Settsetse! The Pirate Nemesis

Knowing this very well, Ace seemed particularly helpless—although they had already decided to go to sea and become pirates in the future, it was a completely different matter from saying it in front of his grandfather.

They initially thought their biggest enemy was the red-haired man called Sett, but now it seems the greatest threat is actually Garp, who came to "rescue" them!

Just as Ace had thought, Garp immediately raised his arm and delivered a loving punch to Luffy's head!

bump!!!

It made a solid, powerful sound, which made Seti, who was standing nearby, marvel – that sounded like a good mind.

"I absolutely cannot become a pirate!!"

"Why should I?! I'm going to be a pirate, not a marine!"

Watching the two, one big and one small, arguing, Sett stroked his chin with interest. But just after that, Sett waved to Ace beside him.

"do what?!"

Seeing Sett's actions, Ace's eyes filled with vigilance.

"What are you doing? You've come here to dig a hole for me!"

Sett gestured towards the bandit corpses behind him, looking annoyed, and said, "If you want them to wake up to see this kind of thing, then never mind. This lousy village isn't my home anyway."

"..."

Hearing Sett's words, glancing at the unconscious Makino and Sabo, and then at the corpses, Ace reluctantly picked up a shovel and went over.

Perhaps because Garp felt a little safer here, Ace couldn't help but ask after digging for a while, "Who exactly are you?"

"Me? I'm a bounty hunter, and I've been chasing some damn redhead lately." Shrugging, Sett said with a bored look, "Then I ran into your grandpa, we fought, and I thought he had a good personality, so we came to this lousy little village together."

"You got into a fight with Grandpa?!"

Upon hearing Sett's words, Ace's eyes widened—although he had never been to sea and didn't have a precise understanding of the powerful figures on the high seas, he could guess that Garp, being called a naval hero, was definitely one of the strongest warriors on the ocean.

And now, this guy in front of me, who looks only thirteen or fourteen years older than me, is actually able to fight my grandfather.

"I lost." Sett didn't hide anything; "Old foxes are shrewder... but I'll crush him head-on sooner or later!"

As Sett spoke, his words brimming with intense fighting spirit and determination. Seeing this, Ace couldn't help but blink, then asked, "So what's your job? Are you a Marine? No, if you're fighting Grandpa, are you a pirate?"

“Neither,” Sett said. “I’m a bounty hunter, specializing in catching pirates.”

As he said this, Sett was still staring at Ace. His handsome face was filled with undisguised malice—clearly, Sett's status didn't inspire much admiration in the aspiring pirates.

Just like Ace now, who already didn't have much affection for Sett, his dislike for him only grew stronger after hearing those words.

Unfortunately, it was only Ace who felt disgusted. After beating up his grandson for a while, Garp seemed to have thought of something, his eyes lit up, and he grabbed Luffy, whose face was bruised and swollen, and asked, "You still want to be a pirate?"

"I will definitely become it! I'm going to be the Pirate King!!!"

Even though he was beaten black and blue, Luffy did not back down.

To Luffy's surprise, Garp didn't retaliate with his fists this time. Instead, he said to Luffy, "I can do that, but you have to promise me one thing!"

"What is it?"

Luffy stared at his grandfather with curiosity, momentarily forgetting the swelling and pain in his body.

Pointing to Sett beside him, Garp said, "See that guy? He's the strongest bounty hunter in the West Blue. If you can defeat him in this time, I'll make you a pirate!!!"

Upon hearing this, Sett raised an eyebrow; "What does this have to do with me?"

"I told you to kill those bandits!" Garp said irritably. "Those were originally meant for Luffy and the others to practice on! But you've taken care of them all!!"

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8k will be restored tomorrow.

151 Bone Training

It is common knowledge that fools cannot become strong on this vast ocean.

Or perhaps, after becoming a powerful figure, one ascends to the summit and sees a landscape drastically different from that at the foot of the mountain. Even the most foolish person, upon gaining such a broad perspective, would acquire far more extensive knowledge and wisdom than ordinary people.

Garp knew Sett's talent very well—even without Conqueror's Haki, it was only a matter of time before Sett became the strongest on this sea.

Whitebeard's power had begun to wane, and his own body had reached its peak. In another ten years or so, he too would gradually weaken—but what about Sett? Twenty years from now would mark the pinnacle of Sett's spirit and body. Moreover, Sett possessed a terrifyingly rapid growth rate and boundless vitality. Even Garp himself doubted—would Sett truly age?

With his bones removed, Sett's internal organs and muscles were so strong that they inspired awe in ordinary people.

