The sun was already bright in the sky, and it was a few hours before noon. After having breakfast, Noah gathered the girls on the deck and was about to show them a new world.
"Let's take advantage of the fact that it's still morning and clarify a few things at once." Noah became a little more serious at this point, as the topics he would discuss would start a series of other things.
"You look like a teacher." Nojiko looked at him and bit her lip, only stopping when Nami elbowed her.
"Anyway..." He smiled at her, saving the punishment for later, and continued, "First of all, about us and what we're doing."
"Now we're a pirate crew, because whether I like it or not, the commander won't let me get away with what happened, and my reward will probably be high for causing Nezumi's death. And remember this, the navy won't care about the truth, even if all the villagers scream that they were robbed and extorted by him. So, you are in front of a dangerous pirate."
"Quite dangerous..." Nami couldn't resist and looked at a certain region in Noah.
"We're going to the Grand Line, and as I've said before, I want to explore this world. So..." He smiled at them, "We're going after the One Piece."
"…" Nami and Nojiko looked at him for a while until they lowered their heads and started to rub their temples, trying to alleviate the growing headache they were feeling.
"I know, it's going to be quite fun-"
"It's NOT going to be fun, it's going to be DANGEROUS!" Nami couldn't stand how he continued his speech with quite indifference and exploded, "Nobody knows what's there and the Grand Line is not called 'Pirates' Graveyard' for no reason! We could die there!"
"Noah, I know we don't have many options, but at least considering a larger crew than this would be safer for us, wouldn't it?" Nojiko was calmer and more accepting of the idea. Even so, she didn't think a new, small crew with a stolen navy ship would have many chances of doing something so impossible.
"This is the part I want to get to." He looked at the two of them as if they were his scientific experiment, imagining their reaction, "We are indeed very weak compared to the rest of the world. And believe me when I say VERY WEAK! That's why we need to get stronger and better. And luckily, I have the solution for that."
He prepared to tell the lie that seemed to fit perfectly into this world. Noah waved his hand in front of them and three orbs of different colors appeared, to their great surprise.
"The reason I get stronger and stronger is thanks to this." He threw the three orbs to Nami and then three more to Nojiko, who caught them carefully, "I ate some kind of strange fruit a while ago, probably a Devil Fruit, and since then I can generate these kinds of orbs every night. If consumed, it makes me stronger and my body gets better. Is that clear?"
"Isn't this a bit too unreal?" Nami was still incredulous about it while looking at the orbs in her hands, "I've never seen anyone who has a Devil Fruit, so I can't speak much. But..."
"This is simply ridiculous." Nojiko shook her head and looked at Noah seriously. "Noah, I know about your intentions, but this is too dangerous. What if someone steals this from you? And force you to become a machine to generate this kind of thing? You can't be careless with this kind of power."
"I know that. And that's why I don't want to remain weak. You are my crew, my friends, and my confidants. I don't want under any circumstances for you to be in danger at any moment." Although he had not yet gotten to the point of saying "I love you", Noah had already taken many steps forward to discard that idea for the future. And therefore, he needed to share his power as soon as possible and make them strong.
Only then he wouldn't lose anyone else.
The girls were taken aback by his honesty and sincerity for a moment, blushing a little. And soon after, they looked at him closely and remembered the enormous amount of danger he went through to protect and free them.
Nami remembered the anger she felt towards Nezumi when he stole all the treasure she had accumulated for years, wishing she had the strength and authority to make him stop. Nojiko, despite being a peaceful woman, was smart enough to know that only with power would someone have true freedom.
Looking at each other, the two slightly nodded their heads.
"We accept. But…" Nami agreed with him, but had a serious look, "You have to make sure you have enough for your own use. I don't know how all this works exactly, but surely you don't have an unlimited supply of it."
"Don't worry, I have enough." Seeing the determination in their eyes and how both of them now seemed eager to test, he did not delay in explaining the effects and everything else, "First, this red orb in your hands is the most important. It is with it that you will begin to become stronger and your bodies will become powerful enough to withstand a lot of adversities. "
"Secondly, there is the purple orb. It will assist in our training, mainly because it frees our minds from any other thoughts and increases focus, as well as improving our mental power. I don't really know what a mental power will be useful for later, but the more the better."
