"One Piece: I, the Strongest Intern of the Roger Pirates"

"Brother Yi, are those stone slabs the Poneglyphs?"

Shanks asked in a low voice as he followed behind Fang Yi, who was just exiting the cave.

"Yeah! But it's a pity we can't understand them. If we could, we might've already found the way to the final island."

Fang Yi nodded with a sigh.

"Woof! Woof!"

As soon as Fang Yi and the others came out, Wangzai, who had been waiting at the cave entrance, barked twice and ran over excitedly.

In just a year, the little pup Wangzai had grown a lot. Even when standing on all fours, it now reached Fang Yi's waist. It could no longer lie sprawled across Fang Yi like it once did. However, none of the crew brought up its original name; they all still fondly called it Wangzai.

"Little guy, waited long enough, huh? Come on, let's go hunting! The captain said we're having a feast tonight!"

Fang Yi patted Wangzai's head before dashing straight into the forest.

"Brother Yi! Wait for me! I'm coming too!"

Shanks laughed and quickly followed after him.

"Hard to believe how fast those kids have grown in just a year,"

Rayleigh said with a smile as he watched Fang Yi and Shanks run off.

"Yeah, sometimes watching them makes me feel like I've gotten old!"

Jabba agreed with a hearty chuckle.

"You are old! Otherwise, why would you always be wearing those sunglasses?"

Yamon immediately jabbed at Jabba again, clearly having some sort of ongoing grudge against him. She never missed a chance to mock him.

"Hey! What did I ever do to you? Why are you always picking on me?"

Jabba's face darkened in frustration.

They were all still in their prime—at the peak of their strength and physical condition, living through the golden years of their lives.

"So what if I'm picking on you? If you're not happy about it, go ahead and hit me!"

Yamon snapped back with a smirk, undeterred.

Jabba's briefly gathered courage vanished instantly under Yamon's fierce retort.

"Hahaha!"

The surrounding crew burst out laughing at the familiar scene.

Soon, Roger and the others arrived back at the coast, near the Oro Jackson. The head chef, Yaoichi, was directing the remaining crew members in preparing tools for the feast, while the ever-unmotivated Buggy was reluctantly helping out nearby.

Since they were only searching for Poneglyphs, Buggy had joined them once but found it utterly boring. He was interested in treasure hunting, not chasing after stone slabs.

"Captain, Mr. Rayleigh! Where are Fang Yi and Shanks? Why didn't they come back with you?"

Buggy asked as he glanced around after seeing Roger and the others return.

"Yi and Shanks went hunting,"

Rayleigh replied casually, glancing at Buggy.

Unlike the hardworking Fang Yi and the talented Shanks, Buggy lacked both talent and diligence. A year ago, they'd all been roughly at the same level, but now Buggy had fallen behind in strength.

"Those two… using hunting as an excuse to slack off? How sneaky!"

Not seeing Fang Yi and Shanks, Buggy immediately assumed they'd gone hunting just to avoid helping with preparations—because that's exactly what he would've done.

But before long, Fang Yi and Shanks returned, dragging a long vine rope behind them, with several massive beasts tied to it, including a large, dead tiger.

"Haha! Looks like today's hunt went well! We were running low on ingredients—you two showed up just in time!"

Yaoichi burst out laughing at the sight of their haul.

"Yeah, we got lucky today. Found a small lake teeming with wild animals,"

Fang Yi said with a grin.

"Not bad! You're finally showing a bit of the same flair I had back in my prime!"

Yamon remarked proudly, eyeing Fang Yi with satisfaction as he carried the Sun Piercer Bow on his back.

Fang Yi now uses the Sun Piercer Bow regularly. His old bow had been worn out from heavy use, so he'd repaired it himself and stored it in his room as a keepsake.

"Hey! Shanks! Fang Yi! You two slackers! How dare you ditch me and go goofing off! Get over here and help already!"

Buggy, clearly still annoyed, immediately jumped up and shouted when he saw them return.

"Hey, hey, hey… You're the one who refused to join us in the first place! Now you're blaming us for leaving you behind? Buggy, that's not fair!"

Fang Yi laughed as he walked toward Buggy.

Soon, the feast began.

Now, the biggest fan of their ship's feasts wasn't any of the crew, but Wangzai.

Wangzai loved feasts—not just for the food, but for the singing and dancing. His favorite song was Bink's Sake. Every time the tune started, Wangzai would get unbelievably excited—he acted more like a pirate than Fang Yi himself.

The next morning, still rubbing his aching head, Fang Yi dragged himself out of bed to start a new day.

Ever since he'd graduated from Yamon's training, the crew had declared him a "full-fledged warrior" and started forcing him to drink at every banquet—completely ignoring the fact that he was still a kid. Every time, they'd drink him under the table.

