CHAPTER 76: CHAPTER 76: ELECTRIC CURRENT WORKS WONDERS, THE NEW WORLD

Karl was a man who did what he said.

If Karina and the others had been powerless girls, Karl wouldn’t have minded letting them live under his protection.

With Karina’s Barrier-Barrier Fruit and strength second only to Little Dragon, Karl was confident that even facing the sea’s overlords he could still keep everyone safe.

If they couldn’t beat the enemy, then with his and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s unrivaled speed, escaping would be easy.

But now Karina and the other three had all become Devil Fruit users, each with a very powerful Paramecia ability.

Karl himself was a Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit user with virtually no weakness.

The entire crew were ability users.

Since their ceiling had risen, their talent and powers could not be wasted.

So Karl began training the four women in will and physical conditioning.

The strength of one’s will determines the chance of awakening Haki.

In the New World, without strong will, even the finest Devil Fruit may still see you instantly crushed by those with Conqueror’s Haki.

So the willpower of the four had to catch up to a lineup where 1+1+1+1 equals far more than four.

As long as their wills could withstand those monsters’ Conqueror’s pressure, then against ninety-five percent of the world, no one could harm them.

And those who couldn’t harm them would be defeated in an instant.

Test it: Nami uses the Float-Float Fruit to make a platform, Karina wraps the platform and the crew in a barrier sphere, then Nami can freely fly the barrier sphere; Perona releases negativity ghosts that even affect Haki, stripping the fighting intent of those who can’t endure thirty seconds; Robin and Nami finish the job with their abilities.

Unless the enemy can ignore barriers, has internal-destruction Armament, wields Sea Prism Stone weapons, or throws a fortress-breaking king’s punch, they cannot budge the barrier.

And they cannot escape a Float-Float aerial chase.

That picture, that lineup, is terrifying.

So Karl’s lineup is worth every bit of a billion-berry pirate—no exaggeration.

Because the synergy is outrageous.

Beyond will, physical fitness had to rise.

Since Karl stole Navy Rokushiki and Life Return from CP9 and wrote out the methods, the women had already begun six-style training.

To get their bodies to the threshold for Rokushiki, they took the pay-to-win route.

In half a year, Karl lost count of the money spent on herbs and tonics.

Karina, Nami, and even Robin gained real skill in medicinal cuisine.

At that pace, Karina and Nami might learn a move or two of Rokushiki at eighteen or twenty.

Taking a few years to grasp a superhuman art isn’t slow.

After all, in the original tale Sanji learned only Moonwalk after two years on Kamabakka.

But now Karl felt that pace was too slow.

If a single move takes years, how long to master Life Return?

Thirty? Forty?

So Karl planned to flip an accelerator.

Using the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Praised as the strongest Logia, beyond destruction and speed, its ranking comes from versatility.

A field that ignores obstacles to teleport, and electric sense fused with Observation like a god’s gaze.

Current can kill, can heal, and can stimulate the human body to unlock potential.

In his previous world, some scientists found that mild electrical stimulation to the brain could enhance learning and memory.

But the brain is fragile; Karl wouldn’t do that.

He could, however, use current to help the four metabolize medicinal meals faster.

Tonics are enormous in calories; after each serving they need hours of training to burn it off.

Once a day was all they dared; more risked fat gain or harm.

With current assistance, the four could eat tonic meals three times a day, then accelerate digestion under current.

Their constitutions and stamina visibly soared.

With stronger bodies, not only did their strength and fruit abilities improve, even their figures tightened, developing faster as if maturing early.

With Karl’s "external force," certain places on Karina and Nami developed even faster.

Even twenty-year-old Perona noticed certain parts had grown again.

With the current method, the time to master Rokushiki and Life Return would surely shrink drastically.

After a period of training, once Nami gradually became familiar with the Float-Float Fruit—

Karl’s crew finally decided to fly over the Red Line and head to that sea ruled by the Four Emperors and many nations aligned with Mary Geoise.

Sea Circle Calendar 1517, August.

