"Hehe."
Rayleigh chuckled and patted Jinbe's arm.
"A true swordsman can make even a found dinner knife look like Black Blade!"
Which swordsman who makes a name for himself by relying on a famous Famous Sword can become a true master swordsman?
All powerful swordsmen are famous for the swordsman himself; as for his sword, it is only after the swordsman becomes famous that the name of the sword spread throughout the world!
"And the knife I personally forged for Little Gawain the knife that will bring him the most fame!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Rayleigh threw his head back and laughed loudly. His laughter even made Gion was exchanging glances with Hancock, roll her eyes.
Seeing Gion Byakugan, Hancock pursed her lips and turned to look at Gawain with concern again.
And Gion.
She patted the Kompira at her waist and said speechlessly.
Even the strongest swordsman needs a Famous Sword. The weapon you prepared for the master is probably no better than a tree branch by the roadside.
Such a sword can certainly bring fame to its master, since no other swordsman in the world uses such a sword, thus making him famous.
From the moment Shiryu brought the prisoner, it was less that he was fighting with the swordsmanship you taught him, and more that he was using the fists and feet I taught him to kill!
As soon as he finished speaking, Gawain rushed out from afar and threw his small, broken knife at the pirates opposite him.
Just as the pirate, his face contorted with rage, deflected the knife, Gawain leaped forward, covering dozens of meters in the blink of an eye. He slammed his left foot into the ground, launching himself into the air, and his right knee slammed into the pirate's chest!
Click!!!
With a series of cracking sounds, the pirate flew backward dozens of meters.
As Gawain retracted his knee, he also accelerated, arriving at the side of the flying pirate and grabbing the pirate's neck with his right hand.
Boom!!!
The pirate was grabbed by the neck and pinned to the ground.
Click click click!
With a series of cracking sounds, the pirate's neck snapped into a reverse V-shape, clearly indicating that he couldn't keep up with his exhalation.
Gawain then stopped, picked up a broken knife from the side, and walked away with it.
In the dense forest, Hancock immediately rushed out of her hiding place, covering her cheeks with her hands while excitedly squinting her big eyes and shouting to Gawain.
"As expected of Saint Gawain!"
"Ha ha."
Seeing Hancock's exaggerated actions, Gawain smoothed his hair and laughed.
"Never mind, let's save that praise for later."
Also, Rayleigh- sensei, pirates with bounties below ten million no longer pose any trouble for me; they're basically all one-hit kills.
We could try using pirates with a bounty of less than 50 million instead.
"The effect of the Kuma is particularly remarkable. The Paw-Paw Fruit is really powerful. In just three months, my progress is probably equivalent to five to six years of training for an ordinary person."
"That depends on when the competition starts!"
Rayleigh nodded, then responded to Gawain.
"Compared to children, a five- or six-year-old child, after about ten years of professional training, would probably be about as strong as you by the time they reach fifteen or sixteen."
But you should know that children over sixteen years old don't improve at a rate comparable to what they used to.
For example, you are currently in a similar phase, experiencing a surge in overall strength.
"Indeed, sir!"
Gion, smiling, continued speaking.
"Your current strength has reached the level of a lieutenant commander in the Marine Headquarters, and in terms of physical strength, you should even be able to reach the level of a lieutenant commander, which is the standard level of a field officer in the Marine Headquarters."
So, as you've probably noticed, lately, unless you're using extremely heavy training equipment, you're likely to be unwell.
Otherwise, if you're just exercising, you'll hardly feel tired, right?
So from now on, you'll need even more rigorous and dangerous training to maintain your high-speed leaps!
Hearing Gion's words, Gawain nodded with emotion.
That's right.
In the past two weeks, Gawain has even been using a two-ton barbell, a level that was completely unimaginable to him before his transmigration!
But now, he doesn't feel the arrival of the bottleneck stage at all. Every time he finishes his grueling training with super heavy weights, he can still feel the improvement in his strength!
As for his physical strength, he used to get exhausted after running ten kilometers, but now he can run around the coastline of Amazon Lily for a whole day and night without getting tired.
As the saying goes, the environment shapes the people. The atmosphere and food of the One Pirate World can nurture people like Gawain, who will definitely see progress as long as they are willing to work hard!
Of course, such progress inevitably has its limits; otherwise, why would Marine Vice Admiral like Momonga feel that no matter how hard he tries, it's difficult to reach Gion's level?
Gawain currently only hopes that his limit will come as late as possible.
