...
"Damn... This castle is enormous..."
Unable to close my mouth due to my current amazement, I glanced at my surroundings with my eyes wide open, as Vivi continued to guide me through the palace.
She seemed to be enjoying my reaction, as she would giggle now and then when seeing my surprise at everything that was in this place. However, I couldn't care any less about her laughing at me, as this place was really too damn amazing to be paying attention to anything else.
When I become the strongest man in the world, I should probably build a castle like this, and buy things like that one, or that one, or maybe like those others too...!
Yes, a castle like this... Or even bigger!... That would surely be worthy of the strongest man in the world.
And on top of all that, maybe I should make those Yonkō my gatekeepers, hahaha!!!
"This one here is my room"
While I was lost in my thoughts, Vivi approached me and pointed to a certain room in front of us. She seemed to be especially excited about showing this one to me.
Without waiting for me, Vivi opened the doors to the room and entered while dragging me along.
'Heh, sorry girl, but I have seen so many amazing things already, nothing you show me will surprise me anymo- What's with that enormous bed?!'
I didn't know beds could be so big! It was at least ten times bigger than mine at the orphanage... Not only that, but the whole room seemed to be ten times more spacious than mine...
-Gasp!-
It even had a bathroom incorporated inside the room?! The world was just so unfair!
'Tsk, when I become the strongest man in the world I will make sure to build a bedroom that has at least 10 bathrooms incorporated!'
Cursing in my mind at the unfairness of this life, I clenched my fist and looked at the ceiling with determined eyes.
However, soon Vivi grabbed my wrist and began showing me around her room with an excited look in her eyes.
It seemed like this was going to take a while...
-Knock-
-Knock
-Knock-
However, suddenly as she was still showing me her room, someone called at the door and startled Vivi slightly.
Her expression, which was full of excitement until a few seconds ago, soon turned into one of nervousness, as she ran rather fastly towards the door and grabbed the handles before gulping in nervousness.
'Who's behind the door for her to be so nervous?'
Unable to hold my curiosity, I tilted my head and looked at the door with a raised eyebrow. Whoever was behind the door, was surely not an ordinary individual.
-Creaaaaack-
Making an old rusty sound, Vivi opened the door of the room, and the figure of an old man soon entered with a calm and steady pace.
He patted Vivi's head with a smile on his face before he looked at me with a sharp glance for a moment. However, there was no hostility in his gaze like the one in Pell's eyes when we met... Or at least, I couldn't feel any.
Rather, it felt more like he was examining me.
Who's this old man? Doesn't he know that he is in front of the future strongest man in the world? How dares he examine me, I should be the one examining him!
Well, I guess my fame hasn't spread that much, now that I think about it...
Maybe I should try increasing my fame... But with another name, preferably. I can't imagine myself being happy while being called "Midget bounty hunter, the strongest man in the world"
It makes me shiver to just imagine such a future.
Hmm? Now that I think about it... I'm in the royal castle right now... And there's an old man with luxurious clothes in front of me...
...
Is he the King?
...
Damn, this is what I get for never paying attention to the King's speeches... Now I don't even know what he looks like!
Well, he certainly has a King-like aura, so he is probably the king indeed. However, it would be very awkward if I suddenly called him King, and this guy ends up being some random old man from the castle.
"I suppose you are Farid, Vivi's friend. I've heard a lot of you, and how you have also been saving a lot of people from Alubarna from the pirates as a bounty hunter"
Suddenly, as I was lost in my thoughts once again, the voice of the man reached my ears and snapped me out of my daze. When I looked back at him, he was smiling like a kind old man, contrary opposite to the sharp gaze he shot me earlier.
'Well, I guess I can ask him to clear my doubts'
"That's me, are you the King then?" Pointing at myself with my thump while wearing a proud smile on my face, I looked at him and raised an eyebrow, as if inquiring him to answer.
After hearing me, the man seemed rather confused for a few seconds, before he smiled wryly and answered me.
"That's me indeed... Haven't you seen my face previously during my speeches?" Laughing slightly, the King looked at me and asked me back with a wry tone in his voice.
However, his expression soon turned speechless as I answered him with a rather embarrassed expression.
"No, I never pay attention to those" Scratching the back of my head, I answered him honestly and turned my head to look at Vivi, who was chuckling in silence away from us.
This girl...
"I... I see, then Farid, would you like to stay for dinner with us? It has been a while since Vivi has had a friend"
"I can't. If I don't go back to the orphanage before sister Elena leaves her room and finds out that I'm not there, her wrath will befall me" Shuddering, I recalled the last time I defied her orders and shook my head hastily to shake those thoughts away.
It was a painful memory, after all.
As I was remembering painful things, the King suddenly opened his mouth and smiled gently as he patted my shoulders.
"Should I talk to her then? With my permission, I'm sure that she will agree to you staying here for dinner. Besides, I have a lot of things to ask you as well, it is not every day that the famous midget bounty hunter visits the castle"
Telling sister Elena that I know the King...? That might work, but...
...
I'm kinda against revealing to her and the others that I'm a bounty hunter... First because although sister Elena appears to be quite the bitter and frustrated woman, we all at the orphanage know how much she cares for our security. And suddenly telling her that I'm fighting extremely dangerous pirates using nothing but my fists... Seems like a pain in the ass...
The second reason is that I'm being alienated enough back at the orphanage... If I suddenly became "the bounty hunter kid" I don't know just how much more would the other kids start to alienate me...
I don't want the past to repeat itself, after all...
Thus, smiling apologetically, I shook my head and took a step back away from the King.
"I... don't think that's a good idea... Sorry for the inconvenience"
"It's that so, then I guess there's nothing that can be done" Smiling gently at me, the King patted my head before he turned around and prepared to leave.
'Hmm?'
Suddenly, a small thought appeared in my mind, as I glanced at the departing King with a raised eyebrow.
'This guy... He should know a lot about the outside world, being a king and all of that, right?
Then... Could it be possible that he knows about the Haki thingy? And maybe the voice thing as well...
Well, it couldn't hurt to ask...
Opening my mouth to ask him, I raised my voice and tilted my head in curiosity.
"Hey, do you know what Haki is?"
"...!"
For some reason, his expression changed immediately, as his eyes turned to look at me with an astonished expression on his face.
"Haki?"
...
°
°
°
|At the same time...|
|Rainbase - Crocodile's casino dungeon|
...
"It's finally time to prepare everything..."
Inside a dark room illuminated only by the lights of a few candles, an enormous man with ruthless eyes and a large scar spread horizontally across all his face, was currently tapping the table in front of him with his fingers while gazing directly at the papers in his hand with an arrogant grin on his face.
Each one of the papers had the image of people and large chunks of information about them that the man seemed to be analyzing profoundly.
What was more, each of these people had ferocious and savage appearances that could make even the bravest man in the world flinch in surprise.
They were all...
... Bounty hunters.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, as the man kept reading the profiles of several bounty hunters that had become famous one way or another, his eyes stopped as they glanced at the profile of a certain individual that had stood out a lot this past month.
'An outstanding bounty hunter that defeated fifty pirates of a bounty of under one million bellys, three pirates with less than ten million, and one pirate with forty-five million Bellys... All of them did not even manage to hurt him in the slightest while fighting him... And he is even here already in Arabasta... Hmm... This one is suitable... Though, his name sounds like a stupid joke... Midget bounty hunter'
Grinning viciously, the man placed the profile apart from the rest, before he started reading the other profiles with the same impassive expression. As if not caring in the slightest about the incredible abilities of the person that it had just read.
It took the man a few minutes, until he threw the papers away, and started laughing sadistically while looking at the ceiling.
"Arabasta will be just the beginning... Whitebeard, I will show you... You should have not left me alive!"
The man kept laughing like a madman, until finally he looked at the stack of papers in his table, and grinned sinisterly.
"It is time for Baroque Works to come to life!"
...
-To be continued-
°°°
(A/N: And here comes the time-skip that some of you have been wanting, though it will not be that big, at most one year, and it will be the final part of Farid's infancy, and his transformation into the dispirited guy that doesn't want to grow stronger anymore, despite having his system continuing gathering points without stop.
It might involve a small tragedy, but that's pretty much it. Enjoy it guys.)
...
|Inside a nameless restaurant in the city of Alubarna|
...
-Chatter...-
-Sweep-
-Sweep-
Making rubbing sounds repeatedly while cleaning a glass with a handkerchief, a man with a bald head and an elegant mustache looked absentmindedly around the restaurant with an impassive expression on his face, seemingly lost in thought.
'Another peaceful day of work...'
The air around the restaurant seemed pretty chill, as everyone eating inside chatted merrily with each other, enjoying the food and the drinks to the fullest, much to the man's satisfaction.
However, from one moment to another, the man's expression turned serious, as he glanced back at the entrance with a tense expression on his face.
From outside the restaurant, noisy and loud voices suddenly started approaching slowly, making the chattery inside the restaurant soon die down as everyone turned to look at the entrance much like the man with squinted eyes.
"Hahaha, that's what that bitch gets for messing with our Captain!"
"I bet she won't come out to the sea ever again. She should have known her place then and there!"
"It's a shame she jumped out to the sea in order to escape from us, we would have had so much fun together"
A group of ten men was slowly approaching the entrance with a steady pace on their steps, their expressions were full of ridicule and viciousness as they talked.
Soon, the expressions of all the people inside the restaurant turned tense, as they glanced at the group of ten men entering the establishment without hesitating in the slightest, still laughing disgustingly while ignoring the people around them.
-Tap-
Putting the glass he was cleaning on top of the table in front of him, the man soon sighed in silence, before he turned to look at the men in front of him with a small smile on his face.
"Welcome to my restaurant, good sirs. What can I get for you?"
Hearing his words, the men soon turned their attention to him, before the biggest and most dangerous-looking one from the group stepped up and placed both of his armpits on the table, all while looking arrogantly at the man in front him.
"Get me all of the booze you have in your storage, and I don't think I need to explain why should you be the one to pay for it, right?"
Hearing his words, the companions of the man giggled nastily as they glanced owner of the restaurant with a pitying gaze.
However, the next words of the owner were something that they would have never expected.
"... You... You don't know how things work around here, right?"
""...""
Both sides looked at each other for some seconds, staying completely silent during all that time, before one of the men from behind stepped up and yelled angrily.
"What's this?! Do you think that you are a big shot or something? Hah, or are you saying that we should fear the people in this restaurant? I've heard those words so many times... Boss, show him why we shouldn't be underestimated!"
Grinning at his subordinate's words, the man in front of the owner slammed his fist on the table and cracked it down with just one fist.
"He is right, I've seen many bastards like you who used to think that just because they had the numerical advantage they could order me around like I was a pushover... And it never ceases to make me laugh..."
-Bam!!-
Stomping his fist on the ground, the man looked around before he raised his voice and spoke with a savage tone.
"Come on, try to hit me if you have the guts! I want to see if you all really have the strength to be so boastful around me, the Captain of the Blackwood pirates!"
-Gasp!-
-Muttering...-
Immediately after the man said the word "Blackwood pirates", the surroundings became incredibly noisy, as everyone inside the restaurant was shocked about the presence of such a powerful pirate in the middle of Arabasta.
However, despite the fact that the pirate expected the owner of the restaurant to instantly widen his eyes in fear after hearing his name, what expected him really was the impassive expression of the owner looking at him with a bored look in his eyes.
Suddenly, the owner opened his mouth and grinned while looking at the pirate, who was starting to have a bad feeling all of the sudden.
"Who said that I underestimate you because of our numbers? No, I underestimate you because you arrived at quite the bad moment... After all, who could be so unlucky to try and rob us when the midget bounty hunter is right here as a client too?"
"Midget bounty hunter?" Confused, the pirate looked at the owner of the restaurant with a speechless expression, before he looked back at his subordinates demanding answers.
Unfortunately, it seemed like none of them knew either, as all of them just limited themselves to shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders.
-Clank!-
However, his doubts were answered when the sound of a plate hitting a table reached his ears.
When the pirate turned to look over there, he saw a very small person walking slowly towards him while cleaning his face from under a mask using a tissue, probably because the person had just stopped eating.
Seeing the small guy suddenly walk towards him so bravely, and making a connection with the name that the owner had just told him, it was easy for the pirate to figure out who the person who was approaching him was. However, seeing such a small person, the pirate couldn't help but let out a short laugh, as he looked at the Midget bounty hunter with contempt.
