Soul Art Online

- Arthas -

My smile faltered as the rest of the team looked weirdly at me. Thankfully, they didn't say anything and followed me outside.

No one spoke anything until we were outside the Grove.

"Really? Monkey D. Luffy, the King of Pirates…" Star was the first one to break and started laughing.

The rest of the group broke down in laughter too.

"Tell me, did you leave us out because you have to pretend to be this… Monkey D. Luffy, the future Pirate King? Was that it, Arty? Oh God, I so wish I had a video camera to record that…"

"Was it the quest?" Shiroe threw the straw with that question and I grabbed it immediately and nodded. "Did you complete the quest?" He asked.

"A part of it, yes."

I brought out the map from my inventory. "I got this and another thing. I had to impress her with my story and get her to identify this map. It's done." I lied and passed the map to him. It took him a moment to check the description of the map and stopped in place.

"What the hell!" He looked at me. "Is this real?"

"Hey, did you check the stats of that woman? I was sweating bullets there." I replied, flustered but for a whole other reason.

"I tried but couldn't see her stats. Scan works for anyone two Tiers above me so she must be at least T6." Star said.

"T7, she was T7." I corrected him. "And I had to get her approval. This quest was such a damn trap. At least the rewards were good."

"No wonder we had to fight all those pirates on the way here. This is incredible." Shiroe said, taking another look at the map. "It's probably the best item we have in our entire collection."

"Really, even better than Arty's Armour Set? That thing took us a lot of work to get." Star said and Shiroe didn't say anything and just passed the map to him. The guy checked the description of the map and shut his mouth immediately. Shiroe explained the speciality of the map to the rest at that time.

Veena was the next one who checked the man and even she was surprised but then her expressions became normal again. "This might not be as big of a deal as we all think it is." She said, making us confused. Seeing our confusion, she explained. "After all, this game is around forty times bigger than Earth and the maps which appear here are random. They could be anywhere in the whole world so the chances that we might be able to find many of them is not exactly that high. That said, it is indeed a very rare treasure. If we indeed get the location of a treasure we know the location of, it might be a huge boon."

… that's true.

We could get a map of One Piece and not even know where that place is. With our current levels, there was just no way to utilise the Map properly.

Her words calmed us down and we headed back towards the hotel. On the way, we did hunt some more pirates but no more bounty pirates appeared.

Cashing out the bounties wasn't that hard either.

All we needed to do was go to the Residential Area and find the Bounty Office.

Turns out that the bounty we encountered was rare. It was like a field boss encounter.

I wonder what we can buy at the Auctions tomorrow?

At night we gathered together after dinner.

"So what was the other thing you got from the Quest?" Shiroe asked.

"One moment." I brought out the Random Devil Fruit Box and placed it in front of the group.

"Devil Fruit?" As expected, Veena was the first one curious.

They looked at it one by one.

"What's a Devil Fruit?" Whistler asked.

"No idea. Only one way to find out. Who wants to open the box?" Shiroe asked.

"Let one of the ladies do it." Whistler suggested and no one had any problems with it either so I gave the box to Veena.

Random Devil Fruit Box

Gives a Random Devil Fruit on opening

"Good luck."

She took a deep breath and opened the box. A bright light emerged inside and the fruit was revealed. It looked like a pear, purple in colour with swirl marks all over it.

We checked the description of the fruits one by one.

Swamp Swamp Fruit

On consumption, the user can create, control, and transform into mud at will.

Normal Physical Attacks don't affect the user.

One new skill related to the use of the Fruit is unlocked every five levels.

Note: Devil Fruit users are hated by the sea. The user loses all their power in water and the ability to swim and take 250% damage from water based attacks.

Every person can only eat one Devil Fruit so be careful.

A logia.

A fucking logia…

I looked at Veena in amazement while the rest were looking at the fruit.

"This… is seriously broken. You sure they won't nerf it?" Whistler asked

Shiroe was also in shock but then fell into thought. "I doubt it. There is a weakness to water and 250% water damage. That's a serious disadvantage for anyone."

"It will probably cut off most of their chances of doing quests on the seas."

"Yes and it doesn't say anything about skill based damage or magic. So the user is not invincible. Maybe even enchanted magic weapons might hurt them. So it's not exactly that broken." He analysed. "It can be good for guardians as they can avoid most physical attacks with this." he said and looked at Suikazura-san and me.

"Eh, I'll pass." Suikazura-san denied. "This… I don't know what kind of transformation it will be. Moreover, the idea of turning into mud is… no thanks."

…

"Ufufufufu, that's understandable dear." Veena laughed and Elaine had a bad look on her face too.

"Arty?"

Hmm…

"I would like some time to think about it. The description suggests that there may be other types of Devil Fruit too and that one person can only eat one in their lifetime. Who knows if we can get something else later on." I hesitated.

He nodded. "Sure. We are not in a hurry. In fact, we can ask around and find out what these Devil Fruits are and what we can do with them." There might be some people who know about it on this island since the quest was from here.

"Alright. Let's do that."

I stored the Devil Fruit back in my inventory and we retired for the night.

