"Are you really leaving?"
On the shore of the Whitebeard Pirates' base, Ace stood motionless, watching Jerry and the others make their final preparations for departure. His expression was a mixture of acceptance and lingering sadness, the kind that comes when friends choose different paths despite their shared history.
Jerry paused in his preparations to flash Ace his characteristic grin. "Didn't we already go through this? Why are you getting all sentimental on me now?"
"Who's being sentimental?" Ace shot back with mock indignation. "It's Pops and Marco who keep asking me to convince you to stay. They seem to think you'd make a valuable permanent addition to our family."
Jerry couldn't help but chuckle at that. He suspected his enthusiastic storytelling and generous gift-giving during the adoption ceremony had made quite an impression on Whitebeard. The old Emperor had a weakness for good alcohol and entertaining company, both of which Jerry had provided in abundance.
Add to that Marco's genuine respect for Jerry's abilities, developed over months of working together, and it was natural that the Whitebeard Pirates' leadership would want to recruit him permanently.
"Well, go back and thank them both for me," Jerry replied warmly. "Tell them they have excellent taste in potential crew members."
After this brief exchange of banter, Ace's attention turned to the ship that had carried them through so many adventures together. The Piece of Spadille was looking worse for wear after their extended journey—weathered, patched, and showing clear signs of the punishment it had endured.
The truth was, even back when they had visited Fishman Island, the local shipwrights had warned them that the ship needed serious maintenance attention. But they had been in such a hurry to reach the New World that they had postponed any major repairs.
Since entering the second half of the Grand Line, they had pressed forward courageously without stopping for proper maintenance. They had weathered countless natural storms, survived battles with other pirate crews, and even been shipwrecked on Wano Country during that massive typhoon.
Although the Whitebeard Pirates had professional shipwrights who had done some maintenance work during their captivity, The Piece of Spadille really needed a complete overhaul—new parts, structural reinforcement, and essentially a return to dry dock for extensive repairs.
So, the decision had been made, The Piece of Spadille will retired, and stay on Whitebeard territories.
More than a year had passed since they had left that uninhabited island in the East Blue where their adventure had begun. During that time, Jerry's skills and physical attributes had grown substantially, though much of the improvement had happened gradually enough that he hadn't fully appreciated the extent of his development.
Taking a moment to assess his current capabilities through his system interface, Jerry was impressed by what he discovered:
Name: Jerry
Age: 19
Constitution: 1011
Power: 851
Stamina: 1038
Agility: 779
Spirit: 131
skill:
[Conqueror's Haki: Advanced, 1% - Your Conqueror's Haki has developed to the point where it can initially condense and affect reality. PS: Strong enough to shatter insects from a distance—say goodbye to bug spray]
[Armament Haki: Advanced, 2% - Your Armament Haki has gained penetrating properties, allowing it to bypass surface defenses. PS: Want to demonstrate the legendary "striking a bull through a mountain" technique?]
[Observation Haki: Advanced, 2% - Your Observation Haki can perceive the thoughts and emotions of other creatures with much greater clarity. PS: Reading people's intentions has become second nature.]
[Fishman Karate: Advanced, 9% — A martial art rooted in powerful, shockwave-based strikes that affect both solid targets and the water around them. As proficiency increases, your blows ripple through liquid and air alike. PS: You've altered the fundamentals so much, it borders on a new fighting style altogether.]
[Fishman Jujutsu: Advanced, 6% — A technique-based discipline focused on the precise control of surrounding water, allowing you to manipulate currents and pressure from afar. At full mastery, even moisture in the air bends to your will. PS: Your creative approach has reshaped this refined art into something unorthodox.]
[Martial Arts Mastery: Basic understanding of combat techniques allows for more flexible fighting stances.]
[Enhanced Physique: Your body matches this world's standards, ensuring you can perform 'sit-ups' even during combat.]
[Ocean Blessing: Immunity to seasickness and water-related ailments. You can breathe freely underwater without suffocation, with greatly enhanced perception and affinity for liquids, making it easier to gain initial favor from aquatic creatures. P.S.: Being on a boat feels like coming home—love it here.]
