Chapter 1
Thud! … Thud! … Thud! … Thud! … Thud!
The calm of the moonlit night was broken by the sound of flesh slamming into a hard surface over and over. The repeated sound drowned out other softer sound such as the rhythmic slap of water against the wooden ship's garish pink hull and the snoring of other people on the ship.
The area brightened when a cloud moved to no longer block the full moon. Standing on the deck of a hideously pink ship with an ugly swan headed bow was a young man constantly punching an iron plate bolted to the ships middle mast. Old blood stained the plate while fresh blood dripped slowly down it. A blood covered fist slammed into the plate with a meaty thud.
The fists hitting the metal plate were covered in blood leaking from split knuckles. Thick scarring and heavy calluses on the fist would let anyone know just how much punishment this particular pair of fists had been put through. Yet the fists never stopped. Blow after blow hit the ships mast causing more damage and suffering.
“998... 999... 1,000!”
When the last punch hit the mast with no less strength than the first, the one doing the punching fell to his knees to cradle his hands while breathing heavily. kneeling in the moonlight was a young man with short pink hair currently being held back from his face by a large pair of blue glasses. His bare torso was covered in sweat that dripped down barely defined muscles. It was clear he hadn't been working out for very long given the lack of definition.
After catching his breath he pulled his glasses down so he could see better and lifted his gaze to look at only something he could see.
[Quest #173 Complete!
Punch the ships mast 1,000 times! - 1,000/1,000
CP9 Template Increased by 0.2%, Full Recovery
CP9 Template Current Progress: 51.3%]
He let out a deep sigh of relief as his broken knuckles mended themselves. The sharp pain receded to become a dull ache that was mostly mental trauma from how often he'd done this to himself. Though the wounds healed, the scars remained as did the strength he gained from the punishment he endured.
[Quest #174 Issued!
Kick the ships mast 2,000 times! - 0/2,000
Reward: Template Increased by 0.3%, Full Recovery]
With a resigned sigh, the young man climbed to his feet and pushed his glasses back up onto his forehead. He took a proper stance, one he'd learned from the system and lashed out with his right leg.
Thud!
He bit back a wince from the impact, dropped his leg back down, and lashed out with his left leg.
Thud!
The sound of meaty impacts filled the air once more, the young man pushing his body to its limits constantly. This was his nightly ritual and had been ever since he'd woken up with memories of a past life and a blue screen in front of his eyes. It took him days to come to terms with what happened, along with eating one of Alvida's club hits.
He, was Koby, the most pathetic little idiot who showed zero prospects at the beginning of the One Piece series. So idiotic that he actually climbed onto a pirates boat without even realizing it. Then had to spend all his time bowing a scraping to one of the fattest and ugliest women he'd ever seen, the pirate Alvida.
In the four months since then he'd worked at every opportunity he could find to complete quests and improve his template. He knew reaching the peak of CP9 would give him a lot of strength, enough to easily survive the first half of the Grand Line, barring running into anyone with a Logia Devil Fruit. The Template System had promised he would be as strong as Rob Lucci, minus his Devil Fruit powers, once he reached one hundred percent.
Unfortunately, it looked like it was going to take him another three or four months to reach that point. He gained anywhere from 0.1% to 0.5% per completed quest. The only saving grace was that he was granted a new quest the moment he completed one letting him chain them to complete multiple each night.
It was rather hard for him to do so for the first couple of weeks. His constant hitting of the main mast had awoken people with the noise. Still being a short, scrawny, pitiful weakling, he'd had to hide from them. Eventually, the pirates adapted to the new sound and no longer noticed it in their sleep. That change allowed Koby to work harder every night.
If he were honest, he missed those first few nights. He'd had major gains back then every night. He'd had quests like doing just ten squats which would earn him 0.1%. The percentage wasn't much, but ten squats was super easy, especially with the Full Recovery healing him with each quest completion. In just one night he could get anywhere from two to three percent progress.
But now? Now he was lucky to get one percent a night. The quests had not just gotten harder, but took significantly longer to complete just from the sheer numbers. He was doing significantly more work for similar rewards. It sucked.
It took him over an hour, but he eventually finished the two thousand kicks he needed to complete his quest.
[Quest #174 Complete!
Kick the ships mast 2,000 times! - 2,000/2,000
Reward: Template Increased by 0.3%, Full Recovery
CP9 Template Current Progress: 51.6%]
Koby let out a deep sigh as the pain in his legs faded away. Even though his pain faded after each quest he completed, his stamina didn't recover. It also didn't keep him from needing to sleep. This left him only a few hours to work on quests each night.
Despite the obvious changes to his body, such as his height and budding muscles, he still pretended to cower before Alvida and the other crew so he needed to be awake during the day to perform his chores. He put up with it because it allowed him the time and freedom to work on his Template without having to worry about things like where he would sleep or get food from. He was pretty safe where he was until Alvida ran into Luffy and got her ass kicked.
Until that day came, he would continue to act like he was a weak little coward all while gaining phenomenal strength.
[Quest #175 Issued!
Complete 10,000 squats! - 0/10,000
Reward: Template Increased by 0.1%, Full Recovery]
He stared at his newest quest and immediately gave up for the night. Just seeing that he needed to literally do a thousand times more squats for the same gains as he used to get was just straight up demoralizing. He'd just work on it in his free time throughout the day tomorrow. Until then, he needed some sleep.
-----Line Break-----
[Quest #295 Complete!
Successfully use Shigan to pierce iron 100 times! - 100/100
Reward: Template Increased by 0.2%, Full Recovery
CP9 Template Current Progress: 85.4%]
[Quest #296 Issued!
