Improve Physique

He successfully escaped using the piss excuse.

Once in the restroom, Maud immediately locked the door behind him.

[Hunter's Notebook]

A notebook black as ink jade, exuding an air of prestige, materialized out of thin air.

On the spine, the black tail feather of a quill trembled faintly, as if awaiting Maud's favor.

When he had originally developed this ability, the pen Maud envisioned was a black fountain pen, but that would have correspondingly increased the difficulty of development.

So, to reduce the pressure on other parts of the development, he had to settle for the next best option and materialize a quill—harder to write with, but simpler in construction.

Pulling the quill from the spine, Maud unhesitatingly wrote the neat Chinese characters for [Physique] along the first silver line.

Physique was his top priority at the moment.

On this point, there was no need for deliberation at all.

Because only by first improving his physique would he have the capital to pursue more.

Not to mention, in the world of One Piece, a formidable physique was the very foundation for a strong person's standing.

And as for freakish physiques like those of the Four Emperors, Big Mom Charlotte Linlin and Beasts Kaido, Maud didn't even dare to think about them now.

After writing down his need, Maud opened the first page of the notebook.

It was blank as snow.

In a daze, Maud saw densely packed, crooked, and ugly handwriting on the page.

With a blink, those words suddenly vanished like phantom shadows.

Maud was slightly stunned, muttering under his breath, "Starting over..."

Right now, he was like someone who had their max-level account wiped and had to build a new character from scratch on a new server.

As for advantages, he still had some solid ones.

Maud moved the quill, and while generating Watt's appearance in his mind, he quickly wrote down Watt's relevant information.

[Evan Watt]

[Skilled with a blade]

This information came from Sunny, and it was pathetically simple.

But, even a mosquito's leg is still meat.

Moreover, given the current strength of this body, even if the benefits gained were small, the effect would likely be immediate.

As if completing an important task, Maud slowly closed the Hunter's Notebook with an unnecessary flourish.

Thank you, Evan Watt, for your contribution.

Thank you, Kid, for luring Watt here.

Maud dismissed the Hunter's Notebook and looked at himself in the mirror.

He raised a finger and gently pressed the bloodstained bandage on his forehead; a pang of pain immediately arose.

If the Hunter's Notebook worked, after completing the hunt, the healing of the wound should show a noticeable change.

The only regret was that Watt was not a physique specialist.

"Ready."

Maud picked up the small knife resting on the sink and walked out of the restroom.

Inside the shop, Saul and Sunny had been waiting for a while.

But in reality, it had only been a few minutes.

Knife in hand, Maud approached the unconscious Watt.

Under the watchful eyes of Saul and Sunny, Maud didn't dawdle. He crouched down, gripped the knife, and stabbed it forcefully into Watt's chest, aiming straight for the heart.

Pfft—

Blood splattered onto Maud's hand.

Awkwardly, the knife only went in halfway, and nearly slipped from his grip.

Saul raised an eyebrow.

Sunny lowered her eyelids.

Damn it.

Maud cursed inwardly.

But thinking about the physical standards of this world, he let it go. Besides, his current body was extremely weak.

Without any hesitation, Maud pulled out the knife and then stabbed a few more times, finally causing Watt to die quickly in his unconscious state.

From start to finish, the whole process was like killing a chicken.

After all, this was something Maud had done plenty of times before.

In the hunting records of the Hunter's Notebook from his past life, nearly a thousand names were written.

Among them, most were cases where he'd landed a job in an execution facility and used convenient means to personally put condemned criminals to death.

The whole process was just flipping a switch to deliver lethal drugs—a simple, effortless task.

Because the gains came so easily, Maud spent a long time stuck in correctional institutions, lacking experience in life-or-death combat.

Strictly speaking, Maud was not a standard combat-oriented hunter.

As the number of criminals he personally executed grew, Maud gradually developed a subtle, creeping indifference toward [life].

Or rather, indifference toward the lives of [criminals]. And in this world, most pirates, in Maud's view, were no different from the serious offenders in his past life's correctional facilities.

