Hey guys, just wanted to talk for a bit before the chapter starts. Nothing here is vital to the story, so you can skip if you like :)
You may have noticed (or, for those that haven't and have read it), I unpublished/removed my BG3 story from both Wattpad and Webnovel. The main reason was that I was kinda stuck on where to go with it; for one, the system I used for the MC was starting to make no sense and grew to the point where I was purposefully trying to avoid mentioning it as much as possible.
It had inconsistent writing overall, and characters, in my opinion, weren't acting as they should, and I simply can't figure out how to fix it. Secondly, and entirely of my own doing, the book sorta fell off numbers-wise, primarily due to my extended absences, which AGAIN was entirely my own fault; thus it also led to me not enjoying it as much as I used to in terms of user feedback, comments, etc. Fortunately, this story was much newer, thus wasn't subjected to the massive drop that my BG3 fic did.
I need you guys to understand that I don't make ANY money from this, no Patreon or "buy me a coffee"; it's always been purely a hobby and escape for me in my free time. While I will continue to attempt to make weekly updates with the occasional bonus chapters for milestones, I need to make it clear that my MAIN focus has and always will be my schooling and work, 'cause yah boys gotta make money for rent AND keep those grades up.
Last thing: at no point in this story have I used AI or AI tools in the writing. I've seen a few of the comments and replied as best as I could, but I thought I'd just make it clear to everyone. I did try making some images a while back (the NON saucy kind), but since then I have stopped, given changes in my own beliefs, hence why I changed the cover and whatnot.
This story is my own creation. I do not make any money from it and write it for my own enjoyment and to improve my writing. And no, this is not a translated fic; someone mentioned it, and it was the most harrowing back-and-forth I've ever had
￣へ￣
Anyways, I won't keep you any longer. If anyone did read this far, I thank you for doing so, and I thank you for supporting my books (^///^)
Enjoy!
(P.S. I do use Grammarly Pro; Uni gives it to me 4 free hehe :3)
…
Smoke exploded from the ruined shop.
It rolled over the street, climbed the walls and spread across the rooftops until the entire dock district disappeared inside it. Merchants fled blindly through the plumes of smoke as Marines shouted directions they clearly could not follow themselves, and somewhere to my right, a man screamed that about…cabbages??
Now where have I heard that before?
Anyways, Smoker walked out of the wreckage with blood running from the corner of his mouth. His jitte rested low beside him, the seastone tip almost scraping across the stone.
He stared at the cuff around my wrist.
Then at me.
The smoke thickened.
I raised my fists.
"Before we continue, I just want it out there that you were the one who refused peaceful negotiations."
"You broke into a warehouse and destroyed half the town." Smoker grumbled.
I glanced around; the smoke was sorta settling down, and the site wasn't the prettiest. "That one was mostly Garp."
From somewhere inside the smoke came the sound of rice crackers being crunched.
"Bwahahaha!"
Smoker vanished.
The smoke around my legs tightened instantly.
It climbed my body in thick ropes, locking my knees together and wrenching both arms behind my back. The cuff pressed harder into my wrist, and strength drained from my shoulder fast enough to make my fingers twitch.
Smoker reformed behind me.
His jitte came toward the back of my skull.
The smoke shifted first.
A thin current passed my cheek. The pressure behind my right shoulder gathered around a solid shape that had not fully appeared yet.
I ducked.
The jitte passed over my head.
Smoker's eye widened.
I drove the cuff backward, and it caught him in the ribs the exact moment his body finished reforming.
The seastone connected, and Smoker grunted as his body became completely solid, and I grabbed his coat with my free hand before he could disappear again.
"Found you." I grinned widely
I threw him across the street.
He smashed through a fish stall, crossed the next road and disappeared into the front of a Marine supply office. Garp, who stood beside a collapsed cart with one hand inside a bag of rice crackers, looked at the hole Smoker had made, then at me.
His eyebrows rose and I pointed at him
"When did you get MORE crackers!" I questioned
"Bwahahaha!" Garp laughed
Smoke erupted from every window.
Smoker's arm formed inside it and shot toward me, fist growing larger as it crossed the street. I stepped aside. The fist passed my ribs, turned sharply and wrapped around my waist from behind.
Clever.
The smoke lifted me off the ground and slammed me through a market stall.
I hit the street, bounced once, then found myself being dragged directly toward Smoker's jitte.
The seastone tip waited at the end.
Yeah. Absolutely not touching that again.
