One Pice: A Game Blue System.

The other passenger in the cart, this one wrapped in chains instead of rope, has been silent the whole trip. I actually don't even know if he's conscious yet. I thought he briefly stirred when I was bandaging his face -just to make him presentable- but it may have just been my imagination. If Blackjack is awake, he's chosen to accept his fate quietly.

I catch the attention of a nearby Seaman standing watch, who is doing his absolute best not to gawk at Blackjack's size, and waved the man over. "Excuse me, could you call Chief Mori and have him meet me down at the bounty office? Tell him Jack the bounty hunter is here with a 9,000,000 Beri payday."

The sailors eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "N-N-Nine million!" he stammered in disbelief.

"Well, 8.96 technically. But you know...same same really."

The Seaman straightened up and nodded vigorously. "Yes sir. I'll call the Chief right away!"

I pull my wooden cart up to the bounty office and once again find myself chuckling at the sheer absurdity of the multicolored sign overhead. I peak into the teller window and find Petty Officer Abrella missing, a conspicuous 'Out to Lunch' sign in her place.

I'm not waiting around for long though as Mori, along with a half dozen men and a Master Chief all in tow, round the corner and home in on me like sharks would blood in the water.

"Nine million Jack," Mori begins, his trademark barking laugh noticeably absent. "What the hell happened to working your way up slowly?"

I laughed a bit nervously and scratched my cheek with one finger. 'How best to explain this...'

"Well I was operating on that plan see...went after this fellow right here, listed at 760,000 for some dirty work he did for the Masserida crime family." I spoke, gesturing to Buchanan for a moment who then screamed something indignantly through his gag.

"..when this one showed up and tried to bury me six feet under." I continued, pointing to the large man in chains. 'He actually succeeded once too.' "Apparently he's the family's new hired muscle. I don't suppose the name 'Blackjack' rings any bells for you does it? 8.2 million?"

Mori nodded in the negative but the Master Chief's eyebrows rose to his hairline.

"From the 'Goldtooth Pirates'?" The man -who's name the [Game] identified as Currenquestioned. "He's supposed to be dead."

"Do you want me to wake him up? Question him yourself? Fair warning, I'm not sure he can talk correctly with the condition his face is currently in."

Curren considered my offer and peeked briefly under the bound mans hood before shaking his head.

"No, it's him." The Master Chief spat with a scowl. "Even with his face bruised to hell and back it's hard to confuse someone with a physique like his. I was serving on the ship that sank the 'Goldtooth Pirates' three years ago. I can only imagine this hard son of a bitch has gotten tougher since then."

Curren's entire demeanor shifted and his scowl morphed into a large toothy grin. "Out-fucking-standing!" He proclaimed loudly and patted my shoulder. "Fine work son. Damn fine work! I always had my doubts when they said this one drowned at sea."

The Master Chief rounded on his fellow sailors and began issuing orders. "Boys! Take these two down to the brig, I'll be along shortly. Mori! We're going upstairs to speak with Lt. Jorgen. He's been running an investigation on the Masserida's for a while now and we need an officer to sign off on a bounty payout this large."

As all the Marines disbursed to their various tasks my long awaited payoff finally arrived.

And it was…

Glorious. Ding!

Quest Completed!

Quest: Collect 10 bounties. Progress (11/10) Reward: +3 in every stat but LUK and 1,800 Exp.

Ding!

Quest Completed!

Quest: Collect a bounty worth at least 500,000 Beri.

Reward: +3 STR, +3 VIT or DEX and 3,000 Exp.

Ding!

Quest Completed!

Quest: Collect a bounty worth at least 1,000,000 Beri.

Reward: +4 STR, +4 VIT or DEX and 4,200 Exp. Ding!

Quest Completed!

Quest: Collect a bounty worth at least 3,000,000 Beri.

Reward: +8 STR, +8 VIT or DEX, and 6,500 Exp.

You have reached Lv. 22!

You have reached Lv. 23!

You have reached Lv. 24!

You have reached Lv. 25!

Congratulations! You have reached Lv. 25! The effectiveness of your [Skill] [HP Regen] has been doubled! (0.1% per minute) → (0.2% per minute) You have reached Lv. 26!

You have reached Lv. 27!

You have 60 points to spend! Change is meant to be gradual. It is supposed to build up overtime so you don't really notice it. I certainty didn't feel like a new man every time a single point was added to one of my stats.

But in this moment, in this one special instant...

I can feel it all.

I can feel the [Game] making alterations to my body. Breaking down cells and rebuilding them better. Making me faster. Tougher. Stronger.

I can feel the sleeves of my suit slightly tighten from the increased muscle definition in my arms. I can feel my chest subtly broaden and I simply know that I can take damage a little better now. I can even feel that for some reason the [Game] has made me ½ an inch taller.

Not quite sure why it did that last one but I'm not going to complain.

'[Status].'

Jack Parker, The Gamer, Lv. 27 Health: 760/760 Exp: 2,000/2,700 Money: 2,762,390 Beri (+8,960,000 PENDING) STR: 118 VIT: 76 DEX: 85 INT: 36 WIS: 33 LUK: 15 Points to spend: 60 Click here to see list of [Skills]

-Current number of [Skills]: 35 Click here to see list of [Perks]

-Current number of [Perks]: 1 I feel amazing. With that kind of DEX score I could probably fight three Blackjack's at once and still outmaneuver them. It is disappointing though that my VIT would still only be about a third of each of theirs.