Paper Sails Chapter 2, an one piece fanfic

Hey Guys! It is I, the Phoenix, back with a new Chapter of Paper Sails!

Honestly, I should have updated this story way sooner, but I've been so busy with college that this story was sort of left as a pseudo-One Shot.

Well, not for any longer! Chapter 2 is here, and it's nearly twice as big as the first one! Consider it an apology from me for not touching this story since its conception half a year ago.

The Reviews, though few, were all encouraging, so I thank you for your support. This kind of story isn't exactly the easiest to write, because I have no idea what'll happen in the story going forward. I'm just the Player, while Zaralann is the GM pulling the strings. While I do know a bit more about One Piece since the time I published this story, that's just by surfing the wiki just to read up more on the power systems because that's what I'm interested in the most. I literally still don't know like 90% of the characters, and I haven't watched a single episode past Romance Dawn. I'm keeping myself as spoiler-free as possible, so I can enjoy the experience the most.

But yeah, I'm glad to see that you guys are as excited for this as I am. It really is a rather radical take on the Gamer Trope. One of you likened it to a Friend Insert, and I think that's about the closest you can get to describing this fic, although a true Friend Insert would be the opposite of this story.

It's easier to call it a DnD Fanfiction, because that's basically what this is.

One or two people complained about how in the last chapter, I said that becoming a Pirate would be the best option. They were like "Why Pirates? Even if you don't want to join the Marines, you could just be like a normal person!"

I don't think it's that simple. From what little I understand of One Piece, the Marines are corrupt and ineffective. But that's just from what I know, which isn't very much at all. Besides, it isn't set in stone that I'll become a Pirate. It was just a preliminary thought by someone who knows almost nothing about One Piece. I'll be addressing that choice in the next chapter.

This is as much a journey for me as it is for the readers, in more ways than one, as you'll soon see.

So without further ado, let's get on with the story!

WARNING: Please do not attempt some of the actions taken in this Chapter at home!

Chapter 2 - Unconventional Tactics

Have you ever watched Edge of Tomorrow?

Tom Cruise movie, good stuff.

It's about a soldier who gains the ability to loop time upon his death from some aliens who invaded Earth.

Too 'Old School'?

Then how about 'Re: Zero'? A classic Isekai story about a guy who gets sent to another World, and gets an ability known as Return By Death, which is pretty much what it sounds like, from a sadistic witch.

I was pretty much in a situation identical to those of the main characters in both those franchises, though more the former than the latter.

That is, if my power gave me infinite respawns. There was the possibility that I only had a set number of lives like your average video game.

But I didn't have time to think about it further, just mentally acknowledge it at the most before trying to swallow the implications later when I wasn't in imminent danger of dying.

The lingering phantom pains didn't make it any easier though.

Getting pulped by what was essentially a large flying rock had not been pleasant, not in the least.

Every single miserable moment of that experience was etched into my mind, and my entire frame trembled as I remembered the sensation of getting crushed once more, in extreme 1080p HD detail.

Did I have PTSD? Probably. I'd never been through an experience as physically painful or as traumatic in my life. Hell, I've never even been injured my whole life, the worst being the occasional toe stub or tiny cut.

Come to think of it, I'd never even been bruised before as far as I could remember, not even once.

So to go from papercuts to extreme physical trauma was an incredibly jarring experience, which was probably an understatement, all things considered.

Any sense of composure I had was rapidly fading as shock after shock was thrown at me, and I struggled not to start freaking out right there in the restaurant like some kind of lunatic.

Until now, I'd been able to handle everything calmly and rationally because I was an abnormally calm person by nature who was used to taking the occasional curve ball with barely a flinch.

Regardless, even my naturally high mental fortitude wasn't enough to deal with something like this.

I envied the average self insert's ability to take everything in stride and immediately start using whatever bullshit they were gifted with to dominate the World they were in.

Meanwhile, I was stuck in the One Piece World, which I knew basically nothing about, with a barebones Gamer System (and I use that term very loosely) that lacked even Levels and Stats from what I could see, only gifting me with the ability to revive whenever I died, which wasn't really a blessing at all when it didn't help me get any stronger.

Trying to fight Giratina with a Level 10 HM slave Bidoof was always going to end the same way no matter how many times you reset the game.

My situation was something similar, and the prospect of getting repeatedly killed over and over again with no end in sight was more than enough to crack my countenance. That is, if I even had infinite lives to begin with and this wasn't just a one-time thing.

I doubt any amount of mental strength could help one deal with separation from their family and home coupled with repeated painful death in a shonen anime World without more than a few issues. Well, in the case of real people anyways, not those Self Insert facsimiles of people who were so much like Motoyasu, Ren and Itsuki from Rising of the Shield Hero that it was absolutely hilarious. The author really hit the nail on the head with how standard Self Inserts operated with regards to those three.

Unfortunately, in situations like these, you need to go with the flow or get swept up by the waves.

Because ultimately, no matter how you may feel about it, the World wasn't going to stop for you to try and recollect your bearings, and barring blatant acts of Divine Intervention, your situation wasn't going to change either.

It was better to try and do your best than wallow in your failures. That was one of the basic principles I lived by.

I only hoped it would help me now, when I was in the most dire situation of my life.

Turning my head, finally getting my body to stop locking up in fear, I saw that Silk was already walking out the door, and was going to get splattered in like two seconds alongside me if I didn't do anything about it.

Standing up with a hurry, ignoring the shakiness of my limbs, I followed her outside, trying to catch up to her as-

"PIRATES!" Even as the cry rang out, I had already dashed forward, pushing Silk out of the way of the incoming cannonball.

Both of us tumbled against the side of the building opposite the Restaurant, just in time, as an explosion rocked the spot we would have been standing in had I not gotten us out of the way, kicking up dust.

Ears ringing, the two of us struggled to get up as shouts and screams began to ring out from... basically everywhere, signifying that the Pirates had probably sent a ground force after firing the cannons, or maybe even before that.

Silk was the first one to her feet, letting out an inarticulate cry of rage as her home crumbled down around her from the onslaught of the Pirates.

Before I could stop her, she ran off towards the restaurant again, ignoring the damage done to the street by the cannonball.

Trying to call out to her, to at least ask her what the hell she was doing, ended up being a total bust because I was still reeling from the debilitation caused by the basically point-blank explosion.

How she was able to basically shrug it off without much effort when I was struggling so much just to get my head on straight was beyond my understanding. In the end, I could only assume that it was a physiological difference between me and the people of One Piece, as Silk had displayed strength that was clearly superhuman back when she first pulled me out of the boat. Either that, or it was because I naturally had sensitive hearing.

I panted and wobbled to my feet at the same time Silk ran back out of the Restaurant, carrying a freaking sword of all things.

Her resolute, infuriated expression and the way she was gripping the handle of her sword prompted me to ask her a question.

"Are you going to fight them?" I asked.

Now, this may have seemed like a stupid question, considering she had just fetched a weapon and looked pretty pissed off, but there was also the chance that she would instead try to escape the town and defeat any Pirates that got in her way.

"I have to." She said, drawing her sword. "This town is my treasure. I can't let these Pirates destroy it!"

Well, frontal assault it was, apparently.

Yeah, no.

Before I could open my mouth and warn Silk against her incredibly foolish plan of action, she'd already run off, screaming a war cry of all things, leaping into the fray.

Well, I guess it couldn't be helped then.

I barely spared the direction she had run in a quick glance before immediately starting to run in the opposite direction, away from the carnage beginning to unfold in the village, leaving Silk and the villagers to whatever Fate awaited them.

Heh, not very heroic of me, was it?

I'm sure many people would call me a coward and think less of me for the choice I decided to make. I can almost hear the pompous, self-righteous masses as they condemned me for running away from a fight and abandoning the people who helped me out.

Well, fuck them.

If they were in my shoes, we all know they would have done the same thing.

I knew how to fight, yes, but that didn't mean much when my enemies had such an extreme physiological advantage. The denizens of the One Piece World were much stronger than the average human from Earth, Silk being a premier example of that, and I had been scaled down to what was essentially the body of a child.

Even with extensive knowledge of Martial Arts, I couldn't do shit to these people because they were quite literally too strong.

Flawless technique could be used to defeat those with even superior strength, true, but that was only to a certain extent. For example, Batman could defeat people like Killer Croc with technique, but he wouldn't be able to even touch Superman without Kryptonite or something along those lines.

And I was nowhere near the level of Batman.

So running was the only other option I had because surrender was out of the question. I wasn't going to leave myself to the mercy of Pirates if I could help it. Yes, Silk had told me that not all Pirates were mass murdering thieves, but these Pirates clearly were considering they had opened fire on the village and were actively invading it.

I did feel guilty about abandoning Silk and the people of the town, don't get me wrong. Cold was a pretty good word to describe me, but I wasn't heartless. I became a doctor in the first place so I could help people.

But I was most definitely not the type of person to fight a losing battle when I had other options.

There was no difference I could make here by attempting to help these people out in this situation. If there was a capable fighter among us or some kind of super shonen protagonist-type around to deal with the Pirates, I would've been more than happy to patch people up and even perform surgeries if they had the necessary tools.

That wasn't the case right now though. According to Silk, the Marines weren't around and I didn't have much faith in the guards of a remote village that barely sees contact with the outside World. This wasn't Wakanda.

So I wasn't going to stick around and get captured with the rest of the people. Under no circumstances did I think Silk could actually defeat the Pirates. As an experienced martial artist, the way she held her sword alone was a clear indicator she sucked ass at the art of the blade. And, reiterating, she was just a kid. Even if she was much stronger than me thanks to being a native of this World, she had nothing against a force of armed adult men.

Maybe she could defeat a couple grunts on her own in 1v1s, but I highly doubted literal Pirates would fight in such a conveniently honorable manner. And that's not even taking into consideration the skill level of their leader.

In short; the town of Dawn was more or less doomed, except in the unlikely event that Silk or someone else in the village had some convenient shonen superpower, so I was going to get the fuck out while I still could.

I'll reiterate; I didn't want to find out what fate would await me if I surrendered to them or god forbid tried to fight a futile battle against them. I may have been just a kid now, but these were Pirates, so I didn't exactly have faith in their moral compasses. Plus in this World, I didn't doubt for a second that there was an active slave trade.

And since this was a Shonen anime, I didn't want to find out the hard way if they had something like Shield Hero's Slave Seals that forced people to obey their Master's bidding.

Sure, maybe I could commit suicide and maybe restart, but I wasn't too keen on killing myself for obvious reasons, especially since I had no idea how the Respawn mechanism worked.

So I ran, hating myself all the while for my inaction. It was the logical, rational move in my situation, but humans were irrational more often than not and I was no different.

The town thankfully wasn't very big, and after about two minutes I was reaching the outskirts of the town, the hills leading into the unpopulated area of the island now visible.

One thing struck me as odd though. Despite there being houses on this side of the town, there didn't seem to be anyone there at all. Doors and windows hung open and flapped in the breeze, yet there was not a single sound except for the sounds of combat and the screams that were emanating from the direction I had run from.

It was absolutely flabbergasting. Where did everyone go? Why did no one else try to run and get help? The situation made it look like everyone in the town was conveniently on the side of the village that had been the first to be attacked.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't have too much time to think about it, because as soon as I reached the last couple of buildings, I realized that the Pirates were a little more competent than I gave them credit for.

I ducked into a nearby house when I saw three figures, all armed, approaching from the back of the village. It was only the fact that they were coming onto the main road from a side street that kept me from being discovered.

'Well Played.' I had to give them props for that; the Pirates hadn't been dumb enough to just send all their forces from one side.

They'd clearly spent some time scouting out the village before launching their attack, which makes you wonder how long they were planning the attack or if they had someone on the inside.

While the main force attacked from the sea, they sent a few people from the back of the island to catch any stragglers who tried to run. Stragglers like me, for example.

Looks like I wouldn't be able to avoid conflict after all.

Training in Martial Arts I had in spades, but training in stealth was something I did NOT have. And no, the two of those didn't go hand in hand. I wasn't freaking Solid Snake.

Plus, I had no idea if they had enhanced senses to go along with their naturally stronger forms. For all I knew, one of them could be the next incarnation of Matt Murdock.

And they were coming up on the main street, which was the only location this house was connected to, because for some inexplicable reason the house I was in didn't have a backdoor or even a back window. It made me want to scream. What kind of dumbass architect designed these buildings?!

Oh, right, backwater village. My bad.

The gears in my head began to spin madly as I spied the three Pirates coming closer, one of them leaving the group to go check a nearby building for stragglers while the other two waited with swords drawn, chatting amongst themselves.

I watched for a few minutes, and noted that they were doing it systematically to every house on the road.

Shit.

It was only a matter of minutes before they checked the house I was in. I needed a plan.

I looked around. This was clearly a middle-class home. There was a kitchen and the living room on the floor I was in, and there was a set of stairs leading up to what were logically the bedrooms. There were a couple of decorations and a few pictures of the people who lived here, but I just skimmed over that. What I was looking for was anything that could be used to help me in this situation.

Of course, at first glance, there were no obvious weapons. That was unfortunate, but made sense. These were ordinary village folk, not freaking Vikings. Even if they had weapons, they wouldn't leave them out in the open. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to search the house thoroughly. They will be upon me soon.

That meant making a beeline for the kitchen, which had the highest chance of containing materials I could use.

I quickly rummaged through the cabinets, and through the kitchen window, I noticed that the Pirates were only two houses away. I needed to make things quick.

A small frown spread over my face even as I began to quickly grab different materials, fortunately finding some very useful items.

They were, in order; a bottle of vodka (with a goddamn 95% alcohol concentration according to the label, which was insane), a few glass milk bottles, some strips of fabric I tore off the tablecloth, baking soda, dish soap, bleach, a box of matches, some gloves and a little bonus; a set of house keys, which made me wonder why these people had not only left their doors unlocked but left their keys lying around as well. I could only conclude that they were a close-knit town, and had no real criminal activity worth mentioning so people could afford to be so trusting. Whatever, it wasn't something to think about at that moment. I needed to get to work in the short time frame I had left.

I hated myself for what I was about to do, what I was potentially going to subject those Pirates to, even if they may or may not have deserved it. As a doctor, on the cusp of earning my MBBS in college, I had already taken the Hippocratic Oath.

Do no harm.

Yet that was exactly what I was about to do. I was about to break the oath I had sworn as a doctor in the worst way possible, doing something that could only be called an act of terror.

