(A/N: Overslept like crazy yesterday, so double chapter today)
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[Catching Up]
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| Four months later... |
...
—Tack!—
A bamboo sword came down with brutality and sheer efficiency, clacking heavily against another.
"Argh!"
Soon, the sword on the receiving end dropped clean from the person's hands, clattering against the floor.
Then, the point of the other sword slashed against the air, stopping just a few centimeters from a man's face, who eyed the sword with a shocked gaze, a bead of sweat rolling down his brow.
Then—
"The duel is over. The winner is Dan!" Koushirou announced from nearby, his loud voice echoing across the stunned silent dojo.
The silence stretched for a bit more, before chatter broke out instantly among the students lining the borders of the dojo.
"For real?! He actually beat an adult...!"
"And that's Yashimura-sensei. He's no small fry either!"
"How long has he even been here?!"
"...About nine months."
"And he already beat an adult?!"
"I wish I had his talent."
"You guys think he can beat Zoro and Kuina yet?"
"No way, those two are way too powerful. He might not lose instantly, though…"
"But don't you guys remember how Kuina seemed to struggle a bit months ago? Perhaps now he can truly put up a fight!"
"Hmm, I don't know. At the end of that duel, he still lost rather disappointingly. I'd say at that point his power level might have been that of a quarter of a Kuina."
"I'd say more like a third. A quarter is too little considering how much he endured that fight."
"Who cares how strong he was before? How many Kuinas is he now?!"
"Considering his feats so far, and taking their last duel months ago as a reference—perhaps 70% of a Kuina, maybe more. I guess it's up for debate until both clash again."
While the students of the Isshin dojo powerscaled their classmates in a strange manner, the subject of their conversation stood in the center of the dojo, breathing steadily as the effort finally caught up with him.
'Well, that went better than I expected.'
Dan rested the handle of his sword against the floor and leaned on it, letting out a quiet huff.
'Didn't even need Tireless for that.'
Today, like every month, was the dueling class. And this time, he'd gone a step further and challenged an adult outright, just to see what nine months of training with Tireless—and a real sword—had actually yielded.
The short answer: a lot.
Not only was he now stronger than a trained adult at still ten years old, he was also fairly confident he could hold his own against a properly formed swordsman.
… A normal, non-superhuman one. No cutting-through-steel bs, and also not early-canon Zoro level.
Just someone who genuinely knew how to use a blade. That was his estimate as to where he stood based on the duel.
And if he was overestimating himself, there was always Tireless to even things out.
All in all, he was finally starting to feel like a One Piece protagonist—barely ten, and already able to contend with armed adults. Who knew how strong he'd be by the time his training arc wrapped up?
He was planning to give it at least four or five more years, so he assumed he'd have built up quite a lot by then.
'Or sooner, depending on how things develop.'
His mind wandered over to his other discovery from recent weeks. After discovering, or rather rememorating, Arlong's situation and the opportunity it might present, Dan had gone looking for more concrete answers about Jinbe's warlord status.
Eventually he'd asked Koushirou, who struck him as the type to keep reasonably current with the world's state of affairs.
He'd started the conversation from Hawkeye's status as a warlord since the guy was a swordsman, and let it drift to the others from there. Koushirou had given a thorough rundown, and Jinbe's name never came up once.
Safe to assume, then, that Arlong was still operating on the Grand Line and hadn't yet come to terrorize a baby-level village in the East Blue.
Which meant there was still time.
For what exactly? he hadn't fully thought it out. He'd decided to figure it out when he got there.
After all, even with the progress he'd made, the thought of actually going up against Arlong was still somewhere between ambitious and delusional—that saw-nosed fishguy was on a superhuman level, while he was just barely cresting adult human. The gap was pretty significant.
'Though maybe I won't need to be equally strong to deal with him...'
He gave the bamboo sword in his hand a pensive look. His hacking system gave him a fairly creative toolkit to think with, after all.
Though maybe he was overestimating what the system could do at this tier.
Either way, that was for later. Jinbe wasn't even a warlord yet, so there was no point rushing.
Huffing, he turned and stored the bamboo sword back in its basket, then settled back into his seat while the other students' stares and whispered commentary washed past him.
Across the room, two people rose from their seats almost in unison.
Kuina and Zoro, up for their duel of the day—though calling it duel of the day would be innapropiate, since the two tended to squeeze in at least three per day, which explained how fast the count had climbed.
Right now's marked their 1,908th.
Ninety-two more to go before Kuina met her match against the stairs of her own house.
'Although, maybe my intervention isn't even needed anymore.'
He figured things had already diverged from canon at least a little, just from his presence.
For all he knew, one of his handful of encounters with Kuina might have nudged one of pair's duels back by a day, which would push the final one back too, and change how everything played out.
Or maybe nothing had changed at all.
—Or maybe something had, but it would still end the same way.
