OP - Boomtown - Chapter 1

One Piece: Boomtown

Chapter 1

A young man stands on a beach with a strange fruit in his hands while contemplating the last few minutes of his existence. Just a few short minutes ago he was dead, a simple soul just floating around in the ether of the afterlife. Or at least that’s what he’d assumed it was since he’d died and then spent who knew how long in total isolation. It was honestly a bit of a miracle that he was as sane as he found himself to be.

After that, some ethereal ‘voice’ had spoken to him and allowed him to reincarnate. Now, here he was in his new life with the ‘golden finger’ he’d been given. He’d been so shocked by the outcome of his talk with the voice that he’d been standing there on the sandy beach for the last half hour barely blinking and staring at the beautiful blue water. He was only released from his daze when the chill of the water brushed against his sandal-clad feet.

No longer lost in though, he looks down at the weird fruit he’s been holding the whole time. It somewhat resembles an apple, if apples were dark purple, almost black, in color and covered in reddish ‘S’ shaped swirls. Sticking out where one might expect a wooden stem was a rope-like stem with a fluffy puff at the end giving the entire fruit the appearance of a stereotypical bomb with a lit fuse.

“The Bomu Bomu no Mi… Am I really in the One Piece world?”

His voice sounded strange to his own ears, much younger than he expected. He’d been middle-aged in his last life but now he sounded like a teenager. Which is… fair. He wouldn’t have wanted to be his original age anyway. He had no idea if he’d meet up with the main cast or not and even if he did he didn’t know if he could run with them. He’d like to if he could. Luffy was always good for a laugh, Zoro would make an awesome sparring partner if he picked up a sword, he really wanted to try Sanji’s food, messing around with inventions with Usopp could be fun, and teasing and petting Chopper seemed nice.

Of course one could never forget the two roses of the crew, Nami and Robin both top-tier beauties he’d be happy just to be friends with.

Well, before any of that could happen he needed to know when and where he was. Also.. who he was. He eyed the fruit once more before moving it out of his vision. He wasn’t quite ready to take a chomp out of it just yet. He walked a little out into the water and looked down. The water was moving slowly and lazily letting him get a good, if distorted, look at himself. He was definitely young, no way was the face looking back at him older than eighteen.

What really drew his eyes though was what he could see of his hair, it was shockingly brightly colored. The roots were various shades of yellow while the rest was bright reds and oranges. Combined with how it seemed to narutally spike up, and his hair looked like flames. A brief breeze made his hair sway adding more realism to the illusion the coloring gave it.

He fucking LOVED it.

Next to draw his attention were his eyes, they were gold. He would swear it looked like someone had replaced his irises with twenty-four karat gold. If Nami saw his eyes she’d likely try to steal them so she could melt them down into gold ingots. That’s how golden they were.

Other than his strange, by his standards, hair, and eye colors, the rest of his body looked like a perfectly normal and athletic male body. He wasn’t ripped but he also wasn’t flabby. He would definitely have to make sure he pushed himself to get a stronger body. It was especially important given just how strong a baseline human body could become in the One Piece world. What they considered to be moderately strong would be superhero material in a world like My Hero Academia. Honestly… did One Piece human bodies even have a limit to how strong they could get?

He didn’t think so.

He drew his attention away from ogling himself and back to the fruit in his hand. It’d taken him hours of talking to the ‘voice’ in the afterlife to get his ‘golden finger’ selected. Obviously, he’d gone for the much more well-known and uber-powerful Devil Fruits such as the Gura Gura no Mi, Goro Goro no Mi, Mera Mera no Mi, and so many others. All denied.

It’d taken him asking about ones that had barely featured in the source material such as the Kilo Kilo no Mi for him to find ones he could have.The common thread seemed to be that he could only pick a fruit that hadn’t been heavily explored in the show or wasn’t a Logia. Non-canon ones were also a no, he’d really wanted the Moa Moa no Mi, it was basically the ability to go Super Saiyan, but better since it could affect other things as well.

In the end, he’d only had a few to choose from and eventually picked the Bomu Bomu no Mi. Mr. 5 from the series hadn’t given the Bomu Bomu no Mi the serious consideration it deserved. He used it in the laziest most disgusting manner possible. The only even slightly clever thing he’d done was using his breath as ammo in his gun. Everything else was basic, or gross booger flicking.

The power of bombs was SO much more than just making things go boom. An explosion has multiple parts to it that could be exploited for so many means. Light, sound, pressure waves, heat, smoke, and so on. Control the explosion so it produces more sound and light while reducing pressure waves and heat and you have a flashbang! Crank up the heat a ton and you basically have thermite!  Combustion engines are just small explosions being harnessed to create motion. Fuck! Even a rocket engine is just one long well-controlled explosion!

As much as he disliked the douchebag, Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia showed just how useful and versatile explosions could be and the guy could only release them from his palms! The user of the Bomu Bomu no Mi could use them from every part of their body!

It’s like many people said, “There’s no such thing as a bad Devil Fruit, only bad users.” and Mr. 5 was a terrible user.

All of that was merely him buying time before he needed to take a bite out of the fruit. From everything he’d learned, the fruit would have the worst taste to ever exist. A taste that could possibly give him trauma from being so horrid. But… if he wanted the power of explosions in the palm of his hand…

Bracing himself, he opens his mouth and lifts the fruit up. Before he can chicken out he takes a small bite of the fruit and immediately swallows it without even thinking about chewing. Even so a rancid taste he can’t even begin to describe with mere words overwhelms his tastebuds. His eyes water as he gains a distinctly green complexion. Just the tiny bit of juice from the bite was horrendous and left him hugging his stomach as he tried to keep down everything he’d ever eaten…

Had his new body ever even eaten before?

The answer came as a flood of memories filled his mind. He was Bakuto D. Adam. Whoever or whatever sent him here clearly had a sense of humor. First the flame-like hair and now a surname directly related to explosions? It was as on the nose as naming a swordsman Zoro. Not that he was complaining. His name was cool as fuck and his hair was awesome as hell. Plus, Zoro was by far his favorite man on the crew.

