Pirates: Trainer on the Straw Hat Ship.

"Why hasn't Chihong come back yet?"

At the lively banquet, Luffy, who was sitting at the main seat, immediately showed a listless expression as he looked at the Straw Hat Army members who had already started eating and were preparing to continue training after the meal.

This time, he was not pretending to be Jinbei with the Straw Hat Pirates, but he was really crying because of the delicious food in front of him.

After fighting for ten days and ten nights, he was already extremely hungry.

Although good medicine can restore physical fatigue and injuries, it cannot make up for Luffy's craving for delicious food.

Maybe he wasn't acting at all just now, but he really couldn't wait to eat a lot!

"Calculating the time, it should be two and a half hours, right?!"

Hearing Luffy's noise, Franky looked towards the cabin of the Merry in confusion.

Although Red entered the Pokémon world in the open space of the Sea Forest, they certainly would not leave Red alone in the wilderness. Naturally, they took him and the equally unconscious Nika Will and placed them in Red's own bedroom.

At this time, Usopp on the side also showed a puzzled look:

"Logically speaking, if we just want the fruit's will to transform into Pokémon, it shouldn't take this long, right?"

"Did Red forget about Luffy's partying physique and didn't expect us to just throw a party?!"

"How is that possible?" Nami leaned back, put her hands on her chest, and explained in a calm tone:

"Among all of us, Red is the one who knows Luffy best. How could he not think of this..."

"You still understand me, Nami."

Just as Nami's voice fell, a sunny male voice suddenly sounded from behind her.

At the same time, a red figure suddenly appeared behind Nami and chuckled apologetically to everyone.

"Sorry to keep everyone waiting."

"You're finally back, Red!"

Hearing Akari's voice, Luffy instantly raised his head excitedly, and even took the initiative to help Akari pull the seat next to him away.

Because there are outsiders present this time, and members of the Straw Hat Army are also attending the banquet, the seating arrangement is a little more particular.

As the deputy captain, Chihong was naturally assigned to the position closest to the captain.

As the main guest of this table, Jinbei was directly arranged to sit on the other side of Luffy, showing the respect that the Straw Hat Pirates had for him.

This is also one of the Straw Hat Pirates' conspiracy!

Even though they had only been together for a few days, Nami and the others had already figured out Jinbe's personality.

For a righteous and loyal person like him, all your kindness to him will be remembered firmly in his heart.

So even if there is no opportunity to invite Jinbei to join the Straw Hat Pirates, Red has already reminded the Straw Hat Pirates to be friendly enough to Jinbei...

Maybe one day in the future, when he feels that he is no longer able to repay the friendship of the Straw Hat Pirates, he will use his life as a bargaining chip and entrust it to the Straw Hat Pirates.

Just like in the original timeline, he was willing to turn against the World Government for the sake of Whitebeard's friendship in protecting Fishman Island.

However, the protagonist of today's banquet is destined not to be Jinpei.

Because at the moment Chihong sat down, a ball emitting pink light also flew out from the cabin of the Merry, came to Chihong and rubbed him affectionately.

Chihong stretched out his finger and let little Nika fall on his fingertips.

"Let me introduce to you all. This is the will of the fruit in Luffy's body, Little Nika."

"But now it has become a completely independent individual, so there is no need to worry about it causing any problems to Luffy's soul."

"Luffy……"

After sitting down, Red turned his gaze to Luffy and said with a smile:

"How about letting little Nika become our partner from now on and go on adventures with us!?"

"Of course!!!"

When Luffy heard Red's proposal, he immediately raised his hands in agreement.

Then, under everyone's gaze, he stretched out his hand and smiled at Little Nika:

"Little Nika, we two can be said to have known each other through fighting. From now on, we are partners on the same ship!"

"Welcome to join us!"

"Ni~?"

Little Nika tilted his head in surprise, somewhat unable to understand the meaning of Luffy's words.

After all, it has only been two and a half hours since it gained autonomy.

However, feeling the "kind" aura emanating from Luffy, it inexplicably developed a liking for Luffy, second only to its trainer Akane.

