Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

 

Chapter 17– Times Have Changed.

 

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*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

 

I blearily open my eyes and reach out beside me, hitting the button embedded in the wall next to my bed that turns off the infernal beeping that I wish I had never implemented in the first place. Sadly, it is actually helpful and wakes me up at the break of dawn. I lay in bed for another minute, almost sinking back into blissful sleep before I control myself and sit up, dragging my comfortable duvet off of me.

 

I turn and step onto the smooth wooden floor, immediately turning around and sorting out my bed and making it, taking extra care with my fantastic duvet and pillows that even now beckon me back to their loving folds. Then, turning away from the temptation, I walk over to my wardrobe and grasp the double doors and fling them open. Two compartments near my feet slide out, one holding my various shoes and sandals and the other fitting socks, hats, glasses and any other sorts of accessories.

 

Attached to the inside of the wardrobe doors is an elastic fibre that stretches when pulled and connects to the back of the wardrobe, and hanging on the left one are all of my pants, and on the right one are all my shirts and tops. I am pretty proud of this piece of furniture, it took me quite a while to figure out how to make an expanding area for my clothes to hang upon, but I did it. So when the wardrobe opens, everything comes out easy for me to pick and choose, and when I close it, everything is tucked away nicely and neatly, compacted not to take up much space.

 

Reaching into my wardrobe, I pick some yellow sandals, beige cargo pants that come to my shins, a light blue tank top and some oversized black shades with a bright red frame. Taking my chosen items, I lay them out nearby and then pull off the pants I am wearing, the only thing I wore to bed, toss them into a nearby basket and enter the bathroom. It is a simple room with tiles placed on top of the wooden floors and walls so that the water won't rot any of the wood.

 

I made sure that the floor was not even and tilted slightly so that any water on the floor would run down to the drain in the corner of the room. Where it would then go through a series of pipes underneath the ground and exit into the sea a good few miles away from me, all the water I expend goes to the same place. It was a lot of work, but I made sure to do it. I didn't want to go swimming and fishing in my own wastewater after all, and I am going to ignore the fact that others might not be as considerate as me and continue to live in my blissful world.

 

After a quick use of the toilet and flushing away the contents, I wash my hands in the sink. It is a bit unnecessary since I am about to shower, but that is just how things are done, and it is ingrained in me that you go to the toilet and wash your hands afterwards. Walking over to the shower section of the room, I reach out to a jutting-out wooden outcrop in the wall and grasp the handle upon it. Dragging it out of the wall, it comes out in segmented sections that fit together as I pull it out and walls this section of the room off from the rest.

 

With my shower section set, I turn to the side and pull the lever and prepare myself for the water to come down. After about a second, when the clunking and metal sounds finish, the cold water sprinkles down out of the ceiling and onto my body. Hmm, it should have come out straight away. I will have to check up n that and perform some Maintenance, probably replacing some of the parts.

 

Ignoring that for now, I start to wash myself in the cold water as quickly as possible, not wanting to waste any time that could be spent more productively. I could have splurged and worked in some hot water for the shower, but there was no point, I was used to the cold water, and it helped wake me up in the morning and prepared me for a day full of work. I could have also had a bath, but that would have been a waste of water, and it takes quite a lot of time to collect rainwater and seawater and filter it to make it clean for use.

 

After finishing my morning rituals, I get changed into my already laid-out clothes and walk to my kitchen. Opening my refrigerator, which takes up quite a lot of the power, I reach in and grab some fruits and a bottle of milk which I then eat at my lovely round wooden table. I don't need anything bigger since I don't really have any visitors and having a bigger table just so it can be primarily empty seems kind of sad.

 

After finishing my meal, I get up and walk to the front of my house, opening the nicely designed wooden door and walking out onto the lovely green grass of my front garden. It was a pain to clear out the sand from the front of my house and replace it with good soil, but looking at my vibrant garden with beautiful flowers and a little fountain, it was well worth it. I go and take a seat on the wooden bench standing on a black metal frame in front of the fountain and try to see what I am going to be doing today.

 

Let's see, going by my schedule and by what day it is, I should be... doing nothing today. Today is my rest day, and I totally forgot. I didn't even have to wake up so early today. Damn you, you infernal alarm.

