The spar with Teresa the day before had made Ren realize one thing very clearly—
he was still too weak.
So, in order to grow stronger, he made an important decision.
He would draw properly.
As for training?
What was the point of having a system if he still had to rely entirely on training? If you had a system, then obviously you were supposed to use it.
Today happened to be a ten-draw day.
And Ren planned to use a special item for it.
He had obtained this item a long time ago. It was a luck-boosting tool.
Originally, he had intended to save it for the end of the year.
But now, the pressure he felt was real.
After all, Teresa had just beaten him senseless yesterday.
"Start ten-draw."
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a transcendent item: Endless Mineral Water."
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained a transcendent item: the production method for the carbon coating technology from Girls und Panzer."
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained one Skill Upgrade Card."
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained one Copy Card."
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained one Character Summoning Card."
...
Out of the ten rewards, there were two transcendent items, three rare cards, and the remaining five were not bad either.
They included a PPSh submachine gun, two 98k rifles, a five-kilogram block of gold, and ten kilograms of lembas bread from The Lord of the Rings.
As for the two transcendent items—
the Endless Mineral Water was, quite obviously, equivalent to an infinite freshwater generator.
Ren was very satisfied with that.
After all, when sailing at sea, fresh water was one of the most important resources.
His ship was relatively small and had limited storage capacity.
Yes, he had a storage bag, but it was already crammed with plenty of things—weaponry, ammunition, various lottery rewards, gold and jewels...
There really wasn't much room left for food and drink.
More importantly, because The Lucky relied on electric propulsion, it needed steam turbines for power generation.
And that required a large amount of fresh water.
Now that he had this transcendent item, he would never need to worry about fresh water again.
As for the other transcendent item—
the carbon coating technology from Girls und Panzer—
that was pure black technology.
A thin coating like that could withstand armor-piercing rounds of tens or even hundreds of millimeters.
If he used that material to coat a ship, its defensive power would skyrocket.
And not just ships.
It could be used to make high-performance bulletproof vests, shields, and all kinds of other equipment.
Though what he had now was only the production method, once he settled down and built some foundations, he could absolutely begin large-scale production.
As for the three rare cards, they made Ren even happier.
After all, rare cards were always something you could only hope to stumble across by chance.
Five days later—
Ren stood on deck, looked at the others, and said, "Everyone, we're not far from the next island."
"I should warn all of you first. Shanks said the next island isn't exactly a peaceful place."
"So once we dock, Xu Nian and I will go take a look at the island first. Teresa will stay behind and guard The Lucky."
Earlier, Shanks had told Ren about the island they were heading toward.
It had once been a country.
But because it could no longer afford the sky-high Heavenly Tribute demanded by the World Government, it had been expelled from the alliance.
After losing the World Government's protection, the island's king and his troops fought desperately to defend it.
But the moment the kingdom was abandoned, pirates and human traffickers swarmed in like flies to blood.
Very quickly, most of the island became lawless territory.
These areas were crowded with pirates, slavers, and every kind of criminal filth imaginable.
There was no law there.
No rules.
Only one thing mattered.
Strength.
If your fists were big enough, no one would dare disrespect you.
If they weren't...
then the people there would devour you without leaving even bones behind.
Because there were simply too many pirates and criminals on the island, even the Marines didn't want to bother with it.
Not long after, The Lucky approached the island.
Even from far away, Ren could see a harbor packed with pirate ships.
The port was crammed so full of ships it looked like a floating forest of masts.
Ren roughly counted the pirate flags and found more than a hundred of them.
The total number of ships was even greater.
The Lucky sailed smoothly into the harbor.
"Hey, look at that pirate ship. Why's it so small?"
"Yeah, no kidding. Is it being sailed by just one person or something?"
"Look over there—there are several beauties on board."
"Damn, you're right! Hey, ladies! Want to come over and get to know us better?"
"Not only am I skilled, I'm strong too!"
One of the pirate ships near the harbor had clearly spotted The Lucky and started openly harassing Xu Nian and the others.
Bang!
A single gunshot rang out.
The pirate who had just been shouting lewd nonsense had his head blown apart by Xu Nian.
The harbor instantly fell quiet around them.
The pirates on the surrounding ships didn't seem shocked.
To them, this was completely normal.
There were simply too many pirate crews gathered here.
With so many lawless men from different crews crammed together, some kind of conflict broke out almost every day.
As long as it didn't involve them, nobody cared.
Ren picked a random spot and docked.
But the moment the ship settled against the pier, a group of pirates came walking over.
"Listen up. You've got to pay to dock here."
Ren looked at them and asked calmly, "Oh? And how much is it?"
"Not much. Thirty thousand beli a day."
Ren smiled faintly.
Thirty thousand a day?
Were they seriously treating him like a lamb ripe for slaughter?
Back at other ports, thirty thousand was enough for The Lucky to stay docked for a full month.
Still, as newcomers, Ren decided to pay for now.
He tossed them one hundred and fifty thousand beli and said, "That covers five days."
The pirate at the front weighed the money in his hand, nodded in satisfaction, and left with his men.
But the moment they walked off, another group of pirates came over.
"Come on, hand over the docking fee. Fifty thousand beli a day."
Ren looked at this new group and said, "We just paid."
The pirate sneered.
"Yeah, you paid. But you paid the Sherlock Pirates, not the Blood Spear Pirates."
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"And why exactly would I need to pay you too?"
"Because we're one of the five pirate crews in charge of managing the harbor."
Ren looked at the men of the Blood Spear Pirates, then glanced over at the Sherlock Pirates, who had just taken his money and were now watching from nearby.
Then he noticed several other pirate groups standing behind them, all grinning as they looked at him.
At that moment, Ren finally understood the full meaning of what Shanks had said.
Only one thing earned respect here.
Power.
He turned to Martha and said, "Go deal with them."
"Yes."
The moment Martha received the order, she shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Liquid metal flowed from her body and transformed into blade after blade.
Those weapons sliced effortlessly through the bodies of the Blood Spear Pirates.
"AHHH!"
"Shoot her! Kill her!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Bullets don't work! Use blades! Use blades!"
"Hah! If bullets won't kill you, then let's see if a cannon will! Die!"
Boom!
"She's still not dead!"
"She's a Devil Fruit user! Run!"
"AHHH—"
In less than no time, the dozens of members of the Blood Spear Pirates had been slaughtered by Martha.
"She... she's the Thousand-Faced Witch. Martha. Fifty-million-beli bounty..."
As soon as Martha's massacre began, some of the surrounding pirates quickly recognized her.
Looking at the perfectly clean Martha, with not a trace of blood on her body, the Sherlock Pirates hurriedly placed the earlier one hundred and fifty thousand beli back on the ground and said,
"We don't want the money anymore. You can dock here as long as you like."
Ren said, "Paying to dock is only natural. I'm willing to follow the rules. But don't mistake me for an easy mark."
As he said that, his eyes swept slowly across the surrounding pirate crews.
The meaning was obvious.
This was a warning.
The other pirate crews immediately nodded, signaling that they understood perfectly well.