One Piece: The Cryo Doctor on the Straw Hat Ship

His face was eerily calm, like the still surface of the sea before a storm.

Are you trying to provoke me?

Lucky's voice was very soft, as soft as a feather falling to the ground, yet it was jarringly clear in the deathly silent tavern.

That wasn't a question, but a statement—a cold, certain statement with a certain judgmental undertone.

Gabra grinned, his sharp canines gleaming a pale white in the shadows.

Instead of backing down, he took another half step forward, almost face to face with Lucci.

"To anger you?"

Gabra tilted his head, his gesture exaggerated as if he were performing. He deliberately dragged out each syllable, making it long and slow, like scraping bone with a dull knife:

"No, no, no, Commander Lucci... I was just reminding you."

“Let me remind you—” he lowered his voice, his tone like sandpaper rubbing against metal, “you’ve been soaking in this water city for seven years. Seven years! Do you know what seven years can turn a soldier into?”

He suddenly spread his arms wide, the muscles in his arms bulging beneath his tight-fitting clothes, the veins like coiled venomous snakes:

"It will make you dull! Make you complacent! Make you...weak!"

He emphasized the last two words heavily, like two bullets aimed at Lucci.

"I just want to confirm... whether you are still qualified to continue as the commander-in-chief of this operation."

"weak?"

Lu Qi's voice was soft, yet it was like an ice needle that instantly pierced the almost stagnant air in the tavern.

The moment the words fell—

Lucci's figure vanished from the spot without warning.

As a genius agent within the CP organization, Lucci's mastery of the Six Powers was already unparalleled, far surpassing that of other agents. Even Jabra was startled by Lucci's sudden disappearance.

His beastly instincts made his hair stand on end, but the next second, a finger as hard as steel suddenly appeared from behind Gabra.

It was clearly one of the Six Styles, the Finger Pistol Technique.

Despite not having seen each other for seven years, Lucci judged that this blow was enough to pierce through Gabra's body.

He had no idea what kind of trouble that idiot superior was causing, but the mission to design the Hades blueprints was nearing its end, and he couldn't accept anything that might affect the mission's outcome.

Gabra's resentment was, in his view, one of the influencing factors.

However, just when everyone thought Lucci would teach Gabra a bloody lesson—

"Just like always, Lucci."

"He chose to take action without saying a word; he truly deserves to be called the most talented agent in history!"

Gabra suddenly revealed a cruel smile, as if the finger gun about to pierce his body had no power at all.

The next instant, as the finger gun pierced his body, the part of his body that was attacked suddenly turned into a cloud of white smoke.

Lucci's fingers encountered no resistance whatsoever, passing directly through the smoke and through another part of Gabra's body.

Kaku and the others' eyes widened instantly.

Immediately afterwards, they saw Gabra's body completely turn into a cloud of white mist and disperse in all directions.

"This is……!?"

Kalifa instinctively took a half step back, a look of surprise flashing in her eyes behind her glasses.

Lucky's finger gun pierced only a wisp of mist that gradually dissipated.

The next second, the white mist solidified instantly, transforming back into Jabra's figure behind Lucci.

"What!?"

Lucci was shocked.

However, at this moment, Jabra had already entered werewolf form, and his sharp claws slammed down towards Lucci.

Zoan type, Dog-Dog Fruit, Wolf form.

The sharp wolf claws tore through the air, accompanied by a whooshing sound, aiming straight for Lucci's back!

"Defeat, Lucci!"

Jabra, now fully transformed into a beast, had a rough, hoarse voice, filled with the roar of a wild animal and the resentment that had been building up for seven years:

"Let me show you my real progress over these seven years!!!"

boom!

The moment the wolf's claws came down, Lucci's figure slid half a step to the side like a ghost.

scoff!

The wolf's claws grazed Lucci's overalls, leaving three deep gashes in the tough fabric, but failed to touch his skin.

Lucci didn't even turn around.

His right hand, like a jointless serpent, reached back, its five fingers spread, and precisely gripped Gabra's outstretched wolf claw wrist.

But Gabra's arm expanded again, turning into a cloud of white smoke, and Gabra's figure was also pushed backward.

"This...this is the power of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit!?"

At this moment, Kaku suddenly spoke up.

A brief, deathly silence fell over the room.

Gabra drifted back several meters, solidifying its form again in the shadows beside the bar.

The white mist surrounding him had not completely dissipated, swirling around his werewolf-like body, making him appear like a demon emerging from a nightmare.

