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"Huh? Bai Ye, are you hungry again?"
Luffy, being the food-obsessed goof he is, immediately assumed Bai Ye hadn't eaten enough.
With a silly grin, he grabbed a banana from a barrel nearby and handed it over.
Bai Ye had already predicted this brain-dead logic, but seeing that banana coming right at his face still made a few stress veins pop up on his forehead.
"I'm not hungry, Captain."
He took a step back and said seriously:
"I know now's not exactly the best time, but I really want to get this over with. I'm gonna sit here and..."
He was going to say "train to convert my Qi into Primordial Qi," but figured Luffy wouldn't understand a word of it. Worse, the guy would probably ask with a straight face, "What's modification?"
So he changed course mid-sentence.
"I'm gonna take a nap here for a bit, and I really don't want anyone disturbing me. Can you stay nearby and make sure no one touches me?"
Once he started the conversion, he'd have to enter the book's inner world.
That basically meant an out-of-body state. His soul would be gone, and his physical body would be completely defenseless—no awareness, no reflexes, nothing.
If Luffy weren't around, Bai Ye definitely wouldn't be doing this out in the open. He'd find a safe, secret spot.
"Gotcha! So that's what this is about!"
Seeing how serious Bai Ye looked, Luffy balled his fist and slammed it into his palm like he just had an epiphany.
"Don't worry, Bai Ye! I'll guard this spot with my life!!!"
When a crewmate asked him for help, Luffy never took it lightly.
Hearing his promise, Bai Ye sat down cross-legged and got into a meditative posture, palms up, facing the sky.
In the next second, he entered the book's inner world and started absorbing his starter gift.
To his surprise, during the process of cultivating the Primordial Qi, he even picked up a Daoist incantation:
"Mystic Origin of Heaven and Earth, root of all Qi.Cultivate through countless eons, achieve divine power.Across all realms, only the Dao reigns supreme..."
Let's shift focus for a moment and look inside the room~
After White Night (Bai Ye ) adjusted his posture, he instantly looked like he was fast asleep—his breathing slow and steady.
Koby found the whole thing kinda bizarre. He leaned in and whispered to Luffy:
"Mr. Luffy, is Mr. White Night really sleeping like that? Isn't that position uncomfortable?"
"Probably not," Luffy replied, thinking seriously for a moment. Then he turned to Koby and grinned.
"I sometimes sleep sitting up too. And my grandpa? He can fall asleep standing."
Koby: ???
You sleep sitting up?
Your grandpa sleeps standing?
What is going on with this world?
Is lying down to sleep actually the wrong way?
Just as Koby was beginning to question everything he knew about life, footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the room.
Then a familiar voice rang out:
"Miss Alvida, I swear I saw Koby bring strangers onto the ship. Just now, I got knocked out by one of them!"
"That's right, Miss Alvida! Those two strangers—young, but super strong—they must be bounty hunters Koby brought to go after you!"
"Miss Alvida, they're right in here!!!"
With that shout, the pirates on the ship threw open the door to the room.
It was the same guys who had been knocked out earlier by Luffy and White Night. The bandana-wearing pirate looked thrilled as he opened the door.
"Miss Alvida, see? I wasn't lying! Koby really did bring outsiders on board!"
"Oh hey, it's that ugly old dude White Night sent flying! And the mustache guy too!"
Inside the room, Luffy didn't seem tense at all. Instead, he acted like he was greeting old friends and happily waved at them.
His reaction made Koby practically grow fangs from frustration as he shouted:
"Luffy!!! Can't you read the room?!"
"Heh heh heh, this really is surprising…"
A deep, rough voice cut in. The second it was heard, all the pirates fell silent and parted to make way.
"Didn't expect you, useless little Koby, to betray me too?"
BOOM!!!
A massive spiked club slammed into the ground, making everyone—except Luffy—feel like their hearts were about to jump out of their chests. The whole atmosphere shifted, like something terrifying was about to go down.
"You really aren't afraid to die, are you, Koby?!"
At the doorway stood a stubby-limbed, round-bodied giant of a woman.
This was none other than Iron Mace Alvida, with a bounty of five million Berries!
As she squeezed into the room, Alvida first gave Luffy and the seated White Night a once-over.
She relaxed a little when she realized this wasn't the bounty hunter with the three swords she had in mind.
If it was that guy, she would've had to seriously rethink her strategy.
Then her eyes landed on White Night's handsome face, and a little spark of excitement lit up in her heart. She couldn't help but think—
A man like that… now that's someone worthy of the most beautiful woman on the seas.
With that thought in her head, Alvida couldn't stop herself from sneaking a few more glances at White Night.
"D-d-dear... d-dearest Miss Alvida…"
The moment Alvida had entered, Koby had already dropped to the floor in fear. Now, he was trembling as he tried to explain himself.
His cowardly behavior made even Luffy frown a little.
"Koby, who's the most beautiful woman on the sea?"
Seeing Koby so terrified, Alvida was very pleased. She couldn't help but repeat her favorite catchphrase again.
She was loving the feeling of being worshipped by everyone.
But before Koby could say anything, Luffy, digging in his nose like he didn't have a care in the world, casually asked:
"Who's this loud, savage old hag?"
If he'd said it on purpose to insult her, maybe it wouldn't have been that bad—but Luffy looked completely innocent and clueless when he said it. Instantly, Koby on the floor and all the pirates outside froze like statues, jaws hanging open.
"You little brat..."
At Luffy's words, a vein popped on Alvida's forehead. Her teeth were clenched so hard they were practically grinding.
"GO TO HELL!!!"
She'd been terrorizing the seas for years, and not once had anyone dared call her an "old hag" to her face. In that moment, all Alvida could think about was smashing that guy into a bloody pulp.
As for the other one—the handsome guy—oh, she was gonna lock him in her room and "interrogate" him every night, nice and slow...
BOOM!!!
Like a rolling ball, Alvida came charging in and slammed her spiked mace down hard.
Seeing this, Luffy had no interest in a full-on fight. He quickly jumped back, then stretched both arms out—grabbing Koby with one hand and Byakuya with the other—and slingshotted them all out of the room and onto the more spacious deck.
It wasn't that he didn't want to fight Alvida—Luffy was still keeping in mind what Byakuya had told him earlier.
The room they were just in was way too cramped, and Luffy was worried about accidentally hurting Byakuya. That's why he dragged both of them out to the deck.
After one of Luffy's typical main-character-style speeches, Koby finally snapped out of his fear and shouted furiously at the charging Alvida:
"You're not the most beautiful woman ever—you're just an ugly, fat, nasty old hag!!"
"Bahahaha! Koby, you've got a real mouth on you."
"Well then, I'll handle this hag. Koby, you watch over Byakuya for me."
"Speaking of which… man, Byakuya can sleep. He's still not awake after all that?"
After giving those instructions, Luffy got into position and faced Alvida, who was on the edge of going full berserk.
"Well, well… looks like you guys really do have a death wish~"
When someone's anger hits the absolute limit, they don't scream—they go deadly quiet.
Alvida's voice dropped low. In her eyes, everyone except that handsome guy was already a corpse.
BOOM!
Suddenly, Alvida's huge body moved. She must've gone all in, because even the deck couldn't handle it—wherever she stepped, the wood cracked and crumbled beneath her feet.
In the blink of an eye, she was already right in front of Luffy.
"DIE, YOU LITTLE BRAT!!"
With a furious roar, she raised her mace and brought it down with all her strength toward Luffy!
But just as things were about to go south, Koby noticed something weird about Byakuya next to him.
Golden light was starting to leak out of Byakuya's body. Koby even thought he heard a deep, echoing voice from somewhere far away:
"...Guard of the Three Realms, Welcomed by the Five Emperors.All gods bow, commanding thunder.Demons flee, spirits vanish.Lightning within, the Thunder God's name hidden.Let the golden light shine—shield my body."
In the next second, a flash of gold vanished right in front of Koby's eyes—then reappeared between Luffy and Alvida.
The mace didn't hit Luffy. Alvida didn't even get to finish shouting her move.
Before she could react, her weapon slammed into the golden light instead.
BANG!!!
"....."