Chapter 2
Kaiden slowly moved through a kata meant to improve his footwork while the old man acted as he'd come to expect. That is, laying down on the tatami floor, scratching his belly, and giggling while reading literal porno magazines. He would have quit two months ago after he started except for two things. First, Mira's threat. He was still terrified at the idea of her drinking a whole gallon of coffee. That was a level of hell he never wanted to experience. Second, the old pervert actually knew what he was doing.
He hadn't learned much fighting, well any fighting, but his balance, leg strength, and core strength had all improved dramatically. Thanks to the old mans exercises, his own additional weight lifting, and the benefits of plus ten meals, he'd gone from relatively athletic to positively ripped. People in the One Piece world had crazy physiques.
Don Krieg, a villain pirate in the East Blue, the historically WEAKEST ocean in the world, could lift something that weighed at least several thousand kilograms with a single arm and toss it into the air like a toy. Despite that, he was actually one of the weaker pirates that Luffy fought early in his journey toward the Grand Line. Worse, while he could fight in melee, it wasn't his preferred method of combat. He was a trickster that preferred ambushes, sneak attacks, and hidden weapons. Yet he was still that physically strong.
So, Kaiden was extremely happy with his physical progress as he was now bench pressing over twelve metric tons. For a guy who'd never benched more than two hundred pounds, roughly ninety kilos, it was an ungodly amount of weight. It was also why they now lived on the first floor of the inn they were stay at. That kind of weight would destroy the floor of anything off the ground.
Even if he was happy, he still knew he had a long way to go to catch up to others and hadn't allowed himself to even think of becoming arrogant.
It was nice to not be mook tier anymore though.
“Stop thinking and focus on your katas!”
Kaiden held back a sigh and refocused fully on following the movements his sensei had shown him properly. He had no idea what the old man's name was as the guy only answered to sensei.
Kaiden performed the kata for another hour before the old man let out a sigh and climbed to his feet, “Alright, enough of that.” He pat himself down then ran his hand down his fu manchu, “You have shown great progress in building your foundation. Your balance is good, though not great. You have also gained strength at a remarkable rate.” At the comment he lifted and eyebrow to stare at Kaiden with a knowing look, “You are ready to learn some more.”
The old man retrieved one of the wooden dummies that looked like the ones used by wing chun practitioners. The thick logs with poles sticking out in a vaguely human shape that was used to practice various hits and blocks. With obvious ease, the old man picked it up and carried it to the center of the training area where he set it down. Looking at his student, the old man stroked his beard and gestured to the training too, “Punch it. As hard as you can.”
Kaiden looked between his sensei and the training dummy. He knew he wasn't the smartest cookie in the jar, but he was pretty certain he could now shatter stone with his bare hands, let alone wood. He didn't argue though. Instead, he wound up and let his fist fly.
'THWAKRACK!'
Kaiden hissed and pulled his hand back to cradle it. It felt like he'd almost broken every bone in his hand punching the dummy. It felt like he'd slammed his fist into an immovable wall. He'd hit with all his strength and the unsupported wooden dummy hadn't moved a hair.
Off to the side the old man watched without comment. He let Kaiden cradle his hand for a moment before speaking once more, “Again. Use your other hand.”
Part of Kaiden wanted to balk at the idea of repeating what he'd just done. The rest of him? He immediately cocked his left arm back and drove it forward to slam into the dummy with no less force than the first blow.
The result was as expected, it hurt like hell and left him feeling like he was a hair from breaking his bones. Even so, Kaiden was grinning from ear to ear. He'd just proven to himself that he wasn't just all talk. That he would follow through.
“Right. Again.”
Kaiden obeyed and slammed his already hurting hand into the dummy as hard as he could.
“Left. Again.”
Slam!
“Right!”
Slam!
“Left!”
Slam!
On and on it went. The skin of Kaidens knuckles tore. His blood splattered on the dummy and the dojo floor. He didn't let the pain stop him. Every time Sensei called out, he hit the dummy as hard as he could and smiled the entire time. He felt that he'd broken a finger after the tenth blow. He was certain of it on the twentieth. It hurt like hell. Every blow he felt the urge to quit from the pain. Every blow he refused and pushed on.
By the time Sensei called it a day, Kaiden's fists less resembled hands and more resembled ground beef. Even so, Kaiden was grinning from ear to ear as he left the dojo, his hands dripping blood the entire way to the hotel.
Kaiden barely managed to open the door to the room he shared with Mira. When he stepped inside he found her pretty much exactly where he left her, at a large table working on something or other. Honestly, he'd lost track of the ideas he'd given her and had no idea where she was going with them anymore.
She glanced up from her work, briefly, then returned to it while asking, “So, how did it go? Still squatting and staring at a wall?”
Mira had not enjoyed her time on Karate Island thus far. If it weren't for the unlimited supplies and random ideas provided by Kaiden, she would be extremely unhappy. As it was, she was just mildly annoyed. Especially since Kaiden insisted she spend at least some time each day at a local Akido Dojo learning how to defend herself.
Defend herself from what?! There was no one in all of South Blue who could do anything to her thanks to her access to Kaiden's inventory. She had all the guns and explosives she would need to take over all of South Blue if she wanted!
Kaiden, used to her being a little huffy with him, ignored the question and made his way to the bed so he could sit on the edge, “No. Today he actually had me punching.”
Mira paused in her work and spoke with such a thick layer of sarcasm that even Luffy would have noticed it, “Woooooooow. Months of going there all day every day and you finally got to punch something. At this rate you'll become a real martial artist by the time you're sixty!”
She turned to glare at Kaiden, “What the hell are we actually doing here? And don't give me that shit about 'we're not strong enough for the Grand Line' again! I've seen the kind of weight you're lifting now and it's crazy as hell! You're so strong I can't see anyone being stronger than you!”
Kaiden sighed, “Trust me. I'm not strong enough.”
Mira huffed and slammed the tool she was using down on the table, “Bullshit! How would you know if you're strong enough or not?! We've lived together all our lives and heard all the same stories and rumors. How can you possibly know more than me about it?!”
She turned to face him, her eyes narrowed as she glared, “And another thing! I'm the engineer, where the hell are all of these ideas suddenly coming from? I mean an engine powered by steam?! How had no one ever thought of that before! Let alone... you. I know you're not stupid, but you've never shown any interest in my work before! You've even called it stupid more than once!”
Kaiden grimaced a little at that since it was true. Before the memories of his last life, he'd disparaged her work more than once. He'd not seen the benefits of it beyond things like making guns. Even then there were huge companies making guns by the hundreds so what was the point of her being able to make one?
Now he was introducing her to concepts like the steam engine, rifling, aerodynamics, and all kinds of other concepts that were just a part of his daily life before. He didn't know specifically how the steam engine on something like a train worked, but he was exposed to it enough to have at least a basic idea of it. Hell, he used to have a little sterling engine toy on his desk at work. While not the exact same as a steam engine, it still had a ton of similarities.
He was never a gunsmith and only ever owned a twenty-two caliber handgun to go plinking at the range, bu he still knew the concepts of rifling and bullet shape enhancing the accuracy of guns tremendously. The History Channel, before it went all reality TV, was actually educational and he remembered tidbits here and there. Especially from shows like How It's Made that he'd watched repeatedly on streaming. He might not know the chemical composition of a bullets primer, but he didn't need to because percussion caps existed. He might not be a great artist, but he didn't need to be to make a super basic design for a fully self contained bullet.
Just his little half-assed bits of knowledge had fascinated and frustrated Mira and now it was coming back to bite him in the ass. He stared into Mira's eyes wondering what he should say. He wanted to tell her the truth.
Why wasn't he telling her? He could have sworn he had a good reason. Was it a good reason or was he just scared of her reaction and procrastinating out of that fear?
He took a deep breath, “I want to say it's complicated, but I guess it's not. When I turned seventeen, when I got my power, I also got memories of another life in another world. That world was completely different from this one. It's technology was vastly superior in almost every way.”
He only added almost because of Dr. Vegapunk. That guy made cyborgs with lasers in their mouths pre-timeskip. He had no clue just how advanced that man was so he might have some things more advanced than his previous world.
Mira stared at Kaiden for a long moment, the silence dragging out. Finally, she broke the silence with a single word asked in a flat tone, “Seriously?”
Kaiden just nodded his head. What else could he say? He didn't want to lie to Mira so he wasn't going to. He wanted to avoid telling her about seeing One Piece as an anime though. That was just a can of existential dread worms that he didn't want to dive into. Like... was he just some entertainment for the masses like Luffy was? That was a horrific thought he just didn't want to spend any time contemplating otherwise it might drive him mad!
Silence hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before Mira spoke once more, “Alright... So... You what... Reincarnated or something?”
Kaiden felt a wave of relief that she hadn't just blown him off. He nodded and did his best to explain, “It's like... I remember my last life and the things I did in that life.” He snorted, “I died in that life. I know things now and I know that's changed me a little, given me a different perspective, but I'm still me.”
Mira huffed and stood up to walk closer to him, “Yeah, you're still a dumbass. Now, you're... What the hell?!” She dropped to her knees in front of him and gently lifted his destroyed hands.
They weren't dripping blood nearly as badly as a little earlier, but he was definitely still bleeding and definitely still had broken fingers, “I told you, I started punching today.”
Mira glared at him, “Idiot!”
She started pulling some medical supplies out of his inventory. They didn't have anything extravagant, no Tony Tony Chopper to make kick as drugs for them to use. Even so, they did get basic first aid items like gauze, splits, and even some simple salves. Naturally, all of them were upped to plus ten making them a lot more effective.
Kaiden hissed through his teeth as Mira began to unceremoniously cover his wrecked hands in thick smears of salve that was supposed to help wounds close. There was no need to hold back and be stingy. Soon his hands were coated in the stuff, splinted, and wrapped in so much gauze it looked like he was wearing mittens.
Finished with the task, Mira glared at Kaiden, “You're a complete pain in my ass. Now I have to feed you.”
