Lara's POV;

“Thanks again for helping, painting this ship with only us four would have taken quite long”, I said in thanks to the windmill guy. He was called Gen by Nami and Nojiko, but windmill guy, the name Luffy gave him, is better.

“Nah, don't mention it. You and the boy saved us from Arlong and stopped the marines from taking Nami's treasure. But are you sure you want to leave the marines alive? They will report what has happened here. Killing a marine captain, even a piece of shit like this rat is nothing to laugh at”, said windmill guy in concern.

“No problem, we would have gotten a bounty either way, just for stopping them. This merely raises the amount”, I waved him off.

This morning the villagers saw how Johnny, Yosaku and I were painting the ship, while Lia began to reconstruct it to her liking. They decided to help and now our ship was no longer in the blue green colours of the marines, but a very dark blue, almost black.

But not only the colour changed. We also painted the ships name, Shadow, on it. The sails no longer had the seagull and we gave the useless stuff to the marines that were still on the island. They did not protests and were thankfully quiet. We took a few uniforms from them, you never know when you might need one.

“Take care of her for me, will you? She needs some friends”, said windmill guy suddenly.

“She hasn't said yes yet”, I replied. But her verbal acceptance was only a question of time. Nojiko was looking longingly at the ship or us. She also spoke with Nami a lot. Nami and the Straw Hats will depart tomorrow, we will do the same.

“Here she comes, don't forget what I said”, said windmill guy suddenly. He then left and Nojiko stopped next to me. We both looked at the now black ship for a moment.

“Did you mean what you said? That I can come with you?”, she asked and looked at me.

“Yes, we would need someone that will be our navigator. Lia and I can navigate a bit, but it's not our strength. We would be glad to have you with us”, I answered.

“Then I'll come with you, for adventures and seeing the world”, she declared.

“It will become dangerous, we will be labelled as pirates and hunted. There won't be any serious danger for now, but you have to know that it will get deadly without training”, I reminded but she was serious and nodded in acceptance.

“I'm not much of a fighter, but I always were good with a gun or rifle”, she said.

“Good, Lia is our sniper, she can teach you how to use them better. And there are some strange guns we picked up on our way here, they might be the right thing for you”. I was thinking about our Dial weapons while saying that. The stronger ones were not useful for her, yet. But she should be good with a normal one. They have an unlimited ammo, are precise and can be changed into elemental weapons with a Dial change.

“I'll do my best”, assured Nojiko, her eyes held a strong determination.

“I count on it. By the way, we should be able to do the same as the Straw Hats and plant a few of your orange trees on our ship. And, because we are cooler, you can take more of them with you”, I then said and Nojiko was gone within a blink. She grabbed a few villagers and pulled them along to her house.

“So she's coming with you? Good for her, she would have been bored and lonely”, said Nami who suddenly appeared next to me.

“Yup, and guess what she is our navigator as well”, I replied.

“Then I better give her some of my notes, she is not as good as I”, said Nami with a light frown.

“That would be nice, but Lia and I also found a book that teaches how to navigate”, I thanked her for the offered help.

“Really? May I look into that? Don't want to have her read something useless”, asked Nami. Her tone said that she was both doing what she said and curious about the book herself.

“Only because you're her sister”, I agreed and we both walked up the plank to the ship. Better not tell her anything about the worth of the book. Nami might be Nojiko's sister, but she is also Nami.

We reached the captain's cabin, a room that Lia already decorated for us. There was a copy of each mastery book we have, the real ones are safely inside our inventories.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Here, this one”, I said and gave Nami the copy. She opened it and skimmed over the first few pages, before promptly sitting down in one of the chairs and started reading.

“Eh, Nami? You know that it's rude to read someone else book in her room while ignoring the person?”, I asked with a wry grin.

“What? Oh sorry. It's just, this book...it is so good. The things that are written in it, how easy it is explained and what the author looked out for. So much small details that are all important. Where did you get it? If everything in it is as good as the start then you will be able to sail the world without problems”, she said while holding the book at her chest. She did not look like she wants to let go.

“Loguetown as a second-hand book in a small book store. There are no other exemplars. Now would you kindly give the book back? Nojiko might tell you about it in a Den Den Mushi call. We can give you our number”, I answered and held my hand out. Nami looked at it as if she does not know what I wanted but gave me the book with a sad sigh.

“Farewell oh mastery of navigation”, she mourned. Heh, if she knew how true her sentence was.

“Well then, there is still stuff to do. Like buying some more chicken. I'm sure some of the other stuff can be put out of the fridge”, I said and pulled her out of my room. Fearing that she might come up with some strange ideas.

“You're like Luffy if it comes to chicken”, laughed Nami.

“Luffy is a glutton, I am a gourmet. Only the finest chicken is good enough and chicken made by Lia is truly the best”, I said matter of factly.

“Yes, your sister is really good at cooking. Sanji is praising her none stop, between all the love declarations”, agreed Nami wryly.

“Sanji will die before he touches my sister or me. Lia is mine!”, I grumbled.

“Yours? Like in what?”, asked Nami with a raised eyebrow and already slight blush.

“Like in mine, she is mine and I am hers. We share everything and are together forever”, I answered. Nami's slight blush turned full force.

“But you are siblings”, she protested weakly.

