CHAPTER 13:
The Pirates' Daughter
John's eyes fluttered and opened slowly. His dark surroundings gradually started getting brighter as his vision returned to him. Everything looked a bit blurry for a moment as his eyes adjusted from the light but after his vision cleared, a plethora of screens bombarded him, starting with…
QUEST COMPLETED!
Mulberry's Fate
Save as many lives as you can
Villagers remaining - 47/60
Reward - 470 exp
75% lives saved bonus - 1 stat point
Reputation with Mulberry village increased by 100!
He groaned and tried to sit up from the bed he was laying on. As a result, the feeling of pain immediately spread all over his body.
"Urgh!" He winced in pain before plopping back down on the bed.
A young man, who was dozing off beside his bed with his arms folded got startled from the noise. "John!" He gasped and started flailing his arms in panic. "Don't move yet! The healer said you need a lot of rest to recover." He said as he looked around in panic.
"Broll? Where am I?" John asked, squinting his eyes in pain as he addressed his deckhand. Then suddenly, he tried to sit up again as he remembered his other deckhand who was beaten up badly and was unable to move when he saw him last. "Where's Vien? Is he alright?" John asked.
"He's doing fine! He's alright! He was just beat up really badly, but he didn't suffer any injuries. You on the other hand…" Broll paused for a bit as he remembered what the healer told him. "The healer said you will need at least 3 weeks to recover from your wounds." He said, his face showing worry for John.
John looked around and asked, "How long was I out?"
"You were asleep for 2 days." Broll replied.
John looked down and saw his torso and his right thigh covered in bandages. He touched his wounds and felt that he was in pain indeed, but he wondered how much damage his body had actually received. John closed his eyes and spread his senses all over his body and felt a lot of pain in his muscles. But it wasn't so bad that he needs to be bedridden for 3 weeks. Just then, another screen caught his attention.
ENDURANCE has reached 10!
Choose a perk:
Regeneration rank 1 - Restore 1 HP every 5 seconds. (Works in combat)
Healthy Eater rank 1 - Food restores 20% more HP.
Iron Constitution rank 1 - Decreases injury chance by 15%. Decreases injury recovery time by 15%.
A perk huh? John thought . He was pleasantly surprised by the new gift he has received from the system. The game system that he had does not have a personality and doesn't talk to him at all. Because of this, he wasn't able to ask any questions about its features. This was the first time he actually got to see what perks were and what they provided.
He thought about what to pick from the options, which were all really good. But he remembered all the times he almost died from taking so much damage, so he went with what he thought he needed right now.
From this point on, everything's gonna be different.
PERK UNLOCKED!
Regeneration Rank 1
Haha, I'm becoming more of a game character now. With this perk, I won't have to worry too much when I receive damage. John thought as he tried to sit up again, pushing through the pain. Broll tried to stop him but John told him, "I'm okay, don't worry." When he was up, he grabbed his pillow and used it to cushion his back against the wall. After this, he let out a long sigh of relief as he felt his body relax. After this, he finally noticed that the game HUD was still in his field of view. His HP and AP bar were full now, though he noticed about 30% of his HP was red. There was also a small cartoon version of himself with its torso and right leg flashing positioned above his HP bar. He tapped the icon and another screen appeared in front of him.
Injuries:
Torso - Temporarily decreases max HP by 20% (3 days)
Right Leg - Temporarily decreases max HP by 10% (3 days)
John groaned when he saw that he'll have to rest for three days because of his injuries but then got relieved that it won't take him 3 weeks to fully recover. Broll on the other hand, just saw him touching nothing but air and got very worried for his sanity. "I'll call the healer! just stay still and don't move around okay?" Broll said frantically, as he stood up quickly and ran outside. John chuckled as he watched the young deckhand scrambling away. When he saw that he was now alone, he took the opportunity to open his status.
