"System, Mission Panel." That's right—not the Character Panel, but the Mission Panel.
"Beep—Mission Panel activated." The System's cool, aloof voice rang out, completely at odds with its little-boy appearance.
Mission One: Destroy a total of 200 pirate crews (110/200). Reward: 5 Enhancement Points. Mission Two: Obtain a piece of equipment approved by the System (0/1)
A year ago, Rono had discovered that no matter how much he trained, he couldn't gain any more Enhancement Points. That was when System Loli popped out to mock him and brought up the Mission Panel. Only completing missions would earn him a small number of Enhancement Points; fighting also earned him some, depending on his opponent. As the System put it, "You've already left the newbie zone, so you can't expect to die without losing a level, can you?" Ahem, that was more or less the idea. The most common mission was destroying pirate crews. Otherwise, Rono wouldn't have gone looking for trouble with pirate crews every day out of sheer boredom. It was exhausting, okay?
There was a reason the System kept assigning missions to destroy pirate crews.
First: Rono was technically a Marine, and a Shichibukai too. He couldn't exactly go cause trouble at a Marine Base.
Second: The Revolutionary Army was an option, but its movements were too secretive. He couldn't find them, so how was he supposed to hone his fighting skills?
So the pirate crews were the ones who got unlucky.
With his buddy and son in tow, he ate, slept, and fought pirates.
"System, Character Panel."
"Beep—Character Panel activated."
3D Rono rotated on the screen. His basic information appeared below.
Name: Wolf Rono Age: 17 Height: 3.73 meters (You've already passed your growth spurt, so you probably won't get much taller.) Skills: One: Self-Healing Factor (Description: Your super-regeneration ability will make your life much easier. With the Self-Healing Factor, anything is possible.) Two: Bone Claws (Description: Your bones are far harder than an adult's, making your Bone Claws comparable to the Great Grade Swords. Negligible stamina consumption. My Bone Claws are too much for you to handle.) Devil Fruit Ability: One: Bone Planting Armor (Description: Extremely powerful defense; ordinary bullets can't penetrate your defenses. Moderate stamina consumption. As solid as a rock.) Two: Crimson Armor (Description: Offers tremendous explosive power and mobility, but poor defense. Severe stamina consumption. I can take on ten.) Three: Control External Objects (Description: This is a powerful ability, but you can only control little things. Severe stamina consumption. Even the underwear on your body belongs to me.) Four: Tree Man Gelu (Description: There's a chance you'll turn into a Tree Man Warrior when emotional. No stamina consumption. I'm at my most glorious when I unleash my ultimate move.) Combat Mode: Berserker Mode: One: Fearless of life and death, undaunted by injury; trade injury for injury and life for life. Assess the battle with a perfectly calm mind. Two: Greatly enhances Combat Awareness and Combat Comprehension Ability. The perfect ability for turning the tables after breaking through your limits. Three: You may lose your sanity and become a monster that knows only how to kill. Four: A Berserker's pride won't let you leave the fight. You'd rather die than cower. (I Want To Fight Ten.) Skill Duration: 8 minutes (Intense fighting will greatly reduce the duration.) Skill Cooldown: 23 hours Physique: 78 (Can be upgraded. Required: 3 Enhancement Points.) Bone Hardness: 92 (Can be upgraded. Required: 3 Enhancement Points.) Mental Power: 100/100 (Cannot be upgraded.) Observation Haki: 3 (Can be upgraded. Required: 10 Enhancement Points.) Armament Haki: 5 (Can be upgraded. Required: 10 Enhancement Points.) Available Upgrade Points: 41
Rono decided to spend all the Enhancement Points he'd saved over the past two years. His Armament Haki was already at level 5, which was enough. He did want to upgrade his Observation Haki, but when he saw how many Enhancement Points it would cost, he gave up on that foolish idea. So, let's nerf Dao Mei instead! On a whim, Rono put all his Enhancement Points into Bone Hardness. "Beep—Host spent 29 Enhancement Points (5 Enhancement Points required after 95 points). Bone Hardness is now 99. You've hit a bottleneck. Please break through it on your own."
Rono's Bone Hardness had reached 99, and the upgrade option had changed to unavailable.
"Ugh! There's a trick like that? Does your mom know about this, System?" Mockery LV3
"..." System
"Put the remaining Enhancement Points into Physique."
"Beep—Host spent 12 Enhancement Points. Physique is now 82."
Control External Objects was a skill he'd gradually figured out and developed after "giving birth" to Gelu. At last, he could use it.
Rono had a reason for deciding to spend all his Enhancement Points. He'd heard that a pirate named Portgas D. Ace had recently gained a bounty at an alarming rate, which brought a few details about the Pirate King story back to him: Ace was Luffy's older brother and the Pirate King's son. Rono wanted to kill him because his Devil Fruit was the Flame-Flame Fruit. That was all there was to it. His precious tree son would be a good match for that fruit.
"Hmm. I'd better finish the missions first, then ask Baroque Works to help find Ace's whereabouts. That'll be much easier than looking for him myself." Having made up his mind, Rono picked a Den Den Mushi marked "Baroque" from the row on his desk and dialed.
"Buru buru." The Den Den Mushi dutifully did its job. Gelu let out a cry and jumped off Rono's shoulder, grabbing the snail. "Gelu Gelu, Gelu Gelu?"
"Wah-chan!" A steady male voice came through the Den Den Mushi. "Rono, is there a problem with this month's dividends?"
"Gelu!" Gelu was thrilled. "So it's Gelu! Is your dad there?"
"Ah, the dividends are fine. I wanted to ask you for a favor."
"Go ahead. I can handle it if it's something small."
"Help me find someone: Portgas D. Ace, the guy with the Logia Flame-Flame Fruit."
The man on the other end seemed to give someone an order. After a while, he got back to Rono. "Portgas D. Ace? He seems to be in the waters around where Moria is, but it'll take a few days to get more specific information. He's pretty far away."
"Got it. Are there any pirates near Alabasta?"
"There are three new pirate crews: the Wildcat Pirates, the Iron Thorn Pirates, and the Shark Pirates. The Shark Pirates might have some connection to Jinbe."
"No problem. We'll take them all out when they show up. We haven't even used the Research Department's Explosive Rounds yet." Sairona walked in, speaking with utter calm, as if their opponent weren't a Shichibukai, but just some nobody.
"You make it sound like you'll be fighting him head-on. I'm the one who'll get hurt, while you can just hide far away." Rono squinted as he grumbled.
"Oh, come on. You're a Berserker, so of course you have to tank the hits. I'm an ADC—my damage is insane, okay?" Sairona looked perfectly composed.
At the word "Berserker," Rono proudly puffed out his chest. Little Treant Gelu puffed out his tiny chest too. "Gelu Gelu. (I'm a Berserker too.)"
"All right, then. Do you want to pick them up in Alabasta, or should I send them to you?" The man was already used to the three of them talking over each other.
"I'll pick them up. Hurry up with them, and get me a Log Pointer and an Eternal Pose to Alabasta too." Rono had at least some brains.
"Sure. Anything else? If not, I'll hang up. Come by for a drink when you get here," the man said with a laugh.
"Ah, go ahead and get back to work." Rono hung up the Den Den Mushi.
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