Bab 20: Worshipping God Usopp

Note: The stats in paranteses, such as (--) for example are temporary stats. I will use this when a skill activates and increases it temporarily or when a debuff decreases it.

''Ding! Congrulations host for reaching -100 relationship with Arlong(minor character). Calculating the reward... Calculation completed. Unique skill:Underwater breathing awarded. Bonus reward for exceeding -60. Ding! Bonus reward supreme grade endurance potion rewarded. Ding! Congrulations host for maxing out a minor relationship. Bloodline stimulation pill(supreme grade) awarded''

'Underwater breathing(Unique passive skill): Host can breathe underwater for 2 hours'

'Supreme grade endurance potion: Use it to gain +8 endurance permenantly'

'Bloodline stimulation pill: A rare pill that stimulates a person's dormant bloodline.'

'Vanishing Step' Abel hurriedly dodged Arlong's furious fist while checking the rewards. He frowned immediately. 'Underwater breathing would be a very useful skill but it is shit when I am against a fishman. As for +8 endurance... İt will at most let me survive a few more fists.'

Abel hurriedly drank the endurance potion as he avoided Arlong. ' What is this bloodline stimulation pill... the explanation is not clear.'

Arlong looked Abel who dodged him again with hatred. Aside From Kuroobi and Hachi, his two higher ups, his whole crew was slaughtered. He was about to lose his mind from anger. As he watched Abel escape from his grasp he noticed Nami who was watching the fight nerveously. His eyes glinted melevolantly. He stopped chasing Abel and sent a water bullet towards Nami. Abel noticed this and cursed inside.

'Vanishing Step' Abel took Nami on his arms as the water bullet scraped his left arm.

' I can't fight while Nami is here. We need to escape'

'Vanishing Step' Abel hurriedly escaped towards a direction but he gritted his teeth when he saw Kuroobi appeared in front of him.

'' Stop right there!'' Kuroobi screamed as he threw a punch at Abel.

' I don't have time to deal with you, damn it!' Abel took a deep breath as he used Vanishing Step to it's limits while swinging Aranruth. Something strange happened as Abel used his two abilities to their limits. Kuroobi's fist connected with Abel's body but Kuroobi strangely didn't feel anything other than a slightly cold sensation in his shoulder. Kuroobi looked shocked as Abel's image disappeared in front of him as if he was a ghost. Kuroobi touched his shoulder and felt a wet sensation. 'İ-is this blood?'

Arlong watched in shock as Abel's image faded and Kuroobi's right arm fell to the floor.

'Ding! Congrulations host for breaking Vanishing Step's limits, upgrading it to Ghost Steps(Epic Grade)'

'Congrulations host for breaking through your bottleneck in Formless Sword Art'

'Ghost Steps: İncreases user's agility by %40 for 2 seconds. Users of this skill lefts behind afterimages that confuse their opponents.'

Abel let out a sigh of relief as his speed also increased. 'As long as I focus on escape, I can always figure out a plan. I just need to escape and find a way to refill my stamina for now. Staying with Nami and with low stamina is suicide'

'Warning! Host advised to not spam skills. Stamina will be depleted in 3 minutes with current consumption.'

Abel sighed in relief as he got more and more away from Arlong.

'' GHOST! Come back here. İf you don't come back I will slaughter all the villages one by one. Come and face me!'' Arlong screamed behind Abel after realising his speed was not a match for him. Abel didn't care as he flashed away using Ghost Steps. Nami was conflicted as she looked at Abel.

'' Teacher... The villagers...''

'' İs Cocoyashi close to here?'' Abel cut her off. Abel knew that Cocoyashi Village was like a family to Nami so he focused on them. Right now they were close to Arlong Park but Abel didn't know how far Cocoyashi was from here.

'' N-No, but it is not far away either. But teacher, what about the other villages...''

'' What about them?''

'' W-won't Arlong kill them?'' Nami asked choking in tears.

'' He will.'' 'And he better kills a lot of them so we can gain time.'

Abel obviously didn't care about the villagers at all. The only reason he asked about Cocoyashi was that his disciple felt like they were her family. Abel couldn't be bothered with other villages. Nami grew silent as she buried her head to Abel's neck but didn't say anything anymore.

Arlong looked at Abel's back that flashed away with hatred. He broke the neck of a villager and threw the corpse to the ground with anger. 'İsn't this Ghost a marine? Why is he abandoning villagers?' Arlong thought Ghost's act of running was a bluff and he would come back in a minute at most but Ghost didn't even turn around to look back.

