Pirates: My Proficiency Made Me a Legend

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

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

As for everything else, he smiled. Who could say what would happen in the future? For now, his goal was to improve his combat strength. After all, this was still a world where the strong ruled and power was supreme.

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 would not even have been able to enter the New World.

At the thought of the Straw Hat Pirates, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion. Red-Hair had led the way, Dragon had escorted them, Garp had them covered, and Pluton had been their teacher.

This world had only three major powers in total. That kind of lineup was enough to make one's scalp tingle at the mere thought of it. No wonder all kinds of powerful figures let the kid off whenever they encountered him. Anyone with a little sense knew that he was a hornet's nest—poke it carelessly, and trouble would follow.

Just like now, Dongze had no choice but to say "I can't beat them!" because of certain people. Even thinking about it made him feel helpless.

But that was reality.

Strength was the only truth. During the Paramount War, why could Red-Hair declare so forcefully, "Everyone, please do me the favor of giving me some face!"? The reason ultimately came down to his strength. A Four Emperor, appearing when both sides had suffered heavy losses, was undoubtedly the decisive weight tipping the balance.

Whether Marine or pirate, they all understood this clearly.

So this time, they had not wanted to give him face. They had been forced to.

A Devil Fruit User whose power was "face" was truly terrifying.

Just as he had spared Buggy in town, he had also been giving Buggy some face. Reality was truly too harsh.

Watching Dongze leap out of the sea, Robin handed him a towel.

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

The ship had been sailing east for the past two days, no longer wandering around Loguetown. Naturally, she was very curious. Dongze had also never explained where they were headed, so Robin, completely in the dark, wanted to ask where they would be going next.

"Alabasta!"

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

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

Dongze chuckled but did not answer.

"Challenge" was not the right word. 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 unknown who would be challenging whom.

At that thought, he looked 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 massive improvements on the panel, Dongze nodded in satisfaction. His constant diving into the sea day and night had not been in vain. He had spent more time in the sea than on the ship. If someone did not know better, they might have thought he was a Fish-Man.

Whenever he found Sea Kings with Observation Haki along the way, he would dive in without a word and immediately go all out.

He covered himself completely in Armament Haki, used each skill ten times in succession first—which was also why his skill proficiency could rise so quickly—and then engaged in close-quarters combat. (Sea Kings: We have so many tears to shed, but you have no idea what kind of treatment we suffered. That animal started from our tails and pummeled us like a madman, punching every part of us over and over! By the end, we had no idea how many punches we had taken. The only thing left in our memories was, "Aiya!") Then he crushed them with Conqueror's Haki, used his sword to cut their enormous bodies into shreds, and finally served them on the dining table. (Can you believe this is still a person?)

This was also a bug Dongze had discovered by accident. As long as there was still a trace of life, everything was judged eligible to grant experience.

Thus, this cheater had gone down the road of exploiting bugs and never looked back.

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

"You've already got cheats, and you still have to exploit bugs? Don't you feel guilty? Please, hurry up and act like a person!"

Of course, this method had its drawbacks. By now, Dongze felt like throwing up whenever he saw Sea King meat. It was good food, but not when he had to eat it every meal. Even Robin shook her head whenever she saw the meat.

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

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

"There are Poneglyphs over there!"

At Robin's words, his entire body jolted. Her beautiful eyes turned toward Dongze, surprise mixed with delight in them.

She had originally thought that Dongze had forgotten about this matter. She had not expected him to have kept it in mind all along.

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

Could Alabasta have Poneglyphs? It was indeed possible. After all, Alabasta had a sufficiently long history and was also one of the World Government Member States. The boundless desert served as the best protective umbrella. Under normal circumstances, hardly anyone was willing to come to such a desolate and lonely desert, so the chances of those forbidden items—the Poneglyphs—being discovered were greatly reduced.

Therefore, as Dongze had said, the probability that Poneglyphs existed here was extremely high.

"Mr. Dongze, if we go there, won't we clash 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 seemed to stretch into the distance, as if it had pierced through the vast, boundless sea and seen the Shichibukai sitting in Rainbase—Crocodile.

Hearing Dongze's words, Robin was covered in speechless black lines. His catchphrase always felt incredibly strange to her.

"Ah! A great pirate with a bounty of fifteen million Beli! (Buggy the Clown!) Amazing, I can't beat him!"

"Ah! A great pirate with a bounty of seventy-seven million Beli! (Myself; in reality, I might not even be stronger than Buggy.) Amazing, I can't beat him!"

