14 Secret Hideout
Today was a Sunday like any other on the island of Narhad
Fred woke up snoring unbecomingly for a human being, ate, took his gadgets, went to look for Stephen, together they went to train on the beach until his body went on strike, returned home after their Super Saiyan Spartan training, ate with their family, rested briefly to recharge their batteries while they studied and
Unlike the day before, they took other gadgets and went together to the forest, which encompassed the entire center of the island, to [play] and by playing we mean...
"Run more fucking fat bastard!
Your ass weighs you down! This is happening to you for not training like a psychopath like me!" Shouted Fred as he ran and jumped at high speed through the woods with great agility and at absurd speed while...
"OINK! OINK! OIIIIINNNNKK!!!"
While being chased by a huge boar hog about eight feet tall and fourteen long, which was chasing Fred with obvious murderous intent!
CRASK! POOMM! PLASH!!
A boar that crashed into the trees and rocks that Fred was leading him towards during his flight, which he tore apart in his charge despite sustaining bruises with the obvious objective of bringing down the shitty kid that was insulting him about a subject that concerned him a lot
A complex that Fred exploited as much as he could to provoke the poor boar pig which Fred nicknamed Pumbaa "Are you saying you're not fat?
Please, I only know five fat guys and you are three of them!
The others are your mother and father!"
"OIIIIIINNNNK!?
WYYYYYYYYHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Pumbaa yelled furiously upon hearing those piercing insults, turning full berserk.
His bloodshot eyes saw only Fred, dressed in pocketed black military pants and a long black jacket, running and jumping in front of him, making him tackle every possible obstacle
While still making fun of his weight!
"OIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNKK!!!"
Nothing else existed in the surroundings for Pumbaa! Neither the trees that he destroyed with each movement of his powerful muscles, nor the stones that he pulverized with his hard head, nor the other animals that fled in terror to avoid being involved in that deadly pursuit…
Crack!
And, of course, he also didn't see the trap on the ground that Fred had been leading him into all this time
"Oink!?"
CRASHHHHHHH!!!
In this way the poor Pumbaa fell into a rather deep hole, which was dug deep and shaped in such a way that an animal of his size and athletic abilities couldn't climb or jump.
"WYYYYHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
WYYYYHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
OOOIIIIKKKKK!!!" Pumbaa shouted with indignation and rage as he tried to escape from the detestable hole in which he had fallen, however, he was unable to do so no matter how hard he tried...
The only thing that Pumbaa could do in that situation was to insult and get angry with the disgusting red-haired boy who was looking at him from above as if he were only a piece of meat
"MUA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Everything turned out as I had predicted... and I didn't even need Observation Haki for that...
Anyway... Let's inspect the merchandise...
Hmmm...hmm... your skin is intact as far as I can see, you're tough as well as fat...
Great, I'll sell you for a good price... plus you'll serve as a test subject for my deadly poison [There's no safe word Mark 7]
Hakuna Matata motherfucker" Said Fred as he inspected his prey, pulled a blowgun from the inside pockets of his favorite combat jacket and shot Pumbaa a needle into his mouth, which was constantly open to curse Fred.
And after one minute and thirty seconds...
PLOMP!
Pumbaa died of suffocation due to Fred's deadly poison in the testing phase, whose effect prevented the body from metabolizing the oxygen it obtained from the air, causing an extremely cruel and agonizing death by suffocation.
"Ufff...
This poison is extremely cruel...
I'd have to stop using it... or... just use it on fucking scum who deserve a death of that caliber...
Yes, the second option is better, especially since it's too effective on large dudes to not use it.
But until I am immune, I will have to leave it aside" Fred said to himself as he gathered the ropes he had prepared to get the fatso out of the hole, something he was about to do right now.
When suddenly...
"WYYYYHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
WYYYYHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Another wild boar appeared!
A boar somewhat smaller than the one that Fred had just killed, which began to charge towards the redhead to avenge his brother
"How should I call you?
Timon?
No... you're a boar too...
Best Pumbaa 2" Fred said as he looked slowly like a boar as tall as he was charging towards him with the intention of killing him, without moving a single muscle in his body
Why?
Because there was no need to worry about his life in that situation, since his back was perfectly covered...
FLIU!
CHAF!
PLOMMP!
In the top of an excellently positioned tree Stephen, armed with his large metal crossbow, he watched that any unauthorized beasts attacked Stephen. And fulfilling his mission, he shot a long arrow into Pumbaa's eye 2 from 25 meters away
"Nice shot Stephen!
You killed Pumbaa 2 with a shot to the eye, he died instantly by piercing his brain
Excellent... his skin hasn't been damaged, we will be able to sell it at a good price in two weeks" Said Fred while performing the autopsy on Pumbaa 2 and pulling the original Pumbaa out of the hole, putting them side by side to compare the size of both and start tying them up to transport them
"Of course it was an excellent shot!
