4 The Strange Encounter
Falling for what seemed like an eternity wasn't fun, not by a long shot. However, falling from closer to the ground was even worse. As Whitebeard struggled to suck in a deep breath, he tilted his body towards the building on the hill, hoping it could break his fall in some manner.
With every second he drew closer and closer to the ground, by now he could easily see the building in detail, the stones walls and the crooked wooden roof. Clenching his teeth, he covered his upper body with his arms before releasing a long shout.
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Meliodas had lived in his tavern ever since the incident with Zaratras, roughly a few months or so ago. Thinking back on the incident, he couldn't help but clench his fists as his teeth clattered against each other, though he managed to keep his wrath contained fairly quickly. It had been a busy day surprisingly, Friday's always were, but every customer had long since left, leaving only himself and Hawk inside.
After watching Hawk clean up for a short while, he decided to stand up off of the bar stool and walk towards the back, but as he did, alarm bells began to ring in his head. Though his power had already been sealed by Merlin over 6 years ago, his senses hadn't dulled completely.
Dashing over to Hawk, he quickly pushed him out of the way, causing the pig to squeal in response. Just as he did so, something crashed through his roof and flew out onto the other side, taking half of his tavern along with it. Meliodas quickly blew away the dust that had formed from the collision as he listened to whatever had hit his building roll down the side of the 'hill' underneath.
After only a few seconds, the figure seemed to stop moving, no longer making any noise. He drew the broken sword from its sheath and hopped cautiously towards the hole in the wall, a quivering Hawk following closely behind.
As his feet landed on the ground outside, Meliodas could see the path of destruction the flying object had caused. Lying only 9 or 10 metres away from Hawk Mama was a deep crater, completely filled with debris from his crash landing. Among the planks of wood and chunks of stone, right at the centre of the crater, lay a young man, presumably unconscious and covered in deep red blood.
Edging slowly closer, Meliodas swiftly arrived at the corner of the crater, peering down from above. As he laid his eyes on the man, a desire not felt for a long time swept over him. A desire to hunt. Slowly walking closer, he struggled to contain his desire and chose to stop a few feet to the side. That's when he noticed it, the thing producing this strange sensation in him. A scar carved into the back of his neck, similar to the mark of him and the others. He could tell, it was a mark that bore significant weight, he'd seen those like it enough after all.
Sighing, he walked closer to the unconscious figure, though still keeping his guard up at the same time. Now standing just a few inches away, he could see that the figure showed no sign of waking. He slowly reached his hand out towards him, and, seeing that he didn't react, began to pick him up, much to the dismay of the cowardly pig, now standing at the edge of the crater.
Noting the surprising weight of the man, Meliodas began to carry the figure out of the crater and up towards the partially destroyed building.
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{...ps...}
{...ops...}
{Pops!}
Suddenly, Edward jerked awake at the voice of his son, throwing the bed covers off from his shoulders. Glancing around, he could see the room he was in. A plain wooden room with nothing in it except a single bed. He noticed that it felt quite cold, which could likely be attributed to the gaping hole in the wall.
{Pops! You're finally awake! You've been out for two days!}
'Ace...'
Hearing the voice of his son brought back memories of the day before, of the war he'd fought and the sons he'd left behind. After sitting for a minute in silent contemplation, Ace spoke again.
{Pops... It wasn't your fault... You were just doing it to save me... I'm to blame here. Marco... Jozu... T-Thatch even... We would never blame you. You took outcasts like us in as your sons, you made us who we are today... Without you, we'd still wandering, lost, alone. Don't blame yourself Pops, you did a great job.}
Each word from Ace caused the sad smile to spread further across the face of the old man, before it finally accumualted into a self deprecating laugh, though it still held the traces of Whitebeards old self.
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[Congratulations! You have obtained the forgiveness of your sons and defeated one of your inner demons!]
[As a result of this, you have received:]
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[Willpower + 20]
[Title: The Forgiven]
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'Ace... What was that?'
After a few seconds of silence, Ace finally responded, with what seemed to be joy in his voice.
{Pops, while you were asleep, I looked into the gift that the Elder gave you, it seems... Well, it's nothing like I have seen before... Do you want me to explain it to you?}
Completely shrugging of the melancholy attitude from before, Edward let out his signature laugh before replying.
'Go ahead'
{Ok, will do! For the first part, all you have to do is say 'Menu', or you can think it instead, pretty cool right?}
'Menu'
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[Status]
[Summons]
[Shop]
[Quests]
[Group Management] [Locked]
[Clan Management] [Locked]
[???] [Locked]
[???] [Locked]
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Seemingly not noticing the visible confusion on Whitebeard's face, Ace continued on.
