South Blue didn't seem all that different from East Blue to Luffy, but it was way different when compared to the Grand Line. The sea, specifically. He already missed the way the sea shimmered in the Grand Line, which was deep blue, choppier, wilder, and all around gave the feeling of being dangerous, fun, and beautiful all at the same time. East and South Blue waters had a lighter shade of blue and just seemed serene in comparison. Sure, it looked good for a while, but people like Luffy who had experienced the Grand Line would just find it to be too boring and a bit lacking.
But it was also good for him. He would have had a zero chance of survival if he had tried to navigate in the Grand Line. There, he would have capsized within minutes, or his boat would have broken because of the rough, choppy waves, and even if his boat somehow held up miraculously, the wind and water currents were too unpredictable and rough, so he would have never reached his destination even if he followed a log pose.
But here in South Blue, he could just get in a dinghy and follow the general direction towards a particular island with the help of a compass. He had no clue about sea and wind currents, so it would take a significantly longer time than what was necessary to get from point A to point B, but he wouldn't die or break his boat if he was just a tad bit careful. At least that's what Luffy thought would happen if he navigated. And boy was he so wrong.
Reiju had given him a list of islands that were big enough to have big merchant trade companies, but she wasn't sure, so she had asked him not to depend on it and find someone local who had more knowledge.
Hence, he asked around the island he had been dropped off at on how to get to East Blue from there. But it was hard to get any information as it was a really small island with just a few towns, and the people there were mostly locals who had never been to more than 3 islands away from their own. Sailors just used their island to resupply their ships, and that was pretty much their bread and butter.
But there was bound to be at least one person on the entire island who had some knowledge about the area, and with Luffy's magnetic personality, people eventually pointed him to the right person, who turned out to be a journalist who was stopping by on the island, and he was very helpful.
Luffy talked to him, explaining his situation, and the journalist gave him a few suggestions of what he could do. He first gave the same suggestion Reiju did of finding a trade merchant, as some had regular cargo ships running to the other Blues every few months, and with enough money, luck, and persuasion, they could give him a ride.
Another option was to find a cruise ship of any Royal family or someone filthy rich that were going on a tour to the East Blue. Apparently, really rich people sometimes went on cruises to the other Blues, and if he was lucky, he could find one and get a job on their ship.
Another option was to find and join a pirate crew that was heading there and one more was to join the Marines and then ask and hope they transfer him to an East Blue branch. Obviously, the Pirate and Marine options were instantly rejected by Luffy and thought that the first idea of finding a merchant ship was the most feasible.
The journalist also agreed and added, "It's really not that hard to find one you know. Many of these big trade companies have scheduled cargo ships going to the other Blues every few months and I'm sure East Blue is also one of them…What is hard though is the cost and security. No one will offer you a free ride and I'm sure you know the dangers of traveling on the seas as pirates might attack these cargo ships…Usually, the merchant companies have secret routes, so security should be a minor issue, but the cost on the other hand is a major issue. You'll need a lot, at least 40 million to convince anyone to give you a ride…"
"Yeah, I guess so…" Luffy hummed nodding his head. 40 million seemed like a lot to normal people, but for him, it wasn't that big of a deal. He could just hunt a couple of bounties and turn them in to make that much quite easily. And he craved for danger, so if pirates attacked the cargo ship, he would be on, then that would be a bonus for him.
"So yeah, as long as you have money, you should be good" the journalist concluded.
"Got it. Thanks!"
The journalist also marked a list of islands that had big enough prosperous cities and Luffy compared his list to Reiju's. There were many similarities and Luffy decided he would first search on the islands that were present on both lists.
He thanked the journalist profusely for all the helpful suggestions and that very same day, he bought a dinghy, a few maps, food supplies, grabbed his belongings (which he got from Reiju) and set off to the closest island on the list which was three days away.
———
Two weeks later, he was still nowhere near finding that island. 'Navigation is so fucking hard…' he whined when he again found himself at a small random island that was way off course to his original destination.
He had found three different islands in the last 2 weeks, all way off course to his intended destination. He would just sail towards the direction where the island was, but for some reason, he would end up at some completely random island when he wasn't even expecting to find one. First time it had happened, he had docked and asked the locals where he was on his map, and they pointed at an island that was way north of his destination. He had gotten new instructions from the locals and again set off only to sail for five days and end up at a completely different island again. The same pattern repeated as he had asked for new directions and had set off again.
And now again, he found himself at a completely random island for the third time. Reiju had drilled some basics of reading a map into his head and he thought he understood enough. Of how to know where he was, where his destination was, use the compass to know which direction the destination was relative to the starting point and just go in that direction. He had even thought 'That's it?' when he first understood it, but now that he was actually trying to navigate, it was way more complex. Majorly, the sea and wind currents. They were a total bitch.
The currents would unknowingly push him in some random direction with him not even realizing it and thus, he was being thrown way off course.
After the third island, he finally concluded that he was truly hopeless in navigation. Leo had only ridden a jet ski during a trip at a beach once and taken a ferry ride once…and that was all the experience he had regarding being on the sea, so his memories weren't helpful either.
Luffy had always thought that he would just randomly sail anywhere the waves took him when he set out on his journey and recruit a navigator, so he had never bothered learning about navigation even when Benn had tried to teach him the basics. He cursed himself now for not taking up Benn's offer then.
He had of course tried asking around on the islands he found himself at if anyone would be willing to navigate for him, but the islands were pretty small, and no one agreed to take him to places. Reiju had given him around 4 million berries and even when he offered the whole amount, no one agreed to navigate for him (which seemed very strange to him, but he didn't give it much thought). So, he was all by himself.
He sighed for the umpteenth time since he began traveling, frustrated at himself. If he couldn't even reach an island that was supposed to be three days away even after two weeks, he would just be wasting his time traversing the seas needlessly. The dinghy was small, and he couldn't train in any useful way on it, so the whole two weeks had been a massive waste of time.
He had less than 15 months left before beginning his journey and he wanted to get way, way stronger than his current self, so sitting idle in a boat felt like he was wasting his life, and it was eating away at him.
"What to do…what do to…" he murmured sitting near the shore of the island he had found. He wished he would run into some pirates who he could defeat and then ask them nicely to navigate for him, but he hadn't met any yet.
He thought for a few moments before going for the simplest way - Just row the boat. Just furl the sails and row his way towards the direction of the island. That way, he wouldn't have to depend on wind currents and if he got sucked into a sea current, he would at least realize it and change the course or row faster to get out of it. It would be tiring as hell to row the boat, but he didn't have any other choice. Besides, that served as a sort of training while still being on the seas, so he did just that.
The original island he was trying to get to was around 15 days away from his current position, but fortunately, another island on his list was just two days away from him, so he set off towards his new destination called Myte Island. The two days was the estimate considering one would use the winds to sail, but since he was rowing now, it would obviously take him way more time.
Thankfully, the rowing idea worked to some degree because he no longer ended up way off course but just a bit off course. He still couldn't go to the desired particular island accurately and 'a bit off course' was still troublesome as he would miss the island and overshoot, but he couldn't do any better than that.
Fortunately, since he was just a bit off course, he spotted a cruise ship that was actually heading towards Myte Island too and thus, followed it. And after three weeks since he left Reiju, he finally landed on one of the islands on his list.
The city he docked at was called Gatte City and it was a fairly large bustling city with lots of people, fancy shops, malls, and most importantly for him, a big port with tons of ships docked at it. He didn't waste any time and immediately went around the port to search for any ships that was heading to East Blue.
Like the journalist had said, it was pretty easy as he soon found a merchant who actually had a cargo ship running to East Blue once every year and after some persuasion, he agreed to let him on it if he paid 40 million. But unfortunately, the next scheduled ship was 8 months away. He asked around in a few more merchant companies and other ships he found at the docks but only found two more ships heading to East Blue 11 months and 18 months away.
He spent the whole day and the next going around the whole city trying his luck and even went to neighboring towns and villages to see if there were any ships, but at the end of the second day, he came back to Gatte city with disappointment as he didn't find any. He had also asked the merchants if any neighboring islands had any earlier ships but just got 'maybe that company does?' and such vague unsure answers.
