Arrival: Cocoyasi Village

Born in a storm, Nami possessed an extraordinary sensitivity to climate. She could directly measure the humidity of the air through her skin and predict the weather.

It was no surprise that she reacted when she encountered Ling Donglai, whose body was filled with electric current.

What is wrong with this man's body...

Crackling currents spread from the arm he had grabbed. The waves of numbness made Nami somewhat uncomfortable, and she nearly thought her senses had misjudged.

If her senses had not been wrong... then this man's body... harbored a terrifying current.

He really was... that legendary man who wielded lightning!

"J-just as long as you can defeat Arlong!"

His six-foot-three frame blocked out the setting sun, while the immense currents surging within his body created a suffocating pressure.

Nami's head was already starting to spin from the overwhelming psychological pressure.

Driven by her body's instinct to survive, she spoke without thinking.

"Mm-hm. I will defeat Arlong, along with every fish-man in East Blue." Ling Donglai received the answer he wanted, and his mood improved immensely.

"Alright, move farther away from me..." Nami reached out to push Ling Donglai, but drew her hand back again when it touched his hard chest.

"This current..." she muttered in complaint.

Ling Donglai increased the distance between them slightly and pulled his baseball cap lower, making it impossible for Nami to see his expression.

"I need to train. Wake me when we reach Cocoyasi Village."

"You're going to sleep, aren't you?" Nami shot back.

She had never seen anyone train by doing absolutely nothing.

Some terrifying bounty hunters could lift barbells one-handed that ordinary people needed both hands to raise, then wield them like swords.

That horrifying arm strength practically surpassed humanity itself.

Yet Ling Donglai's training required virtually no external equipment. Whether walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, he was constantly training his body from within and extracting electrical current.

What Ling Donglai was now attempting was to maintain the use of his willpower to rub his cells even while asleep, allowing him to train in his sleep and truly achieve uninterrupted twenty-four-hour training.

That way, he would grow stronger every single day!

Training in one's sleep was also a feasible approach. The power of a Devil Fruit would only be undone under three circumstances: being knocked unconscious, actively deactivating it, or death.

The user of the Hobby-Hobby Fruit could turn humans they touched into toys. Even if the Fruit user fell asleep, those transformed into toys remained toys; only when the user lost consciousness would the effect be undone.

Once he could use his willpower to train even in his sleep, Current Drive would at least be able to erupt with 500,000 Volts within five months.

That was why, in Nami's eyes, Ling Donglai was not training at all. His method was simply too strange for the current pirate world. It was not a mainstream path of training, but one he had uniquely developed for himself.

"Damn it, you could at least help me steer the boat!"

Looking at the sleeping Ling Donglai, Nami complained under her breath. Sailing a small boat alone on the open sea was truly exhausting work for her.

"But this guy..." Nami looked at Ling Donglai's hard pectorals.

"There is no way he's only fourteen, right?"

Beneath the sea.

A fish-man sniffed and noticed the small boat slowly approaching Cocoyasi Village.

"Hehehe, Nami's back."

"There is someone else's scent on her boat, and it smells familiar." Another fish-man swam toward the surface.

"Wait, that scent is... That guy is here! Don't go up there, come back!"

But it was already too late.

"Hey, Nami, there is someone else's scent on your boat. Did you bring somebody back?" The fish-man poked his head out of the sea, then noticed the man sleeping beneath a baseball cap.

Even asleep, he radiated an impossible-to-ignore presence.

"This guy looks kind of familiar?" the fish-man said doubtfully.

"Fish-men..." Nami's expression stiffened. She had not expected to encounter fish-men before even reaching shore. In the past, a few taunts and insults from them would have been nothing, but now there was also a wanted criminal on her boat.

A criminal wanted by Arlong.

"Idiot, run! He is that legendary man!" Beneath the water, the other fish-man shouted as he fled into the distance.

That man was capable of killing even officers. Fish-men like them were absolutely no match for him!

"That legendary man... the Devil Fruit user wanted by Arlong!" The fish-man near Nami finally realized whom his companion meant.

"What are you afraid of? He's just a Devil Fruit user. On the sea, fish-men are the favored ones!"

He said that.

But his body started trembling uncontrollably.

The man on the boat had already lifted his baseball cap, revealing the wanted face beneath it.

Lightning flickered in his eyes.

"Your scent is making it very difficult for me to sleep, fish-man!"

Before he could react, Ling Donglai had seized him by the neck and lifted him like a chick.

Only then did the fish-man understand what kind of opponent stood before him. Under that fierce aura crashing down upon him, all he could do was tremble. Like a rabbit facing a tiger, he could only play dead without resisting and pray that fate would spare him from death.

The gap in strength was simply too vast!

"Boring."

This fish-man was no longer even worth attacking. The fear deep in his heart had already defeated him before Ling Donglai could; even if Ling Donglai took his life, he would only endure it without daring to resist.

Ling Donglai looked toward the distant shore. The other fish-man had already scrambled onto land, clearly intending to raise the alarm.

Ling Donglai directly threw the fish-man in his hand over there. He struck the fleeing fish-man head-on, and both fish-men were knocked unconscious.

"So the training you mentioned earlier really was just sleeping!" Seeing the fish-men's fear of Ling Donglai, Nami finally felt a sense of relief rise in her heart.

"I favor training in my dreams." Ling Donglai leaned against the side of the boat and waited for it to reach shore.

"Now, full speed ahead," Ling Donglai ordered.

"Yes, Captain. But can you really live with yourself making a weak girl row the boat?"

With the hope of seeing Arlong defeated in her heart, Nami worked hard at the oars, her eyes sparkling.

"Experts never row their own boats."

"But you said before that you weren't an expert."

"I'm on my way there." Ling Donglai clenched his fists.

Power and strength—he wanted them all!

Today's extra chapter for recommendation votes makes this the third update. Please vote; this newbie needs support.