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[Excrement has hit the rapidly spinning device]
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| Five days later… | (A/N: Immersion is through the roof rn)
...
"Hup!" Dan let out a faint grunt as he threw a crate full of tangerines over his shoulder and carried it in a sprint toward its spot under the shade.
He did the same with five or six more. Once done, he leaned against the porch railing and exhaled, sweeping a few droplets of sweat from his forehead.
'That should do it.' His mouth curled up faintly.
He had done it quite fast. And better yet, he was barely winded at all.
Normally, that wouldn't be remarkable given his physique. But with the cuffs at his wrists currently set to ×3, it was a different story entirely.
What had made even mundane movements thoroughly exhausting nearly a week ago, he could now sustain through bursts of real intensity without much trouble—like just now.
Maybe it was because going from ×1 to ×2 had meant a full doubling of effort, while ×2 to ×3 had only been a fifty percent increase. But the adaptation had come faster than he'd expected.
He had even taken a few cautious tries at ×4. He could move in it, but not cleanly—not the way he could in ×3 now. At ×3 his performance was roughly at Olympic human level, still well below what he could do at ×1, but getting there.
Yeah, anime logic told him that there was a high chance if he moved to x4 now, his growth's speed would increase.
However, something in him insisted on nailing that ideal performance at x3 first before jumping ahead.
Maybe he was just being oddly perfectionist about it. Or maybe jumping from one level of gravity to another too soon was actually detrimental for the body and this was his body's way of telling him. Either way, two or three more days at most and he'd be ready to step it up, so no need to rush all that much.
Though, besides his improvement through gravity training, he had of course done other things as well.
The past five days had genuinely been productive in all the aspects that mattered.
And what was better...
'Today I get my sword back.'
Dan's faint smile widened into a smirk.
Maybe he'd gotten a bit attached to the thing, but he couldn't wait to have it back in his hands.
First he had to finish his shift, though. Which was at Bell-mère's discretion, which although a bit ambiguous, sometimes ended pretty early—which meant extra training time.
And criminaling time.
So he was pretty fine with it.
On that front, the past few days had been productive in NP too.
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Current Infamy Tier: Starter
▸[Current Bounty: 0 / 500K]
▸[NP: 21]
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"Quite a lot," Dan muttered, letting out a short laugh.
He was joking. The real figure had been around 430. He'd just spent nearly all of it already.
Which, considering it had only been five days since he'd bought Sugar Rush and gone back to zero, was a massive return.
'Maybe it was because I didn't have my sword, and the days ticking by without knowing when Arlong would show up made me extra anxious—but I may have gone a bit overboard with the terrorizing.' He thought with a wry smile.
Not only had he expanded his territory to more islands and villages, and spent more of the nights hitting them, but he'd also shifted how he went about it.
His boat's compartment was already full of valuables, so robbing for money wasn't really on the table anymore.
So without more need for it, he decided to change the message he was sending.
Before, he'd just been an odd bandit who beat the sheriffs of each town and took a few things before vanishing.
Now that he didn't need anything from them?
He switched to attacking purely for spectacle.
And he made sure to say so out loud, so there was no ambiguity about it.
'... yelling "I relish in your suffering" at the top of my lungs every time I beat a sheriff made me want to bury myself underground.'
He dragged a hand down his face at the memory.
But at least it drove the fear factor up. And more fear meant more NP.
All that combined produced the respectable 430-something he'd earned. Which he immediately spent in another bottle of Hyper Glue, another smoke pellet, and finally, the item he'd been building toward for months.
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≡[Hacked Item: Haki Knot (Weak Level)]
▸ A Haki Knot taken straight from Shanks' secret stash. This one was sourced from a relatively weak pirate who had only awakened Conqueror's Haki the day before—hence its strength is quite limited, but its effect is still enough to topple a great number of enemies.
▸ Warning: Depending on the strength of body and mind of the target, the effect will vary. From knocking weak enemies unconscious, to briefly stunning stronger ones, to barely registering as a tingle at the very top.
▸ Warning 2: SINGLE USE ONLY.
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At last. The Haki Knot.
Funnily enough, it seemed to reference the Shanks memes from back on Earth.
That, or Shanks in this world was actually a fraud who collected haki knots.
'Or has he always been a fraud?' Dan wondered.
Maybe the memes hadn't been so wrong after all.
Regardless, that covered everything he'd gotten done the past few days.
And now that he'd be getting his sword back, he'd finally get to see how much stronger he'd become.
'Maybe I'll be able to split a rock clean in one slash?' He fantasized with a foolish smile.
And luckily—
"Hey, kid," Bell-mère called from the doorway, leaning out to look at him. "That's enough for today. I can handle the rest."
'Hell yeah.' He pumped his fist inwardly, while externally giving a calm nod and a small smirk.
"Also, I'll start on lunch in about thirty minutes. Whatever you're planning, be back for that."
His smirk went slightly crooked.
'She isn't even letting me say no anymore.'
Not that he was going to anyway.
"Alright."
At his response, she went back inside, and with the last of his responsibilities lifted, he turned and started walking away.
It was time to go fetch his sword.
With that thought pushing him forward, he broke into a jog toward the beach, moving at a solid speed despite the cuffs still being set to ×3.
Yes, the blacksmith was reachable on foot, but he still had to pay the second half of the job—and his money was all on the boat. So he had to stop there first.
He'd also installed a sturdier lock on the compartment recently. It wouldn't stop anyone truly determined, but it'd buy enough time for there to be a chance he'd stumble on the bastard in the middle of the crime, and thus, beat their asses.
'Though I should probably still try and find a better hiding spot altogether. The boat stands out even if it doesn't look like much.'
The less chances he got robbed, the better.
He sighed at the thought and kept jogging.
The beach wasn't far, and it was even less far at this pace. Before long the sand crunched under his feet and he slowed to a walk, heading toward the boat.
Once aboard, he popped the compartment open and rummaged inside.
His hand came out holding a wine bottle, an old one from what it looked like.
"Oh. I forgot about this one."
He turned it over, inspecting it.
Then shrugged, uncorked it, and took a swig—tilting his head and licking his lips as he evaluated the aftertaste.
"Pretty meh. I like sweet, but not that much sour."
The older set of memories in his mind seemed to have liked wine—or rather, most alcoholic beverages.
As for the younger set of memories—they'd never tasted it, so there hadn't been much of an opinion there, only curiosity.
Now that he'd tasted it, though, he could say he wasn't as sold.
Who knew why the older set of memories liked it so much?
With a shrug, he forced the cork back in and returned the bottle. Child's play with his grip.
'Right, the actual objective,' Dan thought as he resumed his search.
Money.
As he rummaged a bit, he soon found a tied stack of bills, shoved it into his pocket, and climbed back out of the compartment.
With that done, it was time to go back to his quest of recovering his sword.
However, just as he was crossing over from the sand to the grass—something caught at the edge of his vision.
'Smoke?'
Coming from another island a bit blurred at this distance, but visible. And it wasn't just one pillar of smoke either—squinting, he could make out several, scattered across different points, even across different islands.
"What the hell is..."
Then his eyes went back to the most visible spot—squinting until he was finally able to discern the source.
"That's... the docks?"
Not the docks themselves. The boats. Ships and smaller vessels—destroyed, some burning, others listing as they sank.
"Why would that—"
The words cut off as his brain connected everything at once, his eyes going wide.
"Oh, shit!"
It was Arlong.
He remembered it now—in the show, the fishman had destroyed every ship around the islands immediately on arrival, cutting off any route for escape or calling help.
And with the same happening right now…
It was a no brainer.
Not that he gave it any thought either. He couldn't stop to think, so he turned and started shoving his boat further back into the vegetation, working it in until it was out of plain sight. He threw a few dead leaves over the top just to make sure.
He couldn't have them destroying his boat, could he?
Then he turned back around and set the cuffs to ×1.
'I need to get my sword, right now,' Dan thought, steeling himself to run without stop if needed.
He was winding up to launch forward—
—Shaaaaa—
—when the sound of something large moving through the water behind him reached him.
He turned.
And saw it.
Arlong's ship, riding the coast and moving directly toward Cocoyashi Village.
"...!"
He was far enough into the tree line that they almost certainly hadn't spotted him.
But that wasn't what held him there.
Teeth gritting, he turned back in direction to where the blacksmith would be, and thus his sword—his only real shot at dealing meaningful damage to Arlong.
But as his body coiled for the sprint, ready to give it his all—
"..."
He stopped. His head turned slowly back toward the boat he'd just hidden, and then in the direction of Bell-mère's house.
"..."
...
°
°
°
| Twenty minutes later, near Bell-mère's house... |
...
A large group of fishmen walked side by side, raising dust with every step, approaching the house at the outskirts in a calm but deliberate line.
Hachi snickered as he walked alongside Arlong. "We almost missed this one out at the edge. Lucky the smoke from their cooking gave it away—otherwise we'd have passed right by. Right Arlong-san?"
"Yeah..." Arlong grinned, glancing at his crew. "Let's give them a proper greeting, shall we?"
""Ooooh!""
Before long they arrived at their destination, slowing down as they saw both Nami and Nojiko playing happily outside the house.
The playing session was cut short as the two caught sight of them and ducked inside the house immediately.
Arlong gestured for the others to hold back and approached the door himself.
-Click-
—BAM!—
However, the moment he stepped through, the closet door beside him flew open and slammed into his face—Bell-mère coming out right behind it, driving a kick into him and jamming a rifle barrel straight into his mouth in one fluid motion.
The impact was enough to send him stumbling backward, toppling onto his back and hitting the dirt with Bell-mère landing over him, rifle still held firm right on his mouth.
"Too bad for you. I'm a former marine," She pressed the barrel harder. "Cocoyashi Village is a long way from the Grand Line. So what's a pirate like you doing here?"
"SHAHAHAHA!"
""Hahahaha!!!""
Arlong burst out laughing, and his crew followed.
Bell-mère's smug face cracked at the shift of the situation. "W-what are you—"
-CRACK!-
The rifle barrel snapped clean in two—bitten off in an instant. Thanks to that, Bell-mère's confidence evaporated with it.
Then, in one motion, Arlong threw her off and slammed a foot down onto her.
Bell-mère hit the ground hard, blood escaping her lips as the air left her.
"You humans are so pitiful. Take away your weapons and what's left? Weaklings of the lowest order! Shahahaha!" He laughed like it was the funniest thing he'd seen all year.
"Aaaargh!" Bell-mère snarled through the pain.
Arlong's eyes settled on her arm.
—BAM!—
"AAAAARGH!"
His foot came down on it. The bone cracked.
"Bell-mère!"
The two girls rushed out of the house toward her. The fishmen nearby stepped in and blocked their path, snickering.
Pinned to the ground with a broken arm, Bell-mère could only stare at the two of them—tearful, held back, unable to reach her. Unable to do anything.
'These guys... are monsters!'
She had underestimated them.
"Bell-mère!"
Suddenly, a voice from further away cut through everything. Genzo, running toward them.
The fishmen tensed—but instead of attacking as they thought he'd do, Genzo went straight for Bell-mère, his expression a mix of anger and worry.
"Bell-mère, don't throw your life away on some stupid show of pride. There are fights that aren't worth it—just pay up!"
Arlong's grin spread wider. The sheriff had already fallen in line, huh?
Wonderful.
"Listen to him, marine girl. A hundred thousand per adult, fifty thousand per child. Pay for your whole family and you all get to keep your lives—as long as you keep paying every month. So, how does 200k sound?"
"My family?" Bell-mère muttered faintly.
Arlong's gaze moved to Nami and Nojiko. "Two kids, and one adult. That's 200k."
Genzo's expression contorted.
200k. Even he wouldn't be able to pay that straight up.
He leaned close and lowered his voice.
"How much have you got?"
Bell-mère shifted, forcing herself up onto her knees despite the arm.
"... About 140k. Business has been better lately, but I haven't saved much of it yet."
Genzo's face fell. He could scrape together maybe another 10k himself—enough to bring her to 150k. However, that was still 50k short of covering all three.
Then a thought hit him.
"If we pool with the other villagers we might reach another 50k. That covers the three of you, right?"
"..."
"Bell-mère?"
"No. There's still Dan."
"The kid?!"
He looked around sharply. No sign of the boy anywhere.
"They haven't found him yet, and he isn't in a registry of the island, maybe we can hide him long enough so he can escape once they leav—"
Bell-mère scoffed. "No, that won't work. Pirates like these destroy the escape routes first. Even if we hide him now he won't be able to escape later on… He is trapped here with us."
"Then..."
"What are you two whispering about?"
Arlong's cold gaze swept over them.
"Pay up."
Genzo went rigid, the words dying in his throat. Bell-mère looked up at him, then took a slow breath.
"Genzo... you said you could help reach 150k?"
"Y-yeah..."
"Then..." Bell-mère smiled, faintly and with effort. "Pay for those three."
"Bell-mère, don't—!"
She ignored him, pushing herself to her feet to face Arlong.
"Listen, pirate. There are three kids in total. I can pay for them, but not for myself. So..."
She met the fishman's eyes with a steady grin.
"Do what you gotta—"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, old hag."
A voice from behind the house cut her off.
"You think you can give me character development? Over my dead body."
Every head turned.
Dan was walking around the corner of the house with a completely composed expression.
"Another brat?" Arlong's face twisted with contempt before settling back into its usual grin. "You pests really do multiply. No matter—the more of you there are, the more this costs. 250k now."
Genzo's expression worsened. Bell-mère let out a short, wry scoff—and was about to open her mouth again to sacrifice...
But Dan got there first.
His hand went into his pocket and came out holding a fat stack of bills.
"250k. Right here."
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Well well well, the focus of all this preparation has finally showed up, and Dan is instead paying him? What might be going on that head of his, I wonder.)