Stop it, Bro~ (45) (Patreon)

Title: The Battle of the Weak Ones (1)

Brody shot through the air as everyone paused their training to witness the 'spar' as they say with even Brogy waiting for his turn to repay the 'debt' of drinking the alcohol. Meanwhile, despite his larger frame and thus, most likely being a bigger target, Dorry tilted his head a few seconds before Brody even passed through the region with his body turning at a pace that raised gusts and a shield met Brody before slamming him down.

Brogy's grin widened seeing this, "Alright, you've repaid five barrels worth of alcohol, gebabababa!"

Meanwhile, far away from them and on top of a Brachiosaurus, Pickle watched everything clearly. The distance meant nothing to his gaze and his objective still remained to learn. After all, once he was sure that Brody wasn't going to attack yet again since Pickle had been in the same spot once... after challenging his 'parents', the prehistoric son jumped down the dinosaur's head and landed on the ground without any issues.

But... he frowned and looked at his legs.

This wasn't how Brody did it.

Pickle jumped again, easily measuring the vertical length of 15 meters but as he began to descend, he flailed and tried to move. To be precise, he tried to 'jump' again but failed and landed on the ground once more.

Without feeling the least bit disheartened, Pickle continued to do the same thing over and over again.

---

A hand grasped the edge of the crater before a 'broken' and bloodied figure crawled out and lay over his back while splaying his legs and arms outwards.

His face and body were covered in a mix of dirt and blood as he looked at the grinning Dorry who sat down cross-legged, "I don't get it," Brody gasped, "I'm faster. Our strength is equal but even when I harden my muscles... you can still break my bones. Do Giants have some cool martial arts?"

"Gegyagyagya!" Dorry laughed, his voice practically booming, "Giants? Martial Arts? No! This is the strength of my spirit! A half-baked punk, even of strong, won't be able to do much against the true terrors of the sea."

There was an obvious warning in Dorry's tone but choosing to ignore that, Brody sat up with a huff and grumbled, "You can drink all you want... I'm gonna train even more before I beat the two of you."

"That would be unlikely, young warrior," Brogy remarked, "Not until you open your eyes."

Brody couldn't help but grow silent and have a sense of Deja Vu. This was similar to his fight with Pickle... but in this case, he was the one being treated as a rag doll.

Crawling back to Pinky, Brody found his crewmates looking at him with equal parts worry and pity.

"What?" He gave them a sidelong glance, "Every person loses a fight every now and then..."

"That's true," Reiju had a deceptively smug smirk and added, "Maybe you don't need the medic, captain. Our navigator seems to have grown in the ways of healing a man."

Nami's lips parted but she chose to keep her silence and then, after a suspiciously long time, added with a confused expression, "What are you talking about?"

"Probably us fucking this morning?" Brody supplanted, "I could be wrong. I mean... I've got too many fractures..."

Nami stared at her captain. She would have hit him... but his state did soften her mind and her heart as she scoffed, "Maybe you were dreaming. Nothing like that happened—"

"Oh, come on," Alvida interjected, "Can we get on with our day without this drama? So what of you slept together? Are we a bunch of kids trying to spare each other's feelings? Just that..." she stared at Nami, "You lucked out sneaking into his chambers this morning. We all heard it."

"Yeah... you're one loud child..." Dorry nodded... And only now did Nami blush but Igaram's gasp pulled other's attention.

"Princess Vivi, let me!"

"No," already helping Brody since he could still walk, Vivi looked back, "Everyone, I will try to help around as much as possible. Please leave Brody-san to me and practice like usual."

Tashigi adjusted her glasses and nodded. It was at this point that Nojiko pointed at Brody and a small ball of white aura shot out from the tip of her index before entering Brody.

He blinked in surprise before looking back at Nojiko and grinning, "Thanks, whatever you did. I can breathe a little better."

"Amazing... any other human would have died," Brogy raised an eyebrow and Nami turned her attention to the giant, "Were you two really trying to kill him?!" Her furious glare barely fazed the two giants as both of them nodded innocuously, "That's all we know to do... even Pickle needed a few weeks to recover after he challenged us but then again, he's no longer a human, too, gegyagyagyagya!"

"Well, our captain lives," Tashigi adjusted her glasses and slipped out of her jacket, "And as Brogy-san said... we're weak and unfit to face enemies like Crocodile but we're still facing them."

"Please," Nami crossed her arms, "Crocodile's Bounty is just—"

"His bounty is nothing," Tashigi interrupted with a rare, strict expression, "I... didn't want to scare any of you by saying this... but back when I was still a trainee, I used to hear about all the Great Pirates. Others never spoke of it, like Brogy-san and Dorry-san, at least, not clearly... but there seems to be a watershed for the truly great pirates and rookies no matter the years of piracy they've committed."

"A watershed?" Nojiko inquired.

"Yes... I once asked Captain Smoker about it," Tashigi instantly looked a bit conflicted at the thought of Smoker but added nonetheless, "He said... that Logia Devil Fruits aren't invincible and there exists a power that is mastered by everyone above the ranks of Rear Admiral. In fact, that 'state' is a qualification needed to advance in the ranks... and all great Pirates, including Ju Busho, possess it."

Reiju traced her chin silently with a thoughtful expression as Dorry and Brogy chose to move away as another volcanic eruption called for their battle.

"And... I am told that each of the Ju Busho has special circumstances. It could be their strength, intellect, or even background. For some... all three of it and their previously known bounties are too outdated as the World Government chose to offer them this position instead of issuing new bounties."

