Leveling Up 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 LV.3 (Mastered), Armament Haki LV.2, Observation Haki LV.2, Hand-to-Hand Combat LV.4, Swordsmanship LV.5

Although the numbers looked exaggerated, Zero knew that his physical attributes were only slightly stronger than Luffy's at the moment. 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 stats did not seem all that outrageous by comparison.

Besides, he was still in the rapid leveling phase. The early side quests could provide decent experience, but leveling up would presumably become increasingly difficult later on. Still, once he broke through, the massive boost to all his attributes would be extremely welcome!

But honestly, fighting Hawk-Eye had been quite difficult. Before leveling up, Zero's physical abilities had been inferior to Roronoa Zoro's. The reason he had managed to fight to that extent was largely thanks to his various skills. Of course, the fact that Hawk-Eye had not gone all out was another major reason.

The most important factor had been his LV.5 Swordsmanship skill; his physical abilities had been secondary. If he had fought Marine Vice Admiral Garp—Luffy's grandfather—Zero probably would not have lasted even one exchange. Hand-to-Hand Combat relied far too heavily on physical ability. Even with a level-four skill, it would be 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 his rubber arm, caught him, and pulled him back onto Baratie, saving him from an embarrassing face-plant.

"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 complain somewhat resentfully, "Zero, you guys keep risking your lives to challenge Hawk-Eye. As captain, I can't even protect you anymore."

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

Zero coughed, then looked seriously at Luffy. "We push ourselves so hard because our future adventures will be difficult. If we don't force ourselves to grow stronger, how can we be worthy of becoming the Pirate King's companions?"

Luffy froze for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Hahahaha, that kind of makes sense! Then I need to get stronger as soon as possible too!"

"Yeah!"

The two looked at each other and nodded in unspoken agreement.

Not far away, Sanji heard their conversation. He simply watched the scene in silence, no one knowing what he was thinking.

Afterward, Luffy had Usopp take the others ahead to search for Nami. He himself stayed behind to help Zeff and the other chefs drive away the Krieg Pirates. As for Zero, Luffy had originally wanted him to come along, but Zero said that he only needed to rest properly before recovering enough to help, so he stayed as well.

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

Krieg pointed at Baratie and rallied his many subordinates. Seeing the fear in their eyes as they kept glancing toward the restaurant entrance, he directly fired his gun into the man in front of him.

Bang!

Seeing 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 some brat. Even if he fought that great swordsman, he must have no strength left now. If you're still afraid, I'll kill every last one of you right now!"

Krieg said viciously.

Little did he know, after Hawk-Eye defeated Roronoa Zoro in their first battle, Krieg had originally wanted to step forward and keep Hawk-Eye there. But after witnessing Hawk-Eye's fight with Zero, he realized that the man carrying the black blade was not someone he could stand against. He even felt that his odds of winning against Zero were slim, so he had not acted afterward.

Only now had he finally gathered enough 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, enormous wooden platforms extended from both sides of the restaurant, providing footing for everyone to defend against the Krieg Pirates.

Then, two Baratie chefs appeared piloting attack boats shaped like giant fish, sweeping aside a large number of enemy pirates floating on the sea. But when they aimed for Krieg, he raised one of the boats high with his terrifying brute strength and hurled it straight back!

Even Zero, who had fought the world's strongest swordsman, felt his heart leap at the sight. Krieg's monstrous strength probably exceeded 200 attribute points. There were likely not many in the entire East Blue who could rival 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 climbed onto Baratie's fins one after another, and the battle aboard the ship officially began!

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

If Zero knew what they were thinking, he would probably only shake his head and feel that 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 drained a great deal of his energy. If knocking them out enraged Krieg and prompted a sneak attack, he would be in serious trouble. After all, not everyone enjoyed the privileges of a chosen protagonist. He did not have nine lives!

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

At that moment, a man clad in several heavy shields climbed onto the fin and declared war on everyone. Then Luffy fell from the sky and smashed into him, giving him a nosebleed. The shield man flew into a rage, shouting as white flames burst from his body. Before long, he had set ablaze more than half the deck atop the fin!

Sanji stepped forward and leaped into the flames to fight him. Meanwhile, Krieg threw a massive iron ball, which Luffy shoved back and used to snap a mast. By sheer coincidence, the broken mast landed right on 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 slipping around behind him and taking Zeff hostage, threatening Sanji not to resist. When the shield man woke up, he took advantage of Sanji's distraction 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 explain his reason to Sanji and immediately laughed. "Just as expected of you, Luffy. You really never do things the normal way!"