A young Swordsman's adventure 19

It's been a while since I've managed an update for this. Sorry about that. 

Current backlog: 

1 Devil's consultancy (monthly poll)

2 Swordsman's adventure

1/5 Path to Living

7 Scientific Endeavors

2 Fae Chronicles

total: 61k words

And the weekly updates that swap between Summon Perfect Warlady and Psychoprotective, of course. Not sure how many more Psychoprotective Epilogues there will be, but I'm going to keep going until I run out of ideas. Queue is currently SWP, Devil, Psych, ???, SWP, ???, Psych, etc. I'm leaning towards... Fae and Science as the next two backlog picks, not necessarily in that order. If I'm exceptionally productive, maybe squeeze in a Path to Living update too. 

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    Naturally, after the battle it was a unanimous decision to stick around for some fine dining. “Allow me, Mademoiselle.” Sanji said after Kuina tripped on her pegleg. He grabbed her by the hand and somehow managed to literally dance her to a seat, lifting, spinning, and gently placing her in a chair with only a few points where Kuina supported her own weight on her good leg. “What would the fine lady be having today?”

    Kuina’s face was cherry-red at the treatment, speechless. Zoro stomped up and sat down by her side, glaring at the sous chef. “Just get us whatever’s good, cook.” He spat. 

    Sanji glared back. “Your order has been noted, Sir Mosshead.” He said through gritted teeth. His demeanor then flipped completely as he turned to Kuina. “As for the lady?”

    “Ah, I’m not picky.” Kuina stammered. “Whatever’s fresh.” Zoro grunted and gestured, emphasizing his correct prediction of her order. 

    Tanya settled down with a suppressed wince, adjusting her loose wrappings as they shifted uncomfortably. She couldn’t tolerate binding them all the way on these days… “Something rich in iron, please.” She requested, “I could go for something leafy. That was a rare treat, growing up.” Culturally, when in a new place, you had to be vague when ordering food, as there was very little guarantee that you'd even heard of the ingredients listed on a menu. A life spent traveling made her very used to giving vague orders that the chef would do their best to accommodate. Sometimes this required two or even three attempts to order, but it was faster than attempting to decipher printed menus. A lot of places didn’t even have printed menus, due to inconsistent ingredient acquisition making them unreliable. 

    Sanji looked her up and down. “...Would the lady-” He asked carefully before being interrupted. 

    “Your highness, actually.” Kuina corrected. Tanya scowled at Kuina when Sanji startled at realizing he was serving a Princess. 

    “Would your highness be on a diet, perchance?” Sanji asked, concerned. 

    “Absolutely not.” Tanya replied, annoyed at the reasonable question. “I eat like a warrior should: in great quantity at every opportunity.” It was one of the reasons she had such a feminine build instead of being skin-and-bones as she was in her second life. Despite how much trouble it gave her. 

    “Very good.” Sanji said in approval. He didn’t have any note-taking items with him. “Will there be anything for your crew?”

    Tanya nodded, “The humandrills like greens, fruit, and shellfish above other kinds of food. But they’ll eat pretty much anything if they see a human eating it first. They collectively eat about three hundred thousand calories a day.” Given their strength, Tanya thought it a good deal. While one hundred crew was a bit on the generous side for a ship the size of hers, it was within a reasonable range for a merchant ship that had dedicated security personnel bolstering the numbers, or for a military ship that needed extra hands to man the guns during combat while also having boarding teams. “So send enough food to feed one hundred burly sailors and they’ll be satiated after splitting it eight ways. Don’t go overboard on the expensive ingredients.” Briefly, she checked the drinks menu. “...All of this wine is too high class for them, and they dislike beer.” She’s not paying for barrels of expensive wine. “They’ll drink from our stores.”

    Sanji had nodded along agreeingly with her statements. “Would that be everything?”

    “If you have any scraps for my ship’s dog, Saifu, that would be appreciated. Other than that, have the ones serving it give the monkeys this hand sign as they approach the ship.” Tanya turned her hand upward, putting all five fingers together, and then brought them close to her face and then pulled it away, opening her hand. It was blatantly the ‘chef’s kiss’ gesture. “That means ‘delicious food’ and as I’ve warned them, that should clear up any misunderstandings. If they give you any trouble, tell me and I’ll set them straight.” 

