The Foolish Grappler

by Cryptographers

I was a jackass back then, so full of myself thinking that just because I was transported to a world of my favourite manga, I would be the main character. Well, if you continue reading this journal of mine, you will find even those thought to be most undeserving can become great all they have to do is have the will to prove the gods and fate wrong, and this is how I did so.

3. Of a Journey

The foolish Grappler Chapter 3

(A.N Here is the next chapter it's a lot longer I think this is the size I will be going for from now on. Just want to thank all who have supported me in writing this regardless of how bad my writing is.

Feel free to leave reviews if you spot errors that I should fix as I am happy for any criticism sadly I use Grammarly to editing which isn't the best.

Thanks for reading,

Lolzman )

Now you may wonder why I am lying in the old man's bed in his cabin. Let me catch you up as it went a little bit like this as the first thing I awoke to was.

*SLAP* "AHHHH - DAMN IT, THE HOT COCO" I loudly exclaimed, moving my hand to my face to rub my now sore left cheek.

"You weren't responding to me, just staring off into space which ain't good being idle is another way of saying being dead, plus that was only a small tap", He spoke in a much calmer voice.

"What are you talking about I was just thinking now I spilled the hot cocoa on your blanket I ain't cleaning it", I stated after being awoken by a slap to the face, also apparently known as a gentle tap. Regardless it caused me to drop my hot cocoa, and it was so good the humanity.

"Don't worry about the blanket its just a breeze among the leaves what do trees care" Thankfully, Hui was understanding, and he waved off the matter of the spoiled blanket.

"What do you even mean with trees" "Wisdom doesn't grow on fruit, so no point looking for it", He replied to my question.

After that mess that happened, after a bit more talking, the topic of where I would stay the night given that I was effectively homeless, seeing as I just got dumped here.

"So kid, seeing as you got no place to sleep, you could use my cabin tonight as I got to go to the capital for some stupid reason it's only going to be overnight, so you won't be staying for any longer", He threw out a proposal that I by no means expected but as looking out the window it was getting dark quickly. Going on a walk in the forest with deadly wolfs at night may not be the wisest thing to do.

"Sure, old man though aren't you worried I may steal your stuff I do have no money right now?" I questioned him, not believing he would just do this out of goodwill.

"Are you going to steal anything" He replied with the plainest stone face I had ever seen. It got me sweating nervously what is with that face?

"My actions and memories are the only belongings that hold any value to me these days, so I doubt you could take them from me, " he finished, leaving me more confused than before. Still, really this isn't important to me… right?

"Sure old man, I will take you up on the offer then" After accepting, he went around packing a few things and then left, leaving me here by myself.

Now with the fun parts out of the way, I thought something was surprising about Hui, and that was when I observed him with the skill here see for yourself.

Name: Qiao Hui

Age: 102

Height: 4'9"

Weight: 60kg

Sex: Male

Lv: *******

Occupation: Old man

Hp ******/******

Description: To most, he appears to be a typical old frail man, which causes most that wish him to harm to underestimate his threat. He usually wears very baggy clothing, which hides his body from sight while walking with a slight hunch to his back. He also wears thick regular glasses on his face for his bad eyesight. His face is usually wrinkled like a severely dried raisin which earned him the nickname "Wise Raisin" from the kids of the island of Wolf's island, which he finds humorous and goes with it.

Stats:

Health: *********

Brawn: *********

Vitality: *********

Dexterity: *********

Intellect: *********

Wisdom: *********

Charm: *********

Note user A lot of information in this is RESTRICTED due to (RESTRICTED).

Now isn't that just bringing up more questions than answers, while the description is expected through the beginning, it makes me ask questions. Also, the fact that he is 102 years old, which blows my mind while I know this is an anime world, the fact that a 102-year-old can live by themself is the most fanisical thing so far. What is mysterious is that, for some reason, he is so highly levelled that it's restricted now. I guess from reading as many gamer stories as I have, that's not new, but the fact that it's an old man is surprising. At least, that's what I am guessing is the reason that it's restricted. The question is, how could an old man be that highly levelled is he someone from the past age of pirates, someone who knew roger or is he a retired marine. Maybe it's more to do with how long he has been alive because perhaps a villager gains XP every day, leading to the elderly being highly levelled? I have no clue what this means. I really have to think harder about this.

But enough of that, as I best be getting my beauty sleep, I most likely got a long day ahead tomorrow with checking out that village the old man mentioned and finding a more permanent place to stay.