I planted my heels.
The stones beneath my boots cracked as the smoke pulled harder. The cuff and the chain hanging from my wrist bounced uselessly across the ground.
Smoker reformed ahead, both hands tightening around the jitte.
"Stay down."
"No."
He pulled.
My feet slid forward.
The smoke around my waist constricted, forcing the air from my lungs.
Clink.
My heels stopped.
Smoker pulled again and yet nothing happened.
I wrapped the loose chain around my forearm, grabbed the smoke holding my waist and closed my fingers.
There was no proper surface there. No flesh. No cloth.
Still, something resisted beneath my hand.
Smoker's expression changed.
I pulled.
His entire smoke body lurched forward.
"What the hell?"
I yanked harder.
Smoker shot toward me through his own smoke. His body tried to disperse, but my hand stayed attached to something inside it, following the pressure no matter how the cloud shifted.
He reformed directly in front of me.
I headbutted him.
His nose burst.
Then I drove my knee into his stomach and punched him across the jaw with my free hand.
Not the cuff.
My bare fist.
It connected.
Smoker's head snapped sideways.
The Marines surrounding the street went silent.
I looked at my fist.
Smoker looked at my fist.
Garp stopped chewing.
There was a small pause.
"Oh," I said. "That is filthy."
Smoker's body burst apart.
Smoke flooded around me, more violent now, twisting into fists, arms and heavy white tendrils that filled the entire road. They came from every direction.
One struck from behind.
I leaned forward before it formed.
Another rose beneath my feet.
I stepped off it as it became solid.
The next came from above. I caught the wrist, turned with the force and dragged Smoker halfway out of his own cloud.
He tried to dissolve again.
My fingers tightened.
His arm stayed solid.
Smoker stared at my hand.
"Stop doing that."
"No."
I pulled him fully into the street and slammed him face-first into the ground.
The stone broke beneath his head.
Smoke gathered behind me.
I turned before his second body finished forming and kicked him through the door of a tavern.
The customers inside screamed.
Smoker came flying back out a second later, carried by his own smoke, jitte thrust forward.
I tilted my body.
The tip missed my chest by an inch.
I trapped the shaft beneath my cuffed arm, twisted and pulled Smoker closer. The seastone pressed against both of us.
My knees weakened instantly.
Smoker's smoke vanished.
That was fair.
We stood there for half a second, both suddenly having a very bad time.
Smoker recovered first and punched me in the mouth.
I recovered second and punched him through the tavern.
Again.
The tavern owner ran into the street holding both sides of his head. "Stop putting him through my wall!"
Smoker shot through the same hole in a storm of smoke.
I met him halfway.
My fist struck his face before it had fully formed, and the rest of his body followed his head into the ground. I grabbed his ankle, spun once and threw him across the public docks.
He hit a crane support.
The support folded.
Everyone looked up.
The crane leaned slowly toward the water.
A dockworker dropped his clipboard.
"Oh, no."
The entire crane collapsed across three piers.
Ships tore free from their moorings. Cargo nets fell into the sea. One mast snapped beneath the weight and took another mast with it. Sailors jumped overboard while the public docks folded into the harbour in a long series of cracks, screams and extremely expensive consequences.
I stared at the wreckage.
The open route to the sea disappeared beneath timber, rope and two overturned ships.
"Ah," I said.
Garp appeared beside me.
I jumped so hard I nearly entered the water on my own.
He stood with his hands in his pockets, staring at the destroyed docks.
"That looked important."
"It did."
"How were you planning to leave?"
"Boat."
Garp looked at the boats currently sinking beneath the crane.
"Bwahahaha! Good plan!"
Smoke poured from the broken crane.
Smoker emerged with blood running down his face, his coat torn and his cigar gone. His chest rose heavily.
He looked furious now.
That was unfortunate for him, because I felt fantastic.
The seastone still dragged at me, however. It just wasn't enough anymore. Compared to before, it was like it wasn't even there.
Once again, Smoker filled the entire dock with smoke.
It swallowed the broken ships, the cranes, the Marine posts and every nearby building. His body disappeared completely within it.
The Marines backed away.
Garp stayed where he was and opened another bag of rice crackers.
"Show me something," he said.
I looked at him.
"What?"
He nodded toward the smoke.
"You've been improving this whole time."
I glanced at the enormous white cloud.
"Are you encouraging the wanted criminal?"
"Bwahahaha! Maybe."
