51 Sky Monastery

Kid was right.

The King Gucci had barely made it onto the shores of Birka by the time it reached a complete stop. From miniature breaches in the hull, to failure of the secondary propulsion system, the ship came to a full, and permanent stop. During he last stretch of the journey, Kid and Rex had to push the ship so it docked at an occupied stretch of sky wilderness on Birka.

As the crew disembarked, they looked back at their once glorious ship with a look of mourning. Almost everyone on Rex's crew had been with him from the beginning of the King Gucci and had personally participated in its construction. To see its dilapidated state...

"Whatever." Kid said turning away. "It's just a ship. I'll make a better one with all the gold and we'll be good to go."

But Rex could see past his thorny exterior. This was Kid's first ship, one he built with great ardor with his own hands. The ship they had once conquered the four blues with.

Rex nodded, patting Kid's shoulder. "We'll make a better one."

Afterwards, Rex set off for Birka, with his officers, leaving his crew behind to build a lodging on the island.

"So, what do your mysterious and wholly impossible future senses tell you about this island?" Hawkins asked Rex, trying to defuse the tension.

Hawkins always refused to call Rex's insights future prediction, namely because they were much too specific. The future was a vague and inexplicable thing, knowing the entire life story of some random boy in the North Blue was not future prediction, it was quasi-omniscience.

"Well, my instincts tell me we should be wary of Mad Monks and boys with long earlobes." Rex said, thinking of the two most famous Birkans in the canon, Enel and Urouge. "It also tells me that any strange blue fruits on the island are mine."

Hawkins groaned, as even though he was long used to this, the precision of Rex's 'predictions' was always demoralizing.

"So, we're after a Devil Fruit." Rose surmised. "But which one? Based off of your desire to come to the island, it shouldn't be a weak fruit. However, for a fruit to be on this island it would have to…"

Rose's eyes widened as she reached a conclusion, looking to the storm clouds above. She recalled Rex's blasé reaction when Gan Fall told him about the lightning surrounding Birka and the lightning on the island.

The others followed Rose's gaze, before slowly reaching the same conclusion she did.

"Come on, we don't have all day you know?" Rex called out, walking down to the Birkan settlement, a wide smile framed his face.

Still, Rex had to deal with an odd thought. What should he do with the Devil Fruit once he'd acquired it?

If it weren't for the concrete, one Devil Fruit or you blow up rule, Rex would definitely have taken the fruit for himself. Barring a few fruits like Blackbeard's and Borsalino's, the Goro Goro no Mi was more or less unchallenged for top Logia.

However, with that rule, he needed to find another owner for it.

Maybe Killer? Or Thatch? Sugar too. It would be kind of a waste to give it to Kureha, but she would probably be able to use it for medicinal purposes.

Rex sighed, the fruit was just too useful. Still, he needed to get it first, then he could think about using it.

Eventually, Rex and his crew made it to their first settlement on Birka.

"Come on Enel, pick up the pace you turtle!" A large bulky man roared, slapping the back of a panting boy with long eardrums. "The others have completed their ten laps already, how are you only at eight!? You're a monastery disciple, you can be easily replaced if your strength is found lacking."

The boy, Enel, looked up at his instructor with scathing hatred. The sweat on his body pours like rain as he tries to pick up his pace. As he passes his comrades, they all sneer and laugh at him, watching him struggle.

"Well, what do you expect from a wingless brat?"

"I'm surprised he even made it into the monastery."

"I hear it's because he's really talented with Mantra."

"Mantra, shmantra, without the strength to fight, he might as well be a housewife."

Enel gritted his teeth, hearing each and every insult with his potent mantra. Still, with the instructor breathing down his neck, Enel knows he couldn't make any moves. He was a god, and gods were patient. One day, Enel would have his vengeance.

"The guests in the shadows." The instructor said, not looking up from Enel for a second. "The practices of the Sky Monastery are private. I would advise you to leave now, while I am still amicable."

The King Pirates were surprised to have been spotted so easily, but Rex has a knowing smile on his face. Birkan Mantra was an application of Observation Haki that enhanced the senses to their extreme. If the man hadn't found them, Rex would have been disappointed.