At the mention of food, Kaiden's stomach let out a roar that wouldn't have been out of place in the jungle. Looking a little sheepish, Kaiden rubs the back of his head in embarrassment, “Sorry.”
Mira scoffs, “Don't be sorry, just do better.” She narrows her eyes, “And after you finish eating, you're going to tell me all about all kinds of things so I can make better stuff. Got it?!”
Kaiden agreed, happily. Soon enough Mira was stuffing food into his gob until he was full. Then she took her sweet time eating while Kaiden told her about anything she wanted to know. For the moment she focused on everything he knew about ships and sailing from his world.
Just like that, a new routine was born.
-----Line Break-----
Once Sensei began Kaiden on punching, he added kicking, offensive katas, and more to the training in a methodical step-by-step manner. Kaiden was certain that the only reason he could even remotely keep up with the brutal training was because of the enhanced medical supplies. Plus ten healing salve was no joke because no matter how battered an broken his body was, he would be fully healed just eight hours after putting on the salve.
He really wished there was the equivalent of protein powder or creatine powder he could take to go with his weight lifting just to make it even more effective. Even without it though, his strength over the last three months had grown monstrously. He was now using the plus ten weights he'd made. Specifically the ones that had started as one hundred kilogram plates. At plus ten they weighed an ungodly one hundred thousand kilograms. He could only lift the bar with one plate on either end, but it meant he was pushing up a grand total of two hundred and twenty-five thousand kilos.
The sick part? He wasn't even the strongest on Karate Island. While his plates were nice and compact ones based on a 'normal' weight lifting set, his weights were NOT the heaviest ones on the island. There were gigantic plates, similar to ones he remembered Zoro using, that weighed one hundred thousand kilos a piece with guys lifting four at a time.
Translation, he was only slightly better than half as strong as the strongest guys on the island.
It was batshit insane and made him seriously wonder just how strong Zoro was even pre-timeskip.
Well, either way, he'd gotten his hands on some copies of those crazy weights and amped them up to plus tens. He wasn't about to slack off in the least. Speaking of, the current weights he was pushing had started to not burn enough. Time to add more weight.
Off to the side, Mira watched Kaiden as he pumped iron. She still had trouble believing he wasn't the strongest man in the world. Yet, when he'd shown her karate masters lifting double the weight he could, she had to concede the point. She could see why he strove so hard for strength now that her eyes had been opened, at least a little.
What she found far more important was his knowledge. She didn't know if she truly believed his claim of memories from a past life. Yet she had no other explanation for the things he told her about. Her understanding of engineering had reached a whole new level and she was now making things she hadn't even dreamed of before!
Just the progress she'd made in understanding and creating her own steam powered engines was astonishing. Let alone the other little things like improved weapons. Why had no one ever thought of fully encased bullets before? Sure, flintlocks were the most common form guns took, but percussion cap versions existed too. Just modifying the percussion cap into a shell, stuffing that shell full of gun powder, and capping it with an aerodynamic bullet was revolutionary in weapons technology.
She didn't even want to contemplate the other things he'd told her about like machines capable of flying through the air. Or his claim that the only thing preventing her from achieving it was the lack of a proper fuel source since something called 'gasoline' wasn't being produced. HA! Like she'd let that stop her! She'd figure out some other fuel source and make one of those flying machines just to rub it in his stupid handsome face!
She planned to drain every last drop of knowledge from him and put it all to use for their dreams. No matter how stupid she thought his dream was. How would he even know if he was the greatest martial artist ever anyway? If he wanted to be the best swordsman he could challenge Mihawk, but there was no one like that for Martial Arts! It was stupid. He was stupid.
Not that it mattered how stupid he was, she'd follow him anywhere with or without his knowledge or cool ability.
He was still stupid though. SUPER stupid.
-----Line Break-----
Kaiden moved with the punch Sensei had thrown at him barely feeling it touching his forearm yet feeling the momentum of the blow. He guided that momentum through his body adding his own strength to it, and to his fist just as it came into contact with Sensei's own forearm. Yet nothing happened visibly as his Sensei absorbed the enhanced energy and countered with a new attack of his own.
The two continued to trade blows in this fashion using either their fists or feet. Either way the goal was to absorb the momentum of the enemies attack and return it to them with your own strength attached. In the case of two users of the art the loser would always be the person with the least mastery of the skill.
Case in point... Kaiden cried out as he failed to intercept the next attack, Sensei's fist hit him in the solar plexus like a fully loaded container ship. Kaiden gagged on bile and blood while listening to the sound of his ribs snapping like twigs. He flew through the air until he slammed into the opposite wall and collapsed to the ground incapable of breathing.
Way back when he was just a guppy coming to Karate Island, he'd promised himself he'd work even if it meant breaking every bone in his body. At the time it was just an expression to show his conviction to himself and his desire to get stronger. Now it was a literal fact of life. He wasn't sure if there was a single bone in his body he hadn't broken in the ten months he'd spent on Karate Island learning from Sensei.
