5 Chapter 5: Stealing Ability?

"I hate Marine!"

A flash of coldness shone momentarily in the eyes of the young man. Rex and the girl looked surprised as they saw the changes.

"Look like you have a bad blood with the Marines, huh." Said Rex, looking thoughtful at the man.

The injured man took a deep breath and sighed. He was not ready to speak about the past. So, he changed the topic. "So, will you let me join your crew?"

"Sure." Replied Rex. It would be fun if he was sailing the sea with some friends. Aa for later when her find Ace, he could go and disband his little pirate group. He then looked at the girl, and asked, "What about you? Why are you following me?"

"You have stolen and ate my Devil Fruit. I will follow you until you paid me back the price of that fruit." Replied the girl.

"Hey, I didn't steal it. I was just looking at it. As for eating it, he is the reason for that." Replied Rex, pointing his finger at the injured man.

"Why are you still blaming me? It was an accident. You saw it too that I was injured by that baldy. You even helped me to defeat it." Said the man, trying to defend himself.

"It doesn't matter what the reason is. It's a fact that you ate the Devil Fruit. So, you need to pay me." Finalized the girl.

Rex was unable to refute back. "Fine. How much do you want?"

"100 million Berry! No, 500 million Berry!"

"500 million? Are you out of your mind? That's too expensive! Whose going to pay that much money just to buy a fruit?" Rex snapped at the girl for extorting too high of a price.

"This price is reasonable. I already saw you use the fruit ability. When you fought that bald guy, you stole his power, didn't you?" Said the girl.

"So, that's what happened back there. That's a very powerful ability. The price for such ability should be much higher than that 500 million Berry." Said the young man, agreeing to the girl. The girl smiled, and gave the man a thumbs up.

Rex also remembered back to the time when he suddenly gained the Blast Power from that bald guy. He contemplated on it, and he seems to have the stealing power. However, he was not fully sure yet.

"I don't have that much of a money. Maybe when I collected enough money in the future, only then I will be able to pay you."

"That's okay. Here, please sign this paper." Said the girl.

"What's this?"

"A contract paper. Look, I already written the terms of transaction."

"...you really are thorough."

Rex signed the contract paper, and returned it to the girl. The girl smiled widely when she saw the sign "That's good."

"We have been talking, but I haven't known your names." said the young man. He then added, "Let us introduce ourselves. I'm Rokujin. Now, you guys, tell me yours."

"Name, huh. People often call me the Thieving Girl. But my real name is Yuwa. Though, that is a name that people of this place will never know." said the girl. For some reason, she showed an emotional look when she said the name.

"Now, your turn." said Rokujin, looking at Rex. Yuwa also glanced at Rex.

"Rex. You can call me Rex." replied Rex.

"That's a simple one." said Rokujin, a bit surprised. "So Rex, now that we are joining your team, care to tell your next plan?"

"I guess, I will need to find another ship as someone caused my ship to got destroyed."

"Hey, I already said that it was only a coincidence. I didn't destroy it."

"And I didn't said that it's your fault."

"Then, why did you say it while looking at me as if it's my doing?"

"No reason."

"..."

While the two was talking, Yuwa already started eating Rex's foods. Rokujin saw that and hurriedly wanting to snatch the remaining food. However, he was too slow, as Yuwa already took all of it, and quickly ate the food.

"What the? Hey, let me have some of it. Didn't you said to not steal other's foods?"

"You know that I'm a thief. So, I'm the exception. Chomp*" Yuwa ate the last bit of meat on the plate, causing Rokujin to feel unhappy.

"Rex...no. Captain, please give a fair judgement on this crew. She have stolen your food."

"Said the crew that are eagerly wanting to eat that said foods." rebuked Yuwa.

"Okay. You two can go on arguing. I need to go find a ship." said Rex. He took the cup of water, and drunk it in one go. After that, he stood up and started walking away.

"Hey, wait. Who's going to pay for the foo..."

Before Rokujin could finish his words, he saw Rex is dashing away, and a second later, he is no longer visible from the restaurant.

"Did he run away without paying? Sigh. Yuwa, look like we need to split the..."

Rokujin froze before he could say 'split the payment'. On the chair where Yuwa was sitting, Rokujin could no longer see the girl. Instantly, he realized that he was the only guy sitting there. "Oh no. They left me to pay the foods."

Rokujin then hurriedly stood up, and about to run away. However, someone quickly grabbed his left shoulder. As he turned to look, he saw that the cashier was smiling meaningfully at him.

"Er...sir, I only eat one portion of the foods. The rest of it are eaten by that gluttony girl."

"I know. However, you are the only one here. Just be kind, and pay for your friends." said the cashier. "By the way, you look tough and handsome. I don't mind if you want to pay the bill with your body."

"nno thanks. I'll just settle the bills." Rokujin sweated as he saw how the cashier licked his lips while massaging his shoulder.

"With your body?"

"CASH!"

"Sigh. I was about to recommend a beauty as a partner."

"Really?"

"I'm kidding. The partner is me!"

"Absolutely not! Here's the cash! Keep the change."

Saying so, Rokujin took out some cash and put it on the table. After that, he hurriedly rushed out of the restaurant.

...

