While training, his gaze furrowed. It seemed like his crewmates had brought on an unidentified barrel, and from what he was sensing—and currently seeing from the window, with the red smoke—it was telling him they had fallen for a bait.
That meant that Gecko Moria's crew probably knew they were here.
A small smile formed on his lips. Kairo wanted to test Luffy's strength. Gecko Moria would be the perfect practice; all the other Warlords were currently unavailable for that.
Kuma would be a decent match, but not fully. Mihawk would one-shot Luffy and would ez-diff Kairo, so the crew would be fucked. Blackbeard would not run that fade, so Gecko Moria was basically the only one left. And yes, he left out Doflamingo and Hancock.
For one, Luffy would die to Doffy. And two, Hancock wasn't a good matchup for him—she'd probably fall in love or something.
Kairo paused.
"How did she fall for Luffy in canon?" He didn't know. All he knew was that a 30-year-old was lusting for a 19-year-old.
But if the case were reversed, he would've caught a case. No—he was still thinking with his world's logic. This world was closer to the 1400s than his era.
So grown men gooning over little girls was common.
Deciding that thinking about the freaky stuff of this world wasn't worth it, he headed out. One hand slipped into his pocket as the crew could be seen gathered around a barrel that had been lifted open by Usopp.
"Hey, Kairo," Luffy noticed him coming down.
"Well, look who decided to grace us with his presence." Kairo silently ignored Sanji's jab. He didn't know what qualms the man had with him, but that was none of his business.
"So, who set off the alarm?"
Every single finger pointed at Usopp—or rather, every look.
"Why me...? I did nothing wrong." Usopp wasn't trying to be blamed.
"Luffy wanted to open it more." Yep—he was throwing his captain under the bus.
"Well, there goes trying not to be spotted." Kairo yawned a bit; he seemed sleepier than usual.
"Have you slept?" Robin asked.
He yawned again. "I ran out of Haki. I'm tired. I'll be fine when it comes back."
Chopper paused. "But... isn't Haki willpower? How do you run out?"
He was confused about the whole Haki thing, which got a bit complex later on, so Kairo didn't fault him.
"Think of it like this," Kairo said. "Your body is a pool, and Haki is the water that fills it. If you keep draining the pool, eventually it empties out. When it rains, or when it refills, the pool goes back to normal."
Chopper seemed to get the gist of it. And the moment he did, the serious look returned to Kairo's face. All signs of fatigue vanished instantly—he was back at 100%.
"Speaking of which, it's all back now." He lightly clenched and unclenched his fist, his hand going from normal to black over and over again.
His gaze landed on Luffy.
"Do you still feel sluggish?" He was referring to the fact that Luffy had been wearing Sea Prism.
"I feel fine. My body doesn't feel sluggish anymore," Luffy said, jumping a bit to show his flexibility.
"That's good," Kairo said with a smile.
Robin suddenly got it.
"You're planning on using a Warlord of the Sea to train Luffy, aren't you?" It didn't sound like a question—more like she already knew and just wanted confirmation.
"Yeah. Luffy wants to be strong, and the best way to get stronger is to fight people relative to you. Gecko Moria will do."
'He's really using a Warlord as training wheels...' Nami thought, a slight sweat trickling down her spine.
Normally, she would've been stunned by someone even daring to do that to a Warlord. But Kairo fought an Admiral and survived—hell, he even scared one for a while.
So yeah. The boy was strong.
"Zoro... your dream is to be the world's greatest swordsman?"
Zoro, who had been napping—yes, he napped throughout the day—opened one eye.
He didn't answer, per se, but his eyes did.
"Good. I'm planning something for you. You better not die."
Zoro simply grinned.
"As if I'd die before this shitty cook."
Sanji was pissed. Kairo didn't care. He stretched a bit before saying,
"He should be here about now."
"Who should be—"
Usopp didn't even get to finish before a ghost ship drifted past them, the temperature dropping to near freezing.
It felt like ghosts were all around them.
And Kairo could sense him.
The musician.
Though Kairo did wonder, how the fuck could he poop, like at all, he could not see any intestin or any organs for that matter, and it wasnt like the man had an ass, shit was all bone so Kairo was very curious.
A/N Luffy would keep refering to Kairo as ninja guy anytime there is turmoil in his soul, since in time like this he doesnt know who is in control.
Yow, let's go.
Additional robin pic for being first.