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"Rubber fruit? A rubber man?"
Zoro stared at Luffy in disbelief.
So Devil Fruits were real after all…
"You bastard! You laid hands on me?! My father's gonna kill you!"
Helmeppo clutched his swollen face, eyes bulging with rage and fear.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Luffy's answer was a flurry of fists.
"S-Stop! If you keep going, you're really gonna get killed!"
The two Marines nearby finally snapped out of their shock at seeing Luffy's rubber powers and rushed forward to intervene.
"Do try not to interrupt our captain's business."
Ruen gave them a lazy smile, but the flicker in his eyes was anything but gentle—red and black light shimmered faintly in his pupils.
Buzz!
An invisible wave pulsed outward. The two Marines went slack-eyed, collapsed on the spot, and didn't move again.
"W-What was that…?"
Zoro's eyes sharpened. The man—Ruen—hadn't even lifted a finger, but a monstrous pressure had poured from him like a silent roar.
The moment it struck, those two had crumpled like puppets with their strings cut.
Zoro's gut screamed that this was something dangerous.
"This is called Conqueror's Haki," Ruen said coolly, his eyes dimming back to normal. "The weak can't even stay conscious before it."
"Conqueror's… Haki?" Zoro echoed, the term completely unfamiliar.
He'd taken on the title of bounty hunter after setting out to sea—more out of necessity than ambition. Bounties brought food.
And his sword was sharp enough that he'd earned a fearsome name.
But compared to this… these powers? This was something else entirely.
A Devil Fruit user. Haki.
The world was far broader than he'd imagined.
"Phew. That felt great," Luffy said, cracking his knuckles as he stood over the unconscious Helmeppo. "What a punchable scumbag."
Read Trait.
Ruen glanced at Helmeppo, now facedown in the dirt.
—Trait (Helmeppo): Washed-Clean, Gains Strength [Light Purple]
Washed-Clean, Gains Strength (Light Purple): Can be redeemed or 'washed.' Upon redemption, strength significantly increases.
"...This kind of trash gets a purple-tier trait?"
Ruen's lip curled.
This piece of human garbage had terrorized civilians under his father's protection—yet the original author had seen fit to give him this?
Somehow, he could get stronger after being redeemed?
"Absurd," Ruen muttered, shaking his head.
Still, it was a light purple trait. Trash or not, it was rare.
And then, a system message appeared before his eyes:
Purple-tier and above traits can be converted into upgrade tokens.
Tokens can be used to strengthen existing traits.
Ruen blinked.
So that's how the upgrade mechanic worked.
Efficient, really. Even garbage had value—if only as raw material.
"Convert."
The useless purple trait dissolved into light.
—Trait Converted
—Current Upgrade Token Inventory: 1 (Light Purple - Potential Type)
"Not bad."
It was now clear: traits could be broken down and used to enhance other ones. But there were rules.
Only purple-tier or higher could be converted.
White and blue? Too common. Useless.
And only fully acquired traits—those gained by direct plundering—were eligible. Traits loaded from allies didn't count, since they were mirrored rather than true copies.
Still, this gave him options.
—Battle traits are classified into two categories: Potential and Power.
—Potential traits (e.g., Luck, Inherited Fate) cannot upgrade Power traits (e.g., Haki, Strength).
Which meant he couldn't, for instance, use Factional Fortune (Super Gold) from Koby to power up his Conqueror's Haki (Light Gold).
Shame. If he could convert potential into raw power, he'd become a monster overnight.
But Ruen wasn't upset. That would break the very logic of the world—like creating something from nothing. Reality didn't work that way.
Even with a cheat-like system, this world still obeyed natural laws.
The system gave him a path—but how far he went down it? That was on him.
Ruen's eyes narrowed in satisfaction.
That's what makes it fun.
Let's see how far I can go.
—Trait Strength Increased: Conqueror's Haki (due to Willpower growth)
Another system message blinked into view.
Ah. So the strength of his Haki did scale with his ambition and aura.
Which meant his debut—when he declared himself "Ten-ō" and unleashed his Haki for the world to see—had been the right move.
In the world of pirates, those who made the most noise and painted the seas red were the ones who rose to the top.
From now on, he needed to be even louder.
After all, with Luffy's crazy support network behind him, he could afford to.
Back to the upgrade system...
It would take ten traits of the same grade and type to upgrade one to the next tier.
This one purple potential token, for instance, was 1/10 toward upgrading a light purple potential trait to dark purple.
Given that most people had to train and sweat to inch forward, this shortcut was more than fair.
Ruen was satisfied.
Useless traits? He had a use for them now.
And Helmeppo?
He'd just been stripped of his one and only redeeming feature.
The guy was finished.
"Wait a sec," Zoro finally said, frowning. "You're pirates, right? So why're you sticking your neck out here?"
Luffy grinned. "Because that guy deserved a beating."
He turned to Zoro, serious now.
"Wanna join my crew?"
"Why the hell would I do that? I'm not interested in becoming some lowlife criminal."
Zoro scowled.
"But I already decided," Luffy replied cheerfully. "You're gonna be my crewmate."
"Will you just listen to me?!"
Zoro nearly blew a vein.
"Think about it." Ruen stepped in, voice calm. "You stay here, you die. That's a fact. And a guy like you—strong, proud—probably has a goal you haven't finished yet. You ready to let that go?"
Zoro fell silent.
Dead quiet.
Die here?
Hell no.
He'd survived twenty days without food or water on nothing but stubborn will.
All for one promise:
To become the world's greatest swordsman.
A promise made to a girl named Kuina, now long gone.
A vow he refused to break.
"Hey, you're a swordsman, right?" Luffy asked suddenly. "Where's your sword?"
"That guy took them."
Zoro glared at the unconscious Helmeppo.
"Oh. Cool. I'll go get 'em. Once you've got your swords, you're joining my crew."
With that, Luffy hoisted Helmeppo over his shoulder and sprinted off.
"Oi! Where are you even going?!" Zoro shouted.
"That way leads out of town!" Ruen called. "The base is the other direction."
"Got it! Thanks, Ruen!"
Luffy turned on a dime and bolted the other way.
Zoro stared after him, mouth agape.
"This guy's got zero brain cells. And that's your captain?"
"Luffy's a bit scatterbrained," Ruen admitted with a smile, "but when it counts, he pulls through."
He turned to Rika.
"You should head home, Rika. Things are going to get noisy here."
The little girl hesitated, still holding her now-cold rice balls.
"Hand them over," Zoro said suddenly.
Rika blinked in surprise, then lit up with a bright smile.
"Here, mister!"
Zoro devoured them in seconds.
"Delicious. I'm full."
Rika's face glowed with pride.
"I'm so happy! Thank you, mister!"
She turned to Ruen.
She understood. It was because of him that Zoro accepted her food.
"How's that?" Ruen asked with a grin. "Isn't a child's sincerity worth more than gold?"
Zoro chuckled.
"Yeah."
And then—
BOOM!!!
An explosion shook the courtyard.