21 Jiki Jiki no Mi

"We're hunting down this guy and claiming that treasure for ourselves!"

"Alright, let's get moving!"

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Killer took the helm while the rest assumed their positions.

"…"

Two Days Later,

[Briss Kingdom, South Blue]

The island's shores appeared on the horizon as the Victoria Punk sailed steadily toward it. The journey had been obstacle-free, devoid of encounters with marines or pirates.

As the ship drew near to the island, a sizable port came into view, the largest they'd seen so far, bustling with numerous docked ships, mostly merchant vessels. This made sense given the island's status as a kingdom with extensive trading partnerships. The abundance of merchant ships implied a haven for pirates to resupply, benefiting from its detachment from the world government and the absence of a marine base.

Killer guided the ship carefully, skillfully docking it. The crew secured the vessel by dropping the anchor and fastening it to the dock with ropes. Afterward, the crew disembarked, leaving a couple of members behind to guard the ship.

Though the port's denizens regarded them warily, they seemed accustomed to the presence of pirates.

"This place is bustling" Bonney observed as they walked through the lively streets among a crowd of merchants and vendors peddling various goods, food, clothes, accessories, and more. The streets also boasted numerous open bars and eateries.

After a brief exploration, they decided to enter a food-serving bar they passed by, choosing a table near the counter. They called the waitress.

"What can I get you?"

"Just bring us your finest food and some beer," Kai ordered. The waitress departed and returned ten minutes later with their order.

With hearty appetites, everyone delved into the food. Kid and Bonney's voracious eating habits led them to order more dishes before they'd finished the current ones.

"Hey, where's the food?!" Kid's voice boomed toward the waitress.

"W-We need time to prepare more food, so you're going to have to wait" The waitress replied with a forced smile, she looked intimidated by him.

"Tsk, just make it quick"

"And bring more drinks with you!" Bonney chimed in.

"Seriously, even animals have better table manner than you two" Kai commented on their behavior. He wasn't much of an eater himself.

A short while later, as everyone focused on their meals, a group of about a dozen figures entered the bar. These newcomers bore weapons and their attire and demeanor hinted that they are possibly pirate.

"Pirates…" Kid mumbled, his mouth still half full.

"Killer?" Kai turned his attention to Killer, wearing a puzzled expression.

Killer grasped the unspoken question and provided the answer. "That's him, 'Silver Rain' Seth Williams," he explained, glancing at the tall man. Seth Williams possessed an average build, with silver hair adorning his head. He carried a saber and a flintlock pistol by his side.

"Looks like we were a little early than him" Kai remarked with a grin, his expression widening. A sudden explosion shattered the air from inside the bar.

*BOOOOM* as the dust cleared, revealing a gaping hole in the bar's wall. Outside, the two crews faced off against each other.

"What the hell was that?!" Seth Williams exclaimed, brandishing his saber and directing it at Kai. As he scrutinized Kai more closely, recognition dawned on his face. "Son of a bitch! You're that rookie pirates who destroyed the marine base in Soldier Town a year ago!"

"I heard that you got your hand on a treasure map, give it to me and I might consider letting you live" Kai retorted.

"Don't exhaust your luck, I'm no push over"

*SWOOOSH* In a split second, Kid lunged at Williams, delivering a powerful right punch. However, as he had claimed, Seth swiftly evaded Kid's fist with a deft head tilt and countered with a swift kick, sending Kid reeling.

"That's why you don't attack without thinking, blockhead" Kai admonished Kid, who slowly rose to his feet, a mixture of anger and embarrassment evident in his expression.

"Who're you calling a blockhead, you bastard!" Kid snapped at Kai, only to find himself encircled by Williams' men.

"Tsk, looks like I'll have to thrash you thoroughly!" Kid declared, with Killer, Bonney, Heat, Wire, and Donovan joining him in support.

<Beheading Claw>

*SPLASH*-*SPLASH* Killer moved with remarkable agility, slashing the enemies' necks as his Punishers whirled, cleanly decapitating several foes.

"Faffaffaffa! I've got your back, Kid!"

Amidst the chaos, more of Captain Seth Williams' crew arrived, bolstering his ranks.

"You and your brother are going to die in the worst possible way, you hear me bitch?!" Seth Williams growled, clearly irked by Kai and Kid's actions.

