The sound of the sea wind howled in his ears, and the bright flames of the campfire flickered, casting dancing shadows on the rock wall. The shadows of a large and small figure moved along with the flames.
Charlotte Linlin hugged her knees, her eyes fixed on the last grilled fish on the rack, occasionally licking her lips hungrily.
Roy, however, paid no attention to the last piece of fish. His gaze was fixed entirely on Linlin.
Ah, don't get the wrong idea!
He wasn't interested in the young BIG MOM, and even the future BIG MOM didn't catch his interest.
After all, BIG MOM's figure would change drastically many years later.
Roy was more focused on the several gray cards floating in front of Linlin, cards that only he could see.
The gray-colored cards, adorned with mysterious patterns, slowly rotated in the air. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the cards displayed a cartoonish image of Charlotte Linlin along with some simple text. However, strands of gray mist obscured the text, making it unreadable.
Talent Cards!
Roy's system allowed him to evaluate the intimacy level between him and a girl based on their relationship. The system would assign intimacy points as the relationship deepened.
There were two main benefits from this system:
Once a certain intimacy level was reached, Roy would receive intimacy points as a reward, which could suppress the chaos of space-time rules. If he accumulated enough points, he might even solve the problem entirely.
When intimacy reached 60 points, Roy could replicate the girl's talent abilities.
For example, if Roy could raise his intimacy with Charlotte Linlin to 60 points, he would be able to copy her talent cards!
Roy could treat his system like a "strategy" system, where the higher the intimacy level, the greater the rewards. There was another crucial factor tied to intimacy points:
The higher the intimacy value, the better the copied talent cards!
"Use 50 intimacy points," Roy silently thought.
[50 intimacy points spent!
Next space-time confusion will occur in 4 years and 2 months.]
1 intimacy point could suppress the chaos for 1 month, and Roy had realized that there was a significant difference between the intimacy points earned with ordinary girls and someone like BIG MOM, who would become an extremely important character in the future plot.
The difference was staggering!
"Mom, Dad, where did you go?" Linlin looked up at the sky with a sorrowful expression, as snowflakes began to fall. Fortunately, Roy had chosen a place where the rock wall overhead shielded them from the snow.
Roy was deep in thought, planning for the future, when the young Linlin suddenly looked at him, the boy who had been kind to her.
"Hey, how did you end up here?" Linlin blinked, curious, as she gazed at Roy.
Roy turned his gaze toward her, picked up the last grilled fish, and handed it to her. "I have no home, my family is gone. Wherever I go, that place becomes home."
"Oh~" Linlin looked at him with a touch of guilt, wondering if she had accidentally brought up a painful memory for him.
She gazed at him, her thoughts wondering if he had also been abandoned by his parents. How pitiful.
The young, innocent Linlin no longer found Roy's food the only reason for her liking him. She felt a sense of connection with him, as if they were in the same situation. This feeling of solidarity instantly made her like him even more.
Looking at the vast sea, then at the cute, somewhat handsome boy in front of her, Linlin's eyes brightened. "It seems like I've been abandoned by my parents too. Can we be the best, best friends forever?"
She blinked and quickly finished the grilled fish in one bite.
[Intimacy with Charlotte Linlin +10!]
"Of course we can," Roy smiled and nodded.
It was so easy to gain Linlin's trust at this young age. Just offering her some food and sharing the mutual feeling of abandonment had boosted their intimacy by 10 points. A bit more, and he would reach 20.
He thought to himself, just 10 more, and he would be closer to his goal.
They chatted lightly, and as the night deepened, Linlin curled up against the rock wall and fell asleep.
Roy added more wood to the fire, sat closer to it, and lightly dozed off.
When Roy had first arrived in the world of One Piece 800 years ago, he had been an abandoned child, just like Linlin.
He hadn't lost his parents; they simply didn't want him.
From the time he could understand, an elderly kind woman had adopted him. However, only a few years later, she passed away, and Roy was left alone to navigate the dangerous world by himself. Sleeping alone outside was a routine for him, as safety was always the top priority.
"Crackle~"
In the middle of the night, the fire was dwindling, and the weak flames flickered in the sea breeze, threatening to extinguish at any moment.
Roy groggily woke up and noticed the cold wind blowing through. He quickly got up and added more wood to the fire.
Once the flames roared back to life, he stretched, yawning, and looked over at Linlin, who was still fast asleep.
"Rustle~"
Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrapped bundle, carefully unwrapping the layers. Inside, there was some dry food.
After understanding the system and the chaos of space-time rules, he had prepared some food in case of emergencies.
Since time and place were random after crossing over, he had made sure to pack plenty of supplies, wrapped carefully to protect them from the elements.
While eating, Roy watched Linlin.
This girl would eventually become a prominent member of the Rocks Pirates, and decades later, she would be one of the Four Emperors of the New World, an incredibly powerful figure.
Roy was curious about what kind of talent cards he might be able to replicate from her in the future.
Would it be her steel-like defensive power? Her immense strength that could even knock over giants as a child? Or perhaps her Conqueror's Haki?
Roy waved his hand, and several cards appeared before him—one white, one green, and one blue.
These were his own talents:
Observation Haki Talent (Green): Weak, very difficult to awaken.
Armament Haki Talent (White): Very poor, unlikely to awaken.
Charisma with the Opposite Sex (Blue): Not bad, a bit handsome, at least not disliked.
Hmm. Not great talents.
The quality of the talent cards ranged from white, green, blue, purple, to orange, with white being the worst and orange being the best.
Roy glanced at Linlin, hoping to replicate her talents as soon as possible—he was eager to see what they would be.
He added more wood to the fire, took care of the flames, ate some food, and once again drifted into a light sleep.
By the time he awoke, the snow had stopped falling, and the cold wind still bit sharply. The night, deep and dark as ink, slowly receded as the first light of dawn broke over the horizon.
"Gurgle~"
Linlin's stomach growled loudly, waking Roy from his shallow sleep.
"Let's go, we need to leave this place quickly. There's food waiting for us!" Roy slung his empty backpack over his shoulder and spoke to Linlin, who was rubbing her eyes.
"Okay, I'm so hungry~" Linlin rubbed her stomach, but at the mention of food, her face lit up, and she smiled as she responded, "Mm! Roy, you're the best!"
The pair, one big, one small, walked through the snowy ground, the sound of their footsteps echoing—one making crunchy sounds, the other causing slight tremors.
Roy looked out toward the island, away from the warmth of the rising sun.
This was Elbaf, the legendary island of giants.
And it was here that the Soul-Soul Fruit user, the nun Carmelo, would appear!
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