More... She needed even more power if she was gonna be ready to venture into the Grand Line anytime soon. The past missions and training sessions were slowly taking into effect - something she could feel first hand with each task she took - so, the only conclusion for a smart girl to arrive at was; the more she trained like this, the stronger she'd become when the time came to finally move on with her quest. Her quest was to reach the grand line, and more: She wanted to see everything this world has to offer! To achieve that goal, she would have to reach the end of the Grand Line, and find the Ultimate treasure - One Piece - the same one all pirates dream about.

Waking up and as usual eating several pieces of fruit for breakfast, Lin slipped on a white dress and cream colored leather dress (complete with hood as always), and headed outside. She already had a pretty good idea as to what kind of training would be ideal for her at the current moment. Her skills were mainly focused on exploiting the envoiroment and being resourceful. Having woken up early enough, Lin walked around the mostly empty streets as she thought of how to make her training plan into reality. There were both fishing and Marine ships to be seen, but she wanted none of those. In fact, she wasn't really interested in the ship (she had her own small rowboat after all), what she wanted was a place to lead it towards. So there she was, walking around the island, her eyes keenly set on the horizon, her hood draped over her head to shield her gaze from the sun's rays.

And at the edge of town, she found it. Karate Island, like most islands, had a few smaller islets around it, and what Linnea wanted was a small islet that could still be big enough to harbor its own ecosystem, enough life for her to be able to survive inside it without starving to death. Having located her ideal setting, Linnea went to get her row boat, already having left her bow at the inn. The idea of this training session would be to survive with nothing but the barest essentials: The clothes she was wearing, and a weak little knife she used to carve wood and other items. She couldn't hunt with it, but she would need it to make everything required to survive...

TWC: 416

With a clear focus now set in her mind, Linnea got started with the next stage - actually the first stage - of her new training regimen. She headed for her rowboat, which hadn't been used since her adventuring in North Blue. It had been packed into the larger Kuja vessel that carried her across North Blue, all the way down to South Blue and even though she had arrived quite a few months ago, she had still not yet moved away from this island, and hence hadn't given it any real use, but all that was about to change very soon. First off she stepped into the boat and untied it from the pier, and after that she made way towards the island through the calm waves, enjoying the pleasant boat ride as her vessel undulated up and down with the flow of the water beneath.

This would no doubt be the best part of the next few days... Linnea truly loved adventuring, and in the ocean even more so. Everything from the smell of salt to the sound of the crashing waves felt incredibly calming and soothing. She paddled forward with all her strength, with long yet slow strokes, pushing boat forward yet not fast enough to tire herself out quickly enough. That was how she managed to get from island to island in such a meager ship. Too much arm power into the paddles and she'd exhaust herself long enough before reaching the next destination. It wasn't as troublesome given how close her destination was, but old habits die hard and Lin had no interest in killing them faster. Slowly but steady, she reached closer and closer to the islet as beads of sweat trailed from her forehead, down her face and chest, before finally vanishing somewhere in the valley between her breasts, while a thin layer of salt mixed in with the sweat, slowly coating her skin...

Very soon, she felt her boat hitting land... The sand beneath the crystal clear waters had become visible a few minutes back, and every now and then she glanced down and could even see some schools of tiny fishes going about their daily lives. Being close to nature like this made her smile heartfeltedly, unlike anything else could ever do... Nature was where she felt at home after all, she had learn that much through her youth in Amazon Lily...

TWC: 818

With her boat now stuck on this little islet, Linnea had but two option: One, she could push the boat back into deep enough water for her to be able to paddle and sail away from here; or she could bring it further in and "dock" it on dry sand, living on this deserted little island for a few days. The latter was the kind of training session she already planned for herself, so might as well just go ahead and do it. A few minutes later, she had docked the boat on land, sheltering it from the elements with large palm leaves, hoping it wouldn't be destroyed during her long training session.

For the next part, she'd have to start by assessing how would her survivability be tested on this island. The first priority would be to find water; even though there was water all around them, drinking salt water wouldn't bring her any close to quenching her thirst. With her priorities straightened out, she wandered through the jungle. It was visibly small and much less dense than the one at Karate Island, which made sense since this was little more than a satellite islet. She could count herself lucky to find a source of fresh, drinkable water nearby... Swatting away the vegetation and shrubs, she scared away the birds that stood in her path, until she noticed she had just scared away a rabbit. So, there were rabbits here huh? That meant there had to be fresh water on this island somewhere. Her confidence strengthened, Lin pressed forth, continuing her exploration.

The trees all around her shielded her face and body from the sun, and Lin took off her hood to better take in the envoiroment. If she was indeed going to find one or another source of drinkable water. She found it eventually, only she was disappointed to discover that it was simply a really small pond. It was more than enough for small enemies, but it wouldn't do it for her; not for long anyway. For now, she knelt down and drunk a few sips just to quench her thirst, before taking great care to take in her surroundings so she'd remember this place later on... Step two would be to find shelter. She hoped to build something a few inches over ground level just so bugs wouldn't crawl all over her at night. It wouldn't be easy but maybe she could find a way to make do...

