NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27: The Grand Line!
Summary: The crew finally make it to the Grand Line! Fair warning, stats blocks incoming...
Warning! Chapters 26-28 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!
Chapter 27: The Grand Line!
Leaving Lougetown had gone without a hitch. With a little healing from Luffy, Nami hadn't suffered any ill effects from their first night together. Though it had led to Luffy internally grumbling to himself about forgetting he could do that the night before, since it would have let them get in another round. Still, hopefully it would be a semi-regular thing now anyway. Nami was positively glowing with happiness, after all, and Luffy had seen the other girls pull her away to demand details once they were fully at sail. Thankfully, everyone had been professional enough to at least wait until they'd gotten out to sea. As for the men, Sanji had seemed to be the only one among them who had even picked up on it…and had actually surprised the hell out of Luffy with a nod and a manly fist bump.
Admittedly, everything he'd seen of the man since he'd come aboard really did seem to point to Sanji simply being a die-hard romantic. But the difference between that and the over-the-top caricature of a character still dancing through Luffy's memories with hearts in his anime-eyes was still a bit jarring. He supposed it also helped that the blonde and Nojiko had…some sort of thing…going on between them. He honestly could tell exactly what it was, other than being fairly certain they'd slept together a couple of times. He didn't think it was serious. But he wasn't exactly an expert on these sorts of things, either.
Whatever the case, training had been kept light for the day, and they'd made the sprint toward Reverse Mountain under nearly ideal sailing conditions. They were still an hour out from the Red Line, and Luffy was keeping a moderately close eye on his Map to be sure they didn't stray too close to the Calm Belt. The lack of wind there wouldn't really cause them any issues, but he wasn't keen on messing with the giant sea kings which made it a breeding ground. He was fairly sure that he could scare them off with Conqueror's Haki. But that was one trick he didn't want to be seen using at all. Even in Paradise. Let alone the East Blue.
For the moment, the Map would let them avoid it anyway, and he had something else to focus on. Namely, a last assessment of his crew's Strength before they hit the Grand Line. It had been a while since he took a good look at all of them together. So he was using the fact that they were all on deck, preparing for the Entering the Line ceremony he'd told them about, to take a peak…starting with his own Status just for reference.
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Status
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Name: Monkey D. Luffy
Title: Inheritor of the Will
Age: 17
Level: 58
Spirit Fruit: Mythical Zoan - Model Raijū
Money: 87,329,192 Belli
Shop Points: 85,000
Perk Points: 11
Spirit Coupons: 1
Stats:
Strength: 200
Dexterity: 200
Endurance: 200
Intelligence: 114
Wisdom: 117
Charisma: 112
Luck: 101
Free Stat Points: 46
Perks
Gamer's Body: Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a game. Wounds healed on rest. Status Effects removed on Rest.
Gamer's Mind: Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Gamer can suppress negative emotions at will.
The Will of D: Bearer holds the inherited will of the Family of D. Effect: Live in Interesting Times, ?, ?
Outsider's Perspective: Imported save data increases relevant stats, as well as relevant skills when acquired.
Danger Sense: A combination of Haki and gut instinct for trouble lets you sense dangers to you and others near you. Whether or not you can do anything about them is up to your skills.
Designer (General): You're exceptionally talented at more than one field of design! You have an intuitive sense of how best to optimize designs you've come up with!
Empathy: Beyond merely your Haki, you have a very good idea what the people around you are feeling. You're nearly impossible to lie to and everyone finds you easier to open up to.
Fertility Control: Being a baby's daddy would cut your adventure short! Now that you've become active, you decided it was time to prevent any accidents. You'll only order a special stork delivery if you intend to.
Gifted Hands: You are naturally good with your hands. Anything from art to martial arts gets a helping hand. Your instincts for all such things are 10% better than they should be, and you get a 5% boost to XP gain for any skill based around working with your hands.
Gun Nut: Despite your age, you've managed to learn a lot about guns! How to clean them, how to make them, and even a little bit about how to shoot them! Gain instinctive knowledge of any gun you handle, as well as 10% faster XP gain for the Gunsmith and Gunslinger skills.
Haki Domination 2: When two Haki users meet, the more skilled takes the contest. In direct clashes of Haki, you have a 20% bonus to coming out on top.
Haki Savant: Having proven talented with all three forms of Haki at a young age, you are 30% better at wielding it and 15% better at teaching it.
Inspired Design (Ships): You never run out of inspiration when working on designs for a ship! The results of you following your inspiration improve the end quality of any ships you personally work on by 20%.
