4 The Beginning Of An Era

(Mari POV)

At afternoon

Huft... Finally, my work is done. It's almost night, huh? I need to check up on Vanze; last time I visited him at noon, he was still asleep. It's been a week after all that happened. It must be hard for him, poor kid.

It's sad that Grandma Niil is gone now, but Vanze is even more pitiful because he is alone. I'm also busy with the orphanage; nevertheless, I've promised Grandma Niil that day to at least help Vanze, and I'm not gonna back out from it.

As I arrived at their house, I intended to check up on Vanze in his room, but I saw Grandma's bedroom is slightly open? I peeked from the door and saw it's actually Vanze in there, sleeping. He's moved from his bedroom to Grandma's room, so I think he already woke up at noon, huh? Well, I'm gonna make him dinner first; he must be starving, hihihi.

(Vanze POV)

Ugh...

'What time is it now?' I started to wake up and get up from the bed.

[You're awake, Vanze; it's almost dinner time.]

'Oh, thank you for the reminder, Seele. My stomach is grumbling now. Where are all the items in the box?'

[They're all in the inventory, including the letter, Vanzhe, so you don't need to worry about it.]

'Oh, that's good. Hmm... I hear something out of the room? Is there someone here?' I started to walk to the source of the sound that I hear.

I saw Sister Mari setting up the tables. Why is she here?

"Uhm... Sister Mari? Why are you here?" I said while being unsure about the situation here. And she's turning her head, looking at me like I'm a rare animal? Why did she give me that look?

"Oh my god...! Vanze, you're talking. You can finally talk! What a blessing." She said while also starting to walk towards me eagerly. Oh right, I forgot that I'm a muted and have face paralysis not long before. She must be shocked.

"Yeah... It's only today that I can start talking and showing expression in my face." I said with a wry smile. I mean damn, do I need a mental trauma just to get back up to normal? It's messed up.

"It's good, Vanze; Sister is happy for your recovery. Hihi, I bet Grandma Siil will be hap... Oh sorry... I don't mean to." Sister Mira stopped in the middle of her sentence and lowered her head down.

"It's fine, Sister Mira; Grandma will also definitely be happy. But we cannot mourn and be sad about her for a long time; she will get sad instead..."

"You are right, Vanze. We can't show her the sad faces all the time. Come on, let's start the dinner, Vanze; Sister cooked a lot of food just for you today, hihihi." And she's back again being a goofy older sister, good. We reached the table and started to serve ourselves some food.

After we're done with the plates, Sister Mari turned to me and asked, "What are you going to do tomorrow, Vanze?"

"I don't know..."

"Well, you can always come to Sister. Tomorrow, I'll always stand by in the orphanage. It's getting late; Sister needs to go back. Bye, Vanze." She said while ruffling my hair. She always likes to do that.

"Um, thank you." I said with a low voice; she just smiled and started turning back to head out.

.....

It really gives me an uneasy vibe being alone in this house... Let's just go to my bedroom then.

[What are you thinking now, Vanze?]

'I was thinking about how to proceed from now on. Training is definitely a top priority on my list, but we need a plan for the future ahead,' I say while contemplating the plans to Seele.

'I need more information.' I saw a newspaper laying on the desk in the living room before I entered my bedroom.

[It is now February 29th, 1500, according to the sea calendar in the newspaper.]

'So it means I'm born in 1494, the same year as Nico Robin. It's still early in 1500, so Roger is going to be executed later at the end of the year if I had to guess. Two years before buster calls come to this sea to destroy O'hara then.' Fuck... Even the plot is still far away, and the chaos will soon begin.

Sigh... Calmdown... Inner peace... Huft...

'Just like someone said, chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder.'

[And a lot of people will try to climb it, fail, and never get to try again because the fall breaks them.]

'Damn, now that's a quote perfect for the upcoming era, hahaha.' I get to my bed after reading the newspaper and find nothing more in it.

'Let's just get some sleep before we head out to the forest in the early morning. Goodnight, Seele.'

[Goodnight, Vanze.]

.....

(3rd POV)

In the early morning, an hour before sunrise, a boy with purple eyes and greyish-white hair can be seen running out of town and heading towards the woods. He is carrying a small bag, and a weight...? with him.

(Vanze POV)

Sigh... Finally, I reached the forest. Let's head to the river. As far as I can remember, it is a good spot for me to train.

Right, back at home when I'm searching for something useful in the warehouse, I found these weights... Well, it looks like the ones Rock Lee used for training back in the Chunin Exam. They're dusty and a little bit rusty, but they'll do for now.

[Ding!

Quest: Gear up BOI!

In the world full of chaos, weakness is a sin. Make your self stronger, train hard to survive.

1. Build up:

- Sit up 100×

- Push up 100×

- Squat 100×

- Running 10km

- Swimming 5km

2. Learn at least two Rokushiki moves

Rewards:

1. Random gacha ticket 1×

2. Blue gacha ticket 1×

Time limit:

- Number 1 is repeatable every week

- The quest will be extinguished in 2 year ]

'Wha... What is happening? I feel that I just heard Kratos' voice in my mind... Seele?' I heard something the moment I arrived at the spot.

[ It looks like the quest is being triggered, Vanze. You are lucky it is a repeatable one. And no... It's not Kratos' voice, you're just imagining it... ]

'Hahaha, I'm just joking, sis. Now let's see... The first four are fine plus swimming; it's Saitama's course after all. The second one is I need to learn Rokushiki techniques. Soru and Geppo are my priorities, Shigan and Rankyaku are good for attack later. The other two I'll just skip for now.'