But if it was for the sake of my survival, I would do it. I didn't believe in the concept of dying with honor. Pointless self-sacrifice had no worth in my eyes. Staying to fight an impossible battle where there was no escape to buy others time was something I respected, but doing the same when there was a clear avenue of escape just to be heroic was abhorrent.

It was better to live another day and help more people than to die because of something stupid like honor or chivalry when there was a clear avenue of escape.

I know it was a mindset many people wouldn't approve of, but it was a self-evident truth.

So I wasn't going to try and fight these people head-on when there was no chance of victory by that route. I was going to use every dirty trick in the book to survive, even if it made me a murderer. I swallowed the morbid laughter that threatened to bubble up in my throat. Maybe Jack Sparrow and I had more in common than I thought.

My hands moved almost on instinct as my mind wandered, pouring most of the vodka into the four milk bottles almost up to the neck before adding the baking soda, dish soap, and bleach to each one, making a thick concoction that I carefully kept away from my face, which was covered with a hand towel for extra safety. I soaked the strips of fabric with the remaining vodka and stuffed them into the bottles with my gloved hands in such a way that the mouth was completely closed off, letting the vapor from the mixture slowly collect on the inside of the bottle.

By this point, it should have been obvious what I had created; homemade Molotov Cocktails, and a more poisonous variant at that.

I suppose you might be wondering how I was able to make something like this in the first place so effortlessly. After all, what kind of normal person would know how to make Molotovs?

A lot, actually. In fact, most people who played video games had a basic idea of how to make them. Stuff a rag into a bottle of alcohol, set it on fire, and throw it at the target. With this basic idea alone, you could probably make a real Molotov if you were lucky.

The reality of it was a little different, although it makes more sense once you know the science behind it.

The reason the basic method is shown in video games (bottle + rag + lighter) fails more often than not, in reality, is because people don't realize one thing; ALCOHOL is flammable, not necessarily beer, wine, or other drinks.

What is the difference, you might ask?

Concentration. Only a moron with a death wish would drink pure alcohol. You'd just straight up die if you tried it or at the very least come close to dying, since alcohol poisoning is no joke. To that end, alcoholic beverages did not contain pure alcohol but rather a heavily diluted version of the substance. For example, Kingfisher only has 8% alcohol, and Gallo Merlot has 13.5%. As such, they wouldn't really burn that easily.

But the vodka I had found had fucking 95% alcohol content, which was ridiculous (I think only Evergreen had that much on Earth, and it was banned for it), but in hindsight, it made total sense due to one main reason; One Piece Physiology. The people here could tolerate higher concentrations of alcohol thanks to their superior bodies compared to the people from my World, so it made sense that drinks with that high of an alcohol concentration

Anyways, even then, there were several ingredients you needed to add in order to make the TRUE Molotov. Baking Soda and Dish Soap for thickening the mixture to make it uh... sticky, and bleach so that it creates... poisonous... smoke...

Okay, I know how messed up this sounds, but I promise I'm not an arsonist nor a terrorist in the making.

I just had some really weird friends.

One of them, whose name I shall not disclose, was someone I met in middle school. We hit it off because of our shared love of Pokémon and became close friends afterward. Neither of us was quite social, so the two of us hung out all the time and generally kept to ourselves, something that carried on until we parted ways after high school to follow our own respective dreams.

If there was one thing that I could say about that person, it would be that he was one of the most paranoid people on the planet. Everything seemed to have a second meaning to him, and even seemingly normal occurrences were simple cogs in a bigger picture.

It was one of the reasons why he didn't have any friends apart from me. People tend not to try seeing beyond the obvious and tend to accept things at face value more often than not, content to ignore things as long as it wasn't their problem. They also don't like it when someone tries to open their eyes to such things.

Thankfully, I was not one of these people. If one actually took the time to listen to his ramblings, they would notice that he always provided hard evidence to back up his claims, which really brought a lot of things into perspective. Once I saw this for myself first hand and realized that he was actually spitting facts that people simply didn't want to acknowledge, both adults and children alike, I had no qualms hanging out with him and listening to his judgment.

Of course, this also more often than not meant that he dragged me into learning various skills from various subjects that he claimed were absolutely necessary in one's life. Wilderness survival, Krav Maga, situational awareness, basic craftsmanship, and even politics; over the seven years we spent as besties, we basically became jack-of-all-trades in various different subjects.

'Trust me dude, there's going to be some sort of World-wide disaster soon, at least within the next decade. I don't know whether it'll be World War 3 or a zombie apocalypse, but something's coming, and I want the two of us to be able to make it out alive.'

Those were the words he once shared with me the day he dragged me along with him to learn Krav Maga from the school he began studying the art at when we were both 13.

It really said a lot that the prediction he made at thirteen turned out to be right, even if a little off the mark. COVID easily qualified as a global disaster, even if it wasn't on the same level as an international war or something along those lines.

And even beyond that, the skills I had learned alongside him had been essential at various points in my life afterward, even if some of those skills were more questionable than others. Such as Molotov creation.

In fact, I had a feeling I would need to fall back on that repertoire of mine a lot more before I could get out of this situation I had found myself in. Call it gut instinct.

Shaking off the nostalgia, I looked at the makeshift weapons that had been crafted with kitchen supplies in the span of a few minutes. Through the corner of my eye, I saw that I had run out of time. The Pirates had finished searching the last house before the one I was in and were making their way towards the house I was in.

It was now or never. Any moral quandaries I had about what I was about to do could wait for when this was all over.

At the very least, I surmised as I lit a match and set one of the Molotovs aflame, the teachings he had spent so much time pounding into my head weren't truly gone, even if I was rusty.

The thought reinforced my determination, and after taking a deep breath, I grabbed the lit Molotov and kicked the door open.

I was careful to keep my head angled downwards so I didn't get blinded by the sun, and threw the Molotov the second I saw the three reedy men with cutlasses.

They didn't even manage to shout out a cry of surprise before it broke over their heads. The burning rag that served as the wick ignited the vapor and set the viscous mixture of substances aflame even as the glass shards dug into their skin. I'd managed to nail the guy in the middle, but they were standing close together, so the liquid spilled onto them as well, setting all of them ablaze.

The Pirates screamed, and I remained rooted in place as I beheld the horror I had wrought with my own two hands, watching the Pirates flail around in agony, not understanding what was happening to them even as they burned alive.

Videogames really didn't do Molotov's justice. They were a lot more horrifying in action than I ever could have imagined, and knowing the science behind how they work gave rather vivid pictures of how they would work in practice.

I couldn't move, no matter how much I wanted to just go inside so I could avoid looking at what my actions had caused. It was as if something deep inside my consciousness was demanding that I bear witness to what I had wrought.

Or at least, what I'd thought I had wrought.

To my absolute shock, when the flames died down, the Pirates didn't die. They didn't even fall unconscious. With raw fury in their eyes (except for one guy, who was scrabbling at his) even if they were rendered speechless after how they had screamed their voices out, they shambled towards me like highly scorched zombies.

'What are these freaks made out of?!' I could understand natives in a Shonen Anime universe being slightly stronger than the norm, but to survive a direct hit from a Molotov without even falling unconscious?

Ridiculous.

The worst part was that they clearly weren't even main characters! I know I don't know much about One Piece, but these guys don't strike me as anything more than common thugs, and they were still built like Shuckles.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to try and figure out what the fuck these people were made out of because they were heading right for me, albeit slowly.

