47 Bon Voyage!
Narhad Island
More than a month has passed since the events with the Leech pirates and thanks to being closely monitored by his personal physician, to the rare experimental concoctions that accelerated wound recovery that Fred had been developing and to the robust and almost unnatural build of a manga character… Stephen was able to heal his arm and ribs in a few weeks
Something that allowed him to start training very seriously as promised, until his body couldn't take it anymore, just like his friend Fred
"Aahhh!!! Ahhh!!!!
It hurts...
Everything hurts!
Aaaaahhh!!! Aaaahhh!!!!
Even my eyelashes hurt!" Stephen yelled, unable to move a muscle as he was transported home by Fred in the metal wheelbarrow.
"The day someone tries to stab you in the eye and you're able to stop the blade with your eyelid, you'll thank me for this training..." Answered Fred, driving the wheelbarrow in which he was usually sprawled in while imagining that cool, impractical, and deadly scenario..
"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY!? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Stephen yelled, that despite not wanting to do certain crazy parts of the training that he had agreed with Fred… training that got even crazier after the incident with the pirates… he had no choice, as he signed a contract using Fred's Pact Magic
With that learning another valuable lesson, thoroughly reading every contract you sign, even the back...
"With Haki everything is possible...
I think...
Aish..." Answered Fred, pining for not having managed to obtain the most important superpower in this world yet while increasing his speed to reach the village faster
Today was the day when the merchant ship came to the island every two weeks and therefore the whole village was at the dock to buy and sell whatever they could, however, on this occasion there were fewer people than usual
"Stephen! Fred! I thought you wouldn't make it on time!"
"I'm sorry Aunt Roxanne, bringing Stephen here has been more difficult than I thought, I think he has put on weight"
"I have gained muscle mass and you know it!"
There were fewer people in Narhad partly because of the deaths caused by the Leech pirates, partly because no one new was born or immigrated to the village, partly because some old people died naturally... and also because there were people leaving the village.
"Are you sure you must leave?
If you have any problem, we could help you all together... " Said Marlon, standing with his biological leg and mechanical prosthesis, to the six people who were leaving the island today
"The decision is already made Marlon...
My cousin in Las Camp has a job for me and I think it's good for the children to go somewhere else... that it doesn't bring back bad memories..." Said Irene, the mother of Sara and Edu, saying goodbye to everyone while hugging Roxanne and the other inhabitants of the village who had come to say goodbye to her.
And in the same way, Alex, Tania's father, was saying goodbye to Marlon, who gave him a matching mechanical prosthesis as a farewell gift "Thank you for the detail and for everything Mayor-san
But... our case is similar... and this island is no longer as safe as it was before."
Edu and Tania had lost their father, Tania had lost her grandparents and her father lost a leg during the Leech pirates incident. For many reasons, but above all for the good of their children giving them a new beginning in a place that didn't bring back such bad memories they decided to go to an island with more population and more security near the Marine bases
"Fred, Stephen...
Sniff sniff...
WE WILL MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!
BUAAAAAAHHH!!!" Said Tania and Sara, who tearfully hugged and kissed Fred and Stephen on the cheek multiple times
"Come on girls, this isn't a goodbye, but a see you later...
Someday I will visit you at your new home..." Fred said caressing Sara's head and patting her on the back while she hugged him like a koala.
"And when you buy a Den Den Mushi you can easily contact us" Stephen answered, being hugged by Tania in a slightly awkward position since he couldn't move from the wheelbarrow
The girls of both families said goodbye with great sadness to their two childhood platonic loves without caring at all that they were dirty, sweaty and one of them half dead from training
"..."
The only one who hadn't said or done anything yet was Edu, who stayed next to his mother looking at the ground, trying to distance himself from the others.
"Edu...
Is there something you want to say to Fred?" Said Stephen, that if he had been able to move and wasn't being hugged by Tania long ago he would have grabbed Edu to come with them
Just as they had secretly rehearsed...
"Yeah... I'm so sorry for being such an idiot...
That day and... always...
Sniff sniff..." Said Edu, who rushed at Fred just like his sister did to hug him between tears "I know that what you said to me wasn't with bad intentions...
That was to prevent me from getting hurt...
Mnffmm!
I... I'M SO SORRY!
BUAAAAAAHHH!!!"
"It's me who should apologize...
Many times I tend to say things in the worst possible way..." Fred replied, hugging him back as he looked at Stephen, aware that this had been his doing "But seriously, you have to try to keep a cool mind in difficult times and train instead of playing so much
Now you're the man of the house, you know what that means."
"Mnffmm!
Snif... snif...
Yes, sir!" Edu replied, ceasing his hug and drying his tears without much success to behave like a big child, one of many who had had to mature drastically.
And after several minutes of hugging and crying, both children and adults, both families entered one of the Slowagon company boats, which would take them to their new island where they would start their new life.
"I never thought we would separate...
We have all grown together, since we were babies" Said Stephen, who couldn't help but feel extremely sentimental and cry when he saw the other children in the village... especially the one he thought would be his wife in the future... gone, possibly forever.
"Things change Stephen, it's the only certainty in the universe" Fred replied, rubbing as usual the almost shaved head of his precious and saddened friend
Fred in his previous life experienced this situation on multiple occasions since as a child he himself changed classes, schools and cities on more than one occasion, in addition to seeing his best friends do it too. That's why he was aware of how Stephen felt, surely they believed that they would be together forever until today...
However, that moment of elementary school sentimentality ended once it was time to do business with adult people
"Wow, wow...
Long time without seeing each other super star!"
Or should I call you Frederic Freed, The Demon Hunter?" Said Percy Slowagon, the person in charge of the only merchant ship that regularly traded in the island, who came over to shake hands with his friend and superstar of the moment who had been bringing him a lot of extra income in the last month.
"I'll let you call me whatever you want as long as you give me a discount" Fred answered, returning the handshake to his friend, the only one who until now helped him buy merchandise from outside the island and paid him for his products
"HAHAHAHAHA!
Obsessed with money as always, it seems that some things never change" Percy said, referencing the conversation the two boys were having earlier as he recalled how confused he became upon see in the newspaper that Fred donated a fortune
A confusion that Stephen resolved for him weeks ago, explaining to him the truth
"If one day I stop being like that, be suspicious... surely I'm planning something big and dangerous or someone have supplanted my identity...
But jokes aside...
Have you got what was missing? Fred asked after seeing that the people from the company were taking large and heavy boxes off the ship. Boxes that with a probability of 99.9969% were his
"Absolutely everything!
But it hasn't been easy to get nor to transport...
Fortunately we were able to pay everything with your huge deposit
Who have you killed to get so much money?" Percy said in a very good mood because of the commission they took, for talking to the wonder boy who from the beginning he knew would end up being someone special and because he eliminated one of the pirates that could have killed him in the future
"Let's go...
You know perfectly well" Fred replied, as he handed him a new package of energy shakes, anesthetics and aphrodisiacs, which were selling very well thanks to one of Morgans articles where he detailed Fred's inventions.
"HAHAHAHA!
Do you want the boys to take everything to your house or will you take everything as usual?" Percy asked, pointing to the seven huge boxes that weighed hundreds of kilograms.
"Don't worry guys, we'll take it
This is part of our training method" Fred said as he lifted one of the boxes, to immediately kick the cart where Stephen lay "Get up Stephen, you should be fine by now thanks to the shake."
"Fuck…" Stephen said, hating that Fred knew him so well.
After things calmed down in the village a month ago, Fred began a new type of training with immediate practical purposes.
Wearing his training suit and carrying an extremely heavy metal shovel, Fred began digging relentlessly every day with the goal of creating a labyrinthine underground base of operations under his house that would also serve as a shelter in case there were future pirate invasions.
And later, after completing their recovery, thanks to the technical and manpower contribution of Marlon and Stephen, they were able to finish the first phase in record time, creating a large 300-meter room 30 meters below the village.
A 300-meter room compartmentalized, upholstered, with perfect ventilation, bathroom and above all with a large number of books and scientific and technological equipment that filled almost all the space.
Equipment that they were buying thanks to the money they got mainly from rewards from the Leech pirates and from the sale of their ship
"Good! And with this everything is done!
Finally our lab and workshop are finished!
