Chapter 11

Thanks to her amazing new training, what would have taken Meli weeks, if not over a month of travel time, has only taken just over two weeks for Meli to announce that they made it to the Reverse Mountain and are near the island right before it. Ronin had heard rumors that there were other ways to enter the Grandline, but he doesn't know of them, so he didn't really worry about it. Plus, he heard that going through the Reverse Mountain on your first time entering the Grandline was a rite of passage, so he definitely had to do it.

During the few weeks of travel, the crew trained. Meli increased her skills with the pistol, yet still didn't feel like a gun woman. Instead, she took to her Kunoichi training well, as she liked the idea of not having to fight directly. She nearly mastered her leaf sticking training and was going to start wall walking soon, as there were no trees on the ship for her to use obviously. As he was training her, Ronin constantly thought of getting Meli a Devil Fruit one day to increase her combat ability.

Next, Devon took a few more days to heal, and was soon back to peak shape. Being the new Vice-Captain of the ship and Ronin already having an idea about what his crew will be like, he unlocked Devon's Chakra, his nature obviously being water, but the other was air. After that, Ronin realized he never tested Meli's chakra affinity since she passed out. After testing Meli, and found that her affinity was surprisingly a possible Kekkei Genkai, as she possessed Wind release and Lightning release, possibly through her mink genetics. Ronin had a theory that with those two nature's combined, you could get the mysterious Swift Release.

If Meli had Swift Release, she become a true terror, as she'd be too fast for anyone to hit her, possibly even him with his Lightning Cloak. And if she learned Shunshin or Soru on top of that... Ronin was very glad that she was on his side. With her possible speed, whether she was a gunner or used a Devil Fruit, she'd be a menace to any who stood against her. Not even counting that all Minks naturally posses increased speed and strength that multiplies under a full moon where they get their own Lightning Cloak, Ronin was starting to get a little jealous he didn't have Mink blood.

Nevertheless, their training progressed nicely as Meli got to work on trying to make Swift Release, while Devon and Ronin trained together, Devon scarily picking up chakra like... a fish out of water. Devon reminded Ronin of Kakashi or Itachi with his scary levels of intelligence and comprehension, and thanked the stars that Devon was unambitious and lazy as Ronin was sure that if he didn't train hard, Devon would easily overtake him.

During a training session, as they were sparring, Devon actually jumped and steadily landed on the ocean as he molded water from the sea to form a sharp blade against the edge of his scythe. While Ronin was stunned by Devon's ability, he was barely able to dodge the water blade coming towards him, thanks to his training in Capoeira. Ronin flipped backwards, standing on his hands while using chakra on his feet to kick the deadly blade upwards and away from the ship.

While he felt seriously cool about the move he pulled off, he still yelled down at Devon, "Hey you bastard, we don't have a medic on the ship yet! What if that actually hit me?!"

Hearing this, Devon waved him off while blowing out smoke from his cigarette. "Pshh, I don't want to hear that from a beast like you. If that attack hit you, it would at most give you a tickle with your Monster levels of defense." Devon rebutted, and Ronin didn't have an argument against that as it was true, still he would never admit it.

Back to the present, Ronin stood on the crow's nest as Meli announced their arrival at the island just before Reverse Mountain island, as he watched the giant landmass known as the Red Line continue to grow larger and larger on the horizon. As he was looking out with excitement in his heart, Ronin saw something that caused him to frown slightly. As if somehow knowing his movements, a small blockade of pirate ships sat directly in the path of their ship.

"R-ronin, I think we have trouble! Should we turn around and wait for the Marines to show up? There should be a Marine base on the island, if I remember correctly." Meli asked with panic in her voice. Though she has been training hard, she still was no warrior and has yet to even have a real fight, unlike Ronin and Devon, so it was only natural for a group of multiple pirate ships to frighten her. Hell, even a seasoned pirate or Marine would be unsettled by this.

Jumping down to the deck, Ronin and Devon look at each other and had a wordless conversation before they both grew a vicious smile. During their time traveling, they quickly became best friends, and got to know each other's story. Ronin went with his preplanned story of having amnesia and not remembering anything from before waking up on the Island, Devon listening intently and asking a few questions to try and jog his memory.

