Chapter 64: The Strongest? It's Me, That's Right!

Chapter 64: The Strongest? It's Me, That's Right!

"That's too exaggerated!" Usopp exclaimed, dumbfounded, looking at the vast amount of white mist rising continuously from the sea surface being evaporated by the blazing sun-like fireball.

Reiner just waved his hand dismissively at the astonished onlookers. "Eh, low-key, low-key."

The next moment, another swirl of loose sand appeared before Frieren, gradually covering the staff and beginning to vibrate at high speed.

"Wait a minute! Isn't that Crocodile's technique?" Nami's eyes widened, staring intently at the small figure standing on the Merry's rail.

Following the downward swing of the summon's raised staff, the humming sand grains whipped out like a long lash, striking the sea surface and kicking up a huge splash!

Then, like a mud ox entering the sea, it vanished without a trace, the sand dispersing beyond control.

Reiner's face darkened. The moisture absorption and sandification properties weren't inherited, but the weakness to water certainly wasn't left behind.

"Your undead can actually do things like that?"

The crew looked astonished, staring at Frieren on the ship's rail and questioning Reiner.

Reiner's own physical constitution was already so formidable, making him undisputedly the strongest person on the ship right now, even if his actual fighting style still amounted to random flailing.

But, as everyone knew, Reiner's real combat power relied on the undead he commanded. Currently, in terms of raw strength, the Blue and Red Ogres were still the strongest on board.

And now, he had added an undead capable of unleashing such powerful techniques? This caused Zoro, who always pursued strength, to feel his defenses crumble slightly.

He couldn't help but recall meeting Reiner for the first time at the 153rd Branch base; back then, he was confident he wouldn't even need three swords to beat Reiner.

Now? He probably couldn't handle him at all without nine swords!

Seeing the crew's reaction, Reiner felt immensely satisfied. Although he had technically been the strongest on the ship since obtaining the Blue and Red Ogres in Little Garden...

He hadn't really showcased the true power of the 'strange' Red Ogre before. But now...

Reiner stood beside Frieren, leaning back against the railing in his blue shirt, and explained to the others:

"My Devil Fruit has Awakened. It allows the undead to manifest corresponding special abilities latent within their templates. For example, with Zoro's template, even a small knife could achieve the state of cutting steel."

Luffy's template, conversely, hadn't changed much. This directly overturned his previous guess; he had originally thought ability users' templates might allow direct replication of some Devil Fruit powers.

The Chainsaw Devil, aside from becoming more agile and nimble in combat, hadn't changed otherwise.

After some thought, Reiner guessed there were two possible reasons. One was the Devil Fruit type: Luffy's was Zoan, while Crocodile and Ace were Logia.

But he felt this reason was unlikely. He leaned more towards the second possibility: the depth of Devil Fruit development.

Crocodile's development of his Devil Fruit was definitely among the strongest; he was likely not far from Awakening himself.

Reiner even suspected his Ground Secco technique was touching the edge of Awakening – otherwise, how could he turn other things into sand?

The same applied to Ace; his development of the Flame-Flame Fruit was certainly not poor. He had been sailing for so long, with Old Man Whitebeard personally teaching him.

Luffy, in contrast... forget Awakening, he was still a long way off even from Gear Fourth.

Reining in his thoughts, Reiner dismissed Frieren and sent the crew off. The two women also gathered their things and went back into the cabin.

Zoro looked at the barbell he had just put down, gritted his teeth, and lifted it again. Starting today, increase the training volume!

"You're pushing yourself too hard! Today's training volume was already high! Training more now will actually harm your body."

Seeing Zoro still wrapped in bandages, Reiner couldn't help but speak up. Frantically increasing training volume could indeed lead to faster strength gains, and he'd never heard of anyone in this world actually training themselves to death...

But that didn't mean there were no side effects. Over-exploiting the body's potential could leave hidden injuries, similar in principle to Luffy's Gear Second.

Especially now, while still injured, training like this would only accumulate more problems.

"Can't worry about things that far ahead," Zoro said, shouldering the barbell and squatting down with difficulty, gritting his teeth.

"If I don't get stronger now, who knows if I'll even live that long."

Reiner stopped trying to persuade Zoro. He turned and opened the back door of the cabin; if he couldn't manage him, someone else could...

He cleared his throat and yelled inside, "Chopper! Zoro's doing overload training again!"

"Nani!"

Soon, a young voice echoed from inside, laced with anger, shouting loudly, "Stop right now, Zoro! I told you, you can't do overload training yet!"

Chopper's small figure emerged from the cabin, rushing frantically towards the stern deck. Without a word, he immediately transformed into his large form.

"You were seriously injured back in Alabasta! Listen to the doctor, damn it!"

Chopper had two core professional beliefs: First, doctors must heal the sick and injured (from Dr. Hiriluk).

Second, patients must listen to the doctor's orders; if they don't listen, beat them until they do (from Doctoreen Kureha).

On this point, Chopper yielded to no one, not even Zoro sunbathing.

"Put it down right now!" Chopper roared furiously, charging forward and swinging a thick arm in a powerful elbow strike.

"W-w-wait! Wait! I get it!" Zoro, still shouldering the barbell, was instantly terrified, frantically dropping the weight to the floor.

Clang!

Seeing this, Chopper finally stopped. He looked helplessly at Zoro for a moment, then transformed back into his small form, looking up at him.

"That's better. Your injuries haven't healed yet. Overtraining now will leave hidden problems in your body."

"Yeah, yeah, fine! I'll listen to you," Zoro scratched his green hair impatiently, turning his head away resentfully. "Damn Four Eyes actually tattled."

"Reiner was just doing it for your own good."

"Ah, I know," Zoro sighed, sat down cross-legged, leaned directly against the stern railing, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes.

"Go back to your work, Chopper. I'm going to sleep."

"Okay okay, I understand." Chopper looked Zoro over once more, then turned and left on his little short legs, not forgetting to remind Reiner to put away the training equipment before going.

The little drama unfolding on the stern deck was silently observed by a figure in the second-floor living room.

Inside the living room, a set of blue sofas rested in the corner. Several photos hung on the yellow wooden panel walls.

The lowest one was taken just after leaving the East Blue, at the Twin Capes.

Luffy sat cross-legged in the center, grinning. Flanking him were Zoro, with three swords, and Sanji, with a cigarette. Reiner stood behind Luffy in his blue shirt, smiling, with Nami and Usopp beside him.

The background featured the Going Merry and the giant black island whale, Laboon, half-emerged from the sea.

This was the first photo Reiner took after buying an instant camera in Loguetown; old man Crocus helped take it.

Above that was another photo, the background suggesting Little Garden, under a giant cactus ball. The same group, but with Chopper and Vivi added.

Besides these, several other scattered photos surrounded them, all taken during the Straw Hat crew's adventures along the way.

A figure in a white shirt, with black hair reaching her shoulders, stood silently before the sofa, gazing at the heartwarming photo wall.

Robin smiled faintly, turned back to sit on the sofa, and continued flipping through her book.

A beautiful figure walked over.

"Whatcha reading, big sis?" Nami asked with a smile, coming over to sit beside her, stretching her neck to peek.

Having been bribed by Robin's gold, Nami temporarily addressed her as 'big sis', as Robin was slightly older.

When unfamiliar, Nami naturally defaulted to calling Robin 'big sis'.

"I'm reading a historical biography about Jaya Island," Robin smiled gently in reply, then added,

"Smells nice. Is that the perfume you bought in Nanohana, Alabasta?"

"Huh? You can tell?" Nami subconsciously lowered her head, lifting her arm to sniff near her nose.

"Well, I did stay in Alabasta for several years," Robin explained further with a smile. "Nanohana is a city renowned for its perfume. You have excellent taste."

"No, haha! Reiner bought it," Nami laughed awkwardly.

"Oh, the logistics fellow? That's not surprising at all." Closing her book, Robin placed it on the small round table beside her, her gaze shifting towards the photos on the wall.

"Could you tell me about everyone on the ship, Miss Navigator?"

Nami followed Robin's gaze, looking at the photos, understood, and couldn't help but smile.

Just then, an exaggerated voice drifted from the nearby kitchen.

"Miss Nami~ Miss Robin~~ Lunch is ready~! Please feel the passion within my cooking!"

"Let's go. We can talk while we eat," Nami looked at Robin, stood up, and headed towards the dining area.

Sanji brought out the last dish and called outside.

"Lunchtime, everyone!"

"Woahahaha! Coming! Food food!" Luffy responded as if answering a password, enthusiastic as always.

On the Going Merry's mast crow's nest, Reiner summoned the undead hawk created from Pell's template. He then jumped directly from the crow's nest down to the second-floor corridor.

Casually flicking his cigarette butt into the sea, he silently cursed himself for being uncivilized, then walked into the cabin with peace of mind.

Arriving in the dining area, he sat down next to Nami. "At our current speed, how long until we reach [Gold Island]?"

A day had already passed since leaving Alabasta. If they followed the Log Pose, the next island on their route was Gold Island, located directly in a sea region known for its abnormal magnetic field.

There, the Log Pose would malfunction, constantly pointing towards the sky. They would have to land on the nearby Jaya Island and wait for the Log Pose to reset its magnetic field before pointing to the next island.

"Probably arrive the day after tomorrow around noon," Nami replied after thinking for a moment, then added, "If we run into bad weather, it might take an extra day. You know how unstable the Grand Line weather is."

"True," Reiner nodded in agreement. In the Grand Line, the weather only stabilized near islands, reflecting the climate of the specific island.

In the open sea, not strongly influenced by any island's magnetic field, the weather and currents varied wildly due to interference from different islands' magnetic fields.

Ever since encountering the year-long Log Pose reset issue in Little Garden, Reiner had made it a habit to gather information about the next island whenever they landed, making some preparations in advance.

However, usually only he and Nami knew the collected information; Nami because she was the navigator responsible for their route.

As for the others, Reiner never revealed anything, especially not to Luffy.

Reiner enjoyed adventure, but he was the type whose anticipation wasn't diminished even by knowing information beforehand; instead, it only grew stronger.

Luffy was different. He loved completely new, unknown adventures, the thrill of taking things one step at a time.

Reiner wouldn't be the one to spoil that fun. He was the ship's logistics personnel; ensuring logistical support was his job.

"Whoa! This is delicious, Sanji!" Luffy exclaimed, his mouth stuffed with a large piece of meat steak, cheeks bulging, another piece already in his hand.

"Of course! This is camel meat I carefully selected back in Alabasta."

"Where's the booze!? Did you buy booze, smelly cook!?"

"Shut up, Moss Head! If you want a drink, why don't you go buy it yourself!?"

"Relax, I bought some," Reiner pointed towards the floor below. "It's in the first-floor storage room. Those few wooden barrels in the left corner."

Alabasta was most famous for its fruit wines, including grape wine, followed by tequila.

Reiner knew Zoro preferred hard liquor, so he bought some along the way.

"Speaking of which, Zoro, where on earth did you run off to that day we were buying supplies?" Reiner couldn't help but ask curiously.

"Uh..."

Zoro's face instantly turned green, recalling how he got lost that day, ended up outside the Royal Palace, and was chased halfway across town by a dancer.

"Ahem... None of your business!" He deflected, then practically fled down the deck towards the first-floor storage room to get booze.

Three days later, aboard the Going Merry, the weather clear after the rain...

Reiner gazed ahead into the distance. A bustling port indicated the prosperity of the place.

"Everyone! Island sighted!"

He shouted down. Several figures immediately rushed up from the cabin below deck, responding to Reiner with familiar loud shouts.

"Coming! Coming!"

(End of this chapter)

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