A/N : Pay attention to some important key points in this chapter.
*****
Going Merry successfully sailed away.
Luffy, Nami, Johnny and Usopp started to gain consciousness.
"Ugh! What happened? Where's that little girl?" Nami asked. She was spamming lightning in their battle when an irresistible force pulled her. The next thing she knew, she's already drowning while losing consciousness.
"That..." Yosaku glanced at Luke for help.
"I dealt with her and we somehow escaped from her pursuit." Luke said as he enjoyed his wine.
"What a mysterious girl. Her power is as same as yours, Luke!" Luffy jumped through his feet as he commented. He didn't mind their defeat at all.
"Well, sort of." Luke nodded. He always knew that this is the usual Luffy even in original story. Win or defeat, as long as the crew are complete and well, he was satisfied with it.
Luffy always looking forward on how to get stronger whether his intention is to protect his nakama or aim to be the best.
There is a clear difference between confidence and arrogance. Now, Usopp and others are slowly showing this kind of trait.
If this continues, it will become a poison that will slowly tear apart their building friendship and eventually become a irreversible scar in every one of them.
Since Luffy commanded the crew to confront Tatsumaki earlier, Luke will have no say about it for now. However, he will show to Usopp and others in training not to be complacent in any form of situation.
Even one of the strongest Emperor, Shanks, will take out his sword no matter how weak his enemies are. This is his way to show respect on any enemies he met, that is to never underestimate them in the battlefield.
"That was a great save, Luke! Thank you!" Luffy grinned. He continued, "I will surely win next time we meet that little girl."
"Yes! We will win for sure!" Usopp also cheered alongside with Luffy.
Others also nodded in agreement. With the crew slowly improving day by day, it won't be long for them to be recognized by the world.
Sanji and Zoro were determined to catch up to the group. This little setback will give them lesson to double their efforts on training.
After dinner, everyone rested as they have yet to hijack any ship to be their training platform.
Meanwhile, Luke was fidgeting on a stuff toy that looked like a dog. He found it inside the cabin as one of the decoration brought by Usopp.
Beside him was Billy the duck who also found it's perfect resting spot with him.
Billy likes to be with Luke even though Nami and Luffy tries to play with him. It seems the duck have come to treat Luke as it's fatherly figure.
Of course Luke didn't mind being accompanied by a duck so long as it won't spread it's snot near him. He will probably ask for Liz to heal it's abnormal sickness later.
Luke used the power of Soul Soul Fruit to give life to the dog stuffed toy. His concern is that, if his animal creation can really talk like a human, but it most likely will.
Second is, will it call him 'Mama' once it regains a sentience? If that happens, he will probably never let his creation have the ability to talk.
Luke injected little amount of lifespan to the stuffed animal. He can freely adjust how much lifespan he will give to it as he gave it one hour to live.
Since Luke gave it a little lifespan, he also gave it it's role and some strength which also came from him.
With that to say, if Luke give it a thousand years to live and power that can rival an emperor, he will surely go broke until he replenish his power supply by farming lots of powerful souls again.
There's a big difference between Luke and Big Mom.
Big Mom can indeed absorb lifespans but she can't add it to her own lifespan. Meaning, her lifespan is fixed and she grows old like a normal human. While the lifespans she absorbed are those excess lifespans that became homies.
Luke's power comes from Cadis Etrama Di Raizel, a nigh immortal being with almost unlimited lifespan. The only downside of his power is that, he uses lifespan to activate his amazing abilities.
With Soul Soul Fruit as Luke's medium to fill his lifespan, he's practically become a new being with almost no weaknesses.
Luke also felt that he can utilize this power much better than Big Mom. What he seek is quality, not quantity. Meaning, he will not waste his power just to create a bunch of freaking cakes that loves to sing nursery rhymes.
Big Mom sometimes have childish personality and she view her power as entertainment, but not him. He view this power as opportunity. He would plot to kill an Emperor just to get this power.
His biggest trump card in this journey is his Devil Fruit power. There are myriad of possibilities on this wonderful fruit.
Right now, he was experimenting a heaven defying theory of his Soul Soul power. If he's successful, he will become unstoppable in the future.
As the stuffed toy gained a life, Luke suddenly tossed it to the sea. Minutes past and the dog stuffed animal was still swimming freely, he then brought it back.
Then, Luke took a normal type Zoan Devil fruit and fed it to the dog animal.
