Chapter 15

After puking for a while, James looked back at the corpse, making him want to puke more, but there was nothing left to puke.

[Are you okay?]

'Yeah...'

He wasn't, he was feeling a bit sick, he just killed 65 people and in such brutal ways.

[Host...]

The system looked at its host with some sadness and guilt, it was trying to help but it made things worse.

"There!!"

Suddenly, James heard people shouting and running in his direction.

Looking behind him, he saw about 20 people wearing what looked like marine uniforms running towards him.

"You the-"

The marine that was talking stopped when he saw Rani's corpse.

"Did you kill him?"

One of the marines that seemed to be the highest ranking person asked James.

"Yeah... Who are you?"

James answered tiredly before asking in suspicion.

From what he knows of one piece, the marines aren't to be trusted a lot of the time.

Looking at James, the highest ranked person answered.

"My name is John, a marine captain, me and my crew were transporting a pirate."

When he said pirate, he looked towards Rani's corpse.

"That's when we heard that a pirate crew was heading towards this island to most likely raid it, we were the closest, so we came here, but when our ship docked we found out that our prisoner escaped, I left a few men on the ship before coming here to help while also searching for the prisoner, but it seems you found him first."

While he was telling the story, James could hear some suspicion in the captain's voice when he said escaped, even James could see that there was a traitor.

After all, not only did he escape, he somehow removed his sea stone cuffs, James doubted that the marines didn't know about his devil fruit, they can be said to be many things, but stupid isn't one of them... A lot of the times at least... Sometimes...

Ahem, the captain looked at James.

"Do you mind telling me what happened here?"

James looked at the captain, although a bit annoyed since he was still feeling sick and didn't want to talk much, he knew that not talking might make things worse and also, he knew the captain was just doing his job.

"Well, while I was in the beach, I saw a pirate ship come towards the island, so I took all the pirates down, and when I came to the village, this guy attacked me, so I fought him back and ended up killing him."

The captain looked at James, truthly, he wanted more details, but he could see that James was tired and he didn't seem to be lying or have any bad intentions.

"Well, since you killed them, I will give you their bounties."

James brightened a bit at that, he at least got some money out of it.

[Host... I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you're going to teleport back to your inn room in 30 seconds]

When James heard that, his expression darkened.

'I can't even take the money...'

"Marine Captain"

"You can just call me John."

"Is it possible for you to give the money to the villagers instead?"

John was surprised when he heard that, all bounties combined will be about 200 million beli.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah... Well, I have something important to do, so I will get going, see you next time."

And so, James got up and started moving away fast before he teleports, he didn't want to teleport in front of John just to be safe.

Meanwhile, John was looking at James with raised eyebrows.

"Captain, should we stop him?"

Asked one of his subordinates.

"Leave him."

John said, he didn't feel like James will be a danger to people, at least for now, the expression James had was one he has seen many times, it is the face a lot of marine newbies make when they kill their first pirate.

John was one of them too in the past, he knew that feeling of guilt, even when you know you avenged and probably saved a lot of people who might be hurt by those pirates in the future by killing them, it doesn't change the guilt you feel when you kill someone and take a life.

"Captain, what should we do with the bodies?"

One of his subordinates snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Search the bodies and ship in case they carry anything of value, if you find something put it in a pile. As for the bodies, pile them after you finish searching and burn them."

""Yes!""

All his subordinates saluted and got to work.

Meanwhile John left with his right hand back to their ship.

"After they finish have them distribute the money to the villagers and bring anything that needs selling to the village chief."

"Yes captain!"

His right hand saluted before going to supervise.

'Need to make a call about the death of Rani and the reincarnation of his fruit and also have to get the money for the bounties here, this kid gave me so much work.'

John sighed tiredly.

And so, John continued walking to his ship.

Meanwhile with James.

[Teleporting in 3... 2... 1]

Everything turned black again.

When James opened his eyes, he saw that he was back in his room, looking outside it seemed to be noon.

'So, time still passes while I'm gone.'

[Yes host, time still passes, though depending on the trial it might be like you never left]

James nodded to that and sat on his bed.

'Ended up killing more people.'

[Host, yes, you killed more people, but think about how many people you saved, without you everyone in that village might have lost their lives and families, you saved them]

James smiled a bit.

'Thanks system.'

He knew the system was trying to cheer him up and help him get over his depression.

And honestly, it did help a bit, it won't make the feeling disappear suddenly, but it felt nice having someone care about him, and the system's words weren't wrong, although the marine could have arrived on time before anyone died, he doubted that, he knew at least some if not all would have been dead by then.

"System, can you show me the trial window."

[Save Apple village complete.

You saved Apple village and its people without letting anyone die, you are a true hero.

Reward: Hero of Apple village.

No villager died.

Extra reward: Guardian.]

'Extra reward?'

[Yes, when you finish a mission with a bigger achievement than required you will get an extra reward]

James nodded.

[Hero of Apple village.

You saved them and they can't thank you enough.

Effect: When in Apple village, you will be treated as a hero, you can buy things for much cheaper and sell for higher, people of apple village will have a really high chance of believing and following what you tell them]

Looking at the effect, he felt weird.

The effect was amazing and disturbing, it was almost a mind control ability with this description, but it was also only active on apple village, which he will probably never visit again, so it was just a wasted ability.

James was a bit sad, but he honestly didn't mind too much since the village probably didn't have anything crazy to buy so the discount doesn't matter too much, as for money, thanks to him they had it now, but he had nothing to sell, and the last one is a no no, he really didn't want to mind control innocent people.

'I hope this one is good.'

[Guardian.

You're a guardian, someone who guards people you don't know with your life.

Effect: When guarding someone, defense goes up by 100%.]

'Oh!!'

It was also a situational ability, but it was still really good, especially if he wanted to protect someone.

Looking at its host smiling while looking at the reward, the system was happy, it didn't work completely, but at least it seems that its host was in a better mood now.

And so, James finished his first trial, what will the next trial be? Find out ne-

*Boom*

I was in the middle of an outro!!

Fine, ahem.

Suddenly an explosion was heard outside.

James ran to his window and looked outside.

He saw two people in front of each other, ready to beat each other.

Suddenly, another person came.

"Okay, enough games, you're making a scene."

It was a middle-aged man with red hair and eyes.

The fight was far, but James could hear what he said loud and clear.

The two fighters looked at the red haired man before looking at each other.

"Fine."

"Hmph."

And so, the two people put their weapons back and started walking in different directions.

What was this about? Who is the red haired man? Find out next time... No explosion, phew.

(This time I had time to write, so the chapter is long and I hope you enjoyed, I will see you next time, have a great day.)