Chapter 5: A Harvest of Martial Arts
Kaizen Reiya squinted at the scorching sun overhead. It was now noon. He had two and a half days before the bandit Higuma threatened to bathe the village in blood. With a Devil Fruit user among the bandits, the time left for Kaizen to make up for his debt to Makino from his previous life was desperately short.
He needed to improve his strength as much as possible within these two and a half days. Fortunately, this village was rich with martial arts manuals and equipment.
Kaizen moved quickly.
"Calm Sea Key, activate the detection function," he commanded impatiently.
Ding. The Calm Sea Key detection function is now active!
A radar-like circular interface materialized before him.
The difference from last time was stark; the detection range had doubled from ten meters to twenty.
Ding. Detected by player Kaizen Reiya: Treasure aura fluctuations fifteen meters to the right.
Ding. Congratulations to player Kaizen Reiya for obtaining 300 copper coins.
Ding. Detected nine meters ahead of the user, one meter underground: Treasure aura fluctuations.
Kaizen ran over, dug into the earth, and pulled out a small bottle.
Ding. Congratulations to player Kaizen Reiya for obtaining one bottle of First-Grade Wound-Cleaning Medicine.
Ding. Congratulations to player Kaizen Reiya for obtaining a Grey-Stone Iron Sword.
Ding. Congratulations to player Kaizen Reiya for obtaining the high-grade Yellow Class technique: Arhat Palm.
...
As time passed, Kaizen continued his frantic scavenging hunt in and around Windmill Village.
This time, he found even more pills to aid cultivation.
After more than an hour, he still hadn't found the specific offensive martial art he was searching for.
However, the treasures Kaizen had already found were three times more numerous than all the treasures he had discovered in this village in his previous life.
"It seems that in this life, the One Piece world's consciousness devoured a few percentage points more of the modern world in the early stages," he realized. "This has caused the new One Piece world to be significantly larger, and the treasures and techniques produced are many times more plentiful."
"This deviation not only increases treasures, chests, and skills, but also makes the monsters and native humans stronger. It even advanced the timeline, which is why Higuma's attack on the village happened earlier."
While excited about his massive haul, Kaizen also uncovered a shocking truth about this world. The changes in the natural laws and the increase in treasures meant the monsters he would face in the future would be many times stronger. For humans, this was a monumental challenge.
"Hmph, for a Devil Fruit user to appear among bandits like Higuma... it seems the laws of the world have indeed changed. The number of Devil Fruits has increased dramatically. In the later stages, I'm afraid Devil Fruits will be as common as cabbage."
The thought made his blood surge with excitement, his fighting spirit instantly igniting. The greater the challenge, the more thrilled he became.
He continued his frantic treasure hunt, and just as he guessed, hidden treasures were scattered almost everywhere.
Knocking aside certain rocks revealed Black Iron objects. It was like the very ground was paved with gold.
Of course, if it were anyone else—without the Calm Sea Key's treasure-detection radar—it would be impossible to plunder treasures as easily as pulling radishes and cabbage, the way Kaizen did.
Two hours later, Kaizen's luck peaked. He dug up a piece of Silver-grade equipment: a long silver sword. His hands trembled with excitement.
Three hours passed. The space rippled, and a young man in gray robes stepped out. Finally, the first player other than Kaizen had arrived.
Simultaneously, in starter villages scattered across the new One Piece world, lights flickered continuously as players kept landing in this New World.
Watching Kaizen knock down walls and dig under bricks to unearth treasures, the young man in gray immediately grew confident, thinking this starter village was simply overflowing with loot. It was a pity he had no Calm Sea Key like Kaizen. More importantly, Kaizen had arrived three hours earlier and had already scooped up almost everything. Finding even one treasure now would be difficult.
"What an idiot. Do you really think you can just copy me and succeed? If you find a single treasure after a whole day of searching, you'll be lucky."
Kaizen watched the young man in gray with amusement and scorn.
The young man in gray, sweating profusely and seeing no shadow of treasure, grew anxious. Seeing Kaizen head towards a family's cooking stove, he rushed ahead of him, opened the pot, and dismantled the stove, shooting Kaizen a provocative look.
Suddenly, a group of aunts and uncles stormed in, armed with shovels, hoes, sticks, and brooms, and beat him violently.
He found no treasure. Instead, his face was swollen like a pig's head, and his body was covered in wounds.
Kaizen laughed until his sides hurt.
The young man in gray was so humiliated he broke down crying. Why was it that when he looked for treasure, he almost lost his life rummaging through a stove, while that other guy could find it in any trash can?
Over the next few hours, light flickered intermittently in Windmill Village. The second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth... players kept arriving, and the village suddenly became noisy.
At least a thousand "players" had poured into Windmill Village. Fortunately, the village was massive—about twenty times larger than its original size on modern Earth. Though there were many players, it wasn't overcrowded.
By this time, Kaizen had almost completely harvested all the secret manuals and treasures in the village. The leftovers—including the Grey-Stone tools and low-grade Yellow Class techniques—had been thoroughly picked clean.
He remembered his previous life. Wasn't that exactly how he had been? Arriving too late, all the treasures and skills already snatched up by the first players to log in, thus setting him on his tragic path step by step.
But this life was different. With the Calm Sea Key, he finally stood out. He didn't have to fight for scraps or garbage-like skills and Grey-Stone tools.
Using his mental connection, Kaizen checked his storage backpack. It was filled with all kinds of elixirs, equipment, materials, and a hefty sum of coins, making him grin from ear to ear.
He felt like he was in a luxurious high-rise office on a summer day, looking down at a crowd of ants on the street, scrambling and fighting for a low-paying job.
"So satisfying." Kaizen found a clean spot, hid in the grass, and examined the three offensive techniques he had dug up at the last moment.
The first: Glue Pistol.
The second: Rubber Cannon.
The third: Rubber Missile.
The first, Glue Pistol, condensed internal energy or combat power into a glue-like pellet shot from the fingers, capable of causing moderate damage.
The second, Rubber Cannon, required a large amount of internal energy or combat power to condense into a rubbery cannonball and launch it, capable of causing large-scale damage.
The third, Rubber Missile, required a vast amount of internal energy or combat power to condense into a rubber-like missile and launch, capable of causing massive area damage.
"Perfect. With such powerful offensive martial arts, I can go and wipe out Higuma's bandits before they slaughter the village."