TWC: 1232

Now, she knew where to find water. The best course of action would be to identify a good place to camp out nearby, so she'd be able to quickly get water without having to stray too far from her shelter. She had quite a few requirements to get the right place to build her shelter; First off, it would obviously have to be sheltered from the rain and whatever other things could suddenly fall out of the sky onto her as she was sleeping. As she strolled around the not so dense jungle, she identified the only way to achieve something like that inside such a small island would be to find a place where she had lots of tall trees, with wide leaves that could provide some form of cover, both against the rain, and against the excessive heat from the midday sun.

With this in mind, she naturally ventured deeper into the jungle and prowled around the deepest part. By her experience, thats where the oldest and tallest trees would likely be found, and thats where she'd be able to get the shelter she wanted. She wasn't too concerned with having the perfect shelter; just something basic would do. Eventually she found something that pretty much fit that description. Next to a large, fallen over tree, there were pretty tall trees with a leafy shade strong enough that she could feel a cool breeze even as every other part of the island was scorching hot. This would certainly be a good place so without further ado, it was time to start building. First off, Linnea would snap dry branches off teh fallen tree, and shave them with her knife somewhat.

First, she needed to clean up the place where she'd built the tent a little bit; wooden boards would have been ideal but she wouldn't be able to make those so easily: Instead, she used wooden logs as if she was building a raft, covered it with soft leaves, and settled for that. It was now a good few inches above the ground, which should reduce the amount of bugs wandering in. But this was only the beginning, since she still needed a proper house. She built her shelter by starting off with a wooden framework for a tent: Two long branches raised up in a triangle shape for both the front and back, connected by a single branch attached to both upper corners. Once the framework was over and done with, she then grabbed large, banana palm leaves and hung them around the sides and back of the tent, attacking them to both the top and bottom edges so they'd hold in place for the most part, lest a massive windstorm come her way. It felt like the many trees around her would protect her from the worst of it, but she still couldnt be too careful... A good night's sleep would be essential for her survival after all.

Once her makeshift tent was properly covered, she moved on to the next stage: a door. Well, something somewhat resembling a door would be enough for this part, so she just cut off more of those large leaves and hung them loosely at the entrance's side. Hanging them so they'd cover the entrance unless she moved them aside, this would be enough to prevent small enemies from wandering in, which was more than enough for an island without animals larger than the common rabbit. Sweating from her labour, Linnea sat down next to the fallen tree, drinking some of the water she collected earlier and wiping the sweat off her face, looking at her newly built shelter with a satisfied smile on her face... She'd still have to build a makeshift bed but after this, most of the critical work was complete. Next up, she'd need a weapon with which to hunt for food, or fish it...

TWC: 1883

She didn't actually deal with the absense of a proper bed (within the limits of possibility given her current circumstances), so before getting started on the weapons she decided to rectify that somewhat, at least until she felt like getting a better solution. She picked up a few large, soft leaves that could do the job well enough, and made a two layered heap on one side of her tent. With this temporarily solution now pushed aside, Linnea got started with the next step, to create weapons and hunt for food. The kind of weapon she used was also one of the most primitive and easiest to create. To create a bow, she'd simply need flexible wood as well as some manner of string that could be tied to both ends. Both string and wood had to be tough in order to endure the tension the weapon would be subjected to, the greater the tension the greater the power her arrows would fly with. The arrows themselves also had to be made carefully so as to be able to fly in a staight path instead of diverting off course and missing. Hitting far away, moving targets was hard enough on its own without any assistance from poor craftsmanship.

The components firmly engraved into her mind, Linnea got cracking. First, the wood that would make the bow itself. to find a good source, she prowled around the jungle just as she had been doing so far for various different purposes, but instead of simply walking around the trees, she grabbed each of them and flexed a single branch, testing how they reacted to being bent and tugged on. Some branches here hard and snapped easily enough; they were tough and probably idea for resilient wood constructs, but they exerted incredible resistance to being bent and should that resistance be overcome they snapped instead of bending. All in all, not right for a bow. The opposite end was just as bad, since there was no tension to be accumulated from any material that bent effortlessly. It had be accumulated...

After bending some branches off some trees and snapping others, she eventually found one with the characteristics she desired: Resistance and Flexibility. Once she isolated the right tree, she harvested a single branch, sat down on a nearby rock, and pulled out her knife. With it, she shaved and smoothed out the branch into a roughly even shaped rod which she could bend into the desired resting curve. The first part of her weapon crafting complete, Linnea moved on to the next part. To find the right string for her without having any horses around to cut off some of their hair, she did something else entirely, a secret to most people: She cut off a lock of her own platinum blonde hair, and after weaving enough individual stands into a proper string, she tied it to both ends of the previously carved wood. Giving the string a few tugs, she tested her new bow's flexibility. Taking a deep breath and smiling with a sense of accomplishment, Linnea verified it truly appeared to work! But in order to test that, she would also need arrows...