However, he knew in his heart that even disregarding his body before he transmigrated, which was several times weaker than that of a pirate, he was still a formidable opponent.
This only applies to his level of training, which started when he was only twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
Compared to the powerful figures in the pirate homeland, he has already missed out on a lot, not to mention the incredibly talented individuals in the Pirate World.
Big Mom's Iron Balloon and Kaido's demon body—these two have been able to beat ordinary Vice Admiral into submission since they were just a few years old.
And myself...
Gawain smiled expectantly.
What level can I ultimately reach in terms of pure physical strength?
After laughing, Gawain waved to everyone.
"Let's go have lunch. By the way, are Franky and the others coming today?"
Upon hearing Gawain's question, Kalifa quickly nodded in response.
"Indeed, they set off at two o'clock this morning. According to Mr. Franky, his new ship has more than two propulsion systems and is much faster than ordinary ships."
They should arrive tonight as expected.
"Not bad, haha, when he arrives, we'll have a good look at what our new ship looks like."
As Gawain chatted idly, he sat down on the sofa. Three months had passed, and everyone had become so familiar with each other that there were no longer many formalities. They didn't even need a dining table anymore.
It was completely buffet style; everyone pushed their own carts, chose what they wanted to eat, and found a comfortable position to eat and chat.
However, Hancock remained the same as she had been three months ago, sitting to Gawain's right and feeding Gawain bite by bite. Each time Gawain took a bite, she would show an expression of immense satisfaction.
Gion was used to this. She sat to Gawain's left, casually propping her legs up on the back of the sofa, and chuckled softly.
"I hope my room is big enough, so I can move all my old collection from my old warship here."
By the way, sir, I have a few Famous Sword in my collection that you may choose from. Although none of them are Supreme Grade Sword, they are somewhat unworthy of your status.
But if it's just for temporary use, it should be enough for you right now.
Hearing Gion's words, Gawain paused slightly, and in that pause, he accidentally bit Hancock's finger.
Although it was just a simple contact, there were no ambiguous actions involved.
But a moment later, Hancock was still curled up to the side, her head still full of pink, grinning foolishly.
Gawain glanced helplessly at the grinning Hancock, then continued speaking to Gion.
"You don't need to worry. I estimate that the ship Franky is building will probably break records in size."
At the time, Iceburg gave me a shipbuilding budget of about 380 billion Beli, which already surprised me.
As a result, the cost of building the ship skyrocketed, eventually reaching the current level of 720 billion Beli!
At this point, Gawain thought to himself, "That's outrageous! What does 720 billion Beli even mean?"
Oda has said that the purchasing power of Beli is equivalent to that of a Japanese Yen, and 720 billion Beli is close to 40 billion RMB!
It's worth noting that in Gawain's country before he transmigrated, the cost of building an aircraft carrier was only around 40 billion RMB!
So, did Franky build himself an aircraft carrier?
Thinking of this, Gawain raised his glass to everyone.
"Cheers to the new ship, haha!"
Cheers to the swimming pool!!!
Shirahoshi held up her glass with Shirahoshi, drank the equivalent of a large bucket of beverage for an average person, put down the glass, and shook her tail, which had returned to its pink state.
"I need to prepare a whole set of tools and dyes for the beautiful scales. It's been three months already, and the pattern on my tail has worn off completely, boohoo~."
"You must prepare; everyone can decorate their rooms to their heart's content."
If I were to offer you all a clear, boundless ocean, I could only ask that you all work together with me and look forward to it.
But whether it's the room, the decorations you all like, or even treasures.
That's exactly what I have plenty of, haha!
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone raised their glasses in a toast. However, after everyone put down their glasses, Kalifa pushed up her glasses and said in a deep voice.
"My lord, we probably really don't have much money left. After all, you specifically requested that, apart from the essential project of the Sea Train, your other expenses should not be drawn from the commercial revenue of Water 7."
And you, Saint Mjosgard, along with the additional three months' worth of annual payments from the Shalria, plus the 30 billion promissory notes gifted by the Shalria, have already allocated a total of 100 billion Beli to the ship's construction.
Meanwhile, our Impel Down slave trade project, which we've been operating in Mary Geoise for the past three months, has brought us around 300 to 800 million in revenue per slave.
With forty slaves each month, they accumulated about 70 billion over three months, which was then used to build ships.
Currently, we have a total of 6.7 billion Beli, which are used to purchase various foods and exercise equipment, as well as to pay the salaries of members of the Black Ice Terrace and the Secretariat.