The memories were mostly as bland as oatmeal. He was a street rat stealing what he could to survive in the rain-starved country of Arabasta. It’d been years since they’d had a good rain and everyone was getting angry at King Cobra. Crocodile was a hero to the locals, fighting and killing any pirates dumb enough to try and raid the country. Princess Vivi had gone missing just a few months ago. This meant there was somewhere around two years, give or take a few months, before Luffy and the others would arrive at Arabasta with the princess and help the kingdom.

This information made him rather happy. He’d need that time to get strong enough to actually hang out with the crew of the Going Merry without being a drag. Even Usopp, arguably one of the weakest members of the crew, could curb stomp his ass as he currently was. Sure, he’d been in a few street fights with other orphans, but Usopp was one hell of a marksman and could probably put him down without ever even being seen.

No, he needed to get stronger, practice with his new power, and get into a lot of fights to gain experience. Now, the question became, how was he going to do that? He thought for a few minutes before his lips curled into a wicked smile. The answer was obvious really. He was going to join Boroque Works. He had the same power as Mr. 5 so why the hell couldn’t he just become Mr. 5 for a while?

He could use the chance to get closer to Vivi and keep an eye on her. Then, once the Straw Hats get to Whiskey Peak he can defect and join the winning team. Hell, if he was teamed up with Ms. Valentine he might even be able to convince her to swap teams as well. She might have sucked at using the Kilo Kilo no Mi, but with proper instruction, she could be a monster. A ten-thousand Kilogram punch was nothing to scoff at. That was also with Ms. Valentine being lazy as all hell in the use of her fruit. It was entirely possible she could push past the ten-thousand limit.

Alright. That was all for later. He had a plan. Now he needed to learn how to use his new power and then figure out how to get recruited into Baroque Works so he could become one of the numbers.

Right, explosions first, defeating a Shichibukai later. He lifted his hands palm up and looked down at them, best to start small. He focused on the center of his right palm and focused on the image of a tiny firecracker going off. There was a loud crack and a small puff of smoke as a tiny detonation went off moments after he willed it to. His grin grew massive as he willed more and more of the small explosions to go off. 

The sensation was… strange. Even a small explosion like a tiny firecracker had some small amount of force to it. Yet, he felt nothing from it. Even the loud cracks from the explosions didn’t bother his hearing. He was completely and utterly immune to the effects of explosions now. That was broken as all hell! Or at least, he hoped it was. Being immune to explosions meant he was immune to all parts of an explosion right? If so… that would mean he was immune to fire… right?

That would require testing.

The testing would have to come later though, he still needed to learn the very basics of his new ability. To do that, he turns back toward the ocean and holds his hands out with his palms pointed toward the water. At least this way he won't cause any damage or set anything on fire. He slowly amps up the power of the explosions being released from his palms. The small firecrackers grow in size and power until it sounds like he’s firing off cannons. It’s awesome, and strange at the same time.

The strange part is that no matter how large he makes the explosion, he doesn’t feel any force from it. In essence, he’s completely ignoring Newton’s Third Law of Motion, ‘Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.’ That’s not necessarily a good thing. He was hoping to gain the ability of flight, but if his explosions couldn’t move his body at all then it would be impossible. He had to test that immediately.

To test it, he pointed his palms down toward the sand he was standing on and let off a blast with each hand. He immediately laughs as his body is thrust into the air a few feet. He hadn’t felt any of the force with his arms but he’d still be pushed up into the air by the explosions. His laughing only lasted a few moments before gravity once more made him its bitch and dropped him onto the beach with enough force to knock him down into the sand. He failed to get his mouth closed in time to prevent him from eating a sandwich.

He coughs and splutters, spitting sand out of his mouth and scraping his tongue with his fingers. On the bright side, nowhere near as bad as the taste of his Devil Fruit. Hell, he could probably eat anything now no matter how nasty it tasted, and keep it down.

“Hey! What the hell is going on over there?!”

Adam turns to look in the direction of the shouting voice and sees a small crowd of people staring in his direction. He feels the desire to slap himself for being stupid but settles for muttering at himself in a berating manner, “Sure genius, experiment with your volatile explosive abilities on the beach not too far from the port. No one will even notice you there! Fucking idiot! Oh, and look, the guy yelling at you is the guy you stole the Bomu Bomu no Mi from. Time to go!”

Adam hops to his feet and takes off at a good clip running further down the beach and away from the docks at Nanohana. He definitely wanted to get away from the fruit vendor before the risk of the man recognizing him became any greater. According to his memories, he hadn’t intended to steal the weird fruit, rather he’d been aiming to snag an apple from the pile. If he didn’t know better, he would swear it was a complete coincidence that he’d stolen the Devil Fruit from the vendor instead of a juicy red apple.

His memories even told him that he’d gone to the ocean to throw the strange, likely poisonous fruit, out into the ocean. Past him knew about Devil Fruits being real, he’d seen Crocodile kill some pirates once, but he had no idea what they looked like so he’d just thought the fruit he’d stolen was some weird mutant poison plant or something. It was a very good thing that he hadn’t actually thrown the thing in the water. That would have sucked so much!

It doesn’t take him long to get out of sight of the piers and the people who’d been watching him so he slows down to a more normal walk. One did not run within the desert if they hoped to survive it. He was outside of the town and just barely into the desert, but it was still a dangerous place to be. Although…

He looked himself over, his skin is rather well-tanned from how much time he spends outside but even so, he is caucasian and the sun should be murdering him right about now… Except it’s not. He feels perfectly fine even when he should be sweating significantly more than he is. The run winded him and got him sweating, but combined with the heart he should be sweating a lot more. Did the heat of the desert no longer bother him? Awesome!

He doesn’t push his luck though and continues at a calm pace deeper into the desert so he can get back to his practice. He has questions and he needs answers.

