After realizing Beli's potential value, Maud decided to keep him.
At the same time, Maud was very interested in the new star pirate Saul had mentioned.
After several courses, he pressed Saul for more stories about the new star pirate.
Perhaps because he had recalled the past, Saul seemed to grow excited. The drinks came one after another, and so did his stories.
Maud and Sunny acted like attentive listeners, silently listening to Saul recount his past.
It was only when Saul was drunk senseless that the reminiscing finally came to an end.
After Saul returned to his room to rest, Maud helped Sunny clean up the mess before returning to their respective rooms.
As for Beli, with his value having skyrocketed, he no longer needed to go to the bathroom to purify the air. However, not a single chain that needed to be fastened had been removed.
Maud returned to his room, removed his weights, and sat down on the bed.
With a thought, Hunter's Notebook appeared.
His gaze swept over the tiny, faint specks of starlight on the cover. Only the one representing the fish-man Sam had gained a small, sharp protrusion.
Maud opened the notebook directly and began scribbling on the blank pages with a pencil.
Every stroke and line was related to memories from the original story.
This was the daily practice he insisted on doing.
Its purpose was to further consolidate his memories, allowing those gradually blurring scenes to slowly become clear and visible again.
Although it was tedious, it was extremely important.
After finishing his daily review, Maud put away Hunter's Notebook and took out Notebook Copy instead.
Only after reading it twice did Maud put the notebook away and lie down.
Hunter's Notebook
After lying down, Maud summoned Hunter's Notebook again.
He stared at the second blank silver line on the cover and fell into deep thought.
His battle with Abe had made him lean further toward choosing Sword Mastery.
Compared to fists, a long blade truly had the advantage in terms of length and hardness alone.
Moreover, a longer attack range also meant lower risk.
That aligned fairly well with the direction Maud wanted to take.
Maud drew the quill from the spine of the book, but he did not immediately put it to paper.
There should have been no need to hesitate further, yet the new star pirate Saul had mentioned that night had given Maud many ideas out of nowhere.
According to Saul, that new star pirate was not only proficient in physical techniques but also possessed considerable skill with swords, guns, and even more obscure weapons.
On top of that, the pirate had eaten a Zoan that could increase his overall physical qualities before pairing it with the Hunter-Cat's Weapon-Weapon Fruit, thereby forming a unique and powerful combat force.
However, according to Saul, although that new star pirate had been dazzling during his early days, he had quickly faded afterward.
"Trying to chew more than you can bite off is a lesson everyone understands. So even though he had extraordinary talent, he could only go this far in the end."
Those were Saul's exact words, and they were filled with sarcasm.
At the end, he had even given Maud a warning look.
Maud deeply agreed with this cautionary example.
He understood the principle of trying to chew more than one could bite off very well himself.
Of course, that was based on the premise that he did not have Hunter's Notebook.
With such an ability, Maud could save more time and energy than others, so he would not end up like that new star pirate.
With that in mind, if Beli ate the Weapon-Weapon Fruit and Maud wrote down a requirement such as Weapon Mastery...
By then,
If he needed a gun, he could become a gun.
If he needed a sword, he could become a sword.
If he needed an axe, he could become an axe.
Such varied fighting methods would certainly give his enemies a headache.
That was why Maud hesitated to put pen to paper.
He had originally rejected the choice of Weapon Mastery, but Beli's appearance, along with Saul's account of the past, had caused that choice to flare back to life.
If he could rely on Hunter's Notebook to survive the difficult early and middle stages,
then the various scenes awaiting him in the future would be enough to make Maud's blood boil.
At the thought, Maud could not help feeling excited.
But he was not swept away by the future he had imagined.
If he could not even make it through the early stages, where would the later future come from?
Besides, setting aside making Beli submit willingly, he could not obtain the Weapon-Weapon Fruit in the short term either.
If he insisted on getting it, he had to be mentally prepared to stand against Doflamingo.
