The connection with the Whitebeard Pirates wasn't bad. Aside from Blackbeard Teach, who was hiding his true intentions, everyone else was decent, and they even offered to keep trading with me.
The problem was that I couldn't keep selling items out of my inventory forever. So I moved to a nearby uninhabited island to try using the [Cook-Cook Fruit].
"Let's try this tree first."
I used the adamantium staff-sword I made in the MCU and cut down a tree, then set it on the stump and sliced again.
"Huh, why's it not working?"
I just thought "meat" and cut, but nothing changed. After a few tries, I thought carefully about the beef I'd sold to the Whitebeard Pirates, then tried again. This time it transformed into beef as I cut.
"Ah! So it was understanding the ingredient... No wonder 'Streusen' was a gourmet too."
That explained why I couldn't awaken any Fruits besides the [Tremor-Tremor Fruit]. I understood gravity deeply, but I didn't understand the others.
"Then for now I need to buy books about ingredients and learn how to judge their condition."
Packaging was an issue too. I could make plastic with [Matter Manipulation], but packaging large quantities alone would be impossible. I'd need people and a base, so I needed to find Fruits and earn some starting funds too.
"In that case, pirate hunting is perfect."
I wanted to avoid trouble with the Yonko, so I decided to hunt pirates near the entrance to the New World.
First, I moved to Sabaody Archipelago and bought wanted posters and several books about ingredients. Since Celestial Dragons came here and Marineford was nearby, the quality of information in the books was pretty good.
Sure enough, that day Celestial Dragons came to the Human Auctioning House, riding slaves and shooting people, so I decided whether to kill them or notābut it wasn't time yet. I stayed on a rooftop and watched under.[Stealth]
'Ah! That's right, Sea Prism Stone.'
I followed a Celestial Dragon, snuck into the Human Auctioning House, and stole a set of Sea Prism Stone handcuffs to analyze.
Sea Prism Stone was a mineral infused with the power of the sea, as hard as diamond, and it could neutralize Devil Fruit users. The Kryptonite of the One Piece world, basically.
That's when I heard faint sobbing nearby. Checking with Observation Haki, I sensed multiple presences behind a locked door in front of the warehouse I was in.
'Slaves?'
I used magic on the lock and went inside. Several women were dressed so scantily their skin showed, wearing metal collars around their necks.
Some were young girls. About ten of them were locked in a cage. They looked like merchandise for today's auction.[Unlocking]
'As expected, One Piece is a brutal place if you don't have power.'
In the original, those collars had bombs. If you tried to force them off, they'd explode. I couldn't use Ryou to break them yet, but with [Matter Manipulation] I could remove them easily.
'Perfect. I needed staff for packaging.'
While in stealth, I used [Nano Buckle] to swap my suit for board shorts and a floral shirt common in the One Piece world, and put on a mask. Then I dropped stealth.
"Be quiet and I'll get you out. Make noise and people will come."
They were startled when I suddenly appeared, but hearing me, they just nodded silently. Thankfully, they stayed quiet. If they'd screamed, I was ready to knock them out.
I used on the cage door, went in, and turned each collar to sand with [Matter Manipulation] one by one.[Unlocking]
"Everyone, grab my hands."
Seeing my strange ability, the slaves quietly gathered and held my hands. I immediately teleported to the uninhabited island where I'd been testing the Cook-Cook Fruit.
"Whew~ you can talk now."
Suddenly in a new place, the slaves couldn't adjust at first, but when I said they could talk, they either burst into tears of relief or cheered and thanked me.
"Wow~ we're alive, we're alive!"
"Sniff... thank you. I don't know what would've happened if we stayed there..."
"Masked oppa! Thank you!"
"Let's eat first."
I handed out random lunchboxes, one per person. They must have been starvingāthey started wolfing it down.
The young girls threw away their spoons and just shoveled it with their hands. Seeing that, I did feel bad. One ate too fast and coughed, so I pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to her.
"If you eat too fast, your stomach will get upset and you'll throw it up. Eat slowly. I'll give you more if you need it."
"It's so good. Sniff..."
After letting them eat and rest enough, I asked how they became slaves. All kinds of stories came out.
"My village was raided by pirates. They killed my family and took me."
"I was from the same village as her."
"My parents sold me to the Human Auctioning House."
"My gambling boyfriend tricked me and sold me."
Hearing their stories, I touched each of their heads and read their memories with [Mental Intrusion].
Thankfully, with [Naked Eye] I didn't need to touch their brains like Cassandra NovaāI could intrude just by placing a hand on their head. Reading them, no one was lying.
"So none of you have anywhere to go back to."
It was hard to call it fortunate, but none of them had homes to return to. Even the girl with a house had parents who sold her, so going back would be hard.
"Then how about working with me? I run a business and could use help with packaging."
"I'd like that. I don't have anywhere to go anyway."
"Me too."
"I'm not sure if there's anything I can do, but if you trust me with it, I'll work hard."
"I'll work hard too."