In addition, the new ship that is about to arrive still needs maintenance and upkeep.
Therefore, our current total assets are...
"We still owe the Water 7 Finance Department 540 billion Beli!"
After listening to Kalifa's report, Gawain's previously enthusiastic face instantly turned gloomy.
Shirahoshi was so shocked by the figure of 540 billion that she burst into tears.
She wiped her teary eyes, then grinned.
"How can patterns like those made of scales be as beautiful as the natural colors of other people?"
I'm not going to make scales anymore.
"Look, sir, my tail is all pink!"
"Ha ha!"
Hearing Shirahoshi's concerned words, the gloom on Gawain's face immediately dissipated, and he waved his hand dismissively.
"There's no other way. We really have to prioritize the Sea Train project. Water 7's own revenue is far from enough to support the future scale of the Sea Train. I really can't add any more trouble for them."
As for our debt, it's already there anyway. Kalifa, take some time to talk to Water 7 about an installment plan, and make sure to emphasize to them that they're not allowed to impose any so-called interest!
Each installment will be about half of our monthly income; we'll pay it back slowly.
At this point, Gawain pondered for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter.
"In addition, once the big ship arrives, we'll take a good cruise around the sea, and together with Franky, plan the first Sea Train route from Reverse Mountain to Sabaody, while also recruiting some of the talent we need."
By the way, capture more pirates and send them to Impel Down.
I want to emphasize to Shiryu that the pirates we send don't need to go through the monthly process.
Let them get used to life in Impel Down, then take them straight to Mary Geoise and sell them. As long as they're big enough, even a pirate with a 10 million bounty can be worth over 300 million after Impel Down. It's outrageous, haha!
After he finished speaking, Gawain clapped his hands and then said to Shirahoshi.
"As for Shirahoshi, don't worry, I'm short of money far too much, so much that 500 billion Beli is nothing."
The more this is the case, the less we need to tighten our belts, haha.
Buy everything we need, after all, it's our future home. A new ship worth over 700 billion Beli, wouldn't it be a waste not to decorate it properly!
Gawain raised his glass and laughed as he addressed the crowd.
"Cheers!"
"Haha, cheers!"
"I'm used to it. I was never rich back in the day, but no matter how poor we were, a feast was always a must. That's the spirit of a man of the sea! Haha!"
"I have quite a bit of savings at my home in the Ryugu Kingdom. I'll take it all when I have time, haha!"
"My Amazon Lily still holds a considerable amount of treasure. If it were Gawain, he could simply take it all, as long as he leaves my people enough to eat!"
Listening to everyone drinking and brainstorming, Gawain shook his head speechlessly.
In particular, he patted Hancock on the shoulder heavily.
Seeing Hancock's expression once again, as if to say, "He touched me! I'm getting married! What should we name the kids?!", Gawain gradually became serious.
"Hancock."
Gawain said seriously.
"Don't even mention anything about taking treasures from your kingdom, especially now that we're just getting started."
My journey may not be peaceful, and my future actions may become a nightmare for countless people.
But remember, the process may not be entirely harmonious, but my purpose has always been to bring more to you and me, and to everyone on this ocean, rather than to take more from them!
This is crucial!
The moment Gawain finished speaking, Kuma, who was standing next to him, suddenly grabbed his notebook and pen and began to write rapidly.
This sentence is very important, so of course it needs to be remembered clearly.
As for what Gawain said before, such as not being in a hurry to pay back the money he owed...
Without a second thought, Kuma deleted it; that would be far too undignified for an adult!
Noticing the Kuma's actions, Gawain suddenly remembered something, so he turned to Hancock face was flushed, and spoke.
"By the way, Hancock, three whole months have passed, and there are some things I haven't told you yet."
We'll set off tonight, and all our future training will take place at sea. So, it's time to have a proper chat with you about those things!
Okay, let's postpone the afternoon training. Everyone can rest on your own. Hancock and I will find a place to talk privately.
In that instant, steam billowed from Hancock's entire body.
Gawain and I... we... alone...
And... Gawain had so much to say to me... for three whole months!
Upon hearing this, Hancock's entire body turned a deep crimson, as if she had been boiled.
But then she heard Gawain continue.
"Kuma is with us too, and this matter involves you as well!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Hancock's expression darkened instantly. What did Kuma have to do with this?!
For a moment, the way she looked at Kuma made it shudder.
Kuma always felt that someone was trying to kill him!!!
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