Successfully survive 250 hits while using Tekkai! - 0/250
Reward: Template Increased by 0.3%, Full Recovery]
Koby cradled his hands gently against his chest bearing the phantom pains from his most recent quest. After hitting seventy-five percent on the template his quests had shifted away from 'basic' workout stuff and directly into using the Rokushiki techniques. Training most of them was easy enough to do on his own. The exceptions were Tekkai and Kami-e.
Soru, Geppo, and Rankyaku all just required him using his legs in different ways. Each of those techniques still stressed his legs if he used them too many times in a row but the sheer joy he'd felt the first time he'd performed each one... He couldn't describe it. Shigan was probably his least favorite as it was just stabbing things with his finger and training it was painful as hell, not to mention requiring things for him to stab making it more difficult to train.
The last two were defensive techniques and, therefore, required someone to attack him. Tekkai was all about making his muscles as hard as iron to block attacks. Kami-e was the opposite in that it was all about dodging attacks with the flexibility of a sheet of paper. They were impossibly to train without someone attacking him, which meant he had to change things on the ship a little bit.
“You!” he pointed to one of the crewmen lazing about, “Get over here and punch me!”
Ever since he'd started to practice the Rokushiki he'd had to stop pretending to be a complete wuss. He'd tried inciting the pirates into beating him so he could practice Tekkai, and it did work once, but it was impossible to do with Kami-e. Curling up into a ball and using Tekkai worked fine, but the lazy ass pirates on Alvida's crew gave up trying to hit him after he dodged just a few blows.
So, he'd had to make the changes necessary to work on the techniques. Namely, he kicked the shit out of everyone but Alvida and made himself the second in command on the ship. Alvida didn't give a fuck as long as he still groveled before her in 'fear' and praised her 'beauty'. So, after pounding the fuck out of the other pirates he could tell them what to do, which he only did when he needed help training.
The pirate he pointed to let out a disappointed groan and made his way over to Koby. Koby flexed his muscles to make them as hard as he could, “Punch me until I say stop.”
The pirate grimaced but did as he was told. This wasn't the first time he'd told someone to hit him and the crew knew what it entailed, namely, sore fists for themselves or utter exhaustion as he dodged everything they threw at him. Though, there was some satisfaction to be had when Koby failed to defend or dodge and they got to land a good hit on him. After all, he hadn't mastered the Rokushiki just yet.
Thud!
The pirate hadn't held back as he punched Koby. Most of the pirates harbored some resentment toward him. Koby used to be their little punching bag and now he stood above them in every respect, their resentment was natural.
The pirate grimaced and shook his hand while frowning. Hitting Koby had been like punching an iron plate, it hurt like hell! Koby stared blandly at the pirate and taunted him, “That all you got? I barely felt a thing.”
The fact Koby spoke in a flat bored tone was even worse than if he'd spoken in a mocking one. The pirate was instantly enraged and began to pummel Koby non-stop. The meaty thwack of flesh hitting flesh rang out but Koby weathered every blow with ease. Unfortunately, the number of blows was disappointing since the pirate had to stop before he literally broke his hands on Koby's stomach and chest. No one aimed for his face anymore, not since he knocked a dozen teeth out of the last guy to try.
After only a dozen hits, the pirate stepped back with his hands nearly broken from hitting such a hard surface. Koby examined his hands and sighed, “Go away.” His gaze flickered over the rest of the crew then settled on someone else. The new choice lasted for twenty hits against Koby's Tekkai hardened body. It took using fourteen more pirates for him to finish the quest.
[Quest #296 Complete!
Successfully survive 250 hits while using Tekkai! - 250/250
Reward: Template Increased by 0.3%, Full Recovery
CP9 Template Current Progress: 85.7%]
[Quest #297 Issued!
Successfully complete 500 uses of Soru - 0/500
Reward: Template Increased by 0.5%, Full Recovery]
The newest quest brought a smile to Koby's face. If he was honest with himself, he found Soru, Geppo, Rankyaku, and Kami-e to be the most useful skills from the Rokushiki. Shigan was... well stupid, to put it lightly. As for Tekkai, while it seemed like a great defensive skill at first blush, and it was good, it taught terrible habits. Seriously, the best defense to any attack was to dodge it. Tekkai taught its users to just sit there and let their enemy hit them while hoping their defense was better than the enemies attack.
Kami-e, on the other hand, felt like a good primer to Kenbonshoku, or Observation, Haki as it taught the user to feel the oncoming attack and gently sway out of the way of it. Mastering Kami-e wouldn't actually teach Observation Haki, it would be a good solid step in that direction.
There were only two reasons he was happy to learn all of the Rokushiki. The first being learning the Rokuogan, the secret seventh technique that released an extremely powerful shock wave that dealt internal damage to the target. The second reason was because he straight up didn't have a choice. The template system required him to practice all six Rokushiki techniques whether he wanted to or not.
Koby ignored the other pirates, Alvida was lounging in her cabin waiting for them to spot a ship to rob, and began his Soru practice. The other pirates looked at him with fear and awe at how fast he was moving. To them it was as if he was teleporting from place to place. Koby smirked as he worked up a sweat. Just another month or two and he would max out the template.
-----Line Break-----
[Quest #349 Complete!
Successfully use Kami-e 10,000 times in a row! - 10,000/10,000
Reward: Template Increased by 0.1%, Full Recovery
CP9 Template Current Progress: 99.9%]
[Quest #350 Issued!
Successfully join the Marines, Revolutionaries, or gain a Bounty – 0/1 Choice Made
Reward: Template Increased by 0.1%]
Koby stared at his completed quest and let out a deep sigh of relief. It had taken him two full weeks to complete that quest. Not because he couldn't dodge the hits, but because any little hit he received counted. The system was so fucking evil that even getting hit by rain had counted as a failure! He'd been righteously pissed off when that happened as he'd been over half way to completion at the time.
