NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Bounty hunter
Nori staggered as he tried standing up. He had had too much to drink at a Halloween party and now, everything was spinning. He fell back into his chair and felt the heaviness overtake him, his eyes slowly fell closed and he slipped into sleep.
He dreamt of becoming a bird and taking flight, of flying over the ocean, the wind blowing past his feathers and he heard a narration, from a voice that sounded suspiciously like Morgan Freeman, "You have been chosen, Nori, your destiny is to become the calamity that walks, the one who crushes his enemies through sheer presence and lifts up his friends to positions of great power. For this task, you have been reborn as an Oni, the race of warriors, with the power of the copy copy no mi without the weaknesses of a normal devil fruit. Beat someone in a contest, be that a fight or a bet or even a game and you will receive a random skill of theirs, be it their haki, their sword skills or even their devil fruit ability."
Nori, still a bird, flew over an island and onto a beach, where a giant of a man, easily 2.5 meters tall laid. He wore traveling clothes, had blue hair and distinct, Black horns which made him look menacing, even whilst peacefully asleep, "This is your new body. Wake now, Sol Nori, wake and become what you are destined to become. To check your progress, simply think the word 'status'"
And awake he did. At first, he thought that all that had been a dream but as the grogginess left him, he realised that he was on that beach which he had seen. He put his hands to his head and sure enough, there were horns there, "Have I really crossed over?"
His voice was deeper than he remembered, unfamiliar yet comforting. He looked down at his body, he felt… powerful, as if he was suddenly many times stronger, with muscles lining him. He stood up and immediately noticed that the ground was way farther away than he was used to, "That voice, it said I should think 'status'?"
Immediately a blue panel appeared in front of him.
Sol Nori
Devil fruit: Copy Copy no mi
Abilities copied:
A simple panel that didn't show much but in the future, it would be helpful to keep track of his abilities. He was sure. Now, he needed something to drink, he was thirsty. He wondered how long this body had laid here, in the sun. He didn't have a sunburn but that could just be his oni physique at work…
He walked down the beach, in a direction. If there was a civilization on this island, he should find it along the coast line, maybe a port to find something to drink… Wait, did he even have money? He checked his pockets and sure enough, there was a wallet in his pocket, filled with berries. At least he wouldn't have to steal just yet.
He walked for close to an hour before he spotted a port town in the distance, "Finally…", he sighed, "Civilization at last"
It took him a good 'nother 20 minutes to walk towards that town -more of a village really- and find any signs of life. The streets were full of life, children running around, people working, there were fishermen, carpenters, merchants. All looked at him with awe. Nori couldn't fault them, he was gigantic and those horns, you wouldn't see those every day. A small child, maybe 12 or 13 ran up to him, he wore a straw hat and had a scar under his eye. It was clearly a young luffy, "Woah, you look so cool and strong too! Do you want to join my crew? I'm gonna become the king of the pirates!"
"Aren't you a bit too young to be a pirate? You are what, 12?"
"I'm almost 13! Just four more years before I can become a pirate!" Luffy pouted.
"Well then, big man, I will agree to be on your crew- if! If you can beat me at arm wrestling"
"Okay, sure, let's go to Makino's bar to do it and I'm gonna win and you are going to become part of my crew! Shishishishi!" He ran of and Nori followed. Four years ahead of canon, huh? Plenty of time to grow stronger. Nori wished he had come sooner, then maybe he could've met Shanks here and gotten one of his broken skills.
The bar was almost empty and Luffy dragged Nori by his arm to one of the tables, where the two of them set up for arm wrestling. Of course, Luffy lost immediately and the blue panel appeared before him.
[You have successfully beaten Monkey D. Luffy, one skill is chosen at random… Skill: Gum Gum pistol acquired]
Huh, just Gum Gum pistol? Not the whole fruit abilities? Maybe the full fruit ability is more rare… Maybe he should-
"Hey, what's that screen thingy?" asked Luffy.
He can see it?
"It- it is a special power of mine", He said, choosing his words carefully. If others could see it, he couldn't feasibly hide it. So, he just had to tell the truth, he guessed. Not all of it, not that he came from another world but that he had a fruit ability.
"Wow, did you too eat a devil fruit? I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi, making me a rubber person! What devil fruit did you eat? What does it do?", he looked like an overexcited puppy, "I can't read the writing on there, what language is it?"
So, they couldn't read english? Good, so no one would be able to deduce his abilities by just reading it and it seemed that this body's familiarity with japanese allowed him to read the japanese writing and speak in japanese. He hadn't even noticed until now that he didn't speak English, strange… Now, should he tell Luffy? No, he would go around, spreading the news, he was a chatterbox, "Tell you what, if you can beat me at arm wrestling, I will tell you what my devil fruit does. So, you better train a lot because I won't stop growing stronger, I won't wait for you to get to my level. You can challenge me as much as you want but I won't be staying here for very much longer. If I'm gone, you won't see me until you set to sea"
"Okay! I want another go!", Luffy positioned his arm. Did he really think he could beat him if he couldn't move his arm an inch just moments ago? Well, whatever, more abilities for him. Again, he won and again, the screen popped up.
