With intelligence on the neighbors kindly provided by Sunny, Maud picked out ten targets from among them.
The first target went without saying: Red, whom Maud had sniped to death. The second was Gaden, whom he had just assassinated.
However, Maud had not expected Gaden to come with a buy-one-get-one-free deal. He had practically gotten a bargain.
Judging by physique alone, the two muscular men who had embraced each other and fallen asleep tonight were clearly superior to Watt and Red physically.
Yet the benefits Maud obtained were not as obvious as those from the first two.
Maud had been mentally prepared for this.
He knew very well that the Hunter's Notebook's reward system was similar to accumulating experience points.
It was like a novice player who had just entered a game. As long as they slaughtered a few slimes early on, they could easily level up two or three times.
But once their level rose, the experience gained from slimes would decrease accordingly.
After that, they could only hunt prey of a higher level or prey matching their own level to maintain a steady upward trend in experience gains.
For example, if Maud could kill monsters on the level of Kaido or Big Mom now, the physique benefits returned to him would definitely send his current self soaring to the heavens.
However, that was something he could only dream about.
Of course, Maud could also choose to continue hunting prey at the level of slimes. Although the rewards would be lower, he could still achieve a qualitative change through sheer quantity.
Maud had done this before.
Back in Hunter's World, he had used the authority afforded by his position in the penal institution to personally execute quite a few death-row prisoners.
During that period, he had frantically farmed experience until the benefits at his current stage truly dropped to zero. Only then had he stopped.
That method could indeed yield experience with zero risk, but it would also consume a large number of the Notebook's blank pages.
Using it in Hunter's World was still acceptable, but using it in the One Piece World would be tantamount to destroying his own upper limit.
After all, Nen ability users who surpassed ordinary people were extremely rare in Hunter's World, whereas strong fighters crawled all over the One Piece World.
That was the fundamental difference between the two.
In other words.
The number of monsters available to choose from in the One Piece World far exceeded the number available in Hunter's World.
Therefore, even though Maud had considered buying slaves with money to farm experience, he would not rashly put the idea into practice.
After returning to Saul's Weapon Shop, Maud washed up and went to sleep.
The days passed one after another.
On the day before the auction began, Maud had successfully claimed neighbors three, four, and five.
The only unfortunate thing was that although the bounty amounts on the nearby neighbors were not low, the quality of the experience was not as high as he had imagined.
After all, bounty amounts were not determined solely by strength. They were based more on the evil deeds they had committed and the threat they posed, which established an approximate bounty.
These neighbors were of average strength and clearly belonged to the category of people who had committed too many vile deeds.
As a result, after several hunts, Maud had only barely raised his physique from fifteen times that of an ordinary person to twenty times.
Even so, Maud was quite satisfied.
He believed that with the capital he possessed now, he was more than qualified to go and join in the excitement around the auction's outer circle.
A new day arrived, with clear skies and not a cloud in sight.
Nearly a month of auction buildup had drawn crowds from all over.
There were pirates, people from the underworld, fearless bounty hunters who had disguised themselves and infiltrated the town, and even undercover agents from the Marines.
The spectacle had left Mad Hatter Town's inner-bay harbor almost completely packed with ships, with all kinds of flags fluttering in the sea breeze.
If a Marine saw this scene, they would probably be unable to stop themselves from thinking, Wouldn't it be great if we could wipe them all out in one go?
Although the spectacle had brought Mad Hatter Town an overwhelming influx of people, Saul's Weapon Shop remained deserted.
The weapon shop opened as usual that day.
Sunny sat behind the counter, staring blankly at the shop's entrance.
"The end of the month already..."
Her mind was filled with thoughts of the Devil Fruit being auctioned.
However, it was something she was destined never to obtain.
Saul had uncharacteristically skipped his morning training on Flower Street.
Perhaps the place was already overflowing, or perhaps he had suddenly remembered his responsibilities as a master.
That very day, he finally arranged an introductory training regimen for Maud.
"Why am I training my legs?"
Maud's legs were covered in black, unidentifiable metal weights.
They were surprisingly heavy. He had no idea where Saul had found them.
Maud had assumed that a sniper would focus more on training the stability of his hands, so he found it strange that Saul wanted him to train his legs first.
"Do you know what the highest realm of snipers is?"
Hearing Maud's question, Saul countered with one of his own.
"No."
"Listen carefully. The highest realm is being able to fire one shot without having to run afterward."
"Huh?"
"Then do you know what the next realm down is?"
"N-no, I don't."
"Being able to fire ten shots without having to run afterward."
"Huh??"
"There's another realm below that. Do you know what it is?"
"Just tell me already."
"Fire one shot, then run."
"Huh???"
"Do you think that's the end of it? Let me tell you, there's more!"
"..."
"The lowest realm is running the moment you sense that things are going badly."
"??????"
Maud was utterly bewildered.
Was this the theory of a sniper's realms in the One Piece World?
No, this was definitely something Saul had invented himself.
But somehow, somehow it seemed to make quite a bit of sense.
Saul took a drag of his cigarette, then said in a leisurely tone, "What realm do you think you're in right now?"
Maud hesitated before answering softly, "Running the moment I sense that things are going badly?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
Saul glared at him.
Maud was immediately left speechless.
At that moment, he somewhat understood the theory of these realms.
So he obediently began training his legs.
He wondered if he might fail to train himself into an Usopp and instead turn himself into a Sanji.
With the massive influx of people, the already lawless Mad Hatter Town was exceptionally lively that day.
Gunshots rang out at an extremely high frequency, like salvos of celebratory cannons echoing throughout every part of Mad Hatter Town.
Bloodshed and murder had become commonplace.
Yet this chaos did not lead to disorder. Instead, it sent the pirates into a complete frenzy.
Gambling Street, on the main avenue.
A group of men dressed in black suits, most of them tall and powerfully built, marched in formation down the street.
The man at their head, however, was a middle-aged man who was relatively short.
The middle-aged man wore a black hat and a striped suit, with a cigar clenched between his lips.
Although he was short, he radiated an intimidating aura.
The burly followers behind him all looked to him as their leader.
"Damn it, it's Begg of the Gangster!"
"Are you trying to get yourself killed? Hurry up and move back."
"These guys kill without batting an eye!"
When the people on the street saw the Gangster marching toward them, they all hurriedly retreated, leaving a broad avenue open.
Elsewhere.
Wine Street, still on the main road.
A dozen or more people lay scattered across the ground, dead from knife wounds.
In front of the bodies stood a man wearing a black top hat and holding a cane, his skin unnaturally pale.
The man casually whistled as he spun the cane rhythmically in one hand.
On both sides of the road, the crowd watched in horror as the man walked away.
"What just happened?"
"I-it seemed to happen in an instant..."
"I remember now. That man was... Lafitte, nicknamed the Devil Sheriff!"
Before you continue