Safely landing somewhere in the middle of the desert, outside of the Aurum city, Rowan wiped off the sweat from his face before quickly dashing off.
'What have I done... there was no reason to play a hero!' Rowan mentally scolded himself as he continued running, just to make sure that he was out of Mad Treasure's reach. However, he wasn't aware that he was leaving footprints as he ran.
Due to the haste escape, Rowan could not bring all of his possessions. He was left with pocketed Belis amounting to 10,000, and a folded map. He left his spike knuckle in his now-lost-sac, since using it perturbed his bounce ability, and it would have been useless against Mad Treasure with his armour.
Rowan carefully looked around before coming to a stop. He pulled out a map.
'The middle of Tempus island is full of desert; I have no idea where I am right now. Thankfully, I didn't forget to purchase compass during my stay in Aurum. The best course of action would be to continue to the east, until I escape this desert.' Using compass to guide himself, Rowan used the bounce force to move at an incredible rate.
As Rowan continued to travel, he noticed that his control over the devil fruit power has been gradually increasing as he continued to travel. He was using less amount of bounce force to propel himself in same magnitude, and he unconsciously adjusted the direction of bounce to align with his direction of movement.
'Now that I think about it, the bounce ability is technically an ability to control vector, with few limitations. I can control magnitude freely, but the direction will always be perpendicular to the surface of my body.' Rowan thought as he ran.
'However, the bounce ability has another power that makes it very useful; it can spontaneously generate the vector from scratch.'
'If this is the case, by generating the vector beneath my feet when I am in the air, won't I be able to freely move around in the sky, by pushing off against the air particles? Looks like I got a lot to try out later.'
___________
Previously, Rowan was able to run 120km in Cocoyasi. Now that he gained an ability of bounce, his speed was much quicker; he ran over the entire desert in one day!
Although the sky has turned dark, Rowan relaxed seeing that he has managed to escape from the desert. Although the forest in front of him is not safe either, it was much better than sleeping in the desert, where the temperature drops by huge degree, with attire that exposes his arms and legs.
As Rowan relaxed and walked through the woods, he saw a group of people partying around a campfire. Right after witnessing the scene, he immediately hid behind a large tree that was right next to him.
"Come out. We heard you a long time ago." A sudden voice caused Rowan to tense up even further. "Don't worry, we won't attack you. We are just innocent civilians!"
Rowan could hear many footsteps heading towards the tree he was hiding behind. As quickly as possible, he used bounce to jump up onto the top of the tree, before anyone saw him.
"Hm? Where did that person go?" Rowan tried to get the clear view of the people, however, he could not, due to the heavy darkness around them; the campfire did not provide much aid in discerning their visages.
"Captain, what do we do?" One man asked. Intently looking, Rowan saw the silhouette of a blade on that man's hand.
"Hmm, we might have misheard. Go back to whatever you were doing!" Another man, with silhouette of a large hat and blade, replied.
Soon, the group was seen loudly partying gain.
'*Phew* That was close.' Rowan sighed in relief. 'If possible, I would like to avoid any trouble. I am certain that they are pirates, and does such thing called good pirates exist even? I have no idea as to how strong they are, so fighting is not an option. I need to get out of here, but moving will alert them. I don't want to play another hide and seek like I did with those dwarf duo.'
Rowan could not afford to stay on top of the tree for long either. Although he is successfully hidden at the current moment, however, once the sun rises, they will surely notice him.
However, Rowan sighted pile of supplies lying next to the pirates, containing water and meat.
'FOOD!' Rowan could not help but rub his growling stomach. Abandoning his contemplation, he silently slid off from the tree, before approaching the group.
"Hello, my fellow brothers. What do we have here?" Rowan slowly approached the group.
"Halt. Who are you?!" One member shouted with his blade pointing towards Rowan.
"Whoa, calm down, lad! Hello there, what business do you have with us?" The man, whom Rowan previously recognized as captain, raised his hand up to halt the member. His eyes were stuck on Rowan's bulging pockets.
'Geez, of course. They are pirates, after all.' Rowan internally remarked, before responding, 'Did someone come here a moment ago? I am currently chasing him, a notorious criminal with bounty of 10 million on his head!"
Hearing this, the pirates turned pale. "W-what?! 10 million??"
"C-captain! That sound we heard before! It wasn't a coincidence!" One of the member said as he shook in fear, anxiously looking around.
Having looked at their reactions, Rowan accessed the situation. 'They are scared of 10 million. I think I should be able to beat them.'
Rowan slowly crouched down, earning the attentions of the pirates.
"What are you trying to do?" One pirate asked in inquiry.
"Wait for it." Rowan started to draw something random on the ground, making the pirates confused. 'Now!'
Rowan suddenly jumped forward at an incredible speed, before chopping his hand on the neck of the captain.
"AHHHH!!" The captain cried as he felt sharp pain on his neck.
"""Captain!!""" The other pirates cried out as they saw their captain scream.
"Huh? You didn't faint?" Rowan muttered. It was an act, of course. He did not wish to randomly massacre everyone in sight. Since he confirmed their inferiority through this one chop, there was no need to pursuit for their death. "Guess I will try again-"
"Please, stop! It hurts!!" The captain suddenly knelt with his hands rubbing together, his eyes full of tears. "We surrender! We surrender!"
Rowan sweatdropped.
"What are you guys doing!! Hurry up and kneel!!" The other pirates quickly threw their weapons and knelt too.
"If you want to avoid any further consequences, you better-" Rowan was cut sort again, as the captain suddenly shouted.
"Do you know why we knelt?! It was to gain propulsion!! Witness the power of our Kneel pirates!!"
Within a second, all of them jumped towards Rowan from their kneeling position, at the same time.
Not even amused, Rowan watched as all of their fists, which were clad in spike knuckles, the exact same kind he used before, approached him at once.
*BOOM* The next moment, with one burst of bounce force all around Rowan's body, they were all blown away at the same time.
"Arghhh!!" They all landed back at their original spots, in Dogeza form.
"T-that was just a prank! Please forgive us, sir!" The captain shamelessly shouted.
"""Please forgive us!!!!""" The rest of the members said at the same time, banging their heads against the ground.
"Leave all your food and money right here. Then scram!" Although angered at their shrewd attempt to attack him, Rowan decided to let them go. It was not worth to waste time on killing them.
In one go, Rowan earned around 400,000 Beli for himself. He was enjoying a good meal as well, while watching the pirates leave.
"Halt!" Rowan suddenly had a change in mind. In response, the captain quickly turned around with a nervous expression.
"Y-yes?"
"Where are you guys going to?" The pirates could not help but cry within.
''''You are the one that told us to leave!!''''
Nevertheless, the captain answered. "T-to our ship, of course."
Rowan smirked. 'As I expected. The pirates without a ship? Not possible. Seems like I found my way out of this island.'
"Lead me to your ship." Rowan said, as he stood up with a huge backpack tied on his back, ignoring the pirates whose eyes moistened.