It has been over a day since Kuro pirates were defeated by Straw Hat Pirates. The battle wasn’t that dangerous for others but it became quite detrimental for one of their crew members.

Inside Kaya’s mansion,

A young man was sleeping on the bed with bandages all over his body. Liam had been unconscious for the entire day after that battle. But, at this moment, his eyes fluttered a little as he slowly opened his eyelids.

Liam looked around and saw Zoro sleeping while laying his back on the wall. 

“Oi Zoro!” Liam didn’t hesitate to wake him up. He knows Zoro gets more sleep than anyone else but of course, he also trains more than anyone else.

“Oh! You are awake.” It seemed like Zoro wasn’t fully asleep otherwise he wouldn’t have woken up with a single call. 

“How long was I out for?” Liam asked as he looked at the ceiling.

“Just a day! Sleep more and you will heal faster.” Zoro spoke as he closed his eyes.

“What the hell are you talking about? I feel completely normal.” Liam wasn’t lying. Normally, he would’ve felt pain after waking up but he felt an extra punch of energy flowing through his body.

“What are talking about you? Hey stop, don’t take those bandages off! Your wounds were severe.” Zoro saw him taking off those bandages and shouted. He stood up and rushed toward Liam but when he reached next to Liam, he was shocked.

Liam’s wounds were completely healed. In fact, there wasn’t even a single trace of a wound on his skin.

Creek!

“Yo, Liam, you finally woke up.” Luffy entered the room and walked closer to him.

“Why the hell did you take off your bandages? Your wounds were too severe. Huh! What the hell going on? You don’t seem wounded at all.” Nami also entered together with Luffy and Usopp. She was shocked to see his skin completely recovered.

“Isn’t that was recovery should do? I took a good nap and now, my body is healed. What’s the problem with that?” Liam rolled his eyes but he was shocked as well. He thought of tasting something, so he stood up.

But when he did, he saw the world spinning in front of him and slowly fell back to the bed. 

He lost his consciousness once again.

“I told him not to wake up.” Nami snorted as she clenched her fist.

“I don’t think he fell unconscious because of injuries. It must be the lack of nutrition. Usopp, let’s go and get some food for him.” Zoro looked at Liam and walked away.

“Food!” Luffy jumped up and hurriedly followed Zoro.

“You aren’t getting anything. You just went out with Nami to the restaurant.” Zoro pointed his index finger at Luffy and shouted.

“But, I am hungry.” Luffy begged.

“Then, stay hungry till dinner.” Zoro snorted as he closed the door before Luffy could come out. Although he couldn’t stop Luffy, he could still tell his intention.

After half an hour, Liam regained his consciousness. He slowly raised his upper body and touched his head. 

“What happened?”

“Your body lost all of its nutrition during the battle with those pirates so you didn’t get enough energy to stay conscious. Eat this before Luffy breaks out of those chains.” Nami pointed at the food on the table and then Luffy who was chained to the pillar.

“Nami, give me some food. I am hungry.” Luffy spoke with an exhausted expression.

“You need to control your stomach or we won’t be able to travel across one island. Geez! Why did he get the rubbery stomach?” Nami shouted at Luffy and sighed.

On other hand, Liam started devouring food. In less than ten minutes, he finished everything on the table.

“Food!” Luffy almost burst into tears seeing this. 

“Zoro, will you come with me? I have something to ask and also test.” Liam looked at Zoro and asked.

“Shouldn’t you get rest first?” Nami looked at him and asked.

“Didn’t I just eat?” Liam looked at her with confusion and asked.

“That’s not how it works,” Nami screamed but Liam and Zoro had already left.

“Nami, do you think Liam will train me?” Usopp asked from the side.

Nami turned at him and looked surprised.

“Why do you want to train with him?”

“I want to fight like him.” Usopp’s eyes brightened as he clenched his fist and spoke.

Nami tilted her head and asked, “But, aren’t you a snipper?”

