Chapter 5: Story Time
"Woohooo! Come on, Whorl!"
"Hey, stop being annoying and just go get your bag. Yonji, you don't forget to bring your own snacks this time."
"Oi Oi, Don't be taking my snacks without permission from me. And don't even think about escaping without being electrocuted."
The triplets moved in unison with their massive backpacks on their backs containing mostly of snacks and miscellaneous items.
While the rowdy bunch boarded the Frigates designated for the Combat Training Exercise, two lithe youths boarded their boat while walking side by side, also carrying personalised military gears.
When Vinsmoke Judge watched from the distance, many soldiers and sailors boarded the Frigates in disciplined formation. Their work ethics cause Judge's expectations to rise for this Training Exercise.
Since he was worried for Germa's futures being sent out to experienced the world, he sent elite groups that would be responsible for their safety when the circumstances demanded them. Judge frowned not seeing Rokuji's figure, he still hasn't appeared on his periphery thinking he was being behind schedule.
Once the Frigates started sail, Vinsmoke Judge realise that Rokuji is the earliest of the birds that arrived even beofre the officers boards the boats. He smiled at this before quickly going back to his usual expression.
He stoically wishes his children a safe journeys. This combat training exercise is to hone their skills outside the kingdom, it is a worldly experience for the Royal Princes and Princesses.
The Germa Kingdom is an affliated Nation of the World Government, but this kingdom rely on mercenary contracts with nations willing to provide substantial financial exchange for a substantial military operation. The Kingdom of Science doesn't have issue regarding soldiers since they produce clones like no other nations.
Consequently, Vinsmoke Judge has some underworld connections that would help him take orders in secrecy without the eavesdropping of any spy. Since Vinsmoke Judge accepted the deal, he was to send a portion of his army to Frussia Kingdom in order to hold the revolts of pheasant and lower class against the aristocrats and give time for the Frussia's private forces to extinguish this rebellion.
This mission is just simple preventive measure of a coup, so he would not senselessly marched his soldiers to their deaths. This looks like an ideal training ground for his children so he decided to let those six youngsters to experience blood and worldly affairs. A prototype Raid Suits, a groups of his elite officers, and an army of regular sailors and cloned soldiers. Germa designates officers that shall be enough to ensure their safety when confronted with the unexpected.
....….
North Blue Frigate 11
"Rokuji, you've been very obscured lately. Only focusing on training, what change your mind?" Gochiji walked beside him on the deck as she spoke in familiarity.
Their relationship was a bit strained after all, Rokuji's attitude towards other people gives the impression that he hates making conversation. The purple haired girl understood this so she just talks alot as though it didn't bother her that Rokuji left her side multiple times before both of them got exhausted. One is tired from listening to nonsensical stories of the purple haired girl while the other is frustrated from not being able to handle the silver haired boy's monotony reactions.
Princess Lieutenant Gochiji Vinsmoke, she is like a concealed pistol and a hidden dagger. She disposed herself into playing a character, but Rokuji isn't only a natural talent for being observant as after his 'rebirth' his ability to discern things though various interactions were enhanced greatly.
What he didn't know was he's not the only observant person on the ship. As Rokuji eyed her in detail with an unladen judgment. Gochiji also described him as such —
He hates crowds. He prefers training alone so as to not expose any expectations. Drains his energy everytime at every social interaction so he keeps his monotone. Disdain unwarranted attention. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
The cleanliness of his cloak and boots differs greatly from the rowdy trio. Speaking of which, both of them haven't been bothered by those three. Even so, Reiju has to put some leash on those three so that can make them fall in line, abling to persuade them to take a step back when they were being mean to Rokuji.
Anyhow, the triples treated Gochiji as Reiju since she was her Lieutenant and they respect her elder position. Whilst Rokuji is their Lieutenant and Sanji's clone, to whom she has heard of countless times.
If Rokuji is rigid and distant then Sanji, according to Reiju is a fool and kind. His innocence and kindness was inherited from their mother with such affection for all of them even though Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji doesn't have much relationship with her. Sanji's blameless behavior only intensified their father's abhorrence towards him as he was termed, the ugly duckling among the flock.
And yet, Rokuji's character is parallel to Sanji. His monotone voice that wouldn't arouse any emotion pushes people away from him. It creates a barrier, detaching himself to amicability.
Speaking of the Devil, Gochiji caught a three shadows sliding down on a roap from Frigate 13 to theirs.
