With Jewel’s appearance, chaotic thoughts run through Alex’s mind. He stares at Jewel as she wraps Lucci in more and more web, his wounds still bothering him.

Should I heal myself?! I have the MP.

With Jewel... I might want to change my strategy. No need to risk it all on the thirty seconds. I need to be ready, but maybe there is a better way to deal with him. It all depends on Jewel—she doesn’t look too hurt, but I can’t be sure. She got hit by an ability, and she used up some Grenades. No, she said she’ll take care of him. I need to trust her!

Suddenly, he sees Jewel attaching a few burning round objects to the webs, Lucci now screaming in rage.

So she has grenades left!

“What is this?!” he roars, trying to rip off the net. “You coward! Fight me like a man!”

Shut up... I am a Hunter, my pet is my own strength! This is fair. Ask your pigeon for help, you stupid Leopard!

Jewel, in the meantime, uses more Namtaru Web and her Namtaru Poison to bombard Lucci, trying to hinder and distract him as much as possible. The agent is completely covered in black web and vile green-black poison, struggling to move properly through it.

Finally, she jumps away, landing next to Alex.

Lucci suddenly turns completely silent, his eyes locking on the net with a hint of panic, but his body remaining perfectly still—just before the fuses of the grenades run out.

He’s realizing what you are up to, Jewel! Focus, I think this isn’t over.

Yes, Soulmate!

Exactly six loud explosions echo through the night.

Alex sees Jewel’s successful Poison attacks and Grenade attacks flooding the system, but he ignores the countless messages. Much like with his earlier grenade, Lucci takes a tiny bit of damage from the main explosion, and a decent chunk of fire damage—the shrapnel, however, does zero or just a single point of damage.

He skips straight to the end of the combat log, but the message he is looking for does not appear.

He isn’t dead! Jewel, it’s not over!

As the smoke clears, a bleeding Lucci—missing a chunk of his right arm—still stands upright, his body covered in blood, web, and poison.

Jewel... can you try to web him again? I just need you to keep him still for a few seconds! We are using the tactic we prepared against Devil Fruit users.

Princess Jewel will frustrate him to death!❤️

Jewel’s red eyes glint briefly as she immediately leaps onto Lucci, darting through the air much like a Leopard herself. She bites into him with Namtaru Bite, then slaps more web onto him before he can fully react.

Jewel has dealt 31 damage to Lucci

“I just need a few seconds, Jewel! Keep him busy!” Alex yells, before using another biotic ability, Stasis.

Lucci’s movements stop as he’s encased in biotic energy, unable to move. That gives Jewel a clean opening—she throws more web over him without resistance, the biotic field quickly getting layered and coated in her black web.

Just a few seconds later, Lucci breaks free, the ability not fully effective, only lasting a fraction of its full duration. Still, the agent is now covered in a lot of web, and Jewel skillfully darts around him again, tightening the loose strands that were slapped over the stasis field earlier.

Alex already grabs his [Destiny Watch (Orbment) R2], preparing to cast his strongest Art.

Good, it’s now or never! I barely have enough MP to pull this off—the base cost is 250!

“Orbment activate,” Alex yells as he’s surrounded by red, mysterious light, his Art beginning to charge up.

Finally, almost four seconds later, while Lucci is still desperately struggling to free himself from the web, which is now dripping with his own blood, the ability is about to finish charging up.

Jewel! Move away!

Jewel, acknowledging Alex’s warning, stabs her legs into his back one more time before jumping off him.

Jewel has dealt 11 damage to Lucci

“Crystal Flood!” Alex finally roars as a giant wave of deadly ice crashes into his opponent, swallowing Lucci whole and flooding the area in freezing power, turning him—and the ground around him—into a frozen wasteland, slowly charging up, ready to explode.

“No!” Lucci roars, screaming into the sky, before the ice fully materializes and his body completely freezes up, partly shattering under the extreme cold.

You have dealt 231 x 2 = 462 damage to Lucci

You have killed Lucci

It’s effective! It dealt critical damage!

As Lucci falls, the system confirming his demise, Alex breathes a sigh of relief, his body still hurting all over.

Alex, now fully out of MP and unable to heal with magic, decides to immediately eat another [Infused Exceptional Dish (Dragon Skewer)] and also grabs a dose of [Medigel-modified], smearing it all over his body.

You have recovered 50 HP

Recovering 50 HP over 10 minutes

Recovering 25 HP over 30 seconds

“What about you, Jewel?” Alex asks, looking at his pet with worried eyes.

Princess Jewel is fine! She isn’t hurt. Princess Jewel got banished into a weird ball!

A ball?

“A Pokeball?” Alex asks. “Don’t tell me...”

No! Some kind of other ball... larger. A round sphere.

The ball trapped Princess Jewel, and she couldn’t do a thing! One of the peasants used it against her. She thinks the peasant called it a Pal Sphere. However, the system has informed Princess Jewel that it’s ineffective against her. After Princess Jewel was finally free, she immediately rushed over to Soulmate.

Well... it doesn’t matter what it was as long as Jewel is fine. A Pal sphere doesn’t work like that—maybe it was some kind of special Sphere.