 

Sighing, I lean back on the bench and stare at my house, the product of four years of hard work. It is a big difference from the shoddy, broken-down shack that it once was. I had spent every day these last few years working on it and improving it where I could, at least when I wasn't consumed by my work or other tasks.

 

I have been quite the little task rabbit these past few years, doing whatever jobs I could find to the best of my ability, no matter what it was or how hard it was. It was pretty fulfilling, as well as I learned numerous trades and crafts, which helped me to build my home. And while I don't claim to be a master in any of them, I certainly get by.

 

I learned sewing and embroidery at the local tailors, where I helped around whenever they needed me, and I used those skills to make my heavenly pillows and duvet as well as all sorts of other stuff. My work at the carpenters, the blacksmiths, the book store and the docks also helped me, and a whole host of other jobs supplemented my skillset and aided me in making this masterpiece before me.

 

Not only that, but all the money that I made from my various jobs I stored up and used to buy materials and supplies. I did go and buy a lot of clothes as well. Whenever I saw something that looked good to me, I couldn't control myself, and I would buy it.

 

I didn't really have to purchase anything besides those things after all since I could just go fishing for any food I needed, though I did buy some when I couldn't be bothered. George was fine taking fruits from the surrounding forests, but he never came home with tangerines ever again after I reprimanded him. It took me quite a while to pay back Bellemere-san for all those tangerines we ate, and that took away from the time I could have been working on my home.

 

Of course, those tangerines were too tantalising and juicy to not keep having them, but I didn't have the time to go down to Cocoyasi Village to buy them, and I did not trust George to go there and come back with them. Thankfully this ended up being resolved by the weird guy that comes by to buy books every once in a while, who is actually named Genzo.

 

Genzo, I discovered, is surprisingly the sheriff of Cocoyasi Village, which I did not expect given his brown uniform that made him look like a UPS man and the brown hat with the spinning pinwheel in it for some reason. I learnt that he was coming here to buy books just so that a little girl from his village could steal them and learn more about her passion, navigating. Of course, he could have just tried gifting them to her, but it was not my place to intervene, so I ignored it. However, since he made a trip every month, I asked him for a favour.

 

And so every month, when Genzo would come up to buy more books, he would come with a sack of tangerines for me, and I would give him the money to give to Bellemere-san for me. This was an end of the month treat for both George and me since these tangerines are really just incredibly scrumptious. I don't know how Bellemere-san is actually having money troubles; these things should have been selling like hotcakes.

 

Anyway, those were really the only expenditures I made, and the rest of my money was either stored away for future use or used on improving my home, and it was money well spent. So, looking at my house, I take it all in and review my hard work.

 

The sturdy wooden building has a nice varnished finish and metal structures connecting to the roof to add support. There were multiple windows all over the building, I learned how to make these at the blacksmithing shop and designed my own windows to fit perfectly, and they let in enough natural light into the house without ridding me of my privacy.

 

The inside of my house was actually pretty basic since I honestly didn't really need much, and I focused more on functionality. The kitchen had a fridge, an oven, a kitchen island and a table to eat at. An open floor plan led to the living area, where I had a comfortable sofa and a table where I liked to relax and read, and there was also a desk nearby for me to do some work if I ever needed to.

 

Then there was my bedroom that held my bed that I made the frame for myself, though I had to purchase a new mattress, and there was a drawer next to it that contained my books. Finally, there was my wardrobe, a mirror hung on the wall nearby, and the last feature in my room was that stupid alarm. It took a bit of work to set up the mechanism, and I only managed to have it set off 8 hours after I activated it, I am not the best at electronics, and I only learned this subject from books.

 

There is also the attic, the ladder leading up to it in the corner of my room, and I only used it for storage. It is where I stored all the crap that I had no need for, and as for my tools and supplies, I have a little shed affixed to the side of the house where I keep them all for easy access. I look to the right, where a distance away near the forest is a big wooden pagoda sort of structure.

 

This is what I built for George, so he could sleep under it, and I did it far enough away so that his snores would not annoy me. I also included some easy handles on every side of the ceiling so that George can pull it down to give the structure walls in case it rained. I can see him now, sleeping in the middle of it, utterly dead to the world.

 

I sure had done a lot in these past four years since I was dumped back here by Garp before he ran off, and I have not seen him since. I have not seen much of Mummy Mee or Daddy Dee either since I was basically blacklisted from the orphanage and the owners by Captain Nezumi. Well, I wasn't expressly denied seeing them, but I didn't want to risk ruining anything for them, so I have stayed away, and while I do see them sometimes when out and about the village, I keep my distance.

 

Speaking of the piece of shit himself, He isn't around much. Or, at the very least, I don't see him much, as busy as I am with my various jobs and errands. However, when I do occasionally see that sneaky asshole, he is always walking around with a bunch of swagger and pushing people around. I am told that he also takes advantage of the villagers, abusing his authority.

 

How I wish I could just smack the shit out of that annoying-faced man, but he has authority and a whole marine base under him. So, needless to say, while I could knock him six ways to Sunday, that would be bad for the entire village and bring down the full force of that marine base on me. For now, at least, you never know what the future will hold and maybe somewhere down the line, I could get rid of this guy, but how do I know that the next guy in charge won't be even worse or maybe he will have the strength to go along with his position.

 

Sighing, I shake my head and decide to ignore that for now. It seems for all my strength, there is not much I can do unless I want to rid myself of my peaceful life. Standing up, I decided to head into the village to see if there was anything to do today. I gave myself these rest days because I am pretty much working all week from the minute I get up to the second I go to bed.

 

I start my walk towards the village, leaving my grassy lawn and stepping onto the cobbled path I have made, going from my property a few tens of meters towards the path to the village. Of course, I could probably run all the way to the town in about a minute flat, max two minutes, but today is supposed to be my rest day. This means no strenuous exercise since I already do enough of that.

 

If I am not working, eating or sleeping, then I am training. But, of course, I am working a whole lot this day which makes me want to sleep a lot as well. I am always unbelievably tired and just drop straight into my bed when I am done with work. I just can't help it. The jobs I do are usually pretty strenuous, and my body gets worked out due to that. This is why I typically wake up early and do my training in the morning because I just don't have the energy after work when I arrive home.

 

I have not been training as much as I did on Troga, where I could focus on it all day and not have to worry about a thing since now I have many other responsibilities. Though I have not been slacking either, I have been doing as much training as time can afford. But honestly, the past four years have been very peaceful, apart from Nezumi throwing his weight around. He is a dog with no bite and all bark who only picks on those weaker than him. So far, he hasn't pushed too far. He is probably afraid of repercussions from his superiors.

 

Even though I heard about those serious incidents from Garp, those were apparently in different oceans, and the East Blue is actually peaceful since I don't remember us ever having been visited by pirates or anyone. So this island is at peace and not as in danger as I thought, so I ramped the training down to focus on building my home, doing various jobs, and acquiring different crafts.

 

I was worried over nothing and worked myself up for no reason. With a marine base so close, nobody will attack since, according to the newspapers, the East Blue has the weakest pirates. It is the weakest blue and, therefore, the safest.

 

"YO DETORO, HOW IS YOUR DAY OFF SO FAR!?" Bob, the owner of the carpentry shop that can't control the level of his voice, calls out. He is sitting outside the front of his shop and smoking a cigarette. It must be a slow day today.

 

"Same as always, boss. I am bored." I say distractedly, entranced by the waves of smoking coming from the end of his cigarette. I know it is just the trait making me so infatuated with it, but I can't take my eyes off of the grey clouds. Bob just looks so relaxed while smoking, like he has peace of mind.

 

My traits so far haven't actually been that much of a problem. Instead of being called traits, they would be better described as minor traits. They have their effects, sure, but nothing too serious, and they can mostly be ignored. I picked primarily passive traits for my positive ones, so I don't really notice those, but I do sometimes see my negative ones making an appearance.

 

My claustrophobia isn't that bad. The only time I have had it really get worked up is when George put a crate on my head as a joke, and I freaked out and started hyperventilating, quickly showing it off my head. So that is the only time it has really acted up, but besides that, I generally feel uncomfortable in enclosed dark spaces, and I prefer the open air and the clouds above my head. It is why I have a skylight above my bed.

 

My fingers sometimes fumble, and I drop my tools unless I have a firm grip, but I never stumble, so my clumsiness only shows occasionally. I only ever have sleepy head rear its head when I am bored and not motivated, in which cases I might nod off but keep busy, so that doesn't really happen, but when I am tired after a hard day's work, I drop like a log.