Until we make more improvements, of course…" Fred said as he took out an electric generator from the last box they brought.
"It...it's...it's...beautiful...
Aghhh... ahhhggghh...
The... then we don't have to carry anything else?" Stephen said, barely out of breath or energy from having transported three boxes weighing hundreds of kilograms.
"Nothing else, in principle...
I have already invested the 140 million that we obtained… which could have been about 240 million… in many assets that would end up becoming our future strength and source of income" Said Fred somewhat depressed for the money he had spent, but especially for the money he hadn't been able to spend "And they're also partly your birthday present Stephen, I'm sorry but it's this or nothing, I'm out of money and it's hard to match your ship."
"I have already told you that this is the best birthday present in the world!
Besides, that money was earned by you, I hardly did anything... or so the newspaper says..." Stephen replied, getting depressed too for similar reasons too.
"Come on, let's get over it…
I DON'T WANT ANYONE DEMOTIVATED!
The three of us have a lot to do to pay off all this equipment and materials" Fred said, trying to motivate the team, but especially himself 'Damn!
With 100 million more I could have bought more things and of better quality'
"Wait me too?" Marlon said, pointing to himself in disbelief.
"Of course Uncle Marlon, why would we exclude you?
This is a serious startup, not a secret children's hideout on the other side of the island" Fred replied as he showed him which was his chair
"GREAT!!!" Marlon yelled with happiness knowing that he would have the opportunity to work with all this equipment, one that was hundreds of times better than the one he had in his workshop.
It wasn't the best laboratory or workshop in the world, that was obvious only considering what Fred saw in Punk Hazard or Egghead, but it was good enough to marvel three town bumpkins and to start developing the ambitious projects that Fred, Stephen and also Marlon were about to undertake for the moment
Therefore, when they finished connecting everything where it should and could be used when needed, they began to plan their work.
"There will be many projects over the years, either to finance assets that we will need shortly or for the more distant future.
For my part, I develop liquid poisons, gaseous poisons, antidotes, acids, explosives and various medicines...
For yours, develop better weapons, vehicles, automation process for several tasks, a mask that nullifies snoring … although I don't know why the last one is important…
However, that will only be side projects that we will do when we can't advance with the main projects that in many points will require the cooperation between everyone
And those main projects will be these ones" Said Fred while pointing with a dumbbell to the board behind him, where the projects that they would carry out next were indicated, programming them in Sprints following the Agile method
"We already know Fred, we've been talking about the same thing for weeks and the [Automail] project is already quite advanced since dad had already studied about this for years..." Stephen replied, who saw little point in this presentation and above all to this strange, burdensome and sometimes counterproductive way of working
A fairly valid comment that still saddened the new CEO of the company "Sorry... I was excited to do the presentation...
You know... we've officially inaugurated the base of operations and that stuff..."
But Marlon didn't give a shit about those things, he wanted to use the new smelting furnace as soon as possible "DOESN'T MATTER!
Let's get to work! I've been waiting for this moment for two weeks!
COME ON GUYS!"
"SIIIIII!!!!" The two boys yelled, quickly jumpING to their desks to start producing and…
"Wait Stephen...
What're you doing?" Fred said, just as Stephen pulled up a chair and sat down.
"Well, sit down at…"
"Exact! You can't sit! This is a waste of time!
As long as we're working, studying or doing anything else we have to keep training the best we can!
The most efficient thing at the moment would be to pedal to generate electricity in the laboratory, if that's not possible, use the Horse Stance and if you don't need your arms, use weights to exercise them...
And with the training suit on, of course!" Said Fred, who brought one of the stationary bikes connected to the base's generator closer to generate electricity manually
A statement that almost short-circuited Stephen's brain "Wait... wait a minute Fred...
Let me check if I understood correctly..."
"Yes"
"From now until possibly eternity our almost daily routine will be...
Get up, have vitamin and protein contributions for breakfast, train like crazy until lunchtime, eat, study and work while we train, snack, train, hunt, gather, study and work while we train, have dinner, study and work while we train and finally sleep...
