After getting back to the ship, Aden had some time to spare before meeting back up with Buggy and Nojiko. So he decided to try and figure out the strange feeling he had while meditating before, and also whatever the hell he felt when he got mad at the staff, which was now secured in the cargo. Because after calming down, he realized his angered outburst was accompanied by a strange buzzing feeling, all over his body.
"Alright. Let's try this again. Deep breaths, focus. Slowly draw back the Air Sense. Drop all outside control over air." Aden instructed himself in his mind.
It was almost half an hour later, that he felt it.
His Air Sense was not in use, but he began to sense everything around him in a much greater detail. With Air Sense, he was limited to very rough outlines in his mind, but now, everything was sharper. He could 'feel' individual planks of wood on his ship. Every small wave of water around him.
The range was far smaller than his Air Sense, but he noticed, that for every second he spent focusing on this new feeling, the range grew larger. Right now he could sense only about ten meters in every direction. Tiny compared to the kilometers he had before, but the higher detail made up for that. He also sensed under water, which always seemed very fuzzy if not downright impossible before.
Opening his eyes a short while after, Aden had a grin plastered on his face.
"No doubt about that. This is the 'Observation Haki' i heard Shanks talk about few years ago.
Of course he did not know i could hear him from across the building, but that's besides the point, heh." Aden spoke to himself.
"This is good. But it's also strange. How did i figure it out so fast? From what Shanks said about it, it is not easy to learn. More to the point, why does my Devil Fruit power keep growing? I do not train, yet i get stronger every day." Aden began to muse to himself, walking back and forth over the deck.
.
Meanwhile with Buggy and Nojiko, the duo got caught trying to rob some rich man.
"You despicable wretches! How dare you try and rob Ghoti Paramour! I will have you executed for this!" The rich man shouted in a snobby, nasal, high-pitched and overall annoying voice. Gesturing to his guards, the man ordered them to kill the thieves.
"We agreed to stop, as our luck would not last! Why did you try that, you cleptomaniac!?" exclaimed a frustrated jester-puzzle, as they turned to run.
"I don't know! It was like an itch! I just couldn't help it! I'm sorry!" replied Nojiko, running next to Buggy.
All the while being chased by the man's guards.
"And after we promisd captain to stay out of trouble, too." Buggy shook his head, avoiding saying Aden's name seeing as he was quite infamous the last few days. Making sure his hood stayed up, he and Nojiko ran all the way to their ship.
All that commotion attracted the attention of some patroling marines, who ran to report the situation. Their superior ordered a detachment of thirty marines to follow the trouble makers, and bring them to justice.
.
Back on the boat, Aden clearly heard the commotion. He grabbed the new staff and the throwing knives, hopped down to the beach, and waited. Not even a minute later, Buggy and Nojiko came running down the small path between rocks, followed by two men in suits, who in turn were followed by a squad of marines. After reaching him, his crewmates turned around, ready to fight if needed.
"*sigh* If this is you trying not to cause trouble, i'd hate to see what happens when you actually do try." Aden sighed shaking his head, but everyone could hear the barely supressed chuckle.
"Four Winds Aden!!??" shouted the obvious leader of the marine squad in shock.
The other marines instantly became worried.
Apparently this man in front of them was extremely powerful, if the reports are to be believed. His bounty of twenty-nine million Belli, can't be for nothing after all.
"Sorry captain, but this cleptomaniac just had to steal more, even after we agreed it was enough." said Buggy as he took off his hood, knowing their cover was blown anyway.
"Hey i explained to you why?" Nojiko defended herself.
Meanwhile, the marine in charge, put things together. The Jester and the blue haired woman were crewmates of Aden.
"Yo, Marine boyscout!" Aden shouted, getting everybody's attention.
"What did you call ....!? *sigh* What is it?" the marine began to reply, upset. Halfway through however, he realized that may not be the brightest idea.
"What is my name anyway!? On my wanted poster it says ' Four Winds', but a marine captain i encountered recently called me 'The Typhoon'. And now you call me 'Four Winds' again. What's up with that?" Aden asked, slightly annoyed.
"That is what you are wondering about right now?" the marine sighed, but answered anyway.
"The official name says 'Four Winds'. The captain you encountered must have been told the previous name before they changed it, last minute. From what i heard, giving you a bounty was rather rushed." the marine explained.
"Why?" Aden pressed on, as he handed Nojiko the new staff and Buggy the new knives. Nojiko instantly felt a connection to the staff, judging by the look on her face. And Buggy beamed at the high quality blades.
Noone payed attention to that, as everyone was focused at what the marine was about to say.
"I have no idea. But it could be, because nobody heard about you, then you suddenly show up and cause mayhem." the marine said honestly.
"Makes sense, i guess. So now what? You gonna try arresting us?" Aden asked, slightly mocking them all.
"I don't think we can. I'd rather not loose any men...." the marine started, only to be interrupted by one of the suited guards.
"Marine! By the word of Sir Ghoti Paramour you will apprehend these criminals! He has so ordered and so it shall be!" he commanded.
"Him!? That changes things. Marines! Capture these pirates!" the marine leader switched his attitude.Apparently this Ghoti guy is some kind of big shot around here.
As the marines began their careful approach, Aden leaned towards Nojiko. Whispering something in her ear, which caused a grin to form on her face, and a smirk on Buggy's, she raised her new staff.
The staff tip that was pointed to the sky began to glow, with a barely audible hum.
