Third person POV

"Ouch!" On the way back, Lena had pummeled her head to find a valid excuse to justify Lewis's death. The only solution she had concocted was to pretend to have been attacked by surprise. She had not skimped on the means and to make her acting more credible she went so far as to mutilate herself.

At this very moment, her left arm was bloody and the crimson liquid was dripping, leaving a trace of its passage through the greenery. This little repertoire was the only way for her to avoid suspicion and thorough interrogation; she would pretend that Raoh was overwhelmingly cunning and deceitful. She had even thought about the details of how the twins used their skills and weapons to distract her while Raoh assassinated Lewis in the background.

Her husband always gave her the benefit of the doubt, but this time the one who had payed the cost of her devious schemes happened to be his younger cousin. This detail was far from minor, and since they knew that the alcoholic tested her patience, she wasn't clear of doubts.

On multiple occasions, she wondered if Brent was playing dumb or simply chose to ignore the advances made on his wife; today would be the opportunity to confirm her doubts.

Any man worthy of the name had pride and a taboo; usually centered on his wife and family. It did not matter if Lewis was his cousin, he should have been disgusted with such a disrespectful man from a long time ... She knew he would be the only crewmate she could not deceive, so her only chance was to pray that Lewis did not hold a big spot inside Brent's heart. He had no real serviceability, and he was far from being an elite crew member.

"If I die, I can only blame myself for choosing such a poor excuse for a man as my husband..." She slapped her cheeks with her palms and put those thoughts aside. She then vanished into the trees with a self-mocking smile, wishing she was 20 years younger after meeting the handsome boy.

*****************************************************************

Inside the cabin, Luffy and company were on high alert, Hao and Ace had gone in search of Raoh. He had been missing for far too long. Luffy had reassured the group by explaining that he was probably in full night training, but after more than an hour without news and without noise, they had begun to worry. Their situation was not peaceful and it was possible for an enemy to land at any time and attack Raoh.

In such a scenario, he would be alone against an unknown number of opponents. He was extremely strong but an accident was more than conceivable.Thinking of the worst, Luffy wanted to run after his brother, but he was stopped by Hao. In the event that Raoh returned to the cabin and found no one there, it would be disastrous. Hao, therefore, proposed to divide the troops while taking into account the balance their fighting force.

Raoh's POV

This summary thus brings us back to the present situation. Hao and Ace were lost in the bush meanders of the forest. Hao used "Spirit of Fire" to light up the surroundings and shouted aloud my name, panting and breathless by the unsuccessful search.

Unfortunately, they remained unanswered for all that time. Tired and confused, Ace offered Hao a turnaround.

"I think that's the only thing we can do for now," Hao replied with a helpless grin.

"Anyway, if anything happened to him, we could not do much to help him ..." Ace added. He knew the extent of my power, so whatever happens, if I was not able to return to the fold, they would be useless against whoever was able to create difficulties for me.

"Maybe he's come back already, let's go." Ace took the lead and ran towards the return path.

**************************************************

Farther in the green surroundings, a small male form bounced at full speed, crossing plateaus and hills, plains and bushy areas in the middle of the dark night. The speed at which the figure was moving was very fast, and it was amazing to see that even after more than seven minutes of racing, it was not pausing.

This vigorous shadow was of course me. After this demanding race of 30 km at full speed, my racing skills improved and the system did not take long to give me the next notice.

[Congratulations! Due to your persistent running, your savage kit has reached level 10.]

[+2 STR, +2 END will be added to your stat points.]

[Savage kit small mastery! Additional boosts will be gained each level starting from level 10.]

[+2 STR, +2 END have been granted. Total stat gain, +4 STR, +4 END]

[New skill unlocked: Emphatic Sprint]

[Accept YES/NO?]

"Yes!" I replied in a good mood for a change.

[EMPHATIC SPRINT]

Skill type: Shifting

Description: Emphatic sprint allows the user to focus and move frantically, in order to run at a greater pace for a period of time. Host's legs become as light as a feather when the skill is active. The duration and the cooldown depend on the skill level.

Passive boosts: +2 AGI ,(Level 1)

Active boosts (sprinting) : +10%AGI, +5% SENS (level 1)

Duration: 30 seconds (level 1)

Cooldown: 20 minutes (level 1)

Mastery: Small (Level 10), Grand (Level 20), Epic (Level 30)

Max Level : N/A

Skill Evolution : ??

"This skill looks cool...The cooldown is a bit long, but I guess running is a basic skill, so it will evolve fast." I said after checking the skill.

Then I sped up the pace, using it for the first time ever. This skill was kind of cool for the small amount of time it lasted. It wasn't making a drastic difference as of now because of it was low leveled, but in the long run, it would become a broken skill... Just Imagining something like +50% AGI when I have a hundred base attribute is nothing short of an instant-kill hidden ability. This goes beyond the realm of the supernatural if I had to consider all of its potential as a matter of fact. I was becoming scared of what I would become in the future. If I was strong in my past life, then in this one I had jumped on the road to becoming a monster.

ZUUU!!! my speed had overcome the human limits for the first time. I could win a 100m sprint easily right now and maintain that speed for even longer stretches. If before I would just win thanks to my overall speed in a span of several seconds, then now, I would just vaporize the contest with a blinding performance unseen before in the realms of earthly humanity.

"Ok, I think I've played around enough for today. Let's speed up and rejoin the others. I'm a bit worried for some reason..." I stopped messing around and accelerated.

Not too far from here, a silhouette was outlined in the darkness. If I was closer I could have distinguished the person who was watching me with a watchful and inquiring look. It was one of the pirates who had landed on the island recently, Yasopp, the unruffled and occasionally lukewarm "pistolero" (gunner) from the Redhair pirates.

"Shanks told me to watch out for those kids before we leave, but I'm blown away..." Yasopp was reluctant to take this task seriously. He did not understand why Shanks held Luffy and me in such high esteem despite my previous performance in the village. In his opinion, I was just a gifted kid with a twisted personality, nothing too uncommon, he was the same as a kid. He was considered abnormal and got bored with the small fries from his hometown. Pirating life was the perfect fit for him since nothing on land offered him any challenge.

But...

He's been watching the fight I had with that hooligan and he was abashed. The level of aloofness shown by a six-year-old kid was monstrous. And now he's seen me running for 30 km back and forth at high speed without letting escape a drop of sweat.

"That kid's fighting style is just ridiculous. Beside those idiots from the CPS, I've never seen someone fight with such cruelty and precision at this young age. His twin was boasting about his power but man...Haha! This world is just too interesting. Raoh, huh? Let's see how you deal with the trouble you've stirred up your way." Yasopp smiled and continued to track me. With a supernatural leap, he jumped through five or six tree branches without them breaking or leaving a sound. He was a sniper after all, and loud snipers were useless...

*******************************************************

My long run had finally come to an end and I arrived at the tree cabin. When I got inside I noticed the worried look on the faces of Luffy, Sabo, and Yoh. As soon as they saw me enter, they had a sigh of relief and Luffy jumped on me.

"I was worried, Raoh. Where have you gone for so long?" he asked not particularly happy.

I explained the situation and the fight I had with Lewis. Sabo and Yoh understood instantly how troublesome the following days were going to be but Luffy was excited.

"Where are Ace and Hao by the way?" I noticed they were missing.

"Looking for you. The thing is..." Yoh explained that after I had vanished for a long time they went looking for me inside the forest. He wanted to organize another small party to go and look for them but I instantly rejected the proposition. After I asked the system to look for their aura signature, he said they were on their way back, not very far away.

And soon enough, they climbed the big tree and entered the cabin with ragged breaths. When they saw me they became relieved and another summary of the situation was once again spoken out to them.

The night had been eventful and not dwelling on an already settled situation, I offered everyone to go to sleep. Everyone besides Hao and me of course. I had questions to ask him.

"So what did you want to ask?" Hao was paying close attention; he knew I was tired so it had to be something really exceptional for me to draw him out of the cabin so late.

"Look at this..." I took out the devil fruit from my trousers and put it into his hand.

"This is..." He looked perplexed. He had never seen any of these before. Where he lived he didn't have time to read books. Also, he was a transcendent, so he wasn't attuned to this world like other people, to begin with.

"A devil fruit. Lewis's devil fruit." I grinned.

"Oh! So that's what it looks like. huh?" A realization hit him almost instantly. "How did you get it?"

"That's not important for now. Try and do something for me. I know you have your own secrets, but make that spirit of yours come out for a bit. I need to experiment with something..." I said with tact but resolutely.

"............"