Ability Development Principles

"Mr. Van, feel free to command these people as you wish. They will not refuse any request."

"As for studying, you can compile your needs, and I'll arrange everything for you at once."

The castle Chavik had arranged was on the port side of the Saint Germain. It looked ordinary from the outside, but its interior was exquisitely designed and lavishly decorated.

More importantly, he had assigned ten clone maids to tend to Van and the others' daily needs.

This was treatment reserved for nobles, but unfortunately, the other side had malicious intentions, so they could not truly enjoy it.

"We'll discuss it first and let you know later."

Van knew perfectly well that the clone maids were disposable tools. Aside from serving them, they were also responsible for surveillance.

As long as the maids saw anything they did in the castle, it would be secretly recorded.

He could not expose it to their faces, but he needed to remind Drake and the others. At the very least, they had to keep themselves in check.

"Then I'll take my leave for now. There's a Den Den Mushi in the castle, so you can contact me anytime."

Chavik glanced at the clone maids in the hall, then turned and left the castle.

These clones were around the same age, but their appearances were all different. They had probably been selected deliberately so they would not be mistaken for one another.

They generally did not leave the castles where they worked either, so there was no need to worry about running into identical faces outside.

Van looked at the tallest maid and asked, "Are the rooms ready?"

"There are ten rooms in total, and all of them have been prepared," the tall maid said respectfully. "Your room is on the top floor. If you need anything else, you can tell us later."

"Clean them again. I don't want to see even a speck of dust," Van said coldly.

Wasn't that making things too difficult for them?

Drake and the others were stunned, but out of trust in Van, none of them questioned him.

"Yes, sir!"

The tall maid still wore a smile, without the slightest trace of displeasure.

She led the other maids in a bow before heading off to the various rooms.

With only their own people left in the hall, Van said solemnly, "We didn't come here to enjoy ourselves, so don't act too recklessly. Just treat those maids as hotel staff."

Everyone vaguely understood what he meant. They were not the sort to behave recklessly anyway, and they all nodded.

Drake asked, "Brother Van, how long are we staying here?"

"About half a year. I need to study medicine and all kinds of medical equipment in order to develop my Fruit ability."

"You can't slack off either. Make the most of the conditions here and improve your strength."

If his only goal had been to deal with the Donquixote Family, Van would not have needed to cooperate with Judge.

He had come here to make use of the Germa Kingdom's resources and develop the Op-Op Fruit without distractions.

In the original story, Law had lurked for years before setting sail. On one hand, he had been too young and genuinely needed time to grow; on the other, his conditions had been limited, forcing him to spend a great deal of time developing his abilities.

Take Gamma Knife, for example. Its inspiration came from the corresponding medical instrument. Imagination alone was not enough.

He had to become proficient in using that instrument and understand how it worked and what it did before he could replicate it within the Operation Room.

Simply put, the better his medical skills were, the easier it would be to develop various medical methods into attack abilities, while producing greater offensive effects with less stamina.

His foundation was stronger now, and the conditions he could enjoy were countless times better than Law's in the original story. He was confident that half a year would be enough to surpass the results of Law's years of training.

"Captain, how exactly should I improve my strength? Can you guide me?"

"Yeah, yeah, we want to get stronger too, but we don't know how to plan it..."

Qiangbalu's words resonated with Shachi and the others. They had lacked the conditions in the past and had almost no training foundation.

Qiangbalu in particular had been naturally gifted, yet he had reached middle age with nothing but brute strength.

That would not have mattered if he had stayed in his hometown, but now that they had gone to sea, things could not continue like this.

"Qiangbalu and Drake have excellent physical foundations. When I have time, I'll teach you the Six Powers. They are both six combat techniques and six methods of extreme training."

"As for the rest of you, you're too young, and your physical foundations are far from sufficient. You can't learn the Six Powers yet."

"You can train your bodies directly, or choose a weapon and train through combat techniques."

"If you get tired, you can also study general knowledge or support skills, such as navigation, ship repair, cooking, medicine, and so on."

"Choose based on your personal interests, and try to pick knowledge that will be useful during our voyage."

Van had long since made plans for how to train Drake and the others, so he quickly laid them out.

"Then what should I learn?" Baby-5 asked excitedly. "It seems we don't have a suitable cook. How about I learn cooking?"

"As long as we lower our standards, cooks are actually easy to find. If you're interested, I won't object."

Van first approved, but then his tone shifted. "But compared to that, I'd rather have you borrow materials on weapons and study weapon development."

"Why?" Baby-5 was deeply confused. "Being a cook would let me provide everyone with delicious food. Wouldn't that be more useful?"

"What you need to do is make use of your ability's advantages and become stronger, not waste time merely to please others."

Van paused before explaining, "Familiarizing yourself with weapon materials will allow you to make better use of the Arms-Arms Fruit's combat capabilities. Studying weapon development, meanwhile, is so that you can eventually break beyond the limits of existing weapons and develop even stronger combat forms."

"As long as I can help everyone, it isn't a waste of time." Baby-5 smiled happily. "But since Brother Van says so, I'll definitely listen to you."

She had no great desire to become stronger. She simply wanted to be useful.

Van was somewhat helpless. Ruffling her hair, he said, "From now on, focus primarily on physical training, with weapon knowledge as a secondary pursuit."

He had high hopes for Baby-5, because the Arms-Arms Fruit was similar to the Op-Op Fruit in that both could be strengthened through mastery of theoretical knowledge.

The weapon forms Baby-5 could currently transform into were relatively simple, and she was merely copying what she saw, relying on raw power to crush everything.

If she could study them in depth and grasp their precise structures and operating principles, she would be able to bring out the combat effects of those weapon forms more effectively.

In terms of talent, whether it was blades, guns, staffs, machine guns, or cannons, she could transform into them with ease. Studying them in depth would not be difficult either.

But what about airplanes, tanks, warships, and spacecraft?

These technological creations that exceeded conventional boundaries were also weapons. In theory, she could transform into all of them, but their structures were extraordinarily complex, making it extremely difficult to truly achieve.

Developing these weapon forms first required imagination beyond that of ordinary people and sufficiently clear concepts. Baby-5 would find it difficult to understand them on her own, but she could rely on outside help.

For example, if someone provided blueprints and prototypes, then as long as she could understand them, she could grasp their structures and principles, build models of those weapons in her mind, and ultimately transform into them.

Second, she needed enough stamina to support transforming into those weapon forms and operating them at high consumption.

No one else could help with that. Baby-5 could only train hard herself, which was why Van had said that physical training should come first.

After all, stamina was the body's universal energy source. Whether it was martial arts, Haki, or Fruit abilities, all of them relied on it to function.