"I feel offended…" Kai quipped, unsheathing the unique hammer hanging from his belt. Crafted by a skilled blacksmith on Karate Island, it bore a gold-coated head and tip, with a golden spike crowning its head. The engraving 'Hammer of Dawn Mjölnir' adorned it. Despite its appearance, the hammer was solid steel, its gold layer merely superficial.

(Pictures of the Hammer as well as his new flintlock pistol)

"You see this? This is Mjolnir, and it is hungry…so now, I'm going to beat the holy fuck fucking fuckedy fuck out of you" Kai declared, gripping the weapon firmly. With a sudden burst of speed, he charged at Seth Williams, swinging the hammer downward.

"The hell--?!!" Williams exclaimed, caught off guard by Kai's speed. He barely managed to evade the hammer's trajectory by leaping backward, leaving the weapon to impact the ground with tremendous force.

*BOOOM*-*CRACK* The ground fractured from the blow's impact, revealing deep crevices and creating fissures.

"You better give your best in this fight, unless you want to end up smashed into little pieces"

"I'll show you why they call me 'Silver Rain'" Williams retorted. Springing into the air, he descended upon Kai at remarkable speed, sword aimed for his head. He executed a flurry of thrusts from different angles with astonishing swiftness, leaving afterimages in his wake.

The attacks rained down upon him with astonishing speed, too swift to fully deflect. Although he managed to ward off many, a few still found their mark, leaving cuts and injuries on his upper body.

"How you like that, huh?" Seth taunted with a smirk.

Unfazed, Kai reached his injured chest, tasting the blood before spitting it out. He then lunged at Williams, aiming a forceful blow at his head. Williams dodged, avoiding a deadly hit but getting struck on his left shoulder instead.

"FUCK!!" Williams cursed, clutching his shoulder from pain.

Seeing his opponent disoriented, Kai capitalized on the moment, attempting a finishing blow. But Williams countered by swiftly drawing his pistol and firing. Kai reacted just in time, narrowly evading the shot.

"You, how-?!!"

Kai quickly closed the gap, delivering an uppercut so powerful it generated a shockwave explosion. Williams went airborne, his jaw broken, and consciousness fleeting. Kai followed with a hammering blow to Williams' chest, sending him rolling across the ground.

"W-Wait…Don't kiw me…I wiw gib you the map…A-AGHH" Williams barely managed to speak, pulling a map from his pocket and handing it to Kai.

After a skeptical pause, Kai inquired "Is this even the real thing? Where did you find it anyway?" Kai took a closer look at it, it was a map of South Blue, there was and red 'x' mark on one of the islands and on the side a zoomed drawing of the island with another 'x' mark signifying that the treasure is most likely buried there. Then, drawing his own pistol, Kai threatened Williams, demanding answers.

"We don't know either, I've been constantly getting chased by pirates and didn't get the chance to look for the treasure…"

"…W-We just stumbled upon a shipwreck by luck in an inhabited island, it happened to be an old pirate ship, it had this map among other items hidden inside…"

"…I told you everything so please have mercy--*GUN-HOT*" Before Williams could finish, Kai's gunshot ended his life.

Nearby, Kid and the crew dealt with the remainder of Williams' crew effortlessly.

Kid approached Kai after that, curiosity evident in his facial expression after seeing his brother carrying a map in his hand.

"Is that the treasure map?" Kid inquired.

"Supposedly. We're not sure if it's genuine or if it truly leads to Blackthorn's treasure," Kai replied.

"Looks pretty real to me" Bonney chimed in, glancing at the map.

"In any case, it won't hurt to check it out," Killer suggested.

A few days later,

In an uninhabited island in South Blue, the Victoria Punk could be seen on the shores of the island.

Deep inside the island's tropical forest, six figures could be seen digging up the ground with shovels, the atmosphere brimming with a mix of anticipation and excitement. The determined crew led by Kai, had followed the intricacies of the treasure map's instructions to this very spot where Captain Blackthorn's elusive treasure was said to be hidden.

"I'll be damned…" Kai remarked, sweat forming on his brow as he continued to dig, his eyes never leaving the buried chest that was slowly emerging.

"Its real!" Kid exclaimed in excitement.

As the chest was finally unearthed, the crew exchanged triumphant looks, a mixture of exhaustion and triumph playing on their faces. The chest, battered and aged by time and very huge as well. With a collective effort, they heaved the chest onto the ground, the weight of anticipation growing heavier with each passing moment.

