Fuck me. I am fucked. Now we need to not only get out of here and to Grand-Line and fast then to the new world, we also need to get on the good side of Shanks, one of the future 4 emperors of the sea. And that name means a lot, in the power scale. Like the strongest swordsman in the world Miwahk scale. Just become equal with Shanks and just gift him the devil fruit or something. Maybe an honorable duel between men with the devil fruits as the stakes. That actually sounds kinda viable and fun. Okay, that's the plan for now. Now I only need to persuade the others from eating or selling the gomu gomu no mi.

”So, what do you want to do with these fruits? Who eats one and who doesn’t? Which one do we sell and which do we keep?” I asked from them, trying to not sound anxious

”We already agreed on selling the mud fruit,” said Noah, looking back and forth between the other two, having a small mental conversation between his sister while they locked eyes.

”I don’t want any of these fruits.” Said Jackie kind of surprising me and the siblings. ”I value my ability to swim. It’s even more important if we are really leaving this shit hole behind and actually go to the Grand-Line. Better save my fruit for someone else better suited.” I see, he has actually given this some thought, I should praise him for not letting the devil fruits cloud his judgment.

”Then I give up my current and any future devil fruits up for others. As our shipwright, it would be a damn shame if I accidentally drowned when going to repair the ship.” I see. A bold but praiseworthy statement, giving up on future devil fruits. While he may have momentarily forgotten how devil fruits work, Jackie's reminder struck his dreams of becoming a devil fruit user down in an instant, as the job of a shipwright is his dream, hobby, passion and the thing he knows best.

”Then I guess I’ll eat mine,” said Sky, looking embarrassed that she was the only one yet to eat their fruit. ”Sailing Grand-Line is undoubtedly going to be dangerous and we currently have combat prowess of minus one hundred, with us having no real combat experience, lack of nutrition meaning lack of training thus a lack of muscle.”

She is a good chef and hopefully, the cat type Zoan will enhance her senses of smell, hearing, taste, and sight passively. Although we all knew what she said was right and totally waterproof, it still hurt at least my pride as a man and as a seasoned warrior, who died of a stray shot…

”Then I’ll eat mine as well. I am interested in the prowess of this fruit, which we are going to need. That leaves us with one devil fruit we are going to sell and one we will keep for later. Now we have to discuss our future. Do you guys want to become pirates?” This may have been an unfair question to ask as currently, pirates are all pillager and killers.

”””No, Nope, Not in a million years””” were the answers I received. ”Then do you want to become marines?” Another unfair question. I just painted the marines in an extremely bad light and everyone here has a bad impression of the world government which doesn’t help their subjects, us.

”””Never, When did they ever help us, Aren’t marines just underlings to the world government?”""

”Where did you hear that?” I question Jackie. ”You should never say anything like that while you’re this weak. I know someone who went spouting those kinds of things, and then they weren't anymore. They got took out. Fast.” I said that as grimly as possible to hammer home the point that they shouldn’t cross the world government too much, or they will get hurt. I mean that old hobo must have been a defector from the world government or something, cause thinking back on him now, he knew way too much. He even knew about the gorosei AND described their faces accurately, as far as I can remember from the anime.

”I just don’t want any of you to do the wrong things. So If we don’t want to be pirates or marines, what can we be between these two groups. I mean I have an idea but if you suggest anything I’ll listen.”

”We can be traveling merchants or bounty hunters” Came from Noah to which I nodded. ”Merchants are a no go. What would we sell or buy? Bounty hunters might be good if we were alone, but if we travel as a bigger group most marines might think of us as pirates, you know with no visible marine tags and nothing to sell might leave marines with only one option” ”Undercover pirates. I see” Noah finished my sentence frowning.

”Yes. From what I see we have only one option and that is to become adventurers.” ”Become what?” asked Sky looking skeptical at the new term.

”You all know what adventures are yes? Good. Adventures are thrill-inducing journeys. And adventurers are the brave men and women seeking that exact same thrill of journeying to the unknown and discovering new and wondrous places with, of course, new adventures, enemies, friends, rivals and such.” I finished my dramatic telling expecting excitement and got it from only one pair of eyes, Noah’s.

”Why so serious looks?” I asked trying to hide the disappointment of failure deep in my heart.

”First of all, we would make enemies of the pirates just by existing and living the free life that they worked so hard for. Second, we are still not immune against the world government and the marines by only being neutral they can still put a bounty on us and we would become enemies no matter what.” Answered Sky.

”Well then what do you suggest?” I asked sulkily after my adventurer plan has been virtually decimated. We can still adventure the seas and make enemies and rivals if we are pirates, but a lot of our options would be limited if we were to become a pirate crew.

”I suggest that we go to sleep, as we all are clearly agitated from all the news and talk about this tomorrow again. Let's just sleep on it and tomorrow same time as today, we will discuss this again. Without any groundbreaking news, I hope.” She said and rose from her sleep.

She was right, somewhere along the way it had grown so dark that candles had to be lit.

”Fine, we’ll sleep on it,” I agreed grumpily, ”But let’s just eat our devil fruits now, so as to not risk anything,” I said and started munching on my bright pink banana. She just shrugged and took a bite out of her white apple. It tasted truly horrendous. Like vomit mixed with sugar and re vomited. Makes me want to vomit. As far as I can see through the tears in my eyes Sky was having the same reaction. Right after the first bite had entered my stomach I felt a connection to the clouds above us. Only they were so high up that I had a hard time trying to reach them. It’s probably impossible for a while. Trying to make weather phenomenon like Dragon’s happen. On the other hand, I think that I could create some clouds right now If I tried hard enough. Sky was already experimenting with hers and the other two watched on with awe and excitement. Zoan fruits have two, technically three, transformations. Your normal form, animal normal hybrid, full animal. She was currently in her animal-human hybrid mode, and she grew two huge fangs from her mouth, curving down towards her jaw. She tried to open her mouth to the fullest and when she did that her mouth snapped open more than ninety degrees. We were all shocked. She snapped her mouth closed and held her hands before it, trying to figure out how it was possible that her jaw didn’t break.

”That’s so freaking cool!” Noah’s eyes were like two headlights almost fully open and it looked hilarious.

Sky, while looking embarrassed, started transforming slowly into her full animal mode. Her Sabertooth cat form was golden. Almost fully golden fur coupled with her massive fangs and piercing red eyes was a terrifying combination to be faced with. Though now she was only muscle and no technique. I need to start training her with hand to hand combat techniques that I remember. But that will have to be tomorrow. I need to sort my old memories as well as think up a training program for us all.

And a way to make money quickly.