A sudden surge of power filled Jett, causing his confidence to skyrocket. He thought to himself:
"Three whole points, huh? Triple what Kai earned by pushing himself all day. The system really is my father, I could just fall in love with it!"
The relationship between a person and their system could change in an instant: when gifts came, it was a father; when it didn't, it was nothing more than a dog.
Riding this wave of confidence, Jett felt like doing something. And yes, that something was to continue beating up the captain.
He realized that attacking the captain was quite entertaining, and as long as he could overpower Kai, he'd keep doing it.
"How about we spar a bit? We still have a few hours until we reach our destination. Only focusing on physical training without real combat won't build any experience." Jett suggested, his tone oddly earnest.
Kai laughed at that. Though Jett's words sounded sincere, he wasn't naive. He knew Jett had just gotten a huge power boost and was itching for a fight.
But so what? Kai wasn't afraid. At worst, he'd get another severe beating.
Besides, actual combat experience truly did improve with this kind of sparring, and Jett always used enough strength to seriously injure him if not for his rapid healing ability.
"Alright then, bring it on."
Bang!!!
The moment Kai finished speaking, he felt something slam into his stomach.
Before he could cry out in pain, his whole body had been sent flying off the ship.
Jett froze for a second, thinking:
"No way… I'm really that strong now? I didn't expect to lose control of my strength and accidentally knock him overboard. He won't drown out there, right?"
Jett was struggling to manage his newfound power—it wasn't a small boost but a sudden quadrupling of his strength.
Of course, part of it was Kai's fault. He hadn't bothered to check what absurd upgrade Jett had received that day, so he hadn't been prepared.
"Hey, Captain! Don't die! If you're not dead, answer me!" Jett shouted down at the water.
Whether Kai heard him or not, if there was no response soon, Jett would dive in to rescue him.
After a few moments, Kai's head broke the surface. Basic swimming skills were essential. Otherwise, what kind of pirate would he be?
"Cough, cough, I'm not that easy to kill. But what's up with your strength? Yesterday you weren't nearly this strong." Kai said, swimming back to the boat.
Jett tossed down a rope for Kai to grab onto and climb aboard.
"Other than the system, what else do I have to increase my strength so quickly?" Jett replied.
"I know that, but this is way too fast. Yesterday, you could barely injure me, and today, without even going all out, you almost killed me."
Kai wasn't clueless. He could tell that Jett hadn't been serious just now—it was more like a test punch.
Realizing the gap between their strengths, Jett chuckled and asked:
"Ha ha, want to try again? I wouldn't blame you if you backed out. The difference between us is too great."
"Hmph, don't underestimate me. Let's continue. This time, I won't be careless."
As soon as Kai finished speaking, Jett appeared right in front of him, throwing an uppercut aimed under Kai's chin.
Kai quickly pulled his head back to dodge and kicked at Jett simultaneously.
The surprise attack forced Jett back a few steps, but he wasn't hurt.
Taking advantage of this opening, Kai charged forward and aimed a punch straight at Jett's face.
Jett decided to play a little rough, not so much a sneak attack as simply using his overwhelming strength to dominate Kai.
Trading blow for blow, Kai's punch landed on Jett's face, but Jett's own punch hit Kai squarely as well.
Both their faces contorted temporarily from the hits. Kai was sent flying backward while Jett's face only reddened slightly.
"Cough, cough."
Kai spat out some blood, and something fell out of his mouth with it. Looking closer, he saw it was one of his front teeth.
Jett burst into laughter:
"Ha ha ha! Now, when you grin, you'll have a big gap in your smile!"
He wasn't worried about Kai. After all, Kai didn't fear death, so why would he worry about a missing tooth?
Then, something miraculous happened. Right before their eyes, the tooth began to grow back, at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Kai's expression brightened significantly, and there wasn't a trace left of the punch from moments earlier.
"Ha ha ha, my tooth grew back!" he exclaimed.
Jett's mouth twitched as he cursed:
"Damn it, that ridiculous super recovery of yours! You lose a tooth, and it grows right back!"
But no amount of cursing would stop the fight. They continued trading punch for punch, kick for kick.
The two kept sparring until the silhouette of Windmill Village came into view, prompting them to finally stop.
Their faces bruised and battered, Kai looked ahead and asked:
"Is that our destination?"
Jett checked the map, nodding as he replied:
"Yep, that's it."
Compared to Kai, Jett looked pretty good—his clothes were barely damaged.
Their "fight" was clearly one-sided, with Kai acting like a human punching bag, continuously healing as Jett honed his combat skills.
Of course, Kai was training, too. Both of them fought with more instinct than technique, but they had improved considerably since their first brawl.
"We've landed! Come on, let's explore!" Kai cheered, bouncing with excitement.
Despite just getting beat up, he was laughing and carefree as ever.
Jett, shaking his head with an imaginary black line appearing above him, muttered:
"You idiot captain, what nonsense are you spouting? This is just a regular village. What's there to explore?"
Kai nodded absentmindedly, but Jett's words went in one ear and out the other.
"Ha ha, does it matter? Besides, who knows what might pop up? Maybe we'll find someone who'd make a good crewmate. Why take it so seriously? Exploration is supposed to be fun." Kai said, jumping onto the shore.
Meanwhile, Jett looked around and asked:
"Hey, do you know where the anchor is for this ship?"
"Anchor?" Kai asked, looking puzzled.
He didn't know a thing about it—the sloop was given to him, so he just used it as-is without bothering with details.
After all, with a tree trunk, he figured he didn't need any annoying anchor, so he never paid attention to that kind of thing.
"Damn it, you're a completely unreliable captain. Looks like I'll have to make do with a rope." Jett thought to himself, setting to work.