The one on the right, who had received the least damage from the Molotov, was the unsurprisingly the first person to reach my position, his sword curving downwards onto me as his half-burned face twisted into a triumphant expression.

He was celebrating too early.

Just like Silk, these guys had no real idea how to even hold their weapons. It was just grab and swing for them.

And I was going to take full advantage of that.

As he swung down with his right arm, aiming for my upper body, most likely my head, I moved.

Most people would think the best thing to do in this situation was to step back or try to keep some distance between themselves and their assailants. That line of thought wasn't exactly wrong, but it wasn't what I had been trained to do.

Instead, I stepped closer to the Pirate and used my left arm to deflect his sword arm to the side and hooked it under his armpit, then twisting it and locking the Pirate's limb in place. Before he could even react to the fact that his strike had been stopped dead, I pulled back with my left arm and brought him close, just to land a sickening elbow strike to the neck with my other arm.

Predictably, he choked, his eyes flying wide open in shock. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't done yet. My right hand, extended after the elbow strike, clamped onto his back and pulled him downwards.

Then I kneed him in the balls with all the force I could muster. Three times.

When I let go of him, whatever willpower had been keeping him up failed and he collapsed, his mind blanking out from the pain and sending him to the land of dreams.

Even as he fell, I turned to the other two Pirates.

At this point, I wasn't even thinking consciously, just fighting hard with everything I had. I know that in various franchises, especially Naruto, there are entire flashback sequences that take place within the span of a single fight as the two (or more) combatants have an emotional battle about their wills and ideologies even as they traded blows.

As for me?

In the words of the late and great Chadwick Boseman, we don't do that here.

Taking a few seconds to come up with a plan or analyze the enemy's tactics was all well and good, but I couldn't relive entire memories during a fight. Hell, I could barely notice my own emotions.

There was only a single thought in my brain; fight.

This hyper-aggressive combat disposition was what probably made me such a natural at Krav Maga, an offense-oriented Martial Art.

The Pirate closest to me was the one who I had struck on the head with the Molotov. His head was almost completely scorched, and his face was a rictus of cuts from where the glass of the bottle had dug into his skin. He was barely conscious, made delirious from both the pain and direct exposure to the poisonous fumes from the bleach mixed into the Molotov, so a Palm Heel Strike to the gut and a jaw-cracking uppercut to the chin were enough to take him out of the fight and send him sprawling onto his back, unconscious.

That left Pirate number 3, who was in the process of trying to draw what looked like a flintlock, which made sense for the general technological level of this World, from his pocket. Unfortunately for him, he'd been blinded by the Molotov, his eyelids burned shut by the tar-like mixture, so he wasn't doing a very good job of it, scrabbling uselessly at his belt.

He was much... larger than his two compatriots, so I didn't go for a more direct technique and instead swept his legs out from under him before axe kicking him hard enough to kick up some dust when he hit the ground.

For a few seconds, I stood there. Then, when my brain registered that all three of my opponents were down, I let out whatever breath I had been holding in, my muscles relaxing.

And blinked.

"The hell?"

Now that I was calm again, the reality of it hit me. How did I take these guys down so easily? That was the question that was running through my now clear mind.

I may have been pretty muscular for my age, since 14 was around the time when I did the most physical activity, but there was no way I should have been able to overpower three fully grown men. Especially men who lived at sea in a World that didn't use motorized ships.

Unless... had I been enhanced upon entering this World?

Going over the memory of the fight just now, it was clear that I was marginally stronger than these thugs, but not to the point where it was like Captain America fighting normal people, since they had been badly injured by my homemade weaponry.

The answer had to be that my body was altered to fit the same ridiculous standards the natives of this World seemed to abide by. In simpler terms, I too had One Piece Physiology, which let people survive and not even fall unconscious from a Molotov to the head.

Was that why I had been aged down? I had originally been an adult, with not much growing left to do, but now I had lost a quarter of my age and returned to a time where my growth phase was just about to begin.

Whatever force had dropped me here seemed to want me to go through puberty again, except with One Piece Physiology, so that my physical peak would be much greater than it would've been originally.

While it was frustrating to be reduced to my early teens again, I wasn't against this idea in the least. I needed all the strength I could get to reach Laugh Tale.

Speaking of which...

My gaze went to the downed men, who were unmoving. The damage I had inflicted was sickening.

I knew, intellectually, that these assholes deserved it. They had willingly chosen to adopt this lifestyle, to cheat, steal, and murder, if not worse. Even if they hadn't suffered at my hands, I'm sure they would have been put down eventually, either to other Pirates or to the Marines.

Yet I still couldn't help but feel guilty. I guess it was my biggest failing as a human being; despite prizing rationality above all else, I couldn't bring myself to be completely rational where it counted.

Ugh.

Shaking myself out of it, I decided that I didn't have any more time to waste. As much as I most definitely did not want to, I went over to the downed men to see if they had anything useful I could appropriate (read: steal) from them, a small part of me being satisfied at the irony of it.

The loot was as follows; the gun the fat guy had been reaching for along with its holster, some bandages from the first guy (which could come in handy later), and some ammunition for a said gun from the guy who I'd thrown the Molotov on top of. Why one guy had the gun while the other guy carried the bullets and black powder was beyond me.

There were 6 bullets, although the term 'bullets' might have been fairly inaccurate. They were basically just metal marbles. It took a second to remember how flintlocks worked, but thankfully, my old history teacher's lessons came to mind, and I mentally went over the process for a few seconds before holstering the weapon to my side.

I left the swords they had though. They were too unwieldy for me to use, and I was more comfortable using my fists and feet in close-range combat.

Going back into the house, I took the three Molotovs, holding two with one hand, something made easier by my increased strength, and scampered off, unwilling to waste any more time. Every second counted.

However, instead of continuing to run away from the town like I'd been doing before, I instead made my way back towards where I had last seen Silk, and though I ran, I made sure to do so cautiously, ducking into a side street.

It was another irrational decision on my part to go back and help the villagers. I didn't know how many Pirates there were, and I had only three Molotovs, which apparently couldn't kill or knock out even with a direct hit, a flintlock, a gun notorious for how shitty it was in our World, and my own body, which ironically seemed to be the strongest weapon I had at the moment.

Yet... I'd already taken out three men. In my panic-induced mania, I had drawn the battle lines.

Even if I tried to run, once the Pirates discovered the unconscious bodies I had left in my wake, I'm sure they wouldn't be very happy. They would know that there was someone else on the island, someone that had just inflicted an extremely brutal beatdown on their comrades, even crippling one of them. Whether out of anger or intrigue, they would try to find me. And like I said before, I was no master of stealth.

Worse, I was on an island, with the only human settlement being the town I was currently in and trying to escape from. The only method of escape would be by sea, and I had neither a boat nor the experience to use one. In other words, I was a sitting duck.

By attacking those three instead of trying to find another method to escape, I'd sealed my fate. But hey, it wasn't like I had much of a choice. At that point, it was either me or them. A confrontation was inevitable.

Therefore, since I could no longer run away, and because I now knew I could at least match them physically, I decided to commit to bringing the fight their way.

Was it terrifying?

Of course, it was. I was trying to do a Rambo here. There wasn't even a guarantee that I could respawn again from this. For all I knew, it could've only been a one-time thing. This could lead to me dying permanently.

Then again, so would the alternatives. Even if I frowned on heroic sacrifices, if it was between trying to escape and getting killed or fighting and getting killed, I was going to go for the latter.

I ran as fast as I could without making too much noise, which was pretty difficult while balancing three glass jars of painful destruction in my arms. If I'd been aged down just a little bit more, I doubted I would've been able to hold them at all, enhanced strength or not, on account of their shape and size.

A bead of sweat ran down my temple, and a part of me bemusedly wondered how terrible I looked at that point in time. The other part of me didn't even want to know.

I skidded to a halt as I reached the docks, hiding behind a large crate that had been placed adjacent to one of the buildings, a warehouse where incoming goods were probably stored.

The scene I found wasn't a pleasant one, even if it wasn't the worst-case scenario.

For one, there was a massive Pirate Ship docked in the harbor, almost touching the pier, angled in such a way that its main cannons could probably level the city on command. The figurehead was shaped like some sort of sea serpent and the wood that made up the ship was mostly colored purple. The Jolly Roger on the mainsail was a skull with a demarcated crescent on the left side. Since the ship was so close, they couldn't see me without intentionally looking, and whatever people were on board the ship in a position where they could possibly spot me were too busy focused on the events taking place near the pier.

A few men, clearly pirates, were standing a couple of feet from me, stopped in the process of stealing some crates to load onto their ship later. While I couldn't see their expressions since I was behind them, I could imagine their sleazy grins as they watched the scene in front of them.

Just a yard or two away from them was someone who was clearly the leader of the Pirates, judging by his distinctive blue naval coat and the fact that the two men who stood next to him, swords drawn, seemed deferential to him. I couldn't see his face either, but I didn't need to.

The body at his feet was telling enough.

A pang of guilt shot through me when I saw what could have only been Silk's corpse, a bullet hole straight in the middle of her forehead telling the cause of death.

"This village is my treasure!"

I closed my eyes to offer the girl a silent prayer. Even if I knew this would be the only possible outcome from what she had attempted, taking on an entire pirate crew by herself or with whatever ragtag militia Dawn could have coughed up, I couldn't help but wonder if I should have tried harder to convince her to at least think of a strategy instead of charging in.

Maybe she would have still been alive if I had.

Suddenly, I remembered something important that I had only seen about half an hour earlier.

Would you like to Progress to the next Chapter or Re-Play the current Chapter?

I had the option to 'Re-Play' a Chapter if I reached the end of it. While I had considered it rather broken before, now I understood what the feature was really there for.

To fix my mistakes.

I couldn't help but feel grateful for my powers, even if they were much weaker than normal Gamer abilities.

It may not have been what I wanted, but it was currently what I needed.

But first, before I could do anything along those lines, I had to reach the end of the Chapter. And that most likely meant taking out the Pirates. Which meant I needed to focus.

Returning my eyes to where the Pirate Captain stood, I noticed that kneeling in front of him was what seemed to be the entirety of the village, defeat and sorrow evident in their expressions.

The one who knelt at their front, probably the Mayor, seemed to be unable to remove his eyes from Silk's dead body, even as tears streamed down his face.

For a moment, I wondered why none of the Pirates seemed to be guarding them, the ten that were with their captain remaining next to the crates close to me. Then I realized that they didn't need to. The people of Dawn Village had lost their will. They likely weren't going to fight even if they could.

The Pirate Captain seemed to be taunting the villagers about something, likely reveling in his superiority.

That was good; it meant that he was an extremely arrogant individual, and that meant that the Villagers had more time to live. However, I knew that their time was running out. Once the captain got bored, he would likely have them all killed.

However, my options were limited. If I tried to attack the Pirates, even if I could defeat them with the weapons I had on hand, the Captain was too close to the Villagers. He could easily take them hostage and use them against me. While I wouldn't really care, I felt like I owed the people of Dawn Village at least enough to keep as many of them alive as possible. One of their own had saved me and they had given me food without asking for anything in return, a kindness that was practically dead in our World.

I wasn't very sentimental by nature, but I couldn't leave a good deed unrewarded.

Which led to my current dilemma. I needed a distraction, one that would draw the attention of the Pirates away from the civilians.

Then it hit me, and I nearly slapped myself for not thinking of it sooner. A plan formed in my mind, one that could kill two birds with one stone; distract the Pirates and keep them from receiving backup.

But for the plan to work I needed to apply a skill I wasn't particularly good at; stealth. I needed to sneak to the end of the pier without getting noticed. It wasn't the Pirates in front of me that I was worried about; unless they turned around, they didn't have a line of sight towards the route I needed to take. Rather, I was worried about the Pirates on the ship, who could spot me if I moved out of my current cover.

My gaze fell onto a large, empty crate discarded next to me, and I allowed myself a tight grin as I executed one of the riskiest moves I had ever made in my life.

It was no cardboard box, but it would have to do.

Just call me Solid Sparrow.

Quickly tying the Molotovs to my body using the bandages so that they would be easier to carry, I quietly placed the cardboard box over myself, the item being large enough to cover my entire frame, weapons and all.

While there were no eyeholes, I found that I could see through the slits between the individual plants making up the crate, which gave me a reliable field of vision towards my goal.

Cursing my past self from a few seconds ago for even coming up with the idea and praying to whatever Gods existed in One Piece, I began to slowly but steadily inch forwards from my location.

Each step was absolutely nerve-wracking, even more so than when I fought those three with nothing but my bare hands after the Molotov failed to defeat them.

But I was already committed, and I wasn't going to back out now.

Judging from what I could see from the slits, all the Pirates were occupied with watching the spectacle their captain was putting on, which was great because it meant they had less time to notice a solitary, extremely inconspicuous crate moving down the pier. I made sure to hold the bottom of the crate a millimeter above the ground so that it didn't scrape and cause noise, although, considering how engrossed these guys were in the townspeople's humiliation, it may not have even been necessary.

After a heart-stopping minute, I made it. Letting out a deep breath and wiping the sweat out of my eyes, I began to execute the main phase of my plan to save Dawn. I carefully untied the Molotovs from my body, and let go of the matchbox which I had been holding with my teeth while sneaking in the crate.

I took a breath. I only had one shot at this.

Once the match was lit and the Molotov's wick was set aflame, I threw off the crate and chucked all three, one after another in rapid succession, with as much strength as I could muster, towards a single location; the barrel of one of the many cannons lining the ship.

Before the Molotovs could even land I immediately turned and ran, sprinting away from where I had thrown it, leaving the matchbox behind. It was now useless to me anyway.

Of course, the Pirates noticed me, the splash of the crate falling into the water and the sound of shattering glass drawing their attention to my direction.

Even as the Captain, whose face I could now see, shouted something furiously at his men, who were beginning to run towards me, I locked eyes with the Mayor, whose jaw had dropped in shock.

"GET BACK!" I shouted, and the jerk of his head told me that I had been heard.

With the Pirates distracted, he shouted something to the other Villagers and they scrambled backward, running as far away from the Pirate Captain as they could, the man in question still being focused on me.

I completely ignored the Pirates that were running towards me with swords drawn and murder in their eyes. Instead, I jumped with as much force as I could muster, throwing myself to the side of the warehouse I had been hiding next to and covering my ears even as I skidded roughly across the ground.

Then the Pirate Ship exploded.

