5 A New Companion
The Arcade Cafe is always open from six in the morning all the way to six in the afternoon, so there was rarely any time that Adonis had to himself. It wasn't him who chose the working hours after all, that was all decided by the system.
Thankfully, Adonis always had two one-hour breaks throughout the day for him to take a break. He obviously couldn't work non-stop for twelve hours every single day of the week. Even if he could physically work the entire time, his mental state was another matter.
Plus, he was young, and he wanted to enjoy stuff outside of just work.
Speaking of which, he was currently on his first break for the day, and he decided to spend it by going out into the wild to test out the new things he had been rewarded for the previous quest. Since he had already decided to work on training in Haki after work was complete for the day, he might as well test out his new fighting style.
The best way to do so was with a genuine enemy, and one that he had come to learn to be known as Hilichurls. From his initial impression of them, they were like tall goblins or some shit that had a strange fetish for those masks they wear.
At the present time, he had decided to take out one of the small Hilichurl camps that had been spotted near the city. It was best to get rid of them before they could prosper, that way people could prevent any major future issues regarding them.
'Holy crap, I feel like a new man!' Adonis couldn't help but joke to himself as he did a quick handstand before spinning as both his legs kicked three hilichurls away with some rather impressive force. 'It's as if the fighting style became muscle memory!'
Adonis was prepared to practice with the knowledge he had gained after using the Skill Book, but he had not even once considered that he'd just be able to use it masterfully outright. It was as if the skills were not only transferred to his brain, but also into his physical body.
Every time he performed something, his body would move as if it already knew what it needed to, like muscle memory where something happens without even needing to consciously think about it. He wasn't going to complain, it saved a lot of time.
'This would be much faster if I was stronger though...' The force behind his kicks did cause some significant damage, but it would take around two to three hits before each of these hilichurls would stay down for good. 'If I had Sanji's strength, then a single kick would be far more than enough... man, One Piece characters are built fucking different.'
He had recalled near the start of the anime how Sanji was capable of kicking a fishman through a building with ease, and that was literally near the start of his damn journey. It was crazy just how monstrous a normal One Piece character could be in terms of the average human.
Adonis was still ignorant of this world he now called home, but he found it hard to believe that many people would be able to stand up to One Piece characters in terms of pure physical strength. Of course, he had come to learn of the Seven Archons, so perhaps they could rival One Piece characters in physical prowess, perhaps even surpass them.
Now that he thought about it, perhaps certain Vision holders as well as other mystical beings in this world could compete. From what he understood, Visions were objects given by Celestia, the Heaven equivalent in this world, and granted its owners the ability to manipulate elements.
It was just an amusing thought though, not like he'd ever really need to know such information.
"Alright, looks like you three are the last ones." Adonis fixed his standing position after axe-kicking one of the hilichurls into the ground, effectively knocking it out while mildly cracking the ground underneath its head. "Give me a better warm-up, would ya?"
Whether or not these hilichurls understood him, he had no idea. However, his words seemed to rile them up as they all charged at him at the same time. Seeing them approach, Adonis allowed a small smirk to appear on his face as he casually ran forwards as well.
Just as the hilichurl at the front was raising its club, ready to slam down onto the charging form of Adonis, Adonis had jumped before using its body as a board to perform a backflip. As he flipped, his foot lightly clipped under the hilichurls jaw, sending it into a daze.
Adonis then landed gently before quickly springing back into action.
Taking advantage of the dazed hilichurl's state, he performed multiple power kicks that had enough force to send it flying across the ground, but would immediately be stopped by the force of another kick coming towards it from the opposite direction of the previous kick.
After repeating this quickly a few times, Adonis jumped before performing a spin kick, sending the hilichurl flying back and into one of the other two. The third was stunned in place, surprised at the quick series of events. This gave Adonis more than enough time to charge at it before kicking the hilichurl directly upwards.
Before the hilichurl could get too high though, Adonis chased after it with a jump that he did while performing a slow backflip. He then used his legs to grab onto the hilichurl, eliciting a cry of confusion from the creature. Adonis then smirked before forcefully shifting his body into the upright position, making sure to let go of the hilichurl, causing it to crash violently into the ground below him.
"That's two down..." Adonis muttered to himself as he landed gently on the ground. Looking up, he saw the last hilichurl pushing the body of the first hilichurl off of it before stumbling to its feet. "The only one left now is you. Let's just finish this quickly, I need to get back to the cafe soon."