They all agreed. For now, I pulled workout clothes from my inventory and had everyone except the young girls change. I didn't have kids' clothes, so I couldn't help that. Then I brought out the 'Odyssey'āthe mobile base I'd built for the Avengers.
Seeing it, they were so shocked they couldn't close their mouths.
I assigned rooms, taught them how to use the bathroom and shower, and so on. Then I activated the active camouflage panel and flew very high.
"At this altitude, even insane Observation Haki shouldn't detect us."
For now, since they were all women, they'd need a lot of stuff, so I headed for a large city. I figured anyone planning to leave could keep wearing the mask, but no one seemed to want to, so I took off the mask and changed back into a suit.
"Wow~ oppa, you're handsome."
When I changed and came out, they all blushed and stared at my face.
"Ahem... Everyone get some rest for now. Anyone here worked at a clothing store or know measurements?"
A blue-haired woman raised her hand.
"I do some sewing, so I know measurements."
"Then we'll buy clothes and underwear, so measure everyone. If you know your size, tell me ahead of time."
"Got it."
"And who's cooked before?"
This time a blonde woman raised her hand.
"I worked at a restaurant for a long time. I can do it."
"Then you two come with me to the city when we arrive. What are your names?"
Blue hair
"I'm 'Mary'."
Blonde
"I'm 'Ran'."
Just then a kid tugged my pants.
"Oppa, can I come too?"
"No! If this many people go at once, you'll get kidnapped again. You like that?"
I'd triggered her trauma and she started crying. Maybe that was too harsh?
"Waaah... I'll just stay here."
"Be good and I'll buy you a gift. Stop crying."
"Sniff... okay."
We played with the kids while traveling, and soon a large city appeared. Mary, Ran, and I teleported down from the 'Odyssey' into the city.
"Let's buy clothes first. What you're wearing stands out too much."
"Got it."
We asked around and found a clothing store, then bought multiple outfits in the right sizes and stored them in my inventory. Next, we went to a place selling ingredients and bought a wide variety. We were buying for ourselves too, but also to study ingredients.
"This vegetable is great in soup. Adds aroma. And it's sweet. And this..."
Ran had worked at a restaurant for a long time, so she knew a lot about ingredients. I listened to her explanations, building knowledge about ingredients while shopping.
"Now let's go buy toys, dolls, and snacks for the kids."
"Got it."
On the way, we passed a jewelry store, so I picked up some pebbles from the roadside, used [Matter Manipulation] to turn them into Sea Prism Stone, and sold them.
In the One Piece world, Sea Prism Stone was incredibly rare. Lore said it only came from the waters near Wano, so it was extremely hard to obtaināmore expensive than gold.
We used the money to buy toys and dolls at a toy shop. We also stopped at a street vendor for snacks, but nothing looked good for the kids, so we gave up and returned to the 'Odyssey'. We'd made plenty of money even after buying a lot. [Matter Manipulation] really was the best.
"Oppa~!"
"You've been waiting, right? Here's a present." I pulled out the toys and dolls from my inventory.
"Wow~"
"Put on the clothes and play."
"Okay."
I pulled out a pile of clothes from my inventory. They were all simple designs, so no one complained.
Then I assigned meal duty to help Ran. I put the ingredients in the fridge and taught Ran how to use the kitchen. I was going to assign laundry duty too, but I stopped them and told them to just pile it up.
Explaining the kitchen took a while. Explaining a washing machine would take half a day. And using [Household Magic] was faster.
Living here wasn't bad, but it seemed better to find a usable island and make it a base.
"Since it's all women, East Blue would be best, right? No strong enemies there."
We moved slowly, using [Jack Sparrow's Compass] to collect Fruits and hunt pirates.
There were two kinds of pirates in One Piece: 'Morgania'āpirates who harassed and plundered civiliansāand 'Peacemain'āpirates who fought Morgania or captured them while adventuring.
Using [Mental Intrusion] to read memories, I left Peacemain alone and only went after Morgania. I cut the heads off the ones without powers and stored them in my inventory, and drained the lifespan from subordinates.
I left weird ability users alone because I didn't want their powers, so I just tied them to the ship and moved. No decent Fruit users showed up. Doing this, my [(A) Armament Haki] rose to S. The side income was solid too. I took all the treasure and Berries the pirates had hoarded.
After moving for about two days, a place that was obviously a Marine base appeared, so I went alone with the pirates I'd captured to collect bounties.
They were in bad shape from being tied to the ship. I took them to the big building area. A Marine ran over and spoke to me.
"How can we help you?"
"Vice Admiral Garp told me to catch pirates if I saw them, so I caught some. I'm here to collect the bounties."
"Vice Admiral Garp? Please wait a moment."
After waiting a bit, Marines came running and gave me kind guidance. I handed over the pirates' heads and the pirates, and the bounty payment was processed immediately. Saying the name of Garp, a Marine hero, made it go fast.
'Connections are nice.'
I received 300 million Berries.