Since his grandson is willing to risk being beaten to death to become a pirate... he might as well ignore him and let Sett, that tough nut, deal with it.

Upon hearing Sett's identity, Luffy's eyes blazed with fighting spirit: "Alright! I'll defeat you!!!"

"..."

He remained silent, glanced at Luffy, and shook his head indifferently. Regardless of whether Luffy possessed Conqueror's Haki or not, with Luffy's current abilities, defeating Sett was simply a pipe dream.

Indeed, Luffy's awakening of Conqueror's Haki proves his extraordinary potential and his qualifications to become a "King." But if we're really talking about it, Sett is also constantly growing. In fact, Sett has never stopped progressing. This self-growth rate, far exceeding the training speed of ordinary people, won't be affected even if Sett reaches his limit. With a 15% increase in basic muscle strength every year, it can be said that Sett will become stronger and stronger as time goes on.

"Do as you please." Sett shook his head listlessly. Dealing with these brats only brought him boredom and apathy—though he was somewhat pleasantly surprised that two of them unleashed Conqueror's Haki after being startled by Garp. But that only proved how strong they would be in the future.

Right now... I really can't muster much enthusiasm.

If you want Sett to be motivated, even if you don't consider Shanks' strength, he should at least be on par with Doflamingo... After all, he has Conqueror's Haki. Sett had a pretty good impression of you guys before, but why did you guys make such a fuss? The difference is too great, and he has no motivation.

If there was anything else, Sett looked at Garp with a hint of seriousness in his eyes: "Speaking of which, old man, how do you train your bones?"

"How do you train? Want to learn? Join the Navy! I'll teach you myself!" Hearing Sett's question, Garp's face was full of smiles—Garp could sense that Sett's control over his body far exceeded ordinary people's imagination. The strength of his muscles and organs even surpassed that of an ordinary vice admiral. In comparison, his skeleton… wasn't so outstanding.

As for training his bones, Garp has his own secret techniques that he doesn't pass on to others—there's a reason why Garp's moves start with "fist bone"!

Just as Garp thought, Sett had long known his only weakness—his skeleton.

Compared to organs enhanced by Grasp of the Undying and muscles boosted by Gathering Storm, Sett has always lacked skeletal enhancement. And as far as Sett knows, the only talent that can enhance bones is the "Bone Plating" talent, a branch of the Tenacity talent tree.

The effect of Bone Plating is somewhat similar to Grasp of the Undying and Gathering Storm; in the game, the more units that die nearby, the more maximum health is increased. However, the skill mechanics in the game need to be modified when translated into reality—just as Ryze, the Rogue Mage, said, runes are the root of destruction.

Therefore, based on Sett's guess, the effect of Bone Plating should be just as the name suggests, increasing the strength of bones through death... However, Sett is not sure how it is calculated because he has not yet drawn this talent.

He didn't draw the right spell, but his muscles and organs continued to grow stronger. Sitting idly by and waiting for death wasn't in Sett's nature. Besides, actively increasing bone strength and using runes to strengthen bones weren't contradictory—it's just that Zephyr specialized in Haki, and his research into human bones and muscles was clearly inferior to Garp's.

Even though Sett was envious of Garp's bone-training techniques, he had no intention of joining the Navy because of it.

"Joining the Navy is impossible, because just seeing the Celestial Dragons' smug faces makes me want to slap them."

"I'm not surprised at all that you brought this up!" Garp stroked his chin, looking completely convinced—knowing Sett as he did, Garp was certain he would do it.

"When I was learning from that guy Zephyr, my condition for him was that he would never become a pirate. As for you..."

Stroking his chin, Sett said, "How about I never join the World Government again?"

"..."

Upon hearing Sett's words, Garp remained silent, simply picking his nose and staring blankly at Sett.

He knew this was unlikely. After a moment of deep thought, Sett continued, "Then I'll beat up a dragon for you next time I see one?"

"Ok?"

Upon hearing Sett's words, Garp became interested—Garp actually knew very well that Sett wouldn't join the Navy. The reason was simple: Sett was far too free-spirited. Trying to bind him with the rules of the Navy and the World Government was simply impossible.

In comparison, helping to beat up one's own son is actually a pretty good offer.

Garp's reason for thinking this way was simply because he himself wanted to try and let Sett learn his techniques—he didn't have the kind of selfishness to hold onto his knowledge. Being an open-minded person, Garp didn't care who learned his techniques, as long as they weren't pirates—as long as they didn't do bad things.

