CHAPTER 6:

Aftermath

The battle had ended. The dark sky was starting to grow brighter as the silence settled down on Goat Island. John and a few others, including Coby, were getting their wounds cleaned and bandaged; even Alvida had her knees bandaged. Most of the pirates were still alive, so Mitsuo and a couple of the stronger fishermen rounded them up and tied them together.

…

Sasa poured alcohol on a piece of cotton and cleaned John's wounds. His back had suffered the biggest damage, but his head and arms had bruises on them as well. He winced as the alcohol touched his wounds. "Are you okay?" Sasa asked him and she stopped dabbing the cotton on his wound. "Nah, it's fine, keep going." John replied. She finished cleaning his wounds then wrapped his torso in bandages. John noticed that his HP started to regenerate only after the bandages were applied and his AP only regenerated after the battle, so he kept these information in mind.

What is AP anyway? I'm guessing it's Action Points, right? When I'm running or jumping, it doesn't seem to use AP, only when I use skills like Tunnel Vision does my AP decrease. My HP also didn't regenerate during the battle or afterwards, or maybe it's just extremely slow? Anyway, it seems like I need to keep a few healing items like bandages and alcohol on hand to restore my health.

He looked at Sasa, who had moved on to clean Coby's wounds.

I would need someone who can heal wounds like Sasa on my crew.

…

…

Wait, why do I need a crew? I'm not a pirate.

…

…

Anyway, it's time to look at my stats. 'Status'

John

Lvl. 5

Age 21

Exp - 165/500

HP - (57/190) 57/143

AP - 32

STRENGTH - 4

PERCEPTION - 3

ENDURANCE - 7

CHARISMA - 3

INTELLIGENCE - 3

AGILITY - 4

LUCK - 3

Available points - 3

Traits:

Sharpshooter - Increases accuracy by 20%, decreases fire rate by 20%.

Wounded (Temporary) - Reduces maximum health by 25%.

Perks:

None

Skills:

[Active]

Tunnel Vision level 2 - Slows down time by 10%, increases accuracy by 10%. Costs 10% AP per second.

[Passive]

Fishing Level 5 - Increases fishing efficiency by 25%.

Dagger/Knife Mastery Level 3 - Increases attack speed by 15% and critical hit rate by 7.5%.

Cooking level 2 - Increases the quality of food you cook by 10%.

Hand-to-hand combat level 3 - Increases attack speed by 15% and damage by 7.5%.

Rifle Mastery Level 2 - Increases accuracy by 10%, Decreases reload time by 10%.

Hmm... my perception, endurance, and luck all increased by 1. Is it because of the battle? Now that I think about it, I was basically a level 2 facing off against enemies level 12 to 20, and I'm still only level 5! How the hell did I survive that?

He looked around the room and observed the others. Mitsuo, Sasa, Petro, and Coby. He wondered if they had also improved after the battle. He decided to use 'Observe' on all of them.

Mitsuo

Lvl - 19

Age - 51

HP - 330

AP - 44

Sasa

Lvl - 14

Age - 22

HP - 205

AP - 45

Petro

Lvl - 7

Age - 31

HP - 150

AP - 34

Coby

Lvl - 4

Age - 16

HP - 115

AP - 23

Mitsuo and Sasa really aren't normal huh? They're too strong for a couple of civilians, but Petro's level is pretty normal for an adult.

Coby though, he must have leveled up from this battle but his HP and AP are pretty low, considering he's only one level below me. He probably hasn't trained even once the whole time he was with Alvida's crew.

…

But Coby rose from a chore boy to a Marine captain in just two years, he even developed Haki and Rokushiki. Does he have a trait like 'Genius of Hardwork' or is Garp just a really good teacher?

After Coby was done being bandaged, John stood up and walked over to him.

John said, "Hey Coby, come and help me with something." He stretched out his hand and Coby grabbed it and stood up. "What are we doing?" Coby asked.

"Looting."

John and Coby went down towards the docks and picked up the discarded weapons on the ground. They also looted the few corpses around. It looked like Coby was used to doing these types of things, as he was pretty quick and didn't complain about touching dead bodies. John picked up a dynamite that hadn't exploded yet. He saw the fuse was lit, panicked, and threw it; the explosive detonated.

SKILL ACQUIRED!

Explosives - Increases area of effect by 5%, Increases damage by 5%.

What the hell? "Coby, be careful of the dynamite, don't pick it up," John said. Coby nodded.

They piled all the loot they had collected in the center of the town square. Apart from weapons, there were coins and bills as well.

John pointed at the beaten-up pirates tied together and said, "Let's loot them too." They searched their pockets and took off the jewelry they were wearing.

"You're the one who shot my kneecaps man, how can you be so cruel?" Asked one of the pirates at John who was rummaging through his pockets.

John replied without looking at the man. "I was actually thinking of shooting you in the nuts, but I thought that was too much. Would you have preferred to be shot in the balls instead?"

"No man!, thats-, this is actually fine!" Grumbled the man.

"You're a fucking traitor," a pirate hissed at the boy who had been silently emptying their pockets. "How can you betray us, who have been your crewmates for like, three, five years? For some buckass island in the middle of nowhere?" He glared at Coby and tried to lunge at him. "You're never gonna go far without us, you ungrateful brat!" The pirate spat at him, but Coby continued in silence.

John went to Alvida and looked her over. Her pistol was on the ground near her, and her mace was propped up on the other side. Alvida looked at him strangely; she didn't look angry or vengeful, but her look still felt unpleasant somehow. He picked up the pistol and inspected it.

High Quality Pistol

Durability - 66/80

Bullets - 0/6

50 dmg/hit (40 base plus mods)

38 dmg/sec (1 atk every 1.5 sec)

Damn, this thing looks nice. This will really be handy as a sidearm. Should I put it in my inventory?

John discovered his inventory a few months ago while he was fiddling with his system. It wasn't really helpful back then because it was directly tied to his strength. As he had only 2 strength, his inventory capacity was only 2 kilograms. When he put fish in there, it still went bad; he didn't realize this until he opened it a few months later. He can still remember the smell today. Now he has 4 strength, so his inventory should be able to carry 4 kilograms of weight.

After thinking it through, he decided to add the pistol to the pile. He decided to let the people choose what they wanted from the pile, sell the rest, and divide the proceeds among everyone.

After they were done, they placed everything on the pile. Coby looked to John and asked, "What's next?" John put his hand on Coby's shoulder and pointed toward Alvida's pirate group. He told him gently, "You should tell them what you really think about them."

"W-what?! Why would I do that?" Coby asked, looking a bit panicked.

John replied, "It should help you end this whole 'arc' of your life. It'll make you feel better."

Coby looked at him and said, "I-I don't know what you mean."

"Just do it! Don't worry, this is the end of your relationship with them. We'll deliver them to the marines and you'll never see them again," John said with a good-natured smile on his face.

Coby couldn't help but feel convinced. Finally, after all this time, he would be free from his suffering.

"You all...I, I have never seen you as crewmates..." Coby said, his voice cracking. "...to you, to you I was only a slave." Coby stood tall, his fists clenched and his eyes closed tight. "I have never felt like I was your comrade, and I was only there for you to make fun of." Coby opened his eyes, and it was clear - no tears and no more fear. Coby shouted from the bottom of his heart, "I'm glad to be free from you!!!" You all can go to hell!"

The pirates showed different expressions. Some were angry, others were pensive and others got sad.

…

"Good job, Coby!...Now let's go loot their ship!" John said with a wide grin. The pair went down to the docks and approached the Love duck. The only damage is the hole from my gunshot earlier, good.

Coby led John toward the treasure room of the ship, where they saw a tiny mountain of gold coins and jewelry. They took those as well as some other weapons and crates of food from the ship and added them to the pile. Finally, John called everyone to the town square.

"Everyone, this is everything the pirates had on them. You can take a weapon you like from the pile if you need one. The rest of it, we'll sell off and distribute the money to everybody". After John's speech, people approached the pile and picked up some weapons. Mitsuo and Sasa each took a pistol, and Petro retrieved his dynamite. After everyone was done, John looked at the pile and thankfully, Alvida's pistol was still there. He took it and was about to put it in his pocket when he saw Coby hadn't taken anything yet.

"You're not gonna get yourself a weapon?" John asked.

Coby replied. "I don't know how to use one."

John took Coby's hand and placed the pistol within it. "Take this; I'll show you how to use it later."

"Uh..." Coby was about to say something but John interrupted him. "Just take it kid, you'll be my backup when we go to Shells Town."

"We're going to Shells Town?" Asked Coby.

John answered him. "Don't you want to be a Marine? We'll sign you up on the base there and deliver these pirates to them. We'll also be claiming Alvida's bounty."

"I uh-" Coby started to say something else but John stepped forward and addressed the crowd.

"Everyone, I will be taking the pirate's ship."

…

No one complained about it, and no one seemed to want the ship, seeing how gaudy its design was.

"I'm going to take these pirates to Shells Town and claim their captain's bounty, then I'm gonna come back here and share it with all of you," John said.

"You don't need to do that. We're fine with all these stuff right here." Mitsuo said motioning to the pile if weapons and treasure. The people agreed with him as the shopkeeper took inventory of the items and directed people to put them in crates and barrels. "...If you want to go on an adventure, you will need a lot if money. You'll probably be gone for a long time, but don't forget to visit this place every once in a while." Mitsuo finished talking, then he turned around and left.

"What? I never said I was going on an adventure?" John asked no one in particular.

People went back to checking the pile, taking the crates of food aside and other items that couldn't be sold. John looked for another weapon and spotted a dagger. It was larger than his knife and had a leather sheath. He also found a leather belt that he could attach it to.

High Quality Dagger

Durability - 43/70

24 dmg/hit (20 base plus 1x str)

24 dmg/sec (1 atk every 1 sec)

He took the dagger and the belt and left for his shack to rest.