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Chapter 31: The Monster In The Dark II

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Thankfully, he salvaged the situation by turning around and going back into the ship along with the two other strangers much to Igarappoi's dismay.

The people dispersed, each going on their merry way except for a certain peculiar group.

Igarappoi stood in a well-lit room, the sound of him looking through many pieces of papers only clouded by the heavy sound of rain.

Behind him stood a tall, dark-skinned man with black hair in short spiky dreadlocks, wearing a brown trench coat with a pink cravat and a pair of sunglasses, "Did you find anything?" He asked.

Next to him stood someone else, a tall young woman with short blond hair and dark eyes, "Should we act even if he found anything?" She seemed nervous as she spoke.

It was at that point that Igarappoi turned around with a grave expression on his face, holding a newspaper, "Yes... The News coo delivered their latest paper a week ago, bringing news from the west blue."

News Coo are medium-sized gulls that deliver newspapers and wanted posters around the world. Still, their workings are quite miraculous considering Yovan's news already reached Paradise.

"And??" The lady asked.

"He looks quite different, but I'm certain this is him." Igarappoi turned the newspaper around, showing the bounties section.

"Wait what??" The lady was understandably shocked. Hell, shock was an understatement, "Mr. 5, wha-what should we do??"

"I... I don't know," The name titled Mr. 5.

On the newspaper was a small picture of Yovan, a healthy Yovan. Despite his currently odd condition, his name and his features gave him away.

However, that wasn't the end of it as Igarappoi showed them two other bounty posters, "The Demon Sherrif Laffitte, 35 Million belly. Capone Gang Bege, 70 Million belly."

It was safe to say that the two were stunned beyond belief. It wasn't every day that they come across such monsters.

"If I may say, Miss Valentine, Mr. 5... We should inform Mr. 0 before we act," Igarappoi advised, his words obviously insinuating that their status is higher than his.

"Ye-yeah, a 99 million bounty is too much." Mr. 5 agreed. It wasn't just the bounty. It was also Yovan's state and the fact that he was alive. His condition could be attributed to a Devil Fruit, but it was still horrifying.

"I'll go ahead and inform the others lest they act recklessly." Afterward, Igarappoi left, leaving the nervous Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine who had to call Mr. 0.

Their manners and words insinuate that they're some kind of bounty hunters. From Iggarappoi's words, the entire population of the town may be bounty hunters, welcoming the prey to their embrace.

Igarappoi left some bounty hunters to watch the ship from afar and made his way to his house where he found someone waiting for him, a young blue-haired lady.

"Miss Wednesday?" Iggarappoi exclaimed, seeming surprised.

"We're alone." The lady known as Miss Wednesday stated before taking a seat and asked with curiosity, "What happened?"

"Hai, princess Vivi!" Igaram's manners changed almost instantly, becoming very respectful, "The visitors this time seem to be special..."

Princess Vivi listened carefully, her expression becoming heavier the more he spoke though there was a light of hope in her eyes, "Can we..."

She didn't even get to finish her sentence before Igaram firmly shook his head, "NO! No, I can see it in their eyes... They're monsters. It's better to let them begone."

"I see."

The duo froze, a chill running down their spine because behind Vivi stood a frightening individual, seemingly manifesting out of nowhere.

Yovan gently placed his notebook on Vivi's shoulders much to her dismay before starting to write a few things on it. Such are the troubles of only having one arm, "Excuse me for a bit."

Igaram didn't know what to do but sweat himself in fear, not for his life but for his princess' life. The only solace was that Yovan didn't seem to be interested in hurting her.

"I have no interest in who you are. Just answer these simple questions. How long does a Log Pose take to reset?" Yovan calmly asked.

"I..."

"I'm very patient, so answer quickly." Yovan's statement was very contradictory, but Igaram's clogged brain simply couldn't comprehend it as he hurried to answer.

"One Day! Just one day."

"Do you have a detailed map of Paradise? If so, hand it to me." Yovan further asked.

