42 Chapter 41

(AN: To address something. It was never shown in the manga, or anime that Crocodile can use haki, but keep in mind that Crocodile was a former New World Pirate that only gave up because he was defeated by Whitebeard, so I am pretty sure that Crocodile can use haki.)

Hakai considered taking Vivi, but when he got to Alubarna, she wasn't anywhere, meaning she was probably working undercover at Baroque Works. It was a shame, but he didn't mind.

Over the past few weeks, Hakai had been diligently completing quests, doing his daily quest, and weekly mission. After some time, he finally had enough aether coins to buy the [Dungeon Creation] skill, so he bought it.

'Hmm, how do I use this?'

Hakai was currently out on the sea, heading for the next island in the Grand Line. Standing on the Dragon figurehead at the front of the ship, Hakai thought about creating a dungeon.

[Create Private Dungeon] or [Public Dungeon]

[Private Dungeons can only be entered by the person who created it, and those they allow. Public Dungeons can be entered by anyone, and anything.]

'Private dungeon sounds good. I could take my crew with me too so we could get stronger.' Hakai pressed the private dungeon button.

[Confirmed]

A blinding light appeared on the ship, alarming the girls. Thanks to his draconic physiology, he could see fine though.

"Drop the anchor!" he yelled out to make the ship stop.

The blinding light condensed to a round portal. The light started to die down, revealing the round portal with floating text next to it.

[Dungeon Portal Created]

[The dungeon has analyzed the average strength of this world's inhabitants and has adjusted the difficulty to suit it.]

"What is that?" Makino asked as she stared at the portal

"It's a dungeon, the portal to one at least," Hakai said.

"Dungeon? Did you make that?" Robin asked.

"Yes, and no." Technically, Hakai did make the dungeon, but he really only authorized the making of one. The skill itself made the dungeon since other than choosing what type of dungeon to make, Hakai didn't do anything else.

Beside the portal was a floating text that seemed to warn people entering it.

/Think carefully before entering this dungeon. Once one enters, one cannot leave so easily, but if you do manage to leave, one is guaranteed to be much stronger than when they first entered./

'Hmm, the Battle of Marineford happens in less than a year, and if I want my name to be known even more, I definitely need to take part in that. I don't know if I should try to save Ace, or Whitebeard, but what I do know is that I need to get stronger, and my crew too.'

Hakai turned to the girls. "This is a dungeon. Think of it as a place to train, but it is still a dangerous place. Take it seriously or die, understood?"

The girls nodded.

"I'll go first, follow behind me." Hakai said, staring at the portal.

Moving his legs, Hakai entered the portal.

Upon entering the dungeon, Hakai found himself in the middle of nowhere surrounded by what seemed like a jungle. A screen also appeared in front of him, although this one was different than the usual system screen.

[1st Floor of the Dungeon]

[An abundance of aether has been detected around you. If you stay here, you will gain 10 Aether Coins a day.]

Hakai wanted to explore around him, but he figured that he should wait for the girls first, so he waited.

He waited and waited, and continued to wait for what seemed like an hour, yet the girls were nowhere in sight.

"Where the hell are they? Are they already a dungeon?" Hakai hadn't considered the possibility of them already being in the dungeon, but it was possible. What if the dungeon randomly teleports anyone who enters to a random place in the dungeon.

"Tsk, well that makes things a lot harder. Well, hopefully we'll run into each other eventually."

That was just hopeful thinking, since what Hakai didn't know was that each dungeon floor was big, not as big as the One Piece world, but still big enough to make it hard for people to suddenly stumble upon each other.

Hakai began exploring the place around him, making sure to keep observation haki on at all times since this was a foreign place and the enemies here could have the possibility of being strong enough to kill or seriously injure him.

Not even a few minutes after walking, he detected the presence of an animal entering the range of his haki. The animal stalked him from behind, until he got close enough to strike.

The animal tensed its hing legs as it jumped, attempting to pounce on Hakai. It had its mouth out, and its claws were out, but it was only unfortunate that it was facing against Hakai.

He quickly turned around, grabbing the animal's throat as it was in the air and slamming it on the ground, creating a shockwave.

The animal instantly died from the impact, and upon dying, an orb of light came out of the animal, and was absorbed by Hakai's body. "What was that?"

(AN: Power Stones please!)