    “I’ll see to it personally, your highness.” Sanji said earnestly, his eyes blatantly dipping towards her chest. She considered scolding him forcefully, but reminded herself that he was a teenage boy, sixteen or seventeen at her guess, and could be forgiven for poor self control. The sous chef danced away, giggling to himself. Weirdo… 

    Once he was gone, Tanya turned back to Kuina. “Did you have to tell him I was a Princess?” She asked, “I understand that the event with Zoro may have given you the wrong impression but I usually prefer to not beat people upside the head with my title.”

    Kuina winced. “Ah, sorry. I thought…” She rubbed her left knee, presumably because she was feeling some pain from the prosthetic. “-sorry.”

    Tanya sighed. “It’s fine, just remember that I usually prefer to let my own appearance and actions speak for me. I don’t bring up my title, nor my connections to powerful people, unless someone else does so first.” She gestured to the rings on her hand. “If you’ll notice, I don’t really dress that richly,” Well, her clothes were actually quite expensive, but it took a discerning eye to notice the difference between a normal silk shirt and the kind that graced the tailors in Marejois. “-except that I wear all this jewelry. This means that everyone can tell at a glance that I’m someone to be taken seriously, as I have money and a sword. That’s enough, for the vast majority of people, to indicate that I am an important person.”

    Zoro hummed at her explanation. “Huh. I just keep these as some emergency cash if I need them.” He said, flicking his thin golden earrings. “Must have replaced them at least twice with bounty money after selling them for food and booze.”

    Tanya nodded sympathetically. “Yes, I’ve had to sell jewelry for basic necessities as well.” Back when she was alone in Nishihoshi, she couldn’t do anything to support herself at first, so she had to sell her mother’s high-class prostitute jewelry piece by piece. They lasted her through that first year, at least. “Not for a long time, though.”

    Humming at their discussion, Kuina looked at her hands. “Should I get some jewelry?” She asked. “I never thought about it like that.”

    “Given the temperatures you work with, it would not be advised.” Tanya warned, “Something you could take off before turning on the forge would be best, I think. Avoid piercings. I have a lovely pearl necklace that would suit you, I think.”

    Conversation remained light as they waited for their food, and Tanya found herself enjoying the exquisite salad and dripping rare steak more than was polite. “I swear, it’s like stepping into a cooking manga.” She muttered as she finished off dessert, a dark chocolate shell around some unidentifiable dairy creme filling. 

    As they were leaving, the head chef, a former pirate by the name of Zeff, scoffed at Kuina. “How long have you had that leg?” He asked incredulously. “You’re stumbling around like a newborn calf.”

    Kuina hiccupped, a little drunk from her meal. “Ah, what time is it?” She asked, “I finished Chigiri Kakudo at ten in the morning; I was forging it all night.”

    “She lost her leg two days ago, to the pirate we fought on your decks.” Tanya informed the peg-leg using pirate. “If you could spare some time to help her, she could use your wisdom and experience.” She bowed respectfully, acknowledging the subject matter expert in walking with a prosthetic leg. 

    “Tch.” Zeff took a moment to consider it. “Alright, sober up and come back for breakfast tomorrow and I’ll give her a lesson.”

    “Thank you.”

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    As it turned out, the Marines were fairly quick to fetch pirates that had caused trouble on the Baratie. This was logical, given that it meant that the officers had an excuse to eat at the finest restaurant in the East Blue. 

    “-and here is the agreed upon ten percent for holding them for us while the Marines got here.” Tanya said, handing the roll of beri to the chef. Sure, she could have paid for the two meals out of her own coffers, but as it was Zoro and Kuina’s quest that put them in the area, it was logical for it to be paid out of Captain Downer’s twenty-five million bounty. Each meal was about a quarter-million beri for the whole crew, after all. This was a nice restaurant, so even the cheap meals came at two thousand beri per person. 

