As they returned back to the crew, he had some light talk with her, just some very light small talk.
She slightly spoke of Ohara and he spoke of his home country. Though since his memory of the past was fuzzy, he couldn't give her as much info as he wanted to. With his tattoos and the way he braided his hair, he really gave the vibe of a Viking. For fuck's sake, he had the Viking hairstyle and their weapon of choice.
All he was missing were some old runes and he would've been fine. He was really raw-dogging that Nordic look, honestly.
Well, both his sensei were giants, and by now he had grown way past them—like by a very decent margin. Taking them two vs. one would be almost easy for his current self.
Upon arriving back to the boat, it seemed like they were still fixing it. The crew also seemed to have some sort of weird bird with them. Apparently, the bird would always—and he does mean always—face south no matter what.
That was cool. Speaking of which—
"Kairo, I have your ninja pills." As Chopper said this, he showed Kairo all the pills he had made.
Kairo looked at them. Yeah, they looked like them.
Luffy's eyes widened. Wait—pills? Ninja stuff? Count him in.
"What are those pills for anyway?" Sanji asked in his casual voice. When he wasn't simping, he was quite observant.
"Those are pills. Back in the village, ninja used to use them in long missions and battles."
"So they're like rations," Zoro said. Kairo tossed the swordsman his weights and booze, which he caught.
"In a sense, they work like that. There are different types of pills. There's the food pill—" As he was explaining, Luffy ate one. As he did so, his belly suddenly got bigger before getting smaller.
"It tastes nasty!" Luffy seemed disgusted by it. The taste was nasty, yet he felt full.
"It wasn't meant to taste good. It's called a military pill for a reason." It was surprising seeing Luffy not like food.
"Why the hell are you still eating it if it tastes so bad?" Usopp asked. Luffy, who had a mouthful of them at this point, said—
"Don't know. The nasty taste is gone now."
Kairo stopped him from eating more.
"The pills are usually separated. They have the food pill, or military pill, which gives as much nutrient as a full-course meal."
Luffy ate 20... so he ate like 20 full-course meals and still seemed hungry. The fuck—was his stomach a bottomless pit or some shit?
"There are also pills to restore one's stamina," Kairo said calmly. He avoided Luffy once more—jeez, was he hyperactive. The hell was he, a stamina demon?
"Then there are the combat ones. This one refuels one's Haki."
"And this one is the most dangerous," he said, holding the red pill.
"If your body's not strong enough, it's better not to eat it, as it can kill you."
Usopp looked terrified.
"Awesome!"
"That's not awesome, Luffy, it can kill you!" Usopp yelled. Luffy just smiled at that.
And with a simple bite, he took it. Kairo didn't stop him.
"Luffy, spit it out! You're going to die, idiot!" Wow. Usopp seemed really worried.
Though Zoro didn't seem worried. From Kairo's look, this wouldn't hurt Luffy much.
"This pill will feed your body maximum oxygen and have your blood pumping insanely fast. It also burns a lot of calories, and due to that, smoke will emit from your body and your skin will turn a pinkish color," Kairo explained as Luffy's skin turned that color.
"This pill boosts all of your stats by a decent margin, even your senses get enhanced. However, it's only temporary and it burns away your fat reserves. If the fight goes on over five minutes, it will burn through all the fat in your body and paralyze you."
"So this is what you meant by killing you," Sanji added. Heh. Kairo's definition of death seemed to be being unable to fight or move when fighting—which, to be fair, was a valid description. Because the only fate awaiting you there truly is death and nothing more.
No sane pirate would let you go.
"So it won't kill?" Nami questioned.
"If your body's too weak, it will leave you paralyzed from the neck down before your lungs slowly start shutting down. But it doesn't cause immediate death."
Excuse me—the fuck was this drug on? So if a weak person took this, they'd never be able to walk again? That was truly some bullshit.
Usopp reminded himself to never take those pills. Kairo had a thoughtful look.
"From what's written in the book," he said, looking at it, "a good way to tell if someone's physique is ready is if they have the Hardening stage of Armament Haki."
He looked at the crew.
"So... Luffy, Zoro...Sanji"
Well, of course they could. They were the Monster Trio after all.