Lara's POV;

“What do you mean they are already here? We left Whisky Peak not even a day ago”, asked Nojiko frightened.

“This, mimimi, this might be a supply ship. We received one of them weekly. They were already late. So they might not know about us yet and ignore us.” Igaram's words were ended with a hopeful smile, which shattered by the sounds of cannon fire.

“Or they see us as a target and attack”, finished Jo lamely.

Hehe, time to play captain. “Okay guys, this is our first naval fight. I want Jonny, Jo, and Yosaku at the cannons. Nojiko you're responsible for evasion, Lia, help her with the wind and hinder the enemy. While I take care of the incoming cannonballs. Igaram, well, you can help the guys”, I ordered and everyone sprung into motion.

Our ship has six cannons on each side with another two at the front and the back. They were standard issue cannons, so nothing fancy. Something we will definitely change in the future.

Only Nojiko, Lia, and I were on deck now. Nojiko sprinted behind the oar and set another course that would move us directly at the incoming enemy ship.

It was a pirate ship, a little bit bigger than ours. There were three large cannons aimed at us with three cannonballs already in the air. However, Lia has already added her Devil Fruit power to our sails and ship. The Shadow's speed started to increase unnaturally fast.

The attack missed us by a few hundred meter, an explosion and three big splashes were the only results that they got. The Baroque Work ship tried to change its own course so that they could shoot again. But Lia was already pushing their ship away. They got slower and were not able to turn around. Doing this was still hard for her, but nothing compared to the stress she had while manoeuvring the Shadow for hours through the currents near Rivers Mountain.

It took us only a few minutes to align ourselves with them. “FIRE!” My loud order was promptly executed and four cannons were fired from our starboard side. Our speed let us rush past the enemy vessel and two of our cannons hit. Two explosions rocketed the enemy ship. Splinters were sent throughout the air and some even embedded into our ship.

Screams of pain were coming from them and they were not able to return fire before we passed them. Their own cannons did shoot but hit only water.

We made a turn by doing a large circle and were now with our port side directed at their rear. Another four cannonballs left our vessel and embedded into the enemy. The cannonballs must have flown almost until the mid half of their craft before they exploded. The top of the ship exploded and more shouts could be heard.

Sadly it seems like it wouldn't come to any boarding action. The explosion must also have destroyed the keel. With a loud splintering noise, the ship got ripped in two halves and began to sink. Its occupants were jumping inside the water or the only lifeboat they had.

Looting a wreck is troublesome and we already had enough supplies from Whisky Peak. Better not wasting time. “Set course to Alabasta, we will ignore them. Good job guys. This was a well-done naval battle.” Loud cheers came from under me and Nojiko smiled while turning the oar around.

Lia gave our sail another push and we were on our way to the desert island.

The next day;

Most of the crew could be found on the deck. Except for Jo, he was inside and reading the medical book. It was the perfect chance for me to tell them about the Devil Fruit. Miss Valentine was inside our corpse folder. Only Mrs Chicken Wing was a witness and she couldn't speak. Not that it looked like she was caring anyway.

The strange hen was acting all high and mighty. She evaded more than ten dozen assassination attempts so far. Lia was trying to squash her once, I tried to cook her a few times with a blast of vibration, Jo threw a scalpel, I tried to slice her in half with my sword, Jonny almost sat on her, I tried to blast her eardrums with a focused sound wave, Nojiko tried to shoot her and lastly I tried to strangle her.

But she just won't get hit. And then she would flutter up, whack us on the head with her wing and cluck a few times while strutting away. Yes, this hen could strut. She was not walking like a chicken should. At least she was clean. She used the bath like everyone else and ate from a plate like the rest. A strange chicken indeed. Are there more of her on the Grand Line? A whole race of chickens like her?

“Sis Lara, is something wrong? You look pale”, asked Yosaku from my side. We were training our normal routine. Meaning lifting weights under pressure from Lia, with me and Lia also using our seals to further increase the strain.

I squashed this frightening thought and shook my head. “No nothing, by the way, Lia and I found something in our fruit bowl yesterday night”, I said instead.

The rest, meaning Nojiko and Jonny, were now looking as well. “What was it?”, asked our navigator.

“A Devil Fruit must have come from one of Whisky Peak. We think it was from this lemon styled woman. She was the only one who got killed and there was no other with a Devil Fruit”, I answered and walked inside before coming back with said fruit.

“Does anyone want to eat it?”, I asked and showed them the large fruit. All of them looked a little interested, but that interest vanished quickly.