    “Alright, pleasure doing business with you.” They did, however, accommodate them by keeping the fins deployed so that Kuina and Zoro could train. Mostly by Tanya, but Zeff made sure to give some footwork lessons to Kuina between meals.  

    Zoro also got the dubious benefit of a sparring partner that was about the same level of strength as him to sharpen his skills with, as with her missing leg Kuina didn’t stand a chance anymore. “Damn mosshead! How could you be so cruel to the lady Kuina?” Sanji shouted, lashing out with deadly kicks. 

    “It’s none of your business, shitty cook!” Zoro shouted back, blocking the surprisingly lethal dress shoes with his swords. 

    Tanya chuckled at the spat. Another good piece of news was that her internal organs monthly uprising had finally ended, so she was fighting fit once more. Sanji had wept when he realized that the handsome young man he was reflexively rude towards was, in fact, the princess he had served yesterday. Her mood had not dipped since. 

    “You have to feel it out.” Zeff told Kuina, “Everything your peg’s doing travels back up to your leg. It’s a bit like hearing, you need to learn what each tone means.” The lessons Zeff had for Kuina were mostly summarized with ‘learn to depend more on your good leg’, but there were a few useful tips when it came to actually using the leg as well. 

    But after watching him for long enough, rubbing Saifu’s belly as the dog lounged in her lap, Tanya had come to a conclusion: Zeff was not a good teacher for learning to fight with a peg leg. This is because the man never really learned how to do so, he just had a few coping mechanisms to make him not be completely helpless and accepted that he was weaker for the loss. 

    Still, she needed to part with them gracefully… Ah. With a minute burst of Conqueror’s, she stopped Sanji and Zoro’s squabble, although they both stood firm; it merely grabbed their attention. “I think it’s probably a good time to have a proper lesson on how to become strong.” Tanya announced. 

    Zoro took her words seriously, going to a proper kneeling position in front of her, ready for instruction as a student would for their teacher. It was a little nostalgic to see someone use proper form, but Tanya didn’t comment. Kuina imitated Zoro the best she could, her practice with Zeff already enough to let the maneuver only give her minor amounts of trouble. Sanji lit up a cigarette, curious but not convinced of its necessity. 

    “First, the obvious: I am both smaller, lighter, and most importantly younger than both of you.” Tanya began, “-yet I can achieve strength that surpasses both of you. Why is this?” She asked rhetorically. 

    “Are you?” Sanji asked bluntly.

    Tanya stared at him. She didn’t want to do this… “Well, I suppose my most public accomplishment was the defeat of a military leader by the epithet of Poison Pink, Vinsmoke Reiju.” She said, “She challenged me to a duel after I broke, her brother Niji’s face for his ungentlemanly behavior.” She crossed her arms and tapped her chin with one finger, putting on contemplative airs. “I’m not sure if some random waiter in the East Blue would have heard of them, not sure why I thought of bragging about that in particular…” Tanya shrugged, giving the stunned chef a wry grin. “I hear they’re feared throughout the world, though.”

    Sanji’s face went stone cold, but his spirit was screaming in fear. The stray Vinsmoke was clearly not fond of his former family members. He took a deep drag from his cigarette, gesturing for her to go on. 

    “Now, while I’m not going to blow smoke and say that I come from a humble background.” Tanya hedged, “Father thought that you two had the potential to reach the big leagues, and I agree.” She looked over Sanji. “...Maybe you too, not sure yet.” His ability to contest swords with what appeared to be an ordinary set of dress shoes was a good sign. “The key to gaining strength is ambition and the conviction to see it through. You cannot let something as unreliable as reason in this world hold you back.” She had a massive head start from her experience working with magic in her second life. The idea of performing absurd physical feats in her tiny frame did not trigger any sort of absurdity in her head, so it was a simple matter to just let her haki push her forward. “Zoro, you already understand this, to a limited extent. Your stubborn refusal to give up has served you well. But you still think of simple techniques such as steel-cutting or flying slashes as significant, legendary feats.” Tanya shook her head ruefully. “When you get right down to it, it is merely an act of stubborn will, etched in your body with thousands of repetitions, convincing yourself and the world that it is possible.” She waved her hand vaguely. “That isn’t to say that a strong body and cultivated muscles aren’t clear advantages, they very much help, and you should keep up your workouts, Zoro, but the true measure of a swordsman, of any warrior on the second half of the Grand Line, is their mastery of willpower. Focus on why you fight, on why you gain strength, and work towards it with all of yourself, and your strength will grow far more.”