The smoke compressed around me from every side, forming dozens of arms. Some grabbed. Some punched. Others carried broken boards, stones and pieces of the destroyed docks.
The first fist came from my left.
I caught it.
The second formed behind my head.
I elbowed it before Smoker's knuckles became solid.
The third wrapped around my ankle. I stamped down, caught Smoker's wrist beneath my heel and felt the rest of him jerk somewhere inside the smoke.
Since the start of our fight, it was like this own smoke was giving him way, like I could read its current and tell EXACTLY where he'd end up.
He could fill the street, the docks or the entire damned town. It only gave me more places to feel him moving.
I stepped into the smoke.
A fist formed near my ribs.
I swiped the arm.
Smoker reformed above me.
I grabbed his face with my shackled fist and slammed him through the dock.
He dispersed beneath the boards and rose behind me.
I turned and struck him before his feet touched the ground.
He vanished again.
I followed.
Left, then right. Then behind and above. Each time he formed, I was already there. My fists found his ribs, his jaw, his stomach and his shoulders. The cuff struck him once, then my elbow, then my bare knee. Smoke burst away from every impact but did nothing to soften them anymore.
Smoker tried retreating deeper into the cloud.
Clink.
I grabbed him by the throat.
His body flickered between flesh and smoke beneath my fingers.
It did not matter.
I could still hold him. This was what I was waiting for; I guess one of my questions was answered. Or partially anyways. It definitely wasn't cause of Haki that I could hold him, but it was definitely clear I've adapted in…some way.
I need to experiment more with this.
I lifted him from the ground and drove him through the last standing pier.
The entire section collapsed, and water rushed through the broken boards.
Smoker tried turning to smoke again. I instinctively pulled him out of it and punched him across the harbour. He flew over the wrecked docks, bounced off the side of a Marine ship and hit a warehouse hard, seemingly burying himself inside it.
Silence settled over the harbour.
Smoke drifted slowly across the wreckage.
One of the Marines lowered his sword.
"Did he just beat a Logia user without Haki?"
Nobody answered him. Interesting, some Marine fodder in the East Blue knows about Haki, and I'm seeing some Oda foreshadowing here?
Garp crunched another rice cracker.
His grin had changed slightly. Not enough to make me feel comfortable, though, although now his eyes felt truly fixed on me.
"Haven't seen that before," he said.
"First time for everything."
"Does it work on fists?"
I looked at his fist.
Then at the buildings he had destroyed with that fist earlier.
"Mmh, perhaps." I could feel myself getting fired up right now.
"Bwahahaha!"
Garp stepped forward.
I stepped forward.
Was the fun just starting? It was only moments ago when I'd been running AWAY from him, and now I was running towards him.
Garp then flicked a rice cracker at me once again; however, now instead of dodging or getting hit like before, I simply slapped it away with the chain of the seastone cuff. The cracker thwipped to the side and struck the main chain of the only crane that had survived the fight.
The chain snapped, and a massive counterweight dropped.
The crane's cargo hook shot upward.
I looked at it.
Then at Garp.
Then back at the hook.
In that moment I had to calm myself; this was all the fun I could have today. Sometimes the universe placed an answer directly in front of you, and I'd be an idiot not to take it.
I grabbed the chain hanging from my cuff, ran toward the rising hook and wrapped the loose end around it.
Garp's eyebrows rose.
The hook caught.
My arm nearly left my body.
Then the crane launched me straight into the sky.
"GEHAHAHA CYA GARPY!!!", I screamed with dignity.
The harbour vanished beneath me. I shot above the warehouses, the Marine offices and the broken docks while the chain held me beneath the rising cargo line.
Smoke surged from the warehouse where Smoker had landed from my previous punch.
A giant white hand reached after me.
I swung the cuffed wrist into it, using its seastone to my advantage once again; the hand broke apart, and at the top of the crane's arc, I unwrapped the chain and flew free.
For several glorious seconds, I crossed Port Tragedy above the rooftops, and the gravity of the situation finally caught up with me. I crashed through a cloth awning, bounced off a sloped roof and landed inside an enormous laundry cart.
The cart owner stared down at me.
I stared up at him beneath several pairs of underwear.
"Drive."
"What?"
A rice cracker punched through the wall behind us.
"Drive!"
He grabbed the handles and ran.
The cart flew through two alleys, down a narrow staircase and through a crowd of confused pedestrians while I buried myself beneath the clothes.
