Chapter 5 - V – New Batch of Recruits

For the next 2 months, training kept moving forward, without anything special happening.

A big portion of the Tontatta remained outside, collecting information and reporting back to base. Because there were so many of them, they could divide themselves into several groups, each responsible for a specific zone. This would allow them to create several colonies so that they wouldn't feel too lonely. Each colony was responsible for several islands within a certain range. They went to every island in that zone and installed as many visual Den Den Mushis as they could, using both Cameko and Proko snails. As soon as something interesting happens, at least one of them goes to that island to investigate it and acquire more information. This way, they can live together more comfortably while still doing their jobs. With this it also becomes a possibility to create families in their own bases without having to return to Mariejois. It allows them to have better conditions to raise their children, giving them the chance to choose between coming back to the main base or to continue staying at the colony. 

I had also asked them to look for more dwarves and inform them of our deal. As such, I was constantly expanding my intel force, as more and more dwarves joined. They were even able to find some mixed dwarves, which were hybrids of dwarves and humans. I was expecting them to look like small people with tails but, instead, they look like fairies with their small butterfly like wings. As my forces grew bigger, the happier I got. This would also enable more dwarves to cover less space, making them even less lonely. My plan was to create bigger colonies in every part of the sea. That way they could work comfortably.

But what I was really excited about wasn't even that. It was finally that point of the year.

I can finally get some new recruits. I can't wait to see all the new faces and potential. Gigi has been responsible for every single member of my current crew, so I have a lot of trust in him. I am sure he chose the best. I wish we could just take everyone we find but then it would be harder to focus on actual strength. If there are too many of us, we would just be creating an army stronger than most. That was never my plan. I want to create an extremely strong elite force with around 50 members. And I plan for every single one of those members to be extremely good in their own field.

The number of servants as also increased by a lot since I first got here. Gigi told me that most of the kids he finds are too afraid of everything around them, so he doesn't bother presenting them to me in recruitment day. Instead, he lets free the ones that don't want to be here, still have families and places to go. The remaining ones with no place to go but that do not show what is required to join the Black Flames Force become part of the regular servants. 

I organize everyone on the Big Yard. I even contact the Intel group that were on duty through several giant Den Den Mushi so that they can become part of the moment. Last year I already decided that every Recruitment Day will be dealt with as if it was a festival, so I will try to make it as special as I can. The servants did an awesome job with the preparations and decorations. Everything looks great!

This time there are quite a few of us. Behind me I have the remaining 24 members of the Black Flames Army, Gigi, the servants, about 500 Tontatta, all of the professors and the remaining agents that follow Gigi. It was more than 1000 individuals put together to receive about ten new members. And that was excluding the ones that weren't there physically, as there were about 2000 other Tontattas attentively watching through the giant Den Den Mushis. 

The new members finally arrived. There were 4 small fishmen, 3 human boys and 4 human girls. Unlike other times, the captured slaves weren't like the usual random children, as I could also see an older fishman, a frail old man and a small female dwarf that had been recruited from the dwarf building. She could have joined a couple of days ago, but we decided to let her wait a little more and join with the new group. I talked with the Tontatta chief, and we both agreed that they could send their best prodigy once every year, in Recruitment Day.

These recruits don't seem as miserable as the ones from last time. They look more curious than terrified. That can be justified by the amount of people behind me, with several races in the mix. Last time they probably assumed I was just a rich kid as what was most noticeable were the several bodyguards behind me. Now they seem rather curious about what is happening as everything seems more like a giant festival.

I give my usual speech and tell them their options: joining the main crew, joining the servants or simply leaving. They don't seem as reluctant to believe me as last time. Not even the inhuman races seem to doubt me as much, although that might be because, this time, I actually have comrades that help make my point. Last time I only had human kids that looked like bodyguards to support my claims, but now I already have Angels, Fishmen, Dwarves and even three kids that look more like giants than actual humans. Ulysses is half giant, but Heracles and Brolly are just big boys, but that is hard to guess from just looking at them. Anyone would think they are all giants.

Either way, I listen to their stories and it was pretty much as I expected.

One kid, Ichigo, was a victim of a distant war and had nowhere else to go. He has vivid orange hair, is much taller and a little slimmer than most kids. He should be about 6 years old. He seems a little uncomfortable and worried. He is all shriveled, trying to hide his figure. I didn't notice anything wrong about the way he looked at first, but now I can see that his arms and legs are extremely long, and he seems to have some extra joints. I comfort him about his looks, explaining how there is nothing wrong with the way he looks or his appearance. Our group welcomes everyone, no matter the race, size or shape. After he got a bit more comfortable, he explained to me that his father was a member of the long arm tribe and his mother from the long leg tribe. He explained that even though he had a cheerful childhood until his parents died, he always has been a bit ostracized, as the other kids don't like the way he looks. After his parents died, he was imprisoned, and everyone looked at him like he was a freak. He honestly started believing that he should belong in a cage. After he saw all the different races behind me, he was a little hopeful, but he was still afraid of what we might do to him.

Another girl, Saber, had suffered from the same war as Ichigo. She has blonde hair and has petit figure but still looks a little buffed. It's hard to perceive her real age, but it should be around 7. Apparently, Ichigo and Saber were from opposing sides of the war. I thought they might have grudges against each other, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Ichigo seemed too worried about the way he looked, and Saber directed her anger and hatred towards the kings that put both of them in that situation. Both countries seemed to be on peaceful terms, but because they had a personal disagreement, they decided to start a war to determine who was right, kind of like a bet...it seems both kids suffered from stupid kings. I made sure that they understood that those were the kind of things I wanted to prevent. Those in power should care for their subordinates and know they are nothing without them.

I move along and approach another kid. He tells me how he was raised by fox people, I assume he meant they were minks. Apparently, he was originally from Wano but his parents didn't want to stay trapped in the island. They wanted to see the world, even if that meant they had to abandon their country for good. They tried to sail away but they weren't aware of how powerful and dangerous the sea they to go through was … he was the sole survivor among the entire ship. He ended up on a distant island alone, without any idea of where he was or what he needed to do. Fortunately, he was quickly found by the fox people that immediately decided to help and eventually raised him. Maybe they saw that he was from Wano and thought that they had that obligation, maybe they were just nice people, either way, they treated him as if he was their own blood. However, only two or three years later, slave traders found their home. His new parents did their best to protect him, but to little avail as they ended up dying and he was eventually captured. He is only about 5 years old, and he already lost his parents twice … he really is unlucky. I couldn't pronounce his fox given name and he couldn't recall his original one as he was too young to recall it, so I decided to call him Naruto as he also has yellow hair, fox like eyes. He also seems oddly strong for a regular kid, so I guess he must have learned something, either in Wano or with the minks.

This time, Gigi was able to get one more girl from Wano Country and even one boy from Kano Country. The girl's name is Akame, she has dark, long, smooth hair, white silky skin and uses a kimono that only went down to her knees. The boy's name is Lee, he has black, short, messy hair, tanned color skin and uses a tang suit so I guess he is somewhat familiar with martial arts. Both of them were 6 years old. They were travelling and seemed to have been captured simply because they looked different. That is probably why their clothes still seem in good condition, the slave trader probably wanted to make them seem more exotic to increase the price.

The girl with short blue hair seems to have been from Karakuri Island, but due to some situations she had to run away. From what I understood, her father, the frail old man, was a scientist that had refused to work for the government, so they declared him as wanted. Trying to run away, both of them were captured and sent to the auction. Because they were wearing disguises, the government wasn't warned, and they were sent to the slave auction. Her father was brought as well. Her name is Tang, she has light blue hair and should be about 5 years. Her father's name is Dr. Miyara and, although he looks really old, he should be no more than 50 years ... he really needs to take better care of himself.

Ainz, a girl with long blonde hair and a petit figure, used to be from some distant army. Her downfall came when she disagreed with the orders she had received and refused to listen to her superiors. She was exiled and eventually captured as a slave. I couldn't understand exactly where she came from, but what kind of country puts a 5 years' old girl in the military and exiles her just like that??? Maybe it has something to do with her family or her lineage, but even so... Anyhow, the army immediately sold her to some slave traders that were passing through. I am not sure if they sold her to make an example out of her, because they had a grudge against her or her family or simply because they needed to make money and she would sell for quite a few. She is still young, but anyone can see that she will become a beauty, so the slave traders would definitely pay a hefty some in hopes of making some big bucks after selling her to some perverted noble. Too bad for them, I made sure Gigi will take all the young slaves without giving them any proper payment.

The fishmen were composed of 4 small young turtles and, as such, I couldn't resist to name the oldest Leonardo, the smartest Donatello, the angriest Raphael and the silliest Michelangelo. Even their personalities seemed to overlap with the original ones! I immediately knew, even if it was impracticable, I would make sure that they could become ninjas Kakakakakak. They seem to have been from some kind of swamp but were captured by some beast hunters. They were looking for rare creatures and decided to take the 4 brothers. They all seemed to be no more than 3 years old.

Only two more people were left. One of them was Akeno, a young Tontatta dwarf that was this year's chosen. I had already met her so, this time, I only gave her a small pep talk and let her join the other new members.

The other new member was a middle age fishman. He looks pretty strong, so I guess that Gigi finally found what we have been looking for. His name is Yari, he has long white hair and light blue skin. He doesn't seem to have any visible fins, so his gills and his blue skin are the only things that allow me to perceive he is a fishman. I asked for his story, and he seems to be from Fishman Island but was captured on one of his tours to the surface.

