Chapter 204: The Return Plan

Waters Surrounding Wano Country

The sea surged and roared with waves rolling. Abyss, bearing the golden dragon ghost pirate flag, was sailing through the tempest with great vigor.

Farewell to the socially dead middle-aged nerd.

Adrian didn't bid farewell to the Shimotsuki family; instead, he left Wano Country alone.

Having completed several objectives within Wano, there was no reason to stay any longer.

On the Deck of Abyss,

Adrian was engaged in his daily swordsmanship training, wielding the Nidai Kitetsu. {Second Generation Kitetsu}

Fierce, enormous flying slashes continuously launched from the deck of Abyss, slicing through the sea ahead.

The turbulent sea was repeatedly split apart by these slashes but quickly returned to its original state.

Adrian used the ocean as his training target, steadily enhancing his familiarity with the Nidai Kitetsu.

"Adrian, where are we headed next?"

Rumi's voice came from the direction of the ship's helm.

"Are we going deeper into the New World?"

Adrian, without looking back, sent out another flying slash and said, "No need, Rumi. We can prepare to return."

"Return? Adrian-sama, are we going back to Zou to settle down?"

The little fox, Love, perked up her ears instantly and hurried to Adrian's side, her hopeful eyes gazing at him. Her fluffy and shiny pure white tail swished behind her.

"What are you thinking about?"

Adrian sheathed his sword and, with mild annoyance, poked Love's head.

"We just passed by Zou recently! How could we be going back there so soon?"

"But Adrian-sama, you didn't visit Zou," Love argued, "The Mokomo Dukedom is truly a very, very beautiful place. You wouldn't regret visiting it!"

"No way. I recently developed a condition where I faint upon seeing a large gathering of Mink Tribe members."

"There's no such strange illness!"

Love pouted at Adrian, but as the third-in-command of the team, she eventually calmed down and asked, "So, Adrian-sama, where are we going now?"

"Hmm..."

Adrian rubbed his chin thoughtfully at Love's question.

At the same time, he pulled up his panel information and opened the task system.

No tasks were triggered within Wano, but some task progress was made.

The task [Final Wish] obtained half a year ago was half completed. He just needed to inform Koshirou-sensei about the current state of the Shimotsuki family when returning to the East Blue.

After a quick scan, Adrian's eyes settled on [Wind Wielder] and [Extreme Trial].

[Wind Wielder] was the navigator's class upgrade task.

It triggered when Adrian first entered the Grand Line, requiring the completion of at least four Paradise routes, a time-consuming and labor-intensive task.

[Extreme Trial] was an advanced level 80 task requiring continuous enemy challenges to gain trial points and advance progress, another time-consuming task.

Currently, the progress for [Wind Wielder] had just reached one-fourth, indicating one Paradise route completed.

The progress for [Extreme Trial] was 125/1000.

Despite the seemingly fast progress, it was achieved by encountering the "Weapons Pirates," "Whitebeard Pirates," and "Kaido."

Whitebeard provided the most trial points, Kaido roughly equivalent to one-fifth of Whitebeard, and the entire Weapons Pirates amounted to about one-fourth of Kaido.

The Weapons Pirates had a total bounty exceeding five hundred million Berries.

Yet, this relatively strong pirate group only provided 5 trial points, showing the panel's stinginess!

Adrian felt the panel was urging him to provoke Whitebeard, Big Mom, or even the Navy Headquarters and the World Government.

But it was quite tempting...

"Rumi, prepare to return to Fish-Man Island!" Adrian instructed the ship spirit. "By the way, you know the way to Totto Land, right?"

"I've been to Totto Land before. Roger even snatched a red—"

Rumi began to boast about past experiences but then exclaimed in surprise.

"Oh my! Adrian! Are you going to trouble Charlotte Linlin again?"

Adrian waved his hand with a smile. "It's not trouble! I just want to help BIG MOM clean up Totto Land."

Let's not forget there's a series of tasks in the panel under [Charlotte Family]!

Whether destroying islands in Totto Land or defeating members of the BIG MOM Pirates, it would advance task progress and yield rewards.

Especially defeating or killing blood relatives of the Charlotte family could earn substantial side mission rewards.

Adrian felt no burden or psychological pressure in clearing out BIG MOM's territory or weakening her bloody family.

On the return to Fish-Man Island from Wano, he could conveniently eliminate some high-bounty members of the Charlotte family.

Even encountering Charlotte Linlin wouldn't faze Adrian; he'd be delighted.

It meant he could gain massive experience points and advanced skills from that natural destroyer.

{As if! The system wouldn't be so easy to continuously give you same mission and reward you for the same thing.}

Upon reaching Fish-Man Island, he could clear out new pirate forces on the island, advancing the [Mermaid's Lament] task.

Finally, he could return to Paradise, relying on the old ship spirit Rumi to quickly advance the [Wind Wielder] task.

In short, there was plenty to do as long as he didn't venture deeper into the New World!

Just then, the little fox Love curiously asked, "Adrian-sama, who is BIG MOM?"

"Remember, the couple we met on Mystoria Island?" Adrian reminded, "The woman with the long neck and the man with the biscuit shield. BIG MOM is their mother."

Love pieced together Amande and Cracker's images in her mind but couldn't imagine what their mother looked like.

Instead, her mental image grew stranger. {Don't!!!}

Seeing Love's confused look, Adrian briefly explained, "She's an old lady who loves sweets and has a terrible temper."

Love asked again, "Is this old lady strong?"

Adrian replied, "It's not about being strong or not; she's truly one of those rare kinds…

"Well, from my experience, she's much stronger than the big monster we encountered before."

"Can you beat her, Adrian-sama? Or should we go another time?"