Chapter 90: Luffy Awakens, Assessing Strength.

On the third day,

"How's it going, Nami?"

In the palace training ground, Nami was fully focused on the "Thief's Extreme Art" in her hands. In the open space in front of her:

A small yellow sand tornado was swirling around—

Twist and turn~~ Twist and turn~~

It's hard to say if it has any damage, but it looks quite amusing.

"Well, I've found a bit of the feeling."

As Nami spoke, the 'mini sandstorm' in front of her dissipated. Nami pouted in disappointment.

"Two days and I can only create this small sand whirl. It seems my understanding of 'weather' is still lacking~~"

???

Crocodile: Please turn on the microphone to communicate.

Undoubtedly, the fourth and fifth pages of the "Thief's Extreme Art" in Nami's hands were filled with yellow sand, with the wind and sand flying, giving a sense of desolation and the passage of time.

Sponsored by Mr. Crocodile, the 'Sandy Pages' were, in Roman's opinion, perfect for a navigator like Nami. —At least more reliable than the Clima-Tact with its long wind-up time, and if things go well, Nami's strength will see a huge leap!

Of course, knocking out Zoan-type dinosaur fruit users with one hit... hehe...

"Why not develop abilities like the 'Crescent-Shaped Sand Dunes'?"

Crocodile's strongest move for dealing with weaklings was the 'Crescent-Shaped Sand Dunes,' which could turn a group of people into mummies with one move! Unless they were Haki experts or had special constitutions, they would die with one touch.

"No,"

Nami shook her head, "As you said, the same fruit can develop different abilities for different people."

"The essence of this book is to 'steal' the fruit abilities of others by preserving their blood. The upper limit can't exceed the skills developed by the original owner, and there is also a 'compatibility' with the user - which is me."

"Hmm," Roman touched his chin, "So, even with this book, you can only use Crocodile's various desert storm abilities, but can't use the drying and Desert Spada moves... a bit weak..."

"This is already very powerful, okay?"

Nami couldn't help but retort. Given time, developing a large sandstorm wasn't impossible. Although it might be weak against experts, clearing out small fry... just like before, no matter how many came, they were just fodder.

"Alright, keep it up."

After Roman woke up, using this book consumed his stamina. But with Nami's current level of development, she could use it freely. As for the future—

"By the way, you should also pay attention to the development of the 'Munch-Munch Fruit'."

Nami and the others' escape from Crocodile's cage reminded Roman that the Munch-Munch Fruit inherently has the ability to devour creatures and convert them into energy. In the future, after learning 'Seimei Kikan', he could upgrade 'The Thief's Ultimate Art' to make it completely independent, with its own energy storage system.

That way, the book could devour Sea Kings to replenish its energy, avoiding the awkward situation where Roman gets knocked out and Nami loses her combat power at the same time.

"Roman,"

As Roman was seriously thinking about how to enhance Nami's combat power, the girl beside him casually looked away, brushing her orange hair.

"I'm very angry about the Crocodile incident."

?

"Have you ever thought about dying at the hands of the Sand Crocodile? I... we, would be very sad. The remaining time would be spent in memories and pain, such a future—"

"Sorry, it's my fault."

Facing Roman's apology, Nami turned and held his hand, her tea-colored eyes reflecting in Roman's.

"Promise me, if you have to die, let me die first!"

??

"I don't want to live in a world without Roman... even if it's selfish of me, let you bear this pain."

The breeze blew gently, like a scene from a romantic movie.

"I refuse!"

???

"As the saying goes: 'We don't seek to be born on the same day, but we seek to die on the same day!'"

"Good brothers should cross the River Styx together and break through the gates of hell!"

...

The vow was as firm as the Oath of the Peach Garden!

"Ahhh~~"

Rubbing her orange bangs, Nami let go of Roman, the atmosphere completely ruined.

"I'm very sure you are Roman! You didn't eat the Paper-Paper Fruit, but the Iron-Iron Fruit."

What???

"If I'm not Roman, who else could I be? Mr. 2 Bon Clay?"

Roman frowned, deep in thought.

"And the Iron-Iron Fruit... let me recall, the owner was an ugly brute..."

Hopeless.

Just as Nami was speechlessly covering her forehead, Vivi's excited shout came from the corridor.

"Luffy is awake!"

——————

"What?"

"I've been unconscious for three days?!"

"Does that mean I've missed 15 meals—"

When Roman and Nami arrived at the ward, they saw Luffy sitting cross-legged on the bed, looking like he had suffered a great loss.

