In the aftermath of the crisis, as the kingdom of Alabasta celebrated its liberation, the Straw Hats gathered on the deck of the Going Merry, their gazes continually drifting toward Kenji. He sat, seemingly lost in thought, the ever-present aura of controlled power surrounding him.
"You took out a Warlord," Zoro said bluntly, leaning against the main mast, his three swords sheathed. "Not just defeated him, you ended him, before Luffy even got his third wind."
"And you made Luffy melt the ground with his bare hands later," Usopp chimed in, shivering.
Kenji merely shrugged. "Luffy still got the official win and the fame. That's the important part. My job is to clear the path, not walk the stage."
He had quietly duplicated the concept of Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Mi (Apex: Full-spectrum Elasticity) but instead of keeping it, he had subtly bestowed a portion of the enhanced elasticity onto Luffy's body, boosting his tensile strength just enough to allow him to beat Crocodile's hardened sand with a single, powerful attack.
Nami approached him, holding a piece of paper—an updated bounty poster for a certain Warlord. "We all saw it, Kenji. You're... on a different level. You saved all of us, saved this entire kingdom, with barely a sweat."
"I am dependable," Kenji repeated, echoing the initial request. "And I have faith in your captain's dream. That is enough for me.