I call both him and Dr Miyara separately, and we have a simple conversation. I understood that grownups had a little more trouble simply accepting what I was doing so, I knew it would take a little more effort to convince them.

I start by telling them all that I plan to do and how I want them to help me by becoming teachers. They still seem a little doubtful, so I let everyone start the traditional race as I take the two men to see our facility and leave Laxus and Gon in charge of the preparations.

I show Dr Miyara and Yari all of our training grounds and introduce them to our other teachers. They seem to start to believe me, but, from my point of view, they only get truly convinced once I show them where each of them would be working.

For Dr Miyara, it took showing him the laboratory he would be working in and the people he would be working with, the previous 4 scientists, to properly convince him. He was crazy about all the gadgets the other scientists have lying around.

For Yari, I had to present him to Kenichi and Kendrick and explain that they were looking for a fishman teacher. They were both young and could only depend on Dr Frank's research to try and understand a little bit of the water techniques.

I left both of them in the science room and went back to the race.

As expected, Akeno came in first. Although they are small, the Tontattas' are a really strong and fast species. And she had been through the Tontatta's regiment training for almost a year as well. Although it isn't as intensive and demanding as our own, it still is pretty strict and effective, so it would be weird if she didn't finish first. Right after her came Ichigo. I know he is pretty tall, but I didn't think he was in such good shape seeing how thin he is. Tied for third were both Akame and Ainz. They should've had pretty good training, considering the places they came from.

From the 5th position all the way to the 11th position was a matter of minutes, as most of them arrived pretty much at the same time. Nonetheless, in 5th was Lee, in 6th Naruto, tied in 7th the turtles and in 11th Saber. A long time passed until Tang was finally able to finish it, but at least she did not give up. She was completely drenched in sweat, her face was bright red and she could barely breathe. She really did give it her all. As soon as she finished, I asked Erina to help her with her powers and it didn't take long for Tang to regain her composure.

I made sure everyone understood that we all have our strengths and weaknesses, so they all just congratulated her on finishing and started the celebrations. This was all over before lunch, so the crew was extremely happy they could party all day.

Everyone got to know the new recruits and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. Even the teachers were enjoying a couple of beers as they talked with each other and played some card games. I made sure that even the intel forces could party on their own places, so that they could feel more like an actual part of the crew. Even the ex-government agents were having fun. It would seem that the brainwashing performed by the government has finally been somewhat suppressed.

A new day came and so, the training days arrives with it. We started the day by waking up every new recruit as they were all still asleep. As tradition dictates, we all slept on my room the night before. There were already 37 kids in that room, but it still didn't seem full…

I started the day by explaining what we were going to do. I explained the divisions and classes we could take and informed every rookie that they would start as a member of the Intern group. They seem to understand everything, but I still try to explain everything as clearly as I can, asking if they have any doubts whenever one of them looks confused. The rookies were really excited to train with us, but that excitement quickly turned into hopelessness.

Even though most of the new recruits are in pretty good shape, they are still rookies compared to the "veterans". Except for the specialized force that didn't participate in the battles, the recruits couldn't suppress a single member of our previous crew. Right now, the weakest combat member was Asta and even he could defeat the strongest of the rookies. I guess that goes to show that the training is working perfectly.

As everyone was teaching and helping the rookies, I step back and took the chance to go to Gigi. He had told me he had some devil fruits to show me the day before, but because everyone was so busy partying, we couldn't take the time to go and see them.

I go call Gigi and we both go all the way to the lab. As soon as we get there, we realize it has become a lot busier now. This place is definitely not small but, when we first designed the building, it was only meant for 1 scientist but now there are 5 of them, and some new recruits even want to start coming here to learn and become scientists themselves. I discuss with Gigi how we need to quickly increase their space and how we need to decide how we are going to transform this building. 

Before we reach a conclusion, Dr Mark appears, asks us to follow him and starts explaining all he knew about each of the most recent devil fruits.

In the paramecia group, we have the Bones Bones fruit that allows its user to freely create, absorb and control bones. The eater is supposed to be able to create weapons, armor or even craft bone creatures, if they can properly master the fruit. It was similar to Crackers fruit, but this one seemed a little harder to use. Each figure should take a lot of effort to create, but the user can simply absorb them or summon them whenever he wishes. The summons become stronger with their user's growth. According to Doc, the user could even understand anything that had happened to a corpse by simply "communicating" with its skeleton. Theoretically, he could even fix broken or separated bones.

Another fruit is the Clone Clone fruit that should allow the user to make near an infinite number of clones of himself. Similarly to the Barrier Barrier, the use of its powers becomes easier if a specific action is associated to the use of the technique. The user should only be able to create clones of themselves. The number of clones its user can make should depend on the mastery of the fruit and the user physical constitution. Each clone takes a certain strain on the user and their durability and lifespan also depend on the number of summoned clones and the user's mastery. Even clones can perform the technique and clone themselves, but the strength and resistance of each clone should depend on who creates them. If the user parameters are 40, then the users' clones would be 20, that clones' clones 10 and so on.

The last fruit in this group was the Morph Morph fruit that allows its user to change the consistency of their body. The user could touch a solid object, and his body would gain the same properties as that same object. If the user touched metal, then his whole body would turn into metal. The only downside to these powers is that the user needs to touch the element before transforming, as they can't simply transform by remembering what it felt like. It should work similarly to the Diamond Diamond fruit, from Jozu, but it seems to have simultaneously more flexibility and restrictions. With the right precautions, its user could focus on adaptability.

In the logia group, we were only able to get the Blossoms Blossoms, but I feel that this one was already more than enough. This fruit should allow one to create, control and become rose petals. According to Doc, this fruit should only have a small connection to other plants, meaning it shouldn't be able to control but only influence them. He deduced that the fruit shouldn't have much utility besides the logia benefits. I immediately disagree, as I think of Byakuya's power. I explain to Doc that the fruit should be extremely powerful if the user is a great swordsman or someone with extremely powerful haki. If so, each petal will be akin to a small blade. Imagine how it would be to freely control thousands and thousands of blades with each move. The Doc seems surprised and agrees.

He seems a little disappointed to have given me a bad evaluation, but I reassure him that he didn't do poorly. On the contrary, all his interpretations seem on point. He is even creating hypothesis on the fruits potential development based only on their appearance, without seeing their effects in person. It is simply that the right user can turn a weak devil fruit into the strongest one. There are few devil fruits that can be considered useless in this world. When I said I only wanted strong devil fruits, I was just trying to prevent acquiring useless zoans and a couple of paracemias, but maybe I need to talk with Gigi and tell him to just show me everything he has. Doc seems to have recovered some of his excitement and proceeds to the last group of the devil fruits.

Among the zoans, we got two normal ones. The Fox Fox fruit and the Salamander Salamander fruit. Both behave as normal zoans, allowing the user to have a human state, one hybrid state and a beast state. These were previously considered too weak, but after my sudden realization I decided to keep them.

Gigi was able to get his hands on two Ancient Zoan fruits. The Cat Cat model: Toramata, an ancient tiger with 6 legs, 2 tails and long sharp fangs. The Bird Bird model: Golden Eagle, an ancient eagle that flew as high as the skies and was so fast you could barely see it. Its name originated from the golden feathers that it would leave behind, because no one has ever fully seen it. Doc had to investigate through all kinds of feathers to realize what type of bird was associated with this fruit. He tried to explain to me before but all that I could understand was that because the fruit had some specific features, he knew it was ancient and he had to compare certain shapes on the fruit with different feathers to see which one had the most similarities. The cat fruit wasn't so exhausting, but he still had to go through an extensive research after figuring out it was an ancient feline type of fruit.

The final fruit was a mythical zoan! The Ape Ape model: Sun Wukong, a creature that was supposed to be half ape and half human and could control the skies. There exists a myth of a monkey that grew so powerful that he could reach the skies and control the weather. This devil fruit seems to be related to that same story. Not even Dr Mark could understand what capabilities one would get from acquiring the fruit but one should expect to have the same powers as the ones that came in the legends. He is not sure what the devil fruit should do as there are traces of fire, wind, lightning and possibly earth. He also told me there is a chance that the fruit might have some cloning ability as there appear to be some similarities between this one and the clone clone fruit.

After last time, I assumed Gigi was at least going to take a couple of years till he could get me such good devil fruits. I wouldn't assume that in only a couple of months he would get me all these good devil fruits. And best of all, I already had a bunch of ideas on who to give most of these devil fruits to.

As time went by, the recruits stopped being rookies and became strong members of the crew. It took two months for every member to choose their group and their classes. Ichigo became a member of the Mixed group as he studied medicine and swordsmanship. He saw a lot of people suffering in the war and, back then, he wished to be able to help, but he just couldn't because he didn't know how.

Naruto became a member of the Mixed group as he took presence hiding classes and weapon mastery. He seems to have received a couple of teachings from the minks that raised him so he can even use some weird techniques. He could even use a variant form of electro…

Saber became a member of the combat group and was taking weapon mastery and martial arts classes as she used a single shield as her main weapon. It was a unique way of fighting, but it was pretty interesting.

