The battle between Zoro and Kelo ultimately concluded with Zoro's rapid growth during the fight, gradually suppressing his opponent.
Due to Luffy's blessing of Heaven-Defying Enlightenment, combined with Kelo being a rare opponent,
This allowed Zoro to gain significant improvement in this battle.
Especially his Observation Haki, which had already taken initial form, showing some semblance of mastery.
Luffy roughly estimated that Zoro's current strength had probably reached the stage where he defeated Mr. 1 in Alabasta in the original work.
At that time, he first cut steel, and his strength had made a breakthrough.
And now, because he had come into contact with the Haki domain early on, and with Luffy's various aids, his strength had advanced rapidly.
...
After defeating Kelo, the group rested and recuperated at Kaya's villa.
Upon waking, Kaya also expressed her sincere gratitude to Luffy and the others and asked Merry, another butler at the villa, to help Luffy and his crew build a pirate ship as a token of appreciation.
Upon hearing this news, Luffy found Merry alone.
"Mr. Luffy, you've come at a really good time."
"Actually, ever since I was very young, I've always dreamed of building my ideal ship, the going merry. Now, this ship is almost complete."
"You just need to stay here for about three more days, and then I can give this ship to you."
Merry excitedly introduced his dream ship to Luffy.
However, Luffy spoke at this moment.
"In fact, we plan to go to the Grand Line. I've heard that the environment there is very harsh, so I hope you can reinforce the entire ship, especially the keel."
In the original work, the going merry completely lost its ability to sail after Sky Island, and coupled with the irreparable damage to its keel, it could only be burned down in the end.
Luffy, of course, was unwilling to see this happen.
Even if the going merry couldn't sustain subsequent voyages in the future, he hoped that when they changed ships, the going merry would be intact.
Ideally, it could be further modified to create a brand new ship, one strong enough to support their subsequent voyages.
Merry looked a bit troubled at his words.
"Mr. Luffy, the going merry is already in its final stages. If we were to reinforce the entire ship now, we would have to dismantle part of the hull and rebuild it."
"I'm afraid this would take a lot more time, and I probably can't afford the cost."
Luffy said directly,
"You just reinforce it. We can wait."
"If you need money, we have about 10 million Berries here. Do you think that's enough?"
Merry nodded repeatedly.
"That's enough, it won't take that much, not 10 million. I estimate it will be around 3 million, and it will take about ten days."
"Since you, Mr. Luffy, are willing to wait, then I will do my best to build you a sufficiently sturdy going merry."
Luffy breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that the going merry could be reinforced.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Mr. Merry."
...
After leaving Merry, Luffy told the others that they would have to wait here for some time.
Afterward, Luffy let Uta and Zoro train on their own.
Nami, bored, found some books on navigation and weather in Kaya's villa and began to study them.
Luffy, meanwhile, found Usopp, intending to have him begin research on the Buggy Bomb.
He led Usopp to a research room provided by Merry.
Luffy then took out the design blueprints for the Buggy Bomb.
"Usopp, take a look at this blueprint?"
Usopp curiously took the blueprint and began to study it carefully.
But as he read, Usopp's brows furrowed tightly.
A moment later, he looked at Luffy in shock and asked,
"Luffy, where did you get this blueprint?"
"The methods described on it seem to be able to create a very unusual cannonball!"
Luffy was pleasantly surprised at his words.
"Can you understand it?"
Usopp looked at the blueprint, his eyes filled with thought and confusion.
"I can understand the simplest parts, but for the more complex ones, I'll have to consult some books."
After leaving the research room, a while later, Usopp returned with several very thick books on artillery and gunpowder.
He had learned about the "Gunpowder Star" he had previously researched from these books.
But because he had only learned the basics, the things he researched had very little power.
As Usopp was looking at the blueprint and preparing to search for relevant information in the books, Luffy spoke up.
"Usopp, I need you to read all these books from beginning to end right now."
Usopp immediately showed a bitter expression upon hearing this.
"Luffy, my strongest talent is in sniping; research is just something I barely understand."
"Even if you make me read all these books from scratch, I won't be able to learn those profound techniques within them."
Luffy ignored Usopp's words and continued to speak.
"Just listen to me."
Usopp had no choice but to pick up a book and start reading from the first page.
However, as he read, Usopp was stunned.
He found that his brain seemed to have awakened today; knowledge that he normally couldn't understand or grasp was now not only extremely easy to remember and comprehend, but he could even connect and summarize it with previously learned information.
Soon, Usopp was immersed in the joy of constantly delving deeper into exploration.
...
Three days later.
This was the day Kelo mentioned that the Kelo Pirate Crew was about to attack.
The current Captain, Jango, led over a hundred subordinates ashore.
However, what awaited them was Zoro, who was already prepared.
The current Zoro alone was enough to wipe out this group of people.
And it was also a good opportunity to improve his strength.
Meanwhile, Luffy was still by Usopp's side, assisting him in learning relevant knowledge.
Within three days, Usopp had also nearly finished reading several books.
Now, only the last part remained.
"Phew…"
Usopp let out a long breath, closed the book, his eyes brighter than ever before.
In these past few days, he felt as if he had discovered a new continent; every moment brought stimulation and surprise to his mind.
He had also thoroughly experienced an art within these books.
Explosion!
Luffy once again handed the blueprint to Usopp.
This time, Usopp looked at the blueprint as if he were looking at a simple arithmetic problem; all the knowledge seemed extremely simple and easy to understand.
He even shook his head in dissatisfaction as he read.
"This design still has certain flaws; it can't unleash its maximum power!"
"And it seems it could also be improved to research and design several other new types of cannonballs."
Just then, Usopp's brain rapidly spun.
And a prompt also appeared in Luffy's mind.
"Your comprehension is heaven-defying. Through spiritual transmission, your transmitter has gained insight, deducing and comprehending – Improved Buggy Bomb."
Improved Buggy Bomb: An improvement based on the original Buggy Bomb, further increasing its power. Normal cannonball size, 1.5 times the power of the original Buggy Bomb.
"Your comprehension is heaven-defying. Through spiritual transmission, your transmitter has gained insight, deducing and comprehending – Mini Buggy Bomb."
Mini Buggy Bomb: An improvement based on the Improved Buggy Bomb, further purified and condensed, then optimized into a portable small cannonball. Pea-sized, 1.5 times the power of the original Buggy Bomb.
"Your comprehension is heaven-defying. Through spiritual transmission, your transmitter has gained insight, deducing and comprehending – Super Buggy Ball."
Super Buggy Ball: An improvement based on the Mini Buggy Bomb, concentrating and fusing more gunpowder to create a super cannonball with immense power. Normal cannonball size, 10 times the power of the original Buggy Bomb.