Chapter 16: The Clone's Gains and Decisions

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One Piece World, late October 1496 of the Sea Calendar.

After the clone Suzuki returned last time, he still stayed near Alabasta and did not leave.

Today, the sea was calm and the sky was clear.

At this moment, a very small sea ship, not much bigger than Hawkeye's ship in the original work, was drifting on the sea with the wind.

Suzuki was sitting in the middle of the ship, holding a newly bought dagger. He was wearing an animal mask similar to the one worn by the Anbu in Konoha. From time to time, he would look at the sea level around him.

"Have I been cleaning up too much recently? It's been more than seven hours, and I still haven't encountered a pirate group."

He was looking for prey. He had not encountered a pirate ship for several weeks.

Suzuki was speechless and could only continue searching silently.

Half an hour later, Suzuki, who was about to return to the port, discovered a sudden surprise.

"That's... a pirate ship!"

Suzuki discovered a few small black dots on the sea. After getting closer, he saw the very conspicuous pirate flag.

"Is it the Evil Bone Pirates from the South Blue? I remember their total bounty is 11 million. The captain is called Francisca Kliftert. Finally, there's a harvest~"

Suzuki's face revealed a slight smile.

Not long after, the ship got closer. Suzuki saw many pirates on the decks of the pirate ships.

The smile on his face deepened...

In the initial area of Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line, many pirate groups actually had slightly inflated bounties. Their strength was not good, but their bounties were rich.

These pirates did well in their respective hometowns in the four seas of the Southeast, Northwest, and Southwest. They burned, killed, and looted. They destroyed villages and towns. They fought wits and courage with the navy bases in the four seas. However, the vast majority of them relied on their numbers.

Suzuki liked to find this kind of pirate group the most.

As the distance got closer, when they were about five hundred meters away, Suzuki left the small ship under his feet, which was worth less than five million Berries. He surged chakra to the soles of his feet and stepped on the water to approach the pirate ship.

Some pirates on the pirate ships also discovered Suzuki. After seeing Suzuki approaching them in an unimaginable way by stepping on the sea, they all panicked.

"Ah, this, this is..."

"Someone is running on the sea??!!"

"Quick, go and call the captain!!"

"Oh no, Captain, the bloodthirsty Water Walker is here!"

A group of pirates were flustered and did some useless actions.

Suzuki wore an animal mask and boarded one of the pirate ships. He first threw a few kunai and shuriken from a distance to kill a group of small fry, and then retreated back to the sea.

At this moment, the captain of this pirate ship, Francisca Kliftert, had just come out of the cabin.

Suzuki saw the pirate captain stick his head out and stand at the railing of the deck with a weapon in his hand. His face was ferocious as if he was about to say something to him.

Suzuki's eyes were cold. Without saying a word, he channeled chakra to his arm and threw it fiercely. The kunai shot out like a cannonball and exploded his head.

Perhaps this pirate captain wanted to say something ruthless, or perhaps he wanted to show off after seeing Suzuki retreat. However, it did not matter anymore. Suzuki did not care about these things.

Without the captain, these pirates were in chaos. Most of these small fry pirates did not even have guns.

Suzuki, whose chakra was gradually sufficient, flew kites from time to time, throwing a few kunai and shuriken from a distance.

From time to time, he would approach with a dagger in hand. He calmly dodged the pirates' swords and counterattacked.

In a short while, the three pirate ships, which had carried at least a hundred pirates, were left with only a few survivors.

However, Suzuki had left these few people alive so that he could bring these pirate ships back to the port.

Simple, fast, and efficient!

This was the current Suzuki in the One Piece world.

When he returned last time, the main body transferred half of the additional strength to him out of thin air, so his strength had also improved quite a bit.

Now, Suzuki's strength was almost the same as the main body's in the ninja world. They were both close to the strength of a Chunin. In the One Piece world, they were also close to the strength of a ten million bounty.

Not long ago, the main body sent him a message saying that he would try to obtain the Eight Gates for him. He asked him not to be anxious and to continue developing steadily.

However, he still hoped that the main body could obtain a Fire Release ninjutsu as soon as possible.

Suzuki, who still only knew the three basic body techniques and how to throw kunai and shuriken, had also improved quite a bit in terms of chakra volume and physical fitness.

Of course, he had also lived quite well in Alabasta for the past two months. Compared to before, when he still had to rely on deception, sneak attacks, and other methods to kill pirates and collect bounties, he could now directly defeat some pirate groups head-on.

A ninja's battle was originally biased towards speed. Other than their poor endurance and defense, their speed and explosive power were very high.

Of course, Suzuki knew that if he relied on deception or sneak attacks, he might be more stable in earning bounties.

But so what?

Suzuki, who had already returned once and had a preliminary understanding of the plug-in function, was no longer afraid of the death of this clone.

As long as it was worth it, it did not matter if he died.

Moreover, the development direction of the two of them had been decided by the main body not long ago. He had to focus on the flexible use of various skills and the improvement of combat experience in terms of combat.

The main body in the ninja world would graduate and carry out missions in more than a year. Therefore, it was necessary to have sufficient combat and killing experience in advance.

...

The three pirate ships were connected by iron chains and sailed on the sea. Behind them, a small wooden boat was tied with a rope.

Suzuki was forcing a few pirates to sail towards the port of Alabasta.

Not long after, the pirate ship reached the port. It entered the port as usual. However, this time, Suzuki did not use the Transformation Technique. Instead, he wore an animal mask.

In fact, after seeing the mysterious bounty hunter wearing an animal mask appear on the pirate ship, the people in the port were no longer surprised.

In the past two months, Suzuki had entered the port many times with captured pirate ships. Every time, he wore an animal mask.

He even had a nickname, "The Bloodthirsty Water Walker", because he had annihilated too many pirate ships and killed too many pirates in a short period of time.

However, Suzuki did not care about these reputations. He only needed to earn enough money.

After once again rejecting the invitations from the navy base and the Alabasta military, Suzuki took the changed pirate bounty and the proceeds from selling the pirate ship. He walked to a secluded corner, took off his mask, changed his clothes, and returned to the inn.

In the inn, Suzuki counted his gains during this period of time.

"I was quite lucky this time. Not only did I collect the bounty, but I also sold three pirate ships."

He sighed with emotion. It was not easy to encounter a pirate group with many ships. It was even more difficult for the ships to be not too damaged. The income from selling pirate ships this time was much more than the bounty he had collected from the pirates he had captured.

"The 42.5 million Berries from selling the ship plus the 11 million Berries from the bounty, as well as some weapons and miscellaneous items, add up to 55 million Berries. Adding the 75 million Berries I had saved before, that's 130 million Berries."

"Very good. I can exchange it for a lot of gold. There's still about a month before the next return. I can bring back gold worth one million ryo by then."

Suzuki thought of this and a smile appeared on his face. However, he then thought to himself:

"I have to go to other places tomorrow. The pirates nearby have probably heard of my rumors. If I stay here any longer, I'm afraid I'll encounter a big fish that I can't swallow."

"The navy and Alabasta have also noticed me..."

He took out a map of the seven initial routes in the first half of the Grand Line and looked at the large and small islands on it.

After a long while, Suzuki finally decided on his destination,

Next stop, Drum Island!