Luffy and Zoro Practice Horse Stance

Ronan briefly bid farewell to the residents of Star Cape Town, and the small boat carrying four people slowly left the coast.

Behind them came the grateful farewells of the townsfolk.

Nami withdrew her gaze from the sea, turned to Ronan, and spoke with a hint of confusion and a miser's regret:

"Hey, Ronan, the captain of the Tattered Sails Pirates was a big-time pirate with a three-million Belly bounty, and you just gave all that prize money to the townspeople?"

Ronan looked at the town gradually receding along the coastline, his eyes calm:

"Their town was destroyed so badly by the pirates. Let that money help them rebuild their homes."

Nami curled her lip and muttered with some dissatisfaction:

"You're pretty generous..."

Then she let out a deep sigh, revealing her longing for wealth:

"I thought seeing a pirate ship meant we'd make a killing, but we didn't get anything—even their ship was broken!

At this rate, when will I ever save enough money?"

Zoro, with sharp ears, turned his head to look at Nami, half-lying on the boat as he asked, "What, are you short on cash?"

Nami snorted coldly, crossing her arms: "None of your business!"

Ronan didn't join their argument. He turned to look at Luffy, full of energy, sitting at the bow: "Hey, Luffy, where are we headed now?"

Hearing Ronan's words, Luffy's face lit up. He clenched his right hand into a fist and announced loudly: "The Grand Line, of course!"

As soon as Luffy finished speaking, Nami put her hands on her hips and shouted: "Going into the Grand Line like that is way too reckless!"

Nami's expression was serious and earnest, but Luffy seemed to only catch the key word. He swallowed the apple core he'd just finished eating and said in confusion:

"Yeah, that's right—I need meat too!"

"You can't just eat apples!" Zoro said, resting his head on his hands. Though he was lounging lazily, his eyes were sharp: "I really want some booze!"

Ronan also sighed, weighing the broken staff in his hand, now less than a third of its original length:

"I need a proper iron spear too. A wooden stick is just too lousy."

Zoro was drawn by Ronan's words and turned his head again, showing curiosity about him:

"Speaking of which, you used a wooden stick earlier and pulled off moves with that much power—that was spear technique, right?

Pretty rare. First time I've seen someone use a spear."

Ronan nodded: "Yeah, it's my family's inherited Xing Yi Thirteen Spears."

"What are you guys talking about!"

Nami watched the three men talking to themselves, completely ignoring her opinion, and fumed in frustration.

She grabbed an apple at random and hurled it hard at Zoro's neck.

"Thump!"

The apple bounced off, but Luffy stretched his arm, caught it instantly, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"We're not just short on people," Nami said angrily, pointing at the navigation chart to highlight their current predicament: "We're short on a ship too!"

She calmed herself down, pointed to a spot on the chart, and suggested to the group:

"If we go a bit further south, there's an inhabited island. If we can get a decent ship there, that'd be great!"

"Great! Time to eat meat!" Luffy immediately latched onto the key point, shouting happily.

"And my booze!" Zoro perked up too, sitting upright.

Ronan's eyes were firm as he added at the end: "And get an iron spear!"

"You guys...!" Nami was completely speechless and helpless, watching her goal-driven crewmates, sighing as she held her forehead.

East Blue, a certain sea area.

The wind was calm, the sea glittered like scattered gold, and the small boat drifted slowly across the surface.

Onboard, Ronan had already entered training mode.

In the cramped space, he held a standard Horse Stance—back straight, knees not flaring outward, hips relaxed and sunk, breath sinking into his Dantian, coordinated with rhythmic breathing.

The [Perseverance] system didn't grant a Cultivation Multiplier outside of combat, but Ronan could clearly feel his body growing stronger at a slow but steady pace.

On the other side, Zoro and Luffy were also beside Ronan, mimicking the Horse Stance with some effort.

Though they'd only learned it a day ago, under Ronan's careful guidance, their stances were already fairly standard.

Paired with the National Martial Arts breathing technique Ronan had taught them, steam rose from their bodies. They'd held the stance for a full half hour, gritting their teeth to persist.

Nearby, Nami sat by the boat's edge, soaking up the sun with her hands behind her head. Watching the three in their stances, she couldn't help mocking:

"What a bunch of idiots. Perfect weather, and instead of enjoying the sun, you're sweating it out on the boat!"

Ronan and the other two paid her taunts no mind.

When he felt that his training had reached a natural pause, he slowly stopped practicing and exhaled a long, drawn-out breath of Turbid Air.

Zoro and Luffy also exhaled a mouthful of warm Turbid Air almost simultaneously, stopping their practice and rising to their feet.

Zoro wiped the sweat from his brow, his eyes burning with eagerness as he looked at Ronan:

"Ronan, that Horse Stance of yours is really something! I can clearly feel my body's strength gradually improving, especially my lower body—it's much more stable than before!"

Luffy also grinned and shouted, "Yeah, yeah! Practicing this, even though I can't move, it feels like my strength has gotten a bit bigger!"

Ronan revealed a confident smile. "Of course. This is a fundamental exercise for strengthening the body, the foundation of National Martial Arts."

He looked at Zoro, a hint of serious intent to teach in his eyes: "In a few days, I'll teach you a few more fist techniques to strengthen the body."

Hearing this, Zoro's eyes burst with excitement:

"Great!"

He knew very well how precious these special training methods that could systematically improve physical fitness were—they couldn't be measured with money.

Hearing that Ronan would also teach fist techniques, he was naturally happy and grateful.

But Luffy pouted and immediately clamored, "Ronan, I want to learn now!"

Ronan looked helplessly at the cramped deck around them. "On such a small ship, you can't even stretch your arms properly—there's no room to move." Hearing this, Luffy had no choice but to drop it.

Before long, Nami suddenly sprang up from her lying position, pointing at the sea ahead and letting out an excited shout: "Hey! I see an island!"

Ronan, Zoro, and Luffy all followed her gaze.

Sure enough, on the distant horizon, the outline of a lush, green island was slowly emerging.

"Finally here," Ronan thought to himself.

With land, he could not only stretch his limbs and practice, but more importantly: he could go find himself a suitable iron spear!