The Realm of the Sniper

Based on the [neighbor] intel kindly provided by Sunny, Maud had selected ten prey from among the many neighbors.

The first prey went without saying—it was Red, whom Maud had sniped. The second prey was Gaden, whom he had just assassinated.

However, Maud hadn't expected Gaden to come with a bonus kill, so he counted it as a lucky break.

If only judging by physique, those two muscle-bound men sleeping in each other's arms tonight clearly surpassed Watt and Red in terms of physical condition.

But the benefits Maud reaped from them were not as pronounced as those from the previous two.

Maud had already mentally prepared himself for this.

He understood very well that the Hunter's Notebook's reward system worked like experience point accumulation.

It was like a new player just entering a game—killing a few slimes in the early stages could easily net two or three levels.

But as the level increased, the experience gain from slimes would correspondingly drop.

After that, one could only hunt prey of a higher level, or at least matching one's own level, to keep the experience gain steadily rising.

For example, if Maud could kill a monster on the level of Kaido or Big Mom right now, the physical benefits he'd receive would absolutely send him soaring.

But that kind of thing could only be dreamed about.

Of course, Maud could also choose to keep hunting slime-level prey. Though the gains were lower, he could still achieve a qualitative change through quantity.

He had done this before.

Back in the Hunter's World, he had used the convenience of his position in a penal institution to personally execute quite a few death row prisoners.

For a time, he had frantically farmed experience points, only stopping when the benefits at his current stage truly dropped to zero.

However, while this method could net experience points with zero risk, it also consumed the notebook's blank pages at a significant rate.

Using this method in the Hunter's World was acceptable, but applying it in the One Piece World would be like sabotaging his own ceiling.

This was because Nen users, who were exceptional, were scarce in the Hunter's World, whereas in the One Piece World, strong individuals were everywhere.

That was the fundamental difference between the two.

In other words.

The number of available monsters in the One Piece World far exceeded that in the Hunter's World.

So, even though Maud had considered using money to buy slaves to farm experience points, he wouldn't act on it rashly.

Returning to the weapon shop, Maud washed up and went to sleep.

Days passed one by one.

By the day before the auction began, Maud had successfully claimed neighbors number three, four, and five.

Somewhat regrettably, while the bounties of the nearby neighbors weren't low, the quality of experience wasn't as high as expected.

After all, bounty amounts weren't determined solely by strength; they were mostly set based on [the severity of past misdeeds] and [the level of threat posed].

These neighbors, with average strength, clearly fell into the category of [having committed too many heinous acts].

This meant that after several hunts, Maud's physique had only barely broken through from fifteen times an ordinary person's to twenty times.

Even so, Maud was quite satisfied.

He believed that with the capital he now had, he could at least join the outer circle of the auction and have some fun.

A new day dawned, clear and cloudless.

After nearly a month of auction buildup, crowds from all walks of life had gathered.

There were pirates, underworld figures, reckless bounty hunters disguised and sneaking in, and even Navy moles mixed among them.

This spectacle had filled the inner bay port of Mad Hatter Town with ships, all kinds of flags fluttering in the sea breeze.

If any Navy soldiers saw this scene, they'd probably can't help but think, "If only we could wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

Despite the spectacle drawing an overwhelming flow of people to Mad Hatter Town, business at Saul's Weapon Shop remained as quiet as a deserted door.

That day, the weapon shop opened as usual.

Sunny sat behind the counter, staring blankly at the shop door.

"End of the month already..."

Her mind was full of the Devil Fruits at the auction.

But those were things she was destined never to obtain.

Saul, unusually, didn't go to Flower Street for his morning exercise.

Maybe it was because the place was already packed, or maybe he had suddenly remembered his duties as a teacher.

Today, he finally set up an introductory training plan for Maud.

"Why leg training?"

Maud's legs were strapped with black, nondescript metal weights.

And honestly, they were heavy. He had no idea where Saul had found these weights.

But since he thought a sniper should focus on training hand stability, he found it strange that Saul wanted him to train his legs first.

"Do you know what the highest realm of a sniper is?"

Hearing the question Maud raised, Saul shot back a question of his own.

"No idea."

"Listen up. The highest realm is firing one shot and not needing to run."

"Huh?"

"Then do you know what the next realm down is?"

"N-no idea."

"Firing ten shots and not needing to run."

"Huh??"

"There's another realm below that. Do you know it?"

"Just say it straight, old man."

"Firing one shot and then running."

"Huh???"

"You think that's it? Let me tell you, there's more!"

"..."

"The lowest realm is sensing trouble and running straight away."

"??????"

Maud stood there, utterly bewildered.

Was this the theory of sniper realms in the One Piece World?

No, this had to be something Saul made up himself.

But... it actually kind of made sense.

Saul took a drag of his cigarette, then said in a low, measured tone: "So what realm do you think you're in now?"

Maud hesitated, then muttered quietly: "Sensing trouble and running straight away?"

"Well, there you go?"

Saul's eyes widened.

Maud was left speechless.

At that moment, he started to understand this theory of realms.

So he obediently began his leg training.

He figured—he'd better not end up training himself into a Sanji instead of an Usopp.

A massive flood of people poured in. Mad Hatter Town, already lawless by nature, was bustling like never before today.

Gunfire rang out at an extremely high frequency, like a barrage of celebratory cannon fire echoing through every corner of Mad Hatter Town.

Bloodshed and killings had become the norm.

Such chaos didn't spark a riot, though—instead, it sent the pirates into full-blown revelry.

Gambling Street, on the main road.

A group of men in black suits, all tall and burly, marched in formation down the street.

At the head of them was a middle-aged man of relatively short stature.

The man wore a black hat, a striped suit, and a cigar clamped between his lips.

Despite his small build, he exuded an intimidating presence.

And the towering gang of underlings behind him all looked to him as their leader.

"Damn, it's Begg of the Gangster!"

"You looking to die? Get back here, quick!"

"These guys kill without blinking!"

The crowd on the street saw the Gangster marching in formation and scrambled out of the way, clearing a wide-open path.

Elsewhere.

Wine Street, still on the main road.

A dozen bodies lay scattered on the ground, dead from stab wounds.

In front of this pile of corpses stood a man in a black top hat, holding a cane, with skin so pale it was eerie.

The man whistled nonchalantly, twirling his cane in a steady rhythm.

On both sides of the street, the crowd watched in horror as the man walked away.

"What just happened?"

"It... it was like an instant..."

"I remember now. That man is... Lafitte, the one nicknamed the Devil Sheriff!"