Individualized Training; Can Yue's Worries

East Blue.

Several days had passed since the Straw Hat Crew left Cocoyasi Village.

Aboard the Merry.

Nami was tending to the orange tree that Sanji and the others had transplanted onto the ship for her.

Zoro, having escaped his devilish beating training, was concentrating on his steel-cutting practice.

Usopp was still looking for birds to shoot. Even though his mind was filled with frustration, he didn't dare to speak ill of Can Yue.

Sanji was continuously practicing his jumps.

Luffy was engaged in close-quarters combat training with Can Yue.

As for Johnny and Joseph, they had chosen to remain in Cocoyasi Village as Pirate Hunters for the time being.

Perhaps they also had the intention of protecting Cocoyasi Village.

The morning training session concluded.

During mealtime, Can Yue gathered everyone and clarified their future training directions with each of them.

This was also to deepen the members' understanding of each other's abilities.

"Let's start with Usopp. Your greatest talent is long-range shooting..."

Can Yue's training goal for Usopp was in the ranged attack and support direction.

This was already Usopp's natural development trend.

But now, with Can Yue's help, in addition to shooting training, Usopp would naturally be scheduled for physical training and close-combat training.

Improving his physique would allow him greater control over his own muscles.

Stronger self-control, in addition to improving shooting accuracy.

It also meant he could use stronger, larger weapons, which would naturally lead to more attack methods.

Furthermore, enhanced physique was inevitably linked to learning Haki.

A weakling, a sickly person, had little chance of mastering Haki.

Of course, Usopp didn't need Haki training at this stage at all; his physique had not yet reached the minimum standard for learning Armament Haki.

Regarding Usopp's close combat, Can Yue's initial plan was for two aspects.

The first was naturally evasion.

The second was to have Usopp train in close-range projectile attacks.

This would maximize Usopp's mental flexibility.

If anyone got close to him, he could evade and shove a 'stinky thing' into their mouth.

How he would utilize this depended on Usopp's initiative.

Similarly to Usopp, Nami had not yet met the requirements to learn Armament Haki.

Nami's training also focused on physique, close combat, and talent growth.

Can Yue's idea for Nami was for her to become a ranged mage who could protect herself.

In addition to practicing her 'anti-wolf club technique' daily, Can Yue also advised Nami to study science related to climate every day.

This would add more possibilities to her Clima-Tact.

This was something only Nami could handle, as Can Yue knew very little about it.

As for the sparring partner for close-combat training, it was naturally Can Yue himself.

On the first day of this voyage, Nami suffered a great disadvantage under Can Yue's powerful spear and staff techniques.

The moment the training ended, she unleashed a barrage of criticism on Can Yue.

She cursed Can Yue for holding a grudge.

Can Yue was speechless; this was training, and accidents could happen...

As for Sanji, who couldn't stand to see Nami bullied and always came to confront Can Yue.

He was beaten so badly that he couldn't even hold his kitchen knife steady.

For Sanji, his physique had reached the standard for learning Haki, and Can Yue had already begun teaching him.

Therefore, Sanji also started his daily beatings.

This gentleman's talent naturally lay in his leg techniques, so almost all of Can Yue's training methods for Sanji were related to his legs.

Frog jumps, squats, and a total of 10,000 meters of jumping every day were the basics.

Once Sanji adapted to this training intensity, Can Yue began adding weights to his legs.

Rice, flour, fruits, vegetables, and the like were piled onto Sanji's legs as weights.

To protect the food, Sanji had to be extremely careful when landing, to avoid damaging the provisions.

Sanji was so frustrated he called Can Yue a devil.

But there were definitely benefits; his leg control and stability had clearly improved.

Naturally, some upper body training was also included to prevent his weaknesses from being too obvious.

Zoro remained the same as always, his daily training focused on increasing his Haki proficiency and improving his combat abilities.

His steel-cutting training seemed to have hit a bottleneck, with little progress recently, but his physique was indeed getting better.

His muscles were well-defined, his eight-pack abs sharp and distinct; at a glance, he was clearly a handsome guy.

In terms of physique, Sanji had indeed lost.

Because of this, Sanji was very unconvinced and personally increased his upper body training volume.

What satisfied Can Yue the most was Zoro's consistently stable mindset; he wasn't anxious or impatient, and his breakthrough was surely not far off.

