Storm

For further service, I and two other fruit users and a joker were assigned to base G-2 under Vice Admiral Comil, located in the first half of the Grand Line. This was done to avoid burying talent in some backwater. And any user of the power of the Devil Fruit was considered a promising recruit. Joker, on the other hand, was just good enough to be sent along for the ride. Marisha was very angry about this, because she thought that after the distribution she would finally be rid of me and Joker. G-2 itself was home to many of the first quarter of the Grand Line’s scout ships. Much classified material, information about pirates, their routes and a rough estimate of newcomers to the Grand Line was flown here. But the base itself was a terribly sad and boring place. There were a lot of soldiers here, and battleships were the main form of transport, so the pirates here could either be very brave or very stupid. Marisha is a girl of sixteen, the fruit user who understands every language. She is small, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, of frail build, with long wavy brown hair and a fiery temper. Don’t be fooled by her pretty looks, because she’ll punch you in the face with such force that you’ll fall down and count the birds overhead. She hit me with Kairoseki handcuffs. It hurt, and I realised that my grandpa was trying to be gentle with me. Ensign Joker, aka Nikos Khost. Same age as Marisha. Sixteen. He’ll be a couple of inches shorter than me, about 5 feet and 5 inches. His hobbies include playing silly pranks on me and practicing his aim with guns. Yes, he’s a pretty good shot and good at other disciplines, so he’s an up-and-comer. They wanted him to join a special SWORD unit, but for some reason he refused. He’s always got a smile on his face. Lieutenant junior, like me. Binocular Man, David Moon. A typical kid who didn’t really want to be a Marine, but his family made him. That’s how we became friends. Dreamed of becoming a baker and opening his own bakery. One year older than Marisha and Nikos. Seventeen. He’s the oldest of us. 5 feet 7 inches, black circles around his eyes. And when I say black circles, I mean black circles, not insomnia, which is how the power of his fruit is expressed on the outside. Ensign. We were standing in front of the vice admiral, who was deciding what to do with us and where to send us. The vice-admiral himself met us with a smile on his face, happy about the supplies and the smell of coffee in his office. After another sip of coffee, Comil decided to ask our opinion about the distribution: “Um, do you even want to serve together, or can we split you up?” “Of course, spli…” Marisha started to say, but Nikos and I interrupted. “Together,” Nikos and I shouted, and then he continued, “It’ll be more fun that way!” “As this is so, you’ll be under the command of Captain Blunt, who’s just had some casualties in his crew. Leave.” “Yes, sir!” — we replied and went to find the captain. After a bit of wandering around the docks, listening to Marisha’s scolding, who couldn’t get away from us, and asking the marines about the whereabouts of Captain Blunt and his crew, we finally found him. Captain Blunt was hard to identify, so unremarkable was he to this world. Blunt and his ship looked shabby, as if they had just returned from battle. Our captain wore the standard Marine uniform, and was distinguished from the crowd of other Marines only by his red hair and a cloak with the inscription “Justice” that only officers could wear. Our captain was armed with a broadsword and a pistol. Apart from his hair, he was no different from any ordinary man. The introduction to Blunt and his crew was not very pleasant, as they were clearly not eager to talk. They cursed some pirate crew and promised to avenge their mates. After a little conversation with the captain of the ship. We went to get our pay and accommodation, because according to the captain we would not be going to sea for some time. The four of us would have time to serve with the enlisted men on the island, going with them on patrols to the local town. “Listen Nikos, why did you join the guards in the first place?” I decided to ask a question that had been on my mind for a long time, while we were getting the necessary things from the commander. “My father told me that Marines were always on the move and never stayed in one place for long, and I believed him and went on his recommendation. It wasn’t until I got to Marineford that I found out he was lying through his teeth. And now I’m stuck on this base with you. “But we’ll go sailing,” David decided to lend his voice, “we just have to wait a bit.” “At most we’ll circle around the base without going too far away from it, or we’ll just run along a certain route,” Nikos replied in a sad voice, “at least that’s what they said in training at Marineford.” “So you want to travel too? Let’s get out of Marines when it gets really bad here?” I suggested. “And let’s do it!” Nikos immediately agreed and answered me with a cheeky voice. “And why did you become a Marine in the first place,” Marisha muttered unhappily, no longer visible behind the pile of bedding. The first travelling companion has been found. Nya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! The island where the Marine base was located was nothing