Murphy carefully raked the chest's debris aside, and in his hand was a fruit with mysterious patterns on its surface. Who would have thought that it would actually be a Devil Fruit!
It turns out that the fight was not in vain. Initially, he still had doubts - Devil Fruits are rare and precious, where could this woman get something like that? However, the result exceeded his expectations.
However, judging by the words of the middle-aged pirate, Nidam did not seem to value this fruit.
Murphy didn't know what kind of fruit it was, but if even this fat woman neglected it, was it worth his attention?
After all, he had a system that allowed him to exchange points for fruit, albeit for a very high price.
"You opened the chest," came a trembling voice from behind.
Murphy turned around to see several pirates supporting Mori as he climbed onto the deck.
Mori pointed to the remains of the chest with a shaking hand, and there was a strange emotion in his voice. He was probably the most conflicted of all, his mood was like a roller coaster with sharp turns.
He looked very bad, in a pitiful state, barely able to stand on his feet. And the fact that with such wounds he did not go to get treatment, but hurried here, meant that he had something important to say.
- Yes... I was lucky that I managed to open it.
- Okay, okay... Thank you... benefactor. We don't even know your name, could you tell us?
- Murphy.
- Murphy, you are our savior! Thank you for getting us out of this hell. If you need help with anything, just say the word!
- Hm? I already told you - take me to Sabaody Archipelago.
- And that's it? I meant that we want to follow you! Wherever you point, that's where we'll go. We already have a ready-made pirate ship, we just need to change the flag and the name.
That's it. It's logical, though - with their skill level, without a strong leader, they're unlikely to last longer than six months in the Grand Line.
- No need.
- What? Why?
- You're too weak. If you get into trouble, I'll have to save you, and that's troublesome! Besides, I'm not a pirate!
— ...
Including Mori, all the pirates around him looked gloomy, but Murphy was telling the truth. These people couldn't do him any good, at least not yet.
- There are many peaceful countries in this sea. I advise you to find a quiet place and settle there. Otherwise, soon there will be several more ghosts in the sea.
- Oh, you're right... Once upon a time we went to sea with our dreams, but who knew...
- Stop, stop. I'm not interested in that. Let's get down to business - do you know what kind of fruit this is?
Murphy waved the fruit in front of Mori.
- This is Soku Soku no Mi.
- Oh? Do you know about him?
- Yes, I heard from Nydam.
Murphy was amazed - it was no wonder this man was the vice-captain, he knew much more than the ordinary members of the team!
- Speed, huh? Wouldn't that have perfectly compensated for this fat woman's deficiency? And she refused?
- She fanatically worshiped only power.
- Ah, so that's it!
In other words, her brain was rather slow... Murphy, who had fought Nydam, could judge this better than anyone - the woman's combat intelligence was so low that she should have simply continued to exchange blows with him, instead of running for a weapon.
- Besides this, this fruit has its own dark history.
— A dark story?
- Yes. They say that the previous owner of the Soku Soku no Mi lost control of his speed and flew into the sea at full speed, where he drowned.
- Phaha.
The usually reserved Murphy couldn't help but burst out laughing. The pirates standing nearby didn't hide their amusement at all, and also burst out laughing loudly.
- This... is really something unusual!
"I know it sounds unbelievable, but I've been interested in this fruit for a long time. When I learned its name, I specifically looked for information about it, and it's true," Mori continued with a helpless expression, "Personally, I think this incident happened because the speed of thought couldn't keep up with the speed of the body. If you accidentally end up in the sea and no one comes to your aid, that's the end. So if you decide to eat it, think it over carefully."
- That's it. There is sense in your words.
Murphy thought about it carefully, and it did make sense. If the body moved too fast for the brain to react, then that could very well happen. It seemed like Nydam really shouldn't have eaten that fruit - she probably wouldn't have even made it to Jaya before she drowned somewhere out at sea.
However, does the Devil Fruit only grant physical speed?
Murphy smiled, not paying attention to it. After all, he had no intention of eating the Soku Soku no Mi. He had better options, and he had several other fruits in mind. But those were just plans. At the current rate of accumulation of points, there was no telling when he would be able to exchange them.
The most important thing now was to accumulate more points, and the fruit could be carried with you for now, just in case.
- Murphy, your cabin was not damaged by the battle. Since you just finished the battle, you should get some rest. I'm going to get some treatment too, and the guys need to do some repairs to the ship, so let's not disturb you.
- Okay, go. This ship is no longer a pirate ship, don't forget to take off the pirate flag.
Murphy noticed that this Mori, although he spoke a little pretentiously, was capable of thinking and had the courage to stand up to the Nids. In addition, the rest of the crew seemed to respect him. If they stuck together and found a new place, they could definitely live better.
Watching them go, Murphy was about to return to his cabin. After two battles in a row, his body was tired, but his spirit was still strong.
Right now, his power was only enough for the beginning of Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line. By the time he arrived at Sabaody Archipelago, it would no longer be enough. After all, pirates with bounties of hundreds of millions of beli would start appearing there, and those who were as strong as Supernovas, so wouldn't any of them start causing trouble?
So he wasn't going to sit back on the road. He immediately took out paper and pen - the story of the ninja was just beginning, and the journey of the freelance author was also just beginning.
The voyage was surprisingly smooth. They passed from Jaya Island through Water 7, and finally reached the Sabaody Archipelago. No fearsome pirates robbed them, and there were not even any banal scenes with rescuing beauties.
The Marines mistook them for a normal ship, most pirates, seeing their battered ship, left them alone, and those few unlucky pirates who rushed at them in the heat of the moment were quickly thrown overboard thanks to Murphy.
They made only one week-long stop at Water 7 to resupply, exchange bounties, do some minor repairs to the ship, and wait for the Log Pose to fully charge. During that week, Murphy purchased a Den-Den-Mushi kit for photography and videography, but unfortunately, he didn't come across anything reportage-worthy, and didn't even run into Master Tom, who built Roger's ship, to interview him.
Over the past twenty-odd days, his score has steadily grown to 7,500 points, and an island covered in bubbles has finally appeared on the horizon...