"It's the string string model: steel line fruit. It pretty much lets me create steel strings out of my body and can control them freely." Shanks whistled and said "That's a neat ability there, what's with the gauntlet?" I looked at my hand and said "I'm not too sure, it might just be the manifestation of the fruit." I willed the gauntlet to go away and it disappeared in threads of steel into my body. I looked at my hand in shock and said "So cool…"
XxX
It's been two weeks since I've been on Shank's ship. I've been working on my new devil fruit power since I've eaten it and I have to say it's pretty useful. I can create strands of steel wire out of my gauntlet and control them at will. They're very durable and I can shape them into objects. I can shape them into a sword and it cuts stuff pretty well. Also my strings stay manifested even after willing my gauntlet away and seems to have no time limit on them. I can also use them to make traps or even just wrap them around a person's limb while I'm clashing swords with them and pull… hard. Safe to say they can take a person's arm off pretty easily and almost did in a sparring match with one of Shanks' crew members. It would've come off if the person didn't use haki at the last moment.
We've steadily been making progress to the East Blue. I guess I made an impression on Shanks and he's willing to drop me off over at Loguetown. He said he liked my determination and said "You have a bright future, kid." It was a little embarrassing having him say that to me but I thanked him. We should be there tomorrow sometime in the morning. Since being on the ship I've been working on getting stronger. I've been sparing with the crew, doing push ups, squats, and running around the ship for some cardio. I've discovered I have a pretty good talent with swords and just close quarter fighting in general. I've been able to beat some of the crew using my devil fruit, but once they've started using their haki I usually lose.
Unfortunately with my chakra capacity being so low I can't use any of my ninjutsu. I had a feeling it was connected to the fact my current body isn't as strong as my old body. Also, it doesn't help all of my ninjutsu consume a lot of chakra. I can use my chakra to walk on water and I can use it to do the substitution jutsu but that's about the only useful thing I can use from my ninja repertoire. I was hoping that with me having a gauntlet my sacred gear carried over, but it's not looking that way. Plus it looks different then my old one, that one was red with a green gem in the middle but this one is yellow and blue colored.
Right now I was sitting at a table with shanks drinking and eating our supper. I looked at him and said "If I see Luffy do you want me to give him a message?" Shanks smiled and said "Nope, he knows I'm waiting for him." I nodded my head and said "Where will you guys go next?" He looked thoughtful for a moment and said "We're going back to the new world, we have some territory management to do." I nodded my head and said "Can I have your guy's transponder snail number if I ever want to talk to you guys, or ask for advice?" Shanks smiled and said "I don't see why not, but try to not call too often because the government is always trying to get us, and they could try tracking us down." I nodded in understanding and said "I understand."
Shanks nodded appreciatively and then asked "What about you? What will you do?" I thought for a moment and then said "I don't like how the government is running things so I won't become a marine. So I think I might end up becoming a pirate. You said Luffy's going to become a pirate right? Do you think he has what it takes?" Shanks smiled and said "I do, that kid has a strong determination and won't let his friends down." I smiled and said "I might just try finding him then." With that said we talked for a little while longer and then we went to bed.
XxX
"Thanks for everything! I owe you! Once I get a transponder snail I'll contact you and if you need anything just let me know." I looked at Shanks and he smiled at me and said "There's no need, we're all friends here." Then he tossed me a backpack that looked full. "Here, this should help you out. There's a few things in there you might find useful." I took a peek in the bag and my eyes widened "Are you sure?" He smiled and said "Yes, now make a name for yourself. I'll be keeping an eye out for you Sasaki." With that said he turned around and headed back to his ship.
I turned around and looked at where I was, I was in a small cove that didn't look too far from the city. I then looked back in the backpack and took a better look in it. Inside there was a pouch of berries, a transponder snail, two books in it and something wrapped in parchment with a note on it. I grabbed the note and read it "For those with logia devil fruits, Yasopp's idea he thought you might need them considering who the captain at loguetown was. Make sure to make them count; these are rare." I opened the package and inside it was three bullets, but not just any bullets; these were a dark blue. I recognized them immediately, they were seastone bullets.
"Shanks…" I wrapped them up and put them back in the bag. I turned around and saw the ship out in the distance. I ran back to the sea and at the edge I yelled "Thank You!" I could see someone at the back of the ship and saw them wave at me. I smiled and with that decided to head to the city.