Behind us, I heard Garp's laughter roll across the port.
"Bwahahaha!"
By the time the cart overturned, I was six streets away.
I crawled into the nearest alley, threw the underwear off my head and crouched behind a stack of barrels. My lungs worked hard. The cuffs were still technically draining me, but I'd mostly adapted to them at this point so I could move no problem. Blood covered my hands, none of it my own, and my shirt had mostly ceased existing. I also smelled like smoke, whoda thunk?
A successful escape! No notes, I think?
I moved through the alleys carefully, keeping away from the main roads. Marine whistles echoed through the port. Crest's men were shouting at checkpoints. Every route to the public docks was gone, and the private docks would be watched.
I needed another way out.
Then I heard a familiar voice.
"I said get away from me!"
I stopped.
That voice.
A man laughed from the street beyond the alley.
"Master Crest wants his property returned."
"It isn't his property," a female voice whined
"The bags and the records."
My mouth slowly stretched into a grin.
No. I can't laugh yet; I've gotta hold it in!
I climbed onto the barrels and looked over the wall.
Nami stood in the middle of a narrow courtyard with her pole raised. Three bags of treasure sat behind her, along with a smaller satchel pressed close to her side.
Marlo's men surrounded her.
There were at least fifteen of them.
Red armbands. Swords. Clubs. A few pistols. The works.
Nami's back was against a wall.
She could probably handle two or three.
Fifteen was ambitious.
"Thank you, ROBs," I whispered. "You beautiful, all-knowing bastards."
I paused.
Right.
Do not say that aloud.
People might hear me.
I sighed.
This was perfect.
I could leave her there.
I could sit here and watch Crest's men take back every berry she had stolen from me. Maybe they would cuff her. Maybe they would drag her back to Crest. Maybe she would finally understand how annoying being captured felt.
I'd trusted her because I'd been stupid and let my nostalgia take over. I'd looked at the person she would become and ignored the person truly standing in front of me.
That part was on me.
She had still made the choice. A terrible, weak choice.
I rubbed my face. I'd been given an entire second life after I died choking on a grape. I did NOT deserve a second chance; And yet I was given it, albeit at random, but a second chance no less.
It would be extremely rich of me to decide everyone else only got one chance.
Besides, this was not One Piece anymore. I was no longer sitting outside the story watching people follow the paths I remembered. This was my life now. My adventure. If I wanted to change something, I would change it. Because I CAN!
One of Crest's men stepped toward Nami.
"Last chance."
Nami tightened her grip on the pole.
I stepped off the roof, and my boots landed on the man's shoulders.
His knees folded and he hit the ground face-first beneath me.
Everyone turned, and Nami's eyes widened.
I smiled at her.
"Miss me?"
"You escaped!?"
"No. This is my ghost." I waved my hands.
A man swung a club at my head, which I let land; the club broke in half before I punched him into the wall without looking.
Nami stared at the cuff. "You still have that on."
"You noticed, eh?"
"You should be weaker. Did you lie about having some kind of Devil Fruit?"
"That is an incredibly rude thing to say to someone saving you."
"I didn't ask you to save me."
I threw another man through a pile of crates.
"Then I'll put them back?" I questioned.
"No!" Nami exclaimed
I looked over my shoulder.
Nami's face tightened.
"That was a joke," I said. "Mostly."
Two men rushed me together. I stepped between their swings, caught both by the backs of their heads and introduced them to each other.
They dropped.
Nami struck another across the knee and drove the end of her pole into his throat.
We moved through the first group quickly. She stayed near the money while I removed every person attempting to take it.
The final man hit the ground at my feet.
I rolled my shoulder.
Nami remained against the wall, pole raised.
"Why?" she asked.
"Why what?"
"Why are you helping me?"
I paused a moment, looked at her up and down.
"Because I know you."
"You don't know me." She spat
"I know you a lot better than you know me," I said, dusting myself off.
"You keep saying that." Her eyes narrowed.
I pointed toward the bags.
"You act like all you care about is only money, but you've spent years stealing from pirates for people who might never thank you properly. You call it buying a village because admitting you're doing something selfless would apparently kill you."
Nami stared at me.
A faint flush crept across her cheeks and reached her ears.
"That isn't what I'm doing."
"Sure." I chuckled
"It isn't."
"Whatever helps you sleep." I patted her shoulder
"Shut up." She yelled angrily, slapping me repeatedly with the staff.
There she was.
