Chapter 392: 392. The Mermaid Is Enviable
Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
After taking her life potion, Shyarly settled into her own workout.
Since she was built on a larger scale than most, the equipment she chose matched her size.
Between her and Belo Betty, both working through squats with barbells, Shyarly was the one who drew the eye. Nico Robin, Ginrummy, and several others found themselves watching her, Belo Betty included.
"Shyarly has a wonderful figure."
"A size above average, but not too much above."
"I imagine Ikki must really have a type, and she's it."
"I'm exercising here," Belo Betty added.
"Honestly, I envy her sometimes too," Viola said, nodding along.
She liked to think her own heart was generous enough, but next to Shyarly, it fell short. The two small, mischievous figures bouncing along in front of Shyarly were proof enough of that.
"I really do envy her," Ginrummy said. "Big enough to stand out, but not so big it's like a giant. That's the kind of figure I wish I had."
Of everyone aboard, Ginrummy was among those most eager to get her hands on Ikki, and she genuinely wished she had a figure like Shyarly's.
"What are you all talking about?" Shyarly said with a sigh. "Ikki might well prefer someone ordinary-sized, like the rest of you. Who's to say?"
"Maybe so, but the rest of us are all more or less the same size," Nico Robin said, laughing. "That makes you the rare exception. I think the captain would be glad to have a beauty as unusual as you among us."
"If that's true, I'd be very happy to hear it," Shyarly said, chuckling softly.
As for whatever existed between her and Ikki, Shyarly had no objection to it. If it were possible for a human and a mermaid to have a child together, she would welcome that too, in a sense.
It would be a true union between their two peoples, and as someone who hoped to see Fishman Island grow closer to the world of humans, her interest in Ikki ran no shallower than Belo Betty's.
If anything, had Ikki not already been teasing Belo Betty earlier, and had it been Shyarly who'd spoken up first instead, she might well have taken the opportunity to claim him for herself right then.
After a round of teasing among everyone in the gym, the group settled into their usual routine. Nico Robin, Ginrummy, and the others went off to prepare breakfast, leaving Shyarly and Belo Betty to keep at their weightlifting, determined to make full use of their life potions while the effects lasted. With no other choice, Nico Robin and the rest set breakfast aside for the two of them.
After a while, once they'd rested, Nico Robin and the others joined the training as well. They all understood what was coming: with war breaking out between Marine Headquarters and the Whitebeard Pirates, Ikki's situation was bound to grow more complicated, and the enemies waiting for him would likely be more numerous and more dangerous than before. If they wanted to help him, they needed to keep pushing themselves harder during this stretch of time.
More time passed, and the effects of the life potions on Belo Betty and Shyarly slowly began to fade. Only after grueling training did the two of them finally stop.
It was simple weightlifting on the surface, but under the influence of a life potion, sustained exercise like that took a real physical toll, especially on someone with exceptional talent.
A life potion worked by drawing out potential, and the greater the potential, the more it could extract, which meant greater strain on the body as well. Of course, the flip side of that strain was a correspondingly greater boost in strength.
"How are you feeling, Shyarly? How's the improvement coming along?" Nico Robin asked, walking over with a towel in hand.
"I can feel my body's gotten stronger again," Shyarly said, clenching her fists, a little excited.
"Well, congratulations. Here, wipe yourself down," Nico Robin said, handing over the towel.
She wasn't surprised by the reaction. She and Shyarly had spent more than a day or two together by now, and besides, the effects of a life potion really were remarkable.
"It's not just my body," Shyarly said. "I think my Haki's grown too."
She raised her right hand, and a jet-black sheen of Armament Haki formed over it almost instantly. Then the Haki surged outward as a shockwave, slamming into a dumbbell on the floor and sending it flying several meters away. Fortunately, both the gym and its equipment were built sturdy enough that nothing broke.
"Is that an external release of Armament Haki?" Nico Robin said, startled. "I thought your Haki could only be used as a coating before. Now you can project it?"
"Wait, what?" Perona came running over, staring at the dumbbell with a bewildered expression. "Her Haki got even stronger? I thought life potions only improved someone's physical condition. She's just been lifting weights, she hasn't even been training her Haki."
"Captain Ikki did say once that a life potion only strengthens the body directly," Kalifa said, chin resting on her hand. "But as the body improves, progress in cultivating Haki tends to speed up as well. If Shyarly's Haki was already close to an intermediate awakening, it makes sense that growing physically could be what pushed it the rest of the way."
"That's right," Nico Robin said, nodding. "Ever since she came aboard, she's been especially diligent about her own training. It's not strange at all that she'd suddenly awaken an intermediate level of Armament Haki. I'm sure Ikki will be pleased to hear it."
Shyarly's face lit up with joy. She hadn't expected this at all, a wonderful surprise on top of everything else the potion had already given her.
Life on a fixed, unchanging Fishman Island had always left her hungry for real strength. Even with Ikki as someone she could rely on, she still wanted power of her own, both to protect Fishman Island and to repay him in kind. The fact that her strength had grown left her genuinely delighted.
"That's so unfair," Perona said, pouting, her face full of envy. "Our training yesterday didn't do a thing for our Haki."