I agreed to win with Roger, but the guy I met was too young Chapter 044

The Oro Jackson gently swayed with the waves. On the deck, an unprecedented special training session was about to begin.

“Laboon,” Rett said, arms crossed, a blood mist swirling around him, “From today onwards, you need to learn to control your strength.”

Laboon blinked its big eyes, its two small fins rubbing together uneasily.

Ever since it ate the Devil Fruit, it kept breaking things—yesterday it smashed the dining table, the day before it snapped the mast, the day before that it almost slapped Buggy into the sea to feed the fish, and yesterday it even hugged Shanks so hard he broke a bone.

“First,” Rett conjured a delicate teacup, “try to pick it up.”

The teacup gleamed with a milky white luster in the sunlight, thin enough to be translucent. Laboon nervously swallowed, extending its trembling “finger”—

“Crack!”

The teacup shattered into eight pieces.

“Woo…” Laboon drooped its head.

“It’s okay,” Shanks patted its fin, “The hundredth time I used a sword, I still ripped Rayleigh-ossan’s shirt.”

“Brat, don’t bring that up!” Rayleigh’s voice came from the cabin.

Rett handed Laboon breakfast and turned to find his prepared secret weapon.

“Laboon.”

Laboon turned its head, half a struggling sea fish still hanging from its mouth. It whimpered aggrievedly, the silver fork clutched in its fin already bent into a strange arc.

The deck instantly became so quiet that only the sound of the waves could be heard.

Rett stifled a laugh as he walked over: “Looks like we need more sturdy tableware.”

He brought out several forks made of Seastone—these were “borrowed” spoils from the Marines last time, processed by him overnight into the shape of forks.

“Try this.” Rett handed the fork to Laboon, “Seastone is hard enough; it should be able to withstand your strength.”

Laboon carefully gripped the fork. This time, it learned to be smart. Laboon instantly felt its physical strength suddenly decrease, but perhaps because Laboon was an Island Whale, it didn’t completely lose its abilities.

Instead, it simply reduced its strength. It first gently touched a piece of fish. The sea fish swam leisurely in the bucket, completely unaware of the approaching danger.

“Yes, just like that…” Rett guided softly, “Imagine your fin tip is a feather…”

“Pffft!”

The fork accurately pierced the fish’s gills. Laboon excitedly raised its trophy.

Success!

Rett felt like a genius. The Seastone suppressed some of the Devil Fruit’s ability, allowing Laboon to precisely control its remaining power output.

Laboon got excited and used too much force, flicking the fish onto Shanks’s face, who was watching the commotion.

“Hey!” Shanks wiped the fishy smell from his face. What could he do? Of course, he chose to forgive.

“At least this time the fish wasn’t flung away! Good job, Laboon!”

Since Seastone was reliable, Rett pulled out a “ случайно obtained” feather.

“Thanks to the News Coo, I’ve got this.”

“Little Laboon, what you need to do now is use your little arms to fan this feather and keep it suspended in the air, but don’t let it fly away or fall.”

Laboon’s small body carefully curled up in the center, its two “hands” holding a feather, its tail cocked upwards. It was clear Laboon was exerting its whole body.

“Remember,” Rett sat cross-legged in front of it, “your strength must be as even as your breathing.”

Laboon nodded, took a deep breath, and gently waved its fin tip—

“Whoosh!”

The feather instantly turned into a white blur, “thwack”ing onto the main mast, its tail feathers still trembling slightly.

Buggy’s eyes widened in shock: “Sugoi…”

“Quiet.” Rett glared at him, walked over, pulled out the feather, “Again.”

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Laboon’s forehead. It switched to using the finest part of its fingertip, carefully supporting the feather.

“Very good, now…”

As little Laboon watched, its eyes suddenly crossed, becoming cockeyed.

The feather was lifted by the airflow, swaying precariously towards the ship’s rail—

Laboon frantically reached out to grab it!

“Wait, don’t—”

“Boom!”

Rett enveloped the feather in blood mist, incorporating a trace of Seastone powder into it. The feather immediately gleamed with a faint metallic luster.

This way, at least the feather wouldn’t fly around wildly, and even if it did, Rett could pull it back.

“This will both suppress your strength,” he explained, “and not make you completely powerless.”

Laboon curiously took the “special feather.” This time, it immediately felt the difference—it was like trying to pick something up while wearing thick gloves; the strength was restricted to a controllable range.

“Woo! (This is good!)”

It gently fanned its fin tip, and the feather slowly rose. Although it bobbed up and down, at least it was suspended.

“It worked!” Shanks cheered.

Rett gradually withdrew the surrounding mist, and the feather instantly flew away. The encouraging words that were about to come out of everyone’s mouths got stuck in their throats, leaving them uncomfortably suspended.

Days passed like this, and the three little ones continued their respective training. Crocus meticulously checked all the physical data of the Roger Pirates, finding that everyone was very healthy, and old injuries were basically recovering, thanks to Rett’s life force supply.

But for Rett, this didn’t seem to be good news. Rett believed that all terminal illnesses had traces to follow.

Could this be a plot kill? The original story didn’t explain how Roger got sick, which made Rett a bit agitated. He found Crocus, hoping Crocus would thoroughly examine the captain again.

“Little Rett, they told me you know some things about the future, and that you invited me onto the ship. I guess Roger will get some incurable disease in the future, even one you can’t treat.”

Rett nodded. He was about to describe Roger’s symptoms after getting sick, but he suddenly realized that the story didn’t say he knew nothing; he only knew Roger would get a terminal illness.

Crocus patted Rett’s shoulder: “I’ve practiced medicine for so many years and seen too many partings of life and death. I promise you I will do my best to treat the captain, as repayment for you helping me find the Rumbar Pirates. Treating the sick and saving lives is our duty as doctors, not something a combatant like you should worry about. Of course, if you want to learn medicine with me, I’d be very happy to teach you.”

Rett bowed deeply to him: “Then I’ll leave it to you.”