novelhk Chapter 39 Changes in Fruit Family, Special Fruit Slots?
Chapter 39 Changes in Fruit Family, Special Fruit Slots?
Marineford, Marine Training Ground No. 73.
"Black Spear - Giant Iron Spikes!"
With a low shout from Tina, a massive, jet-black iron bar emerged from her outstretched hands.
She hurled the huge, heavy iron bar.
"White Smoke - Totem Cut!"
And right now, right across from her, fighting against her, is Smoker.
At this moment, Smoker did not choose to transform into an elemental form to dodge the attack.
On the contrary—at this moment, the white hunter, already covered in sweat, simply gripped his weapon, the 'Ten Hands,' with white smoke swirling around his wrists, and swung the club at the iron bar.
"boom!"
Then, the huge iron bar was smashed in two by his blow and fell heavily to the side.
"Huff...huff..."
"Ha ha..."
At this moment, both Tina and Smoker were clearly exhausted.
Even so, their actions were synchronized—one took out a cigarette, and the other pulled a cigar from his chest, lighting them simultaneously.
"Phew." *2
They each exhaled a puff of smoke, and their expressions seemed to have calmed down.
Then...
"you..."
Tina was about to say something, but then she suddenly stopped.
At that moment, she saw a newspaper seagull flying over Marineford drop down two bundles of newspapers—these were clearly newspapers belonging to the two of them.
"The World Economic News newspaper...isn't it time for its next publication yet?"
Tina frowned slightly.
"Is this a last-minute supplement? What happened?"
Smoker had the same reaction.
She reached out, and an iron bar caught the newspaper, while Smoker on the other side also caught the newspaper while puffing up thick smoke.
Both of them looked at the headlines of their respective newspapers at the same time.
Then...
Both of them frowned at the same time, and a look of surprise flashed in their eyes.
"This is really... a big deal."
Tina's voice was heavy with emotion.
At that moment, a line of bold text was prominently displayed at the very top of the newspaper's headline.
Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, has been killed.
A simple sentence is enough to shake the ocean.
But that's not even the whole story.
The most crucial information is in the report details below.
"The government claims that Crocodile was killed by the president and head of the criminal organization 'Baroque Works' in the Grand Line, codenamed 'MR.0'."
"However, after our reporter confirmed the information, an insider provided news that Mr. 0 calls himself 'Chenlong' and seems to be related to Youji, the criminal in the 'Heavenly Gold Robbery Case' that shocked the world not long ago."
"They all come from a mysterious organization called the Twelve Constellations, and Baroque Works may be a subordinate organization of the other..."
Upon seeing this, Smoker gripped the newspaper tightly.
"Crocodile is dead? Dragon... and Rooster are from the same organization?"
His voice was low and his words were full of seriousness.
"Yes—last time they stole the Heavenly Gold, and this time they directly killed a Shichibukai... The Twelve Constellations seem to be a very troublesome organization."
At that moment, Tina picked up a cigarette and took a drag.
"Morgans, what a 'big news'! I wonder if he dares to report this kind of news. Isn't he afraid of getting into trouble with the government?"
She is a very thoughtful person.
She was well aware that the Navy's information blockade regarding the "Rooster" was extremely thorough.
Apart from the navy personnel led by Roy who had been directly involved in Masterport affairs.
Other naval forces knew very little about the Rooster.
However, at this moment, related information appeared in the content of the World Economic News.
Furthermore, given that this newspaper was a sudden "temporary supplement," Tina could almost guess that Morgans probably hadn't consulted with the World Government about this issue.
"Morgans... that kind of troublemaker, nothing would be surprising, right?"
At that moment, Smoker shook his head.
Then, he decisively threw the newspaper aside: "Let's keep training—we're still 83 goals away from our target today."
"..."
Tina's expression froze upon hearing Smoker's words.
"So... what's wrong with you?"
"You show absolutely no concern for something that could shake the entire ocean, only thinking about training—what's gotten into you lately?" Tina asked, puzzled.
She couldn't help but complain.
Lately, Smoker has been dragging her to train almost every day, and the intensity of the training is quite frightening.
Even Tina, who originally didn't dislike training, felt she couldn't handle it anymore.
"Shaking the ocean... I never thought the Seven Warlords of the Sea should exist."
Smoker, with a cigar in his mouth, said, "I have more important things to do than worry about who defeated that guy."
What he said was indeed true.
Normally, he might be concerned about the defeat of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, especially about the organization called the "Twelve Constellations"—as Morgans wished, the appearance of this name was definitely enough to shake the entire sea.
But the problem is, he has more important things to do now.
That is... a military exercise involving the three armed forces!
"Roy..."
Smoker is a strong-willed person.
As contemporaries and friends, there was a certain degree of rivalry between him and Roy.
Previously, although he acknowledged that Roy was quite powerful, he always considered himself to be stronger than Roy.
After all, he is a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, while Roy is not.
But last time, after witnessing Roy and Zephyr's battle firsthand.
His thinking, however, changed naturally.
"That guy has quietly grown to that level..."
The thought of the "Three Armed Forces Exercise" that would begin in a few months, and the harsh words Roy had said to him back then, made him feel uneasy.