Inspired Design (Weapons): You never run out of inspiration when working on designs for a weapon! The results of you following your inspiration improve the end quality of any weapons you personally work on by 20%.
Intuitive Combatant: You are naturally gifted at learning combat. You are 15% faster at learning any type of combat, from the use of guns to punching lights out with your bare fists!
Training Expert 5(Max): Get the most out of training! Not just for yourself, but for your crew too! Gain instinctive knowledge of the best ways to tweak your training for those GAINS BRO! +50% XP for Training your own skills, or for Training others in skills in which you outrank your trainee by at least 10 points.
Sage's Curve: You learn intellectual pursuits much faster than normal, and retain the knowledge more completely. You have a 20% boost to learning speed and memory retention of any intelligence or wisdom-based skills.
Skilled Lover: You are extremely quick to pick up on your lover's sensitive spots, desires, and needs. Learn how to push all their buttons with incredible speed.
Sword Enthusiast: Despite your age, you've managed to learn a lot about swords! How to clean them, how care for them, and how to identify them! Gain instinctive knowledge of any sword you handle, as well as 10% faster XP gain for the Blacksmith(Sword) and Swordsmanship skills.
Sword Savant: You have created a new sword style at an incredibly young age. Know its flaws and how to fix them instinctively.
Quick Shot: You have incredible accuracy with firearms while on the move. +100% natural aim while firing without sights.
Quick Draw: You are an incredibly fast draw with any weapon, be it sword or blade.
Weather Sense (Advanced): You can predict normal weather with considerably accuracy. Even on the Grand Line you can do so to an extent, though only if it's a type of weather event you've experienced at least once.
Ship Sense 4: You know when something is wrong with a ship you are aboard. You instinctively know what the problem is, where it is, and how to fix it. A invaluable ability for keeping your only means of survival at sea afloat in troubled times.
Spirit Fruit - Model: Raijū – Adaptation 2: You've crystalized what you've learned so far about your Spirit Fruit into reflex. You can more smoothly use both your lightning powers and shapeshifting.
Spirit Healing 2: By learning a certain amount about medicine and a great deal about the manipulation of Spiritual Energy, you've learned to heal others by infusing them with your Spirit. Accelerate someone else's healing by 1680% so long as you are actively healing them.
Spiritual Infusion: By using Spiritual Energy during the Crafting of a Rare or greater quality item, you've learned how to infuse a bit of Spirit into your creations. Items created in this fashion can be farther infused with Spirit over time, improving their basic stats.
Spirit Manipulation 3: Learning more about spiritual energy has granted you a more intuitive ability to use it. Your temporary boosts to your speed, strength, or endurance no longer cause exhaustion, unless you run out of Spiritual Energy. All Spirit Energy abilities are 20% more effective (Spirit Healing, Spirit Recovery, Etc.). You can now sense the general spiritual energy of a place.
Spiritual Recovery 3: Meditation allows you to tap into the Spirit of the World to recover your own more quickly. This ability will now heal your own physical wounds at the same rate as Spiritual Healing would for others. You can now do this via Moving Meditation, though the effect is weaker.
Spiritual Transference 3: By learning about Spiritual Energy and how it can affect others, you've gained an understanding of how to transfer energy to others to aid their recovery. Also improves Spiritual Healing by 40%. It can also now provide boosts healing of 1/3rd your total Spiritual Healing rate as a Heal Over Time effect. Duration dependent on how much energy you provide.
Status Effect Resistance (Advanced): Even the nastiest of poisons will merely make you ill and you are immune to normal disease. Poisons or diseases with a Spiritual Component may still affect you but will have a reduced effect.
Bonus(Dex): Ambidextrous! Through hard effort, you've become genuinely ambidextrous. Provides a major bonus to attempts to dual wield, the ability to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time, and more!
Bonus 2(Dex): Heightened Precision! Through extreme training and body awareness, your movements have become far more precise than a normal person can achieve. From dancing to heart surgery, your body moves the way you want it to, often in ways that baffle others.
Bonus 3(Dex): Inhuman Reactions! The first step of catching bullets is the ability to see them move! To you, even that has fallen behind your perception and reaction speed. Little short of light itself can move quickly enough to keep you from tracking it. MODIFIED:Presence of lighting manipulation ability in System Host means even light can't outspeed your perceptions. Whether you can react fast enough to what you see is another matter entirely.
Bonus(Endurance): Damage Mitigation. You've toughened up to the point that 15% of all physical damage dealt to you is mitigated outright.