Igaram hurried to the side, looking through a bunch of documents before bringing out a small map, "I... It's not very detailed... There are only a few Islands marked on it. I don't think anyone has a detailed map of Paradise."

Yovan picked it up, and gave a glance before asking another question, "Aside from the Islands in question, do you know or have you heard of other Islands? Just general information about them."

Igaram nodded, nervousness apparent all over his face. Perhaps he knows that making a mistake may spell the death of him.

Even Vivi was afraid, especially afraid because she had lifted her head and taken a single glance at Yovan, and that was enough to shake her to her core.

"I heard of a few flower-shaped Islands..." Yovan listened carefully and made sure to write everything down lest his terrible memory fails him, always in his secretive symbol. He had come to call them as the Symbols of the Night.

"Oh?" After a while, Yovan arched his brows, finding something that very much interests him, so he closed his notebook, and hid it in the pocket of his coat, "Well, thank you for the information. May we never meet again."

Igaram became tense. His face looked strained because if Yovan was ever going to act, it was going to be now after getting what he wants.

However, the Stranger as titled in his bounty poster just turned around and walked into a dark corner, nowhere near the exit. 

"I..." Igaram was confused. The darkness in the corner was seemingly hiding Yovan perfectly. So he picked up a candle lamp by the side and directed it towards the corner.

"He's gone..." Igaram mumbled, seemingly in disbelief.

And only then did Vivi stand up and hastily walk beside Igaram. She was understandably spooked to the point of forgetting to breathe when he was there, "What... What should we... do?"

"Prepare to escape... But only if he tells them our true identity," Igaram frowned, answering solemnly, "I have a feeling he won't, but we should prepare anyway should things go awry."

A crow slipped away through darkness, the heavy rain doing little to stop it. In fact, it only worked to mask the flapping of its wings.

Undetected by all, the crow entered the Captain's cabin, finding it already opened. Yovan transformed into his human and took a seat, joining Laffitte and Capone.

They were comfortably waiting for him, Laffitte taking occasional sips of wine while Capone was smoking his cigars as usual.

Yovan opened his notebook, saying, "There is a change of plans, I may go my own way before reaching Sabaody Archipelago depending on how things go, so listen carefully."

"Oh? You going to kill yourself in some hellhole?" That was Capone's first assumption.

"Why?" Laffitte questioned with a frown.

"Because I might stay in a specific place for a while." Afterward, Yovan told them all of the information he acquired, giving them a general idea of their route.

"Oh, that's nice." Well, it seems that Laffitte heard some good news, "Exploring paradise sounds lovely."

Capone frowned, seeming thoughtful, but in the end, he didn't object. Yovan's path seems to be that of exploration in hope of finding a specific Island based on little information, so it will certainly take some time.

The night passed, the heavy rain lasting throughout. It was very much a rare thing on Cactus Island, but such is the nature of paradise, unpredictable weather.

Yovan woke up by down, not sleeping much. He wasn't too exhausted, however. The continuous use of feathers of desperation elevated his Endurance to ridiculous degrees.

He brought out a massive bronze bowl with him, almost half his size. He jumped off the ship and made his way very far from the town in a discreet spot.

He stood before a rocky wall and with all his force, he pushed the bowl inside until it was stable, keeping the bowl on his level. 

Yovan then took a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a second, "Kiryu Hasshoken!"

His words were followed by his only hand punching the bowl, not with much force, but it was enough to send a reverberating sound throughout the surroundings.

He followed up with a kick, and then another. His every movement was complemented by a change in the air around him, causing the rocky area around the bowl to break without much force.

Despite his worrisome condition, his full-force punch should still be able to break the rocks, but that wasn't his goal... He had some great aspirations.

[Kiryu Hasshoken: The use of force and mind to produce shockwaves: 25/∞]

This wasn't the normal shockwave handed to him by Don Chinjao. No, it was a combination of his Airflow Art and Hasshoken. However, something was missing from the Art... Busoshoku Haki.