    “Can’t be that simple.” Sanji said, vaguely disgusted.

    Tanya chuckled. “But it is. Okay, let me give an example: Let’s say Niji’s ungentlemanly behavior was exceptionally vile, and I took offense to his attitude, in particular his upbringing, so I decide that the one thing I wanted more than anything in the world was to kick Vinsmoke Judge in the face.” Saifu barked at Judge’s name, understanding from her tone that he was a bad man. Sanji seemed incredibly engaged in the lesson. She thought that he might. Zoro and Kuina didn’t have any figures of enmity in their life for her to use. “I’m sure everyone who knows the man can agree that this is a proportional response to his… everything.” Saifu barked in agreement. 

    “So, what’s a poor little princess to do?” She asked rhetorically. “Well, I’m not much for kicking people, so I’d probably start by kicking a wooden post until I could break it.” For emphasis, she stood up holding Saifu in her arms and went to the wooden post that Zeff had Kuina kicking with the pegleg and kicked it, snapping it in half. She could have made it a clean cut with haki, but didn’t bother this time. “With that done, I would move on to kicking stones until I could break them.” With no available stones, she refrained from demonstrating. “With that done, I would move on to iron, then steel, then something harder than steel. Plenty of options there. Will this training work? Yes, eventually. But if I focus my will, remind myself of Vinsmoke Judge’s crimes, really stoke my hatred towards him and my ambition to see him broken before me… I will finish this training faster than if I focused merely on getting stronger.” Tanya glanced to Zoro. “For you, I suggest focusing on myself. Become strong enough to defeat me, then you will be strong enough to start thinking about fighting my Father. Remind me to actually fight you before we part ways. I’ll give you some cool scars to remind you of your goal. Witnessing strength far beyond you will either hone your will or break it.”

    Zoro was aggravated by her dismissal of his strength, but still grinned at the instruction. “Gladly.”

    “Moving on,” Tanya said, “Back to the Vinsmoke Judge face-kicking scenario.” Sanji, whose eyes had drifted towards Kuina’s chest, snapped back to attention. “Now, if you were not previously aware, Vinsmoke Judge is twice my height.” This was not literally true, he fell a bit short of that figure, but it was close enough for her point. “Also, he has jet boots. So, that would be an obstacle to kicking him in the face. So, I need more than just strong kicks, I need to learn how to jump and move to catch him.” To demonstrate, she used Vermillion Wing’s movement techniques, going faster than the human eye could track from her position to her ship’s front turret. Saifu barked happily and wiggled in her arms at the sudden motion. “As you can see!” She began, before hopping off and doing a few jumps to show off, bouncing off of mid-air to land back where she started. “My determination has allowed me to master the secret movement techniques of the Vermillion Empress, Miaka of the Kuja.” Saifu leapt from her arms and started running in circles, barking now that it was playtime. 

    Zeff scoffed. “Half of the Marines above Commodore can do that. You’re not special.”

    Tanya nodded in acknowledgement, fishing a balled up sock from her pocket and throwing it for Saifu. “Those specific implementations are secret lore, but the broader ideas of the techniques are known as Shave and Moonwalk, techniques that are common among the higher echelons of the Marines. I use them as examples of things that a rational person would claim to be impossible, against the laws of physics.” Tanya chuckled, “But nothing is too ridiculous for this world. That is the lesson here.” Saifu returned and passed her an actual ball to throw. 

