Two months have passed since my battle against the tiger took place, and since then I have been patiently waiting to leave this island.
While I was waiting, I did not slack off and kept training hard and made some progress.
The first thing I trained is Tekkai which I unlocked during the fight. This technique is super useful, as it allows you to withstand and nullify any damage you might have taken from attacks and can also be used to enhance your attacks, so it's like a mini Haki. But training it is no fun, as I must constantly tank attacks to increase its efficiency and while doing that, I risk taking damage.
After I unlocked one of the Rokushiki techniques, I thought I might give the other ones a go. So, I tried my luck with Soru, which allows you to have a superhuman speed, and the way to use it is by kicking the ground at least ten times in the blink of an eye. But unfortunately, I couldn't unlock it since I wasn't fast enough or had the leg strength to do that.
So, I started focusing more on leg training. As for Geppo and Rankyaku they also required strong legs, so I didn't bother. That left me with two options, Shigan and Kami-e.
I don't have any idea how to train Kami-e since they didn't mention a lot about it in the manga or anime, so the only option I had was Shigan. Shigan requires you to push you finger into a certain target at a very high speed, leaving a wound similar to a bullet wound.
The way I trained it is by using the trees as my targets, and oh boy it was the most painful training I did until now. I was constantly spraining my fingers when I failed in the technique, and I almost gave up a lot of time but thankfully I didn't, and finally was able to unlock it six days ago.
It still not that powerful and I can't use it all the time. It's a useful technique, if trained correctly you could even use a projectile version of it like a gun.
I was standing on the beach like the usual, waiting if any ship passes by.
"Finally, I can leave this place" A large vessel appeared on the horizon, as it was approaching the island, I was able to get a closer look at it. The ship was equipped with two masts with square rigged sails, and it wasn't flying any flag so it's safe to say that it's not a pirate or a marine ship.
'It's most likely a merchant ship' Once it got close enough, I started waving my arms and screaming at its direction, hoping I get noticed. A few minutes later the ship started slowing down.
'They finally noticed me.' Once the ship stopped, one of the sailors took down a boat and started rowing to my direction. After a few minutes he finally arrived at the beach.
I was nervously standing there thinking 'Will I be able to understand him? I hope they speak English in this world' I thought to myself while I was waiting for him.
"Hey there!!" The man waved his hand and greeted me, he is a tall muscular man with a handsome face, he has black hair, brown eyes and looked a little bit intimidating.
'Thank God he speaks English!! I though he will be talking Japanese' I sighed in relief and greeted him back.
"Hey!! Thanks for helping me."
"No problem." He said while approaching me.
"I'm Ashen by the way." I used my original name as I didn't know the owner of this body's real name.
"Nice to meet I'm Calvin. Our navigator saw you waving our direction, so we though you might need some help." He said while observing me.
"Yes, I've been stranded in this island for a while, I got lucky you guys passed by." I said to him.
"Anyway, we are on rush, will give you a ride and drop you off at the next port." He said to me while walking back to the boat, then he signals me to get in.
"Sounds good." I got into the boat, then Calvin started rowing back to the direction of the ship, then after a few minutes we arrived and got on board.
"Make yourself comfortable, will reach the next destination in five days." Calvin said to me, after that he made his way to the quarterdeck, took out a bottle and started drinking.
"YO!" I turned back and saw a blond-haired man with a slender build, he had a smile on his face and looked friendly.
"Hey!!"
"I'm Kevin, the captain and navigator of this ship." The man said with a smile while reaching for a handshake.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ashen." I shook his hand, "Calvin told me you were the one who saw me and stopped the ship. I don't know how to thank you enough".
"Hahaha!! It's nothing, we get people like you from time to time. Don't feel pressured by it."
"If you don't mind, can I ask your destination?" I asked him.
"We are heading to Belles town. We are going to rest there for a while then head to Logue town." He answered me.
'Belles town? I don't remember any information about it. Anyway, I should rest there to gather information and plan my next move'.
"By the way how did you ended up on that island?" Kevin asked.
'I can't tell him I came from another world and woke in the body of someone else. Let's just play the 'I lost my memory' card' I preceded to answer his question "I can't really remember how I ended up there. I think I lost my memories after the incident."
"Really? Well, I won't question that. It's most likely pirates." He looked a little bit skeptical about my answer.
"What about you? You let a stranger into your ship easily. I could be some bad guy or a pirate." It does seem strange, he doesn't even look worried or warry of me.
"Hahaha!! What can one helpless man stranded on an island do? Plus, that's why we sent our strongest guy to pick you up." He said then he added "That guy used to be a pirate hunter. So, you better not try anything funny if you want to keep your head." He said in a serious tone, the mood suddenly changed for a second then he broke it off with a smile again. I guess he has point.
"A pirate hunter? Why did he stop?"
"Who knows, he doesn't talk about it." I got a little bit curious about him, he looked strong I could feel it.