The turtles joined the Dive group, as they were aquatic creatures. Leonardo was taking sword lessons, and his brothers were all taking weapon mastery… I might have had a bit of influence in their weapon choices but, in my defense, TMNT used to be one of my favorite programs as a child. All four of them were taking presence hiding lessons. Donatello decided he also wanted to be a scientist, so even though he was a member of the dive force, his course was pretty similar to the members of the specialized group. I swear, I didn't even try to direct him towards the science department, he chose it himself!

Due to the major increase in the number of members that were taking presence hiding and weapon mastery, I decided that it was time to make some changes. Currently, we don't have any experienced ninja from Wano, but Gigi has a bodyguard that came from a faraway country that can perform some pretty good techniques. Although he can't use as many techniques as Raizo, he is still a master of ninjutsu. He can move at such high speeds that he can create illusions of himself, hide in the shadows, move without making a sound, etc. Apparently, when he left his village, he took a vow of silence, so that he would never talk about the village's secrets and that is why I didn't make him a teacher right away.

But now, I believe that it should be possible for the more advanced students to start taking classes from him. Even if he can't speak, he can still show them how to perform the techniques. The current teacher should be able to help with any doubts that may come up. And if that is not enough, Aang can understand what he means to say, so he can just serve as a translator. I don't know why, but he seems to understand him perfectly.

Tang isn't really athletic and fit for combat, so she joined the Specialized group and took weapon mastery classes. She is pretty talented with throwing weapons, but that is not what she is planning to improve. She really wants to become a scientist and she seems to love messing with robots and creating new weapons. She even used science to improve her combat ability, as she is currently integrating weapon mastery with her experiences.

Ainz is a combat group member, taking the most common classes, swordsmanship and martial arts. She uses one rapier and focus more on mobility and agility than strength. Her usual rival was Akame. They would almost always prefer to spar against each other.

Akame is instead a member of the mixed group, taking swordsmanship, biology and medicine. Apparently, she always had a certain affinity with poison, so she decided to follow biology and medicine. She is prohibited of using those in sparring, so her combat abilities are actually much stronger than what they may seem.

Lee is a strong combat group member as it didn't take long for him to become the strongest among the rookies. He takes martial arts, biology and science classes. His reason for choosing both biology and science classes were related to his practice of hasshoken, a technique that allows the user to create shock waves through the use of vibrations. He planned on understanding more of the human body and physics to improve his fighting style. He usually focuses more on strength and defense.

Akeno had decent fighting capabilities, but she really liked plants and all kind of vegetation. Because she didn't know what to choose, I told her that she should consider going for the Specialized courses because our crew would, eventually, need some kind of farmer. She might be strong among the recruits for now, but that is mostly because she already has a pretty advanced training compared to the other members. If they keep training, she will probably become just an average combat member, if not the weakest. She follows my suggestion and decides to take Biology, Medicine, Martial arts and she will try to learn as much as she can about botany and farming from the gardeners and farmers working in our home. At first, she seemed a little disappointed about her choice, as she followed my suggestion but still felt like she had disappointed me. However, she quickly became more and more interested in botany and those useless thoughts left her mind. It seems that she no longer has any regrets. At the beginning I was planning on giving her the Stitch Stitch fruit, as she seemed just as talented as Leo, if not more. But now I will wait till I can find a fruit related to plants. I was considering giving her the Rose Rose fruit, but I feel like she shouldn't be able to use it as efficiently as a sword user so, I gave up on that idea. I can just give her the Grow Grow fruit, but I don't think that I need to worry so might as well wait until our crew is completed and we have all the devil fruits available to make those kinds of decisions.

At the beginning, the rookies couldn't take the same classes as the veterans, so the new teachers that Gigi got for us came at just the right time. We finally have the tutors that would help us individually create our own style and improve it. Because they were still getting used to us, they first helped the previous teachers with the new students. In most cases, after only a month of intensive private tutoring, the recruits were mostly caught up. There wasn't that much theoretical knowledge for beginners swordsmanship, so most of it could be taught in a month. Afterwards they could take most classes with the other members, while taking extra classes to learn what they were still missing. When they were fully caught up, these lessons would be replaced with private tutoring, where their teacher would analyze their skills and teach them how to improve.

In weapon mastery, only in the beginning would one learn how to handle all weapons. After about one year, they would start using that time for private tutoring and focus on their own weapons and skills. The class of Martial arts was about trying to learn as many fighting styles as one could and try to mix them together, creating their own style. Each month we were taught a different martial art, and half the classes were meant for the members to try and put everything together.

In physical training, Bogard had set a different regime for the recruits. The veterans, on the other hand, kept progressing, so we started performing different exercises to become stronger. It looks like we finally reached the point to perform the last level of haki training that Bogard had come up with. It was blind sparring, and we had to fight each other blinded. When this didn't seem like enough, we had to fight in unleveled terrain, filled with several obstacles. At the beginning we could barely hit each other, but at the end of the year it looked like we weren't even affected by the blindfolds. We finally had reached a decent level of haki. Now, our next step is strengthening ourselves and expanding our haki, after all, it still takes less than one hour to exhaust it.

This one year went by so fast but our crew has gotten so much stronger. My Intel forces have grown tremendously as I believe most of the dwarves in the entire world already have joined me. Now I can officially say that my intel force is big enough to cover the entire world.

But what I am happiest about is the main crew. Everyone has grown so much in the course of 1 year … it is truly hard to quantify. In order to keep everyone in their toes, Bogard suggested the idea of rankings among our crew. Not hierarchy rankings but combat ability rankings. It was a simple way of improving sparring and motivation. Everyone likes to compare their strengths with each other so, this way only made it easier. I decided that the ranking tournaments would happen every 3 months, as a way to encourage everyone to always give it their all. If you stay a little lower than what you wished to, then you just have to train extra harder for the next three months to make up for it, and if you are gloating too much about your rankings it won't take too long until you fall in your ass.

We had the last tournament 1 month ago and the results were:

1st Zeus; 2nd Laxus; 3rd Urek; 4th Goku ; 5th Vegeta ; 6th Killua ; 7th Gon ; 8th Brolly ; 9th Erza ; 10th Yami ; 11th Heracles ; 12th Ulysses ; 13th Kendrick ; 14th Majeh ; 15th Eneru ; 16th Meliodas ; 17th Kenichi ; 18th Lee ; 19th Ainz ; 20th Akame ; 21st Aang ; 22nd Ichigo ; 23rd Asta ; 24th Naruto ; 25th Uriel; 26th Saber; 27th Leonardo ; 28th Raphael ; 29th Akeno ; 30th Michelangelo ; 31st Donatello and the remaining members of the specialized group didn't participate in the fights.

When I was brought into this world, I felt troubled for not having any kind of supernatural bloodline, but it seems I was wrong. There are a lot of talented people next to me and I am still able to remain at the top??? It seems this family of mine is not normal. I knew Gigi was strong, but I didn't ever think that he was giving me the best genes.

Anyway, the top 3 positions haven't changed much since the beginning of the rankings, only having Laxus and Urek alternate between 2nd and 3rd. However, the same cannot be said to the remaining positions. Goku and Vegeta have always been among the strongest, but they have finally been to reach the top 5. Gon and Killua have definitely shown the biggest growth as they are just five years old and already have a secured position among the top 10. Most of the remaining people went up and down depending on their conditions. Akeno used to be in the middle rankings but, as I predicted, she has fallen to the lower ones. She didn't seem too sad about it, as she was turning more and more into a botanist instead of an actual combatant. Asta has finally shown some skill, not being the weakest anymore.

I always make sure everyone knows that there are no weak elements in our crew. Even the weakest member of the specialized group is stronger than most adults. Raxel, who has the lowest combat ability of all of us, could probably easily take down a normal pirate and she is still a small child ... imagine what all the other members could do.

But one year has passed and it is time for another batch of new recruits. Once again, we are all really excited. I realized, in these last couple of days, everyone seems to be training extra hard, almost as if they hope to shock the new recruits with their strength. Or maybe, nobody wants to be embarrassed and defeated by a rookie.

It's hard to attribute a level to our strength, as we have never fought against an outsider. For me to have an idea on what level we are, I would need to fight against someone from the original story and that would be too much work for the little benefit it brings. If we plan to rule the world, we still need to become much stronger so, no point in worrying about that right now.

Anyway, the new recruits are here. This time we got 5 human boys, 1 mermaid, 1 fishman, 1 fishwoman and 1 half-giant. Besides them, the Tontatta also transferred this year strongest dwarf, which is actually one of the fairies that joined their forces about 1 or 2 years ago.

I gave the usual speech, asked the usual questions and got to know all of them. I am not sure if it's because I have more people behind me, because I have improved as a leader or because my speeches are simply easier to understand, but everyone just seems to be more willing to join us.

After listening to everyone, I let the traditional race begin.

The first one I talked to was a blond mermaid with a light pink tail named Lucy. The mermaid was from fishman island but a pirate that was passing through, captured her and a couple of other mermaids before running away. While they were on their way to the surface, a sea beast destroyed their ship and she and the other mermaids were the only ones to come back up. She thought they had escaped the dangers until she remembered they were all still tied up, so she couldn't go anywhere. None of them could. Not much later they were captured by another batch of pirates that sold her to slave traders. She wasn't the only mermaid they got their hand on, but she was the only one to be sold as she was still too young for them… fortunately for her…

… I guess not all pirates are like the Straw Hats…

Me: … it seems you really have been through a lot … although I can't change what happened, I can still let you go back home. I don't have the means to accompany you all the way to Fishman Island, but I can take you as far as I can, through the surface, so you won't have to worry about being captured again.