"Why is your brain working so fast at this moment?"

Nami couldn't help but complain.

"And you even use five meals a day as the standard?"

Usopp added.

"Alright, alright, it's good that the captain is fine."

Although Nami seemed angry again, Roman felt it was probably his fault. So he decided to lighten the mood—

"Why don't we take stock of our combat power upgrades after this battle?"

——

The air suddenly became quiet...

"Oh? Sounds interesting."

Except for Zoro, who perked up at the mention of 'combat power,' everyone else looked uninterested. Fortunately, at this moment:

"I heard the captain is awake,"

A middle-aged woman with golden curls walked in.

"Wait a moment, lunch will be ready soon."

She motioned for the servants behind her to push a cart of fruit to the bedside, "Before eating, have some fruit—"

Burp~~

???

Everyone turned around abruptly, only to see an empty cart! And Luffy patting his stomach...

!!!

"Are you here to perform magic?" x5

Is this the legendary 'Rubber-Gulp'?

Love it, love it...

"Uh, I think we should discuss combat power instead..." After Crocodile, it's Sky Island, then Enies Lobby, then Gecko Moria, followed by Sabaody, Marineford...

If we don't work hard now, are we going to rely on cheats during battles?

"Hahaha,"

Facing Nami, who laughed with her hands on her hips, everyone looked puzzled.

"Sorry, sorry, I just thought—"

"Luffy, who is never full, and Roman, who has a fear of insufficient combat power... This is the you I'm familiar with."

?

"But speaking of combat power,"

Luffy, sitting on the bed, moved his arms a bit, eager to try.

"I feel like I'm several times stronger than before!"

...Not quite, but being twice as strong should be no problem. After fighting Crocodile, Luffy's energy and spirit have improved significantly. In terms of bounty, he's at least at the 80 million level!

"Can you still throw the final punch you used against Crocodile?"

Facing Roman's question, Luffy seriously rubbed his chin and 'pondered deeply.'

"Maybe I can, maybe I can't..."

OK, that means it's not happening under normal circumstances.

It seems unrealistic to expect Luffy to master 'Armament Haki' now, so—

"What about you, Zoro? Can you consistently cut steel?"

"No problem,"

Zoro, now in a black samurai outfit, nodded.

"But—if I want to recreate the state where I 'heard' the sound of everything during the fight with Mr. 1, it might..."

"Got it,"

That state will have to wait until two years later for you to get familiar with. For now, don't think about it.

It seems the government's 60 million bounty for Zoro is quite fair. With his ability to cut steel and his own aura, Zoro is roughly at this level. As for Luffy's 100 million bounty, it's clearly 'overpraising'!

Because of this bounty, Blackbeard came after Luffy. — This is also why Ace fought to the death, but now~~

With Roman around, they could just dive into the sea like Wapol! Could Blackbeard even use his Black Hole to suck up seawater?

Besides, even if they can't win, Roman still has a 'trump card.'

Luffy's background—

As soon as it's revealed, Blackbeard will have no desire to attack Luffy. After all, his goal in capturing pirates with bounties over 100 million is to gain the title of 'Seven Warlords of the Sea.' Capturing Garp's grandson to negotiate with the Marines...

He'd probably get beaten by Garp on the spot!

Whitebeard: ...

In fact, if Ace didn't have a 'good father' like Pirate King Roger, who caused trouble for his wife and son, with Garp and Sengoku's relationship, as long as Ace nodded, he would immediately become the 'Marine hero who infiltrated the pirates,' starting as an officer...

Moreover,

According to Roman's estimation, Blackbeard should be at his 'weakest' right now.

Blackbeard used to be a strong fighter, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to leave a scar on Shanks' face. But after obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit, he focused on developing its abilities and even prioritized using them in battles, which created obvious gaps in his attacks!

First, Ace escaped from him, and then he took a punch from Luffy in Impel Down...

Although this doesn't necessarily give the Straw Hat crew a chance to defeat him, escaping shouldn't be a problem. —So strictly speaking, Blackbeard isn't a significant threat to the Straw Hat crew.

However:

Luffy and Zoro's explosive growth put a lot of pressure on Roman! Without using his Devil Fruit abilities, Roman is no longer a match for Luffy and Zoro. And even with his abilities—

Without using the shameless 'elementalization,' it's hard to say who would win in a real fight...

This is the benefit of having a good teacher to lay a solid foundation. As long as they can break through in desperate situations, their combat power will soar.

It looks like I need to work hard too!

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