Though Fang Yi wasn't exactly bad at drinking, he was still no match for this bunch of alcoholics who practically soaked themselves in liquor daily.

After washing up aboard the ship, Fang Yi found that the crew was already nearly done with preparations—they were ready to set sail at any time.

"Alright, lads—off to a new adventure!"

"AYE!!!"

At Roger's command, the Oro Jackson slowly set sail, with every crew member returning to their duties.

Fang Yi, as usual, began his daily basic archery training—a routine he'd never skipped. It was just like his daily "check-ins" with Roger and the others. Unless something unexpected happened, he always kept up his practice.

Soon, sweat covered his body, and his hangover slowly faded away as his body loosened up again.

"Hey, stinker! Go take a bath first—the chef already has your breakfast ready! Wash up and go eat!"

Wangzai trotted over excitedly after Fang Yi finished training, only to get shooed away by him.

But Wangzai didn't mind at all. He simply leapt into the sea, swimming alongside the Oro Jackson for a while before climbing back aboard himself.

Maybe Wangzai was some kind of new sea creature—he could swim faster than most of the crew. Even Fisherman Sam Bell admitted he'd never seen a dog swim so fast; Wangzai's speed was comparable to some fish species.

"Brother Yi! Want to spar?"

As soon as Fang Yi finished his basic training, Shanks approached eagerly.

Buggy no longer challenged Fang Yi for spars—he knew he couldn't keep up. But Shanks still frequently asked for duels—not because he wanted to compete for status, but simply because he believed sparring with Fang Yi helped him improve and gain combat experience.

However, their spar ended quickly today.

Before Shanks could even last a few moves, Fang Yi's Precision skill (now at Level 3) triggered, and he kicked Shanks flying with a single blow.

Over the past year, even without using any skill experience scrolls on it, Fang Yi had stubbornly trained Precision to Level 3—proof of his intense dedication.

"Brother Yi… How do you do it?! No matter how I dodge or block, sometimes your attacks just hit me out of nowhere!"

Shanks asked bitterly as he climbed back to his feet.

Fang Yi just shrugged, not explaining.

Poor Shanks. Though Precision had a 30% trigger rate at Level 3, in actual combat, the activation was still unpredictable.

It wasn't a guaranteed "three hits out of ten." Every attack had a 30% chance individually, meaning luck played a huge role.

Sometimes, Fang Yi would trigger it multiple times in a row; other times, not at all for an entire fight.

Among all his current skills, Precision was the only one he'd managed to level up through hard training (now at Level 3). He had also used experience scrolls to force Divine Blessing up to Level 2, increasing its use from once per month to twice.

His Evasion skill was also close to reaching Level 2. However, since he'd started investing his experience scrolls into Lethal Strike instead—due to its low trigger rate—progress on Evasion had slowed.

"Where's that lazy Buggy? You should drag him into training, too! That kid's just too damn lazy!"

Fang Yi patted Shanks on the back and laughed.

He hadn't "checked in" on Buggy today yet, so he needed to find him.

"No idea—he's probably napping somewhere again,"

Shanks replied, shaking his head.

But just as they were about to look for Buggy, they suddenly saw Rayleigh approach Roger with a serious look, clearly discussing something important.

Fang Yi and Shanks exchanged glances, then walked over.

"Is Shakky's intel accurate?"

Roger's expression also grew serious after hearing Rayleigh's report.

"Ever since her crew disbanded, she's been working solely in the intelligence business—I don't think she'd be wrong about this."

Rayleigh nodded firmly.

"Captain, what happened?"

Fang Yi and Shanks asked as they approached.

Though they were still trainees, after a year together, the crew fully accepted them. They were now included in many important discussions.

Roger and Rayleigh exchanged a glance, then Rayleigh spoke:

"Do you remember the slave ship we attacked a year ago—the one where we rescued all those slaves?"

"Of course!"

Fang Yi nodded, patting the Sun Piercer Bow on his back.

"I found this bow back then."

"Those slaves we rescued later became pirates themselves."

Rayleigh said softly,

"They've been sailing the seas, rescuing other slaves. Because of that, they've been given high bounties by the Navy."

"Huh? A pirate crew made up entirely of former slaves? Don't tell me… some powerful bounty hunter has targeted them?"

Shanks guessed.

"No… They've set their sights on God Valley."

Rayleigh replied, shaking his head.

"God Valley?!"

Fang Yi's eyes widened in shock, his face full of disbelief.

"Brother Yi, what's God Valley?"

Shanks asked, puzzled by Fang Yi's reaction.

Roger and Rayleigh also looked at Fang Yi curiously. Had he heard of God Valley? They only knew about it because of Shakky's intel.