One Piece: Honey Badger Speedruns the World

1541 in the Haiyuan calendar.

Zou.

"Bang!"

A thin figure was flung out like a tattered sack, crashing heavily onto the muddy ground and sliding several meters before coming to a stop.

"It's so ugly! It's like a wild beast!"

The angry shouts exploded in Goss's ears like thunder.

The speaker was Sicilian, one of the three captains of the Musketeers, the most elite unit under Duke Inuarashi.

The tall lion-mane was now so angry that its mane stood on end, pointing at the figure on the ground and shouting:

"Goss! This is the sacred musketeer selection trial, not a mud pit for fighting! Look at the mess you've made!"

In the center of the arena, Goss's opponent, a young giraffe mink, was clutching his arm, writhing in pain on the ground where a row of deep, bone-revealing teeth marks were visible, and blood was gushing out.

The surrounding fur-bearers lowered their voices.

The woman from the sheepskin tribe who was closest instinctively reached out and covered the eyes of the child next to her.

"That's... that orphaned honey badger, isn't it?"

"Shh, don't say it."

"She used to seem so well-behaved, what happened to her now..."

"After all, no one is disciplining them, it's so pitiful..."

"But what he just did... really..."

Goss struggled to get up from the mud.

He is a honey badger furry.

It is not tall, only about 1.6 meters, with a distinctive short silver-white hair on its head, like a flat head, while its back is covered with black fur.

Compared to the strong furry tribe members around him who were often two or three meters tall, he seemed rather diminutive.

Goss wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes showing no shame: "Does it matter what method we use to win?"

"Shut up!" Sicilian swung his rapier sharply, the tip pointing directly at Goss's nose.

"Duke Inuarashi taught us that even beasts should possess the integrity of knights! And you... you are a disgrace to Zou."

Sicilian sheathed his sword in disgust and waved it away as if shooing away a fly.

"You're out, Goss. Take your filthy ideas and go back to Whale Forest. The Musketeers will never accept a mad dog who doesn't know the rules."

Goss didn't argue anymore. He lowered his head, dusted himself off, and limped out of the square amidst whispers.

……

On the edge of the Whale Forest, there is a simple treehouse.

Upon entering the room, Goss could no longer suppress his instinctive rage and slammed his fist hard against the wall.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

The rough wooden wall was smashed with a loud thud, but the pain did little to quell his anxiety.

A simple calendar drawn with charcoal hangs on the wall.

Not only does it have the date on it, but it also features a striking red skull.

Since transmigrating here a week ago, the first thing Goschen did was to determine his current time.

The news about Marineford was from two years ago, and Raizo has already been hiding on the island.

"A bunch of idiots... still talking about elegance and chivalry..."

Goss stared intently at the simple charcoal calendar drawn on the wall, his gaze fixed on the circled red date.

They had no idea what they were about to face.

In thirty days, that madman named Jack the Drought will no longer talk to them about chivalry or fair duels.

It only brought a devastating army of behemoths and inhumane poison gas, turning this ancient city, which had been inhabited for thousands of years, into hell in an instant.

and I?

Goss lowered his head, looking at his hands, which were still trembling slightly, with bruises left from being thrown around by Sicilian during the day.

Too weak...really too weak.

Now, let alone stopping a bounty-billion-dollar big shot, even the slightly stronger marines in the Navy Headquarters would probably be physically stronger than him.

With such weak strength, when that day comes, he won't even be able to protect himself and will be crushed to death by Jack like an ant.

"Damn it..."

Reason told him that, as an outsider who had traveled through time and knew the plot, the smartest choice was to steal a ship and escape Zou now.

but……

Goss closed his eyes, and images from the past seven days uncontrollably flashed through his mind.

Although he was ostracized by the musketeers because of his personality and fighting style, and was misunderstood by his former playmates.

But in the eyes of those furry residents, he is still Zou's child.

The little beast cubs that hadn't grown up yet weren't afraid of his fierce gaze at all. They always followed him around, tugging at his tail. Even when he bared his teeth and scared them, they would just giggle and rush over for a hug.

Whenever the elderly folks saw him return from the forest covered in mud and bearing wounds, they never looked down on his filth. Instead, they would pull him close, press their warm cheeks against his dusty face, and offer him the most sincere "Garchu."

This group of fur-bearers are among the few fools on this sea filled with betrayal and slaughter.

They are simple and honest, loyal and righteous, adorably naive, and heartbreakingly naive.

He had never experienced this feeling before, in the steel jungle he had traversed.

"How can I stand by and watch you be nailed to the cross, have your limbs cut off, and die screaming in the poison gas..."

He had seen that kind of horrific tragedy once in the original storyline, and he never wanted to experience it in real life.

Goss suddenly opened his eyes, a resolute and ruthless glint in his black pupils.

If we want to protect this simplicity and survive, the only way is to pull out that mammoth's tusk!

He is willing to pay any price for this.

Goss's eyes were bloodshot.

The honey badger's "life and death are nothing to fear, fight if you're not convinced" nature constantly influenced him.

Goss picked up the honey jar on the table and poured it all into his mouth.

Only honey could bring a moment of peace to his raging heart.

The sweetness melted in his mouth, and Goss took a few deep breaths to regain his composure.

He bent down and pulled a rusty iron box from a hidden compartment under the bed.

The tin box was opened, and inside lay a strangely shaped fruit.

