Cat on Water

Chapter 9

Yoruichi stood in the clearing next to Luffy’s treehouse. Across from her, Luffy was standing, awkwardly fidgeting with his hands. It had been a bit over an hour since they had fallen into the water, and Yoruichi wanted to get testing immediately. Granted, she hadn’t told Luffy what the testing was for, but it’s not like he would understand anyway.

Yoruichi suddenly called out to Luffy, making him jump a little “All right, dumbass. Since you want to experiment with stuff, we will do an experiment with you. Understand?” She growled. She pointed to a small, newly made tree over to the side. “I want you to grab that tree from here with your devil fruit. Don’t move, don’t pull it, just hold onto it.”

Luffy, confused as always, just complied. He had learned from years of Garp training that if he didn’t, he’d be the one wrapped around the tree. Forcefully.

He stretched his arm out, then grabbed the small sapling. Yoruichi the walked over to the tree, using her spirit sense to look at his hand, or more accurately, into it. It was a small use of the spirit sense that she learned from division four in the Seireitei. It’s used to look at how the Reishi flows in the body.

Yoruichi was prudent in her search but did not find much. ‘Then again, I don’t know what I am looking for.’ She thought, frowning at his arm. She started walking back to Luffy, scanning his arm. When she got to his elbow, or where it should be, she felt something. ‘Hmm. Interesting. This feels like a mod soul’s Reishi. But not exactly.’ After a while, she kept walking all the way back to Luffy. He was still standing there, having no idea what was going on. After inspecting Luffy himself, she was surprised. She had no idea what these devil fruits were, but they were doing something so simple yet so complicated.

Yoruichi would have to find one to give to Kisuke. She didn’t know the specifics, but looking at Luffy she walks able to get a rough idea of what was happening. Instead of making an artificial soul, and then enhancing it somehow, like a normal Mod Soul, the devil fruit is like a prepackaged enhancement, designed to make a ‘gateway’ so to speak, between the physical body and soul, and then using something else to deliver a soul package? She wasn’t sure, all she could see was a little addon to Luffy’s soul that was connected directly to the physical body through some channel, and this channel allowed Luffy to become enhanced, in this case become a rubber man.

“Huh. Who woulda thought.” Yoruichi mumbled, still looking at the Reishi making up the ‘piece’ of the devil fruit.

Luffy, who was still looking dumbly at her even after 10 minutes of this, finally had enough. His arm came back to his body with a snap, and he pouted. “What are you looking a-mphrh” Luffy said, having his mouth covered by Yoruichi’s hand.

She glanced at him, brow furrowed, then said “It’s a punishment, idiot. Now shut up and let me study you.” Looking back at him, she could see that the ‘piece’ had gone dormant. ‘Seems like it only activates when he uses his power. No wonder I couldn’t sense it. You don’t usually scan this deep with spirit sense since it’s incredibly invasive. Even then, unless I was actively looking for it, you can’t even tell the Reishi of his soul is changing the property of his body. It’s an extremely efficient use of Reishi, so you can’t sense it unless you know exactly where to look.’ She then frowned. ‘How was I supposed to… oh. Yeah. The devil fruit users can’t swim, can they. The just freeze or feel incredibly weak or something.’ She then smirked, before looking at Luffy.

“Don’t move, brat. I have one more thing to test. Yoruichi then disappeared in a flash-step, before appearing back at the same spot only a few seconds later, but this time with a large barrel.

‘I could have taken my time but knowing this kid he’d be halfway to Lougetown before I got back.’ She thought wryly, before plopping the barrel down in front of her and prying its top off. “All right. Luffy, get in the barrel.” She pointed at it. Luffy then came over cautiously, before looking inside it. It was just water.

Yoruichi watched as this idiot climbed right into a barrel she had just filled with sea water, no hesitation. ‘Yup. No self preservation. I could just close the lid right now and he’d be screwed.’ Once he was in, she saw him pretty much fall limp. Looking closer, she could se the connection between the piece and the body using much more Reishi. It looked like it had to use a lot more to make his entire body’s muscles fall limp. ‘He’s gotta feel exhausted when that happens.’