And the only moments in which we will rest will be when our body can't take it anymore, when we have to eat, at bedtime or if there's some kind of emergency or important business?" Stephen asked that he felt more and more chills as he spoke and imagined himself doing this routine every day from now on 'I thought that now that we would have so much work we could rest a little more'
"It's a very good summary, but not 100% accurate...
We will also train while we eat, in a crazier way than the KunFu masters, you have been warned..." Fred replied, making Stephen's apocalyptic prognosis worse.
"¿¡EH!?"
But what Stephen didn't expect, at least on this occasion, is that Fred could still make everything worse by several magnitudes "And as for the rest, you don't have to worry!
I have in mind new concoctions and improvements for my Super Invigorating Shake that will give us more energy than before and will make our muscles recover faster to be able to train almost uninterruptedly with hardly any need to rest
And the time we waste sleeping is also a problem... that's why I've been researching a way to shorten that time and become sleepwalkers to train while we sleep.
It won't be easy to achieve that unlike with my shakes, but I think I'll make progress over the years.
It's good news right?"
"Yes... it's... very... good news..." Stephen said, completely pale, with his body and face completely paralyzed as he cried.
"Cry with joy, right?" Fred said, pleased to see that his sparring partner was as happy as he was to know that it would be easier for them to become strong.
"Yes… with… joy…" Answered Esteban, who was now crying blood as well as being pale and paralyzed.
"My son, don't think about how tortuous, exhausting, absurd and inhumane the following years of your life will be...
Think how strong you will become!
STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!
Seriously, don't die..." Marlon said, trying to encourage and comfort his son, albeit with lamentable success.
"I'll do what I can dad..." Stephen answered, still crying blood as he regretted this decision, in the same way that Fred had been regretting it until few weeks 'I hope to go crazy like Fred as soon as possible, this is the only possible salvation'
"And now connect the electrical generator to the metallic suit and increase the voltage until I say
I need to improve my damage tolerance as soon as possible and if I can also obtain a certain immunity to electricity much better" Fred said, handing Marlon a pair of pliers connected to the electrical generator as he recalled the pain he felt from John and Smith's blows.
A request that left Marlon speechless, who couldn't help but ask sarcastically "…
To the metallic suit?
Wouldn't it be better to connect them to your nipples?"
"Hmm...
Now that you mention it...
Yes! It's not a bad idea!
Nipples are a rather sensitive part of the human body.
A weak point that I haven't strengthened enough
Go ahead! Whenever you want!" Answered Fred he opened the metallic suit a little to expose part of his chest
And more speechless than before, Marlon had to say "This…
Fred…
That was a joke..."
"Not anymore!
Come on! I need voltage on my nipples!
And if you have any other brilliant ideas like this one, feel free to express them!" Answered Fred as he began to pedal on the exercise bike to produce the same electricity that would torture him
"...
Seriously, son... don't die... "Marlon said, stupefied by the level of madness that Fred had reached... and that surely wasn't his limit...
"... I can promise anything..." Answered Stephen, that now not only cried blood now, he also vomited it
---
Two years later
Two young men were standing next to each other on the pier in the village of Narhad
The boy with long reddish hair was Fred, who now... thanks to the strange genetics that some people develop in the world of One Piece, his crazy training and concoctions that accelerated his growth... was more than two meters tall and with an extremely balanced musculature as in the past to have speed, flexibility and power at the same time, but now each one of those muscles seemed to be made of extremely compressed carbon fibres
And next to him, with short pink hair, was Stephen, only with eighty meters, but as strikingly muscular as Fred's thanks to following his same training… only that his musculature was more voluminous due to his father's genetics that gave him broader shoulders and back than Fred's
Both of them had grown so much during these years, so much so that no one would believe they were twelve year olds unless they looked at their still immature pre-pubescent face
"I knew this day would come, but...
So soon? I thought we would start at sixteen or seventeen" Stephen said, relatively concerned about Fred's precociousness, although it wasn't something new to him.
"I can't wait that long...
According to your father I am already strong enough to fight against him when he was ok, so things will go well for me
Besides, we need more money to complete the main projects…" Fred replied, crying internally as he desperately remembered the hundred million he donated two years ago, something that haunted his nightmares even now.
"Yeah...
We're currently making quite a bit of money selling our products to the Slowagon company.
