The Mad Doctor of One Piece - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Peter looked over the setup for his new lab. He was extremely happy with it, though simultaneously he was also disappointed. It had been extremely easy for him to rent a small building and begin filling it with all the medical equipment he desired. Money talked and it talked loudly. Everything he bought was the best he could find and would dramatically improve his ability to make various brews.

However, it was also disappointingly low tech. The most advanced, and expensive, item he'd been able to purchase was a microscope. Even so, it only had a maximum amplification of twenty times. That wasn't even enough to see plant cells! Let alone strong enough to see things like bacteria or viruses. It would severely limit the shenanigans he could pull off. There would be no genetic tampering... yet.

That didn't mean there wasn't a lot he could accomplish! His current setup kind of reminded him of his college chemistry lab. Hell, he even had access to bunsen-stle burners that ran on natural gas to give him control over the heating of his creations.

So, yes. He was both thrilled and disappointed with his current setup.

His current plan was simple. First, he needed to strengthen himself. Right now he could function with his personal resistance set to three times normal thanks to his constant work outs on the journey to Cross Island. He was definitely stronger than the average person and he roughly estimated himself to be on par with some of the weaker pirates he was aware of. In short, he was still very much cannon fodder.

First things first, survival. His body was now in perfect health, which meant it was time to give himself a healing factor that would make Wolverine jealous. To do so, he began summoning various ingredients and feeding them into a variety of apparatus. Grind this, distill that, combine those, he worked like a man possessed for hours as he put together his most complicated potion to date. When he was done he was left with a glowing orange concoction that smelled like week old wet socks combined with sun roasted garbage and probably tasted just as good as it smelled.

However, he wasn't about to drink it! He retrieved one of the greatest finds he'd made, a syringe! He stuck the end of the needle into the potion and pulled back on the plunger to suck the liquid into the glass cylinder of the syringe. Once he'd gotten every last drop, he stared at the syringe with a slightly unhinged grin, “I'll never have to drink one of you disgusting things again!”

He was, of course, wrong about that.

He prepped the vein of his left inner elbow, made sure there was no air in the syringe, and jabbed himself. He slowly pushed the plunger down and watched in fascination as the glowing liquid spread. He could literally see its glow through his skin, though it faded the further it got from the injection sight. It took him a solid five minutes to slowly inject himself with the potion. Once he was done there was no dramatic change or any outward sign of success.

He knew it worked though and to prove it to himself he drew his knife, took a deep breath to brace himself, and sliced the palm of his left hand, just a bit. Blood flowed for just a second from the laceration, but only for a second. He watched, enthralled, as the open wound closed like a zipper and only left behind the spilled blood to prove it had even existed.

Now that he was nearly impossible to kill, bar very specific scenarios, it was time to work on something he'd been thinking about since he first bought the forty-four caliber revolver, special ammo! He retrieved the weapon and hummed as he looked it over. He planned to make some modifications to the weapon so it could handle more powerful ammo. He didn't need the barrel to accidentally explode when he fired it! That would have to be the second step though. The first step... he looked down the barrel at the smooth bore. It needed to be rifled!

To do the rifling he conjured a small piece of Adamantium shaped like a triangle. Using telekinesis he pushed the unbreakable triangle down the relatively softer iron barrel while slowly twisting it to care grooves into the metal. The grooves would impart spin to the fired bullets making them far more accurate than the smooth bores of other firearms. He pushed and pulled the piece of metal through the barrel until he felt the grooves were deep, and smooth, enough to work properly. He wasn't a master, or even apprentice, gunsmith so it was his best guess using what he knew through osmosis in his last life.

With the barrel fixed, he set the gun down and moved on to brewing a potion. At one stage of the process, he dropped the triangle of Adamantium into the brew with a smirk. The potion he was brewing was essentially Alchemy in a bottle. It would transform any metal dropped into it into the one provided during the brewing process. He was about to have an unbreakable pistol!

Just as he placed the revolver in the finished brew to begin soaking, there was a knock at his door. Rather than confusion, surprise, or suspicion, Peter was excited by the sound. He quickly made his way to the main entrance and threw the door open. Standing there was a pair of young men with a trolly that had a large glass container on top of it. One of the young men asked, “Doctor Dragon?”

Peter nodded, “That's me.”

The man passed over a clipboard, “Sign here.”

Even in the world of One Piece, bureaucracy existed to torture humans. Peter quickly signed the paperwork to accept his delivery. Once it was official, he grabbed the glass container and moved it into his workshop while kicking the door closed behind himself. Once in his workshop, he set it down in an area he'd prepared before hand. Finally, he could being to make his first homunculus!

