Pirates on Rocks' Ship 996

On the other side, in the windmill town of Donghai.

"Mr. Garp... how long are you staying this time?" Makino, the tavern owner, asked with a smile as she handed Garp a glass of rum.

"Let's stay here for a while!" Cap took the rum and drank more than half of it in one gulp.

"Have you seen Luffy on the Grand Line? I heard that kid is amazing! But we haven't heard from him in the past year!" Makino asked curiously.

"Don't even mention that brat! Garp, how are you managing them? Why have they all turned into pirates?" Murakami roared angrily.

"Hahaha... Luffy! He seems to be training somewhere right now! They're all doing well! Ace too!" Garp said with a carefree laugh.

Garp couldn't help but smile when he thought of Ace and Luffy.

Although Luffy's Straw Hat Pirates suffered a merciless attack from Kizaru more than a year ago, they did not suffer any casualties, and he knew all of this.

Moreover, even though Ace's identity has been exposed now, with the protection of the Whitebeard Pirates, most people wouldn't dare to mess with him.

So Garp couldn't be more relaxed right now. He doesn't have to worry about the affairs of the Marine Headquarters. He just fights pirates every day and occasionally comes back for a vacation. His life couldn't be more comfortable.

Little did he know that the entire East China Sea was about to be engulfed in a massive storm.

The New World of the Grand Line, Crescent Moon Island.

"Have you guys noticed lately that Reina has gotten stronger? Even though he hasn't used his abilities, why does he seem even more troublesome?" Laco, having finished his training for the day, said to Ace beside him.

“The first mate has been undergoing physical training. My dad said that this was his weakness, but his abilities were too strong before, so it was well hidden. Now, with Mr. Zephyr’s training, his weakness will be addressed!” Ace sighed and said.

He wasn't unaware of the importance of physical skills; having been trained by Garp since childhood, his physical skills were quite formidable.

However, after gaining the Devil Fruit power, his Logia-type nature made him gradually become dependent on it.

Even without his Devil Fruit powers, he could still thrive in the first half of the Grand Line, and he would certainly have a place in the New World as well.

However, as the captain of the second division of Whitebeard's army, he would obviously not be worthy of the title without the help of his Devil Fruit ability.

However, Ace believed that Devil Fruit abilities were also his abilities, just like Whitebeard's. He believed that if he developed his Devil Fruit abilities to the extreme, he could also be invincible.

“If you really don’t want to train in physical skills, then you don’t need to participate. Dad said that this kind of training is voluntary!” Laco naturally knew Ace’s thoughts. As a top-level Logia-type Devil Fruit user, this kind of training was indeed somewhat useless.

"No, I know the first mate is doing this for my own good. The enemy we're facing now will only hold us back if we don't have good hand-to-hand combat skills!" Ace shook his head and said.

"So, if you develop your Devil Fruit ability, your combat power will increase even more after awakening! You'll at least be able to hold your own against Marco!" Vista added with a smile. "For a Logia-type user like you, awakening your Devil Fruit ability would significantly boost your combat power!"

“But awakening… is even more difficult than training in physical techniques!” Ace said with a wry smile.

He knew that awakening the Devil Fruit's power would make him even stronger, but this was not something he could simply decide to do.

“Look at Reina… I think you can learn from him. Once you set a goal, don’t give up! Keep training, and you’ll eventually see results!” Bistan said earnestly. “It depends on your own wishes. If you feel that physical training is more suitable for you, then don’t give up. If you feel that developing your Devil Fruit ability is better, then train your Devil Fruit ability every day instead of relying on the characteristics of Logia types and stagnating!”

"Phew~ I understand!" Ace nodded and replied seriously.

Chapter 493 The Thirtieth Floor

Fishman Island, Dragon Palace.

After touring Marineford with the Whitebeard Pirates, Jinbe, Naga, and the others returned to Ryugu Castle.

“Father, I was a bit narrow-minded before! I never imagined that the world’s top experts were so powerful. It will be difficult for our fish-men to rise to prominence!” Naga said with a dejected expression.

"Hahaha..." King Neptune laughed as he looked in that direction, slowly descending from his throne. He patted Naga on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Naga, you have talent and ability, but don't be too hasty! In ancient times, our merfolk had so many Naga warriors, yet we still couldn't stand at the top of our race. Don't think about vying for supremacy; that will only cause war. Our goal has never been to be number one in the world! What we want is peace... for our people to be able to walk openly in the sunlight!"

