Chapter 15: Mission Hall
Chapter 15: Mission Hall
East Blue, Sherlock Village, is surrounded by a group of pirates. On the sea, pirates are synonymous with freedom. But where does their wealth come from? Naturally, it is taken from ordinary people.
There are only a few who search for treasures, and the world doesn't have an endless supply of treasures for them to find. So, instead of squandering their wealth, pirates choose a more convenient and beneficial method—grabbing it!
The so-called freedom and dreams of pirates are just a facade. They leave their homes and come to the vast sea, relying on plundered wealth to indulge in excesses, squandering money, overeating, and engaging in brutality. This is the harsh reality for most pirates.
"Come, come, support our artillery pirates. Once our captain becomes the king of the pirates, we will reward your village greatly," a thin and tall man resembling a bamboo pole laughed, his eyes scanning the terrified villagers without remorse.
The surrounding pirates, with their vicious looks and unscrupulous eyes, checked the crowd to see if there were any women they fancied, seeking solace from their loneliness at sea. The young girls cowered in fear, hoping not to draw any unwanted attention.
The village chief of Sherlock Village, an old man trembling in fear, spoke up, "My lord, our village... is truly out of money. Please show mercy."
Sherlock Village is not a wealthy village. If it weren't for its remote location, it would have ceased to exist long ago. Occasionally, pirates would raid the village, leaving the residents to scrape together what little money they could.
They lived frugally, but recently, one pirate group took away most of the village's money, only for another group to arrive shortly after. How can they survive in such times?
"What? No money?! Old man, you must be asking for death!" One of the bear-like men exclaimed, grabbing the village chief with a grip. It seemed like he would crush the old man at any moment.
The sharp glimmer of a knife illuminated the village chief's face, and the adults in the village were filled with trepidation. It wasn't that they didn't want to resist, but they were powerless against the pirates who terrorized ordinary people during the age of great voyages.
"Who is Clive Geza?" a sudden voice echoed from behind, causing all the pirates to turn their heads. It was Rodney, dragging two large men with him as he approached slowly.
The pirates recognized the men Rodney was dragging; they were the ones who stayed aboard their ship.
"Boy, who are you?" the bear-like man threw the village chief aside and advanced towards Rodney, attempting to grab him with his massive hand.
Observing the towering man, Rodney shook his head helplessly. The people in the Pirate World were well-fed and incredibly strong. With a single strike, the bear-like man was sent flying, crashing into a large tree and losing consciousness.
The pirates present were stunned. They were among the top ten fighters in their group, yet this person easily overpowered them.
"Why are you still standing there? Attack! There's only one of him and so many of us. Stand together!" urged the man with the bamboo pole, seemingly of higher rank among the pirates. Incited by his words, the group charged at Rodney.
"Shadow of the Dancing Leaf!"
"Leaf Whirlwind!"
"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
Fireballs exploded one after another amidst the pirate crowd, scattering them in all directions. As Rodney advanced with his knife, his movements were swift, surpassing that of the miscellaneous pirates. However, he was not as astonishing as Koru.
Drawing a short Chakra Blade from his leg, Rodney effortlessly sliced through the bamboo pole man's skin, muscles, and trachea. The man with the bamboo pole gasped for breath, his mouth wheezing like broken bellows as blood filled his windpipe, his life rapidly fading before his eyes.
Boom!
A cannon roared, blowing up the spot where Rodney had stood moments ago and affecting the bamboo pole man as well.
The force from the cannon blast sent him flying, and he vanished from sight. The one who fired the cannon was a 2.5-meter-tall man smoking a cigar, holding a rather thick cannon in his hand.
Throwing the cannon to one of his crewmates and taking another from the crewmate's hand, the man, known as Artillery Clive Geza, a pirate with a bounty of eleven million bellies, exuded arrogance. He was preparing to set sail on the Grand Line.
"Hahaha, you're done for, little one! How dare you cause trouble! Hahaha, that idiot Charles was knocked by someone like you?!" Clive laughed disdainfully, smoke enveloping him, accentuating his wickedness.
A chill ran down his spine as he thought he heard the sound of flesh and blood being torn apart.
"Ninjas are capable of teleportation, Mr. Clive," Rodney appeared behind him with a smile. The White Light Chakra Sabre had already pierced Clive's back, burying the 40cm-long blade within his body, leaving no chance for treatment.
"How... how did this happen?!"
"You can still talk? Oh, I forgot to draw the sabre."
With a smile, Rodney pulled out the sabre, causing blood to gush out like a fountain. It was red, just red, devoid of any strange colors.
"Captain!"
"Captain! How can this be?!"
"Captain, what are you doing, Captain?!"
The pirates stared in disbelief at their captain who had been attacked. This "big pirate" with a bounty of eleven million bellies had been brought down by an unknown pawn.
Impossible!
This was absolutely impossible!
"Are you still dreaming? You all are next!" Rodney kicked the dying Clive and then charged toward the pirates.
Anyone who resisted was killed, while those who tried to escape were knocked down. Rodney demanded they hand over all the money remaining on the ship as compensation for the mental anguish inflicted upon the village's residents.
The grateful villagers of Sherlock Village thanked Rodney wholeheartedly for his intervention.
Although they wanted Rodney to stay for a meal, he declined. Before departing, he took a few pieces of dried meat as snacks for the journey. He instructed the remaining pirates to bury the bodies of their fallen comrades.
Among them, only Clive Geza and the bamboo pole man had bounties. As the deputy captain, the bamboo pole man had a bounty of three million bellies. Rodney severed his head and took both of them along.
The pirate ship sailed off with the remaining crew, including Rodney, who would be taken by them to the nearest naval branch and imprisoned.
"Don't even think about running away. If you try to escape, be prepared to be fed to the Sea Kings," Rodney smiled devilishly. Now that the ship was floating on the sea, it was too late for any escape attempts.
Desperate expressions appeared on the pirates' faces, resigned to being taken into custody. Jumping off the ship to be devoured by Sea Kings was not a favorable alternative. Being apprehended offered a chance at survival.
Rodney snorted, "If any of you had bounties, I would have dealt with all of you to prevent future trouble. You will always have to pay the piper when you venture out." This group of people was too weak, and he had no intention of killing them.
Having completed his mission, Rodney realized that the mission hall was now accessible.
{Ding!}
[The host has completed twenty missions, and it is time to open the mission hall.]
The mission hall?
He opened the so-called mission hall and discovered that it was a place to pick up missions. Instead of receiving them one after another, he could now choose missions. Not all were assassination missions.
There were escort missions, where he had to protect a certain merchant ship; spy missions, where he had to gather intelligence on the private life of a king from a certain kingdom; and missions to help a certain tavern sell alcohol.
However, these were all D-level tasks, ranging from ten to one hundred points, and offered no special rewards.
The C-level missions had yet to appear.
The system explained, [From now on, the host can freely accept tasks. However, the tasks selected by the system cannot be evaded.]
In other words, the tasks assigned by the system had to be accepted and could not be avoided. This increased the level of freedom and task selectivity.