Chapter 248: Arrival at the Drum Kingdom

Uchiha Feiyu only briefly mentioned the matter of promoting faith; if this were the real world, promoting a new faith might encounter heavy resistance.

However, the average intelligence in the One Piece World is not high, and the royal families of various countries are mostly sub-human, which greatly lowers the psychological threshold of ordinary people, so it is actually not difficult to promote.

Not to mention that Uchiha Feiyu had long since left behind a terrifying reputation in Alabasta; everyone now knows that this guy belongs to that kind of cruel deity, and worshipping such a cruel and evil deity to avoid harm has been a common occurrence since ancient times.

Therefore, three days later, when Uchiha Feiyu set sail again, he already felt that the Faith Power received by the Future Unborn Sutra had increased significantly, and the development speed of his original Vampire Fruit also began to improve.

This is only because it had been three days and the faith had not fully spread; if three or four months passed, Uchiha Feiyu was confident he could evolve the power of the Vampire Fruit to its limit.

On the sea, Nami had a smile on her face as she pressed her palms against the ship. As her ability activated, the surface of the original medium-sized sailboat quickly became extremely smooth, and it actually began to glide across the sea surface.

Nami took out her Clima-Tact and smashed it hard against Richie's head, raising a large bump:

"Stop scaring people, hurry up and descend!"

However, after the ship had been gliding rapidly for an hour or two, sweat began to drip down Nami's forehead. Uchiha Feiyu, who was hovering in mid-air, glanced at Nami and spoke:

"If your stamina is insufficient, then take a rest first! Your Devil Fruit awakened too early, and your physical body cannot keep up at all."

"Tsk... I don't think the level of those Doctor 20 is that great, otherwise why didn't they cure your king who clearly has a serious mental illness?"

For instance, in the practice of Human Immortal Martial Arts, there are many medicinal formulas that accelerate cultivation, but those formulas all originate from the Yang God World, and many of the medicinal herbs simply do not exist in the Pirate King World, so he could only find these doctors in the Pirate King World to make substitutions.

Hearing these words from Uchiha Feiyu, the old man gave a bitter smile:

"Perhaps there is no medicine for stupidity! Anyway, this king of ours is notoriously both stupid and evil. Originally, noble people like you could actually go to the Doctor 20 for treatment; at most, it would just cost a little more money..."

The Drum Kingdom was once a world-renowned medical powerhouse on the entire Grand Line, relying on the medical industry to collect quite a bit of foreign exchange, and it could be said to be famous; having such a thought was only natural.

An old man who seemed to have quite a bit of prestige here stood out and spoke to Uchiha Feiyu with a bitter smile on his face.

Uchiha Feiyu couldn't help but complain; even in a world like the Pirate King World where things are compared by who is worse, Wapol's move was truly too sub-human. Had he never thought that if the country was ruined, he wouldn't end up with anything good either?

The Drum Kingdom is not a large country; the entire population adds up to only a few tens of thousands. In such a small country with few people, instead of developing their own specialty industries, they were instead sucking the marrow from their own citizens and exploiting them desperately—honestly, Uchiha Feiyu could not fathom what was going on in his head.

Nami muttered a few words and activated her fruit ability. Sure enough, the cold wind blew toward her and slid directly to both sides, immediately making her feel much warmer.

Looking at Nami, who was still wearing a thin short shirt and shivering all over, Uchiha Feiyu shook his head helplessly and simply took off his cloak to drape over her.

"It feels so dangerous; shouldn't we stay a little further away?"

Who knew that King Wapol was cowardly to the extreme; as soon as he heard that pirates were coming, he fled without a trace, causing Blackbeard, that old schemer, to return empty-handed—this was likely the only time Blackbeard's plan failed after he betrayed the Whitebeard Pirates.

Even if those two were not there, Uchiha Feiyu could still go look for a certain reindeer and a certain old woman; the medical arts of the Pirate King World were also quite useful to Uchiha Feiyu.

Nami wrapped the cloak tightly around herself and complained, and Uchiha Feiyu rolled his eyes:

"Monster!! Such a huge monster!!"

"Oh? Why is it too late?"

"This, this, this... what is this! Could it be the legendary griffin??"