John
Lvl. 9
Age 22
Exp - 611/900
HP - 168 (240)
AP - 46
STRENGTH - 9 (1)
PERCEPTION - 7 (1)
ENDURANCE - 10 (1)
CHARISMA - 6 (1)
INTELLIGENCE - 6 (1)
AGILITY - 9 (1)
LUCK - 3
Available points - 2
TRAITS:
Sharpshooter
PERKS:
Regeneration Rank 1
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Tunnel Vision lvl 4 (1)
Gun Bash lvl 3 (1)
Combat Roll lvl 3 (1)
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Dagger/Knife lvl 3
Unarmed lvl 3
Rifle lvl 4 (1)
Explosives lvl 2
Fishing lvl 5
Cooking lvl 3
Stealth lvl 1
Parkour lvl 1
Physical Resistance lvl 1
John grinned when he saw that all his stats except luck had increased by 1. Along with all the useful skills he gained from the battle, as well as the new perk he got, it finally felt like he is becoming stronger than the riffraff of East Blue. It wasn't fast, but he can see how strong he'll become in the future as long as he keeps battling opponents.
I finally understand how to make use of what I've got. From now on, I got to unravel every little thing there is to know about the system. I have to take advantage of even the smallest feature. This is what will make me special.
As John looked at his stats, he remembered how he always seemed to get into unlucky situations. In the three battles he fought so far, he had almost died every time and had even suffered a few injuries. Since his luck was the only stat that didn't increase from battles, he thought of putting his 2 available points in the stat. But seeing that he gained a perk when he reached 10 in endurance, he decided to put 1 point into strength.
STRENGTH has reached 10!
Choose a Perk:
Strong Back rank 1- Increases inventory weight by 20 lbs.
Weapon Handling rank 1 - Increases all weapon's base damage by 20%.
Armorer rank 1 - Unlocks tier 1 armor recipes.
John inspected the perks one by one. As he read the description of the perk 'Weapon Handling', he thought about the possibility of using melee weapons. He remembered that Alvida was able to block his bullets with her mace and even Morgan can block with his axe-hand. He thought long and hard but finally settled on his choice. He hasn't seen many characters in One Piece who utilized armor. Maybe it wouldn't be a good choice and he'll probably regret it, but he decided to be different.
PERK UNLOCKED!
Armorer rank 1
John wanted to see the recipes and wondered how he was supposed to craft things, when a window appeared in front of him.
CRAFTING MENU
Armor
Leather
Leather helmet - 2 DT
Leather armor - 3 DT
Leather gauntlets - 1 DT
Leather boots - 1 DT
He inspected each carefully, looking at the requirements and found out he needed some leather and leather strips. He also tapped on DT and learned that it means damage threshold, which directly negates some of the damage he takes by how much DT he has.
Speaking of armors, an armor like Krieg's can probably completely block a pistol, or at least reduce most of its damage. If I can unlock the higher level armors, maybe I can even protect myself from logia powers.
John grinned. He was feeling good about his new perk and wanted to go out and buy leather so he could craft the items immediately. But he squashed down the excitement he was feeling and put the armors aside for now. He looked back at his status and put his remaining point into agility.
AGILITY has reached 10!
Choose a Perk:
Mister Sandman - Instantly kill sleeping opponents. (Exceptions apply)
Reaper's Dance rank 1 - Recover 5 more AP per kill.
Action Boy rank 1 - Restore 0.5 AP per second.
John looked through the options for the agility perks. He thinks these ones were all useful but he crossed out Mister Sandman first.
I'm sure the ability to kill someone instantly can be really handy, but how many times can I actually come upon a sleeping enemy? Plus, I think that 'Exceptions Apply' thing probably means it won't work on really strong enemies.
The Reaper's Dance perk seems really good as well, but the part about having to kill enemies makes it less reliable. It's not because he doesn't want to kill opponents, but because he has to kill enemies just to regain AP. If the enemies were hard to kill or if he was fighting against only one opponent, then this perk would be useless.
