The McPuffin Part 4

The McPuffin Part 4

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"No, the World Government created the Belly 600 years ago."

Ami and I sat in the shade of a tree, several books arrayed around us as I tried to tap her greater reading time to sum up the books she'd read.

"Really…" I wrote down the note into my notebook. I trusted Ami's brain enough to believe her, and current info didn't indicate the World Government would've had reason to hide anything about that, "Sort of surprised that it took them that long after the formation to create a unified currency…"

She was really good at giving the cliff-notes version of books, especially for an eight year old–

"Florida D. Jacob!"

I paled, "… shit."

Ami was giving me a curious look even as I scrambled up to my feet, but it was honestly too late.

My momma, large and with a basket in the crook of her elbow, stormed over, her chubby face red with anger as she brandished a rolled up newspaper, "Momma! I–"

"What have I told you?!" My arms came up even as the newspaper came down, and momma made that thing sting, "I won't have any son of mine be a damn scholar!" I tried to shield my head, but the newspaper struck my stomach, and I reflexively and desperately tried to cover myself from the oncoming strikes.

"But there's–" I started to protest, but a swift slap of the newspaper to my gut brought my hands down and in a quick motion, my momma had me by the ear, twisting it, "Ack!"

"No! You are not going to do any more of this silly reading! You are not going to be a wimpy little scholar if I have anything to say about it!" she berated before tugging at my ear enough to point warningly at Ami, "And you! I don't know who you are but I won't have you assisting my son in this silliness!"

The blue haired girl cringed away momentarily before meeting my momma's gaze defiantly, "Jacob's my friend, you can't–!"

"I most certainly can tell my son to not continue with this silliness that you seem to be encouraging," No. This was going on too far. "And I will not allow it to continue!"

Ami stood quickly, her little hands balling into fists as she stood up to my momma, punctuating each sentence with a stomp of her foot, "He's my friend! We learn together! We teach each other! You can't tell him he can't learn!"

"Oh yes I can you little snot! I won't have my son learning useless noise from a brat like–!"

I then did something that I really hoped to never have to do.

I kicked my momma in the shin.

She let go of my ear in surprise more than anything else, and I stumbled just out of reach of her hand, "Jacob…?" I'd never done anything like that outside of training, I listened to my momma because I knew she loved me and did her best to treat me right. The only thing I'd defied her on was learning things, and even then I'd never protested physically. But this was different.

My chest heaved and my little hands balled into fists as I glared defiantly up at her stunned expression, "Momma! Stop!"

"Baby, what–" she started to raise her hand, but this stopped now.

"No!" I cut her off, almost petulantly, "No. Ami's my friend! I don't have many of those and you know it! I won't let you yell at her for a choice I made." I stomped my foot. Ami shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of my actions. "You want me to be clever and sneaky and take what I want. I want to learn! I want to find out more! And you wouldn't help! So I. Got. Clever." I pointed at her, punctuating each word. "I'm not some weak, wimpy scholar. You just want me to train my body, and I'm happy to do that! But I want to train my brain too!"

My little fists balling up at my sides, I nearly shook, as I exploded at my momma. For as long as I could remember in this life, I'd been butting heads with her over learning things and I'd had enough! "I found someone who could help me train my brain! Someone I call a friend. And you don't get to yell at her!" I pointed at her angrily, "I won't let you yell at her for my choices! I won't let her suffer the consequences of my actions! Do whatever you want with me, but you are not going to touch her."

Momma stared at me, face utterly blank, "Say that again."

"Do whatever you want with me," I repeated defiantly, knowing that I'd probably be grounded terribly and probably have to go through training worthy of Kenichi, but damnit it would be worth it to keep the poor girl from getting yelled at by my momma, "But you're not gonna yell at Ami because I chose to be her friend."

But despite the certainty I'd started the statement with, it trailed off at the look on my momma's face, tears starting to flow from her eyes. Her lip quivered and her mouth worked silently for a moment and I blinked in confusion, softly asking, "… momma…?"

