I'd be happy about Power Stones!(Power Stones = Bonus Chapters)
The sword technique "Time-Cutting Rain", which used to require a pause for adjustment after each use…
Now, she could use it consecutively, allowing her to cut down multiple enemies in a single burst.
Supported by her abundant spiritual energy, she had become a living launcher of fire and lightning, unleashing ghostly and unpredictable Kido spells!
Even though the Kido she had learned were all of the lower-level ones ranked below #10, for East Blue pirates, that was more than enough to end their lives!
Operating under the principle that a pirate's life isn't worth much, this time, Tashigi took full advantage of the situation to test out all kinds of her techniques...
And in doing so, she gained a brand new understanding of her body!
She had now completely shed the barrier of being a physically weak woman, no longer inferior to men in raw strength!
She had formed a power system entirely her own.
And all of this stemmed from her newly acknowledged captain—Kael!
Already 100% loyal, Tashigi's respect for Kael surged to indescribable levels as she thought about this.
Calling Kael a god in her heart wouldn't be an exaggeration at all!
Arriving at Kael's side and recalling his earlier warning, Tashigi barely suppressed the urge to salute. Still, she stood at attention and reported formally:
"Reporting, Captain Kael! A total of 54 pirates from the Alvida Pirates were found. 32 killed, 22 severely injured…"
"As for the seized equipment—"
"That's enough, Tashigi," Kael waved with a smile, cutting her off.
"This isn't the Navy—you don't need to report everything so precisely."
"Oh~!"
Tashigi narrowed her eyes playfully and responded cheerfully.
But just then, she suddenly noticed someone standing behind Kael.
It was the pink-haired boy Koby, looking lost and unsure of what to do.
"Hmm?"
Tashigi narrowed her eyes slightly. She recognized Koby from the group of pirates under Alvida.
Her sharp Zanpakuto suddenly left its sheath, glinting with cold light.
"!!"
Koby felt a sudden chill down his spine for no reason.
Seeing Tashigi about to strike and eliminate this last survivor—
Fortunately, Kael reached out just in time to stop her from drawing her sword further.
"Oh, right! Tashigi, let me introduce our new crewmate…"
"Our support crewman with two and a half years of training experience—Koby."
Kael stepped aside with a smile, revealing Koby completely.
"He's now the deckhand of our Twilight Pirates, responsible for various chores on the Diga."
"You can order him around as much as you want."
"Koby, this is Tashigi—our strongest swordswoman!"
"Uh… Captain Kael, I've only been a chore boy for one year…" Koby timidly corrected.
"Eh~ don't sweat the details." Kael waved it off casually.
After a quick round of introductions, Kael turned to Tashigi again:
"Good timing on your return."
"There's nothing else pressing here."
"Take Koby back to the Diga and help him get familiar with the ship. He can temporarily stay in one of the rooms on the upper deck."
"You should get some rest. Once you've recovered, continue your training—we've still got plenty of time left today."
The Diga's deck had three rooms split between two levels.
On either side of the cabin entrance were male and female dormitories prepared by Kael for the crew.
Above those dormitories sat Kael's captain's quarters.
The facility shop did offer a dedicated crew dormitory feature.
It worked similarly to the captain's room, though with half the recovery rate—but significantly more space and storage, as it was meant for multiple crew members to live and rest in together.
…
"No problem, Captain!" Tashigi nodded.
The moment she heard the word "training," her sharp eyes sparkled with eager light.
Now that she had tasted the benefits of training, she was completely hooked!
In just two days, she had gained such incredible power!
Tashigi couldn't imagine—what kind of strength would she achieve if she continued training like this for a whole year?
"Oh, by the way!"
As Tashigi led a confused Koby toward the ship, Kael suddenly called out to her:
"Take him to the training room too."
"Let him read the notes there first."
"This little guy's been through a lot—you can also tell him about our group while you're at it."
"Hmm?"
Tashigi made a curious sound, quickly understanding that Kael wanted her to share the secrets of the Twilight Pirates with Koby.
However…
She turned back to look at the timid boy and couldn't help but wonder in her heart—
Can this little guy really be trusted?
But since it was the master's—no, the captain's—order...
After a moment's hesitation, Tashigi still chose to follow Kael's instructions and tell Koby everything.
After they left, Kael casually pulled over a folding chair and lay back at the port, quietly waiting.
The sky was blue, dotted with clouds like soft silk drifting on a lazy breeze.
The sun was gentle, warm but not scorching, creating a perfect nap atmosphere.
Time passed slowly.
Over an hour later, the town mayor Kael had been waiting for finally arrived, leading a group of young men carrying a large bag of money and supplies.
No need for words.
After loading everything onto the Diga, Kael and the mayor exchanged Den Den Mushi contact info and said their goodbyes.
A sudden gust of strong wind blew out of nowhere.
The Diga, resting at the dock, slowly entered the sea following the path it had come from, then turned in place toward the vast open ocean.
This utterly bizarre maneuver left the townsfolk who had helped move the ship stunned in place.
The mayor rubbed his eyes hard in disbelief!
In his fifty years of life, this was the first time he'd seen a sailing ship turn in place on the water like that…
If not for the sudden gust of wind that had clearly pushed the ship, he would have thought it was a hallucination!
…
Back on the Diga.
After checking in with Little Diga, Kael confirmed that Tashigi had already taken Koby to the training room as instructed.
With that handled, Kael was free to relax. Grinning, he carried the money bag back into his captain's quarters.
He stashed the 25 million Berries into his safe.
With the few million Berries he had left from earlier, his total savings now came to over 33 million Berries.
"Hmm… I'll set aside 3 million Berries for daily expenses."
"The remaining 30 million Berries—let's use them all for gacha pulls!"
Since facility levels couldn't exceed the pirate ship's level, and upgrading the Diga to level 2 required 50 million Berries...
For now, the only way to see immediate results—with no sunk costs—was to trust in luck with the gacha system!
Last time, he spent only 20 million Berries and got an A-rank character card and an A-rank weapon.
Who knows…
What might this 30 million get him?
Without hesitation, Kael opened the system and brought up the gacha screen.
After a bit of thought, he decided to test the waters with a basic-level gacha machine.
"Let's go! I choose you! Ten-pull!"
10 million Berries instantly disappeared from the vault.
A flurry of notifications appeared before Kael's eyes:
Congratulations! You received an E-rank item: Demon Slayer Corps Uniform!
Congratulations! You received an E-rank item: Misaka Mikoto's Safety Shorts!
Congratulations! You received an E-rank item: Hinata Hyuga's Chest Wrap!
Congratulations! You received a D-rank item: Explosive Tag!
…
…
Congratulations! You received a C-rank item: Nemu Kurotsuchi's Shihakusho!
"Got something decent!?"
Though he didn't get another A-rank—or even a B-rank—Kael was more than satisfied.
Having suffered through mobile game gacha systems before, he considered a D-rank and a C-rank in one ten-pull pretty lucky!
With a thought, Kael opened his inventory to inspect the new items.
Explosive Tag
Type: One-time Use Item
Rank: D
Description: A small slip of paper. Place it anywhere and trigger it with intent to cause a sudden, powerful explosion!