When the broker hinted at a certain "organization," Ron's first reaction was simple indifference. The second half of the pitch made it obvious who they meant.
He had glimpsed their shadow during the Krieg incident. The biggest trading syndicate in the underworld, the Donquixote family.
Ron was not interested. He had no desire to join the Marines, much less Doflamingo's network.
The only thing that could sway him was achievement points from his system. No "join the Marines" achievement had ever appeared, and his first priority had been helping Nami end Arlong. So he had never even considered it.
"Beating a Warlord would give an achievement," he mused, rubbing his chin. "But Doflamingo is near the top among the Seven. If I go after a Warlord, it will not be him first."
With the intel he wanted in hand, Ron took Nami and began a sweep of East Blue.
…
The Age of Pirates, year 18, September.
Ron the Magician clashed with the Jero Pirates in the Kingdom of Sna. He broke Captain Jero and collected the 15 million bounty.
Year 18, October.
In Plantain Town he ran into Twin Blade Sau and cut him down, then took the 10.5 million bounty.
Year 18, November.
In the Headwind Sea he hunted the Black Cat Pirates, destroyed the crew, slew Captain Kuro, and claimed the 16 million bounty.
In barely five months at sea, over five pirates with bounties above ten million fell to Ron, an average of one major crew erased per month.
Because Ron was a hunter, not a Marine, he had no bureaucracy to slow him. He could pick a target and chase it without pause, which terrified pirates far more than the usual patrols.
With the Black Cat crew gone, East Blue quaked.
Every pirate was on edge.
Fear spread like frost.
…
A mid-sized brig cut across an easy wind.
Now that Ron could externalize his spirit, he and Nami could handle a ship this size without extra hands. They had upgraded some time ago, not by seizing a pirate hull, but by buying one from a famous East Blue yard. The timbers were top grade, the build unyielding. Even with Nami haggling, the price was a full 100 million.
That made Nami wince, but Ron was delighted. Spending that much in a single day popped two money achievements.
"Making It Rain" for burning through 10 million in a day.
"Filthy Rich" for burning 100 million in a day.
Together, they yielded 3 achievement points.
There was more.
In these months he also unlocked "Self-Discipline" for one thousand hours of training, "Guardian of East Blue" for slaying over five pirates with bounties above ten million, plus "Well Fed," "Life on the Waves," and "Navigator II."
Well Fed required one hundred meals cooked by his own hand.
Life on the Waves, more than one hundred days living at sea.
Navigator II, setting foot on twenty different islands.
Those five added 8 more points.
Together with the two money feats, he had gained 11, all of which he fed into Spirit.
His Spirit rose from 53 to 70, a jump of 17. Eleven came from achievements, six from meditation.
At 70 Spirit, his sigil work surged. He completed every Wind derivative, learned a second Wind tier-two spell, Wind Burst, and a second Fire tier-two, Firewall.
These two combined beautifully, a vast swath of storming flame that burned and warded in equal measure.
Three-tier spells were another story. Progress crawled.
Nine rune composites were too many. The permutations and their cost in Spirit were brutal. Even with the elven staff, he could not brute force thousands per hour as he did with derivatives.
Even so, in that grind Ron began to glimpse what runes really were.
Each base rune felt like a foundational rule from which that element is born, a compiler of reality. Derivative runes were perfect stable shapes spun from that base.
When bored, he tried to invent extras. He did find shapes that would not collapse, but their performance lagged the canonical eight. Magic made from these substitutes worked, yet weaker.
That told him the system's base and eight derivatives represented the most perfect expression of that element's rules.
He also sensed that three-tier synthesis may not be a blind shuffle. There was a hidden grammar, an order. He could almost see it, like a reflection on water, but could not yet touch it.
He sat on the yardarm, twirling the staff, eyes bright on the horizon.
"Devil Fruits, huh?"
Days earlier, while erasing a pirate crew, their captain had begged for his life by offering a lead, a lead about Devil Fruits.
Ron had planned to head straight for the Grand Line with Nami. This rumor made him linger.
Devil Fruits intrigued him. The system had never said he could not eat one. The achievements list even showed an entry for simply obtaining one.
He had 48 total achievement points now. Two more would make an even 50. That might trigger another rune draw.
Those motives aligned neatly. There was no way he would ignore this trail.
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