Caravan

We generally used two words to describe Devil Fruit users—cheaters.

The cheats granted by Devil Fruits came in all sizes, some powerful early on, others later. The strongest early-game cheat was naturally the Logia type, which started off immune to physical damage other than Haki.

Next came Paramecia, while Zoan depended on luck.

Without a doubt, even the smallest cheat was still a cheat.

What normal person without Haki could beat a cheater?

That was Ling Donglai's confidence.

But these two bounty hunters had no idea that the man standing before them was cheating!

"Kururururu, did I hear that right? We're going to lose? You think you can beat us while bare-handed, even though we have weapons?"

The two bounty hunters laughed without restraint.

"Hmph, if you can make us lose, I'll give you the entire reward for this merchant ship!" One of the bounty hunters drew his blade.

"You've angered me!!" The other bounty hunter also drew his sword. His katana gleamed coldly, and it looked quite impressive.

"It's not too late to apologize now. Otherwise, we'll throw your body into the sea to feed the fish!"

"Just as expected of pirate scum. A little provocation, and someone takes the bait." Ling Donglai gave the two of them a thumbs-up.

Bounty hunters were no saints either. Even murderers and bandits sometimes became bounty hunters, since it was a loose profession with no threshold or professional ethics to speak of.

The only difference between them and pirates was that the Marines did not hunt them down.

"Current Drive..." Ling Donglai took a deep breath. Brilliant electricity flickered across his body, and under the stimulation of the current, his physical abilities increased three or fourfold.

He struck one bounty hunter's wrist with a hand chop. The tremendous force and numbing current made the man drop his sword. Then Ling Donglai kicked the other bounty hunter, sending him flying, before tossing the disarmed one out as well.

"That's it?" Ling Donglai leaned against the side of the ship.

"And you dared take a job bound for Cocoyasi Village?"

Taking down two bounty hunters in a second, Ling Donglai could not help feeling disappointed in them.

That was Arlong the Fish-Man's territory, known as Arlong Park. Yet these people dared escort a merchant caravan with skills like that.

They were seriously overestimating themselves.

"I'll kill you!" The bounty hunter who had been thrown off the ship clutched his backside. Looking up at Ling Donglai, who was gazing down at him from the deck, he flew into a rage from humiliation and pulled a pistol from behind his ass, aiming it at Ling Donglai.

Bang!

The bullet spun toward Ling Donglai.

Ling Donglai caught the spinning bullet in one hand, and blood burst from his palm.

"Using a gun? Fine by me." Ling Donglai pulled out the revolver he had loved back when he was a pirate, aimed it at the two bounty hunters below, and emptied the cylinder. Only then did he barely manage to kill them.

There was basically no point expecting accuracy from guns like these. The technology tree in the pirate world was incredibly bizarre.

"What's going on? Why are they fighting? My God, what happened?" The merchant ship's manager hurried over after hearing the gunshots, only to see that the two bounty hunters aboard had already been shot dead.

"The two guards you hired had bad tempers, and their skills were terrible too. Give me their reward later. I'll escort you instead. Also, give me some medicine. I need to bandage my wound."

Ling Donglai opened the hand that had caught the bullet, and an orange-yellow round with traces of blood dropped to the ground.

"Ah..." Cold sweat streamed down the merchant ship manager's face. It was his first time seeing someone ruthless enough to catch a bullet bare-handed.

"Hm?" Ling Donglai glanced at him.

"That would be wonderful! I'll arrange it immediately!" The manager wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Ling Donglai shook his head. Since arriving in this world, his first impression had been that lives were as cheap as ants.

To fit into this world and survive, Ling Donglai had no choice but to build himself a new set of values.

The ship sailed on. The two corpses were thrown into the sea and slowly sank, and no one would care about the two dead men.

The merchant ship manager knocked on Ling Donglai's door with a bag of Beli.

"May I ask how to address you, sir?" The manager placed the Beli on the table with a flattering smile. Ling Donglai rested in a recliner with a round hat covering his face.

Fresh bandages were wrapped around his hand.

"Ling Donglai."

Ling Donglai gave the name he had chosen for himself after coming to this world.

"Mr. Ling, you are truly young and accomplished! To defeat two bounty hunters—you're an expert!" The manager heaped on the praise.

"Since an expert like Mr. Ling is willing to escort our caravan safely to Cocoyasi Village, we are naturally immensely grateful.

Please accept this Beli. Mr. Ling's task is simple: just drive away any pirates who cause trouble for us along the way.

As for Arlong Park, we'll handle the arrangements ourselves. What do you think?" The manager rubbed his hands together and patiently explained the scope of the job to Ling Donglai.

"So it's that simple. No wonder the two bounty hunters you hired were so useless. You never intended to hire real experts in the first place." Ling Donglai lifted his hat, suddenly understanding.

"Haha... The Arlong Pirates have already ruled over more than twenty nearby villages and islands. Around here, only a few small pirate crews cause trouble. As for Arlong, he's in league with the Marines and has great power. No bounty hunter is willing to make an enemy of him. We pay them tribute for safe passage through these waters."

The manager smiled bitterly.

"Do you have a map of Arlong's territory?" Ling Donglai asked.

"Of course. The marked points on this map are the Arlong Pirates' bases." The manager did not know why Ling Donglai wanted the map, but he handed it over anyway.

After all, the caravan needed an expert like him to deal with those small pirate crews.

"I'll take this map. Also, if the caravan encounters pirates, I'll help out." Holding the map, Ling Donglai dismissed the merchant ship manager.

Although Ling Donglai had decided to oppose Arlong, he knew he was not the protagonist Luffy, protected from death by some terrifying plot armor. He had no intention of foolishly rushing into Cocoyasi Village to fight Arlong.

After all, they had numbers!

Arlong's pirate crew was made up of fish-men, skilled in naval combat, and they even had a sea beast lurking underwater. To fight such a massive force, he needed to strike and relocate, slowly whittling down the Arlong Pirates' strength.

There were no wild fish-men in the East Blue anyway. Once Arlong's crew lost members, they could not replenish them. This was basically a beginner village grinding spot!

After settling his plan in his mind, Ling Donglai closed his eyes and began training Current Drive. Electricity continually danced across the surface of his body. Everything was for the sake of entering the realm of Magnetic Field Rotation as soon as possible!

New book, please vote.