Watching the Sun Set Over the Great River; Sword Intent Unlocked

So his ship was not suitable for taking on anyone else at the moment. Besides, Nami was still too young and not suited for going to sea either.

Thus, in the end, Dongze chose to give up. As for whether she would become King Luffy's navigator, he no longer cared. His ambition was not to become the Pirate King, anyway.

As for everything else, he merely smiled. Who could say what would happen in the future? For now, his goal was to improve his own combat strength. After all, this world still followed the law of the strong ruling supreme, with force above all else.

Without strength, everything would come to nothing.

Just look at the Straw Hat Pirates. Even after they had gathered together, hadn't they still been forcibly scattered at Sabaody?

If not for Bartholomew Kuma's help, that group probably wouldn't even have been able to enter the New World, right?

At the thought of the Straw Hat brat, he couldn't help sighing inwardly. Red-Hair led the way, Dragon provided escort, Garp covered the rear, and Pluton served as his teacher.

There were only three major powers in the world. That lineup alone was enough to make anyone's scalp tingle. No wonder all sorts of powerful figures held back whenever they encountered that kid. Anyone with a brain knew that he was a hornet's nest—poke it the wrong way, and trouble would follow.

Just like now, because of certain people, he had no choice but to keep saying, "I can't beat him!" Thinking about it made him feel helpless.

But that was reality.

Strength was the only true principle. During the Paramount War, why had Red-Hair been able to declare so forcefully, "I must ask everyone to give me some face!"? Ultimately, it was because of his strength. A Four Emperor standing between two sides that had suffered mutual losses was unquestionably the decisive weight that tipped the scales.

Whether Marines or pirates, they all understood this clearly.

That was why, this time, they weren't offering him face because they wanted to. They had no choice but to.

The power of the Face-Face Fruit User was truly terrifying.

Just like how he had spared Buggy in town. Wasn't that also a favor granted to him? Reality was truly harsh.

Watching Dongze leap up from the sea, Robin handed him a towel.

"Mr. Dongze, where are we going next?"

The ship had been heading east for the past two days instead of wandering around Loguetown as its center. Naturally, she was very curious. Dongze had never explained where they were going next, so Robin, who was completely in the dark, wanted to ask.

"Alabasta!"

Dongze took the towel and wiped the water droplets from his body. He did not hide their destination.

Robin furrowed her brows slightly, seemingly thinking of something. "Alabasta? I remember that it's Crocodile's territory, isn't it? Mr. Dongze, are you planning to challenge the Shichibukai?"

Dongze chuckled but did not answer.

"Challenge" was not a good word to use. Now that he was already approaching Admiral-level strength, if he faced Crocodile—who had yet to overcome his fear of water—it was still unclear who would be challenging whom.

At that thought, he glanced at his status panel.

Iron Head Skill: max;

Iron Crotch Skill: max;

Abdominal Breathing: max;

Basic Swordsmanship: max;

Sword Forging: max;

Hundred-Pace Flying Sword: max;

Crossing the Eight Directions: max;

Sword-Draw Technique: max;

Heavenly Flying Immortal: max;

Hidden Light, Sitting in Forgetfulness: 5500/10000;

One Sword Across the Ages: 5500/10000;

Taiji Swordsmanship: max;

Mantra: max;

Spear Technique: 1200/1000000;

Six Powers—Shave: 75000/100000;

Six Powers—Geppo: 75000/100000;

Observation Haki (Awakened): 320000/1000000;

Armament Haki (Awakened): 330000/1000000;

Conqueror's Haki (Awakened): 8500/1000000;

Slashing (Unlocked): 330000/1000000;

Sword Intent (Locked): 0/100;

Looking at the tremendous improvements on the panel, Dongze nodded in satisfaction. His relentless diving into the sea day and night had not been in vain. He had spent more time in the water than aboard the ship. Anyone who didn't know better might have thought he was a Fish-Man!

Whenever his Observation Haki detected a Sea King along the way, he would dive straight down without a word and unleash everything he had.

He would completely cover himself in Armament Haki, then throw each skill out ten times in succession. That was also why his skill proficiency had increased so quickly. After that came close-quarters combat.

