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"It's a really useful ability~"
Seeing Smoker's body transform into a cloud of white smoke, catching Luffy and the strange duo, Usopp suddenly exclaimed.
Immediately he looked at Nami and asked: "By the way, Nami, haven't you decided whether to eat that Devil Fruit yet?!"
"How is it possible to make a decision so quickly?!"
"That's a lifetime commitment!"
Nami replied hesitantly.
Although Red said this fruit might have a good Devil Fruit ability, who knows if they would encounter better fruits in the future?!
Having good luck with treasure twice in a row had filled Nami with high hopes for her future! What's more, they now had Red's Pokémon moves, so Devil Fruit abilities weren't necessary to become stronger. They would also add the weakness of being afraid of seawater and Sea Prism Stone.
Nami wouldn't eat a Devil Fruit unless she encountered an ability that particularly suited her preferences.
If it didn't work out, she could just sell the fruit and earn at least hundreds of millions of Berries!
'If there's a fruit ability that helps with navigation, I might consider it,' Nami thought to herself.
At that moment, Smoker brought Luffy and the other two back to the deck, and the Straw Hats immediately surrounded them.
After Zoro and the others punched and kicked him in retaliation, Luffy, who was now bruised and swollen, finally came to his senses.
"Hey, it's morning already?!"
He looked at the huge sun above his head and spoke confusedly as if he had just woken up.
"This idiot~!"
Seeing her captain in such an embarrassing state, Nami stroked her head helplessly, as if she didn't want to be associated with him.
Then everyone's eyes focused on Red again.
Compared to Luffy, who was carefree and often caused trouble, their vice-captain was indeed more reliable.
"What should we do with these two?"
Zoro pulled out Narukami and Sandai Kitetsu from near the necks of Vivi and Mr. 9 and asked.
The sharp blades immediately turned the two captives' faces pale with fear.
Seeing this, Sanji shouted in dissatisfaction:
"Hey! Zoro, how can you be so rude to a lady?!"
"Shut up! You perverted cook!"
Zoro glanced at him angrily.
"Sooner or later you'll get into trouble because of women!"
"Then I'd die happy!"
When it came to the topic of women, Sanji even ignored his ongoing bet with Zoro and directly confronted him.
In an instant, fiery and cold auras suddenly rose from the two men's bodies, with flames and lightning flashing in their eyes.
Vivi and Mr. 9, caught in the middle, trembled with fear.
"Hey, now is not the time to argue, right?" Usopp reached out to try to stop them.
After seeing that it had no effect, he had no choice but to look at Red for help: "Red, please do something about them!"
"Haha, okay."
Red walked over and suddenly grinned at Zoro and Sanji: "You two, what's the use of just glaring at each other like this?!"
"Can looks kill?!"
"How about I make a proposal?!"
"Hmm?!"
Red's tone didn't sound like she was trying to break up the fight, and immediately attracted the attention of both men.
A smirk appeared on her face as she said:
"Just continue your previous bet!"
"The one-month period is almost up, right?"
"Why don't we see which of you can develop Observation Haki first!"
"How about the loser has to wash the winner's socks for a month?!"
"Sounds good!"
Red's suggestion was instantly accepted by both of them.
Zoro's eyes flashed with fighting spirit. He even forgot about threatening Vivi and Mr. 9, and directly placed his sword on his shoulder and laughed: "Looks like after a while, I'll have to change three pairs of socks a day!"
"Then you'll have to suffer~" Sanji said dismissively, "Not only will you have to wash my socks, but you'll also have to wash three pairs of your own socks too!"
CRACK!
This time, the intense aura between the two actually materialized, and lightning sparked on the Going Merry.
The next moment...
"Hmph!!!"
With a slight groan of dissatisfaction, both men immediately turned around and looked away.
Usopp: "Red, you really know how to break up fights!" Red smiled slightly and then said: "Usopp, go get the chains that were binding Smoker and tie these two up first."
"Also, Nami and Sanji, please search their bodies to see if they have anything valuable."
As soon as she finished speaking, Red immediately cast her gaze on Vivi and Mr. 9, threatening them with a smile:
"You two, I advise you not to try anything~"
"If I'm not mistaken, you should be members of the assassin organization Baroque Works, right?!"
"What?! How did you know that?!"
Hearing Red directly call out their affiliation, Vivi and Mr. 9's pupils suddenly dilated, showing signs of fear.
"Hahaha..." Red smiled lightly, her all-knowing eyes settling on Vivi.
"I know more than you think."
"If you don't want to suffer unnecessary pain, I advise you two to stay quiet."
"Relax, we won't harm you!"
"You..."
Vivi and Mr. 9 wanted to say something more.
But at that moment, under Smoker's glaring gaze, Usopp took out the chains that had previously bound the Marine.
Smoker thought: If you're going to kidnap someone, just do it quietly. Why do you have to keep reminding me that I was captured?!
I think you're deliberately trying to embarrass me, aren't you?!
In the end, he could only swallow his anger.
Because in this situation, the bigger his reaction, the more embarrassing it would be!
A moment later, Usopp once again demonstrated his amazing rope skills and tied up Vivi and Mr. 9.
Meanwhile, Nami kicked away Sanji, who was trying to search Vivi, and took out a round object from the captive's pocket.
"This is... a Log Pose?!"
Nami examined it curiously, comparing it with the Log Pose in her hand that she had purchased in Loguetown.
She noticed that compared to her new one that was still spinning and hadn't yet recorded a magnetic field, this Log Pose actually pointed steadily in one direction. Thanks to Red's lessons, she immediately guessed:
"Is this a Log Pose that has already recorded a location?"
Nami looked closer at the Log Pose and saw a line of small words written below.
"Whiskey Peak? Is that the name of an island on one of the seven routes?"
Red, who was coming closer, saw the Log Pose and immediately said to Nami:
"The Log Pose for Whiskey Peak? That needs to be kept safe."
"I think there's a high probability that Luffy will choose this route."
"After all, this might be the only route where we can encounter a Shichibukai in the first half of the Grand Line."
"What? What?!"
Luffy, who was still thinking about how to communicate with Laboon, suddenly perked up his ears.
Zoro, who was still annoyed with Sanji, also changed his expression: "Shichibukai?! Isn't that a pirate with the same title as Hawk-Eye?!"
"Hmm... Hawk-Eye is definitely much stronger!" Red showed a thoughtful look, "But there is someone who can almost reach the level of the Four Emperors if he uses his full power!"
"Yo... Yonko?!"
All at once! There was a chorus of surprise on the Merry.
Smoker's eyes widened as he looked at Red suspiciously:
"Hey?! Kid, are you joking?!"
As a Marine, he naturally knew information about the Shichibukai very well.
Since when was there such a powerful person among them?! "I said almost at that level."
Red smiled slightly and answered Smoker's question.
"And his power isn't stable. In fact, based on overall strength, he might still be the weakest among the Shichibukai!"
The Shichibukai Red mentioned was naturally referring to Gecko Moria after using Shadow's Asgard to absorb the shadows of 1,000 people.
Although his mental strength simply wasn't enough to sustain that state for long, his power was so terrifying that he could crack an island with one palm – definitely at the level of a Yonko! If in the original timeline he hadn't been so arrogant and determined to absorb all the shadows, but only maintained between 500-800...
The Straw Hats might not have been able to defeat him.
Smack! Luffy, who had listened carefully to Red's words, immediately smacked his fists together, his eyes flashing with excitement.
"Interesting!!!"
The next second, he cast his fiery gaze on the Log Pose in Nami's hand and waved his arm: "Okay! Whiskey Peak, right?! Let's go that route!"
"A new Shichibukai?"
Zoro also chuckled, and the blade at his waist slightly unsheathed.
"Indeed, only enemies like this can get me excited!"
Sanji said nothing, just silently lit a cigarette.
"Uh... uh... have you decided so quickly?!"
The timid Usopp's legs trembled, but seeing that none of his friends seemed concerned, he quickly grabbed Red's arm:
"Quick! Red, tell me more about this Shichibukai!"
"I need to urgently develop some new weapons!!!"
Since he couldn't resist the crew's decision, he could only choose to prepare himself.
Usopp planned to use his own methods to avoid the dangers they might encounter ahead.
"Hello?! You guys, are you for real?!"
Seeing that the Straw Hats showed no fear and even had plans to fight against a Shichibukai, Smoker was so shocked that the cigar almost fell from his mouth.
He exclaimed in disbelief:
"That's a Shichibukai!"
"One of the great pirates of the Grand Line selected by the World Government!"
"Do you even understand what you're talking about?!"
"Huh?!" Luffy tilted his head and looked at him in confusion: "Of course I do!"
"Shichibukai, it's not like we haven't met one before!"
"Wait!" Smoker trembled, as if remembering something, and said in shock: "I recall a rumor from a few days ago that you had fought against the world's greatest swordsman, Hawk-Eye..."
"That rumor can't be true, can it?!"
"Shishishi~"
Luffy suddenly laughed, neither confirming nor denying.
Because he wasn't sure whether it was a fight or a lesson.
Zoro, on the other hand, subconsciously touched his chest.
That day, his body had been sliced open hundreds of times. It was hard to forget.
But it was precisely because of that battle that he completely grasped the opportunity to develop Armament Haki.
Thinking about it this way, it turned out that Red was the real devil on board the Merry! To help him master Armament Haki as quickly as possible, she had come up with such a devious plan.
Zoro subconsciously looked at Red, and immediately saw him smiling and saying: "Don't act like you haven't seen the world, Captain Smoker."
"You'll lower the quality of our group!"
"Hey! Don't count me as part of your group!"
Smoker shouted angrily.
But Red had already turned away, pretending not to hear anything.
"Alright, Luffy, hurry up and find a way to communicate with Laboon, and then get ready to set sail!"
"Got it!!!"
Luffy looked thoughtful again.
A moment later, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately activated Gear Third and grew to giant size.
Although compared to the huge Island Whale Laboon, he had merely changed from a small ant to a large cockroach...
But at least it was enough for Laboon to notice his presence!
Luffy jumped into the air, and then shouted at Laboon's eye:
"Hey!!! Laboon~!!!!!!"
"Come be my partner!!!"
"I know where Brook is!?"
"Let's go find him together!!!"