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[Training Arc Begins]
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| The next day… |
…
Bell-mère could only stare in bafflement at the sight of Dan, once again looking like he could barely keep himself from collapsing in the dirt and sleeping soundly.
"Why are you looking like that again, kid?" She asked, barely holding back the exasperation from seeping through.
Dan scratched his head, avoiding her gaze. "... Mosquitoes, of course."
That was, in fact, a lie. Mosquitoes had not actually invaded his boat's food compartment last night when he went to sleep, which was good.
His night had just been a tad busy, so he had gone to sleep late.
Like, 3 AM late, roughly.
It was now 6 AM, just so you know.
Bell-mère sighed, looking at Dan with the pity of someone watching a lost puppy stumble over itself again and again while refusing any kind of help.
"Again? Kid, you should have just crashed on our couch."
"I didn't want to bother."
"You wouldn't, kid. With how short you are, you'd barely be noticeable or take up any space at all. So next time, don't be so stubborn."
"..." Dan grimaced. He couldn't argue back when his own lies gave him no backing and her logic was perfectly sound.
"Besides, as my employee, I should be making sure you can give your 100% to my business! So there's no more discussion about this. You're sleeping on our couch, whether you like it or not!"
"... Alright, whatever."
As he said that, he mentally slapped himself, disappointed with his own weakness.
For someone with the goal of becoming the best—or the worst, depending on how you looked at it—criminal in the world, he sure was easy to push around when kindness or pity was involved.
"Also, how are you managing your own food? If you're having trouble with it, you can eat lunch with u—"
"... Are you running a charity here? I said I was going to be worth my salary, so stop being so careless with your money, woman!"
Although, even Dan had his limits.
He knew he appeared to be a solitary orphan who couldn't even afford a decent place to sleep—which he was—but that was no reason for her to be offering so much help without a second thought.
She had two kids to take care of and barely any money. She shouldn't be so freely sharing.
It was actually starting to irritate him.
"Ah, uh... sorry?" She looked a bit thrown off by his outburst, baffled at being shouted at by a kid—and also a touch ashamed.
Seeing her like that, Dan let out a huff.
Maybe he got a bit riled up.
Sighing, he calmed down and spoke more evenly.
"... Don't worry about my food. I'm a decent fisherman, so I just catch my lunch. I'm not going hungry anytime soon."
"O-oh." She answered, nodding faintly.
Then a silence settled between the two.
'Great, things are awkward now.'
Dan held back a grimace.
So, to break it, he decided to change the subject with the smoothness of shattered glass.
"So, what are we doing today?"
She cleared her throat, thinking the same thing.
"Since we already picked what was ripe yesterday, today we go sell and make some profit."
Dan blinked. "Oh, I thought that part would come much later."
"After the fruits start ripening, selling becomes a daily thing if we don't want them to spoil. It's honestly a pain to carry all the boxes myself, so having an extra pair of hands will be great."
She turned toward the ocean, faintly visible behind the tree line, watching the rising sun.
"Anyway, enough chit-chat. We need to be there before the sun rises fully, otherwise we won't catch the early morning shoppers. The crossing takes a bit too."
Dan nodded, turning toward the crates of tangerines they'd picked yesterday.
But just as both of them were about to take a step forward, a figure appeared on the path from the village, approaching hurriedly.
"That's... Genzo?" Bell-mère asked, eyebrow raising.
"..." Dan said nothing beside her.
Before long, the moustachioed man arrived before the two of them, wearing a mildly concerned expression as he glanced between them and their surroundings.
"Bell-mère... I see nothing happened here. That's good."
"What would have happened?" She asked, looking confused.
Genzo sighed, scratching the back of his head. "We had an incident last night. Someone unknown walked into the village and broke into my house. A fight broke out, but in the end he was stronger than I'd anticipated."
"He attacked you? Why?"
"He called himself a bandit. Although the only thing he took was one of my pistols, so I'm not entirely sure that's all there is to it."
His gaze moved to the house, seemingly untouched by anything but the morning dew, heaving a sigh.
"After that, he ran into the forest. I was a bit worried he might have gone after anyone out this way, thinking we'd give chase—but it seems nothing of the sort happened."
His eyes landed on Dan.
"I was a bit worried about this kid too. I see you got the job you were looking for, huh?"
Dan nodded, doing his best to keep his faintly guilty conscience from showing on his face.
Genzo grinned, then turned to Bell-mère. "Did he sleep here? If so, that's good—he'd have been well clear of that bandit."
"Nah, he slept on his boat. Though I did manage to talk him into sleeping on our couch from now on."
"Is that so?" He turned to Dan. "You didn't happen to see a short guy with sunglasses around the forest, did you?"
"Doesn't ring a bell." Dan answered, gaze averted to its limits.
"Well, if you do see him, stay away. Don't go thinking that just because you've got a sword you can take him on. He was very skilled."
"This kid's got a sword?" Bell-mère looked at Dan with surprise.
Genzo scoffed, eyeing Dan with a skeptical look. "Yes. He said he had some skill with it. I have my doubts, though."