Bonus 2 (Endurance): Damage Mitigation 2. You've toughened up to the point that 30% of all physical damage dealt to you is mitigated outright.
Bonus 3 (Endurance): Damage Mitigation 3. You've toughened up to the point that 45% of all physical damage dealt to you is mitigated outright.
Bonus(Intelligence): Accelerated Thought. During moments of intense effort or danger, you can think much faster than a normal person, allowing you to break through blocks in your workflow or create desperate plans on the fly!
Bonus 2 (Intelligence): Eidetic Memory. You remember everything you've ever read or heard with near perfect fidelity. Works retroactively to the point you first received The Gamer status. Does not affect Player's previous life memories.
Bonus(Strength): Power Strike. You've gained the ability to focus all your strength to a fine point, doing far more damage with your hits than you ought to, though only in short bursts.
Bonus 2(Strength): Shatter. Things that normally shouldn't shatter do, for you. A pulse of strength allows you to shatter most physical objects, so long as you can bring that strength to bare.
Bonus 3(Strength): Strength Diffusion. Trying to pick up a house generally fails as the brick crumbles in your hands. You, however, had learned how to diffuse your strength into an object so it remains intact when you pick it up…
Bonus(Luck): Fortune's Favor. Lady Luck likes you, in any situation involving luck, you can feel what the results will be, as if dice were tumbling in your head. Is it truly chance if they fall more often in your favor than not?
Bonus 2(Luck): Fortune's Favorite! When you feel the tumblers of chance rolling, you can put your thumb on the scale to influence it in your favor.
Bonus 1 & 2(Wisdom): Voice of the World (Lesser). You can hear the history of a place or objects speak to you more completely than someone with only a Faint gift. Grants a type of Psychometry that lets you know the history of objects or places that had a strong enough spiritual presence. With the Lesser modification, the required spiritual presence is significantly less. What once applied only to objects with great spiritual weight, can now be heard with objects that have meaning even for a single person.
Bonus(Charisma): Magnetic Personality. People are drawn to you, even if they don't know why. How that manifests varies from person to person. Friendship, hate, love or lust, all of them can be the result of your magnified Charisma. Everyone agrees that you simply stand out in a way they find pulls them to you.
Bonus 2(Charisma): Improved Relationship Panel. Your Observation ability can now see deeper into people. Based on your observations of even small things you might normally have missed, you can how build a history and personality profile of anyone who is at least an Acquaintance. Works equally well of enemies, so long as you know them reasonably well.
Skills
Brawling: 82
Blacksmithing: 89
Carpentry(Ships): 91
Gunslinger: 87
Gun Smithing: 85
Haki(Conquerors): 63
Haki(Observation): 96
Haki(Armament): 82
Knowledge (World History): 62
Knowledge (Navigation): 61
Medicine: 57
Observe: 93
Sailing: 78
Sciences: 72
Spirit Circulation: 43
Spiritual Manipulation: 57
Spirit Fruit (Model: Raijun) Mastery: 59
Sword Mastery(Wave Dancer Style): 94
More…
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Luffy's eye twitched as he spotted the only real change since the last time he'd checked his stats. He had, during the festival, spent more of his perk and skill points in preparation of the more dangerous waters they were heading for. He'd bought a few perks, including two mildly self-indulgent ones in the form of the Skilled Lover and Fertility Control options. Likewise, he'd brought his physical stats up to 200 and his Luck up to 100.
He'd been happy to have confirmation that stats gained him another Bonus perk at 200, even if those stats were becoming next-to-impossible to move naturally. His luck was the one thing that had changed since that comprehensive once over he'd given himself…and it had done so since just last night according to the Notification Log he rarely checked. Apparently, his System thought that 'getting Lucky' last night deserved a Luck point. He wasn't quire sure how to feel about its subtle commentary, so he moved on to checking the Status of his First Mate and her Lover…
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Status
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Name: Shimotsuki Kuina
Title: Sword Saint
Age: 20
Level: 46
Spirit Fruit: N/A
Stats:
Strength: 129
Dexterity: 161
Endurance: 133
Intelligence: 71
Wisdom: 72
Charisma: 77
Luck: 47
Skills:
Brawling: 45
Command: 35
Haki(Observation): 51
Haki(Armament): 32
Shimotsuki Style Swordsmanship: 92
Description: The Youngest member of the Main Shimotsuki Family and heir to its famous sword style. Irritated with her father's misogynistic views, she has struck out on her own to prove she can be the World's Greatest Swordsman.
