Chapter 4: The Best Things in Life Are Free

[You chose option 3, reward: +1 Endurance]

Vivian: "…"

He… he got the reward directly?

As expected…

He should have figured it out earlier.

Devil Fruits? Swordsmanship experience? The Six Powers of the Navy?

Forget about them!

A free attribute point isn't good enough for him?

Maybe it was just his imagination, but after gaining a point in endurance, Vivian felt the pain in his body lessen a bit.

"Maybe, the last option is always the best one?" He pondered, while the cries for help gradually faded away in the corridor.

…

In the following days, Vivian became much smarter.

Whenever options appeared, he instinctively chose the last one, which meant that for three whole days, he didn't get beaten up even once.

Moreover, he received generous rewards like "Endurance +2," "Strength +1," "Medical Experience +1," "Craftsmanship Experience +1," and "Cooking Experience +3."

This only strengthened Vivian's belief in "free gains."

But that didn't mean he gave up on escaping.

Wetting a rag, Vivian, wearing a thin striped T-shirt, ran quickly across the deck.

While cleaning, he carefully observed the situation on the ship, looking for an opportunity to escape.

Since the system's options were unreliable, Vivian had to rely on his own strength to turn the tables!

"Hey, what are you dawdling for? Don't you want to eat?" The one-eyed pirate punched a young man in the face, knocking him to the ground, then pulled out an iron whip and began beating the young man's body.

At the same time, three options appeared before Vivian:

[Option 1: Pull the young man away. (Reward: Basic Observation Haki)]

[Option 2: Step in and try to persuade the one-eyed pirate to stop the violence. (Reward: Life Return - Hair Bind)]

[Option 3: Quickly finish cleaning and leave. (Reward: Random Basic Attribute +1)]

"I choose three!" Without thinking, Vivian immediately sped up and focused on cleaning the deck.

As for the young man getting beaten…

What did that have to do with him?

Five minutes later, after lifting the bucket, Vivian ran into the cabin and saw the prompt appear.

[You chose option 3, reward: +1 Agility]

"Phew…" Vivian breathed a sigh of relief.

If he had chosen the first or second option, he would have definitely gotten beaten up again, or even died on the deck.

This made him internally complain about the system, which seemed to always want him to get killed.

Shaking his head, he was about to leave when he saw the one-eyed pirate suddenly slip and fall to the ground.

"Damn it!" Furiously getting up from the ground, the one-eyed pirate glanced at the smooth, shiny floor and immediately cursed, "Which idiot just cleaned the floor?"

Everyone looked at each other, unable to say who it was.

There was no way to know; everyone's attention had been on the one-eyed pirate, so who would notice someone cleaning the floor on the side?

"None of you know?" The one-eyed pirate spat on the floor, then gathered all the civilians still on the deck and started whipping them one by one.

He didn't care who it was, as long as he could vent his anger. Who cleaned the floor? That didn't matter at all.

Smack!

Smack—smack—smack!

Hearing the whipping and screams from the deck, Vivian couldn't help but swallow, quickly throwing the bucket aside and hurrying away from the scene.

…

"So… if I look at it from another angle, these options are actually giving me warnings?"

Sitting cross-legged in the storage room, Vivian touched his chin and finally realized this.

If he had stayed on the deck cleaning and watching the show, he would probably be the one getting whipped now.

"As long as I mindlessly choose the last option, I can avoid all future dangers…"

It's practically a lifesaving tool!

But now another problem arose.

How could he escape from this cargo ship?

Choosing the wrong options twice had led him into this predicament. The tasks in his mind, "Gain the old lady's trust and affection" and "Successfully escape the human trafficking organization," had both ended in failure.

Vivian deeply regretted it now. If he were to be sold as a slave to a noble family, he would rather have been beaten to death when he dined and dashed.

Especially being a slave to the Celestial Dragons—that image alone was terrifying.

"I must think of a way…"

Scanning the faces of the civilians, seeing their utterly hopeless expressions, Vivian clenched his fists and made up his mind.

However, that night.

After days of investigation, Vivian waited until the pirates were all asleep and was about to sneak out when the familiar options appeared again.

[Option 1: Go to the edge of the deck, lower the lifeboat, and escape alone. (Reward: Random Paramecia Devil Fruit)]

[Option 2: Hide in a wooden box in the storage room, creating the illusion that you have escaped. (Reward: 10 Senzu Beans from the Dragon Ball universe)]

[Option 3: Forget running, just go back to sleep. (Reward: Random Skill Experience +1)]

Seeing these three options, Vivian showed an expression as if he had eaten something disgusting.

The reason was simple: the first two options were the only two plans he had come up with over the past few days.

Like a deflated balloon, Vivian slumped back into the corner of the storage room like a corpse. {Hahahahahaha}

[You chose option 3, reward: Swordsmanship Experience +1]

Smelling the stench and dampness in the air, Vivian's eyes went blank, and he completely shut down.

Two days later, just before the ship reached the island where the auction was held, a cannonball hit the ship's mast.

The ship began to shake violently.

Vivian, who was shoveling coal in the boiler room, was thrown into the corridor, and several options appeared before his eyes again.