In the afternoon, a passenger ship departed from the harbor.
At the bow, Shano leaned against the railing, gazing at the gradually blurring capital of the Goa Kingdom in the distance.
From this angle, the cityscape was truly magnificent and splendid, like a heaven blessed by the gods. Its title as the most beautiful country in the East Blue was well-deserved.
But...
Shano shook his head.
He turned and walked toward his cabin inside the ship, his right hand spinning and playing with a small, delicate dagger.
It was the dagger Ace had used to try and ambush him, but had been kicked away by him.
He'd picked it up from the bushes while the two hot-blooded idiot brothers weren't paying attention.
He didn't expect it to be worth much, but even a mosquito is still meat. Just like the night he left Shimotsuki Village — he hadn't forgotten to swipe Koushirou's glasses.
It wasn't that he forgot to turn off auto-loot. Mainly… it was for Kuina's sake.
That way, Koushirou would personally experience the pain of not being able to see clearly, and getting a new pair of glasses would become a top priority on his to-do list, with no more delays.
Swish—
The dagger spun in the air, and without him realizing it, suddenly vanished without a trace.
Shano looked at the newly popped-up system info.
The pair of glasses, combined with the dagger, provided a total of 700 points. Based on that, his remaining points should be 12,825.
But now, the number on the system panel was far beyond that.
The reason was obvious—
[Offering: Luffy's Straw Hat]
[Quality: Legendary]
[Value: 30,000 points]
[Appraisal Comment: The straw hat of Pirate King Gol D. Roger. He personally gave it to Red-Haired Shanks, who in turn passed it to Luffy. It witnessed the legendary adventures of three generations. The nickname "Straw Hat" came to represent Luffy. In the Holy Land Mary Geoise, Imu still keeps Joy Boy's giant straw hat. The legacy of the Will of D will always strike fear in some.]
[Remaining Points: 43,025]
Thirty thousand points!
Twice as much as the Red-Haired's lost arm!
His total remaining points even broke the forty-thousand mark, making Shano feel completely relaxed, and a deep sense of security surged in his chest.
With so many points, even if he started spending freely, it would still be enough to last him a long time.
Maybe even until he grew up and officially set out to sea — he wouldn't need to top up again.
Of course, no one ever thinks they have too many points.
Shano planned to, after next year's cooldown period ended, and once Arlong's threat was gone and there were no more concerns, head out to sea temporarily to find Luffy.
He wanted to see how much the fake straw hat that Luffy wore for a whole year would be worth.
He then looked at the trading menu to the side.
It was the twentieth day since he left the village. The trading market hadn't refreshed yet.
Shano had previously asked the captain of this ship — the journey from the Goa Kingdom to Cocoyasi Village would take around ten days.
Which meant, when he arrived home, it would be about time for the market to refresh with a new batch of items.
"Hope something useful shows up."
Shano's eyes flickered, full of anticipation.
After closing the system panel, he washed up briefly and lay down comfortably on the bed, planning to get a good sleep first.
He'd been moving around the Mt. Colubo area these past few days, and before setting out today, he'd gone to the bank and then looked for a ship. Both his body and mind were completely exhausted.
Not long after, he fell into a deep sleep.
…
Time passed quickly.
Twelve days went by in a flash.
On the second floor of the ship, inside a wide training room that had been specially modified, Shano was practicing the "Soru" technique from the Six Powers alone.
He was no longer the broke kid who rode on Old Galt's merchant ship twenty days ago.
He had booked half of the passenger seats on this merchant ship, and didn't hold back on spending in the dining room either, receiving top-tier VIP treatment all the way.
So when he asked for a training room, the captain didn't hesitate and had the sailors remodel one within half a day.
On the south side of the room, three short wooden stakes were lined up in a row as Shano requested.
The north side had the same setup.
In the corner stood a statue of Heracles, silently providing a three-times boost to physical training efficiency.
Shano stood on the middle stake on the south side, eyes locked on the middle stake ten meters away on the north side.
In the next instant, he took a deep breath, raised his right leg slightly, and tensed the arch of his foot.
"Soru!"
Shh! The sound of air splitting rang out. The moment the word left his mouth, Shano's figure vanished from the spot without a trace.
When he reappeared, he was already on the middle stake on the north side — though he lost his balance and stumbled off it.
"Very close now!"
Shano stood up, not at all disappointed. Instead, his eyes were full of excitement.
After all, it had only been about ten days since he started practicing the Six Powers. His progress could already be called lightning fast.
First, he spent a few days fully grasping the power application method for Soru. Then, he spent a few more days reducing the margin of error for his landing spot.
And today—
That margin of error had finally been narrowed down to a nearly negligible level.
In actual combat, he'd be able to use it to instantly move to any precise spot while fighting an enemy.
This part was critical.
If not trained well, a single teleport in real battle could have him land on the enemy's head — which would be awkward.
Even worse, if he ended up diving into the opponent's sword, that would be disastrous.
"It's been marked as 'Beginner' already?"
Shano glanced at the skill panel in his system and nodded in satisfaction.
Now that it was officially marked as beginner level, he didn't need to dedicate all of his training time every day to this single physical technique.
He could start training the others. As for Soru, just a portion of time each day to reinforce it would be enough. Within a month, he should be able to raise it to the next level and fully master it.
"Even with the statue's boost, this is still much faster than I expected."
After practicing a few more times — each landing precisely on his intended target stake — Shano became more and more cheerful.
Looks like the transformation from mastering "Breath Fist" had another benefit.
Just like in martial arts novels, where once the meridians are opened, everything flows more smoothly — now, when training other physical techniques, his speed was noticeably faster than before.
Come to think of it—
The principle behind "Soru" was actually quite simple on the surface.
It was all about using ultra-fast stomping in a single instant to create explosive counterforce.
That's what allowed the user to move at high speeds — even seeming to vanish right before the enemy's eyes.
But this demanded a high baseline in physical strength, and extremely precise control of one's muscles. Without reaching that threshold, natural talent alone wouldn't be enough.
Luckily, Shano had both of these qualities.
And with his natural talent in physical training, these factors combined made his progress abnormally fast.
"If I can get the basics of Soru down in just over ten days, maybe I can take another ten days and try to master Tekkai next."
Wiping sweat from his face with a towel, Shano opened his inventory menu, preparing to read through the training guide for Tekkai — when a knock suddenly came at the door.
"Who is it? If it's food, just leave it by the door."
He spoke casually. These past few days, he'd been staying here over ten hours a day. All his meals were delivered by the restaurant staff using carts.
"It's me, Lord Shano!"
Scarface pushed open the door and pointed toward the porthole with a delighted face. "Time to disembark, sir — Cocoyasi Village is in sight!"