As for Luffy, besides close-combat training and Armament Haki training with him, Can Yue also frequently discussed with Luffy how to develop his abilities.

Luffy had extraordinary talent in this regard and had already gained some initial insights.

Regarding Observation Haki, Can Yue was currently focused on improving the entire crew's intuition when responding to attacks.

Simply put, he would beat them up one by one, but allow them to dodge or counter.

The stronger their combat intuition, the sooner they could master Observation Haki.

The subsequent improvement of Observation Haki was related to overall strength such as talent, intellect, and stamina, making it a gradual process.

The current Straw Hat Crew, with Can Yue's addition, had all begun to grow at an accelerated pace.

After lunch, Can Yue stood at the bow of the ship, contemplating the next phase of his plan.

According to Nami's estimation, continuing to sail forward for about a week would bring them to the final stop in the East Blue, Loguetown.

If he hadn't joined, the Straw Hat Crew would not have been recognized by Smoker and Tashigi when they first arrived at Loguetown.

But ever since he joined the Straw Hat Crew, the situation had changed.

The Straw Hat Crew had long since become a renowned pirate group in the East Blue.

The bounty posters for Can Yue, Luffy, and Zoro were already famous throughout the seas.

It was impossible for Smoker to not know the appearances of the main members.

Therefore, they definitely needed to think of a way before landing.

Moreover, in Cocoyasi Village, Can Yue had Shushu sink a Marine Colonel's warship.

Regardless of whether Captain Nezumi would exaggerate and report the Straw Hat Crew's 'evil deeds' to Headquarters, the fact that they appeared in Cocoyasi Village and defeated Arlong would certainly be known.

If Marine Headquarters was motivated, they could roughly predict the Straw Hat Crew's route and their approximate arrival time at Loguetown.

The best-case scenario would be for Marine Headquarters to believe that Smoker alone could handle the Straw Hat Crew.

The worst-case scenario would be them sending reinforcements.

As for what kind of force they would send, as long as it wasn't an Admiral, Can Yue was confident he could handle it.

From his previous battle with Hawk Eyes, Can Yue clearly recognized that he still had a significant gap to the top powerhouses of the pirate world.

Perhaps he could escape unscathed on his own, but protecting the Straw Hat Crew against someone of an Admiral's caliber was entirely impossible.

Can Yue closed his eyes for a moment and let out a breath.

"Before we reach Loguetown, I hope these guys' strength can improve a bit."

"I'll train them harder for the next few days."

The Straw Hat Crew members, still napping, had no idea how miserable their fate would be in the coming days.

Loguetown.

Marine Branch - Colonel's Office.

Tashigi stood at attention, relaying information from Headquarters to Smoker.

"Colonel Smoker, Headquarters estimates that the Straw Hat Crew will arrive at Loguetown in one week."

Smoker heard this and paused his work.

After puffing on his cigar for a moment, he frowned deeply.

"Tashigi, keep a constant watch on the Straw Hat Pirates' movements. If you spot them, report back to me immediately."

Tashigi saluted, acknowledged the order, and then headed to the training grounds to begin her day's practice.

Afterward, Smoker found himself lost in thought in his office.

Before Tashigi had come to him, Smoker had also received a notice from Headquarters.

Putting it all together made Smoker's head spin.

"Straw Hat Pirates' estimated arrival date: 1 week.

Buggy Pirates' estimated arrival date: 1 week.

The two overlords of the East Blue are expected to visit Loguetown, the final gateway to the Grand Line, simultaneously."

No matter how confident Smoker was, he didn't believe he could handle two major pirate crews by himself.

Just then, the Den Den Mushi on Smoker's desk rang.

"Can you hear me, Smoker-kun?"

"Mm, it's Hina."

"Get straight to the point. The situation in Loguetown is quite bad right now. Headquarters is sending 'Momousagi'-sensei and the others to support you. We're coming at full speed, which should take about 8 days. So, before we arrive in Loguetown, you need to avoid conflict with these two pirate crews as much as possible and stall them for one day. Especially, don't challenge Buggy, understand?"

Upon hearing this, Smoker's pupils trembled slightly.

'She's the one coming? There's no reason to involve her. What exactly did these two pirate crews do?'