…..

…..

As I lay in bed trying to get to sleep, looking up to the roof as I want to be calm and rest, my mind is finally getting caught up in what is happening. You don't really know how you would feel about being dropped into a world that you have read about and dreamt about for decades. Well, here I am in the one-piece world where anything could happen even in one of the blues doesn't really save you just look what happened in the story in the "weakest" Blue.

Thankfully after the old man told me wolfs island is in the north Blue in his ramblings, that gave me an idea of what I could expect from around here. Then again now that I think about it is it really a good thing knowing I am in the same Blue as the germa 66 or where domflamgino started. Now I have to worry about them popping out of nowhere and killing everyone on the island because they were paid for it or because someone looked at them wrong. I am sure that won't keep me up at night oh wait, it already is.

While the anime makes the world seem a lot better than it really is with all the happy times and friendship, this world still legally upholds slavery and has a world government that has done "let's say questionable things" in the past either to uphold 'justice' or at the whim of the nobles. This isn't even going into the many different kingdoms that make up most of the world under the world government that seems to be competing to be the most corrupt one out of them. Then there is the central part of the story, which makes you believe pirates are just in it of the friends you make along the way. I doubt that's how most of them are here, as I am sure if I asked, I would get a different answer than you would get from the manga.

Enough talking about the bad sides moving on to the good things, I now have true potential to become one of the strongest in this world using the gaming system. While it doesn't seem that broken yet, which is a bit of a shame none the less it's still a Game System (trademarked) which means along as I level, I get more powerful, right so really, I just need to grind and then I won't have to worry about someone looking after me as I could look after myself. With that conclusion I finally become ready to sleep and sleep I do.

…..

…..

.

I woke up when the rising sun thought it was a good idea to shine into the window directly onto my face, which no amount of blocking seemed to put off the seemingly enviable. Sadly I couldn't have a shower because A) there isn't a shower and B) I don't know where one would be if it did exist. However, realising I don't really know when he is coming back, I shouldn't just wait for him, so I thought now would be as good as anytime to start my journey. My first destination was wolf's neck I thought it wise to go to the only village to which he gave vague directions to it.

Now that I think of goals, is there a quest mechanic in this game system as that would help me a lot? I am in the early game right now, which is prime for me to level up quickly as I am pretty pathetic right now, and a few leaves won't hurt. Funny, as I was thinking about it and walking out the door, a message popped up

_ Quest: The first step on the path _

Every journey starts with one step, so this one is yours, now that you have chosen a bloodline and are more aware of how the system works, here is a small, manageable task to ease you into this world. The task is to get revenge on the wolfs who attacked you.

Objective: Kill the 3 Timber Wolfs that attacked you yesterday

Rewards: 64 XP, 3 Timber wolf pelts

Time to complete: 6:00 hours

Well, speak of the devil, Damn, look at that reward, a whole level and 3 pelts that maybe I could sell, or perhaps this system has a crafting option. Luckily it is just giving me the pelts as I have entirely no clue how to even begin skinning a wolf. All of this is just for killing 3 Timber wolfs, which shouldn't be that difficult given that I realise I have the gamer system and the gamer body perk is still in effect. The hard part of this quest really is finding the 3 wolfs. I don't suppose they will jump out of the bush right now…. Despite tempting fate, sadly, they did not, in fact, jump out at that moment which would have made my life so much easier or at least that's what I naively thought. Well off to wolfs neck it can't be that long the old man said it was only a quick walk.

*1 hour later*

"WATER …. WATER NEED WATER ….." I shambled as I must have looked like a dried-out raisin begging for just a drop of water. I should have never skipped leg day …. or any day, really, not that I really did excise other than walking to school. Regardless I could have sworn I ran further than this when I was running from the wolfs yesterday. Maybe when you are about to die, you're willing to put in the extra mile.

I really wish I did more walking back home maybe I wouldn't be dying of thirst right now damn, if I could see myself, I bet I look like I am cosplaying someone who is crossing the Sahara desert, complete with a turban, aka my school blazer tied around my head and a walking staff aka a thick branch. I may actually fail my first quest at this point, but that's not a high priority my survival is, so hence water is the more serious concern. Damn it, why didn't I bring some from the old man's house but no, that would have been the sensible move, but I can't have that. Urgh, I never thought I would miss public transportation, but it turns out I do now where is a fully-packed bus when you want one.

