18 Chapter 17

Quest Complete!

Free Cocoyashi Village!

Arlong and his men have terrorized Cocoyashi village for years and made the residents suffer harshly. It's time for them to get what's coming to them. Kick their asses and show them they can't just do whatever they want. Arlong couldn't get away with his actions for so long without the complicit help of the local Marines, punish them as well. While you're at it, show Nami a new path and bring her out of the darkness and into the light.

Requirements:

Objective 1: Defeat members of Arlong's crew. (Completed!)

Objective 2: Defeat any Lieutenant of Arlong's crew. (Completed!)

Objective 3: Defeat Arlong in a one-on-one fight. (Completed!)

Objective 4: Find a way to punish the marines aiding Arlong. (Completed!)

Objective 5: Bring hope into Nami's world and rescue her from despair. (Completed!)

Failure Conditions: Death, The death of any Strawhat crew member, Nami deciding not to join the crew

Rewards:

Objective 1: +20% Experience per member of Arlongs crew defeated

Objective 2: 1x Skill Book, 1x Rare Weapon Token

Objective 3: TBD

Objective 4: TBD

Objective 5: Improved relationship with Nami, 1x Immortal Tangerine Seed

You defeated 18 members of Arlong's crew, experience x360%, +207,000 Experience.

You have leveled up! Hit Points and Willpower fully restored. You have gained 5 attribute points.

Your items have been placed inside of your inventory!

A new tab has been unlocked in the system shop!

Your item has been placed inside of your inventory!

Your relationship with Nami has been greatly improved.

Your item has been placed inside of your inventory!

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Markus couldn't help smiling as he leveled up five times in a row. All that bonus experience really helped with gaining levels! He also gained quite a few items, only one of which he was told about beforehand! He quickly looked inside of his inventory and smiled. Sitting there were two skill books, Skill Book: Tekkai (Iron Body), Skill Book: Seimei Kikan (Life Return). He wasted no time and learned both skills!

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Tekkai

[Active, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]

The Tekkai technique is one of the six techniques of the Rokushiki, the six marine skills. When used, the Tekkai skill hardens the user's muscles to the level of iron. This vastly increases the user's defense to reduce the damage taken from attacks up to a certain strength. At low levels the user is unable to move while using the skill, only at higher levels can Tekkai be used offensively.

-75% Damage Taken from enemies level 1 and below.

Cost: 5 Willpower/Second

Seimei Kikan

[Active/Passive, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]

Seimei Kikan grants the user full control over all of their bodily functions. The effects of this skill are many and varying. Examples include being able to quickly and efficiently digest food, controlling the shape and look of the body, and controlling body parts that normally cannot be controlled or even moved. The higher the level of the skill the more control the user will have over their body.

[Active]

Control every aspect of your body.

Cost: Varies

[Passive]

Changes made to the body remain until they are reverted.

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Markus looked over the skills and nodded to himself. Tekkai would be an excellent skill to use for a while but it would eventually be outclassed by the sheer strength of his enemies. He was all for increasing his defenses and survival. As for Seimei Kikan, it was a useful skill for sure but he wasn't sure how useful it would be for him. Still, it might come in handy and quickly digesting his food would be nice.

Next, he looked at his other two new items, the Rare Item Token, and the Immortal Tangerine Seed. He started with the tangerine seed.

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Immortal Tangerine Seed

This is the seed of the Immortal Tangerine Tree. Once planted this seed will quickly grow in any condition. Even in a desert with no water, the tree will grow vibrant and healthy. As long as it has some roots in some form of soil it will regrow no matter what happens to it. The fruit produced by this tree will always be the freshest tastiest tangerines in the world.

Rare Weapon Token

Can be exchanged within the system shop for a rare weapon. Rare weapons are of higher quality than regular weapons.

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The Immortal Tangerine Seed was pretty interesting, though only the tree itself seemed to pretty much be immortal. He was pretty sure that Nami would greatly appreciate it. Hell, she'd already gotten a small grove of trees planted on the ship somehow. As for the weapon token, there was nothing all that unexpected about it. He closed his inventory and opened his system shop. He had the token and a new tab to look at. The shop started with a tab for Food and Beverages, Weapons, and Miscellaneous items. Each page had a total of twenty items and the items for sale refreshed every night at midnight. Now, a new fourth tab had been opened, Skills. He immediately went to it to take a look.

