They had spent a couple of days at sea. Times like these were often peaceful, but boring and Inspid, lacking the flavour that battle and death brought to life.
Regan was laying down on the deck, a hat covering his face as he listened to the susurrating breeze. The sun felt good on his skin, and the cutlass he had nabbed from the pirate was now swathed in dried blood.
"GAWWWWWDDDDD THIS IS SO BORING," Regan complained, his voice putting fear in the heart of a flock of seagulls.
"Just a couple hours until we reach the island," Rose chuckled, rising above deck with a bowl of food. It was gumbo with curried goat and steamed vegetables.
Regan took it with glee, and wolfed down the food with his hands, ignoring the spoon that Rose had brought with her. "Thwis iz gud!"
The girl couldn't help but laugh. She handed him the spoon and pulled out a napkin, wiping the soup from his hands.
"Not long left until we reach Rakers island," Rose said, suspecting that he hadn't heard her the first time.
"About time," Regan gulped. "I've been laying here bored for days!"
"There'll be much to do on Rakers. Many merchants and buyers frequent that island, and there are so many marines over there, too. No raiding will be happening over there."
Marines, huh? May be a perfect opportunity to make a name for myself.
Regan had made many plans for when they arrived on Rakers island. First, there was the entire thing with the treasure they had procured. Since the island had many buyers and was a trade hub bustling with life, he would sell of many of the treasures he had acquired.
He hoped that many of the buyers would ask no questions. He had plans for those that would, though. They were merchants, wealthy merchants at that, with wealth so large that they had travelled across the north blue to expand their empire.
Regan decided that he would keep up this ostensible identity by purchasing ostentatious clothes that spoke of their vast wealth. Perhaps a regal attire embellished with gemstones and intricate golden patterns. Like a One Piece version of illyrio from A Song Of Ice And Fire, though much younger and not keen on selling off a child to a tribe of savages.
This would likely, no, most defintley garner marine attention.
I wonder which marine will be there. Hopefully it's a vice admiral. Well, a vice admiral that isn't Garp.
"So, you really are planning on becoming a pirate, huh?" Rose said, studying him as he continued wolfing down the soup.
Regan gulped and slammed the side of his fist against his chest. "Yup. Why, you planning on joining me?"
"Well," Rose chuckled, weighing the pros and cons of a life of piracy. "It sounds fun. You know, with the adventures and all, but I don't like everything else that comes with it."
"What? The wealth?" Regan laughed, his voice slick with sarcasm.
Rose rolled her eyes, a smile still plastered on her face. "You know what I mean, silly. The danger, the fights, all the bloodshed that I saw. I don't know if I'd ever be ready for that."
"When is one ready for anything?" Regan shrugged.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"What I mean is that nobody is ready for anything. We think that we are, but life suddenly throws us into worlds that we have never known, or worlds that we're familiar with.The healthiest man could be hit by the most life-threatening illness, with no signs of its appearance beforehand. We are never truly ready for anything at all, Rose."
Rose blinked and went silent for a moment. Then, she broke out into a fit of giggles. "Since when did you become so wise?"
"What!? I've always been wise!"
Well, I have. I don't know about Dantes.
"Not in the past you haven't," Rose confirmed, catching her breath.
"Oh, well. Whatever." Regan smiled, handing her back the empty bowl. "I'm going to go back to daydreaming, shout me if anything interesting happens."
"Will do," Rose nodded, hurrying below deck.
Regan looked up at the azure sky, making out the shapes of the clouds. He found one that looked like a horse, another that looked like a sea king, and even one that resembled a strawhat.
Luffy. I wonder what you're up to right now.
He shut his eyes and listened to the sound of the waves, the cries of the seagulls, and the swift breeze that danced around his ears.
There was another strange sound that followed. One that portended some dastardly event. Regan opened his eyes as if it would better his hearing, and listened out for the strange noise that severed his moment of peace.
The ocean rumbled, and Regan could feel tiny droplets of water pelting against his skin. It was strange, the sky was clear, so where did this sudden rain come from?
Regan rose to his feet and looked behind him. His eyes widened, a strong feeling of shock gripping his palpating heart. What he saw wasn't something that he was expecting, but it was something that he was familiar with.
He had seen it in the very first chapter of the One Piece manga.
