Even though I have the noble dream of being a house husband, it doesn't mean at all that I don't have any outdoor experience with wildlife.
In fact, I have many of these in my résumé; whether it is hiking, fishing, or camping in a forest, I can do all of that.
So, what relevance does it have in my preferred field of work?
'Well, nothing.'
Many things are like that. You put so much effort into them, and in the end, you have no use for them whatsoever in your field of work.
Like advanced math, for example, or your illustrious record of your sports club, or your volunteer work for the school community, this will not be helpful or whatsoever in your field of work, as you are likely to work a soul-breaking job as a corporation slave.
All that it will do is to make your status as a slave look more appealing to your new master.
Oh, and you can also use it when you are bragging among your associates at a drinking party or something, and of course you have to say it in a humble and conservative tone like 'Man, studying This was hard, so many things to work with' or 'The Captain of the team worked us to the bone, and by sheer luck we managed to reach the semi-finals.' and things like that.
The same would be for my future employer–AKA my future wife–when I will tell her about all of those useless outdoor experiences, it will only serve to make my résumé more desirable. Even through I very sure it will not work on Yukinoshita, damn it! That woman will prefer to work me to the bone; small tricks like that will not work with her.
Sigh, what a troublesome woman. She is cute, yes, but still troublesome, or is she cute because she is troublesome? Well, she is cute, so it is all right.
However, there are some times when your useless skill becomes useful.
Like my situation, for instance. I now have to explore a mountain forest full of dangerous beasts, to find a cursed fruit that gives people supernatural power, so I can give it to a magical artifact and open a dimensional gate back to my home. Something that can happen to anyone every weekend or something.
I was walking in the forest, and the overgrown branches were everywhere. Usually, there should be a semi-road that goes through the forest, but it looks like this forest doesn't have it, hence I will have to walk through wild trees.
To walk around the forest like that, you have to cut the overgrown branches out of your way to clear a path for you to walk on, or you can just walk through them, and it will be the same as walking through a path full of hooks and sandpaper walls.
The Barbossa Sword would have been very helpful here, however, I need to use the Compass to find the Devil Fruit.
I can get a normal sword with the Box, but it is not as powerful or useful to have like the Barbossa Sword.
Luckily, I can do something else.
By using the Hamon to enhance the cloak and shaping it into a dome-shaped cover, I was able to walk through the forest unharmed.
The problem is, the hindering branches are not the only thing to look out for.
Bang!
Raaaaaawara!
Beasts.
So many wild beasts are roaming in this forest, like this giant rabbit here.
Yes, it is a rabbit, and it is almost two-thirds the size of a motorbike.
How it could possibly grow to this size is beyond me, and why it is attacking me? Shouldn't rabbits be herbivores? Did my biology teacher lie to me?
Well, damn!
Bang!
Raaarraaawara!
One more Hamon shot from me, and the monstrous rabbit scrambled away in fear and agony.
'For a moment, it made me think I am the bad guy here.'
Good grief, what is going on with this world? Is there nothing normal about this world? Even the rabbit just now is not the most bizarre thing I've faced.
Snakes, wolves, rats, lizards, squirrels, even freaking gorillas, though the gorillas ran away when I was shooting the wasps.
The wasps were as big as a human child, and they moved in a group.
I had to shoot half of them for the rest of them to run away; many of the other beasts waiting around ran away too after that.
I continued moving, but didn't return the pistol to the hostler, but took out the Compass to get my direction and a small water bottle hung by a string to act as my Hamon Detector.
Many ideas appeared in my mind when I looked at the makeshift Hamon tool. There are many ways I could improve this and make it a genuinely useful and cool-looking tool.
And it was very useful right now, even though I can't see them, I can feel many beasts hiding around waiting for the right moment to attack me.
While I could shoot them one by one, I quickly realized it was a bad idea because they wouldn't just go away, they would just hide better, and I would be wasting bullets.
This left me no other choice but to be wary of them and continue moving forward, only shooting them if they got to a certain distance.
But after walking forward for a while, I came to realize the attacks became less and less, and the hiding beast also became less and less.
Now that I am also getting closer to the Devil Fruit–the Compass says it is less than 150 meters away–and we are clearly still in the middle of the forest, I can only say that there is something here driving away the beast from this area.
Either it is something that the beasts hate is here, or this is the territory of a very powerful beast.
My bet is the latter one, even if it is not, it is better to be safe than sorry.
Sheeng!
I quickly replaced the compass with the Barbossa Sword and made a long pointing line in the direction of the Devil Fruit.
The gun was still in my left hand, I was still using the Hamon Detector hanging from my wrist continuously.
Taking cautious steps forward, I began to also use the power of the Barbossa Sword in my hand.
