25 Three becomes four

"Hey, by the way, about our little problem." Sabo began while looking over Porchemy's goons, who've all been sitting around us too afraid of me to move. I quickly sent a wave of water towards them, knocking them out once more as they were slammed into the cracking walls of the hut.

"He's right. We need to focus. We made a stupid mistake. One the Bluejam Pirates won't forgive us for. You guys for stealing their loot and me for taking out one of his crew. They'll definitely come after us. My thought is that we should stick together. There's strength in numbers and we can train together to get stronger in the meanwhile, besides your the only other kids near my age in the Grey Terminal." I stated matter of factly as if I didn't originally intend for something exactly like this to happen.

My initial plan was to stop Porchemy from torturing Luffy in the first place not to catch him in the act and defeat him afterwards. But plans change. In this case it's because I messed up.

As a certain thief once said "Make a plan, execute the plan. Expect the plan to fall off the rails. Make a new plan." I thought idly.

"He's right. We shouldn't even be here right now. We should have left long ago." Sabo added as he peered through the cracks in the walls, looking to see if he could spot any pursuers.

"Hold up one second, I'm just going to finish healing Luffy." I added when I noticed Luffy was still looking a tad worse for wear.

"Wait you can heal people, 'and' control water?" Ace asked as he stepped forward.

"I ate the Human-Human fruit, model Sea God. A devil fruit thats gives me power over the sea. I can't create water, but I can control it. All life comes from the sea and without water we wouldn't be alive today. That's why I'm able to heal." I stated using the in universe reason Pontus gave me to explain my powers.

"So it is a devil fruit." Ace stated while looking over at Luffy.

"Is that how you defeated Porchemy, with your devil fruit power?" Sabo wondered as he looked me over, noticing that my clothes and hair look completely soaked through yet not a drop is falling to the floor.

"That and a mix of skill." I said with a grin, tapping my new scimitar against my shoulder proudly.

"Anyway, we should leave. As Casper said, Bluejam and his men will try to kill the four of us." Sabo stated matter of factly.

Looking around he the picked up the rope that was used to tie up Luffy and slid it over his shoulder before rummaging through the remains of the cabin for anything else of value.

"The forrest I've been living in is too close to their base, the Cove of Pirates. What if they attack me when I fall asleep, or when i'm exhausted?" Even as he spoke he was still rummaging through the place, not even bothering to look back at us.

"Your gonna die." - "yeah you'd definitely die." Ace and Luffy added while I just nodded along.

"Right? That's why I need your help." After realizing there was nothing more he could get from the rubble he stopped looking and walked over to us.

That's when Ace and Luffy told Sabo about Dadaan's bandit hideout, the place Garp left them to keep them safe. It wasn't long before the three of them decided to live together. Luffy even asked me if i needed a place and I couldn't find a reason to refuse. He really is a nice kid. So we all agreed to go together and spent the rest of the day helping Sabo clear out all the things from his hideout to bring them up the mountain.

I paid a quick visit to Naguri to let him know of my change in venue, before moving some of my stuff from my underwater cave. I left all the tools and things I'm working on, since they would just slow me down and I can always come back here and use it as a workshop later. My training time with the old man won't change though. I'll just be adding the trips down and back up the mountain to my everyday routine.

Time seemed to fly by during this period. It was the first time in my life I had felt what it was truly like to have a family outside of my mom. Ace, Sabo, Luffy and I spent all our time together. We spent most of our days training with Naguri and sparing with one another. When we weren't doing that we were hunting the wild animals on Mount Corvo, robbing the ruffians from the Grey terminal, or fighting the Pirates from the cove.

Sometimes we'd split up and do our own thing. That's when I train my aquatic abilities, or dive further into the oceans deapths to practice against giant sea creatures.

Before I knew it, three months had passed in the blink of an eye. Even the people in the heart of the Goa kingdom came to know our names thanks to our continuous exploits. How could they not?

One by one Bluejam had his men fall to the four of us, each time loosing more and more money in the process. From the lowest of the low all the way up to his right hand man. All he has left to rely on is himself and a few dozen grunts.

Yet we still shied away from a direct fight with the man himself. Sure I could take him, but I'd rather not risk the other three getting hurt.

Even if people hadn't heard of any of that, we still exchanged more treasure at Edge Town than anyone else from the Grey terminal. Making us quite well known among the guards and brokers.

