I did finally manage to sleep, though I can't lie and say I wasn't shifting and turning and twisting enough times to invoke the ire of my roommates. Today was a day where I really had no plans, I knew I needed to make money, my 100,000 stash was gonna run dry and after that I couldn't stay here, I couldn't eat, I couldn't-

grumblegrumblegrumble

Yeah, I hadn't eaten yesterday, goddamnit. I slowly got up from my bed and wiped the now dry dirt off my suit with a towel before putting it on. The events of yesterday were still fresh in my mind, and I now just realised how suspicious I looked, tucking away some magazine in my pocket and walking off nervously, though that was the thing that plagued my mind the least.

I still was gonna go to the gym with Ben again, apparently his partners have fully recovered which is probably why he was so nonchalant about it when he mentioned it to me in the first place, I guess it's just the norm around here.

One piece is weird…

But the classes were a bit later in the night, so I still had time to blow, and I suppose I could use that to discover and level up some skills and simply better myself, as of right now I was at 650/800 EXP, so I only needed 2 skill levels ups in order to actually level up and reach level 6.

I was reviewing my skills, yesterday I had quite a few upgrades, though I'm pretty sure the reason I got so much better was because of the stressful situation I got put in, because my actual boxing practice only gave me +1 to my Boxing skill.

I exited the hostel and went towards that food stall with that half naked man in the apron, I was hungry as fuck and I needed a grilled cheese asap. I wasn't running or jogging over per se, but the pep in my step was more peppier than usual this time, my stomach needed that grilled cheese, NOW.

Soon enough I arrived and luckily for me, the line was open, it looked like he just set up shop.

The crowd wasn't there anymore, so I could spot something on the side of his stand that I couldn't see earlier.

Zeff's Food Emporium

Huh, Zeff? I think Boxer told me about a guy called Zeff-

Wait, is this guy who I think it is? I needed to make sure.

I approached the stall, chills ran down my spine, I hadn't figured out what I should ask to find out, I don't know if I should, this version of him is very mean and uncaring, maybe he'll be pissed off if I say something wrong.

"You again, fuck 'ya want? Make up your mind quicker this time." He said, looking down at me.

"Uh…" I grunted out.

"Uh… Uh… Choose something dumbass." He mocked.

"Black Leg?" I blurted out

"Huh?"

"D-do you do black leg?" I asked. His eyebrows rose and he crossed his arms.

"How d'ya know, why d'ya ask?" A stern expression was plastered onto his face.

Alright, I gotta think quickly about this before I get a boot to the face, and I think I've got a response.

"Do you know a guy called Boxer Ben?" I asked, it felt like my face was on fire, cheeks burning as my nerves got to me.

"Yeah, I beat his ass a week ago." He said, grinning. Alright, I think that was a good response then, I just need to follow it up with something to tie it all together so I can move on with my life.

"He told me about you, not the fact you beat him up though. He only brought you up because we both have a D in our names."

He frowned and shrugged.

"Grilled cheese please." I asked, remembering that this man was in fact a chef. I was kind've excited to see a young Zeff, kinda scared too, but it did bring up the question: How far back in time was I?

Zeff was around 60 years old, right? This version of him looked to be in his early 20s, still older than me but damn. That must mean we were what, 35, 40 years in the past?

He quickly got to work making that grilled cheese and it was done before I knew it, I passed some cash over and said my goodbyes. I quickly devoured the grilled cheese and now I was aimless, but I knew I wanted to do something that could level me up today, or get me some cash.

I was honestly clueless on how I could make cash though, aside from selling my suit and shoes. I knew I could probably steal stuff without much issue because I can make things disappear from this reality and plop them into my inventory, but something about that just felt morally wrong- Wait, I know what to do, but I'll first have to talk to ben, but in the meantime I can brainstorm and train.

I made my way to the boxing gym, as I approached it though, my nose caught wind of something smelling a bit smokey, like there was a barbeque going on nearby, I thought nothing of it at first but as I approached ever closer and I saw the giant smoke plume rising into the clouds, my heart started to race. Did the gym get burnt down? What happened?

I started to run, and soon enough I was greeted with the sight of a lone man with a small crate of molotovs on his right, a lighter in his left hand and a lit molotov on the other.

"Fuckin' Bastards." He sniffed and sobbed a little, like he was holding in a cry. "Why'd you have to kill my buddies, why'd you have to leave one suffering hours before his body gave out." He tossed another molotov. "WHY?! WHY?!"

Fuck, what was happening? Was this guy thinking out loud about last night? Shit, I need to subdue him, I need to put my skills to good use and do what's right, I may have temporarily felt weary about helping people or things in this case soon after that event in the alleyway, but that was stupid of me, no, I needed to make sure shit like this doesn't happen.

I couldn't let him notice me though, I needed to sneak up on him, which shouldn't be too hard, I just needed to crouch down and hope that his shouting and the intense crackling of the fire was enough to obfuscate my footsteps. I will not need help this time, I will get him.

As I slowly approached the arsonist, my heart rate increased tenfold, this guy could straight up kill me painfully if he decides to toss a molotov my way, but this guy didn't look much different in build and stature than the others, if I just caught him off guard with a Strong Punch, he should be out, or hurt quite a bit.

Here goes nothing. I took one last step towards him and reared my entire body back into a devastating Strong Punch.

Sneak Attack (1/25)

+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means

My fist dug into his side. I felt a large impact, but he barely winced, he just dropped the molotov and slowly turned to me, looking down at me with a fierce expression on his face.

"Let me avenge my friends, or I'll torture you for the rest of your miserable life-" I swung at his jaw with another Strong punch. He staggered back a little.

Strong Punch (3/25)

+100 EXP for upgrading a skill via natural means

You have levelled up

You have 3 stat points to all-

All in strength, I needed to beat this surprisingly tough man to the fuckin' ground before he gets a chance to swing at me.

I rushed in and he threw a wide yet telegraphed overhand that even my relatively low perception could pick up on. My levels in boxing and agility allowed me to slip the punch and return back with a counter Strong Punch to the same place I hit with my Sneak attack, followed by a regular hook to the jaw.

Why do I feel lightheaded-

-30 HP

The man sent a front kick into my sternum which knocked me back a metre or so and shaved off more than a third of my health.

I quickly rolled to my threat and gritted my teeth, entering my stance, that hurt like a bitch, but I was used to being hurt like a bitch, luckily this system made my body act unusually, normally I'd break my ribs from something that painful, but here I'm still able to fight until my last few HP.

I was still oddly lightheaded though, could it be that the spamming of Strong Punch fatigued me to that point? I guess I'll hold off on using that and instead just whittle him down with regular blows.

I was clearly faster than him, I couldn't react to his punches for long due to my low perception, if he landed a hit again I'd be a step away from death's door, so I need to focus on putting on the pressure and making sure he doesn't get an opportunity to hit.

Alright, focus.

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

I rushed forward and anticipated a big strike was gonna happen as I did so, which I barely managed to avoid by stepping backward. The sheer power of his blow managed to send him off balance so I was able to pepper him with punches across the jaw and ribs, targeting points I've hit previously with Strong Punch. He caught onto my strategy of attacking injured places though and covered up in those places.

He tried throwing a punch in retaliation as my attacks didn't do much on their own, but I managed to stop the wide blow by stepping in close so his medium ranged blow would brush past my head, this gave me ample opportunity to attack some other vulnerable places.

I hadn't recovered much from the fatigue of my Strong Punches but I feel like I can pull out just one more, I just need to make sure I hit dead centre on my target and the man should collapse.

Here goes nothing.

I lowered myself, tilted to my right, twisted my core in the direction of my punch and pushed off with my legs as hard as possible in order to send the most devastating punch I could muster into this man's dick and balls.

This man was scum, if he was associating with people who killed what seemed to be innocent women, I would remove any chance they would have of ever having kids.

"Fuck you!" I shouted, the man keeled over onto me and screamed in agony but I simply just pushed him over onto the floor.

"He shoulda killed all of your buddies." I said, catching my breath. "And I should kill you too."

"No, no, please, stop, I can do anything." He begged.

I raised my foot up high and crashed it down onto his face, sandwiching it against the floor and my fancy shoes. His eyes rolled onto the back of his head but I was unsure whether he was dead or just knocked out.

And so I kept stomping until I knew for certain this bastard was gone.

I heard footsteps coming over, I was tired but I still needed to put up a fight, his other friends won't be able to save him anyway, I entered my stance and got ready for more.

I lowered my hands when I realised it was just Ben.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?!" He screamed.

"Those guys you beat up yesterday? One of them survived and told this guy about you, you must've known you were a boxer."

"Fuckin' hell." He streamed his fingers through his hair in frustration. "THE GYM!? HOW ARE WE GONNA GET IT BACK?"

"Ben, calm down, deep breaths, please, I think we can pull through, how much money are you getting from your fight tomorrow?" I asked.

"500 Grand." He said, following my instructions and taking those deep breaths.

"Is there a cash prize for amateur fights?" I said, now that Ben was here, I could now ask my question.

"Yes, it's structured like a tournament, 100 grand to the man who can come out on top." He explained

"That's how we're getting this gym back, but in the meantime, you'll have to train me, my recovery will help me fight the others who are fatigued from the earlier rounds, but I know the last person I'll have to fight is gonna be able to go on even longer than me."

He stood there for a moment, crossed his arms and nodded.

"I'm gonna put you through the most rigorous 48 hours of your life."