The three consisted of red, blue and green bunches of rowdy creatures.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Three successive landings arrive in a bright colored outfits. Posing like a superhero theme group, one wore a red cape and white and red striped combat suit with a guns holstered on his sides like a cowboy, another is a goggled youngster with blue suit and white-blue stripes cape along with electric knuckle duster, the last one wore a fitted black and green cape with green combat suit while holding a warhammer that launch like a rocket.
"We are the power trio. The bessssttt…."
"Gunner!"
"Pugilist!"
"Warrior!"
"…..In the all of North Blue!"
Ching!
The trio then pose like a group of superheroes facing off with the villains. Rokuji and Gochiji watch all of this happening not knowing what to say but to say they didn't expect it is a false. With their personalities, they would be enthusiastic and exuberant about the Raid Suit even though it's still in Prototype stage.
Reiju come out of the cabin smiling at the three new comers while commenting. "That's a great performance, you three. Did you like Father's gift to you guys?"
"Hahaha, Reiju this is excellent. It all fits, He even gave us weapons to fight against people oppose Germa. Say, are we really going to fight somewhere?" Niji is the first one to speak and his voice contains excitement and anticipation to be able to use their new Raid Suits on some contender.
"Calm down, Niji. This is a combat training exercise, we won't go to a war, we will prevent one. Father already mentioned that we are to reduce casualties on our side by fighting within the vicinity of our own forces. We are not to escalate the conflict, learn from the experience and go home." Ichiji's level-headedness at his age shows his incredible aristocratic upbringing.
Unlike most nobles in North Blue, Vinsmoke Judge gives a high regard for the education of his children as well as for the whole kingdom.
Yonji spoke last but with the most sense "Aren't we given this prototype Raid Suit since Father already anticipated that some danger would arise and this would also allow us to adjust the upgraded suits for our future preferences."
Reiju smiled a little as she walked towards the side, she handed Rokuji and Gochiji a small canister with distinctive color and numbers. Gochiji have a purple paint scheme and number 5 stamp on it whilst Rokuji's is the same color as his hair, a silver canister with white lines at the edge along with number 6 painted in black.
Reiju then adds " The two of you should go and fit into that later. Listen, what you three said are all correct. Father considers this expedition as important part of our education, the materials we must learn here is the essential experience to lead a decent mission without Father's immediate guidance to mitigate the situation if some unexpected incident occurs."
She looked at each of them one by one, "The Raid Suits are not toys, it's a weapon and it has limited duration of use. Once the limit goes pass the canister's gauge energy levels, it would remove your Raid Suit from your body automatically and you'll be vulnerable if your left in the battle. Secondly, new intelligence just came up and it's going to be difficult than initially anticipated but the Officers already have plans for this, our only goal is to follow their lead and learn from them, don't be in a hurry to prove your worth in battle, you'll just be liability to the officers."
She then grab the fruit juice on the table the servants serve for them as she spoke alot and requires hydration.
"What's the new intelligence?"
A monotone voice grabbed the attention of the small crowd as Rokuji asked Reiju about the new information they just received that she mentioned.
"Yeah, what about that?" Yonji echoes his words while eating snacks.
After sipping her juice, Reiju recounts what she knows "From what I gather, it seems the Frussia Country is in the midst of conspiracy. There are powerful pirates involved, we just don't know yet if they are playing with the nobles or the lower class."
"Maybe both." Gochiji ate her snacks, and commented. Ichiji looked at her and nodded thoughtfully.
"That's plausible. A pirate lord would want chaos and bloodshed to a country and then take advantage of it to take over the country through various methods and sweep their valuables away before it raises the Marine's attention."
His exposed eyes reveal a glint that hint his interest on the game plans of this country.
Rokuji couldn't help but silently applaud these youngsters' intelligent discussion. His attention were focus on their behavioural patterns trying to understand their traits and quirks.
From what he sees, Ichiji is a levelheaded clever young aristocrat. He has great instincts and reliance for tactics and board games so he became the leader of the trio.
Niji is a quick-witted and sharp tongued with brilliant retort in every argument. He is also impatient and often takes the fastest route to solve things, most of the times it just works in his favour.
Yonji is a gifted in terms of technique and sophisticated martial skills. Among the three of them, Yonji has the highest level of attainment in combat training and got the most praise from Instructors and Elite Soldiers alike. But he also gets the praise to his head and often loses these advantages to Ichiji's tactical talent and Niji's quick approach to key positioning.
These three also complements each other's traits, they solve problems together and even though they are pain in the neck in most situations, they also knows they must stick to each other.
