Chapter 40:
Victor heard Shakky's words and immediately felt puzzled.
"What do you mean? I don't quite understand."
Victor felt completely confused.
"I feel Hive Island has been unstable lately. My intuition tells me something big is going to happen. I want to ask little brother Victor for insurance."
Shakky continued explaining her feeling.
"Oh? Then what does Shakky-nee want me to do?"
Victor knew Shakky wouldn't contact him without reason.
"I hope little brother Victor can lend me a hand if I fall into danger."
"Just consider it repayment for the favor of giving you the Glutton-Glutton Fruit news. How about it?"
Shakky stated her purpose—or rather, her request.
"Good. I accept."
"But I'm very curious—why did Shakky-nee only come to me?"
After listening, Victor didn't hesitate and agreed immediately.
This was the promise he made when he asked Shakky to find the Glutton-Glutton Fruit—keeping his word.
"Because my intuition tells me little brother Victor is a trustworthy person."
Shakky said with a smile.
"Is that so? Then thank you for the compliment, Shakky-nee."
Victor nodded and said.
Afterward, Shakky seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and hung up the Den Den Mushi.
Victor fell into thought after hearing Shakky's words, then recalculated the date of the God Valley battle.
It looked like the God Valley war was coming.
Soon after, Roger and the others came over to ask about the call.
Victor honestly told them and said he would help Shakky.
But not long after, they saw a newspaper with the God Valley incident prominently featured.
The Celestial Dragons were about to hold a hunting game there—and one of the prizes was actually Shakky.
This shocked Victor and the others. They hadn't expected Shakky's worry to come true so quickly.
So Roger immediately decided to head to God Valley.
In the following days, Victor trained swordsmanship with Roger to increase his strength—actually, it was blade technique.
No helping it—in this world, swords and blades are called the same thing.
During this time, he also developed a new ability: swallowing attacks and then spitting them back at enemies.
This was like wearing a reflective armor—and the ability only required summoning the Gluttonous Giant Mouth to swallow.
Of course, there was no need for him to risk using his own mouth for such a dangerous act.
Roger saw Victor's new ability and was very shocked.
"Kid Victor—this Glutton-Glutton Fruit can actually be developed to this level. No wonder you went to such lengths to get it."
Roger said in great surprise.
"There are still limitations. It consumes a lot of stamina and can only swallow briefly before spitting out quickly."
"Otherwise, I'll still get hurt. And it requires a very strong physique."
Victor explained.
"Hahaha—being able to do this much is already very impressive. You're still not satisfied?"
Roger laughed loudly.
And just at that moment, Rayleigh came over.
"Roger—news from God Valley. The Celestial Dragons are about to hold their hunting game."
"Also got word that the Rocks Pirates have rallied their subordinate crews and are about to attack God Valley."
Rayleigh said with a somewhat grave expression.
"Hahaha—is it finally starting?"
Roger wasn't worried at all—he just laughed.
"Hmm—we're not far from God Valley. We can make it in time."
Rayleigh nodded and said.
"Good—then set course for God Valley."
Roger gave the order to change direction toward God Valley without hesitation.
Victor was shaken when he heard the news—the God Valley battle was finally about to begin.
Up to now, they had been with the Roger Pirates for a full year. All the crew partners were now familiar with each other.
Previously, everyone on the Plant Scholars had awakened Haki—even the Elli-Eni twin doctors had awakened Observation Haki.
However, they weren't combat personnel, so there were no high demands on them.
During this time, everyone participated in numerous battles against pirate crews and gained very rich combat experience.
Beli had also raised both colors of Haki to mid-level—he had become a mid-tier combat force.
Vinnie and Nozaki in Water 7 and Sabaody reported collected information to Victor every month, including Devil Fruits obtained from auctions and so on.
In this one year, Victor had also developed the Glutton-Glutton Fruit to a deeper level—the summoned Gluttonous Giant Mouth was even larger.
Unfortunately, he still hadn't awakened the Glutton-Glutton Fruit's true awakening.
Since they were about to participate in the God Valley battle, Victor prepared to eat a second Devil Fruit.
The main reason he decided to eat a second Devil Fruit was that after eating the Glutton-Glutton Fruit, he was no longer afraid of seawater.
So he took out the long-cherished Rumble-Rumble Fruit from his inner space.
Just as he was about to eat it, Heracles immediately rushed over to stop him.
"Hey hey, Victor—you're not planning to eat another Devil Fruit, are you?"
Heracles asked in great confusion.
"Kid Victor—think carefully. Except for some special races, I've never heard of anyone possessing two Devil Fruit abilities."
Jabba didn't stop him but reminded him.
"Victor—I'm not trying to scare you, but there are precedents of people dying after eating two Devil Fruits. I suggest you consider it carefully."
Rayleigh also reminded him—he felt Victor was already strong enough and didn't need to take this risk.
"Victor—listen to them. There's really no need to take this risk. You're already powerful enough."
Heracles tightly grabbed Victor's hand, refusing to let him eat.
"Hahaha—Heracles, let go. Since kid Victor wants to eat it, that means he has confidence. This is probably the reason he was so obsessed with the Glutton-Glutton Fruit."
"And as a strong person, once you've made up your mind, it means you've already prepared for death."
"Heracles—how can you stop kid Victor's determination to become stronger?"
Roger saw everyone trying to dissuade Victor and instead laughed loudly in support.
"You've really decided?"
After hearing Roger, Heracles calmed his agitated emotions, then looked seriously into Victor's eyes and asked.
"Hmm, Heracles—don't worry. It'll be fine."
Victor nodded and said.
Although Heracles let go of Victor's hand, the worry in his eyes was still very obvious.
All the partners on the Plant Scholars looked at Victor with great concern.
Especially Beli—his eyes had already turned red.
Victor saw this and didn't hesitate anymore. He directly opened the Gluttonous Giant Mouth and swallowed the entire Devil Fruit.
Although Roger had said he supported it, at this moment even he stopped laughing and stared intently at Victor.
The entire Plant Scholars fell silent—everyone looked toward Victor.
"Ah~"
Victor suddenly let out a loud cry after eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
This immediately startled everyone present. Beli was already crying.
"What's wrong? How do you feel? Crocus—quick, come check on the captain!"
Heracles quickly grabbed Victor's hand and shouted anxiously.
Instantly, everyone on the ship became tense.
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