He sighed when it became clear that the earliest ship that was going to his home from this island was 8 months away. Apparently, East Blue wasn't that favorable a destination as there was less profit to be made from there when compared to West Blue, which was the most profitable, followed by North Blue. So, ships to East Blue weren't that frequent.
Luffy sat on the balcony of the room he had rented at an inn and thought about what he should do. He had two options mainly. One was to continue his search by going to other islands on his list and hope he finds a ship that left sooner. Second was to wait for 8 months and hitch a ride on the ship he had already found.
If he went with the first option, he honestly didn't know how long he would waste by just traversing the seas in search for particular islands. Just these last three weeks had taken a toll on his mental state as he kept thinking that he was wasting precious time which he could be using to train. He kept cursing and getting annoyed every time he landed on a different island, and he didn't know if he could do all that over and over again until he found an island which would take him home immediately.
He had also found cruise ships that were going to some of the islands on his list, but it was a cruise ship, so it was intentionally slow and had a lot of detours and stops. Again, he would feel like he would be wasting precious time.
"What do I do, kitty cat?" Luffy sighed as he pets a stray cat that had found its way onto his balcony. The reddish tabby cat just meowed and purred as it enjoyed Luffy's petting while Luffy treated it like a conversing partner.
"Okay, let's say I don't mindlessly go searching for the islands and choose to go on the ship I found 8 months from now. What do I do for 8 months? Train here?" he questioned the cat who just purred. "Your city is big and bustling sure, but it isn't dangerous in the least you know… I want an environment where I would constantly be in life-or-death battles 24/7 to get stronger…"
"Meow~"
"I should go searching for strong pirates to fight and gain experience?" he said pretending the cat had asked that question before answering himself, "Again, I have to go and search for the pirates and only then can I fight them. Searching for pirates is a harder task than actually beating them…" he sighed. "And even if I did find them, they're all way too weak…" Even though they might be stronger than those in East Blue, South Blue didn't have any strong opponents he could fight either. Bounties weren't an accurate representation of strength, but it was a good enough assessment for weaker bounties. And South Blue's biggest bounty he had seen at a tavern was 50 million.
"What else then?" he pondered. The training he did in Reiju's gym actually wasn't all that great as he first thought it would be. It wasn't bad either, or he had grown way stronger because of his training in the gym…but it wasn't quite as good as he had expected it to be. He was physically stronger, could fight adequately even when he had sea stone cuffs on, was about half as strong as he was originally while still wearing sea stone and way stronger if he removed the cuffs.
But he was nowhere near satisfied. Only his physical strength had increased and if he was heading into a bench press or a weightlifting competition, then those three months of training in Reiju's gym would have been helpful.
But he was a fighter. He wanted battles where his life was on the line and train his battle instincts. The spars with Reiju were actually more helpful to him than all the training he did in the gym, but then again, Reiju held back a lot. She didn't like it when she hurt him too much and so, didn't attack him with all she had. The only times he felt like he had grown stronger was when he had picked fights on the Grand Line islands they had stopped at.
Even the padded room with projectiles where he thought he could unlock Observation Haki was a total bust as he hadn't grasped it even after three months. Reiju had also suggested the same 'get whacked until you learn it' strategy to unlock Observation and he had been in that padded room everyday getting hit by cannon balls and bullets and felt like he almost got the grasp of it…but was just missing something to actually unlock it. There was something missing in all the training he did at the gym. Danger.
What he needed was will-be-killed-if-I-don't-push-myself kind of danger. An environment where enemies were aplenty and his life would always be in danger 24/7. He remembered Rusukaina island's environment and that was exactly what he needed right now.
And that line of thought led him to another line of thinking. "Okay, let's say I go in search of the other islands and somehow find a ship that's immediately going to East Blue. What then?" he asked the cat, "I go to East Blue and train there? The strongest guy there is Arlong and I can defeat him easily right now…The beasts in Mt. Colubo became child's play a long time ago…So there are no enemies left for me to fight against and grow stronger…"
Either here or in East Blue, he just wanted some place to test himself which would help him grow stronger. The last few months, the story, the spars with Reiju, the fights he had had in the Grand Line had all made him realize he was utterly weak. Reiju had not once broken a sweat during their spars, and he was the only one who always ended up battered and completely spent. Even the fights he had charged in recklessly on the Grand Line islands would have led to his demise if Reiju wasn't there keeping an eye on the situation and doing a large share of the work.
He was extremely frustrated with himself for being so weak and the vow he had made with Ace where he had cried that he wanted to get stronger and stronger and stronger…after Sabo's death played in his mind. The scene of him being helplessly tortured, the scene of the slavers laughing as they punished Kell while all he could do was scream pathetically, the scene of Reiju's melancholic look as she waved one last time to him before she boarded her ship…all plagued his thoughts.
"I want to get stronger…" Luffy groaned his voice filled with desperation as he let his head hit the railing of the balcony.
"Mroww~" the tabby cat purred bringing Luffy out of his thoughts. It nuzzled against his face and licked him making him smile.
"You're right. I shouldn't be moping around like this huh?"
"Meow…"
"You think so too? Yeah, I should just do my best"
"Mrrow~"
"Puhahahaha~" a melodious feminine laugh suddenly came from the adjacent balcony and Luffy turned to see a woman pop up from behind the railing the next second. She looked to be in her twenties with bob cut blonde hair, sharp eyes and a tattoo of a rose below her eye. And judging by how she was looking at him with amusement, she had probably heard everything Luffy had conversed with the cat. "I'm sorry…it was just funny seeing a guy talking to a cat like this…"
"I don't mind" Luffy said with an amused smile.
The woman also gave him an amused smile as she took a drag from her cigarette. "I heard some pretty outrageous things just now…"
"Outrageous? Like what?"
"You said that all the pirates in South Blue were weak and then called yourself weak…that's either a contradiction or a very high standard"
Luffy just shrugged "I said what I said"
"I see" she said with a calculating look in her eye. She slowly took another drag from her cigarette thinking about something before speaking up again, "There's this local story around these parts of a Beast Island no one should go near…"
The woman nearly jumped out of her skin when she suddenly found Luffy's grinning face inches away from her own as he excitedly yelled "A Beast Island?! Where no one should go near?! Where is it?! Where is it?! Are the beasts strong? How big are they? Wh-"
"Woah woah stop kid" the woman clamped his mouth shut when it looked like he would go on. "Looks like that really got your attention huh?"
"Yes! Tell me more about it!"
"Okay okay I was going to. Calm down will you"
Luffy excitedly sat on her balcony waiting for her to speak while on the inside he was thanking his uncanny luck.
"It's pretty close, around 4 days by boat and over the years, I've heard some pretty dangerous tales from bounty hunters and washed-up pirates who went near that island…They say there are animals like tigers and bears, only they are more ferocious looking and as tall as 7-10 meters!" she said making her voice spooky at the last part.
"Yahoo!" Luffy cheered throwing his hands up, "Where is it? Mark it on the map for me!"
The woman just stared at him incredulously, "Did you not hear what I just said? Animals, ferocious carnivorous animals like tigers, as big as ten meters!" ...she paused when what she thought would scare him only made the grin on his face grow wider. "…you're insane…"
"Maybe. Who cares? Mark it on the map! ...No wait, if you know where it is, can you take me there? I'm really not good at navigation"
The woman just looked even more incredulous, "You're asking me to come with you to the Beast Island?!"
"No no, just guide me until I can see the island from far away. You can leave after"
"…You have a death wish…"
"C'mon! Just take me there! If I die, it's on me"
"I don't even know your name kid…"
"Oh right. Hi, I'm Luffy, Future Pirate King. Nice to meetcha!"
"Pirate King…?" she laughed. He looked young, so she didn't take his words to heart and just thought he was playing around. "I'm Claire. Nice to meet you"
"Okay, great! Now, we're friends. Take me there!"
"No" she flatly refused.
"Why not?!"
"I'm not gonna send a kid to his death"
"Ugh…I'm not a kid. I'm 22"
"Sure, you are" she obviously didn't believe him.
"At least mark it on the map for me"
"No"
"C'moonnnnn!"
