Chapter 3: Akame
After two failed summoning attempts, Eric fell into deep thought. He flipped back through the system's rules and spotted Rule #10:
{10. Summoning mediums cannot be blanks. Acceptable properties include: cursed blades, high-grade swords, supreme-grade swords, Devil Fruits, etc.}
"..."
Eric , whose memory wasn't the best, checked the rules again and read:
{11. Summoning mediums can be purchased from the system shop.}
But Eric remembered the shop prices all too well. The only thing he could afford was a 100,000 Berries lottery box—a blatant money sink. Even the cheapest premium food ingredients started at over a million Berries.
{12. Players can identify the name, quality, and function of an item, displayed just below the item itself.}
Eric widened his eyes and looked beneath his weapon. Almost invisible, faint text read:
[Item: Flintlock Pistol – Quality: Blank – Price: Actual value 350,000, purchased by player at an overpriced 500,000]
Eric was burning with rage. He stormed back to the scammy weapon shop but was met with a cold rejection from the owner: "No quality issues, no returns."
"Man, the seven-day no-reason return policy in my previous life was a blessing…"
Out of options due to an unqualified medium and lack of Berries, Eric decided to head to a natural harbor where pirates often docked to hunt bounty targets.
'Just when things were finally starting to look up with this summoning system, now I can't summon anyone because of the damn medium…'
But the normally pirate-infested hidden cove was eerily quiet.
"Have the Marines been carrying out a large-scale sweep in the East Blue? Guess I'll try my luck at my secret base."
After over ten years in Loguetown, Eric had stumbled upon a secret location during his wanderings. It was a hidden bay formed by undersea currents, where corpses and wreckage often washed up.
"Wait, is that someone lying there?" Eric had just arrived at the bay entrance when he spotted a man sprawled on the sand, drenched, covered in seaweed and mud.
He rolled the body over and checked the neck for a pulse. The corpse was cold, faintly reeking of death. It had clearly been dead for two or three days. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed the sword sheathed at the man's waist.
"Time to loot." Eric licked his lips. Taking from the dead wasn't ideal, but anyone else would do the same. At least he would dig a grave—that made him more ethical than most scavengers.
After rummaging through the man's pockets, all he found was 63,000 soggy Berries. The sword, though, had a reddish-brown scabbard, a ray-skin handle, and traditional wrappings. The long blade shimmered with a purple flame-like pattern.
In his inventory, the display read:
[Item: Sandai Kitetsu – Quality: Cursed Blade – Price: You're not actually thinking of selling this, are you? It's cursed, cursed! Just keep it!]
"Aren't you just cursing me yourself?!" Eric growled through clenched teeth.
"Well… I think I can summon now. As long as it's not a blank, right?" He prepared for another summoning. He walked to a secluded grove near the shore, sliced his palm with a small blade, and drew a summoning circle.
'Maybe I should start extracting blood in advance and store it in a bottle, so I don't have to cut my hand every time. It really hurts.'
"Sorry, Zoro, but I'm taking your sword!"
He placed the Sandai Kitetsu in the center of the summoning array and held out his hand once more.
"Your body beneath my banner; your fate upon my blade..."
"…I forgot the rest. Summon!"
A flash of white light burst forth, and a graceful silhouette appeared in the center of the summoning circle—a girl with elegant black hair, Akame filled with defiance, and a naturally beautiful face that needed no makeup. She looked down at her hands and asked in confusion, "Where… am I?"
After becoming an assassin in the Empire's covert unit, Akame had carried out countless missions. Having seen enough of the Empire's darkness, she began to waver. On a particular mission with her comrades, her hesitation caused a fatal mistake. She was severely injured and abandoned by her teammates. As her consciousness faded, she suddenly found herself whole and unscathed in this strange new place.
Due to the system automatically uploading some knowledge of the One Piece world into her mind, she was feeling disoriented. Her naturally quiet demeanor now seemed even more dazed.
[Name: Akame]
[Age: 15]
[Constitution: 2.5 Stars]
[Martial Arts: 2 Stars]
[Swordsmanship: 4 Stars (Currently 3 Stars in weakened state)]
[Observation Haki: 2 Stars]
[Armament Haki: 0 Stars]
[Weapon: Cursed Blade – Murasame (A single cut can deliver a deadly poison curse, but if it doesn't cut, it's useless)]
[Bond Level: 1 (Ordinary Friend)] (5 is max)
[Overall Combat Power: 4 Stars]
[Note: Trained assassin from the Empire's special ops. Possesses survival skills. Severely wounded and abandoned by comrades. Summoned by the player.]
[Ding! You have two new messages]
[Monthly quest completed. 1,000,000 Berries and single-mast sailboat added to inventory. Bond points added to party menu.]
[Achievement Unlocked: "First Companion" – Achievement Points +1]
"Hi there, I'm Darren Eric . I'm your companion." Eric smiled warmly in what he thought was a friendly introduction.
"Companion…" Akame's expression turned sad.
Eric 's face turned solemn. "I'll stay by your side forever. I'll never abandon you!"
Bang!
Akame, still reeling from her comrades' betrayal, looked as if she'd been shot. A faint sparkle appeared in her sorrowful eyes. Her pretty face slowly blushed as her crimson gaze showed a glimmer of hope and sincerity. "Really?"
"Of course! I'd never lie to a companion!" Eric declared without hesitation.
[Ding! You have one new message]
[Akame's affection increased. Bond Level raised from 1 (Ordinary Friend) to 2 (Close Friend). Bond Points +1]
'That was way too easy…' Eric thought. Then again, he felt a pang of guilt. What had Akame gone through to make her so emotionally vulnerable?
Grrr...
A stomach growl interrupted Eric 's reflections.
"Hungry?" he asked.
"Mm… I had an assassination mission, so I haven't eaten…" Akame replied, a bit embarrassed.
"Let's go. Your captain's treating you to a feast!" Having just earned a million Berries, Eric took Akame to a fancy restaurant. But he forgot one crucial detail—though Akame looked slim, she was a secret glutton. She especially loved meat, ate in massive quantities, and still kept a killer figure, to the envy of women who gained weight just drinking water.
'Truly, no matter how messy a pretty girl eats, it's still adorable~' Eric thought as he watched Akame devour her meal.
When the bill came, Eric had the sudden urge to dine and dash. But seeing Akame shyly shrinking into her chair, arms tucked in and looking guilty, he gritted his teeth and paid the 677,000 Berries.
[Current Funds: 621,000 Berries]
'Time to make money…' Eric smiled at Akame through the pain of spending nearly half his funds. "Let's get ready to set sail!"
"Okay!" Akame nodded enthusiastically, sticking close behind him.
They bought sea charts of the East Blue, a compass, and cooking ingredients so they could prepare their own meals. Then, they collected a bounty notice from the Marines and walked to the coast. Seeing her surprised expression, Eric dramatically pulled something from his chest. The sailboat from his inventory suddenly appeared midair, about half his height off the ground, and splashed down into the sea.
"Oh, this? Just a special storage space from an unknown location (my chest). Nothing to be surprised about," Eric explained.
'It's a tribute to all those busty anime girls who magically pull weapons out of nowhere!'
Eric raised his fist to the sky and shouted, "Let's go! Wipe out every pirate crew in the East Blue (random mobs) so the protagonist has nothing left to grind!"
"Oh!" Akame immediately mirrored him, raising her right fist to the sky.
"…Oh crap, I don't know how to sail," Eric suddenly realized. He'd never actually been out to sea.
(END CHAPTER)
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