Although I didn't have the time to fully explore it, the Barbossa Sword has an ability other than controlling the ships and sea around it, it can make the inanimate things move to my will.
But moving things is not the same as controlling them.
For example, I can make the rocks, stones, dead leaves, and vines in the forest roll on the ground and climb the trees, but I can't make them float in my direction or stay still in the air.
That would be telekinesis, not moving, so I think the right word for this ability would be puppeteering.
Of course, there are limitations. From what I know for now, I can't use it on living things, and as long as it is not ships, the power is significantly weaker.
Using the Barbossa Sword now, I can feel the dead vines and leaves crawling and moving to my will, but I try not to be distracted by it and focus more on the Hamon Detector.
And I immediately catch another limit to the Sword's ability, it needs considerable focus.
Looks like I can't use it continuously, and I would need to focus more if I wanted to do a precise task.
However, it would be enough as a distraction or to buy me some time.
After a dozen or so steps taken, I can finally sense something in my range.
I am sure it had noticed me as it was moving closely in my direction, not even bothering to hide.
More like it didn't need to.
Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!
Just the sound of its steps is enough to announce its presence.
'What the...'
The more and more I see of its appearance, the more and more I think I have messed up my choices here.
Why? Well, first of all, it is a tiger.
Like the one you see on TV and the zoo, albeit broader in shape, and its limbs and body looked like it is full of explosive muscles.
Usually, that would be enough to make me question my choice of coming here in a hurry, but the tiger's muscled appearance is not the biggest glaring issue here.
Size is...
Just like everything in this forest, the tiger's size is the most alarming thing!
It was almost as huge as an elephant!
Normal tigers are already alarming creatures by themselves, but when you add to them the muscles of gorillas and the size of elephants, what you get is the natural/unnatural disaster in front of me right now.
Glub!
Hikigaya-kun here doesn't need an introduction, this definitely should be the Mountain King the village elder spoke of.
Mr. Mountain King is also not happy with this introduction, judging from its ominously gleaming eyes, the hideous expression on its scarred face, and the open mouth full of fangs.
'I am so fucked…'
'Will my Hamon Crushing Bullets work against this monstrosity?'
'What should I do?'
I am starting to panic, and the only thought in my head is to run away-
Yet before I even start moving, the monstrous tiger lunged at me!
"SHIT!!!!"
I jumped away immediately from its path and took running as fast as I could!
But I underestimated the physical gap between us, the monster following me definitely has a larger stride and more explosive speed than me!
The meat-shredding claws of it were slashing at me before I even took ten steps away from it.
When I instinctively raised my arm to defend myself, the Barbossa Sword responded to my will and moved the cloak to take the hit!
The cloak was shredded into pieces, and I was able to roll away from the swords like claws.
"DAMN!!"
Then I aimed my pistol at the tiger and shot three Hamon Bullets!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
ROAARRAAAR!
All the bullets hit the tiger straight in the face, making it roar in pain!
Roar in pain, but still alive and angry.
'And thrashing anything around is what it would do!'
I quickly jumped away from its reach, landing in a pile of dead leaves, and when I saw the dead leaves, I got an idea.
Not sure if it is going to work or not, but if I want to survive, there is no point in hesitation.
'Just please work!'
Before the tiger could get its bearings, using the Barbossa Sword, I controlled the dead vines and leaves around and used them to entangle and obstruct this muscle tank of a tiger.
Dead vines, twigs, leaves, dirt, and stones suddenly started moving like they were alive and surrounded the giant beast, binding it in place.
For a moment, it looked eerie and scary. But only if you are not in control of it. The feeling of having the power to command the whole forest around you is a very reassuring feeling.
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!
Of course, the tiger didn't share my feelings as it was clearly surprised. It started moving and thrashing around to rid itself of its binding.
...And it was clearly working.
Crash!
No matter how much vines or leaves I cover the tiger with, they are just dead vines and leaves. It won't be able to hold the titanic power of the giant beast.
'This is Bad...'
More Vines! was my immediate answer, but when I tried to pull more, there wasn't more.
I have used almost all the vines in the area around me just now. If I want to use more, I have to change my place.
"Shit!"
It seems like I could only honor the secret technique of the Jostar family and release my legs to the wind!
Let's just hope the binging on the tiger will give me enough time.
And knowing my luck,
It won't…
…
A/N: Someone had asked if Hachiman has the Compass, why doesn't he go and find the One Piece?
The answer to this question is: It's Complicated.
I could explain it right now, but that would be a spoiler. So I prefer writing about it rather than saying it like this.
Just know it is not a spontaneous thing, but a planned one. And a big part of the reason why he has the Compass is because of the One Piece.
Anyway, that's it for now.
Thank you all for reading! Hope you enjoyed this one!
Have a good day!
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