—--Line Break—--

Adam let out a groan as he lay down in his bed. It wasn’t much of one seeing as it was just a tattered blanket on a pile of hay hidden inside of an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city. Being an orphan had its downsides. Still, he wouldn’t trade his current level of freedom for anything. Being sixteen and living on the streets meant he could dedicate all of his free time to mastering his new powers, something he’d taken to with a passion for the last month. The only time he wasn’t setting off explosions in the desert was when he was either panhandling or stealing food to survive. It wasn’t the most honorable life, but it was that or starve to death with honor.

He much preferred living.

Today… today had been one of his worse days. Panhandling hadn’t netted him anything so he’d gone for theft to fill his belly at least a little. Only, he’d gotten caught. He’d done his best to get away but the city guards got lucky and cornered him. He still couldn’t do more than little hops using his explosions so flying away wasn’t an option. Not that he’d have done so even if he could. A street rat was of little concern, a criminal with a Devil Fruit was a threat that needed to be handled with extreme prejudice.

So, since he couldn’t fly away or blast the guards, he’d been forced to take a beating. At least the guards weren’t overly vicious about it. He had no broken bones or gaping wounds to contend with. Not even a concussion. Just a lot of bruises. All in all, he got off pretty lightly. He’d seen the bodies of others who hadn’t been so lucky. Though, if it came to it, he’d choose his life over keeping his power a secret. If it had looked like the guards were going to go too far, he’d have detonated himself and then fled. Better to be alive and a wanted criminal than a dead nobody.

Still, the beating was going to slow him down for a bit and that was something of a problem. He’d been making pretty good progress on his training and he didn’t want to slow down. He was pulled out of his thoughts by a man’s voice calling out to him through the half-rotten door to his little abode, “Hey kid, you alive in there?”

Looking through the broken parts of the door, Adam sees a round, bald, and middle-aged looking man wearing a city guard outfit. Not good. He grimaces as he scrambles into a sitting position to better defend himself while calling out, “I’m fine. Go away.”

“Look, kid, I’m here to make you an offer. The boss knows about your power and he wants you to work with us.”

Fuck! The city guard knew about his Devil Fruit? Very not good. He scrambled up further and forced himself to his feet. To buy more time he calls out, “I’m not really interested in working for the city guards.”

“Why would…? Oh! No, you got it wrong kid. I’m not here for them. I’m here on behalf of Mr. 3, a man that’s looking to recruit you into a certain organization.”

Adam immediately perked up. Baroque Works wanted to recruit him? Perfect! He couldn’t come off as too eager though, after all Baroque Works is a secret organization unknown to the public. If he were still an unknowing street rat he’d naturally be suspicious so he asked, “The hell kind of name Mr. 3? Why does he want anything from me?”

“Look kid, I’m just the messenger. You want to know more? Then come with me to meet Mr. 3 and you can ask him. If not, I’m leaving.”

Adam knew better than to tell the guy to leave. Baroque Works had tried to recruit Zoro and when he said no… the messengers had tried to kill him. He had no doubt the messengers would try to kill himself as well. Not that he even planned to say no, “Fine. Let’s go meet this Mr. 3. If this is a trick, I’m going to explode your balls. Understand?”

Adam was treated to the sight of the man curling in on himself a bit, “Got it, kid. C’mon, let’s go.”

Adam limped out of his hole and followed behind the guard. The man was very large, dwarfing Adam, but Adam knew he could win in a fight, even if the only way to do so would be to detonate his entire body. The guard led him through the city to a small but clean house. Stepping inside was like stepping into a world of luxury. Everything within sight looked expensive and well-maintained.

Just a moment later he found himself inside of an office facing two people, a man and a girl. The man was very clearly Mr. 3. It would be hard to argue differently thanks to the rediculous top knot on his head in the shape of a three. Otherwise, Mr. 3 was a man of average height with a frail-looking build wearing glasses and a fancy looking blue and white vertically striped shirt. Aside from the weird hairdo, Adam would have dismissed him as a regular guy if he saw him on the street.

His partner, who hadn’t been introduced but he knew was Ms. Goldenweek, a teenager with a childish appearance, with relatively large eyes and circles of blush on her cheeks. She was fairly short in stature and wore her dark red hair tied in twin braids. Her attire consisted of a wide-brimmed pink hat with a green band, a dark blue T-shirt with the word "GOLDEN" written on it, a sky blue cloud-patterned button-down shirt, a maroon-colored overalls skirt with the top folded down, blue striped stockings, and big red shoes.

The guard addressed Mr. 3 the moment they stepped into the room, “Brought the kid like you asked Mr. 3.”

Mr. 3 looked at the guard and nodded, “Good. You can go now.”

After the guard left, shutting the door behind him, Mr. 3 focused his gaze on Adam, “So, you’re the kid setting off explosions all the time.” He had a smile meant to put Adam at ease, “Having fun playing with your new power?”

Adam couldn’t hide the grin that slip his face even if he wanted to, “Very much.”

Mr. 3’s smile matched his own while the man lifted his hand and used his own power to cover it in dripping white wax, “I know exactly how you feel. It was months before I could bring myself to stop using my power at every chance. I ate the Doru Doru no Mi. How about you?”

Adam held his own hand out palm up and set of little firecracker explosions, “I don’t know what it’s called exactly, but I would guess the Bomu Bomu no Mi since the weird fruit looked almost like a bomb and I cause explosions.”

Mr. 3 laughed, “That’s a wonderful ability you have there! It’s exactly why we wish to recruit you.”

Adam lowered his hand and frowned, “Recruit me for what though?”

Mr. 3 nodded in acceptance of Adam’s ‘ignorance’, “We, “ he gestured between himself and the girl, “Are Mr.3 and Ms. Golden week, officer agents of the group Baroque Works. We work as a large company of bounty hunters taking down pirates for their bounties. We think you have a lot of potential with your ability and wish to recruit you to work with us. We have a lot of people with Devil Fruit powers that you can get to know and even train with to get better at using your own.”

Adam crossed his arms and looked to be thinking deeply, “So, you want to hire me to work for you guys and capture pirates for money? Fuck it, I’m in. I got nothing better going on.”