She then kicked the side of the barrel, sending it toppling over. Luffy spilled out, looking like he’d just gone on a submersible carnival ride.

“All right Luffy. That’s it. I got everything I wanted. You can’t help me anymore.” Yoruichi crossed her arms. “That doesn’t mean you aren’t going to get punished more, though.”

Luffy, who was still laying on the ground soaked, felt a shiver down his spine that had nothing to do with water.

Yoruichi crossed her arms, looking imperiously down at the prone teen in front of her. “I’ll be generous. You got 5 minutes to run.” Luffy, hearing that, paled considerably and immediately stretched his arms out to the tree line, grabbing some branches then pulling himself to the trees. He then repeated this action, disappearing into the forest.

Yoruichi smiled cheekily. She had loved doing  physicallythis kind of exercise with division two, though they usually did it in the Rukongai. Here, it was just Luffy and a forest. ‘He always does come up with the most creative ways to hide. They’re dumb as all hell, but still creative.’ She scoffed a bit at one memory of the kid using a large tree leaf to try and block her view of him. The problem was the leaf was only about as big as his torso. She could see his legs, and the arms holding the leaf just fine.

She sat down on the ground, thinking about her plans for the upcoming days. She had honestly gotten sick of the planning, and was thinking about just wandering around, like she would do in Karakura. Should be fun.

She started thinking about what she would want to grab before she left before she felt enough time had passed.

Yoruichi stretched, arms above her head, before she stood up, dusting herself off.

“Now, if I was Luffy, where would I be…”

One hour of searching the mountain later, Yoruichi opened the door to Party’s Bar. Muttering to herself, she said “How the hell did that kid hide so well? I could have sworn I looked everywhere.” As she took a step, she looked up at Makino, ready to ask for a drink. She then froze, staring at a straw-hat wearing teen who was currently gorging himself on a plate of meat, sitting at the end of the bar.

‘How the…...’ Yoruichi was flabbergasted. ‘Why is he here? Why is he just eating a plate of food like I’m not going to kill him when I find him? More importantly, when did he get here?’

Makino, who had saw Yoruichi walk in, started greeting her, then stopped when she saw the purple haired woman staring at Luffy.

Yoruichi saw Makino lean over to whisper something to Luffy. She then witnessed the almost comical scene, of Luffy freezing, then slowly inching his body around to look at her. Luffy stuttered out, “H-h-hey Yoruichi.” Yoruichi deadpanned at that. She had forgotten who she was dealing with. She looked back at Makino and said, “Yeah. He forgot I was chasing him didn’t he. Then he came here to eat.”

Makino smiled apologetically. “He came in here trying to hide from something, then when I asked him if he wanted anything to eat, he just sat right down.”

Yoruichi smiled back at the green haired woman but didn’t say anything. She was looking to her left, where Luffy was trying to sneak out the door. “And where~ do you think you’re going?” Luffy froze. Yoruichi flash-stepped behind him and grabbed him by the cardigan he always wears.

Looking back at Makino, she asked “Hey, have you ever tried to put some discipline in this kid?” Makino looked a bit confused, before replying, “No. I tried when he was little, with table manners but he didn’t want to learn.”

Yoruichi grinned. “Well, I think it’s about time we give this one some real work to do. Do you have any dishes to wash?”

Makino didn’t even have to think before replying, “Yes, I do. Are you going to make Luffy wash them?”

Yoruichi dragged the still frozen Luffy by the back of his cardigan over to the back door behind the bar. “Yeah, I am. Could you also make me a plate of meat while I get him set up?”

“Of course. But he just ate, so what do you need it for?” Makino replied, before turning to the kitchen to go cook more food.

Yoruichi smiled, a little evil smile that made Makino shiver. “You’ll see.” Yoruichi then disappeared through the door with Luffy being dragged behind her.