The first one needed to be a fighter of some order. He wanted a bodyguard to help protect himself as well as to act as a training partner. The question became, who would he clone? He was going with the cloning process because although the person wouldn't have their memories, they would have their natural talents. They would gain their common knowledge from him automatically but anything else would require training.

He considered a lot of options, Artoria Pendragon or Sasaki Kojiro from TYPE-MOON, Kenshin Himura, Levi Ackerman, Atomic Samurai, and so many more... But, as he's thinking about them a name pops into his head that just seems... perfect as a bodyguard and teacher. Hell, the character he had in mind actually did become a teacher in his universe. Though, Peter would have to do something about the poor guys memory, an easy task.

With that in mind he got to work. He summoned pure liquid mana by the gallon to fill the one hundred gallon tank that had just been delivered. Making a homunculus didn't require liquid mana, but using it would only have positive effects on his creation. Once the tank was full he really got going. Materials were summoned and consumed by his chemistry lab to become various ingredients that all got poured into the tank. These were the materials that would make the beings body. By the time he was done the tank was bubbling and steaming softly as the reaction was primed. He summoned one last material, a small vial of blood. Yet, he didn't pour it in just yet. Rather, he set it to the side and pulled his knife once more. The second to last ingredient was the blood of the master, in other words, his own blood to bind the homunculus to himself. He sliced his palm and allowed a few drops of his blood to drip into the bubbling brew.

The moment his blood mixed in the brew became eerily silent and still as if waiting for the final moment. Peter didn't make the brew wait long. He popped the cork off of the vial and poured it into the liquid. The reaction was instantaneous and violent! The brew bubbled vigorously while pouring out white steam at a prodigious rate. The once full tank rapidly condensed down until less than half of it remained. Within the thick viscous liquid was a tiny fetus already visible to the naked eye and growing larger.

The process of making a homunculus wasn't instantaneous but it was quick. Relatively speaking. By the time twenty four hours had passed the creation would be in it's early twenties and ready to work. His new bodyguard would require some training still, but that's why he chose who he did. After all, the fastest learner he knew of in all of fiction was, Anthony Masters AKA Taskmaster, the man with Photographic Reflexes. The man could watch someone, just once, and perfectly copy their moves for himself.

Swordsmanship, martial arts, hell even bar brawling. With just a single look Taskmaster can learn it all and then teach it to other people. He was the perfect choice for Peter's first crew member as he could learn all the necessary skills and impart them to the rest of the homunculi that Peter would create. Even better, Taskmaster wouldn't be limited to a normal human body like he was in the comics. No, he would have the body of a One Piece human, a human that could grow strong enough to slice mountains in half with a single sword stroke WITHOUT needing special powers!

Just thinking of what Taskmaster could do if he watched Mihawk in battle, or Garp, or CP9, or any of the dozens of powerful fighters around the world, damn near made Peter drool. Then having Taskmaster turn around and teach those skills to a group of talented students?! Oh yes, this was damn near perfect. Though it did mean that his crew wouldn't be filled with just hot babes like his hormone riddled brain wished for.

Still...

Worth it!

He returned to his work station and moved the gun to the side, it was still soaking in its potion. Which was now half gone, having been absorbed into the weapon. He still wanted to make bullets, but that could wait for the time being. Instead, there were much more important potions he wished to make. Skill Potions!

Skill potions were complex and interesting. He immediately got to work once again. Hours passed as he created a massive batch of the potion. He planned to be able to pass on a lot of things to Taskmaster when the homunculus awoke. Soon he was looking at a dozen bottles that contained a clear liquid.

Technically, these were not skill potions quite yet. One last thing needed to be done. Peter picked up one of the vials and drank it down. The entire time he drank it he focused on everything he could remember about swordsmanship that he'd seen on television, in movies, or in video games, even if it wasn't realistic. He kept it all in mind even as his left hand slowly began to swell in size. Eventually his hand was more than twice it's usual size and he felt the potion had run its course. Taking his knife he gave the tip of his left index finger a little slice while holding it over the empty bottle. Rather than blood coming out of the cut, a silvery liquid spewed forth until it filled the bottle. Once it was done his hand was back to normal an the cut was gone. It had only remained so long because of the magic of the potion.

Now he had a completed Skill Potion. To finish the potions someone with the required skill had to drink it while focusing their mind on the skill they intended to pass along. The more skilled the person, the more effective the potion. Peter was obviously not very skilled in swordsmanship but he did have a lot of references in his head. This let him make a low quality skill potion that would be enough to get Taskmaster started on his task of learning and teaching.

