Watching the World Government agent and the Celestial Dragon draw closer and closer to the island, Kurogane Ren immediately hid himself in the narrow gap between two massive rocks, muttering under his breath the whole time.
"What do I do? What do I do? What the hell am I supposed to do?"
If it had been the Marines, he wouldn't have panicked like this.
Sure, there were rotten ones in the Navy too—people like Nezumi—but most Marines were still decent.
If it had been Marines, Ren wouldn't have been nearly this worried.
But this was different.
This was a World Government agent... and a Celestial Dragon.
With how vile Celestial Dragons were, if they found him, whether he lived or died would be a question mark.
At best, he might survive.
At worst, he'd be turned into a slave.
And more importantly, the very fact that a Celestial Dragon had appeared in a place like the Calm Belt was deeply suspicious.
Sure, Celestial Dragons were stupid and loved running around recklessly, but there probably weren't many dumb enough to enter the Calm Belt on purpose.
And even if one of them really wanted to court death, the World Government and CP agents responsible for protecting them should never have agreed.
Which meant one thing.
If a Celestial Dragon had come here, then there had to be a reason.
And in Ren's mind, that reason was definitely something important.
Something big.
And if someone like him got discovered...
Then he was as good as dead.
As he watched the World Government agent repeatedly kick through the air with Geppo, steadily approaching the island, cold sweat began pouring down Ren's face.
Then, all of a sudden, he remembered something.
He still hadn't done today's draw.
And today just so happened to be his one-month sign-in milestone.
That meant he had a ten-draw waiting for him.
So Ren immediately signed in and drew.
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained one Hermes watch."
A Hermes watch was valuable, sure, but it was completely useless for changing the situation in front of him, so Ren tossed it into his storage bag without hesitation.
Then he immediately activated the ten-draw.
And just as the ten-draw started, the World Government agent finally landed on the island with the Celestial Dragon.
Ding!
The ten-draw finished.
Ren hurriedly checked the results, desperately hoping for something useful.
The very first thing that caught his attention was a skill.
After so many draws, this was the first time he had ever pulled one.
But the moment he read the name, his face fell.
"Transcendent Skill: Mastery of All Languages Across the Myriad Worlds."
For a second, he had thought he'd hit the jackpot.
And then it turned out to be language mastery.
What the hell was he supposed to do with that?
He quickly moved on to the rest.
This ten-draw had actually been pretty lucky.
He had pulled two more Skill Extraction Cards.
And on top of that, a brand-new type of card he had never seen before—
a Skill Upgrade Card.
Unfortunately, none of those things could do a damn thing to help him right now.
The only other item that could barely count as useful was a Mauser 98k.
Yes.
That bolt-action rifle.
The same one famous across twenty-first-century Earth thanks to certain games.
But against a powerhouse who could use Geppo, Ren seriously doubted a rifle that needed to be cycled after every shot would help much.
Sure, working the bolt was every man's romance.
But his life was on the line here.
There was no room for romance.
If it had been an assault rifle with a higher rate of fire, Ren would have been much more confident about taking the enemy down.
After all, firearms were still dangerous in the One Piece world.
Unless someone had freakish physical durability or an ability that hard-countered bullets, guns remained a real threat to most people.
The 98k had enough power.
Its fire rate, however, was painfully slow.
Just then, a burst of angry gibberish reached his ears.
It was the Celestial Dragon.
The man was kicking and punching the black-suited agent while barking out a stream of nonsense.
Ren listened for a while and only managed to recognize one word.
"Baka!"
Only then did it hit him.
This was the world of One Piece.
And the language here was Japanese.
Ren did know a little Japanese... for certain reasons.
But his knowledge basically stopped at things like iku and yamete—the kind of vocabulary one picked up from adult videos.
As for anything beyond that?
Yeah, no.
His own country had enough dialects already. He'd never had the energy to seriously study a foreign language.
But luckily, he had just drawn a language skill.
And at this exact moment, it was finally useful.
"Use Myriad Worlds Language Mastery," Ren said inwardly.