His inventory had been a godsend in its ability to help him heal from all the damage he'd taken in record time. Seriously, it only took some medicine, a huge meal, and some sleep to get him back to fighting fit in almost all cases. The only time it took him more than a single night to heal was when Sensei had utterly shattered his left arm. Sensei seemed to have learned from that and stuck to simple breaks instead of compound fractures or outright shattering Kaiden's bones into pieces.
Kaiden was happy for small mercies.
He took the time where he couldn't breath to think about his new martial arts skills since Sensei wouldn't do anything to him until he could actually breath again. Until then he was free to 'enjoy' his little break. Sensei had refused to teach Kaiden anything until he'd gotten to a certain level of strength and durability. Once that minimum threshold was reached, his whole life became about sparring with Sensei.
If one sided beatings could be called sparring.
During those beatings, Sensei taught him the basis of the Ryu Nami School of Martial Arts, momentum redirection. When he first heard of it he wanted to laugh, but in a world where kicking hard enough can produce cutting winds, being able to take and redirect someone else's momentum to turn it into a devastating blow didn't seem so crazy. It was even less unbelievable the first time Sensei showed it to him by breaking his sternum with a poke from his finger.
It was a difficult skill to learn both in technique and bodily harm. Failing to redirect the momentum properly would cause it to 'detonate' inside of his body causing internal damage. Release it too soon and it was nothing but a puff of air. Determination, skill, and timing were all required to even attempt to steal the momentum of someone's attack and return it to them.
Yet, he'd done it. He was nowhere near close to mastering it, but he could use it in live combat against Sensei! That was a huge improvement. Not to mention just how hard he could hit even without using the Ryu Nami style.
He gasped deeply when his diaphragm finally decided it was done being paralyzed and was willing to let him breathe once more. While he caught his breath Sensei approached him. The old man stopped short and stared down at him while Kaiden pushed himself into a sitting position in preparation for getting to his feet with broken ribs.
“There is no more for me to teach you. Only experience can teach you further. Tomorrow, you will come and you will bring one billion Belly in gold. If you do not, you will not like the consequences. If you do, you will receive the manuscripts outlining the secret techniques of Ryu Nami.” Sensei turned and began walking away, “Do not disappoint me.”
Kaiden sat on the floor gaping. Sure, money meant very little to him, but one billion Belly?! That was ten thousand of his gold coins. He shuddered to think what would have happened if he didn't have the cash to pay. Sensei might be a total pervert, and lazy as hell when not teaching, but he wasn't weak. If Sensei wanted to kill him, there would be nothing Kaiden could do to stop him.
He shuddered again and forced himself to his feet. It would be best to go home and rest. Making the money wouldn't be an issue in the least. He'd have it all set by the time he got back to the inn.
-----Line Break-----
“It's about goddamn time! This place was already on my negative last nerve. If you hadn't stopped me I'd have blown this whole island up by now!”
Kaiden glanced up from preparing their original sloop to set sail, “Oh come off it. It's totally your fault for being so hot.”
She preened at his comment, “I am hot, aren't I?” Then she frowned, “HEY! Just because I'm hot doesn't mean every single meathead on this stupid island needs to make a pass at me! Do you have ANY idea how annoying that is?! WORSE! Almost all of them are ugly as sin! If they were at least as hot as you it wouldn't have been such a nightmare.”
She glared at Kaiden as he chuckled at her misfortune. She'd complained about it off and on but it was literally nothing new. Hell, he'd even gotten some good fighting practice in beating the shit out of the guys who didn't know the meaning of the word 'no.' She placed her hands on her hips and stomped on the ground, “Don't you dare laugh mister! Don't think I didn't see some of those okama's hitting on you!”
Kaiden instantly stopped laughing and turned green. Mira wasn't the only one to be hit on. He was certain the attempts to hit on him were more mentally scarring. No wonder Sanji learned Geppo just to get away from a crowd of them. Okama's were terrifying!
Mira smirked at his obvious discomfort, “That's what I thought.”
“Well, it doesn't matter anymore. We're heading out now.”
They'd spent roughly ten months on Karate Island. That left something like two to three months before Luffy left on his journey. He wasn't exactly sure how long it would be and didn't think it mattered too much anymore. It's not like he was planning to hunt Luffy down and demand to join his crew. He was, however, determined to be on the Grand Line before shit started going down.
He did want to make it to Arabasta to participate in saving the country from Crocodile. After that... he wasn't really sure where to go or what to do, and that was fine. He wanted to go to sea to have an adventure in whatever form that adventure took.
Soon the pair had the sloop ready to go and were on the open ocean once more. It was only once they were a short distance from Karate Island that Mira spoke up, her tone still grumpy, “I still can't believe you didn't let me improve this thing! I could have put an engine on it! Hell, I could have designed and built a much faster much sturdier ship if you'd let me!”
Kaiden sighed but nodded in agreement, “I know you could have. I didn't let you because of how much attention it would have drawn. The only people in the whole world with powered ships are the marines. Could you imagine the amount of trouble it would bring down on our heads if we, two orphans from nowhere, were seen in a boat with an engine?”