"Midget... Hum, I see, then I guess this is your so-called advanta-"
-Bam!!!-
Unfortunately, his words were cut short, as soon, the figure of the small person appeared in front of him, and slammed violently his fist into the pirate's stomach, making him lose all the air in his lungs, and fall to his knees immediately without being able to offer any resistance in the slightest.
-Thud!-
Letting out a dry laugh, the owner looked at the small guy in front of him, before he turned to look at the pirate now lying on the floor with a wry smile on his face.
"Hmph, I guess the fact that your fame hasn't reached that far it's still a good thing. It makes it easier for you to capture them, after all"
Hearing his words, the mysterious bounty hunter simply nodded his head without a word, before he walked towards the gang of pirates who could only look speechlessly at their captain on the ground, and stomped his fist against his palm in a threatening manner.
...
°
°
°
|Farid's POV:|
...
... Damnit, and here I was simply enjoying my meal. Where do these guys even come from?
I was happy at first because it made getting money easier, but now it was just annoying.
'Well whatever, money is money...'
Dragging the pile of tied pirates that I had just defeated a few minutes ago like they were a sack of potatoes, I walked through the streets, ignoring the stares of everyone around me, and moved towards the Marine headquarters with a steady pace, completely ignoring the fact that I was carrying ten men easily as if they barely weighted anything.
My strength had really increased in this past year... More than what I expected.
Just looking at my own stats made me wonder just what the limit of this incredible system was. After all, I was just so far away from maxing each one of these stats, and yet, here I was, with no rival in the slightest in the whole Kingdom.
▽
『Name: Farid』
-Age: 9
-Species: Human
-〈STATUS〉-
『User characteristics:』
▸Strength: [700]〈0/10〉
▸Defense: [700]〈0/10〉
▸Stamina: [700]〈0/10〉
▸Internal Defense: [250]〈0/100〉
▸Soul Power: [100]〈0/1000〉
『Body abilities:』
▸Psychomotor ability: [Lvl 114/1000]〈0/1000〉
▸Healing speed: [Lvl 80/1000]〈0/1000〉
▸Cerebral power: [Lvl 70/1000]〈0/1000〉
『Senses:』
▸Eyesight: [Lvl 15/100]〈0/10,000〉
▸Hearing: [Lvl 10/100]〈0/10,000〉
▸Touch: [Lvl 7/100]〈0/10,000〉
▸Smell: [Lvl 2/100]〈0/10,000〉
▸Taste: [Lvl 4/100]〈0/10,000〉
▸Gut's feeling: [Lvl 20/100]〈0/20,000〉
『Special skills:』
▸Armament Haki: [Lvl 100]〈0/1000〉
▸Observation Haki: [Lvl 100]〈0/1000〉
▸Conqueror's Haki: [Lvl 100]〈0/1000〉
▸Voice: [Lvl 2/100]〈0/100,000〉
___________________
『Status points remaining: [15,846]』
...
△
Although my physical stats haven't increased that much since a year ago, now them being 700 instead of 600, it was the other stats that gave me the amazing feeling of being incredibly stronger than before.
I was skeptical about leveling them up at first, after all, during the first levels, I wasn't able to feel any change in my strength like I had felt with the physical stats and the cerebral power stat. However, in the end, I yielded and tried leveling most of them to at least level 30.
That was probably the best decision in my entire life.
Especially the Psychomotor ability stat, which name confuses me until this very day.
At first, I couldn't notice anything different with me or my body, however, during a fight with a tough pirate, I tried dodging just for the sake of it, and finally noticed the true worth of this stat.
It not only improved my control over my whole body but also increased my coordination and equilibrium amazingly.
It was a bit hard explaining it, but when I continued leveling it up, I felt how my body was doing exactly what I desired with no mistake in the slightest as if I was in control of every little move that once before could affect my intentions.
For example, let's say I wanted to punch a wall in a very exact spot while running towards it at full speed. It would be very difficult for me to actually punch the exact spot that I was aiming for in the beginning because the movement of my whole body would be affecting the trajectory of my fist, right? There was also the resistance of the air, and the speed at which I would be running, which in the end always would end up affecting my aim when launching the punch. Maybe my fist would hit very near it, or almost in the same spot, but hardly in the exact spot that I desired.
With my psychomotor ability stat, my fist would hit exactly where I desired, no matter how many interferences there were. The same can be applied to throwing things, dodging attacks, or handling tools or weapons.
Coupled with my increased Cerebral power stat, I began to learn some of the swordsmanships from the pirates that I fought, or their fighting style, just by looking at them and copying their movement. I couldn't say they were pros, but it was still epic nonetheless.
Moreover, I could even improve them, as I was also able to notice small movements that felt strange or inefficient to my incredibly awesome body. Though it would have been because I was still a kid, and their fighting style was for adults.
Thus, as I continued to increase that stat, fighting pirates became more like a game than before. I could choose between dodging their attacks with ease and having fun looking at their distressed expressions, or simply end the fight with one punch using my superhuman strength.
Healing speed was also something great, but not something that I have managed to see to a great extent due to there being nothing that can harm me in the first place.
Then, after that, we have the senses category in my stats.
I didn't have that much to say about them. The hearing stat was pretty darn good at dodging or eavesdropping, as it allowed me to notice when an attack is coming this way, or simply heard what people were saying from afar, the eyesight stat allowed me to see things from afar, and even follow extremely fast things with my eyes with extreme ease, which also allowed me to dodge even more easily any attacks coming in my way.
Then there was touch, smell, and taste, which only heightened those senses a little bit, much to my annoyance, but in the end, nothing special really.
And then, there was the Gut's feeling stat... Which was the most amazing out of all the stats I have increased!
If an attack was coming my way, someone was angry at me, I was about to make a bad decision, or something bad was about to happen, I would feel it in my gut.
I remember a day when sister Elena was angry at me, and my gut immediately told me! Thanks to that, I managed to escape successfully and avoid her wrath!
Even now, when the pirates were approaching the restaurant, I somehow felt in my gut that something that would interrupt my meal was about to happen.
It was such a surreal and ambiguous ability. But it was amazing nonetheless.
Finally, we have the Special skills category, more specifically we have the Haki thingy and the voice thingy stats.
I have to say, they were my biggest disappointment to the date.
The King told me that the Armament Haki and Observation Haki were extremely advanced techniques from the most dangerous seas in the world that allowed the user to empower their attacks and be able to hit devil fruits users even if they had a Logia, and feel any attack coming in their way without the need of depending in your sight or hearing, respectively.
For some reason, he refused to talk about Conqueror's Haki though.
Of course, as soon as I heard what the King said, I focused only on those stats and started leveling up until they reached level 100... However, ever since then, never have I been able to use them. I thought that at least in level 100 something would change, but even after reaching that level, nothing changed.
The same went for the Conqueror's Haki stat, it reached level 100 but nothing changed with me, or my strength.
I knew that there was something I was missing, but the disappointment was still there.
The King didn't have any more knowledge besides the previous one either. So I couldn't do anything about them, aside from remembering how I spent 300,000 status points on these stats that did nothing at all.
As for the voice stat... It was damn expensive, and what was worse, that even after leveling it up to level 2, it still didn't change anything with my voice.
I still don't understand why is it so expensive! Give me back my damn 200,000 status points! My singing is still as bad as ever!!
Either way, I was still satisfied with my progress over the year that had passed, and even though I had not been able to discover what the Haki and the voice thingy stats were, I'm sure in the future I will.
After all, the only thing I need is time.
My determination will remain unwavering, and I will become the strongest of all!
Hahahaha!!
...
-To be continued-
°°°
(A/N: Finally weekend... Stupid universities and their tendency of giving me homework every day...
Either way, sorry for the wait guys. Here's the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it.
Don't know if it was good writing a whole chapter about stats, but whatever, what it's done it's done.
Also, I might have made a slight error in the synopsis about how many status points he will have by the time the canon begins. I said that he will have around 7 million unspent status points by then... But considering things better... I think he will have much more than that.
It won't really change that much the story I was planning, but it will still increase the power he can potentially reach if he decides to use his unspent status points.
In summary, Farid will probably be a lot stronger(Potentially) than I was expecting.
Anyway, that's all. Bye guys.
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