But then I saw what must be heaven if heaven was a small brook of water about 30 meters away. That was all it took for me to rush right for it, possibly breaking the world record for a 30-meter dash making a ruckus and scaring other animals away. Once I get to it, I am on my knees getting handful after handful, trying to sate my immense thirst.

"THIS IS THE BEST WATER IN THE WORLD" I yell to the sky with the same magnitude of declaring the one piece is real. Now when I go back down to have another sip, my earlier comment finally came to bite me on the ass, this time almost literally.

"WOOF WOOF WOOF" Out from the bushes behind me come 3 timber wolfs one at a time, they seem angry at me I can only guess they were the same ones from yesterday. Checking observe gives no further information than before. I quickly stumble up, trying to look confident in front of these beasts though I don't think they buy the false bravo.

Name: Tequila wolf

Lv: 3

Description: The Tequila wolf is native to Wolf Island, it manages to stand out from the rest of the native wolf species due to its weird gait and facial expressions, which are said to be like that of a drunkard coming home from the bar late at night. , you would be advised not to think this makes them an easy foe, as this unpredictability allows them to take out even veteran soldiers should they let their guard down. They have been known to raid towns to raid their food stores and bars for alcohol. It's not commonly known why they target the alcohol stores.

They have been known to grow to lengths of about 6 to 7 feet and heights of 3 feet. They are natural fighters; the system advises you to run, or you will be killed.

Stats:

Health: ?

Brawn: ?

Vitality: ?

Dexterity: ?

Intellect: ?

Wisdom: ?

Charm: ?

Having a closer look at them now that I am standing my ground, I see that these ones are about the size of a normal wolf which, based on their info sheet, would suggest they are still young, which may be what saves me today. I should also note their face seems to be halfway between a regular wolf's and what I would imagine a drunk wolf looks like with their tongue hanging out and wobbling of their head I got to say it's kind of off-putting.

It was at that thought the middle one attacked first with a lunge luckily for once, my years of being endlessly bullied paid off, leading to me being able to barely move out of range by taking a right back step, though I nearly slipped over. I follow it up with a stick with my walking staff(tree branch) luckily, I got it to bang on the back of its neck, dazing it for a period and apparently dealing some hp damage.

Wolf 1: -5HP

Before I could rebalance from striking the middle wolf, the one on the right dashed at me, ending with a shoulder check which pushed me into the shallow brook and the rocks in it, which hurt.

Myself: -5HP

Quickly looking up, I see it coming to get me while I am down luckily, I am able to get the staff in the way under its neck to stop it from ripping my throat out. Yet that barely stops its drolling jaw from trying to bite my face taking nearly all I had to hold it at bay. But that's not enough as it takes a bite into my shoulder, which is when I finally get my senses back together after the sudden fall I am just able to wedge the wolf off of me.

Myself: -15hp

Then I quickly rolled out of the way as I saw another wolf lunge for me. Luckily for me, it ran into the wolf I had just gotten off me, which bought me time to get up clumsy. The two wolfs seemly argue with each other leading to a fight good for me, I guess.

As I look upon the two wolfs, having a second to catch my breath, I can't help but feel like I am missing something. Sadly for me that something rushes out from my left blind spot and bites onto my arm.

"HURH" I tried not to yell out, not to draw the fighting wolfs to me.

Myself: -10hp

I quickly drop the branch, after which I use my nearly freed hand to shove my thumb into its right eye, which causes it to let go. Not wasting an opportunity, I quickly picked up my branch and swung with my whole might in a baseball swing to its right leg, which by some miracle, landed with a loud crack. This seems to have broken its leg, which has taken the fight out of the wolf if the distressed yowal is anything to go by.

Wolf 3: -20hp

Wolf 3: -10hp

I look to the other two wolfs, whose attention was caught by their fellow wolfs cry and hence rush at me. This time I used what has worked so far, that being another baseball swing which, by another miracle, lands on the wolf in the lead temple, dazing and stunning it.

Wolf 1: -15hp

However, it comes at the great cost of my walking stick, which snaps in half after the hit connected. However, I barely have time to think as the last wolf goes for a lunge, so I reflexly jab what's left in front, which happens to land into its open mouth and into the back of its neck, seriously hurting it.

Wolf 2: -25hp

In just an instant, I am now covered in blood however my heart is pumping, drowning out all other sounds as I look at the wolf I dazed, which seems just to be getting its bearing back when I lunge and stab the apparently sharp half of my walking stick into its eye and brain killing it.

