Intermittent short-cycle sleep.
Thanks to the feline biological traits granted by the [Lynx] equipment, Merlin had slept lightly all night, but still rested well.
Throughout the night, his ears would twitch faintly from time to time, and his eyes would occasionally open and close halfway, keeping him alert to the world around him.
The next day.
Merlin didn't get up early or wake Yol and Lami. He waited until his mind and body had fully recovered, then picked up his pocket watch and checked the time.
Nine thirty in the morning.
Merlin stared at the cave ceiling, watching thin rays of light seep in through cracks in the rock above.
The cave was somewhat damp, but that was unavoidable. They couldn't light a fire here.
Looking over the cave, he turned his head toward Yol's pretty face, so close beside him, and felt as if it weren't real.
With a thought, a translucent, deep-blue equipment interface appeared before Merlin.
[Equipment Slot]
Merlin looked at the two miraculous pieces of [equipment] he had equipped, sensing the power of the equipment truly present within him.
Only then did the lingering unreality in his mind gradually fade.
"I really did come to this fantastical [One Piece] world."
He looked at the Synchronization Value displayed under [Equipment].
[Synchronization Value: 1%]
Both were still at one percent.
He thought:
"So I don't gain a little more just by surviving each day. Do I have to train and cultivate?"
Synchronization, sync—taken literally, the meaning was simple and easy to understand.
Having read countless web novels in his previous life, Merlin had a few other ideas.
He moved his right arm, and the slight motion woke Yol beside him.
She opened her eyes. Seeing him watching her calmly from so close, she looked dazed. "Laplace?"
"Mm. Call me Merlin."
Merlin answered calmly. Yol's mouth fell slightly open as her muddled awareness cleared completely.
She also remembered the situation the three of them were in. At the same time, she realized she had been clutching Merlin's right arm tightly with both arms.
A subtle look flashed through Yol's eyes, but she pretended nothing was amiss, let go, and sat up. Then she asked softly, "What time is it?"
Merlin sat up too and rubbed his numb arm. His gaze shifted. "Nine thirty in the morning. By the way, there's a stinging feeling on my left cheek. Could you check whether some bug bit me?"
The light was dim, so Yol hurried over to inspect him closely.
Merlin watched her eyes, but saw no strange glimmer in them.
"No. There aren't any marks from a bite on your face."
Merlin relaxed. Of course there weren't. The equipment interface before his eyes was still there.
"Looks like I'm the only one who can see it. That's good. I won't have to be so careful about it from now on."
Merlin smiled. "Maybe I imagined it."
Yol looked a little puzzled, but curiosity flickered in her eyes as she looked at Merlin.
"Your face is smudged with soot. Want me to wipe it off for you?"
Merlin shook his head and got up, glancing toward the cave entrance. "No need. It'll help me blend in.
"I'm going to check the area above. Wake Lami. There are rations—eat some. Don't wait for me."
As he spoke, Merlin strapped on his dagger, took a grenade, and climbed up. After moving the rocks aside, he crawled out through the artificial hill.
The villa had been burned beyond recognition and had mostly collapsed. Only wisps of black smoke still drifted skyward.
Merlin crouched silently, listening and keeping watch over the surroundings.
Ten seconds passed, and he detected no sign of movement nearby.
He walked to the wall, climbed over, and made a circuit around the area.
Scorch marks and damage from explosives were everywhere.
Before long, Merlin reached the area near the hospital. A thoughtful look crossed his eyes. He hadn't seen many bodies along the way.
"Were they all moved together?"
There were some tire tracks on the ground. Merlin climbed onto a rooftop and surveyed the area, then spotted smoke rising from several locations on the outskirts of the city.
He headed over.
On a rooftop by a harbor, Merlin lay prone and looked toward a pile of corpses surrounded by roaring flames in the open space in the distance.
A strong, charred stench filled the air.
His stomach churned. Merlin swallowed, forcing down his nausea.
A mocking look crossed his eyes. "So they know that burning the corpses can prevent an outbreak?"
Thinking of the six-man squads of soldiers he'd seen patrolling the city and hunting down survivors, he murmured:
"They really are trying to wipe everyone out."
On the way back,
Merlin found two one-liter water bottles in shops that hadn't been touched by the fire and filled them with clean drinking water.
Avoiding the patrols on the roads, Merlin returned to the cave. Yol and Lami had finished getting ready. He handed them the water bottles.
"Have some water. We'll set out soon."
Yol took them, and she and Lami drank their fill.
Merlin began preparing the grenades. He loaded seven, then gave five to Yol. She took the sword and rifle.
Once everything was ready,
the three of them set out together.
On the northern outskirts of the city,
Merlin, Yol, and Lami lay behind a half-collapsed wall.
A dense volley of gunfire rang out in an alley three hundred meters away.
A group of Flevance survivors were locked in a fierce firefight with foreign soldiers.
A glimmer appeared in Merlin's eyes. "As expected, this country produces plenty of lead bullets. The people here won't be wiped out so easily overnight."
Yol's eyes grew excited. She looked at Merlin.
"Should we join them and fight back?"
Merlin shook his head.
"Go let them know. I'll circle around and attack from behind. When they hear the commotion, the people still alive out there won't be fools."
Yol looked worried, but Merlin shook his head. "Do as I say."
With that, Merlin crouched low and ran quickly to one side. Yol pressed her lips together, watching him go, then steeled herself. She looked at the nearby rubble where they could hide, then at Lami.
"Hide here for now. We'll come find you when we're done."
Lami obediently nodded, lay down, and crawled into a gap beneath a wall that had collapsed at a right angle.
Yol checked that Lami was hidden, took a deep breath, then crouched low and ran toward the survivors with her rifle.
Yol soon found one of their leaders and reached an agreement with them.
And—
the leader was someone Yol had spoken with a few times before, an "acquaintance."
With an empty backpack strapped to his chest, Merlin circled around and approached from behind. He lay on the roof of a two-story building and peered down at the foreign soldiers fighting from behind a pile of rubble.
There were twelve of them.
A grenade lay in front of him.
Holding another grenade in his right hand with the safety lever pressed down, Merlin heard a faint click. He pulled the pin, counted two seconds, then hurled it toward a group below.
He immediately prepared the other grenade in front of him the same way and threw it toward another group.
Boom!
BOOM!
The grenades exploded among the soldiers.
Two unlucky men had grenades on them that detonated as well.
In an instant, the gunfire on that side fell silent.
The blast threw the group off their feet, and piteous screams rose one after another.
At the same time, the survivors across from them stopped firing. Merlin jumped off the roof, sprinted over, and rushed up behind a man who hadn't been caught in the blast.
He viciously stabbed the man in the neck with his dagger. Pulling it free without hesitation, he rushed toward another man nearby, stunned by the explosion.
His hand rose and the dagger fell.
Another soldier hit the ground.
Soon, Merlin took out the two remaining soldiers, three meters away, who had only been caught at the edge of the blast.
Then he finished off all the remaining soldiers who had been badly wounded by the grenades.
Merlin glanced at the survivors running toward him and began searching the battlefield.
He collected all the grenades from the soldiers' belts and stuffed them into the backpack on his chest.
He had collected seventeen grenades in all.
A few seconds later, the fourteen survivors arrived together, looking at Merlin with approval. Yol hurried to his side. When she saw that he was unhurt, her expression relaxed.
At that moment, Merlin held a grenade behind his back in his right hand. He looked at the man among the group three meters away who was clearly their leader.
He was a tough-looking, two-meter-tall middle-aged man with short black hair and bloodshot eyes.
Merlin's gaze held a trace of wariness.
"Hey, what should I call you?"
Before you continue