4 months since awakening. Date: ???
"Damn it!" cursed Dud as he removed the headset that let him control a drone.
"I will beat you one day," vowed Dud, pointing at mini-Herbie threateningly.
(Condescending Beep)
It had been a month and a half since Herbie's reformation. The pirate hideout had nothing much of value, but Dud had looted it all the same; he had also sold the weapons and exchanged jewels, gold, and jewelry for berries and supplies. He had enough supplies to throw a month-long wasteful party for 50 people, which is to say he had a lot, and he did not have to worry about running out of food anytime soon.
He was also making rapid progress towards the Grand Line; it had been smooth sailing so far. They had visited 6 islands, out of which only 2 were kingdoms and the rest were towns. He had tried to buy a den den mushi, but that wasn't available in any of the islands. He could have gone to Lvneel, but he did not feel that a den den mushi was something he urgently needed, so he was careless regarding it.
They were about 8 islands away from the Grand Line, and the island they were going toward was special in the sense that it had recently undergone a failed coup. The rules were a piece of work, but it was a good place for rare spices and a particular type of wood that, while weak, was really beautiful, especially when it was treated by a special oil. Dud had developed a hobby of wood carving and had transformed one of the empty rooms into his workshop.
"Honk," said Vorstin, reminding Dud to stock up on certain seeds and fresh grass.
"I haven't forgotten, Your Highness," said Dudbowing a little.
(Beep!)
"Yes, I will also keep an eye out for various ores." Dud reassured with an eye roll. Just as Dud had developed a hobby for wood carving, Herbie was fascinated with the blueprints provided to him and was working on creating various extensions and devices.
Dud jumped off the ship and went to the kingdom to shop. The reason he wasn't worried about people taking an interest in his ship was because he 'granted' Herbie and Vorstin [Imp]; even tho the effect was weaker, it synergized well with [Nothing Wrong Here], making Herbie basically invisible and impossible to be hurt, because the ultimate defense is simply being unknowable. But it had quite a drawback.
The first time they had both been active in a dock, a ship rammed into Herbie because the other sailors either could not register that a ship was docked or found it normal that you could dock in the same space as another ship. It was an entire thing that was solved by Dud activating [Imp] and portaling Herbie out of that dock.
Thankfully, the damage was mostly cosmetic on them, but not so cosmetic on the ship that rammed them. Dud had left a golden egg in the captain's room as an apology.
They had since found out [Nothing Wrong Here] was more than enough for people to leave them alone, as it made people think that Herbie is a 'generic ship with nothing interesting going on.'
Dud and Herbie had so much confidence that nothing could go wrong that they did nothing to monitor the deck, and the narrative demanded that something interesting happen, so something interesting happened.
"Honk," said Vorstin, pointing at a monitor displaying the stowaway with an air of 'I told you so.'
(Defeated Beep), beeped Herbie as he manipulated the route that the intruder took so he ended up in one of the spare rooms.
(Worried Beep) beeped Herbie as he wondered when Dud would be back.
Outside, a bunch of Marines searched the dock, took one look at Herbie, and dismissed him and continued their search.
"Who is that?" Dud asked, pointing at one of the wanted posters that covered the entire wall next to a cobbler's shop.
"That is the leader of the Revolutionary Army Cell that was stationed in this country," explained the cobbler as he fixed Dud's boots.
"Huh," said Dud, memorizing the face.
"There you go, all done."
"Thanks," said Dud as he wore them.
"Do you know where I subscribe to the News Coos? I haven't encountered one while sailing," asked Dud as he paid.
"You will find them..." The cobbler gave directions to the News Coo office. "You can't miss them; they have a giant seagull for a sign."
"Thanks," said Dud as he left to find the office.
"Hello?" Greeted Dud, not finding anyone in the reception.
"Oh, sorry! How may I help you?" asked the receptionist as she entered the room from a side door.
"I wanted to subscribe to the News Coo and wanted to make an inquiry about your coverage."
"Did none of our fliers find you?" she asked in surprise.
"My ship doesn't attract attention, and I sail alone, so I haven't been able to flag one down yet."
"Ah! Well, give me a moment," she said, rummaging in a drawer, bringing out a white flag with a standing news coo embroidered into it.
"Hang it on the side of your ship, and our fliers will stop by on your ship; you can make your payment to them when you receive your newspaper," she explained, handing him the flag. "We offer the newspaper once a week and special editions whenever there is a world-shaking incident. We offer sea deliveries in the Blues and island deliveries in the Grand Line."
"Thank you," said Dud, taking the flag. He was about to leave when he remembered something.
"Do you offer cross-blue mailing services as well?" asked Dud curiously.
"Yes, as long as the island you are on has one of our offices," she explained with a smile.
"Great! Thank you," said Dud and left the office.
Some time latter,
Dud finished all his errands. While he did not find any rare metals, he found a very malleable resin, which honestly was like a reusable 3D-printer filament, not that he knew that; he figured Herbie could make use of it somehow.
"Hey, I am..." (URGENT BEEP) "...back. What's wrong?" Dud asked, dropping the crates on deck.
Herbie was going to guide him to the stowaway, but a honk had him direct Dud to the bridge instead.
"So that's the stowaway?" asked Dud as he watched the monitor, which showed the Revolutionary sitting in a shadowed corner of the room, keeping an eye on the door.
"Oh, he is fine. He is from the Revolutionary Army; they are sorta the good guys."
"Honk?"
"Well, at least according to the bounty posters plastered all across the island,he is. We won't know until we meet him, and I want to move to the next island already."
(Beep?) asked Herbie, calming down.
"Oh, we are going to dump him on the next island or his corpse into the sea depending on what he has to say for himself and whether he signs the contract."
"Honk?" asked Vorstin.
"Good question. I guess I will have to make him sign a truth clause contract first and then interrogate him, or I have 7 bronze tickets, and I could see if I get something for it?" Dud thought aloud and decided to check out the gacha and engage the tickets.
[Quicksand]
|Uncommon Ability|
Allows you to turn ground into quicksand that grabs and pulls anyone who steps on it.
[Mystic Eyes of Depth Perception]
|Trash Ability|
These mystical eyes allow you to supernaturally gain awareness of the depth of an object or location in relation to something else.
[Silver Bag of Holding]
|Uncommon Item|
A proper bag of holding woven out of silver, the inside of the bag is larger than it seems on the outside, containing a 25x25x25 m space inside. And whoever plunges their hand inside instinctively knows everything inside and how to pull out what they want.
[Intermediate Blunt Weapon Mastery]
|Uncommon Skill|
You are fairly skilled in handling blunt instruments and weapons such as hammers, mauls, and clubs. You know how to effectively move your body and weapon to make good use of it, being able to match most practitioners in skill and finesse.
[Celestial Bronze]
|Uncommon Item|
Percy Jackson - A mythical metal native to Mount Olympus. Celestial Bronze possesses the property of being deadly to any magical or mythical being while being completely harmless to anything mundane, passing through them like it's not even there. You get 3 10 kg bars. Restock Timer: 24 Hours.
[Drunk Driver]
|Trash Trait|
"It's the drunk crashers that give drunk drivers a bad name." The more inebriated you are, the more skilled you are at driving and operating vehicles.
[2008 Menu #4 Cheese and Vegetable Omelets]
|Trash Item|
The infamous MRE nicknamed "Vomlet" by the troops. It may not be palatable, but it is food, and it is digestible. Restock Timer: 10 minutes.
Dud read through it and made a face at the last 2 entries. He doesn't drink, and with whatever he did with his body with [New Order], he could no longer get drunk unless he used [New Order] to make alcohol affect him, and he is in no hurry to find out.
"Honk?" asked Vorstin inquisitively.
"I did not get anything that will help us right now," admitted Dud.
"Honk"
"Yeah, getting multiple Den Den Mushi will solve that. But before I go..." said Dud as he drafted a simple contract that forced any signees to speak the truth without manipulative intent or half-truths or leading sentences. He also wrote a response in case the stowaway signed it before he returned.
"Herbie, can you slide this underneath the door?" Dud said as he pointed to the contract, "I will be back by sundown, but you should probably start sailing to the next island; no point in wasting time. Oh, if he signs the contract before I return, slide this," said Dud, pointing at the response.
"You got it?" asked Dud.
(Confirmation Beep)
"Be back soon!" said Dud, portaling to Lvneel.