"You need to decide on a weapon, or a small number of weapons, to fight with. Your fighting with the element of surprise, which is good but, you need to train with a select few that you'll always have on hand otherwise your progress will be slowed down by a lot." Esen spoke up. You were probably a better fighter then him but he was a man who was able to point out the faults in others and rarely himself, it was tough for him to improve but he knew how to make others improve nonetheless.

You took his words to heart as you went back to the inn for the night, thinking of any weapons that would be a good choice. Nothing came to mind.

    The next morning was another training session with Esen, the day after that would be with Bark.

    "Did you think of anything?"

   Truthfully you replied back with a no.

   "As expected..." The man sighed, knowing full well you wouldn't have decided. "I'll bring in some options later but for now I'd like to teach you something important, something I believe will help you tremendously."

   "What is that?" Your words made Esen grin with glee

    "With your lack of being able to take a blow, and your reckless fighting behaviour that is bound for you to get injured, I was thinking about teaching you a type of haki." His words surprised you, though the face you put on didn't show too much of the surprised expression. "You very likely don't have Conquerors Haki, a one in a million chance, so it's all on the other two. Armament and Observation Haki. Either one would serve for the intended reasoning. It all depends on which one you can master, both if your lucky."

    You liked the idea of learning this power, you've never seen anyone use it but what was heard from it sounded amazing as all get out.

   You nodded your head with a determined look.

    "Good. I will be in charge of teaching you the armament one, while I'll inform Bark on how he could teach you Observation Haki. We need to do this quickly so I'll inform the others as well." He was mentioning the other two unnamed marines and Page that were in on this. Esen was a little bit of a person who'd often wander out of the base every so often so it was unsuspicious for him to be gone though he couldn't do it too often. Page and Bark often had to patrol the town making it easy to meet up. The other two marines were of a much lower rank, simply errand doers and it was hard to leave the base. They weren't much of fighters either, though they'd be good source of information considering they have to clean any room that seemed to fit the need and delivered things to and from the higher ups in the base.

They needed an outsider, such as yourself, to get rid of these marines.

**********

A few months of training passed and you finally mastered one type of Haki, Observation Haki. Surprisingly it came easy to you, hence the short time it took. Armament Haki proved to be difficult to you, only able to use it in small sections as it plagued in splotches across your skin and was nowhere near mastering it, not sure if you ever will.

Today was the day. The day the marine base was going down. Your weapons of choice were still undecided but nevertheless everyone agreed it was time to attack. Their attacks on the town only grew worse but you and the small rebellion group were growing stronger. The townspeople offered help but everyone decided it was best they not get involved for their best interest. Though you suggested an idea to them that they followed through the night before. A group of marines typically went to the bar in town, their only job was to put a sleeping concoction into their drinks then proceed to tie them up. After that, for everyone's safety, the marines were transferred to an abandoned shed in the outskirts of town.

   You were being dragged inside the marine base, pretending to be caught by Page and Bark. You were handcuffed and head hung low, there was a trick up the three's sleeves. Bark had the key, but it wasn't even necessary for the plan. One of the others on your side, pried open one of the chains on the handcuffs, enough that with force would disconnect the chains.

   They lead you directly to the captains office, they even added a fake wound or two to be convincing. The captain smirked seeing someone in his force be actually worth something.

"Captain Feta, sir! We have caught the miscreant who arrived at the island a few months ago!"

"We have identified her as Base Raider (Y/N). It seems as if she was planning to not only raid this base but destroy it as well. Sir!"

Page and Bark continued to play their part to a tee.

    "Good. Good." Feta stood up, and let go of a chain that connected to a young maiden who undoubtably was his slave. He grabbed your chin, getting a good look at your face. "Such troublesome hobbies for a nice looking girl."

    He wasn't the most pleasant man alive.

    "Sir!" Bark, barked out. "Would it be rude to ask where higher up Colby and Gouda are?"

   "A little... Though I can see your concern, a watchful eye is a good sign in a navy soldier." He hums in approval. "They are out on a mission, should be for another few days or so." He waved it off, not really bothered revealing the information in front of your chained presence. Though waving that off, it was a perfect opportunity that they were out, not as if they wouldn't come back, more so that today there is only one target. The moment the enemy turned their back, you forcibly pulled apart the loose chained handcuffs.

The fight ended soon enough, with a few kicks to the groin and help from Paige and Bark. His armament Haki was not very skilled, he wasn't too good at using it.

(I figured no one wanted to go through the fight, I certainly did not. I feel like it needed to quickly progress through it such as the amount it'd show for the others timeskip in actual One Piece so no lengthy fight scene.)

    The other two that came back to the island were troublesome to deal with, maybe even more so then the first one. In the end the marine base was temporarily disbanded. With Esen's leadership skills, and was often heard with good words, he was appointed as the new leader of the base. The whole town cheered at the victory, no longer to be harassed by the marine's as they knew Esen was humane and honestly quite caring.

     Page and Bark were later found out to be revolutionary spies. They were going to take their leave as you asked for one last favour.

     "You guys have methods to deliver messages across the red line, right?"

     "Yes." Bark answered back in a simple manner.

     "If you can, deliver this to a place called Shakky's Rip Off Bar. It's located on the Sabaody Archipelago." You handed him a folded piece of paper.

    "Oh there? We have a lot stationed there I'm sure we can get it delivered." Page happily noted, putting you at ease.

    "Isn't that where you have to meet with your crew mates and captain?" Bark inquired, making sure his memory served him right.

    "Yeah. At this rate I don't think I can meet them though."

    "Understood."

     They soon left.

     For the remaining time of the two years you trained in secret with Esen as you hoped to see the Straw Hats once again.

"Flames will burn as long as there is fuel this is unlike time as it will never stop, it needs no fuel."