A panel immediately appeared.
"Does the Host wish to use the skill Myriad Worlds Language Mastery?"
Yes / No
Ren chose Yes without hesitation.
A cool sensation washed through his head.
And in the next moment, the gibberish that had sounded incomprehensible just seconds ago became perfectly understandable.
"You useless trash! Is this how you protect a god?"
"What do I even keep you for? I should kill all of you! A bunch of filthy beasts ruined my mood!"
...
Listening to the Celestial Dragon's abuse, Ren couldn't help thinking, These World Government dogs really are loyal. If that were me, I'd have killed him already. We're in the Calm Belt. Toss the body into the sea, and even the Admirals wouldn't be able to do a damn thing.
"Huff... huff..."
"When can we leave this cursed place?"
After cursing for a while, the Celestial Dragon finally seemed to get tired.
He stopped hitting the black-suited man and instead asked a question.
The moment Ren heard that, he pricked up his ears.
"Saint Rodcaster, the distress call was already sent the moment we were attacked by Sea Kings out at sea. Rescue should arrive in a few days."
"What? A few days? You expect me—a descendant of the creators—to stay in a place like this for several more days?"
Faced with the Celestial Dragon's fury, the man in black merely lowered his head and said nothing.
Then suddenly, the black-suited agent noticed a plastic bottle on the ground.
It was one Ren had thrown aside after drinking water earlier, and he hadn't had time to put it away in the storage bag.
The black-suited man immediately stepped in front of the Celestial Dragon.
"Saint Rodcaster, please be careful. There's someone here."
The Celestial Dragon immediately shrieked, "Kill him!"
The moment Ren heard that, he knew his existence had been exposed.
And since the Celestial Dragon had already given the order to kill him, Ren made his decision instantly.
Strike first.
Without a second thought, he pulled the RPG from his storage bag and fired straight at the Celestial Dragon.
The moment he launched that shot, he didn't bother reloading.
Instead, he put the RPG away, drew the Mauser pistol, and charged forward.
The Celestial Dragon was standing near the shoreline, while Ren still had some distance between them.
Although they were technically within the Mauser's range, Ren had never truly practiced shooting before.
He didn't trust his aim.
So he planned to close the distance and raise his hit rate.
As for that RPG shot—
it was meant to force the World Government agent to protect the Celestial Dragon.
And just as Ren expected, the moment the man in black saw the incoming rocket, he didn't dodge.
Instead, he stepped directly in front of the Celestial Dragon and roared,
"Iron Body!"
Bang!
The RPG rocket slammed into his body—
but it didn't explode.
The distance had been too short.
The RPG's safety mechanism had prevented detonation.
Even so, the sheer impact of the rocket was enough to make the black-suited man spit out a mouthful of blood.
And by then, Ren had already rushed out and raised the Mauser, aiming directly at the Celestial Dragon.
The reason he had dared to expose himself right after firing the RPG was because he knew the rocket wouldn't explode at such close range.
Ever since drawing the Mauser, he had kept its wooden holster ready.
Now, bracing it against his shoulder helped reduce recoil and improve his accuracy.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Ren kept pulling the trigger, firing nonstop in the Celestial Dragon's direction.
He had only one target.
The Celestial Dragon.
Sure, the man in black had the power to kill him easily.
But that man was a bodyguard.
As long as the Celestial Dragon was in danger, he had no choice but to protect his master.
And that was Ren's opening.
Every shot he fired was aimed at the Celestial Dragon.
The black-suited man could have used Kami-e or Soru to evade.
But the moment he moved aside, the Celestial Dragon behind him would be hit.
So he had no choice.
He could only keep using Iron Body and tank everything head-on.
The ten rounds in the Mauser ran out quickly.
Ren instantly switched to the 98k and continued firing.
The black-suited man had already been badly wounded by the rocket's impact.
And rifle rounds hit far harder than pistol bullets.
After Ren fired two shots from the 98k, the man in black finally couldn't keep Iron Body active anymore.
Bang!
The third shot punched straight through his stomach.