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Chapter 14: All For Survival I

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'Just when I get out of a hole, I find that I'm in an even bigger hole, so I need to think. How can I let it all burn the quickest way possible?'

Indeed, that's all he thought about. He set aside most of his emotions and anything that can hold him back and focused on his survival.

'Anything for survival. Achieve the absolute best I can before the end of the countdown. I still don't know what'll happen when it ends, but... I just want to live. I don't want to die, not when I can finally fly.'

Yovan took a deep breath, going back to the city to do some thinking. He tried to remain as discreet as possible only reading through the bounty book at night in pure darkness.

His increase in physique stat improved all his bodily functions, including his eyes, so he was able to vaguely see in darkness since long ago.

In fact, eating the Zoan devil fruit increased his eyesight in darkness significantly until he reached his current state where he can read in pure darkness.

'The mafia has yet to act, so I have time... How should I go about this?' Yovan contemplated his next course of action for quite a while, a bit unsure since he has no ship to sail with and not much time.

In the end, he ended up narrowing the possible targets to a single person based on their bounty, discovery, and reachability.

This particular pirate was the closest to his location, or at least his latest noted sighting says as much. It's up to Yovan to investigate his exact location, basically to track him down himself.

'Let's see, three of his crew also have bounties, all amounting to eight million beli...' 

Yovan frowned somewhat hesitant. He knows that if their bounties are anything to go by, then it shouldn't be a hard win but... What if? He questioned himself. 

What if they have some kind of crazy devil fruit? What if they just acquired it? What if they're paying the Navy to keep their bounties low for one reason or another?

Most importantly, what if he was overestimating his own strength? He tested his strength against some of the mafia members, and he also observed some of the common marines in training, deeming himself to be about eight times stronger than the common armed man.

That was the most accurate estimation he came to after a lot of testing with live targets though it sure did feel like it was much more, all due to the peculiarity of his Limitless system.

His increase in stats, specifically his physique seems to encompass his every bodily function, meaning the outcome of his training isn't as concentrated as other people, but more distributed.

That's a gift people can only wish for but not have, making Yovan aware of the magical thing Limitless truly is. He's still exploring the nature of the remaining stats though because they're vaguer.

Yovan took a few long deep breaths, reciting in his mind, 'What is sounder than not taking the opportunity like a coward? Killing them like a coward, and that shall be done.'

Yovan got some sleep in a random hidden place, waking up very early in the morning, still looking just as dirty as he looked the first time he set foot in the city.

He was even still shirtless and barefoot, giving a clear view of his missing arm, and a few scars on his body. He was also not planning to change that for now.

Instead, he carried his bag which has a few necessities with him and left the city first thing in the morning, directly after buying himself a map and asking the seller a few questions about it.

He also got himself a compass, something he's very familiar with. He studied the map very carefully, also another thing he's very used to.

Of course, the map only encompassed the country of Kano and a little bit of its surroundings because Yovan discovered after little investigation just how massive the West blue is.

Another thing he discovered was just how heavy the Kano Country lands are with forests. 

In fact, almost the entirety of the country is just woods scattered around, and it was beautiful, a sight to enjoy for the ones in sought of such things, but not Yovan, not yet at least.

Yovan just wanted to survive, so not a day passed where he wasn't trying to become stronger. 

He was even trying to stay in his beast form as long as possible, exhausting himself again and again while flying to his destination.

That not only increased his endurance but also improved his physique and agility. Hell, even his willpower was quickly increasing due to the torture he was preserving through.

Indeed, the experience was brutal. Exhausting himself until he turns back to his human form was extremely painful, but he preserved until finally, he could stay in the beast form for more than half an hour.

On the bright side of things, traveling in his beast form allowed him to reach his destination in less than two days when it would've taken about a week on foot.

His destination was a small coastal city, having a similar architectural style to that of Ko though this one seems to lean toward light colors, similar to those of the sea.

Yovan calmly walked into the town, people paying more attention to him this time, some even looked wary, and he knows why aside from people's usual fear of pirates.

He asked a few people for directions before making his way to the incident location. Not long ago, in just about a month, a place in the town was robbed by pirates.

The pirates in question call themselves Green Lock Pirates, a very odd name, for Yovan at least.

He entered his destination, a large weaponry shop, and right away, he was stopped by a guard, "What do you want?"

"A bounty hunter," 

"You?" The guard frowned, sizing up Yovan again. He was definitely judging by the cover, but who could blame him with Yovan's sorry appearance? 

"Yes." Yovan still stated calmly, making the guard a bit hesitant because the more he looked at the odd man before him the clearer he noticed some peculiarity.

Yovan's extremely well-defined muscles. His calm demeanor. The scars on his body, most of which were small... Most importantly, his missing arm.

"I... Ok. Follow me, and please don't behave oddly." The guard led him to the manager who was seated at the very side of the shop.

The manager had a depressive atmosphere about him, barely batting an eye at Yovan's appearance, "Another one huh?"

"Yeah. Since you seemed to have done this before, you should know what to say." Yovan nodded, bringing a piece of paper and a pen from his bag, and listening carefully.

'Hm?' However, amidst the talk, Yovan couldn't help but narrow his eyes for a split second, noticing something very peculiar, 'I see, and I was starting to think that these pirates sure knew a lot and were too regulated.'

Yovan nodded one last time, saying with his usual calmness, "I think I have a pretty good idea where there are... Thanks."

The manager's eyes instantly lit up as he stood up, "You do???!"

"You should know how we bounty hunters work..." Yovan smiled while shaking his head, knowing of the manager's intention. Bounty hunters however like to keep the harvest to themselves.

Yovan left the shop much to the manager's dismay. Fortunately for him though, one of the shop caretakers who was cleaning very close to him comforted him. It's not the end of the world after all despite losing a fortune.

The self-proclaimed bounty hunter with nothing to show for it actually had no idea where his targets were, making why he said such a thing even stranger.

Time passed, night fell, and the shop caretaker left the store, seemingly going back home quite quickly one must say. 

She actually did walk back to her home, changed her clothes into an attire that hides much of her face, then left again along the dark alleys of the town.

Her steps led her to the woods outside of the town. She followed along the road for a while before going deep into the woods, stumbling her steps towards a hidden camp.

 The people in the camp were odd, all sharing a single similarity, a green lock. One of those especially had a very long green lock, reaching his mouth. His tongue would sometimes slip out, licking his green lock while speaking with the caretaker.

That particular scene was reflected in the crimson eyes of a dark bird, standing very close to them in the shadows, yet they couldn't see even a trace of it. The crow was blending with darkness a little too well.