97. Lucky Rob! Unlucky Buggy!

Time is like an hourglass in your hand; it will pass by quietly without you noticing.

A blink of an eye.

Three months passed.

On this day--

On the sea of East Blue, in front of the Angel, a circus-like pirate ship was parked. On the deck of this pirate ship, Rob opened his flowered shirt, with a magic tea sword pinned to his waist.

Seeing all the pirates kneeling in front of him, begging for mercy with bruised noses and swollen faces, Rob's gaze finally fell on their captain.

He looked a little weird:

"The clown - Buggy... I never thought I would meet you here! What a coincidence!"

Hearing Rob's words, Buggy, who was beaten by Rob until he was unrecognizable, had a bruised nose, missing teeth, and a face more pitiful than crying.

With a smile:

"Ahahaha... respected 'World's Greatest Swordsman' - Master Rob, this is really a misunderstanding! We were just experimenting with cannons and had no intention of disturbing you!"

"I'm truly sorry for disturbing Mr. Rob and your happy trip with your sisters! I'm really sorry, please forgive us!"

Swish—

Speaking hurriedly, Buggy lay down on the ground without dignity and gave Rob a standard soil seat, begging for forgiveness, not daring to make any wrong moves.

Although he has the Chop-Chop Fruit, theoretically making him immune to a swordsman's slash, it also depends on who the swordsman is! The one in front of him—

Was "The World's Greatest Swordsman," the most powerful swordsman in the world. He came to Buggy's ship with his supreme sharp sword unsheathed, and with a few quick slashes, he had them all defeated. Just like that.

Soon!

Before Buggy even had a chance to react, he was already in his current state.

Looking at Buggy in front of him, Rob had a funny look on his face—

This guy can be considered a real pirate who only loves treasures. Although he was an intern at the same time as Shanks on the ship of the Pirate King - Roger, he can be called the luckiest slacker with no ambitions!

Still, in the future, he would have the same status as Shanks through sheer luck. Although he is just a puppet who has been used and discarded, at least in the eyes of outsiders, in terms of reputation and status, he is considered one of the Four Emperors.

"You guys have an interesting future!"

Looking at the begging Buggy, Rob, with a funny expression on his face, said:

"So, I don't intend to kill you here! But I believe you've heard of my rules - if you want to live, you can use all your treasures to buy the lives of you and your subordinates!"

Rob decided to spare Buggy. He was curious to see what kind of future this guy would have and how entertaining it might be.

After hearing Rob's words, Buggy's face lit up with surprise. He said loudly:

"Thank you very much! I really appreciate Master Rob's great kindness! I'll move out all the treasures and materials now. Please spare the lives of me and my subordinates!"

After thanking Rob loudly, Buggy immediately signaled to his crew. Understanding the situation, the Buggy Pirates quickly ran into the cabin and moved out all their treasures and supplies. The sheer amount of treasures and supplies was impressive, fitting for Buggy's treasure-loving crew.

"Hmm?!"

While looking at the treasure brought up by Buggy's subordinates, Rob's gaze instantly focused on a rather inconspicuous old box within the pile of treasure. With a frown:

"This little box... the smell inside is very unique!"

While speaking, Rob picked up the small treasure chest. He opened it casually, and just like when he got the Sing-Sing Fruit and the Op-Op Fruit, an orange-red Devil Fruit that looked like a dragon fruit with spiral lines and a flame-shaped peel appeared in Rob's hand.

"A Devil Fruit?!"

Seeing the Devil Fruit, Buggy's eyes suddenly revealed a greedy gaze, and he exclaimed with a longing expression on his face.

Swish—

But before Buggy could make any other moves, Rob narrowed his eyes a little and looked directly at him. Casually, he said:

"What's with that look of yours? What's with that look on your face? What do you think you're going to do with my treasure?"

In an instant, Buggy, filled with infinite greed moments before, suddenly became extremely calm. His whole body felt like it had fallen into an ice cellar, sweating profusely. Then he kept laughing and said:

"Don't dare! Don't dare! Of course, these treasures and supplies are yours - the Devil Fruit is also yours!"

Hearing this, Rob backhanded the Devil Fruit, which he already knew the ability of, and put it back into the small treasure chest. He then patted Buggy on the shoulder, looking satisfied:

"Very good! Now, I need you to move all my treasures to my boat! Since your body can be separated and you can fly freely in the air, please get to it!"