It's a fucking sea king! Holy shit!
The sea king had a large, serpentine body, adorned by emerald green scales that scintillated under the light of the sun. It's blood-shot eyes were wet with malice, accentuated by the razor-sharp teeth that it beared. There was blood on its enamels, no doubt it had smelled the scent of blood after Regan's fight against the pirates, and had then followed them for days.
"Holy shit, holy shit! Can I even beat this thing?"
The sea king crept closer, sniffing out the deck to get an accurate measure on the souls that resided within it. It then roared, its breath hot and odious, much akin to the air of a sweltering desert.
Izgrim and Rose came rushing outside, their jaws hanging low as they found the sea king that sought to make them its meal.
Regan wouldn't allow that to happen, of course. The three men came out after them, rifles and pistols at the ready. Clam was the first to fire, accurately shooting his rifle at the creatures eye.
The bullet had no effect on it, it only enraged the greedy thing. Randi let off a couple more shots, a fruitless effort, had he not seen how lacking Clam's rifle was?
Jinkota had, for he stood there and glared at Regan, expecting him to carry out some miracle. It would not be a miracle, but it would save their lives.
Regan summoned his stats. He had deposited his points days ago, but he felt it was important to look at them again for such a rare encounter as the one he was in.
Will my stats be enough?
[Dedmond Dantes Stats]
Rank: Small Fry [476/1000]
Melee: 1000[MAX]
Defense: 1000[MAX]
Sword: 105
DF Power: 0
Gun: 60
Won't know until I try
Regan cracked his knuckles, and stared down the sea king with a wide grin on his face. There was a level of fear in his heart, but he had faith in his strength.
As the sea king came came closer, Regan made a fist and put all of his strength into it, and lunged at the viscious beast with every intention to bring it down. His fist crashed against its scales, bringing about a defeaning roar that tore at the beast's throat.
Yeah, it definitely felt that one.
Regan kept this up. He punched the malicious creature over and over again, making it cry out in pain with every strike. The men 'helped' him from the sidelines, shooting at the creature continuously.
Regan grabbed on to one of its scales and began climbing its body until he reached its mouth. The sea king tried to snap its jaw shut, but Regan held its mouth open with a single arm.
He grabbed one of its teeth, grinded his own together, and used all of his strength to rip it out of its gums. The sea king screamed and began convulsing wildly, swaying about the place and sending up bodies of water.
Regan leapt onto its face and ran across it as if it were a field. He reached the creatures eye, and pierced it with its own tooth. Hot red blood came gushing out of the socket, but Regan did not let up. He continued stabbing it over and over again until the beast finally crashed into the water, its blood mingling with the ocean like some strange concoction.
[You Have Slain A Novice Sea King]
[You Have Gained 500 Essence]
[You Have Gained 400 Melee Points. Melee points were halved. Creature was slain by something other than Melee, though melee was used to harm it.]
Dammit!
[You Are Able To Advance To The Next Rank. Proceed?]
"Hell yeah! You better proceed!"
[Advancing…]
[You Are Now Of The Novice Rank. Please Check Your Stats and Points.]
Regan checked his stats first.
[Dedmond Dantes Stats]
Rank: Novice [24/2000]
Melee: 1000
Defense: 1000
Sword: 105
DF Power: 0
Gun: 60
Perfect! Damn, I should fight way more sea kings. Hmm, this has given me an idea! I'll think about it more when I get to Rakers island.
Regan then had the system bring up his points.
[Dedmond Dantes Points]
Total Available Points: 1,572
Melee Points: 1072
Defense Points: 500
Sword Points: 0
DF Points: 0
Gun points: 0
Deposit everything.
[Points Deposited Succesfully.]
Regan's melee stat now read 2000[MAX] with 72 melee points left over. While his defense read 1500. This stat gain was quite absurd, Regan thought. If he could become this strong that easily, just how strong were the other transmigraters at the grand line?
Morgan spoke about how weak he was compared to them. He could've likely grown just as strong had he not have ran away and chose to live the life of a drunkard.
Regan needed a method, perhaps a farming method to gain strength quickly. This was the idea that he had conceived before and planned to ponder on upon reaching Rakers island. The idea itself was also absurd, but he hoped that it would work.
Only time will tell.