To overcome the odds of the trio, Reiju has something they never have. Their father's child favouritism. Her intelligence and position as the eldest child of Vinsmoke Family gives her the power to dictate some of their conduct or else their father would restrict their access to some activities for them to learn their lessons.
Rokuji watch on the sidelines as the Vinsmoke children spent a long time just snacking and telling each other stories. Some of them bragging while others took reference to the storybooks they read.
Rokuji daydreamed again thinking that not everything is bad if you only look at one perspective. This children are just children, they don't have control over their birth, upbringing and environment. Rokuji may have suffered some indignation from these three but that's just on the perspective of being a rude children with innate martial prowess that they would obviously use to their advantage, earning them a small reputation in the Kingdom's lower class citizen.
"Did you know there is an Island in the great route with massive beast and flora that preys on even more majestic ancient creatures. It's said that pirates who buried their treasures there never return again." Yonji's way of storytelling involves hand gestures and suspense.
"The reasons were that they were preyed upon by a hulking creature that lives in a dark cavern that said to leads to the core of the world. They are said to be so tall and powerful that every pirate who witnessed these strange creatures would have nightmares about their dead crewmates and their lost treasures."
He also read many books about strength and wisdom, adventures and great voyages. They are all fascinating but the way the trio describes their stories is exaggerated to a degree of comedy.
Ichiji couldn't help but comment "Those pirates who never return there will not announce that they go back there and then leave in safety. It's the same as announcing that the treasure they buried was retrieved and that will attract other pirates."
Niji then told his story with much color " That's nothing, I read a book about the greatest feat of devil fruit user. It was said that they can change the climate and properties of an island especially for Logia Users
" Ehhh! That's dumb, Niji." Yonji commented while eating snacks
" What did you say? Care to explain?" Niji's vein pop up on his head as Yonji expalin.
"Yahh. That's not a trap, that's just plain stupidity for those people to get ensnared by a mere sword, one made out of stone of all things. "
Niji's eye twitch for a moment before he said. "It's not about the sword, its the mountain in that certain Island. The moment they get to the Island, they will never get out. Even the sword has no owner because its also just a normal stone shaped like a sword just like many stones on the island, the Wicked Mountain of that Island just used the the victims as sacrifice for itself as a wicked executioner.
Which is why in the tales of those who've survived, the stone sword is said to drain blood from its sacrificial pawn because the mountain itself is the real devil."
"That's a great story to tell to excited children who wants to go to an adventurous journey by their mothers in their sleep. It's just like what mother told me when she was still alive." Reiju brought the attention to herself when she mention their mother. The trio were silent but they don't have much reaction in the first place.
"She said there was an Island that suck all ships into its tidal waves. She said most of the island is submerged except for the protruding towering hill. The currents were so powerful that even Fishmen had a hard time just escaping from it. And the only way to leave is by bypassing the currents through sheer force. That's not all, the surrounding climate also produces storms and cyclones that only death awaits to those trapped on the island. By the way, it's called Island of Antlion Pit.
Reiju share her story with them in bright mood as if she reminisces about the first time where she's the one listening.
"I heard about that one, I remember she also told us that story once but didn't finish it because Yonji got bored and leave." Niji irritatingly commented and took a jab at Yonji.
"Stop it Niji, you weren't also listening that time and mother also said she understands if we want to leave and play outside so you two immediately got out." Ichiji calmed him down in a single breath.
"Aren't you with us that day?" Yonji munched on his snacks.
"Unlike you two, the story interests me so I finished it. Mother told me it was somewhere in East Blue. Right, Reiju?" Ichiji called Reiju for affirmation.
"Your right." Sipping her third juice, Reiju called for Gochiji.
"Chichi, your turn." Gochiji was startled being asked to tell a story she read that she finds fascinating.
"Umm. Ehem." Chichi stood up and make a quick action as though she was narrating a scene she read. She looks adorable with cute gestures.
"So, there was a time when a little girl in the past that ate an unusual fruit she thought was just another sweet and juicy candy fruit she found. What she didn't know is that she ate one of the most feared ability of a Devil Fruit in the whole world, the Devil's Curse Fruit. From then on, she became known as Dark Witch, her ability to summon devils as her servants were so horrible that many people became her victims, conquering nations and countries, devastating the erased Kingdom of Wizcraft from the maps. She became known as one of the most villainous woman in the book I read. Oh, her death is said to be suicide."
Rokuji already slipped away the moment Chichi is in the midst of her story. He knows he'll be next one but out of all the things that fascinates him most is the fabled Island of Angels and Sky Islands, Skypiea. But all of them already knows the story so there's no point telling them that.