6 Exposed?

The next morning when he woke up he saw a thin layer of most covering Mary Geoise from his window.

'It should be coming in a few days' he muttered.

He got out of bed, stretched his muscles a bit and cover himself with his robe. This robe doesn't look oversized like before, it looked even a little tight but at least this is better than walking around with huge muscles showing everyone that he is getting stronger.

Hancock and the others also got up soon after.

"Good morning Hancock. You look beautiful today" Michael greeted his beautiful roommate with a smile.

"Hummm...." Hancock only gave him a sidelong glance and walk away. She is not actually angry at what happened yesterday and even a little happy but she wouldn't show that to him.

Michael just clutched his chest and gave her a wronged look. Anyway both of them are happy with the drama.

Soon a jailer came to lead him to his workplace. He took him to a familiar forest. There are already tens of slaves gathered here with some unfamiliar faces.

"GO IN!! Today there are some new animals. It's still the same rule, either feed the animal with the meat prepared or become the feed yourself. You have to come out in the evening, any earlier and you will become animal food."

The jailer quickly announced the rules and forced everyone into the forest with his whip.

Everyone has to stay in the forest till evening because this can give those animals that didn't get meat time to hunt on their own. Michael is not worried about these strange rules. Since he had eaten the Cloud Cloud fruit there is no animal here that can hurt him.

He quickly collected sufficient meat and dived into the forest and proceeded to a familiar area. In this forest every animal occupied a stretch of the forest as their territory. The place he is going is guarded by a big wolf. He is already familiar with the wolf after feeding him for the past year, at least he won't be suddenly attacked by it.

As he was on his way he suddenly felt like being peeped which arouse his vigilance. He looked around but found nothing so he continued on his way without thinking too much.

After some time when he was crossing a thickly forested area, a black Panther suddenly jumped out from the side and tried to bite him in the neck. He was already prepared for it so he quickly rolled out of the way and distanced himself from the panther. As early as when he got the feeling of being peeped he knows that someone or something is targeting him so he had never relaxed his vigilance on the way.

After moving a few metres from the animal he stopped and observed the animal in front of him. It was a pure black Panther about twice his size. It was not as big as other animals in this jungle but other animals cannot compare to it in terms of agility and stealth.

While Michael was observing it, the black Panther was also intensely looking at Michael and it started circling around him. When it finally circled behind Michael, it pounced on him at a fast speed. Michael quickly ducked sideways and kicked the panther on its stomach which flew it a few metres away. The panther landed gracefully on its feet and struck him again faster than before.

Michael was not prepared for such a fast counterattack and when he reacted the panther had already jumped on him. He quickly ducked down which allowed him escape the bite but not the claw that followed. He was swiped by the claw and a huge claw mark was torn on his back. But strangely no blood flowed out from the wound instead four white marks were drawn which were rapidly healing and in a few seconds there was nothing left of the wound.

"I still have too little experience in fighting. Even an ordinary wild animal can wound me" Michael was very dissatisfied with his performance but quickly concentrated back on the fight. This is a chance for him to experience actual combat which is the reason why he is not using his devil fruit powers.

'Second round, BEGIN!' He said silently

The panther looked at Michael doubtfully as if wondering why no blood flowed out from this weak human.

This time Michael took the initiative, he rushed up to the panther and threw a punch at its face which was easily avoided by the panther and it even swiped a claw at him. He leaned back to avoid the claw and then he quickly got close to the panther and kicked up at its chin. This time the panther could not avoid it and was kicked away and landed on its side.

The panther got up and shook its head, its body wobbling a few times before becoming steady. Michael also waited for it to recover, he needs the panther to help him accumulate combat experience not to kill it.

After it recovered the pather looked at Michael with anger and growled at him.

Michael didn't wait for the panther to attack, he rushed at it again. This time the panther didn't face Michael head on, it moved to the side and while Michael was changing direction it charged fast and pounced on him again.

Michael saw that he cannot avoid the panther so instead of avoiding it he threw himself at it which perfectly avoided its claw but the panther's jaw is already at his face. He ducked again and let himself fall into the panther's arm. He wrapped his arm around the pather and used all his strength to lift it up and slammed it on the ground behind him.

