(SEARCH ONE PIECE OFFLINE ON WEBNOVEL FOR EARLY CHAPTERS)
An 18-year-old Stacy Mayah limbered up on the grass of the front lawn. She wore yellow women's activewear that exposed her tanned abs.
Swiss scratched his head as he looked down at the young woman preparing herself.
His height in this world was the same as IRL; roughly 180 cm. So he figured Mayah must have been 165 cm at most.
As such, this whole situation felt embarrassing for him. Here he was about to spar against this tiny babe who would suit being a supermodel rather than a warrior.
"Give him hell, sweety!" Lockett was sitting in a fold-out chair like a relaxed king overlooking his estate.
From his position, he could see Mayah, Swiss, and a spectacular view of Ahipara, population: 313 people.
The beach stretching beyond. Here there were no tall dunes yet. This modest hill was the only vantage point in the area.
"Wow, this view is something," Swiss said in amazement.
"Qaqa, you got that right. That there is the start of 90-mile beach."
Swiss stared out at a white-sand coastline that curved and stretched itself beyond the horizon. It looked so smooth that he swore it begged him to go walk on it with his bare feet.
"Okay, let's do this." Mayah was cracking her neck and tying her hair in a ponytail.
The arrogance of being at the top of a virtual world for almost a decade brought out his gaming alter ego, "You're on. 1v1 me scrub." He said contemptuously.
Swiss grasped the hilt of his wooden sword and readied himself.
As a child, he had always played with toy swords. Movies such as LOTR and Star Wars had romanticized the art of swordsmanship in his eyes.
A joyful feeling that had long since buried itself suddenly swelled in his heart.
A firm determination to win took hold.
After a deep exhale, he said "Whenever you're rea-…"
As soft and swift as a subtle breeze, Mayah had dashed forward and thrust her wooden sword as painfully as she could into the stomach of Swiss before he could even finish his sentence.
It was done without a sound.
The force behind her thrust sent Swiss flying back a few meters. After a few tosses and turns, he landed flat on his back like a starfish.
"OOF! Wtf?!" Swiss cried out like his throat was dry as the desert. That strike had winded him greatly to the point he had lost his voice.
"Qaqaqaqaqa! That's my girl!" Lockett spat out in laughter and wiped a prideful tear from his eye.
"Yaaaaay! Go Mayah!" Amsterdam cheered his sister on.
"Hmph!" Mayah turned her head to enjoy the view of the beach. She genuinely felt like that was more entertaining than Swiss. She dealt with fools like these on the regular.
'Holy shit!' Swiss clutched his stomach. She had managed to stab him right in the belly button. The pain was intensely focused in an area small as a pinhead.
Just that strike alone had emptied his gas tank.
"Damn it…" Swiss forced himself back to his feet, panting heavily. He did not want to take another one of those thrusts.
Taking no chances, Swiss took the initiative and advanced first.
"RAHHH!" Swiss closed the distance and held his wooden sword high, powering it downwards with all of his might.
He reasoned that he could use his manly strength to overpower her, but alas-
'Nani?!'
Mayah gracefully parried his blow, knocking Swiss off balance.
He was on a one-way ticket towards face-planting on the lawn. A fate he would have much preferred than what happened next.
Instead of falling over like a toddler failing to walk, Mayah's knee rocketed itself upwards and crunched against his nose.
A sudden feeling of being totally outclassed overwhelmed Swiss. Right then and there he wanted to give up.
"Dayum!" Lockett was rendered speechless by Mayah's effortless whooping of Swiss' ass. He had seen his daughter spar with some local lads, but he had never seen her be so brutal towards anyone.
Mayah turned her cheek unimpressed, taking a glass of lemonade from a picnic table shaded by a large umbrella. She sat down and crossed her freshly shaved legs like a princess.
'Owwww' Swiss groaned. Never in his life had a knee so harshly invaded his personal space. He lay on the grass looking up at the clouds.
Maybe if he closed his eyes he would wake up from this nightmare.
"Can I give you a bit of advice?" Lockett's face interjected itself between Swiss and the sky.
"I'll take anything I can get." sighed the dejected Swiss.
"It's clear you are going to lose."
"Wow. Thanks." Swiss felt like salt had been rubbed in the wound.
"But still, you should take advantage of the experience. The will of a warrior sharpens in the heat of battle. Don't worry about trying to keep up with her speed and power. We'll teach you some basics later. For now, just fight and try to train your eye."
Upon hearing Lockett's words, Swiss was reminded of the one piece manga. A scene where Luffy had a flashback about his days of training with Rayleigh, who said
["The flower of haki blooms in the extreme conditions of real battle."]
But even more intensely, the famous words written in One Piece Online's description shined brightly in his mind, as lustrous as presents under the tree.
[THIS IS A SKILL-BASED GAME. FIGHT OTHER PLAYERS TO IMPROVE YOUR STATS.]
The respectful manner of Swiss vanished.
"Trololol. Whatever old man." He now wore an eager look on his face like a child who lied about his age to go to war.
He realized that all he had to do was do the same old shit he had been doing for over 12 years.
Fight. Fight. FUGHT!
Like a freshly spawned noob, Swiss charged at Mayah with no regard for safety. Lockett was amused by the spectacle.
It was simple; if he had no skill now, then all he had to do was get some.
The wise words of a pirate he admired vibrated the depth of his spirit.
[Zxeror: lol]
[Zxeror: get gud kid]
All day, Swiss tried his best to defeat Mayah.
All day, Mayah dispatched him without a struggle.
"Sigh. Let's call it there" Mayah wiped a single drop of sweat from her forehead and made her way towards the house.
Swiss laid on the grass, busted and blue.
He and Mayah had been going at it since breakfast. By the time the sun retired, all Swiss managed to do was make Mayah barely even exert herself.
'Holy crap! The power scaling is crazy. Is this how Zoro felt when he fought against Mihawk?' he laughed bitterly thinking about all the arguments online to do with power scaling.
Swiss staggered onto his feet and wiped the blood from his chin, "If I'm not careful, I'm going to get rekt like how Luffy did in Sabaody."
He had always felt emotions whenever he read that scene of the manga or rewatched it on Youtube. But now Swiss could understand Luffy on a deeper level.
Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Swiss felt small for losing to Mayah. For losing in general.
Perhaps the safety net of IRL society allowed Swiss to avoid such physical confrontations that made people feel helpless.
It was then that Swiss shook his head.
'What the fuck am I whining about? I've always been getting destroyed!'
Flashbacks of his noob days in OPO electrified his body.
He suddenly realized something ironic. If One Piece Online ever recorded statistics, Swiss would surely be in the top 5 of the total deaths leaderboard.
Yet for how long had it been since anyone had ever dared to think they could beat him? He couldn't remember the last time he re-spawned after being defeated.
Swiss was not much a fan of drake in the real world, but his lyrics 'Started from the bottom now we're here!' sang in his mind.
"Pfft. I'll just crawl my way back to the top once again. Starting with that brat Mayah…"
Inside the house, Lockett had already set the table and was dishing up dinner. A seemingly familiar smell blew Swiss away.
"I thought the roast was my reward for winning?" he said, confused.
"Bah! I was going to make this tonight anyway. There was no way you were going to win so I didn't even bother thinking of a creative reward." Lockett waved his arms in a way that amused Swiss. It reminded him of how the people of Italy would communicate using expressive gestures.
"Right…" Swiss plopped himself onto a chair and grimaced in pain, "So what's this favor you want?"
"It's a win-win situation." Lockett called Amsterdam and Mayah to the table while he served food on plates, "I need you to go on a supply run for me."
"Oh?" Swiss replied, intrigued.
"Yeah! You're going to Russel anyway, so you may as well bring something with you on the way back." Lockett said while grinding salt and pepper.
"Makes sense. So what kind of supplies?"
"We own the local pub in Ahipara. I need you to do on a run to pick up an order of booze."
"A pub, huh? Shouldn't you be running it as we speak?" Swiss enjoyed a thin slice of roast lamb.
"You think I work every night?" Lockett felt almost insulted.
He would not have bought the pub if he had to work at it 7 days a week. It was more of a side hustle he got for passive income during his retirement years.
"Trolol, I suppose not."
Out came Mayah in a cozy nightgown and her face freshly washed. Swiss took note of her flawless skin and her bright blue eyes.
"What are you staring at?" she barked at him.
"Just, uh. The wall behind you. I like it's.. Woodyness? Nice n' woody, that wall. Trololol!" he said nervously.
No matter how hard Swiss tried he could not alter his laugh. It was like attempting to keep one's eyes open while sneezing.
He thanked his lucky stars that this was not real life. For if it were, everyone at this dinner table would be busting his balls. He marveled at how everyone in the one piece world did not bat an eyelid at the bizarre laugh styles.
"Tough first day, huh?" Lockett looked at Swiss understandingly. Looking at the exhausted young man sitting at his table, Lockett was reminded of his first week at boot camp.
"It hurts to breathe." Swiss painstakingly put food into his mouth. Despite the soreness, this meal was the best he's ever had, "It's delicious."
"Qaqaqaqaqaqa! Tastes different after a hard day training, eh?" Lockett said.
"No, I'm serious. Your cooking is really good."
Lockett and Amsterdam tried to hide their cheeriness after hearing the words of Swiss. Mayah, on the other hand, was not so easily swayed by his charm.
"Why don't YOU cook tomorrow night?" Mayah may have said a question, but everyone knew it was an order.
"Why don't I?" Swiss brushed her off. He had enough experience dealing with toxic gamers to not react to Mayah's antagonism.
"Don't listen to her," Lockett leaned forward and took a sip from his beer mug, "Tomorrow morning you can start your training. Amsterdam will be joining us. I need you ready to leave within a week. Any longer and my pub won't have any liquor to serve."
"Fine by me." Swiss was determined. He wanted to get to Russel as soon as possible and gather information.
Lockett smirked, "Good. Because if you aren't ready by then, I'm not giving you the quest. And you can fuck off out of my house also. Rest well!"
"Jeez…" Swiss could not hold back a cheesy grin as he shook his head at Lockett. It almost made him forget about the disappointment of today. "You're like the sensei I never had."
Lockett stroked his chin, "Let me guess, today you realized there are levels to this shit?"
Swiss was too exhausted to keep his walls up. He told the truth. "Where I come from, strength works a little differently…"
Lockett scoffed, "Bah! Strength? What do you know of strength?" he leaned back in his chair. "Let me guess, you took one look at my daughter and thought she was a fragile little girl."
"Yep," Swiss replied.
"I'm going to ask something important. How did that change your approach to my daughter in that situation?"
"I didn't take her seriously." Swiss summed it up in few words.
"Exactly. That's life, isn't it? How often do people get judged on their appearance? Everyone should be taken seriously! Real character lies beneath the surface. Those with true strength will tell you that." He waved his fork at Swiss like a university lecturer.
Swiss pondered the words of Lockett, inspecting the young women across the table who had just demoralized him today. Then a profound reverie resurfaced.
It had just been a year or two into his OPO experience. By now he was sharpening his PVP skills and had made some friends.
Hanging out at a pirate hot spot, Swiss and some sea dogs chatted away and challenged any players who passed through Conge.
[Kitero: Lol, look at this noob. EZ money]
[Xhec: mine!11]
[Iso_Erza: I called it first!]
Top-tier players would pounce on noobs all the time. The bare bone appearance of their newly spawned characters gives away their lack of combat know-how.
Swiss now realized the meaning of words that someone he respected said as he watched this go down.
[Dannathon: u guys are noobs at life]
It all made sense to him now. 'He called them noobs at life because they picked fights based on appearance'. Thinking deeply, it astounded Swiss how much people treated others based on looks.
"Damn… You is right." Swiss told Lockett as if he had just been enlightened after a psychedelic trip on ayahuasca.
"Very perceptive! Now, be a good lad and do the dishes this evening, will ya?"
The family enjoyed their meal and each other's company. Swiss fulfilled his chore obligations.
Everyone settled down to go to sleep.
Everyone but Swiss.
He spent a few hours sitting at the park bench enjoying how the moonlight glimmered on the ocean.
Swiss was now convinced. No dream had ever been this life-like and detailed. He searched his heart while he questioned the possibilities of consciousness.
Whether he liked it or not, this was his reality. That much had to be acknowledged.
In the end, he came to an answer.
Fact has always exceeded fiction in its irregularity.
[xRai: All that matters]
[xRai: All that's real]
[xRai: Is here and now
[xRai: So raise anchor! :D]