Chapter 4: The Crew's First Battle
'Beautiful and powerful,' Eric thought as he watched Akame steering the rudder. 'She can cook, she can handle a sailboat with ease, and she knows all kinds of survival skills. Akame is basically...'
'Wait a minute—doesn't that make her a one-woman crew? What's the point of me being here?' Eric suddenly realized he was just a walking baggage cart and was deeply shocked.
"Akame, uh, need any help?" Eric asked in a fawning tone as he approached. Akame's body subconsciously shivered.
"Oh, just watch the fishing rod. Don't let the fish get away." With her hands full, Akame assigned him a job—an errand boy could now clock in.
While watching the rod and observing Akame's sailing skills, Eric multitasked and opened the status panels for both of them. "Akame, do you know how to use Flying Slash?"
"What's that?"
"It's a technique where you imbue your sword with energy and launch a ranged attack with a swing."
"Nope."
'That's odd… her swordsmanship is at the level of a master, yet she can't use Flying Slash? Is it because she's from a different world?' Eric pondered as he stared at her full-potential four-star rating, currently capped at three stars. 'Why's she listed as four stars in peak condition but only three now? Do I have to meet some condition to restore her full power?'
'Maybe we should head to Shimotsuki Village to learn their swordsmanship style and meet that moss-headed swordsman and his childhood friend Kuina.'
"What about Observation Haki?" Eric asked. Even the captain didn't have it, but the crew member had already outpaced him.
"Observation Haki?"
"Have you ever experienced a moment where your senses suddenly sharpened, and you could detect the presence and movement of enemies around you, even dodge attacks before they happened?"
"Yes. After I completed my infiltration mission at the Sabatini Circus, I started getting that feeling during assignments," Akame recalled. "It helped me dodge several sneak attacks."
'Must be that after years of assassin work, her instincts were honed to the point of awakening Observation Haki after entering this world,' Eric guessed.
"Akame, let's head to Shimotsuki Village. Any pirate activity along the route?"
"Last month, the Henry Pirates attacked two merchant ships and a passenger vessel. They hijacked one of the merchant ships. Their total bounty is 4.6 million Berries."
"Great, then our first target as the Dawn Crew is them! I'll show you the true power of your captain!" Without even consulting Akame, Eric —who liked the Akame from Naruto but didn't want to copy the name outright—decided on the name for their sailing crew on the spot.
[Ding... You have a new message]
[Temporary Mission: The best way to understand and bond with a companion is to defeat a powerful enemy together! Eliminate all members of the Henry Pirates. Reward: 2 Bond Points / 1,000,000 Berries]
Bored, Eric opened the new message while continuing to study the system.
His stats were a bit low, but they could be improved through training. Using achievement points now might make future upgrades harder. If he ran out of points, he'd be in trouble. Better to save them for now.
'But I summoned using the Sandai Kitetsu… and this cursed blade didn't disappear, it just ended up in my inventory?' He glanced at the item, now labeled with: [Cannot be used as a summoning medium again]
[Rule {19}: Items used as summoning mediums will not disappear. However, if the player uses a corpse of a Devil Fruit user or a Devil Fruit itself as the medium, the summoned companion will possess that Devil Fruit's power.]
'Oh, so that's how it works. But wait—does that mean they'll never get to experience how disgusting Devil Fruits taste?!' Eric , who had already planned which fruit he wanted to try, felt this was totally unfair. Pain should be shared equally!
Two days later, out at sea...
They happened to run into the Henry Pirates mid-plunder. "Look! A small boat over there!" yelled Pirate A from the Karasu's nest.
"A single-mast sailboat? Not much loot in that," said Pirate B, unimpressed. Might cost more to fire the cannons than what they'd steal.
"But there's a really pretty woman on board!" added lustful Pirate C.
"I'll go get the captain!" said ever-loyal Pirate D.