Most importantly, however, was the unavoidable difficulty of Benefit Diversion.
Maud gradually calmed down.
The future he had envisioned was certainly beautiful, but it was filled with difficult obstacles. If he could not overcome them, all his ideas would remain mere fantasies.
"'Benefits' can't be diverted anymore. From now on, I'll also have to consider 'Haki' or 'Devil Fruits.'"
After thinking for a long time, Maud was not swayed by the new star pirate's story. He put pen to paper and wrote down the requirement for Sword Mastery.
Although he had made his decision, Maud still held considerable expectations for Beli's future.
It would naturally be best if he could get Beli to eat the Weapon-Weapon Fruit.
Even if that proved impossible, he could choose a support-type Devil Fruit.
Maud put away the notebook and slowly closed his eyes.
His mind was filled with all kinds of bizarre ideas for bringing out Beli's tool-like qualities.
Over the next few days.
Although he had filled in the second requirement, Maud still honestly stayed in the shop.
He was certain that Abe and Kazt would come looking for trouble.
Therefore, in order to bring out this powerful ally named Saul, Maud used his desire to learn how to shoot to keep Saul from going to Flower Street for his morning training every day.
However, several days passed without even a trace of them appearing.
The calmness made Maud feel deeply bewildered.
This made no sense, did it?
While Maud remained utterly perplexed, he also collected the experience points from neighbors No. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
After harvesting the leeks growing near his home, Maud even made a special trip to ask Sunny whether there were any new leeks he could harvest.
Unfortunately, perhaps because he had been harvesting the leeks too frequently, the nearby residents had become panic-stricken.
As a result, not only did no new leeks move in, but even some leeks Maud had not thought much of moved away one after another.
Beli, the newly arrived member of the household, listened from the side as Maud and Sunny casually discussed the matter.
After that, Beli often did not dare look Maud directly in the eye.
Although he knew that none of the humans living in this town were good people, whenever he imagined Maud expressionlessly shooting down one little bird after another with a gun, he could not help feeling afraid of him.
On the fifth day, Maud stopped trying to keep Saul there.
After Saul left, Maud finally stopped restraining his urge to touch a blade and pulled a relatively pleasing-looking long sword from the shelf.
Sunny, who was reading a newspaper, noticed what Maud was doing and looked up. "What are you doing?"
"Trying out the feel."
Maud gripped the scabbard and gave Sunny a cheeky grin.
Sunny frowned. "If Saul finds out, he might skin you alive."
"If you don't tell him and I don't tell him, how will Saul find out?"
Maud gripped the hilt. The moment it entered his hand, he felt a faint, familiar sensation linger in his heart.
Unlike the sense of security he felt when holding a gun, this was an indescribable feeling of fulfillment.
Under this inexplicable sensation, merely holding the hilt gave Maud an urge to draw the blade.
Unfortunately, there was no enemy in front of him, and there were no wooden practice dummies in the shop either.
At that thought, Maud subconsciously glanced at Beli.
After Maud glanced at him, Beli, whose upper body was bound tightly with chains, immediately felt his heart tremble. He wriggled over to the inside of the counter and hid behind Sunny.
Seeing this, Maud walked behind the counter and asked with concern, "Beli, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
"N-no."
"Oh, that's good."
Maud turned to Sunny and asked, "How much is this sword?"
He suddenly realized that he did not need to buy a sword outside. There were plenty of ready-made ones right here.
"2.6 million."
"..."
Maud silently put the sword back. Considering that he did not want to increase Sunny's workload, he did not pick up a second sword and merely pointed at it with his finger.
"What about this one?"
"1.7 million."
"And this one?"
"2.2 million."
"What's the cheapest one?"
"900,000."
"..."
Maud touched the less-than-500,000 Beli in his pocket and let out a deep sigh.
Looks like I'd better take a look around the weapon shops in town.
As for the secondhand goods on the shop's third shelf, he could not bring himself to consider them.
Before you continue