Chapter 148: Challenge, Hawkeye! (Patreon)

"Sigh!"

Luffy let out a heavy sigh, then, with a grim face, began his first job: cleaning the deck.

He had already introduced himself, so Nami and Zoro now knew the basics about Luffy. When they learned that he had set out to sea sitting in a barrel, they were both stunned.

To be fair, Luffy was unbelievably lucky. Even after setting out to sea in nothing but a barrel, he had made it without incident.

Halfway through cleaning, Luffy suddenly noticed a fallen bounty poster. Curious, he picked it up and took a look.

The moment he did, he froze.

Instinctively, he carried the bounty poster over to Ren Kurogami, who was lying on a deck chair soaking up the sun, and compared the picture to him.

Ren noticed what Luffy was doing and said, "The person on that bounty poster is me."

Luffy's eyes immediately lit up.

"Great! Ren, become my crewmate!"

"I set out to sea this time specifically to find you and make you my crewmate!"

Before Ren could respond, Nami, who was tending the orange trees in the orange grove nearby, spoke up.

"Ren is the captain of the Death. He isn't going to become your crewmate."

"But you can join us, provided that..."

Before Nami could finish, Luffy immediately exclaimed excitedly,

"I'll join! But I want to be the captain!"

Nami facepalmed.

She simply couldn't understand Luffy's way of thinking.

He was currently working to pay off his debt, yet he actually had the nerve to say something like that.

It was like someone washing dishes in a restaurant to repay a debt suddenly telling the owner, "I want to be the boss of this restaurant. You work for me instead." It was simply ridiculous.

Without any hesitation, Nami rejected him outright.

"No. You can't be the captain!"

Luffy's face immediately fell.

"I'm going to become the Pirate King! I have to be the captain!"

Nami didn't budge.

"I don't care whether you're going to become the Pirate King or the Mountain Bandit King. The captain of this ship has to be Ren!"

Luffy instantly came back to life, collapsing onto the deck like a salted fish that had suddenly regained its dreams.

Ren found the scene rather amusing.

"How about this? Stay on the ship. From now on, you can challenge me anytime. As long as you defeat me, I'll let you become the captain."

"Until then, I'll be the captain."

Luffy instantly came back to life.

"Really!?"

In the corner, Zoro, who had been training, watched the scene unfold.

For some reason, it all felt strangely familiar.

After receiving a positive answer, Luffy immediately challenged Ren.

Before the official match began, Luffy quickly cleaned the entire deck as if he had been pumped full of energy.

Soon afterward...

On the deck... Luffy faced Ren, who stood calmly opposite him.

Assuming his fighting stance, his fighting spirit soaring, Luffy declared,

"Ren! I'm definitely going to beat you!"

Ren neither confirmed nor denied his words. He simply asked, "Ready?"

Luffy answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Yeah! Let's go!"

With that, Luffy charged straight at Ren while shouting,

"Gum-Gum..."

Ren merely raised a single finger and chanted, "Bakudo #1: Sai!"

In the very next instant, the arms Luffy was about to use for his Gum-Gum Gatling were bound behind his back by an invisible force.

Before Luffy could even react, Ren had already appeared beside him with Shunpo, placing Ryūjin Jakka against his neck.

"You lose."

Luffy was dumbfounded.

He didn't want to admit it, but he knew he had truly lost, and in such a bizarre way at that.

Nami and Zoro weren't surprised by the outcome.

Nami had complete faith in Ren.

As for Zoro, he knew that if there was no way to deal with Ren's Shunpo and Bakudo #1: Sai, then the battle had been decided from the very beginning.

Luffy let out a defeated sigh.

"I lost."

The system notification rang out in Ren's mind.

[Level EXP +40]

[Ding, the Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni Character Template has reached Level 14!]

Ren lowered and withdrew Ryūjin Jakka before releasing the Bakudo.

Just as expected, Luffy, like Zoro, was an excellent source of EXP.

It was just a pity that EXP gained from defeating the same person could only be obtained once per day.

Ren planned to raise the Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni Character Template to Level 20 before entering the Grand Line.

He estimated that reaching Level 20 would allow him to perform Ryūjin Jakka's partial Shikai release.

To accomplish that, he planned to make a trip to the Baratie.

His target wasn't Sanji.

His target was the Krieg Pirates, the so-called overlords of the East Blue.

Although the Krieg Pirates were failures from the Grand Line and had nearly been wiped out by Dracule Mihawk, even in decline they were still formidable. They were likely the largest source of EXP in the East Blue.

"Ren! Next time, I'll definitely beat you!" Luffy's fully energized shout pulled Ren back from his thoughts.

Ren smiled encouragingly.

"Then keep working hard. I look forward to the day you beat me."

Without the slightest hesitation, Luffy replied,

"I definitely will!"

After that, just like Zoro, Luffy found a place to continue training.

Seeing this, Ren nodded in satisfaction.

The stronger Luffy and Zoro became, the more EXP they would provide. Naturally, Ren hoped they would continue training diligently and grow even stronger.

…

Two days later, under Nami's navigation, the Death finally arrived at the Baratie.

During those two days, both Luffy and Zoro had trained tirelessly while constantly sparring with one another.

Their natural talents were extraordinary.

As a result, their strength increased at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Now, when facing Ren's Shunpo and Bakudo #1: Sai, they were no longer as helpless as they had been in the beginning.

Ren stood at the bow of the ship.

From a great distance, he spotted a massive three-deck sailing ship with a black panther figurehead, its appearance slightly worn, anchored in front of the Baratie.

He recognized it instantly at a glance.

It was the Krieg Pirates' flagship, the Dreadnaught Blade.

His brow lifted slightly. He hadn't expected the plot to have already begun. Now he wondered which direction it would take without Luffy around.

Of course, Ren wasn't particularly interested in finding out.

Ren looked toward Nami and said, "Anchor the Death away from that ship. I'll go take a look first."

With that, Ren used Shunpo and rapidly approached the Dreadnaught Blade.

Although Nami didn't understand Ren's intention, she obediently changed the Death's anchoring position, steering it to a spot farther away from the Baratie.

[Level EXP +10]

[Level EXP +20]

...

[Ding, the Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni Character Template has reached Level 16!]

...

Just as Ren was happily gaining levels, an intense sense of danger suddenly surged within him.

At the same time, a notification from the Myriad Worlds Paradise sounded in his mind.

[Side Quest Triggered: Challenge Hawkeye (Dangerous). Accept the quest?]

[Quest Reward: Rewards vary based on quest completion.]