Relationship to Gamer: Admiring Friend, Loyal First Mate, Respectful of Gamer having survived Garp this long. Despite being three years older than Monkey D. Luffy, Kuina had grown to greatly admire her new Captain's strength and capabilities. She believes, more so than ever after recent events, that following him will show her the path to overcoming her greatest challenges.
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Status
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Name: Roronoa Zoro
Title: Sword Fiend
Age: 19
Level: 43
Spirit Fruit: N/A
Stats:
Strength: 165
Dexterity: 127
Endurance: 167
Intelligence: 41
Wisdom: 52
Charisma: 47
Luck: 79
Skills:
Brawling: 63
Haki(Observation): 15
Haki(Armament): 49
Minor Ship Maintenance: 29
Three-Sword-Style Swordsmanship: 87
Description: An orphaned (distant) descendant of the Shimotsuki Family, Zoro has created his own Three Sword Style, proving him to be an exceptional talent with a blade. Defined primarily by his love of swords and love/rivalry of/with Kuina, Zoro is determined to one day beat not just her, but anyone else he has to in order to be acknowledged as The World's Greatest Swordsman.
Relationship to Gamer: Admiring Friend, Loyal Crewmate, Barely able to believe that his Captain Survived Garp. Despite being two years older than Monkey D. Luffy, Zoro respects his Captain's strength and capabilities. His loyalty is still first and foremost to Kuina, however, seeing overcoming her as his best path to being the World's Greatest Swordsman.
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No real surprises there. Both of them were becoming proper power houses. He admittedly didn't have a true feel for what levels the upper tier of Grand Line crews had, but a peek at Clay-who-should-have-been-Smoker-in-another-life had shown him being only level 39. As near as Luffy could tell, that put Kuina and Zoro firmly into the Grand Line veteran tier of power. Equal to at least a Grand Line Marine Captain, with Kuina possibly being able to go toe-to-toe with weaker Commadores. That was only a guess, however, as Luffy lacked enough Observation data to build a proper scale. Nodding approval of how far the two had come anyway, he moved on to the sisters.
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Status
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Name: Nami
Title: Mistress of the Winds
Age: 18
Level: 35
Spirit Fruit: N/A
Stats:
Strength: 73
Dexterity: 94
Endurance: 72
Intelligence: 83
Wisdom: 49
Charisma: 82
Luck: 44
Skills:
Navigation: 93
Haki(Observation): 28
Ship Handling: 88
Staff Fighting: 77
Description: Orphaned in a pirate attack and raised by her adoptive mother Bell-mère, Nami is a former (unwilling) member of the Arlong Pirates, as well as a world class navigation talent.
Relationship to Gamer: Lover, Crewmate. Utterly loyal to her new Captain after he helped her save her village, Nami has also developed a growing love for the gamer, and is certain she was not wrong to give herself to him. If the devil himself came for the gamer, Nami would gnaw on his ankles until the devil decided it wasn't not worth getting slobber on his socks.
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Status
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Name: Nojiko
Title: Crystal Princess
Age: 21
Level: 38
Spirit Fruit: Crystal-Crystal Fruit
Stats:
Strength: 91
Dexterity: 88
Endurance: 77
Intelligence: 73
Wisdom: 64
Charisma: 68
Luck: 52
Description: Orphaned in a pirate attack and raised by her adoptive mother Bell-mère, Nojiko has done her best to look after her younger sister, despite Nami being dealt a terrible hand by fate. Courageous and determined, she has trained herself rigorously with the thought that, eventually, she was going to need that strength.
Relationship to Gamer: Loyal Quartermaster, Harem Cheerleader. Loyal to her new Captain after he helped her save her village, Nojiko had also noticed the way her sister looks at him. She's determined to make both of them happy, and has some very odd ideas of how to do that. It's possible she's spent too much time reading the hidden collection of naughty novels Bell-mère had written and hidden away.
Skills:
Navigation: 47
Ship Handling: 32
CQC Rifle Style: 79
Marksmanship: 72
Haki(Observation): 11
Haki(Armament): 27
Spirit Fruit (Crystal-Crystal Fruit) Mastery: 23
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Luffy smiled softly at the changes to Nami's relationship toward him, but shook the mushy feelings off quickly for a more critical evaluation. Honestly, Nami was solid. She'd never be a front-line fighter, but she could certainly look after herself decently enough. Even against the more ordinary threats on the Grand Line, he was pretty sure. Finally getting her Observation Haki to be consistent, and pushing it hard against the Kreig pirates, had added a certain degree of survivability all on its own, too.
