Consideration of the Second Request

"Arlong will absolutely slaughter you humans."

These were the last words Sam wanted to say before dying.

If Maud had heard them, he might have laughed out loud.

However, hearing the name Arlong from Sam's mouth was unexpected for Maud.

After all, the Arlong Pirates were in the East Blue, and this was the West Blue.

Could it be that he wanted to defect to Arlong, but got lost and ended up in the West Blue, and then was captured by humans?

Maud shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Just then, his body suddenly made a slight cracking sound, and then underwent a minor change.

Maud sensed it, rolled up his sleeve, and his arm muscles began to show, though they were still superficial.

"To think that just a few words of information could yield such a reward."

Maud was a little surprised and couldn't help but glance at Sam's corpse.

After all, this was a guy who could carve a path through a crowd with just his physical abilities and astonishing grip strength.

Not to mention, despite his serious injuries, he not only held on until now, but his speed, though severely hampered, was still not to be underestimated when he charged over earlier.

If he hadn't already factored in Sam's reaction and pulled back in advance, he might have been caught by Sam after finishing writing his name.

For a Fish-Man like Sam, with such strong physical abilities, if he had learned martial arts or Fish-Man Karate, his overall strength would probably have multiplied several times over.

"This guy doesn't seem like an ordinary Fish-Man warrior. If he had escaped tonight and then teamed up with the Arlong Pirates... he might have wiped out the Straw Hat Pirates before they were even formed a few years from now."

Maud picked up the Usopp he had thrown aside earlier.

Dropping the gun was a bit of a superfluous move. He had originally intended to make Sam slightly lower his guard, but the gun was, after all, unloaded.

However, Maud still had some admiration for Sam's decisiveness in the short few minutes he had.

It was just a pity that fate had already secretly marked the price.

Even if Sam had managed to escape the auction house and reach this place by some fluke, he couldn't escape his only destination—death.

At that time, even if Maud hadn't fired his gun, he could have killed the unstable and heavily injured Sam with just a dagger.

It was just that firing the gun was safer.

Since there was a safer method, Maud would have to be crazy to use a dagger.

If it were a long sword, perhaps it could have been considered.

After all, a longer weapon is stronger, and a long sword would be much more reliable than a dagger.

Without lingering, Maud left the alley.

A moment later, a hint of fishy smell gradually appeared in the air.

Tonight, Maud had successfully taken down three pirates and one Fish-Man.

With such a bountiful harvest, he decided to call it a night and not join the commotion at the auction house, heading straight back to his weapon shop.

"The Arlong Pirates..."

On the way back, Sam's unfinished words before his death, coupled with Maud's first taste of the benefits of a Fish-Man prey, inevitably led him to daydream.

For now, it was just a thought.

After all, the Arlong Pirates were far away in the East Blue, and with his current strength, going there would be pure suicide.

But the profit from the Fish-Man was indeed gratifying.

Of course, if it were just an ordinary Fish-Man, there probably wouldn't be much profit.

For a Fish-Man of Sam's caliber, Maud could think of the Arlong Pirates in the East Blue, Fish-Man Island ten thousand meters below the deep sea, and the Sabaody Archipelago, which had a relatively large supply of Fish-Man slaves.

The awkward part was that by the time Maud could go to those places, his strength might have already increased to the point where he wouldn't need them.

On the way back to the weapon shop, Maud deliberately took a route without lights, but unfortunately, he got lost.

Helpless, Maud had no choice but to take the route across the rooftops of buildings, and only then did he safely return to the weapon shop.

Upon returning, Maud tiptoed into the restroom.

He fumbled in the dark, took off his mask and the "Death" armband, placed them on the washbasin, turned on the faucet, and cupped water to splash on his face.

He planned to dispose of these disguise items tomorrow.

Even if he needed them again, he would just make a new set with a different style.

"Hoo..."

Maud wiped the water from his face and looked at the mirror in the darkness, which was pitch black.

His Physique requirement was back on track, and he began to consider whether to fill in a second requirement.

As the thought arose, hesitation followed closely.

Blade techniques, or body techniques?

Considering body techniques, Maud's first thought was the Marines' Six Powers: Soru, Tekkai, Kami-e, Geppo, Rankyaku, and Shigan.

When it came to swordsmanship, the most striking impression was Zoro's various flashy sword techniques, and Mihawk's powerful aura when he casually swung his sword.

For the former, one would need to learn the Six Powers first for the [Physique Requirement] to take effect.

For the latter, one could take a shortcut and fill the [Cold Weapon] requirement.

However, as the requirements expanded, the experience gained would have to be divided.

Originally, for passive requirements like Physique, the gains would be split among multiple aspects such as Strength, Stamina, and Speed.

If another similar requirement were added, it would likely result in having many things but mastering none.

A bolder move would be to add a talent requirement, but Maud didn't want to take a risk on something as elusive as talent.

He likely wouldn't be able to decide in a short time.

However, Maud was also very clear that he leaned more towards swordsmanship. It was just that with only a few slots available, he had to choose carefully and wouldn't make a decision so quickly.

His consideration was simple: under the same conditions, a sword was definitely harder than a fist.

There was also another key point: length.

As he considered this, a scene involuntarily emerged in Maud's mind.

The little stick figure practicing body techniques darted through the crowd, leaving afterimages and shouting, "I can dazzle you until your scalp tingles!"

The little stick figure practicing swordsmanship directly pulled out something long and hard and said dismissively, "Mine is longer than yours."

The conversation ended there.

Maud's thoughts returned to reality.

"I'll take my time," he said.

He habitually told himself not to rush.

With enough patience, success wasn't as difficult as he imagined.

Clack.

The light suddenly turned on.

Maud's eyelids twitched, and he saw Sunny's reflection in the mirror.

Sunny had turned on the light.

He had been too focused on his thoughts and hadn't noticed Sunny coming downstairs.

Looking at Sunny in the mirror, Maud apologized, "Did I wake you?"

Sunny shook her head, "I wasn't asleep."

"It's this late, and you're still awake?"

Maud was a little surprised.

Sunny, however, suddenly fell silent and looked at the mask and armbands on the sink.

Especially the mask; if one didn't look closely, they might mistake it for the mask Arthur wore while working.

Seeing Sunny examining the mask and armbands, Maud turned around, subtly blocking Sunny's view, and changed the subject, teasing, "You're still awake this late, don't tell me you were waiting for me to come back?"

"Yes."

Sunny, seemingly lacking the shyness expected of a girl, directly nodded in admission.

Maud was taken aback, then burst into laughter, joking, "Good heavens, don't tell me you've fallen for me."

Sunny immediately rolled her eyes at him and walked straight to the kitchen.

"I'm hungry, make me something to eat. And make an extra portion, Saul might be back soon."

"You go ahead, I'll be there in a bit," Maud replied with a smile, preparing to take the mask and armbands upstairs to his room.

Mad Hat Auction House.

The black smoke had dissipated, leaving the scene in disarray.

Gang Bege, surrounded by his subordinates, held a half-eaten Devil Fruit in his hand.

His features were slightly contorted due to the indescribable taste.

At his feet lay a middle-aged man, shot several times.

"Begg!"

The middle-aged man struggled to lift his head and glared at Begg, saying, "Someone like you, who built their fortune on bootleg liquor..."

Begg coldly watched the middle-aged man as he swallowed the other half of the Devil Fruit.