Mr. 3 laughed at that, “What a wonderful attitude! With a look out like that I doubt it will be long before you join myself and Miss Goldenweek as Officer Agents at the top. Sadly, you will have to work for your promotions. On the bright side, your possession of a Devil Fruit power automatically promotes you to one of the Billions.”

“Billions?”

“Ah, right, you wouldn’t know. At the very top of our organization stands Mr. 0 and Miss All Sunday. They are the administrators. If they tell you to jump you just jump, don’t bother asking how high.”

Adam nodded at that, Crocodile and Nico Robin were their real names but even hinting that he knew that would have Crocodile after his head with a vengeance. Mr. 3 continued, “Under them are us Officer Agents. Aside from myself and Miss Goldenweek they are Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger, Mr. 2 with no partner, Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas, and lastly Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine. The code names do not change, even if the people holding those positions do. In fact, Miss Valentine was our latest Devil Fruit recruit before yourself. I won’t ruin the surprise and tell you what he power is. Let’s just say it’s quite… heavy.”

He snickered at his own inside joke but that clue let Adam know that they’d just recruited the cute blonde with a lemon fetish and the Kilo Kilo no Mi. Awesome. She’d likely end up his partner if he replaced the current Mr. 5 at some point.

Mr. 3 got his laughter under control and continued, “Under the Officer Agents are the Frontier Agents. They are Mr. 6 and Miss Mother’s Day, Mr. 7 and Miss Father’s Day, Mr. 8 and Miss Monday, Mr. 9 and Miss Wendesday, Mr. 10 and Miss Tuesday, Mr. 11  and Miss Thursday, and lastly Mr. 12 and Miss Saturday. This group spends a lot of time sailing the Grand Line hunting pirates with members of the Billions and Millions.”

Mr. 3 took a sip of water before he continued his lecture, “The Billions, where you will be posted, are the more powerful members promoted from the Millions, our lowest tier members as well as the most numerous. You, as a Billions, outrank any member of the Millions, but this doesn’t give you any command over them without the authority of a Frontier or Officer Agent. Lastly, there are two more agents referred to as the Unluckies, Mr. 13 and Miss Friday. They answer Directly to Mr. 0 and are responsible for rooting out traitors and spies.”

Adam let out a little whistle, “That’s mighty impressive. Especially since I’ve never even heard of you guys.”

Mr. 3 smiled brightly at that, “We pride ourselves on our discretion, something we expect you to maintain. You are forbidden from mentioning Baroque Works to anyone not already in the know. Only recruiters and Officer Agents are allowed to tell potential new recruits about it.”

Adam nodded agreeably, “I understand. So, what next?”

“Eager to begin are we? That’s good. We’ll have to give you some training first but after that, you’ll be assigned to a ship. Perform well in your duties and you can expect swift promotions. Miss Valentine went from a member of the Billions to an Officer Agent in just six months and she’s not even that much of a fighter. I assume you can do better.”

Adam chuckled, “I might not be the greatest fighter in the world but my every blow can cause an explosion of whatever strength I desire.”

To prove his point he punched forward, slowly, and set off another firecracker explosion with his knuckles, “I’m not sure what else I can do, but I can cause any part of my body to explode at will. With some money and supplies, I can experiment and come up with more options.”

Mr. 3 grins excitedly, “Excellent. You can stay here tonight and tomorrow you will be taken to a staging area where you can train in your power while waiting for your ship to arrive. I believe the next ship due to arrive for resupply is captained by Mr. 11. You will serve under him. Any questions?”

Adam thought about it for a bit then shook his head, “Nope. I think I know everything I need to right now.”

“Good. Once you arrive at the staging area you can ask the quartermaster for any supplies you might need to train your power while awaiting your assigned ship. For tonight your room is on the second floor, second door on the right. The first door on the right is the bathroom.” He gave Adam a smile that almost looked kind, “You look like you could use a nice bath and a good night's sleep to recover from your injuries. Lastly, breakfast will be at nine sharp. Until then, goodnight.”

Taking the dismissal for what it was, Adam left the office and made his way directly toward the bathroom. Mr. 3 was damned right, he definitely needed a good long soak in hot water. Not only was he pretty rank and covered in sand, but it would help with his bruises as well.

Miss Goldenweek watched as the door closed behind the clearly excited boy. Once she was certain he was gone, she looked at Mr. 3 just in time to see his face shift from a warm welcoming look to one of utter disgust, “Another stupid meathead joining the ranks, thinking his Devil Fruit will hand him the world.” He sighed and slouched in his  seat, “Why can’t we recruit more intellectuals like myself? I can already see it now. He’ll just punch and kick people with explosions and think himself invincible or something.”

He sighed dramatically and shook his head, “Still, he’d not a bad find and could make a useful tool when we need a blunt instrument.”

Miss Goldenweek didn’t say anything but silently agreed with her partner.

—--Line Break—--

A few days later Adam found himself at a hidden Baroque Works base that acted as a port of call for members of the company. There weren’t many new recruits and after being assigned a room he was pretty much left on his own to do whatever he wanted. This was all to Adam’s liking.

He’d met the quartermaster and gotten his hands on a few things he wanted to try out. Sadly, he couldn’t get anything but a standard flintlock for a firearm. If he wanted the revolver like the canon Mr. 5 had, he’d have to find and buy it himself. He was pretty certain they were available in the West Blue somewhere. He’d have to keep an eye out. Regardless, he was able to practice using his very breath as ammo for the flintlock. It was pretty impressive and earned him some fearful looks when his invisible breath bullets would detonate on a target and destroy it completely. Even better, reloading only took a second, a single puff of breath and he could fire again.