“So? There's nothing that can happen. And I assure you I am better than any wannabe lover to her”, I said with a raised eyebrow. It was funny to see her all flustered.

“Did you not play with Nojiko? I mean you both were alone at your home”, I asked and a slight trickle of blood left Nami's nose. For real? Hot!

“N..no, Nojiko did not do anything...”, she denied without looking me in the eyes.

“Uhu, if you say so. I am not someone to judge. Rubbing each other's scratches is not something bad”, I assured. Nami only nodded weakly and left the ship in a slight daze and with a red face.

“Why is Nami so red? Did she eat something strange?”, asked Luffy. He jumped up on our ship to look around.

“A memory of her time with Nojiko. You might want to ask her, perhaps it has something to do with meat”, I answered with a grin.

“Okay”, agreed Luffy before jumping off of the ship and running towards Nami. He then asked something with wide hand movements and Nami turned redder than before and hit him across the streets.

“That was not really nice”, chided another person. This time it was Zoro, is today go and meet Lara day?

“But funny”, I countered. Zoro snorted in agreement and then eyed me and my sword.

“I want to fight you, but know that you are stronger than me. Can you tell me how?”, he then asked and stepped next to me. We both watched how Nami was beating Luffy for some time.

“My dad is a swordsman. He was born in the second half of the Grand Line, fights are way more dangerous there. Once he found out that Lia and I had eaten Devil Fruits he was dead set on training me. You must know that my fruit allows me to let my blade vibrate. It can cut through most anything by now. Stone, steel, diamond you name it  and I should be able to cut it”, I told him when the silence got annoying.

“I see, and your strength? You are strong, physically strong”, he asked then.

“Oi Lia, can you please add a fifth of our training pressure on me and Zoro?”, I shouted upwards to the orange trees that Lia was helping with. A second later I felt the pressure and how it got harder to stand, but only a little bit.

Zoro was on his knees and needed a few tries to stand up again.

“I see, impressive. I see how this helps. Any tips?”, he asked. Zoro is cool, not shy to ask for training tips but still with some pride if it comes to fights. And he's not discriminating others.

“For you? Weights and speed, you don't look like you are into evading and strength is needed for blocking. Just don't block every attack, someone like me will just cut through your blades, and never ever let someone grab your blade. Also, try to learn how to cut metal. Just remember that you have to cut and not cut at the same time”, I advised. He might have an easier time against Mister 1 this way.

“Grab my blade? You do know that they are sharp, do you?”, he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course I do. Let me show you, attack me with your sword”, I said and he looked me, waiting for the joke. When no laughter came he shrugged and unsheathed his sword. He waited for another moment, just in case I was joking and then attacked when nothing came.

His attack was a downwards slash like it was from Tashigi, but his was for an easy evasion in case I did want to evade. I just raised my hand, coated it in Haki and stopped the blade at its fastest point.

It stopped without doing anything and Zoro tried to pull away, yet I didn't let him.

“See? Now I have your sword. I know that you use three, but there are people who can now break it, by a hit on the side. Or use some Devil Fruit to destroy it. In my case I can break it or do this”, I explained as if I had no weapon of death trying to cut into my flesh and let my vibrations seep into the sword.

They were not designed to destroy the sword, but I heated it up somewhat so that Zoro would notice.

“I can increase this until your sword starts to meld, I could also flash freeze it and make it brittle”, I continued and let his sword go. I cooled it slowly and he nodded in thanks once it was cool enough to be sheathed.

“I see, I'm going to be careful. But first I need better swords”, said Zoro before leaving. Now, where is the rest? Johnny and Yosaku were helping Nojiko carrying the trees, Lia was planting them. Ussop was telling some children a story, Sanji in the middle of the meal preparations and Luffy was gone, as well as windmill guy. Probably having a talk.

Well, might as well help Lia with the plants. I can use my vibration to loosen the earth up.

“Need some help?”, I asked Lia.

“Not really, but you can make the bath bigger. I want a bathtub that is large enough for four people”, replied Lia. I gave her a peck on the lips and went to Ussop. He should be somewhat useful with such things.

“Hey Ussop!”, I called out. The long nosed teen jumped a little and only quivered slightly when he turned around. I'm sure he's of the long-nose-tribe, someone with such a nose has to be.

“Yes?”, he asked unsurely.

“Why are you so afraid? I won't kill or maim you”, I asked. He should be over this by now, I allowed him to have some chicken. That is a clear sign of friendship.

“Who says I'm afraid?”, he accused, I simply pointed at his legs.

“Okay, sorry. It's just, you took out all these fishmen so easily and even Sanji was down with one hit”, he said while scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

“So? Both Sanji and Zoro could have done the same. You have to differ between ally and enemy”, I replied.

“Yes, I know, I'll try. What did you want anyway?”, he asked, trying to change the topic, with which I was fine.

“Lia asked me to enlarge the bath of our ship and I wanted to ask if you could help me”, I answered.

“Sure, let captain Ussop to this job. I have made millions of baths, one finer than the other”, he proudly declared. I was too amused to call him out on his lie.

“Really? Then I'm sure that you don't even need my help. I would only stand in your way. It has to be big enough for four people, thanks”, I said instead and left the gaping liar behind.

A sun bath will be good now, and then some chicken from Lia. Work was so hard, a girl has to rest.