Potential

Garp clenched his fists, bared his white teeth in a grin, and laughed. "Brat, let me see how much you've improved since yesterday."

"Alright!"

Noki tensed his nerves and focused with two hundred percent concentration. His Observation Haki spread out fully as he waited for Garp's attack.

Garp's move caught him completely off guard. Although Noki had concentrated as hard as he could, by the time he reacted, Garp's fist was already in front of his face.

Noki could only grit his teeth and raise his fist to meet it.

"Bang!"

Their fists collided.

Another fierce gust from their punches swept outward.

Garp gave a soft "Huh?" in surprise. Noki's punching power had clearly improved considerably since yesterday. It was not a leap forward, but at his level, even the slightest improvement should have required at least ten days to half a month of training.

After all, not everyone was the Sun God, blessed with monstrous talent that allowed him to achieve a qualitative improvement after a single battle.

Setting aside protagonist buffs, even Garp, Sengoku, Zephyr, and the current three admirals had built their formidable combat strength through the accumulation of countless training sessions and the tempering of battle.

Noki's talent therefore left Garp utterly astonished. No wonder Zephyr had lavished praise on the brat a few days ago.

"Not bad."

Garp smiled faintly and exerted force again. Recreating yesterday's scene, he once more punched Noki in the face and sent him flying.

"Vice Admiral, can I make a suggestion? Training is training, but could you maybe stop hitting people in the face?"

Although Noki was annoyed by his feminine appearance, he would rather put up with how he looked now than gain a few scars on his face.

Garp raised his fist and charged at him again. "Hahahahaha! I think this will motivate you to improve even more! Take this punch!"

Noki muttered inwardly, You don't hold a grudge because I often hit Ace in the face too, do you?

Then he raised his fist to meet Garp's again.

The two fought for a long while.

Dezaya, Tashigi, and Nami happened to pass by.

"Isn't that Master? How did that old man beat him into such a miserable state?" Dezaya's mouth fell open.

Hearing the surrounding discussions, Nami learned the old man's identity and said, "After all, the major's opponent is the famous Marine hero Garp. I heard that even before the Great Pirate Era began, he chased One Piece all over the place. Major Noki may be powerful, but he's only in his early twenties. Being able to fight him already makes him impressive."

Tashigi nodded in realization. "Even someone as powerful as Major Noki is still working hard to improve. We can't fall behind either."

"Let's train after lunch."

"Mm!"

Noki and Garp trained until dinner. Along the way, they only ate some senbei to fill their stomachs.

Noki returned to Ain's home looking dusty and disheveled.

Ain had already prepared dinner: four dishes and a soup, two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, all abundant and delicious.

Little Black was currently in the form of a white fox, staring eagerly at the food on the table with drool spilling from the corner of its mouth.

"Noki, come eat with us. Little Black, no sticking your tongue out to lick the dishes!"

"Little Black?"

Noki was somewhat surprised.

Ain untied her apron and smiled. "That's the name I gave the little fox."

"Oh, very... very fitting. Looks like the two of you get along well."

Noki had originally planned to turn the Devil Power back into a fruit after satisfying his curiosity, but now it seemed he should reconsider.

After all, Little Black counted as a living being. On top of that, it was obedient and well-behaved. He truly could not find a reason to destroy it.

He had not felt this way when he captured abilities in the Science Division. But after spending some time with it, he felt that Little Black, after eating the fruit, was just like a human being and possessed genuine emotions of its own. Wouldn't stripping away its power be the same as killing it?

Noki never blinked when dealing with people who deserved to die, but he would not kill people or animals he believed did not deserve it.

Little Black had done nothing wrong. Taking its life at will went against the principles Noki upheld.

Ain had Little Black transform into a human shape and eat with utensils.

Clever and obedient, Little Black transformed into Ain's appearance, then picked up a spoon with extreme awkwardness.

Ain and Noki sat on one side of the dining table.

Little Black blinked its bright, watery eyes. It also wanted to sit closer to Noki.

Ain treated Little Black differently from others.

Little Black's true body was merely a piece of clothing. At most, it could be called a pet, and it could not threaten her position at all. Therefore, she was very tolerant and let Little Black move over a chair to sit on Noki's other side.

This gave Noki a strange feeling. Little Black and Ain looked as though they had been carved from the same mold, like twin sisters.

And he himself was the scumbag with the twin sisters...

Ain often placed food into Noki's bowl.

Little Black handled its utensils terribly. Though it possessed human intelligence, it had yet to master the skills humans should have.

So Noki helped it out from time to time.

The two humans and one beast spent dinner together harmoniously.

In the kitchen, Noki helped Ain wash the dishes while Little Black could only stare blankly from the side.

Noki casually asked, "Little Black, can your illusions be used on other people?"

"I don't know."

"Ain" shook her head.

"Why not try it now? Try turning me into something else."

"Okay."

Little Black approached Noki. Nine white tails emerged behind her and swayed back and forth.

When Ain saw them, she could not suppress the urge to go over and pet them. So cute!

Little Black held her breath and gathered all her strength until her little face turned red.

Noki was rather speechless. "Is that how you use illusions? Why do I feel like you're..."

Little Black blinked. "I don't know exactly how I transformed. Before, I just changed whenever I wanted to."

Ain smiled. "You only gained your ability today. It's normal not to be proficient yet. Take it slowly."

Noki nodded in agreement. "That's right. But this is also the first time I've seen someone teach an object to develop its ability. Whether it can succeed is still unknown."

As far as he knew, ordinary Zoan abilities could not be developed to this extent. Their intelligence was, at most, equivalent to the creature corresponding to their ability, and might even be inferior to it. But Mythical Zoans were another matter.

The creatures corresponding to Mythical Zoan fruits were nearly godlike beings in this world. Just how much potential they contained remained unknown.

"Mm."

Little Black tilted her head and continued quietly observing Ain and Noki's movements. She had no idea that she was currently an excessively bright "light bulb."

Over the next few days.

Noki set out on time every day and went to the training ground to willingly take a beating from Vice Admiral Garp. The results were extremely noticeable, and the power of his fists had nearly reached thirty to forty percent of Garp's strength.

However, once he tried to train to an even higher level, the pace of improvement began slowing more and more.

Even so, Garp felt that Noki's potential could only be described as "monstrous." Garp knew in his heart that he had not improved anywhere near as quickly as Noki back then.

Little Black studied carefully in her daily life. She often saw Noki and Ain being intimate, and unconsciously began imitating them.

Once, Little Black even imitated Ain and took the initiative to kiss Noki.

This gave both Noki and Ain quite a fright, and they hurriedly gave Little Black a proper lesson on how people should interact with one another.

That day.

Ain stayed overnight at Noki's home.

The two lay on the soft double bed while Little Black curled up on Noki's chest, sleeping especially soundly.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

A stern, cold voice entered Noki's ears.