Then she slammed the staff to the ground, causing an explosion of blinding light, and high-pitched noise. This resulted in the two guards and all the marines to fall to the ground, their eyes burning and their ears ringing. It took a couple minutes for them to get back to their senses. Looking around for their enemy, the pirates were nowhere to be seen. The only thing they saw, was an outline of a ship rapidly leaving the island.
"You failed! This will bring severe consequences to you and your superior!" one of the guards said, angry at being bested and coviniently ignoring the fact, they failed too.
All the marines could do was sigh, and return to base.
.
"Hahahaha! That was brilliant, Nojiko! They will not forget this anytime soon!" Buggy laughed so hars his stomach started to hurt. Aden was chuckling, sitting on the railing.
"It was Aden's idea. And this staff is amazing. How can it make sounds?" Nojiko stated, then turned to Aden with the question.
"Apparently it either has a Devil Fruit ability itself, or is a product of one. Or it's cursed as the shopkeep said." he replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Cursed?!" Buggy and Nojiko exclaimed, as she held the staff further away.
"Relax. I don't believe it's cursed. But it has a will of it's own, kind of. It calmed down after i threatened it though, so it should be fine." Aden said nonchalantly.
"Riiight..." she was still a bit worried, but trusted Aden enough to calm down.
"Either way, you are most certainly getting a bounty as well now, Nojiko." Buggy stated excitedly.
"Oh, right. Kinda curious about it." she said, not bothering to hide the excitement.
.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY GOT AWAY!!?" Ghoti shouted at the marine captain.
"Exactly what i said, sir. Apparently the woman caused an explosion of light and sound. However no traces of any explosives were found. And from what was described, it seems it was some sort of illusion ability, a Devil Fruit." the captain explained calmly, even though he hated dealing with this man.
"I want them caught! Put a bounty on her! You hear me!? This slight to my honor will not be tolerated! You will obey, or all the funding i provide will cease!" Ghoti screamed, his head turning red.
"Of course, sir." the captain sighed, picking up the transponder snail and called his superiors.
.
The next few days were relatively calm. The trio was caught in a storm about a day after leaving the island. But thanks to Aden controlling the winds, they got out safely.
The rest of the time was spent practicing. Buggy was getting used to his new knives, turning the mast into his training target, as well as using his power to figure out new attacks. Nojiko was practicing her illusions in tandem with the staff. As it turned out, the staff was rather intuitive, as whatever illusion she created, the staff provided appropriate sound almost without prompt. She felt a connection to the staff, that is why she could use it so easily. Their leading theory was that the two Devil Fruits were compatible, in a way. This resulted in displays of fireworks, small animals running all over the deck and music accompanied by a range of colours.
Buggy confirmed that this connection may be caused by Devil Fruit compatibilty. Or Resonance, as he called it. In his words, some Devil Fruits have a natural companion Devil Fruit, which adds to their power. And apparently the staff had a Resonance with Nojiko's Mirage-Mirage Fruit.
As for Aden, he spent the days training his newly found Observation ability, which after talking to Buggy one night after Nojiko fell asleep, was confirmed to be Observation Haki.
Further asking Buggy about the strange buzzing feeling, Aden was told it sounds like what some men back on Roger's ship talked about. He was not sure, but he told Aden, it sounds like Conqueror's Haki. But he was not sure, as he can't use it.
"That was an enlightening conversation. The Observation makes sense, as i can use my power to observe at great distances. So it was just a matter of when, not if i awaken Observation Haki. But Conqueror's? That is strange. From what Buggy said, it is awakened by those with a strong drive to reach their goals, or those with a powerful soul. My drive for a goal feels too weak for that, so is it my soul? Could it be because my soul is older than it should be? I know i have been reincarnated here. I may not remember much from before, but the memories i do have suggest my soul crossed over to this world..."
Aden thought carefully, while sitting at the bow of the ship, after the other two went to sleep. If it was Conqueror's Haki, he should try and develop it.
Closing his eyes, he focused on that buzzing feeling from before. It started in his head, quickly spreading to his whole body, causing a feeling of building pressure to fill his mind.
Letting it build up, he waited for a bit, before letting the pressure burst outwards.
He felt a wave of energy leave his body, covering an area of about ten meters in every direction.
"WHAAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!!?" came a shout from below deck.
Rushing footsteps came to the deck, revealing Buggy with a nightcap and a sleeping robe with a flower pattern. Behind him came Nojiko, wearing a simple blue shirt and orange shorts with a sleeping mask on her forehead. She was noticably shaking, her eyes wide.
"Aden! What..?.. Did you just....!?" Buggy tried asking, but got stuck everytime, his voice slightly shaking.
"Yeah...I think i did... Sorry about that, i should have said something." Aden apologized, with a face full of regret.
"I'm fine. It's Nojiko who is rather shaken up." Buggy said gesturing the their navigator, who was shaking like chiwawa in a blizzard.
"Right. Okay let me explain. Lets go sit down, i'll make tea." Aden said guiding Nojiko to below deck, thinking of how to approach the subject.
(Okay here we go again. Something new is happening and i have no clue where this goes. I was thinking the last couple days, about where i want this story to go. And thus, i have decided to throw all logic out the window. Some stuff i will try to keep under restraint, but i will be changing or adding some stuff to the world. My very first idea for this fanfic was following the OG story far too closely. As you know i deviated from that, but in my brain i still was thinking about following the story. I said to myself NO. So i am going full throttle with my imagination and i will let my story evolve in whatever direction my brain takes it. Obviously i will follow some established rules of the world, but i will completely bulldoze others. I hope you can accept that and continue being patient with me.)
(Just made a Discord server for this thing, so if you'd like, you can contact me there. I will try and answer.
https://discord.gg/pRWwsTRH )