In Nami's imagination, an adventure on the island should look something like this:
Warm sunlight filtering through the trees, lighting up a forest path, with birds chirping happily, adding a lively touch to the calm. Beneath the trees, a rabbit curiously watching the unfamiliar visitors…
The reality, however, was:
"Ahhhhhh~~~!"
Scorching sunlight streamed through the leaves, casting a fierce glow over the shrubs, and the loud cries of raptors gave the place an ominous edge. A rabbit in the shade watched the visitors with a scornful gaze…
With one powerful stomp from the tall, muscular rabbit, the ground suddenly gave way, leaving a crater the size of a house! Tears streamed down Nami's face as she ran even faster.
Damn you, Luffy—
"Hehehe, isn't this adventure exciting?"
"Exciting my foot!"
"Don't panic, it's just a rabbit," came Roman's calm voice from nearby, making Nami instinctively slow down.
"Luffy, let's take it down together!"
?!
Nami: Then I'll be leaving…
"Hehehe, just what I wanted!"
Luffy suddenly braked hard, planting one hand on the ground.
"Gear Second!"
At the same time, he channeled his newfound control over Haki into his fists, giving off the aura of a true hunter!
"Armament - Hardening!"
Roman spun around as well, a layer of metallic light covering his whole body, while a sword appeared in his hand:
Buzz—
A deep hum resonated from the Haki-covered sword. This wasn't just his old "chainsaw weapon"—Roman had imbued it with his recently acquired quake powers! Though it didn't produce the powerful white glow that Whitebeard's quake powers were known for, it still gave Roman's attack a significant boost.
"Gomu Gomu no Eagle Rifle!"
"Paper Dance - Quake Sword!"
Luffy's Haki-covered fist and Roman's vibrating sword both struck the resilient rabbit behind them! Even a rabbit tough enough to survive on this terrifying island couldn't withstand an attack from the two core members of the Straw Hat crew.
Blood splattered, and thunderous sounds echoed. After a few intense minutes:
"Hahaha, looks like we'll have rabbit stew tonight!"
Luffy laughed, looking up at the sky. "If Roman hadn't been here, I might not have been able to take down this rabbit on my own—"
Wham! Wham!
Both Roman and Luffy received a punch to the head.
"This is your idea of an adventure?!"
Nami grabbed Luffy's shirt and shook him fiercely.
"I almost got squashed into a pulp by that rabbit, do you realize that?!"
"That's why you should always stay alert—"
"Shut up!"
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you two, but…" Nami dropped Luffy and turned to Roman. "What's with these terrifying creatures? It took both of you just to take down a single rabbit."
"Well," Roman scratched his chin thoughtfully, "maybe there's a Devil Fruit user around here with the power to 'enhance' animals who has awakened their abilities or something?"
After all, the Jade Emperor can control all beasts, even the artificial Devil Fruits like SMILE. So, if her fruit ability continues to develop, it's possible that she could gain the power to enhance the beasts under her command.
This could explain why the animals on this island are so ridiculously strong.
"Well, actually, why these animals are so strong doesn't matter that much. What's important is that they can help us improve our strength."
A dream supported by strength is a real dream. A dream without strength is just an illusion. — It's not that Roman only focuses on increasing his combat power, but the Straw Hat crew needs to have strong enough abilities to make their dreams a reality.
Luffy's dream is to become the Pirate King, and to do that, he needs to defeat the strongest people in the world; Zoro's dream is to be the world's greatest swordsman, which means he has to defeat everyone, including Mihawk; Robin wants to read the Poneglyphs, which puts her at odds with the entire world...
If we're being honest, the easiest dream to achieve in the Straw Hat crew is Usopp's: to be a fearless warrior of the sea! He's already done that.
Next is Chopper: to create a medicine that can cure anything — if we're being generous, Roman's blood bottles and the Phoenix Flame can almost count as a 'miracle drug.'
As for the others' dreams: Nami wants to draw the map of the whole world, Franky wants to see the Going Merry reach Laugh Tale; Brook wants to travel around the world; Jinbe wants peace between Fishmen and humans.
And Roman wants to see everyone's dreams come true... To reach these goals, they need to have enough strength!
They might even need the power to change the world.
As for Sanji's dream: a fish market... Let's not talk about it.
Sanji: My dream is to cook for Luffy!
---
"Roman, your Armament Haki has gotten stronger again."
While waiting for the roasted rabbit, Luffy looked at Roman: Even though Luffy could now use all three types of Haki consistently, his Armament Haki could only be used for partial coating, and his Conqueror's Haki was still an area-of-effect blast...
"You think it's easy for me?" Roman rolled his eyes. "I almost got killed by your grandpa's punch!"
And it was a brutal, completely pulverizing punch...
"Hahaha, so you trained under grandpa? That must've been tough~~"
Luffy sympathetically patted Roman on the shoulder.
"When I was a kid, Ace and I... we almost got killed by grandpa a few times."
"Luffy,"
Nami, who was about to comfort him, was cut off as Luffy just smiled and waved his hand.
"I'm fine. I did everything I could, even dragged Roman into joining the Marines."
"Even though I couldn't save Ace, I have no regrets. But—"
*Slap!*
Sitting cross-legged on the ground, hands resting on his knees, Luffy looked seriously at Roman and Nami, flashing a confident smile.
"I will never let something like that happen again!"
He needs to become stronger than anyone else—
To be called the Pirate King;
To protect his friends!
---
"Don't worry, Luffy."
Roman pointed to the "phone paper" nearby, a rare gathering where the rest of the Straw Hat crew was 'present.' — Though it was just their voices, the closeness between them allowed everyone to picture each other's expressions in their minds.
"We'll get stronger too. We won't let what happened at Sabaody Archipelago happen again."
"Of course, I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman!"
"Luffy, *hic* without me, *hic* you wouldn't be able to do it~~"
"Luffy, keep it up!"
"You're the man who's going to be Pirate King!"
"Super cool~~ just wait for my Franky 2.0 to make its debut!"
"Yohoho, Luffy. Keep moving forward—"
"Ahhhhhh, can you guys just get me out of this hell first!!!"
After the circle of encouragement from the Straw Hat crew, the scene suddenly changed to Sanji. Roman was starting to doubt whether Sanji would be tortured into becoming a pervert at this rate—though, he already had a bit of a perverted side.
"Alright, Sanji."
Roman spoke up with an idea.
"If you defeat the king of the Okama Kingdom, Ivankov, I'll have her send you to the others. —Don't worry, I'm now a big benefactor of the Revolutionary Army. They won't turn down such a small favor."
"Okay, it's a deal!!"
Go on, poor Sanji.
Don't let Ivankov's comical appearance and antics fool you. Her fighting style may be funny, but her strength is no joke! She was able to hold off Kuma for a while, and even faced top-tier fighters like Magellan and Akainu. Afterward, she didn't have any serious injuries. With Sanji's current strength...
Only with pressure will there be progress, so Sanji will probably train hard every day, right?
"The meat is ready!"
As Luffy tore off a large piece of rabbit meat, Nami raised her glass, Roman had his orange juice, and the three of them signaled toward the phone paper placed on the other side.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook... all raised their glasses at the same time.
"To our Straw Hat crew's 'online banquet,' cheers!"
"Cheers!" x10
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PS: That's all for now, because I'll be dragged off to do some hard labor tonight...
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You can read 10 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu