Nami's Buff for Allies

The scene shifted to Luffy.

Luffy looked around from side to side, letting out a shocked cry every now and then.

Usopp was the same.

Well, he had never even been inside Kaya's house before, much less Kaya's bedroom.

Today, he had only gotten in thanks to Luffy.

"Are you pirates?" Kaya held a book in her hands and sat properly in her chair, looking gently at Luffy.

"Yeah, we're pirates. I'm Luffy, and this is my partner, Nami." Luffy turned his swaying head back and looked at Kaya.

"Then what is it that Captain Luffy wants from me?" Kaya tilted her head and asked Luffy with a smile.

Luffy was about to answer when Nami shoved him aside. "Move, let me handle this!" Then she looked at Kaya with a sweet smile, her voice syrupy enough to make someone sick. "Kaya-chan~"

Ugh, that was enough to give anyone goosebumps.

Seeing Nami chatting with Kaya as if no one else existed, Luffy scratched his head and grinned as he dragged away Usopp, who had been staring at Kaya the whole time.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Usopp resisted fiercely, though he kept his voice as low as possible.

"Hehehe! Come on, let's go outside!" Luffy smiled, ignoring Usopp's resistance as he dragged him into the hall.

"Honestly!" Once they left Kaya's bedroom, Usopp stopped resisting and let Luffy pull him into the hall. He plopped down on the floor and looked at Luffy with some resentment. "You got me killed! Otherwise, I could've looked at Kaya a little longer!"

"Hehehehe! Sorry, sorry!" Luffy apologized with a cheeky grin, without an ounce of sincerity.

Just as Usopp was about to say something else, Kaya's butler Klahadore entered the hall. He looked coldly at Usopp and pushed up his glasses with the back of his hand. "I know you. You're that brat who tells stories to Miss Kaya every day."

"Uh..." Usopp scratched his head. He had thought he was hiding himself well, but he had still been discovered. So he faced Klahadore and was about to greet him. "Hello, Mr. Klahadore—"

"What an idiot!" Klahadore cut off Usopp's greeting and looked at him mockingly. "You're just a liar who does nothing but tell lies. A toad dreaming of swan meat. And you still want to cling to our young mistress? You're not qualified. Stay away from our young mistress, understand?"

Well, Klahadore had bluntly stated his purpose. The kind of cliché straight out of a second-rate romance drama left Usopp somewhat stunned.

Usopp blankly watched Klahadore's departing figure. Only then did he come back to his senses, his expression darkening as he silently walked out of the house.

Seeing Usopp like that, Luffy scratched his head and followed after him.

Usopp wandered through the woods with his head lowered, looking a little dejected.

Smack! Luffy suddenly slapped him hard on the back.

"Ah!" Usopp jumped sky-high in fright and fell to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" Usopp climbed to his feet and glared at Luffy angrily.

"Ha ha ha ha! Cheer up!" Luffy vigorously patted his shoulder and flashed a dazzling smile.

"Easy for you to say!" Usopp shot Luffy an annoyed look, turned his head away, and kept walking.

Luffy followed close behind.

The two walked in silence for a long time.

"Actually..." Usopp suddenly spoke. "I want to become a brave warrior of the sea. A brave, strong sea warrior who doesn't fear hardship."

Usopp's voice was filled with longing.

Luffy said nothing. He simply followed behind Usopp and listened quietly.

"My mother said my father was a pirate, and a great pirate at that! A brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp's voice suddenly became excited.

"But he still didn't come back when my mother died." Usopp sounded dejected again, but quickly rallied himself. "I don't blame him. I've always believed he was a brave warrior. That's my faith."

Usopp gave a self-mocking laugh. "Funny, isn't it? I'm obviously a liar, full of nothing but lies, yet I still believe words whose truth I don't even know."

Luffy stared steadily at Usopp before suddenly asking, "What's your father's name?"

"Huh? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?" Usopp collected himself and looked at Luffy in confusion, but he still answered, "His name is Yasopp."

"Ahahahaha!" Hearing that name, Luffy suddenly burst into laughter and slapped Usopp on the shoulder hard enough to make him stumble.

"What are you laughing at?!" Usopp flew into a rage and glared at Luffy.

