Chapter 52: CHAPTER 52
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CHAPTER 52
"It is a gyroscopic self-leveling room, so I called it the suspended room. It is a thank-you gift for helping me achieve my revenge. I saw you were searching for a blacksmith every time we docked, and I built that while fixing the wing system."
After that revelation, Zoro, Kuina, and every other child in the dojo came, and then they talked about their adventure in the sea.
...
A few hours later, everyone had gone back to their routine. Kreegan followed after Kuina and left the dojo. She had already passed the age she "fell down the stairs." Maybe their constant talk about the vast world and the many miraculous powers gave her hope for the future.
"How are you, Kuina?"
She looked a bit depressed but not as much as she used to be. She was now a young girl, and her body was developing. She was fit like a pro athlete, but the boys were catching up to her. Before Kreegan left, she had beaten some bandits, but she was having a tough time beating boys the same age as her in the dojo. If the man was an amateur with a sword like a bandit, her talent was so vast it was able to close the gap, but if they were dojo students and knew what they were doing, she was having such a hard time.
When Kreegan was in the dojo, he could always see her frustration. Her face always said I could beat them easily if I didn't have this body. That is why Kreegan always tried to elevate her spirit with their talks, and now he had come with the cure. He would have loved to teach her haki rather than giving her a devil fruit, but he still didn't know how to train and awaken them fully.
"I am trying to be good, but Kreegan, it is too hard. Seeing people, you could easily crush be at your level just because of their physical prowess."
"I have come back for that reason."
He acted like he was pulling the fruit from his coat's pocket and using his item box. Seeing the fruit, Kuina didn't know what to say momentarily.
"What a strange banana. I've never seen one like this before."
"That is not a banana."
Now, Kuina was thoroughly confused, and after some thought, a light flashed in her eyes. In a voice that couldn't believe what she was seeing,
"Is that..."
"Yes, it is a devil fruit."
"But you said they were rare, and someone couldn't buy one even with billions."
"It is all about luck or having a giant network, and I was lucky. Now you have two choices you could eat it and get its power, or you could wait for me, and when I learn how to awaken Haki, I will come back and teach it to you."
Kuina wanted to be a swordswoman all her life and go on an adventure like Kreegan, but her father never allowed it saying she was not strong enough. This fruit could give her the life she wanted; she hesitated a bit because if she took this, she would be something more than a swordswoman. For 10 minutes, she didn't do anything but stare at the fruit in her hands.
After a heavy sigh, she took a bite. She didn't have the courage to hold on anymore, and she didn't know when Kreegan would be back, was it going to take 2 or 10 years for him to come back? She didn't think she could hold out even for two months. The fruit tasted like the foulest thing she had ever tasted. She started to transform into an animal and a feline one at that.
When her transformation was over, tabby fur surrounded her body, and a lashing, striped tail came out of her back. Her head had transformed into a half-cat-like face. Even her ears had turned into a cat's ears, but it was not on top of her head like an anime cat girl. She looked more like a leopard, but her body wasn't that muscular. It was too lean for a wild cat; the most important clue was her face. It looked cute more than wild, like a domestic cat.
At that moment, one cat comes into Kreegan's mind: A Bengal cat. She looked just like a Bengal cat. Kreegan thought, in the manga, we had only seen wild cats and never a domestic one, but we had seen domestic dogs as devil fruit. It was logical for there to be domestic cat fruits too. Should he call her fruit neko-neko no mi model: Bengal cat?
They sat down and started talking about fruits and their weaknesses, and her biggest problem was her claws. They were making it awkward for her to grab the sword. The claws were digging into her palm.
"Cats have retractable claws; you need to learn how to use them."
"I can't make them go in."
"You are not going to learn how to control your body just yet. Even if you call your claws in, your body is so much faster and stronger than before. It is going to take some time for you to get used to it."
When Kreegan looked at her head, he saw a yellow two on top of her head. This was only her body's power, but her real power came from the sword. Kreegan guessed she would be white or yellow level 3 when she got used to her body.
"Until you get used to your body, you shouldn't let your father see you. You know he is too overprotective of you."
...
After a week of rest and doing what he had to do, Kreegan was preparing to leave the island. At that moment, Kozaburo came to Kreegan's room and told him to follow him. Kreegan followed Kozaburo, and they reached his workshop. Kozaburo took a sword and stood at the door.
"You can't leave this room until you make another Skillful Grade blade. If you want to leave, you have to cut me down. Kreegan, I am dead serious. You cannot leave here without killing me or making a Skillful blade."
He didn't call him "boy" and called him by his first name. This showed how serious he was, but there was another big clue. His power level head becomes a gray level 4.
Kozaburo was not going to let this boy squander his great talent. Even if he had to die today, he was going to hone him. Either with regret brought by his dead or by obedience, he was going to temper him.
This was the problem with people with more than one talent. They would always neglect one of them. Hell needed to freeze over before he would let Kreegan squander his smithing talent. he stood at the door, ready to die. He was so old, and he wasn' even able to manifest his haki anymore.
"I will, but with one condition."
"What is it."
"You have to teach me how to use haki. I know you can use it."
"No, that can never happen. I know you are not stupid. After seeing the rest of the East Blue, you must have guessed we are too different from them. Our clothes and custom are too different. Why do you think I didn't teach it to my son, or no one from my generation left any disciples? The moment someone in East Blue shows the power of haki. The Marines and the world government will start an investigation. It won't take long for them to find us. But if no one knows what even haki is, we can pass ourselves as ronins or civilians. For something to remain truly hidden, it needs to die. For our families to be safe, our knowledge needs to die. It was a big gamble even when I passed my knowledge to you. But I couldn't 't do it. It was selfish on my part, but I had to let you learn it."
He took a deep breath and continued.
"I don't know how you know about haki, but I cannot teach you that. You need to learn that in the Grand Line. No conditions. Are you going to do it, or should I die while trying to stop you?"
"You crazy old fart, okay, I am going to do it."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone