As the rowdy, violent night finally comes to an end, Alex—completely drained of his AURA thanks to a certain spider's 'special request'—falls asleep quickly. Said spider doesn't make it too easy, though, happily clicking a large amount of lethal metal balls together in a rhythmic pattern, enjoying the feel of them, as she rubs her smooth body on Alex's head, displaying her happiness.
A few hours later, fully recovered, Alex wakes up to the sunlight streaming through the windows.
Menchi is already up, preparing breakfast. To Alex's surprise and relief, the food actually looks normal—not one of her failed experiments to create a new dish —and, more importantly, consists of many dishes, not just squid.
The group finishes their meal quickly, readying themselves for the day ahead.
"Menchi… it looks like we're about done here," Alex says. "Before we leave, we'll fill you in on the situation, so this isn't goodbye just yet."
"You better!" Menchi huffs, folding her arms. "Besides… I'm close to creating a new dish that will blow your mind!"
"Sounds promising," Alex says, a little surprised.
Menchi is always confident, but she never underestimates cooking. If she says something like that, I can't help but feel motivated. I wonder about the new dish.
"So, what now?" Tereza asks.
"We talk to Mr. 8," Benezia replies. "He'll probably have a new mission for us. Hopefully something that finally lets us explore this world… time is ticking, and every day is precious."
"I just want to leave this damn boring island!" Alex groans.
Princess Jewel rather likes it. It's peaceful, safe, and tranquil.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Your views are warped, Jewel," Alex sighs. "If you like this place, you'll love every other island, I promise. This damn empty island full of Baroque Works agents is the worst! Did you really enjoy fishing that much?"
Princess Jewel enjoyed it! She is a little sad that those days are ending.
"We can always fish somewhere else," Alex says. "Probably catch different kinds of fish too."
Soulmate is right!
Leaving their apartment, they head toward Mr. 8's office downstairs, only to find it empty.
On their way out, they bump into Miss Monday, who quickly explains, "Mr. 8 is near the port. Please see him if you're rested enough." Her shrill voice sounding genuinely grateful.
They leave the building, and Benezia promptly suggests, "It would behoove us to turn in your quest quickly, Alex. Who knows how long we will remain here?"
Alex nods immediately. "Sounds like a plan."
Behoove us, huh? Benezia is always talking so formally.
Minutes later, they arrive at the familiar workshop, delivering all twelve barrels of gunpowder to the man from last time, who accepts them gratefully.
[Secret Quest Completed
Mission: Provide 10 barrels of gunpowder to the canon armory in Whiskey Peak.
Reward: Increased Reputation with Baroque works, Increased Reputation with Whiskey Peak agents, Decreased Reputation with Mr. 8, 500,000 Belly, minuscule increase in Mission Rating ]
Not bad. The Belly doesn't matter too much, but the Mission Rating does. The difference between ranks could mean another stat point, and that's almost priceless.
With the quest complete, the group immediately heads to the harbor, trying to find Mr. 8.
There, they find him overseeing clean-up operations, taking possession of the pirates' now-empty ship, carrying out the loaded supplies. A few agents stand beside him, holding heavy bags.
"Ma—ma—ma… Mr. 6… Miss Judgement Day," he stammers, looking embarrassed and nervous. "I'm glad you're both okay."
"Any new orders? You guys are fine on your own now, right?" Alex asks, cutting straight to the point.
"We should be fine. Those pirates were stronger than expected, so your help was appreciated," Mr. 8 explains. "As for orders—I have none for you. You already carry a Den Den Mushi, but I wouldn't suggest calling HQ. Normally, Miss All Sunday contacts agents herself and relays orders. You will receive a call when the organisation requires you."
"What is the usual procedure? What do Agents do between missions?" Benezia inquires. "Should we just stand by?"
"Yes, relax," Mr. 8 replies, "recover from the battles. It's not like you have things to do, right?" Mr. 8 asks, sounding a little confused, before adding, "You've earned a break. Usually, you shouldn't move around by yourself without a good reason anyway, so I'd advise staying here until further notice. If you receive new orders, you will receive a call."
Alex steps forward until he directly faces Mr. 8
"So, about the lack of funding. We killed the hostile crew, and three of them had large bounties on their heads. They must have also had some Belly on board. I don't see how you can deny us proper funding now. I don't want to hear any excuses!" Alex says, tapping into [Shepard's Promise R2], sending an invisible shockwave toward Mr. 8.
"Ma—ma—ma…" Mr. 8 stammers before falling onto his knees. "Ma—ma—ma… yes…"
With shaking hands, he pulls a few thick bundles of Belly from his subordinate's bag and offers them to Alex.
Alex greedily accepts the money, then hands it to Benezia before leaving without another word. The nearby agents stare at the scene in shock, clearly afraid of intervening, having seen the group's prowess during last night's battle.
