"Ah woo woo woo woo..."
"Ah woo woo woo woo..."
Luffy lay in Uta's arms, eating the food she fed him, feeling joyful.
As he ate, his Extreme Enhancement ability activated.
The nutrients from the food were instantly absorbed, and his stamina and physique gradually recovered and strengthened.
And his skin, which had been scorched, also began to heal itself.
After a satisfying meal, Luffy and the others asked Zeff for a small boat.
They still had to go bring Nami back!
Before leaving, Luffy looked at Sanji, who was standing on Baratie's deck, and said,
"Sanji, come with us!"
Sanji was startled by the words and fell into hesitation.
After witnessing the power Luffy displayed, he felt like a frog in a well, with an extremely limited understanding of the world.
He really wanted to go out to sea with Luffy to see the world and find the legendary All Blue.
But...
He couldn't help but look back at Zeff.
"What are you still thinking about, you brat? Get out of here!"
Zeff kicked Sanji onto Luffy's crew's small boat, where he was caught by Usopp, and then threw over the luggage he had already packed for Sanji.
"You old geezer..."
Sanji gritted his teeth, muttering angrily.
Suddenly, he plopped down on his knees, tears instantly welling up in his eyes.
"Old man Zeff..."
Sanji cried out, then forcefully bowed his head.
"All this time... thank you for taking care of me!"
"This kindness, I will never... forget it for my entire life!"
On Baratie!
Zeff, Patty, and the other chefs all had tears in their eyes.
"Bastard! I'll be very lonely if you leave."
"Me too!"
"I'm so sad!"
...
On the small boat!
Sanji cried out, looking up at the familiar faces opposite him, and said,
"Goodbye, everyone!"
At the same time, Luffy shouted loudly,
"Set sail!"
...
As Luffy's crew chased in the direction Nami had left, Luffy finally relaxed and began to rest.
Only when he was fully rested would the Extreme Enhancement ability activate.
Luffy was full of anticipation for how much stronger he would become.
...
"Your comprehension is prodigious. Through Extreme Enhancement, your physique has been strengthened."
"Your comprehension is prodigious. Through Extreme Enhancement, your Observation Haki has been strengthened."
"Your comprehension is prodigious. Through Extreme Enhancement, your Armament Haki has been strengthened."
"Your comprehension is prodigious. Your exclusive skill, Eight Gates, has broken through, allowing you to open the Eighth Gate – Gate of Death."
"Your overall strength has broken through."
After waking up again, a flood of information poured into Luffy's mind.
And once he sorted out the improvements he had gained, Luffy was immediately delighted.
This extreme battle had brought him immense improvements.
Not only had the Eighth Gate of Eight Gates successfully broken through, but it had also elevated his strength by another level.
Now, even without activating Eight Gates, Luffy had already reached the level of an Admiral candidate.
Furthermore, Luffy could strongly feel that this strength advancement was not just barely reaching the threshold.
Instead, it had crossed a significant distance.
The gap to an Admiral was extremely small.
Luffy was confident that if his Haoshoku could be further improved, allowing his most top-tier combat style to be strengthened, even without his Devil Fruit awakening, he could reach the strength of an Admiral.
However, now, when activating Eight Gates, he was already capable of fighting an Admiral.
For his ultimate move, he had Haki Infusion: Midday Tiger, which was enough to surpass the strongest attack of a top-tier powerhouse like Hawkeye.
For normal attacks, with Armament Haki strengthened while Eight Gates was active, he had Ryuo, which was enough to surpass anyone's Armament Haki today.
Aside from rapid consumption and limited duration, his other combat abilities were all above an Admiral's.
[PS: Some brothers in the comment section brought up the issue of the Eight Gates setting. I later saw an official explanation on a wiki that said this ability primarily removes the body's restrictions on chakra, allowing excess chakra within the body to be released. My understanding is that, for example, if there are 100 points of chakra in the body, normally only a maximum of 30 points can be released at a time, and then by removing the restriction, more can be released, and combat power will increase accordingly based on the 30 points. If this is applied to One Piece, because there are three types of Haki, and the three types of Haki cannot be used together, my setting is that after activating Eight Gates, Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Haoshoku will each be enhanced accordingly. It won't be that all attack methods are suddenly increased tenfold or dozens of times, otherwise everyone would die in one hit, and there would be nothing left to write. I hope everyone understands. Then the ultimate move, Night Guy, will be set to condense all Haki and unleash it completely.]
...
After sorting out his current abilities and strength, Luffy slowly opened his eyes.
"Luffy, you're awake!"
As soon as he opened his eyes, Uta's joyful voice reached Luffy's ears.
Before Luffy could react, he was suddenly hugged tightly by Uta, and large tears continuously dripped onto Luffy's face.
Then, he heard Uta sobbing,
"Waaah... You've been asleep for three days and three nights, I was so worried."
Luffy smiled, patted Uta's head, and said softly,
"I was just a little tired, so I slept a bit longer, I'm fine."
Uta's crying gradually subsided upon hearing this. Suddenly remembering something, she picked up a bag of dried food they had prepared when leaving Baratie and brought it to Luffy.
"Luffy, you haven't eaten for three days, you must be hungry!"
At Uta's words, Luffy realized his stomach was empty, and intense hunger immediately struck him.
He took the dried food and began to eat it in large mouthfuls, squeezing out a sentence from his full mouth.
"Thank you!"
Uta's eyes curved into crescent moons as she smiled, nodding slightly, and quietly watched Luffy eat.
"By the way, Luffy, have you become stronger?"
At this moment, Zoro, whose injuries had not fully recovered, suddenly asked. He vaguely felt that Luffy's aura seemed to have risen a notch.
Luffy ate and casually replied,
"Yeah! I can probably fight an Admiral now!"
"!!!"
At these words, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp were all shocked, their pupils flickering, their mouths wide open in astonishment.
"An... an Admiral?!"
"That's the Marine's highest combat power!"
"He's already become that strong?!"
After exclaiming, the three fell silent, secretly vowing to work even harder, otherwise, they wouldn't be worthy of being Luffy's companions!
Luffy finished his dried food, his gaze sweeping across the boundless sea around them, and at the same time asked,
"Speaking of which, where are we now?"
No sooner had he spoken than he saw a small island in the distance, in a certain direction.
At this moment, Uta also replied to him, saying,
"We've been sailing in the direction Nami left. She should be on that island ahead."
Zoro also spoke at this point, saying,
"Joseph and Johnny told me when they parted ways with us that the direction Nami took leads to a village called Cocoyasi Village. However, it's said that a group of Fishman pirates are entrenched near this village."
Luffy looked at the gradually approaching island, clenching his fist into his palm, and said,
"Let's go bring that idiotic navigator back!"