Su Xiao cautiously approached the thicket, holding his flintlock pistol aimed at it. The gun still had one last bullet left.
"Wait, I'm not a bad person." A child's clear voice came from within the bushes.
A child? Su Xiao was confused.
In the dangerous Mt. Colubo, how could there be a child? He became even more alert.
"I'll give you three seconds to come out, or you won't be coming out at all." Su Xiao warned, his finger tightening on the trigger.
"Oh, really? Then I won't come out." came the voice again, possibly misunderstanding Su Xiao's words.
Su Xiao's eyes twitched. Now he was sure—it was indeed a child in the bushes, and the child seemed to have a low level of intelligence.
He holstered the flintlock pistol. The last bullet might be useful for something else, so he didn't want to waste it here.
"Come out!" Su Xiao growled, charging toward the thicket and kicking it with his foot.
There was no feeling of hitting a human body, but instead, he felt something bounce back.
"Bong!"
A small figure was sent flying far away, the sound resembling that of kicking a ball.
"Bong, bong!" The figure hit the ground and bounced a few times before finally lying still.
"Ugh, waah!"
The child, seemingly in pain from being kicked, began to cry loudly.
Su Xiao narrowed his eyes at the strange bouncing. He stared intently at the child.
The child had yellow skin, black hair, and dark eyes. With the odd bounce, Su Xiao quickly deduced the child's identity.
It was none other than the protagonist of the original story—Monkey D. Luffy. It made sense now. He had wondered why a child would be in Mt. Colubo, but now everything made sense. Luffy had grown up here, after all.
Su Xiao walked over to Luffy, who was sitting on the ground crying, his nose dripping with snot. The kick had clearly hurt him. At this age, Luffy's Devil Fruit abilities were likely undeveloped, meaning he wasn't immune to attacks.
"You little brat, stop crying, or I'll kill you."
Su Xiao, covered in tiger blood, looked particularly menacing, and Luffy immediately stopped crying.
"Don't kill me, I don't want to die!"
Su Xiao smiled wryly and shook his head. Luffy was very straightforward, but Su Xiao wasn't interested in him because he was the protagonist of the One Piece world. He just wanted to observe a Devil Fruit user.
He grabbed Luffy's face and lifted him up by it, stretching his face comically.
Luffy sniffled, dazed and looking at Su Xiao with an oddly funny expression.
At that moment, a series of warnings appeared in Su Xiao's mind:
[Warning! Warning! The hunter is approaching the child of the dimension. Please leave immediately!]
[Warning! Warning! The hunter is approaching the child of the dimension. Please leave immediately!]
[Warning! Warning! The hunter is approaching the child of the dimension. Please leave immediately!]
This wasn't the usual pale blue warning but a blood-red one that felt particularly ominous.
[Warning, a powerful being is approaching. It has been identified as Monkey D. Garp. Please evacuate immediately.]
[New Mission Triggered: Legend's End.
Mission: Legend's End
Difficulty: LV.79.]
After seeing the mission's difficulty (LV.79), Su Xiao immediately dropped Luffy, turned, and walked toward the water source. He didn't even bother to check the rewards for the mission, let alone accept it.
There was no doubt that a LV.79 mission would offer extraordinary rewards, but Su Xiao knew this kind of task was far too advanced for him at the moment. He still struggled with LV.3 missions.
When he entered the One Piece world, the difficulty was displayed as LV.6. But that didn't reflect the real difficulty of the world; it only referred to the Goa Kingdom area's level.
He didn't worry much about Monkey D. Garp. Garp should be far from him, and if he wasn't, Su Xiao wouldn't have had a chance to escape anyway.
He reached a small river and began cleaning the blood off his body.
The blood was washed away by the clear river water, and after Su Xiao cleaned himself, the water near him turned red, attracting a school of fish.
A large fish leaped out of the water, and Su Xiao instinctively slashed with his knife, impaling the two-meter-long fish. With a quick motion, he pulled it onto the shore.
The slash was sharp and precise, with perfect timing. Even Su Xiao was surprised at how well he had done.
His swordsmanship had clearly improved significantly. He had only gone through one battle, but his skills had already shown progress.
This improvement was likely due to his training in the real world. He had few opportunities to fight with all his strength there, but this battle with the giant tiger had activated the results of his three years of hard practice.
In the real world, it felt like he was in a "cage" where the killing skills he honed had no purpose other than for vengeance. There was rarely any real combat.
But the Reincarnation Paradise was different. Danger lurked everywhere, and here, even if you were wealthy or powerful in the real world, if you weren't strong enough, you would only be waiting for death.
Su Xiao felt a sense of release. The Reincarnation Paradise was dangerous, and the law of the jungle prevailed, much like a primal forest. But compared to the real world, he preferred it here.
Perhaps he was just born for this place, where his talents could truly shine.
Gaining power while adventuring through parallel worlds might be a pretty good experience.
Su Xiao took a deep breath. He had decided to make the most of his time in the Reincarnation Paradise, grow stronger, and keep getting stronger until he surpassed everyone else. Only by becoming the strongest could he break free from his chains.
But before embarking on this grand journey, he first needed to eat. The struggling fish on the grass was the perfect lunch.
He bled it, scaled it, gutted it, and started a fire…
A little over ten minutes later, the two-meter-long fish was roasting over the fire.
Without any seasoning, the fish might not have tasted good, and he also realized something—killing this fish didn't grant him any mana.
It was likely that the fish was too weak to meet the standards of his "Devourer" talent.
This made sense. If he gained mana from killing any creature, Su Xiao could easily amass 100 points of mana by crushing a colony of ants, which was the maximum amount he could gain in each world.
As for the use of mana, Su Xiao didn't know yet, but he believed it would become crucial later on.
The fire crackled as the fish cooked. Soon, the skin was crispy and dripping oil, sizzling on the fire.
Su Xiao cut a piece of fish and put it in his mouth. Although it looked good, it might not taste great due to the lack of any seasoning.
But after a few chews, Su Xiao paused.
The fish was tender, smooth, and had a natural aroma—its flavor didn't need any spices.
It was delicious, truly the most delicious meal he had ever had.
After finishing the fish, Su Xiao looked at the remaining fish and swallowed hard. Perhaps not only could he gain power in the derivative worlds, but he could also taste all sorts of delicious food.
After enjoying the unusual lunch, he left once he couldn't eat anymore.
The side mission was complete, and the identity of the guard captain was likely within reach. Now, it was time to prepare for the assassination of the king.
That was his ultimate mission. Everything else was just preparation.
(End of Chapter)
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Translator's Note :- I am Not that familiar with a lot of the fictional worlds mentioned in the story. So if I make a mistake naming something please correct me by writing a paragraph comment on the mistake. Thank you.