The panther head hit the ground first and while it was stunned Michael quickly got away from it. While he was getting away he heard painful sounds from the panther. He looked back and saw the panther trying to get up but it kept falling back.

"This... I guess today experience battle is over here"

Michael is satisfied with his second round performance. As a noob being able to defeat an opponent of similar strength showed his talent. He does not show any timidity and calmly analyzes the opponent during battle. Maybe it is because he knows that he will not be hurt, he acts very boldly during the fight.

He left some meat for the injured panther as a gift and continued on his way. After walking for half an hour he reached the familiar place. He quickly passed through the familiar forest and came in front of a cave.

"Hey Rupert!! Come out and get your lunch"He shouted loudly. He even gave the wolf a name even though it doesn't understand it.

"Hey Rupert!! Come out boy" He shouted again after getting no response from the cave.

After waiting for a while there was still no sign of the wolf so he decided to go inside the cave. Even if the wolf is not there he will leave the meat inside.

As soon as Michael stepped into the cave, he smelt a bloody smell. The cave was not deep, he reached the end after a few seconds. There was no wolf in the cave but a huge bear with some internal organs scattered on the floor. As soon as the bear saw him it stood up on its legs, opened its mouth widely and roared at him fully demonstrating its wildnes and furiosity.

'That wolf was half my pet or at least a quarter. I even gave it a good name'

Michael looked at the bear unpleasantly. This bear is huge. It is at least 10m tall when it stands up on its hind legs and its paws are as big as him. He would have no chance in a contest of strength

Michael slowly walked towards the bear looking angrily at its eyes. The bear saw a tiny human challenging it and was furious. It had never been humiliated like this before. The bear fell on all four legs, roared furiously and charged at Michael. Even the cave trembled at its footsteps. When it reached in front of him the bear slapped at him bringing gushes of wind.

Michael also just kept looking at the bear without moving away. When the slap fell on him, the top part of his body above his waist was gone leaving only some black mist floating in the air. And slowly even his remaining body also vanished and thick black clouds started to accumulate in the cave. Within a few seconds the cave turned completely dark and in the next moment streaks of lightning started flashing in the cave accompanied by the loud sounds of thunder. The cave turned bright white with deafening thunder sound for a few seconds.

When the thunder and lightning vanished, the dark fog covering the cave was also not there anymore, the cave became visible again. Michael was standing still with no visible injuries and in front of him laid the charred body of the bear and a smell of burnt meat wafted in the air. The bear was not breathing anymore.

"Thunder hell"

Michael looked at the carcass in front of him which was burnt to coke in amazement. This is the first time he used his devil fruit power and even he was surprised at the power.

After looking at his masterpiece for some time, he quickly got back to work. He has to dispose of the bear carcass. It would be bad if a jailer found the wounds on the bear, he didn't want any mistakes at this critical moment.

Tap... Tap.. Tap.. Tap..

As he was trying to deal with the carcass footsteps sounded in the cave. Michael tensed up, looked intensely towards the sound, ready to quickly deal with any situation.

"Hey!! Hey!! Friend, please calm down, I mean no harm. I just want to talk to you" Following the sound of footsteps a tall man maybe 300cm tall appeared in front of Michael with his hands in the air showing a harmless expression.

The man had the same features as other slaves; skinny body, dirty clothes and unkempt hair but his eyes were a little different. Unlike the dull eyes of others his gaze carried a hint of determination as if he had a mission to live on.

"What do you want with me" Michael asked with a hint of curiocity. He really wanted to know why someone misses him in such a place.

" I want to be a part of whatever you are planning" The main said slowly but surely.

Michael was caught off guard by the man's word. He didn't know how his plan got leaked but he quickly calmed down. The fact that the man was in front of him showed that there was room for remedies.

"What plan!! "

"Don't try to deny it, I know for a fact that you are secretly collecting information and you don't look like a person who has given up" The man answered with some certainty looking at the charred corpse of the bear.

"So what if I have some plans. Do you think you can leave here alive"

Michael also started to loose patience. Slowly some black mist started to appear in the room.