The Grand Line was vast, and sometimes—when the skies were calm and the waves gentle—it was almost possible to forget how dangerous it really was. That is, until Enel opened his mouth for the thirtieth time.
"Are we there yet?" he whined again, lying across the deck in a dramatic sprawl that didn't suit someone who once considered himself a god. His long earlobes flopped onto the wooden planks, and his hand limply dangled off the side as if life had drained from his body due to sheer boredom.
Tatsumaki's eye twitched.
"You say that one more time and I swear I'll drag the whole ship into the sea and make you carry it the rest of the way," she muttered, arms crossed, eyes fixed on the log pose she had pinned to a floating chunk of iron bobbing midair beside her. Her psychokinesis, enhanced by the Chōnōryoku-sha no Mi, allowed her to multitask efficiently—controlling rigging, adjusting sails, steering the rudder, and keeping the log pose aligned—all without lifting a finger. Literally.
Enel rolled onto his side and muttered, "You're just cranky because you're short."
That was the last straw.
With a casual flick of her wrist, Tatsumaki summoned a wave from the sea, curved it unnaturally into the air like an obedient snake, and let it crash directly onto Enel's face. The former general sputtered as he sat up, drenched, his logia body sparking erratically.
"Ack—!" Enel blinked rapidly, looking down at his trembling arms. "You drenched me! With sea water!"
"Devil Fruit weakness, remember?" Tatsumaki grinned sweetly. "You should be more careful with your words, Your Holiness."
"Even my electricity's sluggish now…" he grumbled, sitting in a growing puddle. His lightning body glitched and flickered as he forced himself dry with the heat. "Also that only works when standing in water y'know. Devil fruits are amazing, but its weird how they work."
Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow, interested despite herself.
Enel leaned back against the mast, still dripping. "Think about it," he began, "a Devil Fruit user can be completely negated by standing in seawater or hit by seastone. But their abilities can still affect those same weaknesses. Their powers can affect seawater even if it would kill them to stand in it. A seastone weapon can ignore a devil fruit user's abilities being channeled through them while nullifying someone else's as long as they aren't making direct contact with it themselves."
Tatsumaki nodded thoughtfully. "Like how I can use my powers to lift seawater, or even shape it, but if I fall in, I'm done for."
"Exactly," Enel said, now warming up to the topic. "It's not just about having a Devil Fruit—it's about how you use it. I can rule Skypiea right now 'cause no one there knows how to deal with my Logia form. Give them a seastone weapon, and it's a different matter entirely."
Tatsumaki had a question. "How come you logia bastards still die? Most battles against or amongst pirates happen on land funny enough, and not everyone knows what seastone is, much less how to make it into a weapon that can nullify intagibilty."
Enel was patient. It was a good question despite its rudeness.
"Haki. Specifically Armament Haki. Haki negates all devil fruit abilities. Paramecia tomfoolery, logia intangibility, and Zoan melee hax, Haki stops, or weakens them all. That changes everything. That's why the Admirals are terrifying." Enel said, switching the topic.
Enel enters full professor mode. He had spent a lot of time researching this in his past life.
"Top tier Logia Fruits, plus even better Haki? No amount of cleverness is saving you from that if you don't have Haki of equal or greater power. Plus Logia's can choose when to have the 'intangibility' active. Most always do, as they are attacked often on the seas from unexpected situations, but it's usually during battle or receiving attacks that would 'break skin' in a normal individual. Experienced logia's can sometimes activate it in advance so that even normal Haki doesn't work, but seastone and good Haki users can force them back tangible and render that a moot point."
It explained how Luffy could clatter into Ace and Smoker during their "confrontation" in Alabasta, but couldn't do jackshit to the admirals in the Marineford Arc. Ace and Smoker weren't receiving an attack that could truly hurt of cause a regular person to bleed, but the admirals were receiving fully named attacks from Luffy, that would have hurt a regular person.
Nodding, she considered that this Haki thing made sense. "So why do Marines like Smoker, even bother with seastone weapons, then? Wouldn't it be better to just use this Haki."
"They don't, not really," Enel replied. "They use seastone for handcuffs. Capture purposes. Why spend money on a sword that negates Devil Fruit powers when a Haki-coated blade does the job better and can be trained into anyone with enough skill, potential, and determination?"
"What about the Fodder marine foot soldiers?" Tatsumaki asked. "There wasn't anything they could do to logia users with no Haki or seastone."
"Well there's a reason they're called fodder right?" Enel says amused. "Fortunately for them, Logia devil fruits are incredibly rare, and seastone is found on only one island in the world."
"Seastone's that rare?" she asked, amazed.
"Yep. 'Comes from an island deep in the new World. Good luck finding a smith outside of that isolationist island who can shape the stuff properly. Best most here can do is mold it into bullets."
Tatsumaki sighed, rubbing her temples. "The world's too complicated."
Enel grinned again, returning to form. "And you're still short."
The ship rocked slightly as a psychokinetic slab of water smacked him off his feet, a wooden mop bucket slamming into his skull a moment later. "That one slipped," she said flatly.
By midday the next day, the eternal log pose finally started shifting.
Enel, bruised and freshly re-dried, sat up from his nap and asked again, "Are we—?"
"Yes, we're there," Tatsumaki snapped before he could finish.
The horizon shimmered with heat and sunlight, but between the gleaming ocean waves, the unmistakable silhouette of Water 7 began to rise. It was like no island Enel had ever seen before. A mechanical marvel, a maze of rising waterways, rotating canals, floating homes, and massive dry docks carved into tiers.
Water 7, the City of Shipwrights. The island famous for creating the world's most advanced ships, including the legendary Oro Jackson.
Tatsumaki exhaled as they coasted toward it, her arms raised to keep the battered ship afloat and steady.
"God, this thing is a mess," she muttered, eyes scanning the torn sails and weatherworn hull.
Enel stood beside her now, having floated to the prow with ease. "You did good," he admitted, "even if you waterboarded me a few times."
"'Slipped,'" she repeated.
"Mm-hmm." Enel smirked. "You ever think about how this is training for you?"
Tatsumaki blinked. "What?"
"All that multitasking—steering, balance, lift, sail control, mapping—all with your fruit?" He shrugged. "It's control training. The kind Shiki probably did when he first lifted islands."
She frowned, considering. "I thought you were just being lazy."
"That too," he grinned. "But if you wanna be the one of the strongest Devil Fruit users in the sea, this is the grind."
Tatsumaki scoffed, but didn't argue. "Fine. But if you call me short one more time—"
"I'll drown, got it." Enel threw his hands up in mock surrender.
As the ship drifted into one of the outer canals of Water 7, the port grew loud with noise and life. Shipwrights shouted from scaffolds, tourists pointed at incoming ships, and pirates kept low profiles to avoid trouble. The streets were already swelling with the daily bustle.
Tatsumaki guided the ship to a mooring dock with practiced ease. With a final breath, she let the psychokinetic grip drop, and the ship settled with a groan against the dock. Her knees nearly buckled.
Enel caught her and placed her on his back, using the cloak covering his wings as a blanket. .
"Rest," he said quietly. "You earned it."
She blinked in surprise but nodded. "I'm not gonna say thank you."
"I don't expect it." Enel turned toward the city. "This is just more proof of how short you are."
"Shut up!" Tatsumaki says flustered as she kicks him in his sides.
Enel just laughs while muttering a small apology.
Their eyes turned to Water 7's massive shipyards beyond the canals—each dry dock as large as a stadium, lined with craftsmen from all over the world. The real journey was about to begin. Their vessel will soon be built.
A ship worthy of kings… of gods… of dreams yet to be conquered.