Nojiko, on the other hand…he was distinctly inclined to cackle at having found himself another Monster. She'd already been promising even before being given the Crystal-Crystal Fruit. And she was practically nipping at Zoro's heels now that she had it. The fact she'd surprised everyone by being able to unlock both forms of Haki already didn't hurt either. Even if her Armament Haki was still shaky at best.
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Status
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Name: Usopp
Title: Dead Eye
Age: 17
Level: 37
Spirit Fruit: N/A
Stats:
Strength: 88
Dexterity: 91
Endurance: 73
Intelligence: 89
Wisdom: 52
Charisma: 41
Luck: 67
Description: The son of Yasopp and Banchina, Usopp was born and raised in Syrup Village. Since a young age, he has dreamed of the sea, with knowledge of his father being a pirate slanting that dream towards being a 'brave warrior.' Natural talent, genetics, and dedicated training has made him a fearsome sniper at a young age.
Relationship to Gamer: Loyal Crewmate, Admiring Friend. Usopp looks up to his Captain as a mix of good friend and mentor. Thankful beyond words that Luffy saved Kaya, his loyalty to Luffy is surpassed only by his Loyalty to his lady love.
Skills:
Marksmanship: 102
Carpentry(Ships): 53
Gun Smithing: 73
Haki(Observation): 38
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Usopp was another pleasant surprise. Though he, at least, hadn't come out of seemingly nowhere, skill wise. He'd actually had a weaker foundation that Nojiko, but Luffy had gotten to him sooner and set him on the path fully realizing the potential he'd known was there. He was certainly more specialized than any of the others…but he was also the only one, including even Luffy, who had broken the 'human' ceiling on a skill. As far as Luffy had been able to determine, the first 100 points of skills and stats both represented what should be 'humanly possible.' Pushing beyond that point was where monsters lived. Doing so with raw stats was difficult and required superhuman levels of will and dedication to training. Doing so with a skill was even harder and required more than just will. It required insight, inspiration, and a spark of something more that set the extraordinary apart from the ordinary.
He was confident he, Kuina, and Zoro would overcome that gap once they finally found some serious opponents other than each other in the Grand Line. Nami, likewise, would likely break the limit in her navigation skill by battling the unnatural weather of the Grand Line. But Usopp had managed to do it, if just barely, even without that extra push from a deadly foe. Using only himself and constant improvement against his own standard, he'd pushed past human limits on his Marksmanship skill, marking him out as just as much of an outlier as the rest of the crew, in his own way. And speaking of outliers…
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Status
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Name: Kaya
Title: Aspiring Spiritualist
Age: 18
Level: 29
Spirit Fruit: N/A
Stats:
Strength: 51
Dexterity: 87
Endurance: 41
Intelligence: 107
Wisdom: 67
Charisma: 59
Luck: 47
Description: Heir to a considerable fortune in money…and to a mysterious power that has apparently lead to many of her past family being hunted. Kaya's path has taken a sharp turn from what might have been expected from a rich heiress, as she seeks to make the world a better place with her gift.
Relationship to Gamer: Loyal Crewmate, Admiring Friend. Kaya is deeply appreciative to her Captain for both healing her, and opening her eyes to the gift she didn't realize she had.
Skills:
Haki(Conquerors): 3
Haki(Observation): 79
Haki(Armament): 25
Medicine: 63
Seal of the Spirit (Martial Art): 37
Spirit Circulation: 57
Spiritual Manipulation: 73
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Seriously! If it hadn't been for the possession of his own cheat, in the form of the System, Kaya would have made Luffy want to cry! Her prodigious talent with Haki and Spirit Manipulation had turned her into a right little monster in a fraction of the time it had taken the others. She wasn't truly a physical threat to most of them, yet. But that was only a matter of physical stats. They could still just flat overpower her. And at the rate she'd recovered and grown past her illness, that wouldn't last forever. As it was, anyone expecting her to be an easy target was already in for a hell of a rude awakening.
Even Sanji had been forced to the realization that he needed to take her seriously. Even if he mostly lost to her currently due to difficulty forcing himself to fight women. And speaking of Sanji…
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Status
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Name: Vinsmoke Sanji
Title: Elite Chef
Age: 19
Level: 30
Spirit Fruit: N/A
Stats:
Strength: 93
Dexterity: 95
Endurance: 77
Intelligence: 73
Wisdom: 51
Charisma: 78
Luck: 65
Description: After fleeing his family during their attack on Cozia and escaping aboard the cruise ship Orbit, Sanji cut all ties with his past and sought to become a chef. When both the Orbit and an attacking pirate ship were caught in a storm and lost, he was saved by Red Leg Zeff. After a period of starving after the shipwreck, they were rescued and Zeff took Sanji under his wing, training him to become both an Elite Chef and a competent kick-based combatant.