Without warning, Adonis kicked off of the ground and shot towards the hilichurl, who flinched back heavily when it noticed that Adonis was already in front of it. All it saw was Adonis spinning around while lifting his leg, and the very next moment, everything went black.
"That's that." Adonis nodded to himself before brushing off some non-existent dust on his pants. "Time to get goi-!"
"S-Someone... please help! Is anyone there?!"
Adonis didn't get to finish his sentence when an unfamiliar voice suddenly cried out, and from their tone alone, Adonis could instantly hear the fear and desperation. It didn't sound like they were too far away either.
.
『New Side Quest』
● Objective: Rescue the civilians and defeat the group of Hilichurls and Mitachurls
● Time Remaining: 0 Days 1 Hours
Rewards:
● 1,500 Points
● Random Companion Token - [Amount: 1]
.
"A side quest?" Adonis blinked in surprise at the notification. 'What the heck are Mitachurls? I don't recall ever hearing about them... Wait, that doesn't matter right now, the time limit is literally only an hour, possibly even less!'
While Adonis wasn't exactly someone who was selfless enough to charge in for other people's sake, it entirely depended on who or what he was saving as well as whether or not it was suicidal or not. He wasn't some righteous hero, every human was selfish in some way after all.
For right now, he might as well check the situation out.
●●●●●●●●●●●●●●
It didn't take long for Adonis to locate where the voices were coming from, and once he arrived, he looked down from the hill he was standing on to see a group of humans running away as best they can from a small group of Hilichurls, just as the quest had stated.
From the looks of it, the humans were most likely a family since the group consisted of a middle-aged man as well as woman, along with a child who Adonis could only assume was most likely their son.
His attention didn't remain on them nor the Hilichurls though, what caught his attention the most were the two towering figures that walked behind the Hilichurls. They resembled the Hilichurls, but were far bigger and their masks possessed a pair of curled horns. Both of these figures also looked to be holding large wooden shields.
"I guess those are those Mitachurl things..." Adonis narrowed his eyes as he muttered this. He didn't know the capabilities of these new enemies, so he couldn't just charge in without some plan. 'I don't know enough about them to formulate a proper plan, though I can at least get the first hit!'
Nodding to himself, Adonis quickly but silently slid down the hill on the right side before dashing quickly up to the Mitachurls from behind. Obviously, due to how focused they were on the group of humans in front of them, they hadn't noticed his presence.
Adonis jumped up high before narrowing his eyes, he then swung a powerful kick down as he descended down onto one of the Mitachurls. The force behind the kick along with the fact that the Mitachurl was clueless to his attack allowed him to easily strike the Mitachurl down on the back of its head before smashing it straight down into the rocky ground.
The sudden attack immediately caught the attention of the Hilichurls as well as the other Mitachurl who turned around quickly to see its fellow Mitachurl on the ground in pain. Adonis could tell the kick wasn't enough, so he rose his leg straight up before quickly lowering it onto the back of the Mitachurls head.
Just as the Mitachurl was pushing itself off of the ground, Adonis's leg immediately forced it back down with enough force that the Mitachurl twitched multiple times before becoming completely limp. Its wooden shield was on the ground next to it, obviously having been let go of with the initial strike.
'This'll be brutal, but I can't take any chances.' Adonis frowned as he grabbed one of the horns on the Mitachurl's mask before snapping it off, he then stabbed it into the Mitachurl's head before impaling it completely through using a powerful stomp. 'Now for the rest of them...'
As expected, the Hilichurls along with the remaining Mitachurl were vigilant as they saw their ally dead on the ground underneath Adonis's feet. Adonis could see that the humans had noticed his presence, though he wasn't sure whether to call them idiotic or not when they didn't just run away now that they had the chance, instead opting to hide behind one of the surrounding hills.
'I should deal with the Hilichurls first, then I can put all my focus on the Mitachurl.' Adonis thought to himself. As if the Heavens were blessing him, the Mitachurl seemingly commanded the Hilichurls to charge, to which they complied and began waving their weapons while running towards him. 'Oh, how lucky. I'll make this quick, then that big one's going down.'
Adonis made quick work of the Hilichurls as he aimed every kick to hit a fatal spot, which were all aimed towards the heads of the Hilichurls as they all died after the force of Adonis's second or third hit completely snapped their necks or bludgeoned their skulls.
