( LuscainaIsland)
"This island is exactly what we need…! - Known as the 'Forty-eight seasons' … It is a harsh land where the seasons change with each week that comes by" Rayleigh said, Luffy drank his every word.
"Luffy! We swear… each and every day, we will visit this island to bring you new provisions from Amazon Lily!" she said with a glowing expression.
"Sorry … Hancock… I need to train to become strong enough for those I care about, I can't have you spoiling me like that -" He looked towards her with a kind expression.
" I want to become strong enough to protect you too…!" She blushed up a storm not making eye contact with him.
Luffy smiled at the Empress antics, a caring look in his eyes, in his mind he did not object to marrying this woman… after all, she did for him, it's a wonder he did not give her a ring already.
"I should totally marry her, after all she's done for me during the war." He chimed in thought looking at her.
"Hancock, we cannot have you spoiling the boy…! - Whilst Luffy-Kun's training is underway, none of the women are to enter this place" Rayleigh spoke seriously.
Hancock grabbed his nose pinching it painfully.
"And what right have you to decide such things, Rayleigh !?" Boa asked a demonic look came over her still stunning face.
"Well, Master, why don't we come to a compromise? … What about this the Kuja pirates can visit us every month… being alone on this island without company is bad… and I want to know more about Hancock and her crew" He gave two reasons, the first one Rayleigh could see was flimsy at best, the second was the real reason, Luffy genuinely wanted to know the women of Amazon lily better.
"Well… ok" was Rayleigh response after some grueling moments, two sets of hopeful eyes were too much for the 'Dark King'.
A genuine happy look came to Boa's face, Luffy also had a huge grin on his face, he oozed happiness.
"Now, then … we are the only humans left on this island - " Rayleigh showed the exotic environment, it had many strange plants, some were absolutely huge.
"They say that long ago there was a great civilization here… But it perished… here in this island, the law of the Strongholds true" Said Rayleigh
"I smell a great adventure…!" Luffy was excited.
"Why this island is home to terrible beasts, more than we can hope to count… many of them are too powerful to your current state… hm, I would say 500 or more… if you do not train hard you will never sleep safely at night…!" Rayleigh stroked his beard.
"Hmm.. how can you know all of this?"
"How huh? It is a power that I intend to teach you… the power is known as Haki!"
A rustling sound as a great Elephant came charging in behind Ray.
Luffy made no motions to attack it, it would fail, that beast was stronger than him, he knew it, instinctively.
Instead, he sat on the ground.
Ray smiled.
"Listen closely Haki is a power that exists within every living creature… "presence" … "Spirit' … "Aura'... It is no different from these well-known concepts, however many never notice they possess it and live their lives in ignorance… others try and train their whole lives, to never grasp it.
"To fell no doubts, to have an unbreakable will… That is the true strength! - observe, haki can come in two different paths" the elephant wind up his snout.
It attacked completely missing Ray.
"This is color of observation, to feel an enemy presence in an elevated degree, to grasp their numbers, to see hidden or invisible enemies, to spot weaknesses, read their movements" Ray dodged each and every attack, Luffy's eyes following his every movement, all the while double tasking… remembering Enel and the Snake sisters.
"In the sky isles, this ability is called "Mantra" ... "
"... Next, we have the color of armament it is somewhat like wearing an invisible suit of armor" The elephant tried to stomp Ray however it was stopped by a hand, however, the elephant was pushed several meters from the ground and fell nearby, Luffy who was rapt with attention was shocked, however, if he deduced correctly - an understanding look came upon his face, he remembered the sumo-guy and his grandpa.
"I see… you caught on to it, yes an important use, is that with this we can bring harm to devil fruit users, with it even those near-invincible logia users can be damaged!" Ray explained.
"That's how you were able to touch Kizaru!"
Ray then explained more applications of this type of haki, like the Kuja arrows who were harder than steel.
"Those two are the main types of haki, however to a select few there is a third type that is available…" The elephant jumped from the ground and tried one last attack, however with just one look, the beast completely fainted, it's huge body fell to the ground.
"This is the ability to overpower and conquer someone's will "the conquerors Haki" … it often appears in people who made a big name for themselves on a global scale - It is unique in that it cannot be trained, only controlled, It is the user's own ambition or will - only by personal growth this ability can be strengthened - you have already shown inclination towards this type but with your recent growth of character, this ability needs to be brought under control - I dare not bring you into civilization lest you accidentally let it out at random times… I can predict that this one is already very strong within you". Said Rayleigh looking at Luffy
Luffy nodded, understanding what Ray meant, in these past few days after the war he had mentally grown.
They found a camp and started eating food, Luffy noticed the night was cold.
