The subway to Brooklyn was uneventful, which I appreciated.

  I had enough going on in my head without the universe deciding to throw something at me on the train.

  I spent the ride mentally reviewing what I knew about Conqueror's Haki.

  The basics were straightforward enough. It was an invisible force projected outward from the user, an expression of will so dominant that weaker-willed individuals simply couldn't withstand it and lost consciousness. In One Piece, the top-tier users could eventually coat their weapons with it, use it to csh against other Haki users, even direct it precisely enough to knock out specific targets while leaving others standing.

  Unfortunately for me, I was nowhere near any of that, and I had no idea if I could even achieve the advanced levels through training.

  Advanced Conqueror's Haki was an option in the shop, costing several times more than what basic conqueror's cost, so I wondered if I would or wouldn't be able to obtain it without outright buying it.

  Right now, my Haki was essentially a grenade. Pull the pin, and everything in a small radius goes down. An ability with no precision.

  So the goal for today was twofold.

  First, figure out if I could change the intensity - use it at a lower output so that instead of instant unconsciousness, people experienced fear without dropping. Aware, terrified, and conscious meant actual FP generation rather than the deyed trickle I'd been working with.

  Second, steal whatever cash these guys had so I could stop being homeless.

  The second goal was arguably the more pressing one.

  Being homeless really sucks. I need a batcave to brood around in and aurafarm, I can't really do that under a shitty bridge, so getting some cash would help me out with that.

  Before heading down to the docks where I'd be taking on my victims, I stopped by a small thrift store and bought a disguise.

  Calling it a disguise was an exaggeration on my end. It was a baseball cap plus a Guy Fawkes mask. It didn't really create the most impressive appearance.

  Well, maybe if I had a cool cape and whatnot and started going by a single letter, it would be cool.

  ---

  The warehouse was exactly what I'd expected.

  Two guys outside the main entrance, hands in their jackets, doing the universal body nguage of men pretending they weren't security. A side door on the east face. A camera with an obvious blind spot on the north corner.

  I didn't bother surveilling the pce for long, after all, I'm a haki man now.

  I pulled the cap low, put the mask on, and walked straight toward the entrance.

  The guard on the left clocked me at about fifteen metres out.

  "Hey -"

  I activated the Haki, but I made sure to try and hold it back. I tried to rein it in, not allowing it to simply burst out as I did on my first use.

  The effect was instant. Both guards staggered. One grabbed the wall. The other made an expression which looked like he was about to cry.

  They were terrified. Conscious, upright, and completely terrified.

  [You induced fear in 2 individuals! +22 FP]

  'There it is.'

  Studying their faces, they both looked like they wanted to puke from a mixture of shock and fear.

  The poor thugs couldn't even look me in the eyes.

  I let the full bst go a half second ter.

  Thud. Thud.

  I stepped over them, found a keycard in the first one's jacket, and let myself in.

  Inside, four more men. Two near the back, two at a makeshift table setup that passed for an office. All of them already looking toward the entrance.

  I walked in, said nothing, and before they could react, I hit them with the restrained output first. Just long enough to register the FP.

  [You induced fear in 4 individuals! +56 FP]

  - Then dropped the full bst.

  Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.

  The whole thing took about forty seconds.

  I found the cash in a desk drawer in the back office. There was a safe, but I didn't bother. Chances were it wouldn't contain cash, more likely something troublesome like gold or cocaine.

  On the way out, I clocked the witnesses. A delivery driver with his face pressed to his cab window. A woman across the street, frozen, staring at the two unconscious men blocking the warehouse entrance. A dock worker further down who'd stopped moving entirely.

  [Witnesses observed multiple simultaneous colpses — fear spreading through the area! +39 FP]

  [Fear Point Bance: 300]

  I walked away at a measured pace, hands in the hoodie pocket, cap low.

  On the subway back, I counted the cash in my duffelbag as those surrounding me watched as if I was either the most confident or most retarded man in the world.

  Eleven thousand, two hundred dolrs.

  'Not bad.'

  I leaned back against the pstic seat and stared at the ceiling of the train.

  Today, I've graduated from being a bum.

  Now I just needed an apartment.