"Where did you get that sword, captain?" Byron asks as we make our way down the reverse mountain's northern waterway. "And what's that golden box in your hand?" he adds, looking confused.

"This is my new sword, Triton," I reply with a smirk. "And this is a devil fruit," I add, opening the box's lid.

"But I just saw you use your Katana a couple of minutes ago," Byron remarks, looking even more confused. "And I don't remember us finding a new devil fruit," he concludes, causing everyone who hasn't noticed already to nod while looking at me strangely.

"That's a secret," I replied while shaking my head. "I might tell you guys about it later, but not today," I explain, easily shrugging off the matter.

"That's good enough for me," Wilson remarks from the side while sipping from some alcohol bottle.

"I'm somewhat curious, but I can wait," Laffite said with a smile as he returned his attention to steering the black pearl.

"I don't care," Bob said while shrugging his shoulders, causing everyone to roll their eyes at his predictable answer.

Elly, Byron, and Kozue still seemed curious, but they let it go, merely shrugging their shoulders.

"So, captain, what kind of devil fruit is that?" Elly asks while looking at the watermelon-like fruit sitting inside the box in my hand.

"It's the Mishu-Mishu paramecia type devil fruit," I remarked as I threw away the box, holding the fruit in my hand instead. "It allows whoever eats it to control the density of his body and whatever he touches," I added with a smile.

"So it can make people you touch fat?" Wilson asked with a blank expression, scratching his head. "Isn't useless then?" he concludes, nodding his head.

"Rehahaha, no, it doesn't work that way," I reply with a laugh. "By increasing the density of an object, you make it heavier and more durable without changing its size," I explain while raising a finger.

"And by decreasing its density, you make it lighter," I added as I raised a second finger. "And if you can lower the density of an object low enough, the object can even phase through other solid objects," I concluded, lowering my fingers.

"That sounds useful," Elly said with a smile. "You have no idea!" I replied, an even broader smirk on my face.

Basically, anyone who ever read a superhero comic of any kind or looked through superpowers on the internet should know about the endless possibilities of manipulating density.

It's so enticing that I began considering eating it as soon as I laid my eyes on it. When I first came to this world, I had intended to take Enel's thunder fruit or even Whitebeard's tremor fruit, but now..., now, I've changed my mind.

"What are you going to do with it then, Johnny?" Wilson asked, still looking uninterested in the fruit.

"I'm going to eat it, right here and now!" I replied, cutting the fruit in half and scraping as little off as possible from its core.

I then promptly swallow the small piece without chewing and wince in disgust at the foul taste that lingered in my mouth, despite not chewing the damn thing.

Suddenly, I feel heat in my stomach, and that heat begins coursing through my veins, spreading all over my body and changing it in the process.

The heat reaches my left prosthetic arm, slowing down, but that only lasts for a second as a metallic, spherical lump forms on the back of my hand, falling to the ground as the heat engulfs my entire arm.

It doesn't take long for the heat to reach my head, and I feel a surge of instinct-like information in my head about how to use my new power.

The heat then covers the rest of my body, finally settling down inside my heart.

"Now then, let's what we have here," I remark, taking a big mouthful of whisky, rinsing my mouth with it, and spitting it out to get rid of the devil fruit's taste.

I begin by lowering the density of my body, and it responds, slowly becoming more and more weightless. "Woah!" I exclaim as my body suddenly begins floating in the air.

I began increasing my density again, but my lack of control caused me to overdo it and fall towards the black pearl's deck with enough weight to put a hole in it.

I react quickly by pushing myself to fall into the water instead of the ship with Geppo steps and promptly crash feet first into the seawater.

"Quick, someone go and get Johnny. He ate a devil fruit, so he can't swim now," Wilson exclaims while pointing at the seawater.

"Calm down, big guy," I say as I launch myself out of the water with Geppo, which was a lot more difficult because of my increased weight and adjusting my body's density back to normal.

"Why aren't you drowning?" Wilson asked with an incredulous look on his face that the rest of my crew shared with him. Even the usually stoic and uncaring Bob seemed to be surprised as well.

"You guys know how devil fruit users are cursed by the sea, so they can't swim or use their abilities underwater?" I ask with a smile, causing everyone to nod while looking at me with wrapt attention.

"Well, I can't be cursed because the sea fucking loves me," I explained with a shameless smile. "I still can't use my abilities while underwater, but I can still swim," I concluded.

"I don't buy it!" Wilson said with a scowl, promptly jumping into the sea to see if we were pranking him about the fact that he can't swim or something.

"Mistakes were made," Wilson said with a downcast expression as his body hit the water and he began feeling weakened.

I merely chuckled as I swooped in and picked him up, tossing him back into the ship. "Like I said, I'm loved by the sea, so don't try this at home, kids," I remarked with a shit-eating grin while looking at the depressed Wilson.

"It looks like I'll need some practice to get used to this new power of mine," I say with a sigh as I land back on the black pearl's deck.

'I should focus on changing the density of objects instead of my body, for now, to avoid hurting myself or breaking the black pearl,' I think to myself with a sigh. 'I'll begin learning to change my own density when we reach land, I guess.'

"Someone get me a couple of cannonballs, but not the exploding ones," I say with a thoughtful expression, causing Byron to go into the lower decks, coming back with four cannons rounds.

"Here you go, captain," Byron said, handing one of the cannonballs to me while placing the others on the ground.

I hold the cannonball in my hand and turn to look at the walls of the reverse mountain, promptly throwing it at one of them, and nod as the cannonball lodges itself inside, creating a circular hole in the process.

I picked up another ball and began increasing its density, promptly throwing it when it became a little too heavy, watching as it impacted the wall, creating a gigantic crater. Still, the projectile was a lot slower this time, which means someone can easily dodge it.

'I'll need to adjust the object's density right as it leaves my hand to achieve the same amount of speed without compromising weight,' I think to myself as I pick up another cannonball and do just that.

I watched as the cannonball impact yet another part of the wall with decent speed, creating a smaller crater on contact because I wasn't fast enough to increase its density to a sufficient level.

"Get me all the cannonballs we have,"

-0-

Five days have passed since I ate my devil fruit, and we have reached Spider Miles. I spent the first day practicing changing the density of cannonballs until I got the hang of it, thanks to the ungodly amount of ammunition we took from the marines.

I spent the second day practicing changing the density of my sword Triton, increasing its weight when I swing it down, or decreasing its weight to move it more quickly.

My earlier practice with the cannonballs came in handy, and I figured that pretty quickly as well. Still, a problem did come up, and it was the unfamiliar shape of Triton as I was used to swinging my old Katana Sotiri, causing the swordsmanship to be a little less effective, but it's nothing a good week of practice won't fix.

We reached Spider Miles on the third day, and I began experimenting with decreasing Triton's density to where it would phase through solid objects. I did that by setting up two pieces of wood on top of each other with a gap between them and trying to cut the lower one without scratching the one at the top.

It took me the entirety of the third and fourth day to get the hang of it, but it was well worth it. Merely imagining someone's face when they try to block Triton only for its blade to phase through their defense is making me cackle like a madman.

And so, I finally had the confidence to try changing my own density after learning to change other things' density to a satisfactory level. Still, I did it safely, increasing the density of my skin first to make it more durable and resistant to damage.

I learned that after only an hour or so of trying, and I even had the confidence to take on Laffite's new attack, which was a fiery beam shot from the tip of his cane by mixing Shigan, my impact fist, and the weird technique Kumadori used to create fireballs. (Author's note: Imagine special beam cannon from dragon ball, but fiery instead, and not as destructive.)

I didn't even need Haki to tank the damn thing, but my skin merely inured the penetrative force of the attack with my fire resistance cyber ware taking care of the heat aspect.

On the fifth day, I tried increasing the density of my muscles to make them and, by extension, myself physically stronger. Still, it was easier said than done, but I digress.

Spider Miles was a port town with a waste processing facility, making it the hellhole the anime showed, and then some, with its many factories that were constantly releasing smoke from their chimneys.

Unsurprisingly, it was a breeding ground for corruption and crime, thanks to the influence of the Donquixote pirates who made their headquarters here before, no doubt.

In truth, I did not want to stay on this godforsaken island for even a minute, but I have to endure it for now until Laffite can find the doctor I want to recruit.

That is why we are here, after all, as this place is has a heavy underground presence, and it's the perfect place to look for someone. Still, my patience for this place is running lower and lower with each passing minute, and I might end up giving up on finding Law's exact location and going to Swallow island to scour every inch of it to locate him.

(Author's note: For those of you who don't know or have forgotten, Law ended up on swallow island after Corazon died.)

'Might as well go out and see if this horrid place has anything decent to offer to make my stay here a little more bearable,' I think to myself as I stop my training with a sigh, reverting my muscles to their normal state before I increased their density.

"I'm heading out," I remark in a casual tone, putting on my coat and sunglasses. "Call me if something comes up," I conclude, jumping off the back pearl's railings and into the port.

'This shitty town looks even more awful up close,' I think with a frown, walking through the town's streets that were full of garbage and litter.

My frown deepens as I look at the colossal mountains of junk and scrap that people stacked on the beach in piles. "Hmm?" I hum as I look down on a kid who suddenly pumped into me, picking him up by the scruff of his shirt.

"You're fifty years early to try to pick-pocket me, kid," I say with a smile as I raise him so that our eyes are on the same level. "I don't know what you're talking about," the kid said, crossing his arms in front of his chest while stubbornly glaring at me.

I was about to say something else, but I stopped as I noticed the bruises on the kid's arms and body that his dirty, tattered shirt barely covered. "Who did this to you?" I ask with a frown, gesturing towards the bruises.

"No one! I tripped down and fell," the kid quickly exclaimed, trying to cover his bruises in visible panic. "I see, and what's your name, by the way?" I ask in a calm tone, making no comment about his glaring lie.

"Why should I tell you my name? Are you a child molester or something, old man?" the kid said, continuously glaring at me.

"Now listen here, you little shit," I say, with a vein bulging on my forehead. "I'll have you know that I'm only sixteen, and I have absolutely no interest in children," I add, flicking him on the forehead.

"I only like mature women, alright?" I ask, glaring at the little shit as he rubs his forehead in pain. "So you're a pervert with mom issues," the little shit said, removing his hands from his forehead to glare at me yet again.

'I really want to punch this kid in the face right now,' I think to myself with an exasperated sigh. "How about this? Tell me your name and show me around here, and I'll give you this," I remark, waving a ten thousand Berry note in his face.

"My name is Charles," he said, his eyes focused on the money, causing me to drop him into the ground, and instantly put the Berry note back in my pocket as Charles tried to reach for it.

"Show me around the town first, and then it will be yours," I say while shrugging my shoulders. "There's nothing to see here but garbage, so just look around you and give me my money," Charles replies while pointing at the garbage littering the surrounding roads.

"As I said, show me around the town, and you'll get the money," I state, firmly shaking my head. "But there is literally nothing to see except garbage," Charles replies stubbornly.

"Then show me the different types of garbage around the town," I reply, smiling as his eyes begin to twitch in annoyance. "Have it your way, old man," Charles remarks in an annoyed tone, turning around and gesturing for me to follow him.

