A Stranded Girl

East Blue, in a tavern on some island.

A green-haired swordsman with three long blades at his waist sat beside the tavern counter.

As he gulped down the most expensive wine in the establishment, he flipped through the recently updated bounty notices.

Most of them were minor figures with bounties of only a few hundred thousand Beli. Even those worth over a million were rare.

Suddenly, the swordsman's gaze sharpened. He pulled one notice from the pile, and his brow rose.

"Dusk Pirates, Kael, bounty: 30 million Beli!"

"The highest bounty pirate in East Blue right now?"

"Interesting~"

The corners of the swordsman's mouth curled upward slightly as overflowing wine trickled down from his lips.

But soon, he stuffed the bounty poster back into the pile.

He was not the kind of bounty hunter who scoured the seas looking for pirates to hunt.

It was not because he feared fighting the strong.

The main reason was...

He simply had no idea where to find those people!

"30 million Beli? Hmph, just a clown jumping around!"

East Blue, Arlong Empire.

The fishman Arlong held Kael's bounty notice in his massive fin-like hand. After giving it a casual glance, he tossed it aside without a care.

"A mere human..."

As a former member of the Sun Pirates, who had once made waves in the New World, Arlong had no interest whatsoever in pirates from the Four Blues.

Even if their bounties were higher than his, he did not take them seriously in the slightest.

Who was he!?

He was a fishman pirate who had once faced off against the current Marine Admiral Kizaru!

A guy with a bounty of only 30 million was nothing but trash!!!

After contemptuously tossing away the bounty notice, Arlong immediately began pondering another matter.

That damned Colonel Nezumi had actually demanded another 50 million Beli in protection money from them.

They had only paid him earlier this year!

Sure enough, humans were nothing but greedy little bugs!!!

"30 million Beli! That's actually 10 million higher than Arlong's!"

"Does that mean he's even stronger than Arlong?"

A beautiful young thief who had just escaped from a noble's ship stared blankly at the bounty notice accidentally tucked among her money.

The sudden emergence of the Dusk Pirates had undoubtedly caused quite a stir throughout East Blue.

Whether Marines, pirates, bounty hunters, or ordinary civilians, everyone had developed all kinds of thoughts about Kael, the great pirate with a bounty of 30 million Beli.

No one knew how many years it had been since a pirate with a 30 million Beli bounty had appeared in East Blue.

For a time, panic spread everywhere.

Especially for ordinary civilians, the stronger the pirates became, the harder their lives would be.

Fortunately, they still had the protection of East Blue's hero, Smoker!

The people believed that no matter how powerful a pirate might be, Colonel Smoker would surely suppress them!

That was what most people in East Blue thought.

It had to be admitted.

Although the Marines had indeed reported some false news, it had also reduced much unnecessary panic.

More importantly, this Marine lie would never be exposed.

Because the Dusk Pirates had never built their fortune through robbery and plunder in the first place.

During this time, they continued traveling among small islands and even villages and towns that did not appear on maps.

Wherever there were victims of burning, killing, and looting, they would appear!

Though they were not especially famous,

the Dusk Pirates had, in a sense, even become saviors in the eyes of some people!

Of course.

To Kael, business was business.

He was willing to lower prices for a win-win deal, but he would never let the title of savior morally bind him!

Want guns and bullets?

Just bring money!

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

During that month, East Blue remained peaceful.

Other than a few pirate crews getting unbelievably counterattacked by villagers who had suddenly armed themselves while carrying out robberies...

there had been no major news worth mentioning.

Kael, the great pirate everyone expected to make waves, had only made a brief appearance before vanishing completely, as if he had become invisible.

For a time, rumors ran rampant throughout the underworld.

Now, bounty missions seeking Kael could be found everywhere in East Blue's underworld, with the highest rewards reaching 5 million Beli!

As long as the information was reliable, payment would be made immediately in cash!

Some of these people were bounty hunters who wanted Kael's head, while others were pirate crews seeking Kael's reputation...

Still others were simply "businessmen" who wanted to befriend this overlord-class pirate.

Yet no matter how hard they searched, they could not uncover the slightest trace of the Dusk Pirates.

There was nothing to be done about that.

After all, Kael and the others had spent the entire month wandering through small villages and towns that rarely communicated with the outside world.