Despite feeling tired and still hurting all over, Alex looks into the distance. He doesn’t see anyone else, but he hears vague sounds of a struggle far away, almost at the border of the city, well beyond the rocks.

I need to help the others.

However, before he leaves, he suddenly perks up.

Wait a minute. There must be a chest!

Alex looks back at the frozen corpse of Lucci and indeed finds a Purple Chest next to his body.

Alex grabs it, feeling grateful, yet also slightly dissatisfied.

Lucci was a strong opponent! Frankly, this mission is focused on the Kingdom of Arabasta. This is Water 7... logically speaking, the opponents here are way stronger than what players should be able to deal with. Only those with confidence, a lot of items, and good equipment can even hope to attempt to tackle the challenges here.

More than that, Lucci is incredibly powerful... I mean, a Purple Chest is a Purple Chest, but this is disappointing. Killing him is way more impressive than finding that damn hammer under the city.... Well, no time for crying. I need to open it now, since my stats are still increased, and then help the others.

“Fuck! I’m opening it really quickly, and we’ll go help the others right afterwards!” Alex says, before quickly adding, “My stats won’t stay boosted for much longer.”

Alex immediately opens the Chest, his eyes filled with greed and anticipation.

You received 26,000 FC

You received Soulcrystal (Medium)

You received Soulcrystal (Small) x3

You received Cage of Hattori (Pet)

FC and a ton of Soulstones, nice! But what is that cage?

Alex quickly glances at the mysterious [Cage of Hattori (Pet)].

[Cage of Hattori (Pet]

World: One Piece

Quality: Light Gold

Quality (Pet): Blue

Type: Animal-Cage

Effect: Contains Hattori, the pet pigeon of the CP9 agent Rob Lucci.

Effect: The creature inside will be automatically soul-bound to you if it accepts you as its master. A specific skill is not required. You will obtain a Pet-class helper should you accept the soul-bond.

Effect: There can only be one Pet-class helper, even if you find another pet that does not require the corresponding skill to tame.

Note: This pigeon is more than a simple bird. This pet is capable of understanding human language, following basic orders, and even communicating at a simple level with its owner. Warning: This Pet is not very suitable for combat.

Note: Once this item is used, the corresponding Pet will be bound to you and will be unable to be traded under normal conditions.

Note: Due to the rarity of pets obtainable without incredibly rare pet-related skills, this item is classified as Light Gold, even if the pet it contains is merely of Blue Quality.

Soulmate! Princess Jewel is so happy, she can eat the tasty pigeon after all!

“Eating the pigeon?!” Alex says, his voice jumping up. “Are you stupid? This is a pet! A pet, Jewel! Sure, it’s beneath you, but this is still an incredibly rare pet of Blue Quality, while the item qualifies as Light Gold Quality! It has that Quality because anyone—even those like me who do not have special pet skills—can get a pet that way! It might be weak combat-wise, but it will probably have great INT, AGI, SNS, and maybe decent SPR and CHA. It can also learn Pet skills, like you! This damn thing is smart enough to bandage its master and understands and obeys human language. It will probably be able to communicate with its owner—not on your level, but still. This pet is great. This is invaluable. Anyway, forget about eating it—we'll discuss this later. We need to move on.”

Alex glances at Iceburg’s body in the distance.

He seems fine... sleeping through all this shit. I’ll deal with him later.

Alex rushes forward, running toward the vague sounds of struggle he’s picking up in the distance. Jewel sprints after him for a moment before hopping up and landing on his head again.

While he rushes forward, he feels his PHY—along with his items—slowly but surely recovering his HP. Especially [Drakul’s Vitality R2], which recovers 1.2 HP per 10 seconds on its own and boosts HP recovery by an additional 24%. Combined with his high PHY and the healing items he used earlier, his HP is replenishing at a high rate as he moves.

Alex, however, isn’t focused on himself so much as on the air, scanning for Tereza.

He uses Gyo, but can’t see any sign of her.

As he looks down again, he and Jewel reach a few cheap, mostly wooden houses. Now looking forward, he suddenly spots an Aura close to the ground.

Alex rushes further ahead and sees Tereza on the ground, next to a half-destroyed, seemingly abandoned house, Kalifa’s body next to her, totally mangled and bloody. Tereza herself is also wounded—several puncture wounds and cuts on her body, dried blood near the points of impact—and, more importantly, her left wing is bleeding, with many cuts running across it. Her legs look heavily wounded too, and she’s obviously unable to walk on her own.

“Alex!” she says, looking relieved. “Sorry... I tried to help, but I can’t move! I already used all my items and my HP is fine, but despite Menchi’s potions, my injuries need a while to heal.”

“I see,” Alex says, looking equally relieved. “Please be careful! I am sorry, but I need to press ahead! I barely won against Lucci with Jewel’s help... Kaku is the second strongest CP9 agent, so I’m worried about Benezia. I need to see if she’s alright.”

“Go ahead! I’ll be fine!” she says, looking determined. “Hurry up!”

Alex nods at her and rushes forward. “See you soon!” The sounds of battle grow clearer with every step.

That’s some sort of metallic clink. Definitely swords clashing against each other!

As Alex listens intently, he recognizes them as blades clashing against each other.