Bell-mère seemed to consider it. "Well, I wouldn't know about that—he already surprised me enough."
Genzo looked mildly puzzled by that.
After that, with the worry about what the bandit might have done put to rest, the conversation didn't extend much further. The sun was rising fast, and Dan and Bell-mère had to part ways quickly with Genzo and get all the crates loaded onto Bell-mère's boat.
Before long, the two set off across the water—briefly. The neighboring islands weren't far, at most a few minutes of crossing, and a few more to disembark and make their way to whichever village they were headed to.
As for why they weren't selling at Cocoyashi itself—there were too many vendors there already. Even with familiar faces, pity-buying could only carry her so far.
And so, while they slowly crossed the gap between islands, Bell-mère and Dan talked about whatever came to mind to ward off the monotony of the water crossing.
Most specifically, about Genzo's comment from minutes ago.
"So, kid, you apparently know swordsmanship?"
Dan tossed a tangerine in the air and caught it as he answered. "I learned from someone a while back."
"No wonder your strength is out of proportion to your build. Swinging heavy metal around will do that... though it's still a bit much even for that, isn't it?"
"I just have good genes."
She hummed, a slight smirk on her face.
"By the way..." Dan glanced at the pile of crates. "I know why we don't sell at Cocoyashi, but why are we only going to one place? Isn't our cargo too much for a single village?"
"Can't help it, kid. That's the only place I'm somewhat established, so the locals know me a bit better and are more willing to buy from me. On top of that, I only have one boat, and there's a limited window for selling—it's not like I can split myself in two and hit two places at once..."
She groaned, resting a hand on the crates with a worried look.
"But yeah, like you said, it's a lot for a single village. In the end most of it ends up spoiling, or I use it myself so it's not a total loss."
"Hmm..." Dan sent her an unimpressed look.
Upon noticing it, she was taken aback. "...What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Well, you've got an employee now, don't you?"
"...!"
Bell-mère's face lit up, the realization hitting her all at once.
"You're right... though we're already too far out to go back and grab another boat now." She looked back at the island they'd left with regret, then smacked her palm as another thought hit her. "Though, I think there's another village on this island. Maybe I can leave you at the first one while I head over to the next one."
She spent the next few minutes working through the logistics in her head. Dan left her to it, taking in the scenery—and at one point grabbing a tangerine and eating it.
He got scolded for that.
Minutes later, they arrived, unloaded the crates from the boat, and made their way to the village.
As they did, they noticed a certain wariness about the place—mostly noticeable in the way everyone glanced at them briefly the moment they stepped in, eyes alert.
Those looks softened quickly enough once they registered it was just a woman and a kid.
Walking further in, they soon neared what seemed to be the market area of the village, judging by the many people selling goods from small stalls or directly off the ground.
As they made their way to what Bell-mère said was her usual spot, a man with a bushy beard and a bald head approached.
"Yo, Bell-mère, I see it's harvesting time again." He said, eyeing the tangerine-filled crates. "Quite the day you picked to come, though."
She nodded, glancing around at the other vendors and the handful of people browsing the stalls. "I noticed everyone looked extra cautious when we arrived. Something happen?"
"We got hit yesterday. Some midget with sunglasses broke into the sheriff's house and beat him up, then made off with things like ammunition and, strangely enough, some books."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Something similar happened at Cocoyashi from what I heard. Only a gun was taken there, though."
"Figured as much. Johnson came in with his apple cart today and told a similar story. And I've got a feeling those aren't the only cases—we just haven't heard the rest yet."
"Just what is going on all of a sudden?"
Both adults fell silent, gauging the danger of the situation.
"What a weird morning, huh?" Dan's voice came from beside them.
The man gave him a confused look. "By the way, who's the kid? Don't tell me you adopted another one."
"He's my new employee. He'll be handling things here today—I'm thinking of trying to expand a bit and head over to the neighboring village. Maybe I can sell more and cut down on the waste this batch."
"You sure that's a good idea? If he's the one selling instead of you, he might not have the vendor's touch, and nobody's going to buy off a kid."
She glanced at Dan, seemingly turning it over.
"Well, help him out for me, would you?"
"What? You think I'm running childcare here? I've got my own stuff to sell!"
"Come on~"
She leaned in and whispered something into his ear.
The man immediately stepped back several paces, face going completely red.
"What kind of man do you think I am?! Alright, alright, I'll help him. Just get out of here!"
"Hahaha, I knew I could count on you!"
Laughing and patting his shoulder, she then moved to grab half the crates, winked at Dan, and—
"I'm leaving things here to you, employee. Don't disappoint me!"
—walked away.
As she disappeared, Dan watched her go before turning to the man, who was still somewhat red.
He hadn't caught a word of it, but he already had a pretty good idea of what she'd said, going off what he remembered of her from the show.
'Poor guy. Absolutely manipulated.'
Shaking his head, he arranged the crates at the stall Bell-mère appeared to have had a standing arrangement for, and settled in behind it.