"It is as Tashigi-san said, Crocodile is a ruthless pirate," Igaram sighed, "And as Vivi-sama and I informed you, his devil fruit abilities are the only information we have on him which also happens to be public knowledge, too. This means that Crocodile is perfectly aware of what he wants to reveal and what he doesn't."

"Damn... even having Logia powers fail to assure me..." Honey muttered under her breath, "If Crocodile is really someone who... is considered 'great', then... can Captain really—"

"He will," Carmen frowned, "He picked this fight."

"I didn't ask him to do that," Mikita scoffed.

"He didn't do it for you," Nami rolled her eyes, "He would have picked a fight if Crocodile so much so looked at him the wrong way. It's like you didn't see Brody 'offering' himself to Dorry-san's entertainment just for the sake of it."

"I must say... I've met many battle-hungry men and women... but I haven't met someone so confident in their own nature even when facing giants," Igaram smiled.

Others soon began to train with Nojiko's ability now being a bit of a clutch.

The truth is, others couldn't digest the aura she provided as quickly or as well as herself which was due to her Aura Aura no Mi. This meant that all Nojiko's skill did was maybe cut off the time for recovery by an hour at best, Reiju noted. But the pink-haired medic also reminded the somewhat disappointed Nojiko that just one hour a day would add up quite a bit eventually. And it's not like the crew didn't boast a level of recovery of their own, too.

---

"I wish we could use warm water but the lake is all we have to clean you, Brody-san," Vivi smiled as he sat on the edge of the lake near Dorry's clearing while ignoring the two clashes of two giant's weapons quite far from this location.

"Nah, it's alright, Vivi. Thanks... Would be really hard to get that spot on my back given the state of my arms," Brody looked at his completely swollen and inflamed arms. He did always recover without even a single scar remaining but it takes time, some of which was cut off by Nojiko providing a bit of aura.

Keeping her hand steady and light, Vivi continued to clean his back with a sponge and then dip it in the bucket now filled with water before starting all over again since the result of the spar was too bloodied.

Closing his eyes and enjoying just how good Vivi was at this, Brody couldn't help but utter a soft sigh. He didn't even consider if getting naked in front of a Princess was fine or not. After all, Vivi wasn't the first princess who saw him in his birthday suit.

"Brody-san... is it true you fell from the sky and you had wings? Honey-san was speaking of the conversation you had with her while you... were occupied with Nami-san..." Vivi questioned after a few seconds as her voice grew a bit low by the end of it.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, my father did that for me. The only injury that never recovered but I can't say I'm not happy. The wings on my back were more annoying than anything and I can still 'fly' without them. To be honest, I only miss them sometimes because they looked cool compared to other kids."

"Other kids?" Vivi hummed. Although she didn't want to believe Brody, he simply didn't come across as a person who would exaggerate... unlike someone like Carmen. Although Vivi was surprised by Brody's manhood, she simply couldn't believe that IT was easily above ten inches— as Carmen put it. All Vivi noticed was it being around six and soft.

"Yeah," Brody chuckled suddenly, "All of them had tiny pairs of white wings. Heh, they couldn't even fly with them. Mine on the other hand—"

*Grough*

A large dark brown 'bear' nimbly jumped down the trees and lunged at the duo as Brody scowled and looked back before using 'shigan' through a headbutt that sent the hear flying back.

Vivi still sported a stunned expression. The attack simply came as quickly as it ended.

"T- thank you..."

"For what?" Brody looked back cluelessly.

"Well... for everything until now," Vivi smiled sincerely, "I know... I've acted a bit harshly to try and leave for Arabasta so... I'm also sorry for that."

Brody shrugged, "I don't know what you're on about. It's not like I'm fighting Crocodile to save your kingdom... I'm a pirate, not a hero, after all. I just want to fight Crocodile."

"Could just think about millions of people suffering because of him..." Vivi muttered sourly.

"Aren't you the Princess? Why should I think about that? Oh, I know, once we kick Crocodile's ass and Mikita is part of my crew, say, want to join my crew for real, too?" Brody turned around completely, causing Vivi to hurry and look up and keep her gaze above the level of his chest itself as her hands began to gently scrub his torso.

"Me?" She questioned, "I mean... am I really part of your crew even now?"

"Yeah," Brody nodded eagerly, "We're traveling together, aren't we?"

Vivi smiled, "We are... never knew Brody 'Ruin' Hanma's standards for Comrades would be so low. Compared to your crew, aside from Nami-san, I am quite weak, you know."

"Oh, yeah, you're pretty weak," he snickered, causing her expression to go dark as she pressed a little harder on his chest, "You should have said— You can do better, Vivi— instead!"

"Huh? Why? If you could do better, wouldn't you have done that already?"

Vivi blinked, not expecting such a level of sophistication from the blunt words in such a manner.

Finally, realizing that she may have just wanted to try and find a deeper meaning to Brody... his existence and even maybe his ambitions, Vivi shook her head, "You're right, Brody-san. If I could do any better, I would have done so already. That's why I'm still alive... barely. Thanks to you."

He shrugged and then smiled honestly, "You know, Reiju gave me a great reward when I 'saved' her."

"What is it?" Vivi blinked.

"She gave me a kiss..." Brody grinned but before Vivi could even digest this information, he added, "Maybe I'll take something else. I mean, I didn't know it before but kisses happen in so many more situations that Reiju just cheated me out of a better reward because I didn't know any better."

Letting his gaze linger over Vivi, subconsciously, in a not-so-honest manner that even the Princess was realizing that she may have been too bold to be alone with Brody, he added, "Yeah... definitely something much better."

***

Alternate Title: Just Six-Inch Soft
-Nefertari Vivi.