"No"
Luffy grumbled under his breath for a moment before perking up with a grin. "You said it's a local story! So, of course others will know about it. I'll just go ask the locals"
He laughed when she stared at him like a deer caught in headlights and jumped back to his own balcony.
"Wait kid!" she called out desperately, "I'm not kidding when I say it's a dangerous island. You'll die"
"And I'm not kidding when I say I'm gonna be the Future Pirate King" he stated with a serious look in his eyes that sent shivers up her spine. "A bunch of beasts aren't gonna kill me…"
Claire now thought that he actually was insane and sighed in frustration. He had said some pretty outrageous things of wanting to be in an environment that would kill him, and thinking he was just a kid playing around and acting out some adventure, she just told him an actual place to see if he would still stick to the act or get scared. It was supposed to be just a normal funny conversation where she would scare him and then laugh while teasing him. That was it. That was supposed to be it. But he went beyond her expectations as he became excited and actually wanted to visit the island itself. 'He's either fucking crazy or just plain stupid…'
Luffy just grabbed the cat who was meowing at him, "C'mon Tabby, let's go ask the locals" he said before jumping off of the second-floor balcony and landing on the ground with a loud thud alarming the pedestrians and also scaring the shit out of the cat he had just named Tabby. It hissed at him, but he just chuckled and appeased it by tickling it. He then looked up to see the gobsmacked look on Claire's face and smirked at her.
Claire finally realized that he was actually strong and not just some kid trying to act strong. She then sighed exasperatedly realizing he wasn't going to stop and end up going to the Beast Island with or without her. Since it was her who had told him about the Island, she thought that she should at least take responsibility. "Okay fine!" she yelled at down at him. "I'll take you there!"
"Yahoo! Let's go now!"
The next day, he and Claire were in two dinghies heading towards the Beast Island with Claire leading the way. She was apparently a reporter who worked for a local newspaper, and she traveled quite a bit around few of the surrounding islands collecting stories. She liked stories and would end up talking to people from all walks of life and had even published a few books. They ended up talking quite a lot as Claire had a lot of stories from her travels and Luffy loved listening to them.
Four days later, they finally spotted the Beast Island from afar.
"Okay, that is it…" Claire trailed off staring at the island and then at Luffy who was looking at it with excitement. "Can I really not convince you to not go? You're really fun, you know. I'd hate to see you die so young…"
"You worry too much, I'm not gonna die"
"You're strong sure but not that strong. Where does that endless confidence even come from?" she sighed.
"Shishishihi. Well, I'm gonna go now. See you in around 8 months" he waved at her before he started rowing towards the island. "Take care of Tabby for me"
Tabby, who had also accompanied the two on their journey just meowed at him from Claire's boat, while Claire herself nodded solemnly. Luffy had asked her to wait for two hours as he wanted to first check out the island and see if the Beasts were actually a challenge or not (which had made her laugh). If the Beasts weren't, then he wasn't gonna waste his time and immediately go back with her. She waited for more than 4 hours and when he still didn't show up, she concluded that he had either died as soon as set foot on the island or he actually wanted to stay there to train. She sighed not knowing his fate and started going back to Gatte city hoping the boy she had come to like a lot in just four days would survive.
———
A very small bay which opened up to a wall of thick and tall trees that stretched out on either side, probably covering the entire circumference of the island, greeted Luffy. The closer he got, the more excited he became as the trees were much taller than he had thought, and he could already hear loud roars and screams of the beings present on the island.
He soon reached the shore, pulled his dinghy up into a small cove, covered it up with enough leaves so that no one could spot it, and excitedly stepped into the thick forest. Not even two seconds in and he laid his eyes upon one of the beasts that populated the island. It looked tiger-like in appearance but much larger, almost 6 meter tall, with sharper and longer fangs, teeth and claws. It kinda reminded him of the beasts back on Mt. Colubo, but these were much much bigger and by the looks of it, more ferocious. Testament to being a survival of the fittest kind of island, the tiger immediately lunged at Luffy upon spotting him and seeing a huge tiger like beast running at him, Luffy had only one response.
"Shishishishi"
He also ran towards it with a huge grin and punched it right in its jaw just as it tried to bite him. The tiger faltered a bit by the sudden and unexpected attack from the little human but soon growled angrily and attacked him again. Luffy dodged its massive paw once, but he was caught off guard when its tail came at him with incredible speeds. He got whipped so hard that he flew back for a good three seconds before crashing and breaking through a row of trees before his momentum finally stopped.
He didn't have time to take a breather as he had landed right in front of a huge 7-meter-tall wolflike creature that tried to bite him as soon as their eyes met. Luffy barely rolled out of the way of its jaws, but the wolf then used its powerful legs to stomp on him and pinned him down. He yelped in pain as its sharp claws dug into his back and when he saw its massive open maw coming at his head, he hastily removed the sea stone cuffs he was wearing and whipped its head with a stretchy arm snapping it backwards. It had also staggered back a couple of steps, hence freeing him, and he quickly collected the sea stone cuffs and climbed up a tree.
He got high enough panting hard thinking he was safe for now when a hard object crashed into his back making him yelp in pain and get lodged into the tree. He spit out blood as he turned just his head to see a bunch of massive baboon-like creatures sitting on the top branches of the trees holding huge boulders. His eyes widened with shock when he saw two baboons pull their arms back and he realized that the baboons were throwing the boulders at him.
He hastily jumped to an adjacent tree just as a boulder came swooshing in and broke the tree apart where he had just been moments ago. A few more baboons started launching their boulders at him and he kept jumping from one tree to another and finally hid from the baboons' line of sight after he got far enough. He was panting hard and was already bloody.
"Ha…hahaha" he laughed softly when he realized he got what he wanted. He wanted to put himself through an extremely rigorous training session the likes of which would make even his gramps grimace. And this was it.
He steadied his breathing before staring down at his sea stone cuffs. He had planned to always wear the sea stone cuffs while he trained so that he could grow stronger exponentially faster, but he had almost lost his life in his weakened state and barely managed to escape from the wolf using his full strength after removing them.
He stared at it for a few more moments pondering whether to wear it or not. He recalled his future fights with Aokiji, Moria, Kuma, and then all the insanely strong opponents in Impel Down/Marineford…and there was only one answer. Wear it. Any normal kind of training just wouldn't cut it.
He clicked the sea stone cuffs back onto his wrists, let out a deep breath before coming out of his hiding spot…and instantly came face to face with the dozens of baboons that were all looking for him.
"ALLONS-Y!" he yelled with a huge feral grin and a manic glint in his eyes as he lunged at the closest baboon while it and the others screeched at him all attacking at once.
———
4 months later
Luffy dragged the corpse of the supposed strongest beast of the island behind him as he made his way towards his makeshift shelter that had become his temporary home on the island. He had just been in an intense battle with the creature he was dragging behind him, which was a massive 12-meter-tall chimera like beast with features of a lion, wolf, alligator and so many more unrecognizable animals.
"This island is so strange…" he murmured to no one. Not only were the beasts massive, but there were also a few chimeras which looked like someone put a few creatures in a blender and made a new one. He expected islands like this in the Grand Line, not in one of the Blues. But then again, Mt. Colubo also had larger than average beasts and there was no explanation for that either.
The current creature he was dragging behind him was the strongest creature on the island which had almost killed him quite a few times during his early days, but after 4 months of training, he was more than capable of taking it on and winning.
Luffy took a minute to review what all he had gained from the past four months and grinned ecstatically. His strength and battle instincts had grown exponentially stronger, and he could feel the amount of growth he had undergone. His muscles were still lean with just a slight bulk up, but it was intentional. He didn't want large muscles that would hinder his movement, so he trained his body in such a way that it would still be lean while his muscles compressed in on itself.
He was still wearing the sea stone cuffs and had only removed them on four instances where he had no other choice but to remove them and fight, as the situation he found himself in was hopeless to come out of in his weakened state. Like during his first week, he had accidentally dropped into a pack of more than a hundred wolves, all 7-9 meters big, and he couldn't outrun them without his rubber powers.
He had pushed himself harder than ever before, not even taking any breaks whatsoever. He even ate while he was in the middle of fights and only slept around 3-5 hours each day, while the rest was spent training. And because of this, gradually over the first month, results started to show as the fights started becoming easier.