Relationship to Gamer: Crewmate. Sanji's loyalty to his new Captain has yet to solidify, though is growing quickly as he's seen how Luffy handles the ills of the world. Reminded painfully of his own inability to stop the monsters that are his family, Luffy's ability and willingness to do something about Tequila Wolf has gone a long way to earning Sanji's respect. Loyalty will need a little more time.
Skills:
Cooking: 88
Black Foot Style Martial Arts: 87
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Given how short a time Sanji had been with them for, the fact he'd already picked up two levels and some stats showed that he was both a monster-in-the-making and truly serious about getting stronger. Luffy had been a little worried about how well Sanji would handle being the weakest of them, save perhaps Kaya, but so far he'd merely buckled down and improved. The fact that there were ready-on-offer tricks for Sanji to learn that would push him higher, faster, such as Soru and Geppo, seemed to be enough for him to feel as if he could still catch up. Luffy would keep an eye on him, but so far he was happy enough with what he saw in the blonde.
Shaking himself, Luffy did another quick check of the map. Good, still clear of the calm belt. And they were close enough now that it was time to do the traditional ceremony. Bracing himself and running through what he was going to say mentally, he jumped down off the upper deck and whistled for attention. His crew gave it readily, all of them somewhat aware already of what was going to happen. Indeed, two casks of rum had been rolled out onto the foredeck and the crew had all be hovering near them. Save Nami, at least, who quickly double-checked their heading before locking the wheel and joining them. As soon as they'd all gathered around, Luffy spoke.
"There are no formal words for something like this. It's a pirate tradition, and pirates aren't much for formality. Technically, our crew aren't even pirates. Though, as you're all aware, we are likely to be labeled outlaws of some stripe, sooner or later. It's for that reason I've chosen to adopt and adapt this tradition of pirate crew, who sacrifice perfectly good rum before entering the Grand Line to challenge fate. The sacrifice representing what they're willing to give up, to become extraordinary."
He had their attention, though a few of them looked bemused at the idea.
"For us, this is intended to have a somewhat different meaning. All of us have Dreams. Wealth, fame, and power are not our goal! But to seize all the world had to offer in our own ways? Yes! A thousand times a thousand times, yes! To Map the Entire World."
Nami cheered, then lifted her foot and placed it on one of the two casks.
"To be declared the Greatest Swordsman, toppling all others!"
Kuina and Zoro gave their own cheers, if somewhat more serious and subdued. There was no question about the fire in their eyes, though. They each took spots at the other cask, glaring a challenge at each other.
"To change the world for the better."
A sweeping motion took in Kaya and Nojiko, who both seemed pleased with the description of their own Dreams. Kaya took a place by Zoro and Kuina. Nojiko next to her sister.
"To become a warrior with courage to match or better any on the sea!"
Usopp grinned and took the spot across from Kaya.
"To find the All Blue! That legendary Chef's Paradise!"
Sanji grinned around his cigarette and nonchalantly thunked his foot down next to Nojiko's. Luffy took the slight step needed to take the remaining place with Nami, Nojiko and Sanji. As he placed his own foot on the cask, he stated his own goal.
"And to be the Freest Man in the World! To see all its wonders, and see his crew fulfill their own Dreams! These are the Dreams of this crew, and the wishes of its Captain! Arise, now, Dreamers and Believers alike! This is our Era, this is our time. We will make it so with blood, sweat, fire, and tears if need be, and dare anyone to try and stop us! To the Grand Line! To Challenge Fate!"
Luffy raised his foot, gratified as more cries of 'To the Grand Line' followed his, every other foot raising. And then they all came down in unison, the casks of fine rum shattered and poured out over the deck. A promise made, a path chosen. A cheer from every throat.
"NOW! To your places all! Reverse Mountain awaits!"
They all looked, then scrambled as they realized the Red Line was looming large before them. The powerful current of Reverse Mountain had caught them already. Nami paled and darted inside, but Luffy just laughed and followed her. They were close to on course, the sails already furling as the others got to work. And Nami was prone to forgetting that this ship had the ability to adjust even in a current like this, due to the brute power of its engines. When he stepped up next to her and uncovered the hidden conduits down to the generators, sparking lighting into them, Nami relaxed and smiled at him. The ship shifted and they settled exactly onto the right course within the current.