"My skilled friend, we apologize for looking in, we were just passing by and observed your training." Rex said with a smile.

"Well, you can cease your observations now, or you will cease to exist!" One of the monks-in-training cried out.

"Yeah, the Sky Monastery doesn't take kindly to visitors!"

Rex frowned, seeing that the Sky Monastery seemed to be as logical as Karate Island. What was it with martial artists and corny Wuxia lines? Still, this gave him an idea.

While Rex was 95% sure he and his officers could beat these people up, if need be, he wanted to try something.

"Well, I was curious, what would one need to do to enter your monastery?" Rex asked with a smile, cracking his knuckles.

"The monastery's admission period is closed." The instructor said.

"Oh?" Kid grinned, catching on to Rex's plan. "But I heard you say that the monastery would replace weaklings."

The instructor nodded, with a smile on his face. He loved putting brats like Kid in their place.

"Well, in my eyes, every one of these fools is a weakling, and I'd be willing to take them all on to prove it!" Kid shouted.

"Very well." The instructor said calmly. This wasn't all that rare of an event. Students would be rejected by the Sky Monastery's admission process so they would try to fight their way in. "Rozo, go up!"

Rozo was a large, bulky Birkan with arms the size of Kid's thighs. In the eyes of the students, this fight would be over in a single exchange.

"Beg for mercy and this young master may spare you by breaking your five limbs!" Rozo said, jeering at Kid.

"Same to you."

Rozo snarls, thrusting his immense fist at Kid.

Kid scoffs, knowing he could easily avoid the attack, but he decides to face it head on to show his strength. Throwing out his own punch, the two clash in mid air.

Crack!

"AAAH!" Rozo shouted out, feeling the bones in his right arm crack loudly as it falls limply to his side.

The instructor's eyes widened in shock, as he saw this scene. He quickly re-evaluated Rex's crew in his eyes.

Meanwhile, the disciples were furiously rubbing their eyes, thinking that they were going insane. Only Enel smiled, as Rozo had bullied him for his entire stay at the Monastery.

Kid didn't stop there, orchestrating a brutal kick to Rozo's left knee. The immense oaf fell to the floor with this, allowing Kid an easy stomp on to his right leg.

"Please…" Rozo croaked out. "Mercy."

Rex shook his head. Such a typical Wuxia scene. Acting tough at the beginning and begging for mercy afterwards.

"Don't worry." Kid said with a genial smile, patting Rozo's left shoulder as he crushes it. "I will be merciful. I just have one last limb to crush."

"AAAAAH!!!" Rozo screamed in soprano, lying in a heap on the ground.

The instructor whistled to have two of Rozo's former peers escort him off the premise removing his gold wrist bracelets of status and tossing them to Kid.

"So, do you all intend to make a challenge?" The instructor said with a smile.

Originally, the instructor had thought that his current batch of students was extremely mediocre. However, if each of these eight remaining foreigners were half as strong as Kid was, he would be the happiest instructor at the monastery.

Rex nodded, deciding to send in his members in order of strength. He also tells them there is no need to hold back their attacks. From what the Aetherians told him, the Birkan 'monks' were ruthless pillagers, who raped, enslaved and robbed their enemies there was no need for any mercy.

First, Rex sent up Monet, telling her not to use her devil fruit. He wanted to keep a few aces up his sleeve in case he needed to fight the Birkans.

Monet picked out another bulky opponent. The man grinned, feeling that Kid was the strongest member of the crew and had only barely won. He was equal to Rozo and there was no way this skinny lady could hurt him.

"Hehehe, little beauty, don't worry, I'll be sure to make this as gentle as-OOF!" The man starts, but stops and Monet kicked him hard in the stomach.

Monet then, circled the man, stabbing her blades into his knees. "Don't worry big ugly, I'll be sure to make this as rough as possible!"

"AAAH!" The man screamed and wailed like a baby as Monet ruthlessly wields her ice pick blades, carving out a phrase on the man's back.

When she was done, Monet just smiled like an innocent young maiden, cutting off the man's hands to remove his gold bracelets. As she walked away, the words 'I will never underestimate women' could be read on the man's back.

