[U.T] Ch 12: Upgradable Traits!

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"Rubber Man?"

Zoro stared at Luffy in disbelief.

So Devil Fruits really do exist…

"You bastard! How dare you hit me! My dad's gonna kill you!"

Helmeppo clutched his swollen, red cheek where Luffy had punched him.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Luffy's response? More punches.

"S-Stop! If you keep going, you're really gonna get yourselves killed!"

Two nearby Marines, who had just been stunned by Luffy's rubbery abilities, rushed forward.

"Can you not interfere with our captain's business?" Luen chuckled, his eyes flickering with a red-black glow.

Whoosh!

An invisible wave of energy swept over the two Marines, and in the next instant, their eyes rolled back as they collapsed unconscious.

"T-This is…"

Zoro's instincts screamed at him. The moment Luen's gaze sharpened, an overwhelming force surged from him, and just like that, those two Marines passed out instantly.

Zoro had never encountered power like this before.

"This is called Conqueror's Haki. The weak can't even stay conscious in its presence."

Luen's eyes returned to normal as he explained with a relaxed smile.

"Conqueror's… Haki?"

Zoro muttered the unfamiliar term to himself.

Since setting out to sea, he'd been making a living as a bounty hunter, taking down pirates for cash. With his strength, he'd earned the title "Pirate Hunter." But he'd never seen powers like this before—Luffy's strange rubber abilities, and now Luen's overwhelming force.

The sea truly is vast…

"Ahh, that felt great. Beating up scum like him is satisfying." Luffy sighed in relief, looking down at the unconscious Helmeppo.

"Check Traits."

Luen looked at Helmeppo and thought to himself.

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[Helmeppo]

→Traits: Redemption Boost (Light Purple)

Redemption Boost (Light Purple): This individual can undergo redemption. Upon redemption, their strength will increase.

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This piece of trash actually has a Light Purple trait?

And this guy—riding on his father's authority—has caused so much suffering to the people here.

Yet somehow, he gets a redemption arc and gets stronger? Sometimes, the original story makes no sense…

"Even if it's a Light Purple trait, it's completely useless to me."

Just as Luen was thinking that, a notification appeared before his eyes.

[Traits of Purple grade or higher can be converted into Upgrade Traits, which can be used to enhance existing traits.]

Luen's lips curled into a smirk.

So this is how the upgrade function works in my trait system.

Well, at least it won't go to waste.

"Extract."

Helmeppo's trait was instantly stripped away.

"Convert."

Luen focused on the Redemption Boost (Light Purple) trait and activated the function.

[Conversion complete. Current stored Potential-Type Light Purple traits: (1).]

After testing this function, Luen now fully understood.

Simply put, useless traits could be converted into upgrade materials, which he could then use to strengthen his own traits.

However, only traits of Light Purple grade or higher could be used for upgrades. As expected, common White and Blue traits were worthless everywhere.

Also, the trait had to be fully extracted for that.

Traits copied from crewmates were completely usable but couldn't be converted for upgrades, since they weren't true extractions.

Only fully stolen traits of Light Purple grade or higher could be used as upgrade material.

Combat-related traits were divided into Potential-Type and Power-Type traits.

For example, the Faction Fortune (Super Gold) trait Luen took from Koby was a Potential-Type trait.

Luffy's Sun God (Super Gold) was also a Potential-Type trait.

Meanwhile, Luen's Conqueror's Haki (Light Gold), which could be actively used in battle, was a Power-Type trait.

Luffy's Superhuman Physique (Deep Purple) and Zoro's Beast Physique (Deep Purple) were also Power-Type traits.

For physical ability traits like these, the displayed grade only represented their current effectiveness, not their potential limit.

The same applied to traits like Zoro's Three-Sword Style (Deep Purple) and Luffy's Rubber Fruit (Deep Purple).

However, Potential-Type traits could only be used to upgrade other Potential-Type traits. They couldn't be used to enhance Power-Type traits.

Luen sighed. If it were possible, he would have loved to use Faction Fortune (Super Gold) to upgrade his Conqueror's Haki (Light Gold).

Although Faction Fortune had immense potential, it still didn't compare to fully mastered Conqueror's Haki—Infusion (Super Gold).

That kind of power would instantly place him among the Emperor-class combatants.

Still, this limitation made sense. Potential was just that—potential, not actual strength.

If he could just instantly turn potential into raw power, breaking the fundamental law of conservation, that would be absurd.

At this moment, Luen felt a deeper understanding of the real world of One Piece.

Even with this powerful system, the world still adhered to its own laws.

If he truly wanted to stand at the top, the system was only a pass—his own efforts would decide the rest.

Luen smirked.

That makes things more interesting.

Let's see how far I can go.

[Presence increased. Conqueror's Haki strengthened.]

A notification appeared.

"As expected, the strength of Conqueror's Haki is tied to one's presence and will— just like in the original story."

Luen chuckled to himself.

This only confirmed that his decision to declare himself the Sky King was the right one.

It seemed he needed to be even more flamboyant—and increase his bounty along the way.

After all, with Luffy as his captain, he wouldn't have to worry about attracting enemies beyond his capabilities.

Luen smirked at the thought.

Now, let's see what else this upgrade system can do.

Ten traits of the same grade were required to upgrade a single trait by one level.

For example, the Light Purple trait from Helmeppo—if Luen collected ten of them, he could upgrade a Light Purple Potential-Type trait into a Deep Purple one.

Compared to normal training, this method was absurdly fast.

Luen was quite satisfied. Any high-grade but useless traits he encountered in the future could now serve a purpose.

Meanwhile, Helmeppo—having lost his only trait—was now utterly worthless.

At that moment, Zoro asked, "You guys are pirates, right? Why are you even getting involved in this mess?"

"Because scum like that deserve to be punched into the ground," Luffy grinned.

Then he turned to Zoro. "So, wanna join us?"

"Why would I join a bunch of criminals?" Zoro frowned, rejecting the offer.

"But I've already decided you're joining," Luffy said with a confident grin.

"Oi! Listen to what people are actually saying!" Zoro snapped.

Luen chuckled. "But if you refuse, you'll just sit here and wait for death. A man like you must have a goal to accomplish, right? Would you really be okay dying here?"

Zoro fell silent.

Die here? No way in hell.

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