"And finally, this third orb is something that I'm only going to show to you for now. Your power is still too weak to start playing with it." Noah thought a bit and didn't find it necessary to give them the elemental power at this stage. Not while neither of the two have defined a fighting style first.
"And how do we use this?" Nojiko asked after returning the transparent orb to him.
"Swallow it." Noah smiled at them, and they blushed a bit when they realized the double entendre.
"Any advice?" Nami swallowed her saliva nervously, feeling like a guinea pig for some reason.
"Well…" Noah looked at their clothes and then gave a mischievous smile, "No, none. Make yourselves comfortable."
And with just one nervous glance between them, the two swallowed the red orb and went silent, as if they were waiting for something. Noah, who was constantly watching them for the slightest change, finally saw that their skin was starting to turn red and hot. And even though their facial features were changing, there was no noticeable pain.
For Nami and Nojiko, it was as if they had swallowed hot water on an empty stomach, and they felt a heat emerging from the center of their bodies to their skin. They didn't know what it was, but it was making their skin itch and heat up, almost forcing them out of their concentrated state to scratch.
But as they endured this urge and paid attention to it, even if little by little, they felt their strength increasing and the instinct that their skin was becoming firmer and silkier. Without their knowledge, a type of black goo was slowly being expelled from their pores.
And just as this feeling was going away, they heard Noah's voice, and also him putting something strange in their mouths.
"Focus, it's almost over." Putting another small red orb in their mouths, Noah smiled as he saw that they sucked his finger before letting go, 'They are teasing me...'
Without them knowing, almost two hours have passed in total during the refinement, and they opened their eyes after feeling that they reached a new level of strength. It was as if something inside them warned them that they had completed some kind of stage.
"Are you feeling good?" Noah asked, still a little worried that there might be some different effect on them.
"I'm feeling great, it's like-" Nami was excitedly speaking when she squeezed her hand and felt something slimy on it. And when she finally paid attention to herself, she saw she was covered in a black, rotting mud, "Kyyyaaa! What the hell is this?!?!"
"That's called Internal Cleansing. This is the result of you refining your skin to the extremes." Standing far away from them, Noah shook his head like a master teaching his disciple.
"And why didn't you told us?!?!" Nami immediately got upset, knowing that he purposely hadn't warn them.
"Just take a bath and it will go away. Now go ahead." Waving at them, he watched the two women going to take a shower. And as soon as they left, he became more serious.
Now he was sure there was something special about the bodies of humans in One Piece. Either that, or the orbs and the Pocket Hunting Dimension itself had adapted so that they could exist in a world without cultivation or these strange methods of respiration. Therefore, there was no danger in consuming the orbs, so it should work the same way as it did for him.
"I just need to know if they have any kind of special physique like me..." Remembering that his strength seemed to be a bit more monstrous than usual, he wanted to know if the same would happen to them.
°°°
In the meantime, in each of their personal bathrooms, Nami and Nojiko had just taken a shower and were looking at themselves in the mirror.
The texture of the skin, the softness, and how it seemed to be the perfect skin bathed in milk, they were shocked by it. It was as if they were emitting a slight glow just by existing, and their skin was wonderful, in addition to emitting a scent even better than before, almost a natural perfume.
And this reminded them of a peculiar thing they had set aside. Noah also had skin like this, but not as glamorous, but firmer and thicker, which suited him more. His smell was also like an aphrodisiac to them, and they couldn't stop inhaling it.
Thinking about how they were, they began to understand the power that Noah's orbs could provide them would be very great. And as their strength grew, their position in Noah's future crew would be guaranteed.
°°°
After they dressed and went up to the deck to look for Noah, they saw him sitting in a strange meditation position. And as soon as they got close, he opened his eyes.
"I have an important announcement…" Noah looked deeply into their eyes and slowly stood up. Walking calmly, he soon stood in front of them… and his stomach made a thunderous noise.
"I'm starving."
¨¨¨¨
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