Chapter 6: A Difficult Choice

"Okay." Vivian immediately nodded, then covered his injured area with his hand and obediently stepped aside.

After a while, when Tashigi entered the cabin, Vivian timed it perfectly and then quietly followed her in.

…

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

Feeling a slight soreness in his muscles, Vivian walked around the corner inside the cabin. Just as he peeked out, an explosion suddenly erupted from the boiler room at the end of the corridor, and the heat wave instantly engulfed Tashigi at the door.

Vivian: =??? =(●???●|||)

"Dead… dead… dead… dead?!"

Is she dead?

Instinctively swallowing his saliva, Vivian looked at the burning corridor and felt a wave of fear.

If he had chosen the second option and followed Tashigi in, he would have been caught in the explosion too, right?

But that didn't seem to be the main point now.

Even though Tashigi's role in the original story wasn't very significant, she was still a main supporting character. Even with the butterfly effect caused by his crossing over, she shouldn't die so easily, right?

While he was frowning, Tashigi, who had been engulfed by flames, emerged from the fire, covered in soot, and slashed at the wooden wall beside her.

Boom!

A large section of the wooden wall shattered, and a young woman dressed as an old lady emerged from the rubble. She was the "old lady" who had tricked Vivian onto the ship with a bowl of fried rice a few days ago.

"Nitya, you are surrounded by the navy. Surrender now!" Tashigi said righteously.

"Damn navy…"

Nitya's face showed a hint of displeasure. She then pulled out two bombs from her clothes, lit the fuses, and looked at Tashigi with crazed eyes, saying, "Today, no one will leave this ship alive!!"

On the other side.

[Option 1: Rush to help Tashigi defeat the enemy. (Reward: Random Logia Devil Fruit)]

[Option 2: Shout to attract the female pirate's attention. (Reward: Basic Armament Haki, Basic Observation Haki)]

[Option 3: Go to the storage room alone to rescue people. (Reward: Random Sword Technique)]

[Option 4: Hide in the jewelry box at the entrance of the cabin and wait for the navy on the deck to rescue you. (Reward: Random Basic Attribute +1)]

Looking at the four options in front of him, Vivian reflexively wanted to choose the last one but suddenly froze.

The reason was simple: the fire had already spread to the storage room where the civilians were being held.

Glancing at the door tightly bound by chains, Vivian could faintly hear cries coming from inside.

"What should I do?"

Originally determined to always choose the last option, Vivian suddenly became hesitant.

Choosing option 4 would undoubtedly keep him safe. The insulated box used by the one-eyed pirate to store jewelry would clearly protect him from being burned alive and allow him to wait until Smoker's group finished dealing with the pirates on the deck and came to put out the fire and rescue people.

But this also meant that the other civilians locked in the storage room would be burned alive.

"They're just a bunch of unrelated people…"

"What does their life or death have to do with me?"

He muttered to himself softly.

The lingering fear of being caught in an explosion after choosing the wrong option resurfaced from deep within.

Seeing the fire spreading closer and closer, and with Tashigi and Nitya already out of sight at the stern, Vivian slapped himself hard, then closed the jewelry box lid and dashed towards the one-eyed pirate's bedroom opposite.

"Cough!"

First, he grabbed a bucket of water and poured it over himself, then covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth. Vivian quickly found the key in the room and then plunged into the sea of flames.

[You chose option 3]

[Follow-up task initiated]

[Task: Lead all the civilians in the cabin to safety]

Enduring the scorching heat from the chains, Vivian calmly opened the door.

As soon as he entered, he saw a group of civilians lying on the floor by the door, coughing violently. It was clear that the thick smoke in the room had almost suffocated them.

"Wake up, everyone, wake up!"

Vivian lifted two men from the ground at the door, dragging them out while shouting to the others inside, "If you don't want to die, pull yourselves together!"

However, just as he finished speaking, with a crisp "crack," a large section of the wooden ceiling above collapsed without warning, hitting Vivian's head hard.

A strong sense of dizziness instantly overwhelmed him.

Meanwhile, the raging flames completely blocked the door behind him and began to rapidly spread into the room through the doorframe.

With his vision blurred, Vivian turned to look at the scene behind him.

"Just as I thought…"

Is this the danger of not choosing the last option?

He couldn't help but let out a light laugh.

But even so, I will never give up so easily…

Wiping the blood dripping from his forehead, Vivian struggled to get up from the ground, then walked to the shelf in the storage room, pulled out a hammer from a pile of scrap metal, and swung it heavily at the inner wall.

Perhaps the two or three points of strength he had gained over the past few days were working at this moment, as the wooden wall showed some cracks with just one hit.

The scorching heat continued to assault from behind, stinging every civilian who was crying and coughing.

Yet Vivian remained oblivious, continuing to swing the hammer, trying to lead the innocent people in the room out of this desperate situation.

Bang!

Bang—bang!

One hit, two hits…

The frequency increased.

Finally, just as the flames completely ignited Vivian's clothes, a large amount of seawater gushed in through the hole he had made, washing over every curled-up civilian.

"It's over…"

Feeling the coolness rushing towards him, Vivian released the hammer in his hand and lay back with a sense of relief.

"Glug glug glug…"