Chapter 31: A Month’s Time

I re-explained all of what I had just said, and then I found something wrong with what I said.

"Um.. by the way, you should be careful, nonetheless, at least around Rosalina, it would be nice to not be.. any.. kind.. of suspicious around her, and since it's really just a theory of mine, you can just, be a little more careful around her. Me, I am very in between the two ideas, it might be something else, but it also might be one of the most powerful people in the world, so..... Just.. just be careful, that's really all."

I could tell that Taki had understood almost all of what I said this time around, and while still slightly confused, she could figure out what she didn't understand.

And with that, another month passed with me upping my training and getting closer to starting the 7-Punch workout. Also during that time, a had taken care of several more bounties, and I learned the second time that the money I would get from bounty hunting lowers about 25 percent just from them, well, being dead.

I think I didn't notice if it was less money thanks to a mix of the ecstatic feeling of getting the first bounty money and the nervousness from not knowing what to do. So, good thing to know.

During that month, since this was the last island before the Grand Line, there were definitely some pirates who had bounties ranging from basically nothing to almost as much as I got for the first ship I sold. I only really went for the higher bounties, but if nothing interesting was happening on a day when I was hunting, I went for the lower bounties.

It was kind of hard to not kill someone when trying to train with a sword and still beat a group of pirates, and while my physical strength helped out a lot, making my moves more powerful, I had to tone down its use in fear of actually killing the ones with bounties. I really wanted to come up with more powerful techniques while also not killing them, which was a little hard to do, especially with a sword as sharp as Surya, a blade that could I swear could cut a ship in half with just strength alone.

And so, with a possible extremely powerful blade, I used the back side of Surya most of the time to actually get more money out of it.

I said to Surya once after a fight using the back of the blade "Surya, don't worry, you can actually cut people down, but here, you couldn't even use like, a percentage of your current potential." And when I realized I talked to an inanimate object, I felt awkward, even if Surya had a soul to it.

Since I had gotten several bounties, I had gotten about 30-odd million berri, which wasn't terrible for just a bounty hunter in the East Blue.

A problem did appear though: I had amassed a small armada of ships on accident. I did clean all of them, because I wasn't just gonna sell dirty ships, and they were all moved to a beach closer to the hideout, but still far away enough for people to not just randomly stumble upon the hideout if they tried to steal one of the ships.

Now, how did I even get the ships there in the first place if they were docked on basically the other side of the island? The answer, was simple. I didn't. You see, some of the people on those pirate crews weren't there by choice, and were dragged along on the journey, with no way to actually get out of it. 'Man, some of these people remind me of Coby at the beginning.'

Why did some of them remind me of Coby? Because when I was taking the captains of ships, as well as some others if they had a bounty, and knocking or injuring the crew, they just begged me to not hurt them and they were not there of their own volition. Of course, I could tell through Haki who was truly begging to be brought off the ship, and who wasn't, which made it easier to do the fighting sometimes.

I did realize that I was in a partial 'Zen Mode' when fighting any of the pirates at all, I think it was thanks to the muscle memory that part of my mind didn't need to focus so much while fighting, so it was only a partial state of 'Zen Mode'.

Now, the way I got those ships to where they were now was thanks to the help of those very people who were dragged along. I did learn that some of them were once friends with the captain or something of their ship, but they then learned of how twisted their own friend had become, so they ended up with menial jobs and had an almost living hell as their daily life because of differences. But that didn't matter, simply because they thought of me as a savior and when they learned of me wanting to move them for now, they wanted to thank me before they left. So, nine ships ended up on the beach without issue.

Most of those people who helped to move the ships thanked me and left. But a few stayed behind, mainly because they didn't have anyone or anything to go back to.

So, obviously, I told them "While it is sad that you don't have anything to go back to, I don't exactly know what you want ME to do about that. I mean, you could probably get a job on this island and be fine. You don't really owe me anything, even if your pride is telling you otherwise. But, if you want to do something to help me, I would say.. just be your OWN person, and live a life for yourself. Do what you want to do, follow your dreams, just.. don't become a pirate like the ones you were just under."

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Almost all of them after that short speech realized what I had said and took it to heart, and just left towards town.

One did stay behind, a child. 'Okay, I guess I should have expected that, I bet they're attached to me now for saving them.'

"So. Child. Why are you still here? Don't you have a dream?"

I looked at the little, what I thought was a boy in front of me, and they were small. Smaller than Taki, so I assumed they were also younger than her, probably five or something. They had just some wild, long, curly black hair, with some green eyes, very tanned skin, I guessed from how much they were working outside, poor kid. And then they were just wearing some brown pants, a brown shirt, and no shoes to speak of. The clothes themselves were basically tearing apart at the seams, and had many cuts on it, showing just how much it had been worn.

"Uh.. I don't know what that is." They said very timidly, while twirling their fingers around.

"*Sigh* well, since you seem a little broken, I'll help you out by giving you a choice of what to do." I kneeled down in front of them to look them in the eyes. 'Time to talk as if I actually have a plan.'

"Option one: I bring you to someone I know and you can grow up with a parent, getting the love you need."

'They don't need to know that I've already basically become an adult-figure to Taki, but.. who? I can figure that out later.'

"And option two: I bring you along, but you may get hurt worse along that path more than you were with those pirates."

They thought for a while before saying "Is your friend.. able to protect me?"

'Oh boy, the one answer I don't have. Wait! There is one person who could work! I'll have to figure out how to get there later, but it should work!'

"Yes, well, they probably couldn't do it, but a friend of theirs will be able to protect you more than I could. Although, it would be nice to have your name so I can tell them who they'll be protecting."

'Thats a total lie, I mean, I don't have any contact with them, it would be good to actually contact them though, just to get it done.'

They muttered out "Mariga."

I nodded my head. 'I gotta write that down. Who knows, maybe they'll become important down the road. I mean, Oda does that all the time, so I kinda expect it with everyone now.'

And with that, I ended up renting a hotel room all to Mariga, who I also bought clothes for. Just so she could be somewhat safe, I watched unconsciously using observation to make sure she was safe during the night. It was good training too.

One more thing that happened during that month, I gained a nickname with the Marines at their headquarters on Logue Town. 'The Joker'. I asked why, and learned that it was because they thought I was joking when I came with pirates tied up to get their bounties. But, they couldn't confirm nor deny that I did it alone, so 'The Joker' just stuck.

'That doesn't sound too bad. I can use that later, for multiple things too!'

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