Thus, the only choice left was Action Boy. Its recovery rate was slow, but it was active all the time so…
PERK UNLOCKED!
Action Boy rank 1
He remembered the many times he had been saved by his skills. With a way to recover AP, he will be able to use his skills more during battle. Now, he just needs to know how to upgrade these perks to make them more useful.
—
John closed his status and looked around the room. It appeared he was inside a small clinic with only 2 beds. Laying on the bed beside him was Vien, who was covered head to toe in bandages. He started to worry about his crewman's condition, but was relieved when he saw the man sleeping soundly, a bubble inflating and deflating from his nose. Beside his bed was a small table with a tray sitting on top. The tray contained a piece of bread and a creamy soup that was already cold. As if on cue , he heard his stomach rumbling, a reminder that he hasn't eaten in 2 days. He got up, sat on the bed and started eating the food. He was halfway finished when Broll and a middle-aged lady entered the clinic and rushed towards him.
"What do you think you're doing?! Who told you you can get up already? Lie down on your bed in this instance!" Yelled the woman, who John assumed was the healer. Her voice was so loud that it woke up Vien, who looked confused until he laid eyes on John beside him
"John! You're fine!" He tried to stand up to give his captain a hug but the healer got to them and laid both of them down on their beds.
"As long as you're here in my clinic, you are gonna obey my rules!" The lady yelled at them while flicking her finger at both of their foreheads. Vien grumbled, seemingly already used to the healer's attitude while John was surprised. He thanked the healer but said that he was gonna be fine in a few days.
"You got shot by a pistol two times, how are you gonna be fine in only a few days?" The healer asked him, raising her eyebrow skeptically.
John smiled and chuckled a bit before replying.
"I'm built different."
—
The healer left John, Broll and Vien inside the clinic to let them catch up. They talked about the events of the battle, as Vien doesn't remember much of it. Afterwards, John asked Broll where they'd put Gally, the pirate captain. The young deckhand told him that Gally's imprisoned in their ship.
"Good. What about the loot?" Inquired John.
"Loot? What loot?" Broll innocently asked.
"Hahaha!" John laughed darkly as he wagged his finger at Broll. "Never forget the loot my young deckhand. Never forget the loot."
—
Three days have passed and currently, John was feeling impatient. He was laying on his bed inside the clinic while he waited for a notification to appear.
Injury (Torso) has healed!
Injury (R. Leg) has healed!
Finally.
John got up from his bed and began to change his clothes as he remembered what happened in the past three days.
-
He had made his uninjured crewmates gather all the weapons and valuables of the Crescent Moon pirates and to search their ship. Just like he did in Goat Island, he instructed Broll to let the villagers take a weapon that they want from the pile and let a local trader exchange all the remaining weapons and miscellaneous items for money. The earnings were given to the village headman. This time though he instructed his crew to keep all the treasure that they found in the pirate ship for now. There was a sizable amount that was looted from the pirate's ship which was almost equal to Gally's own bounty. It was kept inside the G.O.A.T for now.
-
John was almost finished changing when a figure entered the clinic. He looked behind and saw the young swordswoman who fought with them against the pirates. John remembered that she should have been a patient like he and Vien was considering how many wounds she suffered in the battle. When he saw that she also had bandages on her body, he assumed she must have recuperated somewhere else.
She saw him already up and got surprised. She didn't expect him to be healed after only three days in the clinic. She approached him and asked, "You're already fully recovered? How?" She did not even bother to introduce herself first.
"Oh, you're that swordswoman who helped us against Gally, right?" John said as he fastened his belt. He reached out his hand and introduced himself. "My name is John, I'm a bounty hunter."
The young woman got flustered as she realized that she hadn't introduced herself yet. She shook his hand and quickly said, "I'm Silk, I'm uh, I'm a resident of Mulberry village." She then turned serious and bowed towards him. She waited for a few seconds before she looked up and solemnly said, "I want to thank you for saving our village!"