Suddenly I was enveloped in a crushing hug, pressed against my momma, "Oh… oh baby…" She sobbed quietly and I was thoroughly confused, I looked back at Ami, the little girl staring at us in just as much confusion as I felt.

Almost hesitantly, I wrapped my arms around my momma, hugging her, "Momma…?"

Her hold on me tightened, "Oh my little prince… you're your father's son… no doubt about it…" She sniffled, holding me tight as tears fell atop my head. I was stunned, momma hadn't talked about my dad yet, and I'd been respecting her silence- "You can spend your time with your little girlfriend…" Then she pulled back, eyes red and puffy but still angry as she pointed at my face, "But you're doing another round of training today!"

Thrown completely off my game, I flinched back, falling back on habit, "Yes momma!"

-oOo-​

"I'd also like to buy half a ton of steel please." I said, standing in front of the counter of the shop. This building was tucked a bit away from the coast proper and was made of layered stones with a domed roof and was actually quite big. It seems that the further you got from the coast in this town, the more stone or adobe the bricks were.

"Ah… in… in a single block?" the man I figured to be an apprentice to the local blacksmith stammered in surprise. And he'd been doing so good.

"Yes please." The technological level of islands varied wildly, based heavily on the local natural resources and their connection to the World Government. It was hit and miss whether things were based more heavily on a local 'blacksmith' or a 'steel mill' for lack of better translatable wordage.

"We… don't have that much…" I'd commissioned myself a sword since we were going to be near or on the island for a while. The apprentice had taken that fine.

"Could I borrow your crucible or blast furnace for a bit then?" I needed to build some bigger tools and machines, proper ones if I was going to be on the Cake for a length of time. Mostly a press, a serious shipborne forge lined with ceramics to allow me to get some serious heat without lighting the ship on fire, and enough steel for me to shape into a steam engine.

"Ah, the boss… um…" The apprentice stammered before he was cut off.

"The boss is busy and doesn't appreciate rookies using her forge." A massive black woman stepped into the room, her head brushing against the ceiling even as she ducked under the doorway. She wore a large apron, leather pants, boots, and gloves, and little else. She looked like an utterly epic body-builder. My head tilted back as she approached because damn, she was about eight foot tall.

"I'm not a rookie," I said, looking up at her with a small smile, "I'm a journeyman, and I'm willing to pay for the time."

The blacksmith crossed her arms, which were like chorded steel, "And why should I when my forge is already busy with filling the orders for Zwide's army?"

"Mm," Okay, that I didn't know. We were only going to be in port for one more day before we went out around the island to raid ships… if I worked my ass off… and I didn't really have anything else to do today… "What if I took over the steel production for you so your people could focus on actually filling the orders? I'd just take the steel I paid for from the amounts I make for you."

The honestly attractive woman frowned and pointed a finger at my face, "And how do I know your work will be up to my standards?"

"Let me make a batch," I smiled. While this wasn't something I'd known in my past life, it was something I'd picked up in my voracious hunger for learning in this one. Momma hadn't minded me learning how to make my own sword too much. "I'll take a bit from each batch rather than one big one so you'll be sure I'm not doing a crap job for your stuff."

"You pay for anything you ruin." She said, brooking no compromise.

I grinned and gave her a thumbs up, "Sure thing. Io I'm guessing?" It was Io's Smithery…

She blinked in surprise, "Yes…?"

"Jacob," I extended a hand, "Pleasure to do business with you."

In my head, I was doing the calculations though. Depending on the size of her workshop, it might be a bit hard to get the amount of steel I needed in the remainder of the day. It was before noon, and we were supposed to leave tonight. Eh, if I can't get it all today I'll get the rest next time we're in port.

Though there was a moment of surprise, Io grasped my hand firmly, her larger, calloused hand almost entirely enveloping mine, "Prove you're up to the task and I might say the same."

I couldn't help but grin, "Well, I always work best at the command of an attractive woman."

This would be a great story to tell when I got back to Gin-Mireniamu. Ami always liked hearing about other cultures to compare and contrast, though Minako would probably love to hear about the fashions here…

Io snorted even as she gave me a shove towards the actual forge in the back, "Let's see if you're truly a journeyman or not."

