Chapter 35

To guest reviewer:

This chapter should answer your questions rather thoroughly.

Vinci was meditating.

Normally he wouldn't hold with such spiritual claptrap, but he wasn't after enlightenment or inner peace. Peace meant stagnation and ossification, acceptance of mortality, and that was something he could not allow.

No, he was meditating because it was the best way to clear his head enough for him to work on himself.

The King's Heart was a chimera, half his parent's theoretical scribblings and half his own genius and- he could admit it- madness. And it grew, that was the important thing, a Hegelian response to the world, constantly altering itself and through it him, through him the environment, and the alterations of the environment causing it to alter itself once more, starting the whole cycle over. It responded to his will and need...and by now it had spread itself far enough he could start on some more...esoteric modifications. All he had to do was focus.

Altering his bones had already been easy. It had actually come as something of a surprise, but the process he'd intended, plating them in a layer of carbon compounds, had already been started- and by what he recognized as his own C-cells, no less. Still, it'd been extremely simple to speed the process up by having the elements of the King's Heart nearby start copying more of the cells. They'd also increase his physical strength, so it killed two birds with one stone.

Secondary heart was already engineered in, obviously, and the lungs as they were were efficient enough. Just a slight tweak to their metabolic rate needed. Adding more would be useless for the moment- he had no space for it anyway unless he wanted to crack open his torso.

That would have to wait for a fully-equipped surgery, a lot more training for the medics, and plenty of raw material. That would be a while, probably if or when they got a new ship.

Outside the peace of his meditation, he heard timbers creak slightly.

Hmph.

Spine was easy enough to reconfigure, replacing the easily-damaged arrangement of vertebrae and discs with a complex assemblage of interlocking bone, a perfect protection with the increased strength. Internal organs were surrounded by a seed network that would eventually extend sheaths of honeycombed carbon around them. Slight alterations to stomach acids and digestive system, increasing breakdown of otherwise inedible components and allowing natural production of vitamin C. Increasing myelination of nerves- another thing the C-cells were already doing that he increased the rate of.

And his eyes. Once Kaneki's, but now his...he'd leave them be for now, the existing enhancements were enough.

The Heart thumped, his guts churned, and as everything settled in, Vinci let out a slow breath, letting the emptiness fade away and be replaced by the familiar walls of his lab. He uncrossed his legs, and stepped out of his chair, testing his movements. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that he hadn't spent long fixing himself up. Good to know. He had-

Someone knocked on the door to the lab.

-ah, right on time, then. "Come in!"

Lauren entered extremely cautiously, eyes darting around as she took in the various experiments.

Vinci just grinned. "You know why I asked to see you?"

"No, actually," she replied, a bit shakily.

"Right. I want to put you in charge of the armory."

"What."

"You. In charge of our guns. Shipboard and personal. Care, maintenance, and instructing the rest of the crew."

"B-b-but why?! I-"

"I've seen you practicing, and spoken with others of the crew. Pravilno is likely the most skilled with firearms among the crew. And you make him look like a septuagenarian with palsy and a heroin habit. And then there's the modifications you've been making after-hours to the forward armament." He chuckled at her shocked expression. "You thought I wouldn't notice our cannons suddenly becoming breech-loading? Or the concurrent vanishing of spare parts from our holds?" Well, Jack had been the one to notice, but that was beside the point. "Whether you admit it or not, you seem to be a prodigy with all things related to gunpowder. So, your promotion."

"I...don't know what to say, captain. What exactly would I have to do?"

"Any modifications or upgrades to our weapons, it's your purview. Talk with Jack to keep yourself supplied. Make sure you're ready for combat, anyone who needs help with their own firearms skills, it's your job to make sure they're at least competent. Same with how Herman is starting to teach swordwork-" -and wasn't that a sight, the burly wolfman having finally gotten fed up with the 'incompetent fucking flailing' of his fellow crewmates- "-and with how I've been teaching medical care and handing out enhancements."

"Huh." She smiled thinly. "I've been starting to see diminishing returns in my training. Looks like I'll have the time to bring the others up to speed, then."

"Good way to think of it, Gunner," Vinci said with a widening grin.

"I would've expected you to charge forward blindly," Crocus comments mildly. "Most of the ones who want to be Pirate King tend to do that."

Vinci sighs. "Knowledge is power. And while the journey would likely be interesting, I'd rather not have it end early because I ran into a dead end on the Line that I could've avoided by asking for help."

Crocus's eyes flick to me for the barest instant before he nods. "Long as you don't ask me about Raftel or how to get there…"

"It would diminish the achievement if I did," Vinci replies smoothly. "Raftel, I want to reach on my own terms." He pulls a Log Pose from his pocket. "But as for the rest…"

"Safest anchorage is probably Turtle's Bay. Fifth island out of the seven routes. A haven for pirates and scoundrels of all sorts...and typically the worst of the lot as well," he adds, giving me another look. "You'll have little enough trouble, I suppose." He pauses, then walks over to a weathered chest in the corner of the room and pries it open with a grunt. He pulls out a thick parcel wrapped in canvas, and holds it out to Vinci. "Here. You'll need this. It's some of my medical notes on what you can find in the Grand Line."

Vinci blinked. "And what did I do to-"

"You didn't. Your first mate did. Now take the damn thing."

Vinci does so. "Guess whatever he told you and the whale of yours was really important, dahaha…"

"You have no idea, kid," Crocus says with a slight smile. "No get going. Remember- fifth island. You get lost, it's not my fault."

"Yeah, that's not going to happen. Anything else we should worry about?"

"A half dozen or so islands down that route, you'll run into a fairly gloomy one covered in ruins and populated by militant apes."

Oh fuck no…

"The greatest swordsman in the world, Dracule Mihawk, calls it home. Last I heard the brat spent most of his time at sea, but if he's in residence...don't even think about fighting him."

I nod. "It wouldn't go well."

"How poorly?" Vinci asks sharply.

I shrug. "Ask Gin. He'll tell you."

Vinci nods, and heads for the door, with me following him. "Thanks for the advice, old man. You and the whale take care, now…" He stops dead, and I barely avoid running into him as he turns back around. "Actually, wait, one more question- why does your whale have a poorly drawn skull on it?"

Crocus grunts. "Some brat in a straw hat drew it. What's it to you?"

"Just curious."