12 Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Two More Items

After a satisfying meal, it was necessary to rest for a while, especially for Tom, who had overindulged and now had a belly that looked like a ball.

Bayer squatted next to Tom, poking his round belly with curiosity.

"Meow-ow~ Haha..." Tom lay back, making a sound that was a mix between laughter and a painful groan, his funny expression causing Bayer to burst into laughter.

"Is Tom going to be okay? Those foods... I think I might have given too much," Mrs. Molly asked with some concern.

"He'll be fine, he just needs to lie down for a bit." Adrian was confident in Tom's digestive system; it could stretch all the way to his tail.

"Just ate a bit too much, I remember when I was young, I could eat enough for ten people in one meal!" Goodman proudly declared, "Bayer should eat a bit more too to grow up quickly!"

"Yes, Dad!" The phrase "grow up quickly" was an irresistible temptation for Bayer.

Mrs. Molly rolled her eyes, "You're boasting again. I don't remember you being able to eat enough for ten people."

Goodman remained unfazed, "Haha, I may have exaggerated a bit, I could only eat nine and a half portions!"

"Oh, really..." Mrs. Molly sighed, then decided to save her husband's face and went to clear the table.

After some more boasting, Goodman got to the point, "Dad, I asked around about the salary for private tutors. It turns out that only nobles hire them, and scholars like that are pretty much out of our reach..."

At this point, Goodman seemed a bit embarrassed. He had been teased by his coworkers all afternoon for wanting to be a nobleman. He had realized how "inappropriate" he had been.

"Don't worry about it. Uncle, you've already helped me a lot. With the work and all..." Adrian hadn't expected private tutoring in this world to be such a prestigious thing. He figured he would find something else to do.

Seeing Adrian misunderstand, Goodman hurriedly interjected, "No, no, what I mean is, our family doesn't want to cultivate nobles. So, the salary for you might not be that high. How about 100,000 berries a month for teaching one hour a day? Of course, we'll take care of your food and lodging."

Adrian wasn't very familiar with the local prices, but he remembered Nami's foster mother Bell-mère. She was killed by Arlong because she couldn't come up with the 200,000 berry protection fee. (Arlong's rule was 100,000 berries for adults and 50,000 berries for children. She had only saved up 100,000 berries, all of which she used to buy Nami and Nojiko's lives.)

So, it wasn't easy for an ordinary person to earn 100,000 berries in a month. Adrian would be earning this much just by teaching kids how to read for an hour each day, which seemed quite generous.

"Is this not too much? Giving me so much money might affect your family..." Adrian expressed his concern. This family had been treating him well, and this "tutoring" job seemed more like taking care of him. He didn't want to negatively impact their lives.

Goodman patted Adrian's shoulder with a grin, "Hahaha, don't underestimate my income. I'm the finest shipbuilder on Island 59!"

Hearing that, Adrian felt reassured. True, in this world, ships were like luxury cars in another world. Shipbuilding and repair probably cost a lot here in Sabaody Islands. Shipbuilders should be part of the high-income group.

Here, it's worth mentioning that buying a used ship similar in size to the Going Merry would cost around 100 million berries. So, for a ship like the Sunny, which is much larger, it would probably cost around 2 to 3 billion berries. But Nami said she got it for free. She's really a rich woman, damn you, Usopp, you lucky winner in life.

As for the later ship, the Thousand Sunny, it cost around 2 billion just for the Adam Wood of the Treasure Tree Adam. Add to that the non-stop work of the best shipwrights in Water 7, along with a bunch of advanced technology. Considering the bounties of the Straw Hat crew at that time, it's unlikely that anyone could afford to buy this ship, even if they sold their entire crew.

"Getting smaller! Getting smaller!" Bayer's excited shout interrupted their conversation.

Goodman and Adrian turned to see Tom's belly, which had inflated like a balloon, now rapidly shrinking before returning to its normal size as if nothing had happened.

Tom sat up, rubbed his belly, and came over to rub against Adrian's leg.

Adrian picked up Tom and gently rubbed his belly. He had a feeling that Tom's constitution was quite similar to Luffy's.

"What an interesting cat," Goodman said with interest, "Do you want to eat a bit more, Tom?"

Tom shook his head. He was really full, and he didn't want to eat anything else... unless it was a smell that would make him drool.

Feeling rested enough, Adrian planned to go out for some exercise again while it was still daylight.

Bayer shouted that he wanted to join, but Goodman pulled him back.

As Adrian walked out, he still heard Goodman asking, "Did you hear some more random stories from Old Bob again?"

Putting one foot in front of the other, running while keeping an eye on his energy fluctuations, 45%, 46%...

It wasn't until it reached 81% that Adrian felt his windpipe burn with every breath, his panting sounding like a bellows. He slowed down and started walking.

Adrian didn't expect that, even though he was tired in the afternoon, after a short rest and a good dinner, he could still keep up like this. The meal meant for three people wasn't for naught; it seemed like achieving his goal of exercising for an hour and a half each day wasn't that hard.

Once the soreness in his legs had subsided, Adrian used up the remaining bit of energy and initiated a summon again. Just like last time, 80% of his energy vanished in an instant.

"Congratulations, you have received: Bandage *1, Pocket Firecracker of Tiny Mouse Tuffy *1."

"These items have been added to your inventory."

Did this mean every summon would yield two items? Also, they seemed to be from Tom's world. But Adrian couldn't recall if that world had any permanent power-increasing items.

Adrian clicked on the two newly appeared icons:

"Bandage: Tom's favorite bandage when he's injured, but his unusually fast recovery and the bandage don't seem to be related."

"Pocket Firecracker of Tiny Mouse Tuffy: Smaller than Tom's nose, but its power won't disappoint you. Hopefully, no one is foolish enough to put this firecracker in their nose?"

Tom, who was watching with interest on Adrian's shoulder, silently covered his nose. He had actually put that tiny firecracker in his nose before, and it hurt so much! He almost got sent away!

The bandage seemed like an ordinary item, but that firecracker... just from

Tom's expression, Adrian could tell it was quite powerful, despite being less than 1 centimeter long.

Adrian returned contentedly. Today had been quite fruitful. He set a small goal for himself: to continue exercising and summoning tomorrow.