A bet

Standing on the ship deck, Caroline gazed at the horizon. It was a great sunny day with only a few clouds in the sky, and the sea breeze was blowing against her body, her waterfall-like black hair dancing in the wind. The sea, with all its waves and ripples, seemed endless, and it seemed to connect with the sky in the far distance.‏

Turning to the side she could see Eragon was hard at training, he was bare-chested and his sweat was glittering under the sun, holding a sword in each hand he was fighting against someone in blonde hair and green eyes. However, she knows it is only a clone he made using chakra to fight in what seemed a deathmatch.

She felt really bitter about her inability to learn chakra, watching Eragon display a variety of abilities that she could only dream of, made her feel helpless. She especially envied his ability to make clones of himself, and according to what she understands, whatever each clone learns the original also learns, allowing Eragon's training speed to rise exponentially. However, no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't sense any chakra as Eragon told her to.

Turning her attention to the side, she observed around the ship to see a couple of men who were making sure the ship was staying in the right direction before she returned her attention to Eragon. She know that they were also clones who changed their appearances so that Eragon's abilities won't get discovered. According to his words, "you always have to keep some of your strength hidden so that when the time comes you can surprise your enemy and achieve victory"

For the same reason he told her that if anyone ever asks, she has to say he ate a devil fruit. As it could save him one day if someone will try to drown him or imprison him using sea-stone. Although she didn't know much about the outside world since she has never left the island and couldn't really understand his train of thoughts, she still respected his wishes and will do whatever he asked of her.

A couple of minutes later Eragon finally won against the blondie, causing him to dissipate into white smoke. Taking the chance to catch his breath he turned his attention to Caroline only to notice that she was staring at him in a daze "I see that you are enjoying yourself, how about a spare to see how much you improved in the last month?" With a grin he threw one of the swords in his hands in her directions and continued "The same rules as usual, I won't use my chakra and the winner gets one wish from the loser, what do you say?"

Although Caroline couldn't use chakra Eragon still taught her how to use a sword and while he was away hunting pirates she would usually train by herself.

Noticing the sword flying in her direction Caroline immediately snapped to her attention and grabbed the sword, rolling her eyes at him she said "No way I'm gonna fall for your tricks again, if you want to see how much I've improved in the last month that's fine but if you wanna make a bet we have to make it a little more fair"

Eragon laughed as he spoke "Alright, what do you have in mind?"

Caroline's mouth curled upwards in an evil grin "How about you use that weight jutsu you used to train with yesterday?" When Eragon trained yesterday she saw him using some type of iron armor, when she tried to lift it she noticed it was so heavy she needed to use quite a lot of strength in order to move it.

"Huh? Do you mean my Added-Weight Rock Technique? No way I would use that technique! I can barely move when I'm using it let alone fight, and you call that fair?" Eragon's expression immediately changed when he heard what she wanted him to do.

"I didn't mean you need to use its maximum capacity, but hey, If you are scared you can refuse to accept the bet, it's your choice" Although Caroline shrugged her shoulders back nonchalantly, trying to display her lack of interest, she couldn't fool Eragon. He could clearly see she was trying to manipulate him.

'So you are trying to manipulate my emotions, thinking I would agree in a fit of rage? Oh Caroline you are underestimating me too much, If you wanna play then you need to learn that this game can go both ways' Eragon smiled in his heart as he already saw right through her little act. In his past life, he was a special operative agent in a special unit trained to infiltrate behind enemy lines, he learned to control his emotions completely as even a small mistake was not allowed. Compared to that, Caroline's little act was childish…

"Who said anything about being afraid, you want me to use Added-Weight Rock Technique? Fine, how much weight do you have in mind?" Acting like he was doing his best to keep his expression from changing he asked in a steady voice.

"How about 300 kilos?" Caroline asked while doing her best to suppress a smile from spreading across her face.

"50"

"200"

"100"

"150"

"125"

"Hehehe You said it yourself, 125 kilos it is then. I already know what I'm going to ask for, get ready to do a full body massage with your clones for hours" Finally getting what she aimed for, Caroline allowed herself to relax, she started to chuckle while she looked at him with sympathy in her eyes, already feeling confident in her odds to win the bet.

"Don't you think you're celebrating too soon? The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. Don't complain later when you lose" Watching Caroline giggles like she already won made a smile spread on his face as well.

"Tell yourself whatever you want to, are we doing this or not?" Turning serious Caroline fixed her posture and went into defensive mode, ready to respond to the slightest hint of action. She already trained with Eragon for four years and knew all of his tricks, including surprise attacks when you least expect it.

"It appears I thought you well, the bet is on" seeing that Caroline was already on the defensive, adamant about not giving him any chance to attack he finally turned serious as well.

Going to the side he picked his armor and wore it before he retrieved all of his clones. Making hand signs he used his weight jutsu.

