hotmtlnovel Chapter 548: Suna Suna no Mi—Difficult Decision
Chapter 548: Suna Suna no Mi—Difficult Decision
Alex, still smiling, rubs his nose, which is still stinging, causing more blood to flow out, stubbornly refusing to stop on its own.Having had her fill of laughter and blood, Tereza draws her wand and casts, “Episkey,” a beam of light shooting into Alex’s face, causing the pain to immediately stop.
You have recovered 13 HP
Your bleeding stopped
“Thanks...” Alex mumbles. “That actually hurt... I guess my nose didn’t get magically stronger by my increased PHY.”
“I take it you got something good?” Tereza wonders, ignoring his rambling.
“That... seems to be the case,” Menchi says, curiously staring at Alex. “That reaction was something else entirely. I haven’t seen him celebrate like that before.”
“Indeed,” Benezia confirms. “A foolishly honest reaction. Hopefully, you have something to warrant such a barbaric response.”
Yes, Princess Jewel even got hurt in the process!
“... I’m sorry, Jewel, okay?” Alex says, rubbing his pet who’s still on his head, trying to calm her down.
Looking at his inventory, Alex finally checks out the details of his item. “Let’s start with the small thing... let’s see [Baby Den Den Mushi (pair)].”
[Baby Den Den Mushi (pair)]
World: One Piece
Type: Telepathic Snail/Phone
Quality: Purple
Requirements: —
Effect: Upon activation, creates a pair of Baby Den Den Mushi. They are automatically connected and are able to contact each other if they’re within a range of 100 kilometers.
Effect: Should you take good care of them, by playing with them and feeding them, they’ll grow up into adult Den Den Mushi with an extended range and the ability to dial any valid Den Den Mushi number, should the player be in the World of One Piece.
Warning: Neglecting them can cause them to get sick or even die.
Note: Don’t slam the phone!
“Activate [Baby Den Den Mushi (pair)],” Alex orders, his voice growing louder.
Soon after, a pair of colourful Baby Den Den Mushi appear in his hands, and the item vanishes from his inventory. In place of it, he receives two unranked [Baby Den Den Mushi’s]. Contrary to most of them in the world of One Piece, both actually look quite cute, being only a third of the size of a regular one. One has a beautiful silver shell, while the other one has a deep blue shell. Alex also sees that on their shells are numbers: the silver one is numbered 13371, while the other one is numbered 13372.
“Kinda cool... they took my player-system number and turned it into a number for the Den Den Mushi,” Alex analyzes with visible curiosity in his eyes.
I like it!
As he holds them in his hand, they curiously stare at him, even appearing to be a little shy, almost cautious.
Alex gently pets them, causing Jewel on his head to angrily rub her body against him.
Don’t be jealous, now.
He grabs the one with the blue shell and gently hands it to Benezia, who carefully inspects it.
“Why are you giving this to me?” she asks, slightly puzzled.
“I thought the color suited you,” Alex blurts out. “It also looks cuter than the usual Den Den Mushi. Might be useful to stay in contact, especially since you are constantly running around the Realm. If something happens, you can call me.”
“If we’re ever together on a mission again, Tereza, I’ll give one to you!” Alex says towards his friend, reassuring her.
“I might take you up on that offer,” Tereza replies, grinning widely.
“I want one too!” Menchi complains loudly, raising her hand.
Alex shrugs. “I don’t have a green one, but feel free to play around with this one for now.” He then hands her the remaining one with the silver shell.
“They are so cute!” She screeches, even taking out a few tiny bits of meat and feeding them to her snail, also gently placing a little bit before the one Benezia is holding.
Both snails eat with delight, causing Menchi to smile wildly.
“Show us what you were so excited about, Alex. That can’t be it,” Tereza says, leaning over his shoulder.
Alex, his hands slightly shaking, looks at his newest acquisition, the [Suna Suna no Mi].
[Suna Suna no Mi]
World: One Piece
Quality: Light Gold
Requirements: None
Effect: Grants a new innate skill that automatically levels up. Renders you unable to swim and creates a weakness to water and Seastone.
Effect: Allows the user to generate, manipulate, and become sand, giving the user access to various supernatural abilities as the user levels up. More skills and the ability to develop unique skills on their own are unlocked by leveling up this skill.
Effect: As a Logia fruit, this fruit allows the user to become immune to various physical attacks by turning their body into sand. This ability does not work against special means of attack or spells.
Effect: Grants 100 LP (Logia Power) + 10 per additional level in the skill. LP is a bonus resource that can be additionally increased by increasing PHY. (Formula = PHY x 2 = LP). LP recovers by 1% per second.
Effect: Using any abilities consumes LP and Stamina. If there are no LP left, the user may overdraft their abilities by significantly increasing the stamina cost.
Note: Are you willing to accept the curse of the sea?
Note: Don’t get greedy—eating more than one of these fruits is a bad idea.
Note: The devil within does not accept outside help, whether from other fruits or anything else entirely.
Reading over the details, he swiftly shares them with the others.
“It is impressive...” Tereza remarks, her eyes growing wide. “No wonder you freaked out there.”
“You really got it, huh?” Menchi says, whistling. “I wonder how it tastes... maybe we could sell it and buy some food with it.”
“You... didn’t you just say that you have more food than you can ever use?” Alex questions her, gobsmacked. “Now you want to sell it for even more? You are greedy and unreasonable.”
Menchi pouts. “How about new cooking equipment?! I’m still using these weird pans and pots you salvaged at Hogwarts... and I only bought a few cheap ones myself.”