John finished wearing his rifle holster and put his black hat on his head. While he grabbed his rifle he smiled at Silk and said, "You're welcome."
Silk was taken aback by the simple response. She just looked as the man attached his rifle on his back and said goodbye to his crewmate on the bed beside his. He had already walked out of the clinic when Silk snapped out of her trance.
"Wait!"
She ran out of the building and saw him walking towards the village front with his hands in his pockets.
Time to buy that leather!
John thought as he walked merrily while looking for shops. His smile grew as the people walking around greeted him with smiles on their faces, though they still looked quite sad from the effects of the battle. Suddenly a hand pulled on his shirt from behind, startling him.
"Wait." Silk, who ran towards him, catched her breath before saying, "I have something to ask of you."
He looked at her with a sweet smile and asked. "What can I do for you?" John actually wanted to shop for various stuff so he wanted to get whatever this was over with already, but he didn't want to be rude to her.
Silk blushed slightly as she looked away from his eyes. She didn't know why this man was treating her so gently. He didn't even know her yet.
When she saw him fighting the pirates, she didn't know why this stranger was risking his life to save her village. She didn't know why his companions were fighting side by side with him without worrying about their safety. And she didn't know why the sight of them reminded her of the pirate group who treated Mulberry Island as their base. Those pirates were always rowdy and rambunctious, always drinking and having fun. She remembered her parents patting her head and telling her that the crew is her family, and they're the most loyal crew a captain can ask for. She was so excited to join them on their trips but her parents told her that she can only join when she gets older. Now, she can't do that anymore, but she knew she had to join up with these bounty hunters, so she swallowed her nervousness and asked, "Can I join your crew?!" She shouted so loudly that the people around them all stopped to look at the two of them.
John took a step back in surprise after hearing the girl's request. He scratched his cheek while still maintaining his smiling face. In truth, he actually doesn't know what to do about her request. "Uhh…" he said as he looked for somewhere to sit. He found a bench and beckoned Silk to sit with him. "Let me think about it…" he told her as he put his thumb and pointer finger on his chin and stroked his growing stubble. He put his leg up on his knee and leaned backwards to look up at the sky.
She wants to join me huh?
She did pretty well in the battle…
She seems like an experienced swordswoman…
She can be my first mate, like Zoro.
Ah, But then…
"What about this village?" John asked as he looked back towards her and put his leg back down.
Silk looked at him with a curious expression. "What do you mean? What about the village?" She asked.
"Seems like this village is pretty weak. If you left, then who would protect it?" He asked neutrally.
Silk's expression fell when she heard the word 'protect'. She realized that in her desire to join the bounty hunter, she failed to consider the consequence that her leaving the village would result in. This was the village that her parents protected, she can't possibly leave it in its current state. Those pirates weren't the first to attack them, and they won't be the last.
But I have to find the people who killed my parents! Silk thought while feeling conflicted. What was she supposed to do?
Unbeknownst to both of them, the village headman was watching their whole conversation from amongst the crowd. The headman heard Silk's request to the young bounty hunter and knew why she wanted to leave the village with them. He remembered what he told the young woman, who he treated like a granddaughter a few days ago.
—
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Silk's voice cracked as she asked the headman. The pain she was feeling was evident in her tone.
It was a few hours after the battle and the young woman was still covered in blood, her wounds still untreated. The village was engulfed in a somber mood as they laid down their fallen friends and family members in rows on the town square. Thirteen people have lost their lives that day, thirteen more than any other day.
They have been attacked by pirates several times in the past three years, but no one actually lost their lives in the attacks. The pirates just wanted to steal their valuables and left after they got what they wanted. This was the first time that they had suffered death at the hands of pirates, and this time, they felt truly vulnerable. No one's going to protect them now. They might be attacked again and they felt that they would not be able to defend themselves the next time. For the first time in three years, they realized that the Kino pirates truly protected their Island, and now they were really gone. As to why the headman didn't tell their daughter…
"There was really no reason." The headman replied with a melancholic look. "We just didn't care too much about those pirates." He continued.