    She needed to tie this all together. “My point is that you can’t let the word impossible define what you cannot do. You must seek your dream, throw aside all foolish thoughts like ‘how am I going to survive kicking Judge in the face’, you must focus your everything on your dream, of walking right up to that smug asshole and kicking him in the face, making him regret the day you were born.” She threw the ball over the Baratie, and Saifu started running around the deck to fetch it, tongue lolling out as he moved his stubby legs at speeds that made him resemble a bullet more than an animal. 

“Yosh!” Sanji shouted, his flames of ambition properly stoked. To her mind’s eye, his spirit was literally ablaze with haki, albeit in an unrefined, wild state. Was she deliberately winding up ‘definitely the third son of Judge’ for her own amusement? Yes. 

His obvious excitement riled up the humandrills, and one of them leapt out onto the fin deck, pounding his chest. “Kiyou here’s riled up now.” The humandrill had a toolbelt, and was one of the two who favored guns over swords, the other being Kayaku. This meant that he was typically better using his bare hands as melee weapons. “Fight him.” Saifu returned with the ball and swallowed it before leaping onto her back, turning into a pack to rest. 

In comparison to Sanji’s fight against Zoro, he had improved his speed and strength notably, Tanya’s pep talk allowing him to actually defeat the large monkey. “See what I mean?” She asked the two swordsmen. “Just the thought of kicking a boorish king in the face to protect the honor of a princess has increased his strength substantially. This is what I mean when I say that ambition is the most important thing.” 

Zoro looked her in the eye with a disappointed look. Yeah, he saw right through her. Kuina looked thoughtful instead. 

Still, despite Zeff’s defeatist lessons, it was a good start to Kuina’s rehabilitation. 

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    It took about two weeks for Tanya to get Kuina to a level where she was able to move more or less normally, determine a good place to drop Zoro off, get there, and see him off with a duel where Tanya had utterly crushed him, leaving him at a doctor’s office to recover. 

    Pleasingly, Zoro’s determination rose higher from the loss, fully validating Father’s view of him as having potential. 

    Kuina was doing some dancing practice as the ship sailed through new waters, towards the Polestar islands. She probably wasn’t going to proceed to Reverse Mountain yet, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t stop by and do some trading. 

    Faintly, Tanya detected a blip of… something on her Observation. It was too weak for her to discern what… or perhaps it was merely something very far away. She turned her head in the appropriate direction and focused. Yes, there was a pair of presences in that direction… and they appear to be shooting off some kind of pyrotechnic. They must be stranded, although it was quite curious how they managed that much fire… “Turn!” She shouted, making a hand signal to elaborate the order. With hoots of the order being spread as background noise, the Argent took a hard left towards the marooned sailors. 

    Kuina quickly hopped up and clung to the foot of the sail to manage the turn without falling over. One thing that Tanya didn’t consider was that Kuina didn’t spend much time on boats even before she lost her leg. So she was generally hopeless when it came to actually sailing on a ship large enough that one needed to actually walk instead of just maneuvering along aided by at least one hand like she could on her small fishing boat. 

    As usual, Tanya could see what was going on the island far before she could materially affect it. It was actually much more lush of an island than she thought, with a distinctive plateau that was riddled with caves. “Saifu. Map.” The dog-backpack’s head popped over her shoulder, the map carefully held in her jaws. One of the benefits of being a dog-backpack is that Saifu was capable of turning off his saliva when handling delicate items. “Hmmm… We should be… ah. We’ve drifted off course. That’s Sixis.”

    Sixis Island was noted on her map as a navigational hazard more than an actual destination, as it was surrounded by troublesome currents. But as the humandrills were trained in the New World, they easily adapted to such conditions. 

    Still, there were two teenage boys who were celebrating next to a half-built raft as the Argent approached. One was wearing a domino mask for some reason, while the other wore a brimmed hat to keep the sun off his eyes. Both of them were shirtless, presumably for some machismo-related reason. 

    They… were both very well built. Ahem. Still, she instructed her crew to anchor well before they actually reached the beach, and they started readying the rowboat. Instead of using it, she just leapt towards the beach in one go, braking with a harsh kick in the air a meter off the ground, creating a gunshot-like crack of sound, before lightly landing on the beach without disturbing more sand than was needed for a footprint. “Ahoy!” She said cheerily. 