Mira did see his point, but that didn't mean she wouldn't continue to grumble about it, “Then I could have built a bigger ship and hidden the engine deep inside of it! We both know I had nothing but time on that island!”
He gave her a flat look, “And who would man such a large ship that could hide a steam engine like that?”
Mira crossed her arms, looked away, and pouted. It didn't matter that they'd had this exact same discussion half a dozen times. She was certain she was right, that was all that mattered to her.
Part of Kaiden wished he could let her go crazy and make the greatest ship ever using as much of the modern technology as he'd been able to teach her. The thing would have turned out closer to a modern battleship than not if she had her way. Ever since the grenade she'd had a growing love for explosions and when he told her about artillery that could bombard targets from hundreds of miles away, she practically drooled.
The less said about what happened when he talked about missiles, the better.
Mira chose to continue to pout while he guided them away from Karate Island and in the general direction of the Red Line. All they had to do was sail west and they would reach the Red Line at some point. Then it was either head north, or south, to find the entrance to reverse mountain. Navigating the Blue Seas was easy as pie compared to the Grand Line. Though the downside of going to Karate Island was that they were not too far from the opposite side of the Red Line.
Having just one big ass continent bisecting the entire planet was weird. As was the fact that no one but the bubble heads seemed to live on any portion of it.
He paused in his work as he looked north thoughtfully. Where they were it would be possible to travel though the calm belt and arrive at Sabaody Archipelago. Then it was just a quick trip through fishman island to pop up right next to Punk Hazard.
Why did that matter?
Because right at that very moment there were two extremely powerful Devil Fruits sitting on the island being completely ignored. There was Vegapunk's 'failed' copy of the Uo uo no Mi, Model: Seiryu and the Sara Sara no Mi, Model: Axolotl. Technically, the Axolotl fruit was in use but that was just a cloud of poison gas given animal sentience by the fruit itself. It was, basically, just a living fruit. Something he had zero qualms about killing.
It got even better though because he knew EXACTLY which fruit the Axolotl reincarnated into. Apples.
A few things stopped him from even thinking of trying to get his hands on those fruits. First, while they could build a boat to cross the Calm Belt using a steam engine, they would get eaten by the Sea Kings there since they didn't have any Sea Stone to coat the bottom of any boat they made. For whatever reason, coating the bottom of a ship in that mineral made Sea Kings ignore it. Otherwise... nom nom. Second, Caesar Clown might be a literal clown who got dominated hard by Luffy and crew, but that was AFTER the two year time skip and Luffy had learn how to use Armament to a high degree. Something Kaiden couldn't even imagine doing at the moment. That meant Caesar Clown would kill his ass in no time flat.
Third, he had no reliable way to actually kill Smiley, the living cloud of poison gas in possession of the Axolotl fruit. He also couldn't recall how the thing died in the first place at all. He only remembered it being in a building, like an abandoned factory or something and then the apple changing into a new Axolotl fruit after it died. The change of the fruit was more interesting that the creature.
Fourth, doing so without a solid plan and escape strategy to keep from being seen by a single living soul meant he could be ratted out to Doflamingo and possibly Kaido through him. That was two high tier monsters he did NOT need to have on his ass. It took Luffy turning into a literal GOD to fight Kaido. Little Kaiden from South Blue with a nifty martial art and no haki? He'd get crushed with a finger flick, let alone a Thunder Bagua.
So, as things currently stood, he had zero hope of getting his hands on either fruit. But... It might be something worth looking into after the Summit War. The Marines would be in recovery and recruitment mode, Luffy and the others would begin their training arcs for the time skip, and it would still be at a point before Momonosuke ate the Seiryu fruit.
He looked back to the west and chuckled to himself. Some people might be put off by the fact that the cloned version of the fruit would turn them into a pink dragon. Kaiden didn't give a rats ass! It was one of the most powerful Devil Fruits by FAR. It only lost out to literal God tier fruits like the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika that Luffy ate.
It was a powerful devil fruit and he wouldn't have to kill or harm a single soul to get his hands on it, it was perfect!
Kaiden leaned back and relaxed in his seat while humming a soft tune and ignoring the still pouting Mira. He'd be sure to get her the Axolotl fruit. Those little beasties had good regenerative abilities so her eating it would help protect her from harm. They were also Amphibious so it might be possible for her to breath under water, even if she couldn't do anything else but sink, at least she wouldn't drown and there would be plenty of time for someone to save her.
Ah! A pocket sized instant flotation device that activated at a certain depth. He was certain Mira could make something like that! Well, at least now he had something of a plan for the far flung future of several months from now. Or something like that.
-----Line Break-----
Kaiden carefully used the steering arm to guide their little sloop up next to the dock. It had only been a couple of days since they left Karate Island and they had just arrived at the Sorbet Kingdom. Even they had heard about the events within the Sorbet Kingdom a few years back when King Kuma all of a sudden became an evil tyrant.
