The very first elite mob in all pirate fanfictions: Mountain Bandit King Higuma makes his grand entrance.
Luna didn’t care about this in the slightest.
She knew this character—an eight-million-belly bounty bandit who, in the original work, served as a clown to highlight Shanks’s composure, kidnapped Luffy, and was ultimately devoured by the Lord of the Coast.
“You pirates all look like a bunch of idiots,” Higuma strode into the bar, followed closely by his subordinates.
“Although I’m a bandit, I’m not here to cause trouble.
Quickly sell us ten barrels of booze.”
That first sentence at least sounded like something a human would say, Luna thought to herself.
But she was well aware of the subsequent plot, so she concentrated most of her energy on her own system, leaving only a small fraction of her attention to observe the outside world just in case an unexpected accident actually occurred.
The newly activated cheat was flickering deep within her consciousness, as if waiting for her command.
Makino maintained a professional smile, but a flash of vigilance crossed her eyes: “I am very sorry, today’s alcohol has already sold out.”
“Sold out?” Higuma’s brows furrowed into a knot, and he pointed at the wine glasses on the pirates’ table.
“Then what are these pirates drinking?
Horse piss!?”
The vulgar words caused some pirates to show displeased expressions, but Shanks raised a hand to stop the companions who wanted to stand up.
The Red Hair captain remained in his original seat with a relaxed smile on his face, as if everything before him was nothing more than a boring farce.
Higuma walked up to Shanks and looked down condescendingly at the seated pirate.
Shanks picked up the wine bottle on his table, poured a cup, and handed it to Higuma.
“How about using this instead?” Shanks’s tone was calm, “Although it’s not any good wine.”
Higuma stared at that cup of wine, the corners of his mouth pulling into a contemptuous arc.
Then, he violently waved his hand—
The wine glass was knocked flying, tracing an arc through the air, and ultimately crashing against the wall, shattering apart as the liquor splashed everywhere.
“Bah!” Higuma spat a mouthful of saliva, “Just one sip isn’t even enough for me to rinse my mouth!”
The atmosphere in the bar instantly dropped to freezing point.
The members of the Red Hair Pirates stood up one by one, hands resting on their weapons, their gazes turning dangerous.
Only Shanks remained seated, still wearing his smiling face.
Higuma seemed very satisfied with the effect he caused.
He puffed out his chest and announced in a voice everyone could hear:
“Do you know who I am?
I am the Mountain Bandit King Higuma with an eight-million-belly bounty!
People like you, I’ve hacked to death fifty-six of them!”
Fifty-six people—he deliberately emphasized this number in his tone, as if it were some remarkable achievement.
Luna was still observing all this beside Shanks.
Her system interface remained floating at the edge of her field of vision.
She stretched out her palm and tightly clenched her fist, feeling the force erupting from her entire body.
[Basic Taijutsu LV1 (1/100)]
[Rubber Constitution LV1 (1/100)]
Just clenching her fist could increase her Taijutsu, could there be anything more satisfying than this?
Just as Luna was experimenting with her system’s abilities,
Mountain Bandit King Higuma finally reacted, because he found that he was acting like a clown while the other pirates ignored him and were all mocking Shanks.
“Boss, you’re not doing so well either.”
“Exactly, exactly.”
“He’s a big mountain bandit with an eight-million-belly bounty~”
Words like these created a joyful atmosphere inside the tavern, angering Higuma so much that he directly knocked the milk bottle in front of Luna’s table onto the ground.
Alright, now the laughter in the tavern had completely vanished.
“Hey, bandit,” Shanks finally spoke, his voice terrifyingly calm, “I don’t care that you knocked over my wine, but you shouldn’t have knocked over my friend’s drink.”
“So what?” Higuma said provocatively, “Want to fight, pirate?”
Shanks slowly stood up.
Although he was half a head shorter than Higuma, when he stood straight, an intangible aura permeated the air, as if the air in the entire bar had become heavy.
Higuma subconsciously took half a step back, then felt angry at his own cowardice and took another step forward: “What?
Want to make a move?
I’ll accompany you anytime!”
However, Shanks did not strike.
He just looked at Higuma with complex eyes—that wasn’t anger, it looked more like a kind of…
pity?
“You should go,” Shanks finally said, “While I can still control myself.”
Higuma froze; he didn’t seem to expect such a response.
Then, he burst into a harsh laugh: “Hahahaha!
Control yourself?
You must be scared!
Mere pirates, how dare you act arrogant in front of me, the Mountain Bandit King!”
He abruptly pulled out the sword at his waist, pointing it at Shanks: “Today I’ll let you witness what true—”
Before he could finish his words, the sound of a gunshot interrupted him.
A bullet flew past Higuma’s ear, leaving a bullet hole in the wooden wall behind him.
The one who fired was Shanks’s first mate, Benn Beckman.
He had raised his gun at some unknown point, his gaze as cold and sharp as ice.
“The captain said, let you go.” Beckman’s voice didn’t have a trace of fluctuation, “Next time, the bullet won’t miss.”
Higuma’s expression changed.
He could sense that these pirates were completely different from the ones he had encountered before; the murderous intent tempered from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood could not be faked.
He looked around.
Every member of the Red Hair Pirates was ready for battle, and while his own side had a dozen or so people, most of them were already trembling slightly.
“Good…
good!” Higuma put away his sword, saying through gritted teeth, “Consider yourselves lucky today, let’s go!”
The bandits felt as if granted a great amnesty and quickly retreated from the bar.
Higuma was the last to leave, turning back at the doorway to glare fiercely at Shanks before slamming the door heavily shut.
The bar fell into a brief silence.
Then, Shanks suddenly burst into laughter: “Hahahaha!
Alright, alright, everyone relax!
Keep drinking!”
The atmosphere instantly recovered.
The pirates sat back down and continued their ruckus, as if nothing had just happened.
But Luna noticed that a few people’s gazes were still cautiously glancing toward the doorway.
Luna was still looking at her own hands.
During the conflict just now, her body hadn’t moved; she believed Shanks could handle all this, but at the same time, she also remembered Mountain Bandit King Higuma.
Eight million, right?
I remember it’s about seven days later, which is the plot in the original work where Luna is kidnapped.
Fine, you just wait for me, don’t you know I hate owing others favors?
When the time comes, if I don’t beat the shit out of you, consider your bowels squeaky clean.
“System template.” She chanted silently in her heart.
That concise interface emerged once again.
Luna concentrated her mind, trying to interact with it, and soon, she “saw” more information:
[Current Skills]:
[Rubber Constitution LV1 (1/100)]
[Basic Taijutsu LV1 (1/100)]
…
Behind each skill was a slender experience bar, and just as the system described, the length of each experience bar was 100 points, regardless of the skill level.
And acquiring a skill most likely meant that as long as she possessed a certain aspect of ability for even a split second, it would be recorded on the template, and then permanently verified without any obstacles.
Luna’s heart stirred as she tried throwing a punch, her movement calm and slow.
But when she looked at the experience bar of Basic Taijutsu, she found it jumped slightly, changing to (2/100).
“So as long as I practice, I can gain experience…” she thought thoughtfully, “Then, what about Rubber Constitution?”
She tried stretching her fingers.
At first, there was no reaction.
She concentrated her mind, imagining her fingers extending like rubber—
A bizarre sensation washed over her, and her index finger truly began to grow longer.
Although it was only a negligible few millimeters, this was indeed the ability of the Rubber Fruit!
At the same time, the experience bar of Rubber Constitution also jumped slightly, changing to (2/100).
Luna’s eyes brightened.
This meant she could train multiple skills simultaneously, and the upgrade difficulty for each skill would not increase as the level rose—what a terrifying advantage this was!
“Hey, Luna!” A voice interrupted her thoughts.
Luna raised her head and saw Shanks walking toward her.
The Red Hair captain sat down opposite her, picked up a newly opened bottle of wine, poured a glass for himself, and poured a glass of milk in front of Luna.
“Were you scared just now?” Shanks asked with a gentle gaze.
Luna shook her head: “Just a clown.”
“Is that so?” Shanks smiled, “That’s good.
But those bandits from earlier might come back to cause trouble.
During this time, you’d better stay here with Makino and not run around everywhere.”
Luna nodded, and then stepped out of the bar.
Shanks was slightly dazed as he watched Luna’s firm and confident back; he seemed to see the back of Captain Roger.
Shaking his head, Luna wouldn’t want to slip away just because she secretly ate a Devil Fruit, right?
But this truly is fate; this Devil Fruit was eaten by you.
…
The door of the bar was pushed open once again, this time normally.
The evening wind blew in, carrying the scent of sea salt and calls from afar.
Luna extended her palm to block the sunlight shining onto her face, feeling the newborn power within her body.
Her era officially began from this moment.