Erina nodded and gently placed her palm against it.
She closed her eyes and slowly began infusing the power of her newly acquired More-More Fruit, the ability to amplify and accelerate objects, into the Rasenshuriken.
Instantly, the Rasenshuriken expanded dramatically.
From a regular Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, it suddenly grew into a Wind Release: Big Ball Rasenshuriken.
Everyone was startled.
Alice's eyes widened: "This... it's three times bigger than before, isn't it?"
But Makoto said with a smile, "Once Erina masters this power, it will become even stronger."
With that, Makoto threw the More-More Fruit-enhanced [Big Ball Rasenshuriken] away.
The blue-white energy sphere left his hand and flew high into the sky.
Boom—!!!
The sky exploded. Wind and clouds changed abruptly.
The massive blue-white energy sphere exploded in the upper atmosphere, tearing a giant hole in the sky. Clouds were rolled up, shredded, and evaporated, revealing the deep starry sky behind.
Sunlight poured down through that hole, brightly illuminating the sea surface.
That was the power of the More-More Fruit.
Moreover, the power Erina had just demonstrated was only at threefold amplification.
According to the previous user, Byrnndi World, the fruit's limit was the ability to amplify inanimate objects a hundredfold.
This was why Makoto said the More-More Fruit wasn't just combat-oriented but could also serve as a support fruit… it could amplify other people's special moves.
Erina was very satisfied with her new ability.
Makoto also mapped out her future growth path: focus on support.
In future battles, Erina wouldn't need to fight herself. She only needed to buff her teammates.
The other ladies looked at Erina with some envy. Although most of them had agreed to let Erina eat the fruit, seeing how powerful her ability was, they couldn't help feeling a little jealous.
Itsuki turned to look at John and asked him curiously, "Why would you give away such a powerful Devil Fruit? Couldn't you have let one of your own men eat it?"
Although John himself was already a Devil Fruit user and couldn't eat a second one-
In Itsuki's view, he could have let one of his subordinates eat it. Why hand over such a powerful fruit?
Robin saw through it at a glance: "If a subordinate becomes much stronger than the captain, that would be very dangerous."
John broke out in a cold sweat.
'This woman was truly smart.'
What Robin said was exactly right. If he let one of his underlings eat it, that underling would become too strong. What would he, the captain, do then?
After thinking it over, it was better to give it to Makoto. At least in exchange, he could secure the other party's protection.
Makoto also said with a laugh, "You're so generous, I'd feel bad killing you."
Indeed, John, as the user of the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, had originally been one of Makoto's targets.
Now that he had pulled this move, Makoto really couldn't bring himself to kill him.
John wiped his cold sweat and said, "My lord, you jest."
Then, John made a request to Makoto, hoping to join his ranks.
Makoto said, "You don't need to join. But I can lend you my flag."
After all, since the man had given him such a powerful Devil Fruit, Makoto felt he should give something in return.
John was overjoyed. This was an answer that exceeded his expectations.
It was well known that pirates were a bunch of dishonest bastards. More often than not, they would break an agreement the moment it was made. Such things happened all the time.
Makoto, for all his faults, at least kept his word. Among pirates, that made him an absolute paragon of morality.
Just then, a flock of News Coos flew overhead.
Nami waved one down and bought a newspaper.
Opening it, her expression changed.
"Crocodile has been defeated!"
At these words, quite a few people's expressions shifted slightly.
Makoto acted as if this was nothing new.
'It seemed Luffy had already entered the Grand Line.'
Crocodile's Sand-Sand Fruit was fairly good, but its weakness to water was simply too fatal.
Although, once they left the One Piece World, the Devil Fruit's weakness to water would disappear, the problem was that Crocodile's Sand-Sand Fruit was weak even to ordinary water. It was too useless.
So Makoto hadn't bothered to have any of his women go after it.
Nami then flipped the newspaper to the second page and read the report aloud.
"The pirate who defeated Crocodile is a man named Monkey D. Luffy. His bounty is now 100 million Belly. Also bountied are his subordinates, [Pirate Hunter] Roronoa Zoro, with a bounty of 60 million Belly, and—"
Nami paused.
"[Effort King] Koby, with a bounty of 30 million Belly."
Makoto had been very calm… until he heard Nami say the name 'Koby', which made him completely dumbfounded.
"Who?"
He had Nami hand him the newspaper.
He looked at the content.
There, printed prominently in the newspaper, was Koby's bounty notice, with the epithet [Effort King].
Morgans had also explained the origin of the nickname:
During every battle, one of the Straw Hat Pirates' members, Helmeppo, would explain to everyone that Koby grew so fast because he put in two hundred times more effort than an ordinary person.
So Morgans gave the kid the nickname [Effort King].
After reading the report, Makoto was completely dumbfounded.
'What the hell was going on?'
'Koby and Helmeppo had joined the Straw Hat Pirates?'
It was rare to see Makoto make such a dumbfounded expression. The ladies were very curious and asked what the problem was.
Makoto stared blankly for a moment, then shook his head.
"...Nothing."
Then, he gave Nayuta a meaningful glance.
Nayuta immediately understood what Makoto meant.
She closed her eyes and began using her power as the Control Devil to manipulate Blackbeard, making him carry out the plan to attack Luffy.
Just then, Miyuki suddenly spoke up: "Commander, aren't we taking the Sand-Sand Fruit?"
Makoto waved his hand dismissively. "The Sand-Sand Fruit has too many weaknesses."
Miyuki hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Then... could I go and get it myself?"
At these words, everyone looked curiously at Miyuki.
Miyuki understood what they were thinking.
Although the Sand-Sand Fruit's weakness to water was a fatal flaw, to be honest, it was the best power-up he could possibly obtain.
He knew perfectly well that top-tier Devil Fruits like the Float-Float Fruit or the More-More Fruit would never fall to him.
Even middle-to-upper-tier fruits like the Flame-Flame Fruit or the Barrier-Barrier Fruit were basically out of his reach.
MILFs Team was also waiting their turn.
After all, there were so many women on Makoto's ship now.
Take his little sister, Kei, for example. She hadn't been able to secure a suitable Devil Fruit yet.
She was already a Makoto's wife, and she was still waiting for a power-up.
If a decent Devil Fruit appeared, no matter what, it would never go to him, the 'half-assed brother-in-law'.
Therefore, the Sand-Sand Fruit… rare, but with a fatal weakness that made Makoto overlook it, and a Logia type… naturally became his best option.
Makoto had no objection to this.
"If you want it, go get it," He said.
Miyuki was overjoyed.
The problem was, with his personal strength, breaking Crocodile out of Marine custody would be rather difficult.
Miyuki thought for a moment, then made a request to Beam: "Beam, would you come with me?"
Beam excelled at Fish-Man Karate, making him the perfect counter to Crocodile.
Moreover, as a Shark Devil, the sea was his home turf. Flipping over a Marine battleship and snatching Crocodile would be a piece of cake.
However, Beam wasn't too keen on going.
He had only had a mediocre relationship with Miyuki over the years.
In the past, that might have been one thing, but now that Makoto was back, he wanted to stay by Chainsaw-sama's side at all times. He had no interest in other errands.
Seeing this, Kei stepped forward and made the request to Beam on her brother's behalf.
Faced with Kei, who was now one of Makoto's women, Beam hesitated for a moment but eventually agreed.
After all, he couldn't disregard the wishes of his master's wife.