Sabaody Archipelago.
On the shore of Grove 40—
Crash!
With the sound of the ship pushing away the waves, the Angel docked steadily, then lowered the anchor, and docked firmly on the shore.
"Um!!"
Rob on the deck stretched, twisted his body, thumped his waist and shoulders, with a relaxed expression on his face.
Tap-tap--
A series of footsteps sounded.
Robin, Uta, and Makino, who came to Sabaody Archipelago for the first time, all came to the deck with curious faces.
"Finally reached."
With a smile on his face and a radiant expression, Robin spoke with emotion.
Makino looked expectantly at the huge main trunk and smiled, saying:
"Is this the Sabaody Archipelago? What a magical island!"
And Uta, who was wearing a princess dress, with a nice little earphone on her neck, bounced to Rob's side. Holding Rob's hand, she said:
"Nii-chan, I want to go to the island to play!"
Rob rubbed Uta's little head and tugged at her flexible, bunny-ear-like hair. With a gentle smile on his face, he said:
"Okay! I'll take you to Sabaody Park later!"
Hearing these words, a smile appeared on Uta's face. She was really cute and then directly regarded Rob, who was already 1.95 meters tall, as a big tree, and climbed onto Rob's broad back in two or three steps. Arms around Rob's neck, and a kiss on the cheek, she said:
"Thank you!"
As they talked, Rob looked at Robin and Makino and said:
"Let's go play together! If there's something you want to see, you can also explore separately and then meet up later! We'll stay here for a few days!"
"After that, we'll enter Fish-Man Island, and then head to the New World!"
Hearing what Rob said, both Robin and Makino nodded. They followed Rob's figure, the four talked and laughed together, and walked towards the inside of the Sabaody Archipelago.
They went to Sabaody Park where Uta wanted to play, then went shopping, bought a batch of daily necessities, and bought a large number of various medicinal materials for making two major potions.
The news that Rob and his crew appeared in Sabaody Archipelago has spread widely.
Only—
Given Rob's current status and reputation on the sea, along with his notable achievements and his terrifying strength, no one dares to disturb their interest in shopping!
In the blink of an eye, five days passed like this.
On the night of the fifth day.
At the rip-off tavern on Grove 13—
Rob came here alone and met Rayleigh, who wasn't out fooling around.
"You fought Garp?"
Drinking the fine wine brought by Rob, Rayleigh looked at Rob unexpectedly.
Then sighed:
"How do you feel? The strength of that old man should not be underestimated!"
Nodding in approval, Rob said:
"Yeah! He's really amazing!"
"From the perspective of the strength and techniques I've mastered, I am not inferior to him, maybe even surpass him! But Garp's combat experience is too fierce! I can't take advantage of it at all. I can only use the method of exchanging injuries for injuries to deal damage!"
True—
During the battle with Garp, Rob didn't use his Devil Fruit ability much, but that doesn't matter. If you lose, you lose. Insufficient combat experience is a weakness, and it isn't shameful to acknowledge and improve upon it.
It's worth mentioning that—
In battle, Rob rarely uses his Devil Fruit abilities and prefers to fight with his own body and sword skills. This is a matter of personal fighting habits, and it's relatively difficult to change it. After all, in a battle, everyone will subconsciously choose the style of play they are most familiar with to ensure victory.
His combat effectiveness has always been more dependent on his own strength and the development of his Devil Fruit abilities. Except for the Op-Op Fruit's "Perennial Youth Operation," Rob's enthusiasm for developing his fruit abilities isn't that high!
Rob has never relied much on his Devil Fruit ability in battle.
So why choose to eat a Devil Fruit?
Of course to look handsome!
There's a fifth talent-extreme sublimation to ensure that you won't leave yourself a weakness, and Devil Fruits are used to look cool and be aggressive!
Under such circumstances, as a traveler, even if he doesn't rely on the fruit ability, he would choose to eat one or two Devil Fruits, right?
Based on this idea, Rob wants to get the Rumble-Rumble Fruit because he believes in having what others have, even if he doesn't need to use it. Is there any problem with this?
