After what happened in Birka I decided to leave the sky island right away, since the log pose already captured the magnetic fields of the next island, which is Long Ring Long Land.
It took us around four days to reach it. There was nothing notable that happened on our stay there.
While we were still there, I decided to buy an Eternal Pose to St. Poplar, it was the Island where Franky bought the Adam Wood which I also planned to get for building my new ship. Normally you would be able to go there using the Sea Train from Water 7, but we are a decade earlier from its construction.
As for the Adam Wood, you could buy it from the black market, but it's ridiculously expensive, if I remember correctly, it was around 200 million Berries.
That's like the bounty on my head, but luckily, I have a lot of money on me. Around 400 million from Jason's bounty, the gold that we got from sky island, the treasures from Birka that we could also sell in the black market, and finally the treasures we gathered from raiding other pirate ships.
A week later,
We stayed for about a week in one of the islands in Long Ring Long Land before we headed to St. Poplar, and like I planned, I stayed there for a while to gather information and managed to find some connections to the black market eventually.
Luckily, there was some Adam Wood available in the stock, I proceeded to buy all of it for about 250 million, I also sold all the valuable things that we had for about 40 million.
Another important matter that happened during our stay, is that we were being watched since we put our foot on this island. Moreover, these people are very skilled that I was able to notice them only after using Haki, Calvin was the same.
I thought about killing them, but then they could have been government agents and things could have escalated very quickly, so I just let them be and pretended that I didn't notice them until we left.
Now for the other matter, which is the new recruits Enel and Urouge. As opposed to what I thought first, they were able to easily bend in with the crew, specially Urouge who is pretty friendly, or at least looks with that smile never leaving his face.
On the other hand, I started training Enel to help him use his devil fruit power more efficiently since our powers are pretty similar. And while we were at it, I took the opportunity to beat him up a few times, just to make sure he doesn't think he is invincible.
His fruit might be stronger than mine, but he can't use Haki, his physical strength is nowhere near mine, I have more battle experience and I can make up the difference of speed by combining Observation Haki and Soru with my devil fruit power.
I also took advantage for the fact that he is a logia to train my Armament Haki, using him as punch bag.
Now for my training, the first thing is I stopped training on my devil fruit power for a while since my current level is enough for now. Instead, I focused more on Haki and physical training.
For my Observation Haki, I'm making I have been making a very good progress, as I can already sense things up to 150 meters radius. I can also use the different variation of it like strength sense, emotion sense and most importantly intent sense. It seems than once you learn to use one of them efficiently you will naturally grasp the other ones after that.
As for Armament Haki, I think I hit a bottleneck due to the lack of strong opponent that could face me in paradise.
Another thing I started training on is the Hasshoken martial art with Ian, which could be very useful to me in the future.
I will learn anything that could make me strong even if it's by a little. Since that little difference could mean life or death in a battle. I'll also consider Seimei Kikan after learning Hasshoken, I think it's one of the strongest techniques someone could get.
Lastly, I've practicing my swordsmanship using my new swords. I'm trying to develop my own style since I don't have a teacher.
…
[Water 7],
After sailing for around a day, we finally reached our destination Water 7, it looks very beautiful and glorious from a distance, the city was resembling a giant fountain.
"Another crazy looking place" Calvin said while standing next to me on the ship's deck, we were observing the city in admiration.
"There are even crazier places out there waiting to be visited" I stated.
"I'm sure we'll also visit them as well" he said with a smile.
"You look different you know…"
"What do you mean?" He asked with questioning face.
"You seem to be enjoying the journey now, not like before" he looked surprised when I said that, and he looked at me for a moment before he smiled again.
"You're right…I did this because I had to at first, but now I'm looking forward to visiting new places, go on adventures fight strong people, I'm even interested in learning about this world's history…But more importantly, I'm looking forward to getting stronger to protect my daughter"
"Well then my friend!...You are in the right place!"
We both chatted for a while more before we entered the city, we obviously didn't go through the main entrance as to not attract any unnecessary attention.
We kept sailing through the canals for a while before some people were kind enough to tell us were to hide the ship.
'It's just like the anime, it must be because most of Water Seven economy comes from shipwrights' I thought, as I called for everyone on the ship.
"Alright, we're here to build a new ship…Diana and Ian, you take the gold and try to find someplace to cash it" I gave order, and they immediately went down to the hold and brought the gold, it was stocked in a huge barrel "Me and Calvin are going to downtown to look for a shipwright company, the rest can do what you want"
"I'll come with you" said Enel, walking lazily while yawning.
"I guess I'll just find somewhere to eat" said Urouge getting on his feet.
"I'll come with you!" Yamamoto raised his hand while saying that.
"I'll come too" Ken said.
"Try to stay out of trouble and watch your back!" I said and then left.
We walked around for a little bit before we used the small boats called Yagara bulls and told the owner to take us to Tom's Workers.
"What kind of ship are you going for?" Calvin asked me.
"A fast one"
"While you're at it, maybe you should consider recruiting a shipwright" He said "You don't want us to drown in the middle of the sea because we didn't plug a hole in the ship, or something like that"
"Yeah, I was also considering that and maybe a cook as well, cause I'm getting sick of your food" Calvin was the only one on the ship who could cook an edible food, but its still bland and not that tasty "I feel bad for your daughter".
"Be grateful, without me you would have been eating fish and stale bread for the past two years" Calvin said in annoyance while lighting a cigarette.
"Hahahaha! There is some truth there!…Anyway, I hope things go smoothly until we leave…"
"What are you afraid of with your power?" Enel asked while looking at me with his arms and legs crossed, he was sitting with confidence like he owns the boat.
"The world is so big, there are people who could one shot me with ease…well for now that is, I'm not planning on staying like this for the rest of my life" Enel looked a little bit surprised when I said, "There are people who could crush you like a bug, so don't get full of yourself, do you hear me?" I looked at him intensely while saying that.
"Yeah, Yeah, I get it…You keep saying it every time"
…
A few minutes later, the small boat's owner dropped us somewhere deep in the city and proceeded to show us the direction to Tom's workshop. I paid him 5000 berries for the ride, and we left.
After we walked in the alleys for while we were finally greeted with huge sign saying 'Tom's Workers'. I scanned the area and walked closer to the workshop before I was approached by a familiar face.
He was a teenager with brightly colored blue hair, long and stern eyebrows. He was wearing black knee length shorts, orange open-fronted shirt and goggles on his forehead.
'Suuuuper! Is here to greet me' I said in my head before I looked at him in smile, he was still looking normal with no apparent cyborg parts.
"What business do you have here?" He asked while approaching slowly.
"I'm here to build a new ship"