Back then Kaiden had believed the rumors. Now he knew better. However, none of that really mattered at the moment because this was just a one night stop over to get some sleep in a bed. Kaiden had amazing plus ten mattresses, blankets, sheets, and comforters inside of his inventory. The sloop just didn't have enough room for more than a camp mat and even enhanced to plus ten those things were not comfortable.
Given Sorbet was a nice enough island, they were hoping to find and buy something a little bigger, but still small enough for two to handle the work. Their current plan was to find a bigger sloop. Their current one was only a twenty-footer, which sounded big, until you had to spend days on it. All told there was less than two hundred square feet of space on the boat.
No, they were on the hunt for a sixty to seventy foot long sloop with a mainsail and headsail as well as a large cabin. Thanks to Mira's genius, they would be making some modifications to the rigging to make it even easier for a single person to control it, if needed. That turning it into a plus ten would make it an even better boat went unsaid.
Kaiden smirked at the sounds of gasping when he stored their sloop inside of his inventory. The sound of surprise from people never got old. Though he expected the people of Sorbet would be less impressed seeing as how their king, up until a few years ago, also had a Devil Fruit power. A crazy strong one at that.
Sorbet also happened to be where Jewelry Bonney was from. He didn't have much interest in her, but it had to be said, she was hot.
Together they not only were on the lookout for a new boat, but they also hit some clothing stores. After spending so long on Karate Island they were both looking for something new to enjoy wearing. The styles for sale on Karate Island all revolved around various combat uniforms like Gi's. The lack of normal clothing had driven Mira insane.
Kaiden wouldn't admit it out loud, but he enjoyed the moment of shopping for new clothing with Mira. He was pretty sick of the martial arts outfits himself. He didn't mind dropping a few million Belly on clothing for both of them. Or the time it took to upgrade said clothing.
It took some time, talking to a dozen or so people, and a large pile of gold coins, but they finally found a boat that fit their needs. It was sixty-five feet long, had a large central mast as well as a headsail and a nice large cabin with not one, but two decent sized beds and even a small camp kitchen. Once the boat was theirs, Kaiden sailed it around to a section of beach that didn't seem to have any civilization neary.
With no one to watch them, Kaiden and Mira got to work modifying the sloop into something far better than it's current form. The interior was stripped bare and anything not needed was removed. The two beds and kitchen were completely gutted. They only needed a single bed and no kitchen at all. Additionally, the hull was reinforced so they could install two cannons, one each port and starboard, that Mira had designed based on Kaiden's stories of breech loading artillery guns.
Those were the easy modifications. The harder ones were changing the rigging of the boat to be easier for them to control. Kaiden knew of the systems modern boats had used but had never actually looked closely at them. It took some experimentation, but Mira pulled through and now the boat's sails could be easily controlled by a single person even while they stood at the steering wheel.
When the modifications were completed, Kaiden stored the boat and upgraded it to a plus ten version that was ridiculously durable, sleek, and comfortable. It was probably the single greatest sloop in existence.
As they prepared to set sail once more, Kaiden decided to try out his new uniform. It seemed like it was the style of the world for men to wear the same outfit most of the time and only changing it on special occasions. He'd always thought that was weird until it was explained to him. It became part of the culture to wear identifiable clothing to make it easier to recognize a person and their fame or infamy. In a world where the only way to identify criminals is from their faces on wanted posters, clothing became more like a visual fingerprint. Pirates WANTED to be recognized, for their infamy to be known to the people they talk to, so they stuck with a uniform of their choosing to help build their reputation and identity.
After all, who would Luffy be without his iconic hat? Or Zoro without his bandanna? Usopp without his overalls?
Hell, the tradition even extended to the marines with their more famous members making obvious modifications to the base marine uniform. It might not be said aloud, but it was all about amassing fame in a world where names could live forever. It was the average persons attempt at immortality in whatever form they could get it.
Who was Kaiden to dismiss such a fundamental part of world culture?
So he'd chosen his clothing carefully. He'd chosen loose dark pants that resembled a karate Gi only looser and held in place with a thick belt. On his feet he wore steel toed combat boots that went to mid calf and had the bottoms of his pants tucked inside of them. For his torso he had an array of different tee shirts he would swap around, each with pithy comments on them.
The last fixed part of his uniform was something he had custom made. A black jacket just loose enough for him to fight in. Though it was the image on the back that gave the most impact. Staring at anyone looking at him from behind was the image of a massive undulating eastern dragon flying in front of a giant tidal wave, both given perspective by a small ship at the base of the wave. A tribute to the Ryu Nami School of Martial Arts.
Once he was dressed, Mira gave him a once over and nodded in approval, “You look good.”
Kaiden glanced at Mira and looked her over as well. Today she was wearing a pair of capri pants, sandals with short heels, and a bright red bikini top with flames that barely contained her impressive assets, “So do you.”
Mira posed playfully, “I know.”
The pair laughed together for a bit then Mira climbed aboard their new boat while Kaiden easily pushed it into the ocean. He'd never stopped his strength training and estimated that he was possibly as physically strong as Zoro now, though they were both obviously skilled in different ways. He was looking forward to meeting the man someday and seeing who was stronger.
