One Piece: Who still has dreams?

"Gu..."

The bounty hunters' henchmen turned pale with fright. Giants… this was the first time in their lives they had ever seen living giants. This strength was simply unbelievable; it was unimaginable that someone could grab such an enormous anchor with their bare hands and throw it so far…

The boss has gone completely mad!

"Mr. Monday, wake up!"

The short, chubby Mr. 8 sniffed and said to Miss. Monday, whose muscles were equally stiff, "Don't embarrass us Baroques!"

Why can't you be more energetic?

The bounty hunters stared at Mr. 8 in disbelief. Just then, several figures jumped off the deck of the massive pirate ship in front of them.

"Why are you staring at us like that?"

The orange-haired girl, referred to as "the Avenger" in the newspaper, passed by and glanced at them.

Thankfully, it's only a 2000 million bounty...

"Did I scare you?" the blonde female giant said apologetically. "Don't be afraid, we giants of Elbaf are not barbarians..."

Do you know that you have a bounty of 6200 million Berries on your head, which is tens of meters tall? If that's not scary, what is?!

Redio glanced at them a couple more times.

Okay! This is truly terrifying!!

"Do you have something to say?" Redio asked with a smile, arms crossed.

Zoro laughed and said, "If you could recommend some good wine in town, that would be even better."

"and many more!"

Miss Monday called out to Redio and his group, who were about to continue towards the island's town, took a deep breath, clenched her fist, and shouted at Redio, "I challenge you! I'll test your strength!"

"That sounds familiar..." Ace almost burst out laughing. "Do you guys know a transvestite in a swan costume?"

He never expected Redio to accept the challenge, but Redio actually walked towards the dark-skinned, muscular woman. Redio chuckled, "It's the Baroque rule that if a mission fails, the unlucky duo or high-ranking agents will take care of you, right?"

Since his task system is divided into three ways to trigger tasks, there are naturally some differences in details.

To trigger a task, there is an implicit distinction based on the client's "level of willingness".

A verbal mandate requires the person making the mandate to have a "strong desire" to accomplish the task.

For hiring commissions, since money or something has been paid to Redio, a "moderate willingness" is acceptable.

As for radar search, needless to say, the system will take action, regardless of whether you have any intention or not, even the "weak" intention may be detected by radar.

Moreover, the client has no right to abandon a task that has been detected by radar.

As long as Redio accepts the radar mission, whether the client is alive or dead will not affect Redio's ability to complete the mission and receive the reward.

However, for hired tasks, the client can interrupt the task and abandon the commission by taking the equivalent amount of money or items from Redio.

Verbal tasks can also be abandoned simply by the client stating their intention to give up.

This Baroque member, a pink-haired, dark-skinned, muscular woman, knew she was no match for him, yet she still initiated the mission through a verbal request, showing that she was truly "determined"—if she didn't complete it, she would be expelled from the gang. How could she not be?

While Redio was thinking this, Miss Monday had already been knocked to the ground by a casual punch from Redio, and immediately passed out. The difference in skill was simply too great.

[Task Completed]

[Quest Rewards: 233 Essence; 1 System Backpack Slot]

We found money on the street, guys!

Redio looked with great interest at the short, chubby, and trembling Mr. 8.

After a fierce internal struggle, Mr. 8 mustered his courage, approached Redio, and said in a trembling voice, "I...I...I also want to challenge you...you...you...you...you...you..."

Mr. 8 sends you...

The moment Reddio saw the system notification, Mr. 8 was already lying on the ground with a bruised and swollen face.

[Task Completed]

[Task Reward: 88 Essence]

It's better than nothing, I suppose.

Redio looked at the remaining bounty hunters... Their expressions changed, and they, covered in sweat and full of enthusiasm, said to the Cursed Creed members, "Welcome to the 'Welcome City,' Whiskey Peak!"

……

Outside the tavern, a lively open-air banquet was taking place on the town streets of Whiskey Peak.

Zoro was laughing and drinking with the residents who looked like ordinary folks but were actually all bounty hunters, while Ace found Redio sitting alone on the roof and looked up at him in confusion, asking, "What's going on here?"

Redio jumped down and laughed, "It's nothing, they're just 'gifts' sent over by someone."

"Is he someone you know?" Nami walked over, carrying a wine glass, and looked at Redio suspiciously. This guy had a strange quirk of wanting people to ask him for favors; only those who had spent a lot of time with him would know about it.

Redio laughed and said, "I guess the first island on each of the initial seven routes will be similar to this place, with someone waiting for us."

