"Wow, so cool!" Luffy's eyes sparkled.
"Not bad at all, Creed."
"Impressive, little Creed."
Shanks and the other pirates were a bit surprised—Creed's strength was beyond what they had expected.
Creed handed the sword back to Beckman.
"Well done, kid," Beckman praised.
"Ah! The fruit is gone?!!"
Suddenly, one of the officers shouted.
Everyone turned to see a delicate box on the bar counter. It was open, and completely empty inside.
"Huh? That fruit? I ate it. Shanks, why do you have such a disgusting fruit?" Luffy clutched his throat, stuck out his tongue like he'd eaten something foul, tossed the half-eaten purple fruit onto the bar, and gulped down a glass of juice.
"What???!!!"
Shanks's eyes bulged in shock when he saw the half-eaten fruit. He grabbed Luffy by the legs and shook him upside down. "Spit it out! Spit it out right now!"
The next second—
Luffy's neck suddenly stretched unnaturally long, his face smacking into the floor.
"Eh? Wh-what's going on?" Luffy blinked in confusion.
Shanks covered his face. "That's the Gomu Gomu no Mi (Gum-Gum Fruit), a Devil Fruit cursed by the sea. Once you eat it, your whole body becomes rubber, and you can never swim again."
Luffy's mouth dropped open, his expression exaggerated. "Ah!!!?"
…
Creed's mouth twitched. So, Luffy still ended up eating the Gum-Gum Fruit.
As expected, this was fate.
But Luffy, being the incredibly thick-skinned and carefree person he was, quickly calmed down and started playing with his new powers, stretching his fingers and pulling them for fun.
Seeing that Luffy wasn't crying or panicking, Shanks sighed in relief and turned to Creed. "Little Creed, who taught you swordsmanship and martial arts?"
Of course, Creed couldn't tell the truth. "My grandpa."
"Your grandpa?"
"Yeah. Monkey D. Garp."
Pfft!!
Shanks and Beckman, who had been listening, both spat out their drinks.
"W-who?"
"Monkey D. Garp."
Shanks and Beckman looked at each other, then in perfect sync turned to stare at Luffy.
Luffy was busy playing with his rubber body, occasionally flashing a big, goofy grin.
That trademark grin made both of their hearts skip a beat.
No mistake about it—this was indeed the Monkey D. Garp they knew.
Their heads throbbed instantly. Garp was the madman who once chased Roger across the world, and now they'd learned Luffy and Creed were his grandsons.
The two were speechless. This world really was small.
They had never known Garp had two grandsons.
The secrecy was impressive, but it made sense. In the current Marines, family members were kept well hidden—after all, their enemies were ruthless pirates capable of anything.
Once, Marine Admiral Zephyr had captured countless pirates in his lifetime.
But when his family's identities were exposed, they were all slaughtered by pirates.
Since then, the Marines had made sure to hide their families away, to prevent tragedies like that.
Shanks and Beckman's mouths twitched. If Garp found out they'd let his grandson eat a Devil Fruit, he'd explode.
And there was an even bigger headache—after hearing their adventure stories, Luffy had been saying nonstop that he wanted to go to sea as a pirate.
They were sweating. If Garp found out, he'd hunt them down across the world.
"Cough… Shanks, maybe we should leave early," Beckman suggested. Who knew when Garp would return—if he caught them here, they'd be in trouble.
"Yeah… let's leave in a few days."
Both were feeling guilty.
Creed, of course, had no idea they were already planning to bolt. He found an excuse to slip away to a house not far behind the tavern.
He and Luffy were staying temporarily at Makino's place.
In his room, Creed opened the system interface. Inside was a golden treasure chest—the one he had earned from killing Sig.
"Open chest."
"Opening…"
"Ding, congratulations! You've obtained one Gold Acceleration Card and one Gold Ability Upgrade Card."
Gold Acceleration Card? Gold Ability Upgrade Card?
With a thought, the details appeared before his eyes.
[Gold Acceleration Card]: Instantly completes extraction of any A-rank or lower ability.
[Gold Ability Upgrade Card]: Increases any S-rank or lower ability by one rank.
Creed's breathing quickened.
These were insanely powerful items—like getting a pillow the moment you feel sleepy.
Without hesitation, he hurried back to the tavern. To extract an ability, the target had to be within two meters.
"Use Gold Acceleration Card," he thought instantly.
As for which ability to speed up—obviously, it had to be A-rank swordsmanship.
A flash of insight—
"Ding! Acceleration complete. Congratulations, Host, on successfully extracting A-rank swordsmanship. Added to Standby Abilities."
Done!
Eager to continue, Creed left the tavern again, leaving everyone inside baffled.
Back at his place, sure enough, the standby list now included—A-rank swordsmanship.
"Activate A-rank swordsmanship."
"A-rank swordsmanship activated successfully."
Without hesitation—
"Use Gold Ability Upgrade Card to upgrade A-rank swordsmanship."
"Ding! Upgrade complete. Congratulations, Host, on obtaining—S-rank swordsmanship."
…
(End of Chapter)
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