A few weeks after his arrival the ship captained by Mr. 11 arrived. The resupply and crew swap didn’t take long and soon the ship was back out at sea with Adam along for the ride. Once out at sea, he was called into the Captain's Cabin to report directly to Mr. 11. Mr. 11 was a short man, with long wavy gray hair. He had tattoos of his number on each side of his face, and a large black top hat. He wore a dark blue coat with a gray collar and yellow buttons. Underneath, he sported a purple puffy shirt and black pants. He was currently behind a desk looking over some reports while idly running his hands over the handle of a sword sitting right next to him.

Adam eyed the man for a bit before taking a glance at the sword he was fondling. If he recalled, the sword was a Meito, one of the fifty skillful grade, if he remembered right. That put it on the same level as Zoro’s Yubashiri, before Yubashiri was destroyed.

“Welcome aboard the Savage Lobster. My report here says you’re here to get experience using your Devil Fruit in real combat.” Mr. 11 looked up from his paperwork, “That’s good, but I need to know more. The report says you can make explosions. Tell me more. Explain your combat style to me.”

Adam nodded and began explaining, “I’m leaning more toward fist fighting than using weapons given my abilities. I can cause explosions with any part of my body so using a sword or other melee weapon is useless. I’m better off punching people and setting off an explosion at the same time. However, I can also use my power for ranged attacks as my very breath can be explosive.” Adam gestured to the pair of flintlocks at his waist, “I use these to channel that power and fire invisible explosive shots. I’m working on other ideas and have some stuff I brought along to practice with, but that’s about as far as I’ve gotten.”

“Alright, you can do some fighting and shooting. You know anything about sailing?”

Adam shook his head, “Afraid not. I was born and raised in Arabasta and have no experience on the oceans.”

The closest he’d been to sailing was driving boats with engines in his past life and he knew that was nothing like sailing on the open ocean in a galeon. Especially not in a place like the Grand Line where the weather was crazy.

Mr. 11 sighed at that, “Alright then. Report to the kitchens. Rosenti will get you started with some basic chores. I expect you to pay attention and learn on the job. We don’t accept slackers and if you’re not pulling your weight I will personally throw you into the sea and gleefully watch you drown, is that understood?!”

Adam straightened up and nodded. Being thrown into the ocean was one hell of a fear he now possessed. He really needed to learn how to fly so he could avoid such a fate. Seeing that Mr. 11 nodded, “Good! Dismissed!”

Adam quickly left and made his way below deck and toward the kitchen. He wasn’t looking forward to being a chore boy, but he was certain that if he learned fast enough he would get promoted quickly. Crocodile would have to be stupid to leave him languishing in such a low position once he got some skill and experience under his belt.

—--Line Break—--

Adam sighed as he swabbed the deck with a mop. They were currently under clear skies but who knew how long that would last? They’d been at sea for a month now and Adam was thoroughly disillusioned. The show made it seem like adventure was always just around the corner, it never really got into just how long it took to sail from one point to another. A full month and he’d seen nothing but the sea, not even coming close to another island. If he didn’t know Mr. 11 was following an Eternal Pose he’d have been terrified that they were lost at sea. However, he’d learned one very important lesson so far, ALWAYS trust your Log Pose/Eternal Pose. Sailors who didn’t, died.

He’d also been getting impromptu lessons on how to work on a ship with the crew. Hell, they’d even tossed in some minor navigating advice here and there. While he was no seasoned sailor, he wasn’t a bumbling beginner anymore either. At least he was getting an education he could use in the future when he was sailing with a better crew.

“Ship to starboard!”

The shout from the crow's nest drew everyone’s attention. Mr. 11 even came out of his cabin, where he spent all his time, and pulled out a spyglass to sight the ship. He laughed after a moment, “Finally! The South Sea Sailors are in sight! Man the canons! Hard to starboard! Chase them down!”

The fuck kind of lame ass name was ‘South Sea Sailors’? Well, it didn’t matter. The Savage Lobster was fast for a ship its size, it needed to be to hunt down other ships, so they were soon within eyesight of their quarry. Not much longer after that they were close enough for Adam to see their jolly roger and it was as lame as their name. It was a simple skull and crossbones with SSS in golden letters over it.

The pirates, not seeming to realize they were being hunted by Baroque Works, had actually turned about and were heading right for the Savage Lobster to rob them, most likely. Adam turned and made his way below deck to get to a canon port. He slid an unmanned canon out of the way and opened the port. Once he could see, he picked up a cannonball and held it in his hands. Minutes passed by until he could see the side of the enemy ship. He waited until the Master at Arms shouted, “FIRE!”

Holding the cannonball in both hands with his wrists pressed together, Adam aimed his shot directly at the main mast of the enemy ship. Once he had it sighted in, he detonated his palms with a fair amount of power. The explosion was deafening, for other people, and launched the cannonball with extreme force. The solid ball of iron slammed directly into the mast and splintered the wood damaging the thick post heavily. The sailors on his ship cheered while the pirates opposite them screamed. Too much pressure on the mast before it could be reinforced would cause it to break thus they were forced to drop their sails and come to a full stop. This left them as easy prey for Baroque Works.

Adam climbed back out onto the main deck of the ship and prepared to board the pirate ship. He needed to get some combat experience in and this was the kind of chance he was looking for. Baroque Works might be the bad guy organization in the One Piece story, but they did actually capture and kill pirates and that was a good thing regardless of their overall goal. It was something he could happily justify to himself, at least.

Tied off grappling hooks were thrown out to snag the pirate ship and keep it from trying to run away. From there, chaos ensued. Men from both ships began leaping across the gap or swinging over on ropes. No one on either ship was really all that strong in the grand scheme of things so there was no gravity defying leaps or super power blows, they did things like normal people would have to.

The sole exception was Adam. He wanted to train so train he would! He ran at the railing around the main deck and jumped into the air as high as he could. At the peak of his jump he detonated his sandal clad feet and launched himself higher into the air. At the peak of his jump, he curled his hands into fists and raised them above his head. He landed on the deck of the pirate ship amidst a group of gaping idiots and brought his hands down onto the deck where they detonated in a large explosion that sent all the men nearby flying away.

