"Um..."
After hearing Xia Chen's words, everyone fell into deep thought, their minds racing.
After a long pause, Zoro spoke first, "What you said makes a lot of sense. We are still far from being among the world's top fighters, except for you, of course!"
In this Paramount War, he went through great lengths to defeat a Vice Admiral whose strength was considered quite good by world standards, but that was far from enough!
He wasn't even qualified to participate in the battlefield like Xia Chen's, and in this war, he truly witnessed the strength of the world's top experts.
For example, the three Admiral of the Navy, or Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors, all possess world-destroying power. They are far beyond what he can currently challenge.
Of course, right now, the strongest person in the world is sitting not far away, leisurely sipping tea. Just looking at him is infuriating!
Zoro suddenly felt a sense of urgency. He hadn't realized that Xia Chen had become so strong, and the gap between him and Xia Chen was widening.
And... he was a little resentful!
To be honest, he had never seen Xia Chen exercise; he was either sunbathing or fishing every day. And what did he do?
He swung barbells to Chopper every day, constantly training his physique from morning till night, but in the end, his strength improvement was still far slower than Xia Chen's.
Why is this happening? What happened to the saying " Heavenly Dao "?
For the first time, Zoro experienced a sense of defeat from someone, a feeling that no matter how hard he tried, he could never surpass that person.
However, Zoro immediately nipped the thought in the bud the moment it crossed his mind, and at the same time, a layer of cold sweat involuntarily seeped out of his forehead.
That was close! I almost let this monster shake my resolve. He's a human, a normal human being!
There's absolutely no need to compare yourself to a monster. Besides, Xia Chen might just be strong in the early game and then falter later on!
Although the possibility is small, it's still possible, right?
And... there's another person he feels he could kill with a few casual stabs; compared to him, that person should be the one who should feel most ashamed!
Thinking of this, Zoro couldn't help but turn his gaze to a certain Curly Brows chef on the other side, and then scoffed disdainfully.
Sanji:???
(•́へ•́ ╬)!
"Restraint, patience, form is emptiness, emptiness is form..."
Sanji silently repeated the mantra to himself, trying to calm himself down.
After a moment, Sanji jumped up and shouted, "Screw you, you Moss Head! I'll kill you!"
After saying that, Sanji kicked Zoro directly.
He had already endured the criticism and condemnation from everyone, but now this damned Moss Head dared to mock him. If he continued to tolerate this, he would truly become a Ninja Turtle!
No, absolutely not!
Watching the two fighting, Xia Chen said calmly, "Alright, now two people have expressed their thoughts. What about you?"
"If it were up to me, I'd also think we should hold off for now. I want to learn more about navigation to cope with the extreme weather in the New World!" Nami said, but immediately she felt a headache coming on.
"The problem is that I don't know where to learn this professional knowledge!"
"If that's what you're worried about, then there's no problem. I know where you can learn this knowledge!" Xia Chen said with a faint smile.
"Not only the nautical knowledge you need to learn, but also historical knowledge, medical knowledge, mechanical knowledge, and so on—I know where to find them all!"
Xia Chen's words immediately made all four of them's eyes light up.
Judging from their expressions, Xia Chen knew they were really tempted, and they would probably all agree.
Usopp then said, "I also want to train for a while first. I'm too weak right now, I want to become stronger! I want to help you guys!"
His eyes were resolute, revealing unwavering determination! Despite possessing an extremely powerful Mythical Zoan, he couldn't play a significant role in this war.
The reason for this is that his strength is too weak, and he has not had the White Tiger Fruit for very long, so his development of the fruit is not high.
If given some time to familiarize himself with his fruit, he believed he could greatly improve his strength in a short period of time!
Xia Chen turned his gaze to the last person and asked, " Luffy, you're the captain, what are your thoughts?"
Luffy remained silent and did not immediately answer Xia Chen's question.
After Xia Chen explained it to him, he realized the problems on their ship, and his adventurous spirit subsided.
Indeed, just as Xia Chen said, their current strength is too weak. If it weren't for Xia Chen, could they have rescued Ace?
Luffy used his already limited brainpower to think about the problem for a moment, and finally came to two words.
cannot!
Suddenly, Luffy's thirst for strength increased considerably, and before they knew it, they had become the ones being taken care of by Xia Chen again.
They had already said before that they should try not to rely on Xia Chen so much, but this time when they were captured and imprisoned in Impel Down, it was Xia Chen who saved them, and Robin was also saved by Xia Chen.
Whether they are there or not has almost no impact on the war. As long as Xia Chen is there, the outcome of this war is already determined from the beginning!
Things are fine while Xia Chen is around, but what if Xia Chen is gone one day?
What should they do then?
For some reason, Luffy always had a feeling that Xia Chen would leave them, and this feeling grew stronger as time went by!
He hoped his feeling was wrong, but if such a thing were to happen one day, he would need to be capable of dealing with the situation when Xia Chen was not around!
He was the captain of the ship, and he didn't want his crew to get hurt!
After thinking for a while, Luffy looked at Xia Chen and said, "I want to become stronger!"
Luffy didn't say anything more, but those four words already represented his attitude.
Hearing Luffy's answer, Xia Chen's lips curled up slightly. Xia Chen wanted to take some time to calm down, not only because Luffy and his crew were not strong enough, but also because he had some things to do.
The first thing that comes to mind is the riddle Red Hair mentioned about the Human- Pluton Human-Human Fruit, specifically the Hades form!
He needs to think carefully about what that really means, and then there's...
Perhaps thinking of something, Xia Chen's lips curled into a smile. He then looked at everyone and said:
"Since we've already made the decision, let's have a banquet first!"
"Oh!!!"
The crowd responded excitedly, their faces beaming with joy.
How could there not be a celebratory banquet after such a great battle?