chapter 48

I wake up after eight hours of sleep and make my way to the inn's dining area while feeling refreshed. Once there, however, I see none of my crew members within sight.

'Probably decided to oversleep,' I thought with a smile as I ordered a large breakfast, which I devoured quickly and then left the inn, making my way towards the forest outside the town.

I didn't forget to greet a couple of familiar faces that I came across during my march. Most of them were shop and stall owners that I bought some stuff from yesterday, but I digress.

I was already at the town's gates before I knew it, and just as I was about to make my way out, one of the townspeople who were assigned to protect that area stopped me with a quick "halt."

"The area outside the town is dangerous, and we will not be held accountable if you come to harm outside the town's walls," the guard said as he stomped the ground with the butt of his spear.

"I'm fully aware of the danger. I might not look like it, but I'm strong, you know," I said with a smile as I flexed my biceps.

"Do what you want. It's your funeral," the guard said with a shrug. "I already fulfilled my duty by informing you of the danger," He concluded with a shake of his head as he took a step to the side to allow me free passage.

I made no comments on his statement and merely passed by him with a smile, not taking any offense at all.

Once I was outside the town, I shot myself into the air with a geppo step and then disappeared from sight with a quick application of soru.

I didn't look back to see the guard's expression, but I imagine he must've been very shocked as I heard some loud exclamations of surprise just before vanishing from the area.

I landed on the forest's ground, having decided to march through the woods instead of flying above it during my exploration.

While I could have explored the entire island by using soru and geppo in a short time, I decided not to, as that would not be a fun or intriguing experience.

I looked around me and couldn't see anything but trees, so I looked down to check for any tracks on the ground. I found many footprints of different sizes, hoofprints, paw prints, avian claws, and even ones that were a weird mix of three.

I didn't find any prints that looked like they belonged to a dangerous or a giant creature, so I decided against following any of them and just walking in a straight line until I reached the other side of the island.

I began my march while humming a song I suddenly remembered for no reason.

"Oh whiskey, you villain, you've been my downfall," I sang in a loud voice as I took out my whisky bottle. (Author's note: thank you, RexHarris, for the excellent song recommendation.)

'I've built quite the tolerance, and I don't think anything on this island can pose any real danger to me, so might as well,' I thought inside my head as I took a sip from the bottle.

"You've kicked me, you've cuffed me, and caused me to brawl," I sang again, and my hands moved fast enough to leave an afterimage as it caught a small snake as it threw itself at me.

"They say I drink whiskey. My money's my own," I kept singing as I brought the snake close to my face and smiled. "And them, that don't like me, can leave me alone," I ended the verse as I put strength into my arm that's holding the snake and threw it away.

"I'll eat when I'm hungry. I'll drink when I'm dry," I kept singing and walking as I took another sip from my whisky bottle.

"It's Beefsteak when I'm hungry and whiskey when I'm dry. Greenbacks when I'm hard up and hell when I die," I chanted without a care as I raised my leg and sent a flying rankyaku slash at a large bush that was in my way.

"Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey, I cry if I don't get rye whiskey, I surely will die," I sang and couldn't help chuckling.

"Oh baby, oh baby, I've told you before, do make me a pallet. I'll lie on the floor," I stopped singing and halted my footsteps and then jumped back as several objects came flying at me and landed at the spot I've been occupying with a fiery explosion.

"Just in time. I was starting to get bored," I stated as I jumped back again as the assailants made themselves apparent and began flinging more fireballs from their mouths at me again.

Said assailants were three green, giant lizards. Their bodies were three meters long and one meter high, and they had sharp white claws on their limbs that looked sharp enough to tear a tree apart.

"Are you guys Kaido's cousins or something?" I asked, not really expecting an answer as I kept dodging their ranged attacks.

While I could tank their attacks and not suffer any damage, my clothes were a different story, and I didn't want to get used to standing still while enemies kept hammering me with attacks as that would only make me complacent and cost me my life one day, but I digress.

I kept dodging the lizards' attacks without counterattacking because I grew curious and wanted to see their limit.

The lizards soon grew tired or possibly bored after five minutes of constant flinging their fireballs, so they decided to make this battle a melee one.

The first one charged at me by lowering its posture and then lunged at me like a speeding bullet.

'It looks like these stumpy legs of theirs have more power than I thought," I thought as I stepped to the side and swung my sword at its wide-open back as it passed by me.

'No damage at all. It looks like I still can't cut steel without using a named attack since I've been neglecting my sword training,' I thought as I saw the lizard I've just dodged hit a tree and split it in half and then turn around to prepare for another lunge after a mere shake of its head.

'But this is a good chance for me to improve my swordsmanship to the next level since I feel I'm already close.

'To cut steel, one needs to hear its breath, or so Zoro said while fighting Daz Bones,' my head was processing everything I could remember about Zoro's fights and his training, but my body was acting on autopilot, dodging and counterattacking.

'I can definitely hear something, both from the lizards' scales and Satori in my hand, but it was less of a breath and more of a jumbled mess of incomprehensible voices,' I thought as I kept dodging and slashing the lizards with my sword at every chance I got. I could feel the voices becoming clearer every time I swung my sword.

The cycle of dodging and attacking continued for fifteen minutes, and even the lizards seemed to have grown tired at this point, but I was getting closer and closer with every engagement.

I suddenly felt something snap inside my head, and I felt connected to satori in ways that were only possible when I was using named attacks or performing my sword chant.

I looked at the lizard preparing itself to lunge at me again, and I raised my sword above my head in preparation. The lizard didn't keep me waiting and threw itself at me with reckless abandon, and I felt the time slow down as the jumbled mess of voices that came from my sword and the lizards finally came together and formed what was irrefutably the sound of breathing.

The time began flowing again, and the lizard was finally at a striking distance, causing me to take a deep breath and take a step to the side to dodge.

Once the lizard's unguarded back was in front of me, I swung my sword downwards and watched in amazement as it cut through the lizard, dissecting it cleanly in half.

That, however, wasn't the end as I felt something else snap within my head as strange energy coursed through my body and manifested itself outside of it as a silver shock wave that caused all birds and other small animals within its range to fall on the ground unconscious.

The shock wave, however, didn't stop there and kept expanding until it reached rest of the lizards, causing them to flee in visible terror as they made strange noises that were a mixture of roaring, whining and yelping.

"huh, neat," I muttered with a dumbfounded expression as I stared at the small unconscious creatures and fleeing lizards.