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CHAPTER 32

Kreegan was able to breathe again and coughed as Smoker pulled his jitte back Kreegan's throat. Then he got up and propped his jitte against the side chair. He lit another cigar and sat down on the chair with his feet propped up on the table.

"A man's word is his bound, so I will give you one den-den mushi and one chance, but if you waste my time, I will beat you senseless and then throw you into jail for interfering with justice."

Smoker didn't look very happy, but he had always been a man of his word and would deliver on what he promised. Smoker took another puff from his cigar and glared at Kreegan, who was leaving while rubbing his throat. All Smoker could think of was what a waste it was for someone with this much potential to waste his time indulging himself with money rather than serving justice.

He drifted into his memories, and he saw himself in him. Full of hatred and boundless anger against pirates. If he didn't meet the right people, the hatred might have consumed him by now. The Marines and the role models in it were the right influence he needed to tame this anger and hatred.

His hands were already full with Tashigi, and he was not experienced enough to mentor someone like himself, and he clearly stated he was not interested in entering the Marines right now. Smoker muttered,

"What a waste..."

Tashigi turned and asked,

"Commander, did you say something?"

Smoker straightened himself up and, clearing his throat, said.

"I didn't say anything! Why are you still standing here? Go and train, you crybaby weakling!"

"Why are you bullying me again? What did I do?"

...

Kreegan got what he wanted, but he had a bittersweet feeling. Despite fighting with all his might, all he could achieve was a 1-centimeter scratch, and Smoker wasn't even in the top 10 in the logia power ranking. He realized how small of a fish he was because of his magical abilities. He had started to slack off his training. He was not working out like crazy anymore and had become lazy. This defeat left a very bitter taste in his mouth.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

He decided to train like how Zoro did in the anime with an inhuman amount of weight. His technique was decent, but his physical strength was pathetic. He thought he had a strong will, but he became so lazy without realizing it. So, he has to challenge himself and surpass his own limit constantly. This was the magical thing about this planet. If you have the talent and the will, there is almost no limit to how much more powerful a person can become.

As far as he knew, Gol D. Roger and Garp didn't have any devil fruit power. All they had were their bodies and unbreakable will. Of course, this didn't mean everyone could become monstrously strong and reach the top just because they had the will for it. If that was the case, there would be many people like Garp and Roger, but Kreegan knew he had the mettle for this. He had to temper his body continuously.

After delivering the bounties and selling the pirate ships, Kreegan's total money was 113 million bellies. Of course, the money they earned was more than that, but he gave about 60 million to Lex. This money was to be used to improve Tora One and buy cannons.

He would use this money to strengthen his sword further, and he had already decided on the enchantment he would apply. Until he learned haki, he had a great weakness against devil fruit users like everyone else, especially against the logia type. He was going to buy the Cold Iron enchantment to at least slightly reduce this weakness. This enchantment gave a 20% damage bonus against devil fruit users.

He entered the system shop and bought this enchantment, the money in his bag instantly disappeared, and 13 million bellies were left. He rented a shop from a blacksmith in Logue Town and, after a day's work, added this enchantment to his sword. Thanks to this enchantment, Ichinami's blade color changed into a pale blue color, and it had a really faint shine to it too.

With those two enchantments, Ichinami was a sword close to Great Grade rank swords. The second he finished the enchantment, like the first time, a fog came over his memories of the enchantment, and he forgot how it was done. After that, he made some repairs and maintenance on Ichinami.

In the past month, Lex spent all his time in the Logue Town shipyard and spent all 60 million of the money on Tora One. Kreegan had practiced regularly, splitting his time evenly between Blacksmithing, physical training, and sword training during this time. Lex was waiting for Kreegan on the deck of Tora One, and when Kreegan approached the ship, he could see no difference except for the cannons attached to the ship, and he turned to Lex and said:

"Did you spend 60 million on ten cannons?"

"Are you an idiot? Do you think cannons are that expensive? Cannons only cost 20 million, and the other 40 million was spent inside the hull. I didn't have that much money when I was making Tora One, so I used cheap wood, but thanks to those forty million, At least I was able to replace the ship's skeleton with much more durable wood."

Lex got behind the helm and asked,

"Where are we going now?"

Don Krieg's hideout is supposed to be on an island around Baratie. Kreegan still remembered the general shape of the island. It was a small deserted island that was surrounded by steep high cliffs. There was a ravine in the middle of the island, which is how they managed to hide their 50 ships. Still, the thing he couldn't understand was how is it possible for marines to not able to find the hideout when they landed and scouted every island around the area; Krieg was active.

"We are going to scout the island around the Baratie."