After looking back at Chihong and getting an affirmative look, Little Nika immediately stretched out an energy arm about the size of Luffy's palm from the light ball, and then shook hands with Luffy in the same way.

Nika is a free spirit!

The reason why it maintains its current state is simply because it has been like this since it was "born", so it just treats it as its normal form.

And freedom is a word that cannot be defined!

If possible, Little Nika can transform into any form in minutes, including various Pokémon or creatures from the pirate world!

It can be said that except for the inability to use all Pokémon moves, its transformation ability is no different from Mew in the Pokémon world.

Of course, if it wants to become too big, it will still put a certain amount of energy consumption pressure on little Nika.

But that's about it.

As Little Nika's level and strength increase, Chihong believes that it will soon become a true "Dream"!

The "official establishment of diplomatic relations" between Luffy and Chibi Nika, after putting aside their past grudges, also completely determined the theme of this banquet.

Luffy, who couldn't wait any longer, immediately picked up the drink on the table and laughed:

"Guys, to celebrate the arrival of little Nika..."

"The banquet has officially begun!!!"

“Oh~!!!”

The joyful atmosphere instantly swept the entire main table.

The Straw Hat guys, who had also been hungry for a long time, started eating immediately.

Of course, during this period, everyone's attention has never left little Nika.

The role of the banquet was fully demonstrated at this moment.

As everyone took turns introducing themselves and communicating with Nika, the little guy who was born not long ago became completely excited.

Perhaps in its opinion, being able to make friends with more people is more interesting than learning fighting moves and techniques.

Even the ship elf of the Merry, little Merry, showed up on her own initiative because of the appearance of little Nika.

After the level is upgraded, the ghost form of Merry can move a certain distance away from the hull.

Even though the distance is only about ten meters, it's no different from nothing.

But this gave little Mary the opportunity to attend the party.

After all, it is impossible for the Straw Hat Pirates to hold every banquet on the deck of Merry, even though the deck of Merry is large enough and can accommodate hundreds of people without any problem.

But for Mary, this was enough.

Anyway, her friends will never forget her at every banquet.

After everyone has eaten and drunk their fill, Luffy and his friends will definitely run to the vicinity of the ship and perform all sorts of weird and funny dances.

Just like that, a banquet that was both ordinary and extraordinary slowly came to an end amid the laughter of everyone.

But after the banquet was over, Jinbe, King Neptune and others who were invited as guests were dazed, as if their brains were focused on too much information, and they couldn't let it go for a long time!

A pirate group that dares to challenge the authority of the World Government, a combat force so strong that even Jinbei, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, is terrified, a ship spirit that suddenly appears and participates in the party by forcing the will of the fruit out of the human body and turning it into a partner...

All of these things are more outrageous and shocking than the last.

Even when Jinbe followed Neptune back to Ryugu Castle in a daze and suddenly remembered that he still had the mission to teach the Straw Hat Army and Robin Murloc Karate, they had not yet recovered from their shock.

In these few short days, the Straw Hat Pirates brought them too many shocks.

……

……

However, things that seem outrageous to outsiders have long been commonplace for the Straw Hat people.

Early the next morning.

The Straw Hat Pirates seemed to have forgotten what happened yesterday and immediately devoted themselves to their own training again.

After making an appointment with Luffy to take him to challenge Mewtwo tonight, Red, who was bringing Little Nika with him, directly called Chopper and Usopp and brought them to a quiet room.

"Red, what's the matter?"

Usopp, who was researching the Zerg breeding formula, entered the room and immediately asked curiously.

Little Chopper, who was following behind him, also walked into the room with a confused and silly look on his face.

"You guys sit down first."

Facing the two people's questions, Chi Hong calmly pointed to the two chairs opposite him and said:

"I called you here today mainly because I want to discuss two things with you."

"One good thing, one bad thing."

"bad thing!?"

Usopp didn't bother to be polite with Red, he just sat down, and then the puzzled look on his face became more intense, and he quickly asked:

"What bad thing!?"

No wonder he was so anxious.