'Hm? Woah, that was close!' Adonis blinked in surprise before using the last Hilichurl as a wall to jump off of, allowing him to narrowly avoid being hit by the Mitachurl that had charged towards him with full force. 'So, the Mitachurls prioritise strength over speed. The typical brutish fighter then.'
Quickly finishing off the last Hilichurl with one final kick, Adonis quickly began rushing towards the Mitachurl that had turned to charge at him once more. Narrowing his eyes, Adonis dropped to the ground before sliding right under the Mitachurl's shield and through its legs.
Adonis then broke his slide before dashing back and up the Mitachurl's back. 'Tch, of course it wouldn't as easy as before...'
Unlike with the first Mitachurl, this one was prepared and had braced itself for the impact knowing that it wouldn't be able to block in time. Adonis flipped himself in midair to avoid the swing of the shield after his rather ineffective kick.
Adonis then began sending a barrage of kicks of all kinds towards Mtiachurl, but the creature stood strong with its shield held firmly in its grasp. The force behind Adonis's kicks were definitely taking effect, but most of them were negligible as the Mitachurl's shield proved to be much sturdier than he anticipated.
"This ain't gonna work..."
With a small looked of frustration, Adonis kicked off of the shield before skidding to a stop a few meters away from the Mitachurl. Seeing that it was now free from the barrage, the Mitachurl relaxed a bit before giving off a loud war cry.
'The only reason I could take out that other one so easily was because I attacked it when its guard was completely down, this one's expecting me though.' Adonis thought to himself as he and the Mitachurl walked in a circle while keeping an eye on one another. 'I could try THAT, but it seems so illogical... then again, nothing about my situation recently has been logical.'
The Mitachurl became incredibly impatient as it charged forward with its shield held up.
'Fuck it, I don't really have any other choice. This better work...'
As soon as the Mitachurl was close enough, Adonis dodged to the side before delivering a kick to its back. The attack made it stumble forward a bit, but ultimately proved useless as the Mitachurl quickly found its footing and turned around, ready to charge once more.
Once it turned around, it immediately became confused.
Adonis was a few meters away, but what confused it, along with the humans that were watching the battle, was that Adonis looked to be spinning rapidly in place. He was spinning so fast that he looked as if he had become a genuine miniature tornado, the wind around him also seemed to be picking up as any leaves around him also seemed to be swirling around his body.
The speed in which he was spinning seemed to be picking up as well as the previously small dust cloud from the dirt he stood on now completely covered his being, the dust was soon caught in the midst of the wind and began circling around him as well.
Soon enough, Adonis stopped abruptly as the wind that he stirred around him from spinning died out and the dust spread out to reform its previous state as a dust cloud. The Mitachurl could only see a silhouette in the dust cloud, but what caught its attention was something red that was glowing from within.
Suddenly, Adonis dashed forwards before the Mitachurl could refocus. The next thing the Mitachurl knew was that something unimaginably hot struck it across the stomach. Before being sent flying back, it managed to look down in time to see that Adonis had kicked it across the stomach.
As the Mitachurl was then sent flying, a trail of what looked to be smoke was left behind as the Mitachurl slid to a stop. Despite the pain, the Mitachurl struggled to stand back up as it looked down at its stomach to see that its skin was releasing a lot of smoke, and it obviously couldn't help but register the pain that felt as if its stomach was being scorched with a blazing fire.
Looking up in pain, it saw Adonis calmly walking over.
Despite how calm he looked, Adonis had a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face. 'Fuck, Sanji made it look so painless, but this fucking hurts! It literally feels as if my leg is covered in a bunch of freaking hot burning coals...'
Adonis hadn't even been sure that doing this was possible, but he was proven completely wrong when his leg had begun turning a molten red. He didn't know how his shoe as well as the part of his pants were glowing red, but he wasn't going to question it anymore.
If it worked, it worked.
'I need to finish this quick, I don't know how long this'll last...' Adonis didn't exactly want to have to spin so much again so soon, his head right now made him want to throw up. He'll finish this quickly and leave. 'No time for hesitation!'
As the Mitachurl was struggling to stand back up, Adonis quickly rushed forwards before kicking the Mitachurl's shield away, its grip seemed to have greatly weakened after his initial attack. Adonis then kicked the Mitachurl in the same spot as before, he then delivered an upwards kick that struck right underneath the Mitachurl's jaw.
