"Miss Valentine, don't get cocky!"

Vivi clenched her teeth in frustration. She'd just lost the duel—and Mikita's triumphant laughter was grating on her nerves.

Vivi had found everyone on the ship easy to get along with—except Mikita. That woman got under her skin like no one else.

To be fair, the two of them had never gotten along even back when they were both in Baroque Works.

Now that she'd lost to her again, Vivi was furious.

"Yahahahaha! You couldn't beat me before, and you still can't beat me now!" Mikita laughed arrogantly, savoring her win.

Defeating Vivi gave her back some of the confidence she had lost.

Just wait until Sora gives me a Devil Fruit… I'll teach you a proper lesson then.

Hearing the taunts, Vivi gritted her teeth, silently resolving to ask Sora for a powerful Devil Fruit.

If it meant becoming stronger… she was even willing to go along with some of Sora's less appropriate demands.

They'd already crossed that final line anyway. For power, she'd set aside her shame.

"Alright, switch," said Reiju. "Next pair—Anna and Shalria."

As the crew's head instructor, Reiju rotated everyone through sparring matches to help them gain experience.

In the captain's quarters—

Sora was studying the details of his newly upgraded Level 2 pirate crew system.

[Level 2 Pirate Crew: You may now recruit up to 18 crew members—6 Combatants, 2 Cooks, 2 Lookouts, 1 Navigator, 1 Helmsman, 1 Doctor, 1 Shipwright, 2 Utility roles, and 2 Special Positions.]

[Once you recruit a full 18-person crew and your bounty reaches 1 billion, you may upgrade to Level 3. Unlock additional crew slots and special rewards.]

With the upgrade to Level 2, Sora's control over his ship had increased significantly, and the crew capacity doubled from 9 to 18.

New roles were unlocked: a shipwright, a helmsman, and two special roles.

Special roles could be things like Instructor, Scholar, Musician, Sniper, Demolitionist, etc.

More importantly, crew positions now provided role-based bonuses.

Combatants trained faster. Doctors learned medicine more efficiently. Even utility crew cleaned more quickly.

Special roles provided unique bonuses.

For example, the Instructor role increased the training efficiency of the crew. The stronger and more qualified the instructor, the greater the boost.

Reiju, as the current Instructor, was much more suited for the role than Zala—and her bonus was significantly higher.

It all made the crew system feel like a full-blown RPG.

Moreover, Sora could now choose to gain one of a bonded crewmate's abilities at any time.

For instance, Zala had both the Thorn-Thorn Fruit and the Sound Localization talent. After Sora first trained her in swordsmanship, he could choose to take one of her abilities whenever he wanted.

He could even wait until she gained a new power, and then choose.

Thanks to that flexibility, Kaya had been assigned the role of Doctor, while Vivi had recently been moved to Combatant.

And on top of everything, Sora had received a new perk upon the crew upgrade:

[Training Room: Designate a special zone aboard the ship where crew members' training efficiency is doubled.]

It wasn't quite as broken as a Hyperbolic Time Chamber—but it was close.

Between the Training Room and Reiju's Instructor bonus, crewmates like Nojiko and Makino were leveling up fast. Their strength would soon reach new heights.

And the stronger they got, the more stat feedback Sora would receive.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he hit Five-Star physique and boosted his own power again.

Currently, thanks to his multiple Devil Fruit powers, his base combat level had already reached Six-Star—comparable to a Marine Rear Admiral.

With the addition of his scientific battle suit, even clashing with a Vice Admiral wasn't out of the question.

He checked his current status:

[Host: Sora]

Physique: ★★★★☆

Mind: ★★★★☆

Vitality: ★★★★☆

Swordsmanship: ★★☆☆☆

Martial Arts: ★★★★☆

Armament Haki: ★★★☆☆

Observation Haki: ★★☆☆☆

Conqueror's Haki: ★★☆☆☆

Special Talents: Endurance, Heartfelt Connection, Beloved by the People

Special Skills: Dominant Training, Insight, Ship Control

Devil Fruits: System Fruit (Pirate Crew variant), Kilo-Kilo, Explosion Human, Box-Box...

Base Combat Level: ★★★★★★ (Marine Rear Admiral level)

Bonus Combat Power: Top Swordsman Trial Card (Uses left: 2), Scientific Combat Suit

Note: Combat Level ≠ Destructive Power]

Looking at his sad little ★★ in Swordsmanship, Sora felt a little embarrassed.

He taught swordsmanship to all the women on board, yet his own progress was so slow.

That was because none of them used swords. They couldn't give him feedback experience—so his growth was sluggish.

On the other hand, all the physical training had pushed his martial arts to ★★★★☆, and thanks to Reiju, his Armament Haki had hit ★★★☆☆.

"Still a long road to become a true top-tier powerhouse," he muttered.

"But hey… Two months in, and I'm already at Rear Admiral level?"

"This System Fruit is seriously busted."

"Of course, if you compare it to protagonist Monkey D. Luffy—who awakened Conqueror's Infusion, Passive Dodge, and Auto-Revive in a single day and jumped from Commander level to Yonko level… yeah, I'm still way behind."

Chuckling at the ridiculousness, Sora left his room and lounged on a deck chair, watching his crew train.

There was no view better than a lineup of long legs working hard under the sun.

Well—maybe if Smoothie joined them with her long legs…

Before long—

The Divine Slave arrived at Jaya Island.

Before Sora could even disembark, the sky suddenly turned dark around the island—as if night had fallen in an instant.

"What's going on?" Kaya asked, alarmed as she grabbed onto Sora's arm.

She only felt safe when she was close to him.

"Don't worry, Kaya."

Sora reassured her while narrowing his eyes.

He flew into the air above the Divine Slave—and spotted the Going Merry not far off in the distance.

Without hesitation, he directed his ship toward it.

At that moment, a massive column of water erupted from the ocean, blasting skyward.

"That's the giant water column to Skypiea…"

Eyes gleaming, Sora smirked.

"Nami-chan… Robin-chan…"

"Wait for me."