Fame

More than a week had passed since the battle between the Whitebeard Pirates and the two Four Emperors Crews.

The Whitebeard Pirates had truly stolen the spotlight in that battle. Two of the Big Mom Pirates’ Sweet Commanders, along with Perospero, the Big Mom Pirates’ eldest son, had all been captured. It was said that after the news reached Totto Land, Big Mom’s terrifying, ghostly wails echoed across all of Cake Island for an entire night.

Kaido of the Beasts had been thoroughly beaten down by Whitebeard, further cementing Whitebeard’s title as the strongest of the Four Emperors. Kaido’s legend as the strongest in a one-on-one fight had been shattered as well. Furthermore, Jack, one of his All-Stars, had been captured in that battle. More than half of his elite subordinates—those artificial Devil Fruit users, ancient giant test subjects, and the like—had been killed or injured. The entire pirate crew had suffered a devastating blow.

For a time, the Whitebeard Pirates’ reputation was red-hot. Yota and the other two had also become famous in a single battle by riding this wave. Now, whenever pirates spoke of the Whitebeard Pirates, they vaguely regarded them as the foremost of the Four Emperors Crews.

Of course, none of that meant much to Yota. What made him happiest was that nearly every pirate in the Whitebeard Pirates, as well as the captives, had suffered fairly serious injuries during the battle.

Injuries naturally required treatment. Marco had always been the Whitebeard Pirates’ ship doctor, and his medical skills were unquestionably superb. But compared to Yota’s Munch-Munch Fruit ability, which could heal injuries instantly, he was far behind.

In just one day, Yota had obtained a massive amount of bodily data. Katakuri, Jack, Diamond Jozu… Though their physical data was far inferior to Whitebeard’s, each of them had their own strengths. Yota was now worrying over how to combine their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses in order to modify his own body using all of their advantages.

Yota’s modification ability could even imitate certain Devil Fruit powers that manifested physically. For example, by using Diamond Jozu’s genetic makeup, Yota could modify his body’s structure to become tougher. Katakuri’s genetic makeup, meanwhile, could greatly enhance his flexibility.

However, human genes had limited carrying capacity. They naturally could not be as absurd as Devil Fruits, and the bodily structures of these people also conflicted with one another to some degree. The initial modifications had brought tremendous gains, but the farther he went, the more he could only tweak minor details. His improvements slowed dramatically.

So far, the greatest progress Yota had ever made in body modification was when he obtained Ace’s body structure. That was because, at the time, he had never undergone any body modifications before.

It’d be great if I could make something like artificial chips. Studying all these people’s body structures with just my own brain is killing me.

Inside the Fourth Division’s cabin, Yota trained while carrying a massive ballast stone on his back, letting out a sigh.

Training my body during the day and studying human anatomy at night… I feel like I’m about to be worked to death! If I ever transmigrate into some high-tech world, I could just swallow something like an artificial intelligence and take off immediately.

Body modifications could only increase Yota’s potential; they did not directly improve his strength by much. He still needed training to achieve the greatest gains. Thus, whenever Yota completed a modification during this period, he would diligently train his body.

In any case, the Munch-Munch Fruit made body modification incredibly simple, and there was no issue of being unable to make further changes after a modification was complete. Yota could naturally modify himself while training at the same time, which also allowed him to test how effective his modification plans truly were.

"Yota, it’s time to eat!"

Thatch’s voice came from the doorway. Yota immediately answered, "Okay, I’ll be right there."

If there was one thing the Fourth Division did best, it was food. After all, their Squad Commander was a chef, and the crewmen under him all served as kitchen hands. Every one of them had some skill in cooking.

Sure enough, after staying with the Fourth Division for just a few months, Yota felt that he had put on quite a bit of weight. He had even grown taller, reaching nearly 1.9 meters now.

After a lavish meal, Yota was in no hurry to return to training. Instead, he sat at the dining table and chatted with Thatch to help digest his food.

"So, have those Charlotte Pirates and Beasts Pirates guys all been sent back already?"

Picking at his teeth, Yota said with an amused grin, "I didn’t expect it to happen so fast. I wonder how much compensation the two Pirate Crews had to pay?"

"There’s a precedent for this. Usually, they have to pay double the bounty," Thatch said with a smile. "Besides, once they’re sent back this time, everyone will probably get paid. Yota, you made quite a contribution in this war. You’ll earn at least several hundred million Beli!"

Yota said in surprise, "Even I get a share? Didn’t the Whitebeard Pirates accept this battle because of us Spade Pirates?"

"Even without you, we Whitebeard Pirates have fought the other Four Emperors Crews plenty of times before. It’s just that the scale usually wasn’t this big, and fighters on Pops’ and Kaido’s level wouldn’t normally get involved," Thatch said indifferently.

"Besides, there are established rules for dividing spoils. For instance, Pops takes twenty percent of the spoils first, and the remainder is distributed according to merit and position."

"Oh, speaking of positions, Yota, do you want to become a Squad Commander? Ace has already become the captain of the Second Division."

Yota shook his head. "Sounds like too much trouble. I’ll pass."

More importantly, if he became a Squad Commander, how would he keep lurking in the Fourth Division? Yota was still counting on getting the Dark-Dark Fruit.

"Yota, you really don’t have much ambition, do you? Even Yamato is preparing to form a division of her own!" Thatch said with a hint of emotion.

Before Yota could respond, a voice rang out from the distant lookout. "Captain, there’s a pirate ship in the distance! It should be the target of our mission—the Dire Wolf Pirates who raided one of our subordinate islands."

Yota’s eyes lit up at those words. "Perfect. I just finished eating, so I’ll go get some exercise and work it off!"

Before his words had even faded, he had already leaped off the pirate ship.

"Brother Yota’s been way too proactive lately. He doesn’t even leave anyone else a chance to fight," Thatch muttered, completely baffled.

In truth, Yota only knew that Thatch had obtained the Dark-Dark Fruit; he had no idea exactly how he got it. But thinking it over carefully, the most likely possibility was that it had come from the spoils of war.

So lately, whenever there was a battle, Yota would immediately charge ahead. He wanted to find the Dark-Dark Fruit as early as possible and avoid any unforeseen complications.

At that moment, aboard the opposing ship.

"Captain, the ship opposite us seems to be a subordinate pirate crew of the Whitebeard Pirates!"

"What? How were we discovered so quickly? Turn the helm, hurry up and prepare to run!"

"Captain, someone’s coming over the sea! Oh my god, he’s running on the water!"

"Fire the cannons! Fire!"

"He’s coming!"

"Argh…!"