Adonis then immediately lowered his leg after performing that high kick, effectively striking the Mitachurl's face. These kicks were already enough to render the Mitachurl into a daze as it didn't even try to get back up, instead swaying side to side unconsciously on its knees.
'This is it...!'
Adonis narrowed his eyes before kicking off the ground slightly before performing a spin kick that was aimed directly at the Mitachurl's head. His foot had struck the Mitachurl on the left side of its head, and when it did, a cracking sound was heard through the area as the Mitachurl was sent skidding across the ground completely limp.
"I definitely just snapped its neck." Adonis muttered as he casually stood back up, wiping the sweat from his face as he did so. He wasn't surprised when he managed to do so with the Hilichurls, but this Mitachurl thing was another thing entirely. 'Not too bad, if I say so myself. Fuck, my leg...'
Wincing slightly, he looked down to see his leg slowly turning back to its normal colour, though some smoke was still coming off of it. Not only that, he looked back to see that his footprints had scorched the ground a bit where he rushed towards the Mitachurl.
.
『Side Quest - Complete』
● Objective: Rescue the civilians and defeat the group of Hilichurls and Mitachurls
● Time Remaining: 0 Days 1 Hours
Rewards:
● 1,500 Points
● Random Companion Token - [Amount: 1]
.
"Oh yeah, where's that group...?" Adonis ignored the burning feeling on his leg for a moment as he looked around to see that the group were still watching from behind the hill. "Wow, they actually stayed while this was all happening... Hey, they're dealt with! Get back to the city quickly, try not to get attacked again!"
"W-Wait, thank you for your help, mister!"
Adonis had turned to leave, but was stopped when he saw the son of the two adults suddenly rush out from the hill before shouting this. Adonis blinked before smiling as he gave the kid a small salute, he then quickly rushed off, leaving the family to simply watch as he did so.
●●●●●●●●●●●●●●
"Ah~, that feels good..."
Adonis gave a sigh of relief as he placed his leg into the small lake he was sitting at the edge of. He would have talked with the family more, but the burning sensation on his leg was honestly getting the better of him. It seriously felt as if someone set his leg on fire... though, perhaps that was true in a way.
In any case, Adonis quickly rushed to the nearest lake he had happened to see at one point while exploring the area. The lake didn't have any enemies that he could see, only fish that were swimming around deep near the bottom of the lake.
He hadn't even bothered to take his shoe off or roll up his pants, he immediately shoved his leg in after arriving.
"Oh yeah, I have this thing now." Reaching into his pocket, Adonis took out what looked to be a golden coin that had around the same diameter as that of a tennis ball. It was coloured red on both faces while being outlined in gold. "A companion token, so does it give me something like a pet?"
Staring at it for a second, Adonis shrugged before flipping it.
"That didn't work... do I crush it?" Adonis tilted his head before frowning. Unlike the books, he had no idea how to use this token thing, so the first thing he assumed was to flip it like a damn coin. However, it was to no avail. "Fuck it, here we go."
With a single clench of his fist, the token shattered into golden particles that seemed to continue to multiply. Adonis watched as the particles all began gathering on the grass a meter or so away from where he sat. The particles gathered before seemingly condensing to form a concrete shape.
From the looks of it, the particles were forming something that was probably a bit bigger than the average young dog that people could carry in their arms with ease. He couldn't really make anything out too well as the figure was entirely glowing gold, though it was soon revealed when the light began to die out.
Soon enough, the figure was revealed to be a creature on all fours that resembled that of a lion. Its body was a bit wide, but not too much, and its legs were stubby. No doubt, if Adonis was standing right now, the creature would probably only reach up to halfway up his calf.
In any case, it wasn't the fact that it was a lion-like creature that caught his attention, it was the unique colours that it had. The creature was both a brilliant gold as well as a crimson rose red colour, just looking at it made him feel kinda dazed. Not only that, he could see a gold sphere of sorts hovering in circles atop its head.
"Wait, I swear I've seen something similar before..."
The creature had its eyes closed before slowly opening them, to which it blinked before turning its head multiple times to look around. Soon enough, the creature met eye-to-eye with Adonis, allowing Adonis to view its incredible pair of eyes that had pupils that were formed using multiple layers of circles that were red and gold.
『Companion Token has been consumed』
『You have acquired: Shishi (Male)』
