Fantasy Realm – Infinite Worlds Adventure-Chapter 497: Catching a Break
Alex can’t help but clench his fist as he sees the [Supa Supa no Mi] appear in his inventory.
This is it! This is definitely one of the better ones I could have gotten! Not bad... not bad at all!
However, his delight and rising excitement are immediately cut short as the implications of this unexpected gain begin to settle in.
Wait a minute... if this fruit is in my possession, that means its former user... Mr. 1 is dead?
What’s going on in Alubarna...? No, wait. It’s not necessarily clear that he died there. He could have been relocated... sent anywhere, really. I vaguely remember him travelling to Sandy Island. He might have been away, so I can’t conclude Mr. 1’s killer, or more likely killers, are on Sandy Island. They could be anywhere close by... maybe even in Water 7?
Whatever happened—it’s useless to speculate. Either other players got him, or he was killed due to changes in the timeline and current setting. I just need to pay more attention and remain vigilant.
Alex returns to the group, still thinking, and immediately shares what he pulled. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
“Nice!” Tereza cheers. “That one’s pretty good, isn’t it?” she asks right away.
“Sounds great,” Menchi agrees with a smile.
“It is pretty good, alright,” Alex replies. “However... it’s kind of a weird fruit in my opinion. It’s incredibly potent early on in the Realm, but the farther players progress, the more it starts to fall behind—or at least, that’s how I see it.”
“Why?” Tereza asks.
“The defensive properties of steel don’t scale,” Alex explains. “Steel is crazy durable, sure, but even now, I can cleave steel in two with my weapon, my STR, Alexandrian Royal Swordsmanship, Nen, and my magic. If I get even stronger, this fruit’s defensive value becomes irrelevant to someone like me—or to anyone at my level.”
“I imagine you’d be virtually invincible at the very beginning of the Realm,” he continues. “But right now? There are already plenty of players who can bypass its defenses without much effort. If someone with this fruit wants a really strong defense, they’ll need additional support—Nen, Haki, or just a ridiculous amount of PHY. That said, it’s still a great fruit. It’d definitely be effective even for me, but I’m honestly just not that interested.”
“I don’t really get why I should be using my body to attack players when I already have far more deadly weapons in my hands. Relying on its defense also feels like a gamble. Some abilities—like thunder magic—might be amplified or outright deadly to the user, but even others will probably just ignore the defensive properties entirely. It’s nice, sure, and it offers good utility, but I’m not convinced. Especially not with the added downside of the standard Devil Fruit weakness from Sea Stones.”
“...”
“...”
Everyone stares at Alex in silence, still smiling—everyone except Benezia, who remains calm and collected as always.
Now slightly annoyed, Alex fires back, “You asked me a serious question. Don’t go all silent on me now. This is a decision I can’t reverse. I’m obviously going to overthink it as much as I fucking want. I should’ve just eaten that damn bat fruit back then—I wouldn’t have to sit here debating these viable, but definitely, mediocre options!”
“Fine,” Menchi says, raising her hands. “Calm down. I just thought it was funny how you immediately gave such a detailed answer. I didn’t even say anything yet. It’s not a bad thing.”
“In any case,” Benezia adds, her eyes locked on Alex, “despite your valid concerns—which are based entirely on your own circumstances—this fruit is quite valuable.”
“Even though its primary purpose is to transform the user’s body into various blades, I’d argue it’s a smarter pick for someone who specializes in magic but lacks solid defense. As impressive as the offensive aspects are, I believe its defensive properties are actually more notable. I can guarantee I’ll be able to sell it for a good amount of FC.”
“The more interesting implications are that Mr. 1 was killed. Most likely, other players committed the deed. We need to be even more vigilant to not get ambushed again. I intend to learn from my earlier mistakes,” Benezia says, before glaring at Menchi.
“Yeah... let’s do that,” Alex says, looking softly at Benezia. “However, don’t think about it. We couldn’t have known what would happen on that pier—blaming yourself and being overly cautious will hurt us in the long run. Some things just happen, okay?
“Let’s sell the fruit then, okay, Tereza?” Alex asks, changing the topic, facing Tereza.
“Why are you asking me, yet again?” Tereza replies, sounding slightly irritated.
Slightly annoyed in return, Alex gives her a serious look. “We pooled our money. You’ll get your share, obviously.”
“Keep it,” she says. “Give me some FC if you feel like it, but I won’t accept much more than that.”
Alex shrugs. “Fine....”
Looks like she’s still grateful for the fruit I bought her. I guess it really turned out to be a treasure after all—especially since she got it back during the Tutorial Realm. Now that I think about it, the guy who sold it to me basically got scammed. I didn’t know better at the time, and despite all his supposed connections, he clearly didn’t either.
With their prize now in their possession—and 150 million Belly lighter, leaving them with just 2 million remaining—the group exits the underground store.
