Round and Round to Batarilla
Admiring my own handiwork, I thought to myself 'Hm. It is a marine.. ex-marine ship, and now it's mine! And it's in as perfect condition as it could be too! I also didn't expect it, but it's kinda reminiscent of the Going Merry in shape, not size. Weird.'
I had finished it in the same configuration as Rosalina's ship, three bedrooms, one being the captains quarters, along with a few spare rooms, ones that could be used for any purpose. And thanks to Rosalina asking if I would bring Rem along with me, she had enough space to do what she wanted, being any of the spare four rooms just below deck.
I didn't know what to do with the three other ones, but I knew one or two would end up as storage.
The configuration of everything that I figured out was: I obviously would be getting the captains quarters, and if Taki wanted, she could have a room to herself or share with me, Rem would get the bigger of the two remaining bedrooms, just so she could do all that she wanted with it, and I still would have space to expand my own crew.
'Well, it's imperfect, but I don't think that should matter, I still have a freaking long journey to go on. I may as well make the most of it.'
I then, after adoring my new ship and being giddy for a minute, I went over to Rosalina.
"Hey, you ready Rosa?"
I then realized that she had her original body, the one that I knew, back. I could tell it was stronger, perhaps more than even my arm, but I didn't say a word about it.
She was busy moving many, many pieces of equipment onto her ship, all of which I had no possible name memorized for them, with Djane watching, the only reason I could figure was Rosalina didn't have any trust with Djane, most likely as a precaution to make sure nothing happened.
Other than equipment, I realized the stacks of books that were sitting on the deck as well, most likely a lot of journals full of development notes, and notes in general. After that, I just decided to stop ignoring my own question and heard the sound of metal hitting the deck, which I could only assume was some of the very equipment she was moving before my attention shifted everywhere else.
"Almost! I just have to move the rest of the equipment down there, and then we can leave, all while I help you learn how to sail!"
Rosalina jumped over the rails, landing on the dock, right next to the pile of stuff.
"But before I continue, I would like to know if you would take some weapon prototypes? You do not have to take any, but it would be more for security, as you would say."
"Uhm..."
I was just a little confused, wondering the reasons why I would take more.
"I would only like you to take them of you so chose, but please hear the reasons. First of all, if they were just left here, there is the possibility that others may show up and steal them, only to learn how they work and wreak havock. The second reason being: I do not exactly trust Djane, and while I do trust in my ability to lock Rosin away, I would trust you more with them, as a just-in-case for if Rosin SOMEHOW resurfaces. I can only hope that that scenario will never occur, but a precaution is needed no matter the circumstance."
I sighed.
'Sound reasons, it sucks that they're good reasons, otherwise I would say to leave them here. Buuuut... Couldn't I add them to the one? I did already take weapons in the form of Tandkyo's prototypes, so why would I not do the same here?'
"Sure, I'll take them, it shall be an extension to my treasure."
Rosalina chuckled, and I just went over and started grabbing whatever looked like a prototype, be it the metal manequin that I had used for my arm, pieces of weapons that I think were from the ones who became Djane, bodies that were enhanced with weapon systems that were also owned by the ones who were originally Djane, or even an actual gun. I cared little enough to list down what all was there, and put them in my slightly upgraded vault, one with an actual working vault lock and vault walls.
•
It only took a little while longer for Rosalina and I to finish moving things onto our respective ships, and then we left. Using Observation, I tried to copy Rosalina to the best of my abilities, which was easier thanks to having multiple hands and not having to leave the helm, all while Rosalina had to do so. It also helped with my own passive Observation, which made memorizing what to do ten times easier.
It did make me understand the need for a helmsman and a competent crew, and gave me a new respect for Rosalina, who had learned how to do all of it by herself.
•
For a week, we just were sailing around the South Blue, which allowed me the time to get a hang of it, just enough to actually sail, giving me a newfound respect for all who had to do these things.
'I'll make a ship that can do these things on its own when I get to it!'
While doing these things, I was still somehow doing my training, but I had lowered it down to a 4-punch training regimen, only because I did not get much time to do so, and I wanted to see just how fast doing my own training could get, hoping it would be able to arrive at less than half an hour to do all my training. It was a crazy goal, but having to get to a point that my Haki was indeed incredibly strong, and I could manifest the three thousand hands, I would be doing such training.
During this week, Taki was doing her own training for a couple hours a day, then simply laying on the deck in a chair, just chilling out and relaxing the rest of the time. Rem, on the other hand, had taken to painting. According to Rosalina, she had been suppressing her own want to paint for many years at this point, and she needed to have an artistic outlet, also known as painting.
'Well, I can only hope Rem at least helps with stuff like cleaning and all that, she is on MY ship.'
And that thought was interrupted by a pirate ship. It was surprising, but became much less surprising when I realized a pirate could literally come out of nowhere. But, thanks to a quick thought, I yelled to Taki "Hey Taki! Can you take care of that? I don't need our new ship damaged!"
Taki, who had her eyes closed, opened them, and then got up, turning to the direction of the ship, and creating a moon.
They didn't even have a chance to say anything, as the moon bigger than their ship plummeted down, creating giant waves, and destroying the ship without even so much as a scratch on our ship.
A quick thought came to mind, and I sent my artificial arm to go and grab their jolly roger, all so I could eventually make a coat out of them. Fishing it out of the water, I noted in my head 'Number 3. This is a slow process, but I guess I can't do much about it.'
I brought back their flag, and Taki went back to relaxing again, with Rem flinching slightly when watching the ship get turned to nothing. But, she continued to paint as soon as she turned back to a giant canvas. I could only assume that at this point, she was really in need of painting.
I had then looked over at Rosalina, and she just shooker her head, going back to paying attention to not crashing against each other, and keeping us on track to get to Batarilla.
•
The next approximate three weeks were full of the same thing, me training to become even stronger and sailing, Taki trying to learn Haki her way, Rem just painting, and Rosalina just sailing, bringing us in the correct direction.
All of the pirates that even attempted to get close to us was obliterated before even a single word came out of their mouths. It seemed like Taki had found a pattern in types of pirates, with those stereotypical ones being the main ones she had looked out for. If they didn't look it, she watched for any sign of piracy, and I could count on her to determine such things, leaving the judgement to her.
But other than that, and the amount of time it took to even get to Batarilla, it was generally a nice journey.
And of course, after the four week journey from Graphen to Batarilla, we arrived with a second ship, two extra people, and plenty of weapons to spare, but those would stay in the vault.