While the world believed Karl’s crew were still in the first half of the Grand Line, fretting about how to enter the New World—

A large three-masted ship quietly drifted down from above the Red Line and successfully arrived in New World waters.

"Eh—eh—eh..."

Just after arriving, Nami looked at the log on her wrist and cried out in a panic: "The pointer’s dead—did it break?"

"Don’t make a fuss."

Startled by Nami’s voice, Karina rolled her eyes and quipped, "Navigator, do you only draw maps—don’t you read geography?"

She ran back to the cabin, and soon returned with a box, tossing it to Nami. "The Four Seas and both halves of the Grand Line each have a dedicated log. This is the New World log."

"When did you buy this?"

Opening the box and seeing a three-needle New World log, Nami couldn’t help asking.

"On our first trip to Sabaody I gathered intel on Fish-Man Island and the New World, and bought it at a navigation shop there," Karina replied.

"Makes sense—you came prepared."

Strapping on the new log, Nami asked, "How do I use this pointer?"

"After entering the New World, we no longer proceed stop by stop, and there aren’t seven fixed routes."

Karina explained, "At each island, the next stop is one of three. By the strength of the needle’s tremor you judge the danger—the stronger the shake, the stronger the magnetic field."

"Understood."

Nami lifted her hand; the sails unfurled automatically, and they set off for the first stop.

After becoming a Float-Float user, Nami was a puppeteer second only to Doflamingo.

If she didn’t need touch to control, and if she could control living beings, she would be the world’s strongest puppeteer.

After all, Doflamingo needs strings.

Nami does not.

Just like when crews first enter the first half of the Grand Line and face the climate’s "baptism,"

The weather flipped soon after they set sail.

One second brilliant sun, the next, black clouds and howling wind.

Whoosh—boom!

Before the storm arrived, a golden meteor shot to the heavens like a divine arrow into the clouds.

In the next instant, a great golden firework blossomed.

Unmatched shockwave and heat instantly slew the New World’s "baptism."

With the large three-master’s speed, Karl’s crew reached their first New World stop in just over a day.

Karl had no impression of this first island.

It had none of the unique identities of places like Water 7 or Long Ring Long Land; it looked no different from ordinary islands of the Four Seas.

But there was a prosperous town on the island, and many pirate and merchant ships docked in the harbor.

Clearly this island was not a member nation’s territory—no Marine protection, a no-man’s-land.

Such places are countless in the New World.

Because the Marines dominate the first half; pirates dominate the second.

Across the strongest sea the Marines established only two bases, G-1 and G-5.

Pirates who survive here mostly wield Haki, or band together in alliances large or small to oppose and challenge the Four Emperors.

Even the Marines don’t dare, as in the Four Seas and Paradise, to hunt every bit of scum they see.

Of course, pirates who survive here are mostly clever.

They know whom to provoke and whom not to.

For example, member nations—apart from the Emperors, most pirates don’t dare touch them.

Day to day the Marines look the other way, lacking manpower.

But if you cause trouble in a member nation, the Marines will act, and the one leading won’t be some Vice Admiral without deep Haki, but an admiral rotating between New World bases and Marineford.

So they strike mainly at non-member nations—just what Mary Geoise likes to see.

Thus—

Some non-member territories become holdings of an Emperor, others are carved up by New World pirates and shadow kings.

Karl’s first stop was ruled by New World pirates, an island "signed" under an Emperor’s name.

Why would an Emperor put his name on it?

Simple: the pirates ruling the island were an affiliate of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Affiliates fly the parent crew’s flag on the main sail and mast, and their own on the secondary sails and masts.

Just like Bellamy carrying the Donquixote Family’s flag.

Such affiliates have a big boss behind them.

Touch an Emperor’s affiliate and you slap the Emperor’s face, bearing the Emperor’s wrath.

No need for the Emperor to move; his officers and allied captains will burn the offender to defend their sovereign’s majesty.

New World overlords—the Four Emperors.

That title is never won by one person alone, even if his own strength nears the world’s peak.

It is the emblem of power and status, the name of the strongest forces on the sea.

The Four Emperors’ crews—four pirate forces whose might surpasses even superpowers.

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