He was insulting his father!

"Sorry, sorry!" Luffy said. "It's just that you look a lot like someone I know. His name is Yasopp."

"What? You've met my father?" Usopp excitedly grabbed Luffy by the collar, practically pressing his eyes against Luffy's face. He stared at him agitatedly. "Then is he... is he really..." Usopp felt nervous. His heart was beating incredibly fast.

"Yeah! Your father really is a pirate, and he's Shanks's top sniper!" Luffy said with a smile.

"So it really was..." Usopp was overjoyed. He didn't know where to put his hands and feet, too excited to even speak.

"Captain Usopp!" At that moment, three children suddenly ran straight over and stopped in front of Usopp.

"Captain... Usopp?" Luffy repeated uncertainly as he looked at Usopp.

"Uh... they're my pirate crew," Usopp vaguely explained. "What's wrong, Pepper, Onion, Carrot?"

"Go take a look, Captain Usopp! A huge monster suddenly appeared over there! It knocked over trees and is chasing a man with swords!" Pepper, the green-haired boy, pointed in the direction they had come from and anxiously told Usopp.

"Ah! I've suddenly caught a disease where going over there will kill me!" Usopp suddenly clutched his stomach and collapsed, his face turning dark.

"Hey, hey! What are you doing?! Put me down!" Before Usopp could begin his terrible acting, Luffy slung him over his shoulder and headed in the direction Pepper had pointed.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! Isn't this exciting?! It's a monster! I wonder what it looks like. I've never seen a monster before!" Luffy laughed loudly as he ran like the wind.

"Who cares about that?! Put me down! I don't want to go! Help!!!" Usopp's screams tore through the sky. The three children looked at each other before hurrying after them as well.

They couldn't just abandon their captain...

"Damn it! Why does every place look the same?!" Roronoa Zoro looked at the endless trees around him, his eyes full of irritation.

"At this rate, I won't be able to find Luffy..." Roronoa Zoro muttered to himself.

"Oh? Zoro, why are you here?" Luffy's voice suddenly came from nearby.

Roronoa Zoro turned and saw Luffy emerging from behind the shade of the trees with that lying brat slung over his shoulder. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "No time to explain! Luffy, get ready. Aaron is coming."

Luffy tossed Usopp to the ground. Hearing Roronoa Zoro's words, he looked at him in confusion. "Aaron? Where's Aaron? Oh, right, I heard someone mention a monster just now. Do you know where the monster is—"

Crash!

With the sharp crack of a falling tree, Aaron suddenly appeared and knocked Luffy flying into the air.

"Wah!" Seeing the hulking Aaron right in front of him, Usopp scrambled over to Roronoa Zoro's side. Then he turned around and blustered, "Hey! Who are you? Do you know that I, Usopp, am a great pirate with eight thousand pirate subordinates?!"

Well, it had dropped from thirty thousand to eight thousand again.

Aaron ignored him.

Well, he couldn't respond anyway.

Luffy held down his straw hat to keep it from falling off and rolled his shoulders. "Gum-Gum Rocket!"

Grabbing a branch high in a large tree, Luffy swung back to the spot like an ape.

Landing on the ground with a thud, Luffy carefully examined the monster. Then his jaw dropped. "Aaron?!"

Although his entire body had doubled in size, Aaron's face was still as delicate as before. Well, if one ignored his rolled-back eyes.

That was why Luffy had recognized him.

Luffy casually walked up to Aaron and curiously poked his bulging muscles. Finding them shockingly elastic, Luffy stared at Aaron in amazement. "Amazing! Aaron, how did you do this? Can rolling your eyes back make your muscles bulge?" As he spoke, Luffy desperately rolled his own eyes upward.

"What are you doing, you idiot?!" Roronoa Zoro nearly coughed up blood from anger at Luffy's behavior.

"Aaron has been controlled by someone!"

"Huh?" Hearing Roronoa Zoro's words, Luffy turned back with a question-mark expression.

Bang!

Then his head shot straight toward Usopp beside Roronoa Zoro.

Well, Aaron had punched him flying.

Seeing a head suddenly appear in front of him, wearing an idiotically brilliant smile, Usopp decisively and resolutely fainted.