"Get closer! Capture the man and woman and sell them as slaves!" ordered the captain of the Henry Pirates—a ruthless pirate who also dabbled in human trafficking.
When the ships were about 10 meters apart, Eric and Akame pulled in the sail to keep the wind from pushing their boat. Eric leapt across the waves alone toward the enemy ship.
"Oh? Pretty bold, jumping over by yourself," Henry chuckled in surprise.
Eric rolled up his sleeves and drew his weapon. "Akame, watch your captain work."
"Understood."
"Come on then! Eric Henry, with a bounty of 3.8 million Berries—your head is mine!"
"A bounty hunter, huh? Let's see if you're up to it!" Henry drew his long blade and slashed fiercely at Eric . Eric parried the attack and countered with an upward strike.
'Take this, Blade of Justice!' His slash aimed to cleave Henry in two. But with years of combat experience, Henry quickly jumped back to dodge the "Crotch-Splitter Slash."
"Not bad, kid. Ever thought of joining us?" Henry, impressed, tried to recruit him.
"Sorry, your looks are too low-tier. You're not worthy of my handsome face." As a self-proclaimed beauty fanatic, Eric had no respect for the One Piece world's average-looking characters—especially the pirates, who made him think their mothers must've drunk nuclear waste during pregnancy.
"You're asking for it!" Henry roared, unleashing a powerful overhead slash.
"Shave!" Eric used the Marine's Six Powers technique, disappearing from Henry's sight. He dodged the heavy slash and reappeared behind him in a blink, quickly closing the distance.
Clang!
Their blades clashed in a contest of strength. Henry noticed Eric smirking—a smug grin like a villain whose plan had succeeded. Eric reached for his flintlock pistol with his left hand.
Bang! Blood sprayed as the bullet hit Henry square in the chest.
"Coward! You used a gun in a duel!" Henry shouted angrily.
Bang! Another shot silenced him.
"Phew~" Eric blew away the smoke like a Western gunslinger. As a lazy strategist, he didn't care about some unspoken rule about no guns in duels. Quick wins were the real victory. He turned toward Akame.
By now, most of the Henry Pirates were already down. While Eric had dueled Henry, the rest of the grunts had been intercepted by Akame, leaving no one to interrupt him.
"Execution."
The pirates fell one by one around Akame like wheat being harvested.
Even in the middle of a slaughter, Akame moved with the grace of a night elf. She dodged strikes effortlessly and took out pirates one by one with precise, lethal slashes. Now Eric joined the fray.
Fewer than ten pirates remained. Terrified, they tried to flee from Akame, only to be flanked by the two of them.
"Please spare us! We won't be pirates anymore!"
"We surrender! We surrender! Please stop killing!" Being captured by the Marines and thrown in jail was better than dying here.
"But what about the innocent lives you took?" Eric sneered. "You murdered and stole from people without hesitation. You don't deserve to keep living!"
And with that, Eric mercilessly denied their pleas.
[Temporary Mission Reward: 2 Bond Points / 1,000,000 Berries]
[Achievement Unlocked: "First Battle with a Companion" – Achievement Points +1]
"So broke!" After clearing the pirates, they looted the treasure room and storeroom, finding only 810,000 Berries. 'Makes sense, pirates live for the moment. They don't save money,' Eric thought. "But there's a good amount of food—let's bring it back to the ship."
"Mm!" Akame, already drooling at the sight of meat, jumped in to help with nimble hands.
[You may sell the pirate ship to the system shop]
'We can't sail that big ship anyway. Might as well sell it,' Eric , frustrated with their lack of funds, didn't hesitate.
He earned 1.5 million Berries.
'Hey! I sold it for 1.5 million and you're flipping it for 10 million?!'
[Isn't buying low and selling high a basic merchant skill?]
'...' Defeated by the system's logic, Eric went blank.
[Current Funds: 8.531 million Berries – 9 Achievement Points – 8 Bond Points]
(END CHAPTER)
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