Making arrows wasn't nearly as difficult since the requirements for the right type of wood weren't nearly as strict. She went back to those hard, resilient trees from before and harvested a few brances. With her knife, she repeatedly shaved off thin strips of wood that could later be smoothed out into arrows. This part was actually hard given the toughness of the wood she had to work with, and by the end of it, face, hands and body were sweating profusely, but she had enough makeshift arrows to get by. If that weren't enough, she also found a bird's nest and by collecting some feathers she was able to give her arrows the stability they needed.

But did it really work? Before finally answering that question, she would need to test her new bow...

TWC: 2552

The arrows were sharpened and ready to fly, the bow was flexible and ready to shoot. But as the night was slowly falling, catching some food to eat wouldn't be too easy. It was perfectly possible, just a lot harder than it had to be had she done so earlier. If that wasn't enough, the weather darkened too... Where the afternoon had been warm and sunny, once the sky finally darkened snow started falling... Unexplicable phoenomemons like these were pretty common in the Grand Line where Linnea was born, thought even if she wasn't initially surprised by it due to her childhood memories, she soon started wondering what might have brought it on... Regardless, she soon tried putting one of her new arrows to us while still atop a tree: She took aim at a narutal circular mark in a nearby tree, loaded an arrow, took aim, and finally let it loose. With a whiffing sound, the arrow soared through the air and landed a few inches away from where Lin had aimed. It still landed inside the circular target, even if she was gonna have to get used to her new makeshift weapon...


But then something wierd happened... Out of nowhere, she suddenly started hearing a screaming female voice, and after a few moments she noticed that voice was coming from above, like someone falling down. A crashing sound echoed through the air, prompting Lin to return to her campsite, where she found a pile of snow near her tent. But the surprises wouldn't end there; she reflexively grabbed her bow, startled as the pile of snow started moving on its own eventually speaking to her:

"You... Are you a Logia?", asked an obviously surprised Linnea as the stirring snow took the form of a fully clothed young woman. The awe of the whole random encounter in the least possible expected place soon faded however, as Linnea's eyes couldn't help but noticing a small form peeking out of the brushes. Wasting not a single moment, she aimed her already drawn bow that way and let loose an arrow. They heard a faint squeak and Lin quickly walked over to those brushes, grabbed a dead rabbit by its ears, and turned back to the woman with a gentle, welcoming smile, "...Not much, just hunting my dinner. Would you like to join me?"

Growing up in the Grand Line had its perks... Even if the Kuja weren't the most eductated in worldly subjects such as devil fruit powers, Kuja pirates often brought back goods from their plunders, and every now and then these treasures included books that gave the women of Amazon Lily some insight into the outside world they seldom - if ever - got a chance to see with their own two eyes. One of those books detailed known devil fruits and their powers, and even if she didn't get to read anything about snow, she was aware of the existance of an Ice Element Logia fruit, and the kind of invulnerability this class provided its user. The question was, this woman standing before her; had she eaten the Hie Hie no Mi?

Once the inital surprise faded, she got back to the task at hand: She would build a fire and roast the rabbit she just killed, thanking the slain prey for the nourishment it provided them; yet all the while chatting with the new arrival. For now, might as well get to know the other girl, since loneliness was the hardest part of being stranded alone on an island... Even a natural loner like Linnea would be feeling its effects after many days by herself.


 TWC: 3162

And there it was, Logia power. She probably ate the ice fruit or some kind of snow fruit Linnea didn't know existed. The possibilities were endless, she knew that much about Devil Fruits. Besides, the girl looked friendly enough, she seriously doubted she was there to fight her so what manner of power she posessed was of little consequence for the time being.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Naga D. Linnea."

The girl then went off to catch her own dinner, leaving Linnea tending to her flames. Picking up sticks and stones, she quickly lit up a fire and stabbed her rabbit on a stick, roasting it over the burning embers. Melissa then came back with a rabbit for herself, indeed with powers like those of a Logia, Linnea imagined she wouldn't take more than a minute or two, and however long she took would be due to the time needed to find her prey. The girl soon came back, earning a chuckle from the platinum haired ranger as she created herself a seat from snow:

"That truly sounds like a useful power... How did you come upon it?", asked a curious Linnea, interested in a story over dinner...

That said, even if she were offered she would probably still prefer sitting on a stone just as she was doing now instead of laying her butt on that frigid lump of ice... That sounded like an incredibly unpleasant place to enjoy a meal even if the snow girl was probably not affected by it given her body. Once they finished eating, the girl was apparently in the mood for training. But Linnea had been training all day long; now she needed a long night's sleep. Yawning, she answered:

"Suit yourself... I'll be going off to sleep for now. See you tomorrow.", she smiled and waved at her new friend before retreating into her tent. Even with all the occasional noise from crashing trees, Lin still managed to sleep peacefully...




About a week after that, Linnea finally left the island. Both her and Melissa had their own training routines, but sharing their meals together was pleasant enough and for a lonely girl like Linnea, having only a single neighbor was the ideal set up. Hopefully they would meet again in a more adventure worthy location? She could only hope... Rowing off into the sunset with a smile on her face, Lin deemed her training complete for the time being.

-exit-