After Monet, came Sugar, who is even less delicate with her opponent. Sugar's fighting instructor was Bonney after all, who taught her to be extremely indelicate to male opponents.

Sugar used her speed to confuse her opponent, before going for numerous unethical strikes like the eyes, throat, ribs and brutal punches to the crotch. In the end, the man begged for her to stop and she did, by crushing his nether regions to pulp.

Then, Thatch came up, using a brush to comb his hair in the mirror. A grinning Birkan decide to try his luck at attacking Thatch while his guard is down.

"CONSTANT…" The man started, but before he can finish, Thatch threw a kitchen knife into his gut.

"Vigilance." Thatch finished with a grin.

Thatch's combat style was the most unique out of Rex's crew members. Known as Kitchen Kenpo, Thatch had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. His main weapons were two oversized salmon knives, but Thatch used everything from throwing fillet knives to squirting hot sauce in his opponent's eyes.

In the end, Thatch used a fire dial to roast the well-seasoned Birkan and blows out a kiss. "Bon Appetit!"

After Thatch's display, no other monastery goer dared stand up. The instructor grinned, deciding to use this as an opportunity to weed out all his least favorite students.

"Jingo, go up!"

Jingo's opponent is Hawkins, who whips him like a dog with his whip sword before hanging him upside down from a sky tree. He then takes the gold bracelets with a smile.

"Prediction, you will die from blood rush to the brain in 7 minutes. Advice, don't buy any lottery tickets in the future. Being matched up against me proves you have no luck."

After that, Rose was matched up against a skinny Birkan named Froto. She just stood still and watched his fists break against her exoskeleton.

Rex had taught Rose Tekkai, and she had created a technique similar to Jabra's Utsugi that used her exoskeleton to rebound force back at her attackers. By infusing Poison Pink into this defense, Rose could just stand still and watch her opponents die while attacking her. Rex called it the Toxic Rammus technique after an annoying video game character from his past life.

Eventually, her opponent fell, foaming at the mouth, allowing her to gracefully pick up his golden bracelet.

Despite the easy victories of his crew, Rex admitted that he was surprised by the strength shown by the Monastery disciples. Even the weaker ones would be worth hundreds of thousands in the blue sea. The stronger ones might even be in the low millions.

After Rose's victory, the real cadres of the King Pirates started to make their move, with Bonney stepping up.

The instructor looked for Enel, but seeing that he had seemingly disappeared, he sighed and sent up another disciple named Cursi.

The moment his name was called, Cursi ran away like a mad dog, feeling there was no way in hell he would fight one of these lunatics.

Unfortunately, Bonney wouldn't take no for an answer, shooting out her hand in spiderman web shooting position. A braided strand of hair is launched out, laced with an extremely sticky collagen adhesive.

While the rest of the crew was getting stronger, Bonney wasn't just playing around. From Rose's research, Bonney learned to apply other properties to her hair weaponry. For example, she could use collagen to make her hair adhesive, or sebum to make it flammable.

Snaring the runaway cattle, Bonney yanked him back before spearing him in the gut with a hardened hair spear.

The next Birkan, Jhin, was not even as lucky as Cursi. The moment he stood, Killer moved, sending out a wind slash that bisected him. From the axe dials, Killer had studied and learned the Tobu Zangeki technique, and was now a proficient long range fighter.

Then, Rex finally got up, curious as to who the instructor would call up for him.

However, after waiting for a while, the instructor didn't call anyone up, only removing his robe and walking up to Rex. His immense body dwarfs Rex's and was covered with scars and muscles.

"As much as I would love to be rid of one more derelict student, I cannot resist the temptation of a good fight." The instructor said with a grin. "My mantra trembles in your presence. So, I am curious if you can give me, the 'Mountain Shaker' Drogo, a real challenge!"

Rex smiled, this was going to be fun.

(AN: Well, this is it for my first release in nine months. I do have a bit more prepared, but I need to save up in case shit comes up and all. As a side note, if anyone has any ideas for a decent fan-made Sky Island, shoot me up with a comment. I have one all planned out, but I need one more before we move on to the New World.)