Chapter 6: Chapter Six: This Is the Real World

When he previously obtained the [Rusty Flintlock], Su Xiao received numerous prompts,

but this dagger gave him no prompts at all—no specific data, nor any indication of whether it could be sold.

This led Su Xiao to suspect that his acquisition of the [Rusty Flintlock] involved both luck and possible deliberate arrangement by the “Cycle Paradise.”

Meaning he could obtain weapons, but at the cost of bearing certain risks—this must be the “Cycle Paradise”’s rule.

The dagger in his hand clearly fell outside this category: it was sharp, usable, but could not be taken out of the Pirate World, nor exchanged for Paradise Coins.

This was only natural—if anything could be sold for Paradise Coins, the “Cycle Paradise”’s currency system would be nothing but a joke.

Driving the unruly horse, Su Xiao gradually neared the city gate; the guards were now within his line of sight.

Having suddenly changed masters, the old horse was clearly uncooperative, leaving Su Xiao in a bind—he had never ridden a horse before, but the guards were right there, leaving no room for retreat.

He tugged the reins, and the horse snorted, halting in place.

Su Xiao stopped voluntarily to be inspected; based on his guess, exit checks were lax, but entry would never be so simple.

Several guards approached, appearing lazy, yet their eyes were as sharp as hawks’.

“What’s this? Back so early today?”

The guards’ familiar tone made Su Xiao’s hairs stand on end.

These guards likely knew the black market merchant’s identity—perhaps even had a vested interest in him; things were getting complicated.

“My lord, I just left the city today—Toby’s crew robbed me, uh~.”

Su Xiao’s voice was muffled, mixed with repeated retching—he spoke differently from the driver, so he deliberately mimicked this.

Combined with the stench of sewage on his clothes, the guards didn’t suspect him; instead, they moved a distance away.

“What? Toby? Are they looking for death? They dared rob you? Don’t they know who you are?”

The guard before Su Xiao seemed furious, but another guard beside him said:

“Boss, Toby’s power has expanded rapidly lately. From my informants, Toby just wiped out Rogil’s crew—now, outside the Bursam Pirates, no faction in Scrap End Station surpasses Toby.”

“Just let it go? What about the money?”

The guards exchanged glances; though all felt resentment, they had no way to deal with Toby, who hid within Scrap End Station.

“You… forget it. Next time if something like this happens, don’t come back—just ‘live’ in Scrap End Station.”

Su Xiao feigned submissive nodding, but his eyes remained coldly calm.

The more critical the moment, the calmer one must be—many failures occur from overconfidence just before success.

Su Xiao urged the horse forward; the old brown mare trudged reluctantly ahead.

Just before Su Xiao left, one guard leaned down to check beneath the cart—common tactic to prevent stowaways from sneaking into the city.

Su Xiao had never considered hiding under the cart; instead, he killed the driver and replaced him—risky, but exploited the guards’ blind spot.

The garbage cart slowly passed through the gate, moving steadily forward—three meters, five meters, ten meters,

“Carlos, wait.”

A guard’s shout came from behind; Su Xiao’s pupils contracted sharply, then immediately returned to normal.

I've taken care of your nephew's matter—bring enough "goodwill," and you can report to the guard unit today.

The guard raised one hand, rubbing his thumb and middle finger together—the so-called "goodwill" meant money.

Su Xiao nodded quickly, pretending to thank him, but burst into another fit of retching.

“Go on, you stink so bad I can smell you from here.”

Su Xiao wouldn’t miss this chance—he grabbed the whip beside him and lashed the old horse’s rear.

“Crack~.”

The sharp crack echoed; the old horse neighed in pain and quickened its pace.

Infiltration succeeded—Su Xiao had safely blended into the capital of the Goa Kingdom.

Though he had safer methods to infiltrate the capital, they required time—he didn’t have much left.

Moreover, from the guards’ fragmented words, he gathered several useful pieces of intelligence.

First, the current timeline is before the original protagonist Monkey D. Luffy sets sail—meaning Luffy is still a child, or perhaps not yet born.

This conclusion was based on the guard’s mention of the Bursam Pirates.

If Su Xiao remembered correctly, the Bursam Pirates were the ones who fought young Luffy and Ace in the fire in the original story.

In the original, the Bursam Pirates were manipulated by the Goa Kingdom’s king, who personally set fire to Scrap End Station, then abandoned them to burn alive.

Second, a very unexpected gain—perhaps this was the key to Su Xiao’s mission success.

One phrase from the guard earlier filled Su Xiao with joy: "I've taken care of your nephew's matter—bring enough 'goodwill,' and you can report to the guard unit today."

It seemed the dead black market merchant had made a deal with the guard—buying a position in the guard unit with money.

If Su Xiao impersonated the man’s nephew and joined the guard unit, he would be one step closer to his assassination target.

Though risky, it was currently the best option—the “Cycle Paradise” gave him no identity; he was merely an undocumented outsider.

Su Xiao drove the cart along the streets of the Goa Kingdom’s capital; since they had just entered the outer district, this was merely a civilian residential zone.

The civilian streets were relatively clean, lined with vendors hawking their wares.

Crowds of civilians strolled leisurely through the streets, making the city bustling—but some bore weary, anxious expressions.

The only difference between these civilians and the refugees outside the walls was that they wouldn’t starve—but they barely scraped by.

The Pirate World was in an age of chaos, filled with war and roaming pirates, so civilians lived in relative poverty.

As he passed through the noisy streets, Su Xiao felt as if he had stepped into another world—this wasn’t a mission world, but a real one, filled with living, breathing humans, not mere NPCs.

From the guards’ vigilance alone, Su Xiao realized they were far from careless—if he hadn’t prepared thoroughly and reacted swiftly, he would have been exposed.

Never underestimate anyone in a mission world, Su Xiao warned himself silently.

But now his priority was to find a place to clean himself—and he must open the [Chest (White)] he had obtained, using every resource he could.

At only Lv.1, Su Xiao was struggling desperately in this Lv.6, Nightmare-difficulty world.