Future Plans

' What's up'- Thoughts

"What's up"- Speech

*What's up*- Sounds

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Step*

*Step*

"I wonder if he fell asleep. Perhaps that's why he didn't come down when I called for him," remarked an elderly man who appeared to be in his fifties.

The old man had long, flowing gray hair, deep brown eyes, and thick, prominent eyebrows that arched outward. He had a full, well-groomed gray beard that added to his distinguished appearance. Standing at an impressive height of approximately 1.90 meters, he boasted a muscular build that belied his age.

Despite several hours having elapsed, Pride remained lying on his bed, tormented by memories that swirled incessantly in his mind.

►The next morning◄

As the sun gradually made its way across the island, its brilliant rays of light streamed into the boy's room, where he still lay fast asleep.

"Mhmm," he murmured, slowly regaining his composure as he held his head tightly with his right hand. "Damn, she didn't mention any further pain!" he muttered under his breath.

He straightened himself up and perched on the edge of his bed, his mind drifting off into a world of its own.

'My family... What would they do without me? Unwanted thoughts plagued me last night. Do I still exist as Pride in my old world, and are they mourning me, or has my existence been completely erased?'

Strange thoughts, I know. But what can I do? I still miss them.

Even though it was difficult, Pride wanted to suppress those thoughts for the time being.

'I have obtained the Zushi Zushi no Mi! This is one of the most powerful Devil Fruits known to exist! It is said that once awakened, it can affect time and space. However, this remains a hypothesis for now. I will need to reach a certain level before I can confirm this.

Additionally, the first memories of Shanks began to surface in me. These were the exercises he used for his beginners' training days, consisting of physical exercises and swordsmanship. Most likely these were arranged by Gol D. Roger himself to achieve the most effective results.'

'Zushi Zushi no Mi' As the thought of the devil fruit appeared, it manifested directly in his hands. The fruit had a great deal of visual similarity to the shape of a pineapple, with spirals running along the sides. The only difference was that the color of the devil fruit was purple.

"I'm not going to dodge this one, let's see if it's as disgusting as rumor has it."

*crunch*

*crunch*

.

.

*gag*

'It's the truth,' he thought to himself.

Even though the devil fruit tasted terrible, Pride ate it all. He knew that taking an occasional bite would be enough, but he instinctively felt that if he left any leftovers, something would be wrong.

He gritted his teeth and took bite after bite until the Devil Fruit had completely disappeared from his hands.

He then began to learn about the type of Devil Fruit he possessed and how to use it, albeit in the most basic ways.

*stdtdt*

Pride attempted to manipulate the gravitational forces in his room, but his efforts failed.

Nonetheless, he was able to levitate some dust for a few millimeters.

'Sigh. Dust, really?'

'My opinion is that I am still too weak as an individual. However, I am sure that if a person is already strong enough, the use of the fruit can be different. During the Dressrosa Arc, Sabo was able to control the Devil Fruit of Ace almost perfectly, even though moments had passed before he consumed it. From this, I conclude that to achieve a superior effect, the person in question must already be strong.'

As the system left, Pride was told to visualize it, and after doing so, a screen of his information appeared.

[Info:↓]

[Name: Pride]

[Age: 10 years]

[The template "Shanks" extraction 0%]

[Abilities:] [Devil Fruit: Zushi Zushi no Mi, progress 0%]

'This is a great thing. Step by step I can see the progress I'll be making.

I am wondering what I am going to do in the future though. Do I want to be a pirate? Or join the Marines?

In the current era, only abominations exist. The pirates of today are far more powerful than the pirates that will rise up in the distant future. And there's not much known about One Piece's past. I have no idea where to find crew members with enough potential to advance. Besides, I don't want to join any other crew.

Shanks's template with Fujitora's Devil Fruit sounds badass. With both of these things, I'll turn into a monster sooner or later. I might even be able to combine the two abilities into one.

Probably at a later stage, I will discover from Shanks's memories that he also developed some rokushiki techniques of his own, but that would be rather far in the future, as I only have his first practices in my memory. Perhaps it would be better for me to join the Marines for the time being. There I could make faster progress with Shanks's template.'

'But I'll save those thoughts for another time.'

"Pride, are you awake? Breakfast is ready. Are you coming down or not?"

"I'll be right there," Pride called back to his Grandfather.

"I fucking hate it to be a kid again!" he cursed under his breath as he stripped off his pajamas and donned a pair of black trousers and a grey t-shirt.

►A few minutes later.◄

*Step*

*Step*

"Come on, sit down," said Grandfather Rey as he continued to lay out the food on the table.

A simple breakfast was spread out on the table. It consisted of some meat and eggs.

...

...

*munch*

*munch*

"I came yesterday to wake you up, but you were fast asleep, and it was still quite early," he asked with a wry smile.

"Grandfather, I was very tired last night. I don't know why, but I suddenly fell asleep," Pride replied, his mouth half full.

'Fuck, it's weird and quite hard to pretend.'

"From what?"

...

...

There wasn't all that much talk at the table, and perhaps the past Pride might not realize it, but after the two of them merged and with the knowledge of One Piece, Pride could definitely tell that his grandfather seemed to be quite strong.

"Grandfather, you look pretty strong for your age. Were you-"

*Bong*

A punch landed on his head before Pride could finish his sentence.

"What do you mean by that, at my age? I'm still in my prime," the older man said with a wide grin.

"Yes, yes, grandfather. You're still a young and tender man."

"Don't overdo it."

"Hehe, alright. What I wanted to ask you is, considering that you seem to be so strong and have a lot of fighting experience, could you please train me? I'd like to be strong!" Pride felt quite uncomfortable making such childish demands with the intellect he possessed as a 20-year-old man. However, he could remember how the previous Pride had always spoken so lovingly and childishly to his grandfather.

Grandfather Rey weighed the pros and cons and replied, "It wouldn't do you any harm to gain some experience in combat techniques. We'll start the training this afternoon, but before we do that, you'll have to go to the town to buy some fruit and vegetables.

'What a strange sensation. I hardly know him. And the moment I try to ignore my emotions for him, I start to get a queasy feeling.

...

'Sigh. You bastard, are you trying to force some unwanted feelings on me?' Pride thought, feeling that his predecessor would eventually hear him.

'And you old bugger, buy it yourself! Why would you let a 10-year-old travel for several kilometers?'

"I'll take care of it, Grandfather."