Entering the Underworld

"You basically want to tell me that Racoon and Squirrel are part of the Rebels?" asked Dave skeptical.

To him, this sounded like a story from a fantasy novel.

'But, who am I to talk about fantasy.'

Dave raised his hand a small bubble circling around his fingers.

"Yes, that is exactly what they are!", responded Ayano approvingly not knowing what was on Dave's mind.

"Hmm... I just noticed you never told me why they were even trying to kidnap you!"

Dave glanced from the side of his eyes at Ayano. Her lips twitched kind of suspiciously.

"Yeah, I wonder why they would want to kidnap me. Is my beautiful appearance not enough of a reason? Oh look we are already there."

Ayano pointed with her finger at a building in front of them.

"Sigh!"

'Don't think, I didn't notice that you avoided an answer to my question. Whatever I will ask her at another time again.', thought Dave.

He looked around. His facial expression hardened when he saw the place, where Mike was killed.

"Let us go in then... I don't want to stay here longer than I need to."

Seeing this place again and all the people, who were living their lives as if nothing had ever happened here, made Dave extremely sad.

'It is as if nothing changed at all. As if Mike's death had no impact on this place.'

Ayano took the lead and headed for the jewelry store next to Kowalski's Burger Palace. Dave followed close behind her. Upon entering the store they were welcomed by a friendly female voice.

"Hello customers, how can I help you?"

Dave looked her up and down. She wore a pretty blue dress a smile playing around her beautiful red lips.

"I am here to look out for something special. Something with the ability to heal my heart.", said Ayano to Dave's surprise.

He threw a questioning look at her. In response to that look, Ayano kicked his leg hidden by the counter between them.

"Oh, only a special person has the ability to wear something like that. Are you sure you can handle it?", responded the saleswoman.

"Hahaha. Good to see you again. It is already 2 months since we saw each other the last time.", said Ayano laughing happily.

Now Dave didn't understand anything at all anymore. He looked from one to the other.

"Wait, you know each other, do you?" asked Dave still perplexed."Yeah!", said the woman behind the counter. "This was just our code. I guess you are new. At least if I look at your power level. So you might not know this but there are people, who can change their appearance. These people can be a real hassle... So we created this code as a safety measure for us."

The words of this unknown woman confused Dave.

'Too much information!'

Dave felt as if his head was going to explode.

'So she has a way to check my power level. That must mean she is stronger than me or has a special ability that allows her to do that. The information about people, who can change their appearance, is something I have to make a mental note of,' thought Dave.

"Anna, you know what we want." chimed Ayano in.

"Sigh."

The woman called Anna shook helplessly her head making her brown ponytail swing from one side to the other.

"You know we were really worried about you because of what happened last time. Then you were away for 2 months and now you don't even have time to talk.", said Anna helplessly.

"I am really sorry but we are short on time. Next time I come and we can drink some seaweed coffee together, okay?"

Ayano felt really sorry for her friend.

"Ayano do you think I am nuts? I know you leave for the mainland in a week. You will be away for at least 3 months then. You think I would believe that you show up here before you board that ship," answered Anna angrily.

"Ehhh...," Ayano was left speechless since her friend was quiet on point with her statement.

Dave, who didn't want them to argue with each other, tried to appease both of them.

"Then why don't you just join us then? You could talk and I could do my thing."

Anna's eyes were shining.

"Ayano, I like that boy. Much better than that Jotaro, who only knows his job and never has time for some fun. Maybe..." Anna broke off midsentence because of an angry stare from her friend.

"It might be better we go before someone gets the chance to say another stupid thing. Hehehe.", said Dave with a helpless laugh.

After their short squabble, the three of them left the store through a door behind the counter. A staircase was there, spiraling down it brought them deeper and deeper underground. Dave knocked against a wall and a metallic 'clonk' was heard.

Anna shot a glance in his direction and explained, "If you are wondering why everything down here is made from metal... Well, you shouldn't forget this island is basically just a ship. Even though from the top it doesn't look like it!"

They kept walking farther down and only after 10 minutes of walking were they finally reaching the end of the staircase. They stepped through a door and were greeted by busy noises. Dave looked around, flabbergasted by what he witnessed. A place like this didn't exist in the streets of the island. It was a market, where humans were busily trading with each other.

"Welcome to the black market!" Ayano stood in front of Dave and made an inviting gesture with her hands.

"I guess you should now check if there are any quests, Dave," said Anna, who was informed about Dave's ability, while they were walking the stairs down.

Dave looked at the map and searched for quests of grade S and higher. To his surprise, there were many S grade quests and even a few SS.

"I found some. But what is this? There is a skull on the map?"

Dave clicked on the skull and a quest window opened up.

[Bounty Hunt] [SSS]

[Hunt the ability user called Rock.

He abuses women of all ages using his power.

Quest clear condition:

Beat Rock up and make him know that the area of the black market and its people are now under your protection.

Success:

15000 Heroism

Failure:

Charisma: SS

You lost your reputation in the underworld.

You better leave this place otherwise people will hunt you down.]

Dave accepted the quest and moved in the direction the map told him too.

He explained to the other two, "I have to beat up someone called Rock. It seems he is abusing the woman down here. Does one of you two know him and can tell me how strong he is?"

"You should be able to handle him... I think he is upper-level rank 1. Since you should be fine on your own," Ayano hooked up with Anna. "We... are going shopping," she said mischievously.

Then she left with Anna and walked over to a vendor selling clothes.

"Sighhhh."

'I guess I can't count on them.'

Now alone Dave continued his search for Rock.

"Hahahahahahaha."

He heard the sound of some offensive laughter from a building to his right. He double-checked the map and was kind of certain that this laughter came from the guy he had to find.

'[Apprentice Hero's Skin]'

Dave activated the skin to cover his appearance. Now was the time to try if his idea to easily farm Heroism would work. Dave kicked the door of the building open and stepped in. The room he entered was a medium-sized pub.

"Who of you is Rock?"

3 women were dancing on a table. Other then these 3 there were around 25 males in the tavern drinking and playing poker and pool with each other.

"Who wants to know that?"

A man with a leather jacket stood up from his chair a cigarette in one side of his mouth. A cowboy hat covering his black hair he stepped in front of Dave. The smoke of the cigarette was burning in Dave's nose.

"Well, my name... ehhh, my name is Bubble Hero. You should remember that!", said Dave trying to appear kind of cool.

He didn't think of a name before and was kind of taken by surprise when he was suddenly asked for it.

"Hahahahaha!"

Everyone in the pub was laughing.

"Nice name, you come in here like a big shot and then you call yourself Bubble Hero. Are you asking for a beating?", said a bald-headed man with a bear-like stature.

He nearly fell over because he was laughing that hard.

"I am here to punish Rock! Apparently, he is abusing women."

Dave didn't respond to the laughing crowd and tried to maintain the rest of his dignity.

"Oh, so you want an official match against me? You don't come from here, do you? All fights are held here in the arena. If you violate that then the whole underworld will hunt you down!"

Dave was kind of taken aback. He didn't expect that to happen.

Surprised by the situation he said, "That is right... We will find out, who is the stronger one of both of us. Let us make a bet to make it more entertaining."

Dave grinned with an evil glint in his eyes.

"The loser has to do what the winner asks him to!"

"Deal!", answered Rock.

"Boy, you don't know what you brought just now upon yourself!"

Seeing the happy face of Rock, Dave wasn't sure anymore if the bet was such a good idea. What if he lost. He made this bet because he wanted to order Rock to stop abusing women...

'I hope Ayano and Anna are right and he is really weaker than me.'

As if hearing Dave's thoughts the bald-headed man from before said grinning silly, "Boy, Rock ranked up 1 week ago. If I see it right you are still Rank 1. Wish you good luck!"