Chapter 28: Chapter 28 - Escaping the Marines! The Crew Meeting!
At the prow of the Black Artemis, Noah was staring at the marine ships in the distance making a detour and starting to go in another direction. Throughout their trajectory, they were not able to get close to them, thanks to Nami's navigational skills and naturally the Wind Manipulation that each of them can execute.
Taking his focus from there, he felt a cold and damp wind pass by him. Upon turning around, he saw the reason why these ships were returning.
A storm, with black clouds loaded with heavy rain and rumbling thunder. It was even possible to see the lightning snaking through the clouds and threatening to rain bolts into the sea below.
"I love heavy rains..." With a smile on his face, Noah walked to the kitchen entrance, just in time to not get rained on, "Such a pleasant noise..."
Listening to the sound of water droplets hitting the wood, practically surrounding the entire environment, something seemed to calm down in Noah and he breathed easily. Even the cold from the rain was something to be grateful for.
And Nami and Nojiko, who were already inside, looked at him for a while before smiling.
"Do you like rain?" Nami asked as she looked through the window and saw that the sails were in good position. She entered this "storm" because she knew that it only seemed threatening, but it would soon pass. Perfect for escaping.
"I love. They were kind of rare where I lived, and each one was worth feeling." Noah shrugged as he went to the kitchen counter and sat down.
"I just realized that you never told us where you're from. Would you like to tell us now or is this a deep secret?" Nojiko passed by him while stroking his back and then took a bottle of wine from the refrigerator, opening it and pouring it into three crystal glasses.
"A deep secret." Taking one of the wine glasses, he sniffed a little, "But it's not like I really don't want to tell you. I just don't think you're ready."
"Do you belong to the royalty of some kingdom by any chance?" Nami mocked him for a moment, but she really wasn't. She just got a little upset that he didn't find her worthy of knowing.
"If I were royalty, would I be a kitchen assistant on some mid ship?" Noah playfully pinched her thigh, selectively forgetting that a perverted cook from a certain crew had exactly such a history.
After some time of joking around between them, and also the storm outside having already moved away, they sat at a table and began to discuss the next steps.
After all, they were on route to the Red Line!
°°°
With a table of savory and sweet snacks set up, there was a map spread out on top, which all three were staring at and Nami pointed a finger to where they were and traced a finger to a huge red line that literally divided the map.
"By my calculations, at our best speed we can get there in up to five days, if we don't suffer any deviation or anything like that. A week at most. Less time is impossible because of the sea waves of the place, and more time than that is underestimating my abilities."
"It's a perfect amount of time. It will give us time to train and give a last push before we arrive at the Grand Line." Noah looked closely at the map while enjoying a foot massage that Nojiko was giving him from the other side of the table.
"I thought we were already quite strong. We even defeated that pirate full of gold." Nojiko already expected the world to be dangerous, but from the way Noah always talked about the Grand Line, it seemed even more terrifying. So much so that the superhuman strength they had achieved seemed like nothing.
"I'm not even kidding, but a fart from any pirate on the Grand Line could kill that guy." Noah laughed a little at her innocence, but then felt a pinch in his foot.
"Disgusting!"x2
After being scolded by Nami and Nojiko, they took some time to consider before agreeing. They were already aware of the fish-men and the Sea Kings. While their only encounter with the latter was the relatively calm Momoo, he was still the one who destroyed Gosa Village in a matter of moments.
What guaranteed that in a place known as the Pirates' Graveyard, even more powerful and strange creatures did not exist? It would be naive to think that the world was weak just because they were.
"Do you think we'll be able to get strong enough before we get there?" Nami asked after some time thinking.
"Definitely. Besides the fact that I can produce more red orbs the stronger I become, the Grand Line has a progressive danger. Only those who are truly weak or unlucky will fall before reaching the end of it."
He also wanted to add that reaching the Second Map of the Hunting Dimension could give a big boost to his strength and even the production of orbs could be exponential with the help of the two women. But as he wasn't sure about it, he preferred not to raise hopes.
"So let's focus on moving on to the Refinement of the Six Bowels. I think we can do this before we have to go through the Red Line." Nojiko thought for a bit and knew that this would be the best opportunity for now, as they had stagnated a bit in combat practice and Wind Manipulation.
About combat, it was more a matter of them already developing their fighting styles and constantly practicing them while strengthening. Still, there was something special missing for them to advance even further: Combat experience, fighting against other people!
And about Wind Manipulation, they were already at Level 4, which meant they had absorbed about 40% of all the information from the Wind Orbs. And with the help of the purple orbs, they were already able to launch about six to eight wind blades, depending on the strength they put in. Still, this kind of resource was rarer and they preferred to leave most of the Wind Orbs for Noah to absorb and get stronger himself.
"So it's settled. I will try to hunt as much as possible so that our resources do not run out." Noah nodded and made up his mind, receiving the worried looks from the two. And after just waving his hand calmly, he continued, "In addition to improving our physical strength, it is also important that our combat gets stronger. And when I say this, I mean special moves, mainly involving Wind Manipulation or a unique move."
"I had already thought of something similar, considering that my specialty is shooting. Things like bullets accelerated by the wind or fire bullets in the future." Nojiko understood what he was saying and her eyes sparkled a bit.
"Great. These things can be developed slowly in the future, but it would still be good to think about it for now. Anyway, we already have our training plan and trajectory defined. Until the Red Line, we have nothing more to do."
After this mini group meeting was concluded, everyone went to do their own things. Nami went back to drawing maps while having a wine on the main deck, Nojiko started to make lunch and Noah went back to training. And each of them did not stop consuming red orbs to become even stronger.
And with that, time went by.
°°°
Three days later.
Shot! Shot! Shot!
Gunshot noises echoed on the main deck of the Black Artemis, the same shots being concentrated on a series of targets in the distance.
Nojiko, who was fully equipped with her flintlock pistols in holsters and the flintlock rifle on her back, had a serious expression, her hands moving between the different pistols to practice her quick draw speed.
After hitting all the targets with bullseye, she began to move around the ship. Whether jumping in different places or doing acrobatics to make shooting even harder, she tried everything to miss. But, fortunately, all the shots were still hitting the targets where she wanted. Even considering the speed of the wind at sea!
While she was at it, Nami was also inside the training hall, performing complicated martial arts movements and adding staff strokes between them. If Noah was here, he would be able to identify that a large part of her kicks were an imitation of his strokes.
In addition, each stroke she gave with the staff carried a small wind blade, just enough to slightly damage the training stake she was using. Because of this, her Spiritual Energy reserves remained high and she didn't need to worry about getting tired from using too much. Still, this served as a significant damage boost.
After three more days of training, which was a significant amount considering they were using red orbs and purple orbs all the time to get stronger and increase their combat experience, they could be called elite fighters!
They were at sea for just about twelve days and were already at this level. For common standards, this was something very impossible. After all, Noah was the guy with the weird physique!
The strength they had already surpassed the strength a common fish-men could have, which was ten times the normal human strength. Since they had already passed the refinement of the Five Viscera, their body could exert up to fifteen times the strength of a common human!
And with enough training, they could achieve enough physical control to be able to exercise this potential at all times. In less than fifteen days, they were transformed from ordinary humans into super humans with supernatural powers.
This alone was enough to show the great potential of the Hunting Dimension!
°°°
Drip! Drip! Drip!
The sounds of dropping water droplets echoed in a quiet space of the ship. As it was all dark, it was impossible to see what was causing the dripping.
Until the lights were "switched on".
Ignite!
Flames emerged around a figure standing in the room, its light illuminating the whole place. These flames, which seemed uncontrolled for a moment, began to follow a path like a whirlwind of fire until they separated into two and soon after collided again.
With just one finger supporting him on the ground, Noah had his eyes closed while his body sweated as if it were a water fountain. On his feet were two enormous weights of 500kg each, forming 1 ton of weight for him to bear.
In addition to training his balance, he was also training his distribution of strength throughout his body, making sure his finger did not pierce the wood below. At the same time, air currents hit his body non-stop, forcing him to "walk" with his fingers from time to time. This made the entire space filled with puddles of sweat.
After several hours like this, he finally absorbed the last red orb he had, along with the wind orbs and fire orbs. And throwing the weights up, he quickly got up and picked them up.
"I really need them in the Hunting Dimension. Splitting the resources into three like this consumes much faster than I thought, even with lucky days." Casually commenting while putting the weights in their proper places, Noah grabbed a towel from the wall and wiped himself.
The last three days of hunting have been very satisfying for him, especially last night. Besides the large number of Wind Orbs he won, he also got three more Fire Orbs from female lions that were scattered around.
With this, he advanced his strength very little, but his Wind Manipulation powers were almost at Level 9, almost a Level 8.5 (85% of the Divine Art understood), and his Fire Manipulation entered Level 2. This was enough for him to become a big shot in the First Map, but he still did not have the necessary strength to face the Flame Lions. Let alone the Boss Flame Lion.
"I have to move quickly to the Spirit Martial State and I will have a chance against them." Noah already knew that he needed more than a lot of physical strength to face these next opponents, so he already set a goal to reach. And after thinking a little about Nami and Nojiko, he smiled, "After that, I will hunt there until the two are at the same level as me so that we can face the Second Map with more strength!"
While he was lost in thought, walking to his room to take a good bath and dinner, suddenly he felt someone flying towards him and clinging to his back.
"You won't escape me today, captain!" Nojiko bit his ear, having waited a long time for this. She had already finished her training some time ago and was lurking for him.
"Escape?" Noah felt her breath on his ear and laughed. And with just one movement, he was able to grab her leg and bring her forward, "You're the one who will be asking for help soon."
"Oh, how scared I am." Nojiko laughed and ran her hands through his chin, pulling him into a kiss. And after that, she spoke softly, "I want to see what this monster is capable of."
"You asked for it."
¨¨¨¨
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