"Status!"
[Status]
Strength: 2
Endurance: 0
Agility: 0
Soul: 10
Points to distribute: 5
"Add two points to Endurance and Agility, and put the last one in Strength," he thought, and the system obeyed, assigning the points to the mentioned attributes.
A wave of energy flowed through his entire body, and he felt faster and slightly more energized. Strangely, he didn't feel that sensation when his Soul level increased, but he decided to ignore that when he realized they were close to an island.
"Coby! That's the famous Shells Town island!" he said excitedly, startling Coby, who had been distracted while rowing the boat.
"Yes, I didn't expect we'd arrive so soon. It must be because of your high rowing speed," he replied, remembering how fast Luffy had rowed.
"Ugh!" Alvida groaned. "We're finally getting off this boat, I couldn't stand floating in the middle of the sea any longer."
She spoke with relief while observing the island from afar. Even though she didn't have her usual appetite, Alvida was still very hungry, having only eaten apples for the last day.
"I can't wait to meet Roronoa Zoro!" Luffy said excitedly, imagining the reward the system would give him for recruiting him to his team.
'Speaking of rewards… System, where's that combat book?'
"The basic combat book is in the system inventory. If you want to view it, just go there. If you want to use it, just click on it."
Luffy: Inventory.
[Inventory/Mail]
[1× Basic Combat Book]
Click!
A book appeared in Luffy's hands without anyone noticing.
"I have to read all of this…" he thought, disheartened by how thick the book was, and opened it.
Luffy was about to open the book when it suddenly disappeared, replaced by a puff of smoke. Suddenly, a sharp pain invaded his head along with all the information written inside the book.
In just a few seconds, he understood all the content inside it and was surprised.
[Skill Unlocked!]
[Basic Combat.]
[To view your skills, visit the "Talents" menu.]
Luffy: Talents.
[Talents]
[Gomu Gomu Combat: Level 10] [Exp: 90/1100]
[Basic Combat: Level 1] [Exp: 0/100]
"From my RPG knowledge, exp means experience... But how do I gain it? None of the missions gave me exp so far."
"Missions don't give experience to talents, only to the user. Talents level up through usage. The more you use them, the faster they level up."
"I see."
"Whew," Coby sighed, breathing heavily after rowing for about half an hour. "We've finally arrived!" He jumped off the boat and docked it.
"Now that we're here, what do we do first? I vote we go to a restaurant!" Alvida said, pointing to a sign that read "Ririka's Restaurant."
"Alright. Let's go!" Luffy said, grabbing Alvida's arm and running toward the place she pointed, followed closely by Coby, struggling to keep up.
...
"Finally, something tasty!" Alvida said as she finished her fourth plate of food.
Luffy was surprised, but he wasn't far behind—he was on his sixth plate, and just getting started.
Coby, sitting slightly apart from the two gluttons, had only finished his first plate and didn't seem to want any more.
A few minutes later…
The trio had already left the restaurant after Alvida paid for everyone's meal. Luffy hadn't brought any money from his island, and Coby... well, he was Alvida's subordinate—he didn't earn a salary.
They were heading toward a massive wall with a blue anchor symbol painted on it. Beside it, a kanji said "Marine," and on top of the structure, a statue of a man with an axe in place of his hand was being erected.
Luffy thought it looked really ugly. His two companions agreed.
"This is it!" Luffy shouted, climbing on top of the wall, drawing the attention of Coby and Alvida. The latter tried to follow him but slipped due to her slick hands and fell.
She had just eaten a Devil Fruit and didn't have full control over it to do such things. Even eating had been a bit difficult, though she quickly got used to food slipping from her hands.
"Mr. Luffy! Be careful with Zoro. He's a very dangerous pirate hunter," Coby warned, worried about his friend.
"Don't worry, Coby. I'm strong too!" Luffy said with a smile, finally reaching the top of the wall and scanning the area for Roronoa Zoro.
"... I doubt Zoro's out in the open. He's so dangerous they probably have a special cell fo—" Alvida started a monologue, but was quickly interrupted by Luffy's shout.
"He's over there!" he said, pointing to the middle of the huge yard.
And just like he said, Zoro was standing there in the middle. His arms and legs were bound to wooden planks in the shape of a cross. It was clearly a reference to something else...
"Hey, you... Are you looking to die?!" Zoro said, lifting his head. His expression was completely threatening as he stared at Luffy, who looked entirely innocent and unaffected by his words.
"If you stay like that, you're the one who's gonna die," Luffy replied, mocking Zoro's situation. Zoro was slightly annoyed by that.
Who did this brat think he was? He didn't even know why Zoro was tied up there.
"You better get lost. Unless you want to die by my hands," Zoro warned again.
"How about I help you get free… and in return, you join my crew?" Luffy offered, looking directly into Zoro's eyes.
The air seemed to shift after those words. A tempting proposal, one that went against a pirate hunter's ideals.
"You must be insane. Offering something like that to a pirate hunter. I think you already know my answer," Zoro said, looking back down. Lifting his head seemed to strain his neck.
Knowing what was about to happen, Luffy moved away from Zoro and returned to the wall. He jumped to the other side—where the little girl who would offer the rice balls to the hunter was waiting.
---
[Status]
Strength: 3
Endurance: 2
Agility: 2
Soul: 10
0 points to distribute.