12 The power of the Mind
...
"Vivi... Wasn't that the name of the princess...?"
As the sudden realization struck my head, my head immediately started recalling every moment that we had spent together since we met a few days ago.
The Pell guy calling her Vivi-sama, her strange expression when I thought she was part of the orphanage... and now her name being oddly similar to that of the princess of this Kingdom...
...
It was as if everything connected perfectly...
"... Could it be?"
With my mind connecting the dots at an incredible speed, soon the realization of who Vivi really was struck my mind, and my eyes widened in shock.
"This... It can't be!"
Such an incredible thing, it was too unbelievable for me to believe... No, it could be too much even for other people... Such an incredible discovery, it wasn't something that one could assimilate that easily...
... To think...
...
... That this was the power of Cerebral power!!
I couldn't really tell at first, but now that I notice, my memory got a lot better all of the sudden!
I could also feel my perception of reality seemed to have gotten a lot faster than before... Like I was in some kind of energetic mode that allowed me to think extremely fast!
With this almighty power, even my nemesis, "Mathematics", won't stand a chance!!
"HAHAHAHAHA..."
...
Wait.
...
"Vivi is the PRINCESSSSS?!!"
Hmm...
My reaction time was still a bit slow as it seems.
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|Several days later...|
...
'This is so damn awesome...!'
Clenching my fist tightly and making a fist pump discretely, I left the room where our sister Elena made her classes and snorted proudly while seeing the dispirited expressions of my fellow orphans.
Today's class was pretty hard, after all... Though, only for them.
Five days have passed since I upgraded my Cerebral power. I must say, I felt kind of scammed in a beginning, as when I went to class I was still as dumb as ever... I expected to be able to answer everything that sister Elena asked me right away. However, I was still unable to understand a single thing of what she was saying.
I guess mathematics didn't work that way...
During that pitiful class where my expectations were trampled upon, I noticed that Cerebral power only increased some characteristics of my brain and not my knowledge as a whole... So even if I was able to think fast, I was still unable to answer questions I didn't know the answer to before.
The good thing was, the next day during the other class I discovered something even more awesome!
Despite my lack of knowledge and my inability in answering things, I noticed that learning had become a lot easier!!
It was so easy, that even mathematics seemed fun for once! Not that much, though.
Before, it was hell even being able to keep up with whatever sister Elena was teaching. However, now, it was a walk in the park.
Even sister Elena was surprised at my new abilities when she saw me improve so fast... She even gave me a head pat... And she NEVER does that!
I guess this screen does indeed have amazing powers.
After all, making sister Elena give me head pats... That's really a reality-bending ability!
"Alright kids, you stay quiet while I take a rest in my room... And remember, if any of you makes any trouble, you will know the true meaning of pain..."
""Yes, sister Elena!""
As everyone including me answered that, sister Elena nodded her head satisfactorily before she opened the door of her room and entered inside with a tired expression on her face.
-Slam!-
Slamming the door, sister Elena disappeared once again from our sights, and everyone around me started doing their own thing without caring any more about rules or so on.
Of course, that included me.
"Hup...!"
Making sure to not get noticed, I jumped out of my room and started climbing the wall of the orphanage, making sure, as always, to not step on sister Elena's flowers.
-Tack!-
As I landed on the floor of the street outside the orphanage, the sweet voice of a certain girl reached my ears.
"Farid, you finally came out!"
Vivi, who was being accompanied by that Pell guy again, ran toward me and happily grabbed my hand with both of hers and started shaking it happily.
It seemed that she was excited about going hunting pirates today as well.
Honestly, I don't know how she was not getting bored of doing this every day, even though I, on the other hand, was getting sick of doing it.
However, since she seemed to have so much fun doing it, I didn't mind continuing to do it.
Especially because now I have certainly started to bring the pirates I capture to the marine headquarters to claim their bounties.
Alas, as if this damned world was playing a treat on me, I have barely found any pirate with bounties since I increased my Cerebral power stat.