Charles and I then move on to tour Spider Miles town, and I have to say that the tour did no favors to my opinions of this place. Not only is the air itself tainted, but the people themselves are no different.

Starvation, poverty, garbage and even more garbage is the only thing to be found or seen in this place with the citizens being more than willing to slit each other's throats over a gold coin.

'I came here expecting the worst, but this place surpassed even my expectation,' I think to myself with a sigh, my eyes trained on Charles's back. 'This is the same place where the town's people murdered Doflamingo's parents, even though they did nothing wrong,'

"Hey, kid," I remark with a sigh. "That's enough, here take it," I say, throwing the ten thousand Berry note to him.

"You should use the money to get out of this hell hole," I say whole looking him in the eye. "Go out to the sea or another island," I add in a grave voice.

"It doesn't even matter where you go. Anywhere is better than this place," I concluded, turning around and leaving. 'It doesn't matter if Laffite ends up finding something or not. We're going to leave this place as soon as he comes back before I end up doing something I'll later regret,' I think to myself as I walk away from Charles, who quickly hides the money in his clothes without replying as he turns to leave as well.

Suddenly, a sound of screaming interrupts my thought chain, causing me to frown as I stop in place, leaning on a wall to light a cigarette, focusing on my ears, and trying to understand what is happening.

-0-

'It looks like Charles's screaming," I think to myself with a sigh as I turn around to walk towards the screaming. 'It probably has something to do with the money I gave him,'

'Might as well help the little shit since I got him into this mess,' I conclude as I reach a dark ally.

"So you really were holding back money us, eh?" a man wearing dirty clothes said while looking down at Charles, who was collapsed on the ground, holding on the ten thousand Berry note for dear life.

"I didn't pickpocket this Berry note. I earned it fair and square," Charles said, curling himself over the ten thousand Berry note protectively as another man tried to take it from him.

"So what if you earned it fair and square?" another man said with a disdainful smile. "We took you in when you were but a child. We fed and taught you to pickpocket people so you can live," the man added.

"And you, you ungrateful piece of shit, won't even share your money with us," the man concluded, walking towards with malic in his eyes.

"It was you, bastards, who forced my friends and me into this situation in the first place," Charles said, moving quickly and biting the hand of the man trying to take the Berry note from him, forcing the man to let go.

"If you people haven't killed Old Jannette, who was taking care of us orphans, then none of us would have to steal for a living," Charles said, tears running down his eyes that were still stubbornly glaring at the men.

"Now they're all dead, and it's all because of you scum, so if you're going to take my money, then do it without spouting such bullshit!" Charles concluded, still glaring definitely as one of the men raised his leg.

"I can say whatever I want you, filthy orphan, because in the end...," The man said with a sinister smile, trailing off, his leg still raised in the air. "No matter what you do, we own you," the man concluded with a blank expression, promptly lowering his leg to stomp on Charles's back.

Still, his leg wasn't even halfway through when a loud bang reverberated in the ally, causing him to collapse on the ground, his expression frozen on his face that had an extra bloody hole in it.

"There two things that I hate the most in this life," I said as I made my way into the island while holding my gun, which still had smoke coming out of its barrel.

"Apples and people who bully children and elders," I said with a blank expression, tilting my head to the side to dodge as one of the two remaining thugs hastily bulled out a gun, shooting a bullet at me.

"Luckily for you people, I don't have time to play, so I'll end it quickly at least," I kept talking while swaying left and right to dodge even more bullets as the second thug retrieved a gun and began rapidly firing at me with his friend.

I didn't say anything else as I reached the first thug, holding his head and bashing it into a building's wall, crushing his skull and killing him then and there.

The last thug looked at this scene in horror and promptly turned around, trying to escape. Still, he only took one step before I shot the back of his two knees, causing him to collapse on the ground while screaming.

I made my way towards him, kicking his hand as he turned around while holding his gun, trying to take another shot, and began dragging him towards Charles, who was looking at me with wide eyes.

I picked up the gun of the second thug and put it in Charles's hand after I helped him to his feet. "Do it," I said with a blank expression while pointing at the only thug who was alive.

"B-But, I've never killed anyone before," Charles said with a shaking voice, turning to look away from the thug as he began begging for mercy. "Yea, well, do you who killed people before?" I asked in a grave voice.

"This guy," I continued before Charles could say anything else. "He probably killed countless people, people just like old Jannette you were talking about," I added, causing Charles to return his gaze to the thug, glaring harshly.

"I saved you this time, but who will save you the next?" I asked while shaking my head. "If you want to live, then you have to rely on yourself and do it with your own power," I continued, watching as Charles's eyes turned red, tears running through them.

"So do it!" I said calmly, turning around and walking away, only to sigh at the sound of a gunshot behind me. "Come find me at the docks tomorrow morning," I instructed in a loud voice, still walking away.

"I'll take to a better place than this shit hole," I concluded, promptly disappearing with a quick Soru step.

I appeared on a rooftop nearby where Laffite was standing with a cheerful smile on his face. "Did you find that person's location?" I ask with a smile.

"I did, and I wanted to inform you of that over the transponder snail, but you didn't have yours with you," Laffite replied with a raised eyebrow, causing me to still as I began checking my pockets.

"I must've forgotten about it. This place is getting into my head," I said while shaking my head. "Good timing, Laffite," I added with a smile.

"I'm happy to help, captain," Laffite said while raising his top hat. "By the way, about that kid...," he remarked while looking down at Charles, who was hurriedly rummaging through the pockets of the dead thugs, taking everything he found.