The later Op-Op Fruit is because of the "Perennial Youth Operation," which can bring immortality!
When he was thinking about his third Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, the first one he considered was not the form of Nika, which seemed to be stronger, but Kaido's Azure Dragon form.
This is also due to collecting hobbies and considerations that align with his own sense of style!
If we really want to talk about the fruit ability itself—
Rob isn't that interested!
But back to the main point.
Hearing that Rob didn't make excuses for his failure, Rayleigh couldn't help but nod. As someone who used to fight against Garp often, he naturally knows Garp's strength!
Taking a sip of wine, Rayleigh saw the confidence in Rob's eyes:
"But next time... I won't lose again!"
Rayleigh grinned and said:
"Hahaha... you're really confident! Entering the New World this time, you must have plans, right? Who's your target? The 'Strongest Creature' - Kaido? Or the 'World's Strongest Man' - Whitebeard?"
Rob is chasing the title of 'the strongest.' Rayleigh knew this, so he was very curious whether Rob was going to challenge Kaido or Whitebeard this time.
Raising his wine glass, Rob's eyes gleamed with determination:
"Why can't it be both?"
Rayleigh froze for a moment before raising his glass to toast Rob:
"Then I wish you success!"
The two quickly shifted their conversation away from this topic, and soon hearty laughter filled the tavern as they enjoyed their chat.
Late at night, when Rob was about to leave, Rayleigh escorted him to the door of the tavern.
"Mr. Rayleigh!" Turning around, Rob looked at Rayleigh, "The island of Raftel shouldn't be an island in the ordinary sense, right? Otherwise, the World Government would have found it in eight hundred years. So if you want to go to Raftel, in addition to the Road Poneglyphs, there must be special conditions!"
Hearing Rob's question, Rayleigh looked intrigued and then said:
"Huh? Are you interested in Raftel too? If it's you, maybe it's really possible for you to reach that place! Are you sure you need me to tell you? The old man thinks it might be more interesting if you discover it yourself!"
Shaking his head, Rob casually said:
"No need! I don't have any interest in that place! I'm just interested in the Poneglyphs, and on what kind of state this island is like! And I know very well—even if I got to Raftel, it would be useless. The Joyboy it was waiting for isn't me, but someone else, and I've already met the Joyboy that Raftel is waiting for."
Rayleigh's pupils shrank, and he looked at Rob in disbelief, his face full of surprise for a moment:
"You know?"
With a slight nod, Rob turned away:
"Goodbye, Rayleigh. When we meet next time, I will have become a true 'legend'!"
Seeing Rob leaving, Rayleigh opened his mouth but didn't know how to ask again. Rob, on the other hand, said goodbye in a good mood.
This old man—he just asked curiously about Raftel and ended up talking about something as if he was posing a riddle. Such a difficult old man!
The next day.
Early in the morning—
On the shore of the Sabaody Archipelago, on the deck of the Angel, Rob was ready to set off for Fish-Man Island. He looked at the sea and raised his hand to caress the rudder of the Angel.
Rob looked forward and said:
"Xiaobai, submarine mode!"
Following Rob's order, the hull of the Angel began to dive towards the bottom of the sea, not too fast and not too slow. A layer of transparent compartments, like soap bubbles, appeared continuously on the part of the hull that had already submerged.
Quickly, when the Angel fully submerged into the bottom of the sea, the coating wrapped the entire Angel and slowly descended towards the deep sea.
Seeing this for the first time, Makino's face was filled with surprise:
"The bottom of the sea looks so beautiful! This is a scene that people on the surface can hardly see, right?"
Robin, who was more curious than Makino and had seen this situation before, was even more interested in the layer of coating that isolated the seawater released by the Angel. She said:
"This resin? No, it feels different!"
Rob reached out and touched the water barrier, which was thinner than the resin but much stronger. He explained:
"It's not the resin from Saboady, but a similar air shield. It's not only stronger but also has good defensive power. It won't burst directly even if too many holes are opened at one time!"
"And it won't be unusable just because we leave the Sabaody Archipelago. Its performance is infinitely better than that resin! Xiaobai's submersible mode is quite impressive."
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