Of course, that was what my intention was the entire time, the cornerstone of my plan. I had noticed that the Pirate Ship was docked extremely close to the pier. It was a sign of arrogance; the Pirates were so convinced that no one would come to stop them, at least from the sea, that they didn't put their ship in a location where they could easily move it and make a naval getaway. Instead, they put it in a position where it could easily level the village at the cost of their mobility.

It was the biggest mistake they had made.

Why did I target the cannons?

Simple. It wasn't the cannons themselves I was targeting, but what was inside them; gunpowder. From what I knew of ships, the gunpowder and cannonballs were stored near the cannons themselves, which made things more convenient in naval battles as it made reloading easier.

I used that principle in this scenario to cause their undoing. My plan was to target the lower decks with Molotovs, where the gunpowder stored, and set it off; the chain reaction from the amount of gunpowder that was likely stored in a ship of that size would destroy it, both cutting off any possible reinforcements the Pirates could call for and distracting the Captain from the villagers, who had probably escaped the blast radius by now since the ship was more on my side than it was on theirs.

Judging by the continuous explosions I heard from my spot on the ground, my gambit had somehow paid off.

As soon as the last explosion stopped, there was a massive crash as what I assumed to be a part of the ship fell against the docks. Almost a minute later, upon hearing no further explosions, I immediately got to my feet and ran towards the main street, since the part of the docks I had been in earlier was probably blocked off by the newly inserted wreckage. I could see smoke beginning to rise into the sky even as I turned the corner to run onto the main street.

Funnily enough, I was back where it had started; the restaurant. Whatever humor that could be derived from it was moved to the back of my mind as I nearly ran into another person; the Pirate Captain.

He was relatively unharmed apart from his limp, although half his mustache had been burned off and his coat was more than a little scuffed and dirty.

His expression, however, was really something else. Hoo boy, did he look mad. I don't think I had ever seen anyone as angry as he was in that moment over the course of my entire life. I guess it was the typical Anime-Expression thing, but I could see practically all the blood vessels in his face trying to explode at once. Not that I couldn't understand where he was coming from. I probably destroyed his ship and killed a good portion of his crew. I would be apoplectic if I were in his shoes as well.

Judging by how he had ended up in the same area as me, the Pirate Captain obviously realized what I had been going for and ran in the closest and safest direction he could have taken; the path laid down by the main road, which had brought him face to face with me.

We were only a few yards away from each other, so I could see the sweat dribble down his face as he heaved. Our eyes met, and we both knew there was no time for words. Even someone like this guy wouldn't try and draw things out. He just wanted to kill me for what I had done, and fast.

Of course, I wasn't just going to roll over; not after everything, I had done to survive thus far. It didn't matter if I could respawn or not; I wasn't going to die if I could avoid it.

Almost unbidden, both of our hands fell against our holstered flintlocks, reminiscent of a scene straight out of a Wild West movie, which was ironic considering the setting of the World I was in. This scene would have fit right in if I was in something like Red Dead Redemption or Nomad of Nowhere.

For a second, neither of us moved, our gazes locked onto each other. Ordinarily, I had never understood why people in movies always did that, especially in cowboy flicks. I used to think that it was just something done to increase the drama and tension of an otherwise 5-second long fight, but now that I was experiencing it for myself, I knew for a fact that it was more than that.

I don't know if I was just weird or if this was just how the World of One Piece worked, but right now, the two of us weren't just staring at each other. A word like staring could never properly convey what the two of us were feeling at that moment.

This was a clash of wills. I couldn't really describe it as anything more than that. It was like a real-life Fallout Skill Check to decide whose will was greater and who would come out on top.

At least, that was the truth I understood as I looked into the eyes of the man whose identity I would later learn; Crescent Moon Gally, Captain of the Crescent Pirates.

A heartbeat later we both drew our guns at the same time and fired.

Unfortunately for me, the Pirate Captain, being far more experienced in using flintlocks and guns in general, drew his weapon faster than me and got off the first shot.

Unfortunately for him, I wasn't stupid enough to just stand in place while drawing my weapon.

Even as I tried to pull the flintlock out of its holster, I kicked forwards with both feet, intentionally causing myself to slip on the smooth stone road, falling onto my back as the Pirate Captain's shot sailed over where my head had been a second ago. As I touched the ground, the flintlock came free and I fired without hesitating.

The Pirate Captain hit the ground, dead, a bloody hole in the middle of his forehead.

I had no idea how I hit the shot so perfectly because even if I was an okay shot with guns, I had pulled the trigger from a very difficult position. Maybe it was poetic justice. He had taken the bullet in the exact same location he had shot Silk earlier.

Regardless, I had just no-scoped a man in real life.

Letting go of the flintlock and letting it clatter to the ground next to me, smoking slightly, I closed my eyes, as the reality of everything I had just done, of everything that had just happened, hit me all at once.

'At the very least', I thought to myself. 'I protected this treasure of yours, Silk, even if you aren't around to see it.'

Opening my eyes, I cracked a small grin as the World greyed around me, time freezing in place.

That grin turned into full-blown laughter as I realized the absurdity of what had just happened. I, Sparrow Jack, had taken out an entire Pirate Crew with nothing other than my wits, my body, and some makeshift weaponry.

It was something I never could have anticipated even a few hours ago, when I had somehow been brought to this World.

Once the strange mix of emotions finally left me, I looked at the Window supplied to me by The Game.

'Scenario Complete!

Saga: East Blue

Arc: Romance Dawn

Chapter: 2

Progression:

Defeat all members of Gally's Crew - [5%]

Defeat all members of Gally's Crew without taking any Damage - [35%]

Acquire at least one piece of Loot from every defeated foe - [5%]

Prevent Silk from taking any Damage - [10%]

Prevent Death of Townsfolk - [25%]

Prevent Crew from calling for Reinforcement from their Ship - [20%]

Result: 2/6 - [25%]

Status: Complete!

Achievements Unlocked: 18

Reward: [Small Boat], a [New Set of Clothes], 50,000!'

I couldn't help but set my expression into a hard line when I saw the Progression Statistics. While I couldn't have gotten any Loot off the people I'd blown up, Silk's death was a direct result of my running away instead of assisting her.

It wasn't quite regret that I felt, per se; it was the most logical move I could make at the time, and there was no denying it. I didn't know that my body was much stronger than I expected it to be, because there was no way I could have known I'd be able to match grown men in a 14-year old body. Even so, there was a hint of guilt. I'd had the power all along, but I had been ignorant about that fact, and said ignorance led to Silk's demise.

Regardless, I had already promised myself that I would Re-Play this "Chapter" and save her. There was no reason to mope about it.

I flicked my hand over the Window, returning to the Main Menu, and then selected the Achievement List, which had a small red exclamation mark, no doubt a notification, hovering over it, something also shared by the Perks and Traits tabs. I'd somehow gotten eighteen Achievements with my little Rambo stunt, double the amount I had gotten in the first "Chapter". I suppose what I had done was more or less insane enough to grab me so many.

Conveniently, the new Achievements I had gotten were highlighted, so I didn't have to try and pick them out.

'[Safe Embrace]
Condition: Save your first Friend from Death.
Reward: You gained a [Through Me]-Perk.

[Left Behind]
Condition: Flee from Danger while abandoning your Friend.
Reward: You gained a [Scapegoat]-Perk.

