(A/N: The delay between chapters was for you to feel more vividly Dan's long travel, not because I forgot)
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[Arrival]
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...
The sun was unusually hot that day.
"I'm going crazy."
Dan lay on his back, shirtless, staring at the blue sky above with a dead look.
Two entire days had passed. Two entire days alone, sunbathing, and surrounded by kilometers and kilometers of water with only a few meters of wood to walk on.
From time to time, he had seen ships sailing in the distance. Sadly, not near enough to go and terrorize them to farm some NP and have some fun while at it.
All he had been able to do was stare at the endless expanse of the ocean, adjust the sails, check the compass, and eat something whenever his stomach demanded fuel.
And that occupied two hours out of twenty-four at most.
They really didn't address this in almost any media.
"It's no wonder crews are made. Besides the bigger manpower required for larger ships, having company would make the monotony of this a lot smoother..."
Sadly, he didn't have any—save for some seagulls who flew overhead from time to time, or fish that'd swim near the boat.
Luckily, it wasn't all bad. Surprisingly, the utterly useless AutoExist script he was given when his system arrived had actually been worth something this time, letting him skip over portions of the endless days by doing quite literally what its name said, auto existing.
Unfortunately, someone had to keep an eye on the ship's direction constantly, so the skips could never be too long.
But it was something at least, and without AutoExist, he'd have skipped a lot less of the boring time.
"I'm never calling it fucking utterly useless—just a bit useless."
Smirking at that, he let out a sigh and slowly pushed himself up.
Time to check the compass and the wind direction again.
But as he was making his way to the front of the ship, he blinked in surprise. In the distance—very far in the distance—he spotted a dot.
"Another ship?" he muttered, squinting and raising a hand against the sun.
At that distance, it was hard to tell. The sea fog also didn't make it any easier.
Huffing, he shrugged and went back to his business.
Minutes later, he was done with the check. Seeing his only entertainment for the day over, he let out a yawn and wondered whether to run the script again and jump one hour into the future.
Only to snap his head toward the front of the ship as he caught sight of the dot—now noticeably bigger.
It wasn't a dot anymore.
It was an island.
His dead expression lifted in an instant, face breaking into a beam.
"Ahoooy, land ahea—alright, that's too much."
Despite shutting down his own lame attempt at sounding like a sailor, he was still smiling.
At last, his journey was over—or at least, he'd be getting a break from it in case this wasn't the island and he had to go back to the ocean eventually.
Which one it was? He'd find out in a few hours, when the ship finally hit land.
...
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| Three hours later... |
...
"Sweet earth."
Dan dropped to his knees and hugged the ground as his ship docked on the sand at the coast of the island—or rather, islands. Turns out, the closer he got, the more islands became visible.
Regardless, that wasn't in Dan's mind at all at the moment.
"At last, the floor doesn't move…"
Solid, firm, unmoving ground had never felt so good.
He didn't even care that his shirt was getting dirty.
—Or maybe he did care.
"Alright, enough." He stood back up quickly and patted the sand off his shirt.
As his appreciation for land quieted down, he gave his surroundings a curious look.
He was at a beach, so there wasn't much to see—other than a coconut tree he might try his hand at climbing and eating from.
The jerky he'd been eating for the past few days had gotten old a while ago.
"Now then, the real question is... am I at the right place, or not?"
Since this was an Archipelago, as seen from the considerable number of islands on his way to this one, there was a chance he was in the correct place.
Cocoyashi Village was supposed to be at an Archipelago called the Conami Islands.
And given he hadn't had major detours during his way here, or that there weren't supposed to be other Archipelagos on the direct route from Shimotsuki Village to the Conami Islands, it was safe to say he had actually arrived at his destination.
Unless he actually sucked as a navigator, and somehow got himself to somewhere completely random that coincidentally had an archipelago.
There was no shortage of archipelagos in this sea, after all. If he truly had been incompetent at using the compass and adjusting the sail, there was a chance that happened.
'My weeks of learning weren't for nothing, were they?'
Hopefully he was in the right place. He didn't want to go back to sea that quickly—not before getting a proper break from the monotony, and finding for himself something that might alleviate the long hours of travel with nothing to do.
Fishing helped a little, but not enough.
Having nothing to occupy his mind for hours at a stretch was the real killer.
Something he planned to fix before the next trip.
Maybe he could buy an instrument, or anything else that might keep his mind busy long enough.
'That or I can just practice with my sword—the swaying from the sea might make for a nice challenge… or a good way to expel my lunches.'
While he smirked at his own thoughts, he pushed his vessel into the sand, grabbed a rope, tied it to a nearby tree, and without further ado, dove into the forest that covered the beach and hid whatever lay behind it.
Two minutes into the foliage, cutting his way through leaves and bushes, Dan grumbled in annoyance as he slapped the fifth mosquito to try its luck in that short stretch.
"Ugh, will I ever get a mosquito-repellent hack?"
It'd be funny if he did.
Also pretty useful.
"Ugh, finally." He exhaled as the light increased and the foliage thinned out.
He reached a clearing, and a bit further ahead, several buildings sat surrounded by a fence—not too big, but numerous enough to call itself a village.
With a satisfied look, he made his way toward it, already planning to find somewhere to eat and rest the moment he was inside.
Minutes later, he entered the village. There were a few villagers at the entrance who called out to him when they saw him coming. But given that he was a kid—even if one carrying a sword—they let him through after a brief round of questions.