But it's not enough to advance at the rate we want..." Stephen said, that although he was satisfied with the hundreds of thousands of net berries they earned every month, he knew that it wasn't enough to meet the ambitious goals that had been set in the expected time
An opinion that everyone shared, therefore Fred wanted to solve the problem easily and effectively "Well, that's why I'll start my career as a bounty hunter earlier than expected.
I need to get stronger and only by training I won't improve
And now that we have mechanized all our production, it's not necessary for me to stay around to create my products"
"I... I will miss you so much Fred...
Snif... Snif... "Stephen said, trying not to cry like he did two years ago when Tania, Sara and Edu left... but it was getting even more difficult for him not to cry than on that occasion
"Come on, how old are you? Ten years?
We both have Den Den Mushi, so we can talk whenever we can and it's not like I'm not coming back...
The money that I get will have to be invested and the investment will be here!
So dry your tears, you will have me here very often to continue training, studying and working" Fred said, somewhat embarrassed by with his farewell
"Sniff...
Ok, but before you go...
I would like to do one thing…" Stephen said as he took something out of his backpack.
And what Fred saw was... "A bottle of sake?"
"I've been putting it off because we weren't of drinking age... and neither are we now, but...
I think it's foolish to delay now that you're embarking on your adventure" Stephen replied somewhat embarrassed, flushed and trembling, as if he was doing something really wrong.
'He's and always will be a good boy...' Fred thought, finding cute and funny that someone so muscular would care so much about the legal drinking age in a Shonen Jump world
"You already know right?
When you exchange sake cups you become brothers" Stephen said, steeling himself as he handed Fred a full glass of sake and poured himself one.
And immediately after taking his cup of sake Fred replied "Yes, I know, we already did it once..."
"Huh? What? What're you talking about?" Stephen said, completely confused upon hearing that revelation.
"Yes...
A year ago, you drank less than one glass, you got drunk and the next day you didn't remember anything
I didn't want to tell you in case you tried to do the same again...
Let's see if now that you're older you can handle alcohol better" Fred answered very seriously while he toasted with Stephen… although he was still stunned
"NO WAY!
Really!?" asked Stephen, flushed red with shame upon discovering this shameful side of him.
"It's not a joke...
Drink it little brother!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Said Fred between laughs after drinking his glass of sake
"…
FRED! YOU BULLY BIG BROTHER!!" Shouted Stephen, redder than before, who after drinking his glass pounced on Fred to strangle him to make him pay for that joke.
"PERSONAL SPACE STEPHEN!
I HAVE EXPLAINED YOU A THOUSAND TIMES WHAT PERSONAL SPACE IS!!
AND DON'T PULL MY HAIR!! Fred yelled as he tried to get away from that twelve-year-old boy with pink hair, a rough but friendly face, a grin from ear to ear with some chipped teeth and arms too muscular for his age with which he clung with all his strength to the neck of Fred
"Hahahahaha!
STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!
Good luck Fred!
Call us if you have any problems!
And fill those sons of... with lead and metallic wounds" Said Marlon and Roxanne, the other two people who remained in the village, that had come to say goodbye to him, but staying in the background so as not to spoil that very endearing moment
"Of course!
See you soon!
And Stephen, when you're ready you will also join the adventure!
LITTLE CRYBABY!!" Replied Fred, who broke free of Stephen's grip and threw him into the sea near his boat
"FUCK YOU! AND OF COURSE!
But don't come back without a gift, a metallic gift!
STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!" Stephen yelled, grinning from ear to ear as he took advantage of the fact that he was in the water to continue crying without anyone noticing… at the same time that he splashed seawater on Fred's face, to be on an equal footing
In this way, Fred, equipped with two katanas, a huge pistol, multiple knives next to the pistol and black pants, shirt and jacket overloaded with interior and exterior pockets full of surprises, entered his ship, the Arcadia Mark 2. A new version that was recently improved by Stephen and Marlon to help Fred in this new phase of his life.
Thus beginning the second great adventure of the "Demon Hunter" who had been famous in all seas two years ago!
#################
You'll be able to see 8 chapters in advance in my Pa-treon
pa-treon.com/user?u=83938371
Chatper Edited By: The_Bored_Immortal
