Chapter 182: About the Alligator-Color Leeks

As Spandam pondered.

Bang!

The office door was violently pushed open.

Spandine leaned on his cane and walked in slowly.

His pace was not fast, yet both his posture and expression were filled with an unchallengeable aura.

"How is the matter I assigned you?!"

Spandam looked up, his eyes growing even more sinister, yet he forcibly held back his inner rage, threw the documents in his hand toward Spandine, and said:

"Knight Gao Wen is far more troublesome than imagined, and the strength of the Ghost Man, Jin, is also greater than we anticipated; even if Rob Lucci intervenes, it will take time."

"Moreover, if an accident occurs and his side is exposed, the consequences are something I cannot bear."

Speaking thus, Spandam could not help but sigh and said:

"Father, do you know what you are actually doing?! You will destroy everything we have gained these years: power, wealth, and even our lives!"

Spandine lowered his gaze to look at Spandam, his expression indifferent, his eyes even carrying a hint of mockery:

"I have been a dog for a lifetime; now I want to stand up and be a man for once. That is all."

"Hurry it up."

"If within two months I still do not hear news of the Ghost Man Jin's death, all the schemes you have been conducting behind the scenes these years will appear on the desks of those few."

Spandam's body trembled, his heart filled with extreme anger:

"I am your son!"

The words fell to the ground.

The office instantly fell silent.

Spandine glanced at Spandam, his gaze full of contempt; he turned directly to leave, yet stopped at the office doorway and said:

"You do not have much time left."

Bang!

The office door slammed shut instantly.

Spandam reached out, thrust his five fingers into his hair, and his eyes turned completely red.

A few minutes later.

He snatched the Den Den Mushi from the desk, dialed a mysterious number, and gritted his teeth, saying:

"Jabra!"

"There is a new mission for you!"

"Go to Alabasta and investigate Crocodile's underlying motives!"

The other end of the line clearly paused for a moment, before a voice carrying a hint of confusion finally came through:

"Alabasta is a member nation of the World Government, and not just an ordinary member nation but one of the twenty nations that created the world!"

"If we rashly act against them, the people above..."

"This is an order!"

Spandam roared, then immediately calmed down and said:

"Someone within the CP organization is conducting a transaction with Crocodile; your objective is to uncover the contents of the transaction and why Crocodile is staying in Alabasta."

After the receiver remained silent for a moment, Jabra's Solemn voice finally came through:

"I understand."

Several days later.

The Grand Line.

The wind and waves were calm; several birds swept across the sea surface, only to be swallowed in one bite by a Sea King that leaped out of the water the next instant.

The people on the Raven were already accustomed to this, so not even a single person paid it any deliberate attention.

In the captain's cabin.

Gao Wen and Xiang Keluo sat opposite each other, discussing the navigation plan for the journey ahead.

"According to our route, the next stop should be Alabasta."

Xiang Keluo said calmly:

"That is a member nation of the World Government, and even one of the twenty nations that originally constituted the World Government; once trouble erupts there, the Navy cannot sit still."

"Moreover, according to the intelligence we obtained, that fellow Crocodile is also in Alabasta."

Gao Wen nodded, extended a finger, and lightly tapped the table.

Tap, tap, tap...

For a moment, no other sound existed in the captain's cabin besides this.

Gao Wen also fell into deep thought.

He had not forgotten that during the Martial Arts Tournament previously, Crocodile had specially sent people to cause trouble.

At that time, Gao Wen's heart burned with rage, but upon second thought, he actually did not suffer a great loss in that matter.

After all, the number three figure of Baroque Works, and also the most important pawn in Crocodile's plan to usurp the nation, Feng Kelei, was directly detained by him.

Feng Kelei is now thriving in the Martial Arts Tournament, having won the quarterly championship, with a ranking even higher than the Cat Brothers.

Due to his bizarre appearance and formidable strength, he has attracted a large crowd of die-hard fans, among whom the people of the Okama Kingdom are especially numerous.

He is truly a money tree.

Now that Gao Wen had calmed down, he had little interest in deliberately going to Alabasta to trouble Crocodile.

After all, Crocodile currently enjoys the greatest popularity among the people of Alabasta, and this concerns one of the twenty nations that founded the World Government.

A single misstep could easily bring him trouble.

Long silence.

Gao Wen spoke:

"If he doesn't initiate trouble, we ignore him. We'll resupply with provisions there and head straight for the New World."

"After all, our main target—Britannias' location—is in the New World, not Paradise."

"Understood."

Xiang Keluo nodded; this aligned closely with his own thoughts.

Without a compelling reason, wasting too much time here serves no purpose.

Afterward, the two verbally finalized the next leg of their voyage, and Xiang Keluo left through the door, leaving Gao Wen alone in the captain's cabin, lost in deep thought.

He skillfully opened the system panel, his gaze landing on the Conqueror's Haki column:

【Conqueror's Haki - LV-2: 101/12000】

Half a month ago, after his battle with Jin on Drum Island, Gao Wen's Conqueror's Haki gained over a thousand experience points.

Almost half of what he had gained from his prolonged sparring with Fujitora.

His Conqueror's Haki had advanced further, reaching LV-2, with noticeable improvements in both quality and intimidation.

"Is the gap between sparring and real combat really this large?"

"Is it because my opponent was truly determined to defeat—or even kill me—unlike my earlier battles with Fujitora, which were mere sparring, making the refinement of willpower far stronger?"

Gao Wen found his answer, and thinking of Straw Hat, he speculated:

"Perhaps it also relates to the power disparity between myself and the opponent—the weaker I am compared to the opponent, the stronger the refinement of willpower."

"Looking at Straw Hat's journey, since leaving the East Blue, he has been in a constant underdog position."

"Whether Crocodile, Enel, Rob Lucci, Katakuri, or Kaido, all were stronger than Straw Hat at the time—some even utterly overwhelming."

"It was through these battles that he forged his Conqueror's Haki, ultimately achieving Conqueror's Haki Coating—the pinnacle of Haki—under Kaido's pressure in Wano."

"But high reward means high risk. For me, the ideal approach is still to harvest the leeks."

Gao Wen's combat power is now approaching its critical threshold.

His victory over Jin the Burning Disaster alone proves he is among the absolute top tier below the Shōkō class.

The next level of opponents are the Shōkō-class warriors, representing the peak combat power of this world.

To be honest,

At their peak, these powerhouses are either all-around masters with no glaring weaknesses, or specialists with one extraordinary ability so potent it compensates for all other flaws.

The clearest example of the former is Kaido of the Beasts; the latter includes Hyouzou and Mihawk.

Once a Shōkō-class warrior engages in battle, unless their traits are completely countered, it is not easy to determine a victor in a short time.

And to establish oneself at this level, a high-level Conqueror's Haki is almost mandatory.

The greatest gap between Gao Wen and these beings lies precisely here.

"Yet... leeks who master Conqueror's Haki..."

Suddenly, several young faces flashed through Gao Wen's mind:

"Eustass Kid, Fire Fist Ace, and Empress Boa Hancock… none are easy targets."

Gao Wen let out a bitter laugh:

"But trying to make my subordinates awaken on their own is just a matter of probability—it's more practical to find a ready-made leek."

"Of these three, the one with the greatest potential…"

After pondering, Gao Wen still found no viable solution, so he set the issue aside for now:

"Forget it. I'll take it one step at a time."

"If all else fails, I can still become a king through a hundred battles myself—that's not a bad option."

Gao Wen took a deep breath, shook off his tangled thoughts, and turned to look out the window at the deck.

All he saw were a group of shirtless, rugged men lifting weights on the deck; Xiang Keluo, who had just left, was among them—even one of the most intense.

Most noticeable, however, was Miss Kalifa, standing in a corner of the deck, directly facing the captain's cabin window.

From Gao Wen's angle, he could even see the graceful curves of her figure and the occasional glimpse of skin.

Gao Wen's lip twitched; he immediately pulled the curtain shut, yet felt a sigh of relief:

"This woman has fallen for it. I can finally have some peace for a while."

…

Elsewhere.

In the ship's infirmary.

Chopper, accompanied by two ship doctors, was conducting follow-up checks on Nami and the others.

A few minutes later,

Chopper put down his instruments and exhaled deeply:

"The spores in your bodies have been completely eliminated—no residue remains. The efficacy of the miracle drug exceeded my expectations."

Nami reached out and ruffled Chopper's head, smiling slightly:

"No, this is all thanks to you, Doctor Chopper."

"Shut up!"

Chopper's tone was harsh, yet his smile could not be hidden, causing the two nearby ship doctors to burst into laughter.

Since joining the ship, he had risen to become the chief ship doctor of Gao Wen's pirate crew.

The two of them held no dissatisfaction whatsoever.

After all, this seemingly cute and frail little reindeer had solved the viral spores that had left them all in despair, even formulating a special cure within a few days and saving the patients of an entire nation.

Such an achievement was worthy of being remembered by any doctor.

Suddenly.

A series of sharp, powerful shouts echoed from outside the ship's medical room.

"Ha!"

"Hey!"

"Heh!"

Nami paused, speaking with a hint of helplessness:

"Really... have those idiots started again?!"

"What?"

Chopper didn't understand.

Since boarding the ship these past few days, he had basically stayed in the medical room, organizing various instruments, sorting through the ship's medical records, and preparing emergency medicines.

Only today did he finally have some free time to conduct re-examinations for Nami and the others.

He twitched his ears, noticed the sounds from the deck, and asked in confusion:

"That's First Mate Xiang Keluo, Captain Akin, and Sanji's voices. What are they doing?! Training?"

Nami's mouth twitched, and she instinctively nodded.

Just thinking of those people's training scenes left her speechless.

To her, everything should have a limit; excessive obsession with training would drive a person mad.

But that group enjoyed it tirelessly, as if they had contracted some kind of infectious disease!

She thought of her own body of rock-hard muscles and her five-meter-tall stature, and couldn't help but shiver.

She then turned to look at Chopper and warned him solemnly:

"Chopper, remember, no matter what, you must not become obsessed with training like Xiang Keluo and the others."

Chopper nodded blankly, though his eyes kept drifting toward the window, filled with curiosity.

"Don't look!"

Seeing this, Nami directly forced Chopper's head back to face forward and threatened:

"That is a very terrifying disease!"

"It's contagious!"

Ever since Miss Kalifa, with her thick eyebrows and bright eyes, gave up on dealing with Gao Wen and instead joined the ship's army of crazed internal competition, Nami couldn't help but feel afraid.

She didn't want to be the only normal person on this ship by the time it was over; oh, except for Gao Wen, who could stay in the captain's room until death while doing nothing but eating.

"Sigh..."

"My life is so hard."

Nami sighed, only to look down and realize that Chopper had already broken free, running quickly toward the door while muttering:

"I am the Chief Doctor of the Gao Wen Pirates. I am destined to become the existence of the Universal Cure. How can I stand by and watch my companions contract a disease without healing them?"

Having said that, Chopper's expression became firm, as if he had made some kind of decision.

With Nami's despairing gaze upon him, Chopper directly pushed open the door to the medical room and walked toward the deck.

"It's over..."

Nami placed a hand on her forehead.

She had a premonition that before long, Chopper would also join the training army, lifting iron wildly all day long until he gained a body of extremely strong, rock-hard muscles.

No... you're a doctor?!

Nami imagined it.

A doctor five meters tall with arms as thick as cannons, holding a surgical knife only a few centimeters long, performing surgery on her; the image made her shiver instantly.

She was truly afraid that the other party might accidentally crush her.

No!

Chopper cannot fall to evil too!

Nami stood up and chased after him.

Bang!

Chopper pushed open the cabin door and saw a group of bare-chested burly men, leaving him momentarily stunned.

"Yo!"

"Newbie!"

Akin curled a smile at the corner of his mouth, his iron-lifting motion unceasing as he displayed his reddened pectoral muscles.

Ever since consuming the Bone-Bone Fruit, his body had begun to develop once more; in just a few short months, his height had already exceeded two point four meters, yet there was still not the slightest sign of slowing down.

Clearly, harder bones could support a greater amount of muscle mass.

In terms of pure strength alone, Akin was the only one among the officers capable of going head-to-head with Gao Wen.

His entire body had become extremely muscular, and when spliced together with that sickly face, the impact was maximized.

The pirates on the deck also turned to look at Chopper, smiles appearing on their lips as they couldn't help but speak up.

"As a doctor, you can't get by without a good physique!"

"Come on, join us, and you will become stronger!"

"As long as you try it once, you will experience its beauty: muscles torn apart and regrown, with pleasure and pain coexisting!"

"Challenge your limits!"

(End of this chapter)