The Wonders of a Ship Spirit

Red again!!!

Seeing that familiar color for the third time, Kael's eyes suddenly lit up. He licked his lips unconsciously, a satisfied look appearing on his face.

The third red!

This meant he had drawn another A-rank prize!

And it was an extremely important captain skill for him!!!

Under his ecstatic gaze...

A phantom illustration of a young man with flames burning on his hands and forehead soon appeared before him.

Tsunayoshi Sawada!

Kael immediately called out the boy's name in his mind.

He was the protagonist of Reborn!, a classic hot-blooded shonen anime that had been wildly popular a few years ago.

The male lead, Tsunayoshi Sawada, began as a typical good-for-nothing. Then he met Reborn, a Mafia tutor from Italy, and a series of exciting stories unfolded from there.

Of course.

That was not important to Kael right now.

What he truly cared about was which of Tsunayoshi Sawada's skills he would draw!

Since he did not play male characters, he was not particularly familiar with Tsunayoshi Sawada's abilities.

But to actually let him draw the A-rank Tsunayoshi Sawada from a prize pool filled with low-level characters...

Kael was willing to call this gacha system—absolutely fair!

The answer was soon revealed.

Tsunayoshi Sawada, who had only appeared for a few seconds, suddenly turned into a streak of light and entered Kael's body.

As his vision flashed, a brand-new entry appeared in his skill list.

[Skill: Hyper Intuition]

[Rank: A]

[Description: The limit of human perception, granting the intuition to see through falsehoods, detect subtle details, and even foresee the future.]

"Hyper Intuition? It was actually this?"

Looking at the information panel before him, the joy on Kael's face abruptly froze, replaced by a conflicted expression.

Having watched Reborn!, he naturally knew what Hyper Intuition could do.

Perception that countered all illusions, sharp control over the details of battle, and flashes of insight when making choices.

Though this ability would not directly increase his combat power, it was undoubtedly a highly cost-effective support skill.

The only reason Kael was not entirely satisfied was...

It overlapped far too much with Observation Haki!!!

Seeing through illusions, reading an enemy's movements, even foreseeing the future...

All of those were abilities Observation Haki could provide.

The fivefold increase in experience required from Level 2 onward made it clear that leveling up would only become more difficult in the future.

That also meant skill slots would not be easy to obtain.

So the current situation was that Kael had used a precious skill slot in exchange for max-level Observation Haki.

For a moment, he did not know whether he had profited or lost out.

After all, he possessed a way to train Observation Haki.

Given enough time, with the system's power, he might not become as powerful as Katakuri and see the future, but he certainly would not remain ordinary.

So drawing Hyper Intuition really left him at a loss.

"Seriously, how can even getting a skill make me this conflicted?"

After sighing softly, he decided not to dwell on what had already happened.

No matter what, drawing an A-rank skill was already something worth celebrating.

His gaze shifted.

Kael switched the interface back to the [Shipyard] system.

He had already seen the two gacha machines on the [Gacha] page, while he was not qualified to see the final Legendary Gacha Machine.

That only left the Shipyard function, which he had yet to use.

The information panel he had seen before appeared before Kael again.

Repeating his earlier actions, he took another bag of cash from the room.

This time, a "+" indeed appeared beside the Tiga's experience bar.

He focused his mind and tapped the plus sign. The cash at his feet instantly decreased by one-tenth.

In one go.

Kael clicked the "+" button another nine times in succession.

In an instant.

The bulging money bag by his feet shriveled up completely.

Just like when he had drawn from the gacha machines earlier.

At the same time.

A mysterious halo suddenly swept out from the bow of the ship, enveloping its hull all the way to the stern before vanishing.

For some reason, Kael felt that his ship had become different somehow.

But before he could inspect the upgraded vessel, a sweet, delicate voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Good morning, Captain."

"Wha!? Who's there!?"

The sudden voice gave Kael a fright.

He spun around sharply, swiftly drawing the flintlock that fired Seastone bullets from his waist as he retreated several steps.

But then, his expression froze.

His gaze lowered.

A child barely over a meter tall stood there, wearing a hood that obscured his face. He looked up at Kael in confusion.

He seemed puzzled as to why Kael was pointing a gun at him.

Though the hood concealed two-thirds of his face in shadow, Kael could somehow sense the child's emotions and expression.