On the merry street, Rex was walking at a slow pace, while trying to ask any passerby about a place that sell ship.

"If you want to buy a grand sized ship, just go to Batchik Ship workshop. It's just two miles, west from here." said passerby A.

"Shachiko Wooden Workshop are selling ship. If you want to buy, you can go there." said passerby B. He then asked, "How much money do you have?"

"10,000 Berry?"

"Forget about it. Bye." Passerby B then left.

Passerby C and so on...

"You want a cheaper ship? Well, there is a way." Passerby S. "There is this event which is being organized under the king's order. Everyone in this Samba Kingdom can go and join the even for free. The top three winners can get millions of Berry, and a ship as a prize."

"For real? That king is really generous." praised Rex. "So, when is this event is held out? Where is it going to be held on?"

"It's in the capital. It will be held ten day's from now on." replied Passerby S. "Well, you still got sometime to prepare. Good luck."

The guy then walked away. Rex contemplated the words of that man, and subconsciously turned to look at the distance Royal building.

"Will you join the event?" asked Yuwa, suddenly appearing beside Rex.

"You...are you a Devil Fruit user?" asked back Rex, feeling surprised that he didn't even saw her come close to him. This girl is a dangerous one, thought Rex.

"Oh, you can tell? Well, yes. I'm a Devil Fruit user like you." replied Yuwa, smiling at Rex. She even showed him her power, by disappearing right in front of him. "What do you think of my ability?"

"That is really incredible." praised Rex.

"So, back to the topic. Will you join the event?"

"There is a free ship. So, why not?"

"Just a reminder. The event is all about music."

"You know about the event?" asked Rex.

"I'm just guessing. The king likes all things related to music. As the backer of the organizer, it is most probably an event that the king liked the most, which is music." explained Yuwa.

"Is that so. Then, I might come out as the winner." said Rex.

If it's about music, then there are more reason for Rex to join in. In his previous life, he has learned, and played many musical instruments since he was young. Guitar, drums, piano, violin, he played all of those instruments. As for knowledge on songs, he have plethora of songs that he still remembered and listened in Earth.

"I know where the registration place to join the event. Let's go." said Yuwa.

"Alright."

"Hey wait for me."

As Yuwa and Rex are about to head towards the Capital, they heard Rokujin shouting, calling them from the distance. Looking at the back, they saw the guy was running towards their direction.

"You are late." said Yuwa.

"Huff* Huff* you two are horrible! You caused me to lose some money just to pay for your foods." complained Rokujin.

"Stop complaining. Those foods are not really that expensive. Didn't you sell those Dial at 500k Berry each? I saw you got plenty of it. So, you should have gained some fortune from that." said Rex.

"Sigh. I already lost much of those money when I got attacked by those scoundrels." sighed Rokujin.

"Oh, that's why you don't bring any big money container or bag." said Rex. "Forget about those foods. Let's go check the event."

"What event?"

"Event to get a free ship." replied Rex shortly.

"Huh? There is such a thing? Free ship?"

"Well, the even will be held ten days later. Right now, we will go there just to inquire the whole details about the event."

They then travelled towards the Capital.

...

The next day.

Near the seaside, Rex was training with the two new crews of his. After training for sometime, Rex is now able to gauge how strong are Rokujin and Yuwa.

"Yuwa, you are too weak." commented Rex bluntly.

"Shut up. I don't like fighting. Why do I need to be strong?" rebuked Yuwa.

"If you want to follow me, then you need to be strong. Otherwise, who knew what happened if we reach the Grandline, or meet some strong pirates." advised Rex. "As for you Rokujin, you are even weaker than Yuwa. I'm now starting to doubt whether you can reach the Grandline or not."

"I disagree. That girl is using dirty tricks to beat me. How am I suppose to win if she turned invisible?" complained Rokujin.

"Weakling." mocked Yuwa.

"Come fight me! I dare you to fight without turning invisible." challenged Rokujin.

"I refuse to fight a Weak Man."

The words flew like a swords stabbing through Rokujin's body. He almost spit some blood in anger and frustration.

"Alright. We will stop the training for now. Rest first." Said Rex. He then took out three fruit from a bag. He gave each of the two a fruit, and one for him.

Yuwa received the fruit, and directly start chomping on it. While doing so, she asked Rex, "I haven't seen you use that ability that you stole from that baldy. Are you unable to use it anymore? Are your ability only work for one time only?"

Rex who was about to eat the fruit in his hand was surprised with the question. He haven't thought of how his new gained ability work. Should I try using it again? thought Rex.

He then tried to use the Blast Punch on the sand.

"Blast Punch!"

Boom!

Instantly, the sand was blasted, and a five meters deep pit was created out of the blow.

"Oh, you are still able to use it, huh." said Rokujin, feeling some itch on his left hand. That ability was the one that sent him flying and hitting Rex's ship.

"I think so. Huh?"

Rex nodded at Rokujin. However, he was surprised when he felt something was wrong. He could feel that those stolen ability was disappearing from his body. Though, the feeling was only in his instinct.

At the same time, the fruit in his hand suddenly undergo a change. From being a normal fruit, it transformed into a patterned fruit, which Rex and the others are familiar with.

"Huh? A Devil Fruit?"