Beneath the ground, Roja and Tashigi collected the bodies of the fallen Marine soldiers, feeling sorry that they weren't fast enough to arrive there.
Roja looked at Tashigi, who was picking up the soldiers. Meanwhile, his thoughts were on completely different matters.
'Sakura's predicament was completely right. If I had assisted Smokers and others, Jason alone would have escaped,' as this thought continued, the body of somebody else, presumably a member of Rock-Hard Fist Gang, was seen.
From its wounds of a crowbar dug deep into its head, Roja speculated that it was Jason's doing.
"This gives me the creeps, he was dead... how could he shoot us? Roja-san, let's go back to the surface."
Roja didn't answer right away.
"Tashigi-chan," he said after a pause. "Doesn't Jason remind you of that killer from Friday the 13th? The one Boss showed us in that 'movie'—the one extracted from his memory? And his ability was greatly reminiscent of the clown from IT. "
She stiffened.
"And his ability… doesn't it feel like that clown from IT? The more you fear him, the stronger he gets…"
"P-please stop talking nonsense, Roja-san," Tashigi stammered. "There's no way a creature born from imagination could be real. Sakura-san said himself it's just fiction..."
…
"Damn it! Why can't we hit him?" Gang members grunted as they fired their rifle, in vain as a hole resembling mist formed over Smoker's body, gradually filling back.
Back to the surface—Smokers were going berserk, catching criminals.
Surrounded by the gang members, he merely clapped his hands together as mists spread, exploding from the force of his claps.
""Uaaaah!"" The gang members shouted as they were sent flying by the mere shockwave, making a dent in their bodies as the smoke passed by.
Some were sent flying far enough that their body entered the blazing fortress of Sakura's flame, and panicked as burnt spreads their body.
When 90% of the gang force were out of strength, Tashigi and Roja exited from inside the burnt-down cabin, with the head of Jason, and the body of the person who attempted to escape underground with him.
"No… how could Jason have been defeated by an unknown person?"
"It's hopeless… Hardon is dead…"
The morale of the Rock-Hard Fist gang was at its lowest, seeing the strongest person of their group and their leader being defeated.
At the end of the day, the gang member willingly surrendered to be captured by Marine,s never to see the light of day.
"You finally done?" Out of nowhere, Sakura stepped inside the circle of blazing fortress and snapped his finger.
Then, the flames gathered into his hand before dissipating.
"I thank you for your assistance, Shop Owner. If it wasn't for you, I predict many have escaped," Smoker thanked him utmost.
"It's nothing too much of a trouble. I was getting bored with this world without internet to doom scroll," Sakura brushed it off by shaking his head.
The aftermath was handled by the Marines that day.
Later—when they were alone, Roja thanked Sakura for helping him achieve his revenge, to which in reply Sakura merely waved his hand, bidding farewell.
Roja would later receive a bounty for handing off Jason's head, and he could use that 19,000,000 to his shop.
That's why, Sakura thought there wasn't a need for gratitude…
"Eh, that's it?"
"What's wrong, Aqua?" On their way home, Aqua suddenly spoke.
"I had no screen time! I was really just standing by your side, watching Master sleep!!"
"I mean… what could you have done there…"
Aqua puffed her cheeks.
Apparently, in her mind, she thought she was going to do something amazing and surprise her master. But the incident was over the moment she knew it…
"Master! I want a gun! Please buy me one! I promise to be useful to you!" Aqua brought her arms in front of her chest, her eyes sparkling.
"Even if you say so…"
Sakura looked at the [Daily Shop]
[Idol's Used Tissue]
It is a tissue used by Kujikawa Rise. What it's used for is unknown, by it looks dirty and smells weird…
Costs: 500 Berries.
[A Certain Cubic Dirt Block x64]
It has the ability to ignore gravity—how magical!!
Costs: 7,000 Berries / 7 CP(s).
[Tango]
It has the ability to boost one's regenerative ability for a period of time by consuming a tree. It is unknown how this works.
Costs: 5,000 Berries / 5 CP(s)
There wasn't a gun for sale, and the items in the daily shop were as useless as always.
"Uh…, you want a dirt block?" Sakura asked awkwardly.
Aqua sighed disappointedly.
In the end, she humored herself by placing a dirt block mid-road.
…
A while later, when the sun had long since climbed up, the two back to the store—Ralts was waiting with her cheeks puffed.
That wasn't to be blamed, as she woke up and noticed she was all alone.
"Ralts!" Ralts cried like an angry wife.
Sakura had to calm her anger down for the next thirty minutes, with the help of the souvenir he bought outside.
Later, after dealing with the troublesome family, Sakura finally checked the system notification he received much earlier.
