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Chapter 47
Title: Good Deeds...
…
The date went well and Nami unexpectedly enjoyed herself, Sanji had to be held back from going and fighting Max. The other Strawhats observed the date with different degrees of interest, Luffy and Zoro couldn't care less about it and one of them still didn't know what a date even was.
As Max went into his room he heard a knock on the door and Raynare came in. She had a sullen look, she had noticed that he had given Nami a ring and she was wearing it on her fingers at all times. But what bothered her, even more, was how fast the relationship seemed to develop.
'I shouldn't complain, after all, in the past, I had made it clear that I couldn't fall in love with someone like him.' Raynare thought depressingly, remembering when she had told Max that he was someone women would like to sleep with but not someone they would marry. He even confirmed it to her. 'Now it's too late for me to even do anything. If I knew this would happen…'
Max on the other hand looked at Raynare and offered her a piece of paper. "Here, this is a vivre card. It will always point to the Strawhats. Or at least Nami."
"Huh?" Raynare was confused by this. "How do you have something like this?"
"Do I seem like someone who would pay millions of Beri just to hold hands with some girl?" Max looked at her with dull eyes, there was a lack of emotion in them. He then smirked at her mischievously. "Did you think that I just fell in love with a girl I don't even know? Xahahaha! That's funny!"
"Hmph! Raynare pouted. "You could have told me that."
"Why? You jealous?" Max couldn't help himself and teased Raynare, she kept blushing up a storm at this. But what he said to her was the truth, he knew a lot about Nami from the One Piece Anime and Manga. That though didn't mean that he loved or even cared about her, but that didn't mean that he wasn't attracted to Nami, she was a beautiful young woman his age after all.
"No way! I am not jealous!" yelled out Raynare, though she said that. Her actions said a whole other deal. "I don't like you at all!"
She then barged out and Max's smirk widened. "Tsundere~"
Baam!
The door was slammed back open. "I am not a tsundere!"
"Xahahahaha~" Max's laughter rang through the castle like a lion's roar. As he was laughing, Ray tried to catch him.
He was truly amused by the situation, in enclosed spaces, he could outpace Raynare without even trying too hard. His <Soru> was very good, he only needed to lightly touch the ground and he would disappear. There were even afterimages created.
Raynare was using the same technique as him, but even then she was amazed by how good he seemed to move. This no longer seemed like a martial art, and resembled more of a dance. Yet she couldn't even touch the end of his cloak that he wore as a King.
That was when she understood something, even though he was ruling a country Max hadn't skipped training at all and instead seemed to have increased his training time. After all, to get the <Soru> technique to such heights, the countless hours of training done was something raynare couldn't even comprehend.
For the first time since they had met, Raynare started admiring Max, the way he seemed to so easily overwhelm her. She wondered if this had been a real battle, how fast could he take out? He didn't even seem to be trying.
'I need to at least touch him.' She pondered, feeling that if she wasn't able to touch him then she wouldn't be able to ever stand by his side as an equal. By now Raynare had forgotten why she was even annoyed at him.
The time around her seemed to come to a stop, everything started moving slower. She felt like her vision had improved and could sense a blue line where Max would move to next. That was like an answer from God, finally, she could touch him, but even as she followed the line it was futile. He seemed to move faster than she could catch up and soon after that, the lines changed where he would move. But everything was confusing.
Fwish!
Suddenly, Max stopped by the window's ledge and opened it. Letting the cold and snowy wind come in, he took a deep breath and smiled, a look of pride adorned his face as he stood one foot away from falling off the window. Like a parent who saw his child take their first step. "Did you just use Observation Haki? I honestly thought you had zero talent in it."
Raynare on the other hand only barely could hear his words as she went and grabbed his royal cloak. "I got you…"
..
"What?" Max was confused, why would it matter if she touched his cloak? It wasn't like he was even moving or intending to dodge. But he didn't interrupt her once he saw the happy look on her face. "Anyway, how did you know
Raynare then explained what she saw and the blue lines. Max could conclude that this was her way of "seeing" where the attack will come from, in the form of strings. Of course, it wasn't seeing and more like sensing and her brain combining the sensation with something familiar, after all, she couldn't see the blue strings behind her yet she knew they were there.
After getting the whole explanation, Max thought for a little, contemplating how he should train. But in the end, he decided to strike while the iron was still hot and continue helping her consciously use Observation Haki right now. "Right, how about you try and stop my attack now. We gotta train while your body still remembers the feeling of using Observation Haki."
She nodded and immediately her vision was covered in blue lines, she couldn't see anything else except where the attacks were going to come from. "Thousands of attacks… impossible to dodge…"
Suddenly her vision cleared and she saw Max standing in front of her with his finger touching her forehead. He had a mischievous smirk on his face. "Humans can hide and even fake their intentions, your Observation Haki must be able to see through this much to be usable in a fight against anyone competent. Just now I had the image in my head of punching you thousands of times and your body froze in panic. Remember, Observation haki isn't something all-mighty and even it can be fooled."
She nodded, already knowing the basics of Observation Haki as Max had explained them all to her.
"Also, remember, I promised Luffy a fight, and I wouldn't underestimate him," Max warned her. "If you lose then I would have to fight him, and we wanna show him just how far ahead we are in comparison. Okay?"
"Yes, I won't betray your expectations." Raynare had a resolute look in her eyes, if she couldn't do this much then she felt like she wouldn't be able to stand next to him. When she looked at Max, she saw the wide smile on him that almost seemed to split his face in half.
His eyes looked straight at her and it felt like he could already read her like an open book.
…
On the other side of the sea, Negan had got his small boat coated and was ready to set off from Fishman Island and out there into the sea to look for the Boss-Man. At this time he didn't even know if he and the man had a good relationship, but he just needed something to do other than waste away on one island. Beating traffickers at one time got boring.
He smiled at his new boat and hopped in, Jinbe was there to wave him off but didn't seem happy for Negan leaving.
"John, you will die if you go out there like that. That ship is too small to handle the New World." Jinbe warned the man.
Negan had an annoyed look on his face, like a thug who was about to threaten someone. "So what? Also, I told you to call me Negan! That's my name, dumbass!"
"When you stop calling me Fat Joey, then I will start calling you by your real name," the big fishman said without missing a beat.
Negan just sighed and set off, but as he did so a mermaid floated with her bubble keeping her lower body afloat and came to stand next to him. "I will be joining you too, so don't worry about falling into the water."
He looked at the mermaid with a questioning look. The woman had light blue hair and eyes, with a gentle look. But Negan wasn't bothered by the pretty mermaid at all. "Who the hell are you? Better get out of my boat before I kick you out."
"Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Mero, glad to meet you Jo-... I mean Negan." She introduced herself. "Hehehehe, it's quite hard getting used to your name."
"Yeah, and I don't give a shit, get out before…" he didn't finish and just used this to try and push her off. But she seemed very insistent and grabbed into his pants.
"Take me with you~"
"Ugh!" Negan grunted in annoyance. But then his face morphed into a psychopathic smile. "Well, I guess you can come, in case the ship runs out of food. Fish should be quite good. I have never tried mermaid flesh."
Mero, instead of being afraid, was excited. "Yes! Please take me with you! This way I will have the chance to repay you."
...
A/N: These Negan intervals are just add-ons to the chapter. We have the normal chapter + 1/3rd a chapter with Negan's journey.