After all I have used an arrow and a crossbow made entirely of metal!
My [Large Crossbow made of metal that also shoots large arrows made of metal Mark 4] is my best metal weapon to date" Stephen said proudly as he climbed down from the tree and displayed a huge metal crossbow almost a meter in length that he held victoriously in his muscular arms of blacksmith kid.
"Well, the name sucks, as always...
Really? 100% metal?
Is the shooting rubber also metal?" Said Fred, teasing Stephen about the only little [flaw] in his crossbow
"...
...
Ehm...
...
I hate you..." Stephen answered quite depressed, it had cost him a lot to deceive himself to ignore that little detail, but he couldn't continue deceiving himself if Fred didn't collaborate
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Come on, maybe one day we will find some very flexible metal to make it 100% metallic
Until then we will ignore that detail...
Do you think it's OK?" Said Fed who liked to annoy Stephen in that way, the complexes of the Steel family always made him laugh
"Yes, thanks for your help...
However, I don't understand why you spent so much time and effort digging the hole, luring the pig into it, and then using your blowgun to poison him when you had him trapped...
You could have perfectly killed him without much preparation, as I have done
You're being very inefficient... it's not like you..." Asked Stephen, who put his almost 100% metal crossbow on the ground to help Fred tie up his prey
It's true that I could kill Pumbaa in a more direct way, with swords, lances, arrows, guns, poison darts and whatever you want
But now we aren't killing! We are hunting!
Hunting isn't just killing your prey!
A true hunt consists of controlling your prey both mentally and physically from before the start of the hunt until you start skinning your prey!
Make your prey move exactly where you want and do exactly what you want and still let them believe they still have some control over the situation!
And finally... hehehehe...
Leaving him totally helpless, powerless and unable to do anything except realize that you have always been in control of his life and death!
A death that will come exactly when the hunter feels like it!
MUA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Fred answered as he laughed like an evil genius with an overdose of methamphetamines and expired hallucinogens whose only obsession in life was to kill Batman
"Yes...
You are definitely not a villain… seriously… that face is creepy…" Stephen said with the eyes of a dead fish, who tried to ignore that Fred seemed to have gone crazy and that he had changed his name once again while listening to that annoying and forced laugh.
A laugh that stopped short, as Fred grew serious to explain the real reason he went to all the trouble to hunt down that boar "Jokes aside...
There may be times when we have to face people who outnumber us and outweigh us, enemies that we cannot directly defeat.
On those occasions using the brain, patience, environment and other means at our disposal to defeat our enemies before the combat even begins will be essential.
And that's why apart from training my muscles to fight it's also necessary to train the brain to hunt, both require practice and perseverance to improve
And this is part of the training!"
A somewhat extreme approach but that Stephen accepted for being fairly logical, however that wasn't what most caught the attention of the little blacksmith
"I have never signed up to hunt pirates with you , don't include me...
But speaking of training...
Will you carry Pumbaa and I carry Pumbaa 2 to our secret hideout?" Stephen asked, obviously offering to carry the lighter boar.
"To the secret hideout?
We have hunted and gathered too much today, don't you think we should leave this at home first and then go to the hideout?" Asked Fred somewhat surprised by the fact that Stephen proposed to go to the secret hideout, after all, it was on the other end of the island
Not only would it be difficult to get there with the backpacks full of herbs, mushrooms and the two boars... it would also be twice as difficult for them to return to the village after carrying all that, it was strange that Stephen wanted to go to the hideout considering all that
"This doesn't...
I want to go to the secret hideout as soon as possible...
I haven't been in days and... I'd like to see it... again...
You know... I've been busy all week in the afternoon..." Stephen answered, insisting on his initial idea, but defending his arguments in a somewhat clumsy and suspicious way.
However, Fred overlooked those suspicious details and accepted Stephen's proposal, from time to time he liked to indulge him "Mmmm...
Ok... let's go if you insist so much, but I'll carry Pumbaa 2"
"EEEEHHHH!!!
That's not fair!" Stephen yelled as he watched Fred pick up Pumbaa 2, his bag full of herbs and march off to the secret hideout.
Narhad, the old mining colony, is a practically circular island in which two parts were distinguished.
The center of the island, in which there's a huge forest that covered 70% of the entire island, in which there were many animals, herbs, rocks and many other things that you could find in a forest not inhabited by humans. And of course the coast of the island, where you could distinguish a single large beach near the town and everything else was cliffs and small or medium-sized coves between all those cliffs.
The only thing that connected both ecosystems were a few roads and of course the tunnels that belonged to the old mines, which connected many parts of the island and that the islanders used to move avoiding the animals in the center of the island. And now Stephen and Fred to avoid other predators and save time entered one of the tunnels that were scattered throughout the island, carrying some huge boar hogs that barely passed through the entrance to reach their destination...
"Fuck...
How much does this fat pig weigh!?
I'm dying!" Said Stephen who was red as a tomato, sweating profusely, the veins in his head beating like his own heart and with all the muscles of his body tensed like ship cables in the middle of a storm...
After all, he carried Pumbaa on his shoulders, a boar that weighed hundreds and hundreds of kilograms.
"This is why you should take your training more seriously
If you did as I did, it wouldn't be so difficult for you" Said Fred criticizing Stephen as he carried Pumbaa 2 without too much trouble, although in reality he was secretly impressed with his little friend 'Although it's still impressive that an almost ten-year-old boy can carry so much weight on his own, albeit barely, and in the world of One Piece...
At least Sabo and Ace weren't that strong at his age, I think...'
Luckily for Stephen, after coming out of the tunnel and walking downhill for about 3 minutes, they finally reached their [Secret hideout], a cave of about forty square meters near a cove where Fred and Stephen came to spend part of their free time away from the adult supervision.
After several years of renovations and relocations, Fred and Stephen settled in this cave as if it were their second home... and of course it had everything necessary for it to be so, since it had a small workshop for Stephen and a small laboratory for Fred in which they made their most controversial creations such as dangerous weapons or deadly poisons
Apart from that they had a small warehouse where they deposited some of the materials they found in the forest and also training equipment for Fred, who even had to train there by contract.
And of course they also had a beautiful almost paradisiacal cove at their disposal, where they fished, dived... trained... and relaxed in its calm waters...
Calm waters in which Fred found something strange...
"What the hell is a ship doing here!?" Fred yelled as he pointed to the strange object that had invaded his property.
In the cove, tied to a rock, was a ship much smaller than the Merry, ranging in size from a boat to a barge. If we were to compare it to another ship in the One Piece world, this one was only slightly larger than the ship Rayleigh had when he met Roger in the flashback
Like 99.99% of all ships in One Piece this one was made of wood, however this one was quite peculiar for the One Piece world...
This ship, being small, had a single mast, however it was located further forward than usual in this world, the usual single sail in this case had been replaced by two sails, the mainsail and a jib
'Mainsail, jib, boom, contra, weathervane...
This sailboat is just like the modern sailboats of my old world...
But there's more...
WAIT! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!' Fred thought excitedly as he looked up and down at the wild ship that had appeared before him.
The ship seemed not to have only a sail to move it!
Because the waters of that cove were so clean and crystal clear, Fred was able to see that this boat also had two metal propellers at the stern.
Something completely abnormal in that world!
The normal thing in that world was to see boats only pulled by the wind, very few escaped that norm and were developed by Vegapunk or other geniuses who for some strange reason were unable to popularize them
However, Fred had before him a totally unique ship that didn't depend on a source of motion as primitive and uncontrollable like the wind.
How could he not be excited?
In fact, he was extremely excited, so much so that he jumped up and down, gasped for breath, and smiled stupidly as he expressed his thoughts "OH GOD! OH MY GOD!
A boat! A BOAT! A FREE BOAT!
How did he get here!? Will it have an owner? I hope not...
And what fuel will it use to move?
Gasoline? Diesel? Biofuel? Solar energy?
...
Cola?
...
Pepsi?"
"By mechanical energy, specifically yours..." Stephen replied as he cooled his head with the water from the cove and looked at Fred with satisfaction.
"What the!?
How do you know that?
Does your knowledge as a junior engineer make you deduce it at a glance?
Or have you seen it before and that's why you wanted to bring me here despite having to carry Pumbaa?" Said Fred, who quickly activated his amateur private detective mode
"Hot Hot...
Of course I know how it works, after all I created this ship!
Although dad helped me a little, otherwise it would have been impossible for me to finish it today...
That's why neither me nor dad were available during the afternoon and part of the night, we were doing this...
But my design, dad has only helped when it comes to building..." Answered the smugly Stephen, pleased as ever to see the incredulous fall of his friend
"Wait...
That?
You?" Fred asked completely open-mouthed
And of course Stephen replied, this time even more smugly upon seeing Fred's face "Of course!
Although I have been inspired by some of the ideas you gave me a long time ago about the ship you would like to have in the future, I hope you don't mind"
"But...
But...
It's made of wood...
And... and you hate use anything that isn't metal" Said Fred totally catatonic, since he couldn't get used to the idea that Stephen or someone from the Steel family had built something like this considering their aversion to non-metallic materials, especially wood
He couldn't imagine why Stephen or Marlon could have broken their own code and their family code and done something that in their eyes is an aberration and blasphemy.