Peter repeated the process of finishing the skill potions by picturing various things he'd witnessed in media. Marksmanship, martial arts, languages, and more. Interestingly, drinking the skill potion for the Spanish language that he'd made actually improved his recollection of what he'd learned in high school nearly four decades ago. Which let him make even more effective Spanish language potions afterward. Spanish would be a good 'secret' language he could use with the crew since the only language he'd eve heard spoken in his new life was Japanese.

He would also need to see if he could convince some people to give him copies of their skills. He knew nothing of navigating the sea, even less in a crazy world like One Piece. So, getting an experienced navigator to drink the potion and finish it would be worthwhile. He'd just have to pay them for their time and discretion. A few lumps of gold should do it.

By the time Peter had made a dozen low quality potions with what little knowledge he had, he called it a night. The sun had set at least an hour ago and he'd had a long day of brewing. He took one last look at his growing homunculus, now looking like a six year old male child, and smirked. Tomorrow would be an interesting day for sure.

-----Line Break-----

Peter walked back into his lab while downing what he dubbed as a meal potion. The same thing he'd lived off of while in the jungle. He didn't see the point in wasting time cooking a meal three times a day when he could just drink one potion and be good for the entire day. That didn't mean he didn't like eating tasty food, he just didn't want to commit the time necessary to cooking it, or going out and waiting at a restaurant.

After tossing the now empty vial into his storage ring for future cleaning and reuse, he looked at the container for Taskmaster. The body within the container looked like a teenager closing in on age eighteen. A few more hours and it would reach the appropriate age to awaken. That brought a smile to Peter's face. It also meant he needed to get to work on the potion to help Taskmaster with the memory issues his ability had as a side effect.

Brewing the potion only took about an hour and was set to the side ready to be administered right away. This let him return to what he'd been working on the previous day, his gun and ammo. He checked the container that his revolver had been soaking in, all the potion was gone and the revolver was bone dry. The potion having been completely absorbed into the weapon with nothing left over. Even though its appearance hadn't changed, every ounce of it, even the wood, was now as durable as Adamantium. He wasn't sure how it would compare to the material that Ponyglyphs were made of, but he was willing to bet Adamantium would win in a fight.

With the gun now nigh-indestructible, it was time to make over powered ammo. The first step was creating a new and much more powerful gunpowder. It only took a few minutes to dig through his Essence given recipes until he found one he liked. The process was pretty simple, just measure out the ingredients to the proper ratio, grind into a fine powder, add water to make it a paste, then pack it into the shell. Once the paste dried it would solidify and be ready for use. Though Peter substituted liquid mana for the water to give the powder even more 'oomp'.

Once all of the shells he currently owned had the much less effective local powder removed, he was ready to move onto the actual ammo. For many, he just capped the shells with appropriately shaped led that he'd electroplated a copper shell around. For the vast majority of pirates a regular bullet was more than enough, no need to go crazy and 'waste' things like Adamantium on simple bullets meant to hurt or kill weak fodder.

He left himself with only a dozen shells to experiment with. It wasn't a problem though. He had a foundry casting him a thousand new shells using one he'd given them as a base. It would take a while for them to finish and it cost him way more than it should have, but it would leave him with plenty of empty shells to use for ammo.

Up first? Obviously explosive and napalm rounds. As far as Peter knew, every ship that sailed the seas was made of wood. That meant they were highly flammable so hitting various places with napalm rounds and a few explosive ones below the waterline would make destroying enemy ships pretty simple. Now, obviously, some ships were far hardier than others, especially ships made of Adam Wood, but that was fine. Weapons like his gun were only good against low to mid tier stuff anyway. High level combatant were damn near immune to weapon fire. He'd make special things for them, such as Seastone bullets.

As Peter looked over recipes for explosives, he blanched. He might have underestimated the kinds of explosives he could make. He had five completely different recipes whose end result was, essentially, a nuke. So, maybe guns wouldn't be as outdated as he expected, but no way was he making any of those recipes anytime soon. He settled for a recipe that would make his explosive shells equal to one point five metric tons of TNT. That shouldn't be too bad, right?

Well, it wasn't like he would be using the explosive shells all that often anytime soon anyway. Building them was a bit tricky but in the end he had six red tipped bullets with an explosive compound cradled in a shell of copper just thick enough to survive being shot but not an impact with something sturdy, like wood. They would pass right through a normal human, but any decently tough opponent would also be durable enough to break the shell and detonate the compound.