"Ah! A Shichibukai with a bounty of eighty-one million Beli! Amazing! Uh, I can beat this one!"

This bizarre way of dividing people left her completely bewildered. How could Crocodile, a Shichibukai, possibly be weaker than Buggy and herself? The feeling he gave her was just like the question Dongze had asked her earlier—utterly absurd.

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

Damn 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 passed.

A single-masted sailing ship without a flag was moored at Alabasta's harbor. It was Dongze's ship. Of course, it was not a pirate ship, so it had a proper place to dock. After paying a certain amount of Beli, they temporarily left the ship in the dockyard.

"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 had around five hundred million Beli. After setting aside the one hundred million they had given Nami, four full chests remained. She had always felt uneasy leaving them on the ship.

Robin had not thought much of it when she brought up the matter, but Dongze looked at her thoughtfully upon hearing it.

Dongze was a meticulous person. The speaker might not have meant anything by it, but the listener had taken notice. By saying this, Robin had not treated herself as an outsider. It seemed that she had adapted to the rhythm of the ship rather quickly.

Fortunately, he was happy to see this situation. He had already been planning to win her over, after all; he had simply not made it too obvious. He felt that their current way of getting along was quite good.

There was someone to prepare all three meals each day, and her cooking was getting better and better. She could also sail the ship and navigate. She gave him shoulder rubs and back massages every day—and with the Flower-Flower Fruit, the effect was directly maxed out. After he went into the sea to fight monsters, someone handed him a towel when he returned. When they had nothing else to do, they chatted and teased this Devil Child. Their ordinary days carried a little warmth.

But whenever he thought of the old man behind her, Dongze could not help sighing inwardly. Alexander.

If he wanted to run off with that man's precious daughter, his current ability probably still was not enough to beat him. 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, Dongze admitted that Robin had a point. Although Alabasta was a kingdom, pirate forces were still rampant there.

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

Leaving the money on the ship was indeed not a good choice.

He had originally planned to deposit the money somewhere first, but awkwardly discovered that this world seemed not to have institutions like banks.

The only officially designated institution was the Marines. That was rather awkward. The Marines only handled the payment of bounties; they had never said they would store people's money for them.

Moreover, this place belonged to the Shichibukai Crocodile, so the Marines had not stationed anyone here.

Thinking about it, Dongze suddenly realized that he seemed to be short on manpower. Before, when they went ashore to buy things, they could return within a few hours at most. With his reputation, the pirates did not dare provoke him.

This time was different. They would have to travel deep into the desert, which might take several days. Furthermore, their purpose in coming here was that sand crocodile, so the whole thing might take even longer.

In that case, leaving the money here would not be ideal.

"Should I leave Robin here?"

The thought suddenly popped into his head, 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 this, Dongze froze as well. A storage space? Now that he thought about it, some strange images surfaced in his mind.

As an adult, Nami had hidden that enormous Clima-Tact in an indescribable place—and had actually managed to fit it there. Brook, that skeleton, kept things inside his own skull, which was equally absurd. Usopp's bag never ran out of gunpowder, 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?"

Of course, if they knew about Dongze's situation, they would probably retort, "Shut up! How dare a cheater like you criticize us?"

Oops, the topic had gone off track. But as for a genuinely convenient storage space, there had never been any mention of one. This world seemed deeply evasive about the subject.

For example, the Naruto World had portable Sealing Scrolls, but this world seemed not to have explored anything like that.

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

No one had developed them in the direction of everyday spatial storage. That was indeed a great pity. Of course, it was also possible that the world's rules were different and that it was impossible to extend their abilities in that direction.

"Take one hundred million Beli first. More would be difficult to carry. Put the rest in the safe for now."

"There's a safe on the ship?"

Robin froze. She had not expected the ship to have something like a safe. All this time, she had thought there was no safe on board, which was why the Beli had been piled in a corner. Now it seemed that was not the case.

"Mr. Dongze, don't tell me you piled the money there because you found it troublesome?"

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

Dongze waved his hand and spoke somewhat awkwardly.

Robin had indeed guessed correctly this time. Dongze had piled the chests in the corner simply because he found it troublesome to move them.

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

Dongze scratched his head and said helplessly, "All right, you win. You're such a housekeeper!"

At his words, Robin's little face flushed, and she stopped discussing the topic. When it came to flirting, her current level was still no match for Dongze.

"Where is the safe?"

"Under the bed!"

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

She gave Dongze a strange look, but because of what had happened before, she did not make any further comment this time.