'But where am I supposed to swim for 5km long? Hmm... My grandma used to tell me if I follow the river currents, I'll end up in the ocean.' What should I do now? I can do the other three first.

[ Just run along, following the river, Vanze; you'll end up on the beach if you're right. After that, just swim there. ]

'Hmm... Alright then. My new race and adaptability skill should come in handy for training.' I started to warm up for this hard training regime with weights on my body. Yes, I'm still wearing them. It's about 30kg, so I guess it should help my training; I can add more later on if these weights can't keep up with me.

.....

'98'

'9...9'

'100...!'

'Huft... Huft... It's... Exhausting...' I'm lying on the ground, panting after finishing the last push-up. Now I need to run, damn it.

[ Good work, Vanze. Now you only need to do a run of 10km and swim 5km, and you're done. Hahaha. ]

'Damn, Seele, why are you so cruel to your brother...' This little thing, where did she learn it from? There is no internet here.

[ You're just exaggerating it. Your body will slowly adapt to this training regime, and I never suggest wearing weights while doing it. So, quit whining and start running!! ]

I just show a deadpan expression; maybe in the next 2 or 3 days, my body will start to get used to it.

I start to get up, grit my teeth, and start running toward the sunrise...

'Maximum effort...!'

.....

(3rd POV)

In a beautiful morning on the sandy white beach, there is a figure of a boy stepping his foot many times into the ground. His hair and all of his body are wet all over, and he's naked, only wearing boxer pants below.

It looks like he didn't notice that the sands are flying all over every time he does that. Most of the time, he can be seen tripping while doing it until finally, he disappears from that area and appears again a few meters from it.

(Vanze POV)

'Sigh... It finally worked. The book that Grandpa left says that the principle of this move is to kick off the ground at least ten times in the blink of an eye, allowing the users to move at extremely high speeds to avoid attacks, as well as to attack at higher speeds and with greater power. But it's harder than I've imagined it to be, and I only succeeded once.'

[ Congratulations, Vanze. Most people will not even be able to do that on the first day they start learning about Soru, and even with weight on their bodies. ]

'That's because of my adaptability, and I even read the instructions with Kamigigan On. My legs hurt a little, and my stomach is grumbling; it is almost noon. Let's go back to the forest while training Soru along the way then.'

Now that I look around, this beach looks like a mess. There are a bunch of footprints and some pits. Fortunately, most people will never come in here because you need to go through the forest first.

.....

'The fish tasted bland...' I thought while eating a grilled fish that I caught in the river. Maybe I should bring salt next time at least.

[ Well, for the first try, I think it's not bad. ]

'Of course, you think it's not bad. I'm the one who ate it, Seele...' Well, it's better than nothing, I guess.

'Let's start the training again. I want to learn Soru in a week at least. Even if I can't master it, I can use it without tripping myself all the time.' I finished my fish and put out the fire that I used to grill the fish. Picking up my clothes in the inventory that I put there before going to swim in the sea back then and start wearing them.

[ With your skill and body, I estimate that you can normally use it in 5-7 days. And you've been doing it with weight on your body. It's amazing, Vanze. ]

'Hopefully... So I'm gonna focus on training Soru and Geppo after that for the next month. I also want to learn Haki, but let's forget it now; I'm only 6, after all.' I started kicking the ground off just like I did on the beach.

.....

When the sun started to set and the sky began to darken, I thought it's time to go back. I started going back home while using my half-baked Soru.

'Hmm... I hope Sister Mira is not worried too much that I'm not coming to the orphanage today.'

[ It's okay, Vanze. Just come to see her later and say you need some time alone or forgot to see her today. ]

'Hmm...' I also need to start harvesting fruits from the forest again next week for those merchants. While my mind is still wandering about stuff, I arrived home safely. It's just my clothes that are all dirty and smelly. Note to self: bring more clothes or just train naked wearing only my pants.

I opened the door to our house; it looks tidy at least. Sister Mira also said last night she would come and help if she's free. Maybe I can hunt some boar in the forest and give it to her as a gift later.

[ Vanze, you have 1 random ticket for this month, and it's your first one. Do you want to check it? ]

'No, let's just see it later. I'm not going to use it in the near future, at least. Thanks for the reminder, Seele.' Ahoy boi... It looks like I can do a gacha now, but I'm going to hold it. I need to focus on training for now. I don't want to enter that damn black hole. But first, I need a shower and some sleep.

.....

.....

(3rd POV)

Sea calendar October 1st, 1500

In the lush forest not far from town, a figure can be seen running with a giant rock on his back, tied, and a weight in his arm and leg, following a river current to the beach.

A figure arrived at the beach not long after; he started panting and untied the giant rock behind him. Suddenly, a bunch of news coos flew towards the island and started throwing newspapers for free.

The figure with greyish-white hair, who happened to see the news coo throw a newspaper his way, tried to grab it and read it, trying to understand what is happening.

"Hmm... What happened...?" The moment he saw the news title, a smirk appeared on his face.

"Ouwwiee... Things just got out of hand, hahahahaha." He laughed after seeing the news and put it on the sand.

The news title can be seen with a huge headline that says:

'Gold Roger, King of Pirates, is Executed, and He Left All of His Treasures to be Found'

"Let the chaos begin." The figure spread his arms with an embracing pose, staring at the sea.

"It's not my time yet... But soon..." He murmured, while his purple eyes flickered with a mysterious light.

.....

.....

.....

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(Note: There will be a little time skip after this and the story will have a slow pace for the early chapters.)