East Blue
A few days after leaving Cocoyashi Village, life on the Going Merry had settled into a new, intense routine.
Nami was happily tending to the orange trees that Sanji and the others had moved onto the ship for her.
Zoro had moved on from just getting beaten up and was now laser-focused on his steel-cutting practice.
Usopp was still hunting birds for dinner, cursing Ray under his breath but never daring to say a word out loud.
Sanji was constantly doing his high-jump training, and Luffy was in non-stop sparring sessions with Ray.
As for Johnny and Yosaku, they had decided to stay behind in Cocoyashi Village for a while, continuing their bounty hunter work.
They probably also wanted to stick around and help protect the place.
…
After the morning training session, everyone gathered for lunch.
Ray took the opportunity to lay out his training plan for each of them, making sure everyone understood their roles and abilities.
"Alright, let's start with you Usopp," Ray began. "Your biggest talent is long-range sniping..."
Ray's goal for Usopp was simple: become the ultimate sniper and support guy.
This was pretty much Usopp's natural path anyway, but with Ray's guidance, it was going to be way more intense.
It wasn't just shooting practice; he was also doing physical conditioning and even some close-combat drills.
Getting stronger meant he'd have better muscle control, which meant better accuracy.
It also meant he could handle bigger, more powerful weapons.
Plus, you can't learn Haki if you're a weakling, and while Usopp wasn't ready for that yet, building his physical foundation was the first step.
For close-range fights, Ray had two ideas.
First, get really, really good at dodging.
Second, learn how to use concealed weapons up close.
This would make the most of Usopp's quick thinking.
If someone gets in your face, just dodge and stuff a "Stinky" bomb in their mouth.
How he used it was up to him.
…
Like Usopp, Nami wasn't physically ready to learn Armament Haki either.
Her training was also focused on two things: getting in shape and developing her unique talent.
Ray's vision for her was a long-range "weather mage" who could still hold her own if someone got too close.
So, on top of practicing her staff fighting skills every day, she also had to study weather science to figure out new ways to use her Clima-Tact.
That part was all on her, because Ray didn't understand any of it.
Her sparring partner for the combat training was, of course, Ray himself.
And on the very first day, Nami got absolutely thrashed by his spear and staff techniques.
The second the training was over, she launched into a verbal tirade, loudly accusing him of holding a grudge for her "pervert" comment.
Ray didn't even have a comeback.
It was training; accidents happen...
Of course, every time Sanji saw Nami getting "bullied," he'd challenge Ray to a duel, and then he'd get beaten so badly he could barely hold his kitchen knives steady afterward.
…
As for Sanji, he was already strong enough to start learning Haki, so Ray had begun teaching him.
This mostly meant Sanji was getting beaten up on a daily basis too.
His talent was obviously in his legs, so his training was all leg-related.
Frog jumps, squats, and a daily total of 10,000 meters in high jumps were just the basics.
Once he started getting used to it, Ray made it harder by having him balance things on his legs.
Sacks of rice, flour, fruit—you name it.
To keep the food from getting ruined, Sanji had to land perfectly every single time.
This made Sanji furious, often calling Ray a devil.
But it worked.
His control and stability improved dramatically.
…
Zoro was still doing his thing, training his Haki and practicing his sword skills.
He seemed to have hit a bottleneck with his steel-cutting practice, but his physique was getting more and more impressive.
His muscles were so defined he had a sharp eight-pack.
Seeing this made Sanji so mad that he started adding more upper-body workouts to his own routine.
What Ray was most happy about was that Zoro was staying patient and focused.
He knew it was only a matter of time before he broke through that bottleneck.
…
Luffy was sparring with Ray every day, learning Haki and brainstorming new ways to use his Devil Fruit powers.
The kid was a natural genius when it came to that stuff.
As for Observation Haki, Ray was basically just training everyone's instincts by beating them up and forcing them to learn how to dodge or counter based on gut feeling.
With Ray on board, every single member of the Straw Hat crew was getting stronger at a ridiculous pace.
…
After lunch, Ray stood at the bow of the ship, thinking about what came next.
According to Nami, they were about a week away from their final stop in the East Blue: Loguetown.
If he hadn't joined the crew, Smoker and Tashigi wouldn't have even recognized them when they first arrived.
But now, things were different.
The Straw Hats were one of the most infamous crews in the East Blue.
The wanted posters for Ray, Luffy, and Zoro were everywhere.
There was no way Smoker wouldn't know who they were.
Plus, back in Cocoyashi Village, Ray had Chouchou sink that Marine Captain's warship.
He knew Nezumi would write an exaggerated report to headquarters about their "evil deeds."
The fact that they'd defeated Arlong would definitely get out.
As long as Marine HQ was paying attention, they could probably guess their route and when they'd arrive in Loguetown.
The best-case scenario was that HQ would think Smoker could handle them alone.
The worst-case scenario was that they'd send reinforcements.
As long as it wasn't an Admiral, Ray was confident he could handle it.
His fight with Hawkeye had shown him that there was still a gap between him and the true top-tiers of the world.
He could probably escape an Admiral by himself, but protecting the whole crew? Impossible.
Ray closed his eyes and sighed.
"I hope these guys can get a lot stronger before we get to Loguetown." He smirked.
"I guess I'll just have to train them even harder for the next few days."
The napping crew members had no idea how miserable their lives were about to become.
…
Loguetown, Marine Branch - Captain's Office
Tashigi stood at attention, reporting to Smoker.
"Captain Smoker, headquarters estimates the Straw Hat Pirates will arrive at Loguetown in one week."
Smoker paused his work, blowing a few smoke rings before frowning.
"Tashigi, keep a constant watch on their movements. Report to me the second you spot them."
Tashigi saluted and headed out to the training grounds.
After she left, Smoker leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.
Before Tashigi's report, he'd received another notice from HQ.
Putting the two together was giving him a massive headache.
"The Straw Hat Pirates will be here in a week... and the Buggy Pirates are estimated to arrive in a week, too. The two biggest crews in the East Blue are both coming to Loguetown at the same time."
No matter how confident he was, Smoker didn't think he could handle both crews by himself.
Just then, the Transponder Snail on his desk rang.
"Smoker-kun, can you hear me?" a woman's voice said.
"Hina. I can hear you."
"To be brief, the situation in Loguetown is bad. Headquarters is sending 'Momousagi'-sensei with me and a few others as reinforcements. We're coming at full speed, but it'll take us about eight days to get there. So, before we arrive, you must avoid fighting these two pirate crews. Stall them for one day. And whatever you do, do not challenge Buggy. Understand?"
Hearing this, Smoker's pupils trembled slightly.
'Wait, she's coming? There's no reason to send someone like her for this. What the hell did these two pirate crews do?'
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