"What about him?" I ask with a raised eyebrow as I turn to look at Laffite. "Are we taking him with us?" Laffite asked, his tone hesitant, seemingly having something to say about that.

"That, huh? We'll take him and drop him off at the first decent-looking island we come across," I say while shaking my head. "If he does show up tomorrow, that is," I added.

"I may have a soft spot for kids, but it isn't that soft, Laffite," I concluded with an amused voice while looking at my navigator with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not, captain. My apologies," Laffite replied with a smile. "Those thugs work for a local gang. Do you want me to take care of them?" he asked after a brief second of silence.

"Leave them be. The kid can take care of them later if and when he's strong enough to do so," I reply, shaking my head with a smile.

"Now, why don't you tell me about what you found when you were digging around while we make our way back to the black pearl?" I ask as I turn away from Charles, who took everything he could carry from the thugs' corpses, promptly felling the scene.

-0-

"A guy handing out explosive apples to people, you say? I say while listening to Laffite talk about the rumors he'd heard while looking for Law as we make our way back to the black pearl.

"Now that sounds scary," I remark with a disgusted scowl, jumping from one rooftop to another alongside Laffite as I do. "I heard he's an excellent doctor too, so I thought you might want to know about it, captain," Laffite replied with a smile.

"Do you what's the only thing that is worst than an apple, Laffite?" I ask with a blank expression, still moving through the rooftops. "It's an explosive apple," I say with a shudder, causing Laffite to chuckle.

Just imagining such a thing is enough to make my skin crawl, as if apples weren't evil enough, as they were. The bastard had to go and make them explosive, too. Unforgivable!

"The bastard is on Swallow island too, so we'll see how things turn out there," I concluded with a smile.

-0-

The day passed quickly, with Laffite and Kozue telling the crew and me about all kinds of rumors he heard while looking for Law. Most of these rumors were worthless gossip at best, except for the info about Doc Q and certain weather phenomena that should be native to the grand line.

We all spent the day on our ship as there was nothing to do in Spider Miles except for trash gazing, which is not exactly anyone's idea of a fun time.

I also took the chance to inform my companions about Charles and the fact that he'll be tagging along with us for a while. Though they were surprised, none of them seemed to be against the idea, and Bob even seemed to be interested in the little shit for some reason.

Nothing interesting happened after that, and we spent the rest of the day chatting, playing cards, and drinking, calling it a day early and taking shifts to watch over the ship.

-0-

The morning came before I knew, and we decided to wait for one more hour for Charles to arrive before leaving, leading to the current situation.

"That kid is probably already dead," Wilson said from the side. "Let's hurry up and get out of here," he added with an irritated expression.

"The air here is not right," he concluded with a scowl glaring at the town.

Wilson had spent most of his life on that deserted island in west blue where the air was always fresh and unpolluted, so it stands to reason that he would hate Spider Miles more than the rest of the crew.

He was also a firm believer in the survival of the fittest, which is why he probably disapproved of us helping Charles, even though he didn't say a word about it.

"Calm down, big guy," I remarked with a smile. "We've been here for a couple of days already," I added as I turned to look at the horrid town known as Spider Miles.

"One more hour isn't much," I concluded both to him and myself, as I wanted to leave this place just as bad.

Wilson heard what I said and didn't reply, merely snorting as he took a bottle of alcohol sitting on one of the barrels as he made his way to the lower decks.

Another thirty minutes passed with no trace of Charles in sight, causing me to sigh. 'In truth, I would not have wanted to help Charles as much as I do if he didn't remind me of someone I knew in my past life,' I think to myself while shaking my head.

That person was one of my friends as I grew up in my past life. How Charles acted reminded me of him, always grasping straws and doing his best despite his circumstances.

He was always the black sheep that our parents told us not to associate with, but he had a heart of absolute gold, always sticking to his friends and helping them to the very end.

He eventually died like a dog in the street because of a terrorist attack, and I couldn't even be there for his funeral because my hometown was nothing short of a war zone at the time.

So I had to do something when I heard the little shit's story, but I had to leave the final choice to him because you can't rely on others to live in this world, and he needs to decide that for himself.

Time slowly passes as I reminisce about my past life with a dazed expression on my face, but suddenly some loud voices force me out of my trance, causing me to smile when I see what's causing them.

Charles was running for his life, maneuvering through the crowded port as a dozen or so men chased after him, kicking and shoving everyone in their way.

"Stop right there, you little shit," one man shouted, still running as he pushed people left and right in his pursuit of Charles. "You've killed members of our gang, so there's nowhere for you to hide," the man added.

"Makes this easier on both of us and surrender. That way, I'll only torture you a little before killing you," the man concluded as he stopped running, leaning on his knees and panting.

"Elly," I remark with a grin as I turn to look at Elly while gesturing towards Charles. "On It, captain," Elly replied, calmly taking aim with her rifle and firing rapidly.

The thugs chasing after began falling into the ground with every shot Elly took until there were none of them left standing by the time Charles was standing in front of the ship.

"I made it!" Charles said in between ragged breaths, leaning on his knees to get some rest. "Please get me out of this island!" he exclaimed after catching his breath and straightening his posture while looking me in the eye.

I merely smiled while gesturing for him to get on the ship as I turned around to face Laffite, who was already standing behind the black pearl's wheel.

"Get us out of here Laffite, we have a doctor to find," I exclaimed with a smirk, causing everyone to cheer at finally leaving this depressing island.

-0-

Third person's point of view:

Inside the Marine's headquarters, in Marine ford, the fleet admiral, Sengoku the buddha, can be seen pacing around an empty, dark storage room, seemingly waiting for something or someone.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the room's door, causing the fleet admiral to still suspiciously looking at the door until whoever was on the other side finished knocking in a strangely particular way.