"Ordinarily training haki would take much longer, but I've witnessed your prodigious talent, I will ground you on the basics first… most people develop a bias to one type… this makes them limited… it is best if you gain skill in all three… you have the potential for it… it will make you more versatile." Rayleigh explained
"Got it, master…!"
"The second thing we will work on is your education" he grabbed a huge sack reaching inside grabbing a book in one thousand "You wished to be smarter did you not? - I will not be an easy master, got it Luffy-kun?"
Luffy nodded.
They reached a giant white tree.
"You said this spot is the safest on the island right…?"
"That is correct" Rayleigh organized the books close to the white tree.
Luffy picked his hat and left it hanging on a nearby rock, the Vivre card was visible through the lace.
"Let's go Master…!" he grabbed Rayleigh and rushed through the forest.
And now the real training begins.
As the weeks passed Luffy noticed how Ray was such a Hard Taskmaster, He would wake up every morning at 5 a.m, they would go to the white tree and spent 2 hours studying subjects like biology, math, politics, geography, and tactics, afterwards Ray would chase him off from his safe spot, he alone would have to hunt his breakfast, the island was incredibly large, it was so easy to get lost in it, and it had some monsters that would destroy Luffy, however Ray did not care, the early mornings were filled with losing fights, Luffy had to quickly adapt to the law of the jungle, at this time he was just a bottom-feeder, he could not enjoy his meat, so he would stick to fruits and other vegetables - coincidentally this where he discovered his near immunity to poison after Magellan - eventually by late morning Ray would nonchalant show up near him, he would give instruction on how to use haki… then he would unleash various beasts on him to train, it was harsh getting ganged up from the various beast, but it was perfect to stimulate his senses and increase his strength, after the beat down lunchtime arrived ... again he had to hunt his own food, even with some serious injuries - Luffy noticed that he now healed extremely fast, perhaps it was one of Ivankov's hormones...? Or some other reason…? He did not know - by early afternoon Ray woulçd appear again, attacking Luffy hand-to-hand mercilessly beating him to a pulp ... this was his 'Martial arts training' … he was a firm believer in kinesthetic learning… Luffy just thought he was crazy.
By mid Afternoon Rayleigh would assert more monsters for Luffy to fight while explaining more about haki… even though he would be extremely injured at this point … After fighting more monsters trying to grasp the basics of haki by late afternoon he would be exhausted and riddled with injuries he would have to exercise his body, push-ups, squats, running, however, he had to carry a huge boulder on his back, and the size of it increased daily.
Early evening was again, hunting for food alone, however, the biggest predators were awake at night, he always needed to be careful at night, and he could not rely on his vision, it was … very dark and lonely in Ruskaina … every time he encountered an apex predator it was a chase for life and death at night … it humbled him very much, Ray told him he would never be subtle, but maybe this would teach him some degree of stealth… after dinner he would return to the tree for more studying with Rayleigh, then late night they would camp outside the safe zone, with Ray telling him stories of his life, of his exploits when he was a pirate, it was the best part of the day for Luffy… then he and Ray would sleep… even if an enemy would attack ray would just observe, it was up to Luffy to wake up and run the animal out of the camp, it was a lesson to teach him to be alert at all times, even when he was sleeping, by morning his body had healed itself completely, it was a small mystery he had yet to discover.
Every day this schedule would mercilessly continue.
However, Luffy was not a small man, by any stretch of the imagination, he endured it without a pip - well he cursed the old man's insanity in his mind - and adapted to it very quickly, his prodigious talent shined through.
By the end of the first week, he could imbue parts of his body with armament ten times out of one hundred, now he could finally start to grasp it, the same for observation, now he could occasionally feel prey nearby, and sometimes dodge fast attacks that would normally hit him square on, he had a good grasp of the basic sciences and Ray incorporated a bit of history in his lessons, the martial arts bit was the most interesting, Ray had mastered most arts the world had to offer, Luffy would copy the movements Ray did in their sparring matches, burning the movements into his memory and muscles, and surprisingly by the end of the week he mastered his first martial art, he was proud, however the next day Rayleigh would switch to a style that perfectly countered the one that he learned, forcing him to copy Ray again.
The exercising was the most rewarding part, he could feel himself growing stronger, faster… for he relied on boosts from his Devil fruit, now he could achieve the strength acquired by gear third and the speed of gear second with just improving himself, after a few days, he raised his pain tolerance, noticing that most if not all wounds healed after a night of sleep, he started being even more reckless, something that would have cost his life on the battlefield now helped him, it was okay in his eyes, looking back at his grandpa, being reckless was in his blood.