"Hello, Captain. I am Tiga, the ship spirit of this vessel."

Thinking Kael had asked a question, Little Tiga obediently answered him.

"Tiga?"

Hearing that familiar name, Kael immediately came back to his senses, and the wariness on his face gradually faded.

It was not that he was timid. It was just that while he had been completely focused on upgrading, someone had suddenly called out from behind him...

Anyone would have been startled.

But now, he understood.

With the pirate ship's upgrade, he had successfully triggered the Shipyard system's function, allowing the ship spirit that had merely served as a beginner's guide in the game to appear before him in the flesh.

"A ship spirit actually appeared!"

Kael murmured in amazement.

When he watched One Piece, he had never been able to get over the Going Merry disappearing into the flames.

Every time he saw an edited video related to it, he would tear up.

So he warmly welcomed the ship spirit's appearance.

Unconsciously, his gaze softened as well.

"Um..."

Little Tiga tilted his head, seemingly confused by the drastic difference in his master's expressions.

But Kael stepped forward and returned Tiga's earlier greeting.

"Hello, Tiga. I'm Kael, the captain of this ship!"

"Please take care of me from now on!"

He extended a hand, intending to pat Tiga on the head.

However, his arm passed through Tiga's head without any resistance.

So he really didn't have a physical body...

Kael's gaze briefly turned unfocused, just as he had expected.

Though most of Little Tiga's face was hidden beneath his hood, his obvious happiness could still be felt after receiving a response.

Brought into existence by the system, he did not have the restrictions of ordinary ship spirits.

As long as he did not leave the ship, he could appear freely and interact with the crew.

After introducing themselves, Kael, who already felt an immediate sense of closeness with him, casually asked Tiga with curiosity:

"Little Tiga, as a ship spirit, do you have any special abilities?"

"Like... controlling the ship's course or something!?"

In the anime, the Going Merry's ship spirit could not only repair the ship, but also sail it automatically.

Kael wanted to know whether the Little Tiga before him could do those things as well.

After all, neither his past life nor this body's original owner had any experience working aboard ships.

If he could outsource that work, it would be perfect!

And Little Tiga's answer did not disappoint Kael.

He raised his hand and bounced up playfully.

"I can! I can!"

"Captain Kael, I can not only control the ship's direction and repair damaged parts of the vessel..."

"I can even help you fight~"

"Fight?" Kael was stunned. "How can you help me fight?"

"Um, can I use a cannonball to demonstrate, Captain Kael?"

Like a child eager to show off, Little Tiga asked enthusiastically.

"Of course."

Kael nodded without hesitation and watched him with great interest.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Little Tiga's figure instantly disappeared from before him.

Not long afterward, the cabin door opened by itself.

Little Tiga was staggering toward the cannon on the side of the ship, carrying a cannonball that had come as a bonus when Kael bought the vessel.

Then, with movements even smoother than Kael's, he loaded the cannonball into the barrel.

A flame appeared from nowhere on the fuse.

A dozen seconds later, a deafening boom suddenly rang out.

The black cannonball shot toward the distant sea with blazing force, throwing up a surging column of water.

"Just like that!"

After doing all this, Little Tiga flashed and teleported back before Kael, wearing an expectant expression as though waiting to be praised.

At that moment, Kael was already dumbfounded by Little Tiga's string of actions.

He smacked his lips. Considering Tiga's age, he ultimately only said two words:

"Impressive!"

But then, inspiration suddenly struck Kael, as though he had discovered some hidden treasure.

He immediately turned a burning gaze on Little Tiga and asked:

"You... can become physical?"

He had just watched Little Tiga pick up a cannonball with his own eyes.

"Um~"

Little Tiga had not expected Kael to ask that question, and he froze as well.

But then he slowly nodded and said:

"As long as I want to do something, I can become physical."

"But once it's done, I'll return to how I am now."

"I see..."

"Right, Merry repaired the ship's hull before. Without a physical body, she couldn't have picked up nails and a hammer!!!"

Before this, Kael had assumed ship spirits existed in some dreamlike state similar to spiritual bodies.

So ship spirits could materialize too.

Kael grinned, revealing an excited smile.

At the same time.

An idea that would shock everyone in the world of pirates appeared in his mind.