"Aren't you going to stop him? Is this really okay? A normal person would suffer social death!"
Although her words seemed sympathetic, Nico Robin, with a devious smile on her face, held her black tea and watched the Devil Fruit-awakened Luffy with an amused expression.
At this moment, Luffy was completely letting himself go, using his limbs and his third leg to wrap around the ship's mast, swinging back and forth while laughing heartily.
"Ugh... This guy is disgusting. Did he eat something bad and get high?"
Watching Luffy pee into the sea, only for it to turn into rain due to the cartoonish power of the Devil Fruit, Nami also complained helplessly.
"It's fine. A normal person might feel extremely embarrassed, or suffer social death, but do you think this kid is a normal person?"
Vegapunk shrugged, took a sip of his black tea as well, and said.
People in the One Piece World are naturally eccentric and bold, to say nothing of Straw Hat, and even the entire Straw Hat Pirates belong to that extremely individualistic type in the One Piece World.
A skeleton who likes to see girls' panties, a lecherous cook, a perverted Cyborg, a swordsman who is a lost cause but inexplicably confident in his sense of direction, and a sniper with an extremely negative personality...
Given Luffy's personality, this kind of thing is just a drop in the bucket. Even Nami and Robin are only saying it with their mouths; they don't actually care.
Well, after all, Nami is a woman who would charge 100,000 Berries for a glimpse of her naked body, and Nico Robin once used a nut-cracking attack on a certain perverted Cyborg. Clearly, neither of these two is the type to get shy.
"By the way, when will the side effects of this Devil Fruit end? He's been carrying on for half an hour, hasn't he?"
Seemingly disgusted by Luffy's act of urinating everywhere, Stella helplessly put down her teacup, rolled her eyes, and asked.
"It should end soon... Even with my experimental enhancements and this rampage, which is mostly fueled by the Devil Fruit energy, the consumption level of the Nika Fruit has reached its limit by now!"
No sooner had Vegapunk finished speaking than Luffy, who was laughing in the sky, suddenly wilted. The milky-white flames extinguished instantly, the thump-thump heartbeat became barely audible, and he flopped onto the deck, turning into a puddle of mush.
"Wow!! Boss, come and look! This guy has become so old!"
Nami looked at the lump of Luffy, drew her defensive telescopic staff, and poked the pile of modeling clay. Luffy's face was full of wrinkles, his tongue was lolling out, and it took a moment before he let out a couple of grunts, reacting as slowly as an old man.
"That's the side effect of the Nika Fruit. After all, the effects of that thing are a bit abnormal, so naturally, the physical stamina required is even greater."
The group looked up at the mast that had been tied into a knot, and the figurehead that had been molded into a strange shape like clay. Thinking back to Luffy, who had been able to grow bigger, smaller, longer, and shorter at will, they quite agreed with Vegapunk's description of the Nika Fruit's abnormal effects.
"He won't stay like this forever, will he? Does the awakening of the Nika Fruit consume one's lifespan?"
Ultimately, it was Nami, the kindest of them all, who asked, her expression filled with worry. Straw Hat's charisma was no joke; over this period, he and Nami had become friends.
"Of course it's not permanent. If that were the case, wouldn't the Nika Fruit be a suicide fruit?"
Vegapunk shook his head and looked at Luffy: "With Luffy's current physical strength, he should be able to use it again after resting for less than half an hour, and there won't be many aftereffects."
"However, whether he can fully control the awakened state is hard to say. The situation just now could actually be considered a rampage."
"Fortunately, even when awakened, the Nika Fruit doesn't have any wild impulses, and it will automatically deactivate the awakening ability before the host's stamina is exhausted to the point of causing aftereffects, so he can try it multiple times."
Vegapunk was quite confident that Luffy could master the Nika Fruit. After all, Straw Hat himself was incredibly compatible with this Devil Fruit, so the mental impact the Nika Fruit had on Straw Hat was not strong.