Thus, Bell-mère's tangerine stand was officially open for business.
As he settled, watching the still-quiet street—people had a while yet before they'd be out in force—his mind drifted to the fruits of his nocturnal activities the night before. Or rather, that morning, given how late into it he'd been up.
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Current Infamy Tier: Starter
▸[Current Bounty: 0 / 500K]
▸[NP: 147]
Equipped Passive Hacks [1/1]
▸ SpeedyGains
Equipped Active Hacks [1/1]
▸ Tireless
Equipped Script
▸ None
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'At least the results were worth the effort.' He thought with a smile, then let out a long, wide yawn.
90 NP in a single night. Four villages hit—including Cocoyashi—each yielding roughly 20 to 30 NP.
A complete success, in his opinion. The earnings were on a completely different level from what he'd managed daily at Shimotsuki.
After last night, some of his worries had eased.
Not entirely—Arlong's arrival was still too uncertain for him to feel completely at ease.
But now he knew his NP goal was actually within reach in a reasonable amount of time.
He only needed to repeat this about ten more times, and he should have enough NP for his plans to come together properly.
'Although I'm not sure I'll be able to stay up every night like last night... my body and mind won't hold up. Plus, I wouldn't want the villages to raise their guard too fast, or call in the marines and cut off most of my ways to earn NP.'
He had to be fairly delicate with how he ran this whole operation.
But beyond managing the villages' response to his raids, there was another issue he'd realized last night.
Genzo was a fairly gentle man, so it was unlikely he would have ever drawn his guns unless he saw no other option.
But with the sheriffs and representatives of the other villages, some weren't quite so soft.
He had nearly been shot twice across those other three villages. Luckily, he was faster than the first one, and by the second time he'd been half-expecting it since the first one had been a sharp reminder of how mortal he still was.
It meant he had to be more careful going forward, or his journey would end with him breaking into some old man's house and catching a bullet for his trouble.
He was still not bulletproof, to his dismay.
'But well, it's only a matter of time.'
Smiling, he opened his hack shop.
'And the first step toward that is a good old...'
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≡[Hacked Item: Gravity Cuffs] [BOUGHT!]
▸ Wearable cuffs that affect perceived gravity to an adjustable degree.
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≡[Hacked Item: Intelligent Dumbbells] [BOUGHT!]
▸ Perfect for always surpassing your limits! The Intelligent Dumbbells 2.0 will always weigh just barely the limit of what you can lift. No matter how strong you are or become.
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▸[-145 NP]
'—Training Arc...!'
A small tear ran down his cheek as he watched all his hard-earned effort disappear in an instant.
But it was for the greater good.
Or his good, rather.
—Though, considering he'd be fighting Arlong and saving the villagers in the process... yeah, the greater good was more fitting.
Staring at his two newly acquired training items, Dan smirked with anticipation.
He needed to break into superhuman territory fast, and he wasn't about to sit around waiting for SpeedyGains to do all the work.
From now on, he was stepping up his training.
"Hey, kid. Clientele's coming. Snap out of it and focus—you know how selling usually works?"
Dan blinked, pulled out of his daydreams.
"Ah, uh, somewhat. I used to tag along with a fisherman to watch him sell. This shouldn't be too different."
"Is that so? Well, as long as you don't tell anyone those tangerines smell like fish, you should be fine. I'll keep an eye out in case you need anything."
Dan nodded, turning toward the growing crowd beginning to pour into the streets.
'I'll have to finish working first, though.'
...
°
°
°
| Somewhere else, far away... |
...
A ship plowed through rough waves, stormy clouds pressing low overhead, rocking the vessel violently.
Then, a few minutes later, the water settled and the weather cleared, giving way to a bright and sunny day.
The moment it did, the ship's occupants cheered in relief.
"The storm has passed!"
"Once again we've come through unscathed!"
"Damn, the ship barely made it. If it weren't for Momoo, we'd have had to swim the rest of the way ourselves."
"We really need a navigator, Arlong-san. None of us who came with you know much about it, and the ship won't last long the way we're handling her."
A figure leaning against the ship's railing, eyes on the now-clear horizon, smiled wickedly.
"If the ship breaks, we'll just force some humans to build us a new one. As for a navigator—unnecessary for now. I plan to settle somewhere comfortable, where we can gather forces and intel until we're ready to show the true superiority of fishmen over the filthy humans running rampant on this sea. We can find a navigator during our stay."
"A comfortable place? That sounds incredible, Arlong-san... but where?"
"The East Blue, of course. Some nice human town or village we can take over and force them to serve us, as they should, should do the trick"
The crew cheered, thrilled at the sudden promise of a comfortable retirement plan on the horizon.
"And you know what, we should charge them for living in our territory too—just as a lesser race should. Shahahaha!"
He thrust a hand forward, his sharp teeth splitting into a devilish grin.
"Set sail, men. We've lingered in the Grand Line long enough. We're going to the East Blue!"
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Danger is coming, and Dan is training for results, which will arrive first?
Probably Dan's. This is his story, after all.)