“That’s not what I meant. I want to be brave like him. I want to fight without giving up. My dream is to become the Brave Warrior of the Sea. So, I want to be brave just like him.” Usopp learned a lot about Liam from Luffy.

And, the more he learned about Usopp, the more excited he got. He never expected Liam to be so brave. Even though he started as a weak person who would shout after punching someone, he could now take down a pirate crew by himself. And, all of this was only possible because he was brave enough to fight.

When Usopp saw Luffy using devil fruit, he found Luffy as a monster whose strength he can never rival but Liam was a completely different case for him.

Just within a few days, Liam became stronger like Luffy and Zoro. He might not be as strong as them but he was getting stronger.

“Well, if you join our crew, then he wouldn’t mind training you.” Nami smiled and shrugged her shoulders as she spoke.

“Alright then, I will be the Captain.” Usopp said with a serious tone.

“Hey, I am the Captain.” Luffy shouted from behind.

Nami chuckled seeing their reactions but soon, her mood went down.

‘Can they truly defeat Arlong? Liam has been constantly hinting to me that Luffy can do it and Liam is also getting stronger on his own. But what if they can’t?’

At this moment, an image appeared in her mind. It was the image of Luffy, Zoro, Liam, and Usopp dying in the hands of Arlong and his crew. She bit her lips and clenched her fist. 

‘No, I can’t tell them.’

……………

Near the seashore, 

“So, why did we come here?” Zoro looked at Liam and asked.

“When I was on the cruise ship before meeting Luffy, I got injured by the pirates. But, I healed very quickly. I am pretty sure that I haven’t eaten any devil fruits. But, still, I want to test it.”

“I will jump into the sea and if I won’t come out after ten seconds, you need to bring me out.” Liam took off his clothes and spoke.

Zoro nodded his head as Liam went to the sea. When his foot stepped on the sea, he felt nothing. Normally, he should be losing his strength. But, he didn’t feel anything.

After he went deeper, he could still swim relatively easily. After a minute of swimming, he finally came out of the sea and shook his head.

“I was right. I don’t have the Devil Fruit powers otherwise I would’ve remembered it. But, it’s surprising that I can heal so quickly.” 

“It is indeed surprising.” Zoro nodded his head. He knew just how injured Liam was. It was truly surprising to see him without any wounds in a single day.

“Can you give me your sword?” Liam asked.

Zoro suspected that Liam wanted to try his healing power and gave him one of his swords.

Splash!

Liam slashed his arm with the sword and looked at it.

One hour later,

“Nothing is happening. It means I don’t have powerful healing abilities but rather something that boosts my natural healing. It could be my natural talent.” Liam spoke after looking at the wound. 

It was still there. Although blood has clogged, the wound was still there.

“Anyway, that’s a good thing. You can continuously surpass your limits and get stronger.” Zoro smiled as he put his sword back.

“Something has been bothering me about that. Although I felt I had gotten stronger yesterday, I don’t feel the same way today. Why is that?” Liam was truly surprised by his own feeling.

Yesterday, he felt like he could easily take down Kuro’s crew after breaking the limit of his body. But today after getting healed, he couldn’t find that strength anymore.

“It’s good that you realized it on your own.” Zoro smiled and replied.

Suddenly, Liam’s eyes narrowed as he began to remember something that Zoro said after his battle in Alabasta but he didn’t think too much and let Zoro explain.

“Whenever we break our limit during life and death battle, our body doesn’t get stronger. Instead, it increases the potential of your body. Take a rubber for example.”

“If you stretch rubber for only five inches, then its potential will only be five inches. But, if you take a risk to stretch it to seven inches, then its potential will increase to seven inches.”

“Now, you don’t need to take the risk to stretch it to seven inches. It can easily be stretched if you try it. But, the risk is tearing the rubber apart. In short, you have stretched your potential and with training, you can easily access that strength.”

“But…….”