Wolf 1: -20hp

After which, I quickly finished the last ones. The one I stabbed through the mouth was easy, but the one with what seemed to be the broken leg was a bit harder, but after getting on top of it, I was able to kill it.

Wolf 2: -5hp

Wolf 3:-10hp

After that, I just fell on my ass, trying to take in what in the hell just happened as my heart slowly brings to calm down. I felt a rapid mixture of emotions and feelings that I couldn't really state what I thought or felt at that moment. It was between an incredible high and joy at living, a sadness for the wolfs after seeing the light leave their eyes and an unfathomable amount of fear at the realisation that the only reason I lived is due to Gamer's body which has about 4 hours left before its gone. I don't know how long I sat there in the brook-soaked brook surrounded by 3 dead wolfs.

When I finally came to, I saw a screen in front of me.

ENCOUNTER

REWARDS +1 to Bra, Vit, Dex, +200 Ber, +36xp, 1 rank in skill polearm: Staff (novice)

(A/N: Ber stands for berries for now on)

—-

QUEST: (The first step on the path) COMPLETED

Looks like you had a hard-fought battle fighting tooth to nail against some poor pups. Maybe you are worthy of being here after all.

Objective: Kill 3 Timber Wolfs (COMPELTE)

Rewards: 64 XP, 3 Timber wolf pelts

Time taken to complete: 4:20 hours

Time Bonus: 14xp

(TIP: To find your quest reward items check your inventory)

—-

NEW QUEST: (To your destiny starts here)

Seeing how you have now proven your mettle against some poor pups, your destiny awaits you, which will surely meet your expectations, right? Go to Wolf's neck, as you need a place to rest.

Objective: Make it to Wolf's neck

Rewards: 100 XP, 300 Ber

Optional objective 1: Survive until dawn tomorrow

Rewards: 200 XP, 400 Ber, 3 Stat Points

Oh, I forgot about that, as hard to believe as you may think. I guess I should be happy with what I got maybe I can use the 20 ber to get a place to stay the night. Regardless I want to check the inventory. I could perhaps do some tricks with it that the main characters never do. I call the inventory up by thinking inventory.

Adorno Landor's Inventory

Wallet: 20 Ber

3 x Timber wolf pelts

So there seem to be some restrictions on how the inventory works, well, there goes an easy trump card. Also, I haven't questioned why it has my D&D character's name as my name, it's not like I am complaining it's just weird. Anyway, I better also check my character sheet due to my level-up.

Name: Adorno Landor

Occupation: Vagabond

Bloodline: (Hanma)

Level: 2

EXP: 50/216

Unspent points: 4

Hp: 35/75

Brawn: 3

Vitality: 3

Dexterity: 3

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 6

Charm: 1

(A/N: Hp right now is done by having a base 60 + 5 per 1 vit as Adorno gained a point of Vit he regained that health)

While I would love to add the points into charm, sadly, I think my survival matters slightly more, only barely, so I put 2 into each Brawn and Vitality getting each to 5, which also boosts my health more, making me feel energised.

Level: 2

EXP: 50/216

Unspent points: 0

Hp: 55/85

Brawn: 5

Vitality: 5

Dexterity: 3

Intelligence: 14

Wisdom: 6

Charm: 1

Well, with that done, I best get on my way before any other wolfs come due to the noise of the fight, I won't be able to take them down after I got lucky with the first 3. And I got fortunate if there wasn't Gamer's body active or if any of my hits miss I would have been dead easy as that. That thought freaks the fuck out of me that I was that close to death, the closest I have been to death …. If you don't count dying. I wonder if they will let me as I look like I had been mauled by wolfs … which, on second thought, is what I should look like. Anyway, that's enough monologing I best hurry back before the night.

*1 hour later*

And I am still walking really, how big is this island as they never seemed so prominent in the anime or manga. I guess in the 'real world", they are much bigger than you would imagine, probably to save time on drawing and animating them.

"Wait is that another human being IT IS I AM SAVED," I say, then yell as my voice is filled more and more with hope. So much so that I start sprinting at the person, trying to get to them as fast as possible as they are bound to know where the village is. They seem to be a young woman picking some kind of plants or herbs based on what she has with her.

"DO YOU KN-" I start before my luck finally catches up to me, and I trip on a tree root just as they are finally reacting to my shouting as they finally look in my direction, they are unfortunately a second late to react in time as I trip over landing on top of her. So now this young woman in her mid-teens, now that I can see her closer around my age, has a guy her age covered in blood and bloody rags of clothes seemly out of a fight. So she does what any sensible person in her position does scream so loud I swear I am now deaf.