"Yes, I know...
I would have preferred to build one completely out of metal, however there are no light metals to be mined on this island while filthy wood is plentiful... and not even gathering all my savings could I buy so much metal
That's why, unfortunately for everyone, I have had to settle for wood, in the same way that I settle for stupid rubber to build my crossbow" Stephen answered between tears of sadness as he looked at the ship and the crossbow not made 100% of metal
"But...
So… why did you do it?" Fred asked, still not understanding why Stephen had flogged himself like that… It was totally unnecessary in his eyes.
"It is obvious...
You're always telling me that you want to go off the island in search of adventure... and for that you'll need a boat...
But not just any boat, it has to be a good quality one!
And since I don't trust the quality of other boats, I had to build one for you, otherwise I wouldn't be calm when you're out at sea" Stephen answered, smiling and slightly blushing as he made circles in the sand with his foot due to the embarrassment he felt confessing his motives.
Reasons that impacted like ballistic missiles in the brain and heart of Fred, who was devoid of almost all defense upon discovering how much Stephen had done for him.
He had sacrificed days and days of his spare time working on this ship!
He had spent his money and resources with which to build it!
He had done something that he practically considered a sin like using wood!
A boy who was barely ten years old had done all that for him of his own free will!
Realizing all the implications Fred was totally shocked, he didn't even know what to say "This..."
"Come on, say you like my present!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRED!" Stephen said as he forcefully hugged Fred, who was still in total shock.
Fred was so shocked that he didn't even react to Stephen's hug, right now all his concentration was focused on not crying in front of him "This...
Mnff...
it is..."
"What's the matter with you tough guy?
Are you so moved that you're going to cry?
That thing trying to get out of your eye is a tear?" Stephen asked, bothering Fred a little, his best friend, who had always tried not to show his feelings to anyone, but now he was about to cry
JUST AS HE PLANNED!
For Stephen, that hug and seeing Fred's almost crying face had made up for all the hard work and sacrifice he had gone through.
However, Fred couldn't allow Stephen to subject him to such extremely well-intentioned emotional manipulation, so...
"PERSONAL DISTANCE!"
Fred slipped out of Stephen's embrace and...
CHOFF!!
He dove headfirst into the water and...
Flof...
After a few seconds he stuck his head out of the water and responded in an extremely unconvincing way, mainly because of how shaky and nasal his voice was "Cry? Tears? What are you talking about?
This is just sea water, I understand if you are confused, since both are liquids composed mostly of water and contain salt...
But they aren't the same!"
A few words and reaction that didn't convince Stephen at all, it was clear what was happening and he wasn't going to let that moment pass. After all, if he knew anything, it's that you have to hit the iron when it's hot.
"Yes...of course...
Tsundere... or should I say...
Fredere?
STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!" Stephen laughed sarcastically as he splashed seawater in Fred's face.
FLAPPP!!!
"I curse the day I taught you that word..." Fred said as he received without any resistance those jets of salt water in his face, in the same way that he received what he had sown by teaching Stephen a word that could be used against him
"STEL! STEEL! STEEL!
And I plan to always use it with you
Fredere!" Stephen answered as he jumped into the water to continue attacking aquatically his tsundere friend
FLAPPP!!!
"Can I know why you give me a gift like this!?
Now because of you I'll feel guilty if I don't spend my precious savings on making you a nice gift, when you know I hate spending money and giving gifts!
And I'll feel twice as guilty if it's not a gift comparable to this, which is almost impossible!
You are an evil genius Stephen!" Said Fred in Tsundere mode, who finally reacted and joined that water war
FLAPPP!!!
"I know!
And for that now you will have to give me a good gift like every year!
You won't run away this year either, tough guy!
STEEL! STEEL! STEEL!" Stephen responded by throwing water with both his hands and legs at the same time to end that war.
FLAPPP!!! FLAPPP!!!
FLAPPP!!! FLAPPP!!!
"Damn..." Fred said, who washed his face and snot as best he could while turning his back on his friend, letting him be the winner of this water fight
After all he didn't care, the score was 69 to 13 in favor of Fred
That was a gesture that Stephen appreciated, who approached from behind and touched his shoulder and asked, "When sea water stops coming out of your eyes, do you want me to show you what the insides of the [Small sailing ship made of wood, but with certain surprises made of metal for Fred Mark 1]?"
"Of course...
But I'll change his name, that's for sure "Fred replied as he brushed Stephen's hand away to make him respect his personal space. He was infinitely grateful for everything he had done for him, but everything has limits.
"May I know what problem you all have with my names?" Stephen asked as they both swam in the direction of the first ship he had ever built.
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You'll be able to see 8 chapters in advance in my Pa-treon
pa-treon.com/user?u=83938371