Sett, on the other hand, possesses both talent and ability. He also seems to have some ambiguous and intimate relationship with that young girl, Tina... At least in the eyes of the Navy's higher-ups, Sett is not an outsider.

The fact that he helped suppress the Seven Warlords plan alone was enough to earn him immense goodwill from the entire Navy. Moreover, as a bounty hunter, he also helped hunt down those powerful pirates that the Navy couldn't handle in time.

"Then it's settled!!" Garp said with a grin.

On the other side, in a daze, Makino opened her eyes again, feeling somewhat tired.

Impacted by Conqueror's Haki, Makino's last memory is of the moment she stepped out of the bushes and saw Sett mention Luffy and Ace. After that, there is a blank.

"……what happened?"

Getting out of bed, Makino could clearly see that her surroundings had changed dramatically. The forest had become a house—not her own room, but judging from the view outside the window, it must be somewhere in the mountains.

"Were they captured by bandits?" Makino couldn't help but wonder.

An eight million bounty, while not enough to make someone a hegemon in the East Blue, is certainly not something an ordinary person could match. However, something Makino couldn't understand was why Sett, as Garp's companion, hadn't been able to defeat those bandits.

Just as Makino was still thinking, Sabo, who was missing a tooth and carrying a glass of water, walked in from outside. He looked at Makino, his eyes filled with surprise: "Sister Makino! You're awake!"

"Ah! Sabo!" Upon seeing Sabo, Makino rubbed her head and asked with some confusion, "What exactly happened here? Why... am I here?"

"It's because of Mr. Sett."

Upon hearing this, Sabo briefly explained the whole story: "In short, Sett is the examiner that Grandpa Garp found for us. As long as we defeat that guy, Grandpa will let us go to sea and become pirates!!!"

As he spoke, Sabo's eyes shone with excitement—and how could he not be? One of the three children had received rigorous training from a naval hero for many years. Another, despite being of the Pirate King's bloodline, had lost both parents at a young age and was also receiving rigorous training from a naval hero. The third was a nobleman's child who had received a rigid and uncomfortable aristocratic education from childhood.

Becoming pirates was practically their shared dream. Before, every time they dared to say it in front of Garp, they'd inevitably get a beating. But now, Garp wasn't beating them up; instead, he was asking them to defeat a guy—a strong guy, but as the saying goes, youth is fearless. The three brothers, Sabo and his brother, might not be able to beat him now, but there were three of them. With constant training and practice, they would one day defeat this red-haired guy!

Having learned of these things, Makino got out of bed, somewhat curious. Looking outside—this seemed to be…a bandit camp?!

Having delivered wine here with others, Makino immediately recognized this place as none other than the mountain stronghold where the bandit king, Sig, had previously hidden.

However, only a few people remained in the stronghold. Outside on the training ground, Luffy and Ace were training diligently. Sett, on the other hand, had gone to the other side of the training ground with Garp.

Do you know how to strengthen your bones?

Garp looked at Sett with a grin. Sett nodded and said, "Of course."

Although Sett doesn't have runes that can directly strengthen bones, that doesn't stop him from strengthening his bones in his own way—by hammering hard objects.

In response, Garp said, "Making your fist harder is actually quite simple. Just keep hitting hard objects. Trees, rocks, sandbags—anything will do. Once your palms are covered in calluses and your nerves become dulled, your attack power will naturally become stronger."

“I know that.” Sett frowned slightly and said, “But that’s just a change in the flesh; the bones haven’t grown much.”

“That’s because you don’t have enough strength,” Karp said. “Harden your fists, then hammer harder until your bones crack. Once the bones have healed, your strength will increase.”

As he spoke, Garp clenched his fist: "Although I'm known as Iron Fist Garp, don't think I'm called that because of some random skill... I just fight more often and have my bones broken more times! The more times your bones are broken, the stronger they become after healing!"

"Rather than calling it exercise, it's more accurate to say it's life adapting to the environment!"

Upon hearing Garp's words, Sett nodded thoughtfully.

Yes, so-called exercise, in essence, is the body adapting to the current environment. Just like metabolism, when your body perceives your daily energy expenditure as high-frequency, then even without exercise, you will burn several times more energy than the average person. Especially for fat loss and fitness, the essence is to increase your metabolism.

Garp's training method also aims to adapt his bones to harsher environments. Similar to the calluses mentioned earlier, it dulls the nerves, reducing pain sensitivity. Without pain, fear is greatly reduced, causing the body to instinctively increase the force of its punches.

"In that case, how should we exercise?"