The next day, we were waiting in the reception hall, waiting for Damon to arrive.

The man arrived, dressed in a purple pinstripe suit, followed by two people behind him. The guy looked like a proper mafia boss right now.

"Is everyone here?"

"Yes."

"Good, then follow me." He beckoned us and we did just that.

There was a car outside, a bubble car which was pulled by two horses.

We got in with him while the man ordered the carriages to move.

Shiroe started a casual conversation with the guy.

"Mr. Damon, do you know about something called a Devil Fruit?" He asked.

The man paused for a bit and then looked at us. "Where'd you hear that from?"

"Ah, we were exploring the island yesterday when we encountered some pirates. One of them mentioned something like a Devil Fruit but died before he could tell us more." He lied.

"Pirates eh… yeah, those guys would be the most familiar with one. Devil Fruits are legends in these parts of the world but more common beyond the Reverse Mountain." Damon explained.

"What exactly are they?"

"As the name says, they are said to be fruits with devils inside them. Each of them is cursed by the Sea Devil. Anyone who consumes one gains supernatural powers but becomes hated by the sea. They lose their ability in water and sink like a piece of metal in water. There are many types of Devil Fruits too but they are primarily classified in three types, Paramecia, Zoan and Logia."

"What can they do?"

"The Zoan type allows the user to transform into animals or birds or even other races, increasing their power and giving them new powers. The Logia type is the rarest and most expensive one. These fruits that grant the power to create, control, and transform one's body into an element of nature. When transforming into their element, a Logia user becomes physically invulnerable, or outright intangible in the case of certain elements, and retains control over their body even if separated into pieces. But these are just the start. Their power increases with the power of the users."

Shiroe threw a look at me and then looked back at Damon who continued.

"Lastly are the Paramecia abilities.Anything that doesn't fall into the first two types falls in the last one. Their abilities can be varied, some bad while some even stronger than Logia." He finished.

"Where can we find one?" He asked.

"Find one? They are very rare in these places. As I said, it's more of a legend in this place. Very rarely one appears in auctions and the price of those goods would be sky high. Perhaps millions, even more."

"Why that much? Wouldn't magic work on them too and aren't they weak in water?" He asked.

"Oh sure it is. It's just that… the power they offer… is far beyond your imagination. Logia users can permanently change the terrain or even the climate of an island. There were even rumours about a devil fruit granting immortality. Lastly, the power gained is not restricted to Class, which makes it extremely valuable. Tell me, why would people care about such minor disadvantages if that were the case?"

We shared a look between each other and didn't say anything. By then, we had arrived at the auction house.

Damon led us into a room belonging to his Lion's Brew Gang.

"Is there anything you want to put up for auction?" He asked and Veena brought out a collection of two hundred Greater Healing Pills which we put up for auction.

Finally, we sat in the room and waited for the auction to begin.

The auction began and a lady came to the stage, beginning to announce the items one by one.

Veena's Pills were displayed and here it was surprisingly sold for eight hundred gold coins each instead of their usual price of five hundred and fifty in Llyne.

We bid on some items too like a Medicine Recipe for Intermediate Antidote and Intermediate Mana Regeneration Potion.

Our group had three mages and might have more in the future. Having the Mana Regeneration Potion would be good.

Both items cost us three hundred and eighty thousand gold coins.

Then came Skill Books. Shiroe got himself an Earth Spike and Earth Wall Spell. Together with Veena's Ice Wall Spell, we can cover our sides better.

Star got himself a Silence Shot Skill, which could disable Mages from using Magic.

Veena got an Explosion Spell.

The Skill Books cost almost five hundred thousand Gold Coins, leaving us with just eighty thousand or so gold coins.

Whistler and Suikazura-san didn't buy anything as nothing caught their eyes.

"Now, we come to our final group of items. These merchandise were caught from the islands of the Ashuborg Dynasty. Each of them are of the finest quality and will serve you to fulfil your desires."

With that, over a dozen girls were brought inside the room in a line.

"Wait, they are not!" Suikazura-san stood up stunned at the sight in front of us.

"They couldn't…" Whistler had his mouth open, his usual easy going carefree attitude gone.

"But that's…" Even Shiroe was taken aback.

"It's normal here. Didn't Richard tell you… at Sabaody, you can buy anything… and I mean… anything."

I knew this was coming but even then the scene left me with a bad taste in my mouth. People being sold as merchandise…

However, the bad things hadn't ended yet… a simple look at the girls told me that they were not all npcs. Some of them were players. They were selling players.

Before I could say anything however, I felt Veena's hand on mine.

I looked at her but she was staring stunned at the stage, specifically at one of the girls there.

Before I could ask her anything, she whispered a word…

"Grayfia…!"

…oh fuck.

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Beta Note: The advance chapters are in order of what is updated, a first Tier will not get 2 advanced chapters for every story, only the next two to be released.

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Author's Note:

I am back with another chapter of 'Soul Art Online'.

A few things happened here.

Arthas is at Sabaody and even got new members and even met Shakky but unfortunately no Rayleigh.

He got a few things including the massive surprise at the end.

But is that all?…

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.