The Castle Part 2

The Castle Part 2

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"Okay, so… why shout, or hell, even say the name of an attack out loud and give your opponent any warning at all? I mean, I'd rather just shoot them in the back and get the fight over with, with as little fuss and risk as possible."

Barley stared at me in surprise for a moment before snickering.

"… what?" I demanded as the crew around me started to chuckle, "It's a legitimate question!"

I was swept up by my momma's arm and nearly crushed against her chest, "Oh! My little baby is using his big brain right! Being sneaky and underhanded in a fight!"

"Mooommmm!" I protested with all the grace and panache of a six year old. So… I whined.

Still being smothered in affection by my momma, the gruff Captain Billy actually answered my question, "Calling out the names of an attack helps focus your energy through it properly and amplifies the power of it. A nameless attack will only have the portion of a power of a named one, any significant blows should be named just as the attack starts."

"Thank you." I muttered.

'Note to self: Use guns. They give absolutely no fucks about names.'

-oOo-​

"Yes?"

"How do the bullets not fall through?"

I pulled one of the brass cased bullets out and held it up, "The lip at the base of the bullet slightly overlaps the chamber, this keeps it inside the chamber even after the bullet is fired."

The various crew members I was educating this session nodded, all of them fiddling with their guns, "Are there any other questions?"

"So we've got to get the bullet casing out after we've fired?"

"Yes, and try and hold on to them, I can usually re-use them."

Their guns were the same caliber as my own swing-out cylinder revolver, though once I had time to fully recreate a workshop here then I'd get myself a larger caliber gun in addition to the full set. I was finishing up this session covering the usage, cleaning, and safety of the new guns. I had to rotate through the crew of about two dozen men as they rotated shifts out on the island.

"Ach, guns, gimme a good sword anyday."

"Yes, but unless you learn how to use Rankyaku, they're a great way to reach out and touch someone. So keep at least one pistol on you when you're not undercover."

Wallace grunted unhappily and I scowled, "Do you want to end up on the wrong end of the natives in a castle with guns atop of it without a way to shoot back?" There was an average of one stone castle in a 'classic' medieval style on each island, the seat of power of the local tribe.

"Ach, nae." Wallace cringed slightly, knowing as well as I did that the castle they were intending to raid was the biggest, meanest one in the Gothic Islands. That of the Huns. They had by far the most men, the most weapons, and the most money. The Marines actively avoided messing with them, which was part of why I'd encouraged Bonney's choice to pick them. Their current leader was making himself a problem for the World Government, so the big G wasn't likely to have much of a problem if some pirates smashed and grabbed them.

They were also assholes, so that was a plus.

"Then don't bitch about the gun. It's not like the water can ruin these anyways."

---

Moving through a kata of martial moves at a randomized staccato, I tried to get a feel for my new power. At least the honest usage of such.

"Tekkai Kenpo. Shigan: Shotgun." With a full body flex, my palm lashed out, a small burst of airexpanding from the palm, an effect based off of geppo by basically creating a solid shockwave. I hadn't done it right though, Tekkai Kenpo was hard, in more ways than one. There was a slight shake to my movements still, which weakened the Tekkai effect as well as my attacks.

Honestly, while turning into metal wasn't a reflexive ability just yet, it wouldn't be too hard to condition myself into that transformation. And my solid metal transformation essentially was Tekkai Kenpo. But I'd started to try and figure it out as a way to massively increase my durability and strength simultaneously, now though it was more about control and precision. The amount of control over the self that Tekkai Kenpo would imply and provide was definitely something I wanted.

"Tekkai Kenpo. Shigan: Rifle." Twisting my fist as I punched sent a fist-sized twister flying out. I grunted, unhappy at how quickly it dispersed due to my improper Tekkai Kenpo. It was based off of Rankyaku, but more blunt force than cutting. Problem was that the little shake of my Tekkai Kenpo made it too unstable for anything beyond a few dozen feet.

Still, I could turn into metal.

I wasn't sure what kind of metal it was yet, though it seemed similar to iron or steel. I was a little hesitant to do chemical analysis of my skin.

So, I knew that Devil's Bunghole Fruit could be conceptual. Paw-Paw fruit anyone?

With a deep breath, I forcibly relaxed my muscles, barely holding myself in position, "Kami-e Kenpo. Shigan: Semi-Auto." In a burst of motion, my arm from the bicep down blurred and there was a small crack as I made three punches in a blink of an eye.

That got a small smile from me. It was based off of Soru, the concept of kicking off of the ground ten times in an instant, only with my fist and their face respectively. Still couldn't manage ten kicks, and my fist could only manage three hits in an instant.

"Burst Fire." I began to shadow box, the ends of my hands blurring as I alternated arms for the rapid-fire bursts of pain.

'So… what can I do?' Sweat began to collect on my bare torso as I aimed for the imaginary weak points on an opponent before me, 'I can turn into metal. I... might be able to generate metal? I don't think I'm a Logia since metal is more a crystal than a fluid, and I have no idea to go about that anyways. Being metal's increased my strength and durability considerably, but since it made me heavier it's been a net loss on speed.'

Droplets of sweat scattered into the air as I stopped my fist at full extension, '… could I transform just my muscles for the strength but a fraction of the weight?'

Pausing in my shadow boxing, I closed my eyes and focused. I wanted to 'flex' my muscles and just my muscles… that hard sensation poured down my arms and I frowned. I tried to pull it back but that just turned the effect off…

"Oi, Ironhide, what are you doing?"

I blinked, turning towards Bonney who was standing atop the cake with me now, "Training?"

I'd sort of appropriated this area atop the double-layered cake that was the cabin of the ship. It was mostly out of the way since the mast was in front of it and there was nothing atop of it. It was clear and there wasn't much traffic up here, so there was plenty of room for me to do this sorts of mess.

Bonney walked up, giving me a look that had me feeling suddenly rather self-conscious for being up here in just my pants, "… what?"

"Training what?" she asked, giving me a light kick to the shin, "You've already got muscles."

I blinked before shaking my head, "Mostly? I'm trying to figure out how the fuck to use my ability, I haven't had it all that long honestly."

"You turn into metal, how else do you use that?"

That made me grin, "Oh, you have no idea."

A pink eyebrow went up and I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I tried once more, flexing from the inside out while pulling it in this time and I finally hit it.

My chest and arms suddenly bulged as my upper body muscles gained significant bulk. I'd gone from a lean swimmers build toned from a literal lifetime of training to the bulk of a body builder in an instant.

"The fuck-?!" I opened my eyes to grin at the surprised Bonney.

Checking out the changes, I couldn't help but smirk, "There's a lot more to a Devil's Bunghole Fruit than what's first obvious." I was taller like this… I actually had half a head on Bonney now and-… ah, my pants are tight now, I'd done my whole body. Little awkward, guess I'll have to let these out if I plan to do this more…

"What the fuck'd you do?" Bonney reached out and poked my chest, the muscle not giving in the slightest.

"Strength of Steel." I said as I slowly rolled my arm. It was a weird effort, I was moving my muscle as per normal but it was also an effort of my power. It was entirely instinctual, but man it was weird. I'd say my body looked more like a DBZ character's now really… like Broly actually, just before he went Legendary Super Saiyan.

"There's no way this is just turning your muscles into steel."

"Tcheheh, if you think this is something you should hear about the craziness I've heard the Gomu Gomu no Mi users get up to. Pumping their blood faster and harder since their rubber veins can take the stress to massively increase their speed and strength." Bonney gave me a look of sheer disbelief and I smiled, "Seriously. There's also the Toge Toge no Mi which dopes their muscles with spikes to increase their strength. Hell, you can probably do something like it if you can abuse your power to work on just your muscles."

"My power doesn't work like that." She protested even as she gave my chest an experimental punch, pulling her fist back and shaking it some. It stung since it was hitting my actual skin, but not much since the muscle beneath didn't give at all.

"Like how mine wouldn't work like this?" I pointed out with a smirk as I half turned, getting back into my mui thai inspired stance.

I could hear the frown in Bonney's voice, "And how would I do that? Make myself stronger that is?"

"Well…" I thought about it as I tensed my body up, "Can you use the effect to heal people?"

"… how the hell would I do that?"

"Age the wounded area until it's already healed?" I offered, "… Tekkai Kenpo." My muscles literally groaned like bending metal as they tensed up, "Shigan: Shotgun."

There was a muffled wumph as my arm shot forward, but no shockwave. But I could tell why. Because I sucked. Also, I could feel the conflicting motions as my power was slightly out of synch with my actual muscular effort.

Bonney frowned, glaring down at her hands.

"Mmm..." I could fix that... "Shigan: Shotgun." Another muffled wumph, but with a little crack. Also no... little more practice–

There was a little flash of pain in my left hand and I yelped, moving away from the pain, "Gack! The fuck-?!"

There was a small thunk as the bullet fell off of me to the deck, leaving a small bloody patch where the ball ammo had punctured my skin. The bullet had deformed as it slammed into my metal musculature. I looked up to find Bonney with a pistol in her hand, "What the fuck woman-?!"

'Why didn't my Observation haki pick up on that?!'

But the look on the pink-haired woman's face wasn't of fury or of anger, "Shut up." She reached out and grabbed my forearm with her free hand, staring at the small wound she'd made in the back of my left hand. Her look was... contemplative.