 

As for conspicuous, I don't really think I am. I don't make big shows or flamboyant displays or anything. I usually just talk normally, and yeah, I wear bright colours, but that is just my fashion sense. Who wants to be all dreary all the time. And finally, my smoking trait only ever makes itself known when I am relaxing and not working, when I am having a break and feel like I should do something to further it.

 

"OHO, YOU WANT A CIGGARETTE, BOY!? YOU WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE OLDER, AND I WILL GIVE YOU YOUR FIRST CIGAR. MUCH BETTER THAN THESE LITTLE PIECES OF SHIT, BUT CIGARS ARE EXPENSIVE, SO I HAVE TO MAKE DO WITH THESE." Bob says, having caught where my eyes are looking. I hurriedly look away, feeling like I have been caught doing something that I shouldn't.

 

"Aha, maybe, See ya later, boss." I quickly make my exit, walking away from him and hearing him shout goodbye behind me. I may have traits, but I am not a slave to them. My fate is not predetermined. I can make a conscious effort to stop doing those things, like with smoking. I know that smoking is bad and will hurt me in the long run, so no matter how bad I might want to smoke, I refuse to, at least not at this point. Maybe when I am older, and even then, only on occasion.

 

"Hey Detoro-Kun, you want to come read a book in the store?" Agenda-San says, opening the front door of his shop to talk to me. And while I would, I want to continue looking around the village to see if there is anything exciting happening today.

 

"Sorry, Avaganda-San. I want to continue looking around the village. I will probably be back in a bit." I say, waving hello to him as I walk on by. He smiles back good-naturedly. I probably will stop by, not to read more instructions or informative books but to read some fiction to relax. That book about Montblanc Noland was quite good. Just imagining a city made of gold makes me salivate. It is too bad that the guy was just a liar, and it is fictional, anyway.

 

"Detoro-Chan, I need your help. The hinge on one of the doors in my house is coming off. Can you help me?" One of the housewives of the village asks, wanting me to come over and do an errand for her. That has actually become a significant part of my days ever since I built up my skills and knowledge. I usually go and help people who need things fixing, a faulty door here, a chair leg that has come off and some rotten floorboards.

 

"I will be back later to do it, Mrs Ogan. I am a bit busy now, and I don't have my tools." I say, passing her by, to which she smiles and nods her head in agreement, quickly going back to hanging her washing on the washing line. I refused her because today was supposed to be my relaxing day, so I would do it later. Plus, it is inside, so it is not urgent. I don't even need my tools for something like that, my rock finger technique being strong enough to hammer nails in with precision.

 

I go to continue my walk, wanting to go down by the docks and probably do some fishing. I actually learnt when on those fishing boats, and it is pretty relaxing, and there is a sense of achievement with catching a fish using a fishing rod instead of with your bare hands. Like a testament to my skill, it is quite a fu-

 

"EVERYBODY, LISTEN TO ME!" I hear a loud exhausted voice below from behind me, right at the centre of the village, and at the epicentre, everyone in the town hears whoever it is. Slowly people start to come out and pay attention, we have never had someone do such a thing before, so naturally, people are curious, as am I. I turn around, and to my surprise, I spot Genzo standing there with his hands on his knees, panting hard and looking like he just ran a marathon.

 

"Genzo-San, what is going on? Why are you yelling?" Avaganda-San asks, coming out of his bookstore. He is as familiar with the man as I am, given how often Genzo has come to the bookstore over the last few years. And given the man's disposition and stature in his village as a sheriff, it is indeed worrying for him to be doing something so out of character.

 

"FI-FISHMEN! PIRATES! THEY ARE COMING HERE, AND THEY ARE TOO STRONG!" Genzo bellows out loud, provoking gasps and whispers from the crowd, who can't seem to believe the news. I myself need clarification on the word Fishmen, men that are like fish? Like Aquaman or something? And what is this about pirates, fish pirates? Are pirates finally attacking our peaceful little island? Did I provoke Murphy's Law?

 

"EVERYONE, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME! DO NOT TRY TO RESIST. YOU WILL DIE!" THEY ARE JUST... T-They are just too strong..."

 

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