15 minutes later, Makino walked into the back holding a plate of meat. She saw Luffy standing there in the middle of the room looking depressed, while Yoruichi stood behind him with her arms crossed. It seems she had just finished telling him what he was going to do. And judging by his face, she had instilled some ‘ground rules’.

“Here’s the plate, Yoruichi” Makino said, handing it over. Luffy, being the bottomless pit he is, started sniffing the air like a bloodhound. He started salivating over the plate, before he was smacked in the head by Yoruichi.

“Remember what I said, boyo.” She said, before taking the plate and putting it on a shelf above the sink. Luffy watched all of this, and then looked to the left of where the plate was. There was a mountain of dirty dishes sitting there, almost too the roof.

Yoruichi then turned back to Luffy, holding out some gloves and an apron. “Put these on.” She stated, no room for argument. “Remember, you had better clean them fully. Spotless. If you don’t, a piece of meat disappears. You break a plate. A piece disappears. You do something else besides clean dishes. A piece disappears. You touch the plate before you’re done cleaning. A piece disappears. Understand?”

Luffy was now standing there, staring distraught at the plate of meat, which when he stood in front of the sink, would be right above his head. Tears were running rivers down his face, but he still nodded.

Yoruichi smiled gently, trying to channel as much Retsu Unohana into the smile as possible. “Good. I’ll be watching.” She then disappeared on the spot, having given Luffy his task.

Luffy, now alone in the room, with only the sink, the plate of meat, and the veritable mountain of dirty dishes to keep him company. He would spend the next four hours cleaning dishes, tears pouring out of his eyes continuously, as he stared at the plate of meat with a wistful expression.

In the end, he never got to eat the plate of meat.

Yoruichi sat at the bar, using her spiritual sense to keep an eye on Luffy. She was eating a leg of meat while chatting with Makino about places to see on her upcoming travels. Every so often, she would disappear for a split second, and then reappear almost instantly back in her seat, with a new stick of meat.

“So, what was that place you mentioned yesterday?” Yoruichi asked the bartender, between bites of meat.

“Oh, yes. Um, it’s like a carnival, or festival that happens occasionally. It’s on the Oykot Kingdom Island. It was east of Lougetown if you remember the map.”

“Yeah, pretty big one?” Yoruichi replied, munching on a piece of meat. She then flickered for a second, then reappeared with another piece.

“Yes. That one. It would be a good place to start, as the merchants that set up shop there come from all over. After the pirate attack around 20 years ago, and with that new Marine Captain in Lougetown, it has become one of the safest areas to be in, so the merchants started setting up there every 6 months or so.”

“Hm. Might as well start there. The marine base there wasn’t on my list, so I didn’t want to bother. Might find something interesting. Who knows.”

The hours passed, with Yoruichi just relaxing, and eating meat. Once Luffy was finished with his dishes, which were surprisingly all cleaned, even though it took him multiple tries, Yoruichi had to drag his frozen, dead eyed, and traumatized body out of the bar. She flash-stepped him back to the bandit’s hideout, before leaving him in his bed, and headed back to the room she had.

‘Well, tomorrow is when my vacation can actually start.’ Yoruichi smiled. ‘Maybe Kisuke had the right idea of it. I was getting bored.’ She chuckled, before frowning. ‘He is still going to get it though.’

Yoruichi sighed, ready to do and do something for once. She had gotten used to the bit of excitement she had with Garp around as someone she could spar with.

She sat on her bed, grabbing her Zanpakuto from where it lay on the nightstand. She looked down at it, as she had done every morning and night before sighing. ‘Still gotta deal with this guy though. I might actually need him, given what Garp had said about him being only a Vice Admiral and all. With the Admirals, the Four Emperors, and the Seven Warlords wandering around, I might actually get a good workout for once.’

Yoruichi chuckled a bit, feeling the disdain roiling off her Zanpakuto spirit. She sat on her bed for the rest of the night in a meditative trance, poking fun at Rainzupuraido the entire time.