I feel a lot better, but I can’t move as I’m seemingly wrapped up tight like a mummy. My shaking gets me some attention.

“How are you awake, let alone alive child?” A kind, elderly voice asks me.

I huff as my eyes scan for the voice. An actual doctor, I thought they would have all been hoarded by the nobles. “I’m tough and I’m way too young to die.” I snark back.

“Obviously, otherwise all the torn muscles you have would have caused you to bleed out internally.” He snarks right back.

“How long has it been since the Gray Terminal burned? I didn’t get an answer before I passed out the last time.” I ask back.

“Three days since the explosions rocked the area. You and your brother saved a lot of people with your warnings, though at least eighty percent were either killed or horrifically injured. Nobody knows why this happened.” He says sadly.

“The nobles are the cause. I know a person who has heard all the nobles say that they severely detest anyone who is of low standing. Once I get healed there is someone that I need to find.” I say with some pain starting to come back, making me grit my teeth.

“Boy even with a proper hospital and several really great doctors, it would take years to get anywhere near the road to actually recovery.” He says with sadness in his voice.

Unbeknownst to him however, I have a secret weapon, my mana. My mana has an additional characteristic in this world compared to my prior world, healing assistance. The healing process is slow, but with the bigger channels it will be much more effective. The doctor is saying years and years without a proper hospital, but I give it a month and most of the damage I did to myself will be gone.

Ace takes this moment to come into the treatment area, his foot wrapped in a brace so that he can walk, but all I have eyes for is the huge platter of meat that he is carrying, my stomach choosing that moment to roar in agreement.

Ace laughs at the sound and laughs some more as he realizes that I can’t feed myself right now. He tries to dangle the meat in front of me just out of reach, but almost loses a few fingers instead as I do a full body lunge to get it. I turn to him after I finish chewing. “Ace feed me properly, no teasing, or I will be spitting your fingers out if I have to lunge for the food again.” I say with irritation flooding my voice. He gets the message loud and clear as steadily over the next hour he feeds me till I can’t eat anymore.

While I can’t train to get physically stronger right now, I can try to work on control of my mana. Turns out Ace and others carried me back to Dadan’s house. In the middle of a session advancing my control, I get a visitor that I don’t want or need right now shows up. The door to the room is torn off the hinges by Garp. He laughs as he catches sight of me. “What did you do this time? I swear that at your age, your father wasn’t anywhere near this reckless.” He laughs again as I flip him the bird.

I tiredly tell him all that has happened since he last visited four months ago. He fidgets throughout my story, with a few moments of apocalyptic anger from when me and Ace were in true danger, though the mention of the odd power has his eyebrows disappear into his hairline. I end with an ultimatum. “Gramps, I need to be much stronger to protect those who I care about. When I am better, probably by the next time you visit, I want you to teach me more, no holding back any techniques.” He sees the determination in my eyes and simply nods. He leaves a few minutes later, not bothering with replacing the door that he had ripped off the hinges.

Two days later I am walking but can barely lift my arms, the accelerated healing of my mana is helping, but when you tear muscles, and fracture bone, there are limits to how quickly it can happen. Despite me being stronger than him, Ace doesn’t think that I should see the aftermath of what used to be, the Gray Terminal. Hardly any aid has come and recently there was a huge ship spotted on the horizon. By huge, Ace says that Gramps’s Galleon looks like a toy boat by comparison. One thought goes through my mind, ‘That has to be a Celestial Dragon.’ We get to the cliff with the big tree where our treasure has been stored, to get an ideal view of this ship. No obvious cannon ports, but for a ship that is at least two hundred meters tall above the waterline, and in excess of a kilometer long, it moves with surprising smoothness through the water. We then see a Galleon move out of a cove, moving straight at the Celestial Dragon’s ship. We then even from so far away hear the thunk of doors opening. Parts of the huge ship had slid into recesses, and moments later, cannons sounded off. The Galleon looks like it will be sunk by such a barrage, but someone on it must be an exceptional pilot, for the ship escapes into open water with no real indication of being hit. With the spectacle losing its notoriety, Ace helps me back to the house where I pass out when my head hits the pillow.

