All in all, three levels had given me 45 points to distribute. I never want to stop progressing on the physical front but it was about time I start shoring up the gap with the mental side of things. 5 points had gone to STR, 7 to VIT and DEX and 13 each for INT and WIS.
'[Status]'
Jack Parker, The Gamer, Lv. 33
Health: 2,300/2,300 Exp: 50/3,300 Money: 12,650,230 Beri STR: 130 VIT: 115 DEX: 115 INT: 68 WIS: 66 LUK: 25 Points to spend: 0 Click here to see list of [Skills]
-Current number of [Skills]: 38 Click here to see list of [Perks]
-Current number of [Perks]: 3
I'm not sure whether it's INT or WIS that's causing it...but I've definitely noticed..an effect. I've been in this world for over a year. Memories, recollections, the little nitty gritty details of 'One Piece' should be slipping from me...or at least be starting to. But instead the opposite is happening. Sure, when I first came to this world I could name the important 'arcs' of 'One Piece'. Major characters, events, Fruits, all that jazz.
But I definitely didn't remember the name of Cabaji, Buggy-the-clowns 3rd in command and acrobat enthusiast. Nor could I have named Genbo, the fat cannon wielding shandian warrior in a striped chef's hat. Lulu, Haruta, Dosun, Inazuma, Domino, each and every one of them decently unimportant to the overarching 'One Piece' story and yet my remembrance of them is only getting clearer.
That's not all.
I can remember what I had for breakfast eight days ago. And every meal since.
It's not as though the information is sitting at the forefront of my mind, but if I just take a moment to try and think about it...there it is. Three eggs, toast, and a pear. 'Note to self: Get INT to 100 soon without placing any more points in WIS. Such an increase in one but not the other should illuminate which of the two is causing this. Besides, I'm overdue on a new [Perk] anyway.'
In the [Skills] department I'm happy to say that there have been some vast improvements. I gained levels in [Sailing], [Navigation], even picked up some major gains in [Carpentry] from helping out with repairs. A [Skill] that had stayed at Lv.1 ever since a completely failed attempt at building a chair back on Kivuruk. I'll likely never get up to the pure prowess of those working at Galley-La but you never know when an innocuous [Skill] like this could come in handy.
Sword lessons with Guilford brought [Bladed Weapon Mastery] up by four and [Kami-e] by two. Initially the pretty boy was pretty haughty about how- quote "superior" unquote- his sword technique was compared to mine but I know that hidden beneath all that overbearing smugness he appreciated our matches. The man may be quick with a blade but I outclassed him in basically every other category. He needed a sparring partner just as much as I did and seeing as how he's two levels higher than when we started this month I'd say we're doing something right.
Waldstein was a slightly different story. The guy was strong as hell. He knew it. I knew it. Everyone recognized him as the toughest on the boat. Problem was that when we tried having a friendly bout he just couldn't touch me. For all his incredible strength, his ridiculous vitality, the old hunter's DEX was only 58. This combined with the fact that neither of us could go all out lest we damage the ship we were on...the fight basically just went nowhere for 20 minutes before we decided to call it a draw.
Finally, there was the time I convinced Korka to step into the ring with me. I knew it was a tad rude to pester him. His profile says he doesn't care for fighting and asking to go a round with your boss is somewhat a breach of decorum, even in this universe.
I was not prepared for what ensued.
I lost.
I lost quickly.
The Ostrich Fruit didn't reduce his damage intake as much as Jorgen's Zoan-Fruit did. Nor did it provide as huge an increase in STR and VIT. A moderate 45% in comparison to the lieutenant's 80. All the buffs really did was place the revolutionary's stats on the same level as my own. A stalemate I thought my [Perks] would easily overcome.
The problem was what it did for his DEX.
A 120% increase in his hybrid form. One hundred and twenty percent. His speed -which was already a tad above my own- more than doubled.
[Bullet Time] helped. [Kami-e] helped. But despite them both I barely lasted half a minute before I was pressed against a wall with a heavy talon resting softly -dangerously- flush against my throat.
Shaking my head from the memory I moved my eyes away from the island growing in the distance and towards the man who trounced me as he scowled at a Den-Den-Mushi in his hand.
"Something wrong?" I joke lightly as I slide up to the railing next to him.
Korka briefly glances my way but his furrowed brow doesn't decrease. "I've been trying to call the port base but no one's picking up. Really I've been trying to call ever since that storm threw us two days behind schedule."
"Is them not answering a bad sign?" I mean it's obviously not good but... "Could be. Could also be any number of explanations. Maybe one of their snails got sick and spread it to all the others. Maybe they've had to secure communications for some reason. Can't do anything but speculate."
Korka sets the snail down and picks up a spyglass resting nearby. He brings it up to his eye briefly but lowers it just as quick. "Tsk, still too far away to see."
'Ahh but that is what I am here for!' "How about a better one?" I propose with a cheeky grin, pulling a full size bronze telescope and matching tripod out of my [Inventory].
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