Adam laughed as he climbed to his feet and looked for a new target. He saw a pirate sneaking up on a fellow agent and acted. He charged across the short distance and slammed his fist into the pirates back where it detonated. The pirate screamed as his spine was broken in several places and his back was covered in burns. He fell to the ground and didn't get up again. Adam found another target and moved on. Adam had experience with street fights and didn't find there was much difference in attacking pirates. The only change was his ability to explode and it made him into a devastating fighter against such weak opponents. The pirates were defeated within minutes.

Looking around, Adam noted that Mr. 11 had captured the captain and first mate of the pirates, the only two with bounties on their heads. He'd hoped to fight the captain himself since the captain should be the strongest, right? Oh well, there was always next time.

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

Adam had been right, there were plenty of next times. The first half of the Grand Line had a constant influx of new pirates from the Four Blues for them to capture and turn in for their bounties. It was a lot of work for moderate pay, honestly. A vast majority of pirates that made their way into the Grand Line had pitiful bounties on their heads making Luffy's original thirty million a real standout. Until he and the other Supernova's started to arrive there were nothing but fillers.

Still, despite all of that, Adam had gotten a lot of experience over the last four months of working under Mr. 11. He'd learned at least a little bit about every job that needed to be done on a ship, how to fight at sea, and even got plenty of experience and experimentation in with his Bomu Bomu no Mi. There was no doubt in his mind that he was stronger than the original owner of the Devil Fruit in canon, Mr. 5. He hadn't gotten his hands on a revolver yet, but he had other tricks up his sleeves that made him even scarier than Mr. 5 could have dreamed of being.

Sadly, he'd spent the last few months only working on his Devil Fruit power, learning all he could about it and hoping to learn more over time. He'd slacked on physical training and attempting Haki training. He only had a basic idea of how to train Observation Haki and no idea how to train Armament Haki. There was also the question of whether he had Conqueror's Haki or not as well. There was no telling.

He came out of his thoughts as he arrived at the door to the captain's cabin and knocked.

“Come in.”

Adam stepped inside and found Mr. 11 behind his desk with his usual paper work. However, this time there was the presence of an active Den Den Mushi. Without looking up, Mr. 11 addressed the Den Den Mushi which showed a rather placid look, “He's here.”

“Good.” The voice that issued from the Den Den Mushi was deep and strong, Mr. 0, also known as Crocodile, “Mr. 11 has reported on your effectiveness within the company. You are being promoted to the level of a Frontier Agent. Congratulations, Mr. 6.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The Den Den Mushi disconnected leaving just Mr. 11 and Adam, now Mr. 6 alone, Mr. 11 addressed his new colleague, “You're to be assigned to Whiskey Peak and work with the other Frontier Agents there, for the time being. They're our first line for capturing newly arrived pirates and are our most profitable post. Don't fuck up and you might make it to Officer Agent status.”

It wasn't so strange for Mr. 11 to wish him luck. Mr. 11 didn't want a promotion since he exceptionally happy with his current posting. It also came up once or twice over the last few months that Adam wanted to be promoted to Officer Agent status. It wasn't too hard to imagine he could get it either. Currently there were only two individuals of the nine Officer Agents who didn't have Devil Fruits. Having one meant promotion was almost guaranteed, as long as he wasn't a complete idiot.

Adam gave Mr. 11 a quick salute out of respect and left the captain's cabin. They were on their way to Whiskey Peak. It would just be a few days until he was at his new post. Frankly, he was looking forward to it! Being on an island would give him time to work on his physical strength and maybe even get to work on Observation Haki using blindfolds. Better to trip and fall on land than risk tripping and falling into the sea!

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

Adam let out a low whistle as the cactus-like mountains of Cactus Island came into view. As they got closer he could see the spikes that, on even closer examination, would be revealed as grave markers. There were thousands of dead pirates buried on those mountains. Some might view it as horrible or vile, but in reality, it was a good thing. Very few pirates were anything like Luffy and his crew. The vast majority of pirates were on the seas to murder, rape, and pillage to their hearts content. In short, they were evil and deserved what happened to them.

After disembarking, Adam was met by and introduced to Miss Monday a tall muscular woman with dark skin and pink hair. She looked him over a bit and then scoffed, “You look weak. What is Mr. 0 thinking promoting someone like you to be Mr. 6?”

Mr. 11 chuckled, “Don't let his looks fool you Miss Monday, Mr. 6 here is strong.”

Adam, feeling like he needed to put on a bit of a show, pointed his right arm off to the side where there was just empty space and ocean. He made sure Miss Monday was looking closely before he let off a deafening blast that blew a portion of the sea away from the island. Miss Monday's jaw dropped in shock while she watched the sea crash thunderously back into the hole he'd temporarily made in it.

She wasn't the only one staring either. Everyone nearby stared with slack jaws at the sheer force he'd been able to produce. Adam was content knowing that the blast had only been a basic one, nothing like any of his specialty ones! With one of his specialty blasts he could easily blow a ship the size of a galleon into scrap wood. He knew because he'd done it once on Mr. 11's orders. The ship was too big to tow or put a skeleton crew on to sail to Arabasta. So, they sank it. Mr. 11 had been kind enough to let Adam use it for practice.

Mr. 11 smirked at Miss Monday, “Try not to get on his bad side, he'll be an Officer Agent before much longer.”

Miss Monday came out of her stupor and looked at Adam in a new light, “I can see that Mr. 11. Come on, I'll show you around Mr. 6.”

Adam huffed his bag over his shoulder and followed behind the towering form of Miss Monday as she showed him around the small city that was entirely manned by Baroque Works. To any outside observers, Whiskey Peak looked like any other small city. It's what made them so successful in their pirate capturing efforts. Looking around, Adam grinned. He was not just the highest number here, but also the strongest. None of the other Frontier Agents had a Devil Fruit. He wasn't sure how long he would be here. His next promotion would only come when one of the male Officer Agents fucked up enough to get... fired. His bet was on the current Mr. 5 whose Devil Fruit was a Paramecia that let him change the shapes of things he touched. At least, that was the description Mr. 11 had given him.