Lucy: Thank you very much for that but, even if I really wanted to return, I am not sure I would be able to as there still are quite a few dangers throughout the sea. Even if I was able to hide myself from passing pirates and such, I wouldn't be able to avoid the sea monsters and other dangerous creatures if they wished to devour me. Besides, the reason the pirates were able to capture me was because I really wanted to travel through the world. The pirate saw that I was too naive and easily deceived me. I even agreed to let them take me, but I never even consider that they could betray me…

I guess saying she was naïve is a massive understatement.

Me: Very well, then, if that is really what you want you are free to join us. Do you have any idea on what you wish to develop?

Lucy: I don't think I am a great fighter, but would you still take me with you?

Me: Sure! As long as you try to develop yourself to be your very best, you will definitely have a place in this crew!

Lucy: Great! Right now, my only feature is my ability to sing but I will try to help out with anything that may come up. Ah! I am also a really good swimmer so I promise that I will see how I can make that useful to you!

Apparently, she loved to sing. I planned on having musicians on my crew but because I was so focused on making everyone stronger, I forgot about that. I should take this chance to ask if anyone wishes to learn how to play an instrument.

The fishman and fishwoman next to her were from a different underwater island somewhere in the New World. Unlike Fishman Island, there wasn't a reason for humans to pass through the underwater currents near their city, so their village remained a secret. They weren't much afraid of humans and there weren't that many dangerous creatures around those parts, so the fishman would often travel those seas without much restriction, as they just tried to avoid staying too long on the surface and being seen by humans. One day, the fishman boy went to call his sister, trying to bring her back home, when they both ended up getting caught in a big fish net. When they were telling the story, the fishwoman kept crying and weeping, blaming herself and her stupid behaviors. She only stopped when her brother hugged her. I realize they were just caught in a bad situation as they still had a place to return to, so I ask them if they wish to return home. The girl says yes, immediately, but her brother stops her.

Fishman: No, we can't go back. I know how bored you were in the village. Hence why you always swam far away. I might have behaved properly, but I was also bored. I was feeling more and more suffocated every day. The village is too small for me. I want to learn more about the world. Dad once told me there is a big, submerged island where mermaids and fishmen can live in harmony. I know our war is over, but we can't even swim too far without trespassing mermaid territory and risk breaking the peace treaty.

Apparently, their fishmen race seemed to have some problems with the mermaids, but neither kid seemed to endorse that problem, as they looked at Lucy without a single trace of anger hate or fear.

Fishgirl: You are right ... but what about mom and dad?

Fishman: They will be fine ... I told dad that I will always take care of you, so they don't need to be worried. I will find a way to send a fish telling them we are alright. I am sure that wouldn't be a problem, right Mr. Zeus?

He looks at me while still embracing his sister.

Me: That would be no problem at all, just a little hard ... but doable.

If it was a normal island, I could just send the tontatta and ask them to contact me once they get there, but because it is about 10.000 meters below, I didn't exactly have an easy way to do it. Apparently, they can communicate with fishes, so I need to take those two to the ocean, preferably in the New World, look for a strong enough fish to make the voyage and send it to deliver the message. It wasn't that hard, but more of a hassle than anything else.

After this small discussion, it seems that the brother and sister have agreed to stay with us. The older brother, Baki, should be the more responsible sibling as the younger sister, Olga, is supposed to be the adventuring one. At least based on the descriptions they gave of each other. After talking with them I get a bit of a different idea, but, sometimes, in extreme situations, people act completely differently than you would expect, so this might not be the way they usually behave.

They are some sort of orca variant fishman race, as they seem pretty different from anything I have ever encountered in this world. Their body is similar to a normal fishman, with gill, fins and fish scales over their skin, but they also have their back and both of their sides fully black, but the front of their bodies is completely white, similarly to an orca. But what was really strange was that they have all four limbs and a big fish tail. They seem like a regular fishman that has grown a giant mermaid tail on their lower back. I asked if there exists an entire race that looked like them, but, apparently, they were a unique case. Their father is already considered a variant himself as he is an orca merman, but his upper part was the same as a regular orca fishman. His top half is fishman as his bottom half is merman. In my mind he kind of looks like a regular orca with a smaller head and arms on its side. Their mother is a regular orca fishwoman. I am guessing their combined genetics is the reason why these two became the way they did. Perhaps this is the start of a new race or maybe some other creatures like them already exist in the distant sea.

The way they look was also the reason why they were cast aside from both the fishmen as well as the mermen village. The mermaid village around their parts rejects all those that are not merman. The fishman village is a bit more accepting towards them but most of the other citizens still look at them with contempt. As such, their parents were one of the founders of a middle ground where every mermaid and fishman can live together. However, due to the imminent war, it becomes harder to spread those same values.

The two siblings are not very proficient in fishman martial arts, but they have pretty incredible strength and are really fast underwater. They can rival Ulysses and Heracles on strength and Kendrick and Kenichi in swimming speed. I guess that they really received great genes. Baki is bald with only a big fin sticking out of his head and Olga has long blue hair down her neck.

Next to them, is Tatsumi, a young boy from a small village. He travelled to make money to send to his poor parents, but as soon as he reached a big city he was deceived and got into some serious problems. Swindlers coerced him into taking a shark loan with a plan that he naively believed would make all of them rich. As soon as he gave them all the money he had gotten, they disappeared, and he has never seen them again. Because he was an honest boy and didn't know what to do, he approached the same shark loaner that gave him the money and told him the truth. The shark simply laughed and detained the kid, saying that he shouldn't be so naive in his next life. They sold him of as a slave to make up for their losses and that took him here. Once again, a naive kid is deceived and betrayed by this cruel world.

Later I met Rias, a small blonde girl with a menacing look. She simply wanted to be free and travel the world but was captured and sold when someone learned that she had eaten a devil fruit.

Me: Wait, you already got a devil fruit??? What did you get?

Rias: I ate it before I even knew what it was. I can't exactly say, but if you free me … I can show you...

Apparently, she still had her seastones handcuffs on. What kind of power did she have that she had to remain detained?

Me:... I will free you, as you are not a prisoner here, but I must tell you, no matter what your devil fruit is, if you try to injure anyone from my crew... I am sorry, but I will have to make you pay. If you want to leave, no one will stop you, but if you pick a fight ... lets just say you better not...

Her previous mocking smile seemed to have turned serious, but she still maintained her arms up for me to remove her restraints.

Rias: Don't worry, I won't hurt anybody.

And as soon as those handcuffs fell on the floor, she jumped backwards, put her hands together and created some kind of energy between her palms. I put my hand on the hilt of my sword, getting ready for a fight. I don't really like fighting against females, especially one that looks as young as her, but I can only wonder what powers she has so I need to take this seriously. However, as soon as she separated her hands, some kind of ripple in space appeared. It seems similar to a portal. I think I can see some kind of village on the other side.

Rias: Well... I guess this is goodbye! – as she waved

Me: If you wanted to leave you could do so anytime, you didn't have to make a scene about it...

Rias: It's better this way. Bye bye.

And she jumped through it just like that. It didn't take long for her figure to disappear from my sight, as the portal quickly closed itself. At the beginning I considered that the devil fruit may be similar to the mirror mirror fruit and that she can still be somewhere hidden around here. She could have simply created an alternative space, and still be hidden inside it or she might have already hidden somewhere inside this huge mansion. But my gut is telling me that shouldn't be the case. The portal looked more like a window to some other place than a door to another dimension. Unlike those fruits, this one should allow the user to move around with some other type of restraints. It was definitely a good devil fruit, but if the user acted like that, then there isn't much I can do.

From all the people I have asked, she is the very first person to fully reject my invite. There were several members that didn't want to join me in the beginning, but after much effort and explanations, they all eventually joined. This girl, however, didn't even try to hear what I had to say and simply ran away...

I give up on the idea of her joining me and move on to the next person, which is a boy with short black hair. Apparently, he had been a victim of the very same incident as Naruto, as he should have been on that same boat. However, unlike him, this boy didn't find anyone to take care of him. That incident made him an orphan and he could only count on himself for the last couple of years. He did everything he could to survive. He had to steal almost every day just to avoid starving. One day he stole from someone he shouldn't have and, as payback, they wanted to kill him but changed their minds and sold him of as a slave instead. I don't know if they reached that conclusion because he was too young and they didn't want to kill a child or simply because they wanted to make some extra bucks, but at least he is alive and has gotten all the way here. He seems to have forgotten his original name with the accident as that caused him amnesia for quite some time. Imagine being a 2 or 3 year's old child, lost in a city you don't know, without remembering how you got there, all alone… He eventually got his memories back, but he never truly remembered his original name… He lived all this time without a name so I decided that he should go by Sasuke, due to his connections to Naruto. Due to his past, it will be incredibly hard for him to become an extremely enthusiastic person, but I am sure that, after some time with us, he won't look as dark and depressed as he does now.