    The boys both rushed towards her happily, each wrapping their arms around her on their knees, weeping in gratitude. “Please tell me you have food!” The freckled one begged. 

    “This Island barely has anything edible!” Bemoaned the masked one. “So much poison… so much.” Tanya’s face felt like it was on fire as the two muscular youths expressed their thanks so effusively. 

    What was she going to say? She had a plan on how to handle this. It would have made her look cool and mysterious as she magnanimously allowed them onto her ship, the master of her domain. But the words she had plotted out had left her completely. 

    Fortunately, she was saved from her brain’s sudden derailing by Saifu, who started barking defensively at the boys, who immediately moved two meters away and bowed shallowly in apology. “Sorry.” They said simultaneously. 

    “Don’t go randomly hugging people!” Tanya snapped, the burning feeling of her face redoubling. Saifu slipped into her arms. “Good girl, scaring these idiots away.” She said, bringing her face close to Saifu’s muzzle and provoking an affectionate lick. With the distraction of the corgi’s adorableness, the burning feeling faded away. 

    After a beat spent composing herself, Tanya still couldn’t remember what she was going to say, so instead improvised. “Right. So, you’re stranded? Naturally, I’ll need some kind of introduction from you two before I allow you on my ship.”

    The freckled pirate laughed. “Ah, yeah, I shipwrecked here a few weeks ago. I’m Ace, and this is Deuce.”

    Wait. A freckled young man named Ace? “Portgas Ace?” She asked. 

    Ace looked startled at her question. “Portgas D. Ace, actually. How’d you know?”

    Tanya waved her hand vaguely. “I met your Grandfather about a month ago. He was quite torn up over your decision to become a pirate.” She gestured to the deserted island. “How’d that go, by the way?”

    “We had a way out!” Ace insisted, pointing towards the raft. Hm. It was oddly… rocket-shaped now that she thought about it. “You just saved us another week of eating really bad food.”

    Tanya chuckled. “I only promised the man to convey his disappointment in you. He won’t bail you out if you end up on the gallows, you know.” This was supposition on her part. My name is Dracule D. Tanya, by the way.” 

    Deuce, for his part, looked confused. “Wait, you have a grandfather? I thought Rog-”

    Ace quickly shut Deuce’s mouth with his hand, chopping at his neck to disrupt his words before gripping the jaw with a serious look. “I’m not Gramps’ actual grandson.” He clarified. “That’s my little brother.” He released Deuce’s jaw. 

    Oh, that was a surprise. “Oh. Well, I had no idea you were adopted.” Tanya said, somewhat impressed with the Vice-Admiral. “He was as distraught as any parental figure I’ve ever seen. He clearly cares a great deal for you.”

    Ace was a very expressive person. Guilt wracked his whole body, a shudder as he digested Tanya’s words. Sighing, he pointed his fist at her, which burst into flames. “Is this where we move onto threats?”

    Is that… a logia? Interesting. “By no means.” Tanya said, completely unthreatened. “But I could draw my sword if it makes you feel better.” She put word to deed, and Saifu returned to being a backpack. 

    “That’s a pretty big sword for such a little guy.” Ace said teasingly. 

    “Ace, she’s a girl.” Deuce corrected. Tanya frowned. Perceptive, isn’t he? 

    “Really? Aw man, I’m sorry.” Ace said, extinguishing the fire as if that remotely affected his lethality. “But yeah, we’ll work for a trip to a port.” He turned to Deuce. “Hey, have you ever heard of the Grimm Pirates?” Deuce shook his head. 

    “Ace, she doesn’t have a pirate flag.” Deuce pointed out. 

    Ace smacked his palm. “Oh! So she’s not a pirate at all!”

    Tanya sighed. “I do have a flag, but I don’t really use it unless I’m doing something illegal and need legal protection.”

    “...How does that work?” Deuce asked, baffled. 