“Nah, I don't think her strength will be useful to me, from what you have told us”, came from Nojiko. True, she had no use for it.

“I don't want to lose the ability to swim, what if you or Lia were falling into the sea? I wouldn't be able to help then”, reasoned Jonny. I looked at Yosaku, the one we initially thought to have the most use for it.

“Same reason, we need people to be able to swim”, he answers. Well, I won't force him. A pity might have been good to not kill her this quickly. But meh, what's done is done.

“Fine then, we will keep it for now and sell it at the next possible auction.” With a shrug, I walked back inside and put the fruit in my inventory. Would have been nice to have someone that can increase and decrease the weight of something. Like making our ship as light as a kilo, then we would have a flying ship. After that we need only some mist and scary music and finished is the flying ghost ship. Maybe Lia can do that too, once she is strong enough. Lifting the ship up might be possible, but not sailing the wind.

A moment later I was out again and we continued with our physical training. After that came the Devil Fruit training. I was trying to make music, not the easy techno version, and Lia was pushing the ship forward.

Nojiko was reading in the navigation book, Jo was still impressed with the medical book and the other guys were sparring against each other. Both of them were already faster and stronger than they were at the start. Maybe as strong as Zoro was when he was at Arlong Park.

I don't think they ever will be stronger than him, nor will Nojiko be a better navigator than Nami. Jo's medical knowledge was more in the form of surgery and not sickness. Lia is definitely a better sniper than Ussop, just not as versatile.

And both of us were also stronger than every one of the Straw Hats together. Zoro is not as good with the sword as I, yet. Luffy would be killed by Haki, sea stone pebbles, or pulverised organs and Sanji was physically weaker than both of us.

But we were used to training really hard and both of us have experience in fighting for millennia. They will grow stronger, as will our crew. But I think we need something for Jo soon. His scalpels won't help him in the late game.

So I stopped with my music attempts, they sounded more like screeches than a guitar and walked to our medical bay. That was Jo's favourite place. Most of the time he was reading in the medical book.

I knocked on his door and stepped inside when he called, “Jo, can we speak about your fighting method?”

He raised an eyebrow and put the book down. “Sure, what do you want to speak about.”

“How skilled are you truly with your scalpels?”, I asked in a serious tone and sat down on one of the beds.

Mrs Chicken Wing came fluttered inside before the door could close. I sent a weak Rankyaku at her, enough to decapitate her, but not enough to damage the wooden floor. As expected, she evaded it with a jump, stretched her wings out and sat down in my lap. I was seriously tempted to attack her again but knew that she would evade.

So I started to pet her feathers, they were soft and I liked soft things.

“Strange chicken”, muttered Jo with a chuckle. He looked up from Mrs Chicken Wing and back at me. “Well, I am good enough to target the weak points in a human body. I am also able to use poisons on them, this is what I am doing here actually. This book you gave me has a lot of different cures and poisons”, he then said and patted the cover of the medical book.

“That's good, but I think it won't be enough. At least not when we travelled some time on the Grand Line.”

He nodded with a frown. “That's true, I never ventured far on the Grand Line and tried to stay inside the blues. What do you suggest I do? Eat this Devil Fruit you've found? Sorry, it's not a strength made for my preferences.” Yes, that's obvious. Increasing his weight won't help him, decreasing might, but that could be achieved in a different way.

“I think you have to start training with us as well. When your body is ready we will start on Haki and the six marine skills. I don't think you will ever be a frontline fighter. Your part will to be behind the lines and treat the wounded. The training is only there to defend yourself”, I explained.

He nodded in understanding and agreement. “I knew that the doc has to be the last to go down. I planned to join you anyway. This book of yours is just so damn fascinating. It is as if every possible cure and illness are written in it”, he joked, not knowing that he was probably right. Any illness that existed the moment we got it is written in it. Any new one not.

“Good, we'll start tomorrow then.” With that said I stood up, tried to break Mrs Chicken Wings neck, got scratched by her evasion, and then left the room. I will eat this bird. Even if it is the last thing I do!

Backup on the deck I was called over by Nojiko. “Lara, we need some spare sails, Lia is damaging them with her power too fast. According to your book, there should be an island nearby. It should not be hard to use the map with the eternal Alapasta pose in combination to find it. Can we stop by?”

“Sure, we are ahead of the plan anyway. Lia might destroy the sails, but it brings us forward way faster. What is the island called?”, I agreed with a shrug.

She looked into her book for a moment, before answering. “Shipstand Island I think. It's a common shipyard for most smaller ships.”

So Shipstand Island it is, they will have a lot of sails, might be good to stock up on them.