But Luffy didn't like it. He was growing stronger only because he was fighting for his life all the time and if the fights started getting easier, he wouldn't feel like he was in danger anymore…So, he put handicaps on himself.
It first started off as a couple of boulders tied to his legs while he fought and trained. Then it increased to four boulders, then just two bigger boulders on each feet and so on…and currently, he was dragging four massive boulders, two to a leg, each twenty times bigger than himself and extremely dense and heavy, which created a deep trail on the ground wherever he went. On top of that, he was wearing a blind fold most of the time, so he was doing all of this blind.
He removed his blind fold for now as it was celebration time for finally beating the strongest beasts of the island all at once. Luffy hadn't just beaten the strongest creature, but also the massive pack of more than a hundred wolves, the troop of baboons, the bask of crocodiles, the strong chimeras- basically all the major hunters and predators of this island…and he had beaten them all one after the other with no rest in the middle for even a second.
As he had said to himself, normal training just wouldn't cut it and by extension, normal goals would also be unsatisfactory. So instead of his goal being 'To take out the strongest creature on this island', it was 'To take out all the strongest creatures on this island back-to-back with no rest.'
That was his mindset. His seriously messed up mindset. And he applied the same to all his short-term goals too. So, something like 'Do 100 push-ups today' would become 'Do 100 push-ups while balancing heavy boulders on top of myself in the middle of a wolf pack today.'
And with a mindset like that, it wasn't a surprise that he grew exponentially stronger. He had developed a very messed up and reckless plan of training himself which would result in the death of a person 999,999 times out of a million, but Luffy obviously didn't care and thought he could do it. Even if he couldn't, he would still push himself and force his body to do it.
As he kept pondering, he finally reached his shelter, which was nothing more than a tarp of leaves providing shade under a couple of trees and a campfire where he cooked all his meat.
After skinning the beast, he started roasting the meat over the fire and watched the stars as he waited for it to be cooked. He had found a few new things about himself in those 4 months and one of those was that he liked the night sky a whole lot more now and, on many nights, he would just stare up in wonder. All the movies and shows about space from Leo's world fascinated him and he wanted to travel to space too. And this world definitely had aliens, at least that's what it seemed from the cover stories, so he thought it would be fun to meet one and if possible, travel among the stars too.
Another thing was that he slept a lot less. It wasn't due to Leo's personality, but his own experience under slavery. The slavers didn't let him go to sleep as a form of torture and would splash water, electrocute or burn him whenever he did fall asleep, and it had soon become a habit for him of not being able to sleep much.
He had already noticed it during his time with Reiju that he kept waking up within two hours of falling asleep and had to fall asleep over and over again every two hours throughout the night. Only if he was extremely tired or drunk could he sleep longer. Not due to nightmares as he never got any, nor due to fear, but just habit. He could easily offset that habit by fixing his sleep cycle, but he thought it was actually great that he had developed this new habit. He could spend more time training that way…
Luffy did acknowledge that he had become obsessed with getting stronger, but he just couldn't help it. His last few months and knowing he will lose Ace if he was weak just made him push himself harder.
Either way due to this, he had developed a lot of techniques. First off, the Rokushiki techniques. Luffy was only interested in Shave and Moonwalk (which he had aptly renamed as Air Walk because Moonwalk was reserved for the dance move) and so spent his time training those two techniques only. Shave was simple enough as he had to kick the ground around 10 times in the blink of an eye to achieve incredible bursts of speed.
There was no secret to Air Walk as far as he recalled from the story, and it was just a person kicking the air so hard that it becomes a sort of foothold from which one could jump. Coby had learned these techniques within months and he had started from being a pudgy guy, so he thought that there was no way he would not learn these in a short amount of time. He was already strong, so he just had to train the right muscles to achieve it.
He knew he kinda used Shave in his Gear Second and also Air Walk in his Gear Fourth, but he wanted to learn these two techniques in his base form itself. And eventually when he did use his gears, those techniques would evolve into something greater.
Like all other things though, he didn't just want to achieve Shave and Air Walk, he wanted to achieve it in his weakened sea stone wearing form, while also having boulders tied around his legs. He was putting his life in so much danger and body under so much stress because of this but Luffy wanted this. He wanted to fight with all those handicaps not only to get stronger but to also build his endurance up.
Arguably, his greatest asset was not his strength or his rubber powers, but his endurance and stamina. No matter how many times he lost, he had the resolve to keep getting back up and fighting until the opponent loses. And he wanted to go above and beyond his current self.
He recalled how in the Marineford war, he's running on fumes and Iva-chan's hormones, and after rescuing Ace, he let his guard down for just a moment due to his fatigue…which led to Akainu attacking him and him being helpless while Ace took the blow for him. Just one moment of fatigue. Just one moment of rest and Ace had paid the price…So, he thought that he should get used to fighting in such conditions. And thus, he put himself under another messed up training regiment.
He starved himself. Luffy, the Glutton with a capital 'G' Fucking. Starved. Himself. Willingly. While also wearing sea stone cuffs and also dragging boulders behind him. And then trained and fought in such a state.
It would have been unthinkable and impossible a few months ago, but after experiencing severe starvation under the slavers for months and knowing he would let his brother down if he wasn't used to fighting in such conditions, he had willingly weakened himself and fought in that state. He couldn't keep going for long in such a state though, so he was still trying to increase that time. That's how seriously messed up his training was.
But at the end of the day, it bore results. He had managed to use Shave while still wearing sea stone cuffs around 2 months in, and after another month he finally managed to use Air Walk too, albeit it was just a couple of kicks in the air. Rankyaku was also a leg technique, so he tried it on a whim after successfully doing Air Walk and actually managed to use that too. Again, it was just a weak Rankyaku that was barely able to leave a scratch on a tree, but it was all while wearing sea stone cuffs, so he didn't know how he would fare in his normal state.
Apart from those techniques, he had obviously tried to learn Haki too. And he was quite proud to say that his Observation Haki was one of his greatest strengths currently. He had pretty much unlocked it in his second week on the island when he found himself in the middle of a pack of wolves while baboons also kept throwing boulders at him.
He had purposefully put himself in such situations trusting in himself that he would eventually unlock and dodge the attacks using Observation. Rayleigh kept whacking him in the head to make him unlock his Observation in the story and since he didn't have anyone here, he left it up to the ferocious beasts to attack and treat him like a rag doll while he closed his eyes and tried feeling for all the attacks.
Thankfully, his reckless and dangerous method had paid off as he slowly started sensing attacks aimed at him and managed to dodge it. It started off as more of an intuition really before he finally started sensing his surroundings. It was a voice of sorts. It wasn't an actual literal voice, nor did it feel like objects were speaking, but that was one of the best ways to explain the feeling. A voice or a presence or an aura.
A bit more concentration and time on it and he could sense his surroundings accurately. It was a very short range around himself though, but he had trained it over the months and currently, he could sense things about 200 meters around himself.
Unfortunately, Observation was the only Haki he had been able to train satisfactorily. He couldn't learn Armament Haki much and even after grasping the concept of Haki, he couldn't coat it on his hands.
He could feel a sort of spirit energy inside him that he tried to channel into his arms and coat it, but he managed to succeed only once every hundred times he tried it and even then, it was just too weak to have any significance. He was sure he was missing something but didn't know what exactly.
He theorized that he just wasn't being hit hard enough. He needed to get hit by stronger attacks so that he's forced to bring out more of his Haki and coat himself with it, thus strengthening his Armament. In the story, Rayleigh probably kept increasing his strength while bashing him so that he kept pulling more of his Haki out and coat himself, thus getting stronger in response. At least that's what he could gather from the story.
So basically, he just needed to fight stronger opponents…but sadly, the beasts on this island just weren't strong enough. He also noted in horror that until he went to the Grand Line, he probably wouldn't face any strong opponents. 'Sigh, nothing I can do for now I guess…East Blue will be boring as hell…'
And Conqueror's Haki was a no show as he wasn't able to activate it even once and neither did, he know how to. He tried recalling what he had felt when he had unleashed it the first time, but he was way too preoccupied with rescuing Kell and escaping to have paid much attention to his new power. The story didn't really go into the core concepts of how these powers worked, so he didn't know how to train or even activate it.
