Soul Art Online

- Arthas -

The next day, our whole group went towards the Shakky's Rip Off bar in Grove number thirteen.

The disturbing thing was that as soon as we entered the Grove number twenty nine, it showed we had left the safe zone.

This fucking town was a dungeon of sorts.

"Be careful. We could be attacked."

And we were indeed attacked by a group of pirates as soon as we reached Grove number twenty.

"Fifteen enemies, take positions." Shiroe took command immediately.

I took the lead, summoning my Blessed Sun Set and standing in front of the group. To my surprise, unlike usual, two more people stood by my side.

Suikazura-san and Whistler stood on either side of me.

She had a shield in one hand and a spear in another while he had drawn his rapier and… started whistling.

…

I soon understood the reason.

March of the Brave, a buff appeared on my status. A five percent increase in stats. This is amazing.

The pirates ran our way, weapons drawn and Veena quickly used an Ice Wall between us while Shiroe used the Mist Spell on their ranged fighters.

I kicked the ground and shot towards the group, receiving one of their attacks head on. The enemy was actually a T5 Pirate Captain with a scimitar.

I tilted the shield to the side and let the weapon slide to the side, disturbing his balance and going for a kick at his leg.

The man lost his balance and tried to get it back. I used this chance to use Double Slash and Holy Blade, chaining the skills with my attacks, finally finishing it with a Knight's Charge, sending him flying towards a distance at two other pirates.

Almost at the same time two large fireballs fell at the place they had crashed and an arrow passed by my head, hitting another pirate who was trying to attack me from the flank, right in the eye.

The pirate held his eye but at the same time, his heart was pierced by a spear and he was lifted in the air.

"Oryaaaa~"

In front of my shocked gaze, Suikazura-san lifted the guy in the air and spun around before throwing him to the group of pirates…

Shiroe wasn't kidding when he said she was merciless in battles.

I didn't stand back either.

Can't let the newcomers steal all the limelight after all.

I took a stance with my sword.

"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū, Ryūtsuisen."

I jumped at the enemy she had sent flying and slashed downward, separating his head from his body in one attack. Without rest, I used my next skill.

"Ryūkansen."

Using one foot as a pivot, I spun around, in the middle of the group sending a three sixty degrees slash at them.

Finally using the opening to use Soru and attacking the Pirate Captain who was currently tied by Shiroe's Thorn Bind Hostage. 

To be honest, this was my favourite combo with Shiroe. I could attack anyway I wanted. And this time, with both my sides covered by two people, I could have some leeway too.

The Pirate Captain couldn't attack but the guy suddenly shouted, using some kind of buff and suddenly the attacks from the pirates became stronger. Two pirates came in front of him to assist their captain. I used Limitless to ignore their attacks and concentrated on the Pirate Captain instead.

He didn't last long as my next Swift Strike took his head off.

Raising my hand, I used Holy Light, healing both Suikazura-san and Whistler before continuing forward.

With the Pirate Captain gone, the rest of the group seemed to have weakened a bit. Their attacks became more uncoordinated and despite the large numbers, they fell down one by one.

We took down two T5, a Pirate Captain and a Pirate Vice Captain, twelve T4 Veteran Pirates and one T3 Pirate.

My Manslayer Class was made for this battle.

I got a level from this battle. In fact, all of us had gained at least one level from this fight, Star actually getting five levels. His Apprentice Swordsman Class was levelling up at an insane speed.

The pirates had more gold than monsters, but no skill books. There was something else though. We got a treasure map on them.

"Man, that was some crazy power back there. I won't lie, I thought the rumours about the Fairy Tail Guild and the First Guild Master were overhyped but holy crap, your damage output was insane there." Suikazura-san said, chuckling.

"Right. For a moment I was confused who the real boss was in the fight, the guy he was fighting or him. I was pretty sure that one skill took down almost twenty five percent of that Pirate Captain's health. That was a T5 monster. One hit twenty five percent. That's insane." Whistler exclaimed.

"Hahahaha, that's well, I was buffed and they were debuffed and I also had a special class so…" I laughed at their words and explained a bit about the Manslayer Class.

"That Class is busted."

"It sure is. Hey, Shiroe, can we hunt here for a few days, maybe a month?" I asked.

"Not this time unfortunately. You said you wanted to go to Loguetown too. We would need two weeks for a return trip from there. We cannot leave the Guild unattended for long. It's in its starting phases right now."

"Tch…"

"No need to be disappointed. Once the guild is stabilised more, we can take trips here for the next quarterly auctions. Then we can make some time for the hunt."

Our discussions were interrupted by Star's voice. "Hey guys, check it out." He showed a piece of paper with the picture of the guy we had just defeated. "This guy had a bounty on his head. Should we keep his body and see if we can cash the bounty?" He asked.

I went and took the bounty poster, taking a look at it.

"Mad Piper, Ninety five thousand gold coins. Where do we cash it?"

I took out the man given to us by the Captain and checked.

"Apparently, there is a Bounty office in the Residential Area. We can get it when we go back."

We rested for a while and proceeded towards Groove number thirteen to find Shakky's Rip Off Bar. In doing so, we encountered two more attacks and I gained one more level.

Seriously, I was thinking of cancelling the trip to Loguetown and staying here to farm. The only problem with that was that I had no idea which T6 Class I wanted to take so we had some time on our hands.

Exploring around, getting more references, probably more quests could always be more advantageous in the long run.

Maybe I could get some rare class like Manslayer and that alone would be worth it?

There was also the fact that the fights were taking long and the enemies here were quite strong.

We had killed four T5 Pirate Captains already and Shiroe told us to avoid anymore fights so as to not attract even stronger bosses.

T6 would be a death sentence for us.

We finally reached our destination and it was quite easy to find the bar. Unfortunately we didn't encounter any one with a bounty.

"Now, I was told that everything inside costs a lot of money. So just let me go and check it out."

"How much could it cost?" Whistler asked.

"You see the name of the bar and guess." I answered.

"Alright, you go first. If you don't come out in a while, we will enter and find you."

I nodded before entering the bar.

The place was empty except for the hostess. She was a relatively slim and tall woman with short black hair, with two tufts pointing upwards. She wore a pink, V-neck t-shirt that exposes her stomach and cleavage with a black spider on it beneath a black jacket with pink lines running down the sleeves that has a collar with wing-like cuffs. The woman looked the same as in the anime.

I used Scan. A T7…damn. She was the first T7 I had seen in this world.

Knowing who she was, I didn't have any intention of messing with her.

"Yes, what would you like to have, young man?" She asked, lighting a cigarette.

"May I see the menu please?" I asked with a smile.

"Sure. Take a seat." She pointed towards a table and handed me a menu.

I looked at the prices and my eyes bulged out. The anime wasn't exaggerating about the ripping off part.

Ten thousand for a glass of beer, fifty for a rum… thousand gold coins for a glass of water… plain water.

Nope.

"Did something happen, guest? Your face doesn't look so good." She asked. "Can I get something for you?"

I shook my head. "I apologise for disturbing you but these prices are a bit beyond my reach. I am afraid I won't be able to order anything." I replied politely, to not mess with her.

"Ah, unfortunate. Please visit us again later."

"Say Miss, would you mind answering a question for me?"

"Hmm?"

"I was looking for a ship coater. I was told that I could find him here." I asked.

She looked at me for a moment and then nodded. "Do you have any names?"

"I think it was Ray… something. I cannot remember the full name."

"Ah, you can wait there for a while. He is out. Might come back later."

"I see. Thank you." I nodded and sat, waiting for Rayleigh.

"Are those people outside with you?" She asked.

"Oh yes. They are my crew."

"Crew eh. Are you a pirate?"

"Hahahaha not yet. But soon."

"You never told me your name."

Please work… please just work.

"I am Monkey D. Luffy and I am gonna be the King of Pirates."

Thank God the rest are staying outside or I would have died of embarrassment…

Congratulations Traveller.

You have discovered another secret!

Traveller.

A Special Title given to those who complete the Hidden Quests, Man of Culture.

+10 to all stats.

+20% to Exp Gained.

Note: The Effect of the Title can be enhanced the more secrets the Traveller discovers in the world.

Reward: Random Devil Fruit Box

Random Devil Fruit Box

Gives a random Devil Fruit on opening.

Devil Fruit…

Jackpot….

"The Pirate King eh. You have quite the ambition, don't you? But you don't look like you have money on you. Do you even have a ship?" She asked, amused.

"Not yet. I am planning to buy one." I answered.

At this moment, the door of the bar opened and Veena looked inside.

"Will it take longer?" She asked.

"No. He is not here. We might have to come back later on." I replied and got up before turning towards Shakuyaku and thanking her.

"You are welcome. Such a polite pirate is very rare to see. Good luck, Monkey D. Luffy. I will wait to hear the news about you becoming the Pirate King." She waved back.

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FUCK…