17 Robbery

After his disasterous meeting with Zoro, Abel didn't try to see him again. İnstead he fully focused on training his sword art and observation haki. Abel would train 6 hours in formless sword art in mornings and then he would train 6 hours in observation haki on evenings. 3 days passed peacefully like that as Abel and Zoro trained and either didn't care about the other. Abel's mastery of formless sword art was rising rather fast since he had all the necessary information stored on his head. He only needed to train his body to be able to use it effectively.

Training also increased Abel's stats but Abel was not satisfied with the progress. Each of his stats rose by +2 with 3 days of nonstop training. This was 8 stats in total. On the other hand he received more than 20 stats and many op skills by spouting bullshit and farming relationships for 2 days. ' Signing in on islands and farming relationships is still the best way.' Abel concluded. But Abel still had to train hard since system didn't gift him mastery on haki or sword fighting, it only provided the training method. Abel's observation haki was also rising rather fast, if he trained like this for a year he would probably reach a level that would be respected even in new world. At the morning of fourth day...

'Congrulations host for reaching inital mastery on Formless Sword Art. Current mastery: 25(inital)'

'Congrulations host for taking the first step on learning observation haki. Current mastery: 10(beginner)'

'Host has reached a bottlececk while training the Formless Sword Art.'

Abel frowned. Even though he knew the theory behind the sword art and his mastery rose in a short time, he reached a point where he couldn't improve while swinging his sword alone. Abel was still satisfied. When a person reaches inital mastery on Formless Sword Art he could attack from 2 places at the same time. One of them was an illusion and the other the real attack, it would confuse the target and was a troublesome thing to deal with. Abel could also sent ranged sword attacks now, though they were relatively weak. Abel looked at his sword and saw cracks on it. ' Well, I need a good sword.'

Abel was getting strong too fast, with his pace no ordinary sword would be able to handle him in a few months. Abel went to dojo and greeted Koushiro.

'' How about we spar a bit?'' Abel asked. 'Maybe sparring will help me break past this bottleneck'

'' Sure.'' Koushiro smiled and walked on to the duelling place.

'Scan'

Name: Koushiro

Age: 43

Race: Human

Strength: 25

Agility: 22

Endurance: 20

Stamina: 28

Observation haki: Locked

Armamanet Haki: 25(inital mastery)

Shimotsuki Sword Art(Supreme Grade): Mastery 60(intermediate mastery)

' His stats are lower than mine but he has armament haki. His sword art is the same grade as mine but he has more mastery on it' Abel thought. Koushiro's stats were much higher than big shots like Kuro or Morgan. Not to mention he has armament haki. İf Koushiro wished he could beat anyone in east blue, maybe excluding Arlong. They started sparring without any talk. Abel didn't use his skills while Koushiro didn't use his armament haki, they were competing purely based on swordsmanship. Disciples of dojo also noticed the spar and came to watch, including Zoro. Koushiro and Abel sparred nearly for an hour, in the and Abel lost because Koushiro figured out his sword style as spar progressed. Normally Abel should have been defeated much earlier since they were competing purely on sword mastery but Formless Sword Art was extremely unpredictable so Koushiro couldn't supress Abel for a while. Zoro who was watching the spar from sidelines was impressed. Abel was only a few years older than him yet he could match with his master already. Zoro frowned as he re-evaluated Abel in his mind. ' One should not judge a book by it's cover'

'Ding! Relationship updated with Zoro(Major character). Current relationship +10(slight respect)'

Abel didn't care much about the notification. He had no intentions to reach +60 with Zoro in short term. This was a long term goal, unlike Usopp or Nami. Even though Abel didn't directly break his bottleneck, he still learnt a lot from this spar and was satisfiesd. Abel returned to his training room and started practicing again like a machine. Nami saw this and bit her lips. She wanted to tell something to her teacher but was conflicted inside. Abel also noticed his disciple's abnormality but didn't ask her. İf it is important she will probably tell him. Thus half a day passed by as Abel mindlessly trained with the sword and observation haki. At night he heard someone knocking on his room.

'' Come inside.''

'' Teacher...'' The intruder was Nami who seemed conflicted.

'' What is it?''

'' I-I wanted to thank you for your teachings during these past days. I... I need to go back to my hometown. Or my family will be anxious.''