"Gum-Gum Bell!" Still wearing that idiotic smile, Luffy's head snapped back into place, the immense momentum bringing immense force with it.

Well, Aaron was sent flying.

"Ah, that was dangerous, dangerous." Luffy patted his chest, sounding a little shaken. "Hehehehe! But that was pretty fun!"

"Zoro, what did you mean when you said Aaron was being controlled?" Luffy finally remembered Roronoa Zoro's words and turned to ask him.

"He was probably controlled by a man wearing heart-shaped sunglasses. As for why he turned into that freakish state, I have no idea," Roronoa Zoro answered.

"I see... Then go find that guy and make him undo the control. I'll hold Aaron back," Luffy said.

"Okay, be careful!" Roronoa Zoro said as he hoisted the unconscious Usopp over his shoulder and headed off to the side.

"Roar!" Seeing his target leave, Aaron roared and tried to chase after Roronoa Zoro.

"Gum-Gum Pistol!" Of course Luffy could not let him pass. He stretched out his right arm and struck Aaron hard, but Aaron's skin deeply caved in at the point of impact, and Luffy felt no real sensation of hitting anything.

Provoked by Luffy, Aaron let out a furious roar and charged at him like a tank. Luffy refused to back down, pulling his arm as far back as it could go before throwing it forward with all his strength.

Bang!

The two collided violently, then were both hurled backward.

Unfortunately, it did nothing.

Because neither of them feared impacts.

Well, while splintered wood flew everywhere and dust billowed into the air, the attack had caused almost no damage to either of them.

In other words, it looked more like playing than fighting.

The two fought as they moved, somehow ending up beside Kaya's house.

"What the hell are you two doing?! Keep it down!" A furious roar suddenly rang out. Moving so fast that neither Luffy nor Aaron could even see her, Nami rushed in front of Aaron, smashed him heavily in the head, and punched Luffy too.

Aaron actually fainted! Luffy actually got a bump on his head!

My god!

Who knew how she had hit three-meter-tall Aaron! Who knew how she had knocked out both Aaron and Luffy, who were immune to blunt attacks!

Could it be that Nami had a buff that increased damage to allies by 10,000%?

Well, judging by her performance aboard the pirate ship later on, the answer was yes.

Nami had been happily chatting with Kaya. Just as she was about to swindle a pirate ship and a sum of money from this wealthy young lady, the shaking outside interrupted her train of thought. She angrily stuck her head out and discovered Luffy fighting Aaron.

I'm working my ass off to earn—swindle—money, and you idiots are out here playing around! Nami thought. Then she ran outside at top speed and gave Aaron and Luffy a heavy punch each.

Burning with rage and afflicted with a negative status effect from money, Nami's intelligence had plummeted. She had failed to notice Aaron's transformation.

Well, but it was precisely because of that that Nami accomplished this incredible solo takedown.

"...What's going on?" Nami snapped out of the money buff, her intelligence returning as she stared in shock at the roughly three-meter-long Aaron, then at Luffy.

"Zoro said Aaron seems to have been controlled by someone?" Luffy scratched his head and answered uncertainly.

"What? Then what do we do?!"

"Don't worry! We just need to find the person controlling him and make him undo it, right? I already sent Zoro to do that!" Luffy waved it off carelessly, then glanced at Aaron and froze.

Aaron's muscles spasmed uncontrollably. A few seconds later, as if defying the law of conservation of energy, all his muscles vanished!

Aaron returned to his previous delicate, scrawny, one-meter-forty state.

At that moment, Aaron slowly woke up. Then he suddenly sat up, his unfocused eyes staring blankly for two seconds before he said, "Sir, what exactly did you want to show me?"

A few more seconds passed before Aaron's eyes gradually focused. He looked at Luffy and Nami, who were staring at him in shock, then looked down at himself. Finally, he asked, "Do you know where that sir is? Also, do you know where my shovel and bubble water went?"

Well, because his transformation had burst his clothes, the bubble water and shovel Aaron carried with him had fallen away. Jango found and picked them up.

As for whether Jango would use them, and how he would use them.

Well, that would be in the next chapter.

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