"Guess I'm gonna have to wait to learn Armament and Conqueror's huh?" he sighed to himself as he ate the cooked meat. A good thing that came out of trying to train Armament was that he had learned Iron Body by mistake. He couldn't help but tense up his muscles whenever he was being hit, and he purposefully tried to get hit a lot to unlock his Armament, so he had unknowingly learned to tense his muscles up hard enough to make it strong. Once he realized what he had almost grasped, he trained it a bit more and got the hang of Iron Body too.
So at the end of the day, he had learned Shave, Air Walk, Iron Body, Rankyaku and Observation Haki majorly. He hadn't even bothered with Shigan as that didn't fit with his fighting style and Kami-e was useless since he had Observation.
As he sat near the campfire eating and pondering about his time on the island, he suddenly felt a presence behind him and at the same time heard a feral growl. He grinned ducking down just as a creature passed over where his head had been just a second ago and landed in front of him.
"Yo! We meet again" Luffy cheerily greeted the humanoid creature growling dangerously at him. It was a tall hairy bipedal creature which looked like a hybrid between a black hound and a human, so basically a were-hound.
Apart from all the huge beasts on the island, there was also a tribe of humans living there. During his first month, Luffy had seen a few of them from afar but they seemed pretty hostile, so he had stayed away.
Over the months, he had come to learn that there was a village of about 200 people in a deeper part of the forest, but he had never gone there as whenever he got anywhere close to their vicinity, they would without a single question, attack him. They used spears, bows and axes mainly as weapons but from what he had observed, they were strong enough to protect themselves against all the predatorial beasts.
They wore basic beast hides as clothes and were pretty isolated as he had not once seen anyone get off the island apart from fishing. They had farms and fisheries too, so seemed pretty self sufficient.
Luffy didn't really want an entire tribe of people to run him off the island, so he kept his distance, but he would sometimes run into them while hunting. At first, they would just raise their weapons at him, and he would just run away. He had tried talking to them at first of course, but they never listened to him and attacked instantly.
Over the months, they had come to sort of tolerate him as they would just leave him alone if they ran into each other. Luffy didn't know why but thought it had something to do with how feral he himself probably looked when he was in the middle of a pack of beasts while dragging around boulders on his feet battling them all with a grin on his face, sometimes while singing too.
But there were two people who didn't avoid him like the rest of the others. One was a little girl who would sometimes spy on him while hiding in bushes. He had caught a glimpse of her a couple of times in the beginning, but she would always run away or hide if he saw her. But once his Observation got better, he would sense her a lot in his general vicinity just observing him. He thought that she was just a kid who was curious to see someone not from the island and so spent her time spying on him. He had tried calling out to her a few times, but she would always run away if he acknowledged her existence.
And the second person was the hound like humanoid creature who was currently growling in front of him. He was probably a Zoan user, the Hound-Hound fruit most probably, and this was the fourth encounter he was having with him. The first time was during his early days when he didn't have Observation and was taken completely by surprise by him.
The hound user was intensely aggressive and feral in nature and Luffy had almost died to him the first time. But he had successfully run away and had even thought it was a werewolf that had attacked him. The second time was just the next day after the first attack and he had tried to fight that time. The fight was hard, and he would have lost but fortunately, interference by other beasts had prematurely ended their battle.
The third time was around 3 months in when the Zoan user had again tried to attack him out of nowhere but since he had Observation by then, Luffy saw it coming and intercepted his attack. Luffy was leagues stronger than the first two times he had faced the Zoan user, so the two had fought for quite a while and Luffy found himself enjoying the fight. The hound was the first humanoid creature he had fought on this island, and he even thought it was a good thing as he got some experience in fighting bipedal creatures instead of just large beasts. The third fight was kinda his victory as he had the upper hand the whole time but again interference by other beasts had prematurely ended the fight.
And this was their fourth meeting. The hound growled at Luffy and started pacing around, looking at him with a manic gleam in his eyes. Seeing the mindless fury, Luffy had even wondered if he was an Awakened Zoan just like the Jailer Beasts in Impel Down but had quickly dismissed the thought as the hound was way too weak to be an Awakened Zoan. So, there was some other reason he was losing his mind and Luffy wanted to know why.
"Why do you keep attacking me? Can we at least exchange a few words first?" Luffy asked as he sidestepped dodging a mindless lunge from the hound.
All he got in response was a growl before the Hound lunged at him again. Luffy internally sighed as he intercepted and began fighting him. He didn't mind a good fight, but this was meaningless as he had no idea why he was even being attacked. And the hound didn't seem to be in control either, so it was like fighting a feral animal that didn't care about its own body. He was all attack and no defense no matter how much Luffy hurt him.
The battle continued for a while as the two were about evenly matched. That is Luffy with sea stone cuffs and six massive boulders tied to his legs and torso was evenly matched with the feral and aggressive hound. It was a testament and clear proof that his strength had increased exponentially compared to the first time he had fought him when he had landed on the island.
"Okay, you're gonna stop and listen" Luffy said as he grew tired of the fight and pummeled him into the ground. Before he could get up, Luffy jumped on his back and put him in a choke hold. The hound roared and growled aggressively trying to break free, but Luffy didn't let him get out of the choke hold.
"Hey, I'm trying to help here. If you are a Zoan, then you're losing control every time you transform. You need help before you go on a rampage and do things you'll regret"
Luffy remembered how Chopper had also lost control and gone on a rampage while in Monster Point on Drum once, and how much that had affected him. So, he didn't want the hound user in front of him to go through something like that.
The hound struggled under him for quite a while but didn't lose his aggressive nature as he kept growling and trying to get out of Luffy's grasp. Just as Luffy was wondering if he should just knock him out, he felt another familiar presence enter his range and soon the little girl popped her head out of a thicket of bushes. Unlike all the other times she had just spied on him though, she gasped as soon as she saw him holding the hound down and burst out from the bushes while pulling her bow and aiming an arrow at him.
"Let him go!" she yelled with a serious determined look in her eyes.
"Oh, finally coming out to say Hi?" Luffy said smiling at her, "And you know this guy?"
"Let. Him. Go! Or I'll kill you!" she growled.
Luffy sighed thinking that there was some story here and let the hound go from his grasp. She seemed like she knew him so thought that she could maybe tame or bring him back from his feral nature.
The Zoan user instantly put some distance between Luffy and himself as he growled and took in deep breaths but still observed Luffy with an angry look. He then laid his eyes on the little girl and instantly changed targets charging at her.
The little girl, who was sighing in relief when Luffy let him go, saw the hound coming at her and panicked. "Dad! It's me! Wait!" she yelled trying to seemingly placate him, but her supposed dad didn't care as he lunged at her. The girl barely dodged by jumping to the side and fell face first into the ground as the hound passed where she was standing a second earlier.
Luffy, who was thinking that the hound would now regain his control, cursed himself when he just attacked the little girl too. 'So that's her dad but he doesn't even recognize her? This sure is a mess'
As the hound rounded back and stalked towards the little girl, she started crying and begging for her father to stop.
"Dad, it's me! Allana…Please stop…"
He didn't even hesitate and lunged at her again while she sobbed and crawled backwards as she was still on the ground. She saw in slow motion as the hound, her own father, lunged at her with his maw wide open, his sharp teeth looking like razors, and just before she accepted the fact that she was going to die by her father's hands, Luffy came flying in and kicked him away, and considering he was dragging boulders behind him, they also rammed into him with so much force that he crashed through a few trees and got half buried into the ground before losing consciousness.
"Don't go hurting your own daughter" Luffy said sighing and looked back at the girl to see if she was okay. She was looking wide eyed at where her father had collapsed before turning her gaze to Luffy and flinched when she saw he was looking at her. She quickly scrambled to her feet intent on running away but just as she turned her back to him, Luffy caught her by her collar and lifted her off the ground.
"Ahhh! Let me go! You crazy outsider bastard!" she screamed squirming under his grasp.
"Relax, kiddo. It's okay if your dad keeps attacking me but he just attacked his own daughter. This is just messed up. Can you tell me what's going on?"