He grimaced at what he saw. Unlike the other tabs, there was only a single item for sale, Fishman Karate. While learning Fishman Karate would be pretty awesome, it had a crazy price tag of twenty-five million Belly! If he'd been a scumbag and kept all the Belly's from Nezumi he might have been able to afford it but as things stood... it'd be a long time before he had that much money. He sighed and switched his attention to the token. When he used it a separate shop tab opened with a list of weapons different from the ones normally available.

Markus smiled as he looked over the weapons listed. He glanced at the swords and could tell they were of good quality but they were probably the lowest grade of famed swords, better known as Wazamono. They were the most common grade of sword above trash. Good, but nowhere near as good as the higher tiers. That being the case, he expected the flintlocks he could see for sale to be of similar quality. He looked through them slowly until he came across one that caught his interest. A six-shot .44 caliber revolver!

He bought it without hesitating when he saw that it could be rapidly reloaded and fired just by squeezing the trigger. Despite the flintlock parts, it seemed to work just like a regular revolver. It would work for a while. Once he bought it, the ammunition for it became available on the weapons tab of the shop. Wouldn't do him much good if he couldn't buy ammo for it! He Analyzed it as soon as he got it.

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.44 Caliber Flintlock Revolver

Item Level 25

Flintlock

Damage: 35-60

Features: 6 Shot Swing Out Cylinder, Rapid Fire Trigger

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He moved somewhere comfortable and sat down, it was time to look at spending his attribute points. He looked at his current attributes to decide how to spend the twenty-five he just got. He looked over his attributes and quickly spent his twenty-five points.

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Name: Silvers D. Markus

Age: 16

Class: Noob Pirate

Level: 28

Exp: 912,833/980,000

Hit Points: 790/790 (+43.4/minute)

Willpower: 1000/1000 (+53/minute)

Strength (STR): 105

Vitality (VIT): 79

Agility (AGI): 105

Spirit (SPT): 100

Wisdom (WIS): 60

Charisma (CHA): 40

Luck (LCK): 39

Attribute Points: 0

Belly: 243,450

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With his attributes increased, he pulled out his remaining Haki skill books. He decided to give them a try every time he increased his Strength and Spirit attributes by twenty-five points. He didn't have his hopes up anymore, he knew he would eventually learn the skills so why stress over it anymore? His Observation Haki was already pretty overpowered and made him a powerhouse in the East Blue and the first half of the Grand Line. As long as he could keep increasing its skill level and the level of his combat skills, he'd be alright.

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Skill book detected! Would you like to learn Armament Haki?

[Yes/No]

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YES! YES! YES! He didn't hesitate for even a moment and learned Armament Haki. Immediately information flooded into his mind and filled him with knowledge. Once all the knowledge was transferred to him his entire body felt warm as if energy was flowing through his veins and filling him with power. He clenched his fist and energy wrapped around it slightly warping the air. His Armament Haki was of the lowest level, he wouldn't be turning his fist black anytime soon.

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Armament Haki

[Active, Level 1, 2.3% Experience]

Armament Haki allows the user to physically harden their will to increase their defensive and offensive capabilities. The greatest benefit of Armament Haki is the ability to harm Devil Fruit users, even Logia users. Armament Haki can be applied to parts of or even the entire body of the user. It can even be applied to weapons when it reaches a certain level. Advanced users can even project Armament Haki a short distance from their bodies while extremely advanced users can project it into an opponent's body to deal internal damage.

+5% Damage Dealt, can harm Devil Fruit users

-1% Damage Received

Cost: 10 Willpower/Second

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He read over the description of Armament Haki and grinned broadly. He had to rank it up quickly! He wanted to be able to coat his bullets in haki! He looked around to see what the rest of the crew was up to. Currently, they were on their way to the Grand Line but would be making a stop off at Loguetown beforehand. They would take a couple of days to arrive and without much else to do, he decided it was time to begin the lessons for the rest of the crew. He'd thought about waiting until they entered the Grand Line but now was as good a time as any.