After another week, he could use armament half the time, and avoid most attacks, he now started sensing animals nearby, he could somewhat gauge their strength, which made him realize he had more talent for observation than armament, which was not to say that he was bad at armament, he had made great strides in that type as well, He was finally happy, he was able to hunt and kill lesser animals for food, however the big herbivores and predators were still out, he had crammed many subjects into his brain while he devoured the books rayleigh brought, he had another style mastered, but Ray switched again, however the next week, he would have hunt and face those monsters while blindfolded, putting most of his progress to zero, he had to rely on his senses, instinct, and haki to survive, Ray said he had great eyes, so much so that Luffy would forget to use other senses.
Another two weeks have passed, and finally a day off, it was the day of the visit of the Kuja pirates, it was a truly blessed day, he could spend the day on the ship without his blindfold on, he would talk for hours with the Boa sisters, getting to know them better, however he spends the most time with Hancock, they really hit off fast, perhaps it was because they were both Holders of Conquerors Haki? … they couldn't tell but the connection was there.
After the first month, he could basically hunt all herbivores in the island and small predators, he finally learned how to swim, and was able to hunt down some fish underwater, carefully evading the sea kings, he wasn't strong enough for them, while he could take sea creatures early on, the one that we're here were much more dangerous.
He could control armament now to appear in various parts of his body, and his observation was growing strong, he could sense everyone in the island, and their strength, he could evade all of their attacks now, he had mastered the basic observation, now it was up to him or Ray said to branch out.
He did not need the blindfold any longer, the less observation training made him have more time to focus on his personal training, in the next few months he would collect himself, remember and replicate the moves those cp guys did.
Starting with that jumping on air thing, as it was perhaps the most useful, he had to train his legs really hard to reach that level but he would accomplish it.
Oh yes this training has become intense.
Now having free time for himself he decided to go hunting and have a look around the island.
Now heading to the deepest part of the jungle as he recalled on how Rayleigh said this island once had great civilization.
Looking straight ahead something caught his eyes, as he stared straight ahead.
There existed a small shrine. The shrine was circled by a tranquil creek and the foliage of the trees let just enough light in to give it an almost divine appearance. The shrine hadn't had any visitors in centuries. Inside the small shrine was pedestal. Atop this pedestal was what looked like a Devil Fruit.
He headed straight towards the shrine and looked at the pedestal. The fruit's appearance is that of a red peach with sky blue swirls. He decided to take the fruit as if it was telling him to take it.
He stared at it, getting a good look at it.
He wondered what power and strength this fruit holds? It could be anything. Paramecia?, a Logia? Or a rare mythical Zoan?.
He needed to find out.
He opened his mouth and decided to take a bite out of it. He Blanched at the taste of it, all devil fruits have a bad taste. He ate the whole fruit.
After eating it he didn't feel anything different.
He shrugged maybe it will kick in soon.
It was getting late and it was time for him to go rest.
He left the shrine.
Later that night.
The moon brightened as it's moonlight shined on Luffy's sleeping form. The affects of the Devil Fruit he ate is changing his appearance, his height made him taller around 6'7, a firm six pack, red fur covered his arms and his torso only leaving his six pack exposed. Coming from his backside was a long red monkey tail, his muscles and strength increased.
After the transformation was finished Luffy slept through his whole transformation.
Until morning.
He woke up, as he noticed Rayleigh was awake as well and looked at him in disbelief.
"What's wrong Master?" Luffy asked in a more mature deep voice which surprised him that didn't sound like him at all.
"You look Different Luffy-kun.." He said still looking surprised
" Different how-" He paused as he noticed red fur on his arms and torso with the exposure of his six-pack and scar from Akainu.
He ran pass Rayleigh and want to the nearest pond.
He got a good long look at his new appearance. His eyes were dark yellow, his hair hair lengthed pass his shoulders .
Looking shocked that he even grew a tail!?
"So it was a Zoan Fruit..." He muttered taking in his new appearance.
"When did you find a devil fruit?" Asked Rayleigh as Luffy explained to him everything of what transpired yesterday on his free time and hunt.
"So that explains everything... It's possible that you eaten a rare mythical Zoan fruit." Rayleigh pointed out.
"Which mythical Zoan ?." Luffy asked
"My guess is that you are the ancient Monkey King, Son Wukong... So I guess the fruit is called the Saru Saru No Mi, Model Sun Wukong." Rayleigh answered.
While Luffy's dark yellow eyes widened and looked at his form as his red tail swayed.
"I believe your training is going to be much harder now and to see what abilities you possess." Rayleigh said causing Luffy to nod in understanding, he has two more years to Master his new devil fruit.
Far Away from the two Hancock saw Luffy's new appearance. It was taking everything in her willpower to not faint at his new look, heart eyes she had and her face blushed hard. Nose bleeding slightly, unable to take it anymore she herself turned to stone with a look of affection on her face.
To be continued.