Chapter 4 - A day of rest
The crew can be seen on the deck of the ship, relaxing, resting, and enjoying their momentary peace. It isn't every day that they could just sit back and relax and enjoy the sun and the sea.
Since there was enough food, there was no need for fishing. There's only one book and everyone has pretty much finished reading it.
Koby could be seen repairing some of the tear on the ship's deck, Luffy just tried putting his head below the sea with the goggles for sightseeing but Ame pull his body back to the deck when he suddenly felt weak.
"That was not a very good idea Luffy, that could've ended badly." Ame said as he began to pant from preventing luffy from drowning.
Luffy laid down on the deck, coughing out water from his mouth, "Well- I thought it was fine since its just my head HAHAHAHA"
Ame could only shake his head and replied, "Well, now you had to learn it the hard way."
Koby came outside the cabin carrying the fishing net, presumably thinking he can catch Luffy with it, "Wha? How's Luffy?! I got the fishing net here! Oh- he's fine, thank god!" Koby breathed a sigh of relief and returned the fishing net.
"So Koby, how far are we from shell town?" Ame asked.
Koby took the map that Ame "borrowed" from Alvida's ship and pointed somewhere on the map for Ame to look, "See here? That's where we might be right now, we'll be arriving there maybe early in the morning tomorroe, for now we can sit back for a bit."
When he saw Ame already picking up his staff and training with his weird movements, he couldn't help but add, "Well... Train too, which I should be doing right now."
Luffy thought of something though and grabbed Ame's attention with his question, "Hey Ame, why didn't you take anything else on those guys' ship yesterday?"
Ame looked over to Luffy and asked, "Like what?"
"Well... Like their ship, food, money, or anything they own! After all, they were bad guys who stole from the weak so they definitely would've deserved it." Luffy answered.
Ame only gently smiled and answered, "If we took their food, what would they eat? If we took their ship, how could they live? Those are my thoughts while we fought."
Upon hearing Ame's answer, Luffy couldn't help but be impressed. Ame's answer was completely sincere and honest, he was just too kind for the sea.
Luffy thought that Ame would probably make as a good marine with his character and a bad pirate, in a good way.
He didn't care though, all that matters was Ame was part of his crew. He would've still tried very hard to convince him to join his crew even if he wasn't fit to be a pirate.
He was already a friend, a brother, and a part of his family, and above all his vice-captain.
Koby heard Ame's answer too and thought, "Woah, he is much more fit to be a Marine that i'll ever be... " but Koby knew a horrible universal truth for people like Ame.
They died a horrible death. They died while being taken advantage off, abused or even worse, betrayed.
Seeing Ame's personality, he was bound to encounter and attract all kinds of trouble, they will start haunting and chasing after him.
This world was not kind, to the kind.
Koby wanted to change that, he wanted to change how the world works. To let the weak, poor, and kind to live in the world without being swallowed up by the unceasing dangers of the world.
He wanted to make the world kinder. Kinder to the life it created.
That's why he wanted to become a marine, to become strong enough to make it happen. After all, the only way for him to believe in his own "justice" Is to make others believe in his strength.
"If we were to take things from them then it shouldn't be our job, it should be the job of those they robbed." Ame added.
"HAHAHAHA! That's so like you Ame! See, that's why i chose you as my vice-captain!" Luffy couldn't help but laugh out loud when he heard Ame's last sentence. For some reason, it made sense.
Koby couldn't also help but chuckle, "Hehe, seeing you believe in that makes me regain my hope in humanity!"
Ame was confused as to what they were laughing about but he assumed it was nothing so he went back to training while Koby watched him, and trained using a sword that they took from one of Alvida's crewmates, he's also trying to mimic Ame's movements.
Luffy was just watching the two training since he had nothing better to do.
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{Last night}
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When Luffy and Koby was sleeping, Ame was still awake holding the Screen and looking at the quest rewards he has been giving after the quest.
[ Quest completed! (Save the oppressed boy) ]
Rating: Flawless!
Rewards: 1x Clay Cooking Set, 1x Luck of the Sea Fate, [ Sneak ], 35 SP. (Bonus reward applied for a Flawless work!)
• Sneak Lv.1 (Green): 0/100 - Decreases your presence depending on the level and proficiency you have, enabling you to otherwise be harder to notice, discovered, search, or be felt
Note: Your decision to not take your spoil of war has left me cracking up on my seat up here. How unnnecessarily kind of you. Be mindful of your decisions and actions, your kind is almost extinct in these waters. Also, now you can hide from weaklings, Hooray!
[ ]
"I know what I'm doing don't worry, or maybe not but hey, Isn't it good to be doing the right thing? So don't worry about it too much will ya? I'm just going touse the Luck of the Sea Fate that I've gained today. " As much as Ame tried to hide it, his fear was evident. He knew that he shouldn't be kind to people like those but... That's just who he was.
He can't betray his self.
There was a small pop-up on the screen that Ame didn't see due to it's size as he navigated to the Luck of the Sea section.
[ I knew I should've sent you to a different world. ]
It was immediately replaced by the Luck of the Sea screen. As usual, he just decided to use the fate immediately since the slider would choose to use tha max amount as a default option.