(Sea Kings: There are too many tears to shed. You have no idea what kind of treatment we suffered. That beast started at the base of our tails and pummeled us like a madman, punch after punch from every direction! By the end, we had no idea how many blows we'd taken. All we remembered was, "Aiya!")

Then he would crush them with Conqueror's Haki, draw his sword, and cut their enormous bodies into strands before serving them on the dining table.

(Can you believe this guy is still human?)

This was also a bug Dongze had discovered by accident. As long as there was still a trace of life, the system would count it and grant experience.

Thus, this cheat-user had embarked on the road of exploiting bugs and never looked back.

If Zoro and the others knew about this, they might curse him out loud.

"You're already cheating, and you still have to exploit bugs? Don't you feel any guilt? Please, just act like a human being!"

Of course, this method had its drawbacks. By now, Dongze felt like vomiting whenever he saw Sea King meat. It was good food, but even the best food became unbearable when eaten at every meal. Even Robin shook her head at the sight of it.

As for Robin, under Dongze's influence, she had also begun developing her Devil Fruit abilities further and had started learning Haki under his guidance.

Her strength had doubled compared to when she had first boarded the ship.

"There's a Poneglyph there!"

At Robin's words, Dongze's whole body jerked. Her beautiful eyes turned toward him, and surprise mingled with delight.

She had thought Dongze had forgotten about it. She hadn't expected him to have kept it in mind all along.

Robin's thoughts raced as she began considering the possibility.

Could Alabasta really have a Poneglyph? It certainly was possible. Alabasta had an exceptionally long history and was also one of the World Government Member States. The endless yellow sands served as the best protective umbrella. Under normal circumstances, hardly anyone was willing to enter such a desolate and lonely desert, so the likelihood of those prohibited items—the Poneglyphs—being discovered was greatly reduced.

Thus, as Dongze had said, the probability of a Poneglyph existing here was extremely high.

"Mr. Dongze, won't going there cause a conflict with the Shichibukai, Crocodile? After all, that man is a pirate!"

"It's fine! I can beat this one."

Dongze did not turn around. His gaze stretched into the distance, as though it had pierced through the vast, boundless sea and reached the Shichibukai sitting in Rainbase—the Sand Crocodile, Crocodile.

Hearing Dongze's words, Robin was covered in speechless black lines. She found her employer's catchphrase incredibly strange.

"Oh? A great pirate with a bounty of fifteen million Beli! (Buggy the Clown!) How impressive. I can't beat him!"

"Oh? A great pirate with a bounty of seventy-seven million Beli! (Myself—though in reality, I might not even be stronger than Buggy.) How impressive. I can't beat him!"

"Oh? A Shichibukai with a bounty of eighty-one million Beli! How impressive. Uh, I can beat this one!"

This bizarre method of classification left her utterly bewildered. How could Crocodile, a Shichibukai, possibly be weaker than Buggy and herself? He was obviously far stronger! To her, it felt just like that absurd question Dongze had asked her before—completely ridiculous.

Robin, her head covered in speechless black lines, no longer wanted to say anything. She silently turned and walked into the cabin.

Go to hell with your "I can't beat him!"

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Watching the Sunset over the Long River, Sword Intent Unlocked

At sea, time seemed to be the least valuable thing in the world. In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.

A single-masted sailboat without a flag stopped at a port in Alabasta. It was Dongze and the others' ship. Of course, their ship was not a pirate ship, so they docked at the proper berth and temporarily left the vessel in the shipyard after paying a certain amount of Beli.

"Mr. Dongze! Aren't you taking the rest of the money?"

Thinking of the suitcases piled in a corner, Robin asked uneasily.

They had originally possessed around five hundred million Beli. After subtracting the hundred million they had given Nami, there were still four full chests left. She had always felt uneasy leaving that much money aboard the ship.

Robin had not thought much of it when she brought it up, but Dongze gave her a thoughtful look upon hearing it.

Dongze was a meticulous person. The speaker might not have meant anything by it, but the listener had taken notice. Robin had said this without treating herself as an outsider. It seemed she had adapted to life aboard the ship quite quickly.

Fortunately, he was happy to see this development. He had been plotting to recruit her from the beginning, after all, though he had not made it too obvious. He felt that their current way of getting along was rather nice.