Bonney's fingers trembled as she reached out to grasp the chest's latch, her curiosity piqued by might hold. The others watched with bated breath as she slowly lifted the lid, revealing the treasures that lay within. Gold coins spilled out in a cascade of wealth, and gleaming jewels caught the sunlight, refracting it into dazzling hues. The crew's eyes widened in wonder as they took in the spectacle before them.

Kid's laughter rang out, a mix of joy and relief. "We hit the jackpot, guys!"

"Looks like we're getting rich" Killer said as he calmly glanced at the treasures in front of him.

But what caught Kai's attention was something totally different. It was a fruit, a strange fruit with a weird appearance of a clustered set of silver spheres with a yellow vine wrapped around them up to the stem, resembling a cluster of grapes. Each sphere has a small jagged offshoot, akin to a bolt of lightning protruding from it, as well as the typical swirl pattern seen on all Devil Fruits. The stem of the fruit is also equally as jagged, resembling a bolt of lightning, save for the end portion that curves into a spiral shape.

'Don't tell me--?!' Kai's astonishment was evident as he slowly reached out to examine it closely.

"A fruit?" Heat and Wire remarked

"What kind of weird fruits is that--no what kind of stupid person puts a fruit inside a treasure chest?" Kid inquired with curiosity, examining it closely himself.

Seeing Kai's expression, Killer swiftly deduced that this was no ordinary fruit. "Could it be... a Devil Fruit?"

"A Devil Fruit?!!" Everyone was shocked upon hearing that, while they were certainly familiar with Devil Fruits after Bonney joined, it was still the first time they see an uneaten one.

"What kind of power could it hold?" Bonney's interest was piqued.

Upon closer inspection, Kai recognized it quite well—it was the 'Jiki Jiki no Mi,' the very fruit Kid had consumed in the original timeline. It bestowed the ability to manipulate magnetic forces and control metal.

Of course, sharing this information with them would be suspicious, given that he shouldn't have any knowledge of it.

But that wasn't the sole point of interest. There were more items that caught Kai's attention, several seashells ''Dials! I wonder what kind of Dials are, I hope there is something good I could use'

Kai's flashed an exciting grin at Kid.

"I know what you're thinking! No, I don't want to lose my ability to swim! Plus, we don't know what kind of power it has, it could be something stupid for all we know" Kid said, knowing exactly what his brother was thinking.

"The appearances of Devil Fruits often hint at their abilities. It might involve electricity or magnetic power," Kai stated before tossing the Devil Fruit to Kid.

"Why don't you eat it then?"

"Do you trust me? Have I ever tried to sabotage you?"

Kid hesitated as he looked at the fruit. However, after hearing Kai's reassurance, he found himself leaning towards trusting his brother. Thus, he decided, "Alright, I'll trust you!"

Without wasting anymore time, he proceeded to take a bite from the fruit "*Munch*-*Munch*-*GULP*…Bleeghh!...this taste like shit!"

"So, do you feel something different?"

"I sensed a surge of power coursing through me for a moment..." Kid observed, examining his hand briefly. Then, he concentrated his energy into it, and suddenly…!!

*CRACKLES*-*CRACKLES* a purple energy crackled through the air as Heat, Wire, Killer and Kai's weapons all suddenly started moving towards his direction as well as any pieces of metallic objects near the area.

Kid's frustration at the taste of the fruit quickly transformed into a mixture of astonishment and excitement as he witnessed the magnetic power coursing through his body. The surrounding metal objects responding to his unintentional pull left him both surprised and elated. "Whoa, this is something else!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide with newfound enthusiasm.

Killer, Heat, and Wire exchanged baffled glances as their weapons seemed to defy gravity, moving toward Kid. The air was charged with a unique energy "Kid, what are you doing?!" Heat shouted as he struggled to keep hold of his two swords.

With a wide grin, Kid extended his arm toward the floating weaponry, and as if guided by his command, they converged around his left arm, forming a makeshift metallic arm "Hahaha! This is awesome!"

Wire's jaw dropped in disbelief. "You can control magnetic power? Seriously?"

Kai chimed in with his signature smirk. "Congratulations, you're officially a human magnet."

"Faffaffaffa! It seems like you got quite the power, Kid" Killer remarked.

Kai's expression shifted to determination "Alright, let's put your newfound power to the test. Let's destroy some unfortunate pirates!"