[ Congratulations! You have received a Purple rarity reward: [ Skill: Wild Nature Lv.1: 0/100 ]
[ Assessment: Cheers! Finally, a change of pace for our friendly neighbourhood Sailor! Become a whole another person! ]
• Wild Nature Lv.1 (Purple): 0/100 - Awaken your deep hidden instinct and nature and return to your Wild Origins for a while.
- Enhances your overall physical abilities.
(Warning! This skill will reduce your rationality, disabling your ability to identify allies from enemies. Use with caution!)
"That's... Dangerous, and a Gamble. I don't want to use this if I don't have to but, if the time comes then..." Ame shook his head to rid of his thoughts. It was unnecessary to worry about what the future might bring when you're living in the present currently, so he decided to use his SP to upgrade the ship he loves so much to clear his mind.
[ Ship ]
Name: S.S. Ame R. Ica (Changeable)
Type: Sloop (Requirements not met to upgrade.)
Durability: 230/250 (+100 from the Hull and Keel)
SP: 46 (+11 from daily SP's)
State: Pathetic
Facilities/Structures/Parts:
• Hull (Shoddy)
• Keel (Shoddy)
• Mast/Sail (Deplorable/Loose)
• Captain's Cabin {Very tiny} (Poor/Withered)
• Deck (Rotten/Withered/Fractured)
Upgradables:
• Hull (50 SP)
- The armor and protection of the ship. Improves the hull's endurance.
• Keel (40 SP)
- The backbone of the ship. Increases the Ship's overall durability. Increases the Overall ship weight support limit.
• Mast/Sail (15 SP)
- The ship's legs and feet. Fixes the sail's stitches and holes. Slightly increases the speed of the ship.
• Captain's Cabin (15 SP)
- The captain's cabin. Slightly increases the Cabin's space and size. Removes the withering from the wood that makes up its entirity. Creates a pair of windows.
• Deck (10SP)
- The floor of the ship. Slightly increases Deck weight support limit, and durability. Fixes the fractures and creates a tiny storage compartment below the deck (Able to store a single barrel or a small container.)
[ ]
"Oh, I assume that the Deck weight support limit is talking about the cargo, structures, or anything that is on it. While the Overall ship weight support limit is for the entire ship, keel, deck, and mast included. Even if the deck falls, as long as the hull and keel doesn't then the ship won't fall." Ame assessed.
Despite that, since Ame thought that both were equally important ,and they could also use the extra speed brought by the mast.
Ame decided against consuming all of his SP just for the Keel, instead he used them on the Mast, Deck, and the Captain's Cabin, efficiently distributing the points to gain more value.
[ Upgrading: [ Mast/Sail ], [ Main Deck ], and [ Captain's Cabin ]
[ Upgrade completed! ]
[ Your [ Deplorable Mast/Sail ] has turned into [ Inferior Mast/Sail ]
[ Your [ Rotten Main Deck ] has turned into [ Withered Main Deck ]
[ Your [ Very Tiny Poor Captain's Cabin ] has turned into [ Tiny Poor Captain's Cabin ]
The first noticable upgrade was obviously the Captain's Cabin, it now had a windows on both of its sides with enough space to even place a second bed inside of it!.
The mast's and sail's size and height has remained the same but the stitches were no longer present on the Sail as it flutters more fluently along the wind.
Meanwhile the deck's wood no longer had weird green discoloration, fractured sections, and most importantly more stable and reliable.
Ame felt that the Upgrades were definitely worth it, feeling satisfaction from seeing his ship improve over the time, farcry from what it used to be at the beginning.
With all the upgrades and rewards ending, he felt the need to rest after such a long and stressful day.
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{Back to the present}
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After Ame's hard work from training till night, his skills have finally reached another level, and earning another skill from his [Staff Mastery]
[ Staff Mastery has leveled up to 3! ]
- Increases the accuracy of your thrusts and strikes.
[ Awakening! Due to your Staff Mastery and latest experience, you have awakened a Blue rarity skill: Pin-point Thrust Lv.1: 0/100 ]
• Pin-point Thrust Lv.1 (Blue): 0/100 - Concentrates your power to your weapon to unleash a Single precise powerful strike on the enemy's weak spot. You can also control the strength of the thrust.
[ Your Side-step has leveled up to 3! ]
- 1.6x Faster than a normal person.
[ Your Sneak has leveled up to 2! ]
- Slightly lessens more of your presence.
Ame stood up from the deck and went inside the Cabin where Luffy and Koby was waiting for him to start eating, Luffy still had a piece of dried meat on his mouth though.
Everyone enjoyed their food and their peace for a while, laughing, joking, amd talking about various stories that they have remembered.
"Still Ame, you have such a cool Devil Fruit! If you had signed up to the marined you might've been an essential personnel to them." Koby complimented.
Koby has learnt of Ame's power since early morning, Luffy basically had to tell him in Luffy's version where it was dumbed down so hard but still made perfect sense.
Koby didn't think too much either since it didn't matter at all.
The crew eventually fell asleep under the moonlight's caress, peacefully resting till the new sun rises from its slumber.
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{Chapter 4 - Fin}