Killing them was like stepping on an ant—no psychological burden whatsoever.

Speaking of correctional facilities, in the One Piece World, the place that came to Maud's mind was Impel Down.

However, the penal system in this pirate world seemed a bit more humane.

Even if a criminal sent to Impel Down deserved a dozen death sentences, they were just locked up and that was it.

It could be understood as preventing Devil Fruits from leaking out, but the ability users imprisoned in Impel Down were clearly a minority.

Still, even if Impel Down didn't favor executing prisoners, with his ability, he'd actually be well-suited to joining the Marines.

Too bad he woke up in such a chaotic place. Even if he could escape later, he probably wouldn't pass the Marines' recruitment screening.

As his thoughts turned, Maud slowly released the knife handle, stood up, and closed his eyes.

In the darkness before him, the Hunter's Notebook floated silently, its edges radiating a halo of light, like the sun during a total eclipse.

That halo was visibly seeping into the notebook.

Then, a tiny white star point appeared on the black cover.

At that same moment, the light source vanished, and darkness reclaimed his vision.

In a short span of time, a trace of color returned to Maud's pale face.

He opened his eyes, feeling a slight itch at his forehead.

At the same time, the debilitating weakness that made him feel like a gust of wind could knock him down had noticeably lessened.

These changes all came from hidden benefits related to physical constitution.

As for visible benefits like muscle or toughness, Watt's level and the pitiful amount of preparation materials weren't enough to cause any change.

But regardless, the Hunter's Notebook was useful!

Light gleamed in Maud's eyes.

Saul and Sunny watched the whole process of Maud killing Watt, as well as his excited flush of color afterward, and didn't think much of it.

After all, in their view, merchants hated nothing more than pirates who plundered without restraint.

Not to mention, Maud ending up in this state was all thanks to pirates.

Taking out his anger on Watt to clear his mind was only natural.

However, Saul didn't want the store's future second workhorse to go down an extreme path.

He walked over to the corpse, pulled out the small knife, and wiped the blood off with the dead man's clothes.

"Look at you, all worked up. I told you to leave the past behind, not to get stuck in a dead end and never come out."

"Understood."

Maud lowered his head in response.

He fully understood what Saul meant, but he couldn't exactly explain himself.

What he needed to do now was to firmly latch onto Saul's leg and then quickly integrate into Mad Hatter Town, where human life could become cheap at any moment.

Saul glanced at Maud's right hand, covered in blood, and said, "Good that you understand. Go wash your hands first."

Then he looked at Sunny and said, "Little Sunny, go call Arthur to collect the body."

"Okay."

Sunny acknowledged and left.

Maud went to the restroom, turned on the faucet, and scrubbed the blood from his hands.

After washing clean, Maud dried his hands and looked at himself in the mirror.

He raised his hand and pressed down on the wound again.

It had hurt a few minutes ago; now it didn't.

The results were quite gratifying, though on the flip side, it was also because this body was too weak.

He wondered how many hunts it would take to reach a level of recovery comparable to Luffy's.

"Ha..."

Maud let out a soft breath, his body and mind relaxing at the same time.

Successfully completing his first hunt gave him a bit of confidence.

But the situation remained dire, and the second hunting target was still nowhere in sight.

"Mad Hatter Town..."

"Dangerous as it is, on the flip side, it's also an excellent hunting ground."

"Take it slow."

Maud cupped cold water and splashed it over his face.

Wiping away the moisture, he didn't recklessly undo the bandages to check his wounds. Maud walked out of the restroom.

When he returned, there was a burly stranger in the shop.

The man wore something like a work uniform, with a black armband inscribed with the character [Death] tied around his left arm, and a white mask on his face that only revealed his eyes and half his mouth.

Maud figured this must be Arthur, the one Sunny had called to collect the body.

Arthur had been examining the corpse, but when he heard Maud's footsteps, he looked up and was visibly surprised.

"Oh, you actually woke up."