One Pice: A Game Blue System.

'My 15 points are back…but what about...' My sight flies through different windows as I sift through the [Skills] tab.

Skill : Unarmed Combat Lv (6/50) -Your instinctive knowledge in fighting with your bare hands.

Skill : Physical Endurance Lv. (4/30) -Your body's durability to damage from physical sources. Current Resistance level: (12%) 'Everything's been reset to before the fight started!' "Loading most recent Auto-Save..." I mumble under my breath. "Holy crap... I have five lives.." My terror filled stare goes back to Blackjack. '..correction..four lives.'

Ding!

New Quest Alert!

Quest: Defeat Blackjack!

Reward: 2,400 Exp and Lv.3 [Skill Disk]. [ACCEPT/DECLINE] 'Fuck! No way in hell am I dying again! [Game]! Turn on 'Damage Notifications'!' I mentally scream as my fingers fly back to the main menu. I jam my finger next to my DEX skill and start tapping. 'I can't let him catch me again! Faster! I need to be faster!' Points to spend (15) → (0) DEX (50) → (65) Quest Update: No selection detected! Initiating auto [ACCEPT] in 3...2...1..

The same crushing opener comes again only this time I'm able to do more than just slightly dodge. As I spin out of the way, the back of my fist lashes out, smacking Blackjack across the face and sending his sunglasses skittering across the floor.

22 Damage! (1,988/2,010) Blackjack calmly wipes his bloody lip with his thumb and inspects the red speck with mild surprise. "Alright. So you're faster than you look. This might be fun."

"Screw you asshole! If you want some more come and get it!" I try to sound confident but inside I may as well be shaking like a leaf. I'm going to focus on the long game. Get in little hits where I can. If it doesn't seem like it's going to work then I am straight up running.

Call me cowardly if you want. I don't care. No payday is worth dying for.

'..again'. I tack on with regret.

Blackjack renews his charge and unleashes a series of haymakers meant to take my head off. I focus on my breathing and keep my eyes glued to the movement of his arms. With each strike I duck and dodge until an opportunity presents itself. I move below his arm and take a jab to his liver. Something my new speed only barely allows for.

40 Damage! (1,948/2,010)

Blackjack subtly winces and I immediately back off. 'Don't get greedy. Remember. Focus on the long game.'

The monster of a man chases after me and everything is just so much...simpler now. He swings wildly and I move below and deliver a punch to the underside of his arm. He tries to crush me from overhead and I simply sidestep, deck him in the jawline, and move again.

I get a little overzealous when he drops below 1600 health and accidentally get sideswiped again, though this time it's only about half as bad.

-29 HP!

HP Regen Skill Active!

-Current speed: 0.1% max health per minute.

I refocus and keep my head clear. 'Slow and steady Jack...just keep it slow and steady..'

It's four minutes and 200 hit points later when I notice something. Something I normally wouldn't pick up in my usual state of mind.

It's subtle. But he's slowing down.

"You little shit..." Blackjack curses as he grinds his teeth together. "Just stay still!"

And now he's getting frustrated too.

The fight continues and the same pattern just repeats itself again and again. He'd attack, he'd miss, I'd attack, I wouldn't.

Skill Lv Up! Unarmed Combat Lv (6/50) → (7/50)

-Your instinctive knowledge in fighting with your bare hands.

I regain one of the [Skill] gains I lost from resetting and everything becomes even more fluid. My moves are slightly cleaner. My dodges a little more crisp. I'm certainly no martial artist -not even close- but against a wild berserker like this? A man who has always relied on nothing but brute force and above average speed? My amateur moves are more than enough.

It took a while, I'm not quite sure how long, but when I finally whittled him down to 1200 health remaining another familiar message reappeared.

Alert! Your opponents status has changed to [FURIOUS!]. He is receiving +25 to STR and -10 to INT.

'Ok. This is good. He's starting to feel pressured. And with so little INT left the man's bound to get stupid.'

Like a self-fulfilling prophecy Blackjack's face curdles into a sneer and he lunges forward in a large grabbing motion with both arms. A move that, if It caught me, would surely result in me being slowly crushed to death.

Unfortunately for him, the action is just far too telegraphed. I slip down to the ground and pull my legs in. Just as the mobster grasps at the empty air I occupied not a moment ago, I kick out and slam both feet into his unguarded groin.

Critical Hit!

350 Damage! (850/2,010) Blackjack yelps like a kicked dog and sinks to his knees. The man's hands fall downwards to shield his family jewels and I roll out of the way as he falls.

"The hell is the matter with you!" he cries out in a pained whimper. "A real man doesn't aim there in a fight!"

In hindsight I'm not really sure why it was that sentence that did it. Maybe it was the fact that it was a wanted murderer asking what was wrong with me? Maybe it was the fact that even on his knees the bastard was still taller than I was. Maybe it was...I don't know... But for some reason, hearing those words from the man who killed me completely destroyed my peaceful mindset. And. I. Just. Snapped.

"Fuck you!" I cry as my shoe meets his nose, sending him crashing to the floor

56 Damage! (794/2,010) "This is life and death!" I bellow as I grab his shirt collar and start beating his face in.

41 Damage! (753/2,010) 42 Damage! (711/2,010)