Devon on the other, was actually from Fishman island, but his village was tragically attacked by slaver pirates, which ended him, his mother, and younger sister being sold into slavery while his father and older brother were sadly killed. This was the defining event in Devon's life that led him to want to become a marine so that he could make sure no more Fishmen go through what he did. Devon was sold separately from his mother and sister and ended up in the South Blue as a slave to a pirate, but was luckily freed when a group of Marines killed his master.

Devon's life goal is to end piracy and find his missing mother and sister to free them. So when Ronin and Devon saw the pirates trying to block them, they both already knew what they were going to do. "Well, Cap, it looks like we might make that money for a new ship faster than we thought." Devon said as he lit a fresh cigarette and slid his scythe from his cloak.

"Most definitely, as I can already see a few of the high bounty targets I planned on capturing eventually, but first, let's see if we can either hear them out or capture one of them alive. I'm very curious how they managed to block us like this and why they even bothered to end their lives early like this." Ronin stated as he stretched his body with audible pops. He had been training to combine his two combat styles, and he thinks he finally made progress, so he was dying to test it out.

Hearing this, even more panic entered Meli's heart at the thought of having to actually fight deadly pirates. After she was told to move the ships towards the pirates, as she continued shaking non-stop. After they were just a short distance, one of the bold pirates, presumably one of the ship captains stepped forward to speak.

"Um, is this the ship of the lad named, Ronin? If so, anchor your ship and come out here to face your death like a man. And if not, well, we'll let you live, but not before you leave all of your ships valuables and women. We've all been at sea a while now, so the boys are starting to feel a bit... peckish." The filthy pirate with dirty blonde beard said, earning a hearty laugh from all of the crew.

When this was heard, Meli felt more fear starting to rise, until she felt a large,soft hand land on top of her head, and gently rub her head to calm her down. Seeing his cute navigator start to calm down a little, Ronin turned back to face the head pirate. "Uh, I am indeed Ronin, but perhaps you can help me understand what it is I did wrong to gain such a response from you many pirates. I have barely been on the sea longer than a fortnight. If you can tell me this, I'm sure we can resolve this." Ronin asked, only to receive laughter from the pirates before him.

"Ha! Look at the little coward asking what he did wrong!" a few of the pirates uttered, receiving even more laughter from the other pirates, until one pirates laughter turned into a croak, and then a blood piercing screaming. Turning to face the screaming pirates, the other pirates started to look sick as the looked to be drained from their face. In front of them, standing at the back of ship, was Devon casually leaned against the railing, with his bloody axe leaned against his left shoulder, and him gingerly holding the loose head of a pirate in his right hand.

"Ahh, I told you, Ro, these filthy pirates definitely wouldn't listen to a weak approach like that. But, they just had to go and be rude to you and plus suggest rape on top of that. A shame they already crossed my bottom line." Devon said as he took a drag of smoke and lightly flicked the remaining blood from his scythe.

"Geez, I know what you mean, Von. This is the last time I try to be civilized with some damn pirates. Just make sure not to kill too many,as we lose 30% of the reward if we don't capture them alive." Ronin said, before he he loudly cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. But when they looked back at him, half of one of the ships already laid dead before Ronin, his hands and feet literally dripping with blood like he was some sort of monster.

"Attention all pirates, uh, you have all crossed paths with the Shinigami, and your fates have already been sealed. But, if you wish to live a little longer, throw away your weapon and lay on your stomach with your hands wrapped behind your head!" Ronin shouted, sending chills down the spine of those who heard it.

They had all heard the recent rumors that the South Blue recently got a super strong Bounty Hunter until the Intel about him showed that he only captured one mid-level crew and then disappeared after that. Many started to get worried about their eventual capture, until further Intel came out about him training on Karate Island and showing that he was training there and got repeatedly beat up by an old man, leading many to believe that the rumors of him being one strong were a lie, angering many pirates from being scared of a supposed weakling.