Worse, every quest before it had been similar. It started with using Geppo ten thousand times without touching the ground. It had been absolute murder on his legs. He'd failed the quest seven times before he'd managed to succeed. Using Geppo was pretty easy with his current level of strength, but using it that many times in a row? He wasn't even sure if any of the Admirals could do something like that!
Then he had to block ten thousand blows in a row with Tekkai. Fire off ten thousand full strength Rankyaku's in a row. That one taught him that 'in a row' meant with a gap of only thirty seconds maximum between kicks. Ten thousand uses of Soru had not only wrecked his legs, but completely ruined three pairs of shoes. The Shigan quest was the worst as he not only had to do the attack ten thousand times, but had to pierce steel plates at least a half centimeter thick. Getting those plates had been the hardest part of that quest. It's not like Alvida, or pirates in general, carried around dozens of thick steel plates. He'd actually had to steal some money and buy the damned things.
God that had sucked.
And now, two weeks of effort to successfully complete the Kami-e training. In total, it had taken him almost three months to finish the last six quests alone. It also seriously got on his nerves that each of those quests only provided 0.1% growth when finished. But, it was over now! He was finally free! Just one final quest and he would be as strong as the strongest CP-9 Agent, Rob Lucci. Minus his Devil Fruit powers, of course.
He crossed his arms over his chest and considered his options. Frankly, the choice wasn't very hard for him. He would be joining the Marines. Not because he had some overblown sense of justice but out of sheer logic. Joining the Revolutionaries would automatically make him an enemy of the Marines, World Government, and Pirates who attacked indiscriminately. He believed in their cause, but not enough to fight for it without enough strength.
His next option of being a pirate was dropped without question. He was most certainly strong enough to get through the first half of the Grand Line, provided he didn't run into a Logia user enemy. However, it was an unsafe career with resources being something he would have to fight tooth and nail to get his hands on.
That's what it all came down to for him, resources. With his Template System he could grow to become the strongest being in the world, if he had the time. Working for the Marines would provide him resources and a safe place to train and grow stronger. There was also the possibility of getting his hands on a Devil Fruit by working for them. While losing the ability to swim would suck, it would be worth it for a strong enough power.
So, he would join the Marines to gain resources and safety. He was certain they would treat him well once they realized how strong he was already. He'd need to refrain from using the Rokushiki until he'd officially been taught, but then he could pretend to master them quickly.
Then, once he felt he was strong enough, he would leave the Marines and head out on his own. Possibly after faking his death. It would all depend on circumstances and where things were in the timeline. His plans were pretty ephemeral at the moment and would change based on what he gained from his Template System.
“KOOOOOBY!”
Koby frowned at the sound of Alvida's grating voice, but he obediently walked to the area of the deck where she was standing and knelt down, “Yes, Alvida-sama?”
Sure, he could slaughter her with minimal effort, however he hadn't for one simple reason. He wanted to meet Luffy. He had no intention of joining Luffy's crew, he just wanted to meet the future Pirate King in person before he joined the Marines.
“KOBY! Who is the most beautiful woman on the sea?!”
Koby calmly looked at the deck while hanging his head low, it was the only way he could stomach saying what he was about to say, “You, of course, Alvida-sama.”
Alvida laughed happily, which sounded more like frogs croaking, “That's right!” She thumped her large metal spiked club on the deck of the ship, “Prepare the men for combat, we have prey ahead!”
He lifted his head a bit to look out at the sea and sighed. There was indeed a large ship they were closing in on to attack. He'd done his best to participate as little as possible in any raids, mostly just moving cargo instead of fighting. He really didn't want to risk earning a bounty.
He climbed to his feet and began shouting orders. On the bright side, his time spent on Alvida's ship had taught him a lot about sailing and how to properly command a ship. They quickly pulled away from the tiny island they'd been docked near and approached the civilian vessel. As they got closer he realized it was a cruise ship. Those were pretty rare given the number of pirates roaming the oceans. Though the East Blue was the weakest sea it wasn't lacking in pirates who could easily take control of the ship.
As they got closer, Koby noticed something that brought a smile to his face, a flash of bright orange hair in a window. His memories of One Piece were scattered at best. He knew the story beats pretty well, but details were gone. He hadn't watched the show in a decade before he transmigrated and his memories hadn't been magically turned impervious to time. Seeing that flash of hair stirred some forgotten tidbits in the depths of his mind, but nothing significantly helpful.
Still, seeing Nami's hair did tell him one important thing, it was finally time to be free of Alvida! He grinned to himself while they closed in on the cruise ship. Once they pulled up next to it he happily leaped from Alvida's ship and boarded the cruise ship. He ignored the pirates robbing the civilians and made his way below the decks toward the storage areas for food and the kitchen.
Upon opening the door he spotted a barrel that was still darkly stained from recently soaking in the ocean. That had to be the barrel with Luffy sleeping inside of it. Only that rubber idiot would risk his life in a barrel to escape a whirlpool. Granted, only he would be stupid enough to actually set sail while knowing nothing about navigating the oceans.
Koby, sporting a wide grin, decided to sit down on a nearby box and wait for Luffy to wake up. As he was waiting a trio of Alvida pirates stomped their way down to the storage area. Spotting Koby, they immediately turned around and left. That got a chuckle out of him. A short wait later and the lid of the barrel exploded off with Luffy shouting loudly as he stretched, “That was a great nap!”
Koby chuckled, only Luffy. After looking around, Luffy spotted Koby and stared at him, “Who're you?”
“I'm Koby, who the hell are you?”
Luffy pointed at his face, “Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the future King of the Pirates!”
Koby chuckled, “That's one hell of a big dream. I like it!”
“Shishishishi!” Luffy laughed with a wide grin, then his stomach growled like a caged animal, “Ugh, I'm hungry. Is there any food?”
Koby nodded and hopped off of his crate, “Right this way.”
He led Luffy into the kitchen where they both raided the supplies and began chowing down. One thing Koby had noticed was that the stronger he got, the more he ate, even after a Full Recovery. They chowed down on fruit, unfortunately all the meat was raw and Koby wasn't about to attempt cooking for Luffy.
As they chowed down, there was a loud crash from above causing Luffy to look up at the ceiling, “What's going on up there?”
Koby swallowed a mouth full of apple, “Oh, this ship is being attacked by the Alvida pirates.”
Luffy tilted his head to the side, “Never heard of 'em.”
Koby shrugged, “Not surprised. They're the definition of small time. The only thing outstanding about them is how fugly Alvida is.”
The ceiling above them shattered to reveal Alvida looking down at them with a mild look of confusion, “Koby? What are you doing?”
Luffy, looked up at the ceiling then back to Koby. While pointing at Alvida he asked, “Is that the 'fugly' hag you were talking about?”
Koby chuckled at the way Luffy said 'fugly' as he'd obviously never heard the word before. Still, Koby nodded even as Alvida's face turned an ugly shade of red that made her look even uglier, “Yup, that's the ugly bitch.”
“KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!”
Alvida raised her massive spiked club and swung it down toward both Luffy and Koby. Luffy laughed loudly as he jumped into the air while holding his iconic hat on his head. Koby, laughing along, joined Luffy and jumped up onto the main deck.
“Luffy, this way!”
Koby leaped off of the cruise ship and landed firmly on the deck of Alvida's ship. Luffy landed next to him a moment later, “What're we doing here?”
Koby pointed to one of the life boats sitting on the side of the ships deck, “Let's take one of those and get out of here!”
Luffy looked at the boat and laughed, “Alright!”
“Koby?! Are you betraying us?!” a pirate whose name Koby never bothered to learn shouted toward them.
The next moment the side of the cruise ship shattered as Alvida's large bulk smashed through it. Her landing on the deck of her own ship caused the whole thing to rock. She glared hatefully at both Koby and Luffy, “KOBY!” She hefted her club threateningly, “I'll give you one chance! Who is the most beautiful woman on the sea?!”
Koby snorted, “Boa Hancock. Duh. Why a fat land whale like you would ever think she was even mildly attractive baffles the mind of mortals everywhere. You're so fucking ugly that mirrors break themselves rather than reflect the sight of you. You're so fucking ugly that the ocean near you refuses to sit still long enough to even risk your reflection appearing on the surface.” He looked at the madly laughing Luffy, “Think she understands?”
Luffy was bent over trying not to die of asphyxiation as he laughed. Alvida, on the other hand, had so many veins throbbing on her beet red forehead that he honestly thought she might blow a vein and die of an aneurysm right then and there. Her whole body was shaking with anger that made a disturbing sight, like a jello dish during an earthquake.
She finally let out an articulate shout of rage and charged at Koby while lifting her club up high. She clearly intended on smashing him like a bug. Not that he would let her. He calmly watched her charge at him with a slight smirk, “I've been waiting a long time to do this!”
As she got close he crouched slightly then hopped into the air while spinning himself hard. His leg lashed out with an inhuman amount of force that launched a blunt Rankyaku. The blade, made more for force than cutting, slammed violently into Alvida and easily lifted her large bulk off of the ship's deck and launched her into the air. Her shrill screams echoed off of the ocean as she flew.
“SUGEEEE!”
The ship suddenly shook as a canon ball exploded right next to them. Both Luffy and Koby looked out onto the ocean and saw a pair of marine ships closing in, “Time to go!”
Luffy laughed as they both shoved the boat off of the ship's deck and jumped into it while canon balls rained down causing constant explosions. Koby looked to the side and smiled broadly when he spotted Nami in a similar ship landing in the water right next to them. She was honestly the most beautiful women he'd ever seen in either of his lives. Just the possibility of spending more time with her was almost tempting enough for him to want to join Luffy's crew. After all, if she was that good looking, just how gorgeous would Nico Robin be?
He threw his head back and laughed while setting the sail with Luffy's help. Luffy glanced at him before asking, “What's so funny?”
Koby's smile was all teeth, “I'm finally free of that ugly hag!”
“Free?” Luffy asked curiously.
Koby nodded, “Yeah, a while back I accidentally got on the wrong boat when I wanted to go fishing. It turned out to be one of Alvida's boats and she forced me to become her cabin boy.”
Luffy threw his head back and laughed while pointing at Koby, “You're stupid!”
Koby chuckled and nodded in agreement, “Yeah, not my brightest moment! But, it motivated me to change my life.” He lifted his arm and curled it letting his bicep bulge, “I used the opportunity to train myself to become stronger so I could gain my freedom, then fulfill my dream.”
“What's your dream?”
Koby smiled, “Freedom for slaves everywhere. That's why I'm going to join the Marines! They can give me the training I need to hunt down slavers everywhere and free the people they captured.”
Luffy was silent for a moment before he nodded, “That's a good dream. So, where are we heading?”
“Shells Town is the nearest port. It should be interesting, I heard that Pirate Hunter Zoro was last seen there.”
“Whose that?”
Koby leaned back and checked their course before he answered, letting Luffy stew in his curiosity. When he finally answered Luffy was practically bouncing in his seat, “He's supposed to be a demonic swordsman with a vicious streak a mile wide.”
“Oh! He sounds interesting!”
Koby smiled, his job was done. He'd successfully gotten Luffy interested in Zoro like he should be. He didn't want to disrupt Luffy's journey, which was just another reason to not join him. Butterflies and all that jazz. Once Shells Town was dealt with he wouldn't have to worry anymore since his actions would no longer have any chance of affecting Luffy.
Until then, he'd have to be fairly careful.
-----Line Break-----
It only took a few hours of sailing to reach the docks of Shells Town prompting Luffy to exclaim, “Wow! That was a lot easier with someone who knew what to do!”
Koby chuckled and rolled his eyes. Only Luffy. After docking they headed into the town where they got some interesting, and hilarious, reactions when talking about the Marines and Zoro. That swiftly led them to the courtyard where Zoro was strung up. Things proceeded in the way Koby expected them too. Up to, and including, the encounter with Helmeppo in the restaurant that led to Luffy and Koby charging to the Marine base to free Zoro.
Koby watched as Luffy literally blackmailed Zoro to get him to join his crew then took off using his Gum Gum Rocket to land on the roof of the Marine base. Koby chuckled which drew Zoro's attention, “Who the hell are you anyway?!”
Koby calmly walked over to the cross Zoro was tied to, “I'm Koby. I'm not a pirate, just so we're clear.”
The ground shook as the massive stone statue of Captain Morgan broke in half due to Luffy's meddling. Koby ignored it and decided to free Zoro, his fist shot out and returned faster than Zoro could track causing the swordsman to stare in shock while the ropes began to unwind. Zoro began freeing himself and noticed a clean hole pierced into the wood, “How did you do that?”
Koby chuckled, “There's more to the world than you can currently comprehend.” He adjusted his glasses and stared seriously at Zoro, “Right now, what you need to know is simply this. Your choices are limited to joining Luffy as a pirate, or sitting here and letting yourself be executed. Helmeppo never had any intention of keeping his word. He announced to everyone that he was executing you tomorrow because he was bored with you.”
Zoro grit his teeth in sheer rage, “That little shit, I should have sliced him in half!”
Koby chuckled, “Then you'd already be a wanted man and any wanted man is automatically a pirate in this day and age.”
Zoro snorted while rolling his shoulders and stretching his body. It was only moments later than Marines came pouring out of the main entrance and arrayed themselves in a half circle in front of Koby and Zoro with Morgan in the middle. Morgan was clearly furious, his eyes bloodshot as he shouted, “Anyone who goes against me dies! MEN! AIM!”
All the Marines with Morgan lifted their rifles and aimed at Koby and Zoro. Koby wasn't the least bit afraid. Not because he expected Luffy to save them, but because he knew he could endure the rifle fire with Tekkai. He could even protect Zoro if necessary. He flexed his muscles as he watched for the right moment to make his move.
It all happened in an instant. Just as Morgan shouted, “FIRE!”
Koby used Soru to appear in front of Zoro with his arms crossed in front of his face and his muscles hardened as much as he could. At the same time Luffy landed in front of them with three swords on his back and his arms spread wide. The bullets drove into Luffy's body stretching it back at various points that stretched far before he threw his chest forward and reflected all of the musket balls in random directions.
Koby quietly watched at Luffy and Zoro dominated the Marines, including Morgan. He only acted when Helmeppo tried to sneak up on him. A single punch knocked the idiot out. Though it did show Koby how much he'd grown since getting the Template System. In canon he should have been about the same height as Helmeppo and only grown taller once he trained at the Marine Headquarters. Now, however, he towered over Helmeppo.
It was good to not be short as shit anymore!
With Helmeppo taken out Luffy didn't have to stop wailing on Morgan so the Captain soon found himself knocked out. While the Marines celebrated Captain Morgan being taken down, Luffy and Zoro made their way back into town to get Zoro something to eat. Koby chose to stick around.
Once the Marines calmed down, he quickly found out who the highest ranking person was. He gave the man a salute, “Sir, I'm here to join the Marines!”
The man gazed seriously at Koby, “Aren't you with the boy in the straw hat and Roronoa Zoro?”
Koby shook his head, “No sir. My goal for coming here was to join the Marines. I merely happened to be around to be pulled into the previous circumstances.”
The man stared at Koby for a long silent moment before he nodded, “Fine, you can join as a chore boy. We'll see if you have what it takes to be a Marine.”
-----Line Break-----
Koby lay in a cheap bunk with a thin mattress that provided zero support or comfort. To be frank, the hammocks on Alvida's ship were more comfortable than the shitty bed. Despite the discomfort, he couldn't keep the grin he was sporting down. He'd officially joined the Marines, uniform and all. That meant...
[Quest #350 Complete!
Successfully join the Marines, Revolutionaries, or gain a Bounty – 1/1 Choice Made
Reward: Template Increased by 0.1%
CP9 Template Current Progress: 100%
Find somewhere to lay down before continuing.
Continue?]
The quest completion had appeared the moment he'd been told he could join as a chore boy. He'd heeded the systems advice and waited until now to tell it to see what would happen.
“Continue.” he whispered.
[Commencing final adjustment.]
Koby grit his teeth as his muscles seemed to be trying to rip themselves off of his bones, his ligaments stretched, and his bones hardened. His whole body went through a qualitative change that pushed him to the limits of what a CP9 member could achieve. He was now, officially, as strong as Rob Lucci would be without his devil fruit. While the pain faded to a dull ache a new screen appeared.
[Conditioning complete! User is now properly prepared for stronger templates! Select one from the following list:
CP0
Marine Swordsman
Marine Brawler
Marine Iron Fist
…]
The list continued on an on listing various templates he could select from. Basically anything he wanted to work toward he could now achieve. Checking the details on them revealed they would push him to the strength of the strongest Vice Admirals in the Marines no matter which path he chose. Naturally, that didn't include Monkey D. Garp as the man was as strong as, if not stronger than, an Admiral.
He briefly considered going for CP0 and just improving on what he already had, but didn't want to focus so heavily on the Rokushiki. He felt he was good enough at the ones he didn't like and could further improve the ones he did like on his own though practice.
So the question came down to, what kind of fighter did he want to focus on being? The first, swordsman, was probably the most prolific in the Marines. He could easily find a ton of people to spar with as he was fairly certain some quests would require fighting. Not to mention, the best weapons in the world were swords. The only downside he could see with choosing it was just how common it was.
Brawler was dismissed instantly since Iron Fist was just plain better. Iron Fist was what Garp practiced. Koby had to admit, the idea of using Marine Battleships as punching bags was both hilarious and intimidating. The only downside he could really see was that it was a style all about overwhelming might with nearly zero nuance.
The only other option he found even mildly interesting was Marine Sniper. His past life memories contained memories of all kinds of rifles he'd used for hunting and at shooting ranges. He knew a lot about how they worked and the parts that went into them from doing maintenance on the ones he owned. He was fairly certain that he could recreate at least a few of them. He just wasn't sure if he wanted to introduce such advanced weaponry to the Marines.
Or, more specifically, to the World Government.
Despite interesting options, in the end he chose the Marine Swordsman. While Iron Fist offered a lot of power, most of Garp's most powerful attacks required the use of Hoashoku (Supreme King) Haki. Koby had no idea if he possessed that particular ability. Though he expected his template system could give it to him with the right one. Unfortunately, on Armament and Observation were listed under all of the options.
[Marine Swordsman Template selected! Rewards adjusted based on current abilities.]
[Quest #1 Issued!
Practice vertical sword swings 10,000 times! - 0/10,000
Reward: Template Increased by 1%, Full Recovery
Marine Swordsman Template Current Progress: 0%]
Koby eyed the reward with some surprise. A full one percent? Holy shit! But, then again, he was significantly stronger than he'd been when the system awoke and many of his current skills were on the same level as a Marine Vice-Admiral. His Rokushiki techniques specifically. Which meant... he only truly needed to work on his swordsmanship, Haki, and overall strength. Clearly the system intended to start with his swordsmanship.
He climbed off of the bed, ignoring the deep ache throughout his entire body, and made his way to the armory where he grabbed a standard issue katana. There were two reasons he chose the katana over the cutlass first was the simple fact that all of the highest grade swords he'd seen in memories of the One Piece world were Katana's with the exception of Whitebeard's weapon. Even more importantly though was that he knew exactly where to get one of the twenty-one great grade blades, Shusui.
Did he care that he would, essentially, be stealing one of Zoro's swords? Not particularly.
He walked out of the building and into the dark training yard where he stood under the moon and began to practice his swings as the quest demanded. Unbeknownst to Koby, Commander Ripper had been awake doing paper work in ex-Captain Morgan's office and happened to catch a flash of light from one of Koby's swings.
He stood at the window watching Koby as he relentlessly swung the katana in his hands. He ran his hand over his mustache and beard while contemplating what to do with his new chore boy. It hadn't been hard to learn he'd arrived on the same small boat as that pirate boy Luffy yet he hadn't interacted with the boy after Morgan had been taken down.
He was confused by their relationship. Yet, seeing Koby in the yard training he couldn't help feeling that the chore boy would end up going far. He smiled to himself and walked over to his desk where a Den Den Mushi sat waiting for use. Given the shape Koby was in and his clear dedication to training to get stronger, perhaps it would be best if he put in a good word for the boy. Vice Admiral Garp would be arriving in a few days to pick up Morgan since he happened to be in the East Blue so perhaps that would present a good opportunity for Koby to earn the chance to head to Marineford for proper training.
-----Line Break-----
Koby panted heavily as he set down the weights he'd been swinging around like a sword. Apparently his system took some pointers from Zoro's crazy strength training regimes and decided to force him to perform a few. He was currently swinging around a bar with five thousand kilograms on one end of it. The strain was immense and he was currently only a little over halfway through his current quest.
[Quest #17 Issued!
Practice vertical sword swings with a weight of at least 5,000 kilograms 100,000 times! - 52,500/100,000
Reward: Template Increased by 1%, Full Recovery
Marine Swordsman Template Current Progress: 16%]
Every quest gave him a full one percent progress increase but the actual quests were becoming multi-day affairs. This was his third day working on this particular quest and would likely take four in total. He'd been breaking it down into sets of one hundred swings and only managed to get twenty-five thousand done per day thus far. He had chores to perform as well so between those and sleep he only had so much free time to work on getting stronger.
“Koby! Front and center!”
Koby immediately rush to stand in front of Commander Ripper with straight posture and a proper salute, “Sir!”
Ripper looked down at Koby, “Vice Admiral Garp will be docking any moment. Clean up your uniform and join the others waiting for him at the dock.” He glanced at the heavy weights Koby had been swinging, “And clean up your training gear!”
Koby saluted and immediately went about doing as ordered. Sure, it grated on the part of him from his past life, but his current lifelong dream of becoming a Marine offset that and let him take orders with ease. It also helped that he'd come up with his official plan of action over the last few days.
He quickly cleaned up his equipment and himself. He straightened his ascot and Marine hat. Honestly, the hat was probably his favorite part of the outfit. He quickly made his way down to the dock where he stood at the very end of the line and Commander took his position in the front. Everyone saluted as a large Marine Warship with a figurehead shaped like a dog with a bone in its mouth pulled up to the docks.
From the ship a small group of men dismebarked, each wearing a suit of some form with a white coat handing off of their shoulders. Emblazoned on the back of each coat was the kanji for Justice. At the lead of the group was Garp the Hero a massive man with huge muscles wearing a pristine white suit and a rather silly dog mask.
As he stepped onto the dock Koby and all the other marines saluted simultaneously. Ripper stood before Garp and finished his salute before turning around and marching back toward the base. After all the people from Garp's ship passed, Koby and the other Marines fell in behind them.
Once they got back to the base everyone went back to their business. Koby wanted to return to his training but he was assigned some cleaning duty.
-----Line Break-----
While Koby was doing his chores, Ripper was explaining the events that led to Captain Morgan being taken down. After listening to Ripper, Garp asked, “And Morgan is secured?”
Ripper nodded, “Yes, sir.”
Garp crossed his arms over his chest, “Tell me about this boy, Koby was it?”
Ripper nodded, “Koby is a question I don't know the answer to. According to reports we received, he was once a scrawny little runt captured by Alvida of the Alvida pirates and forced into a cabin boy roll. His distinct pink hair and glasses were included in several incident reports from raids performed by Alvida. Then the reports began to change. He went from short and scrawny to a decent height for his age and gaining strength.”
Garp listened with interest and asked, “Did he participate in raids or attack civilians?”
Ripper shook his head, “No, sir. All our reports showed he only ever helped with taking spoils from whoever Alvida attacked, usually at the constant urging of Alvida herself. We have no reports of any violence from him, until the last known raid led by Alvida. Except, the violence wasn't against a civilian, it was against Alvida herself. He sent her flying with a kick and she hasn't been seen since.”
Garp laughed for a bit before growing serious, “So, he used Alvida as a shield to grow stronger and took her down when he felt the time was right?”
Riper shrugged his shoulders, “It seems so. Immediately after he sailed directly here to Shells Town, helped deal with Morgan, and asked to join the Marines. I tentatively let him in and have no reason to complain about him so far. He's done everything asked of him without comment or complaint. Then, in his spare time, he furiously works on improving his strength. If I'm being honest, I'd say he stronger than every Marine on this base. Myself included.”
“Is that so?”
Ripper nodded, “Just before you arrived he was swinging around several thousand kilos of weight like a sword. He's been doing that for the last couple of days.”
Ripper checked the time, “In fact, he should be finished with the chore I had one of my men give him by now. He's very quick with his work so he can exorcise more.” He walked over to the window overlooking the yard and chuckled, “Take a look.”
Garp joined Ripper at the window and saw Koby hard at work swinging the weighted bar. Considering Koby was only a child of fifteen or sixteen, younger even than his own grandson, the strength he was showing was rather impressive. He watched Koby swing the weight a few times before addressing Ripper, “And he's done this for the last few days?”
“Without fail. It's not always swinging the weights though. Before that he tied the weights together then tied them around his waist to run on the track. I have no idea how many kilometers he ran while dragging that weight, but it had to be a few thousand over the course of three days.”
Garp's lips curled into a wide grin, “Interesting!”
Ripper nodded, “I thought you might think that. Despite his... murky past, I think he has the potential to be a true powerhouse for the Marines someday.”
Garp looked to Ripper, “You want me to take him to headquarters.”
“I do.” Ripper agreed.
Garp's gaze followed Koby as he worked out, “He's rough around the edges but there's some potential there.” He nodded his head, “I'll take him. Let's see if he's got what it takes.”
-----Line Break-----
Koby stood on the deck of Garp's ship with Garp, a few of Garp's people whose names he hadn't learned yet, as well as Morgan and Helmeppo in chains. Koby supposed the canon version of himself must have put in a good word or two for Helmeppo that he hadn't this time since the little shit wasn't a chore boy but a prisoner this time. Honestly, he didn't care. He had no connection to Helmeppo and he didn't want one.
Just as Shells Town faded from sight, Morgan made his move. He lashed out with his axe-hand slashing a snoozing Garp across the chest. While the crew were shocked, he grabbed Koby and shoved the sharp edge of his axe under his chin, “Get me a boat or I slit his throat!”
Koby let out a sigh of annoyance while the marines all yelled for Morgan to release him. Koby calmly reached up and grabbed both of Morgan's wrists, or the forearm beneath the head of the axe on his right arm. Koby's grip tightened enough to cause Morgan to let out a scream. Everyone went silent as they watched Koby calmly over power Morgan by prying Morgan's arms away from him. Koby turned without letting go of Morgan and stared into his eyes while he forced the much larger man down to his knees, “You should have just accepted your capture with at least a modicum of grace.”
Morgan fought through the pain to glare hatefully at Koby. Koby, in reply, let go of Morgan's arms, cocked his arm back, and drove a right cross into his large metal chin so hard the metal shattered. Morgan's eyes rolled up into his skull while he collapsed to the deck unconcious.
“Heh, not bad, kid.”
Koby turned and gave Garp a salute, “Thank you, sir! The prisoner has been disabled and is ready for transport!”
Garp looked over Koby a bit then turned to his right hand man, Bogard, “Train him.”
Bogard nodded in acceptance. There wasn't much they could do on the ship, but he could at least see what Koby knew thus far, “Follow me.”
Koby nodded and followed Bogard into the ships interior where a small training room resided. Bogard collected two shinai tossing one to Koby. After catching the bamboo practice sword he gave it a few practice swigs. It felt as light as a feather in his hand and whistled through the air as he swung it.
Once he was ready he faced off against Bogard. He pushed hard off of the floor and dashed directly toward the older man. He swung the practice blade with all his might and was easily parried throwing him off balance. Bogard's shinai came down like a bolt of lightning and slammed into the top of Koby's head sending him to the floor face first.
Koby grunted but didn't complain about the pain even as blood dripped from his nose. Pain was an old friend at this point. He couldn't count how many times he'd broken bones in his fingers training in Shigan or just punching the ship's mast. He was also certain he'd at least cracked his shins multiple times while training his legs. Broken bones, ripped skin, and bleeding were all things he was well used to.
He quickly climbed to his feet and attacked again. While his template system had increased his strength and improved his swordsmanship at least a little, sixteen percent didn't exactly make him a sword prodigy. His skills were basic at best and in need of a lot more work before he'd even be considered a beginner by most experienced swordsman.
Bogard calmly blocked, parried, and counter attacked while he studied Koby's movements. The entire time he studied the young man taking in every detail of his every action. The boy's strength and speed were pretty impressive for someone so young. It made him wonder just how hard he'd worked to gain his strength after being kidnapped by the Alvida pirates.
After an hour of sparring Bogard called it to an end, “Good enough for now. At least you never made the same mistake twice. You're free for the rest of the day. Tomorrow you will be resuming your work as a chore boy. You can find a place to sleep on the lower decks with the rest of the crew.”
Koby nodded and wiped the sweat from his brow, the blood from his nose, and the blood from a small cut over his left eye that he'd earned from a blow to the head. Once he put the shinai away and made his way to the lower deck to find a hammock to crash in.
As he lay down he opened his Tablet System to see how many weighted swings he still needed to complete.
[Quest #17 Issued!
Practice vertical sword swings with a weight of at least 5,000 kilograms 100,000 times! - 75,000/100,000
Reward: Template Increased by 1%, Full Recovery
Marine Swordsman Template Current Progress: 22%]
He stared in quiet shock at his current progress. The last time he'd looked it had been at sixteen percent. It had gone up by a whole six percent! Was it because he'd been sparring with a Marine Swordsman? That... made a lot of sense honestly. Ever since the system awoke he'd been training all on his own with no one to teach him but the system. This needed further exploration! If he could get Bogard to train with him constantly, how quickly could he improve his template and move onto the next one?!
Koby fell asleep with a smile on his face at the prospect of being able to speed through his swordsman template.
-----Line Break-----
Bogard walked into the room where he found Garp lazily laying on a couch and eating sembei from a large bag. He hadn't even bothered to change out of the clothing Morgan had slashed leaving him looking ragged and blood covered. He chomped down on one of the rice crackers and asked, with a full mouth, “How'd he do?”
Bogard, long used to Garp's eccentricities, retained his professional demeanor, “His skills with a sword could be labeled as a kid swinging a stick. However, his physical attributes are excellent. I don't think he would have any trouble learning the Rokushiki as he currently is. He could likely master them rapidly after learning the basics. He's easily strong enough to be a Captain. If he had more skill with a sword, or a devil fruit, he could easily reach the rank of Commodore or Rear Admiral.”
Garp hummed before loudly biting into another cracker and chewing just as loudly. Then, he laughed, “Quite the recruit. Are we sure he is what he says he is?”
Bogard nodded, “We tracked down some people that remembered him on his home island. Two years ago, when he disappeared, he was a short scrawny little weakling and a coward. Aside from his height and musculature, his physical description matched. Pink hair, round blue glasses, and dark eyes. Everything we can find matches. He's telling the truth and our reports are accurate.”
Garp stuffed a fist full of sembei into his mouth and chewed loudly while he thought. After swallowing, thank god, he addressed Bogart, “Keep training him. See if he really can pull off any of the Rokushiki and if he has any skill with a sword.”
Bogard nodded and left the room quickly. He might've been loyal to Garp, even willing to die for the man, but that didn't mean he had to sit there and deal with his eating habits!
-----Line Break-----
Koby stood on the deck of the ship watching Marineford coming closer. He was having trouble holding in his excitement to get there. He didn't care how many chores he would be required to do, being around people he could train with would make it all wort hit! The proof was the gains he'd gotten from training against Bogard the last few days. His Template System had grown to 32%! It had literally doubled in days what it took him weeks to get otherwise.
All without completing the quest he'd had before leaving Shells Town!
Garp, Bogard, and a few of the others could all feel Koby's pure excitement through their Kenbunshoku (Observation) Haki. Any doubts they might have harbored about him vanished in those moments. A spy, liar, or some other kind of infiltrator would have felt at least a little trepidation no matter how skilled they were. Koby's complete lack of such feelings made all of them accept him at his word.
The next six hours flew by in a blur as they docked and Koby was assigned to the same quarters as the other chore boys, after which he was given a list of chores to perform. It was while performing those chores that he got a small understanding of just how massive Marineford was. It had everything he could possibly want to make himself stronger. Tracks for running, weights for lifting, fields for all sorts of martial artists and swordsman, even a sumo ring off by itself.
He was, obviously, most interested in getting some use out of the sword training areas. Unfortunately, as a chore boy he wasn't allowed to join any of the classes that were held. He had to earn that right. In actuality, being trained by Bogard, even for just a few days, was a massive honor most of the Seaman Recruits, and even Seaman Apprentices, on the training field would kill for.
Without Bogard to train him, Koby returned to his quest to gain progress in his template. Thankfully, the equipment available more than up to the job of giving him enough weight.
Bogard sat on a roof hidden under the shade and quietly watched Koby swinging around a massive amount of weight with determination written all over his face. Bogard was honestly impressed with Koby's determination to grow stronger. It wasn't something that all recruits displayed. A rare trait that would take the young man far, in Bogard's opinion.
He settled in to keep an eye on Koby as he worked out. Maybe tomorrow he would see about giving him some more pointers.
-----Line Break-----
AN
9.5k words
Not much to say honestly. Been a little busy but had this pop into my head in the middle of the fourth chapter of Machine God, which will come in the next day or two when I finish it.
Until then I hope you guys enjoyed this at least a little.