[Cobbled Together]
Condition: Use mundane resources and tools to create a weapon.
Reward: You gained a [Scrapper]-Trait.

[Burn, Baby! Burn!]
Condition: Set an Enemy on fire by any means.
Reward: You gained a [Fireman]-Trait.

[Popping That Red Cherry!]
Condition: Defeat your first Enemy.
Reward: You gained a [Down For The Count]-Perk.

[Looter]
Condition: Loot your first Enemy.
Reward: You gained a [Junk & Stuff]-Perk.

[Hero Comes Back]
Condition: After fleeing, return to face the Danger in a single Playthrough.
Reward: You gained a [Heros Are Always On Time]-Trait.

[You Sunk My Battleship!]
Condition: Destroy any Ship above a Caravel-Class without any assistance.
Reward: You gained a [Hoist The Colors]-Trait.

[Clash & Crash]
Condition: Defeat a Pirate Crew.
Reward: You gained a [Counting Heads]-Perk.

[Rambo'ing It!]
Condition: Defeat a Pirate Crew without assistance.
Reward: You gained a [Army of One]-Trait.

[Elephant's Toothpick]
Condition: Defeat a Boss.
Reward: You gained a [Captain]-Trait.

[Elephant's Mouse]
Condition: Defeat a Boss with one Attack.
Reward: You gained a [One Punch]-Perk.

[One Lemon]
Condition: Defeat a Pirate with a Bounty exceeding yours by 1,000,000.
Reward: You gained a [Worth It]-Trait.

[Two Lemons]
Condition: Defeat a Pirate with a Bounty exceeding yours by 2,000,000.
Reward: You gained a [Worth It: II]-Trait.

[Three Lemons]
Condition: Defeat a Pirate with a Bounty exceeding yours by 3,000,000.
Reward: You gained a [Worth It: III]-Trait.

[Four Lemons]
Condition: Defeat a Pirate with a Bounty exceeding yours by 4,000,000.
Reward: You gained a [Worth It: IV]-Trait.

[Five Lemons]
Condition: Defeat a Pirate with a Bounty exceeding yours by 5,000,000.
Reward: You gained a [Worth It: V]-Trait.

[Friendly Neighborhood…?]
Condition: Save a Town.
Reward: You gained a [Home Advantage]-Perk.'

I'm ashamed to admit that I actually spent a few minutes gaping at all the text on the Window. Some of them were ones that I had more or less expected, such as the Achievements for defeating the Pirates, but others were ones I hadn't seen coming.

In fact, this gave me a little more insight into the Achievement System my powers had. While I had known that only my actions, not emotions or mindset, would be considered by the System for Achievements, I hadn't taken into account just how in-depth it was.

The fact that I had run away and come back had given me a specific Achievement for just that scenario. Hell, there was even an Achievement for running away in the first place!

This was an indicator that literally everything I did was worthy of scrutiny, not just stuff I did in battle or in a conversation, and while that was kind of scary, it also added a sense of realism that I really appreciated despite the situation. When judging someone's actions, you need to take everything into account, not just their actions in a certain situation, and it appears that whoever or whatever was in charge of the Achievement System acknowledged that.

Also, I'd like to add; I had no idea that the Pirate Captain was that much of a big shot. While I wasn't familiar with what the Currency in this World was, I could safely bet that it was more or less equivalent to Yen considering it was a Japanese-born Franchise, which meant that the Pirate Captain had a Bounty of around 45,000 Dollars, give or take.

The more you know, I guess. There would probably be trouble coming my way because I defeated someone like that, but I had mentally accepted that already. I doubt I would be able to get away without fighting anyone important in a World like One Piece, especially with the [Protagonist] Trait likely driving me towards some dangerous people in the future, so I wasn't really shaken up about it.

Moving to the next tabs of the Menu, I realized something important; I still hadn't gotten any Skills. The tab remained greyed out, as it did before. I supposed that was fair, though it was interesting that Skills seemed much harder to come by than Traits or Perks. Normally, it was the other way around.

I checked on my Traits first.

'[Scrapper] - Anything you make you instinctively know how to repurpose, fix and rebuild if required and if sufficient materials are available.

[Fireman] - You now take 5% less Fire-Damage and deal 5% more Fire-Damage to Enemies.

[Heroes Are Always On Time] - As long as your Goal is connected to a certain Event you never arrive late to accomplish it. Does not affect Events that are not connected to your Goal.

[Hoist The Colors] - Any Ship that you're a Captain of takes 15% less Damage from any source, any Ship you or your Ship attacks takes 15% more Damage as long as you deal it personally or it comes from a Ship that you're a Captain of.

[Army of One] - Reduces any Damage taken from Enemies without Boss or Sub-Boss Trait by 15%.

[Captain] - Members of your Crew develop a positive opinion of you faster.

[Worth It: V] - Your Bounty is now 50% larger than it normally would've been.'

It was safe to say that the Traits I had gotten for Chapter 1 had nothing on these new ones. Even [Fireman], which was arguably the worst Trait of the bunch, was way more immediately useful than [Infamy] or [Protagonist]. Though the percentages were small, Fire Resistance was Fire Resistance, and considering that everyday mooks could shrug off Molotovs, that tiny amount might end up being useful in the future. Come to think of it, didn't this also make my Molotovs stronger?

And that was without even talking about what was easily the most valuable Trait of the bunch; [Scrapper]. It was basically a Tinker power, even if it was on the lower end of the scale. While it wouldn't give me any sort of super-engineering ability, the fact that it let me instinctively repurpose, maintain or rebuild things I had made was insane in its implications. In fact, I could think of a bunch of ways I could use this Trait to its full potential.

[Heroes Are Always On Time] was one of those Traits I couldn't really understand without foreknowledge of One Piece, though I got the gist of it. Basically, if my personal objectives aligned with an important One Piece Event, I would make it on time no matter what and experience it. Theoretically, judging by what got me the Trait in the first place, this meant that if I Re-Played this Chapter and did everything exactly the same, Silk would still be alive when I reached the docks.

[Hoist The Colors] had to be my favorite Trait after [Scrapper]. Since this was a franchise about Pirates, I would likely be involved in a ton of naval battles. This was an extremely valuable ability to have in those kinds of situations. Plus, 15% was a generous number.

After this, I think [Army of One] was the next best Trait. It would have been the best hands down if it applied to Bosses as well, but I wasn't going to be picky. This at least granted me the convenience of not getting bodied by grunts, even if it was only a 15% damage reduction.

[Captain] seemed kind of…. worthless, if I was being honest. I mean, people would only join my "Crew" if they had a positive opinion of me to begin with, which made the Trait somewhat invalid. Besides, I was still on the fence about the entire "Crew" thing. While I felt that I might have no other choice than to become a Pirate thanks to the nature of this World, I was still leery about doing something like wearing an eyepatch or hoisting a Jolly Roger. Besides, I was a solitary creature by nature. I really couldn't see myself inviting other people to join me.

Anyways, [Worth It: V] was just downright harmful. A higher Bounty meant more people would be after me, which meant I would have to expect Bounty Hunters around each corner, something I was not looking forward to doing.

Ugh. That was a problem I was assigning to future me. For now, I moved onto the Perks List.

'[Through Me] - When you're protecting someone in your embrace all the Damage they should receive would automatically transfer to you.