-----Line Break-----
Kaiden casually flips a one hundred Belly coin to the fruit stall vendor while plucking up two apples. One of the apples is slipped into his inventory, the other he happily munches on while continuing his walk with Mira. A short while ago they'd landed on the island of Tumi, one of the few islands the Revolutionary Army had successfully freed. This meant there were no marines around, not that it particularly mattered if they were. Neither Kaiden nor Mira were wanted criminals yet, though he expected it was only a matter of time. Even if neither of them ever actually committed any crimes, they would become wanted people.
Mira especially would. He was certain that once her creations became more famous she would draw the attention of the world government. They would offer her a place among them making an offer she couldn't refuse. Which, she would then refuse, bluntly. That would make her an enemy and she would be labeled a pirate, because every criminal was automatically a pirate.
As for Kaiden? He was sure the moment he defended and protected Mira from the marines would be when he earned his bounty and pirate status.
Just as he went to take another bite of his apple, an explosion went off near the shore. Kaiden and Mira turned to look back the way they'd come. A pillar of thick black smoke rose into the air and was swiftly followed by a second as another explosion went off. Kaiden distinctly heard two explosions, one smaller and weaker than the other.
“Cannon fire.” Mira exclaimed with a small bit of fear.
Kaiden nodded in agreement, “They're bombarding the docks so no one can escape.”
Mira looked toward Kaiden with fear in her eyes. She wasn't much of a fighter. Sure, Kaiden made sure she could protect herself, but she wasn't a born fighter like he was. She would much rather sit in a nice lab working on her next great invention than get into a fight with pirates.
Screams slowly became louder as people realized the situation and fled toward the interior of the island away from the coast. Mira stared at Kaiden, looking for guidance. Kaiden stared down at the coast, even as more explosions went off from additional canon fire. He clenched his fists tightly while his heart hammered in his chest. Not from fear, but from excitement.
The pair stood still, a sea of calm in the middle of a stampede of fear. Kaiden finally looked down at Mira and gave her a grin that made her weak in the knees, “We fight and we win.”
-----Line Break-----
“Round them up! Round up as many as you can! One of them has to know where the vault is!” A foreboding female voice shouted while a small group of pirates moved to do her bidding.
Civilians and militia alike were captured with relative ease and held hostage under the glare of an average sized sunburned man with goggles and a clearly custom modified rifle. His beady black eyes watched the captives closely, silently begging one of them to flee so he could shoot them.
“Garron! Crag! Nimble! Capture as many as you can!” The same foreboding voice called out to reiterate her orders while targeting specific members of her crew.
Garron was a massive man, easily ten feet tall and almost as wide at the shoulders, who carried a matched set of long cutlasses with wavy edges. Krag was another massive man, though smaller in height than Garron he was wider and covered in bulging muscles. Instead of an actual weapon he walked around with a ships anchor settled on his shoulder with its chain dragging behind him as he walked. Lastly, Nimble was a short woman, barely five feet tall, with wild dark hair and a mad gleam in her eyes. She wore an over-sized apron covered in pockets that each contained a vial holding different liquids.
The captain shouting orders was a middle aged lean woman with slick dark aqua colored hair, a prominently displayed shark-tooth necklace, and jagged tattoos lining her arms and upper chest. Her cold gaze moved over to the man guarding the prisoners, “Reed, shoot anyone that moves.”
The order was less for him and more to make certain the civilians didn't get any funny ideas. Dead men tell no tales and she wanted them to tell her a tale of secret government research. Unfortunately, some people completely lacked any kind of self preservation instinct. A man, a clear member of the militia, jumped to his feet and took off running right toward the nearest building, clearly intent on turning the corner so he couldn't be shot.
He was nowhere near fast enough.
-----Line Break-----
Kaiden and Mira watched in shock, just around the corner, as the militiaman collapsed to his knees. Guns were common, as were gunshot victims. Seeing someone shot to death was, sadly, nothing new to either of them. They'd seen more than one marine shoot a fleeing criminal.
This was different. Horrifically different.
Rather than the expected pool of blood flowing from the gaping wounds from the gunshot, there was nothing. Instead, they watched in horror as the wound rapidly grew desiccated and grew so dry it began to crumble like sand. The man let out a horrific scream as his whole chest dried out and crumbled to sand in moments. Only the loss of his lungs stopped the horrible sound.
Mira covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming, or vomiting, or even both. Kaiden stared at the dead man in silent horror. Suddenly the world didn't feel like it was all fun and games anymore. The memories of this world had given him a sort of irreverent attitude, not taking things too seriously. After all, there might have been dark moments but the good guys always won, right?
Except, as he stared at the dead man, he was reminded of all the people surrounding Luffy who died. Not that he blamed Luffy, but a lot of people did die in the show. Especially civilians and weak mooks. This was a real world and he could die at any moment. He wasn't the protagonist. He wasn't the reincarnation of Joy Boy come to fulfill some prophecy.
He was just... Kaiden.
“Kaiden, we need to go. We have to get out of here an run away from this horrible place!” Mira whisper-shouted in abject terror.
