3 Chapter 3
After a further twenty-eight days passed a very different looking Markus sat beneath a palm tree with his back leaning against it. The full thirty days on the island had worked wonders for his physique. His once stick-like arms and legs now sported a fair amount of muscle mass. His whole body brimmed with health and vitality, he even showed hints of his abdominal muscles through the tight black shirt he was wearing.
Thanks to the daily workout missions he now had much more than he started out with. Things like quality of life items and clothing had become very useful to him. The clothing he had arrived in had been reduced to rags after just a couple of days and even if they hadn't they would no longer fit his more robust frame. At the moment he sported a black t-shirt, black pants, a simple pair of flip-flops and a woven reed hat he made himself. He rested against the tree with his hands behind his head as he waited for the main quest of the island to finally finish. He wasn't forced to wait long.
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Quest Complete!
Survive and Thrive!
The world of One Piece is filled with danger. Pirates, corrupt Marines, and World Nobles terrorize the citizens of the world. If you don't want to become a pawn controlled by others then stay on this island and take some time to grow stronger!
Requirements: Stay on the island for one full month. (30/30 days)
Failure Conditions: Death, Moving more than 100 yards from the islands shore
Rewards: 1x Devil Fruit Extraction Serum, 5x Skill Books
Your rewards have been deposited into your inventory!
New Quest!
Get going!
Alright, you've lazed about long enough in this safe place. Get the fuck off of the island in the next twenty-four hours. It's time for you to begin your journey. Keep an eye on the horizon.
Requirements: Leave the island within 24 hours
Failure Conditions: Death, staying on the island past the 24-hour limit
Rewards: New system functions
Punishment: Death
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Seeing the new quest caused Markus to frown. None of the quests he'd had so far included a punishment. Not to mention a punishment that was straight-up death. He didn't like it. Still, he wanted to leave the island anyway and all of his items were already packed inside of his inventory. He looked to the horizon as the quest suggested but didn't see anything just yet. He wanted to take the time to check his rewards but he didn't want to risk missing a passing ship or something else by not paying attention.
He hopped to his feet and ran to the center of the island at an easy lope. During his thirty days here he'd explored all of the small island. In the middle of the island was the tallest tree, from there he would be able to see the horizon all around him to keep an eye out. He swiftly and effortlessly climbed up to the top of the tree and looked around. He saw nothing yet but planned to stay here and keep a lookout. While waiting he decided to look at the rewards he'd received from the quest.
Obviously the first item was the Devil Fruit Extraction Serum that had an icon similar to a syringe inside of its box in his inventory. He plucked it out of his inventory and used a skill he'd gained over his month here, Analysis. It let him get information on pretty much anything he looked at.
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Devil Fruit Extraction Serum
A highly complex serum that, when injected into someone with a Devil Fruit power, will cause the Devil Fruit to leave their body and rob them of their powers. Like all Devil Fruit, the next person to eat the extracted Devil Fruit will gain the power of the fruit.
It requires the target to either be willing or unconscious for the serum to work. The serum must be directly injected into the heart.
One time use.
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Markus nodded, it was basically what he expected it to be. Hopefully, he would have the chance to stab it into Enel's heart and steal the Goro Goro no Mi from him. Until he knew for sure though, he would have to plan for other eventualities. Many Devil Fruit had excellent abilities. There were no bad fruits, only bad users.
He moved on from the serum and checked his other gains, the five skill books. As he read their names his eyes widened until they were practically popping out of his skull. Skill Book: Observation Haki, Skill Book: Armament Haki, Skill Book: Conquerors Haki, Skill Book: Basic Sword Mastery, Skill Book: Basic Gun Mastery. Seeing all those titles sent a thrill through his entire body. All three types of Haki along with basic mastery in both guns and swords? Hell yes! He immediately selected the book on Observation Haki. It vanished from his inventory and appeared in his hand.
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Skill book detected! Would you like to learn Observation Haki?
[Yes/No]
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With zero hesitation Markus pressed on 'yes.' He immediately felt a warm sensation throughout his body along with a flood of information entering his mind. After the sensation faded, he still felt different. He could... feel the tree he was standing in. It was vague, almost not there. He quickly opened his status and looked over his newly acquired skill.
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Observation Haki
[Active/Passive, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]
Observation Haki grants the user a sixth sense to observe the world around them with. Depending on the level of the skill the user can potentially feel the presence, strength, emotions, and intentions of people around them. Extremely high-level users of the skill can even gain precognitive abilities and glimpse the future for a few seconds. As this skill increases in level, more features will be unlocked.
[Passive]
Sense people and incoming threats within a distance of one foot. Distance increases by one foot per level of the skill.
Current Range: 1 foot
[Active]
Increases the sensing range of the passive effect by a factor of ten.
Current Range: 10 Feet
Cost: 1 Willpower/second
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Markus grinned as he looked over the information for his Observation Haki. With his current Willpower, he could go for a full five minutes, discounting his recovery rate. He would need to practice with it to increase its level and increase its effect. For now though, his eyes moved from his status to his inventory, specifically the skill book for Armament Haki. His lips curled into a smile as he greedily touched the book to pull it out of his inventory. His smile faded immediately.
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Skill book detected! Requirements not met. You cannot learn Armament Haki at this time.
