Disclaimer : I own nothing.
Chapter 39 : Food and Wars.
- Shin –
I looked at Rindo who was shaking and writhing on the bed. Her vitals are increasing but still out of the danger zone. The slight change that I had made to the Super Soldier Serum made it increase in potency by almost twice….unfortunately, it also increased the time needed for the chance by just as much.
Her muscles twisted and bloated slightly before becoming more compact and her flesh tightened over them. Her bones made cracking sounds as they aligned themselves in the proper place.
I couldn't give her pain killers or even anesthetics because they would have reacted badly with the enhanced Super Soldier Serum and could lead to after effects that I didn't want to deal with. So, I did what a self-respecting Gamer would do – I cheated.
Curses can be used to enhance senses as well as dull them until the target cannot feel anything at all.
The process stopped after some time and her body relaxed and the shivers reduced until she was breathing calmly.
There weren't too obvious changes in her body but Observe showed a completely different story.
She had a decent two hundred across all the physical stats. That is already stronger than normal pirates with a fifty million to one hundred million Beri bounty. The only thing she lacks is experience and skill.
I left her to rest as she fell asleep after the process completed.
While I might have reduced the pain, the mental exhaustion is a different thing entirely. Such an experience was already something way beyond what was normal for a normal human like her.
I came out of the cabin and found Nami trying to look as if she hadn't been peeking at us at all.
"So, did you like the show?" I said as I brought out a drink from my inventory.
"W-what? I don't know what you mean." She said while not trying to meet my eye.
"I can get you one of the Serums too if you want." I offered and I did see a hint of longing in her eyes which she then suppressed quickly with herculean and looked away.
"I-I am fine. I don't need anything." She replied very softly.
"It would easily make you around twenty times stronger than a normal human." I continued unphased.
"I-I…."
"It would make it easier for you to fight against Arlong." I baited her making her head snap in my direction at a speed that would have broken the neck of many. I answered her unasked question, "You had the mark of the Fishman Pirates on your shoulder." Her hand clutched her shoulder and she stepped back suddenly afraid of me.
"Don't worry. I had sensed your emotions and I know for a fact that you hate Arlong and the Fishman Pirates. I can more or less guess what happened. I am not going to do anything to you though." I waved my hand and took another sip of my drink while tossing a bottle from my inventory towards her.
She fumbled with the bottle but caught it nonetheless.
"W-why?" she whispered.
"I simply wanted to get to Arlong's base. If you had been an unrepentant killer, I would have used harder means to convince you to bring me to the headquarters of the Fishman Pirates but as you are doing so yourself, I don't have any problems with you. As for me offering the Serum, I wanted to invite you to my crew. I don't know much about navigation and it would help me greatly if you join my crew. I am not forcing you though. It is a foolish thing to force someone into your crew who would be watching your back. It is just a simple invitation."
"You said that you wanted to reunite with your family." She questioned slowly opening the bottle and taking a sip of her drink and then a few more.
"I am. It is my primary goal. I however know for a fact that it would take me across the world to find them and then finally return home. I will need a good navigator to get into some of those places."
"I….I have to think about it." she answered after collecting herself.
"Sure."
Two days have passed and we were on our way to Baratie Restaurant.
During this time, I reverse engineered the Super Soldier Serum. Honestly compared to the Elixir of Life, this thing is basic stuff. The real challenge was actually trying to alter the formula to make it stronger and remove the personality changing trait though.
Rindo, who had seen me taking down a Sea King twice the size of our ship, had been the volunteer for the Serum's use.
Apparently the sheer reality of this world was hitting her now.
"Oye shitty student of mine….come on out, it's time to get your ass kicked by me." I heard a shout, far too cheerful for someone who was going to hit me with an Armament Haki enhanced iron rod and my hand instinctively crushed the bottle in my hand.
"Say….is that really training?" Nami asked from beside me. "You are not one of those are you? I mean the ones who get off on being hit?" she said, looking suspiciously at me.
My lips twitched furiously at the question. "I can assure you Miss Nami that I am more into causing pain than taking it. I can show you if you want." I smiled as she backed away very quickly.
Before I could do anything however, I was dragged in by Roger for my training session for Haki and I could barely drink the Training Potion before it.
Since I am getting stats for training, the potions would work.
The effect was quite evident as well.
In the last two days my Observation Haki had increased by two levels surprising even Roger and now stood at a respectable Adept level.
Skill Gained
[Observation Haki(Adept)]
(Passive)
Enhances all senses of observation by 40%.
(Active)
Enhances all senses of observation by 160%.
Can observe an area equal to 1.6 times your WIS stat.
Costs : 100 MP/sec.
Apparently beating the crap out of someone while depriving them of senses did help in increasing the training speed by a lot.
The fact that Roger didn't need to sleep with the metal body didn't help me either.
I haven't been able to enter the ID even once in the last two days.
The training however was not halted and I was pushed even harder by Roger who increased the speed of his attacks and the force as I grew accustomed to it.
A simple unbreakable charm on his metal body had made him extremely durable. This enabled him to use even more force without the fear of damaging his body. I did try to transfigure his body into a more human-like form. It was a nice experiment for me too. I have managed to return the sense of taste to the body, something that he was far to grateful for.
All this however didn't end well for me. He started pushing the training even harder while he ate and taunted me while I was lying on the ground battered.
The results of the training were the only thing keeping me from dismantling the piece of metal apart.
- Scene Change –
After another session of beating we came out of the training room for lunch. Rindo had soon recovered and resumed her duties.
This time however, she had chopped the Sea King by herself.
Honestly speaking, watching the fiery redhead chopping the piece of the monster double her size was just…. extremely sexy.
I seriously need to bring my Rias back soon.
I was slapped on my head as I looked towards Rogers who was trying to explain how Armament Haki worked and had noticed me staring at Rindo. The old man had that annoying smirk on his face.
"You can stare at your cook later. We have a lesson now." He shouted loud enough for the said cook to hear us clearly and she too sent a smirk my way which was much more feral after the Super Soldier Serum's dose.
"Ara Ara are you planning to cheat on your lover Captain?" Rindo teased.
I deadpanned at her. "I was not thinking about that although, my fiancé has a very unique definition of cheating though due to the culture we are from. Rias would not mind if the girl is genuinely interested in me but if someone is just trying to use me….it would not end well for them."
The Iron-Pirate raised a metallic eyebrow while Rindo scratched her head.
"Rias? Wasn't your lover that Maid of yours Sakuya something?" she questioned.
"Sakuya had actually pursued me for a while and Rias actually approved of her. It was due to several reasons. The place we come from, it is not unusual for someone to have multiple partners. It is especially due to the fact that the fertility rate in the place is excruciatingly low. The people live extremely long lifespans but having a child is also just as rare. I know of several people who have more than one partner to ensure an heir for themselves."
"So you can live very long? How long is that?" Roger asked intrigued. He had that curiosity of a child.
"The lifespans of the people there depend on their powers. I know of beings that are millions of years old and even some who have existed since the creation of the world. Whom do you think I brought your soul from?" I smiled at him.
His eyes widened but soon he burst out in a loud laugh.
There was no pretense of showing courage or even a hint of fear in the man as he laughed carefreely. It made me realize the charisma of the man who was called the Pirate King. The carefree laugh that made one feel comfortable just being with them. Luffy also had the same kind of laugh.
"Ehh who cares about the lifespan and crap….tell us about this fiancé of yours. Your homeland allows Harems? What kind of a place is that? You said you are actually a Noble? Is it only something Nobles can do?" Rindo fired off question after questions.
"Hmm….me and my fiancé are from different communities. I had run away from my home after my Godfather's death when I had found a marriage contact in my Godfather's vault. He had made me his heir and due to the contract I was carried to my fiancé's community. Now the problem was that she was already engaged to someone whom she hated with all her guts." The audience were listening to the story very carefully now. "I had to fight with that person and his peerage. A peerage is a….type of a crew actually. I had no one in mine so I went around finding members all over the world in ten days. Finally it was sixteen against four with four being on my side."
"Were they magicians too?" Nami asked, now engrossed in the story.
"They could use magic as well. The opponent's King or rather captain was someone who had the powers of a Phoenix much like the Devil Fruit and could regenerate even if his head was cut off. It was not like Logia but true regeneration so the bastard was extremely arrogant. We beat the crap out of him and his entire peerage and I asked for Rias' hand. She agreed and we dated a while to get to know each other and then fell in love. The reason I was looking at Rindo was because Rias also has beautiful crimson hair that I absolutely love." I said before transfiguring a crate into Rias.
The girls had their mouths open wide and Roger gave me a thumbs up.
"She is so beautiful." Nami whispered, stunned.
"So you are not from this world are you?" Roger questioned breaking the others out of their haze.
"Hmm nope."
"WHAT?" the navigator shouted again.
"How did you even end up here?" he asked as he sat down now listening.
"Magic is a wonderful thing, the only limits being what one can push it to. It however does not play fair all the time." I replied not answering anything directly.
"Say….is the other world fun?" Roger questioned.
"It is. There are many interconnected worlds to my previous world. I studied in a school for magical children. It was actually a castle…."
I told my story to the now motley crew of four as we took a break. Rindo made skewers of the meat while I told them about the previous world.
The evening passed on quite peacefully.
- Two Days Later –
I dodged towards the right as the wooden sword coloured with Armament Haki smashed the ground under me with enough force to tear a meters long gully. My eyes and ears were still covered while Roger attacked me. I was to defend myself with my fists and a sword of my own. My own sword had to be coated in Armament Haki to stop Roger's attacks and divert them. He always increased the level no matter how much I improved. The sword hit the ground and then was again reflected towards my face. I jumped and brought my wooden sword in front of me trying to deflect the attack to the side only for my sword to snap in two on the hit.
The very next instant the sword struck me and I was blown off to the wall crashing against it. This however was not the time for a break. I pushed against the wall and rolled to the side as the heels of Roger's shoes crashed against the place where my head had been a moment ago.
"Wahahaha this is starting to become fun brat. Move even faster now." shouted the insane bastard.
"I can't hear you. My ears are shut, you damn old man." I replied back before I paused for a moment realizing the sheer ridiculousness of the statement and was smacked aside with another hit of the sword. I am pretty sure I felt my bone break with this one.
There were no follow up attacks and I stopped and removed my eye and ear covers.
- Gol D. Roger –
Roger looked at his student….yeah….somehow he has a student after death now. The world had its own way of showing people just how small they were compared to it. The man who has supposedly gained all the treasure in the world, seen everything that was to be seen was brought….no rather dragged out of death just to show how wrong he was.
Still having a protégé. The closest thing to one he had was Shanks but even then he hadn't taught the boy anything directly. At best given a piece of advice or two.
He looked at the boy who was opening his eye and ear covers while breathing heavily.
"So you finally reached the next level. It is still very slow for someone who is being taught directly by me."
Seven days to reach this stage….It was not a matter of talent anymore. This boy was a certified monster.
When he said that he was going to save his son in around a few months' time, Roger had mentally scoffed at the idea.
It had weighed heavily on him about what had happened to Rouge and Ace and thus he had accepted it as soon as he heard the offer.
As for the boy himself though, he was not even at the level of a Vice Admiral and would have been killed instantly against an Admiral. To stand in a fight against the likes of Whitebeard and Sengoku….it was a child's dream.
The magic could however be something that could offer an edge in it.
The only thing that had stopped him back then was the look in the boy's eyes when he had rejected One Piece.
The answer was similar to what Whitebeard had given him back when he had offered the location of Laugh Tale to his old rival. It was the same look that was common in the people who looked down on the world….the ones who carried the Will of the Kings.
None of those people would make such promises. His Haki also assured him of this fact.
Moreover he had seen his actions with Buggy and although it saddened Roger, even he knew that Buggy was in the wrong here and didn't stop the boy.
Roger had planned to get in contact with his previous crew and raid the Impel Down if such a thing indeed happened though.
Although now looking at the insanely developing protégé of his, he didn't have a shred of doubt.
The sheer development that the boy has shown in regards to Observation Haki in these seven days was something that had taken him close to a whole year to grasp.
He laughed in his head thinking about the time when he brags about this to Rayleigh. He will be so jealous wahahahaha.
A protégé from another world. Who can beat that? Garp? Rayleigh? Whitebeard?
"Boss, we are reaching the Baratie. It is on the horizon." called out the voice of the Navigator and the boy looked out of the window towards the deck.
"In that case we have to stop here, Teacher." He bowed slightly towards him and he got up to walk out. "Teacher….you have to keep hiding or I could simply change what you look like if you want to go out." He stopped before saying.
"I am not hiding at all brat. There is a restaurant in East Blue and you want me to hide. Dream on. I am going to eat till I am in a coma." He snapped.
The boy deadpanned too. "You do realize that you can eat almost twenty times your normal amount in this body right?"
"Then that is your problem." He strutted out of the training room.
The boy twitched a little before he snapped his finger and Roger felt his face change. Looking around in the nearby window, he observed that now he looked much different than before.
This magic thing was really convenient. He could simply enter a restaurant and make a dine and dash without anyone ever finding out about it.
Then again where is the fun in that? He shrugged his shoulders and walked out too.
As if a mere change in face would hide the prestige of the king.
No matter what, it would be fun to tease his student. After all that was the best part of teaching.
- Rindo –
Rindo jumped in excitement watching the restaurant approaching on the horizon. The ship looked gigantic even compared to their own.
These past few days have been a roller coaster for her.
First trying to search the Aztec Ruins with Tsukasa for finding any information on the foods of the people from back then and then a jump into a completely new world entirely. Joining a pirate hunting crew while cooking ingredients from a whole new world entirely were also out of the expectations of Rindo. This is the perfect adventure that Rindo always wanted.
To be honest the moment she had been summoned or rather the moment she appeared in a new place after touching the stone tablet, she knew that she had messed up. Meeting Shin was actually lucky for her or she would have died the first day she was summoned. That weird tiger creature was fun to cook but she who had learned about the biology of many different animals to use in her cooking knew that this tiger could tear apart almost any animal on earth with brute force alone. The muscles had been insanely difficult to remove and she knew it would have been impossible without the Magic equipment Shin had given her. The simple thought that there were animals filling the entire world that she had no idea about was enough to make her salivate.
Let it not be unknown that Rindo Kobayashi enjoyed eating food as much as she liked cooking them too.
Then came the moment when she had seen the fight….or rather where Shin simply destroyed the gigantic sea monster with one attack.
It was at that moment that Rindo had realized that she was way out of her league to survive in this world and had accepted Shin's offer to become a SuperHuman. The Serum supposedly hurt like a little bitch. Thankfully she hadn't felt a thing until the spell was dispelled by Shin.
It took her over a day to control her basic body balance. She had enough strength to punch through a concrete wall with her bare hands.
The sea monster was extremely easy to cut even with normal equipment.
Shin had taken the monster's teeth and bones and crafted a set of knives as per her instructions and she had been having fun using those until she heard Nami call her about the restaurant.
Finally the sea restaurant was here. She was excited to see how the chefs of this world worked.
She looked at the distance with her binoculars and saw a huge galleon in front of the restaurant.
The restaurant itself had a very funny design. A fish with fins spread where people could dine. She could see herself open a restaurant like that when she returned back to her world.
"Ne ne Nami-chan, is that restaurant really so good? Are the chefs really good at their work or is it just a famous place because of its nature as a restaurant that serves everyone?" she asked curiously as Nami steered the ship towards the port.
"The chefs in the restaurant are known to fight off anyone who tries to cause any trouble in the place. The chefs also maintain a very high quality of cooking. I haven't been to the place but I have heard enough to know that they are very serious about cooking as a whole." Nami relied while steering.
Finally she will see how the chefs of this world cook. A Shokugeki.
- Shin –
Some things never change.
As our ship docked at the side of the restaurant, I noticed the broken roof off the restaurant.
Rindo has been like a child on a sugar rush since she heard about the Baratie.
Roger was walking calmly while Nami was tagging along quietly.
We entered the restaurant and took a table to ourselves as Rindo looked through the dishes. She is someone who enjoys eating as much as she likes cooking.
The food was ordered and we looked around for the other party.
"CLEAN THIS PLACE UP CHORE-BOY."
Looking behind we saw the chore-boy aka Luffy working tables.
"Is that the boy?" Roger asked, looking at the straw hat that the person was wearing.
"Hmm. Monkey D. Luffy." I smiled as I looked around for Zoro.
The Pirate King looked closely at the Future Pirate King to assess his worth.
The person in question sensed our gazes and turned towards us and in a moment two hands stretched right to our tables and then the person himself was flung right to our faces.
"SHINNNN! What are you doing here?" Luffy shouted at full volume only to be kicked aside by Sanji.
I really thought that the eyebrows were an exaggeration but turns out that it is real.
"Get back to cleaning the tables chore-boy" Sanji commented smoothly before spinning around right in front of Rindo with a dish.
"Tomahawk Spiny Lobster. The fiery red lobster for the beautiful red haired lady such as you. Please enjoy." He then spinned around to Nami to continue, "Draconic Super-Fillet Salmon for a Lady of exquisite taste such as you. May I have your names My Ladies." He then kissed Nami's hand softly while she merely deadpanned.
"Oooohhhh This lobster is good. The slices are well done, the moisture is well preserved and yet the texture is amazing. You made these funny-brows?" Rindo asked while gulping the piece of the lobster at an incredible speed.
I had a taste as well and hot damn, if I hadn't been having foodgasms worthy foods all this while, I would have torn through the whole plate like a starved man.
"Oho Mademoiselle seems to be interested in cooking. Would you like to discuss the dish perhaps with me over a glass of wine?" Sanji focused on the comment right at the moment.
I did notice that he completely ignored the funny-brows comments.
In the meanwhile Roger was already upon the food for us and Luffy showed up again. "Shin….you have already met Sanji. He is my new cook. What are you guys doing here?" he blurted out in quick succession before Sanji could kick Luffy away again.
"We were on our way to Nami's place but my chef, Rindo here, heard about this place and we stopped by to see it for ourselves. So what made you the chore-boy all of a sudden? Are you giving up on becoming the Pirate King already?" I asked the simple-headed person in front of me.
"Hah? NO WAY. I AM MONKEY D. LUFFY AND I WILL BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES." roared the idiot making me smile at this.
The whole restaurant quieted down as everyone started at Luffy at this moment while a period of silence descended on the place. It was soon broken as people started to make fun of his dream but the idiot still smiled without paying any attention to them at all.
"WAHAHAHAHA that's the spirit young man. Tell me something however," Roger peered into Luffy's eyes closely. "What does being a King of the Pirates mean to you? What does it mean to find the One Piece to you?"
If only the Iron Puppet in front of me had his real form, this moment would have been engraved in historical monuments but even the absence of that didn't make it any less important or even impressive for any of us.
Me, Nami and Rindo who had somewhat of an idea who the person asking the question was looked at the skinny boy for the answer.
"The Pirate King is the person who is the freest in all the world. I will become the Pirate King." The words were uttered with such causality as if he was talking about going shopping for vegetables. The conviction in his voice was just too infectious and it just made the people want to believe in him too.
Is this a protagonist with a Plot Armour? Or is it just Luffy's innate charisma at work.
Roger's lips curved up in a smile. "Well said. That hat really suits you. I am happy that it has found a worthy partner again. Have fun and never fear to explore."
"Obviously." Luffy smiled back.
"Oh Shin, Nami you are both here." Zoro came along followed by Ussop, Johnny and Yosaku and along with them came someone I wasn't expecting at all.
The butterflies have started flapping their wings.
"Zoro. I guess Luffy got you all stuck here?" I smiled before looking at the other three. "New members?"
"Yeah….the long nosed one is Ussop. The green haired one is Bartolomeo and the red haired one is Desire." He introduced and then looked towards Rindo and Roger, especially at the cutlass at his waist. "New crew members?"
"Hahahaha yeah, Rindo is my chef and he is my teacher." I motioned towards the two. "And everyone, this is Zoro, the future Strongest Swordsman in the world. Come on, join us for the food. Rindo gets really lost in the topic of food."
Sanji probably heard me and looked at me annoyed. "What would someone like you understand about the importance of exquisite cuisine?"
I looked towards the idiots and smiled. Being passionate about one's profession is all well and good but you shouldn't rub it in other peoples faces.
Suddenly I had an idea and my smile widened.
"Hahahaha too true my friend too true. I merely enjoy eating food. What would I know about cooking and stuff? That's why I have Rindo-chan cooking for us."
I sensed his envy becoming higher and decided to push it a little more.
"You are a nice person. So passionate about your work. You remind me of my darling Reiju-chan, with the eyebrows and all but I honestly like her pink hair better." I saw his eyes widened as his toothpick fell from his mouth(Sanji not smoking a cigarette during work.) "She is an angel I tell you. Not like the idiot father Judge and three dumb brothers of hers. It won't matter for longer though. We are eloping the next time we meet. Keep up the nice work dude and let me enjoy the food. I might even hire you along with Rindo-chan to cook at the wedding." I got back to eating, leaving a paralyzed Sanji staring at me. It took a few moments for him to understand and then recover from the words before he picked me up from my chair using my collars.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY DARLING REIJU? AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN BY ELOPING!?" he shouted making everyone go silent all at once suddenly.
"Eh….I think you are mistaken. I didn't say Darling Reiju."
"THEN WHAT DID YOU SAY? I AM PRETTY SURE I HEARD EXACTLY THIS."
"I said my darling Reiju-chan. You can't miss the –chan part. She doesn't like that. Also eloping means running away and marrying. It is what two people who are in love with each other but aren't approved by their parents do. We just need to decide the exact date for it though."
"Y-youuu…." hanged due to overload.
"I?" I tilted my head looking innocently back though.
He took a deep breath and then put me down. "Please take care of my sister."
Jaws dropped.
"Kay bro. I will." I gave him a thumbs up.
The situation turned merry soon although Sanji was quite lost in thought and left.
Apparently Nami had more than enough of it and whispered to me. "Shin, stop pulling the poor man's leg."
Can she detect my Bullshitting skill too?
What's up with female intuition?
To OP Please nerf.
Sigh.
I winked back at Nami. "I didn't lie at all. I haven't met Reiju so we can't plan to elope. She is my darling Reiju-chan? As for her, she doesn't even know me. And I will surely take care of her if I meet her. See no lie at all."
I returned to my food as everyone gawked at me in silence.
Who told him to be rude to me?
"So that was a joke?" asked Ussop, suddenly curious.
"Obviously. Knowing his sister, she would sooner poison me into molten goo than elope hahahaha."
The other group settled down as well while Zoro returned back to staring at Roger's cutlass.
"You said he is your teacher? So he must be good right?" Zoro asked as he started eating too yet no one was oblivious to the battle intent he was exuding towards Roger.
The man in question however was simply too busy eating to care about it.
Not that I don't understand it. The current Zoro couldn't even touch Mihawk, let alone a monster like Magic-mehca-Roger.
"Mmh teacher always kicks Boss' ass in training. I haven't seen him return any of the attacks even once."Rindo chimed in.
I pouted, "Observation Haki training is just the way it is."
"Wahahahaha not that you could return the attack brat. You are too early to be able to touch me."
"Yeah yeah wait a bit. I will kick your ass once for sure." I grumbled. Not that I was lying. The bastard had too much fun 'teaching' me.
We enjoyed our meal and went back to our ship.
Zoro decided to join us to watch our training and we didn't mind while Rindo challenged the chefs to a Shokugeki.
Looking at the face of Sanji, he was not expecting that.
Though the man did regain his elegance back and agreed to the challenge.
Zeff was the final judge of the match.
After the normal session of being kicked around, I left to take some rest while Zoro stayed with Roger who took an interest and decided to give the boy a few tips.
Yeah….the dumbass didn't even know how grand the opportunity that he is getting was.
I in the meanwhile took the moment where the ship was docked to level up.
Sixty levels of the Penalty Class were still left.
I took the opportunity to take an Upgrade Quest for the Armament Haki.
Kill 100 Veteran Enemies with Armament Haki for the next level up.
ID Create.
- Scene Change –
I came out of the ID with 35 more levels up on the Penalty Class. The quests need to be taken care of soon.
Maybe I should learn Swordsmanship from Roger too.
It would be a waste to not learn swordsmanship in the One Piece world.
I can summon Restia as well if I learn swordsmanship.
As I was thinking of all this, I dived to the side as the place I was standing on was cut off into two.
Motherfucker!
It was then that I realized that I was on the deck of a different ship.
My ship was docked a certain distance away.
So they moved it.
What in the nine hells is happening here?
The Galleon was cut into three pieces as the ship tilted and began to sink.
I suddenly found the reason behind this in my Haki's range.
Ah, so it was that time already?
A coffin shaped boat with a man dressed like a Spanish swordsman sailed in.
A simple Shadow Step later I was already behind Rindo and Nami.
They had their mouths hung open.
Literally everyone here was in the same situation except the Magical-mecha who was simply gulping down bottles of wine one bottle after another.
Observe
Name: Dracule Mihawk
Title: The Strongest Swordsman in the World
Race: Human
Rank: Champion
Level: 92
A Champion?
What the fuck Game?
How is he an Ultimate Class?
The Racial Difference will make a lot of difference too. If the individual Dracule Mihawk is reincarnated into a Devil, he would be a High Ultimate Class being.
Dulio was reincarnated as a Ten Winged Angel. That was not due to his Sacred Gear. The Sacred Gear is a whole other factor. The number of Wings depends on the individual's own strength and Dulio was just that strong.
It is estimated that if Vasco Strada were to be reincarnated, he would be around the same level.
Oh….I guess it kinda makes sense.
I can see Mihawk becoming an Ultimate Class Devil.
Still his physicals stats alone are in the 1800s.
That is a LOT.
I can estimate that the use of Armament Haki would only make it higher.
Zoro had already walked forward so there was no stopping him. Not that I wanted to either. This will be one of the biggest turning points in Zoro's life.
"Did he….the man with the hat cut that Ship?" Nami asked, her voice trembling.
I remembered that she was sleeping when the Sea King was hunted, while she would have been absent after stealing the ship if not with us.
"Obviously. A simple ship like that would be an easy thing for someone like him to cut." I said as I sat down and brought out a bottle of wine on Roger's table.
The man put down his glass as well. "He does seem quite strong. What is his name?" Roger asked while I filled his glass.
"Dracule Mihawk, the strongest swordsman in the world. I think he is a friend or a rival of sorts with Shanks." I informed as I filled a glass for myself as well.
The fight was quite….cute if you ask me.
I had expected to be fanboying but honestly with the speed Zoro moved, it was just….so underwhelming.
"The white shirt one is very slow." Rindo commented from the side making jaws drop.
Yeah….Zoro's stats are still only in the high 90s and low 100s while Rindos are in the 200s after her enhancement with the Super Soldier Serum V2.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SLOW? I COULD BARELY SEE HIM MOVING AT ALL." Nami shouted while the chef just shrugged her shoulders.
"It seemed slow to me." She shrugged.
"So who was the winner of the Shokugeki?" I asked, changing the topic.
This caused her to pout in return. "Funny-brows had to fight so it was suspended. The first two rounds were one win each though. I didn't expect him to be so good though. It was definitely such an exciting match."
"Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame."
Ohhhh that cheese.
"Is the idiot suicidal?" Nami asked incredulously.
"Wahahaha that brat is good. Which man with a big dream isn't suicidal?" Roger roared in laughter breaking the solemn atmosphere completely dragging the attention of everyone towards him including the Big Bad Swordmaster.
Sigh.
And here I told him to keep a low profile as much as possible.
As Hawkeye looked towards Rogers, he was completely unbothered sipping his wine without a care in the world.
No words were spoken as the man and the magical-mecha looked at each other.
My Haki had been on alert along with my Senjutsu from the moment I had dodged the sword slash after coming out from the ID.
It happened in an instant as I felt all the hair on the back of my neck rise and I Shadow Walked along with Nami and Rindo a fair two hundred meters away on the boat where Johnny and Yosaku had just dragged Zoro up and the place where we were was blown up.
I passed him a Low Class Healing Potion to stop the bleeding.
Better to prevent the butterflies from causing damage at the very start.
I don't want the locations of the Devil Fruits to be changed by a chance.
In the middle of the explosion Mihawk and Roger were locked in a clash of swords.
The sword that Roger was carrying was a Demonic Sword made by Sakuya.
She had made hundreds of swords for me when we were experimenting with her Sacred Gear and this one was a sword that had a sharpening effect. Its sharpness increased as long as it was used in a fight and it returns to normal at the end of the fight. Even a Legendary rank Sword Birth had its limits.
Roger had simply picked it up because it looked like a cutlass and he was used to using them.
The place where they clashed had waves emerging from the place.
Mental Attack averted by the Gamers Mind.
Mental Attack?
And then I saw the people around starting to fall down like dominoes.
Conqueror's Haki.
"W-what?" Johnny or Yosaku I don't exactly remember who squealed.
"Haoshoku Haki." I answered while looking at the scene in fascination and utter awe.
Hot damn that looks so cool.
Now this is a fight I was talking about.
The figures of the two combatants flashed and I could only catch a simple glimpse of them even with my Observation Haki and Senjutsu activated….together.
Observation Haki works by super-enhancing one's senses while Senjustu works by synchronizing with nature.
These two sensing methods were inherently different but still extremely useful and now even with both of these, I could hardly keep up with this speed.
These monsters could have surpassed Kokabiel with sheer speed although the power difference would still have been large.
A slash with stats in the 1800s enhanced further by Armament and Conqueror's Haki would have cut Kokabiel without a doubt.
It was ultimately the battle between a Phy. Atk. Type and a Mag. Atk. Type.
Vasco Strada had matched and pushed back Kokabiel and both of these monsters had enough power in them to simply tear Strada apart.
I did notice another anomaly.
Game….why are the stats of other people reduced.
High Level Conqueror's Haki suppresses the will and strength of people because they have to fight constantly under that suppression.
It is however ineffective on stronger people. Learn Conqueror's Haki skill to have more detailed information.
Zoro meanwhile, healed up a little and got up to see the fight.
This would probably give him a boost much more than anything he could have had previously because now he knew what the top of this world looked like.
He is completely frozen watching the scene in shock.
It was quite understandable. He just lost a life and death duel to the man and now he sees that the person was holding back….to THIS extent.
"T-those t-two are m-monsters….real m-monsters." Ussop stuttered while Nami and the other few nodded.
I am actually surprised that Ussop didn't faint. The two extra characters had fainted already. The two new crew members are holding on though.
"That is how the top of this world looks. There are people out there that can make entire countries disappear in the blink of an eye or cut islands apart. This is what happens when people like them fight…."
At my full power, I could destroy a small country quite easily but if it is a one on one fight I would be cut apart against people like this.
It seems that I have to push my plans faster.
And I did just that.
A simple tracking spell on Hawkeye's ship, boat, coffin, raft….whatever it is for starters.
This was one of the reasons to wait for this incident.
Meanwhile the clashes went on.
"Is it the third kind of Haki that you were talking about?" Nami questioned.
"Hmm."
The fight went on till suddenly Roger pushed Mihawk back into the debris of a crashed ship while he stood in one place on a floating plank of wood.
Mihawk rose back and looked back at Roger for a while before Roger put his cutlass back on his waist and the other one followed as well."
"WHAT? They are stopping just like that?" Ussop cried out loud.
"Hmm. What else do you want? Them going on a rampage could destroy this whole area and kill everyone here. Do you want that?" I asked with a bit of snark at the stupid question.
"Hiiiii….N-n-no I am fine. We are all fine." The coward hid behind the back of Bartolomeo
"OI! IDIOT STUDENT OF MINE, BRING US SOME SAKE. WE ARE HAVING GUESTS ABOARD TODAY." Came the shout of my annoying teacher.
"Huh?"
- Interlude –
The sound of the Den Den Mushi quieted down as the person realized that he smelled something burning and looking down saw that his cigars had fallen sometimes during the conversation and was now singing his trousers.
Smoke rose from it and soon the cigar was extinguished while the man is question looked back at the Den Den Mushi trying to comprehend what exactly he had heard.
Dracule Mihawk was here.
Surprising but yet understandable.
Dracule Mihawk destroyed the fleet of the Krieg Pirates.
As much as it was detestable to think of the Shichibukai as a taint on the honor of the Marines, it was an undeniable fact that they did their work.
Especially the ones like Kuma and Mihawk.
Mihawk coming to the weakest of the four blues was definitely a surprise considering his habit of searching for stronger people to fight but that could be attributed to the whimsical mind of the Swordsmaster.
What he was having disbelief in understanding was that he was defeated or at the very least pushed back by an unknown individual on the floating restaurant Baratie.
Since when did random people come and defeat someone like Mihawk out of the blue.
The more annoying part of the headache was that this person was connected to the recently made Pirate Hunter Group which caught Buggy, The Clown and Iron Mace, Alvida.
His mind flashed back to Roronoa Zoro who had recently turned pirate and the new Pirate Hunter seems to know and have a connection with Zoro as well.
This was all getting too close to his bad premonitions.
If Shin Kageyami also turns out to be a pirate somehow and this person, his teacher joins him, they would have a Shichibukai level pirate group out in the open. Just the thought of such a thing made his head ache.
*Puru puru puru puru puru* *Puru puru puru puru puru*
The Den Den Mushi rang and he picked it up again.
"Captain Smoker, what is this report that I am hearing about someone defeating Hawkeye in East Blue? Why haven't you reported something like this yet?"
*Tch* someone has already informed the Headquarters.
"I too just received the information myself. The person who did so is unknown but according to the sources, they belong to a Pirate Hunter Group. This group has recently taken down two Pirate Groups in East Blue one of whom is Buggy, The Clown. The current reports state that there are two other members with them, one being a navigator and the other being a chef. I have ordered an investigation into the background of these people."
"A Pirate Hunter Group? How sure are you about this?"
"It doesn't seem like they are collecting funds to establish a pirate group because people with that kind of strength could have easily robbed a big city if they wanted to fund a pirate crew."
He thought about something and decided to hide the fact that they were involved with Roronoa Zoro. The Marines had already pushed a strong Pirate Hunter to Piracy. Pushing these people in the same direction would be a catastrophe.
"Make contact with them. See if they are willing to work for the Marines. Do not antagonize them. Vice Admiral Garp is heading there to investigate."
"Vice Admiral Garp is coming here himself!"
"Yes. Hold on to the position and don't cause unnecessary trouble there."
"YES SIR."
The Den Den Mushi was hung and he tilted his head back in thought before there was another call.
*Puru puru puru puru puru* *Puru puru puru puru puru*
He picked it up and answered, "Lougetown Marine Base."
"Is this Captain Smoker?" came the voice from the other end.
"Yes."
"I wish to make a complaint."
"Speak."
"I have just received information that Captain Nezumi of the Marines is taking bribes from Arlong and has been collaborating in extortion of several islands in the area. Any Pirate Hunter or civilians that complain are either jailed or killed. I hope you will take care of this problem. My crew and I are planning to face Arlong and it would be annoying if we got branded as fugitives for a simple Pirate Hunting Job. One Roronoa Zoro should be enough for the Marines right?"
Smoker first simply raised his eyebrow but by the end of the statement had a hard grip over the Den Den Mushi.
"Who is this speaking?"
"Shin."
Smoker froze for a moment.
No words were spoken for a moment and both parties thought in silence.
"How accurate is your information?"
"Very. If you want I can also show it to you live if you can hide and watch. Although, if you have a problem, I can ask Hawkeye for a lift there. Shichibukai do have free rein in these matters after all, right?"
A clear threat that he is close to Hawkeye now or that Hawkeye owes him a favour.
So troublesome.
"Meet me on Honami Island, 20 miles south-east of Connami Island. We can have a discussion about this case face to face."
—x—x—x—x—
Beta Reader: LuluViBritania(FF.N, SB and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th BritannianEmperor(Discord)
Author's Note :
This chapter took longer than I expected.
Some work took all of my time last week.
Anyways, we are starting to pick up the pace in the world.
Shin is learning Haki and getting beaten up while Roger and Mihawk are drinking wine together.
As for telling the crew that he was not from this world, Shin is testing Nami. If she thinks of tattling, he will simply just obliviate her and be done with it.
Mihawk's meeting was important for two reasons - One was to see the raw stats of a top level figure in One Piece and the other was simply to put a tracking spell on his boat and Apparate to the location.
It would help me set markers in the New World without having to wander around to search for islands randomly.
Anyways, Sanji now thinks that his sister Reiju is planning to elope.
What situations this will cause is yet to be seen.
Also Luffy's crew has two new members now.
As for how and why they joined - It was because I wanted them to join and it happened.
I will explain why it happened in another Pov later as for why, well the three idiots - Luffy, Zoro and Ussop would have crashed in some cliff and died without a decent navigator.
Anyways enjoy the chapter. I will try to upload the next one faster.
Good Day, Peace Out.