"You outsider! Let me go, or…or…my entire clan will come after you!"
Luffy actually did think that that would be the case, but looking at the little girl, she was clearly lying. 'So, for some reason, the clan of people that live on this island don't care about her' he concluded.
Seeing that she wasn't listening and kept squirming, Luffy just shrugged and let her go. The hound was the problem here and he had already decided to get answers from him, so if she didn't want to talk, it didn't matter.
Getting her freedom back, the girl instantly ran towards a few bushes and dived into it. She put some distance between them before she stopped and seemingly observed him discreetly not knowing that Luffy could sense her every movement. Luffy didn't care much as he wanted to talk to the hound mainly, so walked up to where he had gotten buried. He had fallen unconscious but was still in his human-beast form.
Luffy dragged him back to his shelter and tied his arms and legs with some vines. He thought the girl would make a fuss again, but she actually just disappeared from his range. 'Did she just run away?'
He shrugged and went back to eating the now burnt meat. He wanted to get back to training again, but he had a guest now, so just postponed it for a while. He didn't care about their histories, but the man had just attacked someone he probably cared about while being out of control because of a devil fruit. He was definitely stepping in and resolve whatever issue the man had.
It was half an hour later that the human-beast form hound turned back into a human. He was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his thirties with unkempt beard, shaggy black hair and he was wearing beast hides like the other people he had seen in the tribe. He also had a tattoo of what looked like an eye resting on waves on his chest. He had seen the same symbol on some of the other tribesmen too and it was the symbol of a god they worshiped.
It was another half hour before finally something happened. Two presences entered his range, and he bent forward slightly just before an arrow came whizzing by where his shoulder had been an instant earlier.
He stared in the direction of the two presences, the same place the arrow had come from, and two more arrows came flying at him. He moved just the slightest amount to dodge each arrow as he stared calmly in their direction.
A couple minutes later, a tall woman stepped out while aiming her bow at him. She looked to be in her thirties, had long cascading black hair, wore the same beast hide clothes, had the same eye tattoo but on her shoulder, and was glaring at him. The little girl was right next to her also trying to look intimidating by training her bow at him. 'Her mother?'
"Hi" Luffy said with a wave that only made them flinch slightly. 'Yep, they're trying to put on a brave front but are terrified'
"Outsider, what have you done to my husband?" the woman spoke calmly.
"He's right here" Luffy said pointing in front of him where the man was tied up lying on his side.
"He's transformed back" the girl sighed of relief. The woman however slowly stepped forward studying Luffy intently.
"I apologize if he attacked you, but he wasn't in control. So, I beg you, please let him go" the woman said but still had her bow trained on him.
"Yeah yeah, I'll let him go, don't worry. Just want to talk to him for a bit, that's all"
"…talk to him? About what?"
"He attacked her" he said pointing at Allana.
The woman flinched and snapped her neck at the girl, while the girl instantly looked away guiltily.
"Is that true?!" she yelled at her daughter, "Allana! Answer me!"
The girl gave an annoyed glare at Luffy first before looking up at her mom "He wasn't in control…"
"I've told you not to approach him whenever he's a beast! Why don't you ever list-" the woman stopped her rant suddenly remembering Luffy was still here and sighed looking back at him, "I'll deal with you later…Now outsider, why do you care about my husband's condition?"
"I really don't care, but he attacked his own daughter. I'm gonna put a stop to it before he does something stupid like that again"
The mother and daughter pair only got more agitated and became furious at him. "What gives you the right?!" the woman spat, "You, the clan, everyone's the same! My husband is just sick! He'll recover soon! What gives you the right to take his life?!"
"Leave my dad alone, you asshole!" the girl yelled.
Luffy just tilted his head in confusion "Take his life? I'm not gonna take his life. I just want to talk to him…"
The woman who was furious became confused "…what?"
"I said I just want to talk to him. Nothing more…He doesn't seem to be in control of his powers, so I'll see if I can get him to control it"
The woman slowly lowered her bow while staring at him incredulously "His…powers?"
"Yeah, he's a Zoan right? Looks like he's losing control in his human-beast form"
"Zoan?" the woman said testing the word in her mouth.
"Y-you know what's wrong with my dad?" the girl asked shocked and hopeful.
Luffy sighed "Do you not know what a Zoan is?" Seeing the blank look on the mother daughter pair, he continued, "you know, devil fruits?"
Still seeing the blank look on their faces, Luffy sighed knowing he'll have to give an explanation to them. "Well, looks like training is gonna be on hold for a little while longer…"
Just then, the man stirred groaning in pain. "Guohh…"
"Sol!" / "Daddy!"
The mother-daughter pair yelled for him while the man groaned trying to make out where he was. "Wh-where…" he looked around but when he found his arms and legs tied, he panicked and started looking around everywhere frantically. Upon spotting Luffy who was sitting across from him, he became confused for a second "Y-you…the crazy outsider?"
"Is that my name you guys came up with?" Luffy asked amused.
"Wh-what's happening? Why am I tied up?!"
"Sol!" the woman yelled again.
"Katie?!" the man turned his head to see his wife and daughter. "Katie…Allana…Oh no, did it happen again?"
Katie nodded her head with a sad look while the man became distraught and turned his head back to Luffy, "D-Did I attack you?"
"Yep. This was the fourth time actually"
"Oh no…." Sol looked horrified as he let his forehead fall back to the ground but looked back up instantly "I'm at fault here. So please, I beg you, you can kill me, but please don't hurt my wife and daughter! They have nothing to do with this!"
"Sol! Don't say stuff like that!" Katie snapped angry and desperate.
Before things could spiral out of control and they start saying their final goodbyes because of misunderstandings, Luffy clapped his hands getting the three's attention. "Okay, let's clear up some things. I have no intention of killing anyone. I just tied you up because I wanted to talk to you," he got up and ripped the vines tying his hands, "You can go if you want"
Sol sat up with his hands now free looking at Luffy with confusion "Wh-"
"But know that while you were a hound," Luffy cut him off and pointed at Allana, "you almost killed her"
All color drained out of Sol's face as he snapped his neck at his daughter and seeing her averting her gaze, his eyes welled up in tears and he began sobbing. Katie slowly made her way towards him while keeping an eye on Luffy, but seeing that he didn't make a single move, tried to hug her husband…but he pushed her away as if afraid he would hurt her and crawled away sobbing. "St-stay away from me…I don't want to h-hurt you"
Katie teared up pursing her lips desperately trying to hold her own sobs back while Allana slowly walked up to her father but seeing him flinch and crawl back as she came closer, she also began sobbing and bawling her eyes out. "It's my f-fault…. I-I I shouldn't have c-come in f-front of y-youuuuu…"
Luffy understood the situation somewhat. The father probably ate a devil fruit and transformed into a hound. Not knowing what devil fruits even are, the other two thought he was sick. The father goes out of control for some reason though and Luffy didn't understand why. 'Things like this happen too huh?' he wondered. If one thought about it, not everyone knew about devil fruits and isolated clans like this would be even more out of the loop.
Katie wiped her tears away that had slipped out and looked at Luffy with desperation, "You know what's happening to him?"
"Yeah. If you all just relax and talk, I'll explain. You're making this a bigger deal than it has to be"
"Wh-what?" Sol said disbelief evident in his voice, "y-you know wh-what disease I have?"
"It's not a disease"
That seemed to piss off Sol. "Not a disease?! This sickness has ruined our lives! We were so happy before this happened to me! And you say it's not a dis-"
Luffy sighed deeply cutting him off. He wanted to get back to training but seeing the sobbing faces of everyone, he couldn't just leave them alone.