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He grumbled to himself but decided it made sense. A certain amount of strength of body and spirit was needed to use Armament Haki, clearly, he didn't meet that requirement yet. He eventually would though! The moment he did he would learn the skill and have it as his disposal. Until then, he stored the skill book back inside of his inventory and selected the book for Conquerors Haki, it too could not be learned just yet. The last two skill books though, he learned them easily. Once he had he looked over his entire status page to see all of his gains since he awoke on the island.
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Name: Silvers D. Markus
Age: 16
Class: None
Level: 1
Exp: 0/1,250
Hit Points: 290/ 290 (+15/minute)
Willpower: 310/ 310 (+15.8/minute)
Strength (STR): 44
Vitality (VIT): 29
Agility (AGI): 42
Spirit (SPT): 31
Wisdom (WIS): 20
Charisma (CHA): 11
Luck (LCK): 11
Attribute Points: 0
Skills:
Life is but a Game
[Passive]
Your life is just a game to entertain those watching. Still, this gives you a bit of a boon. As a character in a game, you benefit from having a game character's body. Pain is fleeting. Your mind is indomitable. Sleep will remove all negative status effects and fully restore your Hit Points and Willpower. No matter how you are hurt you will not die until your Hit Points reach zero.
Meditation
[Active, Level 18, 82.2% Experience]
When you use this skill you will enter a deep meditative state that enhances your physical, mental, and spiritual recovery. Leveling up this skill increases its effect.
+18% Hit Point recovery per minute
+18% Willpower recovery per minute
-18% Duration to mental debuffs
Analysis
[Active, Level 8, 98.2% Experience]
Analysis lets you analyze and understand the world around you. The higher the level the more information you can uncover about the items and people you see.
Physical Resistance
[Passive, Level 4, 12.5% Experience]
They say 'no pain no gain' but that's not entirely true. This skill lowers the damage received from physical attacks and lowers the sensation of pain.
-3% Physical Damage
-2% Pain Sensation
Observation Haki
[Active/Passive, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]
Observation Haki grants the user a sixth sense to observe the world around them with. Depending on the level of the skill the user can potentially feel the presence, strength, emotions, and intentions of people around them. Extremely high-level users of the skill can even gain precognitive abilities and glimpse the future for a few seconds. As this skill increases in level, more features will be unlocked.
[Passive]
Sense people and incoming threats within a distance of one foot. Distance increases by one foot per level of the skill.
Current Range: 1 Foot
[Active]
Increases the sensing range of the passive effect by a factor of ten.
Current Range: 10 Feet
Cost: 1 Willpower/second
Basic Sword Mastery
[Passive, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]
Grants the user a basic understanding of how to use a sword in combat. In essence, 'the pointy end goes in the bad guy.' As the level of this skill increases so too does your skill with the sword.
+1% Attack Speed with Swords
+0.5% Damage with Swords
[This skill can evolve.]
Basic Gun Mastery
[Passive, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]
Grants the user a basic understanding of how to use a gun in combat. In essence, 'never look down the barrel of your own gun.' As the level of this skill increases so too does your skill with a gun.
+1% Reload Speed with Guns
+0.5% Damage with Guns
[This skill can evolve.]
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He smiled as he looked over everything he'd gained. It was still annoying that he hadn't been able to gain a single point of experience or level up a single time. Now that he was leaving the island he would have plenty of opportunities to defeat people and monsters to gain experience and level up. He closed his status page and looked around the horizon. It was still before noon and there were no signs of ships in sight. While looking he decided to grind his Observation Haki. He'd never had anything that used his Willpower before so it was nice to have a way to finally use it. The moment he activated the skill the weak sense of the tree he stood in became much clearer to him.
For hours he kept an eye out on the horizon while using his Observation Haki until he ran out of Willpower and then letting his Willpower recover. About an hour after the sun reached its zenith, he saw a black spot on the horizon slowly coming closer to his little island. His heart started to hammer in his chest, "Finally!"
Finally, he could get off of this island. He stayed in the tree and watched as the ship slowly got closer. He waited and finally climbed down the tree and ran to the beach closest to the ship. He started jumping in the air, waving his arms, and yelling as loud as he could, "OVER HERE! HELP ME!"
He continued to jump and shout and the top of his lungs for several minutes. For a while, it looked like the ship was going to bypass the island he was on and continue to sail. In desperation, he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "HELP ME!"
He watched, his heart hammering in his chest, as the ship continued on its path for a while longer before it finally turned and headed for his island. Markus screamed in joy as the ship got closer. He watched it and as it came closer it became clearer. Waving on the main mast of the ship was a large black flag with a skull and crossbones on it. Pirates!
Well, it didn't matter to him. Pirates or marines. Either way, they were likely to be scum. The closer the ship got, the more details he could see. The ship was painted pink, oddly enough. So the captain was most likely a woman. The flag flying above it looked vaguely familiar but he just couldn't remember who it might be. He had no choice to wait for them to come even closer. After about half an hour he could finally see people on the deck of the ship. A bunch of rowdy looking men in various 'piratey' outfits. Black and white horizontal striped shirts and such. All of them armed with swords and guns.
However, it was the sight of the captain that brought a radiant smile to Markus's face. Seeing her, it was such a beautiful sight that he couldn't help loudly screaming, "My goddess has come to rescue me!"
