, she had no way to know this with the blindfold on and only realized she was under attack after the blows slid off her cloak.

'Of course I knew that this wouldn't be so easy, but still. I can't even sense my immediate area,' she thought, her face forming a frown in concentration as she felt another volley of attacks slide off her cloak.

Their training continued until late evening, without even stopping for lunch.

Currently, the crew, including her, was sitting around a bonfire, eating roasted tiger meat as they did.

"By the way, Captain, I wanted to ask a question for some time now," Rambo said slowly, gauging her reaction.

"Hm, ask away," she replied, biting off a chunk of meat from the tiger leg she held in her hand.

"About the training. We did nothing but strike you over and over again," he said, looking at her, confused by the day's training. He could see that Knox and Poppoko were just as confused as he was, while Heppoko and Peppoko also wore puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Hahahaha!" Laughter rang out as she clutched her stomach, as if she found something funny.

They looked at their captain, bewildered and mesmerized by her beauty as she laughed; it rang like pearls falling to the ground.

After a few seconds, she calmed down and looked at them with a serious expression as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Fine. I'll tell you guys why we are doing this training."