This fruit is unlike any known Devil Fruit found in the sea.

Its bark is a cold, iron-gray color, covered with dark red spiral patterns, giving off an ominous aura in the dimly lit treehouse.

Beside the fruit, there was a broken metal plaque, on which a few words of the World Government's common language, corroded by seawater, were faintly visible:

【Vegapunk... Subject 0... FAILURE...】(Vegapunk... Subject 0... Failure...)

This was discovered five days ago, when Zulu, as he habitually bathed by spraying water with his trunk, came up from a pile of shipwreck wreckage in the deep sea.

Goss usually makes a living by collecting trash sprayed up in the Whale Forest.

His intuition told him that this was an extremely dangerous thing. The label of "failure" could potentially turn him into a monster.

So he kept hesitating.

But in these five days, Goss had come to a complete understanding that he unexpectedly had no talent for combat.

Even if he did, it would be impossible for him to surpass Jack in a month.

"Since I'm going to die anyway, why not try out a Devil Fruit before I die?"

Goss picked up the cold fruit, his fingers trembling slightly with nervousness.

"I'm the honey badger... there's nothing in this world I wouldn't dare eat!"

He poured the remaining honey onto the fruit, then opened his mouth full of sharp teeth and took a bite!

"Snap!"

It didn't have the fruity juice I expected; the texture was like chewing on a piece of rotten raw meat mixed with sticky honey—bitter, fishy, ​​and nauseating.

But Goss didn't even flinch, suppressing the urge to vomit, and swallowed the whole fruit in two or three bites.

next second.

boom!

It felt as if a bomb had exploded in his stomach.

He felt as if all the bones in his body were melting, and every muscle fiber was being torn apart and reassembled.

Goss could clearly feel six different energies gradually spreading from his stomach throughout his body, as if they were examining and searching for something.

Five of them subsided after spreading throughout their bodies.

Only one energy seemed to have found what it needed and activated in its mind with a "bang".

He understood the meaning of this energy instantly, without needing a teacher.

[Six Paths Fruit: Asura Path]

[The Asuras are not celestial beings; they are brave and fierce; they are fueled by anger and sustain their fighting through war.]

[To attain divine understanding, and to forge an indestructible physique.]

A single day of practice can be equivalent to years of effort.

Breaking through the limits of the physical body, ascending to the pinnacle of species.

hum-

An unprecedented desire was born in my heart: a desire for power.

Goss slowly got up from the ground.

He followed his instincts and threw a simple, unadorned punch at the hard oak wall.

"Bang."

The dull thud echoed inside the treehouse.

Gus pulled his fist back, a burning pain shooting through his knuckles.

The punch only left a shallow white mark on the hard oak surface.

But Guss was stunned; he stared at his hands in disbelief.

Different.

It's completely different now.

In the past, if he had thrown that punch, he would have only felt the dull pain of bone hitting a hard object; it would have been a pointless act of self-torture.

But just now, the instant my fist touched the wood, a strange current traveled up my arm and back to my brain.

He could clearly see the contraction trajectory of the muscle fibers in his arms, and felt the force being transmitted from his ankles to his waist and abdomen, finally creating a very slight stagnation at his shoulder.

This almost instinctive realization was like a lightning bolt piercing through his chaotic consciousness.

"Is this the Asura Path...?"

Gus let out a low gurgling sound from his throat.

The feeling was wonderful, like a blind person who had been groping in the dark for countless years suddenly seeing a glimmer of light.

Although that progress was so slight as to be almost negligible, it did indeed exist!

Even the slightest bit makes you stronger!

"Again!"

The red light in Gus's eyes intensified. He assumed his stance again, adjusting the angle of his wrists and the twist of his waist based on the insights he had gained in that instant.

"Bang!"

The sound was a little crisper than before.

"Not enough! More!"

"Bang!"

"The power transmission is smooth, but the speed isn't fast enough!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Inside the narrow treehouse, a dense series of striking sounds began to echo.

Gus seemed possessed, tirelessly and frantically punching the same spot.

For an average person, such high-intensity repetitive movements would have already caused muscle strain.

But with the blessing of the Asura Path, his body was like a greedy sponge, frantically absorbing the experience from each strike and rapidly correcting the muscle memory.

On his tenth punch, he corrected his stance.

On his fiftieth punch, his punching speed increased slightly.

On the hundredth punch, a faint whistling sound began to emanate from his fist.

This visibly exhilarating feeling of becoming stronger made Guts completely forget the passage of time and the fact that his knuckles were already torn and bleeding.

He was immersed in a state of near-devilish self-forgetfulness, with only the wall in his eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, the once dazzling sunlight had turned into a dim twilight through the broken window of the treehouse.

Gus's breathing was heavy and labored, and sweat mixed with blood soaked through his body hair.

He stared at the piece of wood in front of him, which had been dented by the blow, and the power he had been accumulating reached its peak at this moment.

All the insights and corrections converged into a perfect point in this instant.

"Open it... for me!!"

Gus let out a roar and unleashed the last punch of the afternoon.

"Snap—!!"

A crisp snapping sound suddenly rang out.

The century-old oak wall, which had once rendered him helpless and was as hard as iron, suddenly exploded with a half-meter-long crack centered on the point where his fist landed.

Fine splinters flew out in all directions, and the entire thick wooden wall was cracked by this punch!

"Thirty days from now, I'm going to punch Drought Jack to death!"