The person next to Sasuke is a giant masked man. He might not be a full giant as he appears to be a bit smaller than Ulysses, although he is not that far of either. His mask looks like an upside wooden bucket and his body is fully covered by some weird clothes. Not one speck of his skin could be seen. At first, I assumed that he had some kind of skin problem, like albinism. That would explain why he always had to cover his skin. However, as I was walking towards him, I decided to use my observation haki. Because I have been doing all of Bogard's exercises for more than a year, my haki was already pretty advanced, so I had no trouble seeing somewhat of his true appearance through my mind's eye.

Me: Hello there! Before I continue, I must inform you, there is no need to disguise yourself. I don't know what you had to go through, but, in here, you will be accepted no matter what.

Bucket head: Hi there, I am Kunou. Nice to meet you. I am sorry, but due to some problems I cannot remove these garments.

Me: Don't worry, being an inhuman isn't considered a problem in this house. No one will be judged.

Kunou: A w-what? I ... I am sorry but I do not know what you speak of.

Me: Oh sorry about that. By inhuman I meant anyone that is not human, such as Fishmen, Mermaids, Angels, Dwarfs, Giants ... minks...

Kunou: Oh … I ... I ...

Me: Nobody is going to make you take of your mask, but I assure you, nobody here is going to think poorly of you because of the way you look...

Kunou: ... you say that now, but I know you will regret it ... everyone always does ... they are all my friends, but ... they all show faces of fear and disgust once they see ...

Me: Kakakkakaka. I told you ... No one here is like that. If you look around you, you will see all kinds of people here. Everyone that craves for power and shares the same beliefs and values as we do is welcomed here.

Kunou seemed very doubtful of what I was saying, but he still agreed to take off his helmet. He seemed a little reluctant, so I was being a little forceful, but at least this way it would be easier for him to understand.

Kunou: Very well ...

As soon as he said that sentence, he completely took of his helmet. His eyes were still half closed, probably getting used to the light, meaning he probably couldn't see much in there. I realize his first instincts were to take a step back, still afraid to look at my reaction. When he finally looked, he was surprised to find out that I was not terrified but extremely excited.

I can only guess that my look would be similar to the one a kid has when he gets a new puppy. I couldn't control my impulses, so I quickly closed the distance between us. He was afraid that I was trying to attack him, so he put his guard up, covering his face. Instead, he only felt gentle strokes on the bottom of his shin ... everyone else was flabbergasted when looking at the scene ... their leader ... that same figure that had behaved so responsibly and adult like ... was stretching his whole body, supporting himself in nothing more than his tiptoes, simply to scratch the new member's shin … Honestly, I wanted to pat head his head but he is so tall I couldn't get there...

Kunou is a golden fox mink with the most beautiful and fluffy fur. In my defense, I am still 6 years old and, even in my past life, I used to absolutely love cats and dogs. I still remember, back when I was a small child, I dreamed of owning a pet tiger by my side... well, either way, I didn't plan to behave this way. I knew that Kunou was some sort of mink, as I could "feel" his fur, so it's even weirder that I couldn't control myself. But it's not the first time that I, unconsciously, behaved as a child. Well, guess that is one of the syndromes of reincarnation... Now the hard part is behaving like nothing happened.

I pull my hand back, trying to regain my normal serious-ish look, trying to bring things back to normal. I clean my throat and then restart our conversation.

Me: Hmm .... ahmm ...hmmm. Sorry about that…Ok… anyway, as you can see, nobody is afraid of you. In fact, we were missing a mink in our crew so it's a good thing you're here.

He seems a little confused with what is happening, but finaly comes back to himself and answers me.

Kunou: ... Sorry, a what? Monkey? Actually, I think I am more like a Fox monster...

He seemed really confused about what I was saying, so I explained to him what minks are and even asked Merlin to later give him a book about them, so that he could get more information about his own origins. Apparently, he grew up in a foster home, where every kid either hated or feared him. In order to avoid such awful situations, he decided to hide his real appearance. Due to his big size and mink strength, he was mistakenly assumed as an adult and taken to war. He was somehow able to survive through innumerous battles, but his side still lost the war. As such, the surviving warriors from his land were all sold off as slaves. Eventually Gigi came to find him and brought him here.

We finish talking and I introduce him to everyone else. It seems that due to the bucket he couldn't see very well, so he didn't even realize that there were several other Inhumans in our crew. The look on his face after realizing that was exquisite. He was so red that I could tell he felt incredibly stupid and embarrassed for all the drama he created but after a while he became happy and relieved as he now knows there are others like him. He no longer feels alone. I guess he always dreamed of meeting someone like him...

I reach the two final members and I don't really need to have a big conversation with either one of them, as I have already met both of them quite some time ago.

The first one is this year's chosen dwarf, Kenshi. He is one of the fairies that joined not too long ago, but he already proved himself to be the most apt to join the main crew. He is not only the strongest fighter among all the candidates, as he also has incredible speed, especially when he uses his wings. He has one-sided bangs that cover his left eye and is way too formal and classy for a kid his age. He always talks in a noble tone and prefers to use suits ... even when he is training. Although he does have somewhat of a noble vibe, he doesn't act as if everyone else is below him. He seems to have a decent personality, so he shouldn't have any problems integrating into the group.

The final kid in the recruits is Natsu, my younger cousin. He is not really my cousin, as he is from the Kurotsuyosa branch and our families last direct connection was almost a millenium ago, give or take a couple hundred years. Our last blood connection was about 30 generations ago, so we shouldn't share a single speck of the same bloodline. However, certain aspects of our constitution, such as our read hair and bronze skin, has passed throughout all those generations, hence why we still look so similar... those are some strong genes, I guess ...

Anyway, Gigi had already explained to me that the Kurotsuyosa family's objective has always been to protect the Kuromura Sovereign, and, as the next heir to the "throne", they would need to protect me. We talked a little bit about our history, explaining how there are 2 main branches in our family, the Kuromura and the Kurohono. The Kuromura is the one that resides in Mariejois and is also responsible for dealing with celestial issues, the Kurohono is the one that resides in our original territory and is responsible for ruling over it and the remaining branches are responsible for protecting one of the two. Gigi seems to be avoiding getting too into it. He keeps saying that eventually everything will make sense.

Anyhow, Gigi was able to convince me to let Natsu join us when he became old enough. He is still just a little over 3 years right now, but I couldn't delay it any longer, as Gigi kept insisting. I couldn't really rebut the fact that I had already started training when I was about his age, so I had no excuses left to prevent it.

I only recently discovered that another cousin of mine had already joined my crew. The single reason I found out is because Natsu unintentionally informed me about it. I was just getting to know him when he excitedly mentioned that he was eager to join us because his big sister was constantly praising me and the whole group. As soon as he said that I started wondering and, before I could even analyze what he said, Erza kneeled in front of me and asked me to forgive her for her lies. I didn't really mind it all that much, as I know it probably wasn't her fault, but that still surprised me quite a bit. Although now it makes sense why I had a weird feeling about her back story. My gut knew something was wrong! Wait … now it makes sense why she looks so much like Kara … am I stupid???

From my conversations with Gigi, I had learned that all of the females in my family have always been too troublesome. She is definitely not simple and most guys in our crew have to be careful with what they do or say next to her, or else they might suffer the consequences. If she gets really mad even Laxus, Urek or I might get seriously hurt. Nonetheless, her behavior seems rather reasonable, nowhere near close to Kara's or even their own mother's personalities. Is it going to get worse once she becomes older? I fear for whoever ends up with her …

As Gil, their father, is a member of the Kurotsuyaso branch, I deduced that their mother was a regular or a noble woman, but it turns out she used to be from the Kuraken branch.

After chatting with Natsu, I figured that their mothers' behavior was pretty similar to Kara's, perhaps better by a slim margin. Kara blamed me for her problems, but their mother, Palma, didn't really have too much to blame on them, so they didn't suffer as much. Unlike Kara, Palma really cared about her partner, Gil, so she was willing to do anything for him. She seemed to have some connection with her children, but her love is much more directed towards their father. Gil is a simple minded warrior and, even though he seems to have some affection for his kids, he really cares most about strength and protecting us, the Kuromura. He is so loyal that he didn't even name his own child once he learned I was giving names to the new recruits. Elizabeth is lucky enough to have been born before our group started, so I did not have to name her (although, based on her hair, I would probably just name her Erza, which is now her nickname, so not much difference). But Natsu's name was left at my mercy so, due to his red pinkish hair and the similarity of his father to Gildarts, even in name, I decided to name him Natsu. In Fairy Tail, Natsu always had a close relationship with Gildarts and he treated Erza as an older sister, so I still think it is the perfect name for him. Perhaps, in the future he can get together with Lucy, in this world a blonde mermaid, and have a kid or a pet named Happy.

As I was finished with the introductions and speeches, it was finally time for the traditional race. This time would be a little bit more pointless than usual, as one member could fly at insane speeds and another one couldn't even walk. I could ask Kenshi not to use his wings and request the science department to create some kind of mechanism that allowed Lucy to race with them, but the race was already more of a tradition than anything else. The original point of the race was to have an idea of everyone's strength, but I have advanced my knowledge and understanding of martial arts and the human body pretty far, so, with the assistance of my observation haki if needed be, I could pretty much access all of the new recruits' strengths. Besides, tomorrow, with their first training session, we will be able to collect much more detailed information and results. Nonetheless, I like the idea of a tradition to facilitate the recruits' integration on the crew. I simply asked Kunou to carry Lucy and ignored the other problems.

