Vice Captain?

Inside the manor villa~

To thank Rayson and the others for defeating Kuro and saving everyone, the estate's young mistress held a lavish banquet in their honor~

"Don't you two have ridiculously huge appetites? Didn't you just eat?" Zoro's eye twitched slightly as he watched Luffy and Rayson wolf down food like a whirlwind sweeping through the table~

Zoro currently only had the deep-purple "Demon Physique" equipped. While his digestive ability was outstanding, it still fell far short of Rayson and Luffy, who had equipped the deep-purple "Transcendent Physique"~

"Demon Physique (Deep Purple)" focused more on boosting training, while "Transcendent Physique (Deep Purple)" reigned supreme in digestion and absorption~

Rayson had already equipped the Transcendent Physique, while the synchronization progress for Zoro's Demon Physique was also nearing completion~

Rayson was especially eager to see just how terrifying his physical strength would become once those two complementary physique traits truly fused together~

At the lavish banquet, Zoro ate quite a bit. Nami, however, had already enjoyed Usopp's hospitality earlier and was not hungry yet. She merely sampled the desserts and fruit elegantly, propping her chin on her hands as she watched Rayson eat with great relish~

Before she realized it, a sweet smile had appeared on Nami's face~

"This is so delicious! When you're faced with such incredible food, of course you have to take big bites!" Luffy shouted indistinctly, his cheeks stuffed full~

The estate was exceptionally wealthy. No wonder Kuro had lain low here for three years~

The luxury of this meal far surpassed the standard of food Rayson and the others had eaten before~

"Enhance~"

Rayson swallowed the meat in his mouth and issued the command in his mind~

He used the deep-purple agility-type upgrade material that had been converted through Plunder from Kuro to enhance his Transcendent Physique (Deep Purple)~

Rayson currently possessed the core trait "Child of the Sea (Ultimate Gold)," which allowed his Conqueror's Haki to grow naturally without end~

Using a mere deep-purple material to enhance a gold trait naturally did not cause much of a stir~

But with their entry into the Grand Line drawing near, what Rayson most urgently needed to improve was the upper limit of his physical strength~

> Enhancement complete~

The system notification rang out in his mind~

In the blink of an eye, the nutrients from the food Rayson had just eaten were forcibly absorbed by his body at an unimaginable speed, so quickly that he actually felt hungry~

With his stomach feeling empty, Rayson immediately began another round of ravenous eating, leaving everyone present dumbfounded~

That was why Rayson had chosen to enhance himself only after eating and drinking his fill~

Directly enhancing a trait with upgrade materials raised the upper limit of one's physique and stamina, but once that stamina limit expanded, the original energy did not automatically fill it~

Simply put, if his Transcendent Physique had previously had a limit of 100, then after enhancement, its limit had become 150~

He had to consume more food and nutrients to fill that extra gap of 50 energy~

As for why no such energy gap had appeared when he equipped the Transcendent Physique from Luffy, it was because the system had directly transplanted Luffy's stamina base along with the synchronized equipment process. By the time the equipment was complete, his energy was already full~

This was an extraordinary effect unique to Rayson's system~ Under the world's normal rules, even a monster as powerful as Charlotte Linlin needed to consume enormous amounts of food to temper her physique, abiding by the most basic law of conservation of energy~

Who else could break through the limits of their physique through traits alone, like Rayson could?

"That's amazing, Rayson! Your appetite is even bigger than mine now!" Luffy's eyes widened as he exclaimed in astonishment~

"There's still plenty more food, Mr. Rayson~" Seeing the food on the table disappear again, the estate's mistress gently instructed the servants to keep bringing out more dishes~

The blonde girl was filled with endless gratitude toward Rayson~ If not for this man, she, Merry, and everyone in the estate would likely have died long ago in Kuro's scheme~

At that thought, an unusual glimmer appeared in the girl's eyes as she looked at Rayson~

"Whew~"

Having replenished his nutrients, Rayson let out a breath of stale air~

He clenched his fists again, feeling the surging power coursing endlessly through his body, and a trace of satisfaction appeared on his face~

After this enhancement, his raw physical strength could definitely be considered among the very best in the current Straw Hat Pirates~

Hmm, it seemed he would need roughly seven ordinary deep-purple upgrade materials to raise the Transcendent Physique to ultimate purple~

Rayson checked the Transcendent Physique's latest status and understood~

Even within the same rank, the quality of traits could differ vastly~

Take an ultimate-gold combat trait, for example. Its entry threshold was strength at the level of a Marine Admiral~ This meant that whether it was Black Arm Zephyr at his peak or Kaido, who stood at the pinnacle of piracy, their core traits would both be ultimate gold in rank~

Yet their actual combat strength could not be mentioned in the same breath~

If Zephyr represented a "1" among ultimate gold traits, then Kaido might be a "7," or perhaps even higher~

The deep-purple trait Plundered from Kuro had clearly only just barely crossed the lowest threshold of deep purple~

Meanwhile, the Transcendent Physique equipped from Luffy had a foundation far stronger than an ordinary deep-purple trait~

Therefore, after undergoing one ordinary enhancement, Rayson still needed an amount equivalent to seven ordinary deep-purple materials before it could be fully promoted to ultimate purple~

By the same logic, if he Plundered a deep-purple trait that was far stronger than entry level in the future, such as Luffy's Transcendent Physique~

Then, during conversion, the system would automatically break it down into multiple ordinary deep-purple upgrade materials~ The exact number would depend on the foundation of the Plundered trait~

If he could Plunder a trait close to ultimate purple, he might directly obtain eight or nine deep-purple materials after conversion~

That was undoubtedly fair~ Otherwise, Plundering a trait close to ultimate purple would bring the same rewards as Plundering one that had only just entered the rank, which would be far too unfair~

A smile appeared on Rayson's face~

"Luffy! How are we supposed to fight those pirates tomorrow?!" Having eaten and drunk his fill, Usopp finally could not hold back any longer and asked anxiously~

"I don't know~" Luffy answered with complete confidence~

"Huh?!!!" Usopp was dumbfounded~

"What do you mean, you don't know?! Are we just going to sit here and wait stupidly until the pirates attack?!" Usopp grabbed his hair and descended into panic~

"Hehehe! Rayson will definitely have a way! Right, Rayson?" Luffy looked at Rayson with a grin~

In Luffy's eyes, anything that required thinking had always been Rayson's job~

And every time, Rayson managed to solve the problem perfectly~

"Compared to Luffy, Rayson looks more like the captain~" Zoro quipped from the side~