Half a month quickly passed.
After completing Inferno Training (I), Rono began receiving daily tasks from the system, but they were much less demanding, giving him more free time. He gradually became familiar with everyone on the ship. The crew, seeing the boundless energy of this little rascal, started smiling more often.
It's worth noting that Inferno Training (I) took Rono eight days to complete. On the fifth day, a sudden storm broke out at dusk, and he got so caught up trying to stay alive that by the stroke of midnight, he was still short a few reps.
Then the lightning came.
Rono suddenly froze. The next moment, he convulsed violently like someone having a seizure. His eyes rolled back, his bright red hair stood on end, and his whole body trembled. His skin visibly turned red, cracked open, blackened, and then peeled off entirely.
Thanks to his regenerative factor, his body kept breaking apart and regenerating at the same time. A burnt, protein-like stench filled the air. Rono wanted to scream to distract himself from the pain, but under the effects of the lightning, he couldn't even move a finger—let alone open his mouth. All he could do was twitch uncontrollably. No one knows how long it lasted. Eventually, everything went black, and Rono collapsed to the floor…
Sometime later
Rono slowly opened his eyes and sat up, face serious.
"System… I'm a little dizzy. Can I skip training today?"
Beep. "Friendly reminder: it is now 5:00 AM."
The system paused.
"Please complete your training as soon as possible. There will be rewards for finishing your tasks!"
"Damn… maybe I went too far. This kid's mental resilience is still too low, lol. Better go easier next time," the system thought silently.
"System… I've come down with an incurable illness. I need to rest a day to recover, ah…" he moaned as he lay back on the floor, stirring up a cloud of black ash—that was his "shed skin" from yesterday.
[…]
"…Looks like he can take it. No need to hold back," the system muttered to itself.
"Eh? Why's it so chilly?" Only then did Rono look down at his body—and realize he was completely naked!
"Dammit!" he screamed, jumping to his feet and sneaking back to his room. After changing into new clothes and cleaning up the training room, he noticed the system was ignoring him… so he could only get back to his training again.
Back to the present
After finishing his daily training quota, Rono eagerly grabbed a fishing rod and went sea fishing. Time slowly passed. By afternoon, he yawned and looked at his empty bucket of fish. He pouted. "Man, the fish around here are smart. Not catching a single one? Forgivable. Yep. Not my fishing skills."
"Guess I'll pack it up."
Humming a made-up tune (more like random sounds), he took off his bamboo hat and started putting his gear away. Just as he was about to head to the storage room, a loud shout rang out:
"Pirate ship approaching! Captain!"
The lookout shouted with urgency.
A flurry of footsteps followed as the sailors quickly assembled, armed with cutlasses and flintlock rifles, preparing for battle. Cargo ships, typically loaded with goods for profit, had no chance of outrunning the lighter and faster pirate ships. That left only one option—fight.
Boom! A cannonball hit the main mast directly.
Then came several chain shots. Pirates, blades clamped in their teeth, grinned viciously as they scaled the sides of the ship.
"Fire!" the captain shouted, drawing his saber.
The first volley brought down nearly a third of the attacking pirates. But the remaining ones didn't wait for the sailors to reload—they leaped onto the deck. One of them slashed a sailor down in a single blow. The rest of the sailors tossed aside their guns and rushed into melee combat. Captain Asiya, a powerful fighter, was the first to kill a pirate. The deck became a battlefield of deafening shouts, blood, and gore.
"AAAH!"
With a flash of a blade, several sailors were sliced in half at the waist. Their upper bodies writhed and screamed in agony on the deck.
A burly pirate with a headscarf and a katana—well, here it's called a "sword"—flicked the blood from his blade. He was the one responsible.
"Captain!"
The pirates cheered, morale soaring, forcing the sailors to retreat step by step.
"HIGH!"
Captain Asiya slashed down another pirate and roared as he charged at the pirate captain.
The pirate captain licked his lips and lunged to meet Asiya head-on...
Meanwhile, what was our protagonist doing?
A red-haired head popped out from the pirate ship (not that Red-Hair), flipped nimbly onto the deck, and ran straight for the captain's quarters—the most luxurious room, unmistakable at first glance.
At the door, Rono tugged at the handle twice.
"Huh? Locked?"
Just as he stepped back, preparing to kick the door down—shhk!
A long blade pierced him from behind.
Rono froze.
Like a rusted robot, he slowly lowered his head and stared at the bloodless blade sticking out of his abdomen. Tilting his head slightly, he clenched his fist—his nails suddenly extended like those of a big cat—and struck backward with force.
Thwack!
Rono felt his claws sink into something wet and slippery.
"Now we're even," Rono muttered.
His hands didn't slow down for a second. He yanked his claw back violently.
The person behind him—just another disposable pirate grunt—collapsed to the floor, clutching his bleeding wound, eyes filled with disbelief as he stared at Rono.
"D-Devil Fruit…!" he stammered with a trembling mouth—then dropped dead on the spot.
Rono casually touched his abdomen, which had already healed.
"Ah, damn it, another shirt ruined," he sighed.
Without giving the pirate another glance, he kicked the captain's door open and began rifling through the room.
He slashed the walls, leaving deep claw marks (just in case there were hidden passages), until finally, inside the captain's pillow, he found a metal box.
"Hehe, hiding it so well, but I still found it. If not for my expert—ahem—my caution, I mean," he chuckled.
He extended his claws, slipped them behind the box, and sliced it open.
As expected, two small green-tipped arrows lay silently at the top. If he had tried to force the box open from the front, he would've been done for—no doubt.
Casually tossing the trap arrows aside, Rono began humming to himself as he examined the loot.
"⊙0⊙! Whoa! That's one huge gem—that'll fetch a good price! Tsk tsk, this dagger… the hilt's made of gold?! Yo! A Devil Fruit?! Hahaha, I hit the jackpot!"
Just then, a hoarse voice cut through the air:
"Kid, I suggest you put that stuff down. If you do, I might let you die in one piece."
Rono turned his head to see the pirate captain—bloodied and gasping for breath—aiming a silver pistol at his head.
"Pfft!" Rono stuck out his tongue and made a silly face.
Then, in a flash, before the captain could react, he took a big bite out of the Devil Fruit.
"Ugh! Damn, that's disgusting!" he gagged, unable to resist commenting.
BANG BANG BANG!
Furious, the pirate captain emptied his magazine, unloading a full burst into Rono.
Looking at the bullet holes in Rono's body, he spat bitterly.
"Goddammit! Stealing from me?! That's a few hundred million down the drain!"
The captain was in agony. He'd just come back after getting beat by some tough opponent, failed to loot anything, and now this?
He turned to shout for someone to drag Rono out and feed him to the fish—
But then he realized...