It wasn't exactly common for a child to appear out of nowhere, but it wasn't extremely outrageous either. Orphans weren't rare in this world, and kids who wandered and found work where they could were a familiar enough sight. So, after getting a brief backstory out of him, they let him go without any fuss.
At most, they assumed he was part of some passing merchant crew—learning the sword to serve as protection, however flimsy.
With free passage, Dan made straight for the nearest inn.
The moment he was inside, he asked the clerk for a bowl of soup with extra meat, paid, then went to sit down.
The chairs were good. As soon as he settled into one, he let his entire body relax, finally letting the fact that he was on steady land sink in properly into his body.
At last, he wouldn't have to sleep in short stretches just to stay on top of the ship's direction and the wind.
At last, he wouldn't have to lie on cold wooden planks for hours.
At last, he'd see something other than water.
'Phew, I hated it more than I expected., didn't I?... well, now I know what to account for the next time I set off.' He mused, planning not to make the same mistake twice.
'Maybe instead of an instrument, books might do the job. They can deepen my base knowledge, and will be pretty much the closest thing to the internet in this world… Although the constant swaying will be a pain in the ass when trying to read.'
While Dan sat with those thoughts, footsteps approached.
He turned to find a granny making her way over with a large bowl of the soup he'd ordered, a small loaf of bread tucked under her arm.
"Here you go, kiddo." She set both down in front of him, smirking at his barely-contained expression.
"Ahem, yes, thank you."
And without waiting for anything else she might have to say, Dan started eating. He broke off a piece of the fresh bread, dunked it into the soup, and after devouring it in one swoop, took a long sip of the steamy liquid.
It was a pleasure he hadn't known he could get from something as simple as soup.
As he ate, the granny still hadn't left—and spoke up.
"By the way, what's a kid as young as you doing out alone? What are you, twelve?"
"Ten," Dan answered between bites.
"Pretty young, then. So how come you're out here on your own, carrying a sword at that?" she asked, eyes drifting to the sword resting across his lap.
Dan stopped for a second, giving her a mildly annoyed look for the prying. "I'm an orphan. I travel alone and find whatever work I can. I know a bit of swordsmanship, so it helps."
"Swordsmanship?" She gave him a look. "Kid, just swinging a sword around ain't swordsmanship. You gotta know how to swing it, and actually have the muscles for it."
"So?"
"So? Your arms look like noodles."
Dan paused and lifted one arm, flexing slightly.
—They did look a bit like noodles.
But thick noodles now, compared to back when he was malnourished and they'd been more like spaghetti.
Huffing, he turned back to her. "My muscles are just compact. I have more than enough strength to swing this sword."
She looked at him through narrowed, wrinkled eyes. Awkward silence settling in.
In the end, though, she waved him off. "Sure, sure, whatever you say. Anyway, what brings such a busy little man to this Archipelago? I'm pretty sure we don't have much to offer other than fruit and rice."
"I'm looking for Cocoyashi Village."
"Cocoyashi Village?" Her face shifted into a briefly puzzled look before her eyebrows shot up. "Oh, that little village. It's to the south-west of the Archipelago. Pretty plain place, though—I don't know what kind of business you'd find there, kiddo."
"Lots," Dan declared, and went back to his food.
The woman looked at him strangely, then shrugged. "Well, enjoy your food, kiddo. And good luck."
Dan lifted his face just long enough to mutter a "Thanks" before diving back in.
'This soup is amazing. When I become a major criminal, I'm making this inn my territory.'
...
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| An hour later... |
...
Dan walked calmly through the rice fields, looking around with a bored expression.
"...Well, given that no one looks like they're going through hell or that tragedy has struck, I think it's safe to say Arlong hasn't gotten here yet."
Otherwise, the air in that village—and the few others he'd passed through on the way here—would have felt a lot more miserable.
There was such air around a few guys who'd been slumped against the walls of what looked like a bar with a casino front, but judging by the state they were in, those were exceptional cases.
Regardless, despite Arlong's non-arrival being good news, that information didn't bring him comfort.
If Arlong had already been here when he arrived, he could have felt a lot less guilty about the consequences—he wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop it, so he couldn't really be blamed.
But now that he was here before him, if he failed to stop anything, or ended up having to let the ugly part play out first due to a lack of resources and strength... he'd feel very bad.
Which he wasn't supposed to care about, given his plans to become a criminal and yada yada, you already know it.
Sadly, he still hadn't mastered the art of not giving a damn—so for now, he could only hope a storm caught the fish and delayed him by a few months.
Or years, if the world was feeling generous.
Otherwise, this was going to be quite the character-developing arc for the ROB's little story.
'I refuse to have character development,' Dan cursed inwardly, frowning.
—At least, the tragedy kind.
He had come here to make the world his and cheat his way shamelessly through it. He wasn't about to get tragedy in the middle of his chaotic power fantasy.
-Sigh-
At least, that's what he hoped.
Minutes later, he stood before the entrance to the village—an opening in the fence with a sign hung above it bearing the name.
"Welcome to Cocoyashi Village... well, couldn't have been more specific."
He was finally here.
Now came the rough part.
But of course, it was also time for powering up.
And farming NP.
So, with those plans settled in his head, he stepped forward, crossing the entrance.
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: And so it begins, Also, I ran out of stocked up chapters, so now's just gonna be a chapter whenever I write one, which usually takes me a few days.)