-----------------

"As far as I know, that's true..."

In the middle of the night, the muscular Barbie Miss. Monday and the short and chubby Mr. 8, this Baroque duo, woke up and frankly told each other, "After all, there are exactly 7 pairs of pioneer agents. As for the 5 pairs of senior agents numbered 1 to 5, I'm afraid they'll be waiting for you in the waters further back."

Zoro sat in a tavern chair, legs crossed, and said, "Is it really okay for you to leak information about your organization like this?"

Miss Monday said, "Our boss's mission was to 'test the strength of the Cursed Pirates' and confirm their route. Our mission is complete, and..."

She paused, then said, "I suspect the boss's ultimate goal is to recruit you, or all of you." She looked at Redio, Zoro, and the others, "Well, telling you some things about our company shouldn't be a problem."

boss?

"Is she the assistant boss?" Reddio thought to himself. "Who's recruiting whom, Miss Robin?"

"Are those two animals also members of your group?" Ace pointed to the vulture and sea otter outside the tavern window. The latter was spotted and immediately rode away on the vulture, disappearing into the night.

"They're the unlucky duo..." Miss Monday warned. "They've probably passed the intelligence to those high-ranking agents. The next test for you will likely be Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine!"

Mr. 8 spoke up at the opportune moment: "Once the magnetism on this island is full, the next island the pointer will land on is 'Little Garden,' but almost no one actually goes to that horrible island. We have 'permanent pointers' here that can take you to other islands, if you need them..."

Redio said, "After farming Mr. 5, you want to farm Mr. 4? Don't be ridiculous. Hey, Otter, tell your 'boss' to stop messing around and just come at us all at once." He looked out the window and saw that the ominous duo of Otter and Vulture, who had just left, had quietly returned. They were shocked when they were caught.

"Right in the 'small garden'."

Redio said with a stern face, "If she doesn't come, I'll just go to her door and confront her."

she?

The boss was actually a woman?

He knows the boss?!

Miss Monday and Mr. 8 held their breath, as if they had discovered a big secret.

Chapter 106 13x and 40x

[The second day]

"How about it?"

The most distinctive feature of Whisky Peak Island is its giant "cactus," except that the "thorns" on it are actually densely packed cross-shaped tombstones.

Nami stood atop the "Cactus" mountain, gazing at the distant sunrise. Redio, having hopped up the mountain stepping on the cross-shaped tombstones, asked her a question.

Nami held several permanent pointers given to her by Miss Monday and shook her head, saying, "I can only see the 'magnetic field' connecting this island. The next stop is in that direction..." She pointed to the distant horizon where the sea and sky met.

The record pointer given by Crocus was already filled with the magnetism of Whiskey Mountain, and the next island it pointed to was exactly in the same direction as she pointed.

"This feels really strange..." Nami's eyes sparkled with laughter, her orange hair fluttering in the wind. "Oh, someone's here to see you again." She looked towards the shore, where another small boat belonging to Baroque Works was docked.

Late last night, several other Baroque Pirates special agents who had been lying in wait on other routes arrived overnight, just to complete the mission assigned by their boss: "to test the strength of the Cursed Pirates."

Testing? Do we even deserve to be tested?

They all felt this way, but there was nothing they could do but bite the bullet and give it a try.

Fortunately, although the cursed one beat them up as expected, he didn't kill them.

Redio acquired a total of over 800 essences, as well as a fine sword called "Huazhou".

The one we're rushing over to deliver now is the last set...

[Task Completed]

[Quest Rewards: 123 Essence; 77 Essence]

No items were dropped again!

Reddio was a little disappointed. Was it because these people were too bad and the tasks they were given were too easy, or was he just having bad luck lately?

[Remaining Essence: 565880]

I've accumulated so much essence, but I haven't had a chance to spend it.

He tested the Black Flash in the three-in-one set, and it cost a whopping 66 essences. He had accumulated a lot of essences himself; he could easily afford to use them for everyday things, even for repairing the Greatsword Demon Slayer and the Imperial Chef, or even breaking and duplicating them. But compared to the total value of the Black Flash, it seemed insignificant…

As noon approached, the Black Flash departed the harbor of Whiskey Peak and headed towards the next island, guided by the magnetic field.

Nami jumped to the highest observation deck on the ship and quickly installed a spherical panoramic camera following Bulma's instructions in the capsule bracelet. She then placed a recording pointer inside the observation deck and fixed it in the camera's lens.