So, to make up for being embarrassed, a group of pirates decided to get together to kill Ronin before he eventually became too strong. Now, many of the pirates were shaking in fear as they now saw that the original rumors were not only true, they were undersold, as no one else in the South Blue can kill half of a ship of pirates without anyone knowing.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't want to hear that from the guy who killed half of a ship when I only killed one! But, let's capture them quickly before the Marines on the island try to show up and take credit for our troubles." Devon said as he quickly went through a few hand signs, and water from the ocean flew up and began forming spheres, effectively putting around half of the ship in the Jutsu, Water Prison.

Seeing a large portion of pirates instantly get captured in spheres of water, the other pirates were stunned for a few seconds before panic set in and they started attacking out of fear. Seeing no turning back now, Ronin also began beating and capturing pirates as he knew Devon was right. Going through different hand signs, molding chakra for a new Jutsu he made, Lightning Prison Chains.

The next second, thick strands of lightning shot of from Ronin's hands at blinding speeds, attacking all of the pirates on the ship, wrapping around their arms and legs, as well as bounding all of the pirates together in one bundle. The Lightning Chain also continued shocking them, not only causing them pain, but also keeping their minds from thinking of anything else. It was a truly devastating Jutsu that could only be used on the worst people, pirates.

As Ronin and Devon were battling hundreds of pirates, two pirates saw the battle not going their way and then spotted Meli, still at the helm shaking. "Quick, take the fox girl hostage! It's the only chance we have!" said the taller of the two. After they ran full speed, they jumped and stumbled onto the ship, already brandishing their weapons while licking their lips eyeing Meli.

"We might be able to have some fun with her before those two notice!" said the shorter, dirtier of the two pirates.

Seeing the pirates approaching her and hearing the lewd things they said, Meli's heart nearly stopped as flashbacks of the torment Harriman put her through consumed her mind. As the pirates got arms length of her and she felt one of them already groping her large breasts, her fight or flight finally kicked in and she remembered her training. In the blink of an eye, Meli had already pulled out her twin pistols and shot a bullet into each limb of both pirates, sending them on the ground yelling in pain.

The next second, Ronin and Devon appeared by Meli's side, eyeing her quickly for any injuries, but once the saw her clothes disheveled, they eyed the two pirates with murderous eyes. Even though known of them had known each other for too long, Ronin and Devon were both very protective over Meli, like two big brothers with their little sister. So the fact that two filthy pirates actually put their hands on her, they were ready to flay the skin from them.

But as Ronin and Devon took a single menacing step towards the pirates, causing them to soil themselves as they whimpered, Meli called out to them. "Wait! Please, l-let me take care of them. You two watch over me so much, and I don't want to be a burden to you anymore." Meli said, with tears almost threatening fall from her eyes, but seeing Meli cry only made Ronin and Devon want to kill the pirates even more.

But at the end, the two relented, as the couldn't refuse a request from their precious Meli. Seeing them step away, Meli took a deep, uneasy breath and stepped forward trembling as the guns grew shaky in her hands. With sweaty palms and tears in her eyes, Meli lifted the suddenly heavy guns and aimed it at the pirates, doing her best to ignore their cries for forgiveness and to be freed. Closing her eyes tightly, Meli took a deep breath and held it as she moved her fingers to the triggers.

"Don't close your eyes. It's going to suck, but don't close your eyes. I hate it, but the only way to harden yourself to this, to do the horrible things we don't want to do, is to watch." Ronin said with a heavy heart. He hated putting Meli through this, but if she was going to continue traveling with them, she was going to have to toughen up. The South Blue is one thing, but the danger would only multiply once they entered the Grandline. It was best for Meli to do this now in a somewhat safe environment with him and Devon watching over her, as opposed to in the heat of the battle when anything can happen.

Hearing this, Meli's heart felt like it might fall through her chest, but she had already resolved to get stronger so she can be of use to the man she loved. Taking another shaky deep breath, still aimed at the pirates, Meli slowly opened her eyes, tears trailing down her cheeks as the faces of the pirates soon reentered her vision. Deciding just to treat it like ripping off a bandaid, Meli quickly pulled both triggers, but since she didn't squeeze like she was supposed to, the aim jerked up from their hearts to their faces, splattered grey matter and blood all over her and the deck.

Feeling nauseated and lightheaded, Meli's world was soon spinning at the sight and she fainted on the spot.

Seeing this happen, Ronin and Devon could only say one thing, "Damn."