c2 Show Me Your Limits
On the heads of these drinking and smoking bounty hunters, numbers invisible to the naked eye were constantly emerging.
And somewhere inside the tavern, a young man wearing beach shorts and a floral shirt but with a bright red scarf stubbornly tied around his neck was sprawled across the boss's chair, leisurely sipping a cup of herbal tea.
In his mind, numbers kept flashing.
He was the owner of this tavern, a senior "salted fish" agent of the criminal organization Baroque Works, and a so-called "gold medal instructor" who had trained dozens of greenhorns the Penguin-Penguin Fruit user, Ma Qiao!
Five years had passed since he had crossed over from another world or rather, since the memories of his previous life had reawakened.
From being forced to eat a Devil Fruit that tasted worse than death, to discovering it was a Zoan-type Penguin-Penguin Fruit: Common Model, and finally mastering its quirks Ma Qiao had seen more absurdities in five years than most pirates did in a lifetime.
He had changed from a confused newcomer in the Grand Line to a seasoned survivor who could handle every kind of madness this sea had to offer.
Though his promotion prospects were nonexistent, and his years as an "instructor" kept piling up, Ma Qiao didn't care.
After all, instead of working his feathers off for Sir Crocodile (Mr. 0) a man destined to be pummeled by Monkey D. Luffy, it was far better to exploit Baroque Works' resources to study and enhance his own fruit's abilities.
After countless experiments, Ma Qiao came to a startling, if tongue-in-cheek, realization: if Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Mi turned out to be the Mythical Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika, then maybe his own penguin fruit could one day evolve into something equally ridiculous perhaps the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Model: Capitalist!
Of course, that was just a joke.
As a long-time fan of the One Piece world, Ma Qiao knew all too well the importance of fully developing one's Devil Fruit and achieving awakening.
Look at Trafalgar Law's Ope Ope no Mi, Donquixote Doflamingo's Ito Ito no Mi, Bartholomew Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi...
The power of those fruits had far surpassed their original limitations, becoming forces that could reshape the world.
And so, Ma Qiao believed, the Penguin-Penguin Fruit had potential too.
Perhaps even greater potential!
In this chaotic pirate world, Ma Qiao had every confidence no one knew the Penguin Fruit better than him!
·
Feeling the faint trickle of vitality coursing through his body, Ma Qiao stretched lazily, warmth spreading from his chest to his flippers—er, fingers.
Each moment, the numbers representing his lifespan continued to rise.
Although each customer's contribution was small, over the years, he had accumulated enough borrowed years to rival even the lifespan of the giants from Elbaf and it was still increasing.
Of course, the "time" he collected wasn't stolen directly from others. It came from the lifespan they willingly wasted through cigarettes or excessive drinking.
When they consumed the products sold at the Big Bird Tavern, their lost years were automatically redirected to Ma Qiao under the fine print of the "contract."
And this, Ma Qiao argued, was all perfectly legal and moral!
It was clearly written, agreed upon, and within the spirit of good faith not deception or robbery.
After all, Ma Qiao was an "Animal-type Zoan, Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Model: Capitalist Form," brimming with limitless potential.
Somewhere in Drum Kingdom, Tony Tony Chopper, the reindeer who had eaten the Human-Human Fruit (Model: Human), sneezed mid-surgery, faintly sensing he had just been slandered.
·
The days of fishing at work were always so peaceful and so boring.
Still, with plenty of time before the quarterly Baroque Works evaluation, Ma Qiao leaned back, stretched again, and picked up the day's newspaper.
The news system in this world was charmingly primitive.
Across the Grand Line and the four seas, information was spread almost entirely by News Coo, the tireless seagulls that carried papers to every island and ship.
For someone who once lived in an age of smartphones and endless internet scrolling, going back to printed news still felt surreal.
Yet over years of idleness, Ma Qiao had formed the pleasant habit of reading the World Economic Journal each morning.
