Merchant Ship

"What a damn bear! If I could beat you right now, I'd give you a good thrashing!"

It had been several days since the Summit War. Chen Qiang was lying alone on a plank floating on the sea, bored out of his mind. He tore off a bite of the fresh fish he'd just caught and grumbled angrily.

As for why Chen Qiang was here, and how he'd ended up in such a sorry state, it all went back to a few days ago, when Barque had sent him flying.

Chen Qiang had clearly told Barque that he wanted to travel to the East Blue, but Barque hadn't listened. He'd simply sent him flying.

What's more, Chen Qiang had spent an entire day soaring through the air before finally falling back down.

And where he landed wasn't some little island, but the middle of an endless ocean. There wasn't a single ship in sight. On top of that, Chen Qiang had been a terrible swimmer in his previous life and couldn't swim at all. If not for his powerful cheat ability, Super-Speed Regeneration, he might have drowned right then and there.

Chen Qiang had thrashed around in the water for a long while before managing to learn how to swim and make it back to the surface. Luckily, he found a floating plank, so at least he no longer had to stay submerged in the sea.

In the days that followed, Chen Qiang drifted along with the waves on the plank. Whenever he got hungry, he caught fish to eat; whenever he got thirsty, he drank seawater. The only reason he was still alive was his powerful cheat ability. An ordinary person in his situation would have died of hunger or thirst, even if they hadn't drowned.

So Chen Qiang grumbled to himself for a bit to vent his frustration, then lay down on the plank to rest. At the same time, he went over everything that had happened in the two months since he'd crossed over.

First, he had crossed over two months ago and ended up in Impel Down, where Hannyabal had put him through all kinds of Torment. That was when he discovered his cheat ability, Super-Speed Regeneration.

He'd then used the strength of his cheat ability to start escaping. He hadn't stopped trying for two months. No matter what kind of punishment they subjected him to, nothing could extinguish his longing for freedom.

During those escapes, Chen Qiang had gained a deeper understanding of his cheat ability. He'd also taken advantage of his body growing stronger each time it recovered from an injury to develop a blood-red power formed from his own blood and mental energy.

He'd gone on to develop all kinds of techniques based on that blood-red energy, making himself even better at escaping. The constant battles and injuries he'd suffered along the way had also helped him develop his own understanding of combat.

Of course, during this time Chen Qiang had discovered a weakness in his cheat ability. His body recovered incredibly quickly, and no matter how badly he was beaten, as long as a single drop of blood remained, he could recover. But his mental energy recovered much more slowly than his body, even though it still recovered faster than an ordinary person's.

On top of that, his cheat ability offered little resistance to poison. It could keep Chen Qiang from dying, no matter what kind of poison he took, but it took a long time for his body to develop resistance and clear the poison from his system.

That was why Magellan had kept Chen Qiang firmly under control during the last month. Every time Chen Qiang tried to escape, Magellan quickly subdued him. If Magellan's Devil Fruit hadn't also had the drawback of giving him diarrhea, Chen Qiang might not have found a single chance to escape.

Lying on the plank, Chen Qiang thought about the previous two months and even found himself missing them a little. Back then, he was constantly chained up, and whenever he got the chance, he'd try to escape.

But those days had been fulfilling. Every injury let Chen Qiang feel himself growing stronger. And the battles that broke out during each escape were his favorite part. They not only made him stronger, but also steadily improved his combat experience.

It wasn't that Chen Qiang simply liked the feeling of fighting. Giving everything he had was something he'd never experienced in the dozen or so years of his previous life. And knowing that no matter how recklessly he acted, he wouldn't die—in fact, he'd only grow stronger—made him like it even more.

Although Chen Qiang couldn't fight while he was stuck on the plank, he'd spent the past few days using his cheat ability and blood-red energy to work out a cultivation method that could make him stronger.

It involved using mental energy to burn the blood in his body. Once he'd depleted enough of it, his cheat ability would judge that he was injured and begin repairing his body, while also increasing his strength. This method was much slower than fighting, though, and he wasn't sure if that was because his cheat ability made its own judgments.

Still, it didn't matter. At least this gave Chen Qiang something to do while drifting alone at sea, so he wouldn't be quite so bored.

--

Just as Chen Qiang finished eating his fish, woke from an afternoon nap, and began practicing his Blood Refining Technique, a huge ship flying a merchant flag sped toward the waters where he was, propelled by its sails.

"Captain Gill! It looks like we've shaken off the guys behind us!"

On the ship's lookout platform, a man with long hair, wearing a trench coat and carrying a sword at his waist, lowered his binoculars and spoke to the man beside him. The other man wore a captain's uniform and had a handlebar mustache and a huge belly. The uniform looked terribly ill-suited to him.

"Barque, I told you before: in our line of work, we have to be careful, always. We can't let our guard down for even a moment. Just because we can't see those guys now doesn't mean they aren't still following us!"

From the captain's words, it was clear that the man who'd spoken earlier was named Barque.

"Yes, Captain. You're right!" Barque said with a beaming smile. Then he asked, "What should we do next?"

"Pass the word! Keep going at full speed. Once we reach the next stretch of sea, we'll take a detour to that Underground City."

Captain Gill was pleased with Barque's response. He nodded at him, then explained his plan.

"Brilliant, Captain. That way, even if they're still following us, they won't be able to figure out where we're headed!"

"Mm! Go take care of it!"

Captain Gill was pleased with Barque's response. He waved him off.

Just as Barque left the lookout platform and went below to pass along the captain's orders, the lookout who had been watching the surrounding area came over to Captain Gill and reported, "Captain Gill, there's something strange at eleven o'clock!"