He had to admit, the idea of just running away appealed to him on a deep level. He was terrified. He had no idea if he would get a third life or not and didn't want to risk it. He was living a life where he could fulfill his dream! A world where he wasn't plagued by Leukemia constantly weakening his body and killing him slowly. He wasn't buried under hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. He finally had a strong body and the freedom to do what he wanted, to pursue his dream until the very end!
His head slowly turned to look back he way they'd come. It would be so easy to just lift Mira up and run for the hills. It wouldn't take any time at all to reach a beach and pull out their boat to sail off to safety. So... easy.
His gaze hardened.
Too easy.
If he ran away at the first sign of trouble, when would he stop running? If he let his fear turn him into a coward, how would he ever face someone like Usopp? That man was terrified of everything, yet he still stood his ground and fought. Usopp, the character he liked the least, the most cowardly one of all.
What would it say about him if he couldn't even do as much? What would it say about him if he truly did run away and hide? Would he ever be able to fight after that?
He turned and looked back in the direction he knew the attacking pirates were in.
No. He couldn't run away. He'd made so many promises to himself, to Mira, that if he ran he would break them all. If he ran, something inside of him would break and die. His dream would shatter into nothing.
He would rather DIE!
He got it now. He understood the dreamers of the world just a little bit better now. He would rather die trying to fulfill his dream than run away
After gently releasing Mira, he clenched his hands into fists and narrowed his eyes, “Mira, I need to stop them. I can't just run away while those pirate bastards hurt and kill people. If you want to leave, that's fine. I'll meet you where we modified the boat.”
Mira stared up at Kaiden for a long moment, “Are you serious?”
Kaiden nodded, “You know my dream Mira. If I run away from a fight like this... Well, I would rather die fighting today than die an old coward a hundred years from now.”
Mira growled and slapped his chest as hard as she could, “Why are you acting so noble! You're just a street rat like me!”
Even though her words were harsh, nearly condemning, her actions said something else entirely. She opened his inventory and retrieved a custom made gunslinger's belt that was loaded down with six custom made revolvers. They strayed greatly for the normal design aesthetics of guns around the world. They looked less like some weird modified flintlock and more like a Colt Peacemaker from the old west in his last world.
Not only did she carry six fully loaded plus ten revolvers, she'd also designed speed loaders for them and had literally thousands of them ready to be used. All told, she had enough weapons and ammo to outfit an entire army, all for herself. Lastly, she donned a small steel chest plate that protected her organs and little else. She couldn't wear anything bigger due to the sheer weight of the armor she had on. Though, in exchange for that weight it was enhanced to plus ten and strong enough to shake off anything but cannon shots from unmodified firearms.
She pulled the first revolver and glared at Kaiden, “You're not doing this alone. But when we survive this you're going to stop pussyfooting around and take my virginity or I swear to god I will castrate you!
Kaiden didn't even flinch at the threat, though he did swallow heavily before nodding, “You got it. Let's do this!”
-----Line Break-----
AN
8.5k because I'm not sure how long the fight and the rest of the mini arc here will take.
So, what did you all think? I think I did pretty good.
I also still need a good name for the story so feel free to offer something up!
Lastly, below is a list of everything that Kaiden's inventory can do as well as what the odds of a combination above +10 succeeding are.
Kaiden's Inventory Power Rules
Gain a video-game type inventory that only you and those you permit can access or interact with. This inventory has infinite slots and can be manifested as you please and can store any item, limited to anything that can fit in a 1,000 foot cube.
Secondary users can only insert or remove items, all other functions are blocked.
This inventory allows you to put any stored item or being into stasis or you can even fast forward the time so that a wine that is stored can taste better or that "5 year old Heavenly Myriad Immortal Herb" from some cultivation world can rapidly grow into a "5000 year old Heavenly Myriad Immortal Herb". You can decide whether each slot is in stasis or accelerated time or just assign a different time for each individual slot.
This wouldn't be an Infinite Multiplier Inventory if it didn't do what it says it does - Any item you place in this can be multiplied an infinite number of times. Any weapon, potion, vehicle, etc once it goes in it becomes infinite. All copies are the exact same as the original.
If you want to destroy anything in the inventory completely you can do it. It would be just like pressing the 'Delete' button, but you won't be able to get it back unless you had another saved in a slot.
Living things cannot be stored.
You can also combine items/objects like metals, swords, potions to create stronger versions of them. For example, you can combine 2 low level health potions to create one medium level or 2 high level potions to create one ultimate level.
The only limitation is that those items must be of similar types. You cannot merge a poison and a health potion to create something that heals first then eventually kills or combine a sword and a spear to create a weapon that can shift into either in an instant. The more items are combined, the higher the chance the attempt to combine them will fail. Failed combinations are automatically deleted, permanently.
Modification Odds above +10:
+11 – 50%
+12 – 25%
+13 – 12.5%
+14 – 6.25%
+15 – 3.12%
+16 – 1.5%
+17 – 0.78%
+18 – 0.39%
+19 – 0.19%
+20 – 0.09%