-o Casey o-​

Walking down the street was different with my new Ability. Don't get me wrong, I was super happy to finally have an ability, something to make me special. But I didn't used to jiggle like this. I'd worked hard to get my stout strength! I'd gotten myself down to where only about 2% of my body weight was fat! And now I jiggled.

Captain Bonney had given most of us a day off while the Cake was resupplied. I… I was trying to find something to do that didn't require money. Most of my share had been taken by those two girls I'd spent the night with. It wasn't like I hadn't expected that, but they'd just disappeared.

I sighed, stopping in the street, one hand going to my hip and the other scratching under my hat.

It'd been a fun night, I'd just hoped to look them up later since we'd be here for a while. But the innkeeper told me they'd been leaving town. So damn.

I didn't want to train any more for today, Florida's training was harsh. I mean, I could turn into jello, why did I need to know how to dodge? But he was determined that I always dodged.

Still, the training was a lot about controlling your body, and that worked super well with my ability, the ladies certainly seemed to like it last night at least…

"Yassin frassin, rassin frassin…" Grumbling, I pulled my hat back down and kicked the dirt of the street before starting to walk again. Why'd they have to leave?!

-o Daniel o-​

I frowned as I flipped through the belly notes in my hands. Not enough.

Bonney was going to have us raid ships out there, but not here. She was avoiding this island. She was too scared after that mess with Attila.

How could we get serious power if we never were on an island long enough to take it?

I scowled at the bottle of nice rum sitting tauntingly on the shelf, costing more than I had in my share after last night. I couldn't just take it because Bonney had been adamant that we weren't here to loot the town, she didn't want to piss off the local government. Made sense since we were stuck here for a few months, but still, the woman was too hesitant.

With a growl, I grabbed a less expensive bottle of booze from the shelf and went to the counter.

At least she didn't make me pay for the maps and charts with my share, navigation was already a mess in the Grand Line without having to use up my own money on it. Damn locals had such lackadaisical standards though that I'd probably have to redraw the charts to fit the reality. Again. Ugh.

-o Wallace o-​

"Ach, what do ya think?" I asked, scratching my beard with a hand.

"I raz'er like zem, zey are very useful," Lucca said, looking over the pistol Florida had made for them, turning it one way and then the other as we sat on a stone bench outside a park in the port town.

"I dinnae think I do," I admitted, not liking the blocky weight of the weapon tucked into my kilt. Shifting some to get more comfortable on the bench with my greatsword on my back, I crossed my arms across my chest.

Lucca grinned at me, "You don't like much of anything my friend."

I frowned, "Ach! I do to! I rather like the local fashion, reminds me of me home."

It was nice to not be scouting out the island as kids. I got to wear my good old t shirt, sash, kilt, and boots and not the suspenders, shorts, and tight tank tops most of the crew wore. A lot of them stuck with variations of those even when they had the day off, even Lucca stuck with leather overalls. Florida and Daniel were the only guys in the crew other than me that didn't wear those outfits on our days off, though I hadn't seen Florida in the usual outfit for the crew yet…

"Ah yes, I raz'er like ze local fashions as well," Lucca said, eyeballing two of the women passing us in what appeared to be kilts and a fancy shawl and nothing else, "Z'ough for different reasons."

"Ach, dinnae you already sample the local wenches?" I asked, keeping an eye on the broad knives that the two women were carrying, like many of the men in the town, though I didn't remember any of the other women carrying weapons. Didn't want my friend to get himself into something that'd get him killed.

"Yes, ze ladies of zis island are quite amorous," my friend blew a kiss at the two ladies, one in red the other purple. The red-clothed one tittered, covering her mouth even as the purple-clothed one glared at Lucca. "Z'ey are wonders of ze free love of my home, je les aime."

I elbowed him, "Ach, just dinnae get yourself killed, some of the lasses are armed. Don't want a repeat of the boss do ye'?"

To my amusement, Lucca blanched, "You are, of course, correct my friend. Zat would be… bad."

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The McPuffin Part 4 End