After being shown to his room by Miss Monday, he locked himself inside and made himself a blindfold. Until some pirates arrived he didn't have anything he really needed to do. Whiskey Peak worked like a well oiled machine and his responsibility was to handle the stronger pirates that showed up, if they decided not to fall for the party trick or somehow escaped being drugged. So, with some free time on his hands, he decided to focus on physical and Haki training while he was assigned to the island. Miss Monday had mentioned a well equipped gym he would put to good use.

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

Adam watched as yet another ship waving a Jolly Roger on their mast came sailing into Whiskey Peak. He'd been shocked at just how many pirates found there way to the city over the last three months. What he also found shocking was just how low some of those bounties were! He always thought Chopper's original bounty of fifty Beri was more for comedic effect, but no... There had been literal grown men with bounties as low as one hundred Beri and it was just... sad. They were literally not worth turning in!

Given how low the majority of bounties on pirates were... he could see how Whiskey Peak would be struggling financially in another year or so, the signs were already there. For every bounty they snagged, sixty percent was given to Mr. 0. Bounties in the tens of millions were rare making bounties of less than ten million much more common. It was illuminating to Adam to see just how out of the ordinary Luffy's original bounty of thirty million was.

From what they gathered about the crew sailing up to them now, their captain had a bounty of seven million which was considered 'not bad but not great' by their standards. As a bonus, the first mate was worth an additional four million. No one else on the ship was worth mentioning and firmly fell to the level of 'mooks'.

As the ship drew closer, the people of Whiskey Peak began cheering loudly and acting welcoming to the pirates. This was their gag for tricking pirates into letting down their guards. It worked far too often in Adam's opinion. He didn't participate after the disaster that was his first attempt. He hadn't been able to hold himself back from attacking a pirate that bragged about his exploits. They were dark deeds and Adam had taken his sweet time in breaking that man before killing him. It was safe to say that he really hated pirates at this point. The only reason he wouldn't attempt to take out the Straw Hat crew is knowing they were good people. Frankly, they didn't deserve to be called pirates when compared to the scumbags that he'd had to deal with.

Unfortunately, it looked like this group of pirates were the kind who attacked anyone and everyone. How could he tell? The canon fire coming from the ship was a big clue. While members of the millions ran screaming, Adam stood tall and grinned. He much preferred the indiscriminate assholes. Why? Because then he could take them out without anyone complaining!

As the cannonballs struck the ground causing minor injures, Adam jumped into the air. Loud flames roared to life from the bottom of his feet propelling him into the air and turning himself into a loud visible target. Better they fire at him than the others. Most of the people within Baroque Works were just trying to get by. In this world killing pirates for their bounties was righteous work which technically made the people of Whiskey Peak 'good guys' in the eyes of the law. Most of them were good guys in heart too.

Adam flew through the air dodging canon fire until he came crashing down on the deck. A huge explosion detonated out from his body blasting the nearest pirates into jam and rending limbs from further ones. Screams of agony filled the air. Adam didn't stop to look at his handiwork, or even slow down. He came flying out of the cloud of smoke he'd made and drove his fist into the stomach of a particularly fat pirate where it detonated and blew the pirate in half.

Adam became a maelstrom of carnage and death as he mowed through the pirates with ease. Without something to make them extra tough, his explosive punches and kicks were devastating to anyone on the receiving end of one.

He ducked under a sword slash from the first mate. His counterattack was to detonate his elbow while throwing a punch at the pirate's knee while he was ducked down. There was a loud snap followed by a scream as Adam snapped the man's knee like a dry twig. While the first mate writhed in agony on the deck, Adam moved on toward the captain who looked like he was about to wet himself.

The captain quickly threw away his gun and sword to toss his hands in the air and scream, “I surrender!”

Adam ignored the panicked captain and instead focused on the gun he'd just thrown away. He hadn't had much time to pay attention to the captain or his gear, but now? Now he was internally drooling. The captain had just thrown aside a revolver! Adam moved quickly to snatch the gun up and examine it closely with a broad grin. From the side the captain looked sort of relieved to not be the focus of Adam anymore. Trying to keep himself alive the captain rambled, “Oh, you like that? I got it on an island in West Blue. If... if you like it you can have the molds for its ammo...”

He trailed off and gulped loudly when Adam's eyes laser focused on him. Adam reached out and grabbed the captain by the collar and pulled him close. His voice was a throaty growl as he demanded, “Show me.”

The utterly terrified pirate nodded his head rapidly until Adam pushed him away. They weren't far from the captain's cabin and soon enough Adam had all the molds and materials required to make more ammo for the revolver. He didn't necessarily need the molds and such since he could just use his breath as ammo, but it didn't hurt to have it. Especially for future possibilities, like imbuing the ammo with Armament Haki. It was just another tool to add to his ever growing arsenal of toys.

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

“Congratulations on your promotion, Mr. 5. I expect you to meet up with Miss Valentine on Bell Island within the week.”

The Den Den Mushi relaxes after Crocodile hangs up on his end. Adam grins to himself at his new assignment. Normally it would take at least two weeks to sail from Cactus Island to Bell Island, one of the other starter islands like Cactus Island was but Mr. 0 was fully aware of Adam's ability to fly using his Devil Fruit. It was something he'd only recently perfected whereas before he could only do it for a short time before losing control.

Upon leaving the main office he was confronted by the sight of the Unluckies. However, the otter, Mr. 13, and the vulture, Miss Friday, were not there for anything nefarious. Rather, Mr. 13 held out its paw toward Adam offering him the Eternal Pose he held. Adam accepted it and checked the label. Finding it set for Bell Island, he gave Mr. 13 a nod, “I'll be there before the week is out.”

Mr. 13 gave a nod before mounting Miss Friday and taking off into the air. The Unluckies were the only other Baroque Works members he knew of with the ability to fly so it made sense they were sent to deliver the Eternal Pose he would require to find Bell Island.

