The incident at Makino's tavern spread through Foosha Village far faster than I ever expected. By the end of the week, people weren't just talking about the mysterious carpenter living with Dadan's family anymore. They were talking about the carpenter who had thrown one of the local troublemakers across the street without breaking a sweat.
Oddly enough, instead of scaring customers away, it seemed to convince more people to trust me with their homes. If someone could build sturdy furniture and also stop drunken idiots from causing trouble, apparently that made for a very reliable craftsman.
The following month became the busiest period since my arrival in this world. Every sunrise began with my daily roulette before I headed down the mountain carrying my toolbox. Some days I repaired leaking roofs damaged by storms. Other days I replaced broken doors, rebuilt fences, reinforced fishing docks, or crafted tables sturdy enough that even Luffy couldn't accidentally snap them in half during dinner.
My reputation steadily grew alongside my savings, and for the first time since arriving, I actually had money that I had earned with my own hands.
Naturally, I never stopped training either. Every afternoon after finishing my commissions, Luffy would drag me into the forest for another hunting expedition. Between my own battles and the Exp. Share quietly feeding me experience from Luffy's endless adventures, my levels continued rising at a comfortable pace.
Bu one thing I did do was stop progressing Timburr which was now level 24. I knew that from my instincts and also my previous knowledge, I would evolve soon, to the next level, but I stopped putting experience points on Timburr and saved them.
Another thing I did realize was that all of my assumptions of Exp Share. I thought Luffy's Pikachu wouldn't progress at all and half of exp points were going to waste as there were no indications of exp points climbing up in my blue screen.
But suddenly one day I noticed that Pikachu had climbed up to level 25, all by itself. The only thing that made sense to me was that the half exp points went to Pikachu and the other half always remained with me, for my own use.
Besides, my body strength now did match the normal human version of level 25, so I wasn't complaining and at the end of the day Pikachu was mine to begin with. It was just that Luffy would throw a tantrum the moment I take that card away from him. And I had asked Luffy if he felt stronger than before and he refused. Only that Pikachu seem to have grown stronger inside his body, getting prideful that he had helped make Pikachu stronger, to which I could only roll my eyes.
So in basic sense Exp Share was basically a full exp points share for human body depending upon how I manage the points for my Pokémon. Only when the Pokémon were used by someone else did I lose the privilege allocation of Exp Share points.
I was fine with that.
Truth to be said, I could always evolve Timburr and make my body more powerful than a level 25 human being, but I felt I needed to save the exp points for better Pokémon as I realized that every level jump was getting tougher and tougher. So wait for a better rated Pokémon.
One afternoon, while delivering newly repaired shutters to an elderly couple, I noticed a short, broad-shouldered old man sitting alone near the village pier. His clothes were clean but worn, his beard completely gray, and his eyes... his eyes looked empty. He simply stared out toward the endless sea without blinking, as though waiting for something that would never return. Even when children ran past him laughing, he didn't react in the slightest.
"...Who's that?" I quietly asked one of the fishermen helping unload today's catch.
The cheerful expression on the fisherman's face immediately faded.
"Boro is the name he goes by here. He used to be the best shipwright around these parts."
"What happened?" I asked.
The fisherman sighed heavily before looking toward the sea himself.
"A storm, it took his wife... then his son a few years later. He hasn't built a proper ship since. He just sits there every day waiting... like he's expecting the ocean to give them back."
Something twisted uncomfortably inside my chest. I quietly thanked the fisherman before looking back toward the lonely old man. If I wanted to build a proper ship instead of merely copying Timburr's instincts onto floating wood, then this was exactly the teacher I needed.
The problem was convincing him.
"Excuse me," I greeted politely the following morning.
No response.
"I'd like to learn shipbuilding."
There was no response.
"I'll pay."
Still nothing.
For nearly an entire week, I returned every single day. Sometimes I brought tea. Sometimes fresh fish that Luffy insisted tasted amazing. Sometimes I simply sat beside him without saying a word. Luffy even joined me on several occasions, enthusiastically introducing himself every single time as though they had never met before.
"I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"
"You should teach Kekoa!"
"He's really good at building stuff!"
Boro didn't even blink. If Luffy couldn't melt the old man's heart, then I honestly wasn't sure anyone could.
Still, I refused to give up. Every day after finishing work, I returned to the pier. Sometimes we sat together in complete silence for hours. Other times I simply watched the fishing boats coming and going while pretending not to notice that the old man was quietly observing the way I examined their hulls, keels, and masts. Progress was invisible... but something told me he hadn't completely ignored me.
Then, nearly two weeks after our first meeting, the old man finally spoke.
"...You're stubborn."
I smiled.
"I've been told that before."
He remained silent for another full minute before letting out a long, tired sigh.
"I won't build another ship. But I suppose I can teach one fool how not to sink."
For a brief moment, I simply stared at him before grinning like an idiot.
"I'll take it."
The following morning became my first official lesson. Boro didn't begin with tools or timber. Instead, he spent almost an hour explaining why ships floated at all, how different hull shapes behaved in rough seas, and why careless builders killed more sailors than pirates ever could.
I read all those when I was young with science classes which I hated. Besides, I used to live in islands before, so I kind of knew how boats worked.
And in one of the days while I was learning from , early morning, I got another Pokémon card.
Pokémon Card
Name: Magikarp
Level: 15
Ability: Swift Swim
Moves: Splash, Tackle
"...You've got to be kidding me."
I couldn't believe my eyes. A level 15? That too a Magikarp? Should I be happy? Or sad? No I should be happy. Because after level 20, it was Gyarados. And I have saved quite a lot of experience points.
Exp Points : +800
I quietly excused myself from Boro, claiming that I had suddenly remembered something important back at the mountain. The old shipwright merely waved a hand without looking at me, far more interested in the fishing boats drifting across the bay.
The moment I was certain nobody was watching, I slipped into the forest until the sounds of the village completely disappeared.
Taking a deep breath, I summoned the Magikarp card and pressed it against my forearm. Golden light dissolved into my body, and the changes came almost immediately.
My skin felt strangely damp, my breathing instinctively slowed, and an overwhelming craving to dive into the nearest river surged through my mind. Every instinct screamed that I belonged underwater. Remaining on land suddenly felt unnatural, almost suffocating, despite my lungs working perfectly.
"...This is ridiculous."
I clenched my fists and forcibly suppressed the urge to sprint toward the nearby stream. If Magikarp's instincts alone were this overwhelming, I didn't even want to imagine what Gyarados would feel like. Shaking my head, I immediately opened the blue screen before those instincts could win.
Without another thought, I poured the stored experience directly into Magikarp.
Level 16...17...18...19...20.
The instant the number reached twenty, every notification vanished. Then my entire body froze.
A deep heat ignited somewhere inside my chest before rapidly spreading through every muscle, bone, and organ. It wasn't painful, yet it was overwhelmingly intense, as though something enormous had awakened inside me and suddenly realized the body containing it was far too small. My heartbeat thundered louder and louder until it sounded like crashing waves inside my ears.
Evolution.
I dropped to one knee as the transformation continued beneath my skin. Every muscle fiber thickened, becoming denser and infinitely more explosive. My spine seemed to stretch while my skeleton reinforced itself to support a creature dozens of times larger than any human. It felt as though a colossal sea serpent had curled itself inside my body, patiently waiting for permission to emerge. Alongside that overwhelming physical growth came something else.
Rage.
Countless violent impulses crashed against my mind like tidal waves, demanding destruction, dominance, and absolute fear. I gritted my teeth and forced myself to remain calm until those emotions gradually settled beneath my own will.
"...So this is Gyarados..."
I slowly stood, my entire body humming with restrained power before finally giving in to curiosity. Golden light erupted around me as I willingly released the transformation. My human body rapidly disappeared beneath an explosion of azure scales. My neck elongated endlessly, enormous jaws filled with dagger-like fangs snapped into existence, and my body continued growing... and growing... until towering trees barely reached halfway up my serpentine frame.