"Let's go, first go investigate the situation in the Drum Kingdom. That lion over there, hurry up and get over here!"

"Nagging... studying sea charts and navigation knowledge every day is already troublesome enough, I can't spare much time for cultivation either!"

"In the future, you need to practice more of the Human Immortal Martial Arts I taught you. That stuff is much stronger than the Six Powers of the Marine. If you had even entered the door, you wouldn't have such poor stamina."

After the Devil Fruit Ability awakened, Richie's size also grew by nearly double. Now he was about five meters long and over two meters tall, looking extremely conspicuous. Hearing the praises mixed with surprise and fear from the crowd below, he immediately showed a triumphant expression, opened his bird beak, but what came out was the roar of a lion.

Anyway, Uchiha Feiyu was not in a hurry. It would be best if he could find Blackbeard, but if he couldn't find Blackbeard, he could also look for Wapol; the Baku-Baku Fruit is also a heaven-defying fruit, and its effects are in no way inferior to the Darkness Fruit.

The old man sighed and spoke slowly:

"Our country was indeed once the most famous medical country on the Grand Line, but ever since the old king passed away, the successor, the new king Wapol, drove away all the doctors in this country, leaving only the 20 most famous doctors."

"What a fast speed... it's just like surfing and skiing. With such a fast speed, it should only take one day to reach the Drum Kingdom! Several times faster than normal!"

"It's so cold... Alabasta and the Drum Kingdom are two islands so close to each other, how can the weather be so different?"

Nami sighed and nodded. She also felt that she had been a bit slack during this period. After all, this girl is not an ordinary person and still understands the importance of strength.

In fact, Uchiha Feiyu was not sure whether Blackbeard had actually gone to the Drum Kingdom; he only remembered that in the original work, Blackbeard did indeed run to that country for the Baku-Baku Fruit.

"Sliding away the cold air... you are thinking too much. Unless you develop the Slippery-Slippery Fruit to possess conceptual abilities, the temperature will not be affected."

"Alright, I know, but at least I can slide the wind away!"

"Wait, there is someone on that griffin... so beautiful~~, is it the legendary griffin knight?"

Nami wiped the sweat from her forehead and retracted her ability, panting. As a Paramecia Devil Fruit, the Slippery-Slippery Fruit does not increase stamina, and the skin lubrication obtained after just eating it is also a passive ability that consumes no stamina, so there is no effect of exercising to improve stamina.

Fortunately, those are all medicinal formulas for training below the Human Immortal level, and the medicinal materials used still do not exceed the categories of animals, plants, and minerals; theoretically, the Pirate World must have substitutes.

Yes, Nami's Devil Fruit ability has now been developed to the Awakening level. When promoting faith in Alabasta, Uchiha Feiyu naturally would not forget Nami; he casually gave her a title, let her share a bit of Faith Power, and since the Faith Power required for the Slippery-Slippery Fruit to develop to Awakening is not much, Nami quickly developed to the point of fruit awakening.

"Nowadays, even when our own citizens get sick, they can't find a doctor to see them at all. Those with some savings can grit their teeth and go find the Doctor 20, but most poor people can only wait to die when they get sick."

By comparison, Robin, who still lacks a sense of security, and Princess Vivi, who shoulders the responsibility of Alabasta, are much more diligent than Nami.

"Damn it, why can't I slide the cold air away? I thought I could be unaffected by the climate!"

"However, those 20 doctors had long been taken into the palace by Wapol to become his private doctors, so to find the Doctor 20 for treatment, one must pay a large amount of money."

The ordinary people at the port had cold sweat on their foreheads and their legs were shaking, looking like they were about to flee immediately, which immediately aroused Nami's dissatisfaction.

Relying on Nami's acceleration, it took less than a day for the ship to arrive at the port of the Drum Kingdom.

"Heh, stop making excuses. When we were in Alabasta, Robin, who helped handle government affairs, and Vivi, who comforted the people everywhere, were much busier than you, yet their Human Immortal Martial Arts have all entered the door."

The unlucky lion landed with an unhappy face. Seeing this situation, the people at the port who were preparing to flee finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At least in the first half of the Grand Line, this lion could already be considered very strong, not inferior to those Great Pirates with bounties of over one hundred million.