These places had little contact with the outside world to begin with.

Now that they had weapons, they kept them hidden even more carefully, just waiting for pirates to come calling!

Early morning.

The gentle morning sun radiated warm light, spreading brightness across the world.

Having worked nonstop for a month without properly resting, Kael opened the window of the captain's cabin and stretched lazily, feeling refreshed.

"Mmm~ That feels great~!"

Though there had not been a single word about the Dusk Pirates outside during this period,

they had not spent even one day idle!

After traveling for a month, Kael had finally sold off all the weapons and ammunition they had seized from the G-153 Branch.

At the same time, he had also sold the precious treasures worth 50 million Beli in scattered batches.

Along the way, he had also run into two small pirate crews...

Two ships, along with the pirates' weapons and other belongings...

Adding everything together, he had finally gathered 210 million Beli!

As for why he had insisted on waiting for such an awkwardly specific amount...

it was because his current Captain level only needed those 210 points to advance once more!

[Captain: Kael]

[Level: 2]

[Experience: 90/300]

[Total Combat Power: 9524]

[Skills: Hyper Intuition (A), Finisher—Serious Punch (S)]

"The weather's so nice today. It's definitely a good day to pull capsules!"

After stretching out his muscles and bones, Kael let the sunlight fall upon his face.

Having held back for so long without drawing anything, he had finally waited until today.

After taking a bath in the crew quarters' private bathroom, he even deliberately changed into a solemn new outfit, all so he could have an uninterrupted streak of good luck in the upcoming capsule draw.

"Jade Emperor, Queen Mother, Grand Lord Lao, Guan Yu, God, Jesus, Sun Wukong, Tathagata, Guanyin, Calabash Brothers..."

"Please bless me, gods and immortals! This humble one pays his respects to you all!"

After reciting every divine name he could remember, Kael's eyes suddenly sharpened.

At that moment, his mind and will became one!

Standard capsule machine, ten-pull!

Give me something good!

With a movement of Kael's consciousness, the capsule machine in his mind instantly began to spin.

A few seconds later, a string of system notifications flashed through his mind one after another.

[Congratulations! You have obtained the E-rank item: Expired instant noodles from Naruto's home!]

[Congratulations! You have obtained the E-rank item: Puri-Puri Prisoner's prison uniform!]

[Congratulations! You have obtained the E-rank item: Krillin's martial arts uniform!]

[...]

[...]

[Congratulations! You have obtained the E-rank item: Killua's yo-yo!]

"..."

"That's... it!?"

Seeing the string of E-rank item notifications, Kael's face instantly darkened!

This was the worst capsule draw result he had ever gotten since obtaining the system!

He could tolerate not getting character cards, and he could even endure not receiving a single D-rank item...

But the key point was!

The guaranteed rewards used to be things like beautiful girls' stockings and intimate clothing.

Yet today, this damned system had made even the guaranteed rewards so disgusting!

It gave him instant noodles, and they were expired! Was he supposed to report it to the consumer protection association!?

It gave him a prison uniform, and it was Puri-Puri Prisoner's! Did it think he had never watched One-Punch Man!?

It gave him a yo-yo—was he supposed to spread the gospel of "Because You're Too Beautiful" in the pirate world?!

Out of ten items, there was practically not a single one Kael found useful.

Especially that prison uniform!

If it had been an ordinary prison uniform, he could have used it for some fun...

But since it was Puri-Puri Prisoner's, he only wanted to sink it into the sea!

"Damn it! What rotten luck!"

"What kind of bullshit gods are those!? It's all feudal superstition!"

Kael cursed as he considered whether to keep drawing capsules.

If he drew again, he was afraid the next rewards would all be more unlucky garbage.

If he did not draw, though, he had already built up the pity. It felt like too much of a loss not to continue.

For a moment, Kael was caught between a rock and a hard place.

However, just then.

Little Tiga, who was responsible for steering the ship, suddenly flashed into Kael's captain's cabin.

The moment Little Tiga saw Kael, he gave a proper salute.

"Captain Kael! A small boat has been spotted drifting toward us ahead..."

"From what I observed, there's only one young girl aboard. She seems to have suffered a shipwreck and is currently unconscious."

"Please issue your orders!"