XxX
I sat my bag down on the bed of the hotel room I rented for the night. I let the transformation technique go and exhaled and laid down on the bed. "Man, I've been holding that for a few hours and I'm this tired? I have to get stronger." It's been a few hours since I've been here, about noon and I decided my first step was to get a place to stay. The next was finding out some information about where I'm at, or well; when I am. I'm currently staying in an ok hotel towards the middle of town and it cost me about half of what Shanks gave me for a week.
Next on my list was to maybe find a newspaper and to train a little so I could build up more strength. I grabbed some berries from my bag and put it under the bed wrapped in some steel wire from my devil fruit and tied it to the bed so no one could get access to it and headed out. Walking down the street in no particular direction I saw that it was lively and people were walking about. People going on with their day, people shopping, and also people selling things. I decided to stop someone and asked him where the central market for Loguetown was and headed in that direction.
"Hey you." I turned and saw there was a burly man with dark skin and had black hair slicked back, and was wearing what looked like a blacksmith's attire. He was currently sitting in a stall on the side of the road and was staring at me. I walked up to the man and asked him "Is there anything I can help you with sir?" The man grunted and said "Nah, but maybe I can help ye. I see yer not carrying any protection. Perhaps ye might be interested?" He stretched his arms over a couple of cases that were on his stall and also to a big barrel with swords on the side. 'I do need a gun for those seastone bullets…' I looked at the cases on the stall and asked the man "How much for a pistol?" I asked and was looking at a case that had a pistol in it. It was a single shot one, but it had a decent sized barrel on it and looked like it had some punch to it.
The man smiled and said "That one there is a little special, it's made to shoot different types of ammo not just yer regular bullet but also other types like fire blast, and even smoke type. It's my own creation, and it's even got a quick release for the cartridge so you can change the round at will. I could part ways with it for…" He looked at me for a moment, nodded and said "5,000 berries. I normally would charge 10,000 but you look alright." My eyes opened a little and I said "That's amazing, are you a blacksmith?" The man nodded his head and said "Aye, I been working in the west blue studying there and am trying to spread my trade over here."
I nodded my head and said "That's amazing, and you said there's this fire blast shot what's that?" The man smirked and said "Aye it's me own creation. When the bullet gets fired it catches on fire and explodes on impact. It has a heck of a punch." I nodded my head and said " Yeah, you know what I'll take it and also a dozen of those fire blast shots." The man laughed and said "I knew you'd like it! Even though yer hiding your true face there's this look about you, and I thought you might like it. The total with the bullets is 5500."
I was shocked and asked "How?" The man laughed and said "I picked up a few skills traveling these seas. Don't worry I won't go talking about a mystery man buying me goods to anyone." I sighed in relief and handed him the berries and asked "If you don't mind me asking, is it haki you're talking about?" The man smiled and said "Aye, I almost didn't notice the change on you but it's the small stuff like yer eyebrows and some hair a little too long on one side." I nodded my head and said "Thanks for that I'll make sure to do it better and to keep an eye out for it." The man nodded his head and handed me a case and also a holster for the gun to go on my hip.
I nodded in appreciation and asked "Are you normally here?" The man nodded his head and said "Aye, but I'll be taking off next week for the grand line for more research." I smiled and said "I wish you luck my friend. What's your name?" The man laughed a hearty laugh and said "It's Hephaestus, and it's a pleasure! Now off you go!" I smiled and before parting ways said "If I know anyone who's looking for stuff like this I'll send em your way!" With that said I took off back to the central market and put the gun on my hip.
One thing I noticed that I couldn't tell when it was in the case was that there was a detachable cartridge right before the barrel. The cartridge has an engraving of 'FS' on the side of it. Other than that it had a trigger and a lever to cock back at the end of it. Also in the box it came in is a blank cartridge for regular bullets, or for other types of bullets as well. The gun had a long barrel on it and it was black colored, and the handle was made of some type of metal base with wood accents on the sides and on the handle was white leather for comfort.
After a while of walking and also trying to get used to walking with a fiveish pound gun on my hip I made it to the market district and I saw what I was looking for, a news stand. I walked up to the stand and looked at the man who was working it and asked "How much?" The man looked bored and said "50 berries." I rolled my eyes at his bland response and handed him the berries. After grabbing the newspaper I headed over to a bench I saw and sat on it to read the newspaper.