Chapter 7 - A serious conversation

~Croquant~

"So... First he stole your money and now he made you all a ship out of Adam Wood?"

Luffy eyed him.

"Yes, that's what I just told you. Are you getting sick? Do you need emergency meat?"

'What the hell is emergency meat?'

Not letting his thoughts show, he waved the young captain off.

"You told me he'd built you a ship out of 'mystery wood'."

Just to get the prompt answer.

"Same thing!"

There was a lapse in the conversation, until Croquant asked.

"So, you gonna recruit him? I think he'd fit well into your crew."

Luffy's face lit up as he nodded rapidly.

"I think so too! I plan to use the same strategy I used with Sanji and Chopper."

'I think I know what he means, but I guess I'll ask anyways.'

He put on an intrigued look and asked.

"Strategy?"

And then, with the proudest face he'd seen the strawhat wear up to date, he told him simply.

"I'll refuse his refusal!"

It was kinda cute from the outside and pretty annoying on the other end of the rope.

The strawhats were a very close knit crew, though, so for those, who lost people or didn't even know the word family, they were a fascinating curiosity.

Luffy had a charisma, that pulled you into his rythm.

Most conquerors had that flair, but seldomly was it as... unbound as it was with him.

Haoshoku users, who actively used their gift, usually concentrated on suppression.

They simply want to subdue their opponents will.

Of course they came off as charismatic, their passive aura and their conviction oftentimes made it so.

The more dangerous sort of conquerors were the casual ones.

Those, who don't need to be pretentious or aggressive, suppressing or brutal.

Those who practically oozed unwitting charm and charisma.

Because if those types have the chance to grow, they'll definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

'I should really stop going on mental tangents like this. It doesn't take much time, but it's an annoying habit.'

He sighed as he reviewed the ramblings of Luffy, who continued to explain his big master plan, which basically was the same as with every future crewmate: Pester them until they join and make it so that they don't want to ever leave.

"Shouldn't we be on our way if we want to see the unveiling of the ship?"

He asked the future powerhouse.

This pulled Luffy out of his kinda circuitous rant, that had devolved into comparisons of different kinds of meat to his crewmates.

He wondered if he should tell Nami, that her captain compared her to an especially juicy piece of thigh-steak from a T-Rex.

Shaking off his thoughts, they made their way to the docks in relative silence, which was surprising.

Croquant eyed the expression on Luffy's face, which was kind of pensive.

That was a reason to worry in and of itself.

"What's going through that rubber brain of yours?"

He asked to pull him out of his funk, as it was kinda unnerving to see the usually bubbly young man like this.

Luffy looked at him with an unreadable expression on his face and got straight to the point.

"I know I'm strong.

Not as strong as you, gramps or that admiral guy, but I'm strong.

But I also know it's not enough.

I can't protect my crew from any and all dangers as I am now."

'Well, that was deeper than I thought, but...'

"Alright, this confirms, that you're an idiot."

Luffy's expression changed to outraged instantly, only to switch to a surprised one a moment later, after he heard, what Croquant had to say.

"If you're too weak, you train yourself up until you aren't, and then you continue to put in the effort, just in case someone stronger comes around.

You also have wonderful people to rely on.

Talk to them. Share your thoughts, rare as they may be, and your worries with them.

It'll help motivate them, which in turn will elevate your entire crew.

The potential you guys have is ridiculous, you just have to unearth it, that's also part of a captain's duty, you know?"

The determined glint in his eyes told the diplomat everything he had to know.

'Hopefully he keeps this advice in his head.'

"Lowkey insults aside, thanks for the pep talk, now we have to welcome two new crewmates!"

'... Aaand he's excited again, his mood swings are ridiculous.'

They wandered through the streets, stopping here and there for some food from local stalls as that was something, that Croquant did everywhere he went if at all possible.

Of course it didn't take much convincing to pull the strawhat, also known as the walking stomach, into his foodie-tour.

He saved some from Luffy's grabby fingers for the other strawhats and the really special stuff for Robin and Merry, who decided to go on a Mother-Daughter-bonding outing before meeting up with the rest of the crew to welcome Merry's little brother or sister into the fold.

'To be honest, I'm quite excited for the reveal of the Thousand Sunny' he thought to himself, as he spread his senses further than his passive range.

He quickly 'found' his daughter and gave her a playful and loving mental poke, that she returned.

He then did the same with Robin, only to get back a host of emotions, that she circled through quite quickly.

Surprise, alarm, realisation, exasperation, fondness, irritation and love.

He had to blink, because it was always startling, just how many emotions hid behind that evercalm facade.

She felt deeply, but locked it all away without showing even an ounce of it.

She was a fantastic actress and an absolute wonder at poker, at least if her opponent wasn't at least proficient with Kenbonshoku.

Pulling his attention to the destination of their short Journey, he could already 'feel' the ship.

'Wow, Franky really is a fantastic ship wright.'

The future Thousand Sunny, since it's yet unnamed, was a true wonder of engineering and ingenuity.

'And he'll get even better with time.

Luffy really lucked out with that guy joining up with him.'

They finally arrived at the docks with hands and mouth full of food (Luffy), and bags full of all the good stuff the stalls had to offer (Croquant).

The easygoing conqueror had a lazy grin on his face and asked with amusement in his half lidded eyes.

"Who wants some snacks and refreshments?"

Everyone ignored the idiot with three different kinds of food in his mouth, who just shouted something incomprehensible around all the grub in his gob, that, with a lot of creative freedom, could have been understood as 'Me!'.

The others came closer and took some of the offered food.

Sanji looked at the friendly monster with a question in his eyes, that was answered a moment later.

"I like to go on at least one foodie tour whenever I visit a new island or one I haven't been to for a while."