He moved on to producing the napalm rounds. They had some explosive force but were more about spreading sticky highly flammable goo. Each individual bullet couldn't hold much of the goo, but six bullets would be more than enough to start six fires. The key to the bullets though was that they couldn't be put out with water. In fact, splashing water on the flames would cause the goo to thin and spread out further since it was highly concentrated within the bullet. The flame would only go out if they ran our of fuel or a specific counter agent was applied. A counter agent that he was making next!

Just as he was finishing he last batch of counter agent for his six napalm shells, he heard a loud gurgling sound followed by a splash. His head snapped over to the tank where he beheld the homunculus half hanging over the edge and gasping for air. He calmly walked over and studied the man in front of him for any outwards signs of defects. He hadn't seen any during the growth process, but it was never a bad idea to double or even triple check. The results? Perfection.

Once the man had his breathing under control and all liquid expelled from his lungs, he turned dull eyes toward Peter and spoke in a flat, almost robotic, voice, “Designation?”

Peter replied with a growing grin, “Alex, code name Taskmaster.”

“Acknowledged.”

The moment the last word left his mouth, Alex's eyes cleared and his whole demeanor changed. It was as if a machine was coming to life and gaining true sentience, which was not too far off the mark. Alex easily hefted himself up and out of the tank to stand dripping on the floor. He gave a little shudder and looked around the room, “Any chance I could get some clothes, Master?”

Peter shuddered in revulsion at being called 'master' by a naked wet man who looked like he could be a male model. That had to go, “Just called me Boss or Sir, none of that master stuff.”

He collected a towel from nearby where he'd left it and tossed it to Alex, “Dry off and use that for now. I, uh, actually forgot to get you clothing. I'll be back in a few minutes.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

Peter quickly left his place and headed toward the shipping district while castigating himself for forgetting clothing. Granted, he had planned on only making female homunculi so them being naked was more of a plus than a minus. Naked Taskmaster was very much a minus.

Thankfully it didn't take him long to get an outfit in Alex's size and return to the lab where he had Alex get dressed then go out and buy his own clothing with money he happily provided. Alex was born with all the knowledge that Peter had on the One Piece world so he could easily navigate a town on his own and could seamlessly blend into life. Thankfully they weren't in a modern world where things like birth certificates and government ID's were required. Alex could just slip into society with none the wiser.

He also gave Alex his first assignment, watch the training grounds of the local Marine base and learn as much as he could. The base on the island was actually one of their bigger ones since the Marines wanted to protect all of the doctors from pirates. A single doctor could save the lives of many marines. An island of doctors was a force multiplier to that. Especially since half of the doctors on the island were research specialists. Granted, they were no where near as good as the doctors from Drum Island supposedly were, but ever since that fool Wapol took over, Cross Island was the leading producer of good Doctors.

In short, they had some of the best marines outside of the Grand Line. They were even led by a Grand Line Captain. Though the man didn't have a Devil Fruit, he was considered the strongest man on the island and a massive deterrent to pirates. Peter didn't know if he could use Haki, but the an probably knew at least some of the Rokushiki. Soru seemed the most likely since it was by far the most useful and commonly seen move in the One Piece story.

Peter didn't expect Alex would be able to learn all of the Rokushiki or anything grand like that, he just hoped to get lucky. At the very least, Alex should be able to master the basics of combat by watching the marines train. There was no rush either, they would be on Cross Island for a while, at least until Peter had created the foundations for his crew.

Speaking of, it was time to make his next homunculi and he found himself at a bit of an impasse. The next person he wanted was an inventor, someone who could help make equipment, weapons, and more going forward. In short, he needed a super genius and there was no shortage of them to pick from among the fairer sex.

After a fair bit of internal debate, he made up his mind and got to work prepping the tank for the next homunculi. This time the blood vial was from the daughter of the smartest man in all of Marvel, Reed Richards, Valeria Richards. From what he remembered, Valeria was actually smarter than Reed by the time she was a teenager. As a full grown woman in her twenties she would be the smartest woman in his world. He only hesitated to call her the smartest person due to the existence of Doctor Vegapunk.

Not only was she a genius beyond genius, but she was also as attractive as her mother. With blonde hair, blue eyes, and an hourglass figure she would be as beautiful as she was intelligent. He would give her all of the education he had from his last life to give her a good starting point. After that... well she was smart enough that she would be able to intuit a lot. Still, they would have to keep an eye out for any books she could learn from as well. He quickly added her blood and his own to the brew so that she could begin growing and he could return to his work.

