Clap!
Clap!
Kaido and Shakky had already left.
Shakky got the Berries she wanted.
Kaido obtained the Devil Fruit he desired.
In the end—
Arthur was left with a total of twenty Devil Fruits in his possession.
"Hehehe."
Sitting on his bed, Arthur chuckled with emotion. "As expected of the Rocks Pirates… In such a short time, we've already amassed so many Devil Fruits."
Truthfully, when Arthur first joined the Rocks Pirates, he had speculated that he might gain access to a large number of Devil Fruits.
But the problem was—
This all happened in less than a month, and he had already received a second round of enhancements.
"Still…"
"Hm~"
Arthur muttered quietly to himself, "Devour. Store all that energy."
ROAR—!
With an invisible roar, the red dragon's phantom emerged behind him, instantly swallowing all twenty Devil Fruits.
A massive surge of energy flooded into Arthur's body—then quickly settled into silence.
"Mm."
Although he had absorbed the energy, Arthur had ordered the red dragon not to immediately enhance his bloodline.
Not because it couldn't.
In fact, twenty Devil Fruits could have triggered a significant change for him.
However—
After several recent battles, Arthur had come to a startling realization.
Back when he was still on that small island, he had explored and trained by himself. His growth had been organic and free of issues.
But things were different now.
After clashing with one powerful opponent after another, Arthur had clearly sensed something was off.
His control over his own strength was too weak.
It was a critical flaw he could no longer ignore.
Yes, he had awakened the Red Dragon bloodline. Yes, he wielded Excalibur—the Sword of Promised Victory. But when it came to actually controlling that power? He was, frankly, a disaster.
Even if only 10% of his Red Dragon bloodline had awakened—how much of that was he truly utilizing?
3%?
5%?
Arthur didn't think he had even fully tapped into the initial 5%.
"..."
With that weight hanging in his heart, Arthur gradually drifted into sleep. His gaze softened as he slowly lost consciousness. After the intense battles, he needed to rest—he was utterly exhausted.
And so Arthur fell into a deep slumber.
---
The Next Morning
"Bro Arthur really is something else!"
"Kekeke."
"Still the same monstrous appetite—Kaido lost again!"
At the breakfast table the next day, Kaido lay flat on the ground from being too full again. Arthur, meanwhile, had casually devoured several people's worth of food and was now standing up to leave as if nothing had happened.
On Arthur's ship—
It had become natural for everyone to refer to both Arthur and Kaido as "Bro".
As for their ages?
That wasn't the issue.
Most of them were older than Arthur.
But here in this ship, its all about law of the jungle.
Your strength dictates your status. And naturally, people would curry your favour or atleast not go on your bad side.
Puff~
A wisp of smoke escaped Shakky's lips as she watched Arthur and asked, "Arthur, are you heading off to train again?"
"Yeah."
Arthur nodded slightly, offering no extra words, then resumed his usual training routine.
No matter the time or situation, Arthur never slacked off when it came to training.
In fact—
He was becoming increasingly terrifying in how he trained.
Take gravity weighted training for example.
Weighted training using magical gravity utilizes gravity itself to bore down a massive pressure on one's body, prone to extreme damage on muscles and other parts of the body. This technique helped fully stimulate and push the red dragon's potential to its limits.
Arthur had adopted the brutality of the training itself.
Only…
Drip.
Drip.
Shakky watched as Arthur's muscles tore apart inch by inch—blood streaming down from each rupture. Yet even in this state, Arthur's eyes remained calm. He continued his training without pause, not even flinching.
"Unbelievable…"
"To become a true powerhouse… it takes a person to do unbelievable things."
Puff~
Shakky sighed as she looked on. She understood very clearly: the road to strength was never easy.
Arthur's intense training fully justified why, at only seventeen, he possessed such terrifying power.
Sure, his regenerative ability was off the charts, allowing him to recover rapidly.
But even so—
Even with Arthur's recovery speed, even with his monstrous body—how many people could actually endure this degree of training?
No one could say.
Because very, very few ever could.
Exhale~
Time passed.
By the end of the afternoon, Arthur stood up, his whole body sore and trembling with fatigue.
But—
Unlike before, today's training had been even more extreme.
If his previous training had been "hell mode," then now? Now it was the kind of training meant to kill you.
As long as you didn't die?
You kept going.
Crack!
Clenching his fist, a terrifying popping sound echoed like firecrackers.
Arthur muttered, "I can feel it clearly. My body is improving—even if the changes aren't that obvious just yet."
But it wasn't just his physique.
His recovery speed, his endurance, his defenses—they were all steadily improving.
What did this mean?
It meant Arthur's Red Dragon bloodline was strengthening.
Not by unlocking more of it.
No—
It was still the same 10%.
But he was squeezing out every last drop of that 10%.
It was like laying down a foundation.
A base stat at Level 100 compared to Level 1,000 was a world of difference.
But Arthur wasn't aiming for 1,000.
He was going for 10,000—or even 100,000, 1,000,000!
That was his goal.
To chase a future far beyond what others could perceive.
The present? The visible horizon?
That was never enough for Arthur. It shouldn't be.
After all—he was Arthur Pendragon.
His ambition,
Could never be confined by something so small.
---
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