Just as I was about to give the signal to start, I start sensing some weird energies around me. Little cracks start appearing and fusing together. All of a sudden, a purple colored oval shaped hole surges in the middle of the big yard. I recognize the occurrence, as I have seen it only a couple of hours ago. A portal was appearing ... but why? She shouldn't have any reason to come back ... and before I could come up with an answer for what was happening, the blonde girl jumped from the other side and fell on the floor.

Me: Hey! Are you alright? Oy ... Wait a second... is that blood? Raxel! Erina! Both of you, come here, please. Take a look and tell me what you think.

I could tell that she had some kind of injury in her left shoulder, but, as she was on the floor, I couldn't exactly tell what caused the injury and I didn't want to move her and make the matters worse. I simply called for our crew's doctors and nurses and asked them to take care of it. Raxel may be young, but she is definitely a medicine prodigy. I had to get several doctors to teach her as she quickly learned everything each one of them had to teach. She helped Erina getting familiar with her powers and, together, they figured out that the effectiveness of the Heal Heal fruit increases tremendously when the user understands all the problems and solutions, as they can focus their healing abilities where it's most needed. Having Raxel treat the patient at the same time Erina injects the healing drops was one of the ways they improved their cooperation. The difference in the healing ability itself is hard to see, as the fruit itself can cure almost any wound, but the major difference is in the user's stamina. Before, it would take a lot of effort to help a really injured person but now even fifty wouldn't be much of a problem. In the original story, the fruit was being overused, causing big strains on the user's body, possibly affecting Mancherry's life span. Even then, they were focusing mainly on stamina recovery, but now, Erina can do both physical healing and stamina recovering at once, without much effort, as long as she gets help from Raxel. She really is mastering the fruit.

Raxel: Hmmm... She seems to have small cuts all over her body possibly caused by broken glasses and the like. The most impactful injury is the one on her shoulder and left leg, possibly caused by a gunshot. None of those have caused a life threatening wound, so the most dangerous thing right now should be how much blood she lost. Erina, focus firstly on her recovery and a couple of minutes should be enough to make sure she is out of danger. After that, we need to clean those bullet wounds and a quick overall heal should be enough to make sure she is back to normal. It will just take a couple of minutes Zeus!

Me: Very well, then, please take care of her.

Raxel kept giving instructions to Erina and the remaining medical staff. Just as she said, a couple of minutes were all that took for the blonde girl to regain consciousness and get up.

Blonde girl: Hmm, where am I? wait, you? wait, why doesn't my shoulder hurt anymore? And I can walk normally again? what did you do?

As she kept coming up with new questions, she kept feeling up her previously wounded arm and shoulder, looking for any sign of the previous injury, but there already weren't any traces of them left.

Me: Easy... Calm down, I will try to answer all of your questions. First, as to why you are here. You should be the one to answer, as you were the one who used her powers and fell in here, out of nowhere.

Blonde: Ok, that makes sense ... I was trying to escape so I didn't have time to choose where I wanted to go, so I must have opened the same portal as last time. But what happened afterwards? What happened to my injuries?

Me: Well, as for your injuries you should thank our lovely doctors and nurses, especially Raxel and Erina here, they were the ones that did such an awesome job healing you.

I point towards Raxel and Erina, while Raxel blushes with my praise and Erina gloats, looking proud of her accomplishments.

Raxel: It was nothing boss. I j-just did my job.

Erina: Exactly, this is nothing for the likes of us.

Rias: But why did you help me? After our last encounter ... why didn't you just kill me? or ignored me? or threw me out? you must also want to take advantage from my powers, right?

Me: Damn! You really like asking questions, huh? Very well, I shall do my best to answer all of them. I healed you because you were all bloody, in the middle of my yard, ruining all the activities I am trying to do with my recruits. How am I supposed to have a party when I have a dying woman in my floor? By the way, you should clean that afterwards you know? kakakaka

Rias: ... please stop playing around ... I know I was a little rude before, but please answer honestly... please.

She seemed a little conflicted with herself, like these were the answers she was looking for year after year. I can see that this is important to her, so I decide to take it a little bit more seriously.

Me: ...Fine, the truth is I healed you pretty much because I felt like it. You were a little rude before, but nothing worth getting mad at. If you had used your powers to start trouble, then things wouldn't be so easy ... believe me... but, as you didn't, you and I don't have any problems. So, yeah, I helped you because I didn't think that you deserved to be in those conditions.

Rias: Very well, then how do you want me to pay back this debt? Do you need any favors?

Me: If a random person was injured next to you, and you had the power to help them without any effort, then, wouldn't you? It probably looks like a bigger deal to you than it does to me, so don't worry about it and just forget this ever happened.

Rias: So, you don't want anything from me? You don't want my powers?

Me: Not really, no. Don't get me wrong, your powers should be pretty useful and unique, but, as I said before, I don't want to force anyone that doesn't want to be here to join me. If you wish to join us then, I assure you, you shall become part of our family and anyone that wishes to cause you harm would be picking a fight with all of us. However, if you do not wish to join us then you don't have to, as you can simply leave to wherever you want. Usually, I promise people that they can freely leave Mariejois without anyone interfering but, beyond that, there isn't much I can do, but I believe that shouldn't be a big problem for you, with your powers.

Rias: So, you will let me leave just like this?

Me: Well, yeah, if that is what you wish to do. You are free to leave any time you wish. If you really wanted to, I probably couldn't stop you anyway.

Rias: If it is what I wish to do? So, you would still accept me if I wanted to join you?

She seems a bit nervous, almost as if she is afraid to ask that question, but still a little excited and hopeful for what answer might come out of my mouth.

Me: Surely! As long as you promise me to give it your very best then I will gladly take you in.

She starts crying and hugs me. She must have suffered quite a bit in the outside. She is only a little girl, but she already has such a useful devil fruit ... certainly, a lot of people tried to take advantage of her. There are some other space related fruits, such as the Mirror Mirror fruit or the Door Door fruit, but in both cases the user travels to an alternative space and only then can they choose where to go within a certain area. However, according to what I saw when she used her abilities, her powers seem to connect directly two different places. It shouldn't have the same range restrictions, but it should have some other ones to make up for it. I had already come to terms with our crew not having these powers, but it seems luck really is on my side. Kakakakak

I finally introduce Rias to everyone else, as she is still a little sobby after everything that just happened. Her previous mocking and doubtful vibes are completely gone. She seems genuinely happy and excited to be meeting everybody. Guess every cloud really does have a silver lining. The race finally begins, and the results are not that different from what was expected.

Kenshi finished first with a large margin. Even though he was carrying Lucy, Kunou was able to finish second. His mink strength and his huge size probably helped quite a bit in accomplishing such things. A little later, tied for fourth place due to Lucy being carried, were Tatsumi and Natsu. Natsu was by far the youngest, but he was still able to show the power contained within our bloodline. I thought Tatsumi was a simple villager, but it seems his training must have been pretty decent. Afterwards came all the remaining members. They arrived at pretty much the same time, so it was hard telling who was first and who is last. Olga and Baki looked a little more tired, but that is understandable being that they should be more comfortable at sea and they look pretty heavy, so speed shouldn't be their strongest point, at least not on land. Sasuke looked a little tired, but nothing that he couldn't handle. Although he didn't seem to have the best muscles, he survived in the streets for a long time, so he probably had to run from a lot of people. Rias, however, was fine, without a single drop of sweat in her face. She should have pretty strong legs and resistance, but then why didn't she try a little bit harder. She seems to be looking at me with weird eyes.

As the race is over, I officially welcome everyone to the family and give a small speech about how we should always give it our all. As soon as the speech ends, the party starts. I send everyone to take a quick relaxing bubble shower prepared by Alice while we take care of everything else. Alice than helps Erina and the other servants take care of the food while I can see that a couple of teachers already went to get some booze. This party is meant for recruits, but I have the feeling that the grown-ups are always the ones that enjoy them the most. But I am sick of drinking juice all the time. I miss a drinking a cold beer once in a while, but I guess that wouldn't be the best idea since I am only 6...

The party keeps going and everyone seems to be having a great time. The new recruits are trying to fit in with everybody and the veterans are including them in as many activities as they can. Kunou seems to have taken a certain interest in Naruto as he was raised by fox minks. Naruto seems to be telling him how his parents were and what kind of culture they had. Seems likely that those two will become good friends. Another thing I realized is that Rias is now trying to be as close to me as she can, but it still took her a lot of time until she could muster the courage to talk to me. Apparently, she wanted to apologize for not giving her all on the race. She told me she was trying to look like her best, so she didn't want to be covered in sweat and look exhausted, but after my speech she felt a little guilty. I tell her not to worry about it but that, starting tomorrow, she must always try her best and not worry about such things, as those who give it their all usually look cooler.

The party keeps going and it doesn't stop until I send everyone to my room for the pajama party. My room is finally starting to look a little full. It took more than 45 kids for it to seem that way. And a lot of those kids are pretty gigantic. Ulysses should be over 3 meters now, Brolly and Heracles should have reached about 2m, with Gon and Kenichi not that far behind, with about 1.80m, even though they are only 5 years old. With the "acquisition" of our newest members, that number goes up, with Kunou being a little shorter than 3m and Baki and Olga around 2m. Even so, the room still seems to have space for a few more.

I was planning on getting around 50 members but now I will keep increasing my crew until this room is finally full.

