[Your Main Quest has been updated!]
[Main Quest: Start Of The End]
Complete Conditions: Increases the number of shop regulars by ten.
Complete Conditions 2: Accumulate the strength to defeat a pirate above 10,000,000 Berries.
Failure Conditions: Death.
Rewards: A random skill, unlocking a system's function, +500 Contribution Points.
Upon accepting the main quest rewards, the next quest popped out in Sakura's view.
[Side Quests have been unlocked.]
[Side Quests: Law-Abiding Citizens]
Help out five or more citizens
Rewards: Acquire a mini-game license.
[Daily Quests have been unlocked]
[Daily Quests]
Play a game for 30 minutes.
Rewards: +0.1 Allocatable skill points. You can directly level up a skill with 1 skill point.
After reading the notifications, Sakura yawned in boredom.
Startend Internet Cafe has officially opened today.
Sakura flipped the sign from [CLOSED] to [OPEN], then leaned back, resting his head in his hands as he pondered.
After a few moments, he grabbed a pen and scribbled on a piece of paper:
PS: The Startend Internet Cafe is in no way directly affiliated to World Government or Vegapunk. From manufacturing to services, everything are single-handedly managed by the owner.
Satisfied, Sakura nodded with a grin. "Yup. Can't let Vegapunk take the credit."
Taping the paper at the front door where the customer could see it, Sakura stretched lazily before returning to his comfy chair.
Using the egg as a hugging pillow, he wanted to sleep but decided against it to test-play the game on his computer.
The moment he launched the computer with excitement, the door violently opened.
***
10 minutes ago.
"It's not enough you bastard, what've you been doing all this time, 'eh?"
The bear-bellied thug shouted at his three henchmen spitting around.
"It's been hard avoiding the marine's tracking while doing business since Smoker to the town arrived. Please forgive us!"
"Shut your trap! Who gives a damn about Smoker, I'm telling you to go make some money!" The bear-bellied sent his henchman flying with a single punch.
"Roja, you're a gutter trash with nothing backing your name but even trash has its uses. You won't disappoint me, right?" after swinging the blood off his fist, he turned to the recruit and pressured him.
"Y, yes sir!" Roja straightened his back in fear and responded.
"I heard that there's recently a shop that opened selling some weird stuff called Internet, I don't care what it is but if you see some valuables, go steal it," the bear-bellied man ordered Roja to have him scout the newly built place.
Loguetown was one of the largest cities in East Blue.
While it was a fairly peaceful place due to the marine base stationed there, many groups still committed wrongdoing at the corner where the eyes of marines didn't reach.
Their meager groups were nothing significant to the pirates living in Grand Line, but they were nothing but a danger to the people who lived in East Blue—the weakest ocean.
The gangster groups were varied but the most feared one in LogueTown was the Rock-Hard Fist gang. In the name of the 'protection' they would extort money from the civilians.
Of course refusing the protection fee was a one-way ticket to either the medical clinic or afterworld.
While they calmed their activities down since the appearance of Smoker, they frequented the dark areas, seemingly aware of Marine's patrol route.
The members of Rock-Hard Fist were placed all over the Loguetown spreading like a cobweb, they had multiple bases.
Most members doesn't even know where their main basement was so Marines couldn't track the main base if they captured one henchman.
As much as the Marines wanted to eliminate the Rock-Hard Fist, the Marines had no method but to start by cleaning up the branches spreading all over the city hoping to reach the main trunks.
Near Startend Internet Cafe there was also a branch of Rock-Hard Fist—the reason for its dirt-cheap price.
Being the branch near the marine base their activities were on the quieter side—their main objective was to observe the movement of marines and inform the main base, of course they still committed crime.
Roja was a person who recently joined the gang.
Receiving an order from his boss, he alone, headed to Startend Internet Cafe.
'Offering business,' was usually operated with groups but the bear-bellied person had a different intention.
As the person who was the least valuable to the group, the bear-bellied person didn't care if Roja died.
If he died, it'd be a warning to their group to never mess with this shop.
If Roja did return, the money would also come. He could win using the least risk.