Princess Vivi and Robin both stayed in Alabasta. Alabasta is currently in a state of waiting to be rebuilt with a thousand things to do, and it is a busy time, so this time, besides Uchiha Feiyu and Nami, they only brought the lion Richie.

"This is the Drum Kingdom. I don't know what the two of you are doing here? If you are looking for a doctor... you have come too late."

Accompanied by bursts of whistling sounds, Richie, with a mass of Flame Cloud wrapped around the back of his head, a vulture's head and wings, and a lion's body, slowly descended from the sky.

Seeing that Uchiha Feiyu and Nami were dressed well and had an exotic beast like the lion Richie, the old man immediately suspected that they had come here to find a doctor for treatment.

A mount as conspicuous as a griffin obviously could not be low-key. As soon as Uchiha Feiyu got off the ship, he saw a group of people at the port staring in astonishment at the lion Richie flying down from the ship.

"And he also established a law: if you get sick, you cannot find other doctors; you can only find those 20 doctors for treatment."

"Hey hey hey... this monster won't eat people, will it!"

This lion also benefited from the dividends of Faith Power; although its practice of the Future Unborn Sutra was a complete mess, the Vulture-Vulture Fruit was not particularly powerful to begin with, yet it still managed to develop it to the point of Awakening, growing a lion's mane and a Flame Cloud behind it, making it look truly like a majestic griffin now.

Uchiha Feiyu was certainly not looking for a doctor, but he felt some interest in the old man's words, just in time to use this to confirm the current time period:

Opponents who cannot fly would likely be toyed to death by the ability of this Devil Fruit; even for those with flight capabilities, if their Haki is not up to par, Nami could use contact to turn their exterior into zero friction, removing even the friction with the air, making flight impossible and leaving them only able to slide infinitely on the ground.

"I really can't believe it, the ability of a Devil Fruit can actually be developed so easily; is this what the feeling of a Devil Fruit Awakening is like?"

Uchiha Feiyu shook his head:

"Your cultivation speed is actually not slow; in terms of talent, you are at least much stronger than the average person, it is just that the person you are comparing yourself to has higher talent than you."

Nami is not some weak girl incapable of binding a chicken, and compared to ordinary people, she can even be called physically fit and agile, but she is still far too far from the formal development required for a Devil Fruit Awakening, which is why using her Devil Fruit Ability is so strenuous.

Black lines clearly appeared on Richie's face; he really wanted to slap the bald monkey lying on him away with one paw, but after thinking about Uchiha Feiyu's cruelty and terror, he still honestly let Nami ride on his back, becoming a mount.

After resting for an hour or two and eating a big meal, Nami recovered most of her strength, then she used her ability again to control the sailboat to accelerate, which both reduced the travel time and served as training.

"It just so happens that this time going to the Drum Kingdom, while pursuing Blackbeard, we can also look for a certain doctor to see if we can find a prescription to enhance the effects of cultivation."

"I understand!"

The effect of a Zoan Devil Fruit Awakening on increasing strength is a significant boost in power, speed, physique, and other aspects; it just so happens that this lion follows a simple and brutal path, which directly gave this lion formidable strength.

If the Slippery-Slippery Fruit could be developed to a microscopic or conceptual level, it could be called a god-tier fruit; however, clearly this bit of Faith Power is not enough to reach that level, but even so, just developing the Slippery-Slippery Fruit to Awakening makes its power extremely abnormal.

Uchiha Feiyu rolled his eyes and said, because Uchiha Feiyu is much more reliable than the Straw Hat Pirates, Nami has indeed slacked off a lot now that she has someone to rely on.

"The climate of the Grand Line is always this fickle; you should have been used to it long ago."

"Alright, I know... I will work hard on my cultivation. But my talent isn't very good, and I feel like my cultivation speed is so slow."

Seeing the lion land on the deck, Nami's eyes lit up and she pounced directly, hugging the lion's furry neck and revealing a smile:

"As expected, it's warmest here; it's not like in Alabasta, where sitting on you was simply hot enough to kill someone."

"However, just a while ago, a Pirate crew suddenly came to our country, and then that King abandoned all his citizens and fled overseas with his subordinates and the Doctor 20."

"So now, our entire country no longer has any doctors."

(End of this chapter)