{Pops, from what you can see, there is only 4 parts of whatever this is open, the other 4 are locked away and I don't even know what two of them are. I took the liberty of looking at each of the 4 though while you were out. Lets start with the first one, just think the word that is written}
'Status'
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[Name: Edward Newgate] [Age: 72]
[Title: The Strongest Man In The World (All Stats + 30)] [More]
[Class: Pirate] [More]
[Race: Human]
[Karma: 10,806]
[Bloodline: N/a]
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Stats
[Strength: 296] - [Agility: 195]
[Endurance: 310] - [Vitality: 327]
[Intelligence: 185] - [Willpower: 524]
[Luck: 102] - [Charisma: 201]
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Skills
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[[Knowledge:]]
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[Armament Haki Knowledge: 65/100] - [Rank 6 (Mid)]
[Observation Haki Knowledge: 54/100] - [Rank 4 (Mid)]
[Conqueror's Haki Knowledge: 72/100] - [Rank 7 (Low)]
[Heavy Weapons Knowledge: 56/100] - [Rank 5 (Mid)]
[Light Weapons Knowledge: 41/100] - [Rank 4 (Low)]
[Ranged Weapon Knowledge: 36/100] - [Rank 3 (Mid)]
[Ship Control Knowledge: 78/100] - [Rank 7 (Peak)]
[Pludering Knowledge: 35/100] - [Rank 3 (Mid)]
[Combat Knowledge: 75/100] - [Rank 7 (Mid)]
[Earth Control Knowledge: 100/100] - [Rank 10]
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[[Active:]]
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[Armament Haki: 53/100] - [Rank 5 (Low}]
[Observation Haki: 41/100] - [Rank 4 {Low}]
[Conqueror's Haki: 58/100] - [Rank 5 (Peak)]
[Heavy Blow: 35/100] - [Rank 3 (Mid)]
[Ship Control: 45/100] - [Rank 4 (Mid)]
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[[Passive:]]
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[Leader: 64/100] - [Rank 6 (Mid)]
[Commander: 53/100] - [Rank 5 (Low)]
[Great Endurance: 30/100] - [Rank 3 (Low)
[Great Strength: 30/100] - [Rank 3 (Low)]
[Great Agility: 30/100] - [Rank 3 (Low)]
[Great Reflexes: 30/100] - [Rank 3 (Low)]
[Lone Wolf: 15/100] - [Rank 1 (Mid)]
[Berserk: 38/100] - [Rank 3 (Peak)]
[Unbending Will: 75/100] - [Rank 7 (Mid)]
[Heavy Weapons Proficiency: 55/100] - [Rank 5 (Mid)]
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'This... What is this?'
{This is you, Pops. For the time being anyway. I can't really tell you much about it, because I don't know myself, however, some things should just come to you easily. Like the difference between knowledge and mastery. Anyway, moving onto the next one, do the same thing you did before.}
'Alright then... 'Summons'
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[Current Summons:]
[N/a]
[Possible Summons:]
[N/a]
[Note: No summons are available until [Main Quest 1] is complete!]
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{As you can probably see, you can't do much with this at the moment, until a 'Main Quest' or something is complete, whatever that is. Moving on, again please}
'This is really moving too fast... 'Shop'
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[Welcome to the shop! Until [Main Quest 1] is complete, only the [Level 1] shop will be open:]
[[Shops:]]
[Level 1:] [Open]
[Level 2:] [Locked]
[Level 3:] [Locked]
[Level 4:] [Locked]
[Level 5:] [Locked]
[Level 6:] [Locked]
[Level 7:] [Locked]
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{The shop lets you buy all sorts of things, from powers to food, using that 'Karma' thing you saw in your 'Status'.}
'Level 1'
{Oh, good job Pops! I didn't even have to tell you this time! You're a natural!}
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[Abilities:]
[Bloodlines:]
[Consumables:]
[Perishables:]
[Minor Summons:]
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{I can only assume that each of the shops are split into several levels like this one, but I haven't been in them yet. Of the 5 here, the only ones that you should probably check out right now Pops, are 'Abilities' and 'Minor Summons'}
'Abilities'
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[Skill: Heavy Blow: Already Obtained]
[Skill: Magic Control: 14,000 Karma]
[Skill: Taijutsu Mastery: 15,000 Karma]
[Skill: Genjutsu Mastery: 15,000 Karma]
[Skill: Ninjutsu Mastery: 20,000 Karma]
[Skill: Body Cultivation: 30,000 Karma]
[Skill: Soul Cultivation: 40,000 Karma]
[Skill: True Cultivation: 50,000 Karma]
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{Pops, with that 'Karma' stuff, you can buy abilities that neither of us have even heard of! The only problem is, I have no idea how to get any of the stuff.}
'Minor Summons'
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[Summon: Lesser Pirate: 100 Karma]
[Summon: Lesser Bandit: 100 Karma]
[Summon: Lesser Outlaw: 150 Karma]
[Summon: Lesser Fighter: 200 Karma]
[Summon: Lesser Warrior: 300 Karma]
[Summon: Lesser Mage: 1,500 Karma]
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'This...]
{Yup, you guessed it... We can use this to summon people! Actual living people! How cool is that!?}
'Ace... calm down, we don't know anything about them. We can't know if they would be truly loyal to us'
{… You're right Pops... I got a bit too carried away. Sorry}
Just as the conversation was continuing, Edward heard the 'door' creak from his side. Turning to face the direction of the sound, he saw a young boy with short blonde hair pushing the door open. As he opened his mouth to speak, a window appeared in his vision.
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[Main Quest: 1]
[Description: You have found the lone demon Meliodas, leader of the Seven Deadly Sins and former leader of the Ten Commandments. With respect to his power, his strength won't be enough for the days to come, but as a [Demon Slayer], you cannot join with demons of any form, though you can aid them in their path, if you wish.]
[Objectives: Achieve power greater than the demon Meliodas. Ensure that a minimum of 1 subordinate has a strength greater than the demon Meliodas.]
[Time Limit: 10 Years]
[Rewards: 250,000 Karma, [Skill: Magic Manipulation], [Skill: Body Cultivation], [Summons] Unlocked], [Shop 2] Unlocked.]
[Failure Penalty: Death]
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"Well I'll be..." (Edward)