Morning comes and it is time to start a new day. Today is recruits' very first training day and, as such, there are a lot of things to teach them. As usual, the veterans wake up the rookies and take them to the Big Yard. There, they will find me and the remaining members, and then we shall start by explaining how everything works. I start explaining why we wake up so early and why everyone always gives it their all. I explain our schedules and all the groups that exist within our crew. For now, most of them will join the internship force and they will remain there until they figure out which path is more suitable for them. Lucy, Baki and Olga are the exception, as they immediately join the Dive group. However, they are still able to choose a supportive activity they wish to do. For example, most of the current fishmen focus on combat but Donatello prefers science, so his schedule is a little different from his brothers. I leave the other veteran members and teachers to explain everything else and answer any question that may come up.

I take this chance to pull Rias aside, as there are some things I need to talk with her. She seems a little nervous but still agrees to come with me.

Rias: Yes boss? Is there anything you want from me?

Me: Well, yes. In order to have a better grasp on your capabilities, I would need to know a little more about your powers. Would that be ok with you?

Rias: Well yes, absolutely. I can tell you anything you want to know about me. But I am not sure how to explain them to you... is there anything specific you want to know?

Me: Just the basic concept and its limitation. Like, what are the conditions you need to have in mind to use your powers? Perhaps it's easier if you start from the beginning.

Rias: Well, when I decided that I was finally done with my hometown, I ran away and left the village. In my journey, I came upon this weird forest and I eventually got lost. Because I didn't know how to hunt, I had to survive by eating fruits and vegetables. Once I tried this really weird looking fruit and it tasted awful. But, almost immediately afterwards, I felt this strange energy running through my body. When I tried to understand what was going on, I accidentally created a portal that connected to the end of the forest. Because I was lost, I had no choice but to go back there but, as soon as I did, someone captured me. They immediately realized I had eaten a devil fruit, so they put some weird handcuffs on me that made me feel very weak. Eventually, they used me to experiment with the fruit and I ended up understanding it a little bit better. I can create any portal within my vision without much effort, but if I want to travel somewhere faraway, I need to expend much more energy. At the beginning, I could only create one small portal a day, but now I can create two normal ones or three small ones, as the bigger the portal the more energy I need to consume. As for other limitations, I can only create a portal that connects to a place I have been before, and I need to have created a portal there or make some kind of mark to identify that same spot. For example, I was able to come back to this place because I created a portal here. If I didn't, then I would have to do this ...

And she stops talking and performs a circular move with her finger. A purple line followed her finger and, when the starting point of the circle connected with the ending point, a purple light appeared before the circle slowly disappeared.

Rias: ... or I would have to come back the usual way. Was that explanation good enough?

Me: Yes, it was perfect! I knew your power was great, but I didn't know it was this good. So, no limits on range whatsoever?

She seems to blush as I praise her, not knowing how to deal with such sudden and straightforward compliments.

Rias: No limit on range. I was able to run away from my abductors when I was in a boat far away from land. I could see a tiny dot on the horizon line, so I created a portal that connected me there. When they realized what I was doing ... it was already too late. They were never able to find me again. But then I got captured by some slave traders...

She seemed a little sad remembering such terrible times, so I grab her hands, trying to comfort her.

Me: Well, at least that brought you here. Very well, thank you for telling me your story. You may join the others now.

Her whole face turned vivid red when I grabbed her hands, but after I finished my sentence, she seems a little confused.

Rias: ... is that all? Is there nothing else you wish from me?

Me: Hmm... yes that should be it. Oh no, wait, glad you stopped me. Go talk with Merlin and please tell her all the places you can create portals to. And afterwards ask her to take you to Dr. Mark and explain your powers to him as he might come up with some new ideas. Please and thank you.

Rias: ... ok ...

It seems as if she was thinking of something else, but she still left. To be honest, I think she started developing some kinds of feelings for me, but I still have the mind of an adult man, most of the times. I don't think I could ever show that kind of interest in a 6-year-old girl. Right now, I am not concerned about romance, as any woman I would be interested in, should not be into me, due to the age difference. Perhaps when I reach puberty, I might be a little more interested in getting a partner, but for now it's not one of my concerns.

I see that the veterans are doing a good job with the recruits, so I continue to deal with my matters.

As today is the day after recruitment, Gigi should have gathered quite a few devil fruits for me. I meet up with him and we both go look for Doc. We reach the science department, now a big, tall tower, divided into 4 sections. After our increase in science personnel, Gigi and I decided that the department needed an improvement and, as such, we demolished the old building, and constructed a new one, according to their specifications, making it much larger and higher than the old version.

The first department was for biology, where Dr. Frank does his research and studies inhuman lifeforms and special qualities related to this same species. At the beginning, his main focus was fishmen studies but, after Yari came along, he didn't need to concern himself so deeply with them. Now he tries to figure out as much as he can about all races, so he sometimes needs to call someone for help, such as Aang, Kendrick, Ulysses, Akeno or anyone willing to help him for that matter. I think his main goal is to create some kind of improved being, similar to Germa's genetic modifications or Pacifistas, but that shouldn't be possible for quite some years as he is still in the beginning of this project. As long as he remains sane and his research doesn't hurt anybody, he's free to do what he wants.

Another part of this building is meant for the students taking Biology classes. There is a room for them to learn and several small individual rooms for them do their own research.

The second department is meant for medicine, where Raxel and all the medics and specialists we can find are. They usually focus more on theoretical knowledge, so a big part of the section looks more like a library. They also perform practical experimentation, where they mostly experiment with dead bodies, so we need to make sure the building was well suited for that. Last time I went there, the smells almost made me puke...

This second department is divided in two, as on the other side are Dr. Peanuts and Akame experimenting with all kinds of poisons and medicines. They share the same building as the medicine department as, in often cases, poison and medicine are related. Sometimes they like to compete with one another, trying to create a cure that can surpass the other department's poison and vice-versa.

The third department is meant for robotics, where Dr. Miyahara and his daughter Tang try to further their studies. They were able to perfect the video den den mushi, so that the dwarfs' job can become easier and more comfortable. They created some kind of spy equipment so that we can have eyes and hears almost everywhere, allowing the dwarfs to have less effort with surveillance.

Right now, there is a tontatta kid that has innumerous extreme physical problems, making him incredibly weak. One single fall can break most of his bones. But because the kid is pretty tenacious and astonishingly smart, with a great talent for robotics and biology, they are trying to think of a way to turn him into a cyborg. The main problem is that they need to come up with a way for him to survive the surgery, so it may take some time. The other scientists also plan to become a part of this project, so there shouldn't be many problems. The kid is easily the most talented among several generations of the dwarves, so I really wanted him to join us, but he is so frail right now that he would become a giant liability.

Dr John has his own space, but he rarely uses it. Right now, he spends most of his time on the robotics department, but he likes to do a bit of everything. Sometimes he is helping Dr. Miyahara going through a breakthrough and the week afterwards he is discussing a couple hypothesis with Dr. Frank and Dr. Peanuts. His main focus was helping everybody. He helped me create and improve some of my anime based weapons together with our blacksmiths, Gil and Erza; he helped Urek and Eneru understand aerodynamics, how to make a ship move faster and what are the best materials; he was always helping other scientists with their projects, etc.

The final building is meant for Dr. Mark. He treats this building more like his own living place than an actual lab, so it isn't as organized as the others. He has several drawings and books about devil fruits, animals and myths spread everywhere … there are little notes and loose papers everywhere you look. He usually tries to study everything related to devil fruits, as those are his most favorite subject. He looks so fascinated every time he grabs one. Once, I asked him if there was any devil fruit he might wish to consume. He laughed and told me he only wishes to understand them, not consume them, so he is happy with his current situation. He really likes studying them and all the possible ways they can be used. I realized that he seems to be improving every year, as his descriptions and ideas get more and more precise and amazing.

Me: So, how do you like the new office, Doc? Much better right?

Doc: Oh! … well, hi there. You scared me you know? Well, the truth is I was so focused I didn't even realize someone else was here!

Me: Are you busy right now? I can comeback some other time...

Doc: Oh nonsense, I was just lost in thought. Well, now, to answer your question, yes! This place is amazing, but what I really appreciate is that you give me the freedom to research what I want. And you were even able to find me such competent coworkers. Well, whenever I reach a wall I can't pass through, I go to them, and they help me see things from another point of view or pull me into their project and, once I am done helping them, I have a clear mind and can look at my own problems from a different approach. Well, it is just the perfect environment for anyone like me. Well, thank you so much for that.

Me: Kakakakaka. I should be the one thanking you. It is thanks to you that I can choose the perfect fruit for every member. Without you, I would be pretty much depending on luck and, no matter how lucky I am, I wouldn't be able to do what I plan to. So, I should be the one thanking you. And Gigi over here for finding such good fellows to join me.

Eventually, we stop being sentimental and complementing each other and get on with the actual reason I came here for. To understand the new devil fruits.

This time, in the paramecia department we got the Spirit Spirit fruit. The fruit should have been named Shadow Shadow or Darkness Darkness but those names had already been taken, similarly to the Double Double fruit. Unlike the fruit from Gecko Moria, the user did not need to capture others to become stronger. The fruit allows its user to control the shadows around them and become one with the darkness itself. They can use their own shadow to create weapons, armor or anything they might find useful. The user becomes stronger in a darker environment, as such, its biggest weaknesses are fire and light. It is a great devil fruit as it allows the user to not only move through the shadows, as well as to change their own body. It's one of the paramecias that is often assumed to be a Logia, like the Stone fruit, from Pica, or the Mochi fruit, from Katakuri. This was all that Dr Mark was able to deduce but he told me he still feels like there should be something more he still can't figure out.

