chapter 66

"Might as well make myself busy until Laffite gets back," I murmur to myself. "But first..." I add as I make my way towards Wilson, Ely, and Byron, who are having breakfast.

"Once you guys finish your breakfast, make your way to the city and fish for information about wanted people," I say as I stop in front of them. "This could be our last chance to claim some bounties, so we might as well take full advantage of it," I concluded with a serious expression.

"I was getting bored, so a little practice is in order anyway," Wilson said with a smirk as he began eating his meal at a much faster pace.

"Oh, is it finally time to raise the black captain? Leave information gathering for me!" Elly said while flexing her biceps, trying to look, but it only makes her look cute in my eyes, causing me to smile.

"Oh, finally, a chance for me to show my worth," Byron said with a smirk, copying Wilson's action as he began devouring his meal.

"How dependable," I remark with a smile. "Take out any wanted people you might find, but try to avoid causing property damage," I instruct while looking at Wilson to make it clear that I directed these words at him.

"Try to work away from the docks. I have a feeling that Obbi guy would try to make trouble for us if we conduct our business near his turf," I concluded with a frown, causing my companions to nod, except Wilson, who merely looks annoyed.

"Can't we just kill the guy and be done with it?" Wilson asked with a scowl, still devouring his meal.

"His time will come, sooner or later, but until then, let him have his fun," I reply with a smile that didn't reach my eyes, causing Wilson to smirk wolfishly.

"Anyway, I need to work on my Tekkai, so I'll leave you guys to finish your breakfast," I stated as I turned around and made my way to the center of the deck.

My fight against Kozue last night had reminded me of the Tekkai technique's weakness. Tekkai is a fairly useful skill, but I Will have to overcome its weakness of not being able to move if I plan to continue using it in the future.

I quickly make my way to the middle of the black pearl's deck and activate Tekkai after taking a deep breath. The technique comes naturally to me as I feel my muscles all over my body, becoming tougher and more resistant to damage.

'Let's try to brute force it first,' I think as I begin straining my muscles, trying to move while Tekkai is active.

I begin by putting strength into my arms, trying to move them, which fails to accomplish that, so I begin to gradually escalate the strength I pour into them.

I kept increasing the strength I put into my arms little by little until the process became too painful for me to continue, with no success, so as not to injure myself.

'I didn't expect the brute force approach to work anyway," I think to myself while shaking my head with a sigh. 'But it would have been the easiest and fastest way if it actually worked,'

'No matter, I'll just have to spend more time to master it by mixing Kami-e with Tekkai,' I conclude with a smile as I release the technique, activating it again after a deep breath.

'I'll have to start small by trying to move a finger first,' I think to myself as I activate Kami-e and focusing on the joints of my index finger, trying to soften the muscles on it gradually until I can move it.

I soften the muscles little by little while trying to move the finger to figure out the limit and not compromise the harness of the joints more than necessary to move it.

I take five minutes of that to finally become capable of twitching my finger. 'So, this way works. Now I only have to figure the exact amount of softening required to achieve unhindered movement and then apply it to the rest of my body,' I concluded as I began doing just that.

I Spend another half an hour to move all of my fingers simultaneously, so I move on to my wrist, and to my utter exasperation, I find out the Different joints require different amounts of softening to move.

'I guess it won't be that easy. Not only do I have to figure out how much every joint needs to be to move, but I'll also have to get used to applying Kami-e to different parts of my body with varying levels of effectiveness,' I concluded with a sigh.

'well, no one said this will be easy, and this will be very useful for me in the future,' I think to myself as I shake my head to drive away from the negative feelings as I get back to training.

-0-

Third person's point of view:

"It's already getting dark, so we should call it a day and head back to the ship," Wilson said to Elly and Byron while looking at the darkening sky above.

"I agree, we can hunt down more bounties tomorrow, but to think Obbi guy was lying about the thirty percent cut we had to offer to Kano country, I really want to beat up that piece of shit," Byron said with a scowl.

"Yea, he wasn't even trying to be subtle about it, going as far tripling the original ten percent. I want to put a bullet or two in the bastard's ass too," Elly added with an angry expression while caressing the barrel of the rifle resting on her shoulder.

"If there's one thing I hate, then it's weakling using the strength of others to threaten their betters, so even I want to tear the lump of shit's limbs," Wilson said with a sigh. "But you heard Johnny, we just have to ignore the bastard for now and deal with him later," He concluded with a shrug.

"I know, I know," Elly remarked with a roll of her eyes. "But to think we managed to gather two and a half million Berry in just one day, this place sure is swarming with wanted people," she added with a smile.

"There was nothing but small fries with low bounties, but they at least made up for it in numbers," Wilson remarked with a bored tone.

Elly was about to reply to Wilson, but she stopped herself, as her eyes sharpened as they moved to the rooftops surrounding them, from left and right.

"Two people are watching us from the rooftops, and there's a guy making his way towards us on the street. He might be their companion," Elly said in a hushed voice, causing Wilson to smile, while Byron merely frowned.

"We already know they're there, so we might as well see what they're up to," Wilson said with a shrug, causing Elly and Byron to nod after some hesitation.

Soon enough, the man on the street was within viewing distance. "Excuse me, but do you happen to know a good bar close by?" said the man with a hiccup, as he played with fu Manchu mustache, seemingly drunk.

"Oh, you seem to be quite drunk already. Go home," Wilson said with a shrug, approaching the seemingly drunk man.

"Oh, how considerate," said the drunk man while looking at the approaching Wilson with a hidden smirk. "Ten Finger Guns," the drunkard, Jabra, shouted at the top of his lungs, his hands shooting at Wilson's face as soon as the latter came within striking distance.

The two men hiding at the rooftops, Kumadori and Fukurou, took that as their sign to make their moves, dropping from their spots and charging at Elly and Byron.

"Super Cartwheel: Tekkai Ball," Fukurou shouted as he jumped into the air, morphing his body into a ball and activating Tekkai while launching himself at Byron with Geppo.

"Shishi Kebab (Lion Kebab)," Kumador shouted as he landed on the ground with his hands stretched forward, his staff turning red as he pointed it at Elly, thrusting it repeatedly and launching a small fireball with each thrust.

(Author's note: discord gg/sEtqmRs5y7 <—- the link to my discord server. It already has a couple of awesome guys with memes and constant discussions about one piece)