Smoker's face, which had gone stiff from Aiden's shamelessness, finally eased a little. He let out a snort, clearly accepting the "deal."
"But before that," Aiden said as he brushed the dust off his clothes. He looked around at the square, which had been cleaned out a little too well. "We need to pick up some travel money first. We didn't come all this way for nothing."
"Travel money?" Smoker stared at him for a moment, then rolled his eyes. He knew Aiden was the kind of man who never missed a chance to take a cut wherever he went.
Aiden ignored him and walked straight through the streets full of charred bodies. The surviving civilians poked their heads out from the houses where they were hiding. They watched him leave with fearful eyes, as if they were looking at something beyond human.
He paid those looks no mind. He walked all the way to the front of the largest tavern, which belonged to Mills.
He could sense that Mills's small vault was right underneath it.
Aiden walked to where the tavern's back kitchen had once been. Calmly, he raised his right hand. He pressed his index and middle fingers together and aimed them at the wooden floor under his feet.
"Zzzzt!!"
A sharp screech rang out. A beam of lightning, so dense it was nearly pure white, shot from his fingertips like a blade. It melted straight through the foundation in an instant.
A smooth hole with green smoke rising from it appeared in front of the two men.
Smoker stood off to the side. Watching this, the corner of his eye twitched.
Aiden jumped lightly into the hole.
The vault was packed with valuables. Boxes of Berries, jewels, and a few swords were piled up everywhere.
Under Smoker's speechless gaze, Aiden skillfully stuffed boxes of Berries and jewels into his storage ring. He did not even bother hiding it from Smoker anymore.
After packing most of it away, Aiden looked at Smoker, who was standing there in silence. He casually tossed him a bag of Berries. "You should pack some too."
Smoker caught it on instinct. His face darkened, and he immediately threw it back. "I don't need stolen money."
"Oh?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.
"I'm just confiscating criminal money to use as military funds for our future operations," Aiden said calmly. Then he pulled out a box of finely packaged cigars from a corner and tossed it over. "You definitely need these, though."
Smoker caught the cigars. He let out a "Hmph," neither agreeing nor refusing.
After looting nearly thirty million Berries, the two of them headed toward the port.
The harbor was full of pirate ships of all sizes. Aiden's lightning had only wiped out the pirates. It had not damaged their ships, which were far more useful.
Since there were only two of them, Aiden searched the port for a while before settling on a small boat moored in one corner.
"That one."
The two of them jumped onto the boat. Smoker checked the wheel and the ropes. After looking around for a moment, Aiden said, "Wait here."
Then his figure flashed, and he vanished into town as a bolt of lightning.
Less than ten minutes later, Aiden returned. His Storage Ring was now full of supplies he had bought from the shops.
Late at night on the Grand Line.
A thin mist rose from the sea. The moonlight looked faint through the fog.
The small boat moved steadily across the water with the wind. Everything around them was quiet. The only sound was the bow cutting through the waves.
Smoker was fast asleep in the cabin.
Falling from ten thousand meters up in the sky and then watching the punishment of Ten Thousand Lightning had put a huge strain on his nerves. He was exhausted.
Aiden, however, stood alone at the bow under the moonlight.
He did not feel sleepy at all.
The thrill of testing his power in Mock Town, along with the fact that he was about to grow even stronger, had left his mind clearer than ever.
He opened the status.
[Sin Points: 1,257,210]
The CP9 agents at Ohara, Spandine, and the large-scale cleanup of Mock Town had finally pushed his Sin Points past one million.
Aiden's gaze fell on the two options in the system shop priced at one million:
[Skill: S-Rank Swordsmanship → SS-Rank Swordsmanship]
[Haki: SS-Rank Armament Haki → SSS-Rank Armament Haki]
He hesitated briefly.
"Swordsmanship is skill. Haki is power."
"[SS-Rank] swordsmanship would definitely make me stronger, but it would only improve one area. But Armament Haki..."
"It's the foundation of everything."
Whether it was coating a blade to make a slash stronger, coating a fist to make a punch heavier, or even coating a bullet—
Against the real powerhouses of the sea, the strength of a person's Haki decided everything. This was a much more complete upgrade than swordsmanship alone.
Aiden stopped hesitating.
He spent 1,000,000 Sin Points to upgrade [Armament Haki] to [SSS-Rank].
