Elementary school or university.
That was the question.
The voyage from the giant nation Elbaf to Sphinx took one month.
During this month, Silas encountered this dilemma.
Ripley's feelings for him had become quite obvious, and as a mature man, Silas did not intend to avoid Ripley's emotions.
He was the maritime overlord, White King Silas!
If he did not even dare respond to the feelings of a woman who liked him, then what kind of pirate would he be?
There was no such thing as needing to keep dragging things out after establishing a relationship.
How long had Silas known Ripley?
Silas had known Ripley twelve years ago. After Ripley joined the ship two years ago, she had spent over a year with him.
After all that, what was there left to drag out?
Moreover, Ripley was naturally passionate and cheerful.
She expressed her feelings on the first day.
Seeing Silas had no reaction on the second day.
On the third day, Ripley launched a night attack.
"Captain, I suddenly feel like you are kind of a scumbag."
Lying next to Silas, Ripley muttered.
"Not proactive, not refusing, not taking responsibility. I clearly expressed my feelings, yet you insist on making me take the initiative. Is this not what Sister Lily calls a scumbag?"
"You are wrong about that!"
Having experienced Ripley's warmth and passion all night, Silas looked completely serious.
"I am not proactive and do not refuse, but I am responsible!"
"So if Sister Toki took the initiative, would Captain accept?"
"..."
"Scumbag!"
Ripley bit Silas hard.
"Hiss!"
Silas looked innocent. On these seas, there was no concept of monogamy. Even marriage was exclusive to nobles.
For ordinary people, as long as they were together and had children, they were husband and wife.
Besides, he never forced anyone.
What Silas advocated was not the freedom to do whatever you wanted, but the freedom to not do what you did not want to do.
Whether Lily or Ripley, they were all willing. Even knowing Silas already had several intimate companions, they did not mind.
The strong possess everything. On these seas, this rule was deeply ingrained.
But the strong also could not force others.
This was the bottom line Silas set for himself and the change he wanted to make.
He would not force others, would not even use petty tricks, but if someone took the initiative, why should he refuse?
Of course, the prerequisite was that he acknowledged the person.
"Captain, I am rested now."
"Want to train again?"
"Hehe, after all, I am still very young. Young people should exercise more."
"Do you want to get a bit bigger?"
Ripley's fruit ability could freely adjust her body size.
"Maintaining this size is hard work, right?"
"Could it be that Captain prefers bigger?"
"You are wrong. Whether big or small, I like them all!"
Only young people distinguished between big and small.
As an older person, Silas wanted them all!
Sea Circle Calendar 1462, September.
The White Wolf Pirates' new ship, the Millennium Falcon, sailed steadily, rising and falling with the waves on its way to Sphinx Island.
"Big Brother Rocks, Captain and Sister Ripley are training their fruit abilities again."
Having grown two heads taller than a year ago, Newgate looked toward the cabin with envy.
"I wish I could eat a Devil Fruit too."
"Hmph, what fruit abilities. Utterly weak!"
Rocks trained on the Millennium Falcon's deck, working up a sweat.
"On these seas, only Haki can triumph over everything!"
"But Haki has limits too, does it not?"
No longer the rookie pirate who knew nothing from a year ago, due to his activity at Elbaf, Newgate now had a Marine file. With a 30 million Belly bounty, he could no longer be called weak.
So the higher up he went, the more Newgate could feel it.
Humans had limits.
And to quickly grow stronger, Devil Fruits were not a bad shortcut.
"If that is how you think, then you are not qualified to be my opponent!"
As their strength gradually closed the gap, in Rocks's eyes, surpassing Ripley was just a matter of time. Even with Silas's special training, simply improving fruit abilities could not defeat him.
But Newgate was different.
Though his physical technique talent was inferior, his mastery speed of Armament and Observation Haki was completely on par with his own.
Combined with his exceptional physical constitution, this gave Rocks a sense of urgency, that if he slacked off even slightly, Newgate would immediately catch up.
As for Kozuki Toki and Linlin on the other side, seeing the two collapse motionless after just running a few laps around the ship, Rocks's lips curved in an arc. As long as he defeated Ripley, he would be the strongest crew member besides Silas!
He could finally drop that intern title!
"Very good, just like that!"
Feeling the fruit ability Ripley applied to him, Silas nodded with satisfaction. Without Silas using Haki defense, Ripley directly used her fruit ability to shrink Silas's arm to one-tenth its size.
This made it look like Silas had one thick arm and one as slender as a bamboo pole, creating an extremely uncoordinated appearance.
And this lack of coordination was not just visual but practical too.
Then...
Whooom!
Haki erupted from Silas's body, and the arm that had been shrunk by Ripley's ability immediately returned to normal size.
"If you simply use fruit abilities to shrink an enemy's entire body, that will not affect their combat power. But shrinking just a part, that is different."
Silas guided Ripley in using her fruit abilities in the cabin.
Happy activities should only be done occasionally.
Working hard to improve strength was what young people should be doing.
"On these seas, Paramecia Devil Fruits are divided into five categories: Supernatural Powers, Superhuman Body, Creation, Partial Anomalies, and Domination."
"I initially thought the Mini-Mini Fruit was the Superhuman Body type, but your ability to change other objects' sizes shows your ability's essence is Supernatural Powers."
"Right now, Ripley, your Haki and physical techniques have hit a bottleneck. If you want to continue improving, you can only work on your fruit abilities."
For those with exceptional talent, training one direction to its limits was far more efficient than balanced development across multiple directions.
But often, even investing several times the effort in one direction might not yield desired results. That was when you should switch directions and continue working hard.
Ripley was actually much stronger than him.
Giant talent meant her physique still had great room for improvement. Though her Haki progress was temporarily stalled, this was due to insufficient external pressure.
Ripley was different from Rocks and the others.
Rocks wanted to surpass him, so he had clear, definite goals. Facing the pressure Silas brought, Rocks's Haki would continuously improve.
But Ripley lacked goals.
Without crisis awareness, Haki progress would stagnate.
This was not just Ripley. Even Newgate showed such signs.
This was why future Newgate was called "the World's Strongest Man" only after leaving Rocks's pirate crew to establish his own.
In this world, "strong" and "ambition" were coexistent concepts.
Silas had made a decision.
"How about an internal crew tournament?"
Silas made the suggestion.
"If you can win, I can agree to one reasonable condition."
"As long as I can fulfill it."