Chapter 28: Onward Journey
"Hoho! So this is the Grand Line? As expected, the weather and ocean currents are completely unpredictable. Knowledge from Earth is totally useless here." Da Vinci, on the very day she arrived in this world, experienced both a waterspout and a hailstorm within just three hours.
"Geomagnetism, celestial phenomena, ocean currents, and airflows—all in chaos. It's practically a world of its own." Da Vinci, fiddling with some unknown instrument, was utterly fascinated by this world.
"As long as you're happy. How does it feel to have a physical body again?"
"Not bad, I suppose. After all, with such a perfect appearance, so flawlessly designed, letting the masses gaze upon such perfection is a blessing in itself." Unlike the historical figure, her appearance now matched the famous painting Mona Lisa, and her gender had become female. Yet she remained completely unaware of any peculiarity, making her a bit unsettling.
"Since we don't have the right materials right now, we can't test the full extent of your Devil Fruit abilities. Are you worried?"
"Perfection such as myself wouldn't worry about such trivial matters. It feels as though it's a power I've always had. I can clearly understand what I'm capable of. However, the metal synthesized through this ability is fundamentally different from the alloys of the previous world." She compared the synthesized metal—made from scrap—to materials from her past world.
'Still, opening a giant mouth to devour objects feels terribly inelegant, terribly imperfect. I need to find a solution. Time to fire up my perfect and all-capable brain to resolve this little flaw.' These were thoughts she didn't share with the captain—everyone has their little secrets.
LoGabk Entry: November 14 — [Bond with Chiron +1 Point after one month together]
Unknowingly, their second companion Chiron had already been in this world for a month. Life at sea made it easy to lose track of time, so the loGabk was essential.
Due to the Grand Line's weather, newspapers sometimes didn't arrive on time. Eric , receiving the News Coo two days late, bought two copies for 200 Berries.
"New Three-Person Pirate Crew Attacks King of Iron Bucket Kingdom!"
"Rear Admiral Demon Spider in Pursuit! New Trio Flees in Panic!"
These were headlines about the Dawn Pirate Crew—though not yet worthy of being the top story.
While the crew's name had been decided, their pirate emblem hadn't been designed, and no Jolly Roger had been hoisted. They hadn't publicly announced their name either. With only three members, the media dubbed them the "New Three-Person Pirate Crew."
Sneak into the village, don't fire your gun. Understanding this principle, Eric planned to keep a low profile for now. Unlike Luffy, he didn't have a legendary grandfather, a revolutionary father, or an emperor mentor. And when Luffy lost battles, his enemies always spared him.
But Eric ? Aside from the system, he had no backing. If some random dude on a bike froze him into a popsicle, no one would be there to save him. He didn't treat his Jolly Roger like a sacred emblem either. Quietly leveling up in the background seemed much safer.
"What kind of nonsense is this?!" Eric growled at the paper. It claimed, "The King of Iron Bucket Kingdom was grievously injured while heroically defending his people from pirate attack!" and "Rear Admiral Demon Spider happened to be passing Drum Island and drove off the new pirate trio in a crushing defeat! But due to a sudden fog, he lost sight of them, allowing their escape."
"Damn it, this is worse than the media in the Lighthouse Country! Wait, no, it's the same crap—nothing but lies, treating the public like fools. Well, to be fair, a good portion of the Republic of Liberty's people are idiots anyway." The blatant inaccuracies enraged Eric .
From between the pages, new bounty posters slipped out—
"Vicious Pirate" Darren Eric – 45,000,000 Berries
"The Huntress" Akame – 23,000,000 Berries
"Sagittarius" Chiron – 98,000,000 Berries
Chiron even got a new alias. Both Eric and Akame had bounty increases, but Chiron's skyrocketed.
"Yo! You're all wanted now!" Da Vinci remarked as she skimmed the other paper, amused. Having dealt with numerous Lostbelt rulers herself (in her own lore), being wanted was nothing new to her. "And these articles? Hilarious!" Smart people weren't easily fooled, after all.
…
"Akame, here I come!"
"Mhm!"
As melee combatants, the two used their free time to spar. Since Da Vinci—an expert in astronomy and meteorology—handled navigation, and Chiron, with his clairvoyance, managed lookout duties, the others could train.
"Stay aware of your surroundings! Don't swing your sword too forcefully!" Chiron also occasionally spiced up the match by tossing pebbles to increase difficulty. Eric had already taken one to the head and sported a bump.
After the session, Eric asked, "Akame, which areas do you want to improve in?"
"Strength, speed, and swordsmanship." Akame had realized her shortcomings during the fight with Demon Spider. Her sword skills weren't lacking, but her strength and speed had been inferior. Swordsmanship remained her focus, though.
'So strength and speed fall under physique,' Eric thought as he looked at her stat panel and allocated points:
[Name: Akame]
[Age: 15]
[Physique: 4.5 stars]
[Martial Arts: 2 stars]
[Swordsmanship: 5.5 stars]
[Observation Haki: 3.5 stars]
[Armament Haki: 1 star]
[Overall Power: 5 stars]
Two levels to physique, one to swordsmanship—exactly 15 bond points spent.
"Try out your new strength."
"Mhm." As soon as Eric finished allocating points, Akame felt the increase in power. Sword insights also surged in her mind. The system truly didn't play fair.
"Moon Burial." To focus her mind, Akame spoke the move name Eric had given her. A black sword wave swept across the water's surface, longer and larger than before.
"I think I could probably slice a Navy ship in half with this now," she said.
"Mhm. That's accurate," Chiron added objectively.
"So this is sword aura? It doesn't feel like it has magic," Da Vinci commented. She'd seen Saber's battles before, and her Noble Phantasm—Excalibur—was powered by mana. It had wide range and destructive power but drained magic heavily. This flying slash technique was clearly different. During earlier spars, they hadn't used flying slashes, for fear of cutting their small boat in half. Otherwise, Eric and Akame would've ended up swimming with one carrying the other.
"Chiron, take the helm. I want to take a closer look." Da Vinci, now interested, passed her job off to someone else and approached Akame. "Mind if I feel your arm muscles?"
"Mhm." Akame didn't mind. After all, they were both women.
With Akame's permission, Da Vinci flexed her fingers like a phantom and approached her arm. The strange sensation made Akame shiver. Watching Da Vinci's hands massage her arm turned Eric beet red. Nothing outrageous was happening, but it still got his heart racing.
Akame, blushing, let out a soft moan. "That… tickles a bit."
"Hahaha, all done," Da Vinci laughed as she stepped back, then commented, "Muscle density is higher than average, but the shape and function are the same. Sigh… without precise instruments, I can't analyze muscle motion during activity or determine actual density. Can't even perform a proper dissection."
"Let's not do dissections, please. If we run into a pirate who uses sword aura, and he dies, you can dissect him." Eric quickly shut down her idea of using Akame as a subject. Let others enjoy her surgical curiosity instead.
"Mhm, that's acceptable. Oh, and here's a little bonus—just as a down payment. Her muscles may be dense, but they're exceptionally smooth and soft to the touch." Da Vinci smirked mischievously, teasing her new captain.
"Smooth... soft... Can you not mess with me like this?!" Eric , terrible at dealing with women—especially teasing big-sister types—fled, face red as a tomato.
(END CHAPTER)
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