Aaron, Potential Unleashed!

Usopp slowly woke up. What he saw was not an unfamiliar ceiling, but an endless expanse of sky.

"If you're awake, get up." A rough male voice came from beside him.

Usopp raised his head and saw Roronoa Zoro sitting cross-legged on the ground, his swords laid flat across his lap as he rested with his eyes closed.

Usopp straightened his back and sat upright, looking at Roronoa Zoro in confusion. "What are you doing?"

Could this be some special training method? He had heard that there was once a school based on meditation. Once mastered, one could become one with the sword, capable of splitting mountains, cleaving seas, and shattering the void! It really was... Usopp wildly made up stories in his head.

Roronoa Zoro glanced at Usopp, then closed his eyes again. After a while, he lazily said, "I'm just bored."

"..." Usopp was instantly speechless.

"Yo! You're awake!" Luffy's voice rang out from the side. Usopp turned and saw Luffy wearing a swim ring as he walked out of the sea.

Nami and Aaron followed behind him. Nami wore a bikini, while Aaron held a bug net. The drooping net dripped water, and something was clearly caught inside it.

With his sharp eyesight, Usopp took a closer look and discovered that there was a huge jellyfish caught in the net!

Aaron noticed Usopp's gaze and raised the net, showing it off to him. "Look, Usopp! I caught a jellyfish with a bug net!" But then he deflated, saying dejectedly, "You'll have to help me find someone to modify this net. It's way too flimsy! I didn't even dare use any force. Otherwise, I could've caught an even bigger one!"

"Where are your subordinates?" Luffy asked Usopp.

Bang! Nami suddenly punched Luffy to the ground and shouted, "Idiot! Didn't I already tell you he's a liar? Were you not listening at all?"

"What? He's a liar?!" Luffy and Aaron stared at Nami in shock at the same time.

"..." Nami rubbed her forehead. "I specifically explained it to you two, and neither of you listened... Forget it."

Nami looked at Usopp. "You should believe us now, right? If we were bad guys, we would've killed you while you were sleeping."

"But Nami, we are bad guys. What pirate isn't a bad guy..." Luffy suddenly cut in.

BANG!!!

"Shut up!" This time, Nami punched Luffy's head straight into a pile of sand. Luffy flailed desperately a few times before going completely still.

What a brutal woman. Usopp thought, his legs beginning to tremble on their own.

"So, I need you to introduce us to this village's wealthy resident. We want a big ship to use as our pirate ship," Nami continued.

Usopp fell silent for a moment, then raised his head and looked at Nami firmly. "No! I'm a great pirate with thirty thousand subordinates! How could I possibly compromise with you!"

Hey! Last chapter it was thirty million, and this chapter it's only thirty thousand? Aren't you being way too casual about this? Where's your integrity? Did you give it all to the author to extend his life?!

It seemed something rather incredible had been exposed.

"...Who are you trying to fool? I've already seen through your tricks. Even if you're going to lie, can't you at least come up with a new routine?!" Nami rolled her eyes.

Seriously! Why does this guy seem to have the same level of intelligence as Luffy and Aaron? Nami thought.

After some fooling around—well, after Nami beat Usopp up—Usopp finally behaved himself. Bruised and battered, he told them, "There really aren't any rich people here. We're all just ordinary villagers, completely useless to you." As he spoke, his eyes darted around wildly.

Seeing Usopp's reaction, Nami's brows furrowed slightly before relaxing. She pretended to sigh helplessly at Luffy. "Ah, Luffy, it looks like there really aren't any rich people here. We came all this way for nothing." As she spoke, Nami watched Usopp from the corner of her eye. When she saw him nodding frantically, she became even more certain of her guess.

Then she said, "If that's the case, there's nothing we can do. You can go."

Usopp froze for a moment, clutching his cheek as he hesitantly asked, "You're... letting me go just like that?"

"Would you rather get beaten up again?" Nami glanced at Usopp, her fingers flexing.

"No, no, no, absolutely not!" Shaking his head furiously, Usopp turned and ran off like an overexcited rabbit.

Nami kept watching Usopp as he ran away. Seeing that she still had not moved, Luffy urged, "Hey! Nami, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get on the ship!"

Nami turned around, then immediately got so angry at Luffy and the others that steam practically came out of her ears. "Who told you to get on the ship?! Get down here and chase that long-nose!"

Luffy and the others had already pushed the ship into the sea. Roronoa Zoro was lying on the deck taking a nap, Aaron had spread the jellyfish he caught out on the sailcloth to dry, and Luffy was waving at Nami.

Then Nami ran to Luffy at astonishing speed, grabbed him by the ear, bent down beside him, and roared, "No time to explain! Go chase that long-nose for me, right now, immediately!" As she spoke, she dragged Luffy off the ship.

After regaining his footing, Luffy looked at Nami unhappily. "Why don't you go yourself?"

"Are you going or not?!" Nami roared, her presence overwhelmingly intimidating.

"Got it!" Luffy's instincts told him that continuing to question her would lead to serious trouble, so he immediately accepted the order and dashed after Usopp.

"And you two! Go chase him too! I need to change clothes!" Nami shouted at Roronoa Zoro and Aaron.

Well, Nami was still wearing her swimsuit.

