(08) Visit to the blacksmith

[Chapter START]

After tinkering around some more with his new power, getting familiarised with it and attempting to utilise it in a spar against Klaus, Saien came to some conclusions.

First, he could teleport only to places that he could either directly see within his line of sight or places he had been too.

Second, teleporting depleted his stamina depending on the distance he teleported and how much people and/or objects he decides to teleport.

Third, storing things consumed stamina depending on the size and weight of the object but he could otherwise store as many things as he could. Keeping the object stored and unstoring said object didn't deplete his stamina as far as he could tell, only the initial action of storing it did. Or at least he thought that's how it worked.

Finally, he couldn't store the seastone shackles, which made him think it was safe to assume he probably wouldn't be able to store haki-coated objects either. Saien had yet to try his powers on objects that weren't solid, so for now that was null.

Saien wondered how haki would change the effects of his power. 'Can I teleport as far as I see with my observation haki? Will armament haki cancel out my teleportation or storing function?', these questions passed through his mind as him and Klaus walked away from the village, to a slightly larger tent in the distance.

Saien hummed a song along the way but stopped when Klaus looked at him confused. "What's wrong?".

"That song you're humming, I don't recognise it from anywhere. What's it called?", Klaus asked.

Saien sweatdropped as he realised he was humming a song that was not of this world out of instinct. It was truly strange how his two experiences and lives had mixed.

"Ah, this is a song thats been passed down in my family. Whenever the warrior of the family would come back in victory from a great battle, then they sang this", Saien quickly thought up an excuse, hoping it was somewhat believable.

It seemed to work as Klaus seemed to believe it and didn't mention it again.

The journey ended quickly after as they arrived at the large tent. The two Shandians could hear the loud clanging of metal from outside and the temperature seemed to be a little bit higher than normal.

"Hellooo, anyone there?", Saien called out as he entered the tent with Klaus following behind him. He took in the room and noticed the several pieces of equipment and materials lying around. He then looked over to the right where a large old man continuously smacked his hammer against a metal plate.

"What'dya want?", said the old man. He had a gruff and deep voice and he didn't even bother turning around, keeping his attention on the metal he was hammering away at.

"You think you can make two weapons out of these? A sword and a spear", Saien stated his purpose as he threw the bag of seastone shackles he was carrying on the floor creating a loud noise.

The blacksmith stopped hammering as he looked at what had just been dropped. "You want me to make weapons out of shackles? Do you think this is a joke you brats?", the blacksmith shouted angrily, before he took further notice of the shackle. He picked it up and examined it in his hand. "Wait no.. these are made out of seastone!"

"How did the two of you get your hands on such a rare material? This is stuff isn't even easily obtainable in the blue sea so how do you have so much of it on a sky island!", he looked up at Saien and Klaus with furrowed eyebrows.

'Well shit.. wasn't expecting this to happen', Saien sighed inwardly as he scratched his head. Now that he thought about it, his thinking did seem a bit naïve.

Before he even got the chance to speak up, Klaus did so for him. "We raided it off a blue sea ship", he said with the straightest face possible. They technically did so without permission and without even letting the rest of the tribe know.

"Wai-"

"Oh I see", the gruff old man nodded in understanding as he scratched his beard.

'That's it!? The old bastard seemed like he was gonna behead us a few seconds ago! Maybe I was just imagining the tension?', Saien thought with disbelief. For a few seconds he wholeheartedly believed that a fight would break out.

"Well, it's gonna be a bit harder than it usually would because the seastone isn't in its raw form. But it should be possible with the amount you have. They're even linked with iron chains meaning I can melt those off and reform them", The blacksmith explained as he brought the big sack of shackles to a table.

"Hand over the schematics then", the old blacksmith said as he held out his hand expectedly. Saien was confused by what he meant, but Klaus reached into his pocket and handed the blacksmith a folded piece of paper. Klaus and the old man then turned to Saien, wondering why he hadn't handed his in yet.

"Uhh, what do you mean schematics?" Saien asked with a hopeless smile.

"Boy are you joking right now? If you don't hand over a schematic of how you want your weapon, how am I meant to craft it to suit your size, wants and whatever?", the blacksmith asked incredously. His and Klaus' face matching his tone.

"Have you never had a weapon made at the blacksmith before?", Klaus added as they stated at Saien as if he was some sort of zoo attraction.

"N-no? My father gifted me this sword as a present when I was like five years old and I've been using it ever since", Saien explained as he showcased his sword. He was speaking the truth as well.

"So you've gone your entire life without your sword even being damaged or breaking once?", Klaus asked with a look of bewilderment on his face when Saien only nodded in confirmation.

'That blade!', the blacksmith furrowed his eyebrows as he recognised the sword. "Boy, what was your father's name?", he asked, confusing both Saien and Klaus.

"His name was Dion", Saien answered.

"Bohohohohoho!", the blacksmith laughed out. "So you're his son huh? Your father was a great warrior and personal friend of mine brat! That sword of yours is among my finest works!", he explained with a wide grin. "With the tribe in constant turmoil, I never had the time to visit after his death"

"Dion's your father!?", Klaus repeated in surprise, even he had heard of him. "They used to call him the madman of the battlefield, as he would keep on fighting and killing his enemies even while on the brink of death".

"Damn, I've never heard about any of that stuff", that information certainly came as a surprise to Saien. From what he knew his father was indeed a warrior, but he didn't know much else as he died when Saien was around eight, and Saien's mother died during birth.

"Well in any case, you need to sketch up a design and tell me some specifications. Stuff like the lengths of the weapon and any dials you want to add in and whatever. Or if you really want you could leave all that stuff to me but it's not recommended. Almost always the weapon is better in battle when it's tailored to the warrior. There's some paper over in the corner there so hurry up with it", The blacksmith explained before shooig Saien away.

Saien nodded before immediately getting to it. It didn't take him longer than twenty minutes, as he finished writing the last of his specifications. The overall design of it resembled a longsword, with a length of 1.3 metres. The hilt was to be covered in black cloth, and finally it included a built in breath dial.

"Bohohohohoho, you brats sure didn't hold anything back huh? Come back in two months and they'll be prepared and ready!", The blacksmith said as he took a long puff of a cigar which he lighted at some point while observing the two papers he had in hand.

"Thank you", the two young warriors bowed a bit in respect as they departed.

"Better get to work I suppose", the blacksmith said to no one in particular as he stretched a bit before he continued to hammer away.

[Chapter END]

A/N: this chapters Hella late. Sorry. Anyways I'm gonna add an auxiliary chapter that has the pictures of the crew and what not, it's gonna update every time something happens to the crew, like gaining a new member, new bounties, etc.