'Oh? You learned how to lie too?' Abel understood the general situation from this sentence. 'Arlong probably gave her a time limit or something and she is reaching the end of it.'

'' I will send them a letter, you don't need to worry.''

'' T-Teacher. I really need to go and see my family. Please let me go.''

'' Ok. I will send you home after I'm done training.''

''... Y-You can't send me home, I can go alone.''

'' Teacher... Please listen to me, okay? I need to go alone.'' Nami said with teary eyes.

'' No. Go to your room, I will send you home when I am done training.'' Abel could see Nami's emotions were in turmoul but didn't care. Since he accepted her as a disciple he would take responsibility for her. 'Not to mention... I have invested in you a lot brat. There is no way I am letting you go before signing in.'

'' Y-You can't decide that!'' Nami's conflicted emotions suddenly exploded as she screamed with rage.

'' I can.''

'' Based on what!?''

'' The boat we travel on is mine'' Abel answered casually. Nami was furious as she glared at Abel.

''Also... İs this the tone you're using when you are speaking with your teacher? Go to your room and reflect.'' Abel lectured nonchalantly. Nami's anger subsided as tears appeared on her eyes again.

'' T-Teacher please... İt is really dangerous.'' Nami said her voice choked.

'' Well, since it is dangerous it is better if I send you personally. Now go to your room, don't disrupt me while I am training.'' Abel answered calmly turned around and kept training like a machine. Nami's tears flowed down as she left to her room.

'Ding! Relationship updated with Nami(major character). Current relationship +65(touched)'

Abel ignored the notification and kept training. Abel knew he could just sent Nami back alone and rescue her when he was strong enough but he didn't wish to do that. Most important reason was that Abel messed with the canon so much. Abel knew about the butterfly effect, even if he didn't directly do anything to Arlong his recent actions already completely shattered the storyline he was familiar with. He could not consider Arlong's actions based on canon anymore. There was a possibility that Arlong will harm Nami while he was away. Even if he didn't kill her, there were many ways to harm a young girl.

Thus Abel could only do his best to get strong as quickly as possible. 'Well if I really can't handle him, I will just take Nami and escape. I don't really care about the villagers. Even if Nami becomes furious and might hate me, that would be the best way.'

Nami on the other hand was not as calm and collected like Abel. She knew her teacher was strong but Arlong was much stronger than Kuro. Nami didn't think any human being could beat a monster such as him. Nami couldn't sleep at all as she cried for hours. Just as she was considering stealing the boat from Abel and escaping, an idea appeared on her mind. 'They were carrying a lot of treasures to that storage room. İf I can steal from there, I can pay Arlong the money and teacher won't have to fight with him!'

Nami was conflicted since she didn't want to steal from innocent people but as she remembered Abel, Nojika and Villager's lives were at stake she didn't hesitate anymore. 'I will just pay them back in the future' Thus Nami started planning her robbery.

8 more hours passed and morning arrived. This morning was extremely chaotic unlike the previous ones though.

'' This master and disciple should be thieves that come here to steal our treasures! Unforgivable, they need to be punished!''

'' Calm down, let's hear the girl's teacher. Maybe it is a misunderstanding.'' As Koushiro and other masters were arguing Nami was sitting on the side looking at the floor extremely ashamed. Disdainful and humiliating words were coming out of everyones mouth targeting her. Only person who was calm and disinterested was Zoro who was sitting beside her without saying anything. Last night Nami implemented her plan to steal from storageroom succesfully. No one saw her when she was robbing the storageroom but just as she was returning sneakily to hide the money while using a sneaky route, Zoro who happened to be lost saw her. Thus leading Nami to be questioned by everyone. İt was a very unfortunate thing for Nami. As she heard everyone cursing her as an evil thief she was hurt and tears started to form in her eyes. ' I... I didn't have any other choice.'

Just at that time dojo's door opened and everyone quieted down as Abel came inside.

'' Well, what's going on here?'' Abel asked while casually sitting beside Nami.

'' You are asking what is going on!? Your disciple is a f*cking thief! How are you lecturing her?'' A master beside Koushiro screamed angrily.

Abel gave Nami a disappointed look causing her to look away. They had very different thoughts though.

' T-Teacher... I know I was wrong. I shouldn't steal from innocent people.'

