The person is wearing a straw hat, and starts with the power of words!

"The feeling just now was even better than the blessing!"

"You vixen! Come on! Let's fight another three hundred rounds!"

The two walked into the forest again, unaware of Vivi's resentful gaze.

You actually did this behind my back...

......

The next day, around noon,

Sanji prepared a large meal in advance and brought it to the Going Merry's restaurant.

But no one touched their chopsticks.

Everyone, including Luffy, was waiting quietly.

Sima Di also placed the Time and Spirit House teleportation stone on the dining table.

Crocus and the others should be back.

With the time approaching for Crocus and his companion's departure yesterday, there has been no further movement.

The crowd couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

Emperor Sima also frowned slightly.

To know......

He had warned us many times that we could only stay in the House of Time and Spirit for a year at a time!

It's past the time limit...

Then they might never be able to come back!

Crocus and the others...

Could it be that we missed the return time?

?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?炷?

Each chapter is around 3500+ words, so 3 chapters would be 10000+ words. Chapter 4 and onwards are bonus chapters!

Debt repayment progress: [3500 words / 96000 words]!

9. Blackbeard came to see you off? I'll send you on your way!

Just as everyone was worried that Crocus and the others might have missed the deadline, the Time and Spirit House teleportation stone finally showed signs of movement, emitting a soft light.

After a few seconds,

Two beams of light shot out from the teleportation stone of the House of Time and Spirit, condensing into the shapes of Crocus and Laboon.

This relieved everyone; it was good that they were back.

"Are you back?" Crocus asked calmly.

As the tower keeper of Twin Gorges,

A year of isolation was just a minor issue for him.

Not to mention that Raab was by his side.

Laboon also seemed to be in no serious condition. As an island whale that had been separated from its pod since childhood, Crocus had been with her for most of the previous 50 years.

Even their appearance hasn't changed much.

For island whales, whose lifespan is mostly over 500 years, a year is still too short.

"Are you craving it?" Sima Di laughed. "Over there, all we have is flour and water. This whole meal is for you. Eat up."

Raab's eyes gleamed!

"I won't be polite anymore!"

Then, a mouth transformed into the giant maw of an island whale, which lifted the dining table and poured it into its mouth. The welcome meal that Sanji had carefully prepared was thus consumed by the little girl.

Everyone: "!!!"

They didn't care that Laboon ate everyone's portion—except Luffy.

Instead, I was shocked by how she managed to conjure up a mouth all by herself.

Moreover, the size is just right, enough to swallow the delicacies on the table in one bite, without bursting the restaurant.

"How did you really do that?" Chopper, a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, exclaimed in shock. "I can also change individual parts, but I need a Rumble Ball to do it. Laboon, you can do it directly?"

Labu wiped his mouth, his little face blank.

"You... you did it!"

Obviously,

The little girl herself didn't know the principle behind it; she just controlled the ability.

Sima Di had roughly guessed it.

Laboon didn't eat a Devil Fruit, but a Druid Job Change Stone. Although it's a beginner-level stone that can only transform into one type of creature, it's much more flexible than a Zoan-type Devil Fruit.

"Compared to these, have you mastered the Overlord Aura, Labu?" Sima Di changed the subject.

Don't let the fact that you changed your Druid class be exposed later.

Everyone looked at the little girl expectantly, thinking that a year of hard training shouldn't be too bad, right?

Although normally,

Armament Haki requires a certain level of physical strength, and it's almost impossible for such a small guy to awaken it.

But Laboon is an island whale!

And it's a 50-year-old island whale.

The physical strength of the original body is unmatched by anyone present, and the basic conditions for awakening Haki are the best.

Labu didn't speak; she simply clenched her small fist, and a layer of black paint appeared with a "whoosh."

It's Armament Haki!

Moreover, it's at the intermediate level of Armament Haki!

"Great!"

"Intermediate level?"

"Lab is so strong!"

"Ah! I really want to start cultivating too!"

......

Everyone was happy for Laboon, and at the same time, they truly acknowledged the bug in the Time and Spirit House.

But Crocus's evaluation made them even more interested.

"The gravity over there is very strong, about five times stronger, which makes it difficult for an old man like me to move around. But after I got here, I found that my physique had been strengthened without me even realizing it, and because of the thin air, my internal organs were also forged. It was a complete transformation."

That's incredibly high praise!

Everyone immediately felt a longing for the House of Time and Spirit!

But unfortunately,

The Time and Spirit House teleportation stone has a 30-day cooldown, and only one day has passed since its last use.

and......

There's a queue!

Sanji immediately stood up and said enthusiastically, "I'll go prepare the food; there's plenty to eat today! Sima, is there anything you'd like to eat?"

This is how they try to curry favor!

Sima Di, of course, would not refuse the "ordering service" and immediately ordered several dishes he liked.

The others exchanged glances, wondering what skills they had that could "impress" Emperor Sima.

......

Three days passed quickly.

The Going Merry has also been reinforced, and a hang glider has been added to make it fly more smoothly.

It carried the Straw Hat Pirates and Kureha, arriving at the predicted location of the towering current along with the ape and gorilla's pirate ship.

Thick cumulus clouds shrouded this sea area, and the sea surface was eerily calm, with not even a fish swimming nearby.

Everything was like the calm before the storm.

While the apes and gorillas were still tensely probing each other, the atmosphere on the Straw Hat Pirates' side suddenly changed.

Luffy and his crew are "teasing" the compass bird, forcibly turning its head to another direction. As soon as they let go, it springs back to its original position and points south again.

Chopper and the others laughed heartily, endlessly twisting its head to the side.

"That's really a twisted sense of humor," Nami remarked.