"[Earth Style: Added-Weight Rock Technique]"

Making sure to control the flow of chakra perfectly, he adjusted the weight to be exactly 125 kilos, he could cheat if he wanted to but that wasn't his style. Not that there was any need to cheat to begin with, as even though he told Caroline some of his secrets he never told her everything.

When he tried to teach Caroline how to control chakra in the past she asked him at the time how he knows all of this. Taking a page from the novels in his past life he told her that one day while he was fishing on the cliff as a child he saw an old man floating in the sea unconscious and it seems like he was drowning. After Eragon saved him the old man said that every good karma must be repaid in kind, and so the old man taught him how to control chakra on the condition he won't tell anyone about him. And then he left without telling Eragon where to or what was his name.

At first, Caroline was a little skeptical and felt his story was a little sketchy, but she didn't have the slightest clue how could Eragon knew all of these things otherwise. Obviously, she didn't have the excessive Imagination to think Eragon was a reincarnated soul who got his wish fulfilled by the King of gods.

These past four years Eragon used his Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to the fullest and seized every moment to raise his skills level. And as they say, hard work always pays off eventually and now his only disadvantage was his body. The skills in the system could only give him knowledge and raise his expertise, his base strength stayed the same which was why he made sure to train his body extensively.

What's more, it seemed the King of Gods really did as he said and increased his body potential to the fullest. During the last few years, he tried to figure what his chakra affinity is. Trying to do Nature Transformation on the five elements he found out not only he could change all elements but his training speed was incredibly fast as well!

Now even he himself wasn't sure how strong he was, every pirate he hunts nowadays is taken care of with basically one attack. Prompting his decision to leave East Blue and enter the Grand Line to search for stronger opponents. Giving a quick look at his skills level Eragon felt proud of himself.

Name: Eragon Kaynan

Age: 14 (38)

Experience points: 18,610

Learned Skills:

[Chakra level 9 (380,358/450,000)

As the skill level progress, relevant Sub-Skills such as 'Chakra Control', 'Ninjutsu' and more will be awarded.

+45% Increase to all bodly physical abilities such as strength, speed, endurance, vitality and the five senses]

[Ninjutsu - level 7 (146,895/150,000)

Allows the user to instantly learn Ninjutsus techniques per the skill level.

+35% speed increase when doing hand seals]

[Chakra Control level 6 (11,568/35,000)

Allows the user to mould chakra more efficiently. The higher the user's chakra capacity reserves, the harder it is to use various techniques.

Please take notice: if the user's Chakra capacity increase while the Skill [Chakra Control] stay the same, then the chakra control percentage may drop nonetheless.

Current Chakra Control: 60%

+30% increased strength to all Ninjutsu techniques]

[Sword Mastery level 9 (349,584/430,000)

Allows the user to freely handle swords.

+45% Increase in attack damage with swords]

[Running level 11 (84,458/1,000,000)

+110% passive increase to your normal running speed and stamina]

[Cooking level 8 (26,872/30,000)

+40% taste increase to all and any food you make]

[Pleasure level 9 (8,258/50,000)

Works only with direct contact to the target.

+45% increase to the target pleasure sensation when activating the skill]

[Knife Mastery level 6 (13,982/25,000)

Allows the user to freely handle knives.

+30% Increase in attack damage with knives.

+30% Increased accuracy against a stationary target.

+15% Increased accuracy against a moving target]

[Massage Proficiency level 5 (4,467/5,000)

Allows the user to freely manipulate the target's body soft tissues and mussels. Relaxing the mussels, reducing the blood pressure, heart rate, and state of anxiety. additional effects may include pain relief and sexual stimulation.

Works only with direct contact to the target.

+25% Increased effectiveness when massaging someone]

[Swimming level 5 (835/5,000)

+25% Increase to your natural swimming speed in water]

…

Usually, Eragon would spend the experience points he earns by killing pirates on buying new skills, that way he can earn experience points and his skills levels rise by themselves. This is why the list of Learned Skills is very long even though most of them are only between levels 2~3.

One of his earliest regrets is not learning ki instead of chakra, it's not like he doesn't have the required experience points to buy the skill but rather the risk of dying was still too high In his opinion. The last time he checked the risk of dying was 14.8% and as he didn't see the need to urgently learn ki he figured he would just wait until the risk of dying was low enough for him to feel comfortable with taking the risk to learn it.

In the middle of his thoughts, he suddenly noticed Caroline trying to take the initiative and attack him first. Her sword flashed with a cold glint as she slashed in his direction with no hesitation in her movements.

Quickly pulling himself out of his reverie Eragon blocked Caroline's sword, causing sparks to fly from the spot where their sword met. Raising his face he locked eyes with Caroline, feeling her determination to win "Impatient aren't we?"

"It's not my fault you're distracted" without stopping her assault Caroline answered.

"True" smiling, Eragon started his counterattack.