3 Getting a lift.

"Today's the anniversary of one of our crewmates leaving the crew." Shanks spoke after hours of celebration.

"I see, that is indeed a reason to get bummed out." Kaizo.

"Enough about that anyway, brat what are you doing in this island anyway?"

"I got stranded here and then ate a devil fruit so, my chances of surviving at the sea by my own would be quite harsh."

"Ho? Are you perhaps scared of the sea?"

"Who's scared Sakagami?!"

"Who the hell is that!?"

"You of course Sakagami!!!"

The Red-Haired Pirates burst into laughter after Shanks and Kaizo get in a small fight. After a few minutes, both of them stopped and decided to spend the time eating.

"So…I've been meaning to ask…could you give me a lift in your ship?" Kaizo asked.

"Hm…ok." Shanks

"Really!?"

Shanks nodded.

"Without you, we would've sulked for another 3 days straight. Take it as a token of appreciation."

"Neat."

The party continued as usual, singing, drinking, the every now and then drunk fighting. Kaizo was having a blast at the party, he really had a great time overall.

The next morning, Kaizo packed up his belongings and left the island, he arrived at the ship of the Red-Haired Pirates and saw everyone sick with hangovers.

'I really forgot how easygoing these guys are.' Kaizo.

Kaizo entered the ship and searched throughout the kitchen for ingredients.

'Rice, cabbage, beef leg bones, brisket, intestines, I'll have to make the clotted cow blood seasoning and soybean paste. Yosh! I have everything to make "that".'

Kaizo began to cook the dish, after two hours passed, he took a big pot filled to the brim with a type of soup. He gently put it on the sand and prepared a table to put the bowls, once he finished, he began to distribute said soup bowls.

"Huh? Oi, brat, I hope you didn't mess up the kitchen, or else we'll leave you here." Shanks.

"Cut me some slack, eat that stuff so that you can give me my lift."

Shanks begins to inspect the soup and tries it; the rest of the Red-Haired Pirates do the same and they are surprised by the flavor.

"DELICIOUS!!!!!" Red-Haired Pirates.

"What's with this flavor!?"

"The meat has the same taste as the soup!"

"And the soup is soft and fragrant!"

"Brat! What is this soup!" Shanks asked.

"It's hangover soup, the best cure for drunkards like yourselves."

The crew didn't even bother with the answer and kept eating the soup.

"Seconds!"

"Here to!"

"Here three!"

"Right, right, no worries. I made enough for days." Kaizo spoke making more servings.

After almost 2 hours of eating, The Red-Haired Pirates were back at their top condition.

"Man, that was crazy!" Lucky Roux.

"Yeah, never expected that the medicine to hangovers would be that good." Beckman.

"You did good brat!" Yasopp.

"Stop calling me brat, I'm Kaizo. Daimon D Kaizo!"

Shanks ears twitch a little after hearing the D.

'So, he is one to huh?'

Beckman notices the change in Shanks and decides to change the subject.

"Alright, alright, were do you want to go?" Beckman.

"Huh!? Can't he stay with us?" Gab.

"No. Besides, he probably doesn't want to become a pirate, right, kid?"

"As a matter of fact, I do want to become a pirate."

The Red-Haired Pirates were astonished by Kaizo's answer.

"Then, how about joining the crew as a trainee."

"Nope, I don't wanna be in a crew full of old men."

"Who's old!?" The Red-Haired Pirates.

"Hahahahaha!" Shanks.

"You'll be an interesting pirate brat."

"Me being awesome aside, you guys owe me for the medicine earlier so…"

"Ugh, really? What do you want? Gold? Jewels?" Yasopp.

"I want to learn Haki."

The Red-Haired Pirates were completely surprised that Kaizo knew about Haki. They wanted to know how but, they are not the type to pry into anyone else's lives so they left it at that.

"Hm…that would be complicated, there's not much that I can teach you but, I shall explain the concepts and tell you how to awaken it. how about it?" Shanks.

"Hm…fair enough." Kaizo.

For the next hours Shanks started to explain Haki to Kaizo and even did some examples for him to see. He was more amazed at how Kaizo was able to grasp the concepts so fast and even guessed how to train both armament and observation Haki.

"And that would be all."

Kaizo begins to clap much to Shanks annoyance.

"How are you not surprised?!"

"To be fair, Gol D Roger and Monkey D Garp were able to somewhat destroy islands whenever they fought without a devil fruit so, I always imagined that if there was a reason to how, it would be due to Haki." Kaizo.

Suddenly, Kaizo's sword began to shine and he looked at it.

"We have company." Kaizo got into a fighting style unsheathing his sword.

Shanks and the rest of the crew were able to catch on quickly about what was happening and also got on their guards.

A giant Sea King was emerging from the water and was about to attack the ship. Shanks was preparing his Haoshoku but stopped once he saw Kaizo moving.

"Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudō #9. Geki"

Kaizo's body emits a faint red glow and he writes some letters in the air, the Sea King gets completely immobilized and defenseless. Kaizo unsheathes his sword and lunges at the Sea King, he stabs him in its head and then let the sharpness of his own sword to slit through his body.

Kaizo falls to the water and begins to struggle but manages to pierce his sword through the ship and climbs back up.

The Red-Haired Pirates were still shocked about what just happened. Kaizo, seeing their reaction, decided to flex a little bit.

"Isn't this normal for pirates like yourselves?" Kaizo poses by hanging his sword over his shoulder and flipping his hair up.

The Red-Haired Pirates felt kind of challenged for the comment and started to argue with Kaizo.