I was also really happy when I heard that we got the Door Door fruit. Doc had gotten his hands on this devil fruit some time ago, but he assumed it was a useless fruit. After our last conversation, he studied it again and discovered that the doors the user creates can possibly connect to an alternative dimension or space. In the original story, Blueno was supposed to get this fruit, so I was always hopeful that it would find its ways into my hands, same as the leopard, wolf, giraffe and bubbles fruits that belonged to the previous … I mean future CP9 members. That reminds me, they should be around my age ... Lucci and Kaku definitely have great potential as, even after the mess in Enies Lobby, they were still able to get into CP0. Kaku seems to have a playful personality so he might be a good idea but Lucci ... I will think about this later. Right now, I need to understand these new devil fruits.

Another devil fruit that I immediately recognized from the original story was the Love Love fruit, Hancock's original fruit. This fruit was supposed to go to some other celestial family that would then feed it to Hancock, but I guess this changed a little bit. But I also plan on getting Hancock to join me, so I will probably give this fruit to her either way. She is going to be captured a couple of years from now and I want to make sure she gets taken to this house instead of some pervert tenryubito. Either way, the Doc realized this fruit had something to do with love, but he didn't understand why there was some aspects of the fruit that indicated that it was related to stones. I told him I had once heard tales of this devil fruit and explained most of what I could remember to him. Even though the fruit had some strange conditions, as the user needed to make sure the target was attracted towards her to perform long range attacks, it was still pretty powerful. My guess is that this fruit was related to the Medusa legends and should be similar to a mythological devil fruit. I can't remember all the story behind Medusa's curse, but I think it was some kind of punishment for her love, but I am not 100% sure. I should take the opportunity and ask Merlin for a book about it.

Accompanying this fruit were both the Snake fruits that were supposed to be saved for Sonia and Marigold, Anaconda and King Cobra. Although normal zoans, these two were pretty good ones as they allowed a good boost in size, speed, strength and reflexes. Both fruits allow for big versatile bodies, but the tail becomes a somewhat weak point. Another normal zoan was the Octopus Octopus fruit that allowed the user to grow extra tentacles besides allowing him to breath under water, although he would still be vulnerable to sea stones and lose the ability to swim.

Gigi also got me two zoan fruits, but these seemed a little too hard to tell exactly how they worked. One should be the ancient sabertooth fruit, but Doc kept saying that the fruit was more similar to a lion than a tiger fruit. The only reason he was pretty sure it was a sabertooth is because there were some different marks that indicated big teeth. But the fact remains that we already got our hands on the Lion devil fruit and there appears to be similarities between the two.

The other one should be a crow fruit, but there were some similarities to a Logia devil fruit. Doc was really excited as he had never found nor heard of something like this. I turned to my memories and I was able to think of Karasu, a member from the revolutionary army. They didn't show a lot of him in the anime or manga, but he seemed to be able to turn his body into several crows. As I don't know much about it, I simply tell Doc that we should consider this as a Mythological Zoan and not overthink it. Mythological devil fruits were really different, so logic might not be the best way to understand it. At least not before we eat the fruit or see their results.

The last remaining fruit was a logia, the Blood Blood fruit. According to Doc, the user should be able to have the normal Logia benefits, being able to control, merge and produce blood. However, the user should also be able to absorb blood from an injured enemy, as the more blood is absorbed, the bigger the wound and the weaker the enemy shall become. The user can also use the blood to create whatever he sees fit. After much mastery, the user could perhaps even create blood creatures, although that would take really good control skills.

As we are done with the fruits, they would normally be put in the treasury room created just for devil fruits, but this time Doc says he is still not satisfied and wishes to understand more about them. I know I can trust him, and it makes no difference to me, so I let him do as he wishes. It's not like he plans to steal them from me or eat them. If he wished to do so, he could have done it a long time ago. Besides, everyone here knows I only want what is best for everybody, so if someone really wants something, I probably will do my best to get it. I guess I received that quality, or problem depending on the point of view, from Gigi, as he is always tries to give me everything I want.

I thank Doc for the analysis and Gigi for the fruits and go back to see how the recruits are getting along with their new training.

As I am still in the science building, I take the opportunity to see how the other 3 departments are doing. There is no one on the biology department, so I suppose Dr Frank is in the pool getting to know the new fishmen.

In the medical department, Raxel seems to be helping Ichigo, Erina and Kenshi with some problems. Erina is trying to perfect her devil fruit powers so that she can be more helpful. She spends most of her time in the kitchen with Alice, trying to come up with new dishes and other ways to use the ingredients, but sometimes she comes here to learn a thing or two about medicine. Ichigo is a pretty good doctor, but he seems to be more interested in internal medicine than external, the complete opposite of Erina. She seems to have no problems cutting a pig apart for lunch but if you ask her to do it in a medical point of view, she gets all nauseated. I think it's a matter of mentality, but at least that doesn't interfere with her healing abilities, as she can mostly heal external injuries and help recover stamina. The newest doctor in training is Kenshi and this was the subject he chose to study. I don't know if he had a reason for it or if he just liked it, but he seems to be attentively listening to Raxel's every word.

On the other side of the medical department were Akame and Dr. Peanuts performing weird experiments. I was going to come closer and say hi but all of a sudden, a skeleton shaped gas came out of a glass bottle they were using. They started laughing maniacally, so I decided to slowly back away. No way in hell am I getting in the middle of that...

I finally go to the robotics department and they seem to be having some breakthroughs. They were performing some experiments with Mik, as they already put some robotic pieces around his legs. He seems be able to move much faster, but there still are some problems they wish to fix. They realized I was interested, so they explained a little bit of what was going on. I might not be stupid, but I am definitely not at their level, so they only explained a little of the basics. Their plan is to leave all his organs intact and only replace some of his bones and muscles, but that would be another problem on itself. They decided to start with the "easier" parts, so, for now, they will only transform his legs, more specifically his calves. They plan to put some sort of motor there but were still having a couple of problems. The main one seems to be what they could use as fuel.

There isn't a lot that I can say that will help them, so I simply congratulate them on the good job they are doing and ask them to keep up with the good work, before I finally leave the facility. When I am already on the outside, I hear a small explosion coming from the medical department. I use my haki and I can see that it was a result of Akame and Peanut's experiment. As I realize there was nobody seriously injured, I keep walking away. A small explosion occurs in a regular basis with those two. I had to use special reinforced walls as Urek and Eneru were already sick of fixing them. These two originally started studying to become shipwrights but they seemed to have gained a certain taste for construction, so they study both subjects now. They have 3 classes a week on shipwrighting, 3 classes on construction and 1 class every other week on materials and another on aerodynamics, both given by Dr John. Even so, they still have more than enough time to train, as Urek is still the number 3 in our whole crew, only coming after me and Laxus. Eneru was pretty strong in the beginning, but he seems to be surpassed by more and more people nowadays. Right now, he is still among the top 15 but a day shall come when it will be hard for him to remain in the top 30. His observation haki is still among the strongest but his body can't keep up with him.

I go towards the Big Lake and, as I expected, there I can find all of the members of the dive force and Dr. Frank. They seem to be testing the new recruits, having them perform races along the lake. They are all amazingly fast underwater, but I think Lucy's speed can probably even surpass the veterans. I guess being a mermaid does have its qualities. Apparently, the new recruits weren't that familiar with Fishman martial arts, so Yari has been teaching them the basics and see if they have much of an affinity with it or not. Our fishman veterans have seriously improved their martial arts. When it was only Kendrick and Dr. Frank trying to come up with ideas, they were having a hard time creating their own style, but now that Yari is here, they already created something pretty good. And the best thing is they made sure that their martial arts were flexible and adaptable to each individual, so they can always improve it. Kendrick adapted the style to his water weapons, as he is now able to change them as he sees fit. On the other hand, Kenichi uses the style to perfect the way he fights with his trident. He adapted the style in such a way that he becomes able to attack from long range with the fishman martial arts, from medium range with his trident and from short range with his free hand and legs. Sometimes he looks just like a water bender.

It is almost time for breakfast, so I call everyone for a quick relaxing bath. The veterans looked like they just finished a small warm up, but the recruits were visibly exhausted, dripping so much sweat one would think they just took a shower. The veterans were already used to this routine, so they didn't get much tired, but this was the recruits first session ... And they got even more discouraged when they realized that their exercises were incredibly easier than the ones performed by the older members.

Fortunately, all that fatigue seemed to wash away after Alice's refreshing bubble bath. It was so relaxing that it helped them recover both physically and mentally. And if anyone was feeling a little bit tired, Erina's healing breakfast would make sure that they would feel at 100%. There is no way young kids could keep training so hard for so long without resting every now and then. That is why I decided that both these supportive devil fruits should be eaten as soon as possible. In the beginning, before I got them, I had to make sure everyone was getting proper rest by implementing more brakes and having longer sleep schedules, besides giving as many motivation speeches and pep talks as I could. Now, with the help of both Alice and Erina, I didn't have to worry as much.

Everyone seems fully recovered so we start with the general classes followed by the remaining training.