One Piece: The Strongest Trait System novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68 - [68] : Great Pirate Aura! Vivi is Utterly Stunned!

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THUD! The door leading into Laboon's stomach burst open violently, and two figures tumbled out.

"Luffy!" Seeing one of them was Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji, who were waiting on the Merry, called out joyfully.

WHOOSH! Following closely behind was Rowen, the lower half of his body transformed into swirling smoke, his smoke-arms securely holding both Nami and Vivi.

"Rowen! Nami!" Zoro and the others grinned.

The comrades were all reunited.

"Kyaa! What is this?!" Vivi cried out, startled, as the smoke held her fast. 'Is this... a Devil Fruit power?! And this ability...' Vivi's eyes widened in shock.

"Zoro! Sanji! Usopp! It's great you guys are okay!" Luffy beamed from mid-air. "But... could someone maybe save me first?!" Luffy looked down nervously at the ocean-like stomach acid below. 'There's seawater in there!'

WHOOSH!

A tendril of smoke shot out and grabbed Luffy.

"Saved! Thanks, Rowen!" Luffy grinned gratefully at Rowen.

SPLASH!

Mr. 9 wasn't so lucky, plunging directly into the sea-like stomach fluids.

FWOOSH! Activating his Smoke-Smoke power, Rowen tossed Luffy onto the Merry's deck, then propelled himself, Nami, and Vivi down beside them using smoke jets.

"You guys look energetic," Rowen commented with a smile, looking at Zoro and the others.

"Doing okay. There was a weird old guy here, dunno where he went," Usopp replied, pointing vaguely.

"By the way, who's this?" Zoro asked, gesturing towards Vivi, whom Rowen had rescued.

"You damn idiot Moss-Head! Don't be so rude to a lady!" Sanji immediately yelled upon hearing Zoro.

"What did you say?! Shitty Curly-Brows!" Before Sanji could even approach Vivi properly, Zoro, forehead veins bulging, lunged at him with swords drawn.

The two instantly started brawling. _{fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm}

Ever since Rowen started training him in Haki and gave him that same 'you idiot' look he sometimes gave Luffy, Zoro had become incredibly sensitive to being called an idiot.

And Sanji, knowing this, frequently used the word just to provoke him.

As a result, their fights occurred even more often than in the original story.

"Th-This is..." Watching the smoke that had saved her coalesce back into the body of the man before her, Vivi felt cold sweat form on her brow.

She knew this kind of ability all too well.

It resembled the power possessed by the very reason she had infiltrated Baroque Works as an agent—the organization's boss, the man responsible for throwing her country, Alabasta, into chaos.

One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea: Crocodile!

That man possessed a similar ability to transform into an element—the Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit!

With that power, Crocodile was practically invincible in this part of the sea.

Could this man... also be a Logia Devil Fruit user?!

Vivi swallowed hard, looking at Rowen.

Logia users—were like gods in this sea.

"H-Help! Save me!" Just then, Mr. 9 surfaced from the stomach acid, screaming desperately.

"Mr. 9!" Vivi cried out.

"Shut up, you annoying bastard," Zoro muttered, irritated by Mr. 9's yelling. He broke off his fight with Sanji and casually tossed one of the Merry's oars towards Mr. 9.

"S-Saved!" Mr. 9 gasped, scrambling up the oar onto the deck, panting heavily.

"Alright then, who are you two? Mr. 9? Is that your name? Sounds familiar..." Zoro asked, turning towards them with a predatory grin.

"!!!" Vivi and Mr. 9 froze in alarm. If the company found out they'd been exposed, they were dead!

"That codename... sounds like how a certain organization names its agents," Rowen added, enjoying their panic with a mischievous smile.

"I remember now. Baroque Works—" Zoro stated, his expression turning grim.

Vivi and Mr. 9 began trembling uncontrollably.

"How do you know that name?!" Mr. 9 stammered, shaking.

"Baroque Works?" Usopp asked curiously.

"Yeah. A gathering place for bounty hunters. Members don't know each other's real identities, only their codenames. Of course, the boss's location, even their true identity, is a mystery to the agents. Just a criminal organization that faithfully carries out orders,"

Zoro explained, his grim expression deepening. "They tried to recruit me back when I was bounty hunting. I refused, of course. Baroque Works—it's a secret organization, isn't it?" Zoro finished with a sinister smile.

"Since you know—we'll have to eliminate you," Mr. 9 declared desperately, raising his bazooka. If Baroque Works found out they leaked information, they'd definitely be killed!

"Let's go, Miss Wednesday! Huh?" Just as he was about to fire, Mr. 9 noticed something was wrong and looked questioningly at Vivi.

Vivi... was trembling violently from head to toe.

"Eliminate us? How amusing."

WHOOSH!

Mr. 9 stared in terror as swirling smoke lifted him effortlessly into the air, rendering him completely immobile. "W-What is this?!" he yelled frantically.

"D-Don't struggle, Mr. 9! H-He's a Logia Devil Fruit user!" Vivi cried out, her eyes filled with terror as she looked at Rowen.

With that ability, killing them would be as easy as crushing bugs!

"Devil Fruit user?!" Mr. 9 didn't fully grasp the term 'Logia', but he clearly understood he was powerless within the smoke. He stared fearfully at Rowen.

"Smart girl. But I know some other interesting things about Baroque Works... about the boss behind it all," Rowen smirked, seeing Vivi wasn't resisting.

Hearing Rowen's words, Vivi's pupils constricted sharply.

"The Boss? Who? Baroque Works keeps the boss's identity top secret! Rowen, you even know that?" Zoro stared, wide-eyed.

"Ah, I do. Same as Mihawk—one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Crocodile," Rowen stated calmly.

Vivi trembled violently.

"A Warlord, like Mihawk? No wonder he could build such a powerful organization," Zoro muttered, instinctively tightening his grip on his swords at the mention of Mihawk's name.

"A Warlord! SUGEEE! Is he as strong as Mihawk?" Luffy exclaimed, remembering his encounter with the swordsman.

"No, they're not on the same level. Even among the Warlords, there's a considerable difference in strength," Rowen explained.

"Still, he's a Warlord! But someone like that probably wouldn't bother coming after us just because we beat up a couple of his agents, right?" Usopp asked nervously, having learned a lot about the world's power structures from Rowen.

'Warlords, Marine HQ, Four Emperors... the Three Great Powers maintaining the world's balance!' Usopp wiped sweat from his brow.

"Idiot! He doesn't know that we know his identity yet!" Nami argued, though she was also scared by the mention of a Warlord, instinctively grabbing Rowen's arm for security.

"Crocodile? Princess?" Mr. 9, still suspended in smoke, was completely bewildered. Why doesn't he know any of this?!

"A bounty of... ONE HUNDRED MILLION BERI!!!"

One hundred million Beri?! Oh my god!

Getting that kind of shocked reaction just from hearing your bounty... that's exactly what Luffy wanted!

That's the true aura of a Great Pirate!