With all of his current shells used up, until his order was finished, it was time to move onto something else. He chose to work on enhancements. First, he needed to make regeneration potions for the homunculi. Technically, they were immortal but that only applied to aging. It would be more accurate to say they had eternal youth than immortality since they could be killed. Regeneration like his own would help ensure they didn't die easily.

Once he had a dozen regeneration potions, he moved to the next step. He wanted potions to help increase strength, stamina, and durability. As he considered his options for that, an idea popped into his head and refused to leave until he addressed it. As he did, his smile slowly grew a little manic. He looked through all the possibilities of his idea and settled on one. Technically, he was no longer making a potion but was, in fact, making a venom.

Spider venom.

Specifically, the spider venom that granted Miles Morales his abilities. In Peter's opinion, the powerset of Morales was superior to the original Spiderman's. Not only would the venom give everyone it was used on a huge leap in strength, it would grant all the other abilities as well. Given the world he lived in, the boosted attributes would only be a jump start. He was one hundred percent certain that powerhouses like Garp could easily squish Spiderman.

It was the more esoteric thing that would be exceptionally useful, things like the spider sense. A borderline precognitive ability to sense danger? Gee, what did that remind him of? The question became, would spider sense unlock Observation Haki? Would it enhance it? Would they work together to be a multiplier of their base powers? He had no idea, but he wanted to find out.

On top of that, Morales had two abilities that Peter Parker never had, Bio-electricity generation and camouflage that was practically invisibility and somehow worked on worn clothing. It wouldn't be the ultimate boost to power, but it would put his entire crew into the realm of Grand Line Paradise veterans instantly. They wouldn't be near strong enough for the second half, The New World, and that was alright. The true beauty of it all was that with One Piece physiology, they could still grow stronger!

Peter cackled to himself as he got to work on the extremely complex formula. His only saving grace was that the formula was all based on something that was created in the forties. This meant he had the proper equipment to do his work since the Oz formula was based on the super soldier formula used on Captain America. Throw in actual magical ingredients as short cut and he could do it with no side effects and no risk of rejection or death. That last one was the most important as he got to work.

-----Line Break-----

Peter looked up as a cup of steaming tea was set down next to him, “You should take more time to relax and enjoy life, Master.”

He sighed and leaned back after picking up the tea, “I don't need that much rest Val, just a good nights sleep.”

“That's not good enough. You also need to take time to eat proper meals. Your potions might give you all the nutrients you need but they taste horrible. Now, come to the kitchen, I've made lunch.”

With a sigh, Peter followed the swaying hips of Valeria into the kitchen. After she'd finished growing, he'd named her Valeria and given her all the information he could via skill potions to jump start her mind. Instead of focusing on trying to improve technology based on his knowledge, she'd decided that it was more important to take care of him and his health. Not that his health was in any danger!

He could command her to work on improving technology but... well he wouldn't admit it aloud but he liked her taking care of him. He was in no rush for advanced technology so he let her do what she wanted. He'd only ask her to change her focus after making himself a maid or something to take over the role of his 'minder'. He didn't want to be one of those guys who treated his creations as lesser beings because they were supposed to be perfectly loyal, only for something unknown to override that loyalty and free them. Something like that always seemed to happen to overbearing 'evil' masters and usually ended in their misery or death. No way in hell was he going to risk that with the beings he was making! Valeria alone could revolutionize the world, even more if she worked with Vegapunk. No way in hell was he going to treat her like trash and expect her to always be loyal no matter what. Especially not in an anime world!

As he sat down at the kitchen table to the second warm meal he's had in the last month or so, he contemplated who would make a good maid slash bodyguard. He currently had his tank growing his next companion, his swordsman, Artoria Pendragon. Who better than the female version of King Arthur to fulfill the role?

A small groan left him as he ate the fried rice that Valeria had prepared. He'd been an alright cook in his last life, not having the stuff needed in this life, but Valeria had improved on everything he'd ever known by leaps and bounds. He supposed that was the power of being an unparalleled genius.

As he ate his lunch he considered who to make next as his maid. One of the first names to pop into his mind was Grayfia Lucifuge from High School DxD, but he dismissed her the moment he remembered another made who looked almost identical but was a human, Sakuya Izayoi. Sakuya was a human woman with the innate ability to stop time and a penchant for knives. Granted, while she would maintain the ability to stop time, she might not like knives in the new life he would give her. Only innate talents remained in the blood, not memories.

After lunch, Peter returned to working on the spider venom. It wasn't the complexity that was making it take so long but rather the process of making it. Some steps took hours to complete on their own. He didn't mind at all, it would be worth it when the starting strength of everyone in his crew was them all being able to lift ten tons with relative ease.