"AHHHHHHHHHH HELP HELP I AM BEING ALSULTED BY A RUFFIAN IN THIS FORREST ALL BY MYSELF WHATEVER WILL I DO I hope he takes responsibility" now that started as I would expect someone in her position to react, but that last part said much softer was by no means expected and through me for a loop until I realised what she meant.

"Wait, you got the wor- *Twang*" as I was trying to explain what happened to calm her down, an arrow was logged an inch before my eyes into the tree next to us, the one the girl between me was collecting from. It took me a second to understand what it was and look to my right, which is where it clearly came from, and when I did, I saw another young woman, this one older by a few years, however, this woman was giving off a totally different vibe compared to the girl under me. The new girl carries with her a bow and a quiver of arrows on her waist while she is already holding the next 3 arrows in her right hand, ready to shoot them at me.

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SUCH A PURE AND INNOCENT SISTER, I SHALL HUNT YOU LIKE THE BEAST YOU ARE FILTH", She shouted with such vitriol against me that I for a moment believed that I was, in fact, a beast to be hunted. I quickly backed off of the younger girl until there was a meter between us with my hands raised and moving in a hopefully disarming gesture.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, it's not like you think I am just looking for directions to a place called wolf's neck," I said as fast as possible as I could feel her about to finish me off. That is until an unlikely defender came to my defence which was great until she just made it worst.

"Stop, Ade, you can't shoot him now that we have had sex I must marry him as his bride so please calm down" I could have sworn that my jaw broke bedrock that day the only contender to my claim was this unknown sister. At this moment, she looked absolutely lost at what to say in response to that but to be fair, so was i.

"Sex? …. Sex, you had sex" it was then that she dropped her bow and fell to her knees, seemly having a crisis over this thankfully, it was now that I regained some measure of thought I tried to fix this before it got worse.

"NO, WE DIDNT she is mistaken we did not have sex of any kind I have only just met her This is the first time I have met anyone other then the old man Hui since I got onto this island yesterday", I quickly stated, hoping against hope that would this would calm everyone down. Luckily she heard me, which seemed to cause a lot of confusion if her face was anything to go by after a while of me wondering if today I would finally meet my end not to wolf, but a woman scorned.

"'Marie what do you mean by sex," She asked seemly hanging onto every hope that this was a misunderstanding.

"Well, he touched my chest, and dad said if any boy touched me like that, he would have him marry me by the end of the week, or he would cut off his family jewels", She replied in the most confused but seemly honest voice with an adorable head tilt. Once she said that however, it seemed like a weight had been lifted off me as I now dared to hope I had a chance of coming out of this alive as gamer body only had 2:30 hours left. Yet, I felt she would still be able to kill me with one shot as I doubt she would care for limitations such as gamer body.

"Marie, that's not how it works, but I really don't want to have this talk with you how about we go home, and you have the talk with Odell," She said this while sighing putting away her arrows and massaging her temples, probably to ease a headache though I couldn't before sure. However, with that landmine handled, maybe I could finally get to the village and finish the second quest and all that entails." So I took this as the optionality to ask for directions to the earlier village.

Along the way, they told me their names the younger one was called Marie Sicht, and the older one was Adelind Sicht, who were 14 and 16 respectively. Maire was a fair bit shorter than her sister, seemingly not having her girth spurt, hence she carried an innocent charm that was bolstered by her bob-styled hair of shining golden hair that shined in the light. She also had a pair of lime green eyes that shone with untold mischief with a cute button nose. While she gave off a sense of childishness or mischief, her sister Adelind was a whole different story that spoke of a proud warrior hunter. She has a very athletic body that seems to be born from her pushing it to its limits again and again while still holding a tremendous feminine charm that is fully blossoming into womanhood. It was at that thought when I looked up into her eyes that I quickly shifted my eyes back to the path ahead due to the look she was giving me I guess she caught me observing them. Thought I couldn't stop thinking about her beautiful purple eyes.

It took another half an hour which, and when we finally got to the village, we were surprised by the smoke rising out of the village. I didn't know what that was normal but based on the gasp from Marie and the fact that Adelind blasted off running to the village, getting her bow ready and notching an arrow, I could guess this was bad, but I am sure this can't be that hard to deal with.

How wrong I was back then, at least before reality started knocking some sense into me