Not knowing his boss' intention, Roja smashed open the door. "H-hey bastard!" Roja's voice cracked
Roja reddened his face.
"Welcome. Are you a customer?" Sakura spoke not bothering to look at his side.
"If you don't want to get hurt! Give me your money!… please,"
At first, Roja sounded intimidating with the flintlock in his hand but the last word ruined everything, erasing the little sense of attention Sakura had as he yawned.
"I'm not joking! I will really blast fire! You… gutter trash!" Roja threatened.
Then, Sakura who was playing with an egg, finally stood up from his chair with sleepy eyes.
Slowly walking toward Roja with a speed a zombie could outrun, he gripped the barrel of the flintlock.
Roja twitched.
With an unchanged boredom, Sakura slowly brought up the gunpoint to his forehead and stared at the holder.
"You better put your life on line now that you've drawn your pistol," Sakura said nonchalantly.
Roja tightened his grip sweat dripping down—His hand shivered.
"Guns aren't the tool for making threats," Sakura lazily lifted the corner of his mouth.
He was merely smiling but somehow to Roja, it felt as if the god of death was looking at him.
Finally, the grip loosened as he dropped to his knees—powerless. Roja didn't carry the resolution to pull his index finger.
Roja's survival instincts was shouting at him. Someone who has the insight to make such wisdom cannot be someone he could mess with.
Initially, Sakura was happy to finally be able to say the quotes he noted and practiced for hours but this needn't be mentioned.
"Anyway, don't go carrying something dangerous and let's chill. I'll hear you out," Sakura burned the flintlock off his hand causing Roja to open his mouth in shock. He wasn't aware that there was another Logia Devil Fruit user in Loguetown.
At this time, the egg rolled from the chair to Sakura's legs.
.
.
.
A moment later, Roja said sitting on the gaming chair. "I wanted to be strong…"
As Sakura promised, he made it his duty to listen out Roja's story.
The gaming chair Sakura bought had a wonderful effect as it offered an incomperable comfort, and Roja blabbered everything he carried.
Roja was an ordinary citizens but his family offended someone they shouldn't.
If Celestial Dragons are feared and hated by everyone in Grand Line, the local gang takes that role in Loguetown.
Once upon a time, Roja's father saw a drug dealer hidden in the back alleyway.
During that time, pushed by the justice in his heart, his father reported the sighting to the marine but this pissed off the gang leader as it disrupted their important dealing.
They lit up a fire in Roja's house in revenge. Inside, there were his mother, father and the newborn baby, his little sister.
Roja was away at the time to buy food so he wasn't involved, but his family wasn't saved.
At that moment, he swore to become stronger in front of the burning house, but he was just a normal citizen not long ago.
His gang work didn't go smoothly, no one taught him the way of gangster, nor did he have a badass teacher to teach him to get stronger. At the Rock-Hard Fist Gang, he was merely an easy target they could use.
Sakura nodded his head after hearing Roja's story. Deepening his understanding of the Loguetown that wasn't shown much in the original work.
"I understand your situation now. Even if you return empty-handed to your gang, you would only be off'ed…," Sakura placed his finger below his jaw, thinking.
After a while, he asked. "Are you prepared to lose everything?"
"Wh-what…?"
"I'm saying are you prepared to lose everything to become stronger and take revenge on the gang that killed your family?" Sakura said mysteriously without satisfying Roja's confusion.
Roja thought for a moment.
Upon second look, Sakura looked gentle, and his action of willing to hear him out despite how easily he could erase Roja anytime he wanted proved his kindness.
But, the first impression of a death reaper smiling at him with a sickle around his neck refused to leave the back of his mind so he was still terrified.
But, no… there wasn't a need to think. "If it's to get stronger, I would even sell my soul to a demon!"
Someone who already lost everything had nothing but his life to lose.
"What are you saying? Come, I will teach you how to use a computer. 2,000 berries an hour or 2 contributions points an hour to use computer but a first-timer is free!" Sakura said as if he was talking to a madman.
He merely wanted to make a deal, what is the man talking about selling his soul to a demon?