Chapter 28: Chapter twenty eight- Training revamp
Coming up from below deck after a few minutes more of preparation for his training Gabriel now sported a complete different outfit.
He now wore a pair of long brown pants and a white vest top with two black leather shoulder holsters each with one of the six shot revolvers in them that he had gotten from looting the bounty hunters back in whiskey peak, he also spotted an ammo belt with two pouches on either side of his hip filled with fresh ammunition for both of the guns.
Looking around when he got on deck he called out to the others, "oi Gem, Usopp I have a proposition for both of you" he called.
Hearing him the two of them came over one from the back of the ship the other from inside the lower cabin.
"What's up Gabriel.." Usopp asked before pausing, "wow where did you get those" Usopp asked as he looked at the get up he was wearing and the guns he had.
"Not a bad look," Gem commented.
Gabriel sweat dropped, "I didn't call you for fashion advice" he mutters, "I want to propose a trade with you both, I liberated these guns from some of the bounty hunters back on the last island, but thing is I can't shoot straight to save my life so here's the deal, I was hoping you guys could give me some pointers to help me improve and in exchange I'll help you both out with something, like learning how to use a staff weapon for you Usopp it will give you a way to keep enemies at a distance so you can shoot them, or maybe help you how to come up with different ways to use your devil fruit Gem"
Both of them pondered that for a moment. Gem arching an eyebrow at Gabriel when he asked about learning how to shoot.
"What makes you think I know how to shoot" he asked.
"I noticed the revolver you had in your coat during our fight, you can use your devil fruit powers with it right?" Gabriel bullshitted.
Gem nodded a little surprised, "right, even my breath can be explosive when I want it to be, I blow in the cylinder and when I fire I create explosions at a distance"
"Wow that sounds cool" Usopp commented thinking it would be a good ability to have for a marksman and liked Gabriel's thought if he could use a staff to keep bad guys away from him it would be all the better, "sure I'd be up for helping you out, I don't use pistols much but there's no better shot than me"
Gem nodded as well, "alright then, I suppose it would help out in the long run, but you better keep your end of the deal"
Gabriel nodded, "no worries, I've alctually got an idea for you already, have you ever tried channeling your devil fruit energy into something before throwing it" he said knowing his answer.
"Actually yeah, when I fight at range some times I flick my snot at someone and it explodes" Gem commented idly making Usopp look at him grossed out.
"Your snot, that's just disgusting" Usopp said imagining it.
Gabriel grimaced as well, "and not exactly classy or really what I meant, I was thinking something that didn't origionate from your body, like a rock or maybe a knife" he commented.
Gem frowned, "not that I can recall,"
Gabriel shrugged, "well it's just food for thought, think about it maybe if it works out Usopp here can hook you up with some small projectiles that you could use to replace your snot, they might even make better explosions" he commented
Gem pondered on that for a moment before nodding, "fair enough"
Gabriel nodded, "so about those lessons?"
Time skip
It was four hours later that the three of them were on the top front deck of the ship as a pistol shot went off and yet another tin can went flying off the ship railing and into the ocean.
Gabriel stood at the other side of the ship with a smirk on his face as Usopp and gem gave a small applause
"I think our work here is done" Usopp commented dramatically, while Gem snorted from beside him.
"You aren't kidding, at least he can actually hit the target now" Gem remarked.
Gabriel wanted to deny their claims but he knew they were right. In the beginning he really had proved to be hopeless. He had fired both his guns empty over three times before he had actually started hitting the targets. And it had only been by the second hour that he had gotten the notification that he had unlocked his Marksmenship skill due to repetitive actions and slowly but surely his accuracy with his guns had began to improve after that, he'd gained about fifty AP in his marksmanship with this training session so as far as Gabriel was concerned it was time well spent.
The entire time he had been practicing he had also been keeping his word to Gem and they had been tossing ideas back and forth for different ways to improve his usage of his devil fruit powers. Gabriel planned on waiting until both he and Mikita had joined his crew before he brought up the topic of devil fruit awakening with them.
After reloading his guns Gabriel put them back in his holsters and nodded, "thanks guys, I think I'll be able to practice more on my own after this," he told them both before looking to Usopp, "we can begin your staff training tomorrow Usopp, if that's okay with you"
Usopp nodded, "sounds good to me, hmmm maybe I'd be able to make a collapsible staff for myself" he muttered going into thought.
Gabriel just shook his head as he and Gem left him to his thoughts and went off to do their own thing.
After leaving Usopp, Gabriel took out a list from his pocket and looked over the list that he had made
Daz Bonez- former west blue bounty hunter- supa supa no more, can turn any part of his body into an iron blade
Vista of the flower sword- Whitebeard pirates 5th division commanded- possible devil fruit user- two sword style
T-bone- marine captain- no devil fruit- one sword style
Momonga- marine Vice Admiral- G-1 branch- no devil fruit- one sword style
Name unknown- CP 9 operative- no devil fruit- four sword style
…..
The list went on for the full page, Gabriel had listed down every sword user he could remembered from the anime, within reason of course, so that he could give the list to Zoro so that he could be prepared to fight them if he ever happened across them, Gabriel had even included some that Zoro never fought in the anime that he could remember. He planned to use this list as a bargaining chip with Zoro to get his aid in improving his swordsman, he knew that there was no way he would ever be able to grind it up to the full ten thousand AP with just points alone. And it that didn't work he always had his backup plan but he didn't think that he needed it.
Gabriel found Zoro snoozing on the back deck of the ship and sweat dropped.
'We've been practicing shooting for the past four hours, how the hell was he able to sleep through that' Gabriel thought to himself but then remembered that this is Zoro, he could probably sleep through a hurricane if he really wanted to.
With a shake of his head Gabriel approached him and gave him a nudge with his foot, "oi cabbage head wake up"
Zoro grumbled before his eyes opened wide as he heard the insult and he jumped to his feet, "what the hell did you just call me"
Only to have the list of names held up to him making him pause as he took it and looked down at it.
"That's the list of most of the swordsmen, with what I know about them, that you are likely to come across on the grand line, some of them are in the second half but it's what I was able to remeber from my researcher" Gabriel explained.
Zoro nodded as he read the list a grin coming to his face, the info was good, he could feel his blood boil in anticipation of fighting some of these people. Then he came to one of them without a name and arched an eyebrow.
"What about this one, this four sword style user you listed here, why don't you know his name" Zoro asked.
Gabriel shrugged, "he's supposedly a member of CP9 a subsection of the government that isn't supposed to exist, they do assassinations and that kind of stuff, it was a pain in the ass to even find out about them a real hush hush group, I found out about their skills but their names and appearances were completely impossible to find out, be thankful you have what you do"
Zoro nodded and looked back to the list, "thanks now I know who to be on the look out for to fight and improve myself" he said as he folded the list up and put it into his haramaki.
Gabriel nodded, "you're welcome, but don't think that you're getting that for free, I want something in return"
Zoro winced at that, "I suppose I should have expected that"
Gabriel nodded, "don't get me wrong, if we were on the same crew I'd give you it free, but as we're not I want your help with something in return"
Zoro frowned but nodded in understanding, it was only fair as they weren't on the same crew but allies all the same, "alright what do you want"
Gabriel grinned, "your help in training"
Hearing that immediately brought a fire to Zoros eyes, "oh, what kind of training are we talking about"
Gabriel grinned, 'got ya', "first in swordsmenship"
Zoro arched an eyebrow, "you're a swordsman?" He asked confused not being able to remember ever seeing him use a sword.
Gabriel nodded, "among other things, though I haven't practiced in a while, I was waiting until I got a good blade again, and I found one back in Whiskey peak, or rather I liberated it from one of those weak ass bounty hunters, punk didn't even know what he had"
Zoro smirked at that, "can I see it?" He asked interested in what Sword Gabriel had.
Gabriel nodded, "sure it's below deck give me a sec to go get it" he said before walking off and slipping down below deck for a few seconds to open his inventory and take out the wazamono blade that he had gotten.
Once it was out of his inventory he looked at it and was very happy with what he saw.
It was clearly a Chokutō, a straight single edged sword made for stabbing and slashing on foot, it was a little over a meter in length, with a plain black lacquer sheath and a wooden handle wrapped in black cloth. It's guard was an ornate square with an intricate designs embossed on it that looked freshly polished, and as he drew the blade from the sheath the blade glinted razor sharp even in the low light.
Curious as to what it was called Gabriel also plucked the sword book from his inventory and began to search for it within its pages, it didn't take him long to find it.
"Kurobuchi" Gabriel read aloud as he found it and read the translation, 'black edge', it was a wazamono grade blade after all, and it had a price tag of two and a half million beri as well.
Mentally Gabriel whistled as he saw the price tag, 'damn, if I didn't like this blade a whole lot already I would defiantly be selling it for that kinda cash,' he thought to himself before putting the book away and climbed back up to show Zoro.
When Zoro laid eyes on the blade he arched an eyebrow as he held his hand out for it in request. Gabriel nodded and handed it over to him to inspect it.
Zoro drew Kurobuchi from its sheath and examines its edge, it was perfectly sharp and well maintained, he gave a test swing in the air and hummed in appreciation for how easily it cut through the air.
"Not bad, not my style of blade but it handles very well, not to heavy and it's razor sharp," Zoro mused and nodded as he sheathed the blade again before handing it back to Gabriel, "that was a lucky find indeed"
Gabriel nodded, "don't I know it, I knew I recognised it from my book on graded swords, it's named Kurobuchi, a wazamono grade blade just like you're Sandai Kitetsu" he said as he gestured to the sword that hung on Zoro's waist.
Zoro hummed in appreciation and nodded, "very lucky then" he said before nodding, "alright I don't mind helping you sharpen up your skills again but we're lacking on space here to really do anything major"
Gabriel nodded, "that's fine, as long as you help me out later, once all this Baroque works nonsense is done, in the mean time I have something for us both to train in guaranteed to make us both stronger"
Zoro arched an eyebrow, "oh and what" he asked his interest peaked.
Gabriel smirked, "have you ever heard of Haki?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone