White Ghost watched Olga hesitate between the Mythical Zoan and the Scythe-Scythe Fruit. In the end, he simply put the others away.
After a long while, White Ghost looked at her and said, "Have you decided yet? Between these two, even an idiot should know which one to pick."
Olga snorted. "Of course I've decided."
As she spoke, she reached out and grabbed the Mythical Zoan Bat-Bat Fruit.
"This one."
White Ghost smiled and nodded, then put the Scythe-Scythe Fruit away.
"That's more like it. What were you hesitating for?"
As he spoke, he took out the cursed blade Nidai Kitetsu.
"Well? A vampire ability paired with a cursed sword... I think that works pretty well."
Olga didn't stand on ceremony. She bit straight into the Devil Fruit.
The moment the juice exploded across her tongue, her brows knotted tightly. Her little face turned bitter, and her already-red eyes grew even redder.
White Ghost watched her expression with open amusement.
As for that taste...
He had no interest in going through it a second time himself.
Seeing White Ghost's look of schadenfreude, Olga gritted her teeth and silently forced herself to finish the whole thing.
She had heard long ago that one bite was enough, but since she'd started, she might as well finish it.
The moment she was done, she hurriedly grabbed the milk on the table and rinsed her mouth. It took quite a while before she finally recovered.
"That taste... I never want to experience it a second time."
The moment Olga finished speaking, a pair of fleshy wings grew from her back.
The wings flapped, slowly lifting her into the air. Before long, the people on the ship all looked up.
There they saw Olga floating in midair, eyes blood-red, four sharp fangs showing at the corners of her mouth, and her nails grown longer.
The whole girl looked strangely enchanting.
Even if she was still small.
Bzzzt!
Nami appeared beside Olga in a crackle of electricity and looked her over curiously.
"So you ate a Devil Fruit too, Olga?"
Olga glanced at the mischievous Nami. "Do you think normal people grow wings and start flying?"
Down below, Chopper looked up into the sky, panting from his training.
"Amazing... Why is it that everyone else can fly, but I can't?"
"As long as you master the Six Powers, you'll be able to move through the air for short distances too."
Franky appeared beside Chopper as he spoke.
Chopper's eyes instantly sparkled as he looked at the cyborg Franky.
It couldn't be helped.
In Chopper's heart, robots were the coolest things in the world.
Just like they always had been.
The others only glanced up for a moment before going back to whatever they were doing.
There were already plenty of Devil Fruit users on the ship. One more wasn't anything strange.
Sitting in the control room, Kuro watched Olga and Nami fooling around in the sky and curled his lips into a smile.
"Another Mythical Zoan, huh?
"And on top of that, you're still holding on to an Artificial Devil Fruit—Mythical Zoan: Azure Dragon.
"Tsk. As expected of you, Captain."
After playing around in the air for a while, the two girls descended together.
The difference was that Nami flashed directly into White Ghost's arms, while Olga landed off to the side.
White Ghost rubbed Nami's head.
"Did you finish your training for today?"
Nami smiled sweetly and nodded. "Finished. Now it's break time."
As soon as she said that, she curled up against White Ghost and prepared to take a nap too.
White Ghost had no way to deal with this girl, so he could only let her be.
Then he turned to look at Olga.
"Take the sword and go train by yourself. You already know the basics. Now it's just a matter of practice.
"And don't forget your Seastone resistance training."
Olga nodded, picked up Nidai Kitetsu, and flew off.
Before leaving, she didn't forget to mutter, "You already have so many women, yet you still can't stop chasing more."
White Ghost's face darkened.
The hell?
"How am I fickle? You were the one who said you'd become my woman when you grew up. I didn't even agree, alright?"
Olga couldn't hear him anymore. She had already gone to the storage room, taken out a pair of Seastone handcuffs, and put them on herself.
Click.
The moment the handcuffs locked in place, Olga felt her whole body go weak.
"How can it be this bad? Did I grab the wrong pair?"
It wasn't until she confirmed they were the ten-percent ones that she finally understood how uncomfortable it must be for the others whenever they trained wearing this stuff.
"No. I have to work hard.
"If my talent isn't good enough, then I'll just make up for it with effort.
"One day, I'll catch up to them."
After force-feeding herself that bowl of motivation, Olga trudged laboriously toward the stern.
That was where Uta and the others usually practiced swordsmanship.
The moment she made it there with difficulty, she found most of the women already gathered.
Ilena, Stella, Lucianne, and Ain were planting vegetables.
Yes, planting vegetables.
And they were planting White Ghost's favorite tomatoes.
The little squirrel and Naqin were spreading herbs out to dry.
Meanwhile, Uta, Kuina, and Bai Hezi were practicing swordsmanship.
Everyone looked up at Olga as she approached. At first they were only surprised, but after a moment, they all frowned slightly.
The distance from the main deck to here wasn't that far. There was no way she should be this exhausted already.
Because right now, Olga looked completely drained, sweat covering her forehead.
The little squirrel thought something might be wrong with her body and hurried over to check. But the moment she saw the Seastone cuffs on Olga's wrists, she understood.
Olga looked at her and said, "Starting today, I'm practicing swordsmanship.
"I've realized medicine just doesn't suit me."
The little squirrel nodded, rubbed Olga's head, and said gently, "Medicine really doesn't suit you. Having your own choice is a good thing too."
Olga didn't dislike the way the little squirrel rubbed her head.
After all, among everyone on the ship, the little squirrel was the gentlest. She spoke softly to everyone.
The only exception was if someone spoke badly about that man.
Then the gentle little squirrel became frightening when she lost her temper.
Olga said nothing more and joined Uta and the others in sword training.
If other people could do it, then so could she.
Watching Olga sweat profusely as she struggled to swing Nidai Kitetsu, Ilena and the others all smiled.
Though this girl was old in years, her body still looked like a child's—but her pride was stronger than anyone's.
For the sake of herself and her father, Olga was always learning something on the ship, always trying to make herself useful.
Because she didn't want anyone to think she was useless.
Time passed, and White Ghost's crew continued drifting through the South Blue.
Their mood wasn't very good.
The South Blue was too chaotic.
Not because there were too many pirates.
But because the nobles and the people in the royal palaces were simply too outrageous.
As they traveled, stopping here and there, the kind-hearted little squirrel and Chopper would often go down and treat poor villagers for free whenever they encountered them.
Uta had reached the point where she no longer even wanted to hold concerts in the South Blue.
Instead, she spent the money she had earned before on supplies, and whenever she met people in hardship, she gave those supplies away.
White Ghost had long since gotten used to it.
Places like this existed everywhere.
Only the degree varied.
Human hearts...
Those were the hardest things to understand.
On this day, White Ghost was massaging the shoulders of the exhausted little squirrel. Looking at how worn out she was, he said with concern, "Take a break for a while. If this goes on, sooner or later your body won't be able to handle it."
The little squirrel shook her head.
"I'm fine, White Ghost."
White Ghost sighed.
He really didn't know what to say to this girl anymore.
She was too soft-hearted.
And Ilena and the others were much the same.
All along this stretch of sea, they had stopped again and again. White Ghost felt as though they were exhausting themselves worrying over the suffering of others.
Looking at the little squirrel sleeping soundly in his arms, White Ghost began to wonder whether they should just leave the South Blue earlier than planned.
There wasn't much he could really do anyway.
Kill the officials and distribute the grain?
Don't be ridiculous.
The moment he left, a new batch of "superiors" would spring up right behind him.
Besides, if he really started slaughtering recklessly, the World Government would probably come looking for trouble.
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