He couldn't wait.

-----Line Break-----

Wooden swords clashed as Artoria and Alex sparred against one another. Peter watched, enthralled, while Sakuya served him some tea and snacks. Valeria was sitting close by reading books on boat construction, she'd decided her first project would be designing their ultimate ship. Materials weren't an issue so she could design it out of whatever she wished. Meanwhile, Sakuya had been created and was thrilled to be his personal maid and bodyguard. She did some training with Alex as well, but her ability to stop time was ridiculous in combat.

His eyes shifted to the side when the sound of his revolver firing echoed in the area. There he watched his Marksman taking practice shots at moving targets designed by Valeria. She was the latest homunculus and the only mutant of the group, Domino. With an active X-Gene that allowed her to subconsciously alter probabilities, she was an uncanny marksman that could his a target in pretty much any situation. Not to mention the sheer lunacy that was her performing trick shots. She was so 'lucky' that she really only needed to be taught how to use the gun and she was instantly deadly with it. Even now every shot was a bullseye.

He sipped his tea and smiled to himself as he watched his people go about their work. Currently his tank was growing yet another homunculus, this time his chef. Valeria had been right about his eating habits. Good food was a must and he hadn't truly realized just how much he missed it until he'd tried to take a nutrition potion after days of good food and nearly vomited it back up.

Now he wanted someone with inborn talent to be a chef and there was only a single person that came to mind as the ultimate choice, Erina Nakiri, the God Tongue herself. With her innate sense of taste, a little training, and him providing literally otherworldly ingredients, his food would become the best in the world.

Once he finished his lunch, he returned to his lab and looked at a collection of a dozen vials filled with light green liquid, the finished spider venom. He collected one of the vials and a syringe. It was a matter of moment to fill the syringe and prep his arm. He looked up into the stoic face of Sakuya, “Don't worry, this is perfectly safe. Though I may pass out for a while, so be prepared for that, alright?”

She gave a deferential nod, “Yes, Master.”

Taking a deep breath, Peter slides the needle through his skin and into the vein at his elbow. Pushing down on the plunger, he watches as the venom is fed into his body. He waited for about a minute without feeling anything but the sting at the site of the injection before saying, “Huh, that wasn't so...”

His whole body slumped but was caught by Sakuya before he could fall to the ground in an unconcious heap. She let out a sigh and lifted him up with relative ease. She might've been a petite woman, but she was already stronger than the average man. It took no effort for her to carry Peter to his bed, strip him down, and tuck him in until he regained consciousness.

-----Line Break-----

Peter awoke with an uncomfortable groan. His entire body had a bone deep ache and his mouth tasted like he'd drank one of his potions while simultaneously being as dry as the deserts of Arabasta.

“Welcome back, master.”

One of his eyes cracked open to see Sakuya sitting next to his bed in her maid uniform, his white hair done up in twin tails and her red eyes studying him as if assessing what he might need. Seeming to find something, she casually picks up a glass of water with a straw and holds it toward him. After taking a sip to wet his mouth and throat, he manages to grind out, “How long?”

“Twenty-four hours, master. Your latest homunculi has been standing next to the tank refusing to move until she is given her designation.”

He grunted at that information. It might not have been the best idea to take the venom while he had one growing, but he just couldn't help himself. His body was already feeling better, the aches fading as his body adjusts to the last of the changes and heals over. He flips the blanket off of himself, not caring that he's only in a loose pair of short and exposing himself to Sakuya. His body had already been fit thanks to his potions and resistance training, now he looked like an Adonis with perfectly sculpted muscles that were lean but powerful.

He poked at himself for a bit, taking in his new and more powerful form. He gives a little push to scoot to the edge of his bed to stand and ends up pushing himself off of his bed entirely. If not for his now vastly improved reflexes he would have landed on his face, instead he did a casual rotation in the air and landed firmly on his feet.

“Amazing.”

He looks his hands over again and hums in question. While Sakuya watches, he moves over to the wall and places the tips of his fingers against it. He wills himself to stick then gives a tentative tug, his fingers remain firmly affixed to the wall. Grinning, he reaches higher up with his other hand and repeats the process. Within moments he's crawling on the wall both his hands and feet sticking to it with ease and releasing when he wills it. He feels zero strain even as he crawls onto the ceiling and hangs upside down.

“Ha! It worked perfectly!”

He lets go of the ceiling, performs a casual flip, and lands back on the ground with ease, “It will be all of you taking this formula next. But there's one more thing I need to test. Sakuya, get one of your practice knives and throw it at me from behind, please.”