"Who is it?" The fleet admiral asked as he made his way towards the door. "It's me, vice-admiral Stainless," came the reply from the other side of the door, causing Sengoku to sigh in relief, opening the door as he did.

A well-built man, roughly two meters a half tall with a handlebar mustache and a tanned complexion, came inside the room, promptly saluting the fleet admiral with one hand, the other carrying a suitcase.

"Do you have it?" The fleet admiral asked in a grave tone while glaring at the vice admiral, not bothering to return the salute. "Yes, sir," the vice-admiral replied, gulping nervously at the fleet admiral's intense eyes and opening the suitcase as he did, showing its content to Sengoku.

Inside the suitcase was a transponder snail sitting next to a signed poster of Johnny silver hand that promoted his latest and first concert at Kano country.

"Is all of this secrecy really necessary, sir?" vice admiral Stainless asked, sighing in exasperation. "Even if you are the fleet admiral, no one will blame you for enjoying a little music," he added while rubbing his forehead as Sengoku took the suitcase from his hands.

"What do you mean enjoying music, you bastard?" the fleet admiral asked in what clearly was fake outrage. "Are you accusing me of listening to pirate music?" he added while accusingly pointing his finger at the vice admiral.

"I'll have you know that this is precious evidence that we can use to track down an infamous pirate. Do I make myself clear?" Sengoku asked, intensely glaring at stainless again.

"Crystal clear, sir!" the vice-admiral exclaimed while saluting. "Good, and by the way, If I hear people talking about this...," the fleet admiral nodded in satisfaction, ominously trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"I'll send you on an expedition to take down whitebeard!" the fleet admiral concluded with a blank expression, walking past the speechless vice admiral and exiting the room.

-0-

It has been a day since we departed from Spider miles, and Charles has been getting along with the crew quite well. Even Wilson seemed to get along with him just fine, except for the two times Charles scammed Wilson, of course.

Charles being the crafty street kid he was, tried to scam each and every one of us. Still, unfortunately for him, my crew comprised people who were not easy to trick because of their pasts. Almost every one of them had a brush or two with the underworld, except for Wilson, that is.

Therefore, Wilson became a target for the little shit and lost twenty thousand berries after being goaded into unwinnable bets by Charles. And speaking of that, Wilson was being tricked into another wager by Charles right now.

"I bet you ten thousand berries that I can move this berry note from below this bottle without touching or moving it," Charles said with a smug expression while looking at Wilson. He then placed a thousand berry note on a barrel and an empty bottle on top of it with the bottle's neck facing downwards.

"I'm not betting with you anymore. You always cheat," Wilson said firmly, shaking his head with a scowl. "I'll let you go first, and if you can do it before me, then it will be your win," Charles replied, but Wilson ignored him, turning his head to the side and causing everyone to chuckle.

"Why not? You can take back some of your money this way, unless...," Charles asked, trailing off with a grin on his face. "Unless you're afraid you can't do it, of course," he concluded with raised eyebrows while shaking his index finger.

Wilson was about to reply and most likely agree to the wager, but he was interrupted with ship shacking, causing him to swallow his words and prepare himself to act.

The seawater next to the black pearl split open, and a giant purple squid roughly two times bigger than the black pearl emerged from underneath.

"You guys stay back. I'll handle it," I said with a smile as I launched myself into the air, activating the flame thrower on my left prosthetic hand, causing a small tube to emerge on my forearm, spewing flames as it did.

I focused on the flame, which was technically a part of my body thanks to my Bio-Cyber-Ware perk, increasing its density and giving it a distinct shape as it covered my fist.

"Flaming Impact Fist," I shouted, purely out of habit, punching forward and channeling my impact fist through my hand, pushing the flame forward as it took the shape of a fist while rushing towards the squid.

It didn't take long to reach the giant squid and explode right in its face with a loud, fiery explosion, which blew the poor creature's head to smithereens.

I came up with this new move when I was getting my perks and traits updated. It works by increasing the density of the flame while shaping it like a fist and then pouring more fire to create a shock wave launched fire fist that will explode on impact.

Am I ripping of ace's technique? Yes. Do I care? No. Why? Because that shit was cool as fuck, and that's all the reason I needed to do it.

The fact that this movie worked gives me many ideas, but I'll need to do a lot of testing before trying them. I mean, If I can even manipulate the density of fire, what else can I manipulate the density off?

Will I only be able to phase through solid objects? Or will I be able to phase through intangible elements? But that will have to wait until I master the basic abilities of my fruit first.

"How can you fly?" Charles asked in a loud tone with his jaw wide open. "No, more importantly, How can you shoot fire from your hands?" Charles asked again while looking at me like I was some exotic creature.

"Don't be surprised this easily, you little shit," I said with a smirk as I landed in front of him. "The world is wide, and there are many things more incredible and stranger than this," I explained, still smirking as I turned around and made my way to my favorite spot at the deck.

"What could be more incredible than flying and shooting fire from your hands?" Charles asked in a suspicious tone as he followed behind me.

"You'll have to go out to sea and find out yourself if you want to know," I replied with a smile. "Now stop bothering me and go scam Wilson or something," I concluded, shooing him away with a head chop and taking out my whisky bottle to indulge in it.

-0-

Two hours passed after our brief encounter with the giant squid and silhouette of Swallow island, which unironically looked like a swallow bird.

The island clearly got its name from the large, swallow-shaped mountain at the center of what, which was covered in greenery, creating a natural, beautiful image that was a sight for sore eyes after spending so much time in Spider Miles.