He observed the dog carefully as he didn't mind using an expensive experiment just to prove his theory right.
Minutes later, his eyes were shining in delight as if he found something unbelievable.
...
The next day...
Luke huddled the men in training.
"Since we didn't find a spare ship yet, I will use another method on you to help you train more efficient." Luke announced.
"Zoro, Sanji, Yosaku and Usopp, come forward."
The men stepped forward as they waited for Luke's next words.
Luke approached the men and touched their head one by one.
"Oh! I know this one! Luke! Me too!" Luffy saw this familiar move of Luke. It is the body suppression he received from the latter. Now that he undo all his suppression, he kinda miss it's feeling.
"Are you sure? It will delay your training on Emission and Color of Arms if you do that." Luke raised a brow at Luffy.
"Not really! I will definitely be able to master those skills in no time!" Luffy confidently grinned.
"Okay. But I guess I'll add yours up to 3 thousand times suppression." Since Luke filled his power at Shiki's place, it won't be a problem even if he give Luffy a training upgrade without getting any backlash.
"Awesome!" Luffy adjusted the appropriate suppression until he was satisfied. He missed being suppressed since he can't feel any improvement without it. It's as if it become his daily routine.
Luke then explained to the group what is body suppression as he set theirs at 100 times suppression.
After having the suppressionYosaku and Usopp felt their body goes heavy as if they were stucked on a gooey swamp. A little movement and they instantly felt exhausted.
Zoro and Sanji's eyes shone. This is the type of training they needed the most. After knowing it's function, they immediately set theirs at 300 times suppression. Right now, it's their current limit where they can freely move like a normal adult.
Luke told Johnny that the latter don't need any suppression since it's pointless because of his Devil Fruit power, the Buff Buff fruit. Instead, Luke personally taught Johnny on how to learn Armament Haki.
With that, the crew became busy until they encounter a little girl named Apis who escaped from the hands of the marines.
Luke casually observed the odd action of the little girl that constantly clinging on Billy the duck. In fact, he knew this little girl and her Devil Fruit power.
The next day, the Strawhats were chased by seven battleships of the marines. Since no one in the crew wants to deal with these marines, they proceeded and unknowingly enter the Calm Belt territory.
Luke's eyes shone as he secretly smiled when they entered the area.
Nami also expressed a panic look when she noticed the calm sea water.
BOOOM!!! BOOOOOOM!! BOOOOOOOOM!!!
Sea kings popped one after another that surrounded the Going Merry. Unlike the original story, the Going Merry wasn't lifted by a titanic sea king.
Seeing more than a dozen sea kings, the Strawhats almost had a heart attack. Especially those towering sizes that even Luke showed a hint of surprise.
Luke was sure that any of these creatures can decimate a fairly sized island alone if it goes on a rampage.
"FOOOOD....!!!!?"
"Ahhh!" Luffy suddenly covered his ears when he heard that loud sound while the rest of the Strawhats didn't hear a thing.
"What's wrong, Luffy?" Nami asked with concern seeing Luffy rolling on the floor.
Luke also found it odd. In the original story, this action of Luffy is clearly a sign that he heard those sea kings talking to one another. Perhaps maybe due to Luffy's power improvement that he's able to hear these humongous creatures.
He didn't want this opportunity to slip away. While the Strawhats restrained the movements out of fear, he walked up front.
Swish!
Luke reached a hand to the nearest cloud which puzzled the crew. He then compressed the cloud to match the size of their sail and formed it into fan blades.
He gave it one hour of lifespan using his Soul Soul power and also without creating any facial features. He decided that most of his creations will likely to not have any facial features in the future, only sentient things that follows command.
"Nami, command this fan blades. We can use it up to one hour at most so use it well. Just point a place and it will listen to you and does it's job." Luke explained as he let go of the fan blades.
Nami instantly got the idea as she immediately went to work. After setting a direction, she then commanded the fan blades made out of cloud to start it's job.
The fan blades started spinning that gives appropriate force of air as it pushes the Going Merry out of the encirclement of sea kings.
"HHHMM..???"
The sea kings finally noticed the Going Merry moving away as their eyes lit up.
"Go on. I'll catch up later." Luke levitated in the air as he stayed behind to protect the crew. His eyes were shining bright thinking how much soul power he could harvest this time.
*****
A/N : Disclamier : I modified Soul Soul power a bit. Those who noticed it, good. Those who don't, just enjoy reading.