Chapter 52: No Swearing Allowed

The system pretended to be mysterious, pausing for three seconds before revealing to Kaito Sakamoto the reason why, despite his ability to manipulate luck, he was still so unlucky. It was because...

"The ability has one limitation: you can't swear."

"..."

"What!?"

Kaito could hardly believe his ears.

"In simple terms, this ability increases your luck by one point every day, with 100 points being the maximum."

"But, you can't swear. If you do, your points reset to zero and you'll have to start accumulating all over again."

"And there's a minor side effect—swear too much, and your bad luck might worsen."

The system explained in detail.

The explanation went like this:

Luck is intangible, but after becoming an ability, Kaito's luck could be measured as a visible number.

For example, the highest a person's luck could reach is 100 points, representing ultimate luck.

This is the luck that refreshes for everyone daily, and the same applies to Kaito.

But Kaito's ability allows him to accumulate an extra 100 points, adding one point per day.

As long as he doesn't swear, the points are permanent, stacking up day by day until they reach a maximum of 100.

In other words, Kaito could have an additional 100 points on top of his natural 100-point luck. If, on a certain day, Kaito's luck reached the perfect 100 points, then with the accumulated 100 points, he'd have 200 points.

With 200 points, his luck would be so extraordinary that even if Death himself struck him, he'd walk away without a scratch.

But where there's good luck, there's also bad luck.

Luck is measured in points.

1 point represents a neutral state, while more points indicate better luck.

Negative points, like -1, represent bad luck, and the lower it goes, the worse the luck gets. -100 points would be extreme misfortune.

Kaito's ability comes into play here.

If one day his natural luck was at the lowest possible -100, his extra 100 points would bring him back to zero, a neutral state. Whether he's lucky or unlucky would depend on fate.

There's another side effect: if he swears, his 100 days' worth of accumulated points instantly reset to zero. And if he continues swearing, it would start deducting from his natural luck for that day.

If he's having a lucky day, no problem, but if it's an unlucky one, his bad luck could become even worse.

So the system warned, "Don't swear, or you'll bring bad luck on yourself."

Kaito was stunned. He had no idea how many times he had sworn in the last ten years. Even if it wasn't much, there had to be some instances. No wonder he had such terrible luck at sea.

...

"Hey! Hey! Snap out of it!"

The system's voice shook Kaito from his daze, startling him.

"Ah!"

"I've told you about the third ability. I have other things to attend to, so I might not see you again."

"We've come this far—anything else you want to say?"

The system asked, but it was just a formality.

Kaito, listening, thought to himself, "What face do you even have?" At the same time, his mind was filled with every curse word from human civilization up to this point, and he wanted to hurl them all at this "responsible" system.

But instead, through gritted teeth, he muttered, "Take care."

"Such manners."

The system replied.

Kaito internally screamed, "Manners? I'm being forced into this!"

"I'm off now, and you should wake up too!"

As the system's voice faded, the entire white space around Kaito collapsed, and he found himself surrounded by an endless white void, so bright he couldn't even see his own hands.

He tried to open his eyes, and suddenly, with a jolt, his consciousness returned to reality.

In the real world, Kaito's eyes shot open, sweat dripping from his forehead onto the pillow. What he saw was a luxurious bed canopy.

...

"Hey, is anyone there? We need a boat, and we're looking for Kaito!"

Outside the mansion, Luffy shouted loudly.

Kaito, who had just woken up in his lavish room, sat up and faintly heard Luffy's voice.

"Did I just hear Luffy?"

He looked around, noticing how luxurious his room was.

"Looks like I'm in a rich person's home."

"Judging by the location, this must be the nearest island to where I fell into the sea. It must be Usopp's friend Kaya's mansion."

Just as Kaito had guessed, as soon as he finished speaking, Merry, wearing his sheep mask, entered the room carrying lunch.

"Oh, you're awake! That's great. It's lunchtime, please enjoy."

Kaito naturally accepted the lunch. "Are you the butler of this house? Thank you for saving me."

"You're too kind. I'm not the butler."

"I found you on the beach this morning and brought you here. I'm glad you're safe."

Merry stood tall and straight, looking every bit like a proper butler.

Knowing it was Merry who saved him, Kaito immediately bowed to him in gratitude.

Just as he was about to dig into his meal, he heard Usopp and another unfamiliar voice shouting.

"Oh dear, it seems the butler Kuro is quite angry. It looks like those who barged in did something serious," Merry commented nonchalantly, as if he wasn't a servant of the house.

From the voices, Kaito guessed that Kuro had insulted Usopp's father, causing Usopp and Kuro to argue and even fight.

Poor Kaya was still defending Kuro, not realizing that the past three years had been nothing but an elaborate act orchestrated by Kuro.

Thinking about it, Kaito continued eating his lunch. He had no intention of reuniting with Luffy and the others just yet. He'd rather enjoy the comfort of the mansion and wait for the battle to come.

"Well, you enjoy your meal. I'll go check on what's happening," Merry said.

"Do your thing, don't worry about me," Kaito replied with a smile.

...

Meanwhile, with Luffy and the others.

After Usopp left, saying he'd never come back, they all left the mansion following Kuro's shout, and the whole scene came to an end.

...

As a camera panned into Kaya's room, she was confused. She wasn't sure if driving Usopp away while defending Kuro was the right choice.

After all, in her mind, Kuro was still the caring butler who had looked after her for three years, not the pirate who had spent three years scheming to steal her family's fortune.

So, Kuro put on another show.

He claimed that Kaya's father had saved him, and everything he did was for her own good. He said that otherwise, how could he repay her parents' kindness?

With that, Kaya forgave him for what he said to Usopp. It was obvious—Kaya had been completely fooled.

Outside her room, Kaito, who had come to visit Kaya, overheard the conversation. He couldn't help but admire Kuro's acting skills.

Unable to listen any longer, he knocked on the door.

Knock knock knock.

"Come in," Kaya replied.

With permission, Kaito opened the door and stepped inside.

***********

***************

Note: I will not continue publishing here for this book. Instead, please go to "Tured_Juw," where I will write more chapters.