"Will you just sit and talk?" Luffy said tiredly, "Just tell me how and when this started"
There was some silence while the three thought it over but soon Katie took a seat across from Luffy pulling Allana into her lap and began "It was a few months ago. We were all living back at the village and one day out of nowhere, Sol transformed into…that and started going on a rampage inside the village"
Sol grimaced as he leaned back on a tree sitting away from the others, "I don't know what happened…I was just having an argument with my father when suddenly I got angry. The rage built up and the next thing I know, I was being held down by ropes by the strongest warriors in our clan. I didn't remember a single thing of what happened but apparently, I had turned into a hideous monster and went on a rampage…thankfully the warriors quickly acted, and no one was killed but many people got injured"
"No one knew what happened and our doctor also didn't find anything wrong with him" Katie picked up, "We kept him in a cage under observation and a few days later, he transformed again…Since he was in a cage, he couldn't do anything, but the entire clan saw his feral nature and heard his angry growls…"
Sol stared up as he continued, "I wanted to be put to death as soon as possible before I could hurt anyone or give my disease to anyone else…."
"And we are not doing that!" Katie spat sending him a glare before looking back at Luffy, "We left the same night and have stayed away from the village for many months now. He transforms from time to time when he's under stress and usually locks himself in a cage…but sometimes he transforms when he's not in a cage like today and goes on a rampage hunting around the forest…"
"I see" Luffy said getting the full story and turned to Sol, "You probably ate an extremely disgusting tasting fruit before all this started, right? Probably had swirly patterns"
Sol's face grew confused for a second before he gasped and nodded his head vigorously, "Yes! Yes, I did! The day before this all started actually! I found a fruit unlike nothing I had ever seen before while out hunting. I took a bite, and it was awful, so I just threw it away…How did you know?!"
"Well, that's called a devil fruit. It gives supernatural abilities to whoever eats them. Yours was probably the Hound-Hound fruit"
"Devil…fruits?"
"There are special fruits in this world that give supernatural powers to those who eat them. You ate one and got the power to transform into a Hound"
"Special fruits?" Katie said in disbelief, "So anyone who eats these fruits transform into animals?"
"Kinda. There are three types, one of which gives the powers of animals to the user called Zoan fruits. Sol ate a such a fruit which gave him the powers of a hound"
The three sat in silence not knowing whether to believe him or not but Sol finally opened his mouth "T-that's absurd…"
Luffy gave him a deadpan look "You yourself can transform into a hound. There's all the proof you need…"
"This is a curse put upon me by Wyllia. I deser-"
Luffy just brought a hand up and stopped him, "Listen, I don't care. Believe me, don't believe me, do whatever the hell you want. Just tell me why you're losing control. That shouldn't usually happen. Others I've seen all seem to control their powers very well"
"O-Others?! You've met others who can turn into hounds?!" Allana asked excited.
"Not hounds. There's only one devil fruit of any kind, so no one else can be a hound. But I've seen people who can turn into a giraffe, a mole, a leopard, and so on. From what I know, carnivorous Zoans are a bit feral in nature but not to the point of losing control like you. In extreme situations sure, but normal transformation should be easy…." Luffy thought for a while and came up with a theory, "Do you fear the power? Maybe because you're so scared of it, you don't even acknowledge that you can transform and hence you're not even conscious when it happens?"
"Of course I'm scared of it! It can hurt others and kill my fa-"
"So can arrows" Luffy said pointing at the arrows Allana was holding, "So can swords and axes. Are you scared of them too? No, right? It's the same with devil fruit abilities. It's just a power. How you use it and what you do with it is up to you. Stop fearing it and let it flow naturally. You should be able to control it"
There was silence again before Sol stood up abruptly "Let's go. He's just tricking us. What I have is a disease, not some fantastical power"
"But Sol…he seems to know what he's talking about" Katie argued.
"Who knows what his goal is here…We can't trust him"
Katie stared at her husband before looking back at Luffy who just had a blank look before getting up with Allana in her arms. "Thank you for saving my daughter, but we'll be taking our leave"
Luffy just sighed "Well sure. Carry some sea water around with you. And when he loses control next time, pour it on him"
"Sea water?"
"Yep. Sea water will make him weak. That's the price of all devil fruit users. If they even touch sea water, they'll lose energy, their powers and sink like a hammer. You don't have to believe whatever I said, but to make sure your daughter isn't attacked again, just test it out once"
Luffy didn't wait for a response as he got up and waved goodbye to them before going back to training.
A day later when Luffy was fighting a pack of wolf beasts, the family of three came back again. They waited until he was finished and as he sat on one of the wolf corpses panting hard, they approached him.
"Hello again" Katie greeted coming up to him.
"Why do you keep fighting all day and night like this?" Allana asked pointing at his feet that was dragging around 8 huge boulders.
"Training" Luffy said with a smile, "I'm pretty weak, and I don't have much time either, so have to train like this"
"Training for what?"
"Long story. Now, why are you all back?"
"I'd like to apologize first" Sol said stepping up and bowing his head. "Everything you said was the truth…I felt like all my energy was sapped the moment I touched sea water"
"Yeah, it sucks"
"We believe you" Katie said, "We argued a lot yesterday and decided to ask for help…Is there a cure for this?"
"As I said, it's not a disease. It's just a power you get. And no, once you eat a devil fruit, that power is yours for life"
Sol grimaced and with a dreadful expression asked "Is-is it genetic?"
"Hm? Yeah probably, it does affect your genes too, I guess. Not sure about the scientific aspect of it"
"He's asking if it's passed down to children" Katie clarified while holding her stomach.
"Oh, you're pregnant? Congratulations! And no, it's not passed down"
That seemed to have taken a load off of the couple as they leaned on each other sighing in relief and tearing up. Seemed like that was a huge worry for them. Luffy stood awkwardly as the two seem to be lost in their own world and looked around catching Allana's eyes who also looked awkward.
"Your bow looks cool. Did you make it yourself?" he asked walking up to her. She became alarmed when he came near her but soon became excited when he asked about her bow.
She proudly presented her bow to him with a smug expression "Yes! I made this from scratch myself!"
Her bow had a lot of colors painted on and seemed very childish, so Luffy had guessed that. "You know," he said with a mischievous smile, "A bow is supposed to be a stealthy weapon, right?"
"Yep! I can hide in bushes and take down a rabbit 200 kilometers away!"
"Wow…even Yassop won't be able to do that" Luffy smiled amused, "But all these bright colors will give away your position you know. Over the last few months, I spotted you almost instantly when I saw this yellow and pink color sticking out of the bushes whenever you spied on me"
Allana comically gasped and blushed profusely "I-I-I wasn't spying!"
"Bahahaha" Sol laughed heartily coming up to them and looked at Allana with amusement "What did I tell you? Those bright colors on your bow will give away your position"
"Shut up, you brute of a father!" Allana raged which only made Sol laugh harder, which in turn made Allana angrier and she started kicking him while yelling curses at him. Luffy grinned finally seeing the pair interact like a normal father and daughter as he remembered how Shanks used to tease him the same way.
Katie also came up with a grin and stood next to Luffy while watching the two play around. "Thank you"
"Don't mention it"
"Can he control the power?"
"Very easily yes. He's probably just mentally limiting himself and thus losing control"
"Can you please help?" Katie asked with a pleading expression.
"I'm not the one you need to convince"
Katie nodded resolutely "Don't worry about him. I'll make him get help"
She didn't wait as she grabbed the laughing Sol by his collar and dragged him towards Luffy. "Uhh…Katie?"
"You're going to learn how to control the power from him" she stated with finality.
"Wha? No! I don't want this! We found a way with sea water, right? I'll carry sea water myself and if I ever feel like I'm transforming, I'll pour it on myself!"
"No, you need to be in control. We finally have someone who knows everything about this and is even willing to help. We'll have to be fools not to accept it!"
"B-but what if I hurt you or Allana?"
"Don't worry, daddy! I'm strong! I'll beat you back to your senses!"
Luffy sighed. "Don't be so scared of it. I've seen seven-year-old kids control this power on their first try. It's as easy as breathing"
"7-year-olds?!"
"Yep! Now, just transform. You just need to let it flow naturally. If you're afraid you'll hurt others, don't be. I'll pummel you into the ground with just a punch. Ask Allana, I took you out very easily yesterday"
"Yess! It was so coool! He came like whoosh! and bam! He kicked you and you crashed through trees and boom! you fell down unconscious!"
"So yeah, just transform now. I'll take care if anything goes wrong"
Sol gulped looking at the hopeful expressions on his wife's and daughter's faces before looking at Luffy and nodding his head. He took a deep breath as if resolving to put his life on the line…
…and two days later remembered the same extreme resolve he had made and blushed in embarrassment because it turned out that controlling his powers was the simplest thing in the world.