[Scapegoat] - Whenever you choose to flee from Danger the resulting devastation and Death from your absence or inaction would be apparent to anyone present. Escaping or hiding from your past actions becomes impossible as you always would be recognized for these acts.

[Down For The Count] - You instinctively know if your Enemy was rendered unconscious by your actions or not.

[Junk & Stuff] - Whenever you defeat an Enemy there always would be something to take from him, the quality and quantity of Loot depend on the strength of the Enemy.

[Counting Heads] - As long as you're opposing an Enemy Crew in a single Battle you are aware of precise numbers of how many Enemies you defeated.

[One Punch] - As long as a First Attack did fully connect to an Enemy and delivered full Damage there is a 1% chance that the Enemy would be rendered unconscious.

[Home Advantage] - As long as you're fighting to Protect the Territory you're in, the Damage you take is reduced by 1%.'

My eyes were immediately drawn to one Perk in particular; [Scapegoat]. I also promptly ignored it. I'd deal with it when it became relevant.

[Through Me] was a rather valuable ability, one that seemed like it had come straight out of an RPG. It seemed perfect for defense at first glance, but it could also mean that I could die from an attack that wouldn't kill me ordinarily because the damage sustained by the person I was protecting would be transferred to me, essentially making me take double the damage or worse, especially if the person I was protecting was a civilian.

The next Perk was extremely valuable. [Down for the Count] was a great anti-ambush ability in the heat of battle, even with its limitations. Being able to tell if I had knocked an opponent unconscious or not meant that I didn't have to worry about them getting up later, which let me focus more on the opponents who were still active.

[Counting Heads] was pretty situational, and not something that I could see being inherently useful unless I knew the exact number of enemies I would be facing.

[Home Advantage] wasn't much better. In fact, I could argue that it was worse. 1% damage mitigation was worthless, since I didn't have an HP Mechanic or Gamer's Body.

[One Punch] was a gimmick Perk, plain and simple. Considering my gacha luck, it would likely never trigger, so it was probably better to pretend like I didn't have it in the first place.

Now [Junk and Stuff] was gold, absolute gold. It basically added a Loot System to The Game with no gimmick or limitations, which instantly made it the king of Perks. It wasn't even something exclusive to Bosses, but applied to all Enemies. I would just have to see what kind of Loot I would find in the future.

The Rewards I got for completing chapter two were nothing special, but that didn't really bother me. The best Rewards seemed to come from Achievements anyways, I also didn't exactly need a new set of clothes right now or any cash because it really wouldn't have helped me in any way at this point in time.

Besides, I couldn't even claim the Reward without Progressing, so it was pointless even thinking about it.

Now that I had finished looking over everything I had unlocked, I got the Message I had been waiting for.

'Would you like to Progress to the next Chapter or Re-Play the current Chapter?'

Without hesitation, I chose to Re-Play. I wasn't much for sentimentality, but Silk hadn't needed to die. It wasn't a fixed point in time or something that just had to happen no matter what, but rather something that could have been prevented if I'd been a little faster or just stayed with her.

There was also the fact that my OCD compelled me to get 100% Progression before moving onto the next Chapter, and I saw no real reason to deny it.

'Choice Acknowledged!

Re-Loading Scenario…

Saga: East Blue

Arc: Romance Dawn

Chapter: 2'

Color returned to my surroundings, and time resumed its course.

I was back inside the restaurant, sitting at the table, and Silk, who was most certainly alive and didn't have a hole in her head, opened her mouth to speak.

"Jack, we should probably head to the Mayor's office now!" She said cheerfully. I didn't smile back because this was still really weird for me to experience, considering I had seen her corpse just minutes ago, but I wasn't really freaked out either. "He'll probably be relaxing before going off to his lunch break, so we should catch him before he can run off!"

Of course, I knew that he probably wasn't going to run off anywhere, considering he got taken hostage along with the rest of the townspeople, but I obviously didn't say that. Instead, I just mentally prepared myself for the fights ahead.

I had a score to settle, and a person to save.

Let it never be said that Sparrow Jack didn't repay his debts.

Progress Report:

TRAITS:

[Scrapper] - Anything you make you instinctively know how to repurpose, fix and rebuild if required and if sufficient materials are available.

[Fireman] - You now take 5% less Fire-Damage and deal 5% more Fire-Damage to Enemies.

[Heroes Are Always On Time] - As long as your Goal is connected to a certain Event you never arrive late to accomplish it. Does not affect Events that are not connected to your Goal.

[Army of One] - Reduces any Damage taken from Enemies without Boss or Sub-Boss Trait by 15%.

[Captain] - Members of your Crew develop a positive opinion of you faster.

[Worth It: V] - Your Bounty is now 50% larger than it normally would've been.

PERKS:

[Through Me] - When you're protecting someone in your embrace all the Damage they should receive would automatically transfer to you.

[Down For The Count] - You instinctively know if your Enemy was rendered unconscious by your actions or not.

[Junk & Stuff] - Whenever you defeat an Enemy there always would be something to take from him, the quality and quantity of Loot depend on the strength of the Enemy.

[Counting Heads] - As long as you're opposing an Enemy Crew in a single Battle you are aware of precise numbers of how many Enemies you defeated.

[One Punch] - As long as a First Attack did fully connect to an Enemy and delivered full Damage there is a 1% chance that the Enemy would be rendered unconscious.

[Home Advantage] - As long as you're fighting to Protect the Territory you're in, the Damage you take is reduced by 1%.

And that's a wrap!

Boy, was this chapter a doozy. I intended to make it half its current length, but the words wouldn't stop flowing off my fingers. I had a plan for this chapter, and I wanted to get it done. So I did. I can't say whether Chapters will be this big in the future though. This was just a necessary thing.

The chapter changed a lot over the months that I started it. I initially wanted to lean more into the Re: Zero aspect a bit, have myself die a bunch of times, but I realized something very important; I wasn't Subaru. I was a fully grown adult with a variety of talents I could use. So why lower myself to his level when the only opponents were normal people and I know how to make Molotovs?

So yeah, a lot of people were burnt and blown up in the making of this chapter. It might seem kinda weird, but the Molotov-Ship Blasting Route was the most logical way out of the situation that I could think of.

Of course, because this is an SI fic in the truest sense of the word, the actions I take won't always be the most honorable or shonen, this chapter showcasing that pretty well in my opinion. That's just who I am. I'm not like one of those faceless SIs you see circulating around FFN, who exist only to enact the author's fantasies. This is just ME being MYSELF.

Sure, some of my actions won't be ones I am proud of, but honestly, I feel like that's okay. I'm not perfect, and as a direct consequence, neither is Jack.

Thankfully, we have the Re-Play option to make up for our mistakes.

Oh, how were the Achievements, Traits, and Perks by the way? That side of the story is all under Zaralann's control, and we'd like some feedback. Like, in the last chapter, a lot of you said the [I Was Here] ability was actually really clever on his part, though I don't know why (and I avoided the one Review that was basically a Spoiler, because I had my friend proofread my Reviews beforehand), and that's pretty cool!

Honestly, It's kind of cool NOT knowing things for a change. I feel like people should write more stories like this, if I'm being frank. No need to worry about changing canon, foreknowledge, and shit like that.

Anyways, that's about everything I can think of off the top of my head. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, because I certainly enjoyed writing it.

Spatialphoenix here, burning to ashes.

P.S - I won't take over 6 months to update next time, I promise.