By this point, I realized that somewhere along the way, I had drifted off course and made the story incredibly awkward.
I only wanted to write a mindless, cheerful fanfiction, yet it had somehow turned into a dry essay full of reasoning. That had already affected this book's lighthearted, absurd tone.
Every time I finished a small arc, two completely opposing opinions inevitably appeared in the comments.
If the protagonist killed pirates, people would call him a murderous fiend;
If the protagonist spared someone, people would accuse him of groveling and being a saint.
Both lines of thinking were extremely polarized. One side wanted to see a true paladin, while the other demanded that the protagonist become an upgraded Akainu.
To avoid getting attacked as much as possible, I had no choice but to repeatedly emphasize the protagonist's attitude and beliefs in the story—
To level up, he had to kill people. That mechanism meant he could never be some kind of paladin.
And when it came to killing, the protagonist would definitely kill those he believed could be killed.
But the protagonist himself was just a complex, ever-changing person. His judgment would be influenced by all sorts of factors, such as benefits, preferences, and mood.
So he could never become the absolutely cold and ruthless law-enforcement machine some people expected him to be.
How could a normal person be so extreme, so perfect, and take every single aspect into consideration?
Everyone was stupid, crude, and flawed.
And then—
I finally realized something was wrong—
Why the hell was I explaining this stuff in the book?
Who deserved to die, what crimes deserved death—even modern law could not guarantee absolute fairness, justice, and freedom from error on such questions.
Even court rulings could not make everyone agree.
How could a