Aboard the ship, after leaving Loguetown behind, Amon set off for the legendary Grand Line with Lily at his side.
"Lily, use Teleport."
With the voyage dull and uneventful, Amon decided to train her on the ship. At his command, the little girl flashed and instantly took him from one side of the pool to the other.
Her level was still too low, and her mental strength was limited, so the distance she could cover while carrying someone was very short. If she moved by herself, though, she could already teleport over a hundred meters. As an emergency escape skill, it was quite good.
"Not bad. Keep training. Use your psychic power often, that's how you level up and grow stronger."
After spending the day testing things out, Amon had more or less figured out how Lily improved. The answer was simple: constant use of psychic power. The more she trained it, the more experience she gained, and the stronger her psychic abilities became.
"Use your psychic power and fire those marbles at the seagull overhead."
Standing on the deck, Amon handed over a handful of marbles and gave the order.
With a sharp series of whooshes, the marbles shot into the air under Lily's control and struck down the passing seagull in one clean volley.
"Pretty solid power. We'll roast seagull for lunch."
Looking at the bird she had brought down, Amon judged that the impact was about on par with a Navy rifle. That was already quite respectable.
After telling Lily to keep training, he returned to the cabin to start cooking.
Just then, the system's voice rang out again.
[Ding! Detected that the host is approaching the Red Line and is about to enter the Grand Line. The novice Jar welfare period is about to end.
The new Jar rules will now be announced. After leaving the novice welfare zone, future Jars will no longer contain a fixed three items. The number of items will depend on luck.
There may be one item, two items, or three items. Three is the maximum.]
Amon had barely stepped into the cabin before he stopped cold.
What?
So from now on, every ordinary Jar would depend on luck?
If empty Jars started appearing again, then would all his effort not go to waste?
This damn system...
[Host, please rest assured. There will absolutely be no empty Jars. The last empty Jar was likely an accident. Also, this new rule applies only to ordinary Jars. The host's exclusive Jars will still always contain three items, so please do not worry.
In addition, besides receiving one exclusive Jar for every ten Jars sold, the host will also receive one mysterious reward for every thirty Jars sold.
These mysterious rewards are extremely precious. They are immortal-grade items. Please keep working hard.]
The system seemed to sense his anger and immediately explained itself. It apparently had no problem cheating outsiders, but when it came to its own host, it claimed to be perfectly reliable.
It even added a new reward on top of that. For every thirty Jars he sold, he would now receive a separate mysterious gift.
And from the way the system emphasized it, those rewards were clearly no joke.
"So the exclusive Jars stay the same, and I get a mysterious reward every thirty sales? Fine. That's more like it."
If the change only affected ordinary Jars, then it was acceptable.
Not bad.
[Detected a ship to the southwest. The host may want to head there. You might be able to make some sales.
That's all for now.]
After dropping that hint, the system went silent again.
A ship to the southwest that might lead to sales?
"Fine. Then southwest it is."
He was not in a rush to enter the Grand Line yet. A detour was no problem. Thinking it over, he had already met most of the supporting figures in East Blue.
The ones left...
Wait.
Could it really be the Buggy Pirates?
Buggy was practically one of the most recurring side characters in all of One Piece. As the king of stumbling into opportunities, he had spent the whole story trailing behind the protagonist and picking up one lucky gain after another.
Amon turned the ship and headed southwest at full speed.
An hour later, Amon stood staring at the endless white sea with a dark expression.
"Damn it. Where's the ship? Did the system trick me?"
As far as he could see, there was no sign of any large vessel at all. Who knew how much farther southwest he would have to go?
But just as his patience was thinning, cries for help suddenly rose from the water ahead.
"Help! Our ship was destroyed!"
"Our captain's not going to make it!"
Amon looked over the sea and finally noticed a group of people floating in the water, each clutching broken planks.
No wonder he had not seen a ship.
They were in the sea.
Then he narrowed his eyes.
It really was the Buggy Pirates.
Among the people shouting for help, he recognized several familiar faces. Mohji the Beast Tamer was there, still holding his whip, while that lion Richie looked utterly worn out as it paddled after him. Cabaji, the acrobat who rode a unicycle, was there too.
And in the middle of them, lying weakly on a plank in full clown attire, was Buggy himself.
Still, their condition was a surprise.
How had they ended up this miserable?
With Buggy's strength, there should not have been many in East Blue who could push his crew this far.
Then again, that could wait.
Saving them came first.
There were three clear sales targets here, and maybe even the lion counted too. In a world like this, an animal with enough thought to dream of becoming captain might just qualify.
No point overthinking it.
"Lily, save them."
At his command, Lily nodded. Her telekinesis spread out at once, and all the Buggy Pirates drifting in the sea were lifted straight onto the deck.