"What a pain..." Roronoa Zoro opened his eyes and glanced at Nami helplessly, but he still grabbed Aaron and raced after Luffy.

"Um... Mr. Roronoa Zoro, where are we going?" Aaron asked in slight confusion as he looked at the impenetrable forest before them.

Just as Roronoa Zoro, carrying him under one arm, was about to catch up to Luffy, he suddenly made a sharp turn into the forest on the left. Aaron had assumed Roronoa Zoro knew a faster route to Luffy, so he had not said anything.

But Aaron increasingly felt that something was wrong. They had been walking for nearly fifteen minutes already. Why had they still not seen Luffy? Could it be...

"Mr. Roronoa Zoro, are you bad with directions?" Aaron asked, looking at him.

"Huh?? How could that be? How could I possibly be bad with directions? Just watch, we'll be out in a moment, and then we'll find Luffy right away!" Roronoa Zoro denied it flatly, looking around in search of some sort of exit.

Suddenly, Roronoa Zoro spotted light ahead and to his left. He quickly said, "See? I knew I could find the exit!" Then he hurried toward it.

Crash! Crash!

Waves pounded against the beach, splashing up white foam. Tall cliffs surrounded the area, their surfaces smooth from the sea's constant impact.

Yes, they had crossed more than half the island and arrived at its other end.

"Mr. Roronoa Zoro..." Aaron looked at Roronoa Zoro, his eyes filled with suspicion.

"...It was just a small mistake. I'll find the right direction soon and head back..." Roronoa Zoro said righteously.

"Um... Mr. Roronoa Zoro, why don't you put me down? I want to play in the water here too." Aaron's eyes were fixed on the fiercely crashing waves.

With waves that big, the sea here should have more things in it than the other side. Who knew what he might be able to catch?

"...Fine." Roronoa Zoro put Aaron down, turned, and walked back into the dense forest. Suddenly, he turned his head and told Aaron, "I'll come get you in an hour," speaking as though he were Aaron's father.

"No need, Mr. Roronoa Zoro. I can get back on my own. You, on the other hand, might not be able to find your way back, right?" Unfortunately, Aaron was not buying that fatherly act.

"..." Roronoa Zoro's face darkened. Then he charged into the depths of the forest without looking back.

Damn brat, I'll find the way back and show you! Roronoa Zoro thought angrily.

As for Luffy, he decisively threw him to the back of his mind.

"Alright! Let me go down and see if there's anything good here!" Aaron said, rolling up his sleeves as he prepared to jump in. But just then, a voice suddenly rang out.

"Hey! Kid, do you know how to get to Kaya's house?"

Aaron turned and saw a man in a black jacket emerge from the forest. He wore a gray hat, heart-shaped sunglasses, and had a strange cylindrical object growing from his chin.

"I don't know, sir." Aaron scratched his head as he looked at the newcomer.

"Hm? You're not a local?" Jango stopped, lowered his sunglasses slightly, and stared at Aaron.

"No, sir. I'm a pirate. I came here to ask the wealthy people here for a large ship to use as a pirate ship," Aaron blurted out without holding anything back.

"A pirate? You?" Seeing Aaron's thin and frail appearance, Jango could not help but sneer.

"What's wrong with me? I'm very strong!" Aaron said unhappily at Jango's reaction.

"Oh? Then let me see just how strong you are." As he spoke, Jango pulled a ring from his clothes. Holding the string tied to the ring, he looked at Aaron and said, "Come, look at this ring... One, two, Jango!"

Jango put away the ring and looked at Aaron.

Yes, Aaron had been hypnotized.

Jango walked over and looked Aaron up and down. Then he suddenly punched Aaron hard, sending him flying far away.

"Tch! I thought this kid really had some skills. Turns out he was just bragging." As he spoke, Jango took out the ring again, revealing its sharp blade, and slowly walked toward Aaron.

Suddenly, he stopped and stood there thinking for a moment.

He walked up to Aaron, pulled him to his feet, and took out the ring again. "Unleash your potential! One, two, Jango!"

Silence.

Nothing happened.

"Tch, was I overthinking it after all?" Jango curled his lip and extended the bladed ring toward Aaron's neck.

"Die, kid." He slashed down hard.

Snap!

His bladed ring broke!

But he paid no attention to his weapon. Instead, he stumbled back several steps and stared at Aaron's transformation in shock.

The veins all over Aaron's body bulged, and his muscles rapidly swelled as though they had been inflated. His clothes tore apart, and Aaron instantly transformed from a frail youth into a three-meter-tall mountain of muscle.

Aaron slammed his fist into the ground and let out a deafening roar. Jango felt as if his head were about to explode and tightly covered his ears.

Cracks spread across the ground in a ten-meter radius around Aaron.

After venting, Aaron silently walked over to Jango's side.

Jango carefully lowered his hands and examined Aaron from head to toe. Then he suddenly drove the broken blade in his hand hard into Aaron's right arm.

Clang!

The broken blade bounced far away.

Jango stared at Aaron's right arm. There was not even a white mark on it!

Amid his shock, Jango revealed an evil smile. Looking at Aaron, he squeezed his incredibly elastic muscles and could not help saying, "This time, I've really found a treasure!"