Chapter 8: I'm Not Directionally Challenged!

Amidst the chaos of the battlefield, neither the bounty hunters nor the pirates took notice of the pet duck named Karoo, who was moving with unwavering determination.

The fight between the woman and the muscular man was just a glimpse of the carnage unfolding in the entire town. To be able to make their way from the Four Blues to the Grand Line, these pirates still possessed some fighting spirit even when overwhelmed by the bounty hunters' food and wine. Under the radiant moonlight and amidst the faint mist, they unleashed their full potential in a final act of resistance.

Despite its 1.5-meter height, Karoo traveled at a rapid pace, darting from east to west and north to south. Many bounty hunters and pirates caught sight of the duck, but the bounty hunters recognized it as the pet of one of the Four Leaders, so they paid it no mind. The pirates, on the other hand, were preoccupied with their own survival in the life-or-death situation and had no time to spare for such trivial matters.

The duck's facial expressions appeared remarkably human-like. It displayed fear when witnessing the clash of swords and panic during intense gunfire exchanges. It felt relieved when it managed to escape the battlefield, only to reveal a tearless expression when it once again charged back into the fray.

From an aerial view above the town, the battlefield could be divided into three factions: the bounty hunters with an absolute advantage, the defiant pirates fighting back, and the seemingly aimless duck running around.

However, the duck's movements were not aimless; upon closer inspection, it followed a meticulously planned route without any backtracking. At certain intervals, whenever the battle intensity peaked, the duck would appear like a golden flash, picking up something, and then leaving with a peculiar expression.

With four hours until dawn, all of the pirates who had arrived at Whisky Peak had been dealt with.

From the captain, first mate, and helmsman to the crew members, not a single person escaped. They lay scattered across the ground in disarray.

The group of bounty hunters, including Princess Vivi and the middle-aged man named Igaram, formed a circle and began sharing the spoils of battle.

The supplies purchased by the pirates from the "Princess's Wondrous Emporium of Curios and Special Items" were all stored away, ready for use when the next batch of pirates arrived.

Their personal possessions were cleaned out, including their weapons, ammunition, treasures, and even their pirate ship, all of which had to be handed over to the Baroque Works headquarters.

Of course, the integrity of the bounty hunters' character was completely unreliable. When looting the bodies, everyone would take the opportunity to pilfer and hide some items. It was deemed reasonable. Not to mention others, Vivi herself had secretly kept over 150,000 Berries in coins, deviating by about twenty to thirty percent from the total value of the surrendered goods. This was also reasonable. Let's not talk about Nico Robin or Crocodile; even if the Five Elders were summoned to lead Whisky Peak, some things would still have gone missing.

The only regrettable thing was the pirate ship. It was simply too large and had no place to hide. There was no value in secretly sawing off a couple of planks during the night, so it had to be surrendered as it was.

The corpses were carefully examined one by one, and a few bodies with bounties were set aside, while the non-bounty pirates were swiftly disposed of, their remains incinerated and their ashes buried at the summit of Whisky Peak.

The surviving pirates were taken away by Vivi. She wanted to teach them how to play "Paper-Flipping" to contribute to her own attributes, while also helping Karoo achieve a hundred consecutive victories.

If such behavior were in another world, it would definitely be considered a peculiar fetish and require treatment. But in this world, it was quite ordinary, with plenty of people even stranger than her.

The bounty hunters at Whisky Peak were extremely proficient in their process of killing, looting, cremation, and scattering of ashes. Within an hour of the slaughter ending, they had already arranged the bodies of the pirates who had come from afar.

Under the moonlight, everyone returned to their respective places, stowing their bloodstained weapons and clothes until the next batch of unsuspecting prey arrived...

...

The arrival of the pirates caused Vivi's skill attributes to increase significantly. In order to proficiently master these skills, she secretly trained with her loyal servant, Igaram, at the other end of the island, without the knowledge of the other bounty hunters in the town.

She had acquired a variety of combat skills, and now she needed to turn this knowledge into instinct through training and actual combat.

Two figures, one in front and one behind, darted through the dense forest like ninjas. Vivi, in the front, occasionally looked around, but the result of her search was inconclusive. Her running could only be described as aimless.

The young girl's figure was agile, her long aqua-blue hair flowing in the wind. Her expression was focused, her eyes fixed straight ahead as if there was a mortal enemy awaiting her there.

A sudden cough broke the silence.

Igaram, with his peculiar curly hair and towering height of two meters, awkwardly pointed to the girl's left, deviating ninety degrees from the intended direction. He said, "Your Highness, is that the west? Shouldn't this direction be west? Cough, m-mah-mah-"

The girl's expression transitioned from seriousness to sudden realization, and then from realization to embarrassment. She sheepishly scratched her head and pointed towards her own front, saying, "Igaram, um... then this side must be south, right?"

Igaram covered his face with his hands, his tone low, "Your Highness, that side is north. We ran here from the north for our training tonight, don't you remember?"

Vivi was left speechless for several seconds. Then, she lowered her head with a profound sense of disappointment. How could she, a seasoned traveler, become directionally challenged after having transmigrated? It was truly disheartening! But she couldn't help it. Many of her past knowledge and skills were rendered useless in this world. The absence of the North Star in the night sky and the abnormal climate made it difficult to determine directions. Sparse vegetation didn't necessarily indicate north, and the irregular shifts between cold and heat made it equally challenging to identify south. Even the direction in which snow melted first couldn't be relied upon as an indicator.

In contrast, Igaram possessed a set of skills to judge direction based on his extensive life experience. He would consider factors such as rivers, mounds, time, and his current position to make a relatively accurate estimation.

Local people who had spent their entire lives in the same place wouldn't get lost, and pirates and marines who roamed the seas had specialized navigators to guide them, so they didn't face such problems. People like Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro didn't have to worry about getting lost either; they relied on their "reckless" approach.

Everyone else had no issues, but the newcomers from another world were utterly bewildered.

The climate in this pirate world was already peculiar, similar to the equator, especially in a place full of oddities like the Grand Line, which lay between the East Blue and the South Blue. Here, everything, from magnetic fields to celestial phenomena and ocean currents, was chaotic. The little geographical knowledge Vivi had learned in her previous life was completely useless. She adapted quickly to the language, customs, and way of life, but when it came to geography, she had been utterly confused for over half a month.

"Ugh," she sighed softly.

She currently lacked the skill to judge directions based on experience. It was too complicated, and even the thought of it made her feel dizzy. It seemed that her condition as a directionally challenged person would persist for a considerable amount of time.