Other than the Swallow-shaped mountain, the island itself looked like Swallow, according to all the maps of north blue we could find in Spider Miles.

"Now that's something you don't see every day," I said with a smile while looking at the gigantic mountain in the center of the island. "There's definitely nothing like this in west blue," Laffite remarked, smiling as well while steering the ship.

"Why is this island so green?" Charles asked with wide eyes as he looked at the island. "It's not that this island is too green. It's Spider Miles that's too damn grey," Wilson replied while shaking his head.

"Oh, this will be a pleasant change of scenery after staying in that place for so long," Kozue commented from the side as she raised her head from the smut book she had it buried in.

"We didn't really stay there long, but I understand what you mean," Elly said from the side as she made her way down from the crow's nest. "Spider Miles was definitely an awful place to be in," she concluded with a smile, lazily stretching her limbs as she did.

"Well, lucky for you, we could end up spending a week or more here according to how things go," I said with a smile. "Full speed ahead, Laffite," I instructed in a loud tone of voice, eager to arrive there myself.

"Aye Aye, captain," Laffite replied with a smile as he began shouting instructions about the sails, causing Wilson and Byron to return to their posts on the ship's masts in a hurry.

-0-

"This place looks good, so far," I remarked while looking pleasure town's port, the only township on Swallow island. It looked like your average town, except for the running Swallow bird theme that the residents seem to be going the extra mile to keep.

"Even if pirate scum praise our town, then it doesn't make any one of us Happy in the least," said a tall man wearing what looked like a red police uniform with a sword slung on his side.

Armed men emerged from many places at the docks as soon as the man finished his sentence, threateningly pointing their guns at us with scowls on their faces.

"Since a certain pirate destroyed this town, pirate became no longer welcomed here," the man in red uniform said. "Turn around and leave immediately," he concluded, unsheathing his cutlass sword and pointing it at me.

"And if we don't leave?" I asked with a smirk while looking at the man dead in the eye.

"Then we will kill you all, here and now," the man said firmly, not showing a single shred of hesitation, and I can see the fingers of the men with him tighten on the triggers of their rifles and handles of their swords.

"Johnny, let's get out of here. Even you can't take on so many people," Charles said from the side with a nervous expression as he looked at the men surrounding the port.

I ignored the little shit as Bob immediately acted, giving him a chop on the head and taking him away from the deck.

"How scary," I said in a mocking tone while raising my hand. "But can you really do it?" I asked, my eyes coldly glinting as I unleashed my conqueror Haki, knocking half of the man at the port unconscious.

"Listen," I remarked as I used Soru to appear beside the man in the red uniform. "We're not here to cause trouble, so stay out of our way, and no one will get hurt, alright?" I ask, putting my hand on his shoulder.

"How I'm I supposed to believe anything coming out of the mouth of a pirate?" the man asked stubbornly despite his body that went rigid.

"I don't care if you believe me or not, but just keep one thing in mind," I say as I raise my hand, patting his shoulder. "If I wanted to cause trouble here, no one would be able to stop me anyway," I concluded, walking past him into the town, with my crewmates following behind me.

-0-

A day had passed since the minor incident at pleasure town's docks, and we have had enough time to situate ourselves here. Everyone wanted to get out and explore the island, so I volunteered to stay on the ship since I needed some time to get used to changing my muscles density.

I managed to do it by the end of the day, and I can now change the density of both my skin and muscles.

The changed density didn't need any energy to be maintained because the change is permeant, and I would have to use my devil fruit abilities actively to cancel it.

My muscles and skin's increased density brought a lot of benefits, like increased resistance to damage and durability when it comes to my skin, and the same with my muscles with the added benefit of increased physical strength.

Still, the increased density wasn't without its downsides, like increased weight, which I have to be very careful with, or I'd end up crushing a girl to death if I bedded her with my current weight.

The increased weight also required more stamina to move around, not to mention the enhanced muscle strength that demanded the same as well, but the bright side of it all is that I can use that to train my stamina, so that's that.

At any rate, Pleasure town was the only town on Swallow island, and other than the Swallow theme, which was too exaggerated for my tastes is quite beautiful to behold, Even though I haven't had the chance to explore it yet.

It was also at the foot of the Swallow-shaped mountain, adding more natural beauty to its aesthetic. The town's folk beautifully decorated their houses with flowers and greenery, and the public buildings were no different.

Still, what I was most satisfied with was the fresh air. All in all, this place reminded me of Toroa island, except for the fact that the locals here hated pirates with a passion, evidenced by the warm welcome we received as soon as we reached the island.

"So, you've managed to confirm that law is with an inventor called wolf, but not where exactly they're living?" I ask with a sigh as I listen to Laffite, who was talking about his findings.

"That's right," Laffite said while nodding his head. "The town's folk don't know where Wolf lives, but that police officer, Rudd, the one who was leading the men who ambushed at the port, might know," Laffite explained.

"He seems to be friends with the man after all," Laffite concluded with a smile.

"I see. We can wait for wolf to come to restock at the town or use his friendship with Rudd as a last resort," I said while shaking my head. "We don't want to give him a poor impression about us, just in case he's close to Law," I concluded with a smile.

"What about that evil bastard, Doc Q?" I asked with a scowl on my face, causing Laffite to chuckle. "He's definitely on this island, but he's keeping a low profile for some reason, and I couldn't locate him," Laffite replied with a curious look on his face.

"I'll find him, though. Eventually," Laffite concluded with a confident smirk. "I'm sure you will," I replied with a smile of my own.

'How dependable. Recruiting Laffite was definitely the smartest thing I've done since I came to this world.'

"So, what is this about a pirate destroying the town a couple of years ago?" I ask with a thoughtful look on my face.