Just now, it was only because of the forced awakening, combined with his mistaken belief that his Devil Fruit was the rubber-rubber fruit, that Luffy had no psychological preparation at all. Even so, by the end, Luffy's own self-awareness had begun to clear.
It is estimated that after a few more times of getting used to this state, Luffy will be able to add this Fruit awakening ability to his regular skill set. At that time, while in the awakened state, Luffy will be one of the top powerhouses on the sea.
Even in his normal state, Luffy's strength can be considered second only to the Emperors of the Sea and the Admirals. Only with this level of strength can one have any competitiveness for the title of Pirate King.
"Finally, I'm back to life!"
Wiping his mouth, Luffy, who had just finished a big meal, was full of energy again, looking as if nothing had happened, which made Nami take a few extra looks at him.
"Doctor, this experiment should be considered a success, right? I feel like I can fully control the awakening now!"
"Just about..."
Vegapunk looked at Luffy, from whom he had drawn more than a dozen tubes of blood, and shrugged slightly: "The experiment is over, and the results are quite good. I think you can go on your journey now!"
"It just so happens that I have a small boat here with an intelligent navigation system, which can directly replace the need for a navigator, saving you from having to drift in a wooden barrel the next time you encounter a storm."
In the One Piece World, there really is such a thing as luck. A certain Luck-Luck Fruit User is the most direct proof. Someone like Luffy must carry incredibly high luck, likely second only to gag characters like Buggy.
So even though Luffy lacked common sense and ended up with nothing but a wooden barrel when setting sail, he never got a "Game Over" because of these issues. If it were any other normal person, they would have long since ended up feeding the fish on the seabed.
But regardless, luck isn't omnipotent. Without Nami, given the terrible navigation skills of the people on Luffy's ship, they probably would have sunk to the bottom of the sea before even reaching the New World.
Therefore, the artificial intelligence in Vegapunk's hands, which can automatically sense magnetic fields for navigation, serves as a replacement for Nami, lest Luffy die before achieving his goals. He was still counting on Straw Hat to stir up trouble so he could see more of the World Government's trump cards!
Otherwise, Vegapunk wouldn't have put so much effort into ripening Luffy and making him stronger so early, just to have him scout the bushes.
In addition, he had also performed a series of upgrades on the small boat he gave Luffy, including space folding technology, and inside were higher-level physical enhancement Training Pods and limited Tsukuyomi Training Pods.
They wouldn't be of much help to Luffy at his current level, but for the crew members Luffy would gather later, they would have a tremendous strengthening effect. This way, Luffy and the others wouldn't need two more years of intensive training and could charge straight into the New World, which would greatly accelerate the world's progress.
It is estimated that in about half a year or so, they will pose a threat to the World Government.
Watching Luffy leave in his small boat, Vegapunk silently wished for this guy to cause an even bigger ruckus, and then turned his head to look at Nami.
"Nami, how credible is the intelligence you received regarding the Luck-Luck Fruit?"
Nami pressed a hand to her lips and chuckled a bit awkwardly: "Well... actually, the credibility isn't exactly high... after all, the one who provided the information is that vixen..."
"Carina?"
Immediately, Stella, who was standing to the side, seemed to have thought of something and spoke a name.
The expression on Nami's face became even more awkward. Carina and Nami used to be partners who often collaborated and sabotaged each other. As for what they collaborated on... of course, it was the little thief cat's side business.
The relationship between the two was both friendly and hostile. At critical moments, they could still trust each other a little, but in daily life, they often set traps for each other, so Nami didn't know if this information about the Luck-Luck Fruit User was true.
However, upon hearing the name Carina, Vegapunk felt a surge of energy.
"Very good. Then our next target is Gran Tesoro. Prepare to set sail!"
Regarding the Luck-Luck Fruit User, perhaps because of her own Fruit power, Vegapunk had been looking for this Fruit User for a long time without finding any trace of her.