"If I really get defeated by that guy, that bastard might ask me to become his adjutant—and then I'm afraid he'll laugh at me for the rest of my life."
He was both afraid his brother was suffering and afraid his brother was driving a Land Rover—that perfectly described Smoker's current state of mind.
That's why his training has been so intense lately.
Even with such intense training, Smoker still felt uneasy.
"He became Instructor Zephyr's apprentice, and Instructor Zephyr said he would pass on the essence of his physical techniques to him..."
Smoker said worriedly, "It's been half a month already. That guy... he's probably been training hard every day lately and has gotten a lot stronger, hasn't he?"
Thinking of this, he felt that the cigar in his mouth didn't taste so good anymore.
So he looked at Tina, who was still looking bewildered, and said, "Quick, keep training—I've changed my mind. We'll do 50 more repetitions today."
"ha?"
Upon hearing this, Tina frowned and tilted her head.
Seeing Smoker's solemn "I absolutely cannot lose" expression, she could only shake her head helplessly: "Tina is speechless."
...
While Smoker was preoccupied with his best friend and training intensely, he was naturally unaware of...
Inside the dormitory of Zephyr's unique 'Z' training ground.
"belch!"
A loud burp followed.
Although it was already broad daylight, Roy was still limp on the bed.
"Whew...that feels good! I actually drank the whole bottle in one go. I've definitely gotten a lot stronger!"
Looking at the Coke bottle in his hand, Roy's expression was very satisfied, as if he had accomplished something remarkable.
Hard training?
That's impossible, of course.
It wasn't that Roy himself was lazy, but rather that the situation on Zephyr's side was a bit strange.
In fact, after Zefa said he would take him as a true disciple and pass on the essence of his physical skills to him,
Roy was indeed prepared to undergo grueling training.
But the truth is that after Zephyr brought him to the training camp, he only had him do some basic strength training every day.
If I had to point out something special, it would be that the training involved a very wide range of aspects.
Muscles, bones, strength... Zephyr trained him in every aspect and recorded the data.
Apart from that, Roy rarely saw his cheap teacher.
And Roy was happy to have that.
Every day I do some basic strength training, then enjoy a Coke and soak up the sun, then enjoy another Coke... Life couldn't be better.
Especially in the last few days...
"The Baroque Workshop deal is secured, and the Beli that King Cobra promised will also be delivered to Chenlong soon..."
Thinking of this, Roy almost couldn't help but laugh out loud.
From the very beginning, his plan for Alabasta was aimed at Crocodile.
Baroque Works is a notorious criminal organization in the Grand Line, with over 2000 members.
Such a behemoth is certainly not something to be trifled with.
Bounty hunters, black market trading, mercenary employment, sea monster hunting... the business network involved is extremely developed.
Its unique internal situation had already caught Roy's attention.
His plan was completed quite smoothly—the "Dragon" he had meticulously arranged did indeed kill Crocodile.
After defeating Crocodile, Chenlong has now officially become Mr. 0 with the help of Nico Robin.
Next, the Baroque Studio would belong to him.
"However... the details of the business need to be changed slightly."
Of course, Roy still has his bottom line in this regard.
He would never touch businesses like human trafficking or illegal drugs.
But even so...
"Baroque Studio alone can generate at least 60 billion peggs in net profit each year after deducting the basic operating costs."
"It's a pity Crocodile spent most of his working capital on the 'Ideal Land Project,' otherwise I could have a lot of money right now."
After learning about Baroque Works' situation through Nicole Robin, Roy was naturally extremely satisfied.
It's no wonder that in the original work, Crocodile was able to establish such a behemoth as the "Cross Guild" and even use a huge amount of Berries to offer bounties to the Navy.
This tyrant may not be the strongest in terms of combat power, but he is certainly skilled at making money.
And that's not all—don't forget, Roy also has a partnership with King Cobra.
King Cobra had already paid 15 billion berries for the previous rainfalls.
In addition, the reward for saving the country will also be given to Chenlong later.
At that time, another huge sum of 30 billion was received, enough for Roy to strengthen many more fruits.
Of course, for Roy, this wasn't even the biggest gain.
The most important gain was the illusory light screen in front of him at that moment.
Fruit Encyclopedia
[Holder: Roy Amos]
[Currently listed Devil Fruit types: 34 (Paramecia-16, Zoan-12, Logia-5, Special Paramecia-0, Mythical Zoan-1)]
[Number of fruit slots: 3 → 4]
[Current holdings of Pele: 1.27543 billion]
[Currently equipped: Ox-Ox Fruit - Giant Rhinoceros Form LV2, Dragon-Dragon Fruit - Wind God Pteranodon Form LV3, Human-Human Fruit - Great Buddha Form LV1, Void]
As the light screen flickered, Roy could clearly see the newly opened, illusory page in the latter half of the "Encyclopedia of Fruits".
And the new text that appeared on the paper.
[Since the number of fruits in the Fruit Encyclopedia has reached 30, the 'Special Fruit Slot' has been unlocked]
After accumulating 60 analyzed Devil Fruits, the fifth Devil Fruit slot will unlock a special slot - the "Devil Fruit Fusion Slot".