They reenter the administrative building, and Benezia approaches Miss Monday, heading straight for her. "Excuse me, I require an accurate map of Paradise and the East Blue. Surely you have a few in your possession."
Miss Monday replies, "Of course, but they are useless. You need a LogPose or an Eternal Pose to navigate the Grand Line, a map is practically usel—"
"Quiet. I didn't ask for advice, child. Just hand me the maps right away!" Benezia demands with a stern expression, frightening the giant woman.
"As… as you wish," Miss Monday squeaks back, with her comically high voice.
"Benezia is so commanding," Tereza whispers into Alex's ear.
"Don't follow in Menchi's footsteps," Alex whispers back. "She caught the idiot virus and has only recently recovered. I can understand how she feels, but the mission comes first."
"Stop whispering, children, and move. We're discussing our next goals," Benezia scolds them.
The group returns to their apartment and sits at a large table. Menchi joins them, curious.
"Before we discuss these maps," Alex says, "how much Belly did we actually get?"
"Five million," Benezia replies. "Pressing Mr. 8 for money was the right call. We've secured a decent sum at the cost of scaring that pathetic man—it was worth it. I only hope we won't have to deal with these minions any longer. I've grown weary of them."
Five million! A good start!
"Not like we have a choice, right? At least for now," Tereza asks. "Remember, we need to stay here on standby."
"No, we don't," Benezia states firmly. "No one ever officially told us that. Mr. 8 is not in charge of us, and his words do not matter. We wait for new orders, but where we wait doesn't matter. Traveling to the far end of Paradise might anger Baroque Works or brand us traitors, but there's absolutely no valid reason we can't move on to a nearby island. In fact, it could take days before we get another mission. At worst, it'll just be seen as a minor annoyance."
"I see… so that's why you wanted the maps. We're leaving right away?!" Tereza mutters in realization.
"Yes," Benezia answers calmly. "Let's take a look and discuss. This isn't something I'll decide on my own."
Benezia then spreads the two maps she obtained on the table, and the group silently stares at them.
"Are these maps accurate?" Alex asks as he studies the map of Paradise. "There is no official map available for the Manga—it simply hasn't been shown to the reader. Aside from a few key locations and a rough world map, of course. Most locations are never officially confirmed. These maps, however, must be incomplete. They are way too empty! Countless Islands are missing, and even more are unnamed! Even Cactus Island was missing and was added later—you can see the handwriting is different, and the island is just a dot, not an accurate shape."
"Of course, most information is missing," Benezia replies, "the system would never make it this easy for players. You need to think less about the world's logic and more from a player's perspective. The system's balance triumphs over everything. Still, I recognize a few key islands in our immediate vicinity, so this is still a huge gain for us."
Benezia points to a few islands, "Little Garden. It's actually named. Here is Drum Island. Nanimonai Island was added with a marker, similar to Whiskey Peak. Of course, here is Sandy Island, the home of the Arabasta Kingdom. Even further away is Jaya, Water 7, Enies Lobby, Marineford, Impel Down, and Sabaody."
"So many unnamed islands," Tereza notes... "this is stupid! We know of more named islands than this map shows! This is a joke, this thing is useless!"
Benezia rebuffs her, "I want to agree, but you need to think. At least we know the most important islands' locations now. It makes a huge difference whether it's at the very top or the very bottom of the Grand Line. The Grand Line is just a thin strip of water, but it still takes days to travel between each Calm Belt, even if you fly."
Benezia also briefly looks at the East Blue map before pointing out, "These locations in the East Blue are not relevant at the moment. We can't move away that far. The only halfway viable goals would be Logue Town, the Baratie, whose location is, of course, not shown on this map, and the Oykot Kingdom, which is relatively unknown and seemingly quite large—thus offering absolutely no good reason for us to explore it, meaning only Loguetown is of interest to us."
"So what do we do?" Alex asks. "We can always explore an unnamed island next to us. Aside from that, Little Garden is the closest named island."
Soulmate!!!!!
Alex, Menchi, Tereza, and even Benezia suddenly hold their hands against their heads, as Jewel's mental voice catches them off guard.
"No need to scream... Jewel, what's wrong?" Alex asks, his head still hurting.
Princess Jewel... has thought of a master plan! The Ultimate Secret Absolute Unbeatable Technique!
I don't want to say it, but I fear Jewel will say another silly suggestion... do I even hear her out... it could be important... fine.
"Okay... what is your plan?" Alex asks, trying to hide his scepticism, while the others stare at Jewel in frustration.
❤️
------------------------------------------------
A/N: Always thankful for Power Stones, Comments, and Reviews. Thank you for reading!
If you are interested, then please support me at patreon.com/FRWriter
75+ Early chapters available - I will still release on WN daily!! Thank you!
New Chapters every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday!
Bored? Complains? Demands? Check out the Discord: https://discord.gg/puVqWsf3y9
Thank you for supporting the story with Power Stones!