Ender slowly moved toward the bushes, his left hand holding the Worn Flintlock (White) aimed forward. There was only one bullet left.
"Wait, I'm not a bad person." A child's clear voice came from the bushes.
A child? Ender frowned.
How could there be a child in the dangerous Mt. Colubo? This made him more alert.
"I'll give you three seconds to come out. If you don't, then don't come out at all."
He began to pull the trigger. If no one came out in three seconds, he would shoot.
"Oh, then I won't come out."
The child clearly misunderstood his meaning.
Ender's eyelid twitched. Now he was sure—there really was a child in the bushes, and that child was not very smart.
He lowered the firearm. The last bullet might be useful later. No need to waste it now.
"Come out."
Ender rushed to the bushes and pushed them.
He didn't feel the weight of a human body. Instead, there was a strange bounce.
Boing.
A small figure flew through the air like a rubber ball.
Boing, boing…
The figure hit the ground and bounced several times before landing face-down.
"Uuu… waaah!"
The child burst into loud crying from pain.
That strange elasticity made Ender narrow his eyes. He looked closely at the child.
Yellow skin, black hair, dark eyes, and that rubber-like bounce—Ender immediately understood who this kid was.
It was the original story's main character—Monkey D. Luffy. No wonder there was a kid here. Luffy lived in Mt. Colubo when he was young.
Ender walked over. Luffy sat on the ground crying, snot dripping. At this age, he had barely awakened the Gum-Gum Fruit's ability, so he had little defense.
Right now, Luffy was just a small brat with none of the future hero's presence.
"Kid, stop crying. Or I'll kill you."
Ender was covered in tiger blood. He looked terrifying. Luffy immediately fell silent.
"I don't want to die… don't kill me."
Ender sighed. What a direct answer.
He didn't care about Luffy being the future main character. Ender just wanted to observe a Devil Fruit User.
He grabbed Luffy's cheeks and lifted him. Luffy's face stretched long like dough.
Luffy sniffled, looking confused. It was a ridiculous sight.
At that moment, Reincarnation Paradise sent a series of alerts.
Warning! Warning! Hunter is in contact with the Child of the World. Hunter must move away immediately!
Warning! Warning! Hunter is in contact with the Child of the World. Hunter must move away immediately!
Warning! Warning! Hunter is in contact with the Child of the World. Hunter must move away immediately!
The messages were blood red, full of danger.
Warning: A powerful being is approaching. Identity confirmed: Monkey D. Garp. Hunter must retreat now.
Side Mission Triggered: Legendary Suppression
Difficulty Level: LV.79
When Ender saw the difficulty, he dropped Luffy at once and walked away toward the water source. He didn't even bother to look at the mission rewards.
It was obvious that a quest with a difficulty of LV.79 would have an amazing reward.
But for Ender, a quest of this level was too soon. Right now, he struggled to complete a LV.3 quest.
When he first entered the pirate world, the difficulty was shown as LV.6. However, this wasn't the true difficulty of the pirate world. The LV.6 only referred to the difficulty of the Goa Kingdom area.
Ender didn't worry too much about Monkey D. Garp. He must be very far away, or Ender wouldn't have been able to leave at all.
--
Ender arrived at a small river and began to wash himself.
The clear river water washed the blood away.
After Ender cleaned himself, a section of the river turned completely red. The smell of blood attracted many fish.
A large fish jumped out of the water. Ender quickly struck with his knife, stabbing the two-meter-long fish right through. He used his arm strength to throw the fish onto the bank.
The angle of this cut was very tricky, and the strength was just right. Even Ender was surprised.
His knife skills had gotten much better, even though he had only fought one battle.
The big jump in his knife skills had to do with his training in the real world.
In the real world, Ender rarely had a chance to fight with all his strength. This fight for his life with the giant tiger activated the results of three years of hard knife training.
The real world was like a "cage." His hard-earned killing skills were useless except for revenge.
Also, when he got revenge, it was usually a single cut, so there was no real fight.
But Reincarnation Paradise is different. It is full of danger. Even people who were rich or powerful in the real world will die in Reincarnation Paradise if they are not strong enough.
Breaking free from the "cage," Ender felt relief.
Reincarnation Paradise is dangerous, and it is a place where only the strong survive, like a jungle. But he liked it more than the real world.
Maybe he was born for Reincarnation Paradise. This is the only place where he can use his skills.
Gaining strength while having adventures in other worlds might be a good experience.
Ender took a deep breath. He decided to do well in Reincarnation Paradise. He would get stronger, stronger, and always stronger, until he was stronger than everyone else. Only then could he truly break free.
But before making that big goal come true, he needed to eat. The big fish struggling on the grass was clearly the best lunch.
He drained the blood, removed the scales, took out the guts, and started a fire...
A few minutes later, the two-meter-long fish was cooking over the fire.
Without any spices, this large fish probably wouldn't taste good. He also noticed that killing this fish did not give him any Mana points.
This fish must be too weak to meet the standard for his talent, Soul Devourer.
This makes sense. If killing any creature gave him Mana, Ender could just step on a nest of ants and get 100 Mana right away, which is the most he can get in one world.
Ender doesn't know what Mana is for yet, but it might be important later.
--
The branches cracked a few times as they burned. The large fish cooked quickly. Oil dripped from the crispy skin and sizzled in the fire.
Ender cut off a piece of fish and put it in his mouth. Even though it looked good, the taste probably wasn't great since he hadn't added anything to it.
But after chewing a few times, Ender stopped.
The fish meat was soft, smooth, and fresh, with a natural, earthy flavor. It was the rich taste of the fish itself, and any extra seasoning would have ruined it.
Delicious. It was very delicious. This might be the best food he had ever eaten.
Swallowing the fish, Ender looked at the large fish and swallowed. Maybe he could not only gain power in derived worlds but also try different delicious foods.
After enjoying an extremely good lunch and eating until he couldn't eat anymore, Ender left, still wanting more.
The side quest was done. He would likely get the guard captain's position, and now it was time to plan the king's assassination.
That was his main quest, and everything he was doing now was just getting ready.