[Grilling Mastery: You could open your own barbecue restaurant.]
[Perfect Direction Sense: You can always tell which way is south. P.S.: Mom doesn't have to worry about you getting lost anymore.]
[Status: Limiter broken - Comprehensive 100% enhancement boost]
[Marine Six Styles - Government martial arts techniques for enhanced mobility and combat.]
[Spirit of the Sea - The vast oceans bow to your will. Dramatically enhanced water element control with the ability to manipulate all liquid substances. PS: You've weathered every storm, but you remain the wildest force of nature.]
[Overall Assessment: A scholar should be viewed with fresh eyes after three days apart. Are you ready to make your mark? Now that you've gained real strength, go forth and prove to those who once overlooked you that their judgment was... actually pretty accurate. You weren't ready before, but you might be now.]
Feeling the power coursing through his body, Jerry had to admit that his growth was the result of genuine hard work and dedication. The question remained whether his rate of improvement could match the seemingly impossible development speeds of this world's true monsters.
During his time in the New World and his stay with the Whitebeard Pirates, Jerry had only been called upon for a few special missions. The rest of his time had been spent in his usual routine of fishing for daily task and also meditation and training.
Reaching the advanced tier had brought about qualitative changes in every ability. Not only had the effects and range of his techniques improved dramatically, but their fundamental nature had evolved as well. The power, versatility, and precision of his skills had undergone complete transformation.
However, the difficulty of further improvement had increased exponentially. The progress bars for his three types of Haki now moved at a crawl, with advancement barely visible to the naked eye even after weeks of focused training.
Now that he had achieved advanced-level mastery, Jerry could clearly understand the differences between his current abilities and their intermediate-level predecessors.
His Armament Haki's most notable improvement was its newfound ability to bypass surface defenses and deal internal damage directly. This "penetration" property allowed him to harm opponents even when they were using defensive Armament Haki, though some of his attack power would still be offset by their protection.
Jerry suspected that with further development, he might eventually be able to ignore defenses entirely or strike at targets deep within an opponent's body without affecting the surface.
His Observation Haki seemed to build on his natural empathetic abilities, allowing him to perceive the emotions and thoughts of other people and creatures with remarkable clarity. The precision of this perception depended on factors like the target's mental resistance, the stability of their thoughts, and the spiritual gap between Jerry and his subject.
With intense concentration and a calm mental state, he could even achieve brief glimpses of immediate future events, though this precognitive ability was inconsistent and required perfect conditions.
Most importantly, his Observation Haki could now combine with his water-element perception abilities. When used together, these skills dramatically expanded his sensory range, allowing him to monitor vast areas through moisture in the air and water sources.
Of course, Observation Haki remained an active ability that required conscious effort to maintain, while his water-element perception operated passively in the background, though he could adjust its sensitivity and focus as needed.
His Conqueror's Haki had improved in both range and controllability compared to its intermediate level. He could now compress the energy into specific areas and use pure willpower to affect physical reality directly.
In practical terms, this meant he could project concentrated bursts of Haki to shatter wooden planks or crack small stones from a distance—not particularly useful in serious combat, but impressive for intimidation purposes.
More significantly, Jerry had learned to compress and condense his Conqueror's Haki internally, allowing him to perform rudimentary Conqueror's coating attacks. The downside was that these techniques consumed enormous amounts of energy and required charging time that made them impractical in most combat situations.
Currently, he could only use Conqueror's coating in specific scenarios where energy consumption wasn't a concern, or when enemies gave him enough time to prepare. But Jerry was confident that as his proficiency increased, he would eventually be able to coat every attack with Conqueror's Haki automatically.
When that day came, he would be ready to face anyone—Kaido, Shanks, Akainu, Kizaru, Aokiji, Garp, or any other legendary figure. The ocean would truly become his playground to explore at will.
As Jerry's thoughts turned to these exciting possibilities, he couldn't suppress a burst of laughter at the sheer audacity of his ambitions.
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