He climbed to his feet and walked to the center of the top deck and called out, "Everyone! Please come to the deck! There's something I want to talk to you guys about!"

Everyone gathered slowly, looking confused about what Markus might want. He didn't usually do much if there wasn't anything happening. When everyone gathered and saw the serious look on Markus's face, they remained silent and waited for him to talk. He looked over everyone and smiled, "Since we're heading to the Grand Line there's a couple of things I want to inform you guys about. Has anyone here heard of Haki?"

Everyone shook their heads and asked what it was. Markus didn't hold back, "It's something that almost everyone with any strength in the second half of the Great Line knows and uses. There are three kinds of Haki but there are only two I really know about, my old man taught me about them. The first is Observation Haki, it's like a sixth sense that will allow you to dodge attacks easily. It can also be used to help when attacking tricky opponents. The second is called Armament Haki, it can protect you and enhance your damage." He looked at Luffy and grinned, "It can also be used to hurt Devil Fruit users."

Everyone was shocked at that. Markus let his words sink in. Sanji and Zoro looked interested while Luffy looked confused. Markus chuckled, "Maybe a demonstration would make things easier to understand." He pointed at Zoro, "Come at me with the intent to kill me."

Zoro smirked and drew all three of his swords, "Don't blame me if you die."

Markus held up a hand to stop him, "Before we begin..." He grabbed a piece of cloth and tied it over his eyes to blindfold himself while activating his Observation Haki, "Okay, go ahead."

Zoro didn't hold back in the slightest. He charged at Markus and started swinging his swords with the full intent to kill Markus. To everyone's surprise, Markus easily dodged every single attack Zoro sent his way. There were gasps of surprise from everyone as they watched the scene in front of them. Markus was like the wind and Zoro couldn't even come close to cutting him. Markus let this go on for a minute or so before leaping back and holding his hand up, "Alright that's enough."

Zoro huffed and sheathed his swords. He didn't really want to kill his crewmate, but he at least wanted to get a hit in. It was extremely annoying that Markus had dodged everything he threw at him. Markus pulled off the blindfold and put it away, "That was Observation Haki. As you could see, even with my eyes closed and covered I could dodge all of Zoro's attacks. I'm not even an expert at using it either, experts could dance around Zoro like he was a child."

Everyone looked suitably impressed. Markus looked at Usopp, "Observation Haki is something you should focus on Usopp. It can make your accuracy even better by being able to predict where your enemy will dodge." He turned to Nami, "If you learn it and get its range to go far enough, it could help you with navigation and weather prediction. It's useful for everyone in one way or another. I'll show you a game you can play to learn it."

Zoro spoke up, "What about the second kind you mentioned?"

Markus nodded and then looked at Luffy while grinning, "C'mere Luffy. I'll need your help to demonstrate this one."

Luffy didn't fully understand what was happening but he happily walked over to Markus while grinning. Markus spoke to everyone while placing a hand on Luffy's shoulder, "As everyone knows, Luffy here is a rubber man. Punching him..." Markus cocked his fist back before punching Luffy in the face, to no effect, "Is pretty much pointless. As is anything that isn't sharp enough to cut him."

Luffy laughed while the others nodded. Markus smirked and clenched his fist again, "But if you use Armament Haki..."

He dropped his fist on Luffy's head in the same fashion as Garp's 'Fist of Love'. The moment his fist connected with Luffy, he fell to the ground cradling his head in his hands and screaming, "IT HURTS!!!"

Everyone was shocked as they watched Luffy rolling around on the ground and gripping his head in pain. Markus just grinned as he watched the scene, "As you can see, Armament Haki is great at dealing damage to Devil Fruit users. That's not all it can do though. It will enhance the damage of every attack that you deal. It can even cover weapons and enhance their damage. Something you might appreciate Zoro."

Everyone looked interested. Eventually, Luffy recovered and looked at Markus with a hint of distrust, "You hit like my Grandpa."

Markus looked at Luffy and arched an eyebrow, "Then your grandpa knows Armament Haki."

