After the power lunch/breakfast/entire day food, Zack finally resumed his training. Valentine had no choice but to accompany him.
This ability of his devil fruit stunned him. He knew he was able to copy others' powers to increase his own temporarily.
Yesterday, he found out that by changing the reason for the bet, he could change the entire game. Although it would still be three cards game. The rules of the game changed. Using his system, observation menu he came to know about them.
First of all, he categorized the benefits of his devil fruit into two types. Temporary Benefits and Permanent Benefits.
Temporary Benefits- All of the increment or decrement of his strength during a certain period.
Permanent Benefits- All of the increment or decrement of his strength that remains even after stopping the use of his devil fruit.
In other words, Permanent Benefits don't mean they will be fixed. If his strength decreases, it can be increased. And, if his strength increases, it can be decreased.
It's just that the strength won't vanish because he stopped using devil fruit unlike with the Temporary benefits.
The second thing that he found was a gamble.
Currently, he could use his abilities to either permanently increase his strength or temporarily. But, unlike when he increases his powers temporarily, the permanent increase of his powers has one special advantage which is to force the person he is betting against. He was also able look into stats of others and monitor it helping them in training better.
Although he doesn't know whether it could work against people with Haki since Haki has the power to fight against Devil Fruits. In fact, Haki must be created to fight against the Devil Fruit users. Can he truly monitor it or not still a question that bothers him.
So, except for Haki users, he wasn't even sure if it will work against people with devil fruit as well. After all, he was able to force Valentine into training which was quite astonishing if one could ask.
For example, if he runs into an admiral. And, if the Haki doesn't affect his devil fruit, then he could force the Admiral to train him.
Of course, if this ability is true, then his fruit would be broken, even more than Luffy's fruit. Zack cared very much about it. Although it sounds ridiculous, the current benefits that Zack got were something that worth taking the risks.
Although he doesn't know if his physical strength has surpassed Luffy's or not, he could feel that his strength has grown tremendously. Just like when he improved after fighting against Kuro Pirates.
Just imagine having such growth while his strength has already reached quite high. This was the result of training.
That's why while training with Valentine, he focused completely on his devil fruit. Except for those two things, he also found that his devil fruit would be dangerous for himself if not carefully used.
Currently, he has used it against one of the minor characters of One Piece. The one thing that he can't forget is that this was the universe created by a person who has given everyone a lot of luck.
He means it. There has been rarely a case when the character truly dies even when their deaths have been shown to everyone. That's why he needed to be more careful whenever he wanted to use his powers.
Zack had made up his mind not to use his devil fruit abilities any time soon. He doesn't want to be stuck with weakness.
His training continued. Unlike before, this time he had to do squats while Valentine was sitting on his shoulders. Nami was extremely pissed off because of it but even so, she couldn't do anything to stop him.
He didn't know whether he was having the worst time of his life or the best time of his life.
Though this thing took longer than he expected. Although his strength had improved, he was also suffering because of her increased weight. So, in the end, it took him nearly one day and one whole night to complete it.
The Next Morning,
Nami spotted Zack on the ground and Valentine above him. Seeing this, she got so furious that she almost broke the ship.
(Nami's haki is invincible)
Soon, Zoro came and took Zack to his bed while Vivi had to come and take Valentine since Nami was still pissed off. Even she hasn't got a chance to ride on Zack's shoulder.
She couldn't see someone else doing the thing that she hasn't done yet. She couldn't help but feel frustrated for not making any move. But, soon, she started blaming Zack.
After being with him for weeks, she knew he has feelings for her as well. But, just like her, he was also a stubborn piece of meat. After a whole day's rest, Zack and Valentine finally woke up in the evening.
And, it was still Zack who woke her up by his classic line that he stole from Luffy.
"SANJI, FOOD!"
In the cabin, Nami frowned as she asked "Does he need to shout like that every time?"
"Yes!" Luffy put a serious expression on his face and nodded to Nami.
"Don't mind them, Nami-San! Both of them are learning from each other." Sanji said as he smacked Luffy's head with his foot when he saw Luffy stuffing food into his pants.
"Jeez! Don't put food in your pants. Just eat it!" Sanji sighed and walked away after kicking Luffy once more time. He started preparing more meals for everyone.
Soon, Zack joined the table as they started discussing.
"Zack, how much do you know about Little Garden?" Nami was the first one to ask. Unlike in the original timeline, instead of getting scared, she was learning to depend more on Zack.
"Pretty much a lot! There are two quite interesting people living on that island. Alongside people, there are also some creatures from thousands of years ago."
"If I am not wrong, Baroque Work should've sent their people by now, and since we haven't encountered them in the seas that means they must be at the Little Garden waiting for us."
Hearing his reply, Nami put her hand on the chin as she thought for a moment.
"Zack, if I am not wrong, you should also know how long will the log take to reset on that island, right?"
Hearing this question, everyone looked at Zack.
Although Zack knew, he shook his head and said "I didn't specifically check this island. As I told you, this island has quite a unique feature and the only that interests me is also two people living on that island."
"They probably won't make things difficult for us as long as we don't fight them. We stand no chance against them."
At this moment, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and even Luffy raised their eyebrows with a solemn expression. Unlike them, Zack knew the power difference very well. And, they knew that Zack knew a such thing.
So, they fully trust his judgment.
"Since you are calm about it, I can assume that they won't attack us, right?" Nami didn't care about their expression as she asked.
"They normally won't attack us but if you get into a conflict with them, then they might attack. So, as long as you don't pick up a fight against them, we are fine."
Zack was a bit serious about this. Basically, he doesn't understand the power level of those giants. They were introduced way earlier in the series where the attacks they used seem quite amazing.Later they returned in egghead island to help Luffy fight against five elders.
But, later when Haki was introduced, Zack got the feeling that was an attack coated with Haki. Maybe conqueror's Haki coating as well? He wouldn't go that far as to say that they can use Conqueror Haki coating but their attack was truly astonishing.
But whatever might be the reason, he knew they were strong.
"Alright then, do we need to know anything more?" Nami asked.
At this moment, Zack was left with serious thoughts. There were two problems in front of him. Both of them were interconnected. If he tries to solve one, another might become unsolvable.
He took a deep breath while eating some meat and looked at Luffy. Luffy also perceived Zack's gaze and stared at him. At this moment, Zack smiled and asked.
"Captain, I can trust you, right?"
"Shishishsi! Of course!" Luffy suddenly laughed and nodded his head. He didn't even think about what was Zack talking about. He just knew Zack had trust in him and he must accomplish his task as a captain.
"Huh! What do you mean by that?" Nami looked at him with confusion and asked.
"Nothing! And, when you go to that island, don't forget to wear full sleeve clothes. The insects of that island can transmit a serious disease that can take our lives in five days."
"We don't have a doctor now. So, we must do our best to keep ourselves safe." Zack answered.
"Mr. Zack, you are really amazing. How do you know much about that island?" After everyone went silent, Vivi curiously asked.
Shrill!
Suddenly, Nami felt chills running down her spine as she glanced at Vivi but she quickly calmed down.
There is no way a princess will love a pirate, right?