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[U.T] Ch 31: Vice-Captain?
🕑 Added 2025-04-12 08:09:02 +0000 UTC— — — — — —
Inside Kaya's villa
As thanks for taking down Kuro and saving everyone, Kaya gave Luen and the others a warm and generous welcome.
"You two are seriously something else. Didn't you just eat?"
Zoro twitched at the sight of Luffy and Luen stuffing their faces like there's no tomorrow.
Even though Zoro had the Beast Physique (Deep Purple) and could digest food pretty well, it was nothing compared to Luffy and Luen—both of whom had the Superhuman Physique (Deep Purple). The gap between them wasn't just big—it was ridiculous.
On the Grand Line, there's no such thing as a perfect physique.
Beast Physique leaned more toward combat training, while Superhuman Physique specialized in digestion and absorption.
Right now, Luen already had the Superhuman Physique (Deep Purple), and was also close to fully loading his own Beast Physique (Deep Purple) from Zoro—the process was almost done.
Luen was genuinely looking forward to seeing how far his body could evolve once he combined both of these complementary traits.
Zoro still ate a bit, but Nami, who had already been stuffed full thanks to Usopp's earlier hospitality, just nibbled on some fruit and desserts. She rested her chin on her palm, quietly watching Luen devour everything in front of him.
Even she didn't realize it herself, but there was a faint, sweet smile on her face.
"This stuff's delicious! Of course I'm gonna eat more!"
Luffy's cheeks were puffed out like a chipmunk.
Kaya's family fortune was something even Kuro had schemed for—he spent three years pretending just to get his hands on it.
So yeah, the food she laid out for them? Easily the best Luen and the others had eaten so far.
"Enhance."
After swallowing a mouthful of food, Luen silently activated his system.
He used the Power-type Deep Purple trait he got from Kuro to enhance his Superhuman Physique (Deep Purple).
Now that Luen possessed the Born for the Sea (Super Gold) trait and his Conqueror's Haki could keep evolving, he no longer needed to spend Deep Purple traits on those—Super Gold traits were too high-level for that to matter.
With the Grand Line right ahead, what Luen needed most was a stronger body.
[Enhancement Complete]
A glowing system prompt appeared.
In an instant, the nutrients from all the food Luen had eaten were rapidly absorbed into his body. In fact, it wasn't enough—his stomach still felt empty.
Much to everyone's shock, Luen picked up his utensils and began eating all over again—faster than before.
Using a trait directly to upgrade that physique raised the maximum stamina cap, but it didn't refill the stamina itself.
To put it simply: if Luen's stat was 100/100 before, then after the upgrade, it became 100/150. The upper limit increased, but now he had to fill up that extra 50 points.
More food = more energy = filling that gap.
So why didn't the trait Luen copied from Luffy require all this? Because when the trait was loaded, it came with Luffy's full stamina value built in—it was already maxed out.
This sort of thing only applied to Luen and his trait system.
Even monsters like Big Mom had to follow the basic rules of energy conservation—getting stronger meant eating, bite by bite.
But Luen? He could just instantly upgrade his body with trait points.
"Sugee! Luen, your appetite's even bigger than mine!"
Luffy's eyes were practically sparkling.
"There's still plenty, Mr. Luen!"
Kaya quickly waved over the chef to bring more food after seeing the plates were almost empty.
To her, Luen was her savior. If not for him, she, Merry, and everyone else would've been slaughtered by Kuro.
And besides…
Kaya glanced at Luen, her eyes shimmering a little.
"Whew…"
Luen let out a satisfied breath as his stomach finally felt full.
He clenched his fist, feeling the surge of power flow through his body again. A faint smirk appeared on his lips.
After this trait enhancement, in terms of pure physical ability, Luen was now the strongest among the current Straw Hats.
"Hm? It looks like I need seven more Deep Purple-level traits to evolve this one from Deep Purple to Super Purple. I see…"
He checked the updated status of his Superhuman Physique and nodded to himself in understanding.
Even traits at the same level could vary wildly in quality.
Take Super Gold level traits for example—the minimum bar for those was Admiral-level strength.
So someone like prime "Black Arm" Zephyr or a peak Four Emperors-tier Kaido would both show up as Super Gold, but clearly, they're on different ends of the power scope.
If Zephyr was a "1" on the Super Gold scale, Kaido was probably a "7"… maybe even higher.
The Deep Purple trait Luen got from Kuro had just barely crossed into that tier—it was right at the minimum threshold.
In contrast, the trait he got from Luffy already far exceeded the Deep Purple bar, which is why it only takes seven more similar-quality traits to push it to Super Purple.
And if Luen ever managed to steal another high-quality Deep Purple trait—one close to Super Purple—it might count as eight or nine enhancement points instead of just one.
Which makes sense—why should a barely-qualified Deep Purple trait and a nearly-maxed-out one count the same? That'd be totally unfair.
It all lined up with the law of conservation of energy.
Luen smirked again.
---
"Luffy, how exactly are we supposed to find those pirates?"
Now that the meal was winding down, Usopp finally spoke up.
"No idea."
Luffy answered without hesitation.
"HUH?!"
Usopp's jaw hit the floor.
"What do you mean you don't know?! You're just gonna sit here and wait for them to show up?!"
He clutched his head in frustration.
"Hehehe, Luen's got it handled, right Luen?"
Luffy grinned and looked over.
When it came to anything that required thinking, Luffy just left it to Luen.
After all, Luen could figure everything out anyway.
"Honestly, between the two of you, Luen's more like the captain."
Zoro sighed, shaking his head.
"He really is."
Nami chuckled in agreement.
"Still, Luen acknowledged me as captain, ya know! Hehehe!"
Luffy didn't care about their teasing at all and just grinned even wider.
"As the captain, you should probably act more like one and stop depending so much on Luen, your crew member!" Nami scolded him.
"Huh? Wait… Luen's not the vice-captain of the Straw Hat Pirates?"
Usopp suddenly asked.
He had just assumed Luen was the vice-captain all along—but now that he thought about it, that didn't seem to be the case.
.
.
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