According to the original trajectory, she should have appeared on the Golden Ship, but Vegapunk had inquired for a long time without hearing any news of her on the Golden Ship.
Occasionally, there would be some news about this Luck-Luck Fruit User, but when Vegapunk went to look, he either found that the person had vanished without a trace, or discovered that it was actually just a misunderstanding.
Clearly, the powerful luck of this Luck-Luck Fruit User was protecting her, helping her evade Vegapunk's capture. Even if she herself might not have realized the danger she was in, her unimaginable good luck still caused Vegapunk to return empty-handed every time he made a move.
So, when Nami told him the information a couple of days ago, Vegapunk wasn't too excited and just inquired about it in passing.
However, later, based on corroborating information, the intelligence Nami had mentioned in passing seemed to have truly found the right person, which is why Vegapunk asked Nami about it today.
When he heard that this information came from that vixen Carina, Vegapunk was not discouraged; instead, he felt even more confident.
Carina was a character who appeared in the theatrical film Gold. Her personality was similar to Nami's, but her intelligence and methods were even greater. In the original story, she was the one who ultimately walked away with the largest share of the Golden Emperor's treasure, becoming the final winner.
As for now, to say that this vixen was genuinely trying to earn some information fees would be nonsense, but this vixen definitely had plenty of intentions to stir up trouble through this information.
Therefore, in that case, the accuracy of this information could actually be guaranteed.
As for what Carina was thinking, Vegapunk didn't really care. Carina might have taken a fancy to Nami's status as the head of the East Blue branch of the Umbrella Corporation and wanted to borrow the power of the Umbrella Corporation to stir the waters, but she would never have expected that the person who would appear was a prehistoric giant crocodile like Vegapunk!
If this Carina was sensible when the time came, he might toss her a few scraps, but if she wasn't sensible, he would just swallow her up as well.
Well, although the main target was the Luck-Luck Fruit User, as the saying goes, since he was already here, killing two birds with one stone and taking Gran Tesoro into his hands wouldn't be a surprise...
On the azure sea, a magnificent, massive ship that looked like a city was sailing slowly.
Noisy sounds came from that city on the sea. Under the sunlight, the entire ship-city shimmered with golden radiance, with faint golden dust drifting about, giving people a feeling of debauchery and extravagance.
Not far from this city on the sea, on a seemingly advanced cruise ship, Nami looked at the golden city at the very edge of the horizon with an excited expression, her joy overflowing.
"The legendary Gran Tesoro! That is a wealthy power comparable to the Umbrella Corporation, especially in entertainment, gambling, and so on; it's even more formidable than our Umbrella Corporation!"
"I didn't expect such a good thing this time! I can go to Gran Tesoro for a trip! And it even provided 100 million Berries in funding!"
Stella took a small sip of black tea, looked at the excited Nami, and sighed: "What a little money-grubber. I feel a bit embarrassed!"
Robin shrugged and added: "Who told little Nami to have just joined the core? You can't blame her for lacking experience."
"She probably doesn't know that with the technology we currently possess, whether it's creating counterfeit bills that are more real than real money, or directly mining gold and diamonds from outer space, it would be enough to collapse the economy of the entire One Piece World in an instant!"
Things like Berries were just waste paper to Vegapunk and his subordinates; they weren't even soft enough to be used as toilet paper.
If Vegapunk wanted to, he could create more than ten times the currency currently circulating in the entire One Piece World within a few days, and guarantee that no matter what kind of money detector was used, it would be impossible to check, making them more real than the real Berries!
Given the chaotic economic situation in the One Piece World, even if the World Government wanted to check, they wouldn't be able to detect it at all, and it would be enough to crush the economy of the entire One Piece World in an instant.
As for things like gold and gems, in the explored universe of the Dream Star, such things are not just everywhere, but hundreds of times more abundant than in the entire One Piece World. As long as destructive mining is carried out, they can be made as cheap as cabbage.
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