There was no heat, no shockwave, nothing like he had expected.
The moment the points were spent, Aiden felt something inside his body click. It was as if an invisible shackle had finally been broken.
A feeling of power, completely different from before, rushed through his body!
If [SS-Rank] Armament Haki was like covering the body in a layer of indestructible armor,
Then [SSS-Rank] Armament Haki was about completely merging that armor with himself!
Aiden slowly raised his right hand. With a single thought, the pitch-black Haki instantly covered it.
"Hummm—"
Under the moonlight, his arm seemed to become the night itself. It was so deep that it didn't even reflect the moonlight. It had a terrifying texture to it.
As Aiden felt this power, he had a strange urge.
He threw a casual punch into the air in front of him.
There was no sound of wind. There was no sonic boom.
"Boom—!!!"
There was a dull, heavy explosion! The air in front of his fist was compressed instantly. It formed a white wave of pressure visible to the naked eye, which went screaming out like a cannonball!
This pure shockwave crossed nearly a hundred meters of the sea. It slammed into a small reef in the distance, shattering it into countless pieces!
A feeling of confidence like never before rose within him.
Aiden looked at his fist and thought to himself.
"This indestructible hardness and pure destructive power... I wonder how it compares to Garp's unreasonable 'Iron Fist of Love' or Teacher Zephyr's battle-hardened 'Black Arm.' Which one is harder?"
After finishing the important business, Aiden suddenly thought of the [Dimensional Items] section, which he had almost forgotten about.
Because this section covered things from all over the multiverse, the chance of finding something useful at a good price was extremely low. Sometimes Aiden almost forgot the system even had this feature.
He clicked in to see what had refreshed this month.
There was only a single, fancy golden display stand. In the center of the stand, an item was floating. Below it was a small line of text: "Refresh Countdown: 21 days, 08 hours, 15 minutes..."
Aiden looked closely. It was a strange-looking... silver collar?
[Dimensional Item of the Month: Animal Companion Translator (Cat Only - Beta)]
Description: Put this on your cat companion's neck, and you will be able to understand its noble "meows."
(Note: Does not work on Sea Cats. May cause translation errors for large felines. The development team is not responsible.)
Price: 80,000 Sin Points.
Aiden looked at the description of this item and went silent. He was silent for a full ten seconds.
"Eighty thousand points—just to—listen to a cat meow?!"
However, Aiden immediately suppressed his urge to complain. Thinking about it from another angle, he already had the Voice of All Things. He had just saved eighty thousand points. He instantly felt like he had made a profit.
With that comforting thought, Aiden closed the [Dimensional Items] page. With a thought, he brought up his personal panel to check all of his current power.
Name: Aiden
Age: 18
Rank: Sergeant
[Physical Improvement]: SS-Rank
[Devil Fruit]: Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Unawakened)
[Talents]: Voice of All Things, Life Return, Vortex Perception
[Skills]: Swordsmanship (S-Rank), Marksmanship (S-Rank), Stealth (A-Rank), Fighting Techniques (A-Rank), Cooking (A-Rank), Navigation (A-Rank), Fishing (B-Rank), Medical Skills (A-Rank), Ancient Language Mastery
[Haki]: Observation (SSS-Rank), Armament (SSS-Rank)
[Sin Points]: 257,210
[Equipment]: Grade Sword x1, High-Quality Firearm x1, Storage Ring, Wind Flask, Special Glasses
Aiden glanced at the upgrade option behind [SSS-Rank Armament Haki], but frowned slightly.
[Haki: SSS-Rank Armament Haki → ??? Armament Haki]: (Greyed out/Locked)
"Why are there still three question marks..."
Aiden felt it was strange.
When his [Observation Haki] broke through from the previous rank, the system clearly showed that the next rank was [SSS-Rank]. Why was it still showing three question marks for Armament Haki?
Could it be... that the evolution paths for different types of Haki are not the same?
He couldn't figure it out.
Aiden shook his head and pushed the thoughts away for now. He slowly let out a long breath.
"Phew—"
[SS-Rank] physique, [SSS-Rank] Armament Haki, [SSS-Rank] Observation Haki, plus the [Rumble-Rumble Fruit]—this setup, anywhere in the world, would definitely make him a powerful figure.