Upgrade Again

"Congratulations, you have completed the challenge quest and received 1,000 experience points and 1 item lottery ticket!"

Zero's attributes had also been updated.

Character: Zero

Title: Enemy of Ten Thousand

Level: LV.5 (200/1600)

Strength: 160

Stamina: 160

Agility: 160

Skills: Conqueror's Haki lv3 (Mastered), Armament Haki lv2, Observation Haki lv2, Hand-to-Hand Combat lv4, Swordsmanship lv5

Although those numbers looked outrageous, Zero knew that his current physical attributes were only slightly stronger than Luffy's. After all, everyone in this world was practically a monster. Even ordinary pirates possessed physical abilities several times beyond those of normal people, so his numbers were not quite so absurd by comparison.

Besides, he was still in the rapid leveling stage. Even the early side quests provided decent experience, and leveling would presumably become increasingly difficult later on. But once he broke through, the massive increase in every attribute would be quite gratifying!

Still, to be honest, fighting Hawk-Eye had been fairly difficult. Before leveling up, Zero's physical condition had been inferior to Roronoa Zoro's. The only reason he had managed to fight like that was thanks to his various skills, and of course, the fact that Hawk-Eye had not gone all out was one of the main reasons.

The most important factor had been his LV.5 Swordsmanship skill; physical attributes had been secondary. If he had fought Marine Vice Admiral Garp, Luffy's grandfather, Zero probably would not have lasted even a single exchange before losing. Hand-to-Hand Combat relied too heavily on physical attributes. Even with a level-four skill, it was difficult to unleash its full power!

"Whew..."

Zero let out a breath. The moment he took a step, his body uncontrollably pitched forward. Fortunately, the sharp-eyed Luffy stretched out a rubber arm, caught him, and pulled him back onto the Sea Restaurant, sparing him the spectacle of falling flat on his face.

"Zero, are you okay?"

Luffy helped Zero find a place to sit, asking with concern. Only after hearing that Zero was fine did he stand up and say somewhat resentfully, "Zero, why are all of you risking your lives to challenge Hawk-Eye? Even as captain, I can't protect you guys anymore."

"Cough, cough. I just used up all my Haki."

After coughing once, Zero looked seriously at Luffy. "We're pushing ourselves so hard because our future adventures will be difficult. If we don't force ourselves to become stronger, how can we be worthy of being the Pirate King's companions?"

Luffy froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Hahahaha, that does make some sense! Then I need to get stronger as soon as possible too!"

"Yeah!"

The two looked at each other, then nodded in tacit understanding.

Not far away, Sanji heard their conversation and quietly watched the scene, though no one knew what he was thinking.

Afterward, Luffy had Usopp take the others to look for Nami first. He himself stayed behind to help Zeff and the other chefs drive off the Krieg Pirates. As for Zero, Luffy had originally wanted him to go along, but Zero said that he only needed to rest properly before he could recover and help, so he stayed behind as well.

"Men, as long as we seize that ship, we can set sail for the Grand Line again and fight for the One Piece!"

Krieg pointed at Baratie and rallied his many subordinates. Seeing the fear in their eyes and how they kept glancing toward the restaurant entrance, he directly shot one of the men in front of him.

Bang!

When they saw the man fall into the sea, the pirates were so frightened that they did not dare move.

"You are members of the Krieg Pirates! He's just a brat. Even if he fought that great swordsman, he must have no strength left now. If you're still scared, I'll kill every last one of you right now!"

Krieg snarled viciously.

What he did not know was that when Hawk-Eye had first defeated Roronoa Zoro, Krieg had wanted to step forward and keep Hawk-Eye from leaving. But after witnessing the battle between Hawk-Eye and Zero, he understood that the man carrying the black blade was not someone he could stand against. He even felt that his chances against Zero were slim, which was why he had not acted afterward.

Only now had he finally gathered the courage to mobilize his men and conquer Baratie!

On the restaurant's side, to prevent Baratie's main body from suffering too much damage, Sanji opened the ship's fins. Before long, massive wooden platforms extended from both sides of the restaurant, giving everyone a place to stand while defending against the Krieg Pirates.

Soon afterward, two Baratie chefs arrived piloting attack boats shaped like giant fish, sweeping away a large number of enemy pirates floating on the sea. But when they aimed at Krieg, he raised one of the boats high with his terrifying brute strength and forcibly hurled it back!

Even Zero, who had fought the world's strongest swordsman, felt his heart pound at the sight. Krieg's monstrous strength probably exceeded 200 attribute points. Even across the entire East Blue, there were not many who could match him!

Fortunately, Sanji leaped up and kicked the attack boat down, and the two chefs were not seriously injured. At the same time, the Krieg Pirates boarded Baratie's fins one after another, and the battle aboard the ship officially began!

For some reason, though, even as they fought fiercely against Baratie's chefs, they tacitly avoided the area where Zero was resting and did not attack him. Perhaps they feared that Zero would suddenly rise up and wipe them all out in one go!

If Zero knew what they were thinking, he would probably just shake his head and think they thought too highly of him.

He did want to use Conqueror's Haki to knock them all unconscious, but the previous battle had already consumed a great deal of his energy. If knocking them out enraged Krieg and led to a sneak attack, he would be in a difficult position. After all, not everyone enjoyed the treatment of a child of destiny. He did not have nine lives!

"I am the man with the iron wall shield, Mr. Pearl!"

At that moment, a man wearing several heavy shields climbed onto the fin and declared war on everyone. He was immediately struck by Luffy, who fell from the sky, and his nose began bleeding. The shield man flew into a rage, shouting as white flames suddenly erupted from his body. Before long, more than half the deck atop the fin had been set ablaze!

Sanji stepped forward and jumped into the flames to fight him. Meanwhile, Krieg threw a massive iron ball, only for Luffy to shove it back and smash the ship's mast. By sheer coincidence, the broken mast fell right onto the shield man's head, knocking him unconscious on the spot. The rapidly shifting battle left even Sanji standing there in a daze.

Sanji failed to notice Gin sneaking around behind him and taking Zeff hostage, threatening Sanji not to fight back. The shield man, who had awakened afterward, seized the moment when Sanji was not paying attention and suddenly launched a sneak attack, severely injuring him.

Unable to stand it, Luffy used a Rubber Axe to shatter the fin beneath his feet!

Zero, who had not been caught in the attack, heard Luffy explaining to Sanji why he had done it and immediately laughed. "Just like you, Luffy. You really never take the usual path!"