The territory of the city covered the entire island. The city itself had a bulge as it approached the center, which is why the famous scaffold could be seen from any corner.
After sitting down after another day of work as an acrobat at the local circus, I massaged my muscles to relax them. It's been over a month since I reached Logtown. Therefore, I had to prepare for further events. First, I wanted to check my daily progress.
"Status," I ordered mentally.
Status
Current name: Kuro Miyago
Paths: Fool(8 sequence, Clown (82%))
Ritual: Not required
The goal: To swim to the island of One Piece, before the main character. ( There are 301 days left before the start of canonical events ) Reward: 1 meta point
There are about 9 days left for complete digestion. The problem is that I couldn't apply the acting principle in any way. The basic principle did not fit my actions, its meaning was: "And under the blows of fate, we can only accept them with a smile."
After sitting down, I stretched out my arm with a pendulum in order to conduct a fortune-telling session. Under the pendulum was a poster by a certain William Shafton. The reward for the guy was small, only 960,000 belli. He became famous for arson and violence.
"Is there a William on this island? I asked, focusing on the pendulum.
After receiving a negative response, I changed William's poster to a Barrel of Mee with a reward of 880,000 belly. The leaflet said that he was wanted for fraud and murder.
"Is there a Barrel on this island? I asked, not really hoping for a positive answer.
My pessimism turned out to be unnecessary, Burrell was really on the island. Lying down on the bed, I began the next fortune-telling session. Unlike fortune-telling on pendulums, fortune-telling in a dream is much more spiritually expensive, which is why I decided to use it only in the past first stages of leaflets.
In the dream, the sign "Black Mug" was visible, in the background in the distance was visible with a view of the scaffold, which means the bar was in the west. Inside the bar, a guy was replacing a beer dispenser. His hair was longer than on the poster, his thick beard and the mole under his eye made it impossible to recognize him as the Barrel.
After the prediction, it remains only to understand the degree of danger of this venture. Holding out my hand again, I began to ask: "Would an attack on the Barrel and further capture be dangerous?"
The pendulum was slowly rotating clockwise, which means that the answer is yes, but given the speed of rotation, the danger will be tolerable.
When I got up, I took with me only a deck of cards, a recently purchased flintlock pistol, a linen rope, and two dowsing sticks. Using the dowsing rods, I went in search of a bar.
When I got to the bar, it was about 12 a.m., considering the type of place it was still extremely busy. I took a table in the center of the bar and placed an order. Firstly, the bar staff was modest, one waitress was most likely not combat-ready, the slightly elderly bartender, judging by his posture and the way he carried himself, was also not a threat, the guard sitting near the door, he did not look so strong, spiritual vision showed that his "will" was only slightly higher than usual the guy, most likely the threat from him is only in the form of a pistol and a saber on his belt. I couldn't see the kitchen, but according to the pace of order submission, there are at most 3-4 people there. Several armed guys could be seen among the drinkers. They sat at the same table and talked loudly about their hard lives. Burrell was in the kitchen, apparently. It was an inconvenient place to fight.
While I was enjoying my order, I couldn't figure out how to get the Barrels out of here alive. The main problem is that I have to bring him back alive, and the extent of his crimes requires the government to try him first, and only then decide his fate.
After sitting like that for half an hour, I left the bar. Having found a personal entrance, I expected to catch a Barrel there, but I hid around the corner.
Two hours later, I saw a man in an apron come out to throw out the trash. Despite the apron, I unmistakably recognized him as a Barrel.
I abruptly jumped out of the corner and ran straight at him, holding the map between my fingers, if necessary.
Noticing my figure, Burrell was not at a loss, he threw a garbage bag in my direction, and he reached down to pick up an object, while he began to retreat towards the kitchen.
Without slowing down, I shifted to the right, he had a bottle in his hand, he raised it in case of a melee, wanting to interrupt his retreat, I threw a card right into his foot
"Ahhh..." the card that hit his leg cut through his flesh.
The discomfort of the pain caused him to slow down, although it didn't really affect his speed in any way.
However, shouting could be a problem. Jumping towards him, I launched another card directly into the bottle to smash it. He tried to swing the bottle at me, but the glass made him squint so they wouldn't hurt his eyes.
When I was next to him, I knocked him to the ground and put a gun to his forehead.
When he opened his eyes while lying down, he looked at the gun first, and then at me.
"Don't resist," I growled softly.
Forcing him to roll over on his stomach, I tried to tie his hands when another cook looked out of the kitchen.
When I saw him, I didn't take the gun away from the prisoner, but just shouted at the witness.
"Come back in and close the door." Pretend you didn't see anything.
He did not argue and did as he was told.
As soon as the door closed, I sighed. Most likely, there are frequent commotions here, and the guard did not come out because, in my opinion, his main duty is to protect the premises. So he took the noise outside as another street fight.
After quickly completing the binding, I headed to the Marine Headquarters. It was only the third o'clock in the morning, and the attendant did not dare to confirm the reward for the capture, citing the need to wait for 8 a.m. To prevent a possible escape on his part, if I was right or if I was delayed, as well as if a civilian was attacked, we were both put in a cell.
We stayed in the cell until almost 9 a.m. It was only in the morning that the door was opened to us, and we were sent directly to the captain's office for questioning.
There was a heavy smell of cigarettes in the room. In the center sat a man with ash-blond hair, wearing a white jacket with Cuban cigars dangling from the sleeves. There were no other clothes under the jacket, only glasses hung around his neck. His hands were covered with brown gloves, and the handle of a jute was visible behind his back.
—Captain, a bounty hunter has arrived with a possible criminal," one of the officers said.
— Don't yell, you're free. And you two, sit down," he replied, inhaling the smoke of his cigarette and pausing. Then he added, "First, explain the situation and fill out the paperwork."
The process was quite tedious. Later, I realized that it was because of the low reward for the criminal. He wasn't a pirate, so I had to take him to the police, where there would be the same difficulties.
After a long interrogation and trial, they confirmed that it was indeed a Barrel.
— So, take this paper and go to the registration desk. They'll give you a reward there. And don't bring any more non-pirates here. Understood?
—I'm sorry, Captain Smoker, but I have a favor to ask of you," I said politely. — Is there any way I can join the Marine Patrol on the Grand Line?
He looked at me with a questioning eyebrow and thought about it.
"Kuro, the Grand Line is out of our jurisdiction. I can't just recommend you. They need capable fighters, they won't take them there without strength or experience.
— And if I refuse the award in favor of contributing to the Marine Corps? I asked, roughly understanding how to get there.
"Still not enough,— he replied. — Considering that you did not complete a combat course and did not work in the patrol at all, you should have a more solid track record. At the very least, you should be able to defeat a pirate with a reward of 5 million belly or several with a lesser reward, or have my confirmation of your combat capability.
"I get it," I said slowly, figuring out my plan of action. — In that case, I will not refuse the reward now. I'll be back with you soon, Captain Smoker. Good luck to you.
After that, I left the office and went to the registration desk. Everything went well. Now I have to wait for me to switch to the next sequence and pretend to have found the fruit. I think these abilities are enough to pass the test.
My body relaxed, realizing that everything was going according to plan, but it immediately tensed up when I remembered that I still had to work at the circus today, and I hadn't really slept.