The Terror of the Pirates

After realizing Bailey's potential value, Alex decided to keep Bailey.

At the same time, Alex was interested in the Nova Pirate that Saul had talked about.

After the meal had passed its five flavors, Alex asked Saul for more information about that Nova Pirate.

Saul seemed to be in a nostalgic mood as he remembered the past. He drank one glass of wine after another and spoke one sentence after another.

Alex and Sunny were like a qualified audience, listening to Saul's past in silence.

It was not until Saul got drunk that the reminiscing came to an end.

After Saul went back to his room to rest, Alex helped Sunny clean up the mess, and then they retreated to their own rooms.

As for Bailey, because his value had skyrocketed, he no longer needed to go to the toilet to clean the air, but the chains tying him down had not been removed.

Alex returned to his room and, after removing his weights, sat on the bed.

With a thought, the Hunter's Notebook was revealed.

His eyes skimmed over the small handful of microscopic stars on the cover, noting that only the one representing Sam the Fishman had a small extra pointed corner.

Flipping through the notes, Alex took a pencil and scribbled on the blank pages.

Every stroke was a memory related to the original.

This was his daily homework, something he insisted on doing every day.

The purpose was to further consolidate his memories so that those blurred images would slowly become clear.

Although it was tedious, it was very important.

After finishing his daily revision, Alex withdrew the Hunter's Notes and instead took out the [Handwritten Record Replica] to read.

After reading it twice, Alex put the book away and lay down.

[Hunter's Notes]

After lying down, Alex summoned the Hunter's Notes again.

He looked at the second blank silver line on the cover and fell into deep thought.

That battle with Ebe had further inclined him toward the choice of sword arts.

Compared to fists, in terms of length and hardness alone, long knives were indeed superior.

Moreover, a longer attack distance also meant lower risk.

This was more in line with the direction of Alex's choice.

Drawing out the quill on the spine of the book, Alex did not immediately put pen to paper.

There was no need to hesitate, but the Nova Pirate that Saul had mentioned tonight had given Alex many ideas.

According to Saul, that Nova Pirate was not only proficient in physical arts but also skilled in swords, guns, and even more obscure weapons.

On top of that, the pirate had eaten a Zoan-type Devil Fruit that increased the overall quality of his body, combined with the Weapon Fruit of the Hunting Cat, forming a unique and powerful combat style.

However, under Saul's narration, that Nova Pirate had shone brightly in the early stages but quickly dimmed later on.

"Greed is not good, everyone understands this. So even if he was too talented, in the end, he could only stop here."

These were Saul's original words, full of irony.

At the end, he even gave Alex a warning look.

In this regard, Alex agreed with this [previous lesson].

He was also very clear about the reasoning that greed could not be indulged.

Of course, that was based on the premise of not having the [Hunter's Notes].

With such an ability in place, Alex could save more time and energy than others and wouldn't end up like that Nova Pirate.

In this way, on the premise that Bailey ate the [Weapon Fruit], if Alex wrote down needs such as [Weapon Mastery]...

At that time:

To use a gun, then change into a gun.

To use a sword, then change into a sword.

To use an axe, then change into an axe.

The versatile fighting styles would surely give the enemy a headache.

This was the reason why Alex hesitated to put pen to paper.

Originally, he had already rejected the choice of [Weapon Mastery], but Bailey's appearance, as well as Saul's mention of his past, had revitalized this choice.

Suppose it was possible to get through the difficult early and middle stages with the Hunter's Notes.

Then, the images that existed in the future would be enough to make Alex's blood boil.

At the thought of this, it was hard for Alex not to feel excited.

But he wasn't overwhelmed by the future he had imagined.

If he couldn't even get through the early stages, what would the late future matter?

Furthermore, not to mention getting Bailey to return to his side, the Weapon Fruit couldn't be obtained in a short period of time.

If he wanted to do it, he would have to be mentally prepared to go against Doflamingo.

But the most crucial thing was still the unavoidable difficulty of [Revenue Diversion].

Alex gradually calmed down.

The conceived future was certainly beautiful, but there were many difficult hurdles. If he couldn't cross them, all of his visions would only become empty dreams.

"We can't let the 'gains' divert anymore, and we'll have to take the 'hegemony' or 'fruits' into consideration in the future."

Alex considered for a long time but was not swayed by the deeds of that Nova Pirate to the point of putting pen to paper and writing down the need for [Blade Mastery].

Despite his decision, Alex still had considerable expectations for Bailey's future.

It would be best if he could get Bailey to eat the Weapon Fruit.

Even if he couldn't, he could still choose a Devil Fruit with a supportive nature.

Alex withdrew his notes and slowly closed his eyes.

In his mind, he was full of whimsical thoughts on how to uncover Bailey's [Tool Attribute].

The Following Days

Despite filling the second demand, Alex stayed honestly in the store.

He was certain that Abbey and Cazette would come looking for trouble.

So, in order to leverage Saul's strength, he kept Saul, who went to Flower Street every morning for practice, with the attitude of eagerness to learn how to use a gun in the days that followed.

However, a few days passed without even seeing a shadow.

It was so calm that Alex was deeply surprised.

This isn't scientific, ah?

While puzzled, Alex incidentally pocketed the experience value of neighbors number 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

After harvesting the metaphorical "leeks" that grew near his home, Alex also made a special trip to ask Sunny if there were any new "leeks" to cut.

Unfortunately, perhaps the frequency of harvesting leeks was too high, causing the neighborhood to be on edge.

Therefore, not only were there no new leeks moving in, but even some leeks that Alex couldn't bother with had moved away.

And the newly promoted family member, Bailey, was on the sidelines listening to Alex and Sunny's glib conversation.

Since then, Bailey often did not dare to look at Alex squarely.

Although he knew that all the humans who could live in this town were not good people, as long as he visualized the situation where Alex was holding a gun and shot down that one little bird with no expression, he couldn't help but feel afraid of Alex.

By the fifth day, Alex did not detain Saul anymore.

After Saul left the house, Alex finally stopped refraining from the urge to touch the knife and drew a relatively eye-catching long knife from the shelf.

Sunny, who was reading the newspaper, noticed Alex's action and looked up to ask, "What for?"

"Trying my hand at it."

Alex held the sheath in his hand and gave Sunny a hefty grin.

Sunny frowned, "If you let Saul know, he might skin you."

"If you don't say it and I don't say it, how would Saul know?"

Alex gripped the hilt of the knife, and into his hand, he felt only a faint strand of familiarity linger.

Unlike the feeling of security when holding a gun, it was instead an indescribable feeling of fulfillment.

Under this inexplicable feeling, just by holding the hilt of the knife, Alex felt an urge to use it.

It was a pity that there were no enemies in front of him, and there were no practice stakes in the store.

Thinking of this, Alex subconsciously glanced at Bailey.

Being glanced at by Alex, Bailey, whose upper body was bound solidly by chains, immediately trembled, squirming his body, crawling inside the counter, and hiding behind Sunny.

Seeing this, Alex walked into the counter and said caringly, "Bailey, what's wrong with you? Where are you uncomfortable?"

"No, no."

"Oh, that's good."

Alex turned to Sunny and asked, "How much is this knife?"

It suddenly occurred to him that he didn't need to go outside to buy a knife; there were plenty readily available here.

"2.6 million."

"..."

Alex silently put the knife back in his hand and, considering not to add to Sunny's workload, didn't pick up the second knife. Instead, he pointed with his finger.

"What about this one?"

"1.7 million."

"And this one?"

"2.2 million."

"What's the cheapest?"

"900,000."

"...."

Alex felt the less than 500,000 beli in his pocket and sighed deeply.

Surely it would be better to look for something at the weapon store in town.

As for the second-hand goods on the third shelf in the store, he couldn't bring himself to consider them.