Footsteps thundered from both ends of the street.
More red armbands appeared.
Then more behind them.
Men filled the courtyard entrances, the nearby roofs and the alley I had entered through. Swords came free. Pistols lifted.
There were dozens now.
Maybe fifty.
Maybe more.
Nami looked around.
"You had to say you were saving me."
"I am saving you."
"There are more of them now!"
"That sounds like a Crest problem."
The men charged.
The first wave hit together.
Hands grabbed my arms, shoulders and waist. Clubs struck my back. A sword opened my thigh while three more men pushed from the front.
The cuff dragged strength out of me.
My feet shifted half a step.
Clink.
Every sound separated. Boots against stone, leather stretching around shoulders.
The crowd stopped feeling like a crowd.
I turned as the first pistol fired.
The bullet struck the man beside me.
I ducked beneath a sword and drove my shoulder into its wielder, sending him through four men behind him. Someone attacked from my blind side, but I flicked my chain out, and it wrapped around his ankle and pulled him into the path of a club meant for my head.
Bodies pressed from every direction.
I stepped through the only gap before it opened.
A spear passed beneath my arm. I trapped it, turned and swept the shaft through an entire row of men.
They fell together.
More replaced them.
My fist struck one chest.
The man flew backward into six others.
I grabbed two attackers by their shirts and swung them outward. Their bodies cleared enough space for me to move, and the next group crashed into the men behind them before they could stop.
I moved through them without stopping.
A sword came for my neck. I swatted the blade away, grabbed the wielder and threw him behind me without looking.
He struck the man aiming a pistol.
The gun fired into the air.
I caught another attacker by the waist, lifted him overhead and hurled him through the centre of the crowd.
Nami stood beside the treasure bags, staring.
"What are you?"
"Busy!" I exclaimed with a grin.
The remaining men hesitated.
I planted one foot and swung the chain.
The links caught the front man across the chest. He spun into the next. That man struck another. The entire line folded sideways into a stack of barrels.
The barrels broke.
The men did not get back up. Bodies covered the courtyard, the alleys and part of the street outside. Some groaned. Most had wisely chosen unconsciousness.
I stood in the centre; I didn't even break a sweat.
Nami looked around at the wreckage.
Then at me.
Then at the seastone cuff still locked around my wrist.
"You did all that while wearing it."
"Yep, speaking of which..."
Her eyes widened, then she reached into her shirt and pulled out a small silver key.
My eyes followed it.
Nami's mouth curved into the tiniest smile.
"Looking for this?"
My expression flattened.
The little orange rat had just regained leverage.
Again.
"Nami."
"Yes?"
"Take this cuff off."
She picked up one of the treasure bags.
"We should discuss our partnership first."
I stared at her.
She smiled sweetly.
I slowly looked around at the dozens of unconscious men.
Then back at her.
"I want you to carefully consider the environment before continuing this negotiation."
"You just saved me."
"That kindness has an expiry date."
"You said you knew me!" She yelled
"I also know you're annoying."
Nami slung the bag over her shoulder and started toward the alley.
"Come on. We need another way out of the port."
I remained where I was.
"Nami."
She looked back.
"What?"
I pointed at the key.
Her smile widened.
"Catch me."
Then she ran.
I lunged after her.
Nami stopped almost immediately and turned back with the key raised.
"Just kidding—"
…Ah, too late.
I had already committed.
My arms closed around her, my momentum carried both of us forward, and we hit the ground together in an undignified pile of limbs, treasure bags and orange hair.
Nami disappeared completely underneath me.
For a second, there was silence, then a muffled voice came from beneath my chest.
"Kuu~."
I looked down.
Only the top of her head was visible.
"Oh." I lifting slightly
"You're crushing me." She huffed.
"That sounds dramatic."
"I c-can't breathe."
"Also dramatic."
She punched me weakly in the ribs, and I immediately rolled off her before she could find somewhere more painful to aim.
Nami sat up slowly.
Her hair had exploded in every direction and dust covered one side of her face.
I stared at her.
She stared back.
A strand of orange hair hung across her nose.
I tried to hold it in.
The laugh escaped before I could stop it.
Nami's eye twitched.
Then she looked down at herself, looked at me, and started laughing too.
Eventually, Nami wiped at her eyes and grabbed my wrist.
"Hold still, idiot."
The key entered the lock.
The cuff clicked open.
Haha, progress baby!
…
End of Chapter
Word Count - 4009