At this time, ripples suddenly appeared on the dock wreckage, and then a head popped out.
"Whoa!"
Koby spat out foul-smelling bloody water and hurriedly swam toward the shore.
As soon as he got ashore and lied on the ground, he saw a person standing in front of him.
He looked up, and the blood in his whole body immediately turned cold.
Hiroto was looking at him with interest, the long sword he held dripping with continuous beads of blood.
"Mon... Monster!"
Koby's eyes rolled back as he prepared to fake a faint, hoping to escape the slaughter of this terrifying man in this way.
It was just that Hiroto didn't find it funny at all and had no intention of letting them go.
He stepped forward and delivered a finishing blow, cleanly pinning the last pirate to the wreckage of the dock.
Afterward, he looked around, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.
He didn't see the guy he was supposed to meet. Perhaps because of his influence as a butterfly, some things had changed.
But it was okay not to meet him. Hiroto had no good impression of someone like Koby, who was hard to describe.
Whether it was him or the One Piece fans from his past life, their perception of Koby was more negative than positive.
The title 'King of Deserters' from the Marineford War was a prime example.
The most important thing was the Hachinosu battle, where Garp sacrificed himself to pave the way for Koby, constantly saying, 'Koby is the future of the Marines.'
However, Hiroto believed that even Akainu had much more charisma than Koby, even though he didn't like Akainu either.
The reason he paid attention was that if he killed Koby and devoured him in an instant, he would probably get a fairly strong entry. It's just that he hadn't met him now.
But if one were to say Hiroto would go out of his way to hunt down someone whose whereabouts were unknown, and who was at least currently an innocent civilian, just for a powerful entry...
That wasn't quite the case.
Hiroto craved power, but he was by no means a slave to it.
That was his will.
He walked toward the cargo area, just about to go catch the two thieves, when he unexpectedly found Nami and Carina proactively approaching him.
"I thought you were planning to run away." Hiroto had a surprised look on his face.
He really had intended to play a game of hide-and-seek with these two.
"Ahahaha, how could that be possible?" Nami said with a forced laugh.
Carina curled her lip and said, "Even if we ran, you'd find us quickly, wouldn't you?"
The experience in the treasure room hadn't happened that long ago. At that time, she and Nami had clearly made perfect preparations to sneak in, but they ended up entering the treasure room like idiots.
Then they were caught by Hiroto, who was squatting inside. Moreover, it wasn't an accident or a long-term stakeout, the other party was simply waiting for them. It was as if he had predicted the future.
"I'm fairly good at hide-and-seek." Hiroto said modestly.
Once [Incoming Chaos] was actively triggered, if Nami and Carina could escape this island, he'd consider it his loss.
"So how exactly did you do it?" Nami couldn't help but ask.
"Secret."
Hiroto smiled and reached out. "Before you find out, give me back my things first."
His hands reached out to the left and right, moving in and out, and amidst the exclamations of Nami and Carina, he took out two gems.
"You!" Carina covered her chest, glaring at Hiroto in shame and annoyance.
Nami was slightly better, but her face also turned red.
"Do we need to settle this account?" Hiroto's single sentence ended the game.
The two were resentful but didn't dare to speak.
"Alright, what you need to do next is find a way to set sail. For a while in the future, you will be my crew members."
Hiroto pointed to his own ship in the harbor. "Consider this employment. After you help me process Ryder's treasure, I will give each of you one chance to pick any piece of Ryder's treasure as payment."
'You captured us and still want us to sail the ship for you? On what grounds!'
Nami originally wanted to shout this, but Hiroto was offering far too much.
Carina's eyes were shining, and she nodded with excitement. "Okay, it's a deal."
She had no intention of discussing it with Nami at all, as if the two were not partners.
"No problem, I can guarantee safety no matter where you want to go." Nami hurriedly patted her chest and promised.
There were many valuable things in Ryder's collection. With her eye, she could definitely pick the best batch.
Any single item could sell for ten or twenty million. Keep in mind, the money she needed to buy Cocoyasi village from Arlong was only 100 million berries.
...
Ryder had prepared a small sloop for Hiroto.
The ship's color scheme was mainly black, and hanging from the mast was an unmarked white sail.
The style was ordinary with no highlights, which was also what Hiroto had requested.
Nami and Carina organized the supplies they brought up, storing them by category.
Those precious treasures were placed in Hiroto's Captain's quarters, and the key was in his pocket.
Hiroto sat on the ship's railing, and a deep blue light screen appeared before his eyes.
He clicked on [Transmigrator], and the three choices of [Extraction], [Fusion], and [Granting] appeared.
The panel also turned into the previously flashing blue state.
This was the profit brought by killing Alvida, her weight in the plot wasn't low.
'Better prioritize extraction.'
Hiroto's gaze swept over the latter two options, and he still clicked [Extraction]. The full progress bar emptied rapidly, and a blue halo suddenly burst open before his eyes.
[Entry: Sharp Sword]
[Quality: Green]
[Type: Passive]
[Effect: When holding a sword-type weapon, observation, reaction, and presence receive a small boost.
The sharper the weapon used, the greater the boost, up to a maximum of an E-level boost.
If the target is a single male, enter a 'Special Attack' state. Agility receives an E-level boost, and attack speed increases.
If the target is a single male and holding a sword, enter 'Fencing' state. Constitution receives an E-level boost.]
[Consumption: Stamina]
[Remark: Come, have a passionate clash collision with me!]
First of all, this entry's effect was very strong and fit Hiroto's core swordsmanship.
Setting aside presence for a moment, observation and reaction are very important parts of combat. Even just a small improvement could lead to a qualitative change, let alone a boost with a limit of E-level.
Keep in mind, among Hiroto's current attributes, the highest, Strength, was only E++, which is the level of 3 Es.
Although the boost depended on the sword's sharpness, Hiroto had plenty of ways to find himself a good sword.
He didn't dare to think of a Great Grade Sword, but a Grade Blade was still possible. At least it could definitely max out the boost limit of this entry.
'Special Attack' and 'Fencing'.
The E-level Agility boost from 'Special Attack' was good.
The 'Fencing' effect had harsh conditions, but most people in the One Piece world were men, and there were plenty who held swords.
Hiroto glanced at the two girls who were still busy. After thinking for a bit, he pulled a stack of papers from his bosom.
He planned to use this time to determine what needed to be done.
Lowering his head, a string of text and patterns came into view, forming various pieces of information.
[Suspected location of the Smooth-Smooth Fruit], [Syrup Village Route Map]...
There were quite a few more below, all information he had gathered using Ryder's connections.
But for Hiroto, the first item was his primary focus.
Smooth-Smooth Fruit!