She gets closer and closer to Alex until she is sitting on his legs, her face turned toward him, her hands placed beside his head on the couch. “I also need more potion recipes and resources... herbs, other ingredients! Hey... I also want Purple rank tools... maybe even a gold one?”
As her face gets closer and closer, Alex tries to push her away, but she grabs his arms.
“I also need a larger pot... maybe even a grill... special charcoal... animal parts... also...” she continues rambling, greed visible in her face, as she’s shamelessly making dozens of wishes.
I need to take a hard stance!
“Jewel, use sticky web!” Alex shouts.
❤️
Firing a large volley of web towards her, Menchi immediately flails wildly, with web covering her face and her hands, binding them together.
“H—hhhhe—eey—yy?!?MMmhhh!” she tries to yell, but the web is blocking her mouth, causing only weird sounds to leave it. “Mmhhhhmm Get it off!” she screams.
“Heh... you kinda deserved that one, Menchi,” Tereza snickers, trying her best to stop herself from laughing.
With Menchi busy, trying to remove the webs from her head, Alex lets out a sigh of relief.
Good job, Jewel.
Princess Jewel will prevent all Peasant Thots from trying to exploit Soulmate’s newfound riches with their lewd bodies. Princess Jewel will be Soulmate’s Money Guard.
“It’s bodyguard... but thank you,” Alex mutters.
“Damn spider!” Menchi curses, finally freeing her hands and using her knives to cut off the web.
“My mom just cleaned up... don’t wreck the place, okay?” Alex asks.
“Fine...” Menchi says, puffing. “Stingy...”
“I’ll buy you something if you find anything you truly need, don’t worry. There is no need for cheap tricks like using your body. It doesn’t suit you, and as you know, I’ve always supported you—after all, this benefits me the most,” Alex explains, staying firm, meeting her eyes.
“I... you are right,” Menchi says, slightly blushing, walking away towards the entrance, and grabbing a broom from one of Alex’s cupboards and slowly cleaning up the torn web from the ground.
Smiling, Alex notices that Benezia is sitting next to him, intently staring at the item.
Don’t tell me....
Another Thot after Soulmate’s money! Be careful, Soulmate!
“Little one, I don’t think you want to go there... the consequences would be extremely dire,” Benezia says in an icy voice, powerful enough that even Jewel scurries away, hiding herself behind Alex’s head.
“Are you thinking of using it?” Benezia asks.
“I... I am not so sure,” Alex admits truthfully. “Look, I just got it. Honestly, this is an insanely strong item... but I only have one Innate Item-class skill that I get to use. This is a permanent decision. I don’t see how this would make me too much stronger. I already have an ability that uses up a lot of Stamina, and my PHY is pretty good, but nothing special. Also... the alternative... so much FC. Also, it looks like the system limited this item. In the series, it uses up only stamina and grants the user an almost endless amount of abilities of the chosen element. But in this case it’s limited... it would be too overpowered otherwise, I think.”
“...”
He looks at Benezia. “I am ready to be proven wrong, but I actually think... it wouldn’t really be a smart choice to use it. I would also gain a lot of weaknesses. Water—not only due to the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses, but also the sand-specific ones... blood and every other liquid counts as well. Also... I acquired 10 of those [Seastone (Small)] along with my [Seastone Dagger], so Seastone items are clearly not something too rare... maybe they can even be crafted into items, or worked into gear? I’d be screwed if that is the case... even common Seastone handcuffs or weapons like my dagger would be deadly to me.”
Benezia stares at him, not saying a thing.
“Soooo?” Alex asks, slightly impatient. “What do you think?”
“Does it matter what I think?” she replies without showing any emotion. “It looks to me as if you have reached a conclusion on your own.”
Is she fucking with me? Tell me already.
“I’d like to hear your thoughts, though,” Alex adds, still watching her closely.
“I have nothing to add—your thoughts mirror mine perfectly. It wouldn’t necessarily make you much stronger, as your Biotic abilities function almost similarly and also require a lot of Stamina,” she finally states. “If you have too many different abilities, you lose focus. You have a lot of different and diverse skills already. Further diversifying them is not required. However, way more importantly, I have a request.”
Alex perks up. “Yes?”
“Will you let me sell that fruit and entrust those FC to me?” Benezia asks, staring into Alex’s eyes.
Upon finishing her sentence, Jewel immediately rampages on Alex's head, jumping around wildly.
Evil, treacherous Thot! Soulmate needs to reject her. She is even worse than Menchi!
“Jewel...” Alex says, sighing. “Calm down. She obviously means that she will invest and trade with those FC. She obviously does not want them for herself.”
At least... I hope so?!
Princess Jewel is not convinced.
Stop it, or I’ll become paranoid. It’s an easy decision!
“Let’s sell it, and then you can trade with those FC. Maybe we should ask Glimmerwhisk for help before we do that. An item of that caliber might be hard to sell without an auction,” Alex says. “Anyway, I still have one more chest to open... from that Shinji guy.”
Alex quickly grabs his [Bloody Chest] and opens it.
You received 500 FC
You received Soul Crystal (Small)
You received Common Shortsword
[Common Shortsword]
World: Fantasy Realm
Quality: White
Type: Sword
Required Stats: STR - 3, PHY - 3, AGI - 3
Durability: 25/25
Damage: 9-11
“...”
“Looks like I used up all my good luck,” Alex mumbles, sounding more tired than truly disappointed.