I agreed to win with Roger, but the guy I met was too young Chapter 008

Early morning, sunlight spilled onto the deck, interwoven with the cries of seagulls and the lapping of waves. Rhett lay sprawled on the deck, flipping over like a salted fish, muttering, “Just five more minutes…”

“Bang!”

A foot landed squarely on his stomach without mercy.

“Time for training, kid,” Rayleigh pushed up his glasses.

Rhett clutched his stomach and wailed, “Old man Rayleigh! I’m only four! I need enough sleep to grow taller!”

“Oh?” Rayleigh raised an eyebrow. “Then do you want me to help you ‘grow taller’?” As he spoke, he clenched his fist, knuckles cracking.

Rhett instantly sprang up, “I’m up! Is that enough?! Seriously, you can’t even slack off for a second during training.”

—

After training, Rhett collapsed on the deck, like a sun-dried salted fish. Roger walked over, squatted beside him, and asked with a grin, “How was it? Tired?”

Rhett rolled his eyes, “Captain, what do you think? You two take turns torturing me, I suspect you’re just bored.”

Roger burst into laughter, “How could that be! We’re cultivating the future great pirate! Only with strength can you roam the seas, kid.”

“Cultivating?” Rhett’s mouth twitched. “You’re clearly playing a育成 game (raising simulation game)!”

“Raising simulation game?” Roger tilted his head. “What’s that?”

“…” Rhett sighed. “Never mind, it’s hard to explain to you.”

Rhett sometimes felt truly dramatic. One-on-one coaching from the world’s top pirate crew, the pressure was immense, family. Rhett didn’t feel tired mentally, but physical fatigue accumulated, and it was truly uncomfortable.

He didn’t want to think about these things; he was still young, and he had plenty of time to get stronger. This was a shonen manga, after all.

Rhett didn’t have any enemies who’d wiped out his family, or plots where his reborn self’s wife was stabbed and ran off with his good brother—none of that melodramatic nonsense.

Shaking off the wild thoughts in his head, Rhett always liked to find something to do when he was bored.

“Hey, Jabba-bro, let’s fight!” Rhett stood at the stern, hands in his pockets, black hair messy from the sea breeze, his crimson eyes gleaming with eagerness.

Rhett thought to himself, “Uncle Jabba, give up your left-hand position! Today, I, Rhett, will usurp you! Today I take the left hand, tomorrow I usurp the Pirate King, hahahahaha!”

Jabba was wiping his twin axes, looked up at the remark, and grinned, “Kid, are you sure? A mere child with a bounty of ten million, I won’t go easy on you just because you’re a kid.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way!” Rhett’s lips curved upwards. “Perfect for trying out my newly developed moves!”

Roger sat cross-legged on the mast, excitedly shouting, “Kuhahaha! Want to bet, Rayleigh! Who do you think will win?”

Rayleigh pushed up his glasses, “Three-seven split. Rhett flies seven times in three minutes.”

“Then I’ll bet on Jabba!” Roger chuckled, tossing a peanut into his mouth.

“Hey! Roger, Rayleigh, what do you mean?!” Rhett bristled, “I was trained by you guys! Isn’t it embarrassing if I can’t win?”

“Not at all, your weakness is your problem, what does it have to do with me?” Roger’s face was full of smiles, clearly teasing Rhett.

Jabba stood up, “Kid, ready?”

— SAI DOKKA SHI! (Battle Start!)

Rhett made the first move, waving both hands: “Mist Realm: Silent Cage!”

Dense mist instantly enveloped the entire ship, reducing visibility to zero. Jabba’s figure was completely swallowed by the white mist, even his footsteps absorbed by it, creating an eerie silence.

“Interfering with sight and hearing?” Jabba stood still, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Good tactic, but useless against veterans.”

He suddenly stooped low, swinging both fists in a cross-chop—

“Clang!”

A metallic clang exploded as Rhett’s wooden sword, imbued with Armament Haki, was precisely parried!

“What…?!” Rhett’s pupils contracted, and he quickly jumped back to create distance. “How did you see through that?!”

Jabba grinned, “Intuition.”

“Tch, Observation Haki?” Rhett gritted his teeth. “No, you’re not even seriously using Haki!”

“Hahaha! After all these years at sea, it’s not just Haki that keeps me going!” Jabba laughed heartily, then suddenly dashed forward, axe blades cutting through the air!

Rhett hastily elementalized, the mist dispersing and then re-condensing, narrowly dodging.

“Don’t hide, kid!” Jabba’s offensive didn’t lessen, his fists chopping down like a furious storm, forcing Rhett to retreat repeatedly.