"Ah, about that. A pirate called Artur Bacca came to this town a destroyed it while looking for a pirate treasure of some kind," Laffite explained.

"You can see that the town's folk rebuilt this place not long ago by looking at the excellent shape most buildings seem to be in," he concluded while pointing at the port.

"Indeed, they don't look old or damaged at all," I reply while shaking my head. "So who is this Artur Bacca, and what kind of treasure was he looking for?" I asked.

"Artur Bacca is a nobody, a mere loser who couldn't even reach the grand line," Laffite explained in a disdainful tone. "So he came back here to look for legendary treasure left behind by pirate captain called Ladoga who died of illness sixty years ago," he added while pointing at the town.

"He ended up destroying the town, out of frustration or something like that, after he failed to find the treasure," the navigator concluded while shaking his head.

"So, what happened to this Artur Bacca in the end?" I asked, feeling a little curious. "He left the island, as there was no one strong enough to stop him,"

"He ate some Paramecia devil fruit that allows him to change anything he looks at into liquid, which the town's folk couldn't do anything about," Laffite said while gesturing towards his eyes.

"So, he's most likely still out here in north blue somewhere," he concluded.

"Well, no matter. We don't need to concern ourselves with such fools," I remarked with a smile. "We'll get our doctor and check If that weather phenomenon You talked about is real, and get back to the reverse mountain," I concluded as I got up and made my way towards Elly.

"Hey, captain," Elly said with a smile when she saw me approaching her. "Do you need something?" she asked, still smiling.

"Hey, not really. I just wanted to ask about how Charles was doing since he tagged along with you," I replied with a sigh. "Will he be fine if we leave him here?"

"I don't think it will be a good idea to leave him here since the town's people seem to associate him whit us, and they haven't been subtle about their dislike of pirates," Elly replied while shaking her head and heaving a sigh of her own.

"I thought that would be the case," I said with a bitter smile. "No matter, we can drop the little shit off on another island or something," I concluded with a shrug, too lazy to think about it right now.

"It's up to you, captain," Elly said with a smile as I turned to make my way towards Byron and Wilson while waving my hands at her from behind, making her way towards Kozue.

"Yo," I greeted, leaning on the railing next to where they were sitting. "You found anything interesting in Pleasure town today?" I asked with a smile.

"Other than the ungodly amount of bird-shaped trinkets?" Wilson remarked in a questioning tone, letting out a snort of disdain as he did and causing me to chuckle while nodding my head.

"They had a drink called Swallow spirit, but it wasn't that good, so I didn't buy any extra," Wilson explained. "But the food here was good, so this place isn't that bad, I guess," he concluded, taking out a plastic bag and throwing it to me.

"Not bad!" I said with a smile as I opened the bag and took out a piece of barbequed meat, promptly eating it. "What about you, Byron?" I asked while emptying the remaining content of the plastic bag, which had different types of food that Wilson found delicious enough.

"I mostly tagged along with Wilson, so I don't have much to add about the place, but I did separate from him at the end...," Byron replied, trailing off at the end of his sentence with a blissful smile on his face.

"Hm? Are the brothels here any good?" I asked as Byron and I shared a meaningful look, and I suddenly felt a lot closer to the blonde musician, who turned up to be a fellow man of culture (Horny Bastard.)

Byron was about to reply, but he suddenly keeled over to the side, crashing headfirst into black pearl's deck as a rock hit him squarely on the side of his head.

"Don't corrupt the captain more than he already is, you pervert," came Elly's voice from the side as she played with another rock in her hand, with a menacing look on her face.

I looked at that sight speechlessly as Byron adjusted himself and began crawling away with sweat gushing from his forehead, causing Wilson to laugh uproariously.

I merely shook my head and turned around to make my way towards Bob as he was teaching the little shit, Charles, how to fight. "You two seem to be getting along," I remarked with a smile.

"This punk is just so helpless that I couldn't help myself," Bob replied while twirling his mustache with one hand while the other was holding a stick, which he used to adjust Charlie's punching posture.

"Shoulder straight!" Bob exclaimed. "Raise your fist a little higher and bend your knees less," he instructed in a firm tone while using his stick to nudge Charles whenever he repeated the same mistake.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, then," I remarked with a smile as I made my way towards my room, intending to call it a day early to explore the island in the morning.

-0-

It was morning before long, and I woke up feeling refreshed after a night of good sleep. 'Time to explore the island,' I think to myself as I get off my bed, lazily stretching as I do.

I then pick my gear, coat, and my sunglasses as I make my way to the black pearl's kitchen, only to find a warm breakfast already waiting for me.

"Thanks, Bob," I murmur to Bob, who was still busy with cooking for the rest of the crew, earning a simple nod as I take my meal into the upper deck to eat it.

It doesn't take me long to demolish my meal, and I quickly jump into the port after telling my companions I'll be and giving them some instructions.

I first began exploring the town, and although it was reasonably nice looking, it wasn't exactly stimulating. It was a stereotypical peaceful town, with streets that were full of shops and street vendors.

Although most people seemed to be happy enough with smiles on their faces, most of them would frown or look away with scowls as soon I came near them, and I came out expecting as much.

Still, it seems that pirate money was still good money as none of the shop owners and stall owners refused to take mine. The drinks, although diverse with some that I haven't tasted before, were not that great, but the foods were very delicious, and that's where I spent the most money, at food stalls.

Even in my past life, I loved street food, and the first thing I did every time I had the chance to travel to a new country was trying their foods. So I have to say, Swallow island's street food definitely gets a passing grade by my book.

Suddenly as I was strolling through the streets of Pleasure town, my senses flare-up, causing me to turn around, my hands moving quickly and catching rock that was heading straight to my head.