"Don't act so cocky! That one was just an infant anyway."

"Eh!!!???" Kaizo.

Meanwhile, Shanks was still analyzing Kaizo's abilities.

'That type of energy…it was similar to Haki but completely different at the same time. The incantation was probably a pre-requisite for it to work, and that sword…'

"Beckman, what do you think?" Shanks.

"The sword may be linked to the devil fruit he claimed to eat or be a devil fruit user itself." Beckman.

"I'll ask him then."

"Oi! Kid, what was that technique?" Shanks asked.

"Fufufu, that's one of the many things my devil fruit allows me to do."

"Eh… what devil fruit was?" Yasopp.

"No idea, all I know is that I can do spells, talk with my sword and have somewhat of a healing factor."

"Wait, you talk with your sword?"

"Yes, I ate the fruit and the sword manifested itself in front of me, I took it and it started to talk."

"Kid, I think living all those years in the island has destroyed your brain." Roux.

"Oi! That's not it, here, talk to him and then I'll tell you what he said." Kaizo handed his sword to Roux.

Roux went to one of the cabins and began speaking to the sword, after a few minutes, he came out and gave it back to Kaizo.

"I meant a sentence or something, not a freaking conversation." Kaizo.

"I know, it's just that I drank too much hangover soup and had to use the WC."

Kaizo grabs his sword and begins to speak to him.

"Aha, aha, ok, interesting, really?!"

"Speak up kid!" Shanks.

"Ok, you told my sword that you prefer chicken than meat on rainy days."

Roux was surprised and so were his crewmates, he is well known for his love to eat meat at any time so the fact that he prefers chicken at specific situations was quite shocking for them.

"Quite the disturbing fact." Beckman.

The crew nods.

"Oi! It's not that weird!" Roux.

While the crew was making fun of Roux, Shanks was still analyzing the sword.

'Hm…I can indeed feel a "voice" coming from the sword, and is true that said "voice" emits a powerful presence. I can't imagine what it could do once it unleashes its strength.' Shanks.

"Kaizo, where should we leave you?" Shanks.

"Shells Town." Kaizo.

"Ho…and here I thought you would go to a bigger island." Yasopp.

"Like what? Dressrosa? Sky Island? Wano Country?" Kaizo.

"You really know your stuff." Beckman.

Kaizo rubs the back of his head and smiles.

"Why shells town?" Shanks asked.

"I have a hunch that I'll find my captain there."

"Your captain? I thought you would be the captain."

"Nope, I don't want the hassle of responsibility, I have the dream of living as freely as this beautiful world allows me, and for that reason I left these choices to destiny."

"Destiny?" Hongo.

"I wrote down my options about being a pirate and threw a stick, I got second in command. And in the location of my captain, it landed on Shells Town."

"…"

The Red-Haired Pirates were in awe after hearing his explanation. They didn't bother themselves much with that. And decided to just focus in sailing.

After a few hours of sailing, Kaizo and the Red-Haired Pirates reached Shells Town, Kaizo left the ship and thanked everyone for their hospitality.

Shanks on the other hand was thinking about what Kaizo said about his future captain.

'Yes, I guess he should be one as well by this time.'

"Guys! Set sail!!!" Shanks.

"YEAH!!!" Crew.

The Red-Haired Pirates leave and Kaizo begins to inspect Shells Town. It was just an ordinary town without much to see or buy, the only things that were of importance were the Marine 153rd Branch and the restaurant Food Foo.

'What a drag, I'll have to wait a minimum of a month to let Luffy arrive and only when Zoro get's here as well.' Kaizo thought.

Kaizo has been pondering on how to train without catching too much unnecessary attention but quickly remembered that he could keep his communication with his sword and unleash his Shikai.

Kaizo got in the Jinzen position to begin the conversation with his sword. Kaizo deepened himself inside his mind and found something amazing, it was a theme park based on every anime and manga he has ever seen.

"This place is amazing!" Kaizo.

"This place is horrible!" A young man wearing a black set of clothes and a silver mask commented.

"Eh?" Kaizo.

"Eh?!!! Who are you!?"

"Who am I?! Brat, I'm the one who's been giving you support these last two years."

"!!!"

"Sword!"

"That's not my name!"

"Well, you never told me which one was it."

"It's because your body is not strong enough to handle me in my Shikai."

"What is a Shikai anyway?"

"A Shikai is the second form available to a Zanpakuto. To activate it, the Shinigami needs to learn the name of their Zanpakuto. The Shinigami must be able to communicate and harmonize with their Zanpakuto effectively, which requires being able to speak to the spirit within its world. Gaining access to one's Shikai and releasing it for the first time is known as Manifestation."

"You, have just decided to advance to this step despite being already prepared a year ago."

"Sorry, I forgot."

"*SIGH* OK! Listen up closely, your Shikai allows you to unleash some of my true power, however, said power can destroy your body in case your body isn't strong enough to handle it. That's the reason to why after you had the concepts of Kido learnt, I still didn't allow you to know my name."

"So, in other words I have to train really hard."

"Pretty much, just that it will be at least 3 times harder."

Kaizo and the spirit of its sword kept talking for a while until Kaizo had to leave.

"Wait!"

"???"

"Before you go…can you change this mayhem?" The spirit begged.

"Ah…ok…" Kaizo clapped his hands and the theme park was replaced with a windy plain with some trees that make shades to cover from the radiant sun.

"Thanks."

"Goodbye sword, I'll see you later." Kaizo leaves his mindscape and decided to train his body, however, a bigger problem has raised from his pockets…HE HAD NO MONEY."