At the sight of the Great Gates as they approached, of that utterly ridiculous and impossible current driving a river up a mountain, everyone stilled. Though only Luffy and Kaya noticed something else as they neared the entrance, feeling a potent change in the spiritual energies of the world around them. Luffy's eyes fell on those Gates, feeling how absolutely brimming with power they were. There was, he suddenly realized, a lot more than an absurd current at work here. He didn't know what or how. But at least part of this gravity-defying feat was artificial. Powered by those Gates and the additional arches he could feel beyond them, running up the sides of the channel.
Shaking off the realization, Luffy anxiously eyed the entrance, then let go of his own tiny bit of tension. He'd checked those Gates before laying down the extremely wide beam of the Discovery, of course. But there was still a part of him that expected them to be too narrow. That envisioned them as they had once been seen, streamed on a computer monitor in another lifetime. These gates were the real deal, though. And had been built big enough to allow a proper Ship of the Line to pass. The Discovery wasn't much wider than one of those monsters, leaving it only a mildly tight fit. One well within the abilities of his incredible navigator.
Something that was proven minutes later as she put them straight through the center of the Gates at a perfect angle, then let the current do the rest. There was a new cheer as they picked up speed, racing up the mountain at speeds that were crazy even for the Discovery. There were gasps all around, even from Luffy himself, as they passed right through the cloud layer. Then there was a lurching in all of their stomachs as the shallow draft of the ship meant it actually lifted out of the water for a brief few moments at they hit the peak. Here they were jostled around as a whirlpool formed of four equally insane currents captured them, pulling them toward the only outlet…and then they were abruptly traveling down the mountain at even greater speeds.
Luffy held on to his hat, laughing half in exhilaration and half in terror, while desperately seeking out the base of the mountain with his eyes. Finally gaining his wits enough, he shifted his eyes to those of a falcon, grateful for how much easier that had become since taking his latest round of Perks. He breathed easier when his improved eyes locked in on the channel at the base of the mountain and didn't spot a certain island whale. They were a good two weeks, by his best estimates, earlier than they would have been without his meddling. But he had no idea how frequently Laboon blocked the way. Still, their speed was another issue. Time to get his navigator on task.
"Nami! Remember, we don't want to overshoot too much! We want to stop at that lighthouse!"
Nami snapped out of her own, white-knuckled stupor at the wild ride. He'd talked to her earlier about his concerns. Not just about the lighthouse stop, but that the Discovery's design might cause them to pick up too much speed coming down Reverse Mountain. Now, Nami activated their plan for that, deploying a pair of sea-anchors from a control near her wheel. The anchors weren't quite as large as normal, but he'd designed them to deploy from both hulls. Either simultaneously to slow the ship, or one at a time as a somewhat risky way to force an extreme turn. Thankfully, that wasn't needed now, and those anchor chains immediately began to strain, the ship lurching and noticeably slowing in its downward race.
Of course, they were still going pretty damn fast, well over their usual maximum speed, when they hit the Grand Line itself. Yet the speed was controllable and dropped off rapidly as Nami powered the engines in reverse and winched in the anchors. Not bothering with the sails, she slowly brought them about, bled off their speed, and took them back to the Red Line and the twin lighthouses there. Vaguely remembering the man he wanted to see was the caretaker of the northern lighthouse (was there someone else looking after the southern one?), he directed Nami to anchor on that side of the entrance to the Grand Line.
For a few minutes, he let the crew simply celebrate and get their excitement out. Even surviving entry to the Grand Line was never a guarantee, as it took a non-trivial feat of navigation and a strong ship to handle it. Yet, he didn't let them linger too long. He'd felt the pulse of a stranger's Observation Haki as they passed the base of the mountain, and was pretty sure who it had belonged to. The same man that he could feel moving out of the lighthouse now, though said man had pulled his own Observation Haki in far more tightly.
"Enough, everyone! There's someone we need to talk to here! A guide that manages the Northern Lighthouse…and happens to be both an incredible doctor and a former pirate of considerable strength. Do not be impolite to Crocus. I'm hoping for a little information from him about the current conditions of the nearby islands, as well as for Kaya and I to talk shop with him on anything we need to know from the medical front. Okay?"
Thankfully, none of his crew were really the hard-to-handle sorts, and he got cheerful 'Aye Captain's' back from them quickly. Signaling for just Kuina to join him while the others anchored the ship, the two of them leapt off and met the old man who, while was smiling broadly, but had a wary look in his eyes if you knew to look for it. He hadn't been expecting a ship bearing multiple obvious (to him at least) Haki users to come through the entrance. Particularly not also bearing the Bounty Hunter symbol on its sail.