[You have completed Hidden Quest: Clean Out Loguetown]
[You have received a passive skill: Trend Maker]
[Trend Maker] - Active Skill
Allows the user to perceive the latent "trend value" of any concept, invention, or phenomenon. The brighter the resonance, the stronger its chance of shaping the world
Additionally, the skills passively boost two of the aspects of your choices.
List of the available traits:
perfect pitch, boosted memory, accelerated reaction time, enhanced gaming skills, heightened charisma, rhythm sense, etc...
'Traits? We're playing Fallout now? Whatever is fine, just random it, as long as the trait isn't boosted memory, I'd accept it.'
[Randoming... Ding! Perfect Pitch and Aura have been chosen.]
Perfect Pitch: A rare auditory gift once possessed by divine performers and soundsmiths of legend. Your voice, your hearing, and your rhythm—all align with perfection.
Aura: An unseen layer of a person that sets people apart. You have it easier to stand out, and people around you instinctively feel you as you are.
'Okay,' Sakura wasn't that much interested in Trend Maker. Just as he was about to close it, something entered at the corner of his eyes. 'Absolute Calmness' 'Indestructible Mental Fortitude'
'Wai-...'
[Trend Maker] - Active Skill
Allows the user to perceive the latent "trend value" of any concept, invention, or phenomenon. The brighter the resonance, the stronger its chance of shaping the world
Perfect Pitch:
A rare auditory gift once possessed by divine performers and soundsmiths of legend. Your voice, your hearing, and your rhythm—all align with perfection.
Aura:
An unseen layer of a person that sets people apart. You have it easier to stand out, and people around you instinctively feel you as you are.
'Oh well, that's a pity,' Sakura shrugged, and didn't drag his mistake as he closed the screen panel.
'Still... another skill that isn't combat-related... when will the system give me a skill that allows me to instantly kill any opponent?' Sakura thought half-joked.
[Lmao in your drea-... That won't happen, sir, as it doesn't exist within the Dreamstar Entertainment System. ]
And the system corrected him.
"The fuck did this system just say?"
"Ralts!" Ralts cried loudly as if to shout. "Language!"
'Is it just me, or is she angrier than usual? Is it because I hadn't been able to attend her more often lately?' Sakura worried.
"Ralts… do you want to eat some pancakes?" Worried that Rals may end up hating him, Sakura completely forgot about the system and attempted to bribe her with food.
Pancake was one of the little foods his family praised him for his cooking. Now that his cooking prowess was boosted by Ambrosynthia, it was bound to be delicious.
"Ralts?" Ralts, who was about to head inside PlayGround to give [Beat Your Boss] a try, had tilted her head. 'What is a hot cake?'
"It should be delicious, I'll make yours too, Aqua, just wait a bit," Sakura called out to the girl who was playing Palworld with keyboard and mouse.
At his calls, she looked at him with glittering eyes, unbothered that her characters were dying, being attacked by a monster.
"Oh, shut up, even in my current state—I still lost quite a weight, y'know?" Sakura jested at the camera, along with the comments that popped up on the screen.
"Master's cooking? I'm excited! I've never tried it before!" Aqua casually enjoyed the banter between her master and her chat as she controlled the camera to focus on Sakura, presumably the cooking show that he was about to unfold.
Sakura laughed bitterly. "Well, you couldn't eat food until now, plus I was too lazy to cook."
That was for certain. Aqua, up till now, was more leaned toward being a cyborg, but ever since he gave her an emotion, a change started to form inside her body.
Anyway, he couldn't stop it, nor is he trying to prevent it. He just hoped that the changes in her body were beneficial ones.
Sakura yawned and strolled around Loguetown with Aqua and Ralts to search for the ingredients.
Thankfully, Loguetown was a huge town with frequent merchant ships passage, meaning he didn't have a hard time searching for ingredients.
"Hmm… the quality could've been better, but I can do with this," Sakura thought, licking his whitened finger from taste-testing the baking powder.
Usually, he wouldn't know the difference; however, because of God's Tongue, he became more sensitive to a flavor.
Thankfully, he didn't experience the same demise Nakiri Family did, and this sensitivity to flavor didn't prevent him from enjoying the taste.
"Pancake is one of the simplest foods to make. Aqua, do you want to learn it?" Sakura suggested her—mixing the ingredients in a bowl.
"Of course, Master! I'm going to be a maid master can be proud of," Aqua replied.
At this moment, Sakura spotted Ralts, who was approaching from the corner of his eyes. "You want to try it too, Ralts?"
"Ralts!"
"Alright—even so, it's really just a simple work, yes, exactly like that, you mix it."
