Thinking Too Complicated

Unlike Luffy and the others, who had to risk their lives on adventures and challenges against the strong, Brother Cracker had yet to develop his Devil Fruit ability to its limits. His use of Haki was still crude, and his body had not fully matured.

All he needed to do now was steadily put in enough years. In four or five years, at most six or seven, Brother Cracker's strength could rise by at least another major tier. Wouldn't that make him an Emperor?

"Even if he doesn't become an Emperor, reaching the level of a Marine Admiral is still very promising! Heh, I was just telling Second Brother that our generation wouldn't produce any truly top-tier powerhouses! Who would've thought I could nurture one just through my imagination? This really is..." Mousse was overjoyed, but somewhere in his subconscious, he vaguely felt that something was off.

Then Mousse realized what the problem was. "No, what top-tier powerhouse can't fly? Either they have a Devil Fruit ability that lets them fly, or they know Geppo. But Brother Cracker can't even use 'Geppo' right now—he doesn't even know 'Soru'! If an enemy who can fly, or even just one who's fast, wants to run away, he can do nothing about it. Can that count as a top-tier powerhouse? At best, he'd be a 'functional Admiral' like Magellan, wouldn't he?"

Magellan's weakness in Body Techniques could not be remedied—after all, he spent his days guarding the WC and had no time to train—but Brother Cracker's lack of speed and inability to fly could still be worked on.

Among the currently grown second generation of the Charlotte Family, Brother Cracker's talent in Body Techniques was second only to Katakuri's. Moreover, his legs were much shorter, so in theory, learning "Soru" and "Geppo" should be far easier for him than for the latter.

The reason he still had not learned them was mainly because the Biscuit Armor he wore before was too cumbersome and severely hindered his movements. Even if Brother Cracker learned them, he would not be able to use them, so he had little motivation to train.

But now that Mousse had come up with this "synchronization" trick for him, once he became proficient enough that the armor no longer felt so cumbersome, wouldn't he have a chance to use "Soru" and "Geppo"?

Not only had the weight increased, Brother Cracker had gained twice as much strength too!

The Biscuit Armor was only an outer shell and not especially heavy. At the very least, it weighed less than Brother Cracker himself. Going by the power-to-weight ratio, it should actually be more advantageous than fighting without the Biscuit Armor!

Brother Cracker had originally felt somewhat intimidated, mainly because he was not sure just how effective this "synchronization" could become.

Naturally, he worried that he might put in great effort and train bitterly only for it all to be in vain. "'Soru' and 'Geppo' can only train leg strength, and my fighting style doesn't use that. It would be great if I could master them, but if I fail, wouldn't that be too much of a waste of time?"

Then, with just a few words, Mousse convinced his brother. "Brother Cracker, you're a man who can become a legend someday! How can you not fly? From ancient times to the present, not a single Legendary Great Pirate has been unable to fly. Do you want to be the first, then be helpless against some insignificant nobody and get laughed at for decades, or even centuries?"

"Mousse, are you saying I can become a great pirate like Mama?" Brother Cracker was startled when he heard that. He was so shocked that he did not even feel joy at first, but after calming down and thinking it over carefully, he realized that he really did seem to possess such tremendous potential now.

The ambition that had always been buried deep in his heart instantly erupted like volcanic lava. Brother Cracker immediately made up his mind. "Let's go find Brother Oven and ask whether he has any experience or tricks."

The two of them left the Mirror World together to find Charlotte Oven. After arriving on deck, before they could even speak, a News Bird flew over to sell newspapers.

Brother Cracker immediately took out some money and bought one. But the moment Mousse saw the News Bird, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. He realized that he had been overthinking things before. Making Biscuit Soldiers fly might actually be very simple.

It seemed that no matter how clever one was, habitual thinking could not be avoided. Fortunately, he should find it easier than most people to break free from it.

"Brother Cracker, you can make Biscuit Soldiers grow multiple arms, right? Good. Then can you make them grow wings?" Brother Cracker might not have been clever, but with Mousse putting it so plainly, there was no way he could fail to understand. His face immediately lit up with joy.

But then Brother Cracker shook his head again, indicating that it was not so simple. "Biscuit Soldiers can make use of extra arms because I know how to use arms to hold a sword and cut people. But I don't know how to flap wings and fly! What use is merely making wings in appearance?"

Brother Cracker's answer left Mousse slightly disappointed, but his mind worked quickly, and he immediately asked again:

"Then you can control the Biscuit Soldiers' wings and make them flap, right? If you can, then at least the Biscuit Soldier containing your actual body can fly. Once you become skilled at flying, perhaps the Biscuit Soldiers themselves can learn to fly too? Even if they can't, at least you yourself will be able to fly long distances. Isn't that far better than only being able to use Geppo to stay airborne for a short time?"

"Ah! That's right!" After freezing for a moment, Brother Cracker cried out in delight. Even the newspaper he had just received and had not yet glanced at lost all appeal. He casually threw it onto the deck, turned around, and returned to the Mirror World to train.

"Oh, right. Besides flying, you can also make several specialized forms, like one with enhanced defense..." Mousse had not even finished speaking before Brother Cracker was already out of sight.

Still, it would not matter much if he said it later. Mousse did not follow him into the Mirror World, instead calmly picking up the newspaper that had been tossed onto the deck.

The moment he looked at the latest World Economic News Paper in his hands, Mousse immediately let out a mocking sneer.

"Heh, the World Government really is as shameless as ever! They actually claim that the Faros Kingdom was destroyed by our BIG Pirates? That elephant isn't even dead yet! Aren't they afraid the truth will come out someday? Well, I was overthinking it. With the World Government's current control over global media, even if James Glenn himself stepped forward to identify them, the truth would have a hard time reaching the New World, wouldn't it? Just look at how Whitebeard, whose reputation for benevolence and righteousness is widespread in the New World, is viewed in the Four Seas."

To accompany this report, the World Government's updated bounty list soon showed significant increases for the major members of the BIG Pirates.

Among them, Charlotte Linlin, whose bounty had already been extremely high, broke through the four-billion-Berries mark in one stroke. And not by just a little—her bounty had actually reached 4.5 billion Berries, leaving only a hair's breadth between her and Whitebeard, the "Strongest Man in the World"!

"It jumped by more than a billion all at once? 4.5 billion Berries? That's already higher than the peak bounty she had in the original story, isn't it?" Even Mousse was startled when he first saw the number.

But given Mousse's intelligence, it was not difficult for him to understand the World Government's reasoning.

"A bounty does not reflect a criminal's strength, but the threat they pose to the World Government. Mama had previously kept out of their way and had not begun expanding her territory on a large scale, so in the World Government's eyes, she was nowhere near as threatening as Whitebeard, who controlled half the New World. But this time, Mama killed several thousand Navy POWs and deliberately spared a few survivors to send back and report it, which was practically a direct declaration of war. This is something even Whitebeard has never done!"

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