' I failed as a master. Disciple if you are going to rob, then don't get caught. You can't even rob a simple storagroom?'

Abel looked at the master calmly.

'' Did any one of you saw her while she was stealing?'' Abel asked nonchalantly.

'' Zoro, tell this shameless scum what you saw.'' Master angrily said while gesturing Zoro.

'' I saw her with money on the road.'' Zoro answered disinterested. He wanted this to be over soon to go back to training.

'' Did you see her stealing the money or did you see her with the money?'' Abel continued calmly.

'' I just saw her with the money.'' Zoro answered nonchalantly as well.

'' Well, that means my disciple was trying to return the money stolen from you! How dare you accuse my disciple of theft!? My disciple would never do such a thing!'' After Abel heard Zoro just saw Nami with the money rather than stealing it his worries disappeared completely. He roared to the master indignantly. Everyone was confused after Abel's outburst but before they could continue a disciple rushed in with panic.

'' M-Masters, the sword we kept from our ancestors for generations... One of the 21 great grade swords, Aranruth is gone!''

'' What did you just say!?''

With this revelation the whole dojo was in chaos. Aranruth was a great grade sword that Koushiro's ancestors brought back when they left the Wano Country. The dojo treasured this sword as an ancestral treasure and hanged on of their main rooms. İt was the most important treasue this dojo had. All eyes turned on Abel and Nami as the athmosphere grew tense. Abel's eyes also became cold.

'' Are you suspecting us?'' Abel asked coldy.

'' Hmph, who else? Before you came nothing was ever stolen from this dojo. You are only here for 4 days yet Aranruth actually got stolen!''

Abel looked at them and asked with a cold voice.

'' Do all of you think so?''

No one spoke but it was evident everyone was suspecting them. Abel scoffed and spoke with a prideful tone.

'' Being accused with baseless things stains a person's honor for life! İt is just like a swordsman sneak attacking a fellow swordsman from behind, injuring him and staining his legacy forever. Do you think me and my disciple are pushovers? Do you think you can accuse us as you wish!? What a joke, I Abel throw my honor as a swordsman to declare that we didn't steal anything. You can search our bodies, rooms and even whole island if you wish. But if that sword is not found on either of us, immediately apologise to my disciple right away!'' Abel spoke with great conviction even putting his honor as a swordsman as a stake.

Everyone was dumbfounded. İs this prideful and arrogant youngster the same one that they casually talked few days ago. All great swordsman has their pride and it was true that such a baseless accusation would irritate a master swordsman. They were impressed by this young man's spirit.

'Ding! Relationship updated with Zoro(major character). Current relationship +25( Respect as a fellow swordsman)

'' We apologize, we were rash. As long as we don't find anything we will immediately apologise. Please cooperate with us.'' Koushiro interjected as they started to search every place Nami and Abel has been to. They searched everywhere for 5 hours but couldn't find Araruth. They were ashamed as they came before Nami and Abel.

Abel didn't care as he gestured towards Nami. The master that insulted them had a red face as he spoke to Nami.

'' We were wrong to accuse you of theft. Such a great teacher's disciple would obviously not commit a crime. Thanks for returning the gold to us.'' They were so ashamed that they didn't mention the gold anymore. They thought it was most likely as Abel said, Nami was returning them.

'' Hmph, thanks for your hospitality so far. Let's go, Nami.'' Abel scoffed as he left with Nami.

Nami looked down as she apologized to Abel.

'' T-Teacher, I know you are disappointed in me. I am sorry... I won't steal from innocent people again. I... I just needed that money for some reason''

Abel looked at Nami disdainfully. ' İs this brat getting stupid again?'

'' Brat I am indeed disappointed in you. İf you're going to steal don't get caught and sully my reputation as the prince of thieves!'' Abel lectured as he took out the ancestral sword Araruth from his spatial ring and started playing with it.

Nami looked at Abel completely shocked with her mouth fully open.

'' T-Teacher, When did you steal it?'' Nami asked amazed.

'' Well, I needed a decent sword. When I saw dojo was chaotic I thought it was a good opportunity, so I stole it.'' Abel answered casually.

'' I need to teach you more, you can't continue to sully my reputation! Listen well brat, when you are stealing you need to pay attention to timing...''

And thus began another round of lecturing for Nami as they left the village.