"Hail lighthouse keeper! You would be Crocus, I think?"
There was just a tiny widening of eyes at that, along with a tiny bit of alarm. Luffy mentally kicked himself, and added an explanation as smoothly as he could.
"At least, I hope you are! A friendly pirate I met when I was younger mentioned that name. Said if I ever came to the Grand Line to make sure to stop by. That you'd most likely know what the conditions on the local islands that start the Paradise Routes were! So, is that you?"
Crocus looked a bit more confused than wary now.
"I am Crocus, yes. Keeper of the Northern Lighthouse of the Twin Capes. It's more than a little odd to hear a Bounty Hunter mention a friendly pirate, though…"
Luffy smirked, shaking his head and laughing.
"My family is weird and my choice of friends weirder. My crew are more adventurers than Bounty Hunters, truth be told. It's just safer to fly under a flag of some sort. And we do take occasional bounties on the Rape and Pillage flavor of pirates. Never bother the others much, unless they bother us first."
Kuina and he and closed the gap with the man as they spoke, and Luffy reached out his hand.
"Monkey D. Luffy, by the by. And the pirate that mentioned you to me was Benn Beckman. Though Shanks was the one that really had stories about you."
Crocus's eyes popped wide open at those names, even as he shook Luffy's hand.
"Anyway. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions if you have the time. Not just about the current conditions of the starter islands. But about any medical concerns we need to be aware of here in Paradise. I and one of my crew have a half a decent amount of medical training, but we aren't full doctors. In truth, I'm hoping to pass by Drum to see if I can recruit one there. But in the meantime…"
Crocus seemed to make up his mind about Luffy and nodded.
"Smarter than most who come down the mountain if you're asking about that. And more knowledgeable besides if you know about Drum. There are a few inoculations I'd recommend, particularly if you don't have a dedicated doctor. I'd be happy to help, assuming you're willing to trade?"
Luffy sensed a test in that, but didn't care. He just smiled and nodded.
"Of course! We just loaded up in Lougetown! What do you have most need of? Food, medical supplies? We overstocked on both and more besides, knowing we might not always find reliable sources for them on the Line."
Whatever the test had been, possible as simple as being willing to trade rather than demand answers, Luffy seemed to have passed it. Crocus smiled broadly at him and nodded back to their ship.
"Well, if you have a decent Chef aboard, I wouldn't say no to a meal from the East Blue! Not many survive entry from that ocean, these days. As for trade, however, I'd be more interested in some general medical supplies. I make a lot myself and buy more from a few islands. But there are some things that are hard to get that you might have, if you're freshly stocked from one of the Blues."
Luffy grinned.
"Our chef is more than just good! I'll go grab the rest of the crew and he can whip us up something for dinner tonight!" Luffy paused for a moment, realizing he was being rude. He waved to Kuina, who had been silent so far. "This is Kuina, by the way! She's the First Mate of my ship, the Discovery. We're an expedition of sorts. While a few of our crew have their own dreams, part of our plan is to map as much of the Grand Line as possible. Which is why we are a bit better informed, as we've been collecting what maps and information we could as a starting point. About the known islands, the log poses, and so on."
Crocus looked surprised, but…approving? Well, Roger had really been an explorer at heart, as far as Luffy had ever been able to make out. So maybe that made sense.
"That's a tall order, Captain. But one I wish you utmost success with…"
Grinning, Luffy nodded and leapt back toward the ship. Time to collect his minions!
... ... ... ... ...
A/N: So...ugh. Sorry for bludgeoning you all over the head with Stat Block Hell. Unfortunately, it needed doing before they hit the Grand Line so you all have some idea where they are at. Right now, based on the power scaling I've created, Luffy would curb stomp most Grand Line Marine Commodores, he could fight most Rear Admirals to a standstill. He'd only be able to take Vice Admirals (aside from Garp) with a lot of dirty tricks, luck, and possibly type advantages. Full Admirals, the Yonko, and a few of the more powerful Warlords like Hawkeye, would currently curb stomp him.
Like Luffy, the others of the crew are more powerful than their canon iterations, though the degree to which that is true varies widely. Sanji, being the late joiner, is currently lagging behind. But will catch up a bit as he picks up a few things most of them have already learned.
While Luffy himself doesn't explicitly know this (since he can't see the calculations behind the level system), Level is effectively the System's combined threat value for an individual. So learning something like Soru or Geppo can cause a level jump. This is in place of an XP system, which doesn't really exist even for Luffy. Luffy's 'level up' rewards are provided simply as System gifts for him reaching a new 'level' of threat.