    “My father’s one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.” Tanya replied smugly. “I can get away with a lot by being a subordinate pirate crew to him.” Tanya didn’t particularly like being the beneficiary of nepotism, but the World Government was systematically corrupt, so she didn’t mind so much. If that ever changes… well, that’s why she keeps up a line of communication with the Revolutionaries. 

    “...But don’t you have to do whatever those asshole Marines say?” Ace asked. 

    “Me? No, not at all.” Tanya replied, “The amount of control the government has over the Warlords is highly exaggerated, as well. I sailed with Father for seven years, and he did maybe ten things because the government told him to in that time.” Granted, this was because he frequently used ‘might put Tanya in danger’ as an excuse to avoid doing things that were too annoying. “The rest of the time we just bummed around being paid obscene amounts of money for tasks that were either fun or easy.” Rarely both, and that was not a coincidence. “My point is that it’s a good deal, if you’re strong enough to get invited. Yeah, you risk getting booted every time you refuse a Government order, but that’s a political decision. Stack the deck in your favor and you can get away with a lot.”

    Finally, the rowboat came ashore, a massive one that could fit two Humandrills at a time. Kuina had decided to row it herself, presumably because she wanted the workout. “We’re still saving them, right?” Kuina asked. 

    “Yes.” Tanya replied, “They’re pirates, but no one we need to worry about. No bounties either.” Tanya turned back to the shirtless boys. “Do either of you two have useful skills, by the way?”

    Deuce scratched his head nervously. “Uh… I’m technically a doctor.” He admitted, “Just… not a very good one.” There was clearly a story there. 

    Ace puffed out his chest. “I’m really strong!” He boasted, “Oh, and also I ate the Flame-Flame fruit last week. So I can do this.” He set his hand on fire again, and launched up another flare. 

    Kuina’s eyes flashed in interest. “How hot can you make the flame?” She asked immediately. “How much control do you have?” Ace blinked in confusion. 

    “Given that he said he ate it last week, I doubt he’s put the fruit through its paces yet, as this island is distinctly unburned.” Tanya observed, “Do you have any other skills? Cooking, perhaps?”

    “Nah.” Ace said dismissively, “I’m pretty good at ship repairs, though. There was this one time back at Goa where I helped this old pirate build a new ship, I learned a lot then.” He thumbed the raft they were making. “Pretty good, right?”

    Tanya took a moment to examine the raft. It actually looked pretty good, for something made with what appeared to be literal stone tools. “That is an adequate endorsement of your skills.” Tanya agreed, “If you two agree to commit to continuous improvement both in those skills as well as combat, I would be willing to hire you two on an at-will basis.”

    Ace blinked in confusion. Deuce elbowed him in the side. “She means she’ll pay us to work for her if we study, and we can walk away at any time.”

    “That is correct.” Tanya agreed, “I assume that eventually, pirates will attempt to rob us, and you’ll take that pirate’s ship as severance and sail off with your own flag.”

    “,,,You’re okay with that?” Ace asked, scratching his head. 

    Tanya laughed, looking up at Sixis’s mountain framed by a beautiful blue sky, “My father’s side of the family are all infamous pirates. One thing that they instilled in me is what it means to fly that black flag.” Tanya explained, “It means Freedom. Just because I act within the bounds of the law doesn’t change that. I do as I please, whether it’s learning about an interesting bit of history or helping my friend recover her family’s prized sword.” She turned her eyes towards the shirtless boys again, eyes blazing with intent. “Tell me: What is your dream?”

    Deuce pumped his fist. “I want to go on an adventure and write about it, creating a story that will be remembered forever!”

    “Good!” Tanya shouted in approval. 

    “I’m going to find the One Piece, and make everyone in the world forget the name Gold Roger!” Ace shouted at the top of his lungs. Now that’s a big dream. 

    Kuina, not to be left out, shouted her own: “I’m going to smith the thirteenth supreme-grade sword with these two hands!”

“Those dreams can carry you far!” Tanya crowed, “I would love to help you reach them!” She was just about done in the East Blue anyway. A few weeks to whip these guys into shape and they can go to Reverse Mountain.

Onto the next adventure!