“That’s right.” Gabra’s voice was hoarse and smug.

"The three of us... were personally recommended by the Five Elders to participate in a 'mysterious' transformation."

"Transformation?" Kalifa adjusted her glasses, maintaining her intellectual secretary demeanor. "What kind of transformation!?"

"Cheep cheep cheep!!!"

"This is a top secret that cannot be discussed!"

A sharp, abrupt laugh suddenly erupted, shattering the oppressive atmosphere that Gabra had deliberately created.

It's an owl.

This chubby, short man wearing round sunglasses had somehow floated into the air, slowly rotating like a real balloon.

Gabra laughed smugly, flexing his wrist, which had transformed into a wolf's claw, as swirling white mist danced between his fingers.

"We haven't secured a single mission in seven years!"

"You've been living in this water city for too long, you have no idea what changes are happening in the world."

Lucci's gaze swept over Gabra, Waitori, and the owl.

"Modification? It can grant someone the power of a Devil Fruit!?" Lucci's calm face finally showed a hint of surprise. "The World Government... has already mastered such power?"

"Clatter, clatter, clatter! You're half right!" The owl circled in the air. "But it's not the World Government, it's a pirate."

"Pirates?" Kalifa repeated in astonishment, nearly dropping the recording tablet from her hands. "How is this possible!?"

"Yo~ Ee~ Hey~!" Kuchi suddenly chanted in a theatrical voice, his body twisting strangely with the lyrics, the wide sleeves of his kimono swaying like ripples on water.

"The reason for this is truly a mysterious secret, and we are like those who try to see flowers through the fog, unable to grasp the whole picture—but the evidence is irrefutable, and the facts are indeed as they are!"

Lucci ignored Wei Qu's pretentious tone, his gaze piercing Jabra like an icicle, his voice low and clear: "Who is that pirate?"

Gabra grinned, its sharp canines gleaming coldly in the dim light, a smile a mixture of smugness and malice spreading across its face.

"Straw Hat Pirates, V the Mecha-Cyclic!"

Chapter 168 Ocean Overlord Transformation Plan

The Merry slowly entered the outer waterway of Water Seven, its hull swaying slightly with the receding tide.

At the bow of the ship, the Straw Hat crew stood side by side, gazing at the city that had just been baptized by the "water gods".

"Wow—! This is Water Seven!?" Luffy stretched his neck, his rubbery neck protruding over the ship's side, his eyes wide open. "What a huge city! It's all water!"

The scene before me was truly breathtaking.

The entire city seems like a miracle that grew out of the sea.

Countless waterways crisscross like a spider web, dividing the city into islands and blocks of varying sizes.

The towering buildings are built along the water, with stone arch bridges connecting the various parts. The ground floors of some houses are still submerged in the not-yet-receded seawater, and wet seaweed hangs on the windowsills.

Sunlight spills onto the shimmering water, refracting into a dazzling, shimmering light.

In the distance, the most magnificent building in the city center—the Carrera headquarters—stands like a giant wooden fortress at the confluence of waterways.

"No wonder it's the world's most famous shipbuilding island." Zoro, holding his three swords, glanced at the densely packed docks and workshops on both sides of the waterway. "Every waterway seems to be a route tailor-made for ships."

Nami carefully counted the passing ships: "One, two, three... twenty, forty..."

"My goodness! The number of ships traveling to and from Water Seven in a single day could practically form a fleet."

"If they were all like us, planning to build ships here, how many Berries would Water Seven make in a day!"

Sanji lit a cigarette and elegantly exhaled a smoke ring: "But this city seems to have a lot of life in it."

"The food smelling from that shopping street we just passed was quite delicious—sea salt grilled fish, seafood risotto from the Water City..."

"Hey, Sanji! This isn't the time for that!" Usopp leaned on the ship's railing, excitedly pointing to the ships under construction in the huge docks on both sides of the waterway. "Look at those ships! They're huge! Several times bigger than the Going Merry!"

“Yeah…” Chopper leaned against Usopp, pointing with his little hooves at a three-story sailboat being launched in the distance, “Those ships look amazing! Can the Going Merry become like them?”

"I'm afraid it'll be a bit difficult," V said with a light laugh.

In order not to harm the ship spirit being conceived on the Merry, he did not intend to make any major modifications to the hull.

He happened to have used the Gluttony Fruit to create a lot of special materials, which he could then study with Iceberg and Franky, the two strongest shipbuilders in Water 7, to give the Going Merry a comprehensive upgrade.

Just then—

"Waaaaah!!!"