We kept chatting for a while after that. When we finished talking, he made his way to the captain's cabin.
2 days later,
There isn't much to say, everything was normal. I spent the last two days either training or sleeping, I rarely talked to anyone except Kevin. As for Calvin he was very unfriendly, he doesn't talk to anyone except if it's work related and he spends most of his time training or drinking.
'What a weird a guy' I thought to myself.
"WE GOT A PROBLEM!!!!!" A man shouted and got everyone's attention.
"WHAT GOING ON ?!!" Kevin asked as he walked out the captain's cabin.
"IT'S A PIRATE SHIP!!!" He said and pointed to its direction. Kevin took the spyglass and looked.
"Hmmm… That flag looks familiar. But I don't remember to whom it belongs."
"It doesn't matter, we just have to kill everyone on board" Calvin said with a calm tone as he was warming up his body. I was taken back a little, I didn't expect him to be the cold type.
As the pirate ship was getting close, everyone was getting ready to fight.
Kevin approached me and handed me a gun.
"Do you know how to use a gun?" Kevin asked me.
"I usually fight with my fist" I answered him.
"Well, just don't get yourself killed."
I put the weapon on my back and got ready to fight.
Once the pirate ship got close enough to us, they started firing canons, we did the same. Even do this is a merchant ship it was equipped with seven canons, 3 on each side and one on the front.
None of the ships took serious damage. After a few minutes of exchanging fire, our ships clashed, and we got ready for close fight.
The pirates used wooden planks and ropes to cross to our ship. After they crossed a huge figure appeared, he was full of scars, and he had an eye patch on his right eye. He approached us and shouted.
"WE ARE THE BLACK ROSE PIRATES!!! SURRENDER YOURSELF AND I MIGHT HAVE MERCY AND LET YOU LIVE AS MY SLAVE." He said, then he proceeded to add "try to resist and I will make sure you have a painful death" He said in a low tone and the pirates started laughing.
"I remember now, he is the black rose pirates captain 'Eye Patch Karl' with a bounty of 10,000,000 million berries on his head." Kevin said looking worried.
"Hehehe…You did your homework, NOW SURRENDER YOURSELF QUETLY!!"
"Be careful guys they are dangerous, especially their captain." Kevin said.
"Very well then have it your way. KILL THEM ALL!!!" Karl ordered and everyone started charging, we did the same.
It was a bloody fight, with casualties on both sides, I was constantly using Tekkai to block attacks and using Shigan to attack. surprisingly these pirates were very weak, I could even fight them using normal attacks, but they were a good practice target.
Calvin was easily smashing them with his fist, 'He is strong, Kevin wasn't lying' I thought to myself, as for Kevin he was struggling, he already had some injuries. He was fighting with a gun in his left hand and saber in his right hand.
"YOU WEAK BASTARDS!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!" Karl started screaming at his men.
"C-Captain, those two guys are strong!!" One of the pirates said and pointed at me and Calvin.
"You weakling, how can you call yourself a black rose pirate?" He punched the man and sent him flying out the ship, then he drew his sword and went charging at Calvin.
"I'll SHOW YOU THE STRENGHT OF A 10,000,000 MILLION BERRIES PIRATE!!!!" He slashed down his sword at Calvin but the later easily dodged it and countered with a right punch.
Karl used his arm to stop Calvin's attack and preceded to strike him again. Calvin managed to grab his arm and block his attack using his brute strength then he punched him and face.
"AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!! Y-YOU… HOW DARE YOUUUU!!!" After that attack hit him, he became more aggressive and kept attacking Calvin without a rest.
They were fighting on equal term and none of them had the upper hand yet until one the pirates sneaked behind Calvin while they were busy fighting and stabbed him in the back. Calvin immediately fell on his knees and started bleeding.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! You did well, I'll give a good reward after we finish this battle." Karl said to the pirate while laughing.
"Hehehe, thank you captain." The pirate replied, then Karl lifted his sword up and was ready to strike Calvin down.
"SHIIIT!!" I quickly ran up to him beating everyone on my way, and once I reached him, I shouted at Karl to get his attention.
"KAAARL!!" He turned his head and looked at me with an annoyed expression.
"BRAT!! YOU HAVE SOME GUTS CALLING MY NAME!!" I immediately jumped and threw a punch at him, once my fist was close enough to hit him, I flexed my muscles as hard as I can and hardened my fist.
"TEKKAI!!" My punch sent him flying back crashing into the wall.
"BOOOOOM!!!" The sound of the crashing got everyone's attention and they immediately stopped fighting.
Everybody kept looking at me with surprise, "H-H-He sent the captain's flying with one punch." One of the pirates said while he was shaking in fear.
"Who the hell is he?"
Everyone was shocked at the sight. Calvin was looking at me with an opened mouth and a surprised expression.
"I will be your opponent now."