"So, you became the captain of a single, shitty merchant ship despite all of that?" The strange woman asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"Yeah... My boss isn't exactly one to believe in meritocracy." I said, somewhat ashamed. Truth be told, if I wasn't forced to, I would never have been working with lord Kraig anyway.

"That's messed up." The woman said as she looked up. I followed her gaze and found myself lost in the beautiful night sky too.

I was born a stable boy. My father had been a nameless slave, and like one, he died without me ever meeting him. The only reason I'm not still a slave is that I was lucky enough to find a devil fruit by complete luck, and thanks to its powers, I escaped my owners.

However, since then, I have always been on the run. I have worked for several bosses, with lord Kraig being the latest one. He took me in since he was interested in my powers, and then sent me on a mission. I later discovered that our unit was actually spotted by marine scouts, and I was somehow recognized.

Hence, now, if I was to ever leave the safety of Kraig's gang, the marines would quickly catch me and either execute me or throw me in prison. 

I was pulled out of my thoughts by a question from the strange woman, who had gone ahead and got herself another of the fishes from the fire. "I'm interested in that devil fruit of yours. I've heard a lot about them, but I still want to hear the opinion of a flesh-and-blood user before I pick one for myself."

I was stunned for a second at her question. For a second, I wanted to ask her what she meant by 'picking'. You don't choose a devil fruit, the devil chooses you. However, I didn't want to overstep my boundaries.

"Well... It's not really that amazing. They make you a specialist of sorts, for example, during battles I would usually use my barriers to protect our ship when barrages from enemy ships fired or otherwise I would use them in hand-to-hand combat as excellent counters... Every fruit is different though, so I can't really talk about the entire devil fruit community." I said, somewhat awkwardly. I still wasn't used to talking with women, and I was still somewhat confused about just how I survived.

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As I just said, I'm a devil fruit user. I can't swim at all, so, how did I somehow end up on that large plank? I grasped my throbbing head and tried to calm down. Forcing myself to remember wouldn't lead to anything good, and besides, it doesn't really matter. I'm alive, and that's all that matters.

 "Kid... I'll tell you this only once, so listen well." The woman said as she rose up from her position on the highest point of the rock.

We looked into each other's eyes, and I could see that she was seriously considering something, and unfortunately, I knew what that something was. Keep me, or leave me.

"I am trapped in this island, as are you. Our only way to leave is by killing all of the island's kings, and I am only barely as strong as the weakest of them all. Your powers interest me, so I will not leave you to die. However..." She paused as she looked at me for any reactions.

I smiled nervously, not knowing what to say. In truth, this wasn't even the worst thing that happened to me, so I wasn't particularly perturbed.

"... Mhm. You're no normal kid. How old are you anyway?" She asked. I thought about it for a bit, since I don't really keep track of my age. "I think I'm 17? I don't know exactly when I was born though." I answered after giving it a moment of thought.

"Good. Go get some sleep, there's a bed in the house, you can use it for tonight, but after that, it will belong to me and me alone. I don't have any real rules set here, just don't do anything stupid. We wake up at dawn and will train till midday. We will take a break then and hunt ourselves some food, then we'll go back to training. Good luck." She jumped off the rock and walked towards the forest.

I kept my eyes on her for a bit, only taking them off after she disappeared into the forest. So many questions I wanted to ask, and yet, I didn't dare to. I knew that something was off about her the moment I saw her, but now that I've got to interact with her for a bit, I'm just confused.

Outside, she seems like a weirdo. However, inside... I don't know. I saw certain glimpses of madness a couple of times, for example, the way her eyes turned crazy for a moment at the mere mention of training and when she mentioned the bosses. 

But she also seemed to care about me. I know she doesn't have another bed prepared, and for her to leave the bed to me, someone she's just met... Ugh, I don't know. God damn women.

"Perhaps she likes me?" I wondered, before slapping myself. I seriously have to stop daydreaming.

After checking everything was safe and cleaned up, I headed to the very small hut. Inside, there was a mass of furs and feathers, probably the bed. There was also some weapons along the sides. Nothing fancy, but still better than what we had in the ship.

It didn't take me long to fall asleep. I don't know what I dreamed, but for some reason, when I woke up, I felt strangely refreshed, in a way I never experienced before.