Thoroughly confused, I blinked a few times at her as she shoved the pistol into a holster inside her jacket and brought the hand to lightly touch the edge of the wound. I hissed in pain before the strangest sensation danced across my skin.

To my wonder, with amazing rapidity the bloody metallic sinew and bone was covered in a scab. In moments the scab almost bubbled before the edges began to flake off until the scab as a whole disintegrated off of me, revealing a pale white patch of scar tissue on the back of my hand.

"… oh." I stared as Bonney pulled her hand away. More than a bit stunned at what I'd just watched happen. It's one thing to say 'Eh, Devil Fruit', it's another to see it in action. "Huh..." Then the instant passed and I snapped at her, "Next time fucking warn me before you try that bullshit!"

"You're the one that suggested it!"

"I suggested trying to use your power to enhance yourself! Not to fucking shoot me!"

"You're fine! Even if my power didn't work like you said you'd be fine!"

"That doesn't make it okay to shoot me!"

Her leg snapped out and slammed into my shin and I reflexively jerked the leg back, "How else am I supposed to test it dumbass?!"

"Not like that!" My leg shot out and I kicked her in the shin!

She yelped just a bit as she hopped on one foot, clutching the shin, "Jackass!"

"You're the one that shot me–" *Bong!* "ACK!" my skin flexed into steel as her leg lashed out into my side, "Stop–!" *Bong!* Another kick to my thigh, "Kicking–!" *Bong!* This kick was to my metal balls, the jangling of which was unpleasant but thankfully not painful, "Me! Fuck woman I do use those!"

"Oh bullshit goody-two-shoes! You don't even have the balls to steal from people!"

"Oi!" My leg lashed out in a side kick which she blocked with her own leg, "Excuse me for not liking to be a jackass!"

She bristled, "Did you just call me a jackass?!" Her boot launched straight at my stomach, and I blocked it with my forearm.

"Yes I did! Jackass–Gnng!" My metallic teeth slammed together with a gong as she used my forearm as a foothold to lever her other boot right up into the underside of my jaw, making my head snap back.

"Oh you are dead!" Bonney snarled and lunged.

---

"That Ability is bullshit," Bonney grumbled as she sat on the deck, leaning up against the 'icing' that acted as the railing for the top of the cabin. There were several bruises visible on her skin and she'd ditched her usual hat and jacket as she nursed a bruise on her cheek.

"This coming from the woman with functional immortality," I countered as I sewed up her jacket, sitting beside her and basically uninjured. Thankfully, after relaxing the effect my muscles had deflated and I'd returned to normal.

"You don't even have a bruise jackass."

Bonney was stupid fast. And my Observational Haki did work on her, but it hadn't picked up on the bullet... it's entirely possible that I just hadn't been paying attention enough to it, it was just a first for me in a good while. Her kicks were also crazy strong, able to dent my metallic skin, though they seriously struggled to dent my SUPAH muscles it seemed.

"You weren't using haki. If you had, I'd probably have them... also, you do realize you can probably heal yourself the same way you healed me? Or even by regressing the wound to before it happened."

The pink haired woman scowled as she looked at a bruise I'd put on her arm, "How do you do that? Use haki?"

"That's... a long answer," I admitted. The SUPAH bulk mode, my equivalent to Gear Third I'd say, didn't decrease my speed. If anything, it increased it, though my raw strength was increased by a scary amount. I'd had to be careful about actually hurting Bonney since I didn't know how strong I was, those bruises were actually mostly accidental. "But it's basically armoring yourself with your spirit."

The bruise on her arm uniformly faded away back to normal skin and a small smile briefly flashed across her face before she felt around herself for the bruises, "How do you know all of this?"

"Hm?"

"About my Ability. About your own. About the Marine's techniques and Haki? How do you know all of this?"

I blinked a few times in surprise before looking over at her. The look on her face was more curious and inquisitive than it was angry or wary, "Bonney, I've already told you. Knowledge is my treasure." I grinned, "I figured these out as a side effect of both my training and the knowledge I've accumulated."

While technically true, it was mostly due to my outside knowledge that I'd been able to figure this stuff out from first principles. I'd known it was possible and then went about figuring out how to do it from there. I'd actually only rarely been exposed to Devil Fruit users since the Eyepatch Pirates had generally avoided the latter parts of the Grand Line through the Eternal Log Prose's we'd had on board for exactly that reason.

Bonney snorted, "You are such a nerd."

I raised my eyebrows as I gave the needle and thread another tug, "Yeah, and?"

The Captain grinned devilishly, "It works. The Huns won't know what hit them."

"Not a primary fighter, don't forget."

There was silence, the only sounds being the soft creek of the wood and the waves against the pier we were docked at.

"Damnit!"

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The Castle Part 2 End