I turn my head to where the rock came from and see a bunch of children, with one child standing in front of the others, the boy's body still frozen in a throwing stance and his eyes wide in shock while looking at the rock in my hand.

I merely smile at the children as I put some strength into my hand, crushing the rock I was holding into fine dust, causing the children to sober up from their shock and begin fleeing in all directions.

'What a bunch of cute little shits,' I think to myself with a smile, shaking my head as I turn around to keep strolling through the streets.

An hour passed, with nothing interesting happening, so I decided to skip seeing the rest of the town and head straight into the forest since I couldn't find anything new.

I reach the outskirts of pleasure town with little fanfare and promptly go into the forest. 'How nostalgic, this forest reminds me of the deserted island where I met Wilson,' I think to myself as I walk through the greenery.

'Minus the Swallow-shaped mountain and plus a lot of gigantic predators, of course,' I smile at how peaceful the forest seems compared to that deserted island. Still, it wasn't like this forest didn't have any predators, but most were normal animals, and they were few in number.

When I say normal, I wasn't talking about their appearance, of course, but their sizes, as all the animals here were a type of some irritating Swallow hybrid or the other.

There were swallow-monkey, swallow-wolf, swallow-squirrel ..., etc. You name it, and this island has a Swallow hybrid of it. It was funny at first, watching so many different Swallow hybrids, but it quickly became dull and irritating.

'I can't even tell if this is weird or not because this is the world of one piece, and what's irritating even more is that I haven't seen one normal Swallow bird so far,'

'At least this island isn't apple-themed. I might end burning it to ashes if that was the case,' I feel my spine tingling because of the image of an apple-themed island that I just put inside my head.

Suddenly, Swallow island seemed a lot more pleasant when compared to the horrible image I created inside my head, which I will doubtfully be able to forget anytime soon.

'Might as well see what this island looks like from the top of that Swallow-shaped mountain.' I think to myself while shaking my head, trying to drive away the horrible image from my mind.

I would have done that if the sound of my transponder snail suddenly ringing interrupted me. "Hello," I briefly greeted as I answered the call.

"Hello, captain." came Laffite's voice from the snail as its face morphed to resemble Laffite's likeness. "Sorry to interrupt, but I managed to locate Doc Q, and he seems to be preparing to leave the island," he added.

"What do you want me to do?" Laffite asked with a curious tone of voice. "Tell me where you are right now and keep him busy until I get there," I answered in a resolute voice as I turned to make my way back to pleasure town.

"Will do, captain," Laffite replied in a cheerful voice and proceeded to inform me about his position, promptly ending the call after.

In truth, I wouldn't mind having Doc q on my crew. Not only is he an excellent doctor, but he's also strong, evidenced by the fact that Blackbeard accepted him into his pirate crew while refusing to consider someone like Jewelry Bonney.

Despite his chronic illness, he has also shown himself to have extraordinary endurance. He withstood a Gura Gura no Mi shock wave from Whitebeard (albeit not a direct hit) and later took a direct hit from Sengoku's shock wave in Buddha form, standing up with only a small amount of trouble.

Doc Q even survived Magellan's venom long enough for Shiryu to administer the antidote. He even seemed to endure it better than the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates, despite his illness.

In my opinion, Doc q might be the strongest out of all Blackbeard's crew if it wasn't for his sickly physique. Still, he had two problems, one of them being the most glaring, which is his love for explosive apples, and the other is his sickness, which might not be so incurable if I take him to drum island and get that person's help as well.

In conclusion, I wanted Doc Q in my crew, but I'll have to have to make sure he gives up this explosive apple thing, and if that doesn't work, then I'll have to kill him then and there, or he'll end up joining Blackbeard in the future.

I had nothing against Blackbeard. In fact, he was one of my favorite characters in the anime, but I don't see myself getting along with him in this life, so I might as well deprive him of one of his future crewmates, one way or the other.

With that reasoning, I quickly make my way to the location described by Laffite, who I find chatting with an oversized sickly-looking man with an unkempt appearance, lying on top of an equally sickly looking and broad white horse.

"So, you are a part of a pirate crew?" Doc Q asks in a wheezing tone, pausing between each word to gasp for breath. "I am," Laffite replied with a smile, nodding his head.

"And you - cough - want a poor sick man like me to meet your captain?" Doc Q asked again, his tone bewildered as he began coughing blood mid-sentence. "That's the gest of it," Laffite replies again, nodding his head.

"And what could your captain possibly want from me?" Doc Q asks, wiping his mouth to clean the blood staining his face. "I want you to join my crew, of course," I stated as I landed in front of Doc Q from the sky after using Geppo.

Doc Q heard my words and seemed to be taken aback by my sudden appearance, causing him to stumble and fall from his horse's back.

"I'm sorry, but can you help me up before we can talk any further?" Doc Q asked with his face planted on the ground with an exhausted look on his face.

"Sure thing," I say with a smile as I pick him up by the collar of his black fur, tossing him onto the horse's back. "Thank you, but as you can see, I've been born with a weak, sickly body, so I don't understand why you would want me to join your crew," Doc Q asked in a confused tone, and I was about to reply, but his horse suddenly collapses on the ground as well, causing me to stop.

"I'm sorry, but my horse is just as sickly as I am. Do you mind helping me again?" Doc Q asks, his face turning even paler.

"Sure," I reply with twitching eyes as I reach under the horse's stomach and help it back up.

"Thank you again. How about I give you an apple as thanks for helping me twice already?" Doc Q said, rummaging around the side of his horse, retrieving an apple basket which he shoved in front of my face.