"Huh... Ace is making waves. Seems he's built quite a name for himself in the East Blue!"
Scanning a small column near the bottom corner, Ma Qiao smiled faintly.
It said that Portgas D. Ace, captain of the Spade Pirates, had earned his first bounty 30 million Berries.
The same amount as Luffy's first bounty years later.
Clearly, the World Government still hadn't realized who Ace truly was. If they had known he was the son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, his bounty would have been far higher.
Pirates with a bounty of 30 million Berries are considered the limit in the East Blue, and Ma Qiao estimated that Ace would soon set sail toward the Grand Line.
After a series of legendary adventures, he would meet the man who called him "son" and in the end, the old and the young would fall together during the War of Marineford.
Those events were already etched deep in Ma Qiao's memory; even an ordinary One Piece fan knew that fateful battle by heart, let alone Ma Qiao, who counted as a senior "sea fan."
But such things were not Ma Qiao's concern for now.
It was Portgas D. Ace!
An ordinary man like himself had no right to worry about the fate of a Pirate King's bloodline.
As a nobody with no special heritage and no "D" in his name, Ma Qiao had set a modest goal since realizing he had crossed into the perilous world of One Piece to stay alive and not die.
The Age of Great Pirates…
It sounded so grand and romantic.
But only by living in this era could one grasp the terror hidden beneath that dream.
This was an age where the strong ruled the seas and the weak became prey.
Whether it was Marines shouting "Justice!" or pirates shouting "Freedom!", both were terrifying forces to ordinary people.
And above them all stood the Celestial Dragons, the so-called descendants of the gods, whose crimes defied imagination.
In their eyes, commoners' lives were worth less than the dirt beneath their feet.
To survive in such a world, Ma Qiao knew he needed constant vigilance, strict discipline, a healthy diet, and harsh almost masochistic training.
and so ...
"Galen! Do a thousand more handstand push-ups! Show me your limits!"
Ma Qiao kicked his feet onto the desk, bit into a massive hamburger labeled "Zero Calories," and barked new orders at Galen across the room.
...
As a "hero" created through the power of the Penguin-Penguin Fruit, Model: Capitalist Form, Galen the Power of Demacia couldn't grow stronger through normal training; his strength increased only when he was upgraded.
The only way to level up was… to invest.
Although Ma Qiao had designed this ability himself, he couldn't help complaining that it perfectly captured the spirit of that old gaming company back in his previous life: "You can't grow stronger without topping up." Whatever the world, some laws of business never change.
Still, Galen's endless workouts were far from meaningless.
There is no free lunch on the seas and no wasted effort either.
That hard work merely took another form: a sports car and a villa, metaphorically speaking, all for the benefit of the boss.
For Ma Qiao, every handstand push-up Galen completed translated into a bonus of physical strength identical to doing it himself.
Thus, Ma Qiao could now perform handstand push-ups effortlessly and even handstand long-jumps something no fitness coach in his past life could match.
Even so …
It was tiring!
So, under normal circumstances, Ma Qiao left all "training" to his loyal Galen.
After all, was there anything better than having someone else work out while you got the gains?
"Show me your limits! For the pride of Demacia!"
Ma Qiao focused on Galen's tower-like frame, savoring the thrill of shared exertion.
Galen, Ryze, and Ashe once the free starter champions in League of Legends were unforgettable icons to every gamer in Ma Qiao's previous world.
And now, they had become the first trio of "heroes" he could summon after awakening the deeper layers of his Penguin Fruit.
These manifestations looked, thought, and acted like real people.
Their personalities and powers reflected their lore Ryze calm and scholarly, Ashe graceful and distant, Galen noble and loud.
But no matter how vivid, Ma Qiao knew they were not true living beings.
They felt no lust, no greed, no selfish impulse they obeyed him unconditionally as their summoner.
And Ma Qiao often mused: if someone lacked the selfish desires and foolish impulses that define humanity, could they really be called a person at all?
—