Luffy tilted his head and hummed to himself. Markus left him to his thinking, "So. We should start with Observation Haki." He walked into their storeroom and looked around until he found a few sticks and some cloth for blindfolds, "So, here's what we're going to do. You all are going to team up, I'll team up with Luffy. One will wear the blindfold while the other will swing the stick. The goal is to dodge the stick. If you fail, you get hit."

Nami and Usopp, the two weakest, grimaced. Usopp called out, "But, that'll hurt!"

Markus gave Usopp a wicked grin, "Then learn fast! You and Nami should team up since you two are about the same strength."

He was polite and didn't call them weak to their faces. He looked at Zoro and Sanji, "That leaves you two to team up."

Zoro and Sanji glared at each other, it was clear the two of them would relish the chance to bash each other with the sticks. Markus passed out the supplies. Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp were the first ones to be blindfolded while Markus, Sanji, and Nami held the sticks. Within moments the blindfolded people were getting hit on the head, repeatedly. Markus used his Armament Haki but its level wasn't nearly high enough to coat the stick so he wasn't hurting Luffy, yet. It did help the skill increase in level, though.

The group passed a couple of days working on trying to unlock their Observation Haki, there was very little success. Other than the times they were beating each other with sticks, they hung out and played around. Usopp messed around with his inventions and weird ammo for his slingshot. Markus tried to get him to at least try out a flintlock, but Usopp refused. For whatever reason, he didn't seem to like guns, despite being okay with shooting people with his slingshot.

During one of their breaks, a news-coo arrived and Nami got a newspaper. As she was flipping through it a wanted poster dropped out onto the deck of the ship. When the crew saw it, their eyes widened in shock. It was Luffy's wanted poster with a bounty of thirty million Belly! Luffy was extremely excited and proud of himself. The others looked, but only Luffy had a bounty at the moment. It wouldn't be long before all of them did. So far it seemed like Nezumi had done exactly as told.

As they were all enjoying their little celebration, an island came into view on the horizon. Seeing it Nami spoke up, "We're approaching Loguetown! The town of the beginning and the end. Where Gold Roger was born and where he was executed."

Luffy looked at the island on the horizon in awe, "So that's the town where the pirate king died..."

It wasn't long before the ship was pulling up and everyone disembarked. As they approached the town entrance, everyone decided to go their separate ways. Luffy went to take a look at the execution platform. Zoro borrowed money from Nami to get some replacement swords, promising to return Markus's katanas to him later. Usopp went to buy stuff for his inventions. And Nami just went shopping for whatever. Markus assumed it would be clothing. As for Markus himself, he went to do some clothing shopping himself.

His store did sell clothing, but with only twenty things available per day on the miscellaneous page and not all of it being clothing, the selection was lacking. He saw Nami entering a woman's clothing store and smiled. He was looking forward to seeing her new outfits. He picked a men's clothing store and looked through the selection while trying a few things on to get his sizes. He didn't know them as everything from the system store fit him perfectly. Once he knew his sizes he started picking out different outfits. He knew he wouldn't have time for custom modifications so he picked clothing close to what he wanted.

For pants, he got some long pants and shorts, all in black. For shirts, he got a variety of colors and styles with various images on them. He also got a nice selection of tight tank-tops to workout in. The last thing he bought was every copy of a particular hoodie the store sold. It had a black exterior and orange interior. On the back of it was a skull surrounded by blue lightning bolts. Since it didn't have crossbones beneath the skull it didn't count as a pirate emblem and wouldn't get the seller in trouble. After all of his clothing was paid for, he was just over one hundred thousand Belly poorer. Once he exited the store he ducked into an alley and stored all of his new purchases into his inventory.

His next stop was a shoe store where he bought a half dozen copies of the same pair of black combat boots. All the other men constantly wore the same outfit, he might as well do the same thing, minus his different shirts. He stepped into a restaurant restroom and changed into his new clothing. When he left the building he felt like a new man. From the bottom to the top, he wore his new black combat boots with his long black pants tucked into them. His torso was covered with a skintight black tank-top that showed every line of his visible muscles. Over that, he wore his new hoodie. On his right hip, he wore his new revolver. Once he got the swords back from Zoro he'd wear a katana on his left hip. He smiled and stepped onto the street to look for Luffy.

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