“What now?” Tereza asks.
“I really don’t know... hunt more pirates?” Alex suggests, sounding unsure. “We need to stick around to protect Iceburg. But we can’t do much until Menchi finds us new targets. We want to avoid open conflict for now. I guess we’ll need a few more days for Benezia to fully recover from her injuries. I feel almost completely fine now, and Jewel’s nearly there too.”
“I agree,” Benezia states. “We’ll wait until Menchi finds us new bounties to collect. Until then, I fear we have no choice but to focus on what the little one can’t get enough of.”
“No way,” Alex says. “You mean...”
“Really?” Tereza asks, already looking annoyed.
Fishing! ❤️
“With the boat we got in the trade, we could maybe head out a little farther from Rocky Cape,” Alex suggests. “Let’s collect it then!”
“Indeed,” Benezia confirms. “However, Menchi, I want you to not only continue looking for wanted pirates, players, and our four special targets—I also want you to inspect a few key locations. Please scout out Franky House, Scrap Island, Blueno’s Bar, and, more importantly, spend some time around Dock 1 and the Galley-La Company. You can come up with harmless excuses—your bounty will likely be seen as a joke. It’s vital we gather as much information as possible before committing to any actions we can’t take back.”
Menchi lets out a sigh and opens her mouth to protest, but Benezia immediately glares at her with such intensity that her entire body stiffens.
“F—fine! I’ll do it!” she responds, immediately dropping her resistance.
She really can’t handle Benezia. This silly girl.
“In return, we’ll catch you lots of fish... maybe even a Sea King—assuming we don’t get eaten,” Alex mutters, trying to cheer Menchi up, yet clearly not thrilled at the idea.
“Get one!!” Menchi yells, her face lighting up with greed. “You must definitely get one for me!”
“...”
Not so sure I want to encounter one.
Don’t worry, Soulmate! Princess Jewel will definitely reel one in and destroy it using the Super Secret Ultimate Killing Explosion Technique!
No... I definitely don’t want to encounter one... also, that damn name changes as often as her mood.
Time passes in a flash. With Menchi scouting the city during the day, the rest of the group continues to hunt more and more pirates with valid, yet disappointing bounties, and spends their downtime fishing. The medium-sized fishing boat they received sails at a decent pace, and allows them to venture out freely onto the open ocean surrounding Water 7.
However, despite Jewel’s boundless enthusiasm and Alex conjuring new Annihilation Grenades daily to blast at potential sea monsters, they encounter nothing but normal and low-quality fish.
In a moment of resignation, they even start handing their unranked catches to Menchi to sell at the local markets, earning themselves a bit of steady side income.
After a full week, they’ve taken down three pirate crews and sold a substantial amount of fish, slowly pushing their funds back up from 2 million Belly to a much more comfortable total of 95 million.
Out on the fishing boat, the mood is light. Everyone seems content—aside from Benezia, who looks visibly dissatisfied as she sits with a fishing rod in hand.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asks, glancing over at her while he, Tereza, Jewel, and even Benezia are fishing off the side of the boat.
“Our pace is too slow,” she replies, her tone serious. “We require 300 million Belly to purchase our prize. Aside from taking down Roshio, every other day has been largely unsuccessful. We need to earn more Belly, or we’ll run out of time. We’ll need to leave this place very soon. And we still haven’t found any of the key targets Iceburg mentioned to us.”
She shifts slightly, frowning. “Tereza, if things continue this way, I want you to assist Menchi with scouting the city. I fear the little girl is neglecting her duties. Her reports on the key locations I asked her to investigate have been useless. Franky House is silent—Franky himself is nowhere to be found. Scrap Island has no clues, no hidden resources, no secrets to exploit. Finally, Blueno’s Bar is just that—a bar. Aside from occasional visits from Kalifa, Kaku, and Lucci, we’ve learned absolutely nothing new.”
“The only relevant intel we’ve gathered is that there might be a chance to ambush them outside of their usual place—Dock 1 or the company headquarters. That’s all. On a more positive note, I feel a lot better, while Alex and the little one are completely recovered.”
“I kinda agree,” Alex says, nodding. “However, we’re doing our best. We aren’t even lazing around—we are fishing for nearly the entire day and adding as much income as possible to our daily earnings. Stressing ourselves out about our progress won’t help. Even if we don’t reach the full 300 million, we can still spend our money on Green and Blue items. The shops have plenty of options, and shards are pretty valuable too.”
“Yeah,” Tereza adds. “Don’t worry, Benezia—we’ve done great so far. There’s no such thing as perfection. We’re doing well so far, we have taken down quite a few players and are doing alright with our missions as well.”
❤️ Princess Jewel has a bite! She feels that this is the chance she has been waiting for!
“Fuck, are you serious?!” Alex yells in surprise, turning around.
