"Finally—we're here. How about we dive for fish? I almost starved to death."
A few days later, the small single-cabin sailboat moored at a pier. After dropping anchor, Karl leaped down from the deck with Carina in his arms.
Such a flashy landing immediately drew the eyes of people on the docks.
Ignoring the looks, Karl asked Carina, "Carina, how much do I have in savings?"
"Only one hundred thousand Beli."
Carina sighed helplessly. "If I'm the one spending it, it'll last a few days. If you're spending it, it won't even get you a third full."
"In that case, let's go find some prey."
Karl didn't mind. One hand rested on the knight's sword at his hip, the other slid into his pocket as he headed toward the town on the island.
"Idiot, buy a map first."
Carina slapped his hard armor. "How many times have I told you? On a new island, the first thing is to gather local intel. Otherwise, no matter how strong you are, you'll flail around like a headless fly, with no direction and no target."
"Heh, isn't that what I have you for?"
Playing the tall card, Karl draped an arm over Carina's fragrant shoulder and grinned without a hint of self-awareness.
"Honestly, you always forget things." Carina rolled her eyes, walked to a dockside stall, and bought a local map.
Following behind her, Karl's gaze was full of warmth.
They had set out together at seven to roam the East Blue. Though she was a few days younger, Carina had taken care of him like an older sister. Over seven years, she had become the most important person in Karl's heart.
Because he was so used to her care, Karl—despite being a transmigrant who knew the plot—never put on a display of wisdom in front of Carina. Like an overgrown child, he leaned on her and slowly let her grow into the team's brain.
The girl who chose to leave the orphanage and set sail at his side completed her own growth under the pressure of survival and never became a burden. Little by little, she became Karl's mind.
Now the two of them were an unmatched duo, one brain and one brawn.
After buying the map, Karl and Carina headed toward the island's town.
On the way, Carina said helplessly, "If there aren't any wanted pirates here, I'll have to do what I always do and target those rich scumbags with bad reputations."
"Relax. I've already found a few nasty auras. Odds are they're pirates with bounties," Karl said with confidence.
"That special sense again?" Carina asked curiously.
"Yeah."
Karl nodded.
Unlike Charlotte Linlin's so-called natural-born destroyer physique, Karl's was a monster physique that could evolve without limit.
As the name suggests, his body grew stronger through evolution.
What he ate worked like experience points from fighting monsters in a game.
His gluttonous appetite merely sped up turning food into experience.
When the experience bar filled, he leveled up.
When Karl leveled up, he evolved.
It felt like a peerless expert breaking through a bottleneck, a complete sublimation of self.
At nine, Karl underwent his first evolution.
After evolving, he was reborn. His body gradually became inhuman.
Skin as hard as steel was only the first trait of his new body.
The truly shocking change was the explosive rise in strength, speed, stamina, and perception.
At ten, while battling sea beasts, Karl awakened one of this world's power systems, the force known as Observation Haki.
At twelve he awakened Armament Haki, becoming a fighter who commanded two colors of Haki.
With growth like that, across the entire pirate world only a handful could stand above Karl.
All of this traced back to the monster physique he had gained at the age of five.
"Got any news?"
"I heard some lucky bastard found a Devil Fruit and sold it to the black market. They're planning to auction it in half a month."
"For real? That legendary treasure of the seas actually exists?"
"Of course. That guy Buggy the Clown is a Devil Fruit user, isn't he? I heard the guy can't be killed."
"I'm so jealous. If I were a user too, I wouldn't have spent all these years only to be stuck with a bounty of 1.05 million Beli."
In a tavern in town, two pirate crews who seemed to have just finished a deal were throwing a party, drinking and making merry while they traded gossip.
One piece of gossip made everyone present wear looks of envy.
It also put a glint of interest in Karl's eyes as he stepped through the door. "Devil Fruit? After all these years, I finally hear something about them."
"Hey, kid… who are you?"
Seeing Karl and Carina push the door open, a pirate underling swaggered over with a bottle in hand, craning his neck from his one-meter-sixty height to shout drunkenly at Karl, "This place is booked by the Eugene Pirates. Get out."
"Uncle, your breath stinks."
Karl pinched his nose in disgust and set his other hand on the underling's head.
Boom.
With just a light press downward, the pirate underling slammed to the floor as if crushed by gravity, his body sinking into the wooden boards.
The sudden crash drew everyone's attention.
Because of the deal, neither pirate crew had dared to get fully drunk. Now, all eyes swung to Karl and Carina at the door.
"Who are you people?"
A burly pirate captain, roughly three meters tall, frowned and strode forward.
"C-captain… it's the Knight and the Phantom Thief, the strongest bounty hunter duo in the East Blue!"
A pirate underling seemed to recognize them. His face went instantly bloodless and he shouted in a trembling voice.
A single stone sent up a thousand waves.
The underling's words sounded like the whisper of Death, sobering everyone in an instant.
Staring at Karl in full knight's armor and at Carina beside him, the pirate captain and the traders behind him broke into a cold sweat.
The captain instinctively backed up a few steps, panic on his face as he looked at Karl. "I'm just a small-time pirate with a measly 1.05 million bounty. Why would big shots like you fix your sights on me?"