His previous self originally possessed a decent level of swordsmanship, compared to ordinary people.
However, his nature was far too kind; he did not know how to use power to protect himself, and his personality was timid and submissive…
scurrying all around South Blue, living a destitute life.
Until one day, having been reduced to begging on the streets and going without food for several days, he was given a piece of bread.
That person was Tils.
Then he boarded the ship with Tils.
Judging from the memories of his previous self, he was clearly extremely grateful to Tils…
Even though he knew that Tils was simply exploiting him, he went forward without hesitation.
Within the Tils Pirates, things were not peaceful; some officers and crew members were restless, wanting to usurp power.
Tils urgently needed a vicious hound, a vicious hound loyal to him.
As it happened, he met Qin.
During the year on the ship, Tils continuously ordered Qin to secretly take care of some troublemakers to stabilize his status and position as Captain.
On several occasions, Qin almost died…
The shocking scars on his body were the best proof.
Tils did not care whether he lived or died; from the very beginning, he was merely a weapon in his hands.
However, Tils never expected this youth to survive time and time again…
Initially, he had just thought of him as cannon fodder.
Obedient to every command, even able to sacrifice his life…
This was why Tils valued Qin.
“How foolish…
But I understand; in the world of the Pirate King, there are indeed quite a few naive fellows like my previous self…” Skyler smiled self-deprecatingly.
Looking across those rather outstanding pirate crews in Pirate King, good or bad, there were bonds between the crew members…
or all sorts of stories.
This time, the reason he was caught by the Marine was also to cover Tils’s departure.
“A fellow like you is destined not to live long.”
Skyler was no moral crusader; he wasn’t that foolish.
The life of Demon skyler had already ended; next…
was him, Skyler.
Combat points could only be acquired by killing…
Therefore, he had to kill, and his identity as a pirate meant he had no way to join any righteous faction.
To align with the system and become the strongest swordsman…
he had to form his own pirate crew!
Furthermore, the alignment of this pirate crew could not possibly be righteous…
“Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost!
The Straw Hat Pirates are undoubtedly an anomaly in the world of pirates.”
From the previous self’s memories and understanding of pirates, one conclusion could be drawn: real pirate life was extremely bloody and cruel, far from making people’s blood boil like watching anime in his past life.
Most people utilized the identity and stance of a pirate to commit arson, murder, and pillage, satisfying their own selfish desires.
People like Luffy and his group were about as rare as giant pandas.
Let’s first tally up the spoils of war!
Thinking of this, Skyler opened the system, and his combat points had directly broken a thousand from over six hundred.
This was mainly because he killed Major Therne.
At the same time, a rather large package was placed on the speedboat, filled with supplies and valuable things he had collected from the warship.
Aside from cash, these items could also be sold off, worth around one million Berries, which was enough for him to live without worry for a period of time.
“Instant capital recovery; it’s equivalent to wiping out my consumption in the mall through killing…
Going it alone is not the royal way.
If I want to form a pirate crew, I’ll need a considerable amount of start-up capital, as well as…
companions!” Skyler pondered his future.
His system, his own stance, and so on, had already determined that his future path was destined not to be smooth.
He needed to kill…
constantly kill to make himself stronger, hunting the powerhouses on the sea!
Therefore, his pirate crew had to be lawless and defying of all authority!
Including himself, in the eyes of the outside world, they would not be good people.
“Let’s put the matter of companions aside for now; what I currently need to handle first is the funding problem.”
Thinking of funds, Skyler naturally thought of a massive sum of money that was within easy reach for him right now.
His Captain, Tils!
Based on his understanding of Tils, this man definitely had a lot of private savings hidden away.
Before engaging in battle with the Marine, Tils had already realized things were going south and fled first…
He told all the officers that if they could escape alive from the battlefield, they should go to a place called Long Whale Island to rendezvous.
“My current position on the route should have already surpassed them…
I must retrace my steps, and the warship was heading toward Impel Down…
In other words, I am also relatively close to Marineford, which is a bit dangerous.” Skyler thought to himself.
At this moment, he had already arrived near the coast of an island, seeing land standing far away on the sea surface, faintly catching glimpses of vague houses and buildings.
A moment later, the small boat pulled ashore.
He carried the package, leaped up, jumped onto the sandy beach, and then walked toward the center of the island.
There was a small town on the island called Horseshoe Town…
It was fairly prosperous, with quite a few residents living there.
But in the New World, factions were intricate and complex; this island was far from being as peaceful as it looked on the surface.
There were also quite a few pirates haunting the island…
This small island seemed to be protected by pirate factions, which, to put it bluntly, was disguised exploitation, having fallen into pirate territory.
There are several routes in the first half of the Grand Line; the one Luffy and the others sailed was just one of them, and their ultimate destination was Fish-Man Island…
It’s just that their respective routes and the scenery along the way were different.
The location where Skyler was clearly on a different route.
As soon as he entered the town, many gazes targeted him both overtly and covertly…
Skyler was very familiar with those greedy, covetous eyes.
Therefore, when he was blocked by a gang of pirates and cornered at an intersection while searching for a pawnshop, without saying a word, his figure flashed through the formation of the robbing fiends in just a few seconds, his footsteps unchanged as he continued forward.
Behind him were corpses chopped down and unable to get back up one by one.
Seeing this, the gazes observing him from the shadows indeed decreased by more than half, and no one came to harass him anymore.
An hour later, he paced out from a shop.
He had changed into a black kendo uniform, which was a set of tight martial arts attire.
His finely fragmented long hair was tied up at the back of his head with a red rope…
The beard on his cheeks had also been simply shaved with a blade, leaving some stubble…
From his appearance, he didn’t look like he had just reached adulthood at all; instead, he had a bit of an uncle vibe.
Skyler inquired about some useful news from the shop owner.
Horseshoe Town was located in the central section of the first half of the Grand Line.
If translated to Luffy and the others’ route…
it was roughly on another island parallel to the Alabasta Kingdom.
As for Long Whale Island where Tils said they would rendezvous, it was roughly around the area of Whiskey Peak and Small Garden.
Without lingering much longer, Skyler directly paid to board a merchant ship to head toward his destination.
Merchant ships also played an extremely important role on the sea; some were employed by nations, while others belonged to private factions…
Just like those underground faction big shots in the New World, even more merchant ships superficially transported goods but actually engaged in smuggling activities, and most merchant ships were equipped with dedicated security guards to prevent seizure by pirates.
The ship Skyler boarded—its Captain, who was also the person in charge of the chamber of commerce—happened to know Long Whale Island and was heading that way anyway, so he could drop him off.