The next instant his eyes widen as he feels a 'buzz' in the back of his mind screaming at him to 'MOVE!'. He instinctively drops to the ground with his legs splayed out and his fingers touching down, ready to leap back up at a moments notice. A solid 'THUNK!' comes from in front of him and he can see a blunt knife stuck in the wall vibrating.

“Holy shit... So that what Spider Sense feels like.”

“Nicely done, Master.”

Peter stood back up and turned to look at his maid. She was standing prim and proper, no sign that she'd just thrown a blunt knife with enough force to pierce the wooden wall of his room. He gave her a bright smile, “You'll understand once you can feel it yourself. A sixth sense whose only purpose is to help you evade danger. I can't even imagine how powerful it will be in your hands.”

Seriously, he couldn't. The instant she sensed danger she would be able to freeze time the ntake as long as she wished to set up a counter attack. No matter how fast someone was, she would always be faster. The only person he could conceive of being fast enough to actually harm her was Admiral Kizaru with his Pika Pika no Mi. Light speed was no joke. The speed of light also had weird interactions with time so he had no idea what would happen in a collision of the two in battle. He was not a physicist of any kind to figure that out!

Sakuya gave him a demure nod of the head, “If that is your wish, master.”

Peter chuckled at her reply then began getting dressed. He had a homunculi to name and then all five of them were going to be given a dose of venom. He couldn't wait!

-----Line Break-----

After dosing everyone and letting them all sleep through the effects of the spider venom, Peter found himself going over the list of crew he had. Much like Luffy he wanted a small highly specialized crew. Right now he had Alex, Taskmaster, as his First Mate. The man was dedicated and hard working and would likely become the second most powerful and combat skilled member of the crew.

Valeria was the shipwright, quartermaster, and inventor of cool toys. Though she wouldn't likely be a combatant, unless she wanted to. That was up to her. Artoria was his swordsman and that was about it. She was a very talented fighter, picking up what Alex was teaching her with ease. However, she kind of failed just about anywhere else.

Domino was his marksman and would be a highly effective ranged fighter. It would take some more time for her personality to develop and for her to find other interests. Sakuya was his maid and bodyguard and technically a backup fighter. She was much more interested in just keeping him alive than fighting. And lastly, Erina was the Chef and not a fighter at all. Well, that wasn't one hundred percent true. The sea was dangerous and he was going to make certain that everyone could at least use their enhanced abilities and fight properly to protect themselves.

He was obviously going to be the Captain and the Doctor, which only left him needing a navigator and maybe a historian, like Robin. Though... Being a historian slash archaeologist would seem to require someone actually from the world since that didn't seem like something someone would have an inborn talent for. At least, not anyone he could think of off of the top of his head. Honestly, he was half tempted to clone Nami and Robin to have their skills on his crew. Especially Nami's as she had a phenomenal natural talent for navigation. But, thinking about it, he could think of an entire race of beings that would be just as good, if not better, due to their natural relationship with the oceans.

Atlanteans.

They existed in all kinds of media but especially in both Marvel and DC Comics. Thinking about it for a bit, he decided on one of the Atlanteans he knew by name, Mera Queen of Atlantis in DC Comics. She had the basic Atlantean package of an amphibian nature, strength, speed, durability, and so on. Additionally, she had an ability that would be exceptionally deadly to Devil Fruit holders, Hydrokinesis. She could literally control water at will. On top of that, he seemed to recall that she was also rather intelligent. Another bright mind to add to the growing roster on his crew.

With his mind made up, he got to work on making yet another homunculus. Unless he could think of someone for a specific role on his crew, this was likely to be the last one he would make. He couldn't help smiling as he got to work. He'd gone from a poor street rat orphan to a man with a growing family of super powered beings ready to take on the world.

-----Line Break-----

“A musician!”

Peter stopped what he was doing as he realized the one major position on his crew that he'd forgotten! The musician! How could he forget something so important! Especially when Brooks was one of his favorite characters on Luffy's crew! For shame!

He quickly wracked his brain to think of someone he could clone that would make an awesome musician or singer. A name popped into his mind and he couldn't help grinning. Pop wasn't necessarily one of his favorite genre's but that didn't matter since it was her voice and talent that was most important! Besides, she had some of the coolest eyes he'd seen with literal stars in them.

His manic cackling abruptly ended when Sakuya gently slapped the back of his head, “You were doing it again, master.”

Peter cleared his throat and went about prepping the tank for yet another homunculus. It was time to make, what he was sure would be, the last one for a good long time, Ai Hoshino the pop star from Oshi no ko.

