Chapter 5 - Chapter 5

As I sat down on the stool ,Rayleigh sat beside me dressed in the clothes he wore on the crew's last adventure before they went to Laugh Tale. He seemed somewhat sad although ,you wouldn't see that kind of emotion on him on a regular day if you truly know him. Shakky passed two glasses that were filled with wine a couple of seconds later as we drank in silence. A couple of minutes later, Shakky left to restock which left me with Rayleigh in silence. He took a long sigh before he spoke , " although i'm glad you came here to see me, why are you here shanks. Shouldn't you and Buggy be sailing out there in the seas?" I took a moment before responding,'' I'm here to train my haki and swordsmanship to the next level. Being a pirate can wait for a couple more months as I get stronger. Not like the sea will suddenly get dry or run away. As for me and buggy sailing together ,well I asked him a month before I departed from Loguetown and as you can predict he refused to join me. I'm here to get strong and skilled enough to sail the waters of the new world on my own for a short while.'' He seemed surprised for a moment before humming for another minute. He took a sip of his wine as he seemed to contemplate and reminisce at the same time for a moment before he smiled. He then asked " For how long, how long do you want me to train you then?" . I took a long sip of my glass of wine before responding " Six -Months. That should be enough for me to at least learn one form of advanced haki". A moment after that slipped out my mouth ,he laughed ,before responding in a jovial tone '' Now now, don't let arrogance get through your head for learning the basics at the age of fifteen shanks. Learning advanced forms of haki and swordsmanship takes a long time.'' I smiled at his statement, anticipating his future surprised face when I awaken an advanced form of haki before I said " Alright, let's make a bet. In six months, if I awaken at least one advanced form of haki, you coat my current ship for free and I get information on strong pirates that are roaming the new world right now." It took a moment before he responded with a " and if you don't?'', and i said " ninety million berries. Which is all the money I have right now." a look of hesitation flashed across his face for an instant before he resoundingly responded with a joyful " your on." And that was how my first meeting with the dark king himself ended, in a bar sipping some wine after a bet. Before my training started, i went to the docks where my ship was and moved it near shakky's bar. She was amused after coming back and hearing about my bet with Rayleigh . She promised to look after my ship as Rayleigh and I went to some shops to get some supplies that would help with my training. He bought things like blindfolds and some other miscellaneous supplies that would help with training my senses. I on the other hand bought some extra clothes as i did not fancy wearing the same clothes for a whole six months. I also bought some fishing supplies just in case. Our last stop was buying weighted clothes which I was surprised was a thing in this world. My surprise didn't last long as I pondered on the reason the world government and the marines would allow these to be sold to the general public and most likely pirates. Then I had to remind myself that this is the world government we were talking about and they probably had some shady reason for it. After buying all we needed, we went back to my ship as Rayleigh said I would be training on two islands during the six months. He said I would spend three months on each. I was surprised for a moment before i just shrugged and dreamily imagined myself fighting strong pirates in the new world and clashing with the marines in the future with a smile.