Another two weeks and even I am amazed with my healing rate, no pain when breathing, but unable to lift my hands above my shoulders. With the recent events having happened, Ace has been unable to get into the normal area of the Goa Kingdom, forget the noble's section, all to find Sabo. The main reason being is that the gate is now permanently closed, with signs all over saying ‘Do not approach or you will be shot.’ Gramps was forbidden by his bosses on pain of forced retirement from interfering with the running of the Goa Kingdom, otherwise he probably would have torn the walls down even with the Celestial Dragon being present. One good thing that has come of this is Foosha village growing from the influx of people. Most if not all of those that survived the destruction of the Gray Terminal sought a new place to live. With the inability to get passage off the island, Foosha village became the only suitable choice. Thus, a small village of four hundred suddenly ballooned to exceed twenty thousand as more and more people showed up. While it is still very much a work in progress, the small city will, once the expansion is finished will take up another mile to the north and east, not including the extra farmland that is planned. Gramps was able to appeal to his superiors for some humanitarian aid. This included three ten-man fishing vessels thirty feet long, and enough cloth to have three-quarters of the refugees in tents. A very few of the refugees had prior sailing knowledge, thus they were made the crews for said fishing boats. An actual guard force trained by some of Gramps marines is in progress, as with the number of new people, many having lived in the Gray Terminal all their lives, there are still some that think to disrupt this by attacking their fellow refugees. Ace for his strength is enlisted by Gramps to help keep the peace. The first time some of them broke into Makino’s bar was also the last time, as after being beaten to a pulp by Ace who had been having a late-night meal, they were exiled from the growing city. This being a big thing as they have next to no survival skills, the Gray Terminal is uninhabitable, and no other known population centers on the island, it wouldn’t surprise me if they were dead in the next few days. From then on people understood that unlike the nobles who could afford their losses of the paltry amount of goods or money that went missing from their businesses very easily, or the regular shops that had abundance of work and goods, Foosha City would not tolerate that kind of behavior. While the weakest of Dadan’s bandits could beat the crap out of eight to ten normal people easily, Ace could take on droves of them by comparison, as most had no real fighting experience.

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Another two weeks and I’m finally close to being at one hundred percent. I have been training even while recovering, though only my legs and mana control, as I don’t want to tear the muscles that are mostly healed, but if strained too early could tear again. There has still been no sign of Sabo, as not even the tree fort where our treasure is has seen any kind of activity to indicate someone sleeping there. When I have gone to the cliff to look at the kingdom (and check the tree fort), there is no way to tell if Bluejam’s ship is still there, as that could be a decent amount of money if sold. I want to contribute more than I already have, as more money being invested now will ensure that I have no monetary issues when I set sail more than a decade from now.

Gramps sent word ahead of time (for once) that he will next be here in three days. He warns that if I thought the training from before was tough, this will be kicked up several levels. I’m fine with that as I have a new goal to accomplish before I leave Dawn Island, the destruction of the Goa Kingdom. This will entail destroying the castle and the noble’s area. So much of their wealth could have been used to fix things and would have in turn made them more money in time, yet they continually used the Gray Terminal as their trash can for unwanted people or goods.

As I found out while using elemental natured mana, while my pathways had grown when I saved Ace, the pool that I can draw from is still not where I would like it to be. Yes, the amount the total amount I can draw from has grown, but I can barely cast three Artic Blasts before it runs empty. My pathways determine how well I can control my mana, while the mana pool limits (most of the time) how much I can cast. When I try to control too much, then the pathways tear a certain amount, if too much was torn, then I could cut off access to my mana permanently. If I try to draw on more mana than I actually have access to, other sources then get impacted, such as my body or even my very lifeforce, after all the energy for the mana has to come from somewhere. This is turn means that I could shorten or even end my life for trying to cast a spell. So long as I only do this little by little and forget trying to do big gargantuan mana costing spells like say ‘Armageddon’ until my pool and pathways are ready, then I will be a force to be reckoned with when I set sail.

