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With a quick flip of his palm, three swords suddenly appeared in Bai Ye's hand—they were Zoro's swords.
"Nani?!!"
Even Zoro couldn't help but widen his eyes in shock.
He was already surprised that Bai Ye could summon a tornado, and now the guy was pulling objects out of thin air?
His feelings were complicated. He thought he'd already seen enough crazy stuff.
But just like that, he ran into a legendary Devil Fruit user and an even more mysterious Taoist.
"Well, here—returning these to their rightful owner."
Bai Ye didn't pay attention to Zoro's dazed expression. He stuffed the three swords back into Zoro's hands and said:
"Try not to drop them so easily next time. You are a swordsman, after all."
He smiled as he spoke.
Honestly, these swords weren't even Zoro's original ones—he'd swapped them out a few times already.
"Yeah… got it."
Zoro finally came to his senses, and nodded seriously as he looked at the swords in his hands.
After everything that just happened, he fully realized that not having his swords and not using them were two totally different things.
"By the way, how'd you get these swords?" Zoro looked up and asked.
"Ah, that's a long story."
Bai Ye raised an eyebrow. "And I'm afraid I don't have time to explain right now—looks like we've got more trouble incoming."
He glanced over at the far side of the clearing, where a tall figure and a group of around fifty Marines were marching toward them.
"I heard some rats snuck into my execution ground!"
A super cliché villain voice rang out from the front of the group.
It was the tyrant of Shells Town, Captain of the 153rd Marine Branch—Morgan!
As the large man approached, everyone could see his metallic lower jaw and the giant axe grafted onto his right arm.
Say what you will—he did have an intimidating presence.
He scanned the area, then muttered,"Berumeb's not here… Did you guys chase that idiot off?"
"Oh, the blond guy? Bai Ye blew him away."
Luffy answered seriously and even pointed to Bai Ye.
Bai Ye: "…"
"Really?" Morgan gave Bai Ye a once-over. Not bad looking, he thought.
"Doesn't matter. In the end, the only one who rules this base is ME!"
With that cringe-level declaration, Morgan looked down on the group before him.
"I'll allow you to say your names… before you die."
His eyes were ice-cold—like he was already looking at corpses.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! And I'm gonna be the Pirate King!!!"
Luffy didn't care about the killing intent in Morgan's voice at all. Instead, he raised his fists with excitement and shouted out his dream.
"Bai Ye from Wudang. Luffy's crewmate."
Bai Ye kept it short and sweet. He wasn't the least bit interested in Morgan—honestly, the guy didn't even qualify as a mini-boss.
Right now, there was only one thing on his mind.
"Hey, Zoro, you've still got a way out."
Bai Ye turned to him. "You didn't fight earlier, so you could still claim you're not with us."
"Shut up."
Zoro didn't hesitate at all. "I haven't sunk that low."
"Infamy, glory, whatever—I'm gonna become the world's greatest swordsman!!!"
"I'll make my name echo through the heavens!!!"
With that, he drew all three of his swords and got into position. Then he looked straight at Morgan and said:
"Roronoa Zoro, crewmate of Luffy."
"Pirate King?!!"
Morgan looked both shocked and pissed. "You little brat—how dare you yell that in front of me! Who do you think I am?!"
He raised his giant axe above his head and swung it down at Luffy with a loud whoosh:
"I'm Captain Morgan of the Marines!!!"
CLANG!!!
Right before the axe could hit Luffy, Zoro's three swords blocked it solidly.
"What?!"
Morgan's eyes narrowed. He was just about to push harder—
But Zoro beat him to it, launching him backward and sending him crashing into a bunch of Marine soldiers behind him.
"Captain! Mind if I handle this one?"
Zoro looked at Luffy.
He didn't give a reason. He just looked seriously at his captain.
"Sure!" Luffy didn't hesitate one bit. He grinned and said, "Then I'll leave him to you, Zoro."
He even gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Yeah, don't worry. I'm not going down that easy."
Zoro grinned back, full of confidence.
"In that case… how about a snack first?"
Bai Ye's voice came from the side.
Zoro turned his head just in time to see Bai Ye flip his wrist and reveal two shiny, round pills in his palm.
"If you're gonna fight, might as well get your body in peak condition, right?"
Bai Ye was just about to explain, but Luffy's stretchy arm had already reached between them—aiming for the pills.
"Food! I want some too!!!"
Good thing Bai Ye was quick and pulled back in time.
Even with all his training in self-control, Bai Ye couldn't help snapping a little.
He grabbed Luffy's rubbery arm and growled:
"Don't just snatch other people's stuff, you idiot!!!" Then he activated the Golden Light Incantation.
A moment later…
"I'm really sorry!!!" said a thoroughly bruised and swollen Luffy.
[Daoist Scripture: Alchemy]
While training in the inner world of the Daoist Scripture, Bai Ye figured he might as well learn alchemy too, so he used his free time to make some basic pills.
Luckily, that world was full of spiritual energy and alchemy ingredients were abundant.
With max-level comprehension, Bai Ye quickly brewed a bunch of Grade-9 pills.
[Pill Grades: Grade-9 is the lowest, followed by 8, 7, all the way up to Grade-1, and finally Heaven Grade.]
The two pills Bai Ye was holding were a healing pill and a blood-replenishing pill—both Grade-9.
Simple names, simple effects.
One heals wounds, the other restores energy and blood.
Even though they were just entry-level, they were more than enough for Zoro right now.
"These things are really that amazing?"
After Bai Ye's brief explanation, Zoro nodded and took the pills.
After being surprised by Bai Ye so many times, he was kinda getting used to it.
He didn't even ask about side effects—just popped both pills straight into his mouth.
Soon, he felt two distinct energy flows spreading through his body.
A moment later—
Zoro could feel it. Not only had the injuries and fatigue he'd built up over the past twenty days vanished, but even some of his old internal injuries were starting to heal.
Whoosh!
Zoro couldn't help but swing his swords, testing the change in his body—and was completely blown away.
He looked over at Bai Ye, amazed that this guy could pull off so many ridiculous things, but also… pretty damn glad he'd joined up with him.
So this… is what a Daoist cultivator's like, huh?
"Hey Luffy, leave the big guy to Zoro."
Now that Zoro was ready, Bai Ye turned to Luffy and said:
"As for us, how about a little contest? See who can take down more Marines?"
"Yeah! You're on—I'm not losing to you!"
And with that, the Straw Hat crew charged into battle!
"....."