Naga suddenly looked up at Neptune, her eyes gleaming.

“I understand! Your Majesty, I was too naive before!” Naga nodded and said.

"That's how the world is. There are too many people who think they're something special, which is why there are wars. But look at the truly strong people. They don't need to start wars, or even do anything! When your strength reaches that level, your status will naturally follow!" King Neptune nodded and said softly.

“I understand, Your Majesty! In fact, as long as our merfolk race has such a top-tier expert, all problems will naturally be solved, right?” Naga said earnestly.

“That’s right, but we can’t force things like this, because if one ambitious member of our tribe appears, he could bury us all!” Neptune sighed and said.

Naga was startled, then nodded to indicate that she understood.

“How about this? I’ll take Naga to Xuan Yue Island. With Dad and Reina there, we should be able to strengthen Naga!” Jinbe suggested from the side.

Naga's eyes lit up. She knew how many skilled members the Whitebeard Pirates had. The captains alone were incredibly powerful, not to mention Reina and Whitebeard.

“Newgate? He doesn’t seem to be good at teaching! But Reina seems pretty good. How about this, I’ll write a letter to Newgate, and you can take it with you!” Since they needed a favor, Neptune was afraid that Jinbe wouldn’t have enough face, so he also wrote a letter, hoping that Newgate could train their Naga.

Holding King Neptune's letter, Jin Ping and the others led the Naga toward Crescent Moon Island.

Meanwhile, Reina on Xuan Yue Island had fully recovered from his injuries and planned to break through to the thirtieth level.

After explaining things to Whitebeard, Reyna originally planned to go to his own home, but Whitebeard knew the dangers of the Tower of Trials, so he asked Reyna to start in his room.

Knowing that Whitebeard was worried about him, Reina did not refuse.

After spending another 10,000 points to purchase the Trial Scroll, I used it immediately.

The familiar scene appeared, and Reina headed straight for the Tower of Trials.

"Reset the Tower of Trials?"

Sure enough, he heard the system notification as he pushed the door open and entered.

"No!" This time he chose not to reset.

After making his selection, Reina went directly into the weapon room, chose an ordinary longsword, and then officially entered the Tower of Trials.

"As expected, it's still on the twenty-ninth floor!" After entering, unlike before, he was not on the first floor, but on the twenty-ninth floor where he had previously exited.

"Then let me see... just how powerful an opponent with 100,000 points really is!" Taking a deep breath, Reina went straight up the stairs.

“Three-tomoe Sharingan… Hyōrinmaru… It seems there has been some change!” Upon arriving at the thirtieth floor, Reina found that his opponent was still wielding Hyōrinmaru and activating the three-tomoe Sharingan. He had a vague sense of unease.

"Seated atop the frosty sky! Hyōrinmaru!"

Sure enough, before it even started, the gatekeeper immediately raised Hyōrinmaru and began chanting.

"Damn it!" Reina was naturally quite familiar with Hyōrinmaru's Shikai state, so as soon as the opponent began chanting, he charged straight at him.

"Finger gun!" Reina didn't use his longsword, but instead used a finger gun covered in Armament Haki.

"Clang!" The gatekeeper, who possessed the Sharingan, easily blocked Reina's attack.

However, Reina seemed to have known all along, and with a swing of his other longsword, he slashed directly at the gatekeeper.

But just when Reina thought he had succeeded, the other party suddenly disappeared.

"Shave?" Reina's expression changed, and he activated his Observation Haki, discovering that the other party had appeared not far behind him.

"Looks like he even knows the Six Styles of the Navy! What a troublesome guy..." Reina muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing.

"Roar~~"

Before Reina could continue his attack, the gatekeeper waved his Hyōrinmaru, and a giant ice dragon charged directly at Reina.

"Phew~ Thank goodness, it's just a normal Hyorinmaru!" The opponent's Hyorinmaru and Sharingan, like Reina's, were the system's censored version.

The two fought fiercely, neither gaining the upper hand. Although his opponent was very strong, Reina's strength had also increased considerably, so he was not suppressed by his opponent. However, the gatekeeper did not feel pain, so Reina did not trade blows, as that would be disadvantageous for him.