special. It was very small, so you couldn’t get lost on it. The town was small, with a population of less than a thousand people. It lived more from trading coffee with visiting traders and supplies for the local Marine base. Coffee was probably the town’s only speciality. It didn’t even have its own name, everyone called it G-2 Town. There wasn’t much entertainment in the town itself, just a few bars and a library. When I realised that, I almost howled in horror, because I’d be here for a few more years if I didn’t try to transfer somewhere more interesting. But Nikos howled and almost cried, cursing his father as we walked with him. He had at least expected the city to be nice. As Nikos and I went for a walk around the island and the town, I decided to give my buddy a little pep talk: “Hey, Nikos, we’ll just hang around for a few years and die of boredom. We all do. But maybe we’ll get lucky and get transferred to another base or even promoted.” “Noooo, let’s get out of here right now!” shouted Nikos, falling to his knees. “My grandpa is going to kill me if I don’t serve for at least a year or two. If your father wasn’t lying, we’d have some exciting adventures: sudden calls to help a sinking ship, rescuing a beautiful princess from the hands of bloodthirsty pirates, delivering secret documents to another base, or at least supplies to some exotic island….” “Well, it sounds more or less interesting and plausible for a Grand Line. If you said that back home, I wouldn’t believe you.” “By the way, where are you from? We haven’t really touched on the subject of home in our conversations.” “No, I did. You were playing cards the other day. I’m from East Blue, aren’t you?” “Oh, the calmest sea. I’m from the Kingdom of the Sorbs, South Blue.” We walked in silence for a while. But Nikos had something on his mind, and at one point his face was very lewd, and for some reason I wanted to slap him. But before I brought him back down from paradise, he spoke to me with a conspiratorial look on his face. “Hey, you can breeze up pretty girls' skirts with power of your fruit, can’t you?” our in-house joker asked me in a whisper. “I could, of course,” I replied, “but I wouldn’t do it, it’s disgusting and immoral!” Yes, as long as Marisha and David are coming from behind it’s going to be disgusting and immoral, but as soon as they pass i can try it. Nyah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! “Don’t break down, it’s interesting to see what Marisha is wearing, for example, or the pretty girl next to the vegetable stalls, and you can also see her slender legs. Although Marisha’s bottom is flat, like…” He didn’t get a chance to say anything before he was slammed to the ground. Oh, you fool, you should pay attention to who’s coming up behind you. I only pretended to approve of this punishment of our unintelligent companion. She looked at me with the eyes of a master detective, suspecting me of all the deadly sins. But I didn’t want to be as stupid as Nikos, so she found nothing suspicious about him, not even the usual stupid expression on his face. But even that was of no help, Marisha pulled the handcuffs from Kairoseki with a shout that I was not going to fool anyone, and swung for a punch, but I immediately ran at a speed of sixty miles an hour, so that the punch only hit the joker, who had risen from the floor, and made him chew the floor again. I, on the other hand, was already lost among the regulars in the marketplace. Hm, she can read the human body after all, what a nasty ability! As well as walking and assessing the city, I also tried to find a place to continue my training in controlling the power of my fruit. And then those six months were a stagnation in the development and invention of new techniques. Now my stock of techniques is as follows: flying, skipping attacks through myself, creating a vacuum, changing air vibrations, very fast movement, invisibility, and blowing my opponent to hell with a strong gust of wind in various variations. In general, by the age of fifteen I had learnt to control its components other than the air itself, which should make me a formidable opponent. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to work with it. I’m quite a strong man myself. Thanks to my grandpa with his different training and the strong belief that everything is possible in this world. In training or sparring with Nikos, I could beat anyone in the group by using my grandpa’s knuckles to hit him. The only thing I know about my strength is that I’m stronger than the average Grand Line marine. Hmm, how about trying to awaken the haki of observation in the canonical method of trying to dodge a stick flying at my head? I’m pretty sure I have the basics of that kind of haki. I could even get Marisha to help me train, I don’t think she’d turn down the opportunity to beat me up. Although she might think I’m crazy. A thing like haki, even on the Grand Line, not everyone knows about it. Vice-Admirals and those above them in rank know about it, because I remember clearly that at least one type of haki must be used by those of that rank. But asking Comil to train himself seems like nonsense. He’s already a busy man, and who am I to train myself? I’d rather just blindfold myself, put on my grandpa’s brass knuckles and run around the forest trying to dodge trees.