While the others fought.
Shane grabbed the Biscuit Homies and ate them outright.
As soon as they reached his stomach, white vapor rose all over him, but it was not his body burning.
It was the souls attached to the Homies!
Linlin had only made the suggestion casually. She had not expected Shane to eat them so effortlessly.
He could even absorb what he needed and reject what he did not.
All the souls attached to those Homies returned to her body.
"Don't eat me! Mama, save me!"
The Little Cake Homies had barely tried to run before Shane grabbed them and ate them.
As he replenished his stomach.
Shane kept eating like a steam engine running at full capacity.
"These are Solid Pills. Unlike the earlier Drug, they're medicine that draws out the body's potential."
"I don't have a strong enough test subject at present, so I haven't observed their true side effects yet."
"But they really can draw out potential. As long as you withstand the side effects, the enhancement is permanent!"
"I made them from very rare medicinal ingredients I found on several New World islands with extremely harsh environments!"
"Shane! I believe in you!"
That bottle of Black Pills from Stussy was genuinely frightening.
Judging by how she later created Clone Cyborgs of herself.
Whitebeard II was probably something along those lines too.
Of course, that did not rule out his really having Whitebeard's blood. For all anyone knew, the drugs had made him an idiot!
"Disgusting, but they feel edible!"
Shane ate the Homies, expelling large amounts of souls from his body.
The moment he smelled these Precious Pills Stussy had refined.
He felt he could eat them!
"If you withstand the side effects, you can become stronger!"
"They might be more vicious than the Drug and cause many times more pain."
"But that's also a way of strengthening the body!"
Stussy was far too excited.
She had never expected Shane to have no reservations whatsoever.
He dared to eat Homies, and he dared to eat the pills she had painstakingly refined!
Besides.
The pills' side effect was to conceal the damage and pain caused during the enhancement process.
Once it ended, all of it would be repaid at once, and that instant could kill someone.
Survive it and break through your limits; fail, and die on the spot!
"They're mine!"
Shane tipped all the pills into his mouth at once.
He continued eating Homies.
However long Rocks kept fighting, Shane would keep holding on.
Otherwise, if he collapsed before the battle at God Valley ended.
It would mean failing the multiple-choice selection.
The other rewards would go up in smoke!
The Mutant Physique that allowed him to eat three Devil Fruits and go without sleep.
And that broken Paramecia Devil Fruit, the Paw-Paw Fruit!
Shane liked them very much!
If he did not keep going now, he would pass out on the spot once he let that breath go.
So he had to hold on!
Gulp, gulp.
The Homies reached his stomach and were rapidly converted into vitality through Life Return.
His injuries were recovering, contending with his body.
The pain would not lessen because of it, however. He had to accept every bit of it.
The pills had also reached his stomach.
Shane, who had been showing signs of exhaustion, grew energized once more.
Layer after layer of white vapor rose from his body.
His physical potential was being squeezed out, tempering him toward a higher level.
Just as Stussy had said.
If he endured this ordeal, Shane's physical capabilities would undergo a further transformation.
He would become an artificial monster with tremendous strength and a resilient physique.
Of course.
That depended on remaining as rational as possible and withstanding the final pain and damage.
Hiss!
Shane was like a snake, white vapor pouring from his mouth.
By this point, this battle had become a forbidden zone that anyone below the level of the All-Stars and Sweet Commanders should not enter.
Even though Shane was already the strongest beneath that level.
He had not awakened even the Observation Haki stirring within him, let alone that indomitable Conqueror's Haki.
Holding on until now had mostly meant an ever-growing burden on his body.
"Stussy! Does eating this stuff cause hallucinations?"
Shane looked at Stussy, feeling as though her entire body was shrouded in all sorts of light.
"I don't know! When I made these pills, I mixed in the blood of many kinds of beasts from extreme climates."
"Things like Super Electric Eel Sea Kings from the ocean depths, Tyrannosauruses on islands that can spit fire, and Giant Birds flying through the sky that can transform their feathers."
"Anyway, even I find all these medicinal properties baffling."
"Maybe living things all share a common trait, one humans possess too-even Devil Fruits have it!"
"It's precisely this common trait that allows life to take on so many forms."
"In theory, as long as you withstand the medicinal effects, you can use this trait to become a monster."
"You might gain strength like Kaido's Oni race, or a naturally blade- and bullet-proof physique like Linlin's."
The Shane before Stussy was the perfect test subject!
Wonderful!
"Hiss... I feel like I'm starting to hear things."
White vapor kept pouring from Shane's mouth, as though even his Lineage Factor was burning and boiling.
The people before him all had flecks of starlight on them, each a different color.
He could also hear other people's chatter in his ears.
Many people were not speaking, yet Shane could hear them muttering something or other.
"It's like eating poisonous mushrooms. Unbelievable!"
Shane did not notice anything unusual in any other respect.
"You truly are a magnificent creation!"
Stussy kept observing Shane's changes.
Bang!
Zephyr tried to attack Shane again.
But after detecting signs of it.
Shane dodged away from his original position a moment early.
This state was subtle. He looked dazed, as if he were drunk.
Yet his perception was sharper!
Shane quickly came to suspect it was Observation Haki!
Though he had neither mastered nor awakened it, he could sense that his perception had grown sharper.
At that thought.
Shane simply closed his eyes.
He listened to the clamor within people's hearts.
Moment after moment, the voice within each person's heart was different.
Even their movements carried advance signs.
When he opened his eyes again.
John was already leaning against Shane's back.
"Newbie, are you drunk?"
The drunken John handed Shane a bottle of liquor.
He had already felt he was just a little short.
After seeing that bottle.
Shane drained it in one gulp.
The clamor in his ears increased again.
Intoxication and white mist enveloped Shane.
With his eyes closed, his perception instead became even keener.
"Shane!"
Dragon seized the opportunity to strike, his dragon claw about to stab toward him.
"Dragon!"
Amid the white mist, Purple Lightning flashed out in an instant.
Shane caught Dragon's palm with one hand. "Have I gotten faster, or have you gotten slower?"
"You've got your eyes closed!"
Dragon blocked the Electro attack with Haki.
What surprised him more was Shane's condition.
He could fight him with his eyes closed. He was feeling his way toward Observation Haki!
Damn it, what kind of pain from overexertion was this supposed to be?
At his current rate of growth.
By the end of the battle at God Valley.
Shane would have grown stronger in every respect.
Dragon noticed it was not just Shane. The other Rocks Pirates were growing stronger too.
Don't tell me that after all the trouble of defeating one Rocks.
Even more monsters would be born instead!
"You sure worry about a lot."
Shane sped up his attacks, even pursuing Dragon.
Compared with being forced to meet his attacks earlier.
This eyes-closed, white-mist state was stronger instead.
But the longer he maintained it, the fiercer the side effects after the drugs' modifications would be.
The earlier side effects had not disappeared either. They were only temporarily suppressed by the stronger medicinal effects!
Shane was gambling with his life.
Betting that he could hold on until the end and obtain the Paw-Paw Fruit.
Then repel all the pain from his body!
Though the damage genuinely existed, Shane did not care at all.
A Zoan could take this much damage. As long as it did not kill him, he would push himself to death's door!
"Can you actually hear the voice in my heart?"
Dragon could not believe that a dabbler like Shane, who had not awakened Observation Haki, could do that.
"A little. It's very subtle."
Shane was thoroughly drunk, nearly falling after a few stumbling steps.
But carried along by the alcohol fumes, the Bolo Breath he blasted out was even fiercer!
Boom!
The blast of flame pierced through the seawater, evaporating hundreds of meters of it!
After dodging aside, Dragon immediately grew deeply worried. This guy's gotten stronger again!
"Who's this guy? Me?"
Shane appeared behind Dragon.
He seemed just like a ghost.
The burning white mist brought on by the drugs' side effects.
The faint white light triggered by Sulong.
The Purple Lightning from the fusion of his Black Dragon Form and the Mink Tribe.
Made Shane seem like a ghost that should not exist upon the sea.
"You're insane!"
Dragon truly did not want to say another word to Shane.
He was simply inhuman!
"Go!"
Zephyr and Tsuru cleared a path, taking the opportunity to get Dragon away.
They glanced at Shane as they passed.
Immediately afterward, several elite Vice Admirals from headquarters skilled in Haki and swordsmanship surrounded Shane.
At the edge of the beach.
A large number of warships drew near, and the Marines who came ashore joined in surrounding Shane.
"Keep Shane occupied! He won't last long before he collapses!"
Tsuru turned her gaze toward the other side of God Valley.
After everyone's stamina had been severely depleted and their injuries had mounted.
Rocks's battle with Roger and Garp was also nearing its end!
Deep into the night.
The main fighting forces of both the pirates and the Marines were making their way into God Valley.
No one else was allowed to set foot inside.
Otherwise, it would only add to the casualties.
"What about Shane?"
Before leaving, Kaido looked toward the surrounded Shane.
"Why go join the commotion? Aren't pirates supposed to like treasure and riches?"
Captain John sat on the ground, with Shane, whose mind was growing increasingly muddled, behind him.
Seeing this scene.
"Looks like he's fine!"
Linlin decisively rode away on a thundercloud.
Stussy, meanwhile, had long since disappeared.
In truth, she was hiding aboard a warship, secretly observing Shane's symptoms.
"Newbie, are you smoking a cigar?"
"You idiot, don't pick up bad habits like that from Shiki!"
"And of course, don't learn from Rocks either. He loves gambling too much-he even dares to stake his life."
John stood up and was enveloped in Shane's white mist as well, mistaking it for smoke.
"Old-timer."
"Thanks."
Where had Shane and John's acquaintance begun?
In the food hold aboard the pirate ship.
Or the first time he had been saved after becoming an Apprentice Crew Member.
Forget it.
Let's start here.
"Bolo Breath!"
"Drunken Flame!"
The two attacked at the same time.
On the sandy shore.
Densely packed elite Marines attacked.
Amid a hail of bullets.
The elite Vice Admirals from the same generation as Garp and Sengoku launched an all-out assault.
Shane and John stood back-to-back, clearing a path with flames!
At the same time.
At God Valley.
Rocks's battle had also entered its final stage.
Before you continue