The Greatest Disgrace in Marine History-Chapter 246 - 148: I Have No Interest in Money

"This all you've got already...?"

Darren shot a disdainful glance at Momonga, his expression full of disappointment.

Momonga: #@%#!?@￥...

I literally just ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit! Holding out for half an hour under this kind of explosive output is already pretty damn good, alright?!

With a roll of his eyes, he dropped flat onto the training ground, lying on his back and half-closing his eyes in comfort, trying to catch his breath and regulate it.

This lunatic Darren actually took my lightning blasts head-on, using only his body, and the more he got struck, the more fired up he became—grinning like a total maniac as he went!

What the hell is wrong with this guy?!

Feels like ever since he came back from the Grand Line, he's just gotten more and more insane...

Wait a minute!

Could this be that "get beat, get stronger" training method?!

Was Darren actually telling the truth?

While Momonga's imagination was running wild, Darren let out a sigh tinged with regret and lay down as well to rest on the field.

Using Momonga's Rumble-Rumble Fruit attacks to temper his own body—this hadn't been part of Darren's original plan.

But he had to admit, the results were phenomenal.

In just that half hour, under repeated lightning strikes with nearly five million volts, his body stat had climbed ever so slightly.

That little increase might not seem like much, but Darren hadn't forgotten—his body stats had already reached levels that ordinary people couldn't even begin to fathom.

Once stats passed 70, every tiny increment became incredibly slow to achieve.

And to gain even a slight improvement in just half an hour? Far more effective than blindly experimenting with some anti-strike endurance training.

Sure, by the end of that half hour, his body was starting to adapt to Momonga's lightning.

But come on—this was only five million volts!

As Momonga continued to develop his Devil Fruit powers, the voltage of his lightning would only increase.

Ten million... thirty million... fifty million... one hundred million volts...

Maybe even reaching, or surpassing, the three hundred million volts that Enel wielded!

Just thinking about it made Darren's gaze shift toward Momonga like he was staring at a massive treasure trove.

He had a gut feeling—if he kept forging his body through lightning, eventually he could push his physique closer and closer to Kaido's "indestructible body."

And then... maybe one day, he too could take a lightning strike from Big Mom without flinching and shout, "Because I have willpower!"

At that thought, Darren couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

His mind gradually sank into analyzing his stats.

Physique: 79.812

Strength: 70.513

Speed: 70.899

Armament Haki: 37.035

Conqueror's Haki: 52.301

Hmm. With the rise in physique over this period, it had a strong spillover effect on his Armament Haki. Its intensity had increased noticeably.

As for the other stats... not much noticeable improvement.

Still, all in all, he had tapped into a whole new path forward.

And Darren was confident—as the intensity of his thunder-tempering increased, the strengthening of his body would eventually feed back into strength and speed as well.

After all, tougher skin, muscle, and bone were key to overall physical development.

"Momonga... Have you thought of your admiral title yet?"

Darren suddenly turned his head and looked at the bruised and battered Marine captain beside him, smiling as he spoke.

"Admiral?"

Momonga blinked, then gave a dry chuckle.

"You really do have a lot of confidence in me... That's a Marine Admiral we're talking about—one of the World Government's top combat forces..."

"For a monster like you, becoming an admiral is just a matter of time. But for people like us..."

His expression calmed as he looked at the blue sky and drifting white clouds. His eyes held a vague melancholy and yearning, and he murmured softly:

"That's a dream we might never reach in our entire lives."

"That's not necessarily true."

Darren smiled faintly, his eyes gleaming with a profound light.

"Don't underestimate your potential."

In the original storyline, Momonga was one of the few elite Vice Admirals in Marine Headquarters, a pillar of justice in the world. In terms of talent and potential, he was by no means weak.

He had the full trust of Marine high command, with formidable strength, top-tier in both martial arts and swordsmanship among the Vice Admirals. He wielded both types of Haki proficiently, and had even been entrusted with the mission to summon the Pirate Empress by force.

Given that foundation—and with a Rumble-Rumble Fruit on top of it... If he could develop it to the level of Enel, reaching admiral-level strength wouldn't be too far-fetched.

Hell, even someone like Green Bull (Ryokugyu) made it to admiral.

Not to mention, Darren could give him a push.

"We'll talk about it later..."

Hearing Darren's meaningful words, Momonga fell into brief silence, then slowly clenched his fists and replied.

As he had said—becoming a Marine Admiral was every Marine's dream.

If there was even a sliver of hope, he would fight for it. Even if it cost him his life, he'd never regret it.

"By the way, how long are you planning to stay this time?"

Darren lit a cigarette, resting the back of his head on his hands as he puffed leisurely.

"I wasn't planning to stay long... but things changed."

"Why?" Momonga asked, puzzled.

Darren gave him a wink and said with a grin:

"Staying to help you develop the Rumble-Rumble Fruit."

Mouse: ...

You just want me to be your personal training dummy so you can use lightning to temper your body, don't you?!

His eyelid twitched.

Now he got it.

Helping him develop the Rumble-Rumble Fruit? Yeah, right—that was just a front!

Maybe it was part of it, but what that bastard Darren really wanted... was to use him for his own training!

Still, Momonga had gone numb to it by now.

He was also well aware of Darren's bizarre training methods.

No average person could handle it.

"Oh right, almost forgot this."

Darren muttered, fishing out a Log Pose from his pocket and handing it to Mouse.

"What's this...?" Momonga frowned slightly.

Darren said casually:

"It's a Log Pose pointing to some unknown island. There's a stash of wealth I left there. I plan to use it all for developing and expanding the North Blue Fleet."

"A stash of wealth? Wouldn't it be better to keep it for yourself? You must have expenses at Headquarters, right?"

Momonga shook his head and declined.

"As far as the North Blue Fleet goes, our current military budget is enough for now... The taxes we're collecting from Doflamingo's region are growing faster every month."

"...And besides, expanding the North Blue Fleet—you're talking about a fortune far beyond just a few hundred million berries."

Momonga didn't believe Darren could get his hands on any significant amount of money while stationed at Marineford.

There were so many Marine higher-ups around—there's no way he could blatantly apply North Blue's tactics at Headquarters.

"I know the cost of expanding the North Blue Fleet is astronomical—that's why I found you this fortune."

Darren shot back irritably.

Momonga gave him a skeptical look.

"How much money... are we talking about on that island?"

Darren shrugged.

"No idea. You know I don't care about money. But rough estimate? Probably several hundreds of billions or even a trillion of berries, give or take..."

"—W-What?!"

Momonga's eyes flew open wide in shock, almost dropping and shattering the Log Pose in his hand.

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To be continued...