章 10: The Last Timeskip.
Time passed by quickly as Cross's intense suffering began for the next few years. He gritted through the training and mastered Kenbunshoku Haki much more quickly than Zeff could have possibly imagined. The Rumble-Rumble fruit gave him a very strong edge in learning and amplifying the Haki's Powers.
There was one thing that bothered Cross about using his powers though… He wasn't sure, but he felt minor changes on his brain appear subtly over time… like the lightning was scrambling parts of his brain circuitry causing various neurological implications. Well, he chose to ignore this for now since his only priority was to wait for the mission that would supposedly be given to him.
During his time here, Cross and Noelle's friendship also increased slowly. Cross told Noelle that he would leave in a few years to go on his pirate journey, and Noelle decided to go with him. Noelle would often train with him and both her skills and body blossomed very well.
Just like that… Cross got his first crew member, who was a trusted friend and a sniper.
**
4 years later…
I was sitting in my room, contemplating the effects of my training in recent days. I frowned when I thought about my lack of improvement over the last few months. While my abilities had increased a lot over 4 years, they'd recently hit a bottleneck.
Luckily, I felt confident that I could beat most opponents Luffy faced before the time skip.
"Hmmm… enough about training… I wonder how much money my new pyramid scheme made", I murmured.
'Stan' came to my mind, as he was the lackey I hired for making a report about it.
Zap
With the Rumble-Rumble fruit powers, I picked up electromagnetic vibrations from the air, allowing me to hear every conversation around me. The range extended across the entire island, pinpointing the location and any sound made by 'Stan.'
Chinn… Stan's voice sounded in my ear.
- Ahhh Rose… I love you so much.
Hearing his voice, an ugly scowl developed on my face.
-That..That baaastard Cross may not allow our love to exist, but I'll be there for you Rose… smooch
I got up from the bed and immediately disconnected myself from all the electromagnetic waves in the area.
I yelled, "Damnnn fuckkkin Stannn! How dare he disobey my order that no one's allowed to find a girlfriend before me."
Gasp…gasp, I calmed down myself and sighed loudly.
Now I remember why I blocked most of the electromagnetic waves from ever reaching my ears.
'Why can't I be like Enel and act like a god, indifferent to the activities of these mortal humans', I cursed my fate.
The more I used my powers to hear everything around me, the more I respected Enel. I easily got distracted and led astray by conversations, giving me intense mental pressure when I used the feature...
Nevertheless, I was still able to set up a complex filtering system where my mind only caught the noises of suspicious activities. I'd often go out and kill countless pirates over the years, just to make a little bit of side money from time to time. While Oda's One Piece world had many qualms about killing, you may have noticed that I had none.
I had also recently experienced a massive boost in my combat-prowess after mastering Mantra (Yes, I like to call it Mantra instead of Kenbunshoku Haki). I could now spar Zeff on equal terms by only using my Mantra, boosted by the powers of my Rumble-Rumble fruit. Consequently, Zeff's training sessions naturally ended a few weeks ago after being outmatched.
Growl… I was hit by another hunger pang. While this devil-fruit offered me god-like powers, it also required me to consume many calories to sustain myself.
"Yo-ho Cross, Zeff uncle… Come over for food!"
The voice of Noelle sounded from below.
'Oh yes finally', I excitedly ran downstairs and waited for the delicious food Noelle prepared for us. She walked in with a huge fruit parfait for us, wearing a white dress with an apron.
Noelle was now tall and slender with shoulder-length pink hair, pale skin, large breasts, and cyan eyes. With her slim waist, she was an absolute hottie that I couldn't help but ogle over every time I saw her.
Unfortunately, I had restrained myself from sexually harassing Noelle in the last 4 years. I feared Zeff whose training could get very harsh upon his mood. I refused to do anything that may anger him like touching Noelle. Besides, Noelle had an eccentric personality that was just too crazy for me to handle sometime.
"I saw you purchase a ship recently Cross, are you two leaving soon?" Zeff asked
While he was a little reluctant to let Noelle leave out of worry for her safety, he eventually came around and respected her wishes.
"Munch… munch… Oh yeah uncle Zeff… I just decided, we'll leave in like 2 hours."
I kept munching on my food, ignoring the change in expressions of Zeff and Noelle.
Whaat!?... Both spat out the food in their mouth soon after.
"I have to pack all my guns… and all my clothes. You can't do this to someone as cute as me!" Noelle tossed her hair up and refused me.
"No, not allowed…! Not only do you want to take my Noelle away… Now you want to do so without any warning!"
Zeff shook his head and went into denial.
I just rolled my eyes at their complaints. Two hours was enough time to prepare for a journey of a lifetime, right?
Soon after settling on extending my departure a few hours, Noelle and I set sail away from the Haven Island. Noelle bid an emotional farewell to Zeff, promising him she'll be safe. My farewell involved him mostly scolding me on how he'll recruit his former crewmembers, who use armament Haki, to 'bring me to justice' if anything happened to Noelle.
The ship we used was called the Thunder Phoenix, which I had requested to be built for a whopping 40 million Berrys. It was a caravel class ship, a little larger than the Going Merry, designed for speed and maneuvering. It had a jib and central steer rudder. For the figurehead, there was a phoenix that I'd chosen for its beauty as well as its immortality. The amenities of the ship included: a meeting room, lounge, helm, storage room, men's room, women's room, anchor room, and a bathroom.
The design for the ship was much like the Going Merry, except that I had only 2 decks for cannons instead of 4. If my lightning strikes were being ineffective against an enemy ship, I heavily doubt those cannons, which almost never worked in the manga, could do anything.
My first destination was the Conomi Islands. There were still a few days left before Luffy began his journey to become the pirate king. I wanted to be there and see if my actions in the past had any effects on Nami and the Straw-Hats in general. It was an interesting experiment for me to observe how butterfly effect could possibly change the canon story-line. Although Noelle was hesitant about this random destination I'd chosen, she knew me enough to know that all my actions always have some meaning behind them.
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