Chapter 5

"Ah. It hurts." Rai kept stretching his legs and arms while grimacing from the intense soreness of his muscles. His expression looked like he wanted to cry but did not have tears. He finally knew the cost of overdoing exercise.

His legs, his chest, his biceps, his shoulders, his neck, and his waist were, his joints also felt brittle, even his head was hurting. Any ordinary person would be in a situation like this. It took him courage and determination just to stretch out his muscles earlier.

But thankfully, he felt that it wasn't too much that his muscles needed treatment and he just need two to three days to recover. He just needed to make sure that he won't strain them further.

"Dammit, looks like I need to plan on how I exercise." He stopped stretching and found took out a pen and paper from his inventory. He did not know what his system's threshold is, but he knew that he exceeded it yesterday. Fortunately, the effects were not too much.

'Let's see. My first goal should be to reach my limit, second is to exceed and raise it. That should be pretty reasonable. Hmm, an hour of weight sprinting and jogging should be good. Since I don't really know what I can do, setting it to 100 push-ups, sit-ups. 1000 punches a day would be good too.' He scribbled on the paper with a serious expression.

'Kicks too, 250 for each leg will do. A two-hour break after completing this should be enough. If it's still not enough to push myself to the limit, adding some would work too. Maybe 1500 punches... Okay, I must complete 1500 punches and 500 kicks for each leg in a day. That should be enough for the first week.'

He looked at his daily training routine and felt satisfied but his aching body woke him up immediately.

'Still, that Oda, he should have just shown hot to really train Haki. This is really frustrating. Should I try meditating? As of now, training on how to access Observation Haki is the most logical thing to do. Armament Haki would probably need a real combat experience and strong physical energy to awaken it. Me accessing Conqueror's Haki is even more impossible. I have read enough novels to know what spiritual energy is, meditation should be a basic exercise to awaken this so-called Observation Haki.'

Grrr...

His thoughts were interrupted by his empty stomach. Because he did not eat before he slept yesterday, and the food he ate was burned from that exercise, his stomach's already empty.

"Dammit! Ah~ It hurts~" He moaned in a sexy and painful way and nearly collapsed on his painful butt. He endured and made his way to the kitchen. He was really thankful that he got just enough ingredients for him to eat until today's dinner.

Because pain would assault him every time he moved a muscle, Rai only cooked a simple dish. Even the time he ate was doubled. It made him want to cry but held his tears back forcefully while thinking, If this little pain makes me cry, what would happen if I got wounded? The thought sent him shivers, imagining a bloody battle with some enemies like Luffy.

This thought opened another question, what if he killed somebody in the future? His imagination ran wild while he subconsciously stretched out his arms. It also helped him forget about the pain.

'What if I really find myself killing someone in the future? I wonder what it would be like. Some people say that Luffy has never killed anyone, do they not see him sink ships and that a random hit of his Gatling Gun Technique could probably twist a guy's head. Ah, whatever, if it comes it comes. I'll think about it after it comes.' He ended his serious thought and continued to stretch and massaged his arms and legs for the next 15 minutes before he finally got bored.

Just as he lay on his bed, shouts suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Everyone, I heard that the marines destroyed and arrested another daring pirate trying to cross the Reverse Mountain! Those damned pirates, they really are idiots, trying to oppose Captain Smoker. Haha!"

After that loud voice, he could hear strong discussion among the folks outside. He even heard some people betting on what day another crew of pirates will be arrested.

"Smoker, huh." Rai looked at the ceiling and tried to recall what happened on the Loguetown Arc. It has been years since he watched it and he could only remember some details vaguely.

"Oh, right, Luffy was going to get arrested, but Dragon saved him. Monkey D. Dragon, I wonder what he's like. I should meet him. But I need to get stronger first. He could probably kill me with just his breath. Should I ask him to join the revolutionary army, that would be cool? But their interests are completely different from mine, I hunt people with bounties and they oppose the World Government." He murmured to himself as he imagined what would happen if he does meet him. But then again, If he really wants to meet him, he must not mess up the future. Or else, the sequence of many events would not be the same anymore.

'I should plan more.' He then returned to his table and started to write.

"The first episodes of the anime was truly memorable, I did not forget it after these years. Let's see... Alvida, Arlong, and Buggy, and there was also that guy from the Baratie Restaurant that Luffy beat up. What was his name again... I wonder if he has a bounty.

"Their bounty should be enough to reach over 50 million bellies. I should be able to reach at least level 10 if I take all their bounties, right? Buggy would become a Warlord in the future, hehe, but who cares, he is just for comedy relief. But it would also be fun watching him bicker with Shanks.

"Bandits have bounties too, I wonder how many people have bounties in East Blue. Zoro was a bounty hunter before, if I do my job properly, I should become famous. Thinking won't work, there should be some bounty posters around town." He sighed at how complicated things became and really missed the simple life he had on Earth.

