Chapter 49 - My SI Stash #49 - A Gamer in South Blue by LordVishnu (One Piece) (2/2)

Barker, Teenage Punk, Lv. 5

A sigh escapes my throat as I spot the town delinquent spray painting his personal symbol on the side of someones house. I know that later the mayors inevitably going to grab him by his ear and force him to clean it up like always but I can't stop myself from speaking out. ” Barker! You know what I told you about painting the sides of other people's property. It's just rude. Plain and simple. This is strike two. I catch you again and there's going to be real consequences.”

”Aw hell Jack. Ease up a little.” The teenager w_h_i_n_es, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly at being caught. ”Besides. It's an improvement! This town is so dull! It needs a little more color.”

I rolled my eyes and continued on my way home despite the fact that internally I agreed. This town was kinda dull -current celebration notwithstanding-. But I don't consider that a bad thing! Dull was good. I like dull! Dull means stability. Dull means safety. And safety is paramount considering that when I first arrived in this world I was about as durable as the foil around a baked potato. Thankfully my stats had increased by leaps and bounds since then.

”[Status].” I murmur to the air.

Jack Parker, The Gamer, Lv. 15

Health: 580/580

Exp: 1360/1500

Money: 122,470 Beri

STR: 86

VIT: 58

DEX: 43

INT: 28

LUK: 14

Points to spend: 0

Click here to see list of [Skills]

-Current number of [Skills]: 34

Click here to see list of [Perks]

-Current number of [Perks]: 0

I sported a small grin at the now increased INT and WIS scores from the earlier consolation prize. I hadn't originally meant to neglect the mental traits in favor of the physical ones but it is what I eventually landed on. Maybe if I had been dropped in a different world I would have chosen otherwise. Perhaps a world with mana and spellcasting. But alas, this was 'One Piece' where the main forms of strength were mostly limited to either eating a magical fruit or asking yourself the question 'how hard can I hit things?'. Once again, I'm not complaining. After all. Who doesn't like hitting things?

My gaze moves upwards and I can't help the proud satisfaction that gleams in my eye as I look again at my physical scores. Would you believe that I had to start with every stat but the last at a measly two? A two for gods sake! Honestly. I could have been killed from someone patting me on the back too hard.

In fact I blame that last stat for how It was I somehow managed to avoid dying in a horribly comedic way early on. Luck. A 14 may not seem like much, but when taking into account that most everyone else on Kivuruk was running around with 3's or 4's in the stat then, well, 14 begins to look like quite a bit. Incidentally, this was the only stat that I had found no way of improving. I had tried allocating points into it after my tenth level up but I received an error message saying that a persons luck may only be changed through special events or encounters.

An unfortunate downside of being in such a small community was that I didn't have a good way of measuring my own growth. My highest stat was strength at 86. And I am damn proud of that 86. It was a stat that I'd put considerable effort into increasing.

But is 86 good?

For Kivuruk island it certainly was. The strongest here besides myself was a burly man who ran the town saloon who sported a respectable 32 in the category. But what is an 86 compared to the truly dangerous people out there? Are they in the hundreds? The thousands? The ten thousands? Are Kaido and Big Mom in the hundreds of thousands? Or perhaps the [Game] would just crap out and give an error message if it tried to calculate the power of those seemingly immortal titans. There was simply no way for me to know.

”Oi! Jack!” a voice called out breaking me from my self-reflection.

I stopped in the street and swiveled my head around to the sight of a middle-aged man in a stained white coat running towards me while waving his arms dramatically.

Dan, Merchant Ship Captain, Lv.6

”Jack. I'm so glad I found you. I need a favor!” The man said as he finally caught up, his voice coming out somewhat desperate and panicked. ”Olly busted his leg real bad and I was already shorthanded before that. I could really use an extra pair of hands on the ship. Just for this big trip to Caeba Kingdom I swear! I'll pay you well and we can be back home in three weeks time. Please!” Dan pleaded as he clapped his hands together and bowed.

Ding!

New Quest Alert!

Quest: Take Dan up on his offer and leave the safety of Kivuruk Isle for the small Kingdom of Caeba. Is this the start of a brand new adventure or really just a simple mercantile trip? The only way to find out is to say yes.

Reward: +1 to every stat but LUK, 440 Exp, and 8,000 Beri.

[ACCEPT/DECLINE]

With a small mental command I selected [ACCEPT] and the blue screen vanished. ”No problem captain. When do we set sail?”

”You'll do it?” Dan asked a bit surprised. ”Yes! Yes! You're a lifesaver Jack! We're leaving in just under four hours. If you need anything from your place I'd run home and get it now.”

Without another word Dan turned on his heel and sprinted in the other direction, probably to take care of some other important task that needed doing. Meanwhile, I ran through a mental checklist to see if there really was anything worth grabbing at home. My small cottage for one was admittedly pretty barren. A chair, a table, a bed to sleep in. Not really much of note. When you could store pretty much anything in an [Inventory] provided by reality breaking [Gamer] powers there really wasn't a reason not to just put everything inside there. Food? Check. Clothes? Check. Wallet? Check. Toothbrush? Che- oh wait... Not Check.

'I guess I do need to run by the house.'

Four Hours Later

I watched Kivuruk Isle start to seemingly shrink in the distance as the ship pulled further and further out to sea. The humanoid forms of well-wishers standing on the beach seeing us off were barely discernible now.

I have to admit to feeling a little bit of apprehension now at accepting the quest so quickly. In the moment it had just seemed so harmless. And logically I knew that I could just do this one thing, this one little side-quest, and then sail right back home to Kivuruk.

Just continue on this simple life on the tiny island where no real troubles were ever found.

Maybe I could even settle down with a nice girl. The bakers daughter was pretty cute and Rika had often implied that she was interested in more than just the little bouts of teasing we hit each other with every week.

Yet somewhere in my mind I had already accepted that this trip wouldn't be that simple. Nothing ever is in the world of One Piece.

That's okay.

I'm overdue for a little adventure anyway.

With one last look a part of me bid farewell to my adopted home of the past year. Hopeful that I'd find the time to come back and visit...someday.

'Look out World. My name's Jack Parker. And I am [The Gamer].'