'' Captain... Was I too late?'' A dumb voice interrupted Arlong's thoughts. Arlong looked at Hachi who arrived late like usual with slight anger. Only 2 of his subordinates were left after Abel's rampage. One of them was silly and other was left with one arm. Arlong gritted his teeth and ordered Hachi.

'' We are going to Cocoyashi Village''

His muscles started bulging as he let out a furious roar '' GHOST! I will make you pay.''

After that he ignored the remaining villagers and ran towards the direction Abel escaped. Kurrobi and Hachi gulped and followed their captain with their own pace.

Meanwhile Abel and Nami arrived at Cocoyashi Village. Abel flashed his marine emblem and ordered directly.

'' Everyone immediately leave the village. I am Ghost from marine headquarters. I am in an undercover mission to clean Arlong Pirates. Those who don't obey will be executed with the suspicion of colluding with Arlong Pirates.'' Abel talked with a cold and authorative voice, leaving no room for any argument. Abel was aware that Arlong would definitely come to Cocoyashi Village first to find him and Nami. İt was just too obvious. Abel didn't wish to deal with some dumb hostage situation so he ordered immediately. Villagers started leaving in panic.

'' You too'' Abel spoke to Nami who was standing stubbornly.

'' No!''

'' I will knock you out then''

''...'' Nami teared up as she spoke to Abel '' T-Teacher, I don't want you to die.'''

'' I don't want myself to die either. Stop speaking nonsense and leave.'' Abel shooed Nami away immediately.

Nami hugged Abel and told him '' Teacher... I-I no longer care if other villagers die. You shouldn't die, okay? You should escape if you can't handle it. I...I don't want you to die for my sake''

'Ding! Relationship updated. Nami(major character). Current relationship +100(familial love)'

Abel's face grew dark as he cursed in his mind. ' Brat, do you think I care about some random villagers? How dare you look down on me like that! İf not for you....' Abel cursed inside but his gaze softened as he looked at the notification. 'Familial love? This brat considers me family now? That's kinda cute.'

'' Do you think someone as handsome as me will die early? Even gods would cry in sorrow if such a thing were to happen...'' Abel made some shameless talk to relax Nami and then sent her away. He also signed in with her before he sent her away. ' Brat you caused me so much trouble, I better get something good from this.'

Even though Abel still acted relaxed and calm on the surface he was nerveus inside. His stamina only recovered a little bit and he was exhausted. He didn't wish to fight with Arlong but sneaking away with Nojiko and Nami was no longer possible. Arlong was a fishman. Now that he was aware of Abel, he wouldn't let anyone leave the island. Abel didn't want to face Arlong on sea with his crappy fish boat. Abel shook his head as he checked the rewards from Nami.

'Ding! Congrulations host for reaching +100 relationship with Nami(major character). Calculating the reward... Calculation completed. Legendary Skill: Golden Finger awarded. Bonus reward for exceeding +60. Ding! Bonus reward Special Skill: Weather Manipulation awarded. Ding! Congrulations host for maxing out a major relationship. Legendary İtem: Spatial Book awarded.'

' Golden Finger(Legendary skill): Host can turn turn any metal or rock into gold. Cooldown: 30 minutes.'

'Weather Manipulation(Special Skill): Host can control the weather in major or minor ways. Current function: Heavy Rain. Host needs to improve the skill to control other weather changes.'

'Spatial Book(Legendary İtem): User of this book can teleport 10 places marked by this book. Current marked places: None. Cooldown: 6 hours.'

Abel sighed deeply. This abilities were not bad. but none of them would help him with his fight. They were either unusable or useless. Abel was especially speechless when he saw Golden Finger. 'Even your rewards are about money....'

Abel was helpless as he took out the bloodline stimulation pill. ' You are my last hope, brother. Don't let me down please...' Abel didn't hesitate anymore and ate the pill. İmmediately after eating the pill he felt his body burning up and he felt very weak. ' What the hell is going on!?'

'Host has consumed a bloodline stimulation pill. Analyzing... Lunarian bloodline detected in host's lineage. Attemting to awaken the dormant Lunarian abilities. Awakening process began. Host has entered a weakened state. All stats decreased by 5 temporarily. Awakening will be complete in 15 minutes.'

Abel's face turned pale as he read the notifications from system. 'F*ck. What weakened state? İf there is something like that, write it in the description. Arlong will be here in moments!'

Abel was panicked as he realized that he lost the battle before even he began fighting. Decreasing his every stat by 5 was essentially crippling him. His stats were already much lower than Arlong. Now he wouldn't be able to do much even with legendary skills.

Abel sighed deeply as he looked at the sky accusingly.

' Did the gods curse me to die early because of my shamelessness? Nah... They are probably jealous because I was born so handsome.'

Abel took out his wine cup and started drinking in sorrow. İf he left, Arlong would go after Nami, leaving wasn't a solution. So he drank his wine silently as he waited for them to arrive.

'' Status''

Name: Abel

Age: 18

Race: Half-Lunarian

Strength: 33 (28)

Agility: 29 (24)

Endurance: 53( 48)

Stamina: 32(27)

-Weakened( 8 minutes left)-

Abel sighed as he saw Arlong and his 2 underlings arrival. 'Just 8 minutes. Let's try it.'

Ghost Steps was still useful, since it gave %40 increase in agility even with his decreased stats Abel was still faster than Arlong. Unfortunately his stamina was rock bottom so he couldn't rely on it alone to waste time.

'' GHOST DİE!'' Arlong immediately threw a punch at Abel as soon as he saw him.

'Ultimate Punch' Abel helplessly threw his own punch to meet his. +20 strength was not enough and Abel was forced back by a dozen meters. Abel liked this outcome however as he turned around and started to run around.

'' GHOST! GET BACK HERE!'' Arlong roared as he ran after Abel. Abel was not able to escape from him with his lowered agiliy and Arlong closed on Abel again.

' 7 minutes... come on.'

'Ghost Steps' Abel left behind an afterimage and escaped from Arlong's grasp, however this time Hachi appeared in front of him. Abel didn't have any energy left to use any skill and could only try to defend against the 6 armed fishman's fierce attacks. As Abel barely defended against Hachi's attacks Kuroobi arrived at his side and hit Abel's stomach with his fist. Abel coughed blood as he retreated hurriedly. Unfortunately his retreat path was blocked by Arlong and Abel took a full forced kick to his back and was send flying again. Abel was slammed on a tree and coughed blood continuously. Arlong slowly arrived in front of Abel as he spoke coldly.

'' Do you understand how insignificant you are now? İf you don't have the stregth to back it up, know your place and don't court death!'' After Arlong threw out this sentence he didn't speak anymore and rushed towards Abel. Hachi and Kuroobi stood from the sides closing Abel's escape paths.

-Status: Weakened( 5 minutes remaining)-

Abel sighed as he checked his status. Abel felt like he didn't even have the strength to throw out a punch anymore. Abel also agreed with Arlong. He was weak yet he still gambled with his life to take down Arlong, it was a mistake he committed willingly so Abel didn't have any complaints in his heart. ' Well, since there is no way out, lets end with a graceful finish.'

Abel's eyes turned cold as he ignored the fierce punch that Arlong threw at him and threw his strongest punch at Arlong's weak spot. Abel knew this was not an equal trade, after this fist connects Abel would die or knocked out as for Arlong, he might not even get injured with how low Abel's stats became. But Abel was unwilling to die without injuring Arlong a bit. Otherwise he might be mocked by his fellow comrades in hell when he went there. Both fists connected in a matter of seconds.

Kuroobi and Hachi watched in shock as both Abel and Arlong was sent flying to opposite sides. Abel strangely didn't feel any pain as he was sent flying crushing and destroying trees only stopping when he crushed against a huge boulder. Abel's mind was blank as he watched Arlong cough blood and try to stand up from where he was sent flying. ' What the hell...' Abel then noticed the notifications from system.

'Congrulations host for showing bravery in front of danger. Host has triggered Legendary Skill: Brave Heart. Host can go beyond his limits for a short time. All stats increased by %20 temporarily.'

' Congrulations host for triggering Brave Heart(Legendary Skill). All stats +5 permenantly.'

' Host will not be affected by pain during the duration of this skill.'

' Double damage dealed from weak spot.'

Abel stood up as he laughed heartily. 'Hahahaha, I knew this handsome face is not destined to die here. I still haven't turned the world upside down!'

Abel laughed in a crazed manner as Hachi and Kuroobi watched with pale faces. '' Come! I was just going easy on you! Don't you know it always feels the best when you make a spectacular comeback?'' Abel happily spouted nonsense while praising Usopp in his mind. 'Oh great god Usopp, you are the only god I worship in this world. Others are just petty things jealous of my good looks.'