Someone prepared all three meals every day, and her cooking kept improving. She could steer the ship and handle navigation. She even massaged his shoulders and pounded his back; and when the Flower-Flower Fruit was used for that, the effect was simply perfect. Whenever he returned from fighting monsters in the sea, someone handed him a towel. They chatted idly from time to time and teased this Devil Child. Their ordinary days carried a touch of warmth.

But whenever he thought of the old father behind her, Dongze couldn't help sighing inwardly.

Alexander.

If he wanted to run off with that beloved daughter, his current abilities probably still weren't enough to beat her father. That was also why he worked tirelessly day and night.

Of course, this was only one of his minor goals at the current stage.

After thinking it over, he realized that Robin's concern was indeed a problem. Although Alabasta was a kingdom, pirate forces were still rampant here.

Even Rainbase, guarded by Crocodile, often saw pirates passing through.

Leaving the money aboard the ship truly was not a good choice.

He had originally planned to deposit the money somewhere, but awkwardly discovered that this world seemingly had no institutions like banks.

The only officially designated institution was the Marines, which made things rather awkward. It wasn't as if the Marines only handled bounty payments; they certainly had never said they would safeguard people's money.

Besides, this place belonged to the Shichibukai, Crocodile, so no Marines had been stationed here.

Thinking about it this way, Dongze suddenly realized that he seemed to be short on manpower. Previously, when they went ashore to buy things, they could return within a few hours at most. With his reputation, those pirates wouldn't dare provoke him.

This time was different. They had to travel deep into the desert, which might take several days. Moreover, their purpose for coming here was that Sand Crocodile, so the trip could take even longer.

With that in mind, it would indeed be unwise to leave the money here.

"Should I leave Robin here?"

The thought suddenly sprang into his mind, but he immediately rejected it. One of their purposes in coming to Alabasta was the Poneglyphs. If he left her on the ship, she would never agree.

For no particular reason, Dongze suddenly sighed.

"If only I had some kind of storage space!"

After saying it, Dongze froze. Storage space? Come to think of it, once he focused on the idea, several strange images floated into his mind.

As an adult, Nami had hidden that enormous Clima-Tact in an indescribable place, and it had genuinely fit. Brook's skeleton had put things inside his own skull, which was absurd enough. The gunpowder in Usopp's bag never seemed to run out, just like the heroes in movies whose guns never ran out of bullets. Dongze really wanted to tell them, "That's a bug, you know?"

But if they knew about Dongze's situation, they would probably retort, "Shut up! You cheat-user have no right to criticize us!"

Oops, the topic had gone off track. But if they were talking about a convenient, portable storage space, nothing like that had ever been mentioned. This world seemed unusually secretive about that area.

For example, in the Naruto World, there were portable Sealing Scrolls, but this world seemed to have no involvement with anything like that.

As for the few Devil Fruits involving space, they had all been developed for combat. CP9's Door-Door Fruit, the crew-cut man's Barrier-Barrier Fruit, and even Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit had all become major means of fighting enemies.

No one had developed them for everyday spatial storage. That truly was a great pity. Of course, it was also possible that the World Rules were different, making it impossible to extend their applications in that direction.

"Let's take one hundred million Beli for now. It'll be too hard to carry more. Put the rest in the safe for now."

"There's a safe aboard the ship?"

Robin was stunned. She had never expected the ship to have something like a safe. All this time, she had thought the ship did not have one, which was why Dongze had piled the Beli in a corner. Now it seemed that wasn't actually the case.

"Mr. Dongze, don't tell me you piled the money there because you couldn't be bothered?"

"Ahem—don't worry about those details! I didn't expect anyone else to come aboard before!"

Dongze waved his hand and spoke awkwardly.

Robin had truly guessed correctly this time. Dongze had piled the chests in the corner simply because he couldn't be bothered to deal with them.

Robin rolled her eyes at him. "Mr. Dongze, please don't make excuses for your laziness!"

Dongze scratched his head and said helplessly, "All right, you win. You really are a housekeeper!"

At that, Robin's face flushed slightly, and she stopped discussing the subject. When it came to teasing and flirting, her level still wasn't a match for Dongze's.

"Where's the safe?"

"Under the bed!"

Robin froze at Dongze's answer. This was the first time she had ever seen a safe kept under a bed.

She gave Dongze a strange look, but because of her previous experience, she did not make any further comment this time.