Furthermore, from the few bountied pirates I have captured, only one or two had a bounty of over a million bellys, the others didn't even surpass a thousand bellys worth...
I mean, they were still giving me humongous amounts of money that I have never had in my hands before... But...
-Sigh...-
... Even remembering that I didn't claim the bounty of so many pirates with enormous bounties made me want to punch myself.
I wonder if this Idle system thingy has the power of turning back time...?
"Hey, Farid, how many pirates will we catch today?" Suddenly, as my mood was worsening because of the bitter memories, Vivi's inquisitive voice reached my ears and snapped me out of my thoughts.
Luckily, this girl always helped me to improve my mood.
"Let's check on the alleyways of the southern part of the city. I heard that some pirates are hiding from us there!" Pointing with my thumb in the direction of the southern part of the city, I smiled and looked at her with a mischievous expression on my face.
Our fame had increased quite a lot since I began doing bounty hunter work with Vivi. So much, in fact, that pirates now avoided meeting us at this city... Except for those new at Arabasta that didn't have a clue on who we were.
However, even then, they can't escape the prying eyes of the people, who always tell me and Vivi where they are hiding.
"Oooh!" Enthusiastically, Vivi and I raised our fists and yelled in excitement, before giggling at our antics.
I have been teaching her a few tricks now and then about being a bounty hunter these past few days... More specifically, where to hit the pirates so that they can be defeated more easily, and as always, she had a talent for it. The only thing that Vivi lacked, for the time being, was strength. However, a few days ago she told me that she had asked that Pell guy to teach her, so I guess that problem would be eventually fixed with time.
He seemed oddly strong for some reason.
Of course, I knew already that Vivi was a princess, so it was safe to think that he was some kind of super-duper strong guard of the castle or something like that.
So I guess he was indeed strong... But that made me wonder, is he stronger than any of the people I have met until now? Because if he is... I'm certainly curious...
As for telling Vivi that I already knew that she was a princess... Well, since she wasn't telling me, I decided not to do it either. Either way, our relationship right now was good enough, and I didn't feel any real need of adding her status to the equation, with the risk of making her uncomfortable or something similar.
As for the reason why I was acting so normally despite knowing the fact that my friend was the goddamn PRINCESS of this kingdom...
Well...
... As the strongest man in the world, how could I be surprised that my friend is a princess when even the world government will respect my strength?
My friends were bound to be amazing one way or another!
That's probably why I only have her as a friend... Yeah, it is just that they are not amazing enough to cope with my awesomeness.
... Right?
Well, whatever the reason might be, I'm happy enough by having her by my side!
"Very well, let's go!"
Pointing my finger upwards, I started walking with Vivi beside me, and we began marching toward the city one more time.
"Farid, wait"
However, much to my surprise, we were soon stopped by the Pell guy, who approached me and Vivi with an uncertain expression.
"During our way here I heard that there's a pirate with an enormously high bounty roaming around that zone... I would prefer it if you didn't go there"
An enormously high bounty?!
Hearing that, I could feel how my eyes turned immediately into Belly symbols, and my bitter memories of not being able to claim the bounties of the other pirates I captured disappeared.
This is it, the holy cow is certainly telling me to go there!!!
"Hey, did you hear what I said...?" Pell suddenly said something from behind me, but I just unconsciously ignored it and immediately started walking forward with a grin on my face.
I'm going to be a millionaire!!
...
However, what I didn't expect at that moment, was that this would become one of the hardest and most dangerous fights that I would experience in my entire life.
After all, although I was incredibly strong right now... I was still not prepared to face "that".
...
-To be continued...-
...
(A/N: Got a bit sick yesterday because I got vaccinated a day before that, and my lower back didn't allow me to stay sit for much time since it caused me pain, so writing became harder since I do it in the computer.
Either way... I'm sorry for the wait... Besides, today I feel better, so I might write another chapter today... Though I don't know how long it will take, probably either a few hours or until it gets dark here... Which should be in 12 hours more... So, let's just hope I'm inspired today.
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter.
Take care guys.)