Sakura monitored the two while moving his own hands.
Aqua was rapidly rotating, having the pancake flour splatter all around.
Sakura lightly chopped her head, causing her to extend out her tongue playfully.
In contrast, Ralts was calmly spinning the stencil, receiving a pat from Sakura. Despite being bad mood once, she couldn't help but lift the corner of her mouth at his touch.
"Hm, that's right. A little bit of stickiness is better than pouring out a lot of milk—this way, the pancake will turn fluffy and delicious. Great work, you too," Sakura gave the two a thumbs up whilst cleaning the pancake batter mess made by Aqua.
"I'm sorry, Master…" Knowing that she had played too much, Aqua couldn't help but feel guilty seeing Sakura clean off her mess.
He merely smiled at her, then patted her head.
After continuing their peaceful banter, Sakura heated the frying pan with his flame ability.
Perhaps it is because of Flame-Flame Fruit, his sensitivity against heat had more than doubled, and with enough heat accumulated in the frypan, he signaled the two.
The first one to cook the pancake was Aqua. With an expectancy-filled face, she waited until the pancake was full of holes before flipping it.
Then, she was devastated to see the surface charred-black.
With a face that was about to cry, she taste-tested it only to be disappointed at the taste of charcoal. "I've overcooked it. I'm such a failure! Waaah! No Master, don't eat it, it's disgustin-."
But she was a step too late as Sakura had already put the fork in his mouth.
*crack* *crack*
A sound, something solid, echoed out inside Sakura's mouth, but he continued eating. After biting it a few times, he finally swallowed it, smiling gracefully.
"It's really good. Much, much better than when I first cooked pancakes! Did you know that when I first cooked a Pancake, I tried showing off by flipping it off by swinging the frying pan, and the result, as you expected, was a mess. The pancake flew off and landed on my mom's face hahaha."
In the end, Sakura finished the charred-black pancake by himself while telling his fun episode.
"How is Ralts' pancake?… hm. Well done. It's really well-cooked and you've learnt from Aqua's mistake, and you had the psychic advantage to control the pancake," Sakura sincerely praised the child.
As if to say, "it's obvious!" Ralts had placed her arms between her waists, head faced upward. She even stole a glance toward Aqua, her little sister.
"Ralts-chan is really amazing!" Aqua merely patted her big sister, causing her to feel childish for trying to compete over something so small.
Since winning against Aqua didn't give Ralts the satisfaction she wanted, Ralts's mood worsened, looking at Sakura's pancake with expectation.
She resolved to complain if it wasn't as tasty as she thought!
But Sakura didn't betray her expectations.
His pancakes consisted of perfectly browned, not too burnt nor too uncooked. In fact, he even surpassed their expectations by drawing their faces on the pancake.
Ralts' adorable face could be seen on the pancake on her plate, while Aqua's was a chibi-drawn face. Both were too adorable; they couldn't help but blush in joy.
Then a pair of butter blocks was placed on the top of their pancake's head, slowly melting and emitting a shimmering light.
*bang*
At this moment, his door was opened violently, and men entered rashly. Among them were Tashigi, Roja, and Smoker.
"Shop Owner, are you alright? I just saw a light shine through your windo-…" Smoker said, worried, but he couldn't finish his sentence.
Unconsciously, he was drooling, and trying to wipe it was a futile attempt as more came out.
Intense sweet smell attacked them, inviting hunger from the depths of their stomach. When Sakura put a honey syrup on the top pancakes, completing the dish, they couldn't almost resist.
Even Roja was constantly releasing Conqueror's Haki to stop himself from pouncing on the two and snatching the pancakes.
"Ra-Ralts!" Ralts stuttered as it forgot to use its psychokinesis to pick up the fork and knife and merely picked them with its hand.
"Ma-Master… I can't hold in anymore! I'm…" Aqua's legs were shivering—her thighs closed tightly. She was unable to channel strength into it.
With trembling hands, the two took a bite of pancake as golden light—carrying aroma, and umami, hitting the marines and their over-stimulated sense of smell with a slap.
Akin to a Conqueror's Haki, some with weak will had lost their unconscious at the shockwave released by a bite of food.
Meanwhile, Aqua and Ralts were experiencing a sense of ecstasy—they were unable to feel anything but taste and were even seeing illusions.
Inside the illusions, countless Sakura(s) surrounded them, and shoved their body into a pillow of clouds, slowly overwhelming them with comfort.
Thankfully, this phenomenon wasn't permanent as the two were sent back to reality—their skins were glowing healthily.
"This is so gooooooooood!!!
"Ralts!!!!"
They shouted in unison.