For the Sake of Becoming Stronger

"Hey, what was he going to do?" Jelly, who had been watching the excitement from the rooftop, stood up. However, he had to use vines to secure his body.

The ground shook more and more violently. The earth continuously split apart, cracks spreading one after another. Soon, the entire town resembled a spiderweb, with Rogge at its center as fissures kept extending outward in every direction.

"Ah!"

At last, the cracks widened further, and a bounty hunter fell into one. Buildings began to collapse as if an earthquake had struck. No one could keep their footing as the entire town trembled.

"Boom!"

With a deafening crash, the earth finally caved in, and everyone fell below. No one knew how deep it was. Only Rogge remained standing in the middle, supported by a single surviving pillar.

"You've got to be kidding. He could do something like this?" Jelly stared wide-eyed at the scene before him in disbelief.

"Looks like we underestimated the captain. To think he could reach this level... The Chop-Chop Fruit truly cannot be underestimated. Even without touching anything, he could shatter everything with the power he released, and he controlled it so well." Ham said.

"That was amazing, but wasn't he going a little too far? Why didn't he use his ability earlier?" Ares asked admiringly, though he was also curious.

"He wanted to test his own strength. Without using his Devil Fruit ability, he wanted to see just how far he could go." Jelly said.

"Do you know how weak he was when he was with us before? At most, he was only a little stronger than an ordinary person. But we were willing to follow him not because of his strength, but because of his ambition. Don't let that carefree, smiling face fool you. When it comes to his desire to become stronger, he understands it better than anyone." Ham said.

"That was why he dared to make a move against the Heavenly Tribute to become stronger. No one would have imagined that someone like him would dare lay hands on it. Still, he made the right bet." Jelly said with a smile.

Rogge was done on his end. Looking at the bottomless pit, he pushed off hard and leaped from the only remaining pillar. Under his strength, the pillar finally gave out and collapsed as well.

Having buried several hundred bounty hunters, Rogge walked toward Jelly and the others under the terrified gazes of the townspeople.

"Actually, you didn't need to do this."

The four walked side by side, and Ham spoke with a smile.

"You didn't have to get yourself hurt just to become stronger." Jelly added.

"Pain deepens a person's memory. You should know that well. Only by taking a beating and getting injured could you avoid getting hurt the next time you fought with everything you had." Rogge said calmly.

"That's true, but I really hate getting hurt and bleeding." Jelly said with a shrug.

"They're all superficial wounds. There's no need for medicine at all. Just apply a little disinfectant later." Ares said as he examined Rogge's injuries.

"It still didn't hurt enough. Only greater pain could make me stronger. Jelly, I have a training regimen I need your help with next." Rogge said.

"It still wasn't enough? You've been training for over ten hours, and now you want to drag me into it too?" Jelly said irritably.

Rogge said nothing. He reached out and grabbed a large sack Ares was carrying on his back. Streusen was inside. Rogge grabbed the bread, opened his mouth, and stuffed it in continuously like a pulverizer.

Seeing Rogge like that, they did not know what to say. The four returned to the ship.

When Cook saw Rogge's condition, he knew Rogge had probably fought. Since he was neither dead nor seriously injured, there was no problem. Still, Cook was curious. Rogge had actually been injured here?

Cook knew Rogge's abilities well. On land, Cook was basically no match for Rogge. Anything that came near him would be shattered, leaving him practically unbeatable. Yet Rogge had actually gotten hurt.

"What happened?" Cook asked Ham.

"He fought without using his ability." Ham explained. Cook understood immediately. That training maniac probably had nothing but training on his mind every day.

"Awooo! Awooo! Awooo!!!"

The Husky ran over, directly hugging Rogge's legs and licking the blood from his pants. Apparently, the genes in the bloodline of the Husky, whose ancestors were gray wolves, had not changed much when it came to the smell of blood.

"This dog likes blood. Looks like I should find a chance to make it part of our fighting force." Rogge said.

"Hey, don't tell me you're planning to find a Devil Fruit for a dog." Jelly said crossly.

"I am considering it. But even if I find one, this guy gets first priority." Rogge turned his gaze toward Ares.

Ares said unhappily, "I'm not weak, you know." As he spoke, he patted the flintlock gun at his side.

"It's not that you're weak. You have plenty of ability, but it's completely useless right now." Rogge said irritably.

"I'm the ship's doctor." Ares shamelessly brought out his title.

The next island was three days away, so they temporarily stayed on Tavern Island for those three days. Because of Rogge's slaughter, the islanders now looked at them as though they had seen ghosts, fleeing for their lives the moment they spotted them.

There were not only bounty hunters on this island. There were even more ordinary people, as well as quite a few merchants. Since many merchant ships risked entering the Grand Line, and this was the first island, merchants often took this route and brought goods with them.

After drifting at sea for several days, they were naturally more than willing to rest on land. They found an inn, but the owner had already fled, so they moved in openly.

Jelly was dragged unwillingly by Rogge toward the woods, and the two began their workout there.

Looking at Rogge, whose eyes were covered with black cloth, Jelly was speechless. Vines had grown all over his limbs. Under his control, they attacked Rogge relentlessly from every direction, while all Rogge could do was take the beating.

With his eyes covered, Rogge could not see anything. Even if he could use his ability, he could not focus it on a single point to destroy Jelly's vines, so getting beaten became perfectly normal.

Jelly had originally found it boring, but he realized this was actually pretty fun. He even got something out of it.

The first benefit was that he could train his ability. He practiced controlling vines every day anyway, so working with Rogge killed two birds with one stone.

The second benefit was that it felt great. His usual training was nothing but the dull task of controlling vines. Now things were different—he could whip someone, especially that bastard captain Rogge.

As the sun set, Rogge, swollen like a pig-headed man, dragged his battered body forward step by step. Dark bruises covered him in stripes. Anyone who did not know better might have thought they had been doing something unspeakable in the woods.

Especially with Jelly wearing such a blissed-out expression, Ham and the other two looked at them strangely when they returned to the inn.