[You have successfully beaten Monkey D. Luffy, one skill is chosen at random… Skill: Hand to hand combat(beginner)]
Luffy gave up after being beaten like that, at least for the day. The next day, he challenged Nori again and was again defeated, this time, he got the useless skill of 'Eating', which gave him the ability to eat an ungodly amount of food without ever becoming full. After that, Nori could see Luffy training at the edge of the forest, carrying rocks on his back, throwing punches and more for the next week. The day before Nori decided to leave, Luffy came to challenge him again but a week of training was not nearly enough to make up the difference between them. He was stronger than the average adult but he was nothing compared to an Oni like Nori.
[You have successfully beaten Monkey D. Luffy, one skill is chosen at random… skill: Gum Gum Rocket]
"I'll be setting to sea tonight", Nori told Luffy, "I am sure we will meet on the sea someday"
"I will beat you the next time we meet", Luffy promised, "And then, I'll make you join my crew!"
"Sure you will", Nori chuckled and ordered himself another bottle of rum.
That night, he didn't return to his shelter, a local hotel for travelers but instead, when everyone was sleeping, he stole a small fishing ship and supplies to last him a few weeks. He didn't have enough money to buy those things legally, not after a week of staying in the hotel but he didn't care, he would one day become a pirate after all, for now, though, for now, he would become a bounty hunter. It was the easiest way to fight a lot of strong opponents and get more funds for his journey. He reached Shellstown a few days of sailing later. He docked his ship and walked straight to the board where the wanted posters were located. There was Buggy the clown for 10.000.000 berry, Sawtooth Arlong for 17.000.000 berry, Iron Mace Alvida for 3.000.000 berry, Don Krieg for 15.000.000 berry, Kuro of 100 plans for 16.000.000 berry, Hellhound Boris for 2.000.000 berry, Rooster for 3.000.000 berry, Demon of the sea Korr for 19.000.000 berry and- Wait a moment, Nori's eyes darted back to Korr's bounty poster, it was no mistake, Korr was an Oni, that much was clear, horns, great size and supposedly strength. He picked up the bounty poster and flipped it on its back. On the back of the bounty poster was information on a pirate, 'Demon of the sea Korr is a heinous pirate with the strength of three normal men. He is the supposed son of Kaido, cast out for being too weak, he now terrorizes the east blue, where he is one of the strongest pirates present, just slightly stronger than Sawtooth Arlong. He is a hand to hand specialist and uses his devil fruit, the Kuma Kuma no mi, model Grizzly to enhance his close quarters combat. He has thus far killed over 100 bounty hunters and marines and countless civilians. He has a base on flamingo island but regularly travels with his crew to plunder villages'
Nori grinned, this Korr fellow seemed like a good challenge. But he had to grow stronger first, so, he grabbed the bounty of Hellhound Boris, Rooster and Kuro of a 100 plans, those three would be his first targets. He also took a few of the other bounty posters, those of 1 million or lower, just in case he came across them.
It didn't take long for him to come across his first target, Rooster, of the Crow pirates. His crew was ten members strong, with two others having bounties besides their captain, both for 500k. It was evening when he spotted their ship on the horizon. So, he went to sleep, he wanted to be well rested for his first real fight. He awoke early that next day and rocketed onto the ship with a well placed gum gum rocket.
"Hey, what do you think you are doing mate?", one of the pirates asked. Nori simply knocked him out, as well as the other three goons on deck. His system pinged but he ignored all of it, sitting down, waiting for the captain and his first and second mate, the three with bounties, to arrive. The second and first mate arrived first, they were brothers, Dun and Fon, two fat bastards with an evil glint in their eyes and a wicked grin on their faces, "looks like we have a bounty hunter on our hands", said Dun.
"Yeah, let us clobber him", finished Fon and the two of them ran up to Nori, who sprang up and punched Dun. Dun flew back a few meters and coughed up blood, "Damn, the bastard is strong", he mumbled, "Should we call the boss?"
"We better", Fon called out, "Boss! There is an-"
But he didn't get to finish his sentence as Nori hit him with a Gum Gum pistol, knocking him into a wall of the ship.
The system dinged but he ignored it, focusing on Dun, who was shaking in fear, "Y- you stretched! You are a devil given flesh! Hell nah, I'm out of here"
He jumped off the edge and into the water, swimming away.
Nori would've jumped after him, if there hadn't been the captain to worry about, who came rushing out of the captains quarters, "What is happening here-? Who the fuck are you?"
"The name is Nori and I am a bounty hunter", he smiled wickedly, showing his teeth.
"Of course! It is only natural that a bounty hunter would come after me, now that I am a powerful pirate with a bounty of three million but I tell you, you won't find me an easy opponent, I am much stronger than-"
"Gum Gum Pistol!", Nori rolled his eyes as the 'great captain' collapsed after one attack. He had seriously overestimated the pirates of the east blue. They couldn't even withstand one punch, or had he underestimated his own strength? Either way, he killed the guy in one hit. His system awarded him with the skill: Karate, which was supposedly different than just hand to hand combat. He cut off the head of Fon and Rooster and sailed back to shellstown. On his way there, he also killed Hellhound Boris, who too was very weak. He had seriously underestimated himself, like really, these pirates were almost not worth the kill… Maybe he really should go after Korr next. Maybe he would be an actual challenge? He also noted that he now had duplicates of some skills, according to the system, if he had five of a certain skill, he could rank them up, making the skill stronger.
He arrived at shellstown with three heads in bags and marched straight up to the marine base.
"Halt!" Commanded a marine, standing guard at the entrance of the base, though his voice was shaky, clearly impressed by Nori's appearance, "What is your purpose here?"
"I'm here to cash in a few bounties"
"Ah- a bounty hunter", he seemed to relax, "Follow me, I will show you to the bounty exchange center", he walked away from the base, around a corner and into a small building by the side of it, clearly displaying the marine's insignia but hidden away, much less noticeable than the huge marine base, "You can turn in any bounties you have collected here, alive criminals can be exchanged for the full bounty whilst dead ones are worth 80% of the bounty on the poster"
"Thank you", Nori nodded. It was a bit irksome that he wouldn't get the full bounty but he had to live with it he guessed. He walked in and saw three booths, with bored looking marines standing behind them. Nori approached one and presented him the heads, "Ah- Rooster and Hellhound Boris and-", he flipped through the bounties, "Yes, Rooster's right hand man Fon, together that is 5.5 million berry, adjusted for that they are dead… that'll be 4.4 million paid out. What is your name?"
"Sol Nori"
Berries exchanged hands and Nori walked out, satisfied. He ate and drank well that night, celebrating his first collected bounties. The next day, he set out once more, this time searching for Kuro of a 100 plans. If he could beat him, he was sure he could beat Korr as well, in which case, he would search for his fellow Oni next.
Finding Kuro was a lot more tricky, he had spotted them multiple times over a week but they always outmaneuvered him and they even changed ships a few times, Kuro was tricky like that but Nori didn't give up, keeping up his chase and eventually, he found them. He snuck on the ship in the middle of the night, taking out Jango in a sneak attack, though his screams woke up the other pirates.
[You have successfully beaten Jango. Random skill selected… Skill: Hypnotism(Intermediate)]
Kuro walked out into the sleeping quarters just as Nori had killed the other no name pirates and had gained three more abilities.
"Stealth foot", Kuro muttered as he disappeared from view and reappeared right in front of Nori. Before he could react, the cat claws of Kuro were in his side.
He grunted in pain, this was the first wound he had gotten since arriving here. He swung at the pirate with his big arms but he used stealth foot to dodge, retreating back before approaching again and stabbing him in the side again. Nori's fists met air again and Kuro did the same tactic but this time, Nori was prepared, striking the pirate with a powerful punch, sending him flying. He was stunned by the impact, which he used to grab him by the wind pipe and crush it.
[You have successfully beaten Kuro. Random skill selected… skill: Stealth foot]
He treated his wounds with the basic first aid supplies found on the ship and traveled back to shell's town, where he turned in Kuro's head.
"Is that… Kuro of 100 plans? My oh my, aren't you the rising star… do you maybe want to join the marines?", asked Ensign Morgan, who had come there due to Nori turning in such a high-value bounty.
"No thank you", he shook his head, he didn't want to be a marine dog.
"Think about it, with your strength, you could rise the ranks way fast, you'd be a captain within a year! Just think about it, wouldn't you like to uphold justice? To become stronger? The marines could help you become strong!"
"No thank you", Nori chuckled, "I enjoy my freedom too much"
"Well, if you ever change your mind, you just have to enlist, it is very easy. You'll go through a short bit of training and then are assigned to an officer and-", Morgan kept talking but Nori tuned him out, simply walking away, towards the hospital, his wounds still needed attention. But on the way there, he checked his status again.
Sol Nori
Devil fruit: Copy Copy no mi
Abilities copied:
Gum Gum Pistol
Hand to hand combat(beginner) x3
Eating
Gum Gum Rocket
Cooking(beginner) x3
Marksmanship(beginner)
Swordsmanship(beginner) x3
Karate
First aid(beginner)
Hypnotism(Intermediate)
Stealth foot