He had no way of knowing. So patience it was.
-Thud!-
"Damn it!"
The dry sound of Zoro hitting the floor pulled Dan out of his thoughts. Kuina stood beside him with the sword pointed at him, a slight smirk on her face.
'And that makes 1,908.'
Dan watched with an amused but quiet snort, his cheek resting against his palm.
One month from now and he'd be free of this self-imposed vigil.
As he thought it, Kuina's gaze drifted over to him for just a moment, her smile carrying a hint of extra pride before she turned and walked back to her seat.
Dan noticed it and felt a faint, slightly uncomfortable awareness of how involved he'd let himself get in something he was supposed to only touch when absolutely necessary.
He let out a quiet sigh under his breath
'Hopefully everything goes smoothly.'
...
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| The next day... |
...
'Nice way of screwing me over, universe.'
Dan's eye twitched as he held the newspaper in front of him.
The headline felt like a personal taunt.
{"A Fishman!—Meet the new Warlord chosen by the World Government"}
Just when things had seemed to be going smoothly, this landed the very next day. The irony was almost impressive.
He didn't even need to read the article. He already knew what it meant. Arlong was getting out of prison and coming to the East Blue to stomp around the weak.
Dan rubbed his temple and stared at the headline a moment longer.
There was still time—a few things had to happen first before things developed like that, and the travel from the Grand Line to the East Blue wasn't short. But the window was now significantly smaller than it had been yesterday.
And on top of that, Kuina's situation still needed handling—that alone would eat up the whole month.
'At this rate, I won't be able to do much about how things unfold.'
He knew it wasn't his responsibility to deal with Arlong, and the power gap only made that more clear. But it still left a bad taste in his mouth to just sit on the knowledge and do nothing, especially with a system in his pocket and future knowledge at his disposal.
But as much as it bothered him, things weren't looking particularly optimistic either.
Groaning, he folded the newspaper and lay down on the flat rock he'd been sitting on—the same one he'd started coming to when he needed to think.
The view and the breeze made it decent for that.
"What to do, what to do...?" he muttered at the sky.
The core problem was clear enough. There was too little time, and even with more time, very few things he could actually get done within that.
Eyes narrowed, he opened the system shop.
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[Starter Tier SHOP]
≡ Passive Hacks
▸ Presentable: [10 NP]
▸ WalkingCompass: [25 NP]
▸ SpeedReader: [30 NP]
▸ IronStomach: [30 NP]
▸ Pokerface: [50 NP]
▸ Polyglot: [250 NP]
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≡ Active Hacks
▸ Dry: [10 NP]
▸ Internal Clock: [20 NP]
▸ Clean: [25 NP]
▸ Appraiser: [30 NP]
▸ Tireless: [BOUGHT]
▸ Coward's Eye: [100 NP]
▸ Sugar Rush: [200 NP]
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≡ Scripts
▸ AutoRest: [75 NP]
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≡ Items
▸ Water Bottle: [5 NP]
▸ Jerky: [5 NP]
▸ Clothes: [10 NP]
▸ Golden Pencil: [15 NP]
▸ Golden Pen: [15 NP]
▸ Golden Quill: [15 NP]
▸ Golden Fork: [15 NP]
▸ Golden Spoon: [15 NP]
▸ Golden Lockpick Set: [15 NP]
...
▸ Music Headset: [25 NP]
▸ Fix-everything Tape: [30 NP]
▸ Bugged Smoke Pellet: [30 NP]
▸ Bottle of Hyper Glue: [50 NP]
▸ Gravity Cuffs: [65 NP]
▸ Very Stable Surfing Board: [75 NP]
▸ Intelligent Dumbbells: [80 NP]
▸ Haki Knot (Weak Level): [300 NP]
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A solid catalogue, though most of it was training-oriented rather than an outright boost to his combat capability.
'Proper for the starter tier, I suppose.'
Sugar Rush was an exception to that. The description said it put him in a sensorially-enhanced state.
But even buying it, he doubted it would do much to bridge the gap between him and Arlong.
'Is there anything useful I can even do if I go there?'
His best bet might not be going himself at all, but finding a way to tip off the marines—hopefully someone with actual strength, not fodder that's going to go there and get folded instantly— and get Arlong taken out before he can even get started.
But he had no idea how to make that happen in practice.
He didn't have Garp's number on dial, or Sengoku's, after all.
He didn't even have a Den Den Mushi.
"What a pain." He sat back up and stared at the ocean.
Then his eyes went back to the list, scanning it slowly.
They narrowed.
'Though... if I bought that... then perhaps...?'
He sat with that thought for a while, jaw moving slightly as possibilities branched and crossed in his head. Whatever he was working through, he kept it to himself.
Eventually, he stood up, looking noticeably less clouded than he had a few minutes ago.
"Alright. One month it is."
A smile settled on his face.
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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