When Strengths and Snack woke up, it was already dark. They had been knocked unconscious by Sig during a battle, and after regaining their senses, they immediately began searching for their sister.
Seeing that Smoker had sustained some injuries but was otherwise unharmed, the two breathed a sigh of relief.
"That bastard... Sister! We can't just let him get away with this! We... we're going to tell Mom!" Strengths said angrily.
Because the eldest sister, Smoker, is an important member of Big Mom's team, the three sisters are considered to be among the more favored by Big Mom among her siblings.
"Enough!" Smoker stopped her sister.
Meeting the two sisters' questioning gazes, Smoker blushed slightly and said in a softer tone, "I will handle this matter. I have already promised him that I will not threaten Darn Island for the time being."
For the Big Mom Pirates, Darn Island is nothing; the loss of face they would rather make by promising not to occupy it is far more important!
Seeing this, Snack gave a strange look. "Sister, you haven't fallen for him, have you?"
"Huh? What are you thinking? Did the juice get into your head and you need me to squeeze it out? I only agreed because I temporarily lost the fight!" Smoker glared angrily at her sister.
Strengths said strangely, "That's not necessarily true. I remember... someone likes boys who are stronger than them and are also fierce towards them."
"Third Sister, have you gained weight recently? How about I pinch it for you?"
Smoker's threats frightened most of her other siblings, but not her twin sisters, Strengths and Snack, who continued their gossipy chatter.
Finally, Smoker admitted it, but said in a dangerous tone, "Really, if you still remember what kind of men I like, you should also remember that what I like most is... to become stronger and completely 'drain' them, right?"
Strengths and Snack shuddered, realizing it was indeed true.
Smoker wasn't always this strong; she lost more than once on the high seas, but... she eventually won them all back, achieving her "ultimate goal."
The so-called "squeezing dry" naturally refers to completely wringing out the water from the opponent's body after winning, turning them into a dried corpse!
"Looks like that kid's in for a rough time," Snack muttered.
"I wonder how long he can hold on..."
"Not necessarily. He's quite young, isn't he? His strength is still improving. What if he can hold out until my older sister wants to get married?"
"Pfft, how is that possible?"
"What are you two whispering about?" Smoker slammed her fist on the armrest of her chair, interrupting her two sisters' gossip. The movement was a bit too forceful, aggravating the wound on her shoulder, causing her to hiss and rub it.
As for what Sig, there was actually something else Smoker didn't say—it wasn't just a simple verbal promise!
She also signed a "contract"...
Logically speaking, for pirates, there's not much difference in value between a contract and a verbal agreement; both rely on their own credibility. Otherwise, even with a contract, where else could it be notarized?
However, the contract was somewhat special. It was clearly obtained by Sig using some kind of ability. After signing it, Smoker felt a sense of constraint placed upon her. It was definitely not just a piece of paper!
Smoker was also puzzled by this—wasn't he a user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit? The contract didn't seem to be an extension of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power... but how could Devil Fruit ability user have other abilities?
Smoker could only conclude that the "contract" was probably made by other ability users, Sig was just using it!
However, this doesn't explain why Sig seemed to have conjured up the contract on his own...
It was precisely because of that "contract" that Smoker was injured even more severely—shortly after her two sisters fainted, Smoker had already admitted defeat and verbally agreed to Sig, and she genuinely had no intention of cheating.
However, Sig then produced a "contract," which Smoker found humiliating. After refusing it, the two started fighting again.
It's like getting beaten up twice...
Although she eventually signed the contract, Smoker also completely "fell in love" with Siegfried —of course, as Smoker said, she liked people who were stronger than her and brutal to her, and what she liked most was to become stronger and then drain them dry!
Sig also noticed that Smoker's last "emotion" was strange, but he didn't pay much attention to it—after all, he had already obtained the contract and analyzed a lot of the Juice-Juice Fruit's abilities, so his goal had been completely achieved!
But in the three months that followed, it seemed that both Sig and the Red-Hair Pirates had run out of good luck...
Although we didn't encounter any major crises, we still didn't achieve our goals at all!
July 2, 1509.
√,√,√,√,√.
My daily training consists of practicing Air Straight Punch, practicing Water Straight Punch, practicing short-distance flight using the Wind-blessed's abilities, analyzing my companions' Devil Fruit ability... and watering.
Of course, "flooding" doesn't actually mean flooding with water; it mainly refers to drinking a lot of water to gain weight!
The simulated Juice Devil Fruit ability is far inferior to the real Juicing Princess Smoker. It cannot absorb water to grow larger, nor can it extract water from enemies. However, it does allow me to absorb some of the power of water!
White has clearly been in a bad mood lately. After Lucky Roo's daily consumption of large amounts of meat, now there's another person on board—me—who consumes large amounts of juice and alcohol every day...
Now, Lucky Roo always has meat and bones in his hands, while I basically always have a barrel of wine in my hand—it might contain wine or juice.
Unlike Smoker, after absorbing the power of water, I did not apply it temporarily. Instead, I used the ability of the "Rose Bishop" to transform it into flesh and blood, and learned from Lucky Roo to accumulate the flesh and blood.
Essentially, it uses this beggar's version of the ability to exploit people to assist in cultivating the "Rose Bishop's " abilities.
The Wind-blessed's abilities don't currently offer much help in combat and don't make me stronger.
If it were a true Wind-Wind Fruit, it would definitely greatly enhance my abilities, but the Wind-blessed's wind... with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power, whether it's using the wind to travel or leveraging its destructive force, it seems to have little cost-effectiveness!
However, one still needs to cultivate every day, since the Paths of the Divine is long-lasting and its potential is no less than that of Logia Devil Fruit.
However, the performance didn't go smoothly. I beat up Smoker before, but nothing changed. I specifically asked Morio and Lucky Roo, who have rather short tempers, for advice—they said that's called provocation, that's asking for a beating, not being irritable. I also realized that I might have subtly misunderstood something...