"Damn it, Hyōrinmaru is too much of a threat!" After dodging the opponent's attack once again, Reina stared at Hyōrinmaru in the gatekeeper's hand.

His ordinary weapons dared not clash with Hyōrinmaru, otherwise they would only be cut in half.

"Armed!" In the end, with no other choice, Reina had to use Armament Haki to cover his weapons; otherwise, without weapons, there was no point in continuing the fight.

After activating Armament Haki, Reina launched another fierce attack. Without the burden of the Sharingan, Hyorinmaru, and Black Emperor's abilities, Reina had plenty of stamina. The battle lasted for a day and a night, and finally the gatekeeper fell in front of Reina.

"Phew~ Will the battles in the later stages be this intense?" According to the guardians at the beginning of the Tower of Trials, each subsequent level is stronger than the last, until after the tenth level, when a qualitative change occurs. In other words, the intensity from the third to the fortieth level is at least this level.

Covered in wounds, Reina looked at the treasure chest that had appeared in the middle with a wry smile. With his remaining strength, he couldn't even guarantee that he could pass the next level!

"Does this mean I'll only need 10,000 points to pass each level from now on?" To continue, he would have to progress step by step, but clearly, his strength no longer allowed him to advance as he had before.

Picking up the Hyōrinmaru that had fallen to the ground, Reina headed towards the treasure chest in the central area.

Congratulations! You have received 20 skill experience points!

Congratulations! You have obtained: 2 random mount fragments!

Congratulations! You have obtained a random skill book!

Congratulations! You have earned 100000 points!

"The reward has been deposited into the reward storage box!"

A series of notification sounds rang out, causing Reina's lips to curl up slightly involuntarily.

Wasn't all that hard work for these 100,000 points? Now that he had enough points, he could finally buy an advanced bloodline ability evolution scroll.

However, he was still in the Tower of Trials, so it wasn't the right time to use the rewards. Therefore, he simply extracted the rewards and did not immediately purchase the Advanced Bloodline Ability Evolution Scroll.

"Huh?" Looking at the random skill book in his backpack, Reina realized that it was something he had opened from a treasure chest.

However, he was no stranger to this thing. His swordsmanship, physical skills, Icebound Thousand Miles, and Snowwalking Without a Trace were all considered skills. Even the Navy's Six Powers and the Three Colors of Haki could be considered within the scope of skills.

Of course, in addition to these, life skills such as music, cooking, and medicine are also considered skills.

Therefore, these random skill books may yield some great items, or they may just give you some useless life skills.

Reina wasn't praying it would yield anything good; his main goal was to accumulate points, and this thing was just a minor item, not important.

After tidying himself up a bit, Reina decided to continue. He still had enough energy, and although his injuries looked terrible, they weren't actually that serious.

His main reason for continuing forward was to test the waters. First, to see how difficult the later levels were, and second, to see if he could quit after the battle started. In any case, he had already achieved his main objective, so he might as well do more experiments now.

Upon reaching the thirty-first floor, they discovered that the opponent was indeed the same as the guardian of the thirtieth floor, only slightly stronger, with no changes to their abilities.

Now that Reina has lost his powerful abilities and lacks a way to kill with a single blow, on the contrary, his stamina is much more abundant than before. So even though he had been fighting for a day and a night on the thirtieth floor, he still has enough stamina to fight now.

However, after fighting for a while, Reina began to try to exit the Tower of Trials. If he could exit during the battle, it would make his subsequent challenges much easier.

However, it seems the system had anticipated this bug, so when Reina tried to exit, the system prompted him.

"Do you wish to exit the trial now? Exiting will restore the gatekeeper to full health!"

"Tch~ So it's blocked after all?" Looking at the gatekeeper who had stopped attacking, Reina found that he couldn't move either, so he had no choice but to refuse to withdraw and continue fighting the gatekeeper.

He still has the stamina to fight, and he must at least get through this level before quitting, because he has discovered that fighting the gatekeeper is also a kind of training for him. The opponent uses the same moves as him, which allows him to examine himself more directly.

Fighting against opponents of similar strength is quite beneficial for Reina's improvement, even better than training alone outside. However, the cost of entering is too high, requiring 10,000 points. Otherwise, with these gatekeepers as training partners, his strength might increase even faster.

Chapter 494 Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan