Chapter 105: Landing on the Island
Ian rowed his small boat slowly forward. Before leaving, Tina had told him that the Sabaody Archipelago had no magnetic pull, so she gave him a Log Pose pointing to Fish-Man Island to help him reach Sabaody.
It would take about two more days to get there from here, so Ian rowed while checking his own status.
In fact, ever since he killed Pikes on Bibbico Island and leveled up to 10, Ian's stats had taken a significant leap. Then, on Ace's ship, he used Ace as an experience boost to gain another level. After that, on Tina's Marine warship, he upgraded his Nen Training skill to Advanced. His recent strength had been steadily improving, but he hadn't bothered to closely examine his stats.
Now, alone and with time to himself, he was startled by what he saw.
All the cards he had equipped were at full capacity: two four-star cards and one three-star card, plus the overall boost from his Nen skills. His stats had unknowingly become this:
Name: Ian
Level: 11
Dori Value: 1569
Strength: 239
Speed: 495
Life: 366
Nen: 469
Skills:
【Expert Swordsmanship】: Sword-drawing speed +40%, destructive power +40%. Can use sword energy attacks.
【Advanced Nen Training】: Increases Nen recovery per hour. Current recovery rate: 10 points. Increases total Nen capacity by 40%. Can use Nen diffusion.
Compared to his pitiful stats back in Shimotsuki Village, Ian was now quite formidable. If measured purely by Dori Value, his current value surpassed many members of CP9.
Though he still couldn't match Rob Lucci's 4000 Dori Value, he still had three card slots locked. Once his level increased and he equipped good enough cards, his growth would accelerate rapidly.
Looking at his Strength and Speed stats, Ian understood why Tina couldn't even touch him during their fight.
He had once asked the system how these Strength and Speed values translated into reality.
The system's answer was interesting: roughly, Strength × 2 equaled the maximum weight Ian could lift, and Speed / 10 equaled his maximum movement speed.
That meant Ian could now lift about 480 kilograms at most, and his top speed was around 49 meters per second. Of course, these were rough estimates. Though the numbers said he could lift 480 kg, with a bit of effort, he might manage 500 kg.
Even so, this made him a true superhuman. On Earth, the fastest 100-meter sprinter took about 9 seconds, which translated to roughly 11 meters per second. Ian's speed was several times that.
So in terms of speed, Tina couldn't keep up, which was why she couldn't hit him within his Psychic Field.
This also explained why the stat boosts from cards couldn't reach full potential. If the cards' stats could be fully transferred to him, even with just three cards, he might rival some Marine Vice Admirals. As his level increased, he'd be unstoppable!
He could equip six cards, after all.
Looking at his stats, Ian felt pleased. In this world, strength was the currency of survival, and the stronger, the better.
Following the Log Pose's guidance, Ian sailed forward without incident. But on the second day, he noticed more and more ships appearing on the sea.
The Sabaody Archipelago was the only way to the New World. Ships from various routes converged here, so it wasn't as sparsely populated as a single route.
Most of the ships on the sea were pirate ships; merchant vessels were rare.
Ian's small boat stood out awkwardly among these ships. Strange as it was, the pirates didn't pay him much attention.
His boat had no pirate flag, so the pirates didn't know his identity. Most assumed he was a resident of Sabaody.
Pirates who made it through the dangerous routes to reach here were the cream of the crop. Weaker pirates had been eliminated along the way. Those who arrived were strong and confident, and they wouldn't bother with an ordinary person.
But pirates came in all kinds. When the outline of Sabaody was already visible in the distance, Ian encountered a group of malicious pirates.
"Malicious" because they deliberately sailed their large ship close to Ian's small boat, letting the waves crash against it.
As Ian's boat wobbled dangerously, threatening to capsize, the pirates leaning over the railing whistled and mocked him.
After Ian steadied his boat, these guys turned their ship around and headed back toward him, as if to repeat the trick.
"Hahaha, kid, better get out of the way!" a pirate on the bow shouted down at Ian. Before Ian could respond, they pretended to realize something: "Oh, I forgot—you can't escape!"
This drew more laughter from the others, who yelled, "Too bad, kid! You'll have to swim to Sabaody!"
Ian looked up at the pirates with a gaze as if they were idiots, ignoring them completely.
"Damn it, what a smug bastard!" The pirates were annoyed they hadn't seen Ian panic. The leader gritted his teeth and said, "Ram him!"
The pirates quickly adjusted their course, heading straight for Ian's boat.
Ian stood silently on his boat, watching the pirate ship charge at him without moving. Just as the pirates laughed, thinking he was frozen in fear, a flash of blade light filled their vision!
The next second, they heard a loud cracking sound from their ship. Before they could understand what happened, they saw their vessel split in two!
At the moment of impact, Ian drew his sword and used a sword energy slash to cleave the pirate ship in half!
With his current Nen value, his sword energy could cut through brick and stone buildings. Splitting a wooden ship was nothing.
The pirate ship was sliced down the middle, falling apart to both sides. Ian sat back down in his small boat and sailed right through the gap. The terrified pirates falling into the water contrasted sharply with his calm expression.
Now, the ones who would have to swim to Sabaody weren't Ian, but those pirates.
Ian didn't even bother to see which pirate crew it was. For him now, anyone he could casually dismiss was probably a pirate with a bounty of 30 to 40 million. Such pirates weren't worth his attention.
Continuing forward, Ian finally saw the unique landscape of the Sabaody Archipelago, formed by countless Yaqui Mangrove trees. The island's top was covered by a canopy of leaves, while below stood smooth trunks. Countless bubbles floated gently among them, shimmering in the faint mist and sunlight, displaying rainbow colors that made the island dreamlike.
On the surface, it looked like an island from a fairy tale.
When Ian finally docked his boat on one side of the island and jumped onto land, he noticed the air was filled with a faint resin scent—pleasant, fresh, and natural.
With a soft pop, a newly formed air bubble rose from the grass beneath his feet. The bubbles on the island were all produced by the mangroves' respiration. Ian knew this. Watching the bubble rise slowly, he couldn't resist poking it. He found the outer resin layer thicker than he expected, hard to break.
When he pushed a bit harder, the bubble didn't burst but stuck to his finger.
Looking up, Ian spotted the nearest numbered Yaqui Mangrove tree, which read "16."
The Sabaody Archipelago was vast, with many Yaqui Mangrove trees, each artificially numbered to represent a district. Ian couldn't quite remember which district the 16th tree belonged to, so he decided to walk and see.
The ground here was soft, and when he crouched to touch it, it felt sticky and damp. Ian knew the island had no solid rock ground; everything was supported by massive tree roots. Walking on such ground might feel strange at first.
Perhaps every first-time visitor to Sabaody felt curious and excited. Ian was no exception, looking around as he walked.
But as he strolled along, he suddenly realized that, at some point, he had been surrounded by sneaky figures...