Luffy had held him down when he transformed the first time while Katie and Allana had talked to him. He had slowly calmed down after struggling like a feral animal for quite a while before he fell asleep exhausted. After he woke up, he realized that the two were totally safe and Luffy had him under complete control. So, he transformed another time without fearing much.
He slowly regained consciousness and soon, he was in control of his human-beast form. He even talked in that form which had freaked out all three of them, including Sol himself, but with Luffy saying it was normal, and after a small spar, Sol was in complete control. It was just his own mind that was so afraid that it just shut down and closed itself off whenever he transformed, and thus he wasn't in control and went on a rampage.
This was an aspect of a Zoan user Luffy had never seen in the story, so he found it to be interesting. Only Chopper in his Monster Point and the Jailer Beasts were the mindless one's ever shown. 'Was it the feral nature of the Hound fruit? Was it because of Sol's weak mentality? Combination of both?' Luffy pondered. Oda did say once that he would reveal all these in the future, so he just shrugged and thought he would learn it down the line somehow.
Now two days later, Luffy had told Sol that he could also transform into a complete hound, so he was currently in his complete hound form with Allana riding on top of him, treating him like a dog and giggling with glee while Luffy trained and Katie sat to the side with a happy and warm expression.
"Yo Luffy! Stop training for a bit, will you?" Sol barked up at Luffy who was doing pull ups on a tree branch while having 10 very massive and heavy boulders hanging from his waist. He let go of the branch and fell down, the boulders making a huge crash as he fell.
"Yeah?"
"C'mon, have some fun and play around" Sol said with his tongue hanging out and a fiercely wagging tail.
"You're like a complete dog now huh?" Luffy chuckled making Katie laugh out loud too, while Sol got pissed and lunged at him, "why you!"
Luffy laughed as he caught him and started rubbing his belly against his protests. Sol whined but soon started enjoying the belly rub losing himself in the supposed heavenly feeling.
"Shishishishi"
"Hehehee doggy!" Allana also came up and started rubbing his belly while giggling. It went on for a few more seconds before Sol finally came back to his senses and immediately got up "Hey, that's demeaning! Stop doing that!"
Katie came up next to him and rubbed his ear which caused his tail to wag vigorously.
"Ah! Now you don't care?!" Allana protested.
"Your mom gets a pass" Sol said happily leaning more into the ear rub.
"Damn right I do" Katie grinned as she handed Luffy a huge bowl of hotpot she had just cooked.
Luffy hesitated just for a second before accepting it with a grin and started gulping it down.
"No need for any hesitation, eat as much as you want" Katie said having noticed his hesitation.
"No, it's not that. I was in the middle of training on an empty stomach and seeing how long I could last in such a state"
"Oh…"
"Man, you're so strong already. Why the hell do you want to get even stronger?"
"Well, there are stronger enemies I'll have to face in the future, and I need to be ready for them"
"Hmm just who are you? Are some people after you? If yes, you can live here with us. No one comes to this island anyway"
Luffy gave a small smile "Appreciate it, but I got friends who need me. And I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King"
"A pirate?!" Katie yelled wide eyed, "You're a pirate?!"
"Well, not yet. I'm gonna set out on my journey when I turn 17 which is still a few months from now"
That only made the couple more bewildered.
"Why the hell would you choose to become a pirate?!"
"It's my dream to become the Pirate King, the freest man on the sea. You're probably thinking of pirates who pillage, plunder, and kill, but I'm not gonna become such a pirate. I'm gonna become a true pirate! The ones who are in it for the adventure! I'm gonna travel the whole world and eat all sorts of foods everywhere."
"…well, when you put it like that…being a pirate sounds great"
"Yes…it's a good dream."
"Shishishishi thanks!"
"…so, you'll be leaving here in a few months?" Allana asked.
"Yeah, I can afford only three more months here"
"Only three?! That's so soon! C'mon, extend your stay!" Allana begged.
"Sorry, kiddo," Luffy said, ruffling her hair, "I got many people counting on me to return."
"Aww…then…then you're playing with me every day for 7 hours at least!"
"7 minutes"
"6 hours!"
"10 minutes!"
"5 hours!"
"9 minutes!"
"Hey! You have to go up, not down!"
"8 minutes!"
"Ahh! 1 hour!"
"15 minutes"
"…20 minutes"
"Deal!"
"Yippeee!"
"Hey, forget the training maniac. Play with your dad!"
"No…you're really smelly now that you're a dog"
"Gakh! ...I'm…a hound…not…a dog…"
"Stop wagging your tail and I'll believe you"
"Ahhh!" Sol fell comically crying, while Luffy and Katie just laughed.
———
It was the next day and Luffy decided he was finally going to move onto his next leg of training. "Guess it's about time I start training with my fruit…"
He had actually set the goal of defeating all the Beasts back-to-back as his final goal of fighting purely in his weakened state. From then on, he wanted to train without his cuffs on, mainly activate his gears. His body was more than ready to be able to withstand the strain of his Gear 2 and 3, and he wanted to make activating those gears as easy as breathing by the time he left the island.
He finally removed the cuffs that was always on and regained his full power after a long time. He stood still for a few seconds feeling his strength return to him and his lips curled upwards. He grinned in ecstasy at how much exponentially stronger he was when compared to just a few months ago.
His Observation covered a much larger area and when he tried all the Rokushiki, he grinned at how strong they were. Shave was so fast that he had a hard time keeping track of where he was even going, Rankyaku created much stronger and sharper wind blades which could easily fell a few trees. He could Air Walk for a least 30 minutes before he got tired. He couldn't really test Iron Body as he needed stronger opponents to hit him but concluded that it would be stronger too. Armament was unchanging as he didn't know what he was doing wrong.
He became even more ecstatic when he realized he could do all this in just his base form. He shivered with excitement when he realized that if he activated Gear 2, he would be exponentially stronger, and all his techniques would evolve a step further. He didn't waste any time as he got into stance bending his knees and put a fist to the ground.
"Gear Second!"
Veins pumped blood harder through his body, increasing circulation. Steam began to rise from his skin, which took on a pink hue, making him feel the strength of his new form. He grinned, realizing that all his training had paid off. He activated Shave and instantly crashed through a few trees, finding it too fast to control. Rankyaku became much sharper and stronger, capable of creating small fissures in the ground. Although he could only use Air Walk for ten minutes—an endurance technique that strained his legs—Gear 2 significantly enhanced his agility, allowing him to leap higher and farther with each jump.
He tested all his techniques and also performed some of his Jet attacks for 20 minutes before he had to come out of Gear 2. He felt very tired but he didn't care as he was on an ecstatic high. He then bit into his thumb "Gear Third!"
He blew air into his bones and his arm slowly inflated getting bigger and bigger until it looked like the arm of a giant. He stopped when he felt he couldn't take in anymore air and admired the huge hand before launching it at a tree…and that was a big mistake as not just a single or few trees got destroyed but a large part of the forest area was flattened. And that was in a single punch. It was destructive on a scale he had never thought himself to be capable of.
He then started redirecting the air to the other limbs, which turned out to be extremely painful. It was fine when the bones in his limbs were inflated, but when the air passed through his chest to travel to the other limbs, he felt like his chest would burst open. He wanted to test if he could inflate his whole body evenly, but his chest was a problem. He tried it anyway and maintained a bloated chest for 2 seconds but could feel that he was gonna pop if he forced it anymore, so redirected it back into his limbs. So it was just his limbs for now.
He came out of Gear 3, blowing out all the air and flying in circles in the air before crash landing into the ground in his miniature form, completely tired. He remained in that form for 10 minutes before turning back to his original state. He saw the destruction he had caused and grimaced, thinking he couldn't train Gear 3 as much without destroying the island, but he would try blowing less air and practice redistributing it around his body at least.
From that day on, he started training Gear 2 and 3 for at least half a day, while continuing his normal sea stone cuffed weakened state training for the remaining time.
***********
Sorry guys!
The word limit is a pain. If you know a way to overcome that limitation, please let me know.