But don't get him wrong, he could also live a normal life in this world. Hell, with his cooking skill or boxing skills, he could become a well-known cook and create a restaurant or become a boxing instructor.

The only reason he was striving hard was that he was given the system. He was given a chance to be able to return to Earth and reunite with his parents and siblings. It has already been a month and he missed them deeply. He was a very filial son and his parents were very loving, he can't not miss them.

...

Just like that, two days passed in the blink of an eye. And just like Rai estimated, he really recovered completely after 2 days.

But he did not just take a walk and stretch himself in these two days, he also went around town ripping some bounty posters that had bounties exceeding 1 million bellies. He even gathered some information about these criminals and pirates by asking some folks that liked to gossip.

For example, the one named Dalma Yuda who leads the Yuda Pirates and has a bounty of 2 million berries.

A former bandit turned pirate who attacked small villages, plundered lives and wealth. Just 4 months ago, he sank a navy ship full of new recruits and killed all the people. He instantly became famous and was immediately issued a bounty. But until now, he has not been caught or killed.

Although Rai knew that some are exaggerated, he knew that these people should be arrested and executed. In the end, they were pirates. Pirates like Jack Sparrow and Luffy are rare.

Rai took note of every small pirate that had some reputation in East Blue. These were also the people that would give him some XP in the near future. In total, there were 7 bounty posters that had bounties bellow 5 million bellies.

He dreamt big, but he knew that he would probably be gone with a single Pistol punch from Luffy. He needed to eat small fishes to grow to become a big fish himself. In the end, strength is all that matters.

...

Not wanting any accidents to happen, Rai only did a jog on the third day. Not wanting to waste time, he searched for a place suitable to train his Haki. And he found one.

A strong waterfall just behind the town. He watched too many movies and animes the showed people meditating under the waterfall. He wanted to learn how to concentrate and be calm.

He tried it a while ago and he just could not focus because of the strong force of the water that slapped his head and shoulders. He also determined that it was good for strengthening the body.

...

With the sky still dark and the temperature was cold, Rai woke up and immediately changed for his training clothes and strapped the weight around his body. With 2.5 kgs on each of his hands and legs and 5 kgs on his vest, he started to jog to warm up. On the way, he added some weights as he ran.

Jogging for three minutes and an explosive sprint for 30 seconds. Immediately after the sprint would be shadowboxing with him having 5 kgs on each of his hands for 2 minutes before resuming his jog.

Punching with weights on his hand would help increase his endurance, power, speed, and stability of his arms.

He did this action repeatedly for an hour. In the end, the weights on his body increased to a total of 30 kgs. The previous weigh from the morning doubled.

This time, because his exercise was balanced, he was not as exhausted as the first time.

Every time he recalled that night, he would always wonder how he never gave up and kept up for a straight hour and a half.

He wrapped the bandage on his hands and rested to catch his breath. After his breathing returned to normal, he went straight for the punching bag. Half of the sun could already be seen rising when he started to punch the bag.

This time was also the time when people usually wakes up. So Rai did not worry that he would disturb other people from their sleep.

"Bam! Bam! Bam Bam! Bam! Bam Bam Bam!" His rhythmic punching and footwork were good. This time, he was aiming to do achieve 500 punches and 200 kicks each of his legs before he ate breakfast.

He used his dreams as determination and continued to punch the bag while carrying 1 kilogram of weight on both of his hands.

But it was not even halfway through when eventually removed the 1 kg weigh on his arms. It may not seem much, but to him, it felt like they 10 kgs.

He drank water, wiped his sweat and continued to punch. He did not even know it but he already lost track on his counts by the time he reached 121 punches. He just continued to

Sweat soaked his clothes and his hair was already wet. Sweat would accidentally enter his eyes and it felt really sour.

By the time he was halfway through, the sun was already up. People also started to thicken on the road.

Some would give Rai glances and some children gathered to watch him as they found it interesting. Some ladies also watched him boldly, seemingly finding him to be very handsome.

As for Rai, he was embarrassed and wanted to quit but looking at their encouraging gazes, he still continued. Eventually, he got used to their stairs and he did not mind them anymore. He was really thankful that his body did not stink. His sweat was not really smelly, and his looks were not bad. If it wasn't because of these traits, he would have already stopped.

After what felt like forever, Rai felt like he achieved his goal of 500 punches. He removed his soaked shirt and wiped his body with a towel before using a new one. Before his abs are completely formes, he would not dare be barechested.

'I am getting hungry. I need to finish at least 300 kicks.' It was supposed to be 400 but he decided to add the last 50 on the after-lunch routine.

But while he did his thing, the people also got bored and the crowd watching him thinned down. Most of the people watching Rai were only children who played around him but did not dare to approach him.

After 10 minutes, Rai completed the kicks with numbed legs. He first walked around to relax his as he is afraid that his legs would cramp. He returned to his room and showered before eating his already prepared meal.

Just like that, his morning routine was completed.