After all, if it can be called a bad thing by the "Almighty Red", then this matter must be no small matter!

"This matter is actually related to Little Chopper." Chihong did not keep the secret and spoke directly:

"You all saw the process of Luffy's fruit awakening yesterday."

"I think you can also realize that... the process of awakening the ability of the animal-type fruit may not be as simple as we imagined!"

"It is very likely the result of the fusion of the soul of the ability user and the will of the fruit!"

"so……"

Chihong's eyes turned and looked at Chopper who had just jumped onto the chair.

When Chopper heard this, his expression suddenly changed.

Usopp frowned instantly.

"Red, what you mean is that as Chopper's strength increases, when he reaches the stage of awakening his fruit ability, he will also face the same crisis as Luffy!?"

"But... haven't you and Brook successfully solved the problem of the fusion of fruit wills?!"

"Wouldn't it be fine if we just use the same trick again and capture the will of the fruit in Chopper's body!?"

Usopp, who had witnessed the success of Red and his friends and had absolute confidence in him, obviously couldn't understand why Red was so nervous about this matter.

However, Chihong immediately shook his head:

"Different!"

"You may not have noticed that for the animal-type fruit ability, the fruit will is the absolute factor that truly affects the ability!"

"Luffy was able to awaken successfully because he happened to awaken the fairy attribute at that time. With the assimilation of the fairy attribute, he was able to force out the true power of the devil fruit again."

"But...Luffy can draw out the power of Nika through the Fairy System, but that doesn't mean Chopper can draw out the power of the Human-Human Fruit in the same way."

"Ah, is it so dangerous?!"

As Chopper's substitute, Usopp quickly asked again:

"Then...wouldn't it be fine if we just let Chopper-chan never awaken his fruit?"

"Anyway, we have so many means now..."

"But that's the problem!"

Before Usopp could finish his words, Red interrupted him and turned his gaze to Chopper and said:

"According to my guess, the awakening of the animal-type fruit ability may not be something you can refuse just because you want to!"

"Unlike the Superman and Nature abilities, the Animal ability is an ability that acts directly on the body, so as your body becomes stronger, your Animal ability also becomes stronger..."

"Over time, Chopper may suddenly awaken his fruit ability one day, or directly awaken under certain conditions!"

Chihong spoke seriously, word by word.

Although this was just his guess, he had sufficient reasons and evidence.

For example, in the original timeline...

Lucci and Kaku use their awakened animal-type abilities at the same time!

In terms of talent, Lucci is designated by the World Government as "the strongest CP9 member in eight hundred years"!

In terms of time, Lucci has been eating devil fruits for countless more years than Kaku, so it is impossible that his training in fruit abilities is much worse than Kaku's.

In terms of strength, Lucci has demonstrated combat power far beyond Kaku whether on Judicial Island or on Egg Island.

However, Kaku only needed two and a half years to successfully awaken his fruit ability...

This is the important reason why Akane suspects that the awakening of the animal-type fruit ability is likely related to one's own strength.

In addition, the failure of so many jailer beasts in the city to awaken their animal-type abilities fully demonstrates the uncontrollable nature of animal-type awakening!

Red didn't doubt that Chopper's fruit awakening would fail, but the Human-Human Fruit...

Although this is an ordinary animal-based fruit without any extra suffixes, anything related to the broad concept of human beings will not be that simple.

Especially if all animal-type fruits have fruit will, then Chihong feels that the fruit will of the Human-Human Fruit must be the strongest among the ordinary animal-type fruits!

To be on the safe side, Chihong must take this matter 120% seriously.

"So, I must, like Luffy, take the initiative to cultivate the opportunity to awaken the fruit ability..."

"And if I give up the power of the awakened fruit with the help of you, Red, I won't face the same danger as Luffy!?"

After listening to Chihong's explanation, little Chopper raised his head nervously, with slightly moist eyes, and asked Chihong a question.

Although awakening the fruit ability was not included in his plan, the inexplicable appearance of a hidden bomb in his body still made the young Chopper feel uneasy.