Hearing Rob's request, Buggy felt devastated in his heart but forced a smile through his tears:

"No trouble, no trouble! It's my honor to do things for Lord Rob! Ahaha... Ahahaha..."

Quickly, under Rob's threat, Buggy split his body and sent all his treasures and supplies, including the priceless Devil Fruit, to Rob's ship. He then led his crew in a show of laughter and cheer as they watched the Angel leave, disappearing on the sea. Once the ship was out of sight, Buggy stood on the bow and burst into tears. The sadness in his heart was beyond words.

Just half an hour ago, he had robbed a merchant ship. Before he had time to check his loot, Rob had taken everything, including the Devil Fruit he had intended to hide.

To know—even the cheapest Devil Fruit starts at 100 million berries!

At this moment, all his harvest, including his original treasures and supplies, were taken away by Rob. Buggy's sadness knew no bounds.

Now, on the deck of the Angel, Rob and his companions didn't care much about the treasures and supplies piled up. Even Makino, after spending time with them, had gotten used to encountering pirates who had just harvested a lot or needed to replenish their supplies, coming to "donate" to them.

The accumulated treasures in the Angel's treasure vault had long made Makino lose the concept of value she should have about treasures.

"Here we go!"

Rob held the Devil Fruit in his hand, a smile on his face:

"Suitable for Makino's ability! Fortunately, I didn't use the ability to sublimate this year. Otherwise, Makino would have to wait for a year before she could eat this Devil Fruit!"

"My luck is invincible!"

A few days ago, the cooldown of Rob's fifth talent, Extreme Sublimation, ended. Originally, the plan was to sublimate the Op-Op Fruit for the third time, but Rob felt he would soon find a suitable Devil Fruit for Makino, so it hadn't been used yet. Now, it could be used on the Devil Fruit in hand.

"This fruit is—"

After Robin glanced at the shape of the Devil Fruit in Rob's hand, she thought about it for a moment and named its abilities:

"The Logia Flame-Flame Fruit! After eating it, you become a flame human who can create and control flames. The temperature of the flames is theoretically unlimited, so the potential is very high!"

"And Logia users can ignore all physical attacks without Haki, and the self-protection ability after consuming most of the energy supply can reach a very high level instantly!"

"Oni-chan's special ability, while removing the side effects of the fruit, can also further strengthen the upper limit of the fruit's power. If you eat this Flame-Flame Fruit, you'll definitely be much stronger than previous Flame-Flame Fruit users!"

Speaking of which, Robin looked at Makino with a smile on her face:

"Makino, congratulations! As long as your physical strength can keep up and you awaken Haki's power, you will be the strongest among us three!"

Among Robin, Uta, and Makino, excluding Rob, Makino would be the most powerful. 

There was no way—

Rob's strength was simply too high.

Snap—

Uta hugged Makino's thigh directly and said with a smile:

"Sister Makino, you have to protect Uta from now on! Uta will sing for you! Hee hee hee..."

Hearing this, Makino, who had fully integrated with the group, had a gentle smile on her face as always. She smiled and said:

"I will!"

Robin then held Uta's little head with one hand, grinning:

"Ah! Uta, does this mean you doubt my strength? Is that really okay, Uta?"

Knowing her sister's personality well, Uta quickly coaxed Robin, and they played around on the deck for a while.

Finally, all eyes turned to the Devil Fruit in Rob's hand. Using his fifth talent, Extreme Sublimation, under the effect of the white light, the orange-red Flame-Flame Fruit turned into an orange-yellow Devil Fruit with a little white!

Now—

The Logia Flame-Flame Fruit had its side effects removed and its ability strengthened successfully!

After all this was done, Rob handed it to Makino:

"Here you go, eat it! We're about to enter the Grand Line! Next up is the Seven Warlords of the Sea—Doflamingo! He's got a lot of strong subordinates!"

"With the Flame-Flame Fruit's ability, your self-protection can be guaranteed! Although the power of flame seems common in the sea, it's precisely because it's common that its potential can be fully realized!"

The power of the flame is not weak! This is especially true for the strengthened Flame-Flame Fruit, making it no longer a lower-level fruit compared to the Lava-Lava Fruit.

As long as it is well developed, Makino will definitely be the most powerful among the three of them, at least for the time being!

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