With the Eternal Pose in hand, all he needed to do now was pack up and make his way to the island to meet his partner. Oddly, he'd never been assigned one for the four months he'd been Mr. 6. He supposed it was because his promotion to an Officer Agent was pretty much guaranteed so it was a waste of time to get to know someone. Miss Valentine would be different. For a start, there was no position above Officer Agent but the Administrators and no one was replacing Mr. 0 or Miss All Sunday anytime soon.

Adam slowly packed his belongings into a rucksack. Aside from the expected clothing, he also packed stacks of clay, bottles holding vicious liquid, and an assortment of other odds and ends. With the bag packed, he slipped the main strap across his chest and checked one final time to make sure he had everything he wanted. Finding nothing else worth taking, he steps out of his room and into the afternoon sun. He slips on a pair of dark shades and flexes his legs a little bit. A check of the Eternal Pose on his wrist has him facing the direction he needs to go. With a final hop, explosions erupt from his feet in a highly controlled manner that launches him into the air like a missile. The glasses weren't just for looking cool but also to protect his eyes from the wind from drying out his eyes.

Adam streaked through the air but kept his speed below the speed of sound. He had no idea if his body could handle flying at those speeds and he was pretty certain his clothing wouldn't. While he wasn't ashamed of his body, he also didn't feel like flashing it to everyone for their enjoyment. As it was his clothing was whipping in the wind wildly and he feared the seams might not last. He would have to look into far tougher clothing in the future.

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

Adam spotted Bell Island from the air, double checking his Eternal Pose to make sure it was the right one. He'd flown over a couple of islands already but didn't know what any of them were called. Bell Island was easy enough to recognize from the air since it was shaped like a bell with a crack going through the center that was actually a river. The Island was also a winter island, perpetually covered in glittering white snow making it look rather beautiful from the air.

Bell Island was known for it's copper mines and producing a lot of bronze, some of which went into the production of bells. A bit on the nose. He could see several small villages and one large city, which contained the port. That was his goal, Miss Valentine was supposed to be waiting at the port on the smaller ship the two of them would be using to fulfill their assignments.

He drew quite a bit of attention as he came in for a landing, his method of flight was fast but also extremely loud. There was no way in hell he would ever be able to be sneaky with his flight ability. He ignores the stares and begins looking for the ship he was assigned to with Miss Valentine. Soon enough he spots the Rich Hound, a small boat easy enough for two to handle alone. Standing at the prow is a beautiful blonde woman, Miss Valentine.

Miss Valentine was a tall young woman with short blond hair and turquoise eyes. She was wearing a yellow and orange hat, as well as a yellow dress with a lemon pattern, lemon earrings, and white high-heeled shoes. Over all of which she wore a thick floor length blue parka to keep warm in the cold. She was also carrying a bright green parasol with blue stripes. Her method of 'flight' which was really just floating due to how little she could make herself weigh with her Kilo Kilo no Mi.

He doesn't hesitate to walk over to her letting her get a good look at him. He'd changed a little over the last eight months. He'd been in shape and slightly athletic before joining Baroque Works, now he was rippling with muscle which was easily visible in due to him wearing a simple t-shirt and short with a pair of sandals on his feet. As he got close he gave her a small nod of recognition, “Miss Valentine.”

Her eyes raked up and down his form, “The new Mr. 5. If we're going to work together you're going to need to dress better. You're an Officer Agent now, you need to show some decorum. We're the best of the best, we need to look and act the part.”

Adam looked down at his clothing and couldn't find a reason to argue with her. He only dressed the way he did because it was extremely practical to do so back on Arabasta. Even now, on a winter island covered in snow, he still felt comfortable wearing so little. Still, he wouldn't mind having a new look, something more iconic.

Hearing no argument from Adam, Miss Valentine hops off of the ship and onto the dock, “Come on. There's a decent selection of clothing on this island. You can at least look fine for our next mission.”

What followed was every mans worst nightmare, shopping with a woman on a mission. It took four hours, but when they were done, he had to admit that he looked good. Somehow Miss Valentine had found him a black leather trench coat and gotten the number five stitched onto the back of it. He refused to get a number tattooed on his body, especially since he planned to quit Baroque Works in a year or less. Under the pitch black coat he wore a pair of jeans that were only slightly baggy, just enough to make them easy to move around in. His shirt was long sleeved and made of a flexible material that slung to his body like a second skin and showed off the perfect definition of his muscles. Lastly, she'd insisted that he wear a pair of thick combat boots with visible iron plates on the toes. The only thing he'd insisted on getting was a belt with multiple pockets on it that would let him store a plethora of items and two large leather pouches to hang from it.

All told, he rather liked his new look. Together the pair made their way back to the boat they would be using. Adam had a few ideas for a custom designed one that could harness his explosions and become the fastest ship on the seas. After all, a combustion engine was just controlled explosions.

For now though, they would use their current ship to hunt down the pirates that killed the previous Mr. 5 and claim their bounties. Adam grinned at the prospect of hunting more pirates. It was good to be him.

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

AN

Yeah, yeah, I know, this is neither Fabricator nor Phenex Rises. My bad. But it is a little over 10k words of an idea that kept bugging me. Honestly, it was between an MC with the Bomu Bomu no Mi or the Mori Mori no Mi. I chose the Bomu Bomu in the end because it's not a Logia and has a LOT of untapped potential that could make it into one of the most broken Devil Fruits in existence. The original Mr. 5 had zero skill in properly using it. Not to mention he was disgusting in how he went about using it. I don't care how 'fancy' the name is, flinging boogers is just nasty behaviour.

Just think of characters like Bakugo (MHA) or Deidara (Naruto) for people who did awesome things with explosions. Adam will be able to do similar things, and more.

Anyway, one last thing before I slink off into the dark. Believe it or not, my mother is now a published author. Can't believe she beat me to it. Regardless, I want to support her so I'm including a link to her work. If you feel up to it, take a look and if it seems like something you'd be interested in reading, grab a copy by either buying it or using Kindle Unlimited. Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DTB5DQVL/

Until next time guys!