The tank was currently empty and Mera was currently out swimming in the ocean, connecting with it and exploring. That meant he could start making his perky musician right away! Another slap to the back of the head ended his cackling once again.

He really needed to get that under control.

-----Line Break-----

Peter grinned like a madman as he stood on the deck of his new ship. Well, it was sued but new to him. The ship was a long serving Carrack whose captain had been unable to pay his medical bills. The ship had been taken as payment and sold at auction. He'd ended up paying a lot for the ship but he felt it was totally worth it. It was a three masted ship with eight guns, three decks, a forecastle and poopdeck, and plenty of room for his entire crew with sleeping room to spare. Obviously the extra space would be converted into more usable area. There were enough cabins in the officers quarters for everyone to have their own room while Peter would take the captains cabin, obviously.

Peter looked over his crew as he stood at the wheel in front of the mizzenmast, “Ladies, gentleman, today is a historic days for us. For the last few weeks we've trained together, learned together, and prepared for our journey. I am proud to be heading out to sea with you all by my side. Mera! Set course for Hana Island!”

He let Mera issue orders to get them under way. She was their navigator and he would be relying on her to get them were they needed to go. Soon they were pulling away from Cross Island their three sails catching the wind and moving them at a fair clip.

Feeling excited to be on their journey, Peter began to sing a shanty he'd learned just for the occasion. His voice wasn't the greatest but when Ai started singling along with him it became a beautiful harmony that lifted everyone's spirits.

“Heave ho, heave ho, the anchor's gone,
The wind is fair, the day is dawn,
We're off to sea, a salty spree,
Heave ho, heave ho, for all to see!”

Then entire crew joined in for the chorus, apparently he hadn't been the only one learning. He chalked it up to Alex being the natural teacher he'd become.

“Heave ho, heave ho, the sails unfurl,
Heave ho, heave ho, across the world!
Heave ho, heave ho, the ocean wide,
Heave ho, heave ho, with the tide!”

“The waves they crash, the seagulls cry,
But we won't fear, we'll reach the sky,
With every pull, and every stride,
Heave ho, heave ho, with the tide!”

“Heave ho, heave ho, the sails unfurl,
Heave ho, heave ho, across the world!
Heave ho, heave ho, the ocean wide,
Heave ho, heave ho, with the tide!”

“The stars above, our guiding light,
Through darkest night, and stormy fight,
We'll sail the sea, with hearts so bold,
Heave ho, heave ho, a story told!”

“Heave ho, heave ho, the sails unfurl,
Heave ho, heave ho, across the world!
Heave ho, heave ho, the ocean wide,
Heave ho, heave ho, with the tide!”

Everyone sang for the final lines of the song.

“Heave ho, heave ho, our journey starts,
Heave ho, heave ho, with all our hearts!”

Yeah, they were off on one hell of a journey.

-----Line Break-----

AN

Just under 8k words, but I think it's an excellent chapter and at a good place to stop for it. What do you think?

As for the shanty, I'm not sure if it's a known one or not. Google's AI gave me the lyrics, and they seemed perfect, so I used them. I don't know if the AI generated the song or stole it from somewhere.

So, here we are. Peter has a diverse crew that is mostly made up of women. What do you think of my selections? I tried to pick only people who would have an innate talent related to the field they were picked for. I really hope picking Taskmaster as the First Mate came as a good surprise to everyone. I think a man like him with his ability is perfect for the world of One Piece, where a LOT of things can be done with just 'regular' martial arts, no special abilities required. Just look at Zoro, dude is, essentially, just a strong and skilled swordsman and he can cut goddamn mountains in half. Taskmaster copying such a skill is broken as hell and I love it. Especially since he's also a good teacher!

Anyway. I'm also open to suggestions for positions on the crew I missed or that would be fun with interesting characters. Let me know what you all might want to see!

Lastly, below is the list of the current crew and their positions.

Until next time!

Dragon D. Peter – Captain, Doctor, Combatant

Alex (Taskmaster) – First Mate, Combatant (Marvel)

Valeria – Shipwright, Quartermaster, Non-Combabant (Marvel)

Artoria Pendragon – Swordsman, Combatant (TYPE-MOON)

Domino – Marksman, Combatant (Marvel)

Sakuya Izayoi – Maid/Bodyguard, Non-Combatant (Touhou)

Erina Nakiri – Chef, Non-Combatant (Shokugeki no Soma)

Mera – Navigator, Combatant (DC Comics)

Ai Hoshino – Musician, Non-Combatant (Oshi no ko)