He answered the unasked question, which brought a smile to Sanji's face.

"I do that too. No one knows better how to work with local ingredients than locals.

It's always a learning experience."

'You can call the guy a simp, pervert or any other degrading names, he'd probably even like it if the one who uttered them was an attractive woman, but he knows his way around the kitchen.

Great guy friend for any cook, too, since he likes to trade recipes.'

The lazy grin on Croquant's face changed into a smile as he nodded.

"That's true, the grand line is full of strange techniques, and they aren't exclusively martial techniques.

Cooking, engineering, medical procedures and everything else you could think of.

It's likely been revolutionised on the grand line and no one knows about it but the locals."

He looked around and could see, that he had quite an audience by now.

He stretched out his arms as if to embrace the crowd, and continued.

"It's what I love about travelling the world without restrictions.

You always learn, always discover. Every single day is a new adventure!"

The ones who were influenced the most by his words were the strawhats. All of them had eager smiles on their faces

Well, Zoro, who actually managed to somehow make his way here, had more of a smirk on his mug, but that's as much as you'll ever get out of him.

Just at that moment, Robin stepped up besides him, smiling.

"That was a nice little speech."

She told him with amusement clear in her voice as she took the offered bag full of the best food he collected on his tour.

"You may find it funny, but it's how I feel.

And you aren't that different in this regard."

He teased her lightly while looking at her from the corner of his eye.

She just nodded sagely and said.

"True. True."

Then she turned to Merry, who silently listened with wide eyes.

"So listen to your Papa, live to the fullest.

I wasted quite some years with keeping up appearances and making up justifications to myself when I was simply too scared to dare take the step."

She had a gentle smile on her face and pulled the ship hybrid into a hug.

Croquant, who silently observed their little talk, knew, that those words were as much for him as they were for their little girl.

"It took me being supported by true friends, family really, and my love at my lowest point to truly understand, that I am valued by the people around me.

You don't need that. We'll show you everyday, that you are loved. Valued. Appreciated. And utterly adored."

With every statement, she pressed a kiss on the little girl

Both cheeks, the forehead and the very tip of her cute little nose were assaulted.

'That's got to be in the top five of the cutest things I've seen in my life.

Motherly Robin is, by far, the most expressive side of my love.'

Before his thoughts could wander further down that rabbit hole, he tore himself out of the ruminations.

Their new relationship wasn't yet at that stage, after all.

He also didn't want to impede her dreams in any way, so starting a family of their own, beyond Merry that is, would be put on the backburner.

They had time after all, no need to rush.

Their strange family relationship also had the added benefit, that Robin took her training a bit more seriously.

'She is stronger than her canon counterpart, but not by much. She didn't take my warnings quite as seriously as I'd have liked, before.

But now, she can't just stay in the background to survive anymore.

She'll have to take a more active and possibly even a frontline role from time to time, especially if Merry is in danger.'

This caused her to follow Croquant's training regime with more vigour.

'She already has the basics for Kenbonshoku down and is on the cusp of awakening it.

Bosushoku isn't that far off either if she keeps up the physical conditioning and meditation exercises.'

This was somewhat interesting for him to learn. The colour of armament or Busoshoku haki had led to numerous discussions and outright fights in the net back in his world.

There were those who believed, that it was purely willpower, that was necessary to activate it and others believed, that the key to it's activation was a strong body.

The answer? Kinda both.

A strong body aided the flow of will, which made activating and channeling Bosushoku easier.

Using it with a weak body but a strong will was possible, but way harder.

The opposite was also true, a weak will but a hardy and strong body could allow for haki to be used, but the difficulty of the activation process is by magnitudes higher.

It was as much a mental task as it was a physical one, though, which was why meditation actually helped.

Of course there were deviants, people born with the ability to coat themselves in Bosushoku without effort just like there are people born with Kenbonshoku already awakened, with Aisa from Sky Island being a relatively prominent example.

The opposite was also true, as there existed people, whose talent for that colour was so bad, that even the slightest coating or prediction needed monumental exertion.

One thing to note was, that Bosushoku alone won't do you much good.

'It's, at the most basic level, a force multiplier.

If you are a master of coating, then you may increase the strength of a basic punch by around 10 times. If your body is relatively weak, that won't be much, but the higher your baseline, the more use you'll get out of it.

Special techniques can increase the power you can exert with Bosushoku, allow for more penetrative force and all kinds of other crazy things.

There's also the fact, that it makes coated or infused bodyparts more durable, but also slightly more rigid, which, if applied correctly in a technique, can increase the multiplier manifold.

It's one of the most useful things you can ever learn, since it's a heavy buff for both, offense and defense.

That's not even talking about it's added benefit, being able to touch the intangible.'

The positively beaming Merry, who sensed Croquant's rather serious mood, jumped at him with enough force to kill a weak pirate grunt from the blues.

Absentmindedly, Croquant caught the former ship in his arms and hugged her close, just to have her poke his nose.

He blinked and looked down to her, which he regretted just a moment later.

Big, slightly watery eyes, lips pulled into a slight poutlike frown and a slight sniff was all that was needed to make him panic in an effort to stave off the tears and make his daughter happy again.

"Papa, you need to pay attention! That's my sibling, who will be revealed soon."

She full on pouted, then.

"I was just lost in thought, my little lamb, I'm paying attention now."

He responded with a gentle smile and a little squeeze.

She nodded and snuggled into the his embrace with a content sigh.

He held out one arm in Robin's direction, who hesitated for a moment before stepping into the hug.

'I think I heard something shatter... Eh, probably not that important.'

Ignoring the strange thought, he decided to enjoy this moment with his chosen family.

Those two were as important to him as his birth family, there wasn't much he wouldn't do for them.