“Before we get to the physical training, let me show and tell you of several techniques that if you can learn them successfully, will increase your combat potential by leaps and bounds. Geppo is first. This technique, when performed properly, can keep you in the air for extended periods of time. It involves having you kick off the air itself. If you can kick one ton worth of weight with one leg, then you should be close to performing this. The next one is called Tekkai. This is known as the body hardening technique. You focus your will to be incredibly dense, turning a part of your body into a black iron-like material. This can be used for armor against many types of blows, or as an added factor to your offense. Limitations include not being able to move after you have activated it, and regular vulnerability to non-physical attacks such as fire. Another acknowledged limitation is that someone significantly stronger than you can still break through it. The third is known as Rankyaku, or air blade as others have called it. This technique also uses the legs, though instead of one strong kick to beneath your feet to keep you in the air, you kick the air once so hard that the arc of your kick pushes the air rapidly towards your target, damaging them with said blade of air. The fourth is Soru. This technique allows for high-speed movement. If you can get your kicks down to being able to do fifteen in one second against the ground, this should then be easy. The fifth technique is known as Shigan, the deadly finger technique. Good enough users can tear holes in people with just a fast poke. The last technique is Kami-e. Your body goes limp to avoid or lessen the impact of attacks as your body flows with the current.” Gramps said to me and Ace.

Gramps then proceeds to demonstrate the techniques he can do, with Kami-e and Shigan being outside of his ability. He jumps and then kicks faster than my eye can see, allowing him to rocket into the air. He lands with a cloud of dust being kicked up from the force. That was Geppo. Then his body turns black for a few seconds. That was Tekkai. Then from a standing position, he performs a roundhouse kick with incredible force, cutting down three trees from two blocks away. That is Rankyaku. Last is Soru. Me and Ace barely blink before he is at the trees he cut down. Another blink and he is back to us, wielding two of the trees like clubs and grinning like a maniac. Shit. A split-second before Ace reacts, I try to get out of the line of fire as fast as my little legs can carry me. It doesn’t work, but something knocks into place. I know that I can’t escape as the trunk is huge and Garp is too fast. The only option is to dodge in place. Then suddenly I am flowing, as my body suddenly falls limp. So, while Ace is out cold from being blindsided, I see Garp’s jaw on the ground. He then quickly gets back his shit eating grin. “A prodigy at least at Kami-e. Good lord Luffy, I hope you can pick up the others like that. If so, I might be able to get you to rear-admiral by the time you are twenty.” Garp means well with his comment, but I’m angry that he is still disrespecting my dream and my wishes on what I want to do with my life. The anger builds, and builds, till with an eruption of power, it snaps. Then suddenly I feel tired, like I just had a spar with Garp followed by training with Ace and Sabo. The tiredness isn’t physical, but mental and different from the weariness of using most of my mana pool.

This time Garp’s jaw remains on the ground as thoughts go through his head. ‘Haki, conqueror’s Haki. But it is nowhere near being controlled. If this and what he told me previously are the same, then his trigger is extreme emotional states, which while a good thing for now, will be a crutch later on in life. He would make a hell of a marine, but if the constant teasing about wanting him to go against his dreams gets his anger up this much, I hate to see what he does in a similar case when he is much stronger.’ He is knocked out of these thoughts by a forceful tap. He looks and it’s Luffy foot impacting with his shoulder.

‘Gramps didn’t even flinch when I hit him, what the hell. Yes, I didn’t put any mana behind that kick, but all these past few months couldn’t have been for nothing. Crap, he’s paying attention now.’ I try to use Kami-e again as his ‘fist of love’ rockets towards me, but I mostly fail and am left knocked senseless by the blow.