"Ah-haha, looks like I've been found out."
"Captain, how did you know I could use that move?" Nami asked curiously.
"Duh, I watch you every single day. I more or less know how you've been changing." Arton said.
"You watch me every day, huh? Hehe." A smile bloomed on Nami's face.
Being watched by Arton every day at least proved she had a pretty strong pull on him. That alone was enough to make Nami happy.
"Alright then, I was actually planning to surprise everyone with it someday." Nami said, closing her eyes. "But since you're saying that, Arton, I'll go ahead and use it right now."
Rumble!
A bolt of lightning suddenly shot down from the sky and crashed into Nami.
Right after, her body began to change. Her originally short orange hair lengthened into deep-purple locks that fell to her waist.
Her originally lively, playful outfit was replaced with a kimono.
"So this is Miss Nami's Mythical Zoan ability? Is it just my imagination, or does it feel like there's a god standing in front of me?" Morgans muttered to himself as he scribbled in his notebook. "I even feel this urge to kneel and worship."
Carina stared intently at Nami, who had entered Template Fusion Mode, wanting to see what she was going to do.
Just then, Nami suddenly opened her eyes.
Immediately, with Nami at the center, waves of pitch-black power laced with violet lightning spread out in all directions.
Ace, Morgans, and the others stared in shock, and by the time they snapped back to their senses, they realized they had already arrived in a very mysterious-looking space.
"Where is this place?" Ace looked at Nami in curiosity.
Robin also temporarily set aside the idea of continuing her match with Ace and turned to look at the proud expression on Nami's face.
"Heh-heh, this is my Plane of Euthymia. If you fight here, you don't have to worry about damaging the ship." Nami said, hands on her hips. "So, you two can go all out now."
"Plane of Euthymia? What's that?" Morgans repeated curiously.
"What we call the Plane of Euthymia is an inner realm space." Arton waved his hand casually as he explained. "You can think of it as an ability similar to Unlimited Blade Works. It's a power that can display the space inside your heart right in front of everyone's eyes."
That said, only he truly understood that the space of Unlimited Blade Works and the space of the Plane of Euthymia were actually very different.
Of course, using this space as a place for Ace and Robin to cross swords was perfectly suitable.
However, if the energy that Ace and Robin released went beyond what Nami could endure, the Plane of Euthymia would naturally shatter.
But that was not the kind of detail Arton had any reason to bring up in front of Morgans. Thinking that, Arton glanced over at Morgans, who was rapidly jotting things down.
"Morgans, when it comes to payback and so on, you'd better be careful about what you write." Arton said. "Otherwise, I might not agree to your interview requests in the future."
"Got it, got it, Mr. Arton, hahaha." Morgans laughed. With that, he focused his gaze on Robin and Ace.
Even though he still had plenty of questions about this space, what Morgans was most interested in right now was the match between Robin and Ace.
He was very curious to see just how far Robin, who had received power from Arton, could push that power.
Chapter 440 – Robin Shows Her Strength, Ace Starts Doubting Life
Domino: "So it wasn't Musou no Hitotachi, but the Plane of Euthymia. Is this the newest power Nami's mastered?"
Kujaku: "Even if we don't know exactly what this Plane of Euthymia does, just opening up an all-new space already gives it considerable strategic value."
Kalifa: "If we run into enemies in the future, Nami can completely use the Plane of Euthymia to hide herself, or to launch a surprise attack on them."
Smoothie: "And if Nami brought Arton along with her into the Plane of Euthymia to mount a surprise attack, I can hardly imagine how the enemy would deal with that kind of~ offensive."
Yamato: "If Arton suddenly appeared in front of that bastard old man of mine, it'd definitely scare the hell out of him, right? By the way, can this Plane of Euthymia block Observation Haki from peeking inside?"
Gion: "Guess that's what you'd expect from a thunder god's template. Besides overwhelming martial and sword skills, the Raiden Shogun even commands abilities like the Plane of Euthymia."
Vivi: "I wonder if the Raiden Shogun's template has other abilities besides the Plane of Euthymia."
Ulti: "If even the Raiden Shogun's template still has powers that haven't been demonstrated, doesn't that mean the other templates also have abilities that haven't shown up yet? Damn it, this just makes me want a template more and more."
Ace looked left, then right, little murmurs of wonder slipping out of his mouth.
"This space really is incredible. I can still use Observation Haki… but my Observation Haki can't sense anything outside this world." Ace looked at Robin as he spoke. "Hey, don't tell me we've already gotten far away from the sea?"
"You're asking the wrong person~." Robin said. "After all, I'm not the one who used that move."
"I just figured, since you're Arton and Nami's crewmate, you'd be the one to ask." Ace said, scratching the back of his head.
"Be that as it may, I haven't been with the Flameblade Pirates for very long. There are still a lot of things about this pirate crew that I don't know."
"Besides, my time is limited. If possible, could you stop chatting and focus?" Robin asked.
"Alright." Ace nodded and said, "Since Nami's already opened up a space like this specifically for our match… It'd be rude of me to keep holding back. Robin, you'd better watch yourself from here on."
As he spoke, a huge mass of flames flared up in Ace's hand.
Robin's brows drew together. She could feel that the temperature of the flames in Ace's hand absolutely couldn't compare to Signora's flames… but Ace's flames definitely weren't any kind of low heat either.
Robin took a deep breath, gathering icy power into both hands as she stared at Ace with even greater vigilance.
"Alright then, here I come." Ace grinned, raised his arm, and unleashed his signature move at Robin. "Fire Fist!"
The surging flames gathered in Ace's hand, then turned into a gigantic fireball nearly ten meters across that roared toward Robin.
Seeing this, Robin was surprised, but because she'd already witnessed Signora's power before, she could still accept it.
Her eyes narrowed, and she thrust both hands toward the fireball Ace had launched.
In an instant, a blast of powerful cold condensed into an ice sphere that smashed into Ace's fireball.
The two collided with an enormous boom.
From the point where the fireball and ice sphere met, a thick mist billowed outward in all directions.
Gion: "This Robin really did end up taking Ace's move head-on."
Smoothie: "That's seriously impressive. Ace pretty much pushed that last move of his to the limit, and Robin actually managed to take it!"
Kujaku: "The old Robin would never have had power on this level. No— even with a template, she shouldn't be this strong. Is she just too compatible with Signora's template? Or did she rack up way, way too many points beforehand?"
Kalifa: "What a dangerous woman… but that does make things entertaining. A woman who already hates the World Government has now gained power— the World Government must be absolutely miserable. Hehe, just imagining it makes me happy."
…
"You actually took that move?"
Ace stared wide-eyed at Robin, who had beads of sweat on her forehead, utterly incredulous.
You had to understand—he'd thrown out that Fire Fist fully intending to end the fight right then and there.
And the result? The Robin in front of him had only broken a slight sweat?
For someone like Ace, who'd always been so confident in his own strength, this couldn't help but make him start doubting his entire life.
....
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