A whole month.

That is how much time has passed since my interaction with Rosalina, telling her about my plans, and that time was busy, even with my injuries still healing. I was fully healed the day after we had talked, but I didn't do anything for a couple days.

For that short period of time, I watched over Taki. I had a feeling that since I was the one to bring her along, I was going to be the one that made sure she was safe, no matter what anyone else said, or what anyone else wanted to do.

I had figured out something during my few days of watching over Taki.

I felt like Taki was family to me. I found a dynamic of myself being an older sibling to her, and it felt nice to think that.

'Taki, a fox mink, as my younger sister. Huh. Never would have expected that a year ago. She has imprinted onto me, and it's like.. I'm a teacher.. and her only family right now. Why did I not feel a connection to anyone on Roger's ship then?'

Ignoring an oncoming existential crisis, I decided that I would work on my own ship, one that I would use temporarily until I was able to get to Water 7 and have the perfect ship made. But, an issue popped up.

'Frick. I need to learn how to sail. I don't have a helmsman, or like.. any knowledge on how to sail.'

'Yes you do. Not exactly close enough to sail on your own, but you know some.'

'I do?'

'Observation Haki. You have trained it to watch at all times. Guess what something was watched during that time?'

'Oh! Huh. You are too convenient. Are you sure you're the original Buggy, and not some gift from some deity?'

'...'

'....'

'.....'

'So, you're just not gonna answer?'

'Nope, because I don't know either!'

'...'

'...'

'Okay, you can't just go calling me an idiot when you also have some of my idiotic tendencies. Now, I gotta go figure out the ship situation.

•

So, at the dock, which was only partially intact, I found what looked like a ship graveyard, with most of the ships in disarray, or pieces floating in the ocean. When I found Rosalina working on what I could only assume was her ship, I found that Grim was the cause to all the damage.

At first, I freaked out, because of 'The One', but since I realized Rosalina was working on her ship, figured that it may not have been as much as I thought. I was still freaking out a little, and went on to the ship, navigated the surprisingly intact interior, and then went on to find the room that Taki and I shared, not destroyed.

I looked around and saw that the shelves full of suitcases of cash and empty suitcases were all still there, none of them missing, alongside the desk, the blanket chair, and the homemade safe that looked like it could fall apart with a slap, breaking completely in half. 

"I need to work on my handy work. That safe looks terrible."

I was relieved to find my stuff wasn't destroyed, and saddened at my own horrid attempt at woodworking. But, as I shared this room with someone I could only consider as 'family', I had a need to make sure that Taki's stuff was not destroyed. I looked over Taki's stuff, and absolutely nothing was wrong, not even a hole or break on the room, no hole in the wall, nor any place in the floor broken. And so, I grabbed the crude safe which I knew as 'The One', and after verifying that everything in the room was safe, I left the ship.

Getting off the ship, carrying a box that could have broken in my hands, Rosalina noticed. She had been working on fixing holes in the side of the ship, which I then realized that Taki's and my room was on the opposite side. Feeling like an idiot, I looked back at Rosalina, stopped, and she spoke, holding some tools and nails.

"Buggy, what is... that unusual box you have?"

"It's what I plan to expand during my time as a pirate. It's my treasure, something I can only hope is going to be bigger, maybe not better, but definitely bigger than the One Piece itself. I don't have much yet, so.."

"... You are wanting to create a greater treasure than the One Piece that your old captain created?"

"Yes. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go find a ship to make mine."

And that was the end of the conversation, as Rosalina shrugged, turned back, and continued to fix the ship, mainly those holes she was fixing before, and other parts of the ship, namely, the mast, and the sails.

But finding the best, in-shape ship was far harder than I thought. That was thanks to the fact that most of the ships were either partially sunk, covered in holes making them look like swiss cheese, or in a state that they couldn't even be rebuilt.

Dejected, I could only think 'What did I just sign myself up for?'

And so, I searched for the least damaged vessel, which was made easier using observation, which had grown a bit against Grim, but not by a lot.

'At least my Haki grew. I'm seriously going to have to grow my devil fruit ability when in Paradise. I already have the Haki for the New World, but it won't grow as quickly with my daily training as it would against strong Haki users.'

While focusing my thoughts, I spotted something, a damaged ship, one which had need of new masts, along with several other things that I had no knowledge of. And then, another ship popped up in my peripheral vision, which had some of the things the first one needed, and I still didn't know the name of. Another one showed up, and I could only think on what to do.

With that, a plan popped into my head: create a good condition ship using pieces from others.

'It won't be perfect, all ships are a little different in being made and all, but I can only hope it is good enough to get to Water 7, or at least an island with a really good carpenter.'

And so, with that, I made a plan, marking the ships that I needed for my project, and then carrying 'The One' all the way back to the aptly named 'Fortress', where I was greeted with the meeting room, and I just went to Taki's room.

•

And so, I started working on my ship for a couple days before something great happened: Taki woke up.

Hearing this news while I was working on my ship, which was only partially finished, I dropped everything, which was very easy, as I was still having a hard time with one hand. I basically flew back to the fortress, and threw the door open, finding Taki sitting up in the bed she was on.

She was startled by my sudden bursting into the room, and yelped.

"Aaaa! Bugs! What're you doing!? You can't just scare me like that!"

And instead of retorting, I just hugged her.

"Uhm.. Bugs? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit overwhelmed by happiness, don't mind it."

"Oh-kay then- WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM?"

I obviously found Taki staring at my stump, and I let her go, leaning back, and spoke "This? It's my vow to keep my promise of helping you get to Zou, along with growing strong enough to keep that promise."

Taki was taken aback for a second, tears swelling.

"You didn't need to lose an arm just so you could make a vow.. or.. something."

"Well, I did, and while it is reversible, I won't get it replaced until my vow is completed, and I will need to become the strongest person in the world for that to happen. Soooooo............"

I smiled, reassuring her that it was going to be fine.

Taki, seeing me smile, rubbed her eyes, wiping tears away, and said "Y-yeah, of course. Y-you keep uhm.. your word. I-I-I shouldn't doubt you on that."

She then smiled back at me, still sitting down on the bed.

I leaned back and said "I do have something to tell you though."

Taki's smile diminished, but not my much.

"I have had a secret about my history, and while you do know about my old captain, I haven't told you the full story. Now.. let me tell.yoy.what happened..."

•

For the next while, I told Taki about myself, being a soul who happened to take over this body, and who now has become him as a promise to my captain, Gol D. Roger.

She took it well, if pacing was any indication. Rem had to come and get her back into the bed, as she hadn't fully recovered, so I helped, and then left 'The One' in the room, leaving to my shop project.