Chapter 415: Merry’s Strength Unveiled and a Ship Falls from the Sky

The only reason Robin thought this way was because, lately, every time she took the medicine, she could clearly feel her strength skyrocketing way too fast.

According to Sanji, it took them nearly two months of taking the medicine to hit its limit, but Robin could already sense her progress slowing down.

It was obvious Ye Fan had added a larger dose to Robin’s water.

But why was he in such a hurry?

It must be because the thing he’s working on is nearly ready. He needed her strength to ramp up fast to handle some looming challenge. But what kind of problem could force him to rush like this? The crew is made up of vice admiral-level pirates—you barely see a team like that even in the New World.

Honestly, a pirate crew where everyone is vice admiral-tier could probably take a shot at challenging the Four Emperors. Did Ye Fan go through all this trouble just to make Luffy into a Yonko, or even King of the Pirates?

But if that’s his goal, what’s he really after?

“Bang!”

As Robin got lost in thought, time slipped by. The kitchen doors swung open and a mouthwatering aroma drifted out.

Gin and Sanji stepped out one after the other.

Luffy, who was practically bursting with impatience, dashed to the cabin door and slapped a button on the rail. Slowly, a giant round table rose up in the middle of the deck—big enough for dozens to feast at once.

“Meat!” Luffy’s eyes sparkled like stars as he zipped straight to the head of the table, already gripping a knife in one hand and a fork in the other, yelling at the top of his lungs.

Usopp and Chopper weren’t far behind. They sat to Luffy’s left and right, leaving more than a meter between each person—just to keep Luffy from stealing their food.

Robin and Nami sat down next to Chopper, while the ship spirit took the seat right between them.

Merry—the new name for the ship spirit—was a name everyone agreed on.

“Hey, Merry, you can actually eat food?” Maybe it was because Merry was the ship spirit, but Chopper had a natural fondness for him.

Chopper couldn’t take his eyes off Merry. The moment he saw Merry swallow a piece of meat without a second thought, he gasped out loud.

“Nani, nani?”

“Ahahaha!”

“Ye Fan, look! Merry can really eat food!”

Even though Luffy was laughing as he said it, Ye Fan knew what Luffy was getting at. Can a ship spirit really eat?

“Don’t worry. Thanks to my modifications, Merry’s no different from a real person now.”

“Plus, Merry’s no lightweight. Every punch he throws packs as much force as the Merry’s full weight.”

“Zoro, you should start sparring with Merry. Every swing packs more than a hundred tons of force.”

Ye Fan had done thorough calculations. The ship couldn’t be too huge or it would sail poorly.

So the upper limit was around 80 meters long and 50 meters tall—roughly three times the size of the future Thousand Sunny.

Of course, they’re only about halfway to that limit for now. Even so, everyone gets their own room—a true luxury.

“What? I never imagined Merry would be that strong! Looks like we’ve got ourselves another powerhouse on the team,” Usopp cheered. The more fighters up front, the safer he’d be sniping in the back.

“But…”

The moment Ye Fan said ‘but,’ everyone’s heart skipped a beat. Was something wrong?

Seeing everyone staring at him, Ye Fan just grinned. He hadn’t expected them all to react so fast. “Just kidding!” He laughed out loud.

“Merry’s true self is still the Merry. As long as the ship stays safe, Merry won’t ever be in real danger. Even if the spirit fades, it can re-form on the ship. But if the ship itself takes real damage, Merry could be lost for good.”

“Relax! With me, the great Sea Warrior, nobody’s gonna lay a finger on the Merry!” Usopp stood up, thumping his chest. He’d poured the most feeling into this ship—after all, it carried all his longing for Kaya.

The others nodded too. If their enemies really destroyed their ship, they wouldn’t deserve to call themselves pirates.

If the only thing letting them roam the sea got trashed, it could only mean one of two things—either they all died in battle or lost it through sheer incompetence.

“Everyone, I’ll take good care of myself, promise.” Merry, moved by their concern, stood up and bowed to them one at a time, tears sparkling at the corner of his eyes.

If not for Luffy and the others loving this ship so much, he wouldn’t have awakened this quickly.

“Alright, all the dishes are ready. Dig in!” Sanji placed the last massive plate of roast meat on the table—it took up a third of the space.

That giant slab of roast meat had been cooked on a grill at the far side of the deck, which was built in for outdoor barbecues.

Ye Fan designed it himself, just to keep up with Luffy’s bottomless appetite.

“Ahahaha!”

“A toast to Merry joining the crew!”

Clang, clang, clang!

Glasses clinked as everyone raised their drinks, grinning from ear to ear.

…

“What’s that?”

The next day at noon, Usopp was on lookout duty. He suddenly sensed danger overhead, quickly grabbed the nearby telescope, and scanned the sky.

What he saw made his eyes go wide. A ship was falling from the sky! He yelled down to Zoro, who’d been meditating on the deck, “Hey, Zoro! There’s a ship dropping out of the sky!”

“Huh?”

“From the sky?”

Zoro opened his eyes, ending his meditation. Since he was the only one on deck, Usopp had no choice but to call for him.

There was no way Usopp could handle a crashing wreck by himself. If he tried, he might end up smashing the Merry by accident.

Ever since learning Merry was alive, Usopp couldn’t stand the thought of anything dangerous touching his precious ship.

Whoosh!

Usopp stared at Zoro, but didn’t even catch how fast his sword flashed.

That falling, beat-up ship was chopped clean in two by Zoro’s slash—both halves plummeted to either side of the Merry.

Boom!

Massive debris slammed down on both sides of the Merry, sending the sea roiling and making the ship rock like crazy.

“What’s going on? What happened?” Luffy burst out of the cabin on wooden sandals, roast meat clamped in his mouth.

The roast was charred black in spots and bright red in others—obviously he’d been sneaking food.

The commotion drew everyone else out from the cabin too.

Most of them were still hungover from last night, which explained why the sun was so high and hardly anyone had left their rooms.

“A ship dropped out of the sky. I’m going to check it out.”

At some point, Usopp had already climbed down from the lookout, geared up in a wetsuit with his diving goggles on. He hustled over to the rail and, with a splash, jumped right in.