“Mist Concealment: Mirage!” Rhett growled, and seven clones suddenly materialized from the mist, rushing towards Jabba from different directions.

Jabba’s axe movements paused, his gaze sweeping around. “Illusions?”

“Guess which one is real!” The seven Rhetts spoke simultaneously, their voices overlapping and echoing.

Jabba snorted, then suddenly closed his eyes, his ears twitching—

“Third one on the left!”

“Bang!”

The blunt side of the axe struck the real body, Rhett grunted and flew backward, all illusions dissipating.

“Damn it! How did you find me?!” Rhett clutched his shoulder and got up. “You’re cheating, aren’t you? Not even bothering to act.”

Jabba shook his arm and chuckled, “Mist can interfere with vision, but your breathing rhythm can’t lie. What can I do if you’re breathing?”

“If you could hide your breathing and heartbeat, that would be truly tricky.”

Rhett gritted his teeth. “…Then try this move again!”

“Mist Erosion: Acid Mist Domain!”

Jabba’s skin, upon contact with the mist, immediately felt a subtle burning sensation.

“Corrosion?” Jabba frowned, quickly covering his arms with Armament Haki. “Kid, this move of yours is pretty sneaky.”

“Nobody cares about sneaky on the battlefield!” Rhett grinned, suddenly pressing his hands together. “Mist Burst: High-Pressure Cut!”

“Swish—!”

The mist instantly compressed into countless hair-thin blade lines, lashing at Jabba from all directions!

Jabba’s eyes sharpened, and he grabbed the twin axes at his waist, roaring, “Mad Axe: Tornado!”

“Boom—!”

A violent axe-wind exploded from him, forcefully dispersing all the mist blades!

The mist on the deck was completely blown away, and sunlight once again poured down.

Rhett gasped for breath, kneeling on one knee. “…That works?!”

Jabba walked over, carrying his axe, and ruffled Rhett’s head. “Not bad, you almost got me.”

Rhett slumped to the deck, pouting, “Still lost in the end…”

“Hahaha! Don’t be discouraged!” Roger jumped down and threw an arm around both of them. “Jabba is a monster who can spar with Rayleigh; it’s already amazing that you forced him to use his weapons!”

Rhett, of course, wasn’t dejected. Losing was normal; he mainly wanted to see what his shortcomings were.

This battle revealed Rhett’s most fundamental problem: he lacked powerful offensive means.

With Mist Concealment: Mirage, he currently couldn’t completely mask his presence, and its destructive power wasn’t enough for cross-level combat. Without discovering a more potent poison or stronger corrosiveness,

Rhett was currently strong in AoE but weak in one-on-one combat. If someone’s Armament Haki and Observation Haki far surpassed his own, Rhett would be completely outmatched.

At lunchtime, Jabba fished a few fish from the sea, expertly cleaned them, and set them over the fire to roast.

Rhett leaned in, staring eagerly at the fish. “Jabba-bro, your cooking skills are pretty good!”

None of the three on the ship knew how to cook; getting something roasted was already the limit.

Jabba grinned, “Of course. When I was drifting at sea, I would have starved to death if I couldn’t cook.”

Roger, smelling the aroma, came over and reached out to grab a fish. “Kuhahaha! Let me have a taste first!”

“Whack!” Jabba tapped his hand with a chopstick. “It’s not cooked yet, what’s the rush?”

Roger withdrew his hand, looking wronged. “Jabba, you’ve changed, you weren’t like this before…”

Jabba rolled his eyes, “Don’t give me that. Besides, we’ve only known each other for two days.”

Rhett chuckled to himself, only to be scooped up by Roger. “Kid, what are you laughing at? Go get the wine from the storeroom!”

Rhett struggled, “I’m only four! You’re making me get wine? Shouldn’t you be looking after a child?!”

Rayleigh calmly added, “What kind of law does a pirate need?”

—

That night, the four sat on the deck, under a sky full of glittering stars.

Roger held up a bottle of wine, drunkenly shouting, “To freedom! To adventure! Cheers!”

“Cheers!” Jabba and Rayleigh clinked their mugs with smiles.

Rhett clutched his juice cup, muttering softly, “A bunch of drunks…”

Roger threw an arm around him, his eyes hazy with drink, and asked, “Kid, what’s your dream?”

Rhett thought for a moment, then grinned, “I want to be a person who can go anywhere in this world, and they’ll all have to show me respect!”

Roger paused, then burst into laughter, vigorously ruffling his head. “Good! That’s ambition!”