Thinking over the last three months as Ace and Sabo spar before my eyes I couldn't help but smile. The two were exchanging blows in equal measure, neither having the advantage over the other for the better part of the fight.

That's when Ace turned the tide, catching Sabo while he was off balance and flipping him onto his back using a grappling move I taught him. The two smiled as Ace helped Sabo to his feet and Luffy stepped in to face the winner.

We fight like this everyday. I'll end up fighting each of them no less than thirty times each before the day is done. Then we'll rotate fighting as pairs for the final few bouts. Sometimes I even fight all three of them together since I'm the strongest.

We've done this everyday, 100 fights a day, for the last three months. The experiences I've had since arriving in this world have become irreplaceable memories that will never be forgotten. 100 fights a day for more than three months. Totalling around 10,000 fights.

At this point the only creatures and people on the island who can stand up to the four of us together are the giant beasts at the peak of Mount Corvo and the guards protecting the nobility of the Goa Kingdom.

I've also limited myself by not using my 'devil fruit' power, or relying on pure force, when sparring with Ace, Luffy or Sabo. I only use it when fighting other people or giant beasts. Or when I'm training beneath the waves. Which has really helped me improve technique wise.

At the start I was practically overwhelmed by Ace and Sabo when we sparred without the aid of my water based abilities or my physical advantages. Sure I can fight all three of them together if I were to go all out, but I don't usually come out on top without using relying on the gifts Pontus gave me. They are just more skilled and far more experienced than I am.

Strength can only take you so far after all. But over time, after hundreds, thousands, of fights and countless hours of individual practice, I grew to match them, and eventually began overwhelming them with raw skill alone. Though their experience is still leagues above mine. It definitely helped that I learnt their fighting styles and adapted to overcome them. Though each of them is ever growing and their fighting styles are always adapting. Still, being able to read their moves mid battle is an extremely useful ability.

Flowing like a stream and striking with force of a tidal wave. In fact the more I fought the closer my technique became to how I imagine the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist used by Silver Fang in One Punch man, or the Niko Style used by the main character in Kengan Ashura. I didn't even do this purposely. It's just how my abilities have harmonized through my diligent training.

The Niko style and the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist respectively are the ultimate martial arts for redirecting force. Before these techniques, your opponents fists, and even weapons, are no different from tree leaves flowing along a raging river.

When you think about it all martial arts are fundamentally similar. They all involve the use of the body and there are only so many ways you can move. This is what Bruce Lee meant when he said "be water". To be adaptive and ever changing, and to always follow the path of least resistance. His personal martial art style, Jeet-Kun Do, or the Way of the Intercepting Fist, which is based heavily on Wing-Chun, exemplifies this philosophy. The less waste of movement, the less useless thoughts clouding the mind, the closer one is to the true state of Kung Fu.

Kung Fu; to many it is simply a way of fighting, but to the well informed and disciplined mind it means so much more. Supreme skill from hard work; that is the meaning of Kung Fu. The calligrapher whose hand never wavers and leaves not even a drop of ink out of place, the butcher who cuts meat everyday and whose knife never touches bone, and the poet who paints pictures with words and makes emperors weep, they can all be said to have achieved Kung Fu.

Practice, preparation, endless repetition, until your mind is weary and your bones ache, until you are to tired to sweat, to wasted to breath; only then can you be said to have Kung Fu.

I'm not there yet. Not even close.

That being said I've started to win more often than not against the three of them when they fight me together. Three vs one doesn't seem fair, but I am older than they are. Even the few times I lost is only because I'm trying to rely solely on technique and the three of them are honestly a really good team. But my body is literally built different from theirs. I don't take as much damage with each hit, nor do I tire as easily. I'm physically stronger as well. So they have their work cut out for them even if I am going easy so as to gain more experience and hone my technique.

All three of them are geniuses in the truest sense of the word when it comes to combat. If I want to keep up with and stay ahead of them, I have to be better than I was yesterday. Sinbad's ability to read the flow of all things and Percy's natural fighting instincts as a Demi-god mixed with the natural strength of Namor make for one hell of a combination. But when all that is added to an intense training regimen and combined with the logic of this world…

I clenched my fist and smiled. I can still get so much stronger.