Their reaction when they first heard the news of their passing was mild. They just thought, 'Oh, that's too bad, but they were just pirates anyway.' Now they realized that the Kino pirates were not just pirates, in fact they were the furthest from what pirates were supposed to be. They didn't steal, they didn't attack boats and they didn't pillage villages. They did attack other pirate groups and stole from them though.
"When they arrived on our Island, they put up their flag on one of the buildings and claimed Mulberry Island as their base. "They said they will protect everyone in the village in exchange for a protection fee." The headman explained as he put his hands behind his back and looked up, reminiscing the past. The villagers listened in on their conversation and joined in.
"It wasn't a lot, it was only a thousand berries per person." One of them chimed in.
"And they did protect us…" an older woodcutter added.
The headman sighed. "But we never thought of them as anything more than mere pirates." He was about to say more when a young villager stood forward and interrupted him. "No! They became a part of this village! I grew up seeing them at the tavern all the time." The boy looked down with tears in his eyes and clenched his fists. "Everyone was friendly towards them!"
"They did live here for a long time… I remember one day when they brought a little girl to my house." The headman said while looking at Silk. "They left you at my doorstep and handed me some berries, and they told me to take care of you while they were gone." The old man looked sad as he continued. "At the time, I thought they were threatening me. I thought they were going to kill me if I didn't do as they asked." The headman looked towards the villagers with a regretful expression. "The whole time they lived here, we were careful and treated them with caution. Because back then, in our eyes, they were only just a bunch of pirates."
"Then why did you treat me differently?" Silk cried as she looked at all the villagers. They all looked down in shame as they listened to her. "Why did you treat me as a part of the village? I'm those pirates' daughter!" She demanded with tears flowing down her face.
Tears also started flowing from the headman's eyes. "You were just a child, Silk." He looked at the girl and continued. "Many times, your parents went away and left you in my care. They were gone for months at a time and during those times, the villagers here as well as…myself, have come to think of you as one of ours." Hearing this, Silk's tears flowed even more. The headman walked a few steps before looking back and continued. "In truth we were starting to like those pirates." He looked at the villagers with a sad smile and said. "We were starting to enjoy their business, and their camaraderie. But…we never appreciated their protection. We thought even without them here, the village will be fine."
"Then one day, a merchant who frequently visited this island brought with him grave news. The fate of your parents and their crew…" the headman said.
Silk waited for the old man to finish but he just looked down sadly and didn't continue. "Tell me what happened to them! Who attacked them?! Please…I need to know…" she pleaded with the headman but he shook his head with a pained expression.
"I can't tell you Silk! Because if I do…I know what you're going to do and you might-" the headman dismissed her but was interrupted when Silk stood in front of him and grasped his shoulder tightly.
"Please tell me who killed them." She said with a very serious look. Her eyes were conveying a very intense emotion, one that the headman had seen previously. It was when her parents asked him about a pirate group who killed some of Mulberry Island's fishermen. That day, the Kino pirates mounted a full scale attack on that small pirate group. He will never forget that look in their eyes.
The old man looked into her eyes for a few seconds before finally answering. "Your parents' ship was found destroyed near Conomi Islands. The merchant said that the ship's hull was so mangled, it looked like it was bitten by sea beasts." The headman's face paled as he remembered what he heard that day.
"Not a single crew member survived, and their ship along with all their treasure were sunk to the bottom of the ocean." He said, the terror in his face completely visible.
He looked back up to see Silk still looking completely serious. He remembered the warning that the merchant told him back then. "He said your parents must have angered the most notorious pirate in this sea, the man with the highest bounty in East Blue,"
"Arlong."